Chapter 35

MANNE
GENERAL KOGUTH’S POSITION

Today ... today my vengeance will be complete. General Koguth’Juturi thought within his mind as his eyes took in everything around him.

Koguth’Juturi was a pureblood Kavalian, a man who was extremely proud of that fact and had been his entire life. He was also a very different man as well as extremely intelligent. He knew that without change his people would never achieve their goals and they would never be free of the past. Never in all the years of his search for his beautiful daughter Iama did he ever imagine he would be doing what he was doing at this very moment. He had never thought it possible, standing beside and commanding not only Lycavorians, but also elves and vampires and so many more different species, ready to stand against tyranny and bring it to an end.

The Gods of destiny and fortune had proven their unpredictable will this day. It was also a will Koguth embraced without hesitation.

He had been only seven years old the night his life changed. He had heard his mother’s cries of pain and had rushed from his room to help her. That was when he had seen his father taking his mother harshly, in the grips of a Tazli Root induced stupor. He was grunting like a beast upon her slim back, her cries of pain now only soft whimpers of humiliation. Koguth had seen her eyes that night. The tears of pain and shame as his father rutted above her like an animal, uncaring and unfeeling for the hurt and discomfort she was in. It was that very night that would alter the course of his life forever. Koguth’Juturi had sworn that night that he would never act as his father acted. He would never humiliate or hurt the woman who would give him his future children and be with him always.

Two hundred and nine years later when Mani had become his wife, he set about proving to her that he was unlike his father or the other older members of his Pride. The marriage had been arranged, as they usually were, and he was two centuries older than her, but Koguth was not unhappy in the least. Mani was very young and so very beautiful with her light brown fur and lush young body, but her eyes had captured him from the first moment he had seen her. He treated his beautiful wife as a jewel to be worshiped and cared for. She had been fearful of his actions at first, thinking them to be a trick so that he could punish her if she did not act as a typical Kavalian woman. Mani feared him Koguth knew, as she was still barely an adult herself at only twenty-three years old and Koguth was two hundred and fifteen at the time, and well on the way to making a name for himself within not only his Pride but the whole of the Kavalian military. As with all Kavalian females however, Mani knew well the price of defying her new husband anything he wanted.

Mani’Juturi discovered within the first week of their marriage that her Kavalian husband was very unusual indeed.

She had been walking among the market with other Kavalian females when a much older Kavalian male, one who had wanted her for some time and was very upset because he also had petitioned for her to be his wife and lost her to Koguth, approached her at one of the stalls and began to demean her in public. Mani could do nothing except stand there in shame among the other females and dozens of laughing males and listen to the foul words he had heaped upon her. What she did not know at that time was Koguth by then had become a very well respected and liked Kavalian officer among the Juturi Pride. Especially by the many younger males of the Juturi Pride and several other Prides. His name was also being spoken about within the senior Kavalian military ranks as a superior officer and tactician. He was stern and sometimes harsh with them, but the men he led saw that he actually cared for them and their well being. He took care of them and had gotten more than one of them out of trouble before. It was one of these men who had been shopping in the market at the same time and seen what was happening to his Commander’s new bride. It was he who had gotten a message back to his Commander in the first moments of this older male’s tirade against Mani. When the older male had struck her, Mani only had time to reach up and grasp her face where the blow had fallen before he lifted his hand to strike her again. Mani had closed her eyes and prepared for the beating, knowing she could do nothing to protect herself or risk her husband’s position.

That blow never came, and as she opened her eyes and watched from the ground, Koguth had appeared almost magically and leaped upon the older man with ferocious rage. It was only a few seconds, but Mani had gazed upon her new husband in adoration as Koguth tore into the older and larger officer with savage and brutal violence, holding nothing back. Koguth was not a small man by any means and she witnessed firsthand what her new husband was capable of that day. When he was done, the larger Kavalian male was broken and bloody on the ground before her husband’s feet, his body and face and fur covered in blood from dozens of vicious slashes of her husband’s claws and immensely powerful blows from his hands and feet. When six others from this man’s Pride had moved to assist him, Mani watched as nearly twenty of Koguth’s Juturi Pride and several men from other Prides appeared from all around them, ready to stand with their Commander and Pridemate. All of them were younger like him and they stood with him without fear.

