NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Small note before this starts, this RP is not supposed to be a huge war RP at this stage. Everything going on in co-vert. While it is open, I do reserve the right to tell anyone who comes in and godmods unrepentently to bugger off. Also let's please have no WMDs. I know I'm using one in this thread but I got permission to use it from all the relevant parties first.

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Southern Klatch was immensely hot. Theoretically the deserts of Dyelli Beybi were the hottest place at all, but even a lifetime in that desert didn't prepare you for the 100% humidity in Rogue Jiggady. Rogue Jiggady, otherwise known as the Gonad peninsula, jutted out of the side of Dyelli Beybi like a huge sword thrust out into the swirling currents of the South Klatchian Ocean. Relations between the States were nonexistent. Rogue Jiggady tended to sit back and make a big fat profit, while Dyelli Beybi involved itself in trying to regain it's footing as the most prominant State in Klatchian politics. They had held the Presidency once....

Unfortunately for Rogue Jiggady, it had put itself right in the middle of a war zone. Rogue Jiggady had elves in it. The same elves who had been fighting the Dyellians for years. Nobody seemed to know what the war was about now, it just was part of the culture. It had cooled in the last couple of hundred years, since the Dyellians had gained the undeniable technological edge over their Eastern neighbours. The two groups occasionally clashed over the border, but more or less left each other alone.

All that had changed a few months back. Alcona and Hubris had tried to lead a scientific mission into the Gonad to study the elven populations. Dyelli Beybi had piggy backed in on the mission, lauching covert raids into the jungle, destroying one major elven settlement and discovering the whereabouts of another. The Klatchian authorities had forced them to call off the raids before they could do anything to remove it. Now though, they had waited, they had planned, and they had struck again.

"Men." it was a woman's voice. She was short with dark hair and a vaguely Irish accent, "I want to thank you for making this possible. We went in, we dropped the bomb and we're ready to blow. All that without a hitch."

The girl was young, in her twenties, with fine boned features and a slender frame that would make her quite attractive if she ditched the jungle camouflage fatigues and face paint, she held one hand up. She was holding a small remote, with just one button. She pressed it...

The sky turned white. For anyone watching from space, it would look like someone had dropped a small nuclear bomb in the middle of Jiggady. Except it wasn't nuclear, it was anti-matter, and hopefully nobody would have any idea where the explosion had come from or any idea what it was. It wasn't lgoing to leave radiactive isotopes everywhere. It could though, get Dyelli Beybi into a lot of trouble if the Klatchians found out they were using weapons of mass destruction without permission, in a fellow Klatchian State.

There were five other troopers with the girl, one blinked a couple of times, "That was imp..."

He never finished the sentence, a blast of automatic weapon fire took him off his feet.

"Ambush, get down!" another yelled, scrambling for his gun.

Gunfire echoed in the forest.

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He called himself Xalis. For as long as he could remember, over 500 years in fact, he had lived in the Northlands. It was cold, but life was good. There were orcs and humans and even a few of those peculiar Southern creatures he had come to know as 'Djels'. Things had been good, until about 200 years ago the elders had noticed just how many 'Djels' there were flooding into the Northlands, and then 4 years ago, they had come in immense force with their flying machines and their tanks and their bombs, and they had spread death and destruction across the Northlands.

They had purged the forests, killing the elves, allying with the orcs and humans. Xalis though had survived, and journeyed South. He had hoped, like some hero from the stories to journey to the heart of the Dark Lord's country and slay him in his castle. It was a naive dream, he had found no Dark Lord, but a dark 'democracy' where the ignorant ruled. He had fled east, towards where he had heard their were more elves who could help him, elves that had fought these creatures for years.

He sometimes regretted joining them. The elves in this part of the world were corrupted by what they had been subjected to, they were in many ways, worse than the Djels. But the Djels had killed Xalis's family, and they would pay.

The fighting in the forest lasted less than a minute. His men moved among the dead and dying, cutting their throats to make sure they never moved again, "Stop." Xalis held up a hand.

The female was alive. She'd taken a hit in the arm, but was alive and well and backed against a tree. One of his band, who had been about to make a lunge at her with a sword paused, "Do you want the honour my Lord?"

"No." Xalis's voice was cold, "Take her, alive and with all limbs attached. We'll sell her."

"With all due respect my Lord." the warrior replied, "No temple will buy that sacrifice. It's a Djel. It would not be a fitting offering to the Master."

"Be quiet." Xalis despised the locals and their perverse religion of blood sacrifices, but it was something he was perpared to accept. In time he would change them, change them back to the way they should be, but for now he must work with the tools he had, "I'm selling her outside."

"The Jiggadians don't deal in slaves."

"I'm not selling her to the Jiggadians, this is going to the outside, because, my friend, I have discovered how we can win this war and restore peace in Southern Klatch. And this Djel is the key to that."

The warrior didn't look convinced, but didn't try to argue either, he knew his Lordship was usually right on such matters, but this... it was a very bold claim.

Xalis stepped forward, swinging at the female with the butt of his rifle. Despite the bullet still lodged in her arm, she ducked, making a break for freedom to his left. One of his warriors tackled her, bringing her to the ground. Moments later he rolled off her with a broken nose.

She doesn't think she had anything to lose. This war isn't one where either side takes prisoners.. This time they used a net, and despite all the kicking and snarling, she was unable to free herself. In some ways Xalis was glad they weren't killing her. He had problems killing women.

He examined the girl as they tied her wrists together. If it wasn't for the ears she would easily pass as one of the locals. It was a sobering thought.

"We'll fix your arm when we get to our destination." he said in slightly accented English, switching from Elvish to communicate with her, "For now keep quiet and keep still and you won't be harmed."

The look of maloveolent hatred she directed at him was disconcerting, "I'm supposed to go meekly to your slaughter houses?"

"You're not destined for there." he paused, "You're destined to be my ticket to freedom, I most certainly will not be killing you. Provided of course you're a thoroughbred 'Djel' and do all those lovely things you people do without even thinking about it."

The girl visibly paled. He wasn't supposed to know that. Very few people knew what he was talking about, but from the sounds of it he might very well be about to reveal secrets that would tear Dyelli Beybi apart at the seams...

Some hours later Xalis returned to his jungle base. He had spent nearly all his profits from the slave trade in buying a huge radio transmitter. He knew he was going to sound completely mad, but somewhere, he hoped someone would hear him, someone who cared enough to investigate what he had to say.

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To: All Nations using the arcane powers of 'magic'
From: Lord Xalis Ciron
Subject: A peculiar beast
In recent forrays in the Gonad we have recovered a most curious sentient creature, with most unusual magical properties. We offer it for free to anyone interested in it, and ask only in return that they listen with to the stories of the plight of my people.

OOC: You mind if I get in on this, Dyelli? I don't use magic, but I could mobilize some special ops.

Assuming, that is, that Dyelli Beybi doesn't hate the Northerners too much.

Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Woooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
The huge machine wailed like an air raid siren, a giant sphere, and when I say giant I mean huge, ranks of wires, fans, cables, keyboards and mouse mats.
Technicians ran around in a mad panic, many running to their posts, others running to printers, others clicking madly at screens.

The lead Technician spat out his tea, which sprayed on the carpet in front of him when the siren yelled, he quickly yelled at the computer screen next to him
‘Overseer! What the hell is going on?’
Sorry, sir. A-MB weapon discharge detected within Klatchia The text glowed on the screen, a voice for Overseer was still in the works.
‘Where?’
The map flashed up of the Gonad peninsular, the cloud flashed onto the map, then dissipated.
‘Send this to the Military HQ, now, I think somebody has decided to play tough guy again.’
Yes Sir.
The file took just twenty two seconds to reach the “red” intray.
Another three minutes later, and there was the file, playing on a large screen, over and over in front of a small group of people….

OOC: short post to say "I'm game" not up to a massive, massive post right now.

At the headquarters of the New Shiron Space Command, a bored Lieutenant Commander Josh Lyman of the newly created Royal Aerospace Force watched a monitor.

Just another boring shift watching satellite data come in and making sure the bird stayed in its proper orbit. The new KH14s were very reliable though, and had a small nuclear reactor for power, ion drive for station keeping and plenty of fuel for the reaction rockets as well, so his job was pretty easy. Other watch officers were watching other birds, some of which kept an eye of other places in the world, and a few kept an eye on Cislunar space, just in case the New Cynthians came back, this time from space.

The double flash of the detonation in Rogue Jiggady was a rude wake up call indeed. Jumping to his feet, he knocked over his coffee cup as he reached over and hit the alarm.

"I have a double flash detonation showing. Watch Commander, please verify."

Captain Louise Parker rushed over to his monitor. "Where?" was all she said in an urgent tone.

"Rogue Jiggidy ma'm, but I don't have a missile track to go with it."

"Shit. Okay, I want a thorough check for an astronomical event, and SIGINT, run back everything in that area we have picked up. I want to know if we have any chatter to go along with this. Maybe somebody was testing. Commander Harris, check with Operations, see if we can get a Global Hawk into that area to check for possible fall out."

The rapid fire orders got Space Command moving and soon messages were reaching the Queen, the Joint Chiefs, and other vital decision makers.

A possible crisis or random act of god? Hopefully the answers would come soon.

(OOC) Just a little OOC note on where the bomb went off. It shouldn't have had any effect other than to make a damned concerning evening fireworks display for the Jiggadians. They've set it off in the middle of the jungle.

shameless BUMP for attention

(OOC) Just a little OOC note on where the bomb went off. It shouldn't have had any effect other than to make a damned concerning evening fireworks display for the Jiggadians. They've set it off in the middle of the jungle.

ooc
so are we talking a detonation in the kilotons? or something smaller? Antimatter being what it is, I thought it would be something smaller than the Tonguska blast, but still big enough to to register on sesmigraphs and be noticable from high orbit.

New Shiron by the way hates Orcs (wiped them out in our land when we settled it)... and Elves are the stuff of legends and indirect information. Most of which would be of the scary little people variety of legend (Irish folk tales) or wishful thinking fantasy stories but some would have the flavor of the dangerously glamourous variety from Lords and Ladies

The group of people watched the map and tape over a few times.
'It's a blatant act of war!' one, an elf, cried.
'I dunno, mighta been a weapons test.' replied another, a Neko girl, her tail and ears obvious, even in the gloom.
'I agree with pointy-ears here, it's an obvious act of war!'
'Hey! don't call me pointy ears!'
'Ah shush.' grunted a huge bulk, a Goron, a mountain creature from the inner mountain ridge of the country blinkd a little in the gloom.
'Attention!' another human barked, causing the others to stop arguing and sit up.

A tall, man, with dark brown hair walked into the room.
'Right, I think we've seen enough of that' he muttered. 'Overseer! Map of Gonad.'
The computer screen went blank, and after a few seconds a 3D map balloned up onto the screen.
'It seems our "freinds" in Dyelli Beybi are messing around with the elves, again. Now I don't know wether the A-MB was fired by them or not, I don't know, but I want you lot to go in there and find out, if we find that evidence that they did... well... I'm not sure what line we shall take after that.'
'Yes sir' they all chanted.
'You'll be dropped in by a Type 10 dropship in two hours, better kit up.' he nodded and left again.
Green troop sat there for a few seconds, then got moving.

(OOC) Something in the low kiloton range. DB shares a particle accelerator with Vrak (and formerly Fasta Benj). DB has been secretly filtering off most of the anti-matter for a while now. They have a moderate amount sitting around. They're using an anti-matter anihilation in the hope it will be confused with something like the Tonguska.

DB on the other hand gets on well with Orcs (formerly the State of "Ashnak's Tribe") and has them employed to a limited extent in the police and military in the Northern provinces.

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Benjia House, Cyro

Felix Dzerzhinsky was begining to realise what Government was all about. It wasn't some easy rose tinted benign ruling of the people where everyone was happy and well fed. It was lurching from one crisis to another where people were bound to get hurt, but hopefully whoever was in charge would keep the ship from sinking long enough for the next person to take charge.

The elves in the Gonad were always a pest. Most people were only vaguely aware they existed, which was as it should be. No need to alarm the population, while the police on the borders did an admirable job of ensuring no elves crossed the border any other way than in body bags. They kept the heartland, safe, unaware, happy and wealthy.

However yesterday two things had gone horribly, horribly, wrong. First they'd lost five Tercionem, special forces, and one Commisaar in the Gonad. They were almost certainly dead, which in itself wasn't such a bad thing. It meant he and a few other high ranking Commisaars were the only ones who knew what had actually caused the explosion in the Gonad.

More alarming though was the fact that someone inside the Gonad had called for help. This was very, very, bad. The Gonad elves kept to themselves and Generally murdered, sacrificed or cooked outsiders. If even a small group though, had decided to be nice and play the victims this could spell a very big problem for Klatch...

"What we need." Felix spoke to the other Commisaar across the table from him, "Is to terminate this Xalis character... with extreme prejudice I might add."

The Commisaar across the table gave him a puzzled frown, "Extreme prejudice Sir?"

"Good God, don't you new guys read your manuals." Felix exclaimed, "I mean kill him, kill his family, kill his friends, kill anyone who's set eyes on him. Erase him and all his followers, preferably in a manner that says we don't tollerate his kind of behaviour."

The Commisaar across the table whistled, "What I mean Sir, is how are we going to terminate him with extreme prejudice? It might look a bit suspicious if we bombed him."

"We're not going to bomb him, you're going to go in and hunt him down."

The Commisaar blanched, "Send Dashwood Sir, she's got the experience."

The Gonad was not a fun place, and the Commisaar was trying to offload his rather unfortunate task onto someone who wasn't here, "Chlarissa Dashwood is in Neo Tyr, seeing to other Cheka matters pertaining to the occupation, Graham, I'm afraid it's you, you've been trained for counter terrorism work, unlike that poor girl Reilly sent in."

"But..." Graham looked like he was about to continue protesting, until his Senior held up a hand.

"No buts Graham, you're the best Commisaar for the task we have available at this short notice. Take 16 Tercionem, I want this done properly and without the Klatchians finding out what we're up to."

"Yessir."

ic
Lady Sarah, and her two friends, Lady Cheryl and Lady Michelle, a trio of practicing witches from the Townsend District, had been through an interesting day. First, an earnest young Security Service Agent had knocked on their door, armed with a warrant and a written invitation from someone called Lord Riley Donovan. He had blushed a lot, as at the time Sarah had been wearing only a short robe and the other two hadn't even bothered to dress, but had firmly urged them to come with him.

Michelle in particular had enjoyed his obvious discomfort, but in the end the three women had agreed to come with him, more curious than concerned.

ooc
all three women are in their late 20s to early 30s, but look younger and are well educated (mystically and conventionally). magic is extremely rare, just like true psychic activity and the government keeps tabs but doesnt interfere unless felonies are committed

ic
Ever since the war, the women had wondered when the government would come calling and now here it was.

They were quickly taken to an airport and then placed on a private jet and whisked their way 800 miles south to Regina, the capital. A quick trip in non descript looking sedan had followed and now here they were at something called the Office of Advanced Non Traditional Research and Methods on the campus of the University of Regina.

Now they were in a plushly appointed office, and they recognized the man in front of them. He was a cousin of the Queen, and they knew that she, like all her bloodline, had witches blood in the female progeny.

"Interesting" Sarah, the redhead, thought. "So Lord Riley, why have you brought us here today? Surely there are enough young ladies for your assistant to check out here on campus are there not?"

Cheryl, the blonde, and Michelle, the brunette, chuckled as they saw their earnest escort, Agent Johnson, blush once again.

Lord Riley, a tall older bald man (ooc think Sean Connery) merely looked at her and suitably chastened, Sarah bit back her wit and listened. "No Lady Sarah, I have a mystery that I am hoping you can solve." He handed her a printout and she read the words.

To: All Nations using the arcane powers of 'magic'
From: Lord Xalis Ciron
Subject: A peculiar beast
In recent forrays in the Gonad we have recovered a most curious sentient creature, with most unusual magical properties. We offer it for free to anyone interested in it, and ask only in return that they listen with to the stories of the plight of my people.
[/i]

Sarah read quickly, and then handed it to her companions.

"Well, that is definitely not something you see every day." Sarah offered gamely.

"Indeed." Lord Riley answered.

Hundreds of messages crossed the Diplomatic Commissioner's desk every day. This one, however, made her pause.

To: All Nations using the arcane powers of 'magic'
From: Lord Xalis Ciron
Subject: A peculiar beast
In recent forrays in the Gonad we have recovered a most curious sentient creature, with most unusual magical properties. We offer it for free to anyone interested in it, and ask only in return that they listen with to the stories of the plight of my people.

The Commissioner paused, then investigated further.

SEARCH:LOCATION: The Gonad
....LOADING...
OVERVIEW The Gonad Peninsula. (more)
OWNER Rogue Jiggady
BORDERS Djelli Beybi (more)
MILSAT ALERT CLASS 3 (more)<

ALERT CLASS 3: Gonad Peninsula
Low-kiloton device detonated. Radiation indicates 65% possibility of antimatter. Location reported as uninhabited jungle.<EXIT>

>RANGE Gonad Peninsula
Range:
min time to arrive 4.7 days

The Commissioner sat back and called over an aide.

"We have an interesting situation here in Rogue Jiggady. What do you think of sending someone to investigate?"
"It's a bit far away, isn't it? Sounds like a good idea, but it'll take a while to get there. Someone else will beat us."
"Not necessarily. Let's see if Morth is available... Yes. We'll need a mage... Akram. Good..."

The aide retreated as the Commissioner bent over her terminal.

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Morth Steelfang dashed through the corridors of Khrrck City, heading for an aircraft hangar on the surface. Skidding around a sharp corner, he collided with Akram. Neither spoke; both kept on running. Years of experience had taught them that when you're called, you act fast.

The final turn expelled them into a small, dim hangar. Inside was a single aircraft; a massive, twin-engine jet. The fighter was familiar to Morth; it was called Pheonix Machine, and as he approached its engines roared into life.

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To: Lord Xalis Ciron
From: Diplomatic Commissioner, Khrrck City
Subject: Aforesaid beast

Consider your offer accepted. Expect our arrival shortly.

Sarah found herself and her two friends with a new job and sudden appointment (in other words a draft notice) to what was known informally as the Institute. In other words, they were now spies of a sort.

"So Sarah, what they hell do they expect us to do in the boonies, I don't remember you taking a survival course and I sure as hell didn't" Cheryl asked.

Michelle, reading through the thick packet of materials that Lord Riley had given them answered. "Oh, I think we are about to get that taken care of. We are starting one tomorrow."

Sarah choked on her fruit juice as she heard that. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

the next morning the three women found themselves at a military base for the Royal Guard Ranger Regiment, under the instruction of a fit and fierce young woman named Jennifer who made their life a living hell of force fed knowledge.

Wading through a swamp later that day, Cheryl finally got fed up and used a spell to repel the biting flies and mosquitos that swarmed them.

"I seem to remember you telling us you wanted to get back to nature more often" quipped a sweaty Michelle, who along with the others, was soaked to the skin, covered in scratches and grateful that they had kept in shape over the years.

"Oh shut up." was the reply.

Xalis was happy, happy enough to visit his prisoner. He'd pulled the bullet out of her arm yesterday. She'd actually stopped struggling during that time. Since then he'd had her shut in the basement of his villa in the jungle. Money from the slave trade had allowed him to build this exotic hideaway. It even had an electric generator, although he rarely had the oil to power it.

"Prisoner's been quiet my Lord." the guard at the gate, Aranel, was also from the Northlands. Xalis couldn't trust the locals not to try to kill the prisoner. He'd already had several of his men retire from his service because he was holding her.

"Well that's a relief. Open the door I'll take a look."

The room was dark on the inside, even darker still when the door closed behind him. It took him a few moments for his eyes to adapt to the darkness. Then he spotted her, huddled in a corner, watching him suspiciously.

Xalis switched to English, "I see you've washed that vile paint off your face, although I still fail to see why you Djel women wear men's clothes."

She was wearing breeches and a jacket, with seemingly random splatters of green and brown on it. Xalis could see why Djel warriors wore it. They blended into the jungle. Unfortunately he had found it very difficult to convince his staff to dress like the enemy.

She gave him a malevolent glare that suggested she'd make him regret having met her if the tables were turned. She looked very attractive when she was angry, Xalis decided.

He strode over to her, finding it oddly rewarding how she shrunk back from him. He was fascinated by his enemy. He imagined he'd fill similarly fascinated were he to capture a Night Cat or similar big predator. To be able to study something you'd usually be fighting for your life against was very rewarding.

"I think you should know, we've found someone who's interested in you." he said with perhaps the slightest touch of malevolence.

"Let's just hope your local friends don't add them to the menu before they reach you." the girl sneered back.

That was a problem. The elves in the Gonad weren't receptive to strangers. Xalis had put patrols out to make sure that any strangely arriving travelers would find their way into his lair unimpeded. If they weren't the ones he was looking for he could always sell them to the temples and make a bit of profit, "Very perceptive to realise it's an outlander interested in you."

"It doesn't take a genius to work that one out. The local Elves would just wonder why you didn't kill me straight off."

He wanted some information on his prisoner. Information he could pass on. He'd tried to question her earlier in the day but had got nothing more than offensive remarks and threats of violence. Aranel had told him that there was one question Djel prisoners would answer, "Name, rank and Serial Number." Xalis demanded.

The girl gave him a suspicious look before answering, "Kate Hind, Superintendant, don't have a serial number."

It was a miracle, a sensible answer. Silently, he thanked Aranel, "How old are you?"

"Twelve." she quipped.

Xalis had to restrain himself from hitting her, it was back to this game again, "Well I'm guessing twenty four to twenty eight. I'd say about twenty two if you were a human."

This brought the flicker of fear he'd been hoping for, "You like to pretend you're a human don't you?" he continued.

"No pretence." she insisted.

"We'll see, when my guests arrive." he turned away from the prisoner, making his way back towards the door.

The door opened again, just before Xalis stepped through, he turned, "For your sake, I hope you're what I think you are, if you're not, well... I'm sure the temples will snap you up."

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Some miles West
Theta Base
Dyelli Beybi/Rogue Jiggady border

Commisaar Hugh Floyd had had the unfortunate task of being sent to eliminate 'Xalis'. He had met with his escort of 16 Tercionem, unfortunately they didn't seem to see an point to lugging a Commisaar around with them.

"Right." Sergeant McDowell was in charge of the twin sections. Unlike most of the army which used German ranks, the Tercionem had adopted English ones. More to set themselves apart than for any other reason, "We picked up the radio broadcast from two recievers, here and here..."

He stabbed down at the map he had on the table twice, marking the points of the recievers, "Given the time taken for the signal to be recieved at both points, that puts our mysterious broadcaster in here..."

