The Macabees
06-12-2006, 18:16
Ambition
November, 2016 ['Imperial' Calendar]
The once prince...
Heinrich opened his eyes as the guard rattled his cell bars with his night stick. He pretended not to listen at first, but then decided that it was most likely a call for food and so he decided to get up. It had been at least two months since the last time Heinrich had seen his beloved country, and a similar time since he had last seen land at all. He had been stuffed into a dirty, cramped cargo ship designed to carry political prisoners of extraordinary value. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather expensive to keep a ship around just for that, and so Heinrich was now stuck with petty thieves who were unlucky enough to be caught around the time Heinrich had - so now they had to make the two month seafaring voyage to Southeast Asia, and then another two months back. To put it all into perspective, Heinrich was about to go mad. He had been stuck in the same cell for the entire voyage, and the only light he had seen was a small sliver of the sun which entered through one of the open hatches in the top deck. The rest of his little area was completely dark, and he had to sleep with the cries of other prisoners that were in nearby cells.
He gave to his feet slowly. It was hard for him to walk when he had not walked for two months. He started to move but suddenly he heard a 'clunk' and fell to his feet. Between the midst of the guard laughing violently and his pain he realized he had been chained to his bed. Insanity was not far off, he wondered to himself. The guard opened the cell door and also opened the chain to let the once prince get up and walk out. Heinrich didn't look at the guard, but he said, "Where's my food?"
The guard looked at him, perplexed at first, and then said, "You will have food at your final destination."
Heinrich didn't catch up at first, but then he noticed, "Are we in Southeast Asia?"
"That is correct." The guard was met by two other guards, who were to also escort the prince out. They helped him up the stairs to the deck - if he could barely walk, how could one expect him to climb? While the guards prodded him, he made his way up, and for the first time in sixty or more days he had finally seen true sunlight. He squinted his eyes and tripped over the last rung of the wooden staircase, falling and hitting his face on the wooden deck below him. It took him at least two minutes to get used to the intensity of so much light, but before he fully recuperated the three guards pulled him back up and pushed him along his way.
Heinrich turned and asked, "What date is it?"
The guard lifted on of his eyebrows and responded, "4th of November, 2016." He turned to another guard and laughed a bit, "You've been in here for quite a while."
They made progress to another staircase which would take them from the ship's deck to the harbor's concrete piers. Heinrich could see at least three rows of Southeast Asian military police who would be in charge of taking him to his new 'house'. There, he would be put under quasi house arrest as a favor from the Southeast Asian administration to Fedor I, and he would only be allowed to go to certain areas, which included bath houses, food sources and some other limited areas of recreation. Heinrich shrugged internally. It was better than execution and being in a real prison in the Empire. He had been lucky his son turned out to be so soft. In the brief second he had before he was man handled by the Southeast Asian military he wondered what his own father had seen in Fedor that he had not seen in Heinrich. Rage crept up his intestines once again, but he was able to put it down.
The three guards spoke quickly with the military police, and then left. Heinrich looked down the entire time as his new guards took him by the arm and shoved him into a military vehicle. Before he knew it he was on his way to his new abode. The entire trip took very little. He was to be exiled to a coastal resort, under strict watch from local authorities. The military was, for now, to stay out of the matter and hand over custody to the local police. That didn't mean that the Southeast Asian intelligence agency wouldn't look over the dangerous political criminal, and it didn't mean IINSA - Imperial Intelligence for National Security Agency - wouldn't keep a close eye, as well.
But Heinrich had some tricks up his sleeve. He was but a wounded tiger with the capability of recuperating quickly and being ten times as dangerous as he was before. He had been humbled once and now it was time for vengeance, and to finally get what was his - the Golden Throne. For two months he had fought for Fedala, coming close to victory. The incompetence of Weigari and Havenic generals had cost him this attempted coup, and to be honest, he had underestimated the coolness of Fedor and the ability of the Ejermacht to respond to a very dangerous threat. He had also thought, incorrectly, that key elements of the military would support his coup. He didn't realize that the majority of the officers were loyal to Jonach I, and thus the heir that Jonach had decided upon - who in this occasion was Fedor. This time he wouldn't make the same bad assumptions.
