Gulkar
05-01-2004, 14:44
Ducal Palace, Li'Vit, Capital City of Gulkar. 11:03 PM
"Would anyone care to explain to me how this happened?" Duke Kortan's voice is a low whisper, but everyone in the room hears him. Around the Duke are the assembled members of his cabinet along with their aides, the top scientists from the Sapiens/Superior project, and the heads of the intelligence agencies. The assembled body of government officials and scientists had filled the private audience chamber and had been moved into the public audience chamber. The assorted Nobility and Bureaucrats were glaring suspiciously at the lab coat clad scientists, who for the most part seemed bewildered at their presence in the meeting. The spies...they just seemed to be casual, while watching everything, and fiddling with something in either a pocket or their cigarettes.
"Well? Who leaked this to the press? Obviously it was someone here who gave them the inside onto the story. We know that they got the start of it from a member of another Government, but the actual juice to the story came from someone here, in this room."
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li'Vit 9 AM
"Good Morning Gulkar, and what a fine morning it is. It looks like its going to be another pleasantly warm day, but you'll find more out about the weather later this morning with Paul. What's in the news this morning Kerrie?" The camera swivels away from the pleasant looking pair in a homey setting, the pastel colored sofas and the salmon colored carpet. The man (Dick) wears his typical T-shirt and jeans combo, trying to look the tough guy and reach out to the 'yout' audience as he calls them; however, his receding hairline and growing paunch make the effort comical. The woman, and brains of this team, (Barbara) wears a pale yellow suit and skirt normal for female morning show anchors, her strawberry blonde hair is a sensible shoulder length, and she just projects an aura of...well sensibleness. The camera settles onto a youngish looking woman with dark auburn hair and glasses, she smiles quickly and then begins to speak.
"Well Barb, we have a few stories for the morning: The sudden plunge in stock in Gul-Car has shocked investors; also the tragic death of Gulkari magician Warstin the Uncontained; and we seem to have an investigative piece into the workings of Kenri Prison with John Apo. But for now I'll let you get on with those stories." Camera returns to the pair in the lounge like area, Dick is still slouched in his chair, almost looking miserable, Barbara on the other hand is sitting attentively and begins to speak almost as soon as the camera has come to rest.
"Well those are interesting, which story should we give first Dick?" She turns expectantly towards her less than effective partner.
"Wha...uhmm...the one about the Magi_"
"Ah..the investigations at Kenri Prison, just what I would have chosen, so now we go to our on the site reporter John Apo." The camera begins to fade out as does the audio, but not before we hear Dick's pleas to see the Magic. The new scene is that of a prison block, dozens of locked cells, and a large number of heavily armed guards striding along with shock-prods held ready in their hands. The camera pans around to the reporter, one John Apo standing in front of an empty cell, carefully avoiding the items being thrown at him by prisoners on the upper tiers.
"Well Barbara, I'm here in Kenri Maximum Security Prison to discover what has happened to more than 40 life imprison or death sentence prisoners here. As of 15 months ago they simply disappeared. I don't know if the sudden disappearance of 47 men, elves and dwarves who are convicted of such violent crimes that they are not expected to survive their incarceration bothers any of the audience, but it bothers me. The Warden has refused to discuss this matter with us and the other prisoners have been little to no help.
"Now while this could be seen as a possible government removal due to terrorist ties or some other plausible reason, it seems odd that the prisoners who disappeared were not only of far different ideologies, but also had had little or no contact with more than 3 of the other prisoners. It almost appears that they were all selected at random. The records of these prisoners being incarcerated at Kenri Prison exist, and there are no records of the prisoners leaving, but their cells, like this one are empty. These men, all 47 of them seem to not only have escaped en masse but to have fooled the guards into not realizing their disappearance. Now obviously this cannot be true, so our team of investigators delved deeper into this mystery, and we did find a single clue. It seems that on the date when these prisoner's escaped, there was also a series of emergencies requiring injured, sick or mentally unbalanced prisoners to be removed from the prison and ambulanced to location unknown. The number of prisoners.... 47.
"So where did the prisoners go? Where were they sent? And to what end? Did they all end up in a mass grave out in some isolated field? Or were they granted amnesty for their prior bad acts? When we know more so will you." Camera fades away from John who looks fairly serious and keeps on glancing suggestively at the guards wandering the prison.
"Well that is just not good, John do please find out more about this as soon as possible. 47 violent felons on the loose is not a heart warming thought, and now we go to Dick, who will give his report on the death of Warstin."
"Warstin the Uncontainable..."
Ducal Palace, Li'Vit. 9:25 AM
Regit Kensor looks at the report that an underling has just dropped onto his desk, then he stares back at the the wall of TV screens in front of himself. How could they have gotten the story? How much could they know? The Duke must know this immediately. He stood suddenly and began down the hall to the Throne Room, dry washing his hands nervously, this was a habit he hated, something from his childhood that he had thought was gone, but now he did when he was to meet the Duke, especially if it was without an appointment. He forced his hands to his sides and stalks down the hall to the Grand Duke's Formal Throne Room. As he steps through the doors the large marble expanse of a room quiets, and he knows that the Duke already knows the news.
