NationStates Jolt Archive

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
[snickering]Then I guess you'll have to be annihilated.

Erisian HQ, Freiburg, Danteri

Colonel Papadakis watched the video in horror. Horror at what the Danteri Security Men had done and horror as to the fact that the Spartans were indeed resurgent. The attacks, all of them had to have been the work of that nation. It made perfect sense. Apparently, their desire for revenge was stronger than any had anticipated.

Colonel Papadakis fired off a request to the Danteri commanders who had sent him the video, asking for them to turn over the Spartan prisoner to Erisian custody, if he were still alive.

As soon as that message was on its way, Papadakis sent a copy of the tape back to his commaders in 23Eris. He was sure what would come next.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
News Conference, Prime Minister's Residence, Kallisti City, 23Eris

"Today we have all seen the shocking footage taken from Danteri, and only hours ago, our own experts have verified the film as authentic. Also divers have examined the wreckage of submarines that fired on our space center in Skirpto. Those vessels too, though sailing without markings were of Spartan make.

This unprovoked agression by the nation of Reformed Sparta can not and shall not go unanswered. One hour ago in an emergency closed sesion with Parliament, I recieved the mandate to declare and send our country to war with the nation of Reformed Sparta.

Today I have ordered the Kallisti, our nation's first aircraft carrier to sail from port. Though she is not 100 percent operable, she is more than capable of making our presence felt wherever she may go. I am also calling for the creation of four new divisons to be added to the Erisian Defense Force.

To Zukariaa, we offer our apologies for accusing you, unjustly, of attacks on our people and we hope that relations between our great nations can one day improve. However we recognize that Zukariaa still illegitimately holds large portions under its control and has subjucated thousands, perhaps millions of innocents under its oppressive boot. While we do not wish for war with Zukariaa, we will continue to support our friends in the legitimate government of Danteri.

We extend our thanks to the valiant troops of Danteri without whose aid the identity of these attackers might have gone unknown, plunging our nation into war with the state of Zukariaa. We recognize that Danteri is locked into a desperate struggle with the Zukariaans, trying to drive the Zukariaan government from the shores of Danteri. While we must look after the needs of the peoples of 23Eris first, we cannot abandon an ally as valiant as the Danteri people.

The divisions currently deployed in Danteri will remain. Territory under the protection of 23Eris in southaven will be expanded and any incursions into this territory by any third party intending to seize the land for themselves or to cause injury to the Danteri people will not be tolerated. In addition, we will continue to allow and support those in Danteri who seek refuge in our nation. Our borders will never be closed to any who need our aid or who seek a better life.

In order to aid the Danteri government in its time of crisis, Parliament has authorized a three billion dollar subsidy and the donation of 55 F-16 aircraft which had been scheduled for retirement at year's end as well as munitions and small arms.

May the goddess bless our people and those of our allies and friends."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Private to Danteri

The government of 23Eris is granting three billion dollars for defense spending by Danteri, 55 F-16s in good shape (with trining personnel), as well as hundreds of cruise missiles (not mentioned above) and 75 self-propelled 155mm artillery vehicles, with ammunition.

"Jack, bring me some water! Oh What the...IS IT ON?! Oh..herm -throat clearing noises- We represent the Arao Strike Force. We are warlords of the hills, and we demand blood! Long have we been treated unfairly by Loyalists to the government, Long have we been oppressed by the government! We want blood! And we will have our blood!"
-the video feed keeps rolling while two masked men pull two loyalist soldiers in view of the camera-
"Death to the Government!"
-Both of the prisoners were beheaded-

OOC: I'm with the rebelion. More of a freelance Rebel group, but they do support the Rebels. If you want to contact them, PM me or direct them personally. They are yours to command. (to a certain extent)

South Bay, Danteria

Major WU Walter observed the landings with amusement. These NND Foreign Devils did not seem very polished at all. He glanced at his nephew Jules.

Grub First Class WU Jules was scowling furiously. He too was observing the sloppiness of the NND forces. He itched to send a hello to a particularly showy devil directing the landing. Well he itched all over, but he really would like to make his acquaintance.

Jules really does have an annoying habit of muttering, thought Walter.

"mumble...A drunken bunch of First Year cadets probably could take them around the town. All the Hells! A troop of the youth scouts probably could wipe the floor with the sorry lot of them. Ancestors armpit lices only know why the hell can't Me Li have its own security detachments? Now we have these little hobgoblins to protect our perimeter. What do we have? <snort> Nothing, but our own private arms and some "free-time to do as we want." Some accursed "free-time." We've been patrolling this damn coast for two days. Who would be stupid enough to land on any of these beaches? mumble <spit>"

Walter hid a smile. Jules always was a headstrong boy. He, of course, shared most of his nephew's opinions and analysis of their present situation. He, of course, did not let the boy know that. That wouldn't do at all. He too idly wondered to why they didn't just land at the main staging area.

Puting a sterner face than he currently felt, he admonished Jules, "These maggots are our first line of defense. They show some potential. Moreover, even though these...umm soldiers are not very good, you really should learn to keep quiet. There may be others you do NOT see or sense. You will treat these barbarians as fellow maggot-recruits."

"Yes uncle," quietly replied Jules. He shifted his scope view, and panned the area. He probably could take out the entire leadership of the company, within ten minutes. Then the devils would run around like a bunch of ants whose hill had been stomped flat.

As they notified HQ of the NDD forces, the image of the potential chaos cheered him greatly.

South Bay, Danteria

The last of the prefabricated CSH modules were being carefully unloaded from the transports. The first sections of the field hospital were already being assembled on an abandoned university located just on the outskirts of the city. In two weeks, with the additional supplies that ought to arrive, and the RWE could probably convert sections of the University into useful facilities.

The Me Li Defense Forces engineers report that Harki engineers seemed to have done an adequate job of pre-securing the perimeter. Fortifications, berm and razorwire walls, hardened points, and SAM batteries were still being laid out. They still looked pretty thin, but, bar any major offensive, would probably hold. That is provieded of course that the devil-maggots would shape up.

Major WU had reported in. The assessment of the NND forces was troubling. They were lightly equipped riot police and not even trained to Me Li’s raw police recruit levels. Certainly, they would be slaughtered in full, if they ventured beyond the inner lines South Harbor. Perhaps they could be improved with some blooding or better training and equipment.

Notwithstanding, his general dislike of devils, Vaya got along well enough with the ones he had to meet and interact with. Unfortunately, he had no authorization or experience in dealing with integrating foreign devils into the Me Li command structure.

Vaya sighed and laughed, Come to think of it no one officially did. So quite logically, someone here probably did. Still, he really wished they could openly get some regular MDF Marine Corps units here. On the bright side, he was able to convince High Command to make Danteria an officially “vacation spot,” paid for in full by the Me Li Ministry of Foreign Devil. At least he had a few assets like Wu “Walrus Whiskers” Walters. WU was probably the guy he should put in charge of all that stuff anyway. It would be good to have an old friend to order around and threaten to court-martial. It might keep him rational and sane.

OOC-I'm confused. Who are you planning to fight, Me li?

The offensives against the Zukariaans have finally ground down to a total stand-still... as more and more C.P. units deploy in Danteri, the Danterians just don't seem able to hold their own against the Zukariaan allied Super-Soldiers. It's starting to get bloody...
As for the religious rebels, their terrorist attacks have continued - they seem to be planning something major, however...
Meanwhile, the bandits in Easthaven are running like beaten dogs from the Haraki soldiers they're encountering, but seem to be less afraid of the Gwazzarians and the Oompli. As for the Me li, they've attacked the Me li, with unknown results, with the apparent intention of seizing medical supplies that were being stored in the Me li Safe-Zones. The Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers (if you can call them soldiers...) were caught right in the way of the attack, where they were hit hard by the bandits... these bandits seem rather well organized, and have continued to commit horrible atrocities against any refugees unlucky enough to be captured. Things are getting ugly in Easthaven...

With the news that Danterian forces would not stand down, a massive attack has been launched against any Danteri who oppose Kraven rule. Any surrenderers are to be locked up until the end of the war, civilians will also be rounded up until the end of the attack so that they do not get into stuck in the crossfire. Thousands of soldiers are marching against the Danteri and Religous Rebels.

OOC: The C.P.s really are that tough. Read the Kraven fact-book...
The Zukariaan regulars were bad enough - they were well trained, well equipped combat veterans who knew just how to kill... but, they were also just humans. These C.P. elites weren't. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that he was a good Marxist, and so knew that such things as demons were just constructions of the higher classes, invented to control the proletariate, corporal Ernest Black would have sworn that they were demons.
As it was, he just swore at them and tried not to get killed. Of course, that last bit was getting harder and harder - there were more of the bloody monsters now than there had been last week...
He snapped out of his thoughts as the sound of machinegun fire suddenly began to fill the air - he grabbed up his rifle, and ran through the woods towards the noise...
He came out of the brush into a clearing where his squad had camped. There, he watched in sheer horrified amazement as one of the C.P.s, a machine pistol in each hand, charged at a line of eight Danteri soldiers. He watched as each of those soldiers opened fire with their rifles, sending dozens of high caliber bullets tearing into the C.P. with no discernable effect.
The C.P. didn't even seem to slow as he charged forward, cutting down the eight soldiers, killing Corporal Ernest Black's squad... except for Johnathan, who came out of nowhere with an RPG launcher, and aimed it right at the C.P. monster... he fired, hitting the thing square in the chest with a rocket grenade designed for use against light tanks... the resulting blast created a hole in the thing's chest, a hole about the size of a fist that went all the way through... but, the C.P. just grinned, and cut Johnathan down in a burst of machine pistol fire. By then, his magazines were empty, and so Ernest took aim... and fired his rifle, full auto, into the Capitol Police creatures back. It stumbled, and bled, but... when he was done, when Ernest had fired his entire magazine into the C.P.'s back, it got up again... and charged towards him. He reached for his sidearm, had it almost out, when, without warning, Johnathan fired the RPG launcher again.
The second RPG hit the C.P. man right in the shoulder. As it fell, Ernest looked down, and... the thing was still alive. It twitched faintly, looked up at him... then, it began to pull itself to its feet.
The tank shell slammed into the C.P. beast, sending it and Ernest flying through the air. He landed head first, hitting his head against a tree. He knew he had at least a skull fracture, but... he pulled himself up, and looked at the C.P. thing's corpse. They really took a lot of killing, didn't th- oh no, he thought, as the C.P. thing managed to begin moving again.
No wonder they weren't winning the war, when the enemy had things like these to call on.

The sound of automatic weapons fire tore through the air as the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force fell back. They had been on patrol in platoon strength when the bandits had chosen to attack, and so had been able to oppose them with some success. An unknown number of bandits had fallen already, but, more kept on coming.
The NNDEF (Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force) troops had taken casualties too, of course. Already, more than thirty of them lay dead and motionless in the mud of Easthaven... the retreating NND troops had been doing an admirable job - in fact, they had almost reached the safety of their camp, when one of their officers, a Lieutenant Dietrich Von Neue Bremen, who should never have led men in battle, made a stupid mistake.
His men had come to a fork in the path, where one route led to the base, another to a dead-end box canyon. He made a mistake as he glanced at his map - he chose the wrong route.
To his credit, he was a brave fighter. When the last ten NND soldiers made their stand pinned to the cliff face, he died with his rifle in his hands, firing at the enemy, rallying his men with shouts for courage. When he died, the situation looked hopless - there were only four of them left, out of fifty to start with, and they were trapped in a little hollow with no real cover, surrounded by hundreds of angry bandits... their rescue was far away, as the other 100 men of the NNDEF had barely left their base by then, and the other nation's men hadn't been informed, as an inexperienced communications officer had failed to send them the alert as he should have.
As such, the last four of the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers surrendered, and were taken as prisoners by the bandits, who would hopefully intend to use them as hostages...

Kyler, well, he didn't actually know what the name of his rank was anymore, was the last of his company still alive. His head was numb, his body hurt. The recent takeover by The Kraven Corporation was welcomed, but they didn't give their soldiers a break. The Capitol Police didn't seem to tire, they didn't seem to care when they ripped Danteri soldiers apart with their weapons. Kyler was killing men he had once worked along side of.
Why, exactly, were they fighting back? Corrol had given them multiple chances to give in.. they just didn't learn. They were being annihilated. The smart thing to do would have been to give in.
But they kept fighting. The men that had once been allies were gunning each other down in a hugely one-sided war. The Danteri didn't stand a chance, and as Kyler grabbed a Danteri woman and pulled her to a truck, he knew that they wouldn't give up. They were too headstrong. On the verge of stupidity, even.
And now, they were rounding up hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians that were going to be held until the end of the war.
If the Zukariaans didn't love war, this would be horrible.
Kyler was glad that they weren't killing any civilians. Ironically, he was thinking that as he shot a Danteri soldier in the face.

Montegrande`s lines, Danteri

The reinforcements had finally arrived. However, for the Unified Army of Danteri the situatin was getting desperate and the toughness of Zukariaan troops and the Capitol Police was something very difficult to fight againts, but the fanatism of Montegrande`s troops and their hate of imperialism was mantianing the morale of the troops. Any way, they were hardly trained troops.

Commander Moncada ordered their troops to prepare a diversive attack to lower the pressure over Danteri`s Unified Army and planned a way to assure the Danteris were more prepared to fight back the Zukariaans.

3000 pieces of heavy artillery roared, concentrating their fire on a small point of Zukariaan lines. It appeared like a desperate attack in order to break enemy lines and it was covered by the planes and guerrilleros.

Danteri`s Red Army call to arms
Commander Moncada ordered his resting commandos to bring informations to every corner of then country that wasn`t on New Lexington`s or Zukariaa controlled zones in order to create another army. Also, the Commander ordered that messages to be sent to the extreme left wing leaders to create a Communist Front of Liberation. The only way to fight back a fascist totalitarian army was with a totalitarian communist army and so Commander Moncada thougt. For now, he was only hoping their troops would resist enough the Zukariaan military power...

In response to the artillery guns that were firing on them, huge bombing runs were being performed. Formations of Gargoyle bombers were dropping tons of bombs that would not only destroy an artillery piece, but also the soldiers around it.
Meanwhile, Leman Russ main battle tanks were moving in with the Kreigsmarines and Capitol Police. The idea was to overtake the Artillery peices and turn them on their enemies. The large number of troops should be able to do it.

Most of the casualties that the bombig would cause in Montegrande`s lines was avoided by the net of bunkers that Comm and ander Moncada ordered to build and SAM sites tried to defend Montegrande`s lines. However, they had been more than 1500 casualties in Montagrande`s armies. The numbers of men wounded and missing was unknown. The Montegrande`s troops were only willing to resist enough time to form a army strong enough to fight back.....

Private Message to Danteri Government

Our nations urges you to seek a truce with Zukariaa. The losses on your side tell the tale of the hopelessness of the situation for the time being. We will continue to support you with as many supplies and funds as we can, but we believe it best to seek peace for your people. Live now to fight again another day.

-Foreign Minister Chilkevich, 23Eris

Most of the casualties that the bombig would cause in Montegrande`s lines was avoided by the net of bunkers that Comm and ander Moncada ordered to build and SAM sites tried to defend Montegrande`s lines. However, they had been more than 1500 casualties in Montagrande`s armies. The numbers of men wounded and missing was unknown. The Montegrande`s troops were only willing to resist enough time to form a army strong enough to fight back.....
OOC-I'm confused as to how you could build a group of bunkers so fast.

The Harakians, with blessings from their fellow allied or friendly governments and the cold shoulder from all others, announced their intention to seize a sixth city as another Harakian safe zone, as had been planned and proposed. The perimeter would be expanded to exactly where the map had shown, and to ring in the new territory, the Harakians were bringing in reinforcements, composed of the 4th and 5th brigades as well as the 1st Engineer Batallion from the 58th Infantry, and one batallion from the 8th Airborne Division. On the naval side of things, the main reinforcement and the last naval forces Locke was promised for some time was the Nexus-class Battle Carrier HNS Safe Haven.

The ground forces would arrive in under two weeks, but the city would be secured before that. With co-ordinated attacks by the bandits on allied forces becoming more common despite their flight from Harakian troops, it seemed the bandits were scared of fighting those who had caused such severe damage to them, and who were apparently responsible for the commando raid that so devastated a camp with no apparent casualties.

However, their allies were not so lucky. A full one third of the Neue Neue Deutschland force had been eliminated by a bandit ambush, and Harakian reinforcements and air cover, although nearby, had not been informed of the attack until it was too late. The location of the four captured soldiers was unknown, and the battle was over. Although Harakian forces in conjunction with Neue Neue Deutschland forces had begun searches and satellite sweeps, no trace had yet been found.

A preliminary force composed of several companies would establish the perimeter and perform a rudimentary sweep of the new safe zone area, until the new forces could arrive and a full infantry brigade could take over. The new infantry brigade would perform a sweep of the new area and then establish a well-guarded perimeter. The engineers' first priority would be to build the Harakian perimeter a line of fortifications worthy of remembrance. For as long as the Harakians were there, they would be defended by a string of entrenchments, fortified strong points and SAM batteries. It would be hard for any bandits to get in or out, let alone any actual attacks on the safe zones.

The paratroops would be a mobile reserve, movable by either helicopter or aircraft, stationed at an airfield within the safe zones not far from one of the central cities. With a company of them on standby at all times and the rest ready for action and on helicopters within half an hour, they would prove an adaptable force.

The HNS Safe Haven would join the main Harakian fleet in the area as a shore bombardment vessel. Its 24 airplanes were mainly composed of attack planes and bombers with a small fighter group, and its large forward turrets would make it effective as a strike force against ground or sea targets up close.

South Bay, Danteria

Vaya was worried. The devils weren’t sane. Me Li had clearly said they were here in peace. That they were an unarmed medical relief for the poor displaced d...people of Danteria and yet no one seemed to give a damn. The University had been nearly fully converted into an excellent medical installation. The modules had taken over about a quarter of the campus and the first of the extra supplies were starting to trickle in. In less than a week, they would go fully online. We would provide for excellent emergency, general, pre and post natal care, dentistry and...

He heard something and rapidly shifted his focus.

“There it was again, only a bit louder than before. All of the gods were shitting on him. He knew it, He was right. He knew it, was too good to be true. Yup, just exactly like I thought. The beginnings of a major Clusterfuck was underway,” thought Comander SINGH Vaya dourly.

Booom...boooom ssssssssssssssss......BOOOM! sskrrsss boom...boom sssss...BOOM...BOOM!!!

“Accursed Ancestors! The mortar rounds were ranging too damn close! Where in the Infinite Hells were those Harakii and Gwazarrii brigades? Damned useless foreign running dog refuse eaters,” shouted the enraged base commander as he quickly activated the emergency action plan delta prime via his personal comm patch.

“They are providing excellent protection so far. A district primary school of mewling toddlers could provide better security. Grub Comm Specialist Aurora, Get me a line to those damn foreigners...the ones not shooting at us. And tell them that Me Li wants to direct their forces in this sector. We shall retain overall military control for the next few hours at the minimum. Also note that a details need to be further refined as to the roles of our respective forces. Execute!”

As he entered the swirling controlled chaos of the DMRWE Alpha Base HQ situation room, the reports were rapidly flowing in continuously.

The enemy had launched a surprisingly strong attack upon the DMRWE Alpha Base in addition to other sites and positions throughout the wider region. Reports from DMDF “vacationers,” seemed to indicate that this was a coordinated assault. This particular thrust seemed intent on raiding Red Wheel Expeditionary’s medical and relief supplies.

Two semi trucks driven by some of the local devils had been hijacked. If the attackers followed general Danteri doctrine engaged by most of the barbarian combatants so far, native teamsters had likely been immediately executed.

Another more distasteful thought came unbidden to him. Or perhaps they had simply driven off with them. Foreigners, it seemed, did not always do the right thing because they were suppose to. They strayed from duty like some moody adolescent.

This particular relay carried some fireworks for the New Years, for the temple and ancestors: one half ton bronze Buddha, half a ton of candles, myrrh, frankincense and incense, assorted seeds and plantings for the garden, one hundred trillion fake paper Kong money, 25 million tongue depressors, and a few tons of MMREs. The base was going to be pissed about the loss of everything but the last two when they found out. What really concerned him, however, was the loss of several extra thousand dosages of the most common nerve agent anti-serums. They were to receive another shipment next week, but until then, this could be a potential disaster in future attacks

His face grew cold and his eyes stern. There was no doubt about it. They clearly did not walk the Path.

OOC: Zuk...truthfuly we really don't know who we are going to attack. It never hurts to be prepared though.

South Bay, Danteria

“I wonder if I can win a lawsuit for false advertisement? This vacation was most definitely not as advertised,” thought Grub First Class WU Jules, as he calmly picked off yet another bandit. He couldn’t help but professionally admire the ease in which they had mousetrapped the NND forces. It was a turkey shoot on the road below.
<pop, pop, pop>
The NND forces was never meant to be a combat company. Except for that peacock he had wanted to frag on sight at the landing, they looked like decent enough grubs. Not many were trying to running away. Those that did were cut down in short order. The majority of the 2nd Company NND seemed to be holding their ground. Uncle Walter was right they were good grubs after all.
<pop, pop>
He grinned, reloaded, and took another target.
<pop, pop, pop, pop, pop>
The Danterii were clearly toying with them now. Very, unprofessional and sloppy style that. They really ought to know better. Didn’t they ever wonder what in the Infinite Hells was dropping their numbers? Maybe they are possessed and beserking? It would explain the whole: painted-naked, close quarter action, and cannibalism that some of the enemy were engaging in, mused a detached voice in his brain.
<pop, pop, pop><miss>

Jules slowly sighed in relief. The bandits finally broke and fled the ambush. Uncle was reporting in and requesting extraction for the NND. He then signaled the two other squads to break contact and seal the perimeter and report status. Two minor burns for the second squad and smashed finger for the third, in addition to the numerous scratches, abrasions, and insect bites accumulated over the space of a two week patrol. Not to bad. They could probably field patch’em and except for the bitchin’ they’ll be fine this afternoon when we get to the Mess.

Now it was time to tally up the dead and wounded.

Jules silently cursed the idiot who had ordered these poor foolish foreign grubs to land so far away from the secure lines. It was probably that idiot of an officer. Well he assumed he was an officer. He seemed to enjoy marching around, ordering people around, and getting in everyone’s way. I wonder if he was still alive down there. Probably not. Eye candy is great in parade but it really pays to be coated in gloriously itchy, stinky, mud most times when you’re in a marsh.

This way you can’t get any dirtier and the bugs sometimes left you alone.

Marching along a lovely road in enemy territory and counting on your neutrality to protect you was a smart idea too. The 2nd Company NND had stuck their green necks out and many of them of them had lost their heads, the voice wittingly noted.

South Bay, Danteria

Commander Singh Vaya wasn’t tired yet. He was too busy to be tired.

So far, there have been no serious Melii casualties. He hoped to keep it that way.

The last thing he needed was a blood vendetta declared and carried out by pissed off parents and extended clans. To attack a place of Healing AND Learning was tantamount to an act of war for most of the Melii. Centuries ago they had burned to the bedrock the breakaway isles that had done so. Every single man, woman, and child was enslaved, and the fields salted and burned.

Since then, the Path had tempered and shaped the Melii along a different stream, but if you scratched too deeply...If you peeled away the sophisticated veneer of Me Li civilization, the atavistic soul and impulses of Mara’s People still burned inside the Melii.

Most of the fortifications had been hastily completed, and were now being inspected and manned by paranoid and extremely pissed MDF base personnel. Luckily, most of the Melii had exercised thier right to bear arms and had packed an impressive personal arsenal. Few had heavy weapons, but their were plenty of AK variants, sniper rifles, and other small arms. The “vacationers” had loaded for bear and weren’t very happy that their vacations had been cut short.

The first and second attack waves had been beaten off without any loss of life or limb. Well, one Grub Second Class was going to be sporting a new eyepatch and several other personnel had deeply embedded shrapnel and would likely forever set off the metal detectors but no casualties to Me Li citizens.

The estimates of most of the AARs suggested that the enemy had suffered extremely heavy losses before fleeing. It was insane. They had loss over a quarter of their first wave before they broke off. And as far as we can tell the second wave was entirely eliminated. Fanatics and fools.

“We wanted no part in this other than to save the lives of the people of Danteria. A goodly and noble endeavor. We came with open palms and did not preach to the natives. Now within the first month we have saved one hundred seventeen lives and have killed thousands more. Our good deeds are ashes. Our open palms have been met with a clumsy knife strike,” Vaya quietly wept inside.

“He had known El for years. The First Minister will likely demand blood debt. Ancestors will it that SOMEONE anyone of the Foreign Devils pay it, he thought.

He wondered what would happen if no one did and was afraid for his beloved country...

Then with an effort he focused on the matter at hand. They might attack the lines with an accursed atomic or damned nerve agent. In two months the hospital would have a few hundred thousand anti-agent serums for the most common agents. Thanks to the thefts they had but six hundred. This would not be nearly enough for the all of the base personnel not to mention the “vacationers”.

Ancestors! Most of them will die...well die sooner than they might otherwise have died in the comfort of Me Li. Even the survival of a few hundred would be in doubt. It was predicated upon several variables. Some would survive provided of course they could: a. reach the storehouses alive, b. identify the agent and administer the counter-serum. Two pretty big Ifs.

Vaya sighed. Who was he kidding? Wars weren’t too rational most of the time anyway. One of the damned devils would probably use a Biological any day now and 97% of the people in this city would be dead within a week.

Now if it followed Virgin Field propagation patterns... It would spread from city to city, along the convoy and trade routes...to civilization. There ought to be a gradual lessening of the virulence but will probably still kill close to 90% of the infected for several months. The demons would break free of this Purgatory and the Ragnarok of the Far West would engulf us all.

A sudden chill touched his being.

It occurred to him that those demonic Kraven Corps, or the fanatical fundamentalist God-Emperor worshipping Solarian whipping dogs, not to mention the ignorant native devils might just be crazy enough to employ them?!

Amitabah help us all. They had already used Atomics in this conflict. Many neutral units had been emasticated in the Danteri City assault just a few year’s previous. Survivors were probably better off being overdosed with sedatives. Chemical agents had been used indiscriminately, since early in this conflict. The blasphemous bio-enhancements and sadistic tinkering may just very well protect the Kraven elite-assault units from most biological vectors.

He had read the reports over a week ago. He understood it intellectually. Yet, he had been so busy with the preparations for the transfer that he hadn’t really known what it meant. Now as the booming died down from the buzzing by one flight of those damnable foreign aeros, it hit him like a tsunami.

Doubt.


Ooc:
We are a nice quiet nation. Really. Honest. You Can Trust Us. Isn’t it fun to call other countries hyperbolic derogatory racist/religious names!?! Me Li really just wants everyone to get along. Cross our hearts and hope you die.

We will probably start trying to convert people in the near future. Unofficial Black Op forces will probably be sending feelers to all of the various rebel groups and minor countries. It’ll all depend on how people will respond to our demands for satisfaction.

IC:
First Minister El glances to His Holiness the Venerable Laughing One Me the 32nd of that name, and in a whisper asks, “Teacher, Do you think they bought it?”
The old Master answered with a snort and a shrug.

OOC: Sorry, Zukariaa, I made a mistake when I told my numbers, because I said "1500 doctors and other personel" and it would have said "1500 doctors and great numbers of other personel" so that personel could be responsible of building the bunkers, and the bunkers are like too pretencious (I would have said trenches and little bunkers" because I don´t know how to say little garrisons in the line of trenches in english (and not yet complete, of course). With forced labor you could have built that, and there´s another point: in that frontline there are enough rubbles to build bunkers fastly, but I do not know how to say my troops used that ruins, because is aa populated country and that frontline is old, I guess. (my troops are here since thursday, I guess. Another point, in that conditions of confusion generally there´s a great number of wounded or missing that die or are unable to continue fighting (is not the same but very similar)... I don´t have enough time now to be more specific. Thanks for the tip. In the personel that built the trenches I have to say the number of casualties, though, so I would later.....

OOC-well, I guess you could build bunkers from rubble, but they wouldn't be very strong. Something like that would surely collapse from a bomb being dropped on it.

OOC: Yes, of course some of them collapsed(1500 dead in the first information is a large number of casualties when you´re prepared for what´s coming to you), but informations cannot be quite clear from the first moment when you´re facing a bombing (the bombs are a point but the confusion is a stronger one, and this style of war, building bunkers and trenches with anything a hand is the specialiity of my troops, they´re trained guerrileros, any way...) and first informations cannot assure that and unknown missing and wounded let you play with that (the bunker, trench and tunnels building is one of my troops stronger points). Obviously I know my bunkers are not strong enough yet and I have to work a little to make a real bunker-guerrilla war viet nam style and that´s why I need a Danteri Red Army.... (I was authorized recently and I will work on that)
Another point is that in Stalingrad the soviets used the rubble like cover and not always rubble made things collapse with a bombing..... Fighting in rubble was a speciality of the Red Army..... and mine is basicly a caribbean Red Army

South Bay, Danteria

“Grub First-Class WU Jules was disgusted. They had actually tried to THANK him. It was intolerable and couldn’t be allowed to stand unanswered.

He had seriously considered gutting one and choking him with his own stringy guts in order that his worthless life would better mankind by teaching the others a lesson. But after some thought he was forced to dismiss it as untenable.

Therefore, he was forced to improvise. A swift kick to the groin, followed quickly by a knee to the face smashed that particular maggot-recruit onto his back. His companions stared numbly in shock, surprise, and sympathy for the crucial few seconds and did not react fast enough when he assaulted them in turn. He disabled the remaining three of them before they could clear their safetys.

Now they too were groaning on their backs.

He felt nothing. They had not even managed to make him feel uncomfortable. Intolerable. It was absolutely intolerable that they be called maggot-recruits. They could not even defend themselves. They liked being on their backs far too much. He was not casting doubts as to their manhood.

That presupposes they were men. They were not really men. True the may look like some. They may think they were but they weren’t really. Furthermore, he was just noting that perhaps the ambush had killed all the truly brave ones. What he was forced to deal with were the cowards that survived?

He ought to just hang them by their feet and be done with it. But that ran into the previous problem. It was all based on the assumption that they had had guts from which he could hang them with.

This preposterous idea that they once had and may still have guts presented some problems. Moreover, considering the shit for brain excuse for a maggot that he and the rest of his butt-loving Nancy-boy cock-loving abused both of the terminus of said guts system it was unlikely to be of much use.

Since they so loved all things anal, he probably could just impale them on shorten pikes. That way they wouldn’t get a clean warriors death, nor a criminal’s hanging but something that they would enjoy anyway.

Yes they could thank him for that,” Jules explained very politely. He had to stop at this point in order to catch his breath. Then he forged forward. And stated simply the following,

“You are not maggots. You may aspire to one day be called a maggot, but until then you have no name. You have no country. Once you were captured, you were dead. You are dead. In death there is life. We will send you to die.”

OOC: I just couldn’t resist a chance to mess around with some poor captives. Yeah so its been done before and probably was better executed. But Hey if you don't like it :upyours: :p

To all parties:
As stated earlier (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10843544&postcount=685), Bertling will not support the Danteri unconditionally. Our conditions have not been met, and we will therefore withdraw entierly from this conflict.

We will leave all our medical supplies in the hands of Gwazzaria.

The Bertlingian ambassador to Danteri will be witheld until such a time as his security can be guaranteed.

The crowd outside of the Bundestag was quiet. That, was even scarier than it was when they were screaming and throwing rocks. When silent crowds gathered outside parliaments, governments fell...
The Chancellor was sweating as he adjusted his collar. A messanger came running up to him, leaned in and whispered:
"The results are in. The Centrist Democratic Party (the Chancellor's party) no longer holds enough seats to form a government." the chancellor nodded, and replied,
"Well, after that disaster, that was to be expected. I guess you should get me the leader of the far-left coalition. I might as well resign gracefully..." he stopped at that moment, as the messanger shook his head and told him,
"No, you don't understand..."
"Understand what?" the chancellor asked, to which the messanger replied,
"The new government is made up of the Conservatives..."
the Chancellor almost spat:
"What?!?" the messanger nodded, and continued,
"Yes, I know how you feel, but... the liberals have made us an offer: form a coalition government to keep the Conservatives out." the chancellor nodded, and replied:
"Tell them I accept."

Neue Neue Deutsch Ministry of Defense, Neue Berlin
The Minister of War looked positively horrified as he heard what his government had just ordered him to do. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't... he just nodded roughly, and turned to stare out of the window. This would be the first time in his career when the Neue Neue Deutsch army would send both of its two companies of troops overseas... in fact, there was talk of raising more troops - there was no shortage of vollenteers, after all... thanks to some well-used propaganda, the vast majority of the populace was now crying for the blood of the bandits who had killed those 50 men of the NNDEF.

- Immediatly, 150 more NND soldiers (of roughly equal quality with the last lot...) will be sent to Danteri on another civilian transport. Additionally, more soldiers are being trained and equipped as the Republic of Neue Neue Deutschland begins to expand its military...

Since they've been taken by Me li, here are the stats of the three living POWs:

- Franz Metzger: (PFC in the NNDA), born in Neue Bremen, aged 29, worked on the docks for four years before being arrested for assault, served two years in prison, then joined the NNDA once released. Married with three children, one boy and two girls.
- William Von Neue Bremen: (Sergeant in the NNDA), born in Neue Bremen, father owns a major chemical company, has a degree in Chemical Engineering - apparently, he joined the NNDA on a drunken bet, then discovered that he liked the military, and so stayed on. Aged 36, married with one son. Has a record for discipline and courage - during riots in Neue Berlin, apparently he fired into a crowd and killed something like twenty people in order to save the life of one of his men who had been pulled down by the rioters. He was given a "black mark" on his records for that action, but he is one of the only NND soldiers to have ever killed a man before their last engagement with the bandits...
- Harriet Soldatzohn: (PFC in the NNDA), she is one of the female soldiers who make up about thirty percent of the NNDA. Apparently, she joined in order to pay for dental school... she had only served for eight months at the moment she was captured. (Age 20, unmarried).

Well, there you have them...

