NationStates Jolt Archive

"Alright folks! Get ready to move"! the pilot cried, "Palace is in view." They were surrounded by mountains, and a large city was in veiw. It was a simlpe city, mostly wood, and without the technology of modern cities. Wagons and carts hogged the road, and the sounds of forges rang out. The 'Palace', really was more of a large mansion, also wood.

Ed whistled. "Reminds me of photos of the Union from several hundred years ago, except without the oriental style."

Ed whistled. "Reminds me of photos of the Union from several hundred years ago, except without the oriental style."

OOC: Just so you know, it is oriental. Mereshka is based off of feudal Japan.

OOC: Just so you know, it is oriental. Mereshka is based off of feudal Japan.

What I was refering to was the cities in the Union during its equivilent of the Wild west. (Which lead to the comment about the Unions wild west not having oriental style)

OOC: Ah, I thought you meant Mereshka wasn't oriental.

"Beautiful country, Saya, time to wake up."

He nudged Saya slightly to wake her up.

"Rise and shine 'Sleeping Beauty'."

OOC: I've got to get off for a bit, should be back in an hour or two. Sorry.

OOC; Sorry I wasn't clear


IC:

Ed put on the headphones and listened to the last radio message he had recieved, the voice sounded more familar with every play, but he could never figure out who it was.

OOC: Gotta go to, might be on in a couple hours if my computer isn't to finicky.

Dagger-5 tried to clean himslef up in atleast some capacity. His hair, which was about 4 inches long (as compared to Shenyangi military protocol, which prescibes a max of 2.5 inches for males) finally cooperated after several moments of fighting it. He'd gotten away with the long hair because he was SAS, no one argued with the SAS about anything unless they wanted to lose, possibly painfully.

He pulled down a pair of mirrored sun goggles (like Reno's in FF7:AC, I love those goggles), which had spent most of their time up above his forehead unless his tactical helmet was on, in which case they were either over his eyes, or safely hidden in his gear. Sitting back in his seat he looked at his torn, blood stained uniform, and shook his head.

Yay! I'm happy to be back! So what are we doing exactly?

IC:

Vanek looked over the city. It was pretty magnificent.

OOC: TBCS base was full of vampires, that we didn't already know about that is, the base was pretty much shot to hell and back, so the Mereshkan Emperor is allowing us to use his palace as a temporary base.

OK. This is assuming this can work. Like, Mer hasn't banned cars from the streets.

IC:

Vanek hoped his car would be OK. He got one of his assistants to drive it to Mereshka. It was the pride of his life.

Citizens watched in fascination as the car rolled through the city streets. They had no idea what the small compact metal thing with the man inside it. They also didn't know what was powering it. There were several whispers of ghosts, and demons. Saya looked down at them and laughed, "Who brought the car? Its starting to scare the citizens. Oh oh, I hope they have good insurance." Several citizens were beggining to heft clubs and whatnot.

Kirk and Morallis looked down upon Mereshka; it was a truly beautiful nation, yet a stark contrast to the towering spires and bustling traffic of the Dominion.

"Sure wouldn't mind vacationing here," Kirk said, wonder in his voice.

"Yeah," Morallis replied, "Really peaceful-"

He was cut off as Kirk's PDA beeped. He pulled it out of his vest and activated the monitor, not bothering to hook up the headset.

"Kirk, Dominion Intelligence reported the TBCS base was totaled, you alright?" concern was present in Mick's voice, but there something else too. The drone of an aircraft engine.

"Fine sir, but why are you airborne?"

"InOps determined the situation was getting a little hairy for street cops. I'm currently en route. In fact, should have a visual on you right...about...now. Check five o'clock low. Over and out."

Kirk looked down and below the helicopter and saw a jet black CH-53 Pave Low streaking seventy feet above the ground, its rotor wash sending great gusts of wind amongst the village below. A large gold eagle was emblazoned on the side. It was making for the palace.

At the sight of the plane, the civilians began to run. Metal objects with rubber feet were one thing, a giant metal bird going faster than any horse was quite another. Saya looked at the plane, "Poor people. I wonder whos in the plane."

Ed shrugged. "Not a Union copter, can tell by the emblem. All though, I did order a new armor suit, maybe the Union piggy backed it in that chopper."

"Oh, hell, that's the Domnion military logo. Odds are Mick and a bunch of Black Ops are on that bird right now, and when they get to the palace it'll be a major pain in the rear."

Dagger-5 examined the chopper.

"It's running light, or that sucker's got some aftermarket engines. My guess is, no more than 10 people aboard, excluding crew. They're in a hurry too, looks like they know something we don't."

Aozora glanced out the window. "Uh oh. Thats not good, the Emperor wasn't expecting more than the squad. Pilot, land this thing. We might want to warn him." The pilot nodded, and landed in a clear space near the palace. "Oh yes!" Saya yelled, and ran out, eager to be out of the air.

Dagger-5 got out and stretched. He looked at the palace. It was stunning to be sure, and he was momentarilly lost for words. Then he realized that they were going to have to run the rest of the way, and the majesty of the situation faded away.

"Well, we should get moving."

He pulled his XD-45's, just in case there was a problem. He'd grabbed as much of his ammo as he could carry, and had reloaded on the chopper ride. It felt good to be fully armed.

Saya slowed down to let Alex catch up. "Come on slowpoke! Lets get going!"
Aozora smiled slightly as he wathced them run off. He wondered how the emperor would take having hyperactive Saya in his normally quiet palace.

Dagger-5 decided to explore the depths of his slightly enhanced speed. He knew that he wasn't like 'the Flash' or anything, but he was still pretty fast thanks to the UH incident. He easilly caught up with the rest of the group, and slowly began passing the various people, despite having a full combat load, 5 guns, a dagger, 2 swords, and assorted grenades; much less the fact that he was injured. The wounds burnt like his legs were on fire, he welcomed the pain, he'd learned that pain meant you were still alive, and as long as you were still alive, you couldn't fail those important to you.