In a display unheard of at that time, Koguth’Juturi turned from the beaten down officer after spitting on him and walked to where his young wife stared up at him from the ground. With all the tenderness of lifting a newborn child, Koguth had taken her into his arms and with his men surrounding him; he had carried his young wife the entire two kilometers back to their home. He had spoken no words during that trip, Mani’s eyes focused on his face the entire time, but once inside the privacy of their home his words of apology had poured from his lips. He doted over her, though she was not really hurt in any way, and that was when Mani’Juturi knew he was very different. That was when she first stopped to look at him and she realized just how handsome he truly was with his well groomed fur and rugged features. That was also when she had first kissed him. Realizing that her action was inappropriate; her first instinctive reaction was to draw back in horror at the anger she knew he would no doubt shower upon her for what she had done. That was until his large hands had come up and taken her face within their grasp so very gently and he had kissed her back.

And what a kiss it was for Koguth’Juturi.

So vexed by her beauty that he was, Koguth continued to kiss her, pulling her small body against his and relishing in the myriad of sensations and emotions that came pouring forth from him. And Mani’s reaction only spurred him on as she clutched at his shoulders in delight and urged him on. He had taken her to their bed that night and he had proceeded to worship her lush body in ways that were even more unheard of and taboo by Kavalian males. Mani’Juturi had been howling out her passionate enjoyment within moments as she clutched at him in bliss and he made her experience things that that no Kavalian male would ever do for a female’s pleasure. Kavalian females were considered nothing but second class citizens among their people, only good for manual chores, fucking and giving birth to more Kavalian sons. They had practically no rights at all within mainstream Kavalian society. Koguth’Juturi had showed her that night that he was unlike everything she had been raised among. When he had locked groins with her that first night after giving her hours of unimaginable pleasure that she had never dreamed of; while she quivered in bliss and showered his face and neck with kisses; he vowed to her he would never disrespect her. Never hurt her. He vowed to her that he was different. And he vowed to her that one day he would be free to show everyone what she meant to him.

He vowed to her that they would be free.

That was the night the real Koguth’Juturi was born.

As he held his beautiful young wife in his arms and she purred against him, her delicious tail bouncing quite contently over their legs, he whispered to her what his dreams for the future were. They would have to hide their powerful affection and love in public he told her, but she would never be without someone watching over her from this day forward. He would apologize profusely when he had to speak sternly with her in public, for that was the Kavalian way and was expected, but his words were always carefully chosen so that she knew his true intent and love for her. He never grew angry with her over anything and together in their home, away from prying eyes, he would laugh with her and cuddle and joke with her. And he utterly dismissed the Kavalian mentality that females were stupid and not worth the effort to school, for he taught her everything that he could. By their law back then Kavalian females were not even allowed to read without first gaining the permission of senior Pride leaders and a government official, but Koguth had brought her hundreds upon hundreds of books through those first years together. Once he had taught her to read he brought her books on anything that he thought she would enjoy or could learn from. And Mani was a voracious reader. Many of the books were even outlawed by Kavalian law. By their tenth year together, Mani’s education surpassed even that of many senior Kavalian males.

