NationStates Jolt Archive

ooc:
Zuk surely some of your conscripts are still wogs? It'll take a bit before all of them are converted into your kreigmarines. You probably still have alot of them poorly equiped exactly like he said. Besides nearly every uniform is a bad fit.

Neil read over the request for supplies from Neue Neue Deutschland. He couldn't explain it, but he liked the young, tough soldiers the NND military was sending in. Perhaps it was that they weren't from Me Li, perhaps it was because he'd actually talked to them. Of course, he hoped they weren't taking the action movie approach of dropping their empty magazines on the ground. Not only was it wasteful and environmentally unfriendly - not his biggest concern, in a country ravaged by nerve gas and nuclear strikes - but it was expensive. The magazine cases cost far more than seemed right to produce.

Of course, if they were saving their magazines, he could simply ship them bullets which they could manually reload the magazines with, saving both sides a lot of trouble for trying to integrate new equipment with the young recruits, set in their ways.


[From: Major-General Gregory Neil]
[To: Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder]

I'd be happy to supply you with the equipment you're looking for. I can send you either cases of bullets with which to reload your empty magazines, or I can see about actually getting you a load of entirely new Harakian-made weapons - assault rifles and machine guns - and ammunition. However, the second option will take more time than the first, because I have to place a requisition order for the new weaponry, as opposed to simply sending you over a few dozen crates of bullets.

I'll see what I can do.


Thomas Neil


*


Commodore Locke poured himself a glass of whiskey, leaving the bottle out and open before sittign back in his chair, running his fingers through his recently-wetted hair, causing parts of it to stand out in all directions. He sighed. He needed a haircut, but never had time to get it. He hadn't showered in a week, and he wasn't even in Danteri, rather back on Haraki's island base with the fleet.

The latest naval assignment had gone well. The Danteri's Pride aircraft carrier had recently arrived back at the island to join his forces, off from where it had been refitted and repaired. You could still see marks on the deck, though, from where Harakian missiles had hit it early in the war. They'd repaired over it, but the discolouration was still there. Now that it was back and most likely to be recomissioned as a Harakian carrier, it would be renamed. How about the HNS Locke? Not bloody likely.

He had very little to do except worry. His troops were outnumbered by even the bandits preying on refugees, although training and equipment gave them a significant advantage, not to mention the level of support available, most recently from the HNS Safe Haven battle-carrier, and on land from artillery batteries from the 72nd Infantry.

The engineers' project building fortifications was going well. Two kilometres separated the Zukariaan forces from the Allied forces, and the kilometre of that closest to Allied forces was now fairly riddled with barbed wire and tank traps. Along the Allied perimeter, the engineers worked their way along, setting up bunkers, strong points, and defensive gun batteries along the line and SAM sites behind it. Really, his task now was rebuilding, something ebtter suited to generals experienced in such matters: Marine Brigadier-General Thomas LeClerc, for example, famous for his rebuilding efforts in the past. But he was in New Haraki now, working some revolution or war or some such.

So it fell to Locke and Neil. They were the scapegoats if it went wrong, and the unsung heroes if it went right. At least the representatives election campaign was halfway through, and in another two weeks he would have an elected body to talk to which would tell him what the people wanted.

OOC: Haraki - what is your reaction to the legal code for the Safe-Zone (A Danteri law code) that I already mentioned?

The Danteri Auxiluaries fighting for the Zukariaans have begun deploying, their basic training complete. They aren't up to the standards of the Kraven Krieg-Marines, but they are better trained than most of the people they will likely be fighting.
In terms of equipment, they are quite well equipped - they have automatic weapons, sidearms, high quality kit, and so on. Basically, they're carrying the same gear as a Krieg-Marine would... they just don't know how to use it as well...

The cult of the Second Coming has become active in the Haraki Safe-Zone once more - this time, they have conducted a series of arson attacks, setting fire to and trying to set fire to, schools, hospitals and refugee housing, apparently in an attempt to worsen conditions and provoke a riot.

- Two schools were lightly damaged, and one severly, by fires. One hospital was targeted, but the troops protecting it prevented the attack. Three refugees were killed and dozens injured when a large housing site was set on fire.

"Damn," Neil muttered, looking at the burned-out wreckage of the house in front of him, destroyed as part of the arson strike on a large recently-finished housing project. "What the fuck do these lunatics think they're accomplishing? All they're doing is fucking up the places they live. Listen up, I want a press release broadcast publically to every single person in this place, or at least all the ones in the safe zones. And this is what it will say:

"I, Major-General Gregory Neil, commander of Harakian ground forces in Danteri, would like to address all the members of the Cult of the Second Coming. You have been conducting strikes against civilian targets and killing innocent people. You have been attacking the workers that are trying to help the people in the safe zone, including you yourself. However, despite this, I would like to offer you a deal.

"Many of you, peaceable or otherwise, are likely afraid of exposing yourselves for fear of public reaction and retribution. I would like to offer all of you, every member of the Cult of the Second Coming, and, for that matter also every bandit within the safe zones, amnesty. If you come to the nearest Harakian military office and give yourself up, no charges will be laid against you and there will be no punishment. Your identity will not be revealed to the public, because we don't want you dead either. We will hold you for a short period of time and conduct a background check, but then you will be free to go. Over time, we would also like, in the interests of freedom of religion, establish churches or places of worship for the Cult of the Second Coming.

"If you give yourself up, turn in your weapons, and come in to the Harakian offices, you will not be harmed and you will be free to go soon enough. This offer of amnesty will lastfor one week, starting today."

The aide taking down what he said raised an eyebrow when he finished. "Do you really think that will work, sir?"

Neil shrugged. "We might get a couple. If the peaceful ones turn themselves in, the violent ones' support base gets more and more limited until they can't do anything. I get the feeling a lot of these people are being forced. There's no way that many people could convert themselves over to a violent whacko religious cult that quickly. If the cannon fodder forced peasants come in, we're left with only the die-hard ones, and in a couple of attacks they'll all be wiped out."

A bit optomistic, for sure. But hell, for all I care they could all get flogged.

OOC: I'm assuming my soldiers aren't that experienced, as they were basically glorified riot police before they got sent here.

The NNDEF has responded to the Haraki offer with glad acceptance. They report that they, unfortunatly, were "taking the action movie approach", and discarding the expended magazines. However, Me li appears to be trying to sweeten their relationship with Neue Neue Deutschland by giving them a few weapons. With those and the equippment they have requested from Haraki, they feel they would be able to act with full efficiency.
Hauptmann Rhurlunder has issued a personal thanks to the Haraki Command (Major-General Neil and Commodore Locke), expressing her gratitude and the gratitude of her soldiers. She also made an appology for the inexperience of her soldiers - they are good men, but aren't used to fighting, and so aren't very experienced.

The situation with the NNDEF is becoming desperate - they are low on almost everything
The Drug Lords Krowow Liliowach are touched by the plight of the NNDEF, and send 300 Kilos of Cannabis by means of an ancient P.37 "Łoś" to help raise troop morale.
[OOC: Note that Łoś means Elk, which is the national animal of Krowow Liliowach. The P.37 "Łoś" is a real WWII era Polish fighter-bomber, and was a really good plane.]

ooc:
Zuk surely some of your conscripts are still wogs? It'll take a bit before all of them are converted into your kreigmarines. You probably still have alot of them poorly equiped exactly like he said. Besides nearly every uniform is a bad fit.
OOC-No.
When Kraven occupies a country, it takes it's soldiers and sorts them just like the rest of the citizens. They can then rejoin if they want, instead of working in factories.
My country is an exception. I don't feel like explaining that one.

The Kong Pub, DMRWE Alpha Base

Comm Specialist Aurora was feeling sick. It was not the alcohol. She had ordered a nice port rather than the usual firewater. There was much was on her mind. For the past few hours she had been re-routing teams from one attenta to another. They had to put out multiple arsons throughout the Zones.

"They would usually arrive just a little too late. What was wrong with these people? I can't help but think of them as people. The demon-possessed Cult of the Second Coming Crusaders, were still people. They were insane and warped people." she mulled.

"It felt strange to think of foriegn devils as people. I mean they are devils. The People were the Melii. The allies were limeys. All Foriegners are devils. Yet, now after these long months under this foriegn sun and thousands of devils passing before her, the foriegners' word of people seemed to make more sense. They were neither Melii, limey, nor Devil or Demon. Just mistaken people." She almost felt empathy for the fools.

"They were inhuman, horrible, mistaken people possesed by demons. Why were they destroying their own nest?" She despaired.

The Commander thought that many had given up and wanted to strike out. She recalled the conversation they had shared before she left the HQ.

"Take heart Aurora. It makes some sense. Do you want to hear a theory?"

She nodded affirmative.

"The Second Comiing is an excellent if evil escape valve. We have tried to create a few others, but the Danterii are still plagued by demons. For them the End of the World is NOT near...it is NOW. They have a myth. Do you know of Yggdrasil the World Tree that holds up the worlds?"

She nodded affirmative.

"Their world tree had finally been cut with the cold fury of the nuclear exchanges. But, the Nithog, the forsaken Multi-tailed Rats of Danteri had long been nawing on the roots. It was only a matter of time before the world ended. Ragnorok it was called. For Danteri, the old world is gone and a new one not yet fully formed.

Of course, they being barbarians will seek a Baulder rather than embrace the Path. The Second Coming seeks the Battles of their myths. They twist their already twisty lesser Path into...<mumbles>"

"We, the Melii, the Limeys, and the Allies can plant a new world tree, but it will be up to the Danterii to care for it. They must nurture it or it will die again. This time other worlds might be affected by its demise. Even the Home Isles, will feel the loss of its light.

"It is unfortunate child that we may have to prune a few diseased and twisty branches. He frowned and paused.

"I would hate for the Danterii to become some godforsaken bonsai. While a bonsai is beautiful...it lacks the vigour and potential of a real tree. We will tend the Danterii's tree until it can withstand the first heavy storms. The Cult of the Second Coming are fungii. Right now they are malignant. Maybe we can turn them into helpful fungii."

He stopped after seeing her confusion. Then the Commander sighed, grinned, and told her to "get lost for the evening." It was weird seeing the Old Man grin. Scary really. So she left and came to the Kong to see the Finals. Aurora didn't see how fungi could be useful other than maybe to eat or die from. The Commander was a weird one.

The Comm Specialist knew what the Damn-Demon-Possesed Cult of the Second Coming were. She had seen and smelled the attack. She had pulled two mangled corpses out of the rubble of one of the primary schools. Only monsters would target the young and defensless. They couldn't even shoot back yet!

She knew how to deal with demons too. The easiest way to kill a demon was to shoot it in the head. Then Cut off said head and Burn the corpse. Then the demons were trapped in the head, which you could shrink and bury or use for darker purposes. She had been taught all of that by her mother's mother's aunt who was a Great One when she was just 14 cycles. Her tribe's knowledge of the dark paths had been much feared before they embraced the Path.

After finishing her drink she turned to watch the game. After the 1-0 Win of Xanadu over Victoria City in the Finals, in a burst of enthusiasm, Aurora and nearly every Melii present swore to all their Ancestors that they would "make it right."

***

The dragonfly noted the Wergild and continued hunting the bar flies.


OOC: Aurora is from the Interior...they are even stranger than the regular Melii. And I'm thinking the Melii have a problem with self-control. You see the differences between the troopers and the command? Funny how myths get mixed up eh?:rolleyes:

Captain O'Langqua stood atop a rock outcropping and pulled off her dark green cap, mopping her forehead of sweat. "Yeah, this'll be a tough one," she said with a smile, gazing up at their next target.

Thusfar all of the bandit camps hadn't put up much of a fight. Losses were rare on their side, and it felt like they were wasting expensive gas grenades in the name of mercy. But Major Murphy was a politico now, not just a soldier, and knew the value of a good reputation. Being known for mercy and decent treatment of prisoners (by Danteri standards, excellent treatment) would, hopefully, get more to surrender than fight to the death.

This new one, however, would be tough to tackle. The bandits had found an old military base built into the hillside, a typically dystopic Danterian concrete nightmare. If they were old soldiers gone bandit or just using it on squatters' rights, she couldn't tell: they all wore a mishmash of military outfits, stolen off their victims.

This base was well set up to defend itself, though it looked to have gone unrepaired since the last siege. She could see the anti-aircraft guns still in place, but unmanned. Any sentries were well hidden, and they hadn't seemed to have been spotted anyways. The bandits were trying to keep the fort looking unlived in. There was still a perimeter of tents down below. It was something like a medieval city, built around the lord's manor.

The Captain was looking forward to the challenge. Gwazzarian soldiers were trained in heavily urban environments, and the interior of the military complex would be more like home turf than the muddy forests. Her own unit had been receiving a reputation as the feistiest (or simply 'batshit insane', to the other soldiers), after spawning the likes of Cpl. Jenkins.

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

The Gwazzarian forces out bandit-hunting have radioed in a request for one of the Haraki artillery pieces. The current plan of attack is gas-'nading the surrounding camp and performing as regular for them, while smaller groups slip into the fortress itself during the confusion.

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

Back at the Safe Zone, the man in command was Chief Warrant Officer Ubansi. He didn't feel prepared for the duties, and was wishing he had a direct line with the Admiral back home. So far, though, nothing that was his problem had been happening. Aside from disciplining soldiers for intentionally antagonizing the already annoying enough Me Li troops (who he couldn't stand either), everything else was to be taken care of by the police.

One thing that had been annoying him was the damn observer from Bellrose. He'd apparently become friendly with a Sergeant (Libowitz, if he'd heard right - the man had always liked all the parading and dress uniforms, something Gwazzaria was lacking in and Bellrose reportedly very good at), and was running all over the place. Weirdly, there had been a couple of anonymous requests for copies of some book called 'Rifts' to be sent in with the next supply load for Libowitz.

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

Various miscellaneous supplies, but certainly ones vital for soldiers' comfort in Danteri (good shoes and socks, for instance) have been donated by Gwazzarian forces to the NNDEF.

Zukariaa']OOC-No.
When Kraven occupies a country, it takes it's soldiers and sorts them just like the rest of the citizens. They can then rejoin if they want, instead of working in factories.
My country is an exception. I don't feel like explaining that one.

((According to the Kraven factbook, don't Kriegsmarines (for whatever reason) use .303 bolt-action rifles? Also, this is the opinion of a Bellrose officer - a country with the most polished medals and bearskin shakos per capita in the world, if my impression is correct.
And they're liable to get pretty muddy in Danteri, either way.))

Me Li Alpha Zone, East Haven, Danteri

High Commander SINGH Vaya of the Isles of Mara Confederation's Red Wheel Expeditionary Force and Commander of the Dominion of Me Li Defence Forces was tired of long winded reports. He had finally finished the bi-weekly update reports for the Haraki's. True, there was daily chatter, information sharing, etc...with the Allies but Vaya thought that he ought to check in with the Grub and the Sea Gull every now and then.

The left hand occasionally needs to know what the hell the right hand was doing. It really helped out when both hands were swinging sharp pointy objects everywhere. Gwen's report on the gray market troubled Vaya. Normally, the Melii tolerated a small gray economy. It was just too damn difficult to get rid of it completely. Danteri's entire economy, however, seemed completly shot to the Infinite Hells.

Goods were getting through and people were finding ways to pay. But even a Melii blockhead like him could see that this was a cluster bomb just waiting for someone to sit on. Vaya blessed El and His Holiness for beating some reason into his skull. Perhaps the Harakii or the Gwazarrii can figure something out.

Vaya was missing the Finals for this report. hmmm...That might not be a bad idea for a release...then again it could lead to riots. Sports are great when your team wins and everyone is sober or drunk. The only problem is that about half the time your team loses and most of the time no one is really sober. Damned either way. Well he would forwarded it to the Grub and the Sea Gull, they could figure it out.

Other than the attentas and near riots the zones were pretty quiet. He discreetly inquired as to who took out the leadership cadre of the Second Coming. An enemy without a head will not be able to surrender. It might fight less well and plop over dead OR grow several new ones...Either way people still could get hurt. It was a damn fool "foriegn" thing to do.

He closed with some honeyed figs. He noted that the amnesty thing the Grub had tried might just work, although he wasn't holding his breath. He was finally done and might be able to catch the last 10 minutes.

He briefly paused to consider having someone with better Haraki read over the report. The Melii was perfect as was the English version. The Deutsche, Polish, Gwazarii, etc...were horrible, the tranlation program needed major tinnkerings. :mad: He glared at the datapad. The damn devils ought to have someone that can read English. He added a postscript suggesting an established lingua franca for the communiques and perhaps for the Allied Forces in general.

<medium encryption>
The Melii of course will be first. The English version. The Harki version. All other versions
<SEND>

The attack went well enough to start with - most of them were taken without a fight - but then... then, one bandit with a gas mask got to a loaded and preped AA gun, and turned in on the Gwazzarian infantry. He got off quite a bit of fire before they took him out with a rocket...

- The fortified bandit camp fell easily enough, except for one bandit who got to an AA gun, and managed to inflict unknown casualties before being killed.

In the Haraki zones, something like nine hundred "cultists" surrendered, handing over eighty four bolt-action rifles, seven high quality foreign automatics and forteen low-quality Danteri-made automatics.
Additionally, they gave the name of the only smuggler who is running arms into the Haraki Zone with any success...
He is a native-born Danteri, who fled the country after the first civil war. He currently works as part of the civilian relief effort... while he smuggles guns and ammunition in for a nice profit. He is working on one of the NND freighters... and might be caught fairly easily...

- 980 cult members turned themselves in, along with the aforementioned weaponry, also providing the name of the biggest gun runner for the Safe-Zone, who was supplying most of the weapons used by the cult.

All the surrendered cultists were debriefed to see if they wanted to give up any names of high-profile leaders of the cult within the safe zones, in the efforts of cutting off the head of the organization - of course, the cultists won't be told that last part.

A Harakian army raid will be conducted to arrest the arms dealer and apprehend as much of his product as possible. Once the week of amnesty is up, there will be many more similar raids, designed on wiping out the Cult for good.

The AA gun had cleaved through the trees Gwazzarian forces had been using for cover, and blasted it all to hell before a sniper had took out the bandit (in a panicked three shots, not the usual clean single bullet). They'd suffered over forty casualties, a dozen or so actually dead and another two dozen now in critical condition. One of their APCs was now ready for the scrap heap - ex-Soviet BTR-60PAs were not meant to take head-on anti-aircraft fire.

At least, thought Major Murphy as the bodies were being sorted according to requested funeral ceremonies, This'll teach us not to be as cocky in the future. Blasting out that AA gun should've been the first thing we did.

After the bandits were disarmed and put on the road, and the former prisoners given medical treatment alongside the Gwazzarian wounded, the bandit patrol began to file back towards the Safe-Zone. Hopefully, this operation had - if not seriously reduced the bandit population - made them more eager to start surrendering.

Avalon Base, East Haven, Danteri

Major Moiko “Zehrflechte” Hiro of the Infinite Hells, had just landed on an island code named Insulis Avalonnis by Isles High Command. It was located almost dead center of the South Bay, East Haven. RWE Alpha Base HQ was on the mainland directly north of the island. The Melii were directing the landing of the Isles of Mara Limey Auxiliaries. Both the Dominion of Victoria City and the Confederacy of Infinite Hells was deploying under the scowls of the MDF officers.

Sergeant Isherra Hetoma Major Moiko’s second in command of the Hellii. had brought him the orders a few weeks prior. His orders where to

Rendevous with the Melii forces. Proceed to Avalon Island. Build a new base. Shut up. Soldier. Sit on thumbs.

At this point, he had a job to do, and was grateful to be away from his wife. Whom he prayed would soon drop dead. The hag was weighing him down. Free at Last.

Once on the island, Zehrflechte was ordered to secure the Island and establish a perimeter. The Base Modules were quickly deployed along predetermined sites. Recon Sats and the Isles HQ had planned Avalon Base down to most details. Method to madness.

The Patrols were sent inland to sweep for possible Banditos and native fishermen. Defensive hard points and lines were layed out. SAM, ABM, COM and radar systems, shore batteries, and cannons were being off-loaded. The sites were being cleared and the systems put in place along with the prefab barracks, hospitals, and personnel centres. The air strip was being surveyed and the beginings of a medium Naval Yard were laid out.

Within five short hours the skeloton outlines of a mighty base was slowly forming...

ooc: Yes, I asked Danteri if the Melii could occupy the Island. The limeys said they wanted to join but may take a bit of time. <shrug> I thought them chilling out here for awhile. Holy Cow...300 kg is quite alot of smoke!!

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder frowned as she read the message from Krowow Liliowach. She turned to her aide, looking a bit concerned, and asked him,
"Are they serious?" he nodded, a look of surprised humor on his face, answering,
"Yes, it looks like they're serious. Apparently, for some reason or other, they've decided to send us 300 kilo-grams of Cannabis." Hauptmann Rhurlunder thought for a moment, before asking:
"Is that the one you smoke?" her aide seemed to grin, before resuming the apropriate serious face:
"Well, let's just say that you'd have a hard time injecting it." she nodded, deep in thought. Finally, she spoke again:
"All right. I don't see anything too wrong with a little fun on the side for our "brave fighting men", but this is ridiculous. If I accept this, the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force will be the laughing stock of the entire International Force." she seemed to hesitate for a moment, before continuing, "And if I turn this down, I might offend the oh-so-friendly drug lords of Krowow Liliowach. All right, here's what we're going to do, we're going to accept the damn stuff, then burn it quietly - I don't want any of my soldiers getting "high" on the stuff. Tell them that if they do, then," she hesitated yet again before continuing, "I'll resort to some truly barbaric punishment from the Danteri legal code - something like flogging." she sighed, and turned her attention to the less unusual problem of trying to coordinate supplies with Haraki and Me li.

- The 300 kilo-grams of Cannabis have been accepted by Hauptmann (captain) Luisa Rhurlunder of the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force. After being accepted, the drugs were taken to an isolated site and burned. It is reported that the resultant smoke cloud brought birds out of the sky and attracted quite a few refugees.

The Haraki, cooperating with the Neue Neue Deutsch Politzei officers on board the freighter Tante Gudrun. The arms dealer almost didn't have any idea what was happening when they came for him. He almost didn't manage to crack open one of the cases of "Emergency Food Supplies" and grab out a loaded assault rifle.
Even then, one of the Politzei officers almost managed to tackle him before he was shot, and then the other nine members of the Neue Neue Deutsch Politzei team almost managed to prevent him from taking a hostage. To their credit, they all died trying to stop him. If they had still had their weapons, which had been confiscated by the Zukariaans, they likely would have. Unfortunately, they failed, and so he now faces off against the Haraki officers sent for him with four hostages from the crew, a gas-mask, four assault rifles and several hundred rounds of ammunition. This could get ugly...

- Apparently realizing that he was caught, the arms dealer ran for it, killing 10 NND Politzei officers and taking hostages. He now is resisting arrest in one of the seal-able compartemnts of the Neue Neue Deutsch freighter.

"Fuck fuck fuck shit motherfucker! What the hell were they thinking, letting unarmed policemen go in after a dangerous arms dealer before sending in the trained, well-equipped soldiers with body armour?" Major-General Gregory Neil shouted, kicking his own desk and sending it sliding six inches along the floor. He cursed some more and fell back into his chair, looking up at his aide, always standing right there recording anything official he said. The man, a major, was always there when Neil did anything. Sometimes it got annoying. Most of the time it was a good thing. Sometimes his best ideas came when he was enraged or drunk.

"Get me the lieutenant in charge of those CEF boys. I want them in here for a hostage rescue operation."


*


The CEF man stood in front of him in his regular uniform, his hands clasped behind his back. The lieutenant's insignia on his lapel was as shiny as anything. After all, he hardly ever wore it. It was uncommon to pull rank in the CEF. Your team members were your friends, and you all just respected each other. Of course, technically he was in charge, so he had to deal with the other officers. It was a shit job. But Neil ... Well, he was better than one the lieutenant, one Steven Trapp, had had once. The colonel he'd been assigned to then, as a First Sergeant, had no idea how to run a special operations mission. If Trapp's CO at the time hadn't completely ignored the colonel's proposed mission plan, they would all have been dead.

"Sir?" he asked calmly, staring at the wall over the general's head.

"Have a seat," Neil growled, gesturing to the chair in front of him. It was dingy, and he felt the CEF man deserved better. After all, he had arrived in under fifteen minutes. The commandoes didn't have much to do.

Trapp gladly took the seat, looking over at the general. "What's going on, sir?"

"We've got an arms dealer - the one supplying that damn cult - holed up in the bow of a ship with some heavy firepower and four hostages. He killed ten Neue Neue Deutsch policemen sent in to arrest him. From what our soldiers - the police' backup - said, he's also got a gas mask, which means we can't just sleeping gas the whole damn place. I want you boys to go in and get him."

"Well, we're trained in assault, but what are the details?"

Neil sighed. "He's sealed himself into the bow of the ship. The only way in is by taking out a thick metal door, which would give him plenty of time to kill the hostages."

"Portholes?"

"Big and thick, built to withstand ocean storms and rough seas. Hell, I didn't even think of that. You boys are good."

Trapp lifted a corner of his mouth. "Big and thick's not a problem. We've got a guy that could take it out with C4, or if you've got a laser cutter it would be a lot quieter."

"I don't know if we can get you one that good on such short notice. You'll probably need to go in within the hour, unless we wait until he needs to open the doors to get food in, and then we could storm it."

"No dice. It doesn't work. He'll get hostages to take the food through the doors and then seal them again."

"But he's only one man. Surely we could just shoot him through the open door when it opens?"

Trapp gave him a nervous look. "Well, if we can't see him to get a shot, he probably wouldn't be able to see us, and I don't want it to be on my head if he shoots someone."

Neil nodded. "Understood. Get your men ready for the porthole assault. I'll try and get you a glass cutter. We'll wait until he makes demands for food, then if we can get a shot, great. If not, oh well. I also want you to get your best marksmen to see if they can get a shot through the portholes on him."

"With our rifles? They wouldn't make it through the glass."

"I'll get you a .50 calibre sniper rifle."

"Done. If we can get a shot throguh the windows we take it. If we can either rush it or take him out through the door when it opens for food, we do that. If not, we go in through the window later. I'll get two snipers plus four window assaulters plus four on the door."

Neil stood up and extended his hand. "Good luck, lieutenant."

Trapp stood up and shook it. "Hopefully we won't need it, sir."

23Eris HQ, Southhaven, Danteri

Papdakis grinned down at the latter he held in his hand. It had come in with the latest flight and had been rushed to him, marked urgent. It was from General Thomson himself, written in that old dog's handwriting. It had commended him on his excellent job to date and gave him a permanent promotion from Colonel to Lt. General, a rank more befitting his task. It also promised another Infantry Division would arrive within a week, raising total troop strength to just over 100,000 men and women in southhaven.

Papadakis looked over the results of the Danteri Auxilery patrols. They were doing a good job so far, and he made sure to send his congratulations to the officers in charge of those units. The Danteri troops were led by Danteri as well, though the larger units had Erisian liason officers to improve cooperation between the units, and because some of the Danteri officers were rather inexperienced. Papadkais was accepting reccomendations from Erisian observers as to who were the best of the Danteri officers. Those women and men would be offered a chance to attend the 6 month Erisian Advanced Officer Training School. It was rather prestigious within the Erisian military structure, and officers who attended were held with high regard (and more often than not proved their worth).

In other matters, Papadakis had been given full control over Southhaven. His Civilian rival, Roros, was now made to answer to him, whenever he got out of the hospital that was.

Papdakis looked over the latest reports on activities within the Haraki zone. More violence and trouble with bandits it seemed. Goddess damn those men who preyed on the helpless, they could all burn for all he cared. He had heard about some of their atrocities and couldn't even feel pity for the poor bastards the Commandos had slain. Now the Haraki were dealing with some madman who had taken hostages, that was apparently ongoing. Briefly he wondered if the Haraki knew he had people keeping tabs on their safezone, and wondered if they were doing the same to his. It didn't matter really, both nations wanted the same thing, safety for the Danteri people. Still, relations with teh other safe-zone were relatively cool, something he wished to change.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lt. General Papadakis
To: Commander, Haraki Safe Zone
Re: Aid

Commander, I realize that your troops currently are overseeing the safety of millions of civilians and trying to ensure the safety of said people. The safe-zone under my care is somewhat more lightly populated and has been relatively untouched by the war. CUrrently, we have an abundance of supplies in our zone, which I feel will go to waste through spoilage or pilferage. If it would be of assistance to you, I would be happy to arrange for as many of these supplies as we can spare to be transferred to your territory.

I also wish to offer my condolences for the recent outbreak of violence, and your losses, in regards to the cult of the second coming. Our zone has also begun to see the marks of violence advocated by this religious sect. I would be happy to share with you, any intelligence we recieve about the activities of the Cult in the hopes of limiting the success of its attacks.

I wish you continued success and safety.

Regards,
Lt. Gen. Papadakis

[From: Major-General Gregory Neil]
[To: Lt. General Papadakis]

Skipped some ranks, eh? Congratulations on your promotion.

But with regards to your actual message, I'd like to accept. We're having trouble getting supplies in to the people in the safe zones, since we're providing for around 32 million refugees. We're trying to grow our own food in here on crop land, thankfully it wasn't devastated by the war, but it will be a while before that actually heralds any results. Any supplies you can spare and ship over to us would be more than welcome.

As to that damn cult ... Any intel you get on them I could use. Seriously, anything.


Gregory Neil

((According to the Kraven factbook, don't Kriegsmarines (for whatever reason) use .303 bolt-action rifles? Also, this is the opinion of a Bellrose officer - a country with the most polished medals and bearskin shakos per capita in the world, if my impression is correct.
And they're liable to get pretty muddy in Danteri, either way.))
OOC-Eh, it depends. That is what Kraven equips them with. I choose to equip them with more powerful rifles. It just depends. I know it was an opinion, I was just stating that they weren't badly equiped.

Anyways, until Danteri has something in my zone happen, I have nothing to do.

OOC: Well, here's something for you, Zukariaa...

The Democratic Underground was hardly more than a collection of (mostly) unarmed malcontents, who were (mostly) not that dangerous, and who (mostly) did nothing more than secretly spray-paint anti-Kraven slogans on a few walls.
Well, now comes the bit that put in all those "mostly"s... a group of Democratic Underground fighters (or you could call them terrorists...) have conducted a raid on a Danteri Auxiluary armoury. Eight guards were killed, as well as an unknown number of rebels, before they fled, with no captured weapons. Around two hundred civilians were killed, however, when they detonated a large bomb in the populated area that the armoury was in, as part of their rather succesful effort to cover their escape.
Not much is known about the Democratic Unerground, but they must be getting weapons and explosives from somewhere if they were able to launch this attack... what remains to be seen is precicely where they're getting their arms from...

The run-up to the election is going well - there have been significantly fewer cases of voter intimidation since the Danteri Police started helping out - or, to be more accurate, since the Danteri Police started breaking the legs of those who had been conducting the voter intimidation...
On the matter of The Cult of The Second Coming, several dozen more minor "cultists" have turned themselves in to the Haraki authorities, asking for mercy, and handing over a few guns (three pistols and one bolt-action rifle), and giving them name of several key members of the cult - one of whom is actually running for a position in the Haraki-sponsored elections...
Also, the total number of fatalities in the Danteri Police has reached the 100 mark, only two weeks after the organization was formed. It appears that they are being targeted for two reasons: one, they are significantly less well equipped than the Haraki or Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers are, and secondly, that they have been asking some very inquiring questions... and getting answers... it appears that there is some sort of drug smuggling operation going on in the Haraki Safe-Zone, and that whatever shadowy organization is behind it has been responsible for many of the killings that have occured.

When you get so many desperate refugees in one place, abuses are certan to eventually occur. Recently, there have been rumors that human trafficing has been occuring in the various Safe-Zones, with refugees being exploited for the profit of certain criminal organizations... the only question is, how much of this is going on...