He circled an area on the map with his finger, "We will insert by foot and extract in a similar manner. ETA on target is 2 days. The plan is simple. We go in, kill this 'Xalis' and anyone else who gets in our way, then come back out again. This is a live opp, and fully deniable by the Government, which is why we will not be carrying the SSA1801 into the jungle."

The SSA1801 was Dyelli Beybi's standard assault rifle, "Instead you will be given a choice of other weapons. We leave at 0400 hours tomorrow."

He paused, looking up from the map, "Until then I suggest you all check your packs and get some sleep."

tag...i was waiting a bit to get involved to see what other responses would be...will post later today.

Skies over Rouge Jiggardy, 0000 Hrs.

‘The joys of ZMI huh?’ Quipped Elessar Ancalimë as he looked out of the door of the craft, at this height they should be mistaken for a low flying spaceship, of all things, hardly smart…but still.
‘Ah quit it.’ Rumbled the Goron, Jaffar, who chewed on another small Ruby. ‘Mmm, delicious, hope to find some of these down there…’ his large black eyes blinked in the direction of the door, and the forests below.

A green light binged and changed to a yellow, the Neko girl, Hailey was finishing with the slightly uncomfortable pack that’d hold her tail in place on the jump.
‘Let’s go!’ yelled a tall, well built man, with long, yet balding long hair, Bill, before he dived out of the back of the “box”. The other Human and Jaffar followed suit, Jaffar’s slightly bigger parachute and kit bag apparent. The Neko followed, and with a small prayer, the elf leapt too.

Gonad Peninsular, 0003 Hrs

They had landed, and quickly buried their chutes, and were now moving in a loose formation, low towards the ground, they had traced the broadcast to a rough area they had “supposedly” dropped into.

Jaffar had placed the pressed the pack to his stomach and rolled slowly, making sure not to crack twigs as he did so, the others moved loosely around him, through the foliage, keeping low and covered in their camouflage.
Searching for the proverbial needle in a hay stack, they began to comb the area, slowly, for any activity, Elfish, preferably.

Tightbeam Transmission

"This is Pheonix Machine, calling Rogue Jiggady Control... Pheonix Machine, calling Rogue Jiggady Control... We're inbound at two o'clock from your last known position, please respond... This is Pheonix Machine, calling Rogue Jiggady Control... do you have radio? Pheonix Machine inbound at two o'clock... please respond and give a landing site. Anyone? This is Pheonix Machine, calling on channels 1-338... is anyone listening? We're coming in."

***************************************************

Akram flicked off the microphone. "They're either incapacitated or they're ignoring us."
Morth nodded distractedly. Outside the cockpit, the upper atmosphere rushed past at supersonic speeds. Underneath the acceleration couches, Pheonix's twin engines screamed forth their unceasing, juddering roar.

Morth glanced at the navigation display. The blue arrow that represented Pheonix was nearing the red circle that represented the location of Xalis's transmitter. "We should be landing soon. We don't want to give away his location- First, what's that? Pheonix, ping that aerial contact."

A single blast of microwaves bathed the Midlonian dropship, lasting a mere fraction of a second. Pheonix spent a few seconds analyzing the reflection. "Some kind of troop insertion vehicle."

Morth winced. "We weren't first. And they've certainly spotted us. Damn. We need to hit the floor fast and come in as near to the center of that circle as we can manage it. Hold on, Akram; this is gonna be rough."

***************************************************

Pheonix Machine dropped like a brick, falling to an elevation just barely above the treetops, hopefully underneath any enemy radar. The airframe groaned as the fighter dropped below the speed of sound, slamming nose-up in a maneuver that presented maximum area to the oncoming air and braked it to a near-stop. Finally, Pheonix flattened out and descended, VTOL ducts going full blast, until it landed with a echoing thump in the center of a clearing.

Morth groaned. "Pheonix, can't we have a gentle, soft, quiet landing for once?"
Pheonix chuckled quietly. "You said fast, Morth."

Akram spoke from the back of the vehicle. "I thought we had radar stealth, Morth."
Morth shook his head. "Not at that range. Ground radar, yes. But not aircraft radar at that range."

(OOC: The Gonad Elf History, personality etc is a joint work by Alcona and Hubris and myself - mostly A&H, so I'm just giving credit where it's due.)

The Gonad peninsula was Klatch's rather unpleasant rear end, if you listened to the Dyelli Beybians it was the vale perilous (gateway to hell). The elves here weren't nice fairy tale elves. They worshiped Satan for a start, and generally sarcrificed or ate any humans foolish enough to wander in. They had a variety of more interesting things they did to other elves, although a few, like Xalis had managed to work their way into the Gonad Community, mostly by adopting their rather brutal way of life. It was one created out of necesity, after thousands of years of war with their Western neighbours in Dyelli Beybi, followed by a short but very unpleasant oppression under the Theocratic Christofi Government. It made a perverse form of sense that they worshiped the enemy of the God of Dyelli Beybi and Christofi.


There was a roaring noise in the distance, shattering the otherwise near silence of Xalis's camp. He grunted, flying machines. Could be Djels, then there would be hard fighting. Otherwise it could be his guests. He'd have to send more patrols out, and double the guard on the complex. The complex was well, his villa, and a cluster of small huts surrounded by a low stone wall, which in turn was protected by an earth glacis. It wasn't the most formidable fortress, but it could hold back an armoured column for a few hours, long enough for him to make his escape. Unlike most elves in the Gonad who insisted on using medieval weapons, Xalis's men, who were mercenaries, were given the best automatic and semi-automatic weapons he could lay hands on... which in the Gonad meant most men were packing an SMLE.

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Akram and Morth's transport had, fortuitously for them, been spotted by one of Xalis' patrols. The slave trader was no fool, and had made sure at least one elf in each patrol had at least a rough grasp of the English language. There were five in the group. They fanned out around the edge of the clearing as the dropship landed. One stepped into the open as soon as the pair had emerged from their vehicle, "Are you being expected Lord Xalis?" He asked in faltering english, "Come with us. If no, come with us."

It was fairly clear he wanted them to come with him.

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

The Midlonians on the other hand had not been spotted (having come down further from the compound). The first elves they encountered were not from Xalis's compound, but were rather troops loyal to the local warlord, Duma. It was a rather pretty looking column of medieval style knights who chattered incesantly in Elvish and didn't look the slightest bit interested in actually checking for an incursion. This was deep enough in the Gonad that the Djels very rarely showed up, and the other neighbouring warlords were too frightended of Duma to pick a fight. The only untrustworthy people in these parts were Xalis' mercenaries, but they left them alone as well, they provided a steady stream of sacrifices for Duma's temples.

For anyone who spoke the language they'd hear the conversation was about the rather fiery destruction of Belial's community. One seemed to view it as a punishment from the Master for Belial's adoption of 'Djel ways', and was convinced a similar fate awaited Xalis the slave trader. Another in the party believed it was a magical spell cast by Foras' minions. None of them seemed to care overly much.

Lord Riley and Commander Hans Grimm (always known as "Grim") watched as the three witches ran by hard on the heels of their physical trainer. They were obviously in good shape, which Grim found to be a relief (and somewhat distracting as well but the mission came first).

"Well sir, they are very decorative, but what exactly do they do?" He asked.

"You will have to take some of what I am telling you on faith, but I have thoroughly vetted this information. The redhead in the front, Sarah, her powers allow her to manipulate energy as both a weapon as well as defensively and she has a lot of power for both. The blonde, Cheryl, she is a healer, and has the power to not only heal wounds but also rid the body of disease and has even had success in reversing radiation poisoning. She can manipulate energy, but not as well as Sarah. The brunette, Michelle, she has a number of different talents, but essentially she can cast spells that, well for lack of a better term, allow her to teleport herself and a number of others considerable distances."

Grim thought about that for a moment. He had heard magic existed, but that less than one in a thousand had any talents in it, and this kind of power was literally one in million or even tens of millions. What Lord Riley was telling him was that they were certainly the most powerful talents in the entire country.
"This seems pretty risky to take them into this kind of situation sir. They aren't exactly trained for this, are they?"

"Yes and no." Lord Riley replied. "Lets just say that I have had dealings with them in the past and they have been useful to the Crown. Your teams job is to make sure they come back, along with the other specialist I am sending."

One hour after the explosion

The Intelligence Sub-Director responsible for this area shook his head. The latest satellite pass indicated a large explosion on the Gonnad peninsula. And if one looked to history to learn from its lessons, it was that it tended to repeat itself.

He pulled up a file of the last time an explosion happened in that region. Ah…yes. LOW was involved in that incident. And Vrak was not. He grabbed a scotch as he perused the document.

Some outsiders will probably be poking their nose around again. he thought as he squinted at the map of the area in question itself. Fucking elves he cursed and he punched the intercom button angrily. Luckily, such buttons were sturdily built since, well, the walruses tended to break things when annoyed. The Sub-Director was patched through to a certain airbase in the corridor. Orders were given to send up a recon plane while a team of King’s Own were alerted to active status. Another message was sent to library research to pull up a more detailed history concerning the elves and the name “Lord Xalis Ciron” in particular. As well, a note was sent to the Vrak Military High Command, alerting them of the situation but that it did not warrant a priority - yet.

He looked at the innocuous telegram sent again and then cast his eyes at the ceiling.

What is it about this Gonnad?

Retaliatory Guard RASTER Satellites had picked up the explosion on the Gonad Peninsula, close enough to the Foreign Guard to make it worthy of note. Command General Itzcoatl, who was currently on duty at Tollan Fire Control looked on as a Leftenant punched up the satellite image on the main screen.

"A single explosion? It would not seem to be indicative of an attack. Did the satellites track anything anomalous in the area prior to an explosion?"

The Leftenant shook his head "Nothing that we've spotted yet. There is a team going over before and after images to see if anything else was caught. It is worthy of note that a transmission was made from the Gonad after the explosion."

The Leftenant punched up the audio of Xalis's message.

Command General Itxaad snorted derisively "Magic indeed. Xalis, is that a Longeavi name?"

The Leftenant shrugged "I'm not sure sir."

Command General Itxaad rubbed his chin "Get someone from the Bendith Reavers up here and see what they make of all of this. If there is something that we need to act on, let the Reavers recommend it, until then file it in the Supreme Republican Commanders briefing."

The Leftenant nodded "Yes sir."

Almost uniquely among the other States of Klatch, the Dyelli Beybians respected the Vrakians, and actually treated them as equals rather than as annoying, uncivilised hangers on. It was for that reason that a rather boring looking man in a grey suit, who by his somewhat Irish sounding accent was either horribly lost or a Dyelli Beybian, was making some discreet enquiries to set up a meeting with the Vrakian Intelligence service in Port Olympus.

The public branch office of the VIS or Vrakian Intelligence Service blended in with the old style architecture found in Port Olympus. It was attached to a much larger building that housed other Vrakian government departments.

Of course, this building did have some of its own unique features. Aside from a secret tunnel exit and various soundproof rooms used either for meetings or interrogations, it also had state of the art communication equipment and even a small lab. In contrast, the public waiting area was drab, complete with oversized sofas and out of date magazines. One wall had various recruitment posters for the military with smiling men, women, and walruses saluting and carrying machine guns. One tacky poster with a “James Bond” theme displayed life in the Intelligence Service.

It was hear that the boring looking man sat and waited. Presently, the perky secretary ushered him into a solid looking room. The door swished open, revealing a grizzled walrus with grey whiskers. He spoke in Vrakian but could easily switch to most of the languages found in Dyelli Beybi.

-Please, have a seat.

Akram grinned up at the elf, revealing a mouthful of sharp, gray teeth.

The fully grown Wyrm's lizardlike, black-scaled frame stretched nine feet from nose to tailtip, unusual even for his species. He wore a pair of long, curved swords strapped to his back, and the scales above his right eye were etched with a stylized golden lightning bolt.

Morth was shorter, at seven feet. Also black-scaled, he carried a short-nosed automatic weapon of Khrrck design slung across his back. Above his right eye was another etching: a silver crystal.

*****************************************

Akram glanced around at the edges of the clearing, then returned his gaze to the elf in front of him and spoke in rough, heavily accented English.

"[i]We'll come. Sshow us the way."

As they left the clearing, Morth spoke to Pheonix, using English for the benefit of their escort.

"If anyone messes with you, deal with them."

The Pheonix tilted its aelirons, then lapsed into stillness.

Diplomatic Note delivered by courier to Vrakian government

(usual flowery preamble)
Our orbital systems have determined that a multi kiloton explosion occured in Jiggady in the Gonad region. We have since determined that it is not a nuclear explosion as no radiation has been detected by high altitude recon systems either in the local area or downwind. Experts in our employ from New Cynthia believe that it might be an anti matter detonation of some kind, and our systems have not been able to locate missile or aircraft tracks in that region that could account for the explosion, and an extra terrestrial origin has been similarly ruled out.

Do you have information on this?

In addition, an most unusual radio message has been received originating from that region as well (message attached).

Our relations with Dyelli Byebi are still at best stiff, and we have even less diplomatic relations with Jiggedy. However, because of the assistance provided by your nation in the recent past, honor requires that we inform you of what we have learned.

New Shiron views a multi kiloton detonation of anti matter to be a serious cause for concern, especially as this area is the closest land mass to New Shiron and is near the principal air and shipping corridors connecting New Shiron with the rest of Klatch. In light of this, New Shiron intends to more fully investigate the matter.

Sincerely,
Gabrielle O'Connor
Queen of New Shiron

The boring looking man with the Vrakians would turn out to be a Senior Commisaar although he ddin't bother to identify himself. He sat down opposite the Walrus, with a look of disinterest, balancing his briefcase on his lap.

Quickly, and without speaking he unclipped the clasps of the briefcase. Inside he had a small manilla folder, holding a dozen sattelite photographs of the Gonad peninsula. A few had key items marked on them,

"As you know, the Cheka isn't noted for sharing it's information, however we feel some openess in these matters is required." His voice was as dry as his appearance.

"Dyelli Beybi has identified this, rather worrying turn of events in the Gonad." he didn't bother to spell it out, but it was all fairly clear to look at. Electrical generators, troops armed with rifles, anti-tank guns and MANPAC missile launchers - the elves were going modern. It was hard to pick things out, it was all hidden under the leaves of the jungle. Apparently the Dyelli Beybians had been very patient.

"I am sure you will agree this is a major threat to Klatchian Security, especially in Rogue Jiggady and Dyelli Beybi. We believe this to have been an isolated occurance. We doubt we'd have even picked this up were it not for the incident with Valinon."

(OOC: Hope it was Valinon anyway :P)

He closed his briefcase with a snap, "It is therefore very fortuitous that this site was destroyed by stellar impact."

No admissions of guilt, just pointing out why it had had to be done.

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

In the Gonad

Inwardly the elves were happy they weren't dealing with stupid flat ears. They didn't speak any further. The one with the smatteringof English led the way back to the compound, while the others fell in on either side.

The folliage was dense towards the edge of the clearing, but further in, under the canopy, it thinned out, making the going easier. The compound was built within the shelter of the canopy, although the earthworks and walls had meant a few trees had been felled, meaning the canopy was thinner overhead.

The gateway had a thick gateway and an old medieval portcullis. All this seemed to be opperated by machinery hidden somewhere in the gatehouse, opening it for the returning patrol.

They stopped outside the villa and one elf dashed inside. A few minutes later Xalis emerged. Most of the Gonad elves had darker coloured hair, and were shorter than the average elf. Xalis though was tall and blonde, combined with his rich robes, he was clearly the leader.

He spread his arms wide, oozing charm and unction, "Greetings, greetings and welcome to my humble abode. I am Xalis." he didn't give a surname, "I trust you'll join me for some light refreshments, but first I expect you want to see why I've brought you all this way too see... but first off I want you to see something else..."

He led Akram and Morth into a small ante-room. In the middle there was a large bowl of water. Peering into the water was like peering into a mirror into an empty room, "A simple scrying spell." Xalis explained as if it wasn't obvious enough to a mage, "Looks into that room over there."

He hiked his thumb at an iron door to his left, it was guarded by another elf with an SMLE, "Aranel, open the door, put a bullet in it's leg if it makes a break for it."

Aranel obeyed wordlessly, opening the door, and stepping back to allow Aranel and his two guests entry into the room. There sitting in the corner, and apparently completely invisible to the spell was what looked like a dark haired human female, wearing what most people would identify as a military uniform, "Fascinating isn't it." Xalis said proudly, "Usually we just kill them on sight, but I managed to save this one from my men."

He hadn't explained anything, "I trust at least one of you is a mage of some description. Try some magic on it."

"Up yours." the prisoner replied, she looked like someone who'd gone through fear and out the other side into that peculiar state where you became resigned to a rather unpleasant death. Xalis was smirking. He knew full well what was going to happen. The Gonad elves had known for thousands of years what these creatures could do but have never realised it could be to their advantage. Throwing magic onto the girl would be like throwing water onto a duck. It would just roll right off. She was the magical equivalent of a noble gas - just about completely inert.

Xalis sat and waited, rolling a fat gold coin across his fingers, eveything now hinged on how these snake things reacted.

Tollan Fire Control was overwhelming for first time visitors. Itaril looked around at all the computers and giant monitors that seemed to watching every part of the world at once. The Massif was several hundred yards below the earth , Itaril was at least comforted by being underground. He stepped into Fire Control Central and was greeted by Command General Itzcoatl.

"You must be Colonel Itaril? Thank you for coming so fast. " Itzcoatl saluted him and the Bendith Colonel saluted back.

Itaril leaned over the table that Itzcoatl and his men where gathered around looked over the images of the Gonad Peninsula, a Leftenant spoke up.

"There was an explosion over the Peninsula, it was an air-burst, what ever it was did not make it to the ground, their is the probability that it was natural in origin , a comet or meteorite BUT, our satellites did not track any such bodies prior to the blast."

He then paused and played the audio message from Xalis.

"This mesage came after the explosion, if there is a connection between them, it's not obvious."

Colonel Itaril nodded "You gentlemen surmised that this Xalis is Longeavi because of the transmissions origin in the Gonad, Longeavi territory as it were. Xalis is not Longeavi per se but like most first names it may not mean anything and Ciron is most definently derived from Quenyan. For the explosion , there are magics that could cause it, but such things with the power to that I doubt would ensared by a lone Longeavi and it would take some concerted effort to detain such a thing. However if we need this looked into we already have sufficent expertise on it's way to Dyelli Beybi."

Itzcoatl frowned "How do you mean?"

"The Supreme Republican Commander is arriving in Dyelli Beybi in a few days, Admiral Cano-Cemen, Connagh-Connaght as you'd say it, is in command of the Teztcatlipoca. I would advise the Supreme Republican Commander and let him know that if we need a Longeavi to take a look at things on the ground, he's already equipped to do so." Itaril shrugged.

Itzcoatl nodded "I will contact him immediately then, thank you for your assessment Colonel."

Itaril nodded.

OOC:
Tie things together, like this!?

(OOC: Good idea to tie the threads together.

The WMD was moved in by ground and was set off by a detonator. Sorry, I didn't explain that properly, it was better explained on the FKC forums.)

Nar leaned against the horse for a moment and closed his eyes.
I have been released to bring a new age to the people, to cast down the fallen and once again make this place safe for the Dark One.

He opened them again, the image of those eyes still burning in his mind. "Well Tin-Tin, are you ready?" he asked his horse.

The horse just kept drinking from the stream.

"What am I going to tell Xalis? Yes, what am I going to tell Xalis?...me a mere Trader. I was supposed to be buying some sweet meats not an emmssary to the Oracle. Of course that the Orcle's army is now in Ter-Duzur is not very comforting."

Tin-Tin raised his head to look at Nar. And Nar took the opportunity to jump back on and push the creature further south.

twenty minutes later Nar and Tin-Tin ran into a sentry, Raz-pa a brute who was a well known to pocket the occassional valuable.

"Ah, shrimp...you finally return. Did you sell those gold teeth in Ter-Duzur? If you didn't get a..."

"The Oracle's army is in Ter-Duzur...your teeth are still in my pack...."

"The Oracle?, you mean that mad woman who claims that she is the Oracle of the Dark One come to lead us to salvation. It sounds like some little wench has been reading up on Christofian Tricks..."

"She is not an elf...human...or anything I've seen before...she's...she looks and acts like she came from the Darkness herself.
Those eyes

"How in the hell did some priestesses on horses force themselves into Ter-Duzur?"

"Because she has more then just a few young priestesses now."

************
Port Olympus
18C Pathra Way had once been described as,
roomy and airy historic manufacturing facility with high privacy in a quiet district of the city known for its descreit neighbors.
It was an old, three brick factory with a slightly darker brick showing where most of the windows had once been. Those on the third floor, had silver paint across the surving panes. The only apparent occupents were pigions and the occasional person entering or leaving a gray metal door that opened right into the narrow street. The door had, in fading white paint, Jiggady Memorial Canal Company stenciled on.

If one opened the door, you would find yourself in a narrow reception room that eaked poverty and stench. The walls and cealing were covered in faux wood paneling that was pealing off in places. A dark reddish brown sofa that had collapsed when the Tzars ruled, filled the space with the smell of piss and rot. Only the letters Rec pt ist in three inch reflective lettering survived above a barred window. And the gray steel door in the far wall still had little brown spots, likely coresponding to the faded white chalk outline on the floor.

This was the Shades, and any legit buisness that operated here was so poverty stricken that they likely couldn't afford bankruptcy, or was just a front for some enterprising criminal.

However, beyond the interor gray metal door was three levels of modern offices and workstations surrounding a large atrium.
On the third floor someone was singing off key..."She got Ter-Duzur...Ter-Duzur...that the Lord for that scally b***".

The boring looking man with the Vrakians would turn out to be a Senior Commisaar although he ddin't bother to identify himself. He sat down opposite the Walrus, with a look of disinterest, balancing his briefcase on his lap.

Quickly, and without speaking he unclipped the clasps of the briefcase. Inside he had a small manilla folder, holding a dozen sattelite photographs of the Gonad peninsula. A few had key items marked on them,

"As you know, the Cheka isn't noted for sharing it's information, however we feel some openess in these matters is required." His voice was as dry as his appearance.

"Dyelli Beybi has identified this, rather worrying turn of events in the Gonad." he didn't bother to spell it out, but it was all fairly clear to look at. Electrical generators, troops armed with rifles, anti-tank guns and MANPAC missile launchers - the elves were going modern. It was hard to pick things out, it was all hidden under the leaves of the jungle. Apparently the Dyelli Beybians had been very patient.

"I am sure you will agree this is a major threat to Klatchian Security, especially in Rogue Jiggady and Dyelli Beybi. We believe this to have been an isolated occurance. We doubt we'd have even picked this up were it not for the incident with Valinon."

(OOC: Hope it was Valinon anyway :P)

He closed his briefcase with a snap, "It is therefore very fortuitous that this site was destroyed by stellar impact."

No admissions of guilt, just pointing out why it had had to be done.



