And the War Machine Keeps Turning(ATTN Kahanistan)

[Ralkovia]

Beth Olim Synagogue, Omaya, Central Ralkovia

"The Muslim, this pitiful creature, it stands ready to snatch Ralkovia from greatness. The Muslim is our enemy and the government doesn't yet realize it. They do their best to contain them, but the Muslims outbreed us. Each woman will carry as many babies as possible. The average size of their families are sixteen. They suck the wealth right out from the nation, they take the money that the government would use for its justful citizens so that they can continue to have as many babies as possible. These parasites won't be happy until every rightful Jewish man and woman starve to death. They steal, the mug, they kill, they murder. These villains have no good in them. Should we let them remain?" Rabbi Ben Eliesah shouted to his congregation of five thousand. The agreeing nods and shouts of support answered right back with an enthusiastic "Hell No."

The doors of the synagogue were struck open as men sporting bacalava's began to open fire with automatic weapons.

---

News reports, thousands of them. Across the world did they travel. War. Death. Robbery. Rape. A thousand titles, each vying for importance. However in Ralkovia, the government maintained careful control of all reports. The Ministry of Communication, several towering spires that seemed to eclipse the landscape. Black, with the appearance of granite. From here reports flooded of the tragedy of Beth Olim. Close to five thousand dead, including the Rabbi. The service itself was broadcast across Ralkovia and the violence appeared on every news channel across the nation. Information was leaked slowly, the people responsible for this catastrophe were the Allah's Liberation Front. These ruthless killers had been trained of course as bodyguards by the NGO Muslim Mitigation Organization. However where all the money came from was interesting, the Kahanistani Government. The Ralkovian Government had seized advantage broadcasting the responsibility of the Kahanistani Government for the loss of close to five thousand men, women, and children.

Ralkovia spoke of vengeance, reprisals against the Muslims in brutal beatdowns. The Ralkovians took no pittance on man, woman, or child. Within the first few days after the incident, the body count numbered in the ten's of thousands as Ralkovian Death Guard destroyed any reminance of the ALF. Yet, this did not sake the blood lust of the Ralkovians. Sights were set on the Kahanistani. Strict demands were written up, with the promise of war if they were not met.

To: The Government Of the Kahanistani People
From: The Grand Red Empire of Ralkovia

On March 3rd, in the year of our Imperial Emperor Joshua Raskov the Second, the Kahanistani backed Muslim Mitigation Organization released the brutality of its forces onto an unarmed Temple in the city of Omaya. Ralkovia considers this an unannounced declaration of war and shall wipe those that challenge us without hesitation. Ralkovian soldiers will soon overrun the very nation of Kahanistan and kill ten thousand men for every Ralkovian killed. This has been decided as the only way to enact vengeance upon the Kahanistani for promoting violence across the world. The Kahanistani Government will face trial and all its members from post man to president shall face a similar fate. It's civilians will be enslaved and its nation wiped from the face of the Earth. However Ralkovia is not without mercy and so after heavy discussion we offer these set's of demands:
1. Five Trillion Dollars
2. Five hundred thousand Kahanistani citizens to serve as slaves.
3. The complete disarmament of Kahanistan
4. The Relinquishment of all autonomy to the Ralkovian Imperial Governmet
5. For the Kahanistani government to hand over all those responsible for funding the Muslim Mitigation Organization.

If all of our demands are not met, we shall wipe you from the face of the Earth.

[Kahanistan]

New Masada, Kahanistan

Presidential Office

"I take it you've received the latest missive from Ralkovia," said President Margaret Delray to General Igor Kaselev, Director of Military Intelligence. "The Ralkovians ask the impossible. This isn't our doing, is it?"

"Military Intelligence has had no contact with the Muslim Mitigation Organisation," replied the general. "M. M. O. is based in Kahanistan but it has never engaged in terrorism abroad, it would not be an organisation of concern to us. They have always been strict about that."

"Do they carry weapons? Something for self-defence that could have fallen into the wrong hands?" asked Delray.

"Some members carry defensive arms..." replied Kaselev. "Mainly handguns and shotguns, not much heavy weaponry. Close-in personal defence. They would not arm an entire platoon with fully automatic weapons. Whoever armed the ALF, it was not the M.M.O."

"I see. The Ralkovians don't seem all too willing to listen to reason. I will make good faith efforts to negotiate, but... I do not hold my breath. I'll put the Navy on high alert and order all CIDG battalions to prepare for an invasion."

---

Official Statement of the Free Republic of Kahanistan

The Government of Kahanistan does not take kindly to being accused of funding terrorism without proof. Provide us with your evidence and we will investigate. We are willing to cooperate with Ralkovian investigators in the search for these terrorists but our Constitution forbids us from deporting a citizen where they may face torture, death or slavery.

The Government of Kahanistan is willing to offer compensation if an investigation proves the involvement of a national of our state, but five trillion dollars is vastly greater than the damage we are accused of causing.

The Republic is unable to supply any citizens to serve as slaves per our status as a signatory of the Amistad Convention, not to mention the Constitution that we elected officials swear to uphold. We were elected to govern, not to hand our fine nation over to whatever terrorist with a gun wants it.

In conclusion, the Government of Kahanistan refuses all five ultimata of the Ralkovian Government.

Signed,

Margaret K. Delray,
President of Kahanistan

Dragomir Karovic,
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Ralkovia]

The Ralkovians were in an uproar, the calls to war and the rattling of sabers could be heard across the entirety of Gholgoth. Ralkovian ships had begun their journey home to pick up the millions of men waiting to drain the Kahanistani of their blood. Fortunately, Ralkovia's war cry had been temporarily silenced as the despised nation of Kahanistan convinced the Ralkovians to at least attempt some sort of diplomacy. So Ralkovia agreed, giving it much needed time to organize and train the new recruits that had flooded the recruitment posts. The Ralkovians had chosen the meeting place to be the Industrial Behemoth of Krankav, or in Ralkovian
"War Fire."

The city was not truly a place of habitation, it was more like a one hundred and fifty thousand square mile manufacturing complex dedicated solely to producing and storing the Ralkovian War Machine. Air Pollution and Acid Rain had long since wrestled the greenery from the land and forced its workers underground. However, not even the underground was absent from the eternal grinding of the war factories.

Even underground was no place of rest; Ralkovia's slave armies, already considered dead, were forced to construct huge bunkers for the storage of the Ralkovian weapons. It was truly a city under a city; millions of slaves forced to descend, swallowed whole by the Earth, worked until death. Then they were buried in the shallow graves namelessly and without any honor, before they were covered in concrete and forgotten. Even though finally deceased, their work was not truly over. It was after all, not the concrete that held up the city above, but the tens of millions of bodies.