Becuase of the attack, announcements went out to the people. Telling them that Kraven was all mighty, and that as a citizen of Kraven, the people had to turn in the arms dealer, labled a 'Though Criminal'. They stated that the person who turns the Though Criminal in will be rewarded well.

At the same time, patrols have been doubled on all Auxilaury armories and training centers.

OOC: What were we thinking? Maybe that it would be a good idea to stop him before he got to his guns? (Or that it would be a good idea to try to stop him from taking civilian hostages?)

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder stood on the dock at which was moored the NNDKS Tante Gudrun. She felt a deep shame as she watched the Haraki soldiers moving about with their careful skill. She felt a deep shame that such a thing as had happened had happened while she was in charge of the NNDEF. Worse, it had happened with a man who had been allowed on board a Neue Neue Deutsch merchant vessel.
Still, the situation could still be saved, even if the mad-man had taken hostages. After all, the Haraki, allies as brave and true as any nation could hope to have, had moved in to deal with the situation. Still, it hurt her that her men were unable to do much more than make coffee and run errands. Of course, they had never been trained for such tasks as those faced by the Haraki, but still, she wished they could have been of more help, if only to pay back the care the Haraki had shown in making the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers feel like they mattered. Of course, there still was a minor problem with the plan to "starve him out" - the compartment he had seized was full to the brim with food for the refugees. At best bet, he had something like enough food to last himself and the four hostages for two years. Added to that was the fact that he had a gas mask, and things looked likely to degenerate into a long stand-off.

- The gun-runner chose the right compartment to run to - the one he chose is packed with MREs and water. Of course, he will eventually want to get away.

OOC: Haraki - sorry if that last OOC seemed a bit harsh - just trying to justift what happened! I meant no offense or hostility towards you.

He was angry. How had it come to this, to him trapped like a rat, with hostages taken? He had started out so well, selling a few high-quality foreign made guns to a few lunatic-fringe groups for a small profit - all for the cause of course! It wasn't like he enjoyed giving terrorist mad-men the weapons they would use to kill his former countrymen, but when he did, when he did, the foreign invaders were delt a blow.
His father had fled while still a child, fleeing the brutal first civil war, and so had nurtured within his son a total and complete hate for all things that had to do with the Supreme Leader and the old Danteri government. Still, he couldn'y help but wonder, how had he come from pledging patriotic resistance to smuggling guns in to sell to the worst sort of loonies?
He lay back against a crate of MREs - plenty of those, at any rate! - and contemplated the shattered remains of what had once been the sky line of this petty port. Most of the buildings here had been damaged during the fighting before the Haraki moved in, but they still had that sort of grandure that he had always associated with the "homeland" his father had spoken of. With a sigh, he stood, and walked clear to one of the port-holes, taking a chance to look out, but quickly drawing his head back. He was enough of a "soldier" to know about such things as snipers.
He growled, like a rabid dog, he couldn't help it - here he was, trapped like a rat, with no way out. He looked at the four hostages - an old man, tears in his eyes, the captain of this little vessel, who always spoke about how he would retire soon, how he wanted to go and sail the Neue Rhine with his wife. Then, the second hostage, a young man, sullen and angry, one of the mechanics, who looked like just the sort to go for the gun, to play the hero. The other two were aid workers, one a young boy, slender and efeminate, who seemed like no threat, who in fact was curled up weeping softly. Then, there was the last hostage. She was a Neue Neue Deutsch woman, which meant that she might not be as deserving of consideration as Danteri women were, but still, something in his very Danteri upbringing revolted against the thought of having to use a woman as a hostage.
Something inside him snapped, and he picked up one of his rifles, went over to the mechanic, and leaned in, saying loudly,
"So you're thinking about being a hero, eh?" as he spoke, he thought - he would need to sleep, and if he got rid of the hostage most likely to fight back, then he might be able to sleep easy. He continued,
"Well, heroes die, and I think you know what that means." he had the gun pointed at the mans head now, could see the little beads of sweat as the mechanic unwillingly showed the fear he refused to vocalize. Somewhere behind him, he heard the captain make a sharp intake of breath - it would be so like that man to be afraid of violence. Still, there was the woman to consider.
Half-turning, he called out,
"Lady, you might want to avert your eyes and cover your ears." as he said that, he was very suprised to hear her voice from right behind him, asking,
"Really?" at that he whirled around, and found himself facing her. She had somehow gotten a crow-bar from somewhere, and was right behind him, must have snuck up behind him while he gloated over the terrified mechanic. He knew he could shoot her, but something in his very Danteri upbringing rebeled at the thought of shooting a woman, as thought that final act would show the lie of his life, would show how he was no Danteri freedom fighter, merely a petty criminal. He hesitated for only a little more than a seconds, but in the time that he did, she smashed him across the face with the crow bar, causing him to fire the rifle he held in his hands - but, it fired wild, not hitting anything but a few crates. He was rolling then, almost up, bringing the rifle around, when he realized that something was wrong.
It was then that it happened. The CEF commandos blasted through the door with some C-4, apparently deciding that now was the time to act. He hesitantly pointed the rifle at them, then at the woman with the crow-bar... and then, one of them shot him.

(OOC: Haraki, I hope you don't mind my having your commandos going in.)

- The smuggler was brought down, without any losses to either the CEF commandos or the hostages.

OOC: Not at all. And, by the way, Neil was just getting mad because, well, that's what he does. No offence meant to you at all.



"Situation. He's gonna shoot someone."

That was the sniper speaking, looking through the porthole. The arms dealer was smart enough to stay away from the windows, but for when he went to threaten the mechanic. And the CEF commandoes were already planting C4 to breach the door, led by Trapp. They finished just in time, and as the sniper started shouting into his mouthpiece that he didn't have a shot but they had to move, they blew the door.

It went flying off its hinges, the seal bursting with a hissing noise, and the four CEF men charged in through the door, weapons shouldered, screaming in various languages for him to drop his weapon. Trapp mentally gave him two seconds or until his finger started to squeeze. The rifle barrel lazily swung back and forth between the woman with the crowbar and the aid worker's outfit, and the four armoured CEF commandos with weapons aimed at him.

Trapp reached two, with the astonished dealer still not having made any sign of lowering his weapon, and for his trouble he took a bullet in the side of the neck and one in the upper cheekbone. The CEF rushed up to his collapsing body, one of the assaulters tearing away the rifle and another placing his foot on the man's chest, his carbine's barrel only inches from the dealer's head and wide eyes, staring at the celing. "He's gone, sir," came the grim report from the man. Trapp just nodded.

They were lucky he'd decided not to pull the trigger. Trapp's bullets had killed him instantly, but he'd had two seconds to open fire. If the sniper had had a shot, he would have blown the man's hand off and they would have taken him alive without any casualties. But as is, what was done was done. He'd just have to live with the results.


The CEF would leave immediately as if they'd never been there, leaving cleanup to Harakian Army and Neue Neue Deutsch forces. As usual, the Harakians would deny any involvement in the action, instead crediting it to Neue Neue Deutch forces. Good for morale and good for deniability. Of course, Trapp would get a behind the scenes congratulations from Neil. It would feel good. But it would be the most they would get for saving four lives.

23Eris HQ, Southhaven, Danteri

Papadakis overlooked teh Haraki reply to his message, they would accept the supplies. He made out the appropriate orders and within minutes, two freighters were gathering steam for the short trip to the Haraki zone. A pair of Erisian frigates would accompany the freighters until a point 12 miles from shore, respecting Haraki/Danteri waters.

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

From: Lt. General Papadakis
To: Major-General Gregory Neil
Re: Supplies

We have a pair of freighters warming up right now. They will make sail within an hour from the dispatch of this message. They will be escorted by two air-defense ships which will stay with them to a point twelve miles from your shores in order to respect 'your' territorial waters. Each carries approx 35,000 tons of foodstuffs. In the case of one of the ships, this includes about 10,000 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. I hope that this will help to ease the situation in your zone somewhat, and will arrange to have additional shipments redirected to your area in the future.

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

Erisian troops have begun a crackdown, spearheaded by their Danteri allies, on the organizations engaging in human trafficking. The Erisian leadership has offered Amnesty for anyone who aids in the efforts to shut down these organized crime syndicates, also included in the offer is enrollment in the Erisian Witness Protection Program, which means, that should the info be useful, that person gets a priority ticket to 23Eris and a new identity.

OOC: I've talked with Zukariaa...

The Danteri Auxiluaries for the Zukariaans now number 25,000 fully trained, 50,000 more in training. Most of those who had completed their training are now being deployed to either hunt down rebels or bandits, or to stand guard along the fronteir with the Haraki Safe-Zone or the 23Erisian Safe-Zone.

The first raid uncovered something truly horrible. When the 23Erisian soldiers came bursting throught the warehouse doors on a tip, they thought they knew that there were some 500 people being held there for "exportation". When they finally searched the place, they found twenty rather sweaty guards with bolt-action rifles... but no people. That is, until they checked the cargo containers that had been pushed into the water.
All five of them had been sealed with chains, and the refugees kept in them for days, and when the 23Erisian soldiers came, the criminals just pushed the crates into the water, drowning all 500 refugees, as their only hope of avoiding discovery.
What will be done with the criminals?

Lexington City
The New-Lexington congress has just accepted the Lexitonain controlled areas of Danteri as the 34 and 35th states of New-Lexington. No reaction from the Danteri-world is known.

Me Li Zone Alpha, Danteri


The future of prescience cannot always be locked into the rules of the past. The threads of existence tangle according to many unknown laws. Prescient future insists on its own rules. It will not conform to the ordering of the Zensunni nor to the ordering of science. Prescience builds a relative integrity. It demands the work of this instant, always warning that you cannot weave every thread into the fabric of the past.
Kalima: The Words of Muad'Dib
The Shuloch Commentary
Children of Dune

The Shrew, Dragonfly, Mongoose, Walrus, and Swan sat in silence. The muted glow of the data streams reflected from their eyes. Disturbingly inhuman those eyes looked. The Guild's training allowed them to absorb and analyze an obscene amount of data. Nevertheless, it required a certain amount of concentration. So they sat in silence. Save for the birds, frogs, and bugs of the Enclave it was a peaceful night.

They were reviewing the latest eddies of the Danteri Civil War. The potential swirls and flows shifted as each Companion edited the Stream. Things were slowly building up, but as of yet the situation resembled the lull before a storm. The principal agents seemed to be preparing for it as best they could. All the sides were marshaling their forces.

The Zuuks were pressing their boots harder onto the necks of Occupied Danteri. It would be interesting to see how they would go about polishing their shiny boots after the muck that was Danteri. They and the other powers seemed to be recruiting from the local Danteri. Interesting that.

New Lexington annexed their Danteri Zones. Interesting.

The 23Eris, Commies, and Allaince were consolidating their grip over their territories. The attentas and abuses seemed to be spreading. A fungal infection for sure. The strands were deep and the toadstools were only now beginning to manifest themselves. All they needed was a good rainstorm.

Little activity from the great powers holding Northern Danteri. They could be ignored safely for now.
It appears that His Holiness has ruled that the Solerii were merely mistaken. Their great God-Imperator was a bodhisattva. It was silly of them to worship him, but it did not hurt them too much.

Insulis Avalonnis was proceeding as planned and within a few weeks would secure the southern flank of the Allaince Zones. The HHS Tengou carrier group was still tied up at NND, but would arrive with the necessary upgrades by the end of the month. The election campaigns seemed to be on track and they would be able to de jure formalize the de facto situation with an elected Danteri Government.

Seahorse confidently predicted that Rational Peace would finally preval in these lands. The Danteri Companions did not share her opinion. They were not able to convey in exact words their sense of unease. It just seemed to itch under their skins.

Something was up.

Just what?

The Commitee of Sztuka Uliczna reviewed the grafitti of The Democratic Underground
"Rubbish!"* exclaimed Zbigniew Miodunka, the head of the commitee. "This is not grafitti, it is just vandalism!"
Suddenly, his eyes fell on an expertly executed tag.
"Now we're talking! These lines have no drips, the fills are magnificent, and the political message is profound!"*
He turned to his aid,
"Wladek, bring to me this artist. There is a government mural to be commisioned!"
The little pale man rushed off, no doubt to tell the nation's small armed forces about this new development.
*Translated from the original Polish.

The sheer horror at the massacre of innocents in the raid was enough to make Papadakis sick. He almost wished the men responsible hadn't been taken alive as 23Eris did not have a death penalty.

As no seperate Danteri court was existant, the matter fell to the Erisian justice system, and that in this instance was a matter for the Erisian Military Court. Lawyers for the defendants were assigned and a special prosecuting team was created. The men faced a maximum penalty of life at hard labor with no chance for parole.

However the Erisians kept the captured men seperated from each other in the prison set up on the Erisian base. Prosecutors began to approach them individually, explaining what they faced and offering them a chance to make a deal. Give up the names and locations of those they worked for, plead guilty, and recieve lighter sentencing reccommendations.

The Montegrandean and red army troops had decided to stop human trafficing to 23Eris (the route to erisian zone was by red army held territory) and the troops were ordered to patrol their territory looking for the human traffic organizations. Now the communism was more stablished in that territory, the trafficers couldn´t expect the same benevolence the bandits were benefited with.... However, the ones who weren´t responsible for violations of human rights would be given some mercy (from 5 to 10 years of forced labor). As for the others, the things weren´t as promising (up to 500 years sentences).....
The border with zukariaan held territory the fortifications grew in order to close the border. That didn´t mean refugees weren´t to be accepted but any human trafficer who wished to pass through communist territory would be likely to be caught by the communist troops. But may be if they gave the prisoners to the authorities the trafficers would be between 5 and 10 years of their lifes in a communist prison, but at least alive and with some minimal health conditions and no torture (if the people who caght the trafficers were from the montegrandean Army, Moncada new that things wouldn´t be as promising for the Red Army caught ones.....)

With permission from Me Li authority, the Cheif executive of Victoria City has authorised deployment of Task Force Suckit, consit of brigade-size/malitude of light infantry, vertical transports, numbers of FM (Fast vessels Multi-role), and amphibious vessels to occupied Me Li territories. Unknown numbers of medical battalions and Victoria City Police Forces officers patrol and to maintain law and order in Me Li occupied territories.

Mission of Victoria City TF Suckit: maintain stable internal security of Me Li occupied territories under the laws and Charter of Me Li; outlaw and exeucte violators including inflitrated foreign devils/beings/attackers; maintain and encourage economic/perishables, financial trade with other powers, etc.

Authorised by High authority of Me Li, Victoria City will handled controls/keys of financial trade of occupied territories. Vicotira City Monetary Authority had delegated Me Li's decree to allow private, commercial banks licensed-in Victoria City to open their bank branches in Me Li occupied territories. Banks from other Me Li member-states are welcome to hand-in their open-bank branches applications to VCMA for open new branches. All inhabitants of occupied territories can set up their personal financial accounts at those bank branches. Beware, they need to be aware of queues, as falling out of queue has cause them to touch with super-nanotech security infrastructure. Many died on spot from body deflation.

So far, number of foreign agents were discovered, executed, torture, for the saffty of inhabitants in occupied territories. Victoria City will try to voluntarily follow UN laws as possible. Commonwealth of WWMD will assist other Me Li member states with few years.

More notices soon.

Me Li Zone Alpha, East Haven, Danteri

Vaya had a headache. They seemed to be growing more regular since arriving in Danteri. The place was filled with vapours that sicken the spirit and attacked the brain. But his current headache wasn't Danterian. The Ancestors blessed him for once it wasn't Danteri or Haraki or any of the other devils or demons. His headache was standing before him in a prim Victoria City civil uniform. The damn limey's were so...so...well old-fashioned.

Torture! Execution! Gods-damnit. The limey's were going to cluster fuck up everything to high hells. Torture was just plain stupid. Execution...the Melii haven't executed anyone in centuries. Sure we exile them and they usually die from exposure, but execution was just...inelegant. And yes technically the Vickys had foolowed the letter of the law. But even after all these centuries they were still...<the limeys were getting nervous>

He continued glaring at the oblivious Vicky Limey commander.

The Limey's were tasked with internal security and creating a local economy. Why the economy exactly he wasn't sure. The DVC economy had collapsed disasterously a few years ago. Their "experimental economic models" proved their unduing. Their riot and internal security apparatus was very, very, good. The Dominion of Victoria City citizens absolutely loved striking and mass demonstrations for one thing or another. The DVC has over the years developed very...um...effective methods. Inelegant but they worked. And if it works it is by definition not stupid...most of the time.

This time it was just stupid.

Just what he needed. A bunch of ConFed forces fucking with his rear while Melii forces moved to the exterior lines. Another Melii Roros...that would not do. He would have to improvise.

He sighed and made a quick fluttering of the fingers.

The Vicky Limey blinked in surprise as he split in half. He died with a look of incredoulity. They wouldn't dare! The assembled Limey Auxilaries made no motion. Tension. The Melii were known for being unpredicatable and the Pixie Swarms suddenly seemed much, much more malevolent. The Companions and Melii Marines added to the general sense of unease.

Vaya turned his attention to the assembled Limeys.

"He was a fool. In death he serves to protect the living. If we had allowed these dishonorable outrages against the devils to continue you all would be dead as well."

He paused to allow it to sink in. Fear was slowly being replaced by outrage. Another flicker and the Melii forces leveled their guns at their allies. Outrage returned to cautious evaluation. They weren't dead. The High Commander was explaining something important.

"All personnel are reminded to be more patient with the Allaince devils and Danteri Barbarians. They are not children of the Isles of Mara. They will eventually come to know us. We must make the effort to understand these "people." They are not yet "enemy" nor or they "limey." Treat all civilians as you would a damaged little one.

"These Danteri barbarians have the potential of becoming valued Limey allies. The Dominion of Victoria City is a valued ally. You have had centuries to know our ways. They are still young to them. A certain caution is needed.
They do not speak any of the tongues of the Isles very well. Speak in slow unaccented English. None of that patois you call Victoria City English. Most Allaince and Danterii seem to understand some of it. AND Learn Danterii. This is their country.

"All suspects are to be incarcerated until proper joint precedings are established. Execution or torture of natives or captured enemy assets are to immediately cease. Defy us in this and Die. Meditate upon what was said here. The Path is clear.

"The Healers and Teachers are dismissed to Red Wheel immedaitly following this meeting. Combat units, Melii laison commissars have been assigned to the Auxillary Battalions. Rendeznous with them. Finance, trade, port authority, local economics etc.. have NOW been officially transfered to Victoria City. Take care. Tread softly upon the devils. You are useful allies. Remain so."

He smiled...they shuddered.

"You have your Orders! Execute!"

After review of current situation, Task Force Suckit was order to revise following tasks (in addition of existing ones) then "perform" them:

-HAMs, Hearts And Minds. All invisible security infrastructure are being remove OUT of civilian zones. Those may still exisit near combat zones/frontline. All arrested suspects are being processed by reformed VCD law code - "Victorian Code". Native inhabitants are having "cooler" understanding at all. Some smile too.

-Liasion, officers from other Me li armed forces in the occupied zone are embed in VC Auxiliaries. So far, those liason officers cannot be embed into regular Victoria City force. Further notice from VCD Chief Executive soon.

News: TF Suckit Regulars captured some enemy combatants, well, a company of enemy combatants. Some of them are wound. They are being treated fairly as possible but they just don't damm cool down, nanotech restraints were forec to stop them fleeing...then take them back to hospital beds.

The responsibility of Finance, trade, port authority, local economics in Danteri occupied zone are working well so far. Consultation from other Meli member states.

Entertainments licenses for Danteri occupied zone are being grant to all firms/organisations in Me li member states. Applications can be made the nearest VCD diplomatic mission, or home affair offices in occupied zones.

The Danteri Auxiluaries in the Zukariaan Zone have proven their ability to police their own territory - they have hunted down the Democratic Underground group that was responsible for the attack on the armoury, launched a raid and successfully killed those responsible. (Those not killed resisting were shot after interrogation).

- 40 members of the Democratic Underground were found out and killed. Although they were armed and resisted, only one D.A. (Danteri Auxiluary) soldier was wounded, and none were killed.

The smugglers (although some would call them slavers...) who were arrested have begun to talk - it looks like there is a major organization in place - they take people out of Danteri, selling them to illegal operations in other nations, then bring drugs into Danteri. Apparently, they aren't into gun smuggling because the security is so much tighter...

In other news, in the Haraki Safe-Zone, three Danteri Police officers were killed and one wounded (severly) while on patrol - they were just walking their beat (they patrol by fours), and were set upon by a gang, armed with pistols and knives. This raises the total number of Danteri Police officers killed to 108... a seriously high number...

Papadakis considered the news about the drug smuggling. Back in 23Eris, drugs were legalized and certain shops catered to the clientele loking to get high. Legalization had almost entirely destroyed the black market in smuggling drugs, and it had lowered the cost of drugs, making drug sales less profitable and driving many would be suppliers away to more promising areas.

Papadakis began to issue the orders. The smugglers would be hunted down using the information gathered. Slavery was detestable and most definately a crime in 23Eris and those responsible in his zone would be punished accordingly. Meanwhile, legalization of many formerly illegal drugs was announced, though under the guidance of the government and in certain shops.

Also diplomatic (and in some cases military) efforts have begun in an attempt to rescue and recover as many of the already smuggled slaves as can be tracked down. Additionally any cargo vessels which knew or 'should-have-known' (OOC: Yes that really is a legal term) are being impounded, thoroughly searched, and their captains, oficers, crew, and owners (when possible) taken into custody.

Within a day of the announcement more than 100 applications for licenses to open shops were turned in. The Civil Authority would weed through them and approve or disapprove depending on various criteria.

In other news, Fnord Motor Company, the largest automotive manufacturer in 23Eris has begun building a factory in Southhaven. The factory will add thousands of jobs to the area and help to rebuild the shattered economy of the region. In addition, Golden Apple Computers, Inc. has begun construction of a massive call-center in Southhaven, due to the abundance of relatively inexpensive labor. GAC plans to transfer almost 5,000 help-desk jobs to Southhaven within 6 months and has begun offering an extensive (and free) computer 'boot camp' to accepted applicants, provided they agree to work for the company for at least 2 years after completion of the course (otherwise they'll have to repay the costs of the classes).

Lastly, taking a page from the Haraki, the Civil Authority has begun plans for local elections throughout Erisian Southhaven. Candidates apply at their local CA office and must bring a petition with at least 50 signatures to have their names added to the ballots. Plans are for the elections to be held in three months (partly so some ampaigning can be done, and because, given the state of the zone, the occupying force plans to conduct background checks of those on the ballots, when practical).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lt. General Papadakis, 23Eris
To: Major-General Gregory Neil, Haraki
Cc: Montegrande Commander
Re: Smuggling

General, after a recent crackdown in our own territory on would be smugglers of human cargo (slaves) we have uncovered evidence of an extensive network of organized crime that exists in the safe-havens. In order to ensure the safety of those under your care (and to put an end to this detestable practice) I have attached all current intelligence on the organizations gathered to this date.

I wish you the best of luck in efforts to crush these evil organizations which thrive on the misery of others.

OOC: I misspelled the name of my nationstate, and so i will let it lapse. My new nationstate will post on this forum later.

OOC: Hey all, this is the correct spelling of my nation's name

The Liliowans will assist E23 in any way possible, as their drug market would also be hurt by the smugglers, but they encourage all other nations to legalize all drugs as soon as possible.

[From: Major-General Gregory Neil]
[To: Lt. General Papadakis]

I, while unhappy at the situation detailed in your attached intelligence, am glad it has been shared between our two forces. Although as yet we have had no visible problems with these slave traders, should we uncover any intelligence it will be shared with you, and we will take further efforts to keep these bastards from expanding their business into our territory.


Gregory Neil







OOC: I'm out of town until Saturday, so this may be the last post I get to make until then. Results for the election while I'm gone are fine, but I'd rather nothing important happened in the Haraki safe zones while I'm gone, as I won't be around to make a response.

OOC: Krow Liliowych - you do realize that this will put you back on "square one" for people and so on?
OOC: Haraki - we'll miss you.

The NNDEF will be doing what it can to assist in election security, the supression of human trafficing and so on. As for legal drugs, the Neue Neue Deutsch government might be liberal, but it isn't that liberal. Their soldiers are under orders to, while on duty, seize and destroy any drugs they find. Since drugs are illegal in the Haraki zone, this shouldn't cause that much friction with 23Eris.
Also, the NNDEF is looking into the Danteri Police - they have been having a lot of cassualties, after all.

OOC: 23Eris - when you say drugs are legal in your nation, do you mean all drugs? (Marijuana is legal in NND, although not in the Neue Neue Deutsch army, but heroin isn't - is heroin legal in 23Eris?)

OOC: Yes. 23Eris has attempted to remove all 'victimless crimes' from its lawbooks. So all drugs are legal within 23Eris, though their distribution is somewhat regulated (like the shops in amsterdam). Oh, and we have no problem wih other nation's anti-drug laws, though we may consider them foolish or overly harsh. And soldiers & police in 23Eris are not allowed to use or be under the influence of drugs while on duty.

Sorry 'bout the all OOC post!

The Gwazzarian soldiers are returned to the Safe-Zone, bringing along numerous prisoners and former prisoners. The bandits are currently being kept in Gwazzarian hands, however, while they debate over letting the new Danteri Civil Code have its way with them or just giving them clean executions.

The next major cargo run by Gwazzaria's Krasztburg fleet should be arriving in a couple days, to restock on food, water, clothing (for the refugees), medicine (for everyone), and ammunition (for the soldiers). This run will also be bringing several hundred light bulletproof vests, of the variety Gwazzarian police use, for distribution to the Danteri police in hopes that it might cut down on casualties.

The sea was stormy, throwing waves about, as the last of the Danteri Auxiluaries boarded the transports. Once aboard, one called out to another -
"Have you heard where we are headed?", to which the other replied:
"Someplace called Arterus, or so I've heard!"

- 10,000 Danteri Auxiluaries have boarded transports for an overseas deployment in one of Kraven's other wars - the one in Arterus.

The elections in the Haraki Safe-Zone have occured, marked by occassional outbreaks of violence and disorder.
Seven Danteri Police officers guarding polling places were killed and eight wounded when The Cult of The Second Coming showed its face - three of its gun men were killed in exchange, and one wounded and captured.
As for civilians, nine were killed and forteen wounded. No one was denied the right to vote, though, so this effectively counts as a win for Haraki - there was, after all, less violence than it was feared there might be.

As for the delegates elected, only two are of note: one is a retired member of Danteri Government Security, while the other is an open (but non-violent) member of The Cult of The Second Coming.

Telegram
From: Commander Moncada
To:Lt. General Papadakis
The news about the smugglers and human traffic are certainly grave. The Red Army and the Montegrandean troops will work inmediatly to seek and destroy those evil organizations. In return for the informs attached, we will send you any information about the crime organizations that could be useful to you. This menace has to be controlled inmediatly and the best is to work together with that objective.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The montegrandean soldiers were benefiting from the economic miracle of their nation across the sea. The new equipment was from excelent quality, modern technology, and best of all, made in Montegrande. The old weapons were repaired and updated and handled to the Red Army. Also, some of the montegrandean troops retired leaving 30000 marines in the archipellago, 150000 in the other territories plus the Red Guard effectives, giving more protagonism to the Red Army in the defense of their territory (but the fighting power of the remaining troops is dramaticly increased with the new arms, though.)
The buildings in Dreil, Wlateswja and Volksburg were expected to finish in the coming days and the construction of technical schools was going well. However, the smugglers were a problem that had to be inmediatly terminated and with that purpose the montegrandean tightened the control in the cities, and gave informations to the Red Guard effectives to destroy the crime organizations. Any officer (civil or military one) found in corruption was to be sentenced to 30 years of forced labor in the communist prisons and the informants were ordered to infiltrate the organizations.

Somewhere in Zukariaan Territory
The Special Ops Group prowled through the forest, searhich with eyes and ears wide open. Their mission was to protect the survivoirs of the originaly 80000 refugees from all over Danteri. Many had been killed but around 70000 were beleived to still be alive. Suddunly the heard a noise. Was it a bear or a human? They moved behind some rocks, and saw the thing. It was a massive amount of people moving, crawling any way they could throught the forest. The men breathed a sigh of releife. This is what they had waited for. They aproached the people and asked how many there were after identifiying themselves. "There are thousands of us in a trail 20 miles long" they said, "many are dead, sick and wounded but we can make it. how far is it to New-LExington territory?" They asked. "Only 15 miles" replied the soldeirs. "Thank god" said the refugees.

OOC-No. New-Lexington, no. You should have talked with me before just suddenly having people in my territory. Besides that, there are no forests in my territory. We stripped the land of all resources when we took over.

Besides that, you should talk to me before having spec ops teams in my territory. It would be damn near impossible to get through my fortifications, and I don't know what you are talking about anyways. There arn't anymore refugees. They're all either in Haraki or 23Erisian safe zones, or possibly some in yours. Or they're now part of Kraven.

I'll ignore this. It's pretty godmoddish.

The wall didn't look like much - just a bit of scorched concrete full of pock-marks from bullets - but, it was currently the center of attention in the square.
Eight men were lined up against it, facing twelve Danteri Auxiluaries in full uniform, who held their rifled at their shoulder, aimed at the men against the wall.
A sergeant spoke:
"These men are rebels against Glorious Kraven. As such, they are deserving of no pity, worthy of no mercy and in the end... doomed to die." he made a quick gesture, and the soldiers prepared to fire...
One of the men cried out, although he was blindfolded:
"Death to Kraven! Long live Liberty! Freedom! There will someday be justice do-" he ceased to speak, as the booming sounds of guns firing erased his words. He died, as did the other seven, pitiful little figures in rags, their hands bound behind their backs, black cloths across their eyes.

One thousand soldiers of the Danteri Auxiluary core surrounded the village of Hobton at about four AM. Here a few men had spoken out against Kraven and Zukariaa, or so they had been told - now they acted to make an example such as would silence all others who would dare speak against their masters.
The orders were given at six AM, and the men marched...
By seven AM, the town burned as the soldiers forced the surviving townspeople into a line in the town square. There were ninety survivors, forty of them children. Twenty men and eighteen women had died fighting, or running... they had killed one D.A. soldier for their efforts.
A Captain walked before the crowd, struting with pride, a small man but proud of his commission. He spoke as the civilians cowered before the large men with guns, saying to them:
"Two days ago, a man spoke out against Kraven and Zukariaa in this village. He was not punished by the proper authorities." at this, he gestured towards the local constable, whose corpse had been nailed to a wall, that it might bear witness to the macabre scene that now unfolded. The captain continued:
"As such, we are now here to do what this man should have done... and so much more. You see," he went on, pacing before the assembled crowd the entire time,
"Kraven and Zukariaa... they see everything. Even when you do not report it, they see it." he drew his sidearm, smilling in sadistic anticipation.
"Because I am kind, I will have my men kill the children first... that way, they will not have to suffer as we torture and kill you all... they will die cleanly." he made a little waving gesture, and the soldiers moved into the crowd, smashing parents aside with rifles to herd the children aside.
The captain himself took part, moving over and trying to pry a baby from a young woman's arms. She wailed, struggling and crying out:
"Please, not my son! I'll do anything..." tears were running down her face as she knelt before him, trying to hold onto her child.
"Anything?" asked the officer, smilling with the same sadism he had already displayed. He seemed to think for a moment, and then spoke:
"Then die first." with that, he shot her.
After the children had been shot, the soldiers formed the remaining citizens into a line again, and the officer spoke again, before the killing started:
"Alright. Kill them all... and," he gestured for the soldiers who were raising their rifles to stop for a moment, "Be creative."

- Danteri Auxilary soldiers have been conducting a systematic campaign of terror and suppression in the occupied zones. Those two incidents are mentioned because video recordings of them were made public after the fact. (Apparently by The Democratic Underground).

The Free Peoples Krow Liliowych are apalled by the news of the actions of the Dnateri Auxilaries, and this kind of action will not be tolerated! The People's Party Krow Liliowych has pledged whtever small help they can give to any who will bring the barbaric Danteri to justice for their heinous crimes.