"Mi'Lord I must request a private audience."
"I was wondering when you would arrive Regit. I already have Dr. Xentoris waiting in the next room. You and I shall join him now."
"Yes Mi'Lord."
"Dr. Xentoris how loyal and close-mouthed are your staff?" The Duke's question hangs in the air, almost palpable.
"My...My Lord they would never dream of speaking to anyone...especially not a member of the press...” He stammers and shudders at the suggestion.
"Regit how soon can you assign extra men to guard the labs, and bodyguards to the scientist to 'protect' our secrets?"
"Within two hours I can have every scientist that is in the labs shadowed and every entrance to the Labs guarded with spare security squads. The scientists who are not at the Labs will be slightly harder to locate so I would allow an extra two hours, if they cannot be located by then...they are hiding or have very bad luck."
"Do it."
The Feathered Dragon Bar & Grille, Li'Vit. 12:34 PM
"We interrupt our regular programming for a special news bulletin. And now live from an undisclosed location is John Apo. John what is happening?" The camera switches from the plump news anchor to our favorite investigative reporter John Apo. John is sitting in a neutral room, with an unidentified witness sitting across from him, the witness sits in a pool of blackness and is unidentifiable.
"Well Craig, it seems that the Government of Duke Arun has been committing serious human rights violations against those 47 prisoners I had reported upon earlier." John pauses a moment to let that sink in and then begins again, "13 months ago 47 inmates at Kenri Penitentiary went missing and now we have found a link as to where they have disappeared to. While the exact location of said persons is a mystery, the understanding is that they have been removed to a secret military hardware testing ground. It is there that the Gulkari Military is testing it's newest biological, chemical and nanotechnology weapons; this is quite obviously a gross violation of the inmate's Human Rights. Here with me is a man I shall refer to as Dr. Reed. Dr. Reed works at the secret base and has been trusted by his colleagues higher up the ladder with state secrets, state secret's he intends to tell us. Tell me Doctor, what is done at this Base?"
"Well...these individuals, they are placed in a large room, and then they, they are submitted to different types of gaseous weapons. Or they are fed a meal laced with a poison or nanotech agent. Or merely injected with a chemical agent, very few survive the testing and those that do are horribly scarred."
"There you have it, from the mouth of a man involved in this horrible plot. When we know more, so will you." Camera goes black as a loud pounding is heard from somewhere off stage.
Ducal Palace, Li'Vit. 1:46 PM
"Sire it seems that the so-called Dr. Reed was really David Farley, a janitor on level 2 of the Labs, which is where we actually do test some of our biological and chemical agents, but we test the cures, not the weapons themselves." Regit flips the folder shut after the quick recitation about the now very much in custody Mr. Farley.
"So you're saying he's lying."
"Sire we know he's lying. Dr. Xentoris was not testing any weapons, he doesn't work in any of our weapons programs. And those 47 were not used in weapons tests, we all know what they were used in, and are still in."
“So who has been speaking to Mr. Farley? And who has been speaking to the Press, and most importantly, what are we going to tell them to deflect this?”
“Mi’Lord the problem of Mr. Farley will soon be exposed, I have my best men working on him and he will name is contacts, as for Mr. Apo he managed to escape and now has taken refuge within the station, and without a proper warrant we are not allowed to take him.” Duke Arun sighs at the implication, but knows that without the law at least seeming to have power the government would collapse.
“If that is all gentlemen, I think we will have to try harder to seal this problem up tight. Let no word get out without our spin on it already. Now I have a country to run.”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li'Vit 5:05 PM
“This is John Apo making an emergency broadcast. The regular ‘Live at Five’ has been cancelled due to this growing story and the truth being brought to light steadily. I have on the phone with me now, a person who I am convinced was a test subject from the military testing sites. Hello you’re on the air.”
“Yes John? Hello?”
“Hello, yes Mr. Kane I have you.”
“Oh good, well I just wanted to set this whole thing strait. I was a member of that test, and we weren’t used to test weapons, but to test vaccines. You see over the years newer and deadlier weapons have been developed and we need to be able to survive them, so they test the vaccines on convicted felons.” As we watch John’s face becomes more and more horrified, paling at first and then changing to a sickening green color.
“You don’t mind that the Government has put your life at serious risk?”
“Well it’s not like I had much of a life anyway…All I ever did was eat, sleep, shower…every day for the rest of my life.” John’s look is now somewhat more suspicious and he glances at someone off screen.
“Are you really one of the test subjects?”
“Of course I am…would I lie about something like this?”
“I’m not sure, but remember you’re on national television, and it maybe likely that someone you know is watching this broadcast and may know your voice. So if this is a prank I suggest you hang up know.”
“This is no prank! The government only does what it thinks is best for us!”
“I am sorry ladies and gentlemen, but it seems that we’re experiencing technical difficulties at the moment, and will have to cut this segment short.”