War Fire, was a city whose founding purpose was to supply war. Inhabited by little over two hundred million slaves, it was a living hell. The sky was eternally dark above the city, hundreds of thousands of smoke stacks had long since created a shield that even the Sun could not penetrate. The air was filled with soot and chemicals making it almost unbreathable. A nuclear power plant had long since gone critical and irradiated the entire city. Yet, this city never stopped. Not even for a moment. For twenty four hours, three hundred and six five days a year, this city continually produced the materials needed. Weapons, uniforms, planes, tanks, artillery, concrete, trucks.

Through remote controlled turrets, listening devices, and Ralkovian Death Guard slaves were kept from rebelling. By a field of landmines that surrounded the city fifty miles in any direction they were kept in. Slaves did not rebel or escape in this nightmare. They simply lived until they were no longer needed and thrown into a Microbacterial Powerplant, where the dead were used to power the city. War Fire, did not discard anything that could be used.

The conference would be held in the Ministry of War, otherwise known as the Spire. Standing a mile tall, the Spire was a needle-like building in the center of the city that punctured through the grey blanket. It was specially designed to keep control of the entire city grid and came with its own nuclear powerplant. It was an impressive structure built to organize the massive war effort. From almost three thousand feet in the air, the Kahanistani delegation would have a terrifyingly impressive view of the "average" Ralkovian Super City.

First though, the Ralkovians would have them land about one thousand and fifty miles away from the city limit at the Military Base of Kierkanko, one of the largest military bases in Ralkovia. Over ten million men in active duty resided in this leviathan of a deployment base. Constructed in direct response to the threat of two hundred million slaves. It also served as storage to the majority of weapons produced by the the city of War Fire.

---

As the Kahanistani Delegations plane began to descend, a forest of perfectly aligned trees came into view. There must have been millions of these trees as they stretched across the Horizon in either direction. They stood firm and unbending, evenly spaced. The massive landing strip seemed to be carved out of this gargantuan forest. The runways were wide enough to support even the largest planes in the world to land.

As they came closer and closer to the ground it would come to most of them as a terrifying shock, that these "trees" were not really trees at all. They were artillery. Over one million eight hundred thousand pieces of artillery stood pointing straight up at them. They extended from east to west, targeted the Sun ready to bring this entire world down if the Emperor wanted. This was what the Kahanistani would be facing. An unbending opponent who stood ready to wipe out everything no matter the loss, as it always had more.

As the plane reached the tarmac it became evident that they were not alone on this huge runway. The massive hangars that had been observed on the ground had transformed into bunkers in which not tens but thousands of planes resided. The Kahanistani plane was flagged down by the men on the ground and guided into one of the bunkers. They taxied down a slope into an underground chamber where hundreds of fighters were lined up until the men finally pointed to the space that they were to stop at.

The Kahanistani delegations plane would be linked up to a Ralkovian air bridge that would allow them to begin their journey to Krankav. A single Ralkovian stepped onto the plane first. Dressed in black, the red insignia of the Ralkovian Death Guard stood out noticeably on his wide chest. He was broad shouldered and the muscles were barely contained under the mans black tunic. His soldier cap covered the neat blond hair that had been cut close to his skull, yet did nothing to cover early signs of five 'o clock shadow. He scanned over the Kahanistani with his jade green eyes only pausing once.

"My name is Death Guard Legion Commander Desmond Garhart, I am to escort you challzah¹ to the Spire. The Death Guard will ensure that you reach Krankav alive. I will only say this once, you are not welcome in this country. If you get lost or separated from the group, you will surrender yourself over to a Death Guard. Chances are anyone else will do bad things to you. Here are your visa and diplomatic cards I will be waiting at the gate," He said speaking in Hebrew, in a deep accent that seemed like a growl.

---

---

Challzah¹= Translated to Hadiian it means Inferior, Dirty, Unwanted.

[Kahanistan]

The Free Republic's delegation consisted of Foreign Minister Dragomir Karovic, two Ralkovian-speaking aides, Major General Ilan Bar-Hillel of the Army, and Senator Bat-Sheva Dagan of the Foreign Relations Committee. They took the cards from the Ralkovian officer and entered the military base. They felt a sense of foreboding as they flew over what they could have mistaken for a Kraven city.

---

The Spire would allow the delegates to both literally and figuratively look down on Ralkovian civilisation, giving them an eagle eye view of a city founded quite literally on the bones of the workers. As diplomats, they knew that the Ralkovians would probably not molest them but it was still a disturbing sight. The five fully expected war to break out but hoped to show to the international community that they were serious about peace even if the Ralkovians weren't.

[Ralkovia]

The Ralkovian Death Guard advanced, seemingly undisturbed by the Kahanistani. They were stone men who had little objective in life other than to fight and die for the Emperor. It was their overall goal and so they trained and fought and trained and fought; resting only in the afterlife. They were men of power, they walked not fearing death. Strength eminated from their body like light. They were Death Guard, the instrument of the Empire.


As the Kahanistani arrived at the gate, they were sheperded onto a Maglev train and shot out past of the forest of artillery, slowing down as a distantly huge screen appeared. As the train began to approach the screen it became apparent that they were entirely surrounded by three million Ralkovian soldiers in full regailia below them. They watched standing still under the hot Sun as the Emperor spoke.

"...And it is within our power to grasp the entire nation and strangle it until it is dead. Four hundred million men march in unison to their defeat. Every man in our nation has a job to do, and that job is to fight. With it we can secure victory for the Ralkovian Empire. Long live Ralkovia...

The train powered up and again sped to the city of Krankav.

[Kahanistan]

The delegates were impressed by the sheer size of the Ralkovian Army. The Death Guard looked scary, but they were probably intended to. Perhaps the display itself was intended to intimidate the delegation. The delegates watched the formations as they traveled to the Spire. They were going to make a good faith effort to negotiate with the Ralkovians.

[Ralkovia]

As the Maglev took off again, speeding down the track at lightning speed, other rail tracks began to appear. Another Maglev soon appeared going the opposite direction, much slower than the one the Kahanistani delegation was on; slowed down by the weight of hundreds of MCA-7E Main Battle Tanks. The Maglev continued to increase speed and even the rough figures of the war tanks in their glass containment pods began to blur into nothingness. It would be another two hours before the speeding train arrived at Krankav.

The train began to slow as the Kahanistani Delegation neared the city of Krankav. The clouds had begun to darken and outside the train, the air seemed to grow an ominously thick black. The haze seemed almost like a living organism. It swallowed everything, killing it. Even the Sun was not immune to that black haze, for the star had turned a pale red and the sky's bluish hue had turned into a sickening bloody crimson. Yet, the train seemed to keep the haze out. It's speed and walls dispelling the haze that thickened and pulsed. Like a fortress, they were safe from the misery and death that seemed to strangle all things.

