Dies Irae
(OOC: This thread is a follow up to http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=364556 )
A young man walked briskly down the road, clutching a large bag in his hands. He had checked his watch just moments before, it read 10:20. The man had only ten minutes to get to his destination. His pace increased as he moved down the cobblestones. A large tank could be seen illuminated in the lights of a checkpoint up the street. The glow from the soldiers masks could be seen ahead of the tank.
He passed the checkpoint with surprising ease. The officer had searched his bag but miraculously failed to notice the Bible stashed amongst the clutter. God was on his side, he told himself. The young man checked his watch again; 10:23, he still had to hurry.
Now he was moving even faster, the house wasn't too far ahead. 10:27 and he had approached the front door. He knocked four times and waited for a reply. A solitary knock came from the other end. The young man replied "Gloria in Excelsis Deo"
After a brief pause the door opened and the man stepped in side. It was a small house, its design common to Amhurst. The owner was man in his fourties, who owned a small repair shop not a mile away. It's owner, like all of the guests in the house, were devout Christians. They made routine pilgrimages to the Cathedral and carried on group worship in each others homes. Tonight it was in Aurther Seidman's home.
The young man was unshered into the living room where tweleve other christians had gathered.
"It is good to see that God has guided you all here safely." Mr. Seidman said, looking at all of his seated guests. "I believe we can now begin the service."
----
Activites like these had been going on for over sixty-years. Ever since organized relgion was banned, small groups would meet in private residences to carry out their services. It was a perfectly legal act until this morning, however the groups still risked their lives to worship.
((OOC: Organized relgion in all forms was banned, but the churches and the Cathedral still remained, but serve as museaums, that are under heavy guard. No one is allowed to worship in them.))
The officer at the checkpoint had seen the bible in the man's bag but did not stop him from passing. Like most Avadrians, he knew about the groups the worshipped in their homes and rightly assumed that the man was part of one.
Twenty-five minutes had passed and the officer dispatched ten soldiers to apprehend the criminals. The soldiers rushed down the street and arrived at the address. Quietly they got into position.
Three men gathered on the stoop and waited for the order to advance. Two others waited near the window in the front, careful to not give their shadows away to those inside. The other men waited outside on the road ready to detain the criminals.
The Unteroffizier gave the signal and the men advanced.
(OOC: For reference the Avadrian soldier (DCS Gear): http://www.us.playstation.com/Content/OGS/SCUS-97402/Site/screenshots/hires4.jpg
http://www.us.playstation.com/Content/OGS/SCUS-97402/Site/screenshots/hires8.jpg )
"You are King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken You, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned You; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger." Mr. Seidman was in the middle of his sermon, he was leading the group in prayer, one that seemed most suitable for the day.
"You are King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof; call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon-" Suddenly the window in the room shattered and two Avadrian soldiers scrambeled in shouting. Then in the hall three other soldiers had barged in, surrounding everyone in the room.
Mr. Seidman tried to continue his prayer above the commotion. The soldiers were shouting and forcibly removing his brothers from the room. Aurther was grabbed by the arm and tossed onto the street with the others. He was immediately handcuffed and forced back onto the ground.
However Aurther was stubborn, he stood up and began another prayer, to comfort the others and intimidate the soldiers.
"Lord Jesus Christ, who willest that no man should perish, and to whom petition is never made without the hope of mercy-"
They turned their weapons on the man, feeling somewhat panicked. "Stop that!" One of the soldiers shouted raising his gun.
"-for Thou saidst with Thine own holy and blessed lips: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, shall be done unto-"
"Stop!" The soldier said, his gun shaking
"-you"; I beg of Thee, O Lord, for Thy holy Name's sake, to grant me at the hour of my death full consciousness and the power of speech, sincere..." The man continued. However the Unteroffizier quickly approached from behind and hit the man with the butt of his gun. The Seidman fell onto his knees grimacing, but he continued.
"Sincere contrition for my sins, true faith, firm hope and perfect charity, that I may be able to say unto Thee with a clean heart..." The Unteroffizier brought his boot down on the back of the mans head, slamming his face against the pavement.
