NationStates Jolt Archive

NEWS

Sarah Andover, an innocent, is to be executed tomorrow at noon. Sarah Andover is the sister of Alex Andover, the suicide-bomber responsible for the Summer-time Attack on Congress just over one year ago. Essex Court Judge Harvard issued the decree only three hours ago. No more information is currently available.



OOC THREAD (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=560088)

His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Akiroto I of the Western Pacific Asian Empire would like to announce his support for the Fruits of the Plague governments decision to execute said criminal. Let her death serve as a warning to all terrorists that even if you kill yourself, your family will be punished for your vile crimes.

The Kingdom of Lynion condems this situation. You have no right to take the life the suicide bomber's sister simply because she related to the bomber. The Kingdom of Lynion is willing to transport Sarah Andover as well as treating her like a Lynion Citizen.

The government of Salzland echoes the calls of the government of Lynion, and would also be willing to transport Ms. Andover to a country of her choosing. We are additionally willing to incur all costs associated with transportating Ms. Andover from the custody of the government of the Fruits of the Plague.

ameriganastan also supports ms. andover.we would gladly take her in and save her from this travesty.

North Olochapolo does too. We tried helping before, but there were a few technichal difficulties. Let me call South Olochapolo... 499-761-2224... We heard about it too, we're in on it, we heard about it from Salzland. Oh okay bye.beep. okay they know.

To: Fruits of the Plague
From: The Grand World Order Office of Foreign Affairs

We would wish to have Ms. Andover sent to Magna Polis so that she may be used as a live test subject for numerous military experiments before, if she survives, being brutally killed by us.

If you don't wish to send her, we will be perfectly fine. We also would like to announce our support in this decision.

~Official Communique~

The Cazelian government is willing to buy this innocent woman for a price of 500 Million dollars.

Sincerely,
Ingram Hasley
~Vice President

"Terrorists - paid for by your tax dollars." -Argon Province Commissioner of the Argon Provincial Metropolitan Civilian Control Unit, appearing on international news footage, referring to Cazelia's recent decision.

Dawkins Institute prepares posthumous honor Party to a suicide bomber for his work into "cleansing the bureaucratic bottom of the gene pool"

Today, in answer to the news about the condemnation of an innocent for a suicide, the cynical geneticist, memetics researcher and self-assigned head of public relations Aaron Paul has announced that the Richard Dawkins Institute will promote a party to homage Alex Andover for his "brave effort of self-sacrifice to rid the world of political scum", and promises to make "the most politically incorrect party of the century", with the right to inflatable dolls built to resemble the Essex Court Judge Harvard, claiming that "someone who condemns an innocent deserves to take that thing on that place", and flags of Fruits of the Plague because "we unfortunately ran out of toilet paper".

The party will be a hub for protests and for lobbying enactment of full trade sanctions against the mentioned nation, while will also pack all sorts of tournaments, including the shooting ranges with photographs of all the victims of the terrorist attack with past involment in political scandals, which according to Aaron, "I have personally researched about, because I don't want to make any injustice, and have been surprised by the amount of crooks. It is no wonder someone would do something like that to a government so pathetic that it sees killing innocents as the only manner to instill fear to a disgruntled populace. I hope the next go will involve a suitcase nuke so these jerks and fascist scumbags can be put in their place once for all".

Regarding rules, Aaron Paul indicated clearly "In this party, only what is not consensual will be forbidden. I want to create the sort of environment that fits perfectly with the establishment of the mentioned nation. And there is nothing more adequate than doing it this way. And of course, everything will be sent to the Internet, so the great bureau rats and pigs can appreciate our love of their ridiculousness."

But why would such specific action motivate such heated reply, when the DiploNet was caring nothing about the isolated incident, too busy counting the victims of Communist Spain to worry about a single woman?

"Basically, this is just a variation of an old meme. I wrote once an article about something incredibly absurd: the fact that there are governments influenced by memes, and sometimes even by Internet Memes! I am doing all of this because I am sick of seeing trends of persecuting Jews, running to take over oil, persecuting losers in fursuits, making totally nonsensical religions self-entitled catholic, building superpen... I mean superdreadnoughts just because they are phallic and big, and many other bandwagons and trends that seem to run around. Even though I like to research such pathetic events, I am beginning to get full of them, and why should I disdain a man who gave a small aid to improve the gene pool of the human race?"

And thus another event related to the polemic and universally hated Aaron Paul Hawkins happened. Stay tuned for the coverage of this wild party.

Also, by his personal request, his mail is publicrelations@dawnkinsmemes.tee , for he supposedly wants to receive hate mails and death threats.

To: Lynion
From: The Grand World Order Office of Foreign Affairs

We do hope you are not threatening to attack Fruits of the Plague. Doing so would result in some severe problems for your nation, one of the least being your leaders hanging headless by their feet in front of the people they once led.

To: Lynion; Ameriganastan; ... (all)
From: Santheres Diplomatic Corps

We would like to note to all nations involving themselves in this routine, every day act of a sovereign nation that your assumption of her true innocence is fallacious. You know nothing but what was told in a news column which is beyond biased and unprofessional.

The sheer idea that an intelligent nation could attempt to step in and stop a nation from exercising its right because of a blurb, one fewer than 50 words long containing little to no information about the situation and flat out stating innocence when such a thing be unprovable, is lunacy.

Pax tibi,
Marco de Rossi
Regnant of Santheres
Chairman, Santheres Diplomatic Corps

(OOC: my leader isn't too passive-aggressive, is he? =P)

TO: The Grand World Order Office of Foreign Affairs
FROM: Kingdom of Lynion, King Ranakin
RE: ??

We have no intentsions about a fight nor is it on our list. Our main way of doing this is by pressuring them into allowing the girl to go free nothing more nothing else.



OOC: I deleted that post because I was posting it in the wrong forum sorry guys. I think we should wait for Fruits of the Plague to come back and give us an explaination.

A five-hundred foot square concrete lot surrounded by twenty foot high fence laced with barbed wire.

Desert all around. People all around; swarming, screaming.

Her wrists were bound tightly enough to numb fingertips. The pole she was bound to dug splinters into her back. Her face was bloodied and bruised, lacerations ran up her arms and legs. Petrol dripped from her hair and from the meek gray cloth that clothed her. Wood had been stacked systematically around her. Unconscious, of course.

A spark ignited and the crowd surged.

His Most Holy Imperial Majesty Akiroto I wishes to congratulate the Fruits of the Plague government on setting an example to terrorists worldwide with such an artistic and entertaining execution.

Rodent Television, Cyro, Dyelli Beybi

Rodent Television wishes to congratulate the Nation of Fruit Platter on it's strong stance regarding violent crime, if only the Blessed Kingdom of Dyelli Beybi had the bravery to execute people, like the old days.

Rodent Television wishes to inquire as to whether or not the execution has been recorded for educational purposes, and whether we might be able to purchase the rights to it, purely as an educational tool to discourage terrorism within our great Nation.

Kindest Regards,
Major Q. Woodward

[OOC: Giving the ignoring of diplomatic solutions, I'm willing to try something I normally would have a few issues about.]

IC:

"So, it's true?" asked General Igor Kaselev, Director of Military Intelligence. "The execution has taken place?"

"It seems so, General," said Major Brent Cain, the chief of the Directorate for Monitoring of Human Rights. "Bigass flames, stake the size of the Sears Tower, and their own papers said she was an innocent."

"It's not a national sovereignty issue," said Lieutenant General Khadija al-Hak, Deputy Director of Military Intelligence. Kahanistan opposed the death penalty on principle, but did not consider it a matter worth interfering in sovereign nations. Their constitution forbade extradition to nations where a prisoner stood a chance of being executed, but that was as far as they generally went. "She has not violated the laws of their sovereign nation."

Senior Colonel Dr. Muhammad al-Azeem, Chief of Technology, nodded his head. "I believe a backstep is in order."

"Backstep is operational?" Kaselev looked incredulous. Backstep wasn't supposed to be operational for another twenty years, fifteen at the least. How has this news eluded me...? "I would agree. How far can we go back?"

"Five days, maximum," replied al-Azeem. "So using it for mass historical rewrites is out of the question. We may be able to push it to seven once we've gotten a bigger engine put in and a better fuel source, but by then we'll be way past the window of opportunity."

"You're a go," said Kaselev. "Do we have an agent willing to go in?"

"Indeed, General," said al-Azeem. "Meet Second Lieutenant Antonius Angstrom." al-Azeem introduced a tall man, about 25, thickly built, muscular, and dark-skinned, dressed in army trousers and an open camo shirt that revealed his massive pecs and eight-pack abs. He carried an assortment of weapons - a bayonet knife with a brass-knuckle grip, a .50 Desert Eagle, a switchblade, and an assault rifle, and wore massive amounts of bling. "Mr. Angstrom here will be our agent. His destination: The capital city of Fruits of the Plague, the day of the announcement. His mission: Rescue Sarah Andover."

"You will not be carrying all that weaponry," said Kaselev. "A more concealable weapon, ceramic knuckles, and... less bling would be more appropriate."

"Yes, General. I'll prepare for the mission; I'll be ready in half an hour."

---

Half an hour later, Antonius Angstrom returned, dressed in a typical solid white T-shirt and gray running trousers. In his pocket he carried ceramic knuckles to avoid tripping metal detectors, and carried an Otagian box gun (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9932563&postcount=5), intended for concealment down the leg of his thick leather jackboot. It wasn't just fascists who wore them.

Antonius sat down in the seat of a weird contraption in the basement of the Military Intelligence headquarters, where he adjusted the surprisingly intuitive controls and set his coordinates.

---

Fruits of the Plague

Three days earlier

Antonius walked down the streets of the capital, picking up a newspaper and blending into the crowd. He had a prison to infiltrate... and an innocent to save.

"Breaking news! our grand leader,the mighty Lord Lowery is preparing to address our grand nation,and the nation of the fruit plagues on the matter of ms. andover's execution"*every t.v. in ameriganastan showed the image of a man,sitting behind a desk.he wore a sand colored dictator like suit,with his nations flag sewn into the fabric over his heart.he had short brown hair,and wore a pair of eye glasses*"my people,i am sure you've heard of this so called execution,of an innocent citizen in the nation of fruit plagues.well let it be known,no citizen of there evil nation is welcomed,or even allowed to enter Ameriganastan.if any of there citizens are caught on our land,they shall be captured and executed.thank you my proud citizens.and may the sands of fate watch over you"

HMHIM Akiroto I demands that Kahanistan cease their interference in time or face the consequences. Changing history is dangerous and irresponsible. You will cease such activities or your agent will come back to a wasteland he once called home!

We too have a primitive time travel device. If your agen is not recalled we shall send one of our own back to eliminate him!

HMHIM Akiroto I demands that Kahanistan cease their interference in time or face the consequences. Changing history is dangerous and irresponsible. You will cease such activities or your agent will come back to a wasteland he once called home!