Ducal Press Room, Li’Vit. 5:30 PM
“…And in reference to this day’s outrageous accusations by John Apo of GBC, the Grand Duke emphatically denies all charges of wrong doing and human rights violations.” The Press Secretary (Kevin Marst) for the Gulkari Grand Duchy has been addressing the Press for what seems to be hours, and it always comes back to the dammed prisoners and their rights. No one cared about the devastating losses by Gul-Car in the past 24 hours nor the alterations to the budget that had finally been approved. Nope, all these bleeding hearts could care about was the possibility that 47 violent criminals may have had their civil rights trampled. This was where Kevin stopped understanding the Press. Why couldn’t they just write what he told them to write?
“Mr. Marst!”
“Yes, Bill from the Gulkari Times. What is your question?”
“Mr. Marst what does the government have to say about the possible United Nations ramifications due to the testing of illegal weapons of Biological, Chemical, or Nanotech Nature on civilians?”
“The Gulkari Government denies all charges of…”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 6:13 PM
“Well this day could have gone better. We could have had a nice simple war, or a plague even, those you can deal with easy. Instead I get investigative journalists. Well what are we going to do?” Duke Arun turns to address the assembled cabinet. The dozen men and women are arranged around the round table, each has a thick file in front of them, and Dr. Xentoris stands by a projector screen. Several of the members have a distinctly greenish cast to their faces. The use of those 47 prisoners having been explained in the papers and by the good Doctor.
“Mi’Lord I would suggest that we close the Labs for now, remove all personnel to a secure location and wait for this to blow over.” Field Marshall Kiltarni’s suggestion gets many nods before the explosion from the Doctor.
“Move! Are you mad?! We cannot quit now! We’re so near the end of this mystery! Another month and we could have a 90% success rate! We need more time!” Dr. Xentoris grows steadily redder in the face as he speaks, gesticating wildly.
“Doctor. We will do as I decide. In the end the decision lies with me.” Duke Arun’s voice is low, almost a murmur, but it sounds ominous. “What the real problem is now is how likely is it that the press will discover more of what is being done here? And if they do what will be the general response by the rest of the world? Field Marshall is our military ready to engage numerous opponents and repel them from our shores?”
“Mi’Lord, the Navy has been placed on alert and we have begun to lay mine fields along the major landing zones, Army and Militia supplements have been either placed on alert status or deployed to fortify beach heads and prepare to repel any attackers. Our limited Air Forces have been alerted and are preparing for a defensive war, we have also sent requests for access to special forces units to be placed on alert and able to be deployed domestically as rapid response troops.”
“That is granted, and begin to train the Militias heavily. I want the military ready for a hard battle.”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li’Vit. 9:42 PM
“This is John Apo, again and now ladies and gentlemen, we have the whole story. GBC with aid from an undisclosed source has discovered exactly what has been conducted by the Government of the Grand Duke. What we have found out, in the form of documentation, and data disks is that the Grand Duke has engaged in barbaric tests upon those helpless prisoners. Our undercover team was able to procure said documentation from within the heart of our corrupt and tyrannical government.
“The evidence found was much more horrendous than we had expected. This was an atrocity worse than weapons training. More after this break.” The news segment snaps away to a commercial about a new tooth whitener, which promised whiter teeth or your Kintars back. Following this was a commercial for beer and then cigarettes. All the while John Apo sat relaxed in his large plush chair and pulled an expensive cigar from his shirt pocket. “God damn I’m good at my job. Can you believe what they were doing? Changing people like that… It makes me sick.”
“John we’re back on in 10…9…” Apo sits up straighter and stuffs the cigar back into his shirt pocket, “8…7…6…” The technician stops speaking and holds up his fingers indicating how much time is left, John looks intently into the camera and waits for the 1.
“Welcome back, I am John Apo and this is GBC. What you are about to see will shock you and the rest of the world.”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 9:59 PM
Grand Duke Arun Kortan stares intently at the screen in front of him and waits for the other shoe to fall. The voice of John Apo is turned down but still just barely audible, “This is the evidence of the Grand Duke’s involvement in a plot to undermine our very…”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li’Vit. 9:59 PM
“…humanity. The Duke has blatantly disregarded all medical precedent and ordered his scientists to attempt to rebuild human beings into something they were not meant to be. Elves.” Apo stops and looks down at the sheaf of papers in his hand as if to say he cannot believe what he just said, but when he looks back at the camera we see that he knows. “Yes ladies and gentlemen you heard me right, the government of Gulkar is changing human citizens into Elves. This grotesque practice violates the very idea of being a human being. The treatment has a 30% failure rate, and every failure is fatal! People of Gulkar your nation is led by a corrupt, morally defunct, and evil dictator; you must arise and remove his vile presence from the Throne in Li’Vit!”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 10:06 PM
The Duke’s TV still played, but there was no one to watch. The Duke was moving now, striding down from the residence to his Throne Room, calling for Regit even as he walked. Garst trailed a short distance behind, belching out small bursts of flame and smoke, sensing the distress and anger of his master. The large oak double doors slammed open and Duke Arun stepped into his Throne Room, he glared at the pair of guards who stood at the doors and then pointed at them.