The offensive against the Zukariaans has become a desperate defensive effort... the Zukariaans are advancing, albeit slowly, on all fronts. Currently, Danteri cassualties are listed as being around 150,000 so far.
As for the religious rebels, they have launched a sudden uprising in Westgate, attacking New-Lexingtonian, Oompli and puppet-government units. Hundreds of thousands of "civilians" are taking part in this uprising, and it is getting ugly... around eighty thousand religious rebels have died so far, inflicting unknown cassualties against their enemies (although something like ten thousand Danteri Security Police have died or turned to the rebel side...). Hundreds of buildings have been set on fire, and the rebels have seized an armoury, from which they have equipped themselves with rifles, grenades, machineguns, mortars, RPG launchers, Anti-Tank rockets and even a few SAMs.
All in all, things are pretty bad in Westgate...

The guards beat him with their rifles until he lay on the floor, unable to move. Then they manacled him, tightly chaining him, as though they feared he might kill them all...
The prison had conditions that were so horrible that they made the 23Erisian people sent to get this man want to retch. What was worse than that, and the other bloody, dirty, little figures in the cells, was the obvious fact that these terrible conditions had intentionally been created.
With a grunt as they lifted him, the four guards threw him to the floor outside of the cell, slamming him face-first into the stone floor. They laughed as he spat out a bloody tooth, then turned to the man in an unmarked uniform who looked to be their leader.
He walked up to the bloody Spartan, kicked him in the visibly broken ribs, spat on him, then looked the 23Erisian people in the eyes, smilled as though they hadn't just watched him violate the Geneva Conventions, and said:
"All right. The scum's all yours." he gave them a grin, then added,
"Of course, if you need a set of thumbscres, you can borrow mine..."

OOC: Not all Danteri people are like this, he's just one of the ex-DGS men who the current regime have retained. He's an example of the worst there is in the present Danteri government.

They wore rags, and danced around a bonfire like ancient warriors. Only, instead of shields and swords and axes, these modern savages had rifles and RPGs and machineguns...
The Gwazzarian patrol caught them by surprise - they were all past drunk, and many were passed out from the excesses they had indulged in. The Gwazzarians had the drop on them, had the perfect shots... and used them to deadly effect.
The entire band of fifty odd bandits was gunned down in less than ten seconds. After that, as the Gwazzarian soldiers went through the camp, checking for survivors, they found some horrifying things... it appeared that this bandit group had not varried from the norm when it came to committing atrocities against the civilian refugees upon which they preyed...

- A Gwazzarian patrol within the Safe-Zone ambushed a group of bandits who were camped out near the border of the Safe-Zone. All fifty bandits were killed with no Gwazzarian casualties.
- Additionally, three civilian prisoners were rescued from the bandits. It appears they took something like eighty prisoners, and these are the only ones who are still alive...

Danteri Prison, Danteri

Major Ziccardi whook his head. "We do things slightly different in my nation. While we, cannot agree with your methods here, we do acknowledge their effectiveness. And I have to thank you again for the assistance you have rendered my nation in sharing what this bastard told you."

Ziccardi nodded to a pair of privates who accompanied him who lifted the battered Spartan onto a gurney to which his wrists were quickly handcuffed, as if the man could offer any resistance at this point. "Get him to the chopper."

"Thank you again, he will be given medical aid bvy my people and then be held as a witness for the trial of Dictator Kratevatis, when we finally catch that S.O.B." The major saluted the Danteri men and followed the other Erisian soldiers to the waiting helicopter.

The men had closed off all roads coming out of Westgate. Anyone coming out would be met with a squad of Capitol Police and small force of Kreigsmarines. Kreigsmarine Heifler shuffled his feet. The bombed out city ahead was ablaze, screams could be heard even at the ten miles they were from it. A Capitol Police next to him stared blankly. The things had no sense of boredom. They didn't have a morale. They just did what was ordered.
Anyone coming through the roads would be shot down quickly. He was looking forward to an attack.

-Road blocks have been set up on the roads leading from Westgate. Squads of Capitol Police and Kreigsmarines guard them every mile.
-Bombing runs have been trippled on the artillery emplacements and the makeshift bunkers.
-The attack continues. Oberturmbann furher Corrol continuosly repeats that if the Danteri people surrender, things will be much easier for them.

FROM: DML
TO: DVC
RE: Danteri Humanitarian Intervention

The state of your military is Irrelevant. Your troops are required to assist ConFed troops as par the Isles of Mara Charter article 13. Me Li has been attacked. The devils are insane. They must be put down. We demand satifaction.

Obey and Fight or Fight and Die. The choice is still yours. There is no Middle Path in this particular point.

Contact our suppliers. We need a collection of tailored viruses. The demons depend far too much upon their technological superiority. They are advancing on all fronts. The devils are dying in droves. Better that we keep them from our shores.

The Companions have obtained intellegences as to a possible chink in their systems. As you are not a UN Member you are positioned to act where we may not.

Item: They tend to use a limited germ line for their elite warrior stocks.
Order: Locate and obtain suitable agents microbial or nano to level the playing field. Investigate possible delivery vectors. Do NOT get caught.

EXECUTE!

Office of His Holiness the Venerable Me 32nd of that Name

South Bay, Danteria

Major WU Walter was meditating upon the Way, and exercising tolerance, patience, and compassion. He was the eye of the storm. He concentrated on his breathing. Inhale through the left nostril. Hold. Exhale through the right nostril. Hold, reverse and repeat.

Even with his eyes closed, he still sensed his surrounding distinctly. The chaos grew but slowly as he finished the last beads of his rosary. Controlled puffs of air shifted around him. The yells and screams both audible and not were threatened to overtake his senses and disturb his center. He flowed along the Path, re-centering himself.

Finally, he opened his eyes and carefully studied the intelligence dossiers of devils invited to the New Lexington’s diplomatic dance. He sincerely hoped that this gala would broker a lasting peace settlement. Walter was doubtful. The last summit, prior to Me Li’s entrance into Danteria, had collapsed in a complete and utter failure.

Since that abortion, more than 200,000 former native devils dead and several hundred thousand other foreigners shared their fate. They were now wandering the countryside as hungry ghosts, lost souls, and vermin. Millions more foreign civilians had been displaced and were now stripping the countryside bare. They were often very hungry, malnourished, and diseased, living like vermin in their own lands.

Despite the likely chances of failure, he still held some hope that Reason and Compassion may prevail this time.

Sighing sadly, he rose after clearing the datapad and filing the dossier’s away inside the datapack which he wore around his neck. He then grimaced painfully.

Then again, the Melii weren’t always rational or compassionate. Chances are the foreigners would not see reason. Chances are that we all will die soon.

--Telegram to all Nations in Danteri conflict--
All nations (Including Mcpsychovile) are invited to the "diplomatic dance" in Lexington City to discuss a possible peace agreement and/or settlement of land. I need a yay or nay of all nations coming or not coming.

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
If one of these conferences failed, what makes you think a second one would work? Besides, the land has been decided. Anything held by Danteri belongs to Kraven.

Government of Montegrande

The only possible way that peace can be reached in Danteri is expelling the fascist enslavers. In concordance with this statement Montegrande declines New-Lexington´s offer and encourages all the nations that want peace in Danteri to fight against Zukariaa.... Also, we decided more troops would help the Danteri´s people, and instructors and supplies for the recently founded Danteri´s Red Army.

Montegrande´s lines, Danteri

Little more than 8000 soldiers were dead or unable to fight after Zukariaan bombing. The orders of Moncada was digging further tunnels and keeping the frontline. Also, he ordered the call to arms of Danteri´s Red Army to continue, in order to summon a number of recruits that could made him able to begin a big scale war against Zukariaans (he felt uncomfartable of waiting in their trenches and bunkers)... Also, he felt happy when the guards of his headquarters adviced him the arrival of five or six people all around Danteri. They were the most important leaders of Danteri´s extreme left wing. The man that more attraccted Moncada for his plans was the youngest of them, Jeremy Ricken. He was a tall and thin man in his middle thirties and the misery of being a refugee had given a strength that could be exactly what Danteri needed in such desperate situation... After a two hours or three meeting, they all decided to support the recently created Danteri´s Red Army and fight united against Zukariaa in what they called "Socialist Front of National Liberation". In all Danteri, that news spreaded like fire in gunpowder. Another faction had born, and their objectives were quite clear: Expel Zukariaans from Danteri, at all costs....

From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich, 23Eris
To: New-Lexington
Re: Peace Talks

We regret to inform the government of New-Lexington that we cannot at this time attend any conference situated in your nation. With the hostilities between your country and that of Arlibastan, including several other nations, the security of our delegates is put into serious question. We therefore must decline your request, however we do support any call for a peaceful settlement of the Danteri question.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
23Eris Forces, Southhaven, Danteri

The military units of 23Eris began to expand their control from their established lines in Southhaven. The current plan was to establish a new defensive line just north of the southernmost major city in Southhaven. The area would remain under Danteri jurisdiction, but Erisian units and patrols would attempt to oversee the security of the area.

OOC-don't do too much at the moment. I think me and Danteri have a plan. Not sure though. Also, where is your line?

IC-
The bombing raids continued. Bombs were being dropped like rain on top of the bunkers. The people within them couldn't withstand forever, and the line of bunkers couldn't withstand forever. And it wasn't everywhere.
The soldiers kept up their movements wherever there were Danteri soldiers. The hundreds of planes that were bombing meant that more infantry could be used for other things.
Danteri was going to fall.
Corrol was about to make sure of it. The assaults were about to get one hundred times worse..
10000 Capitol Police marched on the roads.
It was a dark day in Danteri. The Danterians were outnumbered as it was. The new Capitol Police were about to put an end to the fighting for good.

Danteri was about to become a Slave State of the Supreme State. The Overlords demanded it.

OOC: I was expanding to cover about the most southern part of that Southhaven peninsula. Basically if you look at the danterimapiv posted a while back, from the southernmost dot (city) on southwards. But, its a slow expansion, so the expansion could easily be overtaken by other events.

OOC-Easthaven isn't under Danteri control. It has nothing to fear from Kraven. For now.

Locke sighed. He was faced with mounting problems. The united Danterian forces were being pushed back on all fronts by the Zukariaan-Kraven forces. If it carried on in this vein, heavy casualties would occur and eventually Danteri would lose the war. Unless Soloriel got back in the game and started actively fighting on the side of Danteri, they stood hardly a chance, and all Locke could do about it was defend any civilians that decided to enter his protective area. Now he was faced with the Me Li troops mounting an all-out war against the bandits, which had not been a problem prior to their arrival.

The message in front of him detailed the fact that Me Li's troops, after arriving, proceeded to immediately attack the bandits and get in heavy, prolonged firefights with them, with heavy casualties on both sides. Rather than the drawn-out, detailed sweep the Harakian and allied forces were conducting, they had decided instead to rush head first into combat and then blame the Harakians and Gwazzarians for their trouble, taking enough casualties to justify not only sending reinforcements but also expansion of their entire military. On his desk was also a message from the Me Li leaders requesting all Harakian and Gwazzarian forces in the area be put under their command, a flat-out ridiculous request. Not only had they just arrived and fucked up their own landing, now they were blaming the lack of support from other nations and requesting that because of that all the troops in the area - outnumbering the Me Li troops quite significantly - be put under the command of inexperienced leaders who had proved to be too incompetent to handle their own forces, let alone international ones. It would be met with a plain no, telling them that if they wanted Harakian and Gwazzarian support, they would have to allow time before launching any operations to inform the allied command - Locke's command centre - and have support delegated to them. And that if they wanted all forces in the area to be co-ordinated into one multinational force with a single commander, it should be the most skilled, experienced commander and not one who was used to commanding only small forces of troops. Namely, a Harakian brigadier, who had been in charge before Me Li forces had arrived.

On the bright side, his reinforcements were finally arriving. Two infantry brigades, an engineer detachment, and an airmobile paratrooper batallion, complete with transport planes and helicopters as well as the HNS Safe Haven. With their arrival within a week, they would unload in South Bay directly into the new safe zone area, currently being secured by several companies of Harakian infantry. Hopefully, the other allies would just shut up and let him do his job, which mostly consisted of trying to keep poorly trained soldiers from allied nations from getting shot by sending his own experienced men into danger, and be it on his won head if they died or if his allies got mad.

The newly-arriving 58th Infantry were not as experienced as the 72nd, without as many prior tours of duty, an average age a full four years younger, and they hadn't spent months and months in Danteri already getting the lay of the land. Although well-equipped and out of a boot camp much finer than any of those from their opposition - mostly completely untrained bandits - they still were not as good. The engineers were well-trained but would have to be protected, and the paratroopers were some of Haraki's most elite regular troops, a very stabile reserve force.

He didn't expect to get more reinforcements for a long time. He'd have to make these ones count.

<Encrypted internal communiqué>
To: Companions Guild Council
From: Office of His Holiness, the Venerable Me, 32nd of that name
Re: Infiltration of Foreign Devils

Councilors,

Project Purgatory Activation Code: winnowing-fan-carte-blanche

Counterintelligence:
Convert all captured spies. Capture additional assets. Use what methods you deem fit.

World Stage:
Continue infiltration and assimilation of foreign bands. Imperative. Maintain Cell structure. Prepare assassination and asset neutralization contingencies. Coordinate vectors with command.

Me
<end>

OOC: :p
The Companions are sorta my version of a Bene Gesserit, Secret Service, SpecOps, Free Masons special Guild. They are damn secretive and good at just about everything. Each Companion has their specializations but overall you really don’t want to mess with them.

You’ve read Dune and Foundation right...?? Think about them as the a modest beginnings of an order paralleling the Empire’s Bene Orders and the Hidden Foundation of the Second Foundation. They are still very human...

Yeah...highly trained, hot, smart, manipulative, deadly and a little psycho humans. But they ought to be able throw a wrench into the works.

South Harbor, Danteria

God save me from my friends. I can protect myself from my enemies.
--Martin Luther

Commander SINGH Vaya was tired. After nearly a week of constant fighting, it was over for now The banditos had finally ceased their pointless attacks upon both the city and the compound. His command had suffered 15 deaths and 73 temporarly disabled.

"No doubt, at all now, that the vendettas and duels would be issued. Just what he needed. A bunch of Melii citizens hunting down potential future allies.

It hurt. That was about one percent of his command dead in three weeks...well one week of real fighting, and close to 8% knocked out for at least the next month. The seabees were already repairing the modest damage to the Red Wheel Expeditionary's Alpha Base. Damage to the city would take longer to repair.

It should go faster now that the Harakii had finally decided to show up. They fought well this 72nd. They were very arrogant and prideful though. With their arrival and the aero support, we were able to re-establish the international perimeter and sweep the area clear of bandits.

The meeting with the Haraki commader probably could have went better. The devil had dared to accuse Me Li of causing the FUBAR clusterfuck. Vaya had had some rather ummm...interesting things to say about the Harakii and Gwazariii devils," thought Vaya.

Vaya grinned, "If not for his MDF training and dicipline, he might have issued a formal duel and been forced to kill this Locke. That would have likely been very troublesome for El."

It was just like a devil to promise one thing and do another. The Harakii were supposed to ensure the saftey of the South Harbor Safe Haven Zone. They had said they would, and Me Li took their word for it. So we came as humanitarians, honorable and peaceful doctors and teachers. We left the honorable task of protecting lives to the Harakii and we took up the Syphsein burden of trying to save the lives they were suppose to protect.

It was theoretically and aesthetically perfect arrangement. An economists-philosipher's dream of specialization and division of labor. His limey tutor from Victoria City had explained that concept when he was twelve cycles old. This foray into the international scene was not going well at all.

"It was obvious that the Harakii had orchrestrated the Banditos attack. No they probably weren't helping the bandits with anything. Suprisingly, they were not really "efficient" with the captured bandits either. They just turned them over to Me Li forces. The devil-grubs didn't seem to hate the enemy. Vaya approved, very professional that 72nd Corps. They were maybe as good as one of the Reserve.

"That was the main problem. The Harakii were just too good. The "vacationers" had observed them. They had started their efficient sweeps of the countryside adjacent to their old lines an then proceeded outward. Logistically Logical that was. They swept the sectors clean one by one.

"That's what caused the Banditos to move. The foolish foreign devil did not see the simplicity of the forest for the trees. Each patrol bumped bandits away from the Harakii lines. They in turn bumped neighbring bands. The propagation wave was like a tree falling on a snow saturated mountain top.

"So if a tree falls and no one is around to hear/see/witness it, did it in fact fall?

"He had personally discovered the answer to that particular old Koan during his Third Year Advanced Alpine training. The initial clamor of the tree fall was but the sound of a single snowflake in the avalanche that followed and burried him alive for two days.

"They had started the avalanche by blowing up forests of trees, and then acted suprise that the villagers in the valleys below were scared, hurt, and complaining.

"The Harakii were suppose to protect the sixth zone and had failed. When Me Li forces finally did what needed to be done. Then they accuse us of causing the blizzard that caused the snow to pile up in the first place. Madness!

"We had no real combat units here. Yes, Me Li had sent tourist observers to Danteria. They were suppose to be on a peaceful "vacation." While we appreciated our noble devil's assements, we had wanted to gather our own intellegence and analysis of the situation on the ground.

"When the shit hit the winnowing fan, they had reacted like good grubs and protected those that could not protect themselves. What were they suppose to do? Let the lunatics live? Let them burn, pillage, rape, and murder the helpless devils? Let them become demons in human guise?"

He shook with barely controled anger.

"They had equipped and organized the refugees. They gave them a taste of hope and change. The weapons allowed the refugee-maggot-recruits to strike back against their tormentors. Where did we get the weapons? Where can't you in this accursed land?

"We are the Dominion of Me Li DEFENSE Force. We DEFEND. It was a basic Melii right. Moreover, it ought to be a universal right to defend yourself and your family.

:mad: So you Sirrah, Can go a stuff it!" :upyours: <spits on Harakii Commader's impeccably well polished boots>

He had explained it all very patiently and mostly politely to the ignorant devil.

"He really must get the Comm Specialists to try and speak better Harakii. They were picking up the South Harbor dialect of Danterii well enough, but he wasn't sure that they were actually translating his words accurately in the other coalition tongues. Sophisticated nuances were often loss when dealing with barbarians."

<low security encrypted communique>
FROM: Dominion of Me Li High Command HQ
To: Haraki High Command
CC: Red Wheel Expeditionary HQ
RE: Joint Command Organization of Haraki 6th Zone, Me Li Alpha Zone

Sirs.

Noble foreign devils. Our aims are the same. We seek to safeguard the People of Danteria from the ravages of this War. Why must we continue to fight like children over petty differences?

Me Li's warriors are fierce and strong. Harakii, too, is strong and for now more numerous. When we pull as a team, we fight well together. The enemy are fertilizer for these foreign fields.

Me Li had not wished to become militarily involved but now must. Melii blood has been spilt. Honor demands a blood debt be payed. Intafadah. ALL Banditos of Danteria are wereguild. Be warned, do not oppose us in this.

As to the resolution of the command structure, we concur with Commander Locke. For the forseeable future, the Harakii command is the senior command. Me Li will laison with the Harakii in joint endeavors, and submit to Haraki general orders. Me Li reserves the rights to our own initiatives. We will request support and fire control only in extreme instances where our resources are insufficient.

Me Li is deploying two brigades of the MDF Marine Corps, an additional Civil Reserve engineer Sea Bee battalion, another medical support battalion to the current detatchment, and a "few extra" companies of our SpecOps. A flight of our CAS units and a detatchment of our Air Mobile will also deploy.

We assume that the Air units may be services and station at Haraki facilities?

We will coordinate most patrols with you "local command centre." They all will be conducting deep patrols and may call upon you for aid. You must understand that the Melii almost never asks for assistance. We are an independent people.

The Government of the Dominion of Me Li shall take serious affront if your people failed their duties. Furthermore, His Holiness requests that you allow our Monks and Companions access to you other Five zones so that they might tend to the spiritual and pychological needs of the refugees.



First Minister El
The Dominion of Me Li

<end>
<high-level burst to DMRWEHQ after first>
Vaya you dork, get over yourself! Play nice with the other kids or we will take all of yuor toys away. We are mosquitos biting the heels of giants. It would not do to be squished by carelessness. Wait. We will grow. And until then, there are many other misquitoes in Danteria. Find them.
<end>

Locke sighed. The meeting with the Me Li commander had not gone well. The man was a fanatic, or so it seemed, and delightfully insane to boot. Locke was actually suddenly glad that Harakian forces were not working beside men like that, and that they could be more professional intheir business. Now he was faced with a contradictory message from their high command stating that Locke was right and asking to send some sort of priests into the safe zones. He was regretting ever agreeing to let Me Li troops join the Allied coalition. Sure, they could use every man they could get. But sometimes, as he had seen in the past once doing combined efforts with Kechan troops, when you had professional, well-trained, efficient and subtle forces fighting beside loud, obnoxious forces that seemed not to care for their own loss, well - The good troops were overshadowed by the bad ones. That was why he was happy for his reinforcements, his saviours. They would give him the numbers he needed to maintain the peace here and continue asserting Harakian control over the Allied forces. Not that there was a power struggle going on, no, quite the opposite - He just didn't want any of his men to end up under the command of that absolutely psychotic man he had just met with.

A quick call to Thomas Neil, head of Harakian ground forces, stated that fact cold and hard. He wanted to make sure Harakians stayed out of the Me Li area unless it was a co-ordinated assault by both forces, well-planned by Me Li and Harakian tacticians and strategists. He also wanted to make sure the Me Li troops were on the perimeter. With an attitude like that, they could well cause more harm than good.

Neil's beloved 72nd Infantry had completed a short sweep of the new safe zone area, and would withdraw back to their own zones once the 58th arrived. The 58th would continue on with a more thorough sweep outwards to the coast, trapping the bandits against the ocean and eliminating them. For now, he had secured a new city, in much worse condition than the others, and they had millions of mouths to feed. A quick message was all he had time for.



[From: Commodore Felias Locke]
[To: Dominion of Me Li High Command HQ]

Your proposed arrangements for troops arrival seems acceptable, although I must protest your request to send religious personnel. Given the delicate psychological state of the refugees within the safe zones, it would seem exploitive to attempt any religious events other than those they are used to to occur at this time. Any forces you can send to help ease the suffering of the people here, psychologically or physically, although only with their permission, is adequate, but I must deny any requests to send religious personnel or personnel designed to execute a task that is religious in nature.

I also request that upon the arrival of forces from the Harakian 58th Infantry Division in the 6th safe zone, you move your troops to the perimeter of the safe zones and hold the perimeter, as with other allied forces. With Harakian forces handling internal threats and other forces handling external threats, we can best delegate tasks to both groups of forces.

Your air forces are granted clearance to base themselves at Harakian airfields, most primarily two on the border of the new 6th Safe Zone which have been erected by Harakian forces and set aside for allied use.

I thank you for your time,
Felias Locke

South Harbor Safe Haven Zone, East Haven, Danteri

Om Asatoma Sadgamaya
Tamasoma Jyoti Gamaya
Myrityoma Amritam Gamaya

From delusion lead me to Truth
From darkness lead me to Light
From death lead me to eternal life.

SINGH Vaya was completely drunk and actually laughing in public. Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice that the “Our Old Bastard” was actually happy and that he could actually smile. They were too busy with their own projects.

Vaya had carried out his orders to “play nice with the kids,” to the letter. That was exactly what he was doing. “Screw that puffed up Haraki Devil. He had his Orders direct from the First Minister himself.”

He took a swig and laughed again, causing some children to ambush him and demand the he fork over all of his valuable sucrose dragons OR ELSE. Vaya being the High Commander of All Isle of Mara Confed Forces currently deployed and nobodies FOOL, meekly surrendered his sucrose dragons, paper money, and munitions.

He GRINNED and mused, “El probably didn’t mean exactly this.”

The smoke of the funeral pyres did little to improve the smell of South Harbor. The City was an impressive sight nonetheless. The city had been transformed into a fantastical dreamscape. Me Li and allied personnel had worked around the clock, for the past week, making preparations for this Funeral.

The city had been draped in long bolts of white spider-silk that fluttered with the slightest breeze. It was enough cloth to supply a small district. The only reason it was still up was that the silk would belong to the building group after the Festival. Tenants had a vested interest at making sure the buildings remained draped in white, the lanterns lit, and the ancestor spirit bowls full of rice, and other delectable dishes, and the communal Spirit cups full of spirits. The altars for Hungry Ghosts and Lost Souls were overflowing and new ones were popping up all over South Harbor.

Thousands upon thousands of Paper Lanterns, Phoenix Kites, Dragons were made and salvaged from some of the spare materiel cached throughout the city. The Me Li forces had paid handsomely for the local resources and then for the local labor. And now they were giving it All, along with millions of sucrose dragons, Fey concoctions, and firecrackers away to the local children. A few of the Companions were fielding questions and explaining various confusing Melii traditions along with mythology to the Natives and Allied devils.

:D The children understood the meaning of the Funeral immediately. Parades, dancing dragons, candy, games and best of all their own munitions!!! They had been supplied for Three Days of making things go BOOM!!! What more did they need to know?:D

It was a Festival. Note the Capital F. The Melii took festivals VERY seriously, and expected EVERYONE to take them seriously too. They were almost religious about it. To be specific it was the Festival of Dead. Ancestors only know that Danteria’s dead needed all the help they could get.

The Festival stood in stark contrast to the damage facades of the city’s buildings. The city was ALIVE for the first time in a LONG, LONG time.

“Something was in the air tonight.” Crooned the Public Address System installed by the Victoria City limey engineers.

The citizens felt it too. The dead were with them tonight. Only this time they weren’t crying in pain or for vengeance. They were full and the revelries amused them too. Many of them finally decided to become Ancestors that very dreamy night. They would stay and protect their people from losing themselves.

The children were laughing and committing an assortment of petty mischief. The people were fed and safe for at least one more night. The devils were dancing to old Melii folk ballads. The allied grubs were eyeing each other, fighting good naturedly, and then banding together to assault the Natives, old or young, single and married alike, with their attempts at Danterii seduction.

The one hundred monks, in their saffron robes, melodiously chanted the Universal Prayer. The fallen and living Me Li and allied forces were arrayed in their deaths best. The allied aero flights over flew the pyres at the exact moment that the Naval Guns and Honor Guards stopped firing and they were lit. The fifteen hundred bronze braziers burning incense along the Funeral March hid some of the reek of death.

The laughter echoed back from the lofty vaults of the heavens and across the veil of death.

HE smiled, for it was GOOD.

The democrats never stood a chance. They had been sitting around a table, planning their next opperation, talking about when to hold the elections... trying to pretend that it wasn't obvious by now that there would never be any elections with Kraven on the move...
The Danteri Red Army soldiers burst through the doors, waving their rifles wildly, screaming for their "enemies", these few men in ragged suits, to surrender... of course they did. They were used to things like this - only one of them even resisted at all as they were numbly led off. Mostly, they just shrugged - one looked to be on the verge of tears.
The Red Army soldiers led them out, lined them up against a wall... a sergeant offered them cigarettes, and all but the one who looked on the verge of tears accepted. Then, they formed a firing line...
Rynald Strum, once the chief rebel delegate to the peace conference, looked at the Red Army soldiers with their rifles... and stopped himself from crying, and told them, in the same soft tones he used when negotiating,
"I forgive you." then, the men fired, and with that volley of rifle fire, Rynald Strum's dream, the dream of democracy in Danteri, died.

South Harbor, East Haven, Danteri

L.G. 3rd Class WU Jules sat in the new Enclave. The Parc dans le Centre Ville, was adjacent to the Larger Me Li gift park. He came here to hear himself think. The Parc ELEM, was just too damn full of people. His squad of course followed him and was efficiently deploying to secure the area.

He glared at the shiny new butter bars on his dress whites. Jules was disgusted. He had lost nearly half his command. All due to those damn maggots-recruits.

Well to be fair, it had been the bandit guns that gutted the agents. And it was those damn “allies” refusal to release fire control that forced them to retreat in the first place. Still the agents were dead and the Harakii weren’t nearby. The maggots would have to do. They weren’t soft city sausage guards anymore. All the decadent fat and dross had been pruned away. They still moved like limeys but at least they weren’t useless goblins anymore. It was just that they looked so damn content and happy to be alive. It pissed him off.

His half-squad had been tasked with babysitting the largely green and useless Neue Neue Deustchlandii. He had thought that they could finally ditch them when they had gotten back to the DMRWE Alpha Base.

When Uncle had called in for the Extraction, they were told they would just have to hump it home. At the moment, however, command was a bit busy with not dieing. The Commander told them to find a good spot near the base and wait for a lull in the fighting. They would get them, when they could. Meanwhile they would serve as advanced scouts for that sector.

He flicked his glare to his squad.

And since Jules was the only one that spoke the NND particular language besides Uncle. Guess who ended up with them? He knew wanting to read Nietche in the original devil tongue was a bad idea. His uncle had probably planned this all along. All of those damn devil books he had brought back from his trips. Every time the Travel Agency sent him on business trips Uncle would bring back all sorts of wondrously strange and foreign things. He had encouraged him to learn the languages of the world and study different cultures. All of it was just a big setup. He had been groomed for years, so that his Uncle could go off and do something spectacularly stupid. It was not fair. He was the one that was supposed to be taking stupid risks.

Now he was stuck with three health risks. The others had given the maggot-recruits a slightly wider berth than was the standard “by the book formation.” He wasn’t sure if it was conscious on their part or not.

The thing about raw-maggot-recruits and combat zones was that they have a tendency of dieing. It was a very annoying habit that could infect otherwise healthy veterans. The only known cure was an ancient and much hated technique of bleeding the unit. The survivors usually lived long enough to learn what NOT to do. It remained the task of chance, the NCOs and veterans to teach them what to do.

That was the dangerous part. A very experienced veteran, will not usually die unless by chance. Their survivability chances decreased when they had to keep and eye out for and occasionally rescue recruits.

That’s exactly what happened a few days ago.

The Banditos foolishly came in large human waves. They had slaughtered hundreds of them. Nevertheless, they couldn’t hold the hillet and were falling back in pretty good order, when the NNDEF 2nd Company, such that it was, was separated from the squad.

The Melii do NOT leave grubs behind. He lost two decent travel agents and got these three in exchange. On balance he’d rather have had his agents. Although, the maggots weren’t exactly raw recruits anymore, they still had a ways to go before replacing his lost agents.

It was this second rescue, which firmly bound loyalties of NNDEF 2nd Company both to his half-squad in particular and to the DMDF in general. After these past few weeks of counter-insurgency and anti-brigand maneuvers with the newer Danterii maggot-recruits, he was pleasantly surprised and proud of them.

They were good grubs. He probably should let the NNDEF know that 2nd Company was still alive. Their families must be worried after over month of the three being listed MIA. It could get awkward when the squad was pub-crawling latter this afternoon. He probably should find out their real names from Uncle, too...

After all, they are his first command.

The Danteri Red Army is a group of Danterians who favor a totalitarian communist dictatorship - they're basically puppets of Montegrande. Currently, they've just seized a number of pro-democracy socialists, capitalist-democrats and so on. These guys are under the "technical" leadership of Sara Von Freiburg - technical, because they're really just Montegrande puppets...

The Danteri Unified Army was falling apart - tens of thousands of their number had surrendered to Zukariaa, hundreds of thousands were dead, millions of civilians had already been killed or displaced, and it looked as though it was all for nothing... victory already seemed impossible, but the Danteri Army kept on fighting... it just didn't know how to give up.

- Danteri Army Casualties: (Since the resumption of hostilities with Zukariaa) 350,000 killed.
- Danteri POWs currently being held by Zukariaa: (Those taken since the resumption of hostilities with Zukariaa) 75,000 POWs taken. (Zukariaa - how're you treating the POWs you take?)
- Civilian Casualties: (Since the resumption of hostilities with Zukariaa) 1.6 million civilians killed, either directly by weapons fire, innaccurate artillery etc. or by starvation.
- Total Danteri Death Toll: (Counting both civilians and soldiers, since the original fighting began) 36 million.
- Civilian Population of the Haraki and allied Safe-Zones: 30 million civilians currently, with almost 200,000 more arriving each day.
- Currently displaced civilians: (not counting those in the various Safe-Zones): 40 million.
- Total Number of Danterians killed, captured or displaced: 108.35 million (yes, that's about one third of the populace...)

The Religious Rebels have continued to riot in Westgate - they've seized the contents of three armories, and have had a large percentage of the local Security Police and Garrison come over to their side.
Their tactics are mostly those of terrorists, showing a total disregard for human life...
Additionally, almost two thirds of the city is either on fire or has been burned down.

Neue Berlin
The crowd outside the Bundestag was quiet, but this was a rare quiet, a quiet born out of genuine respect, not out of silent rage.
The flag-covered coffins of the forty six dead were being carried through the crowd, to be intered in Neue Neue Deutschlands only military cemetary. The families of the dead cried as they walked behind the coffins. The Chancellor himself walked with them, feeling like crying himself, but maintaining his cool. It wouldn't do, after all, to let the opposition make it look like this war had been launched out of revenge, would it?
As they passed the Bundestag, he couldn't help but glance at the display of pictures of the four missing soldiers. It was the first time in his life that he had seen the people of Neue Neue Deutschland make such an effort to acknowledge the almost non-existant military, but... he appreciated it.
The crowd watched in solemn silence as the coffins were lowered into the earth.

The NNDEF has been joined by the NNDA First Company. This brings the total number of Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers in Danteri up to 200 actual soldiers (not very experienced ones, though...), plus 50 civilian medical personell.
Additionally, various Neue Neue Deutsch charities have donated sent medical supplies, water purifiers, clean bottled water, food in the form of MREs, and even a number of crates full of toys for the children. These supplies have arrived on a civilian freighter, and have been given to the Haraki aid workers to distribute to the refugees. (As no Neue Neue Deutsch aid workers are currently deployed to Danteri.)

All in all, the supplies come to the following:

- 100,000 MREs,
- 250 Water Filters,
- 50,000 one-liter bottles of water,
- Hundreds of thousands of anti-biotic pills, plenty of bandages and so on,
- Eight hundred stuffed animals (for the children).

Montegrande´s new reinforcements
80000 soldiers had finally arrived to Danterian territory. Most of them were intended to reasume a hostile role against Zukariaans, but some of them were guerrilleros and agitators which mission was to make the Socialist Front of National Liberation (or Red Army) grow in supporters in order to crush all the "fascists enemies". Some of this agitators sneaked on their way to Harakiaan/ Me Li´s lines, being very concerned of not being discovered....
They also carried more artillery pieces, tanks, 500 Mig-29s and 500 Su-27s, old but still reliable to start a general offensive against Zukariaan lines. Waiting his troops (the reinforcements and the soldiers of Red Army), Commander Moncada ordered his troops to continue building tunnels, bunkers and trenches all around the frontline (they would be useful for the second part of the plan of war he thought of)....

