NationStates Jolt Archive

Cnhle stared into darkness, temporarily disoriented. Then, quite suddenly, he realized why he was awake: klaxons. Loud, incessant klaxons. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, and commanded Logo to turn on the lights- but nothing happened. Dang, Logo stopped monitoring at night, have to turn him back on manually. Cnhle groped for the lightswitch, then gave his wife a gentle nudge. "Aglía, wake up, don't you hear the sirens? Something's happened, I'm going to get the kids."

Cnhle stumbled to the doorway into the kids' room. "Anthaim, Athas, wake up, hurry!"
"Wha...? What's going on, dad?"
"I don't know yet, just... just stay alert, keep calm, keep calm...." The last bit was more for himself than for the kids.

There was a sound like muffled thunder. Cnhle navigated the halls to the front door of the house. Just outside, there was a clear sound of people run-marching. He ran back to his room, and quickly began putting a uniform and checking his gun. With a quick kiss to his wife, he was out the door, and joining the ranks of militiamen.

The usual dim white lights of arcological night had been replaced with a strong red tint when Cnhle stepped outside.

"What's going on? What's the trouble? Will someone help me?"
Just across the street, another man was leaving his house. "Annë!"
The man looked up at the source of the sound. "Cnhle! What's happening?"
"I don't know!"
Annë started across the street as another group of militiamen rounded the corner. As he was rushing across to get out of the way, a familiar voice stopped him.
"Annë, Cnhle! What're you doing, standin' around? Hurry up!"
"Wait, Caín, what's going on? What are we hurrying for?"
"You haven't heard? There was an attack on the Mag terminal, they've cut off the network hub."
"What? Oh, crap." Cnhle turned back to open his door, hesitated a moment to say "Annë, go with them, just go, I'll be along in a moment." and slipped back inside.
"Aglía! Start packing, you'll have to-"
"I know, Logo just announced it. The Governor's declared Martial Law, last thing that come in before the connection dropped out."
"-evacuate. Right, good, good, take the back ways to the crawler garage, and keep off public transport. Whoever took the Mag terminal probably has internal transport under their control as well, unless they're total idiots. I'll meet you Outside just as soon as I can."

Cnhle leaped out the door and down the front steps again, into the streets of Tar Secirisé, and started catching up with the last group of militiamen.

OCC: I'm assuming this is open. I'll also assume that I don't necessarily need to know the backstory. Please correct these conjectures if they are wrong.

IC:

Lieutenant-General Benjamin Barry walks into his newly constructed office in Sunset. All around, equipment is being set up and tested, and maps hung on the walls. The LRR base, part of a much larger Sunset establishment, is a new expansion of the base and houses the HQ of LRR Mars command. He looks out onto the makeshift landing pad, and the two Franconia class frigates, 4 transports, 3 torpedo boats, and flock of armed dropships.

"How's the main computer coming there?"
"Just about to plug it in, sir."

As the corporal plugs the machine in, a page of text flashes up onto the main screen.

LRR Fleet Command
LRR Mars Command
Concerning developments in Eniqcir

We believe that there have recently been major disturbances in Eniqcir. We would like for you to check it out. With most of our forces tied up with

Thanks in advance~ Admiral Gates Farragut

"Ah, what's this?"
"We have Eniqcir in transmission range, sir."
"Ok, get me in contact."
"Done."
"Eniqcir command, this is Lieutenant General Benjamin Barry of LRR Mars command. We hear there are some disturbances in your capital. We can have the 4th and 5th naval infantry batallions, a total of 3,000 troops, at your disposal if you need."

OCC: I hope Sunset doesn't take offence in this.

(OCC: I'm assuming this is open. I'll also assume that I don't necessarily need to know the backstory. Please correct these conjectures if they are wrong.)
(Going to be open, so, yeah, join in now if you want. The backstory is secret IC anyway, so no, you probably don't need to know it.)
IC:
The Admiral entered Martin's office just as Gansarek was leaving, nearly bumping into him.
"Oh, hello there, so sorry. Ah, m'Lord, something you'd like to see. A message from one Lieutenant General Benjamin Barry of LRR Mars command. Says they heard of the 'disturbances' and got troops if we need them. The original text, if you'd like." He handed Martin a printout over the desk.
"Hm. Alright, dismissed. Go back to whatever important things you were up to, Remirez. I'll get a response typed up."
"Very good, m'lord."

