NationStates Jolt Archive

Kraven Held Zukariaa: Arterus 0900 Hours

A Reichmarshal sat at the table, the dark wooden oak was old, probably hundreds of years old before the Corporation tore it down and turned it into something that now held papers and documents, something where the fates of thousands of lives would be decided in an instant..

The Reichmarshal was a young man, he’d only been serving in the Kraven secret police for a year and a half now, but had risen through the ranks quickly and had been given the task of setting in motion Phase 2 of the Absolute Unification campaign.

He felt honoured, that was without question, he’d never expect to get an assignment as big as this, but he was sure that he wouldn’t fail the High Command…

“Let me see those dossiers again” The Reichmarshal spoke, his name was Piert, he was of Zukariaan stock, a child of a Zukariaan woman and a Kravenite Military Officer, and so he was born into greatness, but quite often the other Reichmarshals, those born of Kraven origin and true Kravenites looked down on him…

This hadn’t prevented his rise through the ranks however and quickly he became one of the Highest Ranking Reichmarshals in Kraven Zukariaa…

“Here you are Reichmarshal” Said a Colonel of the military arm, he handed a brown dossier with the Kraven Eagle stamped upon it…

“The eyes of the world are on South East Asia at the moment, you are all aware of that?” Piert continued…

“Yes Reichmarshal, the world has set its gazes upon South East Asia and its defence…”

“Exactly, that is why we shall send our Task Force into another nation and slip in un-noticed…”

The Reichmarshal opened the dossier it was a series of satellite photographs detailing various military structures, facilities, possible bunker entrances, railway infrastructures and public buildings… such as Schools and hospitals…

“The terrain we are familiar with, we have fought here before gentlemen… well correction, you have fought here before, before I joined the Corporation and before I was born..” there was slight murmuring from the table, some of the Officers in the military disliked his Father, he was a pompous fool always boasting about his military victories and how he authorised the deployment of the Three Stage Bio Weapon, used against Automagfreek during the first Kraven wars…

“I know you don’t like how I’ve gained this position, but I intend to ensure that this operation is successful” He finished with a glare at those who sought to undermine him…

“Gentlemen, I ask now of your opinions on the situation..”

An aging Captain raised his hand, the hands were severely burnt and the flesh seemed to flow together like a river, mixed by the hot flames that touched his skin as his personal Leman Russ exploded under anti-tank for so long ago, the memories may have faded, but the scars did not…

“We should start with an armoured strike straight into the Capitol City…” The Captain was a hardcore Tanker, he’d served in the tank korpz for a long time before his promotion to Captain, this was however before the Capitol Police took over crewing of Panzers…

“What nation are we invading Captain Marlok?”

The Captain paused for a minute…

“South East Asia?” he asked inquisitively

“No… the nation in question has been a thorn in our side for some time, but recent intel indicates that the majority of its armies are spread far and wide across the globe, with a large force being prepared to counter our main invasion of South East Asia, Gentlemen our target is Kahanistan…”

The room laughed, they’d been there before and were thoroughly beaten back by a coalition of forces, the idea of trying again seemed preposterous to them, in fact the use of the term “Task Force” indicated a smaller than Battlefleet size army, and was even more laughable…

“So then… Reichmarshal” Spoke a Colonel, one who had seen the majority of Kraven wars and Kraven Defeats and was even present in the room when Panzeroberst Lorn surrendered to Damien Dreadfire… he paused for a second… “What do You… propose?”

“The key here is speed, the faster we strike, the slower the response of Kahanistans allies, if we strike him hard with a series of tactical Strikes from the KSSF, then we can throw Kahanistans military into disarray, hitting its ability to respond to the wounded and transportation of troops and supplies would cripple its ability defend against our Ground forces…”

“A battalion of Centurians with armoured support will blaze up towards the Capitol and hopefully take it by force, or if the KSSF has done its job, force a Surrender…” The room thought silently for a moment, the young fool was right, he may be young and of inferior Genetic stock, but he was taught by Reichmarshal Helghan himself…

Who incidentally walked into the room..

“Gentlemen…” His voice pierced the room, the metallic rasp of his vox caster sent chills up the spines of the officers present…

“I hope you are treating young Piert with the same respect you would treat me…” The sinister figure of Helghan spoke, before turning and walking over to the table with a mechanical gait…

“Of course Reichmarshal Helghan, we wouldn’t dream of dishonouring our names…” One officer spoke, Helghan dismissed him with a wave of a gloved hand…

“I hope you all agree on this tactical plan, I do, and think that the mission will be highly successful, Kraven has entered a new Era gentlemen you can either be part of it, or part of the flotsam and Jetsam that will wash upon the shores of our great Empire…”

“Reichmarshal Piert, you are to go at once to Tactical Kommand and order the KSSF to begin preporations for the Strike immediately…” The young Reichmarshal quickly stood up and snapped to attention and left the room heading off to carry out his orders…

“For the rest of you, prepare your forces, armoured divisions, everything you need for this Invasion of Kahanistan, strike swift Gentlemen for if you are too slow… The world will catch you up…”

The Officers got up from their chairs, saluted and left, Reichmarshal Helghan looked down onto the table, the maps of Kahanistan key areas ringed in red, while think black arrows pointed to blitzkrieg style pushes into the centre of Kahanistan….

The World was about to feel the might of the Kraven War Machine once more… and No one knew what was coming…

OOC: This is Closed to me and Kahanistan, and its using Fluid Time as the strikes will happen at the same time as the Invasion of SEA starts, SEA however is currently facing some RL difficulties and has requested that I wait until he has Posted in the thread, mean time though, Enjoy!

(OOC: Just learned of this thread while searching for a map of Arterus for another post. :))

Al-Bahr (Sea Town), Kahanistan

The Soviet Republic's lone sea port sat alongside the Mediterranean coast. Thousands of ships of many nations with all sorts of relations docked there, safe in the knowledge that the powerful Republic Navy would protect the tiny Middle Eastern democracy and everyone in it with all its strength.

Today, however, most of the Navy was out at sea, fighting Kraven imperialism in Southeast Asia, Jagada, and Kravanian forces on their homeland. The combat-ready naval forces left were forty Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, one hundred Seawolf-class submarines, two hundred Sa'ar-5 class missile corvettes, twenty Nimitz-class carriers, seventy Kirov-class cruisers, five Emmanuel Goldstein-class battleships, and one Royal Sovereign-class Super Dreadnaught, under the command of Fleet Admiral Raghad Nazmareh, the commander of the entire Navy. She practically lived aboard that ship since it had arrived from Praetonia.

They had no expectation of an invasion as yet, but AWACS flew in the air to patrol anyway, Kahanistan had many enemies.

---

Al-Qamar, Kahanistan

The peaceful city in southeastern Kahanistan was surrounded by Air Force bases, but inside was the technological heart of the nation. It was here where Kahanistan's infant space program was housed, and where the first Kahanistanians had landed on the moon in 1999, giving the name "Moon Town" to the city - an unofficial nickname dating back to the earliest space programs in the 1940's later made official.

The combat air patrols of stealthy F-22 Raptors patrolled the city day and night, protecting from aerial incursions from the other side of the nation.

10:00 Hours, Norskan Air Fields, Northern Arterus

Several sleek black air craft began to taxi down a runway, the morning light was still rising, the Norskan days were shorter than anywhere else and so it often took the sun quite a while to spread its warming rays across the Kraven continent, and as such the Runway lights beamed brightly guiding the two pilots towards the point of no return…

Chatter between the crews and the Command Relay was alive, each crew requesting take off vectors while others were signalling their co-ordinates and informing the Command Relay of their departure…

The first of the few craft began to throttle up, the jet engines outlets caused the air to shimmer with heat waves, while the two pilots were forced back into their seats by the awesome power of these twin jet engines…

KSSF bombers, designed to slip into enemy territory and deliver a devastating blow with little or no reprise at all, the planes were unmarked, apart from an Eagle with two lightening flashes held in its claws, the crew wore plain black uniforms, but if any were captured it would be quite easy to tell, by the lack of emotions that the crew were of blatantly Kraven origin.

Still the first craft lifted off the ground, its wheels leaving the tarmac and within a few feet the wheels were brought into the fuselage where they would be stowed until the crafts return…

More and more craft followed through out the night, resulting in twenty five squadrons of one craft each, these craft were some of the best Novan technology could have to offer, coupled with the ECM’s and ECCM’s of the Kraven electronical suite and the plane was virtually indestructible, this however was just a figure of speech, like any other craft it could be brought down with a well aimed missile, just like any other craft it was vulnerable to stealth technologies short falls…

The craft began its long journey towards Kahanistan, flying at high altitude towards the targets, then dropping to a mere fifty feet above the water to prevent an OTH, radar from picking them up, it would be a devastating strike to say the least…

“This is alpha five one zero, we are approaching High Altitude cruising speed, beginning Radio Silence..”

“Understood Alpha Five one Zero, awaiting Target Kill Confirmation…”

The radio went dead as each of the Craft radioed in for one last time, then with the accuracy akin only to Capitol Police pilots, they flew their craft towards Kahanistan…

Reichmarshal Pierts Office 12:00 Hours

The Office was just like every other Reichmarshal’s office, it was decorated with an assortment of Kraven flags, shields, a massive oak table and various items of Furniture, a map table was to one side of the room where Peirt looked at various maps with interest..

A quite knock at the door signalled to Piert that someone was present and required his attention, so somewhat dismayed at being interrupted, he answered the door, pulling the large oak construct open to reveal a young Captain of around twenty three years old…

“Reichmarshal Piert, I’ve come to inform you that the KSSF are currently airborne and on route to Kahanistan, they should be penetrating Kahanistan airspace in around seven hours..”

“Very good Captain, keep me informed..”

“As you wish Reichmarshal..”

The officer turned to leave, and Piert returned to his maps, the interesting circles marked across a desert country, Kahanistan, Piert was studying the targets selected for destruction by the KSSF, the railway stations, road networks, possible bunker entrances, power stations, it was all there on display for the Reichmarshal to study….

Kahanistan would reel from this attack, and then the rest of Kraven will strike..

First Kraven Battlefleet, bound for South East Asia… 0600 hours (Before the launch of the KSSF Strike)

New orders had come through to Grand Admiral Oberstrom, he studied the readout with some detail before sighing, The High Command had just issued orders requesting a small battle group to detach from the main battle fleet and head to Kahanistan with absolute haste, a force of around six hundred thousand Centurians were to be deployed with the fleet…

“Shit…” Oberstrom spoke outloud…

“My fleet keeps loosing numbers to silly little conquests, that’s another battle group that’s been diverted away from here to go on some silly little mission of conquest…” The Admiral dispared… before a Reichmarshal stepped out of the shadows…

“Grand Admiral Oberstrom, I take it your not happy with the orders?”

“Not at all, how are we supposed to take a nation like South East Asia and all of her allies when The High Command keep removing elements of our force….”

“That is because, Grand Admiral the High Command are Diverting five hundred vessels from the shores of Concremo to assist with the operation, I would, In future Grand Admiral… keep your reservations to yourself, and remember, I am Reichmarshal aboard here and you shall respect my rank..”

“I’m sorry Reichmarshal…. Forgive me, I spoke out of place…”

“You’re a good Admiral, Oberstrom, pray that you meet a bullet of the enemy and not of a firing squad….”

The Admiral bowed his head in shame… and gave the orders for the battle group to disembark for Kahanistan…

Phase 2 was now under way…

Over the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 km northwest of Kahanistan

Lieutenant Colonel Ted Jolson flew at the head of his wing of F-22 Raptors, unlike most wing commanders who flew in the middle. He and his wing were part of the Early Warning Defense System, the network devoted to patrolling for low-flying aircraft with hostile intent.

As the radio in his F-22 began blaring "Fast Cars and Freedom," he received a hail from one of his wing people.

"Commander, you might want to check this out, a Novan fighter coming in."

Novans? Why not come openly? What are they afraid of? The wing commander had little time to react, they were about fifty meters above sea level. He swung the F-22 around, performing a daring flip coming within five meters of the sea that never failed to impress his wing, then barrel-rolling to face the opposite direction. The Novan, or what he thought was a Novan, was right in front of him. He opened a channel.

"Novan fighter, this is Lieutenant Colonel Ted Jolson, Kahanistan Republic Guard. State your business in Kahanistan and explain why you need to fly so low. Can we render assistance?"


---

After the discussion (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11851559&postcount=83) regarding inserting an agent into Kraven, and the ensuing drive to the air force base, a lone SR-71 Blackbird took off for Arterus. It contained a lone young woman in a high-pressure flight suit. She was headed for the northmost city in Kraven Northern Arterus.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadia Sklenova had known, somehow, for months that she would one day be sent to Kraven. She never imagined that it would be through such a high-risk assignment as this; flying at the ceiling of 24,000 meters at maximum speed toward Kraven space, with instructions to nuke her own plane after ejection and walk, in the freezing cold, to the city that was her destination.

If there was one thing Nadia hated more than nukes, it was Kraven. Oh, how she hated Kraven. She had suffered nightmares about those birthing facilities that kept her awake for days. Now General Kaselev wanted her to walk there in the freezing climate of Kraven... or hitch a ride if she could, but her orders were merely to get into the city undetected. Her expertly forged documents were contained in the plane and would present no difficulty in entering the city. That is, if she ever got into Kraven airspace alive...

She started the engine and was literally plastered to her seat as the huge spy plane took off at Mach 3, with a one-kiloton nuclear bomb strapped to it. This was attached to a sixty-second delay fuse that would vaporize the plane, which would continue to careen away from her at Mach 3 after ejecting, destroying all evidence of the plane. Ideally it would look like a failed nuclear test by a rogue nation, or a satellite being destroyed by a tactical nuke.

Over the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 km northwest of Kahanistan

Lieutenant Colonel Ted Jolson flew at the head of his wing of F-22 Raptors, unlike most wing commanders who flew in the middle. He and his wing were part of the Early Warning Defense System, the network devoted to patrolling for low-flying aircraft with hostile intent.

As the radio in his F-22 began blaring "Fast Cars and Freedom," he received a hail from one of his wing people.

"Commander, you might want to check this out, a Novan fighter coming in."

Novans? Why not come openly? What are they afraid of? The wing commander had little time to react, they were about fifty meters above sea level. He swung the F-22 around, performing a daring flip coming within five meters of the sea that never failed to impress his wing, then barrel-rolling to face the opposite direction. The Novan, or what he thought was a Novan, was right in front of him. He opened a channel.

"Novan fighter, this is Lieutenant Colonel Ted Jolson, Kahanistan Republic Guard. State your business in Kahanistan and explain why you need to fly so low. Can we render assistance?"


The Pilot responded, the message was clear and very concise, but wasn't altered by the Vox Caster on the pilots headgear and wasn't translated into battle language, Kraven knew the cost of being rumbled and so, no expense was spared in hoping that Kahanistan would fall for this ruse...

"This is Alpha three zero, we've experienced cabin decompression and are having to fly low, we are looking for assistance... guidance requested."

Jolson responded. "Change your bearing to 141 degrees, 31 minutes, you will arrive at the Kahanistan Republic Navy base in Al-Bahr in five minutes at Mach 1. I'll have another wing cover for me while we provide escort, someone might get suspicious of you in these parts. We're spread pretty thin, can't take the chance the Doomies or the Freeks will get the drop on us."

He then changed his heading and signaled the "Novan" fighter to follow his wing.

The Novan fighter changed its direction and began to follow the Kahanistani fighters, the ruse had been successfull, it always worried the High Command that the Capitol Police's bluntness during radio transmissions would give the game away, but maybe due to fatigue through long patrols, the Kahanistan pilots hadn't picked up on that... yet...

The Craft continued its course for a further five minutes until the Naval base was in sight, the Co Pilot dropped the targeter array infront of his eyes and began to sight the Naval base, aiming for the Base Commanders building and the Communications building, or what Kraven Intelligence belived to be these buildings...

The Co Pilot targetted each one, four missiles in this pay load, and each one had its own target, The Base Commanders building, The Communication Building, The Ammo Storage, and The Docks themselves, preventing vessels from being loaded up with supplies or additional soldiers and preventing the crew from boarding vessels...

The Cruise missiles were a Kraven variant on the Tomahawk, and was used effectively, packing a full warhead of Kraven C12...

The Targets were locked and the Bay doors opened, instantly the four cruise missiles dropped from the bay and ignited their engines, powering themsleves away from the "Novan" Fighter as it now peeled away from the Kahanistani Fighter craft, heading back out to sea..

And now the War was on, the first attack had been made and now multiple incomings began to appear, each flying low and intowards Kahanistan shores, more and more cruise missiles were released targetting bases and bunkers across Kahanistan, while at the same time, Fighters crossed the waters and headed inland to attack targets currently out of reach...

Kahanistan was under attack, from what appeared to be craft of Novan origin...

"What the HELL?!" Jolson was shocked that the Novan would fire upon his base after he had tried to save their necks. Then it dawned on him. The bastard tricked us, must have been that Kukonois guy.

He fired two Sidewinders at the Novan craft, but they only traveled at Mach 2.5 and had a relatively short range, 18 km; they would probably not hit. He then hailed the base and warned of an attack by Admiral Kukonois.

Inside the base, Vice Admiral Mikhail Korganov, the base commander, was still alive, but badly injured. His penchant for vodka must have numbed him to the severity of his wounds; his leg was crushed under a large metal beam and he was still worried about the state of the fleet. He clutched a bottle of Generian Black Death Vodka in his hand, about a third full.

As the medics struggled to lift the beam, the Admiral lost consciousness and they immediately applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

Aboard Admiral Nazmareh's command dreadnaught, RKS Imperator Marum, the fleet received the signal of a rogue Novan attack. They immediately moved to battle stations, and the air defenses around the city adopted standoff protocols refined since the Pwnage invasion. With the fleet on more or less constant alert, most of the crews were already aboard. Emergency communications kicked in and alerted the General Staff in Najaster of the situation.

---

Northern Kraven Arterus

If one was observant watching the radar, a lone SR-71 Blackbird might be spotted, a lone, unarmed craft that could have come from any one of over a million different nations. This plane was about two hundred kilometers from Kraven Northern Arterus.

Inside it, the cockpit was freezing. The pilot was very cold and having to constantly divert her attention to the instruments while trying to figure her position and heading, and reading the instruction manuals that were provided for her mission, to figure out what she was to do in Kraven to gather information. If I ever do get to Kraven...

The Fighters of the "Novan" origin continued to move in land, the pilots were targeting all sorts of Kahanistan buildings, from hospitals, to communication arrays, bunker entrances...

Flying low and hard, to avoid the weaponry defending the Capitol of Nadja, the craft continued on course, like before the Co Pilots lowered their targetting array and began to lock onto their assigned targets, the pilots continued to hold their course, until they were in target range, the first wave were the ones that were targeting facilities near the shore..

The other craft, aiming for targets inland, continued to travel towards their targets...

Missiles were once again let loose, dropping a few feet away from the craft before powering their engines and racing towards the targets, Bunker Entrances, Army bases and communication towers, the hospitals of the Coastal towns and cities were struck, as well as rail networks and any other building that would add to the confusion..

Kraven Battlefleet 600nm's from Kahanistan

The fleet continued to make its way towards Kahanistan, each ship a vulgar display of Kraven power forged its way ahead, the waves crashed against the hulls of these mighty vessels while the awesome power of the engines drove the ships headlong...

The crew worked hard, pushing themselves hard to ensure that the invasion would happen quickly and so that Kahanistan was taken by surprise, it would be make or break on wether or not the final act of war was sucessful or a faliure...

Northern Kraven Arterus

If one was observant watching the radar, a lone SR-71 Blackbird might be spotted, a lone, unarmed craft that could have come from any one of over a million different nations. This plane was about two hundred kilometers from Kraven Northern Arterus.

Inside it, the cockpit was freezing. The pilot was very cold and having to constantly divert her attention to the instruments while trying to figure her position and heading, and reading the instruction manuals that were provided for her mission, to figure out what she was to do in Kraven to gather information. If I ever do get to Kraven...


The Kraven air observers watched a tiny blip of the craft enter Kraven airspace, quickly the word was spread to the Kriegsmarines that were manning the many Anti Aircraft weaponry that was scattered around the country...

The crews altered the trajectory towards the direction of the incomming craft, the night sky was brought alive by the resounding cannons of the 120mm ETC EM rifled Flak Cannons, each pounded the sky, while search lights swept the sky, looking for the offending craft...

With the initial attacks, the civil defense organization had moved many tons of medical supplies to the subways and underground complexes under the city of Al-Bahr and the capital city of Najaster. Many injured patients from the hospitals were killed and those who were not were taken to the underground makeshift facilities. Kahanistanian police moved to secure government facilities and emergency supplies; during and after the Freekish terror bombing of the city many looters had stolen weapons, medicine, NBC gear, etc., and even hijacked police vehicles to flee.

Military bases struck generally had huge underground complexes; much of the above-ground facilities were struck, but the hardened bunkers designed to withstand most types of bunker busters generally held.

The SAM systems, Machbet AA's and S-400's mainly, activated their counter-SEAD protocols: only one in six AA systems was on. Should enemy ARM's target the SAM system, the other AA's would activate, target the source of the ARM, and fire, then turn off their radars immediately. There were also radar decoys designed to attract ARM's while the real AA threats engaged the enemy planes.

F-22 Raptors took off to defend the capital city of Najaster. The city itself had AA systems in civilian areas; few of Kahanistan's enemies had cared about inflicting civilian casualties. Those who did would not be fired upon by the short-range city defense AA, whose range and positions were arranged to deliberately prevent the AA from engaging anything that wasn't a threat to the city and making it a justifiable target, but Kraven forces would be fired upon by anything that Kahanistan could muster...

---

Northern Arterus

A flash of light grabbed the Colonel's attention. They certainly weren't fireworks down there. Figuring she was definitely within Kraven airspace, she checked her GPS system. She was in Kraven all right.

Nadia knew that she was near the city she was to infiltrate. Her plane was going to be destroyed anyway, so there was no need to conserve her engines; she redlined them to Mach 3.8 to avoid the enemy fire, and increased her altitude far beyond the safe ceiling of 24,000 meters; she was approaching 27,000 meters altitude and 125 km from the city. It was a race now between her and the Kraven AA defenses...

With the initial attacks, the civil defense organization had moved many tons of medical supplies to the subways and underground complexes under the city of Al-Bahr and the capital city of Najaster. Many injured patients from the hospitals were killed and those who were not were taken to the underground makeshift facilities. Kahanistanian police moved to secure government facilities and emergency supplies; during and after the Freekish terror bombing of the city many looters had stolen weapons, medicine, NBC gear, etc., and even hijacked police vehicles to flee.

Military bases struck generally had huge underground complexes; much of the above-ground facilities were struck, but the hardened bunkers designed to withstand most types of bunker busters generally held.

The SAM systems, Machbet AA's and S-400's mainly, activated their counter-SEAD protocols: only one in six AA systems was on. Should enemy ARM's target the SAM system, the other AA's would activate, target the source of the ARM, and fire, then turn off their radars immediately. There were also radar decoys designed to attract ARM's while the real AA threats engaged the enemy planes.

