Operation Catherine [closed, Vorindun, LG, Unilisia]

[Ralkovia]

"Unfortunately, it is the time to be leaving," Isaac said, they had managed to travel the short distance to the runway, where a Ralkovian Imperial Defender Jet was waiting, they would be flying to Bokovarevia, or literally "The Empty Fortress Place." Ironically, it was now host to a secondary fleet of about ten thousand Ralkovian Death Guard and four carrier group.

This was a remarkable addition to the usual skeleton crew that operated in an ancient castle type structure. A radar station, air field, and a small nuclear base, carrying about forty eight MIRN warheads, were truly the only things of note on the former coal depot. At one hundred square kilometers, the Island had once supported a thriving population of nearly fifty thousand indigenous peoples.

Then the Ralkovians had arrived in the Eighteenth century as slaver crews. Now, nearly two hundred years later, the non-Ralkovian population only measured a measly one hundred and thirty people. Mostly made up of farmers and whores. This was the future Ralkovia was able to promise all the World.

"We enslave your young, work you to death, and then leave you with nothing, but the scars we created on your backs."

---

"G-d, those fucking Elves are annoying as shit," he said, a grin perforating a scarred face, before dragging a knife across the wall, creating a screeching noise that was easily becoming unbearable to a second man bound to a leather chair.

"You know what I hate the most though?" the first man, covered in a white cloak and mask, said. He didn't wait for an answer, having already removed the man's teeth and tongue, before separating the cheeks in half all the way to the jaw. It was a grotesque display, infected flesh hanging loosely, like that of a dog's.

"What I really hate most is fucking moralists! The World is a screwed up place. It's a game where the rules don't matter and everyone ends up dead. But these fucking moralists don't seem to understand that. They think they can make a difference," the voice said growing louder and more excited, he swiped his knife in front of the bound man, watching the tortured soul flinch for a second.

Instead, the young white cloaked man cut through the air before bringing the blade around for a second time, smashing it against the chair. He stared into the second man's eyes, looking for some sort of understanding, maybe a little empathy. He was received with a terrified look, at which point he pulled away and continued to circle around him like a predator.

"I mean, can you see the point of it? Others always like to talk about leaving the World a better place, but we still have wars, we still have murder. It's insane, isn't it?" he said, turning once again to face the man seated in the chair.

"I see the joke that is the human race. How we're told by our mothers to never lie and never talk with your mouthful and always be polite. Only to be told that the man who sat at your dinner table the night before has to be killed. It's not that I don't understand hypocricy. I get it. Practicing what you preach makes the World a very boring place. But, what is the point of it all? We all die. One way or another. I guess the way you have to put it is will you take your own life in the end or wait for someone to do it for you. Well, I guess you can say these are questions that cause men to go mad. Hahaha," he said, driving the knife down and forcing it in.

He left the room, leaving behind him a man bound in a chair with a knife in his hand.

---

The Ralkovian Plane on the runway would hold for a short time, waiting to receive the word from a small group of escorts. In the meantime, the Ralkovians watched from a television set mounted into the plane as Vorindun collapsed. It was easy to forget that outside the bubble of the forty eight meter long solid black Ralkovian Imperial Defender, a war was still going on.

"Escorts will be in your vicinity momentarily, prepare for take off immediately, escorts will wait for a maximum of fifteen minutes," came a voice through the radio.

With that, the Ralkovian aircraft started rolling down the tarmac, its wheels abandoning the firm ground and taking to the sky.

[Allanea]

Camp Alarica

Brigadier-General Fedor Koni watched dispassionately as his men handled the surviving youth troops. The creatures that had just now been menacing camp commandants and guards were now being stripped of any clothing but their socks and underwear, and handcuffed with narrow strips of hard plastic – every Allanean soldier carried a dozen of these brutal handcuffs for just such an occasion. Any who resisted would be beaten savagedly with electric shock batons or even with the boots and rifle stocks of Allanean troops. These creatures were not Fedor Koni's concern.

Elsewhere in the camp, portable field kitchens were deployed, from which a disgusting-looking, yet savory mix of meat and rice was distributed to former inmates. This was the very same food that Allanean soldiers ate every day in camp – perhaps not the best culinary delight, but a recommended thing for anyone working hard for extended periods. Combat medics already began to tend to the sickest inmates, and combat engineers were hard at work dismantling the barbed-wire fence of the camp. By the time they were done, the very walls of this terrible place would be extirpated from the face of the earth. Yet other Allaneans, armed with photo and video equipment, surveilled the camp to give posterity a clue of the horrors that took place here.

The Allanean commander had invited – he did not use the word 'ordered' in this context – those inmates who were able to assemble to meet with him, in a remote part of the camp far from where the captured troops were assembled. He spoke to the elves, standing on the turret of a BMD-4M as if it was a pedestal.

“Ladies and gentlemen!

I speak to you now as a representative of the United States of Allanea. As you are no doubt already aware, you are free to leave. Allied troops are even now finishing off the remains of the regime. The siege of the Olwean Renaissance has been lifted. The dark era of Vorindun is now drawing to a close.

Now I understand that you have been mistreated here beyond the imagination of a mere mortal. I understand that you have been subject to all kinds of atrocity. But I also know, from history, that there are always – in every terrible darkness which befalls sapient-kind – bright sparks of light and human kindness.

Therefore I ask you this, first and foremost: surely there has been some of these fell creatures who had not acted with the cruelty characteristic of a prison camp guard. Perhaps one in a thousand, or perhaps one in ten thousand. Are there, in your view, some creatures among these youth troops who had acted kindly towards you, and who, for some reason, should be spared? Name these few, and we will give them clothing, food, and let them go.

As for the others... I promise you this, noble elves. Your suffering will not go unpunished, the deaths of your kin shall not go unavenged.”

[Allanea]

Official Message from the United States of Allanea to the Olwean Renaissance:

We hail our elven friends once more. As of this morning, your kin in both camps Alarica and Theodorica have been freed by Allanean and Menelmacari operatives. The siege of your enclave is now being lifted, and the war is drawing to a close. We believe that you should begin making preparations for the following things:

1. Receiving and caring for those of your kin that have been prisoners and slaves of the Vorindunians. However, given the economic troubles of your enclave, Allanea is willing to accept those of the elves, dwaves, and others that wish to request refugee status in our wonderful country. We are sure our allies will happily make similar arrangements too.

2. Receiving diplomatic delegations. The United States of Allanea wishes to become a permanent ally of the Olwean Renaissance if that is possible, and we believe that our friends in the Eternal Noldorin Empire will also be happy to do that.


Official Message from the United States of Allanea to Odoacer

To be frank, the United States of Allanea has no direct interest in establishing a new government of any kind in Vorindun, as long as the new government is friendly to us and our allies, and far more importantly a generally humane and reasonable place. We trust the Kaiser so far with the details of the agreement.

Our demands, however, are as follows:

1. Slavery in Vorindun is to be ended in all its forms, including forced labor. While forced labor might have legitimate applications, we believe that in a culture that had already abused this power once it is best to prohibit it to avoid a recurring. As the slave camps have already been overrun this should not be a problem.

2. Equality for all sapient species is to be enshrined in the highest laws of Vorindun.

3. Olwean Renaissance is to receive a grant of territory to guarantee it sea access, to avoid future blockades, sieges, etc. The security of Olwean Rennaissance will be guaranteed by Allanean steel and lead until further notice.

