NationStates Jolt Archive

White men in black coats moved about the docks. Bumping into each other on multiple occasions, before going back to the sea or returning to the warehouses.

The roar of the speedboats cut through the shouts. If you lived on the Southern Coast, chances were you knew damn well to keep away from the syndicates. Unfortunately, nobody from any agency was from the Southern Coast.

Arlon, West Valgan

Nineteen years had passed since the day of the Battle of Avalon Dam. The huge skyscraper several dignitaries were gathered around completely dwarfed the small town of Arlon below, where smoke was visible rising from homes and cottages.

Just a few miles to the east, they could the Avalon Dam, along with the Lake of Heroes. It was hard to imagine just two decades ago, a massive battle was fought here, and a nuclear missile strong enough to eradicate the Federation was launched from beneath the lake's waters.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today, on this glorious, December 31, 2095, we gather here to dedicate the opening of the Vuhifellian office of the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization's APOLLO office. Now, we shall begin...

Farbanti, Greykan
Vuhifellian Protection Agency HQ

"Sir! Sir! Take a look at this!" a young aide ran up to the VPA Commander General, Charles Shultz. The aide quickly handed him a folder containing several satellite photographs in several light spectrums.

"How long ago were these taken?" the general asked.

"A few minutes ago, sir!"

The general simply nodded his head, before waving the aide away. Then, he began walking towards the command and control room.

The command and control room was a vast assembly room; with a large, jumbo-tron LCD command screen in the front of the room; and two sections of computer work stations arranged in a semicircle around the screen. They were seperated by a single isle, one side was for command, the other, control, very simplistic.

In the back of the room, about thirty meters above the entrance for the technicians and the workers, the general came out of a sliding, bulletproof glass door to settle at his own workstation in a platform overlooking all the operations.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the VPA! We have finally located the leader of the New July Syndicate, Hadrian Hilkes Jr. He was last sighted in the Liberty City docks a few minutes ago. We shall prevail! Vires! Avarita! Fidelitas!

The Southern Coast, Vuhifellian Federation

The Toyota Landcruiser 100 halted just before the entrance to the docks. As the driver saw the guards at the entrance, he knew they would immediately be suspicious as he entered the dockside. He selected Low Gearing, and drove into the terrain immediately after. The heavy Diesel Engine howled as the vehicle headed up the first slope, but had little to no problems with it. As the driver, Didier Coupart, shifted into the next gear, the howling broke off, and the 4x4 calmly headed on. Shortly after, Coupart halted and got out of the car.

As he pulled out his binoculars, a small convoy of vehicles headed towards the docks, and the guards saluted. The vehicles passed the gate, while Didier was struggling to get his mobile phone out of his pocket.

'Arlon, this is Coupart. I need support here.'

He disconnected from the network, and returned to his vehicle, where he got out his binoculars again to follow the convoy's movements. The vehicles were not military, but very expensive ones. Their black colour didn't attract that much attention on the already grey dockyard, and one wouldn't bother to check them out. But for the ones who would've checked it out, it should contain an interesting surprise....

Apollo Commission Office, Vuhifellian Federation

'Eggers. Yes. Send him support. I believe we have a high-ranking individual there. Keep the Raiding Unit on standby.'

Sven Eggers laid down the phone, and made the last comments on a report of an Apollo agent, before he walked out the office.

A few floors below, a Raiding Unit from the Apollo Commission readied themselves for action. Several Submachineguns, Shotguns and Assault Rifles were checked for the last time. Then, the group of 20 took the lift up to the roof, where a helicopter waited to transport them to Liberty City.

Liberty City, Southern Coast, Vuhifellian Federation

A few kilometres from the docks where the Toyota originally had parked, the same car halted on a parking lot. The car next to him, an Audi Allroad, was accompanied by two officers of the Apollo Commission, the Policing branch of the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization. Coupart himself was an agent of the very same branch, and the three quickly met up.

'He's a high ranking person in the smuggling work, I take. The guards at the docks saluted when his convoy passed. I've called up the RU. You're the rest of my support?'

'Correct. You're sure you haven't been seen and/or followed?', one of the officers asked, while lighting a cigarette.

'No. I've hidden my vehicle in the terrain just off the entrance. They haven't seen me.'

'Good.' The officer blew out the smoke coming from his cigarette, almost in the face of Coupart.

'We'll have to wait for the Rading Unit to arrive, I presume?'

'Righto, they should be here in an hour', the other officer answered.

