NationStates Jolt Archive

Over Canadstein

A C-130 hurtled through the sky, as its shadow went over the tops of green pine trees. Aboard the transport was a lone man. He was neither a prisoner nor some high ranking General, let alone even in the army. This man didn't exist. No record of the man existed anywhere in the world. For the last ten years he had gone by many names, and at sometimes he had forgotten his name given at birth, Miles. This lone man was Miles Mason.

Miles was what many called a spy, but he simply he worked for the Canadstein Intelligence Agency. Ten years ago he had been chosen for the Agency and quickly became an agent, but along with coming an agent he was stripped of his identity. All of his childhood was erased. He was literally a man with a country or past. Often during late nights he wondered if he had made the right decision.

He looked to be exhausted, both mentally and physical. His last mission hadn't gone over so well. Miles had barely even made it out of the country. A special forces team had to be sent in to extract him, and that was no easy task. The helicopter had almost been shot done and one of the special forces members had been shot up pretty thoroughly, though he was going to make it. Miles let out a sigh as he rested his head in his cupped hands. That mission had really affected him. Something horrible had happened, besides the extraction.

None of it mattered now. He couldn't change the past. Miles just had to come to accept what happened. Then a voice echoed through Miles' brain. He looked up and saw the co-pilot.

"Sir, we are going to be landing in three minutes." The co-pilot said again to make sure that Miles had heard it.

Miles simply shook his head with a glump look.

---

"Moltke", Canadstein

The C-130 touched the hot tarmac, then came to a screehing halt on the small runway. "Moltke", Canadstein did not exist on any maps. "Moltke" only comprised of a couple of buildings, but they were pathways to the undergorund labyrithn. It was a black site for the Canadstein Government, and barely any government officials knew about it besides the President.

Once the C-130 stopped its engines the back ramp came down. Out walked Miles, but he was surprised to see a lone green coloured jeep waiting for him. Miles did not ask why, but got aboard. Something was defininetly up. The jeep dropped him off at one of the hollow buildings. Upon walking down into the underground city he was escorted to a room, where he was stripped down and checked for any abonmals.

Soon afterwards he was led to a room with a bed. Miles quickly plopped down into the bed. Within minutes he had fallen asleep.

---

Hours Later

A soft knock quickly woke up Miles. It was coming from the other side of the door. Miles drowsily got up and opened the door. It was some lieutenant. Miles rubbed his eyes and looked at the young officer.

"Sir, Mr. Hull wants to see you right now." The young officer stated.

Miles looked at his watch and was thankful that he had gotten a couple of hours of sleep. Quickly he grabbed a t-shirt and put it on. Then he followed the lieutenant through the maze of corridors, but suddenly he stopped at a door. It looked like all the other doors in Moltke. The lieutenant opened the door for Miles and soon followed him inside.

Within the room a desk sat in the middle with tons of papers and book scattered on it. Two of the four walls were covered with bookcases, which were overflowing with books. Behind the desk on the wall was a picture of King Albert IV and Prime Minister William Harper, but the man sitting behind the desk was Isaac Hull, Director of the Canadstien Intelligence Agency.

Miles looked at the Director carefully. He had only seen this man once, during his acceptance into the CIA. Both the young lieutenant and Miles took the two chairs in front of Mr. Hull.

"Well it is good to see that you made it out of your last mission Miles. I don't think any other agent could have completed it." Mr. Hull said as he looked up from a book he was reading.

"I try to do my best first, sir." Miles said as he looked at Mr. Hull. It was kind of odd to hear it from the Director. Agents were never awarded for their deeds. Their reward was knowing that they were keeping Canadstein and all Canadsteiners safe.

"Okay let's cut to the chase. I have called both of you here for a special mission. I believe that both of you are the best qualified for this mission." Mr. Hull stated as he put down his book.

Miles stole a glance at the young lieutenant. This lieutenant looked like he came right out of the Royal Canadstein Military Academy. What kind of skills could this greenhorn have that Miles didn't?

"Miles you might be wondering why you are being paired with Lieutenant Kent. You have probably already judged that he is fresh out of the Academy, and that you are superior to him. Mr. Mason you lack one thing that he doesn't, the ability to put his emotions aside." Mr. Hull said coldly.

Miles knew that Mr. Hull was correct. The Malakov Mission had almost become a disaster because of his emotions.

"Here is your mission. You leave this afternoon. Both of you are to tell no one. Not anyone here or anywhere else. Only the Prime Minister and I know about this." said Mr. Hull as he handed over a file.

Miles quickly looked over the file and handed it over to Mr. Hull. Now Miles knew why they had specifically chosen him. The mission was to take place in Kahanistan. He had already gotten some experience from that country, and probably was the most qualified.

"Sir, this mission...it cannot be real..." Miles stuttered off.

"Mr. Mason it as real as the air is." Mr. Hull stated.

"Then I will get the job done." Miles replied coldly.

Lieutenant Kent handed back over the file.

"This mission will be accomplished without error, sir." Lt. Kent said in a military style.

"That is all then." Mr. Hull replied. "You can leave now."

The pair of men left, but Miles was speechless. He was going back to Kahanistan. A couple of hours later a C-130 took off and was headed straight for Kahanistan, with an agent and an officer aboard.

Metzuda, Capital of Havenic Kahanistan

With the Questarian Commonwealth invasion, the city was effectively locked down and prepared for a long siege. Some buildings bore signs of war damage and a few were flattened, but those were the exceptions rather than the rule; most buildings stood tall and intact, a few even reinforced to resist thermobaric weapons.

Soldiers in Macabean Samson powered armour marched through the streets, with mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, and NBC protection obscuring their faces and bodies. The soldiers could be anything from a small female officer barely five feet tall to a hulking beast of a man more than seven feet tall under the protection; all were equally deadly. Six million suits had been obtained and fitted to every soldier in the outer defensive line, in the city, and every reservist soldier in the defence of the capital.

Huge artillery vehicles carrying thermobaric rockets and various chemical compounds rolled through the streets, and civilians dug deep wells with backhoes and heavy construction equipment for fear that the water would be poisoned and their water purifiers fail. Bomb shelters more than ten metres deep were commonplace throughout the city, little more than a stopping point for most civilians who came through, being directed to South Freetown to escape if they so chose, or to fight and die otherwise.

Heavy anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile batteries dotted the capital, and further out was a defensive line with two million armoured troops, numerous DMG-made heavy and super-heavy tanks, and older radars whose sole purpose was to be destroyed as an early-warning system.

Underneath the capital was a fortress bunker where the generals in charge of ensuring the survival of the Republic planned the final defeat of the Doomani and their evil allies. However, they were without some of their finest commanders; their previous Defence Minister had been kidnapped and tortured by unknown agents for his anti-Catholic views (an asset for one fighting the Doomani) and the Allaneans had murdered many officers while kidnapping the Supreme General of the Republic.

---

Metzuda International Airport

A wing of 25 GLI-76 fighters glided across the sky, scouting for enemies. One of them spotted a lone C-130.

"Red Leader, spotting suspicious plane, possible hostile. Request permission to engage."

"Negative. Initiate contact."

"Unknown plane, this is the Kahanistan Republic Guard. Identify yourself and your mission, and land at Landing Pad Zeta-Four. Failure to comply will result in your being shot as Doomani."

Over Metzuda

"We are part of the Royal Canadstein Air Force. We are here to drop off two government officals, but they are on a diplomatic mission." The pilot said as the co-pilot followed the unknown Kahahistani pilot's orders.

The C-130 made a sharp turn, then taxied for the specified runway. It made a smooth landing, then came to a slow stop. The ramp in the back slowly made its way down. Two men came out, but was one was clearly a military man. The younger of the two wore a Army Dress Uniform, that marked him as a lieutenant. The other was wearing a three piece suit and a bowler hat. This was going to be the start of their mission. The older man looked at the lieutenant and shook his head. The lieutenant simply nodded, and then the pair walked down the ramp onto Kahanistani soil.

Two soldiers in Samson gear approached the men. One of the voices sounded male and distinctly emotionless.

"We will escort you to the Canadstein Embassy. Come with us and follow us precisely, or risk being treated as Doomani spies."

The other voice was female. "You may have seen the wooden Stars of David, and crescent moons outside North Freetown, or heard about them. Captured enemies are being nailed to them as we speak." She seemed to be deriving a sadistic pleasure in narrating the mockeries of Doomani crucifixion.

Lt. Kent looked cautiously over to Miles. He wondered if these two people could actually be trusted. Miles could sense the tension in the air. It had been a while since he had first come to this place. Now he was finally back, but it was odd how he was beginning where his last mission ended. He sighed, then gave a signal to Lt. Kent to follow the pair.

"See Miss, we are not enemies. We are merely here on a diplomatic mission. Canadsteiners just want peace, and we try to attain that through neutrality." Miles said as he followed the Kahanistani along with Lt. Kent.

The armoured troops escorted the Canadsteiners to the embassy. A general in full body armour was waiting outside the embassy for them. He spoke through a microphone in his Samson suit, which made him sound like some kind of alien or robot.

"I am Lt. General Harun al-Zamir, the acting Deputy Foreign Minister while the military government holds power and our government is outside the country. What is your purpose here?"

"A diplomatic mission...that is all." Miles said as he stopped in front of the General.

Lt. Kent stood behind him and saw the embassy soldiers start to gather. He hoped that this did not lead to some confrontation. If things went to hell, then it would make this mission only harder. Lt. Kent. put his hand on Miles' shoulder. Miles was just getting riled up.

"Very well. I will confirm with your Ambassador." General al-Zamir called the Embassy with his radio. The other armoured troops readied their weapons, preparing to execute the two men as Doomies if the Ambassador did not confirm the meeting.

"Mr. Ambassador. This is Lt. General Harun al-Zamir. Did you arrange a meeting between our governments? We have two men claiming to be part of your government who flew in and are holding them outside the Embassy."

The Kahanistani had no real reason to fear Miles or Lt. Kent. The pair of men just hoped that these soldiers were not trigger itchy. A man came running out of the embassy, and quickly two soldiers ran besides him. The man stopped at the gate and looked to be out of breath. It took a minute for him to recover. The soldiers had their guns holstered, but could be ready within second.

"These men are welcome here, so let them aside. Come in Miles." Ambassador Stapleton said as he ushered them into the gated compound.

Miles? Isn't he a wanted man here?

General al-Zamir said nothing, but nodded curtly to the other soldiers to lower their weapons. He and the Samson-suited soldiers followed the men into the Embassy, to wherever the Ambassador would lead them...

The embassy soldiers soon blocked the way for the Kahanistani, as the Ambassador led the two men inside. No Kahanistani was going to get into the walled compounds of the embassy. These soldiers were under strict orders to not let any non-Canadsteiner in unless told directly by Ambassador Stapleton.

"Sorry General, but you and your men are not to cross us. If you do so, then we will have to fight back because you have crossed straight into land owned by Canadstein and its people." The commanding officer stated.

Very well. If they are Doomani spies, they can spy on the Canadsteiners. But if they spy on us...

"I see. Is there someone you came here to speak with? I assumed it was me, as I'm running foreign affairs while the civilian government is out of the country."

While the Samson suits far outclassed anything the Canadsteiners had, the general was not interested in wasting lives that would be better used fighting the Doomani.

"I dunno sir." The officer replied sarcastically. A button was pushed and the gates closed. The other soldiers went back to their respective duties, but the officer just stood there and looked at the Kahanistani. "Don't you have something better to do, than to bother us?"

Fucking pricks. The general and the two soldiers who had greeted the Canadsteiners turned and left for their offices, and reported to Kahanistanian Intelligence.

Twenty minutes later, the Embassy received a phone call...

Ambassador Stapleton had gotten Lt. Kent and Miles situated within the embassy. All he knew was that the pair of men had a secret mission. Frankly he did not want to know anymore than that because he could be liable for their actions. But he trusted the judgement of Miles. Whatever they were going to do, it surely was not going to be legal. The ambassador returned to his office and looked over to some papers, but his train of thought was soon broken by the ring of his phone. Stapleton retrieved the phone and sighed.

"Hello this is Ambassador Stapleton of the Canadstein Embassy." He stated calmly.

"Hello," said an eerily calm, male voice. "This is General Tiberius Devidius, Director of Military Intelligence. Recently, two men entered your embassy, but denied entry to the general in charge of foreign affairs. We were under the impression there was to be a meeting with them, they did say they were there for a diplomatic arrangement. This raises certain suspicion here."

"General Devidius maybe it wasn't with that guy. I believe they are here to meet some other Kahanistani. But what does that concern you, a General of the Military Intelligence Department?" replied Ambassador Stapleton. "Your suspicions have been proven to be wrong, but you never know. These men are not spies, and are not a threat. So I will like it if your government would stop harassing us."

The Ambassador put down the phone and went back to reading over his papers. During dinner he discussed what had happened to Lt. Kent and Miles.

The intelligence head hung up, but had a helicopter detail fly around the Embassy, as if looking for suspicious activity. He sat back and waited for the Canadsteiners to contact the government; the relevant officials would inform him when they did.

Something was fishy about this arrival, in a situation of total war no less. What was so important to Canadstein that they had to slip into a nation that was fighting a war of extermination for its very existence?

Lieutenant Chester Kent and Miles decided to take a little walk around the city. Miles was obliviously going to show him where all his journeys took place here. They walked by the now heavily fortified Defense Ministry. This was the place where he had started the down fall of General Malakov. Now that poor bastard was rotting in some jail cell.

Miles and Chester stopped at a park and started to talk about past experiences, though Miles was doing most of the story telling. Miles was ten years senior to Chester and had already filled a book of stories. Chester was a greenhorn military officer, but Chester still had a long way to go.

Actually, the former Defence Minister was sitting in a gibbet in Uganda, to where the government had fled along with many civilians - though they were in the midst of relocation to an isolated island with Allanean aid. (They didn't have the facilities to hold such a high-profile prisoner in a conventional prison.) But this mattered not... when the relocation was finished and a proper jail constructed he would serve the rest of his sentence in it.

More immediate to the situation... an old Kahanistanian man sitting on a park bench watched the Canadsteiners intently. He had been around long enough and seen enough to know when something was not what it seemed, even if he could not know precisely what it was. He looked like your ordinary Kahanistanian - about 80 years old, short, skinny but healthy for his age, and in a loose-fitting white tunic and baggy trousers as was the fashion for older Kahanistanian men. He had short white hair on the sides of his head and a bald crown, barely visible under his slanted hat.

The man had a dog with him, a brutish specimen that looked like a cross between a mastiff and a wolf. It was on a strong metal chain and looked to be sleeping. The old man threw crackers to some geese that were flying in the park.

Miles nodded over toward the old man. Obviously that guy was some spook that was watching them for the government. Miles took a quick observation. If anything happened at least he would have some back up in the form of Chester. They both wielded guns, Miles had a M9 Beretta and Chester had a SIG P226. So they were prepared for an attack. Miles and the young officer got up and made their way back to the embassy.

By morning there was no trace of the two men. They had disappeared without a trace. It was as though they had never existed. Though two average looking men soon got off a plane at Kampala. They blended in with the crowd, and soon became one with the city.

Kampala, Allanean - liberated Uganda

Flights were boarding for the island (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=537495) the Allaneans had discovered and were resettling those who had fled Havenic Kahanistan on. Many feared a Doomani incursion, and Kahanistanian generals, most notably Brigadier General Nadia Sklenova, also a leading official of the Communist Party of Kahanistan, warned that to remain stationary would stretch Allanean forces if the Doomani arrived - the few military forces that had been assigned to protect the refugees were insufficient to defend against an invasion without Allanean aid.

Never a fan of the Allaneans herself (most Communists weren't), General Sklenova was still in one of the bases that had been hastily constructed in the country. She certainly appreciated the humanitarian gesture of the Allaneans, but could not help but believe there was some kind of catch to it... while many other nations of the world, such as Juumanistra (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=537736), laughed at Kahanistan's military capabilities and overall doctrinal structure, Allanea couldn't be constantly risking all to help them unless something more than a simple alliance were at stake.

She had known Miles, worked alongside him to expose the Defense Minister as a rabid Catholic - hater, and grown to like him. She didn't feel the same way he did, but still saw him as her friend. Of course, she wouldn't know he was coming...

Miles and Lt. Kent settled in a hotel and planned their mission. The real mission was to happen in this city. Metzuda was just a stopping point. Miles wanted to see Metzuda one last time, but it certainly looked different from the last time he was there. That city honestly had gone to hell, but that didn't matter. The only thing that matter now was completing the mission. No matter how painful it would be.

The pair of men walked out toward the base, where Nadia, Andrea, and Mara were located at. Both of them simply walked in. The security around the base was just horrible. Miles remembered his last experience here and how he easily got into the base. They walked around for a while and asked where General Skelnova's office was located. Once they finally found it Miles gently tapped on the door.

"Come in," grumbled an unfamiliar, male voice. He sounded black.

"General Sklenova's not here," said the man. He was about 40, bald, and looked like a basketball player who had taken up powerlifting. "I'm Colonel Hamad al-Gabr. Sklenova's off at some Communist Party meeting, organising workers. She's got some bigger commitments to the Party now."

"Who are you?"

"Oh sorry wrong door..." Miles said after he let the man finish. So Nadia wasn't here right now. It didn't matter that much, and it was for the better. Just seeing her might bring back bad memories. "I was actually looking for Major Rhodes' office. I swear someone told me this was the place. I guess not."

Lt. Kent stood silently near the door.

"Lieutenant Colonel. And she's in the infirmary. She's having another stem cell treatment." Andrea had been lobotomised while in enemy captivity, and had lost most of her range of emotions as a result; she also developed a rare form of colour blindness, diminished verbal abilities, and a slightly unsteady gait. She had recovered somewhat from therapy and stem cells, but still had a long way to go...

"Oh last time I saw her I swear she was a Major. Well that is good to know." Miles said as he looked directly at the man. "So do you know where her office is located? I really don't want to barge in during her treatment. I would rather just wait for her in her office."

"Three doors down. Kind of plain looking office, just a phone and a computer on a desk. You wouldn't think it was an officer's work station."

"Thank you Colonel for helping me." Miles said as he gave a slight nod toward the aging Colonel. Lt. Kent followed suit and nodded toward the Colonel. Both of the men left without addressing who they were or why exactly they were here.

Both men left and entered the office of Andrea Rhodes. They took their seats and patiently waited for her.

After about 45 minutes, a dark-haired, pretty woman in her early 30's walked in. She was in military uniform, looked about average weight and height, and her face bore no emotion. It would be inaccurate to say that she was cold-hearted - she had, however, lost a lot of her emotional range but had been socialised through therapy to behave as a "nice" woman.

Her uniform bore the rank insignia of a Lieutenant Colonel in the Republic Marines, and she appeared externally as a strictly professional officer. The young woman sat down at her desk, then greeted the two men calmly.

"Mr. Mason." She had met Miles before, but not the other man. Andrea looked in his general direction. He might know who she was from her name tag and rank insignia.

Miles shook Andrea's hand, then kissed her cheek. At that very moment he remembered his last visit here, and the time he had spent with her. He looked stunned at her for a couple of minutes. Miles wondered if he could go along with the mission, but knew that was why Lt. Kent was here. Shaking his head, Miles gave produced a warm smile. It was good to finally see Andrea. One of the few woman in Kahanistan who did not hate him. Suddenly he remembered about Lt. Kent, who was standing behind him.

"It is finally nice to see you again Andrea. This is Lieutenant Chester Kent." Miles said as he addressed the young officer.

Lt. Kent got up from his chair and shook hands with Andrea.

"Ahh...so this Andrea Rhodes. Miles told me so much about you." Chester said as he looked over to Miles and gave a slight chuckle.

Andrea nodded and extended her hand to Chester. Her hand was much firmer than it had been a few weeks earlier - the neural connections were repairing.

"Why are you here?" she asked calmly.

"Just some business...you know. Foreign relations stuff. I guess they made me tag along, since I have the most experience with Kahanistan." Miles said as both of the Canadsteiners took a seat. "So I thought I might visit some of my friends here, mostly you Andrea. I would have come here sooner, but some other stuff has kept me tied up."

Lt. Kent just saw there intently listening to Miles.

"Foreign relations...?" asked Andrea. "Nadia's a politician. Did you talk to her?"

Nadia was never happy with Kahanistan's foreign relations; the day she learned of the alliance with Allanea she had gone out and gotten so drunk she would have been raped if not for her friend being there for her.

"Isn't your nation neutral?"

Miles gulped, then looked at Lt. Kent for a brief second. It was true that Canadstein would never try to break it's neutrality. Obviously it was a cover for their real mission, but Miles knew that he could not trust a Kahanistani government official if the mission was against the Kahanistani government. His attention returned to Andrea.

"Yeah...we tried to speak to Nadia, but she is at some Communist Meeting. So I thought I could stop by here. Also to ask if you wanted to meet for dinner, so do you want to? I was thinking a place near our hotel. Actually the resturant bellow it. I think it serves some pretty nice German. If you accept the invitation, then could you tell Nadia too?" Miles said outwardly.

"OK," said Andrea. "I'll tell Nadia." She turned her computer on and waited for it to warm up.

"Same hotel we were at earlier?" she asked. Andrea tapped in her login information, and opened an email window. Nadia would get the message whenever she checked her email next.

"Yeah." Mile said with a sigh of relief. His was glad to get off the topic about their mission. He certainly was not going to reveal anything to Andrea, even though he loved her. "So how has your treatment been going?"

"Dr. Mubunga says I'm progressing slightly faster than he expected," said Andrea. "He said I should have normal verbal skills in another two months, and a 'passably' normal emotional range in a year."

