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Post by Erenmor on Aug 28, 2006 16:45:12 GMT -5
The sun was beginning to set when the first of the Erenmor sea-planes touched down a short way off the coast of the island of Thack in the Cal kingdoms. The machine didn't look at all graceful -if anything, it looked like an overfed bird. The main bulk of the plane was a large cargo hold, flanked by two thick and broad wings. Small ports on the back of the wings near the main body seemed to serve as the engines.
Before the plane had even come to a halt, a hatch on top of the vessel opened and the security detail began to climb out. In this case, they were Sentinel pattern, humanoid in most aspects. Perhaps the main difference was the fact that their heads, while normal-sized for a human, didn't have a face as such and only sported a sensory pod consisting of two cameras, one above the other, and an array of smaller sensors. Even from up close, they could have easily passed for people in full body armour.
The Sentinels disembarked into the shallow coastal watters and secured mooring lines for the planes into the ground. Some others began to search through the immediate area for any signs of life, while still other ones took up stations on the top of the plane, on the look out for any potential threats.
"LZ is clear, you may begin your descent," Durand signalled as the remote-controlled shell he had picked climbed out of the first plane. An Archon-pattern. "To all ground units. Our primary purpose here is the cleaning up of the fallout. Avoid confrontations with local militias unless they interfere with the clean up. Should you be fired upon, you are allowed to return fire, of course."
Gradually, the other five planes touched down on the waves near the first one. The sentinels already on shore secured their mooring lines as well, as their cargo of construction and medical Golems disembarked, using their hover systems to reach shore. One of the planes intentionally ran aground during landing. This one was intended as raw material for construction of the base of operations.
Quietly, the construction Golems went about assembling piers for the remaining planes so the Sentinels could unload the first storage containers for the radioactive fallout that would be collected. The medical Golems waited patiently by for when the Sentinels found survivors, if any remained on the island.
***
Back in Pargalo, Gabriel found the Wraith company kneeling silently next to the command post in the Erenmor part of the base. Praying to the Builder before their work, Gabriel knew.
"There has been a slight change in plans," he announced over their internal comms network. Without a word, all the Wraiths stood up at attention slowly. "The local military is proving to be less of a threat than originally anticipated, and as such, there is less of a need for covert actions behind lines in our sector to disrupt enemy operations. However, the Miokalian troops have of late run into more stiff resistance, and to assist them 75% company strength will be reassigned to their operational sectors. Your objectives remain: sabotage the enemy communications, vehicle pool, anti-armour and anti-mech weapon stockpiles. Avoid direct confrontation, and if a kill must be made, return with interrogation material if at all possible. Those of you assigned to Miokalian sectors, report now to the Malych commander for your postings."
To any onlookers, the exchange was a completely silent one and very brief. The change of orders and reassignment took in all some three seconds on the outside. Again without a word, the Wraiths dispersed, a quarter of them quite literally vanishing into thin air as they made their way through the camp, using their superior thermoptic camouflage all the way to their assigned operation zones.
***
A short time later, the remaining Wraiths were assembled outside the Malych command post. The majority of the bots waited outside, while a single one went inside.
"General #TD4PCH3Y," the Wraith spoke up as it entered. Rather than the screeching noises heard from the delegation guards in Miokalia, this one spoke with a smooth, calm voice, perfectly matching that of an organic. The bot had simply overheard a suitably pleasant voice from one of the refugees on its way through the base, though it kept such information for itself. "I represent the Erenmor contingent reassigned to assist your forces. We will begin crippling the enemy's capacity to resist your troops and coordinate their efforts once you assign us with operation areas," the droid explained, bowing its mirror-plated head respectfully.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Aug 28, 2006 19:37:00 GMT -5
"I'm taking a great risk being here Wune," said an iguana.
A grey wolf in her late twenties nods, "I just wanted to say thank you for all the benefits the servants have brought to this good kingdom."
"Don't be such a sas," replied Gernigen. "Bringing them here wasn't my idea. Leadership simply believed that here was the safest place for them to ready their strikes. If the fire dance hadn't occured they would of been leaving Pargalo presently and moving on to their next home. Some of them already are."
"You do know the robots won't stop till they control the country and have found any of the servants or their allies that there are to be found. Which of course means this will be the end of my reign here."
"It certainly will be."
"So in certain ways the group owes me. They're loosing a perfectly good totalitarian state, maybe not one that's up to their ideals, but its a whole lot closer than the homes of those busting heads around the country side right now."
"Pealia dear," said the iguana refering to her real name as opposed to assumed one. "But you see, we didn't expect them to be able to find the SOL so quickly and then to route you so easily. It does give us great insight into their capabilities though. Imagine if we were able to secure for more proper uses the Miokalian ring? Or to empty out the independant streak of their metal dinos and use them for our own uses? And the Erenmories ghost soldiers would make a very good contribution as well. Einterbaum wasn't kidding when he spoke of the potential of the electronic's fruits being very useful.
"What more, what the Servant of Light, the RLM, and a few others have put in motion is moving our cause forward quite swiftly. We weren't expecting Cal to fall apart so easily. Tis a shame we didn't have more of the pure there. Would of been nice to have someone wispering into the ear of a baron or two, but it seems either someone else is working that nation, or its working themselves into chaos. But when the dust settles we suspect there will be a strong leader of some sort, and then its only a matter of time before we move them over to our perfectionist ideology."
Gernigen leaned in over the current Wune with a passionate smile. "Having a god emperor alligned with the PED would just make my day."
"But what about me?" asked Wune. "The origional Wune started the PED and I've done five times as much for you than he did. Are you going to be able to get me somewhere safe?"
"We've considered it. And we might be able to help you. Jirie has held you back a great deal and you are indeed more of a true believer in the cause than the last houses' founder, but the Erenmors will want a body. Do you still have a double somewhere for the old kook?"
"I think we still have one somewhere."
"Good, bring him here quickly and we'll spirit you away. You'll of course have to drop your current title. But I'm sure one with your organizational and millitary expertise can be of great use in several places we've been needing such."
"You're thoughts on the fail safes?"
