Empire on Fire Chapter 1: In The Flesh (Ausozera only, IC)

[Second Helghan Empire]

Western Outskirts of Bogt

Cyrus Sped down the streets of the Suburbs. He raced past the occasional group of people who pointed to him and shouted or on some occasions threw bricks or other objects at him. No helmet he was easily distinguished as a helghast. Seemingly to add to that noticeability he had a large Helghast flag patch on his shoulder.

As he attempted to keep clear of the declining amount of road blocks and mobs of people he rounded a corner and sped past two police officers. A minute later he was pulled over and they were ordering him to remove his back pack so they could search it.

Problem was, it held a submachinegun, if they found that they would haul him away, or possibly execute him on the spot. He pulled the strap up and over his head and gently laid the bag on the ground. One of the cops stepped up and wrapping his hand in the strap he pulled it to the side and away. Just to the right of Cyrus.

Turning his head just slightly as the cop pulled the bag away he say the location of the other. Beside the car, hand ready to draw his gun. Cyrus would only have a second, before the first one would draw down on him for the gun in his pack. Now or never his only chance.

His hand went down fast and freed his handgun as dropped down on the opposite side of his bike from the two officers. He fired two shots at the one over his bag catching him in the shoulder then the throat and he turned to fire on the other cop but saw he had ducked around behind the car.

Cyrus slid forward and came up to a kneeling position, moving quickly he came up opposite the cop behind the car and tried as hard as he could to control his breathing. It was pretty quiet, except for the wounded cop nearby who tried to scream but just gurgled.

It was just quiet enough that Cyrus could hear the scrape of boots on pavement as the remaining police man moved slowly toward the edge of the vehicle. Definitely a rookie officer, he was making way too many mistakes. In fact Cyrus was sure he should have been dead already if the cop had been more experienced. Not that he was complaining.

Cyrus leaned around the back of the car and saw just the cop's knee. He aimed and fired, The man's knee burst and he screamed. He fired several shots wildly before attempting to crawl into the car. However before he managed to get into the seat Cyrus finished him off with a couple more rounds. He took the cop's guns and pulled the shotgun from inside the car. Strapping it to the side of his bike he grabbed his pack and all the ammo the cops had before heading off. Still west bound.

[Empire of Donner land]

Donnish-Novokrainia Border

The white surrounded them and above them was a blanket of grey in the sky. Ahead and around them was a Itunending horizon on the border as Tanks and mechanized infantry prepared for the Great Invasion. The land of the north belonged to the Donnish and Donnish alone or so they believed. Soldiers line up against all the borders of Donner Land against their soon to be enemies. But the invasion was not now, but tomorrow.

Soon across the radios of all the Units came a voice.

"Soldiers! In our home the foreign menace is being purged today! Tomorrow our enemies will feel the full power of our glorious military and the vengeance of our great leader! The north is rightfully ours by birthright and the foreign menace has used our lands for too long! Tomorrow we take our land back, back from the Sovarich scum that inhabit it and we will destroy them!

They think they are superior to us! They look down on us but no more shall they do this, we will make them bow down to the glorious Donnish master race and show them who is superior as they look down our gun barrels. No more shall the Sovarich think of themselves as better, but as slaves as they should be.

And tomorrow, you shall bring about the change, bring about the end of the Sovarich presence in our land! The land the Mountain God gave us and only for us! EUROI UN DONOSKLAN!" The voice ended and music played. The Donnish instantly recognized it and began to sing all across the lines on all borders of the country.

Portean Embassy

The Helicopter landed and Selhg climbed out, thankfully he was out of view of the atrocity below the roof where the Helicopter landed. The gate was surrounded by bodies and the courtyard was just as littered. The mob had gone somewhere else, but would return some other time to fight again. The truck still stayed on its side having been tipped over and now smoking after taking some of the heavy fire from the embassy into its engine and fuel tank.

Selhg could only see the smoke from where he stood, and it confused him as to what was going on as he had decided to take a nap in flight to the embassy. He waited on the roof of the Embassy for anyone to greet him or welcome him inside.

[Congreveopia]

Congreveopian Embassy, Bögt, Hellbenders Squad:

Above the piercing siren of the LRADs, Sharon heard the harsh shriek of shearing metal, and the inner gate collapsed onto the embassy lawn. For a moment, a crowd was visible in the opening, then the water cannons blanketed it, and all that could be seen was a raging froth dotted with soaked protesters shoving their way forward across the lawn.

“Gas grenades! Now!” yelled Sharon, pulling the pin on the one she’d been holding and tossing it in front of the mob as the others did the same. It wouldn’t help. These people had just smashed down two massive gates, all the while enduring the confusion of the LRADs and now the bite of the water cannons. Tear gas wouldn’t stop them. Only a couple of machine guns could do that now. And that was a line that Congreveopia would not cross.

“Fall back to the roof! All forces regroup there!” Sharon shouted the command into her radio as she sprinted to the nearest stairwell with a handful of other security troops. Technically, the chief of security outranked her, but she was the one giving all the orders right now.

“Fourth helicopter is clear. Fifth inbound,” informed Nexus over the radio. His avatar had left for the roof a couple minutes ago along with the ambassador.

Sharon dropped her rifle loose onto its sling and tore up the stairs two at a time, leaving the other security personnel in the dust. They’d make it up just fine, but she needed to be on the roof. In charge of things. Two more floors. She missed a step, caught herself on the railing and kept sprinting. One more floor. Zero. She stopped at the top, opened the door onto the roof, and walked out calmly.

“SitRep,” she demanded of the chief of security as he stood with a pair of security officers by a water cannon.

“They’ve encircled the ground floor,” he said. “Fifth helicopter coming in now. This’ll get the last of the civilians and Nexus’s puppet.”

Sharon glanced over to see the NH90’s wheels hit the pad. Embassy personnel began hurrying aboard.

“They’ve breached a window in the kitchen,” said Nexus. “They’re spreading out and looking around. Not much looting. They’re hunting for us.”

“They know where to find us,” said Sharon. “They’re hunting for the stairs.”

“They’ve found them,” said Nexus. “This wouldn’t be a Congreveopian embassy if every door wasn’t clearly labeled.”

“You five, cover that door! You three, on me, over here!” Sharon began organising the security troops into teams around her and the two other functional members of her squad.

The NH90’s door slid shut, and it lifted off the pad. The sixth one began making its way down.

“They’ve got the makeshift battering ram they used on the gates through the window,” said Nexus. “They’re probably going to use it on the west stairwell door.”

Sharon shouted some more orders. Her teams regrouped into a defensive line between the west stairwell and the pad. The NH90’s rotors whipped the air into a storm around them as it glided overhead and touched down on the pad.

“Team one, go!” yelled Sharon. The troops ran for the helicopter.

“Stairwell door is down,” said Nexus.

“Team two!” yelled Sharon. Team one was clambering into the helicopter.

“Lead elements of the protestors are halfway up the stairs,” said Nexus.

“Team three! Go go go!” Sharon shouted the order, then turned and ran for the helicopter along with the three guards in her team. Team two had reached the top of the stairs to the pad. Another moment and they were running up the ramp into the helicopter. Sharon waited at the base of the helipad stairs for her team to run past her. She eyed the west stairwell door one last time, then ran up the helipad stairs.

“Protesters have reached the top of the stairwell,” said Nexus. She heard a clang from the stairwell door. “Their battering ram is still on the first floor.”

Sharon stepped onto the ramp of the helicopter, glanced around the roof one last time. Last Congreveopian on embassy grounds. Porter offered her a hand, and she stepped the rest of the way into the helicopter. The pilot lifted off, and the embassy shrunk away behind her.

“All helicopters, proceed to Bögt International Airport for refueling,” said Sharon. “Let's get out of this country.”

[Free Asian Ports]

Portean Embassy
As the helicopter landed, its down wash didn't kick up a cloud of dust. The previous wave of helicopters did that thoroughly enough. The sound of the last wave of helicopters approached quickly, and a crowd of the last Porteans was waiting nearby to hurry into the transports when they landed. Some were scared, but most were bitter at the Donnish perfidy. Below in the courtyard and entrance to the embassy, the Marines were at rest, but still on alert. The rioters had finally backed off, and were leaving the embassy alone. For now.