"Lieutenant Kent. Why did you come with Mr. Mason?" she asked. She had barely spoken to him.

Lt. Kent suddenly broke out of his daze. His mind seemed to wander all a lot, well that had to do mostly with this mission. He was scared shitless and had to put all of his trust into this Miles character. But he was going to follow orders and get the job done.

"Oh...actually Miles came along with me. I recently graduated from the Military Academy back in Canadstein, and the high ups thought that this mission would let me gain some experience." Lt. Kent said in a military fashion.

Andrea reached under her desk and pulled out a military textbook, The Kahanistanian Officer: A Summary of the Ideologies and Doctrines of the Military from Early Democratisation to the Doomani Invasion.

The book was the first book given to new Academy students, though it was a little after Andrea's Academy days - she was 31 and had graduated the Academy eight years earlier. She had, however, read it when she was bored, which was much of the time.

Andrea extended the book to Chester. "In the Academy, we read about foreign forces. Maybe this will help you," she said.

"Thank you Andrea." Chester said as he took a hold of the book.

"So you will meet the both of you back at the hotel, okay?" Miles said as he got up. Chester followed suit. "We will catch up on old times. Maybe something after dinner, Andrea."

He gave Andrea a seductive look, then leaned over the desk. His hand got her chin and brought it closer over to his. Silently he embraced her, then let go slowly. Miles had almost forgotten what that felt like, after his last mission. Lt. Chester gave her a nod, and the pair left.

Andrea finished the email she was writing to Nadia and sent it. She then walked back to her barracks to change into casual wear, and waited for the appointed time to near before driving to the hotel.

---

Communist Party of Kahanistan office, Masaka, Uganda

"The Soviet Union's motto was, 'Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!' - 'Workers of the world, unite!' If just one or two workers have the fortitude to say they're being treated unfairly, do you think management will listen to them? No! Only united are you strong," said Nadia. She was a slim, attractive woman in her early 30's, with straight blonde hair, an athletic figure, and dressed in work clothes that made her look like a manual labourer. She was speaking to some labour union leaders and workers, educating them on the support for workers espoused by the Communists.

"Your labour tactics will depend on the nation you're working in," she started.

"Now, you would strike only as a last resort. Remember, you aren't getting paid, and you're hurting the business. That's your nuclear weapon, it'll leave fallout all over both sides. If you're working in a leftist state, like Kahanistan, Xirnium, maybe the World Soviet Party... you have rights as a labourer. You can assert them diplomatically, or even legally if your employer is really recalcitrant. In more capitalistic nations like Allanea... well, protests are legal, but not protected, you can be fired for them. You're probably better off organising secretly, I'll discuss ways of countering labour spies next meeting. Right now, my time is up," said Nadia.

The workers clapped and applauded her. She slunk out a rear entrance and checked her email on her laptop in her bag. In it was a letter from Andrea. Apparently, Miles had come back and wanted to see them in the same hotel she had seen him drinking himself stupid in earlier...

Nadia replied briefly, agreeing to be there and meeting Andrea at the hotel...

Miles and Lt. Kent would be waiting for the pair of women at the resturant. Both of the men were dressed in t-shirts and pants. They looked like any other person in the city. Miles had told Chester that he didn't want to attract any other Kahanistani government officials. The mission was underway, but the main piece was about to start.

The men were sitting at a table which could seat four. They were already waiting for the women and looking at the menu. Water was set out for the four of them. Miles had just put down his menu and was drinking some of his water. While Lt. Kent seemed to be intently reading the menu. Chester's hand soon went up to scratch his dirty blond hair. His piercing blue eyes followed each word meticulously.

Nadia would recognise Miles anywhere, even if Andrea didn't necessarily. She led her to where the two men were sitting.

She was in a casual, form-fitting white dress, her hair tied behind her. Andrea was in a similar blue knee-length dress that revealed much of her cleavage. They sat down next to each other and across from the two men.

Miles looked at Nadia for a second, then looked away. He knew that he would always love her, even if she never returned it. His love for her would always be fruitless. But he couldn't stop his emotions. For a few minutes an uneven silence remained at the table, until Lt. Kent started break it. Miles just sat there drinking his water.

"So Nadia, I have heard your a General in the Kahanistani Military. What exactly do you do? Oh I forgot to introduce myself. I am Lieutenant Chester Kent of the Royal Canadstein Army." Chester said as he put down his menu and extended his hand.

Nadia smiled and took his hand. "Brigadier General Nadia Sklenova. Well... I was promoted after I infiltrated Kraven territory and led the rebel forces that destroyed Father, their AI that ruled Kraven and tried to enslave the world. For what I do, I'm officially part of the Academy faculty, Assistant Professor of Aviation. I'm a flight instructor now, but since the evac of all the Academy faculty and students, I don't do much. We can't teach a flight class in some secret camp in the desert, like we can a special ops or combat tactics or foreign language class."

"Most of my time these days is just meeting with other officers, going to meetings, and my spare time mainly goes to the Communist Party. I don't like admin work, I like going out and helping people, so I still advise union leaders and labourers on how to negotiate, and how to resist exploitation."

Lt. Kent firmly shook her head and then intently listened to her talk. He was amazed by all the stuff she had done. Chester had seen no action, and was easily amused by any story about some mission during a war. One day he hoped to tell young recruits about his own exploits and adventures.

As Nadia finished talking a waiter walked over and wondered if the four were ready to order. Miles put his menu down and looked over to the women opposite of him. Two beautiful women that he loved...

"So are you four ready to order?" the waiter asked.

"Eisbein and Sauerkraut" Miles said, in the best German he could do, as he handed over the menu.

"I think I will have the Gaisburger Marsch." Lt. Kent said in an almost perfect German. At a very young age Chester had learned it from being around his grandparents. "Also a pint of Schwarzbier."

"So what would the two women like to drink and eat? I heard this is the best German in town, plus it is my treat." Miles said with a warm smile, as he looked at the two women.

"I don't know German food," said Andrea. "I'll have what you're having," she said to Miles.

Nadia scanned the menu. How do you pronounce this shit? "Muesli, green sauce, and fruit punch," she said. Nadia rarely drank alcohol, unless she was extremely stressed or at a major social gathering with close friends.

The waiter collected the menus and soon departed, but he soon returned with the drinks. He set the drinks down, then said the food would be out in fifteen minutes. Miles took a couple of drinks of his water and seemed to be way out of place. Something was obviously bothering him. Maybe it had to do with the mission. Lt. Kent talked with the women, since he did not want them to feel like they were in an awkward position.

"Here Andrea and Nadia, you have to try this beer. It is probably the best I have tasted in a long time. Plus I think I want to try your fruit punch Nadia." Chester said as he handed over his Schwarzbier.

Andrea and Nadia stuck their straws in and took sips. Andrea seemed to like it, but Nadia wasn't a big fan of alcoholic drinks in general. She did push her glass over to Chester.

"Certainly... different," she said. "So, what brings you here? A lot of our people are flying out - we don't know what's going to happen at the border."

"Mostly our government wants us here. I think they want us to scope out this country. Things seem to be really decaying around here." Chester said as he drank some of the fruit punch. He simpled to be pleasantly surprised. After taking a taste he handed back the glass, then went back to work on his drink. "What is going to happen here? I mean look at Metzuda. That city has gone to hell, from what Miles tells me. Kahanistan seems like it is on the brink of extinction..."

Miles got up and sat closer to Andrea. He put his arm around his her and brought her closer to him. It was time to stop thinking about Nadia, and to try warm up to the person he invited. Leaning over Miles whispered into Andrea's ear.

"How do you feel about me Andrea? Do you trust me?" Miles whispered.

Andrea's emotions had not fully been restored. "I trust you," she said. She couldn't exactly describe her feelings, as weak as her emotional response was now.

Nadia listened to Chester. The thought her nation may be completely destroyed hit her like a ton of bricks. "From what I hear... they're preparing for a fight to the death. I don't know the details, but there's a weapon they're going to use... then again, there's a rumour going around that the Doomani used nuclear weapons. If that's the case..."

She lowered her head, her voice shaking. "I don't see what we can do. Relations with Allanea are at an all-time low. Any other time, I'd welcome it, but not when they're saving us..."

"But hey what are you going to do? I guess there is really nothing to do to stop it. Maybe try to escape it all." Chester said, then uttered a sigh.

Miles smiled and kissed Andrea on the cheek. He wished that he could be with her forever, but knew that it could never be true. Mostly because of his job. Letting out a deep sigh, he then looked at Nadia.

"So Nadia what has happened to our old friend Malakov?" Miles asked as he wanted to try to speak to Nadia.

While he was saying this the waiter came by and brought them their food.

"Malakov... we're keeping him in a gibbet, a cage. In the desert, until we can build a proper jail in these parts. I can't say it'll be good for his mental health, and he needs that big time, he's batshit insane and hates Catholics to boot."

"As for me... well, I won't go to Doomani-occupied territory. I've fought Kraven before, and I can tell you... our people are sick of war. The Nationalists are preying on people like that, who are tired of fighting... promising them a peaceful order if they'll help them kick the Catholics out. Anti-Catholicism is gaining ground, and that just plays right into the Doomies' hands - they can claim they're helping the poor, oppressed Catholics."

"Things start to sound really messed up. It sounds like no one is going to win." Miles said blandly. He looked down at his food and started to eat. Just bringing up Malakov had ruined the whole mood. Honestly Miles did not want to see Kahanistan to go to the shitter, but it seemed like it was become true everyday. Lt. Kent and Miles kept quiet for the rest of the meal. The waiter returned and Miles payed for the meal. Miles looked at Nadia, and looked as though he was in pain.

Nadia had barely eaten, and judging from her appearance, hadn't eaten much since she'd last seen Miles - she was down to her pre-pregnancy weight of 115 pounds. (She was 5'5".) She looked at Miles sadly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Miles looked at his shook his head and looked ahead. He could not bare to tell her what was bothering him. Lt. Kent looked over at Miles. Then he leaned over the table and whispered into Nadia's ear.

"Nadia, I am sorry but I drugged your drink. Miles did the same with Andrea's water. This was our mission, to capture Andrea and you. You should already be feeling the effects of the drugs. Very soon you will pass out. I am sorry, but orders are orders. Loyalty to the State and King above all." Lt. Kent said to her quietly.

Miles could not bear to look at Nadia. He had betrayed two women he loved to his own government. Orders were above anything, even love. He looked at Andrea for a second. Both women should have felt very drowsy and sleep. They would be asleep within two minutes.

Nadia didn't seem to want to believe Miles. She fell face first into her plate. Andrea staggered to her feet, but landed on her back, either from the drug or from damage yet to be repaired.

Both quickly got up and carefully picked up each women. They looked at each other and nodded. Lt. Kent got a hold of Nadia and Miles had Andrea. If anyone asked they would tell them that their friends had drank a little too much alcohol this evening and that they were taking them back to their rooms.

Miles and Chester went back to their rooms without a hitch, and if someone did ask they played out their story. Now part of their mission was complete. The second phase was to get these two women back to Canadstein. They were to renedenvous outside the city in some abandon airfield. Then it should be smooth sailing from there. But they had 48 hours to get there. The drugs would keep Nadia and Andrea knocked out for another twelve hours, so they had to get out of the hotel a little before then. Though for now it would be easy.

Once back in their rooms the men set their respective women on their beds and waited. Once dawn came it would be show time. Miles looked at Andrea as she silently slept. He laid beside her, and kissed her sweet lips. Shaking his head he remembered that the state came before everything. Miles rolled over and silently fell asleep.

There were a few things wrong with the plan. First, any "abandoned" airports had been either refurbished and used by the Air Force or civilian airlines, or been razed for security measures.

Second, when the two women didn't check back in at the base after 12 hours, the military police were dispatched and flights out of the country were grounded, in case the Kravenites had located Nadia. Ground routes outside were very dangerous, the border guards were searching everything and the Kahanistanian populace at large was very suspicious of anything out of the ordinary.

Miles awoke and was covered in sweat. With a panicked look he scanned the room. He had almost forgotten where he was. Then he remembered that Andrea was beside him. She was out cold and would be for another couple of hours. Miles shook his head and got ready for the journey ahead.

Suddenly there was a knock at his door. Miles' eyes darted toward the door. Chester was supposed to come over around this time, but it could be anyone. Miles silently moved toward the door. He stopped and made sure he had easy access to his handgun. Swiftly he opened the door to reveal Chester carry Nadia. It was time to go.

Both men got hold of the women and went downstairs. The lobby was empty. Honestly what hotel expected business in the wee hours of the morning? The men went to the garage and stopped for a minute. The Agency had provided a car for them, but Miles didn't know where it was located. Quickly he caught sight of it. He pointed it out. Both men loaded the ladies inside the car, the drove out of the parking. So far the mission had gone without a hitch.

While Miles was driving, Chester was in the back taking care of Andrea and Nadia. He handcuffed them together and tied their legs together, but did in a fashion so no one snooping around could see it.. They were not going to escape from this car. When he moved back to the passenger seat in the front, he noticed a white slip of paper. It said Miles name on it.

Chester handed it over to Miles. This was certainly odd for the both of them. It must have been from the agency. Their orders had been changed. Now they were to arrive at Lake Victoria within two days, where a boat would be waiting for them. The boat would take them out of Uganda. Also sedatives had been packed in the back, when the two subjects woke up. Miles handed the letter back to Chester, so he could read it.

[TG.]

Kahanistanian African Command Base

"We've sealed off the airways... and the borders. Do we have anything in Lake Victoria?" asked Vice President Margaret Delray.

"Well, we do have a couple of frigates in there, some helicopter carriers, and airplanes over the area. I think we can stop anything getting out through there. In the meantime, those damned agents from Canadstein showed up again," said Colonel Herbert Morris. "Wherever they show up, trouble starts, the Defence Minister going down for corruption, totally bogus charge, then General Sklenova disappears..."

"She's disappeared once before," said Delray. "I can't rule anything out. Have the lake monitored, issue a warning that we have it on lockdown."

"I'll let General Kaselev know," said Morris.

---
OOC: Actually they are just sitting behind the driver and passenger seat.
[Even better.]

An unmarked police cruiser came by the vehicle. The blonde girl in the side looked familiar. Damn, I'd give my left testicle to have a piece of her... wait a minute... she's that commie politician. Thank God I spank to Communist Monthly.

Officer Frank Tuck radioed for assistance. "Breaker, breaker. This is Kampala PD, car 69, we've got a lead on a suspected MI. Subjects are Caucasian female, aged about 30, one blonde, one brunette. Front seaters appear to be Caucasian male, one about 35, one about 25. Please advise."

"Car 69, we'll be sending some marked backup. Tail them, but don't pull them over until we get there."

Officer Tuck and his partner continued to tail the suspicious car.

OOC: Actually they are just sitting behind the driver and passenger seat.

Miles could tell that he was being followed. He was trained to tell when this kind of stuff happened. Obviously they thought something suspicious was happening, but it didn't mean that they knew that Nadia and Andrea were being taken captive. He glanced at his watch and knew that it would be another two hours until the sedative would start to wear off. That would be more than a enough time. It would be easy to start a chase because it was before even dawn. The only light being produced was by the street lights. Miles pushed down on the gas. He was going to try to loose them.

OOC: TG

Tuck was a cop. Of course he'd been trained in chases. Well, it was still dark, so he put on his brights and floored it. He didn't want to get too close to the car - they might make a move he could not react to in time, and plus, they'd be in a better position to shoot at him.

He kept a distance of about five car lengths from Miles, radioing in his location every minute or so, so that whenever his backup got there, he'd know where to send them.

"Car 69, this is marked Kampala PD cruiser number 74. We'll be at your position in five minutes. Keep him in sight. Can you describe the car?"

"Newer model," said Tuck. "Black. I'll read off the licence plate number."

"Roger."

Tuck knew there was something suspicious now - the car just slammed on its gas. Innocent people don't run from the police... do they?

Now the game was definitely a foot. His suspicious had proven to be right. Miles started to slow down. The car behind them would quickly catch. Soon enough the two cars were next to each other, with Lt. Kent being directly across from them. Did these cops honestly think they could take them out? There was no chance in hell. Miles stole a glance at the car then repositioned himself.

"Hey Chester I want you to blow out that car's tires. You think you can do that?" Miles asked while he was concentrating on driving.

Lt. Kent simply nodded his head, then pulled out his SIG. The next thing the cops would see is the window roll down and an armed appear. Chester squeezed the trigger, after he aimed the SIG straight at the tires. Once hearing the shot fired, Miles stomped down on the gas.

"Dammit!" said Tuck. "Bob, cap that bastard!" Even Kahanistanian police would use lethal force if someone actually shot at them...

His partner, Officer Robert Guwanga, aimed his weapon, careful not to hit the girls. He fired off a round as the car spun out of control.

"I'm out of this. Shots fired, my tire is flat. I have limited control of the vehicle." The car skidded into a ditch. "Request heli assistance."

By now, the marked police were arriving on the scene...

The bullets had made some holes in the car doors, but had caused no real damage. Chester looked back as the car disappeared into the distance. At least once problem was gone for know. But both of them knew it was only the beginning. The cops had probably called in for reinforcements, so Miles was going to have to get out of this area quickly. Miles took a few turns, and ended up on some country road. They were out of the city of Kampala, but they still had a long way to go.

The other cops arrived, one even helping Tuck install his spare tire. A pair of cruisers picked up the pursuit, and a helicopter was on the way.

The subjects were armed and willing to fire on police officers. The working theory was that they were part of a criminal gang that was going to sell Nadia to Kraven (or worse, Doomingsland) for billions of shekels.

Miles pulled the car off to the side. They were going to hide out for a while until things kind of cooled down. Plus the darkness and trees would help hide the car from any of the police. Miles looked at Chester.

"You did good kid." Miles said as he let out a sigh of relief.

He looked back at Nadia and Andrea. They looked so peaceful. Miles climbed to the back and sat next to Nadia. Getting beside her, Miles kissed her warm cheek. Chester just looked at Miles and shook his head. Miles had become emotionally attached to both of them. He would have to keep an eye on him, so the mission wouldn't fail.

The police helicopter radioed the military base Nadia worked at. While Kahanistanian law strictly regulated the use of the military in law enforcement, the fact that there were two missing military officers for whom the Kravenites would likely pay vast sums of cash sweetened the pot.

As such, Kahanistanian Special Forces were dispatched, under the command of General Igor Kaselev himself. Kaselev had been a big wheel in the Directorate of Anti-Kraven Intelligence until it was disbanded after Father's destruction, and he was now one of the highest ranking officers in Intelligence to leave Havenic Kahanistan. He was also a hero of the insurgency against the Doomani, but this time had decided not to push his luck.

Kaselev boarded a military helicopter. He was a tall, muscular, somewhat morose man in his late 30's, with short black hair. With him were 50 other people, some soldiers he had served with in Kraven, some he had worked with for over 10 years, and many who were new recruits to the Special Combat Service. That the military would send someone like him out showed they were dead serious about locating Nadia, and crushing National Socialist gangs who had threatened to kill her for giving birth to a Kraven baby. Maybe they wanted profit, too.

In the meantime, the police helicopter patrolled the perimeter of the forest, where it would spot any escape, and the police cruisers went in.

Chester rushed back to the car as soon as heard the sounds of people. This was not a good sign. For the last hour they had been hiding in the woods trying to see if things would cool down. Chester had gone off to get some fresh air and take a leak when he heard the sounds.

"Miles, it seems like we have some company in this woods." Chester said as he returned to the vehicle.

Miles went with Chester to see the people. Looking through some binoculars, Miles could tell that they were Kahanistani police officers. This was very bad. Soon the whole country would be on their asses. They needed to escape from these woods, and simply disappear.

Both men traveled back to the car. The sedative should have been wearing off by now. The men grabbed the unconscious women and their supplies. The women were being carried on the shoulders of the two men, but were now handcuffed to the men. Miles and Chester silently disappeared into the blackness of the forest.

Once the police or special forces came close to the car, it would exploded into pieces. The explosion made it look like the captivators had killed themselves, then rather be taken alive. Hopefully it would buy the Canadsteiners sometime.

Two police officers crept up on the car, their guns drawn as they advanced. They were still too far to see the driver. A sniper came with them, eyeing the car with the sniper rifle. They weren't going to play nice with these people - if they did turn out to be gangs trying to sell people to the Kravenites, they would be shot as an example.

Kaselev's helicopter was still an hour or so away. He would hear only what the civilian police told him.

At about the same time, the women's sedatives wore out. Andrea looked around in a daze. Nadia was confused, not wanting to believe Miles had taken advantage of her, but with her experiences forced to assume both she and Andrea had been raped.

"A few minutes of rest Chester." Miles said as he stopped and then set Andrea down. He could see that they sedatives had finally worn off. They were both actually moving, and not just bodies. That reminded Miles that they were actual people.

"You probably think that we raped you both. Well guess what? We didn't. Most Canadsteiners have morales." Miles said to both of the women. He wasn't going to explain why had drugged them. It was just better to leave that alone. Right now he was more worried about getting out of this forest alive.

Chester checked his SIG, then looked at Nadia with his light blue eyes. All of his thoughts were on completing the mission.

"King and Country above all." Chester muttered to himself.

Three of the police officers, two beat cops and the sniper, surrounded the car and closed in. They had just gotten close enough to see there was no driver... criminals had been known to ditch a car if they had been made by the police. The car blew up in their faces, killing two officers and wounding the sniper.

Behind them was another police unit, with dogs. These were not the police dogs one sees in the United States. These were enormous canine beasts, mostly part wolf, genetically modified for size and smell, and mixed with mastiffs or Great Danes. One of these monsters could quite literally tear a suspect to pieces. However, here they were to smell for Nadia. A pervert from the base had volunteered a pair of her underwear for the dogs to sniff.