“Get me Regit Kensor. Now.” The pair looked at each other and then the Dragon and decided it was better to obey the Duke than incur his wrath at the moment. They saluted and hurried down the hall towards the intelligence chief’s office. A few minutes later a very shaken Regit Kensor was escorted into the Throne Room and stood before the Duke.
“Mi’Lord you bid and I do come. What is your desire?”
“My desire is that every member of my cabinet, every scientist who worked on the ‘project’ and the heads of your intelligence bureau are here in the private audience hall within the next 30 minutes. Now move!” Duke Arun whirled and strode to his private hall to the private audience chamber, behind him he could hear Regit giving the guards orders to fetch the people in question.
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 11:08 PM
“Mi’Lord the leak has been discovered by my agents. And he is most definitely in this room. The person is not one of the cabinet members nor is it any of the scientists, and none of my men leaked this information.” While he speaks Regit slowly works his way around the crowd until he faces the Military members and their aides, he steps forward and grasps a middle aged man wearing the dark green of the Air Force and the golden dragon wing of a Wing Commander. “Commander Anderson here felt that the Air Force has been given a bad deal in the recent military spendings, especially the expenditure on a new orbital defense platform. This new technology would render his more conventional Force obsolete and he does not wish to change with the times. Sire I suggest that he be placed under arrest until further notice and charged with treason and sedition.”
“Good Regit, at last we are getting some good answers. Now have him taken into custody and it seems that we will need to present a formal statement to the press. And we will need to step up our defenses and begin to make diplomatic overtures towards any aggressively reacting nations. Field Marshall Kiltarni how soon until the defense platform is prepared?”
“Mi’Lord, the defense platform is not set to be completed for another two weeks, but we can base a skeleton crew, and a light garrison of Zero-G combat specialists there for it’s defense. Mi’Lord you should know that the garrison would stand no chance against a determined force, unless we could possibly provide stronger arms for said defense.” The Duke frowns at the words, knowing the truth but not liking it. He turns to Dr. Xentoris and pauses a moment before asking the question of the Doctor.
“Dr. Xentoris, how soon until your personal shield program could be ready for a full combat test?”
“Um…Mi’Lord…we really shelved that project when you pushed us forward onto the Sapiens/Superior project, but I should think we could provide you with our final prototype from 4 months ago. That is the beta 4 version, with a 50% reliability, that is it will stop an object or power weapon from striking the wearer 50% of the time, but it can be over powered by very strong weapons. We can have enough for a single company of soldiers by tomorrow morning if we work through the night.”
“Do so, immediately. Dr. Cowens, do you have an weapons which we might find useful in our fight that is to come?” The Doctor, who appeared much less mousy and nervous than Dr. Xentoris, stepped forward towards the Duke, his fiery red beard reached his knees, but his head only came to the Duke’s chest. He looked up slightly and gave a slight nod before beginning.
“Mi’Lord, we have been developing longer ranged artillery, as well as a wide range of powerful anti-space weapons. The artillery is powerful enough to allow us to engage foreign Navy’s at a long range from our shores, though not in large numbers, our anti-space weapons though very powerful, are highly inaccurate. Other than that we have little to add to the future of warfare.”
“Thank you that should do nicely. Have the anti-space weapons deployed to the defense platform as soon as possible; if we can, I would like to be able to intimidate any enemy foolish or brave enough to threaten our nation. Place the artillery under the command of the Field Marshall. If that is all, I will leave the defense of our nation to the war council and I must now meet with the Press Secretary, it seems that Kevin Marst is having trouble with the Press.” With that the Duke strode out of the Throne Room and down towards the Briefing Room. As he nears the room, the Duke can hear the thunder of more than 200 members of the international press and their translators; amazing, in a little more than13 hours this sleepy little Duchy has become a hot international topic. He stands quietly in the doorway for a moment and watches the activates before stepping into the room. The sudden silence is amazing, and the look of fear on the face of Kevin Marst is far from reassuring.
“I understand you all have questions about the recent goings on in Gulkar. Namely the present location and condition of some 47 violent criminals, all of whom were convicted justly and correctly of crimes against their fellow citizens. Not a single one of these criminals had any permission of parole or of a further trial, nor were they coerced into the tests, but taken by volunteering and then given over to the research branch of the government, none of them, I repeat none of them were submitted to any tests of weapons, toxins, or any other test that was specifically meant to cause harm or death. This was an elective surgery and intense psychotherapy; nothing more, and it is the business of Gulkar, not the entire world. That is the statement of Gulkar and no others will be issued at this time.” With the end of the Duke’s speech the press exploded with questions, jostling and jockeying desperate to get something in their paper. The Duke turns quickly to the guards by the door and nods once; at the back of the room a dozen lightly armed security personnel filed into the room and began to herd the press out.