He began reflecting on his philosphical change.

'I wonder... how could I have been the old Dagger-5, just look at me... it's so strange...'

Saya laughed, and sped up. "Can't catch me!" She yelled. Since the UH thing with her had been prototype, her enhancements hadn't been quite as powerful as Alex's, but it was still a good boost, and she was natuarally fast anyways. She was feeling better than she had in a while, now that she was back in her home clan.

Ed had continued to listen to the radio message over and over. More and more the voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. Finaly it came to him. "No... it can't be..." He replayed the message again, then tore of the headseat and smashed it against a wall "Dammit!" He shouted, loud enough that anyone could hear.

Dagger-5 skidded several feet and finally stopped.

"What's wrong?"

He looked back and forth, searching for a physical target. He couldn't find one, so his weapons dropped to his side.

Vanek sped and stopped by Dag-5. "Well, spit it out, you know we don't have all day!" He took a sip of blood.

Saya struggled to stop her mad run, and yelled "Hey! Whats going on here!?"

Saya shrugged, "Whats so bad about a whisper?"

he switched the radio log over to the extrenal speakers still functioning. "Listen." He played the message, the same cruel cold voice filled the room. "This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper." He flicked it off. "Recognize it?"

Saya looked confused. "Pardon?" She asked, sounding slightly confused.

Ed sighed and replayed the message. "That voice." He said. His own voice wavered for a bit. "Its mine."

Saya shrugged, "I still don't don't get?"

"Its mine, I know it doesn't really sound like me. But let me give you an example." He cleared his throat then dropped his voice into the tone. "This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper." His voice cleared up again. "I only used that tone once when I went undercover as an assisn."

Saya had a blank look on her face. "Clone? Whats a clone?"

Ed sighed. "I don't either. the only thing that I could thing of is...." Shock spread across his face. "Clone."

Ed stared at her, then realized it. "Thats right, low tech..." He muttered. "A clone is like a identical twin, except born after the original person."

Saya didn't quite understand it, but she nodded. "So you have an unknown brother who wants to destroy the world?"

She shrugged, "Who can understand the minds of the insane?"

Ed laughed. "Seems like it. I never got evil people, why would they want to destroy earth, where they are."

Ed shook his head. "I probably would, if this thing is a doppleganger of me, I could probably understand it." He looked around. "Are we waiting for an audience with the meperor?"

Kirk and Morallis had followed at a jog, listening to the conversation.

"This have something to do with the Squad Mick was on?" Kirk asked raising an eyebrow.

As they talked, the Pave Low set down a few hundred feet away in an open field and the rear ramp dropped. Five figures stepped out, menacing black armored shadows with glowing green eyes. They had DM-32C carbines with lasers and flashlights mounted on them. One was in the lead with the others trailing, walking toward the group.

The lead soldier spoke up, it was obviously Mick "Great to see all of you again! We've gotten word that the perverbial crap's hit the fan so Fire Team Alpha from Section Thirteen is here to help. Not exactly the Black Ops everyone's come to expect, but we're better equipped to fight-"

He looked arpund to make sure that no civilians could hear, "the vampires."

Their armor was reinforced at the neck, making turning their heads cumbersome but protecting them from the all too lethal bite. The arms and legs seemed to be a bit better armored as well. There was a strange bulge coming out of the small of the back on each person that looked like a power pack of some kind.

"So, you've got an evil twin, and Mick's got armor that has stolen design elements from Shenyangi military property. Only the evil twin is suprising."

He shrugged. This was just one more threat he'd have to deal with in when the time came. Life and death were routine for the SAS, so it wasn't anything too shocking for him.

Saya laughed and gave Mick a hug. "Heya Mick, hows it been going?"

OOC: Just as a note, if I use ' ' around a quote, its silent thought, if it has " " then its spoken dialouge.

IC:
Dagger-5 walked up to Mick. He knew who was who, just from mannerisms. He extended a hand. The most inperceptable look of apology crossed his face, he knew that to Mick it would have exactly the meaning he wanted:
'I'm sorry about how things turned out with you and Saya, I really am.'
Part of him wanted to add in:
'...but I'm sure as hell happy about it'
but that would have been cruel, and all together too stuck up and malevolent.

"So, how've you been since the QCS, we haven't been able to keep in touch after all."

He guessed that part of the reason why Mick hadn't called him for the first several months was just finishing giving him a hug. It made him sad to realize how Saya had been the spike driven between them. He couldn't have been happier about his situation, until he came face to face with Mick, his battle-buddy.
'...Cuz getting your dreams, as strange as it seems, is a little more complicated... ...there's a kind of a sorta, cost...' (OOC: Quoted from Wicked (very appropriate to this moment))

Ed left, as much as he wanted to see Mick, he had other more important things to do. He found an empty hallway and pulled out a small two way radio. "Harrison, I nee-" he was cut off mid sentence. 'Relax, Mister harrison." Said a voice from behind him. He whirled with his colt at the ready only to find a person dressed in the local garb and carrying a large case wrapped in cloth. She walked over to Ed and gently lowered the case to the ground, the cloth slipping off of it, exposing a flat black metal case with the Union shadow gaurd insignia on it. "Relax, Mister Harrison, its a gift from a friend." Ed took a closer look at the case before scanning his retinas and popping the latches. The woman cleared her throat. "It is as requested, a powered armor suit, complete with a light electro magnetic shielding." The case popped in half, revealing a suit of armor signifigantly lighter then the others. Ed chuckled. "Looks a little weak, don't you think?" The woman gave him a piercing stare. "Do not be fooled by size, Mister Harrison, that suit is using a specialy created alloy, twice the strength of titanium, and it reduces the wight of one of the lightest heavy armor by half, enabling freer movement." Ed leaned over and picked up the suit, suprised at how little it weighed. "It is also equiped with an onboard medical system with a wide range of vaccines and antidotes, as well as a nanite circulatory system for repairing damaged tissue." Ed looked it over. "Think I'm going to like this, you said something about an EM shield?" The woman laughed, it echoed through the hallway like tinkling crystal. "It uses a weak Electro magnetic field to diflect rounds of small caliber or low speeds. Other then that, the armor should protect you from the rest." Ed hefted the armor over his shoulder. "I suppose I shoul-" He looked back, and the woman was gone. "Shadow gaurd, friggin paranoid.." he muttered before rejoining the others.