The Marines now took cover in the building itself, around the front windows where they could still get a good field of fire on the front entrance. In the garrage, one of the V-100s was being loaded up for an excursion. Extra ammo and fuel was placed inside and additional machine guns were put on pintle mounts. One of the Marines noted that it was like they were preparing for the zombie apocalypse.

Sergeant Nakamura and K101 were listening in on the radio traffic with a comms specialist deeper inside the now empty building. The specialist scanned all frequencies, including the Donnish military frequencies K101 gave him. He'd been highly skeptical these were their actual frequencies, but he scanned them anyway. How she managed to get these is beyond me... he thought, turning the knob on the radio set. Suddenly, he could hear something on one of the specified frequencies that was supposed to belong to the Donnish general command. He was briefly confused as to what it was. It seemed encrypted. "Got something?" asked K101, noticing his change of face. "Yeah, but it's encrypted. I have no idea what it is. But it sounds like it's repeating" the operator answered, trying to crack it. K101 picked up another headset and listened in. Closing her eyes, she examined the sound. "Music" she said after a moment. Nakamura and the radio operator gave her a confused look. "What?" they asked. "It's music. Not encryption. The Donnish military wants everybody to her this. Some kind of anthem" she told them, putting down the headset. "Sounds like a waste of radio time" said Nakamura grimly.

The Marine sergeant listened in on his own tacnet. "It seems our compass has arrived. He's fine, but you should talk to him before he leaves. The last choppers are approaching" he said, also standing up. K101 nodded, and walked towards the stairwell. The building was out of power for a while now.

Presently, she got to the top of the building and walked out onto the helipad where an Urranese Blackhawk was waiting. Ambassador Selhg was standing on the roof nearby, apparently looking out over the front of the building. He probably couldn't see much, as smoke from the overturned truck was obscuring a lot of the view.

K101 strode up to the Donnish Ambassador and extended her hand in greeting. "Ambassador" she said "a Pleasant surprise to see you here. I was actually going to find you myself. But it seems fate is on our side. We have some things to talk about..."

[Union Of Autocratic Empires]

Bögt, Donner Land

"I don't think you understand", said the Kaisarine as she stopped the Captain from getting her in the building, her tone of voice sounding like a mixture of exasperation and plea. "My daughter's confition is very serious, and I have reasons to believe she might suffer internal bleeding; if I let you get her to that helicopter witthout stabilizng her beforehand, we would be signing her death warrant.", she told the Pacifican very matter-of-factly. "What we need to do is to treat her in the embassy before evacuating. And we need to do it now.

So please, tell me there are still doctors in the building."

Meanwhile, in the car, Princess Historia's world had been reduced to pain, in its purest, most brutal form; breathing hurt, looking around hurt, moving hurt and even thinking hurt, and she couldn't do anything about it. All she could do was asking herself why, why people were killing each other, why did they wail on her when she hadn't done anyhting wrong. Nothing made sense; her trip to Donner Land had gone from a chance to get closer to her mother, who had been too busy as of late to spend time with her family, to a waking nightmare in which all she could experience was agony shattering her senses and the feeling of blood covering her skin.

Blood.

She hadn't noticed until now she was bleeding so much; she could feel great quantities of the viscous liquid covering her face and her forehead, and the smell to copper had just reached her nose. It was sickening, and inmediately sent her into a panic attack; maybe she was dying. Maybe she wouldn't see her friends and family ever again; no more gardening with dad, no more holding her little brother in her arms, no more spending time with WIlheim and Ami, no more helping reintroduce aunt Lahja to society, no more CQC training with Kotori, no more crew meetings, and no more Hans and Konstantin.

It was at this thought that she started crying again; she hadn't told Konstantin she loved him yet, and she was going to die without telling him.

All because she was a little coward.

[Saradena]

Portean Embassy, Soraught

---

The Urranese Blackhawk landed at the embassy grounds as the rioters had backed off, the soldier looking at the areas around him seemed like a bloody battle had occurred here, and judging from the mangled bodies of the rioters, it wasn't in their favor. The scene made him worry about the status of the Esgonian embassy, fearing that they may be faring worse, as he went inside the embassy, he quickly approached the nearest Portean officer he could find and asked him.

"Excuse me, is there a radio that I could use, I need to contact my embassy ASAP after I lost contact with them when the protesters stripped me of my stuff and destroyed my radio. Oh, I'm Staff Sergeant Lambert of the Esgonian Army."

[Empire of Donner land]

Sauraght, Donner Land

---

Selhg was surprised to see not a diplomatic official meet them but a Soldier, maybe an Officer of some kind but at this time he couldn't care less about what someone looked like or who they were as long as they weren't trying to murder the Man with a gun. They walked up him, not hastily or cautiously, as if they had all the time in the world during this stressful situation they were in, what with the attacks on embassies across the city. A bad day for those working at the Embassy but awfully great day for those attacking them, yet this Woman seemed extremely cool about the situation. Something that had set off Selhgs instincts as an Ambassador. When he went in the room to get a peace deal with the Vanqaurians after the cease fire in 2014 he instantly could read into the faces of the people in the room. Prince Esic, now Autarch, was one of the most easily to get under the skin of. Yet this Woman was simply blank about what was going on around them, out of all his years reading into people this one seemed impossible.

"Ambassador" she said "a Pleasant surprise to see you here. I was actually going to find you myself. But it seems fate is on our side. We have some things to talk about..." They extended their hand, expecting a greeting but Selhg looked down briefly before returning his eyes upward at them. "Find me? Well I wouldn't want you to waste the fuel on an old bag like me. I suppose it is fortunate." He said folding his arms by his chest. "What is it you want to ask to some diplomatic Official?" He said walking towards the stairs back inside the Embassy. He wasn't just some Official, he had a job influence in the military since he left it to become an ambassador. The Portean wouldn't know this about him, and their only best guess connecting him to the military would be his name.

Since his service in the LG, his records had been practically erased, he got a new name and new job from the Military. All the paperwork and converted digital information was buried so deep that they might as well be in the core of Ausozera for anyone who cared enough to try and find it. It wasn't procedure in Selhgs case, nothing was during him leaving. A red flag to those who wanted information if they could make the connection.

Donnish-Modeno Border

---

"Jevehga, what's the coffee looking like?" A voice asked.

"Eh, damn it, we're about...I don't know half way through already? We've got to stop with the caffeine- I swear." He said taking a long noisy sip of liquid. They looked over the control panel and touch screens making sure the "Harem" System was optimal and still running correctly. It was his job as the Computer Master to keep track of all the equipment on the site. "Hey, Arahmehg, what's the temperature like?" He asked while making sure the HAAIRMS was still rotating the pod at twenty degrees a second on top of the structure they sat in. Only the computer screens illuminated the interior.

"Uh, let me check." The Weapons Master leaned from his folding chair around the computers at the jury rigged digital thermometer that read outside of the small deployable building they were in. "Er, 'bout negative ten degrees. Weather Report that came in this morning said it would get lower." He said returning to the screens in front of him. As the Weapons Master he controlled when the missile was released, the firing solution and had command over the Computer Master and in direct contact with command.

"Just negative ten? Usually reaches negative sixty around these parts."

"Yeah, usually just means it'll get lower if it's that high now."

Beep...

The Computer Masters head shot up to the screen that showed the footage of the IR Pod. A solid white hollow box showed up for a split second. "Contact?" Weapons said.

"Not sure, it's a bit cloudy, could be a false alarm."

"Are you sure? I know this equipments new but it shouldn't be that sensitive to atmospheric phenomenon."

"It isnt..."

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep

Computers shot back at the IR screen again. There was a continue loud beep that soon turned into a deep alarm buzzing. The two went into immediate action identifying the contact. The Pod began following whatever it saw and Computers began to lase the target for range. It was only a second until it was locked in for the firing solution given to the Weapons Master. "Thirty thousand, fast mover."

"Copy, Computers. Command we have a confirmed bogey, possible Namenian Aircraft heading two six four at altitude. Engage?"

There was silence.

"Copy, Site, engage at will."

"Weapons! We have multiple bogeys! Count three!"

