NationStates Jolt Archive

Ooc: continued from part one Part one: Seeds of Darkness (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=358624)

Ic:
http://www.iszard.com/artwork/future_city.jpg

Grathmoras, Tappee’s capital, home to nearly 20 million souls. A mega centre for both culture, and technology, the sprawling city could clearly be seen even from space. It has come to symbolize Tappee’s prosperity, and hope of the future. The last 15 years the city has live in relative peace, with the exception of the small act of crime here and there, until today.

Dylan put down his binoculars, he could help but smile, the time of retribution had come, all the pieces where now in place. He could barely hold the excitement that was growing in side him. For ten year, ten year of total darkness, had he dreamed of this moment. A glance at his watch told him that his wait was almost over.

A rain of Death would soon fall on the People of Grathmoras, and all of Tappee for that mater.

http://www.namco-xenosaga.com/gallery/avatars/images/x_avatar_78.jpg
Dylan Phobo

“But mommy I don’t want to go” cried the little girl, as she grabbed her mother legs.

It was her first day of day care. Her mother, who had taken a new job, was taking advantage of the state run day care at her newly found job.

Bending down the mother picked the girl up taking the younger girl into her arms. “Don’t worry mommy will be just a few floor above you. Besides, I promise on my breaks I’ll come down and visit. Is that ok dear” the little girl gave a brief nod “Good, now why don’t you go make some friends to play with”

With the confidence that her daughter would be alright the mother put her daughter down, and watched as the young girl ran off to make some new friends. With everything done her she turned making her way towards the elevator to start her new job. Like her daughter she too was a bit nervous, but the prospect of making a better future for her family caused her to put that fear aside.

However, unknown to all, a hidden danger lurked in the shadows. A metal case that was hidden some where in the building had a bright red LED display, on the was a counter, a counter that was quickly counting down to zero.

There was a thunderous boom that filled the air, Dylan could even fell the concussion of the blast hit this chest.

From atop his perch on top of a building, Dylan watched with much satisfaction a four of Grathmoras’s tallest buildings came crashing down the unsuspecting streets below. Both Smoke and debris jetted upward into the sky, and flowed outward from the epicentre. Already sirens could be heard on in the distance.

But this was all the beginning, the explosion had been set to mark zero hour, the time in which Dylan would be set free to do as he please. Free to unleash his uncontrollable rage, to have death rain down from the sky. And besides he had a bunch of new toys to play with, but that was for another day, all this had been planned to announce his arrival. Even as he stood here there were attacks taking place a various other locations.

Turing ever so slightly to his right, Dylan brought his binoculars to eye level. Through the enhanced vision of the goggle he looked down upon a school.

Children where out enjoying a warm fall day, the troubles of the outside world affected them little, until now. A black van jumped up over the curb, driving through the field, from what Dylan could see at least four children were crush under the van. Stopping in the middle of the field three men jumped out of the van armed with pulse carbine, indiscriminately they opened fire on the crowd of children.

Even at the distance that Dylan was, he could almost hear the screams, it made he feel all warm inside. By the end of the day Tappee would now know the meaning of true horror. He turned his attention away from the onslaught at the school and to the Transway.

The Transway was the major highway that connected Grathmoras to the rest of Tappee. Suspended in the air it was four levels, each level was 18 lanes, each day untold millions made their way on the Tranways. In a city of 330 million people the Transway was the cities lifeline.

Reaching into his pocket Dylan pulled out an elongated metal cylinder, with a red button at the top. Holding his arm out Dylan pushed the button. There was a bright flash of light. Following the flashed came the concussion, mere seconds latter a large section of the Transway broke apart from the rest of the structure and plummeted to the ground. Dylan couldn’t help but laugh as a large number of vehicle who were unable to stop in time simple drove of the edge falling to their death.

Everywhere Dylan now looked was pain and suffering, it had been a good day, and there would many more like it.

http://www.namco-xenosaga.com/gallery/avatars/images/x_avatar_78.jpg
Dylan Phobo

*Tagged*

Today All Guilt will disapear

As was the norm the streets were filled with people, it was a typical morning in Thranos, Iaceo Capital. People leading their day to day lives where moving from one place to another.

A small group of people had formed outside of a local electronic store, all were drawn in by the breaking news of what was occurring in Tappee, most held the news in utter shock. To them it seemed like a scene out of some movie. News of Phobo recent escape had hit all the news papers, and there were those that were worried that the devastation in Tappee would spill over into Iaceo, after all Phobo was as much a threat to Iaceo as he was to Tappee.

Admits all the traffic a pair black vans sat sitting at a red light, as the light changed the two vans went their separate ways. It had been timed so that the two would arrive at their destination at approximately the same time.

About a half an hour later the first van found itself driving in front of Iaceo’s parliament building. Suddenly and without hesitation the drive cranked the wheel hard to the left, hitting the accelerator the van bumped around a bit before hitting the side of building. Upon impact there was a mammoth explosion that enveloped the entire building.

The shock wave spread out from the epicentre. Vehicles of varying sizes where tossed around like toys, and near by building were levelled with almost no effort. Windows far as 20 km away where blown out, it wasn’t a nuclear blast, but it was close in comparison.

At precisely the same moment in time, at the Tappee military garrison base just out side the city, the second van was closing in its target. The vans gained speed as it approached the first checkpoint. In a futile attempt to get the a guard stepped out in front of the van, but dove to the side as it became clear the driver would not stop. However, armed guard at the second checkpoint would not be so kind, as the van came closer they unleashed a punishing volley of pulse fire onto the van. Several of the shots hit the drive killing him instantly.

Out of control the van swerved hitting a cement girder before rolling unto its side. With the their weapons poised for attack a number of the guard made their way towards the van, but all was for nothing as the timer in the back of the van hit zero.

With the recent events the Core was a flurry of activity, located 3 km under the ground it was arguably the most secure location in Tappee. But Jon Anerton did not take any solace in that fact, Thousands of Tappee’s citizens lay dead or dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Sir, we just received the following messages from SAT Com” said a nameless face “It appears that there have been two large explosions in the Iaceo. One being the Iaceo Parliament, and the other being our Garrison there”

In fit of rage Jon slammed his fist against the desk “Who the hell is doing this to us” Demanded Jon “Is it Phobo, and if so she the hell is he trying to achieve”

Taking a deep breath Jon collected himself. He looked up at the main screen which showed an Satellite view of Grathmoras, and heart of the devastation deep in the cities core. Grathmoras’s central core looked like a giant creature of destruction, debris and smoke was everywhere, and it was hampering rescue efforts. In another screen a school yard was displayed, lifeless bodies littered the grassy field, local law enforcement had already dealt with those responsible for the heinous act. Already the death toll for today’s attack had cleared the 100,000 mark and the numbers kept going up, not since Tatania had Tappee seen such a large loss of life.

In an act of desperation he took a seat “get me a connection Jade.” Ordered Jon

After a moment the woman gave Jon a nod indicating that a secure line had been established.

Jade’s voice came over the load speaker “Hello Jon, what can I do for you?” asked Jade inquisitively.

Jon paused for a moment not sure what to say, or how to phrase it. “Jade there’s been a situation, we need to come back with the up most haste”

Silence fell on the other side of the line “What kind situation?” Jade again

“There been an attack” quickly answered Jon “It rather bad”

“What kind of atta….” Her words were cut off by what sounded like an explosion, followed by what sounded like yelling and screaming, then the line went dead.

Utter shock came over Jon, as his mind though of the worst possible scenario. He glanced over at the COM station “What happened”

A confused look came over the COM officers face indicating that she had no idea what was happening

“Get me a SAT COM feed of her location, Now!” yelled Jon in an act of desperation
After a few tense moments the SAT COM officer spoke “I can’t get a feed, we are locked out of our satellite.”

Swearing under his breath Jon began playing things out in his head, in truth he didn’t like any of the conclusion that he was coming up with.

http://img.atpictures.com/breckin/tn_295441_Breck_Grani.jpg
President Jon Anerton

wow,look at that.

It wasn’t long until the motorcade was underway; there were a total of four vehicles in all. Taking the lead was the pilot car, which was responsibly leading the motorcade through the street. Next was the Kings limo, which carried Jade, Makenzie, and Baraca. Following the limo in third place was Tappee security personal, and Calnuxian security rode of the four and last vehicle.

Makenzie was curled up on her mothers lap, resting in her arms; she was simply enjoying being with her mother. It had been sometime since the two had last seen each other; even though Makenzie was still very young she was old enough to miss her mother. Like most children her age she began telling her mother everything that she had doing over the past few months.

Jade listened attentively, giving her daughter all her full attention. For the most part she let her daughter speak her heart, until Makenzie told her something of interest.

“Oh, and uncle Baraca has been teaching me to use a sword” proclaimed the little girl. “ And mom he says that I’m getting really good, he going to get me my own sword for my birthday.”

“Really” answered Jade as she glared over Baraca “Well, Uncle Baraca and I are just going to have to have talk about that later, now aren’t we”

Nervous, Baraca shifted about in his seat he wanted to say something, but Jades cutting glare kept him in check.

A ringing sound pierced the air, ending the awkwardness, much to Baraca’s relief. “Always working I see” commented Baraca at Jades phone going off. However, another look from Jade show him that he was only digging himself deeper.

Jade expression changed as she looked down at Makenzie. “Excuse me honey, but mommy has to take this call.”

Picking Makenzie up off her lap, Jade place her daughter on the seat next to her, and pulled her cell out of her pocket. “Hello Jon, what can I do for you” There was brief pause as she listened to the person on the side of the line. “What kind of situation?” asked Jade. By now a concerned look had come over her face. Again she waited for an answer to come from of the other end. “What kind of atta..”

Before she could finish her sentence there was a brief flash of light, followed by the lead car bursting into flames. In a panic the driver slammed on the breaks in an attempt to avoid a collision with the destroyed vehicle, but it was to late.

Out of sheer motherly instinct Jade grabbed Makenzie; Jade’s arms swallowed the girl up as the two were thrown from their seats from the resulting collision. Tucking Jade hit the floor square her back, she had put her body in between Mackenzie’s and the floor, and as a result absorbed most of the impact.
For moment there was silence as everyone tried to rationalize what was going on. Glancing out the back window Jade watched as tracer fire came from nearby rooftop riddling the fourth car. Jade had never seen weapons fire like this before, the armour of the car was rendered useless, and it was not long until a lucky shot found its mark and the car exploded killing the unfortunate occupants.

However, the Tappee security van was faring much better against the coming onslaught, it thicker more advanced armour was withstanding repeated blows. With extreme precision security personal began making their way out of the van, years of training were evident as the group moved almost as one engaging hostile threats. Within seconds a number of the attackers fell dead, a result of well placed volleys from the Tappee defenders. But in the end they where only defenders, and unlike attacker they could not benefit from both superior position and weapons.

It was not long until the one of the defenders fell victim to a Grav gun, a grav dart moving at extreme velocity cutting through his armour like a hot knife through butter. Those that could find cover quickly had it stripped away by the attacker heavy Graviton gun.

Everywhere Jade looked death and destruction reigned supreme, the full scope of the situation came to bare. “Baraca, take care of Makenzie” yelled Jade over the chaos. Before Baraca could have a chance to protest she opened the door and made her way into the street.

Almost instantly she fell back on her training, pulling out her pistol she brought it to bare on the closest target. Gently squeezing the trigger she opened fire, her shots hit their marks, two of the would be attackers fell dead. However, her offensive she short lived as her position soon fell under heavy fire. At the last possible moment she dove to ground rolling behind some nearby cover.

From atop one of the rooftops Samantha watched as her team perfectly executed the plan. Everything was going as expected, the new toys the Dedecus had given them were performing better then she had originally though. There was little that the defenders could against the awesome firepower that Samantha’s team was now bring down upon them. Looking down on the scene could see a lone woman making a defiant stand against her soldiers. Samantha could easily identify the woman as none other then Jade Allenson, Tappee’s great leader. For a brief moment Samantha had to fought the urge to go down there a fight Jade hand to hand, she had always wondered how she would fare against the great Jade Allenson.

Her thoughts were soon cut short as Jades position was fired upon. Samantha was amazed by Jade agility, as she to seamlessly jump out of harms way, and roll behind cover. Out of the corner of her Samantha could see one member of her team bring their Graviton gun unto Jade position. Moments later Jade’s cover erupted into a ball of flame, Jade was not caught in the explosion but instead was thrown back hard into a wall. Jade lay there still were had fallen, every thing was happening the way Samantha had planned.

Glancing over at the man standing beside her, she gave him a gentle nodded. Shortly thereafter a majority of the shooting stopped as Samantha’s men made their way to street level.

http://img.atpictures.com/amandap/tn_AmandaPeet_DeGui_1653241_600.jpg
Jade Allenson

http://www.futureblues.com/electra.jpg
Samantha

Baraca watched helplessly as an explosion threw Jade against a well. He prayed silently hoping that she would get up, but Jade just lay there motionless. Silence soon fell over the battle stricken street, from the safety of the car he could see a few of the attackers make their way down into the street, and start towards Jades position.

He now found himself torn between two evils, on one hand he could go defend Jade, but that would possibly put Makenzie at risk. Quickly he pondered his option, only to find that they were few, finally he came to decision. He looked over at Makenzie who was cowering in the corner “No matter what happens you do not leave this car, understand!”

