NationStates Jolt Archive

A controversial new book, “The Origin of Man” which puts forth an evolutionary viewpoint, not only that, but he had the audacity to suggest man descended from a low order of apes, has been banned. His book was placed on the Mississippian “Index of Forbidden Books” and the author, Charles Wallace, has been arrested pending charges against him. Under Mississippian law, it is illegal to teach any origin of man that goes contrary to the book of Genesis.

Speaking via the International News Network, to two reporters in Jackson City, a spokesman for the author had this to say.

(Man) “This is clearly an assault on science, Mississippi is declaring that it wants nothing to do with the truth and that they are content to place myths and lies on the level of truth and fact.”

The man starts to open his mouth to continue when suddenly two men in long black overcoats grab his arms and start pulling him away.

(DIS Operative) “Sir, you’re under arrest for insulting and questioning the bible. We can either do this the hard way or the easy way.”

The man looked defiantly and shouted, “The truth shall always prevail! You cannot silence the truth!”

The other operative grinned and then smacked him on the head with a club, chuckling, “the easy way!”

They shouted at the camera crew, “Give me the fucking tape, now!” Then suddenly the woman meekly said, “Uhhh… Uhh… This is live… Sir…”

Another operative popped out from a van and knocked the camera from her hands before dragging her off into the van; the spokesman was already in the back, restrained. Another operative escorted the other reporter into the van and once he’d been pushed inside it sped off. People walking by shouted, “My grandfather is not an ape!”


About two hours later, anti-evolution rallies were reported all across the Commonwealth. Crowds were heard to be singing, “Give Me That Old Time Religion!”

Preachers all throughout the Federation and Commonwealth have begun condemning “The Origin of Man” as blasphemy, heresy, and vile trash. In the words of a priest from the 14th RG Armored Division, “The book contains every imaginable blasphemy and insult to our Lord God. There is no reason such a book should ever have been written!”


Ooc- If somebody wants to claim the reporters, they are international news folks… Just drop me a TG or IM me.

The only Genesis most Letilans have heard of is Neon Genesis Evangelion. We think you are stupid for banning the book. It already exists in Letila and is widely read. We will just smuggle it into your country if we have to.

The only Genesis most Letilans have heard of is Neon Genesis Evangelion. We think you are stupid for banning the book. It already exists in Letila and is widely read. We will just smuggle it into your country if we have to.

Ooc-
You do realize we have over 3 million border police and then there is the "Five mile no-go area" near the border and on the border. Nobody can come within 5 miles of the border, because it's all minefields, ditches, trenches, bunkers, artillery pits, obstacles, and then the 30+ foot tall concrete wall that runs the entire length of the border. Also there are only about 100,000 people who would even want to read the book, well tough luck for them.

No planes get to Mississippi without first stopping in Tennessee to be searched. No boats get in without first stopping at Fabus Island.

Tatiana Haton Kempenski looked over at her partner, Yevgeny Haton Vlachko. He had hit his head as they threw him into the van and was now massaging it with his right hand.

"Well, Yevgeny, it seems like we are in trouble..." she said, with a worried look on her face.

Yevgeny grimaced and replied, "We've been through worse, remember Allanea?"

She nodded and he began beating on the front side of the compartment while shouting, "I want a phone call! I want a phone call!"

Tatiana looked over towards the unconcious spokesman. "This is gonna be a long day..." She sighed and rested her head against the side of the van...

Tatiana Haton Kempenski looked over at her partner, Yevgeny Haton Vlachko. He had hit his head as they threw him into the van and was now massaging it with his right hand.

"Well, Yevgeny, it seems like we are in trouble..." she said, with a worried look on her face.

Yevgeny grimaced and replied, "We've been through worse, remember Allanea?"

She nodded and he began beating on the front side of the compartment while shouting, "I want a phone call! I want a phone call!"

Tatiana looked over towards the unconcious spokesman. "This is gonna be a long day..." She sighed and rested her head against the side of the van...


The DIS operative opened a small viewing hole and shouted back, "Shut your fucking mouth and keep quiet, or the only phone call that'll be made will be by us to your next of kin. Under our laws you get nothing, you get no attorney, no phone call, and you'll be lucky if your trial is within five years... We can hold you as long as we want... Now shut up!"

We of Letila have been working on a terrifying new superweapon for a while and it has been rapidly nearing completion. We suggest you don't do anything to make yourselves it's test target. Your psychological profile is just the kind that the weapon works most effectively on.

-Official Ratheian Government Response-

Due to your banning of scientific ideas we have contributed 1.5 million dollars to the Illuminati.

Cheers and hope you realize that Bible is not science!

"Trial for what? We didn't bloody do anything! screamed Yevgeny, nearly foaming at the mouth.

Realizing the futility of continuing the arguement, he went back over to his seat. He sighed and turned to Tatiana, "You know what they are going to do to you, right?"

She nodded slowly and looked down at her feet. The rumors of what authorities in Decisive Action did to women that they captured were widespread back home.

"Yes, I know, but there isn't anything we can do about it now. Not if we want to get back home alive..."

"Trial for what? We didn't bloody do anything! screamed Yevgeny, nearly foaming at the mouth.

Realizing the futility of continuing the arguement, he went back over to his seat. He sighed and turned to Tatiana, "You know what they are going to do to you, right?"

She nodded slowly and looked down at her feet. The rumors of what authorities in Decisive Action did to women that they captured were widespread back home.

"Yes, I know, but there isn't anything we can do about it now. Not if we want to get back home alive..."


One of the guards in the front heard them speaking via the secret intercom system that was turned on. They had no idea it was even there until one of the guards laughed through it, "Yes, that is right, the rumors are quite true... The boys back at HQ will enjoy you!"

The other operative, also up front, chuckled, "Getting home? You'll never be getting back home! You're going to a gulag when we're done with you."

Bah, this is excessive. I am a religious man, a Hindu, but my faith includes the acceptance of evolution. Quite simply, my friend, the book of Genesis can be no more proven than the Avesta or Rig-Veda. Evolution however, has a substantial amount of data to support it. Why you disallow your people to believe in both is quite suprising and detremental to science.

-Maharajah Rama Gupta of Magdha

Ah yes, I'll have to remind Letilan Intelligence that any women sent into DA should be non-white to prevent rape. If only Hattia had realized that.

This roused Yevgeny's anger again, he went back to beating on the van while screaming at the top of his lungs, I'll KILL YOU, YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!"

Ah yes, I'll have to remind Letilan Intelligence that any women sent into DA should be non-white to prevent rape. If only Hattia had realized that.


Ooc- Non-whites aren't allowed in our nation... So that sort of shoots to hell your idea. I ask you stop posting here, you're cluttering the thread with OOC. Please TG or IM me with any further comments/questions/concerns/criticisms/etc

This roused Yevgeny's anger again, he went back to beating on the van while screaming at the top of his lungs, I'll KILL YOU, YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!"


One of the operatives opened a slot and stuck his pistol through, shooting Yevgeny in the knee cap, he then quickly closed the slot and chuckled as the man shouted in pain.


The van was pulling into a nearby DIS Security Center, and they proceeded to drag everybody out once the van was safely inside the secure underground garage...

When the opened the door, they had two guards train their MP-5s on the door and they made the spokesman come out first. He was promptly beaten to the ground by one of the operatives. Then they had the woman come on out, one the guards leered at her, "I'm going to enjoy you!"

Then the operatives dragged Yevgeny out, but not before shooting him in the other kneecap, laughing while doing so.

Yevgeny fell to the ground, clutching his knees and groaning in pain. The blood leaked through his fingers and formed a pool of blood on the ground.

Tatiana looked over at the man and smiled, she then flipped him the bird and grinned. "Fascist pig, I'll bite your damn #$#% off..."

She then looked over at Yevgeny, "Good luck Yevgeny, we will meet again..."

Yevgeny fell to the ground, clutching his knees and groaning in pain.

Tatiana looked over at the man and smiled, she then flipped him the bird and grinned. "Fascist pig, I'll bite your damn #$#% off..."


He clenched his hand tightly into a fist and struck it hard into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to the ground in pain. He motioned for two of the now four guards present to hold her up, they did so, then one of them pushed her over the hood of a sedan while the guard she flipped off spent the next ten minutes raping her while two of his friends held her down.

When he was finished, he slapped her around and then snapped his fingers, the other two guards dragged her off and into the building where she'd be tossed into the a cell. As she was taken through the corridors into the dark and damp depths of the underground, in the secret floors of the building, she heard the screams of those being interrogated.

They came to her cell, cold, lifeless, little more than a 12x14 concrete room. There was a cot and coffee can in the corner, the guard she flipped off gave her a push and in she went. They slammed the door, locked it, then walked away laughing.

The others brought in with her were all taken to separate cellblocks.

Tatiana stumbled to the cot and collapsed. She didn't feel like eating or drinking anything, she just wanted to sleep. She was asleep before she hit the cot.

Meanwhile, Yevgeny had ripped off part of his shirt and was attempting to make a makeshift bandage for his knees, occassionally groaning from the pain...

A controversial new book, “The Origin of Man” which puts forth an evolutionary viewpoint, not only that, but he had the audacity to suggest man descended from a low order of apes, has been banned. His book was placed on the Mississippian “Index of Forbidden Books” and the author, Charles Wallace, has been arrested pending charges against him. Under Mississippian law, it is illegal to teach any origin of man that goes contrary to the book of Genesis.

Speaking via the International News Network, to two reporters in Jackson City, a spokesman for the author had this to say.

(Man) “This is clearly an assault on science, Mississippi is declaring that it wants nothing to do with the truth and that they are content to place myths and lies on the level of truth and fact.”

The man starts to open his mouth to continue when suddenly two men in long black overcoats grab his arms and start pulling him away.

(DIS Operative) “Sir, you’re under arrest for insulting and questioning the bible. We can either do this the hard way or the easy way.”

The man looked defiantly and shouted, “The truth shall always prevail! You cannot silence the truth!”

The other operative grinned and then smacked him on the head with a club, chuckling, “the easy way!”

They shouted at the camera crew, “Give me the fucking tape, now!” Then suddenly the woman meekly said, “Uhhh… Uhh… This is live… Sir…”

Another operative popped out from a van and knocked the camera from her hands before dragging her off into the van; the spokesman was already in the back, restrained. Another operative escorted the other reporter into the van and once he’d been pushed inside it sped off. People walking by shouted, “My grandfather is not an ape!”


About two hours later, anti-evolution rallies were reported all across the Commonwealth. Crowds were heard to be singing, “Give Me That Old Time Religion!”

Preachers all throughout the Federation and Commonwealth have begun condemning “The Origin of Man” as blasphemy, heresy, and vile trash. In the words of a priest from the 14th RG Armored Division, “The book contains every imaginable blasphemy and insult to our Lord God. There is no reason such a book should ever have been written!”


Ooc- If somebody wants to claim the reporters, they are international news folks… Just drop me a TG or IM me.

Not terribly productive of you- science is science, and religion is religion. I guess you evidently can't help connecting the two. Meh, not my problem.

-Kaiser Alec Mannerheim-Alessandri.

(OOC: Sorry again about the other day, DA)

(IC:

To: Decisive Action
From: Roach-Busters

Decisive Action, we think it is great what you are doing. Your efforts to halt the spread of the rampant plague known as Darwinism are heroic and an inspiration to us all. May your people be blessed, and may your nation prosper.

Decisive Action, we think it is great what you are doing. Your efforts to halt the spread of the rampant plague known as Darwinism are heroic and an inspiration to us all. May your people be blessed, and may your nation prosper.

Why is there so much hate in the world? Why won't anyone embrace freedom, love, and peace?

Why is there so much hate in the world? Why won't anyone embrace freedom, love, and peace?


Why can't you read english and keep your OOC comments out of here! I've already asked you once, if I have to ask you again, I'm going to call the mods into this.

I've made it clear, OOC comments are cluttering up this thread, which is mainly going to be an RP between Hattia and myself.

((OOC: I think it was an IC comment...))

bump

The Federation condemns these actions against the truth and basic freedoms.

The Commissariat of Foreign Affairs
The Socialist Federation of Hallad

While the man was being interrogated (beaten senseless and submerged in a pool of hydrochloric acid) the woman, Tatiana was sleeping in her cell, pondering her fate as she dreamed she was away, anywhere but here.


She almost thought she heard the screams of her colleague as she slept, but when she was abruptly shaken into consciousness by the guards storming into her cell and dragging her out, she realized it was probably just a dream, a nightmare was more like it.



The guards dragged the weary woman into an interrogation room, her hair was tangled and disheveled, her face betrayed her fear as the door was shut and locked. A small chair and an operating table were in the middle of the dimly lit room, there were tables against the wall, and each had various devices of "interrogation". There were electrocution devices, clubs, knives, acid drippers, hammers, nails, castor oil, salt water, and many other items.

One of the guards shoved her onto the table and strapped her down; she was far too weak to resist him. He smiled at her as he put a pair of latex gloves on; then he slowly walked over and retrieved an acid dripper from one of the other tables.

He walked back over and dangled it over chest, "Tell me, how long have you been a spy? Who are you working for?" he demanded, in a psychotically friendly tone that revealed he was enjoying this immensely.

While the one man dangled the acid dripper over her, the unspoken threat of him using it unless she complied, the other man paced back and forth before finally walking up to her.

(Man) "You are a spy! You will confess now or else!"

She didn't know what her crime was, she had no idea what this was all about, and her looks showed it.

The man chuckled, "You should know our laws don't allow live broadcasts by foreign media, everything must first be approved for broadcast by our government councils. Live broadcasts don't allow us the necessary time to review the footage to be shown... You are therefore a spy! Now confess!"

We are saddened, but unsurprised by this latest examble of supression of free speach under the Fabus regieme, but even more importantly, Chardonay would like to confirm with Decisive Action the whereabouts and wellbeing of the two reporters and the lone protester.

OOC: If there's room for another personI'd be willing to either RP an international pressure group agitating for their release or their superiors in the news agency. If not, I understand as well.

And by the way, may I say that your interrogation techniques are unutterably crude! Hydrochloric acid? Barbarians! What happened to sensory deprivation tanks?

We are saddened, but unsurprised by this latest examble of supression of free speach under the Fabus regieme, but even more importantly, Chardonay would like to confirm with Decisive Action the whereabouts and wellbeing of the two reporters and the lone protester.

OOC: If there's room for another personI'd be willing to either RP an international pressure group agitating for their release or their superiors in the news agency. If not, I understand as well.

And by the way, may I say that your interrogation techniques are unutterably crude! Hydrochloric acid? Barbarians! What happened to sensory deprivation tanks?


Ooc- We do sensory deprivation (The box) a steel box where you cannot stand or sit, we seal the ears, gag them, restrain them, and then leave them in it for a few days-weeks.


Ic- "We are currently looking into how the reporters and the evolutionist are doing. We have heard they are being well taken care of and their spirits are high."

Joseph Mladic

OOC: Again... inelligent. We put them in a wetsuit so they have no tactile sensation, suspend them in a tank filled with geletin, put a headset on them that blocks hearing and vision, but allows us to speak directly into their ears with microphones to interrogate them... we can also project pictures on the headset to stimulate responces. The record before complete breakdown was 70 hours. (this is based on an RL soviet system.)

And about my request...?

OOC: Again... inelligent. We put them in a wetsuit so they have no tactile sensation, put a headset on them that blocks hearing and vision, but allows us to speak directly into their ears with microphones to interrogate them... we can also project pictures on the headset to stimulate responces. The record before complete breakdown was 70 hours. (this is based on an RL soviet system.)

And about my request...?


"We have confirmed for ourselves that the people in question are well, your offer is unnecessary and unwanted."

Paul Stahlecker

OOC: Wait... DA did you just respond IC to something OOC?

OOC: Wait... DA did you just respond IC to something OOC?


Ooc- I responded OOC to the OOC part and IC to the IC part.

He did... the offer was OCC... but never mind.

A clear breach on the Human right to free speech will most likely result in contraversial international debates. Please do not push people to action.

A clear breach on the Human right to free speech will most likely result in contraversial international debates. Please do not push people to action.


"Check our constitution and ours laws, our national sovereignty means more to our government than some muddled idea of human rights. We have the right to limit sedition, slander, libel, and false sciences."

Paul Stahlecker


(ooc- my laws: http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7013988&postcount=3)

"If that is what your law defines it as, then I am a spy, since I know you generally don't want science to influence the citizenry of this country, it is no trouble, as the broadcast was only back to Hattia and most people there aren't Christians anyway. The only way that anyone here would've seen it would be if they had some special equipment, which is no doubt illegal here.

I work for the Hattian News Network, and I have made special arrangements to stay away from reporting on your leaders or the military, as I guess that would be thought of as espionage.

We came here to try to destroy the negative sterotypes of people in Decisive Action, stereotypes that you were barbarians. But now, frankly I can see those stereotypes have base.

Now, you must know that my countrymen will soon notice that we haven't reported in. They will come looking for us, and trust me, they are also quite creative in their interrogation techniques..."

The interrogator ripped her shirt open and the other man dripped a few drops of acid onto her stomach. They both started to laugh as she squirmed in pain.

One of them smacked her across the face, "You dare speak in such an insolent tone! We care not for your ramblings! Will you confess to the crime of espionage?"

As the acid dripped on her exposed stomach, she moaned in pain and tryed to lean to the side, to get it to drip off.

She opened her eyes and stared straight at the man...

"I already told you everything, if we were damn spies, do you think we'd be stupid enough to come to a foreign country in which we will stand out like sore thumbs, lug around a huge camera and whatnot?

If we were spies, why didn't we try to smuggle guns in, that's a well known tactic of the HFIA?"

The man slapped her in the face and shouted, "Silence, whore! Unless you will sign the confession, shut your mouth!"

The other man chuckled, "We should see just what her mouth is good for, eh?"

"No, she'd bite it off!" the first man replied, "But she can't do anything if we want to get a few more guys down here and take turns on her." He grinned as he said that.

Suddenly he got right into her face, "Sign the confession or we can easily arrange that dozens of men pay you a visit! Sign!"

She hesitated slightly, after thinking for a few seconds, she began to speak...

"If I sign it, will you send Yevgeny back to Hattia?"

The man smiled, "Certainly, we will send him back immediately..."

He unstrapped one of her hands and in a friendly tone, coaxed her with, "Okay, just sign here and initial here, then date it there."

The first thing she noticed was that the paper was largely blank, they'd be able to fill it in later..

He held the paper close to her and helped her hold the pen in her hand, "Will you sign then? Here, let me help you, yes?"

"Do you think I'm stupid just because I'm a woman? I want to see a typed form so you just can't fill in stuff and make it look like I admitted to anything you want. Just send him back home and you guys can do what you want to me, I don't care anymore..."

The man smiled, "Very well, send his body back home, and then we do what we want with this one." He grinned and waited for her reaction to what he'd just said.

"You... you... killed him?" Tears began to well up in her eyes... "Why?"