Gernigen nodded and laughed. "Of course, use them as you like. And prep the final one of course. We need them to know horror. I doubt the Erenmors will care, but the rest of their coalition will know what it means to move against those they fear. So yes, feel free to burn off what little is left of this horrid little country of yours. I can almost guarantee you that you'll be given a much better one in a few years time."
"I'm glad that I've been able to please the organization with my work here."
"I told you they'd keep you safe if you let those crazy faithful use your facilities. They even managed to do what you were not and strike Tinis directly. And having a third party run the operation certianly calmed Jirie's nerves. But his fate will not be as pleasant as your own I'm sure."
"Their coalition is probably expecting a message from me," admits Wune. "I think I'll go with an ultimatum."
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The following message was recieved by several of the advancing forces at once, as well as the Tinisian fleet that was nearing the western island. It was broadcast in mores code and slightly encrpyted with a very obvious key to throw off the dim but not the not so dim.
'To the invaders. This is your only warning. Do not move north of the city of Merzal nor west of Bantep nor within eighty miles of the coast of the off limits areas or else a disaster beyond your imagination will occur and a total hollocaust shall be performed upon this land, destroying all who stand. We will not bow down to foreign invaders ever. Leave now or perish.'
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Kad looked over to Shimkrid, the units intel worker after he read off the easily decoded message. The two of them were in the back of the APC just north of Merzal.
"Whoops," says Kad. "I guess they haven't realized us... and the Erenmor bots were already up here. How long till you bet they notice?"
"I'm guessing since they don't know we're here at where ever they're sending this message from, that it might be a while. Lines of communications are likely tangled or out for them. Probably just an empty threat anyway."
"Don't be so sure specialist. Even if Wune chickens out with the random killings and stuff, Jirie's out there still. He'll be happy to order the army to fight itself if he thinks he'll make a point."
"Oh." After a pause the specialist says, "What happened to that dragon back at the camp?"
"I think he's still there. After the confrontation he earned some respect from the other camp goers. He's gruff but he knows what he's doing. People like that. And its a good thing to, since after that incident he was more than happy to help convince others to cooperate as needed."
"Alls well that ends well."
"Lets hope so."
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Post by miokalia on Aug 29, 2006 0:54:40 GMT -5
Following the relaying of the message to C.A. and Dincota. A flurry of activity took place in the president's office. The president couldn't make another military offensive out of this and remain in office. He had already used up all of his credibility in the party and was now seen as ineffective by the public. Another stunt like that, and he would be impeached. The Pacifist party was already beginning to set up the legislative Rube Goldberg machine that could oust the president in a swift, one-two punch. All it takes is a 2/3rds vote to start a public impeachment ballot. In a week, the president could be out. His secretary of state, would then take his place.
Before Miokalia had a chance to come up with a logical course of action, Dincota was the first to respond. Their silent data collection and intelligence-gathering efforts were coming to fruition. With the help of the Malych, an ultamatim, or rather a 'deal' was going to be delivered to Jirie... in person.
When Jirie returned to his office he noticed someone was already in there. Being the paranoid military dictator he was, he reached for his pistol as he slowly crept closer to the door. The suspense was broken when the stranger said, "You can go ahead and put that weapon down, it won't do you any good. I'm here to make a deal anyways." The accent was too generic to distinguish a nationality, which raised Jirie's suspicion. "If you assassinate me, you'll never get out of here alive. And there's others. You'll accomplish nothing.", said Jirie. "Perhaps you didn't hear me correctly. I've come to offer a deal.", said the stranger. Jirie entered the room and saw that the salamander was indeed, unarmed. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here. I guess I'll have to invest in some new security too... Well, what do you want?", said Jirie. "I'm putting an offer on the table, you can take it, or you can leave it. It's a simple offer really. You don't have to do a whole lot on your part. In fact, it will make your life easier.", said the salamander calmly. "So what is it? Surrender? Turning against Wune? Cease-fire? Turning over Wune's PED and SoL friends? I'm sorry. I don't play those games. I most certainly won't take offers from Miokalian reptillian scum.", said Jirie. The salamander appeared unaffected by this, he calmly said, "I haven't even said what the offer was yet. Although, please do continue... ... Oh? are you done? Okay, well you pretty much covered it. We will spare your life and withdraw our offensive if you comply with a few things: 1. you must turn against Wune. 2. you must allow either us, or your own forces to exterminate the SoL and RLM. 3. You must remove the village killswitches. 4. Agree to a cease fire (with all these conditions being met)." "Do you take me for an idiot? You want to get me to agree to this so you can just take my land from me without a fight?", said Jirie. "There isn't a single thing we want from this land. We don't need your dirt, your oil or your poverty! All we're interested in here is SoL and RLM. Once we've exterminated them, we're done here. Tinis on the other hand, might not be. But I'm not speaking for Tinis.", said the Salamander a bit more forcefully. "Then you're from Miokalia?", asked Jirie. "No." said the salamander. There was a short pause and then Jirie shouted, "Don't toy with me! Where the hell are you from? Tell me now or else I will expedite your eventual execution!". Jirie reached for the other pistol he had on him and held it to the Salamander's head. The salamander continued to pause, his expression didn't change at all, even with pistol to his head. "Time's up!", said Jirie, and with that he pulled the trigger.