OOC: Sorry about the long post folks, I kind of get to technical. And I'm shovin' off now.

Mick returned the hug, his smile invisible behind the helmet.

"Great to see you again Saya! It's been the usual: work, zombies, vampires, but the country's finally getting back to normal. You know, you've never told me how beautiful your country is. I haven't seen this much green in my entire life! I mean, you saw our capital. The only trees there outside of parks are the ones growing between the sidewalk and the street."

He shook Dagger 5's hand, "It's alright, I'm happy for you both. In hindsight if we did get together I would have barely been able to see her anyway. Work's been hell since the outbreak. Had to pull my authority to take this little trip as it is. Since we've opened our eyes to the unnatural threats as well as the natural, having a nation of mostly city and industrial fill doesn't seem like such a good idea after all," he laughed, "Now, about your little crack about us stealing components from your armor. For your information it's available commercially. We didn't steal it, we bought through a third party and modified it to suit the task at hand."

"Way to go captain obvious, I've been trying to keep this all low key, and you got and say it. For that matter, we would have HELPED design the armor. Buying it third party only gets you an inferior product. You've gotta get it through Shenyangi Military High Command, or Shenyangi Tactical Armorers Inc. Any third party is just a cheap knock-off version. That and they charge you like 3 times as much as the real price for a real system, for an inferior piece of crap."

"Hmmm, well that explains why we had to totally redesign the thing and go with an almost entire new part. As for assistance, you know as well as I do how paranoid our government is about the armor and weapons used by the Black Ops. A throwback to our old intelligence minister. He may have been a nutjob, but the Black Ops were his pet project and the one good thing he produced. I'm sure if we talked with the new IM she'd be more than happy to have a joint venture project."

"It'd certainly fix any deficiencies in your current design. The original collar was 6 inches tall for a reason you know. Cutting it down like that is just compromising the effectiveness of that part. Of course, with that armor scheme, you'd be better served doing a custom job over a mod anyway. I'm sure STA would be happy to help you design a new one, as long as you're willing to send them the schematics for what they're upgrading."

He paused a moment.

"Oh, and don't even think about arguing whose armor manufacturers are better. You'll lose, especially since you bought second-rate knock-off ODST armor in order to do chop-shop mod once you recognized a millenia old threat."

Saya looked completely lost in the disscussion. So did Aozora who had walked up behind them. "Did you unferstand that?" He asked, "Nope. I think we should just stick with mail and plate. Alot less confusing. What does he mean by third party?" Aozora shrugged, "No clue. Just a wild guess, I'm going to say it didn't come from the original armorer." Saya shrugged, "Wokrs for me I suppose."

Vanek looked confused as well. That is, somewhat. "I think I get it," he said. "But it's not easy at all."

"Basically, they bought an inferior copy of a body armor scheme developed for another of our spec ops units. Dominon forces avoided telling us because they wanted to keep it all secret. So, as a result they ended up buying a piece of crap and rebuilding it, into a less than ideal solution to their problem, the thing is, we would have helped them with the design, and given them access to the real armor, if they'd just asked. That way they'd have an upgraded armor scheme that isn't just a few tack-on changes, but a full working unit. That's the basic outline of what we said."

He looked at everyone, and then decided he might as well explain Mick's first statement.

"Oh, and what Mick said to me at first, that's got to do with the aftermath of the Quarantine and Containment Squad," he was now looking directly at Saya, "more specifically, with you Saya. None of us realized how your decision would affect the others, until there was a decision. I've felt bad about that aspect ever since. I couldn't be happier, but, still, I think you know what I mean."

Saya's smile slipped a little bit. "Yeah, I suppose I do. I didn't really want to hurt anyone, but if I said no to everyone, I'd end up being unhappy and hurting three people. Instead, I went with the lesser evil, and became happy, but still hurt two people."

"OK, people, let's move along," said Vanek. "Let's get to safety and talk about this."

Mick nodded, "Agreed. And Dag, let's stow the tech talk until I get my Intel Minister in contact with you guys."

He motioned for the Black Ops as well as the CA officers to follow him as they moved toward the palace. The Pave Low fired up its engines and lifted off, not wanting to stay on the ground anywhere except the security of its hangar.

Saya and Aozora shrugged and followed. "Do they think that here isn't safe?" Saya sked. Aozora just shrugged.

Mick turned, "No, Saya, you misunderstand what we mean. We want to get to safety in terms of being able to speak in private, without alarming the populace. I have every confidence that your palace is extremely safe."

However, he thought to himself I wouldn't mind the two battalions of soldiers at the Government Complex here with what we're facing...

The surface of a leadership among the vampires that was higher than loose bands of murderous thugs was disconcerting to say the least. If they were capable of strategy above that of street mentality like in the Dominion, humanity could be in real trouble.

Ed walked out wearing his new armor suit. It was a thing of beauty, most of the armor was collapseable, rtracting snugly into hidden compartments, including the helmet which lead to the thicker then normal neck joint. He twisted his neck and the armor flexed with him, a major improvement over the old design. "Perfect..." he whispered to himself before jojng the others. "So, where are we heading to?" He said to Saya.

Saya laughed, "Inside the palace, for now. But you might want to take that thing off, it might unsettle the Emperor."