Lieutenant General Benjamin Barry of LRR Mars command,
As far as I know, nothing's reached the capital yet- although Darmhir is a bit too close for comfort. I'd like to say we have things under control but I'm really not entirely sure about that. If it turns out we need assistance, I'll let you know.
-Lord Martin Royen, Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei, Mars

"Sir, message from Eniqcir."
"Oh, excellent! Put it on the screen."
"There 'tis sir."
"Are we still in contact?"
"Yes, sir."
"Lord Royen, we wish you the best of luck in your defense. We will be ready if you need us, over."

When Cnhle reached the Terminal, it was practically a lost cause. The smell of ozone was everywhere, and militiamen were beginning to retreat- whoever the attackers were, they were definitely not idiots. Went straight for the armory, they did, and not a one was without an RBET. Ten, twenty men writhed on the floor in paroxysms of pain. Cnhle didn't bother to get in on the battle- it was as good as over. He quickly helped one of the stunned men up, wrapping the man's arm around his shoulder and making way out of the Terminal as fast possible.

Attackers swept through the corridors of Tar Secirisé arcology, locking in or taking prisoner whoever remained. How could there be so many of them? Of course, the Terminal. They must already control another city down the line.

Militiamen, too, moved like a wave through the streets and corridors, knocking on dorrs and helping residents to evacuate, packing up the most valuable items from shops and storehouses. Cnhle went with his new 'friend' to the crawler garage. Entering on one side, he saw quite a light show on the other- militiamen were holding back the attackers here, at least. A bit of a makeshift infirmiry had been set up near his position, but the injured man refused- "I'm just stunned, that's all. Triage would reject me anyway, let's just get out of here, I'll be fine when my muscles stop tingling."

Cnhle looked around for a moment trying to orient himself and remember where his own crawler was- ah, found it. He carefully made his way across the huge garage, occasionally ducking to avoid RBET fire, until he reached a ramp to the lower level. "Wait here- er, I guess that's all you can do, really, but if you start to loosen up before I get back, start down the ramp. I'll be back ASAP."

Cnhle set the injured man down gently against a wall, and then started running back to the battle, ducking behind monocycles, crawlers, and various other vehicles as he went. "Ophir! Annë! Where are you!"

A head turned, and a hand waved him over. Cnhle ran into a small group, only three people, huddled behind a concrete barrier, taking shots at nearby doorway, slightly removed from the main entrance blockade. "Cnhle, we've got a wounded man here. Nothing serious, but we're rather immobilised."
"Don't worry, if we can just- good, look!"
A small group had broken off the side of the main blockade, moving to take the doorway they were guarding from the side.
"Good, good. Ophir, you keep your eye trained on that doorway. You, help me carry him, the others should provide cover if we try to stay unseen. Ophir, as soon as that door is secure, get in your crawler and seee how many others you can pick up."
"What? Are you insane? Just leave?"
"Yes, leave! There's not much else to do, is there? The only thing left to fight for is the safety of the people in the infirmary, and I plan on getting them into crawlers, too."

Within minutes, the breakaway had the side door secured, and at least one prisoner. Cnhle and the other two men had made it to the infirmary, and both had given him keys to their crawlers- thankfully, both on the same level. Another worker was quickly recruited to retrieve one of the crawlers, and Cnhle got the other, driving straight through a scattering croud of attackers on the way back and hopefully cutting them off from whatever their goal was- probably the infirmary.

Ophir drove his crawler right up to the front entrance, scattering both sets of combatants, though thankfully the good guys were all on the far side, with the giant vehicle blocking the entire entryway. Tens of militiamen piled into the crawler, while others went off to get their own, and the attackers began battering the side of the vehicle. As soon as everyone was in, Ophir fired up the engine and pulled away, letting in a stream of attackers- not that they could do anything by now, haivng to dodge a caravan of crawlers through an empty garage.

At the ramp, Cnhle stopped the infirmary crawler for a moment and picked up the guy he left. "Thought you said you'd be back soon."
"As possible. Better late than never."

On the lower level, families were just finishing up laoding all of their possesions into the crawlers, each making thier way Outside one by one- as soon as it looked like everybody was lined up, though, someone got a better idea, and just drove straight through the airlock doors. Likely, the sudden decompression wasn't too pleasant for quite a few of those rebel scum.

Outside, a line of LandMasters, large crawlers, SandVans, and all other manner of vehicle slowly moved out away from Tar Secirisé.