Greenery had all but disappeared and the ground had grown a thick moving brown that seemed more reminscient of sludge than any sort of dirt or mud. It seemed to expand and contract like a pair of lungs, expelling a stench of death and despair that even the trains biofilters could not stop. The train began to reek of decay, the odor clung to the Kahanistani, choking them and stealing the very life from their breaths. Yet, it was not their time to die. Yet. The train sensing this invisible death hissed expelling the gas that had infilitrated the train, replacing it with a fresh scent from the nozzles above. Whatever the odor was, it seemed to disappear.

All land retains some sort of beauty and magic to it, even when raped beyond recognition. After all, even a desert has a magical aspect to it. Mother nature has always found a way to triumph after man has murdered her. Whether it be a single defiant tree that remained on an eroded hill top or that last patch of snow that lays there until summer. If the Kahanistani were looking for that one glimmer of beauty they would find it even here. Whenever the light penetrated through the bulbous black and red sky; the sludge fields began to shine like stars in the night. It was almost beautiful, they seemed like glitter shining in myriad of colors in every direction.

Despite the hideous world that encompassed them, they shined offering hope of escape out of the misery of this world. They were beautiful in their own right attracting the attention of not only the Death Guard but the Kahanistani as well. Seeing some of the wondering expressions on the delegates faces, one of the Death Guard elected to dispel the beauty with a single, horrifying word.

"Landmines."

As if to support his point, a small explosion ripped a whole in the sludge.

The train began to slow even more as the city of Krankav came into view. All the blackness, death, and despair seemed to eminate from that one spot on the horizon. Krankav, even from this distance looked like a living hell. The Spire stood like a lone black column, watching over the entirety of the city. Its eyes observed everything, its ears heard all. It was a dark place, even looking at it one seemed to understand that no good had ever come out of it.

The train soon reached the city limit and crawled towards that behemoth tower. Below, thousands of workers staggered away from the factories as others waited in lines to replace them. They were thin and weak looking people, their bodies had lost all strength and only lived to work. Some had lost even that motivation and collapsed in the streets dead. The others took no pity, they always descended like a pack of vultures on a carcass; stripping the dead of their clothing and ration card, leaving them naked in the streets. These men were slaves, often from completely different parts of the world. They owed the dead no dignity.

Luckily for the Kahanistani, the tracks led directly into the Spire. They would avoid the rest of the atrocities being committed. As the train came to the loading station, the Death Guard stood up and told the Kahanistani they had arrived. Of course, it was plain to see that this was the Spire. It was a building who seemed to fit its very name.

On the loading dock, the Ralkovian delegation stood waiting for the Kahanistani. General Jordan Ramsey, Admiral Jason Sneider, and Adjutant to the Emperor, Michael Hillel. Then finally, the adopted son of the Emperor and heir apparent Benjamin vi Matisyah-Tsion Raskov along with his two slaves.

It was probably not the heir apparent that stood out the most, but one of the slaves. She being a former Kahanistani citizen and would be entirely unmistakable for one. Prince Benjamin turned and talked to her, upon which she smiled and bowed her head, leading the other slave away.

As the Kahanistani delegation exited the train, Prince Benjamin began the introduction before sheperding them towards the main hall.

[Kahanistan]

General Bar-Hillel looked out the window of the maglev he was riding on. He observed the vast legions of MCA-7E Timber Wolf main battle tanks, the same massive pieces of armour that Kahanistan fielded in its own armies. The general had not come to gather intelligence on Ralkovian military strength but it appeared to be shoved right in his face. There were a lot of them. He wasn't eager at the prospect of fighting against those.

"Lots of armour. Pollution I haven't seen since the Kraven wars. Landmines." He continued watching outside the train as it passed the slaves on the way to the Spire. "Mass starvation."

Senator Dagan nodded and moved her dark hair away from her face. "This does look like a Kraven city. More than I care to admit."

---

Foreign Minister Karovic extended his hand to Benjamin and introduced himself. "I am Foreign Minister Dragomir Karovic. This is Senator Bat-Sheva Dagan, and Major General Ilan Bar-Hillel." He then introduced the two Ralkovian-speaking interpreters. "Mr. Schwartz. Mr. Mendel. Interpreters with the Foreign Service."

Dagan took a closer look at one of the slave girls and looked at the general. She remembered a photograph of a young woman who looked much like the slave girl.

About a year earlier, Senator Melissa Romero, head of the Anti-Catholic Party of Kahanistan, had shown in the Senate Hall a photograph of a girl she identified as an A.C.P.K. activist and a note from her that she'd sent from the Scandinvan colony of Derst where she had been working against the enslavement of the locals. The note had essentially said that slaver gangs were raiding native villages and asked for help from the Senator. The girl's name was Hannah Kuwayla, if she remembered correctly, and she'd been about sixteen when she went missing. She could be the slave girl... and that other girl did look like she might be a native.

Romero had tried to get the Republic Navy more involved in pursuing slave ships in the area, but a Senate unwilling to risk war with Gholgoth states in general and the Scandinvans in particular had stonewalled her. She had made little progress until the Amistad Declaration.

General Bar-Hillel noted the Senator's stunned reaction, but Dagan did not wish to discuss it with the Ralkovians around. They waited for the meeting to start...

[Ralkovia]

Benjamin took the lead, sheperding the Kahanistani delegation towards the elevator. However to get to the elevator, one had to first cross the Welcoming Hall. It was surely a place of oppulence, golden flags and red banisters heralded the visitors welcome. It was covered in the finest black marble, perfect and absent from scuff marks. Its reflection almost like a mirror in its immaculate state. Yet, it seemed to draw the good from the very soul. The inhumanity of the rich and powerful towards those below. They ate, drank, and slept comfortably while tens of thousands died from malnutrition, exhaustion, and exposure. This temple of abundant richness stole the very life out of those under it so that it could continue to spend and waste.

It was quite apparent the Ralkovians were a sadistic people, or at least the government was. The Welcoming Hall, also used for feasting, was designed so that its occupants could watch the workers in the streets as they escaped back into the tunnels to catch a few hours of rest before they were forced back into the factories. The Ralkovians got enjoyment out of watching the starving and dying, like a designer watching his blueprints come to life. They had a direct hand in this and so they watched with happiness as their plans came to fruition.

A city...a city, dedicated to war. It had encompassed all the Ralkovian ideals, it stood as a masterpiece to efficiency and effectiveness. Each day, hundreds of tanks, artillery, trucks, and planes were pumped out and rushed to whatever front Ralkovia needed. It was a city where war ruled; capable of putting out a million rifles a day. It was a city where authority triumphed over the will to live; hundreds died each day exhausted and weak. And to the Ralkovians, it was as beautiful as any other metropolis in the world.