"Oh.. right, technology." He quickly pushed a series of switches on various section of armor, it retracted to a vest shape, with the arm and leg armor being a small bulge. "Should work." He rumaged around in the duffle bag he was carrying on his shoulder and pulled out a light jacket, put it on and zipped it up. "Better?"

Saya looked a bit wide eyed, but nodded, "Yeah, that works. Ready to go?"

He checked all of his gear, then set his duffle bag down gently in a corner. "Ready as I'll ever be without formal attire."

Saya nodded, and with Aozora beside her, walked into the palace throne room. On the throne, such as it was, it was simply a chair made of polished hickory, sat a man, looking to be in his late fifties to early sixties. Even as she kneeled, on hand over her heart, the other on her katana hilt, in the warrior fashion, she whispered, "Wow, he's alot older than I espected."

Ed kept his head down in reverence, he was used to this, being summoned before the royal family often. He noticed Saya placing a hand on her heart and Katana and he tried to imitate her as best as possible. Hand over his ehart, and another hand on his Knights saber, something he had recently recieved after being knighted.

After a couple moments, the Emperor looked down at them, and said something in Mereshkan, which sounded like Japanese, except a bit more musical. Saya and Aozora nodded, and rose, but seeing the blank look on the others faces, a man standing by the throne said in heavily accented english, "The Emperor gives you his permission to rise."

Ed stood and bowed. "Its an honor to meet you your grace."

The Emperor said something to the man, and the man shrugged, gave a couple orders, and everyone, the man included, marched out. The Emperor sighed, and said in flawless english, "Okay, now that they're out, we can speak without those annoying translators." He grinned at Saya's shocked expression, "I have to have something to keep hidden from the toadies don't I? Oh, and I am not old."

Dagger-5, who had never been one to stand on ceremony, and who didn't know the correct customs for this kind of event, gave an exaggerated bow and then proceeded to look around the room while staying in place. He made an attempt at seeming respectful with a simple greeting he'd known to be effective in the past.

"Sir."

Though he'd doubted that there would be any threats in this room, instinct told him to check anyway. He was finally content with the safety of the room as the aides walked out.

'Oh... the peons aren't trusted?'

He cracked a slight smile. When he heard the emperor speak in fluent English it suprised him, he'd expected that this was all going to be in Mereshkan, which he'd only just started learning from Saya. He doubted some of what she was teaching him, he could see her messing with him over something like this, so he was also learning from SSOCOM's School of Linguistics, and was suprised to find she hadn't messed with him... yet. Of course, English was his second language, (with Shenyangi as his first language) but he'd known it since he was 4 so he was exceedingly fluent.

"Sir, with all due respect, you're not one to stand on ceremony are you?"

Most people would have been shocked by how he said it, conversationally to be exact.


OOC: Shenyangi is essentially a derivation of Russian, but with serious influences from Asian countries, (China/Japan primarilly) as a result it can be a real pain to learn. The grammar scheme is almost exactly the same as American English. Shenyang prides itself on the complexity of its language, as it sets us apart from many other nations with whom we allied, who use RL languages (live or dead), such as Latin, Italian, Spanish, etc.

He cracked a smile. "Pleased to meet you Emporer, I'm Prince Thomas Vanek of the VDB." He held out his hand to shake.

Mick and the Black Ops balled their right hands into fists and thumped them on their armor over their hearts; the Dominion military salute. They then removed their helmets, realizing that a face with nothing but glowing green eyes wouldn't exactly look friendly. Kirk and Morallis followed suit. Kirk was about to speak when Mick beat him to it.

Clipping his helmet to his belt, Mick looked at the Emperor, "Your Highness, I am Commander Michael Hawkins, Dominion Intelligence. I'm in charge of our forces in Mereshka. I'm not sure how much you know of what we're facing, but as soon as we found out we were dealing with more than street gangs of them my team and I were sent to reinforce the two police officers already on station."

The emperor gave a wry grin to Alex, "No, I don't much like ceromony. As for the peons, it helps me know which are loyal, by comparing what they say the visitors say, to what they really say." He turned to Mick and smiled, "Pardon commander, but I don't seem to remember signing anything giving permission for foreign forces to be on my land. Perhaps I forgot, being in my old age as I am?" He said with a glance at Saya.

Clearing his throat, Mick replied, "Well, you didn't, exactly. Officially myself and the four other Black Operatives that have arrived are here in response to the destruction of the Blood Containment Squad base of operations as well as looking after our own people here. Technically we're relieving Kirk and Morallis on the squad, but we would be appreciative if you would allow them to stay on. They are our best field operatives, but they are just our equivilant of police officers."

He laughed, "Ah, go ahead. I have to have something to be supposedly mad at don't I?"

"Yep." said Vanek warming up to the Emporer. "So, where do we put our stuff down?"

He waved his hand vaguely, "Oh, just toss them on the ground somewhere, the Peons'll put em in your rooms later on I suppose."

"OK," said Vanek, as he put down his backpack. "So, now what do we do?"

OOC: Cue the dramatic intro music!


IC:
Dagger-5 felt the weight of all his injuries starting to weigh on him. Beyond that, the memories of the woman from the village were creeping back. He was glad the goggles were still on, so no one could see the tired look in them. He busied himself with dressing one of his wounds. He was listening intently to everything that was going on. Even still he missed the nearly silent footfalls coming from his 5 o'clock. No one noticed the shape moving toward them, the motions were too well controlled to arouse anyone's attention. Dagger-5 suddenly felt himself being pulled back by someone. They had him in a chokehold. He tried to break the hold, but couldn't quite get out of it. This attacker was good. Suddenly he was on the ground looking at a camouflaged figure in a mask. He had similar sun-goggles to Alex, except they had green mirror lenses.

"When are you going to learn Alex? I've known you for all these years, hell, I married your sister and you still don't know how to break my chokehold."

The attacker reached down and helped 5 up. The two embraced, then broke apart. The masked figure pulled up the goggles, revealing a pair of battle weary, but intense red eyes. The mask pulled down and revealed a face no one could have expected to see here.