There was the sound of a loud metal clang along with the gunshot. Jirie squinted at the salamander and then figured it out as he saw in the lizard's eyes, four seperate lenses. "You're a machine.", said Jirie putting his gun away. "And I've got nothing to lose. You could tear me apart, blow me up, melt me down. I'd just show up in another body back home." said the now apparently mechanical salamander. The machine then forced the doors in the room to lock, including Jirie's personal security lock which he always thought would protect him in the event his office security were compromised, or if there was a revolt. Only he knew the combination to open it... from the outside. Jirie looked behind him and began to get a bit worried. With his door locked like that, his guards couldn't even get in. "perhaps this offer is more of an ultimatim... Yes, that's it. It is an ultimatim. You agree to our terms, and I will not detonante the tactical nuclear weapon in my snout.", said the mechanical salamander. "You'll kill everyone in this city! Then the blood will be on your claws!", said Jirie nervously. "No, I said tactical nuclear weapon. It's small, it's lightweight, and it will kill... probably just you since your office is sheilded.", said the salamander. Jirie looked around nervously, he then glanced down breifly. The machine caught this and said, "Oh.. wait. Your protege's office. Your successor. The one who will pick up arms if you should fall. Isn't his office right below yours?" Jirie then looked away from the floor, he was visibly nervous. Using his foot-claws, the salamander tore the carpet some. Cutting out a small section to lift with his foot. "Hmm... It doesn't look like you shielded the floor, did you?", he said looking down, Jirie was visibly nervous about this. "I didn't have to open the carpet up like that, by the way. I can see through it. I can see below the visible spectrum quite a ways so right now I can see that there is no sheilding in the floor... it would seem that your protege is in the office right now. Perhaps he's plotting his move to steal power from you, plotting your assassination so he can take power, or maybe he's just making a rope out of paperclips... I don't care.", continued the machine. "You take us out, then Wune will take control! And he'll put SoL and RLM in control. Even PED is in on this. You kill me, then you'll still have to fight them.", said Jirie. "So, will you accept our offer?", asked the salamander. "No. I will not. I would rather have Wune take control of my post and kill every last one of those miserable villages if he has to in the process, than surrender to machines.", said Jirie. "By the way, I've been fitted with an interesting technology. We call it remote alpha-catch. You have been a very cooperative subject too, wether you realized it or not. I now know everything, and I mean everything that you know. So regardless of if you accept the offer or not, I have collected enough intelligence now that you are no longer required... So now, you die.", said the machine. Jirie tried to throw some books and paperweights at the machine, then pulled a gun out of the desk. A semi-automatic pistol. He fired round after round at the salamander, all to no avail. The nuclear explosion ripped through Jirie's office, killing both Jirie and his shadow successor in the blast. The building became unstable and eventually collapsed. Although, the residue from the small explosion produced no fall-out, the debris was irradiated and caused several other key officers who narrowly escaped the collapse to die hours later from radiation poisoning. The mechanical salamander's program was elevated to the level of class OR by the C.A. for the sacrifice of that body once it returned to the system.
The intelligence gather was of course, invaluable, and quickly found it's way to the entire coalition.
"How did you get someone into Jirie's office?", asked Kohastar in another meeting with the C.A. "I have some deep-undercover operatives working in Pargalo from before the war. They were keeping track of the PED and Einterbaum (they're the ones that dealt with the Daleron situation up there a little while ago). #D40Z75, the salamander was fitted with a certain kind of outer disguise that we're not going to get into detail with. The point was, he didn't even look ethnic Dincotian, Miokalian or Malych. He was reptillian, yes. But he looked like a northerner.", said the C.A. "That was tremendously patriotic of him to do that for us.", said Kohastar. "He'll be around. I upgraded him to an OR-class unit. The point is: we have all of their information. The remote alpha-catch system works superbly well on unsuspecting individuals. Especially when they are not distracted by restraints. Jirie played into the system perfectly. I can even get the vector data for the faces of top Pargalonian military officials, Wune, several PED, SoL and RLM leaders, and their voices. That's barely scratching the surface, I've got sensitive military plans, secret projects. Some of the Pargalonian intelligence... Some of which bothers me...", said the C.A. "Bothers you? What is it?", asked Kohastar. "They know about the Coleotam Ring. And PED knows about it too. Einterbaum also thinks he can commandeer it from us to use for them.", said the C.A. "But, they can't. The system only works one way. And the HCPC beam has to originate from directly below it. And that's in our waters. Don't you control it?", said Kohastar. "Yes, I, and I alone have total control over it. In order to use it, they would have to fire their own HCPC beam into it from directly below it. And then there is the matter of aiming it. The coding used to aim the weapon is a system of coding only known to me. It is a massive code, and it changes constantly. They couldn't even begin to break it.", said the C.A. "What if they have the computer power to crack it? Maybe Einterbaum knows how it works.", asked Kohastar "Einterbaum knows only about one component of the code. He thinks that all of it, but he's wrong. The Ring will only accept that code from a C.A. Einterbaum may have cracked the OR-class authorization code by snagging it off of a certain OR-class unit who I refuse to name back in 2099.", said the C.A. "Doroy's cousin?", asked Kohastar. "Yeah, Doroy's stupid, stupid, stupid cousin. Very rarely can an OR-class Malych find a way to destroy itself so unrecoverably and for such a terrible cause. Doroy's cousin's program couldn't be recovered, it was one of the rare occasions when recovery is impossible, and even if I did recover it, I would have deleted him promptly for being such an asshole and a moron. There hasn't been a single instance of that since the end of the subjugate era, I think it was something those humans did to us.", said the C.A. "Well Doroy came out alright. He's definately more reasonable than Kyagga.", asked Kohastar. "Kyagga is used to living in a very unusual world. He hasn't yet been fully... tempered. Doroy spent the first part of his life thinking he was a regular dinosaurian, he thus learned to emulate organic behavior perfectly, and he's had good examples to follow. I'm surprized the Malychis C.A. hasn't seeded him yet.", said C.A.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 29, 2006 6:33:05 GMT -5
Salato sits in one of the conference rooms in the Parliament building as her office was still being repaired. She could hear the pounding of the shells on the parliament complex, it did not worry her nothing they had could do any real damage to the complex and entry to the complex was now near impossible because of the lock down. What was worrying her was the fact that she and all the other government officials here were trapped and, even lambda and epsilon said that the bulk of even the special intelligence communictions had been compromised or cut. He was working on something with phi, head of special operations but had gone quiet. . Princess Lyie had disappeared, salato did know that she had resources she did not, she would be trying to get word from them.
What was frustrating was the lack of communication from the rebels, they had not even demanded her surrender. She mused on this for a while, there is a knock on the door "enter" she calls and Lo enters. Her fur is still caked in blood, the fighting to take the parliament had been very messy.
