NationStates Jolt Archive

Metzuda, Havenic Kahanistan

Deputy Defense Minister General Iosif Nikolaievich Malakov pulled another sleepless night. The old general had not slept properly in weeks, so busy was he in the office. His wife had asked him so many questions, and he had merely told her that he was "doing some work for the Nationalist Party."

He received the expected knock at his door. A slim, attractive female officer in her early 30's with long blonde hair and pretty gray eyes stood in the doorway as Malakov answered. General Nadia Sklenova, hero of the Kraven War, had reported as she was asked.

"General Malakov, you called me?" she asked.

"Yes, General Sklenova. I need your advice on something..." the older general replied. He showed Sklenova a letter he had just pulled off his computer. "I found this in some top-secret compartment... what should I do with it? I need the advice of someone who's a little lower in the chain of command... not as close to the Defense Minister as I am."

Sklenova took the letter and read it over. Her facial expression changed to one of shock and horror as she took it in.

DEMOCRATIC SOVIET REPUBLIC OF KAHANISTAN
Ministry of Defense
Encryption Code Omega-7-Gamma-4-Psi

Attn: Director (or equivalent title), Manus Dei

This unsaved government must be pulled down, stone by stone; I fear for the salvation of Kahanistan. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I give this sum of one million shekels to the coffers of your illustrious organization for the salvation of my nation's people.

Signed,
General Nora Kasagawa,
Minister of Defense

"The letter was timestamped three days before the commencement of the Doomani invasion. The encryption code is authentic," said Malakov. "I checked it with Cryptography, everything checks out. General Sklenova, I've worked with General Kasagawa for over 35 years... I don't believe she's capable of this..."

"Sir... this is treason," said General Sklenova when she was able to speak. "This... you have to report this to the President... if she's really done this, we can't leave her in power..."

"General Kasagawa... is someone I've worked with for most of my career. I hope I can just talk to her... try to get her to explain. She must have another explanation for this."

And she'd have one that's totally full of shit, too. Sklenova thought for a second. "Well, go ahead and talk to her, then." She'd told him what she thought needed to be done; if he didn't want to take her advice, she'd have to report the matter to the military police, and try to get Malakov's office searched for the letter.

---

METZUDA (AP) - A shockwave has ripped through the Defense Ministry as General Nora Kasagawa, Minister of Defense, was targeted today by an internal investigation into allegations that she has collaborated with the Doomani terrorist group Manus Dei.

Kasagawa, 54, a practicing Catholic, is accused of contributing one million shekels to Manus Dei shortly before the Doomani invasion and urging hostilities between the Kahanistanian and Doomani governments.

Kasagawa vehemently denies such charges. "The accusations are... blatantly false, and aimed at destabilizing this government," she said. "I am fully cooperating with the investigation in order to clear my good name and prove my innocence."

Other Ministry officials declined comment. If tried criminally and convicted, Kasagawa could face fifty years in prison for treason.

Sofiya Amanadeh,
Kahanistan National News

(OOC: Feel free to RP your government's or media's responses to this. If you have a politician with an interest in Kahanistan's government, you can post here too. The letter is a fake, but nobody knows this IC; so Manus Dei would not have a copy.)

The Canadstein officially takes a neutral stand point on the subject, but in some closed back rooms there is talk of if General Kasagawa did commit treason against her own nation. These individuals, who were high ranking members of the Parliament, wanted to find out for themselves. So they sent Miles Mason, a representative of the Canadstein government. He stepped off an airplane that had come directly from Canadstein. It was time to get to work.

General Secretariat Residence, Palace of the Revolution; Tailville DR, Wagdog
Although there were no formal relations between Wagdog and Kahanistan at present, Deputy General Secretary and Lady Lieutenant-Governess Christine Friedrich had long held an interest in the whole situation there. Especially since it ultimately revolved around Wagdog's favorite black sheep at present: The Imperium Doomanum. That is, the foremost nation still practicing chattel slavery in terms of power and (unfortunately) prestige; and thus a very threat to Wagdog's princples as currently constituted.
Unusually, Christine was listening to WIBC News Channel 2 today, aka the "Red Channel" due to it's aimed-for hardcore Communist audience whether at home or abroad in those countries so-inclined for such 'news'; as opposed to the more moderate-Socialist Channel 1 (which Christine normally preferred), intended for broadcast both worldwide and to those in Wagdog who subscribed to that sort of 'news' as opposed to the not-so-borderline propaganda spouted by Channel 2. A channel which, today, was living up to this moniker as anchorwoman Francine Godot blared forth her usual old-school tropes in trademark Cultural Revolution era fatigues. In so doing, showing a lack of critical thinking which, had one not known the woman like Christine did, they might be inclined to mistake for stupidity rather than the real underlying combination of cynicism and ideological devotion in her case. An explosive one true, but often effective when Wagdog needed to appeal to the more hard-line Red regimes out there.
The woman many derided as a 'Red Guard Pippy Longstocking' seemed particularly happy today, for as one might expect she liked to denounce stuff; especially when it seemed to deserve it like this. "And now we come to the farce going on in the Democratic, supposedly once 'Soviet' Republic of Kahanistan. Like most of their fellow Mensheviks, they allowed their 'democracy' to debase their Sovietism and the rightful cry therein for it to mean a damn of 'All Power to the Soviets!' In so doing, Kahanistan brought upon itself the treason of cowards such as the Papist and crypto-slaver General Nora Kasagawa.
They say that she could face a mere fifty years in a Havenite prison if she's convicted of this foul degeneracy, in league with the crypto-Zionist Pope Innocent VI. FIFTY YEARS!?" Francine's trademark girlish screech might actually sound innocent, if one could just ignore what she was saying. "I say she should face FIFTY ROUNDS!! Into her guts on full-automatic, followed by a bayonet for good measure! If a country wonders how the united proletariat can ever be subdued by the craven imperialists that Doomanum embodies to the core, they should look no further than social parasites and class-traitors like Kasagawa. And furthermore..."
Christine turned the television off. Well, you get what you ask for. She knew her government would have to issue a statement countering this inflammatory broadcast, one issuing her own take on the matter. Unfortunately, what other conclusions can be drawn at present? We have no evidence other than that which appears to damn this woman. So why do I feel something is... off, somehow? Letting instinct guide her, however un-Marxist that might seem normally, Christine decided to use her higher international profile than the deliberately-reclusive General Secretary that was her husband to good effect.

Official Wagdoggie Government Commentary
Despite the harsh words spoken by a partisan commentator, Comrade Francine Godot, on the recent broadcasts of WIBC News Channel 2 in satisfaction of the expressed desire of that channel's hardliner demographic for news corresponding to their values and worldview; I would like to add that my Party, my Government, and myself all take a far more open stance regarding General Nagasawa. Although the evidence is grim, and thus our suspicion aroused most gravely since we view collaboration with the Imperium Doomanum as making oneself an accessory to Slavery and Genocide in their absolute worst forms currently existing, we agree that the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' applies here even more necessarily than in other cases. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence; and although what has been presented so far approaches that level, it does not on its own surpass it beyond a reasonable doubt as required in any sane court of law.
Ex-soldier-to-soldier and woman-to-woman however, I would above all like to applaud General Nagasawa's indications that she shall cooperate with the investigation in defense of her name. And in that same spirit, I would like to issue a warning to those seeking to benefit from this, whose names are known to all and bear not repeating. If the charges are true, then you have only added to the docket you shall face on the Judgment Day you believe in; and not to your Salvation I would wager. And if they are false, likewise; only ten times over! I hope and, yes, I pray, that General Nagasawa does not turn up among your number; and that when she triumphs over this slander you tarnish her name with, those already dispensing your punishment shall add her suffering into the equation of their wrath and multiply it fully tenfold. Justice will determine how she may, against whom she may; but do not confuse her blindness with weakness. Ever.

Sincerely,
Christine Friedrich
Deputy Commander-in-Chief, USSW War Office
Deputy Party Secretary, Wagdoggie Revolutionary Party
Deputy General Secretary, USSW Revolutionary Command Council
Lady Lieutenant-Governess, United Socialist States of Wagdog
Secretary-General, United Federation of Allied Nations

Metzuda Airport

When Mason came off of his flight, a general in the black uniform of Kahanistanian Military Intelligence stepped forward and greeted him. "General Tiberius Devidius, Director of Military Intelligence," said the man. He was about sixty years old, but looked like a man who spent every working moment in the gym. He had receding white hair, blue eyes, and some wrinkling in his face as might be expected of a man his age, but was very robust and looked like he might still be around in another sixty years.

"We can come to the Defense Ministry, and you can assist in our investigation of this serious matter," said General Devidius.

---

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Defense
http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

I offer my most sincere gratitude for your generous statement of support. My only complaint is that you got my name wrong.

Mark my words, we will find out who is responsible for this fraud. Then, this matter will be resolved and whoever has attempted to destabilize the government and undermine the Ministry will be punished most severely.

Signed,
General Nora Kasagawa,
Minister of Defense

Metzuda Airport

Miles was surprised to find a General waiting for him. He thought that this was going to be a low key mission. Well it could not say that with the recent another agent, Kevin Shaw, disappearing. Through his sunglasses he could see the general in his black uniform. It must of have hot because of the sun shining above them. Sweat rolled down Miles' cheek. Taking off his sunglasses, he walked over to General Devidius. He shook the General's hand.

"Sir, I'm Miles Mason of the Canadstein Special Agent's Department. I think we should get down to business and see if all this hot air is actually for something." said Miles

Miles followed General Devidius. He wondered if he was leading himself into some big plot, but brushed off the idea.

"Unfortunately, it looks like we have enough evidence to go to trial. Lord only knows what else was compromised."

The general escorted Mason to a waiting van. If he was expecting a limo, he had another think coming; people in Kahanistan rarely traveled so conspicuously.

Mason would find himself seated between General Devidius and a female general with long blonde hair. This officer was in standard military dress uniform, not the black uniform of Military Intelligence, and she had only one star. She smiled warmly and extended her hand to the new man.

"General Nadia Sklenova, Republic Guard," she said. "I trust you've met General Devidius?"

Miles was not surprised, but the van. He was suspected nothing more than that. Personally he did not like all the attention countries gave to foreign officials. Once he entered the van, he was surprised to find another person inside. She was a fairly attractive woman. Miles turned a scarlet as he sat down. He shook his hand for a moment remembering that he was on an official mission, and it did not include flirting with women. Miles coughed, and then looked back toward the woman. His hand firmly grasped hers.

"Miles Mason of the Canadstein government. It’s a pleasure to meet you General Sklenova. Yes I have already met General Devidius. So would one of you please give on the run down on this case? It seems a little unclear in the report I got."

"We discovered a letter purporting to be written by General Kasagawa, the Defense Minister, in which she pledges a donation of one million shekels... I think that's about 1.85 million U.S.D., to Manus Dei, a Doomani terrorist group," said General Sklenova.

"An asset investigation failed to turn up any way General Kasagawa even has a million shekels to spare," added General Devidius. "Which, of course doesn't mean she doesn't have one, merely she's found a way to obtain the money without us knowing... one that wouldn't show up on an employment check or tax investigation."

While taxes in Kahanistan were computed by a formula involving the amount and an appropriate percentage of the income, and the taxes were divvied up among the national and city governments by the bureaucracy to reduce paperwork, the lack of a need to file returns merely meant that the government had that much more information in its files.

"On the other hand, there are people with a motive to frame Kasagawa," Devidius continued. "You might have heard of the anti-Catholic TV show that the Nationalist Party is running... claiming Jesus was a pedophile and that Catholics are subhuman. Someone might have wanted to remove her for sectarian or other reasons. We're looking at religious extremists in the Ministry."

The van stopped outside a tall building marked as the Ministry of Defense. The two generals and the driver stepped outside. At this point Mason would notice that General Sklenova was visibly pregnant, about six months along from the look of her.

"Well, here's the Defense Ministry," she said.

Miles intently listened to the the two Generals. From the information he had gathered there was two main culprits, the Manus Dei and the religious extremist. He knew that it was horrible he assume that Manus Dei; a feeling told him that it was the religious extremist. But Miles had to look at all the clues. There had to be an error that would solve that would confirm the masterminds. It seemed extremely odd that a loyal General that served thirty-five years would betray her country. Miles had heard only a few cases, and those were very rare.

As the van stopped, Miles noticed that the attractive General Sklenova was pregnant. Miles sighed and looked up to the tall building. 'I guess it was meant to be.' he thought within his head. He looked back at Nadia and thought whoever she was married to was very lucky. Miles started to walk toward the Defense Ministry.

"Well, everything seems a little too perfect for me. I mean how often do you find a gem of a letter liked that? It seems a little too lucky. Whoever orchestrated these events is very good."

"Well, General Malakov, the Deputy Defense Minister, found it in a file in the Defense Minister's office," said Sklenova. "He seems convinced it's genuine."

She led them into the building. Inside were two other generals, a robust man of around 60 with a full head of white hair and a tall Japanese woman in her mid-50's.

"And that would be them," said General Devidius. "General Iosif Malakov," he nodded to the white-haired man, "and General Nora Kasagawa, Minister of Defense." He indicated the older woman.

Miles soften his tone and moved toward Sklenova. "I can't really trust anyone. I mean anyone could have done be working for Manus Dei or a religious extremist group. They could be pawns in this whole plot. For all I know you could be a traitor, but I can't make a dumb assumptions like that."

Upon entering the building Miles shook both of the General's hands and addressed himself. Miles looked at his watch, and back toward the group of Generals. "So can someone tell me about Manus Dei? If they are the leading force behind these case, then I think its only sufficient that I know more about them."

[OOC: I don't IC have access to the document I'm linking to, simply linking to it as it can provide more information. Some of the information would likely be public knowledge, but keep in mind that the document is secret and linked to primarily for OOC knowledge.]

Sklenova smiled. "You can't assume that. Obviously, someone in the Defense Ministry is a traitor, whether the letter is real or fake. If General Kasagawa is innocent, someone is attempting to frame her."

"Manus Dei (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12428590&postcount=10) is a Catholic extremist group based in Doomingsland," said General Kasagawa. "The words mean 'Hand of God.' They are a perversion of everything Catholicism stands for, they have been known to commit acts of extreme violence against non-Catholics and Catholic moderates."

"They are also believed to be recruiting fundamentalists in other countries," continued the Defense Minister. "I would go as far as terming them the Catholic equivalent of Al-Qaida."

Miles looked at the Defense Minister. "And how about this Nationalist Party I have been hearing so much about? I think it is justified also to hear about your rivals within Kahanistan."