"Shit, scratch that Command. Two more unidentified aircraft crossing into Donnish Airspace. Engaging."

The Computers master had the pod lock onto one of them. The last in the formation. The information was fed to the Weapons Master. "Fire one!" A Missile was released and shot out at high speeds vertically and slowly curving over for intercept as it sped up to Mach 8. On the Computer Masters screen another hollow dashed box appeared heading towards the formation of three hollow white solid boxes in the IR vision of the pod.

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

Above Donnerland

The indicated air speed read out Mach 2.4, slowly climbing up as the captain continued forward. At the same time, however, his fuel was burning like no other, and it worried him. He'd never gone full afterburner before. After all, he was only a pilot for a year or so before his promotion to Squad Leader. But he didn't let that show as he carried on his business. After all, he was confident that, going so fast, he'd never be able to be shot down. They were stealth aircraft, right?

He looked down and checked his heading again, switching his GPS on again to make sure he was heading to the right waypoint. They were just on schedule. At least, in the right direction and going faster.

"Alpha Leader, this is Alpha One, you got the right heading? What's going on there?" He head over the radio. Without realizing, he had been drifting.

"Oh. Sorry about that. I've got i-"

"Holy shit he's down!" Alpha one exclaimed in surprise as he saw the detonation. It was quick and painless, the plane having been torn apart from the rear, barely missing the cockpit as the plane did a flip nose forward and fell towards the ground. L
"It's alright. I see a parachute. Alpha two, mark his position and follow my lead. Turn on IRWR, looks like they've got Harems again. Fuck."

"Roger that. Marking his position. Let's get out of here before we turn out like Captain Letsninsky."

[Vanquaria]

Central Bogt

Sitting at the edge of the cafe Sergio was enraptured at the moment by the newspaper that he held gently in both his woollen-gloved hands.

Every snippet of information that came from the Donnish media which was now assumed by the VIA to be under state control or state brainwashed was always important though to Sergio it was a job for intelligence, not espionage.

Earlier on Sergio had just been another inconspicuos figure that roamed the city. His eyes had watched and documented particular things in his notebook via sketch.

Back to the present having decided that he had read enough he put the paper down. It was time for him to return to his modest apartment.

---

One of Many Command Facilities, Vanquarian-Donnish Border

Scott surrounded by his employees watched the video on a protected computer in an enclosed room inside the base.

Having been sent to Vanquarian media outlets and to the Vanquarian government's public site the Big Brother system had been first to receive the video. The VSA immediately had analysed it as well as prevented its distribution to the all Vanquarian media except the state-controlled Auraxis Journal.

After a couple of hours it finally was given clearance to reach the Autarch himself. Now as they watched the horrible video numerous thoughts were racing inside the heads of each one of the men inside that room.

A High Command Field Marshal who was beside his Autarch thought to himself, I assume that this has not only been sent us but to other prominent world leaders...the international backlash will be brutal indeed, particularly from the Union.

The Colonel of the base frowned, More resources and assets should be diverted to the border and to the homeland navy, the Donnish people have truly gone mad and lost all sense of reason!

The Colonel's accompanying Captain sneered, The slut cries like a little bitch. As much of a disappointment as the Kaisar himself, he is such a pathetic father but then again his daughter got the punishment she serves.

Looking at Scott he then thought, Truly the leader of the Union is puny compared to the glory that my great Autarch exudes!

After a moment of silence Scott was the first to speak, 'The VSA has prevented this from being distributed to independent media am I correct?'

'Yes, my Autarch,' replied the High Command Marshal in a monotone voice.

'Good. The Auraxis Journal will have to let the people know, the people can't stay unknowing. But we'll have to make sure it is worded so that none can imagine the violence inflicted upon the Unionist Princess.'

'I will inform the Security Agency, my Autarch.'

Standing up from the chair Scott told the men around him, 'The Donnish threat now not only comes from their government and their military but their people as well. There is now an urgency for the IWA and the Union to unite against common threat. But first as Donner's neighbours and as Vanquaria we must rally the power that is the nations of Helsa and then we will focus our efforts on completely eradicating the disease that is Newron Voy. Basically I am saying plans will be made for a counter-invasion of Donner Land after the almost-clear prospect of a Donnish invasion of it's neighbours arrives. We will overcome this threat as we always have. That is all men.'

As the Autarch exited the room, intent on preparing for the storm and after it passes delivering righteous justice on one man the room echoed three words, 'Hail the Autarch!'

---

Havng finally returned and settled down in his apartment Sergio opened up his newly-purchased laptop, plugged in his USB flash drive and began work.

His work would take many hours as the technique he was utilising required such strenous effort but it would come to satisfying fruition.

[Urran]

Portean Embassy

Kenshin flipped a few switches and the helicopter began to power down. A high pitched whine escaped from its engines and the blades began to spin slower, slower, and slower until they finally crawled to a stop. He then unhooked his helmet from he chopper and folded his mic away to the side of it. While the other crew members opted to stay in the helicopter, Kenshin was now invested in the situation and wanted to know just who he had rescued.

He jogged over to where K101 was now meeting with whom he had now learned was actually a Donnish official. It was not Urranese style to interupt, but hearing that this could get political, he didn't want to be involved. Politics was a nasty affair, orders were precise, clean cut, and usually the right thing to do. He couldn't help but bow and apologize in his native language before continuing on. "Sumimasen. I have orders to evacuate as many as possible to safety. I need any that are willing or nonessential to the embassy to come with me. Please." he stated with another bow. He assumed bowing would be better than saluting because it was more genuine for one, but also because the Donnish was not military, that he knew of, and neither of them were Urranese military.

[Western Pacific Territories]

Bögt, Donner Land.
0452 Hours
Cpt. Price

---

Price heard Sigbritt, and responded by simply saying to the squad medic, Alex "We're gonna need to see the symptoms." Alex squatted down next to her and looked at her for any signs of injury. Alex muttered to himself while looking. "Possible fractured or broken leg..." He noticed that Sigbritt had gasped hearing this. "Hmm.. let's see- ah bloody heck! She's bleeding hard from the head, that's certainly internal bleeding."

Then the embassy's lights turned on, they had been off for a while because a Donnish protester snuck into the back of the embassy when a guard wasn't looking and cut the wires, but now the lights were back on. She responded by twitching and cursing under her breath. Alex muttered "Appears she's responding terribly to stimuli..." He looked at Sigbritt, and said "There's one of three possibilities. Either she'll be blind in her left eye, she'll have difficulty with complex decision making, or she has suffered severe brain damage. If it's severe brain damage, the most merciful thing would be to put a bullet in her dome and try again."

[Union Of Autocratic Empires]

Bögt, Donner Land.

The Kaisarine was too worried to get mad at the squad medic for suggesting her to do what amounted to mercy killing her daughter and instead decided to ask the captain for a favour.

"Captain, I think I don't need to tell you how important it is for my daughter to receive medical treatment as soon as possible." He turned to him and looked him in the eye with her famously stern crimson eyes. "I need you to please contact the Ratteans and tell them there's a code green in the Pacifican embassy. They will understand what it means."

Off the coast of Donner Land.

Prince Priscus made his way through the board of the ANC Capitoline Triad alongside his sister and a group of heavily armed grenadiers towards one of the helicopters that would take them to help evacuate the Esgonians from the mainland. A loss of their time in his opinion, but there was no way he would leave the Princess alone in a nation in turmoil.

He held his sister dear, but she would occasionally make the dumbest choices.

"Saving a bunch of peasants from another group of slightly more iliterate peasants", he told her, obviously irritated. "when We could be doing something more worthwhile with Our limited time such as trainning Our dogs or watching the paint of the palace drain. We appreciate you, dear sister, but you have the strangest ideas." The princess, who had heard the same thing over and over again, decided it was time for them to focus on their mission as she started making gestures with her hands. "There is no need to employ such foul language.", answered Pisces in a tone one would use to chastise a child who had misbehaved. "We will go along with your wishes to save the feeble Estonians, even though Our person doesn't agree with them. No need to mention Our ancestors anymore." Smiling after having tamed the prick that was his little brother, the Princess made it to the helicopter, where she was greeted by a liutenant.

