NationStates Jolt Archive

The citizens who were watching the DBC channels found their regular programs interupted by a news bulletin. A stern looking man with grey hair and a cheap looking suit was sat behind a desk.

"This is an urgent news bulletin," he began, "In the last few minutes we have heard from a royal insider that his Royal Draconian Highness, King Kurt I has gone missing from the royal palace in Exetergrecia. The details we have at the moment are rather sketchy and we will have more news as we get it."

The screens went blank and normal programming was resumed.

"In light of DBC's accusations that our beloved King is missing, he wishes to release this statement, 'I King Kurt I of Draconis Nightcrawlis am not missing, I am currently on holiday in the splendid nation of Grimdale. I assure everyone that I am enjoying my holiday and will return refreshed in two weeks."

Emily Silvercelt
Personal Assistant to HRDH King Kurt I

OOC: I would have offered to help in the search, but never mind... :? :lol:

After silence over the incident that lasted two hours, another news bulletin appeared on the DBC channel. The same news reader as before appeared on screen.

"We have an informant that has told us that our beloved King is not in Grimdale, we have gotten word that the royal spaceship is still here in Draconis Nightcrawlis. More news as we get it."

On behalf of the people of the Kingdom of Austica and the Commonwealth of Rivendellian Nations, I express our deep regret at the disappearance of His Royal Draconian Highness, King Kurt I. I hope that the people of Draconis Nightcrawlis are able to find the beloved sovereign soon.

My sympathy

<Robert R.I.>

His Most Excellent Majesty, King Robert II, King of Austica, and te realms beyond the seas, Head of the Rivendellian Commonwealth of nations, Defender of the Faith!

You are mistaken, our beloved King is not missing. It is scare-mongering from an anti-monarchy channel. We will deal with this rouge channel and the people who run it.

Emily Silvercelt
Personal Assistant to HRDH King Kurt I

We feel the King should make a personal appearance on government TV to disband anymore rumours about his supposed disappearance and stop further rumours which might develop.

Queen of Jeruselem
Keeper of the Holy Lands
http://www.whoosh.org/issue28/direct/penelope.jpg

Alliances

Defenders of The Faith
http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=101677

United States of Foreign Aid Givers Alliance (USFG)

Live From Grimdale

In a flurry of flashes from the press camera's that surrounded a podium. This was where the King was believed to be staying. Two bodyguards stepped out on either side before a blue figure appeared. This was most certainly the King.

King Kurt I cleared his thoat before speaking. "It troubles me to take time out of my holiday in order to clear up lies by a channel run by anti-monarchists. This channel will be delt with severly and now I wish to return to my holiday."

And with that short speech, the King turned around and walked back inside.

--Within the Citadel--

"What the hell is going on?"

"We don't know, your majesty..."

"First, a news report comes out saying the king of Draconis Nightcrawlis is missing and now the king comes out and says he's on vacation in Grimdale? Is this a hoax?"

"We don't know, your majesty..."

"Stop with the 'we don't knows,' I'm getting tired of them... Now what do you know..."

"We have operatives within Grimdale and Draconis Nightcrawlis who can find out..."

"Good, order them to check whether the king is really in Grimdale."

"Yes, your majesty..."

Once inside the room, King Kurt I slumped down on one of the chairs by a fireplace and rubbed his forehead. "Arthur this is not good," he sighed.

"No it is not," a voice agreed.

Since the Kings speech, all matter of talk on the subject of him being 'misssing' had gone quiet. The DBC channel had gone off air pending an investigation into its running. The King himself made no further statments, the people of Draconis Nightcrawlis put it down to his holiday. They knew that after this he would need the break more then ever.

General Flack paced around the darkened meeting room that was usually used as a base for discussing war tactics. Only now it was discussing a different sort of matter, but one which may lead to a civil war. He wasn't the only person there for around the table were many of Draconis Nightcrawlis' most importaint people. The meeting however wouldn't start until Queen Wanda arrived.

"General Flack would you please consider sitting down," Captain Devine asked.

"My apoligies," he replied, finally sitting down.

The head of the table was of course still empty as they awaited the Queens arrival.

The sound of trumpets signalled the fact that the Queen had at last entered the room, those sat at the table rose as she walked to the head of the table. She sat down and the others followed suit.

"As you already know we currently have a decoy in Grimdale and it appears to be working," Queen Wanda started to tell the room. "At this moment, everyone appears to believe that my husband the King is enjoying a holiday, but of course he is not."

"Have we any leads?" Captain Devine asked.

"At the moment I'm afraid not. Since Gabriel and Arthurs purge of terrorists in this nation we have not had any trouble from terrorist groups." The Queen rubbed her chin briefly pausing her speach. "It is too early for another group to spring up within these boarders so organised as too be able to kidnap my husband, I suspect we are dealing with outsiders."

"Any suspected nations?" Captaihn Devine asked.

Queen Wanda shook her head. "Again it is too early to point the finger of blame on anyone," she told him.

Queen Wanda wiped her forehead as she left the meeting room, the meeting had gone nowhere and everyone were even more mystified about the Kings disappearence. She was of course missing her husband deeply, but she had to keep her emotions in check for the sake of the kingdom. As she walked down the hallway, she saw some who she had been hoping to see coming toward her.

"Duke Xavier, I trust you have good news," she asked.

The Duke shook his head. "I am afraid the King appears to be no where on the planet," he replied.

"He must be somewhere, search harder!" the Queen shouted.

