Daily life of Alithea [IC][Alithea members only]

[Western Pacific Territories]

Revasa, Undisclosed Location, LG S.T.D, 10th Platoon

The waves of water slowly crashed onto the beach as the moon rose in the sky silhouetteing the clouds against the sky with its brightness. Then dark figures started to slowly rise out of the water, the water going around them as they began to touch the sand. They held their weapons at ready position and scanned their surroundings as they now began moving more quickly inland. The 10th Platoon had arrived from a large Submarine lying under water which was carrying SDV's instead of torpedos. The SDV'S which brought them here were now waiting under water as they hiked the rocky hill which greeted them on the beach. The Platoon stopped as they had gotten over the hills and lied prone. They all checked in with eachother over the Radio and discussion amongst eachother was what they were doing helping WPT with this Operation but more importantly making sure everyone was okay before they started.

They had gotten to the shore, and now were waiting.

Hans had already made landfall a little bit earlier, and at that point was camping out near the beach he had landed at earlier. No signs of Vanquarian resistance had arrived yet, seeing as he took a SDV to the island. He took out his binoculars before spotting some figures on a rocky ridgeline near his landing zone. They appeared to be ready for a fight, and had seemed, almost as though they came in the same route Hans came in from, a SDV. He slowly walked towards the ridge, not just afraid of the figures but also worried by the defenses the Vanquarians had placed. It wasn't unlikely that they covered the entire outer section of Revasa in minefields, given the WPT's... recent actions. He slowly walked towards the LG agents. Of course, he couldn't tell who they were. He decided to gamble that these men were friendly, they sure didn't look like Vanquarians. He shouted out "Oi! I'm 'ight here!"

[Azenyanistan]

Progress.



Our Revolution won us back everything we wanted from our government.

Our true democracy.

All of the freedoms and rights our generation and the generations before us demanded, we got back.

Everyone who is Azen now rules Azenyanistan.

It belongs to our people.

To all of us.

Though the Azen Wars and Chaos brought us down to our grave and to hell,

We really could not give up until we had lost everything because we were too protective and too stubborn and too loyal to our country despite our many weaknesses which our enemies exploited.

When we surrendered, we thought it would be good for us but we were wrong. So many horrible things happened. We were divided, we were hunted down, we were betrayed, we were abandoned, we were on our own and then came one of our worst nightmares.

The Chaos we have been fighting since the 70's has come to bite us back. We have been unable to get rid of our bad blood quickly.

Over 100 million of our countrymen, men, women and children, most of them civilians, died. We were suffering. Everyone was starving or thirsty or dying. We were so poor.

The White Movement and the New Islamic State did everything to make our lives miserable. Azens were killing each other. Millions of Azens were killing one another.

Our allies in ISAT, IWA and the Diarchy, our fellow nations in Ausozera, did everything to stop them. But we knew that we ourselves had to be the ones to finish the troublemakers off.

Day after day after day, we slowly took over, leading the fight against the WM and the NIS, against every Azen that continued to create trouble for their own countrymen.

We got back Damascus and Yaneza, ending the WM and the NIS.

Now our children and our people can finally rest easy.

But there was still much to do.

So everyone began working to Rebuild our nation.

We have Rebuilt it quickly and with all of the gifts and support our great friends and our good rivals gave to us. Everyone did so much to help us. We were very thankful.

Still, more had to be done. Our work on our nation was not yet done. She needed more. We wanted more.

Our Revolution, our People Power Revolution, gave us what we wanted and what our nation needed.

We will still have to fight or work or do something for our nation, for our home, for our people.

But we won't run away anymore. We won't flee. We will not leave our homeland. We will stay and do everything to make Azenyanistan better. To make life better. To make our dreams come true.

Everything we will do, let it be good things, for Azenyanistan

For the land that we so dearly love.

Forever, I will be an Azen. This Land will shine for ever, Like the sun in the blue sky. In the chest of Sishai, It will remain as the heart forever.

Azenyanistan will forever be in the hearts of the Azens! Azenyanistan!

We love you, Azenyashan!

[Esgonia]

"Promise me that you'll come back to me? I have so many things planned out for us together."
"Yes, I will."

Those three words were the words that came out of his words, but she did not know that it would be her last. Samantha Asetka waits once more at the Nakadaga Airport where he last saw his love, Simon Lampert leave 5 years ago, no matter what the weather was, or how she was doing, she kept waiting at the airport for him, despite the Military officials telling him he was Missing in Action, she did not care about it and kept saying to herself that he's still alive and that he'd come out of those doors. And if he does, she'd send herself leaping towards him in embrace. Ever since childhood she had fallen for him, but he had not noticed her feeling for him up until the last year before his deployment and started reciprocating the feelings she had for him. The last day before he was deployed, they both made the promise that they would get married; up until now, she still held on to that promise, waiting for him to just get out of those doors.

"Guess today's not the day." Said Samantha as tears fall from her cheeks, this happens everyday, hoping that he would arrive only to be bitterly disappointed. She would not accept his death, especially as he promised that he would come back to her. His parents have already accepted that he was not longer with them, which pissed her off. "The office said that he was Missing in Action; I'm sure he's still alive." she tells herself again as she gets to her car and drives off, taking one last glance at the airport before continuing on. She then goes to Grinswall, a shopping district in Arcea, where she usually buys her necessities. This time, while buying groceries, she notices something that catches her eyes, it was a ring. a wedding ring made out of pure gold. It was a beautiful ring, made for a lucky couple. Seeing that she had a good high-paying job as an accountant at Shinkaren, she had more than enough money to buy the ring, to which she did. "I can't wait to see his face once he sees this." She smiles as she hides the rings on her bag. Once her shopping was over, she then goes back to her home, one that she purchased herself, enough for a small family to live in. When she gets back, she parks her car in her garage and places the groceries on the table, ready to be stacked onto her shelf or the fridge. But before that, she noticed that she had a message on her phone, on voice mail. She presses the play button on the mail, and says it was from the Defense Minister's OSD office, regarding Simon. The word 'Simon' made her jump, and she finally said to herself 'finally, I can now know where is he'. After the recording, she bolts her way back to her car and rushes to the Defense Minister's office, a two-hour journey by car, but she did not care about that. His parents have also been notified about it and were travelling by train. She was also informed by this when she receives a call from his parents asking if she got the same message. After two and a half hours later, dodging traffic and that, she finally arrives on the Defense Minister's office.

At the entrance, she meets up with Simon's parents, who had also arrived at the same time. She greets then and walks up to the entrance, saying "Well, time to see who was right all along." She heads towards the reception, asking for inquiry on where the OSD office. "Oh, it's on the third floor, ma'am, head on to the elevator and take a left, you should see it." said the receptionist in a warm manner. After thanking him, they make their way to the elevator towards the OSD office.

little did she realize that her dreams and plans for the future with him would shatter and break once she steps inside the office.

[WILL BE EDITED SOON]

[Western Pacific Territories]

Hadesas.

Czcibor Marcellino... The Duke of Revasa. Well, that was his former title. Ever since the IWA invaded and conquered Revasa, he didn't own that land anymore. When Franciseno came into power the Duke had gotten a fairly nice house as compensation, but he wanted his lands back. He had been in contact with a Cirillan who had... connections with their government. He had been speaking with this contact, and they had formulated a plan which benefited both sides. The Duke would get his land back, but in exchange, he would swear fealty to the Diarchy. He had been waiting around, mostly just trying to get his plan formulated. But he now felt, that now was a good time for his plan to activate.

He took a phone, and punched in the contact's number. The phone rang. "Marcellino, what is it?" The duke responded. "I think it's high time to begin our plan. I'll contact Franciseno, and get it cleared. Wait until I give the clear to start contacting Cyri." The Cirillian contact waited a second, before responding "Okay, I guess.".

2 hours later.
Marcellino walked into the King's Palace, Francisenos house. Franciseno noticed him rather quickly. "I presume you're the Duke of Revasa, Marcellino?" The duke stood still for a second, before responding "Yes." Franciseno replied coolly "What do you need me for? Do you need a new house? Joking." The duke responded "Permission to swear fealty to the Diarchy." Franciseno took a second. "Why?" The duke responded "I have my reasons. And mine is, I've talked with the Cirillians and they'll help me get Revasa back if I swear fealty to them." Franciseno responded "Don't you know, about the- ... oh whatever, request granted I suppose." The duke responded "Thank you. I will be in Highrose, if you need anything from me." The duke walked out of the building.

30 minutes later.
The duke managed to get himself onto a private jet setting course for Highrose. The Cirillian was already making contacts with the Cirillian government.

[Cirilla]

Skrunda Military Base, Bralarian Federation, Cirilla

December 18th, 2000

Tensions towards the Kingdom of Royleon increased, rumors of invasion was common within every level of ranks. Everyone was prepping though was unsure of the next move/action that was to be taken. Would tensions quell down or a full blown out war would occur with swift victory? The Kingdom of Royleon was previously Cirillian land till the ending of World War 2, where it was given independence but was still under Cirillian cultural hegemony. Though now it was near Christmas and the middle of winter season, war was unlikely through this time of year. But we never know for sure...

