NationStates Jolt Archive

Master Shaper Commodus Kwaad was he only one who knew what he was doing here.
He was on a construction site, deep in the Roman Republic, and Imperial workers were scurrying around, trying to raise the prefabricated buildings. Like most people who weren't him, they saw only in terms of the visible. He however, was acclaimed as the 'master of viruses'. Some saw him as an incarnation of the disease god, Shavan. Indeed, his most deadly creation was named after that deity, the Shavan BioWar virus. That was his new purpose: to train underlings to mass-produce that lethal contagion, to be sold to the Roman Republic. For a substantial profit. He sighed, and turned back to look at the construction. Everything seemed to be going well, and the Master Shaper meditated on death.

"And Yea, I will bring forth the Master of Disease, to do my work on the Earth, to be the poisoner of the infidels. And nations shall honor his deeds, and his deadly creation. Let it be so."

Twilight of the Gods, the Book of Shavan, chapter III.

Presidential Palace, Rome...

The President was busy doing paper work, while in his mind, thought spurred about the Research Station being built by scientists from Warmaster. He hope that the toxins that are going to be developed will make Rome a superpower to be reckoned with. It took years of diplomatic talks to have the Warmaster’s government to agree to build a research station for Rome. After the diplomatic talks were concluded, the president’s lieutenants agreed to place the research station in the isolated deserts of Iraq. The location had a railroad line with a station for trains to stop and resupply the workers.The security will be handled by Romans rather than soldiers from Warmaster. The Fatherland wanted to show the same good sign of faith as they show to embassies but with tighter security. 2 platoons of 40 Marines each from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-terrorism) and another 2 platoons of 40 Gorkhas/Gurkhas each, embarked on a train to the site and begin taking over the role of security.

bump

(OOC: Sorry, I am working on this, but I want to make it dramatic, not rushed, and I've been busy with a war thread.)

(OOC: And by the way, to all viewers, this thread will be open as soon as the beginning event starts. You'll know it when you see it. I just don't want to spoil the surprise)

On a nearby hill, in the night, a large group of hired terrorists and anarchists waited for the command. They had been briefed; somehow their employer had got wind of the research station being built here. Their mission: to steal all samples produced and destroy the facility if at all possible. It would be difficult; elite Roman troops guarded the station, but there were roughly an equal number of terrorists, and they had the advantage of surprise.

Their captain, lying flat at the top of the hill, surveyed the camp through a pair of night-vision binoculars. The green landscape told him no more than he already knew; 160 Roman troops, and no added security from the Warmaster, with no heavy weapons. If all went well, this night would bring his employers what they desired, and him his cash reward.

OOC: And the thread is now open!...actually, semi-closed. But now you can begin RPing with RRs and my permission.

The captain of the terrorists motioned to his squad leaders, holding a whispered conference with them, punctuated with many gestures at the installation. He indicated the soldiers, and his squad leaders nodded and left. They waved a few forward, and these terrorists, armed with rocket launchers and sniper rifles, crawled to the top of the hill. Picking their targets from among the Gurkhas and Roman troops scattered around the perimeter, they waited for the signal. The captain pointed at three terrorists manning an 81mm mortar, and they launched the first rounds, designed to release smoke on impact. Another 81mm mortar began spitting out high-explosive rounds on the heels of the smoke grenades. The tactic began to work; in these critical few seconds, the Romans would have no idea what hit them while HE rounds tore their defense force apart. Seconds later, the snipers began to fire, the crack-crack-crack of their booming reports punctuating the explosions and yells from below. Roman after Roman steadily dropped, and the rocket launchers added to the chaos.

Finally, the captain waved his G36 assault rifle in the air, yelling for the rest of his force to attack. Charging down the hill, almost two hundred of them, firing blindly into the slowly-clearing smoke, screaming war cries in several languages, from Arabic to French.

As the screams of the Romans and his troops filled his ears, along with the rattling gunfire of assault rifles, the captain led his detachment of troops into the facility itself, using explosives to blast through the security door that the Romans, in the confusion of the attack, had left abandoned. All but a few. Some of the elite Gurkhas had defended this door to their last breath and had done so well. Six of them had killed almost twenty of his men. Unacceptable. He hoped there were no Gurkhas inside the actual facility.

They had brought no map with them, and so dashed blindly through the station, hoping to find some scientist they could use to reveal the location of the samples. The captain had a profound suspicion they were getting lost, but finally they came across a scientist entering a room that was obviously a bathroom. Upon catching sight of them, he gasped and turned to run. However, the captain could run far faster than any researcher, and easily caught the man. Tripping him from behind, the captain planted a knee on his chest to hold him down, and his gun barrel in the center of the man’s forehead.

“What are you doing here?”

“Make-making a v-virus,” the man stuttered.

“Question Two. Where do you manufacture and keep your samples?”

He extended a shaking hand toward a door at the end of the corridor. “Through there is an elevator lobby. Take it to the lowest level, that’s where we store the...the product. Two levels above that is the lab where we make it.”

“Perfect. Finally, is there a power station or something here? Any way to blow this place up?”

“I-I don’t think I can-

“That’s too bad. I was going to let you live. I guess I’ll have to find another snitch...”

“Wait! No! There’s a power plant on the level between the lab and the storage sector. You could plant explosives there. Please, I have a family! DON’T—

His pleas were cut off by a quick burst of fire that tore through his skull. The captain wiped his face, stood, and motioned his soldiers to follow through the way the scientist had indicated. Not all of them would fit in the elevator; half stood outside with orders to guard the way down, and the other half descended one level to the lab. Stepping out, they fired on the scientists they saw, as well as two guards standing outside what had to be the entrance to the lab. Opening the doors, they shot down a few of the scientists, ordering the rest to lie flat while they planted the explosives. Setting the timer for ten minutes, the demolitions expert with the terrorists made it impossible for the scientists to shut it down by locking the controls. Then, hurrying from the room, the terrorists crowded into the elevator again, this time going down twice to the deepest level, the storage level.


As they left the elevator, the raiders snapped their rifles up to firing position when they saw a scientist with black hair, streaked with gray, holding up his hands in surrender. Before they could shoot, he said, “I am Commodus Kwaad, Head Researcher. I know why you are here, and I cannot stop you. All I ask is that you do not kill me now. I would rather die with this station, die with my brainchild, and ascend to Paradise in a glorious explosion than be gunned down here and now.”

The terrorists, bemused, looked at each other. They’d heard that Kreegans, the people of the Warmaster, had an insane sense of honor, but this was ridiculous. Finally the captain shrugged, shoved him out of the way and opened the door to the storage lab. Inside lay a few shelves of glass vials; the facility obviously hadn’t begun producing at its full capacity yet. Opening the packs they carried on their backs, they pulled out soft packaging material. Wrapping each vial carefully, they placed them into small vial-sized pouches in their packs, designed for just this purpose. Soon the shelf was empty, and they planted more explosives, hurried out, and took the elevator to the power plant. There were six guards here, but the terrorists gunned them down while only losing two men of their own. The captain ignored the bodies, opened the door to the capacitor room, and began planting huge quantities of plastic explosive. Having accomplished their mission, they crowded into the elevator one last time, rising to the main station level. Joined there by the survivors of the group that had guarded the elevator against the Romans and suffered for it, they dashed for the exit. Time was short.

Once outside, the captain pulled a small black device from a pouch on his belt and tapped a few buttons. This would set the identical receivers on each squad leader’s belt to start buzzing, vibrating, and flashing a red light...the signal to retreat with all speed. Awkwardly extricating themselves from firefights with the Romans, the terrorists sprinted for the hole in the barbed wire that the mortars had made in the beginning, through which they had entered. A few shots were fired off to cover their retreat, and minutes later they vanished into the night. The mortars covered their retreat, unleashing tons of firepower on the few remaining Romans, who were even now entering the facility to make sure there were no terrorists left inside.

Commodus Kwaad grinned to himself as the sound of gunfire went quiet. Now was the time for him to make his escape. The facility, and all the soldiers, were doomed; the explosives would see to that. There had to be a witness...and that witness would be him.

He hurried into the elevator as soon as its doors opened, pressing the button that would take him to the main facility. When it stopped and the doors slid open once more, he glanced out, making sure there was nobody around, then dashed out, turning corners, left, right, left, right, straight ahead...when he reached the scientists’ apartments, he entered his own. A luxurious living space, to be sure, but it was about to be destroyed, and so Commodus let it go. Striding over to his bookshelf, he pulled down one of the copies of the Kreegan holy book, Twilight of the Gods, and leapt aside as the bookshelf slid aside to reveal a long corridor.

Sprinting along its length, he reached the ladder at the end. He climbed as fast as he could, and soon he reached the hatch that was the concealed exit from the installation. This was his personal escape route, that he had insisted on having when the facility was constructed. Panting with the exertion of running and climbing so fast, he turned the wheel and pushed the door open. Scrambling out, he put it down again and smiled. It looked for all the world like an innocent bush. Turning to look at the facility, the smile slid from his face. Only seconds left, he guessed.

Suddenly the whole thing erupted in a cataclysmic explosion that blasted the surface buildings apart. Fire shot from underground, giving way to thick black smoke. A fitting pyre for his colleagues and the people who had given their lives defending him. However, all that mattered was that he had survived. Commodus Kwaad, chuckling to himself, began the walk toward the car he had stashed near his private exit when the facility was built.

Always have an escape plan.

Roman soldiers after hearing cries from the scientists and workers, they ran room to room where lay dead scientists killed and cold blood. The rifled though the dead to see if they was anyone alive.

"Sahab (Sir), no one is breathing. I can't feel a pulse." yelled a Marine Corporal while sparks were flashing and making a cracking sound.

"Shit!" replied the Marine Gunnery Sergeant "Let's keep looking. We will eventually find our comrades."

"Yes, Sahab."

The men ran through the hallways yelling and using their Thermal goggles to detect any heat signatures. Near the lab room, a few Gorkhas who were tending to 2 Marines and 1 Gorkha where surprised when the search party entered the Room. Sergeant Thaman Limbu pulled out his kukri and held grabbed the Gunnery Sergeant and placed the knife to his throat. He realized it was not a terrorist but one of their own.

"What happened here?" asked the Gunnery Sergeant.

"A few terrorists ran through this hallway and they were busy murdering scientists. Once the came to our sector, we engaged them but we managed to hold out and create some horrible casualities to the enemy. After the enemy ran, we attempted to persue them, but we found this injured soldiers." explained Sergeant Limbu.

"Shit. We have to look for Commodus Kwaad. The enemy might take him hostage. Damn Terrorists."

After talking the Marines and Gorkhas exited the room while the Gorkhas tending to the wounded carried them and were helped by the Marines to the nearest exit.

They followed the signs to Mr. Kwaad's room, but they stumbled to a lock door. The Gunnery Sergeant bang the door repeatedly. No answer.

"Damn it."

"Sahab, I have read through some of the building specs when we arrived to the research station." interrupted Marine Lance Corporal Amit Singh. "It revealed that their is a secret tunnel to the outside world."

"What the hell are were doing out here. Let find more of our comrades and the scientists." ordered the Gunnery Sergeant.

They began running throughout the entire building searching for their comrades. After finding them, they hoisted them and carried them off to the nearest exit.

Seconds later, the entire building fell quiet. Then, the entire building erupted in flames and explosions. The building shook violently as the soldiers ran to escape the flames and explosion. I was too late for them, as the were nearing the exit. The final explosion tossed some of the soldiers to the wall, instantly killing them. The rest were blown out of the doorway following behind them was a trail of fire. The Gunnery Sergeant and his men were knocked out when they hit the ground with a loud thud. The soldiers who carried the injured before the Gunnery Sergeant's Search Party began to look for the Head Scientist. Once the got out, they fell to the ground as the explosives went off and violently shook the ground.