The throne room was, as usual buzzing with activity. Military aides running to and fro, delivering information to the members of the Generals staff, calculating rates and figures and interpreting new information. Though today wasn't usual by any sense of the word. Eniqcir, the most stable nation on Mars in the eyes of this government, was suffering internal strife. War had broken out inside the borders of this great nation and friend. Marduk was sitting on his throne, deep in thought, his mind was in turmoil over this revelation. Its never been in Aumans best interest to intervene in civil war, Kajal Mars had taught him that. Though this is Eniqcir, the friendly super power next door. The most prominent terraforming group on Mars and Marduk couldn't possibly allow a possibly radical Anti-Vascilian faction take over the nation...if indeed that is the case. For all that was know, very little was know about the motivations of the 2nd party combatants(The rebels). Would they be fighting to impose a set of views and beliefs on a race of people who do not wish it? or are they saving them from ruthless tyranny...none in Auman knew. Marduk needed to speak to the government, try and get a clearer picture. At the snap of his fingers an aide bearing a radio set came to the Overlord, speaking softly Marduk asked the man to arrange a Tele-conference with someone from Eniqcir...The decision was made, Auman will contribute troops and material to the reigning government to insure the survival of the status quo.

OOC:

We can send a Special Forces Group of anywhere from 5-50,000 men depending on the need for manpower. They will Garrison the captiol, Marduk may or may not personally accompany them. If he were to...then you could also gain the benefit of the 1st(and only) Experimental Landship Battlegroup.

<Tag, though I have no IC response to this yet.>

Crowds began to gather of all types and in all concievable places. At a Mag terminal somewhere in County Desolation, a waterminer stood up on a literal soapbox and began to yell at his assembled audience.

"WHAT ARE WE?"
"CHILDREN OF THE CELDR!"
"WHO ARE OUR RIGHTFUL RULERS?"
"BHALCIR ! MOIRIARTI! "
"WILL WE BE RULED BY A SCYLDR?"
"NEVER!"
"IS IT RIGHT FOR A FLEDGLING HOUSE TO CONTROL THIS LAND?"
"NO!"
"AND WHAT WILL DO ABOUT IT?"
"FIGHT!"
"DOWN WITH THE ROYENS! DOWN WITH THE TRAITOROUS CRZLEIDZI! LONG LIVE LORD BHALCIR!"
"VICTORY OR DEATH!"

Fifty barrels jabbed the air as the mob raised their guns and their battle cry.

Meanwhile farther south, a far less organised crowd of men and women sporting oxygen masks milled around in the center of a ring of LandMasters, while one man did his best to catch attention.
"Brothers! Ophir, Anne, Nhocta, you must listen! Our city, our homes, have been taken from us, and will we simply run away? Will we allow this injustice to go unchallenged? You may say, 'the government will take care of justice', but how can we know they did not commit this act themselves? If that is not so, you know that other cities must be in danger! And if this is so, would not taking upon ourselves the defense of our city allow the Royen's forces to more easily assist those who aren't as strong as we?"
One, two, three people stopped and began to listen.
"The invaders are not many, they cannot be many! A rival city could not send it's entire population, and a Dissolutionist faction would spread itself thin! We only left becuase were surprised, unprepared! If we want it badly enough, we can take our city back!"
A congregation was forming.
"Who will take back what is rightfully theirs? Who will go and fight? Are we all too scared to stand up for ourselves?"
"No!"
Just one voice at first, sounding lonely and quiet in the large crowd and thin air. But then two, three, four...
"No! No! NO! NO! NO! "
"WE WILL PUNISH OUR DISPLACERS! WE WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT IS OURS! YENEP CO KWI!"
"YENEP CO KWI! YENEP CO KWI!"

(OOC: Something respond-to-able to come soon.)

OCC: Those Naval Infantry batallions are still available.

The Zoning Board Room had been converted into a make-shift War Room, with green dots and red lines indicating not only the locations of cities and propsed mag lines and aqueducts, but now also military deployments, known areas of terrorist activity, security levels, and the like.