After that, Coupart got back in his car, and drove the Toyota several places away, so they would not be affiliated. It was waiting for the Raiding Unit.

[OOC: I'll disregard that Arlon is 1000 kilometers from Liberty City :D

Warehouse 13-B; Liberty City

"Well gents, welcome! Go on, have a drink, the finest liquor the black market can find, haha!" spoke an Irish man, he had curly brown hair, a large amount of stubble, and dark sunglasses accompanying his black overcoat, it had blood stains on it.

"I believe you called this meeting up, Bobby, come forward."

Roberth Meehan stood up, first in line to the seat as leader of the New July Syndicate.

"Th' bastards from the Hell's High Riders gang blew up one of our boats the other day. It was carryin' a few hundred thousand credits worth o' meth. Our fella's down in Comberth took care of their businesses but they'll be back with the other gangs."

"I see. This is a predicament, gents. The gangs are mad at us now. Now there's 'round fifty gangs and only two syndicates."

"Get the mafia's help!" shouted one member of the leadership.

"I'm not gettin' help from any Russian prick! No fecking way are we gonna' stoop as low as those bastards!"

Then, an elite 'sergeant' appeared from the dark entrance. Brandishing the same black overcoat as the rest of them, the only difference in him was the black ski mask covering his face, and the AK-47 he held in one hand.

"Sir!" He saluted quickly, "Our little birdie tells us that the VPA is on the way over here, we need to get all of you out of here at once."

"Right'o, I'll take myself and Bobby on one o' the speedboats, Osbourne, Owens, you two take another speedboat. McCaffrey and Wilkes, you two get back in the convoy, I want all of you to meet me in Ishana in seven days time."

VPA Regional Control Base
20 Kilometers from Liberty City

There was a scrambling in the VPA base now. Every honest agent of the VPA wanted to catch the high ranking members of New July and lock them up in Murska. Several UH-60 helicopters were taking off from helicopter pads near the runway. In them were elite VPA Assault troops, clad in heavy, black kevlar that encased their entire body, a helmet encased their head in kevlar, electronics, and bulletproof glass. They were oozing grandes and ammunition from their belts and pockets, and the glorious letters "VPA" were emblazened in white on the back of their vests. What could go wrong?

(OOC: Damnit. :p )

Liberty City

The NH-90 touched down on the parking lot, while the Coupart and the two officers watched. Three cars of the Raiding Unit already waited for the operatives to jump out of the helicopters, and were ready to sprint away. As the men ran from the helicopter to the two vans and an MPV, they already engaged the single blue warning light on the roof, and started up the engine.

When everybody was seated, the two officers also used the warning lights and sirens on thier Audi, while Coupart closed the line in his Toyota. The five cars stayed closely together, and sped through traffic at high speeds. As soon as the entrance came into sight, the vehicles sped up even more, and the operatives from the Raiding Unit checked their weapons for the last time.

The black Audi, which was the only one with the warning lights permanently attached to the roof, rammed the gate as first, and the other four vehicles sped through, following closely behind the Audi. The cars halted with smoke coming off their tires, and the operatives already jumped out before the cars had come to a complete standstill.

'UPEO!' The leader of the first group aimed it's MP5 inside the warehouse while shouting the name of the alliance, when other troops stormed inside.

'This is the UPEO! Come out with your hands on your head!' another operative shouted into the warehouse again, but became aware there was nobody there.

'This is Raid leader. Break off assault, I repeat, knock off. It seems there's nobody here. return to the vehicles.'

The men returned to their cars, where they slowly loaded their equipment back on the vehicles. Rifles were put back in their holds, bulletresistant vests laid on the seats. Pistols were holstered, handcuffs put back on their belts.

This time was a failure, but once the Southern Coast would be safe from smugglers....

"This is Zulu One, prepare to touch down!" radio chatter could be heard on VPA frequencies. A few hundred meters away from where the target zone was, two speedboats were apparently racing. Even from such an altitude, the bright colors of the drivers' polo shirts stood out.

If only the syndicates wore such distinctive colors...

"Alpha One, road blockades set! There's another agency down there!"

"What! Who!? Zulu three, out!"

Zulu one touched down a few meters away from the warehouse, where immediately, Major David Macker III jumped down, looking around at the situation, before he heard shouting from a female voice.

It was his sister, Captain Diana Macker, she was now shouting at this new agency, "What's this! VPA! All of you! Explain yourselves!"

Thankfully, David had the brains of his grandfather, "Sister! Stand down! VPA Zulu team, keep weapons fixed! You, trespassers, explain yourselves. You can be prosecuted under Constitutional Law for interfering with the VPA!"

