"It does," General Isaiah grunted out. "It is the private meeting chamber where the Elder Council would meet. The other chambers are used for audiences and discussions. But this one is basically the center of the Elder’s ego. Keep in mind that Joza is known for intellect and tactics so there is a good chance that he will still have his subordinates try to kill you if he claims to want to surrender."
"Sounds like a pain in the ass." Jace answered as he tapped the panel next to the elevator door, calling down the elevator. He then made a hand motion to Uti. Uti backed up away from the door opening. Jace did the same as he saw that the last elder was two floors up. "Are we just guarding him now or do you want me to drag him somewhere?" Jace asked as they heard the distinct ’ding’ of the elevator. They were then surprised as a swarm of enemies ran out of the elevator.
Three left the elevator before Jace grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and threw them back into the elevator. There were four other enemies in there as well, all of which were about to leave. But Jace tossed a plasma grenade into the elevator and then ducked behind the opening of the door, turning and firing at the two enemies that had run out of the elevator.
The explosion in the elevator had not completely killed the occupants as he could hear them screaming a second later as the elevator began dropping. While he and Uti gunned down the two that had left the elevator.
The first one was torn to shreds by Jace’s Wildfire. They collapsed in a pile of blood and body parts. While the second one was killed by Uti, whose weapons took a second to get through the enemy’s armor’s shielding and then started hitting vulnerable points. The enemy collapsed on the ground with a groan as his weapon fell away. Uti stepped forward and awkwardly stabbed the enemy in the head with the spear.
Then after a second of contemplation Uti stepped away from the body leaving the spear inside. "Did not need that anyways." He talked to himself while Jace and him both looked at the doorway where the elevator used to be. "Now how are we going to get up?"
Before Jace could answer Uti he got an answer from Isaiah, "you will take him up to the roof. While the rest of your squad will meet up with Josef. You and Uti will hold the roof until we are able to get a transport down to you."
Jace sighed as he nodded. "Understood. What if we meet resistance or he wants to bring tagalongs?" Jace asked as he looked up and then down the elevator shaft. He then moved the Wildfire to his back as he made calculations in his head.
"Prohibited. Elder Joza and only him. No one else. If they want to surrender they can hand over their weapons and wait disarmed somewhere. I told as much to Elder Joza, so kill anyone around him that is armed." General Isaiah, "Now if you will. I have to get back to conquering an entire planet." He then disconnected the communication channel.
Jace chuckled under his breath as he made a decision. "Okay, Uti." Jace looked at the Ola, "this will be incredibly demeaning but I am going to throw up two floors." Jace told him.
"What?" Uti carefully looked up the elevator shaft and then back at Jace. "Is that really necessary? We could just spend some time climbing up to the eighth floor." Uti pointed out nodding at the various protrusions in the shaft that would allow for them to climb and then literally pointed at something that looked like a built in ladder.
Jace deflated, "yeah but... that’s not very fun." Jace pointed out.
Uti seemed taken aback for a moment before he seemingly began to realize his new commander’s behavior. "You just want to throw me out." Jace froze and avoided looking at Uti, "Not happening." He told Jace and then climbed out into the elevator shaft and began moving over to where the elevator was.
Jace sighed after a moment and climbed out into the elevator shaft as well and just went upwards. Pulling and then throwing himself upwards. He then grabbed the edge of the doorway on the seventh floor and began pulling himself up. He then froze as he could hear voices on the other side of the door.
Jace shuffled to the side and stood ready next to the elevator door entrance. So he watched as something protruded from in between the doors and began slowly pulling them open. It was accompanied by a creak of metal.
Jace pulled out a grenade and got ready while glancing over at Uti who was getting ready to shoot. But when he saw Jace pull out a grenade he shook his head and began climbing the ladder again.
Jace waited until they peaked their head though the door before he leaned over and threw the live grenade through the opening. He then slammed his foot on the elevator door. The lip he kicked warped while the elevator doors slammed closed. Then a moment later there was an explosion that caused the doors to warp again slightly.
After a moment of listening to make sure they would not try it again he began climbing the elevator shaft. He made it to the eighth floor’s elevator doors at the same time as Uti did. He then began listening and could hear movement behind the door.
"Seems they are waiting for us." Jace kicked a piece that was keeping the elevator shaft doors in place. "Should we see how they want to welcome us?" He asked as he reached up for the other portion that was above the door.
"Do I really get a say?" Uti grunted as stayed clear of the doors.
"Nope." Jace answered as the door came off and then began falling down the elevator shaft. Jace waited a moment and then peaked out only to lean back away as a barrage of bolts, shards, and lasers began hitting the opposite wall of the doorway opening. Jace looked over at Uti and tilted his head, "was it something I said?"
Jace then waited a moment as he pulled out two more grenades. One was a human sharpenal grenade. The other was a Victorium plasma grenade. He then triggered both and threw them into the room.
He could hear scrambling and panicking before they both went off.
Two consecutive explosions which threw up plenty of dust and even a body came flying into the shaft before smacking into the wall and leaving a bloody imprint before falling down. Jace could hear groaning and screaming.
He moved into the room quickly using the cover of the dust thrown up by the grenades to assist in him moving in unnoticed. Uti followed quickly after and they soon arrived at a hallway where it seemed they had already been busy killing each other. Jace whistled as he walked past the bodies of several different races.
As the dust cleared they could see the enemy soldiers were now disorganized and had not even noticed them moving right by them. Something about the situation did not seem quite right. So he frowned and then shrugged before pulling out his Wildfire and firing the rest of the magazine he had and then quickly switched out and fired more bullets as he finished off the last of them.
"I really got to get my hands on one of those things." Uti nodded in appreciation and then looked and nodded at the several corpses that were sitting against the wall. They all died in a similar manner, a single scorch mark going through their forehead. "What do you think happened here?"
"They executed traitors and people who wanted to surrender with the Elder." Jace could see signs that they were also stripped of their armor and any military regalia that would denote their rank. "In a sick twist there is probably a good chance that the Elder himself gave the order to execute them while he pleads for survival from us." It actually reminded him of his youth with how it was all set up.
"Yeah, but why are they in the hall? There are plenty of rooms and other places they could have put the body." Uti pointed out as they walked through the hallway. Ahead of them at the end of the hallway was another extravagantly decorated doorway. Except this one was made out of a black metallic material and the depiction was of figures standing above others.
Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance, "consolidating information. The more useful information that the Elder Joza has, the better he thinks he will be treated. So he made sure that all of his direct subordinates were dead. I will admit it is far less than the amount that was guarding Elder Pi’ali. I am guessing he also waited until another elder was dead before making the decision to surrender. He sees the writing on the wall so he is trying to get as much benefit as possible, he knows that in a civil war that information is the most useful commodity."
They arrived at the door and Jace pushed it open after a moment when he realized it was not mechanical in nature. It opened to a meeting room. Across the room sitting in a chair was who Jace could only assume was Elder Joza. But standing just behind him was a Tacole with a hammer that Jace had seen before.