4. A grant of $4 billion dollars each (or $1 per each person in Vorindun) to the Unilisian and Libertarian Governance governments, per year, for ten years. Should Vorindun choose, of its free will, to later become allies to Allanea, this will count towards its CAPINTERN member fee.

These are easy to comply with and not at all oppressive given the size of your country.

[The Vorindun]

Camp Alarica

Brigadier-General Fedor Koni watched dispassionately as his men handled the surviving youth troops. The creatures that had just now been menacing camp commandants and guards were now being stripped of any clothing but their socks and underwear, and handcuffed with narrow strips of hard plastic – every Allanean soldier carried a dozen of these brutal handcuffs for just such an occasion. Any who resisted would be beaten savagedly with electric shock batons or even with the boots and rifle stocks of Allanean troops. These creatures were not Fedor Koni's concern.

Elsewhere in the camp, portable field kitchens were deployed, from which a disgusting-looking, yet savory mix of meat and rice was distributed to former inmates. This was the very same food that Allanean soldiers ate every day in camp – perhaps not the best culinary delight, but a recommended thing for anyone working hard for extended periods. Combat medics already began to tend to the sickest inmates, and combat engineers were hard at work dismantling the barbed-wire fence of the camp. By the time they were done, the very walls of this terrible place would be extirpated from the face of the earth. Yet other Allaneans, armed with photo and video equipment, surveilled the camp to give posterity a clue of the horrors that took place here.

The Allanean commander had invited – he did not use the word 'ordered' in this context – those inmates who were able to assemble to meet with him, in a remote part of the camp far from where the captured troops were assembled. He spoke to the elves, standing on the turret of a BMD-4M as if it was a pedestal.

“Ladies and gentlemen!

I speak to you now as a representative of the United States of Allanea. As you are no doubt already aware, you are free to leave. Allied troops are even now finishing off the remains of the regime. The siege of the Olwean Renaissance has been lifted. The dark era of Vorindun is now drawing to a close.

Now I understand that you have been mistreated here beyond the imagination of a mere mortal. I understand that you have been subject to all kinds of atrocity. But I also know, from history, that there are always – in every terrible darkness which befalls sapient-kind – bright sparks of light and human kindness.

Therefore I ask you this, first and foremost: surely there has been some of these fell creatures who had not acted with the cruelty characteristic of a prison camp guard. Perhaps one in a thousand, or perhaps one in ten thousand. Are there, in your view, some creatures among these youth troops who had acted kindly towards you, and who, for some reason, should be spared? Name these few, and we will give them clothing, food, and let them go.

As for the others... I promise you this, noble elves. Your suffering will not go unpunished, the deaths of your kin shall not go unavenged.”

A female Elf, one of the tallest in the group, stood up.

"I can name just four, but there was a small cell of what were known as 'the heretics'. That was what they called themselves. In the months of brutality, these felllows did the unthinkable. They smuggled medicines, whenever they could get them. They sneaked food into the slave quarters. They covered up 'infractions' which might result in harsher punishment. They also kept names, they told us at least, of the worst of the brutes, for posterity.

"Statinius himself is worthless. He's a revoltingly cold-blooded man, but the leader of 'the heretics' was his own son, Publius Statinius Junior. There was also Platoon Leader Adamar, Squad Leader Caspar, and Serviceman First Class Vetranio. Those were the only heretics whose names I know. The heretics were the only decent lads in the group. The rest are disgusting vermin. Fully brainwashed. Trust me. They deserve a long, painful death for their crimes against us. The worst crime was the forced abortions. No Elf woman was allowed to carry a child to term. Their long-term goal, which they never bothered to hide from us, was the extermination of our race."

"There was also the local clergy, who often encouraged and visited. I don't know who of them didn't, but I know that there was a bishop, four priests, and two deacons among the regular guests. They made a point of preaching to the guards and urging them to do more slaughter in the name of God. They called us 'devils from Hell'. The only favor they did us was preaching against rape and sexual abuse. Not that it stopped the guards, of course, and no doubt they were absolved, because they held regular confessions and then were worse than ever immediately afterward, as if getting a new license to brutalize us.

"I will have no quarrel with any punishment you give the lot of them. Don't leave the party bosses and clerics alone, though, at least from the local areas. The common folk weren't brought over, but many leading lights of the regime were."

[The Vorindun]

Message from the Kaiser to Odoacer:

We need to sit down and talk. I cannot promise that all is forgiven, but we have some chance of ending the war faster if we can come to an understanding. Am willing to consider amnesty for past offenses under the right conditions.

Message from Odoacer to the Kaiser:

Am willing to meet at the family estate, midway between Maximeum and Flavium. It is located just outside the Laurentian Forest. Please come armed only with three guards, which thing I will also do, and them only armed with sidearms, not long guns.

Kaiser to Odoacer:

Will be there in three hours.

Odoacer to Kaiser:

Agreed. Will do so as well.

3 hours later....Odoacer's Family Estate...

"I wondered if you would truly show, Your Highness. What prompted this meeting?"

"I suspect that the Allaneans have been double-crossing me. Offering you a deal that would allow you to remain in power. Well, two can play that game. I never fully trusted them, of course. They're foreigners with imperialistic leanings. No doubt, at the root of this, is a demand for money, despite their moralistic leanings. They used me and I used them. We might be allies, but I am not deluded about them or about their fundamental ignorance of the Vorindun culture and history.

"So, here it goes. Here are MY terms.

1. Agree in principle to the end of slavery, debt-bondage, serfdom, and indentured servitude.
2. Swear an oath of loyalty to me as Kaiser and acknowledge my lawful authority as such.
3. Turn in all of the worst offenders, criminals, and traitors in the Fatherland Front.
4. Accept martial-law under my rule for a minimum of one year.
5. Estates and properties of the most subversive Front members are to be forfeit to the Crown.
6. Accept the post of Minister-President in a cabinet composed of both my faction and yours, which would be responsible directly to me and would not so much as belch without my permission.
7. All sapient creatures are to be accepted and recognized as equal. On this point and slavery, we absolutely concur with our allies.
8. Given that Olwean Renaissance is only 10 KM inland, give them their damned corridor. It will save more trouble than it would cost.
9. We counter-offer 2 billion per year and see if we can haggle it down to 3. Same with the number of years. If not, we give them their accursed 4 billion, but we agree to list and compile it as a negative against them, countering the positives. A full list and account of the positives and negatives will eventually be noted in the archives, history books, and other useful documents. It will also be mentioned now and then as a caveat and asterisk in all state news reports about them. We mainly use it as a reminder to ourselves that we can never fully trust any foreign nations, even as we use them. It will also be included in our memoirs, film documentaries, etc.
10. The Fatherland Front is to be dissolved, though a rump organization of sorts can be formed.
11. An open emigration policy is to be observed for the foreseeable future, as well as free trade in most respects, and every effort to replace the lost revenue.
12. Reparations of 1 billion NSD will be paid to the Olweans.
13. The Arian Apostolic Church must surrender names of those clergy who supported this policy of genocide and which ones opposed it. The former must be defrocked and turned over to the State for punishment.
14. The Senate must be dissolved and new elections called within six months, on the basis of proportional representation and the secret ballot, with full power to draft a new Constitution.
15. We will outwardly comply with every silly demand of the 'allies' for the near future, but will not forget that they used this moment to double-cross us and demand what amounts to tribute. This fact will always tarnish their 'heroic' role as liberators and partners in this war.
16. When the opportunity comes to show the Allaneans and others what we think of their treachery, we will make point of broadcasting it for all to see and hear.
17. All members of the prior government who are not prosecuted for past atrocities must nonetheless make a formal and public apology to the Olweans for the crimes against their people.
18. To pay for the 'tribute', a special sumptuary law enacting key luxury taxes will be accepted for the period of ten years, to be reviewed after this time.
19. Court-martials for deserters from this particular civil war, as well as mutineers, will be avoided at all costs.
20. The armed forces will be under the total command of the Kaiser and swear a personal oath of fealty to him. There will also be a national police force on the same basis.
21. War criminals will be turned over to the Allaneans and Olweans. If they want to punish, give them plenty of evildoers to punish, rather than punishing the nation.
22. A treaty of friendship and free trade with Riemaia will be pursued.
23. Any survivors of the Imperial Youth Service are to be 'rehabilitated' for 90 days and either exiled for life or else inducted into the armed forces. Their innocence is already lost, they have missed key months of public education, and they have, for good or ill, learned a trade. It's best to encourage them to use those skills and that trade.
24. All Vorindun will be guaranteed a living wage, the right to form trade unions, and the right to strike, but also the right to work.
25. Vorindun is to be a secular state, not sectarian.
26. Vorindun is to adopt the Lamoni educational model for its public schools.