The men started to laugh, "Crying like a baby!" one of them shouted, the others couldn't stop laughing. One of them managed to exclaim, "We sure got her good, that asshole isn't dead... Yet... But soon he may wish he was dead!"

One of them held the paper up, "Sign here and he stays alive. You have thirty seconds to decide."

They opened the door and dragged the man in, acid burns covered over 90% of his body, his hair had all been pulled out, he was bruised and beaten, all his nails had been pulled out. One of the men held a pistol to his head, "You have twenty seconds to sign the paper..."

"Yevgeny..."

She grabbed the pen and quickly signed her name on the paper...

"Now, send him home alive!"

The man smiled, then he said, "We never said we'd send him home alive... We just said we'd send him home. The only way he is going home will be in a plastic bag or a cardboard box."

He turned to his friend, "We should keep our word though and send him home..." He turned back to the woman, who was now once again totally restrained on the table, "Right, we should keep our word?"

The guard with the pistol cocked it after his boss said, "Let's keep our word."


He looked at the woman, "What should we do? Keep our word and send him home, or keep him here as our guest for a while longer?"

"Don't kill him! Please don't kill him!"

She had a panicked look on her face, nothing she had ever trained for had taught her what to do in this situation. In one hand, Yevgeny would live and in the other, he would be in great pain for the rest of his life, considering that they'd probably both be killed...

The man snapped his fingers and the man with the pistol fired it. She wasn't able to see what had happened, strapped as she was. She had no idea if her friend was dead. He wasn't though, the man had fired into the floor.

They all started to laugh and one of them propped her head up so she could see he was still alive.


They set the man in a chair and administered him some morphine, helped him get some water, and then setup an IV to provide him with nutrition as they were readying to take him to the hospital on the base they were at.


One of the guards, the leader apparently, looked at the woman, "Don't worry, your friend will be fine, well he won't be fine for a while, but he's going to remain alive", his words gave her some comfort.


They took the man out on a stretcher and then three guards and their boss remained in the room. The boss leered at her then chuckled to the other guards, "What can we do with her now?"

Tatiana sighed with relief, "Thank you" she said. "My only chance of getting Yevgeny out of here is to keep these bastards happy..." she thought to herself.

Noticing the man leering at her, she looked over, winked suggestively and smiled...

The man walked up to her and looked down at her, unstrapped her from the table and carried her into a nearby room, the other three guards sat by in the room and watched. He set her down on the couch and told her to lie down and spread her legs. Then he spent twenty minutes raping her.

The others each took their turn, when they were were done, only the boss and one guard remained in the room. He had a plate of warm food and a pitcher of water brought in for her and sat down on a desk in front of her.

As she was eating, the boss started to speak to her, "So, why exactly do you want to kill our leader? You do realize that's a very serious charge, plotting to kill the Czar..."


He held up the confession she'd signed earlier, it was now filled in, the charges included the following.

1) Espionage
2) Conspiracy to assassinate the Czar
3) Conspiracy to assassinate white political leaders in Mississippian Egypt
4) Conspiracy to sow dissent
5) Illegal broadcasting of media
6) Promulgation of evolutionary propaganda

She chuckled, she had already knew she sealed her fate when she signed that paper.

"I don't want to kill Fabus, I want to capture him, send him back to my home country, and have him raped by black men every day for the rest of his life. I want to burn every bible in your country, I want to force everyone to become homosexual. I want to laugh while you are forced to do things that you find disgusting. You can't scare me anymore, I do not fear death, I welcome it..."

The boss was about to reply when the door of his office blew off the hinges and a squad of SRG soldiers stormed into the room. It wasn't really that they were disobeying the orders of the Czar Roger Fabus that all torture should end immediately, it was mostly an internal power struggle between the RG Intelligence (backed by the SRG) and the DIS for who would be the most prominent Intelligence service in the new government that was taking shape around the policies of Czar Roger Fabus.


The leader of the RG squad trained his MP-5 on the DIS guard, who was promptly relieved of his pistol when two SRG men knocked him down and took it from him.

The leader of the SRG squad, was an unusually large captain, he reached his hand to the woman and took her into his arms, "My name is Captain Arthur Nelson, please, come with me, don't resist, we're here to help you."


Captain Nelson carried the weak and exhausted woman out of the DIS interrogation base and into a waiting limousine outside the base.

She was shocked to see the Minister of the Interior, Arthur Frick, inside the limousine smoking a cigar.

Captain Nelson set her down gently on a seat, and stepped in after her.

The limousine started to pull away and Frick spoke up, "How are you ma'am? I've heard you endured quite an ordeal..."

Yes, I have. Now, where is Yevgeny? You forgot him!" she replied quickly...

Frick smiled, "He is fine..." then his smile quickly faded, "He will be fine that is, he had to be airlifted to an RG hospital, but don't worry, the RG doctors are some of the best in the world. They are the ones who operate on the Stahleckers, the Fabuses, the Mladics, the Salazars, etc."


Nelson tapped the woman on the shoulder and asked her, "Would you like something to drink?"


While she was pondering if she wanted a drink, Nelson spoke to the driver over the intercom, "How long until we're at Stalingrad?"

The driver replied, "About ninety minutes at the most."

She immediately knew what Stalingrad meant, the Czar's primary estate...

She smiled and replied, "Yes, vodka please..."

She stopped in her tracks when she heard that they were headed towards Stalingrad. She sighed and looked over towards Nelson...

"I get to meet the Czar, eh? I don't know about this new one that you have, but I assume I get to meet Mr. Curtis also. I know what he does to women."

He handed her a glass of vodka after Frick poured it for her.


Nelson smiled, "Roger is much more moderate on certain issues, and much more extreme on others, he is not his father in the least. I can honestly tell you that Roger Fabus has only been with one woman in his entire life, his wife, the Czarina... As for Curtis, he has only been with two woman that ever mattered to him, his first wife, Julia, and his current wife, Christine... In between the two, his life was a mess and he was a basket case emotionally. But Curtis has never been with any woman in a non-consensual situation... I can guarantee that, I am his personal bodyguard, I have been by his side probably 23 hours a day every day for the last 8 years."

"Well, that's admirable..." she said before downing the glass, "So, why am I going to Stalingrad?"

Her voice showed a bit of anger at the mention of Stalin, most Hattians considered him worse than Nazis, since he went around masquerading as a communist.

Nelson smiled, "The Czar thought that you being a reporter might help to portray our nation in a positive light, he thinks there are numerous false stereotypes about our nation. He would like to meet with you and discuss suggestions for how to positively portray our nation to the world. He recently opened up the nation to foreign embassies, something Curtis had banned... So international image of our nation suddenly means something, if little, it still counts."

"Well, I report what I see, positive or negative. Heck, I did a story on the candidate for Prime Minister that I supported, and it was about his support of capitalist nations. That quite possibly caused him to lose the election.

If you guys show me positive stuff to report on, I will. As I will also report on negative things I see. So, give me good stuff to talk about, and I'll make sure the world hears it."

Nelson nodded, "Well for one thing, the Czar pardoned you and your friend, that is positive. He also granted general amnesty to all of the political prisoners his father had arrested, except for the communists and the leftist radicals... Over eight million people were released from the gulags because of Roger Fabus. Also the situation in Western Sahara was satisfactorily resolved for all parties."

OOC: I've gotta get to sleep, it's 1AM and I have school tommarrow, I'll post again later (Probably around 12:30 EST).

"Hmm, that is pretty good. We Communists are quite nice people when you get to know us..." she grinned and continued, "Anyway, I'll be sure to show that. We always like it when people reform and such"

Ooc: Okay

Frick exhaled a large cloud of smoke and then asked her in a tone of genuine concern, "Ma'am, will you be needing a doctor or a psychiatrist? From what I've heard and seen, the DIS operatives are very brutal..."

[tag]

As Frick blew out the smoke, Tatiana coughed a bit and rolled down the window.

I suppose I'd like to go to a doctor eventually, if this is the way they treat all the women they arrest, I've probably just caught several STDs from those bastards.

I don't think I'll ever be able to get over what I've seen, I think a very long vacation back home would help, though..."

Frick nodded, "I don't think you'll need a doctor for STDs, the rate here is very low amongst the general population and the intelligence staff... However about 30% of the regular army and 40% of the popular army have had or are currently infected with Syphilis... We're working on reducing those numbers down to zero, the only accept level for such diseases."



The limousine was flagged through a massive gate structure, concrete walls to either side of the large gate that retracted into the ground as they approached. She looked up and saw a large sign, "Stalingrad".

As the limousine pulled further onto the estate grounds, driving along the smoothly paved road, she could look out and see squads of SRG soldiers marching along, patrols of small units in the woods, T-98 tanks rolling by with BMP-3s close behind, the amount of SA-19s and other SAM and AAA weapons was astonishing. She counted at least 500 ZSU-23-4s and 150 SA-19s, along with 400 fixed SAM sites from the time they entered the estate grounds to when they finally arrived just outside the mansion about twenty minutes later.


Nelson stood up, opened the door, and waited for her to get out, "Here we are, ma'am."


Ooc- I've got to go, be back around 3 pm eastern.

OOC: Okay, bye...

"Wow, *Mr. Fabus is a little paranoid, isn't he?"

She watched him get out and followed suit, bowing slightly as she passed. She looked around, amazed by the sights. This was easily the biggest personal estate she had ever seen. Even the Prime Minister lived in a small house on the outskirts of the capital.

"Lead the way"

*Note: Hattians never refer to unelected officials by their titles, it's not meant as disrespect, so try not to take it like that.

They led the woman up the marble stairs in front of the 200,000 sq ft mansion. Nelson chuckled, "Most of the entire SRG division is always stationed here to guard the Czar, and one regiment is guarding the old Premier Curtis Fabus, at all times. Curtis had reasons to be paranoid, he survived over ninety assassination attempts."


A servant opened the massive door leading into the foyer of the mansion. Nelson waited for her to enter first.

"Ah, sounds like a hard man to kill."

She walked through the massive doorway and looked around in the foyer. Instead of the reaction that the architect probably wanted to evoke, Tatiana felt that it was quite wasteful.

"It's quite nice, the architect must've been gifted in their craft..." she said...

Bump, Hattia and I are working on the this via MSN and it will be a major update soon.

Rped between Hattia and DA over MSN.

As Captain Nelson was leading Tatiana into the front room, a young man was walking out towards the front room, apparently to leave, he was about 6'1, his black hair was well-trimmed, he carried an officers cap under his arm and a governor-generals baton was tucked neatly under his right arm next to his cap, he stopped when he saw the woman, smiled and asked, "Who might you be?"

"I am Tatiana Haton Kempenski", she said while bowing slightly, "You are?"

He nodded his head, "I am Charles Stahlecker, perhaps you have heard of the Stahlecker family, yes?"

(Charles) "We are most well-known family here in Mississippi, next to the Fabus family that is..."

(Tatiana) "Yes, quite a few negative things, mostly from a conference in Derscon, I believe..."

Charles stepped back a few feet and motioned at the estate, "How do you like the looks of this place? The Czar sure knows how to live, eh?"

(Tatiana) “Yeah, seems a bit wasteful for one man, though...”

Charles chuckled, "He is married and has a child on the way, he'll probably have ten or fifteen children before he's done, so this place will be rather busy in a decade or two..."

(Tatiana) “Ten or fifteen?"

(Tatiana) "Well, I suppose he can afford to take care of all of them"

Charles nodded, "Yes, he is also considering adopting the Salazar children... Marshal Salazar recently was killed in action."

(Tatiana) "Ah, please convey my condolences to Mr. Salazar's children."

(Charles) "So tell me, do you have any children?"

Tatiana shook her head, "No, I live on the road most of the time, not enough time."

Charles frowned, "Shame, everybody should have a child, especially women as lovely as yourself... It's a shame though, it sounds as though you're saying you're putting a career ahead of the inherent inclination to reproduce, yes?

Tatiana blushed slightly, "Thank you, I am considered rather strange among my countrymen. Many of them never leave the town they were born in, much less the country. Perhaps if I ever get a permanant job with the Network, I'll settle down..."

He nodded, "Well my job takes up most of my time, otherwise I'd probably have a family by now... Being a governor-general of an entire commonwealth nation, it requires a great degree of skill and effort."

(Tatiana) "I can imagine, I've talked to former Prime Minister Andropov a few times, you can almost feel the stress radiating from him. I thought about going into politics when I was younger, but I don't like to have responsibility over so many other lives."

He seemed to be somewhere else, not paying attention to what she was saying, he was actually staring at her, well past her so she didn't realize he was enthralled by her beauty, he meekly nodded, and said, "Uh-uh, makes sense..." He snapped himself back to his senses, "I have to be running along, and perhaps you'd like to continue this conversation later?"

(Tatiana) "I'd like that, it's nice to know that there are decent people in this country after all."

Charles smiled, "Yes, you will likely find most of the people here are good people. It's just the folks in the intelligence services, the secret police that you have to watch out for. They're sick people, they scare the hell out of me."

(Tatiana) "Yeah, back home they probably would've been killed by an angry mob by now. Hattians don't take people disrespecting others in such.... manners very well."

He nodded in agreement, "Our Czar is trying to reform the intelligence and secret police apparatus to bring them more into line with the moderations he is trying to affect in our policies."

(Tatiana) "Hmm, perhaps they could take a few lessons from the HIIA, they don't use torture or any cruel methods and have kept us safe for nearly 55 years now..."

(Charles) "Curtis Fabus established the DIS, the SRG intelligence, the RG intelligence, Army Intelligence, the MSAAS intelligence, he modeled them all on the NKVD, KGB, and Gestapo."

(Tatiana) "Ugh, terrible organizations, especially the NKVD. There isn't anything I hate more than people who go around masquerading as false communists."

He looked at his watch, "Oh my, I've got to be running along." Charles the took out a piece of paper and wrote his cellular phone number on it, "Here, if you'd like to speak with me later, or perhaps have dinner sometime, call me at this number..."

(Tatiana) "Ah, thank you." She folded it neatly and slipped it into her pocket.

Charles smiled, turned and then walked on out of the mansion.

Nelson chuckled, "Well it seems you've made a friend, eh?"

She smiled, "Well, after what I've been through in the past few hours, I could use one."

Nelson smiled, "Well it's always good to have a Stahlecker on your side."

(Tatiana) "Ah, well, he seems like a nice man. He'd make a good Hattian." she said while grinning.

Nelson gave her a look, "Just what does that mean?"

(Tatiana) “Nothing, just a slip back into old habits. I was raised in a rather... nationalist environment, and that's what my parents said sometimes about foreigners that they liked...”

(Tatiana) "Though, I suppose here, I'm the foreigner."

Nelson nodded, "Yes indeed, and don't forget it... But we try to treat all white foreigners properly. I regret that the first natives here you got to meet were butchers from the secret police."

(Tatiana) "Ah, I wish I could say the same for my countrymen, at least in the far north. They can be downright cruel to people that aren't from a select group of nations that they trust. Not physically cruel, but they'll ignore or harass them and things like that."

Nelson nodded, "Yes indeed, and don't forget it... But we try to treat all white foreigners properly. I regret that the first natives here you got to meet were butchers from the secret police."

(Tatiana) "Ah, I wish I could say the same for my countrymen, at least in the far north. They can be downright cruel to people that aren't from a select group of nations that they trust. Not physically cruel, but they'll ignore or harrass them and things like that."

Nelson frowned, "Here if people don't like you, they just call the Secret Police and you're lucky if you're ever seen again..."

(Tatiana) "Well, our police stay out of personal matters generally. Most often, serious disputes are settled through dueling. Though it has fallen out of favor in the south, somewhat."

Nelson led her into a nearby private office room, the Czar Roger Fabus was reclined in a chair, his wife Alice was lying on top on him, stroking his hair, they both sat up when Nelson and Tatiana came in.

Roger stood up to greet her, extending his hand, "Hello, I've been told of your ordeal, you have my sympathies... I'm sure you know who I am, yes?"

Taking his hand, she said, "Thank you, and yes, how do you do, Mr. Fabus?"

He frowned when she said, "Mr." but he hid it well, he preferred being called Czar, but also responded to his old titles "General" or "Your Whiteness", he never responded to Mr, but he'd make an exception, "I am well, you?"

(Tatiana) "As well as one could be in such circumstances. I'm extremely grateful to you for saving mine and my friend's life."

Roger nodded, "Yes, had I heard what was going on earlier, I would have intervened earlier, I'm terribly sorry the SRG didn't rescue you before you were assaulted..."

She sighed, "That would've been nice, but the SRG still did a damn good job anyway, and I don't believe I've been seriously hurt, except for this acid burn on my stomach. Now, Yevgeny... I am sure my homeland will be happy to reimburse you for the cost of his medical attention."

Roger shook his head, "No the cost of his medical attention was paid for by myself, I have over three trillion dollars, father has over eight trillion, think nothing of it, the least I could do." He then motioned with his hand to Alice, "I don't believe you've met the Czarina, Alice.

"I haven't." Bowing slightly, she continued, "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

She smiled at Tatiana and nodded her head, and then Roger said, "Alice was just going to lie down and rest." Alice looked at Roger, "I was?" Roger chuckled, "Yes, Alice, you need plenty of rest, you're resting for two, don't forget that..."

Roger picked her up in his arms then told Tatiana, "Excuse me, I need to get Alice to bed and then I'll be right back, he carried her up to their room set her gently down on the bed, kissed her, told her, "Sleep well, Alice." And then he walked back downstairs; he was back within about three minutes of his leaving.

Tatiana smiled, "Ah, congratulations."

He shook his head at Tatiana, "Alice always tries to do too much, she's too active for a pregnant woman." He smiled, "Thank you for the congratulations."

(Tatiana) "Yes, the child has quite a future ahead of him, or her..."

Roger smiled, "I hope it's a boy."

Nelson nodded, "Yes, a boy is always the best for a first child, and the second, and the third..." Roger and Arthur started to laugh.

Tatiana chuckled uncomfortably, no one would say comments such as this back home, men and women were considered equal in every way.

Roger smiled, "Well Tatiana, I have a surprise for you." He snapped his hands and some guards brought her coworker into the room in a wheelchair.

She laughed and ran over to him, but resisting the urge to give him a big hug, noticing all of the bandages over his body. "I told you we'd get through this. You'll be good as new in a month or two."

Roger nodded, "We have some of the best reconstructive surgeons in the world, there won't be evidence of any acid burns on him, not a single scar, and the nerve damage can all be repaired. We have my father to thank, he was the one who allowed medical experimentation to be performed on living subjects, criminals and other undesirables."

Tatiana smiled, "Well, though I'm not completely sure that the ends justify the means, but it is amazing stuff that you are able to do."

Yevgeny smiled with some difficulty, "Yes, thank you so much Mr. Fabus."

(Roger) "Yes, and if you're experiencing psychological trauma, I could have your short term memory selectively cleared out, only the experiences you want gone, that is how far advanced our medical science is."

They both looked intrigued, Tatiana spoke first, "Really, I thought memories were just electrical currents and whatnot in the brain, but I suppose you know better than I do.

