Crisis Situation #1: Peace Brigade Hostage Taking (IFC Only, IC)
Undisclosed Location
The hostages had no idea what was going on, one moment they were enjoying a weekend evening, and then before they knew it, they found themselves attacked, beaten, and dragged away by masked men. They were thrown in vehicles, with cloth bags thrown over their heads, they had all remembered it the same. A long drive to wherever they had been brought. Some of the hostages had thought they had been brought here by boat or plane, but all of them were now in the same room, tied to similar chairs, all facing the same direction. Their cloth bags had been traded for blindfolds, but none of the hostages were allowed to speak, having been gagged by their captors. They could almost make out the room, a dank old building, possibly an abandoned warehouse somewhere. Their captors were dressed in dark clothing, nothing overly identifying, some wearing military jackets, some just plain black sweatshirts, yet several of them carried assault rifles, and one of them, the man trying to set up the camera feed, looked to be wearing a black sweatshirt with a university logo on the front, but it was hard to tell through the blindfold.
Suddenly there was a bright light shone on them, and even under their blindfolds, the light was too intense to look at directly, someone spoke in a heavy Scottish accent to the man working on the camera feed. "Is it ready?" The man working the camera nodded his head in affirmation, and the man who had spoken stepped out of the shadows near the back of the room where he had been standing. His face was hidden by a ski mask, but unlike many of his companions he wore a t-shirt showing a large hand making a peace sign with a red and brown border behind. He approached the hostages and stopped, looking them over, one by one. Turning around he motioned to start recording.
"To the members of the war-mongering organization the International Freedom Coalition. For too long you have enforced your views on others who only wished to be left in peace. For too long have you trampled what you see as lesser nations, and shoved your pitiful ideological ideals down their throats, all the while building up unnecessary armies to force your views on others who resist. The cost and corruption of your member nations has resulted in serious deficiencies in your member nations' social services all because you wish to be the police people of the world. The immense expense our nations will have in retrofitting our armies to a create standardization in weapons and vehicles is unnecessary and wrong. Now is the time to stop spending money on munitions and start improving the conditions for those below the poverty line. Now is the time for improving the access to healthcare and education over the expense of new devastating military technology. The use of military force as a deterrent is an archaic way of viewing the world, and we are tired of your attempts to silence and shut us out of our governments. Our governments have been bought by the dreams and lies that your organization whispers to them, promising a piece of the pie in technological advancements in military technology, and protection from so-called rogue nations. Now we have had enough, now we will take the fight to you!" The man moved gesturing to the hostages.
"Sitting behind me in these chairs are important people from some of your member nations," he gestured to a man, of Vietnamese descent dressed quite well, obviously on his way to somewhere or something important, a few scrapes and bruises on his face, where his captors had hit him. "Here we have Mr. Megat Chiktra, Governor of Southwest Hesia, and a member of the traitorous regime that leads the United Provinces of the New Lowlands."
The man moved to the next hostage, a man in his fifties, dressed in a blue cotton shirt and jeans. He was doubled over in pain from a hard blow that had shattered several of his ribs. "Next, I'd like to introduce you to Vice President Walton Meyers of the Organized States, who I hear is a candidate for our next election. I'm sure he and his government will learn from this experience that the people no longer want a government that supports war-mongering and profiteering."
He moved to the next hostage, a woman in her late 20's, wearing a purple dress, with a tear-stained face and a look of complete hopelessness. "Ms. Casey Philips here could be considered a victim of poor timing, but our members from the Organized States suggest that she's more than a mere member of Vice President Meyers' staff, and so I'm sure Mr. Meyers and his government will like to see the safe return of someone considered a true innocent."
He moved to the next man, an older man in his 70's, who had clearly been pulled from his bed, as he still wore his striped pajamas. "Here is the esteemed Congressman Chester Gordon, and I hope his party will consider working with the Ellsworth Administration to remove the Organized States government from the IFC, and shut this corrupt organization down for good."
The man moved to the final hostage, a well-dressed man of Japanese descent, who looked more accepting of his predicament than the rest of the hostages. "Last but definitely not least we have Dr. Ando Korenaga, currently a professor at Washington Luís University in Santa Catalina, and a major player in a pro-imperial policy think tank. It is men like him who drive our nations towards an economic alignment with militarization. Our nations need less outward reaction and more inward focus on the assistance and welfare of our own people."
The man moved back to face the camera directly. "I'm sure the IFC as an organization that supposedly despises harm to others in nations not directly influenced by democracy, would like to see these hostages safely returned. We have asked you to lay down your arms and help feed your own people, and share the wealth of the free world with those suffering famines, and forces of nature in other nations, but instead you refuse, and so I doubt the insignificant lives of these five people mean anything to your profit-driven, war-profiteering enterprise. We call upon the member nations of the IFC, our governments, to immediately withdraw from the IFC and disband the organization altogether, or the blood of these hostages and possibly others will be on your hands! This is not an idle threat!"
The cameraman indicated he had stopped rolling. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your hard work and dedication, but we've only just begun. I want that video submitted to Youtube, and the media stations within the IFC member countries. I doubt they'll respond, so we'll need to begin carrying out the next step now."
The group of hostage takers filed out of the room, leaving a few to guard the scared and helpless hostages.