Mani was very careful as well, knowing that her husband’s actions could get both of them killed, and she loved him with every fiber of her being now. She absorbed all of his teachings about security and protecting themselves like a sponge. Over the years she became even more fastidious than him when it came to hiding. Their home was their sanctuary and together they had built and hidden many caches of vast knowledge and such things that neither of them were allowed to have by law. Koguth shared everything with her and held nothing back. He came to rely on her insight and the vast knowledge she had come to acquire from the books she had read. They both decided not to have children right away so that they could build upon what they were doing and not worry for slipping up in some way and having their children taken from this life. He dismissed his father’s council to step outside their marriage in order to find a woman who could give him children. Koguth’s reply was that he was building his career and their Pride up so that he would not have to worry when it came time for children. Mani was perfectly able to have children but he was waiting until he could teach his sons what they needed to in order to advanced their Pride’s standing. His father had liked this answer, and he never questioned him again. He had no idea what Koguth was truly doing. Even after his father became Pride Leader of the Juturi Pride he never caught on to what his son was doing. This only served to reinforce his idea that his father was nothing more than a stupid monster. He now hated his father even more for he had taken his mother from him in another Tazli Root induced fever only eleven years after Mani had become his wife. His mother had seen the spark in his eyes for what it was and she had done everything within her power to encourage that and nurture his feelings. It was something Koguth would never forgive his father for and it made him love and cherish Mani that much more. His hatred for the man his father was would make it so much easier to kill him many years into the future after what he had done to Iama.

For over six hundred years this went on in secret. In that time Koguth’Juturi was the ideal Kavalian officer in all things. He was a masterful tactician, and leader of men. Even the cloned Kavalian soldiers who were assigned under him were far better trained and efficient than most. He was among the few more strategically sound leaders, a man who treated his cloned soldiers with the same respect as the purebloods of his Pride. This practiced was ridiculed and looked down upon by other Pride Leaders, but the Kavalian High Command could not argue with his results and therefore let him conduct himself as he pleased. During this time is when he and Mani began to build their power base within their Pride. While his father took all of the credit as Pride Leader for his son’s successes, it was Koguth and Mani who drove the Juturi Pride forward in secret. They were very careful in what they did, selecting only Pride members who showed flashes of their true feelings in their actions and words. Those who rebelled against the hate filled speeches and false history of their people. At first it was only half a dozen. Kavalian males who turned out to be like Koguth. These were who they concentrated on. Exposing them to values and morals that older Kavalians did not have or were never taught. And it was these men who began the real foundation of the Juturi Pride, who acted just as Koguth and Mani did. And it was these men who began to sow the seeds of their future actions. All of them took wives from other Prides, young women with healthy figures and beauty and all of them treated their wives as treasures. As Koguth schooled the men, it was Mani who schooled the females. In the first quarter century of starting down this road, over a hundred males of the Juturi Pride had joined their small circle with their wives. All of their wives were as equally skilled as the men thanks to Mani and they were worshiped by their husbands. The males of the Juturi Pride embraced this mentality completely. These men treated their Kavalian wives as the bearers of their future and what they could one day have. They played the game in public yes, but in the privacy of their homes, their wives were equal in everything and had a say in all that they did. They had tossed aside the old ways and fully embraced the new, led by Koguth and Mani. And they were utterly vicious with their security. All of them knew to be caught would mean instant death. The Kavalian females knew that more eyes would be on them, but Mani’s instruction was perfect in every way, learned from years of doing it all herself.

Their actions did not go unnoticed however.

It wasn’t until they had been doing these things for a hundred and sixty years that they were discovered. The Shale Pride had taken the young wife of a Juturi Pride member in a night time raid. A woman they had arranged for the young man to take as his wife. They let it be known that they knew everything and they wanted to meet to discuss such things. Koguth had led a force of sixty of his Pride’s men to the meeting place, ready to murder and destroy an entire Pride if need be to protect their secret. It would not be necessary.