The President turned from looking out his office window, grey white flecked hair extending down into his beard. "Maria, any word on the missing King of Draconis Nightcrawlis?"
The woman he addressed brushed a curl of flame red hair out of her eyes as she looked down at her wrist mounted mini-comp. Her hard grey eyes for the moment only slightly softer than the automatic shotgun she carried over her shoulder. "Not much sir, the only thing we can confirm is that he was never in the country, and never made plans as far as we know to come here."
President Jewell sighed, the moonlight sillhoueting him. "Right, get a message off to the DN government, you and me are going for a trip Maria, the Star Hawk should be finishing her refit by tomorrow. Normally I'd stay out of these matters, but with my country being implicated, I think I'll have to see to it personally."
The secretary/bodyguard nodded, unsurprised. "Are we traveling light or heavy?"
"Light on the bodyguards, this is a courtesy visit after all, but make sure that the Star Hawk's armory is fully loaded please, and lay in the Stellar Wind and the Star Wolf as escorts. That should give us enough firepower to deal with anything short of a full battlefleet."
Maria nodded once more. "I'll see to it sir." She said before turning and leaving the room. As she left President Gabriel Jewell turned back to the window, his eyes filled with the full moon that had started to turn a bloodred.

NEWS FLASH
"Recipocating the visit of the King of Draconis Nightcrawlis, it's just been announced that President Gabriel Jewell of Grimdale will be leaving tomorrow on a trip to Draconis Nightcrawlis for a short break from his duties."

"Grimdale's President is coming here?" Queen Wanda said, walking out from the master bedroom.

"That is right your Draconian Highness," Emily Silvercelt told her, "We are not sure how long it will take him to get here."

The Queen nodded. "In that case, tell Captain Devine to get the space port ready and tighten security," she replied.

President Jewell looked out the ship's observation point two days after leaving Earth at the planet rotating below.
"Looks like a nice enough place, shame this isn't a real vacation." He murmured.
A small vibration told of the Star Hawk's docking. Gabriel turned to Maria and the two other bodyguards who would be accompanying him to the surface. "OK people, let's put our best foot forward, to quote, "we've got a mystery to solve, a King to find, and a country to save."
"In other words business as usual." Maria said with a small smile.
Gabriel returned the smile, the humor in it carrying up to his piercing green eyes. "Let's go, we mustn't keep our hosts waiting."

The spaceport was quiet, the only person there was Captain Devine. He was awaiting the arrival of Grimdale's President. When the President and his entourage arrived, he walked over to them.

"Greetings, I am Captain Devine, here to escort you to the palace," he greeted holding out his hand.

Gabriel took the hand and shook it firmly before gesturing behind him. "Maria, John, and Li'bus, my bodyguards. I hope we've come soon enough to lend you some aid."

Captain Devine nodded. "The longer he is missing, the worst it is," he said. "Come on I'll escort you to the car waiting outside."

The party followed, seemingly relaxed, but the eyes of the President's bodyguards continually scanned their surroundings, constantly on the alert.

Outside was a black stretched limo. Captain Devine walked up to it and opened a door. "After you," he told the president.

The President got in, Maria getting in beside him and the other two bodyguards seating themselves across from them.

The captain got in after them and as he closed the door, the limo began to drive off. "The journey to the palace won't take along," he said.

Through the window at the front of the limo, they could see that there was someone else sat to the left of the driver.

"Can you update on us what exactly has happened Captain? All we know so far is that claims are being made that your King is vacationing in my country, which he is not. My intellegence resources back home are doing what they can to keep up the impression he's there, but I don't know how long they'll be able to keep it up. Our own press isn't a problem, they know better than to pry into governmental matters once they're told to leave it alone. But the press from other countries are getting in despite our best efforts and they seem to think our laws don't apply to them." The President gave a rueful grin. "They're wrong of course, a fact many of them are learning the hard way, but for each one we throw out of the country, literally sometimes, three more come in."

"Well so far the only thing we can tell you is what you already know, that our beloved King is missing," Captain Devine said, nervously tapping his knees. "He was staying at Duke Covenants Castle in Undyi and just sipley vanished. We have read all the minds of those in the castle but they all know nothing, not even the guards who can make sure no one leaves or enters the castle with out anyone knowing. We have searched every square inch of that castle but nothing has come up, not even a faint hint of brimstone."

The President pulled on his beard in thought for a moment before speaking. "It's a shame you don't have a sensor scan of him, otherwise I could have my ships scan the planet and at least get a general idea of where he might be."

"We have done just that already," the captain told him. "It is like he has disappeared off the face of the planet."

"No leads, no witnesses, no trails, it's like he slipped into another dimension or something." The President's gaze became unfocused for a moment. "Maria, set up a datalink with the Star Hawk, get a download of all mysterious disappeances, pharnormal phenomina, dimensional shifts, etc. we have records of. Maybe we can find a reference to a similar incident."

"It's like he teleported and got trapped in the dimension he travels through, but that would leave a trace of brimstone in the air," he then mentioned shaking his head.

"There are more dimensions than we know of, and every now and then the barriers that hold them apart can slip, and when that happens, objects and even people can be pulled in. That what a guest of my grandfather's said once, though that may not even be what happend in this case. OK, lets assume the worst case, someone was out to get him, at the moment motive is irrelevent, only the method matters. Who would be next on a list like that Captain?"

"Hard to say because it depends on the reasons," Captain Devine mentioned. "Suffice to say that we are all potential kidnap victims in that case. I do hope that Grimdale will do its best in protecting Prince Kurt."

"You have my word on that, truth be told I'm somewhat obligated to do so, the person I was named after was an old friend of my grandfather's. My family has owed him a debt for some assistance he lent us long before I was born. Several months ago I got a message from that friend asking that I keep an eye on this country and the Prince in particular as he feared he would be unable to do so himself shortly." A distant look had come into the President's eyes. "My grandfather had always wondered what happened to him and his companion Arthur."