Salato looks up "I see that you have not washed yet" "Didn't seem much point, we're cleaning up the mess. Did you know they are still finding body parts? The clean up crew said that under the best of conditions you office would be a hazard to heath for at least a week. They haven't even start cleaning they are still retrieving bodies, well parts of them, anyway you haven't washed either" Lo notes nodding at salato who's fur was also largely caked in blood. She also notes what salato was still waring the short sword and various daggers she had used earlier.
"Well at least it's not ours, well mostly, anyway I doubt this is a social call" "Yes we have an incoming transmission from the rebel leaders" Salato sighs "OK put them thru" The screen blinks into life and the image of a young looking vulpine appears. "YOU!.." salato screams "Traitor!" It was Ane Lacania an, he had been one of Salato's advisers. "Please salato, I am only wish to discuss terms." Salato fumes "What are your terms!" "Oh no it's not our surrender we wish to discuss. In exchange for your surrender and the surrender of the remaining units loyal to the government we are willing to provide you and those loyal to the government with free passage out of the kingdoms, though the members of the Lacan council will have to be given to us." Salato snorts, it was obviously un-acceptable, but she knew Lacania it was the opening bargaining position. She also knew he was only interested in his own personal advancement, he was no ideologue. "We have control over all of the kingdoms, the governments territory is that complex and nothing else" Salato looks shocked, could it be true, she glares at the screen then asks "What exactly do you people want, well other than power?" Lacania looks neivious, it was clear he didn't believe what he was going to say. "We want to return Cal and Sae to the old times when god emperors ruled with absolute power, when the people believed what they were told, no one questioned and we reached out over the lands and took all we wanted!" Notices that Lyie had arrived, she was visibly laughing, "I think Princess Lyie wants to speak." Lyie sits down, looks at the screen incredulously and speak "The old times? I have studied history, I think you mean the Mytopians? They managed to have a rebellion on average every five years, from what we can tell. They had more sects and religions than we have now, which is quiet an achievement, And as for the God Emperors " She laughs "They had a life expectancy of lass than a slave, assassination was that common." Lacania glares "but none the less you will surrender, your position is untenable" Lyie smiles and looks down on some papers she had brought with her "I think you have been miss-informed of the situation." "We have the kingdoms!" "No you have the Tel and the capitals of Drew and Teu, how ever you do not have any control of Teer" "We will soon!" Lacania shouts "No you won't they have already dispatched the two divisions you have sent against them, they have disappeared? The third division you are sending into the jungle will suffer the same fate, you really don't know your history, no unit goes into teer and comes out again if the teerie don't want them to." Lacania, looks taken a back, he had been informed that the parliament was cut off from communications. "Oh yes and of course there is my principality, I believe the sisterhood is running that now. The three southern baronies are still holding out and the teuie province of inteer is also holding out as well and the desert tribes have not declared for anyone. That and you have nowhere near taken control of all the Saeie islands"
Lacania cuts the communication.
He turns to his advisers "How the h^$% are they still getting information, we need them to surrender, then the resistance will collapse. Who the hell keeps ordering more troops into Teer?!?" "I did know sir, though I think lord Slean is incharge of the troops in the south" one of his advisers replies. "Goddess that idiot, see if you can get him to stop and deal with inteer, that is salatos home province. If we take it we might get some leverage, Oh yeah and we have to do something about Inleef." "But sir we have reports of miokalian forces." "It's worth the risk of an incident if we can take back the island, or at least prevent them from interfering on the main land."
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 29, 2006 15:56:12 GMT -5
Salato, Lyie and Lo sit in a small booth in one of the many bars in the parliament complex, they were trying to figure out their next move. Salato had run out of idea, even Lyie had no idea what forces they had at their disposal or even how to contact them. Salato had ordered the bars re-opened to at least let the, effectively imprisoned, population of the complex relax a little, well those not on guard duty. The music did make a change from the incessant pounding of the incoming shells. "Well we can assume my people's forces are mostly intact" Lo says absent mindedly before taking a sip out of her large glass. "Well army and militia, they probably attacked the air fields, if they have any seance" Lyie counters. "Well from the looks of it their southern commanded doesn't have any so they may well be OK, but We need a miracle to get out of this" Salato laughs, before taking a large swig out of her glass.
Silence falls over the three.
"Or a prophecy?" Lyie nursing her drink. The other two look at her quizzically. "You know the prophecy of the tree, swamp, mountain, black people from over the sea and dragons?" Lyie continues. "Oh I think I remember that one, surly no one believes it anyway it was from the Mytopian era" Lo replies. "But the leaders of the rebels think of them selves as Mytopians. So" Lyie says leadingly. "That might just be what we need to throw them right off balance, but we need to get word to Teer"
Salato took a large drink and looked at the other two "What in all that's holy are you taking about?" Lo turns to Lyie "you probably know the prophecy better." Salato was getting increasingly annoyed, what the hell has some old prophecy got to do with this, she didn't even know what this prophecy said.
Lyie start in a matter of fact manner "It is one of the better know prophecy from the mytopian era and is always mistranslated."
"The translation most people know, well people who have not studied the mytopian language and understood it's intricacies goes"
"Should the people of the trees fight along side the people of the swamp while also fighting along side the people of the mountains than the last of the mytopians will be in grave danger"
"OK I get that part, inteer is very swampy so I assume we are the people of the swamp? But we are doing that already" Salato says
"No by along side they mean physically not just on the same side" Lyie replies
"OK so we get Teer to send a couple of units to the baronies and inteer, but only grave danger" Salato replies.
Lyie replies "That's not the good bit, this is. Should they also fight along side black people from over the sea, then the dragons will come and destroy the last of them"
Salato thinks for a second, them smiles and points as Lyie who smiles. She being like all inleefie a puma and inleef being over the sea.