It was during this time Princess Cyri was taken in the military for compulsory service. She didn't want to but knew her father would make her any how even if she was his daughter. Cyri walked through the corridors of the base, holding a few documents on her hand then finally reaching her commanding officer handing him the papers. "Here you go sir, everything on here details about the current position on our borders" she said, then glanced at another soldier in the room. It was her current suitor or boyfriend, the first one that won her heart. Other suitors that tried to court Cyri beforehand all had failed to do so, only to walk away with unrequited love. "Thank you your imperial highness, now I think that's all for now. You're dismissed." the commanding officer replied. Cyri nodded and looked at her boyfriend, walking back to the entrance room. "So Wilhelm, what do you want to do now? Heh, I guess we have some free time now." she said, smiling at him. Wilhelm smiled back, "You know we aren't suppose to dilly dally around here, plus we have to get back to Taylend." he replied. Cyri walked up to him, putting her hand on his abdomen then rising it to his chest slowly. "Oh come on, having a little fun wouldn't hurt would it? We can check this place out if we have Vince help us get into the closed corridors, wouldn't that be fun?" she said, giving a small laugh at the end. She leaned to kiss him, Wilhelm took the initiative and didn't hesitate. The kiss lasted for about 14 seconds, then Vince had interrupted their alone time. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt but I got the doors un-shut, we can get in now. You guys ready?" he said. Cyri and Wilhelm stared at him blankly, "What?" Vince said, looking at them. "Nothing, it's nothing. Let's get going shall we?" Vince replied, gesturing Cyri to come along while they went towards the more desolate place of the military base. Vince had gotten a makeshift key and sliced the chains that had kept people away from the area, he checked around to see if anybody else was around to make sure. Unlocking the door, a small gust of wind came out only to show a hallway full of pitch darkness. Wilhelm got out a flashlight and walked in, finding the light switch and turned it on. The hallway and the rooms further started to become lit, revealing a WW2 era-esque room. "Would you look at that," Wilhelm said, looking back at Cyri and Vince, "this operation room dates back in the 1930s. Wonder why they locked it up..." Cyri slowly walked in with her arms crossed, looking left and right. She walked to the back where old documents and papers were being kept at, taking a sit near a desk and turning on a lamp. She grabbed an old newspaper and read a few lines on it, detailing about past events and news headlines. Vince also came to the back, looking at old photos and making pictures to bring back home. "This stuff is amazing" he said. Wilhelm came back at the back as well, wanting to talk to his beloved. A few of Vince's friends came as well to help him capture anything important information. Vince took a picture of Cyri and Wilhelm together, capturing the brief moments. "Hey, look at this. I should be a photographer huh?" Vince said, admiring the photo he had taken. "Huh, it looks nice." Cyri replied. "Uh Vince, can we have some alone time?" Wilhelm said, looking at him. "Sure... Don't get to crazy now, I'm sure you guys don't want to make a baby here." Vince replied, walking away. Cyri hit him on the side in a friendly manner, "Whatever, just go.... So now we finally have some time for ourselves." Wilhelm walked up to her, "Does your father even know of our relationship? I haven't asked about that yet." "(Sigh)" Cyri looked down, she seemed disturbed about something. Then looking back at him, with a gentle, soft smile, pulling his shirt towards her. "No..... but everything will be fine with us, right?." Cyri replied. Wilhelm caressed the side of her hair, looking deeply into her eyes. "I don't know the future, but I do know I will always be there for you."

Infinite Imperial Navy, Cirilla-UoAE

December 12th, 2014

Wilhelm stood in a dark room, he was a Witcher for the Cirillian military. He got a call from his commander telling him to go back to the capital, it's been a long time since he had gotten a break. A friend of his was in the other room, which was lit, working on something important. "So I heard that you were uhh going to the capital. Aren't ya going to see the Empress? Didn't you guys know each other before?" Wilhelm's friend asked. "Yeah, we did. Field Marshal Alkaev said I was going to be taken some 'time off' and I needed to go to the capital first for some reason.' Wilhelm replied. "Well I hope you get some rest cause these past few months have been a pain in the ass for the both of us. Codsworth is still in the process but I think within the next year we could get him to work right." "Hmmm, yeah... Well, I guess I see you around. And hey, make sure you do that thing for me." "Yeah, yeah."

Cirilla, Cirilla-UoAE

December 18th, 2014

"Your Imperial Majesty, a few soldiers are coming back from their tasked assignments. They should be here within a few minutes." the empress's adviser said. "Hmm, ready them. I must do something first." Cyri said, while writing a few things down on a document on her desk. Just a week or so, Cyri had just finished the funeral of her father, as well as other things. Only to have her only child not with her, her husband drink recklessly to soothe himself from the pain. A lonely place this was for such a powerful person. Wilhelm and Vince were next to each other in line, they've been in contact with each other for a long time, never separated. Good friends indeed. "Man, didn't think Cyri would be empress this quickly. How long was it when you last scene her again?" Vince said. "Don't know, been a long time. Hey you still working on uh, you know what?" Wilhelm replied. "Oh that, I finished it a while ago, I'll show it to you once you come to my place, actually you could see it today if ya want. I mean I pretty busy still but you can check around a bit, if you promise not to break my things again." "Hey, that was an accident man. I'm sorry." "Yeah, yeah." Empress Cyri walked through the halls, she had forgotten who was specifically coming so it was a surprise for her. She entered the room to see a few women and men, then noticed Wilhelm. Her eyes widened for a bit, stopping in her direction. Cyri then continued to walk forward after a few seconds towards the line of soldiers. They saluted and then bent the knee to show respect for their empress. Cyri walked back and fourth, examining each person in line, though took longer in inspecting Wilhelm. Her eye gazed upon him like prey, it had been a very long time since they had seen each other. "The Cirillian empire thanks you for your service, as of now you will either be assigned to a new place or to be relieved till you will be recalled again. And for your honorary service for the empire, you shall be awarded accordingly." Cyri said, looking at all of them. A few maids went up to her and handed her a ceremonial sword, though it could still be used in combat. Cyri walked up to the first person in line, blessing them and then giving them the honorary sword, it was influenced by the Koki and the Lannisters giving it a weird yet fascinating look to it. One by one each accepted their gift and blessing, proud for serving the nation that unified the Muscilician Realm and other parts of the world, which was indeed a great step. "Thank you for coming, the advisers will accompany you and give you more information about your future endeavors that you will be assigned to. You are all dismissed, except for you Prince Wilhelm, you will stay for a bit longer. We have much to discuss." said Cyri, smiling towards him. All of them left, leaving Wilhelm alone with the empress with the guards in the palace to silently watch carefully for intruders. "My, how long has it been since we last saw each other? It's nice to see you Cyri, you still look elegant as ever." Wilhelm said. "Well, it's been what, 13, 14 years I suppose a long long time hasn't it? Come, would you like a tour of the palace? Beautiful isn't it." replied Cyri, she started walking toward the hall gesturing him to come along. "Ahh the days when yo were still that innocent and adventurous princess, those were the days huh. So how is uh, your husband? And your child? I heard you had a child too.." he answered. Cyri stopped and looked out the window, the streets were crowded and the sidewalks filled with busy citizens. "Wilheim has had better days, he's in Culvyra as of now helping me rule. Anyways, I have very little time to spare. We should use it wisely," she answered, "ever wonder what it would have been like if were still together?" she continued to walk. Wilhelm notice that she ignored his other question but swept it away, "Hmmm, you know it's nice to have Wilheim as a husband, I heard he is a great man. Even from the UoAE, you are indeed a lucky girl, Cyri. But you know things was going to split, you had your life and I had mine. At least you have people that care about you, and remember I am always here for you." he said. Cyri walked up to him, no one was around only the glimmering light from the windows and the echoes of voices distant. "That is where you are wrong, my dear. Did you know Wilheim has been drinking? Of course you don't, but it hasn't brought me anything good but sorrow. You know, I have always cared about you, thought about you, lust for you..." her hand was behind her back, nearing closer to him. Cyri then gave a gentle kiss, longing for it. Wilhelm held in for about a few seconds then pushed her away. "I'm sorry, as much as I would like to... it's just wrong. I can't do this, Cyri. You have a husband. You know this would be wrong. I didn't come to do lustful things." Cyri's face was red, full of blush. "Your right." she dusted off her dress, trying to avoid eye contact towards him for a bit then returned to normal. "Are you going to be attending our Christmas ball and festivity? It will be fun, nothing is wrong with having fun, right?" she said. "Of course" Wilhelm replied. Cyri started to walk away to return to work. Wilhelm shouted at her, making her stop and turn around. "Cyri, I'm always here." She smiled and returned walking back to her room. For the next few months, they would remain in contact. Growing closer and reconnecting lost flames.


Cirilla, Cirilla-UoAE

March 30th, 2015

Cyri went to the room Wilheim was in he seemed to be working as well, they were getting ready to go to Bralaria and meet with the local politicians there. They had a few hours to spare, so they either been prepping, doing leftover work, or taking a break. "I wish for another child. Would that please you?" Cyri said with a smirk, "It's been a long, long time since we've had some fun, it wouldn't hurt if we had a little of it don't ya think?" Little did he know.

[Cirilla]

Winterfell Palace, Genireea, Cirilla-UoAE

December 24th, 2030

---

Isles of Dawn

December 22th, 2030

It's been years since Simon had been back home. For almost 18 years, he knows only the Isles of Dawn. He was finally able to leave, not that he wanted to anyways but to see his family was important to him. "Finally, what are you guys going to do now? Without me." Simon said towards his friend while packing. "I don't know, maybe camp again. Actually I might go home back to FDR. The others, I have no idea to be honest. Hey if you ever come to my place, bring me a present alright? Maybe a nice nobleman, would be appreciated." his friend replied. Simon smiled, "Yeah, I will. But you owe me." he said. He waved goodbye and started walking back to the small airway. He first met with his caretakers, the Mariist priests and wished them a good life. He himself decided to be a Mariist Purist but took considerate examination on Cirillian/Roszarian Orthodoxy and Qtholicism, also he would always visit priests and talk to them for casual talk. In the helicopter he was on, he looked straight to the ruins and saw fire camps further in the distance. Finally he can go back home, all these years he skipped the days where he could to train even further, now it was over. Life awaited.

---

Winterfell Palace, Genireea, Cirilla-UoAE

Two Days Later....

