NationStates Jolt Archive

12:04 present time

"Jeez, it is dark." Jacob Hunter slouched down in the passenger seat of the parked black range rover.

"Its freaking midnight, what the hell do you expect it to be?" Jack Arrow blew out a puff of smoke and stubbed the butt of his cigarette into the ash tray. Arrow rubbed his forehead in frustration, I hate working with this idiot all the time he thought.

"Well I was just saying that....you know.... its dark." Hunter squinted his eyes and covered his nose, he hated it when Jack smoked in the car.

Motherless idiot bastard. Arrow contemplated pulling his gun, he hated working with Hunter. The last thing he wanted to be doing right now was sitting in his car at midnight on a job, and working with Hunter only furtherd his aggravation. Yet when one worked for the Jiggady Defense Agency they tended to not be able to pick their own hours to work. He lit another cigarette and picked up the night vision goggles from the dashboard, next to their burger wrappers.

Yupp, the building is deffinetly still there. The car sat well down the street away from the tower complex that he knew so well, every other week they had him sitting outside the government towers which housed the greater number of foriegn diplomats and Jiggady government officials. But tonights buisness was a whole different matter.

Arrow lowerd the binoculars and popped a Tums, the burger had hit him hard, and their job tonight didnt add to the ease of his digestion.

"Man are we actually gonna do this? I mean this is heavy shit." Hunter added his wisdom to the conversation.

"Things change, shit happens, and if your not ambitious enough to take charge than you dont deserve life." From the darkened back seats of the range rover a thick forboding voice filtered up to the front of the vehicle. Their third member of the stakeout team had remained silet the whole evening, only speaking up to tell what he wanted for dinner.

Arrow cast a nervous glance in the rearview mirror, but all he saw was the vauge outline of a person in the dark back. If working with Hunter only made him frustrated, working with Agent Calico made him down right terrified, because that only meant their mission was either incredibally important or incredibally dangerous, not to mention that Calico was an outright scary bastard

I cant believe we are about to do this Arrow leaned back in his seat and lit another cigarette....................... T.B.C

-Ten Hours earlier

Calico collapsed on his king sized bed dripping with sweat and draped a towel over his face and breathed. His daily workout was a bitch but he had maintained the same set of grueling tasks for seven years now, and it was the reason he was the top man in the Jiggady Defense Agency. With a slight stabbing pain in his back Calico rose up, looked about the master bedroom of his house and sighed. Going through with this would mean that he would have to give this all up, the fifteen bedroom house, seventy acres of land, stables and race horses; and that was just the family estate that had been left to him, Calico also had a bank account that made him smile when he looked at it everyday.

Moving through the library and into the bathroom, his regret grew over the potential loss of all this. Mentally he slapped himself in the face, he knew that this would happen one day. For five years they had been working towards this event subtly manipulating government decisions and actions until everything fell in place. Calico couldn’t even begin to count the number of innocents he had killed, both foreign and national, all made legitimate by the very government he was about to betray.

He had been loyal, fiercely loyal, to Jiggady, both the nation and jiggady the supreme chief of state, but things change. His family was one of the richest in Jiggady for hundreds of years before the official formation of the nation, and when the island chains that used to be a hideaway for pirates, united and embraced its heritage Calico embraced his own heritage, that of the famous pirate Calico Jack Rackam.

And yet here I am ready to betray all this history. Calico looked in the mirror and rubbed the weeks growth of hair on his face. He would never have considered this, if it hadn’t been for….for….for him. The man in the dark suit in the dark room, who called him on his private line one day with the twist of his life. But now...now everything was good, Calico smiled at himself in the mirror, he had no regrets, he was just doing his job and the future would be made upon his work.

"Oh what the fuck." Calico pulled a black suit from his closet and began getting dressed. "Things change, shit happens, and if your not ambitious enough to take charge than you dont deserve life" He smiled and was proud that he was standing here, at the cusp of Jiggadys history and future. And Im the one pulling the trigger, Ahhh, it will be rough to loose all of this...but I'll always be able to buy a bigger house.

Within an hour Calico was off to department offices in Capitol City, the packet was sitting on his desk, as usual for the past five years. Oh well, time to meet up with the two idiots.

Fifteen hours before present time

General Claudius Maximus folded over the first page of the newspaper and took a bite out of his breakfast sandwitch. Wendy came back over to his table and topped off his coffee, he smiled and watched her ass shake as she walked back to the counter. Turning his attention back to his paper, Maximus sighed and started reading the national news. A bell rang out and out of the corner of his eye Maximus saw the front door open and close, his daily breakfast mate had finally arrived; late today.

"Ah shit, sorry General I had dozens of 'top priority' memos on my desk this morning. I tell you this government wastes so much paper on menial memos." Israel Hands took a seat and nodded to Wendy, she didnt even need to ask what he wanted.

"Oh, its no big deal Israel, I had a desk full myself this morning. The army department has been a mess since General Plank mutinied. To be honest I actually have to be off, we have staff meetings all afternoon about restructuring; what with Plank taking all his divsions and us loosing so many men trying to stop them." General Maximus took another gulp of coffee and tossed some Kronors on the table.

"Thats life my friend, thats life. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Israel shook his hand and watched the Itallian general walk away. Asshole

Israel held the smile until the general was out of the resturant and sneered as he looked down at the table. Kissing Maximus' ass was starting to get on him after a year, but it was his job in all of this. God damn that fool Plank, arrogant ambitious bastard.

Israel Hands had enjoyed his years of service in the foreign ministry department, doing servile paper work, and visiting all the nations no one else would volunteer for. Thats why he was sitting in the coffee shop right now, his future had been planned out for several years now when he signed his name onto this project. But by now he was sick of playing friends with the pacifist general, though it was one of the most important parts in determining their success. Reaching into his coat pocket Israel pulled out a transever and notepad. By getting close to General Maximus, Hands was able to but his office and gain access to high security areas where he simply lifted dozens of official documents on troop movements and how well military units were supplies. Of course if Plank had some common sense I wouldnt have to stick my neck out like this. He was supposed to be their inside man for the military branch of the plan, but Plank was foolhardy and strong willed, and went off on his own half assed plan resulting in utter failure.

Now all he had to do was drop all of this information off to the head man and his part was done, all his risk taking was over and it was up to the men with the guns to carry on with their responsibility. Israel chuckled to himself as he pulled his plane ticket out of another pocket, he was taking off on a vacation with the money he was paid for his job before returning to Jiggady to his new job.

He stayed there another half an hour eating his last meal at this crappy reasturant: maybe I'll use my authority to shut this place down when I get back Israel stood up and tossed his coat over one arm and walked out of the resturant with a passing glance at Wendy.

Stepping outside Israel envisioned the house that he would buy on his new salary, three pools, and the largest fridge in the nation He was onto the servants quarters in his mind when he stepped off the curb and into a passing garbage truck....

Eleven hours before present time

He sat in the darkened office, his private office far away from his official one in government square. When he had decided what his fate was to be he ralized that he would need more privacy and be as far away as possible from his real job.

Ever since he had come to Jiggady he knew that he couldnt handle his subsidiary role as a government advisor, sitting in that damned cramped office all day saying 'yes thats a good idea' or 'no I think you should rethink this.' He smiled and looked at the clock while reminiscing these old days. But soon, soon his people would begin their jobs and he would be the one giving orders instead of taking them.

Xander still did consider jiggady to be his friend, ever since rooming together in Oxford they had shared the same dream of political conquest. Yet it was jiggady who came back here, with Xander in his wake, and united the islands under his control getting all the glory and recognition. And while he realized that his name probably wouldnt make a good name for a country, he was willing to take power of a nation name Jiggady.

As a reward for his role in pushing jiggady into power Xander was made the Minister of State, the right hand man to the supreme chief of state, the man who would be his highest advisor and who would step up should anything happen to jiggady. He had waited patiently in the ranks, advising to the best of his ability but keeping his ambition in check while waiting for his turn to step up into power. And when that didnt happen naturally Xander realized that he had to make it happen himself and so he started recruiting others in power to his side. Some had been easy, others not so easy and many were lying at the bottom of the ocean, the work of Agent Calico, when they refused to join. And now everything was perfect, all his pieces were perfectly in place and it was time to move.

"Where the fuck is Israel Hands?!" Xander slammed his hand down on the desk and yelled out into the darkness to no one. The nearly empty room echoed his curse and his fury rose. "God damn you Plank." Xander stood up and pressed a button on the desk, sending a a silent message for his secretary to enter. They still had some eliments of Planks mutinous troops, and he was convinced that with surprise they could push through whatever of the Jiggady military that might be present. But he needed the information that Hands was supposed to collect in order to assure a swift victory. The door opened slightly and Xander turned to the light source: "Get me Calico and Flint."

Tag. Will read later but momentarily pressed for time.

[tag]
looks interesting...

[tag]

sorry about the slowness of my posting and advancing the storyline, a drawback of being a busy college student with the end of the semester in sight.

Go Jigs!

ooc: yess, the forums have finally stoped jerking me around.

Ic:


12:10 am, present time

Calico leaned back in his seat with his eyes closed, trying to block out the inane conversation coming from the front of the car. He played with a desert eagle between his fingers, wondering how much attention he would draw if he shot them both in the back and just did the job himself.

"Man, I'm telling you Finnegan's has better appetizers."

"Who cares about appetizers, I want Lobster. And that means I'm going to Georgio's."

"No, no, no. You mean The Pit, you know on Jameson St."

In the back Calico raised the gun and placed it in the back of Hunter's seat. He opened his eyes and looked outside, they were waiting for the signal, but nothing came yet. He pulled the gun away and placed it back on the inside of his coat realizing it would be better to stick to the matter at hand.

Looking through his own pair of night vision binoculars Calico thought back to earlier in the day. He had been surprised by the packet on his desk that morning, it was far from the usual orders and money that he received every week.

3:30 pm, Eight and a half hours before present time

Calico had left the offices imedietly after opening the manila envelope, hoped on his Suzuki and drove about Capitol City along random roads until ending up at the inconspicuous set of buildings along the riverfront. He had to keep himself from accelerating to much, to stop from rushing there which would have been out of the ordinary and a possible attention attractor. Though on the inside he wanted to get there as soon as possible, to get more information on the strange news.

Today was supposed to be different from all the other days, his orders should have been pertinant to tonights job; the boss had already said that they wouldnt be meeting today as a percaution against possible betrayal. Calico pulled off onto North St. and parked his bike in a mechanics lot, and headed to the buildings on foot, with a weather eye open for the rare, yet possible, tail. Half an hour after leaving the JDA offices Calico pressed four on the elevator pad, said his name into the barely distinguishable voice box, and waited as the momentum carried him up.

The door opened to a single room with a single desk and a single door to the left of the desk. Calico confidently strood in and nodded to Susan who sat diligently behind the reinforced oak desk, if anyone were to actually storm the offices they would be surprised to find the special ops agent behind the armored desk with big fuck off shot gun. He stood at the door and waited for the hidden scanners to conduct a DNA test on him, Calico had no idea how it worked but it was the lastest out of the JDA, it beeped in conformation and Susan pressed a button allowing him to enter.

The room was pitch black, as always, yet Calico knew exactly how it was arranged and made his way to a chair with no trouble. They say there in silence for a few minutes until his eyes adjusted to the lighting of the room, Xander had creaked the blinds slightly, and he saw that Noah Flint had already arrived.

Flint, who went by code name Noah, was Calico's counterpart in the JDA even though several other agents ranked higher than the young Noah. Calico however, being the top agent in the agency, personally counted Noah as number two; no matter how many others the people in charge considered better. Noah was like most of the people in the JDA, homegrown. A descendant of Jiggady who could trace his roots all the way back to when she was just a pirate colony, and this made him the perfect person to recruit. Despite being a descentant, Noah also proved to have an innate talent for espionage and physical combat and he rose through the ranks quicker than even Calico had, making the slightly older agent look at the young man with pride.

Calico studied Noah hard, to see if he knew anything more than he did, but the other agents plain features betrayed nothing; and Calico finally turned to his other boss.

"Thank you for getting here on such a short notice, I know that we had agreed not to meet today but something has come up that desperately needs our attention." Xander wasted no time in addressing the two 'defectors.'

"A situation has arose that may jepardize our plans. This man is Israel Hands, an official in the foriegn ministry department." Xander flicked on a slide projector, being a new addition to their operation Hands' identity had previously been kept a secret. "He was a new recruite to our cause, signed up to get close to Supreme General Maximus. I doubt I have to remind you of General Plank, since his idiodic move we lost our inside man into the military, and while we have others to our cause within their ranks non are high enough to get the information we needed. Thus Mr. Hands' inclusion, he had worked with the general before and used that to get even closer to him and steal the necessary information for our plans."

"Ok so he looks like a dick, anything else important about him that begs the necessity of this meeting." Calico spoke up getting right to the point.

"The point is that he is missing. He checked in, as usual, before his meeting with General Maximus this morning but has not reported in, as ordered, after the meeting. Now we know that Maximus did not have anything personally to do with Hands going missing; the General has been in meetings all day. Also through the taps that Israel had on him we know that the General has not contacted anyone with suspicions. So, gentlemen we have ourselves a missing Foriegn Minister with the information on the state of local military forces in all the cities. That, as you so succinctly put it Calico is The point." Xander tilted back in his chair and waited for the two agents to fill the silence with their opinions.

"Has he checked in anywhere..." Calico started.

"The foriegn ministry department, his place of residence, any other government office?" Noah finished.

"No, no and no. I do manage to function without your aid and have found no trace of him at any government office. So I can only assume that he hasnt double crossed us." said Xander.

"Well, he could be meeting with someone privatly, or simply has cold feet, or suspects he was found out and is hidding until it is safe." Calico rubbed his forehead, this was the last thing they needed.

"Thats why you two are here. Top priority, find Israel Hands and get that information. Ive lost all paitence with him so I dont care what you do to him."

"Ah, Xander, we are running right down to the wire here. I mean I am supposed to be meeting up with my partners to prep for tonight. As important as this is, I dont feel comfortable trusting that job to Hunter and Arrow; that is unless you feel otherwise." Calico kept a smug smile from his face, he knew he was right on that point.

Xander nodded his head slowly: "Right as ever Calico, those two failing would be incomprehensibly worse than losing Hands' information. Alright, Noah the job is yours. I want you to find out what the hell happend to Hands by 11:30 tonight, I want to know what the hell we will be looking at because one way or another we continue with the plan. Your mission will be shifted over to Susan, she is no longer needed to guard here."

Everyman in the room nodded, and Calico and Noah left without another word.

4:45 pm, Seven and a half hours before present time

"To wrap it up, the housing relocation has been moving along with no problems, the new cities should be fully up and running withing two days."

"Very well, I believe that takes care of old buisness. Does anyone have anything new? I would like to get the hell out of here today." jiggady blew out a long sream of smoke as he sat back down behind his desk. He set the cigar in a holder on the desk and picked up Archimedes, his pet fox, and stroked the the contented animals golden fur. A gust of late afternoon wind blew through the tall openings in his office, an open air room that overlooked the vast fields of his plantations. jiggady prefered to have most meetings here in his private sanctum, away from the rest of the government.

"Second fleet reported in yesterday, they have been delayed from returning to port to restock. Apparently they were on the tail of someone encroaching Jiggady waters. No big deal though, just a minor update." Lord High Admiral John Paul England spoke up as he drank a glass of port.

"Ok, I already dont care." jiggady replied absently.

"Nothing new from the Foriegn Ministry, though one oddity. A minister Hands, who was supposed to be meeting with a group of delegates today, has gone missing. He apparently didnt show up to the meeting, I dare say causing us quite the embarassment." Ann Marie Bonny glided about the office as she spoke, in her usual flirtatious manner. She took a seat next to jiggady and looped one arm around his.

"A low level minister does not register my attention. If you find him, have him sent to Vladislov The Hun Minch" jiggady leaned back in the chair and smiled, his head prison administrator would have fun with the foriegn minister paper pusher.

Xander sat quietly in the meeting, speaking up only at certian points where his comments were needed. His gaze shifted to Ann Bonny and he licked his lips slightly. The sight of the chief foriegn minister was enough to get him through these boring meetings, he watched as she glided about in her low cut dress that formed tightly to her curvacious body. Then she looped an arm around jiggadys and his expression turned sour. It saddened him to think that she would have to go eventually, her loyalty was completly to jiggady, her lover, and as much as Xander wanted to have her at his side he knew that he wouldnt never be able to have her after tonight. Xander couldnt help but check his watch as he waited for the minute hand on the clock to draw nearer to Five pm. He desperatly wanted to get out of here and to more important matters, but as usual the 'brain trust' just kept talking and talking.

"A bit of important news that came out of our discussions ealier today with the war council. We have candidates to fill the positions that were lost during General Planks mutiny attempt." General Maximus started.

"Ahhh, Claudius, cant this wait till tomorrow? We are going to the opera tonight."

The General stood up and shrugged his shoulders, knowing enough not to argue with his young friend. The room slowly emptied as the hierarchy of jiggady's advisors filtered out to retire from buisness for the night. Xander was the last to leave, after having another drink with his friend jiggady and shaking his hand.

5:00 pm, Seven hours before present time

Their path had been long and weary, never resting for well over a month, only travelling. A quarter of their origional company, dead. Dead from the endless hours of pushing themselves beyond all of their limits, dead from starvation and dehydration, dead from the growing despair inside them. None of them dying honerably in battle, like a soldier should.

It was supposed to be their glorious victory, they were all promised medals, and fortunes; but all they have seen is misery. And now men trodded along on legs that could barly support their own weight, in boots that were worn out to the point that they clapped as they walked along. This is what was left of their once mightly force, a band of men who looked like they could be wooped by the local boy scout troop. It pained the major to look at his men, it pained him to force them to continue marching but if they stoped and went back they were dead men. Even with marching back home, they all realized that every step that brought them further to their homeland, was a step that furthered to remove them from the place they once called home. They were foresaken men, men who would be shot or hung upon their arrival home; and yet they continued.

They continued marching on, carrying their nearly lifeless bodies, because of the desire inside of each of them as soldiers; they still had a duty to fulfill, and each of them wanted to make up for the mistakes made in the foolhardy assault. The major sat atop a tank that plugged along like a steam engine up a hill, it was one of only four that remained from their unit having lost all the others to the lack of gasoline to feed the entire force.

Hidding like cowards, they snuk through Vrak, Dyelli Beybi, and Axe Wielding Maniacs after their gross failure. An hour after he realized their mistake, Major Hackett called for a hault, and killed his command crew in the mobile communications truck. It was their fault, they had miscalculated their positioning and ended up several thousand miles north of where they intended to be. And when Hackett managed to get a radio transmition through, it was too late, the battle was over in a bloody loss at the cities of Bath and Cyro. He could only guess at the fate of all the other men in Planks division, and that of the General himself the great man who had led them on this crusade but who was probably now dead.

But now they were returning, the remains of the once proud 105th. They were back in Jiggady, and with a little luck they could set everything right. Major Hackett knew that they could never return to the armed forces, hell they were a part of a whole division that was prepared to undertake a proposition more dangerous and trecherous than the mutiny Plank led them on. And Hackett only hoped that they were here in time as he called for a hault and turned on the secure radio, the only piece of equipment still working, and gave the four word code singal.

The Major sat on the top of the tank waiting, he could feel the hundreds of eyes on him; and to his surprise there was the coded response. Their old allies had not forsaken them, and their experience was again needed. Hackett smiled and looked over his men and they knew that their job was not over. In an instant the fighting spirit was back, the will, the determination, and proud that they stood on the brink of changing Jiggady forever.

ooc:Major Hackett and his men were a part of Planks assaulting force during the civil war in Dyelli Beybi. They had gotten lost in their advance on Bath and had never been heard from

ooc: holy crap the forum let me in....praise the lord


IC: 5:10 pm, A little less than seven hours before present time

He didnt have the faintest idea where to start looking. Espionage and counter espionage were simple to him, there was always a clear goal and a clear way of how to go about it, and for the good agents that resulted in finding ten other ways to finish a job. Yet Noah had no idea how to track down a missing person, to him men went missing because they didnt want to be found and that usualy meant that they were skilled enough that you wouldnt find them.

Yet he constantly told himself that Hands was a foriegn minister, a needle dick diplomat who probably didnt even know how to fire a gun let alone be skilled enough to drop from the face of the earth. Luckily though he did have the luxury of having two other agents assigned to him, and he was confident that they would find Hands; whether they would find him before the dealine was another question.

The easiest thing to do was to check all of the avenues of public transportation out of Capitol City, and after confirming that there were no records of him purchasing a ticket out of the city Noah was all the more confident in the success of their mission. Realizing that Hands was still in Capitol City Noah began retracing the steps of his calendar for the day that he had managed to pick up from Hands' office. Noah soon found himself at The Stone Inn a hole of a resturant on Court Street.

He casually strode in and sat in the booth nearest to the door, and observed the interior of the resturant. There were several other folks in for an early meal, probably regulars who were used to the garbage they churned out of the back. After a few moments a cute young girl strolled over to his table and Noah had to keep himself from being distracted by her fine fine legs.

"What can I do for you cutie?" She asked in the high pitched voice that every waitress seemed to have at a diner. Noah glanced at her chest, rather at the pin on her chest and responded.

"Nothing for me Wendy, I only have some questions to ask you."

Looking rather confused and dejected at the loss of a possible tip, she tucked her note pad away and stood there, hands on her hips.

Clearing his throat Noah forced himself to keep eye contact with her: "When did your shift start today?"

"At Six, Marleen called in so I have to work a double untill Six thirty."

"So you were here all day, did you see two gentlemen in here earlier having breakfast? Well dressed men, like they had some type of official job."

"Yes of course, claudius and his friend Israel. They are here every morning. Though today they didnt stay long, Israel got here late and claudius left early."

"Ok, when did Israel leave? Did you see him go anywhere once he went outside?"

"He didnt stay very long after Claudius left, looked realy anxious about something. But after he went outside, I only saw him on the side walk ready to cross the streat, and then I went into the back."

Noah sighed, while he at least had an idea of Israels morning, he still didnt establish much as to what he could have done after leaving the diner. Without another word he got up and pushed the doors open, leaving a sad Wendy behind. Outside Noah looked about the street as people walked past, huring about their own lives, unconcerned with him. He tried to pace about the sidewalk as he suspected Hands may have done but it didnt get him anywhere. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw something unusual, something that the casual observer would miss but that his trained eyes picked up on imediatly.

The light was green but Noah steped out into the street waving his JDA badge, warning traffic away. He kneeled down and rubbed his hand on the pavement: "What do we have here?"

5:30 pm, Six and a half hours before present time.

"Are you sure that you want to sign that bill into power. I mean without even consulting anyone else?" Her voice betrayed plenty of emotion as she sat on his lap.

"I'm a dictator. I pass whatever bill I want, that is the luxury of not having a bothersome congress or senate."

"Still you were elected to be the dictator, you are a benevolent one." Ann Marie Bonny hoped up and strode around to the bar and made a white russian. "You know that you are going to alienate Xander with this, I mean you are friends."

"Yes we are friends, and we will still be friends." jiggady put the ink quill back in its holder, it was archaic but it furthered his sense of elitism. "I had to make a tough decision, but its a decision for the future of the country. I do not want us to lose our herritage with the possibility of a foriegner taking power if and when I leave or die."

"I realize that, but the position has been all but promised to Xander."

"But it wasnt promissed. He knows what his role in this government is and he will carry it out dutifully. But these islands, and mainland, will always belong to the people and the rich herritage it was founded upon. That is why I am making this law. And that is why you shall be my successor, because more than any other person out of my advisors, you are the one that truly loves this nation."

ooc: sorry to those interested for not posting in awhile.

IC:

7:30 pm, four and a half hours before present time

It had made sense for him to be sitting out in the harbour at this moment in his life, he couldnt imagine staying under the command of the Jiggady government. His direct superiors in the Navy were decent enough commanders that he respected; but the hierarchy of Jiggady was wrong and needed to change.

How could they actually sanction piracy? He blew out a long stream of smoke from a cigar and leaned over the rails of the ship. Sure they liked to dress it up and call it privateering, but I know exactly what they are doing. Engaging in illegal activities and using the excuse of embrassing their herritage. At least I will finally be able to do something.