Lo interjects "But the dragons?" "There is a miokalia force on the inleef coast and what is some of there population?" Lyie replies leadingly Lo smiles "Do you think they know the prophecy?" "Almost certainly and they will have ignored the fact that it has been mistranslated as they do not seem to be the best at historical fact." Lyie replies. Salato says "So all we have to do is get Teer to send a couple of units to Inleef and make sure they know we have." "But what will the rebels do?" Lo asks. "Only the goddess knows but it should spook the hell out of them and give us a better bargaining position. It only needs a few units and I think teer can probably spare them, looks like we have a plan of sorts" Salato replies
Salato pulls out a small communication device and says "Lambda, Can you get a one way transmission to Teer, encrypted enough so it won't be crack for say four hours?" Lambda replies "They have most of our cyphers and two way comsm are out, but yes, but I can't guarantee the message will remain secure for more than...only four hours OK...why?" "Prophecy" salato replies.
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 29, 2006 18:52:27 GMT -5
"We should try and avoid forcing their hand to carry out the threat in their ultimatum," Gabriel said, during a meeting with the other force commanders at the main base. "Aside from the loss of civilian and military personnel, such a blast might very well be used to cover the tracks of those we came here to get in the first place," he pointed out.
"My suggestion is as follows: we comply with the first demands. Pull back those forces openly operating within the areas designated. Retain only the most capable covert operatives. Their task will be determining whether Wune can actually carry out his threat, and if so, removing that capability. Capturing Wune alive would also be desirable. I, for one, volunteer my Wraith company for the assignment. I've also taken the liberty of requesting increased surveillance on Pargalo, with particular attention to odd emissions and energy signatures."
"I would also advise moving organic troops and refugees further away from the zones listed in the ultimatum, as a precaution."
***
Onyx quietly enjoyed these rare moments of peace he allowed himself. His shell sat on a snow-covered mountain ridge some distance above Citadel Peak, overlooking a dark forest valley. The noise of Erenmor's machine network was just a whisper in the back of his mind, all but drowned out by the howling wind. Troubled times as these didn't allow him for much time off, but he needed time to think about one particular development.
War crimes. It took some time for the information to reach him from Tinis. They had gone so far as to name Erenmor's actions as examples of war crimes for their new legislation. Such a turn of events was worrying, to say the least. Of course they'd likely find it a nightmare to carry out in practice, Onyx realised, but just the idea was... disturbing. He would have expected accusations of such for the frequent use of chemical weapons against entire cities during the previous war against the SoL. But the mind probes? Onyx saw them as the best course of action, given the situation. Not too drastic, but highly effective.
The thought crossed his mind to implicate Miokalia for bringing about a situation where the mind probes had to be used on such a scale. Were it not for their use of their orbital weapon, after all, we could have used the captured thread to work our way up the Servants' web of command. Calmly. Quietly. Without involving millions of innocent civilians.
He got rid of the thought quickly. Such a course of action would not improve the situation, and worsen relations with Miokalia. They'd be judged on their methods as well, after all.
Pargalo is not Tinis, Onyx pointed out to himself. Outside the territory of Tinis, their own legislation has little actual power, and it would take a bit more effort to pass it as one applying to the Federation as a whole.
They can brand me as a war criminal, Onyx decided, standing up and brushing the snow he'd accumulated on his shoulders. My responsibility is only for the safety of my own citizens, and I will take every step necessary to ensure that safety. They can rant against my methods all they want, for all it's worth.
I must tell Gabriel to stay clear of Tinis territory and citizens, though. We must avoid any unpleasant incidents.
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Post by The Union of Tinis on Aug 30, 2006 1:20:18 GMT -5
Krel opened the file and presented the room with a map. "This is the current standing of us and our allies in Pargalo. As you can see, most of the souther end of the country is now secured or on the way to being so. Verimas is as we speak being secured by friendly forces including units from our second armored division, but due to the size of the city and the state its in, it will likely be a day or two more before the area is fully secure. Thankfully Verimas had become the defacto slum of Pargalo in the last few decades, and beyond some Jirie friendly units, was not heavily controlled by the government." The skunk took a drink of water before continuing. At that opportunity he scanned the room full of members of the Council of Commanders and the senior members of the Chamber of Speakers. "As you may notice also, there are now large areas appearing where the enemy has activated kill switches in the local populace and or ordered military units to wipe out the locals before retreating. The city of Merzel is believed to be a total loss. The city of Mraghal was apparantly near being struck by a similar fate when our allies moved in and disabled the signal that would of lead to activation of the mass murder devices. Merzel is also the location of most of the captures thus far of RLM or SOL alligned individuals. Immediatly to the west of the city were a number of facilities that were struck by the Miokalian space weapon that were not of formal military control and thus likely used by these organizations. "Here," he says pointing to the island on the far left. "Is where Jirie was believed to be hiding. Not shown here near Derikar was castle Garigmigtrag, the last known location of Jirie. Yesterday there was an explosion in the newer addition of the castle that has left most of the structure unuseable. We had shortly before that begun shelling the island and it is possible that one of our shells hit the building. There is of course a chance that Jirie died in this explosion, but we shouldn't be sure until we confirm the source of the blast and if possible, find the body. "We did have an agent in the complex, but have not heard from them since the blast. What more, there are signs of radioactivity from the area but again we can't be sure of its source until we are able to visit the site ourselves. "What more though, Jirie's contingency orders have this morning gone into effect. Expect more hostile units turning against the local populace and each other. Will make the fight easier, but the number of civilian casualties will likely skyrocket. Thus far most of the kill switches have been used in the rural southern and central areas. The northern and western shores are much more populated and are still under enemy control." Krel went to the next page in the slide show. On the screen is presented an image of an old looking male grey wolf. "This is the public face of Wune. We are eighty percent sure the origional Wune is dead. So far we have not been able to get any agents close enough to determine who is actually calling the shots, and we're pretty sure not many even inside the power structure in Pargalo do either. There's been rumors that Wune is actually just the will of the top three lieutants in the intelligence organization there, a relative of his, or even Jirie himself, but the last option is highly discredited if it is assumed that Jirie does not have multiple personality disorder. "Expect to be finding this body double either alive or dead some time down the road." The next slide depicted a weird map of Pargalo that looked more like a false color fractal overlayed on the terrain. "Finally my team has been spending the last few days looking into the likely nuclear options of the Pargalonians. There is a good chance that an enemy unit will not use any nuclear options they may have but we should not be up for taking that chance. "We've computed the most likely locations for their self termination options. The highest probable locations for a nuclear device would be Arxot, Wunitast, the enemy controled area near Tulsmren, Verimas, and the hills near Intrivillia. Any of these locations would provide a heavy blow against either our forces or the Pargalonian population. "As the allied forces become less suspectable to their tactics, the easier it is for them to turn their attention to the local population. It is my teams recomendation that we remain outside the boundries of the ultimatum until we can locate, disable, and destroy any final solutions the enemy may have for their nation. And that we continue our covert operations and information gathering activities elsewise." With a bow he thanks the audience for their patience. As they all start getting up to leave, Speaker Jimloo leans over to Izixs and says, "I wonder if the Pargalonians know that can't possibly be Wune. His double doesn't look to be a hundred and three." "For a few weeks he was apparantly a ferret in a dark room and a dye job. It isn't the image that's important, its the knowledge that if they don't follow their leaders they'll die or someone they know will." "I guess not resisting the invaders was going against orders then. When's the Cal briefing?" "After dinner," replies the First Speaker. "They're still parsing the data stream. Will be a boon when we can deactivate the PDS." "When's that slated to happen?" "They're still looking at a few things, threat assessments and boarder observations, but it might be down as soon as the day after tomorrow."