"We have alot to thank them for uncovering the terrorist network that had been putting fear into the people of this nation," the captain said

Captain Quentin Redburn of the Five Civilized Nations Black Watch stood quietly in civilian wear on a street corner in Draconis Nightcrawlis. He watched as the presidential limousine carrying the president of Grimdale sped past. Talking into a hidden comlink, Quentin said, "This is Beta Eagle to Alpha Hawk, over..."

Over the com, a voice spoke, "This is Alpha Hawk, we copy..."

"Sighted the presidential limo... Proceeding straight, over..."

"Roger that..."

Moments later, Quentin disappeared into a dark alley...

"So they're both still here?" The President asked.

Captain Devine shook his head, "Arthur is with Prince Kurt in your nation," he told him. "I'm afraid Gabriel is no longer with us."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that, but the Prince at least will be as safe as I can arrange. Marea, have a dispatch made up to assign a pair of armored calvary divisions as guards and have it transmited ASAP." The President turned back to the Captain. "Anyone trying to get to him will have to go through enough trained firepower to level a country, but I'm afraid that will only work against a direct physical threat, if as you suggest, the King vanished by other means, then we cannot devise a defense until we know what happened."

"We have all manner of mages, wizards, druids, scientists and pysitians crawling all over that castle, but none of them have yet to find anything."

"Where was he last seen and by whom?"

Captain Devine rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to think. "Last he was seen was by a maid as he entered the royal bedroom."

President Jewell sighed and rubbed his temples. "I wish Emperor Zadok were still alive, he'd be able to locate your King.

President Jewell sighed and rubbed his temples. "I wish Emperor Zadok were still alive, he'd be able to locate your King.

"How so?" Captain Devine asked.

Trailing behind the presidential limousine, a nondescript car driven by 5CN Black Watch personnel followed it.

"This is Foxhound Prime to Foxhound Control, we're currently in tail of presidential limousine, over..."

"Roger that Foxhound Prime, go two more blocks and allow Foxhound Two to take over, over..."

"Acknowledged."

After the limousine proceeded two more blocks, the car made a left turn. Although all seemed clear behind the limousine for four blocks, another vehicle, a large minivan took its position behind the limousine...

Inside the limo, two of the Presidents bodyguards, able to see out the back window from where they were seated, shot each other a telling glance.
"It's a rather long story, but it doesn't really matter, he's been dead for some years now. Regretfully I've only been able to deal with the actual assasain, the person who ordered the assasination has at the moment entrenched himself too deep for me to get at him. But he always had some method of finding anyone he wanted to, even if he'd never met them before."

The man who was sat next to the driver turned around and tapped on the glass. Captain Devine pressed a button and the glass vanished.

"What is it?" the captain asked.

"We've picked up an unwanted tail," the man told him.

Captain Devine nodded. "This was expected, our intelligence agency warned us we were being spied on. Take the alternative route."

The man nodded.

The Black Watch personnel grunted when he saw the limousine swerve. Cursing, he keyed his comlink.

"This is Foxhound Two to Foxhound Control, they've noticed over..."

"Damn't, peel off, we have men all over the city. We can get them when later or when they get to the palace..."

"Yes, sir..."

Within seconds, the minivan peeled off heading for god knows where...

"Shame we're not back in Grimdale, our methods of dealing with trailers tend to be somewhat more permanent. Usually along the lines of a main battle tank's cannon." Marea said, her grey eyes flashing for a moment.

The President shook his head slightly before looking back to the Captain. "My apologies, my people tend to be rather protective of me, overly so on occasion in my opinion. Of course, I fought against the concept of even having bodyguards in the first place." The President gave a resigned shrug. "I was doing just fine until they simply showed up in my office one day. I quickly found out they were all at least as stubborn as I am."

"More so sir." Marea said with a grin that caused her face to light up. "We told him that the only way he was going to get rid of us was to shoot us and drag the bodies out himself."

The President shared a wry glance with the Captain. "What could I say to that? Besides, much as I hate to admit it, there are at least a couple occasions where their presence has saved my life."

Captain Devine nodded before the limo took a sharp right turn, almost sending the occupants flying to one side. To those outside the limo, it would have appeared to just vanish, those inside knew that they were now driving down a ramp. After a short while, the car stopped and the captain got out, holding the door open.

"Not quite there yet but a change in transport is needed," he said.

The two bodyguards got out first, followed by the President, then Marea, they got into the new vehicle in the opposite order.

Over on a rooftop, a hidden Black Watch operative watched the vehicle disappear. Frowning the operative keyed his comlink, "This is Hawkeyes Three-Niner to Alpha Hawk, the presidential limousine has vanished... Can't make out what happened..."

"Roger that Hawkeyes Three-Niner, your recorder is set up correct?"

"Yes, Alpha Hawk..."

"Roger Hawkeyes Three-Niner, send over the tape and we'll figure out what happened..."

"I copy that, Alpha Hawk."

The operative quickly moved to a small hidden camera device and hooked it up to his laptop. Quickly activating its wireless internet connection, the operative sent the recorded data to the operations center.

The new transport appeared to be a carrage of an underground train. In fact there was only one and there was no engine. Inside it could have been a room in a palace as it was lavishly decorated and even had what looked to be a working fireplace.

"Make yourselves at home," Captain Devine told them.

The President and Marea took a seat in one pair of chairs while the other two bodyguards sat in a pair across from them.

EDIT: Thought it hadn't posted first time :oops:

"This is how the royal family get around without detection," he told them. "This far underground is unpenatrable."

"Not a bad idea, not practical for myself though I'm afraid."

