NationStates Jolt Archive

Somewhere in Allanea

“Let me put it kindly to you, Michael. You're not being appointed to the post of Iesian Division Director because you're smart or anything. It's just that the previous guy has failed so disastrously we had to fire him, his assistant, and everybody connected to the fiasco.”

“Oh I see... shuffling me to a failing division, are you?”

“Correct. I have high hopes for you to put it right, though.”

“But, Sir...”

The line was cut.

Michael remained alone in the headquarters of the Iesian Division of the ACIA. It was, as a matter of fact, yet another story in the immense (in Allanean terms) skyscraper that housed the Allanean Central Intelligence Agency. One hundred and sixty-five stories tall, it towered over a suburb of Liberty-City. Far below it, the tallest houses in the are were no taller then three .

The room was dirty and messed up. In the corner stood three broken-down computers, and even the one he was using was not quite new – why, it still ran SuSE 8!

“Goddamn idiots. Shuffle me into Iesian Division, will they... damn them all to hell. Damn them all thrice.”

He eyed the suspension hooks dangling from the ceiling. “Oh crap. The previous guy was a suspensionist, too... hope he at least cleaned after himself.”

A few minutes of pacing through the room (and stepping on discarded documents, an old shoe, and a cat's tail – the cat yowled and scampered out of sight) – and suddenly, he had an idea.

“Well... gotta flourish where I'm planted, I guess.”

He reached for a phone.

“Oh Jesus. An actual disc-dial phone. Who the fuck do they think they're kidding?”

It only took him twenty minutes to rouse a second person in the division.

“Eh... Martha... what the hell... where is everybody?”

“Three-months paid leave on orders from Secretary of Defense after the last time we screwed up.”

“Fucking great. Well, call everybody back. I need a Iesian.”

“Where the hell are you going to find one? Most of the ones in Allanea are not going to deal with us – they think it's our fault that convoy got blown up.”

“The coup would have worked, too, if Prieston wasn't such a loser and didn't order the Semnetihaq back.”

“That's true, Sir... but that's not what they think.”

“Fine. Find a Iesian elsewhere. I need a young man, preferably under 25. One of these romantic, ideology-driven youths – but not stupid. Not every romantic youth is an idiot. Preferably of noble blood, but not necessary. Find one of these. Recruit him in some way. Tell him he's the one destined to free his country. Fake prophecies. Whatever it takes.”

“Yes, Sir, but what good will it do...”

“Just do it.”

This will work, and I will be promoted. Or it will fail, and I will be put on indefinite paid leave... also not such a bad thing if you consider the goram office I've been shifted – no, shafted - into...

James Westmoreland was something of a rarity. He wasn’t a second or third generation Iesus exile….He was in his own words a ‘recent escapee from the asylum of King Matty”
Captain James Elliot Westmoreland had been a member of the 7th Paratrooper Legion, leading Special operations against Lavenrunz six years ago when he’d decided to ‘Go over’ to the 'runz.
After spending some time with the Lavenrunz military he’d left deciding that Lavenrunz was “Worse run than Iesus. At least in Iesus you didn’t have to take orders from sissy faggots.”

He’d looked at joining the Exile movement but had decided against it. He become friends with Captain Ben Moses of the exiles but bluntly told Benjamin that the exiles were “Full of Communists and Inbreed Royalty” and that he wasn’t going to “die for that sort of person, I want to die for freedom”. (Benjamin had sarcastically pointed out that Westmoreland own family had royal connections but Westmoreland had shrugged of the comment)

Since leaving 'Runz, he'd milled around taking whatever ‘contracting’ work came his way, and he had felt quietly vindicated when the foreign backed Exile movement had imploded.
Still Westmoreland was a man of firm ideals. He loved democracy and hated the Iesus regime, but still he was highly conservative – He often expressed his deep suspicion of Nonhumans, Non Christians and was on record as saying “Kill a red, save the world”


Thou he often found work in Allanea, he wasn’t a supporter of the country . He often called Allanea a “Dripping anus of stupid” and “The price of liberal values gone mad”. He considered the Allanean people "soft and girlish" and was also well known to have a deep hatred of Kazansky, believing the man to be a ‘block to true democratic values’ and had often spoken about ‘Taking a pot shot at the son of a bitch…”

At twenty seven Westmoreland was slightly older than what ‘they’ were looking for. But he was an idealist, Popular amongst anti Iesus types, wrote articles for anti Fascist papers, he had some rough royal connection and he was rabidly anti Iesus. Also in the ‘pro’ column was the fact he was every good looking, with dark handsome features that certainly set him apart from former exile leaders.