Makenzie gave him a brief nod indicating that she understood him; Baraca could see that the young girl was to gripped with fear to even think about leaving. Reaching for only weapon he had available he made his way out of the door doing the same as Jade he rolled out the door and ran over to the last group defender that had taken cover. As he moved through the streets and over to the defenders position a number of shots rang out, fortunately for Baraca they all missed the mark.

The defender seem surprised by Baraca sudden arrival, he did not give them a moment to speak. “You are to defend that girl with your very life!” barked Baraca pointing towards the Limo.

A bit of smile came of one of defenders face. “We are expected to nothing less sir, if we have to give them our lives we will give them hell first.” The officer could see that a plan was forming in Baraca head “what’s the game plan”

Baraca took a moment to look over the cover at Jade’s position, she was still remaining still “I think that they are going after Jade, I’m going unleash hell when they do, I need to provide cover fire.”

The officer gave Baraca a bit of salute “Very well sir, on a three count.” There a brief pause as everyone prepared themselves “Three…..Two…One…Zero”

As the officer hit zero the remaining soldiers brought their pulse rifles over their cover unleashing a punishing volley of fire in the general direction of the attacker. As they did Baraca darted out from behind the safety of his position, breaking into a full sprint he extended his wing taking the air, his eye’s turned red with anger.

An angry Calnuxian was a truly ferocious sight behold. When angry a Calnuxian’s eyes would turn blood read. With a wings span of nearly five metre’s across fully extended, they can easily take to air short periods of flight. Standing at an average height of 6’3 and with a strong muscular build, they are much stronger and faster then most humans. They are slow to anger, and even slower at regaining their calm.

As Baraca fell to earth and on to Jade’s attacker he unsheathed his sword, and in a smooth motion he swung downwards catching a man by surprise. Using his momentum to his advantage Baraca nearly sliced the man two, blood sprayed everywhere only fuelling Baraca blood rage.

Quickly Baraca turned his attention the mans accomplice, pulling his sword from the lifeless body Baraca swung his blade as hard as could at the seconds mans chest. In an act of desperation tried to use his weapon to block the incoming attack. This proved to be a futile effort as Baraca’s sword passed effortless through the gun, the tip of blade slice the mans chest wide open. With the last of his opponent vanquished Baraca let out a blood-curtailing scream daring other to face to him

From the safety of her vantage point Samantha watched as Baraca easily dispatched two of her team members. Beside her, her second in command took aim at Baraca. “No” shot Samantha before he had a chance to fire “I grow wary of him killing my minions, but I will deal him myself”

Taking a few steps forward she jumped off the roof, falling two stories she landed on a dumpster which took most of the impact. “BARACA!” she yelled out answering his challenge, reaching she pulled her own sword from her back. She watched as Baraca turned to face her. Jumping from the dumpster Samantha ran at him at full speed.

http://www.futureblues.com/electra.jpg
Samantha

Sparks began to fly as the two locked swords, both jockeyed for position over the other, but neither could gain the upper hand. It did not take long Baraca to recognize the woman’s sword technique, it was none other the way of the sword, and there were few outside of Calnuxia that knew it. Furthermore, he was impressed by both her speed and strength; he had never met a human like this before.

As she came at him he stepped aside allowing her momentum to carry her past him, putting distance between the two.

Baraca took a defensive posture “Your rather good with that, I must say that I am rather impressed. Tell me who taught you the way of the sword?”

A smile came across Samantha’s face “I’m not telling you.” She enjoyed knowing more then he did “But I can say this, I did learned from the very best though” with that she launched a series of attacks at Baraca, but again neither could gain the advantage.

Again the two separated “You may want to pay more attention to your niece, then to myself” said Samantha coldly. “By now my men have eliminated all resistance and are now moving in. If you go after her I will not pursue” their was an awkward silence between the two

“You have my word, on my honour as a warrior and that of my master” Said Samantha finally.

http://www.futureblues.com/electra.jpg
Samantha

Placing his faith in his sense Baraca took a moment to listen to his surrounding, the street had fallen silent. Out of the corner of his eye he could that there were no more defenders standing. He turned his attention back the woman he was facing, every part of his being told him not to trust, but there was just something about her that made him feel that she could be trusted. With some hesitation he turned taking to air, in an attempt to rescue Makenzie.

As Baraca took to the air Samantha ran for the nearest fire escape, within a minute she was back on the roof where she watched Baraca take care of the last of her men on the street. Her second command had remained on the roof; he brought his rifle to eye level. “I have both of them in my sights” he casually remarked.

“Is that so” answered Samantha as she gave him a strong shove.

He had been caught by surprise and took several steps back, but tripped on a ledge falling over the side, plummeting to his death.

Casually Samantha walked over to the edge and looked down at his mangled body “Told you that I was running the show.” She looked out at the street, which now looked more like a war zone then street. So far her mission was going good, everything was proceeding as it should, but she would have to move forward carefully. A single wrong move could end in utter disaster.

http://www.futureblues.com/electra.jpg
Samantha

The last ten minutes had been nothing but chaotic to say the least, Jon was using every tool that he had at his disposal to figure out what was going. His conversation with agent Xavier was weighing heavily on his mind; they had been caught flat-footed. However, if Xavier was right then there was more going here then what he could possible imagine. The coordination of the attacks and ferocity had been well planned, and Jon could not name any organization of hand that had capability of such a feat.

At least two of the Tribunal members had been confirmed killed in the attack at Grathmoras. Add to that, they had lost all contact with Jade and feared the worst. With Jade currently out of the picture the Tribunal lay in ruins, The Tribunal was Tappee’s central core, whoever was behind these attack in one single blow had almost severed the head from Tappee’s body.

Just when he thought things could not get any worse, an unexpected message complicated the situation further.

Harold Armstrong, Tappee’s foreign minister, was forced to be the barer of bad news “Jon, it has come to my attention that Clairmont has requested military assistance from the Orders High Command. They believe that a possible invasion fleet is on route to Clairmont as we speak”

Jon looked at the man sitting across from him, General Robert William, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Supreme Commander of Tappee’s military forces. “What kind of aid can we give them” asked Jon bluntly

It took the General a moment to answer “We are speared rather thin at the moment, currently 40% for our fleet in the Sol system, the rest are deployed in the Orion, and Incol system, it will take at least three days for before any of our forces can come back. However, even at 40% strength we still have a sizable force, couple that with the CSF and JIL would create a formidable task force.”

“hmm..” mumbled Jon thinking “And lets go worst case scenario and say that ground forces do land, what then”

“To put it simply” quickly answered the general “Lets hope what ever god they pray to help them.” General Williams was never one to sugar coat things, he always told it as it was. “With the military losses today, and the forces that are currently engaged in the Orion Sector, we have none to spare. A large portion of our force is currently conducting rescue operations in Grathmoras, and the rest are on standby. It comes down to simple numbers, currently we hardly have the man power to defend Tappee, little alone Clairmont in and Tappee.”

Sitting back in his chair Jon thought for a moment, suddenly it was all so clear. If an enemy fleet was truly on their way they would have wanted to ensure success, and that would include making sure that Clairmont allies would be crippled before the attack. Assuming his line of thinking was correct, then it was this unknown force that was responsible for the attacks in Tappee, he now a target for retribution. “General William, I moving us to alert status Epsilon, make the appropriate arrangements.” Jon looked over at Harold “Send Clairmont Command telling them that we will provide all the military support that we can.”

From there everyone went to their assigned tasks.

Moments later all across Tappee, since the morning attacks at Grathmoras most had chosen to stay home and watch the new, hoping to catch any new development. Suddenly the image changed on the T.V, most instantly recognized as the emergency broadcast screen, there was a message scrolling across the bottom telling people to stay in their homes. For those few that we out of their homes a chilling sound filled the air, for the first time in a generation air raid sirens were going off. Miles off ground located in boarders of space, countless orbital defence platform came to life. Onboard all the ships in the Sol crews were manning their combat stations.

Dogs of War were on their way, and Tappee was poising itself to inflict swift vengeance on those they believed were responsible for the sever loss of life that they had suffered today.

===To: Fleet Admiral Caparelli, Chief of Naval Operations Clairmont Space Navy
===Subject: Request fleet support
===From: Tappee Strategic Command, and Tappee’s Office of Foreign Affairs

===Code sequence: L6 Gamma 99 Red

~Message Begins: Tappee’s military Forces will stand side by side those of Clairmont’s as we have done a number of times in the past. You can have our upmost assurance that we will defend Clairmont territory with the same ferocity and determination as that of Tappee territory. Both nation have recently suffered a terrible loss, now is the time to bring our fully furry on those responsible.
~Message Ends

oh come now, why did you guys stop this beautifull story?

A real shame in my opnion.

oh come now, why did you guys stop this beautifull story?

A real shame in my opnion.

ooc: christmas rush at work has kept me busy, but time to continue.

ic:

It was not until Baraca looked out the window until he realized how much things had changed in the past few hours. No less the three rings had formed around the hospital, and none showed any signs of disappearing any time soon.

First ring to form around the hospital was the Tappee security personal. Almost moments after Jade had arrived at the hospital when they descended forming a secure perimeter. It looked more like a military base now then a hospital; Viper Gun ships circled the sky looking for any prey that might present itself. Given the situation they were not taking any chances, they were operating with a shoot first and ask later policy.

Next line to form was the media, they had came to the hospital like locust, each try to get the store. They had positioned themselves as close to the hospital as the military would let them.

Lastly was the general population, who despite the danger had come to see if they could catch a glimpse of something. Nothing like this had never happened before, so naturally nearly the entire country had been taken aback.

“They say that an enemy war fleet is heading this way” said a voice from some where in the room. “And that so far no one has been able to mount any resistance. It is said that their Technology is even greater then that of Tappee and it’s allies.”

With his train of thought broken Baraca turned to face the voice. Sitting across the room from Baraca was Yaros Joiijn, a life long friend and confidant of Baraca’s. “I’ve read the Intel report sent to us by Tappee. Although there is fleet heading this way it would appear that their Target is a nation called Clairmont, who just so happens to be an ally of Tappee. According to the Intel that they have gathered the attack was aimed at limiting Tappee ability to lend military support, and we just got caught in the middle.”

“There is some thing else that is bothering you though isn’t there” asked Yaros.

“I failed him” quickly shot

“Failed who” interrupted Yaros

“Cal” answered Baraca, the anger could now be heard in his voice “I made my brother a promise long ago, that should anything happen to him that I would watch over his family”

“Jade knew the risks of her job when she took it” casually remarked Yaros. He had never been known to be overly sympathetic.

“I failed him!” Baraca was now yelling “Jade is now fighting for her life! And poor Makenzie, I can only imagine what that poor child has gone through. She found her father murdered, and now may have watched her mother killer right before her. Had this happened in Tappee it would be different, but it happened here, when I should have been protecting them”

“So what you are just going to kill everyone that was involved” there was a hint of sarcasm in Yaros’s voice.

Turning on his heel Baraca turned his view back out the window “Shouldn’t be hard, one of the assailants was trained in the way of the sword, and there can’t be but a handful of none Calnuxian that know it, so it is only a what of finding the person who trained her.”

“Be careful Baraca, you may not like the answers that you find”

yah.

I am surprised I have time to do this, but it seems my family has abbandoned me for the moment.

ooc

for the most part this RP has shifted to this thread (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=340907), and we are waiting to see how this plays out before we continue with this thread, even though the two are going on at the same time.

In truth I have Four RP's that are taking place all at the same time. As such it can get a bit trying at times to keep up with them all. I have to proritise them according to their importance. I will fire this Rp in due time, trust me when I say that I have full intention of seeing this through, even thought at time I do not have the time to do so. However, the saying goes, good thingts go to thoughs who wait. Trust me wheni say this, there are going to a number of nice plot twists that will come along the why.

With all that being said can we get away from the ooc posts and just have IC post, thanks

Tappee's player
Cotie

Sounds of the rain hitting the building filled the darkroom, on occasion a bolt of lightening would provide a brief glimpse of the room sole occupant. Alone only to his thoughts Jon sat at his desk playing out the recent events in his mind. Just after the retreat of the ESUS battle group he too had retreated to his office.

For the fist time that he could recall he felt truly alone, his world was coming down around him. Since becoming Tappee’s President just over two long years ago, he had seen nothing but conflict. First was the Orion War, and now this.

A final confrontation between the Allied forces and this new enemy was now set. Tappee’s troops had shown the strength and the valor that was expected of them, but that did not change the fact that many would soon die. The space around the planet would now be the line drawn in the sand, the spot were they were being forced to make their last stand.

Rubbing the palm of his hand across his face Jon notice the stubble that had grown, it had seemed like days since he had gotten any real sleep. His weary eyes looked out through the window at the rain now falling, it felt as if death its self had come to claim as many souls as it could.

Despite Jon’s knowledge of the coming battle and the loss of life that would ensue, his thoughts drifted to only one person, Jade. She had been severely injured in the opening Terrorist attacks, despite the time that had lapsed since then, there bad been no word of her condition.