The walrus calmly scanned the documents as he listened to the drab man drone on. The Sub-Director likewise didn’t identify himself, but as sure as walruses swim, both of them would memorize eachother’s features and try to find out exactly whom he was dealing with. Well, at least the drab man would have to. A small hidden camera recorded the transpirations and a technician entered the digital photo of the Dyellian into the VIS identity bank. Sooner or later, an answer would come up.

The walrus played a pretty good poker face, but his eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of elves acquiring modern weapons. This would imply outside help since it was commonly believed that the elves were, in a word, primitive. Another possibility was that Dyelli Beybi itself provided the weapons in order to fabricate the excuse of wiping out the elves for good.

He tilted his head to one side and began.

“It is troublesome to learn that these…elves…have somehow acquired modern arms. But, what troubles us more is that these elves somehow attract international attention all the time. We also don’t know Rouge Jiggady’s role in this whole affair.”

A pause and then he reached for a scotch.

“Perhaps you can help alleviate our…concerns…in this matter, especially as it relates to outside forces. We also might have a possible solution to these elves, but require one elf specimen, preferably alive.”

The man was John Anderson. It would come back. Cheka agent, ranked Chief Inspector and with a rather good track record as one of the Government's payed killers. In all likelihood he bored the enemies of the State to death...

He fiddled with his spectacles, taking them off to polish them, "Dyelli Beybi is holding upwards of twenty live specimens in Project Raza."

He said this as if it should be common knowlege, "If you want one just ask."

He breathed on his glasses, before proceeding to polish them thoroughly with a small piece of cloth, "I am not entirely certain how we can aid further. I am sure though that this stellar impact cannot be falsely blamed on the Government of Dyelli Beybi. Any connection to Dyelli Beybi is prejudice and not based on non-existant evidence."

It was a carefully constructed statement, one that was designed to hint at all key points without actually spelling anything out.

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

In the Gonad Xalis' camp was in a bit of a fluster. Someone was visiting and would be arriving soon. A select few of Xalis' scouts had a selection of rather crusty old radio equipment. One of them had managed to communicate back to base on Nar's approach. Meanwhile, the self styled Lord was meeting with Outsiders and holding a live Djel. There would be hell to pay if the visitor found out about any of that...

Xalis' chief Lieutenant was Evelorin, and while he disaproved of what Xalis was up to he could see Xalis' vision of vast piles of money, and it pleased him greatly. If it meant, selling a Djel, the profits far, far, far outweighed any desire to kill the creature. She was a pretty wee thing anyway. Evelorin allowed his mind to dwell on the prisoner for a moment. He was sure he could show her a thing or two that Djel males didn't know, and crush that dreadful arrogence at the same time... then immediately shunned the idea from his mind. He didn't dare to think of what would be done to him if he screwed a Djel.

Instead he set about putting on his richest purple robes, even going as far as to swap his eyepatch for a gold coloured one. He'd lost his eye ambushing some Jiggadians earlier that year, and still hadn't quite got used to only having one.

"How do I look."

"Magnificent." one of the newer recruits to the establishment cooed bowing to Evelorin as he stepped out into the sunlight.

Evelorin sized the young elf up. Inexperienced. Would probably die in his first engagement, but if he didn't, he'd probably make a decent warrrior, "Get the slaves ready." Evelorin ordered, "It's probably just a regular deal. If anyone asks, his Lordship is sick. Understood?"

"Yes, absolutely Lieutenant." he didn't move.

"Is there a problem?" Evelorin demanded, "Only you don't seem to be moving."

The youngster blushed furiously, like some silly girl, first time at the temples, "I was wondering, is it true? About the Djel I mean."

Evelorin put a friendly arm around the junior, "Do you remember the first rule when you signed up?"

The younster immediately knew he'd overstepped the mark, "Obey orders."

"And do you remember the second rule." Evelorin was marching the youngster towards a cluster of small huts.

"Don't piss on the grass inside the compound?"

"No." Evelorin shoved him roughly towards the buildings, "Don't ask questions about things you don't understand, now get on with it before I cut your balls off and string you from a tree by what's left of you."

The youngster squealed and fled, to Evelorin's mocking laughter. Now he'd had his amusement for the day he was much happier about meeting the visitor. How bad could it be?

OOC: Weee...Nar goes from being a flunky to a visitor...OK (I am assuming that Nar is a reoccuring 'trader' who has done some buisness with this group before. Also I assume that the great crater from the first elf was what was 'nuked' or in this case anti-mattered? I am also pulling the two loose characters from the elven Rp back into the story somewhat.

IC:Nar was led into the precence of Evelorin and tried his best not to frown.

"Ah, Evelorin is your leader about? I have grave news from Ter-Duzur that I wish to discuss with him"

Nar might have been a lowly trader, but he really didn't care for Evelorin or his leadership style which relied to heavily on a heavy hand. Nar had far more appreciation of the "Northern Barbarian" as a leader than his lieutenant.

**********
Port Olympus
Situation Room, Parliament Hill

Victoria looked at the pictures and sat back. "It wasn't a nuke..." she said dryly. "radiation levels are too low..."
"So it was a metor strike..." One of her generals mumbled.

"Only by a stealth metor...none of the defensive sats even noticed an object in the sky...let alone one falling with enough kinetic energy to do that much damage..."

"Huh?"

"We either have an enemy that is taking tatical pot shots at us...with very poor aim for a very deadly system...Or something was there that decided it was time to go boom...like some little Jiggady experiment left abandoned but in a dangerous state...No, I think I need to visit Echo-1, she might have an idea what was there before..."

(OOC: Well, since you're back from illness. The bit that got blown up was supposed to be the settlement that your funny fox character convinced the Dyellians not to attack in the last RP. High command had other ideas though. If that happens to be Ter-Duzur, we can always pretend they blew up a similar place that was nearby. Sorry I thought your flunky was probably someone who would have traded with this lot in the past.)

Evelorin smiled broadly, "Unfortunately he's a bit tied up at the moment."

He was going to claim Xalis had taken a bullet in a skirmish and was bedridden, but if this actually was important it might mean he'd need to come out of his meeting and speak to Nar, "Anything you need Nar, you know you can talk to me, we're one big happy family at Ciron."

OOC: No, just another city/fortress complex it occured to me that most of the Warlords would try to build something similar to maintain control over their territory.


IC:
Nar looked at Evelorin for a moment, "I have words for his ears only, you see the Oracle's banner flys over Ter-Duzur now. And she had heard about the destruction of Tel-Utuz, the great fortress itself. She has rebuilt the northern tribes since the disaster, and moves south. Ciron, for all it's humble origins...sits next on her path."

OOC: I'm not well, just new meds and the office move is over.

[OOC: So sorry. Computer time is at a premium right now and I have absolutely no time to post (Bah!). Expect something Sunday or Monday; I truly apologize for holding things up (I hate it too).]

Lerathen awoke abruptly from her dreams breathing heavy and sweating. This was a common thing for her; her nightmares were too much to handle. Rather than dream of things taht were random impusles in the brain as a normal person does, Queen Lerathen's dreams consisted of waht other people were living. She would see through the eyes of others, especially those in desperate situations of stress and fear.
This nights dream was particularly frightening. Flashes of a giant exploded mixed with visions of an elf, a rather violent one, had kidnapped what appeared to be a young girl. Lerathen could not make too much sense of it, but she could recognize the girl as being from Dyelli Beybi. That nation has had some shaky relations involving elves in the Klatch.
"JAMES!"
"Yes my Queen?" James yawned out from being awoken in the middle of the night.
"Contact all Cabinet Ministers and the prime minister. I need their advice and information gathering abilities. Something is happening in the Klatch."
"Yes, will do," James answered quickly, but not too sure what was happening

Once she was alone, Lerathen walked to her closet. She opened it, and spread her clothes to the side. After feeling the back wall for a while, she pulled loose a brick. A door handle resided behind it. She opened the door to reveal a white staff made of ivory with pearls swirling their way up to a large diamond on the top. Years before, she hid this from the public view, to appeal to the views of the voters. Now, she was going to pick up the tradition Lieber-Elf religion.
She said a prayer, and the diamond began to glow slightly. The room slowly faded to white as she became seperate of her surroundings. The Lieber-Elves had the ability to tap the white energies, and she realized that she needed to again. Her prayers were being sent to the girl being kidnapped. Strenght, safety, and blessing were being sent to her. Perhaps Lerathen could help her survive or even escape her captors.
Lerathen continued to pray for an hour, to help as much as she could for the time being.

As the Cabinet Ministers met, Queen Lerathen looked from face to face of the ministers until she stopped upon the Prime Minister. He nodded to her, and she began the meeting. "Ministers, I need your advice and information."
Defence Minister Amador told her of the explosion and pulled up some photos.
They all began debating once he was done on what to do, but none of them were quite sure...

Evelorin wasn't the kind of person who was impressed by the Oracle. Evelorin had peculiar religious views that had seem him driven out of his community and into Xalis' service. Evelorin was an atheist. He didn't believe in Yahweh or Satan, he did though, belive in one thing, and that was wealth. He was wise enough to keep quiet about his beliefs though, "And why should that be any concern of ours? We're providing a very important service in Ciron."

He clapped Nar on the shoulder heartily, perhaps a little harder than was entirely neccessary, "Now Nar, Xalis is in a very important business meeting that could see Ciron supplying a lot more than fresh meat. You remember the weapons at Tel-Utuz? Well if this meeting goes well we'll have even better ones than those."

"Now." his tone was becoming frosty, "I'm going to need more information than that before I go and disturb the boss. Do you follow me, my old friend?"

He paused, for all his brash arrogence, Evelorin wasn't stupid, "I am getting the impression, the Oracle might be thinking Ciron is a nice addition to her empire. Obviously we don't have the warriors to drive her back, but at the same time we probably don't have so many that we'd make a huge addition to her forces... how much money does she want?"

This was, Evelorin decided, probably the reason Nar was here, people were always trying to extort money out of Xalis. The trick was to only pay the most powerful.

Somewhere in Vrak…

Translated from Vrakian.

-The latest dispatch from New Shiron. Did you see it?
-Yes. The Sub-director responsible has been contacted?
-Not yet. He is meeting…ah…John Anderson, a Cheka senior inspector. As per your orders. Do you wish to see it real time?
-No. Not yet. Is the recon/destroy team ready to go?
-Yes. The packages are on the way for the second team, if needed.
-It will most likely be needed. Speed it up. Once we get an elf, then it will be easier to put the plan into motion. Make sure to thank the Queen.
-At once.

The Intelligence Director rolled his head as he wondered what the Cheka were up to this time.

====

**********
Encryption – MAX – VMHC protocols 897092394 – FKC route: New Shiron – route: complete
**********

To: Gabrielle O'Connor, Queen of New Shiron
From: Vrak Military High Command
Subject: Satellite information

We thank you for the information and input regarding the nature of the explosion. We are currently carrying out an investigation but if you would care to join us, then please dispatch a team to this airbase.

In regard to the odd message, that too is also part of the investigation.

[Enclosed details re: airbase]

OOC: the airbase itself would be in the Vrakian corridor, the southernmost area bordering Vrak and Dyelli Beybi.

====

The Vrakian Corridor

At a drab airbase, a non-descript transport plane was being loaded up. A usual squadron of King’s Own were outfitted with jungle survival gear along with an assortment of equipment designed to investigate, well, large explosions. So accompanying the team were a couple of nervous civilian contracted experts who were told that this was not a drill, but still a routine investigation.

But they were not that easily fooled. Along with the humans were 12 SOAT-bots. These machines marched into the cargo hold on all fours with precision. Once in, techs began checking their ammo and parachute harnesses.

A thumbs up and the plane began to wheel onto the strip, readying itself for takeoff.

====

“We could use a few, actually. But not so many that you would be short,” replied the Sub-director. A momentary pause as he sipped his drink.

“In regards to the stellar impact, we would hope that no more are forthcoming in the foreseeable future. After all, they tend to generate much…noise from unwanted parties.”

A small grin.

“Care for some coffee? Scotch? I appreciate your information in this affair.”

A chartered civilian airliner winged its way toward the Vrak airbase. Grim sat in first class, sipping a scotch. With him was his team. The three witches, Sarah, Cheryl and Michelle, plus 2 Rangers and a rather nervous New Cynthian tech named Ivan.

message to Vrakian Military High Command
A small team of specialists are on their way to join your investigation. The leader, who is known as Grim, will have with him a more detailed brief and will fill in your on scene commander on the capabilities of his unit.

ooc
3 witches with substantial magical powers and a New Cynthian tech advisor.

Nar was getting a bit anoyed with all of this. Obviously Xalis could be in a meeting. But then he didn't trust Eveloirns in the first place. Xalis could now be lying in a pit someplace or turned into a sacrifice for all he knew.

Ah, so he's trying to negotate a source of new weapons, or so you tell me, well I should see if I can get a spare parts trade then...
Nar was well known for not dealing in weapons but spare parts. Which had turned into a far better long term trading relationships than some of the arms traders who sold faulty weapons, or didn't even know how to use the damn things themselves. Nar had made a fortune in selling replacement AK-47 triggers after a lot with defective triggers had been dumped in the Gonad. It was one reason Nar was able to travel between tribes and warlords without much problems.
....but none of it matters if that...creature comes down here and flattens him.

Nar's eyes locked on to Eveloins. "Your problem is that greed has long filled your heart, and you assume that it is the same with all others. The Oricle does not appear to have any need for Xalis's gold. After all she can afford to buy...er what are those things that the Djel have...you know the massive armored things with rotating guns...I had only ever heard stories of them from the West until three days ago."

He turned and looked at the villa. "When I saw them there I turned Tin-Tin and tried to escape. I was captured by a group of female elven warriors on horseback. I demanded the traditional trader's neutrality, and was refused. Well, I was thrown in a cage...with guess who...Warlord Othro's second son...I forget his name...as so will time. The blacksmith's mate identified me...well I and...Ubro...that was his name...were taken before Her..."

Nar shuddered for a moment, "She demanded Ubro bend knee to her...the boy refused...So she tore his head from his body and then began to dine on his legs...no ceremony, no cooking...raw just dead flesh."

"My converstation with the Oracle was...private to only be discussed with Xalis. I doubt that you would want interupt his meeting for me. So I will be forced to wait, I do not want to find myself trying to lie before an eight foot lizard creature again."

Morth looked interestedly around at the compound as he was led through. A nice emplacement... a little old-tech, but those AK-47s are in good shape. They know how to use more modern gear.

Akram, however, concentrated on the occupants. They're all elves... no humans in sight. Either that's all you can get around here, or we have some racism going on. His thoughts were confirmed when they were shown the human prisoner. He nodded slightly, eyes fixed on the prisoner, as Xalis invited him to use magic.

"You want me to try something? Is she immune? Immunity is not easily done... K'shah!"

Deep violet fire surged from the ground around Akram and collected in a small globe. It shot across the room and washed over the girl, leaving her unharmed but leaving a faint scar on the rock behind her.

Akram was visibly suprised. "Hssh... it avoids her, it does. Most interesting." And valuable, if we can find out how to do it. He narrowed his eyes and shifted from his normal vision to his mage-sight. Power currents were visible in previously empty space, and spells shone like intricate webs of light, but the prisoner vanished. A startled hiss from behind him told him that Morth had just tried the same thing.

******************************

Akram turned back to Xalis. "Hssh... Your... prisoner is most interesting. I must confess that I have never encountered an immune before. But what use is she to us? It seems to be a innate ability, so she can not tell us its secrets... and how can we study something that we can not see?"

******************************

-Pheonix Machine status: blip 0-

All quiet on the home front. Morth and Akram have been escorted off by a group of approx. 5 elves to parts unknown. I was ordered to protect against any intrusions. <VECTOR> <TIMESTAMP>
I detected magic usage not too long afterwards, but there are no distress signals so they are obviously well. <TIMESTAMP>

- Encryption Max -

Code: A-67-14G-98-06-NG

MESSAGE BEGIN

To: Vrakian Intelligence Service
From: Germanian Espionage Agency
Subject: WMD

[Translated from Vrakian]

"North Germania offers full military and intelligence support in favor of our Northern neighbor, Vrak, if requested or deemed necessary by Vrak.

An ESPK Black Op Corps is prepared if any covert and/or black operations are required. The entire Corps hails from the region known as the "Wald der Schwarzer Regen", or "The Black-Rain Forest".

The region is cold all-year round. During the Summer months, it rains almost constantly and during the Winter months, snows almost constantly.

Germanians from this region live in an almost tribe-like situation. They speak their own version of German, which is unknown to most of North Germania. These people live in mere roughly-constructed cottages and huts, and sleep on cots or padded rugs.

Most survive by hunting and farming. They are very quiet and secretive. To be more precise, they live in almost total silence.

The individuals from this region are by standard very large and incredibly physically tenacious and strong, due to their living conditions.

They have seen combat in every type of climate in the world, and have been considered perfect for any possible operation(s).

We request a timely response due to the nature of these events.

- The ESPK"

MESSAGE END

Evelorin considered this for a moment, "The big metal box things? We've been trying to get those for months."

If this was true, Xalis wasn't going to like it, and Evelorin liked it even less, it would mean any arms secured would be next to worthless, especially if the Oracle decided to just seize them...

Evelorin laughed in an alarming manner, when hearing of the fate of Ubro, "She pulled his head off first? I always thought there was something to be said for getting stuck in, while they're still able to scream and kick around."

He studied Nar to see if his comment had shocked him, meanwhile he was quickly weighing up whether to fetch his Lord and master... "I'l tell you what, just because I like you, I'll go and ask Xalis whether he thinks his meeting is more important. Wait here."

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

The prisoner was agape at the energy ball that had just passed her by. While she was unharmed, she looked... shocked. It looked like she'd never seen anything like that before, "Ah, what was that?" she asked, sounding both frightened and suspicious at the same time.

Xalis gave her a frostly glare, then turned back to his guests, shrugging in answer to their question, "To be honest I don't know, I've been told with time you can crack through whatever it is that shields them."

He paused, then led the two back outside the door, closing it, "Now were I to tell you that is a very early attempt at Genetic Engineering, and that is was bred with the sole purpose of killing mages, would you be perhaps a little alarmed? Perhaps more so if I told you there are perhaps... one and a half billion of them who aren't so heavily interbred with humans that they can still do that?"

He paused a second time, "They've been fighting an on and off war with the Elves of this continent for Generation, dragging in every other race they can muster, partly why we're basically confined to this squalid patch of jungle. A few years ago they overran my homeland up North. We lived in a forrest with all the nice little magical wards up to protect us... you can guess what happen. A few of them fell asleep or got lost, but there were a fairly large number who walked through without us even noticing. Needless to say we were horribly outclassed..."

He was interrupted by the appearance of a rich looking elf sporting an ostentatious purple robe and an eyepatch, "My Lord, we've got a messenger at the door, from the Oracle. Looks like it's important and he's refusing to speak to me."

Xalis gave a puzzled frown, "The Oracle? Oh... the funny one who claims to be the voice of Darkness?"

Evelorin nodded. Xalis was fundamentally opposed to the Oracle. He didn't like the Religion of the Gonad, but was willing to go along with it while it met with his own goals, it was partly why he liked Evelorin, Evelorin was a kindred spirit in those respects. Religious fundamentalism was the last thing he needed, it would be the death of him.

"Look after the guests please Evelorin, I'll be back in a moment."

He smiled apologetically to Morth and Akram, "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to keep a low profile, at least while this messenger is here. Many of the locals are... ahh... somewhat intolerant of outsiders. Feel free to examine the prisoner."

Almost as soon as Xalis had departed, his deputy decided the examining the prisoner comment had been directed at him, he opened the door again, and stepped inside, apparently just assuming Morth and Akram would follow, "Well, well, well, what have we here?" he gave her a malevolent grin.

She smiled in response, actually standing up from where she was sitting on the floor, she was short by human standards and slightly built, there was a blood-stained bandage around her left forearm where she'd taken some injury during capture, "You woldn't dare touch me."

It seemed a strange thing for an injured prisoner to be saying, Evelorin shrugged, "You should be praying you don't end up as the main course."

Her smile remained in place. She had black hair and dark brown eyes, that sparkled in amusement, "And I always thought we were 'untouchable'."

"Only for us dear, only for us."

The comment was enough to draw a flicker of her eyes towards the two Wyrrms. Her smile was looking perhaps a tiny bit forced...

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

Out the front of the Villa, Nar was ushered by a guard into a small stoor room, which seemed to double as a meeting room. Xalis had had a desk placed there. Several sheets of parchment were strwen across it. All were covered in numbers, "Ah. Please take a seat."

Xalis waited for Nar to be seated before begining, "You'll apologise if I keep this brief, but I'm right in the middle of a meeting. Now, what urgent news does the Oracle have for my little trading establishment?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Port Olympus

John Anderson nodded, "I'll see what I can do for you. I expect we'll be able to give you several specimens. I warn you though, they are still regarded as dangerous."

He seemed very engrosed in polishing his spectacles, "No, astronomical surveys indicate that eventuality to be highly unlikely."

Finally he put them back on, "Unfortunately I must decline the offer, I have much to attend to. I'll leave the photos with you to examine at your own leisure. Dyelli Beybi regards Vrak highly among the States of the Federation... we would apreciate it though if this information was not relayed onto certain other States with, shall we say, a less favourable view of Dyelli Beybi?"

Battleship Teztcatlipoca, En Route to Chi-Rho

The Supreme Republican Commander was only half listening to the talking head on the monitor in the gym, he was concentrating intently on his curls. Colonel Erdogan stood by silently. Command General Ring was the one doing the talking from Tollan Fire Control.

"The explosion was probably detonated from somewhere on the ground, we have no recorded man made or natural bodies moving to the area before the explosion. It may or may not have anything to do with the message sent by this 'Xalis' fellow.

We think that with Admiral Connagh-Connacht and the First Red Jaguar Command there with you that it probably prudent to let you deal with it on the ground. "

Uncle Istvan paused "Let me deal with it? Why thank you for that vote of confidence."

Command General Ring smirked "Well you have shown some aptitude in the past sir."

Uncle Istvan shrugged "I'll talk to the Dyellians when I arrive and if they want help they'll get it, if not I don't think it's any of our business."

Command General Ring frowned " Well the Foreign Guard are in the Klatch, it may be prudent to diffuse something before we have to deploy."

Uncle Istvan chuckled "Well, we aren't deploying the Foreign Guard, they aren't ready yet. I'll see what needs to be done. Good job Adan, let me know if the satellite shows us anything else."

Command General Ring saluted "Yes sir."

The feed then ended and Uncle Istvan resumed his fitness activities.

**********
Encryrtion – MAX – VIS protocols 8794871924 – FKC route: North Germania – route: complete
**********

To: Germanian Espionage Agency
From: VIS
Subject: Investigation

We appreciate your kind offer, but we have already sent in an initial team. However, if you would like to send a team to our base in the Vrakian corridor, then by all means, do so. We can work together on this.