"Good evening, Princess Adreana. Prince Priscus. Operation Blood Bonds is ready to commence on your signal". The Prince then translated his sister's gestures to the liutenant. "Princess Adreana would like to know when the evacuation of the Unionist embassies in Bögt will begin." "Last time we contacted with Command, Operation Homecoming would begin in 6-7 hours. The brass is in talks with Congrevepeian and Namenian government to see if they require assistance, too." The Prince scoffed at the idea of helping the commies - they said they were socialists, but he really didn't care. Another proof the Kaisar was hurting the world with his flawed leadership. He refrained from speaking his thoughts, though. "Good. Now if you will, captain, we have an operation to begin" translated the Prince before helping his sister into the helicopter.

[Saradena]

Esgonian Embassy, Soraught

---

"Ma'am, they hung up."

The secretary said softly to the Ambassador as she held up the phone. The Ambassador was pissed, such bastards. "Leave them now, it's no use. Prepare to move out." The secretary bows to her before she departs, taking her coat and walking towards the exit. Francine just leaned at the table, frustrated at what had happened today. With Esgonians who had not evacuated in time reported dead and, a soldier of theirs was now missing and is feared that he may have suffered the same fate, and now the City Hall, who was probably the only one she could contact in this dire situation, simply hung up.

"Damn it. Damn it all!"

She kicked a chair as hard as it can, making it hit the wall. Once again, she decides to grab the phone for the last time towards the town hall. This time, she's not dialing them, she was instead, sending them a voice mail. As soon as she dialed. She spoke onto the receiver.

"This is Ambassador Francine Jercyzka of the Esgonian Embassy. I don't know what in Agartha's grave* is going on, but know this. You, your government, and Mr. Voy are to be at fault for this senseless idiocy. And soon, you shall taste what you have served to us today."

As soon as she finished her voice mail, she hangs up and leaves the room, looking at the burning horizon from the office windows one more time before she headed out. As soon as she had meet with the last of the evacuees, she inspects them to see if they were all okay. She sees a small boy clutching a bandaged wound on his forehead, A man who had broken his ankle when he was nearly dragged around by protesters. It depressed her to see them suffer. But she knew that the Donnish would pay for this.

"Ma'am, Word from the ship says that the Helicopters are 5 minutes out. Be ready." A marine says to her.

"Good. Let's get out of this forsaken place."

Meanwhile, as the Marines and the Embassy Security staff slowly head out to the courtyard to prepare for extraction, the situation at the gates worsened. With little security enforcing the gate, the Donnish were now trying to push through the gates, some even threw objects towards the other side of the wall. Either rocks, glass, molotov cocktails, which caused a soldier's uniform to burn forcing him to remove the shirt, and even the mutilated body of the Azulnish, whose limbs were close to being dismembered. A few protesters even tried to scale the walls once again.

When one of the protesters managed to reach the top of the wall and tried to jump down, Amber-2 shot him in the leg with his sniper rifle, dismembering his leg and pushing him back towards the other side of the wall, where the fall had broken his neck and died shortly. The personnel knew the longer they stay here, the more difficult their situation would be.

They just hoped that the helos would arrive on time, or even sooner than that.

*'What in Agartha's grave' - A formal term for "What the Fuck?", originating in the 17th Century

[Reuss-Lippe]

Rattean Embassy, Bögt

---

At the Rattean embassy, things began to die down. As more evacuated out of the country, things such as helicopters and manpower began more available. In the courtyard of the embassy, the last of the evacuations were underway. With less than 150 people waiting to be evacuated, Ambassador Thomas Foerster assigned his Assistant to oversee the last of the evacuations while he went to deal with personal matters. Walking over to the elevator in the main lobby, Thomas went to a lower floor. This lower floor was a communication room located under the embassy, this room could contact any government location around the world. Reaching the bottom, the elevator opened its doors allowing the ambassador to leave.Walking into the room in the room the ambassador was greeted by the operators of the room. Requesting to get the head of command on the line, Thomas walked into his private office and grabbed his phone. Speaking to the Head of command, Thomas informed the commander about the situation and the status of the evacuations.

Back in the communication room, a call was picked up from the nearby Pacifican Embassy. Labeled a code green, the conversation was copied and printed. Upon the arrival of papers, the ambassadors put his call on hold to deal with the situation. "So a code green was requested at the pacifican embassy, any idea of how serious the situation is ?" asked Thomas. "We are not sure but it does involve royalty of the Union." Replied the operator. "Okay....okay' said thomas with a sigh, "Grab a Black hawk & a H145M and deal with the situation. Take any injured to the RNS Schönewalde located in international waters." said Thomas adding on to what he had previously stated. Following orders, the operator contacted any free pilots to deal with the situation. With both helicopter already prepared, the pilots got the aircraft in the sky in less than 5 minutes. Flying towards the Pacifican embassy, the medics inside the Blackhawk began preparing for the injured. Arriving at the embassy within 15 minutes, the helicopter began slowly descending towards the ground. Opening the side doors, 2 medics rushed out of the helicopter with a stretcher. Attending to Princess historia, the medics strapped the young girl into the stretcher & took her back to the helicopter. Needing as much space as possible, the medics requested that the Kaisarine get on the H145M which had just touched down on the embassy. Once everything was set, the medics gave the pilots the green light to lift off. With the signal finally given, both helicopters lifted off and began heading towards international waters.

[Union Of Autocratic Empires]

Bögt, Donner Land

The Rattean H145M made its way through the skies of Donner Land, following the Black Hawk closely. Inside, Kaisarine Sigbritt Väisänen started thinking about the events that had taken place in Donner Land in the last 24 hours. It didn't make any sense; one day she is welcomed with open arms in Donner Land, and the next people wanted all foreigners dead in an orgy of blood and violence. There were two possibilities, both of them equally terrifying; the first was that Voy was just the final symptom of a disease that had been corrupting her fellow Donnish (she was as Donnish as they were, no matter what they said) for a long time now; the second, that her assesment of the social and political was wrong.

The second possibility, while less far-reaching than the first, scared her the most; that mistake would mean she wasn't fit to ensure the safety of her family as Commander of the Valkyrian Guard, and by extension, that the brutal beating Historia had suffered was entirely her fault. It was her who accepted Historia's petition to go with her, after all; if she had stayed in Abula, nothing of this would have happened. It wouldn't have been the first time. After all, she was the one who encouraged Astrid to enrole in the Unionist Army with her; it was her fault her sister had died, and now what had happened to her daughter could be her fault too. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Historia somehow di-

"No", she thought to herself, snapping out of her line of thinking. "You have to be strong for her. Wait until this is over to walow in self pity[/i]".

She decided changing the subject in her mind to calm herself down, and decided to start thinking as Kaisarine; something had to be done with Voy, the quicker, the better. The Federal Council was probably in a meeting already, deciding what to do; if she knew them as well as she thought, then they would probably agree to go to war unanimously after seeing the display of violence the Donnish had shown the war. Specially with her husband voting.

That was when she realized she hadn't called her husband yet; she reached for her phone, but noticed it had disappeared; it probably fell down when she bailed out of the car when rescuing her daughter, and even if one of her companions had picked it up, they had decided to stay in the Pacifican embassy to assist Cpt. Price in the evacuation. She turned to the soldier at her right.

"Excuse me, liutenant...*" she said as she read the name in his uniform "Alexander." The man saluted at her as formally as he could in the cramped quarters of the vehicle. "Yes, your highness?" "Do we have any way to contact a mobile phone?" The liutenant turned to the pilot of the transport. "Hey Karl, do we have any way to call a phone from here?" "I'm afraid you will have to wait until we get to the Schönewalde, Kaisarine. Don't worry, your daughter is in good hands." he tried to cheer her up. "I know the doctors in there, they are pretty good."

The Kaisarine sighed. She appreciated the efforts of the Rattean soldiers, but she had too much thoughts going through her head. She looked again by the windo, just in time to notice a single person on a nearby rooftop. In normal circumstances, the sight wouldn't be worthy of attention if he wasn't carrying something on his shoulder; she only found out in horror what it was when a thunderous noise hit her ears and an explosion of light iluminated the figure.

