The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Hunting the Hand

It was a strangely savvy move for a group usually tasked with safeguarding members of the Council of the Night. Too savvy, in fact. It was a move worthy of a great House's master tactician, or high commander. Or ... the Lord Commander of the Qos Viran.

Again the evidence pointed back at Liam Magnar. Either somebody was going through a great deal of trouble to implicate the Lord Commander. Or he was hip-deep in the conspiracy to destroy the Ventru. One way or another, the need Lash had to speak with his commander and former mentor had just become that much more urgent.

A light tap on Lash's shoulder to gain his attention then Truk was pointing towards the nearest tank, an M-1A that had just fired, a tendril of smoke oozing from the end of its barrel. Nodding, Lash moved forward, his weapon held high and ready. In a utility pouch, he held a shaped charge made out of C-4, its remote detonator connected to a wireless trigger that Truk had.

Truk's simple but effective attack plan was to wire up all the armor with the C-4 then standoff and detonate just as the Hand made its final push towards the walls. They would eviscerate the enemy just as they were about to taste victory. It was both delightfully decisive and deliciously vampiric. Lash was almost salivating at the thought of gutting the Hand so thoroughly and so ironically unexpectedly.

Again the pair of guards that were watching the tank's flank fell victim to Lash's expert work with the karambit. Then, after a scan to make sure he was still undiscovered, he darted in close to slip the charge under the tank's rear end, home to its engine and fuel tanks.

Truk was just returning from his own charge-placing run when Lash rendezvoused with him in a grove of snow-covered trees to assess the effectiveness of their stealth attack through the scopes on their rifles. It wasn't long before the other two vampires in Truk's team also returned, their charges placed.

The other two vampires on the team were just finishing their brief reports when a muted light on Truk's radio flashed once, then again. It was the signal from the other teams that they too had successfully placed their explosives.

Truk slung his rifle and brought out a pair of night vision binoculars. Lash, already scanning the tanks that were leading the advance on the wall, didn't move as the Van Tallert nestari joined him on the edge of the copse.

"They're well within firing range of the wall," Truk pointed out in a hoarse whisper. "Why aren't they firing?"

"Likely because whoever is directing this attack wants to see for themselves the final assault," Lash grimly indicated in a low voice of his own. He abruptly dropped the binoculars from his eyes, folded and stowed them on his utility vest.

"Which means they might actually be in that column!" he said, beginning to rise to his feet. If that bastard was in the column, then he was going to kill him right here and now!

He was halfway up when Truk's hand caught him.

"I like your instincts, Lash, but consider this," the nestari officer began without pulling Lash back down. "The leader of the conspiracy to promote this purge against our clan has operated exclusively in the shadows. While you and I would see something like this to the end with our own eyes, a coward like that would prefer to hide. He or she will watch but from afar." He made a gesture towards the column. "Likely one of the Hand's agents, or a familiar is out in the column's vanguard, miked and cammed up, ready to transmit when they're ready to attack."

"If they aren't already dead," one of the other vampires said in a low voice, earning himself a quiet chuckle from the other three.

"A valid point. However, I'd think that if it's truly the shadow master's witness, they'll be heavily protected." He paused to quickly look from one vampire to the next. "I didn't see such protection in the squads I attacked. Did any of you? No? Then we haven't seen them yet."