====

The walrus grinned again and one of his whiskers began to twitch.

“Of course. Of course. Just leave any details about sending the elves to the receptionist. She is quite capable.

Regarding the information, well, we shall certainly honour your request and understand the reasoning. Although I’m sure that this latest event has attracted attention so we cannot guarantee what they find out. All we can do is to make sure that the situation is…contained.”

A wave of his flipper and he looked at his scotch.

“Pity. It’s a rather good brand.”

He rose and bowed, indicating that the meeting was over unless the Dyellian were to offer some final remarks.

====

The medium ranged transport skirted carefully along the borders of Dyelli Beybi and Monte Ozarka. It flew in as low as possible, trying to stay under any radar although it wasn’t sure if it would be entirely successful. Soon, the jungles of Rouge Jiggady were in view and the aircraft banked towards the target area. It remained to be seen what shape the land was in after the explosion. The jumpmaster barked into his microphone.

-10 minutes to drop. Check your packs. Lock and load.

The King’s Own did their final checks. A couple of them donned their motorcycle-like helmets and soon, the SOAT-bots were awoken from their slumber. The jumpmaster made his way down and checked the harnesses of the civilian experts. He gave one a smirk and rhetorically asked.

-Ever been to the jungles of the Gonnad before? Heh. Never mind the elves. Watch out for the plants.

Anderson nodded, standing up and picking up his briefcase as he did. He bowed, in imitation of the Vrakian, "It has been an honour Sir, and I feel compelled to thank Vrak or it's understanding in these sensitive matters."

He turned to leave, but just as he reached the door, seemed to find something else to say, "No doubt Vrak has heard of 'Xalis'. At this stage we believe him to be one of the foremost threats to the stability of Klatch, although we are hoping he will very soon be given redundancy."

"She pulled his head off first? I always thought there was something to be said for getting stuck in, while they're still able to scream and kick around."

Nar just used the elven equivalent of a poker face. What the hell is he talking about?
Nar started to seriously wonder if Evelorin came from one of those tribes that ate their sacrifices raw. There was just something so uncivilized about not cooking your food before you ate it. Now I know why Xalis keeps him around perhaps…to have a true barbarian about.

***
Xalis waited for Nar to be seated before beginning, "You'll apologize if I keep this brief, but I'm right in the middle of a meeting. Now, what urgent news does the Oracle have for my little trading establishment?"

Nar sat down with some grace. Nar had long admired Xalis for both his business sense and his military ability. [I]I apologize for interrupting your business Xalis, but circumstances dictate otherwise. I had a run in with the Oracle in Tel-Duzur. The conversation immediately went to you, the Northern Barbarian as they call you. And I don't mean this place either. She, it…I'm not sure what sex it was…demanded I describe you and what I knew. Then she asked if you had been at the Orcs call the massacre at the Willow Glen?"

Nar cocked his head slightly, as though the response to this was an important point. Nar was neither especially cowardly nor brave, just very sly. It was fairly obvious he was trying to be neutral between the Oracle, who now controlled a good deal of the northern jungle, and Xalis, a trusted customer.

Site of Tel-Utuz
The object was flying at the tree top level. It flashed across the explosion site at 120 knots and then turned to follow the circle formed by the explosion. Who or what had sent the green, six foot wing span UAV was unknown except to those who had sent it.

OOC: Check TG's before replying.

"Hint all you want, Evelorin," hissed Morth, quietly. "We may be carnivores, but we do not eat sentients. Intimating that we do is nothing less than an insult."

Akram's eyes narrowed. His tailtip cracked loudly against the wall. "We will wait outside for Xalis." He spun and walked through the doorway to the room outside, Morth following him.

***************************

In the wall of the girl's cell, a almost unnoticable blue spark faded into the rock.

Evelorin was perplexed, he slammed the door behind him, as he followed the pair out, "Ah. No insult intended, but aren't you two from ah, whats it called, the place up North?"

"I mean I know it's probably unfounded but you guys have a bit of a reputation for eating sentients..."

he trailed off, aware that he was probably digging himself in deeper, "Err yes, I'm sorry, there was, no insult intended."

If he insulted these lot too much they could lose them and Xalis would be very, very unhappy with him. He'd in fact managed to get the two Wyrms confused with Var. It wasn't hard to do considering Evelorin hadn't actually seen a Var before. He was relying purely off the stories Xalis had told him. All he knew was that they were big and scaly.

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

Xalis drummed his fingers on the desk. He seemed distracted, "Willow Glen? Willow Brook you mean? That was where I was born, yes, I hear the Djels and their tame Orcs have started clearfelling the area now to make way for farmland, although I've had no message from up North in over a year now. Very sad."

"Anyway, I'm sure though you didn't come all this way just to ask me that. What does the Oracle want from me?"

Nar shrugged, "You know I think she wanted to know that you were from there. Because somehow she knew about elves in the north...I have no idea who or what thing is...maybe you do..." Nar looked puzzled for a moment but pulled out a small silver colored case with a red and green button on the top.

"She sent this to any elf from Willow Brook is how she put it. I don't understand most of the words she spoke...well I caught a few, but it sounds a whole lot like that tounge you spoke in when er...Patrias put that stuff in the blood wine that made us all tipsy a few years back..."

Nar hoped that Xalis still was foggy about the incident and didn't remember that Nar had lied about also being so out of it he could remember the party at Tel-Utuz with the junior preistesses either. After all it did not do well to tell a major client about such events. After all if Patrias had wanted Xalis to "Stand up and deliever", she should not have used spiked wine to seduce him.

Nar looked at the device. "It isn't giving off a signal or any eletric signal I can find...but if I push the green button...." He shrugged. "It is your message so I will let you decide." Nar looked at Xalis. "Anything else you need or want to know Xalis? Or should I see about buying a few females from Evelorin and go?"

"Mmmhmmm, thank you." Xalis wasn't exactly 100% what the box was. He was hoping it wasn't some kind of fiendish bomb, but was willing to take the risk.

"It's alright, since you're here we might as well get an order going, how many do you want? A, B or C grade?" he pulled out a quill and a fresh sheet of parchment from a poorly hung drawer.

Xalis didn't always know the condition of his 'stock'. They were usually in a pretty bad way when he got them, partly because they'd just been ambushed, so he'd give them into the charge of Shael, the resident apothecary, who would try to restore them to a serviceable level. He graded all the prisoners from A, where they were as fit as a fiddle to C, where they could not be marched a reasonable distance. There were further grades, but it was agreed anyone that ill wouldn't be sold.

Shael was also in charge of bargaining for prices when Xalis was unavailable. Like Xalis' other Senior Officer, Shael also had a keen eye for money, but unlike Evelorin, was inscrupably honest - he wouldn't try to cheat his boss.

Nar sat back. "Really I can only deal with four...I let my crew have a bit of a break before the annual festival of The Fall. I was planning on bringing in sweet meats and some new ponies, but plans changed. So, I need four females of grade A or B...and I'll pay the premium to actually select them...Kutha the braggard will never buy a koth for his stable."

Nar kept on looking at the small device still between them. Curosity filled him and he wanted to know if the device actually recorded the Oracle's speach like he thought.

"Uhuh." Xalis scribbled something on the paper, "Take this down to the cells, that's out the main door then take a right, up against the boundary walls, Shael will deal with you from there. He's the one with the funny hat."

Xalis was more interested in the box. He vaguely considered asking Nar to push the button, but decided against it, if it wasn't giving off an electrical signal it could be some kind of magical device only he could activate. It was unlikely, but possible, "Being as I don't know exactly how this works or what it does, I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me, after all it's not good business practice to put a trusted customer in harm's way."

"As we're pushing on a little timewise, I wish to extend the invitation for you and your men to stay the night in our guest lodgings."

The tracks in the area weren't exactly safe, and especially not at night. There were brigands, unfriendly warlords and of course the animals, "Usual rules apply, please hand all weapons in at the armoury, you will be given a receipt and may claim them on departure."

Xalis waited for Nar to leave, before reaching across the table cautiously and pressing the button...

"Uhuh." Xalis scribbled something on the paper, "Take this down to the cells, that's out the main door then take a right, up against the boundary walls, Shael will deal with you from there. He's the one with the funny hat."

Nar stopped himself from looking at Xalis in bemusement. Shael has been wearing a funny hat for years. Unless he has a new funny hat. But looking at you with bemusement would only get you off on some tangent. He just took the peice of paper and nodded.

"Being as I don't know exactly how this works or what it does, I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me, after all it's not good business practice to put a trusted customer in harm's way."

"As we're pushing on a little timewise, I wish to extend the invitation for you and your men to stay the night in our guest lodgings."

Someone isn't paying attention is he...Alright I dumped a live Death Oak in your garden so be it. "Thank You..."
The armorer already has my rifle... Nar stood gave a sign of good day and left Xalis with the silver device

It really wasn't a big object. A quarter inch by two inches with a red button and a green button. As Xalis pushed the green button a voice started to eminate from the small case. It was a deep unnatural voice, speaking the northern elvish dialect like someone who had learned it all second hand.

-Greetings Xalis of Willow River(?)
I am the Oracle of the Dark One, and if you are who you (are?) then you will find that (potty?).
I find it (unintelligable) that an elf from the northern lands would be here amongst his more (windy?) cousins. In the past, our two (???) have had a common (???) and I think we may again. The Djel and their (???) have invaded your (place?). I have need to reduce the Djel threat against this (wilderness?). If you have any intrest in assiting me against the Djel, for our (???) (gain?) then come north with this (????) and I grant you safe passage to Tel-Duzur. (Long Pause)
-If not, I suggest you move your operations south as I can not allow a mere fighter for gold to be able to raid my supply lines.
The object beeped and became silent.

****
Nar walked quietly off to the cells to talk to Shael about picking out four at least decent looking slaves. Maybe I should just keep one for myself?

Morth frowned. "North? We are from the east, a large distance... but why would you think we are from the north?" He paused, then suddenly continued, eagerly. "Is there, perhaps, some race there that resembles us?"

Akram did not join in the conversation, but stood, staring off into space.

******************************

On the ceiling of the prisoner's cell, a blue spark faded back out of the ceiling and hovered there, clinging to the rock.

Suddenly, it shot across the ceiling, trailing a blue line and weaving back and forth across the rock. The pattern took a few seconds to make, and hung there for a few more moments before it faded.

PRISONER
WE RESPECT
SENTIENTS
WE WILL HELP
FREE YOU

The spark spun across the ceiling again.

KEEP QUIET
BE READY
WE WILL WATCH
FOR AN
OPPORTUNITY

The letters blinked out, and the spark vanished. The entire message had lasted perhaps thirty seconds.

Commisaar Kate Hind had immediately realised she wasn't dealing with Var, if it was Var there would be more questions about what she had been doing in the Gonad to start with. They'd have probably spotted Cheka rank insignia on her uniform, and well, the Var were no fool. They'd have known Commisaars in uniform only showed up when Dyelli Beybi was doing something secretive.

Then the writing flashed up. It took her completely offguard. This whole magic business was quite exciting. She'd heard about it, there was the Ministry of the Occult, that probed into it, but she'd never seen any in action before. The elves had acted like she was somehow special, but she didn't really understand how or why.

Sentient. That confirmed they weren't Var. They'd have called her something like 'Dyelli Beybian spy', if they were Var. The message was heart breaking. Previously she'd managed to detach herself from the fear by acknowledging she was already dead, now though there was hope again, and hope brought fear.

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

Outside Evelorin nodded, "Yeah. The Var. Don't ask me about them, all I know are Xalis' stories and they're rather creative at the best of times. He reckons they hunt all kinds of creatures, humans, orcs, elves."

He shrugged, "If you listen to Xalis, he'd tell you they were a major player in the Federation of Klarch, which is some kind of Djel super alliance."

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

Xalis listened to the recording. Fascinating. The whole situation had him rather distracted, but this was what he had been waiting for, for years. An opportunity to get even, to get up close and personal with his enemies. To loot their towns, burn their holy places and slaughter them down to the last infant. It was revenge.

In the West the Djels sat idle, most of them didn't even realise Elves existed. Yet now was an opportunity to prove to them once and for all, that he was real...

He curbed the impulse to chase after Nar and tell him he was coming with him, instead he walked calmly back to where Evelorin was supposed to be entertaining his guests, silently he prayed that his junior hadn't done anything stupid...

"I'm sorry that took so long." he gave an apologetic smile to the two Wyrms, "Now where was I, yes, well naturally you can have that." he hiked a thumb at the cell door.

"It's a gift, one thing I would advise though, is that you don't talk to it, they're cunning and full of tricks. You may not approve of everything you see in our Society, but it is their fault. This is a hard society in the jungle, made hard by centuries of persecution by the likes of her."

He gave another, equally as apologetic a smile, "I'm sorry, I'm sure you don't want to hear all that, I just hope, that in time you will perhaps grow to understand our plight, and give us the gift we need in order to prevent extinction."

He was sure they understood. The Gonad elves needed weapons, and lots of them if they were going to ever take the war West again.

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

Shael's hat was rather odd. It was a bicorn, with an enormous feather stuck in it. It looked vaguely reminiscent of the sort of hat the Captain on 'Treasure Island' sported. Not that otherwise, Shael exuded a particularly piratical air. In fact he was rather boring. Perhaps he'd added the hat in an attempt to compensate for the personality he was otherwise lacking.

"Nar. Good to see you." he said, although he was already holding his hand out for Xalis' reciept.

When he recieved it he scanned it briefly, "Females, A and B, well make your pick from the ones in there."

He waved distractedly at a long shed to his left, "About a fifty fifty mix of humans and folk who were fighting for the wrong side."

Xalis' group often involved itself in infighting between the warlords. Aside from the gold they gained, they also tended to take quite a few prisoners, who invariably ended up in Ciron.

Picking their way through the forest the Midlonians were making slow progress, having heard the conversation with the "Medieval Knights" they had continued with renewed intrest, this Xalis person seemed civilized at least, probably from distant lands, a foreign elf, mind you, he'd have to be a little on the insane side if he had come to live here in the Gonad willingly. Or perhaps he had not come here quite so willingly, but still.

They picked their way through the under growth, seeking for this encampment that was supposed to be nearby.

Nar looked at the hat I think he got a new feather nodded and then entered the shed.

Well lets see they need to be attractive, I could deal with one defiant one but not more than two. I think I could sell a flat-ear...but there has been glut on the market, there are only so many warriors and traders who get a fetish to mount a flat-ear....

His eyes locked on to an attractive flat-ear in the back corner of the last cell. He leaned over and grabbed her face to turn it better into the light. Her arm grabbed his and he heard the words Dt'aigney nee aym oardaghey in his head as his arm seemed to shiver with electrical shock

Nar pulled back and looked into those hard eyes. Somehow he could see himself like a shadow in the background of his own vision.

Seyrsnys Persoonagh
No..what...ack!
Nar fell back into far wall and then stubbled out of the shed. "I don't feel well...I need to get a drink of water from the well..." Nar stuttered out as he staggered off towards the well.

Seyrsnys Persoonagh

Get out of my head b***!

Seyrsnys Persoonagh

No...No...No...shut the f****

Seyrsnys Persoonagh

Bee dty host!

Nar screamed as he fell to the ground, his head with a migrane so unbearable he blacked out a moment later...

******
The human female seemed to slump even more.
I'm far too weak still and his mind is too strong...I shouldn't have tried to control him...

OOC: Weee...I don't know why I just decided to introduce her...but some how it popped into my head that one of them was here...

Shael was looking mildly concerned, "You need anything for that, you're not looking too well. What's the pain like? Where is the pain?"

Shael was an apothecary, who's talents had earned him the disfavour of the local priestess. So being a fairly intelligent apothecary he'd skipped town... and been ambushed by Evelorin. Fortunately for him, Xalis had seen great potential in Shael and had freed him and given him a permanemt position at Ciron.

Right now he was hoping Nar didn't die on him. It would be very bad for business if a trader keeled over dead in Ciron. People might start thinking odd things about the little establishment. He didn't seem to be responding, "Hey you lot... over here!"

He called to a couple of guards who hurried over, "Get this guy to sick bay, and don't bloody pilfer his pockets or I'll have you flogged."

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

Sergeant John McDowell was a harsh taskmaster, but is troops seemed used to it. Commisaar Floyd was not. When they finally stopped walking that evening, Floyd collapsed readily onto the ground, "OK." McDowell adressed his men, "We've met our distance objectives for today... just."

His sideways glance was directed at the Commisaar, "To recap, we encountered one Zulu patrol, and avoided detection. Tomorrow we expect to hit the target area. I want everyone ready for an attack at night. Primary target is Xalis. Eliminate any other Zulus in the area."

His voice was low, designed not to carry, "Guys, you've all heard that before, from the other Commisaar at base. Remember this is a deniable mission, so don't get yourselves killed, and especially don't get yourselves captured. If we encounter any Kilos, they are to be eliminated as well... with the exception of Victors."

He paused, allowing people to soak up the last piece of information. Floyd had known that order was in there, but it hadn't been unveiled to the others until then, they took it remarkably calmly.

"Needless to say, if we find any of the last team, we extract. Now as for Novembers, extract any we encounter. If they can't move fast enough we eliminate, that goes for Deltas and Novembers. Understood?"

15 other men nodded. The orders were grim. None of the men knew exactly what was going on, but they didn't ask questions. The fact that there was a Commisaar on the mission meant it was political.

"Now." McDowell's voice suggested he was moving onto something brighter, "Watches..."

Nar hadn't said much before he he screamed and fell to the ground. His mind rested, gaining strength as the foreign will that had tried to bend it receded. Of course the link was still there...the cerebral cortex had not shut down but was sort of lost. With no real internal messages it just assumed that the weak ones it were getting were authentic...

****
The young woman laid her head back. She wanted to sleep but unused magical energy was still in her body. She began to think of the old tune her father sang for her at night,

****
Nar was not aware that out of his mouth, and in a husky female voice not his own he began to sing...

"FAIR maids of Mann, of foreigners beware,
For since time began, they still have been your snare;
From Orry and his Danes to Derby's merry men,
They've turned your brains, and will do so again."

One could only imagine what was going through the apothcary's mind.

Magic in the Gonad was sole property of the temples and the priestesses. Of course these were not some monolithic group. They were more like sororities in the rest of the world, sex, drugs, backstabbing, infighting, assasination, instigated rape and overt control of young males, the providence of all over privilaged, spoiled females of the universe. Of course, there were Rules, some which were broken with regularity (but satan help you if you were caught), and those that were involtile.

There was also a universal dream, achieving ability to perform the six powers of legend. One of them was mind control. If a elven preistess had seen the display before her she would have marched out and had every last female in the chiron burned to cinders. (After all if she could not do it, she could not let a rival have the ability) The fact that a flat-ear female had just tried it, and almost succeeded would have likely caused the elven priestess to explode into flame herself.

As Nar started into the second verse in loping english...
"Fair maids of Mann, of Hieland chiefs beware,
The chief wi' a clan, and castle up in Ayr!..."

A certian elf must be discovering that he had just fallen into a Klatchian Croc nest.

"Wi' philibegs and pipes, and sic-like Cupid's arts,
In tartan stripes promenading to your hearts."

5 kilometers north of the explosion site

It was slow going since the jungle was fairly thick with undergrowth. As well, the group was being cautious in regards to the plant life. Vrakian information on this part of the Klatch was sketchy since it came by second hand accounts. Besides, the Gonad was considered a dangerous place and not worthy of exploration from the Vrakian point of view.

A SOAT-bot came back to the main party from its recon patrol. No hostiles have been detected and the way looked clear.

-Rest time is over. Let's go.

A stretch, and the party stood and began to march. They should reach the crash site within the day and then they can begin to determine exactly what happened.

====

A drab airbase - Vrakian corridor

A second plane was being readied. This group would be accompanied by the New Shiron team and, if they arrived in time, the North Germanians.

One steel-reinforced cage bucked, as if some kind of animal were thrashing about.

-Get that strapped down! Barked a sergeant.

Shael didn't like this. Not one bit. Nar was singing like a girl, that was never a good thing, not that he'd seen it before, but he guessed it was unhealthy. He had no idea what he was singing, but it smacked of Djels, "Right. Now, ahh hrmmm."

There was a guard in the room with him who was obviously waiting for orders, "Ah right. Umm fetch me some warm water and a towel, then go and tell Xalis or Evelorin that our guest has had a ah, accident. I suspect it's something to do with how he hit his head when he fell over."

He suspected nothing of the sort, but wasn't about to tell that to the guard. He needed time to think. Then would probably need to tell Xalis and find out what to do.

Morth looked at Akram, who nodded and spoke. "We will hear of your plight. Perhaps we will help. I must warn you, though. We are regarded as unscrupulous, as we well know... but trading in sentient flesh is something we will not do. It is dirty and dishonorable, and while we will not hold it against you, we will have nothing to do with it. Do I make myself clear?"

The cell door's keyhole glowed a dim green, and the bolt scraped back. Akram continued. "We will keep her from attacking you. Rest assured, we are quite capable of restraining her physically, even if magic won't stop her. I suspect that we will not need to restrain her, however... as long as she is cooperative and sensible. Do not attack anyone!" His last words were directed at the cell door and the prisoner beyond it.

*******************************************

Pheonix Machine status blip

Slight sounds detected. I suspect an espionage team is in the jungle nearby. They may detect transmissions. No action taken.

(;P

Nar was out of it. Really, really out of it. Unfortunatly for him, he was about to switch to an R-rated show....

(OOC: D.B. I am assuming there are several prisoners to a cell in the slave shed...)

an airfield in the Vrak Corridor
Grim checked the gear of his team to ensure that they were ready. He wasn't too concerned about Brody, Jay and Bob, they were experienced operators and had been through this before. The four civilians on the other hand were not military. He was surprised to see that all three of the women were ready and had all of the gear. One of them, Michelle, according to the dossier, was an adventure team racer and had been on one of those Extreme Races, the high adventure stuff in the jungles and mountains of one of the equatorial foreign countries. Apparently she remembered well.

The New Cynthian, Ivan, was not a well prepared, and it took several minutes to get him together.

"Ok team, we are as ready as we will get it looks like. Brody, you stick with Ivan here. Jay, you are with Michelle, and Bob, you stick with Cheryl. Sarah, you are with me. You stick with you buddy at all times. Understand?"

A chorus of yes's and yes sir's followed.

"Brody, make damn sure those GPS coordinates are correct. I don't like jungles and I don't want to get lost in some foreign one."

(OOC: Of course. putting multiple cages in would increase overheads.)

Xalis gave Morth and Akram a blank stare, inside he was wondering if they knew what he was keeping in the back sheds and where they were destined. Probably best not to broach the subject, "If you don't want her we can get rid of her. It is somewhat illegal for me to be holding her anyway, if the priestesses found out, well, it wouldn't be pleasant anyway."