"Get an ambulance," said the sniper. "No bodies in there, look at the wreck. Not a charred corpse in there."

By now, Kaselev's chopper was about half an hour away from the scene. He had been appraised of the car blowing up.

Miles looked at Andrea. They were still recovering from the effects of the sedatives, but that wouldn't last that much longer. Miles produced a syringe and needle. He was about to stick it straight into Andrea. This would keep her quiet and immobile for another good twelve hours.

This time, they knew they would be sedated, but not know what was to happen. As such, Nadia resisted viciously. Trained to fight with limited mobility, she drove her elbow right into Chester's gut to knock the wind out of him so she could kick him in the head - not hard enough to kill him, but hard enough to knock him out long enough to get away.

Andrea, figuring the gravity of her situation, but not having trained as recently as Nadia had, did the same to Miles. She was about 20 pounds heavier than Nadia, and somewhat stronger, but she hadn't trained as recently as Nadia.

Once the police had looked at the wrecked car, and figured there were no traces of bodies there, they advised the helicopter crew of such. They would have to either hoof it out of the woods, or hijack a car - a risky proposition unless they wanted their guts ripped out with an FN FAL.

The police dogs that had sniffed Nadia's underwear, given to them by the base pervert who had had friends among the special forces, moved toward her position, and police in cars, motorcycles, and even camels scoured every square centimetre of ground.

OOC: Actually they were handcuffed Andrea was handcuffed to Miles and Nadia to Chester, not to each other.

Both men could not react in time, but it was foolish even to fight back. They were handcuffed to the men and could no escape, without dragging them. Miles recovered first and jabbed the syringe straight into Andrea arm. He pushed down the pump and the sedative entered her bloodstream.

Chester had a harder time. That jab to the stomach had really hurt him. Anger built up inside of him. He grabbed the chained that connected him to Nadia, then he flung her straight to the ground. Viciously he jumped on top of her and held down her two hands.

"You shouldn't have tried that." Chester said.

He let go of one of her arms, but quickly produced a syringe full of sedatives. Swiftly he pushed the syringe straight into her skin. As she slowly started to past out, Chester got off of her. He got back up and put Nadia over his shoulder.

"Lets get going." Chester said quietly.

The police dogs had Nadia's scent. They didn't have Andrea's, but the working assumption was that they had been taken together as they'd been known to be friends.

The special forces also arrived in the forest, searching on foot, by motorcycle, and with dogs - the same kinds of monstrous canine beasts the police had. Despite their vicious appearance, they were trained to bite only if specifically ordered to or if attacked, and wore canine protective suits, including yarmulke-looking kevlar bands over their heads.

Their helicopter joined the police heli in patrolling the outside of the forest, and asked the police to have roadblocks put up so they couldn't escape by jacking a car, if they were crazy enough to do that in Kahanistan.

Miles and Chester continued to walk through the forest. Both had not seen a person since they had left the car. That was the only good piece of news. They had no idea where they were going, but knew that they shouldn't stick around. The men came upon a small river and decided to cross it. The river could make destroy any scents they had on them, for the time being. They both crossed the river and kept on walking.

General Kaselev himself was holding one of the dogs when it just barked. "Woof!"

He's lost her scent. Either that or he's horny, and there are no bitches around. While both male and female dogs were used in searches, they were never put on the same search, to prevent distraction, and they had coordinated with the civilian police to make sure no bitches were used.

Getting on the radio, he asked the civilian police search commander for help.

"Captain Gramm, this is Kaselev. Are there any bodies of water here, that could have caused the dogs to lose the scent?"

"Affirmative. There's a river that cuts the forest in half, and a lake in the northwest."

"If they were in the lake, they'd lose their tree cover. They must be in the river."

"Hope she brought her bikini. Gramm out."

"All right..." said Kaselev. He turned to a squad leader. "Kagan, I need another team on the other side of the river, the ones we have there don't have canines. Have them sniff her... sniff her panties and get her smell down." He knew that in the forest heat, she'd start to sweat as much as he was, and he at least had water to drink. When she did, her scent would come back.

Five kilometres away, Gramm was on the radio. "We need a water rescue unit dispatched, we suspect the fugitives may have used a waterway, canines have lost track. May have been washed downriver. Have a riverine patrol unit seal off the river, too."

By going through the water it had destroyed their scent for a while, by keeping them from sweating. They still had a couple of miles of heavy forested area, until they would come upon a two line road. Once the two Canadsteiners reached the edge of the forest, they could see the police along the road. They probably had them all around the forest. The only way out was through those cops, but how exactly were they going to get through? Miles and Chester set the women down and rested for a minute. Then the plan came to Miles.

A few minutes later a massive explosions would come from near the edge of the forest. This would definitely harbor the attention of the police officers. During this time Miles and Chester crossed the road.

The police had no idea where the explosions came from, but were distracted long enough for Miles and Chester to cross. Now, they were spotted by the helicopters patrolling the forest edge that spotted two men each carrying a woman.

There was only so much sedative Miles and Chester could carry, and much of it had likely been lost when the car blew up. Now, the choppers could see every move they made, and radio for the police to disregard future diversions.

At the same time, Kaselev and his special forces were crossing the river... They knew that unless these gangsters could live off the land, they would starve to death soon, and so would Nadia. She would likely be the first to starve, as she was the smallest.

While the cops were not paying attention, Chester and Miles got into one of the police cars. It was time for their own great escape. They put Nadia and Andrea and the back, then quickly got into the front. They checked the ignition and the keys were still in it. Some idiot must have left them in there. Luck was on their side. Miles started up the engine, then quickly pushed down on the gas.

The cop car bolted and then sprung forward. It drove off to the side to avoid the other cars and police. Then it returned to the main road after it had gotten past the roadblock. It sped down the road at full speed.

"My car! My fuckin' CAR!" Sergeant Carl Hobart bellowed as he returned to find his car missing. Pulling his radio, he called, "My car's missing, car 74. The blast must have been a diversion, they've got a grenade launcher or something."

"Heli's spotted car 74 heading out of here, we radioed and it didn't respond. Guess you're exonerated," said Captain Edgar Gramm. "There's a base nearby, we'll have a couple of APC's joining the chase. Of course, it can just be a diversion and one of the captors is still here..."

"Negatory," said one of the pilots, whose frequency the captain had left open. "There were two men getting into that car, and two women, looked like they might be dead."

"Fine, we'll go after them, let Kaselev deal with the forest," said Gramm.

Three police cruisers began to chase Miles and Chester, and one of the helicopters watched from the sky. A call was issued to a military base near the forest to send two APC's filled with military police and Republic Marines after them.

Miles did some maneuvers with the car, but it only seemed to keep the distance between them and the cops the same. The helicopter above them was only a nuisance. Honestly none of these cops would be insane enough to start shooting at the car because that might risk kill one of these ladies. Chester grabbed a balaclava from his bag and put it on. They were not going down without a fight. Miles turned onto a ramp, that would lead them straight onto the highway. The sun was starting to creep off in the distance. Very soon it would be rush hour, the perfect time to escape.

"Heli support, we're heading into rush-hour traffic. We'll put our sirens on and try to clear some of it up, do you have a sniper up there?"

"Affirmative. Do you want us to take out the driver or the tires?"

"Tires. We can't shoot the driver until we've gotten the girls. We shoot the driver, the car careens over a bridge and we risk killing the girls. We shoot the tires, they just won't go anywhere."

Chester looked up to the helicopter with his binoculars. He thought he saw the outline of a rifle. This was not a good sign. They might just have a sniper up there.

"Miles I think a sniper is up there. Some it is time to show them some of your fancy driving skills." Chester said as he set the binoculars down.

Miles started to make the car swerve all around. This would make the car a harder target to hit, but wouldn't make it impossible. They definitely needed to get rid of that helicopter. It posed a real threat.

"Fire."

The helicopter pilot gave the order, and the sniper fired a 14.5mm slug from her Denel NTW-20. With the erratic manoeuvres of the car, however, when the sniper pulled the trigger, the front of the car was in the crosshairs.

"Shit. I missed." She did not see whether or not the bullet had struck, possibly hitting the engine, or worse, one of the girls.

"OK, try again. Just don't hurt the girls."

The shot in front of them scared them a little bit. It seemed like the sniper was going to try to disable the vehicle. Miles was not going to let that happen. The car gunned forward and quickly surpassed the helicopter. Off in the distance Miles could see traffic start to form. He turned on the sirens and hoped for the best. It was the beginning of the day.

The heli was easily as fast as the squad car, and now the police knew which car to target - number 74, now with a big, ugly bullet hole in the top.

The other squad cars did all they could to keep it in sight; the slower APC's didn't have a chance. The heli sniper didn't have time or ammunition to keep shooting up the car, and the special forces were still in the forest, owing to miscommunications leading them to think Nadia was still in the forest, though the dogs couldn't pick up her smell.

As such, a military heli was needed, to try to machine-gun the engine and disable it without hitting the gas tank - a formidable objective, but not impossible if they could get a chopper close enough...

The car made a hard right and got onto another ramp. Driving down the ramp, Miles ended up back on the main street. He guessed that the cops would not dare to fire upon the car in an open city. They might risk hitting an innocent civilian. Plus this would give the chance to simply disappear into some alley. Miles took another hard right into an alley. First off they needed to loose that helicopter.

Chester checked the women behind them. They were still sound asleep and would be for another eleven hours. If they got out of this damn country alive, then it would be one hell of a story to tell. But first they needed to get out.

"Requesting military helo backup. We're up so high we're looking at him through binoculars up here. What's the soonest you can get a chopper here?"

"We've got two fueled. We'll have them in the air in a minute, on your position in ten."

"Roger." The police chopper radioed for more assistance, including spike strips, roadblocks, and the works to be set up throughout the city.

The car made a swift turn into another alley, but this time it was blocked from a sky view by two very tall buildings. This is where they were getting off. The car started to move at a slower speed. Chester got out and opened the back door. He pulled out both Andrea and Nadia from the car and put them on the ground. Meanwhile Miles retrieved a pole and jammed the gas pedal. Suddenly the car bolted forward. Miles jumped out of the car's window and watched it fly down the alley, with its sirens on.

The helicopter and cops were going to follow that car until it crashed into something and then they would noticed that no one was within it, but Miles and Chester would be long gone. They picked up the women and walked into another alley. Off in the distance they could hear the police coming. Miles looked around, and then eyed a manhole. Opening it up, the men went down it then put the manhole back in place. Once down in the sewer they continued to flee.

The chopper might not be able to see the car, but it knew where it had to come out. It planted itself at the outlet of the alley, right in front of where the car had to go. Great was the pilot's horror as the car zoomed right for them.

"He's crazy! He's going to ram us! Wait, there's nobody in there!"

The helicopter raised just in time to prevent being destroyed, but the car ripped off one of its struts before careening into a nearby petrol station and going up in flames.

KABOOM!

Every cop within six blocks heard the frightening roar of flames pouring from the gas station. Captain Gramm swore. Well, there wasn't much he could do about the fire - that was the fire department's job.

There was no way in hell Miles would be stupid enough to stay topside after that. Gramm radioed General Kaselev, letting him know Miles had probably gone into the sewers. A cop searched the nearby dumpsters just in case.

Kaselev was a hero of the first Doomani occupation, and as such, well versed in sewer combat. On top of that, he believed Miles was going to sell Nadia to the Doomani, and wanted to kill him as an example. His helo would be there in thirty minutes, while most of his team still patrolled the forest.

---

Lieutenant Colonel Mara Fulton had come back to Africa upon hearing of the nuclear devastation wrought upon the Havenic Republic. She knew few of the details - apparently, the military had used something called the Flames of the Holocaust on the Doomani. Mara couldn't pronounce the Hebrew name in the literature, but it sounded like a powerful weapons system. All she knew was that Havenic Kahanistan was no more.

While this might have been a good thing at some point in time (Mara had been opposed to relocating to Haven, believing some island somewhere far from humanity was a better area, safe from imperialists) this meant the mass murder by weapons of mass destruction of millions of people.

Mara was now in Silver's Gym in Kampala. Depressed, increasingly so starting from the end of the Freekish war almost two years earlier and the loss of her fiance, and with two humiliating, destructive defeats by the Doomani, she had taken to spending almost every waking moment in the gym, and she had a lot more spare time between diplomatic assignments.

She was laying on a bench, pressing a barbell about twenty percent more than her body weight, and cranking out repetitions faster than most women her size could do with half that, owing in part to the energy pills she was taking. Unknown to anyone who didn't know her, and one of the reasons she was here rather than in the base gym was she didn't want to see anyone she knew, her sports bra contained two balloons crammed full of rubber bands to create the illusion of large breasts.

Mara stepped up after her fifth set of ten and began stretching, when she heard footsteps behind her. She was used to some attention - she was slim, with dark brown hair and grey eyes, 29 years old, and about 5'6". She was somewhat insecure about her breast size, given that she was relatively flat - hadn't grown much there since she was nine.

The footsteps turned out to be those of a vaguely familiar elderly woman, around 70, a couple of inches shorter than Mara and slightly thinner, dressed in a T-shirt and track trousers. Mara did not recognise her at first, but was sure she had met her before, probably through a friend. The older woman looked in her direction. Finally, she spoke.

"What have you done with yourself?" It was Katriana Naslieva, Nadia's mother. Apparently this was how she remained thin in her old age. Katriana set down the 7.5-kilogram weight.

"What do you mean?" asked Mara. She was in no mood to talk.

"Mara?" asked Katriana. "I know you aren't really that big. Trust me, you might get some looks, but even if you get someone... once that comes off, they'll know. I did that myself as a young girl. You probably don't think of me like that. You're beautiful the way you are, Mara."

Mara did not seem impressed. "Thanks," she said coldly. She was curious about something...

"Katriana... how did you survive the Flames of the Holocaust?"

"The Esh HaShoah," Katriana replied, pronouncing the Hebrew term, 'esch hahsh-owe-ahh,' "was not the threat to us. It was the Doomani retaliation. As for how I survived, I had been asked by the CIDG to negotiate for weapons. I have no family to protect, other than my daughter. When I heard she had gone to Africa, I came as soon as I could."

"How can you pronounce the Hebrew? I didn't know you were Jewish," said Mara.

"My husband was," replied Katriana. "I am not. By the Jewish law, neither is Nadia, as it goes through the mother. But I wanted to talk to you about my daughter."

"What did you want to say?" Mara stood up and dried her body. She seemed warmer now.

"Nadia and Miles have disappeared," said Katriana. "The mental patient she mentioned to me... Andrew, he has disappeared, too."

"Andrea," corrected Mara. "She's a woman." It finally sunk into Mara's head, and her anger flared up.

"I'm going to motherfucking kill Miles," Mara said tensely. "I'm going to cut his fucking balls off, then shove them up his dick, then cut off his dick and fuck him up the ass with it!"

"Mara! Such language!" Katriana was shocked. She only knew the sweet young man who had met her, gone with her to help Nadia when she was stranded, and seemed very much in love with Nadia. Katriana would have given her blessing if Miles had asked for her daughter's hand.

"Miles is a good boy. He'll please her, make her happy if she ever settles down and gets out of politics. I'm not saying she shouldn't be in the Party, I'm a member myself... but thirty-three and vice-general secretary? On top of that, a brigadier general in the Republic Guard? She's pushing herself way too hard, Mara."

"Katriana, Miles slapped her when she wouldn't have sex with him. He flirted with me for some time, then ran off with Andrea. He's probably raping them both as we speak!"

"Mara... just don't do anything rash." Katriana was stunned. She couldn't absorb what Mara had said to her all at once.

"Believe me... I won't." Mara's cold, emotionless voice was back. Her Israeli accent combined with her apparent lack of emotion made her sound intimidating to those who weren't used to it.

She strode out of the room, and got into her car. The radio mentioned a fire at a petrol station and a suspected fugitive with a woman matching Nadia's description. That had to be Miles...

The group continued through the sewer. Honestly they had no idea where they were going. They were just going to have to trust their instincts. For the next few hours they traveled through the labyrinth, until Miles decided it was time to return topside. There was no possible way that any man could track them within the sewers. The search was going to go cold. Miles and Chester climbed the ladder and returned topside. It was midday and the sun was directly above them. They needed to get out of this city. The men looked around, then disappeared into an alley.

OOC: I would just like to point out how they would know that the so called "fugitive" is Miles? Can you please change that? I mean it can probably click with Mara that Nadia disappearance is connected with Miles, but that is the only person.

[OOC: No. The police ALWAYS look at the boyfriend or closest thing thereto when a woman disappears, and Miles was involved with both women, thus making him a prime suspect - that and the Canadsteiners are still on bad paper with a sizable segment of the population. (Yes, Kahanistanian police use ethnic profiling. I never said it was perfect.) Plus, the media, like in RL, has a habit of going to press before they have all the facts.

This does not contradict the "criminal gang" theory the police are now working with (the medieval Thugs of India would befriend a traveler until they had a chance to sacrifice them to their goddess Kali, and in modern times, undercover cops often become close with the drug dealers they chase and vice versa), and the police are after Miles anyway for the Defence Ministry incident and they were sure he went to Africa after leaving the capital - especially since he was involved with Nadia.]

The police didn't know the sewers much better than Miles did. A few of them had chased robbers or killers into the sewers before, but none of them had a detailed layout of the network. Kaselev would be able to track him better, with his experience, but he was still about fifteen minutes away.

Mara arrived in the sewers, slipping by the police, who still had roadblocks and search dogs around the city, knowing the fugitives would have to come up for food. She was dressed in all black, and wore high-grade military body armour under her clothes. Mara carried a S-40 Boar (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9791796&postcount=1) pistol in her belt, a backup .50 Desert Eagle, a Hali-53 (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525173) assault rifle, and a captured Gladius Doomanus (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9515046&postcount=14), given to her by a male admirer. This wicked blade came with teeth on the sides, so as it came out it would do as much damage (and be more painful) than going in. Mara was going to use this abomination to castrate Miles if she got him.

He'd better hope the cops get him. The cops wanted to arrest him, and maybe put him on trial. Kaselev wanted to kill him as a human trafficker, to dissuade others. Mara wanted to subject him to untold agonies during his last moments on this Earth...

Miles and Chester set the women behind some dumpsters, away from view of bystanders. Now they were going to assist their situation. Before doing so, they both put on baseball caps. The hats were going to try to shield their identities from the police. The eyed a couple of cars and some random people walking.

Miles crept up besides Chester and discussed their plan. Then it went into action. Miles broke into a car, without sitting off the car alarm, and hot wired it, gained from a prior military mission and training. While Chester stole a license plate off one car and exchanged it with their "new" car, of course putting the stolen car's license plate on the other car. Once everything was in place, Miles pulled into the alley and pushed a button for the trunk to open. Chester loaded both women inside and got into the passenger seat. Miles drove back onto the main street. This little event should keep the heat off of them for a while.

"I hope it is smooth sailing from here." Chester commented.

Miles just shook his head. It was only the beginning.

When Miles surfaced, every gas station security camera and traffic enforcement camera in the area picked him up. While these cameras still needed a cop to actually watch the video, they guaranteed that he would be caught sooner or later.

With the roadblocks up, and no sign of Miles after six hours, they had resorted to stopping everything at the roadblocks and searching the trunks and seats. Whole lorries full of tons of goods had their contents removed and painstakingly searched by the cops. They couldn't assume that their prey would not have hijacked a car, or stowed away in a freight truck.

Two hours after Miles made off with his car, the person whose car was stolen noticed it was missing and called the cops.

---

General Kaselev rappelled from his helicopter into the city, in full combat gear and dressed in all black. Still believing Miles to be in the sewer, he opened the nearest manhole and began to hunt for him.

Though by the time seven hours had passed Miles and Chester were 150 miles away from the town. Now they were moving along on some country road. They knew it was just best to avoid any major roads and try to keep a low profile. Plus having a full tank of gas, at the start, would help them keep a low profile. For the last hour Miles and Chester hadn't seen another soul. They finally had a moment of relaxation instead of the constant running and fleeing.

Chester looked out the window and into the wilderness. It was starting to become dusk. The sun was slowly dipping into the ground. They were going to need a place to hide out during the night. Stopping on the side of the road wouldn't be too bad. Chester knew that they would need to drive off a little bit to not be seen from the road.

Another hour pasted and the car veered off to the side. It slowly moved into the forest, to not be seen. Chester and Miles got out and stretched. So far the mission had gone pretty well. They were that much closer to the extraction sight. Miles opened the trunk and found the two women sleeping still. Checking his watch he knew that the sedative should be wearing off shortly. Taking the two women out, he placed they up against a tree. Their hands were handcuffed, along with their feet.

To pass the time Chester had decided to eat one of the MREs they had, Miles had decided to the same once he smelled the food. It had been a day since they had last eaten. They needed to keep up their strength. Both men waited patiently, as they ate, for the women to wake up.

The police, on the other hand, assumed that Miles was still in the sewers - a stolen car would show up on an all-points bulletin, and everything leaving the city (or even travelling within the city) was searched. There was simply no way in hell a car with two women in the backseat, or the trunk, would get through the roadblocks.

As such, Kaselev and Mara were still searching the sewers for him while the city went on lockdown. The two military officers were more likely to face each other than Miles.

The police sent dog teams into the sewers to hunt Nadia. They knew it was a long shot - the muck had a habit of overriding almost any scent, and even if the dog could smell through the masking odor, the nasty water in there could wash the scent they were looking for away...

The borders had not yet been unsealed; border police still guarded the roads out of the country, the lake was still monitored, and the airports were still shut down.