Malakov fielded this question. "The Nationalist Party is an alliance of the three rightist parties that existed before the Doomani invasion, the Conservative Party, which was fiscally conservative and opposed the welfare state, the Fascist Party, which was extremely nationalistic, advocated a government similar to those of Franco or Mussolini, sacrificing civil liberties in the interests of a powerful economy and military, stirring up feelings of patriotism. Not racist, mind you, that was our Nazi Party, which was pretty faithful to the original except that they accepted anyone anti-Semitic, even blacks, Arabs, et cetera."

The Deputy Defense Minister took a breath and continued. "The ideology of the Nationalist Party is a form of right-wing nationalism and economic liberalism. Racism is not an official part of the Party's politics, but some sixty percent of Nationalist Party senators hold some sort of anti-Catholic view, and they're at odds with the quarter or so who are Catholic. Anti-Catholicism seems to flourish among the right wing, people who were conservative before and would never have dreamed of siding with hate groups are becoming rabid anti-Catholics, and that recent show, For the Children! (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525340), has probably turned a lot of people."

"The Midlonians are trying to get it shut down, they attacked a studio and arrested a senator who was speaking."

"So basically we have an anti-Catholic and an extremist Catholic group. They are pretty much polar opposites. Excuse me for saying so, but I believe that you are innocent Deputy Defense Minister. To me it seems out of place that Manus Dei would try to let you destroy the Kahanistan government. But I cannot let Manus Dei go for trying to frame you." Miles said, then he took a deep breath. So far all his missions had been a success and did not want to ruin his reputation. "But it seems like both culprits could be insane and fanatical enough to get rid of you. I'm suggesting that General Kasagawa, for your own safety, be put under arrest and have protection. Whoever did this could strike back."

"So what do you Generals plan on doing on this case?"

"Well, I was going to triple the guard around the Defense Ministry, anyway," said Kasagawa. "I see nothing out of kilter here... it would serve the fanatics' interests superbly if the government were destroyed."

"On the contrary," said Devidius, "we're trying to keep word from spreading, so we don't have to deal with anti-Catholic rioting. If someone's trying to frame General Kasagawa, it's likely someone affiliated with an anti-Catholic movement, someone who wants a non-Catholic to take the Defense Ministry. I would look at high-ranking officers with ties to the Nationalist Party, or who have been known to be anti-Catholic."

"Ahh...I see. You don't want a mess over this. That would explain some of the secrecy. So to care on with business, about we meet these officers?" Miles stated.

"Well, you've already met one," said Malakov. He had never hidden his Nationalist affiliation, although not even his wife knew of his conversion to anti-Catholicism. "But, there are quite a few Nationalists here."

"Now, I personally would like to see General Kasagawa placed in protective custody, just in case. Not that I'm suggesting that she did anything," he added as the Defense Minister looked at him in shock, "but if an anti-Catholic lynch mob broke in here, she'd be torn to pieces. And, let's face it, we can't keep this under wraps forever."

"But, in the end, it's up to her, and thank God that we can't arrest people without evidence here in Kahanistan. It's a shame the Midlonians don't see that." Several Kahanistanian politicians had been grabbed by the Midlonians over their positions on Catholics.

Miles turned toward Malakov. He had made a careless mistake, and revealed some of his plan to one of the suspect organizations. Now he had to be extra careful around this General Malakov. Miles looked at Kasagawa's face as Malakov suggested the plan. He could not allow her to be placed under the protection of a Nationalist.

"I think it would be best, maybe, to put her under my protection. It doesn't mean I don't trust you Malakov, but with Kasagawa along side me I can ensure that she doesn't get kidnapped or shot."

Miles turned to the other two Generals. He needed to find out their true colors. "So General Devidius and General Sklenova are either of you Nationalists?"

Malakov nodded. "I can understand that, but of course I'd want to detail someone to watch over her... the last thing I'd want is for her to be taken to a secret prison, or otherwise... extraordinarily... rendited. Not that I don't believe you... but who knows what agenda your superiors may have? A Kahanistanian presence would be absolutely indispensible."

Devidius shook his head. "I have never been involved in political activity."

General Sklenova smiled widely as her hands moved toward her face. The question seemed absurd to her.

"No," she said. She was, in fact, the Vice-General Secretary to the Communist Party of Kahanistan, having been promoted there after many of Kahanistan's Communists had been killed by the Doomani, or handed over by the Transylvanians. Under normal circumstances, someone of her age would never have risen to such a high position. She was, after all, only 32 years old. Sklenova showed Mason a card with her CPK credentials.

"Of course, you can have another person protect her, but I think they should have a neutral stance with the politics of this country. You can't be too careful. If General Kasagawa dies, then this whole case is over." Miles said as he looked Malakov. There was something about him that bother Miles. Malakov had to be watched careful.

"Sorry if I disrespected you, General Sklenova. I don't really know any information on the Kahanistan politics." Miles said as he coughed. "So what do you Generals plan on doing to help Kasagawa?"

"It's all right," said General Sklenova, not the least bit offended. "Well, I'd recommend just getting bodyguards, not traveling conspicuously."

Malakov nodded in agreement. "I can arrange for some members of the Defense Ministry's security to trail her from afar, inconspicuously. We won't let anything happen to her, and we will find out the truth about that document." He handed Mason a copy of the letter from his dossier.

"Now, you and I both know that you don't trust the Nationalists. I can guarantee that none of her security detail will be Nationalists."

OOC: I am sorry to interrupt, but Kahan - care to resume using IM's please?

OOC: Is the other RP still going on at the same time?

OOC: Is the other RP still going on at the same time?

TLA: This takes place at almost the same time as the Midlonian attack, after Havenic Kahanistan is back on its own feet.

"Thats seems like the best course of action. I just don't want a Nationalist because the person might have stronger ties with a their party, then the government. We don't want any rash or unneeded violence to happen because of one single letter." Miles looked over the letter and reread it a couple of times. He handed the copy of the letter back to Malakov. "So what was your first plan of action to break into this case?"

"I'm not an intelligence officer," Malakov replied. "That's what I called in General Devidius for."

"We are, of course, investigating the possibility that the letter is genuine," said Devidius. "On the other hand, we are looking at anyone with motive to oppose General Kasagawa and who would have the technical skills and access required to forge a Defense Ministry document. We have a list of suspects, but minimal concrete evidence. I propose that we look at the computer records of the Defense Ministry, though I doubt a framer would be stupid enough to use their own terminal, given that they can be searched at will by Defense Ministry security."

"I say we try to look at any leads. Can you lead me to this computer records? We need any information we can get right now. So far most of the evidence leads to treason for General Kasagawa." Miles replied.

Malakov nodded. "I can take us to my office, but I'm not much of a computer expert. I can have someone take a look at it through my terminal." He led Mason and the three other generals to his office, where he sat at his desk. There were some other chairs in the room.

"Feel free to sit down," said the general. "If you want something to drink, I have a bottle or two of vodka, some wine, fruit juices..." He nodded toward a cabinet, then turned on his computer and called security.

"Security? This is General Malakov, I need someone in my office, to help me access the computer records. Yes, I'm aware of an investigation. Yes, I want the Canadsteinian agent to see them. Yes, I know. OK... OK. Thank you." He hung up the phone.

"Lt. Roberts from security will be here in about ten minutes. Until then... make yourself at home. Moya dom vashoi domom... My house is your house."

General Kasagawa picked up a wine glass and a vodka bottle. General Sklenova picked up a bottle of blueberry juice from the refrigerator. She wasn't about to drink alcohol while pregnant. Devidius simply poured a cup from the water cooler.

"What about you, Mr. Mason?" asked General Malakov. "Is there something I can provide you before the security gets here to help me access the records?"

Miles followed the group of generals into the room, and waited for them to sit and get relaxed. He sat down at a chair. Looking at his watch, he noticed that he hadn't slept in almost thirty hours. Once getting of his last mission, he was urgently put on the private plane to Kahanistan. During the trip to Kahanistan he did nothing, but read some files on the country. Rubbing his eyes, Miles was in no mood to get something to drink.

Feeling an unconformable feeling from his back Miles reached for the object. It was the familiar feeling of his Beretta 92. His hands removed the Beretta and ejected the magazine. He placed the magazine on the table. "There is no need to worry. I forget that I still was carrying this thing. You can take the magazine if you want."

Miles propped up his head with both of his hands. "I'm fine. I'm not really in the mood for drinking anything. I guess its been a long day for me. Though I do have one question. Do you think that General Kasagawa is innocent?"

"If you're asking my personal opinion... I'm not the person to ask," said Malakov. "I don't want to think that she's capable of this, any more than, say, I would collaborate with the Freeks during their invasion. But what I believe doesn't matter, the evidence is there."

The general took a drink from the water glass on his desk. "Keep your weapon, I would have done the same thing if I were going to an unfamiliar nation, with a potentially dangerous situation. We all have sidearms with us, Mr. Mason."

The security officer came into the room. "Well, General... let's get those records opened." Malakov stood up, allowing the security officer to take his seat, and sat in a chair behind him and to the side.

"General, I should have the files open in ten to fifteen minutes," said Lt. Roberts, as his name tag identified him.

Malakov smiled. "While we're waiting... is there anything more you care to ask me about the investigation?"

Miles carefully noted what Malakov had said. His hands picked up the magazine as he kept on listening to Malakov, and reloaded his Beretta. But he placed the handgun back on the table. "Do any of you trust me in this investigation? Or do you believe I will just hinder and be bothersome weight? I want to know the true. Don't hold back either."

"It was my idea to have you here," said General Devidius. "I felt that a neutral agent, one who could not be seen to have ties with any of the political factions I believe are warring for power, would be invaluable in solving this mystery."

Sklenova looked at Mason. She could tell that he was feeling a bit insecure, and smiled softly. What do I say? I'm not even sure why I'm here... "We... wouldn't have had you here, if we thought you were a burden," she said finally. "You're certainly better qualified for this than I am."

"Got in," said Lt. Roberts. Malakov stepped up to the computer. "Excellent." The computer records were displayed on the screen, mostly logs of teenagers trying to hack the Defense Ministry systems, cyber-warfare experts testing it, transmissions sent from the Defense Ministry, etc.

"Mr. Mason, you can stop looking at that girl and take a look here," said Malakov jovially.

Miles felt a sense of warm from Sklenova. It made him feel a little secure about the group of Generals. He was startled by Malakov, and turned a scarlet. Miles guessed that he still had an attraction to Sklenova. Getting up slowly Miles made his way to Malakov. He shook his head to wake himself. "So General Malakov what do we have here?"

"We have files of everyone who's sent communications out of here, including the general terminals that anyone in the Ministry can use. Unfortunately... we do have a transmission to Manus Dei." He called everyone up to look at the file showing the transmission to Manus Dei from Kasagawa.

"How is this possible?" asked General Kasagawa. "I certainly did not contact them, and I don't even have a million shekels to spend. I'm living out of a prefabbed housing unit with homeless people crowding all over it, and I drive a 1980's car." She seemed visibly shaken that there appeared to be visible evidence of treason.

"Still that doesn't prove anything. I mean anyone could have hacked in and made a transmission saying that they are General Kasagawa. To me, I can't trust that message. Can you show me where it was sent from?" Miles said as he looked at the computer's screen.

The security officer made a few more keystrokes. "Well... it was made from one of the command terminals," he said. "Corridor 4-Epsilon, on the fourth floor." The command terminals were available only to officers of general rank, and usually used for mass-mailing directives to lower officers... or foreign communication.

Whoever had made the communication was a general, or a superb hacker... or both.

"It certainly looks like there is enough evidence to place the Defense Minister under arrest," said General Malakov. "I don't want to believe it, but the evidence is staring me right in the face."

Kasagawa appeared stunned. She was unsure of how to react to the evidence. Malakov reached for the phone to call in security.

"Security, this is Malakov. I think we've come up with some more evidence on the Defense Minister. I'm printing it off now, you know what to do... OK."

"If she is innocent, then we will be able to find evidence to exonerate her. But for now, I would be negligent if I didn't try to protect the Defense Ministry," he said after hanging up. "Now, we must look for exculpatory evidence that will convince a military tribunal."

"Well we also have to go by the evidence right now, and it does not tip in Kasagawa's favor. I would say that she should be put under "protective" watching at her house." Miles said, then he decided to move onto the other matters.

"So a General committed this act." Miles said as he looked looked at each Generals. One of the Generals in the room could have framed Kasagawa. "Do any of you have an idea what General would want to get rid of Kasagawa? Or is a extremely good at using computers?"

The three other generals shook their heads. "Well, our investigation is focusing on generals with ties to the Nationalist Party," replied General Devidius. "From there, we can narrow the list of potential suspects. We now know it was a general with access to a command terminal. This is, however, very complicated... if someone in Intelligence or with an intelligence background did it, we will have a very difficult task ahead."

"You can count me out as a suspect," said General Sklenova. "I'd just gotten out of Kraven at that time," she said, looking at the timestamp.

At that moment, four security officers came in, armed to the teeth with Hali-42's, .50 S&W's, body armor, helmets, face masks, etc. They were ready to arrest General Kasagawa on suspicion of treason.

"Is there need to carry all that?" Miles said as he turned around to see the soldiers. They looked to be armed to the teeth. He just shook his head and went over to General Kasagawa. "It will be all right. I will only die, to stop finding out the true on this case. I will clear your name and find the true culprit.

Miles went back to the computer. "I say we knock down one of these pillars. So what Generals have a background with the Nationalists?"

"Well, the Party doesn't provide lists of its members, for obvious reasons..." said Malakov. "We've had violent attacks against us. I only know of four or five generals off the top of my head that are involved in the Nationalist Party."

One of the security officers handcuffed General Kasagawa. She was still stunned, and unsteady on her feet as she was lifted from her seat. Another security officer pulled out a combat knife, a serrated, wide-bladed, vicious-looking curved blade about thirty centimeters long.

"Deus vult," he said in a low voice as he pressed the blade to General Kasagawa's throat, looking sinisterly into her eyes. This was the famed Doomani battle cry, derived from the cry of the knights of the First Crusade in the 11th century, and meant, "God wills it."

Bad move.

The three other generals pulled their weapons. Sklenova got off three shots, two of which simply bounced off the guard's armor and a third entering his armor without penetration. Devidius scored a lucky shot that struck the guard in the neck, but did not sever an artery or his windpipe. Malakov simply held his weapon at the man, but did not fire.

The man holding the knife went down, bleeding and unconscious. General Malakov looked at the other three guards.

"Get her out of here," he said, when he regained his composure. It had been decades since he had seen someone shot in front of him, and he had never seen a shooting in his office.

Miles was stunned at the lighting fast reflexes of the three generals. Though he could not fire his gun, since it still laid on the table. While the two generals fired, he tried to get his gun. The next thing he knew it was all over. Miles did notice, however, that Malakov had not fired his gun. Making the rest of the trip to the table Miles then grabbed his gun. Went over to the injured and failed assassin. He took of the person's mask and helmet. The Beretta was pointed directly into the man's forehead. Miles' hand slapped the man to wake him up. "Who are you working for? If not, then it will be the end of the line for you!"