Turning his gaze away from the window he stared across his desk, as if on cue nearby lightening lit up a single of picture on his desk. It was picture that Jade had given him some time ago, it was of her and her family. She seemed so happy then, proud of her family. The photo reminded him of his failure and ultimate betrayal. In the opening days of the Orion War he had used the rebels to assassinate Jades husband and frame NiMbus as way of keeping Tappee in the war. In the beginning he told him self that his actions were patriotic, and what he was doing the right thing NiMbus was an evil that they had to stop. However, deep down Jon knew that jealousy was the real reason for his actions, jealous that he was not the man standing behind Jade in that Photo.

He had always been in lover with her, and was still in love with her even to this day. Jon loved her will, strength, and often used her for support. This was something that he could use now, something that had been taken away from him. This thought gave him new found strength to continue, he would bring about swift retributions for those responsible. Hunting them down like animals they would each be dealt with, first the 4th Imperium then the Terrorist that did their biding. In due time they would all feel his furry.

Night had long ago fallen over the lands of Iaceo, but the tragedy’s of the day were still rather evident. The orange glow from the parliamentary fires still burned strong cutting through the darkness of night. It had been several hours since the terrorist had lunched their vicious attack against the various member of Cave, and despite the valiant effort of the local firefighter most of the area’s that had been attacked were still burning.

Iaceo’s Prime Minister Robert Sanders surveyed the damage of once had been Iaceo parliament building, it was no but a shell of it’s former beauty.

Dylan Phobo had proven to much more dangerous then anyone had originally thought. Now it was time to get answers. “How were they able to pull off an attack with this level of coordination?” his voice was weak, like so many other across the nation he was still coming to grasp with the situation.

A man standing directly behind Sanders handed him a folder “This is the latest intelligence report. The man allowed Robert a moment to quickly glance through the folder “According to Tappee intelligence source operating with in a country called Clairmont, those that were truly behind this attack are group know simply as the 4th Imperium, and that they were using Phobo only to further their objectives.”

Standing there is silence Robert tried to wrap his mind around what was going on. “what do we know about this 4th Imperium?”

“Not much” quickly answered the aid “What we do know is that a 4th Imperium war fleet is currently in the Sol system, and has already cut through both Tappee and Clairmont defensive forces. It wouldn’t be long until they reach the planet and begin planet fall operations. As it stands both Clairmont and Tappee have grouped their forces around the planet in an attempt to make a final stand. However, there are very few that believe that they will able to stop them. It is only a mater of time before they begin landing ground forces, again according to Intel their target will be this country of Clairmont, but they may not stop there, we may be a target. If Tappee and this Clairmont fall, then so will we.”

“So this is how it going to be” proclaimed Robert “Very well, mobilize everything that we have.”

The quite hum of the respirator echoed off the barren walls of the hospital room. Everywhere that Baraca looked were machines, all dedicated to keeping one single person alive.

“She suffered minor internal injuries” explained the doctor to Baraca about Jades condition “After a few hour of surgery we were able to repair the damage. However, the trauma to the brain we could do much about”

“What are you trying to tell me” interrupted Baraca, his voice faltered for a moment.

“She in a coma, and there is a real possibility that she may never come out of it” responded the doctor.

Baraca was forced to take a seat; the news had hit him hard. “Thank you doctor” his were seemed cold and unemotional. But the news had caused Baraca to lose all sense of his being. As the doctor left the room he looked out through the room giant window and into the waiting area. Sitting with a series of bodyguards was Makenzie, Jades daughter. How was he going to explain to a four year old that her last surviving parent might never wake up.

Jade came slowly back to reality, as she did something caused her to worry, she stood alone in a black empty void. She was neither warm, nor cold, but instead perfectly comfortable. Everywhere that she looked was emptiness; there were no walls, just and endless expanse into nothingness.

Most people given the situation would have been worried, fearing that they had died. However, unlike most, she had been here once before.

“Hello” she called out. Only to receive no answer, annoyed she started to walk around a bit. As she walked nothing changed, it seemed liked she wasn’t actually moving, it kinda caused her to become a bit disorientated

“You know that we really have to stop meeting like this” said a voice from somewhere behind her.

Spinning Jade turned to face the voice, to find a man standing behind her “You” her eyes grew wide

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Jade Allenson

My man, this stuff here is good shit. With a bit of editing, you guys could make a sci-fi novel, make some money. Or at least have something to show off.

I hate to clutter it up with this, sorry about that, but I just wanted to ask, next thread you make as the continuation of this, could you please direct me too it? I really enjoy reading this, but would probably miss the thread.

My man, this stuff here is good shit. With a bit of editing, you guys could make a sci-fi novel, make some money. Or at least have something to show off.

I hate to clutter it up with this, sorry about that, but I just wanted to ask, next thread you make as the continuation of this, could you please direct me too it? I really enjoy reading this, but would probably miss the thread.

ooc: No problem. The next thread is where all the action is going to take place, the rest of this thread is aimed at taking the reader for a mind trip.

ooc: No problem. The next thread is where all the action is going to take place, the rest of this thread is aimed at taking the reader for a mind trip.


Working well enough so far.

Thanks, man!

Standing before Jade was alone man in his mid twenties, Dark brown hair, and glasses. A man that Jade had met once before in a similar circumstance, and had hoped that she would never to met again.

In a fit of anger Jade swung out attempting to hit the man standing in front of her, only to find air. Her momentum carried her forward, as a result she landing up falling to the ground. Within seconds of hitting the ground she was back on her feet “Who the hell are you”

“What you aren’t even going to ask why you here?” answered the man smugly

“I’m tired of playing these games with you, why won’t you just let me die” For the first time since she could recall, death no longer scared her.

“Things are well…not that simple” was the response that came. Slow the man walked around Jade “There are more pressing matters in hand than just life and death”

“What?” confusion could be heard in her voice “who are you God?”

Giving her a shrug the man standing before her simply laughed “The God, no. Your god maybe, like most things it is a simply a matter of perspective” pausing for a moment he adjusted his suit “You see God made me, then I made you. In truth you are nothing more then a figment of my imagination. You exist in my mind, and in the confines of there such. What does that make you; well I’m not sure at this point. However Jade, honestly I’m actually rather worried about you, which is why we are actually here right now.”

Suddenly it felt as if her head was going to explode, as she tried to wrap her mind about “You are trying to tell me, that you created me and the universe, and that you are not God”

Out of the darkness a chair appeared behind the man as he took a seat “Well I’m glad that you mentioned the word, it kind of brings me to my next point and answers your question.” He mentioned of her to have seat. Looking behind her Jade realized that chair had also appeared behind her as well. When she took her seat he continued “You see, I didn’t create the universe as you know it, but rather just Tappee and its people.”

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Jade Allenson

“I don’t think that I understand” answered Jade still confused

Getting up from his chair, the man walked around her, placing his hands on her shoulder “You where never meant too” he quietly whispered in her ear. Reaching up the man snapped his fingers, the crisp sound echoed through the empty abyss. Suddenly their surrounding to change, changing from the empty abyss, to a grassy field “But enough talking about me, we are here to talk about you.”

Closing her eye’s Jade felt a warm breeze brush against her face, there was something peaceful here. “So I am dead then?” she asked.

“No your not” quickly answered the Man to Jade’s question “However, it seems that your soul has died some time ago. You just have not admitted to yourself.”

Jade mind began to race as she tried to figure out exactly what he meant by the comment. How could someone be alive without a soul she thought to herself. In her mind she worked the problem, thinking to the last time that she has actually been happy. It was then that she realized that the last time she was happy was in the arms of Cal, her husband. When he died it was if a piece of her had died with him.

“That would be it” proclaimed the man, ending the silence. Jade shot him a funny look “What, I created you, you don’t think that I can hear you thoughts” he walked around so that the two were once again facing.

“Well I guess I assumed” Jade stuttered for a moment, she felt strangely vulnerable. Shaking her head she collected herself “So if my soul is dead what does that mean?”

“A soul never really dies, it’s actually more broken then anything else. However, that does not mean that it cannot be fixed. Which is why we are both here today, I’m here to help you”

“A how does one exactly fix a soul?” Asked Jade sarcastically

“Well if you don’t want my help” shot the man

“Sorry?” as always Jade had let her temper get the best of her. “But honestly how is it done.”

“Easy, one has to understand why it is broken in the first place” explained the man “one has to face their darkest moments, the one that broke the soul in the first place” Snapping his finger the scene changed again “And in your case there are many such instants. So lets begin”

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Jade Allenson

As Roberts Sanders chin hit his chest, his head jerked up, like so many other it had been a lifetime since he had gotten any sleep. On of his primary responsibilities as Prime Minister of Iaceo was to survey the damage, his first stop had been to ground zero, next on his list was one of the many medical triage centres that had been set-up.

As his transport craft touched the ground, Robert was quickly escort off by a small army of security personal. He had read the situational reports, but now found himself facing the full horrors of the days events. In utter shock he place his hand over his mouth as he tried to come to grips with what now stood before him.

What had originally been intended as a field hospital, now looked more like a make shift morgue. Medical teams had done there best coupe with the onslaught of the dead and wounded, but had quickly found themselves overrun. Everywhere Robert was bodies, or at least he assumed some them were bodies. There were those that had been either burned or mutilated beyond all possible recognition, while there were other wondering aimlessly among the sea of bodies desperately crying for help.

Lastly were the select few trying to place the dead in body bag and move them to a more respectable location. Despite being completely over burden with the task, they continued on, asking nothing in return.

“Help them” finally said Robert after it all became to much for him to bare.

“Excuse me Sir?” Asked one his bodyguards.

“Help them with the bodies” shot Robert, he had already removed his coat and began to make his way over to help with the effort.

“But Sir” interjected another guard “It’s a security risk”

Robert spun to face the guard an answered in anger “I don’t care. We owe them all as much”

Exchanging glances the security team nodded in agreement, and started helping in any way they could.

They were working for what seemed hours and night had once again fallen, when suddenly for a brief moment the night sky lit up as bright as day. Then returned back to darkness, startled everyone just stared up at the heavens waiting to see what happened next. Again the sky lit up, this time it was much smaller then first, soon it became much more frequent, each explosion of varying intensity.

“Sir, what is going on” asked one of the guards.

“I can only assume that this new enemy has made their way to the planet, and have engaged the forces above the planet” was the only answer the Robert could give.

Makenzie had fallen asleep in Baraca’s arms sometime ago, overcome by the day’s events. Baraca had done his best to explain what had happened to Jade, and Makenzie understood as best a four year could.

The two still remained in the hospitals waiting room, hoping for some change in Jade condition. Around them was a flurry of activity, as either security or medical personal went about their assigned duties.

Yaros entered the room taking a seat across from Baraca “So what’s going to happen with her” asked Yaros quietly so not to wake little Makenzie.

Looking down, Baraca studied Makenzie for a moment before answering “Jade parents are coming to pick her up. Given the situation, they are taking her to a more secure location.”

“Unless you have any children of your own, little Makenzie is heir to the Calnuxian thrown. Therefore, If should be our responsibility to look after her” said Yaros, this time his tone was a bit more stronger then it had been before

Shifting his sight from Makenzie to Yaros, Baraca glared over at Yaros for a moment before answering “Makenzie is the link between our two countries, but more importantly is my brothers daughter, and I will protect her no matter what. Now is not the time to argue, Tappee has better resources for such a matter, and I trust that in her Grandparents care she will be safe. I have my own matter to deal with here.”

Sitting back in his chair Yaros thought over Baraca’s answer. He could see a fire in Baraca’s eyes, a need to get revenge for those that were responsible for this act. Yaros knew that now, that nothing would stand between Baraca and revenge. “Perhaps you are right then, it is for the best.”

Their conversation was interrupted as a nearby window lit up from a resulting explosion in space. Shocked Yaros made his way over to the window looking up at the sky.

“So it has begun” said Baraca, still sitting in his chair.

Jade turned to look and see were they actually were now, what she saw took her breath away. Off in the distance standing alone in clearing was a sprawling facility that looked like a prison. However, Jade knew better, she knew beyond all doubt that it was in fact actually an orphanage. After all she had grown up here, and seeing it again brought back painful memories.

“No” Jade said shaking her head “Not here, any place but this”

“What are you so afraid of?” asked the man standing beside her.

“Why here?” asking a question of her own “What is this all a game to you?”

“Actually yes it is” quickly responded the man. Jade took a few steps back disgusted by the answer the man had given. “Don’t be so shocked” He quickly added “It’s like this, when you read a book, the character in the book do exist, if only in your mind. This is no different.”

“Are you saying that I am nothing more then a character in a book?” shot Jade back.

Letting out a bit of a sigh, the man once again considered how best to response “As I’ve said, it is not a matter that you are suppose to understanding. We will leave that subject alone, give both you and I a rather large head ache, which I would like to avoid” straightening out his jacket the man started walking towards the facility.

Standing alone, Jade stood there thinking. “Wait” she yelled out realizing that she was being left behind, and started to run in an attempt to catch up “You never answered my first question. Why are we here?”

The unlikely pair had reached the perimeter fence by the time Jade had caught up “We are here, cause this is where all your problems started” said the man as he seamlessly walked through the fence. He turned to see that Jade had not done the same “My world, my rule. You any me can pass through any object. We can see everyone here, but they can not see us.” A smile came across his face “I’m Godmodding a little bit here, but oh well.”

