NationStates Jolt Archive

West Corinthian troops were now massing on the border. The newly installed Commander, Armed Forces (CAF) Pyotr Chenko, was in his tent looking over a map of East Corinthia. "While West Corinthia has many dunes, East Corinthia has a tall mountain range right on the border, with a vast expanse of desert behind it. Now they could have snipers, militia, god knows what in those mountains. Plus there's only one main road through. I suggest we send in skirmishers and then bring in the armor behind them followed by the rest of the infantry. We'll soften up the mountains with a volley of artillery and air support. Then we'll move, covering our advance with a smokescreen."
"Excellent idea." an aide confirmed. "Might I suggest we silence our skirmishers weapons to keep them as hidden as possible. We don't want a firefight in there. If they knock a tread of a tank, disable a truck, anything, that road could be blocked for days."
"I agree. It is better to err on the side of caution." Pyotr Chenko was a massive man to behold. An ex-soviet general, he had been the perfect candidate to replace the now presumed-dead Nikita Aleksivich.
The troops had been rigorously trained for an East Corinthian invasion since they had been recruited. Everyone knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. The East was a well-known supporter of terrorism and it's government was admittedly a "freedom fighter" faction. Many factions made up the country, though many had been united against the West.
"Let's go!" The general shouted as he emerged from his tent. "We have a deadline to meet! We have to be in Ekaterine by tomorrow to link up with our special ops troops!"
The soldiers mounted their vehicles and a roar of engines flooded the general's ears. Soldiers finished strapping ammo and supplies onto their uniforms and got into trucks. The task force began the slow journey into the mountains. They were led by 25 older T-54 tanks, bait for any militia who might have RPG's. Another 500 T-72s followed them. West Corinthia was being careful not to send everything they had into East Corinthia. This was an important moment and if the East tried anything tricky like an invasion around the mountains they still had enough armor in reserve to fight them off.
Overhead flew 55 UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters loaded with special ops troops.
They entered the mountain range. The rear vehicle started up the smokescreen. All around them they could see bodies of soldiers. Some West Corinthian, but mostly East Corinthian. The skirmishers had been busy.
The advance was going as planned and it looked like they would be in Ekaterine by next morning. Just then the lead T-54 hit a land mine and exploded. The group halted. This is what they had feared, now they were sitting ducks until the wreckage was cleared.
A reporter and his cameraman ran forward. "What appears to be a land mine has blocked the way for our fighting men! Find out what they are doing about it at 11!"
"Why do we have this S-O-B with us?" a turret gunner of a T-72 yelled to a soldier running forward to secure the perimeter.
"Beats me. But I'm not gonna mess around with him. Remember what happened to that guy in Lakonia who ordered the troops to waste the POWs?"
Really, the squad leader from Lakonia had been sentenced to 5 years in a slightly more humane form of a gulag, but he was appealing, and his sentence was likely to be shortnened. Still, Pyotr Chenko had wasted no time in using the man as an example.
Meanwhile
The Blackhawk helicopters swarmed into Ekaterine under cover of darkness, unaware the task force was now blocked off from reinforcing them. Close to 500 MP5-armed soldiers dismounted the choppers and swarmed into downtown Ekaterine. Then they were ambushed. Fire began pouring down from the businesses. Soldiers fired their GP-30 grenade launchers into the windows wherever fire was coming from. Several T-54 tanks wheeled around an intersection and aimed for the group. A dozen RPG rounds flew into the tanks and they exploded with gratifying mushroom clouds.
"We're sitting ducks!" an officer yelled. "Let's take cover in the church!" The soldiers ran into the church, which had already been converted into a bunker by East Corinthian forces. A few sleeping troops were taken out before they assumed full control of the building. "Let's get some snipers on the higher floors. Fortify the entrance! We'll wait for the armor to reinforce us!"
Unfortunately the armor was not coming.
To be continued

When we last left the other storyline, Louis Bradstreet, Special Investigator for the National Police of The Beltway, discovered that General Nikita, assassinated committer of atrocities, is apparently alive and well...