Miles turned back to the Generals. "Get some help!"

The man was unconscious and did not respond.

Devidius went to the desk and dialed the EMS. "We've had a shooting in the Defense Ministry, one man down, hit at least once in the neck."

"He has a weak pulse, not breathing," said General Sklenova. She proceeded to administer rescue breathing. Malakov grabbed a fistful of tissues from his desk drawer and pressed them into the man's neck wound to stop the bleeding.

"Mr. Mason, get his armor off him, I need to see if these breaths are going in," said Sklenova. "I need to know if his chest is rising."

The Beretta dropped to the ground, as Miles started to take off the person's armor. To Miles the last minutes had come to a shock. Things only deepen in the case. Miles planned on wrapping up things here, then try to find a place to sleep. Once Miles finished taking over the armor, he picked up his Beretta. He looked at his watch. Miles had arrived almost four hours ago, and that was around 6:00 P.M. He was pretty beat and needed a good rest.

General Sklenova continued administering rescue breathing to the injured man, and his chest rose clearly as her breaths went in. Within ten minutes, the medical personnel arrived to take the man to the hospital. Hopefully, he would live and be able to tell why he had tried to kill the Defense Minister.

The shooting had come as a shock to her too. When the EMT's relieved her, she sat back, shaken, next to Mason. If he was looking at her hand, he might notice she was the only one of the four generals not wearing a ring.

General Malakov sat down in his chair and lit an expensive Allanean cigar. He seemed a bit unnerved by the recent events. Devidius appeared deep in thought, as if he were trying to mentally piece together the pieces of some ungodly puzzle.

Miles looked over to see Nadia. She was pretty stunned. It was a sad site to see for Miles. He hated seeing such a beautiful girl in pain or demoralized. All the generals seemed to be in a state of shock. All of them cannot carry on with the investigation, for now. "I think we should take a break, until tomorrow. So we can gather our thoughts of what has happened and some much needed rest. Tomorrow we can start our work up again."

Miles got up and held a hand out to General Sklenova to help her get up. "So would you like to get some dinner with me?"

Sklenova nodded. "Sure. It's a little late, but I'm usually sleep deprived anyway," she said.

General Devidius stood up. "I'll have investigators on this case around the clock. When that man comes to, I'll have an intelligence officer waiting to interrogate him." He went for the door, ready to leave.

General Malakov lit another of his large Allanean cigars and poured himself a tall glass of straight vodka. He held two cigars out to Mason and Sklenova.

"I don't smoke," replied General Sklenova.

"I don't smoke, either." Miles left the two Generals behind, after saying his good byes, then walked out with Sklenova. This case was getting bigger by the second. In only the first couple of hours, the suspect had almost been killed. Miles could tell that things were going to heat up very soon. He looked into Sklenova's beautiful gray eyes. "Can you please not call me Mr. Mason? I just rather be called Miles, General Sklenova. Do you have an suggestions for a place to eat?"

"Well, with all these tanks and crap moving around... there's one not far from my apartment, in Eastern Metzuda. It's not that far from here. I'd really rather get out of uniform, the Midlonians are probably shooting anyone in a uniform, or at least arresting them." She walked Mason to her car, a newer hybrid model she was still somewhat unused to.

Kahanistan had become a protectorate of Midlonia after the war with Doomingsland, but had broken away from the protectorate status for two major reasons: they wanted to remain neutral should hostilities between Midlonia and Kahanistan's former enemy, Whyatica, escalate to war, and they wanted Whyatican diplomatic support in retrieving government officials who had fled and been handed over to the Doomani.

The Midlonians had reacted forcefully to Nationalist politicians preaching anti-Catholic hate. (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525340) Already the Presidential Palace had come under siege, and the Foreign Ministry had been attacked.

---

Central Metzuda General Hospital

Captain Frank Holmer was being treated for injuries he had sustained while attempting to murder General Kasagawa. An IV had been inserted into his veins to feed him while he remained comatose, the bleeding had been stopped, and an intelligence officer stood at his side to debrief him should he recover from his wounds sufficiently to be interrogated.

---

Defense Ministry HQ

General Malakov began to drink his second glass of vodka. His plans hadn't gone perfectly, but he still felt that he stood a good chance of removing Kasagawa from office permanently. With her in custody, however, he was now the acting Defense Minister.

Ah, the hard day of a Nationalist general...

Miles followed Sklenova and got into the passenger side. He looked toward Nadia as she drove. "Nadia, what I'm about to tell can be told to no other Generals. Do you trust General Malakov? There is something about his character that makes me feel like I have be careful. I noticed that during the the shootout that he did not fire a shot. I still don't trust him. Now I have to be extra careful around him. Also he is still a culprit in this case. He is both a General, who could have accessed the command terminal, and is a Nationalist."

He looked straight at her, and hoped that she wasn't some sort of spy for the Nationalists.

Nadia started up the car and shook her head. "He does seem suspicious... but simply freezing up during a shootout doesn't make him a liar. I agree we should keep closer tabs on him, though."

She put the car into gear and eased out onto the road. This was nothing like in occupied Middle Eastern lands, where the population was so dense that almost all buildings were very tall and had equally tall parking garages next to them.

"He probably knows some of us suspect him, didn't you see him... drinking straight vodka when we were leaving, and smoking God knows what?"

---

General Malakov wasted no time settling into his new role as Defense Minister. He had already prepared a list of new military doctrines he would implement should he take over. This was nothing suspicious; Deputy Ministers did often take over when their superior was removed from office by various means, and they were often appointed to succeed their superiors.

Chief among these doctrines was a more defensive, less interventionist policy. This was typical of Nationalist generals. Another key change was easing the use of chemical weapons against an invader. Malakov also had plans to scrap the three Praetonian Royal Sovereign class super dreadnaughts in favor of the Isselmerian Europa class, and switch the navy to an entirely RSIN (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=484448)-built fleet.

Since he intended his position to be permanent, he also cast about for a new Deputy Minister. His qualifications did not require that the candidate be a Nationalist, but they did require being a four or five star general or admiral who was at least indifferent to the Nationalists.

Miles just shook his head in disbelief. He could literally trust no one know. They could be a Nationalist and try to kill him. Miles looked toward Nadia, and noticed that she did not have wedding ring. That was a little odd. "Tomorrow I will ask him some questions. Though we have to be weary not to lead on that we think that he is a suspect. Nadia, tell no one. Not even Devidius."

Miles held his forehead. "Lets not talk about this right now. I need a rest from a case."

General Kasagawa's time in jail was not pleasant. The guards who were assigned to protect her from being killed before the trial could start often amused themselves by groping or slapping her, or even using a stun gun on various parts of her body. They seemed convinced that she was a traitor.

Malakov had kept his word; the guards were not, for the most part, Nationalists. They were, however, incensed that someone could just collaborate with the forces that had murdered billions of innocents and sell their own country and their soul to religious lunatics.

Meanwhile, the chemical and nuclear alerts went on standby, and the Defense Ministry became fortified with tanks, attack helicopters, and VTOL fighters. A less astute observer might think Malakov was planning a coup d'etat, but he had more important things on his mind, like dealing with the Midlonian threat to his nation's sovereignty. Military roadblocks went up all over central Metzuda.

---

"So do I," replied Nadia. She pulled into an apartment complex parking lot. "This's my place," she said as she got out of the car. "Not much to look at, really..." She led Miles to the entrance and the elevator within.

Miles walked into the elevator and sighed. He thought back to his childhood days of being on his father's farm. Just reading a book under a tree with no care in the world. Those were the good old days, but things had changed. Now he rarely was in Canadstein and worked long hours. "So are we just going in, and then going to dinner?"

Nadia nodded. "Just long enough for me to get out of this uniform, and into something less conspicuous," she replied. "Then... well, there's a Caribbean place about three blocks away, walking distance from here."

They went to the ninth floor, to a modest one-room apartment. There was a recliner chair and an old sofa, a small TV set, and a bookshelf. Much of the literature on it was in Russian, but there were plenty of books in English. There was a small corridor leading to two rooms which probably couldn't be that big.

In front of the chair was a coffee table with three wine bottles under it. One label in English read simply, Champagne, 2005 vintage. The other two were in Russian, but dated 2002 and 1997. On top of the coffee table were well-worn books titled Amestrian 101: The Moron's Guide, Amestrian 102: Central for Dummies, and Caring For Shoobans. (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Shooban) A portrait of one of the creatures stood above Nadia's TV set, and a larger one of a younger woman, perhaps Nadia about ten years younger, in military uniform, standing in front of an older couple in their 60's. The man was also in Republic Guard uniform with a major's rank insignia, and the woman was in a civilian dress.

"Make yourself at home," said Nadia. She walked toward one of the rooms down the corridor. "I'll be out in a few minutes."

Miles looked around at her apartment. It much better than what he had. He could barely even remember the address of his apartment. Miles went over to the bookcase and looked through the books. But his eyes were still captured by the portrait. The woman was obviously Nadia, but at a younger age. Miles was captivated by her beauty. Not wanting to stare, Miles saw down on the sofa.

About ten minutes later, Nadia came back out of her room. She was dressed in a solid gray T-shirt over what looked like a flak jacket, jeans, and a leather jacket. Her hair was pulled behind her head in a ponytail, and she had a utility belt strapped to her waist. This belt contained her sidearm, pepper spray, a cell phone, a wallet, and a change purse. She looked like a civilian woman, possibly a college student on a date.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

---

Defense Ministry

General Malakov had signed new arms contracts (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12641202&postcount=1846) with the Macabean conglomerate Kriegzimmer for new surface-to-air and anti-satellite missiles. This man was clearly readying for war, but against whom? Midlonia and Northford were threats, of course, but Malakov was a Nationalist; he could be planning an attack against Xirnium or Doomingsland. He might even have been planning to let the Doomani and Freeks weaken each other and finish them both off. Who knew...?

Nadia looked more beautiful, then the first time he saw her. Of course that was only a couple of hours ago. Miles realized that he had developed a crush on Nadia, and had tried to hide if from her. Maybe she knew or not. Though he still wondered about her pregnancy. Did she have a husband or was there so other story about that? Miles smiled at Naida. "Don't you look beautiful. I'm ready to go have dinner, with a lovely lady."

Nadia smiled back. "Thanks... that's really sweet." She led Miles back out of her apartment and down to the street.

"There's still a fair amount of crime on the streets," she said, looking down at her belt. "Not generally serious stuff, but if you aren't packing, some people will try to rob you here."

Miles looked out toward the city. It looked like all the other cities he had seen. They all started to blend in with each other. He started to walk and looked toward Nadia. She had beautiful gray eyes. "Nadia, I know this might sound strange, but where is husband?"

"I'm not married." Her apartment clearly looked like it wouldn't have room for a man in the house; it was decorated with a woman's trappings, and almost nothing masculine was in sight.

Nadia led Miles to the sidewalk outside the parking lot and stopped for traffic. When the light turned green, she led him across the street. There were three blocks between them and the Caribbean restaurant.

Miles carried on with trek toward the restaurant. He sighed for a moment and remembered back to her apartment. There was no vestige of man there. Miles coughed and cleared his throat. Miles abruptly stopped and also stopped Nadia. "Then how come your pregnant. I should not not ask?"

Nadia shook her head. "Damned if I know." She was about six months along, but had only found out about three months earlier. "All I know is, I found out about three months ago, that I was three months along. I think it had something to do with Kraven." She had heard of women being used as incubators ("birthing vectors (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10113768&postcount=9)") for the Capitol Police, the soldiers of the Corporation.

"I try not to think about it," she said finally.

The street now was bustling with military activity. Macabean-made SPAAG's and SAM launchers, as well as Kahanistanian Spartacus main battle tanks, moved through the streets. Roadblocks were a common sight, so trying to get through in a car could take hours. They were aimed at protecting the government in the current conflict and maintaining air supremacy. A huge Naram-Sin (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8604139&postcount=39) strategic bomber flew about 300 meters overhead as its pilot scouted for enemies. Its AAM arsenal would allow it to fight without an escort, but it was always safer with them and two GLI-76's flew alongside it.

"Malakov's probably flexing his new muscles," said Nadia. "He wants the world to see that Kahanistan is formidable... reminds me a little of General al-Ghazi. (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Abdullah_Hassan_al-Ghazi) He wanted the world to see Kahanistan as strong." Nationalist mentality.

Miles observed and exhaled. "I'm sorry if I brought back any bad memories. I will no discuss any more of your recent pregnancy. Will you accept my apologizes?"

Miles looked in awe at all the military hardware. Canadstein had no been in a over one hundred years and kept a relatively small active force. Though in recent years they had done some black ops work and hired Black Ridge, a Private Military Contractor, to take care of some of the work. Seeing the roadblocks he made the comment. "I guess you choose right on walking, but this seems a little excessive. When I came here I did not see anyone of this military forces. I'm think that Malakov flexing his muscles a little too much, if you ask me."

"It's all right," said Nadia. "I get a lot of people wondering. Anyway, even if Malakov's not involved in a setup, he's certainly not taking his time setting the military up for something big. I just hope we don't get in another war."

They were now just outside the Caribbean restaurant. Nadia led Miles to the door. "Here we are."

"Yeah, you're telling me. The worst thing that could happen is a war. General Kasagawa might be forgotten about and kept in jail. Just to rot there, until the end of the war. But lets keep hopeful thoughts." Miles held the door open for Nadia, and then entered the restaurant. "If a war was started to today would you support it?"

"Probably not," said Nadia. "Of course, I'd like to see Doomingsland destroyed, or Automagfreek. But realistically, we are simply not equipped to fight a long-term war. We would only lose horribly, we might do more damage with the Macabean weapons, but we'll still lose in the long run."

"The law states that General Kasagawa has to be charged within a week, or be released. Malakov will not risk violating the law, he seems to want the populace to support him. That's why the military dickwaving. He won't throw someone in jail and throw away the key."

Nadia had by now entered and the two had been seated. Menus were provided, as well as glasses of water.

"Our countries are so different, but we both have common goals. Though my country hasn't fought a war in exactly 134 years and that just a minor skirmish. We still commemorate the ending of that war. It is a time to think of what those men fought and died for." Miles said as he sat down. "Though that does not instantly make us peaceful people. Through some connections we have sent black ops teams into conflicts to monitor and help civilians. Like we have in Doomingsland occupied Kahanistan."

"So what do you suggest for dinner?" Miles asked as he put down his menu.

Nadia smiled again. She was doing that a lot today. "Jerk chicken and spiced corn are good, it's what I'm having. The virgin pina coladas here are pretty good, too."