Port of Liberty City

The VFCV Ithaca was a large container ship coming in from Newfield City in East Point. In the commotion surrounding the warehouses, the VPA had let it's security loose in the port. Several blue and white SUV's and pickup trucks filed into the port in single file, before several Hispanic men got out of them, clad in blue and white uniforms, searching containers on ground level.

To the untrained eye, it looked as if Port Security was searching containers for contraband. Let alone they only searched containers marked "Foxtecha Demilitarization Program", each man grabbing several crates from the containers, and placing them in their vehicles, before closing the containers once again and driving out.

Officially, if contraband was found by Port Security, it would be taken to the nearest VPA station, and used as evidence, training material, or decoys.

This was not the intended plan...

The operatives had immediately gotten their weapons and equipment from their vehicles again when the helicopters passed overhead. They now held them closely to their chest, while standing around the small convoy.
Coupart had drawn his pistol aswell, but was busy holstering it again when he answered the question from the VPA Major.

'We're from the UPEO. APOLLO Commission, and we had info a major criminal was here. I guess we missed him by an inch, anyway.'

He then turned around to the operatives and officers, who still hadn't holstered their weapons.

'Okay, put those weapons back. We're extracting. I want to get out as fast as possible, so we can get back to the job again.'

The troops reacted by laying their weapons back in the vehicles, and shutting down the convoy's warning lighting. The Commander of the Raiding Unit put down his MP5 last, and already got seated on the driver's position of the Renault Espace, one of the Raiding unit's vehicles. The two officers, meanwhile, acted as the bodyguards of Didier, who now had it's arms crossed on it's chest.

'And you're the VPA? Pleasure to meet you. I presume you were here for the same guy?'

Gran Rugido, Erusea

Thirty miles to the east of Liberty City, the small village of Gran Rugido was in an uproar. In the village square, several white 18-wheeler trucks had pulled into the square. All residents were ordered by the Gran Rugido Administrator (Chi Chaplin; Foxtechan Party) to remain in their houses.

Several men in white tanktops got out, brandishing gleaming pistols. Some men, wearing uniforms nearly identical to that of the VPA's, were well equipped with armor and rifles.

The kicking of doors could be heard, the doors to the trailers were opened, and the men with the pistols forced several beautiful young women out; while the men in the armor broke into houses. Minutes later, with the young women from the truck under heavy guard in the sweltering heat standing just in front of the town hall; men, women, and children were forces from their homes at gunpoint, and loaded into the empty trucks.

The latches closed.

The women were forced into the now empty houses, their identities would be re-written, their life-styles changed. Equipment was being unloaded from one of the trucks now, along with several crates. Crates which contained the documents to pull of such an operation.

Within fifteen minutes, Gran Rugido had become a brothel slum. But the government would never have to know, because under the Kazach Order's Holy Books, a community created entirely of the same sex, living together for at least six years without contact from a member of the opposite sex would be cleansed of all sins.

One of the women who was now an inhabitant of Gran Rugido was a tourist who had arrived in Liberty City earlier that day, before she made her way into one of the houses, she could feel a cold hand grasp her hair, and pull her back. The voice was deep, cold, emotionless...

"Welcome to Vuhifell."

The French Riviera, Van Luxemburg

Eggers had made the unusual choice of setting up shop in the Riviera, instead of in The Hague, where the Peace Palace hosted the rest of the UPEO offices. No, he had chosen for the Riviera, as he knew that this was a place known for it's wealth and privacy. The Villa, named 'La Palladiana', was possibly one of the pearls of the Riviera, with it's beautiful soft, pastel colours and great view over the Mediterranean. Guarded by security troops of the APOLLO Committee themselves, and overwatched by the Grand-Ducal Marechaussee, It would be particularly hard to penetrate into the office of the High Commissioner himself.

A BMW 330i slowly turned up at the gate. The Black car was still hot from it's time in the sun, possibly at a parking down at the beachfront, as the driver had enjoyed his lunch in one of the expensive restaurants there. Now, he halted the car at the gate, and waited until the Marechaussee doing guard duties had reached the vehicle's opened window.

'Identification, please.'

The Marechaussee checked the interiour of the vehicle at a glance, only to find the driver and a small briefcase. The driver looked back, but the Marechaussee was unable to see his eyes, as both men wore sunglasses, which only made the constabulary officer look at himself again, and probably vice-versa.

'Ofcourse.'

