Three Hork-Bajir were incincerated as the ship widens its beam, their faces showing surprise for a split second before they disappeared. The rest of the troops quickly retreated, hiding behind other craft for cover. For a moment, it looked as though the cloak was coming down, but it held as they scattered. Two of the troops, a Hork-Bajir and a human, hastily cranked their weapons to full power and each took aim around the corner without exposing their heads, allowing the images from the end of their guns to appear in their "monocles." They opened fire with shots designed to be able to demolish unshielded vehicles and small buildings. At the same time, one of the heavy Dracon cannons from the drop ship began firing.
One of the Hork-Bajir spoke a communique Yeerk troops nearby, and the parked Yeerk spacecraft, "Hold fire! Hail them again. Inform them that if they surrender, we'll let them live. Keep the Bugs ready in case they have friends. If the target is onboard, we don't want to incinerate him."
The forces stopped firing, many of them seething with anger, and all of them now turned their weapons to full power. This was not how they were used to doing business.
Ikakek noticed the increased activity, and thought some commands to his tiny ship, which lifted into the air and cloaked. No sense in risking his ship today, too. He kept his attention focused... everywhere, because of how his eyes were arrayed, but mostly he was watching the door to the bar.
Thienal dropped to a kneeling position to better steady himself on the bar's roof, keeping an eye on the gunfight now taking place through his scope.
***
((Ready?
))
The Yeerk commander was a little unnerved by the smile this man was giving him. Was there something he'd missed? There was no way he'd been here long enough to lay a trap, was there?
At the now-louder sounds of Dracon-fire outside, the commander glanced out the window. This was all the distraction the cloaked man needed. He quickly drew his cloak over his eyes. As he did so, one of the tiny, silver pellets that had fallen from his cloak exploded with a deafening boom, instantly shattering every window in the bar, and flash so bright it seemed to penetrate one's skull. The other pellet began discharging a cloud of white smoke into the bar. The man drew his bulky-looking pistol from under his cloak, and as he did so, three scythe-like blades snapped into place from their position above the barrel to locations evenly spaced around the gunspout. He fired two quick bursts at the Hork-Bajir in the bar as he sprinted for the nearest broken window, dropping them to the ground. For the hell of it, he took a potshot at the robot who he suspected of having sold him out as he dove through what remained of the glass. Before the troops outside could recover from the effects of the exploding pellet, he dove into a nearby bush, and his cloak changed color to match, so that he blended in almost perfectly, weapon still in hand, watching the troops now shaking their heads to clear them.
The commander's head stopped spinning and he could see again after a few seconds, though his ears were still ringing. He looked around- two of his Hork-Bajir were gasping for breath on the floor, and they all seemed equally dazed. He tried to yell to his troops, but realizing he couldn't hear anything other than an awful ringing, he gestured to the Hork-Bajir still in the bar to go search the area. They still seemed dizzy, but they stumbled out. He stumbled over to the bar, his hearing beginning to recover, and gasped out what he hoped sounded like "vodka," glancing at what had once been the bar's windows.
((that was a flashbang grenade equivalent. Chances are everyone in the bar would be momentarily dazed. The pistol would have no effect on Belzar even if it hit him on its current low setting. It's an antigrav pistol, causing matter to accelerate away from the beam. At this setting, all it's really good for is forcing the air from people's lungs.))