Captain Devine raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" he asked.

multipost

"First I travel to much, my country is rather large and I enjoy being able to get to all of it. The bigger problem is that my residence and office is an hour's drive from the nearest city. And lastly, digging such tunnels would require tearing up much of the wilderness, and I will not allow that to happen. Besides, I have my own ways to get around without being noticed when I wish it." The President answered. "I have something of a reputation for just popping up somewhere without any warning. Of course it helps that I'm not dogged by the press and most countries know better than to hold operations of that sort within the country. After the first thirty or so teams were found on the front steps of their respective country's rulers, bound and gagged, without anyone detecting them being placed there, people got the message."

The captain nodded in agreement as the carriage began moving. "For these tunnels we didn't have to dig up the wilderness," he replied. "We Draconians pride ourselves on keeping our wilderness in prestine condition."

"I'm glad to hear that, my country takes great pride in the care we give our wilderness."

"Well, we have a longer journey now since it is not advisable to go to the palace now," Captain Devine warned.

"Where are we headed now then?"

"Covenant Castle."

"I guess the scene of the disappearence is as good a place as any to start."

"Yes it is," Captain Devine nodded.

"How long Captain do you think your country can keep the lid on this?"

Captain Devine shrugged his shoulders forlornly. "As long as everyone thinks he is in Grimdale on holiday I guess," he said.

multipost

multipost

"In that case we have until people wouldn't believe that he'd stay on vacation so long. My people are good enough to keep the press and other foreign powers away, particularly once orders for use of deadly force if needed are authorised."

"Hence the reason for this sudden change of transport," the captain agreed. "As long as we are on this carriage those tailers won't know where we are heading."

"Good, the last thing we need is another party intruding. This situation is complicated enough as it is without outside interference."

"Good, the last thing we need is another party intruding. This situation is complicated enough as it is without outside interference."

"The reason we don't want this getting out is for the sake of the kingdom," Captain Devine said. "If people had believed that damned channel and others had picked it up then we would have had a civil war on our hands and I know there would be countries out there that would just love for that to happen."

"God damn't where they disappear off to!?!"

"I don't know, sir..."

The commanding officer of the Black Watch detachment within Draconis Nightcrawlis glared at his operatives. Slamming his fist upon the table, the commanding officer growled at his underlings. Swiftly, the commanding officer wrote out a short message to his superiors back at the Citadel of Cala.

"Captain, in your professional estimate, how much firepower and manpower would it take to keep a civil war from breaking out should the news leak?"

Captain Devine rubbed his chin. "If the army keeps calm and supports the Royal Family not much firepower," he stated. "However I suspect there will be soldiers who will make a bid for glory and try to use a civil war to sieze power and in that case we will need more firepower."

The President stroked his beard for a moment before continuing. "Captain, let's make a deal, I have roughly five Heavy Armored Calvary Divisions that have only recently been formed and are badly in need of some extended deployment training. I think that, with their integral air support and a few starships in high orbit ought to be enough to keep anyone in your army from trying something rash. What do you say? My troops get some basic deployment training, and you get a completely reliable armed force with enough firepower to deal with anything sort of a fullscale international holocaust. Even better, we could set it up as some sort of exchange program, you can send the units most likely to give you trouble to Grimdale for what will be termed joint training exercises. You get the possible trouble makers out of country until this settles down, and some serious backup should the lid blow off. And since we're calling it an joint training exercise, it should keep anyone from wondering exactly why we're doing it."

(OOC: Where are you guys? Also, Draconis Nightcrawlis, aren't you on another planet and not on Earth, or am I imagining things?)

"It may appear suspicious but I am confident no one will think anything of it," Captain Devine said. "However, before we can do anything I will need to speak with the Queen."

(OOC: Where are you guys? Also, Draconis Nightcrawlis, aren't you on another planet and not on Earth, or am I imagining things?)

OOC: Somewhere deep below the ground. No you're not imagining things, DN is on a planet in the Alpha Einherjer system.

(OOC: Oh, okay, just making sure... Just a note, I'm 5CN's puppet if you didn't know... And just another question, where is Grimdale?)

OOC: Grimdale is located on the east coast of the North American continent on Earth but with the help of several friendly nations we've managed to create a decent sized space fleet for defense and exploration. I play future tech by the way.

IC: "Do you think she will approve of the plan?"

OOC: I recall you mentioning that in another thread.

IC:

Captain Devine nodded. "I think for the sake of the kingdom that she will," he replied.

"How did the Prince take the news?"

"You would have to ask Queen Wanda that."

"Well I guess until we have more information all we can do is wait and try to keep this under wraps."

Captain Devine nodded before looking at his watch. "Hopefully this journey will not take too long," he told them.

Maria pulled out her own mini-computer. "Since we have a few minutes sir, can we go over the suggestions for the annual budget allocations?" Marea.
The President sighed as he brought his own wrist comp around. "Might as well I guess, ok shoot me the files." A ping indicated that the file had copied from one computer to the next and the President started scrolling through the report, occasionally checking something with Marea, or making minor changes.

Captain Devine knew the journey would feel alot longer then it would be. The kingdom was entering uncertain times and they knew they would have to find the King quickly. A kingdom without a King was not a kingdom that would stay united. Eventually a civil war was inevitable, their best shot at averting it was to find the King within a week. Failing that, the only way to avoid a civil war would be for Prince Kurt to become King.

The President finished the report just about the time the car began to slow down. "Are we there?" He asked.

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"Hopefully under Covenant Castle," Captain Devine said, standing up.

He walked over the the door and peered out, there was nothing but darkness. No lights to tell them that they had arrived at their destination.

"Well?"

"We might not have arrived at our destination," he said. "The Covenants have their own transport similar to this and like trains it won't go into the 'station' if there's already something there."

"So we walk then?"

"If you wish to," he replied. "However I could find out what's going on first."