Closing her eyes Jade walked though the fence with a bit of hesitation. When she open her eyes she found that she too had passed through the fence. “Ok so now what?”

“Follow me”

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Jade Allenson

“What do you mean that she is still alive!” barked Dylan as she slammed his fist into table in a fit of rage. As far as Dylan was concerned it had been a productive day, many lives had been lost, and had been responsible for all them. However, there was still one person breathing that Dylan wanted dead more then any other, and that was Jade Allenson. A now the person that had sent to do the job was telling him that she had failed. “Tell me that your are mistaken”

“Excuse, but did I stutter?” quickly answered Samantha looking around at the others in the room. She was leaning in the door watching Dylan. To her he was nothing more then a child throwing a tantrum cause he didn’t get his own way. “Did you not understand me the first time? Jade Allenson is still alive, but is currently in a coma.”

Dylan could feel the rage growing inside him. Jade had been the one that had sent him to the prison, the one that had betrayed Iaceo all those years ago, causing fall of Iaceo’s Empire. Now the country of Iaceo was nothing more then one of Tappee’s lap dogs, and he hated Jade for that with all his being. As the rage overcame him with drew his pistol “I will not tolerate failure” but before he could bring his weapon to bare it was shot from his grip. Startled he looked up at Samantha, in hand was her own gun, the barrel still smoking.

No sooner had Samantha’s shot rang out when silence fell over the crowd. Everyone exchanging glances with each other. Samantha was the first one to speak “Try that again, and I will not aim for your gun, I’ll put a bullet in your head, understand” she looked over at Greg “Remember our deal, now if you will excuse me there are other matter that I must attend too. You know how to contact me, for when we move to phase two.” Turning she left the room.

“What a bitch. I don’t trust her” proclaimed Dylan when he was sure that was out of hearing distance.

For the first time in awhile Greg spoke up “If it wasn’t for her, you still be rotting in that prison cell of your” most people would have been afraid to speak up against Dylan given his temper and all, but not Greg. “She was the one who gave us the security codes, and the location of the prison. All we have to do is give her Jon Anerton, and she give us what ever code we need.”

“Where did she get the codes” asked Dylan sceptically. “did you run a back ground check”

“She a ghost in every sense of the word” answered Greg, “but for the time being she our ghost”

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Dylan Phobo

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Samantha

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Greg

Efira impatiently made her way through the hospital, it had proved difficult getting into the hospital, and her patients were wearing thin. Finally annoyed beyond all comprehension she asked a near by security guard for directions “I am here at King Baraca’s request, could you please tell where I can find him”

“King Baraca is not to be disturbed” relied the guard smugly. However, quickly changed his tone when the saw the mark on Efira’s shoulder “I’m very sorry ma’am, I didn’t realize. Please if you will follow me” motion for her follow; he began leading her through the many corridors of the hospital.

It was time’s like this that she enjoyed her position, and respect that it garnered. For Efira was member of the Blood Angels, an elite unit that worked for the king, embarking on the most important missions. Many Calnuxian children dreamed of becoming a Blood Angel, only a handful ever fulfill that dream. It wasn’t even more rare for one as young as Efira to reach the rank of Inquisitor, and it was for that reason that she believed she was here on this day. Eventually was lead to a room, entering the room she found King Baraca silently waiting.

Kneeling down, she lowered her head. “You have sent for me?” asked Efira never raising her head.

“I have spoken with Grand Inquisitor Rashoner, and we both agree that your person most suited for task that I am about to give you” calmly answered Baraca.

“What is your bidding?” again asked Efira

“When we were attacked, one of our assailant was trained in the Way of Sword”

“The Way of the Sword” Efira looked up at Baraca, his statement had shocked her. It was inconceivable that one her countrymen were responsible for todays attack “Are you saying that you were attacked by a Calnuxian?”

Forgiving Efira’s interruption Baraca continued, “Worse, it was foreigner. Although there is no doubt in my mind that she was trained in the way of the sword. I want you to find the woman who attacked me, and bring her too me. I want to know who trained her. Work with Tappee intelligence on this matter.”

Raising to her feet, Efira gave Baraca a brief nod. “Consider it done”

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Efira

To say that the battle in the sky was going bad was an understatement; the Tappee fleet had already taken heavy losses. Across the board ships were being destroyed or being forced to withdraw from the conflict all together. However, they simply were not inflicting as mush damage as they were receiving. Now it was just a question of time until the enemy forces would break through their defensive lines and begin planet fall operation, from there Clairmont, much to Jon’s dismay, would now be on their own. If it were up to him Tappee would be sending troop right now, but he had his own internal problems to deal with.

Dylan Phobo and his little band of terrorist still had to be dealt with before he could turn Tappee’s attention to other mater, safety of the people was always of the highest importance.

A tap on his shoulder started him, looking to his right he saw that one his many aids was standing there.

“Sir there is priority message for you from Admiral Dodalla” quickly said the aid before Jon had a chance to speak.

“Very well” answered Jon in his usual tone “put it through to this terminal”

Within seconds the image to Admiral Dodalla appeared on Jon’s view screen. He was happy to see his older sister again, and was even happier to see the she was safe. With the attack against Steel butterfly and Steel moon after that her safety had always been a concern of his. She looked a little older to him now, her face told the tale of too many battles. “Hope that you are going to give me some good news” With the terrorist attack and subsequent invasion by the 4th Imperium. No one had paid attention to the outcome of struggle that was occurring with in the Orion sector.

“We’ve taken Steel Moon” answered Dodalla coldly. In the end the cost of victory had been a costly one, for all sides. “Dr Ackermen has been killed, and NiMbus has been destroyed. As speak both the imperials and in the Rebel are working together during the transition in power. Do you want me and my force to rush back to help there.”

“No” quickly answered Jon. His answer even surprised him, and for a moment he had to try and think way he had said it. “There are those that would the situation in the Orion sector to their advantage, we have gave to much to let it slip away now. Dodalla, given the current situation you are now the acting ambassador to the new government. Keep a sizable force within the Orion Sector to help out where needed. Send the rest of the fleet back to the Incol system for repairs, and rest for the crew. Given the current state of your forces, this new enemy would simply cut them to pieces. It time to regroup and plan our counter act, it would be unwise to foolishly waste what little resources that left. Have Commander Kobe prepare me a summary report.”

With the mention of Henry’s name Dodalla’s face changed “There has been a situation regarding Commander Kobe”

The sand beneath Efira’s feet crunched under her weight as she walked up towards the gate. Her first stop on her journey for the truth was House Houras, one of few great houses of Calnuxia, more importantly the archrival to House Dijion, the current ruling house of Calnuxia. No one more the House Houras was opposed to Baraca, and the two house had been know to fight amongst each other on many occasion. Their was nothing but bad blood between the them, and no one in Calnuxia had more to gain from helping these terrorist then House Houras.

As she came closer to the gate, three guards stood between her, and her destination. Calmly she stopped a few meters away keeping good distance between her and the guards. “I am Efira Joridis, and an here acting on behalf of the King. I seek counsel with the head of House Houras.”

There was a brief snicker among the guards before they gave her an answer “I’m sorry, but his lord is too busy to see anyone at the moment” snapped one of the guards impatiently

Efira could not help but smile, for this was the part of the job that she truly enjoyed. Slowly she started walking towards the guards “Then he will simply have to make the time” said Efira returning the guards sarcasm. As she got closer she started walking faster and faster.

“One as young as you should go back to playing with your dolls.” Warned the lead guard as she came even closer.

With lightening fast reflexes Efira took a few quick steps to the right then jumped forward land just behind the head guard. Her moves had caught him by surprise; in a panic he turned to face her, only to find her hand fly out at him. With one hand she grabbed the man by the throat lifting him into the air. “That was not the answer that I wanted to hear” she snarled. Her grip was so strong at the response the man could give was a few gargles. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the other guard reach for his gun. In a precise move she extend her wings, swing it across the path of the man arm, seamlessly knocking the weapon his hand. Using her other wing she twisted her body, and used it to take the third guards leg out from under him. Using her momentum to her advantage she threw the lead guard hard into the fence. Her wing fully extended, and all opposition gone, Efira leaped into the air, flying straight towards doors of the great mansion.

While in flight she drew her sword, moments before landing near another guard. Swing her blade down she cut the man rifle in two. Stun by the attack the guard took a step back, and pulled out a combat knife. Circling around the two opponents sized each other up. “Enough!” said a voice effectively putting an end to the conflict. Efira glanced over her shoulder seeing Lord Lucian Houras standing on the mansions steps. “Samual, it is not wise to anger a member of the Blood Angels. Don’t you agree Lady Efira?”

“Very!” remarked Efira as she sheathed her sword. She gave a quick glance over at the guard who lowered his head as he stepped away. As the guard disappeared from view she turned attention to Lucien. “Tell my lord, are your men always so rude to the kings messengers?”

“Given the current state affair, one can never be to careful” quickly answered Lucien.

As one of the most powerful house in Calnuxia, house Houras flaunted that power. Choosing ravish themselves in their wealth. Lucien Clothes were the finest that could be found. All around the property were giant ivory status that paid tribute to the family, almost showing them as gods among men. Despite his age Lucien was still a menacing figure, a fact that he enjoyed greatly, and used to his advantage. Raising his wing he took a few steps towards Efira, the length of his robes dragged across the steps.

Unlike most Efira stood her ground, there was a reason why she had achieved the rank within the Blood Angels. There was no doubt in her mind that in combat Lucien was the greater, but if he killed her, it treason and meant the end of house Houras. “It would appear that my lord now has some free time, shall we speak.”

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Efira

Efira gracefully walked down the grand hallway beside Lord Lucien, her footsteps echoed off the marble flooring. Every so often she would glance up at one of the many magnificent painting that lined the hallway’s wall, each one would fetch a fair price on the art market. Seeing the splendour that Lucien surrounded himself in made her sick, Lucien lived in luxury, while those that served under him lived in squalor.

Her distain for the man could be heard in the tone of her voice. “I assume you know why I am here?” she asked as they passed another statue of Lucien in some heroic pose.

“Yes” quickly answered Lucien. At no point did he ever look over at Efira, feeling that looking into the eyes of a commoner such as Efira was beneath him. “You are here to see if I had any evolvement in the horrific attack that took place against the king. The feud between our houses is well known, so it was only a matter of time until someone came here think that we were in some way involved.” Lucien paused for a moment as they entered the library, which giant and eloquent room, which had a huge skylight that allowed natural light to flow into the room. “I can assure that I had nothing to do with the attack.”

“I believe you.” proclaimed Efira as she took a moment Efira looked around. The room itself was a half circle, with two circles lead up to the top half of the library. Lucien desk sat square in the centre of the two staircases in the front part of the room. Gold lined the all the railings and the desk. Finished her examination of the room Efira continued, “As deep rooted as your hatred for house Baraca is, there is something that you hate more, foreigners. You see them a plague to people, threatening our very way of life. Besides, even if you were in some way involved you would cover your track too well for me to make a connection

A bit of a smile came to Lucien face “It would seem that you know me to well miss Joridis.” He took a seat at his desk “Then why did you come then?”

“I came her to warn you mostly” she said while placing her hand on Lucien desk she forced the man to make eye contact with her. “You see it has been observation that the government of Tappee has a shoot first, and ask no questions later policy.” Efira pushed some of the paper aside on Lucien desk. “So you see, given the importance of those who were injured in the attack. If they even remotely feel that you where in some way involver, they will turn this little house of your in to crater. Personally if that is the case that King Baraca will do little to stand in their way. Unless of course you confess to me know I could protect you from their fury.”

Lucien glared over Efira, but found that it did nothing “There is nothing for me to hide. I trust that you have better things to do then to threaten an old man” shot Lucien in anger.”

“You very correct” quickly answered Efira “There are more pressing matter for me to attend to. I shall bid you leave then”

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Efira

Sound of keystrokes echoed through the room, the room was filled with six people, all but two members of the intelligence cell known as the Serpents were working feverously on the task that had been given to them. They had been entrusted with tracking down those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Tappee. Which in no mean was an easy task.

Computer team of Carrie Andrews and Scott Phillips sifted through endless computer record and databases in the vague hope that something would present itself. While Jessica Wagner and John Conroy the surveillance team looked the all the video feeds from the attack itself. Last the demolition specialist Travis Sampson looked over the bomb reports. Conducting all the activity was Casey Kisenger one of the two team leaders.

“Have we been able to figure out how they infiltrated the prison security network” impatiently asked Casey. Some how these terrorist had been able breakthrough Tappee Special Prison Security System, a system that everyone thought was fool proof. However, they had found a way, and it was here the Casey felt that they could get their best start.

“It would appear that they simply had all the codes, and all the information, there is no signs that someone from the outside entered the system.” Answered Scott never turning his attention away from his terminal. “No one on the inside had access to this information”

Casey paced around the room for a moment. She was going to ask if the hacker could have simply erased their track but knew both Scott and Carrie had already thought of that. As members of the First Cell program they had all been raised for their prospective positions together. As a result they could almost perfectly anticipate each other’s actions.

As if sensing Casey’s thoughts Carrie spoke up “The only way that one could have such access to this information was if they sat on the Tribunal itself.”