The girl, the Dyellian, took the mysteriously moving door bolt, as a sign she should probably come out of the room, although when she did the tension in the ante-room went up several notches. She wasn't unaware of this, and moved to stand between the Wyrms, "It's alright, I'm sure they're more than happy to take me."

"Shut up!" Xalis roared, he didn't need that damned creature interfering in his speech.

"Anway where was I?" he had been thinking about going North and joining up with the oracle, "Yes, the elves in Klatch, I've explained some of it already, but I'll recap. For as long as I know there has been war with them, the ones from the West, the Djels, and ever since they started interbreeding with humans, and multiplying like rabbits, we've been on the back foot. They've driven us into this remote jungle, where they may come and kill us at will."

Xalis was embellishing the truth somewhat, but there was no point giving a non-biased story, "Naturally we take no prisoners, and neither do they, unless they're planning some particularly evil form of torture to subject our people to. If you take your flying machine, and fly West for a few hours you'll see what they've done to the earth. It's scorched. Barren wasteland, completely starved of life. They are probably the most destructive race I have ever encountered, they put Orcs to shame."

"What a load of rubbish." the girl openly contradicted him.

Xalis glared, he considered trying to drown her in the scrying pool, but figured it might upset the guests, "One more word out of you, and I will kill you."

And what had started as a vaguely true story was rapidly evolving into the pure fantasy, "Where was I... yes, nothing is sacred to them, everything in their so called Nation is geared towards war, and when they've exterminated every last one of us, they'll move onto the other magical races of the world. That's what they were bred to do, kill magic users, but we can stop them. Well I can anyway, I can reverse the trend, drive them back and save the world from their corruption. My men are ready and willing. But we need weapons and equipment."

It was hard to imagine that a pretty young girl in a camouflaged military uniform was a serious threat to the world, but Xalis seemed quite adament. It also seemed she was about to make another ill-timed comment, but thought better of it.

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

In Shael's room, the apothecary was growing increasingly concerned, Nar's behaviour was becoming increasingly unseemly, and Shael didn't really want to have to wash the sheets from the bed they'd put him down on.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. He searched among his equipment until he located a meat tenderiser. There were a lot of uses for a meat tenderiser, and this was one of them. Gripping the hilt firmly he brought it down, with considerable force, into Nar's groin...

(OOC: I'm sorry, this is turning into a B grade slapstick comedy :P)

OOC: I am trying to figure out what doing major damage to an unconious male would do...and the dialog (which I was going to write) was supposed to clue the apothacary in to what might be happening...not turn out slapstick

Nar had been saying something about refusing to 'satisfy your lesbian needs' before being bashed. He then just sort of screamed in pain. Nar curled into a ball wimpering with tears from absolute, god awful pain filling the corners of his eye. (And smacking a guy in the balls isn't slap stick!??)

That wasn't the only scream of pain recently. A female elven warrior, who had become somewhat of a terror within the cell was now laying on the ground in agony. It seems that the young woman laying in the corner of the cell demonstrated what it felt like to be hit in the crotch with a cattle prod. "I really hate rapists" she muttered in english as she curled up into her corner.

Akram frowned. "Why is it only you that can save the world? We will provide our unique equipment and personell... but we will first go west, as you suggest, and see this "barren landscape" for ourselves. I'm sure that there is no need for you to object, as you are of course not a liar and have spoken the truth... Morth, call Pheonix."

A blue, misty swirl materialized next to Morth, and he spoke into it. "Pheonix, this is Morth. Come to my approximate location and land in the nearest clear area. Quiet mode. Shape seating for one human along the way."

**********************************

"Roger. On my way. Give me ten minutes to arrive. This'll take about a quarter of my power stores."

Corsucating green fire rippled across Pheonix's surface. Any observer would have seen the fighter's sleek delta shape waver and flow as Pheonix's metal flowed under the powerful touch of magic.

The engine intakes and exhausts folded closed, and the engines themselves dissolved into the new design. Pheonix's wings surged outwards into a broader, straighter configuration, more suitable for quiet subsonic flight. The noisy VTOL jets were replaced with quieter ducted fans mounted in the wing roots, and a single turbojet had replaced the twin monsters as Pheonix's source of forwards thrust.

The whole process generated a fair amount of noise. The moving metal hissed loudly as it was forced into position.

The Shironians were given a quick meal and other provisions if needed for the trip. While the base commander was quite occupied, a Vrakian major introduced himself to the group. He motioned to the transport plane that would be taking them and said that the first team was already approaching the explosion site area. He didn't say much more since, in truth, information on the Gonnad was scant.

A quick briefing was conducted on known dangers on the Gonnad, especially the odd and dangerous plant life and some background on the elves.

As the party neared the plane, they could see jungle clad soldiers, some wearing motorcyle helmets, along with skeletal-looking robots were being loaded. Some steel cages were also seen, and were being strapped down. Strangely enough, these cages didn't have bars but only had airholes. Loud grunting noises could be heard emanating from them.

OOC: Dyelli, can I assume that some of the elves were safely transported already? It won't matter too much if they aren't, but it would speed things up. For the robots, see the Wiki entry under "Hardware" and then "SOAT-bot."

As well, New Shiron, feel free to take control of my guys inasfaras flying them in. Basically, this second team will reinforce the first team. As well, the steel cages have bughogs (some animals I got a loooong time ago) that can sniff out elves and, without needing much provocation, attack and eat them - or anything else really. A bughog is like a wild boar but with a scorpion tale. I'll get more details later when I have time. I'll be away for a few days here.

====

Meanwhile, the first team reached the edge of the explosion site and began to unpack equipment. A SOAT-bot stood guard while a couple others were undergoing a quick maintenance check. A couple others were sent to skirt the entire edge of the site.

"Of course not." Xalis replied, although he was begining to think that the pair were siding with the wretched Djel, and not with his own people, neverminds, he always had the oracle.

"Human?" he laughed, "Is that some magical transport you're using by the way? If so, don't, whatever you do, steer it too deep into their territory. You don't want to get it too close to the pyramid... and I hope having her onboard doesn't mess with it too much."

He actually looked genuinely concerned... so did the girl for that matter, "If it's actually dangerous to carry me." she muttered in a voice that was designed not to carry, don't feel obliged to take me."

She was very much hoping they would anyway, but it seemed well... impolite to put her would-be rescuers into serious danger.

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

(OOC: Actually I was acusing myself of being slapstick :P Hammer in the groin. It's the oldest joke in the "B-grade comedy lineup shop")

Shael took Nar's temperature, and decided it was about normal, all things considered, then slapped the other elf, gently, on the cheek, "Do you hear me? What is your name?"

(OOC: Oh and yes Vrak, just assume DB has delivered a consignment of reluctant and rather angry elves who most certainly didn't want to be taught English grammar and how to eat with a knife and fork, and by now are very fed up with such lessons.)

Nar really didn't respond. A few more wimpers out of him was all. Shael might have noticed the scortch marks on one of Nar's wrists.

****
The cyclops circling the air above the blast site turned and headed towards Chion, cutting across a portion of now open space. It was tuned to a small signal...

Morth actually smiled slightly. "Pheonix is mostly machine. Curcuitry isn't magical. He'll function perfectly well, although he may be a little upset being deprived of spells; he'll be stuck in one state for a while."

Akram interrupted. "He should be landing soon. Shall we go outside?"
"You ought to see Pheonix," added Morth, with a hint of pride. "He's truly one of a kind."

*************************************

Pheonix lifted gently into the air, fans whirring. His single ventral engine coughed into quiet, whining life, and he tilted forwards as he made his way across the short distance to the encampment.

When he reached the thinned canopy over the installation, he hovered for a moment, then turned and, neatly slotting himself through a gap in the foliage, descended towards the ground below.

200 miles south of the Gonad Pennisula, the Royal New Shiron Navy Auxilery vessel "Starkist" plodded slowly along at 5 knots, laying out hydrophonic and seismic cables as it conducted research on currents and the effects of pollution on surface and deep water. The ship was a 1,000 ton heavy trawler design, modified for oceanagraphic work.

Actually it belong to the Office of Advanced Non Traditional Research and Methods, but a thorough search would turn up nothing except better than usual communications gear, a lot of computers full of bona vide research data on ocean currents, and an unusually competent civilian crew.

It would loiter in the same general area for as long as needed.

at the airbase, Grim briefed his team.

"We are going to go in by HALO, so that the aircraft can fly at the conventional altitude for a civilian aicraft and so we won't attract any more attention than is neccessary. I know your four" looking at the three witches and the tech advisor, "haven't done this before, but its pretty easy. You put on your mask, one of us grabs you, and we jump out of the airplane and I release your chute for you at the the right time. We found every parachute jump has an equal chance of injury, so we don't bother to train those who have to do it only once."

Sarah and Cheryl looked at each other. Cheryl could see Sarah clearly swallowing hard. She understood completely.

"The Vrakians will be coming along as well, and so will the critters they are bringing with them. They will come on a second pass after we secure a DZ and will reach the ground about 20 minutes after us. They will be dropping from a lower altitude, so once we get everybody on the ground, we are going to have to move out of the area quickly as they will probably be spotted. Even though this is at night, we can assume hostiles will spot us, so we aren't going to hang around and wait for the welcoming committee."

(ooc I assume the Vrak personnel are para trained and animals are dropped from aircraft via parachute. For an example, see the movie "Elephant Drop" a Disney movie based on a real incident in the Vietnam War.)

"We are then going to move fast toward the first objective. Our first stop is the area where the explosion took place. We will take samples, and then our New Cynthian friend here is going to be sent by one of you ladies to the "Starkist", just off the coast. Ladies, you have all been aboard and had time to familarize yourself right?"

Sarah looked around at the other two and they nodded. "Michelle is sure she can get him there safely. Its ok Ivan, a teleport is pretty safe magic. We almost never screw it up."

Ivan just shook his head. Things had been so much easier when he worked at the University back in New Cynthia and only had to worry about the Thought Police.

Grim, satisfied, nodded and continued. "Then boys and girls, we get in touch with the person who sent that radio message and find out what the hell he wants. Now we have aircraft available for the pickup, but just in case, can you get ALL of us out using your powers Michelle?"

Michelle smiled, "No problem, although maybe not the critters. We have to all be touching for me to get all 12 of us out, and that is pretty close to the limit of my ability. The critters might be a problem."

"Can you send us all in shifts?" Grim asked, as he saw that the Vrakians seemed to be a little disturbed by the last bit.

"Oh sure, although it takes a lot of my energy to do more than one teleport."

Grim nodded.

A little while later, the transport was beginning its take off into the early evening darkness on its way to Gonad.

Xalis looked vaguely disapointed that Phoenix wasn't something magical, so did Evelorin for that matter. Xalis was the only one who followed the two Wyrms and the Djel outside. He realised that he probably hadn't come across all that well in his brief encounter with them, but hoped they'd, after encountering his Western neighbours, feel a little more positively inclined towards his cause, "Have a good flight." he said, sounding sincere, "And for Sat... everyone's sake, be careful."

The girl waited until Xalis was out of earshot, "Am I going home?" she sounded like she thought this was too good to be true, "Head East, you can't miss it, when the trees stop you've hit the border."

Xalis was telling the truth on that point. The Dyelli Beybians had scorched the ground for miles, burning off the trees and poisoning the earth. The land looked dead, but everywhere there were signs of the Dyelli Beybian presence, small police or military instalations, minefields and booby traps as well as a mesh of dirt roads - patrolled by police 4x4s. The sky was filled with clouds much of the time, there was a low mountain range separating Dyelli Beybi from the Gonad, and at least on the East side it rained daily, turning the scirched ground into waist deep mud. On the other side it gave way to a more natural desert, full of camels, snakes, and all other manner of more bizarre creatures, and of course, the Dyelli Beybians.

(Hmm, I think I have an idea what the blast site would look like now...if the bomb only contained anti-matter...but if it should be me or D.B. who describes the damage?)

(OOC: You can describe it. I'm a bit lazy, and I'm sure you know a lot more about anihilations than I do - You're the Physicist, I'm more Chemistry and Pharmacology)

(OOC: Er more appropriately physical chemistry. But I'll assume you used up only about 10 kg of anti-matter for a 214 Megton Explosion!!!
E=mc^2 It is the c^2 that is scary. Also I realized that the basalt mountain would likely not be completely destroyed...nor a building cut from the living rock.)

The blast site was over 84 kilometers in diameter. A huge wall of uprouted trees, plants and dead animals smoked as fires burned within the 40 foot high mass. If one was able to climb to the top they would have seen almost complete devestation. The only thing left standing were rocks stripped bare of any foliage.

At the center of the blast site stood a flat topped rock mountain. Any geologists in the group would have recognized it as the surviving ingenous incursion (http://www.phototripusa.com/images/tkuyper/squarebutte.html ) of a long vanished volcano. Its walls were of reddish basalt that seemed to slightly reflect light in places.

Around the standing survivor of basalt was a sea of bedrock and piles of black carbon dust. A river, her bed vanished in the blast was filling in a blast crater and turning into steam against the still hot bedrock.

If one approached the tall surviving walls of the mountain they would have found it C shaped with a large crater between the two ends of the C. The walls of the crater were glass like rubble. Tunnels ran in the thickness of the mountain, exposed where the cicular wall of the mountain had vanished. Several doorways seemed to exist around the inner edge of the C.

Cut into a surviving wall was atemple (http://www.theopticnerve.com/egypt/Images/petra/urn_tomb.jpg) cut into the living rock. The blast hadn't destroyed it, but the fireball had turned the outer edges of the living rock into volcanic glass.

Pheonix spoke in an eerie voice. It sounded human, but with that alien, not-quite-right touch that synthesized voices invariably had.

"Yes, we are going east. Do you have any kind of ID code that we could use? I am not particularly in the mood to dodge AA fire, and I feel sure that they'll fire on me if I seem the least bit suspicious. If you do, you can tell me in a moment. I want to get out of here. This place feels hostile."

Phoenix's canopy, elongated and widened enough to fit the two Wyrms side-by-side and the human behind him, popped open with a hiss of pneumatics. Small squares in the fuselage sank slightly inwards, providing a series of hand- or claw-holds.

Morth immediately scrambled up and dropped into the cockpit. The Wyrms had long acceleration couches, long enough to support their entire length. The pilot settled himself in the right-hand couch.

Akram looked at the human, then nodded his head towards the handholds and followed her up.

"Just what are you?" asked Pheonix as she settled into her seat. "I'm suddenly losing about six thaums a minute. Are you some kind of vampire that feeds on magic or something?"

The girl seemed to be in a daze, scarcely believing she was still alive. She listened to Phoenix, "No, I don't have the IFF codes, I'm not airforce and they change them every day, don't worry though, the border units won't fire, they'll identify you as military, then you'll probably get a couple of Army jets escorting you to one of the bases."

There were very few airforce units on the border, instead it was patrolled by the 72 planes of the Third Army of the Republic. After all, the elves didn't have planes of their own, and the Rogue Jiggadians were not regarded as a threat, so their was scarcely any need for them there.

She found the next comment by the machine confusing, "I'm a Dyelli Beybian Commisaar, I work for the Cheka, I'm ranked Superintendent, I am currently on allocation to the Tercionem."

Then suddenly she frowned, Commisaars, particularly the female ones were recruited for their looks, but they did need to also have above average intelligence, "Thaums? That's something magical right? Ethnically I'm a Dyellian, or a Djel as the elves so quaintly call us... anyway, magic tends to go funny around us. I heard it doesn't work at all in the heart of the River Valley... I'm sorry I can't be more useful, but truthfully I don't know much more than that. These thaums, they aren't fuel are they?"

Grim and his team plummeted from 30,000 feet after jumping. He could tell from the way Sarah was clutching him that she was not pleased at all about their mode of travel. At 1,000 feet, he opened the first chute and then rapidly got rid of it, slowing their descent. Not until they reached 400 feet did he open his next chute, and then he expertly paraglided them both to their destination.

The drop zone, a clearing, was new growth brush but didn't have a lot of trees. They hit the ground and he released her webbing so that both of them could deal with the chute. Moments later the other 3 pairs landed.

They were on the ground.

After dealing with their chutes, Brody turned on the infra red strobe and transmitter for the followup drop.

Grim whispered to the others. "I saw our objective on the way down. Keep your eyes open in case we have company."

OOC: Thanks for the blast site description, Alcona. I'll work it in my post. Feel free to let me know of any glaring errors.

IC:

The first team was busy conducting tests to investigate the nature of the explosion. The sheer magnitude of the devastated area left them stunned. So far, the geiger counters didn't register anything as expected from a nuclear blast and the presence of the rock mountain was puzzling. They couldn't see any type of crater, but then again, the team back at headquarters had access to satellite maps and it was them that they were to send their reports.

The two SOAT-bots were making fairly good time on their patrol around the perimeter, considering the debris. They were galloping about on all fours on the inside of the wall of trees and muck which made travel easier.

====

The second team, along with the New Shironians, dealt with their chutes and then one King's Own checked on the status of the cages. One chute failed to deploy and so the cage was crumpled. Dark red blood oozed out from an opening and the special ops shook his head. He checked the other two and, nodding his head in satisfaction, motioned to a SOAT-bot. After a bit of effort, it grabbed the chain that was attached to the collar of the bughog. At a signal, the door was sprung open and one very angry boar-like creature rushed out, snarling at anything nearby. The SOAT, however, was stronger and kept a tight grip on the chain while slowly reeling in the bughog.

The King's Own removed from his pocket a cloth and tossed it in front of the bughog. It immediately snuffled, and then began pulling.

"Let's go," said the Vrakian,"Looks like it has a scent."

OOC: Up to you New Shiron what you want to do. The first team is conducting an investigation while the second team is looking for elves using the bughogs as a sort of bloodhound. Both teams are in communication with eachother and it doesn't matter to Vrak what your purposes are.

Pheonix's fans started whirring up to speed. "The thaum is the standard SI unit of magic. One thaum is the magical energy required to accelerate one kilogram to one meter per second. It's something of an approximate value, as magic is not inherently predictable. It's not really a problem," said Pheonix, lifting gently off the ground, "but it is a little alarming. I'd hate to get into that river valley of yours. Hold on, we're going up..."

Pheonix ascended swiftly to an even 500 meters and spun to face east. "Right. Departing 2:07:20 for Djelli Beybi," he said, breaking out of his hover and accelerating forwards. "Although... I spy with my little vidcams someone's IR strobe. Care to investigate, Morth? Seems like someone may be after Xalis."

Morth glanced over his shoulder at the Comissaar for a long moment. "Don't worry about it, Pheonix," he said, finally. "We're going to visit the Djels."

The Commisaar didn't introduce herself, she hadn't been asked, and this was looking more and more like some form of investigation than anything else. She was getting the funny feeling these lizard creatures might be thinking of picking sides in the Gonad conflict. That wasn't necessarily good. People tended to see things in terms of the nice elves and their horrible human opressors...

True to her word, no sooner had they crossed the border than two jets, were on their tail. They had been pinged some minutes earlier by several ground based radars. Also true to her word, the jets didn't open fire on sight, instead, one tried to achieve radio contact,

Unknown aircraft, you are entering Dyelli Beybian airspace on a non-aproved flight plan. Please state your identity and purpose. Over.

"It might be an idea to tell them you've got me." the Commisaar suggested.

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

Back in the Gonad, Xalis was in a fine mood, and ready to go and see the Oracle... only his guide to go and see her was behaving oddly. Shael was concerned, but had no idea what the cause was, "Fix him." Xalis ordered, "I don't care what it takes but I need him alive."

"I'll try." Shael never made any promises on someone's recovery, "But like I said, I have no idea what's wrong."

"We'll reevaluate in three days." Xalis replied, "I expect you will do everything within your power."

The Commisaar didn't introduce herself, she hadn't been asked, and this was looking more and more like some form of investigation than anything else. She was getting the funny feeling these lizard creatures might be thinking of picking sides in the Gonad conflict. That wasn't necessarily good. People tended to see things in terms of the nice elves and their horrible human opressors...

True to her word, no sooner had they crossed the border than two jets, were on their tail. They had been pinged some minutes earlier by several ground based radars. Also true to her word, the jets didn't open fire on sight, instead, one tried to achieve radio contact,

Unknown aircraft, you are entering Dyelli Beybian airspace on a non-aproved flight plan. Please state your identity and purpose. Over.

"It might be an idea to tell them you've got me." the Commisaar suggested.

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

Back in the Gonad, Xalis was in a fine mood, and ready to go and see the Oracle... only his guide to go and see her was behaving oddly. Shael was concerned, but had no idea what the cause was, "Fix him." Xalis ordered, "I don't care what it takes but I need him alive."

"I'll try." Shael never made any promises on someone's recovery, "But like I said, I have no idea what's wrong."

"We'll reevaluate in three days." Xalis replied, "I expect you will do everything within your power."

Early Morning, The next day
Nar was starting to come out of it, moaning from a massive headache and a decidedly swollen testicales. "Uh, god what the hell? Shael give me something for this migraine...and what the hell hit me in my neither regions? Did I offend a Priestess or something?"

The King's Own removed from his pocket a cloth and tossed it in front of the bughog. It immediately snuffled, and then began pulling.

"Let's go," said the Vrakian,"Looks like it has a scent."

OOC: Up to you New Shiron what you want to do. The first team is conducting an investigation while the second team is looking for elves using the bughogs as a sort of bloodhound. Both teams are in communication with eachother and it doesn't matter to Vrak what your purposes are.

Grim made a quick decision. Sarah, you and Cheryl are coming with me, Bob and Jay. Brody, you take Ivan and Michelle over to the blast site and after Ivan finishes, send him to the ship. Michelle, can you find us with your abilities and transport yourself and Brody to where we are?"

"Not easily, but I can try. If I can't, then what?" Michelle answered.

"If you can't, then stay near the blast area and we will find you. Our Vrakian friends are there as well, so make sure you touch base with them too."

With that, the team split and headed off. Grim wanted to capture some Elves too. A male and female would be useful for research purposes. Getting them back home might be a trick but he was sure Sarah and Cheryl had some means of handling that. Hopefully.

"You were behaving very strangely." Shael explained, now rather pleased Nar was recovering, "You were singing some odd some and then started behaving well... unusually. We were forced to restrain you."

He didn't go any further than that, "Here chew on this." he handed over something that looked like bark, "It'll help the aches and pains."

Mid-morning Xalis popped in, "Wow, you really took a turn for the worst Nar, we thought you were a gonner for a while."

He drew up a chair next to the bed Shael was still confining the other elf to, "I'm coming to see the Oracle, apparently you're to escort me there or something. From what I've seen she wants me to join her, and I'll be more than happy to, but we'll leave tomorrow, give you some time to recover. Did you select the females you wanted by the way?"

