NationStates Jolt Archive

A man in an ornate black suit stood in a circle of light before seven robed figures.

"Lord Bhraoínë, we have come to a decision. We must reject your request at this time. The unity of Kasei Province is necessary at this time, and there is no reason to overrule the Steward in this matter."

Lord Bhraoínë was mad. His anger, though, was nothing compared to the likely reactions of Moiríartí and Bhalcir, though, and he did his best to hide it behind a diplomatic smile.

"I understand. Perhaps the issue may be reconsidered at a later time."
"Perhaps."

The five men were seated at a round table. Moiríartí spoke first.

"Friends, I have called you here as we have a common interest. Lord Bhraoínë, as we have all heard, brings news that our petition was rejected. Apparently, our operatives didn't do enough to make the Royen's look bad. On the bright side, however, Lord Bhalcir has just informed me of the interesting political situation on Mars. It appears that one of our neighbors, in what was once such a stable region, has been thrown into civil war." The sarcasm laid heavy over the last sentence.

"Thus, all eyes are turned there. Add to this the oh-so-unfortunate budget deficits that have overcome Kasei, and you see that we have a perfect opportunity. Kasei is vulnerable from the interior, and no one else will be looking out for it."

"You wish, then, to take more direct action, Lord Moiríartí?"

"I do, Durléan. There is already a known dissolutionist group within the Kaseian population. A systematic targeting of transportation and power infrastructure could easily be blamed on them, and there would be no way for Royen to control the ensuing anarchy. This presents an opportunity for us to step in, and offer a peaceful solution."

"By which you mean, divide up the land for ourselves."

"Precisely."

Ever since the start of the Kajalan civil war, long-distance transport in Kasei was fairly well locked down. In the border regions, it was near non-existant. Still, military personnel were allowed through They should've all bee trustworthy enough.

But you should never give explosives to anyone you don't know personally.

A seemingly innocuous infantryman sat in the back of a troop transport, headed to help secure the border. Arriving at their destination, the passengers began gathering up their gear and exiting. Being at the back, this man was last- and therefore unsupervised. Rummaging through his pack a bit, he pulled out a glob of clay and stuck it under the seat. After embedding a small black metal box in the glob, he hurried out to join his comrades.

That particular transport never made it back.

The Kajalan conflict was winding down. Things would have to move quickly if they were to meet the deadline.

House Bhraoínë's agents were stationed at every critical point. Coriolanus, Serik, Amaranth.... A frieght loader in Serik, a similar in Amaranth, an infantryman in stationed on the Kajal border, a train inspector in Coriolanus- just about everything was covered but Flagstaff.

The loss of the Crawler had not yet been noticed-and likely wouldn't be for quite some time. This gave the terrorists a bit more room to manuever....

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Freak Accident Shuts Down Major Maglev Line from Serik to Amaranth
At 0510 hours this morning, an explosion destroyed a frieght car on the trunk line between Amaranth and Serik, near the town of Vernum. No other cars suffered major damage, although 100 civillian passengers and 25 military personnel were stranded for three hours until rescue teams arrived. Some 30 meters of evacuated tunnel was destroyed directly, while another 100 meters collapsed under the strain of inrushing air. Minor damage was also done to a nearby section of the Trans-Kaseian Aquaduct Trunk Line, but that was quickly repaired. The area has been cordoned off and evacuated for a radius of 5 kilometers. Officials are not saying what necessitates such a large restriction zone, nor when the track may re-open, although it can be assumed that reconstruction will take at least 3 months.

Annë went back and forth, inspecting cargo boxes bound for the Maglev to Amaranth. Quickly glancing over his shoulder to ensure that no one would see, he removed a small package from his coat pocket and slipped it into one of the crates.

Second Explosion Cuts off Darmhír Colony
At 0630 hours this morning, an explosion similar to last weeks destroyed another frieght car on the line between Amaranth and Darmhir, in uninhabited desert. As before, no other cars suffered major damage,but the destruction of the track was almost complete. 50 military personnel and civillian construction workers bound for Amaranth and Coriolanus were left stranded for 7 hours until Entopters could be flown out to retrieve them.

Officials say that they are worried about the similarities between the two incidents, and say that they may have been the result of terrorist actions. The government has declined to comment on whether or not the incidents may be related to the recent destruction of a military Crawler in Lunae Planum. Though many believe that and other unexplained losses in and near Kajal have been caused by terrorist factions in said country, others are blaming the Dissolutionists. When questioned on this theory, the Secretary to Lord Royen remarked that,
The Dissolutionists have never before resorted to destructive violence of this sort. Although we must not rule out the possibility, we do not yet have any direct evidence pointing to Dissolutionist factions as perpetrators.

"M'Lord, we've got a problem."
"Another one? What now?"
"We lost all communication with Fern and Dolokion just over an hour ago."
"Crap. Well, send out the Entopters. This is practically getting routine. For gosh sakes, if this gets any worse we'll have to get help from the Tower."

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Searan ran down the hallway, holding a walkie-talkie with one hand a tranq gun with the other. "Number 13, report."
'We've secured the Hub. Comms are down. We're cut off. You?'
"Good, good. Things are looking alright down here, too. I'm just checking the last mod, but I think we've managed to clear out the civvies."
'Good. That just leaves section 3 unaccounted for. Once all the noncoms are moved into the Port, we can start lockin' down.'
"Right-o. I'll be over there ASAP."

Section 3. The Executive Division.

The civillians were all in the port, and ready to be shipped out- except for a few hostages, of course- on a one-way trip to Darmhír. But the Executors would be a problem.

Searan crouched around a corner in front of the entrance to the Police HQs. A lone guard, looking extremely jumpy, paced back and forth in front of the sliding doors. Another rebel was across the hall, around the opposite corner. Searan raised two fingers to his temple and waved forward. On cue, the other operative kicked the metal walls, drawing the guards attention, while Searan slipped out from behind the wall and placed a tranquilizer in his back. Quite unexpectedly, however, a second guard waited just behind the doors. Thinking fast, Searan dropped to his stomach and rolled, the second operative firing off a quick chest shot. With the two guards down, the rebels presed their backs against the wall to either side of the door, just incase a third might come, and Searan tentatively peeked inside....