Juan Gonzalez is usually described as quiet, shy, unassuming, easily left unnoticed. That's why he works for the Defence Intelligence Agency as an undercover agent. He had been assigned some light duty with the National Police three months ago, but when Juan heard that The Beltway would be sending an investigative team to West Corinthia, he was not surprised at all when the call came.

He had decided to shadow Louis after two incidents on the flight to Lakonia. First, Louis, on a whim, chatted up a gate agent, and managed to snag four first-class seats. That was quite useful, given the ten-hour flight, but the other incident was much worse. On the plane, Louis, who was a bit drunk at the time, curious as to how the food in his airline meal was prepared, followed the flight attendant back, and snuck into a crew-only area. For that, he nearly got thrown off the plane, and it took the efforts of all three other investigators to let Louis fly into Lakonia with the rest of them.

So when Juan saw Louis get up, throw a fifty on the bar, and leave, Juan got up and left, too. He had no tab to pay; you don't drink if you're keeping an eye on someone, so as not to lose your concentration. He walked out, made his way to the side of the street not lit by the flickering lamps, and tailed Bradstreet. Eventually, Juan saw Louis turn and walk into a door. Bright light flooded into the streets, and Juan ducked back before sneaking around to the side of the door. He peered inside, listening to a man speak in an amused, confident tone.

"What, you thought that was me who the Emperor killed? That was my suicidal twin brother; it was him or me, and the one who wanted to die, did," said a voice that sounded remarkably familiar, which then continued, "I'd arranged this sort of thing years ago. You don't know what it's like, working for the Emperor - he's a vengeful man, very vengeful. When he's angry at someone, he has that person killed. Ever heard of a man named Yuri Gerisov?"

Juan suddenly looked stunned. Two things: he recognized the voice as General Nikita; but more importantly, he noticed someone very familiar standing guard in the small room. Yet what was the wife of a staffer at the embassy in Kydonia doing here? Unless...could it really be the legendary Agent Plame, the same woman who had proven so influential to the success of The Beltway in the Western War? Then she winked at Juan, once.

To Be Continued...

In the city
"Get the sandbags down!" yelled the colonel, who had now assumed command of the special ops group.
"Why the hell haven't they bombed us yet?" a soldier asked, walking up to him. "It's eery how quiet it is."
"Do we have the entrances covered?" the colonel double-checked.
"Yes sir. Reports every 20 minutes, per your orders." a sniper shouted down from the rafters above.
"Sir, we found something." another soldier said, emerging from the basement steps. "You really need to see it."
The colonel followed the soldier down into the basement of the church. "Jesus..." he said to himself. "That's why they haven't blown this place to hell."
Before him was an open vault, with nuclear bomb making materials inside.
The soldier broke the silence, "I know a little something about A-bombs, I know we don't have them yet, but trust me the East was very close to having them. The bomb they were working on in here is only missing a few components. And you wanna know the damndest part? It's our Uranium. Stolen, in small amounts we never noticed. Another 2....maybe 3 months and this could have been in Kydonia under the the emperor's feet."
The colonel waited a moment, rubbing the sweat off his face. "Can you disarm it?"
"Yes. It's not finished, but it could make a pretty nice crater out of this block."
"SIR! THEY'RE FALLING BACK!" a sentry called down. Cheers were heard from above.
The colonel did not cheer. He thought for a moment. "Nevermind disarming it. Take the blueprints with you. We have to get out of here...NOW!"
The colonel rushed up the steps and into the main floor of the church. "Gear up! Prepare to move!"
"But sir..."
"That's an order!"
The troops poured out of the church and ran down the street. That's when the artillery began pouring down. "Move it! Get the lead out!" Thankfully the artillery commanders had poor aim.
A shell exploded in a group of 4 soldiers. 3 were killed, another badly wounded. 2 Soldiers rushed to his aid.
"NO! Carry him! We can't stay in this area! Give him aid once we're clear!"
They were down the block from the church when an artillery shell found it's mark. The colonel didn't hear anything at first. Dead silence, a flash of light, now he was on the ground and other soldiers were just struggling to their feet.
For a moment the pitch darkness had been brighter than day. No casualties from the explosion. It was visible from the convoy still stuck on the mountain road. The reporter captured the mushroom cloud on camera.
The colonel stood. Now he could see that the East Corinthians had fallen back across the only bridge across the river seperating the two halves of the city.
"C'mon men! We'll fortify this side of the bridge. Hold them off til the army arrives!" The colonel shouted, though he was even doubting whether they would come at this point.
They placed land mines across the bridge and took up positions on the buildings near the bridge. Nothing would get across without them seeing.
Now they were playing the waiting game.
In the mountains
Much of the wreckage had been cleared. The reporter was interviewing soldiers about their reactions to the mushroom cloud from the city. He asked a few how they felt about the war, and what they replied could not have been aired on public tv. However an exception was made for cursing on tv about East Corinthians shortly afterward.