OOC-Danteri, just a question. How did the DU get the tapes?
Actually, why did they tape it? XD

[Obersturmbann furher Corrol]
Nations active in Danteri! I would like you to know that we did not authorize such things. Those who were part of these acts will be punished.

OF Corrol has released a notice explaining that he did not approve of the destruction of the town. He has said that all 1,000 men will be dealt with accordingly.

In truth, this means he's going to kill those who taped the event and plans to completely obliterate the Democratic Underground. That's not what you guys know, though.

The Itchia Gamblilng Exchange was making money hand over well dead bodies. The newest wagers were concerning exactly how much dope could the Crazy Cows get into the Zones before the Haraki would take notice and 1) Capture the ringleaders 2) they became the Underground 3) corrupted the poor innocent Danterii...The general agreement was that the Grey were very close to becoming the Black Market. That the crazy polish were goodly crazy anarchist...and funny fellows. That the Zuuks were getting damn mad about the Democratic Underground.

The Betting was huge concerning the Underground. Most Melii had complete sympathy with the crazy bastards. Mostly this was due to them being the underdogs. Mostly also because they didn't like the Bottle Demons Hamster Lovers. Mostly because it was a hopeless cause. Don Quixote at his INSANE best. The Exchange looked to make a killing. The Melii bet heavily in favour of the DU.

A Side bet was running as to how they managed to get the tape and if they did it themselves.

The Exchange took all bets...It would Make Money!!!

To: Zukariaa
From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich
Re: Civilian Massacre

We are glad to hear that you did not authorize the brutal execution of an entire town, and are pleased that you plan to punish those responsible for this travesty. At the same time we wish to express our grave concern over the lack of basic freedoms and rights in the areas under your control. We urge you to rectify the situation and restore freedom to the people under your rule.

OOC: Updated the map to show the last of the territorial grabs in Southhaven. No more free Danteri. :(

Here (http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/renthas/danteri8.jpg)it is.

Neue Berlin, Executive Office
It was a quiet morning in Neue Berlin - the crowds that gathered outside of the government buildings almost every day to shout and protest was being quiet, for the most part - even they needed to sleep.
The Chancellor was looking out of his window, admiring the view, feeling calm and collected, ready for the upcoming day. The yearly buget had been aproved, so that was out of the way, and now, now all that was left to ruin his feelings of calm, quiet happiness at all of this was the military. They were still overseas, in Danteri, and so wouldn't be much of a problem - they couldn't exactly stage a coup from hundreds of miles away. He had used his executive veto on every bill that came before him calling for increased funding for the armed forces, but such things kept poping up. It was most frustrating - here he was, trying to defend democracy in Neue Neue Deutschland, and the drated legislature had to go and keep on calling for funding for the military.
The new elections hadn't helped things - the Conservative Democratic Party had lost ground, as had all the parties that didn't support more military funding. It was obvious that the election had been rigged - how else coudl they have gained ground? So, he had canceled the results, which had prompted massive riots, which he had had to order put down.
Yes, he thought, it would be easier to defend the rights of the people if they were more willing to help him do so.
Still, he always had an "ace in the hole", didn't he? He turned to the soul-less man in the corner, who had been standing there, so unobtrusively, and asked him,
"Well, dear friend, I think I've got a new job for you. Remember the Opposition Coalition head? He's being very "naughty", calling for those election results to be recognized, and so he should be delt with." he shifted a bit nervously, still a little uncomfortable with such tactics, then continued:
"Go do what you do best."

The soldiers of the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force are reacting to their shortage of supplies by begging and/or borrowing from the other nations militaries. Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder is sending letters to the Haraki, Gwazzarian and Me li commanders, and is asking for help.
Additionally, the NNDEF is using a questionable tactic to aquire enough warm bodies to perform all their tasks (patrols, guard duty, etc.) - they have been taking Danteri vollenteers who pass an examination (mostly physical, but they also can't be idiots), and are making them "honorary Neue Neue Deutschlanders" - and, they are being trained.

- Something like 50 Danterians are being recruited - once they are chosen, they are made Neue Neue Deutsch citizens, and then trained by the original soldiers (of which there are less than 150).

It was easy to find fifty men who would fight for Neue Neue Deutschland in exchange for citizenship... it was even easy to find fifty combat veterans of the various armies that had been fighting so hard all across Danteri. The NNDEF has its men.

After the 10,000 Danteri Auxilary soldiers were deployed in Atreus, the converted freighters that were acting as their transports turned back for Danteri, having emptied their holds.
Meanwhile, back in Danteri, another 10,000 men are being prepared for deployment...
It looks as though the Danteri Auxilaries are really going to be used - it will be an easy enough way to blood them, won't it?

Jefferson City, Confederacy of An t-Oilean Ur

“Good morning, Mr. Chairman.” General Breckenridge of the Confederate Army rose from his chair in the small briefing room as the door opened to admit the defacto civilian leader of the Confederacy.

“General,” replied Chairman Dow, with a sharp nod. A servant scurried in with coffee service on a silver tray while the Chairman took a seat. “You have an update on the Danteri situation?”

Sipping the hot brew from a cup, the general moved to a podium at the head of the table. “Yes sir, I do.” Breckenridge pressed a button and a screen lit up behind him, displaying a high-resolution map of Danteri. “Space Command positioned a Watchtower satellite over the country last week, and this is the result of their analysis. From what we can tell, sir, major combat ops have ceased for the moment. We are seeing some movement indicative of general patrolling and guerrilla activity, but not much else.”

“For the moment, General?” asked the Chairman.

Another button was pressed. The topographic map was replaced with a map showing the once-free map of Danteri partitioned into several different occupied zones. “Sir, you can see from this map that the country has been occupied by elements of several different powers. Here in the north are zones controlled by McPsychoville and Soloriel, though things seem rather quiet up there. Zukariaa holds most of the center of the country, with zones occupied by Haraki, New Lexington, and Montegrande here, here, and here.” The general indicated each area with a small laser pointer.

“Fascists and communists,” said Dow with a grimace. “Lovely. And isn't Zukariaa one of Kraven's client states?”

“As far as we know, yes, they are.”

“Well, I hope the rest of them have the sense to leave them the hell alone. I know I wouldn't want to get involved in a shooting match with Kraven.” The Chairman paused to sip at his coffee. “Who else is in there, Breckenridge?”

“23Eris has occupied the southern part of the country, sir,” replied the general as he returned the map to its original state. “International relief agencies have sent requests for help, for things like food, emergency supplies, help with refugee resettlement, and so forth.”

“We can do that, no problem,” said the Chairman. “I'll sit down with the rest of the Board after lunch and get their approval. In the meantime, General, work up a plan to get us in there, but do it in such a way that we can get back out again in a hurry if this thing does degenerate into a royal Charlie-Foxtrot.”

“No problem, sir.”

“Assume I'll give you the go-ahead this afternoon, then, General. Thank you for the brief.” The Chairman stood and left the room, leaving General Breckenridge alone to plan.

______


From: Brigadier General C.M. Wilcox, Army of the Confederacy of An t-Oilean Ur
To: Lieutenant General Papadakis, 23Erisian Armed Forces, Danteri Occupied Zone
To: Major General Neil, Harakian Armed Forces, Danteri Safe Zone

Sirs:

By approval and direction of the Confederacy's Board of Directors, I am empowered to offer any and all assistance you might require that my nation can provide. This includes, but is not limited to, immediate shipment of emergency supplies and shelters, resettlement of refugees, and the assignment of military units such as military police and other infantry and/or armored formations as should be needed for patrolling or training cadre.

I have ordered the immediate loading of heavy air transports with relief supplies, and await your authorizations to launch for delivery.

BG Wilcox, Confederate Army
Commanding, 32nd Regimental Combat Team

سورة البقرة

Surah 2. Al-Baqarah 2:190-193

2:190: Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you,
but do not transgress limits;
for Allah loveth not transgressors.

2:191: And slay them wherever ye catch them,
and turn them out from where they have Turned you out;
for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter;
but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque,
unless they (first) fight you there;
but if they fight you, slay them.
Such is the reward of those who suppress faith.

2:192: But if they cease, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

2:193: And fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression,
and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease,
Let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression.



Somewhere/Anywhere in Danteri

The Order of the Shining Path was an eclectic mishmash of peoples and professions. Suprisingly, there was a very strong Islamic minority influence on the largely Buddhist organization. They were having a very typically Melii debate concerning the 72nd Surya, as they walked down the new road, when they came upon this broadsheet. Luck would have it they came upon some verses of the Koran.

Either the Black Sheep or the Democratic Underground were clearly responsible. The Commies wouldm't use religion this way. The Order still read it with great interest. They agreed it made alot of sense. Self-Defense was a basic right of every Human Being. Yet...this was clearly inflamatory. It was directed against all occupiers. It still smelt strongly of a Melii Black Ops to them, but the gaijin were unlikely to connect it the Melii. The Order debated amongst themselves as to what they should do. It was finally decided that they would encourage the flyers spread. It was a logical and nuanced arguement. AND it was TRUE!

They would do their small part in speeding the Re-Unification. Danteri should be Freely and Justly Ruled by the Danterii.

Viva La Revolution Verdad! Death to Oppression! Liberté, Fraternité, et Egalité!

- In Danteri, where ever you find a large concentration of Melii or a Limey forces you are now likely to find a cell of the Order and a special Cadre of the Black Sheep.

TO: All Concerned Parties in Danteri
From: The Office of His Holiness, Isles of Mara
RE: Re-Unification Summit

Exellencies,

The Dominion of Me Li would like to suggest that interested powers that perhaps there can be a Middle Way. We hope that some may wish to consider a partial Re-Unification of the Danteri Territories under a loose ConFederation. Several of the current Zones of Control are having their own local elections and forming local governments.

Me li greats this development with great satifaction.

We are concerned, however, with the carving of this great people into colonial territories by many of the powers. This nation has seen much tormoil. Many of you would like to return home. Me Li shares your wish. Yet, there is still much work to be done. We welcome all of the new aid. The new allies fight for Danterii and for their own honour.

Yet...how can a people be long ruled by another? No matter how great or freindly we are, the Danterii know they are Occupied. Let us Free Nations unite our holdings in Danteri. 23Eris? Montergrande? Solerii? Psycho? you wish this as much as our Allies. Even you New Lexinton..your states are young...perhaps you were mistaken? We humbly suggest a referundum in your next elections.

Me Li doubts that the Zukarian Leader will care to relinquish your control over Central Danteri. However, Consider you this, All of Danteri will be United under One Government One Day...so Leader of the Zuuks? Do you choose Honor or Ego? Consider this question very carefully. We of the Melii believe you are still Honorable or at the very least true to your own Honour. It would be a great pity if we were to discover otherwise.

Each interested Zone would send represenatives to the Constitutional Convention. We suggest a temporary Confederation. The Current Zones would be only loosely controlled by the new provisional central government. The Final Constitution would bind the States together however they agreed to be bound at the Convention. Each zone can in turn choose to ratify or vote down the Constitution.

We are most hopeful that the cocerned powers will consider this proposal. It offers us all an Honorable and Peaceful Near Future for Danteri. The Isles are at peace with the World, and would be willing to Host a Summit in our Territories. Or if you prefer a closer location to Danteri we offer the newly built Insulis Avalonis.



Best Regards,


His Holiness, The Venerable Me XXXII
The Dominion of Me Li, Isles of Mara

ooc: So what do you think...just add a note to your next post. :D The Summit will take a few months to organize. The Base ought to be fully grown and operational in two months time. If enough interest is generated, the Summit facilities can be put in place by then.

To: Me Li
From: Obersturmbann furher Corrol
Subject: Reunification of Danteri

The only unification I will agree to is under Kraven.

From: Lt. general Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
To: Brigadier General C.M. Wilcox, Army of the Confederacy of An t-Oilean Ur

Currently, we have an overabundance of foodstuffs in our zone and have begun shipping surplus supplies to the Haraki safe-zone. I suggest that your food efforts be directed to the same area.

That said, we will happily accept any supplies of a medical nature, and of course any aid in the construction of additional housing for the refugees in our zone.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Foreign Minister Chilkevich, 23Eris
To: The Office of His Holiness, Isles of Mara
Re: Danteri Re-Unification

While we agree with the goal of your latest dispatch, an objective we too are slowly working for; as evidenced by our Danteri Unified Post Office (Offering 2 day delivery to Haraki, Montegrande, Soloriel, or Psychoville zones), we do not believe the time is correct for such a summit. The government of 23Eris will not force reunification upon the Danteri currently in our care in Southhaven. Such an issue will be decided by the people of that area themselves, once a restored, stable, democratic, government is once again in operation. Currently the first elections for local government in our zone are a few months away.

Until the Southhaven government is fully operational and can represent itself at a summit, we will not approve of reunification.

Several of the former drug-smugglers put out of work by the legalization of recreational drugs in the 23Erisian Safe-Zone have begun smuggling arms into the Zone - it seems that this is their response to having the less dangerous options removed...
Others, of course, are no longer smuggling, but some are still doing so.

- More guns are coming into the 23Erisian Safe-Zone - noticably more, but there are fewer actual smugglers.

The convoy that deployed 10,000 men in Atreus has returned, and another 10,000 Danteri Auxiluaries are being loaded onto the converted freighters. With this latest deployment, it seems as though the leadership feels safe enough to send 20,000 men away over seas...

The Democratic Underground has been dealt a major blow by the Zukariaans - hundreds were rounded up and shot, and dozens were killed while resisting arrest. It seems as though the Democratic Underground, the last real resistance group in Zukariaan-held Danteri, has been destroyed... mostly...

"General Wilcox, sir? This just came in from the Erisians." The young lieutenant braced stiffly to attention before her superior's desk before placing a folder in front of him.

"Thank you, Sam," the general replied as he broke the seal. Rubbing his chin with his left hand, he studied the letter in front of him. "Have we heard from the Harakians yet?"

"No, sir, nothing yet past an acknowledgement of our signal."

"Very well. The Erisians say all they need is medical assistance and housing for their refugees. I want you to cut orders for the 14th Field Medical to move to South Haven immediately. Tell the Erisians Medical's on the way, and, with their permission, I'll be sending a member of my staff for liason. Also, let them know we are going to make arrangements for prefabricated housing ASAP."

"Yes, sir."

"Very good, Sam. Dismissed."

----

The large transport aircraft droned through a clear blue sky. "23Eris Control, 23Eris Control, this is Confederation Heavy Transport Alpha X-Ray Mike with you on guard. Do you read me, over...?"

Initial shipments of medical supplies are beginning; prefab housing will be following via civilian freighter.

<Open Comm>

The only unification I will agree to is under Kraven.

We are sadden to see that Zukariaa is dead.

Until the Southhaven government is fully operational and can represent itself at a summit, we will not approve of reunification.

A completly understandable position. This Convention will happen...eventually. The Me Li merely wished to remind the Free Peoples of our concerns. Best strike while the situation is still somewhat plastic. We believe that this is a tenative yes pending the formation of a local Danteri government in your Zones?

From: Brigadier General C.M. Wilcox, Army of the Confederacy of An t-Oilean Ur
To: Lieutenant General Papadakis, 23Erisian Armed Forces, Danteri Occupied Zone
To: Major General Neil, Harakian Armed Forces, Danteri Safe Zone

Sirs:

By approval and direction of the Confederacy's Board of Directors, I am empowered to offer any and all assistance you might require that my nation can provide. This includes, but is not limited to, immediate shipment of emergency supplies and shelters, resettlement of refugees, and the assignment of military units such as military police and other infantry and/or armored formations as should be needed for patrolling or training cadre.

I have ordered the immediate loading of heavy air transports with relief supplies, and await your authorizations to launch for delivery.

BG Wilcox, Confederate Army
Commanding, 32nd Regimental Combat Team
To: Brigadier General C.M. Wilcox, Army of the Confederacy of An t-Oilean Ur
From: High Commander SINGH Vaya, Isles of Mara ConFed
RE: Relief Aid

Sir,

As your message was unencoded, we were forced to read it. We applaud your efforts at easing the Suffering of the Danterii. While although the Dominion of Me Li cannot authorize you access to the entire Haraki Allaince Zones, we can offer you access to the Isles of Mara ConFed Zone. Your heavy planes and huge ships can currently utilize our Southern Base of Avalonnis. Intermediate sized shipping and air cargo can dock at South Harbor Port and land at our air facilities at RWEF Alpha Base. Our forces are currently expanding the Port and Air Facilities of Meddigo City. They will be able to accomadate heavy cargo within two months.

If your SeaBee Engineers wish to help speed up the rebuilding of the City and Alpha Zones infrastructure, you are welcome to co-ordinate with Our Red Wheel EFHQ. Melii would be happy to have the assistance of your supplies and support personnel. The intergration of your combat troopers into the Allainces Safe Zones, however, I'm afraid must await the Haraki. We belive they will accept your proposal. Until then, be welcome into our areas of influence.

Commander SINGH Vaya, Dominon of Me Li Defence Force

<low encoded>
To: NNDEFHQ
FROM: RWEFHQ
RE: Resupply

Supplies for your 200 men forces have been released an additional 300 is provided for.<list of materiel> Note: You will be outfitted with the same gear as our Limey Auxillaries. We have fabricated NND flag patches to distinguish your gear. We hope this is acceptable.

Death to Oppression


<END>

Thirty five thousand soldiers of the Danteri Auxiluary core marched in full battle array right along the border with the New-Lexington zone, apparently as a reminder that New-Lexington had better be careful, since it had been trying to help refugees escape...

Hermia, Southhaven

"Alpha X-Ray mike Heavy, you are cleard for immediate landing on runway 17. Repeat, cleared for landing on runway 17, traffic pattern is clear." The tower responded to thw incoming transport craft.

23Eris HQ, Hermia, Southhaven
"Sir, the Transport from the An-T, Ann Tee- The A.T.O.Us sir. Its on approach."

"That was fairly quick, guess they weren't kidding about having supplies on standby. Make sure someone greets the crew of the plane, offer our thanks and all that."

"What about you sir?"

"Busy Captain, I'm trying to make sure the navy sends us those Pegasus hydrofoils."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Me Li
From: 23Eris
Re: Summit

Yes, we are giving a tentative acceptance. We believe that the nation sould be joined together as soon as it can be, but not before stability has been stablished in our respective zones. Once an operational Southhaven-Danteri government is established, they will be handling all matters of reunification.

IC: 24 Pegasus Hydrofoil Fast Attack/Patrol boats are being deployed to the 23Eris Zone coastline. They will aid the fleet in hunting down smuggler vessels (as they are surely faster than most smugglers).

Additionally, the newest 23Eris carrier, the St. Tibs is scheduled to arrive within a day with its fleet of destroyers, frigates, and supply vessels as part of its shake down tour. The fleet will spend sseveral weeks in Southhaven waters.

We will not unify our hard-fought Danterii terrotiry with any other especially the evil Kraven. We will stay independant and fight for so.

The Bundestag ranted about "sacred democracy", the mobs screamed in anger, the police nervously chambered rounds in their shot-guns, and wondered which side of the barricade they should be on...
It was getting desperate. The assassination of the Opposition Coalition Leader had had exactly the opposite effect from the one that had been anticipated. Instead of ignoring the "conspiracy theorists", the people now believed them - instead of rallying around the government, they now threw rocks at it. Things were getting ugly, and democracy looked set to die if the militarist mobs got their hands on power. As such, the times were desperate, and desperate times always call for desperate measures.
Perhaps it was time to take the advice offered by his dear friend, that assassin with soul-less eyes, and ask Kraven for help. It wasn't like they could be as bad as the mob said they were - in fact, the mere fact that the mob cried out in horror at the mere mention of their name made them seem more attractive, not less.
Still, there was still hope for a peaceful solution - he would wait to call in Kraven until later, if it was even necessary.

The Danteri-flag freighter Harvest had been listed as a suspected gun-runner - as such, it was set to be intercepted. However, as the 23Erisian flyer came in towards it, it didn't try to run - rather, men on the deck opened fire, rather ineffectively, with .35 caliber machine-guns and assault rifles. It seems that these gun runners aren't just going to surrender... (after firing on the 23Erisian flyer, the Harvest set a course for the nearest nation without extradation treaties...)

Hermia, Southhaven

"Roger, Control. Copy Runway 17. Making final approach now." The big cargo plane banked slightly to starboard, settling in on its final course. Gear deployed with a thump, and the craft gradually lost altitude as it forged onwards to a landing.

The pilot made certain that the auto-landing system was operating properly, then took a moment to stretch. "Lord, what a flight! I'll be glad to get some solid ground under my feet again."

Chuckling, the copilot replied, "It has been a long one, hasn't it? I'll bet our passengers are ready..."

A harsh alarm split the air in the cockpit as the blood-red 'WARNING' indicator on the control panel began to flash. "SAM! SAM! SAM!" screamed the copilot.

Quickly disengaging the auto-landing system, the pilot pushed his wheel even further forward, increasing the plane's rate of descent. A quick glance to the countermeasures panel told him that the automatic system had worked as designed, and the dispensers on the rear of the fuselage were kicking out chaff and flares as rapidly as they could. His job was to get the plane down as quickly as possible, he thought. "All passengers, prepare for crash landing!" he ordered, watching the runway.

Unfortunately, the increased dive masked the plane's countermeasures, greatly reducing their effectiveness. The plane shuddered and lurched to port when the missile impacted on the right wing, destroying an engine and doing serious damage to the control surfaces there. A plume of burning fuel stretched out behind the aircraft, and, unable to regain control, the heavy transport plunged nose-first into the ground just shy of Runway 17.

The resulting explosion shook the entire airbase, shattering glass and doing other damage to buildings, people, and vehicles within a radius of several hundred yards from the point of impact.

No one aboard the plane survived.

The Pegasus class ship, Hummingbird rocketed to max speed to pursue the Freighter. At 48 knots it could literally run rings around the larger ship. The crew fired a handful of 78mm cannon shots over the bow of the enemy ship.

On the deck, a handful of sailors dragged the two injured men below decks while others took up positions with their own automatic weapons. At the same time, the captain radioed their position and requested a fleet frigate for support. Within minutes a pair of helicopters were on their way, along with the frigate Dancer.

"Attention Harvest. You will cut your engines and all crew will appear on deck to surrender or you will be fired upon! Additional Erisian ships are on the way. You can not escape."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Guyere watched in horror as the plane was struck by a missile, destroying the incoming aircraft. The airport was immediatly shut down and patrols fanned out in the area. The airport, part of the Erisian base, was easily one of the most heavily patrolled areas in Southhaven. For an enemy to have infiltrated...

He tried not to think about that for the moment, instead he began to direct the rescue operation, though he doubted anyone had survived the fireball that followed the crash.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: An t-Oilean Ur
Re: Confederation Heavy Transport Alpha X-Ray Mike

Sir/Madam,

I regret to inform you of the destruction of the transport plane dispatched to our zone. During the final approach a Surface to Air-Missile of unknown origin and type was fired at the aircraft. The aircraft hit the ground short of the runway and exploded, our rescue crews found no survivors. The bodies of crew and passengers have been recovered and are being treated with the utmost respect and care for return to your nation.
In addition we are conducting a thorough investigation of the incident, which is the first of its kind in what has up until now been an entirely secure area. If your nation wishes to send a team to observe the investigation, you are welcome to do so, and we will of course share the results of our own findings with you.
I am sincerely sorry for the loss incurred by your nation. I know that no words can replace the lives of the good men and women who died trying to aid others. I hope though that it may be some small comfort to know that the crew and passengers will also be added to the honor roll of those who have given their lives in an attempt to aid the people of Danteri.

Sincerely,
Lt General Papadakis

The men on the decks shouted angrily at one another, seemingly unable to come to an agreement. Suddenly, one of the light machine guns fired, a petty reply to the shells to be sure, but still... it looked for a second like they wanted to make a fight (more like a slaughter) of it, but then...
Then, the other smugglers started shooting the ones who had fired at the 23Erisian naval vessel. Within seconds, dozens were dead... it was almost funny, watching them cut each other down...

However, the "fun" ended when the survivors surrendered - in their hold, there were dozens of machine-guns, hundreds of rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition... in addition to crates full of shakles - it looks like these gun runners had at least a side-line as slavers...

It isn't really suprising that the refugees are sometimes exploited, when there are so many millions of them. What is surprising is that there appears to be a market for these poor wretches overseas - it isn't just illegal immigration (the free access to 23Eris that they were offered took care of most of that), rather, it is ofter worse - many of these poor Danterians are being put in chains as soon as the ship is out of sight of shore, and then actually sold... it's something barbaric, like something out of a horror story from the old days...

- "Smugglers", who are basically slavers, have begun taking Danterians to sell them - mostly to brothels and such... it isn't pleasant.

A small community in the Haraki zone, populated by some 500 rather liberal drug users, has said that it wants to secede from the Haraki-Zone.
(OOC: Krow L-what'sit, there's the opening you requested...)

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder, de-facto commander-in-chief of the Neue Neue Deutsch armed forces, watched the new recruits drill under the watchful eyes of some of the veteran Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers. They still lacked some of the polish and skill of the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, but they were improving. Soon, they would be finished with their training, and then the 50 recruits would take part in the patrol schedual, while the men freed up by that would go and help the other trainers to train another 100 Danterians. All in all, things looked good as far as that matter was concerned.
However, another headache was showing itself - a small community of hippies and drug users had declared its independance from the Haraki-Zone. Apparently, they still wanted food and medical supplies, and protection from Zukariaa, but weren't willing to let the Haraki or the NNDEF police them, or tell them what to do. It was an annoyance, but Hauptmann Rhurlunder decided to wait to see what the Haraki would do before she acted - it would be a difficult decision to make, whether to force these people to comply with Haraki and Neue Neue Deutsch law, or to allow them to seccede from the Zone. Still, she hoped that the Haraki could come to a decision quickly - it wouldn't do to let the situation just sit there.

The reports of continued slaver abuses were disturbing to the Erisian government, and a request was made for Papadakis to take immediate steps to try and end the practice.

In fact, Papadakis and and his naval counterpart already had begun a program to cut down and eliminate the trade. All ships docking in Danteri had to undergo a thorough inspection and new licensing requirements were added to try and eliminate some of the more unscrupulous shippers. Flyers were being pasted up warning Danteri citizens about the dangers of attempting to leave via smuggler ship (including photographs taken of the shackles and other items found on the captured vessel). Also all non-Erisian ships that transported civilians from Southhaven were required to have a team of Danteri/Erisian inspectors on board for the entire journey. While these regulations were stringent, it was hoped they could help reduce the trade.

The other steps taken included increased radar coverage of the coastline. Small scale radar sites were being set up up and down the coast, and overflights in patrol planes and helicopters were increased. 23Eris also initiated plans to work with some of the other common destination governments to try and locate and free some of the Danteri citizens forced into slavery by these despicable people. Papadakis also ordered other flyers posted, offering large rewards for anyone who could provide information that would lead to the arrest of those responsible for the human trade.

Lastly, the 23Eris government began to offer substantial tax cuts to any Erisian firms that would set up shop in Southhaven. With an buildup of the Southhaven economy and increased jobs, less Danteri would fall victim to the smugglers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The captured suvivors of the ship were being turned over to the joint Erisian/Danteri military force for interrogation. Appalled by the slavery practice the commander of the prison in which they were being held, made a very poor moral choice, arranging for the Erisian contingent to be 'absent' while some of the suvivors were questioned by former DGS men.

OOC:
Basically, the Erisians are really stepping up their efforts to crackdown on the slave trade. This even more so than the guns, is their number one focus.

OOC: Before you have the drug using as a reason for them to want to secede, Danteri, you should know that (almost) all drugs are legal in Haraki, though regulated and sold in moderation by government outlets (Like Canada's LCBO in Ontario). It helps regulate them, cuts down on crime, and frees up the police to work on more serious crimes. And for the argument about people potentially harming themselves with the drugs, well hell, you can kill yourself with aspirin if you're enough of an idiot.

Stan Krow Liliowych will gladly accept the town as a non-contiguous state, and grant them a representative in the parliment, under two conditions.
One: All laws passed by the government apply to this new state, and
Two: They must now be known by the name Miasto Liberalnych Ofiar Nałogu.
---
From: Party Leader Zbigniew Miodunka
To: Major-General Gregory Neil

Sir,
I respectfully request, on the behaf of my government and people, that you carefully consider the matter of the village in your territory. These people want something that your government obviously is not providing, and (in my humble opinion) you should try to provide them with it. However, if you are unable to provide them with whatever it is that they seek, my people's offer to accept them is still valid.

Party Leader Miodunka

First Minister El,
Dominion of Me Li,
Isles of Mara.

LifeWyze BioTech will gladly erect three MediCare Facilities within your new territory in order to aid the populous. It would be preferred if you are capable of arranging the procurement of land and materials and contract a construction company on our behalf. LifeWyze BioTech will cover any costs incurred by your Government upon the completion of our facilities.

Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Wagner PhD.,
LifeWyze BioTech MediCare Facility Expansion Division.

The Reconstruction of Meddigo City in the Isles of Mara Zone Alpha was proceeding with good pace. The Melii began making preparations with the local Danteri civil government and the VC about obtaining Land for the Hospitals. And about getting some more businesses opened up.
ooc: 3 Advanced Facilites are being constructed in Danteri as well as several cheap fast food places.
*

:mad: :confused: NND

The HHS Teingou Carrier Group was put on high alert...the natives were getting restless. The Travel Agents had heard disturbing rumors of the Bottle Demon's Incursion into the Allies territories. The Embassy personnel were being recalled to the Enclave and encourage to invite their "amies" for a formal informal dinner. The Deployed "Nurses" took greater precautions in tending to their charges.

The Assasinations were becoming all to prevalent...the crowd was becoming militant...the flow of events was decidedly downhill...and the rapids were getting choppy. Best to be prepared. The Tiengou kept a constant flight in the air over both the embassy penisalua and the Carrier Group. Two extra Companies were sent to reinforce the Embassy. They had had plenty of time to get their bearings, the Agency's agents and SpecOp Teams were deployed throughout NND. They awaited the true NND to give the signal.

The Council of the Black Sheep met by the newly opened monkey exhibit in the Zoo, in the Parc de Centre Ville, in Meddigo City Alpha Zone. They laughed at the antics of the hairy little cousins. It was a good warm evening to be alive. The election had went well and All of the Haraki Allaince Zones were in theory at least ruled by Danterii. That was the reason they were having this particular meeting.

Danteri was a clothe cut strangely by the Foriegners. The Melii and 23 Eris seemed to at least acknowledge that they were foriegners and would leave their zones eventually. The damned Demons refused of course. Zuukaria was dead. When they had first came they were at least allies...now they are the boot. There was not yet word from the other Occupiers. This was troublesome but eventually the Children of Danteri will be reunited.

No the purpose of this meeting was to discuss about the crazy hippies and the Poles. They wanted to cut up Danteri even more! They were annexing territories directly...what was the Harakii and others going to do? Their Melii commisars had already informed them of Melii's displeasure but reminded them of their nuetrality. The Danteri would decide for themselves.

The Black Sheep were split over the issue. Many wanted to go in and get the hippies off whatever they were smoking. An Andorra? ridiculous. Many wished to let them go who cared about a bunch of hippes in the middle of the Allies territories...FOOL they are anothe step in the Disintergration of Danteri...the debate was joined by passerbys and moved to a local restaraunt where it was too joined in by the fellow Danteri. Each time they moved went on into the night...behind them the Danteri of Mediggo City debated the Hippies.

They Smiled...another seed was planted.

OOC: Haraki, Ok, I'm sorry for using that idea, but Krow L-what'sit (love that name...) wanted in on the "game"... and so I gave him an opening. Sorry!

With the recent programs to reduce the slave trade in Danteri, the number of active slave traders has drastically declined - however, the problem still exists, although it is occuring at a much slower rate, with much greater secrecy...

The knowledge that the human trade had declined thanks to the adopted measures pleased Papadakis. Knowing that in some form it still existed, didn't. He wasn't foolish enough to think he alone could end the practice, but he would damned sure try his best to do so.