We too have a primitive time travel device. If your agen is not recalled we shall send one of our own back to eliminate him!

OOC: How do you know about their time travel?

OOC: Energy emissions etc etc etc.

Think of Dr Who ;)

The idea of two agents travelling back in time and fighting each other in their effort to complete their mission is quite nifty although we don't have to do that if you don't wish.

OOC: Energy emissions etc etc etc.

Think of Dr Who ;)

The idea of two agents travelling back in time and fighting each other in their effort to complete their mission is quite nifty although we don't have to do that if you don't wish.

OOC: I would like to politely point out that if they only just have the technology to go back in time, a much smaller nation probably doesn't have the technology to detect such a temporal shift and anyone who wasn't looking for time travel certainly wouldn't see some weird energy pattern and say "why boy howdy, I'll bet they're traveling through time."

OOC: I would like to politely point out that if they only just have the technology to go back in time, a much smaller nation probably doesn't have the technology to detect such a temporal shift and anyone who wasn't looking for time travel certainly wouldn't see some weird energy pattern and say "why boy howdy, I'll bet they're traveling through time."

OOC: Don't knock his attempts to RP, there could be any number of reasons he has why he could trace a time shift. It is really over to the creativity of the author... If he's a good RPer give him a chance. In fact, this ties in very nicely with some of DBs stuff, which is why I'm making this post...

Obviously, if this is not the direction FotP wants this thread to go, I'll retract this and bugger off.


TEMPORAL SHIFT DETECTED

The hard metalic voice echoed in the control room with a deafening blast, tearing through the silence like a torpedo through a small pond. Colonel Tudor jumped, he always jumped when this happened, and it was happening more and more of late.

When this had all started he had been the only one monitoring the control room... but now there were half a dozen others with him. They sprung into action as the alarm sounded, tapping on computers, staring into screens, "...poorly masked, doesn't seem to be an Element time shift..."

"Can we trace the destination and origin?" Tudor called, raising his voice to sound over the cacaphony.

"We're looking now." this was Corporal Jones, an efficient man, not really a soldier, a scientist who had worked with the Element before it went rogue, someone who understood what they were dealing with.

"Origin is hard to track, normally we can't get it, but I heard someone say poorly masked?" Tudor asked, hoping for a positive that they could trace it.

"Sorry Sir, somewhere on this planet in the last hundred years... better than usual."

"This planet?" Tudor grunted, sounding suprised, "Could be some kind of a trap."

"Destination is... some wierd little state in the middle of nowhere a couple of days back... give or take 10 metres and 30 minutes" Jones shrugged, "No idea what the Element is doing there Sir."

"Got a name for it?"

"Fruits of the Plague or something like that?" Jones shrugged, "Never heard of it before."

Tudor shrugged in response, it was somewhere totally off the radar for Dyelli Beybi, somewhere of little relevance, but apparently the Element had decided otherwise, "Anyone know anything about it."

"I do." Commisaar Davies had stayed quiet until this point. Tudor did not particularly like the young woman, she was part of the not so secret, secret police, a tool of Govermnet intimidation, but she was also the most experienced time traveler of anyone here, "Caused some International outrage recently by executing a political prisoner. Nothing of any relevance to us, but it has caused some threats of intervention from some states."

Tudor frowned, "Do you think there is any potential for damage to the continuum? Do you think this might be some new attempt by the Element to eliminate us through a temporal disturbance?"

"Unlikely." Jones put in, "If the Element were to do that they would probably destroy the whole Universe... if it is even possible to do that, I doubt it is. I suspect the continuum is more flexible."

"Either way." Tudor decreed, "I am sending an agent in to investigate. Davies?" he hated the fact that it had to be a question, she was really just a jumped up police officer.

"Alright." she nodded, "I'll go, but I want the E.S.D."

"It hasn't been tested." Tudor said, dismissing the idea, or so he had hoped...

"I'm not going otherwise, I do not want to get lost again... and anyway, doesn't it need to be tested."

A grunt from the Commanding Officer, he could argue, but honestly, she was right, the machinery needed testing, she was the most experienced Officer, and frankly he wanted her off the base, "Take it."

__________

Two days earlier...

A short woman stepped out of a doorway in a back alley. It was a non descript alley, and the woman, while slim and attractive, was not someone who would attract a huge amount of notice. She wore a long black jacket, despite the fact that the weather really didn't warrant it. Were anyone watching they would notice her occasionally take out something which could have been a multimeter from her pocket every now and then, look at it then pocket it again...

Then suddenly there was a flash, it was sudden, a quick surge of energy that was immediately gone... and there was someone else. A man, tall and wearing a black hoody. Blue eyes turned to meet her dark, and while neither had seen one another before, there was a mutual understanding, a shared loathing of the other that came with thousands of years of bloodshed and genocide.

With a snarl from the male the pair flung themselves at each other. The movement was inhumanly fast, concealed blades appeared, blades which a split second later lay each touching the throat of the other. They snarled, "Djel." the tall man hissed, "We were warned this was one of your traps. My failures mean that it was I they sent to be the folorn hope, to test for your treachery."

"Come off it." the woman spat back, "We both know it was you setting the trap for us. And unlike you, we sent our best into the mission."

"Your best?" he scoffed, "When I could slice your throat with but a twist of my wrist?"

"And I yours?"

"So tell me then, the time for lies is over Djel." he continued, snarling, hate blazing in his eyes, "Why did you lure me here?"

"I did not."

"Take off your blouse."

"Burn in hell."

"Gladly... but I mean I need to see if you are religious, not that I would wish anything of <i>that</i> nature with your degraded species."

With her free hand, the woman flicked out the crucifix she wore around her neck, "Enough proof?"

"Swear this is not your doing, on your God."

"I swear it."

There seemed to be a mutual, guarded relaxation of the blades, "Gleipner of the Dökkálfar" the man introduced himself.

"Caitlin Davies." the Commisaar responded, "In the spirit of staying alive I suggest we don't kill each other."

"But if it wasn't you luring me here, then who was it?" Gleipner frowned at the Commisaar.

"And if it wasn't you..."

Both realised the potential at the same moment, an ally maybe, someone to turn the tide, or perhaps a further threat, yet one that could be turned on the other? "Turn around, keep walking, in ten steps you'll be gone, in five minutes I'll leave the alley too, after that if I see you, I will kill you, Caitlin of the Djels."

"Agreed."

Both released their weapons simultaneously, pocketing them. The Commisaar turned on her heels, stepping quickly towards the end of the alley. She only made it five paces before pain exploded in her lower back. Crying out the Commisaar crumpled to the ground as Gleipner's shadow fell over her. Quietly he hid the silenced pistol he had been carrying back under the baggy hoody, "Goodbye Caitlin of the Djels. I hope your ending is slow and your suffering in the afterlife is eternal. I have someone to find."

He left then, vanishing into the city, leaving the Commisaar bleeding in the back alley.

OOC: I'm out. Between Fruits going off and doing his own thing and ignoring any attempt to roleplay a non-violent solution, and the RP itself going totally off the reservation, I've got the feeling I'd just be wasting my time continuing.

IC: The government of Salzland condemns the human rights violations carried out by the Fruits of the Plague (through executing an innocent civilian), and sincerely hopes that the world governments will come together to ensure such an action doesn't happen again.

Antonius had been spotting out the prison with his binoculars and night vision goggles for several hours when he returned to the city limits. He had an idea of when the guards moved and when they changed shifts, but right now he needed a sniper rifle or a hunting rifle to take out the guards in the area where he believed Sarah was being held.

Having another two days to stop the execution, he walked into an alleyway looking for a hunting shop when he tripped over a young woman. She was bleeding, probably shot from the look of her, and would likely die without medical attention.

Using the first aid skills he learned in basic training, Antonius removed his jacket, rolled it up, and rolled the woman onto it to stop her bleeding. He also elevated her legs to increase blood flow to her vital organs, and touched her face to see if she was still conscious. Maybe he could learn something from her, something to tell the police or medics...

intersection of 3rd street and Guthrie avenue, Monte Verde, Jimanistan

Man #1: "... Hey you remember that suicide bomber they were talkin' about on the news awhile back?"
Man#2: "Yeah, what about it?"
Man #1: "I heard they were executing the guy's sister..."
Man #2: "Really?.... What the Hell for?"
Man #1: "Got me, man..."
Man #2: "..... Was she hot?"
Man #1: "..... You, my friend, are a complete idiot..."

Not even the totalitarian Imperium of Belkaros can stand quietly while this affront to justice goes on. Take blood as blood is due, but never from a proven innocent. Even if a sacrifice is required, to show the sacrifice's innocence is folly. Stop this charade now, lest you lead your nation down a dark path.

To: The Fruits of the Plague government.

From: The Veranvakia Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Democratic Republic of Veranvakia may be a young nation, but we can not stand for such a barbaric, and frankly, medieval action. All citizens of your government entering Veranvakian territory will be detained for 24 hours, have all possessions other than the clothes on their backs confiscated, and be sent back to your country, until such a time as your government issues a full apology to the world and the victim's family for your actions, and ceases such barbarity. Also, if the Essex Court Judge Harvard is found in our territory, he will be detained until a trial for human rights violations can be assembled, the expected penalty for this is death, or life imprisonment.

Antonius had been spotting out the prison with his binoculars and night vision goggles for several hours when he returned to the city limits. He had an idea of when the guards moved and when they changed shifts, but right now he needed a sniper rifle or a hunting rifle to take out the guards in the area where he believed Sarah was being held.

Having another two days to stop the execution, he walked into an alleyway looking for a hunting shop when he tripped over a young woman. She was bleeding, probably shot from the look of her, and would likely die without medical attention.

Using the first aid skills he learned in basic training, Antonius removed his jacket, rolled it up, and rolled the woman onto it to stop her bleeding. He also elevated her legs to increase blood flow to her vital organs, and touched her face to see if she was still conscious. Maybe he could learn something from her, something to tell the police or medics...

A hand shot up to grab the stranger's collar, "Who are you?" there was still strength in her, whoever she was.

"Listen." there was a hint quickly working her way into her voice that strongly implied she was weakening, "I'm not someone you want to help, its too dangerous. Walk away, there are things at play here."

Apparently that was enough for now. She sighed, slumping back down and releasing Antonius' collar, "If you do want to be stupid and help me though, perhaps you could help me to that doorway over there." a nod in the direction of the doorway she had originally come from.

"Antonius Angstrom," replied the man. "You need medical attention." With minimal effort, the 6'2", 240-pound man hefted the smaller woman over his shoulders, making sure his jacket was still pressed against her. He didn't need the bleeding to start again. This went against most first-aid manuals, but he had no reason to suspect a broken neck and she clearly had more serious injuries.