"Would anyone care to explain to me how this happened?" Duke Kortan's voice is a low whisper, but everyone in the room hears him. Around the Duke are the assembled members of his cabinet along with their aides, the top scientists from the Sapiens/Superior project, and the heads of the intelligence agencies. The assembled body of government officials and scientists had filled the private audience chamber and had been moved into the public audience chamber. The assorted Nobility and Bureaucrats were glaring suspiciously at the lab coat clad scientists, who for the most part seemed bewildered at their presence in the meeting. The spies...they just seemed to be casual, while watching everything, and fiddling with something in either a pocket or their cigarettes.
"Well? Who leaked this to the press? Obviously it was someone here who gave them the inside onto the story. We know that they got the start of it from a member of another Government, but the actual juice to the story came from someone here, in this room."
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li'Vit 9 AM
"Good Morning Gulkar, and what a fine morning it is. It looks like its going to be another pleasantly warm day, but you'll find more out about the weather later this morning with Paul. What's in the news this morning Kerrie?" The camera swivels away from the pleasant looking pair in a homey setting, the pastel colored sofas and the salmon colored carpet. The man (Dick) wears his typical T-shirt and jeans combo, trying to look the tough guy and reach out to the 'yout' audience as he calls them; however, his receding hairline and growing paunch make the effort comical. The woman, and brains of this team, (Barbara) wears a pale yellow suit and skirt normal for female morning show anchors, her strawberry blonde hair is a sensible shoulder length, and she just projects an aura of...well sensibleness. The camera settles onto a youngish looking woman with dark auburn hair and glasses, she smiles quickly and then begins to speak.
"Well Barb, we have a few stories for the morning: The sudden plunge in stock in Gul-Car has shocked investors; also the tragic death of Gulkari magician Warstin the Uncontained; and we seem to have an investigative piece into the workings of Kenri Prison with John Apo. But for now I'll let you get on with those stories." Camera returns to the pair in the lounge like area, Dick is still slouched in his chair, almost looking miserable, Barbara on the other hand is sitting attentively and begins to speak almost as soon as the camera has come to rest.
"Well those are interesting, which story should we give first Dick?" She turns expectantly towards her less than effective partner.
"Wha...uhmm...the one about the Magi_"
"Ah..the investigations at Kenri Prison, just what I would have chosen, so now we go to our on the site reporter John Apo." The camera begins to fade out as does the audio, but not before we hear Dick's pleas to see the Magic. The new scene is that of a prison block, dozens of locked cells, and a large number of heavily armed guards striding along with shock-prods held ready in their hands. The camera pans around to the reporter, one John Apo standing in front of an empty cell, carefully avoiding the items being thrown at him by prisoners on the upper tiers.
"Well Barbara, I'm here in Kenri Maximum Security Prison to discover what has happened to more than 40 life imprison or death sentence prisoners here. As of 15 months ago they simply disappeared. I don't know if the sudden disappearance of 47 men, elves and dwarves who are convicted of such violent crimes that they are not expected to survive their incarceration bothers any of the audience, but it bothers me. The Warden has refused to discuss this matter with us and the other prisoners have been little to no help.
"Now while this could be seen as a possible government removal due to terrorist ties or some other plausible reason, it seems odd that the prisoners who disappeared were not only of far different ideologies, but also had had little or no contact with more than 3 of the other prisoners. It almost appears that they were all selected at random. The records of these prisoners being incarcerated at Kenri Prison exist, and there are no records of the prisoners leaving, but their cells, like this one are empty. These men, all 47 of them seem to not only have escaped en masse but to have fooled the guards into not realizing their disappearance. Now obviously this cannot be true, so our team of investigators delved deeper into this mystery, and we did find a single clue. It seems that on the date when these prisoner's escaped, there was also a series of emergencies requiring injured, sick or mentally unbalanced prisoners to be removed from the prison and ambulanced to location unknown. The number of prisoners.... 47.
"So where did the prisoners go? Where were they sent? And to what end? Did they all end up in a mass grave out in some isolated field? Or were they granted amnesty for their prior bad acts? When we know more so will you." Camera fades away from John who looks fairly serious and keeps on glancing suggestively at the guards wandering the prison.
"Well that is just not good, John do please find out more about this as soon as possible. 47 violent felons on the loose is not a heart warming thought, and now we go to Dick, who will give his report on the death of Warstin."
"Warstin the Uncontainable..."
Ducal Palace, Li'Vit. 9:25 AM
Regit Kensor looks at the report that an underling has just dropped onto his desk, then he stares back at the the wall of TV screens in front of himself. How could they have gotten the story? How much could they know? The Duke must know this immediately. He stood suddenly and began down the hall to the Throne Room, dry washing his hands nervously, this was a habit he hated, something from his childhood that he had thought was gone, but now he did when he was to meet the Duke, especially if it was without an appointment. He forced his hands to his sides and stalks down the hall to the Grand Duke's Formal Throne Room. As he steps through the doors the large marble expanse of a room quiets, and he knows that the Duke already knows the news.