The bodyguards exchanged glances with themselves and Marea. "Please do so Captain." The President said.

Captain Devine nodded as he walked over to the cabinets at the far side of the carriage. Opening one of them, the others could see him take out a phone. The captain waited for a responce from the other side.

The President traded glances with Marea. "Any ideas on what might have happened?"
Marea shook her head in the negative. "No, I have to say, of all the little incidents you've gotten me involved in, this is definately the weirdest."

"Come on, someone has to be there," the captain muttered to himself.

"Something wrong Captain?"

This is all too confusing,

Please confirm - Is your King missing, or is it all just propoganda???

"No ones manning the phones it would appear," he replied.

The response of the President and his bodyguards to the information was immediate. "John, Li'bus, Marea,with me, something's up." Gabriel said, hand on his pistol.
As the doors opened he turned back to Captain Devine. "You coming Captain? We do need someone who can tell who's friendly and who isn't."
As they bailed out of the car Marea was busy saying something into her wrist-comp.

"There's a service tunnel next to this tunnel," the captain said climbing out the carriage. "It shouldn't be much of a walk from here."

The group took off at a run, weapons at the half ready point.

"Of course there are more importaint things to do then man the carriage phone line," Captain Devine pointed out.

"If the problem is that simple, then good, if not, lives are on the line. And if the second possiblity is fact, then we'll be ready for it."

"Well they're not expecting us and I doubt they're expecting anyone else."

(OOC: By the way, can I have some assassins running about, along with the Black Watch soldiers?)

OOC: Sure, I already have some nasty things emerging soon, they'll go well together.

"Fine, we'll ask nicely and then shoot." John replied.

-deleted... irrelevant-

OOC: When I said you could have those people running about, I meant you could have them running about the castle, at least until the group appeared above the surface again.

The group saw the end of the tunnel ahead of them.

OOC Double post

There was a sudden flash and the group found themselves in a dark room. Captain Devine walked over and opened the door, outside there was a humming noise like that od a vacuum cleaner.

Guns snapped up instinctively, covering the entire room, fingers on half pulled triggers.

Captain Devine shook his head as he calmly left the room. He found he was right to have been calm as he found the noise was coming from a maid vacuuming the carpeted hallway.

The group put it's guns away. "False alarm, but excellent reaction time people. Lead on Captain."

"Right, follow me," the captain told them. "You'll have to excuse me as I am a little unfamiliar with the halls here."

"After you Captain."

Captain Devine led the group through a maze of seemingly endless hallways. Though he had told them he was unfamiliar with the area, he had been to Covenant Castle before, the problem being remembering the various hallways and their deadends. After countless minutes of walking the hallways, they came across a man dressed in black robes.

"Ah greetings Devine, a pleasure to see you," the man said before noticing the people he was with. "And who might they be?"

"President Jewell of Grimdale and company."

OOC: Double post

"Foreigners," the man spat. "You are not wanted here."

He then disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

The President cocked an eyebrow at Devine. "I hope that's not a statement of offical policy Captain. It was your ocuntry that pulled mine into this in the first place after all."

"I apoligise for Aaron Covenants attitude, he is very xenophobic," the captain explained. "His brother, Lord Ambrose Covenant is pretty much the opposite."

"I'm glad to hear that, we have enough problems as it is without fighting with each other."

"Yes we do," Captain Devine agreed as he pushed aside a large door and led the other inside.

The room they found themselves in was a library, all around them were shelves stocked with book right up to the ceiling. At the far end they could see the reading area and a fire was roaring happily away in the fireplace. However the room was deserted.

"Make yourselves at home, I shall go and find Lord Covenant." he then told them.

"Thank you Captain." The President said after the retreating figure. The group settled themselves in as Gabriel and Maria began going over another report.

Captain Devine ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he left the library. Not only was he goingto have to find Lord Covenant, but he would also need to contact Queen Wanda and tell her that the meeting venue had changed. He would also use that time to find out ow the royal children were doing.

John and Li'bus reclined in a pair of chairs, conviently placed at opposite corners of the room, while Gabriel and Marea worked their way through the various paperwork that followed the President even offplanet.

John and Li'bus reclined in a pair of chairs, conviently placed at opposite corners of the room, while Gabriel and Marea worked their way through the various paperwork that followed the President even offplanet.

Having talked to Lord Covenant, Captain Devine then went to contact Queen Wanda. After a long talk, it was decided that she would leave for Covenant Castle as soon as possible. Knowing that the royal children were fine, considering what they were going through, the captain returned to the library.

"And that concludes General Harris's report sir." Marea finished as Captain Devine entered the room.
"Inform the General that I fully endorse his actions, to continue executing his current orders, and that proper support will be sent shortly. Then have orders drawn up for the 63rd fleet, they've got an amphibious element, that should be sufficent additional force to show that we mean business."
Gabriel looked up to the Captain. "What's the news?"

"The Queen is on her way and Lord Covenant is unfortunately currently tied up in other buisness, bet he'll be in later," he told them.

"Excellent, at least things are moving, though I'm not sure in exactly what direction."

"Hopefully the right direction," Captain Devine said.

"How long until they arrive Captain?"

"The Queen might take a couple of hours, Lord Covenant? Who knows."

"A few hours one way or the other isn't going to make mcuh difference I guess. Would it be all right if we investigated where the King disappeared. We brought some special equippment that might pick up something that was overlooked."

Captain Devine nodded, "Follow me then," he said.

The group got up and followed the Captain out of the room.

Soon they arrived at royal bedroom, outside were two guards. Captain Devine walked up to them and they stood aside, one opening the door and they walked inside. The room itself looked to be a typical bedroom, there was a bed at the far end, a large walk-in wardrobe and beside a window with tinted glass there was a desk with a computer on it.