Commodore Joshua Flint stood on deck aboard his flagship, The Harem and watched his men as they cleared for action; in the past a routine action for practice but now it was for real. Standing off several hundred yards off each of her side was Poltergiest and Inquisitor the sister ships of Harem designed perfectly to match each other in apperance and ability. Not to mention that they were all developed at the Jiggy Shipyards, where he was the majority buisness owner, rather than at Port Blood where most of the military vessles came out of.

Yet this memory was not a happy one for Commodore Flint, as he gazed out across the ocean he knew that there should be four other ships out there, not two. He griped the rails hard, tenseing every muscle in his arms until they turned from tan to white, that damned government piracy was why his fleet was down two ships.

Patrick Teach and Jack Teach Flint cursed their names in his head, two of the most promising young men in his company, two young men whom he took in off the streets and gave jobs to in his shipyards. And eventually rewarded them with possitions as captains aboard two of his ships, the Monolith and Banshee. Two out of his five ships, engaging in the so called 'sweet trade', in his mind nothing more than mutinous hell bound sinners, whom he vowed to stop. It pained him to know that two of his own ships were of the most successful pirates in Jiggady.

Commodore Flint walked about the deck of the hybrid battle ship, shouting out orders and answering questions; all the while cursing in his head the title of commodore as each man addressed him. That was another reason why he was out here tonight. Joshua Flint felt that his career has been nothing short of impeccable and yet everytime an Admiral position opened up, he was overlooked and remained with this archaic title.

That was why he was out here tonight, Xander had promised him his just rewards; a position as Admiral in the new Jiggady fleet. And not only Admiral, but the new Lord High Admiral in charge of the whole navy. A smile played across his face and he chewed on the end of the cigar, as he invisioned himself in a new white uniform, fully decorated.

All of these reasons not to mention the fact that his brother was Noah Flint, and it made the most sense to Xander when he was recruting people in the navy to his side to select the Commodore.

Evening was settling in, as the sun lowered itself behind the far off mountian range painting a beautiful red picture across the sky and water. Flint raised a pair of binoculars and scaned across the sea to the Aircraft carrier moored in the safty of the harbour for the evening. That was his job, to make sure that it never moved from that position again; all he waited for was the orders from the top.

8:00pm, four hours before present time

The airfield was quiet, that is to say at least this part of the airfield was quiet. The roar of jumbo jet engines still filled the air but they were taking off and landing on the other side of the airport. But on this side of the airfield there was no traffic, and hardly any lights. A pair of tall 'street lights' marked where there was a service building, but that was only cover for what really was over here. A specially designed grass landstrip where the private jets for government officials could take off and land without interference and away from the bustle of the regular air traffic.

With a flick of a switch from inside the building, hidden landing strip lights roated up from the ground and powered on, casting a glow over the single jet and limo out in the middle of nowhere. With a swift motion the garage door to the building opened and twenty armed men rushed out and fanned out around the jet and airstrip. They carried out this routine task with ease after doing it nearly everyday for some official or another. Three patrols of guards with dogs walked a constant circle around the perimiter that was laced with motion detectords, jiggady had spared no expense in seeing that this private airstrip remained secure. If any of them were tripped a single would be sent to the large computer bank inside the seemingly ordinary building.

After a couple passes by the guards the all clear signal was given and Xander stepped out of the limo, he stood there straightening his suit and donned a pair of sunglasses. Several aids followed him out of the black car and looked wildly about, holding their briefcases. Yet this was all routine, he had planned for this departure nearly three weeks in advance to maintain an alibi, remaining seemingly innocent and going about his regular duties. The jet would take off from the islands and arrive at mainland Jiggady within an hour, where he would go about overseeing the brining online of the three new cities recently built. The official 'grand opening' of the cities was in two days, a massive celebration was schedualed, but people were already moving in to get away from the overcrowding islands.

Inside the jet Xander leaned back in the plush seat and sipped a martini. He couldnt help but smile, his loyal staff of aids were to be the new mayors of each of these cities, and if all went to plan thats where he would run the new government.

"A toast gentlemen. Success, and a prosperous future. To tomorrow."

9:45pm, two hours and fifteen minutes before present time

Noah was not in the mood for this med school drop out, and his attitude. His spirits rose when finding the bloodied rag, he forgot all about Wendy and her information and became devoted to this obvious clue to Israels disapperance.

Several other blood stains were scattered about on the road, and his eyes were immediatly drawn to another bloody mark on the pavement. It was worn out slightly from street sweepers going up and down the section of road however, it was still clear to his eyes. The bloody tire tracks left a clear picture of what happened at this corner, and the skid marks further up the street had confirmed his beliefs. They were rather wide tracks which had initially caused his forehead to scrunch up in thought, whatever had struck the pedestrian it was obvious to Noah that it wasnt a car that belonged to a regular motorist.

Yet while his hopes had been raised when it seemed obvious to start checking hospitals, Noah stoped and slapped his forehead. This was Capitol City, with roughly ten medical facilities and hospitals; and he was standing on a corner in the ass end of the city.

It had taken him three hours to manuver about the city to check at five different hospitals before finally arriving at Bartholomew Memorial Hospital. A rather pretentious doctor, who wasnt impressed with his JDA badge, informed him that the body of Israel Hunter had arrived DOA at about twelve in the afternoon. Noah had spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out why there was no official statement by the hospital or the police about the death of a government official, run over by a garbage truck. The hospital administrator, a mch more civil man, explained to him that Israel had no identification on him, and that the police had taken their time at the crime sceen interviewing witnesses and taking foresnics.

The only vital piece of information gatherd from the hospital was that the body of Israel Hands was sent downtown to the morgue, because of some damned state policy of what bodies had to go to what morgues. Noah left the hospital promptly and ran right into the evening traffic of dinner and opera go-ers. It wasnt until a little after nine in the evening that he arrived at the morgue, waived his badge again and got into the back room, where he had to deal with the mother of all arrogant nightshift bastards.

"Look, you little piece of shit. I dont have time for your horseshit, you see this badge? That means I'm with the Jiggady Defense Agency, that means that I make about a hundred thousand dollars more than you, drive a better car, and have a bigger dick than you. So if you dont want to be digging ditches for the rest of your life in the penitentiary just show me waht I want." Noah let every ounce of venom he had creep into his voice as he waived his gun around the room. The arrogant mortician finally gave in at the sight of the artillery and showed Noah into the back where the cold dead body of Israel Hands was layed out on a table.

"Yeah, he's dead alright. Where the fuck are his belongings that he had on his body?" Noah was beyond civility at this point.

The man rolled his eyes and sauntered over to a desk and tossed a large manila envelope at Noah. Snatching it out of the air he quickly tore it open and tossed the clothes about looking for the small microfilm container, which he found neatly tucked away in the hidden pants pocket. He let out a sight and stormed out of the room leaving the mortician behind with a scowl.

Back outside Noah imediatly flipped open his cell and dialed the fifteen digit phone code, a direct connection to Xander no matter where he was in Jiggady. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and was eventually replaced by static.

"What the fuck!?" Noah yelled out in the middle of the sidewalk. This technology was supposed to be the pinnical of communication, it was supposed to never fail. What the fuck are you doing Xander? I thought you said this phone line was 100% capable at all times....Wha...ahh...God damn it.

ooc: long weekend, probably wont have much time to keep up posting, but I will try.

OOC: I like this one Jiggady. Keep it up!

ooc: Im trying to work it towards an open rp... but I cant seem to get out of recalling the events of the past day.

IC:

10:30pm, One and a half hours before present time


http://business.missouri.edu/zou/Pics/Vienna/State-Opera-House.jpg

A thunderous roar of applause filled the large auditorium as the crowd rose to their feet and showed their esteem for the tenors rendition of Ave Maria. The house lights went up and people began filing out of the rows of seats or their ornatly carved reserved booths and into the grand reception chamber of Shaw Opera House.

Most people gathered around the bars, ordering fine imported wines, and talked amongst themselves in loud conversations about their opinions of the first half of tonights show. The audience consisted of the usual friday night opera go-ers of Jiggady, all of the elite members of society decked out in their fine gowns and stricking black tuxedo's. Each one a respected member of the community with wealth dating back to some pirate lord.

All eyes shifted to the sprawling spiral staircase as the supreme chief of state jiggady strolled down from his private box, arm in arm with his chief foriegn minister Ann Marie Bonny and flanked by his personal body guard Reymont. A second round of applause filled the cavernous room, this time for their great leader who had tonights preformers personally flown in from Vienna to open the opera season. jiggady stopped at the bottom of the staircase and waved about with a broad smile on his face and preceded to mingle amongst his friends.

Reymont stood ever close to his old friend and watched as Miss. Bonny took her leave to talk with some visiting diplomats, the long train of her violet gown leaving a cleared path in her wake. Reymont turned his attention back to jiggady who already had a glass of port in his hand and was stroaking his goatee as he chatted with Sir Louis Drake, one of the wealthiest men in Jiggady and representative to the JDF of the Federation. Present at every meeting jiggady went to, Reymont was familiar with Drake and knew that the two were supposed to meet tomorrow to draft a resolution to the FKC.

He stood idly by, patting his afro, and scanning the crowd. The buldge under his white suit jacket, which was radient against his black skin, was obvious and he was ready to draw it at a moments notice. "excuse me while I whip this out" The line from Blazing Saddles went through his mind and brought a smile to his face. Seeing a break in the crowd, another smile came to his face as he caught a glimpse of the tall woman glidding towards him. Her violently red dress formed perfectly to her pale skinned body, giving everyman in the room a view at her ample chest, leaving nothing to the imagination. It was a test of will to keep his mind on his duty as she walked up to him and melted his heart with that bewitching smile of hers.

"Good evening Reymont, I see that you are flashing your goods again this evening."

"Ahh..yes." He tried to not stumble over his words but the speach center of his brain was turned to goo. "You are alluring as usuall Susan, where might you be hiding your goods? Even though you are JDA, I still have authority to frisk you when you are near jiggady."

Her smile became more tantalizing as she ran a hand along her left leg, "No need tonight, I am here merely for pleasure; off company time. I saw you comming down the stairs and decided you needed a drink."

"Not tonight I'm on duty, you know that." Reymont instantly turned his attention back to jiggady who was begining to make his way further along in the crowd.

"Of course, which is why I brought you a glass of water." She turned to the waiter behind her and picked up two crystal glasses from his tray, one of water and one of a dark red wine.

"I dont see how I can refuse that." Reymont accepted the glass and took a long swig. The lights in the reception area began flickering, the familiar cue that intermision was nearly over.

"Well, it looks like you are back on the job." Susan watched jiggady and Bonny say their goodbye's to those they were talking to.

"Perhaps we can get together late this evening?" Reymont said with hope in his voice.

Susan replied with one of her smiles: "Mmmm maybe." She turned sharply and headed back into the audience chamber. Reymont's eyes were fixated on her voluptuous rear, neatly shaped in the tight red dress. He downed the rest of the sweet water and set the glass down, turning on his heels he followed jiggady and Bonny back up to the box for the rest of the show.

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

Her job done Susan decided to return to her seat and enjoy the rest of the show, with a sense of satisfaction. Even a hard linner like Reymont couldnt hold up against her when she worked her body, her greatest asset to her role in the JDA. A simple smile and the right dress had completed so many missions that the idea of a supposed superior strength of men was reduced to a laughable image in her mind. All men thought with their dick, therefore all men were conquerable; it was perplexing to wonder why women hadnt taken over the world yet.

Sitting back in her seat she checked her watch, noting that her job was done on schedual. The slow acting toxin in the water she had given Reymont should kick in sometime after midnight, making sure he didnt stand in the way of their plans.

11:00pm, little over an hour before present time

He had been sitting in the car with the morons for over two hours, and already he was ready to cap each of them and finish the job himself. Sitting in the back of the Range Rover eating a burger Calico wondered why they were even in on this in the first place. From what he has seen of the operation so far, Xander had only recruited the best men possible to make sure this went off without a hitch. And then it came to him, why people like Arrow, Hunter, and Hands were in on this; Xander wanted patsies whom he could use to get what he wanted. Men who were to stupid to betray him because they were blinded by the amounts of money promised to them.

Calico took a bite out of the double quarter pounder and pondered the job, even though he realized that they were needed he wished that Xander could have at least found two men who would shut up. Arrow wasnt that bad, at least he was a good agent, but paired with Hunter he turned just as irritated as Calico.

They sat in the empty parking lot of the now vacant Gap store on 2nd street. Calico had seen to it that the Gap no longer had an influence in Jiggady, something the Chief of state had been adiment about; he didnt want any of those corporations getting a foothold in Jiggady. They had made several passes by the government block scouting out the mamouth pair of buildings. People came in and out, yet it was too early to take up their position for the evening and risk looking suspicious.

"I tell ya, I hear that a baseball league is comming in."

"No way, do you really think that jiggady would allow that? He already vetoed the project twice."

"Yeah but its going to come into the new cities on the mainland. Xander is behind the whole project. You see he's the smart one. Under him the economy will go through the roof."

Calico rolled his eyes in the back seat and crumpled up his wrapper. He took carefull aim and tossed it off the windshield and into Hunter's forehead. He leaned up to the front: "Alright, opera's gonne be getting over. We make a stop to the pisser and then park ourselves outside government block."

The car hummed to life and they pulled out of the empty parking lot on their way to change the future.

ooc: ok, sorry for those that were interested in the story, but Ive finally now gotten around to getting back involved in the forums.

ic:

11:45, roughly twenty minutes before present time

The moon was in full bloom, perfectly lighting up the bay as the Harem, Poltergiest, and Inquisitor stood off in the bay, innocently anchored up for the night. Just a short launch trip away the Babbington lay like a sleeping beast, unaware of the predators within earshot. Her massive deck was filled with fighters, all out in anticipation of the next days airshow, it would be a brutal and crippling strike.

Commodore Flint only hoped that he actually got the chance to administer the blow. He looked to his watch, it would at least be fifteen more minutes before they would be in the zero hour, any time past that they could get the call to action.

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

Xander finally sat down in his new office, plush with the finnest ornamets Jiggady had to offer. Downing a glass of Gin the scowl returned to his face, the night was not starting off very well.

Turbulance and fog had kept them from landing at the airport in Xandtopia, which jiggady had proposed be named after him due to his efforts to see that the city was the latest in technological engiering. After finally getting off of the plane the ride into the heart of the city was just as bad, as road crews worked into the night putting the finishing touches on the city that was already being populated from the large overpopulated urban centers in the islands. Xandtopia was one of three new cities, the first established in mainland Jiggady, and the thought of them made Xander swell with pride.

The last little annoyance of the evening still bugged him however, he leaned back in the leather chair and clenched his teeth. Noah had yet to report in on his findings and Xander was begining to wonder if he should have put Calico on it. That little fuck better not think of betraying me if he wants to have a career.

At that moment his cell finally rang and without letting it get to a second ring Xander had it to his ear. "Go"

"Where the fuck have you been? I thought you said that this new system was supposed to work no matter what."

"Never mind the system. What is the news?"

"Im sending the visuals now. Troop placements are mostly how we expected, though the Ninth armor around Port Blood is stronger than we anticipated. It looks like we will be able to go tonight." Noah was back at the Stone Inn eating a slice of pie, something about the grimmy dinner had appealed to him. Not to mention Wendy, but he forgot that she got off duty at 6:30, too bad he thought. "But."

"But what? I dont have time for this."

"Well it seems that you are forgetting the outposts there on the mainland. Numbers one through six are fully stocked and could be activated at a moments notice. When the shit goes down they will be rolling right through your new cities."

"God damnit. Just let me worry about that, we are moving tonight. I dont give a shit what stands in our way. Your job is done and I have a new one for you. There is a plane leaving for the government centrality deeper in the Federation (ooc: what city again?) you have a job to do there."

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

"Yes sir. I understand sir." Major Hackett clicked off the radio and smiled wide. He had recieved his orders for activation. It would happen tonight, the culmination of everything they worked for, and he had a nice new armored division to roll with.

12:30am Present Time


Ahh fucking finally, I never thought we were going to get back. God damned opera and after party. Reymont collapsed in one of the chairs in the sitting room of the penthouse suit. The party just went on and on, it wasnt like these people didnt see each other for fifthteen other hours of the day. He was at least glad that jiggady didnt want to go all the way back out to his plantation tonight. But he had big buisness tomorrow and wanted to stay close by in government square, and Reymont couldnt have been happier. He enjoyed the opera every now and then but the opening of the season was depressing, because that meant that every night this week would be spent there, taking away from his social life.

At that thought Reymont smiled, remembering what Susan had been wearing that evening, he licked his lipps but was saddened with the knowledge that he wouldnt get to finally see what was undernieth it. He yawned deeply and thought about getting up to make a drink, one wouldnt be bad, jiggady was asleep in the next room and nothing ever happened before. Yet something kept him in the chair, it wasnt that it was particularly comfortable, the designer crap may look good but it felt like shit, his body was just in a state of total exaustion; something that surprised him.

His entire body felt haggard, it was a mission just to reach behind him and unhook his gun holster. Reymont stiffled another yawn and pulled himself upright. The room spun around as his eyes worked overtime to catch up with the rotating images; he shook his head violently but that only added to the growing nauseous feeling that crept up from the depths of the vile intestine.

Ok Reymont, take it easy man. What the fuck is going on? His voice echoed about inside his head as if bouncing of cavernous walls, in a high shrilling tone that seemed to tear at his brain cells. He could feel his heart beating faster, the speed of race horses running round and round a track. He panted with this new exaustion, mouth drying up. water....water will make it better. Reymont staggered about the room like frankenstine, arms extended in some sort of sorrowful motion for help; like a child alone wanting its mother.

Wave after wave of dizzyness seemed to bruise his body and the already dimly lit room grew darker as it became harder to keep his eyes open. Reymont grabbed ahold of an endtable in a vain effort to keep himself upright. "Help...aahh..so...someone...HELP...." In his mind he said these words over and over again, and his mouth moved accordingly yet the words wouldnt find their way out to freedom. They were trapped inside him, struggling to get out. Instead of the words making their way out, a load of bile ridden vomit spewed forth, splattering the fine persian rug with a stain that said a drunk man had been here.

Reymont wanted to chid himself for this unbecoming act, but at that moment a new wave of tremors shook his body; whiping all comprehension from his brain. Reymont stood there, clutching the table shaking uncontrolably. Every muscle in his body reared in pain and twitched maniacally until it felt like they would burst like a water balloon. Time passed as he stood there with no control of his actions, Reymont couldnt guess how long it was, something oozed from his ears and he was sure that it was his brains shaking loose; and at that instant the pain became too much.

Roaring out in another empty motion of his mouth Reymont collapsed to the floor, his body and the table falling like a mighty redwood, sending an unearthly loud thud through the floorboards. Lying on the ground his body slowly stopped twitching and short gasps escaped from his ajar mouth that he couldnt seem to close. He could feel the blood pooling around his head and his body went rigid with terror. The last image that went through his head was of the door opening and Susan rushing through to help him. He wanted to smile but was unable to, at least she heard my cries. At least she cared about me........

12:30 am, present time

It had been at least fifteen minutes since the escort of Hummers pulled down the street and into the government square complex. Through the night vision goggles Calico could see the Supreme Chief of State exit the vehicle flanked by Ann Marie Bonny and his bodyguard Reymont, several other ministers of little importance also left the other vehicles to their own appartments in the well structured high rises.

"Come on lets go already, they're here. Lets do the job and get our mooooney." Hunter opened the passenger door and placed his right foot out on the pavement. From the back Calico's hand shot out and clenched his shoulder with a debilitating force. "Ahhh...what the fu..."

"Shut your stupid ass up." Hissed Calico as he yanked the low level agent back inside the car with a single thrust. "We dont move until we get the signal. Now sit back and relax." Calico leaned back into the leather seat

In the front Arrow blew another puff of smoke out the slightly cracked window, Calico had threatened him that he better stop blowing the smoke in the car. When he had wolk up this morning he had felt like a new man, filled with thoughts of glory and riches. He couldnt help but think of the new life his family was going to have, boats, land, servents; they would give the orders finally instead of taking them. However, sitting in the car for the past few hours doubt grew in his mind. His hand shook as he tossed the cigarette out the window, all his job was to be the driver. In all his years in the agency he had never fired his gun nor been on such an important mission; hell he hadnt even been involved in a mission resulting in someones death. This thought scared him, raised in an extremely pious family, something of an oddity in Jiggady, he strongly held the beliefs of the commandments. Every day he wondered why he was working for the agency, his ability with languages made him a coveted field agent but he never got the big missions, which he was actually glad about.

Our father, who art in heaven; hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen. The words went over and over in his head as his eyes were locked onto the highrise.

Just then one of the passenger doors opened and he nearly jumped from his seat, the seatbelt keeping him down. Arrow turned his head and drew his gun, as did the even more jumpy Hunter next to him. A shadow moved into the car and seated itself next to Calico. Arrow looked to the other agent but he had a surprisingly stoic face, still gazing through the binoculars at government square. Slowly Calico lowered them and smiled at the newcommer. Totaly perplexed Arrow reached up and turned on the cars dome light. The monotony of their pitch black location was illuminated and showed him the beautiful young face of Susan. He sighed in relief and lowered the gun, Hunter did likewise and ran a hand through his long hair and pretened to straighten a tie.

"Turn out that goddamned light." Hissed Calico. He leaned over and locked lips with Susan and Arrow killed the lights, he could see a look of disapointment on Hunter and smirked. Lighting a cigarette to calm his nerves Arrow waited for their orders, he knew that with her presence here the mission was a go and there was no turning back for him.

After a minute Calico leaned back, releasing his lips from hers, and returned his gaze to the buildings.

"Everyone ready? The toxin should have taken effect by now." Susan clicked on a small flashlight and played it over a layout of the floor where jiggady was. The red dress from earlier still clung tightly to her body, a duffel bag was in her lap containing more appropriate clothes for the job.

"Lets move." Calico said succinctly and opened his door. Arrow heard the sound of two more doors opening and closing and craned his neck to see Hunter, Calico and Susan strolling up to the highrise.

May God protect us tonight. And may he forgive what we are about to do. Arrow leaned back in his seat and blew smoke in the car without care.

12:35 am present time

It had been years since they had any visitors, but they didnt mind that. They were allowed to have their families with them so there was no emotional detachment distracting them from their work. The newest generation was now five years old, those that would study and take up the work of their forefathers.

Many in the complex hadn't even seen the sunlight in over a year however, that distraction of the physical world meant nothing to them; they new their jobs and did them well. The underground research facility was six years old, and still running in excellent condition.

But today they had visitors, alot of visitors. Whenever someone came in the past it was always a single vehicle with four or five government figures to check on their progress and see what the society of scientists may need. Maximilian McMartin stood on the overhanging steel walkway and gazed down at the coloumn of troops now standing in the center of their research facility. He enjoyed the pertched view he had, overlooking his empire. Gazing down at the troops settling in he raised his voice that echoed around the cavern.

"Never before has Xander sent such a force of men. What do you want with us?"

A man stepped down from a jeep and adjusted his uniform. Placing his hat on his head he walked to the front of his men. Maximilian gazed at the stars on the newcommers uniform, he was mildly important but not important enough to get his respect.

"I am looking for Dr. Maximilian McMartin. I have news from Xander." His voice rose up to Maximilian, a puny insignificant voice. Yet for such an insignificant figure the general carried himself in a rather haughty fashion. Maximilian smiled, he would break him.

"I am he. Come general, to my office we can discuss things there." Without another word he turned on his heels and clicked down the steel walkway to his office which was carved into the bedrock so that he could look over their operations.

Seven minutes later the door opened and the low ranking general walked in. "Please be seated." Maximilian was already in his high backed chair hands on the table in a strict fashion. The general nodded his head and removed the had, he seated himself in the less comfortable chair that Max kept for visitors.

He would initiate the conversation but remained quiet for the moment, studying this new advesary. Max kept his professional apperance but on the inside he was laughing. Xander had sent some puny little child barely out of the academy to take control of the base, he must thank his old friend for giving him an army.

"Ahhem, Xander demands a report on the finality of the project. Things are set in motion and he will need your goods to secure his position."

Max's face turned dark, how dare this little shit speak before him it was impolite. "He demands this of me huh? This is my complex general, I give the demands here. Xander may have funded this secret project, but I am the man solely responsible for it comming true. We are well beyond what the initial projections are, we have ten nuclear devices ready and fifteen more still in production. So I shouldnt worry about Xander's little insurection falling apart."