"Are these terms amenable to you?" the Kaiser insisted.

"On a single condition," answered Odoacer.

"Which is?"

"There be no membership in any international organization, ever, of any kind, and that be put in any Constitution. None. I don't care what kind. Our sovereignty has been infringed enough. Alliances are fine, but no World Assembly, International Courts, etc. Are we agreed?"

"Firmly," the Kaiser shook hands with Odoacer.

"Bruno, write up a draft of these terms so both of us can sign it. We can be the Imperial Provisional Government of the Fatherland of the Vorindun."

"Precisely."

An hour later.....

Official Communique of the Imperial Provisional Government of the Fatherland of the Vorindun to the Foreign Allies:

We accept the bulk of your terms, but ask to you to reconsider lowering the financial tribute to 2 billion for five years.

Sincerely,
Kaiser Karl I of the Vorindun
Vidiges Odoacer, Minister-President of the State Council

[Allanea]

Encrypted Transmission from the Allaneans to Kaiser Karl I

Our requirements towards this Odoacer fellow are not instead of, but in addition to any requests you may make upon him. Do not show him this missive. Please inform us if you have reached an agreement with him that is useful to your goals.

We of course agree to the sum of renumeration to our allies.

We hope that in the future a better relationship with our allies can be built.

[Allanea]

Camp Alarica

“My friend,” - said Koni - “Let us do it as it must be done. You will go with my troops and recognize those that you believe are those 'heretics'. They will be fed, and given food and clothing, and will be allowed to leave the camp. The others will be punished. Perhaps, if you wish it, they will be punished by your own hand.”

[Libertarian Governance]

Encrypted Transmission from the Libertarian Governance to Kaiser Karl I

The Free Republic of Libertarian Governance has a couple of small objections. First, The Free Republic would instead of accepting this grant ask that said grant is instead provided to the Estanova Perkins Foundation and Free the Children in equal parts. We also ask that these two humanitarian organizations be given your permission to provide aid and assistance to the victims of this holocaust both Vorindun and Olwean.


Rear Admiral Ray Merkle

[The Vorindun]

Encrypted Transmission from the Allaneans to Kaiser Karl I

Our requirements towards this Odoacer fellow are not instead of, but in addition to any requests you may make upon him. Do not show him this missive. Please inform us if you have reached an agreement with him that is useful to your goals.

We of course agree to the sum of renumeration to our allies.

We hope that in the future a better relationship with our allies can be built.

To: Allanea
From: the Kaiser

I must confess to a moment of serious doubt as to your intentions upon hearing of your demands to Herr Odoacer. For which intel reaching us, you can thank a mole in the Fatherland Front regime who had survived the coup. Her code name is THE NUN. That is all that I can say about her at the moment. In any case, such pecuniary requirements raised more than a few eyebrows in our camp. My deepest apologies if we misjudged you.

Regarding reparations to the Olweans, that has always been the intent of my government. They deserve it and God in His justice demands it of us. In any case, the regime's new leaders apparently wished to come to terms with me, as an acceptable alternative to further humiliations at both your hands and mine. You may well be aware that my troops have relieved the siege of the Olwean state. It was not terribly difficult, despite the theoretical parity of strengths. Their troops were boys and ours were grown men and combat veterans of prior wars.

Again, there was indeed a misunderstanding, in which I had believed that your motives (and those of your allies) were clouded by avarice. Odoacer had but one demand to make of me in return, which was avoidance of international organizations. Should there be a situation in which such organizations prove not to endanger the national sovereignty, I am sure that pressure will convince him to release me of that pledge.

Mr. Odoacer seems, in short, to be a disenchanted Fascist attempting to preserve something of the better intentions of his ideology (however misguided) and secure the preservation of the less culpable members of his party.

I trust that our mutual reservations about each others' intentions can be put aside for the near future, in the interests of better co-operation. Mr. Odoacer seems to have only a minimal level of guilt in the crimes of his predecessors, mostly due to omission. He appears to have taken violent measures to avoid futile and suicidal plans being considered by the previous leadership. The documents provided by THE NUN reinforce this. Mr. Odoacer is, apparently, a former seminary professor turned Grand Council alternate (instead of full member) and state secretary to the Commissar for War.

Essentially, I have offered him and a few more reliable friends posts in the cabinet, with himself as Minister-President, on a variety of conditions that may now be revised due to improved knowledge about your motives. He has accepted and co-operated in an honorable manner so far. Suffice to say that slavery and other such abominable practices are completely and irrevocably abolished and there is now one, unified provisional government for the Fatherland. The civil war is over but for a few diehards and malcontents who might not accept his surrender to us.

Sincere congratulations,
Kaiser Karl I of the Vorindun

[The Vorindun]

Camp Alarica

“My friend,” - said Koni - “Let us do it as it must be done. You will go with my troops and recognize those that you believe are those 'heretics'. They will be fed, and given food and clothing, and will be allowed to leave the camp. The others will be punished. Perhaps, if you wish it, they will be punished by your own hand.”

"Very well," she agreed.

"This is quite acceptable to us."

[The Vorindun]

Encrypted Transmission from the Libertarian Governance to Kaiser Karl I

The Free Republic of Libertarian Governance has a couple of small objections. First, The Free Republic would instead of accepting this grant ask that said grant is instead provided to the Estanova Perkins Foundation and Free the Children in equal parts. We also ask that these two humanitarian organizations be given your permission to provide aid and assistance to the victims of this holocaust both Vorindun and Olwean.


Rear Admiral Ray Merkle

To: Admiral Merkle

So be it. These terms are more than acceptable.

Kaiser Karl I of the Vorindun

[Unilisia]

Unilisia had been content not to make an offensive move for the past few days of the operation; the Strategos at home preferred consolidation of conquests moreso than pushing on into territory that, at the moment, was essentially held together by a crumbling army. Best to let them become complacent and less weary of an attack.

Of course, the Allaneans didn't think the same as the Archon, and had gone ahead attacking the concentration camps holding the elven slaves. For the time being, the Sanguinis Guard had been called back from Allanean units to the occupied territories on the coast, weeding out dissenters in the native populace, and making them 'disappear' quietly. Informants had been forced to coerce, local troublemakers made a silent example of, and a steady and thick network of soldiers stationed across the coast as the entirety of the Unilisian combat forces and their supporting crews had been disgorged into Vorindun. If by any chance the Fascists running Vorindun proper managed to make a breakthrough, they'd find themselves facing well-fed, well-led, and well-supplied Unilisian using their own population and defenses against them.