When they found the young woman she was talking animatedly with many other females of the Shale Pride, the men standing around with their weapons stacked in a single place and waiting patiently for Koguth and them to arrive. The Shale Pride Leader, a much older man than Koguth, had dropped to his knees in front of him and then quite unexpectedly, expressed his desire to become part of Koguth’s plan. This became even more obvious to Koguth when the young woman raced to her husband’s arms and he embraced her tightly, kissing her without shame, while her much older father and mother looked on with happiness and hope in their eyes. The Shale Pride Leader had professed his loyalty to the Juturi Pride and him if only they would allow them to join their secret society. He no longer wished to see his Pride’s daughters given to monsters, or their Pride’s sons have to treat their mothers and sisters as if they were beneath them. That night, the Shale Pride became bound to the Juturi Pride in a way that nothing would ever come between.

And their numbers swelled.

When the Kavalian people announced their return to the galaxy with the attacks against the High Coven, Koguth had the unquestioned loyalty of nine complete Prides. They had spent centuries building and expanding and intermingling their Prides. Nearly two million men and women who wanted more than what they were allowed to have. Men and women who wanted to be free to live their lives and raise their children as they saw fit. Through the course of that time, the Juturi Pride had grown to be the largest in numbers and prestige and along with them, all the other Prides as well. Koguth’s father basked in the new attention and stature that this gave to them and he never questioned it as foolish and blind as he was. All nine Prides resettled to one of the planets reclaimed by the Kavalians in the first year of their war with the High Coven. A fertile planet on the edges of the new Kavalian border, a place where they would have more freedom to continue their teachings and much better security. It was in this new area of space that they discovered that the Nruarani Pride, a nomadic Pride from the outskirts of the empire, also adhered to what they all now followed. The Nruarani Pride was very large, over three million members alone, and in even better position to assist them because of the standing Pian’Nruarani had established through the years, even while keeping the secret of their values. Mani had become the matriarch to them all as Koguth’s wife and by then she had given him Mataen and Nedoli and then Iama. When Mataen was born thirty years before the war with the High Coven Koguth knew the path they followed was the correct one. When Nedoli became part of their lives only six years later, it only reinforced their position. And then when Iama entered this world ten years after that, Koguth swore she would know all her desires and he would insure she found love just as he and Mani shared.

The High Coven war was not something any of them agreed with, but in order to insure their secret was secure and to possibly set themselves up to turn away from the now excessively oppressive Kavalian leadership under Keleru, they fought. They fought not for Keleru or his grasps at power and revenge, but they fought for their future. While their numbers continued to swell back home, Koguth and the others insured that their men did not die needlessly or without cause. During the war, the Juturi Pride and those aligned with them suffered minimal casualties. They fought tenaciously and with honor, but they insured that no lives were thrown away for no purpose. And not one of the Prides aligned with Koguth had ever committed war crimes against vampire soldiers. When one of their nine Prides fell, their wives assumed the mantle of their homes and became the heads of their families. None were forced to marry again unless they discovered new love, and they were never without the support of each other. Mani’Juturi saw to this as the matriarch to them all and no matter what, her words and instructions were always followed to the letter. Mataen’Juturi fought beside his father while Nedoli remained at home and studied and grew strong. It was during the second of their High Coven invasions when Mataen discovered Corsa and became totally enraptured with her. He saved her from a life of endless rapes and beatings when the biogenic program failed to remove her tail or change her feline like eyes. When her Pride dismissed her, Mataen rescued her and made her his wife.

Then Koguth discovered what his father had done with Iama.

The flower and beauty she was growing into would bring Koguth to tears when he held her in his arms or bounced her on his knees. She had become the focus of why he had been doing this for all these years. When he returned with Mataen at the end of the second invasion and discovered what his father had done, Koguth went into a rage that...

“ ... Found the western scrambler.” Kalis’s calm voice broke into his memories and brought Koguth’Juturi back to the present.

“So it would seem.” Koguth answered as he came fully alert once more.

“We should attack now General.” Kalis said.

Koguth shook his head. “Patience young Kalis.” Koguth told him calmly. “Let them draw closer. Not all of them have cleared the far treeline.”

“Their commander has positioned himself in the treeline to southwest.” Mata spoke now.