Nar looked at Xalis with hard eyes about being a mere guide for him. "What...oh yes...that..." He still doesn't know...Oh, goody...I like Xalis but he is sitting on a gold mine and doesn't even know it.

"I was planning on getting those girls south. I really need to get back on schedule, and I was not planning on leading you up north...but best be on the Oracle's good side....And Yours

He looked a bit concerned. "I really need to get those girls south though...If I select them now and I'll come back through here with Tin-Tin and pick them up...but I'd prefer to be on the move as soon as I can." Before Shael starts asking more questions and puts two and two together

"After that...disaster...I think a lot of villages under the protection of Tel-Ultz will be getting raided soon and there will be a glut in the market for sex slaves."

Nar chewed on the bark a bit more. "Really, I am feeling better..." He rose and smiled slightly. "I'd prefer to leave sooner...if we leave at mid day we can camp at the three stones and then make it to Ter-Duzur late day tommorrow. I know some like camping at the Spring Bowl Grove...but since that storm last year the spring has been muddy...."

Nar wanted out of here and back as fast as possible. What Xailis didn't realize was that he had a flat-ear witch in his pens. One that warlords and the priestesses would empty their strong boxes to buy. If he got Xailis busy in getting ready, then he could pay of Evelorin to store her away from the other females without Xailis knowing. No Nar knew an Opportunity when he saw one, and that little b*** was his equivilant of a golden ticket. (Although he had no idea what that was...)

The United Star Empire of Valinon had often had an off-on relationship with the nations of the Federated Klatchian Peninsula. The nations of the Klatch and the Star Empire had first crossed paths when the rogue Prince Dozle and the rebel forces of the self-proclaimed "Machine God" Adam had launched a war of extermination against Vrak and its allies. The Star Empire had sent an army to assist in the Klatchian defense, and Sardaukar had laid down lives with Klatchian to ensure that the automated hordes of Dozle where turned away.

Since then trade--and a few moments of brief diplomatic contact--had transpired between the Klatchians and their distant neighbor from Alpha Centauri. The Star Empire had entered one of its period where affairs closer to home--Alpha Centauri, Mars, and the Raumreich--had turned its attentions away from Earth and large portions of Sol. But with the crowning of Empress Friedelinde Alderman I as the Star Empire's sovereign, the Valinor once again had taken a renewed--if still somewhat limited--interest in Sol.

The Star Empire had watched with muted interest the Klatchians' struggle to deal with their "Elvish problem." But now the Star Empire saw a way to gain advantage from the situation. Indeed, the Byzantine nature of the Congress of Lords and the Imperial Court had set wheels into motion. To please the Klatchians, the Elvish community, and the silent power of Menelmacar and its allies in this delicate situation.

**********


To: The United Socialist Republics of Dyelli Beybi
From: Duke Adrian Sterling, Her Majesty's First Minister for Foreign Affairs
Concerning: The Elvish Community of the Gonad Peninsula

Her Majesty and Her Majesty's Government have observed the delicate and problematic issue of the Elven community in the Gonad Peninsula in Rogue Jiggady. We have noticed the conflict this issue often raises between our long-time friends and associates in the Klatch and other interests and concerns within the international community. Her Majesty feels that there may be a solution to this problem that can please all parties involved.

Thirty years ago the Star Empire purchased the territory of Mizar on Mars from the Everlasting Realm of Bajon. Since then the Mizar has become a full Dominion in the Star Empire, and a cooperative entity within the Star Empire as a whole. However, Mizar still is home to the largest Elven community within the Star Empire's borders.

And here is where Her Majesty's proposal leads us. The Star Empire is willing to accept as many Elven refugees from the Gonad peninsula's Elven community that wish to immigrate to the Dominion of Mizar. We are willing to provide both security and means to transport these temporary refugees to Mizar with cooperation from both yourselves and other members of the Klatchian community. To this affect we wish to hold a summit meeting as soon as possible in the Klatch to discuss the nature of this offer before all parties involved--with special attention being paid to the representatives of Alcona and Hubris, Rogue, Jiggady, Vrak, representatives of the Gonald Elven community, an ambassador from the Star Empire, and yourselves.

The possibility to reach a final resolution on this long-suffering issue may be at hand. Her Majesty encourages you not to easily dismiss this proposal.

Sincerely,
Duke Adrian Sterling

The Dyelli Beybian Government did not dismiss the idea, in fact they were very keen on it, although somewhat sceptical that Valinon could find a representative from the Gonad elves and wouldn't just get their Ambassadors added to the menu upon visiting them.
Nevertheless, and despite the fact that most key officials were tied down with the Neo Tyr situation, the Government drafted a response.


To: Duke Adrian Sterling, Her Majesty's First Minister for Foreign Affairs, Valinon
From:Provincial Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cyro
Subject: RE: The Elvish Community of the Gonad Peninsula
Dyelli Beybi is more than happy to fully cooperate with this scheme, however we feel the exact specifics of this plan will need to be ironed out before we proceed.
As such, Dyelli Beybi wishes to extend a diplomatic Visa to a suitable person from Her Majesty's Government to discuss with us, the logistics and potential pitfalls of such a plan.
-Dr Jacob Ledoux


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

Xalis still had little or no idea what was going on. Shael did, but was keeping quiet, thinking that quietly killing the slave in question was probably the safest bet, for the security of the compound in general, he'd just have to figure out which one it was, that pen contained a lot of valuable flesh.

"Well if you're sure, I can be ready when you are." Xalis said, not sounding particularly convinced Nar was recovered. Secretly though, he was very eager to get moving North, so since Nar insisted he wouldn't kick up a fuss.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll go and pass on the orders to Evelorin and organise a few warriors to come North with me." Xalis rose and departed.

As it so happened, they were quite lucky to be leaving when they did. There were Djels in the woods, and they were making a bee-line straight for Ciron.

Nar began to busy himself with packing supplies on Tin-Tin. He also got Evelorin into a corner by themselves, where no one could overhear.

"Evelorin, there is a particular flat-ear female in the pens that I want stored away from the others and in a safe place until I get back. I'll pay you thirty silver talens now, and a cut of her profit..."

He smiled that was a decent amount of silver, not large but enough to tempt most local elves, "listen I know a Warlord who likes flat-ear redheads. But the one you've got is a bit feisty for me to get there. She needs a few days of real hunger to make her more pliable on the trip south. So what do you say? Pull her out of the pen when we leave and toss her in some empty store room? Just give her water and let her starve for a bit."

Evelorin wasn't stupid, it was risking his career, indeed his life if he did something like that, for thirty pieces of silver. Not being religious, and not being knowledgeable of the Djel religion, he had no idea of the symbolism, "You want me to cheat Xalis? Do you have any idea what he'd do if he found out? What he'd do to you, what he'd do to me?"

He paused, there was a very logical extension to this, but he wanted Nar to suggest it. It would also mean Evelorin would end up with a lot more money in the long run, but then again, it was obvious the girl was worth more than what Nar said or he wouldn't be making the risk.

Nar stopped himself from smiling. "Fine, ten percent of her final price..." Hell I might just hand that much over to Xailis when I get back...

OOC:Thirty peices of silver was randomly chosen actually. But I was thinking it was the elven equivilant of thirty pounds in the 18th century. A nice tidy sum of money...

Ivan and Michelle looked over the huge expanse of blasted earth, toppled trees and burnt vegetation surrounding the blast site. Using her short range com, Michelle paged Grim.

"You should really get back here. I think I figured out why this happened."

Grim and the rest of the team headed back to the blast site at a quick march, ignoring stealth for the moment as so far no movement had been discovered. Within an hour they joined up with Michelle and Ivan. The blast site was even more impressive on the ground than it had been from the air.

At the center was clearly the ruins of a structure of some kind.

"This was clearly not an astronomical event sir" Ivan reported, "my instruments are picking up no radiation and ground samples show trace elements consistant with an antimatter detonation. Somebody clearly doesn't like Elves."

Grim nodded. "From what I read about them I don't like them much either. Lets go check out the ruins. I just got a recall message in any case. Apparently the "interesting magic" referred to in the radio message has already been sent away. At least according to intercepts. We don't need to hang around any longer."

This is Pheonix Machine, formerly Pheonix Gold Three, Khrrck Air Force. We have one of your Commisaars aboard and wish to return her to you, and to start diplomatic relations... Pause. ...as I understand, you have a little trouble with elves.

Oh... and if you decide to ignore that and shoot me, I'm supposed to tell you that doing so would be not only inadvisable but stupid.

Onboard the two fighters the pilots were chattering along a secure channel, "What an arrogent snot, I say we should activate SAM battery 9 and see how he likes it."

"That would be highly against regulations, last time I remember a bad attitude wasn't enough of a reason to start a war, besides he's got a Commisaar onboard."

The second pilot sounded like the Senior, his long suffering voice echoed over the radiowaves.

After a few seconds he radioed the Phoenix Machine again, "You can drop the attitude mate, we've heard that kind of nonsense before and we're not impressed. We're sending you a flight plan to Theta Base, please do not deviate from it. We're radioing ahead to notify them of your arrival. I don't think I quite caught the name of your Nation, not one I'm familiar with, was it Kirk?"


Theta base would turn out to be on the East side of the hills, among the blasted landscape, although on the interior and for about 5 metres away from the barbed wire fence that surrounded the compound there was grass. Theta base was large. It had 2 runways and probably enough hanger space for 20 aircraft, then their were the barracks and vehicle sheds. There were probably upwards of 1000 vehicles in the base, while the occasional convoy of lorries ran supplies from the West. Several armoured vehicles, sporting a large radar and selection of AA missiles were parked near the runway.

Khrrck, spelled K-H-R-R-C-K.

What attitude? Last I heard it was polite to warn people of the possible consequences of their actions... and the way you're flying doesn't seem that friendly. Rest assured... If I had meant to attack you, you would know it.

But that's enough. I'm not here to fight. Flight plan received.

Pheonix turned and sedately followed its given course to Theta Base.

*********************************************************************

"Looks like your people have the right idea," remarked Morth, looking at the armored vehicles watching Pheonix roll to a stop. "Impressive presence you have here."
Pheonix chuckled. "'Never trust the new guy.' An admirable approach. It shows intelligence." Pheonix's hatch swung open slowly. "Perhaps you could be the first to disembark, Commissaar?"

Somewhere in Vrak

Translated from Vrakian

-Looks like this was not a nuclear blast at all, sir.
-And I don't see evidence of a meteorite impact. Besides, look at the size of this impact site. We would have seen it coming.
-Right. So what could it be then? Any guesses?
-Plasma fire from a spacecraft?
-I don't think so. Unless it was a really big gun, there should be multiple impact sites. And our satellites would have detected a ship or fleet of ships
-Unless it was stealth.
-Stealth doesn't mean they are invisible. Besides, you don't think LOW would have seen them? And we didn't detect their movements this time.
-Orbital bombardment?
-Same. Our sats and ground based observatories would detect an ortillery capable satellite over the Klatch.
-Well, the FKC does have them. Dukratus certainly does.
-Yes, but no high altitude firing was detected at the time.
-Could be an anti-matter weapon. More likely a bomb.
-Explain.
-No trace of radiation. High degree of damage suggesting a weapon of fairly high yield.
-But...who could do this?
-There are few in the Klatch that could. Dukratus and LOW could since their tech is more advanced that ours. We are not certain about Midlonia's level. New Shiron was just incorporated and while they could with tech from New Cynthia, it is doubtful.
-May I point out that ourselves and Dyelli Beybi have a joint particle accelerator in the corridor.
-What are you suggesting?
-That it would be quite difficult for an outsider to breach the FKC. And besides, if an enemy would want to detonate a bomb in the Klatch, why do it in the jungles of Rouge Jiggady? There are plenty of cities and military installations that are a much more valuable target. And that facility can create anti-matter, albeit in small amounts. We did construct an anti-matter bomb during the Dozle war. The know how does exist.
-Hmmm. Do a security check on the particle accelerator research facility. Account for any and all anti-matter that has been made and any anti-matter weapons that have been created. Obviously we need to take stricter measures here.
-As you command.

At the edges of the blast site

The first team was packing up. Well, at least the techies were leaving. The helicopters were due to pick them up within an hour and, quite frankly there were not sad to leave. But the special ops would stay, with orders to hook up with the second team.

Second team, 20 km from center of blast site

Considering the terrain, the going had been fairly easy. The bughogs proved to be hard to managed, but some tranquilizers were effective. Still, they were generally heading towards the large mesa from the north and the fact that they were able to detect a scent indicated that some elves did pass this way.

The two SOAT-bots on long-range recon were ordered to meet up with the team instead of completing their perimeter patrol. They would be coming at the mesa from the east.


OOC: Hpe that makes sense. Correct me for any mistakes.

"It doesn't help you just arrived from the East, Theta is the Army HQ, so this means you're being taken seriously, they didn't divert you to one of the minor fortifications." the Commisaar paused, "General Quinn is a good man, and he knows me."

She pronounced 'General' oddly, with more stress put on the a.

Outside there was a clatter of infantry. The men here were wearing desert uniforms. Unusually these included a short sleeved shirt and shorts with a Germanic style helmet fitted with a sun visor. It was fairly obvious what they were doing, they were scattering and taking up positions around the plane, just in case the crew turned out to be hostile. Amongst them was a GPMG and a couple of rockets of some description. They definantely didn't trust the new guy.

The leader seemed to be the man who strolled, bold as brass into the middle. He looked every inch the Nazi officer, from his jackboots to his high peaked hat. The field grey uniform was spotless, he held a pair of aviator sunglasses in his hand. It seemed a conscious gesture, one designed to say 'I'm not holding a gun'. The one big difference in the Dyellian uniform was there wasnt a swaztika in sight. It was the result of a country with strong Germanic influences which didn't subscribe to Nazi ideology (in fact Dyelli Beybi was bordering on Communist).

The Commisaar got down first, and immediately the tension seemed to lift, "Do my eyes decieve me?" the Officer gave her an astonished look, "Commisaar Hind, we had taken you for dead, had a nice state funeral and everything."

"Still alive and kicking Obertsleutnant."

The troops had visibly relaxed, most had lowered their weapons, "Are you sure you're not a ghost."

The Obertsleutnant insisted on putting his hands on her shoulders, then declared she was quite real, earning grins from his men, "And these must be our guests, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude."

He gave a flourishing bow to the two funny lizard things, they looked a bit like Var, who he didn't like, but if they at least deserved some thanks for pulling Kate Hind out of the Gonad, "Allow me to welcome you to Dyelli Beybi, I am Obertsleutnant Harrison, aide to the General. Naturally I would love to extend to you our hospitality, and to thank you for returning our favourite Commisaar. Naturally I will be forced to ask you all about your adventures across the border, perhaps over a light supper, with a fine bottle of York County Red?"

Although Harrison seemed blissfully unaware of doing anything funny, he was having exactly the same effect on anything magical, as the Commisaar had. So were well over half his men.

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

Evelorin nodded, "I'll consider it." that was as good an affirmation as Nar was likely to get. He'd probably try to change the deal later, knowing him.

Meanwhile Xalis was busily loading a mule train with supplies. He would take five warriors with him, and as usual they'd travel on foot, but with all their baggage heaped on the mules.

The Wingjammer-class sonic jet carrying Lord Mael Reinstadler, Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Dutch Democratic Republic of Knootoss and the FourtH Minister for Her Majesty's Foreign Affairs (the office given to the senior ambassador on Earth), approaches the jutting land formation known as the Klatch Peninsula. It makes its final course correcting, taking it over Alcona and Hurbis and Fasta Benj territory before proceeding to Dyelli Beybi.

"This should be a simple enough effort," the hologram of Henri Leopold says, "sitting" across from Reinstadler. "Duke Sterling and Her Majesty have already spoke with Burseg Elgil and the Mizar Elven community has alaready said that it will be more than willing to provide much of the security and the administration for the effort to relocate the Gonad Elves."

"It allows us to politely sidestep the accusation that we are arbitrarily forcing the Gonad Elves to leave their home to an extent at least," Reinstadler says. "How long before the transports could be raised for the effort. That's one matter that was neglected in the information Imperial Centre forwarded to me."

Leopold shrugs, "I do not know myself. I believe the intention was to impress some older Reichswehr heavy assault and support transports into service, or contract out to the Twin Star Lines Corporation or the United Syberian Industrial Conglomerate. Mostly it appears to be on hold until negotiations with the Klatchians are finished. I believe the Mizar Elven Corps was even told to just place the regiment it intended to send on stand-by status."

"Wonderful," Reinstadler looks up at the Sardaukar entering the main cabin.

"We are approaching Dyelli Bebyli territory, My Lord, and are preparing to establish contact with the aerospace control. Leutnant Masterson estimates our arrival in another twenty-two minutes."

"It seems your efforts are about to begin, Mael," Henri says. "I will let you attend to your work. I have a conference with Major Kolgner shortly, to discuss the success of our intervention into the Burungi affair."

Mael nods, "I highly doubt affairs at the Knootcap office will be a problem, but I am glad to know you can handle it."

"The conference in Pancretoria will most likely dissolve in short order, and besides I do need something to do to justify my dispatch from Alpha Centauri."

"Indeed."

Nar said nothing, he was expecting a demand for thirty silver and ten percent. When Evelorin didn't demand that he just wondered if the negotations were on pause until Xailis was out of the way.

Nar, who was walking slowly but mainly feeling pain in his head and arm now. (Although he was sure attempting to sample any of his new trade items would be impossibly painful for a few more weeks) made final adjustments to Tin-Tin's gear (Mainly just food and water) and then seeking out the apothocary for some additional bark.

I need to get out of here and back fast. Before Evelorin does something stupid with my prize b***.

Cyro was the destination for the Valinon craft. The Provincial Capital in that particular State of Klatch. Cyro was built very near the coast, maybe two or three kilometres of uninhabitable marshland, criss crossed with deep sections of river and cannal stood before it. The whole area was cramed with fishing trawlers, merchant vessels and the odd naval craft. There were even flying boats.

Cyro was highrise in most of the city, with apartment blocks housing the majority of the population, although in other areas, particularly in the centre, the old city, the buildings were lower, with spires of churches and cathedrals sticking out. Cyro was built on a series on islands, and the banks of the River Djel on either side. Bridges criss crossed the river, linking the islands with one another. One island was the airport, and it was to here that ground control directed them. For such a major city it was a small airport. That was, if you didn't count all the flying boats moored nearby which seemed to move at least half of the air traffic.

At the airport the usual selection of police officers and the obligatory Commisaar were waiting for the plane to arrive, smoking and swapping stories about their respective weekends.

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

"Shall we off?" Xalis asked. He was ready and eager to meet the oracle.

Evelorin strolled over as he was speaking, "You're off?"

"Yes." Xalis nodded to his one eyed Lieutenant, "Keep a good eye on things while I'm away will you?"

"Naturally your Lordship, everything will be exactly as you left it when you get back." Evelorin bowed, "Good luck with the Oracle."

"Thank you Evelorin." Xalis took a moment to test a bundle tied onto the mule, decided it would hold, the clapped his hands together, "We're ready to go are we?"

Evelorin waited until his leader had departed before wandering over to Shael's pens. The apothecary was scribbling something down, "You got a flatear redhead in here do you? I hear she's a bit of a handful."

Shael gave the other elf a non-comprehensive look, "There are always trouble makers in the pens."

"Nevertheless, I'm taking her out for a bit of solitary confinement."

Shael opened his mouth to protest, then seemed to decided it wasn't worth the effort, he waved a hand dismissively, "Do whatever you want, just don't break any bones."

Nar nodded and led Tin-Tin out of the gate. He paused for a second watching Xalis and Evelorin and then shrugged and kept moving. Damn it, why me... filled his mind. Personally Nar would have prefered just heading south and leaving the Oracle to it. He doubted whatever the creature was up to had anything to do with rasing up the people.

****
Evelorin found the redhead flat ear in the corner of the pen by herself. The others in the pen seemed to keep their distance. As the redhead was removed from the pen, releif seemed to fill the other slaves eyes.

The young woman, who was tall, just looked at Evelorin with a gaze that belied her physical weakness but was also filled with defiance. As a more modern commenter would say,
that girl's will is writting checks that her body is having the devil of the time to pay...

"Allow me to welcome you to Dyelli Beybi, I am Obertsleutnant Harrison, aide to the General. Naturally I would love to extend to you our hospitality, and to thank you for returning our favourite Commisaar. Naturally I will be forced to ask you all about your adventures across the border, perhaps over a light supper, with a fine bottle of York County Red?"

Morth had left his gun in the Pheonix, and wore one of Akram's swords across his back instead. He smiled up at Harrison. "Thanks for the offer, but I've been told that we don't make good dinner guests. We'll gladly provide conversation, though-"
"I, on the other appendage," interrupted Pheonix, "would appreciate some fuel. This is a longer trip than I expected, and I'm at one-third right now-"
"Pheonix, have a little patience, will you? Please excuse him. He's incorrigible-"
"Did I mention that power levels are dropping at twenty-seven thaums per minute?"

"Pheonix! Enough!" barked Morth, before adding, more quietly, "He's a wonderful aircraft, but he takes some getting used to. Sorry. We were on introductions, right? I am Morth, of the Steelfang clan. My companion is Akram- no clan."

"What's it run on?" Harrison asked dubiously, eyeing the talking plane, "We've got plenty of Av-Gas lying around."

Somehow he suspected it didn't run on Av-Gas, or the High Octane Petrol the tanks and other vehicles ran on.

"You must accept some refreshments." he persisted, "Unless or course you folk from... Kirrrik..." he frowned apologetically as he competely mangled the pronunciation of Khrrck, "Don't drink alcohol or something peculiar like that."

Dyellians had a reputation for inebriation. It was deserved. The Commisaar took this as an oportunity to give a short bow, "If you'll excuse me I really need to make a phone call, I'll be back..."

She dashed off, "I'm guessing she's run off to explain to her fiance she'd not dead after all." Harrison explain, a slight smile forming at the corner of his mouth, "Anyway, does he, er she... the plane need refuelling immediately, or can it wait until you leave, perhaps you would like to accompany me to my offices?"

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

After dragging her across the courtyard, Evelorin shoved the flatear into the small room they'd been keeping the Djel in yesterday. It was so tempting to take her on the spot, but Evelorin had work to do, and his carnal lusts could be satisfied at night. Little did he know, that night the inhabitants of Ciron would be fighting for their lives...

The redhead watched the door close and then smiled slightly. Idiots, now I can actually meditate for awhile without being interfered with. She layed her back against the wall, closed her eyes and began to start an almost inaudiable chant.

aym ben jee mish shirrey er
cour giennaghtyn cummaght buitçheraght
traastagh yn olk marish as Moir yn olk y scryssey

Aym kione-daanys glenney magh inçhyn pianey
Aym Annym coyrt looraght Aym Bleayst

Aym kione-daanys glenney.....

[OOC: I'm fighting off a severe illness and am in no position to post. Sorry.]

