NationStates Jolt Archive

General Imro smiled "Yes, the lads have been asking how an older gentleman like myself is doing to be continually followed around by younger attractive women. They think you're sleeping with me for information, I tell them you're sleeping with mr because I'm enourmously endowed."

As usual he stated all that quite matter of factly and it was hard to tell if he was joking, or if he had actually told people that.

"Speaking of your reprieve, how much time do you have left? I assume you'll still be here when I get back?"

"Well you're both wrong." she wasn't in the least bit embarrassed about being the subject of lewd gossip, "I'm sleeping with you because I like you."

She checked her watch, "Well theoretically my number's up some time in the 30 hours or so, but I don't particularly intend to get myself killed, I guess we'll see how smart my sister is tomorrow."

"The best way to carry out a hit is always to study someone's routine and then to lay your ambush somewhere along their usual route. Every day on the base I've headed into Soubath at about Six in the afternoon, and walked into town, then walked back again. Sunset at six, means, if I was her I'd aim to attack on the route back, when it's dark. Not too near the base, not too near town and in an area of hedgerow where there would be no chance of spotting the assailant until late in the piece, and that narrows it down a lot."

Her smile was confident, "I'll still be here when you get back, provided Fradkov and your replacement don't have me sacked."

General Imro frowned "well, I'm glad you know the best way to carry out a hit, it makes me so much more comfortable. Well then, my plane will be arriving tomorrow with my temporary replacement and her assistants. I'm going to go pack.

You'd better be nice to Colonel Al Ismaili, she'll be sure to tell me all of the bad things you've done and about your intransgent. "

He pauses "I'll tell you what, tell Fradkhov and Himmler that the Colpnel will meet them, after I've left. That'll make them happy and give Al Ismaili something to do. Win-win, don't you think?"

Alwood blinked innocently, "Entirely book learning, I assure you. Could you imagine me doing anything violent?"

She could look very innocent if she tried. It was something to do with the eyes.

"Yeah alright." she didn't sound quite convinced about letting the Colonel speak to the people in Cyro, "As long as your fill in doesn't decide to sack me I'm fine with that idea. If they replaced me you'd find things a lot less interesting around here, although probably a bit more predictable."

"Do you want me to help you pack? I'm feeling charitable." she offered.

"Yes, I can imagine you being quite violent. Your packaging may be deceptive, but I'm certain that you are quite capable of shockingly violent actions if the need arises." He smiled "Don't worry, no one is going to fire you, except me. I've made sure of that."

He turns and shrugs "If by help you mean do most of the work, then by all means. A General shouldn't have to pack his own bags."

"Well truthfully" she responded, "I'm developing something I've heard called a 'conscience', it makes it increasingly difficult to hurt people, especially when you realise a lot of them have families. When I go out there I'm going to try very hard not to do anyone any permanent damage."

She smiled, looking like she was fighting off the urge to laugh as Imro renewed his attempts to get her to pack his bags, "It's equally as unheard of for a Commisaar to do somebody else's menial tasks. Felix always was concerned that you might try to use me in a less than professional manner. So yes, I'll help you, but it is purely because I'm such a nice person."

As it so happened, she would end up doing most if not all of Imro's packing, despite her vehement protests.

Imro was grudgingly greatful for the packing, though he seemed to think that a General should have to say 'thank you' either.

The next morning the Marathion Transport arrived carrying Colonel Ismaili and a pair of 'Auditors' as well as a full load of Retaliatory Guard gear for the new 'Desert Lions' elite unit that the Colonel would no doubt organize in some manner.

The Colonel is a middle aged woman of apparently moorish descent with dark, dark skin and suprisingly light brown hair. Dressed as Imro usually is, long coat, full battlegear, but without a gun, instead she carries a foot and a half long 'stick' finely carved and capped with steel on either end. Unlike Imro she alights from the transport smiling and apparently cheerful, pleased to see General Imro.

Imro simply nods stubbornly and makes introductions "Colonel Ismaili this is liason to the Foreign Guard Inspector Zara Alwood. She had been moderately helpful so far and cautiously trustworthy.'

The Colonel nods "Pleased to meet you Inspector."

General Imro smiles "I'll leave you two to get acquainted ." he then leaves to wrangle up men to unload the transport and carry his bags aboard as well as to speak with the 'Auditors' privately, neither of which are introduced to anyone.

The Colonel looks around and pauses to clean her sunglasses "Well, why don't you show me the camp then Inspector?"

Alwood's good mood hadn't vanished the following day either, despite the fact that she was facing the threat of murder. It was always possible that was what was keeping her so cheerful of course, she was a strange girl...

Cautiously trustworthy she analysed the comment and decided she'd treat it, for the time being as a backhanded compliment.

"A pleasure Colonel, may I be the first to extend a warm welcome to Dyelli Beybi." her tone was formal, she had decided that today it probably wouldn't go down to well if she flirted with Imro. She wanted to keep a professional image, at least until she got to know what this newcomer was like.

"Show you the camp? Right..." it was at this moment that Alwood realised she really didn't know her way around the camp at all, Imro had said something about standard Republican Guard design when they'd been putting the plans to the contractors, but she really had no idea what that meant.

She decided it was probably best not to bluff it, "I apologise in advance but I don't necessarily know my way around here brilliantly, I'm based in the Officer's Quarters, and occasionally wander over to the General's Office, having been here less than a Week I havn't really had time to explore."

Nevertheless she did a valiant job, managing to point out most of the main features of the camp. Including the mess hall which she'd never visited (although she refrained from comenting on the quality of the food). One thing that was abundantly clear was that the local recruits quite openly disliked her, earning herself more than enough dark glances.

Colonel Ismail raised her eyebrows in alarm "You mean you haven't mapped the camp and put it in a report to your Cheka Superiors?" she clicked her tongue "Very sloppy work Investigator."

Like General Imro she was very interested in any areas currently occupied by Foreign Guard soldiers and stopped to observe them, and quietly introduce herself to them if they weren't too occupied or when at rest between drills and exercises. She seemed quieter and much more stand-offish than General Imro , but appeared, at least on the outside, to be much more observant than he.

"Funny you should mention it, but I'm not actually reporting everything back to HQ." Alwood replied quite amicably, "Sure I was put here as opposed to a Diplomatic liason so that I could keep an eye on the Guard, but I am my own person, not some mindless tool of the State. Not everything I do is the whim of Felix Dzerzhinsky."

She wondered if she might have been a little too honest in her answer, but it was already said now, there was no point worrying about it.

Colonel Ismaili nodded "No, of course not. I wasn't suggesting that. " even though she obviously was.

"Tell me then inspector, what do you do here then? General Imro has never been one to delegate too much authority, or to meet with politicians, it seems like if you aren't gathering intelligence for the Cheka that you you aren't doing much of anything? Extended vacation perhaps?

Tell me if I'm being nosy, although I wil still expect an answer, I already know that I'm nosy."

"Yes you were." Alwood replied, but without any hint of annoyance, "Half the people in this camp think I'm a poorly disguised spy, why should you think otherwise? It's so blindingly obvious that I should be one."

"Basically I'm a glorified clerk." she ventured as an explanation as to her continued prescense on camp, not going into anything too personal, "I help to coordinate with Dyellian companies, such as the contractors who put this place together and with the weapons manufacturers. I am basically here to facilitate the smooth running of this place and make sure you don't get caught up in any number of District Plans or County Bylaws."

That made it sound like she was doing something, at least to her ears, "Furthermore I am on call as a cultural advisor if need be. I make sure nobody accidentally upsets the locals too much."

"Admitedly, I have been becoming idle some of the time, with the issues of pay for the contractors resolved. I am though on a Dyellian State salary, as I am not being paid by the Guard, any questions of the continued profitability of my work here can be ignored." she concluded, just in case Ismaili had considered firing her, despite Imro's assurances.

Ismaili smiled "I see." She continued her 'tour' without any more comment and then headed back to the transport that had been unloaded and General Imro's things loaded in and the troops assembled so that General Imro could speak with them briefly. Most of them knew he was leaving for a vacation, he had told his men before he told Alwood.

He stood near the ramp up to the Marathon and motioned for the Colonel and Alwood to come to him and made the following announcement to his men.

"As you all know, I am taking some mandatory vacation time and will be gone for approximately six weeks. I have requested and received Colonel Al Ismaili as my temporary replacement." He stops and motions to Ismaili "I expect you to listen to and obey her better than you listen to and obey me. Colonel Al Ismaili will also be responsible for selecting candidates among you for special assignment to an elite battalion of the Foreign Guard and beginning your advanced training.

Good luck lads, behave while I'm gone."

With that he saluted and slapped Ismaili on the shoulder and turned to Alwood "You behave too, if you cause any trouble, I'll know about it."

He then boards the transport and is off.

"It's not like I try to make trouble." Alwood protested as Imro departed, "It more follows me around."

She was a bit cagey, not particularly wanting the new Colonel to know anything about the problems of her past. She watched the transport leaving, with an unreadable expression. After is was out of sight she switched her attention back to Ismaili, "Is there anything further you need from me for now? There is a Cheka Officer who wanted to speak to the General, he suggested you might wish to go in his place. I can organise that for some time later in the week if you want?"

Colonel Ismaili simply nodded inscrutably "That would be fine."

She then stalked off to 'correct' General Imro's training 'errors' and to pick those she thought were most worthy for service in an elite battalion. It also became readily apparent what her wooden staff was for, correction. She was much quieter than Imro, lurking much more, but quick to jump in and correct the troops in training, she was authoratative and seemed only to have harsh words for the men, often in their native arabic. She certainly displayed the ability to break a man down and make him cry.

Colonel Ismaili seemed to move so quickly and silently as to blend in, often appearing unexpectedly and simply watching, often with a disapproving look on her face. It was creepy.

Observation of the Colonel over the day had Alwood concluding they probably would not get along. The D'Regs were an odd lot, quite a lot more aggressive than the Dyellians, somehow she thought this new approach to whiping them into shape might backfire. Unless is was some clandestine tactic to make the troops like Imro more.

Either way it didn't concern her, and in reality, despite her story about how much work she did she had next to none on her plate at the moment. So instead she made herself scarce, after contacting Fradkov.

Fradkov wasn't happy with being told she could meet with Ismaili, fobbing off the suggestion of a meeting with, "I'm far too busy Commisaar, I'll send a letter."

That evening, Alwood wandered off away from the camp again. She returned uncharacteristically late, and at first glance looked to be drunk (she had stayed quite sober since moving to the camp). At second glance though, it was clear she was bleeding from her right shoulder, with thin streams of blood snaking down her arm to drip slowly from her finger tip.

Rather than doing the sensible thing and going to see a medical orderly, she talked one of the recruits into doing a bit of home surgery on her in the dubious comfort of her own quarters... it probably wasn't the best first impression she'd ever made.

OOC: Jolt ate my first post, atempt #2

IC: Colonel Ismaili decided to ignore the whole incident, but Alwood certainly got the feeling that the whole series of events was being watched. The 'Auditors' that had arrived with the Colonel hadn't been seen again, but the whole camp now had a bit of an uneasy feeling to it.

That evening after Alwood had been returned and patched up Colonel Ismaili mingled with some of the soldiers speaking to them in low tones in arabic, determined to find those unsympathetic to the Cheka and to Dyelli Beybi in general, but without actually saying it.

It seemed like the Old Man of the Mountain had sent down one of his Hasshishans and she was now making vague indirect inquiries attached to promises of better things to come.Despite her earlier harshness, the troops would soon realize that she was most accomodating to those that obeyed and more importantly to those that showed themselves useful in some manner. The Colonel made an obvious effort to distance herself from Retaliatory Guard apparatus and try and decipher the tribal structures of General Imro's troops, and then of course ingraciate herself within it.

The D'Regs were essentially a nomadic people. Before the twentieth century they had had only one city, Quisa, with small farming communities established around the few Oasises in the desert with other groups existing as roving bands of traders, brigands and mercenaries. Their women children, camels and goats would travel with the tribe. Historically they had spent quite a bit of time raiding the agrarian Dyellian culture along the river Djel as well as each other.

This had all come to a stop in the 18th and 19th century, when the much better organised Dyellian army had conquered the tribes and in 1799 overun Quisa, although the D'Regs were still busily fighting the Dyellians right up into the early 20th century.

The D'Regs were traditionally much more agressive than their Dyellian neighbours, and were still regarded as better soldiers. The only reason Dyelli Beybi wasn't the 'D'Reg Emirite' was because the D'Regs were too disorganised and were just as ready to fight each other as outsiders. Their only true loyalty was to their tribe. The tribes were usually no bigger than a couple of hundred people, most of whom were related.

One thing that was clear was that the general feeling of hostility shown towards Alwood wasn't because she was Cheka so much. It was pure racism. She was a Dyellian, one of the wretched, yellow bellied crocodile worshipers from the River Valley. The Cheka was seen as an institution of the same crocodile worshiping sons of camels. Their were D'Regs in the Cheka, but they had just sold themselves out to the treacherous western dogs with their strange notions of 'Socialism' and 'Republicanism'.

The truth was, the D'Regs viewed themselves as racially superior to everyone else in the world, the Dyellians had more or less the same feelings, but were generally more polite and tended to keep the feelings private.

While the Colonel was busy finding all this out. Alwood did more or less nothing apart from shuffling a few papers around on her desk. Although it was clear was she in a good mood, she kept to herself. The visits to town stopped as well and she had started eating with the rest of the troops, although she tended to sit on her own, away from everyone else.

The letter also arrived from Fradkov. Alwood handed it over, and had probably read it first, although the envelope was aparently unopened. It was fairly long and quite polite, explaining that Fradkov had just taken over Cheka Sub Department One and was somewhat worried as to why her predescesor had chosen to send such an unpredictable liason. She described Alwood frankly as "something of a liability". The letter was finished with a polite suggestion that the Guard might profit better from a trained liason without so many enemies.

Colonel Al Ismaili came from the clannish society of the Moorish Barbary Pirates that still held to their own enclaves along the southern coast of Ilek-Vaad and knew how to operate in such restrictive environs.

She first began by offering tangible rewards for soldiers that improved their performance ot showed exceptional loyalty to the Guard. She personally rewarded such candidates with Turkish Tabriz prayer rugs, gilded coffee sets and decanters, hookah pipes with premium apricot and apple flavored tabaccos and the highest reward- beautifully forged scimitars, with blades of damascus steel, hand forged by the legendary Yusuf family in Ilek-Vaad.

The Scimitars were reserved for those she began selecting for the elite 'Desert Lions' Battalion. They also received Retaliatory Guard kits with the reactive camoflaged long coats, ceramite armoured vests and helmets and the modified FN-Minimi with it's under the barrel grenade launcher and caseless ammunition.

She replaced the horse hair comb on the helmets used for parade with a lion headed knob with long tassles resembling the long ends of turbans and programmed the parade colours of their uniforms to black with gold piping, making them look like modern day Janissaries.

She also instuted a program to pay for the travel expenses of families that wished to visit their sons and daughters on base on the weekends, and had gifts ready for the families when they arrived. Colonel Ismaili was still critical and harsh during training, but she balanced it with extreme generosity and respect outside of training, much like a tribal chieftan........................

Colonel Ismaili simply ignored Fradhkov's letter, smiling at Alwood "You don't seem to be very popular with anyone I've spoken to yet, except for General Imro."

"I'm an anachranism." Alwood explained, "In these more peaceful days the Cheka are begining to feel I'm not quite as useful as I used to be. For a while they felt I was attractive enough to get diplomats talking."

She shrugged, unconcerned, "Half of them believe I'm a traitor to the country. Then there's the natural dislike of Dyellians you find among this lot, and the fact that I'm Cheka doesn't help things along. I generally get along with most of the Cheka though, bar the senior officers."

Who were probably the people she really needed to get on with.

The campaign to win over the D'Regs was exactly the way to get into a D'Reg's heart, although probably not the way to get to the small group of Benjians and Dyellians on base, who were becoming isolated (not that there were many of them). Some of them had even taken to hanging around with the local Commisaar. She was quite an agreeable person, if given the chance.

Colonel Ismaili laughed "Is that so? Then you need to re-invent yourself. Show your detractors that you aren't a one trick pony." she paused and contemplated the clouds "Unless of course you are a one trick pony, then you just need a different line of work, someplace that still needs your trick."

Colonel Ismaili laughed at odd times. She seemed to have a sense of humour that made her appreciate others suffering and make it amusing. Alwood's career plight struck her as comical.

"Maybe this is the right place for you then." She said off handedly as she stalked off.

Most Vaadians thought that racial and cultural differences were pointless and would simply dismiss them rather than exploit them. But Ismaili knew better. With the D'reg's suitably gathering in loyalty, she turned her attention to the Benjian and the Dyellians, probing them to see how they reacted to her suddenly increased interest and see what motivated them.

Alwood gave Ismaili a suspicious look as she departed, she failed to see wat was so funny about her situation. Then again, the Colonel didn't know she would probably be murdered by the Navy if she left the Cheka... it still wasn't funny though. Since meeting Imro her life had gone downhill, not that she regretted meeting him. These days she seemed to be lurching from one crisis to another, each time buying a few more days, or weeks of survival, it was all very frustrating, if people would just leave her alone life would be so much simpler... well most people left her alone.

Interestingly enough traditionally the Benjians, a small Malayan type people got on worse with the Dyellians than the D'Regs did, however with such small numbers of them they had formed an uneasy Alliance of sorts. There was a reason Dyelli Beybi had seperate Armies for the different races, they wanted them fighting the enemy rather than each other.

The Dyellians were a somewhat laid back people. 'Lazy' was a word often used to describe them. Like the D'Regs they were deeply spiritual, although mostly Roman Catholic. In fact the cultures were very similar. The main difference was that the Dyellians built cities and farmed, and were generally a lot less agressive than their nomadic neighbours... and of course the Dyellians looked different, a lot more European.

The Benjians on the other hand were generally hot headed, and tended to neglect many of the small details when looking at a situation, immediately leaping at the first answer that sprung to mind. This amazing trait had been well demonstrated in a series of massive blunders while invading Dyelli Beybi some years previously. Like the Dyellians, the Benjians were generally Roman Catholic, although took their religion a lot less seriously than their Eastern neighbours.

Unlike the Dreg's neither the Benjians nor the Dyellians tended to hold grudges for particularly long, they'd sulk for a bit, then be quite cheerful the next day.... on most matters at least. If you insulted a Dyellian's religion or family he/she was likely to be plotting your painful death.

Colonel Ismaili shrugged as Alwood headed off, and the returned to her duties. She was quite pleased that no one in Dyelli-Beybi wanted to meet with her, it left her more free time. This was shaping up to be like a vacation for her as well.

Colonel Ismaili made sure that offers to pay for travel expenses for visiting family for the Dyellian and Benjians. With the Dyellians she took the type of approach that generally broke any cycle of laziness, she made sure that they always had something to do, and if they slacked off at a task or did not complete it, their tasks were doubled. They weren't just busy tasks but she gave them tasks and duties that were actaully fairly important, tasks that made others in the camp rely on them, so they would have angry friends and D'regs if they slacked off or didn't perform well.

With the hotheaded Benjians she simply let them go at it. Whipping them into a frenzy during training and praising their energy and decisiveness, but at the same time giving them more help with decision making, honing their intuition so that their snap decisions would be less harmful and more conditioned.

The Dyellians were probably the only ones who would remain disatisfied, although the Colonel would rapidly discover the Benjians had a tendency towards uncontrolled acts of shocking violence towards anyone who got in their way, civilian, military, inoffensive or otherwise. They had committed some rather apalling atrocities during the Civil War, but then again the Dyellians had been nearly as bad when they crossed the border into Fasta Benj later that year, some people might say worse. The Benjians were cruel on the spur of the moment, the Dyellians thought about it first.

Meanwhile the local Commisaar was doing a good job at flying below the radar. It was unclear if she was doing anything at all or just reading books in her quarters. In fact she was in contact with DBFC who had told her they had redone a new model of tank for the General to look at, and slashed production costs, which immediately made Alwood suspicious of what they had taken out. She didn't tell Ismaili about it, deciding it should really be left for Imro when he got back.

As the weeks progressed the sling came off, she had recovered quickly from what had been quite a messy wound. Otherwise things were quiet on base, while outside the Dyelli Beybians went about their daily lives.

Uncontrolled and shocking acts of vioence were nothing new to most Retaliatory Guardsmen. Just about all of them had been deployed alongside Jaguars and Panthers and Red Jaguars, among whom many had a penchant for slaughter dismemberment and quite possibly cannibalism. Shocking violence was fine, so long as it was directed where Retaliatory Guard Command wanted it. Terror, has an od way of shortening conflicts, but lengthing occupations,maybe that's why the Retaliatory Guard never occupied conquered territories?

Colonel Ismaili was pleased with her progress, as were the 'Auditors'.The 'Auditors' had quietly and well out of sight set up counter spying measures, installing listening devices in every room and even outside, equipment to pickup out going transmissions and to monitor calls entering and leaving the base, motion sensiteve cameras at strategic points. None of it very noticeable and all very well hidden. What the Vaadians lacked in human inteligence, they always tried to fill with technology.

General Imro would be on his way back, at just about the same time as the proverbial sh*t hit the fan in Karmanyaka, making the Foreign Guard a bit suspicious in the eyes of the Fedeartion and the Dyellian Government, to say the least.

The Cheka were one of the most highly organised Intelligence Networks in Klatch, probably the world. The problem with hunting sleepers was the fact that they actually weren't doing anything apart from waiting for a signal and the preferred Cheka method of passing an activation signature was a coded message in the media, usually a newspaper. Most sleepers barely thought about their other job and certainly never mentioned it. Any agents on base would definitely be sleepers at this stage.

They were nearly as hard to ferret out when they activated at least with techno gadgets. The Cheka was a very low tech spy agency on the whole; messages were usually passed by otherwise innocuous keywords in emails or letters home, while most members of an information gathering team would only know the identity of the agent who currently ran them, who would be someone in a nearby Cheka Office. It would not be impossible to catch a Cheka agent given enough time, the problem was it was easier for them to plant a new one than it was a ferret one out.

Someone on base though, did have a few spook gadgets hanging about their person, Alwood. While she definitely wasn't transmitting anything off base, any bugs around her quarters had a tendency to end up 'mysteriously malfunctioning'. It quite possibly wasn't the wisest way not to excite suspicion, but Zara Alwood had a certain tendency to act more out of emotion than good common sense.

Karmanyaka was the first real shift in the way the Dyellian Government acted towards the Foreign Guard. While they didn't say anything, and let everything continue as usual, several Republican Army and D'Reg Army Divisions had moved into proximity of the base. It was cause for alarmed mutterings among the troops; nobody wanted to fight one's own people after all. Alwood was the only one who didn't seem in the slightest bit phased by the whole business, she had gone far beyond caring,

"Sooner or later." she informed Ismaili one day, shortly before Imro returned, "There will be that war everyone is so worried about and the Dyellians will be down on this place like a tonne of bricks, and don't give me that crap about how you'll win, because you won't, you'll be grossly outnumbered, surrounded and without supplies or air support, plus everyone knows the United Republics treats prisoners well, and you probably would not believe how that can impact on morale; when surrender becomes a viable option. It’s slightly different for me though, I'll be offered a cigarette and stood against a wall on some nice sunny morning, so you'll pardon me if I slip away quietly into the night if things get that bad, I have no particular interest to die in some pointless little war."

She was lying, maybe if things had heated up before Imro returned she would have done a vanishing act. But they didn't, and with Imro back she would hang around like a loyal pet, no matter how bad things got.

General Imro had in fact returned. He was briefed by Colonel Ismaili who had completed a three volume refence set on who the Foreign Guard were, in an ethnic sense, and how best to treat each group. It was as much a socialogical examination as it was a military report. Vaadians always felt that technology, coupled with understanding and hard facts yielded the best results in overcoming any issue, like the loyalty of the Foreign Guard.

Colonel Ismaili left along with one of the 'Auditors' the other one had simply vanished. Genral Imro seemed pleased to have returned. He cornered Alwood upon arrival.

"Well, how did things go? What do you think of Colonel Ismaili's little 'reforms' ?"

He also did more to ingratiate himself with the D'regs. He put the Desert Lions in charge of camp security and quickly elevated all of their ranks to that of Leftenant, a move usually reserved for Red Jaguar units.

With the Dyellian armies moving in so close he also decided to invite Dyellian military leaders, the leaders of those armies now so close to the Foreign Guard base, to come and tour the base. He also urged his D'reg troops to contact any family and friends they had in those armies to insure that some lines of communication stayed open and to reassure his men that the Foreign Guard were intersted in regional stability and not in fighting any forces of the United Republics.

He also, on Ismaili's advice, attempted to set up meetings with the elders of the D'reg clans that were represented in the Foreign Guard. Ismiali was certain that support of the tribal and clan elders would insure the sucess of the Guard and in boosting D'reg membership and loyalty.

"Colonel Ismaili is the very model of professionalism." Alwood replied, giving no indication of 'how things went' or of a view of Ismaili's reforms.

She looked shifty, her eyes wandering the room rather than focusing on Imro, "If you would care to step outside for a moment General, I think there is something you need to see."

Imro would find the D'Reg tribes didn't really have elders. They hold old people, they also had a Tribe leader, who was generally the wealthiest person in the Tribe (traditionally it had been the best fighter in the Tribe), with all the associated in fighting problems. They also didn't tend to listen to the leader an awful lot. He was more there to yell 'charge' when they were getting ready to pillage something. It was this rampant disorganisation that had helped the D'Regs to fall to the bottom of the pile in the Djel Valley.

The Dyellian "Genorale Maggiores" in Command of the nearby Divisions all politely refused the invitations, although the only full Genorale in the area. A Genorale Soult, happily accepted. Imro might recall Alwood's somewhat unflattering description of Soult, saying he was more interested in food than fighting.

Imro looked at Alwood suspiciously "Outside? Is it a bear eating a doughnut? or are you finally going to kill me? I'll scream if you touch me."

He said that with a grin and followed Alwood outside.

He also kept his invitation to Generale Soult, he also made sure that Alwood lined up a five-star caterer and made sure that she wouldn't be there, he didn't want the Inspector making the Generale nervous. He did make sure that his best trained and best behaved 'Desert Lions' to accompany him, to show what well trained and motivated D'regs looked like. Hopefully the dinner would send the message that he didn't want to be an adversary to the Dyellian armed forces and that he was a positive influence on the D'regs in general.

"Outside." she explained once outside and away from any troops or buildings, "Because someone has been bugging the base while you've been away and as they say, the walls have ears."

"To answer your previous question, Ismaili, has done a good job to get the D'Regs happy, but it will take more to get the others all rosy. Her 'elites' have D'Regs only written all over them, and why she'd name them after vermin is lost on me."

Desert lions had long been regarded as vermin by the Dyellians who saw absolutely nothing noble about the animals and found their attacks on farm animals distinctly annoying. Of course the D'Regs viewed things differently...

"As for me, I'm fine, I got shot in the shoulder, but it's healing up nicely, oh and DBFC Auto has your new tank ready."

General Imro chuckled "Of course the base has been bugged, I requested it. I can listen to and see everything in and around the base from the computer in my office. This is a military base ,it's called security. I'll bet the microphones installed on the outside of the buildings is catching this conversation right now." He pauses and looks around "Although I have absolutely no idea where they are, and I don't see anything that looks new?"

He shrugged and chuckled some more "Well the D'regs have shown something the others haven't, loyalty and aptitude. It's no accident that nearly 70% of the Retaliatory Guard is Tolteca, it's not racism, they just happen to be the best motivated and best qualified. The D'regs appear to be your nations Tolteca. The Retaliatory Guard and by extension, the Foreign Guard is a pure meritocracy, those who choose to excel do so, tell your Dyellian friends that. I understand that Ismaili gave them increased responsibilities and duties? If they slack off at them or don't perform they will never advance."

He looked a bit shocked at the mention of the shooting and the tank "New tank you say? Is it any good or are they going to show me something that's unusable again? Your sisters aim must be off."

"Oh well thats a relief then, by the way if you try to bug my quarters, I'll make sure you regret it." she threatened.

"And no the Dyellians here aren't my friends, they're my people, there is a slight difference. The D'Regs in many respects are more foreign that well... you." she gave a slight smile, "And that's foreign."

She shrugged when Imro commented that D'Etiene's aim had been off, "Incorrect. In fact I imagine she was aiming to debilitate me, then finish me off more slowly. Unfortunately nobody told her I'm ambidextrous. We have reached an agreement, she's going North, leaving the country and leaving me alone for the time being."

"As for the tank." she shrugged again, "Wouldn't know. I havn't looked at it and wouldn't know what I was looking for if I did."

"Well it's good that you and your sister have reached an agreement." He paused "And what about Himmler and Fradkhov? Did you arrange for Ismaili to handle them? "

He headed off again before even getting an answer "Well, let's arrange to go see this new tank and get ready to show Generale Soult the base. If you have any suggestions on how to handle him, that would be appreciated as well."

"Soult isn't the kind of man you handle, I worked with him during the Revolution. On the outside he looks like the jolly fat Generale, but inside he'll be planning how to wipe you out, don't doubt it for a second, Soult fights the elves, he has zero concept of notions such as the Geneva Convention, mercy or moral values. During the Revolution Soult ate a dead Corporal when the rations ran out" Alwood gave a slight half smile, "And even I don't stoop to cannibalism."

"Oh and he'll probably bring Fraser Morris along as well, I hear that pair are as thick as thieves these days. Morris is something of a legend, rumour has it he fought his way out of an elven ambush armed only with a small knife for peeling fruit... although that might be slightly exagerated."

She gave a sudden wide cheeky grin that suggested she quite possibly knew exactly how to handle Soult, but wasn't about to let on, "Well have a nice evening with the jolly Genorale, I'm supposed to be disapearing before he shows up."

General Imro raised an eyebrow "I think that you are holding out on me, are you trying to extort an admission that I need to have you at dinner to handle Soult? How would it look to the Generale if I had the Cheka sitting in at dinner, especially when make nice with him and get him to promise to betray his country at my command?"

He pauses and chuckles "Cannibal eh? That's no big deal, the 9th Red Jaguar Command are rumoured to resort to cannibalism, when rations are still available, though they usually eat the enemy after hideous torture. That's how the rumour goes anyhow. I'd never eat anything lower than a Leftenant."

"Still, have you noticed that when you are around your fellow country men clma up and immediately refuse to be jovial? I want to have a friendly dinner with Soult. Let him plan to destry me. I'm making plans of my own." He smiled wolfishly.

"No I'm not." she smiled again, "To be honest I'd rather not see Soult right now. As my dear Uncle used to say... actually I won't say that, it doesn't make me popular. Oh by the way, Soult never jokes, he makes things sound like a joke but they're not."

She didn't wait for a reply, spinning on her heel and waving coquettishly as she departed, "Have a nice evening. If you need me I'm in Soubath."

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That evening Soult arrived with a pair of Bersaglieri Stormtroopers and a Single Voltigeur Tenente Colonello. Soult was short even for a Dyellian and quite rotund. He wore his uniform with style though, pulling the field grey with jackboots off quite well. The Voltigeur did not, he was at least 6 feet tall, a giant amongst the Dyelli Beybians with a scar on his left cheek, with the blonde hair and blue eyes he was unmistakeable. He wasn't even wearing dress uniform, camouflage fatigues (river pattern) with a blue beret. He didn't stick around, leaving the base almost as soon as he'd set foot on it, walking on foot in the direction of Soubath, the only town in the area.

"Genorale!" Soult's moustachioed face split in a wide smile, "It is a pleasure to meet you at last, although at such a poor time for Dyelli Beybi and Ilek Vaad eh?"

"Pardon the Tenente Colonello, he is a very sulky man." the eyes glittered with feral humour.

"Well, I hope he can take a joke." He says as Alwood heads off.

*****

General Imro saluted Soult politely and offered his hand for a firm, quick handshake.

"The pleasure is all mine Generale, I've heard a lot about you. I wouldn't think that it's such a bad time for the Free Republic and the United Socialist Republics. I would think that your government would be pleased by our committment to actively support the legal, elected governments of states friendly to us. Of course that is all politics."

Imro was dressed as usual, in combat gear, which when cleaned and polished up made a rather acceptable dress uniform. He watched the Tenente Colonello wander off and nodded.

"I see. " He pauses and looks to his Leftenants "I dare say that I'm a bit too much of a stickler for protocol to allow my officers to wander off without first asking permission. That's neither here nor there. Why don't we give you a tour of the base?"

"None of it good I would imagine." Soult had the grip of someone who cracked Brazil nuts with his fingers.

"What my Government feels about Democracy is immaterial. Half the time what my Government feels is entirely immaterial when faced with the whim of the President."

"Although the big question that hangs over the situation is is this an attack to preserve the democratic process or an attack to preserve an Allied State willing to do one's bidding?" Soult chuckled as he shruged.

"But what do I know? I am just a simple soldier. To me democracy looks like any other system, except you get to choose your own power hungry maniac to rule you. Lead on, show me this base of yours."

"Morris is an interesting man." Soult said as he walked, not bothering to explain who Morris was, although one could probably guess, "I give him an order to do something and he'll do it. If I tell him how to do something, he'll entirely ignore me. He'll come up with the same result, but he'll always do things the way he sees fit. I don't particularly care he's a good soldier and the third best tracker I have ever worked with... although one of them is dead so I guess he moves into the number two spot."

General Imro shrugs as they walk "The Free Republic rarely acts to preserve non-democracies, we may not act to hasten their demise, but we rarely act to prop them up. There are always exceptions in the sphere of politics."

He shows Soult around and points out the various buildings and their various functions and takes Soult through them , it is a tour, which is all that can be said, Imro doesen't embellish on anyhthing he just lays it out as it is.

He nods as Soult explains Morris'* temperment "That is intriguing, Retaliatory Guard doctrine stresses the importance of the individual soldiers initiative and creativity. In the Guard we rarely even think of how our orders are carried out. We know that they will be carried out. Of course when you have three plus years to train a man, you generally know how he's going to react in a given situation with a given set of orders."

They pause at for the longest time at the Desert Lions shooting range, where the Lions are convienantly practicing. They are prone, their active camoflage jackets blending in perfectly with the sand beneath them as they chew at armoured target plates with their FN-Minimi's.

General Imro simply pauses for a long moment to smile at the tearing noise of the 5.56x45mm tungsten cored AP rounds shredding through APC armour. He takes a deep breath and turns to Soult.

"Dinner, Generale?"

* Of course you know that Morris is inherently linked in my mind to the aged Morris Dancer in the Black Adder..................

"Politics is a dirty game for thieves and liars." Soult commented, "If it wasn't for politics Dyelli Beybi would be a much nicer place, but there is always some bastard who wants a bigger slice of the pie."

He looked a little dubious at the choice of weapon for the desert lions, but didn't comment directly, "Out in D'Reg country the sand gets into everything. It itches, it scratches, it clogs up machinery. Our very own SSA-1801 may not be the best rifle in the world, but it has one thing going for it, you can drag it through the swamps of Cyro then throw it down the side of a sand dune and the bastard will still fire... nice capes though."

