|
 |
|
|
|
Jhanna, Jhan Province, Starblaydia
Henry sat on the edge of the couch in the livingroom in their small, two story house in the poorer part of Jhanna. The house was certainly run down, it needed a new paintjob and some of the furniture was getting old, but it was certainly a good place to run their operation. No one would've guessed at the old basement, whose door had been replaced with a secret passage and hidden from view. The tough part about operating in Starblaydia was the Inquisition, and while they had more than enough resources to deal with them, they were alone, and the Inquisition was many. Henry was watching TV while Joao was making some coffee in the kitchen. Julia was sitting in the chair reading a book she had picked up at a used book store near their house. The two ASIS guys and Joshua, from the Institute, were doing intel gathering and such down in the basement, were all of their heavy equipment was stored.
The house had been prepared by a Damocles team that had entered Starblaydia weeks prior. But none of this was important. They had failed in their mission, partly because the Section 31 team had been in Starblaydia much longer than they expected. They had managed to get at Viannor, but nothing after that was clear. The Starblaydi press kept it deliberately muddled, but all that was for certain was that there was a war going on now. The Starblaydi war machine had swept through Lake Bekk, down through all of northern Legalese, and there were words of a huge battle in the Crystil Straight. All of this though, meant that their mission was done. They were in limbo. There was no way their team could contact the Group, the telephone lines were cut, and the Inquisition had the ability to cut off all non-governmental sattelite calls.
The TV was showing a news broadcast about the battle in Legalese City. IT was of course trumpeting the obvious glories of the Starblaydi Army, against the oppressive and violent peoples to the south, who were mistaken in their thought that they could oppose the mightiest nation in the region etc. etc. You couldn't really tell what was going on, the censors were good enough to keep things vague but not giving away too many details to form a good picture of the battle. He switched the TV off and sighed. "We need to decided what we are going to do," he said absent-mindedly. They talked about the need to make a decision, and after a few minutes of debate between himself, Julia and Joao, they went down to the basement to talk with Giorgio, Hugh, and Joshua.
They all sat down, and arranged their chairs in a circle. "So, what are we going to do?" asked Giorgio in his thick Legalite accent that he had adopted for the mission. His parents were Pacitalian immigrants, and he still had a bit of an accent when he spoke normally. Henry sighed. "I think we need to leave. We can serve no purpose here. Our mission was a failure, and we need to get out of here. Everyday we stay, we offer ourselves as a bigger target to the Inquisition. We didn't count on war breaking out this soon. They've got us locked down tight, barely able to move and perform any kind of intelligence operations."
Joao nodded in agreement. "Definitely." However, the two spooks disagreed. "We've got a huge chance here to function as intelligence gathering operatives. The Inquisition will certainly be a formidable foe, but we can do it. Think about it. They could very well be sitting on top of the world right now. They will get arrogant. Tiberius kept them on their toes always, but Viannor has introduced some new imbalances into the equation. The KERES for example. How many Venators are going to be too happy about being supplanted by a force loyal to Viannor?"
And back and forth it went, but it finally came down to Henry's order. "We leave." Jonesy then asked a question that everyone was thinking, but no one had said. "So, where exactly are we going?"
Henry sighed and said, "Back to the Republic, to Sagdineo." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
, |
 |
|
|
|
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Battle of Vimy Ridge,
1915 AD
Luther's District, Sagdineo, Legal Republic
Lucas vander Veer closed the cover of the book. He always found war poetry somewhat depressing. Even those that called themselves 'epic.' Maybe it was something about how they wrote what he lived. Or perhaps maybe that they were too mushy, glorifying the chaos in which he existed. He sighed, looking at his walls. Having his office was necessary, as Clan artillery and now Footballian and Starblaydi artillery pounded the city. Buildings that before the war were considered new, now were mere wrecks. The chaos in the streets wore on his soul. He took a deep breath and kicked his feet up on to his desk. The war with the Clanners was going well, as well as could be expected. The Crawler tanks were machines, built solely to survive modern urban warfare. Their armor was nearly impenetrable by means accessible to the NAO, and in the heavier versions, hardly at all by any means. The light versions of the tank could speed over wreckage and roadblocks. They prevented the Anarchists from advancing to control of the streets.