After the explosion ended, the building was left in flames. The fires continued to burn, destroying important papers, tables, chairs, fuel, etc. The Gorkhas and Marines got up and looked around to see if anyone was alive. They removed their helmets and tears poured down their faces. They then began circling around the building to see if anyone had made it out, while tears pour down.

The captain of the terrorists, known to his cohorts only as Ares, was making a secure phone call, from an unknown location, wearing an impenetrable disguise. The samples his men had stolen resided in a safety deposit box in the city that he was in, though several blocks away from him at the moment, that only he could open.

The employers had been adamant that security was their top priority.

After three rings, the phone picked up. A deep, male voice answered on the other side.

"Captain."

"Yes, sir. The mission was a success; I have the samples."

There was silence for a second, then the voice returned.

"Excellent, Captain. You have earned my respect...as well as a hefty amount of cash. The Romans? Are they aware yet? What about the Kreegans?"

"The Roman news hasn't run any stories...obviously. There were survivors, though. The government will know by know. As for the KReegans...Commodus Kwaad was last seen alive."

"What?"

"Uhm...yes, sir, he is. He---"

"Captain, stealing the samples and destroying the facility means nothing unless that man is dead. He alone has the power to recreate his work. For security's sake, I will hang up shortly. Guard the samples. Shake your pursuers. Deliver the samples to me. And then bring me the head of Dr. Kwaad."

Click.

OOC: Aight, I'll join up, you want me to send an SF team or a whole expeditionary force, either way I'll be happy to help. I'll operate under the assumption that you want an SF team until you say otherwise. Good to see something that isn't going require me to fight my own morals to join. No matter how you cut it terrorists with WMDs is bad.

IC: A phone call awoke Brigadier General Leon Knight in his Randova penthouse apartment. It was 3:00 SST and he wouldn't normally have gotten up for another 2 hours, so he something was up. The man on the other end was none other than Chairman Alexander Murdock, the leader of Shenyang.

Knight: Hello?

Murdock: Is this Leon Knight?

Knight: S-Sir, I'm sorry, what do you need?

Murdock: No need to appologize, we have a situation brewing in the Roman Republic. It involves a rather dangerous weapon in the hands of terrorists.

Knight: Alright, now you have my attention. What are we dealing with?

Murdock: This is a class-9 terrorist act, from what we can tell at 2:00SST this morning terrorists stormed a facility in the Roman Republic and wiped it off the face of the earth. Our covert electronic intelligence specialists found references to this being a Warmasterian bio-warfare facility, though we weren't able to confirm until 5 minutes ago, it appears that we have several samples of the Shavan Virus headed for the Black Market. Obviously we can't allow this to happen. We're sending you and your first and second squads in to recover or neutralize these weapons and eliminate these terrorists. You leave in 45 minutes, we'll have a vehicle ready for you at the street.

Knight: Roger that sir, we won't let you down.

Murdock: I know you won't.

Knight: Thank you sir.

The phone call ended, Knight, codename: Revenant rose from his bed, kissed his wife goodbye while she slept and headed to his war room. Inside sat all hi ODST gear. His weapons, armor, equipment, camoflague, all waiting for the call to duty. He suited up in his armor, loaded up everything, did a quick equipment check, then headed for the elevator, the duffle with his gear in one hand, his helmet in the other. He left a note for his wife, Cassandra.

'Dearest Cassie,
It appears that some of our great neighbors have lost bio-weapons to a bunch of terrorists, as a result I've been called upon to get them back. I'm sorry about this, I know that I'll miss our anniversary, but I'll make it up to you. Look in my war room, under the desk, you'll find my gift for you. Thats right, I remembered this year. I love you so much, I swear I'll be back as soon as possible.
-Leon

He boarded the elevator and headed for the lobby, everyone knew he was an ODST, but it still scared many of them to see a man in his early fifties, covered in black armor over digital tiger stripe camoflague walking through the lobby of the building with a large firearm slung over his shoulder. As a result several sleepy people gasped as he walked by, it was only natural.

The car was sitting in front of the building, he entered and the driver took off through the streets toward Ft. McKnight, where the ODST would gather. After the 90 mile drive Revenant exitted the car at the base and headed toward the command bunker. Inside were the rest of the ODST, men and women trained to go through hell, and come out the other side covered in the blood of demons with a smirk on their faces. He looked at his forces and gave them a quick briefing, then they loaded up onto the C-5B waiting outside on the base airstrip. They began the flight toward the Roman Republic, the plan was to insert via HALO jump into the first Roman base that would accept them. Then play a pleasent game of Seek and Destroy with the terrorists responsible for this situation.

A message was sent ahead to the Roman government, it informed them that Shenyang knew what had happened and was sending a force to help. If they requested that more men be sent then the first Marine Airborne Company was placed on stand-by. It was assumed that the Romans would direct the ODST to the base from which the situation was being handled. This was the ODSTs' assumption as their aircraft crossed into Roman air space after a very long, very boring flight.

OOC: The terrorists are going to be jumping from country to country, to make themselves harder to track...and to make things interesting. After all, they don't want to be caught.

IC: Ares got up from his comfortable armchair and paced. The employer's instructions were clear. He was going to have to leave the country he was in...none other than the Warmaster itself.

He began calling his men. Some of them were in his hotel, most in others across the city. He ordered them to be ready to rendezvous at the airport nearest to the capital city of Korronis, Typhon International Airport, within three days. The time was near to leave this country...maybe go back to the Roman Republic. Within the next few days, they would board the plane.

OOC: This is true, but I have a reason to go directly to the Roman Republic, you'll see.

IC: Section 38: In a room full of computers sat the single most dangerous group of 'covert electronic intelligence experts' basically governement funded hackers, they had access to the most comprehensive hacking systems on the planet, and could break into anything, literally, as long as it was digital. They cruised the internet and in many cases, every sub-net on the planet, searching for mention of the stolen virus samples, they correllated dossiers on every mercenary, revolutionary, dissident, and terrorist that had the skills to lead this type of operation. The top 10 were listed as follows:

10. Harmon Gerod (Mercenary-Pegasus International)
9. Eli Sorento (Dissident-Doomingsland Liberation Army)
8. Fredrick Gemins (Revolutionary-Shenyangi Imperial Recovery Force)
7. Paul Daniels (Mercenary-Pegasus International)
6. Leon Junkers (Mercenary-Pegasus International)
5. Jeremy Herman (Terrorist-Col'An Shara Terrorist Organization)
4. Genova Serena (Terrorist-Col'An Shara Terrorist Organization)
3. Name Unknown 'Ares' (Terrorist-Affiliation Unknown)
2. Mikial Durantanov (Dissident-Doomingsland Liberation Army)
1. Kandaros Genivelini (Revolutionary-Shenyangi Imperial Recovery Force)

Slowly each member of this list was tracked down, Options 8-10 were all in custody for terrorist acts in assorted nations, Option 5 was being observed by a Praetonian police force, Options 7-6 were in their apartments, in Eastern Metico, Shenyang and Option 1 was being held on tax fraud charges in a Randova super-max prison for 5 years, he had 2 years left on his sentence. This left only Options 2-4 unaccounted for, these terrorists were now designated as important capture targets for all Shenyangi forces and Field Agents. Field agents quickly hunted down Serena, she was playing 'escort' for a known dissident to an art exhibition. She was placed under surveillance. The other two remained hidden for the time being, however, as soon as either moved from their hiding place they would be followed by undercover SCI field operatives until they were cofirmed to have the weapons. Then the ODST would move in to try to capture this man and his weapons. This process wasn't fool-proof, but it was better than nothing.

OOC2: Once Roman Republic gets an oppertunity to give me landing clearince you'll see why I'm heading there directly instead of futiliy hunting for these guys.

The Research Station, Isolated Deserts of Iraq...

After searching around the building. They found their comrades lying on the ground, not showing any signs of movement. They ran to them and began shaking their bodies to awaken them.

"Sahab, Sahab!" yelled Gorkha Havildar (Sergeant) Bheem Gurang as he was shaking the Marine Gunnery Sergeant. "Get up."

The Gunnery Sergeant finally got up but not fully. He had several broken bones that caused him too much pain to move, so he just groaned to the severe pain. Havildar Gurang had several of his comrades to wake up the others and tend to them. He was going to try to contact the nearest military base and get them to

Havildar Gurang took a Marine Corporal and a Gorkha Rifleman. He ordered both of them to search the buildings for a working phone, because their radios were heavily damaged.

So each of them began searching for a phone through the rubble. Marine Corporal Deepak Rajesh began searching room by room and finding several phones lying on the ground. He checked them, but most of them were destroyed and some were heavily damaged.

“Damn it!” He mumbled as he was clutching his hands into a fist.

Gorkha Rifleman Dilip Rai stumbled on a phone that was perfectly intact because it was hiding behind a table when the explosion shook the table down on the floor. He checked the phone, but the line was dead. He was angry at the situation and almost threw the phone on the ground when a thought told him that is phone can be saved and be used. So he took the phone and searched room by room and tried all the phones, but was unsuccessful. All the 3 men met up and discussed that all the phones and the connections were destroyed.

“Sahab, is there a bunker located in this facility?” asked Corporal Rajesh.

“Possible. The scientists did tell us about it when we were all brief, before we took the role of security. I am not sure if it survived the explosion.”Replied Havildar Gurang. “Let’s find it.”

“Sahab, I found this phone in one of the room. The device is intact and unharmed. Should we use this?” said Rifleman Rai as he should the Havildar the phone.

“Good, we will try to get the phone to work. Let’s first go to the bunker.”

“Yes, Sahab!”

So all of them began removing the rubble that blocked their path. After they found the bunker, the door was still intact and remained locked. They were amazed that this door remained unharmed by the massive explosion. They also wondered if everything behind it was the same way as the door. The only way they could get in is with an explosive, most likely a large amount of C4. They had no C4, because why the hell would security personnel need plastic explosive, if their orders are to guard something. The men had to improvise, by making their own C4 with materials that are available. So they searched for it and found the materials and began mixing it and then molded it around the edges of the door. They made extras if the first try doesn’t work. They hooked the explosive with and electrical detonator that was made from materials found.

The men took cover and the Havildar detonated explosives. The explosive made a loud boom and the door fell down because of the explosive force. The men coughed as the entered room, they followed the tunnel and found a room that was occupied by someone, possibly the Dr. Kwaad. The searched the room and found a table with papers, books, and a phone. There was a door, it must lead to another tunnel and might possibly have the Doctor hiding there. Havildar Gurang ordered both of them to open the door and follow the tunnel. The Havildar picked up the phone and the line was connected. He called the operator and asked the person to connect him the nearest military base. The Operator connected Havildar Gurang to Fort Vishnu, home of the 160th Armored Division, one of the few military divisions of the Iraqi National Guard.

Fort Vishnu, home of the 160th Armored Division…

“Thank you for calling Fort Vishnu.” Said the operator.

“I would like to contact your commander. I’m am Havildar Gurang”

“Yes, Sahab. Patching you right through.”

Major General Arjun Nehru, commander of the 160th Armored Division. He was contacted by the operator and told him that a Havildar Gurang is wants to talk to him.

“This is Major General Nehru. What is it.”

“We need help. We require support, because terrorists, or some kind of enemy attacked the research station. We need a medical and general evacuation deployed to the area.”