Miles walked up to Nadia, and got down on one knee. He knew that she should be stirring very shortly. Grabbing her chin, Miles looked directly at her. She looked she peaceful. Second thoughts about this mission were still going through his, but he knew that the State and King were above all things. What would he rather have? Trust from two women or trust from an entire government. There was only one right answer. He saw the twitch of her mouth. Nadia was starting to wake up.

"Good morning or should I say good night Miss Sklenova." said Miles.

"What do you want to do with me?" asked Nadia. She had to know what Miles' intentions were. While her theory was not as sinister as the ones the government was working with, she did figure Miles was going to pressure her into marrying him. He was probably going to hold Andrea hostage as leverage if bad came to worse. She had to secure Andrea's freedom before her own...

---

Meanwhile, in the sewers...

Mara had been in the sewers for eight hours. She was tired, smelly, and Miles was apparently too cowardly to show himself... or smart enough not to. She heard a noise and pulled out her blade, thinking Miles was the only one to be in there.

She crept up to the source of the noise... a large man walking through the sewers. Mara assumed it was Miles, though she could not see his face, and ran at him with the blade...

---

General Kaselev had been in the sewers for six hours painstakingly sneaking through to find Miles and shoot him. He never gave up on a chase; he would remain there until he was either told Miles was probably somewhere else, or until he killed him. Of course, in another twelve hours or so he'd surface to rest, be debriefed, and take care of other necessities, but he'd still be on the chase - he wasn't some kind of robot, contrary to some of the wilder rumours about him.

He had expected to ambush Miles, not be ambushed. He turned around, hearing footsteps running behind him, and drew his pistol.

Someone, he believed Miles, was running at him with what appeared to be a Gladius Doomanus. Maybe this was not Miles, but someone sent to kill him. Kaselev fired four rounds into the running figure.

---

The rounds bounced heavily off Mara's body armour. As she thrust the blade, the man stepped back, and blocked it with his assault rifle. She readied for another attack, aimed at the man's groin... thrust too far and fell over.

---

Kaselev raised his assault rifle to crush the head of the person he now believed to be a Doomani assassin. The figure rolled away, stepped up, and kicked him hard in the head, knocking him onto his back into a pile of muck.

"DIE!" A woman's voice. This was no Doomani.

He stepped up, extending his assault rifle to hold his attacker at bay. She pulled a pistol and fired a round into his chest plate before he managed to struggle to his feet.

"You're no Doomani. Who are you?"

The woman's voice came back; it was so difficult to see in the dark sewers. "Are you playing stupid with me? I've come to cut your balls off! You've mistreated me, and my friends, for the last damn time! You can burn in hell!" She reached for her own assault rifle.

Kaselev did not wish to kill her. Whoever she was, she was not his enemy. He had mistreated no one; he had almost no friends in the military and tended to cultivate the image of himself as an aloof man, absorbed in his work.

He ran at her and knocked her down before she could retrieve the weapon and fire it, pinning her to the ground.

Who does she think I am?

It was only now that he saw her face, close up. She was very pretty, and looked vaguely familiar, but he didn't remember her name...

---

Mara was pinned to the ground, with a large, brutish man on top of her. This man was much larger than she remembered Miles being.

"You... aren't Miles."

The man seemed surprised. "No. General Igor Kaselev. I'm here to find Mr. Mason. And who are you?" he asked in an aloof tone, not seeming emotionally affected at all by her just trying to kill him. Enough people had tried to kill him over his 37 years.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mara Fulton." The woman looked at Kaselev. "I'm looking for him, too," she said. She picked up her weapons.

"He tried to rape a friend of mine, and abused another," said Mara. "I would love to cut off his nuts."

"We've probably damaged each other's body armour," said Kaselev. "At first, I thought you were Mr. Mason. We should get new armour before going back down to look for him. He is armed, and if he heard anything, knows that we are looking for him. He is trapped within the city; the roads are blocked off and every car in the city is being searched for him. I know he is there, somewhere, and the police are sending dogs in to look for him."

Mara agreed. She stepped out of the sewer through the nearest manhole, and Kaselev followed. They needed to get new body armour to replace the damaged suits.

Miles sighed and looked at Nadia. He knew that he shouldn't probably tell her, but she was still his friend. Gathering his thoughts for a minutes, then he thought of the best way to put it.

"We are going to bring you to Canadstein. See Chester and I were both ordered to bring you back there by the Director of the Canadstein Intelligence Agency. I had no hand in planning this whole thing. I am just caring out orders from my superiors. The same with Chester. There is a saying in Canadstein and it goes 'Loyalty to King and Country above all'. That even means my love for you Nadia. I am sorry..." Miles said.

Quickly he turned away from here. He could not bear to look at her. Miles was betraying one of the women he loved. It was a hard thing to still come to realization with. Chester patted Miles on the shoulder then got on his knee in front of both women. He set down a cut up apple for each of the women. Right now Chester was the clear headed individual out of the group. He had to keep an eye on Miles. Miles was getting way too emotionally attached.

Nadia's voice cracked. "What... do they want with me?" she asked. Nadia was a Kahanistanian general. She knew all there was to know about giving and following orders. But the field manual she read told her that she had a duty to disobey and report illegal orders. 'Loyalty to President and Country above all' was an alien concept to most people in Kahanistan. (Kahanistan did not have a King.)

This was not to say that people in Kahanistan were disloyal to their government - far from it. Most people liked their democratic system of government, personal freedom, and the leftist ideals of international equality. A Kahanistanian soldier was more likely to express loyalty to the values of the Republic Guard (or Republic Navy, depending on military branch) than to the President, who might be a compromise between two parties striving for power, or the country, which might have lost sight of its ideals and sunk into corruption to the point where a Defence Minister who hated Catholics with a vengeance simply for their religion could come close to the highest office in the land.

---

Mara and Kaselev obtained new body armour, then went to the nearest base to clean the sewer gunk off and collect the next briefing. Apparently, the police dogs were not having much luck finding anyone in the sewers, and a series of raids on automotive shops combined with the roadblocks failed to turn up the stolen car. People began to protest over the roadblocks interfering with their lives, mobbing police barricades with signs at first, then rocks and broken bottles...

Kaselev's men still in the forest also had failed to turn up any sign of Nadia. Wanted posters of Miles appeared all over Kampala, and in military bases, whose security was so bad that anyone could walk in without ID. Of course, the classified material tended to be under lock and key in secured vaults often buried tens of metres underground.

"We have no idea Miss Sklenova. The same goes with Andrea. They wanted here too for some reason. We don't question why. We just follow orders. Some higher up wanted the both of you. Just know that Miles is just following some orders. He isn't a man without morals. We both do..." Chester said as he looked at Nadia straight in the eye. He knew that he couldn't try to make the situation any better, but at least he could tell her the truth. "But eat now. You need to regain some strength from all that time you were under the sedatives."

Chester rejoined Miles over near the car. Both of the men looked up to the stars.

"And you couldn't have asked me?" asked Nadia. She sucked one of the apple slices into her mouth and chewed, then swallowed. "I probably would have said O.K."

"I'm part of the Academy faculty. We don't have much to do until we can re-establish a flight school. I'd have come if you had asked me. Now, you probably have the National Police and the military looking for you."

---

"So, you know Mr. Mason," said General Kaselev. "Colonel Fulton, what do you know about him? I understand you are friends with General Sklenova as well."

Mara nodded. "I am," she said. "Miles smacked her when she wouldn't have sex with him. He has a habit of running away from things, he's very unstable. He once hid in the mountains for a week because he couldn't handle rejection. I suppose if he wanted to hide, he'd return to Canadstein. We don't know a lot about the country, and we wouldn't be able to find him easily."

"He seems dangerous," said Kaselev. "If this is the case... I do not wish to alarm you, but the longer we wait before finding him, the greater the likelihood of your friend being raped or murdered. When we find him, I will have the police administer a sexual assault examination on her." He did not reveal his intention to murder Miles - he could not risk being reported.

"He cannot return there while the city is locked down," said the general. "However, it is possible that after all these hours, police have become tired and lax in maintaining the roadblocks, or that he found an escape route through the sewers. I personally believe he is responsible for the stolen car reported this afternoon; no one else would be desperate enough to escape as to try to crash a barricade. I will arrange for dog teams to search the forests within a one-hundred kilometre radius of Kampala. Do you wish to come with me?"

"I do," said Mara. "I have to see Nadia again. And I have to see Miles suffer."

"We just don't know." Chester replied plainly.

This was not good. Either Miles was hiding something from her, he was too afraid of Chester to tell her the truth, or Miles really didn't know. The Canadsteiners probably planned to murder her. She had to talk to Andrea, alone... and hope that she was alert when the cuffs came off. Andrea seemed to be listening dispassionately, as if the events going on barely affected her.

---

"Can we lure Miles out of hiding?" asked Kaselev. "You said you could contact him... could you lure him to your apartment for a meeting, and then we can catch him?"

"I couldn't put Kathy in danger," said Mara. Kathy was Mara's two-year-old daughter. "I can't take the risk of what he would do to my little girl."

"We can take her to a safe place. You could arrange to meet him in the park, away from prying eyes... then we could have a police team capture him. Just give a signal of some sort, we can have a helicopter team in minutes."

"I don't think he'll even want to hear from me," Mara replied. "He wouldn't even respond to me in a bar when I placed his hand on my breast."

"Were you using that?" asked Kaselev, nodding in the direction of Mara's gym bag. Her large sports bra that she had stuffed in the gym was hanging out of her bag, its 34D tag quite visible.

"No," said Mara. "I was with him in all my A-cup glory. He didn't mind before..."

"Well, you know him better than I do. If you can think of a way to find him, or flush him out, I'll hear it." His cell rang. "Kaselev. You have not located her yet? I am speaking with someone who knows the missing women, and who knows Mr. Mason. I will not allow General Sklenova to be killed. We will bring her in alive." He did not raise his voice, but Mara could tell that he was very irritated with the way things were turning out.

"Miles Mason should be executed," said Kaselev.

Mara was aghast. "Why? I mean, I want to cut off his balls for what he did with me, and the way he treated my friends... but why do you think that...?"

"I believe he is a human trafficker. He is selling people to slavers, and the Kravenites would pay billions of shekels to have General Sklenova as a birthing vector, or simply to execute her. Slavers are the most evil people on this earth. That is why we fight the Kravenites, it is why we fight the Doomani. That is why, although I detest Automagfreek, I believe that Dreadfire is doing the right thing in warring with perhaps the most evil slave-holding nation in the world."

"Kahanistan does not have the death penalty, and in general I am opposed to it. But when someone is a slaver, or they are working to undermine a democratic government, or they commit acts of genocide... those people cannot be allowed to live in civilised society." Kaselev's voice remained even, calm, but Mara sensed he was passionate about what he was saying. This must be the side of him that few saw, the side that discussed the way he felt. He tended to present a stoic, cold exterior to the world.

Both of the men just stood there looking up to the stars, until Miles looked at his watch. Then he noticed that their little break was up. Picking up Andrea and Nadia, the Canadsteiners put them back into the car's trunk. Chester got in the car, but Miles stayed for there for a minute.

"Nadia, just know that I will not hurt you. I will not..." Miles said as he looked down at her.

Then shut he the trunk door close. Miles got into the car, then turned it back onto the road. The car silently went down the road. It's lights were the only thing illuminating the dark forest. The forest was dead, and somehow that was comforting to both men.

And if they do...? Still "loyalty to King and Country above all?" Nadia needed to know exactly where Miles' heart lay. Crouched in the trunk, it was hard to move around with Andrea there, too.

"Andrea... we'll have to get out of here. I think we should knock Chester out first, then one of us gets his weapon or his cuff keys. I don't like the sound of what he's saying, I think they want to kill us. They won't do it here and be hunted down, they'll do it in Canadstein."

Andrea took Nadia's hand as well as she could. "I don't know. I just want to go back to the base. Nadia, can you move so your cuffs are in front of you?"

"Probably... can you?" Nadia didn't think Andrea was that flexible.

"I think so." The two women began to twist as well as they could, and they bumped their heads against the trunk a few times. Nadia assumed it was an older model of car; newer models tended to have trunk release systems. Escape couldn't be that easy, could it?

"Andrea... move up to the front, into a fetal position, so you can kick whoever opens with both feet. You weigh more than I do and you're stronger."

---

The police were still hunting for Nadia, with the aid of the military. Kaselev had managed to obtain another four hundred special forces soldiers and widened the search to a one hundred kilometre radius around Kampala - this did little to help if Miles was one hundred and fifty miles - somewhere on the order of two hundred and forty kilometres - away.

Roadblocks went up on major highways heading into the capital, and police questioned local hunters and occasionally requisitioned the use of their bloodhounds. Within four hours, every dog within 30 kilometres of Kampala had caught a whiff of the stale panties the police were using to familiarise the dogs with her smell.

Mara decided to take Kaselev's advice, though she felt little would come of it, sent a scanned nude photograph of herself laying on her bed, and asked Miles to meet her in the park in the city.

Luckily Miles had covered a large distance between them and Kampala. They were at least over two hundred kilometers away from that city. Since most of the police were posted around the city it was pretty smooth sailing. An hour ago Miles had turned onto back onto the main road without a problem. They had successfully escaped the grips of the Kahanistani police and military. Now they were heading South to Lake Victoria, where the extraction would take place.

There was still a frigate in the lake, mostly for purposes of deterring poachers in the lake, but it also served to secure the borders in times of high alert. It was equipped with a radar and missile array capable of shooting down everything from helicopters to stealth bombers that got too close to it.

Its crew was tired, bored, and hungry for something to shoot at. A fugitive from the military was a tempting target, as was someone the government figured was trafficking in slaves - something the people of Kahanistan were very paranoid about.

Every word that Miles and Chester had told the women had been true. Whether or not they believe them was up to their own decision. They only knew that they were to get Nadia and Andrea out of the country and back to Canadstein. Other than that it was a mysterious. They were going by their word, which was pretty much ruined. Both men had not touched the women and were not going to. All they wanted was the mission to get completed.

Even if Miles and Chester were telling the truth... well, Nadia was skeptical, and Andrea seemed to be just blindly following her... but even if they were honest, who knew what their superiors were hiding from them, or if they would have the courage to resist an order to kill them?

Andrea and Nadia had managed to flip their cuffs in front of them, and Andrea was in a fetal position on her back, her legs pulled toward her chin, so she could deliver a strong two-legged kick to the head or body of whoever opened it. Nadia had told her she didn't want anyone killed, just knocked out long enough to disarm and search one of the men. She had killed a Kraven officer once and remembered seeing him die in front of her, and it still gave her nightmares. She certainly did not want to kill Miles.

Miles and Chester had decided that they had give the women enough time to recover from the sedatives. Stopping the car, they pulled out their syringes and got ready to inject them with it. Miles opened the trunk door, while Chester waited patiently to the side.

No more.

Andrea shot her legs out of the trunk toward Miles' head - as far from the centre of mass as possible, so most likely to send him falling as well as knock him out. Nadia stepped out and administered a head butt to Chester's face.

All that remained now was for them to find the cuff keys... or guns - to shoot the chains off of each other's cuffs. The syringes could put these agents out too... assuming there were any after they had ditched the car with them.

Chester started to tumble back but quickly regain his footing. He pulled out his SIG and pointed it directly at Nadia. Meanwhile Miles fell down to the ground. He was was definintely knocked out and would be for a while. Chester looked behind him and sat Miles just laying there. It would just be him and two handcuffed women.

"Don't move or I will blow your fucking brains out. I will not hesitate like your precious Miles. This mission will be completed or I will die trying to complete it." Lieutenant Kent said as he retreived the syringe from the ground. "Now Andrea come here."

Andrea was still fairly easily manipulated; the same weakness that led to her passively allowing males to grope her also led her to comply with Chester. Nadia was not so cooperative, figuring she would be killed anyway if she went to Canadstein. Who knew what the director had in mind, or what he wanted to trade her for?

Nadia raised her arms quickly and threw them at Chester's neck, like Princess Leia in the scene where she escaped Jabba the Hutt, chain and all. The only thing missing from this scene was the slave girl's outfit. She merely had to choke him until he passed out, not kill him... and get behind him away from his line of fire.

Chester elbowed Nadia straight into the stomach, and then while she was weakened threw her over his shoulder, straight into the ground. As Nadia was writhing in pain, Chester went over and pounced right on her. Before she had anytime to react, Chester stabbed the syringe right into her forearm. Chester got up and looked down at her.

"Good night Nadia..." Chester said calmly.

Wiping the dirt off of himself, Chester then looked at Andrea. Now this little confrontation was over. Chester got the other syringe, than looked over at Andrea.

"Come here Andrea...I have a little present for you." Chester said with a smile.

Miles was starting to slowly come to. Weakly he got up and walked toward the car. He put his hand on his head and sighed for a second. Miles just needed to take a little rest.

Kahanistan Military Intelligence

"There isn't much we can do," said the Justice Minister, Dr. Marcus Octavius Cassius. "The people will not tolerate these barricades and lockdowns much longer." There had been confrontations at the numerous checkpoints intended to keep Miles trapped in Kampala.

"I do not believe Mr. Mason is foolish enough to attack them, even if he has not found some way out of the city," said the Chief of the National Police, Shmuel Avraham Stein. "That is starting to look more likely - he is certainly capable of starting a riot at a checkpoint and escaping in the confusion. We cannot handle everyone. I've already detailed police to look over security cameras, we'll find out which way he went if he left, and if he hasn't, the sewer patrols will find him."

"He is not in the sewer," said General Kaselev from behind his desk. "While I was searching for him there, someone attacked me. She was looking for him as well. I will wait for the information she gives me. I will allow the barricades to be removed within the city, but I will have intelligence agents in the city to keep us apprised of any suspicious movements. A posse has already been formed of hunters and bush rangers to look for anything suspicious. I am having people from satellite intelligence look at photos of suspicious areas."

"What about the lockdown of the country?" asked Cassius. "Certainly, you don't intend to imprison us here?"

"Not at all," said Kaselev. "Simply until Mr. Mason is found, or we have reason to suspect he has managed to leave the country. When we do partially lift the border lockdown, I'll arrange for fighters to escort every aircraft that leaves, to guide them on pre-determined paths far from hostile regimes."

A knock came at the door. "Come in," said Kaselev evenly. The door opened, and Mara stepped in.

"I sent Mr. Mason a message, as we discussed," she said. "I asked him to meet me, but he hasn't responded."

"Perhaps he failed to bring his laptop," said Kaselev. This was about as close to overt humour as he came. "Sit. Lieutenant Colonel Mara Fulton, this is Dr. Marcus Octavius Cassius, Minister of Justice, and this is Mr. Shmuel Avraham Stein, Chief of the National Police." He turned back to the two other officials. "Colonel Fulton is the officer I encountered in the sewers."

Mara sat down. "She doesn't look like someone you'd find in the sewer," said Stein. "Rather attractive lady."

"Thanks." Mara smiled. "I'm here to discuss what we should do to relocate Nadia. I know many here think that slave traders or the International Catholic Conspiracy are involved..."

Stein chuckled. It was nice to see someone other than the Jews being the alleged architects of international conspiracies.

"Humour aside, I know Miles. He is not a fan of slavery. He opposed General Malakov because of his anti-Catholic views and his willingness to frame General Kasagawa for collaborating with the Doomani... come to think of it, what happened to her, anyway?"

"She's applied to become the superintendent of the Military Academy," said Cassius. "I'm surprised, didn't think she was the kind to retire like that. She's always been ruthlessly determined to soldier on, but I guess the wars have broken her spirit. I dare say she'll retire within a month."

"Anyway," Mara continued, "we know Miles does not like people who are extremely anti-Catholic. We know he has a physical attraction to Nadia, and he's willing to use force to take her. We know that he has little regard for self-preservation. We also know that he is likely to try to leave the country if the lockdown comes off without some kind of safeguard. What we don't know is his motivation, who the other man the base sentry saw him with is, or what factors may be at work. We know that trying to get information from the Canadstein government about their agents is about as fruitful as me trying to get a 38DD rack without all kinds of hormone-driven mood swings."

"Put me in contact with that base... which base was it again?" asked Kaselev.

"Fort Ezra," said Mara. "Five kilometres outside Kampala. Base commander's a guy named Minoki."

Kaselev picked up the phone, scanning his computer at the same time. When he got an answer, he replied with, "This is Brigadier General Igor Kaselev. I would like to speak with Lieutenant General Kirochi Minoki." He activated the speaker phone capabilities.

"General Minoki, this is General Kaselev. I would like to ask some questions about the other man the base sentries claimed to have seen with Mr. Miles Mason."

"We have a video image of him, I'll email it to you. Hopefully you can do more with it than the idiots we have as MP's over here. Run some kind of database search with it, seems beyond the people's grasp here. First place I'd recommend, given Mr. Mason's alleged background, is Canadstein."

"Thank you," said Kaselev. "Would it be possible to also receive the entire video?"

"Sure thing, Igor. Damn slow connection, it'll be about fifteen minutes before it gets to you."

Big file is more like it. Kaselev printed off several copies of the image of the man with Miles, though he had no idea who he was. Probably some Canadstein military officer, or agent.

"In the meantime," said Kaselev, handing the copies to the three other people in his office, "we should identify the man in that photograph." He was going to protect Nadia if it killed him.

Chester injected Andrea with the sedative and caught her right before she hit the ground. He did not want to cause any unnecessary pain to either of the women. Plus the Director had stated that he wanted both of the women in a healthy state. Chester was going to try his best to make that happen. Miles came over, after recovering from his hit. A nice bruise had developed, but he had quickly gotten over it. Now both men knew that the women were going to try to fight back, so it was time to get serious with them. Miles re handcuffed them, so their hands would be behind their backs. It would be very difficult to fight now.