As the Ralkovians and Kahanistani crossed the hall and entered the elevator, the machine began to whirr to life. It pulled the elevator up the floors, the numbers began to speed by from fifteen to twenty to forty to eighty to one hundred and finally stopping at one hundred and twenty five. As the elevator doors opened, the conference hall looked just as spectacular as the Welcoming Hall. This time however, there was light that flooded in from the Sun. They stood at almost nine hundred meters and fifty meters high, it was dizzying.

"I guess we should begin. Kahanistan has supported a hostile organization in our nation. Because of you, five thousand men, women, and children are dead. Ralkovia demands recompense for those poor souls, whether it be in money and special labor or...blood."

[Kahanistan]

Karovic sat down, flanked by his aides. General Bar-Hillel and Senator Dagan each sat next to one of the aides. "The Government of Kahanistan has supported the M.M.O.," he admitted. "We have aided their efforts to assist Ralkovian Muslims to leave Ralkovia for another nation that will take them. Our government had no part in the attack on the Beth Olim synagogue."

"It is, however, conceivable that individual M.M.O. activists or their guards, acting on their own initiative... may also be members of A.L.F.," said General Bar-Hillel. "Terrorists infiltrating a semi-legitimate organisation, either to get training or to try to use the organisation itself for its own ends. We feared a terrorist act might make the evacuation of the Muslims more difficult. If the M.M.O. has been infiltrated by terrorists, that is a matter of concern. They should take measures to ensure the guards they hire by day are not terrorists at night."

Senator Dagan nodded in agreement. "I propose a joint investigation between the authorities of our governments into this attack. If any have taken refuge in our nation, rest assured that we will prosecute them to the extent of our laws."

[Ralkovia]

Benjamin smiled, “Joint Investigation? Ralkovia has already conducted its own investigation. All evidence points to you and your people. As said most poignantly by one of the ALF operatives, without your funding and training they would be unable to operate.”

“I’d recommend you watch this…or not if you’re easily disgusted. It’s the confessions of some of the Cretans responsible for the massacre,” he said, before sliding a tape over to them. On the tape, for about twelve hours, forty ALF members laid out the hierarchy, funding, and leadership of their organization. Of course, one could accuse the Ralkovians of coercing the confession out of them and that would be untrue. For Coerce, was an understatement to the sadistic torture that these pigs had endured at the hands of the Ralkovian Death Guard. In the end though, it all ended the same; the rib cage wrenched open by meat hooks.

“Also the Emperor wanted me to give you this. It will be declared to the world in approximately forty eight hours,” Benjamin said with a short chuckle, sliding a folder across the table.

Upon opening the folder they would find a few pieces of paper enclosed within. It was a declaration of a 'writ of heads.' In brief, it said that because the Kahanistani had attacked Ralkovia and not taken responisibility for the murder of five thousand Ralkovian civilians, that Ralkovia was putting a price on the head of every dead Kahanistani of one hundred thousand dollars and the price of every living Kahanistani at half a million dollars. It would also declare a writ of refuge to the men who did it offering them land in Ralkovian colonies where they would be protected from reprisals. It was a sweet deal, kill a single Kahanistani citizen and provide proof and you’d be set for life. It would create a nation security crisis for the Kahanistani and cause them hundreds of thousands of problems as their citizens found themselves targets of every street gang, murderer, and professional mercenary.

[Kahanistan]

All five Kahanistanian representatives had seen the horrific tortures the Ralkovians were capable of before. Barely a year earlier the entire nation had seen it on Kahanistan National News, done to two citizens who were seen in their own country as national heroes for exposing the hideous genocidal practices of the Parthians. Death Guard had apparently been teaching them a thing or two. A gruesome torture and mutilation, followed by death if one were lucky. If not, and the victim's injuries were beyond the limits of available medical technology, one could be reduced to a shadow of their former selves, mentally as well as physically.

Foreign Minister Karovic shook with anger as he watched the ALF members' (?) torture. "Confessions extracted by torture are always suspect. The Free Republic of Kahanistan has never had a policy of orchestrating violence against Ralkovian nationals. Our government has merely provided financial assistance to the Muslim Mitigation Organisation, whose stated purpose is to protect members of the Muslim community worldwide from persecution. Senator Dagan understands it better than I do. But unless you can provide evidence more reliable than the word of someone you are subjecting to unimaginable agony and have deprived of all hope, that the M.M.O. is actively recruiting and training terrorists and the problem is more than just a few individuals going rogue and joining terrorist groups... I do not see how you expect us to take responsibility based on that. If you do not trust Kahanistanian investigators working alongside your personnel, I can suggest the matter be referred to a neutral international tribunal."

The Senator began to discuss the basic facts about the M.M.O. "The Muslim Mitigation Organisation is a NGO founded in Westport, Kahanistan, in 2009, to assist Muslims under persecution. They do this primarily by operating illegal emigration routes, out of the persecuting nation and into a more tolerant one, by staging demonstrations, and by lobbying international organisations. In some countries aiding a Muslim is dangerous, so sometimes they hire armed guards who operate under strict rules of engagement. They normally carry a sidearm and an automatic shotgun, the heaviest weapon they carry is an automatic rifle and only a few, not enough to have armed the entire A.L.F. with them."

"What open source information there is on their specifically Ralkovian activities suggests that they're trying to get the Muslims out, not provoke military reprisals against the Muslims by attacking Ralkovian citizens. Unless you think a NGO with a few hundred armed guards at most, scattered all over Ralkovia's population of billions, is arming and training a massive insurgency against the Empire, you might want to look elsewhere for the source of A.L.F. weapons."

---

General Bar-Hillel caught the folder that Benjamin slid him and read it. He looked at it in disbelief. "This could be interpreted as a declaration of war," he warned. "An attack on our people, with no evidence that we have aided terrorists or otherwise pose a threat that would justify such. That will not look well in the international arena."

"We have offered to assist in finding those responsible. Yet your government is the one brushing aside our efforts at conciliation. We find that suspicious..."

[Ralkovia]

Immediately, the somewhat 'neutral' environment of the conference was destroyed as the General made his accusation that the Ralkovians were behind their own massacre. The Death Guard in the room all seemed to converge around the Kahanistani delegation, Benjamin looked to the Death Guard directly behind General Bar-Hillel and gave him a simple nod. Within seconds the Death Guard grabbed the General by his skull, the soldiers huge hands easily gripping and holding it like a basketball. His hand pulled back bending the General's neck over the head of the chair, causing the fine wood to creak in discomfort, before he threw the face of the General like a slingshot into the marble table. With a thickening thud face met table and blood began to ooze out over the papers the General had been reading. The Generals head bounced back with the inertia of the throw and the Death Guard caught the man by the back of the skull. The Death Guard were not done just yet. The man again gripped the Generals head and kept smashing it in rapid succession until the pulverized man dropped down against the table.

