Planning: That Thing We Do When the Whole 'March in and Kill Anything in Sight' Idea Fails

This is joint-written.

"You wanna do it the way I first learned how?" Glide asked, a small flame appearing on his palm. "It's the easiest way I know."

Revan nodded. "Yes, master. What do I need to do?"

"You need to know fire, for starters." Glide said, the flame rising from his palm and beginning to circle his head. "Fire is destructive. Fire wants nothing more than to spread and cause more and more havok." Grinning, he tilted his head, the flame following his unspoken direction and floating over to Revan. "Take it, it won't hurt you. We're starting with the easiest part of manipulating fire; putting it out."

Revan reached out, letting the fire settle in his paw. "It's... cold..."

"Of course it is." Glide responded. "I told you it wasn't going to hurt you. To you, it's cold, but if you were to... say, chuck it at some poor schmuck, it'd burn him. Enough about that, though. I want you to concentrate on that fire. Envision a bucket of water, or a handful of sand. Anything that'll put it out."

Revan did as he was told, concentrating on the fire. It burned even stronger for a few seconds, then abruptly died. "I did it!"

"That's just the tip of the iceberg, kid, but you did it faster than I could." Glide grinned. "Now we start with something a little harder. Try to bring it back."

Revan held up his paw, an enormous flame erupting from his palm. He yelped loudly, clutching his paw. "Ow!"

Glide was quick to put the fire out, checking Revan's paw. "Doesn't look too bad, but maybe you should master manipulating my fire before we go back to conjuring your own..." He murmured. "Hey, Felix, would you be so kind?"

Felix nodded, stepping forward and taking Revan's paw in both of his own. His paws began to glow faintly, his healing powers getting to work on Revan's burn. After a moment, he let go. "There, good as new."

"Thanks." Revan smiled.

"Yeah, thanks for bein' the resident healer, sweetie." Glide said, giving Felix a kiss on the cheek. "You're the man."

 

...

 

Niqi sighed, laying back into the grass of the clearing. "What the hell are we going to do now?" she asked.

"I'd suggest heading back to Gase's office and choking the f**k out of him." Glide said. "But that's just me."

"It's not like his guards would just stand aside and let us in." Shetani muttered.

"There are other options," Niqi said, turning so she was facing them. "You know, like choking Gase and his guards." She grinned.

"We'd have to start with his guards first." Shetani responded, shaking her head. "The commotion outside his office would clue him in to our arrival, and he'd order the planet be destroyed."

Niqi dropped her head back onto the grass. "So choke the ones who'll destroy the planet, then, too."

"Did you forget, or are you just braindead?" Glide snapped. "We can't kill them from down here, they're up in the Sky Dragon. If we could even get in there, they'd blow the planet before we could disable the ship."

Revan sat up, snapping his fingers. "I've got it!"

"And what, pray tell, would you suggest?" Glide asked.

Revan smirked. "First, I need somebody to create an illusion for me." His gaze turned to Shetani. "Mom, can you? Just a small, three-dimensional model of the building Gase's office is in."

Shetani nodded, drawing a few runes in the air and creating the illusion. "What you were looking for?"

"Perfect." Revan said, pointing out a section of the hall leading to Gase's office. "This area here. Two guards were patrolling this hall when we went through, going in opposite directions."

Niqi got up. "So we are choking the guards?"

"Quietly, but yes, we are." Revan responded. "When the guards in the hall pass this turn, there's going to be a few seconds where they won't see each other. That's when we grab 'em."

"I'm liking it." Niqi grinned. "The rest of it?"

"I've thought about the worst-case scenario," Revan continued, "and if one of them does manage to call for help before they die, they can be used as human shields. If not, they're the first guards I saw in the building, so we should have a clear shot at Gase's office."

"Do you think Gase might still be able to give the order to destroy the planet in the worst-case scenario?" Niqi asked.

Revan shook his head. "Not unless he wants to be caught in the blast. If we bust into his office and take him by surprise, there's no way for him to give the order. He doesn't seem like the 'I don't care if I die, as long as my enemies die, too' kind of guy."

"And what about the Sky Dragon? Sure, Gase can't give the order, but we can't just leave them looming up there with all the potential to destroy us while we try to overthrow the slavers." Niqi frowned.

"Don't think I forgot about them." Revan grinned. "I know exactly how to deal with them. If Mom can orb me in there, I'll just give the ship a few... 'upgrades'."

Niqi grinned. "Awesome. When are we doing this?"

"Now." Glide stated. "I'm sick of waiting. Every second that passes, the stench of those wretched humans spreads further over my planet." He paused, glancing at Ambree. "No offense."

"None taken," Ambree replied. "Actually, I'm rather ashamed to be human at the moment." She paused. "...In other news, we're actually making progress? Awesome."

Reviews

[KEi]

Nice plan.

What's the catch?