"Mi'Lord I must request a private audience."
"I was wondering when you would arrive Regit. I already have Dr. Xentoris waiting in the next room. You and I shall join him now."
"Yes Mi'Lord."
"Dr. Xentoris how loyal and close-mouthed are your staff?" The Duke's question hangs in the air, almost palpable.
"My...My Lord they would never dream of speaking to anyone...especially not a member of the press...” He stammers and shudders at the suggestion.
"Regit how soon can you assign extra men to guard the labs, and bodyguards to the scientist to 'protect' our secrets?"
"Within two hours I can have every scientist that is in the labs shadowed and every entrance to the Labs guarded with spare security squads. The scientists who are not at the Labs will be slightly harder to locate so I would allow an extra two hours, if they cannot be located by then...they are hiding or have very bad luck."
"Do it."
The Feathered Dragon Bar & Grille, Li'Vit. 12:34 PM
"We interrupt our regular programming for a special news bulletin. And now live from an undisclosed location is John Apo. John what is happening?" The camera switches from the plump news anchor to our favorite investigative reporter John Apo. John is sitting in a neutral room, with an unidentified witness sitting across from him, the witness sits in a pool of blackness and is unidentifiable.
"Well Craig, it seems that the Government of Duke Arun has been committing serious human rights violations against those 47 prisoners I had reported upon earlier." John pauses a moment to let that sink in and then begins again, "13 months ago 47 inmates at Kenri Penitentiary went missing and now we have found a link as to where they have disappeared to. While the exact location of said persons is a mystery, the understanding is that they have been removed to a secret military hardware testing ground. It is there that the Gulkari Military is testing it's newest biological, chemical and nanotechnology weapons; this is quite obviously a gross violation of the inmate's Human Rights. Here with me is a man I shall refer to as Dr. Reed. Dr. Reed works at the secret base and has been trusted by his colleagues higher up the ladder with state secrets, state secret's he intends to tell us. Tell me Doctor, what is done at this Base?"
"Well...these individuals, they are placed in a large room, and then they, they are submitted to different types of gaseous weapons. Or they are fed a meal laced with a poison or nanotech agent. Or merely injected with a chemical agent, very few survive the testing and those that do are horribly scarred."
"There you have it, from the mouth of a man involved in this horrible plot. When we know more, so will you." Camera goes black as a loud pounding is heard from somewhere off stage.
Ducal Palace, Li'Vit. 1:46 PM
"Sire it seems that the so-called Dr. Reed was really David Farley, a janitor on level 2 of the Labs, which is where we actually do test some of our biological and chemical agents, but we test the cures, not the weapons themselves." Regit flips the folder shut after the quick recitation about the now very much in custody Mr. Farley.
"So you're saying he's lying."
"Sire we know he's lying. Dr. Xentoris was not testing any weapons, he doesn't work in any of our weapons programs. And those 47 were not used in weapons tests, we all know what they were used in, and are still in."
“So who has been speaking to Mr. Farley? And who has been speaking to the Press, and most importantly, what are we going to tell them to deflect this?”
“Mi’Lord the problem of Mr. Farley will soon be exposed, I have my best men working on him and he will name is contacts, as for Mr. Apo he managed to escape and now has taken refuge within the station, and without a proper warrant we are not allowed to take him.” Duke Arun sighs at the implication, but knows that without the law at least seeming to have power the government would collapse.
“If that is all gentlemen, I think we will have to try harder to seal this problem up tight. Let no word get out without our spin on it already. Now I have a country to run.”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li'Vit 5:05 PM
“This is John Apo making an emergency broadcast. The regular ‘Live at Five’ has been cancelled due to this growing story and the truth being brought to light steadily. I have on the phone with me now, a person who I am convinced was a test subject from the military testing sites. Hello you’re on the air.”
“Yes John? Hello?”
“Hello, yes Mr. Kane I have you.”
“Oh good, well I just wanted to set this whole thing strait. I was a member of that test, and we weren’t used to test weapons, but to test vaccines. You see over the years newer and deadlier weapons have been developed and we need to be able to survive them, so they test the vaccines on convicted felons.” As we watch John’s face becomes more and more horrified, paling at first and then changing to a sickening green color.
“You don’t mind that the Government has put your life at serious risk?”
“Well it’s not like I had much of a life anyway…All I ever did was eat, sleep, shower…every day for the rest of my life.” John’s look is now somewhat more suspicious and he glances at someone off screen.
“Are you really one of the test subjects?”
“Of course I am…would I lie about something like this?”
“I’m not sure, but remember you’re on national television, and it maybe likely that someone you know is watching this broadcast and may know your voice. So if this is a prank I suggest you hang up know.”
“This is no prank! The government only does what it thinks is best for us!”
“I am sorry ladies and gentlemen, but it seems that we’re experiencing technical difficulties at the moment, and will have to cut this segment short.”
