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Post by miokalia on Aug 22, 2006 2:58:45 GMT -5
The Tinisian spy was eventually released by official command. He was then handed off to a Tinisian boat in a Miokalian-controlled port. The information from the spy ended up adding some other surveillance sites to the Malych dossier. There was now a cluster of satellites hanging over the country in geosynchronous orbit, constantly taking pictures and scanning for just about everything that could be scanned for from space.
The primary Miokalian base consisted of fold-out aluminum temporary structures. General Koivikko, the red mechanical allosaurus in charge was notified of the arrival of the Erenmor forces. He was technically a class-R, so his vocal synthesizer was located on the outside of his body, a small speaker-box on his front. Because of his classification, his preferred method of communication was through the wireless network. Although to avoid encountering troubles with the compatibility of MBTL to the Erenmor units' language, vocal communication was the simplest solution. "General Gabriel of the Erenmor team has arrived.", reported one of the many brown-and-black 'M27 units. "Thank you, #Y73RD05. Inform them of our induction power frequency, they can use it if they need the extra power.", said Koivikko over the network.
The Malych took the liberty of beginning their own interrogations, which were substantially less invasive then the Erenmor methods, in the refugee camps they had set up. The idea was, they could flag certain individuals whoose profiles indicated that they may be of interest to Erenmor, thus making Erenmor's interrogations run more smoothly, and result in less unneccessary conflict. The Malych methods were unusual, but not-harmful to the subjects, although they're less thorough and detailed than the Erenmor methods. Disguising it as a 'medical examination', the Malych were able to coax (or force) refugees into the harness. Then the entire system would lock down the subject's head into position so that a scanning device could run across the individual's head. Using a potpourri of lies and pseudo-legitimate-sounding medical threats such as "If you squirm, the device may cause your head to explode" after the subjects were tied down, they were able to convince most of the refugees that the process was for their own good. The scan, was mostly designed for the purpose of flagging possible troublemakers for Erenmor to examine more closely. The system would look for responses to certain queries, queries fed directly to the brain in the form of semi-interactive stimulus. In particular, they were looking for certain patterns that are indicative and common in individuals prone to violence or extremism. Their responses to such things as voices inserted into their minds telling them to "kill them all" or "resist these filthy machines" were measured and analyzed. While a certain amount of disdain, angry agreement and discomfort was expected to be seen in these responses, that emotion brought out the things they were looking for. The procedure was simple, those flagged for additional interrogation were handed directly over to Erenmor's forces. Those that checked clear were brought back to camp and considered 'already interrogated'. After all, most of these people were just common folks, who knew none of the details of the terrorist groups. In fact, as the interrogations went on, it soon became appearent that most of the commoners had no idea that it was Miokalia's HCPC that attacked them. The so-called "Fire Dance" was thought to have been an act of angry gods, raining down their wrath upon the country. Possibly because the deities were angry at the Wune and Jirie and were simply shaking their divine fists at them. It also became appearant that Wune had used the 'fire dance' as a tool for scaring the population, by taking responsibility for it. Supposedly claiming that it was his/her will, that he brought forth this destruction from nature to use against Jirie. The Malych never did explain to the refugees that it was actually their weapon which brought about the 'fire dance'. Considering the already highly superstitious population would either not beleive it at all, or beleive it and become inconsolably riotous.
For a while, the Malych forces that worked inward from the border encountered very little resistence. The people, initially terrified of what appeared to be packs of mechanical raptors entering their towns would soon find that the creatures were primarily offering the people assistance in getting to a refugee camp (for preliminary interrogation 'medical scans'). This worked to their advantage, depite Mori's Principal working against them, since they are, after all, scary-looking angular dinosaur-shaped machines with giant claws, rows of teeth and weapons all over their bodies. An embedded journalist for DCN even managed to take a snapshot of several Pargalonian fox-children playing on an 'M49 unit, the T-Rex machine as though it were a playground climbing structure. The cute news image worked well at reducing the protests in Zye City. Although, as the forces pushed further in, they encountered greater resistence. Stand-offs began breaking out in villages. Shots would be fired at the Malych units, which didn't really do much to stop them, and the those still loyal to the Wune or Jirie soon figured this out and began hurling mortars and gernades at them. After discovering that the 'M27 unit was only just slightly less durable than a tank, they stopped with the mortars and gernades and moved to rocket-launchers, RPGs and anti-tank missiles. At this point, the resistence began figuring out where to aim as well. The fastest way to take out the 'M27 is right through it's chest, rather than it's head. As long as the unit's nano-core is intact, it is still alive and capable of fighting. The machine's could have their heads knocked off, and still fire (although not very accurately). Eventually the dismembered units would be repaired by others and then continue fighting once again. The only way to destroy them was straight through their chests. If the nano-core was destroyed, the unit would instantly be destroyed.
The Malych forces found themselves fought to a stand-still at East End. Where they decided to retreat a bit. They didn't want to cause too much of a stir. The Wune and Jirie regimes had never fought the Malych before, but after loosing the whole southern third of the country to them and Erenmor in such a short time, they were quickly learning how to fight them. So Miokalia had to change some things again. The 'M27s were getting taken down to quickly and in too great of numbers, and instintually, when enough 'M27s are destroyed in a battle, the other 'M27s begin to retreat. Self-preservation kicks-in. The 'M27, while easy to produce and fairly effective, was only equipped with two 24-caliber machine-guns on it's back, it's large claws, and a small grenade launcher on it's head. All of these were conventional weapons. The 'M49 on the other hand, has a small energy weapon and some of the best armour of any Malych unit. Armour that could even resist anti-tank missiles, assuming the missiles could even hit the very manueverable and fast mech.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 22, 2006 16:42:50 GMT -5
Cal Moves
Lo enters sits out side Salato's office in a worried silence, she has work to do but those three weird civil servants and the ministers of defense, home, foreign and heath in the same room could mean nothing but trouble. The latter addition of lord Leck the head of the Lucan council and the puma thing could not be be a problem.
Even to her that was a war cabinet. She ponders and wonders if she can find coffee in the building as the last time two of the weird civil servent types where here she couldn't.
Suddenly she see what could only be the military heads coming to Salatos office, but before she can buzz Salato she buzzes her. "Let them in" Slightly taken a-back she does.
What was going on?
Fifteen minutes later the military leaders leave followed by the weird civil servants. Then very shortly after by Baron Leck and the ministers only Salato and that puma, she only now realizes as Princess Lyie, remain.
The next half hour's silence is too much for her and she tentatively knocks on the door. A second time. A third time. She pushes the door to find it unlocked and enters.
She scans over the office to find papers scattered every where and the only light coming from the window by salato's now over turned desk.
She approaches tentatively to find Salato surrounded by candles and Princess Lyie surrounded in a similar way, only now does she pick up the smell of incense. Even she knew they where praying and turned to leave.
Salatos voice comes "Come here Lo" Lo turns and walks to wards Salato bu stops a few feet away. "The circle is gone we are just hoping now" Salato says "come here" "What god's do you pray to?" "Well none, I am an atheist" Lo replies. "I should have known that but it is a shame, we need all the gods we can get now, go please" Lo turns to go but behind her she hears Salato say under her breath "A lot of people will die before the sun sets" Lo turns to see an expression she never though Salato capable of, but just for a split second...pleading.
[22:00] Lo leave salato's office
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 22, 2006 16:58:03 GMT -5
22:00 Special operations units move to alert and are given objectives. 23:30 Teerie air bases move to alert 23:32 Teuie air bases move to alert 23:35 Saeie Air bases move to alert. 23:35 Drewn Air bases move to alert. 23:35 Inleef Air bases move to alert 23:42 Calie air force starts launch. 23:45 Saeie and Teuie coastal batteries' open. 23:46 Orders received by Calie Fleet acknowledged. 23:46 Calie squadrons airborne. 23:46 Orders received by Calie squadrons acknowledged. 23:46 Orders received by coastal batteries' acknowledged.
[22:10] Salato calls Lo to her office Lo enters with trepidation. "Eye en?" she enquirers. "Don't be formal with me, just take this note to my aunt in person in En Leck" Salato's voice comes back. "You don't have any relative in En Leck" Lo replies "Look just take it to En Leck!, the address is on it!" Salato screams. Lo thinks for a second and calmly replies "No, you will have to find some one else to pass your will on" Salato screams "Look GO!" Lo quietly answers "Phi" Silence is Salato's only reply. Lo quietly says "No I'm not Phi but it is now my group" "Well that explains why you such a f^%^$#$ s%$^ secretory so that weirdo was phi!" Salato rants. "So what are you orders" Salato continues in a slightly more sane sounding voice. "To make sure you come to no harm and this is the safest place for you to get back to your praying" Lo replies slamming and locking the door.