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 30, 2006 3:55:41 GMT -5
Ane Lacania an is woken by a servant in his new home in the Teuie royal palace, he had 'traded up' as soon as the original residents were unable to return. Getting loyal servants had been a problem, but it was worth it now.
"Sir the lords have called an immediate council they have a pressing issue" the servant said
It was late, but Lacania could think of no more urgent issue than selecting the emperor and he had positioned him self for the job. He had convinced him her was of the imperial blood line, who knew it might even be true. He smiles to himself, these people were fools.
--- In the parliament building lambda smiles, he had managed to get two way communications working using the angles as relays, it was periodic but until he could rest control from the rebels of the satellites it would have to do.
Then he notices something odd, silence, he steps into the corridor. That was odd the shelling had stopped. It had been going on so long that he could hear the silence, it was disconcerting.
---
Three attack submarines, Saeie designed, approach the Erenmoren force off thack, silently and undetected. Simultaneously they all fire a spread of six supersonic torpedo's each before they turn rapidly, two silently slip away, but the third seems to be having trouble with it's silent propulsion and stealth systems, though very fast it is still very easily detected. The captain seem to know this and starts preparing to fire his rear tubes in, what appears to be, an attempt to escape.
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Post by Paeninsula on Aug 30, 2006 15:11:43 GMT -5
Paeninsulan space platforms Nebula and Starshine have moved to a geo-sync orbit over Pargalo, with the ships Sentinel and Star Pride as escorts. The Station Nebula is equipped with an EMP cannon as well as some other tools to disable enemy computer and technology, where as the Starshine is armed with a powerful energy cannon that fire an old style laser beam. The Sentinel is a Rail Class battleship, with three massive rail gun turrets on bow smiler to the battle ships of old. The Star Pride is a troop carrier, holding aprox 1 battalion and crew.
A message from President Jacklin is transmitted to the military forces in the area. "This is President Rutherford Jacklin. I have ordered that the PSP Nebula and Starshine be moved into orbit above Parlego. The PSS Sentinel and Star Pride accompany them as escorts. Miokalian units are especially recommended to heed any warning of the PSP Nebula firing at targets in their area, or any friendly forces that carry technology with computer components. Admiral MacKay will be in charge of all Paeninsulan operations in the area. All inqaries shall be made to him or one of his officers. Cry 'Havoc', for here come the Dogs of War."
A second message was transmitted via unsecured means so that Wune and Jarie's forces could hear. "Now hear this, now hear this. The Nation of Paeninsula has moved two space weapons platforms and two battleships into orbit over the nation of Pargalo. The surrender of all hostile forces allied to Wune and Jirie are to surrender all arms and persons at areas to be designated shortly. Failure to comply will result and the firing of orbital weapons on the nation of Pargalo wherever hostile forces are found. It is to be known that these weapons are more powerful then those used on hostile forces in the nation of Ciata. Please await information on designated areas in which to surrender."
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 30, 2006 16:16:38 GMT -5
The torpedoes were spotted pretty much the moment they were fired by the Sentinels guarding the tops of the sea-planes. The information was promptly passed to the whole local network as the guards removed themselves from harm's way. A few moments later the planes were blasted apart, though thanks to the shallow coastal waters they only sunk by a small margin. With no crew left on board them, their loss served as a mere inconvenience to the Erenmor force.
"Salvage the wrecks," Durand ordered over the network. "Get a probe drone on that third sub, I want to know where they make port. Then we'll find creative new uses for our missile defense system."
Around, the Golems quietly went about collecting up the smoking pieces of scrap, the nanites reducing them down to their base elements to be reworked later.
"Put together a pair of Krakens as well," Durand added. "We must prepare a proper welcome for any other unwelcome guests."
***
Shortly before dawn the next day, the Erenmor base coast was clear of the plane wrecks and as the first rays of the sun hit the water, two silvery squid-shaped creatures with unusually long limbs could be seen disappearing under the waves.
For the time being the Erenmor force was stranded on the island. But they were by no means defenseless there. And their work carried on as usual, despite the loss of their transports.
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 30, 2006 20:20:42 GMT -5
A distance off the Thack coast the visible attack submarine, rises to attack depth hovers, and fires off four hypersonic missiles at the shore based Erenmoren forces. What ever it's orders were they were not retreat, it quickly dives.
-- Salato is awoken and is not entirely sure where she, as her sleepy mind begins to wake Lo's voice is herd and a knocking sound from above, salato says, absent mindidly "Come in". She hears Lo's voice more clearly and turns over to see the silhouette of Lo's inverted face and pony tail hanging down from the table above her.