Almost inmediately, the cabin of the helicopter turned into fire and shrapnel as the rocket propeled grenade hit and made the machine shudder while turning two of the soldiers into pink mist; all she could feel was a sensation of falling due to the explosion deafening and blinding her as the machine fell towards the ground.

After a few seconds of falling, everything faded into darkness as conciousness failed her.

---

*This conversation is in (slightly accented) German.

[Free Asian Ports]

Portean Embassy

K101 put her hand down and grinned at the Donnish ambassador. It was a fake grin, intended to ease the target into a sense of security. The normal bleakness of the clone's demeanor tended to set off defensive instincts in potential sources of intelligence. Therefore, all BAs were masters of acting, in a morbid sense. Perhaps if they pretended to be human, they might complete the mission easier. Such was the life of a violation of nature. "Nothing too challenging, I hope. Does the name 'Perun' mean anything to you?" she said, scanning Selhg's face for a reaction. "We overheard it during an op in Agrabah. Our translators picked it out as a proper noun, specifically in reference to a particular Donnish special warfare team. I had come here to possibly find out more about them. Determine their status, so to speak. This may be my last chance to do that. And I was hoping you could help us find where they were before we had to leave."

It seemed like a strange thing to ask of a diplomatic figure, but K101 knew her business. "We are... aware of your career" she said, explaining herself. "A job that thorough erases all but it's existence. We know not of who you were before you were Sehlg, but its obvious you only started existing when you began your current job. Whoever you were before then was clearly in a sensitive business, sensitive enough to warrant a profile purge. In any case, it's a story for another day. For now, we must use some of what you learned back then.

Where is Perun?"

Elsewhere
The embassy staff and Marine guards were trying to handle the newly arrived foreigners. A Portean Marine worked with the Esgonian soldier, who was clearly in a minor panic. "Don't worry, sergeant Lambert, we'll get you back home, there's a radio right here" he said, handing the Esgonian the handset to a radio already tuned to an older ISAT comm frequency that the Esgonians probably also used. A Portean embassy official, looking for something to do, took the Urranese pilot aside. "Gomenasai, the military people seem a little busy. I'll help you out here. We need as many aircraft as we can, so your assistance is most welcome, A group over there is waiting for their flight out of here" he said, bowing as he apologized and pointing to a small group of huddled clerks.

Moments later, the low buzzing sound of approaching helicopters picked up once more as the transport helicopters returned for a second, final load of evacuees.

[Confederation of the Equator]

[minecraft villager sound]

[Empire of Donner land]

Donner Land, Bögt, Capital Building

---

The wooden desktop was practically dressed in a dozen different reports that seemed to stream in like a river by the hour, and recently in only minutes another one would find its way to it. The windows, being whited out and almost glowing from the light entering it, gave a beautiful peaceful presence to room despite the very contrasting violent reports on places such a Sauraght and Tutten during the current "unrest" as foreigners seemed to call it. The Grandfather Clock that stood amongst the immaculate, fancy and glaringly beautiful, but professional, interior of the room showed the time was past noon.

And the man sitting at the desk couldnt be more happier that what was happening came sooner than what even he expected himself as he observed his new office happily staring at the simple but elegant design. Much better than the older boring office and much more suitable for a person of his standing, a Ruler. The way older Head of States supressed their want to flaunt their power disgusted him, he was after all chosen by the Glorious One himself and it seemed only fitting that he be treated that way. But he wouldnt announce his right to rule just yet, the people werent prepared enough, they needed more persuasion. Persuasion that maybe Donner Land needed a Monarch to survive, and survive with him as Emperor, finally putting the Empire title to use.

The door opened unexpectedly letting in yellow light from the hallway outside slowly come in as the door creaked and a man coming inside holding a folder and laptop. "My Leader, it is do-" he was interrupted instantly by the Man at the desk. He sounded ecstatic and full of joy but not at the coming news.

"Do you like my office, Mister... What was it again?" He asked, looking genuinely confused and concerned.

"Frelenehg, Sir." he said nervously "And I absolutely lov-" interrupted again by his Leader who's look changed in an instant to a calm, almost smug look as he leaned back in his leather chair, making very delicate noises as the fresh leather crinkled beneath him.

"Yes its quite a marval of interior design, am I right? Of course it is, after all I designed it you know? Do you know what the roof is made of? Azen Marble, straight from the deserts of that horrid wasteland. Only good thing to come out of that place. But it does compliment the floor doesn't it? I've been working on this project of mine for a few months, had to borrow another man's during renovation. But it's not my favorite project, you should be holding the some of the results from my favourite project right now shouldn't you?" He says as-a-matter-a-factly, sitting up from his chair and paying attention to the man.

"Y-yes sir, as I was saying, it is done. Our Agent found the Kaisarine and has disabled her, however-" He almost got off his tongue got once before being interrupted again, almost getting on the nerves of him but he knew he couldn't slip up. Not in front of Voy.

"However?" He said alarmed.

"Her Helicopter was downed and crashed, a LG Team is being dispatched to capture her at once but we can't be for sure that she's alive or that she will survive the mobs that will eventually come. The video not only released to world leaders, but all of the Internet, copy cats will come for her next after the Daughter."

"Damn the Mobs." Voy said in a hostile tone of voice.

"Sir?" The man asked. Stunned by what he thought Voy was proposing.

"You heard me, cut them down if they are there. Collateral damage... for the cause." He said somehow trying to justify it as he speaked. Almost showing remorse. "Blame it on the D.C.L.F, see if the world catches the bait."

"Uh-um... Yes sir..." It wasn't right. None of it was. But if he truly wanted serve his country he must. He laid the laptop on the desk over the numerous folders and laid the newer folder over them as well. "Why?" He asked, trying to find justification in it somewhere.

"I do what is needed, not because we should but because we must, it is for our survival as a Nation and People. Any rocks in the way to us thriving as a race will be destroyed, for our people, the Ulianish. Everything threatens us, my friend, even our former brothers and sisters such as the Azul scum. They must be... rid of for progress." Voy said coldly. He opened the laptop, immediately booting to what looked like CCTV camera footage of a crowd around a downed helicopter, Voy staring at it. "And ill be damned if I let peasants get in the way of progress..."

---

Donner Land, Bögt, Crash site

---

There was darkness except for two symbols, a half filled with white rectangle in the right and big red letters in the left, but only three that said "REC". Not to mention the thin white line that went around the center encircleing another much smaller box. There was immense noise, almost sounding like scratchy wind but had such dim voices. It then sounded like someone was running and the voices got louder until the runninf stopped. However one voice cried out among the others.

"Weneveg, you dumbass, the cap is still on! Come on get it off you're missing it!"

The darkness was removed as a hand came infront of the camera and took out a black circle. The huge crowed that surrrounded it only took them moments to realize what was In the Helicopter. Surrounded by the urban jungle they tried opening the jammed doors to get out the high value target that was now right in front of them. The tail in the Aircraft was missing, scattered down the street lying in rubble while the main hull smoldered in the middle of the street leaning against a building. "Raise the cam, man, what's going on?" A voice said.

Rising above the crowed, there seemed to be multiple people using crowbars, trying to force open the closed shut and jammed side doors to get in. The glass was shattered from the inside, large shards being strewn across the ground on the side of the Helicopter and the front. The two Pilots were seemingly dead or unconcious. The Helicopter wasn't burnt out but the engine was smoking heavily as it billowed in the sky. "What do you see?" Asked the same voice.

"I don't know, looks like they're trying to force it open. The Pilots are dead and all the glass is shattered. It's looking like a real mess man."

"We should probably get out of here. Engine must be smoking and that means a fire. We'll come back for the bodie-" the voice stopped as something split the air creating a loud crack. One of the people in front forcing the door open fell, painting a part of the helicopter crimson. "Shit! What was that?!" One of them asked, confused and panicked. The crowd began to disperse. The footage was shaking and blurry except for the symbols and lines. The cracks in the air turned into roars of gunfire. Only a few seconds after running however it fell into the ground, blood pooling around it.