Marea and Li'bus pulled some equipment out of the packs they had brought. They set it up and activating it, began to scan the room. After a moment Marea came over to where Captain Devine and Gabriel were standing. "We're still running scans, but we've already picked up some oddities. The Theta shifts are completely out of alignment, we have severe shifting of the Foster wavebands, and this whole castle is filled with evidence of some kind of dimensional shifting." She nodded towards Captain Devine. "We're assuming that this has to do with the teleporting ability you mentioned. But there's an absolutely massive spike in this room. Something unusual happened in this room, but we'll have to send the information home for a complete analysis once we finish our scans."

Have you tried looking behind the freezer? Because that's where you always find things. :P

Have you tried looking behind the freezer? Because that's where you always find things. :P

"Right," Captain Devine nodded. "Mind you there are usually strange things that go on around here, you met the usual cause earlier."

Marea nodded. "But we've noted the common place phenomenon, whatever happened in this room was of another level of complexity and power entirely."

the captain nodded again. "Any idea on what power?" he questioned.

Marea shook her nead in the negative. "We were only given a quick course in operating the machines, the experts at home will have to look at the data to figure what it means exactly. But for a rough estimate, I'd say enough power was invovled here that if it were converted to, say gravity, the only thing left of anyone would be a smear on the floor."

Captain Devine grimaced, that didn't sound very nice. "How long would it take them to find out?"

A ping of the scans being completed went off behind Marea as she answered. "A day, maybe two I'd guess. But I doubt the news is going to be good. We've just finished the scanning, so we'll shoot it up to the ship, and they'll transmit it back home, call it three hours to get into the right hands, two days to process it, another three hours for us to recieve the results, fifty-fours hours from now at the outside we'll have the answer."

"Right," the captain nodded, so far the signs were not good.

The group packed up the equipment and the President turned to Captain Devine. "I'm sorry we couldn't be more helpful, or at least give you some hope."

"I know," he said. "Sometimes things aren't as easy as you hope them to be."

"No, no they're not, as I well know. Well, we've done all we can here, we should probibly head back for that meeting."

Captain Devine nodded, "I should see if Queen Wanda has arrived yet," he stated.

The group returned to the library.

When they entered the library, the found the man from earlier there. He seemed to not notice them as he looked through the bookshelves.

Returning the favor the group seated themselves, taking no notice of the newcomer. Gabriel moved to look out the large bay window, night had fallen and his eyes tracked the moon of this world, the room lost to him for the moment.

"Filthy beings," the man muttered to himself as he flicked through a book.

John and Li'bus glanced at each other for a moment at that but said nothing. Marea and Gabriel appeared to have not noticed.

"T...telephone, fuck no but getting there," he muttered, flicking over another page. "Ah ha, teleportation."

Gabriel's head suddenly tilted to one side, as if listening to someone, and then he nodded slowly. Only Marea heard his softly spoken "Damn."

They could see the man twitch as he read the page he was on. "Arsebiscuits," he said to himself.

The President sighed once and sat down in a convient chair.

"HA!" he yelled in triumph. "Aaron Covenant you are a genius."

Still ignoring the others he walked over to a dark corner of the library.

"He seems to have a rather high opinion of himself, don't you think?" Marea whispered to Gabriel.
"No comment." Was the reply.

The door to the library opened and Captain Devine walked in. He took no notice of Aarons pressence as he walked over to where Gabriel was.

The President looked up at Devine. When he spoke, his voice was solemn and slightly strained. "He's dead Captain, don't bother asking how I know, but I will stake my life on the guarrentee that the results we get back will confirm it."

"Aparently so," Captain Devine agreed, "We have found out that a zat'ni'katel was fired in here three times the night the King went missing."

"Aparently so," Captain Devine agreed, "We have found out that a zat'ni'katel was fired in here three times the night the King went missing."

"I've never heard of it, but from your tone I'm assuming it's a weapon. Which means that this wasn't an accident, it was murder. Captain, who would most benefit from the King's death at this time, and furthermore, who was in a position to do it?"

"It's an ancient weapon, one shot stuns, two kills and a third evaporates the body," the captain explained. "The King had many enemies but none of them would have even gotten anywhere near this castle."

The President stood up, and the look in his eyes was enough to cause even a brave man to be pushed to the edge of panic. Something feral and untamed lurked behind those eyes. His voice when he spoke had changed, no longer warm and friendly, it had taken on the hard clipped tones of one used to command, and used to having those commands obeyed. "That wasn't the question I asked Captain. I asked who would most benefit, and who was in a position to do the deed. If as you say it wasn't one of his enemies, it was one of his friends."

"The person to gain the most from the Kings death is his son," the captain said, glaring at Gabriel. "There is no way he would have his own father killed."

The President relented only slightly. "I know that, I mean besides his immediate family. Surely there has to be someone in a position to take advantage."

"Countless Lords and Dukes," he sighed. "People like that always have their own agenda."

The President sat back in the chair heavily, for a moment looking his advanced age. "Then I guess it's confirmed the prince will have to step up as King. But if someone got to the king, theirs nothing to keep them from getting to the Prince once he's back here."

Captain Devine sighed. "That is true," he admitted.

Captain Devine sighed. "That is true," he admitted.

The President massaged his temples. "Captain, with that in mind, I would ike to add to my previous offer. I want to assign one of my personal bodyguard teams to the Prince until the murderer is caught. They're uncorruptible, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better trained group of fighters who won't hesitate to put their own bodies between whoever they're protecting and a threat."

"You will have to speak with the Queen about that," he replied.

"Be assured I will."

"But I am afraid she has not arrived yet, the tunnels are still not functioning."