"So, did ya miss me?"

Dagger-4 stood before them, in a full urban sniper kit, his MSG-90 slung over his shoulder, and his pistol stowed in its holster. He saluted the emperor smartly, then turned back to everyone.

"I arrived here about, 4 hours ago, had a heck of a time getting in here though. I hear you've been killing vampires. Not my specialty, but I bet I've still got it."

He held up his hands like he had a sniper rifle, tracked an imaginary target, and 'fired' a single shot. His hands didn't shift in the slightest. UH had been cruel to him, he was permanently stuck with the red eyes, which were slightly sensitive to light, however he was by far the best shot in Shenyang now that his hands didn't shake at all, and he could naturally zoom his own vision ever so slightly. The camo he wore was the new standard Shenyangi urban warfare pattern. The suit itself was a prototype 'sniper system', allowing a sniper to shoot perfectly while maintaining standard ballistic protection over most of their bodies. He'd fallen for the system, and had convinced the government to let him keep it, for further testing of course.

"And who the heck are you?" asked Vanek bluntly.

OOC: Assuming Alex is in the same room. Or that that's possible.

Mick grinned, "Ah hell, there goes the neighborhood."

He embraced Dagger 4 in a bear hug and stepped back, "How ya been buddy? Haven't seen you in years!"

He turned to Vanek, "An old comrade from our zombie hunting days. The old coot may seem a little senile but you warm up to him."

"Yah." he grinned. "Hi, I'm Vanek."

Saya laughed delightedly and ran up and gave him a hug. "Hey Dag! How are you? Its been ages!"

"Well well well, if it t'aint Alex." Ed walked up to him. "Been a while, how you been faring my friend?"

"Oh, yes, I've heard about you Vanek, the vampire who's got some serious problems with... how should I say this... being polite. I'm Nikolai, Alex's brother-in-law, you, you can call me Dagger-4."

He turned away from Vanek.

"I take offense. Besides, I only ended up singing over the squad radios on one mission."

Ed laughed. "Resemblence is remarkable."

"It's Nikolai... It's good to see you Saya, good to see you're still well. I guess that means Alex hasn't screwed up yet. Where's Crispy?"

Ed looked down. "Hes not here."

Saya shook her head sadly. "We're not to sure he survived. Oh, Ed's got an evil twin by the way."

"hmm... an evil twin? I thought the good one was bad enough. Did I just say that out loud?"

He was a changed man. Some of the melancholy was gone, and was replaced with something that could only be described as, badass-ness.

Inside he wondered if Crispy was dead. He doubted it.

Ed chcukled. "A clone, yeah?"

"This how we found out." He tossed a mike onto the floor and the played the recording.

Dagger-4 nodded.

"Yeah, definitely sounds like you, this could get complicated."

He took a clip off his belt. "Might need this, its an incindeary clip."

"Oh beautiful... atleast I brought freakin' incendiary grenades on a whim."

He looked around the room to see who else was back. He saw several familiar faces.

Ed chuckled. "Most of the former QCS are here, and we've had dealings with UH freaks before, a clone of me shouldn't be to hard to handle." He shrugged. "Unless they tought him everything I know, then things could get a bit hairy."

"Oh, yes, I've heard about you Vanek, the vampire who's got some serious problems with... how should I say this... being polite. I'm Nikolai, Alex's brother-in-law, you, you can call me Dagger-4."

He turned away from Vanek.

"I take offense. Besides, I only ended up singing over the squad radios on one mission."

"Well, when's our next mission?" he said. "I'm kinda bored here, I've got rubber to burn, police to blow by. I'm an underground racer in the VDB, and I brought my best car."

"You realize that the police will probably be either on foot or riding horses right? I mean, if you brought a supercar, as you no doubt did, that's what we call 'overkill' in Shenyang."

Dagger-4 paused a moment.

"For that matter, how would I know about the next mission? I'm a sniper not an OGA spook, asking me is like asking a communications specialist about the effects of a gale force wind on artillery fire."

"Well, I meant that to everyone out loud. And, I suppose not about the car thing."

The emperor laughed, "Oh, yes. Nearly forgtot to tell you, you'll be going to Greece for this one. Athens, more specifically."

"Well, when's our next mission?" he said. "I'm kinda bored here, I've got rubber to burn, police to blow by. I'm an underground racer in the VDB, and I brought my best car."

"Excuse me? 'police to blow by?' That kind of attitude back home would get you a ticket, and your car publicly detonated in front of you," Kirk tried to hide his smile at the remark.

The Dominion had a relatively healthy illegal street racing circuit, prompting the Civil Authority to buy as many American Muscle cars from the 1960's and 70's to be refurbished and souped up as interceptors. It was every officer's favorite assignment.

"Stow the commentary," Mick was smiling as well, he'd participated in a few races, "Athens huh? Always wanted to see Greece."

"Excuse me? 'police to blow by?' That kind of attitude back home would get you a ticket, and your car publicly detonated in front of you," Kirk tried to hide his smile at the remark.

The Dominion had a relatively healthy illegal street racing circuit, prompting the Civil Authority to buy as many American Muscle cars from the 1960's and 70's to be refurbished and souped up as interceptors. It was every officer's favorite assignment.

"Stow the commentary," Mick was smiling as well, he'd participated in a few races, "Athens huh? Always wanted to see Greece."

"Well, when you're the head of your government...and you're going at 250mph...." Vanek smiled.

Dagger-5 perked up at the mention of a new mission.

"Greece, Greek vamps? Why not, every other mythological creature imaginable's there, according to legend."

Dagger-4 glanced at him, the look seemed to say, 'you're a terrible human being.'

The Daggers began mentally preparing for combat. Dagger-4 began moving toward his zen state. It was often unnerving to people, as he looked so intense, yet so disconnected.