The generals eyes grew wide with the figures, his heart beat faster knowing that all that destructive power was contained in this underground complex. He didnt trust it at all, hardly anyone in the Jiggady military did; there was a nation wide ban on the use of nuclear power and weaponry. Xander had balked at this notion, and he had created an awesome new power in Jiggady, one that could bring its foundation down to its knees.

"But general, after years living down here I have grown rather accustomed to my weaponry. And I just dont want to give it to him." Maximilian drew a pistol from undernieth the desk and pointed it at the young mans head. He could see beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead, his mouth moved but no words came out.

Maximilian pulled the trigger and the young general fell backward out of his seat. The scientist smiled and stood up, pressing a button for a cleaner to come in. He left the room back to his dais overlooking what would be his new army; it was either that or they be exposed to the fury of his nuclear radiation he was sure that they would comply. Xander may be setting things in motion for a revolution. But Maximilian knew that when the dust settled it would be him at the head of the new empire.

12:40 am present time

Vincent Luchiano sat behind the desk bored as always, the night shift was always boring at the government square complex. And spending each night as the highrise's front desk man was not his idea of retirement. He flipped through the lingere magazine with half interest, it was the third time he had looked at it this week. His eyes rose up and shifted about the sparse lobby, four others sat around the room in conversation or keeping to themselves. The two in conversation were some diplomates up late discussing a trade agreement with Jiggady and some far off nation. A man by the elevators and a woman by the front door were plainclothes JDA agents part of the security force at the complex. A plethera of cameras were scattered about the lobby and the rest of the highrise, making the need for an overbearing and highly visible security force unnecesary. Anyways if anything happened there was a full security force, stationed behind various hidden walls all over the complex; the most trained and best armed in Jiggady. But then Vincent sighed, nother ever did happen.

This wasnt what he had imagined when he retired from the JDA, all he wanted was pension and a condo at the William Kidd Resort. Yet he was a native of Jiggady and felt that he owed it something more than just his years of service. So when government square was erected and experienced staff and security were needed he answered the call, still fully confident in his abilities that enabled him to live through years of service.

Vincent wondered what was happening at home right now. His wife Rosita would no doubt be up waiting for his regular hourly call; he imagined that she would be sitting by the fire watching over their sleeping grandchildren. At that thought he was filled with sadness, he knew that by taking the job he was cutting out much of the time that he would have to spend with them and watch them grow. But that was the price to pay to protect the nations leader, the young man who had united them.

The clock behind the desk turned to 12:42 and he again gazed about the lobby. It would be only eighteen more minutes untill he would take break and call his wife, and only untill three when he would be relieved for the night. The revolving front doors began twirling about and he shifted his attention to them. Nearby the woman guard rose to her feet and gazed into her palm where she had a hand held monitor that was linked up to the security system. As the people walked into through the doors they were scaned by micro lights in the paneling, the guard looked at the monitor nodded her head towards Vincent and sat back down.

Susan strolled into the lobby and the two diplomates stoped their conversation and trained their eyes on her as she waltzed up to the front desk. Behind her walked a confident Hunter who placed his arm around Susans waist as she stood at the desk. For a moment his eyes shifted to the two guards and he looked them up and down however, he and Susan were in the clear being from a different branch of the Agency.

Vincent smiled openly at the eye candy in front of him and tucked the magazine away. "What may I do for you ahhh Miss. what was it?"

"Miss. Annabelle Millian. Checking back in for the evening, this is my aid with me."

"Ahhh yes yes yes, Miss. Millian. How could I forget your face? Let me check the books again, yes Trade Minister from Alcona and Hubris. How did you enjoy the opera this evening?"

"Oh it was very fine, a nice finish to my stay here. I will be leaving tomorrow morning so I trust that my ride to the airport will be waiting."

"Yes Miss Millian, you are all cleared out. You may go up to your room now." Vincent sat back in his chair dissapointed to see her go. As they chatted on his fingers expertly played over the keyboard hidden away on the desk. He accesed several files on her, dna scans, photos, and government passes; when they all cleared up and he identified her she was cleared into the building.

Without another word Susan made for the elevator with Hunter in her wake. A quick press of a button and they were past their first objective. Her cover ID had been created two weeks ago as a trade minister from another FKC nation on a weeklong stay in Jiggady where she would meet with several minor diplomates. This allowed her stay in the government square complex, giving them an in, into the building. She sighed with relief, they hadnt been stoped yet, that must of meant that Calico was doing his job.

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

When they had broke from the car Susan and Hunter had casually strolled up to the government square complex, like a couple returning from an evening out. Calico on the other hand used grappling hooks to climb over the wall and gain access to the rear of the complex. With his training it didnt take long to gain access to a security outlet and hack into the system. Now all he had to do was guide Susan and Hunter to jiggady without being seen.

Looking about to the ground Calico could see the precarious position he was in. The only security outlet that he could find was fifty feet up in the air on the outside of the highrise. Luckily the bag Susan had brought was filled with goodies that could have helped him in any situation. Calico dangled outside, holding himself steady on a windowsill, and prayed that the pully system he rigged up would hold. He risked a gaze into the window just above his head, but the room was a dark void; he could only see a lump on the bed.

Calico turned his attention back to the job at hand. The visor he wore had a little monitor that extended down over his right eye, and he watched as Susan and Hunter stood in the elevator; waiting for it to arrive at the 30th floor. Confident that the hack was in place, Calico continued up the building pulling himself up the rope system. They had agreed to rendevo at a room on the 40th floor, where Susan had been staying.

A gust of wind picked up and kicked him around, swinging him back and forth past various windows. This new development flashed a bell in his head, with the importance of todays events he had totaly forgoten about the impending hurricane. Hurricane Denny, had been developing in the southern waters of the islands and threatened to run right over Jiggady. He didnt doubt that he was the only one to forget about it, and hoped that Xander had a contingency plan in place.

Five more minutes and Calico counted that he was up to the 40th floor. He peered into the window, and could only see a single light comming from the bathroom from behind its closed door. With care he began outlining a circle with the glass cutter untill he was happy that he could fit through. Another cautious glance told him that whoever occupied the room must have been taking a long time in the shower; and he popped the glass chunk into the room with a slight thud on the carpet. Pausing Calico ventured a glance back to the monitor, and saw his two accomplices walking down the hall towards her bedroom door. With a single motion Calico thrust himself up into the room and hauled in his climbing gear.

He wanted to rush right out into the hall and get into Susans room which would be cracked open, however there was still the issue of the glass. He would have loved to have gotten right into her room but it was on the side facing the street, and he couldnt risk that. Without a second guess he drew his silenced 9mm and crossed the carpet to the bathroom. Slowly pushing the door open he could see the towled figure leaning over the side of the bathtub. Her voice hummed a sweet little tune as she shook her long wet hair about in the safty of the shower area. Not waiting, and with no regrets, Calico raised the gun and moved in. However he didnt see the little yellow rubber duck on the ground in front of him, and his right foot came down on it. A squeek ensued and Calico had to keep from cursing. The female occupant of the room turned about quickly, and let out a slight screech as she saw the man in her room with a gun. Calico pulled the trigger and she fell back into the tub with a nice little circle in her forehead. She was pretty thought Calico, but he had more important things to worry about.

Opening the door a crack Calico peered out into the hallway and saw noone. Praying that his hack job was good he rushed out into the hall and glidded down past the numbered doors until finding 429 and ducked inside it. Calico collapsed on the bed and Susan closed the door behind him, Hunter flicked on a light and Calico wasted no time laying out their gear that he had smuggled in. He and Susan exchanged another swift kiss and they loaded up with the silenced submachine guns that he had brought up on his back. They were now only five to ten minutes from accomplishing their goal and creating their future.

12:47 am

Major General Hackett sat lazily in the recon vehicle. He didnt need to stand outside and peer into the city with binoculars when he had a fully equiped radar station on wheels. His eyes were fixated on the thermal imgaries that danced around the screen. They were still moving He thought. They had been moving ever since his troops had aquired this position, though he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that this wasnt due to a detection of their presence. Tomorrow was a national holliday celebrating the naval history of Jiggady, every major port had activities planned. And Port Blood had a military show planned as well as a full reinactment of a naval battle, lucky us.

The fighting here would be the most intense in all of Jiggady, that is if it came to fighting. With luck all he would have to do would be to march down in the city once Xander claimed power.

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

The troops had given in rather quickly, Dr. Maximilian McMartin smiled as he watched them all put on blood red armbands across their right bicepts. Any man would give in when the room was suddenly sealed and an invisible gas was vented in; harmless of course, but they didnt know that. He smiled again as he checked his watch, the late Generals papers had said that Xander was activating his long laid out plan this evening. Dr. maximilian knew that he had plenty of time though before they made their move. He would let Xander run with whatever fools errand he was planning, and then strike when the moment presented itself.

His new army raised their arms and cheered aloud "DYBBUK, DYBBUK, DYBBUK!" As they exited the facility and took up a fortified position around the many hidden entrances. Replacing them in the main chamber his other army, of scientists, ran about like ants readying their part of his plan. Large missles were driven in on giant flatbeds, and Dr. Maximilian couldnt help but smile yet again.

12:49 am

Calico assumed that his hack job was a good one, the fact that they were standing outside the door to jiggady's suit proved that to him. There was no way they would have even got within 5 floors of his suit otherwise. Still there was room for failure as they approached perhapes the most dangerous part of the mission. The door to the suit was rigged up on a seperate security system that Calico couldnt access from the other terminal.

Sweat trickled down his brow and he wipped it away with his gloved right hand. He could sense the antsy actions of Hunter as the other man danced back and forth on his feet behind him. Turning his head, Calico drew his eyes wide into a face of anger; Hunter felt a chill down his spine and his legs came to a rest. Come on Xander, you better have gotten these codes right Calico had found the hidden security pannel right where the Minister of State had said it would be, and now he could only trust that this information was correct as well. He stared at the alphabetic keypad and filled his lungs with a deep breath. Behind him Susan and Hunter stood like gargoyle statues, locked in their position. In one quick motion he typed in the six letter code and froze as the pad flashed to life in a series of beeps and colored lights.

There was a slight click and Calico saw the door pop open, he let the stale air flow out of his mouth and he sat there taking a few new breaths. Susan and Hunter drew up their silenced submachine guns and drew into the room first, flanking out into the vast reception room. Calico rolled in behind them and shut the door with a silent thrust.

The room was already lit, apparently Reymont had gone down before he could turn out the lights and turn in for the evening. The two other JDA agents quickly circled around the room and thrust their hands up signaling that there was no one else present. Calico nodded and stood up, walking to the center of the room where Reymont lay. The body of the black bodyguard still twitched as his head slightly jerked in the pool of blood it was resting in. He couldnt help but smile at the pathetic scene, he had met Reymont on at least one other occasion that he could think of and it amused him to see the arrogant bastard helpless like this. Susan quickly came up and stood by his side, casting a sideways glance at the bodyguard. The little life left in Reymont brought his eyes to bear on her, and they flashed with emotion; hope or joy. But then to fear and betrayal as she lifted her silenced gun and placed a bullet through his head.

Hunter walked up from behind the corpse, his gun still trained on it, and stood with his right foot in the blood rich carpet. He motioned towards the door leading to jiggady's bed chamber and they moved to secure it; Calico made note of the red footprint trailing along. The oak door was imense, a tribute to the hierarchy of rulership in Jiggady, as if it guarded the most valuable treasure in the whole country. Susan quickly picked the lock and swung the door open into the blackened room. Each agent took a deep breath, as if they were free diving, and moved into the room.

Calico rolled into the room, with only a slight rush of wind; and the two other agents followed in and shut the door before jiggady could be disturbed by the light. Each of them pulled down the nightvision goggles over their eyes, giving them full access to the room without turning on the lights and possibly alarming anyone. Standing up Calico crossed the floor with confidence, his tall athletic body taking long strides as he weaved through furniture. He was a big man but still light on his feet and was beside the bed within seconds.

Hunter hugged the wall, moving about the left flank of the room. He stumbled once over a misplaced endtable but steadied it and steadied himself before too much noise was made. Hunters face flushed a violent red and he quickly moved around to the set of great windows that overlooked the city below. Taking a moment to breath he flash a set of hand signals to Susan, who moved into the room several feet keeping an eye on the door. Hunter moved along the wall until his hand brushed against the bathroom door knob. With a gentle push it swung open and he stepped inside the empty room. Turning his body back towards the others his hands waved wildly, giving them the all clear that there wouldnt be any surprise guests.

The room was deaftly silent, each of the intruders stood ready casting their eyes over the sleeping Chief of State. Susan turned back to face the door, and swung her gun back into that direction; she wouldnt have to fire any of the shots tonight. Calico stepped closer, within ten feet of the sleeping figure, and Hunter followed suit. Like cat burglers they silently strode up next to the target with their guns ready. The HK SP-89 felt like a brick of lead in his hands, as Hunter inched his way closer to the man he had indirectly worked for. His hands shook causing the barrel to sway back and forth, he tried his hardest to keep it focused on the target. Hunter was glad that he was wearing gloves, he was sure that the sweat on his hands would cause him to drop the gun. Damnit lets just waste him and get out of here already. Hunters mind raced, he was glad that the goggles were covering his face, he didnt want Calico to see the look on it. He held fast waiting for the order, knowing that Calico would have his ass if he fired prematurely. Trying to focus on one though, Hunter eased the gun firmly into his hands steadying it. The money will buy me a new life. No more taking shit when I am rich.

Calico stole a glance at Hunter as they inched closer into position. He couldnt see the other mans face but could tell of his nervousness from the way he carried himself. The other agent could barely keep from shaking, and Calico could barely keep from laughing. He turned his attention back to the sleeping jiggady, and watched like a mother over her sleeping child, as his chest rose and fell without care. jiggady could have no possible idea what was happening in the room, no cares in the world other than his dreams. You will soon be dreaming forever. Calico quickly shifted his head to Susan who checked her watch and gave him a nod. They were now in the clear to act, it all just rested on him firing the first shot.

The sea was smooth, and the light of the moon cast angelic rays down over the water which danced about to the symphony of the waves. Rippling waves lapped up against the side of the boat, sending the shimmering dancing lights everywhere like an explosion from a firecracker. He couldnt help but think of Tchaikovsky as he leaned over the rails with a look of pure child like delight on his face.

As if complying with some mental request the lilting tunes of the Nutcracker Suite began playing on the air, carried upon the voices of passing seagulls. He laughed aloud in the voice of a child, and twirlled about the deck in some fanciful waltz that he was the center off. The deck of the yacht Oxford rivaled the deck of any destroyer, but it suddenly seemed to grow a hundred times larger spaning the ocean surface. Overhead the clouds turned into giant notes that danced along with him, encircling him in a joyous array of motion and colors.

Rain began falling from the sky from a giant hampaigne glass and he opened his mouth to let the sweet liquid fall in. He was soon drowning in it, but he couldnt care; dolphines jumped and danced around as he grabed ahold of one and rode it through the wine.

Then something odd happened, he felt pain but he shouldnt be feeling that in this dream; this dream was of pure happiness. How could that all of a sudden change? He fell from the dolphin and began flailing about in the suddenly turbulent sea, which went from a striking white to a brilliant red. More and more pain rushed through his body, and against all will he was brought out of the dream.

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

The pair of submachine guns flashed in a brilliant aura, illuminating the room in brief but deadly spurts. It sounded like thousands of arrows flying through the air, and Calico imagined what the French must have heard at Agincourt, as the suppressed bullets greedily found their target. A smile crept across his face as he emptied the magazine into the violently jerking body of the Chief of State. He saw the face of jiggady come alive in a grotesque mask of horror and pain, he was obviously dreaming about something pretty. Calico stood firmly in place and sprayed the bullets up and down the fallen leaders midsection, beside him Hunter followed suit though the inexperienced agent danced on his feet still in nervousness.

The bullets seemed to keep comming and comming from the magazines of the guns, Calico felt as if they were standing there firing like in Predator. The bedsheets and canopy were shredded and scattered about the room, kicking up feathers and fabric like the hits in the movies. Finally though it was over, their guns clicked as the rounds were spent and all of the agents moved in and stood over their former leader. His body jerked involuntarily from the motion of the dozens of bullets impacting and leaving a sunken mess where his chest used to be. jiggady's eyes darted around in a wild uncontrolable fashion, trying to make some sense of the sudden change of events, he tried to breath but the only thing that escaped his lungs was a painfull wheez.

Then in an instant his entire body went limp, the lifeless blue eyes gazing at the ceilng as if peering into the heavens for relief. The rest of the living in the room remained standing over him, planted to their positions like great redwoods. Each of them took deep breaths, after feeling like they hadnt breathed during the entire assault. Calicos great upper body heaved up and down as he looked at the slain leader, but he quickly came back to his senses and motioned for Susan to lead the way out. He grabbed the still stunned shoulder of Hunter and tossed him out of the room before following likewise. All that remained was making it back out of the building.

Before Calico shut the door behind him, he stole one last glance back at the deceased leader of Jiggady who lay in a bloody pool like a fallen angel who had tore off his wings.

"Sleep tight."

12:56 am

The glowing clock on the dash flicked again, one more minute into their new future. At least thats what he hopped. Arrow nervously gripped the leater steering wheel, the knukles on his left hand turning white; a cigarette in his other hand slowly burned down to the filter. He had forgotten about it long ago, as he just stared up at the highrise. The smoke hovered up to his nose, tickling the fine hairs, the sweet intoxicating aroma enticed him to take another drag.

"Ahhh, god damn it!" Arrows hand flew about as he waved the cigarette out. He looked down at his fingers and sucked on the burn mark to ease the pain. Stars filled his vision as he blinked over and over to clear his head of the pain. "Damnit what is taking so long?" Arrow fished around for his pack and reached in to pull another out. His fingers danced about in the package, desperatly trying to pull out another smoke stick to ease his tensions. Arrow's face contorted to anger as he pulled the top of the Camel package and looked inside, only to see the white bottom staring back at him. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He tossed it down on the passenger seat and gripped the wheel with both hands.

Arrow let his body relax and opened his ears to the sounds of the night, cars rushed by on the nearby freeway. He shook his head, he was always more partial to the countryside and crickets. Just then the passenger and rear doors opened and slamed back shut. Turning quickly in his seat Arrow had his gun in hand and clicked on the dome light. The car illuminated and he saw the familiar figures of Hunter and Calico, seeing the looks in their eyes he sighed in relief and thought about the money.

"Drive, south side warehouse's." Calico's voice was cold and stoic as usual. Not waiting for another word Arrow steadily hit the gas and pulled away, just like any other car on the street; nothing to rush about now. He thought about asking how it went, but decided to focus on the driving.


Calico quickly went about removing and bagging up the rest of his gear, relieved that they had made it out. Susan had the easiest time of it, all she had to do was go back down to her room and go to bed; there was nothing to trace her to the room so she had no worries. She would be out of the complx by 4:30 anyways, to go to the airport and catch her 6:00 flight, as per her alias and cover. Nobody would discover the body before then anyways.

Their own escape had been enough to bring tonights dinner back up his throat. By some grace of God, the door to the room that he had entered through hadn't closed all the way allowing them back in; it was even more of a grace that nobody else came across it and found the body. It was a tense few minutes while he rigged up the climbing rope, which was much harder than from the ground and using a grappling gun. Calico had spent several minutes trying to figure out how to rig it up so that when they were down they could get the rope back. Deciding that it was taking to long Calico said screw it and tied the rope to the nearby bedstand and tossed the rest out the window. It was another few minutes persuading Hunter out the window, but the threat of leaving more corpses in the building was enough to get him down. Once down Calico decided to forget about the rope and they made their way back to the car.

He leaned back in the seat and breathed steady, which seemed like the first time that night he did that. Looking out the window the sights of Capitol City flew by as Arrow speed them down the freeway. From inside the car the city looked so innocent, quiet and peacefull; completely unaware of the change of winds and fate that had fallen upon it this evening. He looked back to the two agents in front who rode in silence, there were still more people to have their fates determined tonight.

The darkness over the city was like a comforting blanket, protecting its denizens from the dangers of the outside world. Under the blanket everything seemed at peace, innocence oddly flourished at 1 in the morning. City streets were supposed to be crawling with the dregs hummanity at this hour, hookers, dealers, muggers, bums. Not street corners with comedy troupes, parks with poetry sessions or alleys with folk bands. It was like a New York Cops wet dream. Not what one might expect when they thought of a pirate city, with drinking, dice and debauchery.

Looking out the pannels of windows from his high rise office, Xander smiled at what he helped create. It was like this all over Jiggady, a proverbial paradise on earth with a police force to rival the army of a small nation. It would all soon be his, finally. Xander crossed his hands behind his back as he stood with his face inches from the window, the lights of the newlyborn city flashed and blinked like a christmas light show.

"Hmm. Hmmha. Ahha.Ahhahaha.Hahahaha." Laughter escaped his mouth, trickling slowly like a leak in a dam until building up into a full fledged flood of jovial laughter. Just a few minutes ago the beeper that he had been staring at for the previous thirty minutes had flahshed to life and started to dance across his desk. Xander had greedily reached out for it and was rewarded by seeing the phone number that he wanted to see, the one that Calico was supposed to dial if the mission was a success.

Xander now stared at the bottle of champagne that he had planned on uncorking. Enticing droplets of water trickled down the side of the curvacious bottle as it rested in its bed of ice. His hands slowly reached out for it, nearly touching the virgin bottle, but at the last minute they retracted. No, I will wait till tomorrow when I can celebrate with my staff. Xander took one last longing look out the windows at the empire that would soon be his, he scratched the growth of red hair around his chin just now remembering how long it was since he shaved.

He slowly retired from the office, stepping into the adjacent elevator and pressed one of the buttons to take him up five more floors to his bed quarters in the highrise complex. He had personally designed this building, standing merely one story higher than the government square highrises in Capitol City; exercising the bigger dick complex over his friend and rival. Mindlessly walking through the luxurious penthouse room Xander found the bed and collapsed, sleeping for what seemed like the first time in weeks. Tomorrow would be a day to behold.

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

Queen It sounded so right and fitting. A bell laden Jester danced foolish circles as he played a reed flute. The annying noises filtered around the room packed with people, dining in their fine dress. Nobles from all over the lands, and from nations spanning this great world, sat in their colourfull garments with frills upon frills.

This is what ruling was supposed to be like, from her pertched chair she stared over the precedings like an ever present guardian. Taking joy in the fact that all these people were here to see her, and did everything to please her. Piles of tribute were placed at her feet, and she looked over it with a casual eye; more concerned that it was there than what it was comprised of. Queen Ann Marie Bonny It did sound right. She smiled in her chair, and she smiled in bed; grasping a pillow and pulling it tighter to her head.

A moment of realization passed through her head when she knew that this couldnt be, because jiggady, her love, would have to die first. And as much as she liked what she saw in the dream, she forced herself back to reality. Waking Ann Marie rubbed her sleep exausted eyes and looked at the clock. She laughed at her foolishness, they had only gotten back from the opera not even an hour ago; she needed more sleep. As her head slowly bent back down to the pillow the images of her court flashed into her head. A sigh escaped her mouth in the final realization that it was just a dream, that she was still only the Chief Foreign Minister not Queen of Jiggady.

"Lets strike already, we can hit them right up their ass and they will never know what hit them."

"Quiet, I have to wait for the order. What if the mission didnt go as planned and we struck out, we would be marked as rebels, as lone rebels and be sunk before we knew what hit us." Commodore Flint stood on deck and peered out across the harbor to the silent aircraft carrier. A few souls moved about the deck carrying out duties of the night watch. Flint looked back down at his first officer, a young lad just out of the academy; anxious to prove his worth.

"Sir! Message over the telegraph." A seaman ran up from the operations center and Flint eagerly ran back to retrieve it.

Encode mark 11, over wave X25V6.

Commodore Flint,

The assassination of the Chief of State is done. At 0800 hrs I will give a speech over the Jiggady national news proclaiming my authority to take command of the nation. You are to hold fast on your position, the orders have been changed. Do not strike out against your target tonight as planned. You will stay in your position, and in the event that there is a conflict with the military or navy of who should be in power you will then carry out your orders.

X.

End Endcode mark 11.

Flint crumpled up the paper in his hands and tossed it aside. "Damn, I was hoping for some action tonight. Mr. Wiggles, give the order for the men to stand down to readiness level three. We will wait for further orders of what to do."