F-22 Raptors took off to defend the capital city of Najaster. The city itself had AA systems in civilian areas; few of Kahanistan's enemies had cared about inflicting civilian casualties. Those who did would not be fired upon by the short-range city defense AA, whose range and positions were arranged to deliberately prevent the AA from engaging anything that wasn't a threat to the city and making it a justifiable target, but Kraven forces would be fired upon by anything that Kahanistan could muster...

---

Northern Arterus

A flash of light grabbed the Colonel's attention. They certainly weren't fireworks down there. Figuring she was definitely within Kraven airspace, she checked her GPS system. She was in Kraven all right.

Nadia knew that she was near the city she was to infiltrate. Her plane was going to be destroyed anyway, so there was no need to conserve her engines; she redlined them to Mach 3.8 to avoid the enemy fire, and increased her altitude far beyond the safe ceiling of 24,000 meters; she was approaching 27,000 meters altitude and 125 km from the city. It was a race now between her and the Kraven AA defenses...


The Missiles raced towards the Novan fighters that were closing in on Nadja, the first few missiles struck home, bringing down the craft in a ball of fire and shrapnel, but the others now aware of the attack, began to activate their ECM's causing the majority of the missiles to crash into the ground, or explode high into the air...

The Targets in Nadja were the City Defense limits, the Rail network into the city itself, the Airfields, Ammo storage and fuel dumps, any military bases and facilities...

Several of the craft moving inwards were carrying "Doomhammer" Bunker busters, and were targetted at the blast doors into underground facilities, the intention of these attacks were to collapse the entrance and prevent forces from moving to counter the actual attack...

The Communication buildings were struck again, ensuring that any survivors were delt with...

The Novan fighters now began to let loose their missiles one by one, until their payloads are empty, the craft were now aware of the Kahanistan fighters sent to combat them, and as such the ECM's thermal masking was activated to make targeting the craft difficult...

quickly the missiles were let loose one by one and the Novan fighters moved off, with the rest of the craft, still traveling in land were continueing to the target zone, traveling low and hard...

Northern Arterus

The AA Guns continued to pound the skies, the craft was now well out of range with only the odd shell exploding any where near the craft itself, but still the gunners complied to their orders and set the sky ablaze with flak...

The shovel is one of the earliest tools of a soldier. In Biblical times it was merely a stick that ancient Israeli soldiers used to dig a hole after taking a crap. Then the Romans used it to build roads and canals to move military supplies about. In World War I the shovel was used to dig the massive trenches which claimed the lives of millions of soldiers on both sides in brutal warfare. And in Najaster, Kahanistan, in 2006, it was used to dig collapsed earth away from the entrances to bunkers that were damaged in war to free trapped civilians and soldiers.

The surviving communication facilities activated their ECM; even civil facilities such as the news had powerful ECM and ECCM to counter blocking efforts by foreign nations against Kahanistanian news broadcasts by satellite. Civil Defense had military-grade ECM to prevent missile strikes against their facilities and the city in general.

The Kahanistanian defenders of Najaster dug in, to fight hard. Admiral Kukonois had never made such a daring attack on Kahanistan. The city was prepared for a siege of several years, but they had no intention of living on MRE's for five years straight. Anti-tank minefields were set up on the highways; a fleeing civilian truck could ride over what a heavier main battle tank could not. Roadblocks were set up all over the city, including Merkava IV main battle tanks, 210mm Al Fao self-propelled artillery, M-270 MLRS, and of course, heavy infantry sitting around next to AA guns and missile launchers, waiting for the enemy.

A scout crew found some wreckage of a Novan fighter. What they found in it was clearly not Novan or from the forces of the rogue Novan Admiral Kukonois, as if the power of the missiles was not enough to tell that.

"Somebody get DAKI on this. Let's see what Kaselev can make of it." Igor Kaselev was the deputy director of DAKI, the Directorate of Anti-Kraven Intelligence. He was also one of the best secret agents in Kahanistanian history. If anyone could figure out what the Novan fighters really were, it was him and his people.

---

Northern Arterus

Nadia pulled out her combat knife and sliced open her pressure suit, peeling it off her body and leaving only her mask on. At the high speeds she was flying at, and at her altitude, she had plenty of time to recover from a dive, not that the plane would go into one with the attitude she had arranged. The plane circled around the city at a wide arc, then careened ever upwards.

About twenty kilometers from the city, Nadia removed her mask and hit the ejection switch. Catapulted into the air, she pulled her rip cord and floated, before blacking out from the air pressure. The plane with the other evidence in it as to her identity and origin careened away from her at almost Mach 4. Sixty seconds later and about seventy kilometers away, the plane exploded, the timed detonator triggered by her ejection setting off a one-kiloton nuclear explosion vaporizing the plane and everything in it, far above the ground, away from civilian or military facilities. It would look like a missile test gone bad.

The unconscious young woman floated down to the ground, coming to at about 1,000 meters above ground. Remembering where she was, she pulled out a small cigarette lighter that could be found almost anywhere in the world, and a can of kerosene. When she landed, she would set the parachute afire and leave it. Everything she needed was in a utility belt around her waist. It contained her Civil License, or Kraven civilian ID, a few days' worth of rations to hold her over until she adjusted to Kraven food, and a map of the city with locations of facilities of various function and the habitation area she would be living in under her new Kraven identity until she obtained the information she was sent for and escaped.

She continued to drift toward the ground. Little did she know what was in store for her as she saw first hand the horrors of the Kraven Corporation...

The City limits of Norska: 0300 hours

The Kahanistan pilot who drifted towards the earth would shortly be landing in a small wooded area, the area was covered in a fine blanket of snow as the fire ball of her destroyed plane began to dissipate into nothingness, the area was like any northern country, where the winters were long and harsh and the summers short and mild, it was a beautiful night, surprisingly the night sky was alive with stars that twinkled gently…

As the pilot drifted further down, land marks began to come into focus, Trench systems lined the ground below, the place was littered with hardened bunkers and machine gun nests, fires could be seen burning in old oil drums, keeping the soldiers who were stood around it warm, and protecting them against the harsh cold…

It was early morning and these soldiers were only Kriegsmarines, they weren’t particularly looking for any pilots who’d just ejected from their craft, they were more interested in keeping their extremities warm…

A flash light swept through the trees, and in the distance an air raid siren sounded, it was signalling to the ground crews of the AA guns to stand down, that the Kraven officers had simply assumed that the AA guns have completed their tasks and downed the air craft…

From the city limits two heavy black blast doors opened and allowed a convoy of APC’s out onto the main road, the eight wheelers roared their engines hard as the vehicles rolled towards the expected crash site in an attempt to recover any wreckage….

Shouting could be heard as Reichmarshals held back attack dogs, while Capitol Police searched bushes a few hundered yards away from where the Kahanistan pilot was coming down, luckily for her, no one had noticed yet…

The ground itself was cold and hard, with sign posts dotted around the forest with a small picture of a Totenkopf and the words “Achtung” written underneath, tank traps littered the area and from several of the trees hung the frozen corpses of downed pilots from a brief encounter with another nation in Arterus, the Capitol Police had strung them up there as a warning sign to other pilots who may have come down in the area…

One of the corpses had its guts slit open and a long trail of intestines and blood had spilled out onto the ground below, only to have become frozen half way down, leaving a grizzly image…

Welcome to Kraven…

Kahanistan

All across the nation, news roared that Kraven was attacking, and using Novan fighters. Rumors began to spread about a secret deal between the Kraven Corporation and either Admiral Kukonois or the mainstream Novan government. Some xenophobes whipped up anti-Novan hysteria by claiming that both parties were allied with the Kraven Corporation.

The Novan Embassy in Najaster was surrounded by throngs of frightened, hysterical people whipped into a frenzy by the rantings of conspiracy theorists. They were demanding answers as Kahanistanian police helped hold the Embassy against the crowd.

All over the cities, roadblocks and anti-tank fields blocked the passage of anything heavier than a light truck. The roadblocks often took the form of several Merkava IV tanks in front, Al Fao guns and / or M-270 MLRS in the middle, and heavy infantry with anti-materiel sniper rifles, anti-tank guns, assault rifles and heavy machine guns in the rear, with another roadblock facing in the opposite direction behind it.

---

Sklenova walked through the woods, away from her flaming parachute. By the time the Kriegsmarines found where the fire had originated from, she and her chute would be long gone. She remembered that she had ejected north of the city, and walked south, luckily, her watch had a compass built into it. It was made by Kahanistan Military Industries and issued to soldiers, but it was also widely exported and sold on the civilian market; survivalists all over the Middle East swore by it.

As she walked, she came upon what looked like a human figure in the woods. She approached it to ask for directions.

"Hello, I was lost and I was looking for directions to..." she began, speaking with a Russian accent. It was not until she took a closer look at the figure that she realized she would not get a response. Nadia's stomach jumped into her throat as she walked around the figure and saw his intestines dangling from his body. She closed her eyes tightly as her throat constricted. She had seen people gutted in battle before, but nothing like this. People got shot in battle, their organs came out, she had seen that before. But she had never seen someone killed in such a wantonly cruel manner before.

She sighed deeply, taking several deep breaths before opening her eyes again. The victims might have something useful on them that Kraven had neglected to take. She searched their pockets for anything useful...

After completing her search, she untied the bodies from their gruesome posts. Lacking the time or equipment to bury them properly, she merely laid them down in the most dignified poses she could. She saluted the dead pilots, slowly, respectfully, dropping her hand. You will not be forgotten. Shaken by what she had seen, she walked briskly south, barely noticing the flashlights shining all over the place. Her plane had exploded a long way away; speeding at Mach 4 one could go quite far in a minute. She believed they would look for her there; while the primary intent in the delay fuse on the nuclear device was to make sure it was a safe distance away to detonate without incinerating her, the distance from her would also hopefully deceive anyone who saw the plane explode and didn't think it was a failed missile test.

She continued to walk towards Norska, her mind clouded by the sights she had seen only after being in Kraven a few minutes. What horrors would await her before she reported back to Kaselev?

It was 0420 hours when Nadia arrived in Norska, dressed as a citizen laborer and holding a false Kraven ID. The city was fortified, and swarming with Capitol Police, but what really struck the officer was how similar it was to a Kahanistanian city. Like Kahanistanian cities, the apartment buildings were high and soldiers were a common sight during preparations for war. Like Kahanistanian cities, there were roadblocks all over the place during wartime. But there were things in Norska that would never be found in a Kahanistanian city - black-armored demons strutting through like they owned the place, terrifying the locals, open lots with posts in them for purposes Nadia had not the foggiest idea, and subhuman, Satanic Sardaukar thick with weapons, walking tanks. She joined a group of people who were waiting for the transport to the provisions factory her Civil License identified her as working for.

Kahanistan

All across the nation, news roared that Kraven was attacking, and using Novan fighters. Rumors began to spread about a secret deal between the Kraven Corporation and either Admiral Kukonois or the mainstream Novan government. Some xenophobes whipped up anti-Novan hysteria by claiming that both parties were allied with the Kraven Corporation.

The Novan Embassy in Najaster was surrounded by throngs of frightened, hysterical people whipped into a frenzy by the rantings of conspiracy theorists. They were demanding answers as Kahanistanian police helped hold the Embassy against the crowd.

All over the cities, roadblocks and anti-tank fields blocked the passage of anything heavier than a light truck. The roadblocks often took the form of several Merkava IV tanks in front, Al Fao guns and / or M-270 MLRS in the middle, and heavy infantry with anti-materiel sniper rifles, anti-tank guns, assault rifles and heavy machine guns in the rear, with another roadblock facing in the opposite direction behind it.

---

Sklenova walked through the woods, away from her flaming parachute. By the time the Kriegsmarines found where the fire had originated from, she and her chute would be long gone. She remembered that she had ejected north of the city, and walked south, luckily, her watch had a compass built into it. It was made by Kahanistan Military Industries and issued to soldiers, but it was also widely exported and sold on the civilian market; survivalists all over the Middle East swore by it.

As she walked, she came upon what looked like a human figure in the woods. She approached it to ask for directions.

"Hello, I was lost and I was looking for directions to..." she began, speaking with a Russian accent. It was not until she took a closer look at the figure that she realized she would not get a response. Nadia's stomach jumped into her throat as she walked around the figure and saw his intestines dangling from his body. She closed her eyes tightly as her throat constricted. She had seen people gutted in battle before, but nothing like this. People got shot in battle, their organs came out, she had seen that before. But she had never seen someone killed in such a wantonly cruel manner before.

She sighed deeply, taking several deep breaths before opening her eyes again. The victims might have something useful on them that Kraven had neglected to take. She searched their pockets for anything useful...

After completing her search, she untied the bodies from their gruesome posts. Lacking the time or equipment to bury them properly, she merely laid them down in the most dignified poses she could. She saluted the dead pilots, slowly, respectfully, dropping her hand. You will not be forgotten. Shaken by what she had seen, she walked briskly south, barely noticing the flashlights shining all over the place. Her plane had exploded a long way away; speeding at Mach 4 one could go quite far in a minute. She believed they would look for her there; while the primary intent in the delay fuse on the nuclear device was to make sure it was a safe distance away to detonate without incinerating her, the distance from her would also hopefully deceive anyone who saw the plane explode and didn't think it was a failed missile test.

She continued to walk towards Norska, her mind clouded by the sights she had seen only after being in Kraven a few minutes. What horrors would await her before she reported back to Kaselev?

It was 0420 hours when Nadia arrived in Norska, dressed as a citizen laborer and holding a false Kraven ID. The city was fortified, and swarming with Capitol Police, but what really struck the officer was how similar it was to a Kahanistanian city. Like Kahanistanian cities, the apartment buildings were high and soldiers were a common sight during preparations for war. Like Kahanistanian cities, there were roadblocks all over the place during wartime. But there were things in Norska that would never be found in a Kahanistanian city - black-armored demons strutting through like they owned the place, terrifying the locals, open lots with posts in them for purposes Nadia had not the foggiest idea, and subhuman, Satanic Sardaukar thick with weapons, walking tanks. She joined a group of people who were waiting for the transport to the provisions factory her Civil License identified her as working for.



The line was waiting patiently as a Reichmarshal and his Capitol Police Guards checked over the papers one by one, the Reichmarshal would flick through the books before handing them back and nodding towards the bus that sat waiting, its engine ticking over gently in the cool morning breeze...

The breath of people stood around could be seen rising into the air slowly, as each breath was cast out of the lungs, the Capitol Police's breath came out of two vents on either side of their Gas Masks in two long streams that made it obvious to anyone with any knowledge of gas masks that the expulsions was mechanicaly assisted.

A woman, around thirty turned to look behind her, her eyes were sunken and dark, as though she'd seen little sleep, her skin was pale, and the colour of her eyes were faded white as though cateracts had begun to form across her lenses...

The woman smiled before speaking softly..

"Your new here aren't you?" She asked, before the colonel could answer she continued...

"I can tell by your clothes, they aren't Kraven issue.." She smiled again and looked towards the Reichmarshal, as though she was about to grass her in to the authorities...

"Don't worry, they won't pay any attention to your clothes, just don't look to confident around him, they don't like that, you should be subdued but don't act nervous..." She paused looking back at the Reichmarshal checking that he wasn't looking at her..

"Just hand him your booklet, look at him, then with any luck, he'll give you a nod to board the Bus..."

Soon enough, the line had moved enough for the Colonel and the woman to be next...

"Papers" The Reichmarshal asked bluntly, the two Capitol Police learing behind him, ready to execute anyone who wasn't complying with Kraven Doctrines...

The Reichmarshal looked down at the papers then at the woman who then directly looked straight at him...

"Whats the matter with your eyes Citizen 1142?"

The woman was taken a little back by this question, she hadn't realised they'd gotten so bad, so bad that the Reichmarshal would have noticed...

"Er, Nothing Herr Reichmarshal... I'm a little tired thats all.." she bowed her head low in a sign of respect..

The Reichmarshal's gloved hand reached out and held her face back, seperating her eye lids so that he could get a good look at her eye balls...

"Cateracts... The Kraven Civil Law Dossier dictates that you are no longer fit to work in the factories, I hereby sentence you to immediate execution at the hands of the Capitol Police, Guardians of Civil Law and Order..." The Reichmarshal, let go as the two burly Capitol Police grabbed her by both arms and dragged her off to a smalll empty square where four metal posts stood...

"You may carry out the Execution and have her body taken away for disposal..." The Reichmarshal shouted, before turning to the Colonel...

"Papers" The Reichmarshal held out his hand in waiting, as a few seconds later the shrill and distinct clatter of two MG42's echoed through out he streets, then moments afterwards the thump of a slumping body hitting the ground...

One of Nadia's weaknesses was that she was too emotional. She was the kind of person who couldn't drive past a roadkill without wondering if it was somebody's pet, who cried when she saw footage of war atrocities, who would be inconsolable at the thought of the babies who were turned into demonic Capitol Police.

General Kaselev had told her what to expect on the drive to the air base, but he could never prepare her for seeing what happened right in front of her. "You won't be able to help these people," he had told her, about the people who would be executed in front of her. "This will probably be your greatest moment of helplessness, watching as people are killed in cold blood in front of you. You can only avenge them, by contributing to the destruction of the Kraven Corporation."

Easy for him to say, she thought bitterly, brushing her arm across her face as she blinked back a tear and handed the Reichmarshal her papers, expertly forged for her by General Kaselev himself. It's not as if he has any emotions... not that he shows, anyway. Kaselev's voice was always flat, speaking softly, calmly, even under the most emotional circumstances. He indeed carried the aura of someone with no emotions.

Well, it would be easy for her to act subdued around the Reichmarshal... there was no acting confident around someone who could so casually order a murder with no more emotion than as if he were ordering a pizza. She helped me... Nadia thought of the woman, roughly her own age, who might have saved her life. I wish I could help her...

---

Al-Bahr, Kahanistan

The Republic Guards in the city began furiously digging trenches at the city's prized beach resort. They were going to insert every type of weaponry they had into that trench. S-400 missile launchers, Merkava IV tanks, 210mm Al-Fao self-propelled guns that could do some decent damage to enemy warships if the shells connected...

The Navy was, of course, determined to hold the Kraven fleet until their allies could enter or the invasion force was destroyed, but the Republic Guards did not dare to hope that they would not see action, although the Republic Navy had improved somewhat tactically since the Pwnage invasion, and their commander was determined not to suffer the same blow to her pride and her nation again.

The Kraven battlefleet was closing in, numbering in one thousand two hundred vessels this behemoth of a fleet was closing on the nation Kahanistan, its dark shadow loomed on the horizon as crews prepared for the opening salvos of the conflict…

“Commander…”

“Yes, Ensign…”

“We are in range to strike the Kahanistan fleet with long range missile batteries…”

“Very good, Inform the Apotheosis Class Missile Destroyers to start launching staggered salvos of Anti Shipping missiles, I want a wide spread, try and soften up the fleet up a little before we engage them proper”

“Aye Commander” The Ensign swivelled around in his chair to the communications console and began to give the orders to the Apotheosis Missile Destroyers, the deck of the Subjugator was alive with activity, people moving too and fro, carrying papers and ensuring that everything went correctly, the darkness of the bridge was illuminated by the gentle glow of red lights, that occasionally blinked on and off…

But regardless, it still gave an eerie red glow to the entire bridge…

Outside, the Apotheosis Missile destroyers loaded up their long range Anti Shipping missiles, again based of the Tomahawk, a universal design, capable of striking hardened targets or being used as anti shipping missiles…

Claxons blared out across the ocean as the Missile destroyers prepared to fire, then in the night sky, one by one a bright trail of fire rose into the air, screaming towards their targets in a high angle trajectory, then dropping into a low angle attack run for the final stages, striking the vessels on the hull just above the water line…

More and more missiles rose into the air, until the sudden and barbaric display of firepower was silenced, leaving nothing but the steady thump of the vessels abound for Kahanistan…


“Missiles away Commander” The Ensign spoke, looking out of the window towards the missiles as they approached their targets…

“Good Good, Bring about all vessels to face the Kahanistan fleet, I want full alert and prepare for a counter attack…”

"Aye Commander..." The Vessels were given the commands, and slowly and surely they brought themselves around to face the Kahanistan fleet, preparing for the counter attack...

Aboard the RKS Imperator Marum

A Lieutenant looked up from the monitor. "Admiral. Incoming enemy missiles. They appear to be Tomahawks aimed for the fleet. Probably C-12 warheads."

Fleet Admiral Nazmareh nodded calmly. "So they're here at last... Have the ships deploy their countermeasures and ready the CIWS cannons for a steady assault."

The Lieutenant saluted. "Yes, Admiral." He called to the weapon crews to bring more ammunition to the CIWS gun turrets of the command dreadnaught.

Aboard the smaller missile corvettes that had but one CIWS turret and large numbers of missiles aboard, a hit would inflict severe damage, if not sink the vessel outright, and more than two dozen of the missile boats exploded on impact. The cruisers took fewer losses, two of them were taking on water, but the captains reported that the situation was under control.

The Admiral then radioed to the command ballistic missile submarine. "Prepare for a retaliatory strike on the Kraven fleet, do we have any fuel-air ordnance?"

"Yes, we have ten FAE ballistic missile warheads on each submarine," replied the Rear Admiral commanding that portion of the submarine fleet.

"Very well, Admiral Sutonius. You may fire when ready."

Rear Admiral Titus Maximus Sutonius smiled and nodded to the officer next to him. "You heard the lady, prepare a volley of fuel-air ballistic missiles and send these people back to Hell where they came from. Roast their troops alive on their transports! By God, let's give them what-for!"

The missiles were being loaded into their bays on all forty of the ballistic missile submarines. These were Shahab-3D ballistic missiles with MIRV capabilities, ten missiles with six warheads apiece and a CEP of thirty meters - far smaller than most enemy warships.

The Reichmarshal looked at the papers with the casual curiosity that he’d shown just moments before, when ordering the woman’s execution, he flicked through the laminated papers with ease, he’d done this a thousand times before…

“I haven’t seen you on this route before?” He asked inquisitively, then checked another part of her papers…

“Hmm, I see why… you’ve been transferred from sector six to here…”, He flicked through to her picture then cast her a glance that penetrated her very soul, that looked into her mind and exposed her deepest fears like her mind was an open book just yearning to be read…

The Reichmarshal handed the book back to Nadia then nodded towards the bus… she’d made it, past the first obstacle…

The bus was a military vehicle, the seats were bare and made of steel, the windows were dirty, splattered in what appeared to be either mud, or something dry and worse than mud, the windows also had a set of heavy steel bars across them, the vibrations from the engine below could be felt through the chair, and two Kreigsmarines at one end of the bus directed the passengers to their allocated seats, one of them was quite helpful…

He smiled a lot and helped people into their seats, while the other was a nasty piece of work, obviously getting off on the power he’d been given, he pushed people roughly along the bus, while someone, a young man probably only twenty gave him a cautionary glance, to which the burly Kreigsmarine responded with a back hander to his face, sending him sprawling to the bus floor…

Within a few minutes of Nadia boarding the bus, did the Capitol Police Driver kick it into gear and set away, its powerful V8 engine roared as the Trooper pushed his jackboot down on the gas peddle, sending the bus lurching forwards as it cycled through the gears…

All around the city were similar scenes, busses picking people up, while Troopers stood guarding certain areas, a Leman Russ battle tank rolled up the streets, the Capitol Police Commander sat in the open copula, holding onto the sides of his turret with both hands, its powerful twin V8 engines roaring in the early morning light…

Flags and propaganda posters littered the walls, banners hung from windowsills and flags flew from poles all across the city, more and more road blocks were positioned to prevent the unwanted flow of people, you couldn’t move freely about the city without running into some form of checkpoint or road block…


More squares of nothing but those four metal posts were to be seen in different places around the city, each one was just like the other, riddled with bullet holes and blood splattered onto the walls, Attack dogs were held at bay by Kreigsmarines while an old man was stopped on the street and his belongings searched, he protested that he’d done nothing wrong, but a 303 rifle but to the face soon prevented him from speaking out anymore..