"Dinner you say?" he patted his stomach gratefully, "Of course General, I would never be quite the man I was if I refused a meal, I shall have one of my men collect your gift from the car, what's on the menu by the way?"

Soult's 'car' was not really a car at all. It was a windowless limousine, with a tinted glass slit instead of a windscreen, with rubberised tracks in the place of rear wheels. The Dyellians called it the NFEV-1 ('Nuclear Fallout Escape Vehicle 1'). They had been making them for over 20 years, and had never quite finished Mark 2, which was supposed to be an ambulance.

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

Meanwhile no more than a mile or so West, Fraser Morris was tracking his quarry, or at least he thought he was, right up until the moment he rounded the corner of a dry stone wall and heard the click of a safety catch being eased off a pistol, "Soult said you were good, he said you'd be able to smell me coming."

"Yep." the woman he'd been tracking stepped out from the shadows, even in darkness she was immensely attractive, more so than he'd imagined from Soult's description of her. It was something about the eyes, "So why have you been following me, Fraser Morris?"

"How do you know who I am?" he asked instead.

"Don't be stupid, of course I know who you are, the 'elf killer'." she waved the pistol dismisively, "Besides, you arrived with Soult, what's he want with me?"

"How do you know I wasn't just following you because you're a pretty girl?" Morris grinned.

"Because I'm wearing a Cheka uniform, nobody who wants to come back from their evening in one piece follows a Cheka agent." Morris noticed the gun dropping a little, she wasn't expecting him to attack, "Anyway, you havn't answered the question, and don't say anything stupid like Soult wants you dead, because I know full well he doesn't."

"Dead no, it rhymes with dead..."

"Thank you. Little did I know I was in the prescence of Dyelli Beybi's greatest comedian." Alwood snickered.

The gun had dropped further, and Morris took that as his cue, his arm lunged out, catching her wrist and wrestling her arm behind her back, she grunted in protest, but he had the sense that she hadn't panicked, "Now I'm not going to hurt you, but I really, really don't like having a gun pointed at me."

There was a sharp prick at his waist, "...or a dagger pressed into my stomach, shall we put the weapons aside and talk like mature adults?"

She laughed, he could feel the laughter ripple across her back, "Oh that's funny, no I prefer my idea, you'll release me and I'll put my gun away."

"I'm the one who's got you in an arm lock." Morris protested.

"And here I was thinking it was a lover's embrace, let me go, I'm not planning to hurt you either, I don't kill heroes."

He released her arm, and watched as she stepped away, holstering the pistol and sheathing the dagger, "Well?" she demanded, "What's Soult got to say for himself?"

"You're in trouble."

"What's new." she was fiddling with her hair, taking the tie out and drawing it back into a new pattern.

"The old rat is resigning, Fradkov is taking over."

Morris was rewarded to see the girl look completely stunned for a moment, "Yeah that's trouble alright, she's in with Adelle Collins isn't she?"

Morris nodded, "Yep."

"And how did Soult find out?" she demanded suspiciously.

"Reilly."

"What?" Alwood just about choked, "But he's in with Collins as well."

"Not anymore." Morris smiled knowingly, "The male of the species you will find is a funny creature. He may worship the female, but when he realises she has been turning him against all he holds dear, and really doesn't give a toss about him, tends to become angry."

"So he figured out she was using him." Alwood concluded, "That's nice, and how do I come in?"

"Reilly as you well know, is good friends with Quentin, and Quentin has told Reilly you are absolutely the best, indispensable agent on the force, and to make sure Fradkov doesn't try anything funny... in other words Reilly has promised to protect you so long as you keep loyal to the Revolution."

"The Revolution?" Alwood offered a wry smile, "What's that?"

"A load of crap." Morris replied, "What I think he means is stay loyal to the democratic process. He's worried we'll see something akin to a new Tzar."

"What of Soult?"

"He loves Democracy. 'The Chancellor is a bastard, but at least he's a bastard we all chose'." Morris quoted, with a slight smile, "Sorry to have to barge in on you like this, we'd been meaning to tell you quietly over dinner, but well, you not being there and all did put a bit of a dampener on that plan."

"Have I made you miss out on dinner?" she sounded genuinely apologetic, "Hey on the plus side, Imro's cook is rubbish, Soult will be heart broken."

"The poor soul."

"Hey we can still get dinner in town, there's a pleasant little French Restaurant. I would take Imro there, but I don't think he'd 'get it', and he's such a barbarian when it comes to the bill... you're paying by the way."

"How do you 'get' a Restaurant?" Morris mused, then the rest of the sentence seemed to intrude on his brain, "What? I didn't even say I'd come."

"You'll come, because my company is much more interesting that some stuffy Military Officers, just don't get any ideas and start sending me flowers or anything. If you have to send me gifts of love, send food."

General Imro just smiled at Soult's comments, but made no reply, he simply led him to the private dining facilities that he had set up especially for Generale Soult's visit.

At the mention of a gift General Imro looked suprised "I don't think it was necessary to bring me any sort of gift." He paused and smiled slyly "It's not a Cheka agent is it? We already have one of those."

Obviously Alwood had forgotten about the caterers that were preparing the meal, it wasn't going to be the usual camp fare. Imro had requested a 'rich' spread of typical Dyellian cuisine, hopefully that wouldn't include suspicious meat pies and sausages, but he wasnt holding his breath.

A rich spread of Dyellian cuisine tended to involve somewhat less suspicious pies than what Alwood was accustomed to (at least the stuff caterers put on), assorted roast meats and deserts which, when not the stodgey pudding variety, tended to involve a lot of coconut. Crocodile was something they always layed on for the tourists, not because it was any better or cheaper than chicken, but because it made the whole setting look exotic.

Soult was in his element, praising everything he was served with floridly, in the way that only someone with a passion for food could do, "Nonsense Genorale, of course we must give you a gift, it is customary, no?"

Soult's smile was equally as sly, "Well I could always exchange your Cheka agent for another one... she's a fine woman the one you have."

"No, we've got you a ceremonial weapon."

(OOC: Small post to fix an unusual bug)

General Imro was pleased by the spread and even more pleased that Soult enjoyed it. He would have to make sure to save the leftovers for Alwood. General Imro shrugged to Generale Soult.

"Giving gifts can have varied meanings in Ilek-Vaad, depending on where you are and who you are giving the gift to. Being Lassean, I tend to view physical things as trivial in the first place, but I do enjoy receiving fine things."

He took a sip of his scotch and smiled at Soult "I'll keep my liason for now, she's predicatble and easy to keep an eye on."

He raised an eyebrow as Soult mentioned a weapon "Now, you see that could have been a very problematic gift, if I were Tolteca. Giving a Tolteca an intact weapon is a statement of hostilities, a declaration of war. Giving a broken weapon is a sign of surrender.

Of course were I a man of Coventry, I would be expecting a title to go along with the weapon. Well, let's see it then."

"But you are in Dyelli Beybi, and here if we give you an intact weapon it means we don't think you are going to stab us in the back with it." he paused momentarily, "And I'd have done the same no matter which ethnic group you belonged to and expected to view it from a Dyellian viewpoint, you're in Rome Genorale, as they say, you do as the Romans."

"The Romans were an arrogent pack of bastards from what I heard." he added as an afterthought.

"Carlo!" he snapped his fingers at one of his two Bersaglieri bodyguards, who wandered back towards the car. The Bersaglieri were flashy looking troops who obviously took pride in their uniforms, every buckle shone with polish, as did the black cross belts (although like most dress uniforms it would be inpractical in the field).

He returned a few minutes later with an odd kind of polearm, somewhat similar to a bill. It had a long wooden haft and was topped with a long curved blade which looked a little bit like it was off cutlass, "You like?" Soult grinned mischievously, "Do you know what it is?"

General Imro smiled and took the polearm and tested it's weight, holding it out before him and then pulling it into the crook of his left arm, parade style " I believe that it is a naginata? Mind you, in the Dark Horse Army we generally carry a bec-de-corbin in parade, or an Italian bill in the Purifiers. Velite Guard carry an English bill."

He looked thoughtful "Very nice indeed. I thank you. Well then since giving you a gift won't offend you, I may as well give you this."

He pauses and removes one of the scimitars especially forged for the desert lions that had been decorating the wall. He partially unsheathed the blade, showing the glittering, fine Damascus steel " These scimitars were hand forged by Abu Yusuf and his sons, considered the finest swordsmiths for over a thousand years in Southern Ilek-Vaad."

He handed the fine blade in it's black sheath over to Generale Soult.

"It's a falx, but close enough. The tribes on this part of the coast used then some 1,000 years ago, they went somewhat out of fashion when the Christians took over. I figured if we gave you a sabre you'd probably already have one."

Soult stood when he was offered the sword, nodding graciously, "Many thanks Genoral." he'd remembered to not call Imro 'Genorale' this time around, he unsheathed the weapon, checked it and sheathed it again, "A fine weapon, although sadly I am no expert of the merits of one sword versus another, the aristocrats among us are better at that than me."

"It was a fine evening General, a fine evening. I must say I would regret it if there was a war on this quiet part of the Coast. It's usually so peaceful, not like out East where I'm based."

"Well, I do thank you for the gift, Generale. I'll have liason hang it in my office tomorrow." Imro said with a smile "I doubt seriously that the Federation and the Free Republic will come to blows. Besides, the Foreign Guard is here to promote stability, widening any such conflict by attacking your forces would run against our mandate and be suicidal for my men."

"I understand that you are stationed on the border with the Gonad? Is it really that dangerous over there? I mean the Gonad Elves never really do anything cohesively?"

Soult chortled, "You have a mandate? To maintain stability in Dyelli Beybi. You might as well try to maintain stability of a log in the bay of lunacy in the middle of a storm."

"It's been a pleasure Genorale, I'll have to try to collect my Tenente Colonelo, whereever he's got himself."

He extended a hand to shake, "I give Klatch a year."

General Imro smiled slyly as he shook Soult's hand "I have a free hand in that mandate Generale, trust me, I will measure stability in relative terms. I thnk you for accepting my invitation and coming here Generale, you and your men are always welcome."

He cuckled at the comment about the Klatch "I think that a year is being generous, something will have to be done in much sooner than a year, given the state of the Federal Government, or lack thereof."

"Hah, do something about it, Vrak would not approve, they have an iron grip on the country and they will do anything, probably including declaring another State a 'threat to the Federation' and having them invaded in order to keep it that way." Soult chortled, although really there was nothing funny about what he'd just had to say.

"In any case Genoral, thank you for a good evening, if you so wish, you may pay us a visit in our temporary camp to the North of here, give us a day and I'm sure we can rustle up something good to eat." He inclined his head politely, "Goodbye Genoral, I am sure we will be seeing more of you around."

He didn't mention how he was going to find the Tenente Colonello who had come with him, but obviously they had some mode of communication, either that or Soult was quite happy to leave him to spend a night in the countryside.

Alwood showed up half an hour after Solt had left, she had timed her arrival perfectly, especially considering there was no set time Soult was supposed to be leaving. She went straight back to her quarters after announcing her return to the sentry at the gate.

General Imro saluted as Soult left "I'll see if I can free up some time to take you up on your offer."

He then returned to his quarters, he wasn't worried about Alwood, he had the feeling she could take care of herself. He was resolved to point out the leftovers to Alwood the next day, and discuss the Generale's offer.

The next day Alwood seemed distracted the next day, thanking Imro politely when he pointed out the left overs, thenh shrugging dramatically in response to Soult's invitation, "Did you like the Genorale? I doubt he's planning anything devious... I see he gave you a scythe." she commented, completely misidentifying the odd weapon.

"Ok..." she was pacing backwards and forwards, eventually stopping abprutly in front of Imro, "Here's the problem, there's been a bit of a scandal, and it's all blowing up in the wrong people's faces, I expect it will all be on the news later this week. Anyway, I'm becoming increasingly idle around here, how long do you reckon it will be before you don't need me any more and I get reallocated back to the Cheka?"

The first part of what she'd said had clearly been intended as an explanation of the question, but she seemed to have missed a link in the middle somewhere.

Imro simply smiled inscrutably and shrugged "I liked the Genorale well enough. We ae on the same page at least."

He chuckled a bit at Alwood's pacing "A scandal? I think that needs some explanation. I also think that when you are done here you will probably not be a part of the Cheka. The letter that Fradkhov sent to Colonel Ismaili was, well, not reflecting a good opinion of you.

I think it's time that the Foreign Guard started acting to help the stability in this country. I think we'd better go and have a talk about this scandal and discuss what can be done. I also think that you had better meet Field Marshal Aldred. See me after lunch."

"I'm not completely naive, I know full well that I'm not exactly Miss popular when it comes to Fradkov and company, in fact it could probably be said I have more enemies than is entirely healthy." she folded her arms belligerently, "I also know that most people wouldn't put my life expectancy as overly high once I leave here."

"You still havn't answered my question, and I'll answer yours when you answer mine, not that I imagine the ins and outs of Dyellian politics will be of much interest to the Foreign Guard." her smile was tight lipped, "But we can discuss this after lunch, if that is what you would prefer."

"I will come back after lunch." she concluded, "I will see you then."

She saluted, something she didn't do when she was entirely happy, and departed.

General Imro smiled and watched Alwood go for a second and then went about his duties, had lunch and then returned to office to await Alwood. He wasn't waiting alone. Standing off to the side, where the door would cut off line of sight stands Field Marshal Aldred. Though he isn't really a Field Marshal and his name isn't Aldred, and he doesen't really exist, at least not in any traceable manner.

Imro relaxed as he awaited Alwood "Well, she was pretty worked up, so it probably is something serious. Genorale Soult seemed to be hinting at possible instability in the current government all through dinner."

Aldred nodded "I know, I was watching. I'm still not sure I should meet her, I may have to kill her you know."

Imro chuckled "Good luck. She has the pulse of many important intelligence officials, I think it would be benificial to the Republic if we aided her. Of course by 'we' I mean you. I'm not getting my hands dirty."

Aldred smiled and adjusted his black leather gloves "That's why I always wear my gloves. What makes you think I'll do your dirty work? I'm supposed to be auditing, not alleviating."

Imro shrugged and spun himself slowly around in his chair "Ones does as one must when the devil vomits in your kettle."

Aldred laughed "Quaint Lassean saying?"

Imro nodded.

When Alwood showed up shortly after lunch, she seemed guarded. It was the 'Field Marshall'. She found it suspicious that a Field Marshall would arrive without any fanfare, and she wasn't sure if she could trust him either, "You wanted to see me Genoral, ah Field Marshall?"

Whatever her misgivings about the Field Marshall were, they weren't conveyed in her voice.

Imro nodded and motioned for Alwood to take a seat, as the Field Marshal closed the door.

"Inspector Alwood, this is Field Marshal Aldred." He said as he sat and motioned to Aldred "We want to talk with you about what is going on in Dyelli Beybi.

Aldred takes the seat next to Alwood and smiles, it's not a very reassuring smile, more like a car salesman's smile.

Imro continues "You mentioned a 'scandal' that is apparently some sort of high level issue that you apprently want to leave here and get involved with. Well, I think we have a plan."

Aldred takes over "You see Inspector, the Free Republic is concerned about the lack of real democracy in the Klatch. Your Socialist Republic is, more or less, a democracy and we want to take a more pro-active role in nuturing your democracy. I think that you can help us."

Imro nods "You could certainly leave here, and taje care of your little scandal, but I want you to stay on as liason, so I'd like to offer you our help with whatever your little issue is, in exchange for keeping us apprised of the behind the scenes politicing that goes on. "

Aldred nods "Nothing top secret, just an honest assessment of those that aren't in favor of democracy and what they might be doing to bring it down."

Imro smiles "Well, what do you think?"

Alwood looked perplexed, "I want to deal with a scandal?" then alarmed "You're asking me to spy on the Dyelli Beybian Government?"

She considered all of this for a moment then laughed, "Christ, if you'd said that aloud you'd probably have half the population trying to reinstate the Tzar just to be contrary, and no that isn't a joke either, I don't think you'll find most of Dyelli Beybi receptive to becoming a Vaadian lapdog, even if I have."

She shrugged, dismissing the matter as irrelevant, "The reason I am worried is because in the next day or so Felix Dzerzhinsky will resign, pending an investigation into gross negligeance of duties. Basically someone has decided he'd make a nice scapegoat for those bombers that hit the Alconian Marines a few weeks back It all stinks of someone making a power grab, Soult thinks it's Adelle Collins again, but I'm not so certain, the Tzarists are more organised than they have been since the formation of the Republic and the others are on the warpath. Something is going on, but I have no idea what."

She didn't explain how she'd been in communication with Soult, although it was probably fairly easy to guess, "Now I don't know what I can do about it, if indeed I can do anything, but I would quite like to still be alive when this all blows over."

It was a big change from the almost suicidal attitude of a few weeks ago.

Aldred looked grave "We do not want any lapdogs, we want your government to continue to be elected by the will of the People. If there is a plot, tzarist or otherwise triggered by Mr. Dzerzhinsky's resignation, we want it to fail. The only change of govenment we want is at the polls."

He pauses and looks at Imro and then back at Alwood "I assume that you want to find out what is going on, I just you to know that if you let me, I am here to help you. "

Imro nodded "Trust me, I'd like to make sure you make it through alive as well, but if there is something you need to do to help stop a power grab, we want to help, I want to help. It's best that Aldred does help, he'll never be traced back to the Free Republic by anything more than rumour. Use him as you will, he is specialist in all sorts of espionage related stuff."

Aldred shrugs "I would've have said it better than that, but the sentiment is the same. So what do you say? You officially keep your position here, but you do what you need to do, with my help? Keeping your position here could prove to be a valuable alibi."

"Really?" Alwood raised an eyebrow dubiously, "Field Marshall Aldred was it? Or is that just an assumed rank to impress the gullible Cheka agent?"

Privately she wondered how she'd suddenly agreed to try to stop a possible plot from overthrowing the Government, "That's sort of irrelevant I guess, this sounds like a deal I can't refuse Genoral."

There was a pause, "Do you mind if I justlay down one ground rule?" she didn't wait for a reply, "No killing unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't need more blood on my conscience, I'll be spending a good few thousand years in purgatory as it is."

"Well obviously the place to start is East of here, Saint Guineford's Naval Base, by the way what kind of resources do you have? Frankly I don't have any." this was directed at Aldred.

Aldred smiled provocatively "Well, we normally kill guillable Cheka Agents. No need to impress someone who's dead. If it makes you feel any better we , in the Ministry of Defences Auditing and Accounting offices, very rarely, if ever kill anyone, except with paper work. It draws too much attention."

There was of course no such office in the Ministry of Defence. He nodded as Alwood mentioned St. Guineford's and shrugged at her question.

"I have whatever resources may be necessary. What do you think you'll need?" He didn't go into any detail

General Imro chuckled "Are you sure you want to even get involved Inspector? You could just lead a quiet and boring existance here, and not worry about what goes on elsewahere?"

"Resources, well a civilian car, fake Identification Papers and money, everything else I can source." Alwood replied promptly, "All I want to do is have a chat to the relevant people."

She raised an eyebrow at Aldred's comment but didn't reply to him, just continuing talking to Imro, "As it so happens I would much prefer a boring life, I've had enough excitement for one lifetime... but you've got me going now, might as well go the whole way and work out whats going on and at the very least, if it will negatively effect me. Leave the day after tomorrow do you think?"

Aldred smiled "Car and identification? That can be arranged. Dyelian ID or for somewhere else? We have an over abundance of Vrakian papers."

General Imro shrugged "No, I don't think anything will be hurt if you leave the day after tomorrow. I'll do my best to pretend you're still around."

Aldred chuckled "Let's get her measurements, maybe we can get a stand in?"

"Dyellian IDs, only I don't want to be myself if I'm going to be snooping around, people might get suspicious." Alwood stated the obvious.

"You want to find someone to stand in?" she laughed, "Well you could try my sister, but somehow I think she'd say no."

Aldred looked almost concerned "You want a fake ID, but of someone else? That's going to complicate things, I mean how will we get your picture on it?" He chuckles "any name you prefer? I can have it by tomorrow morning."

Imro frowns "I doubt your siste will help, I'll just run your height, weight, hair and eyes through the Retaliatory Guard database, get them out here, have them sleep in your room , wear your uniform and no one is any the wiser."

"Leave Zara as my first name." she instructed, "It's common enough for people not to draw any link, and it means I don't have to learn to respond to a new one. As for the surname, I don't care, go crazy."

"I was thinking of getting some contacts as well, to change my eye colour to brown, then dye my hair black. That way I'll look like a propper Dyellian. Is there anything else you need at the moment?" she asked heilfuly as the meeting seemed to be wrapping up.

Aldred makes some notes on his PDA "No, oh wait, what's an appropriate Dyellian name, for say, someone like me? I've got the Dyellian wardeobe, I just need an inconspicous name now."

Imro smiles "Remember Inspector, Field Marshal Aldred is entirely expendable, if comes down to you or him, him is okay. You're far more important to Dyelli Beybi and to the Foreign Guard than Aldred. Think of him as a body shield."

"I don't know, call yourself Luke or something, whats a common surname?"
she considered this for a moment, "Jones? No, smacks of Tzarism, run with Johnson, that works."

"I hope you can pull off the accent." Alwood added, although it would be foolish to drop any intelligence officer into Dyelli Beybi who couldn't pull off the distinctive accent.

She frowned at the second part of Imro's statement, looking slightly embaressed about discussing someone's expendability in front of their face, "Ah OK, I'll take your work on that Genoral."

Vaadians were odd though, this was probably all quite socially acceptable over there, suddenly she laughed and didn't stop even as she spoke, "Of importance?" she chortled, "I'm less important than a cat stuck up a tree, I'm only an Inspector, and one who's job is under threat at that. Looks like you've been insulted, 'Field Marshall'."

She stopped laughing as quickly as the bout had come on, "Ah anyway, was that all you needed right now?"

Aldred nodded "Mr. Johnson it is." He pauses and chuckles "Is Johnson common in Dyelli Beybi? The only Johnson's in Ilek-Vaad are the 'Fixers' They'll all Johnson's. If only the Velite Inspectors could see me now. That'll be all, I'll pick you up tomorrow. Oh, and don't worry about me, I never existed in the first place." He smiles and heads out.

"If he's a Field Marshall, then I'm the Queen of Sheeba." Alwood remarked dryly after Aldred had departed, "I certainly hope you're not trying to manipulate me into doing things you don't think I otherwise would."

She didn't seem particularly happy and looked like she was about to make an issue of the discussion, but oddly shrugged, "Oh well, not that it really matters. Is there anything else at the moment or should I start packing some bags?"

General Imro smiled "Who's not a Field Marshall, I don't even know who you are referring to? I don't think I'm asking you do anything you don't want to, weren't you just asking me the other day when you would be done here so that you could get back to your 'regular' Cheka duties? This is just as good, you can have your cake and eat it too."

He shrugged "If you don't want to do it, then do it. I won't hold it against you, but I think you'll apprecaite working for an entity that has unlimited funding, cool spy gadgets, it seemed to me you'd like that sort of thing. Besides, I doubt if you would just sit by while the Tzarist's destroyed the revolution you worked so hard for. Just be careful now."

He stood and smiled again "Now, before you go to pack, make sure that I've accepted Genorale Soult's offer for dinner at his camp and schedule a time and date for it."

"Well truth be told I wasn't trying to get back to my normal Cheka duties." Alwood smiled her eyes gleaming with humour at some joke that she hadn't let anyone else in on, "These days my usual duties are showing diplomats around Cyro, which isn't something I'm in a great hurry to get back to."

"Soult's man, you know the Morris fellow, had offered me a position on behalf of Soult as Senior Commisaar attached to the First Division of the Third Republican. Obviously it's open to anyone who wishes to apply but he hinted if I applied it might already be mine. It would be a move sideways and upwards, cross department, Fradkov wouldn't be able to fire me."

She shurgged offhandedly, "I'd rather not work with Soult, and yes, being naturally nosy, I would like to have a snoop around and find out what's going with all these hints of conspiracy, although it isn't for the Revolution, I find recently that my faith in that concept is wavering."

The smile turned into a broad grin, "I'll organise a meeting with Soult. Just one thing..."

She leaned towards Imro, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "You sure that it's not you who wants to have his cake and eat it too?"

She didn't wait for a reply, giving an elaborate salute and departing.

Imro resumed his seat as Alwood left and muttered to himself "Of course I can have my cake and eat it too, I am Vaadian."

He then returned to his work.

Elsewhere Field Marshall Aldred prepared his equipment, fake identity papers and ID's and a good number of toys that the Republic's Shadows commonly used. Once everything was finally prepared he paid Inspector Alwood a visit the next morning and prsented her with her new identity as well as a cahe of equipment, including a ceramic 9mm firearm, with caseless ammunition, undetectable to metal detectors and leaves no evidenciary caseings, a pair of sunglasses that can be plugged into a camera wand to see around corners or under doors, or even to keep an eye on what's behind you. He also entertained any questions she might have for him, and was prepared to follow her lead.

"Thank you." Alwood accepted the pistol with a smile, but a slightly sceptical expression. The kind you'd expect from a field agent, handed some new and unusual piece of technology and told to test it. She'd already managed to find a pistol (or more likely had had it all along), it was a Dyellian copy of a Soviet MSP, which had been left on her bed.

The sunglasses excited some interest, she'd probably never seen anything like it before, the Cheka were famous in Intelligence circles for their lack of gadgets, they tended to shy away from them, feeling that an agent caught with one would immediately be identified. Not that every agent necessarily agreed with the policy...

"What I'm planning first off is to go up North and have a word with a friend of mine. It's only an hour or so drive." Alwood looked quite different with her hair died black and a pair of dark contact lenses, she was still undeniably attractive, but looked a lot more like a typical Dyellian, "After that I'm planning to go South to Saint Guineford's and see what we can find out about the naval base, I'm thinking of going to one of the Officers' Night Clubs and seeing if I can steal some keys and so on."

"If everything dries up, we'll come and have a chat to Soult." she grimaced as she said it, for reasons unknown she was not a big fan of Soult, "I reckon he knows more than he told his friend to tell me, it would be just like him."

"So what does Field Marshall mean in Ilek-Vaad?" she asked, "Now to me that would tend to imply you're the head of the armed forces."

She waited for a reply then continued, "By the way, have you sourced a car? You can drive."

Aldred smiled and also furher showed Alwood how the camera also had a shotgun microphone that could catch sounds from over two hundred feet away and how the back of the arm of the glasses detached to make an earphone, he also gave her a 10GB pendive that could be plugged in to provide nearly twenty hours of recording. He motioned for her to follow when she asked about a car and answered her question as she followed.

"Well, I'm no military man , but I believe in the Retaliatory Guard it goes something like Leftenant, Leftentant Major, Leftenant Colonel. Colonel, General , Field Marshal, Command General and then Supreme Republican Commander. Retaliatory Guard Field Marshals are normally in charge of an Army, though a Colonel or a General can also be in charge of an army. In the Velite Guard Field Marshals command a specific geographical area and all the forces contained therein.

I use it becaues it sounds impressive."

He grins as they get a used car of Vrakian make (since they are #1 in the Klatch in car production) nothing that would stand out and nothing particularly nice.

"I'll be more than happy to drive" he says as he opens the door for her "I used to be a rally driver. So don't worry if I suddenly swerve off road."

"It makes you sound like a fibber." she retorted, as she carefully examined the glasses, much like a child with a new toy, "It sounds very odd when General Imro or ordering a higher ranked Officer to follow someone around who, were I to ever be allocated to the army, would be a Lieutenant of some description."

Alwood snickered when she saw Aldred had picked up a Vrakian vehicle, "I see you've heard all about DBFC's cars then."

DBFC's civilian vehicles were rumoured to be the most unreliable cars in Klatch, and probably the world. It was also said to be cheaper to buy a new one than to get the last one repaired, at least they didn't cost much...

"Anyway, when you're ready we can head North, we're going to Saint Andrew's Cross, it's a small village on the edge of the desert."

Aldred (now Mr. Johnson) smiled as he got intp the car . "Oh, the General can order me to do anything he pleases, it just stands to see if I'll actualy do it. I'm not in his chain of command, I was just being polite."

With that they are on their way, Aldred driving to where ever Alwood instructs him.

"Well neither am I." Alwood added as she climbed into the passenger seat, "By the way, you do realise you drive on the left in Dyelli Beybi? the steering wheel being on the right hand side should be a hint. If it gets confusing I can take over."

She assumed whatever the case was, 'Johnson' would be far too stubborn to hand over immediately, so she passed no further comment on the subject, "By the way, what are you using as a first name? Which reminds me."

She reached into her pocket, pulling out the newly forged ID papers, checking to see what name the Vaadians had decided to give her, hoping 'Johnson' had remembered to only switch the surname.

The place they were directed to was barely two hour's drive North of the Foreign Guard Base. An evidently poor village, it was on the edge of the desert, the soil was rocky, and the irrigation inferior to more coastal areas. They pulled up outside a Monastery with a small chapel attached on the side, "You stay here, I'll be back, listen to the radio or something."

She returned in about half an hour, not even mentioning what had gone on inside, "Take the road South again, you remember where we crossed the Motorway? We'll take that heading East, we won't make Saint Guineford's before nightfall, so we'll probably need to stop in Averly for the night."

"You know, we probably wouldn't have to stop in Averly if someone hadn't spent half an hour in town." He said with a smirk as he pulled away.

Alwood looked over her paper and indeed her first name was unchanged, but to her horror she was no 'Zara Johnson', apparently Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were going for a road trip. Mr. Johnson drove straight on to Averly , keeping a steady 90-100mph pace, perhaps he had been a rally driver.

*****

Meanwhile with the slow coming of a Dyellian tank, surplus Velite Guard Thunderer battle tanks were being delivered, two at a time, via Martahon-D transports. He also readied himself for his 'date' with Genorale Soult.

"You're not on the Autobahn you know." Zara, wondering if the person she was sitting next to had given her Johnson just to be annoying, commented, "You're safe out in the back lanes, but if you keep that up on the motorway you'll end up with spiked tyres. There are a lot of traffic cops on the Cyro - Saint Guineford highway."

She didn't comment any further, she was confident Aldred, or whatever his real name was would be sensible to slow down to the speed limit once they hit the motorway. It was the country's second most important motorway, and was policed as thoroughly as a Cyro street, there seemed to be 'Civil Guard' squad cars lurking under every bridge.

The countryside was monotonous, rank upon rank of crop fields, with the occasional village or small town breaking the monotony, a few metres to the South was the water pipeline, it was marked every few kilometres by a pumping station/ entry point for maintenance crews. These also had a certain tendency to double up as 'Civil Guard' bases. Averly, when it turned up in the dusk was a fairly unremarkable town of perhaps just over half a million inhabitants. It seemed to feature a lot of cheap motels and car yards, especially around the outskirts, while the centre was fairly nice with a large medieval town square with a peculiar modern sculpture placed anachronistically in the centre. Zara seemed to hold the town in low opinion, sneeringly refering to it as "an oversized truckstop".

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

Meanwhile Soult's more temporary base had opened up it's Gates. It was an odd camp, set amongst several wheat fields. It seemed someone had flattened the centre, then ringed it with barbed wire and set up tents in the middle. The whole place had a slight scent of rotting hay about it.

Mr. Johnson simply smiled and reduced his speed as he turned and nodded "Yes dear."

He drove on through the dreary and boring Dyellian countryside , every now and again fiddling with the radio to various news stations, he didn't seem to have much interest in music. When they finally reached Averly he slowed, passing the disappointing motels and and nodded towards them.

"Do you have a preference? Or should I just pick one? If I pick it'll be the cheapest, I'm not too picky about my lodgings."

*****

General Imro picked a pair of his Desert Lions to drive him to Soult's base and only took his Staff Seargent with him. He took one of his new Dyellian vehicles, and had his Lions driver beat the hell out it, to test it of course.

"You might be if you stayed anywhere around here." Alwood pointed out, "I don't really care, somewhere in the centre of town, that way you can be sure there will be hot water and no parasites in the bedding. If I don't like what you've chosen I'll be sure to let you know."

The next day was more of the same leaving Averley, they skirted a few other towns of similar size, before finally hitting Saint Guineford's shortly before 2 in the afternoon. It was a new looking city, it had been flattened in the Civil War, most of the inner city had been turned to rubble. What hadn't been destroyed was the gaudy monstrosity of a Cathedral that dominated the skyline. The vault of the Nave reared an impressive 100 metres into the air. The main spire reared to a stately 200 metres. Someone had had the bright idea of having gold plated roof tiles (about 30 years ago when they'd started laying the roof), despite the large amount that went missing, they'd kept going. Successive Governments had poured trillions and trillions of Kronors into the project. This year it had been voted a paltry 10 trillion to try repair the war damage. It was an interesting comment on the Dyellian psyche, that voters viewed this phenomenal expenditure of money as quite acceptable. The Palaces of the Cardinal were just about as impressive and sprawled over a central city area that would otherwise be around 9 city blocks.

The interesting thing about Saint Guineford's was the existence of another Police Force which wasn't actually run by the Government... the Holy Order of Saint's James and Dominic. The Officers wore black trousers and jacket with white shirts and a black beret, "Magpies." Alwood pointed a pair out, "They're supposedly the Cardinal's Security Guards, but they also act like a second Metropolitan Police, although technically they're only supposed to be able to arrest you for practicing an illegal cult... the Met hate them, so do most of the Police actually."

Saint Guineford's was built in a crescent shape, spreading around the bay. When they were roughly in the middle of town, Alwood decided to get out, "Find somewhere to stay near here, I'm going to go and hunt down where the Navy guys go for the evening.

----------
(OOC: For continuity, if you don't mind, I'd like to put the evening in Saint Guineford's and the visit to Soult in the same evening).

Dyellian vehicles had a way of looking like they were about to fall apart without ever actually doing so. It was sturdy, Dyellian military vehicles needed to be, they had to be able to work in the Desert and in the Arctic Circle.

Soult's camp may have looked slap dash, but his troops looked tough, they were Veterans of the Gonad Conflict, and most had fought in the Civil War as well (not necessarily on the same side). Their weapons and equipment were all Dyellian designed, battered SSA-1801 assault rifles seemed to be the name of the day. The vehicles were new, they'd ditched all their previous plethora of tanks for the 'Carro-Armato' light tank design. It was an interesting design, all engine and cannon with relatively thin armour, these at least looked new, although already people had taken the opportunity to supplement the factory camouflage patterns with their own (frequently pornographic) artwork.

Soult seemed to inhabit the only real building in the compound, a large farmhouse that had become his living quarters and HQ. Soult was there to meet Imro out the front, beaming proudly as he announced what his chef had done this evening, "Ah General, Welcome to my humble camp. I have had the chef prepare a Seven Course meal, and I believe he has excelled himself this time..."