Rewards were doubled and volunteers were being used in sting operations based on intelligence gathered from informants, tips, and other methods. The volunteers were equipped with the latest in high-tech Erisian equipment, being military issue, it was indeed high tech. Tiny GPS transmitters could be embedded under the skin and microphones nearly as small hidden elsewhere to be nearly undetectable even if a person were unclothed. With the training that the Auxiliries and the Erisians had both recieved, the volunteers for these operations were top-notch, and plenty volunteered, despite the dangers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere in the zone, Roros, mostly recovered from the attack, had returned to resume his duties, though now subordinate to Papadakis. Roros' main task was the oversight of the upcoming election. He was outwardly doing his best to make sure the elections were free, transparent, and fair.

However, he was secretly attempting to play with the electioneering. Influenced by certain elements back home, Roros had decided that the best thing for the Danteri was to become part of 23Eris. Therefore he agreed to a plan to try and create a new party in the Southhaven elections, one that would call for unification as a province of 23Eris. The party, known as the Unification Party was to be led by a group of Danteri who secretly reported to Roros (in return for hefty sums of money channeled through him from the backers in 23Eris).

To confuse matters more other parties had been forming. The United Danteri Party which was reminiscent of the United Danteri Government the Erisians had earlier backed before the government had been liquidated; the Fascists, the Communists, a moderate Labour party, a somewhat conservative Christian Democratic Party, the liberal Leftist Coalition, the Knights of God who wanted to form a Christian Theocracy, the Word of Allah who were trying to mobilize the muslim vote, and more! The election would be interesting, that was for sure.

[OOC: @Danteri
Which name do you love... Stan Krów Liliowych (the country of purple cows), or Miasto Liberalnych Ofiar Nałogu (the city of liberal addicts)?]

Zukariaa']OOC-No. New-Lexington, no. You should have talked with me before just suddenly having people in my territory. Besides that, there are no forests in my territory. We stripped the land of all resources when we took over.

Besides that, you should talk to me before having spec ops teams in my territory. It would be damn near impossible to get through my fortifications, and I don't know what you are talking about anyways. There arn't anymore refugees. They're all either in Haraki or 23Erisian safe zones, or possibly some in yours. Or they're now part of Kraven.

I'll ignore this. It's pretty godmoddish.
OOC: Im sorry Zukkariaa i just havent paid very good attention to things these days.

The Cult of The Second Coming has launched another series of attacks against the civilian populace of Danteri - they've targeted some muslims in the Haraki Safe-Zone, setting fires and conducting one suicide bombing. Eighty seven Danteri civilians were killed in all.

Comrade General Sara Von Freiburg, supreme commander of the Danteri Red Army in the Montegrande zone, has begun gathering troops - it looks as though she might be about to attempt something "foolish" - such as a military coup against the People's Governing Council...

An angry mob gathered outside of a Danteri Police station in the Haraki Safe-Zone, apparently having been informed that members of the Cult of The Second Coming were being held there. None were. The mob shouted for the police to bring out the cultists so that they could hang them, but the police said no.
At that point, the mob started throwing fire-bombs and firing a few weapons, bolt-action rifles or pistols mostly, at the police. The police responded with some return fire, and called the Haraki authorities for help.
Shortly after that,while the Haraki troops were on the way, the mob charged the police station, meeting fire from the police, but managing to force their way in.
When the mob managed to get in, most of the Danteri Police officers ran away, although three officers fought the mob, resisting until they were hacked to death.
Once they had secured the building, they poured gasoline into the cells, lighting it on fire, burning eight prisoners, none of them cultists, to death.

- Twenty four rioters were killed, along with three Danter Police and eight prisoners (five petty thieves, two drunks and a wife beater.)
- The Haraki arrived soon after (in fact, only seconds after) the prisoners had been burned, and while they were too late to save the prisoners, they did catch some forty of the rioters, who surrendered to them.

Following the initiation of the anti-slavery campaign, some Danteri vollenteers managed to "get lucky" - they were using the transmiter implants, and were taken as slaves by some people offering "quick passage out of Danteri" - at that point, all that remained was to intercept the freighter...

The first fifty Danteri recruits have just completed their training, bringing the total number of active, fully trained Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers in Danteri up to 197. (Plus some 100-odd non-combatant doctors and so on).
As soon as the first batch of fifty were trained, another batch was accepted - this one of 100 Danterians. As for weaponry, most of the Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers are using weapons given to them either by Haraki, Gwazzaria or Me li - few of the original weapons they brought along from Neue Neue Deutschland still work.

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder was tired. She had spent the last week working almost twenty four hours a day, and it was showing. Still, with so much to do, there just wasn't enough time to sleep. It was truly embaracing, having to rely on their allies for weapons and supplies, but if the latest news from home was anything to go by, they wouldn't be getting anything from there any time soon.
At this point, the Neue Neue Deutschlanders were rapidly becoming a minority in their own expeditionary force - there were 147 Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, and already 50 fully trained Danteri recruits, soon there would be another 100, and then there would be near parity, and then, things could get interesting - after all, they wouldn't stop there, they couldn't - they would keep training more and more Danteri soldiers to fight for Neue Neue Deutschland, because they had to. They had to assemble a suitable force if they were going to be able to have any effect on the chaotic situation in Danteri.
As for the convoy from Neue Neue Deutschland, it was a mixed blessing - it came once every two weeks, and dropped off crates of food and medical supplies and barrels of pure water, but it never came with ammunition or weapons. It was getting ugly back home, from what she could hear, but it still looked to be better than Danteri - she didn't look forward to the day when it wouldn't! So they had plenty of takers for the 2,600 refugees who could leave for Neue Neue Deutschland every two weeks.
Frowning, Rhurlunder made a quick note on one of the papers she was reading - the morale of the common soldiers was suffering as they lost their "polish", but they were still willing to fight. Even if, when it all came down to it, they'd rather be back home fighting to overthrow their government. Still, they would be loyal while they were here - they would protect the Danteri from Zukariaa and Kraven - there really wasn't much else that they could do.
Taking a sip from her coffee, she made a note to arrange a meating with General Neil - she wanted to request some heavy weapons, maybe even a few more mortars - after all, with their new policy, they would have the men to use them, wouldn't they?

Intercepting the freighter was the easy part. The volunteers had been followed closely by undercover agents, never letting the brave Danteri get more than a few hundred yards away. As soon as the freighte began to make way to leave port, two attack helicopters (old Mi-8s) swooped in an hovered near the ship while a quartet of transprt MI-8s moved in, allowing four dozen Erisian special forces operatives to rappel down onto the deck.

Team A immediatly headed for the boilers to cut the power to the ship, while Teams B & C headed for the locations most likely to hold the victims. Team D was to clear the deck of resistance and then seize the bridge.

While this was occuring, Erisian patrol craft (the Pegasus ships) were skimming the waves at top speed to move to intercept the ship.

OOC: The Spec ops troops are all veterans and equipped with the latest and best Erisian hardware, including the new M-5 fibre armor and full lowlight visors with HUD elements built in and supressed fire weaponry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back inside Southhaven, the campaigning had been heating up. Danteri patrols were keeping sharp tabs on the rallies for various parties and candidates to meke sure things didn't get out of hand.

Roros, through Danteri agents began to have flyers and other matierals created to support the Unification Party (the party that wante dto make Southhaven a province of 23Eris). With the money his secret backers in 23Eris were funneling him, they had more than four times the money of their next closest rival party.

As soon as the 23Erisian helicopters came swooping down towards the freighter, the slavers realized they were trapped. They reacted differently to this - most raised their hands into the air and surrendered without a fight, but two tried to resist, fighting the spec ops soldiers with one pump-action shot-gun and a revolver between them. Needless to say, they would normally have been easy targets for the spec ops soldiers, but these resistors were smart - they went into the hold where the 23 slaves were being kept, and sealed the door behind them, shooting one of the slaves, a 12 year old boy, to show that they seriously would kill the slaves if the 23Erisians came in.

While the 23Erisian soldiers were doing their best to be everywhere at once, they just couldn't. Therefore, it came as no surprise that there would be violence - what wasn't anticipated was the organization that was shown by these attacks - simultaneously, four terrorists fighting for an unknown faction hurled fire-bombs at crowds supporting various political parties, killing a total of nineteen people.
At the same time, a car-bomb killed the entire leadership of the radical left-wing socialist party, and eight more assassins killed candidates for various positons with either rifles from afar or pistols from close in... this was an amazingly violent affair, shocking considering how quiet the 23Erisian zone used to be, but what is interesting is that, in spite of such wide-spread violence, no one targeted the most obvious target - the Unification Party... perhaps some of its radical Danteri members are turning to violence?

Telegram to the leaders of Danteri

The League of Shadows is willing to send a group of trained assasins to your aid. We will only aid you if you feel the need. They are highly trained and are experts in ghost warfare.

Good luck to you,
:sniper: Nuveria

Movement behind lines
Massive movement of New-Lexitonain forces behind lines along with a mysterious telegram sent to Zukariaa has caused quite a stir in the Danteri-Lexitonian population, already on edge with their occupiers.

Which government are you offering your assassins, Nuveria? I mean, there's Sara von Freiburg, sitting and plotting in the Communist Zone, then there's the communist zone's government, then there's the 23Erisian Zone government, then there's the Haraki-Zone government, and lastly, there's the Zukariaan Zone government. Plus, of course, the inactive McPsychoville and Solorielan Zone governments...

Soloriel has Ceased To Exist. Let's have a moment of silence...
(One moment of Silence)
And then, let's give its territory to 23Eris, on the grounds that they were allies in the first place. (Of course, if 23Eris doesn't want it, Zukariaa can always have it...)

OOC-New-Lexington, what secret message?

The 23Erisian Zone government

The Melii Auxilaries were relaxing and the PUB...they had had quite a strange time with the current troubles...much was starting to move...the ground was shifting...the only ral problem was that they didn't KNOW which way it was shifting.

*
SOMEWHERE & EVERYWHERE IN DANTERI

The Black Sheep Operatives had been busy...they had a War to Win. AND they would Win it. The hated Occupiers were dying...even the Unhated were leaving these shores for the Children of Danteri. The Rebel's Dream of Democracy was still strong in their hearts. The would likely die in the future struggles, but Danteri would live.

They sliped by the Patrol...they were True Ghosts of Danteri...their Brother-Comrades were Almost as Good as they...well maybe they were equal. They were several klicks away before they activated their devices.

They were planting seeds for a Free Danteri.

SHEEP by Pink Flyod

Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away,
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air,
You better watch out,
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jorden and I have seen,
Things not what they seem,

What do you get ofr pretending the dangers not real?
Meek and Obiedient you follow the leader,
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel,
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes,
Now things are really what they seem,
No, this is no bad dream,

THE LORD IS MY SHEPERD I SHALL NOT WANT
HE MAKES ME DOWN TO LIE
THROUGH PASTURES GREEN HE LEADETH ME THE SILENT WATERS BY
WITH BRIGHT KNIVES HE RELEASETH MY SOUL
HE MAKETH ME TO HANG ON HOOKS IN HIGH PLACES
HE CONVERTETH ME TO LAMB CUTLETS
FOR LO HE HATH GREAT POWER AND GREAT HUNGER
WHEN COMETH THE DAY WE LOWLY ONES
THROUGH QUIET REFLECTION AND GREAT DEDICATION
MASTER THE ART OF KARATE
LO, WE SHALL RISE UP
AND THEN WELL MAKE THE BUGGERS EYES WATER

Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream,
Wave upon wave of demented avengers,
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream,

Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home,
And do as you're told,
Get out of the road if you want to grow old!

DEATH TO OPPRESSION! VIVA LA REVOLUTION VERDAD!

OOC: The Erisians will indeed take control of the Soloriel areas. This includes an emergency dispatch of 100,000 troops to the northern zone to secure the border and protect refugees.

BTW Nuveria, there is no 23Eris zone Danteri government, yet. They haven't held their elections quite yet. Currently the zone is run by an Erisian military government - and Erisian civilian administrators.

IC:

With the collapse of Soloriel, hard to imagine considering the sheer age of that empire, the Erisians swooped into to take the place of their former allies. At the same time, the government issued the following dispatch to all other friendly governments in Danteri.

To: Haraki, Gwazzaria, Me Lii, NDD
From: 23Eris
Re: Former Soloriel Zone & Freiburg

Due to the sudden series of events that caused the general collapse of the Soloriel government and caused their withdrawl from the nation of Danteri, we call upon friendly powers for aid in the policing and care of the northern Danteri sector. We would graciously accept aid from any friendly power in this matter.


OOC: Map Update! (http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/renthas/danterimap9.jpg)

In the Tower of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Incorporated States of Itchia, were meeting in an open session. The current plasticity of the situation in Danteri looked to net the Itchia Gambling Exchange Billions in Losses. The Incorporated States central government were now tasked with providing a leveraged buyout of the Exchange. This was imperative as the Exchange was a vital company to the Itchian economy and to the Isles in General.

The second topic revolved about continued participation of Confederation forces in Danteri. The Soleriel were forced to return to their homelands...this offered a unique change in the power relation of the Northern Sector. Itchia High Command concured with the Me Li General Staff...the Confederation needd to react!

After a series of debates concerning the merits and demerits of future action it was agreed that Itchia would participate in a Me Li lead operational command in Northen Zone Beta. They would dispatch a carrier group and a division immediately to aid in the establishment of an Isles of Mara Zone Beta.

A letter was sent to the 23Eris and Haraki High Commands.

To: General P. of the 23Eris
CC: General N. of the Haraki
RE: Northern Zones: Me Li lead Isles of Mara Zone Beta

Sirs,

The Incorporated States of Itchia is pleased to announce that the Isles of Mara High Command has decided to escalate our Involvement in th safeguarding the Danteri. Itchia and her Allies of Me Li are currently discussing future involvement in the former Soleriel Nordlund Zones. Our Confed National Forces will most likely be released by the partners to participate. Nevertheless, the Melii and Itchia Rapid Reaction Forces have been mobilized and are currently underway.

We would suggest that the area surrounding the Northeastern quadrant surrounding Stronghold be administered by the Confederation's Forces under High Commander SINGH Vaya of the Dominion of Me Li. Itchia Auxillaries will be deployed under Me Li leadership.

We believe that a Unified Allaince High Command be establish between our respective leaderships. It is our opinion that this would further aid in the Security of Danteri. Attatched is the projected force projection of Itchia into the Beta Zones.

You Humble Servant,

MAO Issac,
CEO of the Incorporated States of Itchia
Isles of Mara

encoded
logistal supplies
two wings of the Itchia "Crop Dusters"
one division of infantry "Investors"
one advanced DMG Carrier Group package Taskforce "Hedge Funds"
Itchia Rapid Reaction Task Force "Hedge Funds" (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11033270#post11033270)
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11033443#post11033443]"Crop Dusters"

<medium ecoded>
To: General P. of the 23Eris
CC: General N. of the Haraki
<encoded level higher>
CC: Montegrande Command
RE: Northern Zones: Me Li lead Isles of Mara Zone Beta

Me Li has concured with Itchia. We will be deploying re-enforcements to the Alpha Zone to bring our Forces to one division of infantry. Aereal assets and Air Mobile have been directed to prepare for transfered to Avalonis Insulis and Stronghold respectfully. Our redistrubtion of troops will be co-ordinated with you.

We propose to intergrate Strongholds air and space defenses with the defenses currently being constructed in Insulinis Avalonis. Our seedling has been planted. Within 25 years the World Tree will be fuctional. The Isles is currently one of the most secure and hardened points in Danteri. The Allied and ConFed Fleet patrols the oceans of Eastern Danteri and provide a solid defensive point.

Perhaps Itchia was hastey in suggesting a Unified Command. But We do believe a greater interaction/communication between us will facilitate the defence and well being of our charges. Me Li would be happy to coordinate our ConFed forces in northeastern Danteri. Perhaps the northeastern quadrant of the former Soleriel zones. The RWEF Zone Beta?

Regards,

SINGH, Vaya.
High Commander RWEF HQ.

-rotation of troops...several transfered to newly built Avalonis Base some transfered to the north and many sent home on leave.

Rebuilding is going well in all the zones, and it seems that a lasting peace might be achieved. Everything is going just fine... except, there are always a few problems...

- Problem One: Sara Von Freiburg: Sara Von Freiburg is still being a "nuisence" - she's agitating for support in overthrowing the Montegrande backed communist government, and has been willing to offer minor land payments to Zukariaa... and large ones to Me li, Haraki or Gwazzaria for their support...

- Problem Two: Slavers: They're not making as much money as before, not getting away with as much before, but the slavers are still a problem...

OOC: no time to post IC now, but before anyone goes making grabs in northern territory I intend to remain in general administrative control of that area, including the fortress city of stronghold (simply for the harbor and airfields). But my nation does welcome a join allied defense of the zone.

Oh and just FYI I might not be able to post again till monday. I'll be at a concert tomorrow and probably rather intoxicated for most of the evening as a result.

Men moved through the muddy scrub lands along the border of the southern 23Erisian zone and the Zukariaan zone, avoiding patrols, sneaking and manuvering... winter was coming, and the mud was starting to freeze. It would be a hard winter in Danteri, harder than many... but, the Haraki and the Gwazzarians and the 23Erisians had seen that few would starve - thousands, rather than million.
Still, even as winter approached, the small-scale covert operations continued. This time, it was a group of commandos, refusing to accept Zukariaan, and through them Kraven, domination of their homelands. Many commandos had forsaken the cause, leaving Danteri to fight in other wars as mercenaries, their homeland obviously lost.
At this point, cassualties and desertion had reduced the commandos who were still active against Zukariaa to fewer than 100 - over 2,000 had deserted, and now grimly fought in other peoples wars, but another 400 were dead, killed during some raid or other, or in some desperate, courageous and ultimately futile last stand against the invaders.
The few who remained were grim of attitude - they knew that they would die, but they didn't care, they were willing to fall if it let them take a C.P. elite or a few regular Zukariaans... these men were the best soldiers Danteri had ever produced, by a long shot, but they couldn't win the war themselves, even with covert 23Erisian support.
Still, while they lived they would fight... and tonight they made their way to raid a Danteri Auxiluary force as it waited to be loaded up and shipped to off overseas... they knew what they were doing - soon traitors would die.

Corporal Alexander Metzger of the Danteri Auxiluary Core was tired. He had stood watch for some six straight hours as the latest load of troops for the Zukariaan war were loaded onto the converted freighters. His company was set to be the last to load, and he regreted that - for all their cramped claustrophobia, at least he could have slept on one of them. As he mentaly whined and complained, he let his assault rifle rest by its laynard as he drew out a cigarette.
He pulled a lighter out of his side-pouch with the other, igniting it with hands numb from the cold - Danteri winters were just as nasty as all the other weather in Danteri. As he lit the cigarette, he chanced to look up. That was the only reason he saw the commando before he fired, that was the only reason he saw death.
When he saw death, it wore a muddy grey uniform, a tattered camo-cloak, and carried a high-powered rifle. It spoke with the little pop of a silenced rifle... the shot sent Corporal Metzger back against the wall at which he had been sheltering, that made his limp fingers drop the cigarette.
As he faded out, he tried to give the alarm, to speak or shout, but he couldn't... as he raised a hand off the ground, he saw another commando leaning in with a cruel knife... and then, his world vanished in a moment of agony, as the knife tore at his throat...
After that, the real killing began, as machineguns laid out to defend the loading zone were turned against the waiting soldiers, many of whom didn't have their weapons with them, or didn't have them loaded...
By the time an effective response could be organized, this particular loading zone was a ruin, with some eighty men dead and a time-table upset. Not one commando died.

OOC-They wouldn't be aloud to not be ready for an attack. Also, they would have Capitol Police watching over them. Capitol Police have Optimal Mags. They'd spot the commandos.

I guess it's alright this time. They wont delay, however. They'll move even faster and move in some Capitol Police squads to watch over the area.

The Communist dictatorship

Even when the montegrandeans were willing to give the communist government full control and recognition in the taken zone, the actions from Sara von Freiburg made the montegrandean change their mind. The numbers of montegrandean soldiers were rising again (to 300.000 and if the actions progressed, it would be more), and also the economical support to the red army ended, beginning the montegrandeans to form their own danterian militia(The Army of People´s Liberation). Dreil was converted in a stronghold controlled only by montegrandean troops and so were Volksburg and Wlateswja. In the Archipellago, the Navy of Mobntegrande assured the complete control.
A curfew was ordered to control the danterians and to prevent them to support Sara Von Freiburg. Also, a very tempting message was sent to the communist government by a expert patrol of the red guard:
To: the Executive Commitee of the Danterian Communist Party
From: Salvador Guevara, Comisar of Foreign Affairs, Montegrande
Sara Von Freiburg is showing with her later actions a grave case of lack of communist fervor that is dangerous to every one who wills for the stablishment of a socialist state here in Danteri. We suggest to name a new more loyal chief commander for the Red Army and also help to clean up the Party from menaces as Freiburg. If you work with us us, we won´t only send more support to our danterian brothers, and also political advisors, but also we will recognize fully the people´s republic we are forming in Danteri, beginning an exchange of embassadors, and also ask for recognition of this government from other powers. Long live the Revolution!!!!!
Another measure taken by the Montegrandeans was to start very aggresive propaganda in favor of the current government and also the communist backed newspapers all around Danteri included very negative information against Sara Von Freiburg (including cases of violation of human rights of danterian people). It seemed the montegrandeans were interesting in destroying this plot....

Lieutenant General Amanda Lillis disembarked her transport plane a few minutes after it had landed in the former Soloriel zone. Rather than head for the old Erisian headquarters outside the ruins of Freiburg, she was setting up her HQ in the former Soloriel command center in Stronghold. Stronghold was farther from the Erisian/Zukariaan border and therefore a more secure location to direct the province.

While this province was well defended, with Erisian troops taking up positions abandoned by their former Soloriel allies, the province itself was not in as good a condition as Southhaven. First there were radioactove sites that were too dangerous to enter, the province had experienced some heavy fighting, and fallout from the nuclear blasts in Danteri City had left parts of the southern section of the province potentially dangerous after long-term exposure. Steps were underway to clean up the nevironment of the area, including large scale robotic machines that would process soil and remove radioactive paticles from it. While effective, the process was slow and expensive, still, it was better than nothing.

The Soloriels had built some housing for the refugees and had made sure they were well fed and safe. still, there was plenty to do, and the process of turning this province into a safe and prosperous area was going to be a daunting one indeed, even for the victor of the second Spartan War.

Economic improvements were started immediatly, along with a general reconstruction of Freiburg, a city in Danteri which had embedded itself into the general consciousness of the Erisian populace with its determined resistance even before the Erisians were able to come to the aid of the people there. In fact, the Freiburgian name resonated with the Erisians that approval of Erisian intervention in Danteri shot up above 90% again after the announcement that Erisians had moved back to the Freiburg area.

OOC: Much like in Southhaven, the Erisians are introducing the same measures to combat smuggling and slave trading. Also, as had been done in Southhaven, a full census of the entire population is to be undertaken along with issuing photo ids for everyone 16 and older and offering optional id cards for younger children.

Also, Papadakis still has overall command of the entire Danteri mission, but Lillis is the regional commander for northern Danteri.

The sentry came running down the sewer, screaming about Montegrandean soldiers, of how their plot was undone before it could begin... he was shot down as he ran, and his blood spattered the six men and one woman in the little underground chamber within the maze of tunnels that made up the old Danteri sewer system that still served the new cities.
One of the men turned to the woman. He shouted for her to run, to escape, that they would die to cover her... she nodded, and ran the other way, as the six men took up rifles and began exchanging fire with the Red Army soldiers who were coming to get them...

- Sara von Freiburg escaped from the Danteri Red Army attempt to arrest her, but barely. Seven of her followers were killed, and dozens of rifles and RPG launchers were captured.

OOC: Haraki - are you still part of this?

The Cult of The Second Coming has struck again in the Haraki Zone. They are credited with three suicide bombings that targeted the civilian populace - eighteen civilians were killed, with no cassualties to the occupying militaries. It seems they aren't all gone just yet...
(although they're very unpopular these days...)

The freighters from Neue Neue Deutschland were coming into the harbor, and there was one man on them unlike any other. He was the soul-less assassin, the servant of the Chancellor, and he had a new target, one that he now prepared to stalk. It had been easy enough to convince his "master" that Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder posed a threat, and now he had his orders. Soon, the NNDEF would suffer, and likely fall apart.

- The Soulless killer has arrived in Danteri.

The Zukariaan Zone, grim and efficient, stands as a reminder of what ruthless autocratic governments can accomplish. Millions work themselves to death in factories that produce armaments for the millions of others who stand ready to defy any invader... and to supress any revolt.
Still, the recent commando raid, a pin-prick against an unimportant landing zone, but a pin-prick none the less... that last raid has brought something to the people that the Zukariaans would rather they did not have - hope.
Such hope was shown when, with little prior warning, a massive peaceful protest began at the largest armament factory. The workers lay down their tools, and sat down at their places at the assembly lines... while simultaneously, other factories experiences similar strikes.
Such activities lead one to wonder - what sort of person tries peaceful methods against a Kraven-backed power?

The order to supress the protests was initialy given to units of Danteri Auxiluaries who had been stationed in the factories themselves. These men, Danterians in the uniforms of their occupiers, marched into the factories, and were ordered by their officer to make the workers work once more.
With that order, these Danterians lay in with their rifles, striking the workers until they panted from exhaustion and many of the workers lay bloody and unconcious.
Still, none of the workers fought back, and none returned to work. At that point, the officer in command ordered his men to shoot the workers. They hesitated, and he drew his side-arm, firing eleven times, killing eleven workers, then looked at the dead, and fell to his knees, weeping. With trembling hands, he lifted the pistol to his own head, and then... and then he shot himself with his last bullet.
With their officer dead, the Danterian soldiers stood there for a moment... and then sat down alongside their fellow country men, with their rifles at their sides.

Following this event, the local Danteri leadership has called for the Zukariaans to send in soldiers to suppress the workers and the soldiers, calling the whole event a "riot", and urging immediate action. What action, what level of action, remains to be seen.

OOC: Yep, still here. Just waiting for stuff to happen, since most of the stuff going on is in other zones.

Major-General Gregory Neil glared down his nose at his aide, who had brought the report in. More suicide bombings, more attacks in general. The Erisians were having problems with slavery, the Zukariaan workers were peacefully fighting back. But he had to do something. He had information about the location of some members of the Cult of the Second Coming, provided by some of the members who had turned themselves in for amnesty.

He had ordered in the CEF. They, supported by regular military forces and air and artillery support if required, would detain or kill anyone they found at the location. Their orders were to shoot on sight unless they thought they could capture anyone. With the offer of amnesty long-since expired, he was more than willing to get any information he could from them.

At the same time, he was due, in thirty minutes, to have a meeting with the new Danterian 'safe-zone government' of elected representatives. The main order of business was discussing a new currency to be used in the Harakian zone, tentatively designated the Dantmark.

A silent calm wind above a forest is shattered as a helicopter fliles in over head. Behind it follow two more. Ten people slide out of each helicopter on ropes silently and make their way through the jungle as the helicopters baring the Nuverian Flag flies into the distance. The leader of the group of men pulls out his map and leads his fellow assaians the way to Stronghold

Hy,if you can i can give you some soldiers to fight your civil War.
Do you want?
Can you pay to me something?

Edoardo Re dei Kazzimmini

The Communist territories, Danteri

The montegrandean soldiers were calm about destroying part of Freiburg´s plot but the control in the occupied zones had to be total. However, the montegrandeans for the first time seemed to see the communist government like an independent government and not just a puppet of their revolutionary ideals. The commitment of the main parts of the Red Army to the cause of destroying Sara von Freiburg´s plot allowed the montegrandeans to begin again good (and more equalitarian) relations with the Red Army and the government of Montegrande recognized the communist Danteri as a new nation and also asked humbly the Commitee for an exchange of embassies. Also, in the quest of capturing and judging by a revolutionary court the traitor Sara von Freiburg, the montegrandean offered their secret service to the (now more independent) communist government and sent messages to 23Eris, Haraki, Me-ling, Gwazzaria and Neue Neue Deutschland about the crimes of Sara Von freiburg against civil rights (like killing the democratic government) with the intention of getting their help to capture the former general of the Red Army....
The montegrandean were preparing to ask from the another nations full recognition of the Communist Danteri as an independent country...

OOC: Nuveria, you know that if you start sending helicopters into my territory unannounced and without permission we will shoot them down. SInce you did all that without even giving me a chance to respond, I'm going to ignore your assassin landing and assume your choppers are still en route. And jungle? Its heading into winter so I'm pretty sure northern Danteri isn't tropical.

IC: "Unidentified aircraft respond! Repeat, unidentified aircraft respond immediatly!" Called out an air control officer who had detected the helicopters on his radar screen. Info about the sudden contact had been passed on and already a quintet of Su-29 fighters were scrambling from base to intercept the helicopters.

The control officer tried again, "Attention unidentified aircraft, you are illegally entering the province of Freiburg. If you do not respond you will be shot down. If unable to respond you are to divert to a course of 090 degrees and set down at the following coordinates [coords follow]. This is your last warning!"

"This is the piloit of the NTF(Nuverian Transpport Fleet). Do not shoot us down! I repeat Do not shoot us down! We have just landed 30 well trained assaians on the ground. They are a little back up for your government. I will transfer you to our central command post."

Helicopters fly over the cost of Danteri and out toward the sea.

"Hello this is General Dean Van of the Nuverian Military Forces. I understand there might be a little confusion. We landed our thrity best soldiers into Danteri. A helicopter landing was the only possible way to get them as close in as possible. We are sending the soldiers to your aid. We felt secrecy was the only way to get them in without leting the others stop us. We apologize and must break transmission for we have just picked up a signal that we are being listened to. End of transmission out."

Sturmkreig furher Kyler looked around. The dead men that were workers and the wounded. The wounded were being treated, and new workers had been sent to fill their vacant spots.

"You Danterians just don't fuckin' think, do you?" Kyler laughed. He lifted his .50cal pistol to the highest commanding officer who had overlooked the riots. (the higher one being dead) He smiled and fired. The man's brain splattered behind him,"Move out. The next time something like this happens, you'll be seeing an extermination camp!"

A Capitol Police squad entered, pulling up the Danteri Kreigsmarines and leaving with them. All soilders who had taken part in the beating of the civilians were taken back to training. Capitol Police squads took care of the remaining protests, either by scaring the workers shitless, or by being removed as Thought Criminals.

"Obersturmbann furher Corrol, sir!" an Oberstadt Leutenant said,"There have been problems in Danteri, sir."
Corrol shifted in his seat. His mechanical leg and arm could be heard. He was over 100 years old, artificailly kept alive. He retained a 40 year old look. He was powerful,"Yes, yes. I know. The propaganda is not working, then? Make sure the people know that to go against us is to die."
"Yes, sir."

[OOC: Sorry, but was I the only one who thought that Miasto Liberalnych Ofiar Nałogu was going to be more than a good laugh? The Melii seemed to think it had some importance...
@Haraki:
I need to know where you stand on the whole Miasto Liberalnych Ofiar Nałogu thing, otherwise I have little (if anything) to post about...]

Be stupid!

"I tell my students and those of you coming regularly here to the temple: 'Be stupid!' Because you've got the dynamic function of the marvelously illuminating Buddha Mind, even if you get rid of discriminative understanding, you won't be foolish. So, all of you, from here on, be stupid! Even if you're stupid, when you're hungry, you'll ask for something to eat, when you're thirsty, you'll ask for some tea; when it gets warm, you'll put on thin, light clothes, and when it's cold, you'll put on more clothes. As far as your activities of today are concerned, you're not lacking a thing!

"With people who are clever, there are sure to be a great many shortcomings. To have transcended those clever people whom all the world holds in great esteem is what's meant by 'stupidity.' There's really nothing wrong with being a blockhead!