"Has a reason been given?"

"Power faliure to the main computer," he explained. "The generator was struck by lightning so it'll be a while before it's fixed."

(OOC: Do you want my assassins to be behind this sudden power outage?)

OOC: I'm happy having it caused by the lightning.

"Then I guess all we can do Captain is wait."

"I'm afraid so," Captain Devine sighed.

The President leaned back and seemingly nodded off to sleep while the rest of the group continued to stay occupied with various tasks.

Since they had found out the gun that had been used, Captain Devine had found that his workload had increased massively. The King was dead and eventually there would be a coronation for the kingdom to prepare for. He hoped Prince Kurt was ready to become King.

"I must leave you now," he told them.

Marea looked up from where she was working on her mini-comp. "Good luck, I have a feeling we're all going to need it."


Meanwhile back in Grimdale at a roadblaock leading to the Prince's location:

"I'm a member of the press, let me through." The man said from inside his car, waving his press card in the soldier's helmeted face.
"I'm sorry sir, but my orders are clear, no one is allowed past this point."
The reporter, a foreigner, had ignored the warnings of more experianced colleages and come to Grimdale, seeking the story of the year. He had brushed off warnings of the strict press laws in the country for certain matters and the consequences of breaking them as being the excuses of cowards.
"Now listen you metal headed moron, you may think that gun makes you important, but if I'm not allowed through, I'll see that there's an uproar that will topple this country, hiding state figures from the public eye, obstructionism, ..."
The reporter's speal tapered off abruptly as the soldier took the press badge and threw it up in the air. a quick burst of precisely aimed gunfire turned it into confette. The soldier, face still hidden behind the faceshield of his helmet bent his head down to look at the reporter.
"I don't see any press card, what I do see is a civilian attempting to force their way through a military roadblock in violation of several laws, even if that civilian did happen to be a reporter. Now I have orders to see too it that no one passes this roadblock without authorization. Should someone attempt to pass here without authorization, I have orders to use deadly force. And you sir are about three seconds from me deciding that you're attempting to pass this roadblock by use of threats. Have I made myself clear?"
The tip of the guard's gun barrel tapped the arrogent reporter under the chin gently. Suddenly the reporter realised that all the stories he had heard were not only true, but most likely understated.
"Ye, yes sir, I was just leaving." The reporter stuttered out. A moment later his car could be seen disappearing around a curve in the road, back the way it had come.
The Sargeant in charge of the squad walked up, proping his faceshield up as he came. "Any problems Jenkins?"
The Private popped his own faceshield up and grinned. "No sir, just another of those foreign reporters that's too full of themselves. But I resond with him and he decided that this stroy wasn't that important."
The Sergeant returned the grin. "Keep up the good work Jenkins. If we're lucky, a few of those assholes might be stupid enough to actually try and get past us."

The captain nodded and left the room, this was indeed a dark day for the Kingdom.

The group waited pateintly for the Queen to arrive.

Aaron Covenant reappeared from the dark corner and began rumaging though the shelves again. The way he had ignored what had been going on made it appear that he was in his own little world.

The group patently ignored the eccentric.

"Queen Wanda," he muttered to himself. "So pleased to meet you."

fffffgggg typical"""!!! but anyway :shock: :idea: :arrow: randomnuss
invade us pleaes

Marea had gotten up and started browzing the various books on the shelves while Gabreil continued to nap and John and Li'bus continued their jobs.

Aaron Covenant laughed before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Marea had selected a book titled "Ancient Legends, Their Secrets Revealed" and had sat down to read it.

The door opened once more and a man they had not seen before entered the room. He paused to look around for a moment before walking to where Gabriel was.

"President Gabriel I presume," he said.

The President's eyes snapped open and he stood up and offered his hand to the newcomer, a warm smile on his face. "That would be me, you would be his lordship I assume?"

"Yes I am Lord Covenant," he said, shaking Gabriels hand.

"A pleasure to meet you. My secretary and bodyguards, Marea, John, and Li'bus." The President gestured at each in turn. "You have my condolences for what has happened here, as well as my word of honor that I'll do everything in my power to help you catch whoever is responsible."

"Thank you," he said, "At the moment we have a fairly large list of potential suspects."

"I was afraid of that much, but on the other hand I also have some ideas I'd like to go over with you and the Queen to minimize the impact should the worst happe. At the very least, should civil war manage to break out, they should keep both it's duration and bodycount as low as possible."

"Right, she has yet to arrive though," Lord Covenant told him.

"So Captain Devine told us before he had to leave. Something about power being out due to a lightning strike."

"Ah yes, this is why Gods shouldn't allow their sons to have the power of lightning no matter how mature they seem," the Lord remarked.

"I'm afraid I don't quite catch the reference, but I most hartily agree with the fact that lightning can be more than merely inconvienent. Particularly under the control of those who are not responsible enough in it's use."

Lord Covenant raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Well I'm afraid I must leave you now, I have much to do," he said.

"I wish you luck sir, perhaps we'll meet again."

Lord Covenant bowed and left the room.

The President returned to his chair and before long had dozed off again.

Captain Devine stood wait at the main doors of the castle, waiting for the Queen.

Marea nudge Gabriel and when he woke up, pointed to something in the book she'd been reading. A smug grin spread over his face as he read the contents before he nodded his thanks and stood up to stretch.

Looking out into the grounds, the captain saw a car driving up towards the castle. He knew it to be the royal car.

The President had stopped stretching and started pacing back and forth.

"So much for the security in Grimdale," Queen Wanda complained as she followed Captain Devine though the castle hallways. "How anyone could be allowed to get into the room my son and his friend were in, take both and escape via the royal spaceship is beyond me."