"I should call an ambulance." He couldn't just leave this woman to die - it wasn't in his nature. He began walking to the doorway she'd indicated.

"Caitlin Davies." the woman managed introductions, "Please put me down so I can open the door."

Were a local around who knew the street well they might find the door perplexing. It hadn't been there before, despite appearing like it was very old... "No ambulances... no authorities thanks." Her accent was peculiar. Some might call it Irish, those with a little more knowledge of accents would pick it as closer to Welsh. Whatever the case might be, it was clearly not an accent from around these parts.

"You don't want to trust her." a male voice from the other end of the street. The blue eyed man in the black hoody had returned (although Antonius would not recognise him), "She, although I use she in the broadest possible sense of the word considering she is not exactly human, is a soldier, a ruthless killer who understands no mercy, knows no honour."

"The door." Davies croaked hoarsely.

"Good idea." there was no way he could have heard from where he was, "You and I both need access to that room Sir."

Antonius opened the door. "I... don't care who she is. I'm not leaving her to die like this." He'd come to save one woman and was saving another. While he was still looking for intel, equipment, possible allies... the clock ticked away again for Sarah Andover.

"Very well. I'll... treat you. I'm a soldier too. I know first aid." He felt that he could trust this woman despite what the man had said. Maybe he just liked the way she looked, but it was more likely that the man seemed to be pretty callous and he got a bad impression of him.

He held Caitlin gently and walked into the door.

To: Whomever it may concern in the Fruits of the Plague
From: Q. Octavius Lepidus, Minister of Diplomacy for the Holy Empire of Rathanan
Subject: Sarah Andover

The Holy Emperor of Rathanan, Ti. Lucius Severus, is pleased to see that justice is being carried out in the Roman manner. Although we in the Holy Empire certainly hope she was given fair trial, our top praetorian investigators feel that she must have had something to do with the attacks herself. Close blood relatives are rarely completely innocent as attackers will often times confide in them with information.

Palma ut Imperator,

<signed>

Q. Octavius Lepidus
Minister of Diplomacy, Holy Empire of Rathanan

Caitlin cursed, as Antonius stepped over the threshold, slamming the door shut behind. There was a dull thunk from the other side a split second later. Something about it suggested the door might well stay locked to anyone but her.

The interior of where they had gone was interesting to say the least. There was a computer stack in the centre of the room. Off to one side were a bed, fridge, a cupboard, and inset cubicle which seemed to function as a bathroom. That was it though. There were no windows, no other doors to the outside.

"Put me down, then press the red button on the computer panel. The big one marked 'ETS', supplies are in the cupboard." whatever reserves of strength she had had were flagging it would seem, "Make sure you press the button."

She would slip out of consciousness soon after. If Antonius chose to treat her he would find she would stay slipping in and out of consciousness for two days. There was food and water, although the door would prove to be locked, probably unlocked by her fingerprint. If he had the foresight to ask for aid in getting out during one of her lucid moments, it would meet with a polite but firm refusal; "No. We won't have lost a minute we don't chose to lose. You're in a sort of time machine thing. I don't know how it works just how to work it."

Antonius set Caitlin down and pressed the button, then sat down and held her gently.

"You'll... be all right." His own machine was little more than a pod that dropped in some out of the way location, a primitive one-time transport that was only useful for spare electronics now. Luckily, he was only a few days away. Caitlin's machine seemed far more advanced, probably because their temporal programme was more advanced than Kahanistan's.

He held a bottle of water next to her lips. She could drink and rehydrate herself whenever she was conscious if the pain allowed it. He waited to see what the button would do...

IC:

In the Veranvakia Department of Defense, General Mikhail Markasik, Head of Special Operations, stood shouting into a telephone. "I don't care about your blasted political fallout concerns, the team is already in position darn it! I am NOT putting the raid on hold because you have cold feet! Wait.... What did you just say? Oh yeah? Screw it, and have a nice day!" And with that, he slammed the phone furiously back onto it's hook. His aide, said in a carefully neutral tone "What was that about sir?" "What was that about? It was about some moronic politician getting cold feet and raising a blizzard about the raid to try and and turn it to his political advantage, that's what!" And without another word, he stomped out of the room, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket to place a call to Gustav Dvornik, Secretary of War about the situation. The call didn't take long, Gustav agreeing with his concerns and giving him the go ahead order regardless of any whining right wingers, who would happily order the raid if they actually had control of the government. The Special Ops team just outside of the capital city of Fruits of the Plague soon received the order....

NEWS

Sarah Andover, an innocent, is to be executed tomorrow at noon. Sarah Andover is the sister of Alex Andover, the suicide-bomber responsible for the Summer-time Attack on Congress just over one year ago. Essex Court Judge Harvard issued the decree only three hours ago. No more information is currently available.


OOC THREAD (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=560088)

Fnarr-fnarr applauds the decision and has recently passed a law that the mother, father, spouses, brothers, sisters and children of ALL persons convicted of terrorism will be executed.
The perpetrator will witness the executions and will then be released.
:mp5:

Antonius set Caitlin down and pressed the button, then sat down and held her gently.

"You'll... be all right." His own machine was little more than a pod that dropped in some out of the way location, a primitive one-time transport that was only useful for spare electronics now. Luckily, he was only a few days away. Caitlin's machine seemed far more advanced, probably because their temporal programme was more advanced than Kahanistan's.

He held a bottle of water next to her lips. She could drink and rehydrate herself whenever she was conscious if the pain allowed it. He waited to see what the button would do...

Nothing happened when they pressed the button... apart from the often-delerious Dyellian expressing thanks during a lucid moment. On the third day, whatever had been going on with her seemed to have resolved itself.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes, looking for all the world like she had just had a blissful saturday lie in. "Mister Antonius? I'm sorry to have dragged you into this. Thank you."

She turned, twisting around in what looked like it must be an excruciating movement. She lifted the back of her blouse, exposing the patch of her lower back where the bullet had pierced, "Good as new."

It was too... there wasn't even a scar to indicate she had been shot. No mark except for that on her clothes, "Now really I ought to do something to make sure you can't talk about this little event, but instead I'm going to set you back where you wanted to be at about the same time as you left because I actually have a conscience... What were you up to anyway?"

"Sorry, I know this probably sounds like a load of horse manure, but this is actually a time machine." she said, suppressing a yawn, "Please just try to reserve your skepticism for after I drop you off and you realise it actally does work."

"Keep an eye out for the Element, they may try to track you down and kill you. They always cover their ears. They aren't human and the ears give them away, so be careful of guys in beanies, hoodies and so on... they're faster than they look, don't turn your back on them and if you're alone with one, don't look away. Turn your back and you're dead." she gave a nod of thanks, "Unless some helpful stranger finds you."

"Anyway... where was it you wanted to go?"

"I want to go back where I was," replied Antonius. "I'm... here to rescue someone who is to be executed. If this is a time machine, I'll need it... she's probably been executed."

He didn't want to say it was while he was trapped with Caitlin; he wouldn't want it to sound like he regretted saving her. He had to get to Fruits of the Plague, before that happened.

"Any information you might have on her... I could use," said Antonius.

"You don't sound incredulous." for a few moments Antonius was subjected to some very intense scrutiny, "If you're talking about the one who was related to some suicide bomber, she gets burned alive. I'm sorry, you don't save her. I'd advise giving up, going back to whatever it is you do for a living."

Inwardly Caitlin realised even by saying this she was altering the timeline, something she was not supposed to do. The Dyellian time project functioned more like police, correcting the changes the Element made, maintaining the past to protect the future, "How do you know her?" there was an edge of compassion in the voice, apparently the Dyellian thought Antonius was related to the woman, or perhaps in a relationship with her.

"I can't let that happen," said Antonius. "Kahanistan Military Intelligence." She'd shared information with him, so he was convinced he could trust Caitlin. Besides, he would never expect someone he saved from a dark alley to betray him.

He wasn't yet admitting to being a time traveler, but he wasn't much of an actor. "I... don't see time travel as too far away," he replied. "What can you tell me about this Element, and why would they try to stop me?"

He couldn't shoot everyone in a hoodie he saw - not enough bullets and it was just plain wrong.

from The Empire of Roef:

I say we shoud execute the girl. She will be a warning to all terrorist in the world, kill yourself, you kill your family. I think, this 1 girl shoud be happy, that she formed such a sign to all terrorist. Ans if you want to show everybody that she dies, and on TV, bind her to a wall, and shoot with a execution team.

"Cheka." Caitlin replied, identifying herself as a member of the rather dubious Dyelli Beybian secret police, but not bothering to explain this to someone who might not have heard of the organisation.

"It's not just or pretty." she grimaced, "But it's part of the timeline now. We can change things, and by mentioning the future and how things turn out I already am doing so... but each time we do we disturb stuff, upset the natural order. Thats how we managed to work our way back here. It's like ripples in a pond. If we change this I don't know what will happen. It is a major event, at least major enough to cause International outrage. Screwing about with that kind of stuff..."

She grimaced again, "It's a dangerous business. I'm not going to be the one responsible for breaking time. If I could go back and fix the past safely, there are so many things I could do... but I can't."

"The Element." clearly that was a euphemism for something else, "The Element are pure evil. They kill for pleasure. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, it's all part of the service. And they despise my kind, would see us wiped out, extinct. You have helped one of us, which makes you an enemy of them, plus you've been in here, and they would dearly like to get their hands on this gadget or any information to do with it."

She paused, then added in what seemed to be an attempt at reassurance, "They may not ever find you. We live in a big, wide Universe."

"If we change this... then a young woman gets a new home where she won't be murdered for the actions of her family member. The international community still gets mad about punishment, but nobody has to die over it. A lot of things are part of the timeline that shouldn't be, Caitlin."

He looked into the woman's eyes. "I'll be responsible. I took on that duty when I joined Military Intelligence. What should I do if I see men in hoodies? I can't just shoot random people."

"Yes." she agreed, "There are, but we can't go back and rewrite. Its just plain dangerous. And I can tell you, this woman dies. It is going to happen. I can set you back, but you will fail... probably... unless I've messed up time too much. I would like to extend the offer once again to put you somewhere safe, otherwise I'll drop you back where we started... give or take aout 100 metres so you don't appear right next to that creature."

"I see your point." she gave a wry half smile, "Unfortunately I don't quite know how I can give you any more info. Just be careful. Just keep an eye out for people who might be watching you... oh... they are mostly tall with blue eyes, does that help?"

"Much," said Antonius. He smiled at Caitlin. "Let's hope you have messed up time too much, then. I'll go back where I was, a ways away."

He took a breath and thought deeply. He'd been trying to get a rifle with a scope when he found her. "How's about in the hunting shop about thirty metres from where I found you? Hopefully that doesn't mean you die in the alley."

A slight wry smile from the Dyellian, "So you want to save an innocent person by slaughtering a whole lot of people who are also almost certainly meeting any classical definition of the word innocent?"