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

They had made their way to the warehouse complex with great speed, there was noone on the road tonight; there was hardly anyone on the road during the day. As they had got further and further away from government square Arrow had allowed himself to relax more and more, slowly the tension drifted away like a change in the tide and a slight smile played across his face as he decided to turn on the radio. Hunter looked at him, immediatly turned off by the classical station; he reached for the dial and turned it to modern rock.

"Dont touch the drivers radio."

"Well I dont want to listen to that soft ass shit at one in the morning."

"You arrogant little prick, this is Beethoven, respect it." Arrow clicked back to the classical station.

"Come on, now this is where its at." Hunter switched it back to the rock and started banging his head in rythem. "Bhanana bhanana ba ba bhanana."

From behind Calico grabbed Hunter and pushed him back in his seat, and turned the dial back to the classical station. Without a word he stared down Hunter and then returned to his seat.

Arrow couldnt help but openly smile, he never knew Calico was a fan of this music. He felt as if there was a new bond between himself and the seasoned agent. The ride went smoothly and they pulled into the warehouse complex at 1:36, Arrow took them down a winding path through the various alleys in between the statuesque buildings untill comming across the garbage plant.

He immediatly saw the waiting car for them and dimmed the lights on the Range Rover as he pulled up next to it. The plan was to ditch the SUV in the plant where it would be recycled into new parts, and gone as evidence. They sat in the car for several minutes staring out the front window, making sure that they hadnt been compromised or followed. The silence hung in the car like a thick choking fog, it was like a bad first date where no body had anything to talk about and the guy knew that he wasnt going to get lucky. Arrow passed the time thinking of his reward for taking part in the mission, he would finally get to treat his wife to the life she deserved. The first thing they would do would be to go to the William Kidd Resort and take that long needed and overdue vacation.

"Alright, wait here while I make sure no one is waiting for us at the plant." Calico interupted the silence and exited the car without waiting for any reply from the other agents. He strolled casually around to the front of the vehicle, looking like he was peering into the darkness ahead of him.

Arrow wondered what he was up to, knowing that there was no way he could tell if anyone was in the plant from here. Hunter sat next to him with the same look of perplexion, as he to couldnt guess what Calico was doing. Arrow wanted to lay on the horn but his training didnt let him, instead he leaned back in the seat and lit a cigarette from the half gone pack Hunter had found in the glove compartment. Taking a long drag he felt his cares melt away, trusting in the instincts of Calico.

It was almost as if he didnt care when Calico swung around, raising the silenced submachine gun that he still had on his body. For a moment Calico just stood there staring at them, and all Arrow could do was stare back. Next to him Hunter's eyes went wide as his hands scrambled for the door handle. Outside the car Calico smiled and pulled the trigger, firing a barage of bullets into the car. Hunter was targeted first, his hands had just found the door handle when he felt his body jerk back in its seat from a bullet to the shoulder. Twenty more bullets his his body and life escaped him in an instant, he collapsed in the seat mouth open in a silent plea. It was in the first five seconds of the attack when Arrow came back to reality, he watched as Hunters body was riddled with bullets and at the same time felt his body jerk uncontrolably from the force of the bullets.

There was a pause as nothing happened, and Arrow tried to raise his own gun, fighting through the pain that shot up through his body. But the reprive was brief as Calico opened up with the fresh clip, and Arrow slumped back down with an unearthly moan. He could feel the life leaving his body as his eyes stared up at the roof of the car, his mouth moved but nothing came out. In his head he said the prayer over and over, hoping that God would forgive him for his actions this evening.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Calico smiled as he droped the gun to the ground, and knelt down to pick up the edges of the drop cloth. What Arrow hadnt seen when he pulled up was the black cloth on the ground that had caught the shell casings as they dropped to the ground. Within a minute Calico had the cloth tied up into a sack, he shook it and it jingled with the sounds of the spent rounds; a pleasent sound to his ears. He casually strolled over to the nearby pier and tied the ends of the sack to a cement block, and pushed the block over the side and into the bay.

Anyother time he would have torched the car, but Xander had been clear that he wanted the bodies found to serve as the scapegoats. It helped their cause that the only finger prints that would be found would be of the two men inside, Susan had gloves on from her formal gown and he had worn his own pair the whole time. Not to mention the fact that Hunters foot would have blood stains from Reymont, placing him and only him as a person at the scene.

Calico laughed as he opened the door to the waiting limo and started it up. The engine hummed to life, purring like a cat, and he slowly made his way back out to civilization where he would drive casually around town and eventually pick up Susan. His part was done for now, yet he was sure that the ever changing winds of fate would decend upon Jiggady again within the next couple days.

tag for later reading.

4:27 am present time

The elevator slowly made its way back down to the ground floor, continuing its daily routine of up and down, up and down. It carried a single occupant and their luggage at this ungodly time of the morning; its real workout would begin around Six or so. The elevator moved downward, pinging as it passed each floor until finally reaching ground level and opening its doors to the vacant lobby. Susan gazed out into the grand room before picking up her two bags and proceeding to walk out. She casually strolled across the floor, her heels clicking on the marble mosaic; she made sure to put on the usual seductive show.

Vincent Luchiano sat lazily behind the desk fighting off sleep, it had been a boring night as usual; nothing ever happened on this shift. The most exitement that he had was when several members of the security team reported in that they experienced a slight fluxuation in the system. Apparently at 12:43 and again at 12:52 the security system had fluttered a bit, causing several of the systems to brown out for a second. This was an unusual occurence at the complex, they had checked in with the local power company but there was no problems with the rest of the blocks around them; even if there were the power to Government Square was on a seperate system itself. The computer programer on duty took his time sifting through lines of code for each system that experienced this problem but could find nothing. They had given Vincent a report stating that there must have been some faulty wiring somewhere and that it was something that could be better looked into during the morning. Vincent kept the report on his desk, the security staff said that it was minor so he wouldnt bother sending it along to his superiors until his shift was over.

But this was what he was waiting for all evening. He put on his best smile and ran a hand through his hair, making sure that it was all in place as he stood up to greet his favourite guest. Annabelle Millian strolled across the lobby floor towards his desk, as stricking as ever in apperance. Her long legs moved back and forth, her thighs covered in a skin tight low cut buisness skirt. A white blouse clung tightly to her chest, the jacket she had on over, unbuttoned, leaving little to the imagination. Vincent saw her smile as she approached him, her lips shinning with a firery red lipstick; the outfit classy yet seductive. As she apporached Vincent had to keep from falling back in his chair, his knees shook like jelly and his heart felt as if it were pudding.

Susan made sure to smile as she walked up to the desk man. She smiled inwardly as well, men were so simple and controlable, she knew exactly what to do to get them to do what she wanted. Walking up to the desk she placed her luggage on the floor and continued to play her little game.

"Ahh Miss. Millian, it is a pleasure to see you again. I trust that you sleept well this evening?"

"Mmmm yes Vincent it was a refreshing nap. I trust that my car is ready?" Susan picked up the pen on the desk and signed out, making sure to thrust out her chest slightly. She stole a glance down to Vincent and saw his eyes going up and down over her body; repressing a smile she placed the pen back down.

"Oh yes Miss. Millian your car is waiting. And I shall have someone get your luggage." He rang a bell and one of the security agents entered the room from a hidden door next to the elevators. "I hope that your flight back to Alcona goes smoothly. You must hurry back and visit us again."

"Thank you Vincent, your hospitality has been a pleasure." Susan turned and walked towards the doors without another word. She could feel the old mans eyes on her, as well as the security agent, she ran a hand down her side in a teasing fashion and was out the door of the highrise.

Under the highrises canopy a single black limo was waiting, its engine humming. The secuirty agent opened the door for her and Susan sat down and made herself comfortable. He closed the door and placed her luggage in the trunk before walking up to the driver and telling him that the destination was the airport. The long car pulled away and Susan looked out the back window at the slowly shrinking highrises of Government Square. She sat back in the comfortable leather seat, stretching her legs and surpressing the urge to spread out and go to sleep on the comfortable seats. Despite her perky apperances Susan hadnt got any sleep after their job, the rest of the night was spent preparing for today, going over the plans over and over again. But she knew that she was good for awhile longer, her training made her able to go on even though her body was drained.

"Well driver how about a stop off at a hotel for a quick one before going to the airport." Susan said lazily as she unbuttoned the top couple buttons of her blouse. No response came from the other side of the tinted pannel.

"Ah, I mean: Jeez what a long trip, I cant wait to get back to Alcona." Her voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Well the roads are clear this early, we should get to the airport in no time." Over the cars speaker an indistinguishable voice returned the coded phrase.

"Alright Calico, you can lower the pannel now. Jesus Christ, you are a stickler for protocol." Susan leaned forward right up to the pannel, making sure that anger slightly seeped into her tone.

The glass finally lowered down into the seat and Calico sat in the drivers seat, in the full getup of a limo driver. He couldnt help but smile and laugh as he saw Susans face, he loved playing little games with her.

"Ass." Was her single reply as her hand shot out and smacked him across his arm. Susan looked him up and down and despite her best efforts she lost the faked anger and smiled along with him. "Nice uniform....sexy, if I may say so. How about that stop off at a hotel."

"Anything you want my dear, we have molded the future for us."

6:15am present time

He had overslept, the light comming in through the open window told him this; in the background the phone rang on and on, persistantly trying to get noticed. Disorientation struck him at first, where the hell....ohh yeah. Why the hell am I not up yet. Xander rolled over in the giant pillow laden bed and checked the alarm clock.

"Now how the hell do you work this damned thing?" His long bony fingers fiddled with several of the buttons, it was deffinetly set, his brow furrowed in frustration and he slammed the expensive clock on the fine oak end table. "Ah God damn it. I set it for 5:30pm instead of am." His brain went over the chain of events last night, trying to figure out how he made such a rediculous mistake however, the phone ringing brought him back to reality and he hoped out of bed.

Crossing the thick carpet on the floor Xander's hand shot out to the reciever, he took several deep breaths and picked it up. "Hello? What the hell do you want?"

The voice immedietly began a high pitched rapid dialogue in his ear, retelling him what he already knew.

"The Supreme Chief of State is dead?" Xander called upon the theater minor he picked up in college to really sell his surprise. "How the hell did this happen?"

"It was an assassination, Government Square is crawling with JDA agents trying to piece it together. Being Minister of State you are expected to make an announcement, telling the people this tragic news and announcing your taking control of Jiggady. The responsibility does fall on you after all."

Xander smiled into the reciever and returned to the shocked concern voice. "Well Im all the way out on the mainland, we will have to broadcast it from here. Ahhh, alright. I will make the announcement of jiggady's death at the top of the hour. After that I will have time to coordinate with the other officers of the state about taking over power."

"Very well Mr. Minister of State, I will pass on your words."

"This is a dark day for Jiggady, this will be a year of mouring. I only hope that I can carry our great nation through this." Xander signed off with those words, morose yet uplifting and powerful. Placing the phone back down on the reciever Xander picked it up again and dialed zero to get to the front desk of his highrise.

"Yes, Mr. Minister. What service may I provide you with?"

"Breakfast Mr. Hack. Im thinking scrambled, no poached eggs, bacon of course, and ohh steak. Oh and by the way, jiggady was killed last night, I will be taking control of the nation."

"Yes Sir. Congradulations!"

Humming a nice spring tune Xander casually strolled into the shower, eager for the rest of the day.

6:02am thirteen minutes ago

She knocked on the door a third time, looking at her watch as she did this. She had been working in the highrise for sometime now and knew that jiggady did not like to be woken up in the morning, he usually got up when he pleased and she would come up then; but today was the big naval ceremony and he was supposed to be up already. Another knock on the door and another minute of silence. While she was technically a maid, she was jiggady's private maid, assigned to him because she was a martial combat master and if the shit ever hit the fan, she would be another line of defense.

"Well damn him and his temper Im going in." She opened the hidden keypad next to the door and punched in the combination. The door clicked open and she walked into the black void. Immediatly she was hit with a sensation of trepidation, the room smelled like death; something she hoped to never smell again. Clicking on a light she found herself standing above the dead body of Reymont.

Shuddering, she stiffeled her initial reaction to scream and vomit. Instead her eyes wildly looked about the rest of the room, some furniture was out of place and the doors to the bedroom were still closed. Wasting no time she ran to the doors and thrust them open, clicking on the light as she did this. Her whole head went dizzy as she saw the blood on the bed and the bullet wridden body of jiggady lying half off the bed. His body was mutilated beyond recognition, chest ripped open by a mass of bullet holes; intestine and other vital organs slowly slipping out from his dangling body. Blood saturated the carpet undernieth him, looking like a sponge that needed to be squezed out.

Fleeing the suite she ran about the hall desperate to get someones attention.

"THE CHIEF OF STATE IS DEAD!! Oh my God, oh my god....jiggady is dead." In a few moments security agents started comming out of the woodwork securing the room. She collapsed in the hallway, repeating that over and over in whispers, her eyes only seeing the fallen leader on the bed in a bloody mess.

7:02am

The room was nearly empty, rows of chairs sat without anyone to occupy them; only the first two were filled with reporters that were already stationed in this new city. A podium stood alone in the front of the small room in the basement of the highrise, a microphone was the only adornement of the tall wooden structure that was hastiy put together for this occassion.

The reporters mumbled amongst themselves, word had already rapidly spread throughout their ranks as to what happened last night; many of the people of Jiggady knew as well, this was more of a formality that was supposed to be done. That didnt take away from the tension that hovered around the room like the oppressive smoke of a fire, clouding their journalistic thoughts with emotion and remorse.

Xander stood just off the stage making the nation wait for him. They were already live over all the stations in the country; everyone was waiting, hanging on their seats. Waiting for me, this will be great Xander thought to himself, he would enjoy his rule of this nation. He checked his watch again and decided that it was time, looking over his shoulder Xander got nods from his staff of advisors and strolled out onto the stage, shoulders slumped and a slight stutter in his steps.

He stood at the podium, maintaining a similar posture for this speech was to be of sadness, the next speech in another hour or so would be his opus declaring his power. The few photographers in the room clicked their cameras over and over again, in a brilliant symphony of flashes and clicks.

"Hmm ahhem. It is with a heavy heart that I stand here to carry out my responsibility as Minister of State...Last night in a cowardly act of violence an undetermined amount of people commited the most heinous act in our nations history. They invaded the Government Square highrise complex and killed the innocence of our nation.

"It was discovered early this morning that the Supreme Chief of State was murdered, killed ruthelessly and without respect. I spare no details in the condition of his body, for while it may be overly gruesome, it is important for the people of this great nation to understand the cowardly way our great leader jiggady was murdered. His body was mutilated, chest ripped apart beyond recognition by dozens of bullets that left him dead in his own bed of blood. This was done as a slap in the face, one bullet could have easily done the job, yet these assassins poured bullet after bullet, reloading to continue their dastardly job without any respect for what a great man he was."

Xander paused and looked down at the podium covering his eyes with his hands. Short breaths escaped his mouth, and the entire nation would see his grief and be grief stricken themselves. Gathering himself together Xander looked back up to the cameras and continued.

"Let me assure you all that this deed will not go unpunished, whoever commited this offense will be hunted down to the ends of the earth; whatever nation may have been involved will find themselves with their backs to the edge of a cliff. Yes this is a time of mourning, and will be for the next year, but at the same time we must stay strong. The citizens of this great nation are a strong people, going back to the days when the islands were first founded by Sir Henry Morgan, and you must remain strong and steadfast during these upcomming days and years. Do not let the international community see you as weak people in need, show them the bravery of Jiggady, that its founders Morgan, and jiggady himself would want you to have. We will get through this tragety together and come out twice the nation we were before."

Xander ended the speech, power seeping into his voice yet with the underlying notes of sympathy and remorse. It had turned into more of a claim to power than he had wanted but he knew that he got several important messages across. Standing at the podium Xander waitied several more seconds, staring at the camera, until leaving the stage and returning to his position behind the scenes.

"Get me the heads of state at Government Square, we have much to talk about."

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

Sitting in their own conference room the highest figures of authority on the late jiggady's staff of advisors watched the speech by their second ranking superior. They had been deliberating on the matter for some time now since the body had been discovered, all of them imediatly called to the highrise from where ever they may have been. Only Xander was not present due to the fact that it would be at least two hours before he could get back here and they wanted to break this news as soon as possible to the people; not wanting to look like they were witholding things from them.

They watched as Xander finished the speech and walked off the stage, the television was immediatly turned off and each of the people in the room turned back to the table to face each other. The past hour had been very quiet, discussion over what had happened had been minimal; most of them still in a state of disbelief.

General Claudius Maximus was a particular friend of jiggady and he sat at his end of the table with a distant look on his face, his own staff of advisors doing most of the talking for him. Chief Foreign Minister Ann Marie Bonny looked as if she were dead as well. Her usual giddy and tension relieving manner was gone and she looked as a hollow shell of a human.

"Well, Xander certianly made quite the speech." General Maximus finally spoke up to break the unnatural silence in the room.

"What is the position of the military?" Spoke up Jiggady Defense Agency head William Deamon. This jolted many of the people in the room, most of them had never heard him speak in any meetings. He was always the one sitting in the shadows of the room with an aide in front of him doing his talking.

"We are holding fast to keep the unity of this nation. Many of the units have been activated as peace keeping forces in some cities where there may be the posibility of civil unrest; Caira, Fox Wood. But we will stand behind Xander, who is next in line to take control of Jiggady."

"As will the navy, our ships are moving towards the boundaries of Jiggady territorial waters, securing the main passways in and out of our nation in the event that this was a terrorist attack by a nation moving to invade." Spoke up the anchient Lord High Admiral John Paul England.

"I have some news that may be of importance to this situation, just yesterday jiggady drafted a new bill into law under his authority and limited dictator powers." Ann Marie Bonny's voice was meek, even in this amplified conference room. Her eyes looked up to the rest of the people in the room, her face visibly worn.

"Yes I think I know what you are talking about Miss. Bonny." William Deamon followed. "I had a brief meeting with jiggady yesterday about this new bill, and you will see my signature on it giving my vote of its legality. He wanted someone else to sign off on it, due to its possible controversial implications." Deamon passed out copies of the bill to everyone in the room and they read it over, minds racing all with a single thought this would change things.

He watched Xander's press conference from a monitor in the airport lounge, hundreds of people stood in the overcrowded bar watching the screen intently. He saw a few of them shudder and shake in emotional distress, several women cried out at the news and the buisness men began mumbling about the ramifications this would have on them.

Noah Flint watched all of this with half interest, sipping his glass of scotch; it had been a long day yesterday and it was still going on. He was supposed to be in Port Olympus now, securing one more loose end in Xanders bid for power. Yet fate had intervined and cancelled most flights out of the nation, the threat of Hurricane Denny had grounded all flights out of Jiggady until late today. His hopes had risen when the most recent weather report stated that the Hurricane was drifting eastward, and wouldnt impact this island; his flight had been rescedualed and then this happened. All flights were again delayed due to the death of jiggady, and the fear of possible terrorism. All of this went over and over in Noah's head as he put a cell phone to his ear and listened to Xander's words.

"Forget that mission, we will not tempt fate in that manner. I want you to get back into the JDA offices, there are some more people that may need to be taken care of."

"Whatever you wish sir. Oh by the way, nice speech."

Noah hung up the phone and downed the rest of the scotch, picked up his bags and went on his way, continuing the devils work.

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

Listening to the radio, they hastily dressed and prepared to get on the move again. Xander's voice was one of sincere remorse, and Calico felt a new respect for the man and his abilities. Technically their part was done, all they had to do was to sit back and relax; there was nothing to trace them back to the murder and if by some chance they were connected they had a contingency plan already placed up.

Susan pulled on her stockings and hummed to herself as Xander droned on. In her head she wondered if it would actually work, if he could get away with it all. Xander was a smart man and had plenty of cards up his sleave but there were still many uncontrolable factors that could greatly alter fate.

"Come on, we are supposed to be somewhere right now. We still have to make sure that the proper authorities are led towards Arrow and Hunter." Calico stood at the door watching Susan dress. The past couple hours had been fun, and there would only be more of it in the future for them. "Let Xander enjoy this as long as he still has it."

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

"Im telling you thats all I know." Vincent Luchiano had been sitting in interrogation since 6:30 and it only looked to him that he would be there for hours yet to come. "You have the list of people that signed in and out of the complex last night, I dont know what else you could possibly want or need."

"Take it easy old timer, we are just doing our job; and you cooperating makes this go much smoother."

"Dont give me your bullshit, I am retired JDA so I know your techniques. And for the third time that is all I know, you have the records, you have the report of the power fluxuation in security and you have the evidence from that room."

"Yes, speaking of that room we would like to know more about the woman who was staying there." It had been like this for the past half hour, sitting in a darkened room in the basement of the highrise listening to them ask the same questions over and over.

The door to the room flew open and light spilled in, illuminating the interrigators. Vincent squinted his eyes to try and get a look at the newcommer, but the various light sources wreaked havok with his senses and he just sat there dumbfounded.

"What the fuck! This is a private....Oh, ssssory we didnt know it was you."

"Nevermind, get out. This is my show now." The new voice hissed in a deep scratchy manner like he had smoked to many cigarettes. Vincent tried to remain strong and proud but the sight of the agents that had been questioning him, shrinking back into their shells had filled him with apprehension.

The new figure sat down in one of the chairs, flanked by two new agents who took the place of the others. The door was shut behind and Vincent suddenly felt dread rising up from his intestine. Another light was turned on, illuminating the face of the newcomer; Vincents eyes went wide and his body slumped back. This had just gone to an entirely new level of fucked up, as Vladislov 'The Hun' Minch was seated opposite him smiling with his serpent like face that looked ready to strike. Vincent had heard of him, seen his picture several times and he knew that meeting the dreaded head of Attila Prison was usualy a death sentance.

"Why dont you stop dicking around and tell me what you know. I would like to get this over as soon as possible, so dont make me resort to the techniques that I have to use in my prison." The ends of his mouth curled up in an evil smile and the two men behind him crossed their arms. Vincents mind flashed, to his wife and grandchildren probably wondering why he hadnt come home yet; he hoped that he would get to see them again. "I have gone over the record book and everything seems to be in order, you have done a good job keeping these records. But what I am not pleased about is the state of your security team. I want to know how the hell these assholes got in or else I will have to start thinking this was an inside job."

"Nnno This wasnt an inside job, each of these people were handpicked from the JDA. Whoever did this was an experience hacker, they got into our system and fucked with the video feeds and brought down the security to each floor. I mean this is some serious shit because the highrise has the best security in the nation, someone must have funded a serious hacker."

"Or it was an inside job by someone who knew the system."

"It couldnt have been, we found that the tampering came from a security outlet on the outside of the building. They even placed in a worm that ate all of our video from the night, I could tell you what each person that came through the lobby looked like, but we have no video record of them anymore.

"What of the dead woman, her room was obviously an entry and exit point."

"She was a one, Patty Dwyer a diplomat from Dyelli Beybi, poor young thing."

"Poor young thing? She may have been involved in the assassination. If her room was a base of operations for the killers, than they could have killed her on their way out to tie up loose ends. Just sit back Mr. Luchiano we have more questions for you about these killers, they left some of their gear it was obvious that they had transportation waiting for them. What can you tell me about the external security?"

"Well the external security cameras and sensors and shit are all on a seperate system, I dont beleive that it had any problems with it."

"Well there you go, you may be usefull to us yet. Get us these videos."

The news was greeted with shock among most of the citizenry of Vrak. People began to wonder what will happen since Jiggady remained a favorite destination area – especially for the well-heeled elite. The Supreme Jiggady was held in high esteem among the higher echelons in the government and some conspiratorial rumblings could be heard. However, these were usually the same folks that believed that the King was responsible for actually starting the Dozle war.

Meanwhile, in a certain building…

Translated from Vrakian.

-And how exactly did our field agents miss this one?
-Jiggady is still somewhat difficult to penetrate. And the Supreme Jiggady himself was quite…paranoid…when it came to his own security.
-Amazing that they got by Reymont.
-We are still trying to figure that out, although we have some ideas.
-That’s not important right now. What about our background information on Xander?
-Nothing more that what we already don’t know.
-Any connection at all between this and Plank?
-Not sure yet, sir. Still investigating.
-I want a prelim intel report within the hour. As well, we have to monitor this carefully. With the stuff going on in Dyelli Beybi, the still hung up negotiations in Nekoa, and now this…
-Indeed.