Benjamin looked at the horrified Kahanistani delegation, he smiled figuring that they had just realized that they were at the mercy of the Ralkovians here. The voice of the heir changed, something sadistic mounting itself in the mouth of the man. A cruel smile crossing his face as he began to explain just what happened. There was a certain emptiness in the mans soul that could now be heard and he himself expressed no sense of worry to the diplomatic prestige of Ralkovia.

"You seem to have upset the Death Guard, you see Rabbi Ben Eliesah wasn't just any rabbi, he was one of the most influential rabbis in Ralkovia. His congregation wasn't just peasant scum either, they were also quite influential and powerful. One of them was the Death Guard Brood Mother. The wife of the Death Guard Commander and lead mother of all Death Guard. The Death Guard are quite angry, so you should be careful not to upset them...or you just might get hurt. I suppose I was to tell you early, but I seem to have forgot...How unfortunate. I think we're done here for today. We'll resume the conference tomorrow. Please return to your rooms and be careful not to upset the Death Guard," he said with a laugh as the Ralkovian Delegation exited the floor, leaving the bloody but still living General and the Kahanistani delegation stunned.

[Kahanistan]

Karovic, Dagan, and the two Ralkovian-speaking interpreters bolted up from their seats. The Foreign Minister was the largest of the delegation besides the major general and he ran up to push the Death Guard away from the general, whose hands gripped those of the man holding him as long as he remained able to struggle. He stopped struggling after the first few blows, when he lost consciousness.

---

The delegates returned to their rooms. They sat a large ice pack under General Bar-Hillel's head. His left eye socket was clotted with blood and he could barely see out of it, and his nose and two front teeth had been broken. It was three hours after the beating that he resumed consciousness.

"I don't want to deal with those lunatics again," the general slurred. "I need to see a proper doctor about this." He raised a hand to his left eye, which seemed to be looser. Maybe his socket was broken. It certainly hurt enough to be broken.

"Well, we're winning some diplomatic points here," said Dagan. "Dr. Karovic almost got himself killed rushing the Death Guard. They've resorted to violence at a diplomatic meeting, I think we have the support of world opinion now. Wait till KNN gets a whiff of this."

Karovic was seated at his desk, making notes of what to say to the Ralkovians when the meeting began again. He couldn't worry too much about getting a thrashing, not if it left him afraid to say what needed to be said. The general hadn't done much to provoke the Death Guard - they seemed more intent on intimidating the Kahanistanian delegation.

Dagan packed the ice pack under the general's head. "Those slave girls that were with Benjamin... one of them looked like a Derst native and the other looked like someone Senator Romero mentioned at a meeting a long time ago."

"Romero? What did she say?" asked Bar-Hillel.

"The girl is an A.C.P.K. activist. She was working on the island of Derst. Romero said she wrote her from the island about a year ago. She was afraid of the local gangs of slavers, and we know the Ralkovians operate one of the world's largest slavery rings."

"So, this girl was captured by the Ralkovians, and ended up in Benjamin's harem?" asked Karovic. "Even if you're right, and they are holding one of our citizens, what do we do? 'You seem to be holding one of our citizens.' 'No, I caught her fair and square on a slaving expedition far from national borders. Your laws don't apply there.' The only one of us who has any combat experience has a busted head. We aren't going to be able to fight our way out of here. At best we can talk to the Embassy, and see what ransom the government will pay to get her back, but the government doesn't like to pay..."

"Don't bring it up," said Bar-Hillel. "We'll raise a complaint with the Embassy after the negotiations and possibly talk to MID. We don't need an international incident on our end, not after we've scored a propaganda coup with the Death Guard using my head for a sledgehammer." He rolled over and went to sleep.

[Bratoslovoukia]

The devout Jewish nation of Bratoslovoukia has come to Ralkovia's aide in this prejudice war against the Jewish people and the Emperor himself has called for other Jewish nations to do so. Hereafter, the Bratvian Imperial Armed Forces will be deploying 2 million troops to aid Ralkovia in this war. Bratvian Marines are in the midst of prepping for HAHO jumps into Kahanistan.

[Kahanistan]

The devout Jewish nation of Bratoslovoukia has come to Ralkovia's aide in this prejudice war against the Jewish people and the Emperor himself has called for other Jewish nations to do so. Hereafter, the Bratvian Imperial Armed Forces will be deploying 2 million troops to aid Ralkovia in this war. Bratvian Marines are in the midst of prepping for HAHO jumps into Kahanistan.

Official Statement of the Free Republic of Kahanistan

Do not be deceived by Ralkovian propaganda. The Free Republic of Kahanistan is not waging a bigoted war against the Jewish people. In fact, nearly a quarter of Kahanistan's population is Jewish and many heroic Jewish soldiers of the Republic have fought and died horribly to safeguard the human rights of others abroad.

The causes of Kahanistan's conflict with Ralkovia have little to do with religion and more to do with the practices of slavery and discrimination against the Muslim population. We would have no better relations with them if Ralkovia were majority Muslim, if they continued practices of slavery and racism.

Signed,
Margaret K. Delray,
President of Kahanistan

[Ralkovia]

(More to come. Need to edit.)

Far from the fear and discomfort felt by the Kahanistani, Benjamin and his delegation were in a joyous hysteria brought on by the recording of the Kahanistani General getting beaten to a pulp. To the Ralkovians, it was almost to funny. The Death Guard had done it themselves without any planning on the Ralkovians part, but the outcome was just the same in terms of acceptance. The Ralkovians would of course send a doctor up later to deal with the man, it would be unfortunate if he died. Not for the Ralkovians, but for diplomatic purposes. Ralkovia needed this negotiation to last just a little longer as eight cargo ships neared Greater Prussia and Kahanistan. Officially, these eight cargo ships flew a neutral flag and were carrying food stuffings to another neutral nation. Ralkovia just needed time.

The Kahanistani might have known, should have known, that the room in which the Ralkovians had given them to reside in had been bugged. As the Kahanistani talked, they were translated and written into a report. It was true that the Kahanistani's Generals beating could very well turn the tide in the eyes of the world. In truth though, the Kahanistani wouldn't be able to send anything out about this incident. Not that they would know. The Spire came with its own powerful signal dampener. No radio signal, cellular, or even satellite signal could leave the powerful dampeners. However, the free wireless connection was part of the Ralkovian Special Internet Protocol System, a heavily monitored and controlled connection to the worlds internet. SIPS was one of the only links to the outside world, as use of the world wide web by the general public was prohibited under harsh penalties.

The internet was a devastating tool; a propaganda dispelling, rebellion causing device that had to be controlled. If not, it could cause unimaginable damage to the image of paradise that Ralkovia had carefully constructed it for itself. Ralkovia had early on created its own answer to it, Ralkovian Web Services. A heavily controlled, domestic intranet for the general public. It separated Ralkovia from the world, preventing foreign contact with anyone outside of Ralkovia. It was clean, safe, and friendly. No websites devoted to leaking government secrets, no hostile blogs, no pornography. It meant that no one could dispute what the government was saying, it meant that no one could upset the general public, and most of all it meant that all the publics dealings whether made in the open or in private were open to the inspection of the government. Emails, web searches, program writings, and any other form of communication were processed, censored, and controlled.