Chester loaded the women back into the trunk, while Miles had started the car and was patiently waiting for him. Once Chester returned to the passenger seat, Miles set off for the Lake. As every minute passed their goal seemed to become more of a reality. The more distance that was covered, the more likely it was that Miles and Chester would never be seen again, along with Nadia and Andrea.

Kaselev and his comrades in Military Intelligence had run the photograph of Chester (though at this point they didn't know who he was) through not only every database in Kahanistan, but what Kraven, Doomani, Canadstein, and even Allanean databases they could. (They couldn't take the chance of one of their "allies" deciding to not let Kahanistan go Marxist simply because its people were irresponsible.)

It would be hours before a match was confirmed, if it ever was; there were literally millions of facial patterns to analyse, and numerous projections of what the man they were trying to identify might look like with various types of plastic surgery.

In the meantime, hunters and other outdoorspeople were encouraged to report suspicious tracks, and a description of the stolen car had been broadcast on the news.

Miles looked how much gas they had left in the car, then he noticed that the line was almost pointing to empty. It was time to get some gas. Off in the distance he could see the bright sign of a gas station illuminate in the night sky. Miles turned into the gas station and got off out of the car. Though it was bad to stop in an open place like this. They badly needed gas. Miles filled up the car, then got some shekels from Chester. In their supplies they had an amble amount of Kahanistani shekels to make it through the mission. Mostly for food and other supplies.

Miles walked into the small convenience store and looked around. It looked like any generic store. He walked down the aisles to see if they needed any supplies. Grabbing a couple bags of junk food and a couple bottle of soda, he then walked up the counter. Behind the counter was a high school aged girl, who must have worked her to earn some extra cash. Miles looked at teenager.

"How much will it be for the gas and all of this?" he asked as he pointed out the assortment of sealed food and sodas.

Didn't I see that car on the news...? Yeah, it looks like the police sketch I saw on K.P.C. And this guy looks like the guy I saw on the news, the fugitive who shot those people in the Defence Ministry, the one they think is connected to General Sklenova's disappearance.

Kari Hawkins leaned over the counter, as if to get a closer look at Miles. The silent alarm was set up so it could be triggered by a casual lean, or even by remote in the manager's office if something looked or sounded suspicious, or if the clerk were shot.

"That will be... four shekels, ten agorot," she said. The girl went to the register. "Shit. Won't open." Kari knew she had to keep them there until the police arrived. A poor girl from the slums, she planned to emigrate and couldn't do so with the lockdown in place.

Miles knew something was wrong when this teenager kept on looking at him in a strange way. News must have spread of the kidnapping of Nadia, and he must have matched the description they gave. He needed to get out of here in hurry. Quickly he put down a mess of bills, that was obviously took much.

"Oh...sorry I am in a bit of a rush. You can keep the change." Miles said, then he quickly vacated the store.

Miles rushed back to the car, then slammed down on the gas. They needed to put some distance between them and the gas station. If his guess was right, then within minutes that gas station would be swarming with police.

A minute after Miles left, the police called back, and Kari answered. "It's him, I know it is. It's Mason, he's fleeing south toward Lake Victoria. Look at the video, it's him."

"We're readying choppers and ground units to chase him. I'll have someone look at the video to confirm, but for now, we're assuming it's him."

Two minutes later, officers arrived and looked over the video feed. It was definitely Miles. When this was relayed to the officers in the helicopters and on the ground, an attack helicopter was requested from Fort Ezra, where Miles had gone and encountered Nadia in the infirmary after her escape from the Kravenites. The police helicopters also had machine gunners and grenade launchers this time; the sniper's slow rate of fire had allowed Miles to get away once. As Miles was considered armed and dangerous, the police were also authorised to shoot first if deemed necessary. Out here, there were no sewers to hide in - everyone had septic tanks, or worse, latrine pits.

If Miles was heading for the lake, there was a good chance he was going to dump Nadia's body there. The police were not assuming she was still alive, but they couldn't assume she was dead either - doing so could kill her if they were wrong and they decided to take the car out with a Hellfire missile.

Citizens were warned to stay in their homes; the police did not wish to worry about hitting a civilian when they went for Miles. The police dispatched this time were carrying carbines or assault rifles and tactical body armour.

The Canadsteiner's car sped down the highway. It seemed as though they did not have a care of life. They needed to try to escape, yet again, from the police.

The National Police laid down spike strips on the highways, to try and take out Miles' car. Civil Defence sirens went off to warn civilians to remain in their homes or shelters, as if there were an invasion - there would be hell to pay if one of the police helicopters ended up machine-gunning a family of African tribespeople in an RV.

The helicopters nearer Miles' position dropped rappelling cords attached to which were police officers with high-volume megaphones and radioes.

"This is the Kahanistan National Police. Please stop your vehicle, submit to a search, and surrender. You will not be harmed."

If he avoided the cities, the police would have no civilians to worry about and could machine-gun his vehicle with impunity. If he entered the forests (before the National Police finished blocking the entrances off, and spike strips were already being moved out), the forest rangers in all-terrain vehicles would spot him, and they had heavy assault rifles and body armour, mainly for fighting poachers. If he entered the cities, he would find ghost towns laden with a nightmare of police cruisers at every turn, spike strips in the alleys, cruisers parked over the sewer entrances, and even police tactical vehicles with machine-gunners inside, with him as pretty much the only thing the police had to shoot at.

Suddenly the car stopped dead in its tracks. Behind it were two long black skid marks. Obviously the police must have been amazed that after all of this the car had just stopped. The silence was broken up the trunk door opening. Someone inside must have pressed a button to open it. Then two armed gunmen, with balaclavas on, came bursting out of the car. They both dashed to the back and grabbed Andrea and Nadia. Before anyone could react, their guns were on the temples of each women. There was no more messing around like before.

The Kahanistanian police surrounded the car with their helicopters and machine guns. One of them flew low enough to put a sniper in plain sight of the gunmen. They knew very well what would happen to them if they pulled the triggers.

The police commander radioed for an ambulance on standby in case things turned ugly. There was no way in hell that they were letting them go now.

After confirming the ambulance, the police captain made another contact on her radio.

"General Kaselev, this is National Police Captain Deanna Karr. We have the subjects surrounded in a hostage situation. Please advise."

"Back the fuck away or we kill them!" Chester yelled out to them.

The Canadsteiners positioned themselves, so they would be back to back. Each of the had their gun digging straight into the woman's head. If the police, or any Kahanistani, made a wrong move they this would end in a blood bath. Miles looked down at Nadia. He was just glad that she would sound asleep.

"You pull those triggers, I have every sniper in this unit fill your heads full of lead. We have an ambulance on standby. You don't have to be Albert Einstein to know who gets priority treatment," said Captain Karr. She was a gravelly-voiced woman in her mid-40's with sandy blonde hair and slight wrinkling.

The captain took a drag on a cigarette. "Or, we can negotiate. Of course, if I'm to negotiate with you, I'll have to know your ideology, your motivation, what's driven you to this situation. Me... I'm a police officer. I'm here to protect the citizens of Kahanistan. Why are you here?"

"I rather take a bullet, then be in a prison. Anyways I will make sure that I don't miss when I fire this gun. Either way four people are going to die tonight." Miles yelled out to the police officer.

He tighten his grip on his handgun. "I am here to finish something. Something that doesn't include you."

"Target their gun shoulders. If one of them makes a move, I want both of them dropping their weapons." Captain Karr decided to resume talking to the men. If one of them made ready to pull a trigger, she'd have both of them incapacitated.

These are not your ordinary slave traders. Most slave traders would have thrown themselves on the mercy of the police and courts and preferred three hots and a cot to being buried in the ground. More likely, instead of planning to sell them to the Doomani, they're Doomani themselves.

"How's this... we give each of you half a million shekels and safe passage back to Doomingsland, and you let the women go?"

"Sounds intriguing, but I am going to have to decline. I don't give up too easily." Miles shouted to the police captain. "I do know that you are not going to take either of us alive. I rather die in a blaze of gunfire, then rot in some prison cell."

"So the choice is yours. Let us go, or have four people's blood spread on this highway." Chester yelled out to the police. He agreed with what Miles had to saw. Back at the Academy he was taught to never surrender, even when all the odds were against you. You would be remembered for your heroic stand, rather than your pitiful surrender.

Kahanistan Military Intelligence

General Kaselev's office

"Sir. The fugitive refuses to surrender." Captain Karr's voice came over the radio; the general was connected electronically to the action and heard every word.

"Very well," said Kaselev. "And for future reference, that is not a Doomani." He turned to Mara. "Colonel Fulton, am I correct in that you were transferred recently to the diplomatic corps?"

"Yes," said Mara. "From the sound of things, that police captain doesn't seem like she knows what she's doing. She's going to push him until he shoots. He'll do it, too - their culture is all about service to the state above all."

"Do you feel you can take over negotiations from this captain?" asked the general.

Mara nodded. "Better than her, anyway."

Kaselev nodded. "We can go on the helicopter." He led Mara through an access ladder to the roof, where a military helicopter was stationed, and the pilot started it up. He radioed back to Captain Karr that he would be sending someone to take over the negotiations.

"Fine," said the captain. "I'm getting nowhere with him." She turned her megaphone back on and decided to stall Miles until the chopper arrived. The ambulance that was on standby was now parked behind one of the police cruisers that had stopped by Miles.

"General Kaselev has ordered that the women not leave the country," she said. "Their blood will be upon your hands." She motioned to one of the helicopters, and its machine gunner trained the machine gun on the car's engine. The sniper kept Chester centered in his cross hairs. However, the machine gunner did not fire - yet.

"And my blood will be on your hands. I am not afraid to die, but maybe these women will. For the last two days we have been injecting them with sedatives, but the last sedative we gave them was a low grade one. Meaning it should be wearing off very shortly. Let's see how they react? Shall we?" Chester said with a sinister smile. "Now let us go. I am not fooling around anymore. Do you want these two innocent women to die?"

"No," said the Captain. In five minutes she wouldn't have to deal with this crap anymore, and could go back to the helicopter and eat donuts while that military woman, she couldn't remember her name off the top of her head, took over negotiations.

"I don't want to see any murder done today. But I can't let kidnapping go on under my nose, either. If you're drugging them, then they're clearly being held against their will. Since I can't get a straight answer out of you, I'll have to talk to the girls."

"Yeah you can talk to them over my dead body, lady. We will never get up!" Miles shouted out to the police captain.

"Well, you don't have any more sedatives, and you don't have any more food. We're more than willing to sit here for days until you starve. If you don't want to starve to death, you'll have to let them go, and then we'll talk about letting you go."

"SHUT UP LADY!" cried out Chester.

He had heard enough of this bitch droning on and on. Now it was time to act. Both of the Canadsteiners were sick of this game the Kahanistani were playing. Miles could feel that Nadia was starting to come too. This would be perfect. His gun was still trained on Nadia's temple. If anything happen then her brain matter would be all over the place.

The helicopter with Kaselev and Mara in it arrived on the scene.

"Looks like things are getting heated," said Mara. She was dressed in unassuming civilian clothes, a white tank top and a pair of baggy elastic trousers. Her pretty, long dark hair concealed an earpiece, which Kaselev would use to guide her through the negotiations. She was trained by the military as a diplomat, which would help her where this police officer was failing, but her emotional involvement in the case would need some help.

This was where Kaselev came in. He would speak to her over the earpiece, to calm her nerves. Prior to her going down, he administered a weak sedative to her so she wouldn't freak out if Miles pointed the weapon at her. Kaselev informed the police commander that Mara was taking over negotiations.

Mara was lowered down just as Nadia woke up groggily and turned her head, a confused expression on her face. Her friend was holding a weapon at her head. She figured it was a bluff, as Miles had gone to great pains not to kill her on her last two escape attempts. But Mara and the police didn't know that... yet, anyway.

She descended from the helicopter. To the police, she looked like your ordinary Kahanistanian woman, a slim girl of about 35 from the look of her, dressed in civilian clothing and not visibly armed or otherwise assuming. Only Chester would likely not know who she was, but Miles could fill him in.

"The ambulance is there as a precaution," said Kaselev. "In case of failure, it will evacuate any wounded to the hospital. All you need to do is talk to these men."

Miles was unpleasantly surprised to see Mara. This was turning out to get worse by the second. Mara had a been an acquaintance at best, though she did have feelings for Miles. Miles never returned this feelings truly. For a while he acted like he did, so he could get closer to Nadia. He thought that he had seen the last of her, once he left this wretched land. But fate had other plans. Miles shook his head then concentrated on the current problem, getting out of Kahanistan alive.

"Please Nadia, just play along. I don't want to shoot you, but if I have to, then I will." Miles emotionless whispered into Nadia's ear.

Mara came as close as she dared to the Mexican standoff. She had to get the information from Nadia about the situation so she and the police could better negotiate with Miles, for one cannot negotiate if one does not know what the other party wants.

"Nadia... why have they taken you?" she asked. Clearly, this was not just Miles' attraction to her escalating into carrying her off to elope, and it wasn't the slave trade the government had feared - a slave trader would take their chances with the Kahanistanian police, brutal as they were to slave traders, and if Miles just wanted to elope with Nadia, he wouldn't have involved Andrea.

"I... don't know. They want to take me to Canadstein. They won't tell me any more," said Nadia.

"All right," said Mara. "Why not tell me, and the police here, why you want to take them away?" She was looking at Miles now, the Valium in her system dulling her anger and desire to publicly cut off Miles' dick.

"I don't have to tell you anything. Now back the fuck up. NOW OR NADIA WILL DIE!" Miles shouted at Mara.

"Do not show fear. Just look into her eyes. Her training will help her here."

Mara followed Kaselev's advice and looked straight into Nadia's eyes. "Just nod to her." Mara did so, and Nadia seemed to understand... she smashed her head into the side of Miles' head. With the cuffs still on, her head was the only weapon she still had.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the police commander fired a flash-bang grenade at the standoff and swarmed them.

Miles quickly recovered and put Nadia directly in front of him. Obviously he was going to use her as a human shield for the time being. He could feel the blood flood out of his wound, but his balaclava was soaking it up before it could roll down his head. Both of the Canadsteiners back into each other, but had the women in front of them. If one of the police officers was dumb enough to fire, than they risked hurting Andrea or Nadia.

While they were distracted by the flash-bang, the police were able to gain a lot of ground to surround Miles and Chester with weapons drawn.

Instead of shooting, the police decided to spray the two men with a gas grenade containing high-grade pepper spray, rated to overwhelm basic military filters in gas masks. This was enough to blind them at least long enough for them to be unable to do more than aim their weapons at their last known locations.

When it looked like the situation was about to escalate, the ambulance crew readied its stretchers, in case shots were to be fired.

The Canadsteiners held their ground, until the gas passed over.

While blinded by the gas, the police jumped the two men, their aim being to pry the guns from their hands before they could react. Of course, the police wouldn't be able to see, either, so they went in to pin all four people to the ground.

The ambulance had two stretchers; the men would have to be driven to hospital in a police car should the situation warrant it.

Both men fiercely fought back. They certainly were not going to give without a fight. Chester and Miles made sure that they had a tight grip on their respective women, so they couldn't escape. But held their ground and saw the outlines of people charging toward them. How were they going to get out of this?

"GET BACK!!!" Miles yelled out. He started to pull back the trigger just in case. "OR I WILL SHOOT!"

The police officer was already right next to him, figuring he wouldn't be able to see any better than the cops could with the tear gas around. He swung his tonfa in the direction of the voice - it had to be one of the men he was hitting; the women were much shorter, both 5'5".

Unfortunately, he was also between the sniper and Miles' shoulder.

Miles so how dodge the man attempt to hit him. Realizing what was happening he put Nadia in front of him. If he was going to get hit, then they would have to hurt Nadia also.

The Kahanistanian policeman opened his arms as if to hug Nadia. Instead, he threw himself down on her and Miles, following orders from his earphone and his sergeant where to grab, where to strike...

The police officers wanted to save Nadia. To the Kahanistanian people, Nadia was a national hero who had destroyed Kraven, and those who wanted to kill her were as low a life form as Kravenites. There was no way in hell they were going to lose her to this crazy lunatic.

Although the police officer had knocked Miles down, Nadia was still an effective shield. Nadia was wedged in between Miles and policeman. There was no chance of this guy of not hurting Miles without also hurting Nadia. Miles made a shift kick into the man's groin. No giving up...

While the police seemed to be only concentrating on Miles, Chester put himself up to the car. Now the only way to get him was through Andrea. There was no one he was going to live through this. He had come to accept this fact.

The policeman was quite willing to injure Nadia to save her. The other cop figured that risking Andrea's injury was far better than risking her death.

The cop trying to save Nadia was certainly in pain. He had to help her before the welfare of this murderous mercenary could be considered.

He aimed to push them to the ground and disarm them. At best, he would take them into custody and save the heroes of the destruction of Kraven.

Miles had no other choice. He looked down to the hangun digging into Nadia's head. There was only one way now. Silently he whispered into Nadia's ear.

"Sorry Nadia, but I have to...you know." Miles said softly.

Meanwhile Chester looked over and saw the Miles was having a hard time. He turned swiftly to his left. With one motion he aimed his gun at the policeman and fired it. He squeezed a the trigger two times to make sure that the policeman was dead. Though he did not see how it turned out because he turned back into place.

The cop was wearing a bulletproof vest, but bulletproof vests tend to afford little or no head protection. He went down like a felled tree.

This guy had killed a cop. Cops tend to go to great pains to apprehend someone who had killed one of their own. Another ambulance was called in and the medics wheeled the fallen officer onto the stretcher to take to their ambulance and to hospital, leaving one medic and one stretcher behind, with some oxygen and bags of blood just in case.

With the roadblocks in place and next to no civilian traffic to worry about, the new ambulance could arrive in the space of two minutes at high speed.

When Chester moved, Andrea did too. She was near enough to the police to approach another officer. The snipers now had a clear shot from the side and decided to disable Chester. After all, he had shot one of their own. The one sighting him fired a round, the shoulder of his gun hand in their crosshairs. He would no longer be able to shoot if the bullet connected. The cops threw another gas grenade and rushed them, four cops this time, to be able to disarm Miles without another screwup.

With Miles cornered, the lockdown was partially lifted, and ships were allowed to leave from ports in the Sudan with inspection and military escort. The borders were still heavily guarded, ID's were still checked, vehicles still searched, and planes were still grounded.

The round went straight through Chester's shoulder. Chester let out a scream of pain as his gun fell to the ground. He was not going to let them do that again. Quickly he positioned Andrea right in front of him. Now there was no possible way for them to hit Chester, without shooting Andrea.He leaned down for a second to scoop up his handgun. The pain was immense in his shoulder, but he could kind of shoot his gun. It certainly wouldn't be accurate, but it was better than nothing. The now pointing out from Andrea's shoulder.

Meanwhile Miles held his ground, while the police assaulted. He wondered he could try to hold off again, though Chester did help the last time and Miles knew that he was busy.

"Nadia, call them off now or I will blow your brains out." Miles threatened to Nadia.

Nadia shook her head. She wanted to see Andrea freed, and besides, the police wouldn't listen to her anyway. After all, they were far better trained in hostage negotiation than she was, and they were trained to not react to the fears of the hostages - it clouded their minds and distracted them from the mission. Besides, Nadia didn't know that she wouldn't be killed if she went to Canadstein - there was a saying in Kahanistan: "Despite what it says, the Constitution does not protect you abroad."

One of the police officers simply grabbed Andrea as she approached and dragged her toward one of the helicopters to be medevaced for treatment for exposure to the tear gas and have her handcuffs removed. They did not fear Chester's wounded shooting arm. With the threat, the sniper was now ready to take out Miles' shoulder arm from the side. If he could not take a clear shot at the shoulder, he was authorised to shoot over Nadia's head and take a head shot on Miles, but they wanted to capture them alive - General Kaselev, despite his personal desire to execute the Canadsteiners himself, had orders to try to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions from their government. Since those Canadstein agents had showed up, Kahanistan had known nothing but interference in their policies, rapid succession of Defence Ministers, and a Questarian invasion.

As for Chester, he could bleed to death unless the situation were resolved favourably. Hopefully, Miles would surrender to save his comrade. Of course, he would be saved either way for interrogation, but as far as Miles knew, Kaselev would simply leave him to die slowly and painfully of his wounds.

Chester fired of a couple of rounds toward Andrea, as she was dragged away. He had kept on pulling the trigger, until there was just an empty clip. A couple of the bullets had hit her in her legs, arms, and upper chest. If the helicopter didn't get her to a hospital soon, then she was surely die. Once all bullets had been fired Chester opened the car door, and entered it. His shoulder was now bleeding all over the place. He was starting to feel a little light headed. Chester had already accepted death. At least he knew that he had served the state with honor.

Meanwhile Miles tighten his grip on Nadia. Actually it was so tight that it was starting to form bruises. No cop was easily going to just snatch Nadia away. The game was still a foot. Miles started to scoot back into the car.

"GET THE FUCK BACK NOW." Miles yelled at them.

He was dead serious, and he needed to prove that. Swiftly he pointed the gun down and fired it straight into Nadia's leg. The bullet had gone straight through, and had entered the other leg.

"Get back or I will do the finishing blow." Miles shouted as he returned the gun back to its original position.

The officer dragged the wounded ex-hostage to the police helicopter containing the sniper who had shot Chester, and the helicopter took off for Fort Ezra, where she had been last seen, to take her to the infirmary. With Chester's inaccuracy, one shot had struck her in the centre of the chest, lodged between the lungs; the other hits were merely flesh wounds. An officer from Military Intelligence was dispatched to speak with her once she recovered sufficiently from her injuries.