Fraser Morris was nowhere to be seen this time, instead Soult was accompanied by a thin lipped Commisaar, who didn't look exactly happy about being with him. She was probably in her thirties, slim and dark haired with striking, if not notably attractive features. Her rank insignia weren't those of any rank Imro had encountered before, although they looked like they should be for someone important. Soult seemed intent on ignoring her, so she introduced herself, "General, I do not believe we've met, Commisaar Tania Fradkov."

Mr. Johnson nodded appreciatively as Alwood pointed out the points of interest and the 'Magpies', he nodded.

"They sound like the Velites Kerbals that guard the House Of Vaad and the Acropolis in Lassic, they serve for life, are all family and only follow the orders of the Kerbals Sebastors. A eritable private army of fanatics. We keep a close eye on them."

He nodded again as she ordered him to secure lodgings in the center of town and smiled as she mentioned tracking down the haunts of sailors.

"Aye, aye cap'n. Arrrrrrr." He said as he headed to find someplace nice to stay.

*****
(OOC: Damn your continuity! Sounds fine to me, we almost have continuity with the other threads too.)

General Imro took notice of the transport's performance and had a quick discussion with his men on how they liked it. His men were finding that General Imro, like most Retaliatory Guard Commanders, valued the input of his men and asked for it often enough to sometimes get annoying.

Upon arriving He noded to Soult , and when confronted with another Commissar resorted to the raised fist of the defiant salute of the Retaliatory Guard instead of a politer salute, or shaking hands.

"Genorale, very good to see you again, I'm willing to bet that your chef is very good, even when not outdoing himself ." He paused and looked over Fradkov "I don't recall meeting Commissar Fradkov, very pleased to meet you Commissar. I'm beginning to think that Commissars are as common as cab drivers around here, except that I've seen less cab drivers."

Members of any security appparatus always seem to rub Vaadians the wrong way by their very existance.

Alwood gave Mr Johnson/Aldred or whoever he really was, a blank look, "Oh... I didn't say I disliked them."

She disappeared until eight in the evening, "Well I know where I'm going to be fishing this evening... OK here's the plan, I'm going to go into one of the night clubs, I would suggest you came too but I heard you Vaadians had all the grace on the dance floor of a tap dancing hippopotamus. You can lurk around outside. If I leave with anyone, tail us, then when I split you can pick me up and we can be in and out of the base before an alarm even goes off."

While she was speaking, she rumaged through her bags, looking for something to wear.

----------

Fradkov gave Imro the look she probably reserved for mould on the bathroom cieling, but didn't deign to reply to his comment or respond to his salute.

Soult was still doing his best to ignore her, "Genoral, follow me, I imagine the first course will nearly be ready, I believe the chef has prepared a fairly simple onion soup to be followed by oysters stuffed with spinach and bacon."

The portly Genorale looked longingly towards the open french doors which led to what was a fairly modest dining room. The accompanying Commisaar rolled her eyes in disgust.

Mr. Johnson smiled "I'm a fantastic dancer actually, salsa, or swing. But I'd hate to upstage you, so I can lurk if you like."

He didn't ask for any further details, he seemed quite content to follow her lead and pretty much do as asked.He dressed casually in dark colors , clothes that were easy enough to climb and run run in and discard if necessary.

*****

General Imro smirked back at the Commissar, when she gave him her 'mould withering' look, he was obviously (yet again) deriving great pleasure from being rude to foreigners.. He nodded genially to Genorale Soult.

"Lead on Genorale, it's your party, I won't second guess your schedule." He then followed Soult inside without a second glance at Fradkov.

It was an interesting evening both in Soult's camp, and in Saint Guineford's. Alwood disappeared into a club underneath a hotel, wearing a red dress which was both scandalously short and low cut. She came out no more than two hours later with a full male naval uniform and an electronic swipe card that gave access to Adelle Collins' Office, "It's unbelievable how easy that was." she commented as she joined 'Johnson' in the car, "I expected it would take weeks, but I bumped into one of Collins' aides immediately, here put this on, it's roughly your size..."

Roughly was the right word, it was taylored for someone a few inches shorter than 'Johnson' or Aldred, or whoever he was.

Meanwhile at Soult's base a veritable platoon of waiters was serving the guests. The courses were moderately sized, but there were seven of them, after Soult's stuffed oysters came fried monk fish with a heavily spiced tomato and onion based sauce, followed by veal with mushrooms and a white wine sauce, "So tell me Genoral." Soult commented at one point, "I noticed you're bringing in tanks, must cost a small fortune by plane, have you thought of shipping them in?"

Fradkov was silent, for now, but the feral gleam in her eyes suggested she had surprises she was going to bring out later.

Johnson quickly dressed in the uniform and adjusted it as best he could and did his best to look comfortable and a bit shorter if it was at all possible.

He looked himself up and down "Well, I suppose it'll have to do, I can't imagine you can do that twice in quick sucession." he checked his insignia "What rank am I now?"

He said that as he haeded to the car to get to St. Guineford Naval Base.

*****

Gneral Imro complimented Soult on his chef and on the meal as it unfolded. He pratically ignored Fradkov. He nodded as Soult asked about the tanks.

"Perhaps, but the Quarter Masters Corps has hundreds of thousands of Marathon Transports and they are much faster. Only two arrive at a time but the QMC can keep the arrivals practically constant if they rotate in enough pilots. Not that there is any hurry to get them here, I mean, I won't have any reason to use them in the forseeable future."

He takes a drink and elaborates "Still, it wouldn't be necessary if the DBFC had actually taken my need for tanks seriously. I've never seen a comapny go so far out of it's way to alienate a customer, especially one as large and as wealthy as the Retaliatory Guard. Even with the Thunderer battletanks being flown in, I'm still nowhere near through my beginning budget."

"You're a Staff Captain." Alwood shook her head, "I think, it seems to change every couple of months, I'm amazed the armed forces manage to keep up with the rank systems... no I doubt I can do that again quickly, at least not before Captain Phillips wakes up."

"I'm going to have to let you go in there on your own, I'm not going to be allowed on." Saint Guineford's was dark and quiet, it was a Monday night, although the black marble monstrosity they called 'The Cathedral' was lit up from all sides, "You'd better dump the car a block or so away, they don't have civilian vehicles on base. Once inside head straight ahead to the main admin block, it will probably be the only block with lights still on. Take the lift, Collins' office should be marked on the table on the inside of the lift, I haven't been on base in over a year so I'm not certain where she is. Sorry I can't give you any propper data on number of guards and so on, I am really just winging this one."

"Just park in here." she indicated a side street that turned into a warehouse district, it was within sight of the main base, a big concrete ringed mass of bunker-like buildings with an extensive port facility beyond. The top of the wall was patrolled by a few disinterested looking marines, "Good luck. Try to make it back here in two hours. If you're not back in four I'll abort."

It was only a short walk to the main gate. Two steel gates would usually open up for trucks, but at the moment they were padlocked shut. Another small side gate was set off to the right, with a single sentry who saluted 'Johnson' as he approached. He didn't seem in the slightest bit interested in establishing who the Officer was, mainly because you needed a swipe card to get through the gate. A swipe card that theoretically only Officers had (unless you just happened to have hit an officer over the head and taken theirs).

----------

Soult grinned, "You need to get used to life around here, it moves slowly, with sudden sharp moments of activity. DBFC is just doing what it always does, slowly and methodically putting something together... of course being majority State owned, it also has to prioritise State Orders, and the State has ordered something like a quarter of a million of those fully little Carro Armatos. It is fortunate for the State that the design of the vehicle called for it to be ridiculously fast to produce, so it isn't going to take them 10 years to get them all, like it would have were they working on a Mark 5 or 6 chasis."

Fradkov idly stabbed at a mushroom with her fork, she seemed not in the least interested in the discssion. There was a pause in the meal during which one of the waiters brought out a dry red wine which Soult explained was grown around York and was regarded as one of the better wines produced in the Djel Valley, it was somewhat Spanish in style, "You can't serve a truly good wine with your meal." Soult explained, "An average wine yes, but a good wine should be drunk afterwards so that you can concentrate on the food, then concentrate on the wine."

Fradkov rolled her eyes.

Johnson nodded to Alwood as she explained everything and parked the car where indicated, just before he headed off to the gate he asked one question that he was sure was important.

"Once I get to Collins desk, what exactly am I looking for? Or should I just take everything I can get my hands on? Maybe just rearrange everything as a warning?"

Once the question was answered he headed straight for the small gate, with a bit of a slightly drunken stagger, gave the guards a 'I'm better than you' look, returned the salute and swiped his card, heading off as Alwood directed to the lighted administration building, acting casual as if he were going about his normal everyday routine.

*****

Imro would be quite enjoying himself , if it wasn't for Fradkov's eye rolling and fish like pursed lips , it was starting to annoy him and worse yet it was starting to make him suspicious. He began watching her, intently, but still talking to Soult.

"Well, I'm not worried about tanks anymore, I was in favor of bringing in the old Thunderers in the first place. I was trained in one, I commanded one in both Cyberjaya and the Lumpen Proletariat, so I know them and they are solid, faster than the Thunderer II, but with a bit smaller gun."

Imro nods to Soult as he finishes his wine.

"Well Genorale, I'm not an expert on wines so it's entirely possible that even the best wines would be wasted on me. I've been told I've had no palette for subtlety."

He then glares at Fradkov, with the subtlety of a rhinocerous about to charge.

"Anything that indicates she might be up to anything criminal." Alwood replied, "Anything that can link her to suspicious activity, in particular any kind of military coup or piracy, anything like that."

Inside the camp looked asleep. There seemed to be nobody around apart from another marine who gave 'Johnson' a suspicious look before saluting. There were two lifts, both identical, inside they had lists of Senior Admirals and their rooms, Collins was on Floor Three, Room 301. The labels, both in the lift an on the door read 'Vice-Admiral Collins Active Second in Command of Coastal Patrol'. The office was in a long well lit corridor, it turned sharply to the left some 10 metres further on, the end with the lifts was dead, although there was also an interior fire escape that ran down next to the lifts.

----------

Soult seemed blissfully unaware of any tension that was errupting, "I envy you tank types, or at least I did before I was made Genorale. It always looks so much safer than when you're on foot, then again it's a lot easier to spot that bastard with a grenade in a sock when you don't have tonnes of metal around you."


Fradkov smiled at Imro unpleasantly, daring him to make a scene.

Mr. Johnson made a mental note of everything he saw on the way up and kept in mind an escape route should one be needed. He took out his snake camera and slipped it up his sleeve where he could conceal it by closing his hand over it , and turned on it's light. The light was directional and did not spread over a wide area and would only be noticeable up close. He would use that instead of turning on any lights.

He moved quietly and quickly to the Vice Admiral's office, stopping to listen every few feet to make sure no one suprised him. Once he reached her door he listened carefully for a moment to see if anyone may already be inside, once he was satisified that it was empty, he carefully tested to see if it was locked.

*****

General Imro shook his head nearly imperceptibly and then ignored the Commissar, instead giving his full attention to Genprale Soult and his conversation.

He simply shrugged to the Genorale "Well, you're only truly safe in a tank, until you stop moving, then you're just a big target."

The door was unlocked, but scarcely had Johnson touched the handle before the fire escape opened with a crash, "Quick, over here!"

Whoever had yelled it was female and dressed in blue naval uniform, it was too dark on the outside of the building to get a propper look.

Almost as she was speaking there was a 'ding' as the second lift arrived. It would take a couple of seconds for the doors to open, after which things might get interesting...

----------

Meanwhile Soult's first dessert course had arrived. It was some kind of orange flavoured steam pudding, very Dyellian, and was served with a Kharkov Ice Wine, from the warmer regions of the D.B.A.T. "I remember when we fought the Jiggadians in Cyro, we won... through sheer weight of numbers as well as air support, it was really hell on the tanks though, most of the city was shanty town at the time, it's really smartened up in the last few years... anyway, nobody knew who was where or where the lines were. We did know the helicopters were ours, but they didn't always know whos side we were on. Ah the good old days!"

"I was there as well." Fradkov put in, in an attempt to steal Soult's thunder.

"I seem to recall you were in the Fleet Battle." Soult replied, "Manning the radio on the Kingfisher I believe?"

"Yep."

"And who would have thought you would come from such a background role to run the Cheka." he smiled pleasantly, "How is Dzerzhinsky, I trust he is well?"

For the first time, the pair were communicating, "He is, although I dare say he will regret his affiliation with Tzarism when the time for his trial comes." Fradkov remarked darkly.

Johnson quickly closed the door and went out the fire escape , drawing his gun as he did, hiding it against his body away from his mysterious helper. He then stepped back away from the window and waited to see what ocurred next.

*****

General Imro simply nodded as Soult talked and enjoyed the food, keeping out of their conversation. he simply watched and listened.

The helper stopped for a moment to lob something into the small quad that existed between the buildings on base, before grabbing Johnson's hand and hauling him down the escape at breakneck pace. Whoever had got out of the elevator wasn't friendly, there were several, Marines by the looks of them, in full combat gear, one let rip with a stream a bullets which wakened the neighbourhood but failed to hit anything but shadows.

"Get moving, or you'll get us both killed, really I don't know why I bother..." as they hit the bottom of the escape it became clear what she had hurled off the escape, a smoke grenade. Nevertheless she seemed to know where she was going.

"You've got the whole bloody base racing around." it was a male voice in the thick choking smoke that was filling the square and surrounding alleys, shouts and the sounds of running feet echoed hollowly about them. The smoke and the dark had cut visibility down to no more than a metre, "OK, we have a bit of a jump..."

She let go off Johnson's hand and vanished in front of him, a faint splash following. As soon as Johnson followed whoever the man above was, moved a cover across where they had just fallen, perhaps a drop of three metres, it was enough to give some nasty grazes, add to that, there was knee deep water at the bottom.

It didn't take long to work out where they had landed, there was the unpleasant scent of refuse filling the air, a paved walway on either side, and a murky channel of water running down the centre. They were in a sewer. A rat skittered away, as the helper hauled herself onto the ledge on the side, "Well I hope you're satisfied, now look at the state I'm in, you people should pay attention to the signs, hadn't you figured this was all a trap? Anyway, once you drag yourself out of the slime we'd best get moving."

It was nearly pitch black inside, but the helper had remembered to bring a waterproof torch. She switched it on, giving Johnson his first real look at who he was dealing with. She was the spitting image of Alwood, had she not died her hair and chosen to wear coloured contacts, they could have been twins, "Where did you leave my sister by the way? Hopefully somewhere a long way away from this base."

----------

"We will see." Soult nodded generously to the Commisaar.

Another course came out, some Dyellian variant of tiramisu that involved coconut. Fradkov dropped out of the conversation again, "Things are changing in this country Genoral." Soult declared, "What I want to know is how involved would the Foreign Guard get in the case of civil war?"

Mr. Johnson followed as best he could in all the confusion. He din't seem to put off by the fact that he was now in a sewer, perhaps he'd frequented them before? As Commisaar D'Etiene turned on her torch, Johnson adjusted his snakelight to give a bit of a wider angle. He looked around a second ingnoring D'Etiene and then turned back to her,

"I'm sorry? Your sister? I came on base alone." He had been briefed enough on D'Etiene to know to treat her as hostile.

He kept his gun out , but didn't really point it at her "Thank you anyway, it appears as though I owe you a favor."

*****

General Imro simply shrugged "That is not a question that I can answer, it would be up to the Republican Council. I would imagine that the Foreign Guard would fulfill it's obligation to the duly elected government of your Republic."

"I think I'd have noticed if you came onto base with her." she smiled with what was probably false warmth, "You do realise they've been waiting with you for days? Well not really you, more her."

She paused, trying to wring some of the water out of her shirt without taking it off, "Bloody hell you Vaadians, always getting in the way of my carefully laid plans, now I'm going to repeat my question, although I'm not holding out any hope of getting an answer. Where is she? I just need to rest assured she hasn't been picked up by them."

Even as she was speaking she had begun walking purposefully Northwards, following the sewers away from the base and towards the centre of town, she seemed to know where she was going, but you never really knew...

----------

Soult noded aprovingly, Fradkov slipped out of her seat, "If you'll excuse me a moment?"

Soult nodded in a friendly manner, "Very noble, I am curious though as to exactly what obligation you have towards the Government?"

Johnson just smiled "Vaadian? You have a lot of signals crossed." He didn't say anything else and merely followed her for two to three blocks before alighting up to a manhole that didn't sound as though it was located anywhere too busy.

He also did his best to slip away with Caroline knowing. He was guessing that he should probably kill her, but he didn't want to make that call yet.

*****

General Imro just shrugged "That I don't know. I have my orders. I don't know the full political spiel behind them, nor do I care. I will react on my commands from Retaliatory Guard Command.

I try to stay uninvolved from politics as much as possible."

Caroline (whatever surname she was using at the moment) either didn't notice or didn't care that he was gone, although tracking her down later might be difficult if he needed to.

She hadn't given any indication as to what she was up to or who she was working with, it could have been anyone, but she definitely had acomplices, with resources.

----------

Soult yawned dramatically as the cheese course arrived, a selection of fine cheeses with a wide selection of crackers and fruit preserves. What was alarming was the prescense of six armed guards who entered with the food course, "For my own protection." he smiled pleasantly, "Well I tell you now that I am the new Dyelli Beybian Government, Commisaar Fradkov is just taking care of some arrangements for me. Perhaps you would like to reevaluate your stance on these matters?"

Outside the main tent, Imro's pair of Dreg guards were meeting with several heavily armed Bersaglieri. They weren't unfriendly as such, but communicated the fact that they could become so very rapidly.

"Your little friend I am sad to say is due to meet with a very unhappy group shortly in Saint Guineford's. It is a shame, I quite liked her, unfortunately my chief financial backer seems to have taken an irational dislike to her, he was quite disapointed when her sister failed and ended up dead herself."

----------

For the second time in not so many years there was fighting on the streets of Cyro. Soult was eating a pleasant dinner while his troops wreaked havoc. In most major cities they met with little resistance. Cyro was different where the police put up a valiant resistance. Quisa and Saint Guineford's oddly were not occupied by units loyal to Soult, the two Eastern centres were left alone for the time being, although they certainly heard what was going on via radio. Another key point was that Soult's units were only seizing cities in the Djel Valley, East Benjia, New Dyelli and the DBAT, all semi-independent states, were left well alone, possibly because the units in those areas had no loyalty to Soult, possibly for other reasons.

Johnson climbed out and then waited somewhere nearby for several minutes to make sure he wasn't followed. When he was sure he wasn't being tailed, he headed back to where Alwood was waiting, probably much sooner than she had anticipated.

*****

General Imro looked over the cheeses and pretty much ignored the guards that entered.

"I have no intention of changing my stance." He said as he helped himself to some cheese, but no fruit spreads. "I will do as Retaliatory Guard Command orders, there is nothing on earth or in heaven that can change that."

He paused and narrowed his eyes at Soult "I am also not an assassin. I am a General. Your armed monkeys won't intimidate me or cause me to change my mind in any manner. If I want you dead, I'll meet you on the battlefield.I would also point out that if we use Karmanyaka as guide, the current Republican Council may not look too kindly to your little coup."

He smiles "That is of course up to them, and will only concern me if and when they issue a Military Mandate."

He shakes his head as he looks up at the guards "Pathetic. Just when I thought I had found someone in this godforsaken country that was actually civilised, you do something as apeish as this."

Imro's Guards would (hopefully) honor his training and remain calm and do their best to ignore any 'threats', it wasn't becoming of well trained men to respond to threats in any manner.

The car sat alone, exactly as it had been before Johnson arrived. The warehouses nearby stood dark and silent. From somewhere in the distance, near the central city, came the noise of large engines roaring into life. It came roughly from the area of the Bishop's residence.

There was no light on in the car. It was so very, very quiet, too quiet in fact. If Johnson was observant he might catch the faint click of metal on metal echoing from the surrounding warehouses.

----------

Soult chuckled, "Apeish, please Genoral, apeish implies unintelligent." he smacking his lips as he helped himself to a blue veined cheese, "I feel I have pursued this with unparallelled genius, with a little help from a very influencial man I orchestrated the arrest of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the shooting of protesters, the piracy that was blamed so thoughtlessly on the High Chancellor's wife, and of course the threat of Scandavian Invasion. All of this helped to convince the Genorals that a strong man was needed to rule the Djel Valley."

He waved a hand dramatically, "Of course I couldn't take all of Dyelli Beybi, so I have not declared I am dissolving all of the State Assembly, I am only seizing the right to appoint the MPs for the Djel River Valley, the other Regions. East Benjia, New Dyelli, the Dyelli Beybian Arctic Territories can do as they please... for now."

He laughed then, the megalomania was really showing through, "In time, I, Pierre Soult will be Emperor of all of Dyelli Beybi, and from there who knows... but as for you Genoral, I like you, you are a good soldier, I am not going to harm you, but I am going to keep you here as my guest, the last thing I need is your Foreign Guard interupting my carefully laid plans."

Johnson had approached the alley quietly , sticking to the shadows, as he was still in an ill-fitting Dyellian uniform, and had put on his 'sunglesses' set to night vision so that he could stay only in unlit areas.

Seeing the car, and no Alwood he quietly left the alley, backing out the same way he had come, and hatened his retreat when hearing waht he thought was the click of a gun being readid for firing. He still had his gun out and ready, and he beat another hasty retreat.

*****

"Unintelligent, you took the words right out of my mouth." Said Imro as he finished up the cheese and crackers that he had selected along with his wine.

"You ae basing your little coup on assumptions, rather than solid fact. Every Military man worth his salt knows that a plan based on assumptions, is nothing short of ignorant. You assume that by keeping me here you will keep the Foreign Guard out of your hair.

First, it's not the Foreign Guard that you have to worry about. Second, if I don't make my usual daily report to Retaliatory Guard Command sometime tomorrow evening they will simply assume that as part of the current unrest in your nation that I have been liquidated and will act accordingly."

He smiles

"You further assume that taking control of a fourth rate military manned by men barely worthy of the title 'soldier' is some great feat.Having many former Dyellian soldiers in my Foreign Guard and watching how they reacted to real training and discipline was enough to demote Dyelli Beybi's military from a 'Low-Threat to a Non-Existant Threat' in Retaliatory Guard planning.

Your armed forces could not hold it's own against four Retaliary Guard armies and a single Naval Guard Tactical Group. So don't tempt fate.

You also assume that the Cheka is your partner in this."

He laughs "I won't even go into how absurd it is to trust any member of the Cheka. I'm sure they are already planning on how to gain more power at your expense once you have a firm grip."

There were marines in the shadows. They looked edgey, it was probably the slowly approaching noise of engines. Lots of engines. In fact, 'Johnson' would pretty quickly work out they were tanks. The troops accompanying them were the Cardinal's police force. To most foreigners this would seem insane, to the Dyellians the Cardinal's current army seemed understrengthed...

In the back of a jeep with one of the front units, now changed and showered and looking like she owned the place was Caroline. She was wearing a white blouse and black pants... it wasn't Order uniform, but clearly she was doing something for them. She was seated next to some kind of monk in black robes; the pair were deep in discussion.

----------

To the West Soult laughed heartily, "Your arrogence is amusing." he explained, "So is your attempt to drive a wedge between myself and the Cheka."

"What do you notice about the Cheka General?" he paused for dramatic effect, "Everybody hates them. No the Cheka could never run the country, nor could they ever get the military to cooperate with them, they need someone to front them, someone like me."

He smiled self assuredly, "You think you are so intelligent, yet your behaviour speaks of a man who is not. We are not going to hide the fact that we have you here, in fact my good friend Tania Fradkov I believe will be messaging your Government shortly to let you know we have you under arrest and are at this very moment submitting you to the worst imaginable degradations. You may have noticed that on this last point we are lying. I suspect though that it will not dawn on you as to why we would say such a thing."

Fradkov returned a few moments later, sticking her head around the door to give Soult the latest news, "It seems the Cardinal in Saint Guinefords has mobilised his little army, God alone knows what he's up to, but I don't like it, the Church is a loose cannon."

Johnson stayed hidden as best he could, leaving might give away his position. He decided to stay as hidden as possible and await the outcome of this situation.

*****

General Imro shook his head "Of course I know why you are going to say that you are torturing me. You want to provoke the Free Republic into war. Doing this will of course invariably draw in the rest of the Klatch, on your side of course.

From there you hope to use Federal forces to increase your grip on power, mainly because your own forces are so woefully inadequate."

General Imro smiles "Your plan is as transparent as it is childish. You will force the Free Republic's hand, most likely you will get your military response , and Federal help. Unfortunately it will do you no good. The entitety of the Klatch, only ranks as a 'Minor Threat' in Retaliatory Guard assessment, it would require a full mobilization to counter, but the fight itself would only last a week or two, most of that would be transport time.

We have noticed how Klatchian states tend to eat themselves when faced with actual co-ordinated resistance. The Federation is our assurance that your forces will be rendered ineffective."

Imro stands and smiles "Thank you for dinner Genorale, but it is getting late, I should be going. Feel free to stop by my base at any time."

Imro moves to leave, and draw his FN Browning .50 sidearm from under his long coat at the same time. He shoots to kill anyone that steps in his way.

It was impossible to find out exactly what was happening without coming out of cover. The Monk got out of the jeep and spoke to the Gate Guard, there was a pause of perhaps five minutes, then he walked sedately back to the jeep. A couple of minutes later and the tank opened fire, blowing the gates of the compound wide open. Another tank further down fired a shell into the base of the concrete wall surrounding the compound, leaving a large hole at the base but the wall still standing. A few of the Bishops men, crounched low, dashed through the smouldering gate, gunfire could be heard on the inside. Another tank trundled past the first and in through the gate as well, while the Commander of the first began to let off bursts of supressing machine gun fire against the firestep of the wall.

The Monk had walked over to a Senior looking officer who had set up a table with a radio and map on it, right in the middle of the street. The were joined by Caroline a few moments later. Whatever they were discussing was lost in amongst the noise and chaos as scores of foot soldiers raced towards the breach.

----------

"Wrong as usual." Soult scoffed, "You are so borish, go ahead and leave I'm not stopping you, but I do suggest you think about the consequences of your actions before taking them... by the way I wouldn't try to use your jeep, its feeling a little temperamental and likely to explode, I would also strongly advise you put that gun away, if you think you can shoot your way past several thousand soldiers you are clearly dillusional."

As Imro left, he could quite clearly hear Soult roaring with laughter.

Johnson decided that he had seen enough and went back out the alley the way he had come, still sticking to the shadows he headed back to the hotel room he had secured earlier. He needed a shower and to change out of his 'uniform'.

He would sneak into the hotel, not wanting to raise any suspicion with the uniform, he tried to be as invisible as possible on his way to the hotel and his way inside the hotel. He also listened to the hallway and to his room door with his cameras shotgun microphone, in case anyone was hiding and waiting for him. He would also slip his snake camera under the door of his room to have a look around before actually entering, he was going to play things paranoid from now on.

****

Imro considered shooting Soult, but he decided that while he didn't care if he was killed, he did care if his men were harmed. He stepped outside holstering his pistol. He took a few step out into the compund and when he caught sight of his men, he motioned them over to him.

He did what all Vaadian commanders do in a tough situation, asked the opinion of his men.

The room was desereted. Most of the other guests were huddled away, you could hear the fighting from here, although the receptionists carried on working as if they'd seen it all before... they had.

The room's windows rattled each time a shell was fired. Gradually the fighting died down, and peace was restored, althogh small bands of black clad soldiers were now patrolling the streets in force. Some had begun to sing a version of 'Over the Hills' outside the hotel... one was quite a good singer, his voice raised in a deep baritone;

"Over the Hills and O'er the Djel,
Throgh desert to the gates of hell,
The Cardinal Commands And we'll obey
Over the Hills and Far Away..."

About the time that Johnson was getting dressed again there came a rapid knock on the door, and a rather familiar female voice, "Psst... Zara, you in there? If you are, bloody open up, you've got me worried sick."

It was Caroline, looking for all the world like she owned the place. If she was affiliated with the Cardinal, that might not be such a bad assumption at this point.

----------

The D'Regs seemed to think it would be a good idea to exterminate all the Dyellians, starting with the ones here and working back to clean them off the Foreign Guard base. Soult was a Dyellian after all and he was a traitor, which just indicated in their opinion that the whole race was evil.
It didn't seem to have occured to them that Soult was rebelling primarily against a Government controlled by Dyellians or that a half track had trundled into a position were it could mow the trio down if they tried anything funny. The D'Regs had tonnes of aggression, but very little in the way of basic survival instincts or common sense...

Johnson opened the door, quickly, gun leveled.

"Caroline? Worried sick about me? I didn't know you cared!"

He used the shock and suprise to pull her quickly into the room, and sling her around onto the bed, he knew she was most likely proficent in hand-to-hand combat , so he kept her at a distance after the initial quick grab and release, he then quickly closed the door.

"Before you ask I have no idea where Alwood is, but you are starting to make me paranoid, showing up every where I do. I think you're stalking me. Remove your gun, using only your index fing and thumb, and toss it into the waste basket please, then remove your coat, slowly."

He smiled and motioned with his gun "Really, the whole of Dyelli Beybi is like a poorly written spy novel where the author makes up for lack of plot with the addition of a legion of spies.

You can tell me what is going on while you disarm yourself."

He kept his eyes on her hands and any sudden movements, and he shoots.

*****

Imro smiled at his men, he admired their barely contained aggression, but he was a bit dismayed that they didn't seem to be using any of the critical thinking skills he had been pounding into them. He quietly wondered where he had gone wrong.

"Well lads, I like your enthusiasm, but I don't think Soult intends to let us leave here alive." he says motioning to the APC "So, we need something else. Aren't the blanace of Soult's men here D'regs like yourself? We might have to patient a bit before we do anything rash. Rest assured we will do something rash, but I don't think now is the right time."

******

Meanwhile Tactical Group Namroth Vedic steamed towards the coast nearest the Foreign Guard base, extra mindful of mines. It would setle 100 miles distant of the coasty, but that would be plenty close to allow the Tactical Groups air umbrella to cover the base, and allow them to land Naval Guard Marine re-inforcements and the default leader of the Retaliatory Guard troops in the area, General Tukic, of the Naval Guard Marines.

Retaliatory Guard Command had ordered General Imro's Staff Seargent (still on base) that the base was to be locked dow, in no uncertain terms, and the the Foreign Guard troops were to be on alert.

"I'm not armed." she smiled coyly, "You can search me if you like, or you could just believe me."

Nevertheless she did take her coat off and toss it towards 'Johnson', "That is just Dyelli Beybi." she explained, "We're so busy trying to kill each other that we often forget about the rest of the world."

She yawned and lay back, making herself quite at home, "I'm not certain if I can tell you whats going on. If Zara didn't tell you herself it's not really my place to. She let me know ahead of time she was coming down here via one of the Cardinal's men." that explained her odd visit to a monastery at least, "When I started keeping an eye out for her, I realised that they were keeping an eye out as well, I can tell you there were a few close calls for me, we're pretty easy to confuse."

Caroline paused in her half explanation of what was going on, propping herself up on her elbows, "Unfortunately I didn't have any way to contact her before she got here, then when I realised the pair of you have blithely walked into that rather poorly devised trap the Navy had laid, I decided I'd have to do something... then of course there was the whole Military coup, who'd have expected that?... So the Cardinal reckoned it was about time we did our little bit for the Republic. We control the town at the moment, but probably won't for very long, we're outnumbered about 10 to 1 by the troops in the forts outside the city, as soon as the head honcho, whoever the heck that is gives the word they'll be all over us like a drunk teenager at a party."

She paused again, "So are you going to offer me a drink? I believe it's polite under these circumstances."

----------

"Yes but they're working for the Dyellian Government so they're just as bad." one man explained.

"No they're not, they're rebelling against the Dyellian Government." the other replied.

"Really, so are we sure we shouldn't be joining up with them then?" they both looked at the General. fighting the Dyellians was what the D'Regs did. It was tradition.

Johnson smiled "I'm holding you at gunpoint, I think I left polite outside. You can fix yourself a drink."

He waited as Caroline fixed herself a drink and then nodded. "Well, I'm no rocket scientist but it is my belief that Generole Soult, and or members of the Cheka are behind this 'coup'. Maybe that's why he's cozying up to your old friend General Imro.

Or the Cardinal is behind the coup, after all, I've only seen his troops attacking a military base. I'm sure you're very worried about Zara, you still want to kill her don't you? If not, why the change of heart? I also think we can assume she's not coming back and that she asumes I'm dead."

*****

General Imro nodded to his men.

"Lads, I'm all for fighting, but not on Soult's side, unles you fancy bowing and paying tribute to Emperor Solut. That's his intended title. I didn't particularly like the old government either, but the alternative hardly seems an improvement. There has to be a better way, and I think you lads and your people are the key.""

"Charming." she commented, before heading for the mini bar, "Knowing the ways hotels charge these are probably 4 kronors a pop, but you don't strike me as the sort of person who pays their bills."

She located a small bottle of gin and a similar of tonic, mixed them in a glass then sat down on the edge of the bed again, "I'm not going to insult you by trying to pass off the story that I found religion, so I'm going to tell you the roundabout story, without saying anything I shouldn't. She could have killed me, but she didn't, then she reported to the relevant people in the Cheka that she had, giving me the opportunity to escape back to Port Olympus where I was until quite recently. A certain person has been manipulating me... and her for years, and once we got talking, I mean actually talking, not threatening each other, I realised what had been going on."

"Now... err whatever your name is." she put the drink down on the bedside table, "The main difference between me and Zara is Zara is soft. I can't imagine her leaving anyone behind without first being 100 percent certain that they actually were dead. Does she have a bag or anything? I think you should check to see if she's been back here."

----------

The whole idea of the D'Regs running the country seemed to go down well, "Sounds good to me, whats the plan Chief. I mean they're not shooting or anything, maybe we should just leave?"

Johnson winked "Johnson, Luke Johnson. I'm in paper distribution. It's a dangerous business. I was going to check for a bag but I wanted to get the sewer smell out first, besides, Imro told her to leave me if anything happened. I'm the expendable one.Those foreigners treat all us Dyellians like we're expendable"

He paused and pointed with his gun "It should be over there , by the desk, have a look.I'll get a shirt."

*****

Imro looked upset for a second "Chief? It's 'Sir' or 'General'. That's some walk back to base, not to mention we'll be sitting ducks once we get out into the open. We may as well risk it though, I'm certain Soult is expecting me to come back in and listen to some of his 'brilliant' plan."

He nodded to his men and headed for the gate.

"Absolutely." Caroline agreed, giving Luke a look which said she didn't buy the fact that he was a Dyellian at all. It was entirely possible Zara had mentioned him in the message she'd sent her sister.

She knelt next to the bag, "I bloody hope this isn't booby trapped." she grumbled, then unzipped it.

It wasn't booby trapped, "Aha! We have... some clothes, some more clothes, whats this... a Cheka issue pistol in a jewlery box, fun but not necessarily indicative of anything. A letter from a lover... no actually it's from me, bad girl, mustn't jump to conclusions. A diary... with a lot of invented dates in it, unless she just happens to be selling cutlery on the side. I don't think she's been back, but I can't be certain."