Simon finally arrived to his empire, he was of course the heir apparent. Instead of arriving back to the capital to meet his family he would go to the ball for the Lantern Festival and meet them there. Once he got out of the helicopter the guards escorted him to the area where the ball and festival in the area was being held at. Though instead of going to the palace and meet his family he rather'd walk around and enjoy the scenery. He walked to around the back yard where it lead around for almost two acres, where the cliff side allowed you to see a village nearby. He went up a small hill by following a path, away from the party goers, though his mother wondered where he was and sent for a guard to find him. He walked closer and saw a girl, shadowed by a small roof over her head and the light snow pouring down. It was cold and Simone could only hear distant chatter by other guests in the background, he wondered who'd it was. He expected the place to be desolate so he could have some time of his own but only to find a girl sitting by herself looking over the cliff ahead of her. "It's beautiful isn't it?" she said softly. Simon was startled, she knew he was there which startled him a bit. "You knew I was here when you had your back turned in front of me? How?" he asked. "I can hear you walk up here with your deafening footsteps through the snow. I'm not an idiot you know." She replied. He looked at his shoes, he noticed that he did make noises while walking on the snow. He over to the side of the cliff, watching the small town glimmer in light and as the stars shined through the clouds. "Yeah, it is beautiful, an awing sight for any noble to see it seems." Simone said. "Ahhh so your a noble as well?" she replied. "Indeed I am though I guess you can say I'm not the best informed of gentlemanly manner." There was brief silence. She looked at him, though her face was still shrouded in the dark only for Simone to see a small grasp of her elegant face. "Come, sit." she said. Simone did what she asked him to do. He sat next to her, both wore striking clothing that made the scene almost a fantasy in the books. "Did you know, Cirilla is one of the few nations to actually still keep the nobility system and keep it's medieval traditions yet we are more modern than most nations in terms of progression and fair will? I think it's amazing that we have kept certain traditions for so long, I wonder a world where our nobles aren't taught of humbleness and chivalry. It'd be a travesty." the girl said. "You talk as if it is important to you and something that is required of you to think about." he said. "Well of course, it is my duty." she said. "Hmmm, is it. Someone as beautiful as yourself shouldn't worry about those things, let the rulers do all the work till we come of age to become the next nobles." he replied. She gave a small laugh, "The Cirillian nobles must prepare for the future or we fail as a country, though.... I suppose your right. I guess I can be less worried about those things, life is short for us it seems." As Simone was sitting next to her he could fully see her face, it seemed so smooth, her blonde hair like streaks of light. Astounded by her beauty, he seemed to be staring at her. She turned towards him, "Is something wrong?" she said. The girl wondered why he was gazing at her, she thought he was a handsome man. Simone snapped out of it, "Oh it was nothing, may I ask if you were born of divinity and raised by the gods themselves? When I sit close to you, you seem to have the aura of an goddess." he said. She smiled, "My you are very flattering, giving a women such compliments. Though you'll have to go further than that to win my heart, hah." the girl replied. "May I ask, do you dance?" he said. "Well yes of course, I'm taking classes at the moment, why do you ask" "Well, may I lead you to the ballroom?" You wouldn't mind a gentleman leading you to a dance?" "Hmmmm, a nice offer. I guess I wouldn't mind, but know that I like to take the lead." she said. "Interesting, shall we?" Simone replied, as he stood up and gestured to hold her hand. The girl got up as well, giving a small smirk. They started walking towards the steps down the hill, though Simon had dropped something and urged the girl to head along. The girl continued to walk down the steps till a guard came up towards her, "You Imperial Highness, your mother wishes you back to the palace. It's best to see your sibling that has arrived." the guard said. "Oh of course. Um I'm sorry but I have to go, I guess we'll see each other some other time." she said. She was rushed down by her personal guard to the palace entrance. Simone ran towards the steps to only watch her disappear, he was confused. Overhearing the guard a bit ago confused, he was sure he was talking to him. He walked down back to the populated area then a officer recognized him. "There you are, please your mother and father wish to see you! Your Imperial Highness. Simone nodded, "Oh of course."

He was escorted inside the palace, it was a long time since he has been in one. Simone had grown to be tall, taller than his parents, as well as physically buff though light as a feather. He learned from the best that the Mariist priests offered him that was required for a future leader to rule. His life's perspective was something that of his own, though influenced from Mariism. He learned social ability from his time with his friends back at the Isles of Dawn. He seemed to have learned everything that could have been gathered there, but there was still more that needed to be learned. It was only time before he was going to face the natural phases of life. He walked into the room where his family was at, "Oh Simon my son!" Cyri said, running towards him to give him a hug. "How have you been? Oh come, come! Meet your sister, Myrcella and your father!" Cyri added. Myrcella looked up and then remember Simone back from the hill, her face turned dismayed "Your, your, your my sibling?! No no who was with me up that hill?!" she said. Simone turned perplexed, he was sure that this was the girl he met up the hill, but his sister? How could he have forgotten and not known, he wondered. "So it seems you two have met already I presume or?" Cyri asked. "Umm, never mind mother." he said still trying to think. The person he had tried to court was his own sister, his mind was boggled. He couldn't get it out of his head, how could he? It's been so long since he last seen his family. The same go'd for Myrcella, she didn't know what her brain was trying to tell her. It was head aching. It was no use, the seed had already planted and was now spreading. Before long things will start to get complicated.

[Free Asian Ports]

The lone Samurai stood there, staring at the pocket watch. It ticked rhythmically, endlessly, implacably. Time ticked by without thought as to it's consequence. The Samurai stared at the hand, ticking towards doom. He stared at the shapes and symbols the hand pointed at, and knew their meaning. The hand ticked onwards, around the face of the watch. He gulped. It ticked closer towards doom. Tick, tick, tick, it went. Uncaring, unrelenting. Almost ending. Towards one symbol in particular. Which meant doom.

At least, in an abstract sense. What the symbol actually meant was 8 am. At 8 am came doom. The Samurai closed his eyes and pressed is helmeted head against the wall in front of him. A wall of dirt and sandbags. He squeezed the rifle in his hands tightly, the SMLE issued to him a couple years ago. It's wood finish was faded and scratch, the edges of the metal of the bolt mechanism were rounded off and worn. But it was still clean and functional. It was one of the few things that were kept clean here, in the mud. He tried to hold himself together, onto his sanity, through his grip on the rifle.

The watch kept ticking. It was only a few ticks away from 8 am. When the attack was supposed to begin. The ticking was accompanied by thunder. Not the thunder of a rain storm. The thunder of guns. The endless detonation of a million guns. Rolling, constant, repetitive. The successive clap of the gun batteries mixed with the shriek of the falling shells and the thudding of the explosive end of the brief journey through the sky. The enemy lines were being pounded into dust. It had been like this since what felt like the beginning of time. The watch's tick also approached the end of this cacophony of death. Though, long ago the Samurai had decided that the thunder of guns would never end.

He looked to his left, then right. Beside him were hundreds of his fellow soldiers, all dressed in the far cry of Prussian blues that their forefathers wore into battle. They were a dark gray, stained with mud and shackled by combat webbing, pouches filled with stripper clips holding more ammo for the SMLE rifles. They could, with a bit of training and experience, empty the magazine of the rifle into the enemy in a mere minute, giving rise to the term "mad minute" to describe the situation one found themselves in should they actually start firing that fast. The Samurai looked at the men and women under his command. He knew they would die, just as fast as his watch was ticking.

It was time. The ticking was getting closer to it's end. The Samurai pulled out a whistle, and laid his rifle against the wall of the trench while he drew his combat knife.

"AFFIX BAYONETS!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Simultaneously, a thousand soldiers drew the sword-bayonets sheathed at their sides, fixing them to their rifles and locking them into place. The clicking almost drowned out the ticking. "READY!" he shouted, mounting the ladder and putting the whistle into his mouth.

The hand hit 8. The guns ceased. He blew the whistle. The enemy machine guns started firing. The ticking was silenced.

---

Some time later.

The Samurai dropped back into the trench. The other survivors slid back in as well. There were far fewer soldiers returning than had left. The Samurai had a wounded soldier on his shoulder. He stumbled back along the communications trench to the rear. He barely made it to a field medical station deeper into the hill upon which the Portean trenchworks had been built. Wobbling in with the wounded man on his back the Samurai breathlessly demanded the man receive medical attention. The hospital was packed with casualties. Once relieved of the man, he looked around. Then collapsed.

As the medics tended to him, they dug out his dog tags to identify him and his blood type. They read "Nanasawa".

[Esgonia]

"Damn, it's cold...." A lone soldier said to himself as the bitter winter got to him, clutching his jacket tightly to make sure he wouldn't freeze to death, with his Thompson in hand as he walks continuously through a forest, his friends walking alongside him. He begins to talk to the one beside him, "You ever think the Axis right now are just watching us? I mean, we haven't faced an enemy patrol for hours now, feels really uneasy you know.." Another soldier from behind him says to him. "Heh, they're probably just runnin' back at their quarters. We've pushed their asses that far after all, Brunshelm." He then replies to him. "Yeah, but this is their homeland, you know? Who knows that these guys are up to..."

After that brief conversation, the soldiers next to them felt uneasy, knowing that he was right. Brunshelm begins to load up a 50 round drum onto his submachine gun while the others begin to ready their rifles, G86k's and M1 Garands, and BARs alike, slowly making their advance out of the forest, another soldier begins to pray to Mari that he would be safe, while another mutters to himself "If those Axis bastards to come at us, I hope they would kill me quickly with a single bullet." A few seconds later, a shot rang out, and something falls to the ground with a thud, a soldier had been shot at the back of the neck, completely boring a hole in this throat as his lungs were slowly being filled with blood. The others began to triangulate the shot while the corpsman and Brunshelm try to cover the wound as quickly as they could. Meanwhile, a burst of fire rang out from their left, taking down another 2 soldiers before the others could finally locate the source of the shot and began firing in that direction. Brunshelm begins to cover up the wound as the corpsman starts to fill him with Morphine to ease the pain before the dying soldier begins to hold Brunshelm's arm and says "...Why...." before he dies in the cold ground. He and the corpsman's eyes widened as he died there before something explodes from behind them. He and the others begin to run out and find cover as Brunshelm finds a stack of logs and takes cover there next to the corpsman and another soldier. He then asks the soldier "Where's our CO? Where is he". as the sound of gunfire and explosions roar around them. The soldier, without saying a word, points to a body on the ground, face down and lying in a pool of blood mixed with the snow. Brunshelm, now with the unit without a commanding officer, starts to shout "I'M TAKING COMMAND! EVERYONE LET'S GET OUT OF THE FOREST RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" The soldiers replied with a nod and begins to run from cover to cover, with Brunshelm, the corpsman, and the soldier taking cover in a truck, where they begin to lash out a barrage of return fire towards the direction of the enemy. He spots an Axis soldier running towards a house and opens fire at him, taking him down in a hail of bullets before he reloads and loads another 50-round drum for his Thompson before he fires again. Then, the truck explodes by mortar fire, sending him and the others flying several meters away.

When he gets to, he sees that the corpsman and the soldier taking cover with him lie dead, with the corpsman's arm separated from his body and was burning alongside the destroyed truck. He felt a mixed feeling of both freezing, and an intense pain on right hand, upon the sight of it, it made him feel worse. His ring finger was nearly dismembered from him and was ready to come off, the bone being severed. With his finger now useless, he wanted to cut it off from him; he looks for his combat knife but was nowhere to be found, so he decides to rip it out himself. In one strong pull, he manages to rip out the flesh that was still attached to the nearly-dismembered finger as he screams loudly. He would soon look for the medic bag from the fallen corpsman and looks for the disinfectant and bandages, where he then applies the disinfectant on his hand, still trembling, and slowly bandaging the wound as he keeps his finger on his breast pocket before patting the dead medic and begins to run for another piece of cover.