Roger nodded, "Actually Dr Baldur Von Schacht knows better than I, he's the one behind most of the advances we have. Tell me, have you ever heard of Dr. Schacht?"

Tatiana tapped her foot on the ground, something that she did when trying to call up obscure memories, "I think so, a long time ago probably."

Roger smiled, "Schacht is a great man, I just wish we knew exactly where he is... He's somewhere in dimmimar, he's been there for almost a month now."

(Tatiana) "Yeah, doesn't sound like the kind of guy that you'd want to lose track of."

(Roger) "So tell me, what do you think of Mississippi, has your opinion improved since earlier?"

(Tatiana) "It's quite nice, far too warm though."

Roger chuckled, "You should travel to Ohio then, or perhaps Fabus Mountain here in Mississippi, entirely manmade mountain, over 12,000 feet."

Tatiana looked intrigued, "A 12,000 foot tall mountain, completely manmade. How long did that take to do?"

He scratched his head, "About sixteen years... They started in December of 1984 and ended around june of 2000."

She chuckled, "Quite impressive, what point did it serve?"

He smiled, "Father wanted to be able to ski without leaving the area."

A look of understanding crossed her face, "Ah, I've been skiing before, fun sport. I did manage to hurt myself quite a bit before I got the hang of it. We can't ski on the biggest mountains in the north, because of the rebels. Though I'm sure many people would like to try."

(Roger) "What rebels? What group are they?"

(Tatiana) "Remnants of the old regimes, capitalists and monarchists. There was recently a campaign by the special forces of Hattia, The Island States and Edolia to wipe them out. They've been hurt seriously, but they aren't completely gone yet."

Roger smiled, "Yes, rebels, the thorn in the side of every government."

Tatiana frowned, "They aren't a real threat to the government, they attack civilians and raid supplies in the north. If they wanted, they could form a political party and try to get into power peacefully. Something ironic though, they are using the same tunnels in the mountains that the Communists used against them, they've expanded them greatly, but the same tunnels still..."

She nodded, "Sounds great, lead on."

Roger stood up and escorted her to a nearby room, about 3,000 sq feet in size, with three large bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and even a patio with a view of the nearby estate gardens.

She pushed Yevgeny's wheelchair along behind Roger. As they entered the room, a look of happiness crossed her face. "It's nearly as big as my house back home!" she said. "What do you think, Yevgeny?" He looked around once more and nodded slowly.

Roger tapped Yevgeny on the shoulder, "How are you doing? Are you okay? We're going to have you treated in a few hours at a Republican Guard hospital here on the estate grounds, you'll be as good as new."

He chuckled, "I've been better. I've had some pretty bad burns in my life and I've got used to them, but this hurts like hell. Then again, I suppose I could be far worse."

Roger chuckled, "Would you like to go to the hospital now, so you can be up and running again in no time?"

He nodded, "Sure, might as well get it over with. Always hated going to the doctor..."

Roger nodded and helped Tatiana wheel Yevgeny out into a waiting ambulance

Three hours later, the doctors had repaired him to such that it was impossible to tell what he'd been through.

When he walked out of the hospital room, she knew he was okay.

He looked around with a look of amazement on his face. He moved all of his limbs and jumped about slightly. "Bloody hell, mind if I come by if I manage to get an arm shot off or something?" he said while grinning happily...

Roger patted him on the back, "I'm glad you're happy with the work they did..."

(Yevgeny) "Yeah, the doctors back home are good, but this is just amazing."

Roger sighed, "Thank my father for approving research on live subjects... Inmates and other undesirables."

(Yevgeny) "Well, I suppose the means justify the ends in this case, at least."

Roger smiled, "What say we all go back and get something to eat?" Rogers cellular phone rang right then, he answered it and then handed it to Tatiana, "It's for you, a Charles Stahlecker..."

She smiled and took the phone, "Hello?"

(Charles) "Hello, Tatiana... I was wondering if you're busy or free for dinner?"

(Tatiana) "Sure, that sounds good. I can eat with Yevgeny any day..."

(Charles) "What say six then? Is that a good time for you?"

(Tatiana) "Yeah, that sounds good. Where should we meet at?"

(Charles) "I'll send my driver by to pick you up, is that okay?"

(Tatiana) "That sounds great, I'll see you then..."

(Charles) "See you then. Take care."

(Tatiana) "You too"

He hung up after she did, and then she handed the phone back to Roger, who was smiling.

(Roger) "I see you've got yourself a friend, eh?"

She looked over at Yevgeny, who had a slightly disappointed look on his face. "Hey, brighten up, you just got a bunch of new skin." she said, "We can eat every day." Looking over at Roger now, she said happily, "Yep, he's a nice guy."

They all went back to the mansion, and at six o'clock sharp, the driver came up to the front room and told her he was there.

Roger jokingly called out, "Have a fun time, don't do anything I wouldn't... Don't stay out too late..."

She grinned and called back, "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself just fine!"

She then climbed in the car.

Charles was in the back of the limousine, he smiled at her, "Good evening, ma'am."

She returned the smile, "Good evening, how are you?"

(Charles) "I am fine... Where would you like to dine tonight? I know of a great place in Stahlecker City in Western Sahara, they make the best Western Sahara turkey."

(Tatiana) "I've never had Western Sahara Turkey, is it any different from regular turkey?"

Charles smiled, "It's much better, of course the atmosphere of the place makes it even better... And in your company, it'd be another plus. Shall we then? If we want to get in time for dinner, we'll have to catch the plane now, I have a private custom Concorde, to maximize speed."

She smiled, "Got a smooth tongue, eh? I like that."

(Tatiana) "Sounds good, let's go."

The plane ride was over in three hours, and they were in Stahlecker City in the Western Sahara. The first thing she noticed was that there were more guards in Stahlecker City than at the Czar's estate.

There were bomb-sniffing dogs at the airport; every white male was carrying an automatic rifle. She bumped into two twelve year olds who each had an AKM slung across over their shoulders.

Charles chuckled, "There have been some security problems here recently... Nothing to serious."

(Tatiana) "Reminds me of home, just about everyone there learns to shoot as soon as they can read..."

She heard a whistle blowing and saw an Arab man running, two white men in commonwealth paratrooper uniforms were chasing him, they finally tired of chasing him and brought him down with a burst from an MP-5.

Charles grabbed Tatiana and pulled her out of the way just in time to avoid possibly being caught in the crossfire.

One of the paratroopers kicked the Arab man over onto his back and his coat fell open, he had a TNT vest on.

(Tatiana) "Thanks for that, Charles. I hadn't expected to encounter any suicide bombers, or I would've brought my gun..."

Charles smiled, "Don't mention it... Anytime. Do you want a gun?"

He reached into his coat pocket and handed her a Walther PPK.

She looked over the gun as one with much experience with one would. "It's a nice gun, though I'd prefer something with a bit more kick, but this will do just fine."

He pulled his coat flap back and revealed he had two 45 caliber 1911 pistols in shoulder holsters and one MP-5K on a sling draped under his armpit.

(Charles) "Would you like a 1911?"

She chuckled, "Ready for a war, eh?" She handed him back the PPK and took the 1911. "Now this is my kind of gun, I've got a similar one at home."

He pulled out a Kevlar vest from his duffle bag he was carrying and offered it to her, "Just to be safe" he said.

She nodded, "Thanks, I'll be back in a second." She walked off towards the bathroom. After a few minutes, she returned, it was near impossible to tell that she was wearing anything underneath her shirt. "Thanks, now, I'm ready to eat."

He held her hand as they walked down the street, he hailed a cab and they both got in, twenty minutes later they were at the restaurant. He paid the driver and then got the door for her.

"Thanks." she said, and climbed out...

They walked into the restaurant, he didn't have reservations, he simply said, "My brother Henry Stahlecker is the governor-general of this territory, I think that should suffice... As should this." He went to shake the man's hand and palmed him five 1000-dollar bills.

While they were waiting for their food to arrive, he was talking with her about his duties as governor, he sighed, "I can't say I'm happy living under a dictatorship, senate or no senate... It's still a dictatorship."

She nodded, "I'm far too young to remember the monarchy that my country was ruled under. My parents said it was horrible, people having no say in how they were governed and all."

He grinned, "Yes... Prior to 1984, father and my older brother, Paul, tell me it was awful, the Marxist dictatorship took people away to camps, brainwashed them, there was massive black on white crime that went unpunished. After the revolution of Curtis Fabus, they corrected all the problems, but I think he went too far in some regards.. If blacks were irresponsible, then why do we need a dictator when our nation has been 100% white for several years."

(Tatiana) "Well, when you travel like I do, it'd be hard to be a racist and survive. I'd bet you'd like it at home, as long as you like the cold, that is."

He smiled, "Yes... I like the cold weather. But I don't know that I could ever move from my homeland, well technically right now I live in Kentucky, but only because I am the governor-general. I just don't know if I could move, you know?"

She nodded, "Yes, though I travel often, I'd never want to live any other place than Hattia though."

He nodded, "Yes I can understand that... Oh by the way... I have something for you..." He set five empty shell casings on the table, "I found out who the DIS men were that assaulted you... Each of them got a hello from me."

She grinned and picked up the casings, "Heh, they are lucky. I would've done far worse if I had got ahold of them."

(Tatiana) "Thanks"

He smiled, "I didn't tell you what happened to them first, and I won't, at least not now, not before we eat."

The wine he had ordered earlier arrived, she looked at it, 1898 from France. The waiter poured two glasses and then handed each one to each of them.

While he was sipping on his wine, he smiled at her, "Do you like it?" he asked her.

She nodded towards the waiter and took the glass. She sipped at it and swished it around in her mouth a bit. She then swallowed it. "It's very good. It's been a long time since I've had good wine, wine is generally too expensive everywhere I go and practically nonexistent in Hattia."

Charles nodded, "I have a very extensive collection of rare wines... The Stahlecker family is worth over a trillion dollars."

(Tatiana) "Wow, I imagine it would take many generations to accumulate that amount of wealth. I assume your family has been in Mississippi for a very long time...?"

He nodded, "Since the mid 1700s. Prior to that, the patriarch of our family, Hans Stahlecker, amassed his wealth in the 1500s in what was then called the Holy Roman Empire, basically Germany and Austria."

He titled his head to the side slightly, "Tell me, what is it like in your nation, I mean is it safe? Is it really free? It's not one of those democracies that are free in name only, is it?"

She nodded, "The only thing most people have to fear in my homeland are wild animals and the rebels. The latter being only if you live in the north. We are just about as free as you can possibly get before anarchy. The only things that are illegal are those that hurt others, otherwise you can do pretty much whatever you want."

He seemed intrigued by this, "Seriously, anything, so there are no limits on political speech? Be it right, left, or center?"

She shook her head, "No, the rightist parties have just as much right to say what they want. Most of the population disagrees with them, but they can support what ideas they wish without fear."

(Tatiana) "You can speak out against any government official, criticize their every move, if you wish."

He smiled, "That sounds nice... Maybe I'll have to come to Hattia sometime..."

(Tatiana) "It's a nice country, we also don't have to worry about hostile neighbors. The Island States borders us to the west and the south, Terra Malus to the north and small nations to the east. The last invasion of Hattia occured nearly 30 years ago, and the invaders ended up freezing to death."

He chuckled, "Mother nature has a way of foiling military operations."

She nodded, "It's pretty hard for people to fight in three feet of snow, especially when they aren't used to it. But we are, so it gave our inferior forces a huge advantage."

The turkey finally arrived, they started to eat, she found it to be some of the best turkey she'd ever had. He seemed used to it, but he still enjoyed it. When they finished they were both sitting around finishing off the bottle of wine, he offered her a cigar, "Would you like a cigar, or anything else perhaps?"

She passed up the cigar, "No thanks, it's a nasty habit. So, what do you like to do in your free time?"

He smiled, "What free time... Governor-Generals get 25 hours of work per day, and since days are only 24 hours... We often have little free time... Although I often give my assistance lots of work and I am guilty of often only working 16 hours a day."

She frowned at him, "Wow, I generally think of myself as a hard working person, but it must not be much fun to only work all the time..."

He shook his head, "It isn't, it leaves me quite tired come Saturday, the day we aren't allowed to work, by law. The Sabbath."

She nodded, "Ah, Saturday, isn't it?"

(Charles) "Yes, people caught working on Saturday are usually arrested and often times beaten by mobs if the police don't make it to arrest them in time. Sad but true..."

(Tatiana) "Yes, but beaten by mobs, that's just not right, though I suppose you welcome Saturday enough not to work."

He shook his head; "The only catch is you have to spend six hours in church..."

"Six hours?" she said, grimacing, "You really work too hard, you should go on a vacation or something."

He smiled, "Any suggestions where to?"

(Tatiana) "You could come back home with me, we don't have to go to church 6 hours on Saturday, at least."

(Tatiana) "Heck, you don't even have to go to church if you don't want to."

He chuckled, "Are you extending me an invitation? If so, I accept..."

She nodded, "I'm going to take a very long vacation. The Network will probably give me a few months of leave. It'd be nice to have some company, Yevgeny will have to go back home, he has kids, you know, and it'd be nice to have someone to talk to..."

He smiled at her, then held her hand as he moved to stand up, "Sounds good... What's say we get out of here, this place closes soon. Where to now?" He tossed a few dozen 1000 dollar bills onto the table and then helped her get her coat on.

(Tatiana) "Thank you, where to now?"

He looked at his watch, "If we caught the plane in an hour, it'd be about four in the morning before we got back to Mississippi... What do you want to do? Just stay here in Western Sahara until the morning?"

(Tatiana) "That sounds good, I've never been able to sit in one place for too long." she said and smiled.

(Charles) "Okay then. I know a great hotel just around the corner, we can walk to it."

He had his arm around her as they were walking out of the restaurant. About halfway to the hotel, two arab men jumped out from an alley, one of them shouted, "Give me your wallet!" the other tried to grab her purse. He turned to her and chuckled, "Such unsavory characters come out when the sun goes down, eh?"

One of the arabs started to laugh, "Sir... I have gun... Gimme your wallet!"

Charles gave him a roundhouse kick to the face and then jump kicked the other man in the chest. One of them moved to get back up, he punched the man in the jaw and then shook his hand from the pain, the man fell down, clutching his jaw.

Tatiana whipped out the 1911 and aimed it at one of the fallen men.

He pushed her hand down, "There's no need for that." He softly said.

She chuckled, "Yeah, just making sure they don't try to run off..."

(Tatiana) "It's also a bit of an old habit, I never get attacked in the street unless someone wants to kill me."

A nearby patrol of police spotted the situation and ran up to arrest the two men. They ascertained that Tatiana and Charles were okay, and then they left, dragging the handcuffed Arabs into a squad car.

Charles kept his arm around her until they arrived at the hotel. He tossed a few 1000 dollar bills at the manager and was given the best room in the building, approximately 4,000 sq feet of massive sprawling penthouse space.

They arrived at the room; he asked her, "Which room do you want?" (It has multiple bedrooms)

(Tatiana) "It doesn't matter, they all look nice."

He walked into the first room he saw, "I'll be in here if something happens and you need to wake me up. Night, see you in the morning. Thank you for providing me with fine conversation and beautiful company during dinner." He walked back and kissed her hand then walked off to his room.

(Tatiana) "Good night, I'll see you in the morning."

He set his coat down on the chair in his room, she heard the sink running, he was washing his face and brushing his teeth.

The phone in his room went off around 3 in the morning, she heard it from her room.

Charles rubbed his eyes before answering it, "Yes?"

(Paul) "Charlie, why aren't you in Kentucky... You're aware from your post..."

(Charles) "Paul, it's not worth it... I quit... I'm 21 and my job has kept me from doing anything meaningful... You keep talking about having white children and such... I've had one date in the last four years... Might I add this date was with a very lovely lady who has offered to take me on a tour of her native country."

(Paul) "What might that be? The land where people quit their jobs on the spur of the moment?"

(Charles) "Hattia."

(Paul) "Fucking liberal country! What's wrong with you!"

Charles sighed, "Paul, good night." And he hung the phone.

The phone rang again, this time it completely woke up Tatiana.

(Charles) "What now Paul..."

(Paul) "I don't like ending conversations so negatively. You're my brother, I love you, I'll respect your decision, I'm just not happy with it... You know that father worked hard to get you the governorship."

(Charles) "Yeah I know. But I'm tired, it took a toll on my health, I just can't do it anymore."

(Paul) "I understand. Sleep well."

Charles hung up the phone.

She sat up in bed and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. After glancing at the clock, she stood up and called out, "What's going on?"

He called back, "My brother called, nothing important... I quit my job..."

"Nothing important?" she said, "You were a governor, after all..."

He called back; "Yeah, but they can find somebody else for it."

(Charles) "My brother Donald or Peter might make a good governor-general."

(Tatiana) "Okay, I'm going to go take a shower, I'll be done in a few minutes."

He didn't say anything, he had fallen asleep, he was exhausted. He heard the noise of her flushing the toilet when she finished showering and it woke him back up, he had good hearing. He called out, "Are you okay? I heard a noise..."

She walked over to the door of his bedroom and knocked, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just took a shower."

(Charles) "You can come in if you'd like."

She came in and close the door quietly behind her. "Are you sure quitting your job is what you want to do?

He nodded, "Yes... I've spent the last four, probably five years, working almost non-stop... I've lost track of how long I've spent. I have other things I can do, I have a law degree, and I’ve served in the armed forces. I am very qualified for other fields. I can speak over a dozen languages."

She nodded, "Yeah, you could get a job doing about anything, not to mention not working nearly as much. You aren't a machine after all."

He chuckled, "I guess I just needed to accept that I am indeed not a machine."

(Tatiana) "Heh, so are they angry that you quit?"

He sort of shook and then nodded his head, but mostly shrugged, "They'll get over it, besides, they can find one of my brothers who is probably just as good... I don't really care if they're angry, nothing will happen to me, they can't and won't punish me for quitting a job."

He looked at the clock, "Three thirty... Damn, what an hour to be up, and you're already getting ready for the day it seems... Eh?"

She nodded, "I'm generally up early as it is. Not this early though. I suppose I could stand to sleep a few more hours."

He smiled, "Well then I'll see you in the morning then, sleep well. Although if you want to keep talking, I wouldn't mind getting up early to keep you company."

She shook her head, "It's alright, it's the first time I've slept in a real bed in a while... Good night." With that, she walked out of the room and into her room, where she laid back down on the bed again, and dropping off into deep, dreamless sleep.

bump

In the morning, Tatiana woke up around seven, she walked out into the living room, Charles was sitting in a chair, he seemed in a trance, watching the news, his brother had gotten his job, it was as though nobody cared he wasn't there anymore.

(Tatiana) "So, they found someone to replace you that quickly?"

He nodded, "Yes, my brother Peter."

(Tatiana) "Wow, well I thought they'd at least give you a going away present, it sounds like you worked your ass off for them."