Outside, far in the distance, gunfire echoed, the distinctively loud deep claps of SSA1801 assault rifles on semi-auto, "Where did you last see her by the way? We didn't pick up any of them on the base when we hit it, although we know there were a few in there, and I know they were looking for her."

---------

"Err sorry Sir." the trooper replied, "Slip of the tongue Sir."

He had of course addressed Imro as a D'Reg Clan Chieftain but wasn't about to explain. The pair waited for Imro to lead on. The half track just idled.

Johnson holstered his gun "She was waiting for me at the car in the alley, just down from the naval base. That was the first place I checked, but it was way too hot before I got there. I don't think anyone saw us there unless we were followed from the club."

He paused and finished dressing and then checked his blackberry for e-mails and sent one short, obviously coded email and smiled.

"That reminds me, I need a new car too." He started to gather his things up. "Come along then, I don't think we'll be safe here much longer."

*****

General Imro nodded "Don't let it happen again." He then set off past the APC and off-base. He was very wary as he did so, he still had a bad feeling that Soult wouldn't just let him walk off.

"You were followed, by me, I lost you before you found somewhere to park." Caroline replied, she shrugged, "It was the first time I ever tried to tail another car, I think I was too cautious."

"We're safe for I'd say at least for another 20 minutes. The Cardinal is storming the airbase... if it goes horribly wrong we'll probably end up burried under several tonnes of rubble."

"I'm Caroline Artois by the way." she liked to take Gallic surnames, "Chief of Intelligence for the Cardinal of Dyelli Beybi."

"Out of curiosity, when you say lets go, am I being given an option in the matter? Because I very dearly want to locate a certain Commisaar Alwood whereas I suspect your priorities lie in returning to your employer, who'm I'm guessing is the same arrogent, manipulative, pakrah my sister seems to be so irrationally fond of."

----------

As it happened Soult's men allowed Imro and his guards to set off back to base without molestation. The only effort he made to contain them was the half track being ordered to follow at a distance.

Johnson smiled "You aren't too bad at following, I'm just expert at losing, oh and I know who you are."

He started to collect his things "I'm leaving, you can come with me, do as you please, or whatever, but mind you, your dossier has a 'do not trust, kill on sight' tag. I'm also not giving up on Alwood, I just happen to know where she is going next. I'm sure she can get there on her own, but the longer I wait here, the more suspicious it could look, the room is paid through the week, she has plenty of time."

He smiled as he finished packing "General Imro may think he's the boss of me, but I assure you I don't work for him, if I did, I'd have done as he ordered and shot you in the back in the sewer."

*****

Imro double timed it with his men, keeping a wary eye on the half track.

"I don't like this lads, it's too easy, something is up."

"A simple thank you would have been quite sufficient." Caroline remarked sarcastically, "And thank you, I'll be sure to remember to duck next time you wave that gun at me."

She sat down on the edge of the bed again, "Personally I'm going to check out the Naval base to see if they have any record of her... you do realise I own this town now don't you? So your remaining here becoming suspicious isn't really an issue."

She paused again, picking up the drink she'd poured and taking a sip from it, "I find the whole 'do not trust, kill on sight' tag quite misleading. I'm not that dangerous, not compared to your own model, she's bloody fast and seems uncannily good at finding people in the dark... it was right about one thing though, some people might say I am mildly dishonest. For instance I lied to you before about the being armed thing."

Caroline peered at Johnson over the top of her glass, although she didn't move in any way that could be considered hostile, "For my personal protection of course, you could have been any manner of rapist. By the way, would you mind contacting me if Zara does show up, wherever you're off to? I can give you a phone number to call, it would be enormously appreciated."

----------

The guards didn't have anything to say, and yes it did seem ridiculously simple to walk out of Soult's camp, straight after he'd been bragging about how he had Imro prisoner.

"Yes, you own the city. Until the military controlled by the coup leaders arrive, how long tomorrow? The day after? Then what will you own? I'd rather not be here when the tanks roll in to bring the Cardinal a bit closer to God, if you know what I mean."

He paused "I'll give you forty-eight hours, and then I'm gone, and I mean so gone that that I won't even be able to find me, how's that?"

*****

Imro was very suspicious "We'll get back to the base and they'll have moved the whole thing, or worse. There was some reason that he wanted me out there tonight."

Carloine shrugged, "Who's to say we won't win? If they come down on us boots and all I estimate it will take them 3 weeks to root us out, longer if we take the forts and airbase outside of town, which is ample time for things to change. If they go wrong well I'm sure I can break out of here."

She didn't explain the plan any further, just shrugged, "To be honest, bumping into you again wasn't exactly on my list of things to do this evening. I'm not asking for you to hang around, I'm just asking if you could let me know if you find Zara. You can go all mysterious if you want to, frankly I don't particularly care, if you're worried I'm going to try to track you via a cellphone, or something else equally as wacky, you can ask her to do it. It would save me a lot of bother if I knew I could stop looking though."

----------

The answer was provided (had Imro been able to recognise the vehicles) when they were passed a few minutes later by a pair of light tanks escorting a truck with what looked like an enormous sensor array on the back.

Johnson shrugged "I'll wait forty-eight hours. If I don't hear anything, I'm heading on to our next destination, if and when I find Alwood, I'll have her contact you. That's the final word on the matter. If I find anyone following me or watching me, I'll dispose of them, so warn anyone you might ask to tail me that they either need to be bulletproof or damn good at sneaking around."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. Thank you for stopping by, don't be a stranger."

*****

Imro watched the vehicles pass "That truxk looks like a command vehicle. I'll bet Soult has the base surrounded, so he didn't care if we left his camp, we'd just bump into the perimeter he has around it!"

He paused and looked thoughtful "Alright, we need a change of plan.Damn I wish I had my rifle. There is that small fishing town, south of here, let's see if we can get there and get to a phone, or get transportation."

"You really are the aggresive type aren't you? Good thing for you you're quite irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, unless you're one of them." She gave Johnson a suspicious peer then shrugged.

"Word of advice, go back to your base. This country isn't safe right now, but if you stay there you can ignore the violence, put in your earphones and listen to what passes for music among pakrahs." she looked like she was being quite serious, "Do not wait 48 hours, or you may find yourself trapped in this city."

Caroline put her drink aside for a moment, reaching into her jacket on the floor for a business card and a smaller electronic card, both of which she flicked across the room. It said she was a Certified Master Builder, which was the most blatant lie imaginable, "My number, now go fetch your car and piss off, that second one will get you past the road blocks. Don't try to use it beyond tomorrow or you'll be treated as a Spy, which isn't very pleasant."

----------

Even avoiding the cordon, there was still the half track following them, and no doubt radioing their position to other units...

Imro's luck didn't hold out when they reached the fishing village some time around dawn. There were numerous military trucks coming and going around the place, and plenty of guards, mostly wearing grey berets. If Imro had ever bothered to learn Dyellian beret colours, he'd know they were logistics Corp, which meant this village was probably a supply dump.

Johnson shrugged "Fine, but you may regret not having me around to help out. " He picked up his bag again snd slung it over his shoulder and headed out, once again taking a back exit, or even a window out of the hotel and then headed to a car lot to purchase a new set of wheels.

Once havinf gotten a car (hopefully Vrakian again) he headed for stop number two, the residence of one Otto Himmler. He was looking forward to the drive.

*****

General Imro looked back at the halftrack and then at his men again "I don't suppose any of you have an anti-tank mine handy? We need someway to shake our shadow."

"Not really." Caroline smiled to lessen the blow, "To be perfectly frank I don't want Protestants on my patch, and if you're with the Vaadians you are undoubtedly fighting for a Protestant cause, the only reason I haven't had you eliminated is because you were with Zara. God bless you on your journey." she raised the glass of Gin and Tonic in salute and waited as 'Luke' left.

The Car lots were closed up and bolted, although banging on the gates in many cases would rouse the heavily armed owner (ready to fight off looters), being Dyellian they were ready for business, if a little snappy and more prone to overcharge than usual.

It would take several days to reach Otto Himmler's residence in Cyro. It was impossible to tell what was going on during the period, from the garbled radio reports. In reality, the rather slow Commander near Saint Guineford's had suffered a series of humiliating defeats to the Cardinal's outnumbered, but fanatical followers, forcing Soult to fly Eastwards to take command of the Third Republican, marching Five Divisions south-west to face the now well entrenched 'Army of God' in what promised to be probably the bloodiest battle ever to take place on Dyellian soil.

Otto Himmler's residence was empty and deserted. Everything was cleaned out and the doors left open to allow the birds to take up roost inside. Off to the side was some kind of research laboratory, the computers inside were smashed, completely destroyed and irreperable, although a large amount of equipment was left lying around, microscopes worth millions, petri dishes, Krebs solution, agar plates, huge amounts of electrical wiring, and all manner of other things. Whatever had been done here had involved manipulation of cells and had taken a lot of electricity, whoever had been working here had left in a hurry.

----------

Imro's men were carrying standard kit, so if that happened to include anti-tank mines, they would have it. It scarcely mattered now though. They had obviously been spotted, a Sahariana, (open topped jeep with an attached chaingun) bedecked in all manner of foliage raced out of town, drawing to a halt some distance from Imro. Someone who was probably an Officer, and definitely a Voltigeur (only they took scruffiness to such an extreme) stood up in the front seat, "This is a restricted area. Please return to your base immediately, or we will be forced to return you in a less than dignified manner."

Which more or less summed up everything. Soult was quite happy for Imro to return to his base, for two reasons, it was surrounded and outnumbered, and any breakout would involved trying to blast past well prepared fortifications. He had also dragged in half a dozen trucks, which were scrambling radio transmissions, while the telephone lines in the area were cut. Actually having Imro was moot, as long as Imro couldn't communicate Soult wasn't holding him, people would assume he was. There were other provisions in place for anyone trying to bounce laser off a satelite, but they were unlikely to be employed as Soult figured even the Vaadians wouldn't use such a cost inefficient method of communication.

Johnoson took a look around the Himmler residence, poking in and out of everything to make sure he didn;t miss anything, or anyone that might still be about. Himmler was obviously not as safe and secure as everyone had been led to believe, at least not his home and possessions.

After his search , he sat down on a windowsill and checked his e-mail and sent an e-mail. He thought that perhaps he might need some help.

*****

Imro looked perturbed and shrugged again.

"Well, lads, let's do as they say and get back onto base. I'll contact Retaliatory Guard Command and see what is up, and what they think we should do. When we get back get everyone up, armed and ready, and then we'll have a meeting to discuss what we are up against and what the best course of action is."

He led the way back to the base.

Himmler's residence lay eerily still,a blackbird landed outside and began to chirp as it rooted around in the grass for worms. A spider crawled out from inside a broken computer, then wandered back inside. After a while a light drizzle began to fall, it was a rare event in Cyro, uheard of in most of the country.

----------

Imro was allowed to pass to his base unmolested. Soult's troops just sat outside scrambling communications, but otherwise being completely non hostile. They would have been trying to swap cigarettes had they not been told that Imro was barking mad and would probably take it as a sign of agression.

The mood in the camp was good for Imro's purposes, most of the D'Regs were all for going out pillaging across the countryside, slaughtering any Dyellians who got in their way. The few Dyellians on camp deserted, or tried to. The D'Regs being more than happy to shoot them, should the General require it.

A few days later word would come to Imro from the gate that 'his pet Cheka agent' had shown up, and would he prefer them to shoot the intruder, turn it away or send it in. Anti-Cheka sentiment was high, nobody liked the secret police it seemed, even if they were of the not so secret variety, and a Dyellian Cheka agent was just asking for trouble...

Mr. Johnson just smiled and sat quietly in a window at Himmler's house, checking his e-mail on his blackberry, raising an eyebrow at some the responses he had recieved. He chuckled and placed a call to Caroline. It appeared that the Shadow General had a plan and HJohnson was about to set it in motion.

*****

General Imro did not have the deserters shot, but sent back to their posts with the warning that they would be shot. He also kept his men as ready as possible, making sure that the lax soldiers outside saw nothing but professional, prepared men.

He also did what he had done to win his own men over. He had tea, coffee and cigarettes taken out regulary to the men guarding the camp and encouraged his men to fraternize with them. While doing this he sat with his men and prepared a plan to break out of the base and to sweep aside Soult's command base, he needed only the right time.

He also tried his encrypted satellite phone, to see if he could call Retaliatory Guard command. Upon hearing that Alwood had apprently appeared again he had her brought to his office.

****

Tactical Group Namroth Vedic pressed onward and once it was within 100 miles of Dyellian coast it stopped finally and spread out into defensive position. They lay directly south of the Foreign Guard base. Admiral Aymara immediately sent out a Marathon Stealth Transport to the Guard base, loaded with supplies and a few Naval Guard Marine Snipers, the satellites had shown the surrounded base , but with no communications. The Marathon was sent with a Naval Wing of Orioon Stealth Fighters as escort. He awaited their report.

Johnson's call was answered by a familiar female voice, "Artois spoon emporium, how can I help?"

The background noise, which sounded suspiciously like artillery fire, sounded distictly out of place for someone claiming to be selling cutlery.

----------

The other sister meanwhile was shuffled into Imro's prescence, she had aquired a somewhat dirty looking blouse and pair of jeans from somewhere. She also had a piece of rope tied around her neck like a very unfashionable necklace. The brown contacts were gone, although the hair was still died black.

"Afternoon General." she sat down without being asked, "Good to be back, I'm fine thanks for asking. It's a long story which I'm not going to bore you with, so I'll tell you the important bit. Last night I got picked up by the D'Reg Army, some division or another, my fault I was tired and wasn't being careful... anyway, standing orders are for them to hand me over to the Cheka, someone told them I was the most awful kind of traitor and might be showing up around here. They let me go instead, apparently they think you're the guy who's going to lead the D'Reg people to victory over the hated Dyellian oppressors."

She gave a short of laugh, "They have also decided you are mentally unstable so sent me to approach you, as I'm betraying my country to you, I seemed like a logical choice." a slight smile crossed her lips, "Anyway I'm tired and need a shower, I'll leave you to mull that over, do you have a luggage label by the way? One of those ones you tie around bags when you take them onto planes."

Johnson chuckled "This is Mr. Johson, how are you Caroline?It sounds busy at the spoon emporium. I just wanted to let you know that I still haven't found Zara. I also need to know how bad the Cardinal wants help? I think I have a few lads that just may be able to give Soult's forces a bloody nose, they need and airstrip, and of course they need the Cardinal's help.

It sounds like the Cardinal needs their help as well."

*****

Imro smiled at Awood as she sat and listened to her without comment until she was done.

"I'm mad? I haven't declared myself Emperor have I? Anyhow go and clean up, we can discuss my plans later.Let's just say that in form or another, Soult will wish that he had killed me when he had the chance.

Much like everyone else I meet."

After Alwood has left he calls in his commanders, he has to have a little talk with them.

*****

Hopefully at that same time the Marathon transport from Tactical Group Namroth Vedic should be landing at the Foreign Guard base airstrip. If it is fired on , or intercepted the Orion escort will act to protect it, otherwise they simply make sure it's landed safely and then head back out to sea.

It is a smaller Marathon, a B variant , a VTOL supersonic transport that can normally carry around one hundred men, although today it is only carrying five Naval Guard Marine Snipers and supplies.

"Sales are up" Caroline remarked dryly, "You would not believe the rush on cutlery, although I'm thinking of investing in crockery, you would not believe the damage war does to people's dinner services."

"I haven't seen her either." there was a pause, the brief sentence the only reference to her sister.

"We have an airstrip, and frankly we have about a week before we all get slaughtered." as if to punctuate the point, a machine gun opened up in the background, "I can't talk for the Cardinal, but I can talk to him. I am sure you will understand we are naturally suspicious of foreign intervention as well, what exactly do you have in mind and what is the price we will have to pay for your aid?"

As she spoke there was a gradual but noticeable increase in the levels of static coming down the phone line.

----------

Around the foreign Guard base, the Dyellian units slunk Northwards and Westwards. Some idea that the simmering racism in the country was about to boil over had reached the local commanders, who in true Dyellian style, had decided that 'discretion was the better part of valour'. The D'Reg units watched the transports land with mute apathy, with any luck what was on them would join them, otherwise they were quite certain they could handle it.

As for Alwood; her sudden expulsion from Cheka seemed to have translated into a decision to do absolutely nothing except lounge around in her quarters.

Johnson replied quickly as Caroline's time seemed pressed.

"I have arranged for a mercenary force to help you out. Right now it'll be free of charge, let's just say that the Cardinal owes me a favor.

I have taked with the leader of the 'Bad Hand' Mercenary unit and he assures me that he can have troops to your position in forty-eight hours. That would be around three thousand men, with artillery. They are pro's so they might be able to give Soult a particularly rough time of it.

Let me know as soon as you can they are staging right now, and just having them wait is costing me money."

*****

General Imro had a brief talk with the Naval Guard Marine snipers that had come with the supplies and then set his men to unloading the transport. He then had a talk with his officers.

"Alright lads, in eight hours time we are going to break from our base here. Our first objective will to be crush the resistance immediately around the base. We will have support from Naval Guard Tactical Group Namroth Vedic in the form of naval gun, and cruise missle strikes as well as air support. BUT first we need to get a few things straight.

First, I will lead you men, but I will do so to fight for the Socialist Republic. I will not support or take any part in a D'reg revenge government, or anything short of a restoration of democracy.

Having said that,if you lads fight for the Republic, then you must realize the tremendous leverage you will have in any democratic reconstruction, and I want you to use magnanimously. I want you to show the Dyellians the type of fairness and restraint that they have not given you, simply because you are better than them.

Second, our main goal is the restoration of the Socialist Republic, but we will drive right at Soult and we will kill him. What comes after that has less to do with me and more to do with you. This will mean very hard fighting. I want to know that you lads will perform just as trained. I don't care what other D'regs do, if they loot and slaughter, but you will not. We will lead by example, YOU will lead by example.

Lastly, I will fight for you and your people, until my dying breath, if you are with me and if you do follow my lead. I will spare no effort in helping you show the world that you and your people are the stabilizing force that will make this Republic whole, not the Dyellians. I want you all to understand that we must fight for a Republic that is better. Not just to you and your families, but to ALL of it's citizens.

If you are with me, we attack in six hours."

He pauses and nods to one of the snipers, who heads outside and fires a flare.

Then he ordered his men and them very quietly and low key begin preparations to attack.

*****

Out to sea in Namroth Vedic Fire Control Admiral Aymara was apprised that the 'six hour flare' had been fired.

"Damn Imro." he said as he took his seat "He could've given us at least eight or twelve hours.

Alright, put the Tactical Group on combat alert, get all the jets fuelled loaded and ready, in five hours thirty , start getting them in the air. Fire Control begin target selections at five hours fifty load ballast and ready main guns for firing. Have ordinance load and prime cruise missles."

He pauses and stands again. "Maintian absolute communication silence. Do not alert Tollan, hold all messaging until my order. I hope Imro knows what he is doing."

*****

After his speech Imro stopped at Alwood's quarters.

"Well, this is it. So what happened? You're back much sooner than I expected?"

Fasta

Assistant Mashal Patrick Bates was sitting back in his overstuffed office chair clicking through today's update of Old Men and Young Girls. The slightly puggie, red haired Benjian winched when there was a knock on the glass panel of his door.

He hit the hot key on his computer, switching to a spreadsheet. "Come in..."
The small, narrow man that walked in looked like a cross between a scarecrow and a living corpse. As white as a sheet, and dressed in a dark pinstripe suit, the International Investigation Service Agent was called the Alkie ghost behind his back. His 'real' name was Paul Tanner

"Marshal Bates? I have some disturbing news, it appears as if the Vaadians are signalling their taskforce off the coast." The IIS agent began, placing an image of a flare taken from some sat above.

"Quite, so what do you want me to do about it?" The Marshal growled.

"We are under orders to try and delay all Vaadian manuvers within the Klatch at present, and..."

"So what, I am supposed to go over there and tell the blasted Vaadian General not to attack until..."

"Until his defense minister gets done talking with the Privy Council yes."

"Are you insane?"

"This is the Klatch, insanity is sane"

South Dyellian Coast
The small airship, used mainly for AWAC work was slowly moving east. It was using a JDF force IFF code, and visual observation from the ground would have noted the JDF symbols pasted over the Alconian ones.

This is JDF Airship AS-102 informing all Klatchian Forces that we are replotting our course to make a delivery to the Klatchian Guard Base. Thank You.

It turned off from following the coast and turned north-east, heading for the Guard Base at 320 knots.

"Maybe, maybe, it would be apreciated, I hope they're good at counter-battery work, because Soult's got us zeroed in, it's one of those situations where no matter where you are you can't get away from the artillery. I don't suppose they have armour do they?" Caroline waited for a reply before concluding the call, "I'll get back to you as soon as I can find the cardinal, should be an hour, two at most, should I call back on this number?"

----------

Her sister, half way across the country had scrubbed up quite nicely. She had gone from uniform to short skirt and blouse, although she still had a piece of rope around her neck for reasons she hadn't decided to share.

"Oh hello General." she didn't salute, but did stand up, "You you can probably guess the start bit."

"Soult who had had his man put me up to the whole plan, had informed Saint Guineford's Naval Base I was coming. So naturally I got arrested almost as soon as I showed up. What I hadn't figured out was that Soult is getting help from them."

She lowered her voice as she said 'them', almost as if she expected on of 'them' to be listening, "He hadn't expected the Cardinal to launch an uprising. Some of the Cardinal's men caught up with some of them who were holding me, and in the firefight I managed to escape."

She laughed suddenly, "Didn't I tell you Dyelli Beybi is a country of plots hiding further plots and further plots until finally you reach something close to the truth? We're not there yet, nowhere near there."

"Sit down, unless you'd rather go to your office?" it seemed Alwood didn't even regard this as a posibility. She slumped down onto her bed, "I'm afraid I've been leaving you in the dark on certain things, like Otto Himmler, and Caroline whatever-she's-calling-herself-now. It seems a lot of her grudge against me was over imaginary events, a nice little web that Himmler had spun. That bullet wound I took was self inflicted to create the impression of a struggle, we needed Caroline to be dead, to not be expected, and we found out some interesting things. Himmler is backing Soult through Fradkov, he's also involved with them. He's been fermenting discontent with the several minority ethnic groups. He also backed a Tzarist plot in which a number of people were killed by some experimental weapon. Oh and while I'm on the subject the Cardinal wants a Constitutional Monarchy, something about reconcilliation with the nobility."

She paused, shaking her head, "To be honest we can't puzzle out what he's up to, there seems to be no gain behind the machinations just destruction, and no particular reason why he's befriended me to start with then decided he needed me wiped out."

"I think your speech went well by the way." she said changing the subject, smiling suddenly "The way you talk so proudly about your Red Jaguars or whatever they're called, I was figuring you'd have condoned the pillage, rape and murder they're plotting out there. Are you planning to attack them or were you talking about the Dyellian Battalions further down the road?"

Johnson responded to Caroline "They have armor, but they need a secure strip to land it, one that is reinforced to take the weight, they have Edolian Sentinel tanks, a fifty ton bruiser. Let me know, so I can get them rolling."

He waited as Caroline got a hold of the Cardinal.

*****

"In six hours the Namroth Vedic will open up with everything it has on the forces ringing the base, once the base is secure and communiactions back up five thousand Naval Guard Marines will cycle in to secure the base here while we leap frog out and hit the battalions at Soult's headquarters.

I think I have enough Thunderers to pin Soult's armor while we get around them using our transports. With everybody mechanized we should hit them before they realize that the Thunderer screen is only there to hold their attention, not to mention the air raids from the Namroth Vedic's carriers."

He paused "We'll have to wait to deal with Himmler, until after we've dealt with Soult. I'm sure you have ideas on how to deal with both? It might also be helpful if you went aboard the Namroth Vedic, you would be better at selecting priority targets than the Fire Control lads."

*****

Namroth Vedic Fire Control took note of the JDF airship, but ignored it, maintaining an absolute communications black out.


OOC: How long will it take the airship to get to outside Cyro from where it is?

Caroline called back around an hour later, "Cardinal says yes, but you're not going to like the story with the airstrip... Soult shelled it earlier this morning, it's completely useless. We can do a Sea landing but he has artillery on the bluffs on the East side of the harbour entrance."

(OOC: The Harbour is a huge basin with a fairly small entry between two high cliffs. The city is primarily on the North side of the basin spreading inland with fortresses on the cliff tops and along the nearby coast.)

----------

"You'll want to head North." Alwood concluded, "Into D'Reg country. You'll need to take a fresh water supply, as soon as things turn bad Soult will order the pumping stations to stop the flow of water out here, and without the Djel Water there's nowhere near enough to support an army, let alone the civilian population. Also if you try to push along the coast you'll end up fighting a Normandy style campaign in the hedgerows."

"Also this coast is crawling with MiGs, your planes will have plenty of company." she shrugged, "We'll see how things pan out. By the way, I'm still not going to join your Guard, but I'll go over to your ship in the capacity of independent consultant."

OOC: I don't think that the Klatchian Guard base is very close to Cyro at all is it?

IC: The JDF airship continued on its way, crossing over the Dyellian countryside before pushing into the interior and towards the base.

Marshal Bates looked down at the countryside that was slowly drying out below him. "God I hate this place, fifth level of hell that got hit by god's wrath." He turned to look at the pale faced ISS agent who was sitting in a small seat between the bridge and one of the monitoring stations across from him.

"Alright, we got over the first line of Dyellian defenses without being turned into swiss cheese. Now will you tell me who the f*** that weirdo is in the back of the plane is?"

The IIS agent looked up and shrugged, "Someone who wanted a ride to speak to the Vaadians about a job I think."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it, go back to your porn."

OOC: East of Cyro I thought, a couple of hours away, near the coast. We'll let DB clarify.

(OOC) A couple of hours away by helicopter so around 600km, driving would take at least 6 hours along the motorway. It's about mid way between Cyro and Saint Guinefords.

OOC: A modern Sky Witch would be faster than a helicopter, but not as manuverable. So we should be arriving three to four hours after the signal got them moving.

Johnson sounded displeased "That is not going to work, if they go by boat, you'll see them in two weeks or more, if we send them in with VTOL capable transports, they won't have artillery with them.

There are no highways, or four lane main streets under your control that haven't been hit? Work with me here."

*****

General Imro nodded "I don't expect you to join, just make sure that Fire Control is hitting the right targets."

General Imro stood and gave Zara a rather tender hug "The transport will leave when you're ready. I'll see you in a few days."

After he had shipped Zara off he made plans , but did not share them with anyone. His plan of battle would be the most retardedly reckless in the history of the Klatch, but also entirely unexpected.

A few hours after that the 'JDF' airship would arrive, finding the base looking almost entirely deserted, with Imro and his men making preparartions behind closed doors. It was hoped that Soult's men would perceive this as defensive digging in.

*****

Out to sea Tactical Group Namroth Vedic sat, seemingly quietly. If the flare had meant anything, any observer would note, it may have meant to stand down. Below decks was a different story.

The Tollan carriers had five hundred Orions between them, and all of them were now lined in que to exit five at a time from the massive carriers. The two Revenge Battleships also had their Artemis fighters and Marathon transports ready.

Below the waves the Wolfhound submarines had settles at the sea floor in a defensive ring around the group, waiting for enemy ships to pass over them and then pounce, while the Trident submarines actively sought Dyellian submarines and ships, they would simply follow them for now.

The last line of defence was the Jaguar Arsenal-Cruisers, their low profile hulls made them invisble in anything but calm waters.

Soult was about three hours from receiving exactly waht he wanted, a Vaadian attack.

"Well there is the main motorway into town." Caroline mused, "You could use that, six lanes wide, with a concrete median barrier though. Only thing is that it's well within range of Soult's guns. We could try a landing on it, but it would be very, very risky."

She paused, "Hey, I've got a question, say we need to get a small boat out, do you reckon you guys might be able to pick it up? We need to get an envoy to Port Olympus to negotiate with one of the other factions with an interest in this country's future."

There was an almighty crash in the background., followed by screaming, and the sounds of a tracked vehicle trundling past. For a moment it sounded as if Caroline wasn't in a position to speak any longer, then; "I'm still here." her voice was pitched low, little above a whisper, "Mind if I ask you not to speak too loudly when you reply?"

----------

Zara hugged Imro back, "I wish I knew what I knew that other people didn't want me to talk about." she grumbled, almost inaudibly, "I really did try not to cause trouble. It just seems to follow me, if I didn't know better I'd suspect this war had something to do with me."

She laughed at the stupidity of the idea, "Anyway..." she looked up at Imro challengingly, "So I'm betraying my country because you told me to... you'd better make this worth my while."

"Tell your transport guys I'll be ready for them in 15 minutes. Also try not to start fighting before I land, I've heard getting shot down tends to lower your life expectancy quite dramatically."

OOC: Sorry for the ooc post. Please don't forget that I also have some ships watching you, IV. I'll post some stats as soon as possible.

OOC: I am keeping that in mind Vrak.


IC:

Johnson whispered back to Caroline "I would suggest that if you get a boat out head towards Cyro with it, the sea is crawling with Vrakian and Vaadian ships. The six lane highway sounds good. Can you get the co-ordinates of the artillery Soult has aimed at it? I'm sure an air strike on them during the landing would keep their heads down.

It sounds like you're running out of time, we'd better think of something quick."

*****

Zara still had a couple of hours to get away from the base and out to the Namroth Vedic. It was quite dramatic to see the giant battleship, it's 24" guns pointed out to sea at the just out of visible range Vrakians. It was even more alarming when the Marathon Transport dropped straight down into to a hatch next to one of the enourmous gun batteries.

The expert pilot conducted a pefect VTOL landing in the ships multi-purpose deck, which was rather crowded at the moment, the Revenge Class Battleship's twenty Artemis Fighters were lined up and ready just beneath the access deck ports. Further back the Naval Guard Marines were set and ready waiting patiently with their Marathon Transports to disembark when the time came.

Alwood received some suspicious looks from the Load-Masters, but after a quick explanation from the pilot was sent to Fire Control, a room filled with dozens of tactical displays and five huge main plasma screens, it was constantly abuzz with activity. The main screens followed the Vrakian ships in real-time along with Soult's foces and any Dyellian ships nearby.

OOC:

I'll wait until A&H's airship has landed before starting any shooting?

"If we slip towards Cyro one of Soult's PBs will pick us up, and if they don't we'll run into the High Seas Fleet offshore near Cyro."

She paused for a long time. Nothing much could be heard, aside from the usual rattling of gunfire and the screams of the dying, there seemed to be plenty of that. Eventually though she replied, "I'll have to call you back with those co-ordinates, at the moment I'm not in the position to tell you. I warn you though, there isn't going to be one big battery, there will be lots and lots of small ones."

----------

Zara meanwhile was looking quite lost on the bridge of a warship. In fact she'd never been on one before. Everything seemed so busy and really she had no idea what to do, so she did what seemed the most sensible thing and approached a senior looking officer who looked to have some time, "Hi, I'm Com... sorry I'm a Private Contractor now, Zara Alwood, General Imro sent me over here to give assistance in selecting targets. Are you who I should be talking to?"

Johnson nodded and whispered back "I'll see what I can do about a boat, call me back as soon as you know where those batteries are."

Johnson already had some idea from his satellite maps, but confirmation on the ground would be good. He then typed a quick text message and then decided to set about quietly exploring what was once Cyro to see if anything, or anyone of interest remained."

*****

Unincorporated Klatchia West of Karmanyaka

Most of the base was underground, the only thing obvious was the 'runway' and old overgrown defunct road. Only the overgrowth was camoflage which was hurriedly being moved back as the blast doors to the underground complex opened and the twelve massive ArkBird Bombers (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=372642&page=1&pp=15) silently slipped out. Only these had been converted to transports, only three had been left as bombers. Two were loaded down with over two hundred JDAM Satellite bombs each and one was fitted with two arrays of one hundred and twenty five Comet/M6 AA missles, just in case.

Cathbad had finally received the green light from Mr. Johnson and the supersonic jets took off , heading for St. Guineford's.

*****

Aboard the Namroth Vedic, Alwood was interrupted by a rather short ( for a Vaadian) Tolteca man, who shook her hand and introduced himself.

"I am Admiral Aymara. I understand Imro thinks you can help us?" He pauses and hands Alwood a laser pointer, and uses his own to point at the staellite image of the Guard Base. "Here, is our first target area, what we need to know is what equipment hurts Soults men the most to lose? And prioritize our targets in that manner."

He nods towards a man at a console "Just point at what you want on here and Leftenant Eames will zoom and then select it as a target as you wish, giving it immediate, high, medium or low priority. " he pauses pointing to a second screen "Second target is Soult's base which will be hit by our Jaguar Arsenal-Cruisers, once again select targets here and have Eames give them priority. This will give our pilots and guns a better idea of what we should be hitting." He points to a rail "When the ship pitches or moves, grab onto a free rail."

As he says that the ship does indeed begin to 'sink', with alarms blaring the Battleship shudders as it begins taking on ballast, preparing to fire it's main guns, at the same time the ship sways as the enourmous main batteries swing from out to sea to pointing inland.

Admiral Aymara nods as he steadies himself "See, there, the ship will shake quite violently every time the main guns let loose as well, so stick close to something to hold on to!"

Cyro seemed to be going about daily life again. The military were out in force in the streets, stopping and demanding ID off anyone who looked at them the wrong way. In other parts of the city, areas closer to Parliament Island, work was still underway to clear the roads of debris, while the first attempts were being made to repair bridges, restore electricity and shore up badly damaged structures. In this part of the country the war had ended.

----------

"Ah pleasure to meet you Admiral." Alwood heeded the warning and took a firm grip of the railing. "You might want to get a picture of whats South of the base. I'm not an expert on the area but I'd warrant you'll be looking and a few scattered shore batteries, who you'll be dueling with pretty promptly."

"Check around for where his supplies are. Soult will be relying heavily on those Lancia 1000 trucks to give your guys a beating. It's pointless hitting the trucks though, much easier to knock out their cache of ammunition, they don't carry much on the vehicle and they'll have to retreat." she pointed at a truck shaped object with the pointer, "I think that's one of them there."

Zooming in would reveal a strange vehicle, it looked half way between a scud missile launcher and a WWII Katyusha. It was a truck with a single huge missile of some description mounted centrally, with 20 smaller missiles packed around the outside of the first one's firing tube in a huge cylindrical mass. Next to it was another truck, the vast array of antena gave it away as a mobile radar unit.

"Don't attack the trucks directly with planes." she advised, "Their primary role is AA, I don't know exactly how they do it, but they swap the warheads over and fire them at ground targets."

Johnson kept a very low profile, which is probably what most other Dyellians were doing as well. He waited anxiously for Caroline's return phgone call, after all if no one was there to meet the mercenaries, they might even sell their services to Soult, which would give him a bit more help than he needed at the moment.