Nadia screamed and began crying. She had until now been uncertain whether or not Miles would shoot her. Now, she knew she didn't want to be anywhere near him. Mara looked on in horror, the Valium doing little to affect her emotions. Kaselev spoke to her through her earphone, in his calm voice that always gave people the creeps when he spoke under fire.

"Colonel, offer to accompany your friend to Canadstein to ensure her safety."

Mara took a few deep breaths, listened to the general, and sighed.

"I'll let you take her to Canadstein, if you let me come with her, to make sure she won't be hurt."

"Why should I trust you?" Miles yelled to Mara.

He didn't want to shoot the gun, but these Kahanistani bastards gave him no choice. They were not taking him seriously, so he had to show them some how. Miles then suddenly felt Nadia's blood ooze onto his pants. He wanted to help, but the first available chance some sniper would probably shoot him. Miles didn't want to see Nadia cry. There had already been enough crying over their relationship.

"Please Nadia...stop...just listen to me. I never wanted to hurt you, but they have been trying my patient. Until this moment I never wanted to hurt you. I don't know why the Director wants me to bring you to Canadstein, but I had no part in it. Nadia...I know that you will hate me from now on, but I..." Miles stopped whispering into Nadia's ear.

"Because Nadia's my friend," said Mara. "I care about her. I'll go through hell and fire for her. I want to come with her and protect her." She nodded toward the helicopter Kaselev was in. A member of Military Intelligence threw a first aid kit to her.

"Please. Let me treat her injuries, and I'll come with you."

Nadia believed Miles, but the fact that the Director would not tell him the reason to take her did not bode well for trusting the Canadstein government. They probably wanted to disappear her without his knowledge, or kill her.

"Did you ever think... that they have a reason not to tell you? A reason you may not approve of? That they may want to kill me? In Kahanistan, we call people who just blindly follow orders 'little Eichmanns.' It comes from the name of a Nazi war criminal who claimed he was 'just following orders' when he set up the infrastructure to kill millions of people."

"You have just have to believe me that they will not kill you. I just know that we will not hurt you. I will personally make sure of it Nadia. Maybe I am a Eichmann, but at least I have a state to be loyal to that isn't corrupt. I have no more citizenship to any country. If I betray the state, then where will I go? No country will accept me..." Miles whispered.

He backed off from Nadia's ear and looked directly at Mara. Miles knew that someone needed to treat Nadia's wound or she could die of blood loss.

"How will I now that you will not betray me? This could all be a ruse." Miles said as replied to Mara.

"You just have to trust me. My friend's life is all that matters," said Mara. She held the first aid kit over her head with both hands to show that she wasn't carrying any weapons and walked toward them.

"I'll be with her in Canadstein. I'll stay with her. Maybe she trusts you... but I don't. I think that if you're willing to take her away against her will on orders, you'll kill her on orders. I personally don't think you have any orders, you just want to take her away to make her marry you or something."

"Kahanistan has a history of taking refugees," said Nadia. "You could stay here. You would probably have to spend some time in prison, but you would get out. Chester will probably go up for a very long time, he killed a cop." Kahanistan did not have the death penalty.

"I am not going to prison. The only way you are going to get me in a prison cell is if I am dead. The same goes with Chester. He is my partner, and I will never betray him or let him suffer. I will do my best to make sure he gets home, even if I have to die." Miles said to Nadia.

"Well you are wrong. I don't want to marry Nadia. So you better back up or I will make you end up like that cop." Miles said directly toward Mara.

"You'll shoot me to make sure my friend bleeds to death?" asked Mara calmly. She showed no fear - and was visibly not armoured - body armour would show through her tank top. Maybe she knew that if Miles pointed the gun at her, the snipers would fire. Maybe she knew that Miles cared enough that he wouldn't let her bleed to death. Maybe she simply didn't care and felt that saving her friend was all that mattered. She would not stop trying to save her friend.

Nadia was growing cold. She had lost a lot of blood, and couldn't feel the pain in her legs anymore. "Please. Let me... lie down." Her head sunk; she was too weak to stand anymore, but was still conscious, for now.

Miles looked down at Nadia. She had already lost a lot of blood. Then he looked back at Mara, as she continued to walk toward him. If he didn't act quickly Nadia would surely die, and the mission was to get Nadia back to Canadstein alive. Miles slowly rested Nadia on the road. But his gun was still trained on Mara as she walked over. If anything happened, then someone was going to die.

"Nadia...just know that I...never mind..." Miles said reluctantly as he hovered above her.

Meanwhile Chester came bursting out of the car. He had made a crude bandage, out of the sleeve bandage, to cover his shoulder. Though it was a small flesh wound, he knew that he needed to get medical attention, but he had other matters to attend to. Chester walked up beside Miles and pointed his handgun straight at Mara.

Mara tossed her medikit at Miles' feet, then turned toward Chester. "I told your friend here that I'll let you go, if you let me come to make sure nothing happens to Nadia." She was going to allow Miles about ten seconds to start working on Nadia before she stepped in, and Chester had a choice to attack her with his wounded arm or try to shoot with his non-dominant hand... or let her approach.

Miles ripped open the pant leg of Nadia's pants to reveal the wound. The bullet had gone straight through her leg and out the other side. Miles quickly went to work and stopped the bleeding and put bandages over the two spots. He had successfully stopped the bleeding and covered the wound. It was good enough for now, but he knew that Nadia still needed some real medical attention. Slowly he bent down and whispered into Nadia's ear.

"Nadia you are going to make it through this...you just have to trust me?" Miles said to her privately.

Chester put his car to the back and started to lower himself to the ground, until he was sitting on the floor. He looked at Mara, and had his gun pointed directly toward her head. If she tried any shit, then her brains would be blow to pieces.

"She needs to go to a hospital," said Mara. She would have liked to simply wait for Chester to bleed out, but what if Nadia did first?

"I have to get some equipment, too." She turned back toward the helicopter, to get her body armour, weapons, GPS, and other gear.

"No she is coming with us. So call of this third rate police force and let us pass." Miles said as he got up.

Mara was simply in charge of the negotiations - General Kaselev would have to call off the police force, and he had no intention of doing that. Kaselev had expected Miles to refuse Mara's offer - in fact, he hoped he would, as it would give him a way to justify before his superiors "having" to shoot Miles rather than turn him over to them for interrogation, which he believed a futile endeavour.

When she boarded the helicopter, General Kaselev gave her a pack. It contained her cell phone, body armour, handgun, battle rifle, ammunition clips, a set of summer clothes, a set of winter clothes, a sleeping bag, several MRE's, and a few other items. Mara went behind a curtain and changed into her combat gear.

Captain Deanna Karr, the police commander who had been usurped in the negotiations, was furious. Mara was making her look incompetent, and she was planning to get out of the police force and run for office. Her career would be ruined before it began if she had to answer questions about why she was able to save the other girl but not the hero of the Kraven Wars.

"We're going to get her out of there," she said. She fed a belt into the helicopter's machine guns, but did not fire them - yet. Captain Karr had to end this standoff decisively, and not let this young girl, probably some 10 years younger than her and definitely not as experienced, upstage her. (Karr was 46; she figured Mara was around 35 years old. She was actually only 29.) She also didn't know that Mara was trained by the military as a diplomat - she figured that she was a military police officer or some kind of counter-terrorist operative.

By now, she was growing to suspect that Miles had no intention of killing Nadia, and was growing less threatened.

Miles loaded Nadia into the back of the car, and then helped Chester back into the passenger side. Chester looked a little pale, but Miles knew that his younger comrade was going to make it through it. So far Chester had been a good companion. Once they both men got home Miles was going to suggest that Chester be promoted immediately for his actions, even though the real reason for his promotion would never be know. That is if they got out of this hell hole.

"So Chester how are you holding up?" Miles said to Chester as he got into the driver's seat.

"Hurts a little bit, but I will make it through it. That bullet really took me back." Chester said with a wide grin.

"I don't want them getting away," said Captain Karr. "Knock out their engines, let's stop them here and now, make sure that poor girl gets medical attention."

She fired the helicopter's machine gun into the front of the car, not at the windshield, but into the front engine block. This was safer than hitting the gas tank, which could hurt Nadia. Mara, just changed into her combat gear, ran out to see what was going on. She was carrying an M-67 battle rifle, loaded with 8x65mm armour-piercing rounds - the same kind of bullet used in the helicopter machine guns to simplify logistics trains.

Miles came out of the car and looked around.

"What are you doing?"

Mara assumed Miles was talking to her. "Me... just getting my gear. I want to protect Nadia in Canadstein," she said. "You would understand if I don't trust you, if I don't think your intentions are what you say they are." She was fully armed and armoured; she looked much like the Kahanistanian soldiers who had fought against the Doomani in the recent war - an intimidating specimen, one ready to fight for her home and hearth, or in this case, to protect her friend.

Captain Karr spoke on the megaphone. "I can't let you take one of our citizens - especially a hero who has given so much of herself - away from us for God knows what evil purposes," she said. "General Sklenova is one of our nation's most valued soldiers."

"Yeah your so called 'hero'? Well she isn't all that you think of her. Nadia has some skeletons in the close, but keeps on rising through the ranks. I think if you found out even half of them, then most people would want her to be discharged from the service. Her political career would be over. Nadia will just be a distant memory. So just think to who you call a hero." Miles said to the Captain.

Now the police were being an annoyance. The police must have been full of army rejects, which was kind of frighten to picture. Just a bunch of bumbling rejects who couldn't cut it in the military. Now they were in a third rate police force. It was pathetic.

"So Captain, how about you move your third rate police force and let me by?" Miles asked.

"If you're talking about her membership in the Communist Party, I don't think there's a soul in Kahanistan who doesn't know. If you're talking about her giving birth to a Kraven baby, someone planted it in her. If you're talking about the nude photos of her floating around in some obscure magazine... I can't say many of us will care," said Captain Karr. She knew the vehicle wasn't going anywhere, not with the engine all shot up. The captain got on her radio.

"Helo Three. Take position over the car and land some cops and a Jaws of Life. If the other guy tries to exit the car, we'll provide suppressing fire to keep him in." She turned to her own pilot. "Take us into position to fire the machine guns over the car without hitting any friendlies." To the machine gunner, she ordered, "Don't fire until I give the signal."

There were no published nude photos of Nadia. Captain Karr was merely being sarcastic. Nadia would never pose nude.

"You really are naive Captain. Aren't you? You have no idea what Nadia has done. The media has just capitalized on these lesser thing, but not the true gold mine. Now let us through. Captain you have no authority right now. This is probably a military mission. Mara has already made a deal and I am going to take it. Now back off." Miles said to the Captain. He looked over at Mara, indicating that he wanted her to come over right now.

If Colonel Fulton is really doing that, she's nuts. "This is a joint operation between Kahanistan Military Intelligence and the National Police. And even if we remove the officers, that car isn't going anywhere with its engine shot to hell."

Mara looked up in the sky at the helicopter that was already taking position over the vehicle. She walked toward it as the officers descended from the helicopter, one of them carrying a Jaws of Life to simply tear open the trunk and retrieve Nadia.

Miles pointed his guns toward the police. They would obviously know what he meant when they pointed the gun at them. He wasn't going to give up Nadia. Miles would die before that would happen. Some third rate police officers were not going to somehow comprise the mission of a labeled "spy".

The officers cavalierly disregarded the gun. After all, they were coming onto the car from above - where Miles would have trouble hitting an elephant unless he were in a convertible and knew how to remove the top. Besides, they had far bigger guns - most carried FN FAL's or M-67's. One landed on the roof, his rifle at the ready should Miles make a run for it, and the man with the Jaws of Life was very near. Mara was at the passenger side; Miles would have to drop his guard to open the door for her.

"If you are going to kill me, then already do it. But I am not going to let you bunch of bastards take Nadia away from me. Get any closer and I blow this car sky high. This car has been rigged to blow and the explosives are large enough to kill everyone here." Miles stated nonchalantly.

The man with the Jaws of Life paused. "Captain Karr, there's a bomb in the vehicle, requesting a bomb squad. Please advise."

"There's no time. They can't get here before he presses the button. You'll have to shoot him, but take his arms out. Sniper tells me there's nothing visible under the car, and we didn't see anything when he put her in the trunk. I'll take out his gun arm, you subdue him. I'll have a squad in to find the bomb when he's downed." "Sniper... gun arm."

The sniper in Captain Karr's chopper centred Miles' shoulder in his cross hairs and threw a 14.5x114mm round from the massive Denel NTW sniper rifle. It would not kill him, but make it near impossible for him to shoot or detonate explosives without being subdued.

Miles was flung backwards and hit the car. Behind him was a massive splatter of blood. Weakly he pulled his handgun up and shot the man carrying the jaw of life dead. Then his handgun dropped to the ground. There was going to be no giving up. He was never going to surrender.

"Back up or you will all die. Who says I have the button or even if there is a button. Don't come any closer. Now Mara get us out of here." Miles shouted as he dragged himself behind the car.

Mara bent over the fallen officer. She had some first aid training, but there was little she could do for a shredded brain stem. All she could do was raise his head and support it with his arms and her winter jacket. The police officers on the roof jumped Miles. He had killed a second one of them and they proceeded to beat him mercilessly with their tonfas and riflebutts. One of them smashed the windshield to extract and arrest Chester.

After securing the officer and stopping the bleeding, Mara picked up the Jaws of Life and began to bite into the trunk. She had to assume the bomb was timed, although she was fairly certain there was none; it was unlikely he had planned for this eventuality, having hoped to easily spirit Nadia out of the country. It was more likely a desperate ploy to hold off arrest.

Miles kicked one of them away from him, and started to run. While Chester crashed through the windshield and ran off too. Both men ran in opposite directions, but knew exactly what to do.

Saving Nadia was more important than going after Miles. Mara cut Nadia out of the trunk and passed her now unconscious friend to a medic, who gave her to General Kaselev.

Mara, Nadia, and Kaselev then returned to Fort Ezra, where Nadia would receive treatment for her wounds. Andrea had regained consciousness, but was very tired. Taking advantage of her emotional state, the intelligence officer set to interrogate her was instead stroking her breasts.

Lieutenant General Kirochi Minoki, the base commander, issued orders that should Miles approach the base he was to be shot on sight and his body sent back to Canadstein. He also ordered that any Canadsteiner who came to his base was to be tortured for information, branded with a letter C on his forehead, and deported. Times were changing in Kahanistan, and respect for human rights was no longer a driving force; thousands of Doomani and allied soldiers had been crucified by their Kahanistanian captors in the recent war.

The National Police posted a ten million shekel reward for information leading to the arrest of Miles Mason or Chester Kent. Both men were charged with kidnapping, rape, and murder of a police officer on duty. (The rape charge was filed merely to inflame popular opinion, and was not expected to stick in court. Nobody would sympathise with two Canadsteiners accused of raping a national hero and her brain-damaged friend.)

Fleet Admiral Raghad Nazmareh, now the acting Defence Minister, waited at the base. An older ethnic Iranian woman nearly 60 years old, with a more moderate perspective on Catholics than her recent predecessors and a preference for talk over combat, she was waiting for Nadia and Andrea to become ambulatory again; she had something to give them. She also had something for Kaselev, too, but he would receive it when the women did.

---

The next day

Andrea and Nadia were able to walk, though it would be painful for Nadia without large doses of painkillers and a heavy cast on her left leg, where the bullet had struck bone. The two women were in full dress uniform, as were General Kaselev and Defence Minister Nazmareh. A small crowd was gathered, maybe 100 or so people, mostly base personnel but a few friends and family members; Katriana was in the front row, her eyes filled with tears. She was holding a large grey house cat in her arms.

Admiral Nazmareh spoke. "First, I want to thank all of you who have come," she said. "This is a great day for Kahanistan, and for the officers we honour today. We honour the officers here for outstanding courageous acts and true heroism. First, I will honour Brigadier General Igor Vladimirovich Kaselev. General Kaselev assembled the Military Intelligence, took great personal risk using his urban combat skills mastered while resisting the Doomani, and employed his skills to rescue two kidnapped officers and avoid civilian casualties. For this, I extend to him a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General, and award him the Silver Star. I will also recommend before the Senate that he be awarded the Hero of the Republic."

The general stepped forward, not showing any emotion even as the crowd cheered and heckled at him, even when he was upped from one to three stars. (Kahanistan had a shortage of generals after the last war.) Nazmareh pinned the silver star on his chest and the rank stars on his shoulders, and he shook the Admiral's hand, and walked back without saying a word.

"For unwavering courage off and on duty, for helping to prevent the dangerous fanatic General Iosif Malakov from taking power and initiating repression of Catholics, for exposing Canadsteiner espionage and sabotage efforts, and for never buckling under extreme pressure, I honour Brigadier General Nadezhda Lionelovna Sklenova with promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General, and present her with the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross."

Nadia's eyes filled with tears as she struggled to walk up, allowing Mara to assist her. Nazmareh repeated the procedure with her, giving her the medals and rank stars, and shaking her hand. Nadia spoke to the crowd; she was not the grim, unemotional figure Kaselev was.

"It is a great honour for me to accept these promotions," said Nadia, crying. "I want to... commend the brave soldiers and officers who risked so much, and express my sympathies to the families of the two police officers who died trying to save me. I want to thank my mother, who's here right now, for encouraging me..." She could not finish; the crying was getting too heavy. Mara escorted her down and she sat next to Katriana, who cradled her only child in her arms and held her.

The Defence Minister continued. "Since she is already here, I would like to honour Lieutenant Colonel Mara Kaitlin Fulton. At risk to her own life, and outside of her job description, she saved the life of her comrade by offering to accompany a foreign terrorist back to his terrorist base, and stopped to render aid to a fallen police officer. I extend to her a promotion to the rank of full Colonel, and the Distinguished Service Cross."

Mara walked up back to the Admiral and received her awards. She spoke before the crowd as Nadia had, sans crying.

"I'm relieved that this situation is over," she said. "Not long ago, I was involved in a shootout with Transylvanian soldiers who were going to turn me and people I was guarding over to the Doomani. That was the most frightening experience I'd ever had, until I had to face down these gunmen and save the life of a comrade in arms and a close friend. I was certain I would fail, that Nadia would die, that I would die. But I also knew failure wasn't an option. My friends' lives were on the line, and if there's one thing that's survived the changes in our military, we never leave our buddies behind."

The crowd burst into raucous laughter at the double entendre; gays served openly in the Kahanistanian military since there was a Kahanistanian military.

"Finally, last but not least, I want to honour Lieutenant Colonel Andrea Suzanne Rhodes. She was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and held hostage by Canadsteiner terrorists, and despite her handicap, resisted valiantly and was wounded in her escape from the terrorists. For this I award her the Purple Heart."

The crowd cheered less enthusiastically as Andrea received her award. She had little to say and her verbal skills hadn't recovered yet, so she walked off. After the promotions and honours, Mara, Andrea, and the generals boarded a plane to leave Africa and go to the new homeland the Allaneans had helped them locate to - a massive political undertaking was unfolding there, and Africa was no longer safe.

Of course they had no substantial prove that either man were Canadsteiners. Both men never existed in any database in the Canadstein Archives. Maybe Chester Kent and Miles Mason were covers for both of the men. It didn't really matter at all. When both men fled from the scene, they both ran into the forest. Back in Canadstein they were trained in the art of Escape and Evasion. They were both successfully at making it to the coast, and slipping onto a boat out of the country.

Within twenty four hours both men were back at "Moltke" explaining what happened to Director Isaac Hull. He seemed to understand, but the mission had been successfully completed, though he was sad that his little test subjects would never be seen in person. But that didn't matter. Slipped in with the sedatives was a new virus that had been created in the some lab.

Nadia and Andrea were the first test subjects, and in the next couple of weeks they were going to start to fell the full side effects. They were very similar to symptoms of the flu, but more deadly. Things would turn for the worse on the last week, their vital organs would just start working. Now it was a matter of time before Andrea and Nadia would die, and a Canadsteiner agent had already been posted a few months back to watch their "test subjects".

[OOC: I was fairly clear about not killing anyone off, had my own plans, so expect some metagaming / godmoding here.]

New Masada, Provisional Capital of the Free Republic of Kahanistan

With the relocation of most of the Kahanistanian people still in Africa, what infrastructure could be moved was taken as well, including infirmary equipment. They could never be sure what had happened.

As such, once they arrived at their new homeland in the Atlantic, Nadia and Andrea were administered blood tests - the doctors wanted to look for traces of the sedatives in their system to analyse them and gain more evidence of where the attackers had come from. Great was their horror to learn that a mutated flu virus was in their systems, but had not activated yet.

Biological warfare had been a topic of study for possible deployment against the Doomani. A flu virus was not going to be a problem for a team of military doctors whose expertise dealt with far more vicious weapons. As such, a cocktail of high-tech antiviral drugs was administered to both women, as well as stem cell treatment in case any unseen organ damage had taken place.

President Khalid bin Abdullah al-Omari knew that in the next election, General Sklenova, more powerful now politically with her promotion to three-star rank, might very well run against him in the elections next month if she survived, which he expected. He did not believe in killing his political opponents, but decided to forestall a political disaster for his own party.

Official Statement of the Free Republic of Kahanistan

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

The Government of Kahanistan strongly condemns the attempt by agents of the Government of Canadstein to abduct and murder two of our military officers, and the support by Canadstein for terrorist and anti-government activities aimed at the destabilisation of the Republic.