The news jumped to Louisville, where a statue was being unveiled, it was of Charles. It caught his attention; his eyes went wide as the reporter said, "This two hundred foot statue of Charles Stahlecker will stand in Louisville to commemorate his years of service to the territory."

He smiled, "I guess somebody cares."

She nodded, "It's nice, you guys must have good sculptors here also..."

He nodded, "Yes, we have some pretty good sculptors... Say, are you hungry? I can get us some breakfast."

(Tatiana) "Yeah, what do you have?"

He walked over into the kitchen, "Steak and eggs... But be warned, I'm not the greatest cook."

She chuckled, "You couldn't be any worse than me, anyway, that sounds good."

About ten minutes later, he brought two plates out into the living room and set them both down on the table, "Breakfast is served", he said with a smile, "Now if you find that you have ulcers after this, but didn't before, it's a good indication of just how poor my cooking skills are."

She started to eat, it was better than he gave himself credit for, quite good actually.

After swallowing some of the food, she said, "You are too hard on yourself, this is good."

Charles smiled, "I'm glad you like it... Well, should we get ready to catch the plane then? Where to, Hattia then?"

She nodded, "Sure, do you have a phone that I can use to call Yevgeny and tell him where we are going so he doesn't get worried?"

He handed her a nearby phone, "Here you are... Just dial the country code, Mississippi country code is 311."

She took the phone and dialed in the numbers, after ringing for a few seconds, Yevgeny answered...

(Yevgeny) Hello?

(Tatiana) "It's me, Charles and I are going back home, feel free to leave whenever you want."

(Yevgeny) "Okay, have fun, I'll see you later."

She hung up the phone and handed it back to Charles, "Okay, I'm ready to go."

Charles nodded, "Yes, I have to shower first though." He stood up and walked into his room, a bathroom was included in his room.

She nodded, "Okay, I'll be in here watching TV..."

She was watching the news, there were some anti-evolution riots going on, anti-segregation riots by arabs in Alexandria, arabs in Stahlecker City, pro-segregation rallies by paramilitary units of the WKM. She saw a large man in robe and hood, standing in front of the Stahlecker City Commonwealth authority building in Western Sahara, he was shouting, "I'm Henry Stahlecker and I'll be damned if a bunch of arab swine are going to take over our land!" The crowd was cheering and firing rifles and RPGS into the air.

The TV jumped to a clip from Mississippian Egypt, Senator Simon Rutledge in front the of the Commonwealth Armor Academy shouting, "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!" as white police officers formed a line to keep out arabs seeking to enroll.

This brought up memories of her own schooling. She thought that all of the different types of people that one met at school was one of the major benefits of going.

Charles came out of his room a few minutes later and was dressed and ready to go, he looked at the TV, it was back to footage of his brother, wearing a white robe with green stripes, standing on the steps of the capital building of Western Sahara... He sighed, "What is Henry doing now?"

(Tatiana) "He is shouting about how he won't let a bunch of 'arab swine' take over his land."

Charles chuckled, "Well I didn't know any arabs were trying to take his estate..."

(Tatiana) "Heh, I don't think that's exactly what he means."

Charles smiled, "Well we have to remember, Western Sahara was theirs before it became ours..."

She nodded, "Yeah, people have a tendency to overlook things like that, things which might inconvenience their ambitions."

Charles shouldered the small bag he had brought, and then gently held her hand, "Shall we be on our way then?"

She nodded.

(Tatiana) "You know the way better than I..."

He led her out of the hotel and they took a cab to the airport, where they boarded his private plane and set off for Hattia.

He sighed as the plane took off, leaving the Commonwealth behind, he didn't know when he'd see it again, if at all.

Hearing his sigh, she reached over and patted him on the back, "I know how you feel, leaving your home. I feel like this every time I leave Hattia."

Charles smiled at her, and then nodded.

As they neared the coast, the gigantic city of Haton could be seen on the horizon. The radio on the plane crackled to life and a gruff voice came through, "Unidentified aircraft, please verify your identity and destination immediately."

Tatiana moved over towards the radio and speaking into it in her native language, she said, "This is Tatiana Kempenski out of Decisive Action, we wish to land at the nearest possible airport."

(Radio) "Ah, the HNN told us to be on the lookout for you. There is a runway open, runway B5 in Revolution International. Have a good day."

As they neared the city, they could see the huge ice-breaker ships that kept the trade routes to and from the city open during the winter. Quickly, the skyscrapers began to fill their view. Haton was home to nearly one-hundred million people, and was nearly 700 years old.

The plane drifted down towards the runway. Once they set down, Tatiana stood up, "Okay, lets go. If we hurry, we can avoid the media."

He shrugged, "Why would the media be here to see a plane arrive?"

(Tatiana) "I'm sure word has gotten out that you've left the country and headed here, and the HNN probably announced that I was missing for a while."

He nodded, "Good point, let's get in my car and go... Follow me..." He led her to the back of the plane and they got into the cargo section, the ramp came down and soon they were on their way in his BMW.

(Tatiana) "It's a nice car. Though you might have a bit of trouble finding gasoline for it, most vehicles here run on hydrogen, and watch out for the tanks..."

He seemed puzzled, "How many tanks are there on the roads?"

(Tatiana) "Next to buses, light tanks and APCs are one of the most common vehicles here."

Charles chuckled as he started to drive, "I see... Makes sense, no need to get caught in traffic, just open up with a burst and the traffic clears for you."

She shook her head, "Nah, that'll get you blown up. It's just cars have a hard time functioning in several feet of snow."

He smiled, "I see... So where exactly am I driving to?

(Tatiana) "I don't know, my house is on the edge of town, if you'd like to go there. None of the good restaurants or anything entertaining are open at this time of day."

Charles nodded, "I should probably drop you off at your home and then look for a hotel... Do you know where there is a good one?"

She turned around and pointed to the nearest skyscraper. "That one has a hotel in the upper floors. But you'd need to get a SUMU card from the Town Hall. They won't take foreign currency."

He shuddered when she pointed up so high, he was afraid of heights, but ashamed to let anybody know.

He nodded, "Okay, sounds good... Anything else though?"

She thought for a second and replied, "We could go hiking later, if you'd like. The forests are beautiful at this time of year."

He smiled and nodded at the idea, "Yes. That sounds great."

(Tatiana) "Or you could go to one of the nightclubs when they open later. They can be fun sometimes."

He looked at her, puzzled, "Night club? What is that?"

She chuckled, "It basically a bar where people dance and play music. You have bars, don't you?"

Charles shrugged his shoulder, "Bars? You mean those places peasants drink their beers in?"

She nodded, "Though there aren't really nobles and peasants here, and most Hattians don't much like beer."

He seemed puzzled still, "If you don't have nobles, who runs the government?"

(Tatiana) "We do, every year or so, depending on the position, we go and vote for who we want to take that position. For example, the previous Prime Minister was only a NCO in the army before he was elected."

Charles smiled, "Our first leader, Curtis Fabus, he was just a lieutenant before the army elevated him to Premier."

(Tatiana) "Ah, well it wasn't the army that put the Prime Minister into place. The army has some influence, but not much. After all, look how well the civilian populace is armed."

Charles chuckled, "Our citizens today can own tactical nuclear bombs, but the white citizenry, about 92% of the population is 1984, was kept in chains, and that is why they supported the army coup by the 4 white parachute divisions that toppled the 38 divisions and the government, thus seeing the rise of Curtis Fabus to power."

She nodded, "Well, as far as I know, no one owns any nukes around here. They require too much effort for upkeep."

Charles spotted the area she told him to drive to, "Okay, now from here, which way?" he asked.

She pointed towards a gatehouse looming in the distance, "Go through the gate, and turn right, it's a little road between the buildings."

He followed her directions precisely and pulled up in front of her house, "Here's your stop... Well I should probably be moving along then."

She nodded, "Thanks for the ride, you can stop by later if you'd like."

He smiled, "Okay, take care."

She waved and went inside. She picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. She then went over to the computer to go through her unchecked e-mail and such.

He pulled out and back onto the main road, before he got hopelessly lost in the maze of roads leading back to the city, arriving at the hotel about six hours later, when it was only ten miles away.

Charles emailed her when he got to the hotel, "Just arrived" he said, she thought it was funny because it was obvious it took him six hours to get ten miles, he'd gotten lost, very lost.

She replied to the e-mail, "Heh, I should've gotten you a map. Anyway, I called up the police, they are going to bring you a SUMU card out so you don't have to sit out on the street."

He sent her an email suggesting she turn the news on.

She picked up her remote and changed the channel...

The news had an article about Charles Stahlecker, saying, "Neo-Nazi from Mississippi now in Hattia?"

The reporters were slandering him, calling him a genocidal maniac, suggesting he exterminated too many people in Kentucky and there was nobody left to govern, so that is why he quit.

She frowned with disapproval. Replying to his e-mail, she said, "I'm going down to the station to set them straight."

He replied, "Will that do anything? Don't risk your job on my account."

(Tatiana) "If they want to say their opinion, I have every right to say mine."

(Tatiana) "If you want to come, I get can get you some air-time..."

(Charles) "I suppose that might be a good idea, yes."

(Charles) "Shall I come by and pick you up then, we can go in my car?"

(Tatiana) "Sure"

Charles chuckled, "I hope it takes less than six hours for me to find my way there... I'll be right over."

Twenty minutes later he knocked on her door and waited for her to come out.

She opened the door and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Okay, I'm ready to go."

He blushed when she kissed him and then walked to the car and opened the door for her.

She climbed in and pointed back towards the edge of town, "It's a few miles up the road..."

He nodded, "Okay... Here we go." as he slowly pulled out of the driveway and followed her directions to the building. When they got there, he stepped out, walked around, opened her door, and then helped her get out.

She nodded and walked over towards the door. As they went towards the entrance, pushing a suprised security guard out of the way. She made her way through the winding halls towards the Network Director's office. Once there, she flung open the door and shouted, "What the hell is with you judging a person before you meet him?"

The director looked at her, "What? How did you get past security?"

She chuckled, "They aren't going to do anything to me. He's just there to prevent people from bringing anti-tank weaponry inside and such."

(Tatiana) "You should know that, it is your damn building after all..."

The director sighed, "I suppose you have nazi boy waiting in the lobby to see me?"

(Tatiana) "I do, and you shouldn't be talking. I seem to remember you used to be a little right wing radical in your younger days..."

He held up a large picture of Charles Stahlecker, leaning out the turret of a T-98 tank, wearing a Fabus Jugend uniform, about age 16, the tank was riding by a podium where Curtis Fabus was giving the standard Hail Victory left arm salute. Charles was returning the salute.

He chuckled, "See, nazi boy..."

She snorted, "So what, people can hold whatever opinions they want. You give us some airtime, and I don't take this chair" she said, motioning over towards and office chair, "And bludgeon you over the head a few times..."

He held up a cover of the December 1999 WKM Magazine "The Kluxer" it had a picture of Charles Stahlecker wearing a robe, the caption read, "Klansman of the Year" the man was keeping his hand oddly over part of the caption though.

(Tatiana) "Move your bloody hand, I can't read that caption."

He shrugged, "Nothing important there, just details..."

She reached over and yanked the magazine out of the Director's hands...

She read the caption, "For successfully lobbying to ban the slave trade from all North American possession in the Mississippian Commonwealth and for donating 2,000 hours of his time from January to November, along with 10 billion dollars of his own money, and getting friends to raise another 5 billion."

She chuckled, "Hmm, I assume you never said anything about this, eh? Now, clear out a studio, I have some things to say."

He snorted, "Bah... We don't need to include their lies and propaganda, show me proof he did any of those things!"

(Tatiana) "Show me some proof that he didn't!"

The man snickered, "Fine, he did it all, but we don't need to include any of it..."

(Tatiana) "Anyway, a central tenet of our nation is to forgive and forget. If he wants to come here and at least be tolerant of other people's existences, why should we not let him?"

The man looked at her, "Are you going to make a big issue out of this?

(Tatiana) "Does it look like it to you? Of course I am, you are condemning a man for no reason, just because of who he is!"

The boss pointed to the door, "Well make the big deal while you leave me office and clear out your desk."

She chuckled, "Hmm, have you heard how Mr. Fabus and Charles helped me out after I got arrested, did you hear what those rogue intel agents did to me?"

He leaned back in his chair, "I heard you put out for them, is that what you mean?"

A look of rage crossed her face, she leaned over and gave him a sharp punch to the face. "They arrested me and Yevgeny. They raped me and burned the shit out of him. I could've died, but Fabus and Charles saved my life!"

He jumped back after she hit him, reeling from the blow, "You bitch! Get out before I call the police!"

She chuckled rather evilly, and pulled up the phone. "Call them then. Once they let me out, I'll kill you, just you wait..."

(Director) "Are you mad? Kill me for firing you, you hit me!"

She pulled a small knife out of her pocket and brandished it towards him, "Tell me, what do you think? All I want is ten minutes on the air, and I'll leave you alone..."

He leaned back in his chair and suddenly pulled a pistol out that he had taped under his desk. "Get out! Now!"



[b]With that, she turned around and left the room...

He jumped out of his chair and ran into the hall, "Wait!"

She turned around and said in an innocent voice, "Yes?"

He sighed, "Twenty minutes, not a single second more."

She nodded, "Okay, thank you..."

Charles was waiting in the lobby, pacing.

(Tatiana) "Which room are we going to use?" she asked the Director.

He pointed to the first room.

She nodded and went into the lobby, "Okay, I got us a room, follow me..."

Charles followed closely behind her.

As they entered the room, she turned to the director, "I want that magazine that one about Charles working against the slave trade..."

The director smiled, "Get your own copy..."

She smiled back and went into his office. She then picked it off the ground and returned. "Ready, Charles?"

Charles nodded, "Yes."

She nodded back and went over towards the camera. She turned it on and walked back over to the stage...

(Tatiana) "Hello, I'm Tatiana Kempenski and I just returned from Decisive Action not too long ago..."

(Tatiana) "While I was there, I and my partner were arrested by rogue security agents. I was raped by them several times and my partner was burned severely..."

(Tatiana) "We both probably would've been killed, but we were rescued on the order of Mr. Fabus, the leader of Decisive Action. My friend Charles here." she said, nodding over towards Charles, "Helped me get through what was probably the toughest time in my life."

Charles nodded, and said "Hello, my name is Charles Hans Stahlecker, I'm from Mississippi, particularly Philadelphia in Neshoba County."

(Tatiana) "I would like to respond to the unwarranted attacks on him by various elements in the media."

(Tatiana) "Beyond being an extremely kind man, he has worked to ban the slave trade." As she said this, she held up the magazine towards the camera.

(Tatiana) "Since when did we take to attacking a person based on where they are from. Don't we forgive and forget, must I mention the Halladi situation again?"

(Tatiana) "I just want you to give him a chance. We have the right to hold any opinion we want, and when we start attacking people because of their opinions, we will start to move backwards, and that is something none of us want... Thank you..."

The director walked out and the camera panned towards him, he turned to Charles, "Sir answer me this, are you now or have you ever been a member of the White Knights of Mississippi, and what exactly is the WKM, for those viewers who don't know... Is it fair to say it's a Mississippian KKK?"

Charles nodded, "Yes sir... Answer to your first question yes..."

The director nodded, "Are you now or have you ever? Yes to which part?"

Charles replied, "Both..."

The director nodded, "And what is the WKM? Was my statement about it correct."

Charles nodded, "Yes sir, it was."

The director turned to Tatiana, "Do you prefer to associate with members of the WKM?"

Tatiana shot a glare over towards the Director, "I don't care about political opinions when it comes to my friends."

The director shot back, "So you're just friends... You haven't put out for him like you put out for the intelligence operatives in Mississippi?"

Charles leapt from his seat and slammed the man into a wall and started punching him in the face, the director was shouting, "Get this maniac off of me!"

Tatiana gasped and ran over towards them. She tried to pull Charles off of the Director...

He let her pull him off the director, but not before he got a final blow in, the director collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious. The camera captured it all, Charles chuckled, "Sorry bout that, I just couldn't let him insult a lady like he was doing."

The phones started to ring off the hook, people were saying, "Great job knocking that asshole out"

Tatiana chuckled, "Well, to answer his question. What was I supposed to do, they would've killed me and Yevgeny if I fought back."

One of the operators patched a call in for Tatiana and Charles to answer.

(Man) "Hello, greetings to both of you. I'd first like to say nice job to Charles for teaching that ass a lesson. My question to Tatiana is, "What intelligence services was it that was involved in this? And which one was it that rescued you?"

(Tatiana) "I believe it was the DIS that arrested me, and the SRGI was the one that rescued me..."

(Man) "Okay, thank you, one more quick question. Do you believe that the DIS actions are representative as Mississippi as a whole?"

She shook her head, "No, when I was there, everyone seemed nice. They even took my partner to the hospital and worked on him..."

(Man) "Okay, thank you."

The next caller was a young woman.

(Woman) "Hello, a question for Tatiana... Do you hold any grudges against Mississippi?"

(Tatiana) "Against Mississippi as a whole, no. Against the DIS and its leaders, yes..."

(Woman) "So would it be fair to say without the actions of the SRGI, you'd not be here today?"

(Tatiana) "More than likely, yes."

(Woman) "I'd just like to say one last thing... Charles is a very handsome man, and he seems to be a good guy as well... Thank you for your time."

The next caller was a government official, a man about thirty years old.

(Man) "Hello... I'd like to ask what the facility was like, how many guards were there, what sort of equipment it had, and where it was located.... Thank you."

Charles spoke up, "That's all classified sir, sorry..."

He muttered under his breath, "damn", before loudly saying into the phone, "Okay then, best wishes, thank you."

(Tatiana) "I didn't see much anyway..."

The next caller was another woman.

(Woman) "Hello... Question, Tatiana, are you and Charles something of an item now? I mean what is going on with that... Your boss seemed to be insinuating, you know."

(Tatiana) "Right now, we are just friends. I would be open to that possibility though, he is a rather handsome man after all..." she said with a smile.

He blushed when she said that.

(Woman) "Are you aware that the Stahleckers are one of the oldest family names of the nobility in Mississippi?"

(Tatiana) "Yes, I am..."

(Woman) "Question for Charles..."

Charles nodded, "Sure... Shoot."

(Woman) "How much land do you own?"

He chuckled, "Well I stopped counting around one million acres."

(Woman) "What do you do with all that land?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Let poor people farm on sections of it, I don't charge them for use of the land, I just ask they take care of it... Some of the land I setup as parks for people to have somewhere to go, a large part are nature reservations and such. I probably only use about one hundred thousand acres of my land."

(Woman) "That's great, thank you."

The next caller was a young doctor from the capital city.

(Man) "Hello... Question, are you the same Charles Stahlecker who donated 50 billion dollars to the Angolan refugees when white rule collapsed and the whites all fled?"

He nodded, "Yes, that would be me."

(Man) "Where do you get all this money and why did you donate so much?"

He shrugged, "Stocks, oil, land, feudal dues... Why so much? It's just money, there is only so much one person can spend... How could I ever need 600 billion dollars myself, it's more than I know what to do with."