A GLI-76 Falcon VTOL fighter swooped over the city, firing at something. When the sound died down, Nadia continued talking. "Can't drink alcohol while I still have the... you know. Not that I drink a lot anyway..."

"I think that I will actually take that. It sounds pretty good and I'm starving. I haven't eaten in almost a day." Miles saw the waiter come back and gave him his menu. "I will get the Jerk chicken and spiced corn, and this lovely lady will too. Nadia, do you care anything to drink? I'm content with my water."

Miles looked out the window hearing the a sound of a fighter, then it firing at something. He turned to Nadia. "Does that usually happen?"

"Virgin pina colada," said Nadia. Turning back to Miles, she shook her head. "No, it doesn't. This doesn't sound good at all..."

The waiter went off with there order and quickly returned with Nadia's Virgin pina colada. Miles was wary of all this military actions in the recent hours. When the fighter flew over, it actually scared him. He had never been official in war, but had done some covert missions on observing them from a distance. "I wonder what its doing up there and firing at. Also I wonder if it is the work of Malakov."

"Probably," said Nadia, getting started on her dinner. "We'll have to talk to him tomorrow, if we can still get in. This place looks like a war zone." She seemed very hungry, either from the stress or from the baby, or more likely a combination thereof.

"Maybe firing a warning shot. Could be showing their superiority to what our enemies have traditionally faced, old F-35's, MiG's, stuff like that."

"Yeah, looks like a war is going to happen soon." Miles said as he started to eat his dinner. He saw that Nadia looked to be stressed. Something was happening that she would not tell him about. He continued on with his meal. "I think a little talk with him might help tomorrow. So Nadia, tell me how you became a national hero."

"Well... a lot of my experiences in Kraven, aside from being... really... bad memories, are classified," Nadia replied, finishing off her first pina colada and asking the waiter for a refill.

"I can tell you that I was dropped into Kraven territory, that I entered facilities looking for information, under the guise of a Kraven officer, and that I participated in combat alongside the resistance. I can't tell you where the baby came from, and I'm not sure I want to know that myself."

When the waiter came back with her refill, Nadia had already finished off most of her plate.

Miles listened attentively to Nadia's story. It sounded like Nadia had been through a horrible and live scaring journey. Miles finished off his meal and saw that Nadia was finished. In the back of his mind he wondered how Nadia got that baby. Did the Kahanistan want her to get the baby, so they could study it? Mason cleared his throat and asked. "Is there anything you want to know about me? Also do you want anything else to eat?"

"I think I've had enough for now," Nadia replied, readying a cheque and tip for the waiter. "I suppose I could ask what your government's intention in placing an agent here is. Why has your government taken an interest in the conflict in the Defense Ministry?"

"Oh, its fine I will pay for it. Before I left for this mission, my government gave me some Kahanistanian Shekels." Miles put down some of the Shekels and the waiter came by, then took the money. He turned back to Nadia. "Honestly I have no idea. I just get my assignments and get the job do. There is a ring of politicians back home that are supports on keeping secret tabs on other countries. That is partly why we send black ops units into other countries, also its why the Canadstein Agent Department exists. I'm here to help, but to also keep an eye on Kahanistan. Though I think now I divulged a little too much information."

"Keep an eye on Kahanistan?" Nadia asked, her interest raised. She got up and picked up her jacket, ready to head back to her vehicle, at her apartment.

"Is there something our government is up to that might scare your leaders? The military buildup, the conflict, the anti-Catholicism that a lot of our people are embracing...?"

Miles followed Nadia and walked beside her. "We just don't keep an eye on your country, but almost every country. Where ever there is a problem or conflict there will be most likely a Canadsteinian Agent. We have nothing to be scared of your government, but we just like to keep a tab for future events. Though to me this military build up is alarming. Other agents in this country have probably already reported your countries activites. Just merely for the sake of intelligence ,nothing more."

Nadia led Miles out of the restaurant, heading back to her vehicle. Every street corner now had at least a Merkava IV main battle tank, although it was being phased out of frontline service; most had the more advanced Spartacus MBT (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=522552) and a few even had Nakils, though those were intended for training and not as combat forces.

Armed soldiers stood guard outside their vehicles. Motorists were held up trying to get around them; the soldiers' objective was not to block civilian traffic, but to keep the government facilities from being raided. Metzuda looked much like cities under threat from Kraven or Doomingsland now.

Sporadic sniper fire from the tops of buildings went on, the massive 14.5mm rounds of the Denel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denel_NTW-20) sniper rifles favored by Kahanistan's military echoing out loud noises. These weapons had proven effective against Kraven and were among the few weapons that could do appreciable damage to a Sardaukar without a wall of lead. Smaller Dragunov sniper rifles were also fired, as they were not as large as the Denel. Occasionally the 105mm ETC gun of a tank would loose an APFSDS or thermobaric round, taking care not to harm civilians. Automatic rifle fire was more or less a constant.

"Where are you staying?" asked Nadia. "It'll be hell getting you around in a car now..."

Miles flinched as he heard the sporadic fire around him. Seeing the old equipment, to Miles it looked like a military coup was going to happen so, but Nadia had said it was to show off Kahanistan's military power. He wondered if they would make it make to the Ministry of Defense. Miles zoned out and stopped, until Nadia asked him a question. He kept on looking out toward the military personnel. "I have no idea..."

"Well, we can head back to my apartment, then... I know it isn't ideal, but it's a lot safer than trying to get you to a hotel in this war zone. The Midlonians already hit a studio for preaching hate, and the Foreign Ministry, and the Presidential Palace is under siege. Luckily, neither side is targeting civilians here, so we should be safe."

They were across the street from Nadia's apartment. A column of tanks roared by them, heading for the Defense Ministry.

Miles watched the tanks roar by. "I wonder why they are in a hurry. It looks like they are headed for the Ministry of Defense. Its just a matter of time before a war stops. Why for all the military build up except for one thing? War."

They arrived back at Nadia's apartment. "I just hope it doesn't escalate. The Midlonians seem intent on disabling our government, and keeping us as a protectorate, even though we voted to break away and act independently. But if those Naram-Sin bombers get here in large numbers, and pose a major threat to the Midlonians, they'll have to decide if it's worth it. Personally, I'm all for remaining as a protectorate as long as our people enjoy their freedom, but that's anathema to the Nationalists, and pretty much everyone who isn't a Communist or Socialist. 'National sovereignty for the win,' they say. But we haven't shown a lot of regard for sovereignty when we try to intercede in some genocidal regime..."

She opened the door to her apartment and let Miles in. "I suppose I should show you around..."

"So you would not support a free Kahanistan? So even if you still had freedoms you don't care if you are just a pawn of the Midlonians. I'm glad that Canadstein has remained free and never been under the rule of a outside force. So Nationalist want to fight for freedom, but do commit extreme acts to do it. It sounds like both sides just need to stop the blood shed." Miles walked into the apartment shaking his head.

Nadia led Miles down the hall to her room. Like her living room, it was fairly sparsely decorated and no trace of anything masculine was to be found, except for the blue sheets. A small nightstand was next to the bed, upon which was an alarm clock and a boom box sat on her dresser. Numerous medals, patches, and certificates from the military and the Communist Party adorned the wall next to her mirror.

She sat down, vaguely offended. "It's not that we want to be a pawn of the Midlonians. It's a matter of survival, do you think we could resist a Doomani invasion again, even with Kriegzimmer's weapons? Listen, I don't want bloodshed any more than you do. That's why I think we should let the Midlonians do more of the building and let us concentrate on getting our economy back on its feet."

Miles looked around at her room and marveled at the medals, patches, and certificates from the military and the Communist Party adorned the wall next to her mirror. She had achieve so much in so little amount of time. Most of the activities Miles were going to never be revealed to the public. If he died on a mission, then he was listed as dying of natural causes.

Miles also sat down and viewed Nadia. "Yes, but do you want the Midlonians to control your people, doing whatever they want to you? The Doomani invasion was horrible, we had a couple of men listed as "Missing in Action" during the occupation, and maybe becoming a protectorate of Midlonia was the only way. Though you had known that at least half of the people would oppose this action."

Nadia shook her head. "I don't want them to control our people," she said. "But at least they won't be torturing us as heretics, they'll allow us the same personal freedoms we've always had... even a degree of self-governance, to be increased as long as we aren't too interventionistic."

She opened her closet door. It was a small closet, a couple of formal suits, about eight different kinds of uniform, three or four sets of civilian clothes, and some other clothes. She had more military than civilian in that closet. Nadia pulled an old sundress that looked like she'd been sleeping in it down and set it on her bed.

"It's not the best scenario," said Nadia. "The best scenario would be them helping us rebuild, but their conditions, the way I see them, are just that the Midlonians don't want to keep rebuilding every time we get bombed or invaded. We have a lot of criticism for our policies, we lost the Xirniumites as allies over some of them." She seemed cynical.

Miles stood up and moved toward Nadia's window. From the window he could see the tanks and soldiers moving on the street, when he looked up he could see planes flying maneuvers. It was like a calm before a violent storm. He listened to Nadia, and turned back toward her. Behind her beautiful face laid a fiery passion. When he first met her, Miles deeply underestimated her. "Kahanistan is a protectorate of Midlonia only to get help on rebuilding. It seems sad that these people here only know war. I hope that one day a generation can be born without seeing a war or conflict in the world. We should all hope for peace."

Nadia nodded and picked up the sundress. "I agree. There are starving people in Hataria, and we're taking money that could be feeding them and using it to buy weapons to kill people and hurt people and show off our balls to the Midlonians. I joined to help people in need, not to blow people to hell over some political conflict."

She walked into her closet and closed the door. About two minutes later, she came out wearing the sundress. It looked like she'd had it for years and was a little snug on her new pregnant frame. It was white with some flowery designs on it and little in the way of frills.

When Nadia, came out of the closet, she looked simply beautiful. Miles mouth was agape. He looked to be stunned, as he gaze at her beauty. Coming to his senses he smiled. "Sorry if I stared, but I can not understand how you can still be pregnant, but at the same time be so beautiful."

Miles moved away from the window and back toward the chair. "If you simply stopped fighting wars, we could make so much of this planet. We could end world hunger and poverty. Maybe even a United Earth would exist, but its simply a dream. But the both of us are just mere pawns in this chess game."

Nadia smiled and sat down on the bed, then flopped down on her back. "It's not just a dream... it's possible, but the Nationalists need to be stopped, and we need to find the truth about General Kasagawa."

---

General Kasagawa was moved to another prison in a remote area after repeated complaints of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of her jailers. She was also granted access to a Catholic priest and a medical worker who documented the evidence of her abuse.

This abuse was not aimed at procuring a confession; it was simply expression of the outrage felt by the guards, who after all came from the general population and carried the outrage over alleged collaboration that everyone else did.

---

General Malakov had had four glasses of vodka, and he wasn't feeling too well. He slept it off in his bed that night, with a large bucket next to it for him to be sick in; he was under far more stress than usual and had gotten ill. He would return to work the next day, but be badly hung over. His wife had come in to take him from the office.

"Aha...I almost forgot why I was originally sent here. I wonder how General Kasagawa is doing." Miles said as he observed Nadia on the bed. He walked over and sat next to her. "Do you believe that the Nationalist are behind the letter?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Nadia replied. She was tired from the long day, the shootout, the army moving all over the place, and wondering why General Malakov had involved her at all. She wasn't much of an intelligence officer, and she'd gone to teaching at the military academy after getting out of Kraven. She was, however, also a Communist politician. Maybe that had something to do with it...

"But we don't have any proof. Maybe it'll be clearer in the morning," she said. "If those big guns (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=447005) don't keep us awake all night." Kahanistan had imported a good two thousand of them for use against the strongest of invaders.

"Well its getting late...I think I will go to bed now. I will see you in the morning." Miles got up and went to the door. He tried to grab up the doorknob, but turned around. Going back to Nadia, Miles bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you Nadia for letting me stay here."

Miles quickly got back up and went back into the living room. He sat down on the couch and quickly fell asleep, after being awake for almost forty hours.

0500 hours

General Nora Kasagawa was brought before a military tribunal. Malakov had evidently informed the media; over a hundred media outlets from roughly a dozen countries were surrounding the courthouse, along with about five thousand anti-Catholic demonstrators.

Kasagawa was brought into the tribunal in a thick black van which backed up to the court building and escorted in secretly, dressed in full body armor with Level IV+ protection in case someone decided to kill her.

The tribunal had been convened to hear the charge of treason. General Khalid al-Zamrati, a non-Nationalist, presided over the trial.

"General of the Republic Guard Nora Kasagawa, ID RG-19061952-B, you are charged with high treason, aiding the enemy, contributing to a designated terrorist organization, and gross malfeasance of office resulting in death. How do you plead to these charges?

"Not guilty."

---

At the same time, Nadia woke up. She picked up a civilian dress and a uniform, then went to the shower, slipping off her sundress. When she finished getting clean for the day, she put on her civilian dress, and put her uniform in a backpack. To an onlooker, she would look like a college student taking her books with her.

When she was dressed it was about 5:30 AM. Nadia microwaved some oatmeal for breakfast and checked her email, sitting down on her recliner chair while using her laptop. There was nothing of consequence, just bust enhancement ads and other spam.

0600

Miles woke up with sweat all over his body. Off in the distance he could hear the chatter of firearms. His hand moved toward his forehead to wipe off the sweat. Seeing a little more clearly he saw that Nadia was in the chair near him. Miles got up and stretched. The rest had defiantly helped him. Though he still felt like he could use another hour. Miles checked his Beretta,then sat back down and observed the time.

Miles looked back up and toward Nadia. "Good morning Nadia. Sorry if my kiss made you feel awkward, but there was something that drove me to do it. I guess I let my emotions get the best of me. So what time do you think we will go back to the Ministry of Defense?"

"I was thinking whenever you were ready to head off," replied Nadia. "There's no way it'll be a fifteen-minute drive, and as you see, I don't even want to go out in uniform." She nodded in the direction of her backpack. "My uniform's in that, I'll change when I get there."

Nadia got up. "Shower's down the hall, there's instant tea and coffee in the kitchen."

Miles nodded, then quickly went to the shower. After he changed into a new pair of cloths, from the suitcase he brought along. Then he went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. This was defiantly going to wake up him. He gulped down the coffee, and returned to the waiting Nadia. "Well...let's go, Nadia."

"OK." She unlocked the door and led Miles out, then locked it for the trip. Artillery was now parading through the streets, occasionally loosing a 155mm or 280mm ETC shell at something.

Nadia went to the elevator, heading for the bottom floor and the door, where her parking garage and her vehicle were located. "It'll probably be a couple of hours with all these soldiers milling about. Looks just like when we were at war with Kraven."