"When people say that someone is a clever fellow, I ask to meet him, and when I do and we have a chance to talk, it looks to me as if people in the world are praising an awful lot of foolishness. The fact is that those clever people acclaimed by the world are, from the start, deluded by their own cleverness. They distort the Buddha Mind and obscure its marvelously illuminating dynamic function, considering other people as of no account, contradicting whatever they say, slighting and insulting them. Of course, since those they're insulting are also amply endowed with the marvelously illuminating Buddha Mind, they aren't going to let themselves be slighted like that, so they get angry and answer right back, heedlessly pouring forth abuse. The true man's ideal is to show kindness to those who are foolish and help those who are evil. To be recognized as a good man by the people of the world is precisely what makes being born a human being worthwhile. How can it be any good to earn yourself the reputation of a wicked person?

"So when you go back to your homes and meet your old acquaintances, you should have them wondering about you all: 'How did Bankei teach them Buddhism, anyway? Why, they've come back even more stupid than before they left?

"What I'm talking about isn't the stupidity of stupidity and understanding. That which transcends stupidity and understanding is what I mean by stupidity!"



And so the Melii were...they were being stupid.

They offered Asylumn to any that asked for it and would submit to Melii military authurity and re-training.

The government had declared that the Zuuks were now considered Officially Daemons. No humanity was left in them. To kill one was nothing to us. Let the savages die. They had now openly began arming the Danteri in all of their zones of occuptaion. The Zuuks and their HAMSTER LOVERS would find this nut a difficult one to fight.

High Commander SINGH Vaya reviewed the reports.

Orbital facilities had been instructed to move into defensive perimeters. The Thor systems were prepped. The Melii restricted the armanment to the basic 3m iron-ceramic bar munition...eqivalent to about 250 tons of TNT after re-entry...The borders just ached for the standard Kraven/zuuk heavy concentrations. The Kinetic weapons were designed to take out just such things.

Me Li Confed scientist had obtained samples of both the armor systems of the CP troopers and the modified DNA of the Bottle Demons. They were less than impressed. Similar systems could be found throughout this NSverse. Weaknesses were located in the rear and at the joints...a proper flanking attack could take them down. That and heavier weapons. Laser/phasers/plasma guns were still a few decades away from tactical use...however to steal a page from the old playbook of the big devils. A .50 cal was a hell of a gun. The new recruits would be armed with these improved weapons systems they should know what to do with them already. The Melii would not let this Enclave die for the fear of destruction.

You would die eventually. You could not know when the reaper came for you. You could however choose to live free. The Melii had now openly said as much. They would be forming the divisions and would seek intergration of forces under Haraki and 23Eris for now...

Nevertheless, the Melii had decided that the Daemons were scum and deserved to die.

With the last shipments redirected from Stronghold the Alpha Zone sported several divisions. With the Taskforces and Allaince Navy the shores were secure. With the Wings the skies were free. With Avolonis ABM Space broom completed the Southern Half of Danteri was safe from 95% of Ballistic attacks. With the backroom dealings and FOOLISH KRAVEN DIPOLMACY allies had been found.

Soon the shit will hit the fan. The unknown allies waited in the wings...

He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
It was difficult to be stupid.

ooc: Teams had been sent to retrieve Sara...they wanted to have a chat with her.
The northern taskforce Beta was re-routed to Alpha Zone and Avalon.
The Polish village was reckognize as a "Protectorate" a Safe Zone of Operation under Haraki General GRUB. Letters had been sent the the Cows that Annexation was not an option...

OOC: Me li, be aware that any military presence in the communist zone would be considered an act of war, and the montegrandean navy is very near insulis avalonis to whipe out any enemy of the communists. So, if you want to reach to Sara it has to be out the communist territory. Also, the montegrandean intelligency has proofs about violations of civil rights commited by Sara Von Freiburg (she ordered the massacre of the former democratic government) and so the montegrandeans have good reasons to destroy any intromission in the territory under communist control. In a related matter, you would have to negotiate in the future not only with montegrandean army but also with the communist government. Be aware that your actions will not be tolerated if you violate communist territorial integrity....

ooc:
The Melii Barks a warning no more. The Zuuks are likely going to crush the peaceful rebellion. We don't trust their longterm goals. We already offered them a chance to withdraw from Danteri. They said no. This shows thier intention to stay put. We have no intention of attacking anyone...we will defend. We will allow the Danteri under us to defend themselves too. We are anything if not fanatical about our Rights.

You have began shifting control to the locals. You are not intending to stay an occupy. You are setting up a local puppet that will probably eventually unite with the rest of Danteri. Like East germany and West. :rolleyes: or N. Veitnam and South? Therefore you are not "technically" A HATED IMPERIALIST.

Besides you asked us to chase Sara down anyway. How can they get mad at us for doing as they asked? Your proofs will be reviewed.

Our navy's fighting serves no good purpose. I hate totalitarianism. Yours is at least a somewhat liberal peoples republic. Zuuk is a puppet of an EVIL empire that I just love to Loathe.

The Space Broom and Orbital systems are there as a deterent to anymore WANK from the Daemons...the radius of the umbrella is just to the isthamus. We don't want Them messing with the southern zones like the Solerial did to the northern ones. Seems only fair.

You will stand and die with us comrades?

VIVA LA REVOLUTION! VERDAD?

The air was stale as thirty men came sneaking out of the woods to an abandoned villiage. The men spread out and covered the area. Parts of the rubble was on fire bodies lied everywhere burned and shot up. The men pressed on toward Stronghold filled with more resolve.

Around eight thousand workers had to be shot before the protest collapsed. At no point did they resist with violence, mostly because they were too afraid of what would happen if they "raised the level", since they were already being shot...
After those 8,000 were shot, the others gave in and went back to work - it looks like any hope for peaceful reform has been given up...

So far, Sara von Freiburg has evaded capture, fleeing from place to place, as her organization is hunted down and massacured. So far, most of her followers and loyalists are dead, and the arms she was having stockpiled have been seized.

OOC-I'm not going to accept that your soldiers are equiped with our suits, at the moment. I'll wait for confirmation from Kraven. But you have to realize that you still don't have everything that the CP does. They have tons of augmentations that take years to complete. And that is after the birthing programme..

The room was much like any Kraven meeting room. It was dark, it had banners of Kraven's twin hammers hung on it's walls. Twenty men sat at a long, polished, wooden table.

"Sir, it seems that the Melii are arming. They have recently claimed that we are 'demons'." the Sturmkrieg laughed.

"Well, they control one little island on the archipelago, correct?" a Oberstadt Leutenant asked.

"Yes. It would be rather difficult for them to assault us anyways. They would either have to arm a fleet to carry enough men to attack our borders, which they'll find quite difficult. It'd be a sea assault that would probable not to any good. We could bring in a battlefleet with permission of the High Command. That'd be enough to whipe out whatever they bring at us."

"And as for an attack by air?"

"They'd still find that very difficult. I don't know how many men, armour, planes, ships, and the like they have stationed on that island, but it can't be many. They could take the time to bring more in, but we still have enough Axim warplanes to whipe them out."

"And they'll also have to worry about our air defences." someone said.

"Their battlesuits wont be any good, either, not without the birthing programme."

"Good. The idiots are lucky we let them stay there. At the first sign of attack, from anyone, we'll assume it is them and invade them. Whipe their little settlement off of the face of the Earth. They'll be the attackers, anyways."

"Yes, sir."

The Danteri Auxiluaries are continuing their campaign on Arterus, shipping another 30,000 men over-seas, along with yet more supplies, including three coal engines taken from three of the old pre-war steam locomotives that formerly pulled freight trains through Danteri, when there was one Danteri and the rail network was intact.

The Montegrandean soldiers were hunting for her, but she had evaded them so far. It seemed that her little coup attempt had been defeated before it could even begin, but she spared little sorrow for the men who had already died out of loyalty to her.
No, she needed to focus on her present, rather precarious, situation. She had little to offer anyone to convince them to help her - after all, with her supporters rounded up and imprisoned or dead resisting, she had no army.
It was only luck that she was still alive - well, luck and skill... she had evaded the hunters for so long due in no small part to the long years she had spent running from the former Danteri government.
Still, even if she hadn't been captured yet, it seemed that any attempt on her part to achieve power was doomed - all that she had in the way of weaponry was her sidearm, and even that wasn't fully loaded.
Things looked bad for her... but she wasn't dead yet.

Hunting for Sara

Even when the attempt of Sara von Freiburg of achieving power was stopped so far, the montegrandean weren´t still absolutely calm about this failed betrayal to the cpommunist government. The melii were surely a menace for their goal to capture and judge Sara Von Freiburg and the security in the taken zones was doubled to avoid any intrusion in communist areas. Also, the montegrandean navy sent ships, aircraft and 50000 more marines to blockade Insulis Avalonis if the Me lii still seemed to interfer in what the montegreandean thought was internal politics affairs for the communist Danteri.....

The word had come. Me li had to be taken care of.

They had stolen equipment from the Supreme State. They had insulted Kraven. They had to be destroyed. They would wish they had never taken Kraven technology.

The attack on Me li in Danteri wouldn't be a problem. A fleet of 50 vessels closed in on the Me li island in the Danteri Archipelago. It was made up of battleships, battlecruisers, destroyers, cruisers, missile ships, and tracking ships.

The fleet moved in to the island. Their thievery would not go unpunished. The fleet began to bombard the beach, aiming for denfeces. At the same time, a huge amount of assault VTOLs, escorted by Axim warplanes, landed Capitol Police and Kreigsmarines. Danteri Kreigsmarines, around 50,000 newly trained ones, were sent across the channel in between the Kraven held land and Me li island. They would assault the beach.

Along with the assault, there was a message:

Give up all Kraven technology you have in your possesion or your populace will be destroyed. If you comply, you will come out of this alive.

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder came awake when the first sirens went off. She rolled out of bed, groggy from sleep, to find herself facing one of her underlings, panic on his face. With simple, incoherent horror, he screamed out:
"Zukariaas gone mad! We're all gonne die!" she slapped him, feeling a cold shock as she realized just what that meant. There was no way that Neue Neue Deutschland could oppose Zukariaa, but they had to do something...
slipping her sidearm into its holster, she called out to the communications officer in the next room:
"Get me General Niel! We'll want a coordinated strategy! Those Kravenite cowards aren't going to just roll over the NNDEF while I'm in command!" pausing for a moment to adjust her webbing, she added in a lower voice to the quivering messanger,
"After all, even if Me li isn't a "predicatable" ally, it is still an ally, and as such, well, let's just say that it's better to have it on our side than it is to have Kravenite Zukariaans just roll over it. After all, however bad they might be, at least they aren't Kravenites." with her uniform in semi-presentable order, she moved quickly to the radio - they would need to see which way the major powers would jump before they would make any actions of their own.

The 189 Neue Neue Deutsch and Danterian soldiers of the NNDEF stood ready, in full combat gear, in the yard of the NNDEF barracks complex.
As she walked down the rows in numb shock, Hauptmann Rhurlunder absently noted that they had performed far better just then than they ever had during the drills - if they lived through this, then she would complement them, if not, well then it wouldn't matter much.
The NNDEF was a small force by the standards of the massive forces deployed in Danteri, but it was as fine a command as she could have hoped to create out of the minute Neue Neue Deutsch Army, and so she was proud to be their commander.
There were 150 Danterian soldiers, all of them real veterans, all loyal to Neue Neue Deutschland, then 139 Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers, all that was left of a force that used to number 300. All of the soldiers, Danterian and Neue Neue Deutschlander alike carried high-quality Haraki rifles, sidearms and grenades, while several of them carried Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs, light machineguns) instead of the rifles. Additionaly, they had a few light AT missile launchers and five mortars. Not much to use against Kravenite Zukariaa, sure, but at least they would make the Zukariaans hurt if they were to be overrun.
With no word from Haraki yet, all that Hauptmann Rhurlunder could do was mobilize her soldiers. Still, she had done that, and even now waited to hear what General Niel and Comodore Locke would do.

The soulless killer walked in shadows, moving fluidly and with an inhuman grace, seeming to defy the eye. No one noticed him even when he made his way through a crowded market. He just seemed totally ignorable, and so he went unseen. He moved with a purpose though - the death of Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder, so that she would no longer pose a threat.

With the smooth percision of a well-oiled machine, the Danteri Auxiluary units in the Zukariaan zone sprang into operation, securing the rear-area of the Zukariaan troops, setting up supply bases and supply routes, and generaly doing all they could to free up Zukariaan soldiers for the front.
As for direct combat operations, the front line was for the C.P. elites, not for "merely human" Danteri Auxiluaries. At least, of course, until the initial brutal fighting was over...

Mass panic has gripped the Danterian populace of the Haraki and 23Erisian zones - they are gripped with fear, fear that they will be next when Zukariaa gets on the move... riots do not occur, but the people seem even more demoralized than they did before.

Montegrandean response

Even when montegrandean numbers have risen again because of Zukariaan agression against Me Li, the montegrandeans were just happy only to increase the control in their own held territory. the Me Lii were certainly annoying and the very own montegrandeans were near to fighting against them because of their possible intromission in the plot of Sara Von Freiburg´s destruction and her very own capture by montegrandean security forces. For this reasons, the montegrandean didn´t seem to care about meliis fate in any way.
About this last theme, Commander Moncada decided it had to end as quick as possible, so he played another card of his mace to find and capture the traitor. 2,000 soldiers of the Red Guard were sent from the Steel fortress of Dreil with the mission of capturing Sara. If the montegrandean soldiers were trained in a brutal totalitarian discipline, the Red Guard soldiers were coldminded, absolutely loyal and effective killers, and they were ordered to act as the hound of the hunter to finally capture Sara Von Freiburg before they could be needed in a possible war....

OOC: sorry for my furious response, but I misread the your last answer to me. However, Montegrande are proud communists, and their pride is may be blinding them a bit.... Also, the priority of the montegrandeans by now is capturing Sara von Freiburg.

OOC-I'm not going to accept that your soldiers are equiped with our suits, at the moment. I'll wait for confirmation from Kraven. But you have to realize that you still don't have everything that the CP does. They have tons of augmentations that take years to complete. And that is after the birthing programme...

OOC: Dude, you can think what you want...my nation isn't really what it seems, nor is it really restricted to MT or PMT you know...we are restricting ourselves in this timeline/plane/reality/sector to sensible things. Your suits? We care nothing about the technology. Our allies throughout NSverse now have an Authentic CP Systems Suit to analyze as well as a sample of your primary CP DNA strains. Many find it equally amusing. Dangerous Funny, but still Funny. Seriously check out some of the other PMT and FT techs...heck even Star Trek had the Augments...guess who won?

We will not wank with an atomic boom or drop a world buster Armegedon 15km asteroid on Danteri. We will fight with sensible weaponry. Your logistical movements of 50,000 people and a BIG ASS Battle Fleet would NOT go unnoticed by our orbital facilities...nor by our ground forces...nor by the Navies of 23Eris, Haraki, Montegrande, or the Isles and her other allies.

You do know what AVALON really refers to in mythology don't you?
The Summer Isles...Fae Folks?

oh and the following is in character....cool?
oops this is my neutral new commercial puppet!

IC:
The Orbital Platforms had noted the movement and concentration of Enemy forces, targeting Pie cutters programs kicked into action and becgan the predetermined launch vectors. Within a fecosecond they were ready to as the Melii said "Open a Big Can of Wup Ass." The Ant Killers launched a warning barrage just inside Insulis Avalonis's territorial waters. One Hundred Thors v1.1 disembarked and entered into freefall.

One hundred falling Immortals descended into the upper atmosphere. The heat of re-entry turned the weapons into bolts of plasma. The booms roiled across much of the Archipelagoes. And people turned to watch the celestial spectical. It was glorious...it was beautiful...it was death.

The crowed bazaars of Amegiddo City stood silent and tracked the descent of the Hammers. It was heading to the south and to the west....

The children were initially dancing and enjoying the sight until their parents hushed them. Angels were falling! The sky was falling! The sky was falling! After a few minutes they figured out somthing was not right. These children were not oblivious to the anxiety that pinched the faces of their adults. This was not just a delightful fireworks display?

25 of the Hammers are to impact directly upon the rear eschalons of the Kraven-Hamster-Lover's-crack-lickers. They had targeted the mess and supply facilities of the Hordes...

35 Hammers to hit the Primary Port facility that were organizing the supply of the Daemon invaders.

40 Hammers to hit the Invaders landing beaches...those were targeted to the highest concentration of the High tide lines.
*
The Taskforce Teighou and Beta scrambled...The wings took to the air and began running air superiority missions in conjuction with the Island Based Aeros. The Broom would take out most of the Surface to Air Missiles. Honour, however, required that they allow the air-fighters to duel in honourable airial combat. Gard, post, parry, and Riposte. It was a ballet of hundreds of supersonic kestrels battling ravens and crows.

It was GLORIOUS!

They interfaced with each other and with the Haraki SEAGULL Admiral...They could handle the current Small Incursion but would appreciate any help the Allies would be willing to give. As similar roundabout request for aid was sent to Montegrande as well as 23eris and even to the crazy Polish mafia. Any aid would be welcomed. Now was the time to gut the foolish dogs!

The Melii had chosen the ground...literally and politically. The Zuuks were as FOOLISH as their HAMSTER_LOVING OVERLORDS. They had foolishly commited to attacking a poisoned apple. The Melii troopers not under direct fire grinned a wolfish and mocking smile. Each wolf had its place. The Melii would not claim the leadership of this Pack...they would however enjoy sending the Daemons to their Gods.

Seriously, dude. I don't care if their are other suits in existence, you chose to take ours. We don't like that. Thank you and good night.

And seriously, this is not FT. We don't use space weaponry and plasma in MT/PMT.

OOC:
It isn't FT or even PMT. We can do them now. Heck in WW2 the german's BIG artillery launched shells into LEO. This is well thought out stuff. Your super soldiers are PMT almost FT. Turn about is fair play. Moreover, we aren't going to use your suits. I explained that already. We gave them away!:p
Ayup thats cool like i said it was a warning shot They would still take out a sizabe chunk of anyone landing on the beaches though. imagine 250 tons bombs placed over your formations. It WILL KILL a bunch of them! Not a BIg bunch since you've got alot but still they are going to hurt.

You going to let the hammers pound your rear folks?

...sides bambardment only does so much.. I RPed our forces dogfighting and the taskforces are hunting each other... just got to remember that 50 thousand is a lot of people.

<grin>

OOC: I think everyone just needs to calm down a bit and think through what's going on.

First of all, I've been noticing for a little while now that no matter what anyone tries to do in the Zukariaan zone, you shoot it down for one reason or another, whether it being the super Capitol Police or just an 'I don't like that so I'll ignore you' or just posting a single line OOC comment about how it wouldn't work for whatever airtight reason. Zukariaa, nobody's perfect. There can still be cracks in the defence of your zones. People can slip through. Not to say a whole refugee column, that was pretty poorly thought out on New Lexington's part, but at least let people get some RPing in.

Also, the sudden landing of 50,000 troops off 50 ships is a bit godmodish. For one thing, D-Day, the biggest RL amphibious invasion in history, landed 3 divisions - about 30,000 soldiers - and needed over a thousand Allied ships to be taking part in the operation. Also, just having them appear outside Me Lii waters and land the troops was badly done. Yes, you had warning you were going to do something, but you should have at least had posts outlining the soldiers loading the ships, ships disembarking and sailing to the island first - all visible by satellites or spy planes - before simply landing the troops.

Effectively, what you did was the equivalent of 'The Harakian bombers zoomed low over Zukariaan territory, mysteriously undetected by the state of the art Kraven radar and unseen by anyone on the ground. They loosed their deadly cargo. Umpteen nuclear bombs rained down on the Zukariaan cities and factory complexes, raining liquid radioactive death...' with no prior warning.


Me Li, I respect that you didn't simply post a one-line OOC comeback ignoring the invasion for whatever reasons. But your response was still uncalled for. You basically pulled the same stunt that Zukariaa pulled a moment earlier, unleashing weapons that no-one had heard about being involved in this conflict before, the satellite-based hammers. By the same tact, a million Zukariaan soldiers could rise out of the ground and attack your people, because we seem to be escalating into completely random use of whatever shit we like to think our nations have.

Using myself as an example, I can tell you what I have in Danteri. I have one full division, elements and brigades from another two, some wings of planes, and a significant naval taskforce involving one battlecarrier and several small carriers. I can tell you that NND has around 200 soldiers on the ground. Anyone interacting with us knows what to expect. Because we have well-established what we have in the area, we're not going to randomly pull stuff out of thin air. You'll also notice that any time we assign new forces to the Danteri area, and therefore to this RP, we post it even if it has no relevance to what's currently happening. That's so that we don't run into me saying 'The HNS Fountain super-battleship opens fire on your gorund forces' and someone else says 'When did that get here?' which is exactly what's happening right now with both the Me Li orbital strikes and the Zukariaan invasion.

So I suggest we just calm down and rethink what's been happening over the last little while. This has been a very good RP so far and I don't want it to degenerate into either a godmod-fest or a screaming match. I've seen good RPs in the past degenerate into either or both. It's not pleasant, and it often kills RPing between the involved nations forever.

I'd rather not post an IC response to what just happened without an OOC response first, so I'm going to wait and see.

ooc:
The escalation was in partial response to the "landings"...I admit it wasn't as elegant as I had hoped for. But here is my Reasoning (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11069099#post11069099)<shrug> They had reacted faster than I would have imagined. Err over-reacted. We too overreacted. IC the Melii have a doctrine that force will not be met with equal force. <grin> Think akido or judo. We will not respond with brute strength when other more interesting/easier alternatives exists. But we won't pull punches if forced into a corner.

We had posted the stats...well not me personally but Itchia had the links to the purchases.

Our joint taskforce was headed to 23Eris and help out up there with an extra division and supplies but we didn't get an answer from 23Eris so they were sent south. Victoria City has about 2 brigades in Alpha Zone and I had just suffled alot of air assets to the Island...they were based in Haraki zones. The New Carrier Group was escorting the supplies and troops as a grand shakedown cruise. The Tiengou Carrier group is still in on a good will tour in NND...essentially we were on the defensive.

All of my space tech is on my threads...I had given fuzzy hints about ants and light in my first post. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10866433#post10866433) Anyone remember?:p It was a weapon to be used only as a last resort. 50,000 Zuuks and a big naval force bombing my shores of the little island that is currently housing alot of Melii citizen usually counts as an act of war. Orbital weapons do exist...<i'm pretty sure> But the Space broom ABM is currently being used by the US to knock down 1-10cm space junk. How much you want to bet that it can do more?

Zuuk here is just following orders...bad orders that forces him to committ way too many troops...so we drop iron rods from space! It is gravity and the air that causes the weapon to turn into a big ole bomb. How bad is that? I could have said that the artillery curtain's laid a wall of iron as the Zuuks disembarked and the mines began going off. But I didn't. The weapons aren't too out there and they made exactly the point you had mentioned to Zuuk. I thought it clever:D probably too clever on my part. LOL, my abbot would smack me a good one for trying to be too sneaky.

The poisoned apple was an oblique reference to both the Apple of Discord that percipitated the Trojan War and a polite nod to 23Eris, Eris Goddess of Strife, AND to the Snow White apple...:D

We [zuuk and I] have been having a rather nice and civil chat about things...

I would hold off on IC until he posts...<shrug> If he takes out his CP and about 50,000 and the Fleet then so will I. I prefer small combined arm tactics to big ole battles. I would hope that he accepts our negotiations that we had already. This battle was accepted in order to force Zuuk and by proxy Kraven to recognize our Neutrality. <grin> Our Swiss Armed Neutrality!

OOC: Just for clarification of my assets in Danteri. I have 180,000 soldiers (army stationed in my two zones, 100K in the north 80 in the south, but that will change soon), about 10K danteri Auxilieries with more in training, all in all about 200 air superiority fighters and another 100 air-ground warplanes, also 2 squadrons of attack choppers and an air transport unit. That doesn't include the non-armed transport/supply aircraft flying supplies into Danteri and refugees out. As far as naval vessels I have a couple dozen hyrofoil PT boats (based on the US pegasus class), and a carrier battle group. If things heat up, a second group will probably head this way.

I'm hoping those this doesn't degenerate into one huge slugfest though, I do prefer smaller scale action, but I need to have somewhat realistic numbers to properly defend territory against a hostile force that is extremely heavily armed. Oh and as far as technology goes, 23Eris military tech is pretty much state-of-the-art MT with a little PMT thrown in (such as the M-5 fibre armor which is actually currently under development).

IC: 23Eris posts were put on full alert, all military leave was cancelled and temporary curfews imposed in an attempt to maintain order in the rather volatile situation.

The government of 23Eris remained publicily silent on its stance regarding the situation between Me Li and Zukariaa but considered the situation very grave. In secret however, the diplomatic corps was abuzz with activity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP SECRET -- MOST URGENT
To: Haraki & Montegrande
Re: Military situation in Danteri

We write you in secrecy to inquire as to your stance regarding the showdown between Zukariaa and Me Lii. Will your nations intervene on behalf of the Me Lii?
We ourselves do not wish to see Zukariaa and its Kraven backers expand their grip on Danteri, however we are in no position to act alone against Kraven or one of its slave-states. We would however be willing to act as part of an international coalition of states allied against this threat.

Attachment:
In regards to the potential for Zukariaa to attempt to swallow up our protected areas one at at time, our government, in an attempt to promote cooperation and peaceful relation between our nations wishes to forge a pact amongst our three powers.

The terms of the pact to be as follows:

1. The three powers agree to maintain a benevolent neutrality in the case of aggression by a third power with holdings in Danteri.
2. The three powers agree not to, in any manner, lend aid to this third party in the case of conflict.
3. None of the three powers will enter into any grouping of powers aimed directly or indirectly at the other treaty parties.
4. The pact is to remain effective for a period of 5 years from acceptance or until signatory parties have evacuated their holdings in Danteri.

We hope that your nations find these suggested terms acceptable and that the possibilities for cooperation and friendship between our nations grow.

OOC: The number of my army in Danteri is in fact big, 380,000 soldiers (including 10,000 Red Guard soldiers. I don´t know the number of the Red Army, so I cannot post how much are the combined Montegrande and Red army´s forces, but I believe Red Army is diminished by the repression of Sara Von Freiburg´s attempt of plot) and of that 380,000, 120,000 are in the Archipellago (I misunderstood Me Li and thought it was a threat to the capture of Sara von Freiburg by my army...) That has to do mainly because I increased my number to crush Sara Von Freiburgs failed coup, hahahaha, and my army is a communist army which power is exactly massive numbers.
For aircraft I had 1000 old 1980s planes that were updated and handled to the Red Army when my finances got better, so my aircraft is 150 air superiority planes in the Archipellago, 250 in the other territories, and just 30 bombers (my army is more confident with massive artillery attacks and I cannot spend in more planes, even when things are peaceful in south america and I can divert troops to Danteri.)

Montegrandean preparations
The Montegrandean soldiers simply had in that moment no time to lose; they had to capture Sara Von Freiburg as soon as possible. They knew that in the case of a Zukariaan attack, her importance would grow again and that couldn´t happen. However, the destruction of her party and also the emergency measures could help if invaded the communist territory by Zukariaans. The montegrandean diplomacy prepared a top secret telegram to Haraki and 23Eris

TOP SECRET
To: 23Eris & Haraki
We mostly agree with the terms of Erisian proposal. However, we believe that point 1 doesn´t give any country attacked by Zukariaa or a Kraven slave state any security they could survive and the response is modifying "benevolent neutrality" to "military cooperation" We might remark this, this pact´s suggested military aid to an attacked country is only defensive (we are not in favor to agree to help any attack from any of the three powers). The only way we can compare to a menace as Zukariaans to defend ourselves with some effectiveness is if we act united. However, Me Li aggresive policy against Zukariaa is being answered now and we must mantain at least for now. I believe now Harakian still has problems with the Second Coming, 23Eris is organising their occupation in former Soloriel Zone and we are searching for a dangerous traitor, so we aren´t still ready to fight to defend us from Zukariaa, and this could be only if they attack us...

OOC: I agree that the orbital bombardment is a little over the top, and so is the massive shifting of Zukariaan troops - they would need more ships, and so maybe it would be a better idea to just assume that the Zukariaans are moving more ships in, and are preparing for an invasion? I mean, we want this to be fun for everyone, don't we?

OOC: I have to agree with what Danteri posted. Let's assume the invasion of Me Li's island hasn't actually started yet but is in the prep stages. If that is ok with everyone that is.

IC:

TOP SECRET

To: Montegrande & Haraki
From: 23Eris
Re: Counter-Proposal

We appreciate and respect your desire for a treaty of mutual assiatance however we beleve that given the volatile situation in Danteri we should first sign a treaty of non-aggression as presented before moving on to the more difficult matter of military assistance.

As far as Southhaven is concerned, a non-aggression pact would give us further assurance of Montegrandes peaceful intentions and allow us to divert two divisions to the Freiburg province. It would also allow Montegrande to reduce the troops on its southern border and concentrate them in the north where it faces Zukariaa and another potential foe in New-Lexington, which while not as aggressive as Zukariaa has rebuffed any attempt at cooperation in Danteri.

I suggest an agreement on the Non-Agression pact as presented in our first communication and then a meeting between representatives of our nations to discuss the possibility of a defensive treaty should our nations find ourselves under attack in Danteri.

It would also allow us to discuss the current crisis and work on a collective response in order to contain Zukariaan aggression.

As the day progresses the Nuverian Thrity continue their march to Stronghold they come across a battalion of soldiers in their barracks. They position theirselves in the bushes and trees. The leader of the group contacts the NSC(Nuverian Special-Ops Commander).

"Commander it's Novemember something is afoot in this country. It's like the whole country is moblelizing and there are rumors flying about some person named Sara von Freiburg. Right now we have come upon an entire battalion. Are the soldiers friendly?"

"No do not engage we have intel that the battalion in front of you is a 23Eris battalion. We will try to gather more intel on this Sara von Freiburg. You know what to do now."

"Copy that November out."

The Nuverian Thirty Leader gave his troops a signal. They all rose up from their positions. The soldiers in the barracks armed theirselves as the Nuverian Thirty slowly walked toward the them while holding a white flag in the air.

The place of battle must not be made known to the enemy. If it is not known, then the enemy must prepare to defend many places.
- Sun Tzu: The Principles of Warfare, Chapter Six: Weakness and Strength
commentary:
You cannot defend everywhere equally! If your border is large and static then the advantage of attack goes to the quick mobile forces.

Warfare is the Way of deception. Therefore, if able, appear unable, if active, appear not active, if near, appear far, if far, appear near.
- Sun Tzu: The Principles of Warfare, Chapter One: Calculations
commentary:
It is said that "truth is the first casualty of war," but a more astute observation is that truth and lies are both weapons of war. Where the truth is more likely to deceive the enemy, the truth is presented; but where a falsehood is more likely to deceive the enemy, a falsehood is given. Either way, the point is to make the enemy believe what you want them to believe.

The Companion shifted smoothly into the next form of the kata...it was a simple execution of Heaven meets Earth... there was a soft muffled pop! she watched the timestreams shift and this verse break from the other one. In the other one the Melii had seen the buildup and did nothing...they had expected for the Zuuks and Kraven to attack them eventually...and the island was ready... the skys fell in that reality... they had gouged the countryside with the mighty Hammers of Thor! It was a small PMT Space Storm.

The Kraven machine was a great military behemoth in a straight up ground fight. The Melii were not stupid enough to pit their strength against the combined strength of the "Supreme State" This would not stop them from acting like the typical STUPID Melii. They refuse to fight on the enemies terms.

They had purposefully tried to set up the international political terrain to favor the Melii in any foolish attack by Kraven or by the Zuuks. The also prepared the island as best they could. the likely beaches had been located and the appropiat measures had been put in place. >mines, booby traps, artilllery ranging of the landmarks. Predetermined points of likely attacks were sometimes weakened or stiffened. The Melii wanted enough Zuuks to land before they would cluster fuck each other. The Zuuks tended to like heavy concentrations of personnel and armed forces...this had it's advantages in sheer concntrated fire power. It however lessened its effectiveness elsewhere.