When we last left the other storyline, Juan Gonzalez, while tailing the mildly drunk and excessively curious Louis Bradstreet, saw Agent Plame in the same room as someone who at least looked and sounded like General Nikita...

Many, including herself sometimes, thought that Andrea Lim was made a Special Investigator on account of her father. General Andrew Lim was a titan within the Beltway Security Force, legendary for his skills, toughness, strength, and wits; Andrea was a noticeably short woman, often derided for her weakness, not regarded as smart despite graduating summa cum laude from Georgetown, and generally seen as an example of nepotism within the Force. Her father denied it; nobody believed him.

Tonight, while the TV showed the Emperor giving his speech to announce that his nation would go to war over the death of a friend of his, Andrea sat in her hotel room in Lakonia, practicing her Spanish on a MoCoAutSys language tutor.

"Repítela un tiempo más, por favor; no puedo oírle," the thing squawked. It was a nice tool, but it had trouble hearing her over the TV, so Andrea turned it off, then, remembering the words, prepared to speak.

Two knocks at the door interrupted her. She got up, looked in the peephole, and saw it was Room Service. She hadn't called Room Service; why was it here? She might have dealt with it to avoid a meaningless charge on her bill, but then remembered she was on an expense account. She sat back down on her bed with the language tutor.

"Repítela un tiempo más, por favor; no puedo oírle." More knocking. Look through the peephole; same guy. Wouldn't that fool go away? He was interrupting her, again! Might as well deal with it now; if he tries anything funny, she'd just use the pepper spray Father had her carry. She opened the door and demanded, "Whaddya want?"

"Huh. I thought Joe Wilson was a man. Eh, no loss. When do we head to East Lakonia?" the man standing outside her door replied. He was maybe an inch taller than her, and wore a thin pair of glasses. He looked like a stereotypical bureaucrat, and sounded like it, too. But why did he call her Joe Wilson?

"Who are you, anyways?" Andrea asked.

"Yuri Gerisov. You are Joe Wilson, right?" the man demanded. The tutoring device said, "Repítela un tiempo más, por favor; no puedo oírle."

"Uh...yeah. Why are you here?"

"The Emperor thought I was stealing his money. I wasn't - I didn't - he's - "

"Lying," she answered for Gerisov. "Come in; you'll sleep on the couch."

"Repítela un tiempo más, por favor; no puedo oírle."

To Be Continued...