OOC: Fair enough, don't feel any obligation to continue with your side of the thread. We'll plow on with the other bit though.

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

Night fell in the Gonad. Xalis had set up camp with Nar. He was restless to get moving, but hid most of it.

Far behind him though, things were not looking quite so pleasant for the inhabitants of Ciron. It started with a rattle of machinegun fire coming from just outside the South Gate. Evelorin was not at the scene, he was in the villa, and didn't immediately realise what had happened. It was when the screaming started and more guns joined in, that he realised what was going on, and by that time, all the sentries had come to the front gate to try to return fire, allowing the waiting Dyelli Beybians to climb over the North wall completely unmolested.

Shael and two guards were the only one's in the North side of the compond, and when they opened fire, Evelorin, who had just emerged from the villa, immediately realised what had happened, it was so damned amateuristic! His warriors should have expected something like that, but then again, they had never had to fight on the defensive before...

A bullet chipped stone away from the villa wall by Evelorin's head, "Everyone, retreat to the villa!" Shael could look after himself.

Whoever he was dealing with moved fast, even as Evelorin was yelling the command, gunfire rattled from the direction of the back door. It was a desperate situation, and one Evelorin didn't like being in, he still hadn't seen an enemy, a small band of warriors dived through the door, "What's going on out there?"

"Gorg's hit and Namiel took one in the throat, don't know about the others." it was the young warrior Evelorin had terrorised a couple of days back.

There was silence in the direction of the back door, "OK." Evelorin was quickly trying to evaluate the situation, "Anyone seen the enemy?"

"I have." it was the youngster.

"What are they?"

"I don't know. They wear bulky coats and helmets, and least the one I saw did, I couldn't see a face, I think they had masks on."

Masks. Humans or Djels, "What kind of masks, did they have a bulb at the bottom near the mouth?"

The youngster was cut off by an almighty crash at the back door, someone had kicked it in. Evelorin took a second to think, "You and you, go and investigate, the rest of you, with me."

Two elves sauntered off towards the comotion. Evelorin lead the others in a different direction, it lead downstairs into the basement, and from there into a tunnel that led to a well disguised exit about 100 metres into the jungle. He knew a losing battle when he encountered one, and there was too much chaos to co-ordinate a propper resistance. He didn't feel at all guilty about sacrificing the two he'd sent off earlier, it would buy him and the others time.

Evelorin counted his men, six in total, there were thirty two staff in Ciron, twenty six had been there tonight. There were at least five dead. Xalis wasn't going to be pleased...

Perimeter secured.

Casualty count?

One killed, one lightly wounded. Twelve Zulus accounted for.

Understood Barker, rendezvous in main building.

Barker met up with John McDowell and Commisaar Floyd just inside the main entrance of the villa, where Evelorin had been standing only minutes before, "Looks like we took them napping Sarge, although by the looks of it a lot of them got away out the East Gate."

"They might counter-attack, we'll get this place cleared as fast as possible, then get out of here while they're still in disarray? Have we picked up any Novembers?"

"We've found slave sheds. We're just clearing them out." gunfire echoed from that direction.

November was the codename for civilian. What the Dyellians were in fact doing was systematically shooting the elven prisoners, and releasing the humans. Those too weak to walk were also summarily shot. It was regarded as kinder than leaving them behind, especially considering they were planning to walk out. It was a shockingly violent couple of minutes as they sorted the sheds, and one that at least one man, couldn't stomach. He vommitted violently into the bushes behind the sheds, "This has got to be some kind of war crime." he complained.

Inside, the villa a few troops were sweeping for any elves that had gone to ground. "This room's locked."

A blast of gunfire effectively unlocked the door. One man stepped inside, it was immediately clear there were no elves, and no furniture for them to hide behind, the was however a red-headed human, "We've got a November, female, looks healthy enough to move." he spoke into his radio.

To the girl it would be impossible to tell what she was facing. The balaclava and goggles meant the only skin that was showing was on the hands, although if she was familiar with Dyelli Beybians she'd recognise the accent.

Nar sat next to the fire in thought. How much longer until all of the Great Jungle is ruled by the Oracle? And then what, a war with the Djel and their allies? Perhaps it is time I went out beyound the Great Jungle? My God what am I thinking?

***
(I wouldn't expect that many human prisoners D.B. and even fewer healthy ones. By now most of those lost in the Jiggdaian Civil War are likely already slaves or have been sacrificed.)

Katie looked up at the figure with a gun and gave a small wry smile. Ah the Deyllian's have arrived. "Well actually I was born in March" She stated in a very good Vrakian accented english. "I think I am fit to walk, but my feet need something on them if I am not going to slow you down."

Out of the fire and into the frying pan now girl... She did nothing more than push herself up against the stone wall exposing her bare feet. Her eyes never came off the figure, in the shadows of the cell they almost seemed to be glowing, or maybe that was just a trick of the lighting.

****
Quietly overhead the Cyclops UAV had turned back after shadowing Nar and Xalis north. Why was likely to make sure some raid wasn't being planned while a decoy group was sent north. The Oracle didn't really trust Xalis that much...

(OOC: I was going to RP they pick up the odd D'Reg from the Dyellian border from time to time, soldiers or contractors making runs to areas that aren't properly under control, so most human prisoners would be Dyelli Beybians, but no I wasn't going to RP there being many. Sorry just a short post for now.)

The soldier nodded, "Won't be a problem, get up and get moving, we'll source some boots, but we're going to have to evacuate within the half hour."

'Source' it turned out, meant looking for an dead elf with roughly the same sized feet and ripping their boots off.

Katie nodded and walked out of the cell. The chances of them sourcing boots from a dead elf for her were poor. After all, she was taller than most Deyllians. She thought there might be something around the villa that would be usable and so began to search the building for shoes. Of course she kept a sharp lookout for anything about who owned the place and why the Dyellians might want to raid it.

*****
The UAV curved around the outer perimiter of the compound. An IR camera watched as the dead figures lay on the ground and other figures standing about. The only noise it made was the faint tut, tut, tut, tut, pop of its engine.

The pile of dead cooling bodies near the slave cages proved something, they didn't take slaves and they didn't like elves. Which could only mean one thing, Dyellians...

The UAV turned away from Ciron eastwards and then began to sweep back.

******
In a small trailer a face was illuminated only by the screens before it. One could just make out the pointy ears. "Saftey Off, targets within range in thirty seconds..."

The helicopters picked up the civilians about a half hour ago. With them safely away, the first team began to double time it to the second team, whom by now were edging closer to the mesa. Still, the bughogs were proving to be troublesome and while none were able to break the chains, at least one was, with its weight, managed to drag an off-balanced SOAT-bot several meters before the SOAT killed it with a burst of machine gun fire.

By Bok's maw, all this noise will probably attract someone thought the King's Own. He silently shook his head while he quietly issued orders to the other SOATs to pull up and stop. May as well wait for the first team

The two SOAT-bots approaching from the east were ordered to assume as low a profile as possible and recon the mesa.

(Sorry most elves would likely be moving south or north.)

The remains of the mesa rose out of the blast site like some forlorn statue. At one side was a pit created by the blast, now slowly filling with water from the river flowing into it. Several elven bodies had floated up to the surface, not killed by radiation or concussion but drowning.

A close inspection of the pit would have revealed openings into a laybranty of mines below the surface. And of bodies either chared, smashed or drowned. Many would still be in their iron leg chains with their hands cluching tools. Some of the victims were elves, some human, all appeared to be badly abused and malnourished.

The Mesa itself was filled with tunnels, stairs and rooms cut into the living rock. At the lower levels the rooms were usually just simple and primitive. They were shaped like a half dome with smaller niches cut out. Their occupants and their organic belongings were long gone. Copper and iron pots, melted fragments of assult rifles, and platinum coins were all that remained.

As one discovered how to climb up levels, one found whole areas blocked off by gates or perhaps even doors now vaporized with the rest of the organic matter. One set of rooms high up the the mesa were square in proportions with elaborate moldings cut into the living rock.

Obviously the temple cut of of the rock was intresting. Inside was a two story space. The roof was supported by ornate pillars that were part of the living rock. At the far end of the space was a wide platform altar. Various implements such as the knifes lay on the ground. Their owners now nothing more than carbon dust on the walls.

An initial look at the site would have revealed 1/2 to 2/3 of the Mesa had been destroyed by the explosion. In a far corner of site the entrance area to the mines would be discovered. Only the blacksmith's tools for the chains were left with several destroyed AK-47's and what appeared to be the remains of a chain gun.

In several spaces off the the mine were rooms filled with cooled molten metal, platinum. In one room, behind an iron door now melted into its frame one could make out small bars of the material. A fortune of precious metal was just out of reach.

What's it run on? We've got plenty of AV-Gas lying around.

Pheonix chuckled. "What would you like me to run on? If it's a liquid and it burns, I can run on it. I've flown on liquid hydrogen, nitro-methane, kerosene, gasoline, coal tar, triple-distilled whiskey, turpentine, camphor, isovalerone, nonyl phenol-"
Morth frowned. "Pheonix, that coal tar gummed up your engines for three weeks."
"Worked, didn't it? Not as well as the nitroglycerine, admittedly, but-"
"Pheonix, you don't need fuel right now, do you? You can wait."
"Yes, but-"

**************************************

Morth turned back to Harrison. "We'd be happy to accompany you to your offices." He glanced over his shoulder. "Hopefully before Pheonix thinks of another fuel he's run on."
"Molten beeswax."
"That was a disaster, Pheonix. We got to five thousand feet, and then your fuel heaters failed."
"Wasn't my fault! It was the only fuel available, and you know it. What else do you expect to get when you pancake in a beekeeper's backyard?"

"Right this way." Harrison led the way to some form of jeep which carried Morth and Akram along paths between barrack houses, outside of which Dyellian troops were smoking, drinking, playing cards or flirting with the opposite sex. There seemed to be a lot of women in uniform. If the pair ever decided to look into it, it would turn out to be around 1 in 5. None of them seemed overly interested in Morth or Akram, they were interested enough to look up, but not enough so to gawp. It seemed the Dyellians had seen Wyrms, or something very similar, before.

The offices it would turn out was a small shed with two rooms in it. It was air conditioned, which was a welcome change from outside. Harrison sighed as he entered the ante-room, "I do very much apreciate the comforts of this modern age." he confessed.

A slender girl in field grey, who seemed to be his secretary stood up as he entered, "The General requests news on the plane, Sir."

She eyed Morth and Akram for a moment, seeming slightly surprised to see them, but again, there was no shock that registered.

"Tell him I'll send news as soon as I can." Harrison replied, opening a door into the back room.

A small sign on the door read Obertsleutnant Harrison, Quartermaster.

The inside was much as one would expect. A desk, with a computer on it. Several filing cabinets off to one side. There were four chairs in the room, and another behind the desk. A small side table held a decanter of port and several glasses.

"Now, Gentlemen, please take a seat." Harrison spoke as dswung shut behind the visitors.

He seated himself behind his desk, taking off his cap and dropping it behind his chair, "Drink?" he offered, waiting for a reply before continuing, "As grateful as we naturally are for the return of a highly valued Intelligence officer, I sense that you probably have more of a reason to be in our fair country than that. Please, speak freely."

Fair, probably wasn't the greatest description of the Dyelli Beybi they'd seen so far. Hot would have fit, so would dry or barren.

Meanwhile out by the airport, a soldier with a rifle over his shoulder and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth approached Phoenix machine, "So you're a talking plane huh?" he asked, looking like he thought he was going mad, "So what kind of fuel is optimal for your engines? We've got high octane petrol, kero and av-gas."

(Sorry most elves would likely be moving south or north.)

The remains of the mesa rose out of the blast site like some forlorn statue. At one side was a pit created by the blast, now slowly filling with water from the river flowing into it. Several elven bodies had floated up to the surface, not killed by radiation or concussion but drowning.

A close inspection of the pit would have revealed openings into a laybranty of mines below the surface. And of bodies either chared, smashed or drowned. Many would still be in their iron leg chains with their hands cluching tools. Some of the victims were elves, some human, all appeared to be badly abused and malnourished.

The Mesa itself was filled with tunnels, stairs and rooms cut into the living rock. At the lower levels the rooms were usually just simple and primitive. They were shaped like a half dome with smaller niches cut out. Their occupants and their organic belongings were long gone. Copper and iron pots, melted fragments of assult rifles, and platinum coins were all that remained.

As one discovered how to climb up levels, one found whole areas blocked off by gates or perhaps even doors now vaporized with the rest of the organic matter. One set of rooms high up the the mesa were square in proportions with elaborate moldings cut into the living rock.

Obviously the temple cut of of the rock was intresting. Inside was a two story space. The roof was supported by ornate pillars that were part of the living rock. At the far end of the space was a wide platform altar. Various implements such as the knifes lay on the ground. Their owners now nothing more than carbon dust on the walls.

An initial look at the site would have revealed 1/2 to 2/3 of the Mesa had been destroyed by the explosion. In a far corner of site the entrance area to the mines would be discovered. Only the blacksmith's tools for the chains were left with several destroyed AK-47's and what appeared to be the remains of a chain gun.

In several spaces off the the mine were rooms filled with cooled molten metal, platinum. In one room, behind an iron door now melted into its frame one could make out small bars of the material. A fortune of precious metal was just out of reach.

OOC: Okay. We are moving from the north so there might be a possibility that we'll pick up something. Then again, just as likely to pick up perhaps numerous overlapping scents and end up traversing all over the place.

IC:

After some hours of wasted double-backing and crisscrossing, it was decided that some secondary scents were being picked up and confusing the bughogs. It was decided to focus on the main objective and, within a day or so, the combined party reached the edge of the mesa. The two SOATs from the east had already reached the area and remained at sentry duty at the edge of the pit.

-Hmmm. I count at least...10 bodies there.
-Elven?
-Seem to be.
-Doesn't matter now. Tie the bughogs down and then we can explore this...well...looks like some kind of stairs here. They look like they go down.
-Sir?
-No use in taking the bughogs in. Looks likes elves everywhere in this place, so they won't be helpful. Post a guard here and then take your fireteam in. Bring a couple SOATs as well. I will go this way and the rest can remain here. Not sure how big this place is and, well, if it's too big we might as well move on. Set up the dish as well. We'll have to send in a report within two hours.
-At once, sir.

Akram took a skeptical look at the chairs and curled up on the floor, wrapping his heavy tail around his quadrupedal body. Morth followed suit.

Drink?

"No thanks."

As grateful as we naturally are for the return of a highly valued Intelligence officer, I sense that you probably have more of a reason to be in our fair country than that. Please, speak freely.

Akram took a deep breath. "Very well, then. We first entered this area in response to a message from Lord Xalis. He offered a chance to study an interesting magical creature, which, unbeknownst to us, was your Comissaar. Now, we have never been called a particulary kind race, but abuse of sentients is something we have very little tolerance from... and your enemies seem to practice it in abundance. While our country may decide to ignore the situation, we have decided to instead render what assistance we can... and that may be more than you think. Pheonix is the most advanced vehicle we posess, and he fights like nothing you've ever seen."

************************************

Pheonix chuckled, a rasping, inhuman noise. "Not just any talking plane, kid. I've got full citizenship. Pheonix of the Machine clan, at your service. The best fighter in Khrrck's air force. If you don't believe me, I'd be happy to go up against your pilots- weapons disarmed, of course. Anyway. I've run on petrol before, and kerosene is familiar. But what's this AV-Gas you speak of? Either it's something new, or you've got a strange name for it."

"Magical?" Harrison looked positively bemused, "Kate Hind is magical? Well I guess you never know what the Cheka is up to."

He shrugged, "Well we're not really preparing for a war right now, I mean we've got a defensive belt in place to keep the elves from wreaking 10 kinds of havoc in the East of the country, but we'd almost certainly provoke a war if we decided to try to flush the buggers out of the Gonad. There are quite a lot of people out there who feel sorry for them."

Harrison was obviously not one of them, although something had dawned on him, something that brought a frown to his face, "It's actually very unusual they kept her alive, they usually kill our sort on the spot. Do you know what they were up to?"

On the other side of the camp the soldier was looking incredulous, "Is that so?"

"Ah right, AV gas, it's short for aviation gas, we don't use it on the fighters because... actally I don't know why, I'd have to ask an aircraft engineer, I think they use kero on the jets."

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In the Gonad, the survivors of the Dyellian raid were being grouped together. Most of the elves had managed to vanish into the undergrowth, meaning it wasn't going to be a pleasant journey back to the border, "Is everyone ready to move?" it was McDowell, "It's a three hour march then we camp, we will hit the border, with any luck, two days after that."

There were only three others, besides the mysterious red-headed girl who had survived the massacre in the pens, and they nodded mutely, "OK everyone, move out!"

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

Some miles away Xalis slept calmly, dreaming of his revenge...

The Cyclops UAV finished it's turn and began to make a run at the group in the compound. Two fifty caliber machine guns opened up on them with a few rounds from a 20 mm cannon slamming into the ground and the villa. As it finished the staffing run it swept up into the night sky. It's blue body hard to make out against the starry vault of the sky.

Katie, the red head, threw her self out of the line of fire and raised herself up as the UAV pulled back up into the sky.

She looked about for some shelter and ran for the well. The villa and the rest of the buildings were obvious targets. The well offered her the ability to put a wall between herself and the incomming fire.

********
OOC: Vrak, I'm not sure but basicly if you take the temple ground floor as level zero you have about 5+ levels above and -20 or so levels below in the mines.

The heatwave from the blast had caused a lot of growth in the area to die off. The smell of rot and decay mixed with wet smoke made any creature's sense of smell fairly inopprative.

The Dyellians flung themselves behind cover at the first noise of gunfire, and there was plenty of it in Ciron. Tree trunks, small sheds, the doorway of the villa. Even so one went down as did one of the former prisoners (who were less quick off the mark.)

"Does anyone know what the hell that was?" McDowell demanded over radio.

"UAV." someone replied promptly, "God bless IR goggles. I reckon we'd all be dead if there wasn't some limited tree cover over this base."

"Well let's not count our blessings yet. Everyone, North gate, now, keep an eye out in case it comes back, we should be safer under the canopy. Who's hit?"

"The Commisaar took one in the hand, well there isn't a hand anymore... Andy took one in the chest, he's gone, and one of the prisoners had her head blown clean off."

"Leave them. Get a tourniquet on the Commisaar, then let's get the hell out of here!"

The UAV swung around and attacked again upon the reciproical of its last run. It fired the 20mm gun at some of the trees, turning their trunks into splinter grenades and opening up the tree cover as the trees fell.

The fifty caliber machine guns fired intermitantly, mainly to keep the enemy pinned to the ground. The pilot could see the litte red figures had been running for the North gate. Five 20mm rounds slamed into the North gate (I'm assuming it is stone) around the keystone of the arch.

Whoever was flying the UAV did not want them to leave alive.

Katie picked her head up from behind the rim of the well and mummbled something. A moment later the world was a lot more clear for her to see.

Another soldier went down, then another. They were returning fire now, although nobody had a heavy machine gun, so the odds of any of their shots hitting were low to say the least. McDowell swore silently to himself, as he sat huddled in the porch of the house, bullets whizzing around him, the elves weren't supposed to have air support!

"Change of plans!" he yelled into his radio, "Retreat to the villa, we'll take shelter in the basement until it goes away, it's suicide to stay out here."

Katie watched the Dyellians start to fall. Sh*t... Her eyes looked up at the odd shape..."Cyclops...UAV...First Generation?"

It was obvious, the bulkyness of the engine boom at the front of the unmanned aircraft because of the air-cooled rotary desil engine. (not to mention the signiture engine sound) She stared at it watching the somewhat jerky movements. "someone who's only trained on a simulator and not done any real flying." She dropped her head back down below the stone rim in thought.
The only first generations should be in Tanah Berung...what is one doing here being flown by someone with a video game fetish in the Gonad?

She poked her head up again to see the remaining Dyellians running for the villa. Damn it No! She knew instantly what she, and the enemy would do next.

She cast off the ill fitting pair of sandals and made a run for two nearest, slowest people. One appeared injured and being helped by the other.

Out of the darkness towards them ran the red head. Her eyes weak balls of blue light. She screamed, "Get Down" and threw herself into the two figures as she heard the UAV begin to pass over.

A high pitched whine occured at the same time as a 250 lb bomb dropped into the villa thorugh the doorway at a 45 degree angle.

The explosion gutted the villa. Probably over half the team was down now, although it was impossible to tell in the confusion, "How many fu!king weapons does that thing have?" someone demanded over the radio channel.

"Sergeant? Sergeant?"

"Sergeant!" This time it was yelled, the radio abandoned, "Everyone scatter! It's every man for themselves!"

It was simple maths, if everyone ran in a different direction, scrambled over the wall and dropped into the entrenchment on the far side, there would be too many targets for the UAV to hit.

Sergeant McDowell was not dead. He had made it into the basements, which were more like a reinforced bunker than a traditional basement. He was flung headlong down the stairs by the blast, followed by several pieces of rubble. What he found at the bottom was very interesting...

He tried his radio, but found it to not be picking up a signal. Apparently he was too far underground. Oh well... press on alone.

The UAV turned north. The I.R. camera had noticed that those not killed in the explosion were running for the wall in diffrent directions. Unfortunatly that would leave them dangerously open to the remnats of the elves waiting in the jungle.

****
Katie pulled herself up and looked about. She could just make out figures running for their lives.
Complete unit disintegration She couldn't really blame them. After all, they had been hit by a nasty bugger. The problem is that their going to discover that the pointy eared ones are on the outside of that wall

She looked down at the two people she had knocked down. "Are you both somewhat intact?"

"It's actually very unusual they kept her alive, they usually kill our sort on the spot. Do you know what they were up to?"

Morth frowned. "I got the impression that Lord Xalis used the offer of studying the 'creature' as a lure to get us there, and then tried to solicit military assistance from us. I'm suprised he actually let us leave the place once we found out that the 'creature' was a human sentient, albeit one with some interesting properties."

********************************

"I believe kerosene sounds like the most sensible. What kind of hookups do you use for fuel lines? I'll need to see one and shape it if it's nonstandard. If only I had more power... reforming a light oil is going to be a real pain."

Harrison shrugged, "I'll be honest I know next to nothing about the elves, what I do know I don't like. The regular troops here mainly just do garrison duty, the Tercionem are the ones who go in there every now and then, bloody aweful job, wouldn't want it myself."

Something was tickling at the back of Harrison's mind, "Ah, of course, you went to see an elf known as Xalis? Commisaar Hind would have had a good look at him would she not? Only his recent broadcast, calling for military aid has the Cheka wanting him dead."

Across the compound, the Dyellians seemed to have six different types of fuel pipe. Four were designed to refuel helicopters, one of which was a fairly bog standard connection for civilian choppers, while the other two were designed for two fairly different jet fighters. One was probably for the Mirages that had been up in the sky earlier.