A few more minutes later and the bus had left the city perimeter and into the Defence zones, passing rows and rows of barbed wire, trenches, tank traps, bunkers and all kinds of defences anyone could possibly encounter in a Military State, Capitol Police where every where, manning trench systems, while others loaded the trenches with ammunition and other essentials

A Reichmarshal and a couple of Kraven officers stood on the banks of a trench and began to point at several of the trench systems that lay ahead, obviously discussing some kind of battle plan with his Generals and Captains, before quickly the bus had disappeared down the road, where two Capitol Police guards closed the massive Metal blast gates behind them….

Roughly half an hour into the journey and passing bombed out houses, and crop fields that were burnt and scarred, and passing hundreds of corpses, Some wearing Xirnium uniforms, others were Sentinels, corpses from the first war, while others were of Kahanistan origin and others were just civilians who’d pissed an Officer off, they’d been strung up in a similar fashion to the pilot who was stuck in the trees, however these were hung from scaffolding, or large poles…

Their uniforms and clothes had been torn open and the Twin Hammers of Kraven had been burnt into their flesh, the ultimate humiliation and a warning to anyone who defied the will of Kraven…

The Facility was now in view, it was a massive structure that stretched far into the sky, its tall chimneys poured black smoke into the sky, while the larger cooling towers poured white hot steam into the sky, mixing with the black soot to create a blanket of grey clouds above the facility…

More guards were on duty here, Kreigsmarines and Sardaukar were patrolling the outer perimeter of the facility, the bus, slowly drove up towards the check point, where another Reichmarshal boarded the bus and went through everyone’s papers again…

Everything checked out normal, and the orders were given to depart from the bus, outside the air stunk of Chemicals, it was really pungent and filled every inch of the body with this rancid smell of pollutants and toxic chemicals…

Machinery worked away in the background, giant chemical pumps forced liquids around pipelines, a few yards away, a massive dumper truck with wheels fourteen feet high entered the facility, its tipper body was enclosed, but it was carrying something, while at the same time, another one left the facility, heading back towards the City of Norska…

This was the Kraven Chemical Incorporated Facility, it produced all the foods, clothing and other essentials needed by the Kraven Cities to function, every city had one of these facilities, and a large portion of the Workforce who couldn’t work in the munitions factories operated here, it was the easier side of things, however the chemicals were often dangerous and fatalities were often quite high…

Not that it mattered to Kraven however, people were expendable, a resource to be used and abused…

Nadia sat down on the bus. She would not speak to anyone there, these Kriegsmarines seemed pretty unpredictable. However, if someone spoke to her, she would reply, but try not to get into long conversations, for fear of letting something slip. When they passed the corpses, she thought one of them was someone she had served with at the Battle of Xigrat, in Xirnium - her gunner, if she remembered correctly, who had later become a pilot. Her thoughts went to the day she had last seen him...

She had sent him off warmly, as he boarded the train for his military base to be deployed, he'd smiled at her, and she'd said to stomp Kraven for her. His smile had widened as the train doors closed... He had always liked her, tried to get her to go out with him, was always trying to impress her, though she was a good ten years older than he was. Now, she knew what had happened to him and some of the other MiG pilots who had attacked Kravonika. A lump arose in her throat as she pressed her head down into her hands, tears streaming from her pretty gray eyes. She dared not look again, fearing her emotions would get the better of her, did not wish to speak for fear of letting anyone know her feelings and report her as a thought criminal. She felt truly isolated from any source of emotional comfort, beginning to despair...

After what seemed like forever, they arrived at the facility, and her eyes had dried enough that she could get up and see the Reichmarshal to show him her identity papers and enter the facility.

She stepped into the facility, the smell almost knocking her down. I'll have to get out of here sometime soon... she thought, the chemicals here would kill her if she stayed too long, or her emotions would take her over and betray her, if not as a Kahanistanian officer, certainly as a thought-criminal. Internally, she began going over how to get the information General Kaselev had sent her for, so she could get out of this miserable place. She reasoned that it would be in one of the military command bunkers, she would have to get close to someone in the Kriegsmarine...

A technician approached Nadia, handing her a clip board and some work overalls, the man who stood before her was a Kraven Chemical Incorporated technician, he wore a pair of dark goggles, had no hair and his skin was pale and fading, as though he’d been exposed to chemicals all of his life, the white lab coat he wore was splattered in either blood or red food dye, it was hard to tell, on his hands he wore a large pair of black, heavy duty rubber gloves and upon his sleeve he bore an arm band with the Kraven Eagle upon it..

A toothless grin appeared as he looked at Nadia, his voice made him sound like he was very ill, his throat sounded like it was full of phlegm and the tone had the sound of what could only be described as a mad scientist, obviously this scientist had been around the chemicals, far too long…

“Your new here aren’t you…” The Scientist studied her figure…

“Hmmm, and such a fresh one…” He continued, his toothless grin appeared once more, showing his rotten and decaying gums, from behind him a Reichmarshal appeared, something which they had a habit of doing, they seemed to move through the shadows and silently appear, ready to execute some unsuspecting Thought Criminal…

“Technician, She’s been transferred from Sector 6, she’ll be on the new work force..” He looked down at the poor man as though he was no better than the citizens that stood before him…

“I’m aware of that Reichmarshal, you don’t need to point out the obvious…” The technician let out a sickly laugh, to which the Reichmarshal merely glared at him, like he was ready to execute him were he stood..

“You’ll be in the Alpha plant, producing food stuffs and other consumables, take this gear and get changed in the locker rooms, you’ve got fifteen minutes before the plant starts…Go…” The Technician pointed towards a large black door a few yards away…

Inside, conveyer belts sat motionless, the plant hadn’t started, but the whole facility was immensely big, conveyers crisscrossed the ceiling, where great vats sat idling away, what appeared to be large mixing tanks slowly rotated while blast furnaces were being fired up…

The stench of chemicals wasn’t as bad here, but the smell of baking bread was strong, it smelled sweet and broke the harsh atmosphere of where Nadia was, on the other end of the Factory a large dump truck, one of the trucks with the fourteen foot high wheels stood with its back tipped high into the air, it was loading the first section of the Plant with the raw materials for the food substance…

Nadia’s job was to over see the grinding machine that tore up the raw materials to begin the process, it was her job to ensure that the machine worked properly and was also her job to remove any blockages that would prevent the plant from operating…

Her day had only just begun and it was already 06:00...

Nadia took the gear and walked into the room the technician had pointed out, barely noticing that he had been looking over her slim figure. She could tell that the technician seemed attracted to her, but in her emotional state, didn't care. She changed into the Kraven uniform provided for her, and looked in the mirror.

The person staring back at her was a somewhat attractive woman in her early thirties, of average height and rather slender. She had medium-length blonde hair and gray eyes. She was somewhat surprised at how sunken her face looked, as if she were looking at someone who had been in Kraven for years. Well, all the more to help me blend in... She smiled weakly and felt a little better. That was to change as soon as she started work...

She stood by the conveyor belt, watching as... corpses... were processed on them. Kaselev had told her that the bodies of thought criminals were processed in plants. He had told her that they were disposed of in facilities. What he had not told her was the main ingredient of Soylent. Maybe he didn't know, maybe he wanted to spare her the shock. Whatever he knew or didn't, about two hours into her shift, the machine stopped. Nadia walked up to where the blockage was to remove it. Great was her horror upon seeing what the blockage was.

It was the head of a woman. No. That would not surprise her at this point. What shocked her was that it was the head of the woman Nadia had seen killed by the Capitol Police in front of her, who had told her how to deal with the Reichmarshals. She gently removed the head from the area where it was blocking the machinery and set it down, face up, as if looking up to God to cry out. It was the only dignified thing she could do for her. As the head disappeared into the Soylent machines, a lump formed in Nadia's throat and she squeezed her eyes closed tight to stifle the tears.

Food stuffs and other consumables... This is sick. She knew that she would need to bring evidence back to Kahanistan, probably one of those disgusting "Soylent" packets, else no one would believe her, it would sound like propaganda and blood libels, like the anti-Amestrian tracts that made similar claims about Amestrians during the controversy over alleged war crimes.

She needed to find a military uniform and ID. She would have to get ahold of General Kaselev when she left, maybe he would have something sent to her... like military gear and a concealable camera, maybe some of that Amestrian pill, Detachment from the Human Condition. She cursed inwardly that she had not remembered to bring the stuff with her when she went to Kraven, it was the only way she could hope to remain sane.

And resist torture if I get caught... she thought bitterly. She continued to work, zombie like, hiding her true emotions.

Behind Nadia the systematic clump of Jackboots against metal could be heard over the machinery, the grinding of Corpses and the rattle of Conveyer belts, the walk was slow, as though the person who bore them was in no rush to complete this section of the walk…

The boots were getting nearer, until they were right behind Nadia, It was a Kreigsmarine, he had a 303 rifle slung over his shoulder and stood back, leaning on the railings looking at Nadia work away, he was fairly tall man at 5’11” and had a gentle face for someone who lived in Kraven, he had a gas mask attached to his belt, obviously he had to go into some more dangerous areas of the facility…

But he quietly watched Nadia, operate the machinery, pressing buttons and watching the corpses pass by one by one, women, children, old men and young men, old women and young women, nothing was spared by the merciless machines that tore through the bodies, much like Kraven as it tore through peoples lives and the tore through the land…

“Your not from around here are you?” The Kreigsmarine spoke, still looking at her figure…

"No," said Nadia softly, flatly. Having committed to memory the data on her Kraven identity, she shook her head. She would have plenty of information to give to the Kriegsmarine. While she felt she could trust him, she was slow to open up to him if he could be the enemy.

"No," said Nadia softly, flatly. Having committed to memory the data on her Kraven identity, she shook her head. She would have plenty of information to give to the Kriegsmarine. While she felt she could trust him, she was slow to open up to him if he could be the enemy.

The Marine laughed quietly to himself and walked off, his boots making noises against the metal grating beneath, it was sometime, maybe half an hour since he'd come back around, but this time he reached out to Nadia's hand and gently took it from the machine, he placed something in her hand before talking quietly, but enough for her to hear over the Machines...

"Kraven Military MRE's, your probably starving and I don't think you want to eat was coming out the other end, Kraven Military MRE's are proper food" He looked around before continueing on his patrol, as he passed her he simply said...

"Enjoy.."

The Kriegsmarine was right. There was no way in hell Nadia would ever eat another piece of that unholy Soylent again. She shuddered inwardly at the thought. Nadia popped the MRE into her mouth and savored it as it dissolved before swallowing after it lost its taste.

She smiled in the direction of the marine. Maybe he could help her, he did seem to like her. Nadia would lose a lot of weight over the next few weeks in Kraven, if she didn't get herself reassigned somewhere near the barracks. She would have to talk to him again, at some point.

---

Kahanistanian fleet

The missiles loaded into the bays of the submarines, ten on each of the forty submarines. As each missile had six warheads that would launch after the ballistic missiles entered orbit, this meant that the fleet was firing a total of 2,400 warheads, each with four tons of fuel-air explosive, for a total of 9.6 kilotons of FAE.

"Fire!" ordered Admiral Sutonius, the submarine fleet commander. Each submarine rocketed ten Shahab-3D ballistic missiles into the atmosphere, raining the fires of hell upon the Kraven Navy. The main targets were the dreadnaughts and heavy battleships, the Republic Navy could sink the transports as they arrived.

This was half of the ballistic missile component, the other half was a mix of napalm and thermite munitions. It would wait until the rest of the Kraven fleet struck.

---

Najaster, Kahanistan

Military Intelligence Headquarters

General Igor Kaselev sat in his office, with a small government laptop. He was writing a message to Lt. Colonel Nadia Sklenova. He was explaining some things that needed to be sent urgently. She would get the message as soon as she got to the hab block that the Directorate of Anti-Kraven Intelligence (DAKI) had located for her... and was out of sight of the Kriegsmarine, of whom the general knew nothing.

DEMOCRATIC SOVIET REPUBLIC OF KAHANISTAN
Kahanistan Military Intelligence
Directorate of Anti-Kraven Intelligence
Encryption Code Mu-2-Omega-8-Xi

From: BG Igor V. Kaselev, Deputy Director, DAKI
To: LTC Nadia L. Sklenova, Norska Division
RE: Errors in assignments

Colonel, someone under my command, whom, I assure you, has been duly disciplined, mistakenly assigned you to the provisions facility rather than the munitions plant. I can only imagine what it must be like for you there. All I can do is tell you that I offer my sincere condolences.

To the point of this correspondence: Be careful who you trust. While, from what intelligence makes it here, most Kriegsmarines are good people who hate Kraven and everything it stands for, some are fiercely loyal to the Corporation. Some will take an interest in you, simply because you are healthy compared to most people there, or because they are interested in female company, or because they are ferreting out spies and agents. Be careful.

I cannot tell you when it is safe to ask for help. There is a barrack near the facility you were assigned to. Try to make friends among the Kriegsmarines. I know it goes against your nature as a Kahanistanian Communist, but try to remember that most Kravenites who have not had their emotions destroyed before birth as Capitol Police are no more supportive of the evils of the Corporation than anyone else.

Your ultimate goal is to send information regarding the Kraven plans regarding The State of Britain and Southeast Asia to DAKI. As you may remember, you are authorized to create whatever disturbance necessary to escape and avoid detection, including inciting uprisings and sabotaging facilities. I strongly advise against attempting to escape disguised as a Capitol Police trooper; their armor probably weighs more than you do, and is too tall for you. Sardaukar bio-containment gear is likely somewhat lighter, but would be quite unwieldy; a Kriegsmarine uniform with high heels concealed in the boots is what I recommend given your height.

I have spoken with your friend, Brigadier General Rachel C. Levitt, Imperial Marines, who is still in Eliteria. You will likely receive a message from her soon. She knows you are in Norska, but not your exact assignment, which, I need not remind you, is classified Top Secret.

Take care. I'll see you again in Najaster.
Lex asinus est.

Kraven Fleet, 10:00 Hours

The Kraven fleet was already in the battle ready stance, its various vessels were scattered along a four tier based circle, with the smaller cruisers, gun boats, missile destroyers and Tracking Ships on the outskirts where they could maximise the protection of the larger vessels in the centre, it was usually noted that the Capitol Ships of the Kraven fleet were targeted first as these were the largest vessels in the Kraven Fleet and so carry the maximum fire power..

The Fleet’s “Mimir” Class tracking ships locked onto the many, many missiles and warheads that were now inbound to the Kraven fleet from the Kahanistanti one, but the battle ready fleet was already on high alert and the dedicated CIWS vessels began to lock onto the various inbound targets..

The Turrets of the LMAM’s (Light Mounted Anti Missile System) which was based on the 633 turret began to rotate, tracking targets as they approached, the missiles streaked in towards the Kraven fleet, then as though someone flicked a switch, the quad Assault Cannons of the LMAM’s opened fire, creating a near impregnable umbrella of lead, preventing all but the most hardy of missiles from striking their targets…

The Sky was alight with fire, as the air fuel warheads exploded causing burning fuel to cascade into the sea along with debris, Crew stood on the decks of vessels were instantly caught ablaze and fell into the cold ocean, drowning into the depths below…

More and more missiles exploded as the Dedicated CIWS ships operated to their maximum capacity, one slipped through the net and impacted with an “Apotheosis” Class Destroyer, causing its bow to explode in a bright ball of fire, Crewmembers and Capitol Police rushed to the scene, using fire extinguishers and hoses in an attempt to control the fire, while the ship listed dangerously close to the water…

Another missile slipped through, causing the CIWS on the massive Subjugator to come alive, its guns swivelled around and locked onto the incoming warheads, detonating them in a bright ball of fire, another exploded on the rear of the Subjugator, but the damage was superficial, melting the paint work and twisting some hand rails due to the heat, the crews on board had ample time to put out the fires and bring the damage back under control..

More missiles exploded on vessels, causing a lone “Mimir” Class tracking ship to sink to the depths below, while an “Immortal” Class battleship was left gutted as its small fire became a raging inferno, igniting ammunition stores and other explosive compounds, resulting in a spectacular display of fire works and smoke…

A Captain strode across the deck of the Subjugator, looking at the fire damage, while fire still erupted periodically in the sky as the last of the missiles were mopped up…

“Damage report…” The Captain spoke, feeling for his beautiful ship that now was scarred by fuel bombs…

“We’ve lost a couple of ships, one Immortal class battleship has been gutted, its in the process of sinking now, and we lost a Mimir class Tracking ship… other than that, the fleet stands at around 95% combat effectiveness…”

“Bring the fleet to all ahead full, Close the gap between us and the Kahanistani fleet…”

“Aye Captain…”

“Bring the Subjugators main guns to bear, once we’re in range I want all weaponry concentrated on the Kahanistani Command Vessel, have the Mimir’s track for it…”

“Aye Captain…” The Aid walked off, preparing to perform his duties, ensuring the Kraven would see a victory this day…

The Kahanistanian command vessel was not exactly easy to miss. It was a hulking Praetonian warship, and the only one with any kind of ETC weaponry. It was also the one whose radio and radar stations were lit up like Christmas trees to any Kraven radar built after the 1960's. In short, it would not be hard to concentrate all fire on the command ship.

What would be hard would be to actually put it out of action. First of all, it was the only superdreadnaught that hadn't been deployed somewhere else, and so it was the only thing standing between Kahanistan and over a thousand Kraven warships. Therefore, it would be the most protected ship in the fleet. Secondly, the ship would be fat with ETC weapons, 168 guns of various sizes, and combined gun / rocket CIWS. Finally, the single greatest threat to the RKS Imperator Marum was the stock of 5,916 missiles (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10447047&postcount=3) in its VLS tubes; a missile striking them would likely set off the ship and a good portion of the fleet if it pierced the heavy armor of the warship. Not even a super dreadnaught can withstand 6,000 Tomahawks.

This threat would now be removed.

Admiral Nazmareh nodded to the weapons officer. "Fire all of the VLS missiles, and order the Emmanuel Goldstein-class battleships to fire their HARM's at the enemy radar, we're going to try another ballistic missile saturation after this."

The SD's huge VLS tubes opened; at this point the missiles were a liability. Nearly eight thousand Tomahawks screeched from the VLS tubes towards the Kraven fleet. At the same time, the five huge Emmanuel Goldstein-class warships launched their high-speed anti-radiation missiles (HARM's), two launchers were on each ship; each launcher fired four missiles, and forty HARM's targeted the largest radar sources in the Kraven fleet. These missiles traveled at Mach 4 and homed in on radar emissions. The Kraven fleet would have a choice: keep their radar off and leave their CIWS to sit inactively as another volley of missiles screeched towards them, probably obliterating the fleet, or turn them on and lose a lot of them to the HARM's.

The Machines continued to grind through the corpses of the dead, breaking bones and turning flesh into nothing more than a bloody red pulp, the factory hammered away like some great metal beast while the smell of chemicals was strong, the lighting here was dark and gloomy, with very little in the way of fresh air, nothing but the dust from powdered bones and Soya beans, the air was thick and polluted…

The Marine was on guard near one of the Labs, he could still see Nadia by her work station, and he waited for her shift to finish, which was shortly…

A Claxon blared out around half an hour later, it was a shrill siren indicating that shift times were over, it was roughly by her estimation 18:00 hours, the end of her first Kraven workday..

He waited for her to leave her station, then when she did he called he Stopped her…

“Your Papers… Give them to me … Now!” He had suddenly become very blunt and sinister, the darkness of the Factory obscured his eyes, making him almost look like a Capitol Police Trooper, saying that, his frame and height was quite tall…

What is going on? Nadia thought, pulling her papers out of her pocket and giving her ID to the Kriegsmarine officer. Of course, the background was mostly fabricated.

The packet identified her as Galina Kalinski, a 32-year-old Generian laborer whose husband, a Generian soldier, had been killed by pro-democracy militants. The face of the woman in the passport was identical to the young woman holding it before the marine, although possibly in a better mood; she had clear white teeth and a wide smile. She clearly wasn't scared out of her mind that she had been unmasked as a Kahanistanian spy, unlike the poor girl standing next to the Kriegsmarine.

Nadia had put a lot of input into the passport, so that she would be comfortable remembering the details by rote. Much of the information on the packet was accurate; she was right-handed, 5'5", 32 years old, and had blonde hair and gray eyes. The fingerprint was hers, and would match on any scan. Other parts of the ID were completely false; Nadia had never set foot on Generian soil, had never been married, especially to a Generian, and had no problem with pro-democracy militants. In fact, she could be called one herself, if the Kravenites had any inkling of her true intentions.

The immigrant serial code had been hacked into the Kraven computer, so even if the marine were suspicious, she would be fine as long as the data matched her computer file. She waited for the marine to finish reading her data.

The Marine continued to look over her details, before turning to the Technician who was waiting for her, The Marines uniform was black, he wore black Jackboots and his left arm had the Twin Hammers of Kraven upon it, in the form of an Arm band, he wore a standard Stahlhelm of the Kraven Military…

“These Documents don’t work out, You will come with me for Questioning…” He picked up his radio that was hung on his breast pocket..

“This is Kreigsmarine Hans Gradenkov, I’m taking one of the Labourers from The Food Produce Plant in for Questioning, Will advise… over…”

The Radio crackled for a moment before a machine like voice confirmed with a tone that was obviously a Capitol Police Trooper on the other end… its only word was…

“Acknowledged”

He Placed the ID booklet into his jacket pocket before grabbing her roughly by the arm, and dragging her away towards the Marine Barracks, where also the Secret Police Interrogation rooms were, deep beneath the Facility…

The Technician just shrugged his shoulders and walked off, this often happened on a daily basis, someone was taken away for questioning and often never returned, the only thought to pass his mind was an inward sigh followed by… “Not… again…”

Inside the Barracks the room was empty, beds lined the back wall, but where they currently stood several tables with mess tins were facing the door way, a large metal Blast Door led to the interrogation rooms..

He handed Nadia her booklet back, and quickly moved to one of the lockers which he opened with a set of keys, he grabbed a pair of Jackboots and a long black over coat, opening another locker he pulled out a set of black trousers and a black jacket along with a white shirt and a black tie, he reached to the top of the locker and pulled down a black Stahlhelm…and passed them all to her…

“Get Ready… I’ll fill in a fake debrief stating that the documents were correct and that you were released back into the City… Hurry, you won‘t have much time..” He turned away from Nadia, allowing her to get ready without interuption...

