Section Four: Plan B
Ublaz walked up to an INSU officer, a fox. "How goes the preparations?" The fox, Jagg Riptooth, replied, "Not too badly, Emperor. One odd thing, though: We searched the Library and discovered we’re missing one of the concept designs for the palace." "What? Which one?" "It’s the, uh, Zephyrpaw design." "Oh, that? Don’t worry, that was the last design I would have chosen for the palace. Soft iron hinges, indeed! He was crazier than a loon!" Ublaz went off with a rare look of amusement on his face. Suddenly, a thought sprang to mind: What if the enemy spy stole the Zephyrpaw design plans?
Whoever this Zephyrpaw is, he was certainly meticulous in his planning, thought Sliverpaw in his scheming mind. Despite all the time and losses in this campaign, this was going to work. All of the details had fallen into place, and all that remained was to begin one crazed assault on the door of Ublaz’s palace, and the entire mission was successful. The trouble was getting to that door.
Underneath the pounding waves, Tolenia slumbered peacefully until a familiar voice burbled through the water. She uncomfortably stretched out, and in a graceful movement, she surged towards the surface. Kylar didn’t even flinch this time. This time, every member of Freebooter was left on deck, weapons aimed at the heart of Venomfang. The wailing voice again rang out. "Why do you face me again? It’s hopeless to match my powers, much less exceed them." Kylar kept his stony, silent face and concentrated slightly. Venomfang felt a small amount of pain in her brain. "Is that all you have left?" "No." Kylar poured all his power into the psychic attack. Tolenia felt the same pain as Kylar had experienced during their first encounter, only it was extended into minutes. Kylar merely held a deadpan expression as he spoke. "I don’t doubt the fact you have tremendous power. In fact, you may have been stronger than I a few days ago. However, the tides have turned, Venomfang. You would be well advised to assist us." "N-n-n-never!" Tolenia returned the favor as best she could, and the ferret seemed to take a small amount of the energy. Actually, Kylar was feeling serious pain, but at this point, the adrenaline had taken over. Tolenia, at the brink of unconsciousness, couldn’t take any more, and finally, "Very well," came to the ears of Kylar. The snake fell to the water with a huge splash, and the ferret slumped to the deck. Dingeye and Slashclaw came running over and shook Kylar, who groaned as if he had a major hangover and mumbled, "Godda ‘member ta water de grog afore drinkin’ et." Slashclaw splashed some water in Kylar’s face, who yelped, "Yeek! Batten down the hatches! Brace the mizzenmast! If they wanna fight, then we’ll give ‘em one!" Dingeye laughed out loud, commenting, "Apt theory, Commander. Let’s go home!"
Home was where Sliverpaw was hoping he could be right now. The first real assault caused not a decisive victory for the Hartkan forces, but an embarrassment of misplanning, stupidity, and error after error after error by incompetence on the part of ‘officers’, put into their ranks by relation to the Chancellor. For example: the second-in-command of this campaign was the half-brother of the Chancellor, and was - well, a stone had more brains than he had. Basically, he had been in charge of the sabotage party, and made the mistake(s) of waltzing straight up to the gate, dropping the sabotage kit twice, yelling at the experienced saboteurs, and basically putting all attention onto himself. Sliverpaw hoped he died slowly. Another example: a commodore in their ranks was in charge of the archers because he was the Chancellor’s nephew. Instead of laying cover fire over the walls of Ublaz’s palace, he ordered fire at what he thought was an INSU battle group. Axe time. And above all, the weasel, Jayle Rakepaw, obtained the wrong plan, and the attack plan had been flawed because of that fact. All of these facts drove Sliverpaw crazy. Not in literal terms, of course, but the effect was the same. He stormed around, arranging his own officers and slaying all of the foolish ones. Relatives be damned! However, just like any excellent officer, Sliverpaw had a backup plan, and it was on the deck of Wakestorm, ready for just this contingency. The battle plan was laid out. And this time, there would be no attempt to capture anything. No quarter given. No mercy. Period.