In a related matter, some of the Montegrande´s "allies" (even when they seemed more interested on converting Danteri in a puppet communist dictatorship than on supporting unconditionally Danterians) just succeeded in creating a clandestine media radio station and were espreading communist message in increasing zones of Danteri´s territory and convinced extreme left leaders to spread message oif total and fanatic rebelion against zukariaan and form a Resistance Organization beyond enemy lines supported by the Red Army and Montegrande´s troops....

In Zukariaan held areas, the tighter control was veing very problematic for the 500 Montegrande´s commandoes who were there, and it was farly more difficult to tease their enemies. However, always when they were near to be caught, made a moderate power bomb explode while biting their cyanide pills, intending to cause as damage as possible, in a horryfying way.....

The thousands of POWs were taken and shot in extermination camps. Gun shots could be heard all day long as the Capitol Police and Kreigsmarines killed each one mercilessly. One by one. They made sure that each one knew they were next. That they knew that a .50cal pistol was at their head.
Then, they took one thousand of them and hung them throughout Danteri.
And they made the populace watch.
And they made sure that the Danteri Unified Army knew about it.
They imprisoned those that surrendered deep into Kraven territory, they would not be killed. They made sure that they knew that. They would be needed to populate the land when it was finally Kraven Slave State-Danteri territory.

Meanwhile, the ways into Danteri were blocked. No more supplies would be able to get in to the Danteri soldiers. They would either be starved, destroyed, or give up.

Southhaven, Danteri

The Erisian expeditionary forces continue to expand their control over the southern half of Southhaven, setting up armed convoys to protect civilians who are heading for the evacuation zones in the southernmost part of the province.

The Erisian government, disturbed by the sudden change in regiemes in 'Free' Danteri announces an end to all aid to the Danteri Government and begins to freeze the assets of Danteri, including the promised billions in military aid.

In Southhaven, Erisian troops begin to train volunteer Danteri 'military police' units to help maintain order in the Erisian controlled zone.

In Freiburg, the Erisians began to close up shop, turning over fortifications to their Soloriel partners. The 3rd Infantry which currently held the remains of Freiburg and its environs was being shipped out and respositioned in Southhaven with the rest of the Erisian forces.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich, 23Eris
To: Zukariaa
Re: Southhaven & Freiburg

We wish to inform your government of large scale movements of Erisian troops within Danteri so as to avoid any unfortunate incidents which might re-ignite the friction which nearly drove our nations so recently into war. We are withdrawing our troops from Freiburg and turning our territory in Northern Danteri over to the care of the Soloriel military forces stationed there. Units in Northern Danteri are redeploying to Southhaven to ensure the safety of civilians in theat province.
We wish to reassure you that our movements are not in any way a threat to your troops or territory.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Colonel Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
To: Danteri Red Army Leadership
Re: Erisian Territory

I send this note to inform you that any Danteri red Army Troops found within 23Eris territory 48 hours after this note arrives will be considered 'hostile forces', disarmed and imprisoned for the duration of the Danteri conflict. We assure you that all prisoners will be treated fairly as per international regulations concering prisoners of war. Any Red Army Units found attacking civilians or kidnapping civilians for the purpose of forced consciption will also be treated as hostile forces. We hope that you will respect our safe zones and the rights of the civilian populace.

OOC-Montegrande, where is your line located?

It was early morning. The sky was barely lit. 30 Gargoyle bombers flew through the sky. Their hatches opened.

"Bombs away, bitches!"
"Hell yeah!"

The pilots only laughed as each and every one of them let out 25,000 pounds of munitions on top of the Neue Neue Deutchland soldiers that were recently arriving.
The message was clear: Get out of Danteri.

There are actually two "factions" within Danteri - the Unified Danteri Government, which has the support of the majority of the populace, but was all but decapitated by the sudden communist attacks against their leadership, and then there is the other group, the communists, also called the Danteri Red Army, which is very well organized, but only has about 150,000 members... although it also has Montegrande backing...

The Sinking of the Elsbeth
The sea was cold, the sky was grey. Everything about Danteri seemed positively miserable, but, Neue Neue Deutsch citizens had been killed there, and the NNDA had decided to reinforce the people they still had there... therefore, First Company had borded the civilian freighter Elsbeth, a shinny new vessel, and set sail for Danteri.
It was just past dawn when the Zukariaans hit them. They never stood a chance - the Elsbeth had no Close In Weapons System, no counter-missiles. It died quickly, on the first hit. Within a few minutes, only three men still lived to be pulled from the icy water by a passing Haraki vessel.
(OOC: Haraki, I hope you don't mind my having the survivors rescued by your ship?)

- 147 NND soldiers have perished.

OOC My lines are in the frontline near Drell, in that area..... Also, my troops are rats of the tunneling and those things and now I have in Danteri a real army, may be with less technical support than Zukariaan but these guys are fanatics and know very well what they´re doing. I have also the communist rebels and in all occupations, a communist faction of "liberation" almost always involves a very well organised underground resistance.....

For 23Eris. Montegrande isn´t a model in political freedoms, but also is very good country concerning civil rights. No civils will be assasinated or tortured by Montegrande´s troops. About mass killings of enemysoldiers, and dictatorship, that will happen, though......

To: Zukariaa Command
From: Major Graham Murphy

Your recent blockade around Danteri has the possibility of interfering with the much-needed importation of relief supplies for Danteri civillians. We're hoping that you take this into consideration and let through such ships or planes.

Further, it should be noted that the joint Haraki-Bertling-Gwazzaria effort is mainly for civillian protection. As such, any supplies being sent to us are for the purpose of relief and must also be allowed through.

I expect that the Krastzburg will be allowed through on its next run. If not, there will be issues that shall need resolving.

----------------------------

Gwazzarian soldiers, thusfar, have been focusing on setting up an ever-thickening perimeter guard to prevent and warn against any kind of attack - airborne being the most expected - on the Safe Zones. Gwazzarian aid workers are absolutelty swamped - Gwazzaria is far away and the bulks of supplies are normally brought by ship. The nearest Gwazzarian outpost (the protectorate nation of Tacualteu) isn't yet set up to handle shipping of that quantity.

Gwazzarians are showing an uncharacteristic dislike for the Me Li soldiers, and have no intention of cooperating with them.

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
Yes, yes. We will be searching all vessels. If we see that one is going to your releif area, we will send them your way. This is to make sure that nothing gets to the Danteri soldiers.

Something on the order of eight hundred thousand refugees trudged along the roads, heads down, desperate and hungry, unable even to speak as they made their way to the Haraki (and their allies) Safe-Zone. They were hungry - many hadn't eaten in several weeks. They were diseased, from drinking poisoned water.
Every few meters along the road, a corpse lay unmoving. Many of these bodies were those of children. The living looked like corpses... the dead were rapidly striped by the living, striped of anything of any potential value.
These many, many, refugees, this tide of starving, stinking humanity... they all made their way to the Safe-Zones, hoping at the very least for food or water that didn't make them sick...
The Haraki simply couldn't be prepared for this many refugees, all of them, it seemed, clamoring for asylum in some foreign nation... they all knew that Danteri was falling, and like rats, they wished to flee a sinking ship. The only problem was, there weren't any ships bringing food into Danteri, or refugees out. They were being stopped by the Zukariaans... and all these millions of starving unwashed refugees didn't know that.

- The food supplies currently in the Safe-Zone will hold for four days, likely less with so many people coming in every day...

OOC: Hummm, I´ll have to think somethig against the blockade, but my troops are very well for now so I think I have enough time for it.....

"Hold." that word had been the last order given to the demoralized, starving, poorly equipped, soldiers of the Unified Danteri Army, as they dug-in and faced off against a veritable wave of C.P. elites and regular Zukariaan troops... they had held as they had been ordered, they had held as best they could, longer than any normal humans had a right to hold against C.P.s... it was impressive - armed with low quality weapons, almost unlead, they still fought to the last, fighting with almost inhuman courage against an inhuman enemy, with no goal but to make their deaths have meaning, to make their deaths delay the Zukariaan advance...
They didn't fight for victory. Victory had long ago been abandoned as a possibility. They fought to delay the Zukariaans long enough that the Danteri civilians, those who were still alive, could flee.
They fought with the possessed fervor of men who knew that they had either to conquer or die... and, in the end, they died.

- The Unified Danteri Army fights on, almost suicidaly, sending untrained eight year olds and women (remember, the Danteri Army considers using twelve year old boys preferable to using military age women - their general staff is a bunch of conservative fellows who refuse to believe women can fight.) to fight C.P. elites. It's rapidly becoming a slaughter...

- The Danteri Army appears to have given up on victory, and now seems intent on causing as many casualties to the Zukariaans as they can, while allowing as many civilians to flee to the various Safe-Zones as possibly can.

The refugees were scared. They knew their country was through, would soon be a Kraven puppet... and, they wanted out. Haraki soldiers were offered gold, or diamonds by refugees desperate to flee before the Zukariaan army rolled in... by refugees for whom such things as gold and diamonds had suddenly become meaningless... when they turned gold and diamonds down, as invariably the disciplined Haraki soldiers did, the more desperate refugees offered them their daughters.
It was rapidly becoming a mad-house - already, something like eight refugees had been trampled to death, another four drowned in the harbor as the crowds pushed for any boat out of Danteri... it was getting desperate.

He died upon the steps of the cathedral in Westgate. He died holding a bible in one hand, a pistol in the other. He died when a sniper shot him in the head while he was leading his men in assaulting a barricade.
When he died, his men let out a single great cry, then carried him into the cathedral. He was laid out upon the altar, and a few men wept. The fighting continued outside, but word rapidly spread.
As it did, men came to wonder - would the revolt end? But no - mere hours after their prophet fell to a snipers bullet, he became a martyr, another Christ, shot rather than crucified, whose death should inspire them to even greater acts of violence against his killers. The fighting continued.

Gwazzaria has comissioned seven heavy cargo planes to fly food into Danteri, and refugees out to 23Eris (given their continually open immigration policy towards Danteri refugees) and any excess to Tacualteu. The Krastzburg has also been ordered to take refugees back to Gwazzaria, stopping off at Tacualteu along the way.

Zukariaa's Kravenite forces have been informed ahead of time that these planes will be carrying relief for the civillians.

Meanwhile, Gwazzarian forces have begun bolstering the Safe-Zone perimeter. A total of 23,764 combat-ready personnel are stationed in Danteri, along with several dozen APCs.

Montegrande Fights Back

When most of the arrived reinforcements were safe in their tunnels and rubble, Commander Moncada ordered a heavy artillery fire. But know they had the planes flying to forsaw for gargoyles as they worried to make the most of Montegrande´s and Red Army´s Commando could get in covertly to the zukariaan held areas, and to kill more as possible as fast as possible for gaining Danterian people´s confidence. They could move rapidly through trenches and rubble. The fanatic courage of the communist men and women was something very unexpected in the dcurrent desperate situation for Danteri´s Nation. The order was fighting to death and so they would do. And they would retreat into rubbles and tunnels if zukariaan defended strongly. Moncada decided the only way to fight in similar conditions with Zukariaan was a rat war, with hit and run attacks, tunnels and rubbles would serve to hide. that was the war they were willing to give, and bombardments from air wouldn´t be enough to destroy such fanatic enemies. However, zukariaan had plenty of troops to play the game Moncada had set for them....

OOC-really, Montegrande, if your on the Driel line we don't even need to fight. You can have that land. We don't want it right now. When we want it, we'll take it. For now we'll just keep bombing you. Also, I'm not blockading you. I'm blockading the Danteri soldiers.

IC:
One hundred Gragoyle class heavy bombers roared through the air. Each of them dropped their entire munition of 125,000 pounds. It would be enough to destroy anything that lie below; and below lay the Montegrande line. Millions of pounds of bombs fell on the line.

At the same time, another 100,000 Kreigsmarines arrived from Zukariaa. They wouldn't have to worry about morale or food; Danteri was theres. It always had been. Eventually, the war would get too desperate. Already the Danteri soldiers were being sandwiched against the coast with nowhere to go.

Danteri was falling, and it would fast.

Variations of this were received by All Parties in Danteri at roughly 0109 local time

<top secret level encryption short high freq compressed burst>
TO: High Command HQ
FROM: Danteri Listening Post Zulu
RE: Me Li Prelim Assessment

Sirs, we have had very limited success in infiltrating Me Li communications. At 0013 local time we were able to successfly capture a fragment a series of communiqués detailing analysis of the Dominion of Me Li by UNKNOWN Source TO UNKOWN Party.

note: Reliability of interception is still in some doubt. Me Li uses bizarre encryption. Their fingerprints were not found in the source code. This May or may not be misinformation by Me Li, for Me Li or Against her. It was just too weak and brief to fully note and localize.

<message start>
Me Li looks to be trying to a conduct a controlled re-escalation of hostilities between the major combatants. <break>If continues <break> demonic possession <break> Melii are recruiting natives <break> Wildly popular in controlled areas <break> orgies <break> weak and ineffective <break> potentially useful puppet/ally state. <break> Suggest that we immediately press [enemy]
[rest designed to muck up the works whether or not they follow any of the advice]


Zulu requests additional assets, posthaste.
[Name and rank][security codes etc...]

OC: :rolleyes: haha:D
IC: First Minister Il snorted with amusement and shrugged. One of the Titans would take the bait...it was just like fly fishing now. He would go get a beer and check up on the lines in a little bit.

OOC: Zukariaa, your bombers are not alone in the air. I have some soviet planes that could make a less important danger and also SAM sites defending my lines, and also tunnels and rubble (If Viet Cong could avoid napalm that way, my troops won´t have too much losses, although I will, of course, suffer from them) Another point is my troops aren´t weak and know how to fight against fascist enemies, and like all Red Army they fight fanaticly and wouldn´t be easy to break my lines if you attack me....

Sneaking out the Frontline

Ten thousand soldiers of the Danteri´s Red Army followed by small numbers of Montegrande´s guerrilleros sneaked out the lines and got in their way into Driel. Covered by night and extensive heavy artillery bombardment, they were heading as fastly as they could to Driel. If they could take the city, morale across Danterian troops will rise and also will do the reputation of communist forces all around the country. APCs, tanks and another vehicles were clue for this tactical movement. They were also protected of bombings because the planes were ordered to protect the expeditionary force in their way to Driel. That also meant leaving unregardless some weak points of Montegrande´s line. Casualties of this second bombardment were at 2500 so far, but Driel seemed likely to fall on communist hands.....

Moncada ordered his troops to continue digging. There was still a light of hope for Danteri..... With some luck, they could save Danteri from Zukariaans (but if that happened, who could save Danteri from communists?) Also, communist instigators were infiltrating all around Danteri, although they were very prudent in what included the safe zones.....

OOC: In response to the clarification fron Danteri, the Erisians will continue to support the Unified Danteri Army, but continue to deny support to the Danteri Red Army.

IC:
From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich
To: Zukariaa
Re: Blockade

The nation of 23Eris refuses to recognize your blockade of Danteri lands and asserts the rights of neutral nations to trade with whomever they wish. That stated, no Erisian ships will be entering Danteri held territory, only to Erisian or Soloriel safe-zones in Danteri. These ships will not submit to searches, will be escorted by Erisian naval assets and air power, and will defend themselves if provoked.
Once again we urge you to end your attempted conquest of Danteri and withdraw from your illegal invasion of this soverign nation.

South Harbor, East Haven, Danteri

The squad had returned at the designated rendezvous point at two bells with three extra maggot-recruits.

The Shrew had shadowed the 2nd Company of the NNDEF as they made their rounds of the local pubs. She was tasked with recruiting and establishing new foreign Enclaves, and the Guild had their eyes on the 2nd. “All things considered. The gaijin seemed very well integrated into the Me Li command structure. They moved relatively well, were enjoying the Festival, and their shore leave.

“Me Li’s general military doctrine was centuries old. It favored small highly specialized and crosstrained units, misdirection, feints, and quick accurate strikes and brutal counterstrikes support responses. It emphasized rapid movements, and attempted to create as much friction as possible. They positively loved getting inside the enemy's command and control loop. Then they utilize Confusion, and move through the fog-of-war like a horrible summer storm.

“How the company moved when they thought were secure was important. The young WU and Ifni seems to have hammered some steel into the NN Deustch. They moved like limeys after only a few weeks of intensive combat.

“Their forms could still use some major work. They knew the basic steps of the First Dance. Their bodies, however had not known them since childhood, just didn’t know that they knew the steps. It ought to come with some extra practice,” she wrily noted.

“The Isles of Mara Confed forces under Me Li, or the Melii as they and the foreigners called them, did not get along very well. It was likely that they would get some more raining during this leave.

“The insanity of the Melii was contagious. It made the NN Deutsch take heart. The Melii were a warrior people once. Very much like the ancient Teutonic and Germanic tribes of Old Deutschland. The Path came to them and guided them to a parallel and strange world. Their general remoteness provided them a measure of protection against the Imperialism and the Revolution of the previous centuries. To a great extent the Melii had every right to the sins of pride. Their Isles were diverse. Their culture was centuries old. Their government was stable for most of their history. Internally, they were tolerant of innovation and dissent." The NN Deustch had come to know that despite everything, there was mcuh to admire in the Melii.

“Our insularity is primary weakness,” she mused and then shifted to a more comfortable positions.


The Shrew recalled a debate at the Enclave just prior to her assignment to Project Purgatory and dispatchment to Armpitia
.
“It was to be expected. Even the Agency and the Guild were affected by the Melii’s cultural snobbery. What needs have we for these barbarians?

The idiots drove her crazy.

She had argued that, "We are good. Damn good. But there are only so many of us. We still have never actually mastered the art of Large Unit tactics. We can..."

Then the boor rudely interrupted "We have utilized and planned large scale manuevers...that's what devil proxies are for"...

:headbang: "Idiots."

OOC: I'm assuming your previous message to me was IC

IC:
Fr: Foreign Minister Chilkevich
To: Montegarde
Re: Danteri

Our reasons for withdrawl of support for the Danteri Red Army have nothing to do with your actions, rather the actions of the Red Army themselves. We have recieved reports that teh Danteri Red Army has crippled the leadership of the unified Danteri Command, which we believed to be the last and best hope for a free Danteri. We cannot in good conscience support the Red Army group, though we offer our best wishes in your joint effort against the Zukariaan/Kraven menace overrunning the nation.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In Erisian held Southhaven, the waiting period for those evacuating to 23Eris has increased from days to weeks. Erisian toops have been giving out priority passes, giving the priority to the young, those with medical needs, andthose with children. In response, a blackmarket in these transit passes has sprung up as those with something valuable (gold, or other high value items) have begun buying the passes of those with priority passage. At this point, the Erisian troops have been unable to formulate a plan to counter this illegitimate trade.

To increase worries, rumors that Zukariaan troops would soon descend on the Erisian ports in Southhaven have begun to circulate, increasing the panic of those seeking refuge. Already one transport ship had to be defended by Erisian troops against refugees who sought to force their way onboard. Though no one was killed in the skirmish, a handful of troops sustained minor inuries, and several refugees were hospitalized.

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
Are you people def? I have stated that we are only blockading Danteri land. If any ships wish to dock in Danteri lands, they will be searched or destroyed. We have plenty of power. If you are going to be bringing anything into Danteri you are to tell us so that we know not to attack. We will search, however.

And I find it rather funny that you would call them sovereign. Ironic really.

From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich
To: Corrol, Zukariaa
Re: You latest message

No, we are not deaf. No we will not be docking in 'Danteri Lands' only in Erisian and Soloriel safe zones; though the land currently occupied by our forces does indeed belong to the Danteri people and will be returned to them at the end of this conflict. We simply wished to clarify so that there is no misunderstanding between our great nations that might lead to open conflict between us. So long as your forces do not molest our ships or planes there is no chance of this occuring.

May the goddess smile upon you.

Le Parc aux Fraternité, Liberté, et Egalité d’Me Li
South Harbor, East Haven, Danteri

They agreed among themselves. “The NNDEF forces weren’t devils anymore. They were limeys, and damn good and damn proud of it. They would become the cadre for the Rebirth in NND. They were proud to be part of modern day rebirth of chilvary. They wanted to name the group The Order of Teutonic Knights, but were booed down the Melii. The Order was to be a brother arm of the Globetrotter Squad. The obvious reason being that the entire Order and the Squad were the same damn thing.

Since everyone had a few too many drinks and concussions that night, no one really thought about that curious part. When a Voice suggested Order of the Shining Path in honor of the full moon, the Ancestors, and the play of moonlight upon the silk bundled city. Everyone immediately agreed. They would call it either the Order or the Shining Path for short.

“The Future was dark. Life was Suffering. It was evident.” They discussed the Path with some of the Melii monks. Who then, in turn, discussed it with other monks and Companions. They had suffered goodly since they were shanghaied as “tourists.”

“They were once Lost Sheep but now they were found. They sought Refuge and found it with the Melii. In addition, every morning after rituals, they had meditated together on the lessons they had learned since their “deaths.” What emerged from this Drunken Charter, was potentially even more explosive than the entire Melii Relief effort itself.

Word of mouth chipped away at the underlying truths. With each itineration the copied images faded and morphed. It grew that night from the drunken imaginational combined musings of a small multi-national Melii squad. They were talking to three Gaijin NND “tourists” who were considering, being Shanghaied by, a small mobile office of Me Li’s Travel Agency and one Companion.


The Contested Regions of Danteri
Their Symbol was a Silver Circle.

The children began spreading the symbol and were tagging All of South Harbor not covered in silk. It was the first symbol they saw since fleeing on foot accross the face of Danteri. That and the Red Wheel meant saftey, food, and life. The leading hordes of peoples fleeing this demonic war descended into the Me Li Alpha Zone. They could see the silver silk from miles away. It was the City of Hope.

After they had been fed and clothed from the Humanitarain Depots. They asked about the Eternal City. About the Ancestors, About the Circles and the Wheels and the Black Sheep Rampant on the Silver Field.

The children explained to the early edges of the new refugee wave.
The Silver Circle was simply the Symbol for the Orders of the Shining Path. Yes it did look a lot like the Dominion of Me Li’s Red Wheel Expeditionary Force’s Flag. Yeah the doctors and the soldiers. Why was the city covered in white? What was this Funeral Festival they kept hearing about? Etc...
No, They didn’t know much more than that. Why didn’t they go talk to the Companions or Monks about the Path.

And from there the story of the Shining Path grew out of it’s Melii and limey roots. It glorified the Melii and the Danterii.

The following is one wildly synergetic variation was that commonly heard along all of the roads to Millennium City as the section of South Bay under Me Li’s Flag was beginning to be called,

“The Melii were the Messengers of God. And the Intafadah against the Banditos grew to the eventual return of a True King of All Danteri. He would be the Kalkin or Universal Ruler. He would dance the dance of creation as well as the dance of destruction and the Middle Kingdoms would rule All Under Heaven. The Maietrya, the Saviour, the Kalkin, the Baldur the One True King will come and save the People of Danteri and all of the Faithful from the DEMON hordes, the Infidels, and the Accursed.

“He will come with a flaming sword of retributions and smite all the enemies of Mankind. And True Peace will last for Ten Thousand Cycles.”

The various cells of the Orders of the Shining Path literally exploded in numbers over the next few weeks. The Melii were initially horrified, most of them still were. Some figured it out. More figured that they had figured it out.

The Shining Path looked even jumping the oceans. It was a wildfire that grew hot in the fertile feilds of Danteri discontent. It also absorbed enough of the Universalism of the Path and the Church to feed the people. For they were hungry for Hope.

The Shining Path was all encompassing. The religious converts clung to it out of faith, the economists saw the influences of economic laws, the democrats saw it as a Refuge from the hated demons and the accursed communist devils. The communards saw them as slightly confused socialists in their welfare, land redistrubiton, fight against hated demonic imperalists. There was room enough for everyone.

Successful conversions increased exponentially. The Melii Path encourages the devout to follow the example of tradition. Melii’s tradtions were generally anarchistic. The transplanted Shining Path had the missionary vigor of a young growing universal religion. The successes fed upon themselves.

It looked to making inroads into the home territories of any trade route to or from Danteri. It was the duty of the devout to prosyltize so that they may save the people before the world will end. The refugees looked to the Melii as a cultural touchstone the Heavenly City, Salvation, wondrous rapture, the Ancestors, the Holy Orders, the return of chivalry, and Maytrs, and prayed three times a day. At sun up, local noon, and sunset. Mythologies and Holidays were imported whole cloth from nearly every country present in Danteri. It would be noted in the later histories that was very strange Indeed that the Tiny country of Me Li could have such an important impact upon the world.

It was MADNESS.

HE smiled and noted that it was infectious.

Millenium City, Danteri

“The DMDF had consistently made the more stupid decisions. The easiest thing to do was to sit back and do nothing. The Danterii were damn Foreign Devils that lived over the horizon. Farther than any right-minded people of Mara really cared about. It was even further away than any right-minded Duetsch cared about too,” they noted with grim bemusement.

“The easiest thing to do when a half-squad patrol encountered hundreds of beserking Banditos that were cutting down innocents was to just report in and then blend away into the countryside. The Melii invariably set up an ambush and attacked. If the devils, surrendered they took them as POWs. If they insisted on honorable death in the battlefield, the Melii respectfully complied with their wishes. If they determine that the nemisis has turned rogue, and became possessed by evil demons, then the said enemy would be exterminated root and stock.

“It was strange to note that they left open the possibility for good demons, neutral oni’s, and foreign gods.

“The Melii were all-insane. It was just a very peculiar madness.

“True they were arrogant and overly confident. True, that because of this they were terrible with foreigners. Despite that the larger countries could probably swat them like a nest of ants, they showed absolutely NO FEAR or DEFFERENCE to the Titans. Paradoxically, they also showed a great respect for their own traditions but very little to outsiders. The foreigners really shouldn’t be surprise by the “harsh treatment” they received from every Melii or limey. After all, they showed little deference to their own leadership.

“They had their own warped sense of Honor. The first ambush by WU was hardly the last for offering thanks when none was called for.

They were INSANE. They had HEART. They Danced the Path. They were the Melii.

“And the NNDEF 2nd Company...they were becoming limeys.

“They would NOT stand ANY insults to Me Li’s and by extension their Honor. Besides, someone had to pay for Heinrich and the others. The “allies” stubborn refusal of fire support had caused them to lose comrade-in-arms. The grubs wanted to fight other grubs anyway. Best teach them damned uppity Alliance bastards “Globetrotter Squad,” was serious about its wergild duties,” the NN Deutsch reasoned.


OOC: limey: orginally applied to the Breakaway Isles during the formation of the Second Empire. It was a play on words. Melii---Lii me---Lime---Limey. It has come to mean someone outside the Home Isles of The Dominion of Me Li.
They are of the same stock as the Melii...they share the same spark or essenseintal nature. Not generally applied to Foriegn Devils outside of the Isles of Mara ConFed.

Le Parc aux Fraternité, Liberté, et Egalité d’Me Li
Millenium City, Danteri


As the Shrew observed the development of the, “Globetrotter Squad’s Operation: One-Squad Pub Wergild Offensive," she noted while the current code name was completely accurate, they could have used a little more imagination in making up a secret code name for the plan detailed at the Enclave.

“The Gwazarrian and Harakian forces were routed in nearly every engagement. The Agency’s “Globetrotter Squad” tore through the “allies” like a successful peasant uprising. Smashed fingers, broken bones, mild concussions and extremely angry pub owners’ littered their path towards the Docks. Allied MPs were always too late to arrive in time to catch them at the disturbances. Nor, were they able to get consistent eye-witness reports to identify exactly which Melii unit was rampaging through the Haraki-Gwazarri-Berterling Alliance R & R areas. It was gloriously insane.

When the 2nd Company reached the Docks they heard the news. Kraven had assaulted NN Deutschland. The Elsbeth had been sunk clearly within unofficial Alliance territory. The illegal blockade of the Alliances’ shipping, the sinking of the clearly neutral civilian shipping, it was an Act of War. The Bundinstag would have to enter more forcefully...wouldn’t they???

They immediately headed for the NNDEF HQ located just between Me Li and Alliance sectors of South Bay. Their sudden arrival, smartly dressed in slightly rumpled Me Li dress whites, was delicious. The Shrew enjoyed every minute of it. The NNDEF HQ staff thought they had gone mad. They had all heard the damn Melii ghost stories, and this damn Festival of the Dead really was something else.

The Neue Neue Deustchlandii almost shat bricks. In less than three hours after the Pyres Ceremony, they had to deal with a excreble Kraven attack and now the heroic risen dead. Maybe the rumours were true, maybe the Melii were all mad witches. Ifni wills it; just maybe the Melii had some really strong mojo.

The People´s Republic

The communist columns reached Drel fastly. They didn´t find any resistance. It seemed the Zukariaan weren´t interested in this land by now. Any way, Moncada still ordered they men to extend tunnels and bunkers. The dead of the bombing were 4000 and few hundreds more were unable to continue fighting. However, the tunnels were every day deeper and a increasing number of them was almost totally safe for any bombing. Also, the SAM sites were in high number deployed, and planes were making a formidable patrolling of the South area.

Dreil was the city the communists needed for creating something similar to a government, and they took the chance fastly. The newly formed garrison of Dreil put in every corner of the city the flag with the communists sickle and hammer and in the communist radio this news were repeteadly told all the day: "The Red Army and our allies from Montegrande have liberated the city of Dreil, the communist control all around south has extended increasingly, the morale of the troops is every day higher because they´re every day more defended in our tunnels, bunkers and trenches. The rise of the People´s Republic is near. For the Revolution."

Parliamentary Proceedings, Lexington City
New-Lexington Press United reports that in a unanimous vote earlier today in a special session of parliament, the New-Lexington parliement voted unanimously for formally annexing territory in Danteri. This includes areas around Westfall, and the city itself and also teh Westfall archipelago in addition to lands on the westside of SOuth Haven.

Riots have broken out in the Haraki Safe-Zones as hundreds of thousands of paniced refugees flee into the Safe-Zones, talking in sheer horrified panic of Zukariaan atrocities... they make it sound like the Zukariaans are only a few miles behind them, which isn't that far from true... which of course, only makes it worse.
Eight hundred thousand people are arriving in the Safe-Zones today, and it looks like up to a million more will beat the Zukariaans to the borders of the Safe-Zones... another two million after those that will make it are making their way towards the Safe-Zones, but they aren't going to make it - the Zukariaans will break through and catch them...

The religious rebels are continuing their fighting in Westgate - they've burned most of the city down, and have killed about sixty thousand civilians, plus an unknown number of New-Lexingtonian and Oompli soldiers. The rebels have lost something like ten thousand men...

The Danteri's Pride, the only Danteri aircraft carrier, has requested that it be allowed to "join" the Haraki navy, apparently hoping that that will give them a way to flee the New-Lexington Oompli fleet and make it to safety. The former-rebel fleet units have steamed into Nord-Lund ports, taken on refugees, and are now fleeing for 23Eris (with about 1,200 refugees on board...)
The question is - will they be allowed to escape by the Zukariaans?

With an experienced-fluid motion she flicked the blood off her Blade, wiped it clean, and sheathed it. Then the Shrew reprimanded the overzelous Shining Path warriors. POW's were to be treated well and Converted to the Cause. Torture was stupid. The bad habits would be broken, even if she had to eliminate this Entire Cell to prove/enforce it.

The Order bowed and nodded that they understood her position. They then turned and without another word, prepared a burial detail. She was left to deal with the captured Devils. They didn't look too well. She patched those that she could and eased the Path for those that were beyond anyones help.

She hoped to tell them of the Black Sheep...

The Shrew smiled softly. The Companions were experts in asymetrical warfare, and she was one of the best agents in Danteri. The Order would do for now. When she turned her unearthly smile towards the prisoners, they shivered.

<highest encryption>
[From: DML ConFed HQ]
[To: DMRWE Alpha Base HQ]
[RE: Refugee shipping]

Co-Ordinate with Allaince Navy. If 23Eris, Montegrande, etc. offers assistance. Accept Any and all aid. Provide escort to secured safe harbor.

Priority. Locate and intercept the Danteri's Pride. Useful CVN. Escort to Me Li Yards. Repeat: TO ME LI territories. Haraki interference ought to be minimal. They are already swamped. BE NICE VAYA!

EXECUTE!
<end>

Neue Berlin
The crowds were angry again. He had known it had been too good to last, but still, while they had been quiet he had enjoyed their silence.
The Chancellor was standing in his office, looking out the window, pondering questions of diplomacy and sanity, when the Minister of Defense entered the office.
He had had a schedualed appointment, and was precisely on time for it, but... still, the Chancellor didn't acknowledge him for almost a full minute. When he finally acknowledged the man, he turned and gave him a smile, a sad but friendly smile. The Chancellor sat on his desk, taking up a file full of papers on which were written analysises of the situation in Danteri. Most of them agreed on at least one thing - to strike against Zukariaa, even after they had sunk a civilian freighter carrying neutral soldiers, Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, would be suicide.
The Zukariaans were part of the Kraven Empire... as such, they had the full military support of an Empire that made the fascists look like naughty boys with sling-shots... it was a mess.
With a sigh, he spoke at last:
"Well, you've read the reports, haven't you? 147 Neue Neue Deutsch citizens, soldiers in the Neue Neue Deutsch Army, dead. Zukariaa knows how to make a point, doesn't it?" he sighed, and strolled over to his drinks cabinet, pouring himself a water glass of some liquer that he'd been given by an ambassador from one of those minor little states... he drank it in one gulp, then turned to the Minister of Defense, and asked,
"What are we going to do? In the Bundestag, we don't have the support to really do anything, our popularity is at an unmatched low for any governing party, and if elections were held tommorrow, the Conservative Democratic Party would win enough seats to give them effective control. What are we to do?" he sighed again, and poured himself another drink.
The Minister of Defense frowned at this sign of drunkeness, but answered his Chancellor with a suggestion:
"Well, we don't have the militart assets for a direct confrontation with Kraven, but... Montegrande is fighting Zukariaa right now - why don't we give Montegrande some cash, and hope that that money lets them hurt the fascist bastards?" he finished with a questioning look as the Chancellor downed his second glass, then took the bottle with him to his desk. The Chancellor gave him a brisk nod, poured another glass, a third glass, and told him,
"All right. We're going to do this the right way. Have the foreign minister - Frederik Von Neue Mannheim, isn't it? Whatever his name is, have him send a message to the Montegrandes. Have him offer them cash, as much cash as they need, so long as they spend it to fight Zukariaa." he took his third glass in a single go, then grinned a savage, drunken, grin, before continuing,
"After all, while we might not be the best fighters and soldiers in the world, we are skillful enough bankers..." he coughed, and it was now obvious that he was drunk, as he continued:
"I may be about to lose my job, but, in the name of god, I won't let Neue Neue Deutsch citizens, Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, die and go unavenged."
he sighed again, an annoying habit, and waved the Minister of Defense off.
As the doors closed, he couldn't help but almost cry - it was so unfair, he had simply tried to be a good leader, but then it all blew up in his face... standing uneasily, he made his way to the window, and looked out onto a small ocean of angry Neue Neue Deutsch citizens,standing out there in front of the Executive Mansion, waving signs and banners, screaming inaudible chants... it wasn't a good day to be Chancellor. With a miserable shrug, he drank directly from the bottle - it wasn't like it mattered anymore...