As they arrived Heinrich wasn't half angered at what he had been given as a 'prison'. It turned out to be a fairly large house, most likely entirely bugged, along a public beach. The word 'house' was relative, as he could easily count over eight bedrooms from the side he saw, and the entire plot, including the extensive garden work, was at least ten acres in surface area. It was nothing like the palaces of Fedala or Macabea, but it was better than nothing. Waiting in front of the house were the local police, and the military police let him go right at the door step where he was taken into custody. He laughed and teased, "You must be paid a lot to stand in line of all this bullshit."
None of the police officers even cracked a smile, and the one who was handling him yelled, "Shut up!" Heinrich barely felt the two blows over his head.
He woke up maybe a few hours later on top of his bed, and looked around. He had a bad headache, but he finally realized where he was and got up to take a good look around the house. He could get some aspirin later - it was time to start plotting.
... and the once intelligence officer
Hans Jemias had been an IINSA spy for the past three years and he had gotten his big break with work in Guffingford (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=442563). He was unfortunate to witness the death of his entire team through political assassinations and secret national machinations. He, however, was fortunate enough to live through that fiasco. His own assassination plots had fallen through when Guffingford collapsed like a house of cards in early July during fighting between itself and Stevid. The country's economy had gone down the sewer drain with the increase of corruption and the lack of foreign investment. More importantly, much of the money being recycled had been slowly expatriated to other countries, such as Knootoss. The appearance of the Order of the Invisible Hand (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Order_of_the_Invisible_Hand) had done the final work. In truth it had been an unhealthy mix of political and economic corruption, terrorism, high-end political intrigue and very dangerous social issues that had caused the final collapse of the Guffingfordi government. The timely appearance of this collapse had saved Hans' life.
He had, however, received high props for his work. As the only man of his team to survive he was the sole man with the utmost knowledge of Guffingford. He had been originally chosen to carry out intelligence work in Guffingford once it had been occupied by Imperial troops, but that was not likely to be done any time soon. In the mean time he had been chosen to be the sole agent responsible for keeping an eye out on Prince Heinrich in Southeast Asia. He, of course, had yet another team, but none of these men were really agents - they were a hodge podge of experts that would help Hans keep up to date by analyzing different sources of information and presenting him with an overall (yet specific) perspective on the day's news. To that extent he would be the sole man responsible for any actions he took in Southeast Asia, in the name of IINSA.
He had flown in separate from the rest of his team and was known by the alias of ' Gertrud d'Angelo', a prominent Imperial businessman who owned a string of toy stores in the now war stricken area of Ruska. With his business in the Empire destroyed he was looking forward to a new string in Southeast Asia, and this tourist area would be perfect for his first store. To that effect IINSA, under funding from Fedala itself, had put no less than twenty billion Reichmarks in his account and told him that this would be all of the money - not even the powerful IINSA could afford so much loss. Hans understood and he was a professional.
His house had already been purchased for him by a man named 'Jacque Relán'; a fake name, of course, for some obscure IINSA agent that was hidden even from Hans' knowledge. Relán had reportedly sold the 'civilian palace' to Gertrud d'Angelo from a real estate agency found in Beda Fromm, where d'Angelo had set up temporary residence while waiting for the end of warfare in Ruska. Now the house was fully in d'Angelo's hands.
Hans had taken a taxi from the airport to his house and he saw Heinrich's 'prison' as they sped by. Heinrich would no doubt be informed soon that one of his nearby neighbors was a multi-billionaire from Ruska. Heinrich would also know that he was watched by IINSA, but IINSA had some other tricks up their sleeve that would take the heat off Hans and his team for the time being - at least until they started true operations. A man named 'Karl Legán' had purchased a house directly opposite of that of Heinrich, and this was another IINSA agent who would be gone by the beginning of the next week. The house would be left unoccupied, but Heinrich wouldn't know this.