Kylar was trying to ignore the buck and pitch of Freebooter as Tolenia swam directly in front of it, creating a huge bow wave. Despite their enlistment of Venomfang’s help, all of the crew was feeling light-headed, probably a side effect of the tremendous psychic energy on and around Freebooter. As if nature was attempting to assist them, a squall was blowing them at top speed toward Sampetra. However, the strong winds were not helping the already turbulent water, and INSU crewmembers were frequently visiting the rail to take care of seasickness. To look on the bright side, the mission was almost complete. On the other paw, the conditions on Freebooter were miserable. The fresh food had run out, and crewmembers were rationed to hardtack biscuits. Dingeye, Silvereye, and Slashclaw were called to Kylar’s cabin for a summit meeting. To start things off, Slashclaw offered Kylar a biscuit. "Thanks. I like these." He took a huge bite out of it- -or tried to, as his teeth began throbbing in pain, with no damage whatsoever to the biscuit. "Ahh! Ow! Geez! I’d better save this one for later." And he placed the biscuit in his breast pocket, right above his heart. Dingeye, after a good laugh, replied, "At least the grog is still plentiful. And we’ve gotten a powerful new ally." Silvereye, who typically remained quiet in any situation, commented in her musical voice, "It all depends on how you look at it. I’m powerful, if you’re talking about intelligence. Slashclaw’s powerfully quick. Dingeye has a powerful attribute; experience." Everyone was silent for a few seconds as they absorbed Silvereye’s input. She had a very good point. Anybeast was powerful. Unfortunately, not all power was used responsibly. Kylar was the first to break the silence. "Woe to those who dare use their power against us. Any way you look at it, we’re more powerful than any other vermin or goodbeast organization. Intelligence, speed, and strength are just the icing on the cake for INSU. It’s the training, armament, experience, and the leading class that are critical to our success." Slashclaw noted, "Under such circumstances, I think any advantages over INSU’s enemies are going to be of assistance for us. If any given INSU soldier has the same abilities as you, would they let those same enemy soldiers get a sneak attack on them?" Kylar, angered by the bold reply, took a few seconds to arrange his thoughts. "We all make mistakes, you know. How many times have you made a reckless charge, huh? Don’t tell me you’re in control 100% of the time!" Dingeye spoke out, "Calm down, Commander. Don’t get excited, it’s not important." "Excited?!? You haven’t seen excited yet, pal! I may get bugged out sometimes, but at least I don’t get drunk as a fish before every mission! Every time I see you, you’re gulping down another gallon of grog! "All of you, get out of here! Go! Now!" The polecat, stoat, and wolf scrambled out of the cabin as Kylar started tearing apart everything in it. Back on deck, Dingeye and Slashclaw were panting profusely. Dingeye commented, "Wow! ‘E must be havin’ an exceptionally bad day!" Slashclaw replied, "You’d have a bad day too, if you had to kill your own father." Silvereye, in better shape than the others, said, "It can’t just be that. I’ve seen sons and daughters slay their parents without any qualms. He’s been acting differently than normal." "Nothin’ ta relate to anymore, I guess."
Ublaz was having trouble relating to recent discoveries. First, one of the concept blueprints was stolen, and now, his own spies reported the Hartkan forces were assembling a battering ram. Were they really that stupid? More importantly, what else did they have up their sleeve?
Sliverpaw had an identical question on his mind. What could the INSU forces possibly have planned? What could he do to defend against it? And most importantly, would his own plan succeed?
Kylar, after practically destroying his own cabin, settled back down in exhaustion. He had gone berserk for the first time. He was assured it wouldn’t be the last. In some level of satisfaction, he laid down on the shattered bunk, pulled over him a ripped quilt, and tried to sleep. This time, he managed to sleep without a nightmare.