“Mata ... when this begins ... he is yours.” Koguth said calmly turning to look at him. “He must not be allowed to escape and return to Pusintin and inform him of what is going on. Akor’dris, Bae’diraz and the Juturi Pride fighters will move from their hidden holes on the west, but they will concentrate on any that remain within the timber. Any who attempt to escape to the west will be swept up by them. The only way open to him will be south.”

Mata nodded his head without doubt. He had thought his life over when he had assisted Kalis in escaping his father. The young man he had raised as he would have raised his own sons was now a man and he had chosen a path that provided him a future. Mata did not think that purpose extended to him. His wife and sons were long dead, taken from him by disease and uncaring leaders. He had no reason to live on. Until Kalis had showed him purpose once more. Kalis had showed him that there was no need to throw his life away, that he could once more have a family and a future. He showed him there was always purpose if you were brave enough to reach for it. So Mata had reached for it, and after these past weeks he clung to that ideal with vicious faith. He was here beside men and women who did not care that he was once Puma Bane. They only cared that he was with them and just as dedicated to their cause as they were. And Mata meant to see a new future for himself and his people take shape even if it cost him his life.

“It will be done.” He said simply.

“The order remains the same. Every man and woman is to fire a full magazine before leaving their position.” Koguth told them. “Be as accurate as possible and bring down as many as they can. Plasma grenades from every fourth soldier, anti-personal rockets from every sixth. Once they have exploded and wreaked more havoc ... we will bring the fight to them. No mercy can be shown. No remorse. They are Puma Bane and they will show you none. And they must pay for the crimes they have committed through the years.”

Jormal Pescneu glanced at the Kavalian General he now served beside proudly and grinned widely showing perfect white fangs capable of tearing flesh from bone easily enough. “General ... do I detect a hint of perverse joy at the pain we are about to inflict?”

Koguth turned his head slightly to gaze at the Lycavorian he now called friend and aide. “I suppose you do Jormal.” He answered.

Jormal’s smile broadened. “You and your Pride are more like us than you know General. And it will be seen this day.”

“They found the second one.” Kalis commented.

Koguth turned back to view the expanse of the camp before them. “Inform Nedoli and Mataen. Tell them this is going to kick off and have Ceale, Mani and Serale ready to receive wounded when they begin arriving. There will be wounded my friends, and we will lose men and women this day. Do not deter from your tasks. If they fall, allow our medical teams to sweep in behind us and see to them. Do not stop pressing the attack.” Koguth looked at Mata once more as he lowered his fingers from where he had tapped his COM implant.

“It is done General. Lady Ceale says they are as ready as they will ever be.” Mata echoed softly. “And Corsa stands ready with the MENKLA transport to evacuate any who need critical care from the small Queen Anja.”

Koguth nodded with an evil glint in his eyes. “Then it is time.” He said. “Kalis ... if you would detonate the charges ... it is time to send these Puma Bane butchers into the next life.”

Kalis lifted the detonator in his hand, looked at Koguth and mashed down on the handle with all of his strength.

They were another weapon of war designed, constructed and perfected by humans long ago. The Lycavorian Union and High Coven never used Anti-Personal Mines to great extent in their war. As wolves and vampires, many could move far faster than humans, making it very nearly impossible to inflict injury with directed minefields. They were also much less effective because Lycavorians could detect the faint traces of the scents of those who laid the minefields to begin with and vampires could almost certainly detect the residual body heat from a rapidly placed minefield. This was something discovered during the battle for Earth since the vampire artillery had effectively neutralized the minefields the defenders of Eden City had laid.

It was not the same now. The skill of the engineers within the Union, and the combined ideas of Ben and Martin, the Union had resorted to using far more mines in their inventory. Mines of every shape and size. The vast majority of them now with very small and very self-contained camouflage generators. The most common of these mines was the Claymore. It was a name leftover from human history, and unlike his beautiful elven wife, Ben was not very good at naming things. He left it alone and simply added a Mark Two at the end of the name.

