"...If we're assigning blame, then this is your fault for leaving me alone with explosives in the first place."

"Wha- how is your incompetence my fault!"

"I told you I needed help but you-"

The Herald's compatriots were bickering, they were always bickering, of course, but in this instance, it seemed to be unusually severe. He could hear them from the hallway this time and that was just damn sloppy.

He pushed through the door into the supply room they occupied "quiet you two, do you want everyone in the building to know what we're doing?"

"No, sir."

"On course not boss"

"Then keep it together we're almost done and God would be most displeased if his servants failed at this juncture. Now, what's wrong."

The shorter of the two men answered first "I realized that the device would be more effective if I attached something to act as shrapnel so I taped a few boxes of ball bearings to the side and-"

The taller man cut him off "Long story short this idiot managed to short circuit the timer, and it's going to be a bitch to fix."

The Herald checked the time on his comm unit, "We don't have time for this, if the Margrave learns of your incompetence both of your names will be added to the hell list and both of you know what will mean for your families."

Both men were silent and looked like they were going to be sick. It was his own fault really, he should have insisted that he be assigned full initiates instead of these two and their questionable faith. Expendability be damned, it wasn't worth the bickering and now he had to figure something out. "how long will it take to rig a manual trigger."

"Sir there's no need t-"

"The great plan will soon commence and I will not allow fear for this mortal vessel prevent me from doing my part, so I ask again, how long?"

The tall man couldn't meet the Herald's gaze "about fifteen minutes."

"Then get to work, both of you, time is not on our side."

Speed was her religion. Not in the sense that she needed heart-pounding adrenaline-fueled rides, she considered those foolish and gratuitous-neither did she feel the urge to substitute it for quality in her work, to her that was sloppy. No, to Indrani Bangladesh everything needed to be done as quickly as it could be done while achieving the requisite quality. Whether it be filing reports or drawing her sidearm, everything was done with as much hurry as she could muster, and as little wasted effort as she could manage. Her creed was to be there firstest with the mostest and, everything in her life abided by it. She didn't do well around heretics though, namely this fucker that was deliberately trying to stall her. "Corporal is there a reason you are wasting my time?"

"I'm not wasting your time ma'am, Captain Frolov said that you need to wait with your vehicle while it's repaired."

"So you're saying Captain Frolov is wasting my time."

"I um uh... that is to say- I mean no ma'am" The kid seemed to be flustered and intimidated by Indrani's severe unsmiling demeanor. Good, maybe that would teach him not to stall her in the future.

"Corporal, I have a meeting to get to, could you kindly get to the point."

"I-I... the captain said he doesn't want your vehicle here and wants you to deal with it before the meeting."

Indrani started massaging her temples with her fingers, she could feel a stress headache coming on "It's one hundred and twenty tons of advanced alloys that are supposed to float 60 cm off the ground and it had bad drive unit, what the hell does he expect me to do in the next fifteen minutes."

"Fix it, ma'am?"

Her angry eyes tried to bore a hole through the poor idiot's soul. Keep it together Indrani, remember that this idiot is just doing what that bastard Frolov told him too.

They had forgotten the coffee. After weeks of planning and training, those two had forgotten to fill the carafes with coffee. Intellectually the Herald of Joy knew that it didn't matter an that no one would notice the metal pot rattling a little more than usual, or care if they did, but it irked him that his contribution to the great plan had flaws.

He stopped the cart suddenly and it's contents rattled precariously. there! room 113, he'd been so lost in thought he'd almost passed it.

He felt a large hand on his shoulder "Oy mate, where you think yer going with that" the hand belonged to a very large uniformed man that stood between the herald and room 113.

"Um, I have refreshments for the meeting in room 113" the Herald casually slid a hand into his pocket.

"Och no need for that we already got sum, sorry for the mix- GURK." The large man grabbed at his bloody throat weakly, surprised at the sudden appearance of a knife in it.

The Herald roughly shoved the dying man out of his way and reached for the door handle. That hadn't exactly been part of the plan but he'd been prepared, and now it was time

His mouth curved up into the widest smile he could manage, It was time to spread the joyous word of God.

He shoved the door inward and forced the cart through it. A few of the room's occupants looked towards the commotion but most didn't pay him any heed. They were Soldiers of the protectorate, sent here by Earth to prop up the vile unsmiling tyrants. They were allies to the devil, but reluctant and pragmatic ones, and for that reason, they would have the privilege of hearing the joyous word first.

"WHEN GOD LOOKS UPON HIS CREATION, HE fEELS JOY AND SMILES."

It was time for him to stand in the smiling presence of God. He closed his eyes and depressed the button.