The Zuuks had decided to rule by a mailed fist over an enslaved sheep people. Like any foolish slavemaster they would find that slaves are useless. Theywould slow the war machine down and introduce flaws whenever they could. Why should they take pride in their work? It was for the Daemon Occupiers anyway...the ballads were still sung silently and secretly. A song is mightier than any Bottle Daemon. And the Sheep had a new song...the Black Sheep had made sure that enough now knew it.

*

The Sage Sun Tzu had also strongly advised to choose your battles and your battlegrounds. He had also said it was better to defeat your enemy before you ever had to enter into battle. The Melii ahd sought to do both.

*

The Melii had learned from the USA's and CCCP's space race. Near Earth Spacial Superiority was as vital as Naval or Air Superiority in the Future. Hence, their withdrawal from the UN and the Treaty of Spacial Neutrality & Diarmanment. The Unified Space Command had made extensive international agreements in developing spacial systems...both commercial civilian and military applications.

The Isles had accepted that they would need a navy and an airforce for the near future. They had however emphasised the Star Wars programs. Billions had been spent by the Confederation and its allies in the exploitation of space. The Isles had not neglected their armed forces. Modern weapons systems were acquired through diplomacy and both open trade and secret defensive allainces.

This control of their skys was expected to be decisive in any future combat...
All of this took about one and a half seconds for Gwendolyn to process and finish the movement. Hai!

She finished with a head stomp. BUMP.

She bowed to the Master and finished her rai. This was moving meditation. She now knew of a possible path. Now she sought another Golden Path. The last one had began in flames and died in flames. Huff.

So be it a new Eddy had arrived and now pushed Danteri into another path. That other Verse was now elsewhere. There was now only the Eternal Now.

ooc:
:eek: A timewarp?:rolleyes: Well I'm ok with that...this reality slowly fades back into the gray chaos of possible futre presents that never existed in ths sector?!?

Zuuk? If you attack. I WILL do exactly the same thing over again... except this time I'll escalate this by having my allies across the other timelines launch simaltanous offensives...If you ever want to embrace the good 'ole values of the Confederacy--<grin ayup that was an ambigous joke>

Or if you prefer, we can have this little battle and royally make this into a tempest in the tea pot. Or we can both finally agree to let each other alone? I'm tired of having to move in the shadows. I want it out in the open that YOU and Kraven will Not be attacking my holdings nor my allies holdings. Hence our open & hidden hostility, political and social maneveurs around the NSverse and our heavy engagment of resources here. It was a nice trap, eh?
[COLOR="DarkGreen"]

http://www.sonshi.com/learn.html
Here is a good site for the Art of War by the Sage-General Sun Tzu

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11061903#post11061903
The Black Sheep Flyers and the Sheep Song secretly sung by Black Sheep operatives...it is also the Me Li national Anthemn...
:eek: :D:p :rolleyes:

Zukariaa']OOC-New-Lexington, what secret message?
OOC: That one message about wtf is going on i didnt really mean secret my b ive been out of it for a few days
In Westgate
Lexitonain Press United Reports:
Massive rioting has put a clamp on the city for three days now as police and demonstrators clashed near Western Danteri University on the east side of the city. Over 300 students were arrested and 2 seriosly injured by rubber bullets from police. The unrest seems to be over the quick annexation and statehood over the area.

She was worried. The soldiers were looking for her, and while they hadn't found her yet, they had come close. Still, so far she had evaded capture, and so she was still around to worry about what she would do to live just a little longer.
Red Army soldiers were everywhere, kicking in doors at random, smashing things and screaming dire threats about the consequences if she was not found soon.
Still, there was talk of a war that might soon break out. If such an event occured, when the chaos had stopped, then she would perhaps soon be able to retake the inititive, and perhaps regain power. After all, what would the Red Army do to stop her if they were all iradiated ashes from Zukariaan atomic strikes...

The Danteri Auxiluary Core was working at a feverish pace, dragging supply crates here and there, piling shells onto converted freight trains that would act as ammunition suppliers for the Zukariaan artillery and basically doing all that they could to prepare for the war that was to come with Me li.
Other Auxiluaries moved in to the cities and factories where the Zukariaans had formerly maintained order - each Zukariaan freed for the front was one more soldier who could fight the Me li enemy.
Most of the Danteri Auxiluaries were preparing to assume a supportive role, that was true, but others were preparing to fight, to take part in the later landings that would secure the captured Me li island.
In the harbors that had once been filled with freighters carrying their cargos all across the world, those same freighters were being converted by military engineers, overseeing conscripted civilian labour, to now carry men instead of trade goods.
They wouldn't be as quick as dedicated troop ships, or be able to carry as many men, but they would do - Zukariaa needed ships.

Telegram
To: 23Eris & Haraki
Re: Non Agression treaty

If it´s possible start reunions about military assistance, we agree like a starting point the suggested non agression pact. If it´s necessary for the survival of the rests of a non Kraven Danteri, we´ll agree to this...

OOC-The 50 ships was more of a distraction and a bombardment. The 50 thousand were being moved across the channel in between my land and his island. Thats TONS of ships. And, no offense, I don't care about the largest one in real life. This is an RP. Besides, we do this kind of thing a lot in other RPs. A lot of people do. It's not considered a godmod to have a 1,000 ship battlefleet and an invasion force of 200,000+ soldiers in most RPs. It's fun.
I probably should have told Me li before hand that I was invading him. That was my bad. <_<
I know that you would have noticed and all that. Whatever, we came to agreements. This is considered before any invasions.

The preparations ended as soon as they had started.. Kraven and Me li had struck a deal. Me li was to hand over any and all Kraven technology they held, and Zukariaa would not have to invade them. Me li had requested to send in an observer to Kraven held Danteri. They were aloud to..

The Capitol Police were waiting for the Melii.. waiting for the observer.

OOC-Me li, you know what to do. :p

Southhaven, Danteri

With Montegrande agreeing to, at least in principle a non-agression pact with 23Eris, plans were made for two divisons to be sent to Freiburg within the next few days. Meanwhile, The Danteri Auxileries, renamed the Southhaven Defense Force was given increased independence and responsibility. Though the commanders of this force still reported to Papadakis to maintain a unified command structure he and his other Erisian subordinates were trying to refain from over-intereference in the SDF.

Still, the violence over the election campaigning was disturbing, though it had abated somewhat with improved riot control measures.

The slaver ship (from way back) was still something of a standoff. Most of the slavers had surrendered, some were held up below deck, trapped essentially. The Erisians had the hold sealed off and were attempting to negotiate for the release of the hostages. If negotiations failed, then they would have to act quickly to free the remaining captives before they came to harm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Freiburg Province, Danteri

In the north, the Nuverian was intercepted by an advanced patrol from an infantry battalion making its way towards the front. The Nuverians were given an escort to Stronghold and their commander was taken, unarmed, to the presence of Lt. General Lillis.

Lillis rose from her desk and looked the 'assassin' over, obvious disapproval on her face. She held out her hand and then resumed her seat, pushing a pile of paperwork aside. "Greetings, I'm Lieutenant General Lillis, military commander of the Freiburg Province. So you're the contribution the Nuverian government decided to send to us? I will make this clear from the start, I do not, nor does my government approve of assassination."

"However, if your men are capable we could find use for them along the front lines as scouts. Or if you prefer we could use you as a special police force, a Swat team if you will, here in the Freiburg Province. We've been having a small problem with human smuggling, slave trading basically. Some bastards are taking advantage of the poor and desperate here in Danteri and we intend to put a stop to it. If you want to help with that, we prefer targets taken alive for questioning and trial."

"If you prefer to work along the frontlines, you will observe the current rules of engagement, which are that we will not fire upon any Zukariaan or Zukariaan allied force unless fired upon first."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zukariaan/23Eris Border, Freiburg Province

Things were moving along the border. Erisian military vehicles were digging themselves into heavily fortified positions to slow any initial Zukariaan assault. Behind them were several other defensive lines followed by a high mobility reserve force. The Erisians practiced the force concentration doctrine very well, rushing forces to critical points along any line of attack or defense. Erisian strategy also generally favored a highly mobile force over a totally static force, giving them the ability to strike quickly with heavy force. Such a strategy had crippled their traditional enemy Sparta in their last war, and if things came to a head here, hopefully it would work again, though everyone prayed to the goddess that it wouldn't come to that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: Danteri - About the SDF, most of the officers attended the Erisian Officier Training Program back in 23Eris and the SDF is still being trained by the Erisians, with the goal of raising total strength to 50K (that was stated way back when I fist moved into Southhaven).

Also, there should be some elections in Southhaven soon, which should be interesting giving the large # of political parties campaigning. See here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11019140&postcount=1098) for details.

I just realized I missed your response about the escalating violence over the campaigning & the slave ship way back there. Sorry, I must have been seriously busy or something to not have noticed that.

Major Wu came alone well save for the piolt of course. They had flew over massive agragrian and industrialization projects. It looked like the damned Zuuks were serious about bootstrapping Danteri into the next century.

That was the weirdiest thing about the whole affair. The Zuuks weren't that bad once you got past all of that bluster...they would make decent Grubs. This building up of Kraven Held Danteri was progressing in fits and starts but still it was progressing. That ate at him. The stinking Fascitsts were doing good works but they sacrificed nearly everything for it.

The Pilot got clearance and touched down.

As they were taxying to the terminal he retreived the notes and suggestion on improving the armor...and the drop location for about 4000 of the suits. Three thousand had already been disassmbled and/or destroyed. The Wlrus cheerfully whistled an aria...not a bad investment for a garuntee of Neutrality.

Now he was trying to figure out How much was that gold plated paper Vaya had sent along?

The three remaining slavers are getting desperate - they've just run out of food, although they still have some water. They also still have hostages, and they are refusing to surrender.
(Remember, they've got a shot-gun and a pistol between the three of them...)

The Zukariaan Danteri Auxiluary Core has begun staging preperatory excercises for a possible invasion of the Me li-held island. These excercises include but are not limited to:
- Rapid disembarkment excercises from landing craft, such as would be done for an amphibius attack. (Think D-Day style tactics, but with cooler weapons and gear).
- Basic training in the most common language of Me li, oriented around interrogations of POWs and how to say, for example, "Throw down your weapons" or other phrases like that.
- Assault Training, specialist training in techniques such as would be used in assaulting fortified positions. (How to clear out a bunker, how to storm a barricade, etc.)
- MOUT (Mounting Operations in Urban Terrain) courses, focusing on the built-up areas of the Me li zone.

These training courses represent a significant commitment on the part of the Danteri Auxiluary Core, but not an unsustainable one - they simply are training the units that they can spare from preperations for the invasion. As well as conducting a training campaign for the basic Danteri Auxiluaries, they are also creating an elite unit, which seems to be some sort of shock-troop. (Think elite light infantry with really cool gear).

The Cult of The Second Coming really does pick the most inopertune moments to strike...
A suicide bomber has targeted a Neue Neue Deutsch patrol, killing himself and three civilians with unknown damage to the patrol.

The four men in Neue Neue Deutsch Army uniforms and armour were walking down the street, rifles held at a position of cautious rediness, when the cultist came running towards them. The corporal screamed something, and all four brought their rifles up to bear on the oncoming suicide bomber... but, too late - he detonated himself, killing three innocent bystanders and one of the NND soldiers.

The soul-less killer had seen his prey for the first time that morning, through a telescopic rifle sight, while she shouted orders to the mortar squad as it went through its training routines.
She wore full armour, they all did, at all times save when they were in the barracks. Still, he could have killed her, but he didn't. He prefered, whenever possible, to kill from close in, with a blade or his hands. Sure, it was unprofessional, but still, he didn't kill for money, did he? He killed because that was what he did.
He knew where he could find her, knew how she would die, and knew that he could not fail. After all, the chancellor was depending on him, and he wouldn't want to upset that dear fellow, would he?

The NNDEF has begun preparing for possible war. They're training as best they can, practicing, especially with their mortars and SAWs. Additionaly, they are working at securing transport for their men - they have contacted the Haraki command and requested 20 trucks for use in the transport of the NNDEF soldiers from place to place.
The suicide bombing hit them hard - the "real" Neue Neue Deutsch soldiers are already in the minority, and so feel quite painfully the loss of any of the remaining soldiers.
As for the relief convoy, it had continued its biweekly arrivals, dropping off crates of supplies and taking 2,600 refugees with it each time. There didn't seem to be any shortage of would-be Neue Neue Deutschlanders - it seemed as though most of the populace of the Safe-Zones wanted out if they could find a reasonably safe way to do so. Still, even with a biweekly convoy, no ammunition or supplies were being sent for them from their homeland. it seems that they have been forgotten at best, written off at worst.

Hauptmann Luisa Rhurlunder had regained some of her deferential nervousness, and that was understandable - after all, her forces were, at this point, totally dependant upon Haraki and Gwazzaria for supplies, since their home land had abandoned them.
She had requested and been granted a quick meeting with General Niel, and so spoke and made her case:
"Sorry to bother you," she began, glancing nervously from side to side, "but, my people are running low on just about everything - we have plenty of ammunition, thanks to your sending us that new gear, but," she paused, seemingly gathering strength to continue speaking, "but, we need all the little things now. Little things like body armour, mortar shells, heck, even MREs." swallowing nervously, she continued,
"As is, we effectively are on our own. We even," she added, seemingly as an after thought, "haven't been payed since they stopped supplying us." assuming an apologetic posture, she continued with her requests,
"We also are lacking transportation for our men. Would you mind lending us some trucks?" with that she seemed to have finished what she wanted to say, and so stood, a hopeful smile venturing onto her face.

Life in occupied zone are quite cool. All folks love the comprehensive personal and corporate financial service at the newly established banks. Portion of those welath are settle for authorty of post-election. (WWMD is glad to safe guard it for now.) Hospitals and clinics are being set-up. So who ever want to have surgery, anasethsia, body augmentation are all welcome. :headbang:

Lately, border clashes are getting fewer, as most enemy combatants are getting sick of our policies and invisible infrastructure. Intelligent suggests those enemy combatants are stupid, as enocuraged by some mass media.

The TF is still part of command symbolically by the Confederation. Besides a few troop losses, they are all fine and get merry with locals and fellow folks from the Confederation.:cool:

Details of new force additions are coming up.

OOC: Danteri, I assumed that from the debriefing of the cultists granted amnesty I would've found at least one hideout of the cult and that's what the CEF are attacking, for now.







Neil nodded. He understood pacifistic governments, having been alive for the reign of the very last king of Haraki, in which the king had done his best to destroy the Harakian military to prevent imperialistic tendencies. The military had recovered fairly well, though, with the navy being thankful that he had not sold or scrapped any of the ships, merely mothballing them.

"Don't worry," he said, "and for my sake please relax. You don't need to act so nervous around me. You're the commander of your forces, I'm the commander of mine. That makes us effectively equals, regardless of the fact that technically I'm a higher rank than you.

"So, you need a shitload of equipment. I can arrange that. Allies in war and all that. Here, tell you what," he said, reaching into a shelf and pulling down a requisition form, "fill in what you need. I'll sign it and get it delivered. As for the trucks ..." he checked a sheet pulled from another shelf below the first, "I can spare four five-ton covered trucks, two military jeeps with heavy machine guns, and one wheeled light armoured fighting vehicle with a 40mm autocannon. I assume that would all be acceptable?"


*


CEF Lieutenant Trapp watched the room through a pair of binoculars. The windows all had blinds over them, but several had either holes in the blinds or weren't tight enough to prevent him from seeing through, and he liked what he saw. Several cultists, one even with the cult's crucified and shot figure poorly tattooed on his shoulder, were standing around in the kitchen, animatedly talking about something. He could see an assault rifle leaning against the wall, and evidence of movement in other rooms. He estimated five to ten people in the apartment, and it seemed they had either killed or evicted the previous tenants.

He set the binoculars down on the table that was serving as their base of operations. In the apartment they had claimed for the day, where they had prepared and then cleaned to the bone. His eight assaulters were ready. The sniper was sitting in the now-barren apartment, with a clean shot across the street to the apartment they were targetting.

Trapp was assuming a command role for this operation, with his eight assaulters waiting in the hallway outside the apartment. Since it was quite likely there would be cultist sentries outside the door, the plan was to kill them with silenced pistols, then smash the door down/blow it with shaped charges, rush in with flashbangs thrown, and kill anyone who resisted. Any who could be captured would be subdued, restrained, and taken into custody for further information gathering.

There were four sentries, three with bolt-action rifles, one with a modern sub-machie gun. All four fell easily before the elite Haraki soldiers, as they were merely armed civilians, with little or no military training.
When they breached the door, they found some thirty men, all kneeling in prayer, all facing away from the door, praying with their rifles (twenty four bolt-action rifles, four sub-machine guns and two high-quality assault rifles) and praying that they would be able to kill many unbelievers with these weapons.
The man at the fornt of the room let out a shriek, and ran, while the thirty other tried to turn and face the Haraki assault team, but were almost all cut down too quickly to even bring their weapons up. All six of the men with automatics were brought down before they could fire, and none of the men with bolt-action weapons got a second shot, although five did fire rather innacurately.
With the cultists all dead except for their leader, persuit was initiated. As the team entered the next room, they found that he had set a timer on a large bomb that appeared to include a ten kilo-gram canister of Sarin gas. The leader had to be shot, since he tried to defend the bomb with a pistol.
The timer was set for thirty minutes, and it appears likely that it was meant to be set somewhere where it could kill unbelievers, not to be used as a suicide defensive device.

The cult members who took the Haraki amnesty offer have given two other sites as well - one is a warehouse that they claim is being used for weapons storage (raided, one sentry who died, fourty bolt-action rifles, eighty grenades, four sub-machine guns and two assault rifles plus thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized), and the supposed site of a bomb making operation. (Which hasn't been raided yet...) the site that you spoke of raiding was given as the main center of cult meetings.

A group of Cult gun men have attacked a Danteri Police station, killing nine officers and wounding twenty seven more before the ten gun men were killed themselves. This is indicative of a larger trend - anti-Haraki groups are targeting the Danteri Police since they aren't as well equipped as the Haraki soldiers, and because they have to maintain visibility...

"Thank you," she replied, obviously overjoyed at General Niel's response to her latest request.
"As for being nervous, why should I not have been? Neue Neue Deutschland's military is a little shoe-string operation, which doesn't even have a navy or air force, and yours is famous for it's power and training. I mean," she continued, "we must look ridiculous to you, musn't we?"

In spite of the threat of renewed hostilities with Kravenite Zukariaa, the NNDEF has taken 100 more Danterians to train as new members of their forces. This will bring the total up to 396 soldiers, of which only 146 are actual Neue Neue Deutschlanders.

Although the CEF were somewhat skilled in bomb disposal, due to unsilenced gunfire and deniability, they withdrew. One had taken a bolt-action rifel shot that had hit him in the corner of the stomach, but with limited stopping power due to old age and decay - as well as low-quality craftsmanship - the bullet had not penetrated the CEF assaulter's kevlar vest.

It was the sniper that would be credited with the kill of the leader. He had watched as the man had run into the back room, set the bomb, and laid in wait with a pistol as the Harakians had cleared the rest of the apartment, and as the Harakians approached the sniper had shot him in the hand holding the pistol so as to try to capture him alive. He had scrambled to grab the pistol with his other hand, at which point Sergeant Evan Vega had entered the room and fired two shots into his chest and side, taking him down.

With all the present cultists subdued or killed, the Harakian backing troops had entered three minutes later, at which point the CEF left. With twenty-seven minutes left, the Harakian army called in the bomb squad and went to work taking all surviving cultists to a military hospital, where they would attempt to save their lives. Despite whether any lived, though, an announcement would be made saying all the cultists were killed. This would not only help calm down the civilians, but also make it look like the Harakians were definitely on their side. Plus, then not only could any rehabilitated or released cultists try to resume a normal life, but the public didn't know they existed, meaning they could be kept imprisoned for quite some time.

The next day, the CEF raided the warehouse. Although there was one guard, he was killed by a knife across the throat from behind. The rest of the warehouse was abandoned, which let the army cleanup crew seize all the weapons there. Currently the CEF are planning a raid on the bomb-making facility - or an air strike, they haven't decided - and analysts are attempting to use any information from the two sites raided to find other cult hideouts.


*


Neil shook his head. "Not at all. You're a small pacifist nation, which from what I hear is having a social revolution trying to become imperialst warmongers. I just don't think about how our forces compare to one another. We're both here, we're both in need of things. I give you what you need because we're both on the same side. We have the same interests in mind. I'd rather not have your soldiers dying because they're poorly equipped. For one thing, I like your people. You've got courage, and you're very defiant. And for another, it falls on my head in the Harakian press."

ooc: yes im back at last, after many many moons without an internet connection i have returned once more to deal the crazy ass emperors wrath on the world at large, I must apologise deeply for the long long long time its taking to get back online, but no sense crying over spilt milk, lets get this thing going... Oh one quick thing, ive not been back in a while, so for all intents and purposes im going to roleplay some major thing happening back in the homeland and the withdrawal of all Solorien Troops from Danteri in my Absence, also the Imperial Chancellor is probably pottering around on the Enchantress Somewhere at the moment, he would have been immediately called back as soon as the crisis began.

As the Sun set over the Imperial Square, the last of the Heretics screamed in Pain as his Public Execution got underway, the Emperors serene face showed little more than a beatific delight at the grisly proceedings occuring below. The Heretic screamed a long drawn out scream as boiled tar was poured over the stump where his feet had been but moments before, and as his mouth was open in that gut churning scream the Inquisitor grasped the mans tongue, and with a savage twist and a flashing blade severed it leaving the man gurgling in pain. The crowd roared with approval, and the Inquisitor raised the bloody lump of flesh to the sky, as the man was laid down on the bench, and they slowly lowered the red hot wire casket onto his skin, burning 2 inch squares all over his body. The man screamed as best he could and then it was raised again, pulling sticky lumps of scorched flesh away with it. The man gibbered and gurgled, his mind already broken from the torture. And with the crowds roaring approval the Inquisitor grasped his penis, and raised the red hot blade above his head....

"Your most Holy Grace, now that this matter is dealt with, perhaps we can once more turn our attention toward the situation in Danter?" The Emperors new Chamberlain cowered slightly still in the presence of the Emperor, and he made sure to keep his face pressed to the floor as he knelt in front of the Golden Throne. "Rise good servant, and send word to my Imperial Forces. We shall return and once and for all crush this situation, make haste my servant, and know that thy Emperor smiles upon thee." The Chamberlain hurried away, wincing slightly whenever one of the Imperial Guardsmen glanced at him.

As the Sun rose that morning, it highlighted a gleaming fleet of sleek and deadly war vessels gliding with an inimitable grace towards the Coast of Danteri, overhead the newest addition to the Solorien War-Machine the SuF-8S passed over the ships keeping watch for any Enemy attempts at intervention. The soldiers these vessels carried were Veterans of the Initial Danterian Conflict, and they had been further Indoctrinated into their Emperors cause upon their return, and looked forward only towards dying a Glorious death, as they crushed the life blood of the enemys of Soloriel into the Mud of Danteri.

OOC: Yay! Soloriel: I took over all your former territory since we were allied (and to prevent Zukariaa from claiming it and enslaving the populace), you are of course free to reclaim the land and resume our former alliance if you choose. If you haven't seen it, check out the latest map (http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j106/renthas/danterimap9.jpg) to see how things currently stand.

IC:
Southhaven, Danteri

It was finally good news, the crisis in Soloriel was over. Apparently, the Soloriel troops were returning to Danteri. Lt. General Papadakis sent off a message to his counterpart, Lt. General Lillis to ensure that the Soloriel troops were welcome back to the territory without incident. He wanted to reform the alliance, not turn them into an enemy.

Freiburg Province, Danteri

Lillis cursed at the note Papadakis had sent. The Soloriel were coming back after they had left, and now she was to just turn the territory over to them? She had spent a lot of time improvin the defenses and reorganizing the territory along the lines of her own nation and now... Still orders were orders.

As the Soloriel fleet approached she sent out an unencoded message.
To: Soloriel Fleet
From: Lt. General Amanda Lillis, Commander Freiburg Province
Re: Freiburg Province

Sir,
After your evacuation of the northern territory of Danteri, Erisian forces took over the defense of this province, renamed the Freiburg Province. We of course welcome you back into the province and hope that we can resume our alliance and friendly relations.

Slaver Ship, Southhaven

The Erisians sent one of their top negotiators to deal with the situation. They hoped to end this peacefully, but Alpha team, their top Special Ops squad was preparing to move in, just in case.
The jist of the negotiator's message is this: The Erisians wanted to end this stand-off peacefully. If the slavers surrendered and cooperated with Erisian investigations, they would be treated well and released shortly. If further hostages were harmed, there was nothing the negotiator could do to help them.

OOC: Let me guess: You want to go to war with us again? XD As you might notice, plenty has changed within Zukariaa. We are now part of the Kraven war machine. Teehee..

The meeting room in Danteri City was bustling with noise. It's dark interior, the banners of Kraven hanging from it's walls, people yelled something here, threw some notes down here..

"This is bad.. If the Soloriel want to drive us out of Danteri.."

"They wont be able to hold off against the Capitol Police. There's no chance."

"We have 20,000 in all of Danteri.. should we request more from the High Command?"

"No." everyone turned.. it was Corrol,"We'll just have to let them know that there is no war to be fought here. We have all settled, besides the little Me li incidents, which has been worked out to our likings.."

Everyone listened intently,"Sure, if they want a war, they'll get a war. But they must know that we have no intentions of a war with them, or anyone else. The tensions within the High Command have reached an all time high as it is. We'll just have to worry about that later, however. Send them a message, and make it look nice.."
******************************
To: The Eternal Holy Empire of Soloriel
From: High Commander Corrol of the Kraven Slave State of Zukariaa

Greetings, while it worries us to know that you are back, and possibly looking to fight us, I'll have to let you know that Danteri has reached a relatively peaceful situation.

High Commander Corrol
*******************************
As the Melii observer arrived, he was greeted by a Reichmarshall. His dark, leather overcoat and hat made him stand out. He was flanked by several Capitol Police. They had their GPMG's at their sides, their red eyes glowing.

"Greetings.." the Reichmarshall began,"I am Reichmarshall Gerris, if you'll just follow me, we can get started.."

The three slavers shot another hostage. They claimed that they did it because the 23Erisians were "planning something", but from what you can hear, from the moans of terror and gasps of horror from the hostages, it appears that they're eating the hostage they shot.
As for negotiations, they refuse anything less than being allowed to take their ship under its own power to the nearest nation with no extradation treaties with 23Eris or Danteri.

The commandos in their cammoflauge cloaks slipped through the Zukariaan lines, using secret little tricks of the land to avoid the constant patrols, the mine fields, the razor wire and the automated sentry guns. They smelled of mud, and the cold killed the dogs senses of scent enough that that let them slip through to the other side undetected.
Once they had reached that side, the four men checked their gear one last time... and began the preparations for their mission, heading off in the direction of the massive fuel storage tanks that held the oil that Kraven had pulled from the tortured earth of Danteri. They all four knew that they would never be returning to the 23Erisian side of the lines, but they were willing to accept that - if they could accomplish their goal, it would be worth it...

The frost turned the mud that had perpetually mired tanks and supply trucks into a crunchy, crusty, mess, where a single wrong step could send a foot through the icy coating, into freezing mud, with jagged bits of dirty ice impaling themselves into one's leg...
The winter in Danteri was no nicer than the summer. In isolated little villages, survivors who had managed to avoid death so far now starved, as the crops had all either been burned by one side or the other, or allowed to rot when all the young men went off and got killed. It was a hungry time in Danteri, and every bit of food brought in from overseas was snatched up by the hungry crowd, as though they had starved for days... as many of them had.
When one walked through the streets of the Safe-Zone, the place where it was the best in all of Danteri, one could not go fifteen minutes without seeing a body, many of which were those of small children.
It was worse in the Zukariaan zone - there, it was said, the bodies were piled deep in the gutters.

The fields near Danteri City were filled with the assorted wreakage of a war that had gone on for too long - here and there, burned out tanks made weird snow drifts, while bodies, icy and blue, stained with old black blood, were constantly being dragged from the little hollows of the land.
The workers there worked under the supervision of armed Danteri Auxiluary guards,who clutched their sub-machine guns and shivered in the cold, grateful for the heavy black storm coats that they wore. The workers wore what they could find, and labored with the misery of condemned men. Most were either old - over fifty - or young, under eighteen. After all, what with so much vicious war and so much killing, strong young men were in short supply... and most of those that there were now wore the black storm coats of the Danteri Auxiluaries, and so were either at the front in Atreus or off along the border with the other zones... or stood in heavy black coats, shamefully glad for the blank mirrored sun glasses that made the anonymous to the workers they supervised.
Now that the fighting was over, salvage operations began - after all, there was a lot of useful metal waiting to be used in those charred tanks, and those bodies, so sad and pitiful, were gathered up, stripped, and then tossed onto trucks that would take them off to be broken down for use as fertilizer next spring. When a man had a filling, they would knock it out with a chisel, when he wore a ring, they would snap the cold, dry, finger off his hand, then pull the ring off.
All of the loose weapons were gathered up, every pistol and rifle, and they were taken away under the supervision of the Danteri Auxiluaries, to be broken down, stripped of metal and burned.
Once the wreakage had been cleared, these fields could grow food again come spring - they had produced much rice before the war, and would produce even more now - after all, Kravenites was so much more efficient than Danterians had ever been...
All of this was done as the snow fell, and so a field that might have looked... beautiful... was transformed into some scene from an icy hell, as eight year olds, tears frozen onto their faces, dragged naked icy blue corpes into piles to be taken away, as old women knocked fillings out of the teeth of maimed young men... it was like something from hell, and that wasn't too far from what it was, for such was Kravenite efficiency.

Communist territory

The food that montegrandeans brought from their homeland was to be given to the vivile population in little rations, only in montegrandean military posts. They didn´t want the danterian to loot the food that could save so many if it was given in the adequate rations.... Also, Commander Moncada ordered a gathering of the officers of the Montegrandean army of Danteri...
In that heavily cuirassed bunker, inside a room that had a big table and thirty or fourty wooden chairs, the situation seemed as complex as it was outside, but not because the famine. Commander Moncada seemed furious and the reason was quite obvious. With all their war machine, the montegrandeans hadnpt managed to capture and kill Sara Von Freiburg and she still was considered a menace for the stablishment of a communist system in Danteri.
After he yelled at the officers because of the failure of the montegrandeans to find Sara Von Freiburg, announced he wanted her alive or dead, at any cost. Then, from the darkness, a quiet but terrifying voice was listened in the room: "At any cost?" It was the head of the Red Guard, Commander Díaz.
After the meeting, the leadersip of the missions which had the objective of finding Sara von freiburg was Commander Díaz and more Red Guard effectives were sent for the task. Also, if anyone gave useful information he or she would be generously rewarded. After all, the montegrandeans knew hungry people would even betray Sara Von Freiburg if it was for food and a good economic situation under the Commitee´s regime, or that was what they thought.
Also, the montegrandeans offered the Commitee economic advisors to improve the situation of the held zone. Another offer from the montegrandeans was teachers for the University in Dreil, which the montegrandeans hoped it would open soon....