The driver opened the briefcase, and handed a small, creditcard-sized identification to the officer. The officer only checked it quickly, just to get back to his seating. As he returned the ID, he saluted casually.

'Everything's in order. Welcome.'

The gate slowly swinged open, and the BMW headed up the hill towards the residence. The vehicle then entered an underground parking, where the driver got out of his car, and took the stairs to his own office, where he was welcomed by his secretary.

'Mr. Eggers, we just got a communication from Liberty City. Coupart and a Raiding Unit failed to arrest the suspected high-ranking individual in the smuggling affair.'

Sven sighed, and took a seat behind his desk. He momentarily closed his eyes, just to return seconds later.

'I think we're taking this too light. We should have arranged more. Don't they usually smuggle by boat? Then my suggestion would be to lockdown the entire Southern Coast, and make the necessary arrangements to shut down any smuggling action there.'

The secretary looked up from behind her desk.

'That's impossible! We haven't got enough manpower to do that!'

'True, true. That's why we'll be calling up the help from the Van Luxemburgian Marine.'

'You mean Vuhifell Naval Station? That's 1300 km's away! It can't be done.'

'It can be. If I remember correctly, we can use Istas Fortress on the Souther coast as our HQ for that operation. Larger ships will operate from there, while smaller ships will patrol from offshore bases. Barges and maybe Amphibious ships.'

'We can try. But I'm still not very much impressed with the plan.'

Vuhifell Naval Station, a few days later...

Foghorns greeted the last few remaining ships of Vuhifell Naval Station, as a long convoy of Military ships set out for an Anti-Smuggling operation on the Vuhifellian Southern Coast. They were on their way to Istas Fortress, where they would base their operations from. Smaller ships were travelling in the bays of larger ones, or stayed close to the supply vessels. Within a few weeks time, they would get support from parts of the Van Luxemburgian 2nd Amphibious fleet, which would base off the coast on various strategic locations, where the smaller vessels from the coastguard and the Marine then could operate from. This hopefully would be the last blow to the smuggling operations down there....

ERUSEA, VUHIFELLIAN FEDERATION
14:07 USEA CENTRAL STANDARD TIME
MILD/CLOUDY/CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION: 12 PERCENT

"We have multiple cars northbound, expressway 2-19. Going 60 kilometers an hour."

"Roger, roger. Send out a patrol."

"Already on it. Two groups split, eastbound on Fritz Ave."

"Roger."

"Control, we need fire trucks at 80 Prospect Ave. Seven story apartment blaze."

"Ambulances, too?"

"Negative."

The chatter over the law enforcement channels was larger than normal today. Mostly due to the botched UPEO operation. Now a VPA patrol helicopter was in persuit of a convoy that had left the warehouse district earlier.

Industrial Sector

There were old, rusty factories here. Left over from the last war, they played a crucial role in the liberation of the country from Howard Fortstall. Now, they were abandoned.

Inside one dilapidated structure was a rather large map of the continent hanging from one of the massive sliding doors, filled with barrels of contraband, as well as two men with AK-47's.

And outside? There was a man dialing 625, the nation's emergency number. Asking for the authorities...

Apollo Committee Patrol Vehicle, Industrial Sector

Two officers of the Apollo Committee calmly posted in their car, a Lancia Thesis. The black car was equipped with only a low-profile lightbar, and the letters 'UPEO' on the sides. When it would fly past at high speed, nobody would have noticed it was a special vehicle.

'This is Control. We have a call from the Industrial Sector, possible illegal activities.'

The officers got up from their reading and listening to the radio, and engaged the emergency lighting, but muted the sirens. In silence, the car headed off, almost slipping away from the asphalt.

'This is Apollo Patrol Unit Vehicle 09-18. We'll be checking that one.'

'Patrol Unit 09-18, this is 09-40. We're right behind you.'

From the darkness of a factory building, a Chrysler 300C Touring appeared, also with the emergency lighting on, but without the sirens, again. The two cars quickly passed several factory buildings, and had to throw their cars around several corners, they only used their sirens sporadically, where they couldn't pass traffic without it.

After several minutes of driving, the two vehicles still only used their lightbars and LED flashers, when they arrived at the indicated building. As the officers got out, two were directed to each side of the sliding doors, and checked their rifles for the last time, when one of the officers saw that they couldn't open the sliding door from their side.

'Shit. We'll have to go round the back' He whispered.

'Can't. Only thing we can do is get up those stairs, up the roof.' Another officer whispered from behind him.

'Do it.'