In the meantime, Hans and his team would get ready ...
November, 2016 ['Imperial' Calendar]
The once prince...
Heinrich opened his eyes as the guard rattled his cell bars with his night stick. He pretended not to listen at first, but then decided that it was most likely a call for food and so he decided to get up. It had been at least two months since the last time Heinrich had seen his beloved country, and a similar time since he had last seen land at all. He had been stuffed into a dirty, cramped cargo ship designed to carry political prisoners of extraordinary value. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather expensive to keep a ship around just for that, and so Heinrich was now stuck with petty thieves who were unlucky enough to be caught around the time Heinrich had - so now they had to make the two month seafaring voyage to Southeast Asia, and then another two months back. To put it all into perspective, Heinrich was about to go mad. He had been stuck in the same cell for the entire voyage, and the only light he had seen was a small sliver of the sun which entered through one of the open hatches in the top deck. The rest of his little area was completely dark, and he had to sleep with the cries of other prisoners that were in nearby cells.
He gave to his feet slowly. It was hard for him to walk when he had not walked for two months. He started to move but suddenly he heard a 'clunk' and fell to his feet. Between the midst of the guard laughing violently and his pain he realized he had been chained to his bed. Insanity was not far off, he wondered to himself. The guard opened the cell door and also opened the chain to let the once prince get up and walk out. Heinrich didn't look at the guard, but he said, "Where's my food?"
The guard looked at him, perplexed at first, and then said, "You will have food at your final destination."
Heinrich didn't catch up at first, but then he noticed, "Are we in Southeast Asia?"
"That is correct." The guard was met by two other guards, who were to also escort the prince out. They helped him up the stairs to the deck - if he could barely walk, how could one expect him to climb? While the guards prodded him, he made his way up, and for the first time in sixty or more days he had finally seen true sunlight. He squinted his eyes and tripped over the last rung of the wooden staircase, falling and hitting his face on the wooden deck below him. It took him at least two minutes to get used to the intensity of so much light, but before he fully recuperated the three guards pulled him back up and pushed him along his way.
Heinrich turned and asked, "What date is it?"
The guard lifted on of his eyebrows and responded, "4th of November, 2016." He turned to another guard and laughed a bit, "You've been in here for quite a while."
They made progress to another staircase which would take them from the ship's deck to the harbor's concrete piers. Heinrich could see at least three rows of Southeast Asian military police who would be in charge of taking him to his new 'house'. There, he would be put under quasi house arrest as a favor from the Southeast Asian administration to Fedor I, and he would only be allowed to go to certain areas, which included bath houses, food sources and some other limited areas of recreation. Heinrich shrugged internally. It was better than execution and being in a real prison in the Empire. He had been lucky his son turned out to be so soft. In the brief second he had before he was man handled by the Southeast Asian military he wondered what his own father had seen in Fedor that he had not seen in Heinrich. Rage crept up his intestines once again, but he was able to put it down.
The three guards spoke quickly with the military police, and then left. Heinrich looked down the entire time as his new guards took him by the arm and shoved him into a military vehicle. Before he knew it he was on his way to his new abode. The entire trip took very little. He was to be exiled to a coastal resort, under strict watch from local authorities. The military was, for now, to stay out of the matter and hand over custody to the local police. That didn't mean that the Southeast Asian intelligence agency wouldn't look over the dangerous political criminal, and it didn't mean IINSA - Imperial Intelligence for National Security Agency - wouldn't keep a close eye, as well.
But Heinrich had some tricks up his sleeve. He was but a wounded tiger with the capability of recuperating quickly and being ten times as dangerous as he was before. He had been humbled once and now it was time for vengeance, and to finally get what was his - the Golden Throne. For two months he had fought for Fedala, coming close to victory. The incompetence of Weigari and Havenic generals had cost him this attempted coup, and to be honest, he had underestimated the coolness of Fedor and the ability of the Ejermacht to respond to a very dangerous threat. He had also thought, incorrectly, that key elements of the military would support his coup. He didn't realize that the majority of the officers were loyal to Jonach I, and thus the heir that Jonach had decided upon - who in this occasion was Fedor. This time he wouldn't make the same bad assumptions.