“See where it goes then” shot Casey. This was a startling development. If someone on the Tribunal had betrayed Tappee it would not be the first time. As such Casey was not willing to quickly rule out such a thing. She glanced over at Jessica and John, the two were busy watching a nearby monitor “Any luck yet?” She watched as the two just shook their heads. “How about you Travis?” she asked turning.

Travis sat up, and briefly arched his back. “Wish Henry was here, this is more his thing.” There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Truth Henry and him had always competed with each other, so for Travis to make such a claim was funny to the other members of the team.

As the Door to the room opened the Team actual lead Arnold Tiesto made his way in. “I’ve just received word that the Calnuxian’s are sending one their people to come help us on this.”
Arnold voice was typically strong, and charismatic. However, Casey noted that this was not the case, currently it weak and faltered at bit. Furthermore, he seem to be a bit pale and his hand was shaking a bit. “There’s something else, something that you don’t want to tell us”

For a moment Arnold shifted about uncomfortably, taking a deep breath he started to speak “I just finished talking with Jon Anerton, and” he paused fighting to get the words out. “Henry has been listed as KIA in the battle for Steel Moon”

Suddenly all activity in the room stopped as everyone turned their attention towards Arnold. Henry had been the eight member of the team, but while on special he had been temporarily reassigned. They had been a team since the age of three, and were the only family that any of them ever knew. So Henry death had came a sever blow to the entire team.

Travis was the first to talk “Could they have made a mist…”

“There is no doubt” yelled Arnold cutting Travis off “there was but a handle full of survivor.”

“What about Emily and the baby?” asked Carrie.

“The baby and her are fine” quickly answered Arnold.

“Do we know how?” asked Scott.

Arnold just shock his head “Details aren’t available yet, but when they are you will be the first to know. However in the mean time I doubt the Henry would want to grieve for him when there is important work that is needed to be done.”

Slowly everyone in the room went back to work, their time to mourn would come, but not know.

Computer Team
Carrie Andrews
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Scott Philips
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Demolition team
Travis Sampson
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Surveillance team
Jessica Wagner
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John Conroy
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Counter Intelligence team
Casey Kisenger
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Arnold Tiesto
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As the plane hit a bit of turbulence Efira was forced to grab some paper before they floated away, for the resulting zero G’s. After a moment or two things returned back to normal. Efira found herself on a military transport plane heading toward Tappee’s capital of Grathmoras the epicentre of the terrorist attacks, as well as home to Tappee’s Intelligence service known simply as the first X. With the exception of military craft all flight in an out of Tappee had been cancelled, which had proved to cut the flight time down dramatically.

However, with the free time that she had during the flight Efira had taken this time to catch up on some reading. Currently she was reading over the field reports of the Calnuxian terrorist attack. All but one of the terrorists had been killed, but it was that one that had gotten away that worried her more then anything. Pulling out the one of the many photo’s of the attack, Efira looked at the terrorist picture.

From what she could see the terrorist was a woman in her late twenties, about 28. She was about 5’10 with dark blue eyes and dark hair. Shape features that only enhanced her physical physique. There was a commanding presence about her in the way she held her self. For a moment Efira looked deeply into the photo “Who are you?” she asked to no one but her self. Within the photo Efira found a mysterious puzzle that she yarned to find the answers for.

The pilot suddenly interrupted her thoughts “Ma’am, We’ve been clear for our final approach.”

Beneath her she felt the craft bank hard to the right as they began their decent to the surface.


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Everywhere Jade looked she was reminded of her past, the building, people, and even the small of the air was exactly as recalled. Jade had grown up here, most places would have described this as an orphanage, in Tappee this place was something totally different.

For in Tappee, they saw orphans completely different then the outside world, orphans were seen and used as tools of war. To put it as simply as possible Tappee trained its orphan children to be the ultimate soldiers. From an early age as possible orphan children were brought in to what was known as the X program to become part of Tappee’s elite force. Once in the X program children were put through intense physical and mental training, depending on the individual’s performance they were placed either into the First or Second X.

Members of the First X served as Tappee’s Intelligence agents and assassins. Members of the First X are characterized by a number of traits, such as a sharp mind, cunning, loyalty, and even physical agility. All the results of years of specialized training created the perfect agent and where the best of the best. Sent in to gather intelligence or infiltrate enemy organization, members of the First X conduct in operations of the highest nature and importance. Once an operative can longer receive field status they either teach at the academy, or act as the Tribunals ambassador to foreign states or to the military.

Those of the Second X acted as Tappee’s Special Forces. Trained in one and one thing only, killing. They are cold, calculating, emotionless machines that kill without question or hesitation. Second X usually conducts larger special operations where military operations are the only option and success is required.

However, members of both shared the same basic training before they were split up into their prospective groups.

Jade had been trained as a member of the First X, and this is where she had received her basic training, for the first ten years of her life this had been home. Calling this place home was a stretch, it was more like a prison then anything else, armed guards where everywhere to be seen.

Sounds of gunfire now echoed from within the building that the two were standing in front of. Glancing at the wall Jade saw two simple words written on the side ‘FIRING RANGE’

“If you would be so kind as to follow me” said the man standing beside Jade. He took a few steps but stopped when he realized that Jade was hesitating “Please, trust me”

He had a warm smile, which in some way gave Jade comfort. Gathering her strength began to follow. Fortunately for Jade the main door was open which mean that they didn’t have to make through it, she was still a bit uncomfortable with walking through solid objects. As they moved deeper into the building the gunfire grew louder. It wasn’t long until the unlikely pair had reached the main range.

100 metres deep and 20 metres deep the range had been specially designed. At every 10m intervals were tracks running horizontally so that target that moved left or right. However, today the range had been set up a bit differently, there were no targets. Just a giant box located about 80 metres down range.

Are group of children no older the ten years old were lined up along the wall in perfect fashion. Each child carried their rifle, the rifles been created solely to be used by a child, and such there was a stark contrast with one pictured as traditional weapon. There was so talking among the group, just silence. Standing in front of the group was the drillmaster with his arms impatiently crossed staring down at the children.

“Allenson up front and centre” barked the drillmaster. On queue one of the children broke from the line and ran up in front of the Drillmaster giving him a salute. “When the target presents itself your to eliminate it”

Following his orders the little girl drop to the ground in the prone position taking aim at the box located down range. After a moment of two the sides of the box drop revealing the target. Located within the box was two statuettes, the first being a pregnant mother, the second being the terrorist with a gun holding the would be mother hostage.

“Why haven’t you fired?” yelled the drilled master when the little girl didn’t fire.

His answer came swift and clear “I don’t have a clear shot at this ranger Sir”

“It an acceptable loss. Now open fire!” screamed the Drillmaster. Still the girl didn’t fire just shaking her head “I said FIRE!” his words echoed off the clean wall of the range.

The little girls weapon began to shake, she was face with a moral dilemma with what she was being told to do and what she was thought to be right. Failure to comply would be meet with harsh repercussions; in the end there was only one course of action. Closing her eyes the gently squeezed the trigger unleashing a punishing volley that tore the two statuettes apart, she held the trigger until her clip was empty.

“Allenson fall in” calmly order the Drillmaster, he waited for a moment as the girl got up to her feet and joined the other. “What you all seen here was a moment of weakness” explained the Drillmaster. “She hesitated. As such she could have put team members at risk, and even worse possibly the mission. If one is weak enough to become a hostage then they do not need to save, they are an expendable asset, and are to be dealt with as such.”

“Yes sir!” answered the group in unison; the only one who didn’t speak up was the little girl that had fired.

One of other girls that was standing beside girl who had destroyed the statuettes leaned in to say something “You hear that, you are weak.”

The comment pushed the girl over the brink. With little hesitation she drove the butt of the rifle in to other girls temple sending her sprawling backward “I’m not weak” yelled the girl in anger as she pressed on the attack.

Suddenly the scene came to a grinding halt as everyone froze into place, as the mysterious man snapped his fingers. As everything stopped he turned to Jade “You wouldn’t happen to know who that girl is?” asked the man pointed at the girl that had been forced to fire at the statuettes.

He didn’t really need to hear her answer, the tears that had swelled in Jades eyes was answer enough “It me” she quickly answered.

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“What is wrong with you!” yelled Jade in a fit of anger. She wanted to do nothing more then to reach out and kill the man that had brought her all this pain. But realized long ago the futility of such an endeavour. “Why are you doing this?” Jade had long ago tired to burry the pains of her past, but now found those pain come to the surface.

The man that Jade had come to call simply as the guide kneeled down in front of Jade who had collapsed down to the ground. “Like it or not, this is who you were taught to be”

Overcome by emotion Jade fought for a moment to catch her breath. Closing her eyes she took a few deep breaths. In the depths of her lungs she could feel a slight pain, and reminder of an old injury. In the shadows in her mind she fought to come to grasp with what he was telling, there was no doubt in her mind that she had been taught to kill, but she was more then that. “You are wrong, that is not who I am” sneered Jade.

Quickly the guide jumped up to his feet, and took a few steps around the room “You really think so” remarked the guide lifting and waving his arms around briefly “Really!” he shot again there was a hint of anger. Again he walked back over to Jade, kneeling down so that the two were now eye level. “Lets see about that”

Once again he snapped his finger and everyone that were frozen in the room disappeared, and were replaced by a new group standing in a line. It was clear that this group where the same children, this time they were much older, appearing to be at 15 years of age. Standing in front of them once again was the drill instructor. The firing range looked the same, with the exception that it had been reset. “Allenson up front and centre” baked the drill sergeant. “You are to clear the course”

Jade watched as a younger version of her self ran to the front of range, and dropped down on one kneel bringing her weapon sweeping the area for target. One by one targets at various points within the range popped up. With the skill of superb marksmen the younger Jade efficiently eliminated the targets mere seconds after they presented themselves. As she destroyed each target the interval between the pop up lessened. However, each target was quickly destroyed. When the last target the side of the metal box in the centre dropped, this time there was no statue, this time it was a real person.

In panic, fearing for his life to tried to run. A mere three steps later he fell dead to the ground as single round passed square through his heart with no hesitation.

“An impressive program” casually remark the Guide to Jade as they watched the man hit the ground “It was a brilliant idea to use convicted killer as target practice for training.”

For a brief moment Jade perfectly agreed with, then quickly shook her head. Looking over at her younger self she could no emotion in her face. No regret, no remorse, absolutely nothing. She went to say something but stopped when the Drill Master started talking.

“Well done Allenson” proclaimed the Drill Master as looked down at his stop watch “A new course record. Now fall in, Abigail take Jade place.” As Jade took her place in line, a blue haired woman took Jade’s place at the front of the course.

There was a brief pause as the course was reset. Once every thing was set Abigail began running a similar exercise as the one the younger Jade had just completed, with the same climatic finish. When Abigail was finished she waited with anticipation for time.

Clicking his stopwatch the drillmaster gave her the answer to which she was waiting for. “An impressive time, but Allenson still has you beat, now fallen in”

As Abigail returned into the line Jade could see something some thing in the Younger Jade, it took her a moment to realize what it was, but in the end she knew. Jade and Abigail had competed in everything, and to beat Abigail had always given her some satisfaction.

“Ah the plot thicken” suddenly said the guide, sense Jade’s thoughts “The two fought over everything didn’t you”

“What your point” sneered Jade back in anger.

“But there was one thing that the two of you fought over harder then any other wasn’t there Jade.

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Jade Allenson

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Younger Jade Allenson

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Abigail

Chaos ruled supreme on the tarmac, Arnold had heard that the ground war in Clairmont had begun; Tappee military forces were preparing their response. However, in truth none of that was his concern, he was only worried about the Calnuxian transport that was now taxing on the runway. With the arrival of the Calnuxian agent, and the information that could come with her was, at least in Arnolds opinion, more important then the scores of troops running tirelessly around him. Among the flurry of activity Arnold could feel a presence some where behind him, slowly it moved its way toward him.

It was if the air around him got colder as the presence made its way closer. “I was wondering when you make your way to check up on us.” Remarked Arnold with a hint of disdain in his tone. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Head of the First X walk up behind him.

Her name was Abigail, if she had a last name Arnold didn’t know it, and as Head of the First X she was technically Arnolds boss. Despite the importance and prestige of her position, Arnold had never held the woman in high regard. He had always seen her as arrogant and a bit too ambitious, she seemed liked the type to place her needs over that of other, and for the First X that was unacceptable. There was little doubt in Arnolds mind that she would use this situation further her own career or agenda.

“I have yet to receive any information in regards to your investigation” Shot Abigail as she approached. Abigail didn’t really look her age, at 31 she looked more like 26, a fact that she really didn’t mind all that much. With a slim figure standing 5’8, what she lacked in strength she made up in agility. One of her most distinguishing features was her pale blue hair, which was fairly uncommon in Tappee. Like so many others of the First X she was wearing glass, she had perfect vision, but felt they were a sign of intelligence and came with the position that she held. More then not she found them to be a slight annoyance, as she was forced to push bridge of the glassed to the top of her nose. “Now if it is a question of authority” she added quickly as she joined Arnold.

“Simple, you none” quickly answered Arnold to Abigail’s last statement. Last thing that he really needed was to be caught in the middle of a power struggle. “For the time being I answer only to Jon” His orders had been simple, due to the security issues he was to answer to the President of Tappee Jon Anerton.