Down the street the helicopter was clear except for the corpses. 6 people fully dressed out in gear but nothing like a professional soldier slowly and cautiously strode up, double tapping bodies as they moved their way closer to the crash. Two ignored the bodies running straight for the doors. They squatted infront of them bringing out a blow torch and cutting horizontally down the door letting out a fountain of sparks and a chunk of it falling off as smoke flooded out of the cabin. They looked in and nodded to each other.

"Retrieval to Command, target confirmed among other contacts. We have the Kaisarine alive and mostly well."

"Copy Retrieval, new objective; bring back her corpse. We don't need or want her back alive. Voy wants an example that can't talk. Kill the rest in there."

"Willco, Command, will complete with extreme prejudice."

They pushed up their weapons and flipped off their safeties. They squeezed the triggers slowly. There was a wild yell and suddenly someone jumped out tackling them. The Soldiers fell down and the bullets were fired, ricocheting off the outside hull. One of them was face to face with the Pilot who had saved the Kaisarines life for the moment. The Pilot yelled in his face pushing the VAR-19 into his neck choking him but his face soon contorted into pain as the Solider below him knee'd him into the groin, falling off and stumbling to his feet, pulling a gun from his holster as he did so and pointing it at the Soldier on the ground from infront of the Helicopter side door. "You're not getting the Kaisarine, Bastards!"

The 6 pointed their weapons at him. "Put your gun down. We're trying to rescue her. You're being delirious." Their fingers steadily began to squeeze the trigger slowly, waiting.

"No! I heard you!"

"Your last chance, put the gun down." The Rattan Pilot seemed shaken, pointing the weapon rapidly in different directions. Defeat was inevitable, at least he could salvage his life. Or so he thought. He slowly put the Pistol on the ground but as soon as it touched the asphalt he too fell from a bullet to the head.

"Sovarich dumb ass, deserved his fate..." said one of them.

"Alright lads, let's finish off the BItch and bring Her back." Said one who sounded like the Leader. "We don't have time before the mo-" the leaders fell suddenly. No sign of what happened as he lurched backwards into the ground. The rest were alarmed looking around and raising their weapons to every possible angle of attack. Another fell, leaning against the helicopter and hitting the ground. Then another and another, until there was only one. They fell like flies and last one left ran to the helicopter, possibly for a last ditch effort to find cover in the open street. It all happened so quickly.

"WHO'S OUT THERE?!"

No answer. Just silence. He looked all around him and nothing could be seen. He poked his head out from inside looking down the street. He felt like he was being watched, he felt like someone was breathing down his neck and stalking him at all times. Except he could actually feel something breathing down his neck.

"Boo"

He turned suddenly and his gun was pushed away. The man appeared out of nowhere as if a cloth was yanked off of him. He received a punch in the throat and he stumbled back facing away from him, his arm being twisted behind him and another around his throat. The squeeze got tighter until all he could see was a dim blackness forming around the corners of his vision and everything went when his neck was snapped.

"Good take down Cer, record time I think." A disembodied Womans voice said.

"I pride myself on my craftsmanship." Cer said to it as they began to remove their cloaks and out them back in their backpacks revealing the Team.

"I didn't think saving royalty was in our job description." Hes said climbing into the Helicopter and grabbing the Kaisarine. "Do we even have a job description?"

"It'd make the things we do a helluva lot more clear. Let's get them to the Car we comandeered in the alley and go. Voy's probably watching us now." Jeerne said looking at nearby CCTV camera, it seemed to look back almost until it was shot out.

---

Donner Land, Sauraght, Portean Embassy.

---

"Nothing too challenging, I hope. Does the name 'Perun' mean anything to you?"

Selhg looked up at them. Not showing surprise, but his body language was definitely showing something. How the Porteans knew anything at all about Perun was unknown to him. He let the woman speak more about It and listened. There wasn't multiple Perun's, so she couldn't have been talking about anything else, no. This was the real deal. I suppose the truth will come out sometime despite what you do to hide it... he thought still walking with the Woman now keeping his eyes straight forward as they passed people heading for the roof or doing other things.

"We overheard it during an op in Agrabah. Our translators picked it out as a proper noun, specifically in reference to a particular Donnish special warfare team. I had come here to possibly find out more about them. Determine their status, so to speak. This may be my last chance to do that. And I was hoping you could help us find where they were before we had to leave." She said, immediately Selhg rolled his eyes in response. And looked the other way opposite of the Woman.

"Right... overheard. Not snooping like I know you Porteans like to do, getting your noses where they shouldn't be." He got in before she spoke again.

"We are... aware of your career" she said, explaining herself. Selhg sighed quietly and turned his head back to her, paying close attention. "A job that thorough erases all but it's existence. We know not of who you were before you were Sehlg, but its obvious you only started existing when you began your current job. Whoever you were before then was clearly in a sensitive business, sensitive enough to warrant a profile purge. In any case, it's a story for another day. For now, we must use some of what you learned back then."

"Speaking of snooping..." He said to himself.

"Where is Perun?" She asked.

"Well, I dont think i have a choice if it means preserving Voys life until its the right time...." He said pausing, thinkong deeply about what he was about to do. "...In around the time a close, almost family, friend of mine joined the Military the D.I.A was looking to create a team of Super Elite Soldiers. They had failed in training them themselves using every trick in the book; Drugs, Hypnotic suggestion, stealing Kids and training them from birth. You name it. They were desperate to get something over the Vanqaurians and IWA. Eventually they let go until during my Friends LG training it appeared that the entire Hunter team was killed in action. Nothing like this had ever happened before, it was considered all in all an impossible feat. They even checked if there was anything shady. They kept it a secret." He paused stopping his walk.

"Perun was born." He explained. "This friend was the first in this Team since they had nothing else to do with him, they couldn't just throw him in a regular intelligence position. He was special. Then it happened again, and again, and again. You might remember there being eight LG Operatives in Agrabah, never revealing their face until you people spied on them? My friend was alone for a while but not that long when I took my trial." He took off his glasses, cleaning them in his hand.

"I was his first Squad mate and his twin brother. But I left because I grew tired and sick of the killing. They had nothing else for me and they couldn't just let me go, so I was made an ambassador. Which made me happy until I resigned not a long time ago. Back to the killing and death..." he paused again looking down but back up.

"I'll help you find Perun. But only because they're going to start something that will break this country more than the coming war will. Stop them." He took a phone out of his pocket and gave it to her. "It still has their signal, you can triangulate it to their current position." Just as it exited his hand it began ringing.

"Death calls." He said giving a smirk.

[Western Pacific Territories]

Bögt, Donner Land.
0453 Hours
Cpt. Price

---

Price sat in one of the seats of the helicopter, looking out the window. The H145M nearby was still in visual range, but rather far away, the pilot had done this simply following normal Pacifican flying procedure. He was looking at the rooftops when he saw a lone figure standing on the roof of a two-story apartment, holding a RPG. Price managed to click both things together. He thought to himself "Aim for me!", and winced when he saw the figure fire the RPG, but the warhead wasn't coming for him. It was coming for the H145M. For the Kaisarine.

The helicopter shook a bit when the RPG impacted, and the helicopter went down quite fast, the tail hitting the ground first. Price shouted "H145M is down, pilot, make sure he isn't aiming for us!" The pilot turned the helicopter in a 360 degree turn, and then decided to land on a empty rooftop. Price and his squad stepped out, except for Alex, who he ordered to stay behind with a M240 SAW and keep Historia conscious.

He stepped down a staircase and hit the landing, nobody was there to greet him. Good. He slowly walked up to a open window, and peered out. The apartment he was in was once of a long series of buildings connected to each other, that curved along the road, which went to the right. At the end of the curving road was a intersection with a fountain, and the helicopter wreck was blocking the intersection.

The first thing he did after that was instinctively scan the streets for any hostiles, Azenyanistan had given him a good lesson about that. Nobody- he suddenly locked his eyes at the western section of the intersection. A large mob was running up to the helicopter wreck. He then looked back inside, to say "There's a mob running up to the helicopter, it's at a intersection a bit away. Looks live everyone's gone rioting."

He then opened up a door. For as far as he could see, it was just one massive hallway curving along with the road, and all the doors to all the rooms were on the left. He began walking down this long hallway, his boots echoing. There was only Price and 4 others, but he suddenly remembered that he couldn't afford having any of his men get wounded. The medic was with Historia. He'd have to make this short.