One thing that had not changed, however, were the continued bombings of the capital. On an hourly basis, a fresh Unilisian strike-bomber catapulted from the decks of one of the two aircraft carriers sitting off the coast, surrounded by the Unilisian fleet, the sonic weapon platforms finding their targets and disgorging missiles packed with napalm with precision into barracks, military hospitals, and any civilian structures satellites had shown to be housing soldiers. Major roads into and out of the city were plastered with explosives, and every hour at midnight the Archon ensured a single fuel-air bomb made its way randomly into the civilian areas of the city, completely and utterly 'off target'.

With the heavy consolidation along the coastline, the soldiers captured in the Battle of Flavium had been assembled in a hastily constructed holding pen; from a birds eye, it would look like a long ditch with walls. Before they could respond to such unorthodox containment, the walls fell down on them, trapping them within the pocket of air between the sand and the thin metal walls, and as they struggled, they mostly likely smelled the napalm jelly that had been mixed in with the sand. One of them obviously struck one of the large incendiary mines placed underneath the pen, and the resulting oven melted the metal down and brought it onto the burning prisoners beneath. Standing twenty meters from the enormous molten oven, a line of Guardsmen watched for any prisoner who by pure luck could escape the inferno. As expected, none did, and once the heat died down in the darker hours of that night, armored personnel carriers arrived, with bulldozing attachments on the front, and pushed a thick coating of sand across the melted metal and bones and made it look as if nothing had ever occurred here but tire tracks. Which would probably be blown away in the wind soon enough.

[Menelmacar]

Theodorica Slave Camp (aka Camp 'M')
The Vorindun

As the sun rose over Theodorica, so too did the Menelmacari flag, over the administration building; many of the watchtowers now flew banners of Houses Fëanor, Fithurin, and Losloriel. Already, too, the Menelmacari had begun dismantling the fences surrounding the camp; Menelmacari forces were busy sweeping the slave-labor factory district surrounding the camp, checking for resistance, or hidden slaver officers or troops, or files and records and other intelligence. As each factory building was swept, charges were set so the entire area, built on elven blood, could be thoroughly demolished.

If the Menelmacari had been reticent to appear in force last night, this had clearly now changed, for the sky was full of ships of all sizes, the Fifth Menelmacari Imperial Gravitic Battle Fleet in particular, Warlady Naurelin nos Fithurin commanding, warships ranging from hundred-odd-meter frigates to her her flagship, MIV Olórin, a Fëanor-class dreadnought well over a mile long, and a substantial group of Vingilot-class superheavy freighters, modular two-kilometer behemoths loaded down with aid supplies; several of these ships were configured as colony ships, and had been contracted to carry away, or to a destination of their choice, tens of thousands of former prisoners each. A pair of these vessels, one freighter and one colony ship, had descended to land outside the camp. Formations of Thoron fighters streaked across the sky in combat air patrols; the Vorindun air force had been destroyed root and branch, but Naurelin was not going to assume the fascists had nothing left they could use to strike some last desperate blow against her people.

The former slaves were allowed to sleep in, no doubt for the first time in some time, and when they awoke, each was told by groups of Menelmacari soldiers assigned to each barracks that the camp had been liberated and that they were free, and were invited to assemble on the parade ground in front of the administration building, and that there would be food and medical care. If any disbelieved, thinking it some fascist trick, the doubts would no doubt fade immediately on stepping outside, seeing the great elven warships, sinuous, elegant, deadly, all sun-golden and blood-red and void-black, hanging impossibly in the sky immediately above, seeing their gravitic vehicles skimming about the perimeter on patrol, seeing the Noldorin banners snapping smartly in the wind from the tops of the towers, seeing the Menelmacari soldiers themselves, their optical camo currently set to a gleaming ceremonial gold... and seeing, here and there, the corpses of the guards that had made them suffer, sprawled in drying puddles of blood leaked from horrific injuries, laying where they had fallen after being taken by the blades of the Shadow Host.

On the parade ground, in front of the administration building, a dais had been set up with a podium, flanked either side flags; the Menelmacari on the right and the Olwean on the left. Large projection screens had also been set up, the camp's population was substantial and people towards the back would not be able to see as well.

Cúronlaes strode down the wide 'street' between two rows of barracks, towards the parade ground; his Ronyo followed along, more or less, flitting about here and there as a cheerful dog might, even barking. His progress was slow, he, like most of his compatriots, had been thronged by the newly liberated prisoners who wanted to shower him with their awe and gratitude. They were a pitiful sight, filthy, ragged, disheveled, many with scars of mistreatment that, if not for Menelmacari medicine, they would carry the rest of their lives. But there was a light in their eyes, a warmth in their smiles, that spoke of the rediscovery of hope, and that warmed his heart. One emaciated couple, who had been kept apart in separate barracks, had managed to reunite each other this morning, and had approached him together.

They looked on him for a long moment, as if wary; Cúronlaes paused, and smiled, reaching up to pull off his helm. The ears, now, were plainly visible, and the couple smiled widely, like children. "Look," the man said to his wife, "a Menelmacari soldier. An elf, and so healthy and strong." He reached out, touching Cúronlaes' arm, almost reverently, and then touched the Starfire plasrifle he was carrying. "And such a beautiful rifle." The wonder, the reverence, it was typical of the reactions he was getting. To these exhausted, ravaged people, familiar only with fear and death, Cúronlaes was a symbol of life and hope, the blood of their blood, wearing the uniform of the liberator, not in hiding, not cowering in terror but striding secure and victorious, armed and capable of raining terrible destruction on his enemies. He kissed the woman lightly on the cheek, and she had wept, and her husband shook Cúronlaes' hand and thanked him fervently before saying goodbye.

Eventually the bulk of the prisoners had filtered onto the parade ground; it was enough, for the sound system had been hooked up to the PA and Naurelin's address would carry across the entire camp. The Warlady took the dais, stepping to the podium, resplendent in dress blacks, a cloth-of-gold cloak, and the sparkle of the ruby rank insignia of the fleet on her collar. On her breast were a dizzying array of ribbons and medals and a fine Egalmoth-style longsword hung at her belt. She was tall, auburn-haired, with sapphire eyes, with the slightly-darker complexion of the Avari, and she raised her hands to call for quiet. Then she spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to a new era for our people. You now know that you are free, that your bondage is ended and your oppressors are dead, and will trouble you no more, and that the regime that empowered them crumbles as we speak, its siege of the Olwean Renaissance broken, its last remnants being systematically snuffed out across Vorindun."

The cheering was deafening, and Naurelin waited for them to settle before continuing.

"You now also know that this liberation was effected by forces of the nation I represent, the Eternal Noldorin Empire of Menelmacar; there is another camp, which was freed simultaneously by Allanean forces. I am Warlady Naurelin nos Fithurin, of the Menelmacari Imperial Defense Force, and I speak to you today on behalf of the Elentári, Lady Sirithil nos Fëanor. We share history; we share blood. Menelmacar is your sword, and your shield. We fight, above all things, to protect our people -- all elves, not merely Menelmacari -- to safeguard their interests, and ultimately to heal a world marred by evil and shadow. But in all my years I have never seen such strength and nobility as I see among you today. All that you have suffered, all that you have survived, I cannot comprehend, and I cannot wash away... but I can avenge, and provide some small measure of justice. These wrongs will not go unrighted; for those that oppressed you, there will be no shortage of suffering."