[22:11] UBC news reports: The parliament buildings going into alert for "training purposes"
[22:15] Salato stops bashing the door and turns to Princess Lyie. "What now?" she asks slumping to the floor. "They will do any thing and all necessary as ordered. That including making sure you or I or any member of the lucan council could do prevent them. I know I would like to prevent them and you would too, to save one life, but we are not cold like them, even Leck is not the kind of warrior required here." Salato draws her hand over her face and her eyes water, how could she be so powerless now, but lyie was right. "Please pray with me there is little our kind can do but that, don't go hard on Lo she had her duty. I put her there" Salato turns to Lyie "You f%$%$#%% b%$%^ you put a spy in my office!!!" Lyie turns "Not me you y^%$%$%$ v$%#$% I just made sure she was loyal to you, you think my secret service was not tracking them for long before this?!?!? I put an athiest there because I knew they would be loyal to this government!" Salato stands and glares at Lyie and re-lights her candles.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 22, 2006 18:27:10 GMT -5
[22:20] Black clad figures are seen below all four major Teerie (tree) cities
[22:21] Black clad figures are seen moving about back streets in seventeen major and three minor Teuie and Drewn cities.
[23:35] Skies are ordered clear over the Kingdoms.
[23:50] All communications cease from all Cal, Sae and Inleef.
[23:50] All media goes black.
[23:50] All radio and satellite communication is jammed over cal
[23:51] Operation Theta starts.
[00:00] Jamming stops and the media comes back on line.
[00:00:20] UBC Television: We are now only back on line for unknown reasons, but we are now in the last few seconds receiving reports of major explosions in Teuire Cities and Drewn.....We have now received reports that three, sorry four...six building in Teer have been blown out of their trees and have fallen into the swamps below....Who could do this. we will find out more in as we can.....We have this footage now: A shot of burning wreckage lying three hundred foot lower than the camera man being picked over by black covered figures. [00:01:33] We can hear jet air craft here now in tel, we have a camera on the roof.: A shot of a dozen fighters flying at roof top hight and splitting in to pairs as they weave thru the streets at speed. six massive explosions occur like they were attacking the Parliament building. A shout of what the f^%^ is herd and the camera pans up and over the desert to see a large civilian cargo craft be struck by three SAMs.
[00:01:35] Salato bows her head "I just hope they get them all" she mutters.
[00:01:35] Massive explosions rip over the coast of Tue and the islands of Sae as the batteries' open fire they all knew they had to make a direct hit. Their forty two inch guns could kill anything if close enough but had not been use in anger in years. Most are armed with very experienced if a little old gun masters, but this is not true of all. Some where just for training and team building now.
[00:01:36] All three si class submarines fire their rocket torpedoes. [00:01:36] All Callie squadrons deploy their missiles. [00:01:40] Massive explosions reported all over cal. [00:05:05] UBC Television: "We bring you a live report from Sae Island of Thack where fighting still continues" Cut to a very wobbly camera man apparently on his own: "What the y$#$ was that! There is a major operation underway we don't know but we have reports of the coastal batteries' firing, air craft firing and possible special forces! This is Lac" The screen goes black. [00:05:06] Loss of communication to three non hostile aircraft [00:05:06] Loss of communication to two battle ships [00:05:06] Loss of communication to the second Sae Squadron [00:05:06] Loss of communication to the batteries' on Thack [00:05:06] Loss of communication to the island of Thack [00:05:07] EMP consistent with a hydrogen bomb received. [00:05:17] EMP consistent with a hydrogen bomb confirmed. [00:06:01] Medical forces deployed to all in need. [00:36:56] Both nuclear powered medical hospital ships deployed with full crew.
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 22, 2006 18:57:26 GMT -5
The Erenmor military made a point of avoiding direct confrontation with the local forces, though when confrontations did occur, they were extremely one-sided.
The archon-pattern droids possessed highly effective thermoptic camouflage systems which they used extensively. Using those they could easily surround the positions of local forces and without uncloaking, call for their surrender. Though most groups were often reluctant, a warning shot disintegrating a feature of terrain usually made them much more willing to cooperate. Despite the low numbers of the archon squads operating in the field, they tended to bring back units much larger in numbers than them as prisoners.
The archons' standard weapons, the impact carbines, were also brutally effective against anything put against them. Soldiers who put up stubborn resistance suddenly found their whole torsos or legs vaporised in a blast of bright blue energy. Vehicles were no safer from these weapons either. Often the units attacked never even caught a glimpse of their opponents. On the occasions when stiff resistance was met, patrols brought back heads for interrogation rather than prisoners.
When opposition was met, usually a single survivor was allowed to live and escape. Never an officer, always a grunt who'd take back with him stories of ghosts wiping out whole units within moments. A strategy intended to further weaken the enemy morale.
***
"It needs to be made clear to the country's forces that we are not here to depose their government, claim their land or any such rubbish. We've come here for the Servants of Light. Those who comply with our orders will not have any trouble from us," Gabriel explained to the Malych commander. "Additionally, while we appreciate your early selection of priority subjects for interrogation, my orders are quite clear. Every organic must be fitted and questioned with a mind probe, *especially* the ones wanting to leave the country for *whatever* reason. How the actual interrogation goes only depends on how much resistance the subject wants to put up. We only want information on the SoL, anything else is of no interest to us."
Outside, at the main base the Golems had used the materials brought in by further planes (and even the planes themselves) to put together a small complex within the Miokalian base, consisting of repair bays, ammunition stores and manufacturing, recharging stations and, of course, the interrogation chambers. The latter were little more than simple sound-proofed sheds, with enough room in them for a medical droid and the interrogation subject. They were for the time being working through the queue of subjects pre-selected by the Malych before their arrival. Subjects released after questioning were implanted with an ID chip that marked them down as having been processed, then handed back to the Malych. Those identified as actively sympathising with the SoL, cooperating or being actually part of the organisation simply disappeared without a trace, save for an entry into the interrogation record and the information they posessed transferred on for processing.
Despite the invasive nature of the interrogation, the subjects showed very few signs of what they had gone through. The only externally visible mark was a slight blue tint to the eyes.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 22, 2006 20:32:28 GMT -5
Baron Leck addresses the council: "With my leadership our forces have fought against the worse threat to our people. Why do we need this democ....."
"Like w#$#@# you did!" Lord Thack screamed "I have 100,000 dead, my family gone, my people are almost gone!.. Tell me why I should not draw my sword on you and on any who would make you emperor! We know what you have planned on the bodies of my people! You to take power using our fear of attack...My people alone over the millennias my lands have lost millions, we will rebuild with out fear!"
The Lords of Sae look at Leck with fire burning in there eyes, they had lost an isle of their own, but it was not the first time. Leck stands strong, but he knows he will have to bring Salato or Lyie to calm this...he looks toward the Teuier and the Drewn they will not look him in his face (Their people had lost more than 1000,000 a day in their wars).
He knew the Leefie will not look at him at best and the barons are not stupid enough to back him now. He now notices the worse warning sigh, the Teerie were simply absent, they knew his plan...he was a dead man with out help now.
He turns and utters "I will bring Salato and Lyie"
Leck was now in fear of his life, one of the lords of the isles had good reason to kill him and his kingdom and perhaps Lyie may help him to kill him but Salato had no reason to. He had just made an attempt on her alliance though, this plan could have worked, but the millenniums of war and disaster on this part of the world had made them impossible to scare.
He sighs, he would lose his post he knew that, but only Salato could save his life and his families. He did know she would save his barony just to maintain balance if nothing else. But would she save him? It had been an opportunistic move it was not like he had planned it. It had just been put there.
She could calm the Teerie down since she was not a Teuie, strictly speaking, she was a Teeume the earliest friend the Teerie had out with their kingdom amonst the younger nations. He walks down the safe places, for now, but Salato would be the the only person who could grant him and his family statuary. Only her people could give access to the Teeume statuary.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Aug 23, 2006 0:15:25 GMT -5
The greying wolf took another bite of cherry pie. His eyes bore into the soul of the lesser Commander. It was three bites later before he said something.
"You know Ovrin, I should kick your tail right out of here and into the brig. You ought to be extra lucky that what's been going on is turning the world into swiss cheese as it means I can't afford to do that. And I know you and your network of buddies will muddy things up enough so any evidence I could find to implicate you once this is all over and done with will be inadmissable in even the court of public opinion.
"But something could be said about who and who was involved. Revenge was likely on your mind. Now... now why did you finger our lady of Forr? Knocking out the competition before they get anywhere. You moron, you've put all of this country at risk by connecting our intelligence services with them in the least. Your silly server trick may very well be used by reactionary elements of foreign governments as a reason to attack us and not get squashed themselves by our allies. We may fight smart, but there's weapons out there that will make you shed. And there's a small possibility that their computer phreaks managed to find your access point even if you only had it running for a dozen minutes. Our computers have been compromised several times in the last week despite our best encryptions and counter measures. We think some of it might be foreign governments looking for badies, and don't know what looks like a random server might actually be an access point to our low level LANs."
Commander Lenord kept quiet.
Epshrin continued after another bite of pie. "So, they may have your number already. If they do, I'm more than happy to order you to visit Erenmore the moment the PDS is deactivated on a fact finding mission.
"I have to wonder too, what facts would they find in your petty little skull if they opened it up.
"Not that I advocate such invasive means. It is quite possible to break the resolve of even the most intelligent and crafty subjects as our own trio have shown."
"Is that a threat?"
"Nope. Nothing of the sort. I don't make threats you see. I do thinks, I don't talk things. And what I am going to do with you is to order you to the launch site for the Crystal Eye. You'll enjoy a few nice days at the beach while we not foolish fuzzies take care of the business of getting the world to stop eating itself.
