Sirens blared around the main Council building, the standing stone of Rethan society. Many Rethans tried to continue on with what they were doing, trying to ignore what the sirens meant.
One of their leaders was gone.
At the top of the stairs, in front of the entrance to the council building, was the bleeding, broken form of Vice General Elkay Theanon. His body was encircled by medics, all desperately trying to bring their leader back to life.
To the left of the fallen general, Veekay laid, bleeding in his own pool of blood. He was still alive. Unable to move, but still alive. Both he and his guard target had fallen twenty five storeys. Somehow, Veekay was breathing, even if he was in desperate need of medical attention. All he could think about though was how he failed.
It had all happened so quickly.
They were standing by the window, discussing matters. General Elkay wanted all twelve Ksa with him for an upcoming event. Veekay brought up his concerns regarding their freedoms. He said he’d think about it. Then a mention of the R-Class. A roll of the General’s eyes.
Enkay and Geekay were standing outside by the door, like they always did. Teekay was… not around. He had a… a meeting? Veekay wasn’t sure.
There was shouting down the hallway. Someone had burst in. Lots of gunshots. A rapid-fire weapon. Stratos-grade weaponry. Anti-Telekinetic rounds. An alarm sounded. The flap of wings. Something flew down the hallway towards them. Enkay and Geekay, they were gunned down. Were they still alive?
Veekay had put himself in front of General Elkay, out of instinct. He took ten shots for the Vice General. Telekinetic shields did nothing. It flew into them. Feathered wings. Broke the window.
More gunshots. Through Veekay’s wings. Through the Vice General’s wings. They were both falling. Too much pain. No time to make a telekinetic bubble. That was all he had to do. He hadn’t managed it. Between the spray of bullets, the pain, the speed, the lack of air, Veekay had passed out.
He was amazed he was still alive. Why though? How?
The medics began to move away from the Vice General. A medical transport had arrived. Two burly Ethran-types lifted the General Elkay onto a stretcher. Someone said something. He wasn’t dead. Not yet.
Veekay could feel the Vice General’s heartbeat. But he couldn’t hear his thoughts. The medical transport sped off towards the closest hospital. Yet they’d left Veekay there on the ground.
He needed to check on the other Ksa. It was difficult concentrating on his telepathy with so much pain lingering in his body. Their telepathic signals were weak, but Enkay and Geekay were both still alive. Teekay was active. He was chasing the thing that shot them, with Thitaksi and Eksi on his tail.
The others… So many of them had been shot. There was no way of stopping anti-telekinetic bullets. Not even bulletproof armour. Itakay, Psiksi, Thitakay, Eskay, Deekay. All shot. All breathing. Just about.
Not that any of that mattered.
The sirens above stopped. After a brief moment, the sirens started up again. This time though, they were louder. Deeper. Slower. Veekay knew exactly what the sirens meant.
General Elkay was dead.