"Do you see the irony? No? Well how about this... I'll help you, but on the condition there are no guns involved."

Antonius nodded. "I won't be needing this, then."

What he did next was a serious breach of protocol in the increasingly paranoid intelligence service. He reached into his boot and handed Caitlin his concealed box gun.

"It's a submachine gun," he said. "Made of ceramic parts to avoid metal detectors, it has sixty rounds of ammunition. Best used to try to get a better weapon or to break out of a tight situation, really. You seem better at spotting the... Element, than I am - you should take it for now."

He unfolded a map. "This is what Intel was able to get of the prison, and the surrounding city. We don't know which cell she's in, but we estimate it can hold about six hundred. We estimate about forty guards on duty at any given time. Here are machine gun and sniper towers, an electric fence surrounding the prison, and cameras monitoring the entrance. I could use your help getting in..."

"Ok thats a start." Caitlin mused. She was silent for a few moments, distractedly running her index finger along the bridge of her nose, "Do you know what this woman looks like?"

She was silent for a few more moments, giving Antonius time to answer before rattling off a new list of questions, "What's her name do you know? What is the guard uniform? When is change over? Is there anything specific about the guards, such as they are all male? What is the dominant religion in this Nation, and what do the clergy look like? How receptive to rescue are you imagining this person to be?"

"Oh... and by the way I'll need to scan your hand into this machine so you can open the door." she had placed the gun on the side without any real thought given to it, next to a stubby little revolver which was apparently her sidearm.

OOC: May need to get the thread creator back lol

Antonius nodded and showed Caitlin a picture of the woman he'd gotten from Military Intelligence.

"Sarah Andover," he said. "Given she's to be burned to death, I would say she's very receptive to rescue. The guards I saw are all male, but that doesn't mean all of them are." He allowed Caitlin to scan his hand. "I don't know anything about the main religion here. Guards seem to rotate about every half hour."

He looked at Caitlin intently, as if he were taking a liking to her. "In the meantime, I should think we should be on the way away from here before this Element comes."

[OOC: Probably, yeah. But since s/he's ignored diplomatic efforts, getting the OP back might just get us ignored. We're already breaking a major RP convention.]

OOC: Lol, perhaps.

With a slight smile, Caitlin walked over to the door, pulling it open, "Take a look outside."

There was really not that there was much to see out there. The lights from the room inside reflected off a hard concrete surface that was flat against the door, "This is where we are, all that red button does is close the wormhole to whereever it is we're boring through to. There are tonnes of concrete on all sides of us, just in case something goes wrong, then whatever has come through the door gets trapped down here forever."

She closed the door again, "Nobody is getting in here at the moment... Now I think if I tie my hair like so, and dye my hair a bit lighter I'll end up coming out looking passably like whatsherface here... enough to be mistaken at a difference."

She moved over to the bank of computers, feverishly tapping away at them, "Now I think this should work." From somewhere she had produced something which looked a lot like a multimeter, this item also took some programing, "If I just switch a couple of numbers around that should prevent any nasty accidents..."

"There." she pocketed the gaget, giving Antonius one of her better smiles, it spoke of a certain suprise that she had actually managed to program the machine, "I have a plan, I'll fill you in as we go along, but it is rather reliant on us being able to impersonate guards. So that bit will be up to you to figure out. If something goes wrong and I don't come back with you, press the red button again."

"Now." she clapped her hands together, "If you could put your hand on that screen over there... no that one, it's pressure sensitive, and I can use it to scan your hand into the system, just remember if it's your left or right and make sure you open the door with that one."

OOC: This has been ignore-cannoned for a long time. I sincerely doubt Fruits of the Plague's coming back

Antonius put his right hand on the screen. "I think if we just go up to the main gate, knock out a couple of guards at the gate and take their uniforms... stick the guards in a dumpster or something, we can make it. I'll need to take one of the bigger guards, I don't know if any of the guards are your size."

"I'll remember to push the red button if I make it back. If something happens, I have as much of a chance as you do of not making it."

"Someone is bound to notice that." the Dyellian clicked her tongue, "Prisons are a pain to get into without stuff like tanks or high explosives... although what I think we can do is get this door opening inside a storeroom or something, provided I can figure out where a store room is..."

"First though we need to get some supplies onboard, just in case something happens." she pressed down gently on Antonius' hand while watching something on screen.

After a few moments she pulled her hand away, "Good. Unless I've done something wrong you can now access the door. First stop..." she tapped frantically at the keyboard, "A hypermarket in the Christian district of Quisa. Next stop, that prison."

She turned, pulling the door open, to an immediate blast of dry, hot air. It was like stepping out into the middle eastern back alley. Small mounds of sand had built up against the walls of buildings. Somewhere off in the distance the call to prayer echoed from a Mosque, "No place like home." Caitlin laughed, "Come on we're getting food, water and a few other things."

The hypermarket it would turn out was just around the corner. The people here mostly wore long flowing desert robes, although more than a few wore western clothing. A police officer strolled past outside with a bright white solar topee, and a scimitar hanging alongside his sidearm. He glanced at Antonius, who apparently was instantly recognisable as a foreigner, although seemed content when he realised he was accompanied by a Dyellian.

The whole place had an unmistakable aura of affluence. The buildings were big, the vehicles were nice, the people seemed happy and the streets were clean and tidy, apart from the omnipresent sand. A huge pink stone fountain adorned the square the supermarket was on.

It was a quick stop, Caitlin filling the trolley full of food and bottled water (enough to withstand a siege)... and hair dye and a length rope. She stopped just before reaching the checkouts, "Okay, anything you really want or need before we do this? Because this is the last stop before we get into your mission and it would be really inconvenient if one of us had say, a sudden need for duct tape."

"A knife, bolt cutters, lock pick, and a good-sized explosive charge for blasting out a wall if we need to," replied Antonius. He'd agreed not to bring guns in, and Caitlin had apparently already gotten plenty of food.

"Maybe some duct tape and a first-aid kit, too. Disruptive pattern camo if we can get some. Do you need some kind of weapon, maybe?" He had no idea where he was or what was available for sale here - in Kahanistan one could buy heavy assault rifles over the counter and high-grade pot at any drugstore.

"You are a rash one." the Dyellian raised an eyebrow, leaning in close to Antonius to not be overheard, "What do you want to do with disruptive camouflage in a prison? If anyone spots someone in camo they'll know something is going on. If you're in plain clothes you can claim you were on a tour and got lost or anything really, while if you're in one of their uniforms they'll just and wave... oh and no guns was really me saying 'no killing'."

"I will get you the bolt cutters and duct take though." she disappeared into the aisles of the hypermarket, emerging some time later with both pieces of equipment. It raised an eyebrow at the checkout, however a flash of something that looked like a police badge left the checkout girl looking anywhere but at Caitlin.

Once they were back within the strange room, Davies busied herself at the controls once again, before finally opening the door... back to the street Antonius had found her in. It was night now, "This is about half a day before you found me." she explained, "I'm going to stay here, I have a few things I need to do, for a start I need to look at some sattelite photos of where we're going and those plans of yours, then I can hopefully open the wormhole up somewhere fairly inconspicuous within the prison. I'm hoping in that time you can go out there, find a guard coming off duty, whack him over the head in some alley and nick his uniform, or break into his house or anything like that... just get a uniform that fits you. Meet me back here within 5 hours whatever happens, or I will need to go, We can't cross our own timelines."

A pause and smile, "Good luck."

"More like what I might need, given the seriousness of the mission," said Antonius. "I'd planned to hit at night, and D.P. shields against infrared. I don't think the prison offers tours, not with a high-value prisoner inside. I doubt the people are in favour of killing this woman."

He lowered his voice and looked at Caitlin. "Why are the locals so... standoffish? And what's this about crossing our own timelines?" Kaselev hadn't said anything about crossing the timeline.

"Pssht." a dismissive wave of the hand from Caitlin, "You aren't trying to infiltrate an AMF military base, we're breaking into a prison in some two bicycle petty state. I still reckon stolen uniform is the way to go. As long as you look the part and look like you're meant to be there nobody asks any questions."

"If I meet myself I can alter the choices I made to bring myself to this position, potentially causing myself not to meet myself anymore, meaning that I don't alter the choices, so I do meet myself and so on and so on. We aren't quite certain what would happen on a universal scale if a paradox like that were happen." she shrugged, "The boffins at HQ think we would either cause the Universe to end or for it to split into two parallel Universes."

"The locals are standofish because I just took you back to Dyelli Beybi... my country. The people are mistrustful of foreigners and wary of Chekists such as myself... although now we are back in... in... in that place we were in before." she shrugged, apparently having totally forgotten the name of the country she was visiting.

"Just one thing before you do go out." her tone was suddenly deadly serious, her dark eyes locking on Antonius', "Take a care in assuming other people think like you do. It's just as likely the people are all for the execution and are planning to come along to watch and bring the family, have a nice little picnic. People love violence, it makes them feel all happy inside."

Antonius nodded grimly and placed his arms gently around Caitlin as two pairs of dark eyes stared into each other. He held her closely and nodded.

"Fruits of the Plague. Thank you for the information... and the gear. Within five hours... I'll come back here with Miss Andover." He squeezed her tightly, then packed his equipment and jogged out toward the prison to save time.

OOC: Why do you guys post when Fruits of Plague doesn't respond?

OOC: Why do you guys post when Fruits of Plague doesn't respond?
[OOC: Because it's kind of a shit-licking thing to do to run out on a thread when half the world has a good reason to dogpile your ass. Luckily, I have no interest in occupying his/her nation and pissing off Praetonia for violating the treaty about waging aggressive warfare.]

OOC: Because we feel like it?

Caitlin Davies was trembling very slightly. Something was frightening her, but she smied, no trace of whatever it was present on her face, "That wasn't quite what I'd envisaged, I just wanted you in uniform... but if you can do all that in the time frame, go ahead... just try not to alert the guards."

She stepped back, "One second..." she bent over the computer desk, rummaging around the clutter of electrical equipment that was present there, coming back a few moments later with an earpiece which she pressed into Antonius' hand, "Stay in touch, and if you find that girl, let me know the second you do, then I can pinpoint where you are and drop the doorway within a few metres of you."

"Good luck and stay safe." she watched as Antonius departed into the gloom, waiting until he was out of sight before closing the door.

[OOC: Because it's kind of a shit-licking thing to do to run out on a thread when half the world has a good reason to dogpile your ass. Luckily, I have no interest in occupying his/her nation and pissing off Praetonia for violating the treaty about waging aggressive warfare.]

OOC: Speaking as part of that half of the world that was... irritated with how this roleplay went (a post announcing Sarah's imprisonment and a post announcing her execution, and that was that), even though this is now pointless, I hope you all mess Fruits of the Plague up good.