Neue Neue Deutsch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Minister of Foreign Affairs Frederik Von Neue Mannheim
To: The Montegrande Government
Re: Danteri Situation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the name of the Neue Neue Deutsch Government, I greet you. We have considered what course of action it would be wise to take, following the unprovoked Zukariaan attack against the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force, and we have come to a conclusion.
That conclusion is that, as our military is too weak to directly fight against Zukariaa and its Kraven allies, we must not go to war against them. However, the 147 dead of the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force cannot be ignored - as such, we would like to offer you some financial assisstance in your war with the Zukariaans. This aid would come with a variety of constrictions, but would be plentiful.

Restrictions:

- All NND Aid must be spent on weapon systems or supplies to be used in your war against Zukariaa. This means that any aid that isn't spent must be returned - we aren't agreeing to pay for a full upgrade of your military, merely for weapons to use against the Zukariaans.

- No NND Aid will be spent on the purchase, maintenance or aquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Aid:
The Neue Neue Deutsch funding will consist of the following:

- 500 million Neue marks in gold bulion (Current Exchange Rate: 1.7 US dollars to the Neue mark.)
- 500 million Neue marks in paper money (US dollars OK with you?)

If you agree to our two "suggestions", the total will be sent to you as follows:

- The gold will be sent via the civilian freighter Gudrun, out of Neue Bremen, in a secret compartment below deck. (The official cargo will be a load of herings.)

- The paper money will be placed in a briefcase in the possession of a Neue Neue Deutsch government official, who will, with an escort, carry it on a civilian air plane to Montegrande.

You might ask "why all the secrecy", and so we will tell you - we do not want Zukariaa to find out that we are funding you, and so the one billion dollars will simply "vanish" from our treasury, with no one the wiser. We don't want Zukariaa to come knocking on our doors to declare war! (After all, consider what they did when war wasn't declared!)

Me li Section of the Safe-Zone
The Neue Neue Deutsch barracks were quieter than any of the others. These men had recently lost almost 200 of their brothers, of the men they had trained with back home. Of course they were sad. The entire Neue Neue Deutsch Army only consisted of some 300 men, and so they all knew each other.
The only bright spot were the three survivors - they had instantly been declared heroes, merely for surviving, and so would never have to pay for beer again. But... it wasn't enough to raise the general spirits of the men. They just seemed... tired. It was as though they had already given up.
Their patrols continued, and they even seemed to be learning a few things, but they just didn't have the innocent energy they used to - they had been blodied, and they knew it.

South Harbor, East Haven, Danteri

High Commander SINGH Vaya stared at his Companion. The silence lasted for several minutes.

"She looks more and more like her mother," he thought as his mind raced with all of the potential permutations of the current conflict.

"He knew what would likely happen in the long term. The Melii had figured that out before entering the Danteri War. It was the short term that the methods of the Guild fell short. A river will flow to the sea eventually...it is what happens in between that defined the river.

Now how would he deal with this new Eddy?"

Before he finally asked, "You are sure of this information Gwendolyn? We will have to act immedately."

Montegrande´s City, Montegrande
When the Central Commitee received the telegram from Neue Neue Deutschland offering economical aid to continue the war against zukariaans, all the members of the government smiled. This meant that at least for a time, they wouldn´t spend more of they money (Montegrande´s economy was strong enough, but they hadn´t ilimitated money to spend in wars far way from their territory) in supporting the war and that meant they could give more supplies to their own troops and the Red Army. The good news were following, after they new Montegrande´s and Red Army´s troops conquered a vast territory surrounding Dreil, the city chosen as new HQ of the revolutionary armies(even when Zukariaan didn´t seem interested on defending it)... With that money, the gragoyle class bombers could at least be stopped or at least their attacks would be more imprecise and weaker..... Salvador Guevara inmediatly dispatched a telegram to NND:

Telegram
From: Salvador Moncada, Foreign Affairs Comisar, Community of Montegrande
To: Neue Neue Deutschland Government
We accept your terms and thank you for the economical support. The money will be spent in getting APCs and some aircraft capable of damaging the Zukariaan bombers. You could be sure we won´t spend the money in upgrading our own army (our army and economy in our country is in good conditions, but we need more for Danterian Red Army and our troops in Danteri) or in Massive Destruction Weapons.

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
People of Montegrande; lets make a deal. I wont whipe you off of the face of the Earth, you get the land you currently have, and you take no action against my soldiers. At this point we have no need for the land you have. Neither of us attacks one another, you don't lose lives.

The attack sprung. Three squads of Capitol Police ran out of a bombed out building, firing on the Danteri Navy men. The sight of them alone would have been enough to make a ragged soldier with hardly any equipment cry for his mother. As they moved in, a fourth squad began grabbing citizens and pulling them away.

-bombings on Montegrande will stop; until any Zukariaans are attacked by Montegrande or Red Army soldiers.

Occupied Subject States

A Kraven Patrol discovers a very disturbing sight outside their barracks at the changing of the guards.

One Severed Capital Police head surrounded by the heads of a few prominent collaborators and the thumbs of several hundred subject peoples.

The genetalia of the collaborators were stuffed in their mouths. Inside the mouth of the Capitol Police was a note:

What part do the meek play in creating the powerful?
If a leader cannot admit mistakes, these mistakes will be hidden.
Who says our leaders must be perfect?
Where do they learn this?
The note was signed
Best Regards the People of Danteri.
OOC:---Frank Herbert, the Prophet of Dune

IC:
There was no indication as to who had done this deed.
The Leader would not be pleased. Someone would Pay...Lots of Someones...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:) You can not ever Fully Seal a border. Especially with the border you have. A few will get through no matter what. Berlin Wall...current Korean DMZ. Those were static postions that were penetrated...you have a border that is constantly moving around. Friction. Besides you are assuming they are from the outside.
This is an Attenta--terrorist attack behind your lines Zukaria. Me Li couldn't just let you stomp all over the place. I hope I'm not stepping on your toes Demon King or Danteri. Your link is broken so I couldn't telegram you. I just figured one CP would be Ok...even supersoliders could die if unlucky. :gundge:
I figured your people would figure that your leader would be pissed and probably react in his usual fashion. The Leader is not necessarily your big Furhrer, probably just a local Commandant. It is not so much the actual casualties, as the point that they are getting pass your lines, or they were already there before, or someone is rebeling, AND they DID kill one of your BOTTLE DEMONS. Sure you could easily, pop out another from the Freezer, but THEY still will try to KILL your babies. They will ultimately fail at this...
but History remembers Great Failures too.
Peloponean Wars--Athens betrayal of Rhodes, the Medean subjegation directly lead to the collapse of the Athenean Allaince and the formation of the Empire AND eventually lead to the Fall of Athens. Thermapolae, Marathon...The Great Sepoy Rebellion...Boxer Rebellion...Polish, French Resistance...all failed without OUTSIDE support.

But they went down fighting. Bonzaii!!!!!

:mad: Your troopers are technological abominations. Cool automans...but decadent and slothful. When we get around to contact, My People will start insulting you just like we do the other Gaijin.:upyours:

:D LOL--yeah I'm a hypocrytical Luddite, anarchist, dreamer of lost causes...so why shouldn't my country try to fuck with a Demon?
If this was Dune, We are going to TRY be the Freman/Gesserit to your Harkonneon/Sadarkains/Tlexlaiia...the others seem to be playing the other archeotypes. YOU have lots of CRAZY COOL TOYs...surely we've gots some too! They just maybe Different.

Our forces haven't fought yet...<cough>Well...Unless someone bigger comes along your going to stomp this ant hill flat. We hope to get a few bites in. Maybe your allergic. Damn Demons.:mad:
:D Me Li just tinkered with the local people's beliefs. A nudge here a nudge there...can produce weird unexpected consequences. A ripple effect. Build a tent city, kill some bandits, started a Holy Order...as of now we aren't directly targeting you...
The Shining Path is under nominal Me Li control for now. It is a jinn demon though. The Pandora's bottle is open.
Besides...er...Ve dinna'O'dewyit! :rolleyes: Why would we do such a thing? Nothing to be gained. Your hordes wouldn't give a damn. But the local guy would. It is a symbol...and what good are symbols?:p
It was the Commies or maybe the New Lexingtons or the Rebels or the Spartans or ANY of the Other people who HATE you...can't be too paranoid.

You know your paranoid, but are you paranoid enough???

OOC-umm.. what? I have no idea whats going on there.. what are you talking about?

New-Lexington will accept refugees into its newwly annexed territory in Danteri. Also in responce to the Danteri carrier wishing to leave teh Nl/Ooomplian fleet, why do you wish to do so?

OOC:um, well, no. Me li, you wouldn't be able to step behind my lines without being gunned down almost immedietly. But, lets say you did get through; this wouldn't matter to us. One death amongst the thousands means nothing, especially when its a soldier that we create.

IC:
[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
New-Lexington, we warn you not to go taking any more land. Westfall is ours. Leave. Now.

"How can the Zukkarians claim land taken by New-Lexitonain blood." Questioned Sp Harris. "General Leaphart how many men are currently deployed to Lexitonain controlled Westfall?"
"Around 500,000 sir"
"Good excellent, let us see teh Zukkarians try to take it from us, we are a nation nearly 8 times their size. Victory will be ours!"
Lexitonain Parliament Statement
Zukkarian troops have 96 hours to completely evacute the city of Westfall (Except fro an embassy). If this ultimatum is not met, we will commence all out war.

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
You people are idiots. We don't have anyone in Westgate, and neither do you. The place is controlled by rebels.
Maybe I should rephrase my statement from before. I did not mean for you to leave the land you have, I meant that you pull your troops out of Rebel or Kraven lands and do not expand any further. You can have whatever land you currently hold.
You do not want a war with us. You go to war with us, you go to war with Kraven. Back down. Now.

OOC-Actually, you know what? Erase all of that. I'll ignore you. How did you annex any territory anyways? Did you ask Danteri? Did you fight him? It doesn't look like it. I doubt they would just let you take their land.
I'm going to ignore you until Danteri clears it up. ;)

Actually, New-Lexington had a few men in Westgate - they were being targeted by the rioters... just how many cassualties did they take? Anyway, they also hold a portion of northern Southhaven - you can check the older maps, it's marked as "Oompli/New-Lexington" territory, but Oompli withdrew...

The Unified Danteri Army was in full retreat. Here and there, they fought as they could, but mostly they fled like their citizens, desperatly trying to outrun the rapidly advancing Zukariaans. It seems as though the deciding factor in this war so far has been the elite C.P. units in the Zukariaan army - they've just slaughtered their opposition...
Anyway, many of the former members of the Unified Danteri Army have sided with the Danteri Red Army, defecting, while others have "gone rouge", joining the huge numbers of bandits in the hills and valleys of south-central Danteri.

Things are getting desperate in the Haraki Safe-Zones. Millions of Danteri civilians are stuck there, desperatly trying to get out of Danteri before, as they seem to fear, Haraki does as Americos did, and withdraws from the fighting.

OOC-well, if his only land is in Southhaven, there is no need for us to fight. Sorry Lexington!

IC-
As the army fell, 100,000 Kreigsmarines and 5000 Capitol Police marched against whatever was left. As they did, they snatched up every citizen they found.
The war would be over soon.
Danteri would be Kraven's.

OOC::mad: :headbang: :D As you wish...LOL But it was a bandit attack.
IC:

<OPEN TRANSMISSION--ALL Local Bands>
To: Zukaria Government
From: Me Li HQ
RE: Gaijin murders

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

You silly Dünnbrettbohrer!!! Me Li hasn't attacked your abominations...if you can't protect your exposed rear stop sticking your pecker everywhere. Good show for who ever did kill those poor artifical creatures of yours though. We wish them more luck in their hunts.

Your situation reminds me of my foriegn studies. We qoute the sage Edmunds Burke,
"General rebellions and revolts of a whole people never were encouraged now or at any time. They are always provoked." You and the other imperalists seek that which is not yours. You abuse the People as expendable toys, and rape the Lands of their essences. You are possessed by demons: Power, Lust, [etc..] AND you are surprise that the People of Danteri resists you?

As to your territorial concerns. Me Li has annexed no territories...we have enough troubles with trying to colonize our interior. Why would we want to deal with constant rebellions and barbarians? It is cheaper to buy stuff from you devils. Haven't you read any economics?

Stop your agression you stupid Foriegn Devils. Let the Danterii decide for themselves how they want to live.

YOU WILL treat OUR nationals with Respect. They are NOT suppose to be in your illegally claimed territories. Do with any that you capture as you would any foolish maggot. If they are foolish enough to get caught then they WILL DIE as WARRIORS and men. A bullet or a blade and a fist. Standing UP.

Thank you for pointing out some of your blind spots. We and our noble Allies will act accordingly. Bring your damn Kraven overlords you whipping dogs. You already outnumber us, but you are decadent fascist fools.

We spit on you and your "HONOR."

We fight NO one but Banditos. WE Claim NO lands. We defend our homelands and these foreign shores. A POX on you and ALL imperalists!!!

High Commander SINGH Vaya

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
And guess what? I never sent you any messages! Good job making yourselves look like morons.
You're walking a thing line with those insults. It would be a shame to have to hurt your little soldiers.

OOC-Me li, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to New-Lexington.

Gwazzaria's seven planes and the Krastzburg fleet arrived (as scheduled) near simultaneously, bringing in a flood of fresh supplies just as a flood of fresh refugees came in. Gwazzarian soldiers and workers have been distributing and processing food, water, and medical treatment as fast as possible while fitting as many as they can onto the planes and ships. It'll be a tight fit, but as many as 10,000 might be able to be evacuated - a piddling trifle compared to the hordes flowing in. To prevent a mass stampede to the airplanes and ships, they've been relocated further from the major population centers in the Safe Zone.

Gwazzarian soldiers have been getting tenser and tenser. Bunkers, under construction since the start of the new Zukariaa-Danteri War, are being manned and readied. Helicopter patrols are becoming more and more frequent, and rangers high in the trees or down in the mud are on stand-by to radio in what they see.

Major Murphy in particular was high strung. He'd been locking himself away in his make-shift office for days at a time, trying to reduce the reality around him down to numbers and statistics. It hadn't been working, but he had gotten more paperwork done in those weeks than in his entire career.

When the Zukariaans came, there was no intention of ever backing down or letting those in the Safe Zone fall into their grasp. It was better for a people to be alive elsewhere than dead in their homeland, and more ships and airplanes were on the way to try and make that true.

OOC: Lexington has holdings in Westhaven as well. See http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/renthas/danterimapvii.jpg for the best estimate of lines before you counterattacked the Danteri.

IC: With the Spartan war going extremely well for now, the Erisians shift a number of planes back to Danteri, increasing flights into the Erisian and Soloriel zones of control for the evacuation of civilians.

In addition, the second Kirov class battlecruiser 'Bakersfield' and a small group of frigates and other escorts moved into position off the coast of Erisian held Southhaven to provide a naval escort for ships evacuating refugees.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Colonel Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
To: Commander Locke, Commander Haraki Safe Zone (OOC: I hope I got that name right)
Re: Refugee Evacuations

Commander, we have heard that a number of Danteri civilians in the Haraki safe zones have requested evacuation to 23Eris. With your permission, we would like to begin regular flights to the areas under your control with the purpose of evacuating all those civilians who wish to seek asylum in our nation.

If you accept we would also request permission to send a military attache officer to help coordinate the evacuation of refugees and the timing of flights into your areas.

The collumn of refugees was trudging along, despondantly trying to reach the safety of the Haraki Safe-Zones... they knew their homeland was finished, and so they fled.
The Zukariaans came out of nowhere - they cut off the escape route, had the refugees trapped... a few rushed the Zukariaans, hoping to be shot, but they were denied that hope - within a few seconds, all of the refugees had been rounded up, some forcibly with blows from rifles, and were being led away from the Safe-Zones. It seems that the last escapees have made it, the last doomed souls are doomed...

- The two million "on their way but won't beat the Zukariaans" have all been caught - currently, the last two thousand refugees predicted to make it to the Safe-Zones before the Zukariaans reach their border are in...
- The Zukariaans will be at the borders of the various Safe-Zones in a matter of hours. It looks like, baring renewed intervention by Soloriel, Danteri is finished...

OOC: I made a new map, viewable at http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/renthas/danterimapver7.jpg which I believe represents the current situation in Danteri. I adjusted the lines based on what I had seen nations posting as their intentions.

Danteri, you of course are the final voice on whether this map is fully accurate or not. ;)

Locke sighed. His relief convoys were being stopped at the Zukariaan blockade and were being delayed as long as possible to try and starve the people into submission. Refugee convoys leaving managed to get by, mostly due to the large Harakian naval escorts.

The reinforcements had arrived and taken over in the sixth safe zone from the battered few companies Neil had sent. They had established a vague perimeter around the city, in which Me Li troops attempted to seduce starving women and spent more energy partying for the deaths of a few dozen men than they did trying to feed the refugees. Locke was having trouble controlling Major-General Thomas Neil. The sheer amount of atrocities combined with the humanitarian ineptness of his 'allied' forces were pissing him off. His engineers were now creating hurried yet powerful fortifications along the already-entrenched perimeter.

But Locke was swamped. Diplomatically, he was barely holding together a loose coalition of nations nervous about a potential war with an increasingly belligerent Zukariaa and Kraven, and trying to keep in check the Melii forces. He was trying to reconstruct six cities and the surrounding countryside, as well as provide food for thirty million people. The donations by the coalition nations were small and msotly diplomatic. The Neue Neue Deutschland contribution had lasted one refugee column heading for the coast one day. Of course, what could he expect? He was providing food for two and a half times as many people as NND had in their entire nation.

Riots were breaking out, as frightened citizens fled the grasp of Kraven. Locke typed up a brief message to the captain of the Danteri's Pride, accepting his transferral of command, and accepting the crew of the ship as refugees. He set up a meeting in which a transport ship, several cruisers, several destroyers and the HNS Safe Haven would meet the Danteri's Pride and take it into safe port with Harakian sailors from the transport. Another message to all nations involved identified the carrier as a civilian target being used as a vessel for refugees, and which would be taken in by Harakian naval forces.

He sent the message mere moments before getting a call from the Prime Minister. Hurriedly switching on the video phone, he rested his head on his hand and raised his eyebrows by means of greeting.

"Felias."

"Jaime. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need to talk to you about the political situation in Danteri."

"Politics can go fuck themselves. I've got thirty million refugees in here. I can tell you that, strategically, if we withdraw we're just handing over these people to be slaughtered at the hands of either the Danterians or the Zukariaans. I'd never get that off my conscience, and Thomas is shouting at me about it every morning, noon and night."

Jaime sighed. "I know that. But I have to say that public support is turning against the war. The people that know about the conflict have lost faith in our role in it since the peace talks evaporated and the Zukariaans reclaimed the countryside with a new war against unified Danteri."

Locke was outraged. As his face started turning red, he shouted "They want to pull us out of here? We're walking a thin line between saving our lives and condemning the lives of those we're protecting as it is. I know I won't be obeying that order, no matter how many MPs vote in favour of it."

Jaime shook his head. "No, Felias. I'm not going to let them pull our troops out. I'm trying to approve even more forces to be sent in. The point is that you have thirty million refugees in there. We're not going to hand them over to the Zukariaans, but we need to diplomatically do something. We can't just keep them sitting on their asses all day."

Locke nodded slowly. "Thomas has a good plan being worked up. Since the safe zones were relatively untouched by the war since we arrived in time, he's actually getting refugees out growing crops in the fields. It's getting thousands and thousands of people out working, and taking turns they only have to work about one day a week to grow their own food. It takes effect on a large scale tomorrow. But we need to do something better about the Zukariaans. They're on our borders, and with their goal of taking Danteri they may well ask us to hand over the territory once they've conquered everyone else."

"Quite simple. We say no. We say because of the way they've treated refugees, political prisoners and prisoners of war we can't hand them over for fear of persecution and death. If they decide to invade, it will be an act of war. And neither Zukariaa nor Kraven can afford a war with us. We're bigger and very powerful. We have a massive defence budget and large military, as well as powerful allies, and we're on the verge of an alliance with Automagfreek. I doubt Kraven would be willing to go to war with them again so soon, especially not with other allies involved this time as well."

Locke raised his eyebrows once more, this time in amazement. "I'm impressed, but this plan seems to involve sacrificing my forces for the time being if they do choose to just run us over."

"I'm trying to approve more troops for you to man the perimeter and erect permanent defences. Eventually, we hope to establish a provisional free Danteri government inside the safe zones, and if we make a new nation there we can not only give the reufgees work but also create some Danterian volunteer military forces to help you out. But honestly, I doubt the Zukariaans would be willing to risk fighting us, especially as we've only been in the fight to help civilian lives since the beginning. It would give them a very bad international image."

Locke nodded. "I get you. And I hope like hell you're right."

Jaime shrugged his head to one side. "Me too. I have to go."

After hurried goodbyes, the screen switched off.



Inside the safe zones, Harakian forces have organized large groups of volunteer refugees into farming groups which will farm the fields inside the safe zone area. This is not only to keep them busy and give them work but also to provide food inside the Zukariaan blockade.


[From: Commodore Felias Locke]
[To: Colonel Papadakis]

I would like to agree to your proposal but I have to ask you a for a few restrictions. First of all, the nature of ths extraction and the personnel inside the safe zones cannot be military in nature. We don't want any excuse for the Zukariaans to invade the safe zones and endanger the lives of millions of people. Apart from that, your proposal seems fine. But please bear in mind not only this restriction, but the intentions behind it. I don't want the millions of people in my care to get shot and killed because some people the Zukariaans were fighting happened to have military forces inside the safe zones.

Felias Locke

The Bundestag was as noisy as ever, but the Chancellor could ignore them all. The very thing he had dreaded for so long had happened - the Conservative Democratic Party had achieved power through the elections, as the people looked for someone strong to run their government... as of 12:00 noon, local time, he wasn't the Chancellor anymore, Karl Von Neue Dresden was the new Chancellor... still, at least they weren't at war yet.
The new Chancellor, the new cabinet, new ministers and all, met in the same office in the Executive Mansion where so recently, the prior Chancellor had gotten totally drunk while debating funding Montegrande with his Minister of Defense.
Now, the new Chancellor, Karl Von Neue Dresden of the Conservative Democratic Party, grimly nodded to his Ministers, then began to speak,
"All right. For the first time in oh-so-many years, we hold power. We have men overseas, and that humanitarian intervention needs to be expanded. You there," he said, turning to the new Minister of Defense, "how long until the new units are trained?" the Minister shrugged, then replied,
"I'm not sure - basically something like two months more, though." the Chancellor nodded, then gave his first order as Chancellor:
"All right. Now, as for those refugees in the Safe-Zones. We need workers - why don't we accept them as citizens of the Republic of Neue Neue Deutschland? We can send some transports under the protection of the Gwazzarian fleet." he continued of course, but it had been decided right then and there.

- The Neue Neue Deutsch government has dispatched a fleet of civilian vessels, four freighters and one cruise ship, to carry refugees from Danteri to Neue Neue Deutschland. They are, of course, requesting that the naval assets of other nations protect their vessels as they move in and out.
- This convoy is protected by no NND military vessels - they only have a few soldiers along. (Ten NND Politzei with riot gear etc. for each ship).
- All in all, these ships could carry 400 each (for each frieghter) and 1000 for the cruise ship. That's 2,600 refugees in all.

Chancellor Von Neue Dresden had gotten the Bundestag to agree - they would continue removing refugees from Danteri, and they would be sending in all four of the freighters full of food and medical supplies when they went to get the refugees.
In effect, every week, four freighters loaded with humanitarian supplies would arrive, and 2,600 refugees would be taken in by Neue Neue Deutschland. It is being stressed, however, that the NND government retains the right to halt this operation at any time...

Also:
The Neue Neue Deutsch Government has issued an official statement decrying Zukariaan war-crimes.

OOC-Haraki, no need to worry. We don't want your land.
And New-Lexington, if thats the land you have, you can have it.. unless Danteri says otherwise, of course. We need not go to war.

[Obertsturmbann furher Corrol]
To the fools in charge of Neue Neue Deutschland; do you really think we are worried about what you think of our so called 'war crimes'? Our goal, the ultimate goal of Kraven, is complete and total unification. One step at a time.. one step at a time..

The Neue Neue Deutschland vessels will be stopped. No vessels are permitted to land on Zukariaan beachland. All ships will be redirected to either the Haraki Safe-Zones or 23Erisian lands.

<highest encryption>
TO: DMRWE Alpha Base HQ
FROM: Office of the First Minister
RE: Open Transmission

ANCESTORS! DAMNIT VAYA! You are suppose to be a smart man. You are a compassionate man. BUT you are also a Gods Damned Idiot of a hothead.

Tell me why? What the Hell is wrong with you? Do you really want us to have to defend Mara? Do you think Kraven will stay in Danteri? Do you want to expand this to all the heavens? We still haven't heard from the suppliers yet. How hard is it to wait until we can at least strike back effectively?

AND why did you broadcast it so openly...
AND I read the transcript...Be careful. You are a devious mongoose. But baiting the Bear isn't usually a good idea. The idiot that does, usually loses an arm if he isn't too unlucky.

Moreover, You knew exactly what I meant. BUT here it is now official.

"You are reprimanded. Shutup and get to soldiering. Go destroy and assimilate the Banditos. Meditate upon Patience."
His Holiness, the Venerable Me, 32nd of that name.

Vaya my friend, Leave me to throw cows at the enemies. We will kill the hamster fuckers in time. All in good time.

EL
<end>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

<lowest ecryption>
To: Government of Obersturmbann furher Corrol Zuukaria
From: Isles of Mara ConFed High Command
RE: open transmission

Apologies. Our officer acted with haste. It appeared that he obtained a fualty report message. see enclosed. You were set up.

While the tone of the transmission lacked polish. The Isles must agree with the general gist of the argument. What do they have that you do not already? For the same amount of resources you are pouring into this hell hole you could buy everything.

You should devote more to conquering space. Infinite resources...still mostly free...and Aliens...

Why do you kill your brothers? What is your power? Cease your attacks on the sheep people of Dentaria. There is no honor in their deaths. Fight an enemy worthy of your strength.

Go home so that everyone else can too.

In the name of His Holiness, The People, The Parliment, and the Dominion of Me Li I send you our prayers.

First Minister El
Dominion of Me Li
<end>

From: Colonel Papadakis
To: Commander Locke
Re: Your last message

We accept the counter-terms proposed. We will arrange for a member of the Erisian Refugee Resettlement Agency to oversee the evacuation of those who wish asylum in our nation. If acceptable this person will arrive within 48hours, we will of course inform you of the precise time of arrival once known.

For clarification, we are not currently warring with Zukariaa, though we did support the now defunct Unified Danteri Government against Zukariaan oppression, and relations with the Zukariaan nation remain tense. Though, I fully understand your caution and am glad to hear of your concern for the refugees in your areas.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Southhaven, Erisian troops have begun setting up large-scale fortifications, forward artillery and missile batteries, and dispersed, sheltered airfields. Colonel Papadakis, after much debate finally agreed to setting up a seried of minefields as well, interspersed with anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, though each field was to be clearly marked and surrounded with barbed wire.

Behind the lines, the formation of small scale Danteri units continued under the supervision of the Erisian troops. These units would be attached to Erisian brigades and would be inter-mixed with Erisian and Danteri troops fighting side-by-side, should it come to that. Unlike the Danteri army, the Erisians had no compunction against allowing female volunteers to serve in these units. The women of the EDF took their Danteri counterparts under their wings and made sure that any Danteri men, who were unaccustomed to seeing such things, found out painfully what a well trained, and highly motivated, female soldier could do.

In his office, Papadakis viewed several reports detailing the progress of Danteri troops and the construction of defenses. He had considered expanding further north but was afraid of overextending his forces. With the Red Army bottlenecking the middle of Danteri, the Zukariaans were far enough away not to be a direct menace, still, it never hurt to be careful. Patrols along the coast were increased and portable radar and other detection stations were set up along the coastline. With a full intelligence battalion working for him he had plenty of information on what was happening in Southhaven.

He turned the page in his daily briefing. A report from Yagger. Her reports had become less frequent now. The Soloriel army was still doing nothing and she had nothing to report. He briefly considered recalling her, remembering the incident on the Soloriel ship, but thought the better of it. Should the Soloriel become active once more, best to leave them in the hands of someone they trust.

The next page of the briefing was another idea from the naval aide. It suggested putting the Danteri to work building barges. They could be used to evacuate additional civilians. He considered the idea then vetoed it. They had no working drydock and he would never get the money required to build one that would then be abandoned or worse, fall into Kraven hands. Instead he approved the plan forwarded by his secretary. Put civilian volunteers to work building defenses. They could help construct fortifications, dig trenches, build runways and other useful tasks.

The last page of the briefing was labeled top secret and was a transcript of a secure transmission from his superiors in 23Eris. Apparently, Erisian scientists had developed a High Powered Microwave, directed electromagnetic weapon. The bomb had passed initial tests and the first were being rush produced for deployment. He wasn't sure exactly what the Corporate Police of these Kraven were, Danteri calle dthem demons, others had said they were cybernetic, others called them sompletely alien, whatever they were, an EMP bomb might destroy enough Zukariaan machinery to stop an attack. He hoped those weapons would be finished soon. Apparently plans were for a laser guided version free fall bomb version and then a cruise missile version. The best part was, they were conventional weapons, non-nuclear. Though he wished he had accessto those Soloriel tactial nukes. That would make Zukariaa think twice about attacking.

OOC-So you know, Kraven thought out the EMP thing. Capitol Police and Kraven equipment are protected from it, as far as I know.

And for the love of God, I am not attacking anyone besides Danteri. Its kind of annoying to see people assuming that I'll attack them. :rolleyes:

OOC: But we don't know that about the EMP thing.

Plus, Kraven is scary, so you can't blame us all for being nervous. ;)

The Restored Commonwealth
Arklay Government Citadel, Arklay

Classified briefing
Danteri humanitarian crisis

“36 million dead?” the Premier asked with hope he had misheard.

“Yes Premier, the total number of danterians killed, captured or displaced is estimated at one hundred ten million.” Wong the director of the SOHIA (Signals, Open source, Human, Imagery intelligence Agency) replied not needing to check her report.

“There’s also a famine, hundreds of thousands have died and millions more are dieing.” Norris the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Council added.

“It hard too image even one person dieing of hunger but…” the Premier said with a hint of sadness

“We have to do something.” Premier Kennedy’s assistant added as he thought out loud.

“Pipe VIKI in here.” Premier Kennedy asked his assistant.

“Good day Premier.” The artificial intelligence respond in its female voice.

“How much food is there in the Strategic Food Reserve?” the Premier inquired.

“Plus sixteen billion four hundred twenty-five million metric tons of food, sufficient for three billion people for five years.” VIKI replied with in a second of the question.

“Okay Supreme Strategist(O-10) Enriquez how much can we airlift?” Kennedy asked.

“Not sixteen billion tons of food. If we use all of the cargo aircraft… uh … we can only move one hundred thirty thousand tons a trip total, but the larger aircraft need some good long runways to work. Even if, some of those aircraft are need for other things too.” Enriquez shot back.

“So what can we do?” Kennedy asked again.

“We can airlift thirteen hundred tons of food every two days if we have some ware to land and refuel. Plus you can rent some cargo ships move three hundred fifty thousand tons a week.” Enriquez gusted.

“More then sixteen million people can live off that for a week.” Wong stated.

“Okay then, Mr. Norris find out wear we can do the most good, get us a runway and some fuel for the planes. Strategist Enriquez get the airlift ready. VIKI find some low cost cargo ships. Director I don’t want to step on any political land mines there so see if you can find then before my feet do. Okay lest get to work.” Kennedy finished.

----------------------------

From: The Restored Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Council, Chairman C. Norris
To: The Social Democracy of Haraki
Re: Humanitarian aid

The Restored Commonwealth see much hardship in Danteri and wish to help end it. To this ends we (The Restored Commonwealth) have opened our “Strategic Food Reserve” and are loading the first shipment on cargo ships now, but it will be three days before they arrive. The Restored Commonwealth is in the mean time are willing to sent the food by air, but we need a runway and fuel for the cargo aircraft. If you can supply these the airlift will start at that instant.

The Montegrandes troops and the Red Army were fanatical communists but not stupid, though. They weren´t currently in conditions of fighting the Zukariaan because of their lack of aircraft. However, they will have enough soon if they were attacked by Zukariaa. Also, the Government of Montegrande decided to send units of the Red guard, Montegrande´s elite troops. They decided a may be tense (Kraven in Danteri made the situation scary and tense) cease of fire which also allowed technically Montegrandes to ask for suppor in the ILSS if it was broken and Commander Moncada wired a telegram to Zukariaan forces.

To: Obertsturmbann furher Corrol
From: Commander Moncada
We will accept the cease of fire. We ordered our units not attacking Zukariaan troops and so will the Red Army. However, any violation of thecease of fire will be responded energically. We are not retreating from Danteri.The cease of fire is expected until a peace conference solves our differences, if they happens, or if it´s broken....

