Worst-Case Scenarios
By John Dallman
A small clearing in the Groves.
Amongst the trees, a bit off the usual routes to anywhere. There's a
Cherub here, who doesn't seem talkative. This is interesting; let's keep
watch a little while.
Angels come along; a slightly mixed bunch. Several blackwings, a Seraph of
Judgement - you don't often see a Hyena here, but the Michaelites seem to
tolerate him, as if for a purpose. A few of Flowers, and, yes ... many of
the Wind in the trees. What are they doing?
A blackwing unwraps his Heart from a bag; the Seraph steps up to him,
takes his hand and listens closely to his declaration. He nods, and the
blackwing lays his heart at the centre of the clearing, and leaves,
briskly. What is all this?
The remaining angels settle down and wait. They seem patient except for
those of the Wind, and they're taking shifts. Three days later, the
blackwing comes back. He's greeted by his fellows, and takes up his heart.
What was all that about?
Elohim of War can be scary.
When you set a few of them to thinking of worst cases, you get some pretty
bad ones. There are quite a few cases where a mission is really important,
but giving it a big escort would give the game away. The trick is to give
it a way of calling for help that's really hard to block. And Elohim are
good at spotting ways to make use of unique advantages.
Michael's Malakim don't usually participate. Getting yourself killed
deliberately as a fast way of getting back to your heart that's hard for
an enemy - even a Superior - to stop feels a little like retreating from
combat. Since it has to be a judgement call when you do it, it's hard to
give orders. Besides, Michael doesn't really like the idea of calling for
help.
But you get Malakim of other Archangels who are willing to pull this
trick, if it seems necessary and the need has been anticipated. The Seraph
is there to get the Truth of what happened: any reasonable Seraph of
Judgement with a cooperative target reckons to manage that one reliably.
And the Windies are there to spread the word, very fast. Healers to put
the Malakite back together if needed - this trick doesn't get used for
ordinary everyday life-or-death situations.
It's kept secret - but not too secret. It's always as well to have the
other side wondering if the maniacal Malakite is a trick.
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