[OOC: Because it's kind of a shit-licking thing to do to run out on a thread when half the world has a good reason to dogpile your ass. Luckily, I have no interest in occupying his/her nation and pissing off Praetonia for violating the treaty about waging aggressive warfare.]

OOC: If it was a matter of him ignoring this thread because things weren't going well, I would agree. But it looks like he left the NationStates forum alltogether.

Antonius trudged off toward the prison. What could she have meant...? He'd told Caitlin everything, except that he was a temporal agent. He'd told her his mission, to save the prisoner. Better not to think of it too much.

He figured she probably had issues with fixing history, and he did think that if it got into the wrong hands it could lead to chaos, but there was no harm in saving an innocent girl. Hell, had he not come back Caitlin probably wouldn't be around either, and he'd started to develop feelings for her. It can never be... our cultures are too dissimilar, neither of us would be accepted in the other's culture.

His thoughts came to an end as he slowed to a walk a kilometre from the prison and strode casually up to the gate, with two guards armed with assault rifles who demanded to know who he was and to show ID. With a good right hook honed from years of Krav Maga training, he decked one guard and threw him at the other to knock him down before he could shoot, then kicked the other man in the head before changing clothes with the larger guard, and then bound and gagged the guards with the duct tape.

Thanks, Kate. I'd never have thought I'd need this. After secreting the guards in a thornbush, Antonius pissed in the bush, cut a hole in the fence with the bolt cutters two metres by one and a half metres (no sense scaling a razor-wire fence), thanked God for inventing bolt cutters with plastic handles that wouldn't conduct a charge if it was a lethal-perimeter electric fence, and strode into the prison. Dammit. I should have brought some kind of communications device to get ahold of her. At least she was right about the guards ignoring me if I look like one of them. He strutted confidently down the corridors as he looked into each cell for Sarah Andover.

"Hello? Hello?" Caitlin flicked the microphone of her headset, hoping the sudden vibration might remind Antonius she had handed him an earpiece with built in microphone. It wasn't perfect, two way conversations did tend to leave the person with the earpiece looking like they were having a loud conversation with themselves, but it would be good if he'd put it on.

At least if he hadn't thrown it away she could still track it's position and plot his movements from that. Then, hopefully, and with a lot of luck, she could figure out when he had stopped to pry open a cell door and could appear right in front of him...

Stifling a yawn, Caitlin checked the clock again, still a few hours to go before she would have to get out of here. Then, if everything had gone 'well' she would either be dead or revealing to Antonius just why the Element agent had warned him she wasn't human... She hoped he could handle it and wouldn't turn her over to have research done on her or anything similar.

-=BUMP=- once for good luck

OOC: Ok you have your point and I'll let you do it.

Antonius ducked into the men's room as soon as he heard Caitlin's voice. He couldn't have the guards thinking he'd lost his marbles when he had but three hours to grab Sarah and get her out of there before Caitlin had to disappear.

"I'm inside," said Antonius when he was in one of the stalls. "In one of the men's rooms, I'm in uniform. The duct tape came in handy, I managed to knock out two guards and tape them together." He smiled, remembering that he'd taken the batteries out of the guards' radios so if they freed themselves they would have a harder time calling for help.

"Haven't aroused any suspicion, but I think Sarah's on the third floor, the guards were talking about a special high security prisoner there. I'll check it out."

"Okay." came the reply, with her distinctive sing-song Dyellian accent it was probably a good thing Caitlin hadn't tried going undercover...

"Listen, I'm tracking where you are so don't move, so just give me a shout when you're in place, you'll have to give me about a minute to make the jump, then I'll be there to extract you."

There was perhaps a tone to her voice that conveyed worry, something she was obviously trying to hide.

"Let me know when you have your fix," Antonius replied. "I don't need to be extracted until I have her." Or been caught, but I'd rather not think about that.

"When you give the signal, I'll go up and get her out. Then, we bail out."

"Alright then..." a long pause, "Okay, I think I've got it, I'm not going to move though until you have her, doors appearing out of thin air tend to alarm people..."

"I'm going to drop off radio for a few seconds, but I'll be right back."

It was nearly endgame, and there were still a few loose ends to tie up. Back in the room, Caitlin pressed a button. In a few quick steps she had crossed to her bed, retrieved her sidearm, then marched back to the door.

"Sorry." she said, and pulled the trigger.

There was no sound from the stumpy little pistol. Out in the alley a few hours later, the agent for the Element crumpled to the ground with a muttered oath. Then laughter, he was injured but still very much alive, "Protecting your little human friend?"

"He's bigger than me." she quipped in response.

"Go on, shoot again Djel, kill me." the creature cackled. The first bullet seemed to have impacted somewhere near the hip, "Do it."

She could see it in his eyes, the burning desire to see her become like him as he struggled to a sitting possition against the wall. He was so similar to many of the Dyellians she had served with she realised with a start, the cause was more important than life... "No." she smiled, "I want you to know I could have killed you but didn't... because I'm better than you. Remember that."

Slowly his hand was reaching into his pocket, then it stopped, the creature's eyes going wide, "I thought you looked different... you're... and you think I'm insane."

"We can't just go screwing with time." she lowered the pistol, "And I know you aren't going to shoot me again, because you know that too and you don't know what I've done or how I'm planning to fix it."

She turned, and this time the other agent did not try to gun her down. She paused, just before she entered, smiled, "Have a nice day." then screamed.

The agent cursed. As she slammed the door behind her, Caitlin could faintly make out the sound of running feet coming to investigate; perfect, with any luck the horrible creature would spend the rest of his life in a cell in this God forsaken country.

A few buttons later and she was back in time with Antonius, "I'm back... how're things going, want me to drop in now?" She thought she had been about a minute, although that was give or take about a minute, she could have been gone an instant, or for two or three minutes.

"I'm close to the cell," replied Antonius. He climbed another flight of stairs to the third floor. Three guards were outside Sarah's cell.

Dammit. Two, he could deal with easily. Three would be a hell of a battle, and here a dozen could be on him in seconds.

"I have orders to take the prisoner early," said Antonius to the guards after looking into the cell to be sure it was Sarah. He produced a set of keys; the guards would not become suspicious until his fourth key failed to open the lock.

"You all right?" asked one of them. Antonius was pretty high-strung at this point - he had to get the girl out in time for Caitlin to show up. As the guard was about to stop him, the sixth key in the ring opened the door.

Antonius spun around and decked the guard whose hand lay on his shoulder, as if to stop him. The other two pulled weapons - a taser and a handgun respectively. Antonius grabbed the gun arm and spun the guard into the guy with the taser, then grabbed Sarah and leaped over the railing back to the first floor.

It'll be a nasty bruise, but I'll make it. Another few seconds up there and he'd have a dozen guards on him. The alarms started to blare as he ran as fast as his battered leg could take him. He had absorbed most of the impact, so Sarah was undamaged; she could run faster than him for now...

If the headset were still working, Caitlin would hopefully be able to deduce that he'd freed Sarah with the alarms blaring, the girl's voice, and shots being fired...

And just when it seemed she had screwed something up, the doorway appeared a foot in front of Antonius and the girl, close enough that they would almost certainly run into it... at least she hadn't accidentally bisected one of them.

"Get in!" the door was open, the Dyellian holding it open for just long enough for the pair to cross the threshhold.

She was wearing an ethereal smile. There was just enough time for Antonius to see she had died her hair and applied contacts... she was trying to look like Sarah, then she was out the door, closing it firmly behind her.

"Don't expect to find me out the door." her voice was coming from the bank of computers . If Antonius turned he would see she had recorded herself, "There is an emergency protocol where I can make this shut down with the door. I have applied it, so when you open the door you'll just get a concrete wall. If, however, you press the return key on the centre keyboard, I estimate there is about a 30% chance you will find me there."

"We can't mess with history." that, apparently, was the explanation of what she was up to, "And ever since I told you how this machine worked and we had that little philosophical discussion I have been harbouring the suspicion you are the time traveller I tracked back here and that your mission is to save... Sarah? Anyway, I'm just stopping you from encountering any Universe ending paradoxes or anything like that."

Whether or not a 'paradox' could end the Universe it seemed Caitlin firmly believed it could...

Meanwhile, in another time and place

"...Looks more or less the same, well, similar..."

"...Then we don't have to admit we list anyone, no reprocussions..."

"...Could tell someone?"

"Believe me Gentlemen, for reasons you could not possibly understand, I won't." Caitlin replied.

Antonius had managed to get the confused girl into the doorway, right as a bullet threatened to split her head open. The door slammed shut behind them, and he was shocked to hear the recording.

"G-dash-fucking-d-dammit!" he swore at the top of his lungs. He realised, to his horror, that Caitlin was prepared to get herself burned to death. "Dammit! Dammit!" He pounded his fist into the console, generating sparks as he struck the return key. He hadn't saved Caitlin so she could go and burn herself to death for some desire to protect history. To his way of thinking, some things didn't need to be part of the timeline - most of the atrocities that had befallen Kahanistan in the last couple of years, for example.

As the machine headed back toward its destination, Antonius let loose a howl of rage and collapsed, tears streaming down his face. During their short time together, he had grown feelings for her, gotten to like her. Now she was subjecting herself to the most frightful death for some desire not to fuck up history...

There had been other ways. Caitlin knew that. She wasn't banking on dying though, not yet, people just had to think she had, and at least she had allowed Antonius his victory. Smoke... it was usually knocked the victim unconscious before the flames even touched them, she knew that from her childhood, when the Dyellians still burned heretics. She coughed, willing herself to stay awake. It was a loosing battle. She shuddered, then closed her eyes. As the flames licked higher, burning her clothes, scorching her skin, the small device in her pocket beeped once...

For the observers, the woman vanished into the flames, presumably immolated. For those that really saw, of which there were always very few, she actually disappeared, blinked out of existence. But who would believe that anyway? That wasn't possible...

The door to the room would now open onto a small tropical atol. For anyone with a GPS they would find it due South-West of Dyelli Beybi. Presumably somewhere Caitlin had seen. It was uninhabited save for a land crabs that fed off the coconuts that littered the beaches. There was one other thing on the beach, a rather charred corpse... or so it appeared at first glance. Closer inspection would reveal that it was breathing and had a racing heart rate, although appeared to be unconscious. The Element had not been lying when they said that the Dyellian Commisaar was not human. She ought not to even be alive, she ought to be permanently disabled, but in very little time it would become rapidly apparent that she could regenerate, her body rebuilding itself completely over a matter of weeks to a point where you would never know she had been burned in her life.

Antonius stepped out of the machine, leaving Sarah inside while he explored. To his knowledge, he was on a deserted island, trapped with Sarah. The charred corpse he encountered after an hour of searching for food and shelter drew his attention, and morbid curiosity won out; he checked her out, not knowing who she was.

Remembering taking Caitlin into the machine when she was shot, he picked up the body as soon as he noticed she was breathing and took her into the machine. Right now, he had to figure out how to get back to Kahanistan.