Ducal Press Room, Li’Vit. 5:30 PM
“…And in reference to this day’s outrageous accusations by John Apo of GBC, the Grand Duke emphatically denies all charges of wrong doing and human rights violations.” The Press Secretary (Kevin Marst) for the Gulkari Grand Duchy has been addressing the Press for what seems to be hours, and it always comes back to the dammed prisoners and their rights. No one cared about the devastating losses by Gul-Car in the past 24 hours nor the alterations to the budget that had finally been approved. Nope, all these bleeding hearts could care about was the possibility that 47 violent criminals may have had their civil rights trampled. This was where Kevin stopped understanding the Press. Why couldn’t they just write what he told them to write?
“Mr. Marst!”
“Yes, Bill from the Gulkari Times. What is your question?”
“Mr. Marst what does the government have to say about the possible United Nations ramifications due to the testing of illegal weapons of Biological, Chemical, or Nanotech Nature on civilians?”
“The Gulkari Government denies all charges of…”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 6:13 PM
“Well this day could have gone better. We could have had a nice simple war, or a plague even, those you can deal with easy. Instead I get investigative journalists. Well what are we going to do?” Duke Arun turns to address the assembled cabinet. The dozen men and women are arranged around the round table, each has a thick file in front of them, and Dr. Xentoris stands by a projector screen. Several of the members have a distinctly greenish cast to their faces. The use of those 47 prisoners having been explained in the papers and by the good Doctor.
“Mi’Lord I would suggest that we close the Labs for now, remove all personnel to a secure location and wait for this to blow over.” Field Marshall Kiltarni’s suggestion gets many nods before the explosion from the Doctor.
“Move! Are you mad?! We cannot quit now! We’re so near the end of this mystery! Another month and we could have a 90% success rate! We need more time!” Dr. Xentoris grows steadily redder in the face as he speaks, gesticating wildly.
“Doctor. We will do as I decide. In the end the decision lies with me.” Duke Arun’s voice is low, almost a murmur, but it sounds ominous. “What the real problem is now is how likely is it that the press will discover more of what is being done here? And if they do what will be the general response by the rest of the world? Field Marshall is our military ready to engage numerous opponents and repel them from our shores?”
“Mi’Lord, the Navy has been placed on alert and we have begun to lay mine fields along the major landing zones, Army and Militia supplements have been either placed on alert status or deployed to fortify beach heads and prepare to repel any attackers. Our limited Air Forces have been alerted and are preparing for a defensive war, we have also sent requests for access to special forces units to be placed on alert and able to be deployed domestically as rapid response troops.”
“That is granted, and begin to train the Militias heavily. I want the military ready for a hard battle.”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li’Vit. 9:42 PM
“This is John Apo, again and now ladies and gentlemen, we have the whole story. GBC with aid from an undisclosed source has discovered exactly what has been conducted by the Government of the Grand Duke. What we have found out, in the form of documentation, and data disks is that the Grand Duke has engaged in barbaric tests upon those helpless prisoners. Our undercover team was able to procure said documentation from within the heart of our corrupt and tyrannical government.
“The evidence found was much more horrendous than we had expected. This was an atrocity worse than weapons training. More after this break.” The news segment snaps away to a commercial about a new tooth whitener, which promised whiter teeth or your Kintars back. Following this was a commercial for beer and then cigarettes. All the while John Apo sat relaxed in his large plush chair and pulled an expensive cigar from his shirt pocket. “God damn I’m good at my job. Can you believe what they were doing? Changing people like that… It makes me sick.”
“John we’re back on in 10…9…” Apo sits up straighter and stuffs the cigar back into his shirt pocket, “8…7…6…” The technician stops speaking and holds up his fingers indicating how much time is left, John looks intently into the camera and waits for the 1.
“Welcome back, I am John Apo and this is GBC. What you are about to see will shock you and the rest of the world.”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 9:59 PM
Grand Duke Arun Kortan stares intently at the screen in front of him and waits for the other shoe to fall. The voice of John Apo is turned down but still just barely audible, “This is the evidence of the Grand Duke’s involvement in a plot to undermine our very…”
GBC Broadcasting Studio, Li’Vit. 9:59 PM
“…humanity. The Duke has blatantly disregarded all medical precedent and ordered his scientists to attempt to rebuild human beings into something they were not meant to be. Elves.” Apo stops and looks down at the sheaf of papers in his hand as if to say he cannot believe what he just said, but when he looks back at the camera we see that he knows. “Yes ladies and gentlemen you heard me right, the government of Gulkar is changing human citizens into Elves. This grotesque practice violates the very idea of being a human being. The treatment has a 30% failure rate, and every failure is fatal! People of Gulkar your nation is led by a corrupt, morally defunct, and evil dictator; you must arise and remove his vile presence from the Throne in Li’Vit!”
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 10:06 PM
The Duke’s TV still played, but there was no one to watch. The Duke was moving now, striding down from the residence to his Throne Room, calling for Regit even as he walked. Garst trailed a short distance behind, belching out small bursts of flame and smoke, sensing the distress and anger of his master. The large oak double doors slammed open and Duke Arun stepped into his Throne Room, he glared at the pair of guards who stood at the doors and then pointed at them.
