Agrandov
06-11-2007, 22:58
MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN AGRANDOV!
All borders closed as liberty evacuates.
Report by Michael Green.
Despite last years pleas to the government for more funding and manpower, the Agrandan Army had no problems today in seizing Alkra City by several key points in a systematic takeover of the capital. The police force is currently being integrated into the military, and President N. Ruthorn is expected to make a statement later today.
Despite initial fears, it seems that the current crackdown has been orchestrated by the President himself and not a rogue general. The President has immediately dissolved the Agrandan Parliament, which by constitution must be reformed within 60 days, but there is no such limit on the extent of martial law itself.
Under these new powers, the military will take on all policing actions and all court cases will be settled by Special Tribunal or suspended indefinitely. There is no longer a limit on how long lawbreakers may be detained, although all such suspects will be political prisoners (and therefore applicable to amnesty) until charged.
Military man General Oak, a veteran of the Theocratic War and the leading Agrandan General for many years, in in charge of the proceedings and is effectively second-in-command. The President, who has also served time in the armed forces, has taken Emergency Powers to restore order.
The question still remains though; there's all this smoke, but where's the fire? Civil stability in Agrandov is at an all time high, with personal freedoms due to increase drastically later this year with the Constitutional Amendments. The Police Force has suffered only 17 casualties in the past 6 months, a new low, and reconstruction efforts into the Yellow Zone are unprecedented.
A source inside the Presidential Palace, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claims that these measures are in response to a threatened coup attempt looking to take advantage of the President's unpopularity. More information will be available on the Agrandan Independent News channel at it becomes available.
"Curfew is now in effect. Dissidents will be detained."
A metallic voice rang out over the loudspeaker, as a military APC cruised down each street to enforce the new state of martial law. The machine-gun was mounted and the headlights were on full beam as the vehicle slowly swept the neighbourhood, the constant purr of it's engine at odds with the loose marching rhythm of the dismounted soldiers next to it. Citizens cowered in their houses as the ominous convoy passed, and lights were quickly extinguished to not attract attention.
A full moon hung like a spotlight in the ink-black sky, as Blue Zone suburbia lay silent in the night. In the natural clearings of the Agrandan forests, the scent of pine was mixed with sawdust and grease as steel watch towers sprung up with spotlights of their own. The small town centre was now a car park for the unmanned APC's, with the single fountain turned off and a wall of sandbags forming a perimeter. Armoured trailers were serving as immediate living quarters for the troops, although the long-term plan was to commandeer the neighbouring buildings and form a permanent barracks.
Similar situations were unfolding throughout the whole of the Blue Zone, with all but the smallest of hamlets in the Green Zone escaping attention. A whole Division was making ready to enforce law in the Yellow Zone, although Orange and Red were not immediate priorities. In the centre of every town and village, and in several places for each of the big cities, military forces assembled and organised themselves into a new and unwavering police force. They were, as the locals put it, the iron fist without an arm, an oppressive force without strong leadership that now existed only to oppress.
The Presidential Palace was lit up like a Christmas tree, a literal hive of activity for the soldiers and policemen defending it. The ornate and once-magnificent building had become a grey fortress, with razor wire topping every wall and white light illuminating every inch of ground. Two snipers shared a cigarette on the rooftop whilst a company's-worth of soldiers milled around the temporary HQ they had established on the ground floor. In the distance the sound of transport helicopters could be heard, as a light rain started to fall in the moonlight.
Inside the building, on an upper floor in the President's office, decisions were being made. The President himself stood over a national map, as several senior military officials were stood around, listening to him speak. The interior of the palace was distasteful, sickly, even, if such a word could be applied to mere furniture and paint. At least one row of medals shone on every chest inside that room, as the true military prodigies of the nation talked tactics.
"We know that they're hiding... somewhere in here, the Orange Zone," he pointed, his shrew-like figure showing a natural intelligence of such matters.
"With all due respect, Sir, that's impossible. Any extended contact with the Orange Zone can be extremely unhealthy... an army couldn't possibly hide there."
"That's the scary part, General," replied the President, "they are hiding there and we don't know how they're doing it. We don't know who they are, or how many forces they have. We don't know who's funding them, but someone is going to go and find out."
"Someone? You mean General Oak?"
"Of course, he's the best commander we have. He's currently with the 67th Infantry, and he will join with the 89th and the 23rd for armoured support and then press forward into the Yellow Zone and beyond. Those three Divisions will easily outnumber any revolutionary forces, and we shall stop this nasty affair before problems arise."
"Understood, Sir."
The general consensus of the Generals there was that the President was paranoid, or possibly insane. None of them in there had the inclination to trust the man, who had brought nothing but strife to a nation struggling to recover, but all of them had no choice but to obey him. They all knew that a battle between the government and the army should be avoided at all costs, and a common enemy, however imagined it might be, was the ideal tool to prevent this.
But in either an insight to genius or a stroke of luck, the President was entirely right. An army was assembling in Agrandov, far beyond the internal frontier of the Yellow Zone where radiation became commonplace. A council of revolutionaries were putting the final touches on their plan, as their instruments of war sat waiting in the many nuclear shelters that had been constructed in the Orange Zone decades ago. Purified air swept through each of these bunkers, as the mass of soldiers required for the coup lay sleeping in their bunks.