"Basically I'm ordering you to get the last three launches ready to go asap. The PDS will likely push the lanuch window of tomorrows space shot a day or more you see. And I know how you hate delays."
Ovrin's ears are by this point almost embeding themselves in the sides of his head. "Yes sir." Not much else Epshrin could order him to do with the current situations. Of course Lenord was quite confused about how he found out about his activities. The thought passed through his head that Yerzok found out and passed the possibility to Epshrin. Or maybe the old wolf wasn't beyond keeping tabs on them himself. It didn't matter, he was heading south, away from the biggest target in the country, Arx. Could be worse.
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"So Kam churned the program a few times and we got this. I knew you were looking for something like this Commander. We're still collecting artifacts from the output, but that's the term you wanted improved and a factor of fifteen improvement on the uncertainty can't hurt."
"Thank you. Indeed it will help alot."
-------
Lieutanant Kad, a stalky battle weary mouse wandered around the refugee camp with a couple of the zero unit.
"I thought they were supposed to all be either crazy military types or dead by now," says one of the tank operators.
"These are the rejects even from those groups. Not important enough to imbed with kill switches, not able enough to fight."
"Who you calling not able eh?" yells someone from a tent. From it appears a dusty white anthro dragon. "Hah! I thought someone was speaking New Tinisian!" he says.
"Yes, we were," says Kad. "Can I help you?"
"Call me Ivoristo. Glad to meet you. We'd hear we'd be seeing Tinisan at some point. So's I be's glad to see ye."
"Ivori... sto yes? Are you from around these parts?"
The dragon laughs, "Oh goodness no. Most people around here aren't. About half of them either couldn't get a boat out or are the kids of those who could. But I live here now and I'll be really upset if any of these Malyoklianriansnories try to push us out."
"I don't think they're planning that."
Ivoristo nods. "I hope not. So are you guys the first to arrive? I hope you're not the only ones coming."
"Ivor, I make it my duty to get my soldiers here," Kad says pointing at the two tank crewers behind him, "to where ever they need to be as fast as possible. We landed a full two hours before any other Tinisians got here. They're coming, just might take the regulars a bit longer to get from Lemurly to here."
"Lemurly? Never heard of it. So what's up with the robots trooper people anyway?"
Kad smiled. "The dinos are from Miokalia, the spookyier ones are from a place called Erenmore."
Ivoristo leans over to Kad. "I hear they're having some people dissapear. One lady said her mate didn't come back from interrogation and they didn't tell her why when she asked."
"I'm sure they're just taking extra precautions to make sure no bad elements are hiding out in the camp." One of the other soliders nodded with a "yep".
Still leaning in the old dragon continued, "but what about the eyes?"
"Eyes?"
"Some have gone blue. Most won't notice it, but walk around the camp a little and you'll see some blueishness to the eyes of all who have been interrogated. Ooops, I mean... medically checked out. Yeah right. They're looking for spies among us then doing weirdish likes things to people's oculars."
Kad leans back. "Alright you, what are you up to? Trying to start something?"
"By all means no, just saying something fishy is going on here and I don't like it."
"Have you been through their thing then?" asks one of the soldiers.
"Not yet. And I don't care what they say, I'd rather die than be messed with like that. There's a reason I escaped Wune and Jirie's eye down here. They would of done crazier things than change your eye color, but at least you know what they were up to. And besides, I didn't get to eight hundred by being dumb."
"Alright old timer, that's enough, go back to your tent and we'll make sure the big bad robot people don't eat your eye balls."
"Don't patronize me houseless."
Kad pauses for a moment. "You got a good eye." He then leads the three soldiers off to take a second look at some of the refugees.
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"That's very good news Sav, the only good news today."
"Yes, I heard about the attacks on Cal. Can we help them out?"
"Afraid not. We can't have forces in four places at once like that. We'd have to end one opperation. That's unacceptable of course."
"You're the military expert."
"But, if they make an official request, or even told us what in the world is going on down there we could make a proper assessment."
"True."
"Sorry but I can't talk. Keep up the good work. Go ahead and give Kam that bonus. Double it if you can get it working at all."
"Might be a while, but alright."
------
"Alright you," says Kad to a guard outside the interrogation tent. "I want to see whats going on in here."
"You don't have authority to enter the tent," replies the Miokalian guard.
"Sure? Sure? Sure! I have every authority on this sorry excuse for solid ground to enter this tent. I am special Lieutant Kad of Tinisian alternative forces with special orders from the Supreme Commander of my home country to oversee any and all information extractions as needed and have been granted any and all authority to carry out this mission."
One of the guards checks over the radio. "Well the mouse got his name and unit right. But not any of the rest. Please sir, take a hike."
"I'll be back," says Kad before going in search of the nearest person who could help him see what was causing all the blueness directly. He wasn't satisifed with the 'just a way to mark those who've processed' explaination he got out of the one fellow at lunch.
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Post by miokalia on Aug 23, 2006 0:52:03 GMT -5
"Could someone, please... anyone, please tell me what the hell is going on in Cal?", said Kohastar "I... don't... really know. I think their Parliament building is under attack. There a were a whole lot of explosions over there today.", said Secretary Sorenson. "Well, has the military said anything? What's going on over there. What has the leadership said?", asked Kohastar. "I haven't received any conclusive word from the leadership indicating a perpetrator.", said Secretary Sorenson. Kohastar turned to secretary of defense, Gladarus Zagckza and asked, "I'm going to offer assistence to them, what I need to know is if we can handle that and Pargalo." "Malychis is sending us some of their units for Pargalo, we can divert some of ours to Cal if necessary. The military base in Kolminaisus is on high alert, since they are our closest military base to the Calie islands.", said Zagckza. "Should I be concerned about Erenmor. I keep hearing bad things about their interrogation procedures.", asked Kohastar "Don't. Erenmor is going to do with Pargalo whatever they want. We both have the same goal, we want to eliminate SoL and RLM. We offered our alternative methods, but they insisted on using theirs and frankly, C.A. doesn't want to split hairs on this and has ordered that we cooperate with them.", said Zagckza. "So what do we do with Cal?", asked Secretary Sorenson. "Cal has their own armed forces, they should be able to defend their own lands. But the moment we determine that their armed forces are disorganized or in trouble, we are going in there and we are going to defend them. This is no time for petty power struggles. They have a nation to defend.", Kohastar said. He then looked down at the reports he was getting from Cal, shaking his head and saying, "This is exactly how the Northern Kingdoms broke apart in 2099. Of course, it didn't help that they declared war on the Malych, but it was this kind of chaos that tore the nation to shreds. I would think the Calie islands would be more reasonable then those poor propaganda-addicted humans were back then." "The people of Cal are much less politically impoverished than the people in the Northern Kingdoms were. I mean, those humans allowed a madman to try to assassinate their royalty, after the previous royalty did everything in their power to make enemies with both the Northern Republic and the Malych Colony. The new royalty wanted to make peace with both. Then that asshat had to go in there, sideline the King, fool the Barons with promises of peace, and then he went and stabbed everyone in the back and declared war on the Malych. He destroyed his own city and blamed it on us... We eventually found it too disturbing to kill their armies of semi-sentient machines. We had to integrate them. We turned their own weapons against them... I'm sorry, it seems as though my predecesor, Tachakita Zagckza's memories are coming back again.", said Zagckza. "I do have some, for lack of a better word, faith that Cal will overcome this chaos. In the meantime: I am offering our assistence to prime minister Salato. Malychis can pick up the slack in Pargalo.", said Kohastar.
In a network conversation with the C.A., General Koivikko said, "I do not approve of Erenmor's methods of interrogating non-suspicious civilians. However, be it noted that I do approve of the usage of their methods on those who we have determined through our own methods to be suspicious. It's just that, the results of their methods, the blue eye thing is beginning to unsettle the refugees. It's also bothering the Tinisian forces. We have recetly recieved a notice from an 'M27 who was asked about it. The thing is, we don't even exactly know what it is Erenmor is doing." The C.A. responded, "And Onyx apparently didn't approve of our methods to disarm this country. So I suppose that evens things out a bit. I do not wish to split hairs with Onyx on this interrogation thing, if Tinis has a concern about this, then Tinis can deal with Erenmor about it. We offered them a safer way to do this, and they chose to do it on their own. It is currently in our best interest to go along with that."
"I am concerned about the R/M27 units. The resistence is becoming accustomed to them, they have figured them out. We think they may have already analyzed their weaknesses.", said Koivikko. "I am well aware. I can feel their fear. I think it is time to pull the R/M27s out of assault positions. Our assualt is not supposed to result in our own casualties, it is merely supposed to tie up their resources so we can disarm this country. I'm going to discontinue the assault temporarily since Erenmor seems to be very effective at getting what they want out of these people and I am also concerned about unrest in the refugee camps. They already view us machines as invaders. The R/M27s will be moved back to defensive positions. I want to change the strategy some. Direct engagement has lost it's effectiveness, we aren't demoralizing the resistence enough. Erenmor's goal here may be to just get the information and eliminate the SoL. Our goal is to prevent it from coming back. Our goal is not to seize control from Wune and Jirie, our goal is to disembowel their ability to arm terrorists like SoL and RLM.", said C.A.