What to do with Sarah was easy - she could be given political asylum in Kahanistan; what to do with the other woman was less so. Getting there was the issue at hand, and he wasn't completely familiar with the machine...

... on top of which the machine was password protected (eventually it would turn out by a 10 digit alpha numerical). On the other hand the island was tropical and pleasant and Caitlin had stocked up on food to last for a month. It would probably begin to become apparent that this was all part of some scheme of hers, some great plan. Presumably something would happen, although nothing did.

About a week later the 'corpse' would open her eyes, they were a pale blue and incredibly undamaged compared to the flesh around them which had appeared to have suffered fourth degree burns... yet even now as the eyes blinked, some of the burned skin flaked away revealing fresh skin underneath, "Water, please." it croaked.

The period of consciousness lasted for only a few seconds before the person was apparently comatose again. Another week would see all the blackened patches come away, revealing fine-boned facial features that Antonius would be all too familiar with. The skin was blotchy, but a Doctor would immediately realise there was going to be no scarring... something which was decidedly odd, but nothing compared to the miraculous recovery of someone who really ought to be dead. Dark hair was also growing back on the head at a suprising rate.

During the first week on the island, Antonius mostly spent his time either pacing around, cursing, trying to hack the password on the machine (failing miserably - he had 36^10, or 3.66x10^15, possible passwords to go through.) Even with his script that could run a thousand passwords per second - a piece of crap to be sure but the most someone with his skills in that area could come up with - it would take nearly 12,000 years to hack.

He gave the charred woman water, though he wouldn't know it was Caitlin until most of the black patches were gone. When that happened, he was so relieved she was alive that he couldn't remain angry; he threw his arms around her, not caring how she looked at this point.

"I'm... so glad you're safe." He broke down and cried, holding her tightly.

Over the next few days, however, a more nagging worry settled in. "How do we... get home?"

Which wasn't an answer she was really in a position to give... considering she stayed unconscious even at the point when it seemed there was nothing physically wrong with her... It was like her body had gone into automatic shutdown. Although eventually she did wake up. At that point her hair had grown to a length where it looked like she prefered a tomboy like cut, rather than it having actually been burned off. She sat up, yawned and stretched like she had had a good night's sleep, "Gah... how long have I been out?" she asked almost immediately.

It was odd, she was more or less exactly the same as before, apart from her eyes which were now a pale shade of blue rather than a deep brown, "You want to go home? I've given you a beach holiday." she yawned again, "Although I imagine you have some questions?"

There was a confrontational look in her eyes, Antonius had seen something he wasn't supposed to see. She would explain whatever he asked, but was not going to make apologies for who or what she was, "I feel all cramped up, urgh... but seriously if you want to head back, I know the password, I just had to make sure you didn't try to get me to a foreign hospital for obvious reasons." a wry smile.

Antonius frowned and sat next to Caitlin. "About two weeks. Where are you cramped?" he asked. "Sarah's still in the machine, bored. Are you... genetically engineered?"

If she was, that wasn't a problem. Kahanistan had genetic engineers, too, but few were radical enough to experiment with humans. A few might be interested in increased strength, endurance or resilience for soldiers, and some might focus on life extension, but funding in that area was short, most GE funding in Kahanistan being focused on fast-growing food or biodiesel.

"Everywhere." she laughed, arching her back in an attempt to stretch, "No I'm not. I'm totally natural, from a totally normal family, except I'm a Dyellian and we're wierd, have been since we can remember. We're small, not particularly strong by anyone's measure, but our bodies have pretty strong potential to repair themselves... and I'm better than most." a slight hint of pride there.

"We should probably get her to wherever it is you're planning to go... where is it you're planning to go?" she stretched her arms back behind her, rolling her neck at the same time.

"I was planning to take her back to Kahanistan," said Antonius. "My bosses will probably be pissed off, they probably think I failed to save her, and deserted to avoid facing the music." He gingerly put his hands on Caitlin's shoulders, intent on relieving her cramps but sort of expecting to be told off.

Caitlin leaned back, clising her eyes, "Tell them you got kidnapped by the Cheka." she laughed, "If they've heard of us they'll believe that and give you a commendation for escaping."

"Seriously though." she sounded serious, "I don't want you to get into any trouble. If you need I can give testimony or whatever... you can go a bit lower, it feels like I've been locked in a box for the last month."

Antonius nodded. "I suppose it's true enough," he said, going lower. "Although it's more you saving your ass from ending up as someone's medical experiment. Any way you can help is welcome."

She turned slightly, Antonius would be able to feel her heart racing at the mention of 'medical experiment', "If I really wanted to escape that I would dump you guys and run... but I won't do that, and I won't ask you to lie about me either, if they ask I'll even volunteer it. You will be fine, as will Sarah."

"I had a little personal transporter thing, but I lost it when I dumped myself in the sea." she grimaced, then abruptly smiled, "Oh well. We can do without... I guess the sooner you get back the better, huh?"

"Not that we would do experiments on unwilling people... but if you'd ended up in a Fruits of the Plague lab, that's what would probably happen. So, what do you recommend for getting us out of here?"

He had some ideas - a raft, or smoke signals, but Caitlin probably knew where they were better than he did...

Caitlin directed Antonius a quizzical look, "Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not immortal or anything, had I not managed to gate myself out of the pyre I would have died... as for getting back, we'll use my machine I think. I only password locked it so you couldn't drop me off in a hospital where all kinds of interesting questions would have been asked."

"Sure. Just drop me and Sarah back in Kahanistan. Then we can explain to my superior how what he saw on TV is a hoax, with the execution." If General Kaselev hasn't seen the 'execution', concluded I failed, and sent another agent... or scrapped the project.

"Okay then." Caitlin stood up, "We should get moving, although I think I'm in need of a change of clothes before I meet any foreign dignitaries."

In the room-come-time machine Caitlin had a small dresser with a few changes of clothes tucked away. Ushering the other two onto the beach, she changed quickly. When she opened the door again she looked quite different, more military.

The uniform was field grey with a black belt and cross belt. Possibly because it was a dress uniform it featured a well contoured skirt that came to just below knee level. Black jack boots came up to mid calf, giving her a somewhat fascist look. The blouse had french cuffs, a black stand and fall collar. Black eppaulettes adorned the shoulders, marked each with two silver diamond shaped pips, edged in blue and fastened at the top with a silver button marked with a crown. She also had a peaked cap tucked under her arm. This item was also field grey with a dark green and blue piping around the crown and band. A shield insignia on the band presumably indicated her unit or department... it seemed to feature a red brick castle, a red eagle and a black helmet.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/arnoldthebat/spandau_dist_coa_n3850.gif

"Are you guys ready?" she asked, stepping back to allow the others entry before striding purposefully over to the computer bank, "Anywhere in particular we should go? I can bring up a satellite image and maybe you can point out where you'd like us to be?"

Antonius nodded. "New Masada, the capital. I can hand Sarah off to the Immigration Department and check in with Military Intelligence."

"Yep. That's a start, now can you point out somewhere on the screen where I can pop out where we won't get noticed but which is close to where we're going?" she waited for Antonius to point somewhere out, then punched a few keys.

There was never any drama when the door shifted, no sound nothing, it would just suddenly open to a completely new place, "Now its your turn to lead." she gave Antonius a wry smile, seems like I've been dragging you along in my wake the whole time. So,lead on, I will just follow you around and only speak when I'm spoken to."

Antonius pored over the map. As much as he would like to appear in the middle of the soccer field in front of millions, he selected a dark alley not unlike the one where he'd found Caitlin.

"Here. It's only a few blocks from the Immigration Department, where we can get Sarah asylum... and I can figure out how I'm going to convince the General that he didn't see her burned on international television." Kaselev was fairly open-minded, but he was unlikely to easily discount what he'd personally seen.

"May I advise you show him Sarah, then he can figure out it wasn't her they burned... presumably you guys have all that high tech business to increase the resolution blah blah blah?" Caitlin suggested as she punched in the coordinates for the opening, "OKay, out we go. Lead on." she gestured towards the door, "I'm just going to follow."

Antonius nodded. He took Sarah to the Immigration Department, where she filled out some forms, then was photographed and given a refugee visa, entitling her to fast-tracked citizenship. The entire process took less than half an hour. "Now, I've just got to show my boss that you weren't burned... and see how he responds."

Caitlin tailed the others, not making any comment on the situation. It wasn't her place. As they had left the door had abruptly vanished. Apparently she had programmed it to go home without her, just in case the Kahanistan Government had tried to appropriate the machine.

Sarah came out with her new refugee visa and Kahanistanian passport. Antonius was with her; he was looking in a phone book for a local car rental outlet. He needed some way of getting to the base with Sarah and Caitlin; his own vehicle was, depending on the nature of temporal mechanics, sitting at the base or still in his garage.

"You're renting a car?" a hint of incredulity, "How far are we going, can't we just walk?"

"Base is about two hours' walk," Antonius replied. "If you want to walk through this crime-ridden city and get mugged, or raped, or worse, that's fine with me. I wouldn't recommend it, though."

"Oh ok." Caitlin shut up again. That kind of environment was unheard of in Dyelli Beybi. Crime was rare in the Klatchian state, courtesy of it's abundant and well supplied police force.

Antonius found a cheap car not far away. After signing the appropriate documents, he had a vehicle he could use to take Caitlin and Sarah to the base...

OOC: Don't have much to add to that, so you can just take it away lol

They arrived at the base. Antonius showed his ID to the guard, who simply nodded and muttered something about the chicks in the car. He allowed them through, warning Antonius that Kaselev had seen the burning and was furious with him.

Antonius parked the car outside an office deep in the base. He took a few deep breaths, then opened the car and stepped out...

Caitlin trailed behind. Security seemed somewhat lax, presumably they trusted Antonius, but she could have been packing any kind of a weapon (not that she was).

Antonius led the women down the corridor to an office labeled, "Gen. Igor V. Kaselev, Director of Military Intelligence." He knocked on the door and a low, emotionless voice replied, "Enter."

Antonius opened the door. A large, pale-skinned man in a solid black uniform, numerous medals, and a four-star general's rank insignia sat at a desk within, with papers kept neatly organised and no trace of comical paperweights, posters or anything else that added personality to an office was inside. The man looked to be in his late 30's, spoke with a vaguely Middle Eastern accent, and looked to be very strong, though probably not as strong as Antonius.

"Lieutenant, sit down," said Kaselev, rising as Antonius saluted him. After he returned the salute, Kaselev sat back down. "First of all, I would like to know what you did in Fruits of the Plague. Secondly, I would like to know where you disappeared to. Thirdly, I want to know who you have brought into my office." The guard had warned that he was furious; the general seemed to show no outward trace of emotion, but Antonius was clearly nervous.