"Incoming!" shouted the West Corinthian colonel, diving into a sandbag bunker. The East Corinthians had been trying unsuccessfully to recapture the western half of the city all night. All the shells hit behind their defensive lines however. The East was making damned sure the bridge didn't fall. The artillery ceased.
"Thank god." a soldier said, flopping himself down on a bed of sandbags. "Damn Roshchev. He was supposed to report 5 minutes ago."
"You're right." the colonel said.
"You think something happened? We've been watching the bridge all night. No snipers as far as we can tell, and they sure as hell don't have nightscopes."
"Neither do we." the colonel answered. "And if something happned, they sure as hell didn't use the bridge. Maybe, shot a rope across and climbed? The embankment is too steep on either side to climb, that's for sure."
"I'll check it out. We're stetched pretty thin as it is. The last thing we need is our officers to start slacking off." the soldier cocked his MP5 and tightened his helmet strap.
"I'm coming with you." the colonel answered. "I'll back you up."
"Yes, sir." the soldier preceded down the stairs. They had positions on all the rooftops overlooking the bridge. Others were watching the street and entrances. Their entrance guards hadn't reported on schedule.
"God damn." the soldier exclaimed as he emerged from the doorway. Three soldiers, their entrance guards, were dead on the ground. "No gunshots-nothing. Whoever did this had silencers, they could be anywhere-"
The soldier lurched forward in pain, and dropped to the ground. Three gunshot wounds to the back were the cause.
The colonel yelled as he ran behnd the corner of the building. He crouched down and took out a hand grenade. "Take this." he yelled and lobbed the projectile towards the shadows where fire had come from. He heard the explosion, accompanied by the screams of several troops, definitely East Corinthian.
He yelled again and charged forward with his MP5 out. Several East Corinthian infiltrators were alive and struggling to their feet. One saw the colonel and put his arms up as if to surrender. The colonel opened up with his SMG, killing the men.
Now the other West Corinthian soldiers were alert. They had heard gunfire, and a grenade. The East Corinthians knew that phase 1 of their operation was a failure. The W.C. colonel was still alive. Still, they decided to continue. During the night they had recieved armored reinforcements from their capital.
The colonel heard the engines on the other side of the bridge. The distinct sound of T-54s coming, dozens of them.
The first T-54 hit a landmine and exploded. The others rolled over it, using it as a bridge over the other mines. Now the troops opened up with their RPGs. They were destroying and disabling tanks left and right, but they kept coming. Obviously East Corinthia had been funded by someone powerful. The RPGs stopped, they were out of ammunition. 9 T-54s were destroyed and 3 disabled, but they kept coming across.
"Fall back! Get out of the buildings!" the colonel yelled into his radio. They were now in full retreat. Helicopters were coming, Little Bird helicopters with machine guns. They began strafing the retreating West Corinthians, though most of them were smart enough to take cover.
They were being pushed to the city limits. Tanks were still coming across the bridge. Then they saw lights in the distance coming towards them-fast. There was no escape.
In the distance a tank fired a shell. It flew over the heads of the troops and landed on a T-54. Then the skyline lit up like an inferno. Shells came screaming overhead and began annihalating the East Corinthian armor.
"The reinforcements." the colonel panted. A cheer rose through the group. MI-24 HIND helicopters flew in and mopped up the T-54s.
A car drove up with West Corinthian markings on the side. Out of it stepped general Pyotr Chenko himself. The colonel snapped to attention. "At ease." Pyotr said.
"Glad to see the relief, general."
"Glad to see your in one piece, colonel."
"More or less. The East Corinthians have been holding the other side since we landed. They're dug in deep."
"Good work. We'll evac your wounded and resupply your unit."
"Sounds good. If you don't mind I'll just go let my men know we're going back in."
"Actually I have something to say first. I'm looking for someone to head up our special forces units. Someone to keep them organized. I assure the pay's better. You can even stay with your unit if you'd like. But from now on you report directly to me."
"Thank you, sir."
"Your welcome, colonel. And I want this city in a matter of hours. We just took out an entire armored division for you. It shouldn't be too much trouble for you. We'll leave some armor and men here to help you but the rest of the army has to keep moving We've got a war to win."
"Aye aye, sir!"
Kydonia...
"How's the war going?" Vasili asked, keeping an eye on the chess board in front of him.
"Well. I hear we just took the town of Ekaterine." his opponent moved a knight.
"That's is good. When we take their capital I want to take a tour. I'll make the S.O.B.s pay. They terrorized us for too long. Now we'll have retribution."
"I told you to let me send a man to finish their leader."
"We don't know where he is. Or who he is. Or who they are. They are a bunch of disorganized factions. I only fear some of them may have finally united against us."
"I could have found a target worthy of a West Corinthian bullet. I always was the best marksman in the KGB."
"Yes you were, my friend. But a lousy chess player, check mate." Vasili stood in triumph.
"A brilliant game. No wonder westerners are always playing it. They take so much pride in their universities."
"We will have universities someday, my old friend."
"I certainly hope so. Once we have crushed the East and have no worries. For now, we will live by the sword."
"A fine plan. People will finally learn to respect West Corinthia." Vasili and his friend shook hands and went down the hall of the palace chatting.

OOC: Bump

Part IV:
When we last left the other storyline, Andrea Lim was mistaken for Joe Wilson by Yuri Gerisov, leading to complications for Andrea.