The four men stormed up the stairs, with their weapons pointing ahead. The officers tried to walk as silent as possible, but it still made noise. On the roof, the four looked aroud on what to do next.

'Those vents, Try those.' an officer whispered.

One of them opened the vent, and went in.

'Can do' He replied.

The group of four went in, and crawled through the ventilation shafts. They waited at the exit, where the first officer had a great view of the two men inside the factory building.

'We'll try to surprise them. Ready yourselves for a firefight, if necessary.'

'Okay.' the other three answered, still whispering.

'three, two, one.. Go!'

The first officer rammed the vent door away, and rushed through it.

'UPEO! Don't even think of moving!' The last officer had aimed his pistol, while the other three had aimed their weapons. Only one officer didn't have a heavier weapon than his service pistol, the rest was equipped with two MP5's and a Shotgun, now all aimed for the two men.

'Weapons down. Slowly. One wrong movement and you've got a bullethole to cope with.'

The four officers slowly moved forward, walking in a way it wouldn't hugely disturb their aim.

'Once again, weapons down, hands on your head. Identify yourselves.'

The two guards, being low ranking members of the Jaine Gang, instantly threw their hands in the air while throwing their weapons down. However, transmitter technology was advancing.

Before surrendering, the higher ranking of the two, an Import Sergeant, bit down on a secret transmitter hidden in his lower right molars. The device was concealed by a convincing looking enamel paste, covered again with a ceramic crown.

"I am Gregory Mendelev, we surrender!"

VPA Interrogation Center 19

"Answer me!" a VPA agent clad in pure black armor was vigorously punching a blonde woman, suspected of bribing several political figures with sex so that some of the gangs could gain more influence.

"F-fuck..."

The man punched her again in the head, knocking her out this time. He shook himself before he exited the room and went over to a man in a white labcoat. "VPA" was written in yellow on the back.

"Take her back to her cell. If she doesn't talk by tomorrow, execute her."

Two officers slowly moved forward, with their weapons still aimed at the gangmembers.

'Turn around. Hands on your head.' One of the two said in a calm tone, while pulling out his handcuffs and aiming his pistol for the head of one of the gangmembers. He cuffed the man's hands behind his back, and pushed the pistol in the man's back. Meanwhile, one of the officers who had stayed behind, had opened the sliding doors, and the gangmember was put in one of the patrol cars.

'You too. Hands on your head, turn around. Why ar eyou here? Is there anyone on the way down here, to get all this stuff?' The officer looked around, while asking all these questions. He then got the mobile radio hanging from his belt, and began speaking.

'This is Apollo Patrol Unit, 09-18. Requesting reinforcements in the Industrial Sector, we need trucks to take all this contraband away. And we need a lot of trucks, I'll tell you.'

He then forced the gangmember to move to the second patrol car, to avoid that the two could talk with eachother. One would probably be sent to the VPA, while the other one woudl be interrogated by themselves. It was just a matter of different methods, they thought.

Arlon, APOLLO Committee Vuhifellian Office, a day later.

As the two members had been arrested, the UPEO officers had immediately claimed the man, calling himself 'Gregory Mendelev', theirs. He had been transported to Arlon, the APOLLO Committee's Vuhifellian Office, for questioning. He had been in the interrogation room for a few hours already, when Coupart came in.

'Well, well. Good...' Didier checked his watch.
'..Afternoon it is. I believe you will be my guest for the following days? Great.'

He turned around as he got his cup of coffee from the officer on duty, which then shut the door and took up position there, facing Mendelev, so he could take action in case of trouble.

'I believe you called yourself Gregory Mendelev, during arrest, correct? What gang are you a member of, and what were you doing? Who was supposed to pick up those goods? how did they get in Vuhifell? Sorry for the amount of questions, by the way. Haven't got that much time, you see.'

VPA Interrogation Center 19

"Ready!?" a strong voice yelled at the three others in the long, firing chamber.

"Fire!" Several shots were fired from 9mm desert eagles. Unlike firing squads of other nations, the VPA didn't use blanks. The blonde woman they were questioning yesterday was the target.

A VPA doctor simply walked over to her body after the firing was over to confirm her death. After which, he waved over his assistants to drag it away, to be dumped somewhere, maybe a crematorium.

A female with brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin walked over to Major David Macker III. The leader of the firing squad.

"Sir, we have a gang member the UPEO arrested earlier yesterday. He's in interrogation room 13."

"Thank you, Sara. I'll be there in a minute."

"Oh, and sir?"

"Yes, Sara?"