Kaselev was apparently used to meeting with more than one person at a time; there were enough chairs across from his desk for all three to sit in. Antonius sat down in the chair.

Antonius was a Lieutenant then, Caitlin couldn't remember if he'd told her, she didn't think so. It meant they were roughly of equal rank.

Thirdly I want to know who you have brought into my office. No direct address, no offer of a seat. She wasn't planning to sit anyway, instead she crossed her arms across her chest, eyeballing the general...

"I can answer thirdly." she butted in bluntly, "Actually I can answer all three, but I won't. Who do you see in your office?" if Kahanistan was even vaguely organised she imagined they would have had a mission dossier on the other women, some way of identifying her, that hopefully the General would have looked up... And she was in uniform so she was quite obviously some kind of Foreign military or police, so the General should recognise that.

It was almost certainly a comment that would be interpreted as disrespectful, but Caitlin did not care. Let him think what he liked.

Kaselev frowned. "She looks like Sarah Andover, but I saw her burned alive on the news." He barely acknowledged Caitlin's presence, remaining seated and looking to the uninitiated to be completely unperturbed. "Lieutenant Angstrom, not only did you fail in your mission to rescue her, but you tried to cover it up by bringing in a look-alike."

The general sighed and stood up to his full six feet three. Antonius remained seated; the general was angry and it was not a good idea to try to duck out on him. "Sir. The woman who was burned was the look-alike. A DNA test should..."

"And do we have a DNA file on Miss Andover to compare it to?" asked Kaselev softly, rhetorically. "But I will have her DNA tested, to see if it matches anything in our database. I will want to identify this woman, to see who it is you have brought in. I will also want to identify this foreign soldier." Kahanistan had had little in the way of contact with Dyelli Beybi, so it would have only the most basic information on it. They would likely not have a file on Caitlin.

"Sir. To answer your question, I infiltrated the prison with the assistance of this woman. Sometime after I freed Miss Andover, they must have grabbed some look-alike, just in case - totalitarian dictatorships place more emphasis on justice seeming to be done than actually being done..."

"I'm aware of this," said Kaselev. He was more politically aware than the lower officers; that was part of how he gained his rank. "So, when you freed Miss Andover," he said skeptically. "Where did you go?"

"We... laid low before I felt safe coming back." This wasn't technically a lie. Antonius had been fleeing under heavy gunfire from the prison, and there was undoubtedly a national manhunt for him in Fruits of the Plague.

Kaselev nodded. He wasn't sure he believed Antonius, but before he could throw him out on his arse he needed some kind of evidence against him.

"Have you actually looked at the video footage?" Caitlin demanded, immediately going on the offensive, "I suggest you look at it, magnify the image, you'll figure out the person that they burned didn't really look all that much like the Miss Andover pictured before, or present in your office... oh and the one they killed was about 2 inches shorter."

Inwardly Caitlin was really hoping he didn't spot the inevitable, that the Miss Andover they had supposedly executed looked a lot like her... Not that it mattered too much, except he might also notice that there would be a point where the body suddenly disappeared. An eye that wasn't looking for anything odd would say it had vanished into the some and flames. Hopefully if they magnified the image, the General would be too dense to notice anything.

"I have watched it," Kaselev replied. It couldn't hurt to... "I'll run the video again, on maximum magnification. Tell me what you see that I must have missed."

He stood up and inserted a small disc into a high-resolution TV set. Kaselev didn't expect to be proven wrong, that the victim wasn't Sarah... while an intelligence goof, or a problem with the source material, was always possible, he felt convinced that Sarah was dead...

"Okay..." the Commisaar tapped her foot as she waited for an appropriate shot that showed a face, her face, "Smoke and mirrors General. Pause."

"Now you will notice, first, the shape of the face. The person on screen has somewhat higher cheek bones, you'll also notice the shape of the nose, its thinner, not so aquiline, oh... also you can probably estimate that the person there is about 2 inches shorter than the actual Sarah Andover." she had very deliberately turned away so that the General would not see her at the same angle they were viewing the face on screen. Even so, now she was calling the General to look closely, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that she was the spitting image of the person on screen, "Are you convinced?"

Deep down Caitlin suspected she was about to face some awkward questions, but unlike the unfortunate Antonius, Kaselev did not intimidate her. He wasn't her commander. If it were Chief Constable Dzerzhinsky she would definitely be nervous...

Kaselev nodded calmly, then looked at Caitlin, her high cheek bones, thin nose, and short height. She was about two inches shorter than Sarah, and when he looked over Sarah's face, or more accurately as far as he knew, the woman who had been dragged in and identified as Sarah, he did notice dissimilarities.

He was working under the assumption that Antonius had simply grabbed the wrong prisoner in the infiltration, but he couldn't quite place Caitlin's vague resemblance to the woman being burned. The general noticed the vanishing later in the video, but said nothing.

"I... am convinced that the Lieutenant mistakenly grabbed the wrong prisoner," said Kaselev. It would take a while for it to dawn on him that Sarah wasn't the person he should be looking at, if he ever did. He was at least no longer thinking that Antonius would simply grab a random prisoner to cover up an error...

The general leaned over and retrieved four tall glasses from a drawer on the bottom left side of his desk. He set them down, then swiveled his chair around to fill one of them with water from his water cooler. "Do you care for anything?" he asked the three people in front of him. "Unfortunately, water is all I have."

Antonius nodded a little timidly. "Yes, sir." He was still bristling at the notion his commander thought he was dumb enough to grab the wrong prisoner after making it that far into the prison.

"He got the right person." Caitlin asserted boldly, she had noticed Antonius didn't look exactly happy. She liked him, she didn't want him landed in hot water, that wasn't how her plan was supposed to go, "Look at her, look at the file... ask her."

"As for this." Caitlin waved a hand at the screen, "I organised this farce to cover up your Lietenant's actions. I felt a cover up was more appropriate than a diplomatic incident. No humans were harmed in my work. I must say though that your Lieutenant acted with competence and valour."

Water? She was sure it was passed noon. In Dyelli Beybi half the Generals would be paralytic by now... "Thank you." she smiled and accepted nonetheless, water was a symbolic peace offering in Dyelli Beybi, a part of her was saying it would be exceedingly rude not to accept.

She didn't Sir him, he wasn't her C.O., and he hadn't asked her name, let alone her rank.

Antonius smiled with relief, then looked over at Caitlin. The general filled the glasses and set them down in front of the three.

Kaselev eyed Sarah up and down, compared the picture to the file, and looked at Caitlin. His brain struggled to comprehend Sarah's face matching the woman in the file, and Caitlin's face resembling the woman in the video.

As if trying to think of something to say, he looked at Caitlin. "General Igor Kaselev, Director of Military Intelligence." She probably had read the plaque on his door, but he expected that the woman would respond with her own name.

"The Government of Kahanistan is not concerned with avoiding a diplomatic incident with Fruits of the Plague. Our ideologies are directly opposed, we are significantly more powerful than they are, and our weapons and technology are markedly superior. You say no one was harmed in your work... but someone was burned in that film."

"Commisaar Caitlin Davies." she did introduce herself, "Dyelli Beybian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption."

"While you may not have cared for a Diplomatic incident, acting on behalf of the State of Dyelli Beybi, I felt that this incident was better avoided so exchanged with your Lieutenant, my aid for my idea of an optimal outcome to the event."

The point about someone getting burned gave her pause, "I said no human." she answered cryptically.

Kaselev nodded. "I see. What do you mean, no... human?" He was quite familiar with people even in Kahanistan who did not see members of certain religious or ethnic groups as fully human, and the problem had only grown worse after numerous armed conflicts.

Antonius seemed relieved, as if he could tell the general was no longer angry. Looks like he's not mad... just hope he doesn't ask too many questions. Kaselev did seem somewhat mistrusting of Caitlin. While her organisation seemed communist from the title, he also had the impression it was a repressive agency.

Caitlin was staring at a spot a few inches above the General's head, her arms folded behind her back, "I mean a sentient creature which does not fall into the traditional classification of homo sapiens, General."

The Dyelli Beybian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption, or 'Cheka' as it was usually refered to, had started in the days when the Government of Dyelli Beybi was feretting out Tzarist spies. Now it was just a general nefarious spy agency (partly because Dyelli Beybi had a Tzarina again... courtesy of a Cheka attempt to seize power through a puppet dictator, which was a long story of intrigue and Byzantine style backroom politics).

She looked skyward then sighed, looking straight at the General instead, "And that would be me General."

She had let the cat out of the bag by saying 'no humans were harmed'. She'd have to take measures to correct the possible problem.

Kaselev looked at Caitlin, as if examining a paramecium under a microscope. She looked perfectly human to him.

"And... what are you?" asked Kaselev calmly. He may have expected her to be a member of some ethnic minority that had internalised propaganda about them being subhumans, or a genetically modified Shooban (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/shooban.html) or Turta (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/turta.html). He would certainly not expect her to be what she actually was...

I just wanted to say, i fully support the idea of executing the woman.
All terrorsts will know: Killing yourself means killing your familiy.

It was very tempting to say she was Dyellian, one of the Übermenschen, but that kind of stuff didn't go down very well. That kind of concept was racist... and besides, the racial identity of the Dyellians wasn't well known, even by Dyellians, nor was it something they cared to have bandied about, "I am unique." she said instead, "But I am not some researcher's creation. Call it a fluke of genetics."

"Interesting..." said Kaselev calmly. "Perhaps you would care to contribute some DNA for our analysis?"

The general didn't exactly have a way with words. Unlike many Kahanistanian generals who used their position to further a future political career, this man would never hold political office with his interpersonal skills. Blunt, and to the point.

"You would not be harmed. Certainly not as seriously as what you have already been through, if it really was you in the fire."

Caitlin met the request with a blank stare, finally taking her seat. She crossed her legs, taking a moment to smooth her skirt before replying, "How does this benefit me?" she asked.

Caitlin realised she was at a disadvantage here. If the General wanted a 'contribution' from her she could hardly stop him from ordering it to be taken. She was Cheka, the Dyellian Government would deny any knowledge of her were she to get arrested. The uniform was a bluff. It gave her an aura of respectability, a hint that she was somehow official...

As Antonius would know, for all her bluster and pretence at being self-serving, she had a noble streak a mile wide. However, honestly she could not see how giving genetic material would in any way aid her, her people or her Nation, "What is it you propose to do?" she asked, "Of course, if this is strictly necessary for the acquittal of the Lieutenant I will comply."

"It wouldn't benefit you directly, Commissar," Kaselev said matter-of-factly. "It would not harm you, either, beyond a needle stick. It may help Mr. Angstrom, here, if we had evidence that you were somehow immune to fire, though there are still unanswered questions as to how you got out of the fire."