There, he sees a machine gun team, who were still loading up their M1919 while another of his comrades provide supporting fire with his G86k, as soon as they pull the charging handle of the MG, the team lays down a barrage of fire upon the Axis position, with Brunshelm also opening fire while ordering some of the men to advance through the cover fire. The men comply to his orders as they push through the enemy lines while he shouts at a nearby radioman ordering him to call HQ for support and reinforcements. An Axis soldier tries to sneak up to him and tries to attack him with a knife, but was cut down by his Thompson just a few feet from him. After Brunshelm's last drum magazine falls empty, he sees that the Axis soldier had a gun with him, an StG-44 assault rifle, something that he hasn't seen before. "This is a weird weapon, but it's what I can get for now." as he picks it up from him, along with a few grenades and magazines. After loading up another magazine from his new weapon, he then moves up forward alongside other soldiers next to him, slowly moving from cover to cover while he fires the assault rifle for the first time. It had a lot of kick, but it does the job, so he decides to keep it with him.

He quickly advances towards a small house while the Machine Gun team continue to provide suppressing fire at the enemy line. He and another squad stack up at the side of the front door of the house, directly away from the line of fire. One of the soldiers kick the front door and charges forward, only to be met with a barrage of enemy fire which hits him several times before he falls down, his body full of bullet holes. Brunshelm and the other soldiers began throwing hand grenades inside, which exploded and killed off a good number of enemy soldiers inside, he then proceeds inside first, with the other soldiers directly behind him, eliminating any stragglers he sees. Then, a boy stood up in front of him, wearing an Axis uniform. The boy stared at him in a pitiful way, looking as if he was a lost orphan. What he didn't know was the boy was grabbing an MP40 from a hidden cabinet. Brunshelm noticed that the boy had his hand reaching for something, so when the boy had pointed the SMG at him, he fired 6 rounds at him with his StG-44, bringing him down within a few milliseconds before the boy could even pull the trigger. The others noticed the commotion and checked what was going on as Brunshelm continuously stared at the boy's corpse, looking like the other soldiers who lay dead next to him. "Sir, reinforcements have arrived." His focus changed when he heard those words. Pretty soon, they heard the sound of allied aircraft soaring by and Sherman Fireflies rolling on the town. They could also hear the sound of soldiers shouting at the remaining Axis forces who were holed up.

"It's finally over..." Brunshelm said as he takes off his helmet and wipes his hair with a handkerchief, he then glares at his new Assault Rifle and says to himself. "Maybe I should bring this home with me..."

[Empire of Donner land]

Point Alpha A, Donner Land, 10:32 AM DST.

Ickins walked through the long and wide white hallways as he made his way to the briefing room wadeing through and passing by other Soldiers in uniform in his own Uniform. They made sure to stay out of his way. The LG had a reputation in bases to sometimes start fights with the other branches. Already this year 21 servicemen were killed in fights, ten killed by stab wounds, five by gunshot, another five by intense blunt force trauma to the head and neck and one by blood loss. The Operatives who did this were charged but not convicted but soldiers instead of complaining simply stayed away from the LG, far away. His uniform was a regular white digital camouflage but his arm patch was black, a yellow lightning bolt in the middle with two cat eyes on either side. The symbol of the LG. The patch was an aura of fear to anyone and everyone who looked at it. They stayed away and avoided who ever wore the cat eyes and the signature black Beret. As Ickins turned the corner he noticed as peoples eyes met his Patch and Beret and quickly changed their paths away from him. Very little LG were kept on Bases, mostly they lived to themselves until they were needed further of were at other bases built specifically for the LG Operatives and the S.T.D was the only division that had any Agents in large millitary bases such as Alpha Point A or B or Beta Point A in Azenyanistan. The LG weren't liked but they were respected fiercely enough.

"Bear got what he deserved." Ickins heard as he passed by someone. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at whoever said it. Eluenst Yeneteg, one of the most vocal supporters of just outright killing off all LG personnel. People started to move away and continue on with their business as they passed by watching them as they did so. "Yeneteg, I'm not in the mood." he spoke. Yeneteg pushed him self of the wall he was leaning on and walked up to him. "And? What if I don't care?" he spoke. "I shouldn't have to explain." Ickins replied tapping his knife in its arm pocket while his arms were crossed, holding them there. "Bear broke one of my mens legs, ribs, right arm and hip." Yeneteg spoke. "Your man hit first! Its not my fault he made a dumb choice!" Ickins yelled. Yeneteg pushed him away "Bull!" he yelled as Ickins was pushed back by his hands. Ickins tackled him and pressed him against the wall and punched him in the gut multiple times, he could hear the sound of flesh impacting flesh and his pain. Yeneteg pushed him off and grabbed his side arm aiming it at Ickins head. Ickins could see down the barrel almost to the Bullet and he put his hands up. Yeneteg approached him not putting the gun down and placed the barrel to his forehead. "You spooks are all the same. LG shouldn't exist with how many friendly fire incidents it has under its belt." Ickins could hear the trigger creaking as he pulled it. He had to do something.

"You keep forgetting Yeneteg."

"What?"

"That LG don't surrender."

Ickins quickly put his arms down and pushed the gun away from his face. The Gun fired and he was deafened as the bullet past by his ear the shocking boom from the gun itself echoing in his hearing. He punched him across the face with his left arm and Yeneteg spun around dazed a little. Ickins taking advantage of this grabbed around his neck putting him in a choke hold and kicked his legs out from under him. He dragged Yeneteg to the ground and reached for his Knife as he did so but Yeneteg rolled him over his back throwing him off. His face was red with anger and the lack of oxygen. He stumbled to his feet and grabbed his own Knife in a ready stance as they stood away from each other only two feet away. "You screwed up now Ickins!" Yeneteg yelled. Ickins ran at him holding his knife low to get him in the gut but Yeneteg seeing this moved out of the way and grabbed his forearm dodging Ickins' swing upwards. He pushed his arm up and put his arm into a lock twisting his own arm around Ickins' and throwing him down using his momentum against him. Yeneteg took his knife and began to plunge it downwards into his chest. Ickins rolled out of the way towards Yeneteg and braced his Knife. He felt the knife go inside and heard the scream of pain.

"Sorry…"

[Azenyanistan]

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Somewhere in the United States of Azenyanistan

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Deserts of Azenyanistan, 11:00 PM

---

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What are tanks to the Azens? Their main instrument of warfare. What are their crews to Ausozera? The greatest soldiers Azenyanistan could offer.

---

The government of the USA has issued orders to the military of the Azens, the Azen National Military. It has been made official and true. Things are changing and probably not for the best. So the Azens are getting ready. How so? By moving in the dark, by deploying their numbers, by getting ready for the coming storm. Secretly, without letting anyone or anything know of what they are doing, the Azen National Military has begun to move. While the rest of the country was getting ready so quickly and so secretly for war with Vanquaria, waiting for ISAT or for the Diarchy or for someone, something, just one event to allow the Azens to go forth into war with their long rival in order to get what they want and need, to be able to avenge millions of fallen Azens. The United States may have many in their government with conscience and certainly, a lot of Azens are all about conscience but what was that in the face of facing an enemy that has slaughtered many Azens, good and bad, and ruined their country?
In the deserts, unspotted and undetected convoys of Azen National Army, guided and escorted by elements of the Azen National Air Force and the convoys reinforced by Azen Republican Guard units. Saladin, the governor of Syria, the mayor of Damascus and general of the ANM, was upon in the hatch of her tank, the new ACT SGA MBT. Furthermore, she was leading her soldiers, especially her most feared and most legendary Azen Saracen Angels. According to Azen history, the Saracen Angels were Azens who were female cavalry, known for crossing deserts in mere days or hours, without any loss, for their ambushes and their further strikes. They were known also for annihilating countless Christian soldiers and knights during the Crusades. Until today, the Saracen Angels live on, continuously adjusting to the times. For the modern age and for the Golden Age, the Saracen Angels used motorcycles, IFVS, APCs and tanks. They used the new ACT Desert Wanderer motorcycles, as they were designed for units to be able to cover cross country distances within hours if not minutes. Saladin was known for her traumatized and deeply scarred soul and body. Her hair has gone white and gray from what she went through as a child and she seemed older than she was suppose to seem. The great Saladin wore the Azen National Army uniform along with goggles for dealing with the deserts and with a sand-colored keffiyeh for disguising her as she and thousands of ANA, ANAF and ARG units crossed from Syria through Iraq, Iran and towards the borders of Azenyanistan and New Azenyanistan. It was night and fortunately, all was dark. The ACT Secret Guardian helicopters of the ANAF carrying troops and what they got with them and the ACT Hunter Killer attack helicopters with missiles and machine guns were performing well, keeping quiet as they escorted from above the ACT SGA MBTs, the ACT Desert Wanderers, the ACT MAMLUK-747 tanks and the heavily armed and dangerous IFVs, APCs and tanks the Azens got from ISAT, the Diarchy and other allies as well as the much needed logistics and support units from various sources, mostly from allies. The deserts were in favor of the Azens, not giving them storms or anything problematic. Saladin gave a short and informal prayer of thanks to her god, Allah, before she got into contact with the Supreme Azen National Military High Command Center in Yaneza, Iraq
“Saladin, repeat, Saladin, requesting status on Operation Glorious Land. This is SANMHCC, do you copy?”
“This is Saladin. We are on the way to the borders but we will get there quickly. Nobody will ever know and everyone will be surprised to see us, ready and waiting for war if the Vanquarians slip up.”
“Copy. Continue, Saladin. May the heavens be with you.”
“I got it.”
While the new and untested but practiced and trained ANM moved through the Azen deserts under the cover of night, the moon providing the only light that they had as clouds prevented the stars from contributing their own, Saladin spoke to herself as she and her tank led several brigades through the sand, over the dunes and through the vast but clean spaces the deserts provided
“It belongs to us. This land does so belong to us. To us and to all who we care for. Never shall we allow strangers to steal our land. Never can we forget it. This land belongs to us and no one else. And if you will press the matter, ask us why, we shall reply and inform them that you are welcome but not too welcome. For nobody would respect anybody who would be too open. So shall we refrain from abuse.”
Fortunately, they are close to their destination. The Operation was conducted days ago, when the world was informed that IWA was building up. There was time and the Azens used it.

[Free Asian Ports]

Sayakomi Mao flicked the synth-flesh bag she held up. It jiggled a bit, the gooey contents reverberating about the ersatz flesh container. It was filled with her last client’s [REDACTED], and was very nearly full. The bag was designed to fit in her [REDACTED] very well, and feel like the real thing quite well. The manufacturer gave a 99.99% guarantee that it would not spill. They refrained from saying 100% on the off chance something did go wrong and they ended up with a lawsuit. But, true to their promises, the bag was shiny and smooth, with no defects or openings. Mao grinned. Not today, pregnancy, not today she thought. She threw the waste away in a biohazard disposal bin and started to get dressed. Today was a day she had been looking forward to for a long time. While she put on her bra, she sniffed her armpit. Okay, shower first.