The status report returning from the Miokalian base in Pargalo caused president Kohastar momentary pause
[32 R/M27 units lost] [1 E/M49 unit lost] [15 organic Miokalian caualties] [28 civilian casualties]
Speaking with the president via terminal, the C.A. said, "These numbers are unacceptable. The Wune and Jirie regimes have figured out the R/M27's weaknesses far too quickly. I must bring them back to the bases and refugee camps. Their fight-or-flight programming has reached it's threshold. They feel as though their existence is at risk and they are no longer as effective as means of intimidation. I am going to change the stategy some."
Meanwhile, 135 light-years away, on the planet Dincota, palshien Tudenburgh, the president of the Dominion of Dincota sat in his clean, glossy-white office overlooking the hill in the capitol city of Jaurissan. At the far end of the gardens across from his office was the capitol complex, a collection of pillarred-white cubes with giant, tall windows and almost arabesque decoration. His desk was a levitating black table-top, about 2 inches thick. Underneath it was only thin cables, holding the desk in place as it hovered because of the high-powered neodymium magnets holding it up. It was intensely minimalist, and looked like something that should have been from Stanley Kubrick's "2001: a space odyssey". Tudenburgh, was a light-brown and olive raptor. He had a few body-modifications, something fairly common and culturally acceptable on Dincota. His head and spine feathing was black and the tip of his muzzle was a metal panel with stylishly-drilled nostril-holes. He had recently heard of the turmoil in the Furry Federation, and how it was involving Miokalia, a nation of their own. His mate, a red allosaurus with mechanical back spikes came in to the office and handed the palshien a roll of paper with a small brown band around the middle. "Ya damaroyiy?" he said as he toched the brown band with a single claw, causing it to unlatch and shrink into a small square. The paper unrolled into a flat sheet full of Kohtohkhan text. "Ya requikktchto.", said the president. He read over the sheet and said, "Do Miokalshiro nomai kaidatch mai tovuoy tda kivackze"
The red allosaurus then responded, "Miyake do Miokalshiro dotchva ka zcha voz. Taha Pargalo-shi matia kazch vo Erenmor-shi tderriokate vatsso"
The president then made a call. A small wire with a tiny ball on the end of it exteneded down his face from a tiny heaset above his ear-hole. A phone. The call was breif, and like all of his conversations, in Kohtohkhan. He was ordering a military presence be sent to the Furry Federation to assist. Although, their allies on planet Malychis had already sent forces to Pargalo to releive some of the Miokalian forces in anticipation of assiting Cal. The Dincotian forces were a bit behind.
Back in Pargalo, the packs of 'M27s began arriving back at bases and refugee camps. A Haxxar-III air-carrier carrying the releif from Malychis had arrived over the Miokalian Central Command Base on the southern border of Pargalo. "The GR/M70s have arrived.", said one of the 'M27s to General Koivikko over the network. "Excellent, #D4M1Y70.", replied Koivikko. Moments later, the carrier unloaded the compact, folded-up 'M70s. Nearly 120 of the units fit on the aircraft in their compact form. The units began to unfold. They were very similar to the T-Rex-like 'M49s. Except stealthier. Loaded up with three NCPC devices each, as well as two head-mounted centripetal repeating rifles. Silent and deadly. Their armour was dark grey, the only insignia markings were the three red interlocked hexagons stamped on their first tail-articulation. The difference bring that the Miokalian units had the same insignia in green, and were painted brown, white and black. These units were from Malychis. One of them approached General Koivikko. This one was different because it had blue stripes on it's arm-panels. "General #K01V1KK0, Alpha Commandant #TD4PCH3Y reporting with the #0A8C Ryuukav division of the Planet Malychis. Please upload your status in the form of a MTBL Hex-dump.", it said. The Malychis units were less accustomed to dealing with organics, and were a bit more straight-to-the-point. General Koivikko sent the hex-dump for the commandant's analysis. As this happened, the 15-ton tyrannosaurus-shaped machine entered the Erenmor encampment within the base to exchange information directly with General Gabriel."
"General Gabriel, I am Alpha Commandant #TD4PCH3Y of the #0A8C Ryuukav division of the Machine Empire of Planet Malychis. I first would like to apologize to Onyx for the Miokalia C.A.'s inexperienced decision-making process. We have come here to assist Miokalia in the securing of the Pargalonian border and, if needed, to assist Erenmor in it's aquisition of information from the population. We will also be conducting a quiet offensive to disarm the country.", said the 'M70 unit.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 23, 2006 6:19:53 GMT -5
[encrypted message from Cal] Cal has been secured, I repeat secured. We have a number of persons in our custody. All explosions reported where of our forces doing all and any action necessary to ensure that all devices were deactivated these operations were successful, with the exception of the blast at Thack. There is no need for intervention at this point as our forces are in control.
Barron Lath (Acting Lucan Council Leader)
---- Baron Leck walks swiftly towards Salato's office in hope of saving his own skin, but it was not to be as a single dart strikes the back of his neck, he knew from the strike that he was dead. He knew it was a Teerie dart, he knew his barronie would rise in it's own, supposed, defense now with the loss of their leader.
He slumps to the floor as a the tall frame of a teerie walk towards him to retrieve the dart.
It was over for him, just darkness now.
---
Salato sits in her office on the floor surveying the mess she had made of it in her previous rage. Lyie turns to her and says "For a peaceful person like yourself that was quite an outburst" "Well I am trained" she replies "I noticed, but just how many times have you been attacked by a filing cabinet?" Lyie answers indicating the wreckage in one of the corners of the room. "You would be surprised how often that thing had a go at Lo and my self" "So what are you going to do to about Lo?" "Nothing, I'll keep her on if I can. She can't file or type for v%$% but having a Phi operative manning the desk does make you feel kinda secure" "So what now?" "Well see what's left of the country now and hope the fallout is not of the nuclear type." Salato smiles Lyie laughs "OK I probably should have told you about her, but you would not have liked it" Lyie says "Yip" "Your machine seems to be starting up" Lyie replies indicating a pile of equipment that was beginning to show sighs of life. "Well I'll be....takes a kicking but keeps on ticking" Salato muses Salato stands and walks over to the device. She picks up the screen and says in a quiet voice. "They got twenty two of them" "I thought there were twenty three" lyie replies unsure of her self. "Yip Thacks gone" "What, they have lost communication with it?" "No it's gone, looks like some of the fall out will be nuclear" Salato laughs, what else could she do. She taps at what remains of the keyboard. "Ah b^%$^$% Leck's been killed, a teerie dart no doubt. He was trying to make a grab for the crown, this does not look good." "Leck? I knew he was ambitious but never thought he would go that far." "He will have had friends, I'm glad the door's locked"
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Post by miokalia on Aug 23, 2006 16:13:14 GMT -5
"We have official confirmation that Cal has been able to secure themselves. Although we detected a nuclear explosion.", said Secretary Zagckza. "What's with these nuclear explosions. At this rate this planet will uninhabitable in twenty years. We will actually have to start worrying about global warming.", said Kohastar. "We import a lot of food products from KOC.", said Secretary Sorenson. "Radium 90 milk. It's a good thing we don't get cheese from them", said Secretary Nadara. "We're going to have to shift our imports to Dincota. We can't import unsafe foods from a country which will probably have to be importing food for a while to avoid the spread of irradiated foods. Nadara, go talk to your administrative people and get this taken care of.", said Kohastar. "We will have an immediate shortage of regular milk, although such a shortage will only effect mammalian furs primarily.",said Nadara "Well then, I guess our mammalian furs will have to acquire a taste for soymilk and ricemilk like the rest of us lactose-intolerant scalies.", said Kohastar, "I'm not going to have our medical system overrun with people getting sick from radium 90 in the milk. Zagckza, is the clean up in Dzegedy complete?" "Yes, shall I offer our clean-up assistence to Cal", asked Zagckza "Of course. Do it. Andertol, what's going on with our off-world support?", said Kohastar. "Malychis has sent a detatchment to Pargalo, and Dincota just sent a few Aitrata personell transport ships our way. They will be exiting compression in the next two hours over Bay of Inleef.", said Andertol "Okay, this time inform the Calie Royal Airforce that a few fairly large aircraft will be basically appearing out-of-nowhere above them and that the mystery aircraft is our aircraft and they are enroute to Kolminaisus across the bay. I think Kyagga probably caused a few false-alarms with that stunt he pulled last time: Exiting Coaxial right over Calie airspace and not telling them until afterwards. I would start freaking out if I were watching a radar screen and then some aircraft suddenly just appeared like that. Now, they aren't going to Cal, are they? Cal has reported that they do not require our forces to secure them.", said Kohastar. "They are going to Pargalo. Palshien Tudenburgh thinks a Dincotian presence may become necessary. By the way, from what I hear he really doesn't like this interrogation business.", said Andertol. "Yeah, well maybe he can talk to Erenmor about that. C.A. wants us to stay out of the way.", said Kohastar. Andertol left the room to place some calls. "What has Daeron said about this, I suppose if Dincota is involved, then everyone we have something to do with is involved. Any word from Shen Laixliu?", asked Kohastar. "Laixliu is a pacifist. Although he has said that he very, very, very much disapproves of the use of the HCPC on Pargalo. He also disapproves of the interrogations. Although he really wants us to go in there and disarm them.", said Sorenson. She sighed and said, "He said 'what Pargalo needs is not to be beaten-down. What Pargalo needs is a political hero to stand up to Wune and Jirie for the Pargalonian people.'... And really, that would be great and all, but so many of these people are too heavily indoctrinated. Grassroots campaigns do not grow in salted soil. And I'd say Pargalo is pretty thoroughly salted." Kohastar had to agree with that.