“Well see about that” Snapped Abigail back. “Change is inevitable. Governments change.” A bit of smirk came across her face “With the damage done to the tribunal I maybe forced to take a….. slightly different role.

Arnold could not help but see a hint of satisfaction in Abigail’s eye when she was talking about the injuries and even deaths about the tribunal. It was common knowledge among those of the First X about the feud between Abigail and the Tribunals Chairwoman Jade Allenson. Since their time at the academy together Jade and Abigail had been at each other, with Jade severely injured Abigail was most likely the only person in the entire country that was glad to see Jade laying in a coma.

“Wow, Jade isn’t even dead yet, and you already moving in on her space.” As soon as the words left Arnolds mouth he began to cringe. Such words were honestly unbecoming of someone in his position. However, his person feeling for his former mentor had their way to the surface and he had just felt the need to say something.

Suddenly Abigail posture stiffened up as a wave of anger came over. Without realizing it her fists clenched up, and for a brief time she even stopped breathing. She went to lash out at Arnold but hesitated at the last possible moment as they were joined by another.

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Abigail

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Arnold Tiesto

A brief hiss of air served as the precursor to the natural light that came streaming into the cabin as the back door of the plane opened up. It took Efira’s eyes a moment to adjust to the new light level, as she adjusted to her new surrounding she made her way off the plane and on to the tarmac.

This was to be her first visit to Tappee, and it did not take her long to see a stark contrast to that of her native land. Lush green mountainous landscape to which she was accustomed to had been replaced by the cold barren urban landscape. With all the activity on the tarmac seemed out of place to the normally laid back atmosphere.

Looking around the tarmac she looked to see if some type of greeting party, only to find none. To say that she was surprised would have been an understatement, but then again Tappee did find itself in an unexpected war. Off in the distance her eyes meet with a man that she recognized from her briefing. After making a quick decision she decided walk over there and introduce her self.

As she made her way over she could see that the man that she recognized was having rather heated discussion with a slightly older woman. “Hello” she casually remarked as she got close enough. “I’m Agent Efira Joridis. I hope that I am not interrupting anything important.” responded Efira when she got a funny look. Efira could tell that the woman wanted to say something. But simply walked off in what could easily be explained as a tiff.

She glanced over at the other man that was now standing across from her, “You must Arnold, Blay as spoke rather highly of you and your associates.”

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Efira Joridis

For a moment Arnold was a taken a back to her Blay’s name mentioned, it had been some time since he had last heard it. Blay and been Serpent Team unit commander of their first mission, part of a joint intelligence exchange program at the time. Though Blay had only been with the team for a short while, she had left an everlasting impression on the team.

“We were saddened to hear of her passing” answered Arnold as reached out to shake Efira’s hand “Tell me, how did you Blay” he asked in a vague attempt to start a conversation.

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Arnold Tiesto

A bit of a smile came over Efira’s face as memories of her past briefly came flooding back. Efira had in the time that she had spent with Blay come to almost see her as a mother figure, as someone to inspire to become.

“Blay was my mentor within the Blood Angels” said Efira finally answering Jon’s question “but that was all in the past, I believe that there are pressing matters at hand.”

For Efira there was times for words, and times for actions. This was now a time for action, talking about the past would do little to solve the crisis at hand.

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There were few that would dare to travel the lower sections of Grathmoras. It was said that crime in Tappee was almost none existent, and for the most part that held true, except for those in the lowest echelon of the city. Grathmoras had originally started out as nothing more then a typical sprawling city. Over the centuries instead of continuing to build outward, the city was built up with layer being built onto each other. As a city grew to millions, the city rose up into the heavens, the lowest part of city known simply as the Ruins became a base for the massive city.

The Ruins where all that remained of the original city, and was now home the Tappee’s outcaste. Those that had rejected Tappee way of life, choosing instead to live in relative seclusion in the dark depth of Grathmoras. With little government presence it was also home to Tappee’s criminal element, or to those who did not want to be found.

As Samantha walked through the street she forced to plug her nose, in an attempt to put an end to the horrid smell that filled the air. Everywhere she looked people were living in squatter, barely surviving, why anyone would pick this as a lifestyle was well beyond here. There was little light for her to use to gain her barring, as the upper levels blocked all natural light, and only small amount of power was diverted here from the main grid. Garbage and debris littered the street, which only slowed Samantha progress through the labyrinth. Finally she found herself at her destination, look over at a nearby sign she confirmed that this was were she needed to be. She would have opened the door had there actually been one, instead chose to simply walk right in.

Samantha found herself standing in what had once been a hotel lobby, its magnificence and splendour long since passed. All the remained where tattered walls, poor lighting, and a lone man sitting behind desk. At least the smell wasn’t so bad in here, she thought to her self as made her way over to the man at the desk.

“Have you seen this man” asked Samantha as flash a picture to the man at the desk.

A older man in his late fifties, maybe early sixties, just ignored Samantha request continuing to read his book.

“Have you seen this man!” Demanded Samantha again shoving the picture in front of desk attendants face.

He just glanced up at her. “Haven’t seen him” he shot “Besides such things are bade for business”

Annoyed with the man insolence he reached over the desk, grabbed the man by the collar, and lifted him into the air “There are also things that are bad for your health as well” barked Samantha “Now I am tired of repeating myself.”

“Room 345” shuttered the man in shock.

“Thank you” Samantha released her grip and let the man fall to the ground. No sooner had he hit the ground than she turned and began looking the room.

After making her way up a few flights of stairs the found herself facing room 345. For some reason unknown to even to her she sat there hesitating, she wanted to enter, but wasn’t sure that she could face what was on the other side. Taking a deep breath she itched the door open slowly.

Darkness, and the smell of cheap alcohol engulfed the room. As she walked through the room she would accidentally kick an empty vodka bottle. Some where off in the shadows she could sense movement, suddenly a shadowy figure made its self visible. The silhouette man came up from behind the shadowy current, not enough to her to see his face, but enough for her to know it was him. “How the mighty have fallen” she said when she knew it was the one that she was looking for.

“Spare me the your lecture” shot voice from the shadow “Why are you here”

“To see you of course” answered Samantha as she stepped over another bottle. “Drinking was never your strong suite” she added noting the faint smell of vomit in the room.

“How did you find me.” Inquired the man as creped out for nearby bottle. It was half full and had most likely been sitting open for some time. Regardless he put it to his lips talking a quick swig “From what I see your working for Dylan, tell me what is it like being his lap dog, doing the things that he must be having you do.”

Biting her tongue Samantha let the last comment slide, it was a oblivious ploy to get her angry and put her off guard. “I have my way of finding people, even you. As for Dylan, well I have don’t runway away from duty unlike some.”

“Fuck you!” yelled the man, a spray of alcohols shot out as he had spoken before finishing drink. Taking a moment he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. “You have no idea what it is like.”

“I have no idea” stuttered Samantha in response “She was my friend too, and her death hurt me just as you!” anger was beginning to grow in her voice “I lost both a friend, and my partner that day.”

“I don’t want to carry on this conversation” interrupted the voice. There was a faint metal click in the background. “I don’t want to it but I will. Its time for you to leave.”

Realizing that she now had a gun pointed at her Samantha ran the variables through her head. Her opponent way be inebriated, but it was still within his skill to hit. Given the distance between them and the close quarter she stood little chance. “Very well.” Spinning around she stormed off toward the door. However, before she left she turned to say one last thing “so this is what your father died to protect.”

A single shot shattered the silence. Samantha cringed a wood splinter flew out at her, the shot had hit door wood frame causing it to explode upon impact. Deciding to not to push her luck she headed back to the lobby

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Samantha

"Well ain't this a real bitch" Sergeant Nellis grumbled as he watched the city burning, the live feed coming from a recon drone.

"You have said that about twenty times now Vince, and yeah it is a real bitch. The question is what can we do about it." Lieutenant Bartolo Mathers said back to the man, his eyes never leaving the console screen at the back of the SWAT van.

The CNPD (Clairmont National Police Department) SWAT Platoon #172 had been in Tappee for two weeks before all hell broke loose in its capital. They had been scheduled for joint training excersises with their Tappee counterparts, to perhaps teach them something new and in turn learn something new from them about Urban Counterforce and Counter-Terrorism situations. It seemed that the excersises had been postponed and reality had stepped in their place. Mathers wanted nothing more than to be home. He had caught the news of the invasion, and the attacks on Grathmoras had immidiately made sense to him. But there was no way out of Tappee now. With the 5th Imperium strike-craft being all over Clairmontian airspace, any flight would undoubtly be shot down before it reached its destination.

As the matters were, Mathers and his thirty men were effectively stuck in Tappee until the situation was stabilized. It wouldnt have irked Mathers as much as it did if he could have done something to help the situation in Grathmoras, but as it was the Tappee Government was in widespread disarray as the terrorists went about with their work, and Mathers sure as hell did not want to take the risk of being shot by Tappee Security Forces because they had to have itchy trigger fingers at the moment.


Mathers looked away from the screen, at his men. They were stationed at one of the Police Precincts of Grathmoras, with a sizeable portion of the carage reserved for their five APC's and the single Mobile Command Center that constituted the transportation capacity of platoon #172. Mathers' SWAT troopers had their armor donned, and helmets off as they went about at menial tasks, trying to kill their time and frustration. Some were maintenancing their weapons and gear, others were sleeping while some were conducting investigation into the attacks by Phobo.

All of them had an aura of barely leashed energy, they NEEDED the chance to do something meaningfull, and blowing apart any terrorists related to those who had caused so much grief in their homeland was the only thing that would ease their minds.


OOC: Yeah Tappee, I'm basically asking for something to do =D

"He exceeded all our expectations"
"By a long shot, the word lunatic does not do the man justice"
"The problem with lunatics is that they are extremely unpredictable, and altouhg he may be furthering our cause at the moment, we cant even begin to guess what he could do tomorrow, or next week."

The three men in black trenchcoats stood watching out of the window of one of Grathmoras' skyscrapers, watching the city burning as a result of the bomb strikes staged by Dylan Phobo.

The eldest of the men looked at the burning city with a thoughtfull gaze, devoid of any true emotion. He could feel none, afterall these people were nothing more than degenerates, helpers and allies of the so proclaimed Star Protectorate of Clairmont. After a few moments of silence he spoke once more.

"We may need to eliminate Phobo before he can become a liability to us, and that moment may come soon."

The other two men nodded in agreement, their eyes also observing the destruction the man had already succeeded in creating.

"We have two ready teams in standby. Lieutenant Wallen has team two, with eight men in Combat Armor, Lieutenant Jansyk has team two with the same configuration. However, as we went and gave Phobo our weapons, taking him out might be trickier than we first predicted." The youngest of the men said.

"Without those weapons, I doubt he could have achieved all this. It was a calculated risk Varn." The third man stated. Silence once more hovered over the three men as they contemplated the situation.

"How goes the assault by the fleet against the loyalists?" The eldest asked his subordinates who dutifully replied in a moment.

"Within expected parameters. Our beachhead troops have already made planetfall, with the rest coming in fast. According to the latest data dump I got, we have also taken out several major loyalist cities with nuke strikes. There have been unexpected casualties however, and the loyalists also seem to have some sort of supertanks in their disposal, ones that are capable of orbital denial fire." The man named Varn replied.

The third man grunted in disgust. "Minor nuisances Varn, at the end of the day we will have the better part of twenty million troops down there, their supertanks wont allow the loyalists to survive."

Lieutenant Varn accepted his superiors analysis, altough he personally did not agree with him.

"Leave those worries to the commanders in charge of the ground assault, this front is our responsibility, and we are far from done. We should break up now and return to our allies here." The eldest man said and the two others quickly saluted and acknowledged.

As they began to walk out of the room they had occupied, one by one they disappeared to thin air as their optical camouflages made them nearly invisible to naked eye.

“You want me to do what?” asked Captain Foster, as he looked out over the city. It had been nearly 48 since this tragedy had started, and the fires were still burning strong. To put it simply the gates of hell a risen to consume the once peaceful city, with the possibility of an impending invasion restoring some sense of order had fallen solely to the local police precincts. Foster turned away from the window to face the view screen. “It not a question of will, but more a question of will power.” He explained “My men have not had a moment rest since this has all began. I’ve tried to send them home, but they refuse.”

“Then they know their duty” quickly interrupted Abigail from the other side of the view screen. “Our resources are stretched across the board, the First X has thrown all available agents in pursuing those responsible.” Both of them knew that Tappee had been caught flat-footed by the attack. “Besides I’m not asking your men to do.” She quickly added “I would like for you talk to the Clairmont Commander and ask if men would be willing to help us out with this.”

“They have no authority out here.” Spat Foster. He was a rather prideful man, and didn’t like the fact that he needed help from outsiders in his own backyard.

“A state of Marshal Law has been put in effect.” Shot Abigail back in response “I’m giving the same authority that you have. Now see that it is done.” The screen suddenly went black.

So that it is how it is going to be, he thought to himself. Foster turned his attention again to the scene unfolding outside his window. This time it was focused something a bit more closer. Since all this had began the Clairmont detachment that had been sent here for a joint training op had been waiting just outside for something to do, and now it would seem that they would soon get their chance.