As he and the others continued walking down the hallway, he heard a series of gunshots. The Kaisarine, her guards, and the two Rattean pilots all had weapons, if he remembered correctly, they were probably just taking care of the mob. There was some shouting, but it was in Donnish and Rattean, so he couldn't make any of it out. The gunshots stopped. Then a minute later began again.

Eventually, he and the others reached the end of the long hallway without confrontation. There was a staircase. He walked down the staircase. There was only a wooden, ornately crafted door with a bronze knob. He and a rifleman named Adam took positions on one side, and two others took positions on the other side of the door. Price said "On the count of, 1, 2, 3!" and kicked open the door, to find themselves next to the heli.

[Saradena]

Soraught, Donner Land

---

"Thanks" the Sergeant thanks the Portean officer as he is given a radio. The radio was tuned to a former ISAT frequency, which had been disused by the Esgonian Military following the disbandment, so he tuned the radio again to his military's encrypted frequency and sets it at the channel where any Esgonian soldier in Soraught could hear him. Once he finally tunes in, he reports to the radio, stating "This is Sergeant Henry Lambert of the Esgonian Army's 982nd Signals Corps. ID number 04-1334086. I'm in the Portean Embassy right now after being saved, requesting extraction, over."

The signal quickly made it's way to the Embassy and the Helicopter crews coming to evacuate the last remaining Esgonian personnel. The Marines at the Embassy were relieved that he was alive, so was the Ambassador, who remarked "Bless Agartha today. For he has been spared from death.", the helicopter crews confirm the status of the Sergeant, and relayed it to the LHD, which then sent a helicopter team towards his position.

A few minutes later, the stream of helicopters, a mix of CH-46's, UH-1's, CH-53's and Ka-60's, escorted by RAH-66's finally arrive at Soraught to evacuate the last people at the embassy. The civilians were the first to be boarded, with medical personnel inside performing first aid at the wounded. Once the last civie were inside, the Security personnel were next, who were relieved that help had come for them as the gate's defenses were nearly breaking, followed by the Marines, who were hauling their equipment with them. Anything that they couldn't airlift out, such as the LRADs, were blown up to bits, with Rachelle setting C4 on them. A Ka-60 lands on the rooftop the MSTF operatives were holing up, and they slowly moved up to the helicopter while taking down any protester scaling. "Come on, Ma'am. We have to go!" The secretary shouts to the Ambassador as she takes a last look at the embassy as she nods back and gets in the Sea Knight. Once the Ambassador's foot had left Donnish soil, the stream of helicopters took off, closing their doors. And in time, the protesters finally broke through the embassy, which Rachelle promptly activated the detonator, destroying any vital equipment they had and killing or injuring anyone caught in the blast. The Ambassador hummed a tune as the helicopters made their way into the LHD.

Meanwhile, a Ka-60, escorted by RAH-66 Comanches made their way into the Portean embassy in Soraught. The alerted the Porteans of their presence as the helicopter pilot stated "Portean Embassy, this is Seagull6 of the Esgonian Army. Request permission to land and extract Sergeant Lambert over at your embassy. Over."

[Empire of Donner land]

Donnish-Modenian Border

---

"Command, eyes on smoke from the crash. Package hasn't been detected yet. Will keep you updated."

"Copy, Sergzen, continue operation. Stay frosty... get it, because it's super fucking cold."

"Yes, Command, we get it... out."

"When did Command get so lax' up north like that, Serg? They're usually in our business 24/7 out west. Can't bust a joke without your balls getting the same treatment." Cevehg explained walking through the dense snow below them surrounded by a barren wasteland only guided by a compass on their HUD.

"They think Modena's going to be a cake walk and we'll just walk in when it hits the fan. Hopefully this changes their minds up at the OSS when we get someone to actually tell us about what's in Modena, Cevehg. Just pay attention to the barren snow around you and look for black dots. And besides, I'm from the south, we joke when the CO isn't listening unlike you chuckle fucks." The Sergzen said smirking.

"The North sucks. Nothing to look at. No mountains or anything. The west is better than this fetch quest. Atleast there the Vampires were a threat. Here you just deal with drunk Novokrainians crossing the border! Hell, they only sent two of us to hunt for a Pilot. Clearly they have low expectations, won't even have to bury us if we die." Argued Cevehg.

"You aren't under constant threat of invasion in the North atleast. Bet the West gives you ulcers."

"I prefer the constant burning in my asophogus to feeling my feet freeze in 2 feet of snow, thank you very much."

"2 feet? Oh buddy, it gets deeper." Scoffed Sergzen.

"Just great..." Cevehg sighed, stomping through the snow until they both suddenly stopped. The billowing smoke was in front of them and below it the destroyed Jet.

"Command, Sergzen here."

"Command, little windy but we hear you."

"We're at the crash, no package... keep looking?"

"Good guess, you were right. Get marching Sergzen."

"I'll march you... fucking prick... sitting in his chair... probably has a seat warmer..." Sergzen grumbled, the both marching towards the crash site.

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

Near Crash Site
Donnish-Modeno border

Captain Letsninsky immediately tore off his parachute and stuffed it in the small backpack he was provided before the mission briefing. Out of the bag he pulled his SMG-7, slammed a magazine into it, and turned to scan the frosty, white air for anyone... anyone who was looking for him. And, undoubtedly, it was probably dozens of Donnish troops.. heading his way right now. The thought made him shiver as he put his knife away, although he did give a little thought to the idea that the shiver was from the cold. At any rate, he wasn't going to stick around to find out. With his gear either in his pack or his hands, he set off the radio on his ejection seat and began walking away slowly, keeping low to the ground. He hoped he could make it to the border any time soon.

Anzio Embassy
Front Gate

"Anzio, this is Alpha Leader. Strike package inbound. Mark with smoke." The voice came from the radio, announcing to the defenders at Anzio their presence. Commissar Utkin gleaned with a type of relief and joy, but also grimaced. He was very sad for the poor souls.

"Roger that, Alpha. Hit the orange smoke." Utkin replied, pulling out an orange smoke grenade and tossing it into the crowd. He hit one of the mobsters, knocking him in the eye, before it bounced across the pavement. The orange smoke instantly began to sizzle out, filling the sky above it with the smoky colors. "Smoke out!"

"Okay, Anzio, get some distance from the wall." The radio replied, before cutting out. Commissar Utkin was very quick about this, knowing that they were at least a dozen miles out or more. He immediately ordered everyone back towards the middle of the embassy with a wave of his arm, while simultaneously watching the skies above him for any sign of his air support. He doubted he would hear it, much less see it, before they hit. Sure enough, he looked up, and saw a plane off in the distance. "Coming in for a run."

The sound was deafening to most. All at once, above them, a single pop was heard, followed by the detonation of hundreds of bomblettes on the ground below. Smoke, debris, and men flew into the sky, mixed together in a blistering attack that covered the entirety of the road. It was not the worst. Seconds after the first cluster bomb had done it's damage, another bomb came in. This time, as a whole. The five hundred pound napalm canister flew through the skies and ripped open just feet above the ground, spreading it's contents across the cratered asphalt. That sound, the furious whistle and roar as the air was sucked in then ignited, would scare any man who thought of attacking.

[Free Asian Ports]

Portean Embassy

K101 caught the phone with one hand and frowned a little. She didn't much like difficult people. She wished one day people might actually get to the point and give what information they had instead of beat around the bush with dramatic nonsense.Being cryptic, huh? she thought as she opened the phone. She hit the Answer button and waited for the person on the other end to begin speaking. She signaled an assistant to intercept the transmission and track where the caller was calling from. She wouldn't let prey get away just because they called in first...

Nearby, the last of the transport helicopters finally touched down. A pair of CH-53s made a lot of noise, and the landing platform was filled with sound. The ramps lowered to accept the escaping diplomats and staffers. One NH90 opened its doors, but out jumped a pair of soldiers in what looked like standard special forces kit. They had Steyer AUGs slung behind them, and they were clearly prepared for some kind of long-term op. "Expect everything, pack everything, use nothing", as the old saying went. They jogged up to K101 and awaited her orders.