All communication in Ralkovia was open to the same processes. From text messages, phonecalls, and emails; everything was monitored, inspected carefully, and then censored or released. Millions of server systems dedicated to the c

RWS was the largest library of pro-Ralkovian, pro-slavery, pro-war, pro-expansionist materials that lauded all the values and ideologies the Ralkovians held high. No questioning, only support. The Kahanistani would also find themselves under the meticulous inspection of the Ralkovian government, as all things in the land were. No news of this incident would find its way into the public, not until the Kahanistani left for home. If they indeed were given a chance to leave.

[Kahanistan]

New Masada, Kahanistan

President Delray's office

The President put down her cell phone. Karovic had told her that he would contact her once he'd spoken to the Ralkovians, but she'd heard nothing from him and her calls weren't getting through. This was worrying. It would be one thing if the Foreign Minister was not calling her because the Ralkovians were watching him, but he would have at least texted. For all she knew, the Foreign Minister and his entourage had been kidnapped after they landed in Ralkovia and been put to a hideous death.

"General, I can't contact the Foreign Minister," she said to General Kaselev, head of Military Intelligence.

The general explained about the Ralkovian internet. Delray didn't understand the technical terms, but Kaselev seemed to be saying that it was way beyond any internet firewall he'd encountered before. Even HAAAK, the Homosexual African-American Association of Kahanistan, the country's largest hacker group, had never managed to pollute the Ralkovian web the way they had hacked Doomani Church and Parthian SAVAK sites with blasphemy and nudity. If the Ralkovians had decided to kidnap the delegates and hold them hostage, New Masada might not be able to find out what had happened in time. Inserting a spy into Ralkovia wasn't an option either; the amount of time it would take to move a spy into position meant that they could have been killed, burned and dumped before the spy even got there. Also, few spies were brave enough to take missions in Ralkovia.

Kaselev portrayed a grim picture. "The only thing... the only thing I can think of to do, is to contact the Ralkovians directly."

The President's head sank. To talk to the Ralkovians directly about the apparent loss of communication with their representatives meant effectively accusing them of wrongdoing. If the Ralkovians were not responsible, they might cut off negotiations. If they were, they had already cut off negotiations.

---

Karovic threw his cell phone across the room and swore in Croatian. "Kurac od ovce. Worldwide coverage my ass. I paid fifteen hundred shekels for this and it can't even get a call out of Ralkovia."

"I think they're jamming your phone," said Dagan. "Mine can dial on frequencies outside of the standard range of cell phone frequencies, it's designed for use in totalitarian states. I may be able to get around the jammer simply by using a frequency outside its range. I wouldn't trust their email either, they've probably done something to it too. And you do know this room is bugged? They know everything we say. So we shouldn't talk much, at least till we've found the bugs." She pored over the room, looking in corners and behind shelves and under the beds and anywhere else she'd put a bug if she were spying on the Ralkovians.

[Ralkovia]

Aura

The door to the Kahanistani quarters burst open as the Death Guard leveled their weapons at the Kahanistanians. Benjamin stood at the front of this procession wearing a hazmat suit without the face cover, allowing him to give them a predatory grin; showing them each of his wicked, daggerlike teeth. He hauntingly moved closer to the Kahanistani before pausing in front of the television in their room. WIthout explanation he grabbed the remote and turned the TV on.

Immediately, the darkened room was suddenly showered in the red and yellow of the state controlled news media. It was currently talking about the aftermath of the massacre at the Temple still droning on about the evil Kahanistanians and the dangerous Muslim extremists. In the upper right hand corner a poll showing those in favor of war at a clear one hundred percent. Benjamin finally opened his mouth and began to speak with no expository, or prelude. His face contorted into anger and emotion, as if what he was about to say had been ingrained in him with the same fervor that he was about to deliver to the Kahanistanians.

"This monarchy has existed for almost eight millenia. In thsat time we have unified the ununifiable, conquered the unconquerable, built the unbuildable. We have constructed great monument, monoliths, and megastructures that stand to this day. We built a colony on the Moon and even landed on Mars. We own lands across this Earth. From Gholgoth to Haven to Judea to Guanxi and beyond. The Sun never sets on this Great Empire. We have always been expanding, fighting, and laying down our lives for this cause. We did what we had to do and the serfs followed. Who were they to question the G-d Emperor.

Ralkovia did not suffer the problems of other societies. We did not have civil war, resentment, or infighting. We had a distinct order, a societal structure that clearly ordained the Emperor as a G-d. No one challenged this order. Not a soul. And this was good, for Ralkovia was a military state. A strong state. It expanded across the world without hesitation. We were hated, we were despised, but most of all we were feared. Our military stretched across the mountains, across the oceans, across the world. Then came the pacifists, the democrats, and the commies. They hid under the name of progressives and reformers.

For a time, the Emperors did what they always did. Made them disappear. Then it started with the Holy and Beloved Lord Joshua II, Great Great Grandfather. Emperor Aaron the Peaceful. He declared niggers, browns, stonefuckers, Jihadist, orientals, Christ lovers, and gypsy scum as equals to the Chosen people in the Empire. No longer were they separated and contained. Instead they could live where they wanted, marry a Jewish person, become a Noble! He then disbanded the military and released many of Ralkovia's most precious and hardwon colonies. The Death Guard watched as the Noble Blood of Ralkovia was tainted, helpless.

Then came hope. G-d granted us Emperor Joshua II, Lord of Ralkovia. He destroyed the filth, enslaved the weak, and rebuilt the military. He singlehandedly saved Ralkovia.

And now...Across Ralkovia, we gather. There was never a hope for peace."

Benjamin turned to the Kahanistani delegation and with that ever present smile, he looked into their eyes and met their gaze. Then suddenly the reporter paused...

Outside of Kahanistan Territorial Waters

The Eight Massive Cargo Ships came to a halt, their huge block engines shutting off with a sad whine. Rapidly declerating, they moved gently with the oceans lapping waves as their crews had abandoned them some hundred miles back or so in favor of helicopters. The ships without any crew left and controlled remotely by a Ralkovian Command Bunker some thousand miles away, began to play the Ralkovian Anthem to the emptiness of the ship. As the anthem came to a finish, the decks of each ship slid open. On each ship over one hundred and fifty cruise missiles launched into the sky, lighting it with a trail of crimson red as they targeted government buildings, office buildings, hospitals, schools, powerplants, and malls.