The Corporal was spared from Indrani's murderous gaze when the shockwave shattered the window behind him. "HOLY SHIT!!! What was that? Are we under attack? Should we-" his voice faded behind Indrani as she sprinted towards the source of the explosion.

A plume of dust rose from the left-wing of the senate building, shards of the building had been thrown across the plaza, and Indrani could her pained moans coming from somewhere. The entire legislative palace was in disarray, bystander reactions ranged from frantic panic to numb shock, to calm confusion, but the overall effect was reminiscent to a chicken running around with its head cut off. Individuals were already starting to recover but everyone was still disorganized. This won't do.

She grabbed a Private with a signal communications patch on her shoulder as she tried to run past. "Do you have a comm unit?" Indrani asked the question with a casual calmness that contrasted with the situation around her.

The woman had a look of animal panic on her face "UmumIdon'tknowIthinkIdropedohgodwhat-."

Indrani shoved her unit into the woman's hand "Use mine, I want you to contact medical and combat engineers and get them over here. Now repeat that back to me."

"Uh contact med-medial and c-combat engineering and-and get them here."

"Good, now get on it.

Without another word Indrani turned and scanned her surroundings until her eyes settled on a dazed-looking sergeant in full combat gear. "Sergeant grab anyone with a gun and set up a perimeter 100 meters away from the building."

The man stared at her for a moment then pointed to his bloody right ear "WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

She walked up to the man, grabbed him under the chin and turned his good left ear towards her "I SAID TO SET UP A 100 METER PERIMETER"

"Oww okay, no need to yell I hear you, ma'am, on it."

There was a loud crack and a section of the Senate building started to slump downward. Aw hell, I need to deal with that.

"You there, I need you with me" Indrani yelled at the calmest looking person she could find.

"Yes, ma'am, where are we going?

Indrani pointed at the straining building "we need to go in and check for survivors."

The man visibly gulped but nodded "yes ma'am."

The squat, black, building had stopped shifting and groaning but the top three floors looked misshapen and compressed as a result of the damage and she didn't trust it so stay stable for long, they'd have to be quick.

The two of them took off for the gaping hole the blast had left in the building, picking their way through the strewn rubble towards the senate building. Indrani scrambled up to a hole in the wall and peered into the shadows and dust of the interior. "Hello is-" the wall she'd leaned against collapsed and she tumbled downward in a cloud of dust and hit the ground with a surprisingly soft landing.

"Are you alright ma'am?" her companion called down after her

"Yeah, I'm fine." Indrani pulled out a light and realized that she'd landed on someone's legs "Oh shit, get down he-" her light reached the individual's shoulders and she realized that the man was a head shorter than he'd once been "never mind take your time."

Indrani heard a slide of the rubble and a string of curses as the soldier joined her "did you find anyone-" he caught sight of the decapitated man and promptly hurled. She ignored her compatriot's weak stomach and turned her light to the corpse's chest. The name tape on it said Frolov. This is bad, someone just hit the staff meeting and took out our command structure, the whole task force is as headless as poor Captain asshole here.

"Gu mu hu bickie"

It was unintelligible but Indrani heard mumbling coming from about ten meters to her left. Her light panned the area until she spotted a boot sticking out from under a heavy wooden slab.

"Over there." The pair rushed over and strained to lift the debris. Underneath they found a short brawny man, battered, bloody, and missing his right arm.

"Check his pulse and breathing, I'm going to put a tourniquet on the arm." The man started muttering quietly and Indrani leaned in.

"I tried to light my ciggy but I dropped my bickie."

Indrani pulled off her belt and looped it around his stump "he's in shock." she pulled tight on the belt "We need to-" the fist smashed into her nose with enough force to knock her to the ground.

"I TRIED TO LIGHT MY CIGGY BUT I DROPPED MY BICKIE."

The world swirled around as she lay dazed on the ground. She felt blood running down her face and she tenderly probed the wreckage of her nose.

"Oh fuck, ma'am are you all right."

She pushed herself up into a sitting position "I'm fine just... just forget the first aid and get him outside," her head loled back and she studied the ceiling through teary eyes. Son of a bitch this hurts.

The ceiling above her started to buckle and crack. She scrambled to her feet. "We're leaving NOW."

"Wha- but"

"I SAID NOW." Indrani started pushing the soldier with the forward as soon as he'd slung the one-armed man across his shoulders and they sprinted for the exit. Behind her, a the sound of splintering wood accompanied their flight. The soldier ducked through the opening and Indrani ran after him only to trip flat on her face a few meters from the entrance. Before she could recover there was a loud rumbling as the building finally collapsed and her world was enveloped in grey dust.

A minute later everything was silent and Indrani took stock of her situation

I feel pain, this is good, it means I'm alive.

She tried to move but felt her legs trapped underneath something, and warm liquid running down them.

This...day...is...SHIT.