Moncada ordered a expansion of the line surrounding Drei (as long they didn´t get into Zukariaan held territory) an also better fortifications and garrisons all around the occupied zone. The Red Army held Danteri was growing safer every day.
Another concern of the Commander was sending Red Army troops to the south, trying to expand the most they could communist held Danteri. One of the reasons was power, however another one was the protection of the populace of that zones of Southern Danteri. The Red Army occupation gave them security, food, doctors medical supplies, and the communist well organizated system would stop some of the people of that southern zones from starving to death. The expansion of the territory wouldn´t be resisted, or that thought Commander Moncada. The situation was dark and the Danterians need safety, food and health and the highly complex Red Army could offer that (at Montegrande´s expenses, of course.)
The Commander didn´t want the Erisian to worry, so he wired a telegram to Colonel Papadakis

To: Colonel Papadakis
From: Commander Moncada
Red Army´s lines expansion to the South
We have no intention of violating civil rights (we respect them in Montegrande) nor entering in war with 23Eris. The expansion of our lines has to do mostly with Danterian need of being protected and have some basic commodities (which basically, would prevent them of continue dying in great numbers). Also, if we could gather more territory and protect it we could resist more time an eventual Zukariaan attack if the cease of fire was broken.
Another thing that could be may be important with the current situation would be a peace conference if tension grew. After of all, Zukariaan have what they want now, with the Danteri Unified Army tored apart...

Archipielago

The Montegrande´s Navy had finally got near the Archipielago. The order was taking it to assure the communist held area. The disembarks in the Archipielago had started, but it would last some time before they could conquer it entirely.... 40 thousand Montegrande´s Marines were deployed for the task, plus Red Army agents that had the mission of convincing the local populace to accept their power over them.

They had made their way through to the 23Erisian lines without being stopped. Now, one of their number carefully threw a rock, alerting the 23Erisian guards... at which point, the entire group of them stood up, weapons aimed at the ground.
Their leader called out a greeting, then asked:
"All right... Danteri might be finished, but, we aren't dead yet. So, since we're not yet dead, we might as well make our way to a friendly power, and ask them to supply us. Please, take us to your leader... we need to have a chat with him..."

- Something like 2,500 elite Danteri Commandos (Formerly known as rebel commandos) have approached the 23Erisian forces in Danteri, and are requesting that they be allowed to talk with the leader of the 23Erisian forces.

The religious rebels in Westgate have pretty much burned the city down, and now seem intent on breaking out to bring their message of the Second Comming to the wider world.
As such, they've launched an all-out breakout attack at what looks like (after a few seconds inspection...) the thinnest point in the Zukariaan lines. This attack is a massive affair - roughly thirty thousand men, with heavy weapons and light armoured support.

A movement calling itself the "Democratic Underground" has begun striking at Zukariaan, New-Lexingtonian and Montegrande occupation forces. They appear intent on causing as much damage as possible, and are seemingly uncaring of civilian cassualties...

- So far, they've launched three assassinations of prominent colaborators, four IED attacks (three against Zukariaan convoys, one against a New-Lexington convoy), and one surprise attack against a town in Westfall - there, they used nerve gas against the town, causing cassualties of around 100,000 to the civilian populace, and an unknown number of cassualties to the Zukariaan occupiers.

Here is the land claimed by New-Lexington http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i307/New-Lexington/?action=view&current=NLCLaimed.jpg

The relief fleet was on its way to the Haraki Safe-Zone when the Zukariaan navy vessels came out at them. They didn't have any heavy weapons, they were just civilian vessels. So, of course they let Zukariaa board them.

Once they had been boarded, it became obvious that they were only carrying food, water purifiers, clean water, and a few crates of medical supplies. The crew were not trained in how to fight, although they had a few rifles and shot-guns for protection. When the Zukariaan troops boarded, the weapons were all locked away in the weapons locker, where they stayed for the entire time the Zukariaans were on board. The Neue Neue Deutsch Politzei were armed, and trained, but they weren't soldiers, and they didn't resist (although they did don their riot gear and arm themselves before the Zukariaans boarded.)

In the end, the NND put up no resistance at all, although they were visibly angry at the Zukariaans (since they'd killed the 147 Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers.).

- Zukariaa: Are you blockading the Danteri coastline? Also, are you going to let my ships through to the Haraki Safe-Zone? I'm waiting.

The ship was thoroughly searched. Any and all weapons on board were taken. The ship was directed to the Haraki Safe-Zones.

OOC-I'm blocking the coastline and boarders that lead into Kraven territory.

As for the attacks, they were quickly dealt with. 20,000 Kreigsmarines and 2,000 Capitol Police were directed toward the attack from the religous rebels.

A few hundred men have died from the various attacks.

From: Colonel Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
To: Commander Moncada, Montegrande
Re: Proposed Expansion

Your proposed expansion is acceptable to us, provided you do not hinder any Danteri civilians who wish to leave your zone of control for ours. Any mistreatment of civilians by forces in your zone, whether by Montegard troops or the Danteri Red Army, will not be taken lightly.

While you claim to support civil rights, we have reports that the Danteri faction under your control was responsible for the massacre of the Unified Danteri government. A government that sought a free and elected Danteri and which had our full support. You will of course, understand our wariness at having such a group on our border.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danteri Commandos

To call the guard startled was to simply understimate the suprise he felt at suddenly being faced with the sheer number of Commandos. How in the name of the goddess had they gotten so close? he wondered. A moment later he was radioing his commander for instructions, and a few minutes later several trucks and APCs were heading for the border to bring the Commandos to camp where they could rest, rearm, and get their hands on some decent food.
A Hip-8 had been dispatched to carry the leaders of the Commandos to Colonel Papadakis at the 23Eris HQ.

Millenium City, Danteri

Major WU Walters and Companion MAO Gwendolyn were discussing the advantages of being insane in a madhouse. They concluded that the patients were in charge of Danteri, and that it was not so bad being crazy if everyone else was too.

The NNDEF 2nd "Globetrotters Company" stood in stiff attention nearby. From the orginal cadre of three, they had regrown to a full company. They looked strange in the Melii BTU's. One, they were almost entirely Danterii. Two, they were technically still NNDEF and subject to NND High Command. Three, they had operated under the DMRWE forces and a certain nephew of a certain high ranking Melii that had just in effect purposefully and pubiclly SPAT on the foriegn invaders. Four, They too had become MAD.

The Neue Neue Deutsch detachments were a bit surprised to say the least with the 2nd Company. If not for the prominent NND flag patches above the Black Sheep rampant patch, this Company would not have been recognized as a NNDDF unit at all. They moved and flowed too well. Obviously, they had trained since childhood. The hot forge of war and Ifni's grace had tempered them into deadly blades. AND a they clung to a desperate HOPE of Peace.

They knew the NND tryed to help Danteri. Everyone in the Millenium City had heard the news of the Kraven attckes on the Last Day of the Melii's national Festival of the Dead. Everyone knew in the days that followed of the limits of the NND military. AND Everyone Knew of the Orders of the Shining Path.

The 2nd Company WERE brothers of the Shining Path. The Order advocated a free and just Danteri. AND thus there were thousands of volunteers for the Rebirth of the 2nd "Globetrotters Company." LG 3rd grade WU Jules had picked some of the best of Danteri's former banditos, rebels, and commandoes. AND Me Li had generously fully-equiped the 2nd Company in some of her best equipment and training.

NNDEF 2nd "Globetrotter Company" was even cross-trained in NND's advanced riot control and humanitarian efforts doctrines as PAR NND Defence Forces. Additionally, the Melii had issued each of the troopers Melii Advanced Water Guns and a Pixie.

Jules blinked hard and schooled his face, to hold back tears, as he solemnly transfered the command of HIS 2nd "Globetrotter Company" back to the NNDEF. Then Walter, Gwendolyn, and he bowed, and without another word to the newly promoted and confused NND commander, turned and loped away.

:( "Ancestors! They are good grubs."

Telegram
From: Commander Moncada, Montagrande´s troops in Danteri
To: Colonel Papadakis, Commander of 23Erisian Forces in Danteri
Unfortunately, the Red Army is responsible for the massacre of the former government of Danteri. However, we will make clear that no more violations of civil rights will be allowed by our troops. Even when that government didn´t do enough for Danterian People and simply talked when the country was falling into destruction, it wasn´t a thoughtful action to kill them. However, we can´t do anything in this moment to judge the people that were responsible of that act, mostly because we weren´t clear about the civil rights respect points with the Red Army before that incident.
The civilians that want to leave our zone of control and get into yours will be treated well and they will be allowed to move, although in order and that means smaller groups and not a stomp of refugees, mostly because we want to avoid something like the existant chaos in Gwazzarian- Bertling-Haraki Safe zone, knowing that would cause unnecesary deaths.

Red Army held Danteri
The communist troops were at one time making of Dreil a formidable stronghold that would control the Red Army´s Danteri North Limit and also of constructing hospitals, houses and another things the people in their zone would need. The Commander Moncada had planned the foundation of two new cities for refugees and displaced that would like to be in their controlled area: Volksburg in the center of the now occupied zone, and a port called Wlateswja in the southeast of communist possesions. That was a project for the future, though and that would take long time to be built. The more urgent project was transforming dreil into a complete communist stronghold and also the expansion of the communist lines. Also he made the Council of the Red Army aprove an order that would direct the communist held territory. It proclaimed the respect of civil rights, the prohibition of torture (and all held responsible of tortures would be judged by a martial court), the construction of a socialist Danteri. It mostly refered to the stablishment of a Communist Dictatorship in the held areas and also the respect of civil rights and the control of Montegrande, at least until the dictatorship consolidated.
About the Democratic Underground, the Commander asked some of his agents about this group and their intentions. May be he was thinking about negotiating with them if it was good for the stablishment of communism in at least southern Danteri.....
Archipielago
In the archipielago, the Navy surrounded it and the disembarks were rising in number. If nothing went wrong, they would control easily at least a important part of the Archipielago. But this plan of occupation wasn´t only by the strength of arms. The Montegrandes offered archipielago populace hospitals, food, protection and education.

The Archipellago fell with three shots fired - one by the only Danterian to resist, two as the return fire that killed him. After that, the rest of the islanders surrendered easily enough, seemingly glad to have anyone in charge at all (as no one had been maintaining order since the start of the war, and bandits had become pletiful).
As for the bandits, they've taken to the hills, and are trying to avoid contact with the Montegrande army force sent to find them.

In the 23Erisian Safe-Zone, the new Danteri soldiers were being trained. So far, there had only been one problem about the intergration of women into the new Danteri units, and the man who had caused it was currently in the infirmary, having a broken arm put into a splint... no one could really blame the woman who had broken it, especially considering what he'd been trying to do...
Anyway, almost all of these Danterians have some experience with violence, all are dedicated, and they're learning very easily, becoming good soldiers very quickly. All in all, everything is going just fine.

They were a nearly silent bunch, and even when they were safely in the 23Erisian camp, they refused to shower. They smelled like mud, sweat and decay... mostly of mud and decay, as the mud that they seemed to live in was so caked on that they hardly seemed human. In fact, several of them have some sort of fungi or moss growing on their bodies, in the mud... all in all, they're a little disturbing, but they seem nice enough.
Their leaders are similar to the vast majority of them, save that their chosen speaker appears to have washed his face in the last month... he's an OK fellow, they all are, and that impression holds even after one realizes where they got the bones in their jewelry from... strangely, they seem like totaly nice cold-blooded killers...
Anyway, once their leaders arrived to meet with the 23Erisian leadership, they made a simple offer: they would fight for 23Eris if 23Eris wanted them.

The towers of Danteri City were charred, melted, puddles of glass and steel, the very stone of the older buildings had flown in the heat as Juliet Von Easthaven murdered a city in revenge for her murdered daughters... now, even though the radiation was still so high that it took years off the life expectancy of anyone who entered it, men walked here again.
They ignored the charred bones, trod upon the burnt skulls of children without care... they had a task to perform, and they would gladly sacrifice years of their life to accomplish it.
Soon enough, they had found their goal: the still intact bunker network beneath the Defence Ministry Building, which housed the old Danteri Armies Strategic Weapons Stockpile...

OOC-Erm.. isn't that in the middle of my territory?

Yes, it is right in the middle of your territory, but how many guards are you going to have protecting an irradiated nightmare location like Danteri City where you get stomach cancer just from drinking the water?

Following the final cut-off, when Zukariaan tanks rolled up to the border of the Haraki Safe-Zones, the situation was getting desperate. Every single refugee wants out now if not sooner, and so things are getting bad... there are also some rumors of refugee abuse occuring...

OOC: This is your signal if you want some soldier to "act out"...

OOC-True, but how do you expect to get there? Right now theres a closed border thing going on. It would be damn near impossible to get through. Your call, though.

BTW, they arn't moving any further. We arn't going to be attacking the Haraki people or the safe-zones.

The Restored Commonwealth
Port Soban, Sierra

The Humanitarian Aid Convoy has left Port Soban earlier today to help the Danteri people.

Humanitarian Aid Convoy
25 Cargo ships (350,000 tons of food and 50,000 tons of medical supplies, consumer goods(tooth paste, hygiene paper, et cetera), electrical power generators, and toys)
3 Transport tankers (filled with JP5, and Diesel.)
2 Crane Ships

Orders
The Humanitarian Aid Convoy will go to the Harakian safe zone in Danteri where they will dock and unload there cargo. The diesel is for refuelling the convoy and fuelling the new electrical power generators. The JP5 is for future airlifts. The Convoy will arrive in three days.

The soldiers of the 58th Infantry were nervous. With the exception of some battle-hardened veterans, they were young and inexperienced. As they watched over the barbed-wire fence and hurriedly-dug trenches, the Zukariaan army approached. Armoured vehicles rolled in, planes flew overhead in the distance, and they pulled up a safe distance away from the safe zones, cannon barrels levelled at the Harakian forces, mostly because it happened to be the last direction they were moving.

A full platoon stood there. Theoretically, they were on duty patrolling the perimeter, but really they were sitting on jeeps, watching the Zukariaans. They were just outside their company's camp, where the other hundred-some men were relaxing, off patrol duty.

When Major-General Thomas Neil arrived, he did so subtlely, by simply walking up beside the company First Sergeant. He stood there for two full minutes before the man realized who he was and, startled, sloppily saluted while shouting for the company's attention. They slowly turned to face their superior officer, who waited until they were all watching before beginning his impromptu speech.

"Watching the Zukariaans?" he asked, to more than a few murmurs of assent. He scoffed, "don't worry about them. Little whiney lapdogs who are just invading a weaker country to prove their might. Motherfucking Kraven. I hear you're supposed to be on patrol."

"Yes, but-" the first sergeant began.

"Ah, ah, ah. I don't care. They're not going to attack us. I can feel it in my bones. My commanding officer, Naval Commodore Felias Locke, thinks they may well attack us, using the element of surprise to crush the Harakian forces here quickly before we could get reinforcements in. To that end, he's trying to get more reinforcements in. The prime minister seems to be granting his requests. We may well see a few battleships in here before too long."

He turned to face the bewildered platoon before continuing. The strange looks on their faces said everything: Why is a general here on the front lecturing forty people about our enemies? "I don't give a shit about those whiny little shits over there. If they attack us, we will die, shortly before their entire country gets turned into a bombed-out wasteland. You see, we have allies already involved in a mess with Kraven, and I can see in your eyes you don't know what I'm talking about.

"Suffice it to say that Haraki has reached an agreement with certain enemies of Kraven. Powerful enemies. And were Kraven to decide to fuck with us, you can rest assured that they'd get fucked right back.

"So don't worry about them. Worry about the bandits. Our goal here is to protect the thirty-some million refugees in this country from bandits and help them rebuild. Construction crews are working on the cities, we have farmers out in the fields growing food, and we have soldiers sweeping the countryside for bandits. Eventually, we'll do some political shit and give a big fat fuck you to the Zukariaans. But the Zukariaans know all this. They're not idiots, and they certainly know everything I've just told you.

"Sleep well at night. I know I can."

He turned to leave, then suddenly his head raised as if he had remembered something, and he turned back. "Oh, and by the way, when reinforcements arrive, they might bring the rest of the 58th with them, which means I would no longer be your commanding officer. You'd go through a different general to get to Locke, and I'd be out of your command chain. But as long as you are under my direct command, get the fuck out on your patrol! Thank you."

His rambling speech over, he did turn back to his jeep and start driving back from the perimeter. The platoon got out for their patrol faster than they ever had in a drill.

سورة الجن

The Brothers and Sisters of the Order finished their Morning Prayers. The Surat Al-Jinn was a favorite of the Order. It inspired them. It told of the Jinn’s faith in peaceful conversion. It illuminated the Path from another light. The end times were very near.

The Horsemen roamed the lands. Many had lost faith in anything and they grew in false beliefs. The Second Coming was at hand. They were mistaken; they were growing also in shirk. The Order was tasked with teaching them of the Path. They had little time before the Judgment of the Mahdi. After all, had not the jinn arrived to Danteri? They did not come to save Danteri. The merely showed the Danterii the Gloriously Bright Shining Path.

They taught them several new Dances with the Foreign Devils.
They would eventually teach them the Dance to Kill Demons.

One step at after the other. Danterii would survive even if it first had to die.

In Death there was Eternal Life.
Had not the sages said as much before?

They had miles to go before they could stop. Miles before they could rest. Ages to go before their deaths.

The religious rebels were insane. They fought literaly until the last of their number was dead, firing their weapons until ammunition was exhausted, then throwing rocks and fighting with knives... it was a bloody, miserable, abominable, mess.
In the end, the attack accomplished nothing - no one broke out. But that had never been the point of it. Another ten thousand rebels had used the sewer system to sneak out, with most of the high quality gear, while their twenty thousand brothers died on the surface. They made it out, and took to the hills once more, vanishing into the hills, like so many bandits had before. This group, though... it had a higher purpose than bandits. When these guys shot you and took your stuff, they did it in the name of God.

The Cult of The Second Coming, the religious movement gripping the religious rebels, has spread to the various Safe-Zones. Hundreds of the refugees now consider themselves to be members of this cult... and there has already been trouble.
A family of Muslims, from the Islamic minority that originaly lived in Southhaven, was killed. The fanatics are to blame. With their knives, they seek to enforce a rigid moral code upon the refugee populace... they kill those they believe offend their God, and that includes Muslims, Jews, and many others. With their symbol, Christ crucified and shot through the forehead, they strike at those that do not agree with their narrow minded morality.

The men had found what they had been looking for. They had hid in a cave while the Zukariaans advanced past them, then gone out to find it when they were past... they would not be able to return, but... they didn't need to. They had now a weapon that was both great and terrible, and they intended to use it... even if it killed them.

Millenium City, Danteri

High Commander SINGH Vaya chortled. He was watching a video recording of a conversation one of the reconissance drones had picked up, Near the Border between Haraki and Me Li zones of operations.

That O'Neil sure was an big asshole. But Vaya had to admit the Gaijin General was a damn good professional asshole that knew his Duty.

He knew it was bad karma to take delight in the suffering of others, but the elegance of that chewing down...he would have to try that. Calm understatement...and breathing...and it was the puases that's what it was...

After he had stopped laughing, Vaya thought further, on the intellegence he had just learned. The Zuuks and their Kraven Hamster Lovers had stronger enemys...AND the Haraki were much more powerful than he had originally thought. Perhaps, this choice of allaince was not "a big mistake" afterall.

Vaya poured himself some Dame Verte. It was a fine beverage imported directly from His Holiness's vineyards with the last suppy shipment. It was suppose to be a diplomatic gift to the Zuukarian running dogs. Since he had already opened it before he recieved his reprimand...It wouldn't do at all too give this to the damn demons. AND it would be a pity to waste such a fine liqour.

He had been wrong with the Haraki. Perhaps the Haraki had Honor after all. They meant well, but they were afterall just ignorat barbarians. Strong barabarians with high sophistiacted toys, but barbarians nontheless. They were finally realizing that the best thing they could do was get the Danterii to save themselves. The new projects were a good start at reestablishing Danteria for Danterii.

Millenium City was swelling along the seams. Allaince and Melii Seabees engineers were hard pressed establishing and maintaining infastructure and health and sanitation levels. The black market for refugee passes was a growing problem everywhere. Vaya had executed those that would exploit the helpless...Lock had been less than pleased. But he had declared that the Dominion of Me Li would only accept Children--Orphans to the War. Danteri needed it's people to rebuild, but for those with nothing and noone Me Li would take them. The children were young enough to become Melii. The others would be but Limeys. That reminded him of the Haraki General.

If he was wrong about O'Neil...Maybe he was wrong about that Damned puffed up Haraki Commodre Locke. He hated the idea. He truly didn't like the bastard for some reason.

He sighed, took the shot, and collected another half dozen glasses. He paged Gwen, and the WUs to meet him at the Haraki Local Command Centre Zone 6. It was time to see if the Harki could become limeys or not. It was time he finally made peace with the pretentious-puffed-up peacock.

As a peace offering he would bring the commander this lovely crate of His Holiness's Best. His apology for spitting on the man's very feminine boots. His open palms and a kiss on the cheek. AND ONE certain dou that had Rampaged through the Allaince's R&R sectors during the Festival a while back.

He wasn't of course going to tell the Haraki that his niece and her friend and a single squad of the Agency had cuased the INSANE mess...El and Imn were still denying that to the Harki Foriegn Ministry.

Me Li really did need to learn from her allies. WU Jules was a goodly and smart boy. He would do well. He wouldn't tell young Jules that he hadn't said anything of course. The boy was turning into something of a Hothead. It would do him some good to learn some control. The Haraki seemed a more restrained people than the Melii.

He had thought that was a weakness. He thought them passionless and pretentious Foriegn Devils. From their recent actions and Melii's obiqious spies, he saw now they DID have passion. O'Neil was a good grub.

Perhaps it was time for a new beginnings. Maybe El was right. Maybe they were Limeys. He could always Hope.

Archipellago
The montegrande´s troops that occupied the islands cared firstly about the situation before the surrender of the islanders and suggested the populace to form communal assemblies, strictly vigilated by the communist agents and asked the people about their need in food, health and education. In what concerned the bandits, they spread a quite clear message" If you surrender, you will be tretaed with dignity, if you don´t, get prepared for what will happen next." They simply offered an amnesty with the conditions of giving up the arms and be watched by communist officers, taking a custodied liberty, or simply the Montegrandes would attack with no mercy until the bandits surrendered(the surrendered ones by that method would be judged, but respecting their dignity). At the same time, communist agents were expanding all aroud the Archipellago. They didn´t want any resistance. Archipellago was a strategic place for the communists, and more disembarks (of aproximatly 20 thousand more soldiers, and planes, SAMS, flak cannons and varied types of heavy machinery) confirmed that.

Red Army held territory
The process of stablishment of the communist regime was beginning also in the other held territories. The forming of assemblies was taking place, and so did the creation of colective farms. Also in the undergrounds of Dreil started the construction of a few minor factories. The same happened in the sites of the future cities of Volsksburg and Wlateswja....

The Neue Neue Deutsch Army had very little experience in discipline. Before their deployment to Danteri, they had literally never had to deal with any crime worse than a drunken brawl. Now, they had a much worse crime to deal with.
The accused sat stiffly in a hard, uncomfortable, wooden chair. He knew he had been caught, knew he was in trouble. Yet, he didn't show it, at least not much. Sure, he was in a cold sweat, but he wasn't shaking, wasn't weeping. He was all too cool.
Hauptmann Louisa Ruhrlunder, captain of Second Company, shook her head. Men like this one made her sick. This sort of man was the kind of filth she had joined to fight against, had joined to oppose. To suppose that he had served with the Neue Neue Deutsch army, had been allowed to prey upon the very people that they were supposed to be protecting - that thought was almost too horific to contemplate.
With a sigh of angry frustration, the Hauptmann sat on her nicely padded chair, and faced the man across the desk from her. Without speaking, she opened the file that lay on the desk, and began to read aloud from it:
"Private Michael Feldmann. 27 years of age. Joined to pay for college, wants to be a doctor," she stopped, lowered the file to the desk and looked Feldmann in the eyes. The prisoner showed no fear. She continued, "served in Danteri since the start. Fought bandits twice, wounded once. Awarded the Neue Neue Deutsch Wound Badge, and the Iron Star for bravery. Now, that "hero" sits before me accused of crimes that are, to put it simply, too horrid for me to sleep well after having read of them." the Hauptmann stood, and walked over to stand behind the seated prisoner.
She leaned in, and whispered to the man,
"Why did you do it? Why did you -" the prisoner was silent. Hauptmann Rhurlunder drew her sidearm, and pointed it at the monster in a Neue Neue Deutsch uniform who sat in front of her, intently staring at the wall. She touched the barrel to the mans shaven head, and could hear the two guards make sharp intakes of breath. She whispered again, ignoring the guards,
"Why did you do those things? Why did you kill her?" she lowered the weapons, reholstered it, then walked over to the other side of the desk and leaned over it. She looked him in the eyes, and searched for any humanity to be found there. She saw emotion, to be sure, but no humanity. With a shudder of horror, she drew back, unable to truly comprehend how such a man as this might have been allowed to serve in the Neue Neue Deutsch Army.
She turned to the guards, and told them:
"In Neue Neue Deutschland, there is no death penalty, there are no capital crimes. Sometimes, like when I have to deal with men such as this one, I think that that was a mistake." as she finished, the prisoner seemed to sag with relief as he realized that all that he faced for his crimes would be, at most a few years in prison. Just as he looked relieved, she continued:
"However, he commited this crime on Danteri soil. In Danteri law, the acts that he commited," she drew a copy of the standard Danteri legal text out of her desk drawer, "carries the death penalty many times over." she opened the text to a bookmarked section, and pointed it out to the soldier. He cringed, and tensed as though he had just seen his own death. She continued, almost conversationally,
"Scum like you make me sick. As a woman, I find men like you to be the single most disgusting sort of criminal there is. As a woman, I would like nothing better than to kill you myself, slowly. However," she hesitated for a moment, "as an officer of the law, appropriate procedures will be followed." Feldmann seemed to relax slightly, seemed to wonder what was going to happen to him.
She looked him right in the eyes, and told him, a feeling of grim satisfaction in her voice,
"As such, you'll have a trial. A trial under civilian law. Danteri civilian law. You see, as your commanding officer, I can release you from the service with a dishonorable discharge." she tore his rank pins out, then continued, "As such, you will then be tried as a civilian, and almost certainly hung." Fledmann collapsed at that, a look of desperate fear in his eyes. It was good - he deserved to suffer for what he had done.

- PFC Michael Feldmann of the Neue Neue Deutsch Army was dishonorably discharged, then handed over to the local Danteri Security Police by his commanding officer, one Hauptmann (Captain) Louisa Rhurlunder.

Whoever attaches attributes to HIM recognizes His like, and who recognizes His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognizes parts for Him; and who recognizes parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him.
Ali's sermon Nahj al-Balagha

Just outside the Me Li lines, a family of Muslims were fininshing their prayers and breaking their night fast. They had but half a day before reaching the Allaince Safe Zones. The demonic invaders were at least two days behind them. This refugee column would make it to the City of the Jinn. They would find a safe haven and the children would be able to live and laugh. The First Prayer and breakfast finished they prepared to re-embark upon the flight.

The previous night they had a beautiful discussion with Warriors of the Order of the Shining Path. It had lasted well into the night before the Order disappeared into the night. The Shining Path was differnt but not so differnt. The Order had left the family a few MREs and directions to the Millenum City, Zone Alpha.

Then without an additional word they bowed and disappeared like ghosts into the night. They had left no traces...it was if as they were never there. The Order had clearly been well practiced at disappearing.

No matter. They still had to get to the International lines.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Around noon, Companion Patrol Epsilon reported to Red Wheel HQ that they had discovered the descrated bodies of a small Danterii family group of refugees. They had been cruxified, cut up, and shot through the head. All seemed to have been tortured, abused, and raped repeatedly before they had died.

The family consisted of 4 children ages 4 male, 6 female, 10 female, 16 male; 3 adults 25 female, 56 female, 62 male.

The Melii and Danterii patrol swore wergild. The ghosts of this family would be avenged. They will hunt down these demons and laugh as they fed them their genitals.

The Ancestors and Ifni wills it!!! The Melii would CIVILIZE these barbarians. Or the Gaijin would die in the attempt.


OOC: Ifni--Melii term for the Goddess of Chance...popular deity amongst the grubs of the RWE.

The "court room" had once been a small theatre in one of the cities - it had been taken over as a sort-of town hall, and now served as a courtroom. Currently, a jury of twelve sat apart while hundreds packed in to see them sentance the Neue Neue Deutsch soldier...
The jury was made up of six men and six women. It took them less than two minutes to come to a unanimous decision when it came to the prisoner. He was a self-confessed rapist and murderor, a monster... and they had a chance to have him killed. They took that chance... they took it and didn't look back...
The trial had ended, the soldier, no, no longer a soldier, was taken out to a small courtyard, where there was a brick wall with nothing behind it, which was full of little bullet holes... six Danteri soldiers with bolt-action rifles stood at rough attention. They waited until the prisoner was placed against the wall, and the hundreds of onlookers were silent... and then, six bolt-action rifles fired, and the Neue Neue Deutsch soldier was killed.
The crowd went wild immediatly, surging forward, grabbing the body... they picked it up, and the guards joined them. They carried it through the streets of the city, crying out as though they had accomplished something, had stuck at their real enemy that lurked outside the thin lines of Haraki troops... they paraded the corpse through the town, gathering a huge following behind them, thousands of angry refugees striking out for no reason other than that they could... they cut the body to pieces, many taking bits as souvenirs. It was horrible.

The religious fanatics in the Safe-Zones have struck again - this time, they targeted the largest center of prostitution in the Safe-Zones, setting brothels on fire, and killing dozens before security forces arrived...
In the end, eight fanatics were killed, and two dozen arrested.

A cold wind blew. Capitol Police moved Danteri citizens along, sorting them into work groups. Already, they were turning their Danteri-held land into a Slave State. It wasn't official, but it had begun. Factories were being erected where the people would work most of their day making weapons and supplies for the military.
Danteri, soon, would be a full-fledged Slave State of The Kraven Corporation and would become part of the Supreme State.
It was only a matter of time before the Danteri army was crushed.


[OOC-Everyone, do not assume that your country suddenly knows about this.]

23Eris HQ, Southhaven

Colonel Papadakis accepted the Commandos offer of employment. Since Southhaven had been far from the lines of fighting and had ben spared most of the horrible devestation of the war, bandits were not the problem they seemd to be up north, though there were still a few groups.

Papadakis asked the commando group to help track down and eliminate the few remaining bandit groups that eluded the Danteri Auxileries and Erisian patrols. He also asked for the commandos to infiltrate the Red Army zone to monitor what was happening there, and to enter the Lexingtonian zone to help any civilians that wished to escape, to make their way to the Erisian zone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Colonel Papadakis
To: Montegrande

I am glad to hear that you intend to fully respect the righst of the people now finding themselves under your care. So long as your nation and the Red Army under your control continue to act in a non-threatening manner and do not abuse the civilians in your control, I forsee no potential for future conflict. While we disagee with your choices of governance, we remain primarily concerned for the welfare of the people.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erisian Zone, Southhaven

With the delays in relocation and the sheer number of refugees, the Erisian forces have begun re-opening schools that had been closed since the beginning of the war. With teachers found from among the Danteri populace, Erisian troops, and indeed some imported from 23Eris, and with books and computers brought from the homeland, the Danteri people were being given a chance at a truly modern education.

The Quarter, Millenium City, Danteria

Tha huntes waeron swarte and micele and lardlice,
and here hondes ealle swarte and bradegede and lardlice,
and hi ridone on swarte hors and on swarte bucces....

("Then the hunters were black and large and terrifying,
and their hounds were all black and broad-eyed and terrifying,
and they rode on black horses and black goats....")
- Peterborough Chronicle

The Melii were unsure...

They had arrived at the scene of the Hunt.

Melii aren't trained to be Polezei. People did what they were suppose to do most of the time, and the TRUE rogues were banished to the far interior. Where they would repent and join the Ancestors or curse their lot and at least feed some hungry animals.

The demons had possessed the poor foreign fools.
The People had every right to Justice. But...the Danterii did not seem to care for justice right now. They had tasted the blood of the enemy and were Mad. This mob was ugly. The Melii security forces called for Haraki and Neue Neue Deutschland for assistance. Then they considered utilizing the Water Guns and Pixie Swarms.

It took all of Gwendolyn's charm and prestige to convince them to stand down and to let the Order and the Monks try and calm the People down. All of the prestige, mystery, and goodwill that the Melii had so carefully cultivated was at stake.

The monks and Order dispersed throughout the Quarter and tried to keep the crowds occupied long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The Melii companies and the Order's warriors in full combat gear kept the crowd from overrunning the unarmed holy men and women. They provided just enough sanity for the Melii to try and reason with them.

Yes the bastards deserved to be ripped to pieces!!!! <The laughing and cheering grew.>
Yes, maybe they were demons. <it grew again>

But then again could they just have been mislead? The other lesser Paths were not always as clear and fluid as the Path.
One could easily take the wrong fork. <silence>
There was enough death already. <soft murmurs of agreement and disagreement>

Think damn you!!!

Did you want to fight? to kill? to destroy? <loud murmurs of agreement and disagreement>

They thought themselves wolves and hounds of the Hunt.
They would slay the demon possessed.
But were they going to destroy this safe nest too?
Were they going to slay themselves?
Were they useless chickens that frolicked in their own feces?

The enemy was all around them but they must first conquer their own INNER DEMONS. Did not the Prophet of Nazereth reprimand the demon possessed to NOT judge others before they judged themselves? <silence and a few cheers>

Give us the accused. We will judge them. You know Melii Mercy. You know too our Justice. Disperse...go home in peace. <The crowd were individuals again and now clustered in small groups. A few had noted the arrival of the vehicle mounted Water Guns, and several large, beautiful, and ethereal Pixies Swarms>

Obey or Die or Fight and Die. The choice was each of theirs to make. In death there was life.

DISPERSE!

The Pixies began broacasting a song to sooth the crowds. In a clear, huantingly beautiful, siren's voice, Gwendolyn started singing along to the popular foriegn ballad the "Riders in the Sky." Some in the crowd understood and joined in. It was appropriate, and seemed to be working. The Harii departed and left just the people.

Nevertheless, Gwendolyn did not breath freely until the Alliance re-enforcements arrived.

The Cult of the Second Coming Fled before the Mobs of Danterii...In the zones of Me Li control they were Hunted down and either captured or slaughtered, almost to the man. Several were saved by the Mercy of Melii forces. Few escaped. A few of the accused were acquitted and released. A few repented and were saved. Most would have preferred the Mob's tender embraces.