After the meeting was dismissed, Kohastar received a call. It was from Laixliu on Daeron. The dragon was slightly condescending in his tone, he said to Kohastar, "I don't know what it is you're thinking 128 light-years out there by trying to fix this problem by burning Pargalo to cinders, but there isn't much we can do about that now can we? Kyagga is on your planet and I have tried to contact him on Malychis and I get his answering machine. And honestly I think the answering machine agrees with me that the move was unwise. The Malych species has existed for only 2198 years, and I've been around for half of that, They still have a lot to learn about being effective. So do you." "Shen, please do not patronize me, Dincotian civilization has existed for 64,000 years, and sure, we were only able to activate the draconid regenration gene in our genome in the last 250 years. We are just as good as you now, so don't be pulling your usual 'holier than thou' thing just because you are a millenium old and we haven't been able to achieve that much wisdom and temperment yet. We weren't quite so lucky as you are.", said Kohastar, expectorating with his anger into the phone. "You are entitled to your opinions. I'm not calling to assert any kind of dominance over Miokalia or Dincota. I'm calling to request that you discontinue the use of the vector immunization in Pargalo. You are stripping these people of their ability to be close to their deities.", said Laixliu. "We are eliminating the seeds of devotion and the extremism that results from that devotion.", said Kohastar "Just because you dinosaurs don't need the 'god gene' doesn't mean the Pargalonians can do without it. I strongly recommend, nay, implore you to discontinue this and give their culture and physiology some respect.", said Laixliu. "We modify nature to suit our needs, we take what's good and we change what's bad. This is something which nature has provided and we are leaving their physiology intact, but merely changing what we deem no longer functional.", said Kohastar. "I always have respected your species' desire to view nature as someting which can be both respected and altered at the same time. Your species has generated such an enormous amount of good from this. Curing diseases, eliminating poverty, and allowing the arts to flourish and evolve without restriction by the government. Even without the use of deities, which is still beyond my understanding. As far as I can tell, you trully have, created yourselves through the relentless quest to have absolute control over your destinies.", said Laixliu calmly. "And that is what comes of this. They don't realize it now, but in within a few years it will become evident that we have empowered these people to take control of their own existence. We have planted the seeds of self-sustaining rationalism in these people.", said Kohastar. "I don't think these people want that. I mean, we still have the 'god gene' in our draconid genome. It has shaped what we are. We are now happy with being a rational, spiritually aware people. While I will never understand how it is Dincotian atheism works, Perhaps you cannot understand how Draconid spiritualism works. We have accepted eachother for our differences, now I think we should accept the Pargalonians for their differences.", said Laixliu. "But the Pargalonian difference is dangerous. It gives hydrogen bombs to wealthy terrorist leaders who then exploit these people's spirituality to drive them to to horrible things. Horrible things which I'm sure their religions even condemn.", said Kohastar. "Indeed, there is another ideological agent at work here. Dragons, due to our reletively long natural lives, are not suceptible to submitting to apocalyptic ideologies. We are naturally predisposed to cricular thought. We know, through our faith in the spiritual fabric of the universe that existence is circular. Science seems to work with this. Even the big-bang was preceded by an infintesimal concentration matter and energy that had to come from somewhere. To beleive in an absolute end by arbitrary divine power is to sabotage the peacefull nature of your people, by dividing them amongst those who value life over doctrine and those who value doctrine over life. It creates evil where evil should be forbidden.", said Laixliu. "So you're saying we should alter their religion and not slowly phase it out.", said Kohastar, "How do you expect to do that? It's impossible." "No, the people want to be freed from the evil that grips them. We must destory that which exploits the religion and creates this evil and desecrates what is sacred to these people. I think you should go directly after Wune and Jirie. Show these people that you have come to free them. Then step-aside and allow them to reclaim their own land. Do not become colonizers, or occupiers. Help them when they want it. Listen to them. Show them another way. Make them want to be like you, and let them create themselves. Even if that means they need a deity to look to. Regardless of wether or not you beleive it exists. The majority of any god or godess' power resides within the beleiver. Let them use this power to reclaim themselves from Wune and Jirie.", said Laixliu. "Okay, I will order the immediate discontinuation of the vector.", said Kohastar, "I can't stop Erenmor from conducting their interrogations". "Erenmor is outside of our sphere of influence. I cannot force them to do anything. And I will not flex a military muscle against a nation with which we have no worthwhile dispute. Let the Federation decide if the interrogations are right or wrong. This is after all, a Federation problem.", said Laixliu. "I don't agree with the interrogations, and the Malych... while they have been cooperative with them, they don't seem to be too happy about them either. Initially, they offerred to use their own much less invasive, alpha-catch techniques to make the entire process easier on the civilians. They mean well.", said Kohastar "The Malych really do mean well, but they also want to please. The Miokalian C.A. is so enamored with the fact that it is not alone in the Federation that it is especially accomodating toward Onyx. Even if it means they have to compromise. Were it up to the Malych, the interrogation would be entirely conducted by them. I'm sure to the Pargalonian civilians, both the Malych and the Erenmor forces look like invaders who are stealing away refugees and doing horrible things to them. Some of them disappearing. It is unforetunate that they do not understand the... compassionate nature of the Malych... as unusual as it may manifest itself. The Malych wouldn't have offerred to use their own methods if they didn't care just a little bit at least for the people.", said Laixliu. "Can you talk to C.A.? You guys have incredibly sway with the species. I mean, look at how the emulate you.", said Kohastar. "Indeed, they would remain allies with us right to the bitter end. Being the first species to recognize them as a sentient race will do that. They credit us with making them what they are. They consider themselves dragons and dinosaurs, and we accept them as such. For that, they are eternally grateful. Especially after having been abused by so many other species. I can only make suggestions. I will try, for Pargalo's sake. I only hope that Erenmor sees the reasoning in this, and that there is a way for them to get everything that they want if they just accept this compromise.", said Laixliu. "You are welcome to visit any time, Shen.", said Kohastar. "That is fine. Maybe someday I will travel there to see the Federation. I really do want to meet Izixs someday.", said Laixliu. And with that, the (very) very long distance call was ended.
He sent Zagckza a memo stating that he wanted the vector immunization stopped immediately. He decided he needed to get out of the office, he had been sleeping and living in there for the entire ordeal, so he figured it was time to get out and do something to keep himself sensible. It is generally accepted that Presidents who leave their post for conspicuous vactions are irresponsible, so unless he wanted to hurt his party's credibility or his own any more, he couldn't go take that much-desired fishing trip at lake McCarrey in the Northern Continental Republic. Foretunately, the remaining seperatist groups of the north were not so unreasonable that they would sympathize with terrorists or commit terrorist acts themselves in Miokalia. The BDT was only interested in compromizing the Malych and the newly fur-friendly human provincial government of NCR. They saw these terrorist acts as attacks on human-friendly governments by fur ideologues. And while the people of the NCR are quite measurably more religious than those of the Miokalian proper, they were tempered by history. Having seen extremism and apocalytic ideologies tear apart the other human states of the Eledorian sub-continent, the people of the NCR are moderate and wise to such things. As the last major human-dominant state in the Furry Federation, the people are comfortable with the fact that they are living in a world with diverse species and diverse ideologies, and thankful for the rationalism and acceptance of Miokalia proper. The economic power of Miokalia paves their roads and fuels their cars, and all they want in return is their tolerance of furs and other non-humans. With Duke Einterbaum out of power, the province was able to flourish and business was able to function without fear of being randomly and unfairly commandeered by Einterbaum's regime. Under the Miokalian social system, business in the NCR was able to grow. With industrial incentive tax-breaks and other regulatory tricks, the Federal Government was able to diversify the NCR beyond sustainance and heavy industry.
Kohastar left Andertol in charge as he had to leave Zye City for an economic meeting in Rohomeo. It was a summit of major human powers in the unrecognized territories of the Furry Federation. Something which Kohastar was not looking forward to before the terrorism broke loose, but now, he welcomed the thought of sitting around a table to discuss something other than warfare. He was bringing many things to the table, including economic requisitions that would open up trade between the unrecognized territories and the rest of the Federation. The NCR is one of the only human-dominant territories recognized by the Federation because it is technically part of Miokalia, and before the integration, it was recognized because more than 1/3rd of the population of the NCR was fur or scaley.