It would take time, but eventually, Westmoreland would be contacted by the Allaneans – if you can of course stretch stuff far enough to call the darksuited men that approached him on a street corner in Liberty-City 'Allaneans'. Which, technically, they were – but only technically.

For certain jobs, the ACIA does not trust people who were born in the 'mother country'. They're far too noisy, far too… flamboyant. Instead, Khristian and Antanjylian immigrants are often taken for ACIA field work – and this would be a good reason why.

For only half a second, one of the men obscured Westmoreland from view, and the other shoved a piece of paper into his hand. It was simple. "We have a job for you. Payment is…" – a large sum was specified. –"We believe you will find this job extremely rewarding on other ways as well. Call on us at 15:00 at room 456 in the Nevermore Hotel."

Assuming Westmoreland did arrive, he would be greeted by Michael himself – dressed impeccably, of course, with a bottle of champagne resting on the table.

"Greetings, Captain."

Behind him, the door clicked locked.

"Oh, do not be alarmed. This is merely… a precaution. Officially, you understand, the room is locked for repairs. We did not rent it… I did not rent it."

"Now, we have been watching you for a while, Captain – you and certain other candidates. The other ones… they have failed. You are the only one that fits our criteria… you understand, someone needs to lead Iesus Christi."

He paused.

"Of course, you may have noticed that the previous… efforts of my agency to liberate Iesus Christi have collapsed due to the ineptness of the previous occupants of my position. This is why we're going to be taking a different route."

"We're going to put you in charge, Captain. We give you the resources. You, being the talented Iesian… err, security expert – will do what it takes to weaken the regime and to overthrow it. As you see, I do not mince words."

"You will know me only as Mr. Grey. It's a fake name of course, but happily it wouldn't matter if I were discovered. We will meet on…say, a weekly basis. You will tell me what resources you need… and I will provide them as much as I can. So… given the failure of the previous government in exile… would you like to be the one to lead the new one?"

At first Westmoreland had assumed the worst and thought the men were to kill him….as he listened he realised they were just going to kill him by proxy.

Westmoreland tapped his lighter as he listened and spoke with a anger look fixed to his features “I don’t go in for this cloak and dagger stuff Mr. Grey….and frankly you boys have put in a piss weak performance so far…but you the offer is more than tempting assuming a few things….
I’d have to have real control…I’m not going to be KanKan's pigeon or be a metahumans bitch…
I’d need real backing and money – a facility and somewhere to rest my head..
And lastly…I’d need serious equipment, and full control and access to serious capital scale equipment…if you can give me those things..I’m your man..or more correctly…I’m the man you’re looking for..”

"You will receive money."

The Allanean used his foot to shove a suitcase towards the Iesian.

"This is a starting sum. More will soon be delivered."

"You will receive at first, training facilities, land, and other arrangements somewhere in Allanea. Later in the game, I am going to arrange... significantly larger territory. Much larger."

"You will be completely independent in your operations. You will be guarded, 24-7 - better then the Allanean President himself. You will receive any military equipment you need, as well as other assistance. However, you understand better then myself that your plan - such as it may be - must not rest on brute force alone. You will receive additional money as soon as the plan gets in motion, from both us and our allies... is there anything else you need?"

Westmoreland hummed a few bars from the Iesus anthem "well, assuming the security you 'protect' us with isnt to keep us locked in...so...assuming we get atleast partial control over our personal security...I think we've got a deal..."
He toyed with the suitcase "well. bugger me but i think we've got ourselves a deal...and dont worry..I'm not into grand gestures or blowing myself up at bus stops" Westmoreland winked "The key is to get some other doozy bugger to be blown up!"

“This is correct. Mostly, you're going to be in charge of everything. Now... you will not see me anymore. The car at the entrance will take you to a training facility in” - he names a location which is known to be extremely backwoods even in Allanea - “you will be in charge for finding the necessary personell and so forth. We will provide the money and resources. My agent will be in touch with you in a month.”