The director was coming back into consciousness, he shouted, "Cut the transmission!" it suddenly shut down.

He glared and Charles and Tatiana, "You two! I should have both arrested!"

Tatiana looked over at the Director, "For what?"

He rubbed his head, "Assault!"

(Tatiana) "Pfft, you had it coming to you. You really shouldn't talk to people like you do."

He pulled out a pistol and started waving it about.

(Tatiana) "Please put that away, if you shoot anyone, you won't make it out of this building alive..."

Charles looked at him, "Set it down, before there is an accident and somebody gets hurt."

He kept waving it around, he jokingly pointed it towards Tatiana, Charles stepped in front of her and said, "If you hit me trying to shoot her, you'll have my nation coming down on your ass..."

The guy started laughing, "I'm not actually going to shoot you, sheesh, take a joke, the safety's on... See?" he started fiddling with the gun and it went off, hitting Charles in the upper arm, the director dropped the gun and shouted, "I'm sorry, oh God, I don't know... It just went off...”

Charles fell down into the chair, clutching his arm, "I told you to put it down before there was an accident, you idiot!", he shouted at the man.

Tatiana went over to Charles, "Bloody hell..." She pulled out a telephone and called the paramedics.

Several security guards, hearing the gunshot rushed into the room, seeing Charles with a bullet in his arm and a gun in front of the Director put two and two together...

One of the guards picked up the Director and handcuffed him. He then looked over at Tatiana and Charles, "Have you called the paramedics yet?"

Charles looked at Tatiana, "I'm okay, don't worry about me...

She looked as if she didn't believe him, "If you say so, the doctors should be here in a minute..."

Charles nodded, "Okay, I'll speak with them."

As if on cue, the sounds of sirens could be heard outside. Several men in white rushed in, pushing a stretcher with several large boxes on top.

Charles looked at the first police officer on the scene, "I don't want to press any charges." was all he said, as he motioned at the director.

The director's jaw dropped, it hit him, Charles wasn't the man he thought, he had been all wrong about him.

(Security Guard) "Are you sure?"

Charles nodded, "Yeah, let him go, but take his gun until he can play with it safely."

The Guard grinned and took the gun. "We are still going to have to take him in, probation most likely."

With that, the guards led the Director out of the room. One of the doctors approached Charles. "Ready to go? You need to get that bleeding stopped."

Charles nodded, "Okay... Let's go."

Charles followed the doctor into the ambulance.

Before they closed the ambulance doors, Tatiana said to Charles, "Thanks, I would've been shot if it weren't for you. I'll see you at the hospital..."

Charles smiled, "Don't mention it, you're welcome... See you there."

She nodded as they closed the doors. As soon as they left, she went over to her car and followed the ambulance down to the nearest hospital...

About an hour later at the hospital he'd arrived long ago and the bleeding had been stopped. He was being released and as he walked out of the room, he saw Tatiana waiting, he smiled, "Hello, I was wondering where you were, they must not have been letting people back into the operating room, eh?"

She noticed his left arm was all bandaged up, in a cast, and a sling.

She laughed slightly, "Yeah, that and I don't really like the sight of blood."

Seeing his cast, she said, "Unfortunately, our medical technology isn't near as advanced as it is back in Mississippi..."

(Tatiana) "Though, I believe our little television show went very well."

He smiled and nodded, "Yes... I think so, the important thing is that you're safe and that my arm can heal eventually."

She blushed slightly, "Yeah, thanks for that. It shouldn't be too long before your arm is working just fine again. So, would you like to go get something to eat?"

He nodded, "Yeah that sounds like a good plan to me, where do you suggest we go?"

(Tatiana) "Do you like fried chicken? I know a place that make it pretty good..."

Charles chuckled, "Ah yes, it's been ages since I've had any, I'd love some... Lead the way."

She nodded and led him out of the hospital. They climbed in the car and left. After about 20 minutes they arrived at a small building surrounded by much larger buildings, a few from as far back as the 1700s.

There were some people leaving the building, one shouted, "Hey, it's the Charles guy from TV, Hello sir!" he smiles and waves at Charles, who waves back.

Charles escorts Tatiana inside after saying hello to a dozen more people in the parking lot who immediately recognize him.

Once inside, a waiter led them to a table. He handed them two menus and waited patiently for them to order...

Charles smiled, "Ladies first", he said to Tatiana.

She smiled, "I'd like some fried chicken drumsticks, please..."

He nodded, "I'll have what the lady is having."

The waiter took their menus and said, "It'll be a few minutes." He then scurried off with their orders...

Tatiana looked over at Charles, "So, what would you like to do tomorrow? I'm out of a job for a while, so I've got plenty of free time..."

He sighed, "Do you need a job? I can contact the Commonwealth News Network in Alexandria and see that they make you the foreign consultant to your hometown, so you don't even have to leave."

She nodded, "Sure, that sounds good. I'd like to wait a little while, I'll have welfare for a few months and I need a vacation..."

He frowns, "Did you get yourself fired over what you did for me?"

She nodded, "It's alright, I never liked that bastard anyway..."

He frowns again, "Oh Tatiana, you didn't have to lose your job over me, it wasn't that important, was it?"

(Tatiana) "Friends are more important than any job. I can always get another job, but not always another friend..."

Charles smiles, "Well you won't be going on welfare, that is for sure... I shall cut you a check to compensate you for losing your job, how does three sound?"

She shook her head, "Well, foreign currency doesn't work that well here. I'll still get paid the same as I would if I were working for a few months as long as I look for a job..."

He smiled, "I meant three million..."

(Tatiana) "Three million dollars!?" That would be more money than she had ever would see in her life. "Well, I can't use it here, but I suppose I could get it converted. It might take a while though..."

Charles chuckled, "Yes, three million, you heard me right, three million is nothing to me, besides, you sacrificed your job for me, I owe you."

She nodded slowly, "Heck, I wouldn't have to work for the rest of my life on three million..."

Charles smiled, "I'm glad you're happy... I myself would never have had to work, with the 600 billion dollars I have, but I found not working was just not right, I felt lazy and unfulfilled."

She nodded again, "Yeah, I wouldn't have to work, but I probably would. I wouldn't want to be a leech..."

She looked over as the waiter approached, carrying two large plates. He sat them down, bowed slightly and ran off...

She couldn't much concentrate on her food. If he gave the money to her, the government would automatically take a large portion as tax....

Charles looked at her, "Is something wrong, I can get you the money covertly if you're worried about taxes..."

(Charles) "Does the government tax legal settlements?"

She nodded, "It taxes most everything. Of course, it also pays for our food, housing and just about everything we need to survive..."

(Tatiana) "As long as we work, that is..."

He frowned, "Oh well, I can deposit the money in a secret off-shore foreign account for you."

(Tatiana) "I suppose that could work, but I would end up going to jail for a good while if they found out..."

(Tatiana) "You would also, if you were in country and they found out you gave me the money..."

He frowned, "What is the tax rate?"

(Tatiana) "Depends, in this case it would be near to 95%"

He sighs, "Well I want you to have three million, so it seems I must give you 100 million for you to get 3."

(Tatiana) "It's alright, what I'd really like is a house out in the country. I'm sick of living in this huge city..."

Charles smiled, "Do you remember how big the Czar's mansion was?"

She nodded...

He smiled, "I'll get you a house just as big, if you want."

(Tatiana) "Thanks, but I'd never use it all. I don't need anything near that size..."

(Charles) "Well you pick out a house and I'll buy it for you... Any house."

She nodded, "Okay, can we go look around tomorrow?"

Charles nodded, "Yes, that's a great idea... Well dinner was great. I'll go pay and we can be on our way."

She nodded and finished the last of her food...

Charles handed the waiter a handful of 1000 dollar bills and told him to keep the change. He then stood up and held Tatiana's hand as they walked to his car.

She went over to the driver's side and climbed in. Bells could be heard in the distance. As they drove, a solid stream of children could be seen walking down the sidewalk, a few carrying AKs and various other types of rifles. Tatiana glanced over at Charles, "So, where to now?"

Charles shrugged, "Your call... I guess back to my hotel, I need to get some sleep..."

She nodded and drove him to the hotel. She followed him up to his room. "Well, good night." She then leaned in for a kiss...

He kissed her and then whispered, "Thanks for a wonderful evening."

She whispered back, "No, thank you..."

She waved and went down the hallway...

Charles smiled as he walked into his room and fell down on the couch, too tired to get to his bed.

As Tatiana arrived home, she did nearly the same thing...

In the morning, Tatiana woke up and phoned Charles, he promptly drove to pick her up and when he arrived, he walked up and knocked on her door.

Hearing him knock on the door, she shouted, "Okay, I'll be out in a few minutes." She then went and got herself ready for the day. After about 5 minutes, she opened the door. "Good morning, ready to go?"

He smiled, "Yes, I am ready, you look great, did you sleep well?"

(Tatiana) "Yeah, thanks. How about yourself?"

He nodded, "Yeah, good, shall we go then?"

(Tatiana) "You said we could go out and look at houses. I know where some nice ones are..."

He handed her the keys to his car, and smiled, "Then perhaps you'd like to drive?"

She nodded, and walked out to the car, after getting onto the main road, she floored the accelerator for a little while, seeing as there was little traffic at this time of day. Soon they were out of the city and into the rural areas that dominated most of the country...

Charles turned the radio on and tuned to DA news.

(Radio) "Reports from Western Sahara are that nig--r slaves are rebelling against their white masters, governor-general Henry Stahlecker has vowed to crush the rebels and do all he can to assure slavery continues to live as a viable economic institution."

Charles sighed, "My brother..."

She grimaced, "Ah, well, I can't say that I don't support the rebels."

Charles frowned, "There are ten million whites and almost a hundred million slaves, in Western Sahara... Only about one hundred thousand whites own slaves, the plantation owners that is.."

She nodded, "I wish people wouldn't get hurt though. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Zyteslav might take it upon himself to actually support this rebellion, he is much more militant than the previous PM."

The radio continued, "Governor Stahlecker has declared he will consider the use of nuclear weaponry in putting down the rebellion if he deems it necessary. Thus far he has stated the rebellion is a rag-tag nig--r militia basically, and is not to be taken seriously,"

She sighed, "Bloody overkill, eh?"

Charles turned the radio up as it started talking about, "Mass rape incidents against white female relatives of slave-owners have been confirmed... We are asking all white women to remain indoors preferrably with a white male relative, and to stay armed at all times."

Charles shook his head, "There are twenty million slaves rebelling against perhaps four hundred thousand soldiers... I think it'll be a good fight."

She nodded, "If you can call civil war a good fight. What I'm worried about is that Prime Minister Zyteslav might take it upon himself to support this rebellion, he is quite militant, you know..."

Charles shook his head, "No, that'd start a war with the homeland, even though Roger doesn't support slavery, he won't allow foreigners to meddle in our affairs... He is attempting to end slavery, but it'll take time to shift the economies in the commonwealth of Western Sahara and Mississippian Egypt from slave labor to non-slave labor."

She nodded, "Yeah..."
They soon approached a small village about 20 miles outside of town, she pointed to a medium sized brick house. "That was the house I was raised in, it's the one that I'd like to have..."

He smiled, "Okay, then let's go get it bought for you..."

She nodded, "Okay."

After she pulled into the driveway and stopped the car, Charles got out, walked around, opened her door, and waited for her to get out.

"Thanks." she said. She walked up to the rather decrepit mailbox and took down the address. "Yeah, when my parents died, the house was seized by the government, apparently no one has bought it yet."

He looked inside and saw a man moving around and furniture inside, he shook his head, "Are you sure nobody bought it?"

"It looks like it, you would've though someone would've gotten a new mailbox. Why, did you see something?" she said...

Charles frowned, "Yeah, I saw somebody moving around in there, it looks like somebody lives there... Only one way to find out." He walked up and knocked on the door, a man answered it.

Charles smiled, "Hello sir, I'd like to buy your house... How much?"

The man chuckled, "You don't have enough to buy this house, it's worth too much to me, get lost!"

Tatiana stepped closer to the door, "Would you be willing to take a house in the capitol for this one?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

Charles smiled at the man, "I'll give you my estate in Western Sahara if you give this lady this house, my estate is 20,000 acres with a 40,000 sq foot house... Deal?"

If it had been physically possible, his jaw would've dropped to the groud...

Charles smiled, "To assure you I am not a bullshitter, my name is Charles Stahlecker, you've likely heard of me on the news, here is my identification, the pictures of the estate, and the deed..." He takes out a pen, "Shall we sign the contract then?"

He nodded, "Okay, your loss..." He took the pen and scribbled his signature on the deed. "Can I have a little while to get my stuff?"

Charles handed him a wad of 20 1000-dollar bills, "Be out by tonight, deal?"

He nodded, "Sure." He then ran out the door and drove a truck up near the entrance. "It shouldn't take too long..." he said.

Charles smiled as he looked at Tatiana, "You have the house you sought... I hope you are happy with it."

She nodded, "Thank you so much, I don't know how I can repay you. I suppose you can stay here tonight, it's got more than one bedroom."

He shook his head, "I'm not sure that'd be appropriate."

(Tatiana) "It's alright, as long as you don't try anything. It's quite common around here, as a matter of fact..."

(Charles) "In my nation it's illegal for two unmarried people to be in the same house."

She nodded and smiled, "Well, we aren't in your country, are we?"

He nodded back, "No, I guess not... Okay, I'll take you up on your offer."

(Tatiana) "Okay, anything you'd like to do while we wait for him to move his stuff out. Which reminds me..."

She pulled out a cell phone, after dialing a few numbers and arguing with a person over the phone for a few minutes, she said, "Okay, some people are going to bring my stuff up here."

They waited for a few hours, Charles told her stories about his was experiences, mostly his days in the Fabus Jugend, what it was like training for the Republican Guard, the 100 mile death march at the end of the 11 months of brutal training, the NCO's beating him and the other trainees, sadistic officers, etc.

After he was done with his stories, she looked at him rather admiringly, "Wow, wouldn't want to have to fight you guys. How did you stand all of that abuse?"

He smiled and frowned a little at the same time, "Morphine, lots of it..."

She smiled back, "Ah, I had some of that a while back when I got a pretty big piece of shrapnel in my arm. Bloody Allaneans..."

He was shocked by this, "You were in the army?"

She shook her head, "Pretty close, I was an embedded reporter with the 115th Red Guard Rifle. They fired a barrage at us and I didn't get in the trench fast enough..."

He nodded, "Ah, well at least you are okay, I am glad it wasn't worse."

"I was alright, but a lot of my friends were killed, some right in front of me..." she shuddered at the memory...

He nodded, "Yes... I know the feeling, my company lost 105 men in a six month campaign, 120 of us went into the jungle, 15 of us came out..."

(Tatiana) "Wow, I'm glad I didn't have to go into the jungle. We didn't lack supplies, the fleet was just offshore. I had to shoot some of those Allaneans when they charged us, it's something I hope not to be forced to do again, they had conscripted kids to fight..."

Charles sighed, "We were in Colombia, fighting marxist guerillas..."

(Tatiana) "Ah, I hear it gets really hot over there..."

He nodded, "Oh boy does it get hot there..."

The man finally finished packing his stuff and pulled away from the house.

After they finished, Charles tipped them and said to Tatiana, "Shall we go inside then?"

She nodded and made her way inside...

Charles sighed from exhaustion and boredom and then plopped down on the couch.

She chuckled, "If you are tired, you can go to sleep in one of the bedrooms, I won't mind."

He nodded, "thank you, I'm awfully dirty though, could I use the bathroom to shower first?"

"Sure." she said, pointing down the hallway, "Second on the right. While you are in there, anything you'd like to eat? I doubt that guy took his food with him..."

He smiled, "Whatever you're up for cooking is fine with me." He walked off to go shower.

She nodded and walked off to the kitchen. Finding what was left of the previous occupant's food, some potatoes and bacon. She fried the bacon and baked the potatoes. While waiting for the food to finish, she looked outside, it was snowing pretty hard. It wasn't unusual, but normally in the city, workers made sure the roads and such were clear.

When he was done showering, he stood behind the door of the bathroom, trying to conceal his nudity, he chuckled, "There are no towels in there, could you please find me one?" She instinctively glanced over and saw him nude, very muscular and well endowed, she quickly looked away after that and went to get him a towel.

After about a minute, she found one and tossed it to him. "Hmm, it smells like the food is burning."

She ran back off into the kitchen...

He quickly wrapped the towel around his waist and went to help her with the food.

Charles saw the food had started to burn, he smiled, "I don't mind my food well-done."

She chuckled, "That's good." He tipped the bacon onto a plate and pulled the potatoes out of the oven. "Well, eat up." she said and munched on some bacon. As she was eating, she glanced over at Charles occassionally, he was an attractive man.

Charles smiled at her and returned her glances whenever he caught her glancing at him, he ate all that was on his plate and nodded his head, "Great food!"

She chuckled, "Thanks, it sure beats that food I had to eat in Allanea." she said, referring to the Hattian army's infamous low ration hardtack, which was probably manufactured a few months before they ate it.

Charles looked at the clock, "Well, now what? Anything good on the TV, which channels do you have here? In Mississippi we have the government news, the government controlled independent news, the government entertainment network, and then one news network for each Commonwealth nation."

She chuckled, "There really was not much that ever came on that I found entertaining, ironic, considering that I worked on TV. I believe there are going to be some stand-up comics on Channel 4 in a while...

He nodded, they both walked into the other room and sat down on the couch, she turned the TV on... Charles didn't seem to be interested in the television though, he was looking into her eyes, she could tell he wanted to kiss her, but it wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do under the Mississippian gentleman's code (ooc- it's really odd how my nation is very anti-feminism, yet often women need to make the first move with men, we're overly prudish)

She noticed him looking at her. She wouldn't object to a kiss or two, so she smiled at him...

He leaned in and kissed her after he gently brushed her long hair out from in front of her eyes, he embraced her softly in his arms with the next kiss and then he leaned back and smiled at her, "Thank you for helping me with all those problems on the TV, it really meant a lot to me that you believed in me enough to lose your job, it really does.”

She nodded, "No problem, no problem at all..."

Charles felt awkward now, not knowing just how much she wanted from him, so he looked at the clock and nervously said, "Oh my, look at the time, beyond my bedtime..." It was scarcely 9:30.

He got up and started to walk to his room.

Before he could leave, she said, noticing the awkward look that appeared on his face for a second, "You don't have to leave if you don't want to..."

He stopped, turned around and smiled at her, "Well, I'm just not sure where this might lead, and I don't want to put you in any awkward spot... If you want me to stay, I'll stay."

She returned the smile, "I'd like you to stay, but if you don't want to, that's fine..."

He promptly sat back down on the couch and kissed her lightly on the cheek, "I'd like to stay..."

She smiled and returned the kiss, her blue eyes staring into his...

She was staring into his light green eyes, his shining black hair, her hands running through it, he gently kissed her again, while softly running a hand through her hair.