However, with the tunnel system built over several years by his predecessors after the original Establishment of Order to provide a secret weapon against oncoming government forces, but the death of the leaders in an attack on this very building killed the snake, and thus they were unable to mount an effective resistance, but a far thinking member of the Council during that time had altered the plans overtime to prevent them from discovering it. The attack on the water distribution plant nearly gave the network away, and eventually led to the discovery of an entry point on the Plainsville system. His strategic suprise lost, the element still provided him with an ability to strike where ever he desired. He controlled the man-to-man fight simply because of attrition, but the armour posed a huge difficulty. But the invasion was going to solve that problem. He wondered what the Alliance would do. Their doctrine didn't involve fighting armies in the open.
But the Alliance had a smart group of generals, and they would figure something out. They obviously had done it before, in the timeline that looped from this one and back into it. Lucas mentally kicked himself for that, how could he have missed the timeloop? He sighed again, resigned to the hand fate was dealing him. He found it remarkable how despite the fact he had perhaps too much knowledge about the very fabric of space-time, and yet he couldn't discover something so simple as a timeloop. He knew that it had been hidden by the Enemy. He wondered where the Agent was right now. He knew he was going to be hunted, and soon he would have to leave and go on the run. He needed to set certain things in motion though. The situation was almost unstable enough he could let it run its course, but these things were very unstable. He should know, he was the one who sew chaos.
He looked at his watch and decided he needed to get working on his newest speech. He stretched, and looked over at his computer. There stood the Agent of the Enemy. Surprised at first, he jumped up and reached out with his mind, ready for the barrage of attacks to come. He found nothing. It was an illusion. The illusion smirked, and leaned up against the filing cabinet. "Well, face to face for the first time in a long time. It's good to see you again, brother." Lucas slumped. This man would never understand. The illusion shimmered, and he realized it was a solid-state projection. Even those things couldn't fully penetrate the earth and concrete above him. He would never be able to convince him. "I just thought I'd drop by and give you this." The Agent reached out and tapped a display that was off screen. "Call it a little present of goodwill. Remember my offer, anytime, you can take it. We can protect you."
Lucas scoffed, "Fate my friend, is a powerful agent, you of all people should know this. I could lecture you for hours like you have a tendancy to do. This," he motioned around, "is my fate. There is nothing you can do about that." The Agent sighed, looked into the eyes of Lucas. He closed his eyes reflexively, and then remembered it was a projection. The Agent walked forward and rested his hand on Lucas shoulder. Lucas felt himself opening his eyes, almost against his will, but his heart was telling them to.
"Goodbye then, I'll see you when it's all over."
The projection disappeared. Lucas' heart was beating in his ears. He fumed at himself in anger. The time was right, he decided, somewhat brashly. He waited for his lieutenant, his watchman from his boss, named Raziel. "Lucas, something arrived for you in the mail. Also, it is time to begin, you have delayed for too long." Lucas sighed and motioned Raziel out of the office. The burly man was silent, loyal, and not under his control. This made him a very dangerous person, yet his orders were to help Lucas in his cause. He casually opened the package. He chuckled to himself at the title. He had to give the Agent something, he sure knew how to read people. He tossed the book on his desk, and walked out of the office. The title of the book was "Operation Galactica, a History." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
Track this topic
Receive email notification when a reply has been made to this topic and you are not active on the board.
Subscribe to this forum
Receive email notification when a new topic is posted in this forum and you are not active on the board.
Download / Print this Topic
Download this topic in different formats or view a printer friendly version.
[ Script Execution time: 0.0154 ] [ 13 queries used ] [ GZIP Enabled ]
|
Close Topic Options