More cheering ensued, and Naurelin paused to clear her throat, then continued. "Let me speak now on the present, and the future. Many of you are starving or injured and in need of medical attention. On the north and south sides of the parade ground you will find that field kitchens and field hospitals have been set up; there is no shortage of food and medicine, but we ask only that you be orderly; for lack of any better option, there are queues by barracks. There are also shower facilities available, and personal items as well: toys and candy for the children, toiletries, a wide selection of books, and nearly anything you could want. No reasonable request will be denied, and almost any can be provided. Once you've been fed and your injuries tended, we'll need your names and where you wish to go from here. The Olwean Renaissance will surely welcome you, as likely will Allanea, and you are also welcome in Menelmacar, and if you have family or citizenship elsewhere we will give you passage wherever you wish to go. In any case you will be given Menelmacari citizenship and all the rights that pertain to that status. Further we will make every effort to locate your loved ones and reunite you with them."

Naurelin smiled, looking out over the crowd. "We are blood, we are kin. We look after each other. We stand together against the darkness; we are the light that drives back the shadow." She extended her hand. "In spirit of friendship and unity I offer you my hand; take it, and walk with us, into a better future."

[Menelmacar]

Cellblock 4-A
Brig, MIV Olórin
10,000 feet above Camp 'M'

The IYS officers taken in the liberation of Theodorica had not had to cower before their captors for long. They were immediately hooded, their hands cruelly ziptied behind them, and taken.... somewhere. Out of the administration building, that had been clear. Up a ramp, next, and forced into seats and buckled in. There had been the sensation of movement.... an aircraft perhaps? It hadn't been a jet, or a helicopter. Then a lot of walking. All the way whenever the prisoners lagged the elves had not been shy about roughly shoving or clubbing them along with the flats of their swords or the stocks of their rifles. There had been much said, but in the elven language of which they likely knew not a word.

When the hoods and zipties were removed, each officer was alone in a cell, in an unfamiliar place. They were being kept isolated from one another, in featureless small white rooms, presumably cells, that boasted only a cot and a toilet, both in full view of the heavy door, which had no window. The cells were brightly lit; in time, they would find this did not change, day or night, and it would quickly sap the ability to determine how long they had been held.

Their uniforms had been replaced by a featureless red jumpsuit; at their throats were a thin collar, which was apparently seamless and could not be removed without special tools. This was not explained to them at first, but the collar contained a tracking device, a device that monitored their vital signs in case of suicide attempts -- unlikely given the lack of anything in the cell that would serve the purpose -- and, in case of escape, a small gravitic pulse charge that, on being triggered, would neatly sever their head.

They would wait some time to be fed. When it came, it came delivered automatically in packets not unlike those of a packaged frozen dinner. In a cruel sort of poetic justice, the food turned out to be the same gruel that had been served to the camp's prisoners, and in the same portion. The elves had done their research it seemed, and seemed to have a streak of cruel humor. Mealtimes came irregularly, and the officers, now prisoners themselves, would be required to set the empty packet from the previous meal on the tray before it would be withdrawn and more food delivered.

After the second meal each prisoner was taken, one by one, from their cell, by two elven soldiers, hooded and ziptied, and brought to an interrogation room where they would be stripped and strapped to a chair. There they would recognize Idhrindiel, one of the Mornahossë officers who had slaughtered their men. Her helmet was gone, now, and she was wearing a fleet uniform, and was revealed to be a quite lovely elf with shoulder-length auburn hair and piercing emerald eyes. They could not think her beautiful, though; the depth of loathing in her eyes precluded it. For whatever reason, Idhrindiel nos Fithurin thought of them as less than insects. It didn't matter how young each subject was, the questioning always started the same; she had a wicked set of surgical tools on a tray, and a number of other fearsome-looking things whose function could only be guessed at. Idhrindiel would pick up one of the scalpels, and idly handle it, perhaps gently trailing the blade across her subject's face, speaking with a calm, almost scientific detachment.

"I know that you sold some of your prisoners as slaves, and shipped them out to other places in Vorindun or elsewhere. You will tell me where the records and proceeds of these transactions are, and how they might be accessed. You will tell me who the buyers are, how many elves they bought, and where they can be found. You will tell me everything, or I will carve your secrets from your flesh, but one way or another, I will learn everything you know."

And she meant every word.

[Allanea]

On the ruins of camp Alarica

The Allaneans worked swiftly. The four 'heretics' have been questioned, to collect the names of the worst camp guards and the most terrible war criminals. Then, the four men were placed in the back of an Allanean military jeep, among the vehicles that had been airlanded in the strike. It would drive several miles away from the camp, where the four men would be given a pack of clothes each, and told to leave the truck. This was kindness for kindness, and they deserved nothing less.

Meanwhile, the most terrible war criminals and the leading officers of the camp, together with Statinius senior, were assembled on a landing pad the combat engineers prepared for a Menelmacari shuttle. Allanean soldiers surrounded the landing pad with bayonets affixed to to their rifles – but this was merely a minor precaution, since each of the guards was now cuffed by his hands and feet.

The other camp guards – the ones that the Allaneans felt deserved a comparatively swift death – awaited their fate elsewhere in the camp. They, too, were tied up, surrounded by riflemen and machinegunners – as the Allaneans handed knives, work tools, shovels and even guns to any prisoner who could walk. Sometimes the guards' own weapons were given to the former prisoners.

“Very well,” Koni said as he looked at the now-armed elves, and then motioned at the camp guards tied up on the ground - “First pick.”

[The Vorindun]

Virtually all resistance had crumbled, with the worst of the traitors rounded up and turned over to the allies. Security was now tight enough, with martial-law imposed and everything, that the Kaiser could safely arrive. He did exactly that, landing by a small charter flight at the Theodoricus Magnus Airport in Maximeum. Plans to destroy the capital were gone, due to changed circumstances, and the Kaiser found himself far more popular than he thought. Crowds of cheering new subjects roared either "Heil Kaiser!" or "Ave, Caesar!", depending on their language. Women openly swooned to see the new head of state, as he was not only handsome, but, as one cynical male observer put it,"Suddenly, the most eligible bachelor in the Fatherland."

Greeting the new Kaiser at the airport was the new Minister-President himself, Vidiges Odoacer, who swore an oath of allegiance to the Kaiser, along with all members of his government and all of the remaining Patrician Guards.

After giving a short speech to the local and national press, the Kaiser headed straight to the old palace and formally seated himself on the throne. Then he went to the Central Chamber and held the first meeting of his new coalition government. Monarchist and former Front members sat across from each other, nervous and suspicious, but both happy to see an end to the fratricide. All Vorindun were brothers and sisters, they had always believed, whether they be Roman, German, or Goth.

The details of that initial meeting were unclear, but there was a certain sense of calm and serenity showing on the faces of the new ministers when they appeared in public again.

Decrees from the cabinet, officially known as "Imperial Cabinet Edicts", a collaboration between the Kaiser and his new Provisional Government, issued forth almost immediately. The curfew was maintained in the capital, but only for a period of 90 days. The garrison was ordered to maintain martial-law, in co-operation with the new Imperial Guard and the Imperial Volunteer Legions, who had arrived in force.