We will therefore take the unprecedented step of deporting all known and suspected citizens of Canadstein back to their homeland, and warn that any more entering will be denied entry and put on a terrorist watch list. It goes without saying that the Canadstein Embassy is expelled from our soil.

Furthermore, any further terrorism by agents of Canadstein will be met with the use of strategic weapons.

Signed,
President Khalid bin Abdullah al-Omari

OOC: There is no prove that either men are from Canadstein. It could have just been a cover, and second I wasn't going to kill them but expand on it.

Official Statement of the Canadstein Government

In no way has the Canadstein government committed these acts. These accusations are false and slander our fine government. Your so called accusations have no proof behind them. These "terrorists" could have been from anywhere. But you have decided for them to be Canadsteiner.

For the past 130 years we have been a neutral country. We have stuck firmly to this doctrine. Why would we want to break this tradition, which has made us one of the most stable and safe countries in the world?

We demand that you apologize to our government and repeal of the said statement. That means our embassy stays within your country and our citizens are not barred from your country.

The Canadstein does not want war, but to live in peace with the world, which it has done for 130 years. But Kahanistan has shown its true colors for even threaten a neutral country.

Signed,
Foreign Minister Tristan Rainerio

Official Government Response

You will find attached photographs that we have identified as Canadsteiner terrorist and assassin Miles Mason, and Second Lieutenant Chester Kent. They come from the security video at Fort Ezra. They left the base with two female military officers, identified as Lieutenant Colonel Andrea Rhodes and Brigadier General (now Lieutenant General) Nadia Sklenova.

We also have voluminous videotaped and audiotaped evidence of a standoff during which two female hostages identified as the same officers who disappeared early were held by two masked gunmen, one of whom was identified as "Miles." During the standoff, two police officers were killed and both of the hostages wounded. The selection of military officers as hostages clearly indicates terroristic intent.

Until your government puts these men and any other Canadsteiners suspected of terrorist or anti-government actions, especially administering biological weapons to citizens of Kahanistan, on trial, I cannot see the government allowing your embassy to return.

Rest assured that war will not follow unless another terrorist act is committed by your government; the Foreign Ministry has seen fit to take only the measures of denying entry to Canadsteiners and expelling the embassy.

Signed,
Lieutenant General Igor Kaselev,
Kahanistan Military Intelligence

Official Statement of the Canadstein Government

So this men claimed to be Canadsteiners? But no record exists of either of a Lieutenant Chester Kent or Miles Mason. Until you give real prove, until he said she said, we cannot believe. These two "Canadsteiners" could have been Doomani trying to make a fight occur between our two countries. In our modern age it is simple to make a false identity of another nationality. So we request that you stop this insane witch hunt upon Canadstein. On the other hand we will try our best to find these two terrorist and hand them over to Kahanistani authorities.

But we request that you leave our embassy alone and citizens. Also that you stop referring to these terrorists as Canadsteiners. No Canadsteiners have had a hand in a plot to kidnap General Skelnova, and we believe that it is an outright lie. There is no evidence at all that the men were Canadsteiners. We think it is best to think before you speak, especially a government in transition for the third time.

Signed,
Foreign Minister Tristan Rainerio

[OOC: Ah, to have no more exams till the end of the term.]

IC:

After the identification of the flu virus in the women's blood, the police and Health Ministry personnel rounded up anyone who had had contact with them and tested their blood. Katriana had had a flu shot, like any elderly person with the means would. So had Admiral Nazmareh. They both tested negative. Mara and General Kaselev had not had flu shots, being much younger, but their tests had come up negative as well. They were given antiviral cocktails and treatments as a precaution; one could never be too careful.

Miles, on the other hand, had been sprayed with Nadia's blood during the hostage standoff. Kahanistanian Military Intelligence believed him and Chester to be dead or dying in Africa. It was considered unlikely upon analysis that the virus had come from Canadstein; it was a neutral nation and had no need of a biological weapon, so the assumption was made that Canadstein had little or nothing to do with the virus, except that it may have been brought to Africa by the agents - on the other hand, this was Africa; a lot of tropical bugs run around unchecked.

On the other hand, an assassination weapon might be useful to a covert agent. This avenue had to be explored as well, and General Kaselev had been asked for "proof" that the terrorists were from Canadstein.

---

Nadia and Andrea were in plastic bubbles. Andrea, having already been given stem cell treatment as part of an effort to regrow damaged brain tissue from a lobotomy, seemed to be in good condition; the virus levels in her blood were very low and soon to be wiped out. Nadia, on the other hand, while she was being kept alive long enough for her body to build a resistance, was barely conscious most of the time, on life support and being fed more and more aggressive anti-viral and immune-boosting treatments. The doctors treating her saw fit to keep her in a drug-induced coma for a couple of weeks to save her energy.

Mara was in Nadia's bubble in a space suit. She was holding her friend's hand and crying softly. She hoped Miles was dying slowly and painfully from the disease.

She reflected on her offer during the hostage situation. She would have been willing to protect her friend, and like Kaselev, she had expected Miles to refuse her. She would have... ended up going, watching her friend die, and... likely been killed by the Canadsteiners to silence her.

Kaselev entered in a space suit. "Colonel Fulton."

"Yes...?" said Mara.

"I'm assembling special forces to go to Canadstein to see what we can find, as far as proof of their involvement in this situation," said Kaselev. "Mr. Mason, I can understand there not being any information on him in the database. I doubt that is his real name. But as for Mr. Kent, both victims identified him as an officer in the Canadsteiner military."

Mara saw where this was going. Even if Kent were in Military Intelligence, the Canadsteiners would have as much paper on him as the Kahanistanians had on General Kaselev. They were therefore lying through their teeth about having no record of him.

"I take it you want me to go," she said. "I'd love to do that, to help Nadia."

"I appreciate your courage," Kaselev replied. "But the Canadsteiners likely have your face on file. Besides, you are too emotionally involved in this affair. Miss Sklenova needs you with her. She will recover better with people who care about her. I have already assembled a team to infiltrate Canadstein. If you like, I can introduce you to them after we exit and decontaminate."

"OK," said Mara. "I'll decon and meet you in your office."

Kaselev nodded and led Mara to the decontamination chamber.

---

"Colonel Mara Fulton," said Kaselev when she entered his office, "this is the special forces team I wanted you to meet." He introduced five individuals to her.

"This is Captain Trent Roman." He introduced a sullen young man of about Mara's age, about the same height as her and very thickly built. (She was 5'6".) He had short brown hair and blue eyes. He looked at Mara and nodded before staring straight ahead. "He is the commander of the operation," said Kaselev before introducing the next member.

"Master Sergeant Tyrone Gordon." Kaselev gestured to a huge black man, roughly his own size (6'3", 200 pounds) with a positively vicious expression apparently permanently engraved on his face. He smiled briefly as his eyes ran over Mara's body, then went back to his hostile appearance. Unlike Kaselev, who generally showed little emotion, Gordon looked like he wanted to kill or rape anyone who got in his path. "The weapons specialist."

Mara was starting to feel a little intimidated until Kaselev introduced the third member of the special forces, a young woman. "This is Corporal Molly Hargan. She's the linguist." Molly was pretty, about 20, with light brown hair, gray eyes, an athletic frame and a nice smile. The two women exchanged smiles and looked into each other's eyes, carrying positive impressions from each other.

The next member was a slight, nervous-looking young man, about 20. Mara noticed he was nervous only when looking at her. "Corporal Jason Horst," Kaselev introduced. "Infiltrator, veteran of the Doomani insurgency. I have every confidence he can infiltrate any Canadsteiner building if our satellites can detect it and it is in a remote location."

The fifth was a tall, robust, muscular woman with a butch haircut, a stereotypical lesbian. "Corporal Susan Canton," said Kaselev. Canton was about 6'1", and probably about 190 pounds. She was around 35, which suggested she had joined the military later in her life - probably motivated by the Freekish or Pwnage wars. She had blonde hair, tanned skin, and was freakishly muscular. Her eyes ran over Mara's body as if she wanted to eat her.

"The mechanic. She also has experience as a military journalist," said Kaselev. "She has much experience driving various military vehicles."

After Mara shook hands with each of them, the five special operatives discussed their operation...

In fact a record of Lieutenant Chester Kent did exist, but hadn't been opened in over a year. The description of the man was similar to the Kahanistani description of one of the men. Though it described of a man who was a rising star at the Royal Military Academy, but had died in a car accident two weeks before his graduation. Lieutenant Kent been proclaimed dead over a year ago and many of his classmates and his family thought he was too.

In secrecy the whole thing was a cover. Lieutenant Kent was a candidate for the Canadstein Intelligence Agency. He had passed the test, the Kahanistani mission, and had been accepted to join the ranks of the mysterious group. Once the mission was accomplished Chester was whisked away to a secret training camp.

---

Miles awoke up in sweaty state. His forehead glistened with sweat as he wiped it away. Since the complement of the Kahanistani mission he had recurring nightmares. It was the same thing over and over. Miles could see Nadia crying in the distance. Then he would try to run over and help her, but she was soon cut down by machine gun fire. This had never happened before, when he came home from other missions. He knew why. The last mission was more personal. Miles had known the people. Before he merciless killed and thought nothing of it. He didn't know the people, but this time he had.

Grabbing his watch, Miles got up and put on a t-shirt and some pants. Getting up he looked outside his window. He had leave for the last two weeks, and had decided to spend it in the capital, Ottawa. Miles needed to get back in touch with his countries' culture. But now it was time to go back to "Moltke", and back to work.

Aboard C-130 transport

Airlines in Kahanistan, such as they existed after the upheaval of their nation, no longer flew to Canadstein unless they were deporting nationals in flagrant breach of the Constitution. As such, the team had to be inserted by C-130 transport, and as they were taking the long way to Canadstein (which wasn't near Kahanistan even by the short way) to avoid suspicion of their nationality, and skimping on the usual safety protocols, such as insertion via civilian aircraft or stealth bomber, they had to use extra fuel tanks. On top of that, the C-130 wasn't exactly stealthy, so it had had to be towed to high altitude by a rocket to allow it to fly at higher than its rated service ceiling, hopefully out of range of most fighter aircraft.

Captain Roman was piloting while Horst sat in the copilot's seat. "Captain, where exactly is this black site we're going to?"

"Don't know," said Roman. "I figure only the President knows where it is... the President of Canadstein, that is. Maybe the King, but from what I hear it's a constitutional monarchy, the king may have little or no real power." The captain took a swig of beer. (Special forces operatives had a tendency of not following the rules, even to the point of piloting an aircraft and drinking alcohol.)

"So how're we going to get there?" asked Horst. He never touched alcohol on a mission, even when he wasn't flying, and even though what he drank now would be out of his system long before he got to Canadstein.

"Kaselev pointed out a couple of sites with a few buildings way out in remote areas," said Roman. "One of them's got to have what we're looking for."

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Hargan. "I get that we're looking for evidence on this Mason fellow, and on this Kent guy, to prove that they're Canadsteiners, and to look at evidence of other assassinations and acts of terrorism they've performed..."

"Basically, that's it," said Roman. "Evidence of sponsorship of terrorist activity and production of biological weapons. Mostly, though, evidence of terrorism. The bioweapon is a specific."

"What if the site we infiltrate is the wrong site?" asked Canton. "Kaselev said there were six sites that showed up on his satellite intel as possible black sites."

"Then we have evidence of something else," said Gordon. "Evidence of extraordinary rendition programmes, secret detention centres, current and past government destabilisation operations..."

"My god," said Hargan. "Exactly what would have happened if Malakov had become President. Hell, al-Omari's shitting on the Constitution to score political points with groups that would support General Sklenova if she recovers and runs. I don't think the Constitution allows him to just up and expel people of a nation..."

"It doesn't," said Canton. "He wants to corner the leftist vote, to draw voters from the Communist Party, but this will only hurt him. Sklenova will recover, she's a strong girl and she's being treated pretty well. She's got the political weight to stand up to al-Omari, especially now that she's a Lieutenant General."

A chime sounded. They were about six hundred kilometres from a site marked on their maps as "Suspicious Site Alpha." This was the first area they would search. The plane went into descent mode, but at its altitude and slow rate of descent, it would still be above most 1990's-era radars' range at reaching the Canadsteiner border...

By late afternoon Miles had arrived at "Moltke", where he was lead to his room. It was the beginning of yet another mission. Of course it Miles knew that he could be here for an undetermined amount of time. Lazily he drop his belongings on the floor, then dropped into his cot.

The plane approached a point some fifty kilometres from Suspicious Site Alpha; the Kahanistanians, despite Doomani propaganda, were not incompetent and would not land right in the black site. They jumped out of the plane in parachutes, letting the plane fly over to either crash or be shot down as it passed over the suspicious place.

Fifty kilometres from the site, they had no clue what would become of their plane, and they didn't care. They just wanted their enemy to look in another area for them while they slipped into the base. After landing, the three men and two women walked toward the base under cover of night; about ten kilometres from the base they stopped to discuss the infiltration.

"Corporal Canton," said Captain Roman. "You're the infiltrator. You go in alone, unarmed." All Kahanistanian Special Combat Service personnel were black belts in Krav Maga. "You will use your military journalist training to pose as a news reporter from a news outlet, not Canadsteiner - they can check - and not Kahanistanian - it would arouse too much suspicion."

"Can you think of any nations that are friendly to Canadstein?" asked Canton.

"Not really, given their avowed neutrality," said Roman. "Best bet is an international journalist cover, probably some free-press group. It's unlikely that they'd answer any inquiries about real journalists."

"Colonel Rhodes said that her cover in Whyatica was as a journalist," said Hargan. "We all know where that got her."

"It was the weapons that did her and her team in," said Roman. "Susan will go in unarmed, with just a camera and her black belt. Just approach the gate openly, dressed as you are in civilian clothes, and leave your weapon here."

After a further ten kilometres, Corporal Susan Canton strode up to the gate of Suspicious Site Alpha. She was dressed in clothes more reminiscent of a safari hunter than a journalist, which was not unusual given many of the places investigative journalists went to.

Whether they would let her in or not was up to them.

A young private caught sight of a lady approaching, or so he thought she looked like one, then quickly went into guardhouse. He called up for his NCO to check things out. The NCOs were to deal with people snooping around. Within minutes a jeep came to the gate, then suddenly stopped. A young corporal got out and walked up to the private. The private pointed in the direction of the woman. Both men walked to gate and looked at the woman. Something did not seem right. Her clothes seemed be very out of place. Plus why was this women in the middle of nowhere? No one except a select few were to know about this place.

"Be careful." The corporal whispered. Then he cleared his throat. "Miss what exactly are you doing here? This is a government facility and no civilians are allowed."

Canton gave her journalistic alias and information. "My name is Kate Manson," she said. "I'm an investigative journalist for Free Speech International." She picked up the video camera around her back.

"What can you tell me about the activities of the government here?"

"I can tell you that you are not suppose to be here. This is a restrict site, so no civilians are allowed around here." The corporal cautiously said. "The odd thing is that this place isn't on any maps. So I am wondering how you knew about this place?"

There was something definitely odd. If something happened, withing seconds the base would be on full alert. The security around here was the polar opposite of the Kahanistani security. You couldn't just waltz into a base. Everything was strictly by the book. Though the corporal could tell that this women was not a Canadsteiner. She had some kind of accent, but he didn't know where from.

The woman smiled. "I get that a lot." Her hands glided over her large, muscular thighs. "To answer your question, there are a few officers who are into female domination."

This journalist certainly looked capable of dominating someone. She was over six feet tall, with short brown hair in a butch cut and thick muscles born of hardcore bodybuilding.

"Can you just leave and pretend that you never saw this place? It would be the best for the three of us." The young corporal stated. Around his shoulder was the sling of his G36. If anything happened, then within seconds he could get to his weapon. There was going to be no messing around.

"I heard I can get a really big scoop here," said the woman. "Forced disappearances, people being held in secret detention centres without charges, covert executions... torture... the works. You don't mind letting me have a look around, do you? This is really too much of an opportunity for me to pass up."

"Sorry lady, but I think your lead is pretty much dead. I haven't seen or heard of any of that kind of stuff around here. Plus we are not allowed to let any civilians into the base. So you better leave or we will have place you under arrest." The young corporal responded with a firm tone. Of course most of the military personnel at Moltke had no idea what happened her, but frankly didn't care. They just kept their heads down and followed orders.

Canton thought for a second. If she didn't return to her comrades within six hours, they were going to look for her, and this place would be the first place they would look. On the other hand, if they entered, her cover would be blown.

If she returned to her comrades, they would have to come up with another approach to getting someone inside. She figured she'd have a better chance sneaking in at night.

"Very well. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." She handed the corporal a business card with her alias on it and an email address provided by Kahanistanian Military Intelligence. "We hope you would appreciate the ratings boost we would gain if we could come to an arrangement."

"I have stated this over and over again. No civilians are allowed onto the base. Now please leave." The corporal stated once again. His patience was starting ot thin.

Canton simply left her card with the corporal and went to the nearest road, heading for her comrades. They needed to know where she was so they didn't go into the base looking for her and get themselves killed.

Once the lady was gone the corporal threw the card into a nearby trash can. Something was very wrong about this. Most Canadsteiners followed orders without questioning it, and would have left immediately. This just affirmed that she was a foreigner. Before the corporal left, he told the private to be on alert. Things started to quiet down on the base as it started to grow deeper into the night.

It was a ten-kilometre walk back to the hidden camp where Canton and her comrades were staying. Needless to say, it was quite dark and she was very tired when she returned.

"Well, I didn't expect that they would let you through the front door," said Hargan. "But that took guts."

"Their security forces are probably pissing in their pants," said Canton. "Gave them my journalist alias and they asked how I knew about the base."

"What did you tell them?" asked Roman. "Certainly not that you saw it on a military satellite."

"No. Just said that some of their officers are into BDSM. Don't know if they believed me or not, but I see no reason they wouldn't. I certainly think I look the part."

"Well, Susan..." said Gordon, "what do you say to sneaking in tomorrow night? At worst, they'll just think you're a journalist and detain you, and whenever you get out, you can always tell us what we need to know. I trust you're stronger than a pair of handcuffs, at least strong enough to push them off with those muscly legs you've got." He pinched her in the ass and she responded with a punch to the face.

"I'm a lesbian," she said. "Nice try, though, and thanks for the compliment. Anyway, I'll try that." She stripped off her clothes and washed down with wipes. Modesty is a luxury special forces operatives cannot afford, and the culture of Kahanistan was generally tolerant of nudity.

"Can't go back there smelling like the woods," said Canton. "Got to sneak in there tomorrow night." She dragged her camo sleeping bag to a thicket and crashed, dead tired and empty-handed.

Throughout the night and the next morning things were quiet at "Moltke". There was no big missions happening and no captives at the current time. Once the sun rose the base had some activity, but it seemed only a personnel of fifty worked on the base.

Camp, 1100 hours

The team woke up and began shaving, washing, and eating MRE's for breakfast, and discussing the previous day.

"I'm pretty sure the Canadsteiners are still trying to root out which military officers gave me the base location," said Canton. "I'd hate to be an officer who was into being roughed up by large women."

"Hope nothing happens to some innocent person," said Hargan. She was brushing her hair; this was her first overseas special operation and she was not used to flies and ticks getting in her hair.

"Me too," said Canton. "I'll try and free the prisoners, if there are any... if not, I'll make off with some documents and hand them over to the media. I am a journalist, after all."

The team except for Captain Roman laughed. Corporal Horst nodded. "I hope we can find something important in there...

"We all do," said Captain Roman. "I think you might be able to slip in the base again easily enough, now that you know what it looks like from the outside... better than we do, anyway. Might sketch it out for us, just in case, though."

Canton sketched out the exterior parts of the base she'd seen. "This is the front gate, and here are some tower looking things, they look like guard towers or something from the outside."

Horst looked at her. "I hope General Sklenova's OK."

"We all do," said Master Sergeant Gordon. "Even I do... I don't like her policies... she'll ruin this country worse than Malakov. But she doesn't deserve this."

Horst shook his head. "I have tremendous admiration for Miss Sklenova. She helped the poor people of Kraven when they needed her. If it weren't for her, Father would rule Kraven and many other countries."

"The woman is a sworn Communist. Mark my words, if Nadia Sklenova becomes President... she'll do everything in her power to alienate Praetonian corporations, drive out the Vetalians, piss the Allaneans off... she's going to ruin our economy far worse than the Doomani."

"The Communists know that their economy can't survive without foreign investment. Sklenova doesn't like the Praetonians, and I don't blame her. They just want to exploit us, like any other corporatist."

While Horst and Gordon discussed Nadia's political views, Hargan and Canton were discussing the base. "This isn't like a Kahanistanian base, where you can just stroll in unannounced without an ID check, relying on video cameras and the fact that all the classified stuff is in big underground vaults and bunkers. This is a mini-fortress, we can't force our way in, but we can sneak in," said Hargan, looking at the sketch.

"Yup. Not too many people I could see... prisoners would be inside the buildings or underground," replied Canton. "The whole base is classified, so the juicy stuff probably isn't too far from the surface, but there's probably more interesting stuff out there, too."

---

2000 hours

Canton prepared to leave for the base, having just taken a pep pill and changed into her "safari" clothes. Her journalistic gear was stashed in her backpack, and she still carried no weapon other than her black belt in Krav Maga. She shaved so that it would not be apparent that she had been crashing in the woods, put on body spray to mask her smell, and her clothes had aired out a night while she was in her sleeping bag.

---

Moltke, 2300 hours

Corporal Susan Canton once again appeared near the base, still in her guise as Free Speech International investigative journalist Kate Manson. She was carrying her video camera, satellite phone with video capabilities, microphone, in short, anything one might expect to see on a journalist. No weapons, though... those had gotten Andrea lobotomised and her team killed when the Whyaticans refused to believe that they were journalists documenting human rights abuses in occupied Clandonia.