Satomi walked into the locker room, with a large wad of bills stuffed into her thigh band, which was all she was wearing. She’d just finished her shift, and her [REDACTED], still erect, flopped around as she walked over to Mao. “Good day, huh?” she asked, as she counted today’s commissions. “Yeah, 24 again today” responded Mao, putting on her shirt. Satomi chuckled “another week like this, and you’ll have enough to buy your own car. I might want to hit that, just to help out”. Mao shook her head “nah, next week I’ll be out. I’ve gotta do some side work”. Satomi, a zeemale, had finally gone flaccid and was getting dressed herself “oh yeah, your ‘side job’. Strange, considering its way cooler than your full time job”. Mao grinned, and held up her own earnings for today “yeah, but it doesn’t pay as much”. She was done getting dressed, and picked up her bag to leave. “Tell the manager I’ll be gone next week” she said over her shoulder as she left.

Once out of the back entrance, Mao walked through the alley and into the street. She walked to the nearest subway station. Almost as soon as she arrived, a train was approaching. It flashed by, almost lifting Mao’s skirt, which she held down. It stopped and let off some passengers before allowing her to get on. Once everybody was on board, the doors closed again and the train sped away. Eventually, it reached Mao’s stop and she got off.

Mao unlocked the door to her apartment, a suite on the corner of a tall building overlooking a city square, one of many in Tokyo. She put away her coat, and started to get undressed. She really needed to shower. Turning on the hot water, she stepped into the shower, washing off the dried sweat and other undesirable bodily fluids that stuck to her over the course of her work shift. After soaping up and shampooing, she rinsed herself clean. She got out of the shower and dried off, and put on a fresh set of underwear (the other ones were soaked, and not just from sweat). Now for clothes. This time, she put on some very simple work clothes: a shirt and jeans. She opened her closet and rummaged through the contents. Past the discarded shopping bags and various shoe boxes, she got at the very back of the closet. Laid against the wall was an FN Fusil Automatique Léger (or FAL for short) which had been assigned to her. She didn’t pick it up, instead taking out a stack of clothing. She stuffed them into a duffle bag, and packed a few extra changes of clothing, as well as toiletries. Making sure she had everything she needed for the trip, she zipped the duffle bag closed.

When she finished packing, Mao put her coat back on and took the bag with her outside. Locking the door to her apartment, she returned to street level and took the subway to the airport. Taking a shuttle bus, she went to a line of private hangars and administrative buildings. These belonged to the Home Fleet Air Service, the aviation wing of the naval militia that helped defend the FAP’s coasts. Mao went to a locker room in a building connected to one of the larger hangars. Her locker was at the very end, and marked with a plaque that read “Squadron Commander”. Opening it up, she took out the fatigues and G suit that were hung inside. Quickly, but methodically, she changed into them, putting her clothes back into the duffle bag. She also packed some of the contents of the locker, and took out the helmet that rested on the shelf at the top of the locker. It was decorated with her insignia, a helmeted baby chicken on a gold and black checkered background. She took the helmet and duffel bag, and took a door to the hangar.

Inside, several aircraft were lined up in several rows. They were all A-4KU Skyhawks, an old naval attack plane from the days of Canaam. These were the last variant to see service with the FAPN, and were handed over to the Home Fleet for use on its second hand carriers. They had been upgraded considerably during their service with the Navy, but even by today’s standards they were hopelessly obsolete. They were fitted with AIM-9 sidewinders for simple air defense, although they could not be considered serious fighter aircraft in any capacity. They were, however, very pilot friendly. Very stable, very maneuverable, and generally fun to fly.
Mao walked over to a group of women who were conversing in the center of the hangar. All were dressed as she was, holding helmets decorated with gold and black checkers. When they saw Mao approach, they all stood at attention. “Okay, at ease. Today is pretty simple. We’re going to fly out to Ryoujo, practice landing, then set down for the long haul” she smiled at her subordinates “let’s make this a fun vacation, yeah?”. “Yes, sir!” came the response, and they broke to tend to their aircraft. Mao walked over to her own, which was fitted with two drop tanks, a cargo pod, and two missiles. She walked around, checking each and every flight surface and moving part on the exterior while the ground crew got ready to start the aircraft up. Once certain that all was as it should be, she climbed into the cockpit, and signaled that she was ready to get moving.

A tow vehicle brought some of the planes out onto the ramp, where starters revved up the jet engines. 12 engines all started to whine as they spun up. When it hit full power, Mao closed the canopy and taxied out to the runway. With her wingman on her right, she asked for clearance from the tower to take off. She was given permission, and she hit the throttle. Thousands of pounds of force accelerated the tiny jet to take off speed, and the two dart-shaped planes lifted into the air. Mao set a course for the ocean, where their floating airbase waited for them.

Mao grinned. This was what she lived for. The feeling of flight, the adrenaline of speed. It was her dream. She did a couple rolls, and tested the maneuverability of the plane, relishing every single movement. How it felt in her gut, how the G forces laid into her body. She loved it. Presently, they approached the carrier. She returned to a straight and level flight path, approaching the carrier on a landing glide path. It was a Clemenceau-class ship, recently handed to the Home Fleet after the Navy finished using it. The ship replaced a far older Centaur-class vessel, which was now returning to the Vault. Right now, it had a couple S-3 Vikings on deck, parked on the deck edge and leaving the landing strip clear.

The A-4’s did touch and go landings, not catching the wire in order to practice the landing approach. Finally, it came time to land for good. Mao maneuvered the plane on a landing approach, and lowered both the landing gear and the tail hook. As she began the final landing sequence, lining up the landing aid, she started to feel gravity tugging on her, hauling her closer to the embrace of the ground. Or, rather, the sea. The plane hit the deck, and it felt like an Oceanic kicked Mao in the ass. The shock of landing reverberated through her body and the plane, but both held up. The tail hook caught a wire on the first try, and almost at the same time as the initial shock it, the force of the arrestor wire hit the plane as well. Less than a second after the wheels touched the deck, the plane came to a complete stop.
Mao raised the tail hook, releasing the wire, and taxied on the deck to the edge where a couple of other A-4s were already waiting. She stopped and ground crew immediately went to work securing the A-4 to the deck. A ladder was fixed to the side, and she climbed out. She took her helmet off and shook her hair loose, out to its full length. Mao was careful not to do this around any intakes. Safety was paramount here. She retrieved her duffle bag out of the cargo pod as the stores were removed from the hard points by ground crew. As Mao went to the hatch leading below decks, she turned to look at the plane she had left. It was a beautiful plane, and she loved to fly it. She was going to enjoy this vacation.

[Esgonia]

2009
Around 10:30 AM
Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier EFS Marmota
50km off the Saudi Coast, Azenyanistan

"Hey, Becky, we're being called in for another sortie."
A sound shifted Rebeka's Maghart attention as she sips her morning coffee from the mess hall, she turns her head around and sees her WSO from the entrance to the hall, Ericka. "Ah, Sishkin. Again?" She asks while she finishes her coffee then stands up and approaches her. The two of them get topside as the continue conversing from what was Ericka briefed about. "YEP, NAVCON's scrambling all of it's assets in to help our guys and the rest of the Azen coalition, ain't that a bitch?" Ericka replies. Rebeka chuckles as she grabs her flight helmet off a table and inspects it, looking at the design of the helmet with their emblem on it, a blood-soaked, broken rose on top of an inverted red triangle, with a black outline on the triangle, and "Becky" added below the helmet. She sighs and says. "This war isn't going well for us now, isn't it? From our retreat from Mecca up to the announcement that we're going to withdraw soon." Ericka replies as she puts on her helmet. "Yep, and within a short time Azen would be fucked hard and it would force them to give up fighting." The two continue conversing as they make their way topside, seeing sailors, Marines, and other airmen go about their everyday work.

Rebecka: "Damn, so what is it this time? CAS? Aerial Corridor?"
Ericka: "Eh, It's a Strike Package this time. We're being ordered to attack a Cirillian coalition's strongpoint, a supply base somewhere in the deep shithole now known as Saudi Arabia."
Rebecka: "What's the intel about our area?"
Ericka: "A couple dozen ground crew, some Anti-Air and all that, but they've been softened up by our early dawn Warthogs, also been reports about constant air patrols after that raid, but there's not much in that area as they're sent in after our guys and the other Pro-Azen guys as our forces do a 'Battle of The Alamo' from one of those fictional stories I read."
Rebecka: "Pucker Factor?"
Ericka: "8 point fucking 5."
Rebeka: "Sounds about right. Hope we make it for your wedding."
Ericka: "Yeah, I called Thomas, I'd promised him dearly that I'd stay alive for him."
Rebeka: You better hope so, I can't wait to eat all that cake you pre-ordered."

The two laugh as they finally reach the deck of the carrier. Their lead flight pilot, Silviana, a tall and proud Liyomese, waiting for them. "Just in time, Beck. Ready to kick some ass?", "You bet I am, Sil." Rebeka smugs as she puts on her flight helmet and places her mask. She turns around and pats Erika, "You ready, Sishkin?". "Ready as ever, cap'n" replies Ericka. The two, along with the flight lead heads towards their respective aircraft. Both of them F/A-18Fs, over 2 years old now, it had gained several kills over it's time of service. Rebeka's craft had a red diagonal stripe on the tail while her flight lead had a White one, with a stallion Emblem placed on the right side of the aircraft near the nose. A ladder had been set onto the craft and Rebeka goes up her ladder and sits down onto her seat in the cockpit, "Comfy..." she said to herself as her WSO sits down as well. The ladder is then removed by the crew and Rebeka presses a button to lower the canopy. There, both the two and the flight lead check on their equipment before they begin the take off sequence.

Soundtrack
The two begin checking the flight instruments, and their HUD. Soon they check on their flaps and the stabilizers on the plane, to see if they were working, next was onto their weapons systems. Including the Air-To-Air missiles, 20mm cannon, GBUs, and countermeasures. "Okay, Becky, start it up." Ericka gives a thumbs up and calls her once the preparations were complete, The plane soon starts it's engines and warms up, now checking on communications between the bridge and the flight lead. After a minute or two of warming up, the plane was now ready to take off as the marshal signals the two planes to get ready for take off as Rebeka turns off the wheel brakes. "And in 3..2...1...GO!" The marshal gives the signal and the two fighters take off. Rebeka's craft following Silviana's, the flight lead. The two were then followed by another 2 aircraft from a separate squadron after they take off. They then circle around the carrier group twice before they head out to the battle zone, getting ready for what was up ahead.