*****

Admiral Aymara nods as Alwood talks "Right, the shore batteries we acn hit with cruise missiles, same thing with the Lancia's. Do the Lancia's use radar targetting? If so our Artemis fighters can get under the radar and hit them too. I anticipate opening up on the main formations surroynding the base with the Main Guns, we are in range to use the three and a half ton shells, so two to three barrages at their back should break their will to fight, and we can move on to other targets.

What is Soult's mens morale like? Will they fight for him to the death, or if we make things loud and dangerous enough will they quit?"

Caroline took a long time to reply. A very long time in fact, when she did she wasn't sounding positive, "There are at least 30 batteries that can target the area." she remarked gloomily, "There's quite a bit of SAM in the area too. I can give you the coordinates, can't guarantee stuff won't have moved. By the way, do you need us to knock down the median strip, otherwise you'll be trying to land on 3 lanes."

----------

"They have a communication truck parked next to them, to be frank I have no idea what kind of targetting system they use, but it looks like a radar doesn't it? I think I heard its some kind of naval thing. I've also seen guys hanging around with some kind of tube for targeting." Alwood explained, without being hugely helpful, "I hope you know what you're doing, those fortresses are built to withstand a prolonged bombardment."

"You asked about morale. His guys won't run if that's what you mean, they're defending their homeland against invaders. We're used to despots in Dyelli Beybi, most will think better the devil they know than the devil they don't." she shrugged apologetically, "A lot of the D'Regs around the base are ready to change sides, but they'll fight for Soult if they come under attack."

The airship appeared out of the hazy late afternoon. Just as it neared the 'fuzz' zone of the various forms of scrambling that the Dyellians were using a message came in.

Both the IIS agent and the Marshal looked down at it.

"Is that true...I mean...how, Soult doesn't seem the type..."

"Perhaps, but the New Cynthian system...we know the Dyellians have it, that's how the Oracle got her hands on it..."

"What!!?"

"It was through a third party, so whoever sold it likely thought it was going to somewhere else, but copies of the plans were captured when we created the safe zone on the Gonad."

"So what does this mean..."

"I don't care if they have every relatitory guard member hiding in there...if this is true...well they'd be s*** out of luck. Especially since we don't know where the damn thing is yet..."

"So?"

"I think Imro would go no matter what the Klatch theatens to do...but if we hand him intelligence...well..."

*******
As the airship approached the base, a single white flashing light could be made out. It was in standard morse code.

K.G. Base...This is JDF A. Ship Z201 have package to drop...will meet with K. Citizens....

The airship didn't expect to be replied to, it just dropped towards the ground. As it did so the bottom began to act as an inverse hovercraft, sucking on the ground to keep it from floating off again. It put up a hell of a dust storm back out as it did so.

Johnson smiled when Caroline finally called back "Three lanes will be fine, the pilots won't like it, but they can manage. They are planning on landing as near into the city as possible and getting the planes taxied in between buildings if they can. They have enough bombs to knock out about two hundred targets if push comes to shove.

Have someone the ground to meet them immediately, remember they are mercenaries, they could easily end up working for Soult if he gets to them and makes them offer they can't refuse. Their leader's name is Cathbad. He has six Mobile artillery units, you'll just sh*t when you see them, seven anti-tank vehicles that will also knock you out, and five thousand two hundred and ninety nine cut throat lads with him that will make even the most bloodthirsty D'reg wet himself in terror. I just heard from them, they are planning on landing in six hours.

Oh, and keep your heads down, they will bombing as they come in."

After he was off the phone he relayed the co-ordinates of the artillery and e-mailed the latest satellite images.

*****

The Ordinance Officers of the Bad Hand smiled gleefully as they got the information from Mr. Johnson, they cross referenced this with the sattelite images and even used their own piggy-back onto an Allied Industries navigation satellite to get a minute to minute picture of their targets.

The two Arkbirds that were configured as bombers have 265,000 pounds of JDAM satellite guided bombs , and the Ordinance Officers were itching to use them.

They were cruising ahead of schedule, they would arrive in approximately four hours.

*****

Admiral Aymara smiled to Alwood "A single three and a half ton delayed fuse bunker buster from the main guns can penetrate over a hundred feet of reinforced contrete. The Bunkers holding those batteries will be hit with three at a time. Missles and air strikes will hit all the rest.

I'm hoping to target the communications jamming equipment right off the bat, hopefully General Imro is turning who he can , and if he can tell us who is with him, we can give those that refuse to join him an object lesson."

Admiral Aymara looks grim "But I suspect it will be a bloody attack. Poor Imro, so close to retirement."

*****

Imro did indeed have a plan for turning the enemy to his side, well not a plan, but a speech. He really had no plan, but a speech may be just as good. He hoped.

With about two hours to attack time, he heads up to one of the guard towers with his Retalitory Guard helmet with the built in comm and bull-horn accompanied by a pair of snipers. He clicks his comm open and begins to speak, soley in arabic. He has no allusions about turning any Dyellians.

"Long live Emperor Soult! You are all here to fight and die for Emperor Soult! You and all your lands now belong to Emperor Soult, so now you will serve him. God is great, but Soult is greater, he alone holds the power of life and death for all of you, and your families. Render what is God's unto Soult, render all else unto Soult, no matter what the cost."

He pauses and lets that sink in.

"How did you all come to belong to one man? How is that all of you have sold all you have to one man? How is it that you have become mere possessions of a single man? Your family, your clan your lands, how have they all come to be owned by Emperor Soult?"

He pauses again looking around before continuig, the snipers scanning carefully for anyone that might be targetting Imro.

"Turn to the man to your right, why do you not fight for him? Turn to the man on your left, why do you not fight for him? Now, look at your own hands, why do those hands serve someone else? Why do they serve a single man, why do they serve Soult, when they can serve you, your family, your clan, your people and Allah?

Why have you let yourself become tools, instead of men? When you are old and broken you will cast aside by your Emperor like an old shoe. I ask you to become men again, I ask you to stand up, each and everyone of you for yourself and I ask YOU to decide who, or what YOU will fight for!"

Imro pauses and takes a deep breath.

"I do not want you to fight for me, I want you to come and tell me that I am fighting for each and every one of you, and your families, I will not fight if you are content with being the property of Emperor Soult. I will let you sell yourself, IF you tell me that is what you really want. BUT if you are men, and you wish to tell Soult and his puppets that your are men and that you will not fight for him. I will lead you, I will lead you by YOUR direction. My blood is your blood if you are free men! I will sell my life for FREE MEN"

Imro is actually quite a pious Paulican so he ends with a saying from the Prophet Paul,

"Those who give into anothers demand for corporeal power have already lost their soul and must suffer their own burden for giving in. God does not free the soul of a man who willingly gives himself to another, God does not fight for those that fight for men other than themselves and their own brothers. God will not remove the shackles you have placed on your own wrists and ankles. You must do this for yourself, so that you may know God."

He then shouts as loud as he can, and begins chanting

"Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!"

He wasn't entirely comfortable playing the Religion card, but he had come to understand the importance of religion to the D'reg, and did not want to try and talk them out of it, not at this late date anyhow.

The Alconians land just as Imro ends his speech.

OOC: I must have been typing as you posted :D long speech.

The Benjian Marshal piled off the ship and walked out. He turned to the gaunt IIS agent to his right. "So the foreigner giving that rather religious speech?"

"General Imro himself...I would say that our general is about to start operations."
The IIS agent answered.

"Gawd, damn...I need this gig..." the third man stated in a oddly accented voice, it appeared to be Alconian, but far less refined than the IIS agent.

"You may still have a chance..." The IIS agent offered.

The Benjian stopped at the bottom of the tower. "Good day, I happen to be looking into accusations that General Imro is a prisoner of this Soult fellow. You wouldn't happen to be Imro would you?"

General Imro heads down from the tower as the Marshal approaches, he looks at the Marshal and turns to his Colonel "Open the gates."

He then walks over to the Marshal and salutes him.

"I am General Imro. I and my men are prisoners." he motions to Soult's men and equipment surrounding the base. "But I won't be for much longer. What can I do for you gentlemen?"

He continues walking as he talks to them, heading back to the main offices where his Desert Lions are waiting.

Marshal Bates obviously looked a bit odd, in his dapper dress and shoes. The cane seemed a bit much, almost an idiotic touch. "Oh, so your saying that the men outside are holding you in here...quite intresting...but you say that will soon end? How so..."

"He is about to break out Marshal Bates..." The IIS agent began. "Either east or north, south would be rather messy. Vaadians commanders are known to prefer to have the enemy attack their defensive postions, not the other way around." He paused in thought turning to look north. "Dismiss the JDF, who knows what they'll do. Likely nothing, the Vrakian President blusters more than anything else."

The slim man turned again to look at Imro's back, "I only wonder how your going to deal with New Cynthian forces General....they over ran an area the size of Dyelli Beybi in less that six hours last time."

It was fairly obvious that the IIS agent was ready to share. The look in his eyes, the odd file folder under his arm. "Would you like a full breifing on the matter General?" he asked.

"What? Bombing as they come?" Caroline seemed to view this as most suspicious, "They don't even have our IFF codes, how are they going to know which vehicles belong to Soult and which ones are ours?"

"The Cardinal will have my guts for garters if this doesn't work out." she grumbled, "... Thank you though. If these guys keep us alive, well, I owe you one. Call me back when you get some info on that boat."

----------

"Oh right, well I'll take you word that that might work then." Alwood replied, clearly not understanding a word that , "I still think you should prioritise supply depots she ventured."

Zara Alwood was not really a soldier and would make a pretty useless Commander. Presumably Imro had already passed on that she was a former assassin who had found a conscience and a guilt complex somewhere along the line. She had read some typical Dyellian theory books though, and if anything, she was probably a good gauge of what the Dyellians would attempt to do.

----------

Back at the base the D'Regs decided it was about time to send a representative over. He was a Capitano, scorning a helmet he instead sported a camouflaged turban on his head. At his waist hung a sheathed Scimitar. Soldiers in the Dyelli Beybian Armies frequently carried a sword of some description. At about 100 metres range from the base he stood up in the back and pulled out a megaphone, "We wish to speak to the General." was all he said.

Johnson answered Caroline before hanging up "Don't worry, they are only bombing the artillery and SAM sites you gave, so unless you've given the locations of some of the Cardinals forces, they'll be fine."

He them set about with some more messaging and phone calls to try and see what he could do about a boat of some description.

*****
Admiral Aymara nods "Yes, supply depots will be targetted after the offensive assets have been dealt with, we can pick them, off at our leisure when we've taken care of everyone that was shooting at us."

*****

General Imro had walked briskly back into his conference room, the room where he had entertained Soult for dinner, he removes from the wall the single scimitar, the mate to the one he gave Soult, and attaches it to his belt. He turns to the Marshal and his men.

"Wait here, I won't be too long, make yourselves comfortable."

With that he heads out and walks out to where the Capitano and his jeep had stopped. Once there, he salutes the Capitano.

"I am General Imro, do we have anything to discuss?"

The snipers had stayed in the tower, and were still warily watching Soult's forces.

The Capitano grinned behind a bushy beard, "Yes Genoral."

He hopped nimbly from the back of the jeep, "I have been sent to see exactly what you meant by what you said before. The Senior officers were surprised you felt the need to speak to us, did your slave not relay on our messages?"

----------

"Right, right." Alwood nodded, leaning back against the railing. It was time to wait she supposed, wait for whatever was going to happen to happen.

"You mean Commissar Alwood, she is my friend, not a slave. While she did relay what she was told, I could not be certain that those words were not a ruse by Genorale Soult. I thought it best to gauge the situation myself, before coming out and walking into a trap of some sort. I'm sure that it would better for Soult if I was shot dead while leading an attack of some sort, rather than defending my base." He grinned at the Capitano " I may not be much, but I am cautious."

He nods then and looks back towards the men around the Foreign Guad base " Now then, what do you and your men want to do?"

The Capitano squinted at Imro, "The Dyellian we speak of claimed to be property of yours. I believe it is for this reason that my superiors decided not to hand her over to the Cheka. Traitors are not approved of, whoever they may be betraying, however they decided that an Alliance with you would be fruitful and worth the loss of face; a return of a treasured possession was supposed to show our trust worthiness."

He grunted changing the subject, "It is simple really. We are ready to slaughter the Djels, we have no interest in fighting other D'Regs. We will fight alongside you, however the council of Senior Officers says they wish to remain in ultimate control of the D'Reg Army forces on campaign. That is, we are not offering to put our army under your control, but we are offering to fight alongside."

"Slaughter the Djels. That's a good plan. Then when you're done with that your tribes can turn on each other, then the Vrakians can march in and make Dyelli Beybi a memory, a failed experiment." Imro shakes his head as he says it "I understand that you want revenge for the wy the Djels have treated you, that you want to kill them for the wealth they've stole from you and all the unpleasant things they've forced you to do, and in the short run, you'll all feel better , but then what?"

He shrugs " How about a plan for what comes after the slaughter? Or how about gaining your revenge by using your military strength to create a solid and secure legacy for your great grand-children, how about a careful and measured military campaign that instead of slaughter, simply destroys the military power that oppresses you and shows the common Djel people that they have nothing to fear and have no reason to one day seek revenge against you?

How about creating something better? I will fight for that. If it's revenge you want, then I'm afraid I'll be against you. You can't trust anyone that is motivated by such base reasons as revenge. Dogs seek revenge. Men seek something better."

"Revenge?" the Capitano seemed puzzled, "No we do not fight for revenge."

"The Djel are the inferior people, they are weak and lazy." he explained, "It is the dream of our Officers to built a great D'Reg, Islamic state where the Djels know their rightful place in the world."

"The world is a place where the strong must take what they can." he continued, "You, General, are one of the strong, together, the D'Reg people and the Vaadians can rule this country as it should be ruled."

Imro shakes his head "You have been oppressed, you know that it is wrong, yet you seek to now oppress the Djels? Your people should know more than any other that a nation built upon racism and oppression is built upon a rotten foundation."

General Imro pauses "But still, these things should be decided by tribal elders, not by us and not by Generals. Let us first defeat Soult, and then you and your peole can decide what to do. It makes no sense to plan for a state that may never exist."

He turns and looks back to the camp "I suppose that you can restore my communications? We have about twenty minutes until Tactical Group Namroth Vedic levels everything within fifty miles of the perimeter of my base."

*****

St. Guineford's

With a roar and a scream the Arkbird Superheavy bombers of the Bad Hand converge on St, Guineford's.The two configured as bombers begin showering every static gun position of Soult's with JDAM satellite guided bombs, combined they carry five hundred and twenty five one thousand pound bombs, enough to level the artillery and SAM positions indicated by Caroline. The third bomber, equipped with an array of air to air missles circles the city, targetting every aircraft in a two hundred and fifty mile radius.

Within minutes the waves of Bomber-transports begin landing, in a staggered line on the main highway, the pilots gunning the engines and coming in fast, jockeying the bombers inbetween buildings, under underpasses, and basically anywhere that gives at least some cover. The huge Arkbirds are fairly robust and clipping buildinds and running over cars, while giving a nasty bump, didn't really hurt the craft all that much.

The bombers circle and begin another run, dropping all of their ordinance on Soult's positions before heading away with their escort.

In Gordon Bay, all New Shiron military forces go on full alert. A corvette also exits local space to make a high speed run to New Shiron itself (although it will take a couple of weeks to get there, and longer for anything from New Shiron to come back).

From Princess Gabrielle, Regent of Gordon Bay and Commander in Chief, New Shiron Military Forces, Earth system. (message sent out via coded transmission to all New Shiron forces)

"This is to be considered a war warning. Hostilities may be expected to develop at any time with little or no warning. Ilek Vaad forces are to be considered as possibly hostile, and all New Shiron military forces are to carry live ammunition and have the authorization to shoot first if an apparent imminent danger of attack can be reasonably determined."

A similar message is sent out by Ridgeway to all JDF forces, with the caveat that JDF forces can only shoot if they are shot at for the present.

OOC: Just an FYI, no Vaadian forces have attacked anybody. Only the Mercenary forces that have been hired by the ubiquitous 'Mr. Johnson' have attacked. All Vaadian Arkbird heavy bombers are present and accounted for at Central Air-Command if anybodies satellites are checking :D

OOC: Just an FYI, no Vaadian forces have attacked anybody. Only the Mercenary forces that have been hired by the ubiquitous 'Mr. Johnson' have attacked. All Vaadian Arkbird heavy bombers are present and accounted for at Central Air-Command if anybodies satellites are checking :D

ooc
true enough, but New Shiron doesn't trust Ilek Vaad, was not happy with some of th actions it took in Karamayaka, and if nothing else, believes that Ilek Vaad is at the very least providing indirect military support to a faction in Dyelli Byebi, which is interfering in the internal affairs of the Klatch without permission from the FKC government. That fact, and the fact that Ilek Vaad claims to not recognize the FKC government brings a hightened alert status.

ooc
and yes, Galveston Bay and New Shiron are one in the same, having trouble signing into forums as New Shiron at the moment.

----------

Nothing ever went exactly to plan. Caroline hadn't been asked to provide SAM possitions so hadn't. And Dyellian SAM was never static. There was half a division within the vicinity of Saint Guineford's and an equal number of troops in reserve to the North. Within a minute of the planes coming into range they had put up 72 long range, high altitude Dyellian SAM-4 missiles. As they closed they came into a barage of SAM-2 high velocity short range missiles and they could put up well over 1,000. The first few missiles were fired with radar guidance. If this failed to be effective, automatic visual tracking and laser targetting was also possible, although it would slow down the rate of fire considerably.

There was a fair degree of success in knocking out Soult's artillery, at least there appeared to be... However something worse happened that Caroline hadn't even considered. By the time that the planes actually came to close for landing, Soult's troops were within half a kilometre of the landing strip. Half a dozen Voltigeur Sahariana units were parked in a road that ran parrallel. These units had been outfitted with Benjian XC1 47mm chainguns, which opened up with lethal precission on the planes as they came in to land.

Within 20 minutes Soult had also managed to scramble 36 Eurofighters from a nearby base, adding to the already heavy air defence.

(OOC: By the way DB more or less specialises in AA and Artillery)

----------

The D'Reg Capitano smirked, "You call it racism, I call it the natural order. It is the way of things, Allah has decreed it. In the same way that the ox serves the man the Djel should serve the D'Reg."

"I will restore your communications though." he nodded to one of the men in the jeep who began to gabble on the radio.

It took less than a minute for communications to return as all the static vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

The escort pilots became aware pretty quickly that the SAM sites had not been targetted, and began actively targetting them as they fired. Radar was almost useless against the Arkbird and their blurry 'skins' gave someone trying to track them visually fits, but of course nothing was impossible to hit. The one Arkbird loaded with air to air missiles turned at the Euro-Fighters formations and began peppering them with Comet/M6 missiles, the attack would at least break them up and get them off the back of the transports for a short time.

One of the fully loaded bombers blew up quite spectacularly as it turned to make it's second pass. The rest made , for lack of a better phrase , 'unscheduled crash landings'. Only the first two made relatively safe landings have snuck in before everything got so hot and the pilots gunned the engines to get them into the city, especially after seeing the chainguns, at this point, crashing into buildings became a non issue.

Once the transports were all down the remaining bomber and escort turned for home at mach speed, much lighter now, they limped away. The 'landed' transports immediately dropped ramp(more or less), each transport disgorged it's eight hundred mercenaries (quite a few just fell out, not all were moving under their own power) after having been shot down they were angry, and they charged the Voltigeur Sahariana units, while the 'Tactical Units' came out last, setting up their 120mm Mortars, the Voltigeur Sahariana units had all tea and toast until a ew of these precision 120mm rounds landed among them.

The two lead transports unloaded slower, but still quickly, the pilot cabins disgiorged the leadership of the Bad Hand, from one came Cathbad (The Boss) and the other unloaded the 'Insurance' ten Bendith Reavers. From the first transport the six Crusader mobile guns (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10289765&postcount=7) unloaded at speed and dashed for covered while the second transport unloaded it's seven Growler Tank Killers (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9724424&postcount=4), the Growlers quickly supported the infantry with their own 30mm chain guns and targetted vehicles and tanks with their heavy 155mm guns.

The battle had been joined, rather clumsily. Cathbad edged over to a vanatge point to watch his men get killed. He chuckled and cursed as his assistant handed him a lit pipe and his Dragunov (http://www.sovietarmy.com/small_arms/svd.html) sniper rifle.

"Well, isn't this a right cock-up! Nothing ever goes as planned, feck, we'll be lucky to have a third of our men left in the next twenty minutes." He said with a grin as he took aim and fired for the head of some unlucky Voltigeur officer.

His assistants tried to keep communications open between units and direct the fire from the Growlers and mobile guns, his third 'assistant' took up a position near Cathbad and unshouldered her own Black Arrow (http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn59-e.htm) sniper rifle and joined him in targetting command targets. The 'insurance' Bendith Reavers, disappeared, moving into a flanking postion to open up on the Voltigeurs from a flanking position.

Cathbad turned and looked around and gave a yell "Alright then, where's his Grace and his men? If I don't see someone in about a minute and a half, we're joining the other side!"

He sounded like he meant it. If he was lucky he'd have a thousand of his five thousand plus men that had landed.

*****

Imro nodded "I do not recall in the Koran where it says one man may enslave another? Didn't Mohammed free his enemies slaves as he defeated them? Soult has enslaved the Djel, just as he intended to enslave you."

"But that's as maybe, as I said Generals should not decide these things, let us finish Soult and then let your tribal elders decide what should come after. Get your officers together and meet in my camp, I'll give you a rundown on what our course of action should be, if you want top hear it."

With that he headed back to camp, calling the Namroth Vedic on the way to cancel the assault, he also relayed and e-mail from Mr. Johnson to Alwood, to call her sister, now that he was getting voicemail.

He then headed in to meet with the Klatchian Marshals.

"Gentlemen, sorry to keep you waiting. Now, what exactly is going on?"

The group was sitting around the confrence table when Imro walked in. The Alconian IIS agent was playing some sort of card game with the Benjian Marshall. The third man, who looked like an old battle-scared warhorse was spinning a knife in a circle on the table.

"Actually General I tagged along with the Marshall here..." He indicated the man he was playing cards with. "...to give you an intelligence breifing. Specifically about the apparent ties between Soult and the New Cynthians. Of course you never said if you want the breifing."

The thin IIS agent had been stacking the cards back together. He paused and pulled out a small palm pilot like device. Reading the screen, obviously the unit had been scrambled until recently.

"The man playing with the knife also tagged along on a diffrent matter from mine." He looked up from unit. "However I won the coin toss..."

General Imro took a seat and nodded " I was aware that Genorale Soult and Commissar Fradlhov were acting under orders from Otto Himmler, but I had to to find any evidence of a New Cynthian connection, but of course, I've been rather tied up." He nods again " Please continue gentlemen. I will never turn down intelligence."

He then sat and listened intently to whatever the men had to say.

"Himmler is in on it also?" He paused for a second, "You'll have to excuse me the intelligence I have is quite fresh, a new source just came to our attention."

The IIS agent shifted and began. "What we know is that the Dyellians got their hands on blue prints for the gate system the New Cynthians used to try and invade New Shiron. Obviously this caused us concern, but before we could determine anything more Soult decides to over run the Dyelli River Valley. The United Duchies is quite concerned with anyone running about the Klatch calling themselves Emperor. But that is besides the point, our most recent intelligence indicates that the gate was built, connected, and used."

He paused, "There is a high probability, based on Soult's activities, that he has linked up with some advanced off-world power. We have reports that he is planing on using seriously advanced technology against the Klatchian Guard and the Klatch. It is highly probable, based on Dyellian lazyness, that they re-connected with the New Cynthians. The Himmler information may actually mean a diffrent off-worlders, but still Soult having advanced weapons and perhaps better trained troops on his side is a likely possiblity."

He shifted forward, "The United Duchies realizes the danger and is prepaired to assist you in locating and destroying the gate to prevent any futher re-inforcement by these aliens. We are also prepared to keep you in the loop on these matters. We do have access to intelligence from the New Cynthian attack on New Shiron. Specifically the unique power signiture the gate system gives off. However, it is going to take time to program our sat able to read magnetic feilds to actually look for the blasted thing. And a whole sudden bloom of explosions destroying various major electrical systems is going to cause it be a futile search."

The Marshall himself just leaned back and watched the cealing. Except for the mention of Himmler, that got a nasty stare at the Alconian. The Benjians really did not like him too much. The man with the knife listened intently. It appeared that the technical garb at the end when over his head, but he was obviously intrested.

"Well, I can tell you that after my dinner with Soult, he intimated that he will be Emperor of much more than Dyelli Beybi."

He looks thoughtful for a moment and then continues. "My intelligence indicates that Himmlers residence and laboratory are completely empty, moved, as if overnight. It is possible that this gate is somewhere in or around his residence? I don't think that the person that sniffed around would even know what to look for, but you know what he should look for, he is still in Cyro and could go back and have another look?

I also know that he was very interested in Ylves, I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with all this , but he was keen to try and get our Naval Guard's Bendith Admiral into his laboratory for testing. From what I know now it's a good thing she didn't , apparently Himmler has had whatever he's now doing planned for quite some time. Right now my first priority will be knocking Soult's teeth in, but I can have my aquaintance Mr. Johnson, help you out with finding the gate and destroying it."

"I personally would be more than happy to tell Mister Black your offer. Likely he will send some IIS assets out to . But my first goal is to get you to refrain from kicking Soult's teeth in for say eighteen hours. Enough time for us to send our recon bird over, find some likley canidates and then buzz them with a few supersonic UAV's."

"My boss would stronlgy perfer to have us narrow down the possible locations, before active hostilites start."

The Marshal had picked up on something, "You wouldn't have a tape of that little annoucement by Soult would you?"

General Imro nods "Eighteen hours it is, it will take that long to convince the D'regs of my plan anyhow. They are going to think I'm crazy." He says with a smile.

"I don't have a recording of Soult, I'm a General, not an intelligence operative." He sounded a bit annoyed when he said that, the spy accusations had started to get to him.

"Well, I can give you Mr. Johnson's cell phone number and he can give you better information on the intelligence side than I can. He may be Cheka, or VIS, I'm not certain, but he seems to know about these things before they happen. Is there anything else gentlemen?"

The Benjian Marshal shrugged, "Well you never know..."

"Er...I guess I'm next Sir..." The older man said. He looked at Imro strait in the eye. "Acting Colonel Benigham, I represent a group of soilders just shy of five thousand strong sir who have, because of a few bad choices, been left without means of support. Most of us worked for years for Quincy Mining, but then well we got wind of a new start-up company. The pay was better, and so were the benifits. Should have known it was just a pipe dream." The man shook his head in disappointment.

"None of us are prime canidates, most of us wound up in the merc trade because we made mistakes in life. And kept making them as civilians, we went through our three strikes and then some. But we did not deserve being left without a paycheck for four weeks. Left to rot in Fasta when headquarters up and vanished. Well General, some of us were wondering if you might not want to take us on, seeing as you've got yourself a fight. Oh, and because the bastard didn't pay us, well sir. We sort of seized our equimpment in loo of backpay."

The Marshal interupted, "I should point out that the JDF will be honoring the terms of the contract on mutual cancellation and transporting these individuals, and their equipment, back home. They haven't told us where home is yet though..."

General Imro smiles at the older gentleman "Well, by the terms of the Foreign Guard charter, anyone, of any nationality is allowed to sign up for service in the Foreign so long it is not illegal in their country of citizenship. If you sign up for three years or longer you and your immediate families are entitled to Vaadian citizenship.

So, if you and your men want to sign onto the Foreign Guard, I would be more than happy to accept them. The minimum stint is one year and all Guardsmen are paid the equivalent of twenty three thousand Drachma per year, with pay increases for promotion and bonuses for performance.

The Retalitory Guard, as a rule, does not hire, or condone mercenary groups. Precisely because of their unreliability, poor discipline and moral. The Retaliatory Guard prizes professionalism which is often lacking in mercenary groups."

"How much is that in dollars, or Krondor. I'm used to Krondor now..." Beningham replied. "And I don't know what to tell you, we are what we are, nothing better, nothing worse."

Up in the sky the Eurofighters scattered, one going down in a fireball that landed somewhere among Soult's lines. Nobody parachuted out. Another pilot ejected as his plane was brought down by friendly chaingun fire.

Voltigeurs were arguably the best regular troops in the Dyelli Beybian army. However they were light infantry, snipers and scouts primarily. Their vehicles, the Sahariana, were basically an unarmoured jeep with a chaingun and targetting equipment on the back. They were designed as a recon and light AA vehicle, but offered about as much protection from enemy fire as a beaver hat.

The sudden attack had them scrambling back across the street and dissapearing into the buildings on the far side where they began to lay down accurate sniper fire on Cathbad's ,men.

It was about now that the Cardinal's men in their black uniforms decided to make an appearance. They advanced cautiously behind a huge monstrosity of a tank which chewed up the road as it moved. It didn't last particularly long. One of the Voltigeurs must have had it zeroed in with a laser targeter, as within moments some kind of anti-tank missile slammed down on the roof of it's turret, blowing the tank wide open.

There was chaos for a moment, but finally the Officer in the group reasserted some order. He ran over to the nearest transport, followed by his men, "Who's in charge?" he yelled.

Meanwhile the Voltigeurs seemed to be withdrawing. There weren't very many of them, and they were taking quite a beating, something Voltigeur units were not trained to do.

As the Voltiguer's fell back they were to suddenly run afoul of Cathbad's 'Insurance'. The ten Bendith Reavers despite none of them being under 6'8" and having the same heavy armour as the Red Jaguar and the same heavy .30-06 FN-Har heavy rifles , seemed to be able to move silently and invisibly. They quickly flanked the Voltigeurs and opened up with the heavy machine guns thery carried, raking the flank of the Voltigeurs, the heavy, tungsten core .30-06 rounds could chew through tank armour, the FN-har rifles sounded like jack hammers as they were fired by the Reavers, the echoing of the sound, made it seem like hundreds of men had suddenly started shooting.

At the same time, the 'Bad Neighbors' the six Crusader mobile artillery pieces began to open on the Voltigeurs, having found safe places they began pouring indirect fire into them. They used 155mm anti personnel rounds, that exploded above the Voltigeurs showering them with white hot shrapnel.

Cathbad rolled over and sat up as the Cardinal's commander yelled "Ere, I'm in charge! You knew we were coming, why didn't you open up on those turds before we landed? Didn't you see them lining up? Jaysus Christopher Christ!"

As the Voltigeurs began to pull back, so did the Bad Hand, they needed to regroup and it was obvious that the Voltigeurs didn't have what was needed for a prolonged fire fight.


*****

General Imro pulled out his Satellite Phone and checked exchange rates and opened up the calculator "That would be approximately fifty one thousand seven hundred and fifty Krondors."

He nodded to Bellingham "If your men join the Foreign Guard, I can guarantee that whatever they are now, they will be better by the time they leave. I do not accept failure."

"Now that's a decent living wage..." the acting officer replied. "I think you'll find plenty of my boys and girls will hire up for that kind of dough. I assume there isn't a problem about bringing along our personal effects?"

Imro shook his head "For now, no , there is not. Once everything is sorted out they will be required to wear the Foreign Guard uniform and use the standard issue weaponry."

He looked at the otheres "Well, is there anything else we need to discuss?"

The Marshal stood, "Well I have a response to send back to the Privy Council. I suppose I should give you my card." Marshal Bates handed Imro a card with a Fasta address and waddled out the door.

Paul Tanner turned to Imro. "If you have no objection I'll stay here for awhile. To keep you in the loop on matters." He paused and looked at Imro for a moment. "Is Altwood around? I have a few questions she might have answers to."

The acting Colonel stood up, "I need to go make a phone call if we can?" Tanner nodded slightly and the man vanished.


******
Six Hours Later....(assuming Soult hasn't acted.)

They were larger versions of the Skycat. Actually they were much larger versions of the Skycat. It was a bit hard to tell in the darkness. But the first made touchdown similar to its smaller cousin had earlier in the day.

Acting Colonel Benigham stood at the gate and watched as the gangway door opened and a roar filled the air. An armored wheeled vehicle with a turret rolled out off the airship and onto the sand of Dyelli Beybi.

In the light it looked like an insane concept really. It looked like the love child of a tank and a dune buggy. Six massive knobbed tires almost higher than the body of the vehicle itself. The body was fairly low and long with a low turret placed near the rear. The turret carried what appeared to be a 120 mm gun, and a remote controled chaingun. There was also a four pack rocket launcher built into one side of the turret.

The woman sitting on the front gleis of the vehicle which was almost flat, waved her hand. The sixwheeled vehicle turned and moved towards the gate.

The woman jumped off and moved towards the Colonel. She saluted the older man and began to make a report. "Well sir, we didn't get as many as I hoped. Cathwell got an extra five thou a year out of the Federals in Fasta. But we have enough for a battallion I think. Most of the squads decided to stick together, although there were some trading about after all was finalized, sir."

A second armored vehicle rolled off the Skycat, obviously an APC.

As the Voltiguer's fell back they were to suddenly run afoul of Cathbad's 'Insurance'. The ten Bendith Reavers despite none of them being under 6'8" and having the same heavy armour as the Red Jaguar and the same heavy .30-06 FN-Har heavy rifles , seemed to be able to move silently and invisibly. They quickly flanked the Voltigeurs and opened up with the heavy machine guns thery carried, raking the flank of the Voltigeurs, the heavy, tungsten core .30-06 rounds could chew through tank armour, the FN-har rifles sounded like jack hammers as they were fired by the Reavers, the echoing of the sound, made it seem like hundreds of men had suddenly started shooting.

At the same time, the 'Bad Neighbors' the six Crusader mobile artillery pieces began to open on the Voltigeurs, having found safe places they began pouring indirect fire into them. They used 155mm anti personnel rounds, that exploded above the Voltigeurs showering them with white hot shrapnel.

Cathbad rolled over and sat up as the Cardinal's commander yelled "Ere, I'm in charge! You knew we were coming, why didn't you open up on those turds before we landed? Didn't you see them lining up? Jaysus Christopher Christ!"

As the Voltigeurs began to pull back, so did the Bad Hand, they needed to regroup and it was obvious that the Voltigeurs didn't have what was needed for a prolonged fire fight.


"We didn't know they were here." the Commander protested, "Voltigeur units tend to spearhead."

His words were prophetic. One building that had housed Voltigeurs some minutes before seemed to shudder, almost as if something large had barged into the back of it. Moments later the front wall exploded outwards, followed by a jet of flame that rolled towards the mercenary units with alarming speed, "May I suggest you get out of here? Fall back towards the centre of town, regroup before the Fuscilliers arrive." the Commander was trying to sound calm, trying, and failing.

A rocket trail lanced across the sky, it began to descend, lancing down towards the section of motorway that the transports had just landed on. At least one of Soult's Lancia 100 trucks had switched to firing at ground targets, and was now attempting long range counter battery fire against the crusaders.