"Your fitness and technology results just came in. You might want to readjust the calibration of the zoom in your helmet. As well as the sights on your rifle."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

Arlon, West Valgan

"Gregory Mendelev. I am an..." a thought struck his head. This was the perfect chance to screw over the New July Syndicate...

"I am an Export Corporal for the New July Syndicate. I was overseeing the transfer of several thousand grams of heroin to be sold on the markets. We got it from our production bases in the Twinkle Islands."

It was a well guarded secret to authorities of the New July bases in the Tinkle Islands. There was an unwritten pact between every organized crime ring in the country. Even though they all hated each other, if worst came to worst, nobody would betray each other to the authorities.

Law enforcement was the one thing every gang member hated. And today was the first time the sacred covenant had been broken.

Arlon, West Valgan

'New...July...Syn...Di...Cate'

Coupart noted everything carefully on a note. Quite redundant, actually, since it also was recorded, and an Apollo Committee officer was standing by, and also able to hear everything. Behind the reinforced glass wall, disguised as a mirror, there was some mumbling and walking as Mendelev gave some interesting information. Several high-ranking officials suddenly returned to their offices, and the UPEO's secure lines were suddenly doing overhours. Meanwhile, Coupart went on with his interrogation.

'Those production bases, what do they produce other than Heroin? Cocain, or other harddrugs? Are there any high-ranking officials there?'

In the High Commissioners' office, Eggers almost had no time to pick up both his mobile phone and the phone on the desk, aswell as allowing the people knocking on his door in.

'No, we'll wait until the interrogation is finished. No actions now. No troops to the Tinkle Islands. Keep all of them home for now. That was it'

VPA Interrogation Center 19
Room 13

David pulled up a seat right behind the man he was to interrogate, who had already been tied up to the wooden chair by David's subordinates.

"Hello, sir."

"Hey hot shot. Gonna' torture me now I suppose?"

"No. Not at all. Not unless you're a whiney motherfucker, you know, in that case, I'll be forced to. To I like doing it? No. Do I want to do it? No. But you dumbass prisoners who like to keep information to themselves. You guys force me to do it."

"You sayin' if I cooperate, you won't torture me?"

"That's the game. At least for criminals. Political prisoners are a different breed."

"Jaine Gang. We were importing heroin, cocaine, and pure alcohol."

"Not surprising coming from the Jaine Gang, aren't you guys the biggest importer of narcotics?"

"Third now, thanks to you VPA pricks."

David simply laughed. The federal funding that tripled the size of the VPA Coast Guard was actually doing something.

"So, you know where you were importing it from?"

"Somewhere in Wellow. I don't know the specifics, I'm only a grunt."

"Well at least Wellow is small enough to search the individual islands. Erm..."

David looked over at the reflective glass over to his left, where several VPA doctors were staring at them.

"What do I do with him now?"

"He's cooperated. We'll send him to Directus to be tried. He'll be a poster child for the VPA's success in the region."

"You okay with that?" David asked the man.

"Yeah, it's fine. I know the penalties, the worst I can get is seven years in federal or ten in provincial. Plus I can get parole. And I don't get tortured or executed or whatever you assholes do."

"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. I'll escort you back to your cell. A Prisoner Transport Vehicle should transport you for immediate trial in a few hours."

Later that Night
Channel 004 - OBC
Osean Broadcasting Corporation

"Recent VPA activity on the Southern Coast has led to the arrests of several members of the Jaine Gang, related in drug trafficking. According to VPA Commander General Charles Shultz, this is 'a major victory in the fight against the gangs. I am grateful to all the VPA agents and troops that have risked their lives today for the protection of liberty and freedom in this continent.'

"The Democrat-Socialist Congress has recently been usurped in last weeks elections. Beginning on January 31, 2096; Vincent Daniels will become the first Kazach Party President. However, he will have to deal with a Republican led congress, which is expected to nominate current president, Vincent Harling, to a chair position on the Supreme Council.

"A Republican congress and Supreme Council vying against a Kazach presidency and, what is expected to be, a Kazach-Foxtechan domination of lower positions in the councils. It will be interesting to watch the next few weeks unfold as Vincent Harling tries to push for more reforms before his term is out."

(OOC: Change of plans :p )

Van Luxemburg, a few days later.

'Lads, I'm afraid we'll have to leave the Smuggling to the VPA. Multiple agencies on one case is not beneficial for one thing.'

A few in the room nodded, but others looked at the image the beamer hanging above their heads projected on the wall.

'Ladies and gentlemen, this is a brand new Mercedes