What annoyed Jacob Shay most was just how incompetent their attempt had been. Two men in uniform had jumped him from behind, smacking him upside the head with their fists. Apparently, they hoped to knock him unconscious.

A bit dazed, Shay fired back with an uppercut, clipping the nose of one of his assailants, who shied away. The other attacker drew a nightstick, while Shay took out his knife. The first assailant then returned with his own nightstick, and attempted a roundhouse punch with his free hand. Shay ducked forward, and the punch missed, so he retailated with another uppercut.

The other assailant, meanwhile, attempted to bash in Jacob's head, but missed, hitting his arm instead. The knife clattered onto the street; Shay kicked it away. He wouldn't be able to get at it, and he needed to deny it to his assailants. At that moment, he fell, tripped up by the first assailant's outstretched leg. Then, they attempted to beat him within an inch of his life, although they only inflicted minor damage, and, finally, they warned him to "stay away from Nikita!" As if that would stop him.

All that happened hours ago. Now, Jacob was in a Lakonia hospital, recovering from a few broken bones and some major bruising. The TV was on; the Emperor was declaring war because Nikita was dead. And, apparently, all of the cell phones of The Beltway's investigative team had been turned off. No loss; he'd call again later. For now, rest.

Thessalonika, East Corinthia
The sun rose on the the city of Thessalonika, capital of East Corinthia. It had been 2 days since they sent their armored division to reinforce units in Ekaterine. It had been 2 days since they had even heard from the city. The last radio signal had been nothing but static with nothing but gunshots to hear whenever it cleared up for a moment. They could only assume the worst.
"Those damned West Corinthians." yelled self-proclaimed Sultan of East Corinthia Vladimir Demorov. "Since when do they have authority to invade MY country!?"
"They know about the attacks. They've always known." replied his Chief of Staff.
"I know they know! I thought the nuclear device in Ekaterine was supposed to finish them!"
"It wasn't ready. Our scientists needed more time."
"I gave them enough time! Send them in here!"
"Yes, m'lord." the Chief of Staff signaled to a guard, who left the room, and returned moments later with a dozen scientists. Each had radiation badges, signs they were nuclear scientists.
"When I bought each of you," the Sultan said, pacing in front of them, "I had one thought in mind. Do you know what that was? Dmtri?" he stopped in front of one scientist questioningly.
"That we would build you a nuclear bomb. Er...sir. Your majesty."
"You see? Dmitri knows. Now get out of my sight."
Several guards came up and escorted the scientists away. Vladimir looked out the window of his palace into his courtyard. The scientists were lined up against a wall and shot. "I hate when people disobey my orders. I trust you will never fail me?"
"I will serve you to the end." replied his Chief of Staff, though he was lying.
"Good. Because if the West Corinthians win this war I will kill you. Now finish them."
The Chief of Staff bowed and left.
He returned moments later with a large detachment of guards.
"What are you doing, Sasha?" the Sultan yelled. "I sent you to destroy the West Corinthians!"
"You are weak, Vladimir. You know nothing about running a country! If you are allowed to rule we cannot win this war!"
"How dare you speak to me so!" the enraged Sultan screamed. "I'll have you killed for this treachery. Guards! Arrest him!"
None of the guards moved. "You see?" Chief of Staff Sasha Milotev replied calmly. "You have no power anymore." He approached the Sultan with a Desert Eagle .50 and shot a full clip into him. "Spread the word to the factions. They are to engage the West Corinthian army at will."
"Yes, sire." a soldier answered, and ran off.

Part V
When we last left this storyline, Jacob Shay, while recovering in the hospital, remembered how incompetently he had been beaten up. But now, we open on another day...


Jacob Shay was angrier than normal. He was only able to finagle 10 minutes with his team, and that was after bribing the nurse $100. And after having heard what the rest of the team had done yesterday, he was little happier.

"So, let's see. You went off into some deserted alley, you chose to follow him, and you let some stranger into your room, meanwhile lying to him. Well done, everybody! What excellent security precautions you've all taken!" he shouted, enraged, then continued, "I suppose I'll just have to work with you fools..."

"Two minutes left, Mr. Shay," the nurse shouted.