She smiled and said, "Would you like to go upstairs, we can stay here if you like?"

He is unprepared for such a question, "You want to? Are you sure? I don't want you to feel pressured to do anything to don't want to."

She smiled again, "I do if you want to. If you don't, I'll be fine."

Charles smiled and lifted her up gently into his arms, "Okay, let's go upstairs..."

She giggled as he lifted her up...

He kissed her as he slowly carried her up the stairs, when he got to her room, he gently set her down on the bed and then shut the door.

Charles looked at her, and whispered to her, "God you're beautiful..."

She whispered back, "You are the most handsome man I've ever seen..."

Charles blushed, "Really?" as he started to slide his pants slowly down.

She smiled, "Yeah, most of the guys around here are a bit too rustic for me..."

He smiled at her as she slowly removed her clothing, they both slid under the covers and he went to work pleasing her, using all the advice his brother Paul had given him, Paul had literally written the book on pleasing women, titled, "How to Properly Pleasure a Woman" published under the name of Peter Simpson. After he was finished, she looked at the clock and noticed he'd gone for almost ninety minutes. He gasped for air as he came up from under the cover and kissed her, "Did you enjoy it?" he asked.

She came up a second later, while breathing heavily she said, "The... best... ever..."

Charles kissed her and then sighed, "I have a confession to make, that is the first time, I've ever... You know...”

She chuckled, "Really? Well, I hope you enjoyed it..."

He smiled, "Yes it was the first, and I really did enjoy it, I never had the time for such stuff before and I never met any women I really wanted to be with, that changed when I met you..." He kissed her and then collapsed back onto his pillow.

She smiled back, "Wow, they really did work you hard, and look, it's snowing." she said, pointing out the window. Already there were a few inches on the ground. "Does it ever snow in Mississippi?"

He smiled, "Only on Mount Curtis and Mount Fabus."

She nodded and stood up, not bothering to conceal herself. "Wow, at this rate there will be at least a foot on the ground by morning."

Charles stood up behind her, gently wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him, while kissing her neck, he softly purred, "You're truly a goddess, Tatiana..."

"And you are a god, Charles..." she replied...

He kissed her again before gently lying back down on the bed and yawning, "It's pretty late, what say we get some sleep now, eh?"

She nodded and climbed back into bed. "This is the happiest time in my life..." she said to him before drifting off to sleep...

He fell asleep shortly after she did.

bump

bump for more to read, this is good stuff people, get reading. :)

Charles and Tatiana awoke in the morning to find almost ten feet of snow had fallen outside, covering the roads, driveways, the 1st floor windows, creeping up towards the second floor.

Charles's jaw dropped, "Oh my God, this much snow? Wow!"

Tatiana stretched out her arms and chuckled, "The wind must've blown a good deal up against the house, I doubt it actually snowed that much. We probably got a few feet though..."

Charles turned on the radio, whilst saying, "We shall soon find out."

(Radio) "The worst snow storm this year, approximately eight feet of snow fell last night..."

She raised her eyebrows, "Wow, even I'm not used to it snowing that much." She heard the rumbling of a large engine and looked outside. A tank with a shovel on the front was attempting to clear out a path, while a group of militiamen were working to clear out several nearby houses...

Charles smiled at Tatiana, "Well there is nowhere I'd rather be snowed in but here, and nobody I'd rather be snowed in with, than you."

She smiled back and nodded, "And I with you..."

She put one her hand on her stomach, "They probably will bring by some food in a little while, I'm starving..."

Charles chuckled, "If I can get out to my car, I have plenty of food in the trunk, shall I go attempt to dig to the car?"

She nodded and smiled, "Heh, if you want to try, I believe there is a shovel somewhere downstairs. If you are going to try, I'll get dressed and help."

He shook his head, "Are you sure you want to help? I wouldn't want you to get hurt, I can handle it, if you'd like to help though, I'll enjoy your company whilst working..."

She smiled, "I'll be fine, I'm not a stranger to hard work."

Charles nodded, "Okay then, let's get digging."

She went downstairs, after searching for a few minutes, she found a few shovels. "Okay, I'll be out in a minute." She grabbed some of her clothes and went into the bathroom.

After about forty minutes of hard digging, Charles and Tatiana had cleared a path small enough for a person of small stature to crawl through, however he was anything but small.

At the end of the tunnel, she could hear the militiamen talking as they worked. She shouted to them in a language that Charles didn't understand and heard them start digging towards them. After a few minutes, they broke through. They then set to work expanding the tunnel.

Charles shrugged, "What language is that?"

"It's called Hatti, it's the first language I learned to speak..." she said. "It's rather hard to learn, that's why we also learn several other languages."

Charles nodded, "Ah yes, I know many languages, that is not one though, perhaps you will teach me someday?"

She smiled, "Perhaps, it's a bit similar to Russian, so if you speak that, it would help in learning it."

Charles nodded, "Indeed I do speak it."

Charles opened his trunk and removed four boxes of MREs, a total of 48 military rations.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the MREs, "Wow, that's a lot of food. I've had those before, not too bad." she said.

He nodded, "Yes, they're pretty decent, you want to go back in and warm up some and have something to eat?"

He handed her two of the boxes and then grabbed two wine bottles and a set of glasses out of the trunk, "Always be prepared", he chuckled...

"Heh, that sounds good..." she said, she nodded over towards the Militiamen, who moved on to the next house. "Helpful guys, they are..." she said...

Charles stopped for a second and asked her, "Should I tip them?"

She shook her head, "Nah, doing work like this is for volunteers. They do it for the common good. As a matter of fact, you might offend them by insinuated that they were doing it for the money, I know you aren't, but they might think so."

He nodded, "I understand..." Then he grinned, "What say we go inside and find a way to warm up, eh?"

She smiled and went inside. Once inside, she went down into the cellar and brought up some firewood. "The house has a heater, but I always liked the fireplace better."

He saw a large bear skin rug near the fireplace, he poured two glasses of wine and then he laid down on it, beckoning with his eyes for her to join him.

She smiled and laid down beside him. She took the glass and sipped at it, after swishing it around for a few seconds, she swallowed. "It's good, what year?"

He smiled, "Ninety-Eight..." He paused, "Eighteen Ninety-Eight."

"Hmm, it seems a bit sad that the people who originally bought it never got to taste it, oh well..." she said, and sipped at the glass again.

He started to gently massage her shoulders and kiss her neck as she was drinking the wine, the fire could be heard crackling as the log burnt and splintered.

She smiled, then reached around and embraced him, "You know that you are the first man I've been happy with..."

He smiled at her, "You're the the first woman I've ever been with, and the only one I want to be with."

She gave him a kiss and said, "Yes, I've never been happier than I am now with you."

"You are the only man I've ever spent time with, except for Yevgeny, but he is like my big brother..." she said softly.

He kissed her back and smiled, "Shall we go upstairs then, or right here in front of the fire?"

She looked into his eyes, "Whichever you prefer..."

He gazed back into her eyes and started to slide out of his pants, "Right here, by the fire..."

She smiled and began to unbutton her shirt. "Sounds fine to me." she whispered.

Charles grinned back as he lay down on his back and let her get on top of him, he smiled, "Whenever you're ready..."

She climbed on top of him, "I'm ready." she whispered into his ear.

After they were finished about thirty minutes later, she was lying next to but sort of on top of him, her head resting on his chest, feeling each expansion and contraction as he breathed, the soothing feeling, he gently ran a hand through her hair, he whispered in her ear, "I love you, Tatiana..."

She smiled, and in Hatti said, "And I you." She didn't bother saying it in english, she was sure he knew what she meant.

He kissed her after she said that.

He sighed, "Oh boy, who could that be in this weather? Should we just ignore it? Who could know yet that you live here, probably they're looking for the old owner..."

She smiled and said, "It'd be impolite not to answer, I am sure they can tell we are here."

She put her clothes back on and walked over to the door. Before opening it, she said, "Who is it?"

The man said, "Is Mr Stahlecker here?"

She looked back over to Charles and mouthed the words, "What do you want me to say?"

He shook his head and whispered, "No."

She replied, "No he isn't..."

The man chuckled, "Okay, we'll just come back later then..."

Suddenly the door was kicked in and four armed men rushed in, "Okay, where is he!" Yelled the first masked man through the door.

Instinctively, she went for the gun at her waist, unfortunately, it wasn't there. Quickly, she grabbed a large piece of firewood and tried to smash it into the nearest man's head...

The man behind him pumped his shotgun and trained it on her, "Drop it!"

She dropped the piece of wood and growled, "Get the hell out of here, if you shoot me, the militia will be here within seconds..."

Charles rushed out half-naked with his pistol in his hand, the man had already grabbed Tatiana and was holding a shotgun trained at her head, "Drop the gun or she dies..." The man commanded. Charles immediately dropped his pistol, the man smiled, "Good, now come along quietly..." Charles shook his head, "Let her go first, then and only then I'll come." The man pushed her forward hard, Charles caught her and then kissed her as they were pulling him away, "I'll be okay, don't worry..." he shouted as they hauled him out the door and into a waiting car.


The car sped off down the road before she could get anything other than the make, model, and color, no chance for a plate. It was a silver 1980 Cadillac Eldorado, an unusual custom version with 4 doors, a model made only for the Mississippian Department of Internal Security Foreign intelligence Branch (DISFB)

She rushed into the backroom and grabbed her rifle. She then ran out into the road catching what kind of car they drove while shouting for the militia. Hearing her cries, they ran over to her. She sobbed and with much effort got the words out. They began shouting to each other. A few seconds later, the tank rounded a nearby corner and sped off down the road.

Charles was sitting in the car, two men had pistols trained on him, he was wearing only shorts and a robe. He chuckled, "So what is this all about? Did I forget to return a book to the library?"

Within 30 seconds, the militia had put out an all points broadcast, alerting everyone to keep an eye out for the type of car that the men were driving...

One of the operatives chuckled back before clenching his hand into a fist and punching Charles in the face.

The operative shouted, "Our employer is angry with your anti-slavery stance!"

The car sped off down the road faster and faster, taking twists and turns before coming to a stop in an abandoned warehouse.

Charles smiled, "Your employer is the Mississippian government... You answer to them."

The man shook his head, "No, we answer to a private citizen..."

Charles smiled, "I'll never stop working for what I believe in, if you must kill me for that, do it."

The man shook his head, "No, we've been told not to harm you, well not too badly..."

The operative smiled, "But we could always take care of your lady friend..."

His eyes went red with rage and he nearly jumped out of his seat, the man had to shake the gun to let Charles know he still had it in his hand, "Ah ah, sit down!"

Charles sat in his seat, and sighed, "Fine, what do you want me to do or not do?"

The operative laughed, "Just do nothing, sit back and enjoy your life, you've worked for years, just be at peace and enjoy your time with your lady friend, stop your political dealings and such."

Charles reluctantly nodded, "If I do, you'll leave the both of us alone?"

The man nodded, then suddenly they took him out of the car and into another car, about thirty minutes later, they flew by Tatiana's house, slammed the brakes on, pushed him out, and sped away.

Charles dusted himself off and saw Tatiana had been drawn outside by the noise of the car.

She ran up and embraced him, "Bloody hell, who were they?"

He shook his head, "Rogue intelligence from my nation, working for a pro-slavery man..."

She grimaced, "They won't make it far, the militia is out in force after them, and they didn't bother concealing their tracks." she said, while pointing to the car tracks in the snow. "But the important thing is that you are alright, I thought I'd lost you."

He was frowning and obviously worried, he gave a barely audible reply, "I'll be okay."

She didn't look convinced, "Are you sure? Well, the militia leader said he'd send a few guards to watch our house in case they try to come back..."

He shook his head, "The DIS are very cunning and capable, well these rogues are DIS that is obvious... They threatened to harm you unless I do what they say, I have an idea who they're working for..."

She backed up a bit and looked at him, "Who?"[/b

He frowned, "I think it could be anybody in the Society of Eugenicists, or the Coalition of Slave Holders... My brother Henry, the governor of Western Sahara is in both, then there is Hans Luck of Mississippian Egypt, Senator Simon Rutledge is SOE and COS, but he is more loyal to the WKM... Also Miguel Salazar of Western Sahara. I think whoever hired those men is likely both SOE and COS."

[b]She frowned, "Do you really think your brother would try to hurt you? That's horrible..."

After thinking for a bit, she said, "What are we going to do?"

He frowned, "I guess I'll just to do what they say, for both our sakes, yes? What alternative is there? The Czar is currently trying to purge the DIS of rogues, and if we at least get them to think we're going to do as they say, perhaps in a few months they'll be caught in the purges..."

She sighed, "Well, I suppose we have no choice..." She turned her head when a largish van with a satellite on top rumbled down the road. It stopped right in front of them...

He looked at her, "What is that?"

He sighed, "Media?"

She chuckled and nodded...[/b

[b]A rather short man (By Hattian standards) hopped out and approached them. He held out his hand to Charles and said, "Vladimir Kovalenko, Hattian News Network... mind telling us what happened?"

He replied, "Nothing much, just some random thugs trying to scare honest citizens..."

He smiled, "You might like to know that a few tanks met them on the road down to the Capitol... They put up a bit more of a fight than normal thugs would..."

(Charles) "Yes, they were spies, elite intelligence operatives..."

He nodded, "We guessed something along those lines. Any idea who sent them, what they wanted or anything like that?"

He shook his head, "Probably a pro-slavery man, whoever he was, pro-slavery for sure."

He nodded again, "Well, thanks for your time..." He then scuttled off to talk to some of the militiamen.

Tatiana looked at Charles and grinned, "Hmm, I didn't know we could be so annoying..."

Charles smiled and nodded, "You could ask me any questions you'd want, anything... As for them, I'm happy to dodge their questions."

She smiled, "Heh, want to go back inside? It's cold out here..."

He smiled, "Sure, let's go."

He lifted her up into his arms and carried her back inside.

The phone was ringing when he carried her inside, he sighed, "Ah, now the phone, first spies, then the media, now the phone."

He set her down and handed her the phone.

She took it and put it to her ear, "Hello?"

(Man) "Hello, we just want to let Mr. Stahlecker know that there are plenty more men around watching him, he'd better stick by his word, or we'll kill you both... Well probably three of you soon, yeah that's right, we know what you and him have been up to, you've done it twice, and the first time you were ovulating, so you're probably pregnant by now... Thats right, we know more about you than you probably know about yourself."

Charles looked at her and saw her expression betraying her worry and fear, "Who is it?"

This caused her to lose her cool, she screamed into the phone, "You come around here again and I swear to god I'll rip out your intestines and hang you with them!" She slammed the phone back down on the hook...

She looked over at him, breathing heavily, "Take a guess..."

Suddenly the back window exploded from a shotgun blast, Charles grabbed Tatiana and dover for cover behind a sturdy desk.

Whoever it was, only fired once before running off.

"We should get out of here, I've got an idea..." she whispered to him...

He nodded, "Okay... What?"

She leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "I've met the Prime Minister a few times, he seemed like a friendly enough person, I'm sure he can help us out..."

Charles nodded, "Okay, let's go, should we pack or leave right now?"

(Tatiana) "We should leave now, I think..."

(Tatiana) "We can come back later..."

Charles nodded, grabbed a shirt and pants, changed out of the shorts and then put shoes on, "Okay, let's go."

Tatiana nodded and grabbed her rifle, they then went outside to the car and got in. As soon as they were in, she floored the accelerator...

Charles looked out the window, "How long till we get there? We're being followed..."

"Shouldn't be long, perhaps you should take the rifle and get in the back. We will be safe once we get into the city." she said...

Before he could respond, the back windshield shattered as it was hit by dozens of bullets from sub-machine guns. Charles shouted, "Get down!" as he held her head down, trying to figure out a way to return fire.

He aimed his pistol through the gap where the window used to be and fired the entire magazine, ducking to change it for a new one.

She pressed down the accelerator as far as it would go, they could see the outline of the huge skyscrapers on the horizon. "Do you have a cell phone?" she shouted...

He handed her the phone and shouted, "Here you are!" trying to be heard over the gunfire.

He shouted, "Oh shit, there's two of them!" as one car tried to stay behind them, firing at the rear, while another tried to pull alongside them.

She took one hand off the wheel and quickly called up the Capitol police, "We need some help out here, they are chasing us. We are coming into the city from the northern highway!" she shouted into the phone...

"Roger that, we are on our way..." said the voice over the phone, she could barely hear it... She handed the phone back to Charles.

"Lets see how they like this..." She turned the wheel sharply to the right, ramming into the side of one of the cars. She reached over and opened the passenger side door, causing one of the men to fall out. "Shoot them, damnit!"[/bb]

She noticed in the rearview mirror the car behind them had a man with an RPG leaning out the window.

Charles was shouting, "The pistol jammed!" Give me the rifle!"

[b]Tatiana reached back and tossed him the rifle, an SKS...

Charles grabbed the rifle and fired one round, striking the man in the face, what was left of his head was flying behind the car he'd been in.

Suddenly the car behind them stopped and turned around, heading the other way.

The car that had been alongside them slowed and faded into regular traffic.

She sighed and slowed down once they gained enough distance away from the cars. In the distance, she could see the flashing lights as the police rushed to their aid.

Charles is breathing heavily, he looks at her, "Are you okay, you didn't get hit, did you?"

She looked over at her left arm, it was bleeding rather badly. "It seems so..." she hadn't noticed it, concentrating solely on driving, "I'll be fine..."

Charles was visibly worried, "No, no, we're going to the hospital right away, as in now."

She nodded, as the police approached, she waved with her right arm. They waved back and drove down the street, looking for cars that looked like they had been shot.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the hospital...

Charles carried her inside and then started pacing back and forth while the doctors were patching her arm back up.

They took a blood sample from her and ran a number of tests on it, one of the doctors came back and looked at Tatiana, he asked her, "Congratulations ma'am, any idea what you're going to name the child?"

She raised her eyebrows, "What...?"

The doctor looked at her, "You're pregnant..."

Charles was still in the hallway outside the room, pacing nervously.

She stood up, thanked the doctor and walked out into the hallway...

Charles smiled when he saw her, "How are you, will you be okay?"

The doctor stepped out behind her and nodded, "Yes, did she tell you the good news?"

Charles shrugged, "What news?"

Tatiana looked up at him, "I'm pregnant..."

Charles smiled and then frowned and then smiled, "Well, how do you feel about this?"

"I'm happy but I can't have a child with those bastards stalking us..." she smiled slightly...

He nodded, "Yes, but I'll soon kill them, just as soon as they show up again that is."

She chuckled, "That reminds me, we came to see the Prime Minister, ready to go?"

He nodded, "Yes... Lets."

They walked out to the car, after navigating through traffic for a few minutes, they found themselves at the Executive Building, the Prime Minister's office. Tatiana parked the car and climbed out...

Charles walked alongside her, holding her hand.

They walked inside past two armed guards, the building itself was similar in appearance to the Kremlin, and made for a king. The lobby was a huge room, with a beautiful chandelier overhead and many painting of important events in Hattian history hanging from the walls. There were a few people running around, going on about their business. Tatiana walked up to the secretary...