The Havildar told the General the location of the Research Station.

“We will deploy immediately and we will notify the President.”

“Roger that. Over and out.”

“Over and out.”

The General notified the entire base and even notified the situation to the Presidential Palace. After the base was notified and other officers were briefed. Blackhawks, Longbow Apaches, and Chinooks were fueled and armed. He transport helicopters were equipped with medical supplies and stretchers. An infantry company and medical staff boarded the helicopters. After everyone was loaded, they took off and headed for the research station.

The Presidential Palace, Rome…

The President’s Lieutenants and the Vice President received the call and immediately told the President about the situation. They told him that helicopters of the 109th Armored Division is responding by providing relieve supplies and medical evacuations. They told him that him that they have to send some government agents to investigate the facilities and try to find the head scientist. The president told that no one will find out about this situation. He didn’t want the media to find out and blow the situation out of proportion.

The President received an e-mail from Shenyang. He was surprised that a foreign nation has found out about the situation. Rome thought that its sovereignty was to be respected by all, but it turns out that someone has managed to infiltrate Rome. The President didn’t mind having help catching the terrorists and showing them how Rome deals with terrorists. So the President authorized permission of foreign troops to land in Rome and help Roman forces in a joint coalition.

To: The Government of Shenyang
From: President Bhavan Patel of the Roman Republic

After receiving news that you found out about the situation. I am authorizing your permission to land your soldiers in the Fatherland. We hope we can deal with the problem together. Your troops will land in Bhavan International Airport in the Capital, Rome. I would like to meet your soldiers and have them also meet the general in the Pentagon. We want to make sure your men are friendly before deploying them downrange.

IC: The slight change in plans of landing at an airport instead of an aerial insertion somewhat annoyed the ODST, they loved free-fall. That and now everyone would see that there were only 2 squads of soldiers aboard a C-5B Galaxy, admittedly with quite a bit of equipment, but still. For that matter they were notified that they would be meeting with a general and foreign a president at the Roman Pentagon. None of the ODST had their dress uniforms, generally when they were on an operation the rather obvious uniform gave them away more than their armor. Revenant was the only one who ever had the uniform, as he did most of the talking for the ODST when it came down to dealing with those in power. So now they would be walking around a foreign country's military command center in tactical armor with large bags of weapons and equipment. This wasn't the type of image the high command wished them to project, even if it was the one that the ODST themselves worked so hard to maintain.

The C-5B touched down at the airport and received instructions on where to taxi to meet the Roman security detail that they were to meet. Revenant donned his uniform and quickly asked a few ODST how it looked. He placed his armor into one of his bags, which was empty already, and the ODST left the plane. Revenant walked to meet the leader of the security detail, a lieutenant as the C-5 slowed its engines.

Revenant: Hey, you're hear to take us to your pentagon, right?

Leader: Yes. If you'll please follow us. If you don't mind my asking, what's with all the armor?

Revenant: We expect this operation to be a bit hairy. I'm the only one who ever has their formal with them on an op, appearances you know.

The leader noticed the single star on each shoulder of Revenant's white uniform. He immediately realized that he'd been addressing a brigadier general like he was another lieutenant.

Leader: S-Sir, I’m sorry about the rank mistake s-sir.

Revenant: No problem Lieutenant, it happens all the time, and personally, I don’t care. So stop stuttering.

Leader: Yessir.

Revenant: Stop calling me sir. Alright, call me Revenant, or if you need to get my attention quick, just Rev, got it?

Leader: Yes Revenant.

The ODST loaded into several cars that were waiting for them and were wisked away to the Roman Pentagon. When they arrived they were treated with suspicion, after all, they were in tactical armor with enough weapons and ammo to blow away a small town. They had the hardest time getting through security until the lieutenant stated that they had important business with the president. They were let through, despite the fact that each made the metal detectors scream like a banshee. Then they were followed the whole way by a Pentagon Tactical Team, to make sure they didn’t do anything they shouldn’t, though it was doubtful that they would dare cause problems for the Romans, they were afterall here to help. They arrived at a large conference room, They waited outside, inside they saw the Roman President and a general having a conversation. They waited to be invited in.

OOC: Revenant would be the man doing most of the talking, or for that matter all of it unless your guys ask another ODST a specific question. He’s my nation’s single most decorated soldier, a brigadier general, and has a rather laid back attitude, unless someone ticks him off, in which case you don’t want to be in the same hemisphere as him. He would act rather formal while dealing with your president and general. He knows the situation relatively well, except specific details, and has the list of possible terrorists that could have pulled off the attact with him.

An ODST dress uniform is pure white, very similar to the UNSC dress uniforms in Halo 2, except It has blood red trim and is infinitely more ornate. Revenant’s left side chest area is covered in medals and assorted fruit salad. He cuts a rather imposing figure at 6 foot 1 inch, and has penetrating fiery green eyes, as well as a few very scars from the many battles he has been through.
(Figured I ought to let you know what he looks like before you have to talk to him)

Pentagon, Rome...

The President and General Suresh Thapa, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President wearing his business suit that had a royal blue tie and a black jacket and had a pin of the Roman Flag and another pin of the 1st Gorkha Rifles. Standing at the height of 6'2" and having a black beard on his face, but with had a few strands of grey hairs. Inside the President's black jacket to his left waist was his kukri inside its scabbard. General Suresh Thapa, a Gorkha was wearing his green colored army service uniform. He was and still is considered the most decorated soldier in the Roman Army, because Gorkhas are always going to be considered the bravest soldiers in the known world. He recieved Rome's Param Vir Chakra, Rome's highest honor. He was also wearing his kukri inside his jacket but it was positioned to the right side of his waist. Both of them shook each of the soldiers hand and greeted them by holding their hands up to their faces and placed their palms together.

"Hello, I'm President Bhavan Patel and this is General Suresh Thapa, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." said the President in his Indian dialect. "Ahh...General Revenant, I presume. I have heard so much about you. Generals in the past have told me so much about you and your courage in battle. I'm am honored to meet you in person. Shall we go into the conference room."

The President led the soldiers into the lit conference room. After they were seated. The Special Republican Guardsmen who followed the soldiers closed the door and stood outside to guard the room.

"Shall we get started. What has your intel show about the recent attack of Rome's Lab? I received the news yesterday and my lieutenants have told me that elements of the 160th Armored Division are helping evacuate the Roman security." asked the President.

Revenant shook the president's hand firmly and followed him to the conference room. When he was asked what intel his men had he began a quick briefing.

Revenant: Thank you sir, before I begin sir, I would like to appologize for my men and women. They weren't expecting such an honor, usually the ODST are simply dropped into the middle of nowhere and told to complete a mission, so this is a pleasent surprise. Shenyangi Central Intelligence, from the information that we've been able to gather has developed a list of individuals other than special forces operators, who could have accomplished this type of operation. I have that list with me.

Revenant withdrew a folder with the list of terrorists in it and slid it across the table to the president. The president began reading the list and the dossiers of all the terrorists listed.

Revenant: All these terrorists are either in custody or under surveillance by SCI field units. All of them, expect for 'Ares' and Mikial Durantanov however we currently have information intelligence specialists scanning all non-military and non-governmental communications frequencies for any sign of them, as sson as they move from where ever they are hiding, we will know where they are, and where they are going.
With your blessing we would like to examine the site of the attack. It may yield valuable clues to which terrorist we are searching for. As each dossier details, these two terrorists have very different styles, so any and all availible information that we may examine could give us a valuable edge in determining exactly which one is responsible for this act of terrorism. Once we know the position of the terrorists we will, inconjunction with your forces of course, move in and apprehend or neutralize the subject, and recover the biological agents that were stolen. If you deem it necessary we can have the 1st Marine Airborne Company sent to provide further back-up. However I can see how having any number of foreign soldiers on your soil is a threat to national security.

Revenant and the ODST sat quietly waited for the Romans to finish reviewing the information they had attained. Each one ran through what they expected the ruined lab site to be like, some imagined simply a hole in the ground with some rubble, others a rubble strewn wasteland with a large tangled mess of metal inside the crater and the occasional body part visible amongst the wreckage. They pushed the thoughts from their minds and began to think about home, and what they would be missing, some woud be missing nothing, others a birthday, or a family get together, Revenant in particular was going to be missing his anniversary, something that he had been looking forward to for the past few months.

OOC: Testing, testing, check 1, 2. I think this may be dead... too bad if it is...

(OCC: Sorry, man. Very busy and I'm pretty much lazy when replying.)

Conference Room, Pentagon, Rome…

The President and General Thapa were handed the files of Most Wanted Terrorists. The President was unfamiliar with these terrorists, but somehow he knew that these terrorists might be settling in the Fatherland. After the meeting his closed, the files will be handed over to Roman Intelligence Agencies to be verified. As General Reverent was conducting his presentation, the President and General Thapa were both listening, but General Thapa was taking small notes. The President froze for sometime thinking of several horrible scenarios, because General Revenant popped the question to investigate the Research Station. The president thought that if foreign soldiers figure out that Rome is building Weapons of Mass Destruction, they will tell their government, whom will then announce to the world that Rome is a major threat to the world’s global interest. But the President soon relaxed, because he knew that these soldiers are for the good of mankind. But still didn’t want to let his guard down, because those soldiers can still pose a threat. If these foreign soldiers know too much about Rome’s intentions, they will have to be taken down. This would lead to largest cover up Rome has ever committed to protect its secret, no matter the cost.

“We will allow your men to investigate the compound. Agents from Rome’s several Intelligence Agencies will also investigate the site. We will finally crack the code and begin hunting down these infidels before more people get hurt in the Fatherland or around the globe!” Exclaimed the President.

“You and you men will arrive to the compound by aircraft. You will be flown in by airplane to one of our Air Force Bases or Air Stations operated by the Navy or the Marine Corps. Helicopters will then transport you and your men to the compound.” Explained General Thapa after the President gave a few words. “Our agents will accompany you and will also try to figure out who the terrorists are. The terrorists may by revolutionaries that are trying to break away from the Fatherland. It may take us some time to have our agents to prepare their equipment, but the transportation will be no problem. If you need a place to stay, we will have one of Rome’s best hotel for your men to relax.”

The Research Station, Isolated Deserts of Iraq…

Helicopters of the 160th Armored Division’s Aviation Brigade arrived at the destroyed research station. From the air, Hindustani (Roman) soldiers look over the destruction with sadness and deep anger against. the enemy. They could not believe the destruction the terrorists the destruction committed by them. The soldiers will avenge each of their comrades death and make sure their service to the Fatherland will no go in vain. The helos landed a few feet away from the compound, kicking up sand because of the rotor wash. The soldiers got out of the helos with their weapons swung around their shoulders and stretchers opened.

Medical personnel, with their medical kits, rushed to the injured and started working on them. The men holding the stretchers placed them next to the injured and the dead and prepared to take them into the bird after the medical personnel are done working on them.

Captain Abdul bin Rahman bin Ali Al-Busaid walked out of the Chinook followed by his XO and his Company Havildar (Sergeant). He wanted to find the officer in charge and the head scientist. He began walking around the compound asking injured and unharmed soldiers helping the injured where the officers are. Lance Naik (Lance Corporal) Bhim Magar, kneeling on both of his feet, helping injured Marine Naik (Corporal) Amit Bhatt, pointed his blood-covered hand to the soldier talking to other soldiers.

“Jai Hind (Victory to Rome), Sahab.” Said Marine Lieutenant Vijay Shah Khan as he gave a salute to the Captain.