What does he want? Nadia followed the man into the interrogation room. While she could have likely taken him out before, she waited until she was alone with him, but was shocked that he was actually helping her. "What are you doing? Why are you doing this?" she asked. She had realized appeared to be helping her, but what if it was a setup?

Nadia wasted no time changing into the uniform he gave her. She realized something would have to be done about her long blonde hair. She had always liked it, but it was a liability if it was seen under her helmet.

"You wouldn't have a blade, would you?" Scissors would take too long, she would simply want to grab as much of her hair as possible in one or two fistfuls and slice it down to a masculine length.

The Marine Turned around, to look at her in the full Kreigsmarine Uniform, he smiled, and pulled out his 18" bayonet, he handed it to her handle first, before stepping back...

"Its such a shame to cut your hair, but I can understand why..." He smiled again before closing the locker Doors..

"I'm helping you because, The Secret Police took my wife and my Children from me, a long time ago, I am actually Numonican, I was only twenty when the Corporation invaded, my wife and my two year old son were accused of being Thought Criminals by my so called 'Best Friend'..." He paused for a moment, composing his thoughts, this period of his life obviously brought misery..

"From the reports I heard, they were taken away and executed in Extermination Camp 18... I never did find the Death Reports to prove it happened, so instead of Fighting the Corporation, I joined its death squads in the hope that I can aid people like you..." He paused again, smiling...

"Now you know my story... whats yours?" The Marine walked to a large locker on the side of the wall and opened it, inside was a selection of weaponry, a GPMG, KC44's and 303's, he grabbed one of the GMPG's and feined throwing it at her, with the words... "Catch..." before holding it at her like a Capitol Police Trooper would...

"Ever fired one of these?... its probably the most odd weapon you'll ever fire, it has a sound very distinctive, so that the enemies of Kraven know when your coming... heheh..." He Laughed a little, before putting the weapon back in the locker...

"Here", he picked up one of the 303's, "I think this will suit you better..." He handed it to her, before shutting the Weapons locker and replacing the Padlock...

"Congratulations, your now part of the most Feared War Machine in the world... How does it feel?"

Nadia sliced off her hair down to a more concealable length and smiled at the marine. He had admitted to her that he was a thought criminal, and he had armed and equipped her. If she were so minded, she could blow his head off right there and walk out, report that she had liquidated a thought criminal and probably be made a Kriegsmarine officer for real. She inspected the rifle's bolt and the ammunition to make sure it was in working order. To his question as to whether or not she had ever fired a GPMG, she shook her head. Asked about how the uniform made her feel, she answered succintly.

"Like a Nazi." The irony of that statement would be compounded by the fact that one of her closest friends was Jewish. She smiled widely and explained her own story.

"My real name is Nadia Sklenova. I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Kahanistan Republic Guard. I'm assigned to find out and report on Kraven intentions for Southeast Asia and The State of Britain."

"Ah, I see.. a spy... Well, you'll want to get to the Command Bunkers then, thats where all the information is stored..." He walked over to the heavy blast doors that led to the Interrogation Chambers, and opened it, he struggled to move the heavy door, but within a few seconds the door creaked open..

"Down here, follow the Corridor to the end, it will lead you to the Command Bunkers for Sectors six through to eight, be warned though, as you pass the Interogation chambers.. Cover your ears.. " He Gestured to her, to walk through the door....

"Good Luck..." He smiled again and got ready to shut the door behind her...

"Oh, try not too look too nervous, you don't have any papers to say your a Kreigsmarine... if you get stopped you'll be found out instantly... keep your head up and look proud to be in the...'Nazi'... War Machine..." He laughed a little and shut the door behind her...

Nadia strolled down the hallways, to the interrogation chambers she would have to go through to get to a command bunker. As soon as she opened a door, a loud scream of unimaginable terror hit her ears. She remembered what the Marine, Gradenkov if she remembered his name right, had said to her about covering her ears.

She took a deep breath and strode through the corridor. Remembering not to sound nervous, she walked quickly, hoping to get through as fast as possible, and hoping she looked like she was just strutting because she was in a good mood about having just slaughtered some poor sucker's family and turned them into Soylent. Her next order of business was to obtain a Reichmarshal's papers and discover Kraven's plans. Getting ahold of some communications equipment wasn't a bad idea either. She just needed to put as much distance between herself and this infernal torture as possible, as fast as possible.

A heavy metal door opened, and out stepped a Reichmarshal, clad in a black uniform, he bore everything a Reichmarshal should, his officers hat, Jackboots, his side arm and his Kraven Arm band, he turned to Nadia and spoke...

"You there, Corporal... Come here, we need your assistance..." He gestured into the room, as he turned to her, something became aparant, he was wearing a long white apron that looked like something a butcher would wear, it was splattered in blood and gore and looked like somone had just died on it...

Inside the room was a Kahanistani Pilot, his arm had been sliced up the middle from the wrist to the elbow, he lay dead now, loss of blood and the sheer pain had caused him to give up his life...

"Grab that stretcher Corporal, and inform the Honour Guard to prepare for a full Military Funeral..." The Reichmarshal pointed at the stretcher, and the other two Reichmarshals prepared to lift the corpse onto the stretcher...

This was something no one else had seen and lived... the Inner workings of a Kraven Secret Police Bunker....

Nadia pulled up a stretcher and wheeled it up to the Reichmarshals. She would have to get one of them alone with her, to steal his papers. She concentrated her gaze on the soldier's bloodied arm; she knew that if she looked at the pilot's face, the tears would come and she would not be able to stop from giving herself away...

She decided that luring the Kraven officer in front of the other Reichmarshals was a bad idea, she would have to wait until she came across one alone, then ask him to talk to her somewhere "private." She looked for a communications room to get ahold of the honor guard. The fewer people in this building, the better for me. But something would have to be done about her comrades who were being tortured here, eventually...

---

In Kahanistan

In the cities, the airports were bustling with activity as those who thought Kahanistan would lose the war, few in number in a nation of three billion but still tens of millions, boarded the V-23C's, upscaled civilian versions of the V-22 Osprey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-22_Osprey) VTOL transport. The enormous airports in all of the major cities held over five thousand of them, each capable of holding two hundred passengers; each airport could thus evacuate a million people in one flight. The VTOL's were chosen for their ability to continue takeoffs even when the enemy was bombing the runways; they had saved millions of lives during the Pwnage terror bombing.

Most Kahanistanians, however, believed that the war would be won in a matter of weeks, even without their allies. Kahanistanian soldiers had had experience fighting Kraven before, and had also fought Sentinels and crazed, drug-fueled Pwnage soldiers. Most therefore remained in their homes with their guns and awaited the invaders. Kahanistanian TV featured movies about Kraven wars, and the good guys always shot the Capitol Police in the head. This was also the first thing that a Kahanistanian soldier learned in basic combat training, how to fight the Capitol Police, so that the psychological effect on them would be mitigated.

In the Presidential Palace, the guard was doubled, to a total strength of 3,000. Helicopter gunships and AAA were moved in to provide added security for the government, as a simple precaution.

One of the Reichmarshals nodded several times, he was talking on one of the Internal phones, it was hard to hear what he was talking about, but within a few minutes he'd placed the phone down and told the other Reichmarshal that they would be interrogating some unknown hostiles that had just landed on The Island of Neo Bergen, the Defence Commander of the area was certain that they would be captured quickly..

The two Reichmarshals left, with a very crisp and clean salute to the other Reichmarshal who was left behind, the Salute would remind people of the Nazi Salute, however it starts off with a clenched first against the left hand shoulder, then extending the arm fully outwards...

The two then left, and headed off down the Corridor, leaving the first Reichmarshal and Nadia alone with a Kahanistani Corpse...

Nadia looked down the corridors, to make sure she was alone with the Reichmarshal. Satisfied that the other two men were out of hearing range, she thought quickly on what to do. She didn't like the idea of killing a man, she had always convinced herself that the pilots she shot down in combat had ejected safely. To be able to kill this man and take his papers, she first had to be convinced that he was loyal to the Corporation, unlike the Kriegsmarine who had equipped her. She was idealistic that way.

However, the sight of her dismembered comrade on the table overrode her inborn distaste for killing people. This Reichmarshal had overseen tortures of the worst kind, and from her way of thinking, such people couldn't be left alone. If she could improve her safety by killing this man, and possibly free her surviving comrades, she would do it. The rescue would have to wait until she had the information she was assigned to, it was unlikely anyone would die in the next few minutes between her obtaining Kraven information and returning to free her comrades.

Without warning, she spun and pushed every ounce of her 115 pounds to driving her fist into the Kraven officer's neck, aimed at his windpipe.

The Kick took the Reichmarshal by surprise, crushing his windpipe instantly, he struggled to get air into his lungs and the look of desperation and panic on his face totally removed any form of dignity he had just moments ago, his officers cap fell to the floor as he brought his gloved hands to his throat, desperately trying in vain to breath… his face had gone a deep blue colour, and slowly his eyes rolled into the back of his sockets, he collapsed to his knees, and then face planted forward… stone dead…

He never had chance to cry out, raise the alarm or anything, there was no blood, and no mess, it was a quick clean kill, totally taking the Reichmarshal by surprise, he wouldn’t have even dreamt that a Kreigsmarine would do such a thing…

But now, Nadia had access to a Reichmarshals Uniform and his documents…

Nadia thought quickly. She made sure the door was locked, the last thing she wanted was to be caught with her pants down by the local Kriegsmarines. She switched her uniform for the Reichmarshal's, and set him up in his chair, with his neck against the desk. With any luck, it would look like the Kraven officer had suffered a heart attack and fallen forward, his neck striking the desk and breaking his windpipe. She also remembered to take his papers.

Breathing heavily for a couple of minutes and allowing the horrible reality to set in, she strode out of the office, subdued looking, and made straight for the information center, her objective clear: find all available information on the Kraven plans for invasion of Southeast Asia, intentions for The State of Britain, and find a way to communicate the information to DAKI and the Southeast Asian government.

A Kreigsmarine came bounding down the Corridor, he was wearing a set of black riot armour and was carrying a KC44 assault rifle, he came up towards the door just as Nadia was leaving..

He immediately stopped and snapped to attention, “Reichmarshal, we have new orders, The High Command have decided that Hab Block 14 will be reconditioned, you’re the only Reichmarshal that isn’t dealing with the Jenrakian Soldiers, you’re the Sector Reichmarshal…” He Paused for a moment to catch his breath…

“Please, Come with me…”

Shit. I don't like the sound of this 'reconditioning'... but I have to maintain my cover. Nadia thought for a second. She could just shoot the marine, from what she'd heard it was common practice among Reichmarshals, but she really didn't want to do that.

On the other hand, this doesn't require my attention, does it? But she said only, "I'll be with you." She followed the Kriegsmarine, never turning her back on him, in case he was either on to her or was, like her, waiting for a chance to strike out; she kept him closely at her side. She would have to get the information later, as soon as she finished this "reconditioning"... assuming she could. She picked up a KC-44 from a locker on the way and followed the marine.

It was a long walk through the long twisting tunnels of the Bunker Complex, she passed medical bays, offices, Barracks, secreted Flak positions that would rise out of the ground when air craft were inbound, she even passed one of the Birthing Factories… the two walked over the top of one across some metal gantries, the room below was immense, with two long black banners that hung from the ceiling, each with the Kraven twin hammers upon it, within the room below sat thousands of women, each hooked up to machines, producing the hated and feared Capitol Police..

The smell of Chemicals was pungent here as well, however it was chemicals used to keep the area disinfected, scientists walked too and fro, carrying documents, while others pushed incubators with newly born Capitol Police children sleeping sweetly, not knowing of the nightmare of Capitol Police servitude that lay ahead of them…

The Poor children, born without feelings, never to know love, never to know hatred, never to know anger, only to know servitude and years of relentless slaughter in the name of Father’s Greater Good…

After a while, the Marine came to a massive blast door, he pressed some buttons into the console and prepared himself, he pulled the collar of his coat up and kept his arms close in tight, the doors sirens began to wail as the door slowly lifted up, instantly an incredibly cold wind struck both Nadia and the marine in the face, the snow began to swirl inside the complex, until the marine ducked under and headed off up the ramp…

At the top of the ramp, Nadia was greeted by the Kraven Military Arm, Capitol Police stood next to waiting trucks, two or three of them stood by the truck, getting loaded up with flamethrowers, while others carried great boxes of Kraven’s world renowned C12...

The Marine went up towards Nadia’s staff car, it had a Capitol Police Driver and was more of an APC than a staff car, its twin V8 engines idled away in the cold air, diesel fumes rose high into the air from the various vehicles that were positioned along the road…

At the back of the Column sat an idleing Leman Russ Battle tank, its Tank Commander, a Capitol Police Trooper sat holding on to either side of the Copula, the entire detachment was awaiting the Reichmarshals order to move out…

As Nadia came into view, four Capitol Police came towards her, they all had low identification numbers and came from separate trucks, indicating that these were the “Squad Co-ordinators” they stopped in front of her and gave a sharp crisp clean salute…

“The Detachment is ready, we await your signal to commence, What is your plan, how are we to proceed?…” The first spoke, his voice was mechanical, being projected from a vox caster on his armour that made his voice sound more and more machine like with every second, the Marine who was stood with her turned his head away slightly with it spoke…

So I'm commanding an attack force that's going to eradicate a hab block... I never thought I'd find myself doing this. In her worst nightmares (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10169100&postcount=546), she had been engaged in battle, bayoneted by grinning Sardaukar, and taken to a birthing facility. As she passed the facilities she casually ran her sleeve across her face, secretly wiping a tear from her cheek. However, not even in her worst nightmare had she been commanding these abominations of nature as they committed their vile deeds of terror and mass murder.

"We should surround the hab block with a few dozen Kriegsmarines, send a squad of Capitol Police inside, try to avoid any casualties on our end, we don't know what kind of weapons they might be hoarding or traps that might have been laid. Besides, I'd like to minimize fatalities, we need more camp labor these days."

Sounding like a cold tactical decision, rather than a call for mercy. It's the least I can do for these people. At least I can save some of them...

A full moon hung low in the sky, the night air was cold and the breath of many a person rose up into the air, a sure sign of the Kraven winter that was setting in, the moon cast an eerie light over the vehicles and succeeded in making the Capitol Police look even more menacing, the Troopers stood listening to Nadia as she gave them her plan, although it was hard to tell, they made no acknowledgement of the fact they were…

She’d finished her little speech and the four Troopers responded with a sharp and crisp salute coupled with a distinct click of the heels, this was like some freakish Nazi Germany, or so it seemed, however it was completely the opposite the Nazi ideals and the Kraven Ideals differed so much that she would have been wrong to assume this was a Nazi state…

The Kreigsmarine next to her gestured towards the APC that sat waiting, while the other Vehicles set off, their Capitol Police occupants.. Born ready to serve Kraven and the War Machine, the massive V8 engines of the trucks and half tracks filled the air with more diesel fumes…

The convoy made its way through various road blocks, they had already been opened and the Kreigsmarines manning them quickly waved the convoy through, they knew that the convoy was legit, they’d received orders of it from The High Command…

The Capitol Police Trooper driving Nadia’s car gunned the engine, sending it lurching forwards towards the Hab block, its powerful engines took little effort in moving the vehicle, The Kreigsmarine looked at Nadia for a time, making sure that when he did, she wasn’t looking, he didn’t want to arouse suspicion, but there was something about her features in the silver glow of the moonlight that didn’t add up…

The Hab block was ahead, the gentle glow of internal lights made the scene look even more innocent, the winter snow that fell upon the window sills and the gentle glow of the moon made the scene look picturesque as well as innocent, something that would make the up and coming bloodshed even more vile and heinous…

The Convoy pulled up and came to a halt, Instantly the Capitol Police moved into a defensive position, taking up places that they could cover other troopers and watch the windows for snipers or people with Molotov cocktails…

A Hunter Killer team moved into position, they had flame throwers and attack dogs, a loud speaker was brought to bear and was offered to Nadia, it was her responsibility to inform the people of the hab block of their impending doom….

Nadia picked up the megaphone and sighed deeply. OK, how do I pull this off, and save as many of the citizens as I can? She turned it on and spoke toward the habitation block, her voice stiff, trying to suppress her emotions.

"Citizens of Hab Block 14, you have been found guilty of aiding and abetting thought-criminals, and so are charged with thought-crime yourselves, by the power vested in me by the Kraven High Command, I sentence the Hab Block to be deported en masse to the slave labor camps in Belsen."

She sighed grimly. Many would likely die on the route to Belsen, but not nearly as many as would die at the hands of Reichmarshal Helghan in Camp 18, from what she knew of his reputation. But she had probably saved the majority of the prisoners from extermination. She turned to four Capitol Police troopers and ordered them to lead her into the camp to escort the prisoners out, two in front and one at each side. If they laid a booby trap, it's the Capitol Police who will step on it, not me. Also, if there was still a rebel sniper, the sniper would probably shoot the CP trooper at Nadia's side and not her. She had no compunctions about using these demons as minesweeepers; while she would never do this to a Kriegsmarine or a CAD soldier, these murderous animals deserved no better.

She nodded her head and ordered the evacuation to commence...

The First Squad stormed into the building, a heavy jackboot was placed squarly against the door, breaking it from its frame with splinters and shards of wood exploding into the cold air...

Instantly, lights were Cut in the building, the Capitol Police round the side of the structure had disconnected the mains supply, plunging the building into total darkness, as soon as the Capitol Police entered the corridor, their optical mags switched to heat vision...

The First door they came to was an elderly couple, they'd been placed under house arrest after reaching the age of sixty, at the age of sixtyone they would have been shipped out to Camp 18 and their lives ended, no longer were they in a fit state to work and so were no longer of any use to the state...

Their door was kicked down in a similar manner, taking the door off its hinges and awaking the elderly couple from their slumber, a black glove grabbed the woman by the hair and dragged her out of the bed, the Old man was forced out by the threat of a GPMG...

The two were dragged outside into the hall way and forced to their knees where they would remain with their hands upon their heads, it was standard procedure..

they moved onto the next room, a young couple who had just been granted permission to marry and had been given a licence to produce offspring for the benefit of the Corporation, they were a loving young couple, if love could be a word used in the Lands of Kraven...

they too, were dragged from their beds, they were naked, caught in the middle of the act, and forced outside and to their knees in a similar fashion to the first two...

More Troopers entered the building to speed along the process of removal, more and more people were being forced outside and to their knees, people began to cry, wailing out for mercy, they knew that when the Capitol Police stormed a hab block like this, it ment one of two things, they'd been sentenced to death at the whim of the High Command or one of their number was a Thought Criminal...

Another family was brought outside, two children aged ten and eleven, a mother and a father, the father knew what was happening and fought back, lashing out against The Capitol Police trooper that was pushing him outside...

A butt of the GPMG brought him to his knees quite effectively, he clutched the back of his head, sobbing quietly, knowing that himself and his family were now lost, another statistic in the Great War Machine known as Kraven..

A Trooper approached and brought his .50cal pistol to the head of the father, his voice, mechanicaly altered to dehumanize these monsters even more spoke...

"This is an Example to all Citizens of Hab block 14, disobedience will not be Tolerated during Evacuation Operations..." The Trigger was squeezed and the brains of the father were spread across the wall that was behind him, his corpse slumped to the ground with a heavy thud.

His wife and children screamed in agony, watching their beloved husband and father executed before them without thought...

The Operation continued, and more and more people were being dragged from their beds, out of baths, from dinner tables...

The Noise was immense, but things were about to get worse, as dictated during the reconditioning of the area, the place had to be demolished, Flamethrower weilding Troopers from the Hunter Killer teams now swept through the rooms unleashing a devestating ball of fire that set every alight..

Smoke rose from broken windows as the Hunter Killer teams went about their orders, the Attack dogs sat barking at women and children who were still on their knees before the Capitol Police, their hands firmly held behind their backs...

Upstairs there was an explosion, a ball of fire errupted from the window on the top floor, it was a molotov cocktail, it engulfed a Capitol Police Trooper who mearly stood there while the flames consumed his body, he tried in desperation to complete his orders, before the fire eventually claimed his life...

The Command Relay was alive with transmissions and no sooner than the explosion had gone off did another two squads of Capitol Police storm into the building, their GPMG's were held ready as their jet black jackboots pounded the stairs...

Suppression fire came from one of the rooms at the end of the corridor where the flaming corpse of a Capitol Police Trooper lay, bullets hammered around the walls, smashing a window and filling a propaganda poster with holes..

"Command Relay, we are experiencing suppression fire from hab block 14, weaponry appears to be of Kahanistani Origin, The TAR-21, advise?"

"Deal with extreme prejudice, Hunter Killer Team 75"

"By your Command..."

The Tar 21's of the Kahanistani equipped rebels were quickly answered by a white phosphorus grenade, it exploded causing white hot smoke to errupt outwards, blocking off the sight of the rebels, the walls were now alight, burning brightly and adding already to the damage done by the Molotov, another two flash bangs were sent tumbling down the corridor...

As soon as these two Flash bangs went off, the Troopers continued up the stairs, the shrill sound of the Kraven GPMG's filled the air, sounding like the shreading of paper, it filled people with a sense of dread, knowing who was on the other end of the trigger...

They advanced fowards, continuing the suppressive fire, ensuring that they were safe to advance, a burst of rounds came from the room, the rebels firing was sporadic and blind fired, the room was too dark and filled with smoke, yet still he fought for his freedom.

He let another burst of rounds go but was instantly answered by a blast of a GPMG, a man let out a wail as the bullets hit home, his body heat signature given away by the Optical Mags and the smartlinks of the Kraven Weaponry...

They advanced into the room and found a small contingent of people, mainly children and women, the Capitol Police raised their weapons and opened fire, cutting down the people before them with little or no effort, they were dead before they hit the ground...

"This is Hunter Killer team 75, All Hostiles have been dealt with, awaiting instructions... "

"Understood, Hold Positions..."

"By Your Command...."

The Troopers had now secured the upstairs of the building and radioed down to the Reichmarshal over seeing the Operation, it was standard procedure for the Reichmarshal to inspect the building before it was demolished and inspect the Prisoners waiting outside their rooms before they were shipped out to their respective camps...

General Kaselev had told Nadia to expect people to be murdered in front of her. She averted her eyes from the people who were to be killed, her gaze focused on the ground in another direction, though she tried not to be obvious about it. They would be avenged soon enough, when a Molotov cocktail prepared the body of a Capitol Police soldier for the eternal torment he would experience in the next life... not that Nadia believed in heaven or hell. She smiled as the trooper burned to death before her eyes.

When the fire of Kahanistanian infantry weapons broke out, she immediately assumed that it was likely a rescue unit or a squad of special forces, but as she had not completed her mission, made no move to contact them. She had no desire to be killed by her own allies, however, and hid behind a flaming wall, her KC-44 at the ready. While she might fire shots in the general direction of the rebels, or whatever they were, she was not going to be the one to kill them if it could be helped. She would have gone even further, and fired on Capitol Police when she saw them alone, but she knew she would be screwed if the first shot failed to score a kill.