Meanwhile, the garrison was trying to manage the flow of helicopters. One spotter, who was acting as a kind of traffic controller, received the Esgonian communication. "Seagull 6, you are cleared to land, over" he radioed when a platform cleared when its previous occupant, an embassy AS365 Dauphin, took off.

[Union Of Autocratic Empires]

Bögt, Donner Land

Kaisarine Sigbritt awakened as she felt an explsoion going off somewhere, and the first thing she noticed was that she was being carried away by a heavily armed individual; apparently the man hadn't noticed she was awake, so she swiftly yet subtly loosened the grip of the knife sheat she had stripped to her left leg. Not a very noticeable move, something that could be mistaken by her arms dangling in uncosciousness.

She wouldn't attack yet, though. She had to wait for an opening; after all, there was no way in Hell she could beat a group of individuals this heavily armed with just a knife; she would wait for an opening, like the wolves that lived near Bles when she was a child.

And once the opportunity showed itself, she would - brutally - exploit it.

Somewhere else over Bögt

Meanwhile, the Rattean Black Hawk made its way to the fleet after the other helicopter had been brought down, with the doctors too busy stabilizng the Princess to realize what had happened.

The Princess herself had falled asleep when the doctors sedated her - of course, after they had made sure it was safe to do so -, so she wasn't aware of what had happened.

However, what she was aware of was her dream, a dream that would occupy her mind for a while.

In it, she found herself in what seemed to be a battlefied, right in the middle of the collission between two massive armies, one of which she recognized as ancient Liyomesse from her history class. She herself felt different, too; she wasn't the petite (for Liyomesse standards) teenager she was used to, but instead she felt like a hulking behemoth -. which se noticed she was, as she towered over even the tallest of the Liyomesse soldiers. She also felt heavier than usual; her light silk clothes had disappeared, and she was wearing a massive, jet-black armor that covered her whole body.

Her attention, however, soon shifted from her appearance to her actions as she noticed she was cutting down groups of warriors from the opposite army. Horrified, she tried to stop, but couldn't, due to not having control over her massive body, and could do nothing but stare in horror as she killed people left and right. Almost to the point of tears, she started to pray, asking the lord to please, please stop her from hurting anyone. When it looked like there was no answer to her prayer, she felt thankful as an arrow struck her side; she noticed how "she" turned towards the source of the projectile to see a woman standing against the sun, with a stoic and dignified figure, inspiring the soldiers nearby.

All the thoughts of wonder she felt almost inmediately disappeared as "she" charged towards the lone archer, shoving everyone in her way; there were little they could do to stop her, as she was a giantess among humans. She wanted to tell her to run, to hide, but all that came out of her mouth were words from a language she didn't understad; she winced as her body made it to the woman and begun its attack.

At first it seemed like it was a fair fight, with the archer skillfuly dodging the blows of her massive weapon and landing hits with arrows in between, one of them perforating her knee (she didn't really feel pain, only annoyance), but it came to an end when she jumped too low and got hit in the leg with the axe. It was only then, as she laid defenseless on the ground, when she realized who that woman looked like; none other than her friend and isntructor, Kotori Brunshelm. It was at this point when the horror factor went through the roof, as she had tried to kill her friend; she desperately tried to fold her "body" in place, she didn't want to hurt someone so close to her, but it didn't listen; she was forced to watch how she butchered her friend, and that premise brought her to tears - and, to her surprise, to her uncontrolable body too. "She" said some words she couldn't understand filled with bitterness and rage to the fallen archer, and raised her axe above her head;

Her dream ended as her axe went down and an arrow was launched to her eye.

[Empire of Donner land]

Bögt, Donner Land

Jeerne held the phone to his ear until it was picked up while he was walking away from the crash site. "Selhg? Are you there? We've got the Kaiserine, she was on the route to the safe house in Bögt after we heard about the crash. Selhg?" He said waiting for him to reply. It wasn't like him to not answer immediately. "Selhg?"

Meanwhile Hes continued pulling the Kaiserine getting help from Untuli going across the road. The rest of the team cleared the area in pairs of two's watching the windows and doors as well as searching the crash itself. "You'd think that a Empress, being all polite and quaint would pull herself out of a crash. But no, we get to load Her and Her bust into the Van." Hes said calmly but annoyed as he held onto the woman.

"What do you mean 'and her bust'?" Questioned Untuli, as if ignoring everything but those words as she carried from the opposite side.

"Look at them." He gestured with his head downwards, still holding his grip on the Kaiserine which occasionally slipped. "Are you saying they aren't somewhat large? Not even a bit?"

"I wouldn't say they're that big. Not enough to enter into a conversation about when we're doing something far more important." She said also struggling carrying the Woman that was marginally larger than her. "Speaking of something far more important, shut up." Untuli said while once more adjusting her grip.

"...You're jealous aren't you? Oh man, Little Miss No Emotions is out the window isn't she?" Hes said muffling a small laugh. "It's okay Untuli, I'll keep your secret" Hes said still giggling to himself.

"Mission, Hes." Untuli said looking away from him, avoiding eye contact. "And... besides, we don't get Jealous..."

"Right, you say the Wulkeno don't get a lot of things. You're probably wrong about this along with your other claims." Hes said plainly.

"Hes."

"Yes?"

"Keep it a secret..."

"You got it, bud." He said while they both gently placed the Kaiserine on the ground in front of the Vans back doors. Meanwhile Keneveh and Xeyn searched through the Helicopter wreckage for anything useful including the bodies and the Helicopter itself. Extra Ammo, Equipment or anything they could use to accomplish their task of killing Voy would work. The wreckage was still warm from the fire and impact of the explosive that hit it and whatever fuel was left probably drained out of the tanks. Xeyn crawled into the side of the Helicopter and with one look he could easily tell what had happened to it. They had to get out in only a few minutes, Jeerne thinking that Voy had seen all of it.

Keneveh watched outside of the crash, peeking in every once and a while but the smell kept punching him in the face every time. It smelt terrible, worse than if something was just burnt. "Xeyn, what... what Is that smell?"

"Burned Flesh, never did quite get used to it until about a year ago. Doubt it won't be the same for you, newbie." Xeyn looked at the impact of the explosive. Something clearly tore threw the cabin and cockpit but left the Pilot and HVT Kaiserine alive. "Probably some punk with an RPG, can't quite tell if he used HEAT or HE. But there's a distinct lack of, er... body. My bets on High Explosive, Keneveh?"

"My job is to put People back together. Not find out how they got torn apart or how to tear them apart. The last one is on you." Keneveh said, no longer peaking in, He'd had enough of that smell. And while most of the team had a slight disregard for killing, Keneveh still had some humanity in him, still afraid of losing what he fears he has not much of left.

"Fair enough. Hey do you hear something? Sounds like count-"

A door was kicked open to their surprise, Perun raised their weapons and dashed for cover. The HVT, Kaiserine Sigbritt was left on the ground as Hes and Untuli leaned around the corner with their weapons raised. Xeyn and Keneveh pulled back behind and inside the Helicopter. Teru rushed inside a building and Jeerne with Cer and Nino crouched in the middle of the street aiming at the new party arrivals. The worst part, now they could see their face. Hopefully they wouldn't have more than just a Portean knowing them.

"Drop the gun if you know was good for you." Jeerne said. "You're outgunned." He looked to his left down the alley, knowing they couldn't see the Kaiserine, but they probably knew Perun has her. He could only see that single man who could be a threat to them all.

Near Crash Site
Donnish-Modeno Border

"Command, Retrieval."

"Copy, Retrieval, Command reads you. What's new."

"Were at the crash site now. We found his parachute and a trail, we're moving on him now."

"Copy that Retieval, good hunting, out."

"Let's get moving. He probably hasnt gone far." Sergzen said beginning the hike following the trail. It was long and cold but it wasn't long before they saw movement in the horizon. A shape in the distance that looked like a person. They began to rum after it, chasing whoever or whatever it was before they could see them and shouted. If they ran the two would open fire and try to disable the Pilot.

"Stop! Drop everything and stop! You're under arrest!" The Sergzen yelled across the snowy landscape. Granted it wasn't the smartest thing to do when trying to find someone especially since if you couldn't tell who or what it was.