“Jai Hind.” Replied Captain Al-Busaid. “What happened here?”

“Sahab, we were ambushed! We were totally unprepared to deal with this. Our men managed to hold back the enemy. But as you see, the facilities were blown up. The terrorists must have wanted the biological and chemical weapons and blew the place up so Rome will not be able to recover or they wanted to hide their tracks.”

“It is sad, Vijay!” Captain Al-Busaid balled his hand into a fist because of his anger to terrorists. “How many casualties?”

“We have lost over 60 soldiers, probably even more, and the rest have sustained wounds from bullets and mortar fragments. The scientists were all killed because of the terrorists’ killing spree. We have not been able to locate the head scientist. One of my men said that Dr. Kwaad, the head scientist, retreated into his underground bunker. My men weren’t able to locate him in the bunker. My theory is that the doctor must have left the compound after the explosion.”

“Damn!” muttered Captain Al-Busaid. “Are there any officers still alive?”

“Yes, Sahab.” Replied Lieutenant Khan “Gorkha Lieutenants Rahul Agrawal and Ranjha Singh are both seriously injured and Marine Lieutenant Vikram Behl is somewhere around the compound helping the injured.”

“Any way, the birds are here to evacuate all of you. Prepare to leave, my company will take over security.” Said Captain Al-Busaid as he pointed to the helos.

“Thank You, Sahab” Both men gave each other a salute and departed.

It took almost more than an hour to have the injured and the dead on stretchers were carefully loaded into the helos. The medical personnel also enter the helos, but a few of them stayed with the Rifle Company incase the enemy came back. A few squads of Gorkhas and Marines also stayed with the soldiers. Captain Al-Busaid ordered a squad from his company to begin searching for the doctor, he could be cowering under a table. Outside the compound, MH-60s and MH-47s took off and turned to the direction of a military hospital in Baghdad. The medial personnel continued giving first aid to the injured so they won’t die on the ride to the hospital.

IC: Revenant noted slight tension in the president's voice, and a shadow of suspicion on his face, but chose not to bring it up. It was obvious that foreign soldiers being anywhere near sensitive military materials was a major threat to Roman security, but it was not the ODST's intention to steal secrets or dig too deep into this disaster, they simply needed some piece of evidence to point them in the right direction, so they could bring terrorists to justice and eliminate the threat posed by the stolen bio-agent. Admittedly, this meant that they planned to destroy the samples of the weapons, but they weren't about to let on to that little bit of there orders, it would likely make their hosts less agreeable, and since it was obvious that they were suspicious, there was little that could be gained by instilling fear into them by saying that their weapons would be disposed of by the ODST.

Revenant: Thank you sirs, we would like to leave for the facility immediately, as to prevent any further tensions here, as we have no doubt raised. It has been an honor to meet you sirs, and I hope that we may resolve this matter swiftly, and without any collateral bloodshed. We will keep you appraised of our findings throughout this operation until we have completed our objectives, or they become unattainable. We appreciate this honor, good day sirs, and good luck in all your affairs until next we speak.

Revenant bowed deeply. He rose, gave a Shenyangi salute to the two men and then motioned for the other ODST to salute, then follow him out. He knew he may well have cut the men short, but he wasn't going to put up with being put under a microscope by a foreign dignitary and his 'military advisor' that wasn't his style, and frankly, he didn't appreciate the suspicion one bit. The ODST rose and followed him out of the room and into the hall, once again they were led by the lieutenant, and trailed by security in body armor, though the ODST hardly would have called it that. Before they reached the vehicles Revenant requested that he could change back into his tactical gear, explaining that he felt slightly uncomfortable outside his armor during an operation. He was allowed to go, but it was obvious that there were armed men in the bathroom inside stalls as he changed in a shower, more suspicion, he really was getting close to his breaking point. He donned his digital tiger stripe BDUs and then his armor, he loaded it down with all his usual gear, ammo, grenades, knives, weapons, and exitted looking just like the others. As he passed security they gave him a frightful look, and then he emerged into the lobby where eeryone was waiting for him. They exitted into the parking lot.

The returned to the vehicles which had brought them to the Pentagon. Revenant made out the glint off of several sniper scopes in the gardens and on rooftops. Revenant thought it was rather extravegent security, even for his teams. He multiplied the number of scopes he saw by 3 and had his estimate of the number of weapons trained on his vehicles. His estimate said close to 36 snipers, this didn't count soldiers with rockets or assault rifles either, he honestly expected that therre were close to 60 weapons aimed at his men, and really didn't appreciate that. Revenant opened a secure line with all the ODST, noone outside their helmets could hear them as they spoke.

Revenant: Josef, what was your impression of that whole situation?

Polaris: Leon, I honestly got the feeling that we are not welcome here, and that we are wished to be gone.

Revenant: Agreed, what about you Sirius?

Sirius: They're gonna try to eliminate us, plain and simple, they were too nice, its obvious they don't want us here, and they will do what ever it takes to get us out of here.

Revenant: You're right, I can't put up with all this suspicion too much longer. We'll have to play damage control if one gets hurt. I don't want to end up killing those we came to help.

ODST: Agreed.

Revenant: Good. That others may live.

Polaris: That others may live.

Sirius: That others may live.

The ODST arrived at the airport shortly. They were ushered onto a Roman aircraft. They had all their gear with them and spread out over most of the cargo compartment. The door to the cockpit was sealed and the crew cheif had an M-468 6.8mm SPC assault rifle hanging from his shoulder. Revenant chose to ignore this and removed his large combat pack. He unloaded it onto the floor once the aircraft was airborne.

He had a week of MREs, more ammo than he could ever possibly need, yet less than he wanted. Several different weapons of assorted denominations, and everything he could ever need to complete an operation, within reason. The other ODST did the same. They then repacked everything once they were convinced that everything was in working order. Most took quick naps, a few stayed awake and hummed songs ranging from the Shenyangi National Anthem, to La Grange by ZZ Top. Others were reading and lastly a few were keenly observant for anything wrong. They assumed they had been provided a 'fighter escort' which they knew was there to ensure they didn't do anything. In reality it wasn't there, but in the ODSTs' minds, they wouldn't put it past the Romans, who did seem overly paranoid about the ODST. If someone from Shenyang says they have come to help, they mean it. Those outside the intelligence community were generally known for their honesty. Those in the intel community were still highly honest, as long as the subject wasn't their job or something vital to national security.

The ODST awaited the aircraft's landing for quite a while. Finally it landed, the ODST had no idea where they were and the crew of the aircraft had no intention of telling them. They prepared to exit the aircraft, and were fully expecting a welcoming comittee of armed soldiers who were none too keen on dealing with the ODST.

OOC: No problem, I'll be waiting for the next post. Just one request get off your lazy *** and put some work into those replies! J/K

OOC: I sure hope it's not dead...after all, I posted the first post of this thread about a year ago. With such longevity, how could it die now? *Ignores many-month period when everyone forgot it existed* ;)

OOC: none the less, the shock paddles are standing by, as are several other methods of revival. Just in case.

Conference Room, Pentagon, Rome…

After the meeting was concluded, both the President and General Thapa gave General Revenant and his men a return salute. After Special Republican Guardsmen escorted them, General Thapa and the President began talking in Hindi about the situation.

“Mr. President. What is your plan?” asked General Thapa.

“We are not going to let those men dig up sensitive data. I don’t know how they manage to breach our sovereignty from sea, land, air or even electronically. But right now, we can’t afford to let our guard down. We will continue working with them and we will lead a coalition against these terrorists and show them how the Fatherland treats terrorists.” Replied the President.

“Yes, Sahab. I will have these files delivered to our Intelligence Agencies and to SOCOM”

“Good, Sureshbhai. The sooner we get these terrorists. The less we have to rely on foreign support.”

“Sahab? What are we going to do when with them before they arrive to the research station?”

“We will have to blindfold them. We don’t want to reveal the research stations position. We will even have to take away their GPS receivers and probably remove any GPS implants. We might have to use our jammer systems to keep the position hidden, if they refuse to have the implants removed.”

“Yes, Sahab.”

Both of them got up from their chairs and exchanged handshakes and walked our of the conference room. The President began walking around the Pentagon and making sure the facility is running smoothly. General Thapa handed the files to his secretary in his office because he wanted them photocopied and stored electronically. After the files were copied and stored, they were distributed to SOCOM and the Fatherland’s Intelligence Agencies. The Joint Chiefs of Staff contacted the nearest base for Rome’s agents and Shenyang’s soldiers to land and then delivered to the site. The most active base was best because they contained enough support to refuel and repair the aircraft. There is also a sufficient number of helicopters to transport all of them. They selected Baghdad International Airport, because it is some miles away from the Research Station and there is an Air Force Base next to it.

The Joint Chiefs also contacted General Saddam Al-Mohammed, head of the Ministry of Defense.

Central Intelligence Agency, Rome…

Director Kartik Balwan, Head of the CIA, was handed the phone by his secretary and was told that it was the Head of the Ministry of Defense.

“Jai Hind, Sahab-ji.” Answered Director Balwan

“Jai Hind.” Replied General Al-Mohamed, “Kartikbhai, I am aware that you have been notified about our current situation.”

“Yes, Sahab-ji.”

“Recently, We have received uninvited guests from Shenyang. From the intel they provided, the knew about the explosion before we did. The President and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with the soldiers and discussed about

“Yes, Sahab. I just arrived before you called. I was looking over it and having my agents imputing the data and conducting investigations with other intelligence agencies.”

“Good. The President, Joint Chiefs, and I want you to send a few agents to the Research Station and aid in the investigation. One more thing, since the guest arrived in short notice, we are suspicious about them, because they might pose a threat, if they uncover sensitive data. If they do, we want you to eliminate them, because we can’t let them leave with all that sensitive data.”

“Sahab?” Interrupted the Director. “Will that create an international incident? We don’t want to create a cover-up, because war is the first thing that comes to my mind.”

“Yes, I know the consequences. But these are the strictest orders from the President and the Joint Chiefs.”

“Okay, Sahab. I will begin sending agents to aid the foreign soldiers.”

“Good Kartikbhai. Have a good day.”

“Bye, Sahab. I will inform you on our findings.”

Director Balwan put the phone down and began thinking about what will happen if they eliminated the foreign soldiers. He really didn’t want war, he wanted to prevent it. That’s the purpose of the CIA and Rome’s other intelligence agencies, if espionage, diplomacy, or economic sanction doesn’t work, he knew that war is the only solution to get it through the enemy’s pig-headed ignorance. Since there was no time to think about those scenarios, the CIA had a job to do. So, the director called down several agents to his office and began selecting which of them will go to the site. The director selected 20 agents whom will be led by Ramesh Singh. Agent Ramesh Singh in his late forties, a height of 6 feet, and a weight of 190lbs served the CIA for 10 years, but before he joined the agency, he served as Marine Commando for 9 years and retired at the rank of a Havildar. Ever since joining the CIA, he has helped the agency hunt down gangsters, terrorists, counter-revolutionaries, spies, insurgents, and drug lords by using his skills when he was a Commando. Wearing his turbin and maintaining his thick black beard, he and his fellow comrades were brief on the situation and were told that they will aid soldiers from Shenyang in their investigation to find who attacked the facility. After their meeting was concluded, the agents left the Director’s office and began packing their equipment. Outside the building, a convoy of 7 black luxury vehicles were parked near the entrance waiting for the agents to embark. One by one each of the agents walked out of the building carrying the equipment on their backs and by hand, they then placed all of them inside the vehicles and then they drove off to the airport where the Shenyang soldiers were beginning to board the airplane.