"As you can see, they did take a few cities via the mag lines before we could shut them all down. The larger ones it appears they simply blocked off and raided the armories, leaving the general population intact, but smaller ones, as you can see here, here, and here, were mostly evacuated, as evidenced from these lines here that represent convoys of mostly civillian vehicles departing from the captured cities. A few of the extremely remote and tiny ones, though, have shown no external acitivity at all, which leads us to believe that the residents were shuttled into other settlements before the mag lines were shut down. Here, you see these green triangles representing the force we sent to Dolokion. Apparently, there was no rebel presence there, but two crawlers, the red triangles, were intercepted on the way past to Fern. Now, what I propose-"
The Admiral was suddenly interrupted by the door swinging open, and a very tired looking CommTech running through.
"Sorry to disturb you, sirs, but I though you'd like to know. We've lost the feed from Inferno Station TB1."
"Holy Hastur, they wouldn't dare..." Martin's face went white.
"We don't know what they woudl dare. Only an insane man would destroy the Dome, but whose to say they aren't insane?"
"Gansarek, I'd like to think they weren't, but I suppose you're right. Change of plans, Admiral. Whatever you were about to propose, scrap it. Get that site secured, and I don't care how you do it."
-------------------------

By now, approximately twenty LandMasters had gathered on the banks of the salt lakeover the Menelmacari border. 35 were gathered at the edge of Hebes. Several other convoys from western settlemts headed for the Menelmacari border, while a few made for the so-far untouched settlemts along the Eastern River. The rest gathered in make-shift 'towns' of vehicles scattered throughout Lunae Planum and the Kasei Valley.
-------------------------

What are they doing? This was not how it was supposed to be! Civil unrest, anti-Royen protests, a downed public transport line every once in a while, but not a full-scale rebellion! I cannot be a part of this, no, Bhalcir cannot be allowed to get away with this....
[code:1:454bffd0ac]Official Communiqué to Lord Steward Inbhailígh Crzleídzí of the House Crzleídzí,
From Lord Hath Bhraoínë of the House Bhraoínë
My Lord, I must confess to you a dire conspiracy that it has been my unfortunate fate to be a part of. You are, fo course, well aware of the dislike felt by some towards the new House Royen, and the unstable state of affairs currently ongoing under the Royen's rule. This is not, as many would have you beleive, through any fault of their own. The original incitement to violence was a purposeful and planned activity of Houses Moiríartí and Bhalcir, with the assistance of myself and House Rímë, for the purpose of discrediting the Royens as effective rulers. I do not attempt to make excuse for my involvement up to this point, but understand that that was to be the end as far as I was aware. Instead, as you know, it has gotten out of hand. But whether Moiríartí and Bhalcir wish to take the Province by force, or if those under our employ have simply taken things into their own hands, I do not know.
-Your Humble Servant,
Lord Bhraoínë.[/code:1:454bffd0ac]

The Steward completed his reading, and retook his seat in the Council Chambers, indicating for the High Councillor to speak.

"This is indeed a very serious matter. But there is not much that we can do. If we take any overt action against Moiríartí, Bhalcir, or Rímë without inciting violence Earthside. But, on the other hand, we cannot let these events continue. We must, therefore, find a way of cutting of their influence quietly, and allowing someone else to make the overt charges of treason."
"Quite so, Achaíría," spoke Lord Hasimir, Councillor of War. "But we must be sure that in our efforts to cut of their control, we don't alert anyone who would report to them. We can't use double agents and covert operatives as they most likely have, becuase we don't know if any of their citizens are informed, or just the military, and if so which ones."
"You speak truly. Perhaps we cannot use such means at home, but what reason is there to cut them off at home? They cause trouble elsewhere, so let us attack them elsewhere. We can use such tactics, and even an old fashioned propaganda compaign, on Mars, as long as we simply keep up the appearance that we think the rebels are self-acting Dissolutionists, with no other ties. Such would be expected, and no alerts would be sounded."
"That is the obvious solution, Lord Téní. But if we are found out, which we must eventually be if Moiríartí, Bhalcir, and Rímë are to be punished, we must have a way of ensuring that they cannot strike at us effectively. If we start small, somewhere that they have little continuous interest, somewhere entirely out of the way that we can be sure has little involvement in the conspiracy, then we will have a place to move in from while arousing as little suspicion as possible."
"And what is this place, Lord Ur?"
"It is, my good High Councillor, Callisto."

The Steward laughed. "Callisto? With all of the troubles at Io, how do you think we can pull that off?"
"Ah, but do you not see? The current situation will make it all the easier, if we simply tell the Waterminers that we are there to secure them from possible attack. Rímë wouldn't find out for a few months, even if they are in on the conspiracy."
"Could that not be seen as a sign of aggression by Arda?"
"True, but you all know that we won't likely escape the conflict anyway. We might as well get something out of it."
"True. An external war would be an almost perfect cover. What is the will of the Council? To take control of Callisto?"

Twelve hands raised in support.

"It is decided."