The 4 aircraft slowly make their way into enemy lines, first making contact with the FOB Walkure near the area, and then onto retreating WPT, FDR, and Azen positions, "BloodRose-2, this is BloodRose-1, do you read, over?" asks the flight lead, who was diagonally next to them. Rebeka complies and then the lead checks on the two other planes, codenamed Roman-4 and Roman-6, before the flight lead begins its final briefing and equipment checks. Pretty soon, they were now on enemy lines as they see friendly positions, mostly Azen milita fighters advancing, trying to retake their lost territory. In the distance, the sights of war, fires, and explosions litter all over. "Alright guys, we're now in enemy territory, stay alert and stay alive." says the flight lead. "Copy that, flight lead. We'll watch for anything." Affirms Rebekka and the two Roman flights.

Soundtrack

When they are nearly 10km from their target, they catch a few blips on their radar coming in front of them, about 4-5 aircraft. Rebeka then informs the flights about the aircraft "All flights, this is BloodRose-2, We're spotting bogeys on radar, possible bandits, can you guys confirm?", "BloodRose-2, this is BloodRose-1, copy. Check IFF Tone.", "Negative, no tone". When the blips get closer to them, a barrage of missiles and cannon fire appear from in front of them, forcing them to evade with countermeasures and banking right as one of the Roman flights were hit on its vertical stabilizers. The hostile aircraft were MiGs and F/A-60Bs, upon close inspection. "Novokrainians and Cirillians, dammit!" exclaims Rebeka as the bogeys fash through them. "Bandits confirmed, engage and eliminate all enemy aircraft." responds Flight lead. As soon as the order was given, Rebeka begins to turn the Super Hornet around and chases one of the Rogues who fashed through them while the other flight engage the ones who were still in front of them, adrenaline rushing through their veins as they try to shoot them down. The MiG tries to evade a lock on as Rebeka catches up with Ericka trying to lock on to the aircraft, when the two aircraft were on the same level and the Rogue tries to bank left again, Ericka fires two Sidewinders at the MiG "Fox-2, Fox-2", impacting one of them before it could finish banking, igniting the enemy aircraft and sending it to the ground in flames as they see the pilot bailing out. "Good kill, Ericka. Splash one." Rebeka replied as she approaches another aircraft and Ericka begins another lock-on on her helmet's HUD. Then the aircraft begins to slow down and come up from behind them, in which it fires its own missiles towards them and fires its gun at them, damaging parts of the plane. "Missile! Evade! Evade!" Shouts Ericka as she deploys countermeasures while Rebeka ascends the Super Hornet, evading it's missile. She then descends towards the enemy Rogue and engages at it within gun range. "Get him, now!", exclaims the pilot while the WSO fires the M61 at the Rogue before firing another AIM-9 at the aircraft, where it begins to evade and drop it's own countermeasures. The fight lasted for another 7 minutes, until they finally bring down the Rogue, but damaging the aircraft, making some of its systems disabled. The others were also making progress on their side, with the Flight lead shooting down another of them, while the Roman flights bag the remaining aircraft after another 10 minutes of fighting, but with Roman-2 having one of his engines smoking.

After the skies became clear of the bandits, flight lead begins to open up comms again and checks the other aircraft.
"All flights, this is BloodRose-1, status check."
"BloodRose-2, damaged a bit but still rolling."
"Roman-1, still rolling."
"Roman-2, I'm smoking, but yeah, I can still roll."

After a few seconds blips came from their east. This time, they were confirmed bandits, who managed to flank their flight path. Upon contact they detected F/A-18's with Rattean markings, which fired their two missiles at the Roman, flight. "Missile! Evadi-".

Soundtrack
Roman-2's aircraft suddenly explodes into a great ball of fire, which startled the remaining three. "ROMAN-2!" "BLOODROSE-2, DO YOU SEE ANY CHUTES?!", "NEGATIVE, NO CHUTES!",
"Ah, KURWA!" shouts Rebeka as the tally confirms two Rattean bandits flanking them, Rebeka then tries to avert her flight path from the Ratteans, while having Flight Lead become the bait. As the Rattean Hornet fires, Rebeka bleeds her speed while Silviana veers away from the missile, giving Rebeka the upper hand as she spins backwards behind the hostile Hornet and Ericka firing the Vulcan, hitting the fuselage and the engine, igniting the aircraft as it goes down, she then proceeds to target the second craft, locking on to it before Roman-1 sweeps from below and fires a missiles at it, destroying the aircraft as they see the enemy pilots fly through the air then launching their parachutes. "Damn! That was a fucking close one, exclaimed Silviana over the intercoms while they reassess their status. "Okay, hopefully there are no more aircraft flying this way, let's just drop these packages and bu-" before Silviana could continue, she sees something coming from the sky, heading fast towards the ground, then another one, then another one. "What the fu-"
A bright flash of light blinds them for a few seconds, the a sudden turbulence occurs, shaking their aircraft, although they had managed to stabilize it, but leaving Rebeka's aircraft significantly damaged, when the flash dissipates, they are met with a horrifying sight.

Soundtrack
The flight sees multiple mushroom clouds onto the impact zones, and one with a large impact crater. They were all stunned and shocked. On the radio, there was static mixed with shouting and radio messages. Immediately, Silviana radios command. "CnC this is BloodRose. We have just spotted what appears to be nuclear detonations all over the country, should we continue the mission.?" The radio continues to remain silent. Silviana repeats her message loudly a few times before there was a response coming from command. "BloodRose, this is CnC. You are advised to abort mission. I repeat, abort mission. We are ordering all our forces to disengage and fall back. I repeat, return to base." The shocked team then proceeds back to base. As they return, they are more horrified to see what happened to FOB Walkure, which was also devastated by the attack, seeing several personnel dragging their own bodies or wounded and placing them in trucks or aircraft to be driven or airlifted back to a friendly zone. It was a devastating and humiliating sight to see. They needed to know what was going on, so they head back to the carrier as fast as they can.

Once they were near the carrier, they immediately prepare for landing. With flight lead first, then Rebeka, then Roman-1. The planes lower their wings and begin to slow down as they make their way towards the deck, where they hit the breaks and catch the arresting wire as they touch down. After the plane stops, and the final checks are cleared, the pilots and their WSO's head quickly towards the mess hall where they were called by their fellow airmen. Once inside, they see sailors, Marines, and airmen watching the news on TV, all of them horrified to see the sights as the news reports that an orbital strike had annihilated allied positions. "Orbital Strikes?!...That's insane... Rebeka thought to herself. After a few minutes of watching the news reports, she immediately heads to her bunk. There, she takes off the flight suit and checks the news articles about it on her phone. She was in total shock. Everyone was. Soon after, she goes to her bed and lies down, it was more than a stressful day for her.

[Empire of Donner land]

Donner Land
Southern Mountain Range
"Euromenska Base"
October 16th 2014, 01:00 Hours.
Hern Vernidorsk Codename: "Leosse"


Leosse stepped out of the small carved out cave holding a Cigar. He just wanted to think for now. About how he earned the name Leosse, the Donnish word for Boss or Leader, whichever you prefered. What led to him creating this PMC and this large underground base in a mountain. Why he hid all this time from the government under a fake name using this PMC as a facade to hide himself for what he did. What did he do anyway? He forgot, he didn't want to remember anyway. He supressed it for now and kept looking out towards the rolling valleys and mountains as the snow lightly fell around him and the orange glow of his cigar in the night providing the only thing close to heat in his dark blue fatigues which didn't provide very much protection towards the below freezing Temps of the mountains. He spotted lights moving around below, the mercanary patrols he always had about looking, almost paranoid like. Maybe he was, but he didn't admit it or show anything. He was a man of few words and when he spoke people listened. Why was he even outside? He couldn't sleep and there was too much work to be done to build up the place. He did after all just start up the PMC.

"Leosse, what are you doing up?" A man behind him spoke. Hern turned around and looked at him recognizing him as his second in command and co founder of the PMC. Fehyemet, a small Azulnish man just a little shorter than Hern himself, scruffy and with rather long hair. He was I'm a trench coat and what looked like a turtleneck sweater and wore cargo pants. He was a good friend to Hern and he had ties, more importantly he liked the Idea of a PMC and he came up with the name WISH, Wolfpack International Security Heights.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep. Stressed and etcetera... And I told you to call me Hern, you're my friend. And Im not a Leader." He said taking another puff turning around exposing his scar and lack of hair in an area where a bullet grazed him in an assassination attempt. What drove him into hiding in the first place.

Fehyemet chuckled to himself and looked down and then up at Hern "But you are the Boss. Which is synonymous with Leosse." He said.

"Save the language lesson. Why are you up?"

"Same reason you are, Hern."

"You have a smoking problem too and can't do it in the base?" Hern said smirking.

"No, I'm thinking about something, same as you. What is it?"

"Roal City."

"And?"

"Why did I have to shoot them."

"You saved lives, Her-"

"I learned that they got killed anyway later. Saw the bodies. Killing my squad was useless to prevent it."

"You followed your morals and saved them from dieing earlier than they would've. That... doesent make it a bad thing Hern. Have you heard of the Butterfly effect?"

"Yes, but a Butterfly didn't flap it's wings and prevent it from happening. Damn it, I couldn't let them execute civilians for just surviving! The girl... she stole the food to feed her child..."

"You did what you could, Leosse."

"I'm no leader. What are you thinking?"

He scoffed "I'm thinking you're wrong." He gave a smirk. Hern grinned back and remembered in detail what happened, the voices he heard, their crying, the gun fire.

"They stole rations, Sir! We have orders to find and execute them!"

"Stand down Luwenser! Orders or not they're just trying to survive damn it!"

"If you're not going to kill them I will!"

"I order you to stand down you son of a bitch! Put down your weapon!"

"You stand down Sir."

Click

"Are you going to shoot me Luwenser!? Do it!"

"No, I'm going to shoot them!"

Crack!

"Have you gone fucking AWOL sir?! You killed him!"

"What's wrong with you, you crazy son of a-"

Crack, Crack!

Silence.

"T-thank you."

"We all have to go, now! Come on! Cover the girls eyes."


He woke up from the flash back and shook his head his eyes blinking rapidly. "You okay, Hern?" He asked stepping towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said taking another puff of his Cigar.

"We got a busy day tomorrow, we're opening up shop. Be there for the ribbon cutting."

"Yeah, I'll be there."