Finally, the shooting ended, Nadia had managed to keep her cover intact without shooting one of her allies, and only after the fighting ended did she come out from behind her shooting position to answer the call. She walked up to the building with the prisoners in it.

The place was covered in bullet holes, blood, body parts... upstairs, parts of a rebel fighter. He clearly was no Kahanistanian soldier, he was an emaciated Kraven man, probably with little or no training in firearms. She closed his eyes and searched under the bed for contraband; a copy of the Communist Manifesto, translated into the Slavo-Germanic language of Kraven, two liter bottles of Coors, and a magazine labeled Exotic Beauties of the Near East. The model on the cover was a Kahanistanian woman in her mid-twenties, with long dark hair and in a tropical dress. She picked up the contraband and walked down to interrogate the prisoners, though she assumed the contraband belonged to the man whose blood was now soaking through the floor into the ceiling below.

She turned to one of the prisoners, a man with beady eyes who looked to her a little sneaky. Perhaps he was a spy or informant, maybe he had smuggled the contraband to the rebel. Then again, maybe he was totally innocent.

"Did you smuggle this... vile, Kahanistanian contraband into the hab block?" In actuality, she hoped that the smuggler had been killed, it would make her job easier. She awaited the prisoner's reply.

The man averted his eyes away from the Reichmarshal, he held his head low and quietly spoke...

"No, Reichmarshal, I did not.." He continued to keep his head low, fearing that the Reichmarshal may shoot him or take him for interrogation...

The Capitol Police had now secured the building and were now positioned at every door way and each of the stairwells, the building was under lock down, while the citizens awaited their fate at Camp 13 of The City of Belsen..

Nadia nodded curtly. "Do you know who did?" she asked coldly, keeping in character as a Reichmarshal and trying to avoid unnecessary violence while maintaining her cover.

She hoped that he would identify someone who had already been killed, but she had to play the role of someone who wanted the information. She felt that information could be more easily gained by persuasion than threats or torture, but then, all she knew about interrogation was from talking to General Kaselev on the route to the air base to be dropped in.

Nadia nodded curtly. "Do you know who did?" she asked coldly, keeping in character as a Reichmarshal and trying to avoid unnecessary violence while maintaining her cover.

She hoped that he would identify someone who had already been killed, but she had to play the role of someone who wanted the information. She felt that information could be more easily gained by persuasion than threats or torture, but then, all she knew about interrogation was from talking to General Kaselev on the route to the air base to be dropped in.

He nodded gently, trying to hide the tears that were streaming down his face, the woman to the side, looked at him curtley, the eyes betrayed everything...

"I'm sorry..." He spoke softly..."It's my wife..." She immediatly lept up and grabbed him by the face, she kissed him deep and hard, until two Capitol Police Troopers dragged her off him and smashed her in the face with the but of a KC44, she held her jaw with her hand, screaming in pain and lying on her back, sprawled out as though she'd just gone through six rounds with a heavy weight boxer...

She murmured, before picking herself up onto her hands and feet...

she looked right at him and spoke softly, blood dripping from her mouth, her jaw obviously broken by the heavy bruising and the bulge where the bone was out of place...

"Don't.. forget me..."

The Capitol Police Troopers waited for The Reichmarshal's orders....

Nadia decided to show mercy. For her, it was something of a no-brainer, but she also had to be seen to be applying some form of punishment.

"Have her jaw fixed, and give her half rations for a week, send the lot of these people to the camps." Nadia spoke coldly, not only to pass as a Reichmarshal, but to also hide her own emotions regarding the scene. Half rations for a week seemed to her a fairly harsh punishment given the grim conditions of the camp. She doubted the Kravenites had anaesthetics, but the painful setting of the woman's jaw would not only be punishment in itself, but it would be better than letting it heal in that twisted shape. God, I'm starting to think like these people.

"As long as their bodies are able to do work, they are useful to the Corporation. If they are capable of mining ore, they are capable of earning their right to live, never forget that," she continued.

Without a word, Nadia walked away, not wanting to look any more at these people, lest her emotions get the better of her.

The Capitol Police ordered every person to get up and move to the waiting vehicles outside, large military trucks, each one black with the twin hammers stamped onto the side, sat with their engines ticking over, powerful V8 engines grumbled away, the fumes rising into the air from their tall chrome exausts...

Each person was ordered to climb inside, one by one they stepped into the massive black trucks, where Capitol Police stood on the sides ensuring that anyone who tried to escape was shot quickly...

Nadia was escorted back towards her waiting APC, where a Kreigsmarine held the door open, as she approached, he snapped to attention and held his pose until she'd entered the vehicle..

Inside, another Kreigsmarine waited, he handed her a brown dossier it contained information on the raid and a section for her to fill out the debreif, however, it contained one more page, it had a picture of Nadia when she was the cover girl of Communist Monthly....

The Kreigsmarine hadn't said anything, he waited for her response, but the engine was cut on the APC and the distinct sound of GMPG's being locked and loaded could be heard from outside...

Nadia took one look at the photograph of her in full Kahanistanian military uniform on the cover of the magazine and her heart fell through her stomach. It was about a year old, so she would not have changed much since then.

"Pretty girl," she said grimly. "But that's contraband material, I'll have to confiscate it." She had been trained to think on her feet. Nadia took the magazine from the Kriegsmarine and began to fill out the briefing. She had remembered the Reichmarshal's information from when she stuffed his papers into her pocket. She heard the ominous locking and loading of the GPMG's of the Capitol Police...

Nadia thought clearly. She was armed with a KC-44 rifle with three magazines of ammunition, and a .50 caliber sidearm with two clips. She knew the weak spots on the Capitol Police armor. She had a Kriegsmarine she could take hostage, but figured the Capitol Police would probably shoot him rather than be bogged down negotiating with her.

Well, I at least saved the lives of hundreds of people... No. I have to save my comrades who are being tortured... free the camps, get the information home.

She gave the marine a second to see if her deception had worked, by confiscating the magazine as contraband. If not, she would be able to react quickly...

He smiled, he knew all to well who she was, while she was busy in the building, he'd checked the Kraven Data bases and located her picture, it only took a few moments for him to print one out and slip it into the dossier...

He looked at her and shook his head, his eyes made contact with hers and he spoke..

"You can cut the lies know, We know who you are..." He paused, picking up his .50cal pistol from the bench he was sitting on, he held it towards her stomach..

"The question is now... what will I do with my new promotion..." He laughed to quietly...

"A Certain Reichmarshal has taken great interest in you, he'll take great pleasure in introducing himself to you... but I'm sure you have already heard of his reputation.."

The Kreigsmarine banged on the side of the APC, a Trooper outside slammed the door shut with a heavy thud and the Vehicles powerful engines lurched the machine forwards...

"I think... I'll be taking that weapon off you now..."

I think not. This man was so willing to hand her over to Reichmarshal Helghan in exchange for a promotion, probably to better his life. Did he not know how much better his life would be if he just let her do her duty and overthrow the Kraven government? Nadia didn't have the time to try to reason with him.

One never holds a gun on someone who knows Krav Maga. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga) Nadia dropped her weapon and quickly moved in close to the marine, striking him hard in the temple. She hoped to knock him out and relieve him of his weapon, not kill him. He was not like the Reichmarshal who had watched a man be tortured to death for information, he merely wanted to advance in rank. Besides, Nadia didn't want to kill anyone if she could help it. However, she did hold a special place in her heart for the Capitol Police...

Well, Nadia would probably get a promotion to full Colonel, at least, if she ever got out of this shithole. Now to get this thing on the road... I wonder if it has a radio I can use...

The Marines head clanged against the side of the APC, the blow to the temple had been partially deflected by the helmet he wore, the blow had merely stunned him slightly, within a few seconds the marine had shook the stars from his eyes and regained something of his orientation…

While Nadia looked around the APC for something the Marine took a handful of hair and quickly slammed her head against the large ammunition rack built into the side of the APC’s hull, he slammed it again and again until she’d lost consciousness…

When he was sure she was out, the APC continued on its way towards Camp 18 and Nadia’s worst nightmare…

The first blow took her by surprise and stunned her, so that she was unable to continue the fight. The second blow created a gash on the side of her head and drew blood. The third blow rendered her unconscious and she slumped to the floor. It was unlikely she would come to until the APC stopped.

She lay against the floor of the Kraven vehicle, out cold and bleeding from her head injuries.

The next part that happens in this saga is a little hard to describe without going into too much graphic detail, but regardless, the Marine who for quite a while had never seen a woman of such fine quality, or healthiness, decided that this was his opportunity to get himself some hot action, leaving out the most graphic details, Nadia’s body was subjected to the most horrific acts of sexual depravation…

Within the half an hour Journey to the outskirts of Norska, the Vehicle came to a halt its twin V8 engines grumbled away into the night, giving out thick black smoke that rose high into the air from the twin exhaust stacks… Massive floodlights illuminated the Compound, its high walls of barbed wire and machine gun towers stretched for as far as the eye could see, people, slaves, prisoners, people put in prison under the Protective Custody act, stood looking out through the barbed wire…

Capitol Police stood on guard, each of their GPMG’s were held in the parade ground fashion, and they stood equally spaced out along the fences, while others stood holding attack dogs that howled at people when they moved too near the fence..

Assault Cannons swept the area, looking for possible escapee’s, the camp itself was made up of many small hut buildings where up to one hundred people would be housed, despite the building being designed for what looked like fifty at the most…

The people inside were of various ages, some were young and others old, people huddled together around makeshift camp fires to try and keep warm, while others walked around the fence, trying to keep their health up..

The Large entry gates to the compound were open and the APC drove through, entering the Camp and heading towards the large bunker that rose out of the ground like some great bastion of Evil, all over the camp and on the bunker hung massive banners that looked like long slabs of flesh, nailed to the side of the bunker…

The Heavy blast doors were parted and, Nadia’s unconscious and abused body was dragged out by two Capitol Police and a smiling Kreigsmarine…

Nadia saw nothing of the inside of the Bunker, apart from Helghan’s office, it was a stark contrast to the inhospitable conditions outside and the other wise drab appearance of the Bunker, Nadia came too, to be greeted by a massive banner that spanned the length and breadth of the wall…

It bore a massive Kraven Eagle, the twin hammers contained beneath its claws in a wreath of thorns and roses, in front of her was a massive oak desk, and the carpet below her, a lush wine red, the room around her had fine paintings, taken during Kraven Invasions and, curtains swept across a window, in the centre of the room was another Oak table, this time it was to hold meetings at, or dinner parties, however chances are, Helghan has never held a dinner party here for a long time….

Upon the massive oak dining table were several maps, one of them being a map of The KSSF strike patterns on Kahanistan and another, again of Kahanistan but of possible strike areas for the newly formed Ostliche Klima-Armee, or Eastern Weather Army, also contained on the map was several pictures of soldiers wearing the new uniforms, as well as the Creation of a new Division of Capitol police, "The Totenkopf Division" Charted with the extermination of enemies of the Kraven State, such as Thought Criminals and rebels...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/HorusGodEmperor/killzone.jpg

Upon the desk of Helghan was several dossiers, each had a nation name upon them, one being South East Asia, one being Kahanistan and the last being the little known nation of The State of Britain….

Nadia sat down at the table, completely ignorant of what the Kriegsmarine had done with her in the APC. This was a good thing; she did not need something else to freak out over. She was pretty sure she was in Camp 18, but had no clue what part of the camp.

Some of the stacked dossiers fell, revealing the contents of a few. Her gaze caught the dossiers laying in front of her - one detailed estimates of Kahanistanian naval casualties at over 50%, and mentioned bombing raids on several military bases, serious damage to the naval base, and the fact that the President's security had been doubled. Another file suggested that The State of Britain had been taken over or was close to it. A third file revealed Kraven's intentions of extermination and mass slavery in Southeast Asia.

Maps of Automagfreek, Kahanistan, Southeast Asia, Xirnium, Velkya, and almost any other major enemy of Kraven sat on the walls. She figured she was going to be tortured or killed pretty soon.

Tears ran down her face as she took in all the information displayed in front of her, and realized it was going to be next to impossible to get the information to Kahanistan. Her weapons were gone, and the place was undoubtedly crawling with Capitol Police. It would be a stretch for her to be able to take one down in hand-to-hand combat, so escaping from here would be next to impossible; she was no trained spy, just a MiG pilot who had been pushed into the role. She laid her head in her hands and let her emotions take her over, crying bitterly. All this information in front of her, and she was so close to being able to hand it all over to Intel.

I must escape... there must be a way out of here, somehow... Of course, she would probably be best waiting for the Capitol Police to come to her, rather than look around for one and get shot before she got close enough. Or even find a radio or telephone in here, maybe that would be safer...

---

Najaster, Capital of Kahanistan

Military Intelligence

Brigadier General Igor Kaselev sat at his desk, on his mobile. Things were not going well for him that day; Sklenova had not returned any of his messages, and he was starting to think she had been killed or captured. While it was possible that her hab block had simply been raided when she was absent and her computer destroyed, he had to do something. Even if he had to go himself, he was responsible, and the Director would have his head on a plate if he got an outside operative killed.

Kaselev pulled out the bag of CP armor from under his desk, one of the suits he had ordered from the Leafanistani Mafia. He was 6'3" and 200 pounds, a little taller than the average Kraven trooper, so he felt it would be difficult, though not impossible, to fit into the suit. He made a few calls to other departments, and within hours, a DAKI platoon was put together - twenty soldiers in CP gear and thirty men and women of thin build with their hair dyed black and wearing black contact lenses. The Director had chewed him out for sending someone who looked decidedly non-Kraven into Kraven territory without a disguise beyond her laborer's uniform. It would, however, be days before this team saw action.

Their orders: Rescue the operative, if she was still alive, find out what information she had obtained, and gather any critical information she had not. More objectives might be added if circumstances changed during the deployment.

The room was silent, nothing but the gentle hum of air conditioning could be heard, no screams from outside, no gunfire, no distant artillery… nothing, there was a gentle calm of the room that betrayed who resided here, Helghan, master of the blade and master of torture…

The door was suddenly opened, it swung round smashing off the wall as two Capitol Police Centurians came storming in, they were much bigger than normal Capitol Police and both wore long trench coats, however each sported the gas mask and optical system so recognised by the world as being the Face of Terror..

In a few steps they were over Nadia, a clump of her hair was grabbed and twisted around until they had a good handful, her head was forced violently onto the table, while the other put a set of cuffs on her wrists, the cuffs were typical Kraven interrogation cuffs, the edges were sharp and were kept tight around her wrist, her hands had also been tied behind her back…

While the first held her down, the other lashed some rope to a pulley in ceiling, it was then pulled through and one end tied tightly to Nadia’s cuffs… within a second of that happening, the first let go of her hair and grabbed the other end of the rope, with one sharp and violent pull, Nadia’s arms were jerked violently into the air, displacing her joints from their sockets and wrenching her muscles apart… within a few seconds Nadia was being suspended from the ceiling…

Her feet didn’t touch the ground, and once again the silence had emanated across the room, nothing but the steady breathing of these two inhuman, Machines….

Nadia barely saw who came up behind her. Taken by surprise for the second time, she was slammed into the table and the cuffs cut into her flesh. What is going on? What do these people want from me? She was alone, there was no other Kahanistanian soldier there she could be tortured into betraying... but these Kravenites didn't know that.

She found herself seconds later in a strappado position. From what she knew, it wouldn't kill her, but it might cause a lot of damage to her arms if she was left in the position for too long. The pain made her face contort and her eyes tear, but she did not make a sound... yet. She would not speak until the Centurians asked her a direct question.

The two Centurians never spoke to her, they just stood there in complete silence, their imposing frames could be seen as nothing more than silhouettes in the gloom of the suite, each ones breathing just added to the already tense situation in the room, the gentle breeze from the air conditioning sent a cold draft across the room and caused the hanging Nadia to sway ever so slightly…

A Door was opened, it was a wooden door, an old style, stained a dark brown, instantly it was recognizable as to what was coming in, it was another Capitol Police Trooper, or so it seemed by the heavy breathing that entered the room before the figure did…

It was infact the infamous Helghan, or more widely known through out the International Community as “The Butcher”, he was wanted in several nations for War Crimes, but had so far evaded these tribunals…

He wore a suit, it looked like a boiler suit, and was covered in electronics and other devices that monitored his condition, it also regulated his breathing and other body functions such as the heart rate and his blood sugar levels, he wore over that, a long black trench coat that stretched down to his ankles, he wore of course, the obligatory Kraven Jackboots…

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/HorusGodEmperor/ReichmarshalHelghanMasked.jpg

His face was covered in a mask, it looked like a death mask, it allowed him to speak, to see and to hear what was going on around him, it used the same optical systems of the Capitol Police gas masks, but was far more advanced than anything currently serving the military, although in comparison to the human form, it was horrifically crude..

He stood next to Nadia, looking her over from head to toe, he looked at her weak physical frame, and her tired, sunken eyes… she looked like she’d just been force marched through the gates of hell itself and into the river of styx….

He spoke, slowly and deliberately, as though he was savouring ever word, his voice sounded very similar to a Capitol Police Troopers voice, only had a subtle tone suggesting that he may have once been human too…

“Do you know who I am?”

Nadia shook her head weakly. While Kahanistanian Intelligence knew that Helghan was still alive, the common belief in Kahanistan was that he was dead, killed in the Kraven conflict with AMF. Nadia had been told he was alive, but Intel had neglected to tell her that he was now a cyborg.

"No..." Nadia said faintly. She was starting to bleed from the sharp edges of the cuffs and felt weak; she would have fallen asleep if not for the constant pain.

Helghan tilted his head to one side, like a dog would do when confused by his masters wishes, Helghans breathing remained unchanged as he simply nodded towards a Trooper, instantly Nadia was dropped a little before the trooper pulled on the rope, jerking her back up with immense force…

The pain must have been unbearable for Nadia as once again Helghan simply nodded, and Nadia was dropped again…

“I am Helghan, Master Reichmarshal of The Kraven Secret Police Arm…” Helghan nodded again and she was dropped for a third time… Helghans breathing never stopped and neither did his body language show any pity or any remorse for what he was doing to her…

“Tell me...Do you want this to end, Nadia Sklenova?

Nadia screamed, but did not open her mouth as the Centurians dropped her. He's just fucking with me... he'll kill me anyway. But after the fourth or fifth drop she could no longer bear the pain.

"Yes! I want it to end. What do you want from me?" Nadia was crying now, demoralized from the torture and the thought that her mission had failed. I'm going to die here.

Helghan let out a mechanical chuckle, he’d broken her will power, and in such a short space of time, he savoured her screams, and his breathing quickened slightly as her tears began to flow, he even took a deep breath as though he could smell her fear and her pain and was tasting the air like a snake does looking for a victim…

“Good…” He spoke, slowly and as softly as he could for a voice that made him sound like a machine…

“But so soon… I had so much to discuss with you… and so many ways to discover your darkest fears and your darkest desires….” He chuckled again, a sinister sick chuckle that made him seem even more perversely evil…

“Cut her down..” The Trooper let her go and she dropped to the ground with a heavy thump, the other Trooper picked her up and sat her down in the chair…

“I have a task for you, you have two choices, Accept the task and the possibility of seeing your homeland again, but with the possibility of death…” He paused, pulling something out of his desk… “Or refuse and Die here, In Norska, where you will never again see your friends, family or your homeland…” He paused again… placing a brown folder onto the desk…

“it is your decision…”

Nadia reached for the folder, still feeling faint. Helghan's offer appealed to her, but she would still have to know what the task was. Was it worth it to her? Could she really trust this war criminal?

"What is it?" she asked, barely able to speak after her ordeal. "What do you want me to do?"

The nature of the task would determine whether she died here or took the Reichmarshal's offer.

Helghan spoke again, it was hard to tell what he was about to do, when you couldn’t see his eyes or his facial expression…

“What is the sole reason for Kraven Aggression over seas?, for the way humans are treated and the reason people like yourself a kept captive against their will and forced to produce offspring, what is the reason Kraven is feared, loathed, hated and constantly under attack by forces seeking to do good?…”

“answer me this, and I will tell you the task…”

What is he getting at...? Nadia breathed deeply and let it out. "Because of capitalism," she said. "The Kraven Corporation only cares about productivity, to the point where they murder those who are too old or sick to work. They send those... things, the Capitol Police... to take more land and resources and enslave the people... to use them and when resources become scarce they do it again. Because of capitalist greed."

Throwing caution to the winds, she continued, more strongly. "And anyone who realizes that is branded a thought criminal and killed, to stop the spread of freedom... of ideology that is bad for capitalism."

She looked at Helghan, waiting for him to tell her the task he had in mind.

Helghan looked at her, his cybernetic eyes made a whirring sound when they focused in on her..

"You are both Wrong... and right..."

He paused again, savouring the sense of dread that Nadia was giving off...

"We do that yes.. but we are not Capitalists, We make no money, nor do we strive to gain it.. " He stopped, letting his words sink in, the common idea about Kraven was that it was a Capitalist Super state...

But everyone who thought that was wrong...

"The cause of all Kraven Evil is Father... he is the reason we do what we do, it is not capitalism, despite what your Communist Government has told you, We are a Military State, we seek nothing more than Military power, or as Father wants.. Absolute Unification..."

"If you accept this task... We want you to Kill Father.. end his Virtual life and allow me to take the Throne of the Kraven Empire, do this and succeed and I will personally guarantee you a free passage to Kahanistan, with a Capitol Police Escort..."

I don't trust him, but he holds all the cards.

Nadia took but one second to make her decision. She nodded her head. "I'll do it."

She didn't know how she would pull it off, but she did know that whatever happened to her next couldn't possibly be as bad as what had already happened. She certainly didn't like the idea of putting a known war criminal and sadist in power, but he couldn't be worse than Father, could he?

At the very least, Nadia had some more time to think about her situation...

Helghan nodded and handed her another folder, it was black with the Kraven Secret Police emblem upon it, it was marked Highly Classified, Secret Police Personel Only... obviously what ever was in here was very important...

"Inside is a dossier of all known rebel locations, where their weapons caches are and the usual times they operate, also included are a list of names, where they live and who's in their family.." Helghan opened it and pointed at the various lists...

"Use this to your advantage, it would be advisable to gain their trust some how and use them to gain entrance into the citadel.." Helghan paused, pulling out yet another file...

"You maybe wondering why I have all these dossiers on file and not on a computer... you'll notice the lack of Computers in Kraven.. if you want something hidden from Father... don't put it on Computer..." Helghan chuckled slightly to himself...

The file was again marked with the Skull motif of the Secret Police and was also in a jet black cover...

"The citadel is twenty miles high and has over 10,000 floors, Fathers mainframe systems are at the last few floors, in his quest for knowledge he has had to occupy more and more floors, you'll find him on floors 9,000 - 10,000..." He pointed at the top of the Citadel tower, it was a massive structure, with smaller towers surrounding the base, from a certain angle it looked like a giant hand grasping at the sun...

"It is guarded by over 40,000 of his Sardaukar Terror Troopers, his personal Death Squads, which is why also, I am asking you to carry out the task, if I am to wrestle Control of Kraven from his hands, I cannot be linked to you, if you are captured and you mention me giving you these orders, I will deny it and sign for your execution..."

