Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Inquisitor Jore had been very perceptive. He knew that they were coming even before they had known which path they were going to take. Jore was far more adept at using his biofeed to sense the bio-signatures of everything around him than his counterpart, Inquisitor Dalen Kurr. He had been tracking his targets, the runaway rebels that escaped his superior, for a long while, waiting to see which way they would try and slip by him. The thought of putting some shame to that insufferable Overlord of his was beyond any possible feelings of joy he thought he was capable of feeling. The way Dalen Kurr grinded his bones whenever he had the misfortune of having to deal with him almost begged for suicide, almost.

The Hadi were a mirror of their former order, the Zeuti Guardians, and as such they also held the tradition of keeping ten ‘Titan’ equivalents. Their own Ten didn’t have a title attached to their position as the Titans did, instead they were simply known by one of the terms used to describe their proficiency. In his case, and Dalen’s case, they were labelled as an Inquisitor. This was one of the terms used to describe the Hadi Sorcerer, though those Hadi which were not part of The Ten never referred to themselves as Inquisitors. To try and pose as one meant two things: One – death; the most excruciating death which the best torturer in the vicinity could come up with. And two – certain capture. There had only been three instances where a Hadi had tried to pose as an Inquisitor and they had been found out almost immediately.

Of course Sorcerers were not the only ones that could become part of The Ten, Marauders could attain this position as well. However, in all their history only five had ever made it and two of those five were alive today. Due to their lack of ability in Shadow or Bio feed their... aptitude was somewhat limited. None could deny the Berserkers’ use in battle, but they were usually headstrong, arrogant and bull-headed... not so much unlike Sorcerers, but their lack of shadowfeed did make them the weaker and less useful combatants of the two varieties. But those five that had made it into The Ten were beyond what was thought capable of the Berserkers. Marauders that made it into The Ten were giving the title of ‘Underlord’ to signify the rare achievement of a Berserker actually making it into The Ten. What was more the two that currently lived were the most powerful of The Ten and were the ones responsible for the Hadi’s assault on United Alliance space. A decision all Hadi had come to respect, given that they had thus far had nothing but success.

Now Jore was waiting for his prey to arrive, waiting to bring further success. He had set up an ambush and was well hidden from view, as were the rest of his soldiers. With him he had brought twenty imperial soldiers, five Marauders and four Sorcerers. He knew he was more than likely capable of disposing of these rebels himself but he didn’t believe in taking chances, especially with the shaming of Dalen Kurr at stake. Even so, this was as many as he could afford to take away from the front lines as he dared. The resistance fighters had become more active in recent days. He had been given reports that the survivors of the rebel camp that he had destroyed almost two weeks ago had arrived and joined up with the Royal Kalorin Forces. Since then, the enemy had become more active and more aggressive, and now they were threatening to break his siege. He had planned to starve them into making a desperate attempt at dispersing his forces. But somehow the agents of the Queen had been able to elude him and sneak supplies into the city; food, water, ammunition, people and soldiers, the whole bloody lot. He had tried to send skirmishes into the inner city but the resistance forces were too well organised. The inner barricades and defences were strong as well. Walls, gates and turrets blocked the way so that his Imperial forces couldn’t penetrate the inner city. Large air cannons prevented any air raids as well. And he didn’t have the aircraft or troops to spare in stupid attempts of attack. Most of the Hadi Empire’s forces were focusing on the left over defenders in space, rooting them out and removing them from existence. He knew that there were two of The Ten on Fathom, Kalorin’s sister planet, and another three on the campaign to get the neutral trio worlds in the Pasture system into Hadi hands. The last three of The Ten were consolidating their remaining forces to ready themselves for the attack on the ‘Home’ system, so there wasn’t much he could do about these rebels here in the Capital city of Kalorin. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a whole lot of time to wait for others to finish their own assignments and lend him support. He had been commanded to have Kalorin under complete control in five months, and he was starting to push his deadline. And not that he really wanted others to help, it wouldn’t reflect well on him.