“Get me Regit Kensor. Now.” The pair looked at each other and then the Dragon and decided it was better to obey the Duke than incur his wrath at the moment. They saluted and hurried down the hall towards the intelligence chief’s office. A few minutes later a very shaken Regit Kensor was escorted into the Throne Room and stood before the Duke.
“Mi’Lord you bid and I do come. What is your desire?”
“My desire is that every member of my cabinet, every scientist who worked on the ‘project’ and the heads of your intelligence bureau are here in the private audience hall within the next 30 minutes. Now move!” Duke Arun whirled and strode to his private hall to the private audience chamber, behind him he could hear Regit giving the guards orders to fetch the people in question.
Ducal Palace, Li’Vit. 11:08 PM
“Mi’Lord the leak has been discovered by my agents. And he is most definitely in this room. The person is not one of the cabinet members nor is it any of the scientists, and none of my men leaked this information.” While he speaks Regit slowly works his way around the crowd until he faces the Military members and their aides, he steps forward and grasps a middle aged man wearing the dark green of the Air Force and the golden dragon wing of a Wing Commander. “Commander Anderson here felt that the Air Force has been given a bad deal in the recent military spendings, especially the expenditure on a new orbital defense platform. This new technology would render his more conventional Force obsolete and he does not wish to change with the times. Sire I suggest that he be placed under arrest until further notice and charged with treason and sedition.”
“Good Regit, at last we are getting some good answers. Now have him taken into custody and it seems that we will need to present a formal statement to the press. And we will need to step up our defenses and begin to make diplomatic overtures towards any aggressively reacting nations. Field Marshall Kiltarni how soon until the defense platform is prepared?”
“Mi’Lord, the defense platform is not set to be completed for another two weeks, but we can base a skeleton crew, and a light garrison of Zero-G combat specialists there for it’s defense. Mi’Lord you should know that the garrison would stand no chance against a determined force, unless we could possibly provide stronger arms for said defense.” The Duke frowns at the words, knowing the truth but not liking it. He turns to Dr. Xentoris and pauses a moment before asking the question of the Doctor.
“Dr. Xentoris, how soon until your personal shield program could be ready for a full combat test?”
“Um…Mi’Lord…we really shelved that project when you pushed us forward onto the Sapiens/Superior project, but I should think we could provide you with our final prototype from 4 months ago. That is the beta 4 version, with a 50% reliability, that is it will stop an object or power weapon from striking the wearer 50% of the time, but it can be over powered by very strong weapons. We can have enough for a single company of soldiers by tomorrow morning if we work through the night.”
“Do so, immediately. Dr. Cowens, do you have an weapons which we might find useful in our fight that is to come?” The Doctor, who appeared much less mousy and nervous than Dr. Xentoris, stepped forward towards the Duke, his fiery red beard reached his knees, but his head only came to the Duke’s chest. He looked up slightly and gave a slight nod before beginning.
“Mi’Lord, we have been developing longer ranged artillery, as well as a wide range of powerful anti-space weapons. The artillery is powerful enough to allow us to engage foreign Navy’s at a long range from our shores, though not in large numbers, our anti-space weapons though very powerful, are highly inaccurate. Other than that we have little to add to the future of warfare.”
“Thank you that should do nicely. Have the anti-space weapons deployed to the defense platform as soon as possible; if we can, I would like to be able to intimidate any enemy foolish or brave enough to threaten our nation. Place the artillery under the command of the Field Marshall. If that is all, I will leave the defense of our nation to the war council and I must now meet with the Press Secretary, it seems that Kevin Marst is having trouble with the Press.” With that the Duke strode out of the Throne Room and down towards the Briefing Room. As he nears the room, the Duke can hear the thunder of more than 200 members of the international press and their translators; amazing, in a little more than13 hours this sleepy little Duchy has become a hot international topic. He stands quietly in the doorway for a moment and watches the activates before stepping into the room. The sudden silence is amazing, and the look of fear on the face of Kevin Marst is far from reassuring.
“I understand you all have questions about the recent goings on in Gulkar. Namely the present location and condition of some 47 violent criminals, all of whom were convicted justly and correctly of crimes against their fellow citizens. Not a single one of these criminals had any permission of parole or of a further trial, nor were they coerced into the tests, but taken by volunteering and then given over to the research branch of the government, none of them, I repeat none of them were submitted to any tests of weapons, toxins, or any other test that was specifically meant to cause harm or death. This was an elective surgery and intense psychotherapy; nothing more, and it is the business of Gulkar, not the entire world. That is the statement of Gulkar and no others will be issued at this time.” With the end of the Duke’s speech the press exploded with questions, jostling and jockeying desperate to get something in their paper. The Duke turns quickly to the guards by the door and nods once; at the back of the room a dozen lightly armed security personnel filed into the room and began to herd the press out.