Miles looked at the increased military activity. It looked to a matter of time before total war broke out, but against who still alluded him. Miles entered the elevator, and exited once they got to the parking garage. He followed Nadia to her car and entered it. "Nadia, have you ever loved someone?"

Nadia climbed into the driver's seat and buckled up. "I have. Why do you ask?" she replied as she started her engine and put the car into gear.

She could tell that Miles was attracted to her, but didn't want to let that slip, in case he was trying to hide it. She backed out of the parking lot.

"Never mind..." Miles said as he looked out the window, as the car turned onto the main street. He buckled himself and thought of all the information he had gathered so far.

Nadia drove nervously, making frequent detours around the heavier military groups and avoiding the artillery pieces like the plague. At the lighter groups, she was able to drive around, but traffic jams were widespread. It took an hour and a half to make what should have been a fifteen-minute drive to the Defense Ministry.

The Defense Ministry was surrounded by over a hundred Spartacus main battle tanks, a dozen Nakils, and more Macabean anti-air and artillery units than Nadia could count. Over a thousand soldiers surrounded the building, sandbagging around it and setting up machine gun and sniping posts.

An intimidating man in full body armor, carrying a Sarzonian-made S-200 Quinn and Collins battle rifle, demanded the ID cards from Nadia and Miles.

"Your ID's?"

Miles marveled at the defense, that magically appeared over night, that had been set up at the Ministry of Defense. It had drastically changed from the building he had visited yesterday. He defiantly needed to talk to General Malatov. When the soldier asked for a ID, Miles turned toward Nadia. "I have no idea what he is talking about..."

"He just wants identification and for you to state your business," said Nadia. She handed her ID to the guard. "I'm going to meet with General Malakov."

"General Sklenova." He looked at her, as if wondering why she wasn't in uniform. "Your friend will have to show identification if he's going in."

There was nothing magical about the defenses; the sandbags were an improvised defense and the soldiers and vehicles had been called in from nearby military bases around the city.

Miles rummaged through his wallet and produced his driver's license. He showed the guard and stated. "I'm here to see General Malakov."

Miles turned back toward Nadia, and said. "Sorry, I thought he meant some sort of special ID."

"You may progress," said the guard.

Nadia drove through, entering the parking lot. She unbuckled, turned off the engine, and got out of the car, heading for the front entrance of the Ministry, which now had four machine gun nests outside of it, propped on sandbags.

Numerous attack helicopters and VTOL fighters at low altitude flew over the building complex. The fog of war loomed grimly over the Defense Ministry.

"It seems like your country is pretty fit if a war were to happen on the next day. The only time I have seen this much military power up close is at a military parade." Miles said as he got out of the car and leaned against it. He observed the helicopter and fighters flying over him.

"I hope so," said Nadia. "If Northford makes any aggressive moves, I want to be able to defend here." She stepped in, and was greeted by a security detail. They proceeded to escort Nadia and Miles to General Malakov's office, where he was speaking to General Devidius. Malakov appeared hung over, as if he had spent the night drinking.

Miles greeted both General Devidius and Malakov. "So any more news on General Kasagawa? And General Malakov why all of a sudden a increase of the military presences?"

"General Kasagawa's trial started this morning," replied General Malakov. He chugged a large glass of water to rehydrate and alleviate his hangover. "The Midlonians, as you know, have been raiding (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525340) our government agencies and dissident TV, arresting politicians who oppose them, and making life hell for anyone who advocates an anti-Catholic ideology." Malakov gave Mason a copy of the Kahanistan National News.

---

METZUDA (AP) - Defense Minister Nora Kasagawa has been formally charged with four offenses: high treason, aiding the enemy, contributing to a designated terrorist organization, and gross malfeasance of office resulting in death. She has pled not guilty to all charges.

If convicted of all four charges, she can face a sentence of up to eighty years in prison. In the interim, General Iosif Malakov will assume the post of Acting Defense Minister.

The Ministry of Defense has undertaken unusual policy changes following the arrest of General Kasagawa, leading to numerous conspiracy theories regarding anti-Catholic or Doomani activity.

Sofiya Amanadeh,
Kahanistan National News

Miles stared at the Kahanistan National News, then threw the paper down to the ground. He angrily looked back toward the group of Generals. "Well there goes trying to keep this whole ordeal a secret."

Miles sat down at a nearby chair and said. "Still why all this military build up so quickly? There is only reason, war. People already talking about war. Honestly General Malakov, what are you true intentions? Do you want bring this country to war and destruction?"

"No," said Malakov. "I want to preserve the freedoms our brothers and sisters fought and died for, fighting against Kraven, Automagfreek, Doomingsland... I am not about to sit by while we become a Midlonian puppet state, taking orders from Swadlincote.*"

He stood out of his chair, now sounding increasingly angry. "We did not flee Doomani oppression to have our right to speak freely trampled upon by those who claim to be our protectors. I may not agree with these people who advocate the expulsion of all Catholics, but I will not let the Midlonians interfere with their right to speak freely about their views."

Malakov advanced to the water cooler, glass in hand, and prepared to fill up. "The man who was shot in my office last night is in a coma, but expected to recover in a few weeks, once they've figured the extent of the damage. He's in stable condition." The blood had already been cleaned up overnight.

*Capital of Midlonia.

"Then for god's sake start the damn war. The Midlonians are already probably on high alert. I hope you can live knowing that you sent people to their graves over nothing. To me it seems you have overstepped your powers. Someone should be trying to stop you, before this thing turns deadly." Miles said as he angrily looked at General Malakov.

"They shouldn't take care of that assassin. The doctors should take him off life support and kill him. It tried to kill a person for no reason. For all we know, General Kasagawa might be innocent." Miles just shook his head and headed for the door. He closed the door behind him and leaned on the wall. Miles knew that he needed to cool down.

General Malakov sat back down at his desk, continuing his discussion with Devidius.

"We mobilize Army Group New Sodom to establish a beach head, then greet the Midlonians with artillery and heavy bombers as they advance. That should stall their eastern forces long enough for us to finish our long-range heavy artillery project... and force Midlonia to the negotiating table. If the Praetonians refuse aid, then we ready for a nuclear response to further Midlonian aggression."

"I see where you're coming from, Defense Minister. But... what if the Midlonians attack from the west, or Northford joins the war? We are outnumbered four to one. We don't stand a chance."

"Then... we go over to the Sovereign League for help. We apply to join. But the Praetonians' conditions so far seem to be unacceptable. I have plans if that fails as well..."

---

Nadia left with Miles. "He seems really mad. I think you insulted him. We're going to put that assassin on trial when he recovers... maybe he can tell us who he's working for. If Kasagawa is being framed, then he might say who's behind the frame-up."

"I hope you all blow each other to kingdom come. Can't you just learn that War is the worst option? People are going to die and suffer. The government makes the choices, but how about the people? They are innocent. People like Malakov will never learn. There will always be war mongers, and maybe there has to be someone to stand up to them." Miles stated as looked off into the distance.

Nadia looked like she might start crying. "I know... war is a last resort. We aren't a warlike people... we just want to be free. I hope that peace talks can succeed and we can find some solution. Maybe your government could help us come to a peaceful agreement with the Midlonians."

"Peace has been killed here. There is only one route left, war. For all these wars it has only created more conflict, which will lead to more war. There will never be peace here. Only hate, violence, and death." Miles said as he looked toward Nadia.

"We've got to find some way to stop this cycle," said Nadia. Her voice was starting to crack. "I don't think that General Malakov wants war, he's just rattling the saber for now, so the Midlonians will back down. The Midlonians want to keep us from angering the rest of the world, and I think they have some good ideas."

Nadia wasn't worried about Malakov hearing her through the door; he was still talking with General Devidius and nursing a hangover.

"We do need to clamp down on right-wingers preaching hate. We need to stop this cycle before we go into another war." She placed her hands on her stomach. "This is no place to raise a baby in."

"But what if Midlonians don't back down and come back in force. They could destroy all of this land and kill all of the people. All of these work would be for nothing. It would just be a waste of everything. How can this keep on happening? Can't people just learn..." Miles said as he held Nadia. "Then leave, with your baby, and find a more peaceful land. A place where your child does not have to live with the constant fear of war."

"The Midlonians won't kill us. Their goal is to protect the people... they see themselves as liberating us from our government. I don't know what to do..."

---

Malakov opened the door and came out. He had not heard any of the conversation.

"Now, I am not a warmonger. I am more than willing to talk to the Midlonians, but they've already shot out speakers on the Presidential Palace when their commander wanted to talk. These people are beyond negotiating with. That's why I've called in the bombers, the artillery, the soldiers... Do you really think someone who shoots the messenger can be negotiated with? They are like the Doomani. They have an ideological opposition to our state that cannot be resolved through rational discussion. I am willing to talk to them if only to prove that."

"Or is that what they want you to believe..." Miles said, before Malakov entered the hall. He looked at the General. Quickly he became nervous wondering if Miles had heard the conversation between the two. "Still isn't all of this show of power a little excess? What is honestly showing? Nothing, but a country wanting to go to war.

"That we will fight if necessary, and it will be, to prevent Midlonia from removing our sovereignty," replied Malakov. "That they will suffer heavy losses in their efforts, and hopefully withdraw before their ability to wage war is destroyed. If the Presidential Palace falls, I am authorized as Minister of Defense to declare martial law and deploy WMD, but I do not want the situation to degenerate to that point, which is why I hope the Questarians and Praetonians will bring about negotiations before the situation becomes that dire."

Malakov sighed. "If the Midlonians withdraw, then there will be no war. We will simply have a deterrent force to stop a Northfordian invasion, but Kahanistan will never be the aggressor in any war."

"Do whatever you want...but remember that the lives of this nation lie on your back. If you fall, so will this country. You have to think of your actions now because they will affect the future. But right now thats not important. What is important is trying to clear General Kasagawa's name. One of our leads is in a coma. So General Malatov who did you believe would frame General Kasagawa?" Miles said, as he walked back into the room.

"Well, we know it was a general who sent the message to implicate General Kasagawa," replied Malakov. "We also know it was someone with access to the area where the command terminals are held. Now, if General Kasagawa is guilty, then the topic is moot and we have our suspect. If, however, she is innocent, we can begin to look at others affiliated with the Nationalist Party, or possibly even a real collaborator who decided to throw investigators off the trail. We have two other Catholic generals and four Nationalist generals including myself who had the opportunity to do this."

Malakov continued. "Believe me, if I had any more specific ideas than that, I would have already acted on them, restricted their access to the command terminals, placed them under surveillance. Now, I have military police looking through records in order to find out if any classified information made it to the Doomani. We will determine her guilt or innocence when the court has enough evidence to convict or acquit her. But I personally do not see her returning to the Defense Ministry."

"I say we check out the other three Nationalist Generals, and put them under surveillance. I just having a feeling that this is all the Nationalists work." Miles said as he looked out the window and the street below. "Also how about we get some security footage of who was at the terminal when the message was sent? Maybe that can reveal some of the unanswered questions."

"We've already tried that," said General Devidius. Malakov had left the door open, so Devidius heard everything.

"The security cameras weren't preserved during the displacement of the government. Remember, this message was timestamped three days before the Doomani invasion, we were barely able to set the archives on fire and blow the mainframes before we got out of there. It was a stroke of luck that the drive with the message to Manus Dei among other things was preserved when some security personnel took the more critical drives with them while fleeing."

"Okay so another thread has been broken." Miles stated. "So lets meet these three other Generals then."

Miles walked to the door and entered the hallway.

"Another of them is right here, four doors down from me," said Malakov. "General Bob Hoffman, he defended the beachhead against the Freeks. Came to the conservative fold after the Pwnage war. He's in his office, I think." Malakov led the group down the hall to another office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a voice on the other side.

Malakov opened the door. "General Robert Hoffman, commander of Army Group New Sodom. Bob, this is General Tiberius Devidius, Director of Military Intelligence, this is Miles... Mason, from Canadsteinian Intelligence, and General Nadia Sklenova, from the Air Force. We'd like to talk with you about this letter from General Kasagawa."

General Hoffman raised his head. He was an older blond man in his late 50's, with a thin face, large arms, and a wary look in his eyes. A grizzled war veteran, it was quite easy to picture him holding a position against the Freeks.

"What about it? I don't see what that has to do with me. Mr... Mason, was it? What brings your government to my office?"

OOC: Telegram for KAhanistan. I do hate doing this, and I apologize.

"We believe that a Nationalist General framed General Kasagawa. General Malakov pointed you out as a Nationalist along with two other generals. So General Hoffman you are a suspect in this case. We have just come here to ask you some simple questions." Miles replied.

"Framed?" replied General Hoffman, his voice showing clear contempt. He certainly didn't seem to think she was framed. "Well, what do you want to ask me?"

"Yes framed." Miles stated once more. "Do you admit to being a Nationalist?"

"Yes, I am," replied the general. "And I suppose you're going to say I framed her, because I am a Nationalist. Now, what do you have on me, besides that I'm a member of the Nationalist Party?"

"Well we have narrowed down the suspects to being a General and a Nationalist. You are both along with three other Generals. You are just a suspect. It doesn't you mean are guilty." Miles replied. Miles turned back toward Malakov. "What day was that transmission sent to Manus Dei from that terminal?"

"The third of February, 2007," replied Malakov. "Three days before the Doomani invasion. Where were you on that day?"

"I was most likely commanding our eastern defenses, near the border with Whyatican Arabia. There are thousands of survivors who could testify to that," said General Hoffman. "We were the first army group to spot the bastards, but the politicians... didn't want to fight them, concentrated on the Doomani... hoping the Whyaticans' political will wouldn't last the campaign."

He seemed to have a problem with the politicians making bad tactical choices and hamstringing him from doing his job. He seemed bitter, cynical... but not necessarily involved in a frame-up.

"Okay thank you for your time and cooperating General Hoffman." Miles stated. General Hoffman was not of the boat yet. He could see be part of a group that masterminded the whole letter scheme. Miles walked along side Nadia, to the next General. "Do you thin that Hoffman was the one who sent the message from the terminal?"

"Not sure," replied Nadia. "He seems to think General Kasagawa is guilty. I think he's loyal to the military, though... I don't think he framed her."

"Well, the next one... Samarra Rakhmadi, head of weapon design. Her office is on the twenty-ninth sub-floor, there's an elevator back down the corridor past my office," said General Malakov. "That's probably the fastest way to get to her, unless you want to go down thirty-some flights of stairs."

"Ok lead the way...General Malakov." Miles kept his space between Malakov and talked in a whisper. "If you get through the next two Generals and they seem to be innocent, then it has to be General Malakov. If it comes to this you have to get security ready. I don't want him getting away."

General Malakov was older and did not hear the conversation. He was more focused on leading the way, anyway.