"I'd like to speak with the Prime Minister, please..." she said...

The secretary nodded, "Okay, he is in the 3rd room on the right down the hall."

They walked down the hall and knocked on the door. It was opened by a guard...

Inside, the Prime Minister was currently on his computer, he looked up and greeted them, "Hello Miss Kempenski, and Mr. Stahlecker..."

Charles walked in and smiled, "Hello your Excellency... I am honored to be here, thank you for receiving us."

He stood up, "No need for titles here, we are all people. You can call me Fyodor if you wish."

Stahlecker nodded, "Yes, it's just I'm so used to using titles, you probably understand, knowing I'm from Mississippi, yes?"

He nodded, "Yes, I know. I hear you've been having some trouble with some people, intelligence agents specifically..."

He nodded, "Yes, indeed, rogues from my nation being hired by somebody to come after me."

He frowned, "I won't have them trying this in my country. Already my agents are working on finding out exactly where they are hiding out. Now, if you'd like some protection until that happens, I'd be happy to oblige..."

Charles nodded, "Yes, we'd like a place to stay for a while."

He smiled, "You could stay here if you wish, it is a fortress after all. Not to mention, the best of the Hattian military guards it." he said, and motioned over to the guards that stood around the room. None of them had made a move since they arrived...

"I shouldn't be saying this, but these guys are members of the Red Hammer, the best in the world. They won't let you come to any harm while you are here."

Charles looked at Tatiana, "Shall we stay here then? We need to think about the safety of all three concerned..." He smiled at the last part.

The Prime Minister arched his eyebrows, "Ah, congratulations. Have you thought of a name?" He hinted slightly that he had already known this before they arrived, and he probably did...

He nodded, "Okay..." He motioned over towards two of the guards, the approached and he said a few words in Hatti to them. He then looked back over towards Charles and Tatiana. "Okay, these two will watch your room. If you'd like to leave, please inform them and they will accompany you.

"It has been nice talking to you, I don't often get to talk to people other than diplomats, and they are so stuffy." he said.

Charles nodded his head, "Thank you for your help, I greatly appreciate it, if there is ever anything I can do to repay your kindness, just ask."

He shook his head, "I don't need anything, just be careful."

He looked at his watch, "It looks like I am due for an appointment with someone from The Island States, farewell..."

Charles smiles, "Good luck with that, take care." He then puts an arm gently around Tatiana and walks forward to follow the guards taking them to the room.

On the way out, they passed the diplomat from the Island States, who nodded towards them and continued on his way. The guards escorted them down a few flights of stairs. Once at the bottom, they navigated through a maze of hallways. The taller of the two guards opened the door to the room.

Charles thanked him and walked in alongside Tatiana... He turned, thanked the man again, and gently shut the door.

The room was rather large and decorated in a style that appeared to be from the 1700s. A large king sized bed sat in the middle; there was also a fireplace and a TV. Off at the far end of the room, was a door that led to the bathroom.

Tatiana looked around in awe and laid down on the bed

Charles sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at her and smiling, and then he slowly lay down next to her, and kissed her while gently placing a hand on her stomach, "Our child Tatiana, it's almost too good to be true, but it is true..."

She nodded, "So much has happened in the past few days, it's amazing..."

Charles smiled, and seemed to drift off into thought.

Charles suddenly spoke, "Tatiana... I was thinking..."

"Yes?" she said...

He sighed, seeming to loose either the words or the will to say them.

Suddenly he either regained his will or found the words, "Tatiana, I love you and I can't ever picture myself apart from you..."

He somehow managed to loose the words again.

She looked over at him, "It's alright, what were you going to say?"

He breathed slowly and then quickly said, "Tatiana, I want to know if you'll marry me..."

She gasped slightly, "Y...y... yes, I will..." she whispered to him...

Charles was nearly speechless, all he could think to do was kiss her and then whisper, "I love you."

She rolled over and rested her head on his chest, "I love you too..."

bump for more to read.

bump for more to read.

Charles awoke around six in the morning, and Tatiana was still asleep. He gently slid out from under her so as not to disturb her. He walked into the living room and lit up a cigarette and started to smoke it.

Charles sat down in a chair as he smoked; enjoying the flavor of the Salazar Imperial Cigarette he was smoking as it was flavored like bourbon.

Tatiana was peacefully asleep in the bedroom when she thought she heard metal clanging, as though people were walking around rapidly outside in the hallway. She was still asleep, thinking the noise as part of her dream and paying no attention to it.

She stirred from her sleep about an hour later and wok up, walking out into the living room as she rubbed her eyes. Charles was still smoking, working on his ninth cigarette of the morning.

He immediately put it out when she walked in.

She rubbed her face with her hand and said, "Good morning, sleep well?"

He smiled at her as he stood up from the chair, "Wonderfully...Good morning, Tatiana, dear, did you sleep well?"

She nodded and looked troubled for a second, "Did you hear a noise that sounded like metal clanging together?"

He nodded, "Yes, I checked it out, guards moving around to the upper levels, apparently some idiots tried to crash a truck through the front gate of the complex, it was full of C4."

She nodded, "Wow, someone really wants to blow us up, eh? I believe we are pretty safe down here, though..."

He nodded, "Yes, I think we are safe..."

She turned her head as someone knocked on the door. She walked over and opened it. Prime Minister Zyteslav peeked his head through the door, "Good morning, I'm leaving to a conference in Edolia. If either of you need anything, feel free to ask one of the ministers." He then waved and was gone as quickly as he came...

Charles yawned, "So what do you want to do now? I don't think we should leave here, do you agree? It's not really safe... I'd love to go to Mississippi with you and have you meet my family, but that isn't feasible right now, agreed?"

She smiled, "Perhaps, but I am sure that Mr. Fabus could protect us quite well if we were to go back to Mississippi..."

Charles nodded, "So, do you want to go to Mississippi?"

(Tatiana) "Sure, I did rather like it there, after all..."

He nodded, "Okay, let's get ready then, shall we?"

She nodded and went off towards the bathroom, after about ten minutes, she emerged, ready to go...

Charles picked up the bags and nodded, "Would you get the door for me, please?"

She nodded and held the door open...

He walked though, carrying the bags.

The two guards outside snapped to attention and shouldered their rifles as they exited the room. The slightly taller one nodded and said, "Good morning, would you like us to accompany you two?"

Charles looked to Tatiana, "What do you think?"

She nodded, "Probably should, especially after what happened yesterday." She then looked over at the guard who had spoken, "We are going to the airport, once we get there we should be fine..."

Charles nodded, "Okay, after you then, ladies first." he said, smiling at Tatiana...

She smiled and walked up the stairs, out of the building and to the car. Once there, she sat in the driver's seat while two guards slid quietly into the back seat.

As soon as they got three blocks from the complex, Tatiana noticed four black DISFB model Cadillacs in the rear view and side mirrors.

The two guards sighted them also. One tapped Charles on the shoulder, "Should we open fire?" he asked

Charles nodded, "If you want, yes." At about that time, they noticed that at least eight UZIs were being aimed at their car, a man leaned over and motioned for Tatiana to pull over.

The guards grinned, they turned around in their seats and took aim...

The men opened fire with their uzis and racked the car with bullets, wounding everybody inside and sending the car down a rural road, down a hill, and into a tree, the airbags deployed and Tatiana and Charles struggled to unbuckle.

As Tatiana and Charles attempted to unbuckle, the guard on the right tried to rouse his comrade, "Bloody hell..." he mumbled. He pulled out his knife and quickly cut Charles and Tatiana free...

They noticed four UZIs and two AKMS were trained on them, through the shattered windows, a male voice chuckled, "Get out slowly please..."

Tatiana sighed and motioned for the guard to put down his gun. "Not again..." she mumbled. She opened the door and climbed out slowly...

The men hauled her up onto her feet and handcuffed her hands behind her back

The surviving guard followed suit, as he climbed out, he looked over to Charles, "Need any help, comrade?"

The DISFB operatives standing around the car asked the guard, "Are you okay?"

The guard nodded, "Alright, I suppose. I did catch one of your bullets in my arm. Training was worse, though..."

The DISFB captain standing about twenty feet away smiled, he walked up to the surviving guard and grinned, he then drew his pistol and shot the man in both kneecaps.

He grunted, clutched his knees and fell to the ground. "Goddamnit!" he screamed as he lay on the ground...

The captain slowly moved the pistol until it was level with the man's head.

He smiled, "This is my favorite part."

The guard grinned, a small knife appeared in his hand and he shoved it up into the man's stomach. He had been feigning, as with all Red Hammer commandoes, he was heavily armored head to toe, and a pistol would be hard pressed to penetrate his armor...

Two nearby men emptied their AKMs into the guard immediately as they saw him stick his knife into their bosses stomach.

They tossed his body back into the car with the other dead guard and then tossed a large bundle of explosives into the car as they ran away to the waiting Cadillacs. One of them got into the back next to Tatiana and Charles.

As the car they were in pulled away, Tatiana could see the remains of her car going up in flames as the explosives went off. .

Charles strained to hit the man, but restrained as he was, he was unable to. The man clubbed him over the back of the head and he was out cold. Then the DISFB operative went back to fondling Tatiana, dragging her across the seat as he tossed Charles onto the middle section of the custom made Cadillac.

The man slid a knife out of the sheath and grinned at both of them, he started to run his hands through her hair as he said, "Your friend killed a bunch of my co-workers, friends of mine, good friends of mine, I'm going to kill..” He looked at Charles as he said that…Then he looked at Tatiana, “And you, you I’ll kill very slowly, but not before I’ve had some fun with you…” he had an evil grin on his face as he spoke.

She jerked about and tried to head butt the man. "You get your goddamn hands off of me. Didn't your mother teach you any respect?"

The man shrugged, "My mother beat me daily until I was fifteen and realized I was strong enough to kill her, and that is just what I did..."

She spat in his face and said, "No wonder you turned out to be such a goddamn bastard!"

Just then, Charles stirred from his unconsciousness and kicked one of the men as hard as he could in the head with his combat boots, smashing the mans face into the window and sending blood and tissue splattering all over, hitting the driver in the eyes. One of the men pulled a knife and held it to his throat; the other held a knife to Tatiana's throat. "Move and she dies!"

Charles chuckled nervously, "Please gentlemen, your beef is with me, let her go, surely you don't want to waste your time harassing her, right?"

One of them clubbed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, then he held him down, "Wrong..."

There were a total of four operatives in the car with them, one was now injured horribly and his blood was everywhere, thanks to Charles, but the other two were in the back, one was leering at Tatiana and contemplating how to get her to talk about what she knew involving Charles’s anti-slavery work.

The man looked at Charles, "You know something, you anti-slavery work is not appreciated at all... Thanks to you the anti-slavery forces are making progress, it seems slavery may end... We need to let you know we don't like that, not at all..."


The man held a knife to Charles’s throat and smiled at Tatiana as he told her, “You’re going to confess to conspiracy and being a whore, and a witch, and then follow us back to Mississippi or we will kill him.”

Charles shouted, "Tatiana, don't do it... Don't listen to him..."

The man with the knife started to press it into Charles neck, drawing blood, a slight crimson stream running down the blade as Charles squirmed and tried to stifle his urge to scream in pain.

He shook his head at her, "Don't do it!"

The man hovering near Tatiana nodded to his friend with the knife and the man pressed it in deeper, drawing more blood.

Tatiana strained to kick at one of the men near Charles, but she failed miserably, falling back into her seat.

The man held a gun to Charles’s head and cocked the hammer, "Well ma'am, you just sealed his fate." he started to press the trigger in, a few more millimeters and it'd be down enough to fire.

She gulped at the sight, "Don't hurt him... What the hell do you expect me to do?"

"Damn, if I can just get out of these handcuffs..." she thought to herself...

The man holding both hands down on his crotch to stop the blood coming out of his penis smacked her with one hand then returned it to apply pressure to his penis, his comrade laughed, "He expected you to suck him, not bite him... Say goodbye to Charles..." He started to motion as though he was going to apply the last inch of pressure to the trigged, Charles closed his eyes, "I love you Tatiana, don't admit to anything you didn’t do, not even for me..."

The man smiled, "Almost ready, better make your goodbyes quickly..."

She grimaced as she managed to slip a hand out of the handcuffs, "I love you too." she said. She glared at the man and launched herself at him, swinging wildly with her fists and using the handcuff still attached to her left wrist as a weapon...

The man dropped his pistol right onto her chest and started screaming in pain as she smacked him in the face with the handcuffs.

The other man up front struggled to swing his AKM but it hit the seat and got stuck, he quickly reached for his pistol. The man holding the gun on Charles totally freaked out and that is when Charles head butted the gun out of his hands and then bit down hard on his wrists, causing them to bleed.

The man, now stunned by her attack fell backwards. She leaped on top of him and jammed the fingers of her right hand into his eyes, and viciously jabbing him in the throat...

The men fell backwards and the man Charles had head butted finally recovered and grabbed his gun, firing it twice, both rounds struck the man Tatiana had just hit.

The man suddenly noticed the car was about to go off a cliff, "Oh God! We have to get out!"

He threw the door open and dove out. Charles had by now managed to get his hands in front of him by slipping his cuffed hands under his legs. He kicked a door open and grabbed Tatiana as he dove out, rolling as they impacted against the thankfully soft grass.

She nodded and pulled herself up, "Yeah, any idea where the hell we are?"

Charles shook his head, "Hell if I know."

She looked across the road and noticed the DISFB agent was still alive, he was struggling to crawl towards his pistol he'd dropped when he dove, it was about forty feet away.

She smiled and ran over to him. When he looked up at her, she said sarcastically, "Looking for something?" With that she fired two shots into the back of his kneecaps. "Not so fun, is it?" she said with venom in her voice...

He shouted in pain, "Goddamnit, you shot me, you shot me!"

He started to plead, "Please don't kill me, please..."

"Give me a good reason not to, then..." she said...

He shook his head, "Name it, anything you want, it's yours..."

She placed her hand on her hips. "I don't want anything. You guys killed those two guards, tried to kill Charles and won't leave us the hell alone. It doesn't matter anyway, I have no idea where we are, and you will freeze to death by nightfall, if you are lucky, that is...

He shook his head, "Get me out of here, I will tell you who I'm working for, deal?"

She sighed, "Okay, you realize that you will spend the rest of your life in a work camp, right?"

He shook his head, "Get me out of here totally, get me back to my people, they'll get me to Mississippian Egypt or Western Sahara...Deal?"

Charles had struggled to stand up and he limped over to where she was holding him at gunpoint, "What is he trying to do?" Charles asked.

"He thinks I shouldn't kill him. I'm not going to, but we all will freeze if we don't find some shelter before nightfall, unless you know where we are..." she said.

Charles shrugged, "We are in your nation, not mine, I have no idea where we are..."

The man chuckled, "I know right where we are, four miles from a DISFB outpost in the wilderness, there is nobody there now, it was where we were going to take you..."

She noticed he only motioned at Charles when he said, "You", as though he didn't include her in that part.

She sighed, she had already figured that she would have probably been killed. "Show us where it is, and you will live..."[b]

He nodded, "Okay, help me up though..."

[b]She leaned over and helped him up off the ground, she then
whispered, "Try anything and I will castrate you right here and now..."


Ooc- Gregory is acting weak and human so nobody figures out just what he is, he doesn't know if he should let them know, at least not yet.

He nodded with a genuine fear in his eyes, "Understood..."

After two hours of walking, with Charles and Tatiana helping the man limp forward, by helping, carrying him most of the way, they made it the four miles to the cabin, a nicely outfitted three bedroom hunting lodge, it was actually a DISFB outpost.

She opened the door and took the man to a corner. She then went back and held it open for Charles.

He struggled to get inside and he plopped down on the first chair he found.

The man smiled nervously, "A deal is a deal right? You'll let me get back to my own people now, right?"

She nodded, "I won't endanger my honor by lying. You upheld your end and I'll uphold mine."

She then went over to Charles and kneeled down beside the chair, "Are you alright, can I get you anything?"

He shook his head, "I'm okay..."

Suddenly a radio in the corner of the room came to life, "Gregory, are you there, over?"

The man spoke up, "That is for me, I should answer it, yes?"

She nodded and stayed quiet...

The man answered it, "Yes, I am here, over."

(Radio) "Do you have the target? Over."

(Gregory) "Yes."

(Radio) "And the woman?"

(Gregory) "We took care of her."

The man on the other end chuckled, "Did you all have your fun with her first?"

(Gregory) "Yes."

(Radio) "We will meet in the usual place, yes? In three days time, yes?"

(Gregory) "Good, yes."

(Radio) "Maintain radio silence until then, yes... Oh you made sure to properly dispose of all bodies, yes?"

(Gregory) "Yes... Okay, radio silence initiating, starting now."

He shut off the radio.

She looked over at the man, "Where is the 'usual place' at?"

He shook his head, "I've told you enough, haven't I?"

She signed, "Perhaps, I'll make sure none of your friends get hurt if you tell us, and if we find it out ourselves..."

He sighed, "There will be time to tell you later then..."

She nodded and looked over to Charles, "I'm going to go and try to get in touch with someone. If you need anything, just ask..."

The man laughed, "Ah yes, I forgot to tell you my employer, would you like to know who hired me?"

She nodded, "Okay, who is it?"

The man sighed, "Henry Stahlecker of Western Sahara and Hans Luck of Mississippian Egypt..."

Charles eyes went wide, "Are you serious?"

The man nodded, Charles was at a loss for words.

Tatiana shook her head, "No honor whatsoever..."

She then began to fiddle around with the radio, trying to get in touch with someone who could help...

Charles sat back and took a swig of brandy from a flask he had on him.

The man shrugged, "You do know this cabin is fully equipped with all sorts of interesting things, check the garage and you'll find at least one vehicle..."

She looked over at him, "Really, no point in staying here, then..."

He started to get up, "Help me up then, yes?"

Charles managed to get up, the brandy easing the pain, "Do we really need him to come along?"

She nodded, "Unfortunately, yes. I gave him my word and I intend to keep it..."

The man jumped up out of the chair and fell onto the floor, "You have to take me with you, don't leave me here, they'll kill me when they find out what I told you..."

Charles helped the man up and Tatiana opened the door to the garage, inside was a Salazar 2004 Cruiser all-wheel-drive king cab pickup truck.

She raised her eyebrows at the sight of the vehicle, "Nice..."

The man nodded, "Thank you for taking me along... I'll help you as much as I can..."

Charles helped him and Tatiana get into the truck, he sat in the back with the man in the front passenger seat. Tatiana was in the drivers seat. Charles kept a gun ready, and aimed at the front passenger seat, reminding the man, "Don't try anything funny, okay?"

The man nodded, "Okay..."

The man smiled, "Oh by the way, I'm Gregory..."

She nodded, "I'm Tatiana..."

She pressed down the accelerator and drove out of the garage, "Okay, which way?"

