Enoria is preparing for war with Irithara, and the team sans Kaleth are doing the best they can to put a stop to it before it progresses even further.
Their plan? Find Mereria, get her help with killing Relioth, and save Kaleth in the process. They...
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It was about half an hour after Rayni killed Ikara when everyone but Mereria agreed they needed to discuss what to do next. The dozen Umbra that had been on Ikara's side swore their allegiance to Mereria as soon as she walked into the underground hideout they had been using as a base of operation, and Rayni was definitely glad there was no more arguing, but....
Well, it was still only twelve other Umbra. Versus who knew how many bodyguards Relioth had. And since he teleported, there was no way to ambush him, so they were screwed, basically.
"We can't hope to defeat Tharos with twenty people," Mereria said, stabbing one of her daggers into the metal table everyone minus the sixteen Umbra soldiers were sitting at. It made a cringe-worthy screech that made Rayni grimace.
It was a little strange how little the other Umbra had to say, which was most likely due to Mereria's way of doing things. If they had the time, Rayni would try to help them overcome the fear of voicing their opinions, much like Mel had had—er, had started to do—but unfortunately, time was the one thing they did not have. Relioth's informant was dead, so they had a very small window of opportunity where Relioth wouldn't yet notice something was wrong, and they had to use it.
"Usually, I'd say we at least have the element of surprise, but nothing seems to surprise Tharos at this point."
"You sure about that?" Nef asked from across the table, folding his arms. "A suicide run doesn't seem like your MO, so if you go with that, I'm sure Relioth won't see it coming."
Hearing that, Rayni tapped her chin as an idea struck her. She ignored the others as they started bickering and developed the idea a little further before she victoriously slammed her fist into the table, bending it slightly in the process.
"Oops," she said, staring at the dent. She would have to learn to watch her strength, but at least everyone was quiet now. "Anyway, I have a stupidly dangerous idea!"
"That's okay, we still love you," Nef said, grinning at her in a way that seemed to almost dare her to hit him, but Rayni just smirked back.
"Aw, that's so sweet of you to say," she replied, and Nef frowned, clearly disappointed that he hadn't gotten the reaction he was hoping for.
"What kind of idea do you have in mind, Rayni?" Mereria asked, trying to sound just as emotionless as ever, but Rayni could tell she was a little apprehensive. Rayni wondered just what kind of plans she'd come up with in the past to make Mereria sound like this.
"Well, we know where we can get more Umbra, right?"
"Are you actually suggesting we break into Carcer and free the ones Luxarx had managed to capture?" Mereria asked in a slightly bored tone. Clearly, Mereria didn't think anyone else would be willing to go along with this, but when Rayni looked at the others, they didn't seem that opposed to the idea.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. And it will cause a problem Relioth won't be able to fix easily because like ninety percent of electricity comes from the captured Umbra."