For a moment Foster stood there, contemplating how best to proceed. An older man in his late fifties he had served his entire career in the police force, maintained peace and order. All that was gone now, things were no longer as clear-cut as they had once been. Tappee always had a harsh way of dealing those who existed outside the law, but never crossed certain boundaries. It would seem now that those boundaries no longer existed, replaced only by uncontrollable rage.

Turning Foster reached down and opened the top drawer of his desk, pulling out a small metal flask. Quickly he spun the top off, putting it to his lips he took a quick swig before putting back in it place. Opening his door he went into the main lobby of the precinct, a long the wall were officer laying of the floor, taking a moment to an hour sleep before heading back out on the streets. Their dedication filled him with great pride.

As he made his way out the main doors, he could feel a blast of cold air hit him, Foster could feel that a storm was coming.

Crossing the street he made his way over to sergeant Nellis. “Sergeant Nellis” called out to his Clairmont counter part. “If you and are willing we have an assignment for you.”

When he got closer he began filling Nellis in on some of the details “According to Tappee Intelligence. Those responsible for the attacks in Clairmont and Tappee might have been using the waterfront to move weapons between our countries. We would like for you to investigate the local dockyard. You have been full authorization to act as you see fit. You have the right to detain and search anyone or anyplace without the need for a warrant. Should you come across hostile activity, you are to shot first and ask questions later. We prefer some arrests, but for the time being we simply want the threat eliminated. What do you say Nellis, are you and your men game.?”

For the most part the ride back to the command centre had been a relatively uneventful trip for Arnold and Efira. They had exchanged casual conversations with each other, both nothing too dramatic. Suddenly an alarm echoed through the small cab of the car.

“On” commanded Arnold in a rather harsh tone.

Carrie’s voice came over the intercom. “We’ve received reports of a small disturbance down in the Ruins. Normally something like wouldn’t be a concern, but given the nature of the Ruins and everything that’s been going on, I thought I’d take a look.”

“And!” Interrupted Arnold.

Simply ignoring Arnold’s intrusion she continued “I was able to get a visual of the person responsible of the disturbance. I cross referenced it with all the visual data that we have.” She paused for a brief moment “It would appear as if this particular woman has been busy, I have her accessing a Tribunal Terminal facility, the same one that downloaded the virus to the prison. I’m sending you her picture and current location, its not from you.

“Thanks” said Arnold, as the woman’s picture came over the car monitor. Glancing over at Efira he could see something in her eye. “Know her?”

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Arnold Tiesto

Nellis noticed Captain Foster approaching him in the carage and hid a slight wince and chuckle at the same time as the Captain spoke to him much like to an equal, even though the Captain outranked Nellis by a very fair margin. He decided not to mention about it, the man seemed to have enough going in his mind as it was.

As Foster finished explaining what needed to be done, Nellis nodded.
"Yes Sir, I'll relay that to Lieutenant Mathers. We have been very eager to start doing something usefull."

As the Captain made his way away from the carage area, Nellis trodded back to the Mobile Command Center to report to his superior of the instructions they had received.

A slight smile lit up on Mathers' face as he learned that he would get to do the job he had been trained to do, instead of sitting on his hands and waiting for the surrounding world to blow up on his face.

"Allright people, we roll up in five. We have work to do." He yelled at sufficient volume to catch the ear of his SWAT troopers, who immidiately began packing up their gear to the APC's

Precisely five minutes later, the small convoy rolled out of the carage of the Police Precinct, and headed for Grathmoras' Dockyard area.

The trip took longer than could have been expected as many areas of the city were clogged with traffic as a result of the disastrous events of late. On the way, Mathers had his men retrieve the floor plans of the dockyards and piece together all available pieces of intel in regards to the facility they would have to storm.


As the small convoy finally arrived at the dockyards, the SWAT Platoon was combat ready and began disembarking from the APC's. They came out in textbook infantry combat execution. First element out secured the surroundings, making certain that there were no visible threats to the deployment of the mobile command center and the dismounting of the remaining SWAT troopers.

In less than sixty seconds, all the five elements, each having two fighting pairs and an element leader, were ready for entry with the Mobile Command Center deployed. Mathers went thru his viewscreens on his command station, checking that the helmet mounted cameras of his element leaders were providing him with live feed. Satisfied that they were ready, he opened up the comm and ordered the strike to commence.

He had sketched initial entry plans on the way to the dockyard with each of the entrances to the main dockyard complex being covered in the event of a suspect attempting to flee the building.

The five fighting elements took up breaching positions at the main entrances, readying door-breach explosives for their entry. In unison, three entrance doors were blown inwards, and fifteen men entered the complex in well coordinated manner, weapons constantly ready to fire upon any visible threats.

"Element Three, no visible suspects. Securing main hall."
"Element Two, no visible suspects. Securing primary storage hangar."
"Element Four, no visible suspects. Securing Second Floor."

Mathers listened to the reports carefully while observing the feed sent by the cameras carried by the element leaders. The dockyard complex supprisingly semed largely abandoned. It was a huge facility, and Mathers could only speculate as to what had driven off all those people who worked here daily. Without a doubt the crisis had caused many people to go home, and see that their families and loved ones were safe, but regardless, the place was quiet, too quiet.

Minutes passed by without notable events nor anything that would have indicated that the "Khanate" or "Dedecus" had ever even been here. As the five elements methodically checked the main areas of the complex, a tiny scream of warning began to grow in volume at the back of Mather's mind.

"Element Four, proceeding to sublevel one."
"Element Two, supporting Element Four."
"Element Three, providing backup."

The gloomy sublevels of the dockyard complex as per the floorplans had been designed and meant for the purpose of receiving subcraft and providing additional storage space for matêriel that was destined to be held at the dockyard longer than regular cargo. The air humidity rose notably as the SWAT troopers proceeded to the sublevels.

"I've got something on the thermals, fifty meters ahead, three point sources."

Mathers was also tapped in to the element comm-net shared by the elements during each operation, and the report given by the point man in Element Four's 1st fighting pair roused his interest.

As the ten men approached the two sources of thermal emissions, it became apparent that those emissions belonged to human beings as hushed sounds of talking caught the hardware enhanced hearing of the SWAT troopers. Unaware of the approaching Stormtroopers, as the SWAT men had perfect nightvision gear implemented in the helmets of their Battledress Armor Suits, and thus didnt need tactical lights implemented in their weapons.

"Police! Put your hands up now! Get down on the ground!" Went out the amplified shout from the Element Leader of Element Four, and the two humans ahead of the ten SWAT troopers stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the direction of the large underground hall where from the shouted order had come.

Mathers wasnt sure if they actually saw where his SWAT troopers were, regardless the two men hesitated only for an instant before they started tugging for the weapons that hung from their shoulders, starting to bring them to bear to the general direction of the sound.

They never had the chance to pull the trigger as the pulse rifles of the Element Four's SWAT troopers opened fire. Light blue lightning spat from the barrels of their guns, accompanied by hypersonic cracks as hundreds of 5mm SABOT rounds tore at the two suspects. They carried light body armor which was as good as tinfoil against the pulse rifles. Their bodies quickly became mutilated flesh and gore as the pulse rifle fire tore them apart.

As the two men went down, the forwardmost fighting pair went to check the bodies, if the gory slabs of meat that was left of the men could have been called bodies, and secured the weapons they had attempted to use.

"Element Four to TOC, two suspects down." The element leader reported without emotion in his voice.

But the SWAT troopers had now announced themselves as the hypersonic cracks of the pulse rifles had echoed like thunder in the underground hall. In less than a minute, fire began raining at them from gantries and walkways surrounding the hall as well as from behind stacks of cargo crates.

Element Two lost one man as an invisible torrent of destructing energy tore his chest apart thru the armor of his BDU in a shower of blood and gore. Undazed by the loss of a comrade, the SWAT troopers began returning fire in coordinated manner at the sources where from their BDU carried computers told them the fire was coming. Assailants started going down as hypersonic rounds found their marks. But some, cladded in suits of armored BDU such as those found in the InSec raid to one of the Khanate Operatin Centers, went down with lesser damage than those clad in lighter types of ballistic armor.

Rifle grenades flew, and explosions lit the hall briefly as their High Explosive payloads did their work.

Streams of tracer rounds lashed at the SWAT teams as the GravGuns carried by their enemies spat their projectiles in order to both suppress and butcher the nine remaining Police Stormtroopers.

As some of the assailants went down, some came to take their place, Sergeant Nellis, leading Element Two caught a glimpse of one of them, it was a blood-red painted suit of gleaming alloy, a design full of smooth curves and sleek deadliness. They moved incredibly fast, and the heavy weapons they carried wrought terrible destruction in the hall.

It became a stalemate, for two short and yet bloody minutes before Element Three came to aid Two and Four out of their perilous situation. The heavy tri-barrels and grenade guns of Element Three went to work, sweeping the bases of fire set up by the enemy methodically and effectively.

As the head of the last assailant blew apart in a shower of skull fragments and brain tissue, silence landed once more to the hall that had become the ground for such a heavy butchering. None of the terrorists had surrendered.

"Element Two to TOC, all suspects in sight neutralized. No survivors. Corporal Lavant is a casualty." Sergeant Nellis reported back to the Command Center. Mathers sighed deeply at the loss of one of his own and told himself he shouldnt be supprised that there were no surviving suspects to be apprehended. The briefings he had received in regards to the "Khanate" had told him that these people were fanatically devoted to their cause, and they would not surrender.

"Continue securing the area." He said back simply.

The three Elements re-commenced their previous task and continued with securing the sublevel. Three other and yet smaller halls and hangars than the one that had been the field of battle were secured without incident, but as the fourteen men and women arrived to a set of thick alloy doors, the sensors told them that another battle would be likely.

"Detecting strong radiological traces beyond this door, four very faint thermal sources, I cant pinpoint them." A femine voice announced over the element comm net.

"Prep the plasma breach charges, blow it open." Sergeant Nellis told his Element.

Two of the SWAT troopers began setting up the heaviest breach charges they had, while the other elements made sure that no-one would strike at their rear.

A few short moments passed before the demo troopers uplifted their thumbs in a signature of readiness. The fourteen men went to a textbook door breach formation, with no-one at the line of fire directly from the doorway, noting that everyone was ready, Nellis detonated the charges.

Two white hot plasma torches burned thru the thick steel door in rapid succession, vaporizing the lock mechanism and its surroundings to slag. As the charges finished their work, the SWAT troopers threw open the door.

Concussion grenades flew from the hands of the SWAT troopers at the open doorway, and as their detonations subsided, nine men and women entered the smallish underground hall in unison.

Instantly, accurate fire hammered at them, instantly killing the 2nd fighting pair of Element Two. The remaining SWAT troopers returned fire at the faint point sources of heat, 40mm grenades and SABOT darts tearing thru packing crates and couging at the concrete in the walls. But whoever they were, the assailants moved fast and were resistant to the pulse rifles carried by the SWAT men.

As they began concentrating their fire on two of the enemies at the time, with the heavy weapons of Element Three providing support, only then results started coming. One of the terrorists went down, a burst of SABOT rounds penetrating his Combat Armor while a grenade took off his left leg down from the knee.

A second attacker went down soon after the first one as a pair of 70mm grenades reduced his torso to red mist, his finger still pressing the trigger of the large rifle he had carried, ripping thru the former assailants surroundings like a chainsaw.

The remaining two went down fighting, the other one getting his head blown off by a stream of rounds from Element Three's tribarrel, the other going down as a hail of SABOT rounds overcame his armor.

"Element Two to TOC, four more suspects down. No more visible threats." Reported Sergeant Nellis' weary voice.

"Oh my god, this is a goddamn nuke Sarge. Judging by the readings im getting, this is atleast a twenty megaton device." A femine voice from Element Four said.

"And these are those same damn guns that InSec found during their raid."
Nellis noted as he opened one of the multitude of crates lined up at the floor of the hall.

"Sarge, you better come here, we have a survivor." One of Element Two's remaining men said from behind a set of packing crates where one of the assailants had gone down.

The helmet mounted camera carried by Sergeant Nellis relayed the view of the wounded assailant to Mather's command station. The terrorists blood-red armor had been penetrated, in several spots where SABOT rounds had struck it. Blood oozed from those wounds, but there was too little of it Mathers kept telling himself. The man should have been lieing in a pool of his own blood judging by the wounds, did their armor have some sort of medical support system?

"He's alive, and supprisingly well considering that he caught six rounds, three in his chest two in his right leg and one in his left arm. There's something really weird here Lieutenant, despite his armor he should be dead when looking at the way our rounds hammered him."

Mathers rubbed his jaw in thought and several possibilities went thru his head. He would have time to think about it however and decided to concentrate on the relevant matters at hand.

"We will have time to investigate it further when we get him to a secure facility for treatment. Bring him here, as well as your dead and wounded. Elements One and Five will take your place. Now I need to get a call to Captain Foster and inform him of what we found."

He closed the link, and dialed up a connection for the Tappee Police Captain in order to inform him of the succesfull operation and its results.

Perched atop a nearby building Dylan had a bird’s eye view of the dockyard. From where he was standing he watched helplessly as the Clairmont SWAT teams began their raid on the dockyard. He had ordered another nuke from his newfound associates, and they were scheduled to bring in the shipment in today. It would appear that he had once again underestimated the power of Tappee intelligence.