Jacob swore under his breath, then announced, "Andrea, you showed initiative, but also a lack of common sense. For that, you're staying in the hotel room, guarding and interrogating your visitor. Juan, you showed that you have a little common sense, but not enough to find out anything useful, so you're keeping an eye on Nikita. Louis, despite your lack of any common sense whatsoever, you gave us the most interesting information. Go find out who Joe Wilson is - online, please, as you have seem much more common sense online than offline. And now -"

He was cut off by the nurse, who said, "And now, goodbye! Mr. Shay needs his rest, after all..."

All four investigators were angry. Jacob was frustrated at every turn by his nurse, and began to wonder if his co-workers had any useful skills at all. Andrea was embarrased at her stupidity; why had she let Yuri in? Further, she felt that she was being given light duty because she wasn't "good" enough. Juan was enraged that Louis was being trusted with anything, after the stunt he pulled last night. And Louis had been shamed in front of his co-workers.

On an East Corinthian lookout tower on the outskirts of Thessalonika
"Yuri, want a smoke?" a drowzy soldier asked his buddy in Russian.
"Sure, toss me a pack."
The soldier tossed Yuri a pack of ciggarettes. "Thanks. You know I'm so bored I could lose my mind."
There was no answer from the original soldier.
"Yuri? Are you listening? I'm serious, if you've fallen asleep on duty again I will report you this time." he teased. He turned around, but there was no sign of his friend. The soldier laughed. "Yuri? Are you hiding on me?" he opened the door to the small radio hut and shouted "Aha!"
Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and killed with a knife. It was a West Corinthian special op soldier. He put the East Corinthian's body inside the radio hut next to the body of Yuri. Then he disconnected the radio and brought it with him. He looted the bodies of the East Corinthians for weapons and ammunition. Then he returned to the main battle group.
In a matter of minutes the East Corinthian early warning sytem had been proven useless. Lookout towers ringing the capital were stealthily annihilated under cover of darkness.
Several hours later the sun began to rise. By late morning the battle for Thessalonika would begin. Pyotr Chenko deployed his artillery in a concentrated fashion, taking out known military compounds and storage facilities. He was careful to avoid residential areas. The army had already gotten enough bad publicity from targeting civilians after Lakonia. A satisfying explosion erupted from the city as a feul dump was destroyed. Pyotr let a sliver of a smile appear on his otherwise stern face. He turned to an aide and nodded. The aide knew it was time to assault the city from the ground.
Led by T-54s, and covered by T-72s, West Corinthian troops poured into the city. They met heavy resisitance, though better training, strategy, and weapons allowed the West Corinthians to advance deep into Thessalonika before being slowed down. The center of the city had been converted to a complete blockade of enemy armor and troops. Barbed wire ringed the perimeter. Under normal situations, they would have bombed the place to rubble, however thousands of Thessalonikan civilians were fleeing into the area, using it as a protective zone from the invaders.
A radioman called the general and told him the situation.
"Dammit!" Pyotr yelled and slammed his radio. "Colonel! Get in there! Of all people I trust you the most to find a way to break their line!"
"Yes, sir." the colonel answered, and a jeep drove up to bring him to the battle. He strapped his helmet on and loaded a clip into his MP5. Then he drove off for the city.
When they arrived the colonel quickly surveyed the situation. They had already destroyed many of the tanks blocking their way with RPGs however they still could not get by the debris and barbed wire without being sniper fodder. He stroked his chin and thought a moment. He noticed a manhole cover in the middle of the street. "That's it!" he shouted. "Get me a crowbar!"

Bump x10000

OOC: Great storyline guys. Keep it up, I'm loving it, wished I'd been around for the start.

Part the Sixth
When we last left this storyline, Juan Gonzalez and the other investigators got called on the carpet by an enraged, injured Jacob Shay. Juan was ordered to keep an eye on Nikita, which he, annoyed, went to do...

"Today's frustrations: To be outshone by an incompetent, foolhardy man who should have been dead. To have to go on stakeout and watch, bored, as a murderer's lookalike eats and sleeps. And to be utterly unable to get in contact with the one person who might actually know what's going on," Juan thought, quietly stewing in his own anger. He remembered back when things had gone well, back before the Collapse. He remembered...