The emperor laughed, "Oh, yes. Nearly forgtot to tell you, you'll be going to Greece for this one. Athens, more specifically."

Ed looked up. "Greece? Athens? Wow, wonder why the vamps chose some place with such a rich histroy, would be a shame to accidentaly blow something valuable up.." Ed realized that he was talking casualy, and that mereshka had class based soceity. 'I apologize for speaking out of turn, your grace."

The Emperor sighed, another one who hung on ceromony. "Please, call me Isuma. I get enough My lords and such from the toadies. Besides," He grinned, "You're not one of my subjects."

Dagger-4 made an affirmative expression, Dagger-5 nodded. D5 sat down on the floor to begin reloading his weapons. D4 handed him a small case and Alex's face lit up like it was Christmas. He opened the case and found all the replacement parts for his pistol. With the care of a surgeon working on a newborn he painstaking rebuilt Exeter. He placed the damaged components into the case and checked the sight alignment on the weapon.

He made a few adjustments, popped a bore-sighter into the weapon and proceeded to make adjustments with the precision of a sniper. At long last he was satisfied. He removed the bore-sighter and played the slide a few times. He rammed and ejected the mag several time and checked the precision of the frame to slide match. Satisfied with his repairs he reholstered the weapon. He looked up from his weapons, directly at Saya.

"We'd better both come out of this alive. After that invasion we'd better not get taken out by vampires in the open."

Dagger-4 smirked.

"You're way too protective Alex, she knows how to fight, besides you've got me covering you. I won't let anything happen to you two."

He looked at the others.

"Oh, or any of you either. I mean, I backed the QCS up 'from beyond the grave', covering you against vampires can't be too much tougher than that."

Vanek decided to ignore the comments just made and started to prep his backpack, containing his AK-47 and his sword. "So, when are we off?" he asked. "And I can get a jet for us, unless we're going to take other means...."

"The chopper could easily be turned around if we need a lift," Mick said, "We've got enough tracking equipment and armament for it to provide a support platform. So tell me, just how different are these vampires from the one's back home? Ours are basically street gangs that go on murderous rampages."

Aozora shook his head, "These ones are much more organized, as far as we can tell, they have leaders, and like to play mind games."

Saya grinned at Alex. "Oh don't you worry, I'll be the one protecting you. Now that we're not in a building or something, I can finally be a sniper again."

"Hoo-yah!!!"

Both Daggers pumped there fists in agreement.

Mick gave a playfully devious smile, "Mind games huh? They've met their match with Dominion Intelligence! Sergeant Johnson here is a specialist in messing with people's minds," he gestured at one of the men behind him.

Sergeant Johnson was tall, at around 6'4" and dark skinned. His mouth upturned in a smirk as he finished checking his rifle.

"Yeah, don't you worry about those undead pansies. We actually let one live and by the time I'm done with 'em he'll be saying something like this:
'Dear humanity,
We regret being undead bastards. We regret threatening your race. And we most DEFINITELY regret the TBCS just blew up your raggedy-ass leadership!"
He racked a round into his rifle to punctuate his words.

OOC: Stealing from Halo? For shame..
Aozora smiled, "Whatever makes ya feel better chief."

The Emperor sighed, another one who hung on ceromony. "Please, call me Isuma. I get enough My lords and such from the toadies. Besides," He grinned, "You're not one of my subjects."

"I apologize Herr Isuma, I am just accustomed to calling royalty your grace." He chuckled. " So, organized and playing mind games, hm? Wonder if they have Crispy and Captain Grey... then again, I wonder how my clone fits into all of this."

OOC: I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! :D Shenyang and I were joking about it over the phone. Besides, who better to fight them than someone who doesn't even get infected by the Flood?

IC:
The Black Ops and Civil Authority were now ready, their helmets on and gear secure.

"Alright," Kirk said, anticipation in his voice, "When do ship out?"

Isuma laughed, "Eager are we? You'll have a little bit time to rest up."

Ed slipped off his jacket then pushed a button on the armor, automaticaly it shifted into place, and sealing to the perfect fit. "Gotta admire Union ingenuity..." He muttered. He looked up. "When are we going to get out of here, were a combat squad, not a social group. No offense."

He sighed, "If you really want to, we can leave in a few hours."

Ed chucked again. "All right, want to give this new armor a bit of a combat test."



Somewhere else

Crispy couldn't see. Whether they had blind folded him or if it was just the blood in his eyes, he couldn't tell. All he knew is that he was hungry for blood. Someone shifted beside him. "Evan?" he whispered hoarsly. He heard a grunt, then the sound of someone spitting. "Yeah, geez, I swear, they tried to poison me with that rag..." Crispy tried to look around, but once again, he couldn't. "How you holding Crisp?" Evan asked. Crispy grunted when he brushed something sensitive against whatever he was tied against. "Sore, and probably bloody, you?" Evan laughed. "Lucky bastard, they had a bit o' fun with me, far as I can tell I don't think I hvae a knee cap anymore." Evan grunted again. "They're coming, right?" He said weakly. Crispy shook his head. "I don't know.... I really don't know."

OOC; So we gonna get going? Sorry for the impatience...

OOC: Sure, why not. I'll wait a little bit for Shen and Ruthless though.
Aozora checked one of the many sun-dials lying around. "Well folks, its about time to get going."

Ed sat up. "All right, lets get this show on the road!" he left the room and returned with his bag, then pulled an old book out of it. "I 'borrowed this from the Governmental archives, its a book on Athenian history, could come in handy." He shrugged. "Or maybe it'll be a good read on the way there."

Isuma looked anxiously at the book. "You be careful with that thing, those 'Government Archives', are my private collection."

Saya laughed, "You'd best do as he says Ed, stealing from the Emperor can result in an execution you know."

Ed chuckled. "Oh no no no, this is from Arkheim, if I wanted to steal from his majesty I would be out of the country by now." He thumbed to a page in the book. "Oh, a thing on Socrates!"