He paused again letting the last part sink in, he produced from the dossier a small slip, it had stamped upon it the Kraven Eagle and her name across the top, with details of her Execution underneath, below that was a blank line, a place for Helghans signature of approval...

"You maybe also wondering why I have the names, locations and details of the rebels in Kraven, well, Nadia that is because we are funding and supporting them, if there were no rebels then the Secret Police would cease to exist, we would have no reason for Fathers continued support..." Helghan pointed again at the dossier he'd handed her before...

"They keep Father busy, so long as we look like we are doing our Job, Father Believes me to be loyal, I am far from that, I despise that entity... I support Kraven, and its Ideals, not Father and his Absolute Unification Campaign... I provoked Automagfreek into attacking Kraven in the hope that Lord Dreadfire would destroy Father, but he failed due to lack of insight into what he was fighting.." Helghan paused as part of his system altered itself..

"But now, I hope to seal an Alliance between Kraven and Automagfreek, if you fail, then I shall provoke another war and this time, I will ensure Father Fails..." Helghan thrust his fist into the table, his gloved hand landing squarely onto the wooden top...

"Now, before you go... are there any questions..."

Nadia nodded. "Why are you turning against Father, exactly? What do you want the Secret Police to do once Father is destroyed?" He funds the rebels to justify the existence of the Secret Police... but once his faction takes over, what will they do? "And... Why couldn't you just use a nuke to take out the entire Citadel? Just put a nuclear device in an APC, have someone drive it up to within a half mile of the Citadel, set it off... by remote, and let the whole tower come down? Sounds a lot easier than just sending in rebels... we wouldn't have the Sardaukar to worry about."

She was surprised to hear Helghan was fighting against Father; it took some time to sink in, and she still wasn't sure she believed him.

Maybe he's got an ulterior motive... but what could it be? To get her killed? No, he could just shoot her. To get the rebels killed? That sounded a little more plausible, but the files showed he already knew where they lived and could always send in the Capitol Police. To take something from the Citadel that he wanted intact? That sounded reasonable, but what could he want from the Citadel? Nadia decided to sit back and wait for the Kraven commander's answer.

Kraven Held Arterus

Heh. They weren't kidding, were they?

The Kraven winter was cold as hell. Well, if hell was cold, I suppose.

The soldier pulled his heavy overcoat closer around his shoulders, a black baklava concealing all but his eyes, which glow a bright yellow despite the desolate landscape around him. Leaned on a rock at the edge of a cliff and dressed in the winter side of his reversible camouflage, he was nearly invisible to anyone on the ground below. Dangling at waist level was his AR-56C carbine, the sling digging into his shoulder. Small pieces of ice clung to his clothing and weapon, making them cold to the touch, yet everything was working perfectly, a testament to Velkyan engineering. Alone on this bastardized mountain, he had plenty of time to think, and not much else. He checked his watch

.9:32 PM

He smirked, although there was nothing to smirk about. By his count, he had been stranded in this God-forsaken wasteland for two months. Forced to bury his five comrades, people he had known since basic training and flight school, his mental state was fragile. The Kraven scum had been in hot pursuit of his team ever since they had hit an ammunition factory a month back, as part of a covert operation to disrupt Kraven war operations and observe the newest additions to their arsenal. One by one, they fell victim to countless firefights with the Capitol Police, their unmarked graves and funeral pyres dotting the landscape. This lone soldier had given up hopes of getting home long ago. The beautiful harbor of Southport, the mountains of Osea, and the flight deck of the Eagle's Claw seemed but a dream now. Low on food, ammunition, and hope, he didn't have long to live.

So long as he sat on that rock feeling sorry for himself, that is. Reminding himself that the Marines don’t pay by the hour, he half threw himself up off the rock and regaining his footing on the snowy ground. Holding the pistol grip of his rifle with one hand, he scanned the possessions he still had. A small backpack held seven thirty round clips of 6.8mm AUDF rounds for his carbine, a handful of MREs which he had carefully rationed, two clips of .413 pistol rounds, and a M19 anti-tank weapon and two tandem charge rockets.

Good enough.

He slung the pack over his shoulder, and shouldered his 56C. According to his half-fried Terrain Mapping System, there was a settlement (or at least the remains of one) five miles to the north, and where the was a settlement there was food and shelter. Whether the occupants were willingly to hand said items over was a different story. Making his way down the cliff, he began the long trudge into oblivion.

Helghan looked at her, Nadia, a young girl who had been thrown into the very jaws of hell by a government that probably didn’t care whether or not she lived or died, only that the mission had been completed, they could say what they liked about her, Helghan knew the truth, governments don’t care…

“I shall show you why…” Helghan took off his officers hat revealing an obsidian black helmet that covered the entirety of his skull, he began to unclip certain parts and removed a small pipe that hissed and jettisoned some form of gas into the atmosphere, he pulled out a second pipe from the other side that reacted in a similar fashion…

Then he removed the back portion of the helmet, he lay it onto the table, it contained various computer instruments and wires that trailed from the back of the helmet to the back of his skull, pipes and other kinds of hardware filled the head piece, as slowly he brought his hands up and removed the face plate…

What was revealed underneath was a horrific blend of metal and flesh, it resembled Helghan before the accident, parts of his skin untouched others terribly scarred and disfigured, an entire section of his jaw had been eaten away and replaced by a metal chassis, his left eye had been replaced with what appeared to be a cybernetic one, while the bone around it had been altered with yet more metal..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/HorusGodEmperor/AnimatronicCyborg.jpg

The chest piece made several noises indicating that the helmet had been removed and that life signs were nominal for now, Helghan began to speak, his voice was no longer mechanical, or imposing it now took on the personae of an old man, someone who was very, very ill and sick, someone who had been through the very gates of Hell itself and survived… his speech was very weak, and sickly, as though his vocal chords were nothing more than a burnt and mangled mess of flesh…

“….. Th….this… is…. Why….” He stopped, saliva seeped from the side of his mouth that had no skin or lips… “This… is…. What… I… Have become…” He stopped again, pausing as he took a deep, laboured breath, his breathing and his lungs wheezed…

“I… begged for …. Death…. But… they brought me back…. I …” he paused once more…

“I… have been through….. The fires of Hell…..” pausing again as he took another long and laboured breath…

“And they….Brought me back…. I am in per….” He stopped once more, his breathing becoming more and more difficult… “I am… in constant….. Pain….”

A warning sound emanated from his chest piece and quickly he began to replace the helmet and face piece, resetting the piping and restoring his breathing and speech to its assisted rates…


Once again Helghan took on the personae that everyone feared, The Butcher was back, his voice cut the room like a knife… The Machine was back…

“I would kill Father personally for what he did, to me… But then I would loose Kraven, I can stop the madness and restore Kraven to its former Glory… I need your help…” Helghan looked at her through the mechanical eye pieces that made up the face mask…

“Nuclear weapon is unfeasible, and besides… where would I rule Kraven from?” Helghan chuckled and then gestured to the door…

“Take these” Helghan spoke, handing her the dossier on the Rebels… “and you’ll also need this…” He handed her a disk, "once your inside, I’ll have one of my Reichmarshals meet up with you, He’ll explain what to do….” Helghan paused…. “anymore questions before you leave?”

Nadia shuddered as she saw the man take off his helmet. A lump formed in her throat. These people treat their own people like this... I'll help him get rid of Father any way I can.

She shook her head. "No," she said softly when asked if she had any more questions. She didn't want to speak now, it was all she could do not to break down at what he had shown her.

"If that is all... I'll be on my way," said Nadia, tucking the disk into the dossier and holding it in both arms. Weakened by the torture, the folder that would have normally easily been held in one hand now took both arms to steady it.

---

Frozen Wastelands of Kraven Arterus

Nadia walked into a small older settlement listed in the files that Helghan had given her, the one nearest to Camp 18, only about six hours' walk, stretched to nine hours because of the ordeal she had just endured. She was in a Reichmarshal's uniform, in an area crawling with rebels. The dossier pointed out one hab block in particular where an insurgent commander lived, on the other side of the town. Checking her weapon, she decided the best course of action was to check to make sure no Capitol Police were approaching, then just stride up to the insurgent's block. She might get a shot taken at her, but she felt that unlikely, especially if she removed her officer's hat, let her hair down - literally - and smiled. She approached the house identified in the file as that of the insurgent leader for this settlement.

A man stepped out of the building, he held a KC44 and let a burst go into the air, he was wearing some old work clothes, with a Kreigsmarine Camouflage jacket over the top of it, he had several ammo belts wrapped around his waste and over his shoulders, and grenades hung to his belt…

“What do you want…. Reichmarshal…” The man spoke, pointing the weapon at the officer…

A young woman holding a Kreigsmarine 303 walked to the door, she looked similarly dressed to the man, but didn’t have any ammo belts, she did however bore a Kreigsmarine helmet that had the words “Make Love Not War” painted onto it with white paint…

“She’s no Reichmarshal…” She pointed at Nadia…

“How do you know that” the man turned to her, still holding the weapon at Nadia…

“Well, for one… she’s a girl, Girls don’t serve in the Secret Police, they just serve the War Machine… Idiot…” She turned to Nadia… “Ok… you can come in, what do you want?”

The man, grunted a few times, and mumbled to himself, before gesturing Nadia to come inside…

Nadia laid her duty belt on the floor to show she meant no harm. "My name is Nadia Sklenova. I'm an officer in the Kahanistan Republic Guard, the uniform is a disguise. I'm here to assist resistance to the Corporation."

She sat down and laid the dossier next to her. She was very tired, after the torture ordeal and walking nine hours in the freezing cold, and she was also nervous about these rebels. They struck her as similar to the Allaneanized Kahanistanian hicks who lived in villages in the desert to get away from the big cities, practiced survivalism, were often Christians or Muslims, and owned lots of guns in preparation for the New World Order. The New World Order is upon these people, and they don't like it, she reminded herself.

She decided to implement Helghan's orders; for her to get back to Norska to gather the information assigned to her was next to impossible with her cover blown there, and a DAKI team was likely on the way there anyway. She would try to draw up plans for an attack on the Black Citadel.

"What kinds of weapons do you have here?" she asked. It was going to be necessary to have some powerful area-effect ordnance to deal with the Sardaukar guarding the Citadel, fuel-air explosives or napalm would be preferable, but in a pinch flamethrowers and maybe an armored vehicle or two would suffice.

The woman pulled up a large metal case, it was a standard issue Kraven weapons carrier and would usually be found in the many APC’s and bunkers that Kraven Operated, it was military black and had a massive Kraven Eagle stamped onto the sides and the lid, she slid it open, inside was a pristine condition Kraven MG42, inside it contained everything, cleaning equipment, spare parts, tools, it even contained a working Capitol Police Gas Mask and smart link set up, so that the user could take advantage of all of the weapons benefits..

“We’ve been hooked up with a Mafia group, they seem to have a lot of Kraven weapons..” she spoke pointing at the MG42... “I have no idea how they got it, but its in better condition than we could have gotten hold of by ourselves….”

The man shrugged his shoulders… “Apart from that and what you see around you that’s it…” Around them were mainly empty ammunition boxes, a few grenades, judging by their designation, Kraven white Phosphorus spec ones, and some standard issue boot polish…

“We sometimes do small raids on un-protected vehicles left outside, we grab what we can then run, sometimes its good, sometimes its bad…” He laughed a little, pointing at the one hundred and fifty tins of Kraven boot polish

“What do you want us to do against, The Kraven War Machine, we’ve survived for so long… but were so few against so many, and why should we help you?” The woman asked, looking at Nadia and holding her rifle against her hip, trying to look as brave as possible despite the Horrors of Kraven she was facing…

Nadia stifled a smile as the man showed her the boot polish; many rebel fighters had undoubtedly risked their lives for this tactically useless material and many unlucky Kriegsmarines were likely shot when their supplies were raided.

"Well... you're going to need better weapons than that, if you want to defeat the Corporation, you'll need something capable of standing up to the Sardaukar. Think you're up to taking on something more dangerous... say, a raid on a Capitol Police barracks?" Nadia hoped to obtain large quantities of C-12, to use against the Sardaukar guarding the Black Citadel, and heavy weaponry capable of defeating the Kraven heavy infantry. She knew the rebels would probably want some of that, too.

"It's not to help me," she said. This was a half-truth; she wanted to destroy the Corporation as much as they. "But the only way you'll ever be able to live without fearing the Capitol Police is to move to larger operations, raiding camps, tying down their forces, sabotaging the birthing facilities where they're produced, getting your own message out there. Everywhere you go there's Kraven propaganda, and a lot of people believe in it, enough to become Kriegsmarines. This is to free yourselves."

"So why am I helping you? I'm doing this because my country has been at war with the Corporation for as long as I can remember over its human rights problems, and its imperialistic land grabbing of other nations. We're fighting the same enemy, we should be working together," said Nadia.

---

Air Force base north of Najaster, capital of Kahanistan

Brigadier General Kaselev and twenty DAKI soldiers walked into the Air Force base wearing Capitol Police body armor and holding their helmets, so that their faces were exposed and the base security would not shoot them. Behind the armored soldiers were thirty operatives in basic work clothes, whose job it was to ferret out information from the citizenry, and report it back to Kahanistan. The armored soldiers would seek out rebel hideouts and allies therein, but their primary goal was to locate Sklenova. They needed whatever information she may have gathered, and they hoped that she was still alive to pass it on.

A B-2 stealth bomber sat in the hangar. Kaselev and his contingent, lacking a stealth transport, used stealth bombers for covert insertion of personnel. They would sit in the bomb bays, with thick coats and oxygen masks on, until the plane arrived at its destination. Fifty people crammed into the space did not make a comfortable environment, but at least there was a chance of getting in without being shot out of the sky.

The soldiers and operatives filed into the bomb bay and waited for takeoff...

Outside Kraven Settlement

Apart from the noise of the wind whipping about, an eerie silence covered the wasteland, as the only Velkyan soldier for thousands of miles trudged along a snow covered road, scanning the horizon for any activity. Visibility fluctuated between far-ranging and next to nothing, as the chaotic snowstorm picked up. He checked his icy navigation tool, reading the data flow through the tiny ice sickles that had formed on its LCD display.

'Only a half mile to go...'

Strengthening his resolve, he picked up the pace, walking at a brisk pace despite the furious blizzard. For nearly thirty minutes, he kept this pace, walking parallel to the road to avoid any Kraven vehicles, until a sound was brought him to attention.

Crunch. Crunch.

He immediately dropped to the ground, impacting the pillow-like snow banks as he flipped the safety of his rifle off.

'Shit, CPs.'

The red eyes of the CP failed to show, and the solder slowly rose, finding his gaze being met by another loner. A pure white wolf with brilliant yellow eyes was staring him down; his paw covered a broken branch. Sion lowered his weapon, switching the fire selector to 'safe', and kneeled down, taking care not to break his ocular link with the animal. For several moments, not a sound was uttered by man or beast, and he marveled at such beauty and power. Surely, this must be an apparition, as wolves were likely hunted into extinction by the scumbags. This reverie of sorts was broken not by either participant, but the rumble of a machine. The pair exchanged a final glance at one another, before escaping. The white predator shot into the white-out, and the loner, dressed in his pure white camouflage, dropped to the floor, staring down whatever monstrosity that about to come into his view.

The noise of the engine slowly came over the hill, its bright flood lights illuminated the road ahead and turned the scene into a bright, surgical white snow scape, the powerful, twin V8 diesel engines gave it the distinct grumble that all Kraven tanks had, and its tracks rolled forwards, churning up the snow and leaving two deep grooves behind it….

However, the noise wasn’t just one tank, it was several, all Leman Russ pattern tanks, followed closely by four APC’s which kept the formation tight, the Capitol Police trooper in the copula, swept the fields with a powerful spot lamp looking for anyone hiding out of the way…

Each of the vehicles had a distinct logo, it was a skull, penetrated by a sword through the top of the bone and backed by the standard twin Hammers of Kraven, it was a Totenkopf Mobile Division, Capitol Police Centurians, followed behind, in a loose formation, several carried flamethrowers while others carried Assault Cannons, a shortened smaller version of those carried by the Sardaukar…

Around two hundred Centurians, followed behind, with some riding in APC’s or hung onto the side of tanks, it was a standard sweep operation, ordered by Helghan, knowing full well Nadia was in a settlement near by, it was his way of persuading her to speed up her operation…

The Lead Leman Russ opened fire with its 170mm Smooth bore Battle cannon, the fire ball erupted from the barrel slinging a massive shell into one of the buildings, bringing the decrepit structure down in a dust cloud and collapsing mortar, its 40mm Autocannon began to hammer away, sending solid slugs screaming towards the buildings, as its side sponson Assault cannons opened fire, laying down a torrent of 7.62mm bullets, showering the place in lead…

Meanwhile, the other Leman Russ’s totalling four in all spread out, flanking the lead Russ while, the Centurians protected the rear of the tanks and continued to advance with the heavy armour of this mobile division…

The rumbling sounds of the Leman Russ tanks were unmistakable. The rebels made a run for it as soon as they heard the sounds, and Nadia ran alongside them. The house would not make a successful fortification against these tanks. What would be needed were foxholes and heavy weapons. Nadia followed to see where the rebels would hide from the Kravenites, and if it was any better protected.

When they arrived at their destination, she would try to get them to fight.

---

Thousands of kilometers away, a lone B-2 stealth bomber headed for Kraven, laden with extra fuel tanks, which it jettisoned as they emptied to improve stealth.

The man dove behind a snow drift and pulled up a hood over his head, he looked through the scope of his rifle as one by one a line of Centurians marched through the town, gutting it, they set fire to buildings, a child ran out into the streets, wearing nothing but a tattered sack, his mother ran screaming after him as a Totenkopf Centurian opened fire with a high powered flame thrower, setting both alight, the flames licking across their flesh and fusing bone and sinew together… her agonising screams rose high into the air only to be drowned out by the roar of assault cannon fire…

Flames rose high into the air, turning the dark, cold sky into something that resembled bonfire night, flames licking the sky, as smoke and bits of burnt fabric floated through the air…

“Fucking bastards… they’re only women and children…” He grumbled, holding his KC44 close… The woman came up behind him and covered her eyes and ears, she’d fought Kraven before and see all of its horrors, but each time she saw them again, it effected her just as much as the first time….

Nadia crouched behind a boulder, still armed only with her .50 caliber Reichmarshal's sidearm. She figured she had about two clips left. My own weapon is better than this. Her issued weapon was a 9mm Beretta with laser sights. But this clunky .50 cal not only lacked any basic sighting mechanism, and not only was Nadia unable to spend time aiming with her arm injuries, but the big gun hurt her hands to fire. However, it did have superior penetration to her nine-mil.

Thinking quickly, she lowered her head enough to just barely see her targets and rested her arms on the rock. When the Centurians' flamethrower packs came into Nadia's line of fire, she squeezed the trigger, the recoil nearly cracking her wrists as .50 caliber rounds of hot smoking lead flew at the flamethrower packs, igniting those they struck and setting the unfortunate owners ablaze, putting them to the same fires that had burned the woman and child to death earlier.

"Aim for their flamethrower packs, it's the most vulnerable part," she said to the rebels, as she fired another hand-crunching .50 caliber round into the tank of a Centurian that got too close to her for comfort.

Hugging the ground, the loner was able to avoid being attacked by group of armored vehicles, which proceeded to roll into town. Soon the unmistakable sounds of a firefight reached his ears, and he got up. Rising out of the snow bank, causing flurry to fall off his overcoat, he centered his gaze on the embattled town.

Then he saw it. A mother and child, incinerated in cold blood by a machine of the Corporation. Sitting there, watching this display stirred something in him. Righteous anger filled his veins, and his hands gripped his rifle tight as he made a full sprint to the town. Diving behind the ruins of a building, he unlatched the anti-tank launcher strapped to his back, arming it and activating the sighting mechanism. He watched a lead Leman Russ open fire with its hellish main cannon, obliterating a building.

No rest for the wicked.

With inhuman reflexes, he shifted his torso beyond the wall, getting a clear shot at the tank's rear armor. Smirking, he pulled the trigger, causing a shrill whistle and a boom to explode out of the weapon, followed by a trail of smoke generated by the tandem charge HEAT rocket as it screamed towards its target. He didn't stick around long enough to see if his weapon impacted, as he dashed to the left, dodging machine gun fire as he locked another round into the breach of his launcher. Shouldering the tube, he loosed off another stream of death at a second Leman Russ, before loading his final round, targeting the lead Kraven APC. His launcher expended, he threw it to the ground, drawing his carbine back into his capable hands. Traveling around the exterior of the town, he reached a bombed out building of decent size. Kicking down the rotting door, he shot up the stairs to a window, where he kneeled down and affixed a red dot scope to his AR-56C. Switching to fully automatic, he laid down precision bursts of gunfire, striking down several Centurions before he ducked back down to reload.

His veins pulsated with adrenaline as he ejected his spent mag and slammed another into the feed.

Your move, Kraven.

Nadia looked up at the damaged town from behind her rock. In the distance, she saw a man with a rocket launcher firing on the Kraven tanks. Maybe he can stop the shelling.

"There's a guy with a rocket launcher up there! We've got to rescue him, he might be able to save the place." Nadia loaded the last ammo clip into her .50 caliber pistol and ran up. Oblivious to her injuries and the strain of the recoil on her hands, she raised her weapon toward the head of another Centurian and pulled the trigger, sending the huge round spiraling in the general direction of the Kravenite scum's brain.

She now had only four slugs left in her weapon, but she didn't care. If she could save the man with the rocket launcher, she could save the town. She would probably be able to take a Centurian's weapon if she had to.

The loner glanced through a crack in the building, listening to hot Kraven lead ping off the worn out concrete of his temporary haven. They were obviously suppressing him, and if he wasn't trying so hard not to have his brains splattered all over the wooden floor of the building, he would have been impressed by the increased tactical skill of the Kraven scum. Then, something caught his eye.

What the fuck..?

A woman was running towards his position, undoubtably drawing machine gun fighter. He cursed, half-heartedly attempting to will the bullets not to hit her.

Stupid bitch is gonna get herself killed!

Then something about this particular wench caught his well honed eyes. Her slender figure, those radiant blue eyes, the dirty but still shining golden hair.

No fucking way.

It couldn't be. Of all the people to meet in this God-forsaken wasteland, what could she be doing here was beyond his rational thoughts. But, the whys and hows could wait. She was in danger, and an overpowering drive took hold of him. He had to save her, he wasn't about to watch another innocent die, especially her. A conflict arose inside his mind. In the cockpit or in the trenches, allowing one's emotions to take hold of one's duty was almost a death sentence, and that was exactly what was happening here. Would he end up like his comrades, buried in the bone white Kraven snow?

No. And I won't let her do the same.

He rolled under the hole where the window used to be, avoiding the Kraven gunners' lines of sight. Sprining to his feet in the next room, he cursed his lack of a grenade launcher, affixing a rifle grenade to the muzzle of his -56C while removing the magazine and placing a dummy round in the chamber. Seconds later, a rifle grenade was screaming towards the concentration of Kraven infantry. Before ducking back under the windowsill, he spied the woman getting closer to the building.