====

To: Jiggady Diplomats
From: Vrak Diplomatic Corps
Subject: Condolences

We extend our deepest condolences to your nation. We grieve along with you and trust that the perpetrators of this horrible crime will be brought to justice. As well, we trust that Minister Xander will guide your nation through these sorrowful times.

7:35am


There was always something to protest in this city Samir Hussitar thought to himself as he went about the daily routine of opening up his fruit stand. It was only early morning and already the sun was overhead, angrily casting its rays down onto the desert city. Early reports indicated another afternoon temp of 97 degrees, but Samir merely shrugged his shoulders; that only meant that buisness would do well. Especially with thousands out on the streets praising the death of their leader.

Deep down it disgusted him to see people cheering the death of another, especially the leader of their own nation who, in Samir's opinion did nothing to make him a bad ruler. Sure his anti religion policies had sparked endless uproar and debate over Jiggady but he had set Caira aside as a haven for religious practice. And yet everyday one group of people would take to the streets in protests against his rule.

A new group of cheers erupted from somewhere in the sea of people as a coffin was passed about on the shoulders of the people until tossed onto a large stage and set on fire. The wood burned furiously, in a no doubt symbolic nature of their disdane for their fallen leader. Samir shook his head again and handed out several bottles of water, buisness would indeed be good today, maybe it was the blessing of Allah that he was killed. After all the economy of this nation was in the perverbial shitter.

Shouts of "Xander, Xander, Xander." filled the air, as the people made it known who they supported. The Minister of State was a favorite of the people here, many of who were not true Jiggadians; that was to say most of the people of Caira could not date their ancestry to any pirate clan that had settled here. They supported Xander because he was one of the few heads in the government that was not a natural citizen, and that he was decidedly much more pro buisness and the people desperatly wanted a change in the economy.

More bottels of water were sold, along with assortments of refreshing melons. Yes buisness was doing well....maybe...just maybe this was a good thing.

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

The scene was vastly different in other cities along the chain of islands, the streets were mobbed with people, but they were mourning the death of their leader. In their eyes he was the greatest man in their history since Sir. Henry Morgan, and people praised the fact that he was a long removed descendant from the famous pirate lord. To them jiggady was the great uniter of their islands, and entire cities across the nation shut down as if it were the sabbath.

Some declared it to be a year of mourning, others said it was time to cry a thousand tears as their nation lost its innocence with this hostile attack. The one thing everyone did agree on was that this was the greatest tragedy in their history; what they couldnt agree on was why this happened or who was to blame. Conspiracy nuts stood on soap boxes spreading the word of this being a precursor to an invasion and feared that the governments policy of non involvement in wars that plauged the FKC would now come back to haunt them. Others spread word of internal government politics and power struggles. But no matter what the belief, one thing was on everyones mind; that this was the begining of a terrible time for their nations future, blood and war was on the horizon.

Jacob Black stood among the mourners in Morgans Hideaway, the economic capital of Jiggady. Pirate flags were draped out on every window and a bagpipe rendition of amazing grace filled the air, over all the sobs. He stood with his head low, but didnt shead any tears; he would rather be inside the stock office seeing to the trades that needed to be made. This is not good for the economy Even in his death jiggady was still a plauge to the buisness industry. Black only hoped that someone would finally open Jiggady up to new industry, more money to circulate and line his wallet.

In Cyro the citizens greeted the news with the usual apathy they held towards politics, but inside the halls of Parliament, people were seething, "A diplomat, killed." it was the Chancellor himself, usually Herr Himmler was a restrained man, but this time he let rip at the Cheka agent on the other side of his desk, "This is outrageous, who'd want to kill a Dyelli Beybian diplomat?"

The agent seemd completely unruffled, "To be fair Sir, any number of Nations might be interested in whacking one of our Diplomats."

"God God." the Chancellor's fist slammed down on his desk, "I hope the Jiggardians have a good explanation for this."

"They have just lost their leader Sir, they might regard this as a sideshow." the Agent remarked.

"It just goes to show what a shambles Jiggardian Security is." Himmler raged, "Commisaar Dzerzhinsky, I want that country so full of Cheka operatives that a man will sneeze and I'll know about it 5 minutes later."

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

Later that hour in Benjia House

"He asks the impossible." Dzerginsky sighed, he was confering in a glass walled office with a plain clothed Cheka agent, outside ranks of Computers housed the heart of Dyelli Beybi's Intelligence network, "But we can at least make an effort. We'll to send in a 'fact finding team'...get on the blower to the Jiggardians...oh yeah and tell the boys down in Saint Guinefords to tell Plank that we might just have a way he can repay us for not cutting off his Goddam head..."

--------------------------------
To: The Jiggardian Interim Government
From: Benjia House, Cheka HQ
Subject: Death of a Diplomat

While we are sure that the death of Ms. Pattricia Dwyer was the work of a criminal mastermind, and in some manner connected with the death of your own leader, we are at the same alarmed at the fact that such a secure building could be infiltrated. The Cheka asks permission to send in a small contingent of Cheka Officers and Metropolitan Police to examine the body, as well as the scene of the death of our diplomat. We suggest that this course of action could prove beneficial towards the maintainance of good diplomatic relations.

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

Meanwhile at the border, patrols of Dyelli Beybian Border Constabulary had been spotted crossing the border, although they hastily retreated when spotted. At one point a mortar was fired (with no effect) at a checkpoint and while the Border Patrols were suspected, no evidence of them having actually carried out the attack could be found.

"See, that has to be their car its just been sitting there half the damn night."

"Cant we get any better picture than this shit?"

"Sorry sir, we havent been able to update the outer security system yet. It was actually supposed to be done within the week, this is the best we have to work with." The aid pointed to the monitor with the half fuzzed out picture, they could make out the car on the street rather clearly. But whenever someone moved across the screen it was a black fuzzy blur. "Had they done this in the daylight we would have had a perfect picture of each of their faces."

"Fucking amatures. At least we know that it is a government issue car, looks like it was an inside job by someone." Vladislov hissed at the screen as he took a drink of coffee. He turned his eyes away from the monitor towards where two of his men dragged out the body of Vincent Luchiano. A slight chuckle escaped his mouth as he though back to the interrigation, the old man was a stubborn bastard but his body didnt last that long. Vladislov hadnt been certian that the Luchiano was telling him everything that he knew, so Vladislov reverted to some of the practices that he used in his prison. It was only after Luchiano stoped breathing that Vladislov believed he had nothing more to tell them.

"Get on the horn to the JDA, pass along this information and I want more men down here. Make sure they get me agent Calico, he's the best man we have right now."

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

The tension in the conferene room was begining to boil over as the heads of state went over the document again and again trying to verify the legality of it. It was indeed hastily put together, and could possibly be refuted in its validity and most in the room agreed that Xander would attempt to do so. Yet jiggady was a dictator, not a president, he had the authority to make such laws. Chief Foriegn Minister Bonny seemed to believe in the legality of the bill, but that only made some in the room distrust her intentions since she was to be named the next ruler by it.

This was all done in spending the time while they waitied for a link to Xander on the mainland. It had been a frustrating half hour since his announcement of jiggady's death, due to the lack of ability to easily communicate with the new cities on the mainland which were still undergoing technical upgrades. Government had come to a standstill and everyone sat in the conference room not exactly sure what to do.

At least one part of the government was still working, the public relations department was like a room of caffine filled ants as people dashed back and forth carrying stacks of paper. Fax machines were running non stop with messages of condolences comming in from nations all around the FKC. As fast as they came in, some nameless typist pounded out a reply and faxed them back.

Vrakian government,
We thank you for your sympathy in this tragic event that has struck our fair nation. We can only hope that this will strengthen the ties between our two nations, and we assure you that whoever was behind this most heinous attack will be swiftly brought to justice. No matter who ends up in power, Jiggady will remain the nation it once was and maintain our strong relations with the rest of the FKC.

Dozens of similar messages were sent out, tweaked only to insert the name of another nation. There was one message though that passed out of their hands and went directly up to the heads of state in the conference room. The reply from the Dyellian government had unnerved many of the people in the room, realizing how far reaching this incident may be.

"Lets just send them a reply as soon as possible. Assuring them that we are doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice. The death of their diplomat was tragic and unfortunate and that we are looking into it; giving it as much importance as jiggady's death." General Maximus tossed a pen down on the table and massaged his eyes, this day was just filling up with more and more complications.

"Look at this response, it is nothing more than a threat against us. 'beneficial towards maintaining good relations' My ass. Sending in their own people to examine the scene? This is only going to slow down the process, we must tell them that they should respect our ability and that we have the situation fully under control."

"Calm down Mr. Deamon, I will not issue such a response. The last thing we need is an issue with the Dyellians, we have enough problems right now. We will send a reply giving our condolances over the death of their diplomat. Our investigation so far has turned up that she was an innocent victim in this cowardly act, it was discovered that the killers entered her room by chance and killed her so that she wouldnt be able to raise an alarm. We have the investigation under control and believe that your sending in more people will only hamper it. However, we respect the fact that you will want to investigate this matter personally and your people will be given whatever they need to investigate." Ann Marie Bonny looked about the room, and her proposition was met with nodds around the table.

"Very well, get it in writing and send it off immediatly."

(OOC) I'm writing thnis on the assumption I've already recieved the letter back, if you'd rather I didn't feel free to just ignore this response until the letter is formally written.

Felix Dzerzhinsky was not entirely certain what to make of the reply he had recieved, "Well at least they claim to be taking things seriously." he mused. A more junior member of the Cheka was sitting oposite him, both were wearing military style field grey uniforms, the blue piping and unusual rank insignia, the only thing that marked them as 'Political Officers' rather than combat troops.

"I think Sir." the other man replied, "That it would be best for our careers at least if we make a point of insisting we get a foot in the door, I was with the Fuhrer this morning and he seems to have cooled off a little, but I think he'd still be a lot happier if we at least got them to accept a liason officer."

Dzerzhinsky nodded twice, "Mmmmhm yes, my thoughts exactly, we'll get a letter off detailing the necesity for a liason officer from the Cheka at least." he paused, the man oposite him nodded his agreement, "How is Saint Guineford's these days Leo?"

Leo shrugged, "I can't complain, it's a beautiful city...which is more thasn can be said for Cyro."

They both chuckled, "And how is our guest Mr Plank?" Felix asked.

Leo grimaced, "I wouldn't trust that man as far as I can throw your desk....but he could prove useful if push comes to shove..."

ooc: oh yes, i assumed that you would have recieved the reply quite soon afterwards.

ic:

Xander leaned back in the reclining chair, and cast his eyes across the table to his staff of handpicked advisors. They all stared back at him, waiting for the real time video feed to come online. The mamouth black screen on the wall hung silently on the wall waiting to be activated, a similar one in the conference room back in Capitol City did likewise. Then in a seemingly random instant they both flicked on to life and the council of jiggady's advisors were again united.

"It is good to see all of your faces again. It has felt like years since we have last spoken." Xander leaned forward on the table, hands crossed in front of him. There were similar replies from the other end of the connection and they got down to buisness.

"Where do we stand on the investigation of the atrocity?"

"Well, our conclusion right now is that this was some type of opperation done by rouge agents within our own ranks. The equipment found on the scene is equipment used by the JDA, and the car that we have determined was their getaway vehicle is also government issue." William Deamon spoke up.

"Our own agents Bill? What the hell are they thinking? Give me an update as to the search for this vehicle and the agents that were inside it."

"We have top men on the investigation right now, I have handpicked the team of agents that I can trust beyond a reasonable doubt. But we are still working on who may have been involved."

"Well the question is, who was behind this attack? Have we been able to determine if this was the doing of a foreign power seeking to cause turmoil in our nation? Or, god forbid, has evidence pointed to someone within Jiggady?"

"This hasnt been determined yet, Mr. Minister of State."

"Ah, Mr. Minister of State there is also the issue of this Dyellian diplomat." Ann Marie Bonny turned towards the screen.

"What do you mean Miss. Bonny?"

"Well sir, the attackers scaled the towers from the outiside gaining entrance through breaking into one of the rooms. That is how they got inside and past the security without being noticed. The room housed a diplomat from Dyelli Beybi who was also killed, in what we presume to be to cover their entrance and or escape before she could alert security. The response from their government was not to pleasent, and we responded with our sympaties to them and giving them permission to send their own team in."

Xander sat on the edge of his seat listening to this, he closed his eyes and looked down at the table. This was just one huge complication that he didnt want to have to deal with. "This is a shame, thankyou Miss. Bonny. You did the correct thing with your response, we want to maintain good diplomatic relations with our neighbor.

"Well, I think the next order of buisness is that we should draft a public statement letting the people know what is going to be happening with the government." Xander leaned back in the chair again, looking very worn out.

"Ahh yes, we have been discussing that here with great interest. There is something that we need to inform you of."

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

The normally empty lot was filled with dozens of cars with lights flashing like a huge beacon saying that there was stuff happening here. They had secured the lot outside the garbage plant five minutes ago, finding a car that matched the one on the security tapes. Agents swarmed around the car and the plant, securing the location as a forensic team began the process of going through the vehicle.

It was as miracle that they had found the car this fast, and they counted themselves lucky as they descened upon it. Twenty minutes earlier a call had come in from the JDA offices that someone had found the lone car parked in a lot that was off limits except to garbage vehicles. Apparently someone comming in for the day shift had spotted it, saw the bodies inside and called the authorities. Within minutes the information had been forwarded to the investigation team and they wasted no time moving out here.

Calico stood by the car with several other agents as the forensic team slowly sifted through the car; pictures were taken and evidence was moved out. Supervising the clean up, Calico pointed out several things to the men and stood by listening to the reports of other agents.

"We checked the surounding area, everything is clean. Point of entry to the facility was the gates back by the warehouses that were already open. This appears to have been a rendezvous point, most likely where they were to recieve their payment for the job; but instead of getting paid they got some bullets." The junior agent spouted off the information from his head and waited for his superiors reply.

"Look around here what is missing?" Calico said calmly, not shifting his eyes off the car.

"Ahhh, ummmm.. missing sir?" The agent turned about scaning the scene for some missing detail that he overlooked but found nothing.

"You saw the scene in jiggady's suite didnt you, what is missing from here that was there?" Calico now turned to face the young man, barely old enough to buy a beer. The expression on the face of the other man remained one of confusion, rolling his eyes Calico put his arm around the young mans shoulder and pointed it out.

"There are no shell casings anywhere, look at the car it was obviously shot the hell up. Where are the casings that should be all over the ground?"

"Ohhh....I have no idea. What does this mean sir? They picked up every shell that fell to the ground? Or that this happened somewhere else and the car was brought here?"

Calico remained silent for a moment, kneeling down to gather his thoughts. The other man knelt down beside him, thinking that it was some type of professional thing to do.

"I dont really know, I doubt someone would take the time to pick up every little one; they would have been in a hurry to get out of here. And I dont see how the car could have been driven here, the body in the front seat doesnt look like it has been moved at all. Unless it was towed here..." Calico mused and the other man nodded his head, trying to look like he knew what was happening. Turning his head away Calico saw the approaching figure of Vladislov and got up to meet the other man.

"I didnt get much else out of the plant worker that found the car. It was the begining of the shift and he was the first one here. Nothing was reported sooner because there is no night shift, the plant is run at half capacity by a skeleton force of animatronic workers."

The two men just stood there watching the car get unloaded of all the possible evidence. Bullets were removed, several guns that were found inside, and eventually the bodies themselves. The forensic team took note of the blood stain on the boot of one of the men and took everything into the nearby tractor trailer which housed their moblile lab.

"Let us know as soon as you get anything." Calico said to the passing team as they moved into the next stage of the investigation, now all they could do was wait.

Ten minutes later

Vladislov and Calico stood in almost the same exact positions as they had been for the past few minutes, both staring at the car exchanging little bits of information and ideas on the case. Calico was surprised by the aptitude Vladislov had for this rational thought line, he always had just assumed that Vladislov was just some brutal thug who ran the most notorious prison in the nation. They had met on several occasions before, when Calico had buisness at the prison, and had formed a bond based upon professional courtesy.

"A thought occurs my friend. How did you end up on this investigation? You are not even JDA." Calico turned his head towards the other man, left hand resting on his mouth as if in thought.

"Well shit has been slow in the prison, so they have been looking to assign me to other tasks. There was talk of sending myself and some others out to Fasta Benji, to help the Dyellians and the Germanians with their cleansing process; God would I have enjoyed that. But then this came up and I was brought in by the other heads of state to help with the interrogations. Though this hasnt been half as fun as tourturing infidels would have been." The tall dark man stood by looking down to Calico, his face remained expressionless as he talked about the slaughter of people.

Calico supressed a shudder and remembered why he liked keeping a distance from the man nicknamed 'The Hun'.

"Sir! We have an id on our two corpses. JDA agents Hunter, Jacob and Arrow, Jack; both are homeland defense branch. And we have adresses on them." A door to the tractor trailer opened and a white coated lab rat came rushing out towards the men waving papers in his hands.

"Excellent job Mr. Blyth keep up the work on the guns and bullets, I want the results in by yesterday." Calico snatched the papers out of the mans hands and he turned and ran back into his sanctuary. Handing some of the papers to Vladislov Calico looked up to the other man.

"Alright, you take this bastards appartment; and I'll take this ones." He looked to the other man who nodded in agreement, each one ran off in a sperate direction gathering a team of fifteen others. Within minutes half the cars in the lot were peeling away like dogs on the trail of a rabbit.

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

Within fifteen minutes each appartment was secured by a JDA strike team and the long process of searching for evidence was on again. The King St. appartments were a higher class section of housing right in the heart of Capitol City and Vladislov stood in the living room of the now desceased Jack Arrow. The report that he had in his hands stated that Arrow was a family man, yet he was origionally from Blackbeards Vista and his wife and children remained there.

The apartment was nearly empty, save for the necessary items like a bed fridge and other basic furnishings. Vladislov looked at it all with disdane, he knew that these agents were probably being paid well to do what they did last night and it looked like Arrow was hoarding it all still. "Spread out I want this place cleaned out." Agents scattered about to carry out the orders, they werent really sure that he had any authority over them but his domineering presence scared them out of questioning him.

Vladislov walked over to the little kitchen nook and picked up an apple from the counter. Watching the men scurry under his orders brought a smile to his face and he took a large bite out of it, letting pieces fall to the floor.

"Sir, you should see this!" The shout came from the next room and Vladislov strolled over there still eating the apple. He walked into the bedroom and pushed his way through the circle of black suited men. Apparently people did keep skeletons in their closets, and Arrow hadn't done a good job keeping them secret. The closet was like his private little sanctuary, filled with anti government propoganda and panflets; Vladislov knelt down and began flipping through them.

" 'How to overthrow the government', '10 steps to a better life', 'End Jiggady's suffering', 'It starts in Caira it ends with jiggady', 'Death to the dictator jiggady'......Well this is some interesting reading he was doing." Vladislov knew that there was unrest among some of the people, and that jiggady while a very popular leader to some, was downright hated by others. He had also heard about some underground anti government movement out of Caira but had never seen anything to validate its existence.

"Excellent, at least now we have motive. You get on that computer, I bet its just loaded with damning files against this bastard."

The scene was similar at the appartment of Jacob Hunte, at a different part of the town. Calico and his men were rumaging through Hunters collection of anti jiggady reading; bagging it up as evidence as they went along. Calico smiled inwardly, Susan had preformed nicely in planting all this crap that they had confiscated from an illegal raid on one of the Caira chapters of the Free Jiggady movement. The evidence was perfect, no one would miss it, and it now looked like the assassination was the work of two disgruntled agents; whose minds were poisoned by their readings.

"Do you mind repeating yourself? Either there is a bad connection or this is some type of sick and untimely joke." Xander struggled to keep his composure in the room hundreds of miles from the other heads of state. His left eye brow twitched slightly and he leaned over the table with his arms crossed in front of him.

"I believe that you should know that none of us are particularly funny, so no it isnt a joke and the connection is perfectly fine." William Deamon leaned back in the chair, he didnt care if Xander saw the smile on his face or not.

"This is the copy of the bill that jiggady just put into effect." Ann Marie Bonny held up her copy of the bill, Xander had is own that was faxed to him but he kept his eyes rivited to the screen. "It was jiggadys decision that whenever he passed, the government should fall onto the next highest ranking 'citizen of Jiggady.' That is someone who is born and raised in the country that is in his words 'a person who can appreciate and has a great love for this nations history and will carry its traditions until the end of time.' It was jiggady's fear that if someone who wasnt a natural born citizen of Jiggady that they may abandon these traditions." It pained Ann Marie to say these words, in the time that she had been a chief advisor she had grown to like the minister of state, even if he wasnt from Jiggady.

"What can we say about the legality of this new bill?" Xander kept his words short and to the point, fearing an outburst at any moment.

"Well as you know he was a dictator, he had every right to create what law he wanted. And my signature is on it as verification." Deamon again spoke up with a smug look on his face. Xanders eyes narrowed momentarially but he quickly regained his composure; you will get yours soon enough you arrogant son of a bitch.

"Ok the law may be legal but is this the best thing for us in the state we are in right now? Especially since it hasnt even been a full day since this law has been created, we should see what impact this will have on the citizenry."

"Well this law is created to protect the citizenry. It assures them that their lives will not be overly affected by the possibility of an entire shift of power to someone who isnt naturally from Jiggady. Ann Marie Bonny leaned forward taking up most of the screen, she saw the potential this had to tear the advisors apart.

"If you dont mind me saying, Miss. Chief Foreign Minister, but this sounds like a witch hunt against those in government who may not be natural citizens. Am I to feel that this arrgument is to keep me from becoming the chief of state of Jiggady? For the sake of stability we must show the people that the government is working how its supposed to, not come out with last minute changes." Xander put his own smug face on and stared at the monitor unphased.

"I am also not a natural citizen, but I feel the new law is fair enough." General Maximus spoke up for the first time in awhile.

"Yes, but you are not in line to take power. I can see where this may be a tense area, and I dont feel that this sudden course of action may be as beneficial as jiggady had believed." Lord High Admiral, John Paul England also spoke up for the first time. The decrepit admiral leaned forward in his seat, his face as hard and stoic as ever. He rubbed one of the many wrinkles under his eyes and tried to bring a calm voice of reason to the room. Xander had to keep from pulling back in shock, the last person he expected support from was the head of the navy; a loyal son of Jiggady.

"I greatly disagree. What the people need now is to see a lifelong citizen of Jiggady become its new leader, someone who they love and can identify with. Rather than an outsider." Deamon kept up with his persitance. Xander wondered what his angle was, perhaps Bonny had promised him a nice new position.

"Yes, I feel that you are right. If this is to be jiggady's dying wish, than we should honor it. I think you are wrong Mr. Minister of State, if we are to use titles, following through with this law will show the people that the government is indeed stable." Ann Marie was growing more confident as the meeting went on. Images from her dream crept up into her thoughts, Queen of Jiggady.

"Pardon me for saying but it seems awfull convenient that as soon as jiggady is dead, this new law pops up from no where." Xander finally said it, placing what everyone may have been thinking out on the table. The conference room he was in was already pretty silent, and by the looks on the monitor the other conference room got equally as silent.

"I dont like the line of your questioning. This is a law and I am going to fulfill this law, and I dare you to say that I had anything to do with what happened." Venom ran through her voice as Ann Marie's eyes narrowed, her fragile petite fram hunkered up and she cast a shadow around the room.

"You said it Miss Foreign Minister, not me." Xander smiled, he had won the small battle now to take the big one.

"I am prepared to go on the news and break this to the public, do I have a majority vote amongst you all to do so?" Ann Marie Bonny retreated from the monitor and looked about the room. Xander's face went panicy for a moment and he again regained his composure; so far she was winning the big war.

The tension in the room was broken up with the ringing of a cell phone. William Deamon reached down to his pocket with an annoyed look on his face, "What!?"

In his own conference room a phone rang and Xander leaned back to pick it up. The rest of the heads of state looked back and forth between the two, and at this odd coincidence.

It was like finding Morgans long lost treasure that was supposed to be hidden somewhere around Jiggady. The JDA agent had broken into Arrows computer after several frustrating minutes of getting past his security system. Christ, no wonder how this guy got past our security so easily; he needs to get laid more often. The agent had finally gotten through, using byepass on top of byepass.