Bloodied but not beaten the man still continued. "Th-thou has redeemed me, O God of truth-" He could hear the Unteroffizier draw his pistol. "-who art blessed for ever and ever..." Seidmen could feel the barrel pointed at his head. He knew that soon he would be in paradise.
"Amen."
The Unteroffizer pulled the trigger, sending a round through the man's head.
The other Christians were in shock but soon began to protest their arrest with prayer. The soldiers quickly subdued them and dragged them off to the checkpoint.
---
On that night, all throughout Avadria, activities similar to this had been going on. Monday morning most every street in Amhurst seemed to have at least one house with broken windows and doors. The morning news was filled with stories about the brilliant move to subdue hundreds of criminals in one night.
At least one network had managed to tag along on one of the late-night raids and got excellent footage, until the soldiers forced them to turn the camera off. The video had been sold and distributed all throughout the networks in Avadria and ran with every story about that night.
----
The only question that was left, was what would become of the criminals?
As the morning sun rose the results of the nights raids could be realized. All through Amhurst houses stood with broken windows and smashed doors. The streets were packed with religious faithful, all under the close surveilance of the military.
It had been decided that the criminals were to be re-educated, so that they may become productive, valued, loyal, citizens of the Empire. To do this, the Avadrian Rail System was closed to all commerical and civillian traffic. The trains being used solely to transport the criminals to the Hinterlands, where camps had been established to educate them about the lies of their religions, the atrocities commited in the name of their God and how they could redeem themselves in the eyes of their nation.
And so it began. Train stations throughout the nation were packed with men, women, and children, torn from their homes at night and forced to board trains taking them to an uncertain fate. Some were lucky and managed to board the passanger cars, but the majority were put into box cars.
The trains departed, beginning the long process of ferrying thousands of the religious faithful to the re-education camps.
The trains lumbered along towards their destination. Swaying on the tracks from the movement of their human cargo. The passengers, whether in the boxcars or the passenger cars, all worried about their fate. However each and everyone had their own faith, their belief in God, that He would save them from the heathens.
This belief would form unlikely treaties amongst the religous faithful. Muslims, Jews, and Christians all found a common ground, one which at times had forged a great divide, but was now uniting them against a common enemy.
Hushed whispers were passed through the trains, speaking of escape and revolution. There were rumors of a revolutionary army in the Hinterlands that supported the faiths and strove to topple the Empire.
Rumors, hopes, and prayers gave the passengers comfort about their uncertain future ahead.
The trains continued on their tracks. The rumoroed revolutionaries that were supposed to free them from their confinement never came. As the trains lumbered onward the flat, grassy, land of the Hinterlands became more populated with an assortment of objects. Roads, checkpoints, a base, and even a town along the way.
These signs of civilization informed the passengers that they were nearing their destination. Soon the trains began to slow, the squeal of the breaks filling the hushed cars. Passengers flocked to the windows and openings, trying to see where they had arrived.
The camp consisted of four complexes of fairly large, gray, almost office-like, buildings, a large parade grounds, as well as a series of large, gray, hangars. The whole facility was surrounded by two, tall, parallel, fences, each six feet apart from each other. The fences were both topped with razor wire, and a set of sensors inside the middle space.
Soldiers raced along the outside of the train, now extracting the prisoners from the boxcars. Those lucky enough to be in the passanger cars witnessed the uncertain, frightened faces of their brethren as they were marched to the gates of the camp. Soon the doors of the passanger cars were opened, several soldiers entering and leading the criminals outside.
The prisoners were led into the camp and immediately funneled into one of the fourteen lines that had been formed on the parade ground. At the head of each line was a series of lab-coated doctors, armed with a syringe and a wealth of needles. They would prick the veins of each prisoner, forcing an unknown substance into their bloodstream. Once that was completed, each one was sent towards the stage assembled just ahead of them.
After the long and arduous process of injecting each and every prisoner at the camp they were all lined up in front of the stage, anxious about what was to come.