A Red Dawn
By order of Commander Moncada, the schools of the increasing held territory were reopened, to bring an equalitarian an excellent education to all the girls and boys in their territory. Also they planned to reopen soon the university in Dreil and create some more universities as well as technical schools to educate a good number of technical workers for the zone´s industrial needs. Also, he thought it would be wise that the Red Army would form a institutional government (in what they thought it was an institutional government: a communist dictatorship but with respect of the civil rights and that really cared about the populace under their control.)
More factories in Dreil started their construction, and the local authorities began holding painting and literature contests as well they contested the construction of Dreil´s People Council and the People´s Theater buildings (the buildings had to represent strength and colectivity) to rise the arts in the taken city.
It seemed the communist forces wished to transform Dreil in a communist stronghold, not only in military or economic matters, but also in communist values....
Telegram
From: Commander Moncada
To: Comrade General of the Red Army Sara Von Freiburg
Now we are starting to stablish a socialist regime in Southern Danteri, it is necessary for the Red Army (and the Communist Party) to form a real government, that would be located firstly in Dreil and then in Volksburg (when the construction is finished). It would consist in the people´s assemblies supervised by communist party agents for the local government, and the Central Commitee of the Communist Party as the central government. I want to talk to you privately as soon as possible to discuss this and other issues of the stablishment of the people´s republic. Long live the revolution.

The crowd was ugly - holding up Private Feldmann's mutilated body like a banner, they swarmed in the streets, halting behind a Me li barricade from fear at the sight of so many guns... but, they only stayed halted for a few moments before one of the soldiers, still holding his bolt-action rifle, stepped up onto a bit of rubble, and called out:
"Death to all foreign tyrants!" at that point, the entire crowd surged forward... and someone cried out:
"Death to Zukariaans!" with that, the real enemy named, the crowd halted, and began to look around with surprise at what they had been doing... the Me li reinforcements arrived at that point, and the crowd dispersed, leaving Feldmann's corpse behind.

- No one was injured in the near-riot, but it could have been a heck of a lot worse.

Sara Von Freiburg wore a plain, unmarked, version of the typical Danteri Red Army uniform, and wore a high quality Neue Neue Deutsch origin sidearm as well as an ornamental sabre... she had ordered men hung by the thousands, had filled pits with bodies, but she still looked like an angry student, one who should have been, at best, protesting outside a government building... not being allowed to run a government.
She had come to this room where the High Council of The Revolution met many times before, but this time... this time she came to surrender her sword and her office of Comrade Supreme Leader. She would still command the Red Army, and so would be a major "power behind the throne", but... from then on, the High Council of The Revolution would hold absolute governing power. With a grim step that looked as out of place as her gun and sword, she walked into the chamber of the High Council.

The High Council of The Revolution has been renamed. It will now be known as The Executive Commitee of The Danteri Communist Party - The Commitee for short.
Also, a Danteri Communist Party has officially been established, and membership is being given out. The Commitee has suggested that membership be a requirement for someone to hold a job other than farmer or factory worker...
Lastly, the Danteri Red Army is on the move - they're conducting a series of training excercises, the first time that they have done so without supervision from Montegrande... unless of course, Montegrande either orders them to stand down or sends observers...

The men had what they needed, and it weighed a heck of a lot. They struggled under its weight, but made good progress considering. They knew just where to bring it...

One thousand Danteri Auxiluaries shouted their loyalty to the new regime as one, presenting their rifles as they snapped to attention, resplendant in their fine black uniforms, black leather boots and belts shinning, pins and daggers shinning in the light. It was a stiring sight... these were the first real soldiers that Danteri had produced to enter service with the Zukariaan occupiers. From here, who knew where it would go?

- One thousand Danteri Auxiluaries have entered service with the Zukariaans.

"Damn," Neil said, gingerly touching Feldman's body with his booted foot. He looked around at the scene where the mob had been dispersed by Melii troops. "We need to do something about this. Damned religious cults are killing people, mobs are mutilating executed soldiers, and they all hate the Zukariaans. We need something to keep these people occupied. I'd suggest a football tournament, but ..." he trailed off, realizing that could actually work.

"In any case, the 23Erisian forces have a good idea reopening schools. However, since we don't know what the refugee teachers will know to teach, what their attitudes are and such, I'd like to combine their teachers with educators from SHAF, who will teach good stuff like 'women have rights', 'not having two dozen babies is a good thing' and 'contraceptives work'. If we get schools set up in undestroyed buildings, get teachers from the Danterian refugee force, we could have classes for adults taught by professors, and classes for children taught by teachers. Throw in a few SHAF educators to make sure they're not teaching anything too inappropriate, and we've suddenly got a way to keep a bunch of people occupied.

"What else? We can't set up shops, because they have no money. But how about a police force? We get some volunteer refugees, who will receive training in police techniques, be lightly armed - preferably no firearms - and try to keep the peace in here. It'll take a burden off our troops, and keep some people busy. Get some investigators on that religious cult, too. I want to know who's murdering refugees, and I want a proper trial set up. With a judge and a jury. Maybe even an executioner.

"And finally, eventually we're going to want some politicians to rise up from the refugees. But since we can't deal with every single one of the thiry million refugees, how about we have temporary elections to elect representatives for the people. We'll talk to them, they'll talk to the people they represent. It'll keep people feeling like they're involved, keep them busy for a little while, and give them some leaders who aren't Johnny Foreigner. Of course, there will be a lot of them, so how about we have an election per block of 100,000 people? That'll give us about three hundred-odd people to talk to, as opposed to thirty million. And while it seems a large number to organize elections in, I think it could be a good thing. We'd have a sort-of parliament, only with no parties. And it will give good credentials to people for when we organize real elections in here. They'll be able to say "I was District 4 representative" and if people liked him, they'll elect him again."

He nodded to the aide who had been taking it all down, and turned away to begin walking back to his jeep. "Yeah. Maybe tomorrow we'll start organizing sports. For today, these are the main orders of business: Set up schools, train a vounteer police force, and start an election campaign for representatives."

The commandos were skilled at their craft - they brought back the heads of six hundred bandits by the end of that same day. That was amazing... except, what was even more amazing was a simple fact: they hadn't taken a single cassualty in order to do it.
With grim satisfaction, they returned to the 23Erisian camp, where they pilled the heads into a heap, like some barbarian tribe after a succesful war... it was a horror, one that reminded the 23Erisians of the rumors that these commandos had commited atrocities while they fought against the Loyalists... it made one wonder.
After their return with the heads, they slunk off again, taking to the fields and seemingly vanishing, but saying that they would be back soon, with further trophies.

The idea of a vollenteer police force was greeted with a lot of support - many of the Loyalist-era Security Police had been acting as the law, but there had been some abuses of their power... the suggestion made by the refugees was to keep the good ones on with official support, allow them to deputize people they thought would do a good job, and to get rid of the bad ones.
As for the schools, the announcement of their schedualed opening was greeted with actual cheers - the only time that the Danterians had cheered foreigners since the initial Haraki intervention began. Amazingly, vollenteers even came forward, and offered to help rebuild and repair the buildings chosen for schools.
As for teachers, there were several profesors from the University of Easthaven - six specialized in Chemistry, four in Physics, two in dentistry, three in medicine and one in Danteri History. Other than that, there are plenty of former primary school teachers who would love to go back to work... the only problem is, many of them are insisting on seperate classes for boys and girls. They don't seem to mind what the girls will be taught, so long as their classes are seperate.

Montegrande´s troops Headquarters
Commander Moncada sent observers to the Red Army´s exercises (mostly because he didn´t want the soldiers to make any violation of civil rights.) As for the proposal that only members of the communist party would be allowed for many jobs, limited that motion only to beauraucracy (that was great part of the possible jobs in a communist regime) and as for teachers, non communist ones would be strictly supervised.
In the order of schools reopening, he ordered to enlist teachers that would pass a test for being accepted for the job, and also Montegrande´s educators (education was one of the specialities of the regime). For materials, they would use computers, books and other materials provided by Montegrande. Because of the sex equality policy of Montegrande, classes would be mixt, with exception of physical education (the Danterians weren´t prepared for that in that time and Moncada didn´t want to enrage religious rebels for such little things, although the communist offered protection for muslim families that wanted to live in the occupied zones...)

The Zukariaan patrol had been stalked for hours. They had chosen as their prey the single smallest patrol they could find that had at least one C.P. soldier in it. Once they had found their target, they had waited until it entered the right spot for an ambush... and then, they had struck.
The fighting was fierce, as their ambush was sprung: in front of the patrol, a camoflauged machinegun opened fire on the Zukariaans, while sixteen expert snipers fired their rifles, going for fatal shots... meanwhile, another twelve commandos threw fragmentation grenades into the little valley where they had launched their ambush, sending up collumns of mud as they blasted the very earth apart... as if the patrol needed more finishing, once the twelve had thrown four grenades each, in rapid succession, they came into position, and fired automatic rifles at the patrol, supported by the machinegun and the snipers... it was an expert ambush, but it wasn't enough against a C.P. soldier - they smashed him with rifle fire, but he still kept coming... he shot down three of their number... until the other nine all grabbed up RPG launchers, and hit him with all nine at once.

- A Zukariaan patrol near the 23Erisian border has been hit. The attackers were commandos, and used no 23Erisian gear or weapons, didn't show any sign that they had anything to do with the 23Erisians, and retreated not in the direction of 23Erisian lines.
- After inflicting unknown losses on the patrol, the Danterians retreated, having suffered five cassualties (one regular Zukariaan shot a machinegunner, the other four were inflicted by the C.P. elite).

OOC-I think it's rare, if not impossible, to find a patrol with only 1 Capitol Police. They always come in groups, as far as I know. It's fine, though.

This post is assuming that a large amount of the Danteri held captive would rather join the Kreigsmarines instead of work in factories.

IC:
As many as possible were being trained. Each and every one of them would go through a brutal three year training. They would obey. They were taught to.

Meanwhile, many groups of Capitol Police are doing sweeps of possible Danteri hold outs. It is unknown how many have been found.

The commandos took the body of the C.P., and ran. They headed for the border very indirectly, and made their way across. Once they were "safe and sound" in 23Erisian territory, they made their way, slowly and carefully as always, to the HQ, where they made a big production of presenting them the corpse as a "gift". They seemed hopeful that the 23Erisians might, with the aid of their supperior technology, decipher the secrets of the production of the C.P.s.

OOC-Just so you know; ain't gonna happen.

OOC: I figured, probably way further advanced than we're used to, but hey, it might be useful for something.

IC: 23Eris HQ, Southhaven

"Colonel, we had an independent Danteri patrol bring us a gift."

"What this time Major?"

"A Corporate Police corpse."

The Colonel blanched slightly and loked at the Major, "A what?"

"Corportate police Sir."

"Oh goddess, if the Zukes think we're involved..."

"They assured us that they left no evidence pointing to us. It is more likely they'll suspect Montegarde if they suspect any foreign involvement."

The Colonel considered for a moment. If he turned the body back over to the Zukes then they'd almost surely demand the culprits as well. If he took it and the Zukes found out... "Set up an emergency flight to 23Eris. Call it a high priority medical dispatch flight. The standard fighter escort and all that, I don't want this looking unusual. Maybe the scientists will find something useful in there."

As the major left, Colonel Papadakis slumped back in his chair and shook his head. This was all a slippery slope. First he had accepted the offer of employment of the commando forces. Killers all to a man. Still, better to keep them close where he could have at least some supervision over them. After all, if they worked for an enemy or turned against the Erisians, well, that would be bad, given just how effective they were. Now he was basially encouraging attacks on Zukariaa. In truth he approved of that, but he didn't wan his country sucked into a conflict with Kraven, not yet, and not without aid from some powerful allies.

{Zukariaan Danteri - Haraki Safe-Zone Border, 4:37 P.M.}

"The good ol' Erikandian stand-off," muttered Brigadier-Sergeant O'Kirqua as he watched a group Zukariaan soldiers through his binoculars. He focused in on the Capital Police. "Huge bastards, ain't they? Their armor looks heavier than our Clanker-Boys," 'Clanker-boys' being the colloquial for the Gwazzarian heavy infantry.

"They won't be invadin', aye?" Fritz, skin currently greener than a gobber, said. "Don't wanna mess with Haraki, from what I've been hearin',"

"Fine by me, the Safe-Zone has enough problems on its own," He focused the binoculars to an even further distance, and looked at a small encampment. "If things stay how they are, the Safe-Zone will become its own city-state eventually. If things between Kraven and Haraki ever break down, then..."

"Will we still be here when that happens?" Fritz asked as he adjusted the scope on his Mauser SP66. Normally only the police used low-capacity rifles like this, but Fritz didn't need many shots.

"By His Noodly Appendage, I sure as hell hope not," The Brigadier-Sergeant went back to looking at the Capital Police. And if we are, he thought, I'd like to know how to kill those bastards short of artillery fire.

--------------------------------

Back in the Safe-Zone:

A number of Gwazzarian engineers and medics have offered themselves to the Haraki as vocational instructors. Most are highly skilled mechanical engineers, a decent number of them have experience in architectural fields (that being a favorite thing of any typical Gwazzarian), and a few even have some kind of experience in actually teaching people. They're also not keen upon sex-segregated classes, naturally.

His Holiness's government were debating future Me Li policies in regard to the Danteri Civil war. It was going rather well all things considered. The only notable objections to the recommendations of the High Council Special Committee of Danteri came from the entrenched isolationist contigent from the Dominion of Victoria City.

First Minister El sat in silence as the Minister's fought it out. He was a firm believer in controlled chaos. Things would flow the way they ought to...well more or less.

"You are aware that the Foreign Devils are accusing us of kami-kakushi ?" asked the concerned limey Minister Gnosi Bright Plum of Victoria City?

"That many regard us as Jinn, Tengu, and all manner of lesser spirits. That many of the savages have perverted the Path and their own lesser Paths?" he continued with great concern cracking his usually forceful voice.

His allies on the Council were...forceful in their agreement that,
"this was not good for the Isles...that the Melii were insane. This consorting with savages would be the end not only of the Melii but of all the Isles. The Melii had enough ancient enemies. Yet that fool Vaya was doing his best to make us another.
The Isles could ill afford to offend the Harii, it had taken centuries before the dark ones had been banished to the interior. And now thanks to their meddling they were loose again."

The First Minister El gazed serenely throughout the entire tirade. He nodded to indicate that the concerns had been noted and that understanding had been made. He turned his mirrored gaze upon the Council and said but one word before departing. He had meditated upon it since well before the Melii entered the war as a non-combatant, and now he shared the kernal of his hard won efforts.

"The word you ask?,
The old grandfather grinned to the rapture of the assembled children...he did so enjoy the winter stories...time enough to relite his pipe and take a breather...it really did help out alot that breathing thing, he mused.
Better get on with it.

"Hubris."

"It was simply hubris, ninos."

Neil read through the reports. They'd received volunteers from the old Danterian police force for the new police, although also complaints from civilians and suggestiong to keep the good ones and toss the bad ones, which he agreed to. First order of business was to get the good ones and the new volunteers to the training centres. Of course, all volunteers would be accepted for now, but there was a priority: Good ex-police, then people with any training militarily or in dealing with people, then anyone with relevant experience or anyone with higher education, then everyone else. They were to be taken out to a place in the countryside where they would be trained by Harakian military police and a squad of regular police trainers from mainland Haraki. After two weeks of training for the good ex-police, they would be sent back, organized, well-equipped, and Haraki-backed. It would be a month-long course for everyone else, and for the second and further batches of trainees.

With regards to the people volunteering to help rebuild the school buildings, he made the following memo out:
'Combine volunteer labourers with Harakian construction crews, equipment, Gwazzarian engineers. Build good schools, Gwazzarian + Harakian (STURDY) architectural design, take your time. Don't want them collapsing on children.'

He had found two large, unharmed buildings that could be easily converted into university classrooms. They would be converted over the next week - mostly having walls knocked out and then plastered over, and having chairs and black/whiteboards put in - and then the Danterian professors, combined with the Gwazzarian teachers in medical, engineering, and architectural fields. These would be for adult students, and hopefully over time more courses could be added to expand upon those being offered currently. Debates about what to name the newly-founded 'university' began promptly.

As for the primary to high school teachers, he gave orders for those organizing the schools to try their best to convince those in favour of segregated classrooms. Any who could not be convinced would be given the smallest possible class sizes of only the sex they desired. All that could be convinced would be given larger classes, although all would be helped by Susa Humanitarian Aid Foundation workers. The schools would also provide a place for the children, weaker than the adults, to be fed properly and given any form of treatment they lacked, be it in the form of medical care or simply warm clothing. Given the vast amount of space that would be needed for the lower-level schools, they would take more time. The Harakian construction crews were working their hardest to get schools set up anywhere they could, but given the fact that nearly every useable building was occupied as a reufgee house, it would take more time to either relocate anyone who volunteered to give up their living space for schools, or to contruct new school buildings.

And Neil gave orders for the announcement of the new elections for 'Representatives', one for each district. Districts were assigned solely for the purpose of the election, and all of the populace inside the safe zones were divided up into districts, each of which contained approximately 100,000 people. From within that district, anyone who wanted to run for representative could. They would be given a month to campaign before the vote occured. Whichever candidate obtained the most votes would become the representative of they district, and the spokesperson/liaison between them and the international forces. It was a rudimentary form of politics, and one mostly designed as a placeholder until a more elaborate parliamentary system could be set up.

The NNDEF had been given the body - what was left of it, at any rate, and had burried it without ceremony in a swamp. They didn't like men like Fledmann, and were almost glad that he was gone.
Still, things could have been better. Sure, they had just been sent six mortars, the first "artillery" to be used by the Neue Neue Deutsch army since it became the Neue Neue Deutsch army, but still, they still had the distinct feeling that they were second, if not third, class soldiers, compared to the Haraki and Gwazzarians. The fact that it was true didn't help much.
Still, they had enough work to do - right now, they were being used almost as dock workers rather than as soldiers, unloading the crates from home, helping organize the lucky 2,600 refugees who would board and be allowed to leave for Neue Neue Deutschland.
It was hard work, but at least it made them feel like they were accomplishing something - that sort of feeling was rare enough since they had landed in Danteri.

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder was the senior Neue Neue Deutsch officer in the Haraki Safe-Zones, and she looked a little uneasy as she was approached Neil. She seemed unsure of protocol, seemed to wonder whether or not she should salute - in the end, since his force was most certainly the senior partner in any cooperative operation with the tiny Neue Neue Deutsch Army, she saluted, although by then she had unintentionally hesitated almost impolitely.
She was young for a captain - that was what the rank of hauptmann equated with - but, then again so were most of the NND soliders. She smilled, a disorderly action, that revealed the low levels of discipline in her units, then spoke:
"Hello, sir, uh," she hesitated, then continued, "well, my units have just recieved some heavy weapons. They aren't very well trained in their use, and so, we would like to request that our units recieve training from some of your men." she seemed a bit embarassed, but continued,
"I know we aren't that great at fighting, but my people have been trying. We were also wondering," she added on, so nervous at having to speak with him that it seemed almost annoying, "if you would like to unify our channels of communication? I mean, currently we have two different radio systems, which can lead to problems, as you saw when those bandits butchered First Companies Second Platoon." as she mentioned that, a bit of pain was visible in her eyes - four of her people were missing, and presumed to have been taken by the bandits. Still, even if she was annoyingly deferential, she was making an effort to be a good officer.

- The request and proposal made in this posts IC section have been made to General Neil.

The elections went pretty well - there was only one shooting, they caught the guy who did it, and the victim even was likely to live... all in all, a pretty good level of violence, much better than expected.
As for voter turn out, voter turn out was great - almost eighty percent of the Danterians who could vote showed up and did, and so that was good... the only problem was that the turn out was much higher with the male Danterians than with the women - there were rumors that some women who had tried to vote had been stopped by gangs and beaten, and others had just stayed home out of fear... still, the results were better than expected.

Millenium City, Danteri

<BLACK SHEEP PARTY flyer>
--------------------------------------------------------------
People of Danteri

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"- Benjamin Franklin
"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."- Bertrand de Jouvenel

WE WILL ARM, TRAIN, AND MOBILIZE YOU SHEEP PEOPLE. YOU WILL BECOME A TRUE WOLF PACK. THEN, TOGETHER WE SHALL GUT THE FORIEGN RUNNING DOGS.

AND FEAR NOT THE DEMONS--WE HAVE A FEW OF OUR OWN...WE WILL FREE THEM OF THEIR SLAVERY AS WELL. REVOLUTION! LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! LONG LIVE THE BLACK SHEEP!

DANTERI!!
-------------------------------------------------------------
:( Commander Vaya was having mixed feelings about the elections.

It was likely going to be a good election. Most of the people that could vote would probably do so. Projected turn out estimates that well over 85% of the eligable population will vote. Almost equal sexual distrubution and only minor scuffling at one voting-registration station.

Another fanatic of the Second Coming. When reason did not work to calm him AND when he threatened violence. They were forced to use a small Pixie Swarm on him. Unfortunately, the Pixies worked as designed and the idiot looked likely to live and die someother way.

The Melii were now one step closer to leaving these barbarian shores for the Isles. The Danterii in these Zones were not puppets...well they were less obvious sheep. In comparison to the other Herds of Danteri, they were downright free range kiwis.

What concerned him was the Black Sheep. They are likely to win most of the seats in the Me Li Zone. The remainder would likely be evenly split with the various Old Guards and the new People's Party aka Commies. The Hamster Lovers and Second Coming crazies were unlikely to recieve many votes in the 6th zone.

The Haraki had intended for a preliminary election and for a provisional government to be a stop-gap-stand-by measure until something else could be set up. It never works that way...the parties were already there. The old orders that had sparked this mess were still there. They changed names and fractured into multiple parties and such. Nevertheless, the old parties retained enough of a power base to capture some votes and few sizable seats all over the Allaince Zones.

That wasn't happening for the most part in the Me Li zones. They native devils had been infected with some of Melii's more virulent strains of MEMES. They were touched in the head or the heart depending on who you asked. The Black Sheep and Shining Path coalition carried most of the seats. AND While Vaya agreed with of the Black Sheeps' platforms, he had after-all helped design the Party in Xanadu, he couldn't help feeling unease. The infected Danterii took to Melii's traditions more seriously than the Melii.

:p He grinned. On the bright side, now that I've surrenderd to that old-peacock, the Grub will have to deal with them. The Black Sheep were very much channeling wolves.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Black Sheep election campaign speech>

The Black Sheep advocates the unequivacol policy of ONE DANTERI.
DANTERI Areas currently under OCCUPATION by ALL Imperialists must and shall be reunified in a Great Danteri. The Danterii will rule Danteri.
If necesary force will be applied to this goal. However the Black Sheep Party prefers peaceful reunification.

To our Comrade-Brothers in Occupied territories. We urge you to agitate for Reunification under a Federal system. The Regions of Danteri will retain significant autonomy. The Central Government will mind its own damn business except to provide for External threats. What ever is not given directly to any government belongs by right to the people. That being said, an armed and educated populace will NEVER submit to tryranny.

Throw down your Chains. Strike the Opressors when you can!!! Danteri is ours by Right and by Blood. We will spill what we must to keep it.

In closing We the People of Danteri leave you with the following thoughts.

"Those who will give up essential liberty
to secure a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

OOC: Me Li, first of all there were no parties in the election. It was anyone who could run was allowed to do so. Secondly, you don't get to dictate election results because it's Danteri's country, his politicians, and his people that did the voting.

Also, Danteri, there was supposed to be a month of campaigning before the actual vote...





Major-General Thomas Neil smiled at seeing the woman in front of him and how nervous she was simply talking to him. "Listen, Hauptmann, - Did I say that right? Hauptmann? - I'd be glad to. I hear you got, what? Six mortars? I'll get a mortar squad to show you how to use them properly, good techniques, good accuracy and good firing speed. About the communications, I'll see what I can do. If you're just using two channels, that's easy to fix, but if it's two whole different radio sets that aren't compatible, I don't know what I can do except to replace them all with a uniform set. Although if we do replace all your sets, we could replace them with Harakian ones and ship the old ones back to Neue Neue Deutschland. Maybe, I don't know, your police could use one of the radio sets and the military could use another. That way your troops here in Danteri would be on the same broadcast as Harakian troops and you could call for backup, artillery and close air support in a second.

"Speaking of which, since you're the senior NND officer here, I'd like to talk to you about better co-ordination between our forces. Since it's just you, me, Gwazzaria, and Me Li, and you represent the smallest portion of the allied forces while we represent the largest, I think our forces should have larger co-operation together, so stuff like the bandit ambush doesn't happen again - or at least that, if it does, we're better prepared. See, we have large artillery batteries deployed here, as well as naval and air support, and now an entire airmobile group. When shit happens, they blame me, whether it's our troops or not, so it's better for both of us if we can keep everybody alive.

"I don't think that came out as eloquently or as succinctly as I would have liked. Basically, better co-operation means better fighting on both our parts."

OOC:
Well...maybe i overstepped...sorry everybody.

BUT--just because there aren't SUPPOSE to be any parties doesn't mean that there AREN'T any.

LOOK at hamilton and jefferson USA. Difference of opinion. Washington's First Goodbye speech and Hello speech tried to get rid of dessention in the states after the USA's 2nd Republic. THE USA ISN"T SUPPOSE to HAVE PARTIES!!! They just sort of sprang up. Danteri HAD parties...they just sorta changed a bit.

As to the elections in MeLi areas...I just figured what I had thought ought would be logical...if it didn't turn out the way we wanted it we would have had to do something different...probably just let loose the Black Sheep on the rest of Danteria. <LOUD COUGH>

Here at least they are JUST a faction...heavily supported in our territories.
WE have set up the groundwork for them since the begining. Scroll back and you will see that our agents HAVE been leading up to this from the start. Me Li talks to Danteri...they knew about the flyer awhile back. Danteri didn't say no...they liked it. The Black Sheep are essentially a resurrected Democratic Front...with a few differences.

The Black sheep aren't designed to be PRO anyone but the Danteri. Danteri for Danteri Look back at our posts and of the others. Read in between the lines. Perhaps we were being too clever by far. It tends to come back and bite you in the arse.

We were sympathetic to the ideals the original Rebels represented.

The old Rebels didn't have their country carved up into little pocket states. If the Chinese, Poles, and the Persians didn't like being "the protected colony"or ällied state"...would the Danteri...

We are the tree falling, Danteri is still the god of this little anthill. I thought to give him another quiver to play with. If he doesn't like them he will attack and kill them all. Fair is fair. <shrug> we fight dirty, we fight to win...well mainly just for fun.:D
The Second Coming Cusaders...We think we got all of the bastards...then again <shrug>:D

You and most of the others seek to remake Danteri into your image. We seek to shape them as much as we can. If it will fuck with the bigger BEARs so be it. Bite back.

Again, I'm sorry if it was Left of me. But truthfully not very much sorry. We ONLY said Most---ie over Half... So assuming an equal distrution in the Haraki Allaince 6 zones about 1/12 minimum "to a mac of 1/6 of the 30 plus million in the Haraki Zones. This isn't enough to form a government. It is enough to press for reunification.

So a max of 5 million would vote for Nlack Sheep candidates in this election, out of the hundreds of millions of Danterii. It is currently a Tiny Party in comparison to the Commies in the south or anything otherwise out there.

:headbang: Yes its grassroots...hopefully they will take root. COMEON :D most of you want them to succed don't you?:p A rebirth of a Pax Pan-Danteri?...
Besides if there AREN'T ANY PARTIES and these are just citizens, then the number doesn't really matter anyway right? :p No toes stepped on at all eh???

The Black sheep are not Xenophobic per se...the Japonese word for foriegner is Gaijin...the chinese..well anyway they could be translated as foreign devils. How is running dog or Bitch so different from lapdog, quisling, collaborator, tool, toady or imperalist? Most of the big countries ARE acting like imperialist. Even communist Montegrande. The average Danterii wouldn't be blind to the fact that their country is a playpen of Titans.

A few might even be crazy enough to support the party...funny how alot of them seem to be in Me Li zones eh? They know the big bears are guarding the gate...most people are sane enough not to nip at the guards while the demons are still around. <shrug>

Yes, the whole derogotory namecalling, it sounds weird in english..lol...thats the funny part.

;) For Ignorant Foriegn Devils see also
http://www.waze.net/china/laowai.php

Zukariaany są piżdoryb! I Danteri są bardzo nie dobrze Faszysty!

OOC:
Well...maybe i overstepped...sorry everybody.

BUT--just because there aren't SUPPOSE to be any parties doesn't mean that there AREN'T any.

LOOK at hamilton and jefferson USA. Difference of opinion. Washington's First Goodbye speech and Hello speech tried to get rid of dessention in the states after the USA's 2nd Republic. THE USA ISN"T SUPPOSE to HAVE PARTIES!!! They just sort of sprang up. Danteri HAD parties...they just sorta changed a bit.

As to the elections in MeLi areas...I just figured what I had thought ought would be logical...if it didn't turn out the way we wanted it we would have had to do something different...probably just let loose the Black Sheep on the rest of Danteria.

Here at least they are JUST a faction...heavily supported in our territories.

You and most of the others seek to remake Danteri into your image. We seek to shape them as much as we can. If it will fuck with the bigger BEARs so be it. Bite back.

Again, I'm sorry if it was Left of me. But truthfully not very much sorry.

We think we got all of the bastards...then again <shrug>

OOC: If you had Me Li agents trying to create a pro-Me Li faction within the Danteri population, that would've been cool. What you did do was have it be a grassroots, xenophobic Danteri party. That's taking control of another's characters without permission, basically god-moding. If you want that kind of thing to happen, just telegram the person and suggest it next time.

Okay - you can attempt to create such a party, but it wouldn't get much support... most of the Danterians aren't stupid enough to not remember the whole thing with the Zukariaans sitting right across the line from them, with only the Haraki and their allies to keep them safe... so, you can try, but it won't have much success.

Krowow Liliowach - is that Polish? I think it is. Oh, look, I'm putting it into an internet translator. Look what comes out:
They are Zukariaany piżdoryb! And they are fascist very not well < goods (right) > Danteri!
Hmmm... couldn't you have said that in English? (whatever it actually means...)

The conditions were improving in the Haraki Safe-Zones, as the initial panic of having Zukariaans only a few miles away wore off. There have been a few near-incidents, but nothing really bad has happened since the Feldmann "riot", where the body was paraded.
Even the religious fanatics are being relatively quiet, doing nothing worse than put up some nasty posters and spray some graffiti...
(OOC: As for the stuff with the election, I meant that women were being prevented from registering to vote, that thing about the shooting was some idiot shooting someone at a registration sight and so on...)
As for candidates, several thousand have applied to run - amoungst them are about fifty members of The Cult of The Second Coming... none of them have been connected to any violence, of course, but they are from that organization...
All in all, things are looking up.

The Zukariaans have begun training their second load of Danteri Auxiluaries - this load isn't a "test batch" like the first thousand, it's a full load. They have currently something like fifty thousand soldiers in training.

As Kraven's hold in Zukariaan held territory became tighter, Danteri citizens were finished being sorted into their work groups. Large cities sprung up where the people would live.

OOC-I suggest you guys read this (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=480983&highlight=Norska) thread.

Citizens who wished to join the Kreigsmarines were aloud to do so. The 50,000 Danteri men that had signed up would go through very extensive training.

Meanwhile, sweeps throughout the territory were being done. Any hiding Danteri 'Thought Criminals' would be hunted down.

She smilled - it seemed that he got over her initial fears quickly enough, and spoke again:
"All right. I'm very thankful for your offers. As you've said, further cooperation would be great." she hesitated for a moment, and continued,
"I certainly am glad to hear you say that you will send our mortar teams some training assisstance, and will begin having the radio problem taking care of. You see," she continued, "we are using our own system, which can't directly interface with yours. Therefore, we have to have a radio-man with two sets somewhere whose job it is to radio your units with the information. That puts a massive and unneccesary time lag into any coordinated action, and so it would be better if we both used the same frequencies." she continued, "anyway, we can re-program the radios easily enough. All we want is for you to agree on us shifting to using your frequencies and so on." with a bit of hesitation, she added on a quick but telling comment,
"Anyway, even with the new Conservative Democratic Party Government, we're always short of funding for our military. That's why we need to coordinate so heavily," she smilled, continuing, "we don't have any fighters, heavy artillery, tanks or anything. That's one of the disadvantages in living in an avowedly pacifistic society." she grimaced at this last statement, and seemed almost to show a bit of a militaristic spirit that would have earned her swift recall for voicing politically incorrect opinions.
Neue Neue Deutschland might be a fiercly free democracy, but it still had issues with its past, when some horrible things had been done by its old governments.
As such, it has always, at least since it gained independance from its monstrous dictators, had an almost inate distrust for all things military. That was starting to change, of course, now that they were intervening in Danteri, but still, they were only just training another thousand men, and would have fewer than 200 soldiers in all for a good few months still.

- The following suggestions have been made. The radio changes will be made quickly, and the NNDEF soldiers will start training with their Haraki counter-parts.

The Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers patrolled in fire-teams of five, wearing what could charitably be described as "body armour", and was basically riot gear, four men carrying rifles, the other a short-range but deadly shot gun.
This particular patrol had been assigned to the particular region where there had been the highest number of reported cases of violence against women who were trying to register to vote, as part of an opperation that was officially just "A standard Security operation", accoarding to the orders from Neue Berlin, but that had been christened by the local commanders, who had actualy seen the results of the insane religious fundamentalist attacks, had given it a new name, which conveyed a bit of their disgust in their humorous choice: "Operation Scum Round-Up".
They had chosen that name because anyone who did the horrid things the cultists did could only be termed scum.
Right now, they were supposed to "show the flag" as it were, and keep the scumbags from acting too openly. However, there was a pattern in these seemingly standard patrols - they were slowly tightening a noose around a known center of activity for the Cult of the Second Coming. Soon, they would make a strike at that target, and then they would get a chance to hurt those murdering bastards.