“Perhaps the Khanate operative can hold them off.” remarked Greg “They do have the technological advantage after all.”

“It’s as good as gone.” spat Dylan back in anger. “They have both surprise and numbers to their advantage”

“Then warn them.” shot Greg. They had supplied men to help unload the cargo, he simply couldn’t understand why Dylan had yet to warn those in the building of the SWATS arrival.

A smirk fell over Dylan’s face, he turned ever so slightly to face Gregg “Now why would I go do something like that” there was a calmness in his tone, that Gregg found disturbing. “Do honestly believe that our new found friends are simply walk away when this is all done, or that in the end our goals or even the same.”

“We have the same enemies, and the same goals” interrupted Dylan

“No, we don’t” answered Dylan shaking his head, he let out a bit soft chuckle “This will not be over until the entire world burns around me. This is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. In the end everyone will suffer!” Moments later, the muffled sounds of a firefight came over the radio, sounds of death came in loud and clear. Dylan responded by breaking into laughter.

Horrified Gregg took a step back, for the first time he had gotten a rare look into the depth of Dylan’s insanity. Gregg began to wonder if he would be able to follow Dylan in to the depths of Hell.


Across town things at the police station were much different then that on the rooftop. Captain Foster had just spoken with Mathers, then had forwarded the information to the First X.

Within mere seconds of passing the information along Foster had dispatched an Airborne medical evacuation team to the site. Medievacing the Clairmont officers, as well as the prisoner had been given the highest priority, it was the least they could for the Clairmont personal that had helped in their darkest hour.

However, as much Foster would hate to admit it, he hoped that the captured prisoner would survive more then anyone. Information that he could provide could in the end save more lives then anything else.

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Dylan Phobo

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Greg

Even before Arnold put the car on the ground he could see a lone woman running from the scene, it wasn’t hard for him to put two and together. “Try and cut her off” barked Arnold as he dashed out of the car. He turned to see if Efira had heard him, only to see her take to the air. Wings could very much come in handy in situations like this he thought to him self. Focusing on the task at hand he started his pursuit, it didn’t take him long to close the distance between him in and the mysterious woman.

She tucked into alleyway; turning the corner Arnold saw her standing there. He knew what was a second before she did, as the shots rang out he dove behind a nearby dumpster. The shots pinged of metal dumpster, but it provided Arnold with the safety that he needed.

Suddenly he heard more shots, this time they sounded different, He looked out from his cover to see Efira putting fire on the woman from the air. However, her actions came at price, Efira soon came the target of the woman’s fire. Taking evasive action dropped down on a near by roof for cover. Using this to his advantage Arnold took aim; the woman seemed to have suspected this and with lightening speed jetted off down another alleyway. Though he no longer had a clear shot he squeezed off a two rounds to let her know that it still wasn’t over.

Efira dropped down from the rooftop as Arnold ran out from his cover. With their guns drawn the came around the corner only to find it led into a dead end. Sweeping their sights from side to side there was no one to be found.

“What the hell” said Arnold under his breath. His mind began racing trying to come with answer, and it was not long until he came with, however unlikely. He pulled out his COMM from his pocket. “Carrie, I need to you do something, for me”

“Sure” said Carries on the other side of the COMM

Arnold hesitated for a moment; he could believe that he was going to ask what he was about to ask. “I need you find the nearest tunnel entrance to my location, believe that the suspect may have entered the tunnel.”

He heard a pause on the other side “But only agents have the access code to enter the labyrinth.” A long time ago secret underground network had been create to allow agents quick and unobserved moments. No one outside of the first X new of the tunnels, even fewer still had access to the those tunnels. Carrie realized that the only way that the suspect could enter the tunnel was if they had the entry codes, which given the past facts was possible. She brought up the records “Nearest entry point is five meters to left, eight brick from the bottom.” She paused for a moment as she looked over the data. “Records indicated that location was accessed two minutes ago”

“Thanks, download me the area map.” interrupted Arnold, he ran over to wall nearby. Quickly counting up he found the eight brick up. There was an interesting mark on the brick that set it apart for all the other. With little hesitation he pushed the button, a section of wall slid back to revel a keypad. Arnold punched in a series numbers and a larger section of the wall open up.

“Hope you don’t mind the dark remarked Arnold as he made his way in.”

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Arnold Tiesto

Everything changed, Jade didn’t say anything this time, she had become accustom this type of thing. They were no longer in the firing range but instead in the forest near the academy. Night had fallen; it was a clear sky, stars danced in the night sky. Cool crisp breeze cut through the air, it provides some relief from the heat that had remained from day. Jade could see two young kids walking toward them, one was the younger version of her self, and someone else accompanied her.

“Jon” proclaimed Jade when the two got close enough for her to see.

“You are a smart” shot the guide sarcastically “I’m surprised that you don’t remember this night”

“I do” quickly answered Jade. “How could I not.” She watched as the events unfolded just she remember.

Jon slide behind Jade, her younger self anyways. Reaching up he place his hands over her eyes. “Jon I can’t see with your hands over my eyes” said the younger Jade playfully. She went to push his hand away.

“I’ve got a surprise for you” quietly answered Jon as Jade tried to resist. Jade relaxed trusting him completely. Keeping his hands over her eye’s he guided her through the trees until they stopped in front of a specific tree. Casually he removed his hand to let her see what was written on the tree. Engraved on the tree was Jade + Jon Forever.

Jades face lit up with glee, it had caught her off guard “Jon you shouldn’t have” she let out a nervous chuckle.

Grabbing her Jon turned her so that the two were face to face. “I would do anything for.” He slowly leaned in and kissed her. At first she fought it, but then came to accept it. It seemed like an eternity that the two shared their embrace.

Actually seeing these memories once again actually made Jade feel warm. She didn’t have too many happy memories, but this was one of them

“Almost brings a tear” said the guide jokingly. “But there was more going here then what remember.” He gestured a near by tree line.

Jade looked up to see a figure hidden in the tree’s, it took her a moment to make out who is was. But then it became clear who it was. Abigail was hiding in the tree’s, Jade could see the tears swelling in her eye before she turned and disappeared into the darkness off the forest.

Jade went to run after her but the guide stopped her “They can’t see us remember”

“I didn’t know” answered Jade back.

“How could you” for the first time that Jade could recall there was a warmth in the guides voice.

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Jade Allenson


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Jon Anerton

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Young Jade

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Abigail

Efira was the first to enter into the tunnel system; her gun was drawn, swing side to side in search of any target that might present itself. Cautiously she moved forward, her senses heighten, aware of the smallest detail or change.

As the pair moved forward, the darkness swallowed them, the smallest sound echoed through out the tunnel. Arnold was the first to provide some type of light, pulling a flash light from his pocket. Shadows jumped around as if they themselves were living creatures, with every shadowy movement, the pair guns quickly turned to asses the threat. After making their way a few metres into the tunnel they came to a divide, there was three different paths, each going off in a separate direction.

Arnold glanced over at Efira, who simply shrugged, neither of them knew where the woman they where chasing had went, and it would take them hours to fully explore the tunnel system, and there were a number of place that one could hide. “This is pointless” finally proclaimed Arnold as he holstered his weapon. “She long gone by now.”

Efira nodded in agreement “Now what?”

“We had back” quickly answered “She just gave us a big clue by heading into the cave system. There is a select few that even know about the cave system, even fewer that know all the access points, all we have to do now is work the problem backwards.” Arnold look over at Efira “Think its time to head back the command center.”

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Arnold

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Efira

There was coolness to the air, but when the sun’s rays hit Jades face she could fill the warmth that it brought. She could smell a subtle sweetness in the air; it gave her a sense of calmness and serenity. As she opened her eyes signs of fall could be seen all around, a blanket of reds, oranges, and yellows covered the ground. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees grasp left the mercy of the swirling wind. It was one of those picturesque moments; she stood standing in the street of what could only be described as small town.

Jade didn’t know exactly where she was, she had the distinct feeling that she had been here before, but could not put her finger on it. Glancing over her shoulder she looked at her supposed guide, the being that was taking her on this so-called journey of self-discovery. “Where are we now?” she asked rather impatiently. After her last so called visit, she was growing rather wary of his games.

“You don’t recognize this place” casually remarked the guide with a bit smirk on his face “Why don’t you take a look around, I’m sure that it will be come to you sooner later.”

With a bit of hesitation she started to walk around, unsure of what she was looking for. This town turn out to be a stereotypical town, there were few people moving about the streets, and those individuals that Jade did run into greeted her with a warm smile. As Jade walked through the street things became slowly more and more familiar. Suddenly it hit her like a bolt of lightening, she stopped directly in front of the nearest building, and the entire colour had drain from her face. Jade stood there frozen in fear of what she knew the building to be. “Why here?” she asked as turned to face the guide, for the first time since all this had begun there was a hint of confidence, it was if she knew the answer to her own question.

A smile fell over the guides face, “The real question is not why WE are here, but why you came here?” he took a moment to look a around “Why don’t we good inside” he didn’t give Jade a change to answer his him, the guide walked over to the door and went inside.

It was with some hesitation that Jade followed in. The air was thick with smoke, and the sound of idle chatter filled the room, this was a bar plain in simple. However, for Jade this was no ordinary bar, it was here that she had met her husband. Looking around the bar that’s where she saw them, again she was now being confronted with her past. She could a younger version of her self-sitting across the room sitting with her soon to be husband. It was a sight that would prove too much her to take; she turned quickly storming out of the bar, the tears were already forming in her eyes.

Fresh air that she found outside did little to provide her with any sense of comfort. Without even thinking of what she was doing she turned and began to run, not even knowing where or why she was running.

Jade just ran and ran, it seemed like to her that she was running for what seemed to be lifetime. As she rounded a corned an arm reached out and grabbed her, pulling her in. For a moment she struggled until she came to realize whom the arm belonged to.
“You should have known that you couldn’t run from Me.” said the guide as Jade finally settled down.

“Leave me alone, just let me die already, let me finally know some peace” shouted Jade back in anger.”

“You have known peace” answered the guide back quickly “This was the day that you found that peace remember” He reached up and rest the palms of his hands of her shoulder “This was the day that we first meet. You didn’t want to die that day, why would want to die today.”

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“Where have you been!?” barked Dylan as Samantha entered the room.

From the tone of his voice she could tell that he was in a foul mood, but that mattered little, she too wasn’t in the best of moods either. “I’m not one of your dogs Dylan!” she quickly answered back, as she glared over at Greg. “If anything you owe me, not the other way around.

In anger Dylan jumped to his feet, but before he even took a step Samantha had turned to face him, and based on the their last encounter Dylan quickly rethought his action. However, the two locked eye, each trying to stare the other down in some vague attempt to gain some ground over the other.

Greg sensing the thing would quickly get ugly stepped in “That is enough out of both you.” He waited for Dylan to take his seat and for Samantha to back off. “We have bigger problem to deal with. Tappee and Clairmont authorities raided the warehouse and seized our last weapons shipment, which means that we are going to bit short on our next project.”

“I fail to see how this my problem” answered Samantha a bit sarcastically “I’ve done my part, and you have got what you wanted. Now it is time for you live up to your end of the deal.”

Greg shifted his gaze over to Samantha “Well with out our weapons, how are we to do what you ask?”

“As I said before, it not my problem is it” said Samantha as she left the room.

As she did Dylan grabbed the nearest object and threw it violently across the room. “Bitch!” he yelled out as the object shatter as it hit the wall. “I don’t trust her, there is more to her then we know.” Despite the fact that Samantha was the one that had help break him out, he still didn’t trust her. “What do we know about her?”

“She a ghost in ever sense of the word, it is if she had never existed. However, at least for the time being she is useful to use.”

Dylan sat back in his chair casually resting his hands behind his head. “All she wants to do is to kill Anerton?”

“Yep” quickly answered Greg.

“Why?”

Greg took a moment to consider his response “I don’t know why, she has never really told me. But there is a look in her eye’s that tell me she really wants to see him dead.”

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Dylan Phobo

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Greg

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Samantha

“I’m tired of this.” cried Jade as she fell to her knees, the tears where no flowing from her eyes “I can’t do this any more. I can’t fight anymore, I have nothing left.”

Quickly the kneeled down in front her, reaching down he lift her chin till she meet his gaze “When Cal died you felt that is if part of you died too.” There was a gentleness in his voice, it caused her relax ever so slightly “But you forget that he left a part of him you. However, they need you as much ever.”

Suddenly it hit her, and hit her hard, she had forgotten about her children. Her thought drifted to young Mackenzie and Jason without her, they would have no one to look after them. It was then that she felt some thing growing deep within her, new strength, a new sense of purpose.

“That it’s” said the guide sense this “use that strength that I know is you” he encouraged some more.

Using the guide she pulled herself to her feet “I will not fail them” said Jade forcing the words out her mouth as she struggled to stand.

Without warning the world begun to swirl around her, for the first time since all this had begun she could pain, real physical pain. As she opened her eyes a brought the world back into focus, but she was no longer in some dream world instead she was hospital.

She tired to move but doctors and nurses were already rushing over to her telling her to lay still.

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