As they arrived Heinrich wasn't half angered at what he had been given as a 'prison'. It turned out to be a fairly large house, most likely entirely bugged, along a public beach. The word 'house' was relative, as he could easily count over eight bedrooms from the side he saw, and the entire plot, including the extensive garden work, was at least ten acres in surface area. It was nothing like the palaces of Fedala or Macabea, but it was better than nothing. Waiting in front of the house were the local police, and the military police let him go right at the door step where he was taken into custody. He laughed and teased, "You must be paid a lot to stand in line of all this bullshit."
None of the police officers even cracked a smile, and the one who was handling him yelled, "Shut up!" Heinrich barely felt the two blows over his head.
He woke up maybe a few hours later on top of his bed, and looked around. He had a bad headache, but he finally realized where he was and got up to take a good look around the house. He could get some aspirin later - it was time to start plotting.
... and the once intelligence officer
Hans Jemias had been an IINSA spy for the past three years and he had gotten his big break with work in Guffingford (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=442563). He was unfortunate to witness the death of his entire team through political assassinations and secret national machinations. He, however, was fortunate enough to live through that fiasco. His own assassination plots had fallen through when Guffingford collapsed like a house of cards in early July during fighting between itself and Stevid. The country's economy had gone down the sewer drain with the increase of corruption and the lack of foreign investment. More importantly, much of the money being recycled had been slowly expatriated to other countries, such as Knootoss. The appearance of the Order of the Invisible Hand (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Order_of_the_Invisible_Hand) had done the final work. In truth it had been an unhealthy mix of political and economic corruption, terrorism, high-end political intrigue and very dangerous social issues that had caused the final collapse of the Guffingfordi government. The timely appearance of this collapse had saved Hans' life.
He had, however, received high props for his work. As the only man of his team to survive he was the sole man with the utmost knowledge of Guffingford. He had been originally chosen to carry out intelligence work in Guffingford once it had been occupied by Imperial troops, but that was not likely to be done any time soon. In the mean time he had been chosen to be the sole agent responsible for keeping an eye out on Prince Heinrich in Southeast Asia. He, of course, had yet another team, but none of these men were really agents - they were a hodge podge of experts that would help Hans keep up to date by analyzing different sources of information and presenting him with an overall (yet specific) perspective on the day's news. To that extent he would be the sole man responsible for any actions he took in Southeast Asia, in the name of IINSA.
He had flown in separate from the rest of his team and was known by the alias of ' Gertrud d'Angelo', a prominent Imperial businessman who owned a string of toy stores in the now war stricken area of Ruska. With his business in the Empire destroyed he was looking forward to a new string in Southeast Asia, and this tourist area would be perfect for his first store. To that effect IINSA, under funding from Fedala itself, had put no less than twenty billion Reichmarks in his account and told him that this would be all of the money - not even the powerful IINSA could afford so much loss. Hans understood and he was a professional.
His house had already been purchased for him by a man named 'Jacque Relán'; a fake name, of course, for some obscure IINSA agent that was hidden even from Hans' knowledge. Relán had reportedly sold the 'civilian palace' to Gertrud d'Angelo from a real estate agency found in Beda Fromm, where d'Angelo had set up temporary residence while waiting for the end of warfare in Ruska. Now the house was fully in d'Angelo's hands.
Hans had taken a taxi from the airport to his house and he saw Heinrich's 'prison' as they sped by. Heinrich would no doubt be informed soon that one of his nearby neighbors was a multi-billionaire from Ruska. Heinrich would also know that he was watched by IINSA, but IINSA had some other tricks up their sleeve that would take the heat off Hans and his team for the time being - at least until they started true operations. A man named 'Karl Legán' had purchased a house directly opposite of that of Heinrich, and this was another IINSA agent who would be gone by the beginning of the next week. The house would be left unoccupied, but Heinrich wouldn't know this.
In the meantime, Hans and his team would get ready ...