[Free Asian Ports]

The lone Samurai was busy writing a letter home. It was just a short one, to make sure his family knew he was okay and what was going on while he was out fighting in the war. It was very early in the morning, and the sun hadn't even approached the horizon yet. It was still pitch black outside. The Samurai was writing the letter by the light of the chemlight, the little stick of neon green dangling above him as he wrote. It swung with the ship, which was bobbing on fairly calm seas. The waves still rocked the ship a little, the creaking of the hull echoing around the interior spaces. Distant concussions of explosions cropped up every now and then, the rapid consecutive cracks filling the background almost constantly. The flashes briefly lit the horizon, allowing for but a fraction of a second an observer to see the outline of an island.

The Samurai knew that tomorrow would be the day he set foot on that island, to fight the enemy. Maybe. He tried not to think about what could go wrong with the amphibious assault. Instead, he focused on writing his letter.

Dearest Asuka,

Hopefully, my last letter arrived. During the time I was delivering it to the ship's post office, we were having a storm and a subsequent battle with the enemy. While I do fear it was lost or unable to be delivered, I have confidence that it was. I received your letter immediately before, and set about writing my response as soon as I had free time to do so. In case it was lost, I shall write to you again.

I am very happy to hear that miss Ryukama and mister Sukubo were married before he was deployed with the Navy. I hope that when I return, we will hear our own wedding bells. I cannot bear to be away this long, for a whole year is too much for two seperated hearts to handle. They said our love was unworkable, that our duties would keep us apart. Through these letters, we prove them wrong.

I have the upmost confidence that you are doing your part, despite the fact that your assignment does not seem to acquire many battle honors. It must be frustrating, working on a Zeppelin. Waiting around for some real action cannot be good for your blood pressure. I wish you were here, to help us in this brutal slog that the higher ups seem to be calling an "advance". And we were assured our air power would make things easy...

Perhaps that would be true if you were here. I don't care what the tacticians say, even a Zeppelin aircraft carrier would be a massive help to our efforts. We spend days at sea, being tossed around by the waves. Luckily, I do not get sea sickness. I cannot say the same for poor Corporal Yin, whose permanent equipment list seems to include a bucket. Unfortunately, we lost five men and women in our last battle. Their sacrifices were not in vain.

I am due to lead the first wave of an upcoming assault, so I must sadly end my letter here. I am sending this letter directly through the joint command communications system, as well as directly telegraming it, so there should be no need for censorship. Until we meet again,

Your love
Iso

The Samurai finished his letter, and included a photo that someone had taken of him a couple days ago. Putting the letter into an envelope and sealing it, he went over to the ship's postal office. Once he delivered the letter and sent a telegram copy he returned to his bunk. Falling asleep, he dreamed of the face of his loved ones.

---

The front door of the troopship cranked open, the sudden bar of light illuminating the faces of the Marines as they waited the go ahead. Several concussive blasts were heard as the nearby FNS Nagato put another broadside salvo of 16 inch shells into the island. They had been firing regularly over the last few days, turning their target landmass into a cratered wasteland. Thick jungles still covered the island, though. It would be a tough battle. The engines of the numerous amtracs roared to life, and the first of dozens of the amphibious tanks started moving towards the exit.

The Samurai stood atop the firing step, looking over the edge of the troop compartment out onto the battlefield in front. The tank pitched up, then suddenly back down again as it splashed into the water. Sea spray and salt water crashed over the front of the tank, but didn't soak the Samurai. The gun shield of the .50 caliber machine gun protected him from the spray, and he gripped the handle tightly, trying to balance himself as the amtrac started moving through the water. Looking at either side of the tank, the Samurai saw the hundreds of amphibious tanks and troop carriers swimming through the water towards land. The lines upon lines of vehicles were filled with Marines, all equal parts eager and nervous about the upcoming battle.

The naval artillery was doing a marvelous job of keeping the defenses suppressed, and the shelling continued to do so. The Samurai held onto his helmet as two A7M5 Reppu fighter planes zipped overhead, their powerful engines and contra-rotating propellers giving them a unique sound reminiscent of a wasp, but much louder. They were escorting a flight of 4 SBD Dauntless dive bombers, which were laden down by 1000lb bombs. The pack of aircraft zoomed towards the island, accompanied by many other similar groups launched by the carrier force further back.

The Samurai looked behind himself and saw the other amtracs from the troop ship dunking themselves into the water to follow the lead tank. He looked down at his troops. They were well disciplined, and were now checking their weapons to make sure they worked. The Samurai looked over his own weapon, a Portean-produced M1928 Thompson submachine gun. Other soldiers were checking the bolts and magazines of their own Mauselia G86 rifles. The squad gunner was counting up the magazines for his BAR. It ran through ammo quite fast. The Samurai was quite adept at factoring in this disadvantage when formulating tactics. "Are your ready Marines?" he shouted. "Urah!" came the reply, as the throats of the dozen soldiers shouted their affirmation.

The platoon lieutenant piped up. He shouted "they'll fear us, sir! Today's the day they learned to fear Nanasawa's Roughnecks!"

[Western Pacific Territories]

June 9th, 1197.
Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka.

Part I.

The 'Ordinis Fratrum Sanctae Crucis', "the Order of the True Cross", stood here to make a last stand. Recently, the king of what was the Pacifican Empire, stretching from Udeaes to Adesa, King Modigthjerte I, had just a month earlier issued a decree for every member of the Order to be killed or banished in a attempt to secure funds for a large raiding campaign in the area where what is now known in modern times as Ratte by confiscating their properties near modern-day Hadesas. The king had raised a massive army of around 13,000 men to move and hunt the Order's armies down. After a few battles the King's campaign to destroy the order ended at Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka, the home of the order in modern-day Hadesas. As the King's army marched to a nearby ridge to make camp, they could tell the Order knew they were doomed. The scouts were reporting a multitude of cargo ships leaving the city's port almost constantly, and gold visible on at least a couple of the boats. They could tell: The Order were evacuating their priceless relics and gold, jewelry and treasures. The order didn't want the Crown to have anything of value not bolted securely down with nails and planks.

Meanwhile, one of the doomed men in Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka was Alexia Biovergina. Aged 28, a few years back he was simply a peasant with no future. When the Order began conscripting villagers in his village, he was conscripted into the Order, and now was a Knight that often-times acted as a spectacles for nobles at jousting tournaments, if he was lucky even get up and close with the nobles. Of course, at this time he still had no future but he was higher in status than he was before. He was stationed on the inner walls, with a majestic view of the battle. He carried a light sword and wore chain-mail armor, with the helmet that a Knight's Templar knight would be stereo-typically shown as wearing, and held a large, red shield with a blue cross-shape running through it. The battle started with the siege towers in view, giant towers of wood that carried men up a castle's walls. Afterwards, the catapults flew into the wall, doing little damage to the walls. Archers positioned back into the castle fired flaming arrows at the towers in massive volleys, setting one or two aflame. The rest continued until they had all reached the castle walls.

From there, piles of enemy soldiers jumped off the tower's ramp and into the pile of the Order's men around the siege towers, most of them to their deaths. A few minutes later, one of the enemies catapults scored a lucky hit, collapsing part of the outer wall. Enemy soldiers swarmed into the breach. A hour or so later, after a brutal melee the enemy were at the inner wall, where Alexia was. The gate was broken through with a ram, and enemies swarmed Alexia.

Alexia desperately held his shield, and suddenly remembered everything he learned from a old warrior he had encountered once. "A offense should be a defenders first and last resort strategy.", "If God is to decide what our fate is in battle, why not attack your enemy and set about to cause as much damage to your opponent as possible? You have no control over your life, but you control whether you die a coward or a hero, spoken of like that of a king!" He felt the adrenaline run through his veins. He suddenly appeared as though he had gone mad, insane. In reality, he was fine. He was just trying to make his enemies feel fear. He gripped his shield edge with his teeth and bit down on it, shrieked wildly and banged his sword on his shield before running like a mad man at his opponents. One of them at the sight of Alexia fell onto the ground in terror. He quickly plunged his sword into the man's neck before running at another and inserted the sword into his enemies chest. He had one goal on his mind: Cause as much destruction as possible.

[Union Of Autocratic Empires]

Abula, Union of Autocratic Empires.
Kaisar Karl's bedroom.
23:49 PM

After a rather glorious dinner consisting of ingent amounts of Poutine, Kaisar Karl and Kaisarine Sigbritt prepared themselves for a long night of sleep. Tomorrow was a special day for both of them; after all, not every day one celebretes his 18th anniversary. 18 years married to Ausozera's most wonderful woman. thought Karl, smiling. I don't know what I've done to deserve such a wonderful thing. "Did you call your mother?" Asked Kaisar Karl as he removed his prosthetic eye from his socket and left it in its container. "Yes", she answered as she switched on the one way radio they had installed in Anton's room. "She told me she'd be more than happy to have Historia and Anton making her and dad company." She put the receiver in the night stand and sat down at the bed's edge. She emitted a small sigh. "I'm going to miss the little one..." As she finished saying this, her husband put his hands on her shoulders. "Why? It's Lilga Istsomsa we are talking about here! I wouldn't trust my children to any other person. Specially seeing how well she raised her own." he said, prompting the valkyria to smile.

"So, how did it go in Eldritcha? Did you come to an agreement?" she said after a small silence. "Uh?" anwered the Abulan, more focused on enjoying the proximity to his wife than in the events that had taken place that day. "Oh, yes, the meeting." He released his wife's shoulders as he got out of the bed and started removing his clothes. "it went well, alright. As a matter of fact, Azenyanistan is "one, free and great" again." "You mean that...?" "Yes, those who held control over Azenyanistan have sold the lands to us. It is official." The Liyomesse couldn't help it but smile. She was so happy things were finally looking up for the Azens. "That's a huge diplomatic achievement. Greatly done! How did you manage to convince them?" "Ask your pega-pony-princess. She had the whole "buying Azen back" idea." "So, the teenager outwitted the Emperor?" She said, mockingly. She found teasing him very fun. "What a shameful display." "Jokes on you", he answered as he started removing his cloack. "she actually earned it. She is an excelent diplomat; never speaks out of turn, is very polite, can be very insistent and never overstays her welcome. Heck, she is a better diplomat than the Pacificans' supposedly trained envoys!"

"You should have met their king. What a houkka.", she answered as she finished removing her boots. Let's forget that. Today we should feel proud as parents." "And tomorrow we should feel proud about what we have built together" she answered. She could barely believe they had been 18 years together. "Really? Just tomorrow? I've always felt proud about it." he turned to his wife as he finished removing his jacket and smiled. "And I've always been thankful." She looked back at him, blushing slightly, and smiled. This said, she stood up and entered the bedroom's private bathroom to change to her nightwear. As soon as she entered, Karl turned around and looked at the hour: 23:53. Taking in to account Sigbritt usually took her time to dress out of her formal clothes and put on her favourite black peignoire, he calculated she'd probably come out of the bathroom in, more or less, 7 minutes. Enough time for him to act. He left the room as fast and as stealthily as he could.