Unions and strikes were legalized, but arbitration was urged. The rights to work and to a living wage were proclaimed to all and sundry. Slavery was formally outlawed, along with serfdom, debt-bondage, forced labor, and indentured servitude. Plans for reparations and renumeration were made, along with the sumptuary laws, unpopular but necessary to pay for the cost of this levy of tribute. Plans to replace Unilisian, Allanean, and LG administration of occupied areas were made, and military governors were appointed to serve as temporary administrators of martial-law in those areas once the foreign allies had transferred control back to the Kaiser's jurisdiction.

A formal declaration of the equal rights of all sapient beings was issued in the name of the Kaiser and his government. Habeas corpus remained suspended for the interim, of course. Alles in ordnung was now the order of the day, until such time as the country was ready for more freedom and less authoritarian measures.

A triumphal procession through the capital soon followed, with massive crowds greeting the Kaiser. Vorindun flags waved, people cheered him as his motorcade went by, and there were no signs of loathing or resentment of the head of state. The country was tired of war and wanted peace and prosperity.

[Allanea]

Allanean Landing zone

Everywhere, the Allanean troops were preparing to leave. Most of them have not even seen an enemy soldier first-hand, but the war was already over. Everywhere, traitor-Vorindunians were being led away in chains. These men would be divided into three equal columns – some would go to Libertarian Governance, and some to Unilisia. Yet others would go to Allanea. There their trials would be swift – merely having been a member of the slaver military organizations was already a crime worthy of death.

Their executions and trials would be carried out as soon as they were on board of Allanean ships, about a dozen kilometers from the shore. Their loved ones would not see them die, and no press releases would be made about the details.

Thus were the slavers killed in brutal ways – some men impaled on rods on the decks of Allanean warships, others hanged off the railings on the side of the ships. The clerics who had preached slavery and worked for the regime would have been tortured in especially terrible ways – crucified, or drawn apart the front-end loaders used on board of the Allanean aircraft carriers. In this method, two steel cables would be looped around the slaver's body, and the loaders would begin to pull apart, until the hapless creature was split in two.

*

Message to Kaiser Karl I

Has any of the traitor leadership (the usurper and his ministers) remained alive? If yes, we would like them to be handed over to the Menelmacari allies. If no, we would like to collect their bodies. We are especially interested in the Nazi faction of course.

Message to the Olwean Renaissance

Dear Friends!

Within days, the Olwean Renaissance should take possession of its sea corridor. We would like to donate to your nation's Navy (which you will require, now that you have a sea port!) 20 Sachsen class air defense frigates, 10 Powhatan ocean tugs, as well as 10 Osprey class mine hunters. These are but a symbolic gift of our appreciation, and we are happy to assist in every way. We would like to send a diplomatic delegation to your nation to arrange for a long-term cooperation between the Olwean Renaissance and the Allaneans.

[The Vorindun]

To the Allaneans, LG, Menemelcari, Unilisians, and Olweans,

Generally, the top level were killed off by Odoacer and company. However, there are several prominent local bosses and officials in Sicula and St. Paul, which cities are of dubious loyalty even now. The population might well hold faith with the Kaiser (given that the capital turned out to be more sympathetic to our cause than previously believed), but the municipal and provincial Front and State officers, as well as bishops, are believed to be hard-liners. They have yet to indicate otherwise by renouncing Fascism and slavery and swearing allegiance to the Kaiser.

I have a strong recommendation. Lop off the head of every tall poppy. The bishops and several key priests of the region are the worst kind of political clergy, in particular, full of pious declarations that the Elves are Satanic. That area might need the cleansing fire and heavy foot on its neck for a bit longer. Methinks that you can move your occupation forces from the currently held areas to these cities and provinces with little difficulty. There could still be some good fighting left, as the remaining insurgents are frankly desperate. Desperation breeds special ferocity, as you may well know.

You will be pleased to know the new national penalty for slave trafficking is death by hanging. All participation in the slave trade is to be deemed trafficking, so no one convicted of this offense is to be spared. I have also discovered several caches of anthrax and other biological weapons, clearly intended for imminent delivery and use. Seems the Marinus regime were heavily investing in a superweapons program to save their skins.

I am especially interested in co-operating with the new Olwean navy in catching any pirates and slavers who might attempt to operate in our territorial waters.

[The Vorindun]

Cellblock 4-A
Brig, MIV Olórin
10,000 feet above Camp 'M'

The IYS officers taken in the liberation of Theodorica had not had to cower before their captors for long. They were immediately hooded, their hands cruelly ziptied behind them, and taken.... somewhere. Out of the administration building, that had been clear. Up a ramp, next, and forced into seats and buckled in. There had been the sensation of movement.... an aircraft perhaps? It hadn't been a jet, or a helicopter. Then a lot of walking. All the way whenever the prisoners lagged the elves had not been shy about roughly shoving or clubbing them along with the flats of their swords or the stocks of their rifles. There had been much said, but in the elven language of which they likely knew not a word.

When the hoods and zipties were removed, each officer was alone in a cell, in an unfamiliar place. They were being kept isolated from one another, in featureless small white rooms, presumably cells, that boasted only a cot and a toilet, both in full view of the heavy door, which had no window. The cells were brightly lit; in time, they would find this did not change, day or night, and it would quickly sap the ability to determine how long they had been held.

Their uniforms had been replaced by a featureless red jumpsuit; at their throats were a thin collar, which was apparently seamless and could not be removed without special tools. This was not explained to them at first, but the collar contained a tracking device, a device that monitored their vital signs in case of suicide attempts -- unlikely given the lack of anything in the cell that would serve the purpose -- and, in case of escape, a small gravitic pulse charge that, on being triggered, would neatly sever their head.

They would wait some time to be fed. When it came, it came delivered automatically in packets not unlike those of a packaged frozen dinner. In a cruel sort of poetic justice, the food turned out to be the same gruel that had been served to the camp's prisoners, and in the same portion. The elves had done their research it seemed, and seemed to have a streak of cruel humor. Mealtimes came irregularly, and the officers, now prisoners themselves, would be required to set the empty packet from the previous meal on the tray before it would be withdrawn and more food delivered.

After the second meal each prisoner was taken, one by one, from their cell, by two elven soldiers, hooded and ziptied, and brought to an interrogation room where they would be stripped and strapped to a chair. There they would recognize Idhrindiel, one of the Mornahossë officers who had slaughtered their men. Her helmet was gone, now, and she was wearing a fleet uniform, and was revealed to be a quite lovely elf with shoulder-length auburn hair and piercing emerald eyes. They could not think her beautiful, though; the depth of loathing in her eyes precluded it. For whatever reason, Idhrindiel nos Fithurin thought of them as less than insects. It didn't matter how young each subject was, the questioning always started the same; she had a wicked set of surgical tools on a tray, and a number of other fearsome-looking things whose function could only be guessed at. Idhrindiel would pick up one of the scalpels, and idly handle it, perhaps gently trailing the blade across her subject's face, speaking with a calm, almost scientific detachment.

"I know that you sold some of your prisoners as slaves, and shipped them out to other places in Vorindun or elsewhere. You will tell me where the records and proceeds of these transactions are, and how they might be accessed. You will tell me who the buyers are, how many elves they bought, and where they can be found. You will tell me everything, or I will carve your secrets from your flesh, but one way or another, I will learn everything you know."

And she meant every word.