Charles chuckled, "You already know me, yes?"

The man nodded to Charles and then took a map out of the glove box, Tatiana also noticed there was a pistol inside. He slowly slid it out and then quickly handed it over to her, "Here, you might need that..."

She smiled and took it. "Thanks..."

He checked the map, "Take a left out of here, look for the rural-road A-12, bear right onto it for about twenty miles."

She nodded and followed his directions. As they drove, they passed several heavily armed villagers walking down the road. They looked at the truck with interest as it passed and continued on their way...

About ten miles down the rural road, they noticed something, they were being tailed by a black Cadillac...The car pulled up alongside them and motioned for them to roll the window down, Gregory did and he smiled, covertly grabbing the pistol from Tatiana's hands as she was distracted with the map. His colleagues in the other car shouted, "Are you taking them to the usual place early?" He nodded, as he raised the pistol up, "Yes, yes indeed..."

They rolled their window back up and sped off, once they were out of sight, Gregory sat back deep in his seat, rolled the window back up, and slid the gun back on the seat next to Tatiana... "Close call, eh?" he chuckled.

She nodded, "Damn, you scared me there..." she said.

He shook his head, "If I don't help you, you won't win, and I've already done enough so that I'll go down too, they'll figure out what happened... And they'll make sure I'd take hours to die, and my family too, I don't want that, I have to think of them...Besides, I've been considering a change of career for a while, the DISFB isn't what it used to be since they started stocking it with sadists, I really hated having to hurt people for no other reason than to fit in with my peers..."

She nodded, "Yeah, you don't seem as bad as the others, and sorry for shooting you back there..."

Gregory smiled, "You're welcome..."

The man shrugged his shoulders and lifted up his pant legs, the bullet holes had sealed over and the bleeding had stopped, he smiled, "Think nothing of it, we'll pretend it never happened..."

She chuckled, "Sounds good to me..." She looked out into the distance and could see the skyscrapers of the capitol on the horizon. "Well, should be back in the city soon..."

Gregory nodded; she noticed when he blinked his eyes seemed reptilian green for a second before they went back to the normal color.

He noticed she saw it, he looked at her, "Want to know what it is, eh?"

She nodded, "Yeah..."

Gregory grinned, "Just take my advice, never volunteer for any so-called "super soldier programs" that involved being injected with a mutated strain of the IG Virus..."

She frowned, "Sounds nice..." she said sarcastically.

He smiled, "Literally it is almost impossible to kill me... But they'd find a way..."

She smiled, "Molten metal of some sort, perhaps?"

He frowned, "No, probably Nitric acid..."

"Ah..." she said, "Painful either way, I guess..."

He smiled, "Yes, but I have abilities, you will see later, you will see..."

Gregory started to convulse and he slowed his breathing until it stopped and he went back to normal. She noticed his eyes blinked reptilian a few times during his convulsions

She raised her eyebrows, "Are you alright, do you need to go to the doctor?"

He shook his head, "No, no doctor can help me, only God can help me now..."

He chuckled, "Ironic, I sold my humanity to seek perfection, now I'd give anything to get my old imperfect self back..."

She smiled, "That's why I don't mess around with that bio-engineering stuff."

She peered ahead up the road, "It looks like we've run into a checkpoint." She looked over at Gregory, "They will probably arrest you, I'll tell them to send you back to Mississippi..."

He nodded, Okay, I trust you... But you will likely need my help ahead... I can handle the police without harming them too badly, okay?"

She chuckled, "I wouldn't try it, you'd get an RPG in your stomach. I'll see if I can get them to let us through..."

He nodded as she pulled up to the checkpoint.

She rolled down her window. A boy of about sixteen walked up to the window. "Can I see some ID from everyone in here, please?"

She nodded and handed him her ID card. He looked it over and handed it back. "What about those other two?" he asked.

Charles stifled himself from coughing up blood, letting it rest in his mouth and then handed them his ID card. Gregory convulsed and struggled to get a grip as he chuckled nervously, "I am okay, just some stomach problems..." He quickly handed them a card, "Here you are..."

He handed Charles back his card, "Are you alright sir?" He then looked at Gregory's card, "Miss Kempenski, can you vouch for this man?" he said, pointing at Gregory.

Gregory nodded, "I am fine, thank you sir..." He then coughed up some brown blood; he quickly closed his hand so nobody would notice.

Charles nodded, "I am okay as well, thanks for asking..."

Tatiana nodded, "Yeah, I can vouch for him, we were going to the airport." The boy nodded, "Okay, have a safe journey." he backed up and waved them through...

Gregory started to cough up more and more as they pulled away, brown blood.

She looked over at him, "I'm going to take you to the doctor, there is something seriously wrong with you..."

He shook his head, his eyes turned green and yellow, "No, we cannot go to a doctor, I know what is wrong with me... I am normal for what runs in my veins... I am a freak..."

She was beginning to get nervous, "Okay, we are going straight to the airport, then..."

He nodded, "Okay, good idea..."

He spat up a large amount of brown and greenish fluid, almost a bile like paste, onto the floor in front of him, it smelled like road kill. Charles freaked out, "What the hell did they do to you?"

He held his hands out and was visibly focusing his mind on channeling something, suddenly hardened claws surged forward from his hands, razor sharp, about twelve inches long, he smiled, "Those sort of things..." He focused really hard and they retracted back, flesh immediately starting to reform over them.

Tatiana swerved slightly, nearly running into the other lane. "Bloody hell, what is going on with you?"

He frowned, "You never heard of the IG Virus? It runs in my veins, they injected me with it, but it can live in somewhat of a harmony with my system, finding a balance, it mutates often though..."

He shrugged, "I am just an early prototype, the later models will probably be perfect, flawless, obedient, killing machines..."

She opened her eyes wide, "Thats just... scary... Is anything going to happen that I should know about?"

He shook his head, "No, hopefully not..."

He put on a pair of dark sunglasses as they pulled into the airport, she could see a red glint every now and then from behind them. He stepped out of the truck and he finally seemed to be stabilized.

She looked over at Charles and smiled, "Still want to go back to Mississippi?"

He nodded, "Yes, if you do..."

She smiled again, "Yeah..."

She drove up to where they had left Charles' plane when they arrived, everyone had left it alone. "Charles, should I go get a pilot?"

He shook his head, "I can fly..." Gregory chimed in, "I can work copilot..."

They started to board the plane, Gregory leaned over the side of the stairs and vomited a stream of brown and green liquids, he shook his head, "I'm okay, I'll be right on", he said, as the Charles and Tatiana boarded the plane.

Gregory got on right after, still wiping residue of the vomit from the sides of his mouth.

Tatiana was getting a little nervous about Gregory, "Well, if whatever he has is contagious, I probably already have it, no need to worry."

Gregory looked at her as he got on the plane, "Don't, worry, I don't have anything, I'm not sick, this is normal for me... The Virus in my veins is becoming one with my body."

"Well, what happens when it finishes doing that?" she said.

His eyes glowed red as he placed a pair of sunglasses over them, the red glint still slightly visible from behind the glasses. He smiled, "Well then, I'll be the ultimate fighting machine..."

Gregory chuckled, "The most expensive and classified government tool of assassination."

She nodded, "Ah, sounds... fun..."

He sat down in a seat as Charles started the engine and the pre-flight check. She could see the bones in Gregory's body were starting to move about and bulge in certain areas, she heard them rubbing against each other as they moved. He cracked his neck to the side and then cracked it back into place, he smiled, "Ah, much better."

She shuddered at the sound, "Well, I'm gonna go back and take a nap, don't crash the plane..." she said, chuckling weakly...

Gregory and Charles chuckled, "We won't crash the plane, don't worry..."

About four hours later, Charles walked back towards where Tatiana was resting, he quietly sat down next to her, gently running his hand through her hair before he covered her up with a blanket and kissed her forehead. He then propped his feet up on a seat nearby and started to read a magazine. Gregory was flying the plane, he no longer needed sleep and so he could manage alone.

Tatiana was asleep yet she could tell somebody was near her, she felt somebody place the blanket on her and she was certain somebody had kissed her forehead.

Being the light sleeper that she was, she opened her eyes and stretched out her arms.

Charles smiled at her as she awoke, "Ah, I see you're up, enjoy your nap?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I have had better, though. How long was I out?"

He quickly replied as he looked at his watch, "Well you went to sleep around 16:00, it's now 20:00, about four hours."

She leaned over towards him and said quietly, "Do you trust Gregory?"

Charles nodded,

Gregory called over the intercom, "You can trust me, don't worry."

He was in the cockpit with the door shut, and they were about eighty feet away in the back of the plane in a separate sealed room, whispering, and he had heard them.

As she heard this, she blurted out, "He can hear like a damn dog... no offense meant, of course..."

Gregory smiled as he said over the intercom, "We're going to be landing soon, I'm not very good at landings, perhaps Charles should come back up here, yes?" Charles nodded, kissed Tatiana for a few seconds, and said, "You should buckle up, landings don't always go as planned." And then he walked back to the cockpit.

Twenty minutes later the plane touched down at airfield at Stalingrad Estate.

She looked out the window as the plane slowed to a halt, "Hopefully this visit will be a bit more pleasant than the last..." she thought to herself.

As Charles and Gregory were getting off the plane, along with Tatiana, Gregory smiled at her, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine here", as though he knew she was worried. Charles chuckled, "Of course we shall all be fine here, the Czar himself has assured us his protection."

She nodded and stood up, following them off the plane.

They were driven the mile or so to the mansion building and there the Czar was waiting in a side living room, drinking a glass of brandy as he sat in a chair. He didn't stand up to greet any of them, being too exhausted and tired. He saw Gregory and smiled, "Ah, Gregory, how are you feeling?" Gregory smiled and nodded, "Excellent sir..." The Czar drew his pistol and shot Gregory a few times in the chest, the bullets barely managed to puncture his skin. Gregory smiled, "You just had to do that, yes?"

The Czar nodded, "The ultimate test, yes?"

The two men nodded and then shook hands.

Gregory looked down and already his skin had sealed over where the bullets had entered, and only a minor trickle of brownish-green blood remained.

Charles didn't see at all surprised, seeing as he had worked on the project.

The Czar looked at Tatiana, "Ah, Tatiana, is it, yes?"

She nodded, "Yes, and you are Mr. Fabus, I believe."

Roger frowned, "No, I am Roger Fabus, not Mr. Fabus, you may all call me Roger."

She bowed slightly and said, "My apologies Roger..."

Roger smiled at Charles, "Well Charles, I see you have yourself a nice woman here, yes?"

Charles nodded, "Yes, I'm very lucky...”

She nodded, "Same here."

Roger smiled, "Well as you know, I consider myself to be very lucky indeed, you've met the Czarina before, yes?"

Charles nodded, "I believe once sir."

Suddenly Alice came walking into the room, she seemed startled, "Oh sorry, dear, I didn't know we were having company... Do you want me to leave?"

Roger shook his head, "Of course not, you should stay here and keep the guests entertained while Charles and I go to talk business..."

He suddenly realized he didn't introduce them, "Oh Alice, this is Tatiana, Charles, and Gregory..." He patted Alice on the back, "This is the my lovely wife, the Czarina, Alice."

With that, Roger and Charles left the room, and then Gregory received a call over his radio to report to the SRG Hospital where he was to undergo testing. Leaving Alice and Tatiana alone to talk about whatever women talk about

Tatiana smiled, "Mam, I believe you are expecting, correct?"

Alice nodded, "Yes, Roger and I are thrilled, Roger wants to name him Alexander."

She smiled again, "It's a nice name, has everything been going okay with that?"

Alice smiled and nodded, "Yes, everything is fine, it couldn't be better... How are you doing? What brings you to Mississippi if you don't mind my asking."

"I'm alright, we came so I could meet Charles' family, we are going to get married..." she said.

Alice smiled, "Ah, congratulations, the Stahleckers are nice people, they'll like you for sure."

She nodded, "I hope so, it'd be terribly inconvenient if they didn't."

Alice seemed puzzled, "Why? Does it really matter, all that should matter is that you and Charles love each other, yes?"

"Well, in my country, at least, if either of the families don't like each other, the two people generally won't get married. It's probably not the same here, though..."

Alice nodded, "Yes, so do you plan to live in Mississippi?"

"I don't know, I've been rather preoccupied recently." she said.

Alice nodded, "Yes, Roger told me some people were out to get you and Charles, fortunately they failed..."

She sighed, "Yes, I just wish they'd leave us alone. We nearly got killed going to the airport..."

Alice gasped, "Are you okay? Was anybody hurt?"

She shook her head, "The two guards that were with us were killed, along with most of the people who were chasing us. They went off a cliff..."

Alice sighed, "That's just terrible, two guards just doing their job... Horrible..."

She nodded, "Yeah, one of them got to stick a knife in one of those bastards stomach, at least. They cut Charles a few times, and I'm sure you can guess what they were going to do to me..."

Alice nodded, "Yes, there are many evil people in the world. I am just glad Roger has so many guards to protect this estate, over ninety thousand Special Republican Guardsmen are around this estate, along with over four thousand tanks and four thousand anti-aircraft batteries."

She smiled, "Yes, I'm sure they wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything while we are here. The problem is, one of them said they were working for Charles' brother."

Meanwhile Roger was talking with Charles about the experiments involving Gregory... Charles nodded and said, "Yes, I agree, Gregory represents a new era in bio-organic weaponry, the best of both worlds, the IG-BS Virus in a human host, where the advantages of the virus coexist with the cells rather than deteriorating them and turning the host into a mindless zombie..."

Roger smiled, "It is perfect, yes, I agree... Perfection... So tell me, what is the story with the woman?"

Charles nodded and smiled, "Ah... Tatiana, we are going to get married, I love her, sir... You won't object if her and I were to wed and lived somewhere outside of Mississippi, would you?"

Roger shrugged and raised a brow, "I'd prefer you stay in Mississippi, you know a great deal about our biological programs, if you were ever captured, it'd be awful... Besides, Mississippi is the safest nation in the world."

Charles frowned, "I'll have to talk to Tatiana about that first."

Meanwhile, Alice yawned and then smiled at Tatiana, "Well, would you care for something to drink, a cigarette perhaps, anything at all?"

She smiled back, "I don't smoke, but I wouldn't mind a drink."

Alice nodded, "What would you like?"

Tatiana's expression changed, "Actually, I better not..."

Alice seemed puzzled, "Why not? Are you not well?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm pregnant."

Alice smiled, "Ah, that is wonderful, congratulations, how long have you known?"

She nodded, "Thanks, about a few days now."

Alice whispered, wary of who might be around, "Does Charles know?"

She nodded, "Yeah, and why are you whispering?"

Alice smiled, "Oh no real reason, but sounds have a way of carrying through the vents here... Just didn't want anybody to hear something you might not wanted them to have heard... So, is Charles excited about the prospect of being a father?"

She nodded, "I think. I couldn't see how anyone wouldn't be excited."

Alice nodded in agreement, "Yes, I agree completely.... So, do you want a boy or a girl?"

"I'll be happy with either one," she said, "I do believe that Charles wants a boy, though."

Alice nodded, "What Mississippian man doesn't want his first child to be a boy?"

She chuckled, "Yes, but if I were the child and I found out that my parents wanted me to be a boy, I'd be rather offended."

Alice seemed a little curious as she asked the next question, "So, you're not bothered by the fact that Charles is in the WKM, and an officer in the WKM at that."

She shook her head, "I don't care about his political opinions, it could ruin our relationship."

Alice smiled, "Yes, but Mississippians seem to see political opinions as something the father imparts to the children... Will you mind your children growing up in the WKM?"

She shook her head again, "No, but I'd like them to see both sides of the issue so they can make their own decisions. That's how my parents did it."

Roger came walking back in the room at the time, chuckling, "And my parents, well my mother died when I was about six years old, and my father decided that the WKM way was the only right way to raise me..."

Roger smiled as he sat down next to Alice and kissed her, "I see you two girls are having a nice chat, eh?"

Alice nodded, "Yes."

Tatiana nodded also.

Roger stood back up and headed out of the room, "Well, you two just call if you need anything... Charles is currently on the phone with some friends of his in the DISFB to figure out more about what is going on."

Tatiana chuckled, "Good, I'm getting sick of having to kill those bastards..."

About twenty minutes later, Roger and Charles both walked back into the room... Charles was smiling, "well, the DISFB will no longer be bothering me... The Czar is going to outlaw slavery shortly and thus there is no point to silence the anti-slavery forces if slavery is no longer an issue."

She smiled, "Well, it sounds like a very good event to me..."

Roger smiled as Charles started to talk, "Tatiana, Roger and I were talking about it... And I want Roger and Alice to be the godparents to our first child, if you would agree with it..."

She nodded in agreement, "They are good people, I don't have a problem with it."

Roger and Alice smiled, Alice saying, "Oh, thank you", as she hugged Tatiana and then got up to hug Charles... Roger sat down and chuckled, "I'm happy and grateful, but I ain't hugging anybody..."

Tatiana smiled towards Roger, "Alright, have it your way." she said, grinning.

Roger nodded, "Well, who here is hungry?"

Tatiana nodded, realizing that it had been nearly a day since she had eaten a decent meal.

Roger ushered everybody into the main dinning room and sat at the head of the ninety-foot long table. Alice sat at the other end, and there were two places set for Tatiana and Charles. Roger picked up a phone at his end and called to Alice, who promptly picked up the phone at her end, "Would you care for something to drink, dear?" She replied, "Just water will do." Tatiana thought it was amusing to see how the elite of Mississippi at their dinners with company over.

Tatiana was amused, though she did think it was rather wasteful, but that was just her upbringing.

Charles sat down across from Tatiana and started to drink a glass of wine that a servant had brought him. The servants then started bringing out the food. Charles smiled as she started to eat and he whispered, "Do you like it?"

She nodded and swallowed what she was chewing on, "It's very good."

After they finished eating, Roger and Alice got up and excused themselves, and then walked over into a nearby smoking room, although Alice didn't smoke and Roger didn't smoke anymore because she didn't let him, they still enjoyed the chairs in the room. After Charles and Tatiana finished eating, they both joined Roger and Alice in the smoking room. Tatiana wondered why neither Charles or Roger was smoking, since it was indeed a smoking room.

Tatiana leaned back in the chair and said, "Thank you for the food, it was very good."

One of the guards came walking into the room, smoking a cigarette, Roger shouted at him, "Damnit, put that out, you're in the same room as two pregnant women, what is wrong with you?"

The guard choked up, "Ah... I... Sorry, I didn't know, I thought this was a room for smoking..."

Roger frowned at him, "Not when either of these two ladies happen to be in here, go to another room and smoke." The man nodded and left.

Roger turned back to Tatiana, "I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Charles sighed as he sank into his chair, "Now what is there to do?"

Roger shrugged, "Any of you want to go shooting?"

Alice jumped at the idea, "Yes, that is a great idea..."

Tatiana nodded, "That sounds fun to me."

bump for more to read. updates soon.

bump for more to read, updates soon.