Twelve Hundred Cruise Missiles escaped into the sky, ready to consume Kahanistan in fire.

Peace Conference

Benjamin shook his head placing before placing the hazmats face piece on.

"There was never a hope for escape."

The Death Guard fired Kolokol-2 into the room, an opiate that was effective in less than two second. Immediately, the Kahanistanians would find themselves unconscious. After all the risk of them carrying cyanide capsules was to great for what the Ralkovians had in store.

[Kahanistan]

Territorial waters, near Eastport, Kahanistan

Mogami-class battlecruiser RKS Babylon

"Captain, we're detecting a missile swarm heading inland, looks like it's going towards New New Sodom and Eastport," said the ship's radar officer, a nondescript ensign whose face Captain Zechariah Stern had not bothered to memorise. "Looks like one thousand to fifteen hundred missiles coming from eight to ten ships."

"Shoot them down, as many as you can," said the captain. "Comm, dispatch an emergency communication to General Izpozharov in New New Sodom and Admiral Al-Hamad in Eastport. We have been fired on by an unknown enemy."

"Yes, Sir." The communications lieutenant radioed to the city garrison commanders to be on the watch for incoming missiles.

---

Of the 1,200 missiles fired on Kahanistanian cities, fewer than a hundred struck their targets. Most of the swarm was destroyed as it neared the coastal city of Eastport and encountered the naval forces based outside the city. Other missiles were shot down by the Air Force before they could strike New New Sodom, or destroyed by the cities' MTHEL and ground-based YAL-1 defences. However, nearly sixty missiles destroyed key bridges and damaged major powerplants in Eastport and New New Sodom General Medical Centre's main facility was burned to the ground, requiring Army commanders to mobilise to set up field hospitals in the city to deal with the wounded, who numbered in the tens of thousands.

Once again, the Free Republic of Kahanistan had come under attack after an attempt to negotiate peace.

---

New Masada, Kahanistan

President Margaret Delray was frustrated and tired of being unable to contact Foreign Minister Karovic and his delegation. She summoned the Ralkovian Ambassador to her office to inquire as to the safety of the Foreign Minister and the other members of the peace conference.

"The Government of Kahanistan has concerns for the safety of five representatives of the Republic," said the President. "We have been unable to contact our delegation. We know the plane was headed to Kierkanko military base, but we have lost contact with them after that. Diplomats do not simply 'go missing.' We require any information your government has on their whereabouts... and their condition."

[Ralkovia]

New Masada, Kahanistan

The man she had summoned didn't look anything like an ethnic Ralkovian male, no he had been hired by the Ralkovians about a month and a half ago. He and twelve other men as assistants to the Ralkovian Embassy Staff, so when the man entered the office he looked confused more than anything. He spoke in a TMMian accent,"Ma'am, I haven't been informed about any of this. The Ralkovian Ambassador and his staff left for a right of pilgrimage a week ago. We were hired for upkeep and filing. Though I don't understand, there are no files."



Ralkovia, Facility #8T

Facility #8T was a Death Guard Special Experimentation Laboratory, though it was better known to its residents as Dead Man's Mountain. The Laboratory had been built into the side of one of the larger mountains, but with the increased demand for more experiments and investigations into the evolution of the nervous system, it took on a much more sinister purpose. The Death Guard had taken over the laboratory close to half a century ago and developed it into a research and prison station. Heavily isolated from the world and protected by an entire army of Death Guard from Legion XII, Facility #8T was a secret to most. However, the Kahanistanian delegation would soon find themselves waking up on the train heading to this dreaded place. They would wake stripped naked, any false teeth had been removed and their whole body checked for any type of pill. The last thing the Ralkovians wanted was for them to commit suicide.


Imperial Palace, Ralkovia

"How much longer before the fleet is ready to leave?"

"About a day and a half. Fleet preparations are almost complete."

The Emperor smiled, the Kahanistanian people would soon have a horde of Ralkovian soldiers to deal with. This expedition was supported not only by the government, but by the people whose call to vengeance was just to loud to ignore. Pressure in Ralkovia was rising and the Emperor would vent that pressure with a successful invasion of the Kahanistan nation. Millions were prepared to die and he was ready to send them on their way to do so. Over a thousand warships and close to seven hundred transports laden with almost five million troops were about to leave for the invasion of Kahanistan. Ralkovia would wedge its place into Kahanistan and hold it for all time.

[Kahanistan]

New Masada, Kahanistan

President Delray's office

"So you aren't the Ambassador," said Delray grimly. "Have you seen this woman and these men?" She produced photographs of Senator Dagan, Minister Karovic and General Bar-Hillel. "This is our delegation, they were accompanied by two Ralkovian-speaking interpreters whom we unfortunately do not have photographs of, Mr. Daniel Schwartz and Mr. Hiram Mendel."

"The Foreign Minister and his delegation landed at Kierkanko on or about 24 October 2011. We are unable to contact them and our General Kaselev fears that the system the Ralkovian government uses to censor communications from other countries is preventing us from contacting them. We wish to know that they are safe, and if they are not safe we want to get them out of Ralkovia. We respect your Ambassador's right to pilgrimage; many of our own officials also take off Jewish holidays. You should have seen our office at Chanukah, we were so short that our Muslim workers were joking about a conspiracy to foist all the work off on them, knowing full well that Chanukah has been celebrated for 3,000 years. But we always had someone with the authority to ensure our government agencies still ran smoothly. Who is the highest ranking embassy official we can speak with about our delegation?"


---

Train to... ?

Foreign Minister Karovic awoke aboard a train naked as the day G-d made him. He was the oldest and fattest member of the delegation at 64 years old and 110 kilos. The first thing he saw were the other members of the delegation as naked as he was but not as old and fat as him. General Bar-Hillel was about 20 years younger than him, and being a field officer who had been promoted when most of the General Staff was killed in the Second Doomani War, still looked like a fit combat soldier. Dagan was about the same age as the general and fairly well-preserved, though the Foreign Minister noted that most of her teeth had been ripped out. He felt around in his own mouth and noticed a back molar was missing, one that had rotted out back when he was a law student. Somebody had mistaken his false tooth for a cyanide pill, which only confirmed in his mind that he was going somewhere he would be tortured to death. The interpreters were both young men in their mid 20's or so. They were probably in fighting shape if the shit hit the fan, but weren't military types.

Karovic looked out the window at the mountains into which the facility had been built and his heart shook with horror. He shook General Bar-Hillel awake. "I... do not think we are in Ralkovia anymore," he said as he pointed out the window. "Wasn't TQ built into a mountain?" TQ was Takht e-Qusseh, a notorious Parthian prison secreted in the mountains on top of a huge pile of radioactive waste, where from what Karovic had heard few survived to die of radiation sickness.