Now she remembers where she was, she had surrendered her quarters to the cleaning staff as they had nowhere to sleep and she was responsible for allot of the mess. Conditions in the parliament building were a tad disorganized at nigh since most of the axillary staff were not meant to live in, well most of the staff in general weren't. So she had taken up residence, like every one else where ever she could find a quiet place. In her case the conference room that was serving as her office. The MPs had organized a system between them (there had never been a government of national unity like it, socialists sharing rooms with conservatives, political animosities had been put aside for the sake of a decent nights sleep). How ever the executive members had missed the boat on that. She knew even the Lacan council members over in the judicial spier had made compromises allowing their offices to be used for sleeping quarters.
"Lo what is it, if it's not important I'll put and axe thru someones head" Salato says quietly. "Aren't they still trying to dislodge it from the last person you used that on?" Lo replies with a little laughter in her tiered voice. "Look I over swu....Look what is it?" "Lambda, by the looks of it." "Why do you say that?" "Well they keep calling but won't let me answer." "OK" salato sighs, as she crawls out from under the table and stands. She had still to wash, as preserving water was a priority, so was her fur was still caked in blood. She sits down at the head of the table and notices another figure crawl out from under the table, even in this low light she recognized Lyie. She asks "Don't you have quarters over in" "I followed your example, anyway whats going on?" Lyie enquirers. "No idea, give me a second." Salato taps away at the keyboard for a moment and waits, the systems had been a bit slow since the attack. She notices that Lo was not alone on the table top. She Looks at Lo who was now looking at her and nods at the figure next to her. "Who's that?" Salato enquirers. "Not too sure, but he has clearance he joined us with Lyie" Lo replies "He's one of my personal guards, he insisted on joining me for my protection." Lyie interjects. "Before or after meeting Lo?" Salato enquirers. "Well af.." "We're in, right I wonder what Lambda wants." Salato interrupts. A window appears on the screen with lambda's face in it. "Salato we are getting an incoming message from Ane Lacania an, it is highly encrypted unlike the last and has a sub-channel attached" Lambda says. "Well put him Thru, I assume you will be taking precautions with that sub-channel" Lambda just looks at salato with a disgusted look, of course he would. "Salato, your plan has worked to well, they've gone nuts!" says Lacania over the like, it is apparent he is walking at a pace from the jolting movement from the camera. "What?" Salato replies. "The people you refer to as the rebels have gone off the deep end, look I have put all I know on a sub-channel" "And we should trust you why?" "Because I have nothing to lose, I am gone. They are a bunch of total nutters!" Lacania replies with the sound of a jet engine in the background. "Where are you going to go?" Salato replies with a little concern in her voice fore her former friend. "You know me, I have almost as many irons in the fire as you." Salato smiles, though he was a traitor, he was at some level still a friend. "Look you have my package, I have to go" Lacania continues "You are a traitorous b%$#%$#$ and i I assume your feet were getting wet? But good luck, you'll need it." salato says. "Thanks, to you too. You have no idea how batsh** insane they have gone!" and with that Lacania cuts the comes and get back into his transport. "To the harbor" he says, he knew his misdirection as to his means to escape wouldn't work, but they would be too busy for a while to chase him. They had called him "Only a commoner"! They would pay now, he would let the rebels burn, their plan was suicidal and now salato knew it, doubly so. He had two tonnes of gold with him, that could buy him safety anywhere, hell he could buy a small country for that.
With that the first of the rats deserts the ship.
Back in the parliament building lambda reappears on the monitor "I will track the air craft leaving as far as I can" he says "No point he's not on it." salato replies "It's too obvious for him, he'll be on a boat or drive out. He's gone, don't waste your resources." "Oh, could you turn the monitor around I don't like speaking when I don't know who is in the room. I may be military intelligence but my resources are limited within the building" Lambda says. Salato does as he asks. "Who's that?" lambda asks. "One of my personal guards" Lyie replies. "A little young for you ly.." "To business" Salato interrupts, really not wanting to know about Lyie's extra curricular activities "Anyway he seem to be with Lo". Lo glares at salato, her friend is now awake and is avoiding salatos gaze. "He is cleared though." lambda asks. Lyie nods. "It will take a little time to safely decrypt the package Lacania sent. On other news we know have two way comms with most of the kingdoms, but they are intermittent. You may also have noted that the shelling has stopped, we have sent out Phi operatives and according to the local resistance, the rebels are gone. Angle reconnaissance suggests they have undertaken a major redeployment south. They also seem to be massing a their fleet off the east cost, we have no idea why. Lyie any ideas?" "I've been asleep, even I can't pick up intelligence when asleep." lyie replies. "Your ploy seems to have worked...have any of you though of moving into psy-ops?" Lambda adds with uncharacteristic humor.
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Post by Erenmor on Aug 30, 2006 20:48:02 GMT -5
Durand's Archon silently watched the missiles lift off from the sub. They were moving fast, that much was true. But the Archon's targeting systems were quite up to par with their speed. Calmly, the Archon raised its impact weapon into the air as the missiles began their descent. For a moment there was the soft whine of the weapon's propulsion system powering up, then a quick series of four short thumps. And just moments later, the loud detonations of the four missiles high overhead as their warheads were vaporised by the shots.
Several of the sentinels had enough sense to keep a close eye on where the submarine launched its missiles from. They transmitted the coordinates on to Durand, who passed them on up to the Vigilance Platform. The targeting procedure was but a few seconds long before a brilliant blue beam of light pierced through the clouds and struck into the water where the submarine had been just moments ago. Targeted not so as to destroy the vessel, but cripple it enough to force it to resurface and limp home, leaving a visible trail. Of course, there was always a margin of error to be taken into account, but the satellites were usually quite precise in their targeting.
"Relay official statement," Durand began, putting together a proclamation to explain the sudden use of an orbital weapon. "Our mercy mission was attacked by naval vessels believed to have belonged to rogue militias trying to wrest control of the Kingdoms of Cal. Authorisation to use orbital weapons was given by force commander Durand, due to lack of other means of defence against submarine vessels. Request other nations establish a naval presence in the waters so as to deter further attacks. Stamp date and time..."
"And get a Sky-Eye network up," Durand added, directing the order to the local network. "If something pops up on the other side of the island and tries to strike at us, relay its position to Vigilance at once. No more warning shots. And hurry up with those Krakens."