She smilled at that, and spoke:
"Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that - out expeditionary force here took entierly too many cassualties, and the people blaimed the government , and so the common people rioted, at which point the elections that were held showed the government getting tossed out in favor of what passes for a 'radical left wing' group in Neue Neue Deutschland - the Liberal Democrats- at which point, the Centrists made a coalition with the right, the Conservative Democratic Party, and well, it just kept on getting more complicated, because later on the liberals got power, and they were in favor of cuts to the military that was already in place, not in favor of expanding it like the others had been - the 'workers'," she continued, obviously entierly into this one-sided discussion, "rioted at that because they were starting to become very afraid of Kravenite Zukariaa, which had already attacked the NNDEF. In short, it was a mess, with the far right and the far left both winning massive shares of the vote, which were then canceled by the chancellor on the grounds that any election that reduced support for his party that drastically had to be undemocratic and illegal. Then of course," she continued, becoming almost annoyingly enthusiatic about the topic so soon after being almost annoyingly quiet and deferential, "the Minister of Defense got assassinated, and he was popular, so," she seemed to hesitate for a moment, then continued:
"To make an already quite long story short, there has been almost non-stop rioting for the last several weeks back home, and the government is at an all-time low in terms of popularity - which it can endure because it's canceling the results of any elections which show it loosing power. The only reason that the governmnet hasn't been thrown out is that the rioters haven't tried to push the Politzei into a 'shoot or don't shoot' situation - if they did, if the rioting mobs tried a real old-fashioned putsch, then the government likely would fall." she actually blushed at that moment, looked down at the floor and mumbled:
"Sorry about the lecture."

ooc: ty all for the welcomes, and yes 23Eris, id appreciate receiving at least some of my territorys back, mainly Stronghold, and some of the Coastline, the rest you can keep ;)

The ships glided through the water the Coast rapidly approaching, overhead the SuF-8S escort planes screamed toward the Coastline their long distance radars scanning for any and all forces within the incredible range of their advanced radar systems. as the Command Aircraft Carrier broke off with an escort of two Destroyers the Landing Craft doubled in speed and rushed toward the Buil Bay with another Aircraft Carrier and another pair of Destroyers. As the Beach Approached, The Imperial Infantrymen onboard the Landing Craft, affixed Bayonets and Gas Masks, performing Final Checks, The Imperial Mechanical Armour Divisions ran final checks over the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks, and the other assorted Vehicles which would make up the first wave of the Assault Force.

As the Message came in from Zukaaria, the Admiral aboard leaned forwards from his chair, and nodded at his communications officer, the sunlight briefly lighting up an old and tired face, its left eye covered in a dark patch with the Symbol of The Imperial Navy. the Message they sent first was dispatched to Zukaarians:

"We Return, And We Remember The Insults Layered at us at the 'Peace Conference'. Our Memory is Long, and our Weapons are Ready. Danteri means nothing to us now save to ensure that our territorys remain safe, but the Blood of Zukaarians will flow, and the fires of War shall claim you as its First Victims. Hail The Immortal God-Emperor! May His Vengeance for your foolhardy Actions be swift and unmerciful!"

As The Message winged its way through the air the Admiral took the Microphone from the Communications Officer and stared toward Stronghold, before Addressing the 23Erisians personally:

"Loyal Allies, We have returned once more. This Is Grand-Admiral Hethran Kheran, Of the S.I.N Hand Of Winter, we welcome you once more in the name of the Immortal God-Emperor. Your offers are Welcome, and we are most Eager indeed to resume some of our positions in Nord-Lund, Primarily Stronghold. We Hope that our arrival does not cause any untoward feelings amongst your Nation, and we sincerely hope that our former Diplomatic relations may be Re-Opened, however as Before our Conditions are Simple: We will meet only with Lieutenant Yagger as your Representative, all other forms of communication will remain closed until such a time as She is available. May the Eternal God-Emperor watch over You and bring you his blessings."

As the first 10 Landing Craft Slammed into the Sand the Main Doors Slammed Down and within moments thousands of troops began pouring out onto the sand, their boots slamming into the ground as they formed ranks to clear the beach for the next wave of troops to land.

Solorien Actions:

1: The first of 30 Landing Craft have deployed the initial troops onto Danteri once again, these are almost 10,000 strong, and all are Veterans of the Initial Danterian Conflict.

2: The Imperial Airforce are providing Air Cover and long range protection is afforded by the two Destroyers.

The Neue Neue Deutsch supply officer counted off the boxes of MREs as they were loaded off the back of the truck that had brought them from the Haraki supply centers, all the while simultaneously teaching the new recruits who were helping her how to count in German:
"Eins, zwei, drei," she trailed off, looking up in suprise as an extraordinarily large man in heavy NNDA winter gear entered the warehouse they had converted into the supply center for their base. He was carrying some sort of box, which looked odd, but not that odd. He kept moving, as though he had every right to be there, but still, she called out to him,
"You there! What are you doing there?" he turned as she spoke, looking genuinely surprised, and made his way towards her. As he did, she thought to herself how odd it was that he had his mirrored balistic visor down, concealing his face, when he was safely inside the NNDEF base. He came forward, and lowered the case to the ground. As he did, she asked him:
"What's in that case?" she hated to use english, but it was rapidly becoming the common tongue of the NNDEF, since both their allies, the Haraki, and their inferiors, the Danteri, spoke it. As she thought that, he nodded briskly, and removed something long and metalic from the case. He spoke then, a single soul-chilling word:
"This." Then the killing started, as he swung with his katana, hacking one of the four Danteri recuits she had so recently been teaching almost in two, cutting through kevlar with ridiculous ease. The other three let out shrieks as their comrades blood sprayed across the room, spattering their faces. One grabbed up a wrench, another a crow-bar, arming themselves with improvised weapons since they didn't have their guns with them, while the third just huddled there in the corner wimpering.
The killer struck again as the two with weapons moved in on him - he cut down the one with the wrench with little effort, while the other one struck with his crow-bar and missed.
The Neue Neue Deutschlander snapped herself out of her horrified trance and went for her sidearm - no matter how good a swordsman he was, he couldn't fight a gun... as the deadly little pistol came up in her hand, he cut down the last of the recruits, his sword actually severing the mans arm before cutting clear through to his spine.
As she flicked the safety off and aimed, he whirled around, and, as her brain sen the signal to pull the trigger to her hand, the gun failed to fire. Failed to fire because her hand couldn't obey because her hand was flying across the room, trailing bright red blood.
She felt almost immediatly light headed, recognizing shock, as the killed knocked her onto her back with a casual one handed push. He lifted th balistic visor, reveling his eyes for the first time, and what she saw then scared her more than the sudden loss of her hand had - he had no soul. Those eyes weren't the eyes of a human, they were the eyes of a rabid beast that sought prey to kill and consume.
He looked down at her, visible joy in the kill in his eyes, and whispered, reveling in her terror,
"You know, I always enjoyed the women I killed more than the men. It's just my little thing." he flexed his shoulders and raised the katana before adding:
"You know, I'm just glad the chancellor gave me a target like your Hauptmann - such a challenge. I'll tell her how you died when I kill her." the wounded Neue Neue Deutsch soldier on the floor felt something new amidst the terror of certain death - this man had been sent by her government. As he brought the sword down to kill her, she managed to look him in the eyes with defiance rather than fear. Right in those soul-less blue eyes.

OOC-'tis a shame.. before we actually do any fighting, you might want to read the Kraven Corporation factbook. It lists a lot about our.. ahem.. soldiers..

To: The Eternal Holy Empire of Soloriel
From: The Kraven Slave State of Zukariaa

Well, as it saddens us to hear such a thing, we would like you to know that such insults were under an entirely different government.. We are part of the Kraven War Machine, and Kraven and Solorian blood will flow, if that is what you wish.
We will let you take the first strike.. we have no intentions of a war at the moment..

ooc: aye but were crazy, and well.. were crazy, as a sign of solidarity for his people after the recent.. 'Troubles the Emperor decided that a definitive show of his power was required to bring the last of the Heretics back into line, and if youd like to give me an email address youll see exactly what it is these troops your about to face are matey boy ;)

As the Troops Formed Up into Ranks, the landing craft peeled away, to make room for the next wave of troops to land, as the men formed up into ranks the standards of their Regiments were raised, and sound of a thousand voices chanting in an unknown tongue rolled out into the air "Rumo Myht Uv Uin Vydranc, Sekrdo Asbanun uv mekrd, syo oui knyhd ic ouin ruhuin, ouin zicdela, oui muja. Yht fa femm tamejan ihdu oui jahkayhla, pmuut, yht dra adanhym kmuno uv uin canjela."

Freiburg Province, Danteri

Yagger, who had been in Freiburg, helping to organize the Erisian movements in stronghold as she had firsthand knowledge was quickly choppered to HQ.

"General Lillis, you called for me?" Yagger asked her new commander.

"Captain, good to see you. I did, the Soloriel asked for you by name. I thought this was a bit strange so I asked Papadakis about it. He sent me the reports on your actions before the Soloriel left." Yagger grimaced slightly, she had been given a slight reprimand for her actions on the Soloriel flagship as they were 'unprofessional' while on duty. "I was impressed, that long with only a minor reprimand, and your reports were excellent. You do good work. Now I want you to resume your former position, the Soloriel will deal with no one else."

"Of course General, I would be happy to resume my former duties."

"Excellent Captain, you seem to be a natural at this type of work. Do as well as you did before, and I guarantee you'll be a major before long."

"I'll try my best."

"Good, now get down to the comm center." Yagger nodded in reply, saluted an turned to leave. She was half out the door when the General's voice stopped her. "Oh and Captain, you'll be talking with Hethran."

Yagger felt the butterflies in her stomach come back as soon as she heard the name. She had assumed the Admiral had returned home to spend time with his daughter, he deserved it if anyone did. She had to fight to keep herself from racing down to the comm center but when she arrived she suddenly felt a wash of nervousness.

Sitting in one of the gold colored plus office chairs that filled the room, an Erisian addition to the Soloriel headquarters, she reached forward for the button on the microphone. "So-soloriel forces. This is Captain Yagger as you requested, now I have my own request, permission to come aboard the Hand of Winter to help coordinate the transition of Stronghold, and your territories back into your posession."

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Slave Ship, Southhaven

It was bad, the Erisian offer of food and other negotiations had been rebuffed. Now it seemed like the hostage takers were trying to eat a captive. It was too much. Within two minutes of the shots having been fired, plan beta was put into effect. Quinuclidinyl benzilate was pumped into the room, a colorless, odorless aerosol gas that causes synptoms very similar to terminal alzheimers, causing short-term memory to shut down. In fact, when the Erisians tested the gas on special ops soldiers who were simulating 'terrorists' they had forgotten how to use a gun, what a gun even was, and why they were there. Fortunately too, the drug was very safe, the antidote was fast acting and a lethal dose was almost 600 times an effective dose.

Thirty seconds after the aerosol hit the room, power was cut, the door was blown and spec ops team Alpha in full gear stormed the room ready to eliminate any resistance.

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Hermia, Southhaven

Papadakis was uneasy. He paced behind his desk and kept glancing at his phone. He had just recieved word that Alpha Team was storming the room. Added to that was the tension on the Zukariaan border, which had eased, but was still troublesome. Including the reports via satellite of what was going on inside Zukariaan Danteri. He felt true pity for those people who had been caught behind the Kraven lines. Now Melii had made some kind of deal with the Kraven satellite. That disturbed him as well. The Melii were crazy enough as it was, and he honestly considered them unreliable. The last thing he needed was more Kraven influence in Danteri.

Also he was awaiting the results of the elections. Things had calmed down somewhat over the last week, and now people were heading for the polls. This election would help determine the future of Southhaven, and he wondered what that future would be.

Lastly there was Soloriel. They had returned and while they were sounding friendly enough, he had almost forgotten their single-minded determination. War with Kraven had barely been averted over the Melii incident, and now Soloriel was rattling its sabre. Erisian troops manned the border and with Soloriel all but saying, "as soon as we get there, we mean to attack," he wondered just how long it would be before the Zukes premptively attacked the Erisian fortifications. If that happened, the 23Eris would be dragged into war, granted with a powerful ally in Soloriel, but a war they didn't need to fight.

OOC-Well, you might want to see our Kraven supersoldiers. They're crazy, too. :p Send it to me at humhum8888@yahoo.com.

Along the border of what used to be Soloriel territory, whether it was now or not, were 200,000 men. Kraven-Zukariaan Kreigsmarines. With them were 20,000 Capitol Police. The Capitol Police stood in perfect formation, perfectly executing every order without a second thought. Hundreds of Axim warplanes were readied, Gargoyle heavy bombers readied. Along the border, several hundred Leman Russ main battle tanks waited. If the Solorians wanted a war, they would get a war.

************************

"There are problems back home brewing, sir. I think Kraven may be starting a Civil War, and that will mess up our plans here.."

"We've stripped the land as we have seen fit. We have plenty of Danteri people and soldiers.. If the war with Soloriel goes wrong, we can just order the Danteri to have a mass migration.."

"Someone has been releasing false information, saying that bodies are piling in our cities.. who is this..?"

"That's besides the point.."

"Stop.." Corrol started,"If Soloriel means to fight us, we'll fight them. Meanwhile, I'll be leaving for Zukariaa. Sturmkrieg furhrer Kyler, you'll be in command here in Danteri."

"Yes, sir."

As he left, the men in the room knew that something was happening in Zukariaa and every other Kraven held land. Civil War was starting, and they were determined to fight off Soloriel before it reached them..

The workers lined up miserably at six in the morning at the gates of the Westfall Unity Small Arms factory. The four Danteri Auxiluaries at the gate itself looked just as tired as they did, but also a significant bit warmer, thanks to the oil drum fire they had set up.
As soon as the clock struck six, the gates opened, and as the workers made their way through, each was given a small protein loaf and a tin of purified water. It wasn't much, but it was enough to prevent starvation - in the Kravenite territories, you didn't starve so long as you worked.
The sad lines of dispirited workers made their way through the gates, past gawdy, colorful, posters of proud and handsome soldiers in Danteri Auxiluary uniform standing with sub-machine guns at the ready, with captions along the lines of "Kraven will Protect you" and "Zukariaans are our Friends".
At precisely six ten, the intercom system for the factory sqwaked to life - it played a few bars of some martial music, then began a constant drone of propaganda.
By six twenty, all of the workers were at their stations, producing weapons for the Danteri Auxiluaries, using metal parts that had been made from the melted-down remains of burned out tanks and shattered artillery pieces... Danteri had so much metal laying around that it was surprising - one didn't think of how much metal was in the wreakage of an armoured division, blasted to wreakage by bombs from above...
At precisely one o'clock in the afternoon, the intercom switched itself off, and the bell buzzed again - it was time to line up once more to recieve their second meal of the day - another small protein loaf and another tin of purified water.
On such rations, none would gain weight, but few would starve either... few of those who could work, at any rate... the situation in the Zukariaan zone was worse than the situation in the Haraki-Soloriel-23Eris zone, but only just - mostly it was just that the Kravenites made little effort to save the "undesireables", the very old who could not work, and those crippled by one thing or other.

The slavers went down easily. When the 23Erisian team stormed the place, they found that their gas had killed one of the hostages - an emaciated little new-born, who was so malnurished that he would likely have soon died anyway.
Of the hostages, all were miserabe, terrified, depressed, malnurished and filthy... but most of them were still alive.
As for the slavers - one succeded in shooting himself fataly with the hand gun when he realized they were being gassed, since he was in an odd corner of the room, but the other two were taken alive.

Zuuk Held Danteri City

Wu held his distaste for the damn fascist pig. He reminded himself that the soldier was a High Ranking pig that was just doing his job. The car speed through block after grey block of drab concrete monstrosities. This city was all but destroyed in the decades of fighting and now...it needed to be destroyed again.

It was strange how many communist buildings resembled the Fascists buildings and the buildings of the underclass in Capitalist countries. They were generally ugly no matter were or when or who built them. They were a bureacrats wet dream...same simple detestable cookie cutter designs. They streets were empty of all life save the occasional Zuuk sentry. They were swept clean by armies of footsoldiers...it was a barren and dead as any desert canyon of the Interior.

The Melii had brokered a deal with this branch of the Demons...they would refrain from directly attacking each other. Me Li would return the remaining suits in her possession and share with the Zuuks the research showing the weaknesses of the Kravenite armor and military systems. In return, the Zuuks would respect Me Li's and the Isles Soveirgnty and Sacred Neutrality. Thus, the two could better concentrate on more important things. The Melii would continue exploring and colonizing space and undersea territories. The Zuuks could concentrate on defending their homelands from the other Kravenite slave states.

Kraven was falling from its own internal weight...they had overstretched and there was some amongst the Daemons that still remembered being human...Zuuks were possibly one of them. It mattered not. The Melii had sent via proxies her information on the Kravenite systems. The Others would find it and use it eventually. In the meantime, the Melii would help daemons to kill daemons.

The car slowed and stopped.

The Walrus emptied his mind and concentrated on the coming meeting with the High Command of Danteri Kraven.

As the second wave of Stormtroopers filed onto the beach the Regimental Flags fluttered in the breeze, the sound of equipment being adjusted was audible all amongst these troops, and as they formed up into ranks they began a march which would take them clear of the beach, and allow the Imperial Armour to lead the march when they arrived in the next wave of equipment. Already a further 70 troop transports were speeding towards the coastline, whilst supply ships from Soloriel headed towards Stronghold, with the Empires engineers and building supplys and food and clothing, more than enough to see the populace through this harsh winter. As the Stormtroopers filed into position, thousands of miles overhead the Imperial Spy Satellites worked feverishly, mapping out the territory currently held by Zukariaa, and relaying major troop movements back to the Imperial High Command, when the last of the equipment arrived the beginning of the onslaught would commence.

Onboard the Hand of Winter, Grand-Admiral Hethran replayed the message from Yagger, his heart was heavy and his mind swam with thoughts of their meeting once more, he had wished more than anything that their demands would have been rebuffed, that she was safely back in 23Eris, but alas, fate it seemed, had a sense of Irony. Grasping the Microphone in his hand he stared from his remaining eye at the sight of Stronghold, and the last time he was here, and then he spoke:

"This is the Solorien Field Commander, Grand Admiral Hethran, you have permission to come aboard, We shall provide you with transport in one of our Helicopters, in one hour at the helipad in Stronghold."

As the Admiral replaced the Microphone he sighed, and felt around his neck for the small locket which contained the picture of the daughter he had almost died to protect.

After a few minutes had passed a Large and deadly looking Helicopter began spinning up its rotor's, the jet black look of the helicopter gave it the impressio of some kind of hunting bird, waiting to strike its prey, as soon as word was given they would depart to pick up their valuable cargo.

Solorien Actions:

1: A further 20,000 Stormtroopers have landed, swelling the ranks of these soldiers to 30,000 currently active and ready for combat on the shores of Danteri, anybody who requires the Technical Read-out of these troopers capabilitys Telegram me an email address and i'll send it to you.

2: Imperial Spy Satellites are mapping out Danteri, I need to know exactly how much they uncover, and how many elements of the Zukariaan forces they uncover.

Southhaven & Freiburg, Danteri

Imported from 23Eris, and showing in the cineplexes built by the corporations arriving in droves from 23Eris was the Erisian entertainment industry. While not hollywood grade, some of the movies were still qite good. The most recent film was something of a modern version of the old Charlie Chaplain movie, The Great Dictator. This time however, the Zukariaans were displayed as bumbling fools, Corporate Police was as incompetent as the Keystone Cops, and Hitler was replaced by Commander Corrol, while the protagonists were a simple Danteri peasant and a handful of Erisian soldiers who routed armies of the Corporate Police/Keystone Cops.
The film proved to be quite popular in 23Eris and the movie studio hoped it would be the same in Danteri.

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Southhaven, Danteri

The reports of the assault had come in, one infant dead and one slaver killed. Why they had taken an infant Papadaks could not be sure, but this had to stop. The surviving slavers were sent to Hermia prison for interrogation. The warden there did a good job of extracting info, of course what Papadakis did not know was that aside from the standard mix of resistance weakening drugs, the warden also used the sadistic Danteri who had been part of the Government Security in questioning.

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Stronghold, Freiburg Province, Danteri

The Erisians were making plans to evacuate the headquarters. Already many important files had been tranferred to the original HQ at the Freiburg Airfield. However it would take a few days to move all the essentials to the other HQ, since they couldn't just blow them up. Lillis herself stayed in Stronghold, she wanted to see these Soloriel troops for herself, judge their strengths and weaknesses. It was important to know your allies as well as your enemies.

In the comm center Yagger stood and left. She commandeered herself a jeep and hurried to her quarters grabbing her belongings and changing into one of her dress uniforms. She then raced to the helipad to await the Soloriel transport. As she waited, a courier arrived bearing a meage rom Lillis. Yagger read it and grimaced, it seemed she would have to begin making rquests as soon as she saw Hethran.

The Helicopter roared away, it was only a short journey but the crafts huge engine roared in the air, the down draft blasting the waves into strange and unsettling shapes, the blinking red lights seemed to cause it to have a pair of eyes, and as it finally approached its destination t slowed and then lowered itself, the huge Imperial Airforce Symbol Resplendent in Gold and Blue. As the side doors slid open four of the Imperial Stormtroopers marched out, their faces covered by the all encompassing helmets they wore, and the thick armour they wore giving them an almost gargantuan look when combined with the huge muscles and tall height of each. As they pulled up to attention two men in the clothing of the Imperial Engineering Corp hurried out, with two large briefcases and a backpack of equipment each, they ran past the soldiers and stood to one side talking excitedly in a strange language. Then another man appeared, he wore the same armour and helmet as the other Stormtroopers, but he wore a huge black Great Coat over it, he stood at the bottom of the ramp and gestured for Captain Yagger to approach him.

Yagger hurried over, hunched down under the blast of wind from the rotors and a small bag over her shoulder, as she approached the man she tried to remember her Soloriel rankings, was he of higher or lesser rank? Unsure she offered a quick salute and stood straighter.

"Captain Yagger at your service. I assume you'll be taking me to the fleet?" she called out, trying to be heard over the whine of the massive chopper. The Soloriel certainly didn't do things in a small way, and the powerful chopper semmed to dwarf the MI-8 Hips the Erisians favored as transports and general purpose choppers (partly because of their sheer inexpensiveness but mostly for their time-tested reliability).

"Well, if you'll just follow me this way." the Reichmarshall motioned towards a huge, double wide, wooden door. As they entered, they saw a huge, military grey room. Two huge banners bearing the Twin Hammers hung on the walls. People ran around with papers, there was a loud chattering of people.

The Reichmarshall walked all the way to the end of the room and through a door, inside was another military grey room, with more banners, but there was a long table in the center.

"Sit."

The Reichmarshall sat as well.

OOC: Zukariaa, just for clarification, my troops are still between yours and the Soloriel troops since they're unloading in territory I still technically control (and my troops are along the former Soloriel/zukaria border). Do I assume your troops are attacking mine to get to the Soloriel forces?

OOC-Hrm.. I deleted it. I need to discuss this with Kraven first.

The alarms were ringing - again - as the soldiers of the Neue Neue Deutsch Expeditionary Force prepared to act against possible Kravenite agression - yet again. They made ready the armed trucks they had been given by the Haraki, checked and double checked their weapons, and basically prepared to act as soon as they recieved orders.
While a group of them were going through the warehouse to gather supplies, they found the five bodies. Immediatly, the rest of the Neue Neue Deutsch soldeirs began searching the base, sealing it off at the same time and letting the Haraki know by radio. It seemed they had an infiltrator to deal with.

Meanwhile
As Hauptmann Rhurlunder finished her appology for the "lecture" she had just given, she was interupted by a call from her base. Turning to General Niel, she explained the matter, then asked about the situation with the hostilities between 23Eris and Zukariaa, seemingly calm and focused. It seemed that war might soon start again, but the NNDEF was ready to do its part.

OOC-Okay, I'm waiting on the defence. Your move, Soloriel. :p

Communist Zone
The montegrandean military were preparing for war in the Zukariaan border. The montegrandean troops didn´t really mind in interfering with the conflict between Soloriel and Zukariaa, but they could use their army to fight Zukariaans if erisians were attacked being oficially neutral. However, the montegrandeans were divided between defending their lines and also in capturing the traitor Sara Von Freiburg. If she was found the montegrandeans could focus mainly in a possible war against Zukariaa. Also, telegrams were sent to 23Eris and Soloriel as caution measures.

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To: 23Eris
From: Commander Moncada, Montegrandean Army in Danteri
In case of a Zukariaan attack against your troops in the Freiburg province we are prepared to fight against Zukariaans, but only if you were attacked first and didn´t declare war or seem to cooperate actively with the Solorielans. We aren´t interested in the war between Soloriel and Zukariaa but will not condone an attack on a neutral power. This is a sign of cooperation and peaceful intentions from montegrandean troops. Long live non Kraven Danteri...

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To: Solorielan leadership in Danteri
From: Commander Moncada, Montegrandean Army in Danteri
The montegrandean troops and the Danteri Red Army appeared in Danterian scene after Soloriel begun to have internal problems and now helds an important zone in southern Danteri. We wish to inform you we would keep neutral in the conflict between the Holy Empire of Soloriel and the Empire of Zukariaa, unless a neutral power was attacked, so I ask you in name of Montegrandean and communist Danteri governments to fight against Zukariaans if you wish, but I ask you not to involve another powers in this conflict...

OOC: Neue Neu Deutschland:
If the left wing opposition to the current government needs outside support, I can offer my communist and subversive country to help the rebellious, even if they´re really democratic and not hard line communists like my own country....

OOC: Oooh Zukariaa, I bet you say that to all the Psychotic dictatorships ;)

As the man glanced down at her, he bowed from the waist, his arms held straight down by his side, with his head still lowered he gestured towards the vast entryway into the helicopter. On the other side of Helicopter through the other set of double sliding doors, huge pieces of equipment were being moved out in boxes by another four members of the Imperial Engineer's, they were carefully watched over by another 10 Imperial Stormtroopers, who stood in a semicircle around the equipment, guns unholstered and pointing at the ground in a manner which indicated they could be raised very quickly indeed.

A mile or so inland from the beaches further to the south, the final of the first wave of landing craft had finally finished the unloading of troops and vehicles and engineers and construction equipment. The almost 60,000 Stormtroopers had broken into two groups of 30,000, and whilst the initial landing force kept watch, the troops aided in the clearing of a huge area of land. Heavy diggers gutted and flattened the mud, the roar of heavy lifters filled the air, as huge beams of steel were erected, forming the initial skeleton of a huge sensor tower. All around this area, troops swarmed over the outer edges of the new camp, the displaced mud was being built into a square wall all around the camp, at the top of which ditches were dug and at 10 foot intervals along the ditches, heavy gun emplacements were being put in, alternating with a SAM site to a Remote Drone Gun to a SAM again. The spaces inbetween the emplacements were being filled with poured concrete and sandbags piled on top, with another layer of barbed wire covering the top of them. In the southern end of the camp closest to the beach, an airstrip was being built, and rough hangars being erected from sheet metal. Supply bunkers were beginning to be built, and row after row of neatly ordered barracks were being placed, to the east of the camp a large mechanical bay was being erected, and the engineer's in charge screamed orders at the top of their lungs, as soldiers hauled sheets of metal into place. In the center of the camp a huge courtyard was in place, and the center of which held a large pre fabricated concrete column and a large crane began to lower a huge solid steel statue of the Emperor into place holding the flag of Soloriel in his left hand, and his right hand rested on his scabbard, upon his almost too beautiful face was a slight smile of love as he looked down upon the camp. Behind the Statue at the Southern end of the camp at the edge of the courtyard the foundations for a large command center were being layed, and far off towards the sea yet more landing craft approached, as the first wave departed back to Soloriels Home Shores...

As the Telegram was received onboard the Hand Of Winter, The First Officer, read through it and wrote a carefully worded response to the Montegrande High Command:

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To: Commander Moncada, Montegrandean Army in Danteri
From: Solorien High Command, Danteri
Re: Previous Communiqúe

Your Stance of Neutrality is acknowledged. As long as none of your troops attempts to interfere with our business with these Heretics our troops will not open fire upon your forces. Please send immediate word to all Danteri forces allied with you that any attack upon us will be considered an Immediate Declaration of War, and as such we will move swiftly to terminate any such hostile forces.

Advance without Question, Purify Without Fear, Exterminate Without Prejudice.

Eternal Glory to the most High God-Emperor!


Soloriel Actions:

1: The first of Four waves of invasion forces have arrived, currently these forces consist of:

60,000 Imperial Stormtrooper's.
5,000 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks.
4,500 SuF-8S Advanced Fighter/Bomber Aircraft.
2,000 SiaF-11C Advanced Helicopter Gunship.

And assorted logistics equipment and building supplys, as well as heavy logistics vehicles and a large contingent of Imperial Engineers.

2: Soloriel has begun construction of a secondary base camp closer to the Zukaarian lines, this will provide Soloriel with housing and food supplys for most of its troops on the frontline, this secondary base will be known as: Tavahtan (Solorien for Defender).

The four men had made their way across ice and snow, through blizzards and messy shell-cratered wastes, until they could look down from the small hill on which they stood and see the massive oil refineries and storage vats that were their targets.
Nodding to each other in a final acknowledgement of the commando bond, they moved in, preparing for their last raid.

The Danteri Auxiluary truck drove slowly down the icy road, past small houses with lights in the windows. The men huddled inside shivered at the cold, whimpering faintly as the icy breeze tore at them, freezing to the bone with its wicked grasp.
They were heading to some refinery or other, to increase its garrison size as part of the general preperations for war. The C.P. elites were being moved to the front, but that was OK, because there were always more Danteri Auxiluaries being trained to take their place.
As the truck swerved around a corner, one of the men in the back cursed softly, jolted out of a dream of the time before the war, when he had been a psycology student. They didn't need psychologists in the new Kraven Danteri...
Then they stopped, and he heard the sergeant cursing the man on the road, telling him to get off... and then, he was aware of sudden warmth, and looked up, to see the dirty little gaunt man who had just emptied half a magazine from a silenced sub-machine gun into the ten dozing Danteri Auxiluary soldiers in the back of the truck... he tried to reach for his rifle, but it was too much effort - he just needed to sleep.
Yes, he would sleep, and then it would all be better...

Later

The truck rolled up to the gate, and the four Danteri Auxiluary soldiers barely looked up from their oil drum fire before opening the gate and waving it through. It rolled onwards, towards the massive vats of oil...

OOC: Danteri, I think that the communists under montegrandean power could be a little more independent now, specially when now montegrandeans are too worried about a war between soloriens and zukariaans that could involve montegrandeans and also in capturing Sara Von Freiburg to be too strict in controlling the local dictatorship. Also, the Red Army´s reaction has obviously made the Montegrandean Command feel more confident on danterian communists.

The second of the three defensive lines around the refineries was more thorough - ten Danteri Auxiluaries, with four sand-bagged machinegun positions. Their sergeant walked up to the truck, and was vaguely surprised when four men lept out to greet him.
He was still feeling surprised when all four machine gunners were taken down with perfect head shots, and was just reaching for his sidearm when one of the commandos brought him down. In less than six seconds, ten Danteri Auxiluaries had been taken by surprise and slaughtered, all without getting one single shot off. The bodies were posed so that it looked as though they were huddled against the cold at their positions, and then the commandos drove on.

Third Check-point
The third check-point was even more thoroughly defended - twenty men, all but four inside of two reinforced concrete bunkers, with eight machine guns inside of the bunkers.
The commandos didn't even try to fight their way through - they left their truck out of sight, then snuck over the wall in one of the blind spots in the network of sentries and security cameras. No one noticed them in the blizzard. Razor wire they avoided, sentry guns they crept past and as for the guard dogs... they slept inside, as the guards had decided they were useless in the blizzard.

Inside the Refinery

The first thing they did was to "secure" the camera room - there were eight men, all taken utterly by surprise, all slaughtered with silenced weapons before the alarm could be sounded.
The next thing they did was to secure the pumping station, and redirect the flow... a few minutes of work at carefully memorized procedures, and then... and then they waited, while hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel were allowed to mix with the air, creating a fuel-air bomb larger than any ever conceived of before...
And then, they set the bomb and waited.

OOC: Yes, I stole the idea of the mega-FAE... but it was such a good one!

The explosion was fantastic. It seemed as though the sun had risen in the middle of the night, as though God had let the light shine down... other than the already dead Danteri Auxiluary guards, only fifty seven more Danteri Auxiluaries and twenty civilian staff were killed, along with all four of the commandos.
The explosion was fantastic, though - down in the nearby town, safely far away that it wasn't destroyed, the local Danteri Auxiluary commander was awakened from a restless sleep by a boom like thunder only ten thousand times worse, to rush down to the radio station and scream to any and all on the common channel -
"We've been nuked!"

Uncounted liters of fuel went up in that mighty pyre, and it seemed such a horror...