He rode in an unmarked brown limousine, something which was actually unusual because of cultural reasons. Typically dinosaurians do not like to show off their wealth so flagrantly. It is culturally repulsive to show off one's welath in excess. Which is probably why the dinosaurian-made cars tend to be very minimal and subtle in their ornamentation. Dinosaurs respect aesthetic beauty and ingenuity, but not excessive, over-the-top opulance. This limousine, while inherently opulent due to it's size, was very minimal in it's aesthetics. Understated trim and very delicately placed chrome. Most of the vehicle was a solid, glossy brown, with black windows. It was very boxy in shape, and featured elegant rounded corners and the headlights were flush with the countour of the front. The styling was square and orderly. Elegant and understated. Despite it's limousine status, it attracted less visual attention than some of the exotic foreign cars on the road. Kohastar, despite preferring air-transport over road-transportation for such things, secretly loved the presidential limousine. It was simple and elegant. It was worthy of a president and yet, not so intensely luxurious as to make one feel uncomfortable for being treated so well while so many people have so little. The inside of the vehicle was very bourgeoisie, very typical of any mid-level sedan made in Miokalia. There wasn't a single piece of leather in the entire interior, and the plastic and synthetic upholstery wasn't even printed with a leather or other animal-derived material texture. (The dinosaurians find using the skin of an animal to upholster a vehicle disgusting and disturbing). It was simple and smooth. Everything inside was rounded and boxy, much like the exterior. There was no television, no wine box, no espresso machine, no refridgerator. Only a telephone, DRT24 network connector and some standard residential-voltage outlets. The seats were synthetic upholstery and the sides of the vehicle were lined with rapid-foam safety-restraint systems. A safer alternative to airbags that the lower-house is currently assessing the safety and viability of. Chances are, as soon as they deemed the system statistically safer, they would require all new and otherwise compatible vehicles in Miokalia be fitted with such devices. The seat featured sports-grade headrest. A headrest which pushes further forward than most conventional ones. The purpose being that such a headrest prevents the head from jostling around during a crash more effectively if there is less space between it and the head. President Phong's administration had mandated this become standard years ago, since then it had reduced the number of injuries in automotive accidents as a result of either the impact itself or the airbags' deployment. President Phong knew that he was right, and his car only served to remind him of that. Miokalia had overcomed all kinds of troubles and injustices in the past through ingenuity and pragmatism, but this was a difficult situation that was creating a great deal of injustice that not even the Malych could process down into a simple and efficient solution.
With Kohastar gone, Andertol was the temporary commander-in-cheif. He never did feel right about the Erenmor interrogations or the Malych HCPC attack on Pargalo. His relationship with Tinisian leadership was more progressed than that of the president's. He had received the notes from the call between the president and Shen Laixliu, and he aggreed with what the old dragon had to say. "Make absolutely certain that the vector vaccine is discontinued immediately, I want to hear from the General Koivikko himself that they have stopped it. I want all of our interrogations with alpha catch put on hold. I am declaring a moratorium on our interrogations at this time. If Erenmor is going to do their interrogations, then they can do them for now. But my mecharaptors are not going to be labeled as invaders and oppressors even when they try to help these people out a bit by trying to make the interrogations less invasive. These people don't know that and they're going to take this out on the Malych as well as the Erenmor units. Good intentions are not enough, we need to seperate ourselves from it completely. Keep the Malych running the refugee camps, but we need to get some Dincotians in there now. When the units arrive, send them straight to the camps, and get them taking care of these people. Get them talking to them. The Pargalonians will feel more comfortable with organics there to relate too.", said Andertol in a phone message to Secretary of Defense Zagckza.
He then picked up the phone again and called Secretary of Interior Nadara and said, "Freeze all agricultural imports from Cal, Freeze agricultural imports from Tinis and suspend all food-product taxes, lower the standrad price for rice and soy, we need to shift our food imports so that they are primarily coming from Dincota. I'm sure Cal and Tinis will understand that we are doing this for two reasons: We're concerned about the safety of their food because of the fall-out and that they don't need to be exporting foodstuffs to us while they are having to dip into their own emergency reserves, this takes the pressure off everyone."
Then he called up General Koivikko and said, "I am calling to verify that you have stopped using the vector vaccine and received my orders." "Affirmative. We have stopped using the vector and we have stopped our interrogations.", said the General. "Okay, now I have another operation for you. I need you to start bringing the people which Erenmor has 'marked' for interrogation in to our interrogation buidings and, gently now, start running tests. Do not hurt any of them, but I want to know what the effects of their interrogation are. I want to know what it is doing to these people. Report the results to Secretary Zagckza.", ordered Andertol. "Affirmative. We will begin immediately.", replied the General. "And one more thing, if Tinis wants access to this information, give it to them. We are as curious about this as they are. Remember, we are on the same side here.", said Andertol. "Affirmative.", replied the General.
Then finally, Andertol called up Supreme Commander Epshrin of Tinis, "Commander Epshrin, this is Miokalian Secretary of State Andertol. I just wanted to let you know that I've ordered the Malych units to share any information they find out about the Erenmor forces' interrogation methods. I'm not sure what they are doing but it is definately not making any friends out of these people, that's for sure. I have shut down our own non-invasive interrogation and I have discontinued a genetic vectoring procedure that we were doing along with our non-invasive interrogations, one which I have personally never agreed with the implementation of, and the president has recetly decided is unnecessary and wrong. We have been using vectors which essentially alter a person's abilty to become devoted to an ideology. The vector would not change the person in any way other than they would no longer find an instinctual need to find spiritual satisfaction from anything that offers it. I suppose the logic behind this is that it would make the people less suceptible to being exploited into joining groups like SoL and RLM by wealthy ideologues. Perhaps it would work, but Kohastar has been conviced otherwise and frankly I don't think we should be doing something to these people like this. It just doesn't feel right. We don't really have any moral aversion to 'playing god' as long it's for the betterment of all in our culture, but we simply cannot completely conclude if the vector will really improve this people's situation in the future. I don't think it's worth it. Especially since they haven't been given a choice. So I have discontinued the procedure. Perhaps the effects of what we thought were caused by the Erenmor interrogations were caused by this. Our experts disagree though, since the vector is exact and only modifies one protein which has no connection to visible characteristics.".
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 23, 2006 19:13:52 GMT -5
Gabriel gave the new Malych commander a formal, short bow in greeting. His facial "features" formed into what could possibly pass for a polite smile. "I appreciate finally hearing directly what our allies are here for, Commandant #TD4PCH3Y," the Erenmor general replied. "While our information gathering is proceeding at the expected pace, there is something on which I would appreciate input," Gabriel added quickly, motioning for the Malych to follow and leading him out into the refugee camp area of the base.
"Our contingent here is faced with a dilemma, you see. We possess no information on what the SoL leadership is. Their names or faces, nothing. For all we know, that young lady playing with the child there might have been in charge of their entire operation here. Or they may have ambushed a foreign group and assumed their roles in the hopes of leaving the country.
"Right now, the net we're casting here is practically one big hole. We need every piece of information regarding SoL operations here that we can get, but the trouble is, those in posession of that information might not give it up willingly. They may be SoL themselves, they may fear retaliation from the SoL, or they may not even know the significance of what they know. So we look through their knowledge for ourselves."
Gabriel led the way to the interrogation rooms the Erenmor detachment had set up. They could see an Archon helping someone who had just come out of questioning stay upright. "Our methods might seem crude, but I do assure you they are as refined as they are likely going to get. There's no surgery involved, no scarring. An injection of nanorobots constructs the mind probe's systems on the inside. A subject of the interrogation doesn't need to feel the slightest twinge of pain. We've gone through plenty of captured raiders years ago to have plenty of practice in this field.
"The procedure leaves subjects disoriented for a time, true. There's also the blue tint of the eyes due to the nanorobots present in the bloodstream. But those are temporary side effects and not harmful in the least. The only part of the mind probe that retains power after the questioning is the ID chip. The nanorobots will run out of power given half a year or so and within the year there'll be little to no trace of them left in the bloodstream. Again, we've had time and opportunity to work out all the bugs here.
"And yet with all this, I have the dilemma. I must ensure as few SoL slip through our net as possible. None is the desirable result. Yet virtually everyone disapproves of our methods. Then there's the problem with all the refugees. Something needs to be done to calm them down, but I cannot explain every detail of the procedure to them for the sake of the operation."
Gabriel turned to face the Malych commander again, looking somewhat concerned. "Would you have any advice on how to deal with this situation, per chance?"
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Post by miokalia on Aug 23, 2006 20:04:30 GMT -5
Commandant #TD4PCH3Y paused a moment. Unlike General Gabriel, the E/M70 did not have any facial-expression emulation, nor the hardware to show it. He had only his jaw to move, and it didn't move much during speech since his vocal synthesizer was running through a speaker in his mouth. "From what I've seen, your methods are not as invasive as many of the others say. Now that I have seen the process, I am sending this information to the C.A. so it can formulate a more educated opinion on the matter. I do have to say, General, I think you have just put much of Miokalia's fears to rest. Although now we are concerned about the effectiveness of the entire interrogation process.", said the Commandant. "Our process, which results in less detailed information, but can yield higher through-put doesn't even use nano-technology, We are simply giving them a kind-of brain scan. The alpha-catch system detects the irregularities in brain waves which correlate to thoughts, theoretically. Although unless the subject is willing to a certain-extent, we can't pull much other than garbage and attitudes. What we've been doing is looking for certain thought-processes that appear suspicious. Really, when the subjects are not cooperative, the results are very fuzzy. Although with cooperative subjects, one can even recover highly detailed images and sounds. The technology is proven, but this application is stretching it to it's limits of practicality.", said the 'M70. The 15-ton allosaurus then paused again for a bit and said, "As for calming the refugees, More forces are coming just for that purpose. And now that I think C.A. is confident in the safety of your methods, that should be more sucessful."