Isuma let out a relieved sigh. "Whooh, thats a releif. I really need to start labeling mine or something."

Ed laughed. 'Not a problem, besides, it'll help with all the record keeping." Ed thumbed to another page. "Oh, a thing on the battle of thermopalye."

OOC: Sorry, but I can't help but say something about the Battle of Theropalaye. You know that new movie 300? That movie kind of pisses me off. I've had several students, who've heard of Spartans from somewhere else, and either ask me questions, or take the time to look it up. Then, that movie comes out, and suddenly everyones an 'expert' on spartans, and the battle. Please forgive the ranting of an aged teacher.
IC: Isuma laughed, "Have a taste for history do you?"

OOC: I've got to go for a couple hours.

OOC: Yeah, I know... never saw 300, but I do read my history textbook quite a lot... so yeah, I probably know more then they do.

IC:

Ed closed the book. 'Why yes, if my family wasn't a military family I would've taught histroy at a local college. But... the military called, and off I went."

"That's the way things go," he said thinking of how his life went. Boy to tabloid-gracer to government official.

"Well yeah, thats true, but then again, what young boy can't resist the draw of the military, eh?"

"I could barely," said Vanek smiling.

Ed chuckled. "Yeah." He dropped his voice into a voice full of glory. "Join the Military, protect your country, see the world!" Ed chuckled again. "That last part about see the world is true, albeit the nastier parts of the world."

"Yah."

"Well, Mereshka is the most glamorus country I've seen since home, the Union arechitectural style is mainly Gothic, the kind you see in old catherdral and the like." He shrugged. "I'll take reinforced stone with solid titanium behind it to reinforced concrete anyday."

"Alright, enough standin around, lets move people!" Aozora said. Saya immeadiatly jumped up and ran out to the chopper, eager to get it over with as soon as possible.

Ed laughed out loud, his laughter echoed in the spacious room. "Finaly, a chance for some action!"

"Finally!"

Johnson laughed, almost excited to fight. The rest of the Dominion soldiers and officers followed.

"Alright boys, lock and load. I'm dying to try out our new armor systems," Mick was more than ready to get back in the field.

"You mean THEY'LL be dying," Johnson laughed, "Got to get your priorities in order here chief."

Ed looked at micks armor. "Kind of under powered, don't you think?" He said with amusement.

Mick's smile was invisible under his helmet, "Maybe a little weaker than normal, but only to make room for this-"

He activated the device on his back which whirred for a few seconds before going silent. He then shimmered and vanished, only a barely perceivable distortion.

"The Black Ops were always based on stealth; we'd sacifice extra armor to become invisible any day. Admittedly it's a little pirated from Shenyang's active camo system, but we're only paying them back for getting ahold of our armor system to make theirs. It's a friendly but vicious cycle," he shimmered back into view.

"Wow." said Vanek in appreciation.

OOC: I gotta get off the computer in a minute or two, unfortunately, see y'all tomorrow.

Ed laughed. "Active Camo? You're kidding me right?" With no visible warning, he dissapeared. "Vibrations, thatsd how its done. Vibrated right out of the visible spectrum... dampeners in the armor keep the motions from being seen, and the only detectable aspect is an etremly slight shimmer, you'd basically have to stare at the spot for an hour before you can pick out the pattern, believe me, its been tested."

"7AG deemed your armor to be inferior, and poorly suited to their purposes. Hell, the only thing they seem to have found useful, was your helmet, and their version is still better. Besides, there's works better. I couldn't spot one on a sniper scope, you however, I still can."


OOC: remember RS, if you stole a set of SIS, I'd have to go to war with you. More specifically, the Seraphim would be after you. Unlike Black Ops armor, each suit is custom, you'd have to kidnap a Seraphim to make any stole suit work. More specifically, you'd need the right Seraphim. You could steal a new model camo suit, but that's not on the same level as SIS, for the safety of the soldiers.

The Mereshkans all looked a bit wild eyed at the sudden dissapearance of Mcik and Ed. "Uhm. Lets just go pople." Aozora said.

IC:
The troops took their seats and strapped in, making final checks on their gear.

OOC:Most of it was extrapolation off of readings taken from when your operative made herself known in the Homecoming RP coupled with our own AC program. The readings aren't the same as a full blown dissection, which is why it's not nearly as good. The reason an AC generator was able to be made from the data was that was all that was focused on. I mean, it's one of the most secure facilites in the world and you were in the laboratory. The equipment to do it was all right there.

OOC: Shen, you kidding me? Harmonics can't really be seen by the naked eye, bending light can.

Ed slung his rifle. "Then lets get going."

Vanek didn't bother to strap in, as he went up front with the pilot, and took a sip of blood when no one was looking. He watched the pilot fly the plane, as he wanted to become a pilot himself.

Ed watched Vanek head to the cockpit and watch the pilot and his movements intently. Seems a bit like myself... He got up and headed over to him. "By reasoning of deduction, you wish to become a pilot, but current cicumstances arenot allowing you?" Ed smiled. "Read alot of Sherlock Holmes, but you do look like you want to be a pilot."

Ed watched Vanek head to the cockpit and watch the pilot and his movements intently. Seems a bit like myself... He got up and headed over to him. "By reasoning of deduction, you wish to become a pilot, but current cicumstances arenot allowing you?" Ed smiled. "Read alot of Sherlock Holmes, but you do look like you want to be a pilot."

"Yah. I've got a lot of time in this world, why not learn as much as I can?" he said.

Ed chcukled "Exactly."

"Yep. So how long until Greece?"

OOC: 4 was talking to Mick about the Black Ops gear, and no camouflage system can be totally perfect, there will always be a distortion in some capacity. Harmonics may be extremely effective, but like it or not, it'd still be possible to visually detect it, even if its improbable.