As the Golems quietly continued about their salvage work, slowly more and more tiny black spheres lifted off into the sky from the base camp. Sky-Eye drones, little more than floating sensor balls, but very observant sensor balls...
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Post by Kingdoms of Cal on Aug 30, 2006 21:14:06 GMT -5
The crippled submarine starts to list to its ports, oddly the crew does nothing, like there was no crew. The sub slowly turns turtle and lyes dead in the water for a few moments before slowly sinking below the surface.
-- Lord Quank stared frustrated at the report, he had done everything but paint a bulls eye on that sub but the Erenmoren hadn't sank it, he had packed it with evidence that should have lead them to believe that it was a government sub. The Erenmoren had come to the conclusion it was a rebel sub, that was his last gambit and most of the rest of the leaders had gone insane, prophecy for gods sake.
He sends his last order, on a delay of an hour or so of course, to this supporters "Every man for them selves" and quickly leaves on his private yacht.
Another rat leaves.
-- Back in the parliament building lambda had managed to decrypt the package, using every safety precaution possible. He reads over it and is off at a run to salatos make shift office.
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Post by miokalia on Aug 30, 2006 21:26:19 GMT -5
In a conference between generals Hayago and #TD4PCH3Y, the assassination of Jirie was discussed. "The Pargalonian military no longer has a central command. Their orders are to attack civilians. We must take control of population centers now.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "Wune, or at least a double of Wune (perhaps both) is still out there and may be able to issue commands.", said Hayago "Wune's not going to be issuing any commands that we can't hear. Their encryption is old and weak. Their language is decipherable. They don't have the resources to do any better. Additionally, we have reason to beleive it is no longer Wune in control.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "So then who is in control?", asked Hayago. "RLM/SoL. Someone from them.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "How is the damage to the castle?", said Hayago. "Jirie is dead, Jirie's sucessor is dead. The castle is a mess and we found a Tinisian agent in there after the blast. Not dead.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "Get the agent out of there now, Derikar is going to be in coalition control shortly.", said Hayago. "Tinis still has the PDS up, their information transfer is limited.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "PDS?", asked Hayago. "Pattern Defense System. It's the large-scale working application of what you would know as 'Hariyamo's Ball' concept.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "Hariyamo's Ball? Hariyamo's ball is for containing anti-matter reactions. It's only works up to an inch in diameter. You're telling me that the sheild thing they have going on over there is that?", asked Hayago. "It is. They have progressed much further in that area, I think. My assessment of Tinisian technologies, gathered from publicly-availible information concludes that they have not only conquered Hariyamo's Ball, but have progressed much further into unhypergated space travel. They're launching an exploratory space craft soon.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "I've also received word that Paeninsula has some of their orbital weapons up.", said Hayago. "We already cleared out the Pargalonian stockpiles with the HCPC. The only thing I could see them using those for is either additional precision strikes, or using some kind of disabling weapon... possibly something electromagnetic.", said #TD4PCH3Y. "The use of such a weapon compromizes the assult team. We can't secure the population centers if they're going to blast them with electromagnetic pulses.", said Hayago. "And the enemy will continue to slaughter the population regardless of if they are being bombarded with EM pulses. I'm not sure what good an orbital weapon will be at this point, unless it is used against stategic targets, or unless they know where Wune is.", said #TD4PCH3Y.
On the Cal side of things, a few small submarines came out of the MZS Dorrington. The Calie guests had been dropped off at the harbor wall where they had been picked up. The submarines were very small. Armed with the EWY-K1 torpedos. Although, the device was more like a missile. It's payload was very light, and the device itself was very thin, making it harder to detect. The smaller submarines were Daecheyron ITL-40 units, purchased from the Draconid Alliance. They had probably never been seen before in these waters. Very quickly after attacking the Erenmor forces, the two remaining subs that had slipped away, soon were forced to the surface by reactor troubles. The EWY torpedos had clamped to the side of the submarines and had drilled into the reactor vessel, flooding it with water which did two things: increased the weight of the vessel and forcibly shut-down the reactor. They could then choose to surface, or sink uncontrollably.
The army began taking control of Inleef. Or more accurately, securing the island. A secure Inleef, was a stable Inleef. Quite unlike Pargalo, the army here encountered almost no resistance from the public. The way they saw it, Miokalia keeping the peace was better than the rebels running things. Schools were started back up. Field hospitals were set up and businesses were re-opened. Air superiority was a must in order to secure the mainland, and to do it, Miokalia deployed air-borne Malych units. It was highly unlikely that Ceratch or the rest of the chain of command ever knew the 'prophesy' that Princess Lyie spoke of, but they were indeed appearing to be going along with it, since the airborne Malych R/M10 units were, fittingly enough, dragons.
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Post by Paeninsula on Aug 30, 2006 22:09:05 GMT -5
Six dropships detach from the bottom of the PSS Star Pride and decend through the upper atmosphere. After entering the atmosphere, they make a quick bee line for Mevrel. Finding a large open space a few miles north of the city, the ships land, and out of each come a hover tank and no less then 10 Space Boys in full armor, all equipped with auto cannons under the right arm, and mini missile lanchers under the left. These spread out and secure the area, this becoming the main staging area for the Paeninsulan forces.
Contact is soon established with the other ailed forces in the area, and enemy compunctions are run through the AI code crackers and translators, and fed to the PSF in real time. More dropships start to land and troops and equipment disembark, all within 2 very short and busy hours.
Off of one dropship come an embedded news crew. A male Siamese cat gets his mike ready and brown male poodle holds a camera on his shoulder and starts to record. "This is Mike Stanzan coming to you from the Paeninsulan staging area Alpha in what's left of the nation of Pargalo. As you can see behind me, there is a flurry of activity, our troops have only been on the ground for less then two hours, and already assault teams as well as search and rescue and medical teams are loading on to transports and preparing to move out." In fact, there are some furs on a nearby hover transport gesturing as the front of their column moves out. Mike and the poodle stop recording and dash over to the transport and hop on as it starts to pull out, heading north-west on it's way to the front lines.
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