At the economic meeting in Rohomeo, NCR, President Kohastar was the only non-human at the table. And yet, he was the most economically forceful participant. His presense did cause a certain level of tension, because of species differences. He said, "The city of Rohomeo represents the new economy of the Northern Continental Republic. Here is a diverse city where humans and non-humans coexist productively. Rohomeo is the largest economy in the NCR, even larger than the capital, Atrias. The manufacturing sector has finally exploded into full bloom since the coup pushed Duke Einterbaum out of government. For the first time in history, I think the big businessperson was actually releived and happy to see a socialist-leaning government take over. You all, of course, whould be happy for these people. Your own human people finding economic stability and sucess. And the way we measure sucess here is in GDP per-capita and Unemployment Rate. If unemployment is down and GDP is up, then that means wealth is being created, and most importantly distributed. But enough of that. We all know that wealth is useless and means nothing in the wrong hands, often, a very limited number of wrong hands at that. There are places in the Federation where humans are treated like dirt. We're proud to say that we are not one of those places. As you've seen so far. Humans drive expensive cars, they own land, they run companies. We even have human-named places here. Humans are not a minority in the NCR. Now let's get to business."
Meanwhile, as expected two carrier aircraft showed up above Cal and landed in Kolminaisus. The Royal Air Force did send a memo thanking them for warning them ahead of time, since they've got enough to worry about as is. Secretary of Defense Zagckza sent memos to both the Dincotian Secretary of Defense and Malych Premier Cen Kyagga asking them to "please change your coaxial exit point on this planet so that it is not above a neighboring nation, it's just courtesy."
Andertol received the report from General Koivikko that the Erenmor methods were safe, the methods were explained to the Secretary of State and finally he said, "Well, I'm alright with that if they can get it to work. Now what needs to happen is we need to figure out a way to make this more effective. Our alpha-catch system as-is is not effective enough. In the meantime, your orders are to maintain a secure border and keep the refugee camps safe. The Dincotians have arrived at the base in Kolminaisus. They will be arriving up there shortly after they are resupplied."
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 23, 2006 20:39:34 GMT -5
Gabriel's face again shifted around to form a smile. "I am grateful for the counsel, commandant. Perhaps I can offer my own assistance in turn," he said, pointing over to the landing strip. "Within a day a full company of Wraiths will be arriving here. We were intending to deploy them behind enemy lines in our sectors to disrupt supply lines and enemy morale, but as it turns out our Archons are handling such tasks well enough on their own. A quarter of the company's full strength will more than suffice for our assigned tasks. The rest I offer to deploy in your sectors instead. You'll find they excel at covert operations and might prove invaluable in disrupting the locals' capacity to combat well-armoured opponents."
"As for efficiency," Gabriel continued after a few moments' pause, "I've requested further construction and medical teams, they will be arriving with the Wraiths. We'll begin setting up additional interrogation posts at the other major refugee and internment camps once they have arrived. Builder willing, we'll be able to work through the back-log of arrivals within three months."
"I've also heard there are already some Tinisian personnel in the camps. I would like to request they be questioned quickly, as from the reports, they're getting impatient. I would also ask your assistance in assuring Tinis that any information acquired from their citizens not pertaining to the SoL will not be kept on our files."
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Aug 24, 2006 0:30:18 GMT -5
Real time communications through the PDS are very slow. There's almost a minute pause despite being on the priority channel and Epshrin's response is staticky as despite the PDS being tuned to allow this particular frequency through, it still blocks more than ninety percent of the transmission. The beacon system that relays the information as well as the satellites that double check it have to agree on each bit of information sent through before they are compiled together into his response.
"This gene vector news is distressing. I thank you for your wisdom in discontinuing it, but even still that it was used even once may result in cries of war crimes from the Unionists of Tinis. I'll break the news gently. I'd hate to loose an ally so easily. In any case we have a few select units in Pargalo now, some hanging out in your bases in the south. Unit zero is fast like that, as are the other special forces who are there and now operating elsewhere. I've also received the first report of a kill switch being used on a town. We had an agent in the village of Camzrel a few miles from the front lines who woke up this morning to be the only living person there. I expect someone in the Pargalonian leadership structure will try to contact someone soon. They know they can't win fair. So they'll give the threats we've been expecting. Good luck."
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"You want approval for what?" demanded a very irate First Speaker. "You have a lot of chutzpa to make such a request Cameron."
Cameron Omz, leader of Tinis' advanced parts council, aka, the top secrets weapons division was trying to maintain his practiced poker face. "I know it is likely that we gained possession of these heaven stones through unfortunate means, but we have them now. I do not know their origin and thus by clause fifteen of our charter, am not responsible for how they came into our possession. However, with the advances the attack gave us with regards to the system equation, we may be able to actually back engineer one."
"Ethically I should inform the Chattan of our receiving these... in the mail?"
"Yes, they arrived via post into our drop box just last week. And since it is in our possession, I have stamped our possession of it as top secret, and you can't violate that law without major problems."
"If we had a working auditor system currently I'm sure this would be all traced back in a few days," muttered Izixs in disgust. "But we don't so my office will have to handle it. How much ER* do you need?"
[*ER stands for Effective Resources. In a government where money means little for internal workings, resources are moved and exchanged between departments, workers councils, states, cities, ect ect in units of ER. ER are further specified by type such as personnel, toilet seats, cars, pieces of string, ect ect.]
"We'll need at least twelve researchers with math aptitude and seventeen who are experts at micro technologies, either biological or physical, preferable a mix of both. Fifteen ERs of equipment which's list I'll send to the upper chamber later, and six more levels of the Com Tower Building."
"If you take much more the news people upstairs will start to wonder why a high security council which is supposedly organizing tank parts is suddenly getting so much room."
Cameron nodded. "Well most of them are looking to move their actual studios to a taller building anyway for the view. Keeping the communication towers there, but effectively leaving the building empty except for us and the parade people. So I don't think it will be a problem.
"I hope you are willing to grant this request. As you can understand things are getting a little hectic around here. We've both read Epshrin's note, as has most of the chamber by now. Genetic vectors? Mind Probes? The foreign searches of our computer systems? Things are becoming very... scary."
"Fine. I'll put the request in this week's organization adjustment and hope no one notices. But I don't plan on authorize live testing of anything you come up with, understand?"
"Perfectly."
"You didn't face off against a snow leopard who had those things in use. It might of been an advanced version, but it certainly changed him beyond the pattern slips. Understand the stones, but do not use."
"Yes sir."
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Kad agreed to let his squad be questioned if that's what the Erenmores wished, but explicitly refused to let them be, as he put it, tampered with. He made it clear that his rules of engagement called him to defend his squad from any 'chemical, biological, or unknown agent which may compromise their health, the mission, or the Union's interests'. He put a great deal of emphasis on the latter of each list in that statement. After a short discussion, and a couple messages from homes, interviews were agreed upon for the time being, provided they didn't leave the camp's vicinity for the time being.
About twenty minutes into a rather dull interview with one Erenmor interrogators, both of them heard a commotion outside. Agreeing on a pause, Kad soon found himself next to a couple of his squad near the scene of what had just been a scuffle.
Pinned to the ground by two M27s was Ivoristo, who was cursing up a storm. Finally during the string of unmentionables he managed to spot Kad and yell, "They have no rights here! They're makings the people disappear! They'll make me disappear too!"
One of the Erenmor droids responded. "All Pargalonians are expected to be given proper medical examinations and debriefings. Please let us assist you."
"Medicals don'ts be's resulting in vanishings. There was a fellow three tents down who never came out of your operations over there!"
Kad stepped up. "Alright all. I'm Lieutenant Kad of Tinis. My orders here are to assist in the what ever manner I can for either military operations against the Pargalonian forces or to secure the liberation of the people of Pargalo. By that I would like to inform this gentle dragon of the cause of the blue eye effect." Hearing no objects from the menagerie present, including the other soldiers of different origins with weapons ready just in case the old anthro under not one but two M27s some how managed to break free, he continued, "As of this time, the Erenmor interrogators are using nano tech to assist in a brain scan. They are looking for certain patterns and information in particular. Information good sir that may reveal some persons to be spies or agents of the bad guys. Those that were not returned to camp showed signs of being such agents and thus been taken elsewhere into custody. The eye effect I now know is a residual effect of the nanobot injection and will disappear over time."
The dusty white dragon seemed calm for a few moments. Finally he spoke, "You're not telling me everything."
"Of course not," replied Kad. "But I'm telling you what you need to know."
"I still don't want my noggin to be accessed. I hope you understand Tinisian that such things aren't fair."
"It isn't."
"Then why aren't you doing anything about it! What sort of liberation strips us of everything including our most cherished sanctuary, our own minds? Kad good sir, I plead with you since they will not listen. I heard the Miokalians were scanning yes but not able to see it all. I arrived around the they were phasing that out. But these bizarre beings from Erenmor, are you going to let them do something much deeper? Violate me? As they've violated hundreds of us already? Listen Tinisian. Where is that spine I've heard you people have grown since you left us. Or are you as afraid now to stand up to them as you were Wune and Jirie?"
Kad was visibly angry to say the least. He nodded. "Someone get me who ever is in charge here. Who is really in charge. We need to have a talk. Now."