Strictly speaking, if you wanted to create a perfect stealth system for a stationary object, you'd need to place it in deep space, and use an artificial (or natural) black hole's gravity well to literally make it invisible. Of course, that would be an excessive waste of money, unless you were building some sort of High-FTL stationary superweapon, that you were willing to only use once, maybe twice, then have to move to a new sector.

Anything 'Infantry-grade' (meaning small enough for a human) would have to have similar power requirements, and similar limitations. Its all got to do with how the light reacts.

That's the same basic reasoning why snipers have to combine ghillies with proper field craft.

My own MT stealth works using OLEDs, and its not nearly perfect, its merely good enough to evade people who aren't looking for its specific flaws. As for my FT system, I use an advanced harmonic system operating well outside detectable ranges, and that's only used for snipers and infiltrators.

OOC: Makes sense, although I should put some flaws in it... In this current time period the Union is PMT.

The Daggers took seats in the aircraft, 5 near Saya, 4 opposite them. Dagger-4 had changed into a new set of fatigues and was clad in his new vest. It was adorned with all the damaged pockets from the previous vest.

Dagger-4 checked his gear over with an unnatural precision. Once he was sure that the weapons were in perfect order he relaxed. It was impossible to see through his mask and goggles, but one could just hear him muttering a mantra. To those who didn't know him, it would have sounded like an incantation. In a sense it was, he used the mantra to reach a zen calm, to be a more effective combatant.

The pilot handed him the controls and Vanek tried to fly the copter. It started to sway from side to side before it got control. Greece was before them.

The Daggers were ready to go. As soon as the chopper touched down they'd be first off the ramp. Each exuded an air of absolute calm, for his part, 4 was. However thoughts raced inside 5's head. Thoughts like:
'What threats are there going to be?'
'Will we all make it?'
and
'Is this going to be my time?'

Still, on the surface, both were totally cool.

The copter coasted down. A gust of wind almost blew it off, but he managed to keep it back on track.

OOC: I made a NSWiki page (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Prince_Thomas_Vanek) for Vanek. I was bored one day. :D What do y'all think?

OOC; Going to start that QCS revival IC thread soon, y'all watch out for it.

Ed checked his gear and activated his harmonic camoflauge, just in case. A terrible racket rose up in the crew section and he immediatly switched it off. "Conductive metals.." He muttered. He looked up and saw the parthenon grow larger, they would be touching down soon, where, he did not know.

Dagger-4 swept the area outside the chopper with his weapon's scope. He didn't see anything that was out of place. He got a slight vibe that the drop zone wouldn't be as quiet as it looked.

The loud clacking sound of seven rifles being armed echoed through the cabin as the Black Ops and Civil Authority readied themselves in unison. As they chopper drew lower, they braced themselves for what was to come, their concealed behind helmets, not betraying the slight nervousness each felt. Kirk and Morallis were the most calm among them, now being veterans of the squad. However even they were apprehensive at the size of the possible threat down there.

Vanek climbed out of the copter and into the building below. "I suppose this is our bunker," he said. "So, where are... my cousins?"

Edward grabbed his rifle. "Soon to be dead." He looked around, didn't appear to be very dangerous, then again, knowing these vamps, anything could happen.

Kirk and Morallis piled out, followed by the Black Ops who set up a perimeter around the helicopter, their vision enhancement helmets scanning for any and all motion.

Edward took the lead of the squad nd checked the door out of curiosity. "Locked. I got a charge, any other ideas before I let everyone know were here?"

One of the Black Ops walked up, another taking his place in the perimeter.

"I've got it," he said before pulling a probelike device from his belt.
There were multiple prongs on the end which he inserted into the door. Hitting a button, clicking sounds were heard inside the knob for about a minute and then a loud *clack* beofre the device ejected itself.

"That oughta do it," he turned the knob, opening the door, "Our castle awaits."

Ed sighed. "I was really looking forward to a shoot out to..."


Deeper inside the base

Crispy had managed to get the ropes binding his hand off. It had taken several hours for friction to run its course, but in the end the rope slid off. After he finished rubbing ciculation back into his hands he untied Evan. "I got a plan." He whispered. "Start yelling for help when I get above the door, make something up, I don't care." Evan nodded duly, days without food and water had dulled him. Crispy climbed into the piping above the door then signaled to Evan. Immediatly he start shouting for help. One of the gaurds burst in through the door. "Whats that matter here?" He said, licking his fangs, "Someone wounded?" Crispy dropped from the piping right behind him and snapped his neck without a seconds hesitation. He grabbed the MK-23 SOCOM the gaurd was carrying and went over to Evan. "Bar the door from the inside." He said. Evan shuffled to his feet. Crispy sliced his hand through the air. "Your in no condition to go anywhere." he said. Evan nodded duly then sat back down, head drooping onto his chest. Crispy shut the door behind him, hunting time.

bump

Deeper inside the base

Crispy had managed to get the ropes binding his hand off. It had taken several hours for friction to run its course, but in the end the rope slid off. After he finished rubbing ciculation back into his hands he untied Evan. "I got a plan." He whispered. "Start yelling for help when I get above the door, make something up, I don't care." Evan nodded duly, days without food and water had dulled him. Crispy climbed into the piping above the door then signaled to Evan. Immediatly he start shouting for help. One of the gaurds burst in through the door. "Whats that matter here?" He said, licking his fangs, "Someone wounded?" Crispy dropped from the piping right behind him and snapped his neck without a seconds hesitation. He grabbed the MK-23 SOCOM the gaurd was carrying and went over to Evan. "Bar the door from the inside." He said. Evan shuffled to his feet. Crispy sliced his hand through the air. "Your in no condition to go anywhere." he said. Evan nodded duly then sat back down, head drooping onto his chest. Crispy shut the door behind him, hunting time.

OOC: People got kidnapped? Interesting...

IC:

Vanek put his backpack down onto a chair and sat. "Listen, I really want to get going."