The Eurofighters were equipped with AA missiles, so all bar one turned tail, heading for home. This one screached up the motorway, strafing ground targets with the 27mm gun it carried.

Cathbad nodded and waved his men back "Fall back, grab what you can and move!"

The Crusaders continued to counter fire, firing, then moving, firing then moving. They relied on their tactical computers to trace the trajectory of the incoming rockets and returning fire on the point from where they originated.

The Growlers did the same , by this time their light gray color had been changed by the drivers and now they were an urban camoflage pattern that almost perfectly reflected the colors around them. The strafing Eurofighter instantly drew the fire of the Growler's 30mm chainguns, which had a targetting system similiar to a ship mounted CIWS gun. The Growler's continued to target incoming vehicles with their 155mm guns. The Growlers covered the retreat of the Bad Hand, their speed, small size and agility gave them an edge in just such urban fighting.

Cathbad and the remaining Bad Hand moved out quickly, following the Cardinal's men.

******

Gneral Imro nodded to the Marshal and then turned to tanner "You can stay here if you like. Commissar Alwood is abord the Namroth Vedic , out to sea."

He turned to Acting Colonel Benigham "You can use the phone in my office. Don't worry about the cut lines, it is a staellite phone."

******

As the Skycats unloaded General Imro was busy marshalling his troops and giving his plan to the D'reg soldiers that had deserted Soult.

]

As the Skycats unloaded General Imro was busy marshalling his troops and giving his plan to the D'reg soldiers that had deserted Soult.

(OOC:) I would assume the General would task some non-com to keep the new 'recruits' from going to the wrong place. And getting them to sign paperwork etc.

OOC: Nah, he thrives on confusion. ;) He'd leave his Staff Seargent to keep things organized.

OOC: Nah, he thrives on confusion. ;) He'd leave his Staff Seargent to keep things organized.

(OOC: That's tasking it to a non-com, even if it is an implied tasking...unless the Staff Sargent is asleep at the desk...)

Benigham looked around for a moment. "I don't see the Staff Sarge around at the moment. He did sort of indicate to leave our equipment over there." He pointed to some empty area within the compound that had a few odd Dyellian trucks parked in it.

"Captain Brathel, I'll task you and your crew with orginizing stowing the vehicles. This is a hot spot at the moment, don't let the relative calm around here fool anyone."

"Standard ready parking or parade display?" Brathel asked.

"We're you around for the Gothe project? I thought you were in the 12th light artillery"

"I was sir....on an AA unit, one of the old Brax back then, but your right I was there."

"Remember the mess Kelly made up, and how old Simmons straitened it out before the local ponentate showed up?"

"Yes sir...actually worked well, parade in ready groups...so the Kelly-Simmons it is?"

"Yes Captain, I would like a Kelly-Simmons...set up in the dark with minimal lights. We don't want the enemy seeing what we're up to. And while you do that I will go find the Staff Sargent."

The two former mercs saluted and parted ways. The Colonel to seek out the staff sargent, and the captain to get the incomming equipment stowed.

Hitting the Lancia would be difficult. Range was a big issue, if they fired a volley it implied they were within 10 kilometres, but when they lobbed a single large missile they were usually out somewhere between 60 and 80 kilometres away. There was no sign of regular artillery.

Hitting the Eurofighter wasn't so difficult, it caught fire, spinning out of control and plowing down onto the motorway in a bright fireball of destruction.

The Cardinal's men headed Eastwards towards the centre of the city. Fires burned out of control among the ruins of what had once been a commercial strip. There was noise ahead. Around 20 of the Cardinals troops were exchanging fire down a wide street headed Northwards. The side of one building disintegrated outwards, sending troops flying across road pavement like skittles at a bowling alley. In theory following the motorway would have taken them up an overbridge, but the bridge was gone. That route was closed, they would need to head through the streets, cutting straight across the mouth of the street where the current engagement was going on.

Westwards, two companies of Fuscilliers, backed up by a fresh Platoon of Voltigeurs were harrying the retreat, picking off anyone caught alone. The SSA1801 was a slow firing weapon, but it was accurate, and left horrific wounds. They were accompanied by a dozen IFVs that advanced cautionsly, aware that they might draw fire.

The 'Insurance' of the bad hand kept pace with the advancing Voltigeurs and Fuciliers, harrying their advance with heavy machine gun fire and volleys of 30mm anti-personnel grenades, from the sides. They fired, and then melted away, being only ten of them they were hard to spot and pin down, and they move with supernatural speed.

Unfortunately the rest of the Bad Hand move at a regular pace. The Growler anti-tank vehicles break off south and north, circling away from the advancing Dyellians and keeping between them and the Crusaders, the Crusaders move to targetting the advancing forces, with hits on the Lancias hard to come by.

The 120mm Mortar teams of the Bad Hand sprinted ahead of the rest to set up enfilading fire on the advancing Dyellians. Cathbad walked calmly close to the buildings puffing stoicly on his pipe , pausing now and again to turn and pick someone off with his Dragunov. He paused as he advanced another round in his bolt action rifle and turns to the Cardinals Commander.

"You know these streets? Where can we get around and behind these bastards? We need to set up a cross fire to flush them out and get them moving back, standing them up like this does us no good with their long range support."

Meanwhile his third assistant had slipped on her urban camo netting, and moved silently away, back towards the enemy,with her Black Arrow and her several pounds of C4, an accomplished sniper, Sennu could hide within inches of a man and give no indication of where she was. She was planning well ahead, and now sought to get as far past and behind the enemy as possible.

*****

Colonel Benigham found Staff Seargent Irbul standing about sixty yards away, by the Thunderer Battle Tanks, which were being armed with live ammunition. He has a clipboard full of papers and looks up as Benigham approaches.

"Are all of your men here, Colonel?"

"Let's say the train of airships has arrived. So who knows how long it will take to unload them all. My estimate of how many would take up the position appears to have been low, then high. But I would say two or three hours, with the JDF prefering not to land on the D'regs at the moment."

Beningham looked at the tank. "So we have how many of these on hand?" He pointed to the tank. The Colonel thought it was a bit odd to be loading live ammo so late in the game, but really didn't know Vaadian S.O.P. well enough to comment.

The Thunderer Battle Tanks (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9860850&postcount=5) had been loaded for and used for training as little as forty-eight hours ago, they hadn't been on base too terribly long and the crews had little chance to train with them. The delays in procuring a Dyellian built tank that was 'adequate' had meant a delay for the Foreign Guard's armoured divisions, and the Thunderers had only begun arriving about a month ago. Many of them wee still painted the 'Velite Gray'. There were crews spraying them with a 'desert/steppe' scheme, as quickly as they could.

Staff Seargent Irbul looked back at the tanks "We have one hundred and two of them. We have crews trained for fifty of them." He paused handing a stack of papers and a box of pens to Benigham "Have your men fill out these forms after they have unloaded and are waiting to mobilize."

They were standard Foreign Guard induction forms.

"Have your men report to the mess after they filled them out to get some dinner, they will need some rest and something to eat. General Imro is planning a forced march to get us where we're going as fast as possible."

*****

They were going to take Soult head on. After General Imro had learned that Soult had gone to lead the siege of St. Guinesford, he had only one plan in mind, which he discussed with his and the deserter D'reg officers.

"Gentlemen, I have been advised that the safest route for us would to be to head north into friendly territory. I have always thought that marching an army into friendly territory was as senseless as kissing your neighbors dog.

I propose that we divide our forces into thirds. Two thirds will march with me directly at Soult's back at St. Guineford's , the other third will remain here, and as soon as we have contacted Soult's army , we will relay the command back to here to have the remaining forces march on Cyro.

We also need to get a hold of as many shore batteries as we can, to counter the navy. If anyone has any suggestions on that I would like to hear them.

Once Soult sees us at his back he will have to give up the siege and fight us, I think he will also call for re-inforcements from loyal forces in the Djel valley to march at our backs, but our army marching on Cyro should get in their way and possibly even break their morale if they see that we have the strength to mount multiple offensives.

I think this is our best chance at defeating Soult, with him out of the way, the rest is just a matter of time."

He pauses and looks around "How many more troops can we rely on other than what we have here? A general guerilla offensive by even iregular forces on the Djel river valley would be helpful to at least sow confusion and panic into Soult's forces, the more fires we can start , the more he has to run around putting out."

The plan was atypical of a Retaliatory Guard General. The attack was the antithesis of the Retaliatory Guard's typical complex sweeping/flanking movements, but Imro sensed that a quick frontal attack could dislodge Soult and possibly shake his men, he also sensed that the D'reg's would see the plan as an indication of Imro's trust and faith in their capabilities.

The Colonel nodded and accepted the pens and forms. "Where do you want them to bunk for the night?" He asked. Getting an answer the Colonel turned and returned to where the mercs were setting up. He saluted the Captain. "Here is the paperwork, hand it to each member and tell them to turn it in to me at the mess tent before they get some food in their belly."

The Captain returned the salute and continued to supervise the groups forming up.

Imro had signed up remnants of the Black Cat Mercenary Company. And the Black Cats standard 'group' consisted of two rabbit tanks, two modified combat 90 vehicles with the 40mm rapid fire gun, four R-880 APCs, 4 Nash Dashers, one Nash Mortar 3 support AVs, an Bax Ax AA vehicle, and two 160 mm artillery versions of the Combat 90's. In all there were fourty complete groups with a smattering of extra tanks, supply trucks, almost a full artillery support section. Six thouand two hundread and twenty two souls hand joined the Klatchian Guard that night.

the D'Reg General who seemed to lead the revolt grunted, "You must march North. Let me expalain why."

"If we march North and take Quisa we will have a major city with willing volunteers ready to fill the places of those who die. If we do not he will whittle us away, killing us one by one, until eventually there are too few left to fight."

"Furthermore if we do not secure a water source we will be drinking our own urine within the week. Do not be lulled into thinking that these green fields indicate that there is water in this land. We have water at the will of Cyro and Saint Guineford's. If we revolt they will stop the pumps and this place will dry out. If we march North we can secure a fresh water supply, then we can think of fighting Soult."

He paused, "We will have no ammunition for ours guns. Yes we have some now, but we will need a factory to produce bullets unless Ilek-Vaad has suddenly started making the 8.01 mm Dyellian round. Many of your men carry the same gun I believe."

"If we march East there are two full armies of loyal Dyellian troops, well equiped and well trained. You will not even get close to Soult for weeks, you will first need to fight your way past the Second Republican before you can even think of engaging Soult and the Third."

"The first Republican is based around Cyro with the Fourth Close to Alexigrad and the Eighth a few miles West of here. To the North of here is a Single Army, the Seventh Republican. If we strike East we will be fighting an enemy that outnumbers us. It will be hard fighting among the fields and hedgerows. While we are held up here the Seventh, Eighth, Fourth and First will surround us."

"Men cannot fight without water. They cannot fight without ammunition, and they cannot fight while dead. We need to march on Quisa. I do not believe we can afford to split our troops and squander whatever local numerical advantage we might enjoy."

----------

In Saint Guineford's the advancing Voltigeurs fell back, ascending into the buildings to cover the advance from the buildings. They were Light Infantry, and the Voltigeurs of the Second were the best in the Country. They worked in pairs, one man carried a scoped variant of the SSA1801 while the other had a pair of binoculars and an unscoped SSA1801. The second spotted targets, while the first eliminated them. It made them rather efficient. Each group also had a third man, the driver of the Sahariana. He would wait behind, guard the vehicle, then swing in to pick them up and move them on when it was needed. A 'platoon' was of 24 men and it was the largest organised group the Voltigeurs ever formed. The Company following them also had 9 mortars, which were set up to one side of the road to return fire on the enemy mortar positions while the Voltigeurs waited for the 'Insurance' to open fire and give them good targets.

The Cardinal's commander just stared blankly at Cathbad, "Soult advanced into this section of the city this morning with over 16,000 troops. He hit the North with about 30,000. Another similar number in the East and he has as many reserves again. We have been driven back on every front. My men have held this section of road for half an hour. There is a Carri Company up that road. We can see two flame tanks. There are two more and a further 22 tanks somewhere in the streets in that area of town."

He paused and sighed, he had met people like Cathbad before, they tended to die rather quickly, "Head back West 100 metres, take the main road North for 200 then take an East onto Peter Channell Drive. You should get behind them from there. I stress you may not get behind them at all and may end up getting cut off by other Companies advancing in this direction."

General Imro nodded to the General and then explained further "Yes, I can see your points, but the problem is that if we focus on one area we will become encircled by Soult's forces."

Imro tried to recall the part in 'Lawrence of Arabia' where El Lawrence tried to convince King Faisal that his men were sitting ducks just keeping close to their oasis' at the mercy of Turkish artillery and planes, and that initiave needed to be seized.

"Look, perhaps we can alter the plan so that we can take Quisa too. I have a enough ammunition here for eighty thousand men, for the SSA1801" He pauses and points out towards sea "The de-salinization plants aboard the Revenge Battleships can give us over five thousand gallons of water a day, but if we move north, we lose the umbrella of protection from the Naval Guard's guns, missles and airplanes.

If at least a part of our forces head East, we will be outnumbered, but we will also pull Soult's close enough to shore to allow the jets and missles of the Naval Guard target them. We have the advantage of three Tactical Groups, and their combined fifteen hundred fighters, but that adavantage is wasted is we move further inland.

Perhaps instead of targetting Cyro, we sent a third of our forces to take Quisa? If we give up the iniative to Soult, he has time to re-group and hit us from several sides at once. He's no fool, as soon as he's heard you've revolted he knows that you will take Quisa, and he knows that will give him time to finish off St. Guineford's and then he will have one hundred percent of his forces free to attack you from the east and west and crush you in a vice."

*****

Cathbad grunted to the man "I'm being paid to fight, not run away. You just make sure the Cardinal's men are prepared to hit the enemy advance with everything they have as soon as their advance falters."

Rule number one in urban warfare: cause confusion among the enemy and do not allow yourself to be bottled up in one position. The Bad Hand rushed off at speed the way indicated by the Cardinal's commander. It looked like they were in full retreat, or perhaps even in flight. The 120mm mortatrs fired off a quick couple of rounds at the advancing Fuciliers and then ran with the ret of them.

By the time they were in position behind the enemy, Sennu would be set up to direct the artillery fire, and there would be some nasty suprises for Soult's men.

*****

Meanwhile out to sea Admiral Aymara had some questions for Zara Alwood.

"Tell me Commissar , what is Admiral Von Scheer like? What motivates him, why do you think he joined Soult's revolt?"

Alwood smiled, "Von Scheer is simple." she replied, "He wants revenge. Adelle Collins tried to destroy him, so he has destroyed her life."

"He despised Eamon Collins for what his wife tried to do to him. This in time would have turned to hatred of the Republic, at least that's what I guess. He will fight for Soult because Soult respects him."

"By the way... those shore batteries point out to Sea don't they? Zoom in on one." she asked suddenly, "I would gamble they don't have any guns pointing inland."

----------

The directions had come with a warning for a reason. The section of the city had been garrisoned by a couple of platoons of Fusciliers who fell back, outnumbered. Fell back right into the path of a "Battaglione Bersaglieri". The street opened out into a wide square with a huge ornamental fountain in the centre. There were Bersaglieri 'storm troopers' everywhere. Sheltering in the dry bowl of the fountain and behind piles of rubble, destroyed vehicles etc. As there were seemingly everywhere in the city, a small number of Voltigeurs were positioned in the buildings around the outside, while the far end of the square help two huge artillery guns, four howitzers and a Lancia truck.

The Lancia hit reverse as the first Bad Hand were spotted firing the single huge high explosive warhead into the mouth of the street they had been directed down, doing untold damage to the buildings on either side and leaving a crater six metres in diameter in the entrance.

Back at the main road into town the Cardinal's men had momentarily slowed Soult's advance. One IFV exploded dramatically, but moment's later the crew operating the rocket had both taken bullets from Voltigeur snipers. Fresh troops were racing forward. Medical teams pulled up the rear, picking up their own wounded as well as any Bad hand or Cardinal's men who were still alive. The Dyelli Beybians were good to prisoners by and large and Soult's forces were no exception to the rule.

----------

The D'Reg shrugged, "I still think we need new men. Also do not underestimate Soult's own defences against that air threat. A Dyelli Beybian Army is designed to combat aircraft. We will see though."

A pause, "We can do things your way." he eventually conceded, "It is a bold plan and one I am not confident in, but we will do things your way. I do not suppose your ships produce oil as well do they?"

Admiral Aymara nodded and the satellite zoomed in, literally to within feet of the gun, giving a crystal clear picture of the battery.

"So, what do you think it would take to get Von Scheer over to our side? Maybe I can exploit the fact that Soult allegedy respects him, but makes him call him Emperor?"

*****

This situation for the Bad Hand was almost too good to be true, a square with the enemy packed in at close quarters, now this was something the psychoric, misanthropic misfits of the the Bad Hand could handle, with blinding brutality.

The initial fire from the Lancia slowed them, but then the Growlers popped out from a side street and began peppering the vehicles with 155mm Sabot rouns, and blazing away with the 30mm chainguns. This heartened the remaining Bad Hand, who charged the starlted Fuciliers and Voltigeurs. A vast majority of the Bad Hand had been drummed out of the world's militaries for bad behaviour, war crimes, murder and deep seated psychosis, and now they were mad. Even minor 'security' missions tended to become a bloodbath for the Bad Hand, and street fighting like this would surely get very messy, very quick.

Cathbad himself took cover and radioed Sennu, who had by now set herself up comfortably in a relatively high vantage point. He gave her their position and she checked her map, and then watched for re-inforcements that would head in , when they did, she tagged them with her laser targeter, and the Crusader's opened on them, she would also use her prowess as a sniper to pick off anyone, lietenant or higher, that dared show themselves.

Cathbad just nodded as the noise and screams intensified and turned to his assistant "Well, these Dyellian arse-hamsters are going to find out pretty quickly which of my lads is the schizophrenic cannibal eh!?"He chuckled and relit his pipe "Now this is more like it! Fecking chaos!"

What no one knew is that thge more of the Bad Hand died, the more of the retainer fee went right into Cathbad's pocket. He smiled broadly and started countering the Voltigeur sniper fire, everytime a sniper popped out, Cathbad lined him up in his infrared viewer and picked him, that is unless they could camoflage their body heat.

The Voltigeirs also had another problem, the Bendith 'Insurance' was collapsing back with the rest of the Bad Hand, and were literally minutes away from seeking a vantage point from the buildings that the Voltigeurs were using around the square.

Things were going pear shaped for a lot of people at the same time.

*****

General Imro nodded "The Revenge Battleships have diesel tanks, specifically to refuel deployed forces."

He smiles at the D'reg General "Very well, we use the force that was to attack Cyro,to take Quisa, the Naval Guard will then land here to hold the base while the rest of us head East to take Soult head on. I think that if we catch him unawares we have avery good chance of ruining his plans!"

He checks his watch in regards to the 18 hour time frame requested by the Marshal.

"Okay, we move at 07:00 !"

As they all moved out to get the men ready Imro put his hand on the D'reg Generals shoulder. "Look, I don't mean to automatically assume command, but I just think the faster we strike the more of a chance we have to utilize the element of suprise. Your point about taking Quisa was a very good one, if you ever see something that I am missing, let me know. My plans are never set in stone, and if there is a better way, I don't care whose idea it is, let's use it."

General Imro then had to find Beningham, when he did he walked up to him and began pinning a pair of subdued Jaguar Heads to his lapels.

"As acting Theatre Commander for the Dyellian Conflict I hereby confer upon you the rank of Colonel in the Foreign Guard branch of the Retaliatory Guard. My Life for the Republic!

Now, how many artillery pieces have you got? We need to take a city fairly fast."

General Imro then had to find Beningham, when he did he walked up to him and began pinning a pair of subdued Jaguar Heads to his lapels.

"As acting Theatre Commander for the Dyellian Conflict I hereby confer upon you the rank of Colonel in the Foreign Guard branch of the Retaliatory Guard. My Life for the Republic!

Now, how many artillery pieces have you got? We need to take a city fairly fast."


(OOC: Those should be 105mm 90's not 160 mm :( )
Beningham was seated at a small card table before a rabbit tank. When Imro appeared Beningham stood and saluted, as did the four other recruits sitting around the table.

Everyone was a bit surprised, but then Beningham was an old armor hand which is why most of the groups had elected him to the acting position in the first place.

Beningham turned and indicated a woman sitting next to him, "Captain Brathel please give us a run down of what artillery we have on hand?"

The blond nodded and replied, "Well we have about fourty to fourty five 90's armed with 105's. About ten full 120mm armored mortar vehicles. And then we have almost fourty nash dashers with 60mm mortars. That's part of the primary offensive forces. What have you got Captain Parkins?"

Parkins looked like a small man with a large mustache. His voice was oddly accented compared to everyone else. "Eight 152mm howizters, and about twenty-two of those bloody MAVS and about 15 more of the 90's with the 105's."

Beningham nodded, "I suppose we could always make some pits for the rabbits, but I would prefer keeping them mobile to sweep up any Dyellian artillery."

General Imro nods "Make sure all of your men are ready to move at 07:00. I will give you more information on the target then. Sorry about the short notice , but we have to move before Soult knows we're moving."

He turns to Captain Brathel and Captain Parkins "Consider yourselves Captains in the Foreign Guard, I'm running low on insignia, so you'll just have to make due, I'll make sure that there is a Foreign Guard unit attached to any forces of yours to make sure that there is less confusion."

The Colonel nodded, "I assume we are to keep all operative ranks in our present formations for the time being then General?" really a pointless question except Beningham beleived in covering his rear as much as possible. Espcially in a new outfit, with an 'acting commanding officer'

05:00

The ISS officer, who had been using the confrence room as an improptu office appeared wandering down a hallway. Being stopped by a guard he explained. "I thought General Imro would like an update, and well...the King of Vrak is dead."

General Imro gave Beningham a 'look' "No, I'd thought we'd re-organize the ranks one hour before deployment just make things as clear as mud. Keep your ranks as they are, They will be given operational assignments at 07:00 when they move out."

General Imro then stalked off to have another chat with the D'reg General, about whom exactly would be leading the attack on Quisa. Imro himself planned to be toe to toe with Soult as soon as humanly possible.

At about that same time the Marathon Transports of the Tactical Group Namroth Vedic began landing and dropping the five thousand Naval Guard Marines that would watching the base, oddly, their Marine insignia was covered by Foreign Guard insignia. Leftenant-Colonel Nagy sprinted over to General Imro when he caught sight of him.

"The King is dead, apparently we have some sort of sixty day pass to have at Soult, but so does the Imperium, oh and you wil be relieved of Theatre Command in twelve hours when Command General Itzcoatl and the Ninth Red Jaguar Command arrive!" he paused, saluted and took a deep breath "Sir!"

Imro looked shocked "Good God! General Itzcoatl!?" General Imro looked positively horrified and chuckled "Well, the D'regs will certainly identify with his mindset."

The ISS officer had been directed to where General Imro was currently talking to Leftenant-Colonel Nagy, who looked out of breath while Imro looked somewhat more cheerful.

"Yes, can I help you? " Imro asked the ISS man.

Beningham shrugged off the 'look' he knew he asked a rather stupid question. But then he wondered what was going to happen if Soult proved a bit harder to take on than the Vaadian General thought. Likely a nice scapegoat hunt, and Beningham wanted it not to be his boys and girls.

"Thank you for confirming the obvious sir," was his reply with a salute.

****

The IIS agent noted the recent arrivals. "I assume you've been told about the Interference Warrant General and about King Vrak's death Good, well the old Walrus King was causing most of the problems between the Federation and the Republic recently. Or his minders were....anyway we've gotten an update on the New Cynthian situtation."

He paused for a second to look at some faxes.

"We've got partial intelligence of where the gate is on the ground. However their waiting for the source to recover enough to actually tell them where it is. They called off the search pattern to keep Soult in the dark, we think the stand-by power levels are too low to be well detected anyway. All of that is the good news.
The bad news is that these alien bastards are likely going to be pure evil, I mean Gonad elf evil...worship the devil...celibrate death...eat your enemies balls while you anally rape them alive evil. And they have some sort of inhuman cyborg technology apparently." He shrugged, "Hell I almost wonder if Soult isn't cozing up to the Imperium just to set these bastards on them."

General Imro pointed at Beningham as he stalked off "I can Take those Jaguars away if you want someone else to be Colonel!"

*****

General Imro nodded "Yes, I've just heard. I have just been informed that Command General Iztcoatl is aboard the Emperor Ehecatl and will be Theatre Commander for the Retaliatory Guard. So these bloodthirsty alien ylves, if they exist, will be matched aginst someone who knows what evil and brutality really is. REALLY.

What about information on Soult and his positions, do you have anything on that? How about some JDF help? Why am I constantly having to patch together an army against someone who obviously means to take over the entire Klatch? I'm going to be up to my arse in referrals when this all over for getting the Retaliatory Guard involved, how about a little consideration for that? I'll be lucky to be busted down to corporal!"

General Imro pointed at Beningham as he stalked off "I can Take those Jaguars away if you want someone else to be Colonel!"
[quote]

OOC: He was making fun of himself, not the general...

*****
[quote]
General Imro nodded "Yes, I've just heard. I have just been informed that Command General Iztcoatl is aboard the Emperor Ehecatl and will be Theatre Commander for the Retaliatory Guard. So these bloodthirsty alien ylves, if they exist, will be matched aginst someone who knows what evil and brutality really is. REALLY.

What about information on Soult and his positions, do you have anything on that? How about some JDF help? Why am I constantly having to patch together an army against someone who obviously means to take over the entire Klatch? I'm going to be up to my arse in referrals when this all over for getting the Retaliatory Guard involved, how about a little consideration for that? I'll be lucky to be busted down to corporal!"

The IIS officer raised an eyebrow. "First, I'll get on the horn and see if I can get you that. Realize I am here on behest of the United Duchies not the Federal Government." He paused,

"As for everything else...likely there is not any evidence against Soult for his takeover plans, the only evidence is your testimony. Which Soult has been discrediting since hour one. Just be glad at this juncture that the JDF and Vrakians are not against us at the moment."

The IIS officer decided not to point out that the United Duchies thought getting in bed with the Dyellians was a bad idea to start with.

The Bersaglieri storm troopers were the elite of the Dyellian army in a different way from the Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs did the sneaky work. The Bersaglieri were the ones who they ordered to charge and expected not to retreat. And they didn't. The SS as they had previously been known was not an especially brutal unit, but anyone who mutilated their wounded or otherwise 'behaved badly' only served to enrage them, meaning that they fought on with gun, knife, bayonet, axe or whatever else was handy, turning the whole place into a brawl, and considering the Bad Hand were having to advance into the face of more than a dozen medium machine guns, the Bad Hand weren't about to move them from their position without taking hefty casualties.


The Lancia was a dangerous vehicle, but was about as well armoured as any other truck, and expoded rather gratifyingly.

Cathbad himself would now find himself the target of more than one Voltigeur team. Anyone who tried to picked off a sniper drew a lot of attention. The 'Insurance' would probably find it quite dificult to penetrate to the rear of the square, through a whole Battalion of Soldiers, but if they did they would find a futher Battalion of Regulars advancing to support the Bersaglieri.

Furthermore the Bersaglieri had parked their vehicles back here, and these were quickly called to support the assault, spearheaded by 24 Dyellian Tank 'Semovente' tank destroyers who concentrated on attacking the Grislys, firing 150mm APFSDS rounds. They were small vehicles, similar in design to the 'Carro Armato' light tank, except without a turret and with a huge welded sheet of extra armour on the front with a pig's head mantlet around where the gun stood out.

Reinforcements were pouring in from the North and West. There were thousands of troops advancing in Companies. Infantry, and tanks, hundreds of tanks.

To the South of Cathbad's possition, outnumbered and outgunned, the Cardinal's men turned tail and retreated before the fuscillier assault. They didn't have any anti-vehicle weaponry and the IFVs had taken a fearful toll on their numbers.

----------

Alwood meanwhile shrugged, "I don't know. I doubt though that he'll ever fight for you. You're a foreigner and the only Dyelli Beybians you have fighting for you are a band of warlike D'Regs who regard people like myself and von Scheer as sub human."

"You probably don't quite appreciate that even if you win and set up a grateful Republican Government, people like me who have collaborated will still have to leave the country."

She changed the subject as she looked at the image on the wall, "What do you notice about the rear defences on that complex?"

The simple answer was there weren't any to speak of. All the guns pointed to sea and couldn't be turned. They were never built expecting an attack from inland.

No one is Gettin Outta This Ya Pit Alive!

The Bad Hand joined into battle with the Bersaglieri with relish. The mercenaries all had several weapons and most of them carried short swords and hand axes for this kind of fighting, along with their sidearms, they were close quarters specialists. They were badly outnumbered but made up for it a savage ferocity that defied logic. Many of them would even throw grenades at the feet of men directly in front of them. They were a danger to themselves and others, those that had survided the landing, would probably not make it out of here alive, unless the Cardinal engineered a miracle.

The Bendith Insurance realized the gravity of the situation and decided that it was time for them to take control of the peremiter. The head of the Insurance, Mahtan, waved to his men and the Dark Elves all ran and leaped in unison, clearing the gathering vehicles and reinforcements , and right up to the second and third story windows, smashing through them. Three of them remained at the back of the buildings, peppering the reinforcements with grenades and heavy .30-06 rounds until they were out of ammo. The rest followed Mahtan and drew sowrds, their galvorn Bendith broadswards, attached to their belts by a ring and chain lanyard, and they began clearing out the Voltigeurs, reserving their ammo for when they needed it.

Cathbad, kept moving and firing, moving and firing, paused turned back and watched as a bullet took down one of his aides. "Keep your head down!" he yelled at the dead man. He paused a couple times when he would get a clump of Bersaglieri in his sights and unload a clip on them, he could empty the eight round bolt-action rifle in under a minute. He was sticking around until all his men were dead, and then he would melt away.

The reinforcements pouring into the area were being targetted, with alarming accuracy, indirectly by the Crusaders. Cathbad's aid , Sennu' tagged every formation and vehicle that moved with her laser targetter. There were so many coming that she didn't have the chance the even pick up her sniper rifle.

A pair of the Growlers exploded behind the Bad Hand as the Semovente tank destroyers made their appearence, and the Growlers having been caught flat footed now used their small size and mobility to target the tank killers. The growlers drove back and forth in and out of side roads, only appearing to shoot and then quickly ducking back in, targetting the Semoventes and then dashing for cover.

The 120mm mortar teams of the Bad Hand piled rounds into and around the square with abandon.

*****

Admoral Aymara nodded to Alwood. "It would be nice to have those batteries targetted at Von Scheer, instead of us!"

He quickly relayed the information to General Imro, who began to divide up his two thousand elite 'Desert Lions' into teams of one hundred men that would assault the batteries as they moved east along the coast.

Meanwhile he suggested that a D'reg Officer lead the attack on Quisa, and try to get the defenders over to their side.

The D'Regs were keen to attack Quisa, very keen, and gladly accepted the proposal, although, not being exactly the most obedient of people, they dispatched five Divisions of the eight that had rebelled North. Leaving Imro with three.

If Imro had asked Alwood she would have commented that most D'Reg generals had all the command ability of a banana in a sock, but she wasn't there to comment. Instead she was managing to feel both proud and guilty at the same time. Proud of having spotted the weakness in the Coastal Defences, but ashamed of betraying her people to the Vaadians and D'Regs. In truth she hated violence, which made her wonder what exactly she was doing here. She thought about it, and abruptly she realised, "Oh sh!t." she exclaimed, without thought for the company she was in.

----------

The Cardinal's original plan had been to have the mercenaries brought to the centre of town then distributed to key positions to hold back Soult's attack. As it was he was now trying to pull all non essential troops from the outskirts to fling them into a last hectic charge, attempting to break Soult's Position south of the Bad Hand and give them an opportunity to retreat. Slowly they did manage to push Soult's men back, although it was a futile gesture. Pulling troops from the East meant that at this very moment, miles across the city, the Cardinal's men were in full retreat or surrendering in droves.

The Voltigeurs holding the rear building fled in a kind of controlled panic, leaving a fair number of dead behind them. They didn't like open combat, and they especially didn't like people jumping through windows at them...

The Fusciliers were taken by surprise by the previously safe buildings suddenly revealing enemy troops, and for a moment it looked like the reinforcements were broken, with the Fuscilliers scattering with around 30 of their number down and an IFV out of action. However, not everyone among the backup had lost their heads, four flame tanks stayed in position, elevated their guns and fired the coaxial flame throwers, flooding the second storey with burning gasoleine, which quickly had the whole place in flames.

In the square, chaos reigned. There was a burning Semovente, and a burning Carro Armato that had blundered into enemy fire. There were dead and dying everywhere. There was no water in the fountain, now it was filled with bodies. A few Bersaglieri, who still had their heads about them were asking Bad Hand troopers who were clearly in bad impossible to surrender (It was regarded as polite among the Dyellians, especially with mercenaries, who would be asked to switch sides), but most had been incited into a bloodthirsty rage. Stabbing, shooting and clubbing their way to what was begining to look like victory.

A Company of Fascilliers emerged on the West side of the square, clearly intent on outflanking the Band Hand.

Heavy rocket counter-battery fire was coming in from out of town. In the chaos it was only a matter of time before one unit or another blundered into the crusaders anyway.

However that would not be the first thing on Sennu's mind. Several Voltigeur teams had been spending the last few minutes scanning the likely vantage points for the enemy spotter with IR equipment. After a long search, and much cursing from Companies hit by artillery, a team had managed to locate her.

By now Soult was personally involved, and angrily he had dispatched a Fuscillier Platoon to disable the spotting post at all cost. Five IFVs pulled up outside the building shortly thereafter, disgorging the troops. They weren't exactly certain what to expect, but they had all the exits covered, while a few troops began to cautiously sweep the building from the bottom up.

6:58
The former squadrons of the Black Cats began to turn over their engines in preperation of where to go. They watched the D'reg divisions move north and seriously wondered if they shouldn't be following them.

The Colonel sat quietly, he was in his own rabbit tank at the moment and pondering the status screen as various units reported that they were ready.

He poked his head out of the hatch and waited for someone to actually give him an order to go someplace.

General Imro decided it was best not to argue with the D'regs, he did track Beningham back down.

"Beningham! Have Captain Parkins and his forces follow those D'regs and provide support, have him and his men stay mobile and don't get bogged down if at all possible. If the attack on Quisa becomes a lost cause, head back here. I'm not sure what the General Has in mind, but do what he saks within reason.

Have the rest of your men follow me and the Foreign Guard, we are going to sweep along the coast and take every coastal battery we encounter from behind. Admiral Aymara tells me they are defenceless from the rear.

Let's move!"

With that the Foreign Guard and the remaining D'regs moved out to the East. General Imro did think better of himself and send 200 of his Desert Lions north with the other D'regs, to keep him informed and to advise the D'reg General.