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

Fortunately for the few remaining Dyellians in the Gonad, the UAV had scared the living daylights out of the survivng elves from Ciron (after all, the only flying machines they'd seen before were Dyellian attack helicopters), giving them time to regroup. There were five in total who assembled under the safety of the canopy, forming a simple defensive perimeter, maybe a hundred metres from the compound, the usual radio chatter acompanying the whole proceeding.

The radio was also buzzing near Katie, "I'm fine, the Commisaar isn't." an indistinguishable Dyellian trooper announced from under her, "He got his hand blown off, not pretty."

The Commisaar was silent, clutching at his stump of an arm. He would be lucky if that didn't get infected and kill him before they reached Dyelli Beybi. The trooper continued, "Anyway, we need to get out of here before they attack again, some others seem to have escaped, most of the team's dead though."

Katie looked down at the Comissar. "Well first let's get him taken care of." She stood up and let the trooper out from under her while she delt with his injury. First she removed what bandages had been applied to the wound. Second, she placed her hand near the end of stump arm and then her right hand over the bloody messy gore.

She quietly began to make some chanting sound as she closed her eyes and rocked back and forth for a few seconds. Her eyes sprung open, her whole eye were now a bluish, glowing color.

The Commisaar got a bit of feeling at that moment in his injured arm. Other individuals have likened the sensation to having their limb pushed into molten metal or being hit with a cattle prod ment for 'Babe the Blue Ox'

The odd stench of meat being cooked in a microwave oven filled the air. And then it was over. The Commissars arm, although far from perfect wasn't bleeding that badly, it appeared all of the blood vessles and nerve endings had been cauterized. The outer layer of tissue was now a hard black shell, that although still weeping blood, was decidely less likely to get an infection.

Morth smiled. "Well, if the Cheka want him dead, we may be able to provide some assistance... but first. One of Xalis's men told us about a race called the Var, which apparently resemble us... but have a reputation as cannibals." He winced. "We're far from vegetarian, but that sickens even me. Can you tell us anything more about them?"

(OOC: Sorry Alcona, I'm going to reqrite that a bit just so that it fits better with the RP, and give Katie an opportunity to work out a little bit of the truth, hope you don't mind.)

The Commisaar's arm didn't change in the slightest, in fact remained untouched and slowly bleeding. In fact, throwing magic at him was like getting water to flow uphill. It didn't happen. The best way to describe it, was like trying to cast a spell on something which was purely conjured out of your imagination.

The Commisaar looked at her blandly. He had been given more than his fair share of morphine and wasn't quite 'with it' at that moment.

Eventually, and after a huge amount of effort, the spell began to work, like it was having to overcome some massive level of inertia, and even then didn't quite work properly, taking 3 or 4 minutes to actually cauterise the wound. The Commisaar looked like he was being put through every form of torture imagineable, thrashing about and screaming his lungs out. He had to be restrained by the soldier (who had some inkling as to what was going on). Thankfully he passed out half way through.

"Was that quite necessary?" the soldier grumbled.

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

"The Var?" Harrison was actually looking a little shifty, "Well I'm not entirely certain what their menu extends to these days. They hold land far to the North of here, and have technology well beyond our own."

He clicked his tongue, "I know they eat orcs. This has caused a lot of problems in the past, as Dyelli Beybi has a small number of Orc citizens in it's Northern provinces. For instance, it was made clear to us, any Orcs in diplomatic roles working among the other Klatchian States would be considered 'fair game' as would anyone working for them."

This wasn't precisely correct, but it was how most Dyellians had read the situation, "We are fairly certain they eat elves, but cannot confirm whether the Var eat humans, although they have threatened it in the past. Who knows how they'd treat us if they found out that we weren't actually humans."

Here Harrison had blundered, letting out a State secret, one he assumed Morth had discovered for himself. It was something most of the population of Dyelli Beybi didn't know.

(Hmm, well that spell should take 'normally' about three to four minutes. So say almost ten minutes)

Katie pulled off with a huge flow of magical power comming through her. Bad, bad, bad...what the f**k is going on?

She was physically exhausted by controling that much energy, but she need to bleed if off before it started to consume her. She placed her hand on a fallen tree and dumped the excess energy as she closed herself off to the source. The tree seemed to start to glow and increase in heat.

Katie, who's voice was waving from the sudden exercise she got looked back at the trooper, "Your right...we should have just taken him to Gonad General, they would have fixed him right up." She was a bit too tired to get a real sarcastic quality to the statment.

"Listen, I'm sorry about your freind there..." Katie rose unsteadily up from the smoking log. "But we don't have the time to nurse him, it was the fastest way to stablize his condition for traveling north. At least bandages and cleaning should keep his wound clean so he won't die from blood loss or infection."

She picked up the radio and said nothing more, just stubbled off towards the dead to find herself some newer, cleaner cloathing, a weapon, some ammo, and an set of I.R. goggles. Using 'spectra-vision' gave her a serious headace, and the amount of energy she had poured in had made it almost migrane propotions. Too bad I can't wipe away my own headaches...

"Umm, hello?" the soldier called after her, "Can you wake him up or something? I can't carry the blasted Commisaar all the way back to the border."

There were plenty of weapons lying around, of just about every description, none of them were make in Dyelli Beybi though (which meant there were no H&K weapons). There were also plenty of other bits of equipment and clothing, if you didn't mind having a bit of blood on.

(OOC: If you want to chose a weapon for Katie pull one out of thin air. The Dyellians are basically carrying a selection of the best imported stuff they can get their hands on.)

Katie had found a pair of pants without too much blood on them, a pair of I.R. goggles and some better fitting boots. As for a weapon she lauhed when she found a 7.65mm version of the G3. "God, you boys seem to have more types of weapons than a girl would know what to do with."

Katie, dressed in new pants, boots and with her gun returned. She seemed a bit recovered.
"Wake him? I don't know what the hell is going on but I might just kill him if I try to wake him. We'll have to drag him north for the time being. Oh, what's your name?"

"Cannibals. I knew it." muttered Akram, quietly.

Morth frowned. "You are nonhuman? Xalis suggested as much. This is very interesting... but we have our own buisness to attend to. I suggest you take these."

Morth's eyes narrowed. A green mist coalesced weakly over Harrison's table, flickered, and then thickened as Morth fed more power to it, coalescing into a green cube which dropped to the table. The cube had a faint seam around it, was made from something feather-light but glassy, and was embossed with PHOENIX MACHINE COMM #49 in angular letters.

"That's a direct communications link to Phoenix Machine. If you wish to contact us, simply twist the two halves. And..."

A blue cube dropped onto the table, embossed KHRRCK SPECIAL COMM #304.

"This one contacts Khrrck Special. If you wish to contact the Khrrck government, twist it." Morth paused. "And one more thing. If the green cube vaporizes, then Pheonix has been destroyed. Please tell us using the blue cube, as if Pheonix is dead, then I likely will be also. You can tell them that we died fighting, because we will go no other way." His serpentine green eyes glinted. "I believe Pheonix has finished fueling now. If you wish to assist us, we will tell you our plans. Otherwise, we will be leaving."

****************************

Pheonix Machine had chosen the civilian helicopter hose as the one he was most familiar with. His fuel hookup, when he popped it open, had fit the hose perfectly. He then had gulped down an astonishing quantity of kerosene.

"Thank you," he said. "I shall remember this place. Even if you can't help us, you have been friendly, and I thank you for that." He paused.

"Would you mind unhooking this hose?"

Harrison seemed totally confused by the device on his table, but smiled and nodded along with the explanation of how it worked, "I should probably give it to the General. But I'll do that later... Naturally I'm more than happy to help out, in whatever you want, but I'll need to clear it with the General if it requires manpower."

(OOC: I'll extend this later.)

extention?

Morth nodded. "If we require your help, we will tell you. As for now... wish us luck. We'll need it."

He left.

************************

Morth and Akram motioned the ground personell to clear back from Pheonix before they climbed into the cockpit.

As soon as Morth reached the pilot's couch, Pheonix spoke.

"Morth, I have a plan. May I show you?"
"Certainly."

Morth's couch glowed faintly and flowed over his form, sealing him in a silver shell. He stayed that way for a good five minutes. "What the hell's going on?" said Akram. Then the shell split open.

Morth emerged unchanged. When he spoke to Akram, however, his voice held a conviction it had not posessed before.

"I'm sorry, old friend. But we'll have to leave you behind. This will be our last journey, and we will complete it alone."

**********************

Akram climbed back out of the Pheonix and bounded away for the shelter of the hangars. Behind him, Pheonix rippled and flowed.

The shape that remained when Pheonix had shifted was predatory and purposeful. Without a doubt, it was made for one purpose only.

Delta wings swept back at a rakish angle. Twin engines bulked underneath the slender cockpit. No weapons were visible, but the Pheonix exuded a palpable menace.

The transformed Pheonix lit its engines with a quiet buzz and taxiied towards the runway.

Bump

(OOC: Apologies for not extending that and taking so long to reply. I got rather tied up IRL and forgot I'd said I was going to extend it :P)

"Good luck." Harrison said automatically, "And God speed."

He loaned his his jeep to the pair to get them back to their fighter in good time, and also to prevent the myriad of sentries from stopping them and asking annoying questions.

The ground crews scarpered back to their hangers, driving their loading buggys, fire engines and other assorted vehicles back with them.

One of the Dyellian Mirages was parked on the runway in front of the Phoenix machine though, effectively blocking the place off for now, Ground Control to Phoenix machine. Ground control suddenly radioed in, We're sending you a single fighter escort to the edge of Dyellian territory. If you wish it to continue with you, Hauptmann da Silva will be under your command. Over.

Apparently da Silva was the pilot that was flying the Mirage. Suddenly it's engines sprung to life as it began to gather up momentum, flinging itself off the end of the runway and into the clear Dyellian sky.

Ground control was silent, giving them time to respond if they wanted, and giving the Mirage time to get well out of the way for a takeoff, before radioing in again, Ground Control to Phoenix machine, you are cleared for takeoff. Over

Meanwhile in the Gonad the soldier was considering if killing the Commisaar would save them a lot of trouble, then decided the girl might be insulted, instead he slung the slender Officer over his much broader shoulders, "Private Daniel Curtis, Tercio." he introduced himself, "Currently attached to the Third Repubican Army. Naturally I'm not actually here, but being as we're taking you back to Dyelli Beybi it seems stupid to pretend I'm a mercenary working for someone else."

He considered the girl, "Of course I never told you that, and obviously, as I said before, I'm not here and never will be."

If she was some kind of spy, the Cheka at Theta base would take a look into her, for now, Curtis decided, she would probably stick with him and the others, unless she was completely stupid.

He didn't wait for a reply, or ask for her name. Instead he just set off at a stumbling walk towards one of the remaining gates.

Katie nodded at all of the 'I am not here' commentary.
"Alright Figment of my imagination. I should tell you that I am with the RJ Security Department, as such I should tell you it would be better if I didn't step off into Deylli Beybi. Even if your boys and girls got me out of this mess."

She turned and followed him out of the gate. She then turned north and began to form an odd stride off into the jungle beyond.

Of course Katie wasn't part of the RJ Security Department, which was always getting renamed each week. But damned if she told him who she really was, the ministry of the Occut would have been having wet dreams for a year.

A full Priestess of Athena, from the Black Order no less. The Orders of Athena's beginnings had long vanished into the mysts of time in the Klatch. Some believed they had existed at the height of the elven empire and perhaps even taken part in the Orc Wars. The Orders had a habit of showing up when and where the magic of the world seemed to pop-up into the regular world. Vampire and Demon hunting seemed to be their specialty but that was always the Red Order. The Green Order seemed to spend most of it's time doing works of mercy and mainianing the faithful.

The Black Order was unknown outside of the Great Temple in Hubris. The Checka's few attempts to gain access into the Black Cloister had failed miserably.

OOC: Haven't had the girls of the Orders out in quite some time....

Phoenix lined up at the end of the concrete ribbon. As it began to move down the runway, the quiet buzzing of its engines lifted into a full-throated roar. By the time he reached the end of the runway, Phoenix was a blur.

I'm afraid you cannot escort me. I need to travel fast and far, and I doubt you can cruise at 3.5 Mach. But you can still aid me. Take this and deliver it to a place with metal deposits, near or outside your borders if possible. You can drop it by flying inverted above a suitable area.

Please take good care of it. It contains my successors... one of which I shall bequeath to you as your reward. Farewell.

Phoenix spun and came up behind da Silva's Mirage. As it shot overhead, a pair of doors on the bottom of its hull popped open. A metal box about the size of a large suitcase dropped onto the Mirage's hull behind the canopy. It stuck to the plane with a deafening clang, then hummed as it melted into a more aerodynamic shape.

Phoenix spun on a wingtip, trailing silver smoke, and shot off towards Xalis’s encampment.

A few minutes and a good few miles later, the first sonic boom cracked over the edge of the Gonad forest.

*****************

Morth looked down at the forest beneath Pheonix’s wings as the aircraft slowed to a 500-MPH crawl.

Where is it?
We’re coming over it now.

Morth grimaced as Phoenix shot over the ruins of Xalis’s encampment.

Looks like someone beat us to it.
Not quite. Those people down there don’t look too well. What do you think he managed to escape?
Shall we find out?
Of course. Prepare for vertical landing.

Phoenix suddenly turned at 90 degrees to his path of travel, shedding velocity by braking against the air. 400 MPH of speed was converted into massive amounts of heat, leaving Phoenix hovering on his own exhaust. Slowly, he descended tail-first towards the ground.

At a mere eight feet above the ground, Pheonix popped out his landing gear, flipped through another 90 degrees, and crashed loudly to the ground right outside the smoking ruins of Xalis's encampment.

"What the Devil?" The Mirage never took off. Instead the plane was surrounded by ground crew.

"Well it doesn't seem to be exploding." one man ventured.

"What the hell, drop it in a metal deposit? They didn't even say what kind of metal. It must be some kind of bomb." Da Silva concluded as he clambered out of the drivers seat.

"Or an egg."

"Whatever, I think I'd better speak with the General." If it was something that ate metal, it could be very useful...

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

In the Gonad, Curtis was under te overhang of the gate, "Well if you want to go to Rogue Jiggady, you can do it on your own. Otherwise you can come with us for now."

Otherwise he'd have to shoot her. The Last thing they needed were the Rogue Jiggadians getting worked up over this little incident. His dark thoughts were interupted by the sound of engines, "Leg it!" he yelled at her, all thoughts of killing the girl gone, "Looks like they're coming back."

"We happen to be in Rouge Jiggady you...." was cut out by the sound of the engines. Katie ran like Curtis but slowed at the edge of of the denser jungle.

Who the f*** is that? She pondered for a moment. Too many damn variables at the moment.

She turned in the shadow of a tree, put on her requisitioned low light goggles and peered back through the gate towards the landing ship.

Her hands wrapped around her weapon in anticipation of whatever the rest of the night would hold.

The only marking on the outside of the object was a message, printed in bold black letters.

THIS IS A MICROFACTORY
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF
FIVE (5) PHOENIX EGGS
AND THEIR LAUNCH DEVICES.
ONE (1) OF THE EGGS
WILL BE DELIVERED TO
DJELLI BEYBI IN THE CASE
OF SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT.

ANY ATTEMPT TO BREACH
THIS CASING WILL RESULT
IN IMMEDIATE ACTIVATION
OF THE FACTORY IN A DEFENSIVE
MODE. PLEASE DO NOT TRY
TO BREACH THE CASING OR
THINGS WILL GO BADLY.
-PHOENIX MACHINE

**********************************

"I can see you, woman." yelled Phoenix over the sound of his slowing engines. "I'm not here to attack. I just want to ask one question."

"Where did Xalis go?"

"I can see you, woman." yelled Phoenix over the sound of his slowing engines. "I'm not here to attack. I just want to ask one question."

"Where did Xalis go?"

Katie blinked behind her night vision goggles. Fu*k, well they spotted me...now how in Athena am I supposed to get out of this one. And who the hell is Xalis?

She looked about trying to figure out what to do. She pushed herself back around the tree for a moment. What the hell is that thing? I'm getting some feeling from it but...this is idiotic really

She continued to think, hitting the back of her head against the bark of the tree. Hoping to knock some sense into herself. Running is out...

********
230 miles East, near a small town of Rouge Jiggady

The Jungle of the Gonad was effectively an abandoned, magical generator with a leaky, overcharged battery set. The magic here was interconnected, distributed and regenerated.

The destruction of the temple of Tor (?) was likely nothing to the Deyllians. After all their connection to the jungle consisted of making sure it wasn't around them. But futher east, the magical balances that had been created over eons.

Tor (?) had contained a tomb, the tomb of a Priestess named Riseraoz the Green. And with that descruction, several of her spells that had stood for generations collapsed.

In some places the Klatchian Oaks, that had not flowered in centuries began to grow blooms once again. A flowing pot of water in a small temple stopped flowing. A sword buried with an elven fighter suddenly went from pristine to rust. In a decrepit crypt, long overgrown by the jungle. The ancient runes that ran around the edge of a lead coffin seemed to fade into the gray metal.

(OOC: playing around with the idea of unintented consequences...)

"Stop banging your head against that tree-"

"Phoenix," interrupted Morth. "Can't you see that she has no idea where he went? Probably only his most trusted people knew where he went. We'll have to do this the slow way. You have his feel, don't you?"

"All right..."

Phoenix lifted slowly, shifting wings spreading wide like an owl's. He turned in a full circle, hovering in place, and stopped pointing off into the woods.

"Gods, this trail is cold... he went that way. We'll have to take it slow, or I'll lose the trail."

"Go for it."

Pheonix slid off into the night.

"What the hell was that?" The Dyellian lurking in the archway had either not been seen or been ignored, which was unusual, "Never mind... you ok there Katie? We should meet up with the others then get the hell out of this place... it gives me the creeps."

"Funny thing is... we were here to kill Xalis, looks like they want the bugger as well."

The conversation was interupted by a voice from the bushes, "Hey, Curtis, get a move on, before we have every elf in the Gonad jumping in here... what the hell happened to that daft bastard?"

"He had an accident." Curtis explained the Commisaar draped over his shoulders.

"You mean he got his hand blown off? That doesn't explain why he's draped over you like a mink... if he slows us down too much you'll have to shoot him... you coming with us girl?"

The base camp near the mesa has been installed for a few days now. Exploration of the temple area was scant, but enough to reveal that it would take a bit more manpower than they had to do a thorough job. Besides, that was not there primary mission.

-Pack up. We’ll go back north to where the bughogs last had a good scent and then proceed from there. Arrange a supply drop here [pointing at coordinates on a map] in three days. Then we will continue on.
-Yes sir.

The SOAT-bots, all accounted for, were undergoing maintenance checks. Odd that they didn’t come across any elves or other activity so far. Then again, the Gonad is a big place.


**********
Encryption: MAX; route: FKC state of Dyelli Beybi; route: complete
**********

We are sending an inspection team at the particle research facility. According to our records, we have been negligent in accounting for all anti-matter material. They will arrive within 24 hours.

Phoenix flitted silently over the forest.

”As long as we’re moving this slow, I should tow the magic net. I’ll need plenty of charge.”

“Go for it.”

”Deploying conductor ribbons… Oh, my.”

“What happened?”

”You ever stuck your claw in a power socket?”

[OOC: If I see another Microsoft Smart Quote I am going to KILL IT...]
[Edit: Sorry. Excuse me.]

OOC: Er...the coffin of intrest is nowhere near Xalis. It was designed for something else completely. (Finish post in a moment)

People were becoming rapidly flustered in a well lit underground room in Dyelli Beybi, Vrak's demands had been noted, "I thought the Cheka had called the Presidents dogs off."

"Seems not, they'll want blood."

"Gloomy talk Simon... something tells me they won't be just looking for one or two people, it'll be the whole state."

"Quiet!" the voice was crisp and polite, it was a voice that the people of Dyelli Beybi were familiar with, "I have a plan. We'll need some empty anti-matter containment jars, a disused desert bunker, access to the Identity Registry, and a few tonnes of high explosives just in case anything goes wrong..."

"We're close. I can feel it."

"Perfect. Close to thirty miles... then follow him. Stealth. Let's see where Mr. Slave Trader is going."

********************************

Hidden in a hole outside the Djellian military base, Akram watched the Mirage with its parasitical package.

"What the hell is Phoenix doing?" he muttered. "He's never done that before."

He settled deeper into his hiding place.

"Ah, well. Only one thing to do. Watch and wait."

The Dyellians, naturally quite a suspicious lot, had loaded the Mirage onto a truck, headed West, deep into the desert. The truck rumbled off in a cloud of dust with little or no indication as to where it was going.

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

Meanwhile in the Gonad, Xalis set about noisily waking up and doing his morning ablutions. He was deliberately loud, eager to meet the oracle and wanting to wake Nar up.

[OOC:

1. Did this happen before the scene I just posted or after it?
2. If it happened before... please don't do that. Not only is it confusing... it amounts to "Whoops, I didn't want to do that, I take it back."
3. What, according to you, is the state of where people are in relation to each other, etc? Is Xalis with the Oracle? What's going on?

]

*OOC* After.

A&H is RPing the Oracle so they'll need to answer that.

Instead of a plane, five troop transport helicopters flew over the Gonad jungle. They came in low under the cover of darkness at the pre-arranged meeting point and swiftly landed. The Vrakian King’s Own, along with the SOATs and bughogs waited at the edge of a small clearing. After a brief exchange of flashlight signals, the team cautiously moved out, making sure they didn’t end up in the belly of some plant.

-Commander.
-Colonel, how goes the hunt?
-All in my report. Needless to say, the Gonad [With a sweep of his arms] is a big place. The bughogs aren’t as good as picking up scents as we thought.
-No matter, Colonel. I have orders to evacuate your team. It’s time for Operation Fierce Creatures.
-Very well. [He turned to the rest of his team] –Load up. Release the bughogs.

The rest of the soldiers and the SOATs dutifully climbed aboard. The now-freed bughogs sniffed the air and after being turned away from attacking the Vrakians, they soon plunged into the darkness. Other crates aboad the helicopters were carefully unloaded and set down on the jungle floor. Soon, the helicopters were away back to the Vrakian corridor.

After 30 minutes, the door to the cages sprang open. More bughogs darted out, this time mating couples. A few minutes after that, a small explosive charge in each was triggered -which promptly it.


====


The small convoy passed through the main gates of the immense facility. Constructed a number of years ago, it was instrumental in the defeat of Dozle. However, Vrakian Military High Command was worried, especially from recent reports from the field.

At the main entrances, the walrus got out and waddled his way through the doors. After undergoing the necessary security checks, he waited in the small foyer. Glancing about his small entourage and the dull grey walls, he announced to the aide that greeted them.

-Please inform the Director that Brigadier Iro Kanek has arrived.