Nadia nodded her head slightly, but didn't speak, in case one of the other generals heard her. General Devidius didn't seem to pay any attention to the discussion, figuring that Mason was simply talking about something he didn't particularly want to hear about.

The Deputy Defense Minister led the group into the elevator, and pressed the buttons for the 29th subfloor, leading to a well-lit deep basement floor with artificial windows set to disguise the fact that they were thirty floors below ground.

They would then approach an office door with a nameplate, and General Malakov knocked. An older Arabic woman in her mid-50's, about 5'9", with dark hair worn down and a somewhat wrinkled face answered the door. She was in uniform with three stars and numerous medals. A bald streak was on the top of her head, as if she had been grazed by a bullet or wounded by shrapnel many years ago. This was clearly General Samarra Rakhmadi.

"Lieutenant General Rakhmadi," said the woman. She extended her hand to General Sklenova. "I've heard of your actions in Kraven. What brings you here?"

"We are investigating a case of treason in the Defense Ministry," said Devidius as the two women shook hands. "We've narrowed the search down to two Nationalist generals." He did not want to leak that General Malakov was still a suspect. He probably suspects, anyway...

"Ah. Nasty business, that," said Rakhmadi. "And who might you be?" she asked, looking at Mason.

Miles stepped off the elevator wondering how far the building went down. He followed the group into the General's office and waited to be addressed.

"Ahh...I am Miles Mason, Canadstein Intelligence Agency. I have come here to help aid in the trial of General Kasagawa. We have reasons to believe that a General, specifically a Nationalist one, framed Genearl Kasagawa. We have already seen General Hoffman and you were the next on your list." Miles said as he viewed General Rakhmadi. "I have one question for you. Where were you on February 3, 2007 and also do you have any proof of being there?"

Rakhmadi frowned. "So that's what this is about. I was in the Defense Ministry, in the office. I can't believe there are still people who think that she's innocent."

She walked over to her coffee maker and poured a mug of strong Arabic coffee. "General Kasagawa is a Catholic traitor. She was in league with the Doomani from day one. Why do you think we lost the war so rapidly? Whose decision do you think it was to ground the air force?" Rakhmadi opened a drawer under her desk and pulled out several cups. "Care for any?" she asked, picking up her coffee maker.

"No thank you." Miles said as he shook his hand.

"Well she is innocent to me until I see some real proof, not some damn letter. People make mistakes. I'm sure that you have a mistake that you look back on with regret. Sometimes we have stop looking at the past and hope for a better future. Can you tell me your exact location for the day and the times you came and left the Ministry of Defense?"

"Nine to five," replied Rakhmadi. "But with the buildup, I might have been there later, putting in more hours. We needed to rush the designs for our tanks to be out there by the time the Doomani got here. No one thought they would advance so fast... that we would crumble under the Unity Gun so rapidly."

"And I believe that we wouldn't, if there weren't traitors who followed the Doomani Church rather than our ideals of freedom and democracy in our Defense Ministry."

General Sklenova, who had accepted a cup from the older woman, was about half finished with it. "You hate Catholics that much, do you?"

Rakhmadi nodded. "Fate was kind to you, General Sklenova. You've never felt the bite of their treachery face to face. You were in Kraven when the worst of this went on, and then sent to Xirnium to negotiate assistance. I just hope you never have to see in person just how evil these people are."

"Thank you for giving us your time General Rakhmadi. General Sklenova, you can start here and finish your talk with General Rakhmadi. General Devidius and Malakov, and I will make are way to the last suspected General." Miles stood by the door waiting for General Malakov. General Rakhmadi was defiantly a suspect. She harbored very anti-Catholic views and saw General Kasagawa as a traitor. So that left her and General Malakov as the major suspects. Only one person was left.

Sklenova and Rakhmadi continued to talk. They would exchange views, and the younger woman found much of the three-star general's anti-Catholic views offensive. For her part, Rakhmadi was intrigued by Sklenova's apparent naivete. Sklenova wouldn't drink too much coffee for fear of hurting the baby, but the two generals did sit there, discussing politics, tactics, and the Midlonians while eating large numbers of crisps.

---

Malakov nodded. "General Muhammad ibn Rakim al-Zanbar, Under-Minister of Defense for Civilian Protection. The last Nationalist on our list. His office is two floors down." He led Devidius and Mason to a stairwell.

"General Rakhmati is very strong on her views. She might have done it, but right now she is still a suspect." Miles followed the pair of men down the stairs. It was only a matter of time...

General al-Zanbar's office door was open, but he did not appear to be in. Photographs of a smiling Arabic man of about 65 adorned his wall, dressed in uniform. There were photographs of him surrounded by rubble, supervising the distribution of necessities to injured and homeless civilians, apparently taken during the Pwnage terror bombing.

One of the more prominent photos was of him driving a supply truck up to a bombed-out church. A Catholic bishop and a group of congregants were collecting the goods from the back of the truck.

The sound of footsteps came behind the two generals and Mason. Malakov turned around and was greeted with the man in the photographs, whose nametag identified him as General al-Zanbar.

"Can I help you?" asked the old man.

Miles looked at the pictures and studied each one carefully. He stopped at the one with the Catholic priest. Miles thought that most nationalist were anti-Catholic, but it seemed like General al-Zanbar carried more if they were people in the need of help. Hearing footsteps Miles turned around to see the last General. Miles put out his hand and said "Miles Mason, Canadstein Intelligence Agency, I'm just here to ask you some questions. They are for the trial of General Kasagawa.”

"Very well, come into the office," said the general. Anti-Catholicism was not part of the Nationalist Party's official policy, but the hardline stance against Doomingsland as well as national pride attracted those with anti-Catholic views to the Party, although about one-fourth of the Nationalists' Senate seats were held by Catholics.

"Now, what can I do to assist the investigation?"

"Where were you on February 3, 2007 and also do you have any proof of being there?" Miles said as he entered the room and got a better look of it. Then his eyes locked on General al-Zanbar.

"Can't say I have any proof," said General al-Zanbar. "But I was overseeing the defenses around our water supplies, hospitals, and civil defense system. We were on the brink of war that day."

He took a deep breath. "I hope you aren't implying that I had anything to do with General Kasagawa's situation. What kind of proof would you require of my whereabouts on that day?

"We are implying nothing. I just wanted to know your whereabouts. Though we know that Nationalist General is planning something, but thats all you need to know. Also you can prove that you were at the location by somebody that saw you there." Miles said as looked around the room.

"I believe the supervisors and workers at the civil defense facilities could corroborate for me. There are probably a few of them still working here, although most of them were probably killed in the bombing of the capital, or trapped when the Doomani closed the border."

---

General Rakhmadi's office

Lt. General Rakhmadi had drunk about four glasses of wine over the last hour, and was still talking to General Sklenova.

"Did you see For the Children, Nadia? The woman on that show... her son was killed by the Whyaticans and the Doomani, and his body was shipped to his family cut in half." With the wine in her system, Rakhmadi was even more open about her views, and was overly friendly with Sklenova.

"No, I didn't," said Sklenova. "But... that was done by the Whyaticans. I don't see how that supports your indictment of Catholics."

"The actual killing was... but the torture, that was used by the Inquisition. The Doomani still do that, to break people, to make them convert." She pulled a Doomani version of the Bible out of her desk. It was written in Doomani Latin, with English clarifications in Rakhmadi's hand in the margins. The clarifications were damning indictments that supported her views of the Church.

"Nadia, I hope that your child does not ever have to know Doomani tyranny." The older general placed her hand on Nadia's stomach. "It is for that generation, that I hope that the Midlonians are driven out, and they take the Catholics with them."

"General Rakhmadi... it was really nice meeting you, but I really have to talk to General Malakov." She shook Rakhmadi's hand again and placed her wine bottle back in the drawer, then left her. She didn't want her to poison herself.

"Okay I believe that is all we have to know for now. Thank you General al-Zanbar for cooperating and helping with this case." Miles walked outside the office and went back to the elevator. "So that was the last Nationalist General besides yourself General Malakov. Can you tell us where you were on that February day?"

"Where I was?" asked Malakov. "I was in the Ministry, of course. I was trying to keep the Air Force airborne and to urge the rest of the General Staff to fight. You can't seriously believe that I had anything to do with this..." His cell rang.

"Malakov... Oh. I'm on the 31st sub-floor, near General al-Zanbar's office. Just down the two flights of stairs... You're welcome."

He turned back to Mason. "That was General Sklenova. She's just finished talking to Rakhmadi, she's gone into one of her drunken ramblings again..."

"Well you are both a General and a Nationalist, so you are a suspect." Miles kept one of his hands on his Bereatta, in case if General Malakov tried to do anything.

"Suspect... why can we not simply accept that General Kasagawa is a traitor? I didn't want to, either, but you can't possibly be trying to blame this unfortunate affair on me," replied General Malakov.

His eyes glanced down at Mason's weapon. "So you're going to shoot me because you can't find anything to exonerate her... why are we even in this situation?"

General Sklenova could be seen from a distance, approaching the group.

"Because I believe General Kasagawa and think that she is innocent. I'm not outright saying that you framed General Kasagawa, but you are one of four suspects. Also I would never shoot an innocent man, though how do we know that it wasn't you General Malakov? You could be behind everything..." Miles kept his hand on his Beretta and looked straight at General Malakov.

"You'll have to trust me on that," replied Malakov. "The tribunal will hear the evidence, and render a just verdict. If they cannot prove her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, she will be released." He did not, however, mention the damage to her career that could result.

General Sklenova arrived at where the group was talking. "What's going on here?"

"Trust you...why the hell should I trust you. You even said the culprit was a Nationalist and General. Both Hoffman and al-Zanbar seemed to both be innocent and have people backing them up saying that they were not here. Unlike General Rakhmadi and you. That only leaves her and you." Miles did not look away from General Malakov, but answered Nadia's question. "I'm just asking Malakov, here, some questions. Isn't that right?"

Malakov nodded grimly. He seemed to be at a loss for words.

Nadia shook her head. "Rakhmadi's innocent. She's pretty anti-Catholic, but she's really nice. She wouldn't frame someone for anything, even after four glasses of wine, she still insisted that Kasagawa was guilty and that Catholics had to be expelled."

She shrugged her shoulders. "There could be a real collaborator in the Defense Ministry, though I can't think of any reason to commit such disgusting treachery."

Miles' Beretta within a second was point at Malakov. The gun was pointed straight for Malakov. "That means it was you Malakov...you framed General Kasagawa...don't move or I will blow your damn brain out. Nadia call for security now!"

"I don't have the security's phone number," replied Nadia.

General Devidius nodded. "It's all right, I do." He pulled his cell. "We've got an armed confrontation, 31st subfloor... near the Civilian Protection office."

"They'll be here in about ten minutes." The elevator was a long drop, to this area.

Malakov had a flak jacket on under his uniform, but knew that it would not protect him from a head shot. He looked back at Mason angrily.

"Idiot! Just because you are unwilling to face the reality that Kasagawa is a traitor does not give you the right to make these accusations against me without evidence!" He stared at Nadia. "I am doing what I can to protect this country from traitors, from foreign invaders, so that my grandchildren, and your child I might add, do not grow up kissing Innocent's ring!" he shouted, referring to the Doomani Pope.

"Maybe your just scared because we finally found our culprit, you. Nadia do not believe what he says. He is a poison to this country and must be stopped now. General Malakov is the only General left. The other three have been cleared. He is the real traitor." Miles kept his aim on General Malakov, but also had an eye on Nadia. He wondered if he could truly trust her. Now was the chance to prove it.

Nadia was somewhat shaken from being yelled at. She would not be surprised if Malakov were involved in a frame-up, but didn't like the scene with the weapons being drawn.

"Listen to me," she said to the Deputy Defense Minister. "I won't believe anything without evidence, and I don't think the courts will, either. If, as you say, there is no evidence against you, you have nothing to fear. But, if you did frame General Kasagawa... then may whatever there is have mercy on you."

Malakov looked back at Nadia. He had involved her to remove allegations of political motivations behind the trial of General Kasagawa. Now she seemed to him to be siding with this foreigner. He took a few breaths, then sat against the wall. The security arrived within thirty seconds.

"OK," said the security officer. "What's the problem here?"

Miles lowered his Beretta and looked toward the security officer. "Arrest General Malakov. He is a primary suspect in the Kasagawa Case. I don't want him escaping any time soon."

Miles turned toward Nadia. "We will find this evidence. I just know it was Malakov. He is the last General and Nationalist that we have not talked to. The others seemed to have taken no action in framing General Kasagawa."

The security officer looked quizzically at Mason's weapon, then at Malakov, who merely shook his head weakly.

"OK... come with us." The officer escorted the general toward the elevator. He appeared to be in shock.

"Somehow I don't think this case is over," said Nadia.

"Its far from over. It is only the beginning." Miles followed the officer along with the other Generals.

The security officers began to lead Malakov outside the building, but one of them shook his head.

"Do we really have to take him out through these tanks? It looks like a Kraven city out there, we're not armed for this stuff." The city was practically on lockdown now, the roads were heavily barricaded, and attack helicopters circled the air. 280mm ETC guns guarded the barricades alongside smaller 155mm guns, and tanks formed the body of the barricades, with soldiers behind them armed with assault rifles.

"Can't we just hold him, here, until this situation boils over? Keep him in his office or something, sort of like a house arrest deal?"

Miles looked outside and noticed that things had taken a turn for the worse. He could feel the tension among the troops outside. It was defiantly a calm before the storm. Miles felt a cold tingling feeling move down his back. Something was coming, but he didn't know what. "Yeah...I think that there is no way we are getting out of here..."

The guard nodded. "We'll just keep him in his office, with a couple of guards trailing him anywhere he goes. We can take him out if those barricades ever clear up."

Nadia nodded. She didn't seem entirely comfortable with the arrangement, but it was better than leaving him running around starting wars.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked as the guards took the general to his office.

Miles turned around and ran after the guard. "Sorry for not telling you this earlier, but can you place him somewhere else. Nadia and I are going to look through his office first. Maybe place him within some janitor's closet for now."

He then ran back toward Nadia and said. "We are going to Malakov's office, but I have one question. Who is the new Minister of Defense?"

"General Rakhmadi's taken over representing the Defense Ministry, but she hasn't been formally appointed Deputy Defense Minister yet. I don't think she's involved in the conspiracy against General Kasagawa, though," replied Nadia.

The guards took General Malakov to the security office. They could keep an eye on him and he was probably less likely to escape. If he broke loose in the war zone, it would be hell to track him down.

Miles walked back toward Malakov silently. He was wondering why Malakov would go through all this trouble and if he was a pawn himself. Miles got to the door and slowly open it. It appeared to look exactly the same when he came yesterday. He cracked his knuckles and smiled at Nadia. "Let's get to work."