Arriving at Bhavan International Airport, the agents debarked out of their vehicles and had the ground crew pack them inside, they told the ground crew to be careful with the equipment, because they are fragile. The agents then boarded the Boeing 767 “Dreamliner” civilian aircraft, one of Rome’s best aircraft because of its luxury and comfort. The Agent gave all the Shenyang soldiers whom were seated a greeting of hello and handshakes to go with their greetings. After they were seated they talked with each other and the Shenyangi soldiers on their trip to the Airport.

Baghdad Air Force Base, Iraq…

After the long hours of flight, the passengers weren’t bored because the airplane’s crew provided entertainment by showing movies and music of Rome. The airplane then landed at Baghdad Air Force Base, home of the 23rd Fighter Wing and 20th Rescue Group. The Boeing 767 taxied off the runway and parked in an empty lot. Ground crew rushed to the plane and placed blocks behind the aircraft’s wheels, so the aircraft will no move. A truck towing a stair-mounted trailer parked next to the aircraft’s left front door. Once all the passengers get out of the airplane, Brigadier General Yogendra Yadav Singh, commander of the Air Force Base greeted all of them with a handshake. Hours before the CIA agents and Shenyangi soldiers boarded the plane at Bhavan International, he was contacted by the Pentagon and was briefed about the situation and was told that he will have guests arriving at his air base. After the briefing, the General gave the coordinates to HH-60H Pavehawk pilots of the 20th Rescue Group.

Once all the agents and soldiers were aquatinted, the General pointed to the helicopters that they will take to the Research Station. The ground crew whom unloaded all the equipment off the aircraft and placed them on a truck, were then reloaded on the helicopter before the Hindustani and Shenyangi agents and soldiers enter the birds. The soldiers and agents and soldiers entered the Pavehawks and took their seats. The helicopters’ crewmen asked the Shenyangi soldiers to place blindfolds around their eyes and give up their GPS recievers, but they will be returned after returning back from the Research Station. The Pavehawk pilots turned on the rotors and lifted off the ground and headed to the Research Station. The helicopters’ crew chief slid the Pavehawks doors to prevent any sandstorms from blowing into everyone’s eyes.

OOC: Jolt ate my last post, which was 5 pages. So I'll try to rebuild it. Lets go. Yes I did have a lot of time to devise this massive post.

IC: The ODST hadn't expected to be put on a luxury liner. They were sort of surprised. They had a grand time watching movies and listening to the Roman music. When the aircraft finally landed they had almost forgotten that the Romans were treating them with such suspicion. They saw the HH-60Gs and immediately headed over to them. They knew that the aircraft would be taking them to the facility. They were asked to remove their GPS tracking gear by the pilots and complied, with some reservations. They took off their helmets and put on their marroon berets, which bore a gold ODST logo. They allowed themsleves to be blindfolded and sat down within the aircraft. This somewhat aggitated them, as they were now being treated as prisoners. Still they remeained silent about their annoyance. The intelligence agents boarded the HH-60Gs and the aircraft lightly lifted into the air. They sat quietly aboard the aircraft as it flew toward their destination.

Polaris drew one of his ODST combat daggers. He felt every Roman on the aircraft tense up and smiled slightly, he was pleased that he was making these spooks uncomfortable. He heard several holsters unclip. The Romans were seriously on edge.

Polaris: Relax, I will not be using this for quite some time, and not on anyone here, yes?

Polaris began to twirl the dagger around his fingers deftly, wthout being able to see it at all, he spun the weapon purely by feel and memory. As the aircraft turned he compensated, as it ascended he kept the blade spinning and flipping exactly where it was supposed to be. His smirk did not fade. He could feel that the Romans were slowly calming down. He decided to calm them further.

Polaris: This is a nervous habit, I cannot help it, how am I doing by the way?

No Roman responded.

Revenant: Josef, you spinning that dagger again?

Polaris: Yes I am, you know me, I cannot help myself in this matter.

Revenant: Fine, just don't drop it, okay?

Polaris: That will not be a problem Leon.

The Romans calmed down a little more. Polaris listened intently to the Romans as they breathed with a heaviness caused by the tension that this threat was creating. He decided to up the ante on these spooks. He snatched the dagger and made to throw it at the nearest Roman, before they could react he had caught it, the dagger had been released at the precise moment when it would have no forward momentum and that allowed Polaris to feign the throw safely, he continued his dagger tricks, but once again all the Romans were on edge. His smirk remained as visible as ever.

Polaris: I cannot believe you thought I would murder your spook. I have not come to this country to kill its people. You need to relax, enjoy the ride comrades. There is no need for the tension, or for your hands to hover over your sidearms as they are. Yes I know they are there, and are waiting for me to attack. I will not be striking against you, so I request you stop this show of hostility. As have I said this is a nervous habit, not a threat.

The Romans didn't calm down much, but a small amount of tension did leave them.

Sirius: You didn't do what I think you did, did you?

Polaris: That depends on what you believe it is I have done.

Sirius: You faked a throw didn't you Polaris.

Polaris: Yes I did, you have caught me.

Sirius: Nice one, sure they loved that.

Polaris: Oh yes, it went over beautifully.

Revenant: How much longer?

Roman Pilot: A while.

Revenant: What kind of answer is that?

Roman Pilot: The one I am going to give.

Revenant was slightly aggitated. He let that anger go, and returned to his thoughts of his wife. She would have found his note and his gift by now. She would be happy, and worried that he may not come home from this operation, as she always was. He secretly promised that he would make it home, no matter what it took.

Polaris finally stopped spinning his blade and replaced it in its sheath. The Romans finally relaxed down to a 'guarded suspicion' level of tension. They took their hands away from their weapons and sat back in their seats, but they remained keenly observant of the ODST sitting near them.

Finally the Pavehawks reached their objective, the ruined facility. They touched down and the ODST did not hesitate. Immediately they removed their blindfolds and exitted the helos into the desolate landscape. With no regard for the Roman spooks he began giving orders to the ODST.

Revenant: Alright, fan out, we're looking for evidence of who could be responsible for this, non-standard shell casings, discarded weapons, clothing that makes no sense in a combat situation, dead terrorists. Avoid any Roman equipment or soldiers, we do not want to cause any more problems here. Alright move it.

The ODST moved into a search pattern, they swept the area with a keen focus on anything that wasn't military or scientific in nature. Each ODST reported anything they found to a Roman spook. Sirius was the first person to find anything of value. She came across a small number of 5.56x45mm casings discarded on the ground near the edge of the facility.

Sirius: Revenant, I've got soemthing, perhaps you should come check this out, you know these terrorists better than I do.

Revenant: Right, on my way.

Revenant hurried over to where Sirius was crouched down over the casings and asked what she'd found.

Sirius: 5.56 casings, Dectoral Mk. 2C Anti-Personnel Blended Hollow Point Shredder Rounds. Highly deadly against lightly armored opponents. More than capable of killing a man with a single hit to a normally non-vital location via trauma and blood loss and kinetic energy transfer. Hey! OGA guy! Any of your military's units use the Dectoral Mk. 2C APMHPSR series?

The Roman Spook seemed rather perplexed by this query.

Roman Operative: A Dectoral Mark Toosie Ampsir? What the hell?

Sirius rolled her eyes, it was obvious this guy wasn't current on specialty ammunition produced within Shenyang.

Sirius: The Dectoral Mk. 2C APMHPSR series round, high lethality anti-personnel round designed to kill basically no matter where it hits you. Since you obviously don't know what I'm talking about I'll guess the answer is no. Perhaps you should look into this sort of stuff, an OGA Spook should know what he might encounter so he doesn't get his rear blown off by a well armed terrorist. Since you've been so 'helpful' I'll clue you into what this means. It means that atleast one of these terrorists was using a Shenyangi round in his G-36 assault rifle. I know it was a G-36 becuase of these small yellow composite flecks on the spent casings. You spend half as much trigger time with a G-36C as me and you learn these little things, like that poorly maintained mags shed small amounts of composite when they become brittle. These flecks are deposited on the round and can be used to ID the fact that the weapon was a G-36 series weapon. The round has the Dectoral markings at the rear of the casing. So I'd say that you've got a rather well equipped terrorist on your hands. Probably on someone important's payroll. Now run along and try to look important. Bye bye. I'm done here sir.

Revenant: By all means move on Lieutenant. Keep up the good work.

Sirius moved off with a very obvious grace. Her striking facial features in full view without her helmet. She was quite beautiful, but much too untrusting to approach about that fact.

Roman Operative: What's he OGA and why is she calling me an OGA Spook?

Revenant: Other Government Agency, and a Spook is an intel operative. So you put two and two together and there you have OGA Spook.

Revenant walked off as well, leaving the Roman to mull over this little bit of disrespect for a while. While the ODST were there to help, that didn't mean they had to be, or indeed would be, polite in any way shape or form to those sent to watch them and those who they view as inferior to themselves, which basically meant everyone save high level government officials.

The ODST continued their search. Polaris was the next to find an important piece of evidence. He climbed the hill the terrorists had used during the attack, finding shell casings and a huge number of foot prints. He also came across a trail of Mk. 2C ammunition which he followed up the hill. Another identifying feature of the Mk. 2C was its black casing, which made them harder to see, and more imposing. They also made them stand out against the brass that also littered the ground. He reached the top of the hill and looked at the scene of destruction laid out below him. A Spook was following him and Polaris began talking to himself.

Polaris: It was not just...

Roman Spook: It wasn't what?

Polaris: This was not just terrorist explosives whihc destroyed this factory of death. It appears that they used your facility's main power plant to destroy itself. Very clever, and almost, poetic, the facility producing death which kills from within is destroyed by its own heart. Yes, that is poetic justice.

Roman: Where did you get the right? Where do you get the right to call this poetic? Dozens of Romans died down there and all you can say is that the facility was blown up by itself and that its 'poetic.' Where did you get the right?

Polaris: I am a demolitions specialist, bomb defusal technician, and combat engineer, I have a degree in demolitons engineering, I spent twelve years of my life as a terrorist against the opressive emperor of Shenyang. That is where I have the knowledge to pass judgement on this disaster. I am not calling the death of your people poetic, I am calling the death of the facility such. Now if you are angered by this, take it up with SSOCOM, because I do not care what it is that you have to say to be frank.

Polaris walked back down the hill. He returned to his searches. Several other ODST found equipment of Warmasterian manufacture. They did not make note of this. They continued their hunt. An hour after they started the ODST were done. They had not combed the entire facility for every possible clue, they had only looked for what they needed to identify the terrorist responsible. After all their labors they had determined that Ares was responsible for the attack, the ODST informed both Roman Intelligence and SCI and now the race was on to see who was going to find out the location of the target first. Since Roman Intelligence was still trying to verify that the ODST weren't leading them around in circles, SCI was at the advantage. They immediately began diverting massive amounts of information processing capabilities into this operation. Several White Cell supercomputers were brought to bear on the task. It was immediately apparent how powerful they were as they brought up an aircraft manifest that had one of Ares' aliases on it. Through some clever hacking the Roman airport where this manifest had been filed showed that Ares had been there only a few days before the attack. His picture had been caught by several security cameras, which SCI did facial comparisons and came up with 100% positive matches on these images. Ares was responsible for the attack, and since there was no record of him leaving, he was still in the Roman Republic. The ODST would be informed when they were safely away from the Romans who were with them. If the Romans were going to be so suspicious, then they could find this out for themselves. The ODST would have to survive the Roman 'hospitality' for a while longer before they could be turned loose to fix this international incident in the making. The mission's parameters were clear:

Primary:
1. Eliminate Or Recover The Stolen Chemical/Biological Weapons.
2. Eliminate Or Pacify The Terrorists Responsible For This Attack.