She had evaded capture for longer than anyone, even she, had expected to be able to. She had snuck through sewers, slept in gutters... now, she was caught.
The four Danteri Red Army soldeirs had their rifles trained on her, as though they expected her to put up a fight, and for a moment she toyed with the thought of going for her gun, of resisting and dieing in a last blaze of glory... it was tempting, but no - she raised her hands and surrendered, wondering who it was who had sold her out in the end.

OOC: finally Sara fell? Well, my troops will only assure she is killed in the end. I think is up to the communist government to judge her... So my troops will only secure she doesn´t scape. (she is a really worthy adversary and proved it sacping for so long from the communist war machine...)

Sturmkreig furhrer Kyler shuffled through various reports, something about a nuke.. he'd have to deal with that immediatly, but then he saw a message from the High Command.

Official Message

The situation with Soloriel is unneeded. Your orders are to perform a tactical withdrawl from Danteri. You are to exterminate any and all Danteri in your occupied lands.

The High Command

As one of Kraven, he did not question the orders, or give them a second thought. He picked up his mic, relaying the orders across every position in Kraven Danteri. He stood up, exiting his office. Behind him, two Capitol Police followed. Within a half hour, he would be on his way out of Danteri.

Kraven Occupied Danteri City
"Under Kraven, you will all prosper.. Without Kraven, you are nothin-...SKKKKT!...-All citizens are to report outside of their building immediatly."

As the people began to file out of their respective apartment buildings and factories, they were met with Capitol Police gazes. The people gave no mind to the roadblocks that were there every day. In one place, a Reichmarshall stood waiting..

"People of Danteri. Halt!" he ordered. The people had no choice but to listen, as they had been taught. They knew what happened if they disobeyed.

"Today, the face of Danteri changes." he said, watching the looks of confusion on each of their faces.

"And you will not be around to see it.."
He stepped back, the Capitol Police manned their respective mounted machine guns and fired on the crowd. People screamed in pain as they were ripped apart by a flurry of bullets. As they fell, and as their blood splattered the walls and ground, Capitol Police moved in. They searched for survivors, and if anyone survived, they shot them.
A child was found screaming, it's leg rended from it's body. The Capitol Police aimed it's rifle, feeling no remorse, and fired.

Similar things were happening in every section of every Kraven held city. Thousands, millions of people would die.

Defensive lines were abandoned as even the Danteri Kreigsmarines were fired on. There would be no more Kraven Danteri, and there would be no former residents of Kraven Danteri..

As the Zukariaan Kreigsmarines and Capitol Police retreated, they burned everything in their path. The force that had been prepared for the Solorian attack moved out, destroying everything in it's path. As forces reached the coast, they boarded their designated Corporate class carrier. Kraven no longer wanted Danteri. It had been stripped of all resources, everything was burnded and destroyed, and millions of Danteri lay dead in the quiet streets..

Freiburg, Danteri

"Ma'am! Something is happening in the Zukarian zone!" a young corporal shouted, unannounce and half out-of-breath into Lt. General Lillis' office.

"What? Are they attacking finally?"

"No! They're retreating! Burning everything and from reports, killing everyone!"

"Oh my goddess..." Lillis said in shock, then shook herself back to reality. "Order our forces to advance, not en masse in patrols. I want first-hand information. Also, avoid engagement with any Kraven remnants or patrols, and give aid to anyone we can find that is still alive. If the damn Zukariaans don't kill them, the winter will."

"Shouldn't we await orders from our Command?"

"Screw that, inform Papadakis what I'm doing. I know him, he'll back me up. And tell Yagger too, we need to keep the Soloriel informed as well."

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

All along the Erisian/Zukariaan front, Erisian troops began to move forward, slowly into former Kraven territory, looking for suvivors and evidence that the Zukariaans were truly abandoning Danteri.

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

Yagger climbed aboard the chopper and took a seat within, she clutched her bag to her lap and aited for the ride to the fleet to commence. She had just recieved word from Lillis about what was occuring in Zukariaan Danteri and she needed to find out what the Soloriel would do now that their prey was fleeing.

As the Solorien Spy satellites picked up on the explosion they relayed its location to the Solorien High Command, and to Admiral Hethran, a short while later they caught the sight of the Kraven led forces retreating from the citys and the information was beamed directly to the High Command, within moments a single line order was sent out on all frequencys, to all Stormtroopers, Aircraft, Tank that was mobile and ready for the assault, "Advance without Question, Purify Without Fear, Exterminate Without Prejudice." The troops formed up, some of them boarding the massive supertankers that were to drop them from the air, others mounting up on APC's and anything else that could carry them, still others grabbed anything that was moving and the air filled with screamed orders as the entire invasionary force roared toward the front, led by the massive Challenger 2 MBT's. The airforce screamed away, equipped with the most high tech missile they had, aircrews screamed with bloodlust, and all throughout the forces assembled there was a sense of rage and excitement, that finally they could avenge the insults done to their Emperor. The Solorien High Command had picked up on the Carrier fleet in Zukariaan held waters before they had even withdrawn from this place, and with the latest imaging available to them they ordered almost half the currently assembled airforce to that location, all were armed with the devastating Thunderer Anti-Ship Torpedoes, able to deploy from almost the highest ceiling of the SuF-8S, on the ground so far below the wave of Bloodthirsty Soloriens advanced, screaming in their native tongue as they cursed the cowardly forces that dared to run from them. In the sea the next wave of Landing craft approached the western shore of Zukaarian held Danteri, their destroyers giving them escort, their guns trained on the coast, firing even at this long range in the hope they would kill something. The Aircraft locked onto the largest vessels they could in the Carrier Group based on the satellite imaging, these pilots knew that the enemy could not hope to get underway before they had caught up with them, flying almost 20,000 metres above the ground well out of the reach of most SAM sites and flying at Mach 3 it would be minutes before they were upon their prey...

As the helicopter jolted and tore back to the command carrier, a door opened at the back, and a figure stood there illuminated from behind, it stepped forwards leaning on its cane and the interior red lights revealed this shadowy presence. "Hello Yagger" Hethran stated as his shattered frame entered view, his face was a livid scar of burnt tissue on the right hand side, and a patch covered his eye he leaned heavily on a black wooden cane with a silver top, and his left hand was missing its ring finger, he limped forwards slightly a look of almost infinite sadness filling his face, as well as something... else. he fought against the emotions raging up inside him, happiness... guilt... and an emotion that he just couldnt voice, not now, not like this.

Radar picked up on the incoming planes, which were moving extremely fast. ABM interceptors were readied for anything to be dropped from the sky, hopefully they would stop them.

The truth was, the High Command didn't care if the men were slaughtered. The highest in command was already gone. They would simply have to fend for themselves.

Dozens of Axim warplanes launched off of one of the carriers, they moved to a height of 60,000 feet, roughly where the Solorian bombers were expected to reach them. They could move to up to 80,000 feet, and could fly at speeds of up to mach 3.

They were meant to intercept the Solorian planes, and bring them down with their missiles.

Either way, what was done was done.

OOC-By the way, I'd like to ask that you don't go invading my mainland or anything. We're going through a closed Civil War in the Supreme State. If you plan to do that, wait until it's done or something. :D

Commodore Felias Locke was left without words as he watched the images on the screen in front of him, satellite images of Danterian streets as the Capitol Police simply slaughtered every Danterian they could find. He was already on the phone with Neil, who was already trying to call him. They somehow managed to get through, and Neil growled "You better be looking at what I'm looking at."

Locke nodded, then forgot his friend couldn't see him over the phone, blurting out "Yeah, yeah I am."

"What do we do?"

"They're retreating. Satellite photos show they've left the perimeter. Leave elements to defend it in case it's a trick to attack us and send out forces to find any survivors. There have to be some, Zukariaa didn't have troops in every single town. Advance, save whoever you can. We'll need the land to raise crops for the refugees, and we'll need to save whoever's left. Fucking Kraven."

"Gotcha. And for the record, I hope Soloriel fucks those bastards up."

Neil hung up and went to make it so.


*


As soldiers of the veteran 72nd Infantry Division entered Danteri, riding on APCs, jeeps and trucks, anything to move quickly, they entered a fairly small city near the safe zone perimeter. It looked as if the Zukariaan soldiers had passed through on their way retreating back to the fleet that would extract them. Mutilated bodies lay in the streets outside the bleak landscape, a light snow falling onto their bodies, the first snow the Harakian soldiers had seen in Danteri.

Jumping down off their vehicles, some of the more battle-hardened soldiers could contain themselves. New recruits couldn't. Their vomit added to the body fluids already flowing like water in the streets, as those that could stomach it spread out to check for a pulse. They skipped the most obviously dead ones, including several missing heads.

"We found one! Sarge, we found one!"

As the soldiers scrambled over, the private that had found him, a strong-willed young man from Viusa, grabbed the young woman, her stomach torn open by massive bullets, blood soaking her shirt still, even hours later. It was a wonder she had even survived that long. He held her head to his chest, her eyes gazing straight forward as they began to glaze over. He grabbed the sides of her hea,d staring straight into her eyes and shouting. "No! Stay with me! Come on!" He shook her gently, as her head lolled back and he held it upright, a medic hurrying over and grabbing his shoulder.

"She's dead. Leave her be."

They had to forceably pull him away from the woman, he trying to fight back to her. And this was only one of many scenes. One sergeant found a young girl who had survived unscathed, hidden by the bodies of her parents. By this point she was nearly stricken with hypothermia, and was taken inside a vehicle to warm up. Three people had survived the deadly bullets and the cold, and two were in critical condition, one with frostbite and one with bullets lodged in crucial blood vessels.

The last was a nearly unscathed woman, who sat on top of a jeep, clutching a cup of boiling water and an oatmeal package blankly. Master Corporal Jason Wilkes came up to her, his carbine slung down at his side, and reached out to try and touch her arm. She shrugged him away. He sighed, took a deep breath, and tok the plunge. "Are you okay?" he asked simply.

She simply raised her head to stare at him, and he could see in her eyes the delicate state of her psyche, ready to snap. He nodded, exhaling a cloud of white mist in the cold, and slung his backpack down onto the ground, pulling out a compact fleece blanket and reaching out to put it around her shoulders. "At least stay warm," he said in a last-ditch attempt to get through to her.

She spoke finally, coming out with a whispered "I swear to you and to anyone listening that I will find those bastards and I will kill them."

He was speechless, the first words out of her mouth since the ordeal being words of such hatred. "I ..."

She turned and looked straight into his eyes again. "Did you hear me?" she hissed.

He nodded, dumbfounded. He hadn't been in the military for long. "Yes, I did," he replied quietly. Turning his gaze down, he looked at the water in her hand, boiling away, and reached down. She didn't resist him taking the oatmeal packet from her, tearing it open, and pouring it into the water, sloshing it around to stir it. "You'll need your strength for that, though," he told her, reaching out to hand the cup back to her. She took it almost gratefully, raising it up to take some into her mouth.

Their eyes met once more, and neither looked away this time. He reached out, placing his gloved hand on the side of her shoulder wordlessly. Silently, they shared a moment of silence for the fallen, including her entire family. Then came a shout of "Jason!"

He snapped out of his reverie, turning to her and mumbling a goodbye, before jogging back to his squad. She turned back to her makeshift oatmeal, and thoughts of revenge burned in her head.


To be continued...?






Harakian units have advanced out of the safe zones to try and find survivors, hopefully working in conjunction with other nationalities' forces as well, coming from different directions. Informally (And through secure channels) Commodore Locke and, through him, the Harakian prime minister, have offered full informal support to Soloriel in their war against Kraven.

Dreil, communist Danteri
the montegrandean headquarters were full of happiness. They had received news that the traitor had been captured and she could be tried by the communist government. Also, the Zukariaan retreat from Danteri gave new possibilities of expansion to the communist armies. The montegrandean troops were ordered to expand slowly their lines to the north, as the Zukariaans were retreating. The order was to save any danterian which had survived the massacre, but they seemed more aware of advancing in order and not beginning an uncalled and unuseful war, so may be the lives saved would be minimal. However, this was a good boost to the communist Danteri, apart from the Sara von Freiburg´s capture. The montegrandeans were seeming to profit as they could with Zukariaan retreat.... Also, the stablishment of a viable communist Danteri depended on how much land they could gather. The montegrandean expansion didn´t seem if anything a real threat for the Zukariaans, may be because it was too prudent to be as fast to alarm zukariaan troops...
May be the Red Army would go faster than the montegrandeans to expand the communist territory in the south, for they were very well supplied by the montegrandeans after their loyalty to the communist government.

Montegrande City, Montegrande
The retreat of the zukariaans created a new situation in Danteri and the communist party of Montegrande believed that now a diplomatic solution for the conflict would be possible to end the Danterian Civil war. the measures were sending telegrams to the powers that seemed to remain in Danteri and also they ordered some of the navy units stationed in the Archipellago to go and support the danterians in the former zukariaan held coast.

--------------------------------------------------------------
To: Gwazzaria, 23Eris, Soloriel, Haraki, New-Lexington, Me Li, Neue Neue Deutschland
From: Salvador Guevara, Comisar of Foreign Affairs, Montegrande
The retreat of the zukariaan troops that conquered the central territories of Danteri, even when is not yet complete, has created a certainly complex situation because of the order of killing danterians and also the changes that will be done in the danterian map. However, with the retreat of the kraven faction from the Danteri, it has open again the solution of the conflict through dialogue and peace conversations and the Montegrandean government stands for new peace conferences in Danteri, the first since the Zukariaan became a Kraven Slave State.

Stepping from the chopper, Yagger saw the man she had come to know quite well, but he was a shattered version of the man she knew. Her jaw dropped half open in shock and a slight moistness developed at the corner of her eyes. Her mouth moved for a moment with no sound before she managed to speak the words, "Hello Hethran," in response. She then quickly rose and dropped her bag, stepping towards the older man and embracing him tightly, the side of her face pressing against his chest. It was highly unprofessional, but at the moment she truly did not care. "I'm so glad to see you again." she added.

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

As the Erisians pressed forward, careful not to come into contact with the retreating Zukariaans, encoded messages were wired to the the other nations, informing them of progress and assuring them that of course, if Erisian troops should come into contact with their forces, they would be treated as friendly nations. Following directly behind the frontline troops were hundreds of military ambulances and frontline MASH units. Also transport choppers were moving in to ferry critically wounded survivors for treatment.

The Erisian forces were also careful not to get in the way of their Solorien counterparts. Though several units followed in the Soloriel wake, as the single-minded determination to attack Zukariaa meant the Soloriel troops were not carefully searching for survivors, a task the Erisians were happy to do for them.

The most precious find were a dozen or so children, hidden away or so the Private who found them was told, by a group of Danteri Conscripts in the Zukariaan army. It seemed as if even Kraven couldn't eradicate the humanity in all their troops. Otherwise the scenes of carnage were simply too terrible to describe. Even veterans of the revolution couldn't believe the scale of the slaughter, all so senseless and useless. Thousands, maybe millions of people killed for no reason other than to keep them from being liberated. It was terrible, utterly terrible.

Videos and pictures were being taken, documentation of the horrors saved for the future. Though the men and women who waded through the bodies and over the broken land wept as they did so. No people deserved this, certainly not the Danteri who though their land had been technologically backwards was populated by a brave and loyal people. The Erisians had grown to respect the Danteri over the time they had been in this land, and had becom closely attached to the people and the fate of the nation. To see the land and its people slaughtered like this, it was devastating to the Erisian troops, many of whom made vows to the goddess never to let Kraven retake any part of this land.

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To: All nations
From: 23Eris
Re: Peace Conference

While we welcome the idea of Danteri Unification, we still believe it needs to be dne under Danteri guidance. To that end, we will not entertain the unification of Erisian held Danteri territory, until a local, stable danteri-led government is in place in our zones. We will reserve the reunification question for those governments.

Millions died in those desperate hours, as the Zukariaans slaughtered any and all that they could find. The Danteri Auxiluary units along the lines were startled and horrified as their own allies turned on them, but... some fought back. In the end, of course, it wasn't enough, not nearly enough, but those last few desperate last stands allowed some civilians to survive as the Zukariaans, fleeing to their ships, couldn't stay behind to hunt down every last one.
Still, the death toll was catastrophic. Out of some two hundred and fifty million people living in Zukariaan Danteri, only a few over one million were alive by the time that the first Zukariaan ships began leaving. Such is Kravenite efficiency.

The prison that they had decided to store her in was a miserable hell hole, similar in many ways to those she had spent time in during her career as a revolutionary, back when the Supreme Leader had led Danteri. The only differences were the uniforms worn by the guards. Some were even the same guards - it looked as though the Montegrandeans had found a use for the Danteri Government Security men after all.
She knew she would die soon - the only question was, would she be "killed attempting to escape" or hung? And also... what would happen to her before they decided? Shivering against the cold, Sara von Freiburg waited in her cell for the end of her life.

The bodies were pilled as deep as the rumors had said they were - all along the roads, there were piles of corpses, stacked high. In the city centers, piles of heads greeted the incoming troops - they faced towards the border, mouths open in death, as though demanding of the 23Erisian and Solorielan troops - why could their lives not be saved?

OOC: Wow, that was unexpected.:eek:
(Sorry about the smily, Haraki, but I felt the situation warented it.)

As soon as the reports began coming in, the NNDEF mobilized to move into the territory formerly occupied by Zukariaa. They had already been preparing to act, so these preperations were quick. Once they were ready, they moved out, and began following the Haraki units as they moved in, hoping that they would be able to save a few survivors, or, failing that, kill a few Zukariaans. (Although they aren't likely to meet any retreating Zukariaans, since the commanders realized what effect this horror would have on their men, and so aren't risking war by having the two forces come into contact.)

Meanwhile

Hauptmann Rhurlunder had been told all her life by her parents and the education system that hate was bad. That hate was the worst thing someone could have in them. Now she hated Zukariaa. She couldn't believe that anyone could be so casually cruel with so many human lives. It just couldn't be. It just was too horrible to be, but, it was.
As the truck rolled onwards through scenes of slaughter and massacre, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe the insane Me li soldiers who screamed that Zukariaans were demons might have a point.

All right, Montegrande - if a civil war breaks out in Neue Neue Deutschland, you'll be the first to know.

The planes picked up the incoming aircraft on radar, the Pilots screamed and pushed the afterburners to full thrust, peeling away even faster, and as the ships came into sight via long range ground radar, they waited....10....9....8....7....6....5....4....3....2....1 The Torpedoes streaked away, their initaial guidance systems taking them deep into the water, where they sink and then rise up underneath the ships smashing them open along her back, each of these planes were carrying two torpedoes, and as soon as they were empty they split, half of them peeling away to deal with the incoming aircraft, the others waiting to see what was left of the ships in the sea, pilots screamed war chants down their radios and gun barrels span up to full rotation. This was going to be brutal....

Hethran staggered back slightly, taken by suprise for a moment before he placed his left arm gently around Yagger, and held her tightly to his chest, resting his head on her shoulder. A single tear drop rolled down his face from his one good eye, and fell softly, he did not trust his voice entirely yet, and merely settled for holding her in his arms. After a minute or so he gently held her at arms length and looked down into her eyes, "I have missed you more than i could put into words." reaching into his pocket he withdrew something, and held it in his hand a moment before holding out for her to take, as his fingers gently uncurled from around it, it was unveiled as a single teardrop shaped blue gem medal, on a white strap with a gold pin.

The troops screamed bloody vengeance as the support staff slammed onto the blasted beaches, emergency medics and support ambulances and vehicles roared over the sands towards the nearest city, food supplys were offloaded and hauled towards the nearest civilian population centers and the first wave of invasion troops roared into the former Zukariaan held territorys. from the skys over Danteri City Imperial Stormtroopers parachuted into the blasted city, their radiation equipment scanning the area, whilst still heavily contaminated the suits they wore under their armour would keep the worst out for now, as their boots crunched into the dirt three of them slammed onto the top of the tallest building, and slammed a flagpole into it, and the Imperial standard was raised over the city. In the skys around hundreds more dropped from the skys, and the air was filled with the sight of hundreds of black armoured figures drifting gently to the ground...

As word of the invasion forces findings reached the High Command, the Imperial War College was quick to transmit a telegram to all the forces currently under the command of the other nations:

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To: All Forces currently stationed in Danteri.
From: The Imperial College of War.
RE: Occupation.

With the withdrawal of Zukariaan forces from the center of Danteri, the Holy Empire declares this country now under the command of the Emperor. We invite all nations to send in immediate aid for the population of this land, furthermore the Holy Empire will begin immediate reparations to save their newly held territorys, and the civilians held therein. We implore that all who are capable of doing so to begin the immediate evacuation of those most severely injured toward the landing craft situated at the co'ordinates included below for immediate medical care. Furthermore any troops not under the command of Haraki or 23Eris who advance into our newly acquired territorys will be considered and invasion force, and this will pre-empt an immediate counter attack, as well as being considered an open declaration of war with teh Empire. Eternal Glory in the name of the most Holy God-Emperor!

Solorien Actions:

1. Soloriel is Assuming immediate control of all former Zukariaan held territorys, troops will be shipped in along with building and food and medical supplys to begin the reconstruction of this land.

2. The 2,250 SuF-8S aircraft have dropped almost 5,000 anti ship torpedoes at the fleet of Zukaaria, after the release of said torpedoes, we will rake the ships with the solorien standard 38mm depleted uranium gatling guns strapped to the aircraft, and then attack the aircraft engaging us from the carrier fleet with air to air missiles. We will need immediate counts on how many troops ships and planes are lost in this engagement. Also as soon as we have confirmed numbers of ships sunk, the Imperial Airforce will be dropping high quantitys of Napalm onto the areas they went down to eradicate any and all survivors from the ships. The Second half of the airforce is underway and will engage any ships or aircraft left when the first wave is out of missiles, torpedoes and napalm.

To: Soloriel, Haraki, 23Eris, Montegrande, NNDEF.
From: Major Murphy, Minister of War and Commander of Gwazzarian Expeditionary Forces

It is with regret that we shall be unable to send any aid to the rest of Danteri for the time being. Our soldiers will stay within the Safe-Zone, continuing on the work done by nations there. This is due mainly to the controlled end of an economic boom within our nation. We do not have the resources or justification for any extension to our current operations.

((OOC: And with finals coming up for me, I'll be busy until later in the month.))

Yagger held out her hand and took the medal, smiling softly, then looked back up at Hethran. "It's beautiful, James." She said in response, "Thank you."

"I wish I had something for you, but I've been so busy. I haven't been out of Danteri since that failed peace mission," Sara told him. "I was offered the chance to go home, but I- I couldn't take it." She looked up at his eyes, not elaborating on that statement, hoping he knew what she meant. She then looked down at his hands and took the injured one in her own hand before looking back up at him, "What happened when you left?"

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Kallisti City, 23Eris

"So, if the Montegrande forces move into former Zukariaan territory, the Soloriel will attack them it seems." Defense Minister Markham announced.

"We have recently agreed to resume our alliance with Soloriel, so that would obligate us to declare war as well, unless the Soloriel released us from our obligations." General Thomson declared.

"It's not that simple. You see we also have a non-agression pact with the Montegrande and a treaty of mutual defense." Foreign Minister Chilkevich replied.

"But look at the wording. A third party with holdings in Danteri. Soloriel doesn't really have any holings, do they?" asked Interior Minister Kirilenko

"Well considering they just declared all of former Zukariaa theirs, I'd say that counts." Prime Minister Hekatos replied a bit acidly.

"Damn."

"Damn indeed."

"Wait, I think I know a way out of this, should worst come to worst. If Montegrande is in posession of Soloriel territory, and that is the justification for a Soloriel attack, they would have provoked the response and it wouldn't be considered aggression by the Soloriel." stated the Foreign Minister.

"True, that's pretty good. Still we don't want to fight the Montegrande do we?" asked Kirilenko.

"No, while we might disagree with their communist idealogy, they seem to be taking care of the people in their zone adquately. Plus a war would displace those civilians and lead to a further crisis." Hekatos answered.

"Speaking of which, what about or response to the Kraven massacre?" the Foreign Minister wanted to know.

"We condemn that of course, otherwise there is nothing we can do. We can defend ourselves adequately from Kraven here on our home isle, but lets face it, offensively, we can't do a damn thing to them. War with Kraven really isn't an option." replied the PM.

"Too damn bad, I'd like to get a piece of those bastards." General Thomson stated with a deep hatred in his voice.

"All of us would General, but we have other things to focus on. Like stabilizing Danteri again. While the Soloriel return is certainly welcome, it has destabilized the region." PM Hekatos told the man.

"True, we need to find a way to direct their aggression to more positive outlets." Chilkevich added.

"All right, lets try and figure out what we can do..."

Montegrandean actions
As the message from Soloriel came, the montegrandean military ordered the end of the movilizations. However, they didn´t seem very interested in saving lifes they wouldn´t control in the future, and also the situation in communist territories was desperate enough to give aid to people that would die any way so they seemd not very cooperative with Soloriel in taking injured if they weren´t supposed to get into the zone...
Great shippings of winter clothing and food were sent to the communist territories, and also more economic advisors, with the intention that the next winters wouldn´t be as catastrophic as this one. With Sara von Freiburg in jail and zukariaans fleeing from Danteri, some of the montegrandean soldiers were sent only to organize rural communities in the held territories and assure they would have enough food and medicine to not die. Now the war menace was over for now, the montegrandean soldiers showed their more compassionate face helping any one that could be helped- only in their held territories, obviously.
Also, in Dreil and the new built cities in the communist zone, montegrandeans announced an universal basic food rations deliviring program. They didn´t want the danterians starve and think the communist dictatorship wasn´t really a change from the Supreme Leader´s one.
However, it seemed montegrandeans were closing the frontier between their territory and 23Eris controlled zone in Danteri, as well as the trenches in the former Zukariaan/ Communist limit weren´t abandoned and the limit line seemed as closed as ever....

OOC: Thanks, Neue Neue Deutschland

As the Solorien Troops Consolidated their hold on the former Zukariaan territorys, yet more troops were arriving from the homeland aboard the vast landing craft, every hour that passed yet more supplys and troops were arriving. As the Solorien forces rushed through the former Zukariaa territorys they executed any and every person of Zukariaan blood, the bodys gathered up and loaded aboard trucks. As they advanced troops cleared each town of the dead, the bodys were gathered into vast piles and mass graves were prepared. The Imperial Engineers and Medical staff were finding themselves hard pressd due to the sheer size of wounded civilians coming through their ready built medical centres. As yet more troops landed along the western shores they scrambled to rush southwards towards the southern borders, to prevent any hint of other forces moving in on their new territory. Vast supplys of food and medical supplys as well as clothing was being distributed by the Imperial Forces, and already the Imperial Engineers were deployed at key Energy Production and Water Purification centers, and were working feverishly to get them brought up to Solorien Standard. Imperial Architects were surveying the worst hit areas and were already drawing up the blue-prints for vast agricultural areas to support the civilians in the coming years. One thing the Soloriens seem to be desperately seeking is the capture of at least 20 - 30 Zukariaan or Kraven Officers, for purposes as yet unknown...

James smiled slightly, and his face seemed to warm from within, "Its all right Sara, its a gift.. Something I.. Well something I wanted you to have." He saw the awkwardness as she spoke, and felt the strange feelings from before rise up, he fought to quell them for a moment, and as she asked him of the events that occured when they left, his face hardened slightly, and his eyes filled with an interminable sadness.

He withdrew his hand and placed it gently upon her cheek, kissing her gently on the forehead. "There is time enough to talk aboard my new ship Sara, and there is so much you need to know. Much has changed in my homeland, the Imperial War College has the Emperors ear now, and the Imperial College for Culture is in disfavour at the moment. Things in Danteri, are very likely to get grim in the coming months."

To: Montegrande Commander Moncada
From: Lt. General Papadakis, Commander 23Eris Forces, Danteri
Re: Border

I am sending this comminque to inquire as to the reasoning behind closing your border with the Southhaven province. Our nation has been endeavoring to maintain good relations with yours and it was hoped that in time our nations could come to view each other in the light of friendship rather than mistrust. Your unannounced and sudden actions in closing the border come as a setback in the improving relations between our nations and forces. The Free Lands of 23Eris have no hostile intentions against Montegrande and will continue to respect your current territorial claims so long as you continue to care for the populace under your control.

Furthermore, there are, according to our best reports 1,483 southhaven danteri residents currently in your territory. We demand that they be allowed to return home to Southhaven. Failure to allow them return to their home province can only be seen as an illegal action against civilian targets.

We hope that your nation comes to its senses, reopens its borders and allows the people of Danteri free travel across the lands that are rightfully THEIRS. We also request that the postal exchange, which we had agreed to some months ago, and has contributed greatly to the improving morale of the populace in all our provinces is allowed to continue.

On a personal note, I implore you to reconsider your actions. The Erisian side of the border has seen steady reductions in troops as our countries have improved their relations. I do not wish to find us standing against one another when we should be acting in concert as friends.

Regards,
Lt. Gen. Papadakis

The Sun set lazily over the Imperial Palace, the sound of the Zyta birds winging their way their nests filled the air, and the smell of the temples incences wafted softly in the breeze. In the Imperial Throneroom the Emperor studied the map of Danteri, he motioned with his hand at key points and his Eunuchs hurried to make the appropriate changes. After an hour or so as the light began to die, the candles were lit and the light red silken net curtains were pulled across the open windows, here in the south winter came late and lasted well through the spring so it was still mildly warm here. Finally the Emperor sat back and let out a beatific smile at the map laid out before him, finally the troops were ready, and the ships prepared. Barely 1/10th of the Imperial forces had thus far been commited to the war, and as word of the Zukariaan retreat had been delivered to the people the swelling of national pride had been visible, people all over the country were making the long pilgrimage to the Holy City to praise the might of the Emperor, and many of those that had been under scrutiny from the Imperial Security Force's had returned to their former ways as true and loyal citizens of the Empire. The Emperor Gestured for all in the Throne-Room to leave, and as soon as he was alone with his thoughts, he waited a few moments before speaking to the seemingly empty room. "Step forth my loyal servant, thy service is required." At the back of the room a figure wreathed in strange black clothing silently padded out before the Emperor its face and head covered in the same black material, dropping to its knee it bowed its head and placed its clenched fist on its heart. "My Lord" The Emperor looked down at this, his most faithful servant "My most favoured warrior, dost thou know of the task thy Emperor hath prepared for thee?" The Warrior stayed on his knee, never wavering from his position "Yes My Lord, I understand the task, and asyou have ordered have initiated a series of measures to implement it." The Emperor nodded slightly, and then gazed at the map, "Let us now discuss Hujin, the conquest of Zukariaa..."

OOC: dont worry Zukariaa, im not invading you just yet, im just starting the wheels in motion ;)

They had moved her to a cell with a window that looked out onto the courtyard of the prison. They were shooting thieves there - a firing squad of Red Army soldiers with rifles shouldered, firing, then the poor, pitiful, little figure in grey prison clothes would cry out and fall... she knew what her fate would be at that point, as she looked down at the bodies they were piling up. Somehow, she couldn't find the energy to care.

To: Lt. General Papadakis
From: Commander Moncada

The reasons the montegrandean army has closed the border between communist zone and Southhaven province are mostly precautory and the measure will only be effective temporarilly. the prepotent stance of Solorien Empire as well the known cooperation between Soloriel and 23Eris worried the Montegrande´s Communist party and the order was closing at least temporarily the border to see how the situation evolves withoput carrying a security weakness in communist controlled territory. I cannot dissobey a order form the Commitee, and I hope you understand my situation as Commander of Montegrandean Army here in Danteri.
Also, it is necessary to take any measure we can possibly take to make impossible an hypothetic scape of Sara Von Freiburg from prison before she is tried and sentenced because of her betrayal to the legitimate government of the communist zone.
About the situation of the Southhaven province residents that are currently in our held territories, they will be allowed to leave if they want, but after strict security measures. I hope our fears weren´t resanoble, but we will see it in time, and for now, it is preferable to be cautious.

Commander Moncada