The information on the computer was indeed damning, squirled away in a file that was burried deep in the computers operating system. Arrow wasnt shy about naming names, the agent smiled as they had confirmations on at least two of the anti jiggady cells in Caira, something for someone else to deal with. The information was immediatly copied and forwarded on to the proper figures who could take the next step in bringing down more of these bastards.

At Hunters appartment, the various panphlets were boxed up and carried away back to JDA headquarters. There was no computer here to go through, Calico chuckled to himself Hunter was probably to dumb to operate one.

He absently checked his watch and wondered how Susan was doing. His temples ached as a migrane hit his head, Calico placed his hands to his head and closed his eyes. He couldnt wait for this mess to be over so that he and Susan could start their new life away from the JDA and all its shit. He had never been squimish about carrying out any of their orders, yet the weight of years of killing and backstabbing espionage was starting to catch up to him; pushing down on his shoulders as if he were on the ocean floor undernieth all its pressure.

"Ahhh sir, your phone is a ringing." One of the agents carrying a box had stopped to look at Calico who was standing there with his head in his hands. The man had a quizical look on his face as Calico snapped back to reality to hear the insistent ringing. He thrust his hand down and drew up the phone, giving the agent an angry thumb to get back to his work.

"Yeah, Calico."

"Agent Calico, this is Dr. Blyth back at the crime scene."

"What do you got for me Doc.?"

"Tons of information confirming that it was these two that were responsible. First of all the one, Hunter, yeah one of his boots contained a blood sample. We first assumed it was his own, but we can place it at the scene, there was evidence there of someone steping in the blood that was pooled around Reymont. It tracked footprints at the scene and both the blood and the prints are a match.

"We also ran tests on the two guns we found in the back seat, both H&K submachine guns, the bullets that killed jiggady match each gun."

"Excellent Blyth, forward the information on to JDA headquarters.."

"Wait I got more. We also found a 9mm in the car it was on the floor in the front passenger seat, and it appears to have been Hunters sidearm; I guess it fell out of his pocket and he didnt realize because there was no other sidearm on him. Well, the bullet that killed that diplomat at the highrise matches up with this gun. So we got her killer and jiggady's killers." Dr. Blyth finally stopped his jabbering. Calico couldnt blame him, he rarely got the opportunity to prove his worth out in the field.

"Dr. Blyth you are a godsend. I am going to call Deamon personally, you make sure all of that gets back to the offices." Calico clicked off without waiting for any other reply and dialed up Vladislov.

He got through to the other man and they exchanged information on what each had found at the appartments. Calico proceeded to fill Vladislov in on what had been reported in to him and the prison administrator replied with his own triumphant cheer.

"I'm calling the head of the JDA now to pass this along. Keep up your work there and thank you for all you have done."

"I have to report this as well, you may be doing this with the JDA but I was put onto this mission by the remaining chief advisors. I have to report into their head, Xander."

"Very well, good luck." Calico flipped the phone shut and leaned back on the kitchen counter. Slowly he felt the weight lifting from his shoulders. He unfoled the phone again and dialed for his boss.

Vrakian government,
We thank you for your sympathy in this tragic event that has struck our fair nation. We can only hope that this will strengthen the ties between our two nations, and we assure you that whoever was behind this most heinous attack will be swiftly brought to justice. No matter who ends up in power, Jiggady will remain the nation it once was and maintain our strong relations with the rest of the FKC.

The response from the Jiggadian government was reassuring, but predictable. But the last phrase struck the Intelligence Sub director (of which there was an unknown number) as odd. This particular sub director was tasked with monitoring events in the Southern Klatch, so lately he has been getting very little sleep.

His thoughts twirled up in the air, much like the smoke from his cigar resting in the ashtray. Remain the nation it once was? No matter who ends up in power? Power struggle going on? Hmmmm. Soon he picked up the phone. After a brief conversation, he then summoned his aide.

-Send out teams 34 and 36 immediately. They are to enter the usual way, although we suspect Jiggady will be on a higher level of alert than usual. Tell them to keep their ears to the ground and to be careful. I want to know what’s going on down there.

Thunder began booming overhead and all in the conference room couldnt help but flinch at the sudden cracks and bangs that sounded like bombsfalling on their position. Ann Marie Bonny looked up and then around the room, pleased to see that she wasnt the only one who as overly startled by the encroaching storm. Deamon continued to talk away on his phone in a hushed voice, but by the look on his face she could tell that something big had happened.

"I thought the hurricane wasnt supposed to hit this island." General Maximus had to keep from shaking in his seat, he had yet to adjust to the weather patterns in the islands; experiencing tons of new things that he hadnt seen in Rome before.

"Oh dont you worry General, you would know if we were getting hit by a hurricane; we are just getting some storms from the outskirts of it. Why I've sailed through worse than this sounds. Reminds me of back in 64' when I was captain of the Von Shultz we sailed right through the heart of a hurricane, the wind nearly ripper her hull right appart. Why I tell you never before have I had such an exillerating experience, standing up on deck feeling the rain on my face, ahhhh." Admiral England leaned back in the chair with a distant smile on his face as if he was on deck of the ship right now. Maximus turned his head and rolled his eyes, Bonny returned his glance with her own sarcastic expression.

She turned back to the monitor which was growing a bit staticky and saw Xander place his cell phone back down on the table, just moments later Deamon did the same and they looked to each other waiting for the other to break the news.

"Well, as Bill already knows there has just been a major breakthrough in the investigation." Started Xander.

"Yes, the car, the agents, and the weapons have all been secured by our agents. They id'd the two men involved, both of whom were found dead in the car shot by another unknown person, as JDA agents Jack Arrow and Jacob Hunter." Deamon continued, he was content to keep going on in this back and forth manner.

"They were JDA agents?" Ann Marie spoke up, her voice full of shock. Her eyes fixated on the JDA head in a questioning pose. She saw Deamon shift uncomfortably in his seat as he mustered up his voice again.

"Yes, the investigation led our people to both of their appartments where they found tons of the anti jiggady propoganda that was reported to be coming out of Caira. It has been determined that this act was a rouge action by two disgruntled agents, who were carrying out the proclimations of the propoganda in order to fullfill some goal of a demented few." Deamon paused to take a sip of water and continued.

"My head man, Calico, has already dispatched teams to Caira to follow up on one of these cells that was identified in the records of one of the rouge agents."

"As you all know, Vladislov 'The Hun' was put onto this assignment personally by us chiefs of staff, he has reported to me similar information and has assured me that the families of these men will be dealt with in proper Jiggady fashion; as they to could be enemies of the state.

"What was also reported to me, and I assume Bill, is that the JDA forensics team has also linked up the guns involved. Two submachine guns were found in the car that matched up with the bullets that murdered jiggady. Also one of the mens personal gun was linked to the bullet that killed the Dyellian diplomat, so we have closure on that as well." In his head Xander applauded the work of Calico and Susan, they preformed well beyond his expectations.

"This is excellent, we will draft a letter to the Dyellian government immediatly. What of the agents though, you said that they were already dead?" Said Ann Marie.

"Yes we are still looking into that, but our top people back at JDA headquarters belive that it was probably the work of the Caira anti jiggady cell. They killed the men, who were probably going to go to get paid, after they no longer had any use for them. Standard practice for any militant group." Deamon leaned back in his seat confident with the work of his men.

"I agree with Mr. Deamon's assessment, once the job was done the two mens fate was sealed." Said General Maximus.

"Very well, now if we can get back onto the major topic facing us right now. I believe the agreement is that I will get a message to the people informing them on the state of the government right now, and assume control until we can agree on what will be the permanent outcome." Ann Marie wasted no time putting in out on the table, and everyone in the room save for Admiral England nodded their heads.

"Now wait just a minute, we agreed on no such thing. I think you are overstepping your author....." Xander had started, venom seeping up into his words. But just as he was about to get to the climax of his little outburst another clap of thunder ripped across the sky overhead and the already fuzzy connection was broken. On each side of the link the monitors went black leaving two roomfulls of stunned individuals.

"Carry on with your statement to the public. This is what is best for us right now." General Maximus stood up and streched. Everyone in the room did likewise as Ann Marie Bonny left to seek out the late jiggady's speech writer. Though still in his seat, Lord High Admiral England stared at the black monitor with a face of stone. He did not want this, and if it came to a struggle over power he knew where he would be.

In his own conference room Xander stared, red faced, at the black monitor. "What the fuck is going on here? Get that fucking transmition back online!"

"Sir weather reports indicate some storms over Capitol City, probably the reason for the black out. We are attempting to re establish the connection."

Xander said nothing as he remained in the pose, his hands in fists on the table that he stood hunched over. That bitch is not going to steal this from me with her damned lies. Whatever happens now is on your head Miss Foreign Minister.

Half an hour later

Stale coffee sat in the cups around the table, never refreshed by the aides who took the 'do not disturb us' seriously. Light chatter filled the room as the small staff of Xanders hand picked government officers kept to themselves, knowing not to disturb him. Xander had barely moved from his spot, only to sit back down and stare at the half empty cup in front of him. The expression on his face remained one of pent up rage, he looked as if a volcano ready to blow at any minute. Every other thought was of signalling his gathered troops to pull their coup, cofident that with a first strike that was fast and efficient they could deal a blow to the opposition. Yet everytime he shrugged it away, realizing that such an act would encounter a swift rebuttle by the rest of the army; he needed to still wait for that one right moment.

As if a random action the monitors suddenly flashed back to life and everyones attention was immediatly drawn back to them. Xander was on his feet in a flash:

"As I was saying, we agreed to no such thing. This is a gross abuse of authority and the reprocussions of it will be on your head." Xander managed to keep most of his emotion in check as he waved a finger at the monitor. He stopped after he realized that the attention in the other room was not on him but on another set of television screens in the room.

"Oh Xander, the monitors are back up. Quickly turn the national news on, the chief foriegn minister is about to make her speech. Though I dont agree with this sudden change of events." John Paul England had noticed the link to Xander come back to life, everyone else in the room had their backs to the monitor as they huddled around the television sets.

Quickly darting around Xander turned on their own set of televisions and all of his aides looked to the screen with great interest. The picture that came up was much like the press conference room in his office building, except that it was full of reporters whose conversations filled the room as they waited for the speaker.

As if on cue Ann Marie Bonny strolled out onto the stage and behind the podium, looking like she spent some time getting herself back together. A frest coat of makup replaced the worn face and yesterdays cloths were replaced by a nice new pant suit, a small smile came across her face as she nodded to the army of reporters and then it went back to a stoic slate.

"Greetings this morning members of the press, government staff, and people of Jiggady. As you already know last night a tragic event happened, our great leader jiggady was ruthlessly murdered in his sleep. In the hours this morning our agents have been working to find the perpetrators behind this monstorous act; and I can stand here before you now and say that they have done their job. The two men responsible for the act, two rouge agents from the JDA, were found dead this morning, a fitting end for them. We can confidently say that this act was one of two rouge agents, Jack Arrow and Jacob Hunter, whose names will be forever cursed in our history; who got their orders from seperatist militant groups who will also be swiftly dealt with. In this discovery we also were able to find that they were the ones responsible for the murder of a diplomat of the great nation of Dyelli Beybi, our condolances again go out to the Dyellians for their loss but I say with pride that those responsible have meet their own end.

"This cowardly act of betrayal has deeply saddened us all yes, but what we must do now is go forward and continue our lives from what jiggady has left us with; right now we must embrace our herritage and everything that he worked for so that we may honor his memory.

"This is what he wanted, in just the past few days jiggady drafted a new law proclaiming that in the event of his death the country would not merely be passed onto the next highest ranking officer in the government. It was his dream that Jiggady remain what it is, and so his new law states that the power in Jiggady would always be passed down to the next highest ranking natural citizen of this great nation. This ensures you the people a stable government in which our values and traditions are protected and remain a major force in our society; rather than be changed on a whim by a ruler who has not ties to our lands.

"And so I stand here today with the message that I will be picking up where our noble leader left off. I will take the helm of the ship of our great nation and steer us into calm waters where we may prosper, like our ancestors prospered for so many years. So I now stand before you as the new Chief of State of Jiggady and promise you all many years of prosperity and continued glory of our beloved nation. Thankyou."

Ann Marie smiled again for the flashing cameras, that looked like a lightening storm, and walked off the stage with her shoulders back and head high. It felt good to stand up there and deliver that speech, once off stage she couldnt help but let out a giddy laugh as she returned to the conference room to deal with Xander.

The aide rushed into the Sub director’s office.
-You’d better see this sir.

“…In the hours this morning our agents have been working to find the perpetrators behind this monstorous…”

The Sub director quickly alerted the rest of his staff. He watched the screen impassively and once it was done, he turned and said,

-Our agents? Are they there yet?
-They should be going through passport control (a look at the watch) about now.
-Well, we cannot issue a statement yet. By Bok’s maw, we just implied that we support Xander. And some kind of bill the late Supreme Jiggady drafted?
-Well, he is a dictator and operates mainly by decree.
-Not too different than us, then. But they don’t appear to have a smooth power structure in place in case the leader kicks the bucket. What are their forces readiness at the moment?
-Fairly high alert. We are also getting unconfirmed reports of international condemnation regarding acts of piracy.
-Okay. Let’s just see who emerges on top down there. We will not issue another statement until things have settled down. A strong Jiggady protecting the Klatch in that region is desired.
-As you command.

The aides filed out. The Sub director sighed and picked up the phone.
-High General?

At the land border between Jiggardy and Dyelli Beybi, a small column of three cars cars swung towards the Jiggardian checkpoint. The cars were unmarked black Rovers, the second one flew Dyellian flags indicating the prescence of a someone of fairly high standing was aproaching the border.

OOC: I can edit this Jiggady if you want. Considering that you're at high alert and all.

IC:

The tanned, dark skinned man wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt approached passport control when told to do so. He took off his sunglasses and flashed a toothy grin. His two day beard had flecks of gray, giving him a rugged, tousled appearance.

"Hiya!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

"This is bullshit. I will not sit here and be treated like an invalid." Xander slammed his fist down on the table. All emotional control was out the window at this point.

"You are the one acting like a child. You of all people should know that this is a dictatorship, he had the right to pass whatever law he wanted. The same goes for me now, so dont make me angry." Ann Maire Bonny jumped out of her seat and spat back at the monitor.

"Ha, you are in power now becuase you were jiggady's little whore. Dont give me this because you are one of the people bullshit. Do you even know what they want? I'll tell you its not more of this economic ruin."

"How dare you." Ann Marie's eyes narrowed and her face flushed a violent red. "You fucking little bastard, I'd like to see you try and run this nation. It seems that the Chief of State position is not the only one to be filled. You are relieved of you position within this government. Mr. Deamon how would you like to be my new Minister of State." Bonny continued to stare Xander down through the monitor, her eyes were fixated on the twitching figure of the former minister of state.

Xanders body jerked involuntarially as he saw the figures in the room behind Ann Marie nod their heads in approval. William Deamon stood up behind her and turned his head towards Xander.

"I suggest that you calm yourself Xander, you dont want to develop any medical conditions. And I should watch myself if I were you, I would hate to have to excersise my authority so soon and have you brought in as a traitor to the state." Deamon smiled to the other man and took pleasure in seeing him twitch even more.

"I cannot stand for all of this bullshit. I am too old for this. It seems to me that Xander knows what is right for this country and now you have taken away all his authority. I may be a lifelong citizen of Jiggady but I know well enough that this is not good for us. You have my resignation Miss Chief of State, have fun with your new navy." John Paul England camly stood up from his chair and stepped back from the table. While doing so he unpinned his rank from his already majestically adorned jacket and placed it on the oak table. Without meeting anyones eyes he turned sharply on his heels and exited the room with his head high.

"Lord High Admiral wait..." Started Ann Marie but England ignored her and was out of the room.

"Dont worry about him Miss. Chief of State, we have the perfect candidate lined to replace him." Deamon assured her.

"It appears that your new government isnt as stable as you may think Miss. Chief of State. If I were you, I would pay attention to the news you may learn something new." In the few moments that passed Xander regained some of his composure and now stood in front of the monitor calm and collected. He ran his hands down the front of his suit, smiled another time for the camera and cut off the connection.

"What the hell is he up to now?"

"Perhaps it would be best to tie up this loose end Miss. Chief of State." Deamon said into her ear.

"Make it so."

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

Gunfire was nothing unusual in this city, just like protests. Samir Hussitar looked out into the mass of people as he ducked down behind his vendors stand. The shooting had started nearly after the new Chief of State's public address, and had now grown into a small battle.

It had started with most of the people in the crowd firing their weapons into the air or at the huge erected television screens as the former chief foriegn minister announced her claim to power. Automatic gunfire rang out as it seemed that nearly three quarters of the people gathered were armed. Samir opened up a hidden compartment and pulled out his own protection, a shotgun that he had picked up a while back to deffend himself on the sometimes dangerous streets of the desert city. And now he thought that he may have to use it for the first time.

The random fire from the large mass of protestors was now one thunderous force of gunfire as thousands of armed men rushed in to control the crowd. Samir dared another glance up and he saw the dark blue uniforms of the Jiggady national army as they rushed the podium and returned fire into the sky hoping to scare the people into submition. But instead large portions of the population turned their guns towards the army and opened fire, dropping the first row of unsuspecting soldiers.

It didnt take long for the rest of the blue clad men to train their guns into the crowd and open up with their assault rifles, laying waste to hundreds of civilians. Samir felt a feeling of sickness rush up in his stomach at the sight of his people dropping by the dozens in this mass slaughter. Clutching his shotgun he said a quick prayer and ran out among the people. Out of the corner of his eye he saw five iron monstors rolling down a sidestreet and turn onto the main road in Caira, their long guns pointed in the air and erupted in flame and thunder as they shot a deafening salvo into the sky and continued to roll on.

The two guards at the boarder lowered their sunglasses and stopped their conversation over the latest hit music group out of Capitol City. Raising their guns slightly they motioned for the group of cars to slow their approach. Outpost number three was one of the most critical military stations in this part of Jiggady, guarding the boarder between Jiggady and Dyelli Beybi. Yet it was one of the more boring places to be stationed, in the middle of the hot jungle, which was rumored to be infested with large groups of mysterious elves, guarding the rarely used boarder crossing.

The cars, while standard looking plain black, had the air of importance around them and the guards brought up their rarely used people skills as the cars came to a hault and they walked up to first vehicle.


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

The customs and immigrations agent cast a sour glance towards the approaching man, it was comming towards the peak of the tourist season and already his patience was well worn out.

The team of JDA agents flanking him didnt do anything to ease his tensions either; as all around Jiggady agents and military personel were detached to every entrypoint into the nation due to the high state of alert.

"Passport and two other forms of identification. The information kosik is located to your left, you can find all the information you will want about what the paradise of Jiggady has to offer."

The customs and immigrations agent cast a sour glance towards the approaching man, it was comming towards the peak of the tourist season and already his patience was well worn out.

The team of JDA agents flanking him didnt do anything to ease his tensions either; as all around Jiggady agents and military personel were detached to every entrypoint into the nation due to the high state of alert.

"Passport and two other forms of identification. The information kosik is located to your left, you can find all the information you will want about what the paradise of Jiggady has to offer."

The man handed him his Alconian passport, driver's licence, and ID card without hesitation. He calmly looked around, carefully noticing the military personnel. Certainly not like this the last time

"Thank you very much, sir," as he waited for the officer to process his information.

Geoff Mandrake grabbed for the id's and placed them down on his podium desk, and watched as the guards openly trained their guns on the incomming peoples. This was not good for buisness. What were people to think when they came here for vacation and were greeted by the army? This isnt eastern europe.

Mandrake eyed the forms of id with specific attention, placing a jewlers eyeglass in his right eye and hunching down over them. To his eye each id checked out, backing up his perception was the computer inside the podium that was annalyzing them against Jiggady's current database of identification papers of known countries.

He lazily stood upright and handed the id's back to Mr (so and so).

"Very well these check out. What is your buisness in Jiggady and how long will you be staying? After that you may go on to claim your baggage." Mandrake stamped the passport and handed it back, with a lazy smile.

"Oh, i'm just here to enjoy the sun," he replied cheerfully. Pondering the next question, the man replied, "I think I can stay up to one month. At least, that's what the embassy told me."

He shrugged his shoulders as if to suggest he is blameless and that it would be the fault of those embassy schitcks if an error was made.

The right hand (driver's side) window glided down electronically to reveal a short, slender, tanned Caucasian male. His hair was black, sunglasses hid his eyes, although they were almost certainly brown. An arabic man sat next to him, holding a Jatimatic subamachinegun in his lap. The two men in the back seat were similarly armed, all were wearing well-cut suits, "We're with the Cheka" the man said vaguely, holding up thick wad of files, indicating a '1st Class Political Officer' was in the second car.

Mandrake shook his head, showing that he could care less and waved the man through. The armed guards lowered their rifels temporarially only to raise them up again as the next person moved up to the desk.

"Passport and two other forms of identification...." Mandrake started as the next person walked up to him.


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

In an involuntary action the two boarder guards raised up their assault rifels and leveled them on the car; not to many people dared to openly carry guns across the boarder and beads of sweat began to trickle down their foreheads as they eyed the passengers.

One of the guards reached out and took the papers and looked them over cautiously. He handed them to his partner who walked off to the next car to verify the passengers against the files. With one hand he kept the gun trained on the car as his other hand moved up towards the headset he was wearing and radioed back to the outpost.

"Sir, we have several cars here at the boarder crossing claiming to be with the Cheka organization. We are currently validating their papers but would request your presence here."

He clicked off the headset and took another look around the car. "My superiors will be here momentarially, if you dont mind the wait; we have had to up the security percaussions at each boarder patrol and need to check you out before we let you into the country with weapons."

Within a minute a jeep comes tearing up the dirt road, kicking up a trail of dust in its path. Comming to a hault a man in a dark blue uniform steps out and walks up to the first car, four more armed men hop out of the jeep and stand by it in an at ease position.

"I am Major General Reed, if you will just allow me a quick inspection and verrification of your identities we can move you along without to much more of a delay.

OOC: and now the plot twist, for arguments sake this is an hour after the cheka agents and Vraks man entered Jiggady, so whatever is happening with them can still be happening in present time

IC:

Morgans Hideaway

Bernard sat slouched back in the recliner, lazily flipping through channels.

"Crap, crap, more crap. Lacross, lawyers, Bush, boobs, trees, dogs..."

It was another Saturday morning after he got off the graveyard shift at the power plant, and he spent it in the usuall manner. Then the picture flickered on the television set, moving horizontally back and forth across the screen until the new picture pushed out the old picture.

"Now what the hell is this crap."

Caira

Rosita shook her hands out over the now empty sink and reached out for a hand towel, she looked out the window as she wiped her hands clean and stared at the people running back and forth with guns. Shaking her head at the sight she stepped back and collapsed onto one of the kitchen chairs, letting out a great sigh as she finally got off her feet. Her attention drew back to the small television next to the sink that she had been watching as she did the dishes.

"Oh Barry, I just dont think that I can live here in Shady Port anymore."

"But why Melanie? You have a great life here. Dont worry about your evil twin sister and her plot to kill you and have my child. Im sure that we will get through it."

"Ohh I hope you are right Barry, now we better hurry or else we will miss our private jet to Aruba; even though neither of us have a job or any source of money. We are lucky that we always have enough to go on one of our expensive flings where one of us will be kidnapped or shot."

"I love you Melanie"

"I love you Barry"

Rosita had been leaning forward in her seat during their conversation, imagining that it was her life she was watching as the two beautiful actors leaned forward for a kiss. However, just as they were about to the picture became scrambled and the soap opera was replaced by an image of a dark room with a single light shining on a single man.

-----------

The fighting had been brutal and bloody in the streets of Caira, civilians and soldiers lay strewn about the streets which were turned into rivers of running blood. The tanks had set up a nice perimiter around the square where the bulk of the people had gathered, and even the bravest among them dared not to stand up against the giant metalic beasts.

Bringing in endless renforcemetns the army had managed to circle in the people of Caira that had been behind the uproar, hearding them into a central location like cattle where they were separated into different groups and relieved of their weapons. JDA agents began swarming out amongst the crowds with pictures in their hands of the alleged cell members that were affiliated with Arrow and Hunter; figuring that this would be the most likely place to find them.