On base the Naval Guard Marines cycled in and filled the vacuum left by the Foreign Guard, it only took a couple of hours for the 5,500 Marines to land and take up defensive positions. Imro left them 20 Thunderer Battletanks, as he did not have enough trained men to move them. The Foreign Guard Airstrip now also hosted the 20 Artemis Close Air Support fighters from the Tactical Group, putting them close enough to support Quisa or the Eastern advance.

The Orion fighters of the Tactical Group were much longer range and at five at a time played umbrella over the Quisa advance and the Eastern advance.

*****

In Saint Guineford's things looked bad. Cathbad hopped a speeding Growler and the Growlers and Crusaders retreated with the Cardinal's men . He clicked his ear piece , connecting him to headquarters.

"VS this is Boss, Diamond group is flushed. Collapsing back now."

As Cathbad fled, Soult's men would find that 100% of the remianing men had no fight left and were perfectly willing to accept terms.

*****

Sennu had noticed the arriving sweepers, she shrugged and set down her weapons and targetter, and had a seat opposite the door of the room she was in and waited.

*****

Vagraa Straa, a particularly large and ugly black-orc nodded as Cathbad reported back.

"Spade Group, Full House." he rumbled to an officer nearby.

Below the Spades had been prepped and waiting. The main body began to take off in the supersonic VTOL Marathon-M Transports. They were preceeded by four more Arkbrid Superheavy Bombers that were loaded down with 2,000 bombs.

This rather large deployment was actually escorted by fifteen AFA-101 Scylla (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9816884&postcount=28) Strike Fighters. Loitering behind the group were another four Arkbirds, outfitted as mid aired refuelers for the Scylla, they would loiter well out of Dyellian airspace.

This was the last of waht Mr. Johnson had paid for, the heavy and elite 'Spades' had cost a pretty penny, but would hopefully now find Soult's forces spread thin throughout the city.

*****

Back onboard the Namroth Vedic, Admiral Aymara looked over at Alwood as she exclaimed "What is it? Something wrong?"

General Imro decided it was best not to argue with the D'regs, he did track Beningham back down.

"Beningham! Have Captain Parkins and his forces follow those D'regs and provide support, have him and his men stay mobile and don't get bogged down if at all possible. If the attack on Quisa becomes a lost cause, head back here. I'm not sure what the General Has in mind, but do what he saks within reason.

Have the rest of your men follow me and the Foreign Guard, we are going to sweep along the coast and take every coastal battery we encounter from behind. Admiral Aymara tells me they are defenceless from the rear.

Let's move!"

With that the Foreign Guard and the remaining D'regs moved out to the East. General Imro did think better of himself and send 200 of his Desert Lions north with the other D'regs, to keep him informed and to advise the D'reg General.



Acting Major Parkins watched as his unit moved north following the D'reg Divisions. The problem was Parkins 152mm mechanized howizters could only move at 35km/hr cross country. And he doubted the D'reg were going to be that patient for long. Beningham had at least given him six armor groups to act as guards, but he had taken all of the extra 90 mortars with him.

If he was forced to let his heavy guns follow them into Quasia, he would really only have 105's to do any real damage. And the MARV's were really only a step up from towed artillery, but they were designed to keep up with a rapidly moving force. Parkins knocked some sand out of his mustache and looked down at his driver. "Alright, lets see if we can keep up with the D'regs shall we?"

*****
The remaining 34 groups followed Imro east. Beningham kept a dimond formation with some groups operating in scout mode to the north and south. Of course they would be getting near the coast, and the troops that defended the coast line from invasion.

The D'Reg advance was heading North along the main road at close to 60 km/hr, seemingly totally unaware that they were leaving others behind them. The army was drawn out in a huge straggling line of trucks driving up the highway North. The tanks, IFVs and Sahariana took to the dunes on either side. Every now and then a broken down vehicle would be passed. The Dyellian army built some of the best dust filters in the world, but no they became clogged rapidly in the conditions. Troops wore sand goggles or sunglasses and had cloth wrapped around just about every exposed part of the face.

In these conditions it would be hard to tell D'Reg from Dyellian if they ever encountered them. Although there was a rule of thumb... if someone's face was wrapped in black they were a D'Reg. Dyellians wore a dark reddish brown. Also if it was a woman it was a Dyellian. Someone then pointed out that not all the D'Regs were actually fighting Soult...

The Destination they were heading for was a small town called Abu Dahur. It was about a third of the way to Quisa and had a spring.

----------

The Five nearby coastal installations sat peacefully. Nobody had notified them that anything bad was happening and they had no real reason to expect it to, so just sat behind their long barreled 406mm cannons and missile batteries and drank, played cards or whatever else they did in their free time.

----------

Back in Saint Guineford's the level of AA had definitely decreased, but this was because 3/4 of the Lancia were rigged to engage ground targets and were having to hurriedly change warheads. A process that could take up to 30 minutes. However there was still a fiece barrage as well as chaingun fire from nearby Sahariana as the craft first began their takeoff.

----------

The Fuscilliers who had entered the square were generally calmer than the Bersaglieri and began to take control of the situation. Prisoners were loaded onto trucks which had arrived with fresh ammunition and taken East through the surprisingly intact city.

The Bad Hand were met with a look from the clerks at the POW sight that suggested this really made their day. They didn't seem to know what to do with them. So they sorted them according to species and tried to count how many of each type there were for statistical purposes.

The bad hand had blundered into something worse than war... bureaucracy.

Next they recombined everyone, and sorted them according to rank. With officers being sent one way and other ranks another. It would soon be revealed that a Dyellian POW camp was a good place to end up. While the troops were slogging away at the front, prisoners enjoyed television, console games and sports fields, with three square meals and access to medical and dental care. It could have been a holiday camp if not for the barbed wire fences, land mines, search lights, attack dogs and armed guards. It probably went part of the way to explaining why the Dyellians were so infamous for surrendering.

----------

The Dyellians searching for Sennu were clearly expecting all manner of bobby traps, and took their time to get to where she was. By that stage, having found nothing, they seemed to have decided the Voltigeur units had sent them to the wrong building. Words to that effect could be heard floating down the corridoor. When one of them finally did open the door to find Sennu, she just about jumped out of her skin. It was almost a miracle she didn't shoot Sennu out of fright, "Surrender?" she managed to get out, making what probably ought to have been a demand sound like a polite inquiry.

----------

Alwood shook her head, "No. You'll have heard it before. It's nothing that will affect the outcome of this campaign. It isn't worth worrying about."

Major Perkins, although strongly annoyed, broke his unit into two parts. The 158mm Howizters and two of his tank group would take up the rear. The rest continued to follow the D'reg as they moved north.

The Black Cats were wearing hot country uniforms of linen that were slightly tan in color. Most wore wide brimmed hats and sun-glasses to keep the sun out of their eyes. Some had adopted more loose fitting clothing, having served in deserts before they already had it in their gear.

The MARV's, APCs and standard trucks kept to the highway. The rabbit tanks, AV 90's, and the nash dashers were out on the dunes. The rabbit tanks seemed to be better equiped than many for dealing with the rather harsh terrain. Their wide, large knobed wheels gave them the traction of a dune buggy on the sand dunes. Designed to deal with snow drifts and icy paths of the north, they delt with the sand equally well.

The units didn't have such well designed filters, but decent monitoring and a quick filter change was keeping most of the Black Cats equipment in operation.

The Major was more than a little worried about the fact that he was neck deep in a civil war with no clear indication of who was on what side.

*****
One of the armor groups had been sent south to attempt to make contact with the enemy. They had a few Vaadians in an armored vehicle along as ordered. The group found themselves litterally rolling up on the western most gun emplacement apparently without incedent. As they neared the small pillbox that guarded the back of the facility, the captain radioed his troopers. "Prepare for battle, looks like no one's noticed us yet..."

The lead rabbit tank's speed increased as it made a run for the facilities gate.

(OOC: based on WWI-WWII U.S. naval battery installations. Most were surrounded by a concrete ditch and the gates guarded by pillboxes.)

Leftenant Colonel Saleh of the Desert Lions with his two hundred men caught up with the D'reg General in charge of the Quisa advance.

"Sir, our column is in disarray and we are are leavinfg some forces behind. We are diluting our force if we do not make a more organized advance."

Saleh had learned well from General Imro, he was keen to seen as a great leader among his people, and had hoped that Foreign Guard training and discipline would him in a position to do so.

*****
With the shore batteries sitting so wide open, General Imro decided upon a ruse. He ordered a small unti of D'reg regulars to approach the batteries on the pretext of delivering additional supplies and news that Generale Soult was having some communication difficulties, but expected a Vaadian Naval Attack.

The supply trucks they carried, was of course filled with one hundred Desert Lions each, and each of the five batteries would be taken swiftly and simultaneously, with the hopes of containing any alarm.

*****

The Scylla fighters of the Bad Hand flew in circles, accelerating to their top speed and then slowing, purposely drawing AA fire, minutes later, the bombers began hitting every loactaion that put up fire against the Scylla fighters, the loss of a few fighters to targetting the AA would be immeasurable when the Marathon's came in to land.

As Cathbad and his remaining Growlers and Crusader's retreated he begn selecting any clear + shaped intersections with his laser targetter. Within minutes of the bombers letting loose on the AA installations, the Martahon Transports came in low from the east and were only visible for a few seconds before they started dropping straight down into empty intersections around where Cathbad had retreated too. They also took adavantage of any open park or space, the Martahon's had their ramps deployed by the time the landed and within two minutes of touch down, they were unloaded and back up, where they began sweeping the city with their paired 40mm auto cannons, hunting AA and Lancia's. The Scylla fighters broke off after any Euro-Fighters that appeared as the Marathon's took up the AA hunt.

Two hundred Marathon's had landed, nearly simultaneously, a stunning feat that could only be managed by a very, very well trained group. and The Spades were that. Unlike the previous men that had landed the Spades weren't in any uniform they could find, they were all the same in urban camo and all had the same equipment, like an organized military force. More than twenty thousand were now in the city, directly between Soult and the Cradinal's forces.

Each unit of Spades was twelve men, all armed with HK416 assault rifles (http://world.guns.ru/assault/as75-e.htm). One man in each unit had an HK MG36 (http://world.guns.ru/machine/mg19-e.htm) accompanied by an ammo carrier/loader. Another man had a Carl-Gustaf anti-armor gun

(http://world.guns.ru/grenade/gl10-e.htm) accompanied by an ammo carrier/loader and of course one man , who generally lagged back a bit had an AS50 sniper rifle (http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn67-e.htm). They were prepared for an eventuality. The units unloaded quickly and dispersed even faster, spreading out and immedaitely set up in staggered line with each other to create deadly zones of crossfire on Soult's advancing men.

The other Martahons at that had landed at the rear, and Cathbad now moved to meet had supplies , and extra ammo for his now spent Crusaders and Growlers, as well as command and medical facilities. These Marathons stayed on the ground and were quickly covered with camoflage netting. As Cathbad moved to them he began rounding up the Cardinal's fleeing men and herding them towards the transports with his armour, he stood on the turret of his Growler and yelled at them.

"Just where do you think you're going? We're just getting started! Que up behind those jets and get a rifle, ammo and a band-aid in any of you aunt-nancies need em!" for empahsis he drew his handgun, fired it over their heads and yelled "MOVE! NOW MAGGOTS!!"

He and his vehicles reloaded and and reset for round #2 , affectionately code-named 'The Other Operation'

*****

Sennu looked puzzled and then smiled at the young woman, her dark eyes , shark-like, almost dead looking as she unhealthily eyed the girl and spoke softly "Are you asking me to surrender, or are you surrendering to me?"

She smiled slyly "How profitable would it be to capture me? As opposed to just letting me stay here?" she asked as she slid her hand back slowly, revealing a neat wad of one hundred Kronor bills on her lap.

*****

Admiral Aymara gave Alwood a puzzled look and shrugged as he was hailed by the Emperor Ehecatl.

"Aymara, move your group to mirror Imro's advance, we will move in to fill your spot and offload our Red Jaguar to Foreign Guard base, then William Issem will take our spot to unload their Marines and we will support you from behind. "

Admiral Aymara nodded to the disembodied voice of Command General Itzcoatl, and gave the appropriate orders, his five thousand marines were all nicely ensconced at the Foreign Guard base, as were his Artemis fighters.

Once the batteries are taken, and Soult most likely alerted to the situation growing in the west the Retaliatory Guard RASTER satellites jam Dyellian television and radio transmissions (non military) to play the following message nation-wide:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10418772&postcount=24

They will try and force the feed to military radio and television as well, but it more likely than not secure, especially compared to public airwaves intended for mass audiences.

As time drew on the AA fire became more and more intense as the Lancia's switched over. While the ones which had been loaded to start with were easily easier to target, the ones that loaded later were not, and by pure coincidence only began to fire after the bombers had moved in, meaning sudden bursts of missiles would errupt out of the streets, streaking towards their targets. It was not a safe place for aircraft.

Oddly Soult's forces hadn't deployed any further aircraft, although there were several airfields within striking distance. However, on the outskirts of the city, reserve artillery were massing. Within the city itself things began to die down. Soult's Western assault had been blunted, while the North and Eastern assaults had slowed down as the troops became tired. They would dig in tonight, redy for any counter attacks, then launch themselves into the attack again in the morning.

----------

The young Fuscilier eyed Sennu suspiciously, then leveled her gun agressively, "You'll shoot me and keep the money yourself" she growled.

It was at that moment the Sotto Tenete for the Platoon arrived, grabbing the gun muzzle and forcing it down, "We do not shoot prisoners." he yelled, causing the girl to shrink back, "Soldato, go and report to Tenente Hawkwing that the spotter has been located."

He gave Sennu a malevolent stare. There were others in the hallway outside, slouching around, "Put your hands where I can see them." unlike the girl who had probably been part of a recent intake, this one looked like one of the gnarled veterans Alwood kept talking about.

----------

The ruse worked perfectly. The defenders of the battery seemed more than willing to give up without a fight, but the D'Regs were having none of it, shooting any Dyellian they saw, indiscriminantly including a number of civilians who had presumably been some of the spouses and children of the troops. The battery was fairly big, and due to this, after initially clearing the outside with nobody really fighting back, they were left trying to assault a concrete bunker with close to fifty soldiers and half as many civilians taking shelter inside.

----------

The D'Reg commander gave Saleh an icy look, "We must advance quickly before the Dyellians can fortify Abu Dahur. We outnumber the garrison by more than 9 to 1, we cannot afford to give them time. The advance will continue."

----------

Alwood watched the goings on impassively. What was going on depressed her. Instinctively she knew that her people would support Soult. He had wanted this war all along, and she began to realise why. The Vaadians simply couldn't win in Dyelli Beybi. It was an impossibility. They could win militarily, but then they would be left with a feeble regime, and guerilla fighters on every street corner. Soult may be a dictator, but the Collins regime had been unpopular, and Soult wasn't a foreigner. If that wasn't enough the Vaadians had teamed up with fundamentalist D'Reg elements who were likely to murder any Dyellian they laid eyes on. Soult would be hailed as a patriot and a hero, she would be remembered as a race traitor, villified and hated.

The bombers took a direct hit and their overall strength was weakened , but they stayed on until they were out of ordinance, targetting the artillery and the AA units, doing as much damage as they could before they had to turn back. The Scylla's finding no aircraft to fight with, turned back to their refuelling point and loaded up, if the Euro-Fighters wouldn't come up for them, they would go down after them. With the Scylla's peeling off the Marathon's set down again, their losses had been heaviest but with so many of them they weren'y out of it yet.

Meanwhile on the ground Cathbad had been informed of the enemies digging in and had his men do the same, they took up strong positions with good vantage points. The squad leaders packed their C-4 charges into the corners of buildings at every intersection that they had control of, when Soult's counter attack came, they would fight, then give ground and then watch the buildings crush Soult's advancing men.

Cathbad also rallied the Cardinal's troops as best he could, they were given new asault rifles, ammunition sinlge shot anti-tank and anti-air missles, hand grenades, rations and flak jackets, the Crusaders and the Growlers were reloaded and stocked, Cathbad also looked around for someone in a semblance of command of the Cardinal's men.

The Bendith Insurance, slowly trickled back to Cathbad, exhausted and out of ammo.
*****

Sennu fowned and shook her head when the Sotto Tenete arrived, she put her hands up half-heartedly nodding towards her pile of equipment "All of my weapons are there." she said with a sigh.

How unfortunate that they simply hadn't let her go, now she would have to kill quite a few of them.

*****

General Imro was appalled by the actions of the D'reg soldiers. He then did what all Vaadians did when their allies acted contrary to their high ideals, he abandoned them.

He simply shook his head and ordered his men that would listen to him "Fall back. Retreat back to the Foreign Guard base. I told you I would not fight this kind of war. Beningham, your men too. Fall back."

He shook his head sadly and took a seat in his transport and hailed Admiral Aymara "Admiral, this is over, the D'regs do not want our help, the Dyellians have chosen their path and it does not include us, as soon as we are back on base have the Artemis' finish off anyone still attempting to take these batteries."

He relayed the command to Leftenent Colonel Saleh, but he did not expect them to listen, he then issued a general order that any Foeign Guardsman that did not immediately return with him to base was considered AWOL.

He then turned back for the base, at speed.

*****

Saleh eyed the Generale " If we keep losing men, how many will we outnumber them by when we get there? Three to one? Two to one? Then what happens after we barely take it? How do hold it with a string of disabled vehicles and thirsty men? How will we take Quisa afterwards when we cannot even hold Abu Dahur?"

He then received Imro's communication in his helmet, and stopped and stood their for a second, unsure of waht to do.

*****

Aymara took his seat heavily as he heard Imro's report. "Command General, did you get that?"

Itzcoatl answered almost immediately "Yes I did. Have your air support cover his withdrawal, take no other action until he's back at base and we have a chance to assess this new situation, all other units, hold position."

Admiral Aymara shrugged "Aye Sir." he turned to Alwood and sighed and turned to one of the Marines "Take her to the brig."

The Battery

Armor Group 121 had been supporting the operation were quite incensed. And more than a little covered in Dyellian blood. Not from shooting, but performing triage on those that had survived the inital D'reg attack.

This is Armor Group 121, we have civilian and POW wounded incoming, our retreat has left us a little scarce with numbers.

The Main Push[/i]
Colonel Beningham was monitoring the situation. "Aye Aye General"...he sounded almost absent minded about the whole thing. "All Black Cats perform a roundhouse turn to return us to base, ASAP"

The Black Cat formation litterally flipped itself with out missing a beat. First the tanks and armored vehicles turned and began to head back towards the support vehicles which continued forward. As the formations effectivley turned on themselves for a breif moment. When two groups of vehicles passed each other, the support vehicles turned to follow their armor breathern back to the Foreign Guard Base.

[b]The Road to Abu Dahu

Major Perkins stopped his command when he heard the order. "Please Confirm you want me to do what?" Perkins listened as Beningham repeated the orders. "Orders Confirmed, he sat down in his command chair and looked at the driver. "Alright people, we are heading home, I repeat we are heading..."

Perkins had a bad feeling in his stomach, the D'reg would likely take the Vaadian's sudden withdrawl as a personal insult. And somehow he doubted if they would actually make it to Abu Dahu before turning around and hitting the Foreign Guard Base.

The problem was Perkins and his artillery were between the D'regs and their former allies, his employeers. The 158s would likely make it back home safely, but even for them it would be close.

"Alright people we are going to make a sweeping turn south and west...we are returning to base. If your asked what your doing, you are investigating an unknown something."

This is Major Perkins, acknowledging orders, we will be returning to base but avoiding the road. I don't think the D'reg are going to take us pulling out very well.

Perkins might have been able to move faster down the road, but it also seemed to be a damn good way of getting caught in a D'reg ambush. So Perkins turned into the Dyellian desert. Which would seem to be a rather poor idea with desert nomads on your tail. But he really didn't have many choices.
****
Colonel Beningham covered for Perkins somewhat, "General Imro, Major Perkins has decided not to return to base via the roadway he just used. He is worried that the Dyellians might decide to intervene there do to the high volume of traffic that just passed. I concured with his caution, and he is setting out to return cross country."

****
KCN BREAKING NEWS
Reports indicate that the Klatchian Guard of Ilek-Vaad has begun to withdraw after less than six hours in the feild.

Ragtime Online News
Vaadian Forces in Dyelli Beybi in full retreat after only six hours. Reports indicate that Vaadian Forces only engaged in a breif skirmish with guards of a local naval facility.

When the front of the column finally reached Abu Dahur, the inevitable happened. The D'Reg advance had been coming straight at them, and 20 kilometres from the outskirts of town saw the D'Reg advanced guard come into one of the fiercest artillery barrages encountered in the history of Dyellian warfare. It churned up the sand, overturning the small tanks the Dyellian armies favoured, sending dirt and debris flying. It was impossible to go forward, the dust was too dense to see where anyone was going, vehicles 5 metres away were lost in the gloom. That didn't stop the D'Regs trying. They charged, the strategy they always used. A few stragglers did make it out of the carnage, only to be picked off by Voltigeur units armed with some manner of top attack AT rocket.

After an hour of horror the First Division retreated having taken close to 20% casualties, over 3,000 dead and wounded and done more or less nothing to move the Fifth Division of the D'Reg Army (which was defending the town) from it's position. They would lick their wounds, wait for reinforcements, then attack again the next day. Any hold up though could be fatal. Dyellian troops from the 7th Republican were moving in from the North to reinforce the defenders.

-----------

In fact the whole front was moving. The Second Benjian was travelling East, although it wouldn't arrive for some time. The Eighth and Fourth Republican though were close by, and with a combined total of 16 Divisions descending on the Foreign Guard base from East and West, things were about to go pear shaped for the D'Reg rebellion.

With this carrying on, Imro was asked to attend an emergency meeting with Genoralle-Maggiorre Xebesh, one of the Senior D'Reg officers, to discuss how they could resolve the problems that had occured in the relationship of the D'Reg people and the Foreign Guard.

Genoral Imro,
I request that you meet with me at the soonest possible opportunity to discuss how we can resolve our differences. My people cannot be judged by the actions of the few, and how can you blame them when Soult has declared he will take no prisoners? We should at least talk about things before you make any decissions,
Genoralle-Magiorre Xebesh,
D'Reg Army

This was coming hot on the heels of reports of what the D'Regs were up to in the countryside nearby. It seemed to involve rape, murder and pillage mostly. Anyone entering the D'Reg camp would also realise they were taking slaves.

At the gun battery the D'Regs who were left trying to dig the Dyellians out of the coastal fort had tried rushing it. Three had been killed and a further two wounded. So they'd called for a flame tank which arrived some time later.

----------

The Sotto Tenente smiled most unpleasantly, then drew his side arm, pointing it at Sennu's face, "Exactly how many Kronors do you have there?"

There was greed in his eyes, he wanted the money and was trying to work out how he could get his hands on it.

----------

Out at Sea, Alwood was looked like she was on the verge of panic, "It's over?" she asked incredulously.

"I thought you Vaadians were proud of your bloodthirsty reputation." she was rambling, it wasn't something she would have said under normal circumstances.

"Can I go back to shore? I need to speak to Imro."

OOC: Aw...I missed a rather good chance at an unfair artillery fight.

Command General Itzcoatl acted to hold off Soult's forces, by hailing Admiral Von Scheer.

Admiral Von Scheer,
The Retaliatory Guard has misplaced it's trust and made an error in judgement in regards to Dyelli Beybi. It was a mistake to act to aid any of the parties involved in this dispute, none of the parties share our goals or ideals as had been originally presented.

Foreign Guard forces are now returning to base. We will withdraw all Retaliatory Guard and Vaadian citizens and we will withdraw. This will take approximately seventy two hours. Please speak with General Soult and inform him of this. I will act to protect my forces as necessary if they come under attack. If they do not come under attack then in seventy two hours, the base and it's ammunition and fuel are yours, and you may do as you please with any forces left in the area.

Do not take this as a sign of weakness. If you ignore our withdrawal and my terms, I shall visit upon you the most pointless and horrendous carnage that the Klatch has ever seen.

Command General Itzcoatl
9th Red Jaguar Command

*****

General Imro ignored Genoralle-Maggiorre Xebesh's message. He simply watched as the Marathon transports began landing under heavy fighter escort to take him, and any Foreign Guard that wished to go.

General Imro had always been proud to be a soldier , but for the first time in his life he was ashamed to be one.

"Men, he Foreign Guard will honour our promise, any of you that are not AWOL may go with us, and you will be afforded Vaadian citizenship." He said to his remaining men and he turned to Beningham "Your men will be evacuated too. This....." he turns back towards the batteries and then towards Quisa "Is done. "

He anticipated a review and possible court-martial preceedings when he returned to Tollan, as commanding officer, he would be held responsible for the actions of his men, no matter what nationality they happened to be.

*****

Leftenent Colonel Saleh did not abandon the front, but did his best to hold together the Foreign Guard that had not withdrawn with Imro, he also stopped listening to the D'reg Generales.

He gathered what men he could, for a flanking asault on Quisa, when the next frontal charge took place.

*****

The Naval Guard Marine took hold of Zara's arm as Admiral Aymara stood.

"Yes, we in the Retaliatory Guard are savage and merciless, but only for a cause that is worth fighting for. We do not kill those that have surrendered or civilians, we do not take slaves and we most certainly do not lose control or break discipline.

We kill armed enemy combatants with absolute and resolute savagery. We do not act as these D'reg 'soldiers' have acted. We do not just talk about our ideals, we hold to them.

You are now a prisoner. Your fate will be decided by Tollan. Thank you for your help."

*****

Sennu smiled to the Sotto Tenente "Enough to make you forget I was ever here, or maybe you wnt something other than money?"

She stood slowly , with her hands still well in sight.

Beningham nodded, "Well I don't care to see what the locals are going to think about us...reconsidering things." He paused for a moment, "But the problem is we have people out there still. Perkins 158s have gotten back but Perkins decided to avoid the road. He paused again and then saluted, "Requesting permission to be the last to pull out sir. I want to see my boys and girls get outbound safely."

From: Admiral of the Fleet, Rudolph von Scheer
To: Command General Itzcoatl, 9th Red Jaguar Command
Subject: Withdrawal

I do not take this withdrawal as a sign of weakness. Neither should you assume any weakness on the part of the Dyellians should we hold off our assault. And I can guarantee we will do so. However as one human being to another, I must ask that you protect my people during those 72 hours. I may have been born in Cyro, but every Dyellian the world over is my brother or my sister. It breaks my heart to leave them to the mercy of the D'Regs. I know that the Emperor feels the same.

You may take the ammunition and fuel, it is yours by right, I am speaking on behalf of the Emperor when I say we will also gladly reimburse Ilek-Vaad fully for any costs of construction incurred during the building of the facility. You may disagree with our way of running the country but we still have our honour.

Returning though to the previous point. The Emperor cannot guarantee we will not launch an assault should the attrocities in your part of the country continue. It will not be directed at you, but you will be caught up in it, and sadly a state of war will resume.

Regards,
Rudolf von Scheer
Admiral of the Fleet.

----------

"I'm not one of them." Alwood hissed, "Do I look like a bloody D'Reg to you?"

"On what charges do you arrest me?" she demanded, ignoring the fact that someone was holding her arms behind her back, "What could you possibly imagine I have done? I'm a civilian damn you, I came out here for no pay, because the General told me to. I betrayed my own people for him. I silently wept because I knew what the D'Regs would do, but who would have believed me anyway?"

----------

As silence fell on Abu Dahur and Saint Guineford's, the Sotto Tenente's eyes narrowed, "You want me to let you walk away? Very well, we can arrange a deal. Turn around and put your hands on your head, I don't trust you one inch."

Itzcoatl replied, it was a very polite reply, for a Tolteca Red Jaguar officer.

Admiral Von Scheer,

I have instructed our close support to target the D'reg dogs that are committing the atrocities , you are welcome to target them too, but do so carefully, if any of my men are hit, even accidentally, I shall raze Cyro and your entire coast. If Generale Soult's men are not capable of such restraint, pull them back.

We do not require compensation, nor do we want any money or goods from imperialist barbarians such as the Dyellians and Generale Soult. Your claim of honour is laughable at best. Seventy two hours and we will be gone. Then you and your bathrobe emperor may continue your genocide as planned. All hail the new Tzar.

Command General Itzcoatl
9th Red Jaguar Command

With that, the Artemis close support fighters of the now three gathered tactical groups began wiping out D'reg forces outside of the Foreign Guard base. The ships out at sea were also not shy about using their cruise missles either. The Foreign Guard base would be ringed with an arc of fire, with agap left for Parkinson's men.The Artemis fighters from within the base began doing the same. The Naval Guard Marines began mounting armoured patrols to bring in any stragglers and to cut off any enemy adavances that were headed to the base. Their first priority was to find Beningham's stragglers stay with them so they would not targetted and get them back to base.

The Foreign Guard still loyal to Imro, were the first evacuated.

Imro denied Beninghams request "Negative. You and your men will leave after the loyal Foreign Guard, the Naval Guard Marines and myseld shall be the last to withdraw. We have seventy two hours. Have your men ready to depart as soon as possible."

Three dozen Marathon-B transports began cycling in and out of the base, cramming full two hundred men at a time, they did so under a heavy umbrella of several hundred Orion Fighters..

*****

"This is not a debate Commissar Alwood. You will go to your cell and relax for now. The Cheka are an enemy of the Republic, and you are Cheka. Tollan will decide what to do with you." Admiral Aymara put his hand on his sidearm as he spoke.

With that the Naval Guard Marine hauled her off, her picked her up if he had too.

*****

Sennu did as ordered by the Sotto Tenente. "I am sure that we can work out a deal that is profitable for you."

As that was happebning the Bad Hand spades, now dug in to resist any counter attack by Soult, began to send their snipers creeping out. They were not targetting anyone, but quietly finding enemy positions and making note of them.

Cathbad, not having found anyone that would confess to being in charge, grabbed one of the Cradinal's men and wrapped a white arm band around his arm. "Alright then, you're going with a pair of my lads to tell Soult to send someone over here to talk."

Two of the Spades joined him and marched him at gun point to one of Soult's men's positions. Cathbad had decided that this city was his now. He lookec around his new domain "What a fecking dump!"

Beningham nodded, "Acknowledged, when are we evacuating the wounded civilians?" It appeared that the former Black Cats had pulled about twenty wounded civilians out from the massacre earlier in the day. What was fairly odd is that the IIS agent, who had stayed at the base, was helping triage them.

The Black Cats began to dress down their vehicles. Many were saddened by losing machines they had worked on for years. Not to a glorius death of battle, but a rather pointless flame up of a war and then retreat.

*****
Perkins had slowed down a bit after the inital push into the desert, mostly to conserve fuel and keep from getting his unit completely spread out over enemy territory.

Sir...we have heavy gun fire nearby....

I know, keep close quarters, this is going to get hairy...the naval guns are dropping rounds around the base to keep the D'reg away.

As polite as Itzcoatl might have thought he was being, his attitude only served to further reinforce von Scheer's opinion of him as an unprincipaled savage. The Dyellians (by and large) still treated war as a polite pass time.


From: Admiral of the Fleet, Rudolph von Scheer
To: Command General Itzcoatl, 9th Red Jaguar Command
Subject: Withdrawal

I would speak more carefully when talking of razing an entire coastline. The hypocrisy of your words, when considering the so called 'ideals' you abandoned the D'Regs for, ring true. You speak of honour, yet it is a concept far removed from the actions of the Vaadians we have witnessed. One day your arrogence will be your undoing and I will be there at the 11th hour.

You accuse me of planning genocide, on what grounds I am most curious to hear. Again your hypocrisy is shown when reports clearly indicate indiscriminant artillery fire from forces in your area.

Until then, contemptable as your attitudes may be I will still salute you as the enemy I am yet to fight. We will not launch any offensive until you have withdrawn as you have not supplied us with any IFF codes.

Regards,
R. von Scheer
Admiral of the Fleet

----------

"Let me go." Alwood snarled angrily at the guard, "I can walk, where do you think I'm going to run off to? I'm on a bloody ship."

Had she been set up? Although she couldn't quite fathom the reasoning it began to seem more and more likely. They would have known she had been Cheka the moment she came aboard. She had been used and discarded. It was all so horribly depressing. Trusting Imro had been a huge mistake.

----------

Cathbad's ploy to send a random fighter out didn't quite work. "What the hell are you doing... get back."

Someone in authority had finally arrived, "You, the one who looks like a monkey's behind."

That was Cathbad being insulted, "What the hell are you playing at?"

It was Caroline. She was wearing some approximation of the Bishop's uniform in that she was wearing black, although the blouse and skirt were clearly civilian. Her blue eyes glared at Cathbad, "I take it you guys must be the Vaadian mercenaries? What exactly are you planning to do when you stride out into no man's land?"

----------

"And what" the Sotto Tenente reached over with his free hand to pick up the money, "Are you going to do if we forget about you?"

"Marmon." someone entered the door, his heavy footfall echoing in the room, "Count this."

Itzcoatl did not respond to Von Scheer, as he was a savage and incapable of actual thought, he said so to his officers. He merely kept an eye on the Dyellian forces and monitored the evacuation to make sure that everything went smoothly.

Perkins was soon found by the Naval Guard Marines, they then led them back to base, the fighters and big guns of the ships seemed much more discriminate with the Marines on the scene.

Major Admale found Perkins "Better hurry up then sir, your forces are in the second que for evacuation. It wouldn't do to straggle."

*****

The Marine chuckled as he manhandled Alwood out, another Marine appeared to retrain her wrists with nylon zipties, not too tight, but certainly not loose. After this the Marine let her down and the two escorted her to the brig.

"Now then, calm down miss, no reason to get excited , just relax and have a nap and a bite to eat." The lead Marine said with a smirk.

*****

Cathbad was about to look upset and yell angrily when he turned to spot Caroline. He smiled broadly and rubbed his beard in thought.

"Pardon me little miss, but I couldn't find anyone in charge so I was taking things in hand. Bad business to have chaos."

He paused and lit his pipe as he eyed Caroline. "Aye, we're the mercenaries. There are a few Vaadians with us. I'm the Boss, you can call me Boss. I wasn't going out to no man's land, I was sending this lad out, maybe I could bluff Soult into sending and officer to parlay.

Buy us sometime, find out his intentions and torture the officer for information. I picked one of your men because he doesn't know my plans and if they torture them he can't reveal anything."

He grinned and slapped the young man on the shoulder that was being sent "Right lad!?"

He turned back to Caroline "I'm opened for ideas if you have any, missy."

*****

Sennu smiled "Why just melt away. My work here is done. You have the city, no point in risking my life for a few Kronors."

Alwood more or less gave up at this point and let the marines shove her around. Escape may have been possible had she put her mind to it, but it was ultimately pointless on a ship.

----------

"Yeah." was her sister's only response to Cathbad's talk of taking charge, "That's because all the officers are either dead, run away or surrendered. Silver braid might look pretty on police officers, but it just makes you a target in combat."