The M18 Mark Two Claymore Mine was unlike its very effective older brother in many ways. Where the original Claymore was horizontally convex, the Mark Two now stood 140 millimeters in height and weighed just over 5 kilograms, while being completely circular in shape. They were too heavy to carry more than two for any one person, but the Lycavorian Union had put them into primary use as a defensive weapon of unit field commands. Ben had combined the original idea of the claymore with the equally effective bounding anti-personal mine. The Claymore Mark Two was no longer a directional landmine. When tripped, the Mark Two would burst from the ground where it had been buried or hidden and lift exactly 1.5 meters into the air. Then a tiny pyrotechnic trigger activated and caused the main charge of 900 grams of plastic explosive to erupt, spraying out one thousand tiny, and razor sharp flechettes in a 360-degree area of destruction at nearly 5000 feet per second. Each mine had a kill radius of thirty meters and an injury radius of nearly triple that. Each mine also had a very small computer chip in its brain that caused the mine itself to take the coloring of whatever background where it was planted. This camouflage chip would then effectively hide it from almost all known detection by rapidly advancing infantry and also served to protect ADHOC bases from less than thorough sweeps by attacking forces.

This would be the first time the Mark Two had seen actions since the end of the Evolli War. It was also the first time that any Kavalian soldier in Koguth’s command had seen it in action, and it made many of them speak silent prayers to whatever gods they worshiped that they never had to face these weapons.

The moment Kalis mashed down on the trigger in his hand, a single burst of energy went out down the nearly five miles of insulated and buried wire they had laid this minefield with. They had worked tirelessly for a full week to make this wide-open clearing appear to be what it wasn’t and that was the main Union base of operations on Manne. Base One was actually very well hidden by powerful Ground Shroud Generators similar to what Androcles Leonidas had used on Solmar, nearly one hundred kilometers from this location. This decoy base had been fitted with many electronic devices and hundreds of polymer tents and portable buildings that had been erected to enforce the illusion that this was their main base. Martin Leonidas had not been convinced that this idea would work at first, and was leaning towards using the deserted Science Station they had discovered returning from the moon where they had first met. It wasn’t until Koguth, Kalis and even Mata explained to him that the High Coven did not use such trickery in battle and the Puma Bane believed themselves superior to everyone. Base Two was not nearly as large as Base One, nor as well constructed or hidden, and they were intentionally causing it to radiate openly. It only served to enforce the idea to the Puma Bane that they were facing inferior troops. Base Two had a perimeter size of three hundred meters by four hundred meters. There were one hundred Mark Twos buried within the soft dirt beneath the feet of the Puma Bane. There were two hundred and fifty Puma Bane in Lieutenant Shonis’s detachment. They made up fully eighty-five percent of the shipboard complement of Puma Bane under the Marshall’s command.

None of them would live for more than a few more minutes.

In the space of 4.5 seconds, one hundred Mark Two Claymore mines triggered and leaped into the air within that killing field. With a single, soft muffled explosion, each mine blew apart at a height of 1.5 meters and expelled one thousand flechettes at five times the speed of sound in a 360-degree arc.

No one was safe.

Each flechette was propelled at 4875 feet per second, providing 89 foot pounds of kinetic energy to the targets. Watching from the safety of their hidden positions Koguth and the others could only gawk in horrific shock as the Puma Bane troops were practically shredded into little bits where they stood. The light body armor they wore provided very little protection against the devastating force of the flechettes. To those standing within two or three meters of a mine, their bodies simply blew apart in red mists of blood and flesh, catching the force of the mine’s deadly ordnance full on. While this served to save some of their comrades from the full force of the mine’s lethal radius, none of the Puma Bane within the kill zone escaped injury. The screams of the mortally inured began to fill the air all around them, even as the remains of their Lieutenant Shonis dripped from the tattered remnants of two polymer tents.