He was somewhat skeptical of her claims, but hid it; if she were lying to him there would likely be self-contradictions at some point. If she resisted, there was little he could do legally; Kahanistanian law strictly forbade medical experimentation on unwilling participants, much to the chagrin of those who would gladly experiment on POW's from particularly despised nations.

"I'm not fireproof." she blinked, looking slightly confused for a moment, it was possibly a deflection away from how she had got out, "I assure you general, I am quite flamable, I just regenerate well, which is not something you can establish from DNA testing."

She did not want anyone messing around with her blood if she could help it, "Lieutenant?" she spoke to Antonius, "Would you mind terribly if you shot me? Preferably after I've had a chance to change into clothes I don't mind ruining."

Getting shot was a prospect she did not exactly relish, and a degree of trepidation could be heard in her voice. She hadn't allowed herself to be set on fire just for Antonius and the other woman to get shut in the slammer back here.

Antonius nodded nervously. "All right... if it proves your abilities." He remembered when he had found her half-dead in the alley, and had risked his life to save her from the Element. He pulled his sidearm from his belt, a Hi-Point .45, and sat nervously as he waited for her to change.

OOC: My apologies for not being around for a few days.

Caitlin gave the two men a blank look, "Well don't look at me, this is all I have with me."

Which was a fairly clear request for someonething else to wear, at least she hoped. Mentally she made a note of the fact that nobody had protested at the idea. In Dyelli Beybi there would have been half a dozen legal reasons people would have refused...

Antonius sat down, shaking slightly. He seemed jittery, as if he were less than comfortable with pulling his weapon on a friend and comrade. Well, no shit, he was nervous. Thoughts were running through his head about what the Element's weapon had done to her, how he had found her near death. He didn't know if the weapon was fundamentally different from his own - the wound hadn't looked much different. He set the weapon on the desk, as if worried it might go off by itself.

Kaselev nodded calmly. He simply dialed the supply sergeant. "Yes, Sergeant. One standard issue forest green B.D.U., size..." He looked at Caitlin briefly, then tried to estimate her size. "Size two, female." He hung up. It didn't matter if the size was a little off, as long as she could get into it. "The spare clothes will be here shortly. What is wrong, Lieutenant?"

Antonius shook his head. "I... found her wounded, near death. I thought she was going to die, it took two days for her to recover. She'd apparently been attacked." He wasn't sure how much it was safe to tell the general.

"We aren't going to shoot her in a vital organ, Lieutenant Angstrom," said Kaselev calmly. "We're merely verifying her abilities. If she can heal from a quick wound, it is more likely she can heal from more serious ones."

"I know... but... shooting an innocent girl, it goes against everything I was ever taught." Antonius looked clammy now, as if he had taken a heroin overdose.

"I'm not especially innocent Lieutenant." Caitlin corrected with a hint sense of black humour, "Everyone is guilty of something."

"Anywhere I can change?" she'd be damned if she changed in front of the General...

Then suddenly it hit her how phenomenally stupid she had been being. Shooting was dangerous, you could accidentally put a bullet a few inches off and then someone was dead, "Actually I have a better idea." as she spoke she unbuttoned the cuff of her left sleeve, rolling it up to midway up her upper arm, "Anyone got a knife?"

Antonius breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at Kaselev. The general's face maintained its stoic expression as he watched the young man holster his weapon.

"We have a women's locker room," said Kaselev. He pointed to a fire escape map with his free hand. "There is a locker room outside and around the courtyard."

"Oh this shouldn't ruin my uniform." she waved a hand dismissively.

Nobody had responded to the request for a weapon. She could have asked again, she really ought to have asked again, but she was feeling impatient, so instead she reached down the back of one of her boots, raising the other hand placatingly to assure the Kahanistanis that she wasn't planning anything nefarious...

It seemed Caitlin was packing a concealed blade made out of something dark. Closer examination would reveal it was carved from obsidian... the only plausible reason for that being to allow her to sneak a blade through metal detectors. She handed it hilt first to Antonius, "Could you cut me please? Its a psychological thing, I can't do it myself."

Antonius picked up the blade and looked into her eyes. He had never killed in battle yet, so had not experienced looking someone in the eye and making a conscious decision to kill him, or her. He broke eye contact with Caitlin and made a quick slice into her left arm, a medium-depth, jagged cut about ten centimetres long as his hand shook. The cut stood no chance of killing her, but it might demonstrate her ability to heal to the skeptical general.

Caitlin yelped as the blade sliced into her, giving a trail of crimson spilling down onto the floor. Her eyes shot daggers at Antonius, and were it not for the fact that she had clasped her free hand over the wound, it looked like she might have taken a swing at him (despite the fact that cutting her arm was her own idea)...

Apparently she was not someone who dealt with pain particularly well, which put the whole 'fire business' into a somewhat different perspective, "Now what?" she demanded of the General.

She was tempted to make a caustic remark about bleeding on his carpet, but she bit her tongue on this occasion, out here her status as a Cheka agent meant nothing, she couldn't get away with too much rudeness to high ranking military officials.

"Now... you heal, and we know that you do indeed have these abilities you claim," said Kaselev calmly. He didn't seem at all perturbed by her tone, or the blood on the carpet. The general reached into his desk and pulled out a tissue, which he placed over the wound to stop the bleeding, holding her arm very firmly. Being a large, powerful man, Kaselev had a strong grip on her; assuming she wasn't haemophiliac she would likely stop bleeding very soon, especially if her healing capacity was as advanced as she'd said...

"It isn't instant." she replied smoothly, "That will take at least a couple of days to clear up, probably more."

Her body hadn't shut down for maintenance, it would not be quite so dramatic... The General would also discover it took an abnormally long amount of time for her to stop bleeding. She didn't seem like a haemophiliac, the blood clotted ok, but something else was going on. Not something she was about to explain, "So, you going to put me up for a day or two to prove my story?" the Dyellian asked.

"Very well," said Kaselev skeptically. "Lieutenant, take her to the infirmary. We'll keep her under observation."

Antonius stood up and took her by her sliced arm, walking her to the infirmary.

"Oh great." Caitlin complained under her breath, just loud enough so that Antonius could hear, "Now I have to sleep here too. You had better make this up to me when this business is over."

She would do whatever she was told, and within 3 days the wound would have healed and sealed over leaving no trace of a scar or any hint that she had been hurt. Oddly it took longer for her to recover than it had for the seemingly more serious bullet wound.

Antonius nodded. "How 'bout I take you out?" he asked casually. "Once this mess with Kaselev's through. He's not very trusting, but he's a decent guy once you get to know him."

---

Doctors in the infirmary took notes and closely observed Caitlin's supernatural healing. A wound that depth should have taken two weeks to heal, and left a scar.

In Kaselev's office, the blood from the carpet was put in a DNA sampling kit and subjected to close examination to see if there was anything not normally found in a human blood system in it...

"Alright." she smiled, "Although I do wonder about your General. There is something odd about him I can't quite put my finger on."

It was probably that he wasn't Dyellian. Caitlin hadn't really ventured outside of the Blessed Kingdom that much and Dyellians were odd to most people. They were obsessed with security and had a political system (if you could call it that) that involved tanks as frequently as Parliamentary debate. Although she didn't know yet, Dyelli Beybi had recently become embroiled in yet another pseudo civil war in the last month or so.

__________

There were some things wrong with the blood. First off it contained high levels of vasodilators, mostly NO... so either Caitlin had a very odd metabolism or she was using a certain recreational drug... There would also be certain strands of DNA that did not match with that of any other humans. It wasn't a big difference, just a few things here and there with no clue as to what they might encode for.

"Well..." said Antonius. "He's been through a lot. He fought in the insurgency against the Doomies... he spent about a year chasing Agents from Canadstein, and before that, he ran intelligence against Kraven forces. It's a miracle he's not completely insane."

---

"General, this stuff is really weird," said the lab tech. "Looks like she's taking some kind of weird drug, can't put my finger on it. We'll have to compare it to tox screens from the Forensics Department. Could be that she just has a weird metabolism, but more likely it's some drug that's messing with her system. Whatever it is, her DNA's really fucked up."

"Let me know when you know more," replied the general over the phone.

The drug it might seem she was taking was good old fashioned laughing gas, which was not something which would not take particularly long to figure out...

"I've lived through three civil wars." Caitlin remarked competitively. She hadn't actually done anything in any of them, but that was aside from the point, "I nearly got tried for treason after the last one, being an intelligence agent for the losing side never helps you get ahead. Luckily I had a relative in a senior position in the new order, so that was ok."

"Glad you did, glad to see you alive," said Antonius, smiling. "Well, I'm no scientist, but these guys seem pretty interested in you. Don't worry, though... our law is really against using people as unwilling lab rats. You get mistreated, and I will personally fuck somebody up."

---

"Laughing gas?" asked one of the scientists. "If it had that kind of effect on people's healing abilities, we'd have long ago provided tanks of it to every soldier going into combat. Something else is going on here..."

"Or the gas is being produced by a metabolic process in her system..." said another. "It's an effect, not a cause. The General will be interested..."

"Glad to hear it." she smiled, perhaps a hint of amusement hidden behind her eyes, "Although you know I'm quite capable of looking after myself if I need to."

"So... you reckon I'll be released more or less unharmed?" she asked, "Thats good, I will need to report back to HQ sooner or later or I'll be listed as MIA, get my pay cheque cut and my flat handed over to my relatives, who will probably sell it and spend the money on cigarettes and alcohol."

"Then." she added, "I'll spend about six months trying to prove to various Government departments that refuse to share information with each other out of a general sense of malice towards the community, that I'm not dead. You haven't seen bureaucracy before you've visited Dyelli Beybi."

"So where are you planning to take me?"

"Meh," replied Antonius. "Probably some coffee shop, it's pretty common around here. I think the worst is over. And I thought we had trouble trying to requisition spare parts."

Unfortunately the coffee would have to wait... It was only a few short days before news arrived of civil unrest in Dyelli Beybi which had Caitlin scarpering back home, but not without extracting a promise first, "Next time you are on leave." she insisted, "You are coming to Dyelli Beybi. And then you can buy me that coffee."

Antonius nodded gently. Next chance he got, he checked off his planner; his next leave was four months away.

To: The Fruits of Plague Government
From: Niraamaya Foreign Affairs (Humanitarian Concerns Department)

We, the people of Niraamaya, condemn your choice to kill this innocent woman. We, the government of Niraamaya, hereby cut all diplomatic ties excluding communication.

We hope that you will consider revising the laws of your State. We will not stand to see any more crimes committed against the innocent. We also condemn the cruel method of execution used against this woman. If any more prosecutions of this nature are carried out, we will be ready to send in covert agents to evacuate the innocent citizen.

ADDENDUM(President):You at least could have pretended she was guilty. As-(ADDENDUM TRUNCATED)

Approved by:
President Amitabho Chattopadhyay
Special Operations Leader General *CLASSIFIED*
Foreign Affairs Minister Phala Nyaaya