Secondary:
1. Eliminate Or Pacify The Man Responsible For The Creation Of The Stolen Weapons.

Tertiary:
1. Eliminate Any Foreign Personnel Who Threaten ODST Squads 1 And 2.

The Secondary and Tertiary objectives were unneccesary to success, but Shenyangi Central Intelligence did not want to pass up any possibility to destroy the threat posed by the existance of these weapons. Also any threats to the ODST could not be ignored. If someone was going to make an attempt on the ODST, they had full clearance to fight back, with full deadly force. Of course the mission data given to the Romans did not include these extra objectives. It would have been imprudent to tell them that Shenyang planned to assassinate a Warmasterian national, or that if they attacked the ODST, that the aggressors would be destroyed in retaliation. In fact the mission information did not even allude to the existance of more objectives. There was no way that the Romans or for that matter anyone else would find out the extra objectives of the ODST's mission.

Ares, a pistol in his shoulder holster and garrote wire in his watch, calmly read the newspaper while an Imperial Guardsman strolled up and down the plane, his dart gun clearly visible. Idiot. Ares could have killed him with his bare hands and taken control of the plane had he wished, especially with a dozen of his men elsewhere on the plane. But they were here on a normal flight, posing as tourists, like most of the people on the jet. Its destination? The Roman Republic. Eager to shake possible pursuit, Ares had taken this flight, and his men were on others, planning to meet up at a hotel in Rome. After one day, he would take half his force to Baghdad International Airport, as close to the destroyed research center as civilians were likely to go. His employer had hinted at Shenyangi involvement as well as Roman, but it hardly mattered. Nobody would look for him at Baghdad International. Ares wondered if his mysterious contractor was simply trying to provoke a war, whether between Shenyang and the Romans or both of them and the Imperium, but it didn’t matter as long as he came out of it rich.

He folded up the newspaper and went to sleep.



Intelligence Headquarters, Korronis, in the Empire

Dirk Crovax, Deputy Head of the Intelligence Division, turned as a knock came on his office door. A junior officer entered, bowed, and presented a small packet of papers.

“Sir, we have a lead on the terrorists that attacked our facility in Roman territory. They have boarded planes back to the Roman Republic, and it is unlikely they will return to the Empire for a while. Obviously they are trying to shake pursuit. Samuel Marchosias sends word that he is unaware of involvement of the International. These papers contain the planes’ information, as well as what we could find about the individual terrorists.”

“Excellent,” Crovax said absentmindedly, glancing over the papers. “If you could get the Roman head of state, whatever his title is, and put him on the line? I need to give him this information. They might be able to apprehend these terrorists when they land.”

“Very good, sir.”

Soon afterwards, the red light by his phone flashed, and Crovax picked it up, unsure what to expect.

“Hello?”

Almost to show they could not be outdone the White Cell computers spit out the travel information on Ares at the very moment. They also produced the name of the hotel that he was to meet at. This of course couldn't help the ODST, as they were basically being detained, any move they made while on Roman soil was being watched, but perhaps there was another way. Shenyang had one of the world's most extensive special operations force on the planet. With literally every possible discipline covered they could draw from any and every field they needed. It was time that another group made a move. However, this group was going to make it abundantly clear to the Romans that they, as their leader would say, 'Don't want any s**t about meeting with anyone when there were terrorists with WMDs at large and that any personnel observing them would be dealt with, lethally.'

The 3rd ISAF SAS Squadron was brought in to Fort McKnight for briefing, only 4 were selected to head into Rome to serve their country. The team was called 'Espada' which meant Sword in Spanish one of Shenyang's official languages, and was the most appropriate team for the assignment. They had training in every imaginable field to allow them to do any job with a high degree of professionalism. They chose their gear from the large array of weapons before them, choosing the most effective gear possible. They knew that they would be treated with suspiscion, but hoped the message being dispatched to Rome at the moment would keep the Romans from ruining this operation as they seemed to be doing for the ODST. They were given permission to do what was necessary to elliminate the threat short of causing a major international incident. As the team moved toward the transport to take them to the airport they knew the message was en-route to Rome and they knew that it would not make anyone happy there.


Official Deployment Message:
It has come to the attention of Shenyangi Special Operations Command that the Roman community is causing quite a delay in the ODST's operations. We can only recognize this as one of a very few possiblities. These are as follows:

1. The Roman government is completely paranoid of any attempt to send even a small force onto their land regardless of the force's intent.

2. The Roman government does not wish to have any assistance in this matter despite the fact that it is a threat to the world at large. Wishing to deal with this as though it is a purely internal matter with no regard for the fact that the populace of every other nation is threatened by this chain of events.

3. The Roman government does not wish to have these weapons recovered. The Roman government instead wishes to allow terrorists to use WMDs on their own or another nation's soil.

The Roman government's overt acts to stall the 1st and 2nd ODST Squads is evidence of each of these possible scenarios. We as a nation cannot help but worry at the possibility that your government wishes to allow these weapons to escape or does not realize the gravity of the current situation.

In light of the Roman government's obvious inability to cooperate with the ODST who were sent to collaboratively aid in the recovery of these weapons SSOCOM has deemed it necessary to deploy another force inside Roman borders with no orders to collaborate and indeed the clearance to eliminate any and all persons who stand in the way of their operation at their own judgement.

As your government can no doubt see this could easilly cause a problem if these operators find that they are being observed or hindered in any way by Roman forces, be they military, law enforcement, or intelligence groups. As a result Shenyang has issued the Roman government this singular warning:

1. Do not in anyway impede or observe the Shenyangi force en-route to Rome at this time. Any and all attempts to do so will be met with force, which could very well refer to lethal force.

A. Do not contact these operators
B. Do not observe these operators
C. Do not interfere with these operators
D. Do not in anyway make any moves that will stall or slow these operators' plans.

If at any time this expressed warning is violated then all Shenyangi forces will be forced to commit one of the following actions:

1. Pull out to Rome and leave all operations to the Roman forces, at which time Shenyangi Central Intelligence would require the return of its list of terrorists, and any copies of it that are produced as well as the irretrievable destruction of all intelligence stemming from the recieveing of this information. This would in effect mean setting your search back to Square 1 with no information to find the terrorists responsible.
2. Break from their Roman associates by whatever means necessary and treat this as a Black Operation with no regard for collateral damage caused by their hunting of these terrorists. This will extend to and not be limited to
A. Law Enforcement Officers
B. Military Personnel
C. Intelligence Officers
D. Government Personnel
E. Civilians

As you can see neither of these propositions is appealing for any party. As a result Shenyang demands that the force that is currently en-route to Rome be given free reign to do whatever they must without the intererence of Roman personnel in any way unless help is requested by the Shenyangi government or the operators in question.

The Force en-route to Rome is 'ISAF SAS: 'ESPADA' Team'. They will soon be arriving in Rome via civilian aircraft and will then proceed with their operation in total independence of Roman influence. It is believed that this will speed up the apprehension of these terrorists exponentially as our current information denotes that the ODST have been detained by your president in your Pentagon for a briefing and are currently undetectable due to the fact that their GPS tracking gear has been confiscated.
We wish to inform your government that we did not know about this event when it came through the grape vine, as it were, but that one of Shenyang's many DarkStar Spy Sats was en-route to another target when it recorded the event on its surveillance gear, which was then active as a pre-overflight systems check. We know the location of the disaster area and as a result your attempts at keeping it secret are pointless. Any attempt to injure the ODST or SAS in light of this development will result in immediate and brutal retaliation by the Shenyangi military. As a result we implore you to avoid acting rashly at this information. We have informed the ODST of these developments and as a result they will be ready should your nation make the unfortunate decision to strike against them.

We have also included dossiers for the SAS operators who are en-route to your nation, however any information that would give away their identity has been omitted to maintain our own national security.

Best of luck in your attempts to recapture these weapons.

-Chairman Murdock

-End Message


The SAS team boarded their flight to Rome in Randova, the four of them sitting in the first class seats looking like any other passengers. In their carry-on and stowed baggage were their weapons, each a customized weapon that best fit the operator who used it. The SAS had a man in the Roman airport that was their destination who would ensure their bags passed through all security unimpeded. They sat back and enjoyed the flight in their seats.

The members of Espada were a tight knit group, they had served together since they had passed training, and were a perfect team. They could move with a precision that defied explanation, and when they had to be they could blend perfectly into a crowd. The airline personnel knew who they were, due to the close relationship between the SAS in Shenyangi Airways, and they knew that if Espada had been called out, something was very wrong in Rome. Still, the SAS operators sat back and relaxed, watching the inflight movie.

OOC: Here my government is feigning ignorance over whether any samples were stolen; Commodus Kwaad would have reported that information. But I suppose you could just hack the remnants of the facility’s records and catch my government in a lie. Much more interesting that way, no?

IC:

OFFICIAL DIPLOMATIC COMMUNIQUE

To the Most Honorable Chairman Murdock:

We have noted your involvement in an Imperial affair; however, we do not dispute your right to investigate. We will reveal, under the condition that you do not declassify the information without our permission, to you the truth: a facility was built in the Roman Republic for the purpose of manufacturing biological weapons, in accordance with an agreement between the Romans and the Imperium. It was recently destroyed by a terrorist attack, led by a man identified by code-named only: Ares. He was born in the Imperium, but records of his pre-terrorist life do not exist. It is believed he erased them at some point. Some of his small army of followers are citizens of the Imperium, as well. We assure you that we in no way sanction the actions of this terrorist, nor did we authorize him in the first place. The man is an outlaw, and is not receiving any official support from the Imperium. However, this Ares has eluded the Imperium in the past, when we thought he was within our grasp. He certainly has contacts and moles within the police and Imperial Guard, and is likely loosely affiliated with the International, a worldwide crime syndicate, whose deeds the Imperium generally turns a blind eye to. However, it is appearing more and more likely that Ares is being provided with support from the Imperium. The Inquisition, at our divine command, is currently investigating all those with the power to fund and employ what is essentially a small army, and we shall share our findings with you and with our friends the Romans. Meanwhile, the facility’s manifest has been destroyed, and a team of observers has not yet been sent to the site. Therefore, we are unaware whether any biological weaponry has been stolen, and if so, how much. But we shall put forth all our efforts to apprehend this man.

His Divine Majesty, Sacred Emperor Lucifer of Domain Halcyon

OOC: Thanks didn't think of that, I think I'm gonna enjoy this.

IC:
The SAS arrived aboard Shenyang Airways Flight 134 in Rome around midnight, they were exactly on schedule. Their accomplice inside the airport had procured their bags and had stashed them on the tarmac. Right under an overhang of the terminal that blocked all vision from all sides. ESPADA slid out onto the tarmac unnoticed in a dead spot in the video surveillance which only afforded them a 10 second window every 30 seconds due to the camera's rotation speed. They slipped unnoticed under the overhang and gathered their gear. They quickly grabbed their bags and headed for the far fence using the aircraft that were sitting everywhere as a shield to make them effectively invisible, and if the Romans had gotten the message then they would steer clear of ESPADA or they knew the repurcussions. They reached the perimeter fence, which was conveniently obscured at this point by a low rise in the terrain, they used bolt cutters to cut through, then to make sure their escape route was untracible they soldered the cut fencing back together. They slipped off into the darkness and donned their tactical gear. They wore all black because at the moment, it was rather dark, and the methd in which they moved would make them effectively invisible if they'd been wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Kawalsky: Radio Check, Report in.