"I think so," said General Bar-Hillel. "And from what little I've heard, prisoners are usually drugged before transport there. One of our men escaped from there before... as long as we don't trust any offers that SAVAK makes for leniency, and as long as we don't stay too long in the radioactive areas, we should be able to escape."

"Too long?" asked Karovic. "Look at me. I am 64 years old and I'm fat. I am in no condition to survive that place. I will die here. Protect yourself, and Senator Dagan. You are the only man here with combat experience. Regardless of what they do to me, you must escape. Delray must know... not to send another diplomatic meeting to Ralkovia. Diplomats are not safe there. If we are where I think we are, flee north through the Zagros into neutral territory, stay in the mountains where you will be harder to track and you may get out of there alive."

[The Parthians]

Persepolis-Raskovia Express Train

The maglev connecting the capitals of Parthia and Ralkovia was always a busy conduit for freight and passengers, a constant flow of the goods that linked the closely tied regimes of Parthia and Ralkovia. While the ratio was always vastly in favor of freight, the first class passenger car held three very special guests. SAVAK Colonel Piruz Savadkouhi sat placidly drinking a cup of tea as the train approached the Ralkovian border, having crossed the Zagros mountains and the dry plains of the now purified Mesopotamia region in just the last few hours. In his black SAVAK uniform and bearing a diplomatic passport, he traveled with a pair of SAVAK aides, looking over the documents of his next assignment.

SAVAK always had good intelligence to work with, and the news that the Kahanistanis had dispatched a plane to Ralkovia for negotiations in response to the terror attack made SAVAK pay close attention to events. News that the diplomats had been out of contact with Kahanistan could mean many things, especially since Ralkovia was such a hermit state when it came to international communications... hell, Colonel Savadkouhi wondered if he could get a copy of the Persepolis Times or PNN broadcasts in Raskovia. Probably not, he thought, but of course, SAVAKis were quite used to surprises both pleasant and unpleasant.

The Colonel sighed as the Ralkovian border came into sight. Despite close relations between the governments of the two states, he made note of Parthian military posts scattered along the border, men with guns dedicated to keeping illegal migrants out. He couldn't see exactly what sat on the other side of the border, he knew the Ralkovians had serious military fortifications, but he knew their anti-immigration forces had a rather large minefield... to keep their own people in.

The Colonel composed himself and remembered his mission, find out what happened to the Kahanistanis and provide liason for the Sardar in cooperating with the Ralkovians' next move.

While this was not a high-risk mission of any sort... he had worked with the Death Guard before in Parthia, crossing the Ralkovian border was always... terrifying... yes, that was the word, terrifying, even to a SAVAKi. With so many laws with such harshness to them, he always wondered if he might accidentally bring contraband into Ralkovia. He could always remember to keep medications of all kinds out of his luggage, but with luck, he hadn't missed anything.

[Ralkovia]

They were RASP, Ralkovian Anti-Smuggling Police. Dressed in grimy green BDU's and wearing darkened helmets to hide their identities, they were loyal to the Emperor and believed themselves superior to all but the Death Guard. Officers of RASP held a lot of power, including summary executions. Commanding all entries into Ralkovia, they were part of the merciless crackdown on illegal contraband and stood at the frontlines. In reality, the RASP was unneeded at the Persepolis-Raskovia Express Train. Parthians rarely tried to smuggle anything and knew the Ralkovian laws well. It was medicine that was the main problem, Ralkovia had some of the fiercest laws in the world on drugs. Painkillers of any sort were banned, unless specifically administered by hospitals. Marijuana and opium possession was punishable by death. The Parthians always abided by these rules, however they often forgot about aspirin, ibuprofen, and sleeping pills.

In the train station, RASP Officers would often grow bored and harrassing travelers became one form of entertainment. Unfortunately for SAVAK Colonel Piruz Savadkouhi, he was chosen out of the crowd of businessmen and government officials. Immediately, he was surrounded by RASP officers who directed him to a small outlet on the side of the terminal. A single steel door on the right side, hidden out of view from passengers slid open. The stench of fear and human excrement filled the air, a hand print of dried blood from a Theobradian smuggler was on the closest wall. Its white coloring disturbed by the dried brown. He was lead past an office with a window that clearly looked over the entire terminal bay. A single man was sitting there writing something into a report, he gave a cursory glance at the savak agent before looking back down. He paused and looked straight back at the man and threw down the pen he was writing with, before bounding out of the room.

"Dumbfucks. This is Parthian SAVAK. Release him. Now," the man said in Ralkovian. He was several inches taller then the men, standing at about seven feet, four inches. His uniform was instantly recognizable as belonging to the Death Guard. The RASP officers moved quickly and apologized to the Death Guard before escaping from his intimidating sight.

"My apologies Mr. Savadkouhi. Your paperwork came in. Crown Prince Benjamin wants to see you. I'll take you to the Imperial Palace. Follow," he said, glancing over the man and making sure he didn't look too roughed up. The Death Guard moved without saying another word and not looking behind him. He stopped in front of a black SUV parked in the back, the windows were tinted as dark as the car itself. The name plate on the car read "Death Guard Border Agent; Hakkelstenter Dirkmare B. Gruber."

---

New Masada, Kahanistan

"All the Ralkovians left. I was put in temporary charge until their return ma'am. I am assistant to the Ambassador."

---

Facility #8T

The train passed through a band of sunshine, it lit up the dark interior of the train. On the far side of the train, six dark figures were laid in the fetal position across from them still sleeping. While the Kahanistanian delegation was awake, it became obvious the other six were not.

[Kahanistan]

New Masada

Delray frowned. "Who would I talk to about our delegation? It has been so long since we heard from them, and our government would like to be able to contact them. How can we communicate with someone in Ralkovia to find out?"

---

New New Sodom, eastern Kahanistan

Lieutenant General Danila Adamovich Izpozharov, commander of V Corps, watched over the preparations for the city's defences. Outside, artillery was being prepared to attack approaching enemy forces. Within the city, anti-tank mines, Czech hedgehogs, and dragon's teeth were being hastily erected, and snipers, anti-tank crews, and machine gunners took positions on top of buildings.

The general had only 50,000 regular troops under his command, highly trained and well-equipped soldiers, mostly in armoured and artillery brigades and a handful of infantry. For infantry support he was dependent on the Civilian Irregular Defence Groups, armed civilians who numbered between six and eight percent of the population. These militia were well armed with the Questarian FN Rougecote battle rifle in most battalions in the city and had gas masks. General Izpozharov sent an urgent request to New Masada in light of the Ralkovian threat to supply two million military-grade NBRC warfare suits to equip a significant portion of the CIDG before the Ralkovian troops he expected arrived.

The city now had field hospitals set up within to treat the expected influx of victims of chemical warfare. This was not an unreasonable precaution given the damage caused in the last armed clash with Parthia, which had seen chemical warfare use. General Izpozharov was prepared...