The Il'Porrui-class vessel Truth and Reconciliation had been in the Acteron Sector for a few

kai'rotaa now, sailing on its own to explore the stars. Until now, this had meant merely escorting
Por'el Daar'ios on his diplomatic expeditions as he set up trade agreements, non-aggression treaties
and other formal declarations in the various systems they came across. But this time, the Water
caste's wordsmithing bore no such fruits – those Imperials were as stubborn, bigoted and blind as
ever.

Usually, more efforts would have been made to build bridges between the Gue'la and the Greater
Good – but since this was a single-ship expedition, speed and efficiency were of the essence. They
could not risk this planet raising the alarm and bring unwanted attention on the lonely T'au vessel.

Ambassador El'Daar'ios had done everything he could, but he couldn't afford to leave the
Persephone system without one last try. This one, however, was left to the skills of Shas'el Tel'shas
'Suntide'.

***

Under the cover of the cloudy night, Tel'shas stepped out of the Manta destroyer that had brought
her and her Cadre to the outskirts of Charon, the capital city of Persephone IV. As soon as the
landing site was clear, the destroyer started pulling up, a large shadow hovering over them, reaching
the clouds and disappearing in the dark; if everything went as planned, they would see it again in
the morning, to bring them back aboard the Truth.

As the formation moved up toward the city centre, a flash lit up the dark clouds, followed by a deep
growl as the earth shook for a brief moment ; inside Tel'shas's suit, a voice resonated on the
intercom :

« Shas'el ! Target eliminated. Air defences have been disabled, there will be no threat to the Kor'vre,
either from the ground or in the air! You can call them in! »

She nodded. Pathfinder team Kur had done its job swiftly ; she hailed the two pilots waiting for
order up above in the clouds : 

« Kor'vre Y'eldi ! Kor'ui Koedel ! You are free to engage. »

Moments later, the supersonic boom of a pair of Barracudas echoed above her, followed by the loud
bark of Ion guns and the whistle of Seeker missiles. As rain started to fall, alarms started whinging.
One of the Sky Ray started hissing, as, somewhere in the city, another target had been tagged by
Pathfinders for the missiles to find. A moment later, Tel'shas was certain some alarms had gone
silent.

« Pathfinder team Dok, what is your status? Have you reached the power station? »

The Shas'ui answered promptly :

« We have surrounded the facility, Shas'el. The Kroots have taken out most of the security
personnel, we are looking for the control room as of now. »

« Good work warriors, »Tel'shas nodded. «  Make sure you can keep the installation safe, but have
charges planted and ready to blow, on my command. »
Everything was going swiftly, just as planned. If she was lucky, Persephone IV might even wake up
tomorrow and find itself a part of the Greater Good without even any Gue'la losses to be reported –
perhaps the planetary Council would be missing a few members, but that would be it!

With the power station under control, she could move on to the administrative buildings and the
communication centre. With the garrisons crippled by the Kor'vre's strafing runs, the Cadre could
move up quickly.

A few groups of Gue'la soldiers were encountered, but they either fled or dropped their weapons on
the spot – they were taken completely off-guard, cut off from high command and any kind of heavy
support : what else could they do? A few fools would not consider surrendering and try to put up a
fight – in vain. She was used to such extremists ; killing them was almost mercy to their eyes, so
insufferable was the perspective of the Tau'va for these brutes.

She finally reached the administration palace, any guard still standing there was dealt with. The
building was scanned : there might still be targets of interest inside. Calling up her bodyguards, she
jumped up as her suit pushed her toward the sky ; she followed the tags showing up on her
viewscreen. There they were, halfway up the tower : warm shapes cowering inside, hiding in vain
from the infrared scanners. The Crisis team made its way through the rockrete with rockets and
plasma fire, until the targets had nowhere left to run. Hovering in the middle of the ruined floor,
Tel'shas turned on her searchlight and loudspeaker toward the crawling Gue'la :

« This is your last chance to reconsider the offer we made! This planet will join the Greater Good
and its commonwealth, whether you like it or not – but will you, too? It is not too late, we will hold
no grudge for your earlier decision if you make the right choice! The wise knows when to adapt. »

The two sumptuously clad men looked at each other for a moment, half-blinded by the light from
the battlesuit. The old one shook his head and shouted at the other :

« You know what they'll do to us if they merely suspect we had this discussion! The Inquisition
wastes no time with superfluous question! At least we can choose the way we go out – with pride,
as Imperial gentlemen! »

The young one had stood up now, glancing at the battlesuit, then at his elderly peer still lying on the
floor:

« You're right, we can choose the way we go – I'll take my chances. »

In the bat of an eye, he reached in his pocket and drew a pistol. The next moment, the old Gue'la
was lying dead. The surviving nobleman looked at Tel'shas, his eyes shaking :

« I do fear the Inquisition. But they're far away right now, and you are here with your guns and your
troops. Call back your diplomat, I'll order my men to stand down. » He sighed, staring at the dead
aristocrat : « I hope you will keep your promises. I hope it's worth it. I don't want to be the man who
brought down the vengeful wrath of the Imperium on Persephone. »

***

The night was over now. From the hole in the palace tower's wall, Tel'shas could see the sun rising
through the fog and above the industrial landscape. The Manta was hovering slowly over the
buildings, the Cadre gathering to go back aboard the ship.
That was a shining victory, she was proud of her Cadre. Persephone had swiftly joined the Tau'va,
for a minimal cost in lives. Of course, the same moves would not work every time – they could be
too slow next time, resistance could be tougher. . . She knew she had been lucky, but for now, she
was just glad : every success is an achievement toward the Greater Good.