Juan was in a dingy bar well south of the border. He watched his mark, a former member of Shining Path, step outside. He followed, then, catching up to the man, tapped him on the shoulder...

Much like the woman tapping Juan on the shoulder, come to think of it. Juan turned nervously, hand on his knife. He then smiled slightly, and whispered, "Valerie."

...then whispered, "Murderer." A quick stab in the neck; then plant the knife, prepared with the DNA strand of another dead man. Now leave; go into the nearby alley...

"Come, we will talk; there's much to say," Valerie Plame, she of the golden hair and dark sunglasses, undercover agent of the CIA, replied, then led her fellow operative to a nearby alley.

Sasha Milotev looked out the window of the palace. He could see the West Corinthian army running around confused by the street blockade. They seemed to be digging in for the long haul.
"Sir!" a messenger ran into the room.
"What is it?" the new sultan inquired.
"They opened some-" the glass of the palace window shattered and the messenger's head exploded. Blood was thrown against the wall behind them. The messenger's lifeless body slouched to the floor.
The Sultan immediately ducked for cover. "Snipers." he whispered. Now he couldn't even go near his own windows. And what had that pathetic serf been talking about? What were the West Corinthians opening?

On the West Corinthian Side
Snipers and heavy assault troops had been left on ground level above them to dig in and make it look like a siege was beginning. What they had opened were manholes. Hundreds of troops now marched through the sewers of Thessalonika. These troops were lightly armed, mobile, and trained for close-quarters combat.
They came up in various sections of the palace bomb shelter. Shower rooms, bathrooms, anywhere the sewer led to. After minor excavating they furtively made their way up into the palace. They arranged themselves into fireteams, and silenced their weapons.
The Colonel thought why he always got himself in these situations. It was now revealed his name was Anatoliy Aloysius (finally a name!).

*major bump extreme to the max!*

Part the Seventh -
Previously, Juan Gonzalez recalled sunnier, somewhat more violent days. Now, he talks with Valerie Plame, CIA agent.

"Agent Plame, if what I heard is correct, you wish to invite me, on behalf of the DIA, to join in a covert operation to send disgraced West Corinthian bureaucrats to safe houses elsewhere?" Gonzalez asked. He stood near a dumpster in the alley; his companion stood to his left.

"Indeed, that is what I'd like; these people have done nothing to deserve the punishment the emperor metes out," Plame replied. "A general whose troops ranked last in an exercise was forcibly retired and was executed in secret-"

"Rumored to be executed in secret," Gonzalez interjected. He had heard that rumor, but, according to the DIA, he had proof that it was false; the Mafia had killed General Ivan Lubyev for failing to pay up on a gambling debt and threatening to go to the police.

"Executed. It's no matter; besides, this will give us better insights into West Corinthia, so that we can eventually take down the dictatorial regime in place here," Plame replied.

"Is that official government policy?" Gonzalez asked. "The DIA hasn't been informed of it..."

"Well, not exactly," Plame responded, then added, "State's involved; Joe Wilson, staffer at the embassy in Kydonia, is the point man there."

"Who's on top of all this?" Gonzalez, struck by a sudden worry, asked. "Who do you report to, in other words?"

Valerie stopped, stuttered, and then thought before saying, "Come to think of it, I don't really know."

"Well, find out, why don't you? For all you know, this could be a set-up by the Emperor; he is ex-KGB, after all..." Gonzalez said in a near-shout.

High above Thessalonika, above the clouds and out of earshot, flew a C-17 transport with a fighter escort of 4 Tornado IDS. The rear hatch opened, and a lone figure approached the jump zone. Because they were so high up, the man required an oxygen mask and warm clothing. He took a deep breath, and jumped.
The man freefell for several minutes before opening his parachute. It was now night, and his black parachute made him invisible to the patrolling East Corinthians on the palace roof. He landed noiselessly, quickly putting on his night vision goggles. He unstrapped his AW Covert sniper rifle and loaded a clip. Then he unholstered his Vektor CP1, applied a silencer, and loaded a mag. He slung the rifle around his back and kept the pistol ready.
5 East Corinthians were playing cards on the roof nearby. The man, Roman Kostyanov, Czar Vasili Kotov's Master of Assassins and close friend, approached furtively. The Easterners suddenly laughed very loudly. Roman tapped one on the shoulder, and when he turned around to look, was killed with a knife and tossed over the side of the roof.
Now the men had settled. "Where's Boris?" one asked. Roman shot three of them with his silenced Vektor CP1 and grabbed the last one for questioning.