Her gear was stowed in her backpack, and she was still dressed like some sort of safari hunter or traveller. Creeping up to a relatively isolated part of the fence, she stroked it with the back of her hand. If it were electrified, it would give her a shock; if it were electrical and she grabbed it, it would contract her muscles and effectively force her to hold onto it until the electricity killed her.

If all went well, she would climb the fence, gear and all, and maintain her claim to be a journalist if she were captured. This time, her team had 48 hours before they would begin looking for her; she said she would be out longer.

Somewhere an alarm went off in the security room, a private saw that it was coming one of sector five's fences. It was probably a squirrel, since this was a heavily wooded area, but this private followed everything by the book. He told his CO about the situation, and then the message was soon transmitted to one of private posted nearby. Within minutes the private got to the fence and except just to find a stupid squirrel, but found a woman. He raised his G36 at the women.

"Miss get down from there. This is a restricted area, you are under arrest for trespassing into restricted government property." The private said as he kept his G36 steady.

While holding his gun he called in for back up, mainly the squad of Military Police. Something was definitely up. This morning during breakfast he had heard a story of some women coming to the base the next before. The story was extremely suspicious since they never got any wanderings up here.

Canton was not equipped for a shootout. She let go of the fence and dropped to the ground, waiting for the soldier to approach her. If he arrested her, she would of course get to see the inside of the base...

[edit: Post #4444!]

The private had made Susan put her hands behind her head, while waiting for the MPs to come. Five minutes later a jeep came up with sergeant aboard. Quickly he left the vehicle with his G36. He came up to the private and talked privately with him. After talking with him for a while, the sergeant dismissed the private back to his position. Once the private had left the sergeant turned his attention to the woman.

"Get up...so what is your name Miss and what exactly are you doing here?" The sergeant asked.

The infiltrator sighed and stepped up to her feet. "My name is Kate Manson. I'm an investigative journalist for Free Speech International," she said lazily.

"I'm documenting evidence of covert torture facilities, executions, detentions, assassinations..."

"That honestly sounds like a load of crap to me. No one is suppose to know about this place. But somehow you magically found out. Plus of all people a foreigner." The Sgt. said without emotion. "But lady your government isn't going to help you out here. You are going to be rotting in some cell for a while."

The Sgt. went up to her and put on a pair of handcuffs. He loaded her into his jeep, then brought her to the base's jail. It wasn't much a jail, but just a holding pen. The base didn't have a real jail, above ground, because they never thought they would find a person trespassing. The Sgt. threw Susan into the cell. Once he closed the door it was pitch black.

Early the next morning Susan would be rudely awaken with a splash of cold water. Then she would be forcefully dragged into an interrogation room. The room was bare except for a chair, table, and a light hanging above the table. Susan was put into the chair and strapped down. A man walked in as the other men left. He was obviously the interrogator.

"So you are Miss Kate Manson? The odd thing is that we have no knowledge of anybody by that name in the Free Speech International. So who really are you? A foreign national trying to infiltrate our base?" The man asked.

"Nothing magical about it," said the woman. "I just found a few of your officers who like BDSM and convinced them to tell me about this place and all the tortures and other crimes that take place here."

"Investigative journalists rarely use their real names, to protect their families. We've had problems with family members being killed by people who don't like having dirt dug up on them. You try having your parents, or your children, or your spouses, cut up by terrorists or foreign agents."

"You lying bitch." The interrogator said before he slapped her right in the face. "Now tell the true or things will steady get worse. What is your real name, Miss?"

OOC: I will be gone through the rest of the weekend and Monday.

The woman smiled. She seemed to feel her suspicions vindicated by being slapped.

"So no tortures or abuses take place here..." she said sarcastically. "I'm sure the media would love to know everything that went on here." If they decided to torture her, whenever she managed to get out the media would know, whether she was a journalist or not.

"I am sure they would love to know, if you ever get out of here. The crimes you have already committed here will land you a twenty year sentence. So you would be lucky if you ever saw the light of day again." The interrogator stated. Then he gave a hand gesture and two men walked into the room. "Take her away."

But before the men could grasp her, the interrogator gave her a swift punch into the stomach.

"Here is a little present from me to you."

The two men suddenly grabbed her and then dragged her to a cell. They threw her in there. The cell was damp and smelled of mold. But most of all it was pitch black dark.

Of course, being a black belt in Krav Maga has its advantages... and one of them is that as soon as the restraints come off, all hell can break loose... after, of course, they manage to put them on.

Nadia was strong enough to deal with most attackers. This woman was about eight inches taller and 75 pounds heavier than her, and looked more like a stereotypical lesbian bodybuilder than an average woman. The infiltrator delivered a powerful right hook to the strongest of the Canadsteiners and ran for it.

Lucky one of the Canadsteiner quickly thought and tackled her to the ground. All this commotion alerted the other people within the facility. Within second other men were running down the hallway, especially a man with a high grade sedative. Hopefully this would knock her out for a while. The man stuck the needle straight into her skin as the other men held her down. Soon enough she was knocked out. The men grabbed her and put her into the cell. They strapped her down to the chair, which was bolted to the floor, and beat her without mercy. Within minutes she was throughly beaten.

The woman spat a broken tooth and blood clot out. She was strong enough to withstand the worst of the beating, but not even a powerlifter stood a chance of moving in one of those restraints.

What the Canadsteiners hoped to get from her remained a mystery; as far as they knew she was a quasi-legitimate journalist on such a sensitive matter that she feared for her family if her identity were discovered. It would be another 36 hours before her team would even look for her, fearing to blow her cover.

Forty-eight hours would pass before the door was opened again. The light would blind Susan for a few minutes. During that time a doctor came up here and injected her with another sedative, but this time a low grade one. Once she was knocked out the straps were loosen, and the doctor checked her. She seemed to be stable, but was pretty beaten up. When the doctor was done tending to the woman, two men entered the room and dragged her off.

When the woman started to wake up she would find herself in a bright room, in which she was strapped down to a chair. In front of her she would find a long metallic table and a new interrogator.

"Why are you here?" The man asked.

"Because I heard there was torture and covert executions and other violations of sentient rights taking place here," she said. "I want to document them and expose them."

---

Forest Camp

"We haven't heard from Corporal Canton, and it's been 12 hours since we were supposed to be looking for her," said Master Sergeant Gordon. "She should be back here with the secret documents, and President al-Omari should be condemning Canadstein on international television by now."

"Shit," said Captain Roman. "Let's go look for her. Gordon, you've got the machine gun, right? I'll take the sniper rifle. Horst, you sneak in while we create a distraction. Hargan, you distract the front gate guards while we're starting a ruckus."

They began to trek along the ten-kilometre course to find their comrade.

---

New Masada, Kahanistan

Katriana Naslieva was, quite literally, worried sick. Her only child had come home and been infected with a deadly disease, and she had had little word on her condition. She did very little these days, mainly sit in her rocking chair with a bag of the finest Kahanistanian pot and a huge box of Twinkies. Katriana was severely depressed and neglecting her health to the point that she rarely even got up and walked; her six cats climbed over her with minimal reaction from her.

A knock came at her door. "Come in," she said weakly. A pretty woman in military uniform entered. "Katriana?" she asked.

It took her a few seconds to realise it was Mara. She had seen her get the promotion to full Colonel, but it wasn't on the top of her mind right now. "Katriana, I have some news about Nadia."

The older woman looked at Mara blankly. She seemed to have been expecting the news for some time. "I see..." she said, her voice faint. "Did they catch him?"

"Miles is dead," said Mara. This wasn't true, of course, but she and General Kaselev both believed that Miles and Chester had died of their wounds. "Nadia's..."

Katriana clutched Mara's hand as she awaited the grim news Mara was bringing. "Nadia's managed to fight off the virus," said Mara. "They'll keep her under guard, in case someone decides to finish the job, but they should be bringing her out of the coma tomorrow."

This was not the news she had been expecting; she had expected to hear that Nadia was dead. "That's... wonderful news," said Katriana, crying. Mara lowered to her knees and hugged her. "You can see her tomorrow," she said. "She'll be a little groggy, and it'll take some time before the drugs fully wear off, but she'll be the same girl we know in three or four days."

"I'm... so tired, Mara." Katriana had been in a terrible depression for weeks. Now, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and her daughter was OK. "Do you...?" she asked, gesturing to the bag of high-grade pot at the floor next to Mara's legs.

"I don't smoke," said Mara. "But I'm not going to be on duty for a few hours, so I can chew. My father taught me a recipe to make cannabis brownies. Of course, he had to hide them from the inlaws... my mother's parents are Muslims. I could make some."

"Thank you, Mara. You've given me a reason to live." Katriana took one of her cats and stroked it gently while Mara took some of the pot to make into brownies.

"We know that you are working for some government, but we do not know which one. Your journalist cover has been blown. So just tell us the truth." The man asked.

Susan had heard about how interrogators worked - often feeding a suspect misinformation or outright lies to elicit confessions where torture failed or was not politically permissible.

"I don't work for a government. I work to expose the injustices and crimes being committed in secret. That which... thrives in darkness but shrinks from the light... does not belong on the vine. I might get information from leaks in governments, but I'm not a government official. Like I said, I seduced an officer in Military Intelligence to get the lead here."

"No real military officer within the Canadstein Army would betray his country to anyone. So you must have gotten outside help. That is why I personally think some foreign government helped you out. Now tell the truth." The man stated again.

"If you believe your own propaganda, then there is nothing I can do to convince you," said Susan coldly. "There are perverts and weaklings in every organisation. Even the Doomani have peaceniks."

The rest of her team pored over the crude sketch of the base, then plotted their attack. Corporal Hargan would first distract the guards at the front gate. She was dressed casually, in baggy clothes that concealed her body armour and .50 Desert Eagle. She went up to the front guard and smiled in an alluring manner, pushing her hair behind her so as to frame her face.

The guard looked up from the book he was reading. Yesterday one of the new guys had told him of their little visitor today. Now someone else had shown up.

"Miss what are you doing here?" The guard asked.

Quickly he scanned the area. Everything seemed a little too calm. Like a calm before the storm. He looked down to his G36 for a second. His hand slowly turned off the safety. Better safe, than never.

Molly looked unfazed. She looked at the gate guard, made eyes at him, and ran her hands around the outline of her neck. "You wouldn't know where a girl could find a gangbang around here, would you?"

It wasn't ideal, but if it took being gangbanged by a bunch of Canadsteiners to free her comrade and learn the truth about the evil facility, she would gladly take it for the team.

The guard looked up to the woman. He brushed off her hands. Something was definitely wrong here. Some mysterious women wouldn't just show up and ask some random guy to have sex with her. Plus no one was suppose to know about this place.

"Miss, who are you?" He asked as he kept his eyes on her.

"Just a hooker," she said. "Figure a military base's got to be crawling with horny, lonely young men... places a lady can grab a few hundred Canadian Marks a day for a few hours of laying in front of a bunch of guys."

Molly was in fact far from a hooker. She was merely distracting the guards for the grand entry.

"Miss, I can tell that you are not a hooker. Maybe you want some fun, but you are not going to find it here. Just forget about this place. It will make both of our lives much better. Please I really don't want to do anything." The guard stated as he got up and looked her straight in the eye.

He could tell that Molly was a nice girl and he didn't want to hurt her.

"We don't all dress like whores. That comes when we're alone with you..." She didn't have as much balls as Susan did to resist the urges to leave, and turned as if to walk away.

At the same time, machine gun fire came from the area west of the base. In the well-camouflaged positions along the forest edge, it might take some time to determine if it was one machine gunner or several, especially with Tyrone moving after every few bursts to fire again. He wasn't necessarily aiming to kill anything, just create a diversion.

On the other side of the base, hearing the gunfire, Corporal Jason Horst, the trained infiltrator, crept up to the fence knowing that the Master Sergeant's machine gun was distracting the guards.

The young guard grabbed Molly and threw himself on her. They both hit the ground. He didn't want this young girl getting hurt by some random fire. Once she was on the ground he quickly ran over to get his G36. Upon reaching his G36 he looked around. Off in the distance he could see the tracer rounds coming from the machine. Suddenly he heard the base's alarms go off.

Running back to the woman's position, the young guard grabbed her hand and lead her into the base. He needed to get her out of the line of fire, even if it meant taking her into a secure base. The man lead her into one of the building and shut the door behind him. Every so often he stole a glance out a window.

"Miss you are going to have to stay here until the situation outside stops." The young guard said. Then suddenly he extended his army toward Molly. "I might as well introduce myself. I am Private Taylor Hall of the Royal Canadstein Army. And who might you be?"

This sure enough was the same Taylor Hall who was the "cook" for the embassy guards back in Kahanistan.

---

Men started to rush out of their barracks with guns in hands, mostly an assortment of MG4s, G36s or SG 550s. They quickly got to their positions and scanned their respective areas. The men in the area of the machine gun, fired their guns back. A couple of grenades were thrown, but they couldn't get a clear position. Their target was hiding in the underbrush of the pines forest.

---

"Don't even compare us to those sick Doomani. Why would we even have such a place? Canadstein is strictly a neutral country. We have been so for the last 130 years. So just tell us why you are here. Not that journalist cover." The interrogator asked without a change in his voice.

Molly didn't even think. She was a basically friendly girl, a hairdresser in civilian life. She had apparently slept through the part about secrecy in special forces training, being a reservist who had only gone active during the latest Doomani invasion, though she had seen action against MassPwnage.

"Molly Hargan. I'm a Kahanistanian soldier," she said. Thinking quickly, she mentioned, "I'm on vacation. I can't... go home without getting laid." She looked pretty and innocent, but then again, most Kahanistanian women (and men) were sexually liberated; Nadia was often made fun of as a prude because she didn't spread her legs on the first date.

---

Captain Trent Roman, the infiltration commander, personally fired his sniper rifle on some of the soldiers who posed a serious threat to Master Sergeant Gordon. He, too, scooted after every shot. Sniper and machine gun fire were like mini-artillery; artillery that stayed in one place was inevitably destroyed, as his comrades who had fought the Doomani could testify.

Corporal Jason Horst, certain the guards were going for Tyrone rather than him, scaled the fence in his camo gear, spotted the nearest building, and ran for it. The supply people had given him a G36 instead of the Kahanistanian M-67, so at a glance he could appear to be a Canadsteiner corporal. (He was more comfortable in his own rank than posing as an officer, which could attract more attention than he cared for.) His primary goal was to make off with the secret documents and if possible free Susan, if she were there.

---

"Apparently, you're torturing me. You've had agents in Kahanistan from before the attack on General Malakov to the attempted assassination of Lieutenant General Sklenova. I never said I wasn't Kahanistanian. I really am a journalist."

"I knew that you were not a stripper. How could a women as beautiful as you be one?" Taylor asked as he rested against the wall. "So how did you find out about this place? I mean it is not on a map or known to the public."

He still gripped his G36. For all he knew Molly could be with the attackers. But of course he was just assuming. But he did know that Molly was a liar. She had lied about being a stripper. What kind of military would allow strippers to serve in it? Unless they were really desperate.

---

Meanwhile the soldiers were continuing to fire on the machine gunner's position. One of the men had finally caught sight of him and thought he had shot a round through the attacker's shoulder. Also they noticed that there was a sniper somewhere. Soon enough they found a general area and fired upon it.

---

A lieutenant stopped Jason dead in his tracks, once he entered the building. It looked to be the armory, but most of the guns were gone. The lieutenant looked like he had just retrieved his SG 550.

"Corporal what are you doing? You are suppose to report to your position." The lieutenant asked as he looked at Jason. Something was amiss.

---

"Ahh...so you are Kahanistani. That just makes everything clear. You are probably an agent that wants to find some evidence to blame that so called kidnapping of General Sklenova on us. Well you have just landed into a bee's nest. Your journalist cover has been blown, but now we need to find exactly what branch of the government you are working for. Maybe your intelligence agency or the military. We will find out soon enough." The interrogator said with a wide grin.

"Just heard a rumour and poked around," said Molly. "Looked on Google Earth and there was this military base - looking place in the sticks. I figured I'd get laid here. Maybe walk off with a few hundred marks to boot."

The Kahanistanian military didn't give a crap what soldiers did in their off-time; in fact, there was a recent scandal (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=523765) over a female officer who had posed while drunk in an obscene position, and later became a powerful Nationalist Senator when her secret was exposed and many in her party did not take kindly to it.

---

Jason nodded. "My position just got raked when some nutter, or nutters, shot most of the other guards there. I'd take cover if I were you, it looks like an invasion. Probably paratroopers. That Kaselev has something of a reputation with paratroopers." General Kaselev had once commanded an infiltration of paratroopers dressed as Kraven Capitol Police into the capital of Kraven, an act for which he had been awarded his third Distinguished Service Cross, the highest military honour that could be bestowed upon a soldier without going through the Senate as was required for a Hero of the Republic.

Jason continued to move toward the building.

"Why is a girl like you stooping down to such low levels? I mean couldn't you borrow the money from someone? Honestly I will give you the money for nothing, as long as you really need it. Miss Hargan, I know that shouldn't be telling people advice, but you need to settle down with a nice young man that will make you help. I can tell that you deserve better." Taylor said as he looked at her. He sighed for a minute and took off his helmet. "The only problem with your story is that Google earth doesn't show this facility. It shows a patch of forest. Now tell me the truth Miss Hargan. Are you with those men outside? The least you could do is tell me the truth."

Taylor pointed toward where the machine gun fire was going from.

---

The lieutenant grabbed Jason by the collar and brought him back. He was not going to stand for cowardice. Plus he knew that this corporal was just probably overreacting. If there was an invasion from above the radar would have picked it up, and the base would have been informed. Out in the forest must have been a couple of men. Calling a couple of men, the lieutenant got help to drag Jason back to the fighting. The men threw him into the trench line, while the lieutenant jumped into it.

"Corporal you better start firing or you will face the consequences." The lieutenant growled at Jason.

Molly shook her head. "The money is unimportant; I merely wanted to get fucked," she said. She couldn't rip this guy off and exploit his compassion.

"It seems I've been caught... We're here to prove the claims that General Kaselev made about your government. I would have simply asked permission to search the base... I think Kaselev would too, if he thought your government would give it. He seems cold but he's a nice man. Kaselev isn't out for Canadsteiner blood. He just wants the government to admit its responsibility for what happened to General Sklenova." The fact that the general had made no effort to pursue Miles and Chester in Canadstein was suggestive of the fact he believed them to be dead.

Jason crouched, sighted his rifle, and occasionally fired a burst. He wasn't going to be the one to kill his Kahanistanian comrades, and waited for the lieutenant's back to turn...

The lieutenant kept a close eye on the Corporal. He was going to make sure that he didn't "leave" again. Meanwhile the area mortars were directed toward the enemies location. The area was around to be blasted to hell. Nothing was going to survive. The shells exploded for what seemed like hours, but was only for ten minutes. Most of the trees had been ripped to shears.

The men got out of their trenches to look for any survivors. But the lieutenant asked the other officers if they could identify Jason. Of course none of them could. The lieutenant got a private and came up to Jason.

"Corporal I need you come with me." The lieutenant ordered.

---

Taylor looked at Molly and raised his G36 at her. So his suspicious was right. She was here to find information about "Moltke". He shook his head, then concentrated on the situation at hand. Right now Taylor was dealing with pretty much a spy.

"Miss Hagan, I am sorry but I am going to have to turn you in. I just want to ask one thing. Why did you tell me?" Taylor asked.

"I don't know," said Molly. "I... I knew you knew. You caught me in my cover. I don't want to see anyone hurt..." A tear ran down her eye. "I have a lot of respect for Miss Sklenova. We all do. She's a hero to our people, and for someone to try and kill her... we consider it an affront to our nation, our people."

"I'm not a professional soldier. I only recently activated, I'm a reservist. I served for two years and I'm still only a corporal. What will they want to do to me?" She placed her arms around Taylor and started crying.

Roman and Gordon knew that the shit was hitting the fan when the enemy started to deploy mortars. They ran for it as deep into the woods as they could, Gordon abandoning his machine gun and fleeing with only his M-67 and a few clips of ammo. They had to find some way to get ahold of Kaselev; Jason had the team's radio, and Lord only knew what had happened to it in the confusion surrounding the firefight.

Jason shook his head nervously. He knew that he couldn't let these people get their hands on him and leveled his weapon.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Taylor thought for a brief second when Molly said Nadia's name. He remembered his experience with her, and when she was their captive back at the embassy. Now Taylor could tell that Molly was actually telling the truth. Nadia was certainly a person the common man would look up to. In a way Taylor felt sorry. What kind of army would send a reservist Corporal into such a dangerous mission? Was the high command in Kahanistan daft?

"I don't know Molly, but I am going to make sure that nothing happens to you." Taylor said as he held her. Though it was odd because all of this was definitely out of his comfort zone.

---

The Canadsteiner infantryman fanned out and soon enough found the machine and a clip of ammo for the M67. Though they could not find any of the attackers. They had probably dispersed back into the forest. The men had learned something very important, that there was only two gunmen. The officers had made the decision not to go into the forest. The Kahanistani would be back.

---

When Jason leveled his gun at the lieutenant, that just affirmed that he was not a Canadsteiner. He was part of the attacker's group. Both the lieutenant and private aimed their weapons at Jason.

"Corporal put drop your weapon now. This is a direct order." The lieutenant shouted toward Jason.

This shouting had alerted the other men still at the base. If Jason started to fire his weapon, then he would have at least fifty rounds in him within seconds.