The horrified prisoners often fainted, but soon revealed more than a little, especially about certain nations that had banned slavery and would be horrified to learn of its continued existence in their nations. There were also some countries, such as Parthia Magna, where slavery had been revived despite past invasions to curb it. Tryphalia and Damoclea, meanwhile, held firmly to pro-slavery ideas, which was no small source of aggravation to their newly anti-slavery neighbor, Malacanos. Sassanid Dominions and Samaria Maxima also had the institution and some Elvish slaves. Among the nations which illegally had it were in fact Malacanos, Lewis with Harris, Provisional America, Daniel-Franklin, Doraland, and Californiication, as well as Medinat Baruch. Ancient Etoria, a nation which had begun phasing out slavery, also apparently had some Elvish slaves, though the Queen was young and unaware of this. While slavery was legal there, it was heavily regulated by the new queen's edicts. The states of Posidonis and Lysania also legally had a scattering of Elvish slaves, but only as curiosities. They were still few in number.

All told, some 3,200 Elvish slaves had been sold overseas, to keep from overflowing the camps. They were often women and children, though some men were sold as tutors and other academic tasks. Most of the buyers were private labor contractors, pimps, pirates, and criminal syndicates.

[Olwean Renaissance]

Message to the Olwean Renaissance

Dear Friends!

Within days, the Olwean Renaissance should take possession of its sea corridor. We would like to donate to your nation's Navy (which you will require, now that you have a sea port!) 20 Sachsen class air defense frigates, 10 Powhatan ocean tugs, as well as 10 Osprey class mine hunters. These are but a symbolic gift of our appreciation, and we are happy to assist in every way. We would like to send a diplomatic delegation to your nation to arrange for a long-term cooperation between the Olwean Renaissance and the Allaneans.[/quote]

We regret the delay in responding to this and prior communications, but we have been involved closely in harassing and attacking the supply lines of the besiegers, as well as killing off any escapees from the Kaiser's offensive. Many heads now adorn the spikes mounted on the roofs of our tallest and grandest structures. The bodies have been burned in crematoria, as they deserved. All of their personal possessions have been confiscated.

We accept the offers of land and money as reparations, but will still have to build trust with this new Vorindun government. We gladly accept offers of naval assistance from all parties as well. Be aware that any slaver who sets foot on our sacred soil faces an automatic death sentence. They might be pardoned and granted amnesty under the right conditions by other regimes and nations, which we respect as a matter of national sovereignty, but we accord them no such forgiveness or absolution.

We sincerely thank all nations and factions who strove so mightily for the liberation of our peoples, but we still urge upon the Kaiser and his confederates a serious purge of the Arian Apostolic Church. Many congregants might well be innocent, but its clergy are given to political leanings quite sympathetic to the old regime and to slavery. Once cleansed of its wicked elements, the Church might still have some redeeming value, of course.

Thank you again. Our nation is in your debt. Vorindun was once a haven to our people. Sad to realize that we recently needed a refuge from it.

Count Andrea Gallo,
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Libertarian Governance]

The LGDF was content to help the Vorindun citizens and those army units which had chosen to fight alongside them establish order. Though their idea of order may have seemed somewhat strange to the residents of the formally tyrannical country. There were checkpoints, here and there mainly staffed by the Vorindun themselves. The LGDF seemed for the most part content with their bases with occasional patrols through the areas they held and the ever present helicopters and drones flying overhead.

Though there was order of a sort, there were the ever present arrival of troops and equipment though eventually the lethal arms they brought into the area were replaced with equipment to repair the damaged infrastructure of the citizens. There were other flights too.

Both the Estanova Perkins Foundation and Free the Children flew their own planes into the improvised airfields established by the LGDF. Bringing in food, medicine and water purification equipment to supply the citizens of this short though vicious display of firepower.Both also brought their own security forces. Mercenaries most would call them but a few Governors would say these particular companies were owned by the notoriously bloody organized crime gang known as the Red Dragon Faction. Though such rumors were next to impossible to prove with the privacy laws as they were.

Regardless the two foundations set about the task of establishing a presence and for that they would infuse the local economies with cash for like all organizations they needed buildings and workers and transportation among many other things. For now though they were content just to get on the ground and start assessing the needs of the population. That task would begin in the morning when teams of doctors and aid workers would begin fanning out from the airfields.

As for security, the Libertarians believed fundamentally that government was always a threat to liberty and the only check was a well armed citizenry. Not only had the Libertarians begin to offer arms to former captives but they facilitated the formation of armed citizen militia in their zone.

Bureau 24 had through monetary rewards and force gathered information on the former regime and its supporters. This Information was cross checked against facts established through other means and held within the Bureau's computer banks and the end result was a list of wanted persons that included former political figures, clergy, military, business leaders and aristocrats that was now quietly being reduced in size.

Sicula

The Bishop peered out the peep hole after a knock awoke him in the night. Standing before him was a man he recognized as a leader in the local front. He removed the chain and undid the locks before opening the door. suddenly he was thrown backwards as the man was shoved forcibly towards him through the door, both men falling to floor.

The Bishop opened his mouth to shout at the two men stepping towards him, the first holding a pistol with a long silencer attached. He didn't have time to get the words out as two .45 caliber rounds punched into his skull splattering blood and brain matter on the floor.

The second man quickly grabbed the fronts leader yanking him to his feet, his elbow swiftly striking the leader in the throat as he slammed him against a wall and pinned him there. The leader did not feel the combat blade that slipped between his ribs and punctured his heart. The man held him against the wall looking into his eyes as the life drained from them, then he let the body slump to the floor. Bending over he wiped the blood from his blase on the clothing of the dead man.

In another part of the city a group of eight masked men stood over fourteen captives in an alleyway. Cars blocked both ends of this little road. Each of the captives wore black bags over their heads, were on their knees with their hands bound in plastic restraints at their backs. The effects of their abductions were blackened eyes, bruises, cuts and several had broken bones. These men had run businesses and finance for the slave trade, these men had perhaps thought they escaped the war and would enjoy the profits from the misery they caused.

The first one of you to speak and tell me everything he knows of the slave trade will live. He nodded and one of the other masked men drew a pistol from his waist. Quickly he screwed a silencer on to the barrel and walked to the first of the fourteen. He placed the weapon to the base of the skull and fired. The weapon making less noise as it cycled then the body of its victim crumpling to the ground.

There are now thirteen of you. A second shot sent another man to death's embrace. Now twelve. Another shot.

St. Paul suffered similar actions this night. Estates and homes had been raided by Phoenix Strike and Medusa teams who zealously went through the Bureaus target list exacting vengeance. Two bishops died when the cell phones they answered exploded as they spoke into them. Another trio would be found with their heads removed from their necks by tomahawks. A few of these targets were extracted, brought to the LGDF bases for interrogation based on their perceived position but for the others there was only death.

[Allanea]

Encrypted Allanean Missive to the Menelmacari and the Vorindun Government

The matter of a potential insurgency is especially important. We believe several solutions are in order. One, a single Allanean division can be left behind to assist in fighting the insurgents. This unit may, with the permission of the Vorindun government, be stationed in such a way as to avoid conflict with the civilian population, while simultaneously motivating the insurgents to attack its positions, perhaps in fortified bases in some rural area (perhaps in the Olwean Renaissance, should the elves permit). The insurgents would be lured into open combat with Allanean troops - open combat which no insurgent army has ever won.

Second, advice can be taken on this matter from Menelmacari experts. Menelmacari are superior counterinsurgency combatants and are capable of both placating civilian populations and taking out insurgent combatants with negligible collateral damage. It would be perhaps best if the Menelmacari are given control/sovereignty over the former grounds of the labor camps - these are no more than a few hundred acres in size, and can be turned by the elves into memorials to their fallen kin, much in the same manner as the Americans had once established sovereignty over military graveyards in France.