"Where's Vladimir Demorov?" Roman asked.
"Go to hell, West Corinthian scum."
Roman shot him in the knee and held a rag to his mouth to muffle the scream.
"Dead! Sasha Milotev killed him, took the throne....ahh!"
"Good." Roman smiled, and shot the man in the head. Then he proceeded into the palace through a skylight.

Beneath the palace
Colonel Anatoliy led his squad up from the palace basement. They encountered light opposition and continued at a steady pace. Vladimir and his second, Sasha, would be in the throne room acting all noble. That he knew. Something bothered him though. As a high-ranking officer, he had been told how Vladimir really came to East Corinthia. He had been president once, the democratically-elected leader of a unified Corinthia. Now they were going to kill him like an animal. Then he reminded himself how Vladimir had become so power-hungry he became a terrorist to reclaim his office. Czar Vasili Kotov was the best thing to ever happen to West Corinthia. They were stronger, richer, and better respected than they had ever been under President Vladimir Demorov. And the people loved the Czar. They would give their lives to keep him in power.

Power to the palace was cut. "Finally." a hoplite with Colonel Anatoliy muttered.
"Nightvision on." the Colonel said.

The Eighth Part
Previously, Louis Bradstreet was chastised for his naïvete and ordered to dig up whatever information he could, electronically. Elsewhere, of course, people were meeting in alleyways, but Louis doesn't care - that's Luis's storyline, not Louis's.

"Joe Wilson's some random person at State, according to Google; why would Yuri Gerisov be so intent on finding Wilson?" Bradstreet thought, looking on the website of the American Embassy in West Corinthia. He logged off of his computer, then walked outside.

He had checked online to find out which computer stores were open; none were. He intended to hack into the website of the intelligence agency of West Corinthia; he needed a local modem to throw out when the spies came knocking. Standard procedure.

But now, he couldn't do that, and it wouldn't do for him to tell Shay that Joe Wilson was a minor bureaucrat at the Embassy. Useless, utterly useless. And worse, he just tripped over a modem.

His head hurt a bit, but he was otherwise fine. He picked himself up, and felt rather embarrassed. Then, he noticed what he tripped over, picked up the modem, and checked it out. No dents, no scratches, nothing. Hmm, maybe this could work...

East Corinthia
Sasha Milotev, now Sultan of East Corinthia, was outraged. "How did they get in!" he screamed at his officer.

"They must have come from under the palace. Reports stopped coming in from the bottom floors up. What should we do? Surely we cannot hold out forever."

"Are you suggesting we surrender?"

"No! Sir-" the officer's voice was silenced by a gunshot. He fell to the floor in pain, Sasha Milotev standing over him with a Desert Eagle .50.

The Sultan took the man's radio. "To all surviving units. Proceed to the throne room immediately." he stormed off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

West Corinthian Assault Team
"I think they're falling back. Let's go!" Colonel Anatoliy yelled. He stormed forward with his squad and stopped around a corner.

"What is it, sir?" a soldier inquired.

"Throne room's around this corner. I think that's where they were going." he took out a fiber optic cable and snaked it around the corner. The throne room was completely barricaded with sandbags and every East Corinthian soldier in the palace was inside. "We'll have to work on the sandbags. RPGs up!" Everyone carried an RPG with at least one shell, standard equipment for hoplites.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

West Corinthian Sniper
Roman Kostyanov dropped through a vent and into a hallway. It was pitch dark inside, a combination of night outside and no power inside. He carefully applied night vision goggles and continued. He was surprised to encounter no resistance on his way to the floor above the throne room. This is too easy.

He used his GPS to tell when he was directly above the throne room, then he opened a vent and crawled inside. He furtively widened the slots of a vent, giving him a full view of the throne room. In a throne, wearing all sorts of jewels, was the Sultan himself. Roman smiled, and unstrapped his sniper rifle.

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