The giant television screens had been silent ever since the new Chief of State's proclimation but now they flickered slowly back to life. Pixles began flashing on the screens, rapidly forming into a recognizable picture. A dark room with a single light on a single man was the image on the screen and everyone, civilians and army personel, stopped and turned their heads up to see this sudden change of evetns.

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

He was sitting in the same conference room as he had been sitting in before, only with different lighting to make the mood and image seem more appropriate. Sitting in the darkness were the handfull of aides, which would make up his new staff of chief advisors; they all had smiles of anticipation on their faces.

Xander was smiling himself, after taking the past two hours to gather himself back together and put on a new suit. His hair was slicked back and the beginings of a goatee could be seen on his chin. To the people watching in the conference room back in Capitol City, Xander looked like a new man, a man with a plan.

"Greetings people of the great nation of Jiggady. You may know me as Xander, Minister of State to the deceased jiggady. But I sit before you today now relieved of that position by the new Chief of State, the pirate queen Ann Marie Bonny. Differences in ideals and ideas of how the nation should be run has led to me being removed from the Jiggady government, and I now am speaking to you all as a civillian; but not as a citizen of Jiggady because those in power now do not feel that I qualify for being a citizen.

"Even though I have acted as jiggady's right hand man and top advisor for years now, working with him to create a great nation. But now that is all in the past, as those in government dont think that power should be held by anyone who is not a natural citizen of Jiggady for fear that their foreign nationalities would get in the way of running Jiggady. Yet havent I done everything in my power to see that Jiggady is a great nation?

"The economic plans that I had prepared would reshape our economy into one that is prosperous, rather than one that is on the verge of collapse; and this would have benefited you all. But they will now not be put into effect because people like Ann Marie Bonny are afraid of change, are afraid of Jiggady becoming something other than what the great jiggady had wanted. Sure the history and customs of your people are a great thing to treasure, but if they get in the way of your prospertiy than why should you blindly follow them?

"This is why I am speaking to all of you today. It is no secret that with the creation of the new cities on the mainland of Jiggady, those that have been flocking to them are mostly fellow people like myself who are not natural citizens of this great nation. They desire a place to live that is more in keeping with the traditions of their own nations. Not to say that they are against the monumental and historically important traditions of Jiggady, rather they see that change is inevitable and they want to be on the cusp of that change.

"Which is why I am formally announcing that the mainland peninsula of Jiggady is breaking away from the island chains to form our own nation. From this day forward we are a seperate people, not bound by the laws we used to live under but rather our own law and our own government as Free Lands.

"We still hope to maintain relations with the nation of Jiggady, carrying on with trade between our two nations. It is my hope that the leadership of Jiggady will recognize our sovieregnty and will treat us with the same respect that they have treated every other nation of the Federated Klatchian Coast. And it is my hope that our new nation will be welcomed and looked upon fairely by the rest of the FKC. I promise that our new nation will strive for excellent diplomatic relations with our fellow regional nations, maintaining balances with trade and political friendship. Whenever there is a crisis that is effecting the FKC, we will be there to help; for we only want to build upon what jiggady has given us to create an equal society within this great region."

Xander smiled, as he had done with a calm voice through out the entire speech, as he ended and signed off the broadcast.

The back door to the second car opened, and a young looking man with a goatee stepped out. A quick glimpse into the front seat would reveal two more armed agents, "Political Officer, Vlademir Dzerzhinsky at your service."

He paused, rubbing his hands together, "So how can I help you Gentlemen? I trust everything is in oder."

A pair of guards from the back car had also got out to stretch their legs, one was carrying a Barret Light 50 of all things, while the other had a G36 assault rifle. From the level of armament they were carrying it would suggest they were planning to start a war, although Dyelli Beybian Military and Government were notoriously overarmed.

"Ahem, yes everything seems to be very well in order. May I ah, ask where you are headed in Jiggady, and why you must travel there so heavily armed? I realize that in the past this would not have been an issue at all, though with recent events we are forced to step up our security measures." Reed looked the other man over. With one hand behind his back he waved the guards slightly closer, though they kept their guns at their sides.

"Though I must insist that I verify the identities of each of the men in your vehicles against their identifications. Merely a formality so we know who is comming through and that I can pass the information along so that you recieve the proper reception at your destination." Reed smiled at Dzerzhinsky.

Mandrake shook his head, showing that he could care less and waved the man through. The armed guards lowered their rifels temporarially only to raise them up again as the next person moved up to the desk.

"Passport and two other forms of identification...." Mandrake started as the next person walked up to him.

The man smiled and took his ID. He walked out of the main terminal and managed to flag a cab, taking him to a seedier hotel. As he entered the lobby, he checked himself in and then proceeded to the bathroom.

Reaching around the backside of the toilet, he found what he was looking for. A previous agent only a couple hours before rented this room by the hour and left behind various forms of ID - safe inside a small bag. Considering that Jiggady was on high alert, it was considered a bit risky to enter with more that one form of identification. Luckily, there was a team already in place, but they had to be moving on. Their faces would probably start to become familiar with Jiggady Intelligence. (OOC: sorry, forgot the name) and the man had to make a drop of his own for his colleagues - namely his own.

Who am I today? mused the agent rhetorically.

ooc: JDA, jiggady defense agency...its kind of a combo FBI CIA... Whatever he wants to do you can say that he does. Right now there would be no one on to him. oh and sorry for lack of posting recenty, forum stupidity has his an all time high for me recenty, the only time i can get on is after 11 at night but that is bar time...

IC:

The spot on his uniform was beggining to dwell on his mind, his chest had previously been covered with brilliant and colorfull medals and pins; the new spot of white seemed to be an embarassment.

"Sir I am with you, fuck them." John Paul England's aid rushed behind in the older mans wake, every eager to please the man that he looked up to.

"You have your own career to worry about, I am an old washed up man. Forget about me." England said in his ever proud voice as he continued down the white hallway, he could see the doors to the outside world ahead beckoning him.

"No sir, I already said fuck them. I am with you untill the end, and that isnt happening yet. Do you really think your carrier group is just going to sit back and accept some new admiral?"

England stopped and turned on his heels, he kept his head high and looked down his nose at the younger man. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course Admiral! Every man in your fleet group volunteered to join you, each of them wanted to serve directly under the famous Admiral England. Hell Captain Forth turned down an admiral position himself to be able to be in your fleet group."

"Hmm, yes you do have a point. Give me the latest figures on the first fleet group. Hmmm alright we have a carrier group in Port Klatchian (port in Jiggady) and another on assignment with a JDF task force near the AWM cannal. And two battle ship groups in Jiggady waters. Excellent, get this message through to each group, they are to deviate from current orders and make for Jiggady penninsula."

"Yes sir!" The aide eagerly rushed by the old man and to the nearest fax that he could secure. England pulled out his phone and pressed two, a speed dial that would directly connect him with Xander.

"Ahem, yes everything seems to be very well in order. May I ah, ask where you are headed in Jiggady, and why you must travel there so heavily armed? I realize that in the past this would not have been an issue at all, though with recent events we are forced to step up our security measures." Reed looked the other man over. With one hand behind his back he waved the guards slightly closer, though they kept their guns at their sides.

"Though I must insist that I verify the identities of each of the men in your vehicles against their identifications. Merely a formality so we know who is comming through and that I can pass the information along so that you recieve the proper reception at your destination." Reed smiled at Dzerzhinsky.

"We're hoping to meet with the Jiggardian police in connection with the murder of our diplomat, as for this," Dzerzhinsky indicated his guards, "It's just a usual escort for high risk areas, am I correct in assuming Jiggardians travel more lightly armed?" he seemd somewhat puzzled by this idea.

"Well actually no, most citizens are as well armed as the police or army. I suppose since you are such a high ranking agent that there is no trouble at all with you entering the nation." Reed smiled and turned back towards the other guards. Walking back to the gate he whispered something to the guards there and they lowered their weapons and raised the bar blocking the road.

"I trust that you should be able to find a transport into the islands at one of the coastal cities, towns, or outposts. Good day gentlemen." Reed hopped into the jeep and it wheeled around in reverse and drove away back down the dirt road, the guards keep their guns trained on the treetops, after all there were supposed to be rouge bands of elves in these parts.



ooc: they are in, you can say that they find passage to captiol city if you dont want to go through any hassle.

"Ah sir, I think you should take this call."

"God damn it, I told you I dont want to be disturbed. This is all going to hell, we have had no word from the general who went to see our 'friends', and I'm having a hard enough time keeping our army and navy allies on their leashes."

Xander had left the conference room over a half hour ago and sat on his bed in his suite. A pistol rested on his chest, and he though over and over again about using it. This is not how my assent to power was supposed to be. Why the fuck is the world against me? Xander leaned over on the plush bed and tucked his legs up to his chest tightly. His eyes were fixated on the call box on the endtable next to the bed that was constantly talking to him.

His allies were apparently growing thin, there was no word from Dr. Maxamillian, and the last report from Commodore Flint and General Hackett were not uplifting at all. Both were now questioning the former Minister of State and his ability to properly lead the new Rouge Jiggady.

"Sir it's from Lord High Admiral England, I think this call should be taken."

Xander leaned up on the bed as if it were made of hot coals and eagerly hit the reply button on the speaker.

"Patch the call through imediatly!"

"Xander, are you there" The grizzled voice of the admiral came through the speaker.

"Yes admiral England. What do you want." Xander said smoothly, regaining his lost composure.

"I have no confidence in the new leadership of Jiggady, and I have resigned my position as Lord High Admiral. Yet I believe that the ships that were directly under my command would still be loyal to me and I wish to bring these ships to you for your disposal."

"John Paul, you realize that if you do this you will never be able to return to Jiggady."

"Yes I know, I am gathering my family for transportation to the mainland. I have carrier groups in Port Klatchian and elsewhere in the Klatch, and two battle ship groups also in Jiggady. They will all head to positions around your coast."

"They will recieve full citizenry here. You shall recieve immediate control over our navy. Welcome to Rouge Jiggady Admiral."

Xander clicked off the speaker and jumped right out of the bed feeling like a new man. He poured himself a glass of rum and took the elevator back down to the conference room.

Several minutes later the doors to the room thrust open and Xander strolled in with a fresh new step and sat down at the table.

"Alright gentlemen we now have the support of Admiral England and his ships, they are currently heading towards our coast. Send word to Commodore Flint that he is to now do the same and not, repeat NOT fire upon the ships that are stationed at Port Klatchian."

"Sir the rebels as they are, have been subdued and disarmed. We are currently herding up those that have surrendered into makeshift camps until we can process their identities. Those that are innocent will be immediatly released and those that we find guilty of these crimes today, and of being associated with known anti government groups will be moved on to the prison labour camps."

"Excellent Sergeant. This is agent Ramirez from the JDA, he is to oversee this process. The JDA are looking for the people responsible for the murder of jiggady and he is to have every amenity." Colonel Sherman raised a taut hand to his forehead and sharply thrust it back down. The sergeant returned the salute and led agent Ramirez to the makeshift camp that was now set up in the square.

Colonel Sherman eased himself back onto the top of the tank as he looked down over the men rushing about from his perched position. His men had the major square of Caira quarantined off from the rest of the population of the city; they stood by filing down the sides of the street with their guns at the ready. Civilians that had been 'recruited' hustled back and forth under gun point dragging away bodies, placing corpses of the fallen soldiers on truks to be taken away and dead bodies of the civilians that were killed in wagons to be taken to the outskirts of the city to be tossed into a mass burial site. Sherman sniffed his nose haughtily and commenced chewing on the stubby cigar in the side of his mouth.

His me had taken care of the little uprising with swift justice that made him proud. Once they had reinforcements come in and block off the main streets leading into the square, it was like a crap shoot; pouring bullets into the mass of people until they learned that they were supposed to lay down their weapons and lie on the ground. The tanks had rolled in on streams of blood and were now parked in the center of the square, bloody tracks in their wake. Sherman had always resented being stationed on this island, overseeing Caira. The desert people were like rats to him, rats that should have been exterminated long ago so that the city could be used to house a better class of people rather than these turban dirt dwellers.

He realized that, that segment of the population wasnt the only one in Caira, which housed perhapes the greatest mix of races, but in his eyes it was the one that needed to be swept away. They were the ones most responsible for all this anti Jiggady propoganda and he didnt know why they were allowed citizenry.

With the broadcast of Xander's so called claim to power over the mainland going over the large screens erected in the square the people that had been reigned in found themselves full of the will to fight again. Sherman looked down as the bodies were dragged out of the square, that was the bloodiest part of the fighting. The rebels had cheered aloud at the broadcast, at whom they believe should be the new leader of Jiggady; and took up the arms that they had only moments ago tossed down.

Sherman smiled at the handy work of his men and turned his attention back to the reports comming in from the various little camps on the prisoners taken and the numbers of the dead.

He knew that someone was comming before the door even opened, that was the luxury of the security system that he had installed in the cavern complex; not to mention that anyones footsteps could be heard clicking along the metal walkway to the office. Maximilian placed the glass of wine down on his desk and turned the swivel chair around in time to see the woman walk in."

"Yes, Dr. Desdemona." He knew every man and woman on his staff by name, and he preffered to call Dr. Swift always by her first name, just as he preffered.

"Dr. Maximilian, we have more messages comming in from Xander on the emergency line. He wants to know why his general hasnt come back and why we have yet to respond to his orders."

Maximilian shifted his body in what he made to seem a great effort, he wanted to show that dealing with Xander was not tollerable. The emergency line, that had been set up in the case of a severe incident because all other communication was stricktly forbidden, had been running non stop for the past hour.

"Send no reply, we are done with him. He gave us the funding to start this little complex for his nuclear project, yet we have long since outgrown the need to depend on him. We are entirely self sufficent down here, and our research has gone well beyond nuclear technology. Soon we will show Xander what we are about. Dr. Desdemona, return to the main lab and oversee the evacuation of the facility to our other home. No doubt Xander will eventually send a larger task force down upon us to see what has happened and we dont want to be here. I want everyone and all of our most valuable equipment moved to the secondary complex within two days."

Dr. Desdemona Swift nodded her head and was back out the door, her heels clicking along the walkway until becoming a faint echo. Maximilian turned his chair back around facing the wall and clicked the lights out in his office. He would miss this office, having grown quite accustomed to his position overlooking the cavern complex; but abandoning it was a necessity if they were to carry on with their plans. He smiled thinking of the surprise that would be left behind for the men that Xander would eventually send here. Maybe Xander would come personally, and he would taste first hand the fruits of what he helped create. Mmmm But then I wont have the pleasure of dealing with his later.......................

The Dyelli Beybian convoy was proceeding with some caution now, they had heard that rebellion was brewing in Jiggardy, Cheka HQ had sent the message earlier, telling them they were in fact driving into "Rouge Jiggardy", and informing them, they would try to contact the leaders of the new state to figure out what was going on. For now though they were ordered to keep a careful watch and to try to stay alive. When the bullets started flying they had an unerring tendency to end up flying towards Dyellians. There was always someone who didn't like them...

The agent, in different clothes and minus a moustache donned a pair of sunglasses and headed out. He went to a different hotel and place the Alconian ID in a similar type of place for another agent due to arrive shortly. With his new Jiggadian ID, he was now Henry Longfish, buyer for Spice Land Inc. purveyor of exotic goods at your service. He made his way down to the docks, hoping his background story would hold. Part of his mission was to check on troop movements - since although Intelligence wasn’t exactly sure, but they were quite certain that with the recent split there very well could be a total civil war. This particular agent had to verify what exactly was happening on the ground since a weakened Jiggady would cause Vrak to realign their interests in this part of the Klatch. Or perhaps to call upon Rillanon and Monte Ozarka.

Keeping ahead of the JDA was no easy task either. With things in a state of flux, he could perhaps have a bit of breathing room and hopefully slip about unnoticed. For a short time anyway.

edit: Argh! Spelt a Klatchian province wrong. :oops:

ooc: what city is your man in... Capitol City is an inland city, but has a river system connecting out to the ocean. There are also Port Klatchian, Port Blood, and the Jiggy Shipyards as ocean port towns that have larger airports. Charter planes or charter boats could get him to any other city on any other island. I should really put my updated map online and post the link.

ic: *Three bells chime all over Jiggady as the large television monitors that the government had installed in cities across the islands all came to life with the afternoons economic report.

A computerized female, specifically designed to be attractive to get peoples attention, takes up part of the image and stock figures begin rolling across the other half of the screen.

"Good day people of Jiggady, this is Linda Smith with the 2:05 economic report (ive lost all concept of what time it is or how much has past). Stocks are down in the Jiggady market with the word of the death of jiggady, investors are not anticipating a smoot transition of government and this has led to a rapid decline in the value of the doubloon. Meanwhile secretary of the treasury Robin Fellows continues to assure the public that this is only a short term problem and that the economy will turn around within a few days." Her voice remained calm and assuring despite the not so good news that she had to offer. Yet people were used to that by now, the economic report was never all that good.

"Commodore Flint, commodore Flint! The carrier is getting under way!"

A loud rapping on his door and the panicked voice had stirred Joshua Flint from his slumber. He had laid down to rest an hour and half ago, catching some much needed shut eye after being up for the past twenty eight hours. Flint could feel the edges of fatigue creeping in on him as he had remained fixated in his position on deck of the Harem; and he realized that if he were to be effective in combat he would have to rejuvinate his body.

But now he was at full attention and thrust the door open, banging the helpless sailor down to the deck of the ship. Flint rushed out to the main deck, clad in the same cloths that he had been wearing for the past three days and looked wildly out across the harbour. Indeed the carrier was moving out from its anchorage and Flint cursed aloud at their bad luck. The carrier was already inside of the range of their long guns, their hopes of catching her unaware were now dashed.

"Signal the Poltergiest and Inquisitor. Tell them to get activated immediatly our prey is getting away." Flint grabbed a passing sailor yelled into his ear and thrust him aside. Sweat beaded on his forehead, knowing that Xander would have his skin if the carrier had gotten away. It was one of the ships personally under the command of the Lord High Admiral and destroying it would deal a blow to the power of Jiggady's navy as well as its morale.

On either side of the Harem Commodore Flint saw his other ships getting activated, he knew that surprise would be hard to achive; knowing that the captian of the carrier would wonder why three battle ships were beating to quarters as she made to leave harbour.

Tense minutes passed as the crew of the mighty battle ship prepared their guns. They had been prepared for the attack, but for a surprise attack. The guns on the Starboard side of the ship had remained in their silent state of slumber, as they waited to be feed ammunition. Flint hadnt anticipated the need for them, and that oversight was now causing violent heart palpitations in him. He could barely keep his heart from staying inside his throat as he stood on deck, gripping the rails. It seemed like an eternity men moved in slow motion and he had to resist from cracking the whip further.

"Sir, this telegram just came in over the secure line." The aide that he had knocked to the ground with the door came rushing back up to his side, rubbing a huge welt on his forehead.

"Not now god damn it! We cannot fail in this task. Hurry along now you motherless bastards, clear for action. I want that hulk full of holes as soon as it comes back within our range." Flint held off on blazing away with their smaller guns, whatever advantage they still clung to would be immediatly lost if they began to uselessly fire with their smaller guns.

This day will still be mine

"Ready to fire, I want all the guns ready to fire as she bears"

"Sir! This is top priority from Xander...The high admiral has resigned from the Jiggady navy and is supporting our cause!"

Flint saw the carrier turn slightly as it navigated the channel back into open waters, right into the line of his guns.

"FIRE!" The words escaped his mouth as soon as the aide read the telegram out loud. It was almost as if he could see his own reaction as Flint's victorious face turned to the other officer and changed to one of disbelief.

OOC: Let's say Port Klatchian.

IC:

As he ambled his way to the docks he also tried to take in the general mood of the citizenry. He watched the economic report and filed it away in his memory, noting to mention that in his daily report.

My fellow states, I am currently pursuing an aggressive campaign to stomp out the horrors of dictatorship in the Republic of Incisor by establishing a strong cener-left coalition. I have opened the diplomatic channels with Incisor and I am pursuing United Nations assisstance in this time of great urgency.

Together, the liberal world can finally send a message to the dictators that they will no longer be tolerated. That our ideals are indeed the moral choice and that they will never again threaten the stability and safety of the free world.

Please join me in this pursuit!

stop spamming

Fifteen minutes after the daily economic report, the television screens all over Jiggady again chimed three times, signifying the next official program. Advertising took up the time inbetween broadcasts, much like television advertising with the exception that it was mostly government propoganda or the rare consumer marketing that jiggady allowed.

A commercial for the pirate history museum was just getting over as the familiar chimes rang off. Most people on the streets kept going about their buisness, used to the constant government reports. Several stopped in interest of what the latest news was, due to the recent tragic events and others, tourists, stopped to see this unfamiliar sight.

The familiar picture of Laura Smith, the news reporter who only looked margianlly different than economic reporter Linda Smith, appeared on screen. Her show stopping smile spread across the screens, red inticing lips causing the usual amount of traffic problems in the streets. However, just as she was about to begin her report the image began to pixilate, large squares flashed on the screen, until segments went black and came back with a new picture. Her left eye fizzed out and came back a pool of blood, her lipps went out and came back with the image of a cold steele tank. This went on until the entire screen was of the sceen in Caira.

"This is what is happening in Jiggady. Her own people slaughtered by their supposed protectors." A haunting voice echoed out over the amplified speakers and the images flashed of the countless bodies lying on the streets of Caira. Dark blue uniformed soldiers fired into the throngs of people who dropped by the dozen.

"This is what our new regime is building itself upon, the slaughter of innocent people who merely want to express their own ideas. Two hundred and thiry seven of Jiggady's citizens butchered like dogs, by the people sworn to protect them. Is this what we want for our lives?" Everyone was now stopped and looking at the screens, no matter how important their buisness was. The screen showed them horrific images of people lying in the streets, blood flowing freely from their many wounds. Armed soldiers patroled the streets, keeping their guns trained on citizens as they went about hauling away the bodies of their fallen bretheren.

"Caira will not stand for this, if this is the first day of blood than let there be a month of blood until we are free from such tyranny. We ask the citizens of the rest of Jiggady to tell the government that this will not stand" The voice again faded out and the image zoomed up to an elderly woman staggering about the street, her feet soaked in blood; blood dripping from her hands from the dozens of bodies she was forced to move. The picture continued zooming in as she laborously hunched over again and dragged away the body of a thirteen year old boy, who had gotten caught in the middle of the riot and slain by a stray half a dozen bullets.

Just as the hijacked picture had come on, it faded out and within seconds the usual picture of Laura Smith came on screen.

"....ay. Pirate Queen Bonny has stated that sevearl riots have flared up in isolated pockets of Jiggady with the decleration by the rogue former minister of state. In a press conference Bonny expressed her deepest sympathies and promissed that the armed forces of Jiggady would do everything in their power to see that Jiggady remained a peace and stable nation."

The pirate video feed was gone as swiftly as it came and people on the streets were left staring at the monitors wondering what had happened.

"Hey, we missed the real news"

"Damn liberal punks, ruining the government news." One voice said.

"Aye, dont they know that those people are the ones responsible for this tragety in the first palce?"

"Got what they had comming to them."

The Harem had been standing off in the bay just like any other of the many ships gathered for the naval history ceremonies that was supposed to take place that day. Hundreds of people had gathered to the port city to witness the festivities, but what they had gotten was much different than they anticipated. The death of jiggady had put the long awaited week of celebration on hold, and replaced it with months upon months of mourning. Things were similar all over Jiggady, in Port Blood where there was to be a military show, the Jiggy shipyards where there was to be an unveiling of the latest ships built, and here in Port Klatchian where there were to be fabulous demonstrations and tours upon some of Jiggady's finest ships.

Yet the hundreds here in Port Klatchian were left in disappointment when they arrived early in the morning only to hear the tragic news; and that their tickets wouldnt be refunded. Instead of leaving, people gathered around the docks in a somewhat prayer/comming together session to console each other over the recent tragety. What really was happening though was that the people that had paid for their tickets, realized the limited value of their money and would get their worth of it one way or another.

And then another show started.

Children, who were to rambunctious to stay still, had clustered together near the docks and oohed and ahhwed at the ships that were standing off in the bay, like giant whales glistening in the noon sun. And when those whales started shooting at each other, their cries of delight reached maximum capacity.