She didn't look particulrly impressed by Cathbad or his idea of capturing one of Soult's officers, "Can I explain to you what the situation here is, in case you don't already know... Ilek Vaad has pulled out of the war, they got upset with the D'Regs. So in an instant their whole idea of reestablisihng some form of democracy here went out the window. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water!"

Fury still sparkled in her eyes, although now it became clear Cathbad was partially the scapegoat for anger over the fact that her plans were all falling down around her ears, "Now we're going to have literally, millions of soldiers ready to attack this city. The chances of victory are nil. We are going to lose. You breaking parley and torturing an officer is only going to mean that Soult's troops will be utterly ruthless when they attack, which they aren't at the moment. You and your guys could still surrender and they'll tell you not to be so naughty and release you the next week. If, however, you carry out your ill concieved plan they will torture and murder everyone they get their hands on... and that includes my men as well. I will not allow you to act so stupidly!"

Towards the end of her rant, she had been just about yelling. She took a couple of deep breaths, calming herself, "Of course... if I could get out of here I could rustle up a fresh army in the North. But I don't think that's going to be happening any time soon."

She was still glaring when she stepped forward, holding out her hand, "Caroline Artois, Chief of Intelligence for the Dioscese of Saint Guineford's."

----------

"Liar." the Sotto Tenente laughed harshly, "You'll run straight back to your lines, which is why I'm taking all your equipment."

He snapped his fingers and a soldier entered the room behind her to collect the pile of weapons and equipment. It was probably a somewhat pointless activity if she was planning to run back to her own lines.

Cathbad puffed thoughtfully on his pipe as Caroline listed her grievances and then shook her hands when it was offered."Charmed, I'm sure. " he said with a smile as he removed his pipe "I am well aware of the situation, but I simply decided to try and poke at a few solutions, rather than getting upset about it."

He pauses again and waves his hand vaguely "There are a multitude of problems in life that are simply out of our hands, we can only do our best to cope with them. Vaadians gone? Fine by me, they tend to shoot to kill mercenaeries, no matter whose side they are on. You need to get north? Easy, I have a couple hundred of Marathon here, when the Scylla fighters are refueled, you'll have an escort. I can't get any of His Grace's representatives to Port Olympus by sea , but once again we can get them there by air. I'm sure you have a Dyellian diplomatic code we can program into our transponder so Federation ahutorities won't shoot us down?"

He puffs stoicly on his pipe again "There you are missy, solutions. I have even more solutions, if His Grace is willing to pay. Mind you we've only received the requisite funding to carry on our operations for three weeks as it is, but depending on how much money you care to deposit we can stay here longer, and possibly with more toys."

*****

Sennu just smiled and shrugged as they began to collect her stuff "Fair enough."

If they took the time to search it they would notice most it was ammunition, and different camoflage netting, in different colors and different patterns, if anyone checked thouroughly they would see the pair of small sandbags attached to each set of netting, ostenibly to prevent them from blowing and flapping around.

Each sandbag was filled with plastic explosives with a remote detonator, instead of sand or lead shot, they were stitched shut, so cutting them open would be the only way to find out. If they weren't cut open, the unfortunate persons holding them would only find out when they were detonated.

The Black Cat's armor battallion returned without much incident. A few men in a nash dasher were lost when a Vaadian naval round turned it into scrap metal.

Caroline actually smiled, she had expected Cathbad to rant and rave and carry on in a moronic fashion, the fact that he hadn't pleased her, perhaps she could reason with him, "Oh I think we can find more than enough money... I'll tell you what I think we should do..."

She beckoned Cathbad and the others away from the centre of the street, towards an alley way, "There are Voltigeur snipers about..."

She waited for Cathbad and the others to arrive before enlightening him on what was going on in her head, "I think someone should go out and negotiate a genuine ceasefire with Soult, for as long as we can get it. That way I will have the opportunity to get the other faction into play."

"As for the planes, it's a reasonable idea, but very, very risky. There is AA and thousands of fighters and attack aircraft out in that desert. Also I don't have any ability to give diplomatic codes to the Klatchians, simply because I'm not a diplomat, and the faction I will be contacting ahh... exist beneath the radar."

----------

Meanwhile the Sotto Tenente laughed, "There is one small problem with these arrangements." he explained to Sennu, "You have been dropping artillery on me and my men, hundreds dead and wounded. If you continue to do that I don't think I'll have the opportunity to spend any of this money."

Without any real warning he lowered the gun and fired, it was aimed for the back of the knee, to maim rather than kill.

Cathbad rarely rants while he was being paid, he followed Caroline and nodded and puffed on his pipe as she talked.

"Well, I can have a talk with him, maybe even intimate that I might switch sides if he can cough up the cash, that ought to pique his interest, to say the least. As far as the AA and fighters go, we should wait until nightfall and you can take my Marathon-C/s , the active radar cancellation will make it all but invisble to anyone but the most experienced radar operators, and with the enigma engines it will be silent and have a greatly reduced heat signature."

He puffed thoughtfully for a second "If money is no object, deposit five billion Kronors into our account and I can guarantee that this Soult won't stand a chance. That'll pay for the whole lot, all of the Diamond Divisions, the rest of the Spades and get the Clubs and Hearts here, plus all our air support and right around two hundred Scylla fighters, at a max speed of mach four, those euro-fighters can't touch em. Plus we'd get VS and his 'Oathbreakers' out here.

Deposit another billion and a half, and we'll get Old Man Gelon out here, then we can sit back and watch the carnage. So, you're paying the bill, what do we do now?"

*****
Sennu grunted as she is shot and falls to her good knee. "Well, you could have just taken my laser targetter, jackass." she says through gritted teeth, she took being shot like it most likely had happened before.

"Is that all or would you like to smack me around some before you let me go? Or could you leave the first aid kit?"

*****

Leftenent Colonel Saleh had gathered everyone he could from the 'AWOL' Foreign Guard and his two hundred Desrt Lions, he broke away from the main body and started to march his men in a wide circle around Quisa, staying well out of sight and all the way behind the city. He hoped that the defenders would be packing the defenses for a frontal assault , and that he and his men could slip in the back door when the next frontal assault occurred.

*****

The Naval Guard Marines apologized profusely for the friendly fire and hurried Parkins and his men abord the Marathon transports that were cycling in and out. They were leaving as fast as they could.

"They're experienced." Caroline said flatly, "So don't count on anything. Dyelli Beybi has had so many civil wars and near invasions..."

She shrugged, "We'll see."

"I can't put money into your account as the Cheka has had the Dioscese's account frozen, I can though do this..." she beckoned, "Come."

The centre of town was much less decimated than the outskirts, although the Cardinal's palace had taken some heavy shelling, the cathedral also had a few holes in the roof. Inside the Palace, there was a door marked 'Caroline Artois'. It was a neat and tidy, although small office, with mahogany boards reaching to waist height and green paint above. It looked out onto a courtyard that would have been quite pretty had not a shell landed in it, "I still somewhat doubt you could conquer all of Dyelli Beybi with... how many troops? Also to be perfectly frank I wouldn't want you to. Dyellians are funny, we tend to hate all foreigners and those who associate with them."

She waved at a chair, seating herself behind a walnut desk, intricate floral carvings snaking their way down each leg, "Sit."

She steepled her fingers, giving Cathbad an appraising look, "We all have our motives Mr Mercenary."

She didn't elaborate as to what her motives were, but reached under the table, pulling out what looked like half of a blackened roof tile. Swinging it round, she revealed the shattered edge, which gleamed with a dull metallic, golden glint. The tile had been solid gold, "Do you take payment in precious metals?"

----------

The Sotto Tenente didn't reply, but grabbed the money off his soldier and hurled it at Sennu, "You can keep your fourty pieces of silver." he turned, slamming the door after him.

There were Dyellians still in the hall outside, his voice and that of several others could be heard in fierce debate... knowing the Dyellians, it was probably over the mistreatment of prisoners.

----------

(OOC: BTW the D'Reg army is assaulting a middle town, Abu Dahur. They're nowhere near Quisa yet).

It was dark, and to the South of Abu Dahur, D'Reg army men and vehicles were pouring in. The sky was streaked with rockets as Lancia trucks on both sides echanged fire, punctuated by the boom of artillery or howitzer shells. The night started with the defenders putting up the vast majority of the fire, however as the night wore on, more and more D'Reg vehicles poured in, until the defenders were very heavily out gunned.

----------

Out at sea, Alwood had managed to come up with a question; when would Tollan decide what to do with her? Other than that she wasn't proving a difficult prisoner, although she would refuse any food or water offered.

Cathbad puffed on his pipe as Caroline led him to her office and talked. He chuckled when she was finished "Take over Dyelli Beybi? I thought you were paying us to hold this city? If you want the whole country the price will be much higher!"

He examines the gold tile "How much of this do you have? I can take it as payment, but it won't be accepted until it makes it safely away. How much do you have?"

*****

Sennu rolled her eyes and turned over sitting down as they left and tore off one of her sleeves and began to bandage her knee quite expertly, she looked over to see if they had indeed taken all of her equipment and then looked around for something to use as a cane or crutch.

She was a bit iritated by now, but the shock and lightheadedness from the bloodloss was sort of relaxing.

*****

With Abu Dahar falling Leftenent Colonel Saleh led his men past it and onwards towards Quisa, to see if he could take it by himself, or at least gather information and get set for a sneak attack.

He saw that as fierce as the battle at Abu Dahar had been that supplies and manpower would be much lowe at Quisa (as he had predicted) and that the once overwhelming superiority had been lost, maybe he could get the defenders at Quisa to come over to him peacefully.

He spurred his men on with urgency.

*****

The Deck Master for the level that the brig is on was concerned by Alwood's refusal of food and water and came into the brig area and had a seat opposite Alwood's cell and folded his arms.

"I understand that you don't want to eat or drink? A hunger strike eh? That is awful childish, my son does the same thing when I won't buy him something. Now I know you're upset but the truth is you're better off here. General Imro was quite explicit that you should be held as a prisoner of war, so that if you were to be returned to Dyelli Beybi, you wouldn't be killed or whatever as a traitor."

He pauses and reaches into his pocket and fishes out Imro's note, the same on that was shown to the Loadmaster by the pilot when they landed and hands it to her.

"So, after we've loaded everyone aboard, General Itzcoatl will contact Von Scheer about a prisoner exchange for a Cheka spy."

Caroline laughed, "You miss my point, I don't want you to take over the country. I want you to hold the line here for a few days while I rustle up an army of some description."

"I have well... a lot of that. I'm only allowed to use the broken tiles, but I still have more gold than a grown man can carry."

----------

When the Dyellians left, it would turn out that all her equipment had been left in a neat pile on the other side of the door. There was also smoke creeping along the ceiling, a few strands whisping into the room as the door was opened. The Dyellians, kindly people that they were, had set fire to the building as they left.

-----------

Quisa was much, much larger than Abu Dahur, and was garrisoned by two Divisions of Dyellians. They would be hard to talk into changing sides or surrendering. They knew what the D'Regs were doing in the South. The city itself was majority D'Reg with the a small core of Dyellian haters who were secretly hoping for victory. There was also a small Dyellian minorty of about 10,000 people.

----------

Alwood listened to the talk with a blank expression, "How very thoughtful." it was impossible to tell if she was being sarcastic or genuine.

"I am not on a hunger strike, I'm just not hungry... I'm not drinking because I still have some pride."

She smiled, it wasn't unpleasant in any way, she just looked tired.

Cathbad nods and repacks his pipe and lights it "Very well then missy, I'll have a lad or two help you stack it , weigh and determine the value. I will then give you a 'menu' of options that your gold will buy. In the meantime I'll try and arrange a meeting with this Colonel Smoult fellow.

You just get ready to go where you need to by the time the sun sets and the Scylla fighters are back."

With that he was off again, he sent four men back to assist Caroline in the valuing of her stash, he also Sent the head Bendith Reaver, Mahtan, out to find someone to parlay with. The tall striking Bendith man tied a white flag to the end of his rifle and set off towrds the enemy lines.

*****

Sennu laughed and then cursed. She calmly fished out her gas mask and put it on, she used her Black Arrow rifle as a crutch, the stock was perfectly suited for this and her height made it just about the perfect length. She then bgan to slowly limp down and out of the building.

She seriously wished they had taken her equipment, it would have been so very satisfying to blow it up after they all loaded into their transports.

*****

Saleh and his men kept well out of sight until they were north of the city. They then waited until nightfall and he and a few of his best men quietly snuck into the city, to try and get incontact with D'regs that would help them, and to try and incite them to take the city. He especially took anyone with him that had family or relations in Quisa..........that would be helpful.

*****

The Deck Master looked sympathetic "Very well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call."

Caroline Artois it turned out, had a rather large stash of gold. It was all stuff blown off the cathedral roof, and was probably valued well into the billions. She had it piled haphazzardly in an underground store room. There was some question rasied by one of the guards that she might not actually be entitled to give it away as it was the Bishop's property, but she managed to quieten him down rather quickly.

----------

Sennu had just discovered Dyellian honour at it's weirdest. Had she had a weapon on her, the Sotto Tenente would have shot to kill. She didn't though, so he had only arranged things so that it was likely she would die. He had given her the avenue of escape demanded. It was fair play.

----------

Quisa was dark, and there were plenty of police patroling, looking for exactly the likes of Saleh. They were hampered somewhat by D'Reg insurgents who occasionally started running street battles with the police officers. It was not long though, before Saleh was picked up by a group of insurgents and taken to their leader, Abdul Yassir Sahid, a man in his late fifties. He was a slim man, who lay reclining on a couch and did not stand when Saleh entered. He sported a well combed, although somewhat greying beard, and black turban, "Who are these people?" he demanded immediately, "Are they Dyellian spies?"

----------

"There is one little thing..." Alwood looked shy of asking anything of her gaoler, "Do I really need these plastic things on my wrist anymore? I can't exactly escape from a ship."

One of Cathbad's men exclaimed "That's a lot of fecking gold!" They reported back to Cathbad who had them load it onto one of the Marathons that would break out with it when the Scylla's returned, the other Marathon's would take off to confuse the AA fire and even launch a Marathon with Caroline, if she wanted to risk ot.

Cathbad lit his pipe and puffed "As soon as VS gets this gold, we can expect reinforcements, including Old Man Gelon, and the Oathbreakers. I'll hold this city for ten years if you like!"

Meanwhile the Bendith Reaver, Mahtan, waved his white flag as he headed into Soult's line.

*****

Sennu was used to things not being easy and quickly hobbled down the fire stairs , she looked for a window on the way down that was low enough to lower herself down from, she half expected the Dyellians to have men waiting for her at the front and back.

The more she had to move and the more the pain in her leg throbbed she swore silently to kill every single Dyellian she could!

*****

Leftenant Colonel Saleh bowed respectfully to Abdul Yassir Sahid " I am Abbas ibn Nidal Al Saleh, I am no Dyellian spy. I am what is left of the Foreign Guard. Unfortunately the shameful actions of General Genoralle-Maggiorre Xebesh and many of even my own men, we are now left to fend for ourselves. As I speak Genoralle-Maggiorre Xebesh is taking Abu Dahur, but Xebesh's rash tactics and lack of foresight means that it has taken him days to take the oasis."

He pauses and and looks at the gathered men "When they arrive, they will not have enough forces to take Quisa, and Genorale Soult, will be hard on their heels. We must take Quisa now and have it ready to resupply Xebesh's men so that they may turn and attack Soult, otherwise Quisa will be our tomb when Soult lays it to siege. I have two-hundred Desert Lions with me and a few thousand Foreign Guard, if we can get in the city, behind the defences and with your help we can liberate Quisa.

You must tell all the people you can that Xebesh and his men have killed Dyellians indiscrminately and taken the living as slaves, this is no longer a war for liberation, but a war to save us from extermination! Soult has let it be known that he shall show the D'regs no quarter."

He looks at the men judging their reactions "I will sell my life to save our people, I need men who will do the same. There is no one of us that can do it alone!."

*****

The Deck Master shook his head "No, you don't need those, here stand up and slip your hands through the bars and I'll cut them. I'm suprised the Marines left them on!"

He took his short skin knife from his belt as he stepped up to the bars.

Caroline didn't look exactly easy about reinforcements. The truth was she didn't want a Mercenary company 'getting ideas' about ruling the country. She didn't voice her concerns though. Watching Cathbad's men idly while toying with a crucifix she had pulled from the front of her blouse, "So what about getting me out of here? What I'll advise for now, if we're trying to slow stuff down is that you don't move any reinforcements in or fly any planes out, or anything that might be seen as hostile. We need that peace to last as long as possible, I need a while."

She paused, "It would be extremely bad if the Klatchians knew I was in Port Olympus. There is someone there they must not get their hands on. If they know I'm there they will suspect she is as well."

----------

The lines were mixed, but by pure good luck, Sennu was picked up by one of the Cardinal's patrols, rather than a Voltigeur Platoon who would probably have killed her without a second thought. There wasn't an aid station for quite a distance and they had no vehicles. So finally, suffering from what was probably quite considerable blood loss and minor burns by this stage, she was left in the basement of the same Palace that Cathbad and Caroline were in.

----------

The man walking out into no man's land was hailed from one of the buildings, "State your purpose." it was quick and to the point.

----------

Sahid looked at Saleh like he had spotted some new and unusual species of bird, "Soult is bluffing." he grunted, "You know the Dyellians. They look down their noses at us, they call us brutal and savage. Soult will never 'lower himself', he only wanted to frighten people into not joining the Vaadians."

It was a sensible theory, although it had no information to back it up. Soult had never been known as a butcher, "Like all Dyellians, Soult is weak in the stomach." Saleh concluded.

"This world is for the strong. You seem to fail to grasp this, you have been among the Vaadians for too long. The weak serve the strong, and in time the Dyellians will be returned to their rightful place. They are not worthy of being free."

----------

"Thanks." Alwood gave the Deck Master one of her more winning smiles, but didn't ask for anything else.

She would drink now, although her appetite still seemed gone. She wouldn't take out anything on the Deck Master. She was fairly glad Imro wasn't around, she wasn't certain how she would have reacted to his prescence. Now she would just sit back and twiddle her thumbs until Von Scheer was contacted.

Cathbad puffed thoughtfully on his pipe "If we aren't going to fly any planes, then you have to find your own way out of here. There are too many Dyellian, Vrakian, Vaadian and Scandavian ships out at sea to even think of sneaking a rubber raft past.

I suppose we could tunnel out." He smiled as he puffed on his pipe and then used it to point up at the fortifications around the city "Where are those draining too? There has to be tunnels that can at least get you up onto the ridge? You live here, I don't know how to get out of your city!"

He caught sight of Sennu as she was being hauled into the palace, he chuckled "Speak of the devil." he waved a medic over to her.

"Well, if Sennu is up to it, she can sneak anywhere, maybe we can talk her into sneaking you out? Unless she's dead."

*****

Mahtan kept his hands in sight and out away from his body to show he wasn't reaching for anything as he boomed back "Parlay , with General Stoult"

He then stood stock still and waited.

*****

Saleh gave Sahid a hard look " This is why I joined the Foreign Guard, because of men like you and Xebesh. You assume your strength is enough to take anything you want. Well then the Dyellians must be stronger. Because you have nothing!"

"You can believe that Soult is bluffing all you like, and maybe he is, but the point is that Quisa will remain his. Unless we do something about it now. You overestimate your own strength, and you underestimate the Dyellians, if they are so weak, then why are they always in a position of power and we are always saying 'Someday, because we are strong'.

Stop deluding yourself and act!"

*****

"It depends. The plane might not be a perfect idea, especially since I'll want to arrive without any fanfare, but it would be faster."

She shrugged, "The sewers aren't going to work. Soult's men patrol down there. Hey.... I have an idea. How much fuel do those planes have left? If you can fly over the Gonad then North into Monte Ozarka, you can paradrop me out."

There was one major flaw in the plan and that was that Caroline had never jumped out of a plane before, but she wasn't about to let that stop her plans.

----------

"Drop your gun, put your hands on your head and walk very slowly this way." came the reply from across the square, "If you do anything funny your brain will be on the pavement faster than you can say 'whoops'"

----------

Sahid snorted derisively, "Upstart puppy. You deny your fighting heritage?"

"Tell me then whelp, what do you propose we do with the Dyellians? Treat them to tea and biscuits?" the fighters nearby snickered at the joke, "Well come on then, wise one, what do you propose we do?"

Cathbad nodded "There should be enough fuel to do that. I believe we even have some parachutes."

He puffed some more on his pipe "Well then, if you're taking off, who is going to be left in charge?"

*****

Mahtan nodded and did exactly as instructed. He set his gun down and put his hands on the top of his head and walked slwoly towards across the square."

*****

Saleh looked at Sahid "I do not deny my fighting heritage, I simply propose that we fight smarter, and stop wasting our strength on pointless attacks.

Instead of killing them or making them slaves I say that we capture them and use them for prisoner exchange, or possibly convince them to fight with us, but that's neither here nor there until we have Quisa.

You and your men have done a great deal of talking, but now where are the defensive positions and how do we get them by suprise? Or do we sit and wait for Xebesh? Maybe you aren't as strong as him."

Caroline shrugged in response to the question, "I don't know. Whoever's in charge at the moment I guess."

It took her a moment to twig that Cathbad had thought she was, "Oh I'm not in charge... I'm just an Intelligence officer. I just come up with schemes."

"Of course." she gave a cryptic smile, "I will be in charge of the other faction when it gets involved."

----------

A door in front of Mahtan opened, and a Fuscilier dragged him inside, where he was frisked at gunpoint, and then marched off down a dark coridoor. This led out into a street, across from which was another murky looking building that was serving as n advanced field HQ. There were mutterings around him, most of which couldn't be heard, "-ing mercenary..."

Someone with a blue beret and black paint across his face, gave him a suspicous look as he passed. The man was cleaning a scoped SSA1801. Presumably he was a Voltigeur sniper.

On the inside of the second building there was a storage room that seemed to be acting as an office. A man was seated on the one chair, behind a rickety table, adding up numbers to the light of a gas lamp. The only other item in the room was a field radio perched on a dressing table. He was wearing a helmet decorated with a large number of black feathers at the left temple, "So you are one of these mysterious mercenaries who has so unnecessarily prolonged this war. Had you not arrived this town would be ours. There would be peace in Dyelli Beybi and my men would be able to go home to their families."

It was possibly a slightly naive statement, there was still a war with the D'Regs, but one look at the Maggiore (the pips on his shoulders identified his rank), and you could tell he believed it, "Well, what do you want? I haven't got all day."

----------

Sahid looked dumbfounded, "Take those creatures prisoner? I will not hear any more of this blasphemy!"

He was begining to sound quite annoyed, "In any case I fail to see what this argument is about. Do you want to fight the Dyellians or not?"

Cathbad smiles back at Caroline "Well, I guess I'll be in charge then." he puffs on his pipe a couple more times "So, what's so bad about this Soult fellow? Does it really matter?"

*****

Mahtan had taken only his rifle, he follows the fucilier to the maggiore Mahtan listens to him impassively and replies "Well, my apologies for prolonging this. It is imperative that I speak with your Genorale Stoult, to let him know where things stand. Maybe things can be tidied up quicker than you think?"

*****

Saleh narrowed his eyes at Sahid " I do want to fight the Dyellians, and take this city, but you seem to be more interested in talking about strong you are rather than showing it!"

"What's so bad about Soult?" Caroline laughed, "He would be Emperor. He's not enslave most of the population like the Tzars we've had over the years and will be able to take a tough stance on activities the Republic was unable to crack down on due to it's own laws on personal freedom..."

"What's so bad about him." she shrugged, "Some of us don't want an Emperor."

"In any case, it would probably be better if we get moving before they sort out a casefire... if they sort out a ceasefire."

----------

The Maggiore reclined back in his chair, "And what is so important that you must speak to the Emperor directly? I cannot send you on without propper reason."

----------

"On the contrary, we are the ones running street fights to destabilise the police force here." Sahid growled, "In time, if they know we are winning the police will join with us."

The police were nearly all D'Regs in Quisa, "So, what do you want to do? All I have heard is talk about allying with Dyellians and the like."

----------

At sea, the Deck Master (or anybody else who would listen to Alwood) was being questioned on how much longer she had to wait before they contacted von Scheer. It was the waiting, she explained, that was the worst bit.


----------

In the darkness the D'Reg army launched another offensive from all directions on Abu Dahar, pouring thousands of troops into it the beseiged town. Street fighting was never that easy though, and the defenders, while enormously outnumbered, were proving very difficult to dislodge. As the battle wore on it became a case of driving the defenders from each building... and they were working to a time limit. The 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th Divisions of the 7th Republican Army were rolling South to relieve the town. At the moment, it looked like the defenders would hold for at least a week... more than enough time.

Cathbad shrugged "Well then get aboard that Marathon missy, you and the others will go up as soon as the Scylla Fighters get back from refueling. "

He starts walking back towards his men motioning with his pipe to one of the transports as he does "Tell the pilots where you need to go and get strapped in."

All of the Marathons began to prepare for takeoff, there would be too many going up to single any one jet out.

*****

Mahtan shrugged to the Maggiore "Well, I can either go talk to him, and work out an understanding of some sort, or I can keep pouring men into the city." He motions back towards the mercenary lines " Sixty-thousand now, we have one hundred and ninety thousand more staging as we waste time here, with special forces. Fight, or talk, I get paid the same. I'm just trying to be mutually convienant."

*****

Saleh shakes his head "Street fights, that's a good start, but wouldn't the police colapse faster if they saw a unified, planned assault?

Instead of a skirmish, we do something big, to show them all at once that we mean business and that it's join us or die!"

*****

The Deck Master was more than happy to answer questions. "Well, the Foreign are finishing loading right now along with the wounded and 'captured' Dyellians from the gun batteries, after they are all onboard and accounted for Command General Itzcoatl will contact Von Scheer with the number or prisoners along with name and rank and arrange to have them retrieved.

Then it's just a matter of if Von Scheer comes and gets you before we leave."

"If you want to start commanding stuff, go and have a chat with the Cardinal." Caroline phrased it like a suggestion, "He is in charge, even if he is a little too infirm to carry out much of the menial tasks."

"I'll see you later... I hope." she commented, before setting off to find the transport.

----------

The Maggiore laughed, "Are you trying to impress me?"

"The Army here could send in over 1 million men and women as soon as the D'Regs are dealt with... oh and of course there's several hundred thousand sailors floating this way as well."

This wasn't entirely untrue, although a little exagerated. The Grand Fleet was indeed massing, but it would probably be a few days before it left from Cyro, "So you refuse to state the purpose of your proposed visit to the Emperor. An 'arrangement of some sorts' is pretty vague. What do you want to talk about? I'm a responsible officer and I'm not going to send time wasters or assassins into the Emperor's prescence."

----------

"Maybe." the D'Reg leander replied, a little cagedly. He had no interest at all in asking any Dyellians to join him, "I think we should occupy the Post Office, Police Headquarters and Town Hall."

-----------

That seemed to be enough for Alwood, who thanked the Deck Commander, and fell back into brooding silence.

The Black Cats were of course waiting to be pulled out from the Foreign Guard base. Most were apparently concerned that the Vaadians were ignoring the wounded civilians they had recovered from the naval battery slaughter.

Cathbad nodded to Caroline and pointed out the transport to her and then headed back to the cathedral whilst puffing on his pipe. He figured it couldn't do any harm to have a chat with the cardinal.

While that was happening the Marathon with the gold was loaded up and also received the injured Sennus as a passenger, her knee would require reconstructive surgey, that couldn't be performed here. The Scylla fighters were minutes from returning and soon all hell would break loose as a diversion for the escaping transports.

*****

Mahtan sighed "No, I am not trying to impress you. I am trying to impress upon you the gravity of the situation while at the same time politely hinting that if me and your erstwhile emperor can work something out the Cardinal can be delivered to him.

I am very sorry that you were unable to comprehend my subtlety. But as you seem to have things under control I'm sure that your emperor isn't interested. Fine by me, I'll get paid either way."

*****

Saleh nodded "Those would be a good idea to hit, but do we really have the manpower to occupy anything? Better to hit as many targets as often as possible to overwhelm the police and make them realize that they must join us, rather than pin ourselves down."

*****

It was true, the 'civilians' had been at a military installation for some reason the Vaadian's could not fathom, and the Naval Guard Marines were treating them like prisoners of war rather than injured civilians, after all why would civilians be at a gun battery installation? Normally the Naval Guard would disarm enemy combatants and send them home, the concept of actually holding POW's caught them totally off guard.

They were evacuated along with the Black Cats after the small number of Foreign Guard were lifted out

*****

As the Black Cats and the POW's were arriving , Command General Itzcoatl was given lists of the Dyellians and forwarded that list to Von Scheer, demanding that Von Scheer send a transport for his men, immediately. Alwood's name was on that list.

"Subtelty?" the Maggiore chuckled, "You must learn when that is appropriate before trying to use it. I will contact the Emperor and see if he is interested."

He leaned back in his chair, then barked something in German to an aide, who hurried off, "We will see in a moment. Drink?"

----------

The D'Reg leader nodded, then shrugged, "Not for long, but if we occupy these targets we will pin down troops who would otherwise be defending the city from Xebesh and his army."

----------

In Abu Dahur battle still raged. Both sides had tried to employ tanks in the crowded cuty streets. The Carro Armato was very poorly adapted to this role. It thrived in open country battles where it's speed and heavy hitting cannon more than compensated for it's lack of armour... but in a city it was prey to all kinds of infantry weapons.

The smoke obscured the sun, making day into a dim twilight. During the night fires lit up the scene, turning the burned out city into a twisted image of hell. And still the defenders fought on. Fought on because they knew relief was close at hand. If they held out for only another day, the tables would be turned, and it would be the Rebels fighting for survival.

----------

The Naval Guard would have begun to realise that in areas that weren't on alert, the Dyellians had a somewhat laissez faire attitude towards running a military base. The troopers brought spouses, lovers and children onto base. It was them that had been caught up in the violence.

----------

The Dyellian Navy sent an Armoured Hovercraft of all things. It normally acted as a tank lander, and could dump up to ten vehicles onto a beach at once. It was large enough, they reckoned, to hold all the POWs.

It had been previously known as DBPS Dog, but the DBPS had been scrubbed out and replaced by HIMS, which stood for 'His Imperial Majesty's Ship'.

Mahtan shrugged "Too bad I won't have time to take any lessons from you, no thank you I am not thirsty."

Mahtan simply stood and waited, he seemed absolutely non-plussed and unafraid, as if what was happening was just another day at the office.

*****

Saleh nods again "I'm still not all that sure that we should be counting on Xebesh, I already told you of his difficulties.

We should act as quickly as possible."

*****

The 'Dog' was instructed alongside one of the Revenge Battleship's where the 'P.O.W's' could be lowered over the sides via the elevator and down directly to the hovercraft.

The Deck Boss went to Alwood's cell and opened the door "Von Scheer has sent a hovercraft." He motioned for her to follow, before looking back "Are you sure you want to go?"

There was a long pause, during which the Maggiore drank directly from a bottle of rum, before finally someone came back with an answer, also in German. The Maggiore translated, "He'll see you in 20 minutes. He asks you to wait here for now. Sure you don't want a drink?"

----------

"OK." Sahid shrugged, "We can do that, although without Xebesh we will not stand a hope of winning. We do not have the hardware to defeat the Dyellians. They have tanks and planes and rockets, we only have rifles."

----------

Alwood gave the Deck Master a perplexed smile as she followed him, "I wasn't aware that I had a choice in the matter?"

"I'm sure they're looking forward to my return." she grimaced, "Most especially von Scheer."

She smiled warmly, and for half a second the depression seemed to have lifted, "But in answer to your question, no, I will go. I'd rather take my chances at home than live in prison, as pleasant as the gaoler may be."

Inwardly Zara Alwood was still smarting from what she saw as betrayal. Going back to the somewhat dubious shelter of von Scheer, Fradkov and Soult was probably not the safest move she'd ever made, but at the moment she really didn't care.

Mahtan smiled and shook his head "No thank you, it wouldn't do to be in the presence of your emperor with alcohol on my breath. Especially as I'm on duty."

He said that in a chiding tone, with a smirk.

*****

Saleh nods again "Well, we will have to do the best that we can. It would be nice to have some of those tanks and planes on our side, we could use them.

You see now why we can use the Dyellians? We need to get the rest of my men into the city. We have at least some heavy equipment."

*****

The Deck Boss shrugs "Admiral Aymara wanted me to let you know that General Imro has requested that you be given asylum, if you want it. You'll have to take it now though, he'll be facing charges when he gets on board and won't be making any requests then."

He pauses for a second to see what Alwood would say before leading her to the transport.

The Colonel was standing by the ships side watching them lower the wounded civilians into the hovercraft below. In some ways he wasn't sure what to think of the Vaadian response to having wounded civilian casualties, treating them like P.O.W.'s seemed like a decent alternative.

He turned and looked up at the ship he was now on. Somewhere aboard was this Altwood person he had a note for. Of course, whatever the IIS agent had wanted, he wasn't sure. But the man had been unable to leave with the Vaadians so he was stuck in a rather bad place.

Mahtan recieved a shrug in return, while the Maggiore continued to drink from the bottle, "The problem with you foreigners is you don't drink enough." he explained, outlining his theory on why foreigners were so weird.

At that moment a new person entered, and there was another brief conversation in German. It was an official language of Dyelli Beybi, but was hardly the language of the majority, "Follow him, they have a car."

The 'car' turned out to be a rather beat up amphibious jeep. The driver wasn't very talkative, and there was someone with a pistol in the back seat, Mahtan was seated in the front.

The vehicle set off across the burned out city, veering North and West until it began to move out into farmland. The place was crawling with troops. A railway station was nearby, ferrying in what looked like brand new Artillery and Lancias. Mahtan was shoved into a tent while someone went off to announce him, the guard from the car still at the door, and a rather bored looking secretary with a laptop the only company.

----------

Across town, Cathbad was finally allowed into the prescence of the Cardinal. He was old, probably in his late seventies, and looked weary beyond measure. The office he was using was a simple affair, with a bland looking desk, two chairs and wooden crucifix on the back wall. It was a far cry from the gaudy excesses of the outside, "God be with you." he wheezed, "Pardon me if I do not stand, please take a seat."

----------

"OK." Sahid nodded, going along with the other for now, "What do you reccomend we do?"

----------

Alwood stopped, rounding on the Deck Boss, "What do you people want of me?" she demanded, "You throw me in prison then offer me Assylum... after having told von Scheer I'm here."

"If I go back to Dyelli Beybi they will kill me." she growled, "But what would you people do to me? What would 'Assylum' involve? Is this going to be just a drawn out court case before handing me back to Soult and von Scheer."

"There was all that talk about how as a POW they wouldn't realise I had betrayed them, but they knew already." she continued, sounding more than a little angry at the whole situation, "When I arrived back at the Foreign Guard base I was a wanted criminal. If they can't pin anything on me, they'll torture me until I confess. Yet now you offer me 'Assylum'? Why now? Why right now, just as I'm walking out to the boat?"