The Group Encounter a Raiding Party

As the four quickly made their way across the newly formed battlefield, it became obvious that the void shield was becoming a point of focus for all sides. The locals and tourists had the same idea as Jessica and her team, but so did the raiders. The void shield had quickly been claimed by the insurgents. The small collection of poorly equipped resistance fighters laid strewn about in a gory mess on the ground.

Once Jessica realized this, she motioned for her team to conceal themselves behind a wall of rubble. From there, she peeked her head out and surveilled the group. Currently there were five guards out in the open; each armed with basic pistols and shotguns. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for her and her team, but a pistol versus bare hands was a little more of a challenge than Jessica was up for at the moment. (Especially considering none of them were wearing any armor to absorb the hits).

She watched as an unsuspecting guest headed toward the void shield. The girl was wide eyed with fear and didn’t look to be trained in any sort of combat. By the time she realized who was controlling the space, they already had their weapons trained on her. She raised her hands and started speaking to them. Jessica noted that they did not shoot on sight. This could mean that this was a coup rather than a slaughter. Someone was trying to overthrow this place’s current regime but keep the populace intact. Whatever the reasoning was, she’d need to get on top of this conflict before sorting out the who and whys of it.

The girl looked to be pleading with the soldiers. One of them stepped forward and looked to be giving the girl instructions. The girl slowly nodded and began to strip. The guard continued to order her around. She held her arms out and turned around. The guard approached and began to pat her down. Once satisfied that she posed no threat, he motioned for the poor girl to follow him and marched her at gunpoint to the building that still stood under the void shield’s sphere. Jessica turned to the others and said, “Looks like they’re taking prisoners. We may be able to use that to our advantage!” she said.

“We steal prisoners and use against them?” Gorel asked.

Jessica rubbed her temple and reminded herself not to be so vague with Gorel.

“We let ourselves be captured and then I can do the ritual in relative safety so we can bust out again!” Pearl concluded, following her captain’s train of thought perfectly. Jessica nodded and smiled at her sorceress.

Pearl looked out at the soldiers guarding the facility, then peered back to her captain. “I still need to gather the materials for the ritual… plus, what if they split us up?”

Jessica gave Pearl a cocksure grin and stroked the felinid’s hair. “You’re a resourceful kitten, I’m sure you’ll figure something out! It’s either that or we have to take out the guards with what we have, which is basically nothing.”

“We could throw rocks!” Gorel suggested.

Jessica rolled her eyes, but then stopped to think about it. If Gorel started tossing rocks at their heads, they’d have to send someone out to put him down. Then, they could ambush that guard, take his equipment and be better suited to challenge the others. It seemed like a riskier play, but her team wouldn’t have to risk being separated and Pearl would be able to gather what she needed easier.

“There may be something to that…” she told her grenadier. Gorel grinned, happy to contribute to the planning stage of the ****. He started to look around for suitable sized rocks that he could throw. Gorel would have to be able to outthrow a pistol though if he didn’t want to be shot at from a distance. Was his enhanced strength good enough to throw at that range accurately? If not, he’d be the one most at risk in this plan.

“Why don’t you just send me out there to convince them to let us in?,” Queen Yavet murmured wickedly while filing one claw with her other. This reminded Jessica that Yavet was a daemonette; her body was a weapon. She was bred for combat situations like this. Still, with her alone against five soldiers, even with their rudimentary weapons and their marginal help, would the rookie fighter be enough to win? Then again, Yavet was a cunning one. From their brief, but pleasurable experiences together, Jessica knew that much about her. The maiden of ecstasy had other tools available to dispatch the guards. It was said that in the course of battle, some soldier were so caught off guard by the allure of a daemonette that they refused to fight her and were cut down in the process. If Yavet was that skilled, this could make things much easier. Still, her abilities are unproven, so it would be the riskiest of her options so far.

The ground rumbled nearby them as a mortar landed. Jessica stumbled and held Pearl for support while Yavet lowered her center of gravity by crouching down on all fours. Gorel simply fell over. They dusted themselves off and waited for the ringing in their ears to subside.

“Well boss?” Pearl asked, “What’s it going to be?”

With the ground around them was quickly becoming pounded dirt. Jessica needed to decide on a battle plan quick!