Nadia began to look through the General's office. Devidius had returned to his own office, not seeing the investigation as needing his personal attention and more interested in dealing with the Midlonian crisis.

Most of the files in General Malakov's office were those one might expect to find in his office; documents relating to the Nationalist Party, Defense documents (though nothing classified; he wouldn't leave those gems in his office rather than a secured area of the complex), memos for various policy changes he planned to implement. Nothing seemed to point to him as being the mastermind of a conspiracy to frame General Kasagawa...

"Well, what are these?" Nadia asked. She pulled two large black strongboxes out from under the General's desk, both with combination locks on them.

As Miles was looking threw some files. He heard Nadia and went over to her. It appeared to be two large metal boxes with a combination lock on it. Miles looked at the box for a second. Maybe all the evidence they needed was inside. So the only way to know was to open it up. Miles got on his knee and looked at the lock and back toward Nadia. "Good work, but how are we going to open these boxes with the locks?"

"Well, we won't be able to break it open, and I don't think Malakov would tell us the combination if it held anything incriminating..." Nadia replied. "So, unless you've got any other ideas, I'd say that we've found the evidence and don't know what to do with it."

"How about we just ask Malakov for the combination? If there is no evidence against him, then he will tell us. On the other hand if he doesn't then there must be something. So lets go pay Malakov a visit?" Miles hid the black box inside the office and opened the door for Nadia. "Lead the way."

Well, we did just accuse him of orchestrating a massive frame-up... But they had no other leads.

"OK." She led Mason to the office where the general was being held. "General, would you mind giving us the combination to the strongboxes in your office?"

Malakov merely shook his head...

Miles pulled out a Beretta and put it up against Malakov's head. "Tell me or I will blow a hole in your head. Are you ready to die? TELL ME NOW!!! This isn't a game anymore..."

The guards outside the room came in with their weapons out. They were pointed right at Miles and Nadia.

"Drop your weapons! NOW!"

Nadia had not pulled her weapon, so just moved in front of Miles. "You can't just shoot a suspect like this! We do still have a right to be secure in our possessions."

Malakov smiled grimly. "She's right. You shoot me, and these guards will happily fill you with lead, and your girl will turn on you. It seems you won't be invading my privacy anytime soon."

"You bastard..." Miles muttered as he put down his Beretta. He wanted to take the smirk of Malakov and shoot him in the head. The Beretta fell to the floor and Miles turned around to look at the guards. "There you go are you happy?"

Miles went up to Malakov and whispered into his ear. "You will get your own one day."

He turned around and walked out the door. Miles waited for Nadia and stated. "Well I guess that didn't work. Sorry about that, but Malakov is just toying with us. We need to get that damn box open."

Nadia picked up the weapon and left the room. "You could have gotten yourself arrested, or even killed," she said, her voice shaking. "I don't know why they didn't take you in right there," she added, handing the gun back to Miles.

"I suppose we could find a height to drop it from, and see if that cracks it open... or find an industrial laser to cut it, but I don't think there are any here."

"Yes, but I have been taught to complete the mission even if you die. I was ready to take that risk back there. Sorry if I scared you back there." Miles took back his gun and loaded in a magazine. "See it wasn't even loaded. I was just trying to scare him."

Miles leaned up against the wall and started to think. "Do you think that Malakov might have written the code down somewhere?"

"He might have," replied Nadia. "But I doubt he'd leave it out for us to find... it could be on a slip of paper in one of those hundred or so books on his shelf, or in his wallet... or he may simply have memorized them. I doubt both the strongboxes even have the same combination. I think we should just take these to an elevator shaft and drop them forty-plus stories to crack open."

She could have simply thrown them off the top of the building, but that carried the risk of them being scattered to the wind or a civilian getting to them before they did, not to mention the possibility of killing a passerby.

"Its worth a try." Miles walked back toward the office and saw the black boxes. He went back to the elevator and looked at Nadia. Quickly he opened the elevator's door and saw that the elevator was far above them. Miles put his head down and looked into the dark abyss.

"Nadia, I will give you the honor of throwing the boxes down the elevator shaft." Miles said jokingly.

From the fourth floor of the Defense Ministry, Nadia dropped the boxes down the shaft. For fifty floors the heavy steel strongboxes plummeted to the forty-sixth subfloor.

"Well, we now have fifty flights of stairs to walk down to retrieve them, and see if they broke."

Miles quickly ran to the stairs' door and ran down them. He started to lose his breath at the twenty-five floor and waited for Nadia. Once she caught up, Miles kept up the pace, but also talked to her. "Nadia, why do you think Malakov wanted to frame General Kasagawa?"

"We don't have to run," said Nadia. "Nobody knows the documents are there. I think Malakov wants to become Defense Minister. He wants new management, the Defense Ministry's been making a lot of blunders, the entire strategy for our nation's defense was fundamentally flawed and he wants less political influence..."

This was pretty much the way a typical Nationalist general thought. Nadia was a Communist and she saw eye-to-eye on some issues, but did not think that the extreme measures and views of some of the Nationalists were justified.

"It doesn't matter anymore. If we find the evidence in those black boxes, then he is going to jail. General Kasagawa will be vindicated and hopefully things will turn back to normal around here." Miles said to Nadia. He continued on with there journey to the forty-sixth subfloor. Miles walked along Nadia, then suddenly stopped. He gulped and looked at Nadia. "Nadia...I think that I love you...I know this is a bad time, but it has been on my chest like a parasite and I needed to get it off..."

Miles did not wait for a reply, but kept on walking.

Nadia wasn't sure how to reply. She simply smiled. "Well, that's... nice. There's never a bad time for love, only right and wrong people." After another ten flights of stairs, they arrived at the bottom of the facility.

The bottom floor was poorly lit, a basement with only 25-watt bulbs scattered through the corridors. Only a few maintenance offices, a boiler, and the facility's backup generator were down here... as well as the elevator.

Well, this is a cheerful environment.

The hum of the boiler and the heat of the machinery meant that this was a stuffy mess. The elevator was down two dark corridors and behind an office. Nobody was in any of the offices at this time.

Miles felt relieved to get that off his chest. But he felt somewhat rejected Nadia. Miles shook his head remembering that the mission was first. The place reeked of wet mildew. It was like any other basement. Miles rounded the two corridors, but it was dark. His wall followed the wall, until he saw a light bulb above the elevator's door. "I think we found the spot."

Miles opened the two doors and held them open for Nadia. "Nadia, I'm going to hold these doors open while you check the boxes."

Nadia nodded. "OK." She knelt down and picked up the boxes, which had broken open. But the hunt was not over yet.

One of the boxes had contained nothing remotely incriminating... several hundred thousand Universal Standard Dollars in notes of various denomination.

The other box contained several sheets of paper, five or six computer discs, and what looked like a computer hard drive.

"I should have known," said Nadia. The writing on the paper and on the discs were in a foreign script. "It's in Russian. I can read it, but his handwriting leaves a lot to be desired."

Miles helped her out of the elevator shaft with the two black boxes. It seemed odd that the General Malakov would have that much money in his office. He picked up the money and looked at it. The dollars seemed to be fine. The money fell back into the black box. Miles closed the doors and pushed the button for the elevator.

"It seems a little odd that Malakov would have this much money in his office. Why would he need this much? Once we get up we need to look at the disks. Maybe we have someone else look at the writing on the papers. Do you know anyone that could try to decode this?" Miles said as he held up one of the papers. To him it looked like gibberish.

"I don't know about the money. Given a general's salary, it could be his life savings, or his retirement money. Maybe he's afraid of the global Catholic banking conspiracy," Nadia joked. "I can read the papers, if we get to a better lit area. We can probably get to my apartment if we don't take the car, but it'll be two or three hours of walking. We can take a look at the disks, too."

Miles looked at his watch and it read 6:19 P.M. It was starting to get late, and most of the people had left the Ministry of Defense. He sighed and looked back at Nadia. "Well its almost 6:30, I say we leave now an head back to your apartment and look at the stuff there. Unless you have a better idea?"

"Well, I say we go for it," said Nadia. She stuffed the documents, discs, hard drive, and as much of the cash as she could into the backpack she'd carried her uniform in.

"Got something you can carry this cash in, in case it's more than just savings?" she asked. About a dozen wads of cash were still in the broken box or on the floor.

"I think I will just carry the box." Miles picked up the box and heard the ding of the elevator. The elevator door opened and Miles walked inside. Then the elevator moved up forward toward the ground floor. Miles rested the box on the floor. "Still all this money is just all little odd to me."

"I agree," said Nadia. She put the box under her arm. "Let's head out, it'll get dark later, but I don't think we have to worry about crime with all these troops out."

"I don't think we have to worry about much out there besides planes dropping bombs." Miles said as the elevator door opened. He bent down and picked up the black box with a sigh. Miles was scared out of his mind. A war was coming and he did not want to be in the middle of it. "Lead the way Nadia."

Nadia nodded. She led Miles down the road, through the city for the thirteen kilometers the trip would take, across wide thoroughfares, through traffic lights, and by the tanks and artillery barricades at each street corner, which were now reinforced by anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missile batteries with laser beam-riding missiles which were less vulnerable to conventional SEAD.

"Think they're overreacting a bit? You'd think they were expecting a joint Doomani-Freekish invasion."

"Yeah maybe when General Kasagawa is back in power everything will turn back to normal." Miles noted that they were getting ready for an air war. The black box didn't weight that much anymore, but it was starting to get to him. He struggled on down the street.

"Try carrying it on your head," said Nadia as she saw Miles struggle. "It's a lot easier."

"I think it's more complicated than that. If the troops back down, the Midlonians will round up the government. Kasagawa won't allow it. She's no Nationalist, but she won't just bow to Midlonia."

"Well it will not really matter to me, since my mission will be over. Maybe I will get some R&R." Miles replied as he got a better hold of the black box. "It seems either way a war is going to come to this parts."

After the long, arduous walk, they finally arrived at Nadia's apartment. She set her briefcase on the floor and unlocked her door.

"Well, looks like we've got another day or two of working together," she said. "I'll go get my laptop." She went to her room to retrieve the computer.

Miles set the black box on the ground. He felt exhausted and fell onto the nearby couch. He rubbed his eyes, then looked at the window. He hoping that this case would finally come to an end. It wasn't his most dangerous case, but the one with someone's life at stake.

Nadia brought her laptop into the den and put the disc labeled "1" in it. (There were six discs.) She started up the computer.

The computer turned on as normal, followed by text in Russian. Nadia translated into English for Miles's benefit. "Project Loki: Phase 1 - Military Reforms."

A menu appeared on the left side of the screen, again in Russian. "NBRC deterrents, air dominance, naval reform, homeland defense, and invasion doctrine," Nadia translated, pointing to each of the Russian items.

"Hmmm...it doesn't seem to have any evidence against Malakov. Keep on reading though..." Miles stated as he listened carefully to what Nadia said to him. It seemed odd that everything was written in Russia. Maybe Malakov was trying to add a difficultly level to finding the evidence. It was going to be a long night.

"He probably wasn't expecting to find someone who could read it, you'd be surprised how inept a lot of translators are. They tend to be better with things like Amestrian, Doomani Latin, Asian languages... things that are spoken by nations we have a lot of dealings with."

Nadia printed off several of the more interesting pages, but after 45 minutes or so, she shook her head.

"I'll have to run my English translation software on this." While she could read and speak Russian fluently, translation would take her hours. They could probably make sense of the garbled, computer-generated translation more easily than the Russian.

She clicked on an item on the computer's lower bar. "Oh, shit..."

"Well maybe you should get some new translators." Miles said jokingly as he looked over Nadia's shoulder. He looked at the pages she had finished translating and thought for a moment. Nothing came to him, so he put the paper down. This case was coming more interesting by the minute.

"Yeah if you keep on translating we might be here all night..." Miles said as he sat down and rubbed his eyes. He shook his head and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. His body was trying to tell him to get some sleep. The glass of water quickly disappeared.

Miles reentered the room and heard Nadia say something inaudible. He said as he sat next to her. "What is it Nadia?"

"The computer just went dead," said Nadia. She pushed the button to turn it back on, receiving only a blank gray screen.

"Nothing. The operating system must not be working." She remembered trying to turn it on when she'd first gotten it, before loading all the software onto it. This was the same screen.

"Ahh...shoot I thought that you had found some evidence against Malakov. I guess we still have to carry on with these fight." Miles said as he got up and went to the window. While looking out of it he remembered his childhood days on his families' rural farm.

"Knowing Malakov, he probably rigged his discs with a virus that would wipe anyone's computer if they tried to use it in a computer other than his... I should have known," said Nadia. She removed the disc to try to reboot her operating system. "The entire hard drive's fried. We'll have to use his or a Defense computer, and his is probably password protected. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a hacker, what about you?"

Nadia sat down on her sofa, clearly flustered. "I know this is a little awkward, but it looks like we might be spending the night together again. We need to get a new perspective on things, let's get some rest."

Miles' daydream was broken by Nadia talking. He needed a good rest after this mission. In the last month he had been pushing himself to the limit. "Well i guess there is nothing more we can do. Tomorrow we have to get someone to hack his computer so we can get on it. Do you know any good hackers we can trust?"

Miles went back to the couch and plopped down onto it. He sighed and looked back at Nadia. "All I want to do is catch Malakov. He has caused us so much trouble that he will pay. I want revenge against him, with that egotistical grin."

"No, I don't know any real hackers," said Nadia. She knew someone who had tried to hack into an Amestrian military database looking for evidence of war crimes, but her friend had used Back Orifice. Needless to say, she had had little success.

"General Malakov would use the most advanced security he could... it would take the cyber-warfare division weeks to get in, and then only if we could get a warrant. Fat chance of that, and Kasagawa's trial isn't looking too good."

Nadia reloaded the operating system onto her laptop. She had lost a lot of valuable files she'd rather not do without, and not even a trained technician would be able to restore them under the virus Malakov had loaded his discs with. While it was loading, she sat down next to Miles.

"If she's convicted before we get this evidence... we'll be going to war with so many nations, and I don't know that anything will be left of the country..." Nadia's voice started to shake. She was clearly upset with the way things were turning.

Miles held Nadia, and tried to comfort her. "Nadia, I will make sure that never happens while I'm here. I will personally make sure that no war happens because of Malakov, that bastard will get his own. But right now it seems we have hit a dead end. We just to settle down and rethink what we are going to do...though we do need to find a good hacker first."

Miles got closer to Nadia and held her hand. He looked into her beautiful gray eyes. Inside his heart melted. Miles gave a kiss on her tender cheek and whispered into her ear. "I think I love you Nadia..."

Nadia smiled. She knew that Miles wanted to make her feel better. While in most situations she would have been more than a little shy about allowing such physical intimacy, she said nothing for a long while.