The Executive Office was a wood-panneled, thick carpeted site of luxury, and its current occupant could not help but wish that he had acheived power during ordinary times, when he could have sat back in the sinfully comfortable chairs his office was furnished with, and let the country run itself. That was, of course, the way things had been for a long time before the Danteri intervention came along.
Now, he spent entierly too much time meeting with that drated Minister of Defence, Thomas Vessermann. Thomas Vessermann was, himself, an unusual Conservative Democratic Party politician. He was one of the few who didn't have a last name with a Von in it, and as such he didn't belong to that most ancient of "clubs", the old nobility. As such, some looked down on him. Most of those that did were in for a nasty suprise though, as he had a tendancy to be almost unnaturally good at whatever he tried to do.
The point was, the Danteri Intervention, or "The Danteri Occupation", as the opposition newspapers had taken to calling it, easily forgetting that it was their idea to get involved in the first place, was taking too much of his time. In the end, in spite of his natural distrust for anything remotely related to the military, he had had to give Vessermann more power than he would have liked.
In fact, he had been so hopeful that this post might prove the ruination of Vessermann, a potentially dangerous enemy within the party, but, instead Vessermann had gained popularity, using it to force through the Bundestag a series of increases to the military budget that almost made Von Neue Dresden wish the NNDEF had taken even more cassualties and so discredited Vessermann - now that fellow wanted artillery - what was next? An Air Force? A Navy? Didn't the man realize that such things were explicitly prohibited by the Treaty that had ended the last war?
With a start, Von Neue Dresden began to think - could it be that Vessermann wanted a return to the "bad old days" of militian expansionism? Could it be that he, with his low-born efficiency, wanted an end to democracy? Could it be that he, crawling up from the lowly muck of the working class, would use his growing popularity to force a return to dictatorship? He was even a religious man - everyone knew that meant that religious men were authoritarians by nature!
With a frighteningly light heart so full of fear, Chancellor Von Neue Dresden resigned himself - Vessermann must die. He would have to use some of the methods that previous Chancellors had used to such great effect to constrain militarist movements in the armed forces, he would have to invoce secret clauses in the hidden parts of the constitution that stated the secret powers of the Chancellor. Mind wrapped in thought, Von Neue Dresden pondered.

Neue Neue Deutschland National Cathedral
Thomas Vessermann, Minister of Defese for the new Conservative Democratic Party, knelt in the empty cathedral, hands clenched together in prayer. He had much to pray about - it gnawed at his bones every night, how he had sent so many Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers off to die in the mud of Danteri, so very far away. He firmly believed that something needed to be done about the horrid conditions in Danteri, but, he could never reconcile such thoughts with the grim reality of the many, many, dead of the Elsbeth, drowned before the enemy had a chance to fire at them, or the slaughtered dead of Second Companies First Platoon.
He prayed, with the total conviction of the True Believer for God, for it was God to him, not the god of the secularists, that he might have the strength to endure such losses. He thought of the leadership - all those old men, all those Vons, all but an aristocracy, though pretending at democracy. He loved his country almost as much as he loved his God, and it pained him to see it so governed.
That was why he had gone into politics - he wanted to change that, to get the Vons out, and let the people have a chance at being the government that was supposed to be for the people, for themselves.
He never saw the assassin, never saw the gun. He was, ironically enough, praying to his God to give Von Neue Dresden peace, as the assassins blade slammed home between his shoulders.
The next thing he knew, after a moment of red hot pain, was the cold of the flagstone flooring of the cathedral. It was so cold - he knew he was in shock, cut still, he found the strength to look up at the assassin, and to see the man with death in his eyes, with blank, inhuman eyes, and to whisper, almost imperceptably,
"I forgive you." and with that, Thomas Vessermann died, bleeding upon the cold flagstone flooring of the Neue Neue Deutsch National Cathedral, an assassins knife in his back.

The streets suddenly emptied of civilian by-standers - it looked almost like the fanatics had warned them, but that would just result in fewer innocents to get in the NNDEFs way...
The first attacker fired an RPG from a second floor window, firing at the NND patrol as it closed in... the cultists were trapped, but they were also armed, and although they were cornered... they fought like cornered rats.
There were about eighty of them, with automatic weapons, RPGs and bolt-action rifles. Mostly, they just had the old bolt-action rifles, but still...
In the end, all but four died fighting the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, inflicting an unknown number of cassualties on the enemy. Those four were taken, although three of them tried to commit suicide rather than be captured. NND cassualties are presumed to be light compared to those of the cultists, but still...

The campaigning is going well - other than the NND operation, there hasn't been any violence, beyond a few scuffles with no deaths or serious injuries. It seems that order, and the concept of the rule of law, are being restored.

LUKE: 10:9
'Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'

The two Warriors of the Order were attempting to shift the captured Crusaders unto a less violent path with words that the cultists might understand. They knew it was unlikely that they would truly succed. More likely than not the cultist would find rationalizations for their own twisted Path, rather than the true meanings. Nevertheless, the attempt would be made. They would try to show the mistaken that they were shirk and the Path illuminated the veils of their own illusions. Perhaps a few could be saved from themselves.

There is always Hope.

The man wore dirty, ragged clothing... just like almost every other refugee. He walked slowly forward, waved a greeting at the Haraki patrol... and then, as they walked forward, he cried something out in latin, ran forward a few steps... and then, he blew up. For the first time so far in Danteri, there has been a suicide bombing.

- A suicide bomber from The Cult of The Second Coming has attacked a Haraki patrol. Cassualties are unknown at this time.

The workers labored in the factories, the Danteri Auxiluaries drilled in the yard... all was well in this new province of the Kraven Empire... or so it seemed.
Suddenly, without warning, there was a sound like a shell bursting... and then, there was only death, as the Sarin did its job.

- An unknown party has attacked a Zukariaan Resettlement site with Sarin gas. Thirty thousand civilians and five thousand Danteri Auxiluary recruits have perished, along with an unknown number of Zukariaan soldiers.

The commandos had come back. No one was sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but... they were back. This time they came with the gear and heads of some three hundred bandits, which they pilled into a great heap near the camp they had come to twice before with other trophies. This time, they asked for a few things other than the basic food, water and medical supplies - they wanted Rocket Propelled Grenades, plus launchers... basically, they wanted exactly the sort of man-portable heavy weapons that could be used to bring down a C.P. elite fighter... it seemed they were getting ready for something... the only question was - would 23Eris supply them? (After all, bandit attacks were down eighty percent in 23Erisian territory since they arrived...)

The schools are open, the collective farms are planting their crops, even a few of the show-piece heavy industry sites were begining to open... it was a fine start to what many hoped would be a great new oppertunity for Danteri...
As for the bandits, many of them came down and surrendered, but others, the real monsters, who had looted, murdered and raped since the start of the war... they were still hiding, still raiding... it seemed that at least one major opperation would be required to wipe them out.

The first of the schools are open now, and the classes are starting. Most of the teachers could be convinced to accept intergrated classes. Also, for the first time ever, real, true, Danteri history was being taught, not censored and edited by Kings, Supreme Leaders or anyone else... it was a wonderful feeling, to see such progress being made.
Many of the children actually seemed to be looking forward to their schooling, and thousands of the adults, with no real work that needed to be done, had started taking the "University" classes being offered. It all looked just great... as for the secondary consideration, that of allowing needed resources to be distributed to the children, that was going well... although gangs had taken to robbing the children of whatever they were given to take home. That was starting to be a problem, although if guards were posted near the schools it would probably be taken care of...

New-Lexington has decided to open its borders for five days only to accept refugees from ANY nation.

The initial volley of RPGs and automatic weapons fire caught the NND soldiers unprepared - three of their number were hit, one lightly, two severly. In response, they opened fire themselves, firing automatic rifles in controlled bursts, hitting a few of the cultists.
Soon enough, it broke out into a running battle through the streets, as the cultists retreated toward their hide-out, laying ambushes and setting traps. It got bloody at times - two blocks away, one of the cultists got lucky with an RPG, and blasted a NND soldier to nothing but a fine red mist.
In the end, however, the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers made obvious the swift improvement they had been undergoing since their arrival in Danteri. They cut down the cultists like they were wheat before a scythe.
However, something unfortunate happened - that cultist, the one who killed a Neue Neue Deutsch soldier with an RPG, he was hit, and wounded, but he was one of those taken prisoner.
The soldier he had killed was one Maria-Rita Frislunder. She was one of the most popular of the soldiers, beloved by all her comrades. When she died, something uncivilized came out in the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers. They shot to kill with a far greater readiness than they had previously displayed, and, when they realized that the cultist who had killed her was wounded and had surrendered, when they realized that, they did something that really was too bad, that really mared an otherwise totally successful operation. They took him prisoner, and then, they shot him.

- Two Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers were killed, four wounded, of the wounded, one was critically wounded and lost a leg, the other three were lightly wounded and will recover fully.
- After they had won, and taken their four prisoners, they realized that one of the men they had captured was the one who had killed Frislunder, they shot him, while he was already hand-cuffed.
- The man who shot the prisoner, one Paul Eisner, a corporal, was turned over to the Haraki authorities for trial and sentencing, as part of the plan for further cooperation between the two forces, and also because any Neue Neue Deutsch court-martial drawn from the Danteri deployment would have immediatly released him, and that wouldn't have done to maintain Neue Neue Deutschlands reputation. So, for those reasons, Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder handed him over to the Haraki.
- As for evidence, Paul Eisner is on video telling the prisoner what a scum-bag he is (amoung other less polite things), then drawing his sidearm and shooting the prisoner in the head, one clean shot, execution style.

The Red Guard

Five thousand of the elite unit of Montegrande´s Army had finally arrived to Danteri. They were at least 180 centimeters of height and in their black uniforms looked cold and terrible. Even when Montegrandes were great soldiers, the men of the Elite Guard were farly superior. When the other units were extremely fanatic (and that was their sword of Damocles) the Red Guard was cold and rational in all their duties. Those men were suposed to defend the stronghold of Dreil and also hunt down the remaining bandits in the Archipellago. The half of them were deployed in dreil and the other half were intented to be protagonists of the operation planned for getting rid of the bandits once and for all.
The safe zones in the islands were marked with barbed wire and defended by Mointegrande and Red Army soldiers. As for the hills, they asked indigenous communists to teach deeply the Red Guard men and commandos deployed for the task about the terrain. Also APCs, and light tanks were supposed to find the bandit camps and then harass them with a few pieces of artillery transported by heavily armed convoys. Also planes were deployed to secure troops movements.....
Dreil
The people´s council palace and the Theatre´s constructions were beginning. As for culture support in Dreil, the communists held in the main square of the city a piece of theater. Firstly they presented a short native piece acted by poorly trained local actors and actresses, and then Mother Courage and Her children (Bertolt Brecht), acted by a theater company famous all around Montegrande. The play was supposed to teach the Dreil´s populace about the necesity of revolution. It was a nice play, secured by the powerful Red Guard and security technology, to avoid any unpleasant incident.
More factories (some of them of book publishing) and a lot of fortificated areas were beginning to be built in Dreil, in order to advance the plan of Montegrande´s government. As for Commander Moncada, he contacted the Red army Headquarters to get a meeting with General Sara Von Freiburg. Montegrande government wanted him to cool down her extremism, at least in which concerned civil rights(after all, in other themes Montegrande´s extremism was quite similar)...

23Eris HQ, Erisian Zone, Southhaven, Danteri

Papadakis looked over the document and mutely acceded to the request for munitions for the commandos. So long as they kept the bandits under control and did not cause trouble in the zone, he would rather work with them than against. The weapons were of the normal Erisian high quality, much like the ones that had been distributed amongst the Unified Danteri Army prior to the collapse of that government.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southhaven, Erisian Zone, Danteri

Alexander Roros looked over the scene at the military city that had sprung up around the Erisan docks. Thousands of refugees lived here in temporary housing and millions more lived in similar conditions. He had been charged with seeing to the needs of these displaced civilians and putting Southhaven back on its feet. The 7th Infantry divison, a reserve unit was placed under his control for aid in civilian develpment. In addition, dozens of construction firms now were working here in Danteri, using and paying for Danteri laborers to help build more permanent housing, and improve sanitary conditions. Already two large but simple buildings filled with flats had been constructed. They were small but had running water in each unit and were better than the other housing currently available. Other buildings like these were springing up all over around the docks, with warehouses already built out of sheetmetal over wooden frames, and many Danteri making wages assiting the unloading of supply ships.

While all this was going on inside the new city. Outside of it, Danteri had been hired to begin construction of railways, linking the city to ther points across Southhaven, as well as the expansion of several roadways leading north and south into full scale highways to allow for the quicker movement of goods and troops.

A few enterprising individuals had begun distilling liquor and someone had begun work on a brewery, which encouraged others to open a few taverns. Yesterday, the first commercial vessel not leased by the government had arrived in Southhaven, it carried liquor, fresh foodstuffs, especially fruits, and other items that could be considered luxuries. Enterprising individuals began to purchase these items and sell them in makeshift marketplaces at a profit. It looked as if commerce was making its first starts at a comeback in Southhaven, this time in Erisian Chaos.

While Alexander Roros overlooked all this he glanced back at his assistant. "We will call this city, Hermia," he stated thoughtfully. "Make a note and include it in our next dispatch. Oh, and make sure someone inspects those taverns, I don't want people going blind from drinking sheer poison."

467 Kreigsmarines died in the sarin gas attack, as well as 13 Officers. Luckily, not many men were needed to train the Danteri Auxilauries. No Capitol Police died. They were completely protected from the gas. In response to the attack, hundreds of squads of Capitol Police are sweeping the territory looking for those responsible.
At the same time, ZSUs were being set up within the training camps to make sure that no more attacks like that can get to them.

Neue Berlin - Secret Session of The Cabinet of the Chancellor
"What were you thinking?!?" screamed the Minister of Finance, almost unable to contain himself.
"What were you thinking? More like what were you drinking!" screeched the Minister of Police, an over weight old man who still found the energy to hammer on the oak-wood table with his fists.
The Chancellor remained silent, watching as his entire cabinet berrated him, calling him names, shrieking like the conspiracy theorists who had claimed he was behind the assassination. They were, of course, only more annoying for being right for once. Still, he had to listen to these idiots.
They kept on shouting, panicing. The Minister of Foreign Affairs finally made a point worth noting:
"The Secret Papers always gave the Chancellor the power to "remove threats to democracy by any means necessary", but no Chancellor has ever used those powers!" to that, the Chancellor couldn't help but reply, rather condecendingly:
"Well, maybe none of those other Chancellors had the moral strength to do what needed to be done." that brought the cabinets shouts to a screeching halt. He continued:
"You see, it's disgraceful, the way we've been building up military power. It's not like Kraven is going to attack us! Oh no, the only way we'll ever use all that nasty weaponry is in a return to imperialist conquest! There's just no way I could stand for that!" he stopped, feeling triumphant, knowing he had been rational.
Therefore, he was shocked when that arguement was met, not with agreement and concession, but loud, angry, cries of rage. The Minister of Police was the first to voice a coherent point:
"You'll have to resign! There's no way the party could endure a scandal of this magnitude!" to which the Chancellor smuggly replied:
"Which is why I don't have to resign." seeing their blank incomprehension, he continued,
"You see, I don't want to resign until our dear homeland has been demilitarized back to a sane level. I always was against even the token army, and now you see where it's gotten us? As such, I'm not resigning until the entire army is dissolved, and either absorbed into the police, or just let go. As for forcing me to resign - you can't. Since, as you've so elequently put it, the party couldn't stand such a scandal, I'm safely in power here until I want to go." with that, he sat back, a triumphant smile upon his face.
That smile vanished utterly as he heard the Minister of Police, a staunch Conservative Democrat to the core, a fat Von who knew how the system worked, speak:
"I can't believe I'm hearing this. Yes, the party can't stand it, but, I don't care. With enemies like Kraven about, I feel that the interests of the nation outweigh those of the individual." turning to his fellow Ministers, he continued,
"I hope you agree with me?" they all nodded, standing as one - the Minister of Finance, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Police, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Commerce, the new Minister of Defense. All of them, shoulder to shoulder, facing him with looks of disgust in their eyes.
He just nodded, grimly amused. They saw that, and the young new Minister of Commerce asked him,
"What are you going to do now? Murder each and every one of us?"
The Chancellor shook his head, that look of grim ammusement still on his face. He gave them a reply, too:
"No, I'm not going to murder you." he made a quick gesture then, before continuing:
"Actually, he is." at that, they all whirled around, and found themselves face to face with the blank eyed killer, the man with death in his eyes.

Later
The Chancellor grimmaced as the blood of his cabinet spattered the Executive Office - blood was hell to get out of the carpets, and this was just too close to the stuff for his own comfort. Still, it shocked him, that so many old, fat, Vons could be such "patriots", if one could call such misguided loyalty to an autocratic regime patriotism. Couldn't they see that he represented the last hope Neue Neue Deutschland had for a return to democracy?
With a shrug, he stepped carefully over the dead, and nodded to the killer. Such men had their uses after all, and this one, this one was exquisite. It took the Chancellor a moment before he could speak to the man with the bloody knives. When he could, he embraced him, then said to him, standing on top of the bloody remains of the murdered cabinet Ministers,
"Thank you, friend, for what you do in defense of sacred democracy."

- All NND Ministers have been replaced, and the old ones have retired from the public eye - for "health reasons".

TOMORROW
People kept talking about tomorrow;
So I asked them what it is.
They told me that tomorrow will be
When night is gone and dawn comes.
Anxiously waiting for a new day,
I slept through the night and
woke up to learn
that tomorrow was no more --
It was another today.

Friends,
There is no such a thing
As tomorrow.

-Dongju Yun-

As the Danteri artist finished her aria, the assembled Companions, Melii, limey, and Danterii audience almost forgot to clap. She had such a mournful voice. Nearly everyone's sympathetic nerve cells had fired...they could empathiclly FEEL the pain and sorrow of all Danteria. Perhaps, it was some spell. It was slow in fading, and when gone left an aching of some long lost love.

The Companions made a note to see that the young poetess visited the Enclave more often. She was good...very good. A young muse. The Companions would make her great. The Melii loved art.

It was a reading at the First Annual South Harbor, East Haven Art Fair sponsored by the Enclave. The artisans and word crafters of the Danterii came by the hundreds. Pamphlets by the Thousands were distributed. The revitalization of the Arts was one of Me Li's greatest concerns.

The greater powers could fight. They would defend the borders. Me Li would do her part in the defense, but her true passion was the people. Art was the soul of the people. True they needed substinence ands saftey to make merry and make things beautiful. Verily beauty is transient and empheral. But how can anyone argue against the sheer pleasure of that transient beauty. Its temporary nature does not detract from its beauty.

Me Li would tend to the Danteri soul...it was a strong one that would mend on its own if given time. This war was feritilizer for both the soil and the people's essence.

They are grafting some oulde memes into the Danteri psyche...maybe a few would take root. The Enclave shall guard what they can.

{OOC -- Apologies for my intrusion, but I was wondering if y'all had room for another...}

As the suicide bomber approached, the patrol simply carried on their way. It was only once his behaviour radically changed and he began screaming and running towards them that they reacted, and by then it was to late. They scattered, and several avoided injury by doing so. But still there were casualties. One soldier who did not react at all was right in front of the man, and was killed almost instantly. Another is in critical condition and will probably lose both his legs if he survives at all. Two more were badly wounded, with superficial injuries to one other. A few more were saved only by their kevlar armour.

In all, there were four real casualties, including one dead and one very close to it.


*


The schools were performing even better than Neil had hoped. They were keeping people occupied, so instead of rioting they were being educated, and it would give the Danterians skilled labourers for years to come. The only problem was that as the schools were also being used as a place to give free handouts to the children, they were being stolen from on their way home by organized gangs who didn't seem to realize they could get their own handouts by simply going to school.

As the first batch of police officers has finished their training, they are being dispatched to the safe zone cities to help maintain order. A large contingent of them is being sent to try and disperse the larger, older gangs, while the younger gangs are simply being encouraged to go to school themselves.

Neil has decided to implement another program for keeping people occupied and such. The farmers who are growing food are being paid. Currently it's mostly in the form of IOUs, but the Harakians are planning on instating a new currency, a modified form of Danterian Mark, tentatively titled the Dantmark. Teachers are also going to be paid, and the labourers who helped rebuild the school buildings are being paid for their time on that and are being asked if they want to stay in the construction business for the time being.

The new program is that they are going to be rebuilding the destroyed buildings and cities. Entire areas of some cities have been destroyed, and Harakian construction crews along with Gwazzarian architects, engineers, and Danterian labourers and workers are going to be rebuilding the buildings, building new ones so refugees can be mvoed out of their tents, and improving badly-designed buildings or those that are structurally instabile. It is a large, ambitious project, eventually designed to culminate in a complete overhaul of the look of the cities by rebuilding them all. Volunteers will be accepted, primarily those with prior construction experience or who worked to build the schools. This will keep a lot of people occupied as well as helping to get a rudimentary economy in place once the Dantmark is approved. It will also make the cities much nicer to live in, as buildings are rebuilt or improved. Over time, the large refugee camps outside the cities can be moved into the cities and the new housing projects that are being built, not only making them more secure but also more comfortable and improving quality of life and hygiene, and therefore life expectancy.

Things were actually going well now, Major Murphy thought. The Safe-Zone was making progress, even if Danteri looked like a sort of post-apocalyptic dystopian nightmare. The recent suicide bombing was worrisome, and he'd heard rumors about terrorism in the rest of Danteri against the Zukariaans (whom he didn't give a damn about). No one was tossing nukes around, though. He himself, too, was feeling far better - he'd actually re-opened his office window, and his smoking habits didn't resemble the Duke's any longer. Hopefully the Bellrosian observer wouldn't change his mood.

He and the Gwazzarian soldiers, though, were beginning to feel rather useless. Except for those who had begun helping in reconstruction (a very good portion, actually), there was little to do except patrol, repair APCs, ration helicopter fuel, and sit in bunkers wishing a couple Capital Police would appear to liven things.

The bandit problem, though, was been worried down to the point where it might be eliminated with one good, hard blow. Of course, Gwazzarians seemed to have a penchant for underestimating the length of conflicts...

-------------------------------------------------

To: Major-General Neil
From: Major Murphy

While technically I might not be required to, I'd like to request your permission before making a major sweep to begin finally clearing the country-side of bandits. I believe in cooperation as much as any good Gwazzarian foot-stomper (and since this would be our first real engagement since the first World War), so I figure your opinion on the matter is best heeded.

Our initial plan would be to send scouts into the area, in a larger radious than usual, for recon work (mostly to ensure we won't stumble accross some irritable Capital Police along the way). If there's nothing resembling fortification, we can simply have our boys in green and black do the job. Any big camps would also be susceptible to a quick bombing-run (with non-lethal gas, perhaps) by our helicopters. Our heavy infantry (clanker-boys) would also be more than a match for any bandits, if stealth wasn't an issue.

Of course, if you'd rather your men handle the whole thing on their own, we're happy to oblidge. We'd be even happier for a joint mission.

The police were doing their best - that much was obvious. That much was obvious from the sheer number of cassualties they were taking in the line of duty.
Here one of them was knifed after getting too nosy over a drug dealing operation, there one was shot while trying to prevent a robbery... in all, eighteen police officers have been killed in the two days since the Danteri Police Force was established.
That many cassualties is worriesome - more so since they imply that the Danterians were making enough progress to threaten the criminals...
In exchange for those eighteen dead, the other officers have seized some thirty tonnes of various prohibited substances, made ninety six arrests in relation to the drugs, shut down three major gangs with forty two arrests there, and solved nine homicides without needing to involve the Haraki authorities for anything other than the trials of the accused.
They've also cut down on the number of thefts by something like sixty percent, just by being there on the street-corners. The percentage of theft cases that get solved is still the same, but the actual numbers are down. The only problem, other than the deaths, is that, well, they have a tendancy to "take the law into their own hands" - there have been some sixty reports filed of cases of "police brutality" - however, when eighteen of their number are dead, those reports hardly seem so significant...

- 152 arrests have been made by the Danteri Police in all, the robbery rate is down almost sixty percent, and some thirty tonnes of prohibited substances have been seized.
- 18 Danteri Police officers have been killed, 13 with knives, 4 with guns (since most guns were collected before their owners entered the Safe-Zones, there are very few guns per refugee), and one who was kidnapped and tortured, before being killed with a blow to the head. (The men behind that last one are being angrily sought out by the poor victims colleges, but the work looks professional - it was likely done by a former Danteri Government Security man - it seems that a number of them are now working for criminal bosses...)
- Sixty four reports have been filed, protesting "Police Brutality" on the part of the Danteri Police. Most of the cases are fakes, criminals trying to get out of long sentances, but... one or two seem like genuine cases of force being over-used. In fact, one of the cases verges on torture...

The NNDEF was in a mood of mourning - not just because of their cassualties, but because they had just heard the news that Minister of Defence Thomas Vessermann had been killed. A few of the soldiers had actually wept - he had been like a father to them all, fighting for their sake when all the rest of the government seemed opposed to him.
It just didn't seem fair for him to be the one to die. Why couldn't it have been one of the fat Vons? (Although enough of those seemed to be dropping from some disease or other)
The Neue Neue Deutsch contingent had suffered cassualties, true, but still, they were recieving reinforcements. Or, at least they had been schedualed to. Suddenly, without warning, all the new recruits in training back in Neue Neue Deutschland had been released from service, many protesting loudly. For the first time ever, there had been riots in favor of expanding the military. However, the government just ignored them, calling all those who spoke for more military spending misguided fools and "tools of the oppressive old regime".
It was like something from a historical drama, with the people rioting, the police being ordered into the streets, buildings burning and all. It seemed almost unreal to the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers in Danteri, as though it was all happening so far away.
Still, patrols were kept up, guards were posted and drills conducted. Everything seemed to be getting better in Danteri, while at the same time it went to hell back home.
In fact, as an unexpected counter-point to the Danteri elections, for the first time since the end of the last war, there was talk of suspending the elections until "order was restored", or better yet, "the anti-democratic attitudes of the populace suppressed". Basiacally, it was almost down to the government saying that the populace had to agree with them or not be allowed to vote. That was especially bad considering Neue Neue Deutschland's long democratic tradition, it was like seeing a beloved dog turn on its owner, only more so - all of the soldiers felt personally betrayed by their government.

Sure, An t-Oilean Ur, you're welcome in... there's no reason why anyone should not join this RP...

[From: Major-General Thomas Neil]
[To: Major Murphy]

As much as I would like to involve our troops in this operation which I commend you and your troops for undertaking, most of my men are currently occupied in other places. However, what I can promise you is the HNS Safe Haven battle-carrier sitting offshore to give you naval support with both large guns and two dozen attack planes for close air support, and a detachment of a small number of self-propelled artillery guns to provide fast-firing precision artillery support should your men call on them.

As I said before, I'd love more involvement, but it might be good for your boys to get out and do something on their own, as well as the fact that most of my troops are occupied. So we'll act as supporting elements to the operation, with your permission, and your boys can feel pride in doing the hard work themselves.


Thomas Neil

"Allright, lads," Major Murphy looked over the assembled soldiers from atop his personal APC, all of them from the new assault-infantry division that had been created in response to Danteri. They sat around him in a hemispheric rabble - Murphy didn't really care about rank and file. "You get to bore future generations with your regiment names in history class, because you're going on the first out-of-country combat mission since 1917."

"I've no doubts you'll do fine as a group, though. You've all been through boot camp, and thanks to Old Otto," Major Murphy was making reference to Duke Otto IV, who in the early eighties decided Gwazzaria needed to be prepared for random invasion by the Irish fishermen that menaced their shore, "You're not running in green. Still, this is your first real combat. Some of you will die, but you'll be the first to go to Valhalla in ninety years."

He looked around the crowd of soldiers, who seemed more eager than anything else. People in Gwazzaria only joined the fighting wing of the military if they were already partially insane anyways. These ones, in light body armor and with BDT Ag-1 rifles, weren't likely to notice the first time they'd been shot.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Simultaneously, in the countryside, Brigadier-Sergeant O'Kirqua and Corporal Fritz were sliding through the underbrush like snakes, occasionally motioning messages to each other.

Fritz slipped up into a tree and a little later the long barrel of his rifle poked out of its leaves, the scope lens glistening in the gold evening light. He adjusted his view and let the crosshairs come to rest on a sentry outside the makeshift camp. "Ker-blammity," he whispered to himself, and looked over the rest of the encampment. It was surprisingly well camoflauged, in the dense forest, but some rather inappropriate desert camoflauge on a tent gave it away.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It was 3 a.m. when the first low thumps were heard - like a distant telephone book being dropped on a desk. A half-second later gas exploded from the canisters that dropped into the base (non-lethal, but it left you with a nasty headache when you woke up). Gas canisters continued firing from the hills surrounding the bandit camp - half of them bouncing off trees on their way their. A loudspeaker demanded, in the Gwazzarian accent of English, a surrender of the bandits.
--------------------------------------------------------------



- About a hundred Gwazzarian soldiers have begun a siege on a bandit camp, firing in gas grenades from stationary launchers. More scouts are searching through the country-side, seeking out other bandit camps for attack (and trying to avoid Zukariaan forces).


((OOC: Hope it was okay of me to make up a bandit camp, I don't know if you have a specific set-up in mind for them.))

OOC: "There is a gaint Japanese Buddhal at Kamakura."

Buddha at Kamakura 1892
by Rudyard Kipling

O ye who tread the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!
...
But when the morning prayer is prayed,
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?


His Holiness "the Laughing One" Me XXXII, was excited. The prelimanary Great Reconstruction Plan for the Alpha Zone had been forwarded to the Allies for comments. He was hopeful that they would approve of the Melii's Project Garuda.

Melii planners had laid the basic outline of the soon to be Rebuilt City as a great metropolis. The architects and metro-planners had thought BIG and small. The City Centre would be the primary focal hub point with large builavards leading to secondary Parcs, forums, squares, and markets. The multi-nodal plan was inspired by the French continental radial system.

At key intersections their would be a focal Landmark plazas and nearby small parcs. There was already two great parks that would be intergrated into the design as well as plans for a zoo and aquarium. They would have to wait like most of the plan. Still the Plan had a sense of dreamy grandeur.

Green Spaces would be established along all creeks and canal quays to provide shade and aesthetics. The derelict buildings, if possible will be rehabilitated. A Vieux Ville would be retained for culture and history. Museums of Art, History, and Sciences are planed to dot the city. They would compete with the projected churches, monastaries, synagagues, temples, and mosques that the Melii had alloted. First come first serve for the sites.

The outlaying wasteland would undergo reconstruction by Danteri and various Allaince teams. All pertenent building codes would need to be coordinated with the local Danteri government.

Gwazarri and Haraki civil engineer assistance would probably speed up the reconstruction significant;y and letters had already been sent appraising them of the plans. Electricity was still touch and go. The water and sanitation would probably benifit from the refit.

His favorite jewel for the City was the Red Wheel University. It would occupy the current DMRWE Alpha Base. The Facilities of the Former University had been patched up fairly well. Nevertheless, the Isles had approved a massive grant to expand the University. Since the Haraki and Gwazarri seemed intent on developing a basic primary schools and a Techinical and Engineering University, the Melii will develop an Advanced Liberal Arts University.

RWU will concentrate on areas that the Allies were not focusing and the Melii liked anyway. Economics, Politics, History, Psychology, Philosophy, Art, Drama, Film. The University will contain a Law School as well as a School of Medicine. Ancestors knows the Danteri need both of those more immediately than the others but if just those were implemented...it would lack symentry and Flair. That wouldn't do at all.

A seperate Scientific University would still probably need in addition to the two allaince University: To deal with bubble subjects in more detail: Mathmatics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Sociology, etc...

Another advanced school would be the RWU Theological Semanary, the Danterivarna Institute, run by Melii yamabushi tengu monks. They would teach the novices the skills they would need to lead people to the Path and protect those that chose lesser Paths from the mistaken ones. AS much as he hated the perversions of spirituality by the shirk and detested using violence to defend against violence, his hand was on the plow. It was steady and Me Li will plow the fields.

With the exception of the Theology school, all courses were to be taught by teachers selected by the University Board which was to be composed of Allied states and native Danteri. Each ally would have one seat, Me Li would have two and the Danteri would have three. This arrangement would be revised after the University was handed back to a United Danteri.

Melii wanted to be sure the government could support the University before handing it back. The government must meet the following conditions. 1. Have three successfully national democratic elections. 2. Ten-years after all foriegn hostilities have ceased. 3. Be able to maintain the University's funding
ooc:oops I forgot 4.5 lol

ic:
His Holiness frown...He couldn't remember for the life of him if he actually ASKED for help. No matter, El and Gaiji would take care of it when they got back from...where did they go off to? Inspect something for NND. No matter.

The City would with peace, eventually rival Xanadu in splendor and Victoria City in finance. It was almost ideally suited to be a trade transshipment hub for the Divided Danteri. If preliminary analysii are correct, they might be able to see to the City becoming a Free Port, in the mould of Singapore, Danzig, or Hong Kong. A small and extremely useful city-state.

Me Li and the Isles would have a strong ally in this region and the demons would be far far away. Silly demons, why waste so many for so few gains?" he mused.

"On the safe side he probably should deploy the carrier group HHS Tengou and notify it to prep its auxillary Thor systems. Some 70 Hammers will be moved to re-enforce the Haraki HNS Safe Haven and protect the City Zone.

It never hurts to be prepared."

from: Viscount Ralph Von Hopper Undersecretary of the Ottoman and the Settee
To : Gwazzarian Military Command, Cloudspine Tower

My Dear friends,

Thank you for allowing us to send a military observer to view ongoing operations in Danteri. His Nibs Government is most concerned by the situation, and wishes to gain a more personal impression of the situation on the ground.

We are sending Major Cesar Calderon of His Nibs Life-Guard Hussars. He is currently military attache in Cloudspire, so it should not be a terrible hardship for him to find passage to Danteri with relief supplies.

For His Nibs Grand Duke Hansi Von Herzsprung-Russel I remain,
Viscount Ralph Von Hopper, Undersecretary of the Ottoman and the Settee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cesar stepped onto the tarmac carrying a standard issue field pack with what he'd believed he would need for a one week Field Training Exercise. He'd heard something of the situation in Danteri, and Cesar believed in travelling light when possible. Now, if he could just find his escor-ah that sergant must be it!

"Major Calderon? Sergant Libowitz" The Sergent saluted Cesar. The casual salute reminded him of the way his Jaegers would treat him, before his latest promotion.

"Good evening Sergent" Cesar returned the salute with an equally casual air. "I guess everyone expected me to turn up in full dress uniform. I decided that I hand't worn my field-greys recently enough". Cesar was glad for the subdued grey uniform. Its digitally-pixillated splotches of greys and blues worked equally well in urban and country environments. And the cover was more practical than the bearskin shako that was Cesar's dress headgear...