*

Allanean military presence continued to dwindle. Already it was down to one division of infantry near the landing site, and one division of airborne troops at Camp Alarica. The Allanean fleet was also now beginning to depart, its numbers reducing to a single carrier battle group. There was no enemy navy to fight anymore, and no need to keep worthy war vessels out at sea.

Still, people were being captured. Bishops that the government pointed to were grabbed in their own homes by black-clad reconnaissance troops, their heads put into black bags, zipties looping around their arms and leg, and dragged away towards a new fate. About a dozen men were so captured.

[The Vorindun]

Your proposals are quite sensible, including the Elvish enclaves. It is consecrated by the blood of the fallen and claimed by them as theirs for posterity. To claim them back would be robbery. The sooner these insurgents are put down, the sooner the Fatherland can return to good order and political freedom can be reinstated. I also wish to make clear that from now on, the past restrictive emigration policies are no more. Anyone willing and able to come here and help us rebuild the Fatherland is welcome to do so, regardless of race or creed.

Sincerely,
His Imperial Majesty, Karl I, by the Grace of God, Kaiser of All Vorindun, King of the Goths and Germans, Patrician of the Romans, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Armed Forces, and Father of the Fatherland.

[The Vorindun]

The missing faces told the real story. A third of the prelates were absent, many of them dead or captured by the foreign heretics and infidels. Of those remaining, more than a few feared for their futures, having been complicit in some kind of collaboration with the Fatherland Front regime. It had favored the Church, after all, and had sought to impose Arianism on the general populace in the long run. The Church would have to act swiftly or lose its moral standing with the people. They lost some face and didn't wish to lose more.

In those circumstances, ratifying a new confession of faith that respected the rights of Elves and other humanoids, as well as permitting them to be baptized into the Church (in the past, this was forbidden on the ground of the Elves not being descendants of Adam and Eve) was a cakewalk. Little debate happened. This and an affirmation of loyalty and prayer for the "Kaiser, Fatherland, and the Imperial Provisional Government" were clearly required as the price to avoid further purges of their clergy. They had to repent of their past hostility to the Elves and embrace them in "Christian brotherhood" instead.

Copies of the new confession, signed by all but three bishops present, were sent out to all parties and governments.

The last three had since decided to flee for their lives rather than stay to die or violate their consciences. This was pure apostasy and they wouldn't stand for it.

[Allanea]

Liberty-City, Allanea, chambers of Shiunji Watanabe

Shiunji Watanabe, the Imperial Corpse-Master, was hard at work. His new subjects had been flown in by plane - Gerd von Kleist, the first pro-slavery leader of Vorindun, Nazis Eugen Maelius and Eustace Moreau, and the slaver fascist Arminius Marinus. They were dead - and in this manner they were better than alive. Alive they were slavers and Nazis, torturing, killing, and violating others. Dead they could do no harm, and would soon do the world a lot of good.

First he took the skull of Eugen Maelius. Boiled for several hours, it was deprived of the tiniest shred of flesh, and then bleached until it was white. The top of the skull was then carefully sawed off, and a silver cover had sealed the brain pan - in such a way that water poured into the silver cover would not seep out through the eyes or nose. Later the whole skull was given a covering of silver and brushed, and the Nazi's eye sockets were filled by two large, red rubies. The brain-pan was silvered and reattached on a hinge, and a large handle added to the back of the skull. The same treatment was given to Moreau - thereafter the two Nazis had achieved a new, better existence as silver tankards.

Gerd von Kleist, too, had an auspicious future ahead of him. His skull would become a cup of red gold, with the Vorindunian imperial eagle made out on his forehead with diamonds. There would be no cover on this one, but two large handles at the ears instead. The cover would become a separate item, a simple ashtray to be gifted to an officer in the Emperor's personal regiment. The same fate awaited Maelius, whose cup matched Kleist's.

Their bones, skins, and other parts of their body would also be used by Watanabe in various works. He was an excellent artist, but it would take time to complete all of this work.

Aboard Elros Thanafiel's flagship

"Oh god, you are truly a devil!" - the bishop shouted as one of the Allanean torturers began breaking one of his fingers. - "In the name of God, stop!"

"I am indeed." - Thanafiel replied. His uniform removed, the elf general was terrible to behold. He remained wearing only a tank-top summer telnyashka, and his arms and shoulders were open. He had lived since his birth among Allaneans, and looked quite like one of them - from wrist to neck, his arms were covered in elaborate sleeve tattoos, the kind of which a Menelmacari elf would likely never considered - "For years you have treated me and my kin like devils. Why should I not act like one? Are you deserving of mercy?"

The cleric did not answer. A second later, another finger bone snapped loudly, blood spraying on the torturer's face. The cleric screamed incoherently now - a long, high-pitched scream.

"But indeed," - Tanatafiel continued - "I am merciful beyond what you deserve, your Holiness." - he was smirking now. - "Behold for you are in the hands of my men. I could have let the Unilisians have you. They would treat you as a value meal. Do you know how Unilisians eat people? They are not like the Palani. The Palani take the kindness to kill and cook their victims before they begin to feast."

"Behold now that you are also not in the hands of Menelmacari. They have a special treatment for those who enslave my kin. They have the technology and the means to keep a victim alive for millenia as the best torturers that the universe had ever known continue prodding and poking at exposed nerves. It is not beyond these torturers to explore a given type of pain for a few years, until the victim had learned every form and angle and flavor of suffering of that particular organ or - why are you slacking off?'" -the General looked at the sailor. For a moment, his subordinate had paused the torture, listening to his commander speak. - "Keep at it! He has still fingers left!"

Then the screaming began anew.

"See. At least with me." - Tanafiel continued - "You will probably die no later than in a day or two. If anything, you should thank me for my mercy, slaver."

*

Thanafiel's Office, several hours later

Several hours later, after a brief shower to wash off the blood and a new Telnyashka, the elf-general had greeted Severina in his office.

"Good day, my friend. The war is over, and the elves free. I hope you understand what this means, Severina." - he paused. - "It means that the time has come for you to be rewarded."

He placed on the table a small box and a sheet of paper. The box had a transparent cover, showing a brand-new medal - a silver circle, portraying a stern-looking man with a beard and a mass of hair.

"Severina, this is the Order of John Brown. It is issued to individuals and military men who, by acts of personal bravery and great risk, have brought to the liberation of many slaves. This is the first-class medal, and is awarded to you by my personal authority as the theater commander, in the name of the Allanean people - in account for both the many slaves you have freed before the war, and you coming here to deliver a message to us. Without your information it would be difficult for us to carry out the operation with such perfection. You have saved hundreds of thousands of innocents, Severina. You should be proud of yourself."

He paused.

"As a special dispensation of the Emperor of Greater Prussia, Alexander Kirillovich Kazansky, you are hereby pronounced a noblewoman of the Prussian Empire, and your title shall henceforth be Baroness. Should you wish to move to the Empire, the arrangements can be made to make you a Freewoman of Allanea or a citizen of Reichskamphen. Further, the Emperor has set aside a ten-million dollar bank account, from which you will be paid a one per cent annuity every year - enough so you will never have to deal with the necessity of labor, and will be able to live as you truly deserve - as a wealthy, proud, independent woman. Everywhere you go, you will be welcomed as the hero who had saved millions from slavery and death."

"In my own name, in the name of the Allanean people, and of all civilized sapient-kind, I thank you for what you did. Now, if you may - we need your last name for our records so we can give you the medal," - smiled the General.