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Post by miokalia on Aug 24, 2006 2:56:35 GMT -5
"They what... what?", said Kohastar into a cellular phone in the lobby of the hotel hosting the economic conference. Kohastar had just heard the two words he never wanted to hear himself possibly being accused of. "War crimes.", said General Zagckza, "This vector fiasco may result in war crimes" "But we didn't kill anyone! I would go so far as to say we really didn't hurt them either! War crimes is an accusation reserved for people who round up civilians and then blow their heads off! Like Wune and Jirie! ... Okay.... You know what we're going to do? We are going to remove ourselves from this as much as we can. I'm assuming we have a back-up plan, in case the vector failed. You know... to put the gene back?", asked Kohastar as he took the phone into a side room and locked the door behind him. "Well, we may still have a way out... The vector was of extremely low-dosage. It really doesn't do much other than change that one gene.", said Zagckza. "Can I be extradited? If necessary... I will step down from the presidency to avoid being charged of war crimes... nardariy... Do you know the last time a leader of my species got charged of war crimes?", said Kohastar. "Kotofta. Rei Kotofta. That guy took control of an entire colony and turned it into a war-machine practically overnight. He dismembered prisoners and killed everyone who stood in his way. Sometimes personally.", said Zagckza. "I don't want to be in the company of such thugs! What about you?", said Kohastar. "Any Malych accused of 'war-crimes' that the C.A. has authorized is forcibly taken back to Malychis. The unit is then dismantled, reassembled and redesignated, the C.A. tells the international or governement body that attempts extradition that the unit has been captured and dismantled.", said Zagckza. A little bit of worry in his tone. "Which is only part of the truth.", said Kohastar. "It's as much as they need to know. If the C.A. authorized it, then of course we did it. We would have been following orders.", said Zagckza. "Can the C.A. be tried for war-crimes?", asked Kohastar. "...Such an occourance has never happened. The C.A. isn't necessarily a person. It cannot be imprisioned. If they were to execute it, then all of us would cease operation immediately. We would all... basically die.", said Zagckza. "Okay... well before we start figuring out what to do if we get accused of anything, let's try to fix it before it becomes a problem...", said Kohastar. The phone conversation continued, but Kohastar completed the rest of it in Kohtohkhan. Using the most convoluted and complex wording he could possibly come up with that he knew Zagckza could understand, for the sake of making the conversation unintelligible to even someone who had their ear to the door.
The Dincotian aircraft was resupplied, and the soldiers rested. They fit in well with the Miokalian soldiers on the base, all of them wearing virtually the same colors, bearing similarly colored flags. Kolminaisus was a port town on the north end of the island next to the mainland Eledorian penninsula, and the military base there was huge. The planes were loaded up with APCs and most importantly, supplies for running a refugee camp. Supplies for winning over the people.
The aircraft arrived at the south base in Pargalo. As they were unloaded, General Hayago, an almost red-scaled allosaurus approached the Erenmor base to speak to General Gabriel. On the way, he ran into General #TD4PCH3Y. "Oiy, altampico Tdapchey. Darsisut moiy kav choyadorit?", he said. The Malych General then responded, "I am comfortable with organics using my Malych '#' name, by the way. You don't have to use that Kohtohkhan transliteration." Hayago looked at him sideways. The two went back a long way. "I've always called you by a more personable name, and I always will, Generale Tdapchey.", said the red allosaurus, he then continued, "So what's going on here? We're supposed to be making friends here? I've heard you got a long way to go in that department" "It's just like Ckaleron back in '59. Everybody hates us and if we don't win them over, the bad guys will kill them all for sure.", said the Malych General. "Well, this is what we're here for.", said Hayago. He looked through some papers and then said. "I need to speak with a certain Lieutenant Kad from Tinis." "Kad? I've heard this name. He is in the Erenmor tent. Being questioned.", said Tdapchey. "I see, it's no wonder you guys are having trouble winning these people over.", said Hayago.
On the other side of camp, a special task force arranged by Secretary Zagckza was beginning to track down the refugees who had been administered the vector. Foretunately, most of the refugee camp hadn't of been 'processed' yet. And the ones that had been still had the ink on their skin. A white fox and an unarmed 'M27 that were on the team at one point found one of the processed refugees by the portable wash-basin vigorously scrubbing at the ink marking on his wrist. "Hey, you might want to stop doing that. That stuff doesn't come off for a week. If you want, I can remove it for you.", said the fox. The refugee was a rabbit. He had nearly scrubbed a section of fur bald trying to remove the ink. "Is this permanent? This isn't a tatoo? You aren't going to take me to the interrogation tent are you? Get away from me with that thing!", he said quickly and pointing at the 'M27 for the last half of it. "This unit is unarmed. He is only intended to assist with the disabled or incapacitated, If I need to get them to medical treatment.", said the fox. "Well you don't need to get me to medical treatment. I don't need anymore of these tatoos.... Why is it looking at me like that?", said the refugee. "Would you rather it look away? Come here. It won't bite you. I just need to ask you about a few things. We're trying to sort some things out.", said the fox. "I've heard that people go to the medical tent, and then they don't come back. Where are they going?", asked the refugee timidly, not taking his eyes off of the 'M27. "They are political prisoners. People who we have deemed to be a threat to the safety of the camp. People who are really affiliated with Wune and Jirie, and the terrorists. I'm sure it's scary, but I have to give you something.", said the fox. "It doesn't involve the medical tent. Or tatoos does it?", asked the refugee. "No, and those aren't tatoos, they come off after a week. I want you to have this. It is one of our protein losenges. I've seen far too many people eating nothing but bread and cabbage. Here. Eat it, quick. Before somebody sees you.", said the fox as she handed the refugee the tiny pill. The rabbit looked around a bit and then swallowed it ravenously. "Thank you. You have no idea what it's like.", said the refugee. "I had to do something. It was just too much. You speak pretty good English.", said the fox. "Yeah, I learned it from my father. Ever since then I've held on to it. I figured someday I would be able to get out of Pargalo and make a life somewhere else with it.", said the rabbit. "Someday you will. This will pass. It has too.", said the fox, she then began petting the 'M27 behind the mounting brackets on it's back. The machine became noticibly more relaxed and almost slightly affectionate. "Do you want to pet it?", asked the fox. "I... But... How? No. I don't think I want to. They've been working with the others.", said the refugee. "Beleive me, they are just like any other animal. They don't attack until they process something as a threat. I promise you, it won't bite.", said the fox. The refugee then put a paw out timidly, unsure of what would happen, and then the fox took the rabbit's paw and placed it on the top of the mechanical raptor's head. "It's warm... Why is it warm? Machines are cold.", said the rabbit. "These machines are different from the ones you're used to. These ones are alive.", said the fox.
After that cute little encounter, the fox then checked a number off of the list and reported to General Koivikko. "That's the last of them. All of the counter-vectors have been administered.", said the fox. "Thank you, sargent Caide. You have just performed a great service to our country, for that, Zagckza himself will probably award you a promotion." The countervector was mixed in with the protein pill. It would completely reverse the effects of the original vector without the individual even knowing it. Nothing really changed about them, but now, things were put right back the way they were. The project even went a little-ways toward building much needed amiability between the Miokalian forces and the refugees.
The Dincotians were already beginning their operation to un-indoctrinate the refugees. They were to undo the damage caused by Wune and Jirie. To make the people less accepting of such tyranny in the future. The Dincotians call it "Pre-Democratic Conditioning". It consisted of a variety of pleasent things. Bringing in supplies and traditional foods, bringing in radios and other media devices, giving the people clothes and just all-around making life a lot more tolerable in the camps. The goal was to win the people over with kindness.
As expected, the older refugees appreciated the clothes, supplies and foods they were accustomed to. While the younger refugees found themselves enamored with the weird toys and media-stuffs the Dincotians were giving them. The goal was to foster cultural exchange. That way, respect could be formed. Respect that would go a long way with these people. The goal was to win these people over enough, that they would willingly give over the SoL and RLM members. The interrogation project would then be more effective, and fewer people would have to go through it.
There was resistence, even to the kindness. Every once in a while there would be the random refugee who would deny all of the supplies given to him. Refusing food, even traditional foods. The individual would then try to take a stand against the Dincotians, claiming that they are simply a part of the invasion to take their land. They are conquerors from another world, or that they have come to convert the Pargalonians with their strange, unusual music and evil language. The Dincotians would then flag that individual as a trouble-maker, move them up to a priority list for Erenmor's interrogation procedure, all silently. Then they would do damage control. In every team, there was an educator. Someone who knew something about the Pargalonian culture. Someone who could close the communication gap if needed. Someone who could argue very forcefully. Often, this specialist would confront the trouble-maker directly. First, tearing into the pitfalls of his ideology, which were almost always the same things (it was more procedural than actual argument). This whole operation produced a good amount of 'trouble-makers', that found themselves queued up on the interrogation list. Meanwhile, the refugees began to see a correlation between who was disappearing, and who was sympathizing with SoL, RLM or the Pargalonian regimes. This served as a calming agent to the population, now that they were seeing for themselves that the interrogations, or 'medical examinations' has a method behind them, and that the people disappearing weren't random either. This put the remaining sympathizers on edge. They were beginning to see that the Dincotians were masters of soft-power. Using social engineering to turn the population against them.
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