They both stopped outside the library. "I assure you Your Draconian Highness that we are doing everything to make sure that you and Princess Talia are safe," the captain assured her.

"What!?" Was Marea's response to something said by the communit. "Sir, you're going to want to hear this."
"President Jewell activated his own comlink, listened for a moment, his face going through a range of emotions as he listened. "Very well, continue operations." Was his response when he finally spoke. He hit another button. "Captain, have all ships readied for immediate departure, we've got a hijacked ship and a kidnapped prince. Pursuit ships are trailing, and if we hurry we can join them, expedite immediate departure for the task force and my party."
Even as the President finished speaking a growing rumbling could be heard coming from the sky. Like a winged demon the ship broke through the low overcast, flames created by it's rapid decent through the atmosphere sleeting off it's shields. At the last second it flared to an emergency landing, only feet from the castle.

"Marea, John, Li'bus, our ride's here, we've got a Prince to find. Let's move."
Seconds later the only thing remaining in the library of their presence was a book resting open on a chair.

As Gabriel and his group left the library, they ran into the Queen and the captain outside. The Queen glared at the president and raised her hand. "I put my trust into your security forces and this happens," she growled.

"Madam, I had two divisions surrounding the place, nothing got past them, the guards on duty reported the smell of brimestone and investigated. Fiding the room empty they sounded the alarm, thrity seconds after that your ship began to leave parking orbit without authorization. It ignored repeated hails and then opened fire on a defenseless civilian space station, and then fired on the orbital defenses and several of our warships, the warships and defense systems got their shields up in time, the space station only had meteorite deflection shields. Only the fact that the person in command put the two incidents togeather kept your ship from being blown into pieces that would be scattered halfway across the galaxy. Instead he had five of our ships trail it, another six are enroute and as soon as I board my ship, three more will be joining the pursuit." And here the President's eyes and tone hardend. "There were over six thousand civilians on that station ma'am, civilians me and my people are supposed to protect, none of them made it off before it was destroyed. You had better pray to whatever gods you believe in that we can either board that ship or get it to stop, because if we can't..." The President didn't bother to finish the sentence.

Queen Wanda shook her head, "Brimstone can only mean one of two things," she began, "my son had teleported himself and his friend to the ship or Azazel has broken from the hell dimension he was in and has taken them himself."

"Then you had best hope ma'am for your son's sake, that I can still take a demon on, for I am not nearly as young as I was when I last had to do so."
And with that the party hurridly boarded the ship which took off with a roar that shook the castle to it's very foundations.

The Queen yelled out before turning around to face the captain. "Get the space fleet ready," she told him.

The Starhawk class starships were designed to be the fastest things in space. These three particular ships were redlining their drives with no room for error and besting even that speed in order to catch up to the pursuing fleet.

It was with a grateful sigh that Captain DeVries pulled her ships into formation with the rest of the fleet and watched the as the drives dropped out of the danger zones and down to something more reasonible. She turned to the figure at her side, the figure that had barely blinked since it had boarded.
"Good job Captain." The President said, face unreadible. "Order the fleet to prepare to force a boarding."
The Captain's response was wasted on his retreating back.

While Captain Devine ran off down the hallway, Queen Wanda just stood there rubbing her temples. The last thing she needed right now was a headache, evidently the prince had not learned his lesson from last time.

Meanwhile through the solar system, the royal spaceship began to pick up speed.

Four of the fleet's ships pulled up close alongside the fleeing ship and grappled it with tractor beams, slowing it to a halt before opening fire and collapsing the shields and then explosions covered the surface of the fleeing ships as pinpoint fire sought out and destroyed weapons. As soon as the shields went down the remaining ships in the fleet disgorged waves of bparding craft that accelerated towards the ship and punched through the hull, disgorging parties of marines in full space armor. Out of one of the pods stepped President Jewell and his team.
"Ok people, let's find the kid and get out of here."

The first thing they noticed was two lines of blood smeared all the way down the hallway. It was as if two bodies had been dragged from one part of the ship to another.

The sounds of combat could be heard from all over the ship.
The President consulted his scanner and pointed. "This way, come on."

The further along they got, they noticed that footprint became more frequent in the two trails of blood. Upon further inspection they would find blue fur mixed in with the blood on one of the trails.

"This isn't good. Let's hurry." The group picked up it's pace abandoning caution for speed.

As they ran down the hallway, something was watching them. Eventually they came across a door that wouldn't budge, the blood trails went under the door into whatever was behind it.

John and Li'bus slapped charges on the door. A second later it exploded inward in a spray of shrapnal and the group dove inside, guns searching for a target.

They then foundthemselves in a corridor that seemed to run the entire width of the ship. The blood trails went under another door in front of them. This door moved as they neared it and they found themselves on the bridge. It appeared that there was no one there.

"Spread out and search, but be careful."
As the group moved to carefully inspect the bridge, Gabriel tried tapping into the ship's computer to find out if it's internal sensors had seen anything.

The sensors showed that there appeared to be more lifesigns on the ship then the marines that had boarded. One lifesign appeared to be in the room behind the bridge. Looking behind the captains chair they would find a locked door.

A click and a marker placed over the locked door was all that was necessary to assemble the team. Repeating the procedures used on the last door, the team blew it's way in.

As the door crashed to the ground, something large and black ran out at them. A wailing sound was heard throughout the ship.

Three fifty caliber rifles on full auto, firing rounds designed to pierce light armor and an automatic shotgun firing magnumback rounds designed to punch throuhg several inches of battlearmor opened up, filling the door with fire.

With the bullets flying, the black shape was torn apart and hit the floor in a mess. Black blood had sptayed everywhere, over those closest to the door. The black shape was quite dead.