All borders closed as liberty evacuates.
Report by Michael Green.
Despite last years pleas to the government for more funding and manpower, the Agrandan Army had no problems today in seizing Alkra City by several key points in a systematic takeover of the capital. The police force is currently being integrated into the military, and President N. Ruthorn is expected to make a statement later today.
Despite initial fears, it seems that the current crackdown has been orchestrated by the President himself and not a rogue general. The President has immediately dissolved the Agrandan Parliament, which by constitution must be reformed within 60 days, but there is no such limit on the extent of martial law itself.
Under these new powers, the military will take on all policing actions and all court cases will be settled by Special Tribunal or suspended indefinitely. There is no longer a limit on how long lawbreakers may be detained, although all such suspects will be political prisoners (and therefore applicable to amnesty) until charged.
Military man General Oak, a veteran of the Theocratic War and the leading Agrandan General for many years, in in charge of the proceedings and is effectively second-in-command. The President, who has also served time in the armed forces, has taken Emergency Powers to restore order.
The question still remains though; there's all this smoke, but where's the fire? Civil stability in Agrandov is at an all time high, with personal freedoms due to increase drastically later this year with the Constitutional Amendments. The Police Force has suffered only 17 casualties in the past 6 months, a new low, and reconstruction efforts into the Yellow Zone are unprecedented.
A source inside the Presidential Palace, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claims that these measures are in response to a threatened coup attempt looking to take advantage of the President's unpopularity. More information will be available on the Agrandan Independent News channel at it becomes available.
"Curfew is now in effect. Dissidents will be detained."
A metallic voice rang out over the loudspeaker, as a military APC cruised down each street to enforce the new state of martial law. The machine-gun was mounted and the headlights were on full beam as the vehicle slowly swept the neighbourhood, the constant purr of it's engine at odds with the loose marching rhythm of the dismounted soldiers next to it. Citizens cowered in their houses as the ominous convoy passed, and lights were quickly extinguished to not attract attention.
A full moon hung like a spotlight in the ink-black sky, as Blue Zone suburbia lay silent in the night. In the natural clearings of the Agrandan forests, the scent of pine was mixed with sawdust and grease as steel watch towers sprung up with spotlights of their own. The small town centre was now a car park for the unmanned APC's, with the single fountain turned off and a wall of sandbags forming a perimeter. Armoured trailers were serving as immediate living quarters for the troops, although the long-term plan was to commandeer the neighbouring buildings and form a permanent barracks.
Similar situations were unfolding throughout the whole of the Blue Zone, with all but the smallest of hamlets in the Green Zone escaping attention. A whole Division was making ready to enforce law in the Yellow Zone, although Orange and Red were not immediate priorities. In the centre of every town and village, and in several places for each of the big cities, military forces assembled and organised themselves into a new and unwavering police force. They were, as the locals put it, the iron fist without an arm, an oppressive force without strong leadership that now existed only to oppress.
The Presidential Palace was lit up like a Christmas tree, a literal hive of activity for the soldiers and policemen defending it. The ornate and once-magnificent building had become a grey fortress, with razor wire topping every wall and white light illuminating every inch of ground. Two snipers shared a cigarette on the rooftop whilst a company's-worth of soldiers milled around the temporary HQ they had established on the ground floor. In the distance the sound of transport helicopters could be heard, as a light rain started to fall in the moonlight.
Inside the building, on an upper floor in the President's office, decisions were being made. The President himself stood over a national map, as several senior military officials were stood around, listening to him speak. The interior of the palace was distasteful, sickly, even, if such a word could be applied to mere furniture and paint. At least one row of medals shone on every chest inside that room, as the true military prodigies of the nation talked tactics.
"We know that they're hiding... somewhere in here, the Orange Zone," he pointed, his shrew-like figure showing a natural intelligence of such matters.
"With all due respect, Sir, that's impossible. Any extended contact with the Orange Zone can be extremely unhealthy... an army couldn't possibly hide there."
"That's the scary part, General," replied the President, "they are hiding there and we don't know how they're doing it. We don't know who they are, or how many forces they have. We don't know who's funding them, but someone is going to go and find out."
"Someone? You mean General Oak?"
"Of course, he's the best commander we have. He's currently with the 67th Infantry, and he will join with the 89th and the 23rd for armoured support and then press forward into the Yellow Zone and beyond. Those three Divisions will easily outnumber any revolutionary forces, and we shall stop this nasty affair before problems arise."
"Understood, Sir."
The general consensus of the Generals there was that the President was paranoid, or possibly insane. None of them in there had the inclination to trust the man, who had brought nothing but strife to a nation struggling to recover, but all of them had no choice but to obey him. They all knew that a battle between the government and the army should be avoided at all costs, and a common enemy, however imagined it might be, was the ideal tool to prevent this.
But in either an insight to genius or a stroke of luck, the President was entirely right. An army was assembling in Agrandov, far beyond the internal frontier of the Yellow Zone where radiation became commonplace. A council of revolutionaries were putting the final touches on their plan, as their instruments of war sat waiting in the many nuclear shelters that had been constructed in the Orange Zone decades ago. Purified air swept through each of these bunkers, as the mass of soldiers required for the coup lay sleeping in their bunks.