"I have a friend who knows a little about computers... but she's an officer in the Presidential Security Detachment. She's trapped in the palace, under siege. I'd email her the files on the discs, but that would just ruin her computer, too... I'll call her." She pulled out her cell phone, recalled the number and dialed.

"Mara?" Nadia asked. She could hear marching, the sounds of soldiers in heavy combat gear milling about the palace on the other end of the phone. It was under siege; the Midlonians had not yet breached.

"Nadia. You sure know when to call," said the voice on the other end. "How's your promotion treating you? I hope you're a lot better off than we are, we're eating MRE's and drilling for a raid."

"Mara, when you tried to hack into the Amestrian network... what did you do?"

"That's what you called during a drill for? Well, I suppose I can use the break. I tried Back Orifice, and it didn't work. Then, Lt. Sanchez from the Cyber-Warfare division tried something, I don't remember what. Didn't work either. She'd know what to do, but unfortunately, the Whyaticans did her in..." Mara seemed bitter and angry. "Why do you want to know about hacking all of a sudden?"

"Mara, I have reason to believe that General Malakov is trying to take over the Defense Ministry. I obtained some of his CD-ROM's that I think have evidence on them, but they erased my computer when I put them in. I think they'll only work on his computer, and it's probably password protected."

"Oh, Nadia... so you're telling me that you want to hack the Deputy Defense Minister's computer, which is probably as heavily protected as any special agent's, for proof that may not even exist, that he's trying to frame the Defense Minister? I'm no Nationalist, Nadia, but did you even think that she may be guilty? I don't like Malakov, either. He's just as crazy as al-Ghazi, just quieter about it. But if you make enemies with him, and he takes over... I don't need to tell you what can happen to your career."

"If Malakov takes over and drops nukes on Doomingsland, and Whyatica, and Northford, and God only knows who else... my career will be the least of my worries, Mara. I... can't let that happen."

"I wish I could help you, Nadia. I really do. I can email you a sheet of data, but remember that I'm not a professional hacker, I'm not the kind who can pluck passwords and crack defense databases. I'll send you a list of things to look for, but that's all I can do for you."

"Thanks, Mara. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Later, Nadia." Mara hung up.

Nadia looked back at Miles. "She doesn't know much more than I do, she'll send me some stuff to look for, but she's not too optimistic."

Miles sat in the couch listening to Nadia's conversation. His eyes became heavy and they soon closed. Within seconds Miles soon fell asleep.

Miles opened his eyes to see that he was surrounded by a field of golden wheat. He was back on his families' farm. A breeze of wind blew by him. The smell of fresh air was welcoming to Miles. Off in the distance he could see his childhood home. It looked exactly as the day he left for college, the last time he was there. Miles walked toward the house. His family had owned it for almost 130 years. The house was a beautiful site to him.

As he made it up to the house, a single tear rolled down his cheek. It had been far too long since his last visit. His lazy childhood days of bliss and playing with his neighbor and best friend, Richard Collier. Stepping inside the house, it brought back so many memories.

Something caught his eye on a nearby table. It was an old picture of his childhood sweetheart, Elise McKenna. She was a beautiful women and she had captured Miles' heart at an early age. Miles touched the picture of Elise and looked down. He picked up the picture, then sat down. The picture was brought up to eye view. It had been far too long indeed. He kissed her picture, and started to cry...

-TLA Embassy-
"Not a good situation all around." The group muttered inside. "Chao, disorder and insane claims of treason." "Decision, Keep lockdown."

Nadia began to grow tired and turned on the TV, but fell asleep herself within a matter of minutes, her arm draped over Miles. She drifted off peacefully and would probably sleep the rest of the night.

Miles woke up to discovered that he was covered in sweat. His head moved to looked through the window. It was already light outside and his watch read 8:10 A.M. Miles then noticed that Nadia had her arm been draped over him. She was a sleeping beauty. He moved slightly over and kissed her on the cheek. Then he whispered into her ear. "Nadia wake up..."

Nadia stirred and woke up. The TV was still on.

"Defense Minister Nora Kasagawa is in a jail medical facility after attempting to hang herself in her cell last night. Sources close to the Justice Ministry claim that the charges of treason against her are not going well, and she is believed likely to be convicted."

"On another note, the Lone Alliance Embassy has moved to lockdown, likely due to the militarization of the government and charges of treason which some allege to have a political or sectarian basis."

"Just what we need," said Nadia crossly. She opened her computer, having recently reinstalled the operating system, and checked her email.

"Mara said to look for easy to guess passwords for Malakov's computer, a lot of them are words that would mean something important to him, and that easy passwords are how 90% of systems get hacked. We could try Malakov's computer, but he might have something else on it, something that might erase the whole thing if we use the wrong password..."

Miles stared at the tv and was somewhat stunned. "Yeah that is probably the last thing we need in this case."

If General Kasagawa was to die then all this work would have gone to waste, and General Malakov would be let go. Miles would not allow this to happen. This would not be the first mission that he would fail. His form a fist and he looked to be angry. Right now he wanted to kill General Malakov, that slimly bastard. "Yes I know the risks, but its the only lead we have right now. So we have to go ahead with it."

"Let's go," said Nadia. She cleaned up and dressed casually, loading a uniform into her backpack along with her laptop, the disks, and the hard drive from Malakov's strongbox. She'd simply put the money, which had added up to $600,000 USD, under her bed.

A knock came at the door as soon as Nadia had prepared.

Miles was making himself a cup of coffee, when he heard the knock on the door. He was still a little drowsy and wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him. Shaking his head Miles continued to stir his coffee. Then he heard the knock again. It must have been real. Miles looked around to see if Nadia was around. She must have been in her room. Deciding to help her, Miles opened the door.

An older woman in her late sixties or seventies stood at the door, dressed in a gray sweater and black trousers. She was about 5'4" and very thin. She would have been recognizable as the woman in the photograph of Nadia on the living room wall, standing beside the 21-year-old academy graduate in uniform.

"Hello..." said the woman.

Miles looked at the old woman for a moment. She seemed oddly familiar, but he did not know where from. Miles lead her in and closed the door behind her. "Hello...I'm Miles Mason. Its a pleasure to meet you. Just a second I will go get Nadia."

Miles disappeared to find Nadia, and found her in the hallway. "Nadia there is an old lady waiting in the living room. I think she wants you."

The visitor extended her hand. "Katriana Naslieva. I believe my daughter lives here...?"

---

Nadia looked up, puzzled. She walked into the living room.

"Mom!" she cried. "Haven't seen you in a while, what's with the absence? I was worried sick!" She threw her arms around her mother.

"I could say the same thing," said Nadia's mother. "I haven't seen you since you got back from Kraven. I wondered if you had survived the Doomani war, I just had a friend say he'd seen you around..." She hugged her daughter tearfully and began crying.

"Nadia... there's so much I want to tell you. What are you up to now? And you never told me you had a boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend. We're working together on some Defense Ministry trouble."

"Oh, that problem with General Malakov. He's making life difficult for the population, I'm certainly not going to vote for him. Anyway, the traffic's cleared up a little, I'll take you to the Defense Ministry."

Miles stood off to the side and listened to the two women talk. He turned a light hue of red, when Nadia's mother thought that he was her boyfriend. Miles said jokingly. "Well the traffic could not get any worse than yesterday. You couldn't even you get through the street."

Katriana nodded. "There were four Nakils sitting right outside my apartment. I was wondering if they were looking for me. They wouldn't budge an inch, and every now and then one of them would fire those big guns down the road at some Midlonian. I couldn't get any sleep."

She led Nadia and Miles to the ground floor. Katriana drove a newfangled car with a hybrid engine; Lord only knew what had happened to her old one. This was a 2006 Ford Explorer, modified to accomodate a hybrid.

"Let's go," she said, getting her keys out.

"Thank you Mrs. Naslieva for taking use the Ministry of Defense." Miles said as they got into the car. As the car pulled out into the light of day Miles quickly put on his sunglasses. He turned toward and smiled at her. Her mother had been right. Miles noticed a decrease of military presence. "So Mrs. Naslieva what brings you here besides your lovely daughter?"

"Nothing, really," said Katriana. "I was looking for her because I had not seen her in months. I was worried she had been killed by the Doomani, or remained in the Negev as part of a stay-behind operation. I know some of her friends from the Communist Party did stay behind."

Nadia hugged her mother tightly and kissed her on the cheek. "You can tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me, when we get back." She gave her apartment key to her mother. "Just make yourself at home. The cereal's on the bottom shelf, there's a Glock 20 under the TV if someone breaks in, and there's an FN FAL in my bedroom." She stepped out of the car.

"It was very nice to meet you Mrs. Naslieva." Miles shook Katriana's hand and said his good byes. He opened the door and quickly followed Nadia. Soon he was walking besides her. "Your mother is very nice Nadia. Though it seems a little strange that she came her unannounced. But we have to finish case. We need to devote our time on this case and freeing General Kasagawa."

Miles' hand grasped onto Nadia's hand. He stopped her and gave her a compassionate kiss. Then he gazed at her, and didn't care if anyone saw. "Nadia, do you love me?"

Nadia looked stunned. She took a moment thinking of what to say; the wrong answer could lead him on, or hurt his feelings.

"I don't use that word lightly," she replied as her mother drove off. "I don't think we know each other well enough to talk about that yet." She also had been taken advantage of before by people who had led her to think they were in love with her.

Miles looked at here for a moment, and looked away. He had a feeling for her, which was new to him, and she had somewhat rejected him. Slowly he walked away toward the Ministry of Defense without knowing if Nadia was following him. The only he cared about now was ending the case.

Nadia followed Miles into the Ministry. Malakov's office was still unlocked, and the general was still in another office. There wasn't enough evidence to get a warrant or to send him to jail, so he was still technically free.

She opened the door and led Miles into the office with the general's computer, getting ready to attempt to discover his secrets...

"Do your work Nadia..." said Miles. He left the room without telling Nadia and once in the hall he head for Malakov's location. Miles wanted to have a little talk with him. Getting to the door, Miles paused for a second. He wondered if he should do it. Shaking his head, Miles opened the door.

Nadia attempted several passwords to enter Malakov's computer. None of them worked; names of family members, words associated with the Nationalist Party, even a brute-force dictionary hack that Mara had emailed her. The computer was locked down as solidly as if it had been sealed inside the Emperor's bedchamber in Doomingsland.

---

General Malakov nodded. "Ah, Mr. Mason. Surprised to see you again. So, what brings you back into my presence?"

Miles glared at Malakov and said nothing. The door banged with a shut. It was only Malakov, Miles, and the cold silence. Miles did not response to Malakov and slowly walked up to him. Now the only thing in between Malakov and Miles was the air. Miles was only a few feet away from Malakov now. He looked away for a moment, then finished his assault. Miles, without notice, delivered a punch in Malakov's stomach. Miles could feel his stomach enter the old man's gut. He felt the soft internal organs and relished the moment.

The general wasn't a small man, 6'1" and 240 pounds. He wasn't exactly old, though at 62 he was no longer a young man, but he was still a large, powerful figure.

Malakov directed a smashing blow towards Miles' face with the newspaper he was holding. He then slammed the paper down on the desk.

The front page said in large, bold letters, "General Kasagawa to resign from the Defense Ministry."

Miles stumbled for a moment, then regained composure. He looked at the newspaper for a brief second. Everything was going to hell in this damn case. Miles pulled out his Beretta and aimmed it at Malakov. He then screamed out. "GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!"

Not again...

Like all soldiers and officers in Kahanistan, General Malakov was trained in the Jewish martial art of Krav Maga. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga) This included the disarming of attackers and the ability to deliver a lethal blow.

Malakov was probably large enough to kill or injure Miles severely even though he had not drawn his weapon. However, he didn't particularly want to do that if he didn't have to, and Miles had probably attracted the attention of the guards by attacking and yelling at him. They could take care of him.

He grabbed the hand holding the Beretta, pushing it down and getting ready to strike him again, hoping to put him out for the count.

Miles saw the Beretta drop to the ground. 'Everything had gone to hell.' Miles repeated in his head. The only thing Miles heard was the plop of the gun. He stood motionless for a moment. Then looked back at Malakov. This man had ruined everything. Coming back to his sense, Miles knocked off Malakov's hand, then ran to the door. Bursting from the door, he saw the soldiers about to come in. Miles did not look back. Everything was a blur. Everything...

Miles looked back and saw the Ministry of Defense. Everything had turned sour. He quickly turned away and had to second guess if any troops were following him. Miles was going to disappear.

Nadia came out of the general's office, dejected and growing increasingly frustrated with the computer and the hacks Mara had given her. Carrying the computer, she walked into the hallway.

"Oh!" She collided with someone running down the hall. It took her a second to realize that it was Miles.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

Miles just shook his head and ran away. His hands felt cold and sweaty. A cold sweat rolled down his forehead. The front doors of the Ministry of Defense swung open. Miles came running out. The running was now automatic for Miles. It was all wrong...

Nadia shook her head and went to General Malakov's office. She had not been so aggressive toward him, so he was a little warmer to her, although he knew that she suspected his loyalties.

"General... can you tell me, face to face, what your intentions are?" She looked him directly in the eyes, hoping that he would tell her something useful.

"I want to build a strong military, a state free of foreign influence, not entangled in conflicts all over the world," replied Malakov. He did not speak to her of the resignation of General Kasagawa, but she saw the paper on the desk.

"How do you feel about that?" Nadia asked. "About Kasagawa leaving?"

"I think that she did it to prove her innocence," said Malakov. "No Doomani collaborator would give up the position that would enable her to send countless secrets to the Empire. It's merely unfortunate that it got this far. She will probably be released from jail soon, I don't think the jury will convict now."

Malakov looked into Nadia's eyes. "Your friend Miles, he attacked me. I wouldn't turn my back on him if I were you, it would be a shame if he hurt your child." He placed his hand on Nadia's pregnant stomach, as if to make his point, then left for his office.

The six hundred thousand UN Standard Dollars were stuffed in a burlap bag and crammed into one of Malakov's drawers, as well as his CD's and computer Nadia had been unable to decipher. When Malakov had left, Nadia called Miles on her cell phone. She needed to know what had happened. She wasn't sure she trusted Malakov's accusation, but there had to be some reason Miles would run off and ignore her.

Miles sat in a back alley resting. He had no idea where he was or how long he had been running for. The only reason he stopped was to check his breath. His head was shaking in disbelief. This whole mission had been a failure. He shouldn't have threaten Malakov. It had been dumb and almost proved to be a death wish.

Miles awoke from his comatose. It was the sound of his cell phone. He wondered who was calling him. Only a the Canadstein government knew. Looking at the phone number it was familiar. He dropped the phone and crushed it with his foot. It did not matter anymore. Getting up from the trashcan, Miles shuffled down the street.