"A wise choice, sir. We haven't had trouble today, but..."

"I suppose there's a billet for me?" Cesar asked. The sergant nodded. "Let's get going. I'll need some sleep, and tomorrow will probably be busy. Could I possibly meet with Major Murphy tomorrow?"

"No, he's out on an operation right now, Sir. I'll let you know when he gets back."

"Then let's go. I could use some food. Is the canteen open?"
Cesar followed the Sergent to the Gwazzarian jeep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Bellrose

OOC: Gwazzaria, there are so many bandit camps out there that it would be hard not to find one. Therefore, it's fine for you to "make one up"

The bandits were mostly starving wretches, many armed only with ancient bolt-action rifles, but they fought with the terrified desperation of men who knew that all that waited for them were nooses.
These men might look pitiful, but they had murdered and tortured refugees without remorse... and so, they are hardly deserving of mercy.

- Eighty bandits were in the camp. Fifty seven were taken alive - mostly because they were knocked out by the gas. The other twenty three bandits fought to the death, their archaic bolt-action rifles against Gwazzarian automatics.
- After the fighting, three civilian prisoners were rescued from the camp. These prisoners had been common refugees, but were taken by the bandits. All three look to have been severly tortured.

The Haraki Safe-Zone errupted into vioence as cultists from the Cult of The Second Coming threw themselves into an all-out attack. This "offensive" consisted of three more suicide bombings, two targeting Haraki soldiers and one targeting aid workers. Also, a car-bombing occured, targeting the Neue Neue Deutsch contingent, and some two hundred men with mostly improvised weapons, and a few Danteri-made guns, formed an angry mob near a Danteri Police station. They attacked the Police base, but were repelled with 137 cassualties when the Danteri Police revealed that they also had apparently stock-piled arms - they had a number of automatic rifles, plus one heavy machine gun.

- Eight Danteri Police officers died during the riots.
- 146 cultists were killed (counting the three suicide bombers, the car-bomber and one angry teen-ager who threw rocks at some Danteri Police).
- 214 civilians were killed.

Lastly, something to be considered - this effort appears to have been a major drain on their resources - even if there are always more angry young men, there isn't an unlimited supply of fire arms in the Safe-Zone - the security perimiter saw to that. (in fact, it's estimated that there are only something like 400 illegal weapons in the Safe-Zone - that's ten for every million refugees, with another two coming in every week). It actually seems possible that every weapon could be found...

The Red Army has made some advances against the archipelago bandits, killing over 2,000 and capturing around half that many. Several major camps have been destroyed, and resistance is supposed to be extremely heavy. Once again, the bandits fight with the hopeless courage of those who know that only a gallows await them if they surrender...
Additionally, 572 prisoners have been rescued from the bandits. These poor individuals were treated extremely poorly, and several look likely to die before too long. However, the fact that these people have been rescued is enough to earn the Montegrandeans a whole lot of gratitude from the people of the Archapelago.

Meanwhile, on the mainland, some 1,500 bandits have taken advantage of the amnesty offer and turned over their weapons, while another 1,000 or so have been killed, and a few hundred (About 300) captured. Additionally, some bandits appear to be trying to earn themselves lighter sentances by releasing their prisoners - they have released about 3,500 people, all of whom are in poor condition, many of whom have been tortured.

OOC:I need something to work with. What's happening with my sweeps for Danteri hide-outs and such?

The Danteri men that were being trained were being trained hard. They had made very good time, seeing that nearly all of them had been in the Danteri army at some time ore another. They had basic training and were being taught to respect Kraven. They would be Kreigsmarines very soon. The first actual army of Kraven-Danteri.

With things moving well along in the Erisian zone, the arrival of a new infantry division, and the threat of external attack on the area growing smaller, the First Armored Division was being sent back to 23Eris. Many of the men and women of the division were happy to be returning to their homes, while others were saddened, wishing they had been able to do more for the Danteri. Still, with the mission changing from defense against outside enemies to policing the zone, an armored division seemed unnecessary and rather expensive.

In other news, The Erisian military began distributing its Modern Combat System to infantry divisions active in Danteri. (see here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10860353&postcount=8) for details) Modifications had been made to the system including full body armor inserts based on the newly developed M5 fibre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M5_fiber).
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alexander Roros smiled approvingly as he watched the First Armored load up on the vessels that would return it to 23Eris. He had little use for the military, and he would like to see its role in the zone reduced even further. Despite the disappearance of the tank division, the overall number of troops remained the same, but now they were primarily infantry divisions.

Turning back to his desk he looked down on the plans to build a new, utterly modern hospital in the city. If he approved it, this would rival even the best hospitals back home. He considered for a moment, it would be expensive and he could divide the funds up on other projects, but a good health system would help keep the Danteri happy, and healthy. He leaned down and applied his signature to the papers. The construction would begin within a few days.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Papadakis glanced at the reports of problems in the Haraki zone with some alarm. Granted the violence hadn't spread south tho their area, but he could never be sure of when it might. Thankfully, southhaven hadn't been as ravaged as the north, and with the Danteri Commando force helping to patrol the area, problems had been kept to a minimum. He paused at that thought, the Commandos. He had supplied them with the requested weaponry, but what were they planning to do with it?

With a loud sigh he hoped that his decision wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. That would be all he needed, now that Roros was here already clamoring about military overinvolvement in the sector. Without his troops half the people would have died for lack of medicine, food, and shelter. He didn't like Roros and the feeling was mutual. He just hoped he didn't give his rival additional fuel to use against him.

The patrols found more than they bargained for - some ten thousand bandits boiled out of the hills, where they had been lying low, and made their way straight towards the Haraki Safe-Zone at a least-time route... which will just happen to send them right through a full division of Zukariaan-trained Danteri Auxiluaries. It looks like they're going to get their first taste of combat...

Other than that, things are going well - a few cells of the "Democratic Underground" are still operational, but they can't really do anything, and the plans to rebuild Zukariaan-occupied Danteri into a Kraven Slave-State are preceeding as planned.

The Commandos were stealthy killers - they could sneak in and out of the 23Erisian lines without breaking a sweat, and the Zukariaan lines... well, the Zukariaan lines were a challenge, but any challenge could be met.
Right now, they were conducting a little sneak raid - they had scouted extensively, and found a relatively unguarded supple site that was being used by some Danteri Auxiluaries who had finished their training and were now being used along the border.
They struck quickly - the Danteri Auxiluaries were better trained and equipped than any enemy they had had the misfortune of going up against short of the Zukariaans themselves. As such, the two companies of guards lasted for almost a full minute - quite impressive really. Once they had slaughtered the guards, taking fifty eight cassualties for 300 enemy dead, they quickly left signs that it had been a "Democratic Underground" operation... and then, set a bomb on the fuel storage...

- 300 Danteri Auxiluaries were lost, along with an unknown number of C.P. "advisors".
- 58 Commandos were lost in the strike - this is more than were lost in any single opperation in the war so far...

OOC: Zukariaa - I hope this is OK with you - they are targeting a Danteri Auxiluary force... I'm also assuming there were only ten or twenty C.P.s there, or the cassualties would have been higher. (Remember - this is the first time they've had a stand-up fight with the C.P.)

As the rubble is sorted through and the wounded tended to, a few things remain for consideration about this entire affair:

- Firstly, the Danteri Police have proved to have illegally stockpiled weapons, including at least one heavy machine gun,
- Secondly, the Cult of The Second Coming got a lot of guns into the Safe-Zone, especially considering that they weren't really established until much later than most groups... where are they getting those weapons from?

The Danteri Police, illegally stockpiled weapons aside, have been doing a great job. The secret to their success isn't great equipment or good training - the Haraki have them beat hands-down on both of those.
The secret to their success is that they are trusted by the people, and so witnessess and informants are more likely to come forward. Plus, from their mere existence, a feeling of "law and order" has been restored to the refugee camps - not just Haraki military law, but Danteri law, enforced by Danterians.
Aside from the 26 dead Danteri Police officers in the first three days that the force has existed, things are going well for them.

- While major breakthroughs (such as those three tonnes of drugs they seized...) are no longer coming, the Danteri Police have continued to prove themselves to be trustworthy and dependable - they really do have the best interests of their people at heart.

The soldiers performing the sweep kept pushing the huge bandit group against the fronts of the Danteri Kreigsmarines. They planned to squeeze them in between the two forces and destroy them.

-9 Capitol Police were killed in the Commando attack.
-Because of the attack, borders have been strengthened.

It is reported that all of Danteri from the Kraven-Held east coast to former Danteri City has been changed. Huge towering cities fot the country-side.

OOC:I would write more, but I can't think of very much.

The first classes have started to achieve a rhythm, while gang violence is down - the youth gangs have started going to school while the adult gangs have moved to new grounds - or been disbanded by the new law-and-order efforts being made. All in all, things are looking up as far as the schools are concerned... although, some of the refugees are showing their Danteri conservatism by actively discouraging female students from going into the sciences. That's a minor problem however - it seems that all the major problems with the school system have been delt with.

The car bomb caught the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers unprepared - four of them had been standing guard at the entrance to the NNDEF barracks when the car came roaring in.
They fired their rifles at it, apparently, but it succeded in its mission - three of the four Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers were killed, the other wounded so severly that he is being sent back to Neue Neue Deutschland.

- The riots left three NND soldiers dead and one severly injured.

Lexitonian Safe Zone
Only 47 refugees have entered New-Lexington territory and New-Lexington officials are puzzled at this. Refugees flock to Harakian safe-zones but seem frightened of New-Lexington ones...

23Eris Zone, Southhaven, Danteri

Colonel Papdakis examined the latest request. He could answer it, but honestly, now he was concerned mainly with matters military. This joint leadership was becoming a jumble, and it was even more confusing to those who made the requests. Civilian matters were being turned over to Alexander Roros and the new Danteri Development Agency.

Papadakis stood and streteched, enjoying the feel of the little poppings that ran up his spine. Goddess, how long had he been sitting? Looking out the window he could see the sun was just beginning to set behind the dozens of ships in the harbor. Several of which were moving equipment of the First Armored. He would miss those troops, they were one of his country's best units and had a massive amount of firepower, still, the threat of war was seriously reduced. Kraven and its allies were busy elsewhere, New-Lexington was involved at home, and Montegrande didn't seem like a seious threat to his troops. His own country had imposed a peace on Sparta and was returning trops from that brief war back home.

Turning back to his desk he grinned mischeviously. Screw it, he thought, to hell with Roros and his jurisdictions. He sat down and quickly began to compose a series of orders.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, the first of a trio of cargo planes touched down in Hermia. The planes were filled with letters and packages from the families of refugees that had made it 23Eris and were concerned about those that remained in Danteri. The letters were escorted by a detachment of troops from the 3rd Infantry to a large warehouse where troops began to sort through them, comparing names to residency lists and placing the letters in appropriate bins.

Unfortunately the largest collection of bins were those marked 'unknown'. Still, the announcement of regular postal deliveries was sure to be enthusiastically recieved. The one person who did not appreciate the announcement was Alexander Roros, kept in the dark until the plan was made public. He immediatly protested to the 23Eris government and was rebuffed saying the mail delivery was a sensitive matter and required military supervision to ensure the safety of deliveries.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Colonel Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
To: Commander Locke, Commander Haraki-Safe Zone; Commander Moncada, Montegrande Zone; Commander, New-Lexington Zone
Re: Postal Exchange

23Eris has begun a regular postal service from our homeland into the zone of Danteri currently under our protection. We have literally thousands of letters from Danteri who have sought refuge in our nation to friends and family still in Danteri. While some must have perished in the terrible conflict which consumed the nation, I am sure that many are still alive. If possible, we would like to set up a postal exchange system between our zones to help locate and deliver these letters.

If acceptable, we would also like to establish a regular postal exhange between our zones, so that those dislocated to one zone or another can find friends and family and communicate with them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Alexander Roros, Danteri Development Agency
To: Commander, Haraki Safe Zone
Re: Greetings

Greetings Commander, I send you this note to introduce myself in the hopes of ensuring friendly relations for the future. I have been appointed Civilian Administrator for the Erisian Zone in Danteri. I have been appointed to oversee the reconstruction tasks necessary to house the millions of people displaced by this conflict.

Along those lines, I would like to send an observation team to your safe-zone to take notes on what your forces have been doing, in order to improve our own reconstruction efforts. We of course would be happy to host visitors from your own zone.

Thank you.

The campaign of whiping out the bandits from Montegrande controlled territory was going well. the released and rescued prisoners were sent to hospitals to evaluate their state and their survival chances. When the case was grave but had moderate chances of survival, the doctors suggested them to go to Montegrande´s hospitals (absolutely free for the prisoners.) If the prisoners had a very high chance of death, a death in dignity and basic commodities was to assure.
About the captured bandits, they risked sentences between 10 and 30 years in prison(and forced labor in humanitarian conditions. If the prisoner was proved responsible for torture or rapes was sentenced to death). As for the bandits who released prisoners, the expected sentence was between 3 and 5 years(unless it could be exactly proved the bandit was responsible for the tortures and another atrocities in which case the sentence rised to an average of 10 years, but in good humanitarian conditions and protected of any possible Danterian mob that would like to kill them). Any way, when the bandits finished their sentences they would be strictly vigilated by the communist government and the guarantees for bandits as well as the operations followed to defeat them were a good propaganda for the Montegrandeans, because law and order was being enforced and an important ammount of prisoners was rescued or released in a very short time (and the montegrandeans inmediatly took care of the ill prisoners.) 54 members of the Red Guard, 145 commandos and 786 montegrandean or red army´s regulars have perished so far.
The new disposals of Commander Moncada included the creation of 3 technical schools (one in the Archipellago and two in the other territories) to have technicians for the new factories. Technicians from Montegrande arrived to teach the Danterian future technicians, but the construction of the facilities would tard a bit. Also, it was contemplated the construction of a railway as well of the improvement of the roads all around the occupied territory as well as ferry services between Wlateswja and the Archipellago. Also, the plans for reopening in a future the university in Dreil were ready to start. In another educational concern, the montegrandeans offered promisory students fully paid scholarships in Montegrandean universities (75 in sciences, 45 in humanities, laws and economy and 30 in arts). It was a very limited number of scholarships and the tests would be tough. However, 150 students would have a great chance of superation at the end of the academic year.
From: Commander Moncada, Montegrandean Army in Danteri
To: Colonel Papadakis
Greetings, Colonel. we have thought and exposed the Commitee your proposal and we agree that a system of postal exchange would be likely to imrpove moral conditions of danterians. However, we think it has to begin limited and with strict security control (even when it´s expected some moderated damage to privacy for that), mostly to avoid any possible risk in this postal exchange. (remember there still exist in Danteri terrorist organization and they could infiltrate dangerous objects in the mail even in our territory. You have only to look the situation in East haven safe zones with the cult of second coming). The postal offices in the Red Army territory will be built by us and we shall run them, of course.

The new cabinet had proven to be almost as much trouble as the first. When he had realized that they didn't share his wonderfully enlightened views, the Chancellor had decided not to reveal to them the true extent of government involvement in the death of Minister Vessermann. After all, they could hardly replace this lot without concerns being raised, could they?
And then, then there was the matter of the Danteri intervention. Through some clever manipulation, he had been able to dely, in fact to almost halt, the delivery of ammunition to the Expeditionary Force.
As for the loads of refugees being brought into Neue Neue Deutschland every two weeks, when the four freighters and the cruise ship made their return trip with refugees, he would continue to allow those - after all, it wasn't the fault of the people that their government was mad, was it? He would try to save as many as he could from that militarized hell-hole, but, there was a problem - some of the alarmists had been complaining about the risks of infiltration, or of having criminals flee to Neue Neue Deutschland. Of course, those concerns had come from Hauptmann Rhurlunder - how could the words of a woman who had had someone turned over to a blood thirsty mob be trusted?
Sure, there had been the "confession", but he was inclined to doubt it - the only witnessess were Rhurlunder and two enlisted men, and he knew how the soldiers stuck together. Heck, he thought, if she wasn't a woman, I'd wonder if she commited the crime and had him killed to cover it up. It was just, he didn't trust the military.
Sighing, he came out of his thoughts, and prepared to deal with another session of the Bundestag, another session trying to get the imperialistic lunatics in favor of a larger military budget to back down.
As he left his chambers, he couldn't help but think that it would be a whole lot easier to prevent the rise of militarism if the militarists didn't have the overwhelming support of the masses.
Still, democracy would be preserved, whatever the foolish masses thought.

The wreakage from the car bombing was still there at the entrance to the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force compound. They had set up a sand-bagged road-block with machine-guns after that, on both sides of the street - there would never be another repeat of the car bombing.
Still, Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder couldn't help but wish that every thing was well back home - the last she had heard, before communications were cut off, was that the dock-workers in Neue Bremen had gone on strike, saying that the next ship they serviced would have to be one heading to Danteri with new troops. It was an unusual reversal of the usual routines, but still, that didn't help with the immediate problem.
She was working on a letter to General Neil right now - it wasn't fun to have to beg an ally for help, but still, it had to be done. Looking down at the letter, she went over the main points, that the NNDEF needed ammunition - right now they only had some six thousand rounds left for the machineguns and about twenty thousand for the rifles.
Also, more painfully, it admitted that more supplies were unlikely to come from Neue Neue Deutschland. Therefore, she had no option but to ask the Haraki to give them new weapons that would accept Haraki ammunition - their old weapons would soon be useless, even from just the lack of new spare parts. Still, reguardless of how necessary it was, she still didn't like having to act as, as a parasite upon an ally. It just didn't feel right.

23Eris HQ, Southhaven, Danteri

Colonel Papadakis cursed and threw a paperweight across the room where it shattered against the far wall. He had recieved copies of the communications between Me Li and Alexander Roros. Strange though the Me Li were, they were potential allies should full scale war break out in Danteri again, unlikely though that was, and now Roros was alienating them with his idiocy.

To make matters worse, Roros was now actively petitioning the government for overall command of both the civilian and military aspects of the mission, as well as demanding that most of the troops be removed from the sector. As far as Papadakis could see, Roros was a fool. True the Erisians had been training Danteri troops and they seemed more than capable, he would be proud to fight alongside any of them, but they simply were not ready to defend their territory alone. Aside from that matter, drastic troop reductions could make the Danteri believe they were being abandoned, and then without the proper number of troops to maintain some order, all hell would break loose.

Then there was today; today was the last straw. Roros had actually barred his troops from helping in construction of the new hospital. His troops had the most experience with the heavy construction equipment and in fact, much of that equipment belonged to his units. Papadakis was forced to send an armed squad to actually seize the equipment from the Civil Authority, reminding them who owned those vehicles. Finally, the CA broke down and allowed the military to rejoin the construction, but by then it was too late to continue working as the sun had set.

Having worked himself up, he quickly began composing a letter to his superiors back in 23Eris and another to Roros himself. One of the two had to go, and he hoped, for the sake of Southhaven, it wasn't him.

OOC: You do realize that your Safe-Zones are surrounded by Zukariaans? People would have to try really hard to get out of there and make it to your Safe-Zone... still,

A major escape attempt has occured in Zukariaan (Kraven) territory. Several thousand (about eighty thousand) civilians have tried to escape to the New-Lexington Safe-Zone. Only three actually made it to the Safe-Zone, as Danteri Auxiluaries and some Zukariaan support machinegunned the fleeing refugees.

The Cult of The Second Coming has shown itself in the 23Erisian Safe-Zone for the first time, launching an assassination attempt on a "top 23Erisian official" - none other than... Alexander Roros.
The assassination consisted of a diversion consisting of attacka by suicide bombers (eight of them, two of whom targeted a school, killing thirty seven children, none over the age of eight, the other six of whom target 23Erisian military sites with unknown results), followed by a full-scale attack on the site at which he was staying, conducted by twenty men with automatic weapons and two RPG launchers.
When the VIPs were moved to "a safer location", a primary force of some eighty men with thirty automatic weapons, ten RPG launchers and forty bolt-action rifles attacked the group moving him.
All of the cultist attackers were killed (108 in all), along with 147 civilians (counting the 37 children). 23Erisian casualties are unknown, but it appears that Alexander Roros had been targeted because he was considered a high-value target that wasn't likely to be as well protected as Colonel Papadakis likely would have been.
Whatever the case, however heavy 23Erisian casualties turn out to be (and they are presumed to be light considering the low quality of their enemies), the main concern at this point is - how did the cult get so many people and so many weapons into the 23Erisian Safe-Zone?

It was a mystery, so far, to Major Murphy why the Haraki forces had offered self-propelling artillery and support fire from their battleships. So far the bandit camps had, at most, a makeshift stone wall or some logs piled up - nothing that could be called adequate defense against snipers and stationary grenade launchers.

So far casualties had been minimal, and actual deaths even rarer. Some over-enthusiastic soldiers had followed a bayonet charge led by Cpl. Jenkins, and discovered bolt-action rifles may be outdated but their bullets still pack a nasty punch. Out of the dozen, three had lived, but it was probably better in the long run (Cpl. Jenkins remains in critical, but stable, condition).

Bandits who were willing to release their prisoners were promised lighter sentences, like they hoped. All captured bandits were made to walk alongside escort APCs back to the safe zones, where they would recieve trial.

So far, the only real fear that the Major had was running into a straying Zukariaan patrol that was feeling violent. Gas grenades would be worthless against any Capital Police, but the higher caliber sniper rifles would hopefully bring them down fast enough to not be slaughtered. It would certainly be nice to get an upclose look at some of the CP armor, though.

---------------------------------------------

-Gwazzarian forces have assaulted seven other bandit outposts of varying size, and have taken 35 casualties (of which nine have died). Prisoners are being transferred into Haraki's hands once they get to the Safe-Zone base.

-Recon teams have been watching the Zukariaan troop movement very closely.

Papadakis was shocked at the news. The death of the school-children was horrifying. He couldn't imagine why anyone would wish to harm children, such actions were to him, even after his long exposure to the Danteri war, nearly incomprehensible. Then the attackers had targeted military sites. Though the actual damage was minimal, it had put something of a scare into the normally peaceful and somewhat lax zone. Roros too had been assaulted. True he despised the man, but he certainly didn't want him dead. Alexander had sustained some serious injuries in the attack, his car, armored though it was, was struck by an RPG and shrapnel from the explosion had torn into Roros' side. Roros would probably have been killed if a Danteri patrol hadn't delayed the damned cultists long enough to allow a detachment of the 7th Infantry to arrive and eliminate the fanatics.

Papadakis made an immediate radio address that evening, condemning the attack and calling on all Danteri who had knowledge of the cult to come forward so that the 'murderers of children' could be brought to justice. Papdakis also called on his Military Police to examine the remains from the attack, to try and figure out where those weapons had come from.

In addition, orders were issued stating that armed units (mixed Danteri/Erisian) would patrol the areas around schools and hospitals until further notice. Guards around the 23Eris HQ (and main dock/base) were put on high alert, and border security was to be tightened even more.

Lastly, all refugees and all their belongings would be thoroughly examined before they were taken from the zone for transit to 23Eris. The last thing Papadakis needed was a plane being blown up by a suicide bomber, or even worse, a ship. With that in mind, a mile wide area around the 23Eris airfield was declared off limits and any who trespassed would be arrested. Within hours of the notice, the area was brightly lit, heavy fencing and patrols surrounded the airfield. Thank the goddess the cultists hadn't gone there first.

After those orders had been completed, Papadakis sent out an envoy to try and find the Danteri Commando squads. Maybe they could help, though he doubted their cooperation would come cheaply.

Total Erisian Dead: 7, 12 wounded; 8 Danteri Auxileries were killed, 6 wounded.

[OOC: you don't want to know what pizdoryb means...trust me, also, Polish is much better than English for flaming.]
The Government of Krow Liliowa pledges it's aid to Neue Neue Deutschland in any endeavors that they wish to partake in, but only those pertaining to drugs and genetic engeneering...our economy is okropny right now, and we can't offer much else...
[OOC: we like eagles, and Neue Neue Deutschland does too...they also aren't glupie faszysty, like the other nations involved...]

The 23Erisian Danteri Auxiluaries are conducting a patrol mission in their zone, which marks their first "independant" deployment. Currently, there are 10,000 23Erisian Auxiluaries.

The Zukariaan-allied Danteri Auxiluaries have deployed against the bandits fleeing towards the Haraki Safe-Zone. There are 10,000 bandits, and 10,000 Danteri Auxiluaries. This should be easy.

The fighting went well - the emplaced machineguns of the Danteri Auxiluaries slaughtered the bandits, and the fighting went well. In the end, only 434 Danteri Auxiluaries died, in exchange for 9,814 bandits killed, and 116 captured (yes, that's all 10,000).

The Cult of The Second Coming has been delt a severe blow - eight of its most senior members have been killed, along with some two hundred of its less important members, when an angry mob stormed one of their "secret temples" (an abandoned warehouse).
The mob aparently was motivated by anger at the recent disorder caused by the cult, and while the Danteri Police were ordered in to restore order, they not only didn't do anything, but cheered when the surviving cultists were hung. Apparently they were still bitter about the eight comrades they lost during the riots...

Official New-Lexington Press Release
The New-Lexington government has announced that for every rafuggee killed comibng into our terriorty, 10 Zukkarians will die.

As the New-Lexington's message scrolled across the Wall. The club grew noticably quieter. Ten Zuuks would die for every Refugee murdered fleeing to New Lexington's Zones. A few days ago, a column of 80,000 was nearly completely eliminated. If New-Lexington kept its word that would mean 800,000 dead Zuuks. How many did they have again? Half a million give a few tens of thousand? Weren't they suppose to be allies. Yeah Until Kraven took over they were. Ohhhh. You figure they gonna do it? Honourable sociopaths. Yeah probably try too. Think they gonna succeed?

The betting began almost instantly after everyone calculated the odds. They had to kill Zuuks not Danterii Auxilaries. A sticking point was the Kraven CP...both those betting against and for the New Lexington wanted them included. The question was how much Zuuks Regulars was a CP worth? Even the die-hard asses had to admit maybe the should count at least 3 Regulars, but the point hinged there.

Various side bets were made. The Itchia Gaming Exchange took all sides and hedged their funds. The Exchange would make money regardless of the outcome.

The betting stopped when the news of the Second Coming attacks against 23Eris flashed across the Wall. The bastards had attacked munchkins AGAIN! Everyone finished their drinks and started moving towards the door. Most were already half-way to their rally points when the call came in for re-enforcements.

"The Melii detested being Polizeia. They hated garrison duties. Some limey Auxilaries from the Home Isles were to arrive late next week so that the bulk of the Melii forces could head out for one of the fronts. In the mean time, its time to go bash some heads." Jules observed.

Then he grinned. "Yup time to bash some heads."

OOC-
Wow. New-Lexington? I'll ignore you if you do anything.
Why? Because 1, you can't spell 'Zukariaan', and 2, I havn't been killing any refugees, the Auxilauries did. And 3, you'd get beaten.
Besides that, you're a noob. Sorry, but it's true.

IC-
[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
That's good for you.


***********************

The formations moved fluidly. They fired with almost perfect form and aim.

The Danteri 'Auxilauries' were doing amazingly well. Their previous training and their amazing will to fight helped very much. They were some of the best soldiers that many of the Kreigsmarines had seen. They were doing amazingly. Another group would be ready soon.

DMRWE Alpha Base HQ

Commander SINGH Vaya was reviewing the status reports of the new Zuuk Danteri Auxillaries...he really had to find a catchy short hand for all of that.

They had performed rather well. The banditos hadn't made it to the Haraki Allaince Safe Zones. The entire group of 10,000 kreigmarines had eliminated and equal number of Banditos. This was to be expected. The Zuuks were crazy fascists foreign devils that loved demons BUT they were not stupid. They even seemed to be training the maggots in something other than fear.

It was not gonna be any fun having to dancing with these devils.

He grunted and scrolled through the data. Then he scrolled back and cursed.

"Wait a second. 10.000. is a very damn round number for a bandit group. He should have had the "tourists" grabbed a few during the shuffle. Something was up. He could sense the flock of pigeons just over the horizon.

Vaya glanced at the recon photos and grimaced. No doubt, they will soon join the ravens and vultures.

ooc: Zuk, let 'em alone man. Hell I'm a noob. Youzwasa one before too right?

The Danteri courts in the Haraki Safe-Zone have presented the Haraki with their legal code (a new one). The only problem is, its punishments tend to be quite harsh - for example, while they aren't cutting the hands off thieves, they are flogging them... as they would like to do with women who "commit adultery" - there is no listed punishment for the men who do so, though...
Other than that, and the wide number of offenses they would punish with death, there are no real problems with the new legal code - in fact, by the standards of their prior code, it's a piece of liberal art. After all, crucifiction is off the list of punishments... (yes, that was a punishment under the old regime - that was the fate of you and your entire extended family if you killed a soldier of the government...)

The situation with the NNDEF is becoming desperate - they are low on almost everything, and are waiting for a reply from the Haraki on their requests from the letter before they proceed with anything definite.
As of now, however, they are conducting their full patrol schedual, and are still posting the guards they are supposed to post. The only problem is that they are running short of ammunition - each of their men now carries only a few hundred rounds of ammunition, and their machineguns are running low too.

It had been a busy few days for Cesar. His Gwazzarian hosts had given him tours of hospitals, refugee camps, farms, supply dumps, airfields, and the port area. He'd asked about that. The Sergent escorting him had shrugged, "The Zukes don't seem to be trying to blockade anything coming into our safe zone. We can get most anything in, for now".

Interesting. A blockade, but only against some zones, and not others. Cesar made a note of this for his report that day. His daily reports had been simply noted as "recieved" by his superiors back in Bellrose.

Cesar had been able to do almost anything he'd wanted here. He hadn't been allowed to go out with an anti-bandit patrol. No surprise there. No need for the Gwazzarians to let him go where he might get shot by accident. Of course that didn't explain why they'd let him plan his next stop...

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Bellrose

The foreward OP was a log-covered bunker just outside the wire of no-man's-land. In front of them was a belt of barbed wire, an empty space perhaps 40 or 50 yards across, more barbed wire, and then more bunkers and trenches. The Zukariaan lines. Cesar could see some figures moving over there.

"Here, Major. in the monitor". Sergent Libowitz drew Cesar's attention from the naked eye view in front of him, to a small black and white monitor. The small robot camera was somewhere in front of the bunker, relaying it's signal over the fiber-optic wires back to the bunker, and the monitor. "Ziggy, zoom in on some of them".

The Gwazrrian technician fiddled with his controls. "There, Sarge. They don't stick to cover much on patrol. They want us to see 'em". Several figures in new uniforms were moving in formation. Most of them were slight forms in ill-fitting uniforms.

"Sorry looking lot of wogs there, Whot?" murmured Cesar. "Bad uniforms, Bolt action rifles, and no modern equipment. These must be the new Danteri conscrips."

"But not him Major". Sergent Libowitz pointed. "Zoom in on the big one Zig." The image altered, and a large, ugly form filled it.

"Now that wog is impressive." Cesar said. "Something about those bloody supersoldiers is familiar, but I can't put my finger on it." He frowned suddenly. "The ROV is on this side of the perimiter, yes?"

"Of course, sirs." The technician said. "We're just keeping tabs on them, for now.

"Do you mind if I use binocs?" Cesar asked.

"Sure, but not for long. We're not giving them any excuse to snipe at us." Sergent Libowitz replied.

Cesar hefted the 7x50s he'd brought along for this part of the trip. Gingerly he stepped up onto the firing step of the bunker, and zeroed in on the patrol in front of them. Eight conscripts and one supersoldier marching along the perimiter in a show of force. God only knew what else was under cover, probably watching Cesar as he looked at them. The conscripts had fresh uniforms, and had shaved recently. Bolt-action rifles with bayonets fixed were at slope-arms as they marched. The big thing behind them was all angles and shadows with a large gun of indeterminate origin in its hands. Cesar stepped down from the firing step back into cover.

"You know, Sergent, I've figured out what's been bugging me for a week. Those big wogs look like something from my son's Rifts game"

Libowitz snickered. "Yes sir, that's what I thought too. Maybe this is where whatsisname got the idea for them from."

Cesar chuckled at the thought. Some game designer baseing his badguys on a bunch of these supersoldiers. "Too bad we don't get the big magic critter to eat them up for us. Come on sergent, I've seen enough here."

Major Calderon and Sergent Libowitz spent a half hour low-crawling away from the bunker to get to their jeep.
--------------------------------------------------------------
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Bellrose

Melenii City, South Bay, East Haven, Danteri

Companion MAO Gwendolyn hid her distaste of the flogging. The young shoplifter was already a sack of skin and bones. It was obvious that he had stolen the food out of hunger rather than greed or a misplaced thrill.

It was amazing how quickly people seemed to forget that they too were in the same position just a few weeks prior. Equally amazing was the growth of the bazaar. For a country without an official economy and next to no native currency, business was brisk.

The vendors were selling any manner of interesting and delightful things. She idly wondered were they were able to obtain most of these goods and made a note to remind Uncle Vaya. The grey economy was the economy until the Haraki and others got around to establishing an actual economy. She had better send a note to WU as well.

The Melii and their allies were dressed in formal causal wear. Each costume reflected the traditions of their respective clans and own personal idiocycrasies. Her own flowing outfit hid some very interesting items. If things became too barbaric, they would be useful when the Melii intervened.

The Melii had no real problem with the new civil code. It was very similar in many ways to the old Melii codes before the Great Reform. The disjunction and sexism of the code, however, concerned her. Nevertheless, they would wait and see if the Danterii were still savages before acting. Patience was a virtue.

As he was lead to the mast, she motioned for the squads to hold and observe. The hidden Pixie Swarms lit up and took to the air. A few hundred Wil'O'Wisps taking flight and dancing lights was beautiful. She had to admit it could have be a little too dramatic. Then again it seemed to be working. They would remind the natives that while Melii respected their soviergnty, that the Danterii had very concerned freinds.

The boy would not survive more than a few meduim whacks.

If necessary she will, as Jules puts it, whack a few stubborn heads to get her point across. She smiled at the child and received a tenative grin. The kid had spunk. He will do just fine in the Isles.

She grinned and thought to uncle.

Uncle Vaya will be furious when he found out.

OOC-Bellrose, the guys that we train are not ill fitted in any way. They get the same equipment that the Zukariaan Kreigsmarines get.