Nadia pressed her back against the wall of the house, taking aim at the flamethrower trooper's fuel tank with her .50 cal, then spinning around to fire her last two rounds on the machine gunner. Out of ammo, now? I'm so dead.

For a split second, she smiled wryly at the thought of how many Reichmarshals must have died due to Kraven's decision to make their .50 caliber pistols hold only five-round clips. Then she entered the house, now completely out of ammunition. She called up to the guy above her.

"You've got to get out of there now! The tanks will crush the house in no time flat!" She hoped that the man could take out the tanks or help her try to take one of them over.

She was greeted by a red dot centered squarely on her forehead. The Velkyan soldier, his cheek pressed against the cold alloy and polymer carbine and his left eye staring down the reflex sight, walked down the stairs slowly, oblivious to battle raging outside. His first words to her in what must have been years reflected how far he had gone from the young Navy officer she had know him to be.

"You fucking moron, they know we're here."

Before he could chastise her more for her lack of foresight, a shell rocked the building. A near miss, but he knew the skill of the Kraven gunners ensured the next round wouldn't be. He lowered his weapon, softening his tone a bit.

"We have to get out of here, fast. Follow me."

The man came down, his weapon pointed at Nadia's face, the red dot sight covering her eyes. She wanted to say that she wasn't a Kraven officer, that she was just in uniform as a spy, but then she saw his face and their eyes met...

Nadia finally recognized the man whose position she was heading for, but now was not the time to talk, as much as she would have liked to. She was a little shocked at being called a moron, but followed Sion anyway.

"I'm out of ammunition," she said. The Kraven soldiers had plenty of GPMG's, assault cannons, and flamethrowers lying around, but flamethrowers lacked the range of an assault rifle, and GPMG's and assault cannons were far too heavy for a 115-pound woman to carry around for any length of time.

She rubbed her hands together, still hurting from the recoil of several .50 caliber rounds from the Reichmarshal's sidearm she had carried.

"If we don't get out of her now, ammo will be the least of your worries."

Luckily, the building was on the outskirts of town, and escaping from the building unnoticed was relatively easy due to the chaos of the battle. Sion grabbed Nadia by the hand, pulling her along as he began to jog through the snow, the occasional round hitting the ground with a dull thud. With three Kraven armored vehicles possibly knocked out, and a number of soldiers dead, what was a cleansing operation on a small town quickly became a fiasco for the corporate pigs. The pair escaped into the wilderness behind the building, which, mere seconds later, ceased to exist, a Kraven shell slamming into it and blowing it to kingdom come.

Thankfully for them, a blizzard was setting in, which would surely interfere with the optical mags of the Kraven soldiers. At least, thankfully in the long run. Not a word was spoken as they ran for several miles, the sounds of battle slowly drowning out. After a good hour of running, they reached shelter, a small cave only partially covered by the torrents of snow. Sion and Nadia dropped inside, the sounds of the wind and ice dulling. While it was cozy, the cold still came inside, and Sion quickly rectified this by placing his white trenchcoat over the opening, blocking it while plunging the cave into darkness.

Reaching into his dwindling pack of supplies, he light a chem-light, piercing the darkness with both a minor source of heat and a reddish glow. He breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to Nadia.

"Are you wounded?"

Nadia nodded. She had been through so much physically and emotionally; she thought she may as well let it out.

"Yes," she said, straining to move her hand. She still had a gash where the Kriegsmarine had smashed her head into the side of the APC to knock her out before raping her. She still did not know about that, however, being unconscious when it took place.

"They captured me, took me to Helghan's camp. He's turned against Father, he stretched my arms behind me..." She was rambling now, her voice shaking as she related the tortures she had suffered. "I can barely lift a weapon now, Helghan released me, told me to help him destroy Father. I was in the town, trying to raise a rebel army when the Centurians attacked..."

Nadia broke down, now that she was away from the battle. She started crying, about what she'd been through, for the people who were left in the settlement, and for the people she had seen being tortured in the barracks when she was looking for information. She just let it all come out...

Sion stared down at the heap of emotion sitting near him. His eyes ran down her body, she was very attractive, and he hadn't seen a healthy woman in months.

Perhaps he could...

No. I'm a warrior, not a fucking monster.

He took his BDU's top off, revealing a polymer undershirt that extended down his arms to his wrists. Luckily, he had changed his uniform en route to the village to prevent any infections. Now, safe from attack (for at leas the moment, he could get some true rest. His cold, emotioness existence warmed at the sight of this poor woman in obvious distress. He placed the BDU over her shoulders, and sat down behind her, his powerful arms drawing her close. His raspy voice pierced the confines of the cave. The chem-light's scent, a plastic but pleasent one, filled his nostrils.

"Forget the military bullshit for now. You're safe now, Nadia. Let's get you cleaned up, alright?"

With a free hand, he pulled his rugsack towards him, and rumagged through it, producing a spray bottle and roll of gauze. The bottle read 'General Disinfectant' and he removed its protective seal.

"This might sting a bit, ok?"

He pressed the small button on the top of the bottle down, causing a jet of clear liquid to fly onto the wound on Nadia's forehead. Powerful ethanol based disinfectants began to work their magic, clearing out bacteria and dirt that ran the risk of causing a serious infection on the wound. Once it was cleaned, Sion applied the guaze, lifting its adhesive seals so that it would stay in place. Once the wound was bandaged, he drew her back into his embrace.

"Better?"

Nadia smiled widely for the first time since she had arrived in that frozen hell hole. She nodded her head; she was feeling a little better emotionally as she was being held.

She took off her top, too; she was sick of the Reichmarshal's uniform and it wasn't like she didn't have an undershirt on under it. In the cold there was little cause to sweat, so she did not smell like she hadn't been cleaned in days.

Nadia lay with her arms around Sion. She was still thinking about those people who were being slaughtered by the murdering Kraven filth. "How do we go after the Citadel? I can't hold a weapon very well, and I'm not sure you have a lot of ammo with you either..."

---

Norska, Kraven

The stealth bomber / transport with General Kaselev and his unit of disguised CP and other operatives approached the city. In fifteen minutes, it would be over the city and disgorging its load of troops, twenty "CP" including Kaselev himself and thirty operatives disguised as civilians.

"The Citadel..."

The memories flashed back. A meeting in OMI headquarters. The intelligence officer speaking.

"This is a top secret operation, gentlemen. Your mission is to gather intel on Kraven weapon systems, deployments, whatever our spy birds can't see. Most of all, however, you are to secure floorplans for the Kraven Citadel, the capital building of whatever "government" Kraven possesses. Once we have the blueprints of this structure and its defense in our hands, we can plan and execute a crippling blow to the Kraven government and its servants."

The briefing went to maps and numbers, and Sion returned to the present.

"My entire team is KIA, I'm the only one left, no intact satellite link, not even a fucking radio. To our respective governments, Nadia, we're as good as dead. The Citadel is as distant as free speech and a ballot box."

Or is it?

Nadia nodded. She wrapped her arms tightly around Sion. This must have been very difficult for him.

"I was sent alone." To her government, she may not be dead. "You wouldn't have a computer I could use to get ahold of my government, would you? Mine was left in my hab block when I escaped the... Soylent facility." Her voice cracked again as she mentioned the Soylent facility.

She needed to let her government know that she had the documents and the information she had been sent to gather, and what her new mission was. She was sure they would approve it, even coming as it did from Helghan.

"Hun, all I've got left is my rifle and some supplies. The coded satellite transciever we brought in with us got shot up on the way in. The only real way to contact our allies is to find a Kraven one and tune it to a Velkyan frequency."

If I remember, we've got a Stalker class SSN assigned to the area that we can page at any moment.

Sion pulled two ration boxes out of his rugsack, and picked some melting slush up off the floor, sliding it into the chemical heating pouches of the two containers. Within minutes, the food was hot, and he handed one to Nadia, reading 'Corned Beef Hash with Potatoes'.

"You look like you haven't eaten anything in days, here's some grunt chow. Don't worry, there's a fork inside."

Shit. Nadia dug in with the fork. She didn't much like beef, but she needed to keep her strength up and keep her already thin frame from becoming skeletal.

"Well, I'll need a weapon. Then, we can try to capture a radio from a Kraven patrol. It would probably be easier to contact a Kahanistanian satellite." Kahanistan was slightly less advanced than Velkya technologically; it was only recently introducing ETC weaponry to its ships, and rumor had it that they were developing another huge superdreadnaught with a monstrous railgun, although railgun technology was still in its infancy in Kahanistan.

She started in on the potatoes. "Whoever we can contact, it would probably be wise to try to get through the defenses around the Citadel... then we go in with the disk." She showed Sion the disk Helghan had given her to wipe out Father. What she did not say was that if she were killed, Sion would have to take the disk and finish the mission.

"So, what do we do now?" Nadia had no real experience in special operations; the ground combat training she had was more to keep her alive if she were downed than to make her an effective front-line combatant. She had good command skills, but a commander wasn't necessary for getting ahold of weapons and communication equipment, a special forces soldier was. She looked at Sion intently.

The town was aflame, bright plumes of red hot smoke rose into the air, causing the rancid air of Kraven to now stink of the burning embers of war, rubble and corpses littered the streets, people, women, children, Centurians, a couple of Officers had been caught up and the burning wrecks of three Kraven tanks stood, adding the stench of burning diesel to the air…

The two rebels Nadia had assisted earlier now were being held by the remnants of the Mobile Division that had assaulted the town in a standard sweep and cleanse operation, their arms were bound behind their backs and along with them were several other people of the resistance who’d been hiding in the old town hall..

Three Reichmarshals in long black trench coats walked through the streets, escorted by several Capitol Police troopers, each of the Reichmarshals had armbands that displayed the totenkopf symbol…

“What the fuck happened here?” One Marshal spoke, looking around at the devastation…

“A group of rebels counter attacked, it was to be expected, the losses though, are a lot higher than were to be expected” The second spoke, looking at a dossier that had been quickly compiled on the mobile division with predicted losses and actual, the dossier also detailed the mobile divisions make up and unit organisation…

“They were organized…” the third spoke, bending down and picking up a spent ammo case…

“This isn’t a Kraven calibre…” He looked at the positioning of gunfire, and the groups of Centurian corpses, killed with expert accuracy using rifle grenades… “One of them is highly trained…”

“Very well… then we obviously have insurgents in the sector… deploy the Hunter Killer teams, I want them found and destroyed…” The first spoke…

“We have orders from Helghan” The second spoke, pulling another part of the dossier out…

“One of the rebels, is apparently working for him, we have orders not to pursue them any further” he spoke, handing the paper orders to the first Marshal..

“These orders are out of the question, they will be found, and justice will be done…”

“But, Reichmarshal… we have orders…”

“Do not question, I will take full responsibility for my actions…. Deploy the Hunter Killer Teams”

“As you wish Reichmarshal…”

The B-2 sailed over Norska, relying on its stealth to get it this far... but over the city was probably one of the strongest defenses in Kraven.

Hardly surprising... this is one of their biggest cities, it's got a lot of their strategic assets inside... The bombardier released the switch and the bomb bays opened.

Fifty men and women dumped out of the bomb bay; twenty of them appeared to be Capitol Police paratroopers and the other thirty were dressed as Kraven citizens, with false ID's and backgrounds. The "citizens" were told to land on tops of hab blocks or in dark alleys, and dispose of their chutes before slipping undetected into the streets of Kraven and into their respective hab blocks. The "troopers" formed into two squads of ten, one led by Kaselev himself.

The fifty DAKI operatives floated down to Earth as the plane took a few more hits before closing its bomb bays and attempting to increase altitude before it could take a critical hit. They were planning something big, something that could affect the course of the war.

The B-2 was flying over the Capitol City of Kraven held territory, it was a fortress, designed to be almost impervious to every attack, “Stratosphere Guns” the feared Kraven 120mm ETC EM rifled flak guns, designed to reach out and strike aircraft at extreme ranges…

One by one as the B-2 approached, each one sung out, sending heavy shells flying towards the craft, each one exploded near by, sending a bright flame and red hot shrapnel flying in every direction…

But one by one, people leapt from the craft, drifting downwards towards the city of Kraven, as the craft climbed higher the guns turned their attention to the people that now floated downwards, the guns were altered and shells were loaded then one by one, they opened fire again, sending these HE shells flying towards the fleshy, meaty targets of people…

Meanwhile, word had been sent that some sort of invasion had been started, and that paratroopers were dropping into the city, the Command relay was alive and already troopers were taking up defensive positions and Hunter Killer teams deployed within the city awaiting for the Paratroopers to have landed…

The City was on High alert, while all though out the city, a loud air raid siren howled away, cutting the air with its shrill sound, while filtering through came the sound of jackboots and APC’s…

Brigadier General Igor Kaselev watched in horror as the 120mm guns fired on his descending forces, reducing to paste those the massive ETC shells struck. Kaselev never expressed horror, and to those under his command, he appeared to be his usual, calm, slightly cold self. But inside, he was furious. Whose goddamned idea was it to drop us right on top of the city?! But he knew that he himself had a lot of weight on that decision; he had wanted to avoid the confrontation with patrols that would almost inevitably follow an attempted incursion into the city from the countryside.

A shell reduced a female operative right in front of him to red, tomato-paste looking clumps of gore. Her body disintegrated and the gore splattered all over Kaselev's tight-fitting Capitol Police armor. By the time they landed, the DAKI personnel had lost one armored trooper and seven unarmored operatives. The general took command of a squad of nine and left the other ten under his 2IC; the twenty-three living unarmored operatives landed in alleys and on top of buildings as they were told, but would undoubtedly be hunted down by hunter-killer teams now that the alarms were going off.

Kaselev and his troopers landed in the city, preparing to sort themselves out and undertake their mission...

The hunter killer squads closed in, using the attack dogs to flush out the unarmed civilians who had been dropped in with the Capitol Police look-alikes, the snow continued to fall, turning the scenes of bloodshed into a picturesque scene, everywhere Kahanistan spies were dragged out into the streets kicking and screaming, as officers shouted abuse at them and using batons and rifle butts beat them to within inches of their lives, this was Kraven’s hunter killer squads, officers, who were more mad men than officers…

Brutal and efficient was the only way to describe it, each of the civilians, dropped in by Kahanistan bombers were executed in the streets with a swift bullet to the head, still the search continued looking for the few that might have avoided the first, initial sweep of the area…

Still the Capitol Police look-alikes, were harder to spot or find, each one blended in quite well, and Hunter Killer teams were quick to locate a single Capitol Police trooper, stood on his own, or why some squads were operating in unusual places…

Officers, and Hunter Killer Capitol Police stood waiting for these… “rogue” troopers to identify and answer the questions asked…

The murderous fire of the Capitol Police met the armour of the infiltrators, who had been trained to aim at the weak spots of the enemy armour. It was unlikely that the Capitol Police had been exposed to many armoured opponents.

"Aim for the necks," said Kaselev calmly. "Attempt to disengage as soon as possible and seek out our comrades. You, and you. Follow me," the general continued in his unnervingly calm monotone, gesturing at two soldiers. "You. Cover us."

The armoured infiltrator laid down suppressive fire to allow Kaselev and the two soldiers with him to move into an alleyway where he had seen one of the unarmoured operatives land. He would try to save as many of the operatives as he could; they were essential to his objective.

However, one of the soldiers had been separated from his squad during the landing. In his guise as a Capitol Police trooper, Captain Mark Connor had just watched in hidden horror as three of his comrades were beaten to death by a hunter killer team. There was no way he could fight them, and he didn't have General Kaselev's uncanny ability to remain calm under the most terrifying of circumstances.

Thank God for the voice distorters here, else I'd be dead meat. "We are here in pursuit of Thought Criminals who fled into this district," he said. It was the first thing that popped into his head. "They were fleeing in that direction," he continued, trying to get them off his back.

---

Losing her patience with the turn things were taking, Nadia walked out of the cave. Not ten meters away, her foot slipped, and she tumbled, screaming, four meters down into a hidden mud pit, landing flat on her face in thick, sticky brown mud.

Pushing up out of the mud, she noticed dozens of crates, stacked in columns and rows all over the interior of the pit. This must be a hidden rebel arms cache. This suspicion was further reinforced by the fact that one of the crates contained a dozen AK-47's, another what must have been hundreds of thousands of bullets, clothing (civilian, camo, and ghillie suits), Kahanistanian MRE's still stamped with the DSRK's hammer and sickle emblem, Capitol Police suits, a couple of heavy machine guns, and even a Gatling cannon. Other arms crates contained such items as grenades, rocket launchers, manuals for making everything from Molotov cocktails to Qassam rockets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qassam_rocket), and even a manual for operating a Merkava IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava) tank, translated into the Kraven language.

Also contained in the cache were various other sorts of "civilian" contraband, such as laptop computers, porno mags, Bibles, Korans, various sorts of music, and a box of five hundred iPods donated by Samizdat Corporation (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Samizdat_Corporation) of Kahanistan, a media corporation that was adamantly committed to ensuring free speech.

Other things in the cache were likely not contraband at all, such as baby wipes, alcohol disinfectant, first aid kits, and more advanced medical supplies, including numerous powerful painkillers and stimulants.

Forgetting Sion's proximity, Nadia pulled up a crate, removed the rest of her filthy Reichmarshal's uniform, wiped the mud off her body, and put on some clean clothes; a camo sports bra she'd found in her exact size, a bulletproof vest (one of the old Interceptor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interceptor_body_armor) suits), and a pair of black running trousers that fit snugly over her slim legs. She then put on a rucksack crammed with MRE's, strapped on a RPG-29 ATGM launcher, threw a belt of several thousand rounds around her body, locked and loaded an M-249 machine gun, put on a helmet, and stuck a Dragunov SVD in her belt, with several clips in her pocket. Finally, she picked up a heavy coat and threw it across her shoulder.

Pushing the empty crates to the edge of the pit, Nadia scrambled to the top. Noticing Sion, she smiled brightly.

"How do I look?"

An explosion rippled through a section of fencing, followed by shouting and a sudden uproar of cheering, battle cries that sounded through the night, only to be drowned out by the burst fire of KC44’s and the shrill piercing sound of the dreaded MG42, the standard weapon of Kraven Stormtroopers, rebels leapt forwards, vaulting through the snow drifts and bounding across razor wire…

“For freedom!” Came the cry as one rebel opened up on a hulking Sardaukar that brought its assault cannon to bear, it lay down a volley of fire, but several more rounds and a frag grenade put on the ground, its motors and servos whirred away and its legs kicked as the systems went into spasms...

Capitol Police advanced forwards laying down systematic fire, and ensuring that rebels that were taken down, were dead, executing the wounded and ensuring corpses stayed dead…

Grenades exploded within the compound, killing a group of Capitol Police outright, while another group of rebels leapt over a sandbag machine gun nest and brought a 40mm auto cannon to bear, using it to tear through the armour of Capitol Police and Sardaukar alike, the steady “Thunk” of the auto cannon now filled the air, drowning out the noise of battle, as several more explosions rocketed through the base..

A group of rebels rushed towards the idling Leman Russ that was being prepared to combat this sudden rush of rebels, quickly they leapt onto the rear of the vehicle, using their weapons to over power the Capitol Police crewman sat in the copula, beating him to death, using the weapon like a club…

Once the Commander had been dealt with, they dropped into the tank, where the first rebel was great by a .50 cal pistol to the face, killing him outright and splattering his brains over the consoles, instantly the others fired wildly inside, killing the trooper who struggled to avoid the hail of machine gun bullets in the cramped confines of the vehicle..

Within a few minutes the vehicle had been taken over, and the rebels, now trying to manage with damaged instruments, revved the engine hard, spinning it on its axis and bringing the hefty sponson mounted Assault Cannons to bear, the barrels began to spin, reaching a high pitched whirr before the high calibre rounds were spat forth like violent deamons spewing forth from the very gates of hell…

Capitol Police were mown down left and right, and the hulking Sardaukar were torn to pieces by the torrent of white hot lead, the turret slowly began to traverse, its electric systems damaged in the brief fire fight, meaning the rebels had to turn the massive turret manually using a series of crank handles, a massive 185mm shell was loaded into the breach and prepared to fire…

Again the systems had been damaged by the fire fight and unable to use the optical systems all Kraven tanks were issued with, the rebels had to aim manually, lowering the battle cannon until they figured it was near enough on target…

A deafening roar pierced the air as the immense High Explosive shell was sent screaming towards the target, off by a few feet a great plume of flames, shrapnel and mud was flung high into the air, sending troopers flying left and right, while the building they were aiming at remained intact…

“The blast doors…” One Rebel screamed knowing full well what was stored inside, it was a hardened bunker designed to protect the Super Heavy Battle Tanks from aerial Attack, but the bunker was on lock down mode and so the rebels were unable to attain the heaviest weapon in the Kraven Arsenal…

More explosions rippled across the base, followed by the cheers of rebels as the entrance to one of the barracks was detonated, eight pounds of C12 causing the entire structure to collapse and killing instantly the troopers that were holed up inside, Sirens had now been wailing for the several hours this battle had been raging and already, Kraven Air Cover was being moved in…

The Rebels had to act fast, and the had to act now!
The Leman Russ lined up for another shot, the High Explosive shell being loaded into place, the breach opened as gasses and smoke filled the turret compartment…

“Shit..” Shouted one of the rebels, coughing hard as he spoke… “this is why all Capitol Police wear gas masks, inferior Kraven armament…”

“Massed Produced Crap” spoke another, while the Driver, somewhat a self proclaimed tread Head piped up…

“Its one of the models from the Automagfreek war, they cut corners to save resources and speed up production, they replaced the gas ejection system with more ammunition storage…” As the driver gunned the engine, keeping the revs high as the vehicle lurched forwards…

A click and a clunk signalled the second shell was loaded, and once again the crank handle was turned until they figured it was pretty much on target, ready to strike the massive blast doors that protected the tank inside…

The Shell exploded against the massive blast doors, fire, shrapnel and bits of metal were sent spiralling in all directions, raining down onto the snow below, the fire began to subside, while bits of flame still licked against the walls and the remains of the twisted wreck of the former door, revealing inside the massive Imperator tank…

Quickly, the Rebels rushed towards the Doors, while already, Kraven Capitol Police began to move in to position, firing their MG42’s in a standard suppression fire doctrine…

Kraven base

It was snowy and windy; luckily the rucksack had a raincoat in it. It did little against the cold, but it did at least keep the rain, snow, and wind away from Nadia's body. There was little else she had brought; she had considered food and ammunition the primary supplies to carry, and she had been a little careless about protection against the elements; her lack of natural insulation would work against her as well, as her body consumed energy to keep warm. She was shivering and her teeth chattered as she hunkered down in a snow bank, oddly reminiscent of the snow forts she had played in when she was twelve.

Crouching low in the deep snow, she pushed several centimeters of snow up to give her a resting position from which to fire the Dragunov on the patrolling Capitol Police. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of battle as the rebels fought against the Capitol Police, firing captured weaponry onto their inhuman foes.