The great guns of the Harem errupted in a giant salvo, spewing fire, smoke, and projectiles into the sky. Commodore Flint only had a little time to rejoice at the way his crew fired a perfect broadside, before his attention was drawn to the news that the officer just have him. Shells tore through the sky with screaming furry and Flint let loose with his own amount of screaming furry.

"What the fuck do you mean he has joined our side?!? Why wasnt I notified sooner?!"

"Sir the message only just now came through, I imagine it was some sort of last minute arrangement. That ship is heading for the mainland coast to defend it!"

Flint pushed the other man away with all the strenght he could muster at the moment, a gasp of air left his body as he did this. The air of defeat and failure. He looked out across the bay at the leaving ship, fingers crossed at his side that by some miracle he didnt just fuck them all over.

Splashes errupted all about the leaving carrier Babbington, mini typhones washing over the deck, still covered with fighters and jets. The piolets of these planes were still on deck at the time, thinking that they would at least give a bit of a show to the people who were still at the docks. They braced themselves on the landing legs of their planes and cursed aloud the sudden change of events. Flints heart fluttered with hope as all the shells seemed to impact with the water. But then, from the rear of the carrier a gout of flame and black smoke errupted from the deck as one of the shell clipped her.

"CEASE FIRE!" Flint roared. The men on deck, who were in the process of placing a new round of shells into the guns stood there with looks of disbelievment on their faces;and loaded them anyway.

"Mr. Shillings, issue a direct order to the Poltergiest and Inquisitor immediatly. They are not to fire upon the fleeing carrier.

Flint kept his gaze fixated across the expanse of water as black smoke billowed from the deck of the carrier. He couldnt breath as the moments passed, and didnt even know if he heart was still beating.

Henry Longfish caught the rest of the broadcast. He didn't know exactly what to make of that except perhaps that things were getting far out of hand - perhaps beyond anyone's control for the moment. In some ways, being a secret agent was no better than being a delivery man or reportee. You had your orders and you carried them out. Do not question them or you'll find yourself on the wrong end of a TDP vat.

He caught a ride to the docks and since the crowd proved especially difficult to get close, he tipped the driver and made his way through the crowd. Normally, his job would be sulking around offices of high level executives or tapping phone lines. But today he was outside which was a nice change. At least the weather was pleasant.

The furious blast from the broadside left him amazed. He was cool enough not to register his shock (at least too much) but filed it away for his later report. He would have to check into the dockside office soon. At least the cover of an import/export company gave the ready excuse as to why he's there and, hopefully, to check up on the latest informal news. Let the satellites count the ships fromt the sky. Satellites don't exactly reveal intentions or loyalties.

A most interesting day in Port Klatchian.

The Babbington had been a fine commision and he had managed to turn a tiddy profit along with his tidy salary. Captain Forth looked about his cabin aboard the supercarrier, he had spent his moneys on many fine decorations to make it the cabin of a master of a true Man of War. Of course this had meant working hand in hand with the pirates, but if there were no complaints from his superiors or government that there was no problem on his side of things.

Zachary Forth had long ago gotten over his reservations about piracy; while working his command he realized the great benefit this somewhat leagalized activity had returned for the nation. And he now sat on the couch in his cabin staring absently at the painting of Napoleon that he had 'liberated' from a passing merchant.

Familiar sounding thuds pounded away in the background and Forths eyes squinted in wonder. What the hell could that be? The ceremonies were cancel..... His thoughts were interrupted as the structure of the carrier reverberated from the impact to its body. Forth jumped from his seat and placed the feathery Captians hat back on his head and rushed out the door. Within a minute he had managed to get to the bridge of the maze like ship and tried to take in everything that was happening.

"Mr. X.O. what the hell is happening?"

"Sir we have shell impacts to the rear deck. Three fighters are hit bad, but we have nothing more than cosmetic damage to the deck. Someone opened up on us."

"WHO you blithering idiot!?" Forth grabbed a pair of binoculars and scanned the horrizon, his eyes scrunched up quizzically. "Theres nothing out there, who the fuck is firing on us? Unless...." Forth turned his view back to the departing harbour and glanced over the ships that were stationed there. A bunch of local ships were still at their moors, some coast guard vessels were trolling about; but it was obvious the shots didnt come from any of them. Then he saw the Harem and the smoke rising over her. What the hell...

The day had already been one of confussion and surprise for him. Recieving the orders from the Lord High Admiral about his position with the current leadership. Forth had considered it greatly, but was soon won over with his loyalty for the admiral. He hadnt read the message over to carefully but he was sure there was something in there about Flints battle ships also being in on this.

"Prep the fighters and bombers! I want them ready to get off of here on a moments notice. Johnstone! Get on the horn to those ships and find out what the fuck is going on. We have been fired upon and by god we will defend ourselves to the fullest extent. Send a message of to the admiral of the current situation!"

Forth stole a glance back to the docks and at all the people now suddenly interested at the new show. It was a show indeed and he wondered how the hell it would play out.

ooc: as do I :shock:

ooc: Not really sure where you are heading or what you want to do Dyelli. I dont have a detailed map yet of the locations of places on the mainland. Several major cities that I forgot what I named so I am renaming them now Amsterdam, Port Genseo, Belgiou. Last one is the captiol of R.J. If you are looking to head into Jiggady you can get a sea transport to any of the islands; plane travel is restricted right now between the two nations.

ic:

"Look at this video feed sir. This is having some far reaching reprocussions."

Xander sat and watched the same pirate video that had gotten into the Jiggady airwaves; a copy of it was sent to his offices and it was now being played throughout Rouge Jiggady. His stomach turned at the sight of the civilians lying in the streets, holding onto their own stomachs for dear life.

"These people are fighting for you, they want their liberation from Jiggady more than anyone. Hell if we can get the army out of there I'm sure we can bring Caira and the island into our nation. We go in and look like liberators, theres nothing Jiggady can do about it; lest they look like oppressors who wont grant its people their wishes."

"Yes, yes..This is deffinetly working towards our advantage. We can move on Caira and have a legitimate claim and reason; rather than striking out against another city in Jiggady and looking like the aggressor." Xander blew out a stream of smoke from the cigar inbetween his fingers. Just when the house of cards seemed like it was going to collapse upon him, aces in the whole started popping up all over. England and his ships, and now Caira.

"Get this to Major General Hackett immediatly. ooc:I know Ive been screwing up his rank throughout this saying major sometimes and general others, but major general is his official one from back when he was under plank.

They are to abandon their possitions at Port Blood and scratch that mission. The transports should still be there waiting for them, they are to board and head for Caira where they will liberate the city. It will be a bloody conflict with the local army but I have faith in the abilities of Hackett. There may be some problem getting out of the surrounding area that they are currently in but I will accept no excuses; if they have to leave something behind than so be it. They have a new target and a new mission."

Xander smiled, adding Caira to his empire would be a great economic boost, also adding to the people that were loyal to him.


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

Several minutes later the message came through in the recon vechilcle of Major General Hacketts division. He eagerly snatched the paper from the machine, anticipating that he would be recieving the go orders and read it over. His face was one of confussion as he looked at it, and he read it several times before addressing his senior officer.

"Alright, we have a new task. We are to abandon our positions here and board the transports for Caira. We are to liberate the town from the army stationed there so get ready boys there is going to be some fighting." Hackett crumpled up the paper and ran off to his tank, with a smile on his face; he was finally going to get to kill something.

A half finished plate of roasted pork and rice sat in front of him, as he slowly twirled the glass of water about in his hand. Light, casual conversation filtered about the small room as the top men on Colonel Sherman's staff ate their meal at one of the many resturants off of the main square in Caira. Sherman stared absently at a wall, as his men chatted about the fighting earlier that day. From his position he could see out the plate glass window that faced the streets and he had a perfect vangate point of his men herding about the locals. Sherman smiled at this, after all these people were no better than cattle. He shook his head and brought his attention back to diner, and poked a piece of pork with a fork and slowly brought it up to his mouth.

The sweet sauce tickled his mouth and he took a drink of water to wash it down. Reaching back down for some rice Sherman could see out of the corner of his eye, agent Ramirez being guided up to the resturant. Sherman wiped his mouth and stood up sharply. Medals on his uniform jingled and glistened as they caught the sun peaking in through the window and he marched off to the entrance of the building with a long and powerful stride.

"Colonel sir, agent Ramirez wishes to speak with you."

"Yes sergeant I imagined as much. Well agent Ramirez what is the word?"

"I have finished my going over of the prisoners that you have rounded up, and found no men matching the identities of the ones that were reportedly behind the killing of Jiggady. Then I had the sergeant here take me to where they were burying those that were killed today. Luckily they hadnt burried to many of the bodies and we were able to sift through the corpses." Ramirez handed Colonel Sherman several sheets of paper with small pictures in the corners. Sherman took them and looked over the pages of identifications with little interest.

"I was able to pick out all five conspirators from the alleged cell that had persuaded the men to kill Jiggady. They were all killed today in the fighting saddly. My superiors will not be pleased to find out that the men died in such a manner, before they could be tortured for information and then publicly executed."

"Yes that is all very sad but they were dealt with properly in my eyes. Now if that is all you were here for agent Ramirez..." Sherman said contemptously, in his mind he was sure that he would get a promotion for this.

Without another word Ramirez tossed a sloppy salute to the Colonel and headed off towards his ride. After working on the investigation back in Capitol City the investigation had now come full circle. They had those that comited the crime and those that backed it; even though they were all dead. It would be good enough for the people, and the new government could finally get down to their jobs.

ooc: miss johnson take a note....

ic:

To: Leaders of the Federated Klatchian Coast
From: Chief of State Xander, of Rouge Jiggady
Subject: Rouge Jiggady's standing within the union of the FKC

As you may or may not already know there has been a major shift recently in the dynamics, political and social, of our fair nation. A horrendous tragedy befell our nation as our great leader Jiggady was ruthlessly murderd in his sleep. Work done by the Jiggady Defense Agency has proved that this act was done by several rouge agents within the agency who were disgruntled and persuaded to act by an anti government cell within the nation.

This has had great ramifications on the stability of our government as the Chief Foreign Minister, Ann Marie Bonny, claimed power under a new law that Jiggady had enacted. This had led to me doing something I never imagined in my years as minister of state, but I felt compelled as a champion of the people, to stand up for their rights. Jiggady has been fastly falling down the slops of economic ruin and its people have been suffering a great expense at the misgivings of the former leader and his ideals. Wishing only to provide a safe haven for those citizens who do not want to live and toil under such a regime that is sure to follow in the footsteps of its predecesor, I took it upon myself to create the state of Rouge Jiggady.

We have claim over the mainland holdings of Jiggady in the Federated Klatchian Coast, and declare ourselves a free state to practice our own form of government that is out of the burdeon of Jiggady. Now I do not know what provisions there are in the Klatchian constitution for this, but I humbly beseech the rest of the states in the FKC to recognize our independance. Look at our social and economic standings in comparison to Jiggady and know that the people who have followed me have done so for this amount of freedom that they did not have in Jiggady. I wish nothing more than prospertiy and union between Rouge Jiggady and the states of the Federated Klatchian Coast and promise for years of loyalty from our nation.

In your service,

Xander, Chief of State Rouge Jiggady.

It had only taken several minutes for the five fighters and bombers to get n the air, they had been all preped and ready to go for the airshow today; and with the alert status that the army and navy was raised to they had maintained their readiness. Great roars hovered over the docks as the planes made constant passes of the area as they awaited their orders; never before had the people of the city seen the military presence there on such a high alert.

"FLINT WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU UP TO!?" Forth let loose over the radio.

"We had a malfunction with the trigering mechanism on the guns. You know there was supposed to be the show today, they were loaded to fire off for the people to see."

"What kind of bullshit is that? Do you really expect me to belive that a whole fucking broadside fired accidentaly? Give me a good reason not to have my bombers sink one of your ships."

"Watch yourself, I wouldnt make any idle threats. There are three ships out here with their guns trained on you. Now we are supposed to be working together here."

"I have three fighters burning on my deck, and her flight crews blown to hell. I want answers for the men that I lost, or else how am I supposed to believe that we are working together on this and its not some plot?"

Babbington continued making for open waters at top speed, but Captain Forth knew that they were still in range of the battleships. An alarm went out over the ship and more men ran to their stations, flight crews to the remaining planes on deck. It would be a tedious process launching them all with the amount that were already up there, but Forth had no intention to launch yet and provoke further attack. They only needed to get out to sea where they could manuver, and rejoin the rest of their fleet group. However, Forth had no idea what the hell was going on now. England had said that Flints ships were supposedly loyal to Xander, but that meant that they should be escorting the carrier out not bombarding it.

The planes made another pass over the harbour and the patrons crowded around the docks oohhed and aahhed as they waited for the next explosions in the show.

"Recall your planes and we will stand down."

"Stand down and we will recall our planes. You started all of this."

Flint had to keep from tearing out his hair in frustration over this. God damn it Xander why the hell couldnt you have notified me sooner?

"Sir, communication from the Inquisitor and Poltergiest; they are waiting for attack orders and are persuing the Babbington." An officer said rushing back up to Flint.

"Tell them to bloody stand down! We are fleeing with the Babbington." Flint finally conceded. He picked the radio back up and got back on the horn with the Babbington. "Captain Forth, we are standing down and moving to escort you out of the bay. If the reports I recieved from Xander are correct than the ships under the former lord high admiral are being called in to be re fit with officers under the new high admirals command. Fleeing will brand you as traitors so you will need our help to get out of the harbour." He clicked off and waited for the response. Several long minutes passed as Flint watched the carrier drive further out of the bay, the ever present noise of the fighters and bombers were a constant reminder of everything at stake.

"Very well Commodore, we have recieved orders to head back to port and stand down to be releived of command. It appears that the new high admiral is doing a cleaning of the first fleet under Admiral England to root out all those loyal to him. As we speak they are launching ships to intercept us."

Flint tossed down the reciever and raised binoculars up to his eyes. Across the wide harbour he could see half a dozen ships already underway to their current position. The radio cracked to life, this time a new voice over the airwaves.

"Commodore Flint, this is Captain Wallace of the Ravina we have orders to detain the carrier Babbington, as she is now under the command of High Admiral England II. He wants her in this harbour under watch so that he make take command of her from her previous master. As a commander within the Jiggady navy you are expected to aid in this process, prepare your ships to take her by force if necessary."

Ahh Shit Flint thought and pounded his head on the desk in the communications room.

After the broadcast from Xander, constitutional experts were busy going over the Klatchian constitution. This certainly was precendence.

====

The agent at the dock slipped away to the nearby Spices and Other Exotic Goods Importers Inc office nearby. After passing through he nodded to the secretary. She was, of course, with Vrakian Intelligence and wouldn't have even let him in had she first not recognized him via the outside camera.

He made his way to the back and opened a secret panel. There, a hidden door was revealed and he went into the cramped communications room. After filing his report, he then went upstairs to bunk out and await new orders.

"Babbington, Babbington over! Captain Forth!"

"Yes Commodore Flint, what is the word?" Forth replied hurried.

"The new High Admiral of Jiggady, John Paul England II it appears, has issued orders that all the ships of the first fleet return to port immediatly for new commanders to take over. I imagine that he is worried about the officers being loyal to his father." (ooc: High admiral or lord high admiral is the highest title in the Jiggady navy. England II is not 'Lord' High admrial for the fact that he is not the lord of any lands as his father is)

"Blasted damn, well the hell if they think I am turning around for port."

"Yes I think that is the current situation, they are detailing several ships to intercept you and force you back to port. They have asked for my aid in this so it will be time for me to play my hand and show my aces. The Poltergiest will escort you out to open waters and follow you to Rouge Jiggady. The Harem and the Inquisitor will deal with the ships here to cover your escape, do not wait for us; we will get underway shortly after you."

"The best of luck to you Commodore Flint." Forth said with ernest into the radio.

"Same to you Captain, now make haste." Flint tossed the hand transiever down on the table in the communications room and moved out on deck where he could get a better view of the goings on.

Raising the binoculars to his eyes Flint watched as the Babbbington kept up its torrid pace out of the harbour, the Poltergiest took up a flanking position next to her and the two great ships sailed away without looking back. The thunderous noise of the planes overhead ripped over the Harem again as they swarmed about the Heavy Battle Cruisers swiftly moving out from the docks. They buzzed by the ships, Flint imagined the crew involuntarialy ducking down and the captains wondering what the hell was going on. The Harem maintained her position in the water, Flint not wanting to show his cards quite yet; the Inquisitor turned heels and moved closer to her sister ship creating an effective barrier between the fleeing carrier and the pursuing ships.

"Commodore? The radio is going crazy sir." Flint heard from back inside the room, he imagined as much and stood there smiling. The Battle cruisers were just about in range of their long guns and he shouted down orders to the gun crews to be ready on his order.

"Captain Petrov. Open up on your nearest target as soon as the Harem begins firing." Flint clicked off without waiting for a reply and switched frequencies on the radio. "Yes Captain Wallace, what is it that you want." He said tauntingly.

"What the hell are you up to Commodore? Why are your ships not persuing the target?"

"Why Captain whatever do you mean, the Poltergeist is on her tail right as we speak. But I dont think it very sporting for so many ships to attack only one; its not very sporting. I think I will even the odds a bit. Death to Jiggady you scum." Flint clicked off and quickly ran out on deck, he wanted to see this personally.

"FIRE!" His voice boomed out across the deck, eager men whooped and cheered even before they fired their guns; glad to finally be attacking someone. Flint stood tall on deck as the side of the ship errupted with flame and thunder, he imagined this is what it would sound like when the world would end. He stared out across the short spanse of water and had to keep from wetting himself as the first ship heading towards them errupted in flame and thunder as well. Unearthly metalic crunching resonated over the harbour as men immediatly went about abandoning the doomed vessel. An instant later he heard similar sounds from the Inquisitor. It was like christmas big kids "RELOAD YOU MOTHERLESS BASTARDS!" It would be a fun afternoon.

Although the one agent bunked out from his long flight to Jiggady, this did not mean that the Spices and Other Exotic Goods Importers Inc office was idle. Monitoring transmissions of the Jiggady fleet was part of their continuing assignment, and while they were careful not to reveal their hand too much (never know where the JDA were all the time) they carried out their job with enthusiasm. Sometimes, they would even spy on the harbour with a good old fashioned telescope or pair of binoculars. And today would prove to be an especially busy day...


[code:1:3ee0369b36]
"Recall your planes and we will stand down."

"Stand down and we will recall our planes. You started all of this."

....


What the hell are you up to Commodore? Why are your ships not persuing the target?"

...

Death to Jiggady you scum.

...

[/code:1:3ee0369b36]

-By Bok's maw! I want a detailed transcript of this. I also want dossiers on Jiggadian naval personnel and the latest intel we have on them. What the heck is happening to this province?
-I just thought of another way we might be able to get close to the central government.
-How?
-Well, since our cover is an import/export company, we could pretend to be concerned about recent events. The television broadcasts will help our story.
-Very well. Contact their finance minister's office and make the necessary arrangements. Although I think that we might be fed the standard line.
-We could try to place some listening devices.
-Nope. Too risky. Our latest reports indicate that the JDA are quite good at conducting sweeps.

Soon, a few calls were places and "Henry" was briefed on his next assignment.

Somewhere in mainland Jiggardy the Dyelli Beybian Cheka had pulled to the side of the road and were discussing their new orders. For the last few days they had been living off what they could find in the jungle. Which had been one homosexual monkey that had tried to attack the car and a bit of fruit, "So how are we going to do this, just role up into whatever their Capitol is and say "Hello we're your new embassy?" one guard asked incredulously.

"Yes." Dzerzhinsky replied, "We will do exactly that."

The guard sighed, folding his arms belligerently "Well you're the boss... and it's your funeral."

Dzerzhinsky nodded, "I'm fully aware of that, now shall we get a move on...I need to meet up with this Xander character."

ooc: hehehe... you can make it to Belgiou, the captial in another day we'll say.

Vrak, here's a list of info for the players involved.. your dossiers

Commodore Joshua Flint: Owner and head of Jiggy Shipyards which he built up from scratch with his own money. Ceremoniously given title of Commodore, though he see's it as much more than ceremony and has done alot of work for his country; of which he has been decorated for. The Jiggy shipyards are the second largest yards in the nation, next to Port Blood, and mostly produce historacle ships in tribute to the glorious ones of the past. However, the shipyards have recently been putting out battle ships of the line, the first of them reffered to as the five sisters: Harem, Poltergiest, Inquisitor, Monolith, Banshee. Disgruntled over Jiggady's use of Piracy as a legal act, not secret about it. EDIT: Also digging deeper into his past, you may find out about his brother Noah Flint, JDA agent.

Former, Lord High Admiral John Paul England: Greatest naval hero of Jiggady, England returned to Jiggady after years of service abroad and continued with years of glorious service to Jiggady. He has his own section in the Pirate museum, for his recent contributions to promoting their herritage; not to mention being descended from the Pirate Catain England. Given the title Lord High Admiral with his vast lands in Jiggady which he rules over (much like the days of knights). And as you know has recently resigned his commission and pledged alliegance to Xander.

High Admiral John Paul England II: Son to the great Lord High Admiral, England II was pushed into the naval academy on his fathers merit alone, yet once there he proved that he had more than a name. England II, commands the fourth fleet, a smaller fleet group that spends most of its time in the northern waters. Not too much is known about him other than his fathers success, he saw little action in his time but is regarded as being possibly a better commander than his father. Currently elevated to Lord High Admiral with his fathers leaving and has been officially been given command of the first fleet group.

Captain Forth: Highest ranking commander under England, passed up his own admiralty to serve under the great Lord High Admiral. Highly decorated, considered to be one of the best naval minds in Jiggady.

Captain Wallace: Recently promoted by the new High Admiral, Wallace was a First Mate aboard England II's ship. The two are good friends and Wallace was given the Cruisers in effort to take the carrier Babbington, which is to be his new command. Nothing much on him, just an officer of no note as of yet.

Jack and Patrick Teach: (may or may not come up): Mutinous(sp) captains formerly under Flint. Command the battle ships Monolith, Banshee and the most noted pirates that work for Jiggady. Great tension between them and Flint.

If you want any other people in the navy that are captains elsewhere just holler...

The fan moved lazily about the cieling of the room, humming gently and providing little to no breeze. She fanned herself and waved her shirt in the familiar fashion for a person being hot. God damn this stinking office. When the hell are they going to respect me?

Maura Finnigan sat in the sticky leather chair and stared at the mountian of papers on her desk. Various trade agreements with other nations, and daily reports of all the trade agencies in the nation. "Ahhh all in a days work for the Minister of Trade. Damn those bastards, when are they going to realize that this is an important position, not just a laugher. Our economy is afloat only on our trade, only on the work I do."

"Miss. Finnigan, a message for you." The intercom clicked on in its usuall annoying manner. Maura closed her eyes and dreamed of sitting behind a new desk, her dream job of Head of the Treasury Department; a new desk, a new office, and a new secretary. The job should be mine anyways, just because she happens to be Jiggady's cousin.. oooo she needs a prestegious job. Maura thought of that 'skank' sitting where she should be.

"Yes what is it?"

"From the Spices and Other Exotic Goods Importers Inc, madam. They want to schedual a meeting."

"Ahh very well hold on." Maura turned in the chair and opened the massive filing cabinets that took up an entire wall. Within a minute she had the folder out, knowing exactly where each piece of information was on each trading agency. Hmm, havent meet with them in awhile, yes yes yes probably routine...

"Miss Andrews, put them in for tomorrow at 3."

Maura Finnigan leaned lazily back in the chair and watched the fan twist away.

OOC: Thanks Jiggady! I was just poking around your website.

IC:

"Tomorrow at 3? Okay, that sound fine," replied the secretary.

She hung up the phone and then streched her supple legs. Cat-like, she got up and strode over to tell her boss. Meanwhile, the comm officer was busy sending an intel update to the Intelligence Division - on a secure enough line it was hoped.

"Henry" was roused from his bed and, after a stiff drink of coffee, was giving a briefing of what was going on and his next mission. Oddly enough, he was able to sleep through the naval barrage in the harbour.

-So, I go and just ask questions?
-That's right. Just try to find out the current state. We know things are unstable. What we need to know is in what direction things may be heading and if there's anything we can do to...stabilize it.

====

A few minutes later, Henry Longfish showed up in front of the Treasury Department. He tipped the cab driver hansomely and then sauntered inside.