Berenger: Espada 4, good to go sir.

Bennet: Espada 3, roger.

Jenkins: Espada 2, lets rock.

Kawalsky: Roger, our objective is this hotel, (he showed them an image of a rather up-scale hotel in Rome, which was barely visible through the darness) We have to get in, find Ares and get out, we don't have a face for him, but we have his room number, 1218, we get in, grab or neutralize the package, and then we extract with any WMDs this mark is carrying. Espada 4, I want you to be inside this office building over here, get a clear line of fire on that room to ensure that if it hits the fan you take this package out. I suggest the 5th floor Southwest conference room, floor 5 is under construction, so noone will be there, use your silence and take him out if you have to, shoot to kill but chek your targets got it?

Berenger: Got it Espada 1, I'll take him out if you need me too.

Kawalsky: Alright, the rest of us are going to be going to the target floor and slipping into room 1220 directly next to the package's room, its listed as empty, we're then going to come in via the adjoining door and take it down. Silenced weapons only, stay quiet. We'll catch the mark totally by surprise. Got that?

Jenkins: Why not go into the objective room from the roof sir?

Kawalsky: Too obvious, we can't have the package realizing we're there until we move in. If it's not there we'll fall back to this abandoned warehouse 2 kilometers away and wait for SCI to update us.

Espada Team: Roger that sir.

Espada team moved toward the abandoned warehouse, they slid into and out of alleys as they moved, luckilly the streets were quiet, this district of the city was always rather empty at night, partly due to the fact that there were no homes or stores there, just warehouses. They arrived at their target after 6 close calls and 2 hours of covert motion.They had nearly been spotted in their full kit by 4 civilian vehicles and 2 police cruisers moving through the district. The warehouse was abandoned as hoped, there was plenty of cover to hide them from any observers. They would assault the building the next morning they had to recover from the jet lag of flying from Shenyang to Rome on such short notice. They set up shifts to keep watch while they slept, each member would keep watch for an hour and a half then be relieved, the SAS only needed 4 and a half hours sleep to operate at the top of their game. Kawalsky took the first watch. He sat in the darkness with his night vision active watching for any threats. His G-36C sat by his side with a loaded clip of Dectoral Mk. 2C APMHPSR they could shred a man with only a few impacts to non vital areas and were absolutely deadly. They were restricted to military use within Shenyang, which made the SAS wonder if the package had a contact within the Shenyangi military, though that was impossible, he'd have to have a man SSOCOM, which simply wasn't possible, or if someone at Dectoral Ammunition was equipping him. This was more likely, they did deal with private transactions with foreign customers, if he was to pose as a foreign military official he could get a shipment of these rounds set to him quite easily.

A CTU assault team was on their way to the president of Dectoral Ammunition's house to bring him in for questioning, if he'd sold the rounds to a known terrorist on purpose he was in for a rude awakening as to what that truely meant, if it was an accident, then he would be let go, but would be required to do extremely thorough background checks on all prospective customers and contact the customer's military high command to ensure that this was not a terrorist faking an identity to procure ammunition.

Inside Section 38:

A hacker managed to access the heavilly damaged mainframe of of the destroyed research facility, via a back door that had been left open, by Imperium Intelligence, this was curious, usually these things were closed after they were used, and the fact that it was from the Warmaster did not bode well. He entered the system, which was filled with damaged and corrupted files. he quickly did a search for the information he wanted, but it came back as restricted to a user named: 'DeathLord' it requested a password. The hacker neither planned to enter a password, nor log into the system as this 'deathlord' he used a data spike program to overload all the nodes within the mainframe and while it tried to catch up with the barrage of requests he slid into the files he wanted. There before him was the video of the theft of the containers, the numbers on what this could do and the video of Ares blasting his way through the facility. He immediately saved these files onto a removable hard drive that he had formatted to look like a Roman Intelligence mainframe. He quickly erased all evidence of his presence and all evidence that there had been a recent erasiure. He then back out of the system and corrupted the pathways he had used to enter the system so that he could not be traced.

He brought this data to the isolated network terminal, which was totally blocked from the outside world, totally secure and uploaded this data to the system, the intel analysts began processing the data.

<Official Response:
To: Sacred Emperor Lucifer of Domain Halcyon
We shall see.
From: Chairman Murdock
End Response>

Ares’s cell phone rang.

Ares wasn’t surprised; he had been awaiting instructions for a while now. He had done everything he was told, and was running out of patience with his employer, whoever in the Nine Hells he was. They’d flown to Rome, made the attack, flown back to the Empire, flown BACK to Rome after a few days, and would likely be leaving within forty-eight hours. He let himself hope that his employer would simply tell him that the fleeing was done, that they could just eliminate Commodus Kwaad, deliver the samples, and be done with it.

But probably not.

“Hello?”

The voice of his employer, increasingly familiar, came back through the speaker. “Are we secure?”

“Yes, we are secure. We are always secure. I have not had a career as long as I have without trying NOT to get caught.”

“Silence. I will not be spoken to that way. It is completely within my power to sever relations with you and your group, deny all involvement, and leave you holding the samples.”

Ares grimaced, and swallowed his pride. “Yes, sir.”

“The reason I am calling is that I have received word that another Shenyangi unit is in Rome. At a guess, I would say they want to kill you.”

“How many....sir?”

“I don’t know. You can’t expect me to do your job for you all the time. I simply hope you are ready.” There was a click as the man hung up.

“I’m going to kill you one day, whoever you are,” he growled. “I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He reached for the alert system on his belt. It was actually just a BlackBerry, but it had been programmed to send one message to a network of other people all at the same time with the press of a button, among other things. He sent a brief message warning his people that the Shenyangi team was coming, then set about preparing his trap.

He hurried downstairs to the lobby, imitating a typical affronted customer. Loudly complaining that his view was obstructed by a seventeen-story insurance building across the street, he insisted to be moved to the eighteenth floor. The manager agreed, and Ares went back to his room to “pack his things” before turning in his old key and receiving the new one. But he did more than pack. After carefully arranging all his clothes and equipment on top of the bio-warfare samples, he placed some plastic explosives behind the TV, and pocketed the detonator. Then he stuck a tiny microphone/camera on the wall above the bed, so he could see and hear what was going on with the reception program he had downloaded from a terrorist web site to his BlackBerry. Finally, he turned on the shower. In short, any Shenyangi unit would, hearing the shower through whatever door they entered by and thinking him vulnerable, professionally and stealthily advance into the room, bursting into the bathroom, at which point Ares would detonate the explosives.

To ensure that no new residents would enter the suite and turn off the shower, the bait in his trap, Ares ran to the eighteenth floor, where ten of his men were in various rooms, and traded his 1218 room key for an 1815 one. Then he went to the lobby, trading his new 1815 key for an 1824 key. Now, if a new customer got room 1218, they would be unable to enter.

The trap was set.

EPSADA team had moved into position, well, atleast Berenger was in position, he was sitting in the conference room and was looking through his scope into Ares' room as he had set the explosives, honestly, did he think that the SAS would be that stupid? Just burst in and fall into a trap? They had no intention of making that mistake. Berenger informed the team of this develpoment as they moved into position.

Berenger: Espada 1, the package has left the target room, theres a brick of C-4 behind the TV, looks like its on a remote, the package will detonate the explosives if you move in, I recommend we abort until we can find the target. He's set a trap in there.

Kawalsky: Roger, the package is no longer in its room, got it. Is there any evidence of surveillance inside the room?

Berenger: The package wired a camera above the bed, it can see the whole room. What are you planning sir?

Kawalsky: Roger, I've got it from here. Espada 2, we're going to eliminate that camera. We know the package isn't there, but I think we should send a message.

Jenkins: Roger that sir, how're we gonna do this?

Kawalsky: We're going to tear it off from this side.

Jenkins: Roger that sir.

Jenkins reached into his gear and withdrew a small saw he began to cut through the wall at the point where a camera would be able to see the entire room. He cut through, then pulled the plug of wall out into their room. Sure enough, a tiny pinhole camera sat on the fact of the wall. Kawalsky, in his black mask took it and crushed it under his heel. They then put the piece of wall back and quickly moved to the door, they planned to go in and neutralize the explosives before they could detonate, which meant one thing, an EMP charge to fry the detonator. They opened thedoor and Jenkins tossed in the charge, its relatively short range would kill all power in the room, but leave everything else unharmed. The charge detonated and the team moved in, grabbed the charge and tore out its detonator, then they put in their own detonator and threw it out the window over the balcony, once it was safely away from the building, they detonated it, people in the streets fell into a panic, but there was no damage save a few ringing ears. The SAS slid out of the building from the rear entrance as the Roman police moved into the hotel via the front door, they moved as swiftly as they could to the rendezous with Berenger and then once the team was together, they moved back to their warehouse base.

Once they were safely back at their 'base' they tried to find out what had happened. It was obvious that someone was informing Ares of what was happening, they would have to go totally dark, as it was obvious that whoever it was, they had connections to intelligence communities. They had to operate in the dark and not give any hints as to what they would do, just get the information they need, then use it without letting others know why.

Kawalsky: Espada 3, I want you to hack into that hotel's systems and find out where our target is so we can take him out. Got it?

Bennet: Yes sir.

Bennet took a laptop out of his gear and using a satellite connection, accessed the internet and quickly hacked his way into the relatively insecure hotel computers under a fake log in. He found all the room changes and currently occupied rooms. He found that the man in Room 1218, his mark, had been moved to Room 1824, the mark was now 6 floors up from where he was supposed to be, and that was going to be a problem. Berenger couldn't get high enough to provide cover without getting onto the roof of the insurance building which was too exposed. This meant no sniper cover. The only optio they had was to set up an ambush for their target and hope that everythig worked.

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! YAY!

This thread is one year old today. I started it because of an agreement on RR's storefront version 2.0, apparently without telling him, and now one year later it's actually being RP'ed. Oh, the memories...:)

OCC: Hold on, guys. Your going to fast. I apologize for the delay. I was busy studying for the ACT. I have my RP post on Microsoft Word. Let me update my post, before posting it on the forums. Shenyang, I have a different side to the post when your SAS teams landed in Rome. I will have my paramilitary force surround your plane before the president makes the decision to let the SAS teams loose. Please Wait. If you don't then, I might as well end this thread, because I'm going to be totally confused. Please just Wait!!

OOC: I see that incident ending badly. Very badly, like 15 on a scale of 1 to 10 badly. We'll see what happens though......

How'd they figure out which plane they were on to begin with... ahh whateva'

Sorry, RR. My fault. We'll wait.

(OCC: Sorry, guys for the delay. But, I have an idea that might make this thread a flamethrower to all of us. My idea is that Ares will think that he has successfully evaded Roman forces and will not be very suspicious. Shenyangi and Roman forces will find his location. Ares will not be there, but he witness Roman or Shenyangi forces breaching a room for a brief moment. He will successfully evade either one of the forces and will begin hoping around the Roman Republic, the world, or possibly Shenyang or Warmaster. He will become fearful of his life and will start being suspicious and will start moving house to house to evade any forces that might get him. This will be kind of like a hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ares could possibly use forces, like the ones Osama uses, to defend Ares and try to hunt down Shenyangi and Roman forces that are trying to pursue him. Another option, Ares can sell the WMDs to Freedom Fighters who want their homeland to break away from the Roman Empire. Or, Ares could sell or provide the WMDs to Rome’s neighbors. Then Rome’s neighbors will try to invade Rome.)