---

Inside the base

A sniper's bullet rang out, felling a Capitol Police trooper who was about to bayonet a disarmed rebel fighter. Blood oozed from the back of the trooper's neck, where a 7.62x54mm Russian bullet had been fired from outside the base. Someone had taken a position outside and was firing on the CP!

Whoever it is, it isn't one of us... we didn't stick anyone out on the perimeter... maybe we can pick him up.

As soon as the rebels had seized the mighty Imperator Super Heavy Battle Tank, still taking heavy fire from the Capitol Police as another one was felled by the sniper outside, they climbed in and started it up, using the autocannons to keep the Capitol Police at arm's length while they crewed it and closed the doors. The massive tank then plowed through the remaining troopers and in the direction the sniper had fired from.

They saw what looked from their distance to be a man with a sniper rifle. As they got closer, they realized the sniper wasn't a man at all; it was a young woman in a snow camouflage raincoat, holding a Russian sniper rifle. She was still firing on the Capitol Police, but now was readying an M-249 machine gun to deal with whoever must have responded to her shots by now...

The tank stopped near the woman and laid down fire on the Capitol Police, seemingly invincible against the MG42's of the CP. A crew member approached the armed woman.

"Hey, get in! You'll get killed out here!"

She did not waste a second picking up her weapons and handing them to the man on top of the tank, who dropped them in before hoisting the fighter into the tank by her hands.

---

Norska

General Kaselev and a large detachment of his soldiers had broken away from the Capitol Police. Still intent on completing the mission, the general grabbed an old man near the production facility Nadia had been assigned to earlier.

Thrusting a photograph of her from her fake Kraven ID at the old man, Kaselev spoke, his naturally cold tone made even more menacing by his Capitol Police gear.

"Have you seen this woman? She has been at the production facility."

Tanks had now been mobilised from the 101st Sturmpanzer Division, Helghans own, the columns of Leman Russ battle tanks ploughed through the thick snow drifts that had formed on either side of the road, causing the conditions to be treacherous, but not that it concerned the crew, they ploughed on regardless, with orders to destroy the Imperator that was now making its way out of the army base..

Capitol Police Anti Tank squads filled up the rear of the column moving through the snow with enough ease to allow them to keep up with the column, they carried GodStrike anti armour missile launchers, and an assortment of magnetic mines designed to blow a hole inside the tank, filling it with red hot shrapnel and slaughtering the crews inside, they were notorious amongst tank crews…

The massive, lumbering Imperator was easy to spot, its high intensity driving lights giving the game away easily, already four of the Leman Russ’s were lining up Anti Tank shells and preparing to fire, while the two lead Leman Russ’s opened fire, sending the SABOT rounds screaming towards the target…

They had orders to stop the tank before it reaches the city….


Meanwhile…

The old man looked at the picture, he shrugged his shoulders, smiled at the trooper and pointed in the general direction of Helghan’s notorious Extermination camp 18... Before quietly laughing to himself…

The tank rocked as the missiles struck it, but its thick armor was still holding, at least for now.

"This thing's headlights can be seen from 30 klicks away," said Nadia, her Gaza accent revealing her as a Kahanistanian. "Turn the lights off and someone hand me a map, I'm thinking we take this thing into the Citadel and mess it up."

A rebel handed her a map. The Citadel was about 50 miles north of her position, so it would take this slow thing at least seven hours to get there. "Shit..." she said, looking at the speedometer. My mom drives faster than this...

"Somebody get the guns, we can see their armor from their headlights." This was the closest thing to cloaking technology they would have.

"Floor it!" Nadia called to the driver as the tank used every ounce of strength to plow ahead. She checked the fuel; it would probably be enough to cover the distance.

---

This is not good. Kaselev slammed the man into the wall and walked off with his troops. That felt better than it should have. The false Capitol Police followed the commander toward Helghan's camp, wondering if Nadia was even still alive.

The camp was about a mile away according to their map; they simply walked forward dejectedly, arms at the ready. In their heavy gear it would take nearly an hour to arrive at the camp.

The Imperator was continuing its way towards the Citadel, it had been positively identified as the possible destination by its direction of travel, and due to the fact it was the seat of Kraven power in the world, it was most likely the viable choice..

Sirens blared out across the defensive city walls, as Kraven storm troopers from various Battalions now rushed to the defensive positions, the thunder of their jackboots echoed throughout the corridors as each picked up weapons and ammunition, then sprinting to the palisade wall…

One by one, each of the troopers kneeled behind a section of the wall and placed their GPMG’s on to the stone, setting up the bipod to allow for maximum stability while firing, they waited, while Reichmarshals stood behind them, giving orders and ensuring that weaponry and ammunition was being properly distributed…

One Reichmarshal stood, looking through binoculars, it was a Kraven tank, they knew its weaknesses, but the trouble was, getting to those weaknesses with their weaponry…

“Call down a preliminary bombardment, we’ll try to soften it up, Order Helghan’s tank battalion to fall back while our Batteries do their work…”

“By your Command” came the robotic reply of the Trooper stood next to the Reichmarshal, within a few seconds, the massive artillery batteries that were built into the defensive wall began to activate, massive generators powering up, used to energize the electric rifling of the barrels, giving the weaponry that extra punch it would need to devastate the heaviest of enemy tanks..

“You may fire when ready…” The order was given, and suddenly, as though the very gates of hell opened, multiple artillery pieces opened fire, turning the dull night into an almost incandescent daylight, each muzzle flare adding to the already bright display of vulgar power…

The Barrels continued to pound the sky, throwing more and more ordanance towards the hulking behemoth that travelled slowly towards the walls, round after round exploding either near by or just in front, hoping that one would score a hit, damaging the tank enough for Helghan’s tank division to finish the Imperator off…

Bright plumes of flame exploded from the ground, showering the tank in shrapnel, mud, dirt and other bits and pieces, the noise was deafening even inside the hull of the Imperator, as more and more shells pounded the ground, turning the soft snow into dark patches, dark craters and thick mud…

Smoke filled the sky, as the artillery continued its work, tearing up the landscape with minimal effort…

“Cease fire…” Came the order, the Reichmarshal returning to his binoculars to see what damage had been done…

In the dead of night, and with the massive tank no longer giving a light signal, the artillery was not exactly going to score bulls' eyes on the tank at the best of times, and most of the shells missed by wide margins.

However, dirt and rocks being kicked up by nearer misses would clog the massive cannons, and something as large as an Imperator would take some glancing blows even from artillery this inaccurate.

The tank fired one round at the Kraven artillery. It flew wide, having been thrown off by the dirt in the barrel. Nadia ordered the other main cannon fired; this one was less crowded and its fire was more accurate, but still somewhat off.

"We'll have to get in close and neutralize the guns, I want someone on the autocannons to deal with the Capitol Police. We'll be wiping out Father soon enough... then we can all be free!"

The tank driver taxed the tank engine for every bit of speed the tank had, to get it to close in on the defenses, the ETC guns targeted and aimed at the closest enemy guns, ready to fire when they entered range... back toward Norska.

“Damn it…” The Reichmarshal spoke watching the massive Imperator creep slowly through the smoke left by the Artillery shells…

“Hold position, Inform Helghan that the Imperator is still moving… Order the Batteries to open fire” The Reichmarshal was speaking when suddenly the wall was rocked by a 185mm shell that exploded near by, sending several Capitol Police tumbling from the wall itself…

“Steady!” Roared the Reichmarshal, “Hold your positions!” he continued…

The Artillery sung out again, sending yet another salvo screaming towards the tank, the Reichmarshal continued to watch, his breath held as the shells exploded around the tank, making it difficult to tell which had struck home and which had missed… the artillery thundered away, while the crews frantically loaded shell after shell into the breaches, the air filled with the stench of gunpowder and the noise of hammering artillery…

“We have orders to cease fire and allow the Imperator to enter the city…” A Kreigsmarine spoke, holding a letter in a black envelope…

“From whom?” The Reichmarshal turned, lowering his binoculars…

“Helghan himself, he says that the tank is to be allowed into the city, his Sturmpanzers will deal with the tank while it is in the confines of the city…”

“Very well…” The Reichmarshal turned and shouted… “Cease fire!”

With that… the Artillery went silent and the massive blast doors to the city were opened allowing the massive Imperator entrance into the city…

“Damn it…” The Reichmarshal spoke watching the massive Imperator creep slowly through the smoke left by the Artillery shells…

“Hold position, Inform Helghan that the Imperator is still moving… Order the Batteries to open fire” The Reichmarshal was speaking when suddenly the wall was rocked by a 185mm shell that exploded near by, sending several Capitol Police tumbling from the wall itself…

“Steady!” Roared the Reichmarshal, “Hold your positions!” he continued…

The Artillery sung out again, sending yet another salvo screaming towards the tank, the Reichmarshal continued to watch, his breath held as the shells exploded around the tank, making it difficult to tell which had struck home and which had missed… the artillery thundered away, while the crews frantically loaded shell after shell into the breaches, the air filled with the stench of gunpowder and the noise of hammering artillery…

“We have orders to cease fire and allow the Imperator to enter the city…” A Kreigsmarine spoke, holding a letter in a black envelope…

“From whom?” The Reichmarshal turned, lowering his binoculars…

“Helghan himself, he says that the tank is to be allowed into the city, his Sturmpanzers will deal with the tank while it is in the confines of the city…”

“Very well…” The Reichmarshal turned and shouted… “Cease fire!”

With that… the Artillery went silent and the massive blast doors to the city were opened allowing the massive Imperator entrance into the city…

"They've stopped firing," said Nadia.

"Could be a trap..." said one of the gunners, grimly realizing that it was a good thing the guns had stopped; one of the guns was now completely out of commission and the other had unreliable firing patterns. The tank was now down to its autocannons and two siege mortars at its base that couldn't be aimed well, from the look of the tank.

"Well, we only need to get into the Citadel," Nadia replied. "The guns at the bottom can blast us through."

"Ah, the siege mortars," said the gunner. "Why didn't I think of that?! You take the autocannons, I'll deal with the siege mortars. Let's break into the Citadel and bust them up."

Good idea... "Let's do it."

The tank rolled through the streets of Norska, heading straight for the Citadel. On road it was a little faster, but not much.

---

Outside Camp 18

Several men and women in Capitol Police gear approached the gate, appearing as a hunter-killer team.

"We are here to take this woman to the birthing facilities," said their leader as he thrust a copy of Nadia's Kraven ID at the guard.

Helghan’s had been waiting, they lined the roof tops and the city streets, standing perfectly still, watching as the tank moved through the streets, people peered through windows, watching as the massive Imperator creeped past the buildings, through road blocks that were lifted and past check points that were empty, usually extremely busy at around this time…

Helghan stood on one of the buildings, his long black trench coat fluttering in the strong winds that picked up, while all around the city, things had gone silent, it was almost creepy, frightening, no sirens, no marching, no machine gun rattling in the distance, no executions, nothing but the silent winds and hundreds of Capitol Police standing in perfect silence, watching with inhuman eyes as the tank rolled through the streets…

The Citadel was ahead, a massive structure, twenty miles high, the symbol of Kraven oppression, it could be seen from anywhere on the Arterus continent, designed to be the ultimate act of arrogance… it was a huge tower, black and ominous, a silent watchman, stood looking over the streets, the people, the buildings… the world…

Father watched from here, he watched the Capitol Police stood in silence, watched as this lone tank rolled up the streets, watched the silence of the people, he watched and for the first time he was afraid… it was a new feeling he’d never experienced, he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it at all, he feared no one and no man, but then again Helghan was not just a man, he was partly a machine…


Father looked at the Agent below him… “What are you going to do about this?”

The Agent looked up at Father, through his sunglasses that all Kraven Agents wore, he was quickly joined by another two who looked almost identical to the first…

“What do you want us to do?”

“Kill them all, stop them…. I want them Destroyed!… He has betrayed me!”

“There is nothing we can do… its gone too far…” all three spoke in unison, in a creepy style befitting some horror movie…

“What! How dare you defy me…” Father’s animated face turned from a gentle green to a manic red, showing his distaste for the three before him…

This was the High Command, Father… the ruler of Kraven, the creator of all the madness, the destruction, the murderer of billions of people, for no reason but his own mad, totalitarian ideals..

The room was obsidian black, lined with Sardaukar Terror Troopers, his loyal body guards, each had stood their for centuries, collecting dust and looking like ancient suits of armour rather than state of the art soldiers, the walls were black and red, lined with tall banners that displayed the iconic twin hammers of Kraven, this was the seat of power, this was Kraven absolute…

Other areas of the room displayed great works of art, art by people who’d died in Kraven concentration camps, and art by personal artisans of Kraven depicting Capitol Police holding flags high above a kneeling crowd below…

The End of Father was approaching… he knew it…. And so did everyone else…

The Three Agents began to back away, knowing that Fathers time was up, his rule over this entity had come to an end…

“What where are you going… how dare you defy me… Destroy them!” Father roared pulling a face of pure anger on the huge monitor before them

Instantly, the Sardaukar in the room came to life, slow and cumbersome, they struggled to move, after being stood so still for so long, the Agents quickly fled the room, knowing that if they hung around any long they’d be destroyed by Fathers death squads…


“Hold your positions…”

Father gave the order to all of his death squads at the base of the Citadel to prepare for the coming storm, they formed up around the perimeter wall that lined the Citadel, it was the final battle to decide the fate of not only a nation, but the entire world…

Helghan stood watching, using binoculars to view the amassing Sardaukar that were preparing to defend Father against the traitor Helghan and his Capitol Police… Fathers creations turned against him….

This is eerie... as if Kraven is surrendering. This couldn't be...

"I've got a bad feeling about this... usually when the Kahanistanian military lets the enemy bomb us with impunity, they're planning something, an EMP strike to ground the enemy air force, an attack once the enemy's overstretched its supply line... something's got to be going on when we get to the Citadel..."

"It's only a few minutes, Nadia," said one of the rebels. "We'll either live in freedom or die here... either way is better than what we've been through."

The tank was now about five minutes from the Citadel proper. The 210mm siege mortars blasted the perimeter to force an entry, then the autocannons opened up on the legion Sardaukar that were guarding the facility. The weapons of the massive tank spewed hot lead and heavy shells at the enemy, preparing to slaughter the defenders and enter the Citadel itself.

About thirty yards from the Citadel itself, the tank turned around, leveled its ETC guns behind itself, and opened fire at the blast door to enter. At the same time, the siege mortars and autocannons massacred the Sardaukar that attacked the huge Imperator tank.

The plan: Once the Sardaukar were all dead, the tank would ram into the Citadel and the rebels and Nadia would hunt Father down...

The Sardaukar responded in kind, opening fire with every ounce of their inhuman strength, their target systems were locking onto the tank, opening fire with assault cannons and 40mm auto cannons and failing to do any damage to the hulking behemoth below, the wall had already been crumbled by the immense fire power of this behemoth and one by one the Sardaukar were picked off by the many weapons of the Imperator…

The Sardaukar began bringing up heavier weaponry, missile launchers, grenade launchers, even large calibre mortars were being fired from inside the citadel… it was all or nothing now…

Helghan watched as the Brave Nadia went into the very jaws of hell, the pits of damnation and the halls of the dead… The Sardaukar continued to attack, explosions rippled across the hull of the tank while at the same time, in kind, explosions rippled across the wall, felling even more of these elite Terror troopers…

Helghan simply nodded, that’s all he needed to do..

When suddenly the thousands of Capitol Police rushed towards the Citadel walls, using their GPMG’s to suppress the Sardaukar that were attacking the tank, the Sardaukar turned their attention to the Capitol Police as Helghan’s own Battalion rushed to aid Nadia and the rebels, Leman Russ battle tanks opened fire, striking the Citadel wall, destroying yet more parts of it, and felling even more Sardaukar..

Gunfire echoed through out the city as explosions tore across buildings and the streets below, corpses of Capitol Police littered the streets, mingling with corpses of Sardaukar and civilians caught up in this deadly cross fire…

The Final Battle had begun…

The rebels were aghast. The Capitol Police were taking their side; firing on the Sardaukar. Nadia was less surprised; she figured Helghan would come through if the shit had hit the fan and Father was toast.

"Ram the gates!" she ordered as the tank's armor started to buckle under the explosive fire. The tank retreated into the blast doors, the 210mm siege mortars firing to push it backward even faster. The tank crashed through the entrance to the Citadel as the Sardaukar were sandwiched between the fortress and the Capitol Police who were now firing on them.

"Now, let's get up this thing and take out Father," Nadia said, hoping to inspire the rebel fighters driving the tank. "Just a while longer... this is our last battle, and we can all go home!"

The rebels exited the tank while Nadia laid down cover fire for them, entering the Citadel. Nadia let off the last of the ETC shells to distract the Sardaukar while she climbed out herself, narrowly escaping with her life as she was grazed by a 40mm round that passed dangerously close to her chest.

She was in the Citadel ten seconds later, hoofing it down the corridors, letting rip with her M-249 when she had a clear shot, but focusing more on staying alive...

Inside, the rebels and Nadia were greeted by a huge grand stair case, it was long and sweeping and split off into two sections going either side of the main stair way, before climbing up to the lift area, it was to put it bluntly, the greatest piece of Kraven arrogance ever, the huge marble floor was a huge twin hammers motif while all over hung huge banners, depicting Kraven eagles and more twin hammer emblems…

Art work lined the walls and showed Capitol Police and Kraven officers in heroic poses, while works of art from captured nations also lined these walls…

The stair case was lined with a plush carpet, while more pieces of art hung from the walls, armour, swords and ancient weaponry stood on display hung on walls and in glass display cabinets…

Ahead was a single lift, while on either side were various stair wells and some rooms, possibly offices…

The belly… of the beast…

Nadia led the rebels into the lift before what remaining Sardaukar there were could enter and kill them all. She only had so much ammunition for her M-249...

They entered the elevator and sealed the door, crouching to avoid autocannon fire as Nadia pressed the switch to take them to the highest accessible floor of the Citadel.

"As soon as we get to the top, I want this elevator car blown, so the Sardaukar can't get up here," she said, bending over a wounded rebel and pressing on his injury to stop the bleeding. He had taken a couple of autocannon slugs to the stomach.

A rebel took out a pack of C12 and placed it at the side of the elevator. In about two hours, when the elevator was at the top, they would blow up the lift and signal for rescue after destroying Father.

After the last rebel was at the top, the lift doors sealed for the last time as the car headed downwards, detonating its destructive charge and ruining the lift.

"No turning back now." Nadia opened the nearest door.

Inside were what looked vaguely like the Sardaukar the rebels had fought through, but they had cobwebs all over the place and looked somehow inferior to the ones they had fought, weaker armor and the like. They looked like they had been there for years, and they probably had.

"Think they're still active?" asked Nadia.

"Doubt it... now let's look for Father. He should be around..."

The room had an atmosphere of tension in it, but the rebels and Nadia continued through, to look for Father, Nadia holding Helghan's disk and looking for a place to put it.

The lights of the room were suddenly plunged into darkness, the blackness of the dark Kraven night touched everything in the room with an unholy presence, blotting out every piece of light, symbolising Kraven’s seemingly impenetrable evil that snuffed out everyone’s hopes and dreams…

The beautiful presence the room once held was gone and nothing was left except for this now, foreboding darkness…

One by one, a thin red lazer beam activated, cutting through the darkness with simple and fine precision, each one stretched across the room, before moving, accurately locking onto the people who had just entered…

The sound of whirring servos began and the distinct sound of an Assault cannon autoloader locking into place suddenly drowned out every other sound in the room…

The Phase 3’s were activating…

"Guess they're still active after all," said Nadia. She rushed for cover and leveled her M-249 at the Phase 3's.

"Don't need to tell me twice," said one of the rebels. He dragged the wounded fighter into the office behind Nadia, throwing a grenade at the Sardaukar.

The scene repeated several times as eight of the rebels made it to cover before the Phase 3 had fully awakened, and while they were still powering up, the Sardaukar were already taking fire from the rebel intruders, armed with KC-44's, grenades, and .50 pistols...

Explosions tore through the room as several hand grenades exploded, downing two Sardaukar, one had lost a leg, but the machine creation rose back up, onto its one remaining knee and its hands, drawing a large combat knife and crawling towards the rebels, the other sustained damage to the chest, but within a few seconds it rose to its feet and was a full fighting capability…

The others were now fully active and huge spotlights were suddenly activated on the back wall, filling the room with an unholy glow, each of the Sardaukar were built with optical systems, and they quickly adjusted, filtering out the harsh glare and allowing them to fight normaly…

The Sardaukar lumbered towards the rebels, one brought its assault cannon to bear and began to lay down a deadly carpet of fire, its six barrels spinning at high speed and spitting white hot death…

Others took shots to chest, the arms, and legs, but such sporadic and inaccurate fire meant the situation for the rebels was looking hopeless….

Father watched with somewhat a child like glee…

"Aim for the heads!" Nadia fired a three-round burst from her SAW into the head of the advancing Sardaukar with a combat knife.

The rebel behind her stood up. "He's dead." The casualty he had dragged behind cover was very pale, having lost the majority of his blood. CPR would be useless as it relied on circulating blood through the body.

The man who had administered first aid to him now picked up the dead man's ammunition clip belt and fired on the Sardaukar. His shots were less accurate than Nadia's, given that he had had less military training, but he had more grenades on him. He handed two of the dead man's grenades to Nadia.

The rebels were now down to six standing and two wounded. Those who were still able to fight fired assault rifles and their .50 caliber pistols, while the healthy ones took grenades from them, being able to throw them farther than an injured rebel could. It did not take long for the survivors to learn to lower their heads to reduce the impact of the spotlights.

One Sardaukar exploded, its torso left with a great gaping wound, it slowly dragged itself forwards on its hands before the power cells died and this man machine died, the lights on its lenses flickered and faded away…

Another took several rounds to the face, smashing the visor and causing an impressive explosion of blood to erupt from the Sardaukar’s face before it dropped to the ground..

The others continued to lay down a terrible torrent of fire as more and more of them closed in for the kill…

An Godstrike missile shattered the glass of the massive glass window behind them, the window was blacked out to prevent sunlight coming through, but the window was there non the less, it covered the floor in glass, before exploding in a group of Sardaukar, killing three of them instantly and wounding two others, the mangle of machine and human tissue resembled a car accident, but still the remaining four Terror Troopers pushed onwards…


Outside, a VTOL assault craft hovered past, a Capitol Police trooper holding one of the Kraven Anti Tank missile launchers was stood by the open hatch…

Praise the Gods.

That's what Nadia would have said if she wasn't an agnostic.

"Cover me. I'll take out those spotlights and make for the exit." When one is only 5'5", lowering one's eyes to avoid the glare would not allow someone to aim for the head of a Sardaukar.

The man behind Nadia threw a grenade over her head at the Sardaukar. On the other side of the room, assault rifle fire targeted the terror troopers as well as it could, mostly hitting armor plates or missing altogether, but on occasion wounding a limb or, if luck was with the shooter, scoring a head shot.

Nadia rushed from the room, firing her SAW where the light was strongest as she headed for the exit, ordering the rebels to keep down as they covered her with small arms fire so as not to be felled by her fire targeting the spotlights that had survived the Godstrike. While the rebels had all been behind cover and did not take serious injuries from the missile, that was not true this time...