The Honorable Admirable King
The Admirable Honored Great King Rechov twitched. Although he knew that any form of military action would attract the attention and most likely retaliation of the Earth Forces, he did not expect such an overwhelming deployment of troops. Some came by dropship, some by those fancy white descent pods, but they all had one clear goal in mind, the elimination of the Followers of the True God Dreikus. Dreikus had decreed through Rechov that his followers must rule this world in his name. It was only an unfortunate annoyance that much of the population disagreed, the infidels! They would be made to believe easily enough once the planet was under holy control. But, fortunately, Loyal Followers controlled nearly all military production and material.
As he paced nervously back and forth outside the Grand High Masters\' Office, the Lieutenant wondered how Dreikus could make his prophet pull this off. The Followers were losing ground all over the map. A standard military strategist would prepare for the worst and begin evacuation of civilian and non-military personnel. But that wouldn\'t be necessary, after all they had won every battle in the past. Rechov could pull them through again.
The Honorable Leader burst triumphantly from the double doors of the office, assured his cowardly lieutenant, and advanced down the hall to issue his address to all of Reijus III.
It was heard in the halls, heard in the streets, broadcast aloud in the fighting machines so far away yet so close, and it was repeated in the mind of its creator. Apparently, they must prove their loyalty and be willing to die for the cause before Dreikus would grant them salvation. Then only the Truly Holy would live to see another day.
Round-Up
Most Cult Leaders are well protected, and, of course, this one happened to be so too. Or, rather, he would have been he had not been standing on his bunker instead of in his bunker. Arms reaching skyward, one might think he was yelling, screaming, \"Come kill me infidels!\". Numerous other officers and crew fired small pistol and rifle rounds at the mech\', making little nicks and scratches on the paint. Several well-placed warning rounds scattered the rational ones, however. A shuttle came down on the roof of the bunker and a small Spec-Ops team dragged off the leader into a holding cell. Larger ships would arrive later to pick-up the rest. In the meantime, the Vodul sector\'s carrier landed in a valley nearby, so the mech\'s pilot decided he would hitch a ride into space. A few thousand or so troops would stay behind on the planet to ensure a similar incident did not happen again. Pacifists are all well and good, of course, but they tend to get trampled on by passing dictators. The NKI Unit was far away in the jungle riding another skybound carrier. Its performance had been impressive, though it might be in need of a new pair of legs.