IC:
The Presidential Palace, Rome…

While the President was busy in his office, his Vice President, Kartik Gandhi, entered his office. The Vice President was the President’s executive officer when they were in the 1st Gorkha Rifles and a loyal friend and advisor when the President came to power.

The Vice President stood at attention and gave a salute “Jai Hind, Sahab.” He said.

“Jai Hind, Kartikbhai. Take a seat.” Replied the President.

He took his seat and handed the President a letter from Shenyang fresh from the printer. The President began reading the paper and began chuckling at every sentence he passes.

The Vice President was confused by the President’s gesture. “Sahab-ji?” Asked Vice President Kartik Gandhi. “Why are you laughing?”

The President dropped the paper on his desk. “Did you read the letter.” The President continued chuckling. “The Nation of Shenyang is sending more forces into Rome.”

“Why is that a problem. They want to help us.”

He slammed his fist on the desk. “They are calling us, IGNORANT!” He yelled and pointed first to the Vice President and then into the air. “They think we are hiding something. They want to know the information that we are hiding, even if they have to use force. If we try to send them home, they might do something behind our backs. If they try to provoke us into war, we will surely respond.”

“But, Sahab. It has been three days, since the incident. We haven’t heard any response from the Nation of Warmaster. They should have responded, because the scientists are Warmasterian citizens. Every nation should know that if their citizens are threatened, it is a declaration of war. I believe that the Research Station is a conspiracy set by the Warmasterian government. The terrorists could have been mercenaries hired to play the Warmasterian game to ‘steal’ the WMDs. The head scientist could have been in on it the whole time.”

“Hmm…” The President began to ease down. “So, all this time we have been harboring terrorists disguised as scientists, only to be killed be mercenaries disguised as terrorists. So we sacrificed our Jawans (soldiers) for nothing.”

“Yes, Sahab. This is only a theory.”

The President got up from his chair and removed his reading glasses and walked up to the window and looked out, watching people going about and doing their business.

“How will we find out if this is a conspiracy?”

“We will have to retrieve the hard drives or try hack into the servers, main frames, and data bases that survived the demolition. But I think we will gain more intelligence from the hard drives. We can also they to send covert forces in Warmaster or try to capture him. We can rifle through the research station and retrieve the terrorist bodies and try to ID them. We can also collect more intel from soldiers who were tasked in guarding the Research Station.”

“Good. Notify our agents stationed there. Now, how will more agents from Shenyang who will not reveal their identity benefit us?”

“Sahab, The agents will help us gain more intel about our citizens. We don’t know if our secret police has found these terrorists. The objective of these Shenyangi agents is to catch these terrorists, they don’t care how we run our government or what weapons we have in our inventory. They want to help avenge the deaths of our Jawans and also prevent more deaths to innocent.”

“What information have we received from our intelligence agencies?”

“The CIA has identified the terrorist leader is Ares. A photo of him was taken from Baghdad International Airport, boarding Trans Rome, Flight 101 to Berlin International Airport, Germany.”

“Damn!” muttered the President, “The Central Industrial Security Force and Airport Security could have caught him.”

“Yes, they could of. But, I think the benefit of these foreign agents operating deep inside of Rome, will reduce the cost of our secret police and will help teach our agents gain more knowledge without the use of our interrogation tactics.”

“Good. Do we have any lead on the terrorist leader?”

“No, Sahab! But the NSA had tapped into his credit card and bank records. We will wait for his next purchase to see where he is positioned. We will have all our communication lines and surveillance equipment tapped and monitored. We will distribute all the photos of him to our paramilitary and police forces. We will try to collect human intelligence from our citizens. We will continue to collect intel be any means necessary.”

“Good. I also want you to alert the Ministry of Homeland Security about these ‘mercenaries’ and feed all the intelligence gathered by our agencies to them, so they can they to intercept him. I also want to have a covert force operating inside Rome and also follow the same objectives the Shenyangi agents are following. We can gather our intel and compare it to the Shenyangi’s.”

“Yes, Sahab. What are your orders when the Shenyangi aircraft arrives?”

“I want the plane surrounded before I give my order to let them loose. But if their government tries to provoke war, because of our actions. I want the nearest aircraft carrier and amphibious task force on the scene. I even want to have our ballistic submarines on the scene to respond to their threats. If they threaten us even further, I want their agents currently in Iraq to be thrown out of the Fatherland. If they try to send forces from the sea, air, land and electronically illegally, we will intercept them and send them home by any means necessary. I don’t care who they think they are, they will not threaten Rome. Any doubts?”

“No, Sahab.”

“Good. You will respond to their letter.”

“Yes, Sahab.” The Vice President got up from his chair and gave a salute to the President. He turned around and left the office and gave a quick wave to the President’s secretary.

That President turned back around looking out the window after he gave a return salute to his Vice President. The President began rubbing his forehead because the terrorist situation stressed him out. Normally, the Fatherland had no problem dealing with terrorists and insurgents, but this is a new kind of war.

The Vice President returned to his office and began typing a response to the Shenyangi Special Forces Commander’s e-mail.

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

To: The Commander of Shenyangi Special Forces
From: Kartik Gandhi, Vice President of the Rome Republic

It has been three days since the incident and the efforts to capture the terrorists is proving difficult. We appreciate your help in capturing these terrorists and hope to conduct joint operations in the future so we may prevent more terrorism from happening. The Fatherland would also like to thank your government for admitting that you will have covert forces in Rome. We understand that your agents’ mission will prove difficult if we interfere. We also have our doubts, if we interfere in your agents’ mission. But nonetheless, we will also benefit by your agents’ mission and see if our citizens are still loyal to the Fatherland. We would like to request that you will share your intelligence with us-we do not care for your agents’ identity, where they are operating, and what methods they are using. We just want you to share the intelligence with us, so we can end this crisis before it becomes a major catastrophe. I have talked to the President and he is willing to have covert forces operating inside the Fatherland. Once we have collected enough intel, we can come together and plan our offensive against these bastards. The President and I have a theory that might aid you in our search. Since it has been three days, the Warmasterian government hasn’t responded to the situation. They should have known about it, because the research station is suppose to be connected to their government agencies. We believe that the Warmasterian government hired mercenaries to be disguised as terrorists and steal the WMDs for the Warmasterian government to use. If we find enough intel to support this theory, we will begin an offensive against them. But before that, I will contact the Wasmasterian government and notify them. We hope to resolve this situation before it becomes serious.

Dilip Agrawal, Translator from Hindi to English.

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

The Research Station Ruins, Iraq…

The choppers landed outside the station’s gates. The passengers disembarked the birds and were greeted by the rifle company captain. The Shenyangi soldiers told the captain where they are going to investigate. The captain accepted and let them begin their investigation. Agent Ramesh Singh briefed the captain so he will be less suspicious.

After the briefing, Agent Singh and his assistant took out the equipment from the choppers and began setting them up. He took out a foldable table and unfolded it and then placed a laptop and SATCOM radio. He took out a foldable chair and took his seat while he accessed the CIA database to input all the data collected. He took out a bottle of water and sunglasses to beat the unforgivable desert sun and heat.

After hours of collecting data, the sun began to set. Jawans, whom were patrolling the station, took wood from desks, tables, support beams, or anything they could find inside the ruins and lit them to create a fire. The CIA agents gave all the notes to Agent Singh, in which he sent the data to Rome’s intelligence agencies. Agent Singh was impressed how mere terrorists could possess such advanced weapons. Never in his years of hunting down terrorists, insurgents, and gangsters has he seen such advanced terrorists using weapons that are relatively unknown to Rome. The bullets impressed him the most, because he had never heard of bullets that could kill or maim a person. The only bullets that could almost do the same thing are depleted uranium bullets, which Rome has in its armory. The terrorists could be mercenaries, weapons dealers, or insurgents with smuggled equipment from weapon dealers. He needs more intelligence to figure out with out the choices is right. He will need the help of General Revenant and his men to help the CIA and other intelligence agencies in the terrorists’ evolving tactics. After finishing his work, the sky was already black with sprinkles of stars dotting the sky. The fire was the only illumination that dimly lit the camp. Once all the Shenyangi and Roman agents were done, they all sat around the fire and relaxed, because normally the desert will become cold and the only heat source is a fire or a wool blanket. The CIA agents took out their food out of their bags and began eating them. Some of them began talking about what they have collected and also talk about their family life.

(OCC: Shenyang, you don’t have to worry about the section below. Even if I posted this section before, you still don’t have to worry as much.)

IC:
Berlin International Airport, Germany…

It was nighttime went the Shenyangi plane arrived and landed. The pilots of the civilian airliner taxied off the runway to the docking station. Before the plane arrive, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a paramilitary organization primarily tasked to protect all of Rome’s major industrial buildings, airports, seaports, government buildings, etc., and airport security were both notified that a plane from Shenyang would arrive. They were tasked to surround and barricade the craft and not board it until the president gives the order to let the passengers leave. When the plane arrive, the CISF and the airport security rushed to the plane in their trucks. Once reaching there, they unloaded cylinder drums with an orange color and white reflective stripes and a flashing orange light on top of the drum. The surrounded the aircraft with the drums and then unrolled the yellow police tap that said “Do not cross” and tied them on the drums until it make a circle. Around the outside of the barricade, the lights on the trucks continued to flash into the night sky, even penetrating through the plane’s windows and reflecting off the passenger cabin walls. The CISF and airport security personnel armed with their rifles stood next to the police tape. The negotiators pulled out their blow horns and informed the passengers that they will not be harmed and will be released when they are given the order. In the airport, the head director of the airport, Bharat Chakyar, phoned the President that the plane has arrived and what are his orders. The President thanked him and will call him back after he has made his decision.

It had been about 3 hours after the President had received the call, the CISF and airport security personnel were becoming bored, but remained vigilant incase any of the passengers would try to make a run for it. The President returned the call and told him to let the passengers go. The President gave the director strict orders not to make contact with the passengers and let them do their job. The director accepted the orders with no questions and relayed the President’s order to the men surrounding the aircraft.

After the men received their orders, they removed the police tape and brought in a staircase to let the passengers come down. Once all the passengers came down, they were not greeted by any of the security personnel. That was the way the SAS members liked it. The security personnel moved out of the way and watched the passengers depart out of their sight. After the passengers left, the security personnel removed the barricades and let the ground crew towed the civilian airliner to a hanger. The pilots, who flew the plane, were shown the direction to the airport’s rest area for pilots to rest up and have something to eat.

OOC: Roman Republic, what tech level are you?

OOC: Roman Republic, what tech level are you?

MT/PMT

OOC: By the way RR, I have the Intelligence Division guy placing a call to the President or a representative of his, so if you've got time...

OOC: Welcome back to the land of the living, or dead, or living dead, or whatever the heck we are RR. I'll have an IC post ready by tomorrow, and I love that idea of yours, this could be really cool once we can get it going full-swing.

OCC: The Warmaster, go right ahead. I will RP with you.

So little happening, oh well, I've been busy and I assume everyone else has been too, thats life.

OCC: I'll start RPing when school ends. That is the best time to start. Less stress!

OOC: I can agree to that, I'm about 3 weeks out from freedom.

OOC: Ha! I've got like a week. Finals done and all. So when you guys are done, we can pick this up in earnest again.

bump

I can RP this week, sure finals are still on, but I'll be fine, I don't need to study too much.

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer...

Uhm...here's a little plug for my Succession Wars thread, a really big deal to me, if either of you want to check it out. And just so you know, I'm still here and ready to RP this...

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=492046

That's the Succession Wars link. Hope this thread isn't gone forever...