A few minutes later.

After having to struggle with her belt more than she was comfortable with, Sigbritt got out of the bathroom, wearing a long piece of clothing, made out of black silk. She stretched, hitting the ceiling with her hands and getting startled when she made contact with it. Oh, yes, I forgot. Abulan palace, smaller inhabitants. She sighed, expecting her husband's witty response. "Please, go ahead. I know you are dying to say it." To her surprise, however, he said nothing. She turned around and realized she was completely alone in the room. She was puzzled, why would her husband leave all of sudden, specially during their pre-anniversary night? She was going to call out for him, when suddenly she heard what seemed to be music coming out of the living room. After making sure Anton hadn't been waken up, she proceeded to follow the source of the noise. After descending the stairs and entering the living room, she saw her husband standing in the middle of the room, with his hands behind his back, smiling at her. She closed the door of the room and approached him. "What is this? Is this for the whole Punch debacle? Because I wasn't reall-" "Happy anniversary, Silberfüßchen!!", he said as he pulled a rather big box from behind him.

It was wrapped in stereotypical hearts wallpaper. The Kaisarine smiled at the sight of the box. "Really? What do you think I am, twelve?" she snarked. "Just open it, you'll like it!" She picked up the box and and, with a few swift hand movements, revealed what was inside the box. Her eyes opened wide as soon as she saw what was inside."Is this a..?" "Yes." "F-for me?" "Yes." At this point she jumped him and kissed him for some good 12-20 seconds, before separating. She looked at him in the eye, smiling. "I love it! Thank you, oot rakas! C-can I try it?" "I don't see why not."

A few minutes later.

After three attempts of putting in the kimono, they finally succeeded in getting Sigbritt into the traditional Portean garb. It was lucky Porteans were related to the Liyomesse, otherwise he would've had a lot of problems finding one that would fit his wife's size. Inmediately after this quick change of clothes, both started dancing to what they called "their song", very close to each other. They certainly were an odd couple, him wearing part of his formal attire and boots, and her wearing her gift, barefoot; she still towered above him by far, though. "This is going to be a great week." she said, breaking the silence, while they continued their slow waltz. "you and me, alone, cut off from the world in our bedroom..." "yeaaaah, about that..." he said. This prompted her to stop in her tracks, which was followed by her taking her head away from the embrace. She sported a worried look in her face. "Why? Have you gotten sick of me?" "Oh, no, no, not even close!" he was fast to say, which made sigh of relieve. "It's just that I thought this year we could do things outside of home, nothing more." "Together?" asked her, still somewhat worried. The Kaisar gave her a smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way." This time she was completely relieved, and hugged her husband as soon as she heard it. He loved hugging his wife, which was curious, because he had troubles touching any other woman. After a few seconds of hug, he whispered into his wife's ear. "

We still have the rest of the night, though." Hearing this, she inmediately picked him up bridal carry style and, after turning the radio off, started climbing the stairs. When they reached the middle point, he caressed his wife's face lovingly. "I love you, Silberfüßchen" "I love you too, oot rakas." Tey kissed as they said this... promting her to miss the next step and fall backwards with a very loud noise. While she managed to hold onto the railing, he fell the whole way down the stairs. "Are you okay love?", she asked mildly annoyed. "I've been worst." They started to get up when the sound of Anton crying broke through the night; to make matters worse, thhis was coupled with a visibly shaken Historia coming out of the room and looking at his father, who had fallen right in front of her room's door. "Dad..." she wailed. "What are you doing out here, sweetie? It's 2:02 AM." "I had the Aldnoah nightmare again" she told him, still shaken. "This time I got shot." The Kaisar sighed and looked at his wife, who had just finished getting up. "I'll prepare a tea for His, you go take care of Anton." She was visibly disappointed. "Don't worry sweetheart, tomorrow we'll start our anniversary. It will be worth it." She smiled and procceeded to walk away as Kaisar Karl held his daughter by the arm to take her to the the kitchen. "Where are you going, dad?" "To the swimming pool." The answer to this plans came from the second floor. "Wait, what?!"

[Western Pacific Territories]

June 9th, 1197.
Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka.

Part II.

Alexia moved forward. "Two warriors down.", he thought. A third warrior came at him. This man was massive, with a large sword and a rather small shield. The man repositioned his arm so the end of his sword would go into Alexia's chest. The man poked his sword forward as hard as he could, but didn't hit. At the last moment, Alexia put his shield on his chest and it stopped the sword, but there was a hole in his shield now. He moved his shield to his left, and pushed the enemy's sword to the right and held his shield there, disabling the man's sword. Then, he quickly rose his sword and inserted the sword into the mans neck, before pulling it out and kicking his limp corpse to the ground. A fourth warrior came up to him, and Alexia easily, without effort killed the man by cutting on of his legs off and stabbing the fallen warrior in the heart. The tide of the battle was turning, and he could tell. Other knights noticed Alexia and tried to imitate him as well as they could: If he could be such a good warrior acting like that, they fought, they could win by acting like him.

Suddenly, another knight whom appeared to be a commander or perhaps even a general rode up to Alexia, before shouting to the crowd of warriors "Men! The tide is turning, charge! Kill 'em all, those backstabbing traitors!" Suddenly, a enemy soldier holding a loaded crossbow appeared in the confusion, and fired at the rider's chest. He fell onto the dirt ground, and Alexia, dismayed, began to panic. He saddled onto the other's mans horse. There, the crowd of dismounted knights charged a enemy column of soldiers armed with swords advancing. He spurred the horse, and made it go as fast as it could possibly go before the same man from before with the crossbow loaded another arrow and shot Alexia's horse from under him. The rioting crowd trampled him in a frenzy of destruction while they were advancing to the enemy lines. Alexia was seriously bruised and injured from the fall and being trampled, and then he saw two dismounted soldiers carrying a empty strecher. Alexia shouted "Help me! Help me for God's sake! My horse was shot out from under me!" The two men stopped, before one of them spat at Alexia. The man said "This isn't for you, filth. This is for the important men, not lowly conscripted knights like you. I can tell by that look on 'yer face." Alexia laid on the ground, helpless to fight back. His foot was broken, and he couldn't stand. The men moved on, and a riderless horse later walked next to Alexia. He dragged his frail body along the ground, and mounted the horse. He muttered "I'll kill every one of those pretentious knights, with my bare hands if I have too." He spat on the ground, before turning his horse in the direction of the castle, where the general were positioned.

[Free Asian Ports]

The air was cool and still, perfectly calm and crystal clear. The rain today was a drizzle after nearly two weeks of atrocious downpour that other nations might call "flooding", "tropical storm", or "natural disaster". Most Porteans called it "December". In fact, rain today was so light that not even an umbrella was needed. You could walk around in a poncho, and you'd be quite dry. Amasuka Chidori absolutely loved it! That means today would be flying day! She'd finally get a chance to fly a real military aircraft! The school girl was practically skipping down the sidewalk. She'd said goodbye to her friends about half an hour ago when school ended, and was now headed home. But later today she was finally going to be assigned to a Home Fleet air unit. She was 18, to be sure, because that was the minimum age to join up. But ever since she'd been to an airshow as a small child, she had always wanted to fly. Not some tiny Cessna, though. A high performance combat jet, like the F-15 she saw back then performing loops, rolls, and passes over the crowd. As soon as she'd turned 16, she got her flying license and started practicing. This was even before she'd gotten her driver's license. About 6 months ago, she turned 18. The next day, she waltzed into the Home Fleet recruiting office and asked to be singed up for flight school.

A car passed by and ran over a puddle. The huge spray of street water came at Chidori like a wave. It splashed against the clear glass barrier that separated the street from the sidewalks, validating the existence of just such a wall. It did surprise Chidori though, and it briefly snapped her out of her daydreaming. She cautiously continued walking, and again thought of the clouds.

When she first started flight school, she was the youngest of the dozens of would-be pilots. The others were young, but all had long ago left school and held full time jobs. Chidori was still a high schooler, albeit in her senior year. She soon proved herself, however, and her years of practice had paid off. She completed basic in almost no time flat. The instructors were so impressed with her ability that they immediately recommended that she proceed to advanced jet training. That blew by fast as well. Every single instructor was awfully surprised with how natural her flying was. Several weeks ago, she finished training and received a letter in the mail detailing her future assignment. And today was the day she met her squadron, and her plane.

It made her giddy with excitement. Almost more exciting than her finals next month and the following graduation. What would they be like? What would we be flying? These questions shot around her mind along with a million others. It was almost unbearable.

---

Sayakomi Mao collapsed into a chair and sighed heavily. Today was miserable. Sure, the weather was excellent, but the job she'd been given for today was punishing. Learning something new was always a pain in the ass...

588 squadron had just received a new shipment of aircraft, which they were expected to fly in the near future. The task now was to train pilots on how to fly them. The aircraft in question were Sea Harriers, an old aircraft by Navy standards. It was notorious, too. Bad landing and hover characteristics. Interestingly enough, those abilities were the main reason the Navy bought them in the first place. 588 had been sent a couple of trainers for the pilots to safely get familiar with the plane. Most importantly, they were to train for vertical landings on carrier decks. Specifically, on the new Invincible class carrier the Home Fleet had just received. It was very tricky, and required 100% of a pilot's attention.

Speaking of attention, Mao wanted none. Enough for one day! She was trying to relax after that dreadful experience. And the last thing she needed was more problems.

Her wingman, Tsubasa, walked into the break room and knocked on the door. She was an accountant at her regular job, and was also a pilot for the Home Fleet. She'd just finished her training flight, and had apparently been asked to tell Mao somethin. "Hey, I've got some interesting news" she said putting her helmet on a table. "I swear to Mari, if it's more paperwork..." said Mao, putting her hands over her face. "Worse, we've got a newbie". Mao froze, then turned around to look at Tsubasa.

"What"

She immediately stood up, picked up her helmet, and stormed towards the door. "She's waiting outside" said Tsubasa as her squadron commander walked by. "She's the last thing I need" grumbled Mao as she opened the door to the main hangar.

Inside were half a dozen Harriers, and the cacophony of sound that was the maintenance crews. Right next to the door was a girl in a flight suit. She was surprised by Mao's sudden entrance and tried to introduce herself. "I'm, uhh, Amasu-" Mao cut her off "You. I'm going to call you Nugget from now on. You do what I say from now on. I'm your commanding officer from now on. My word is law. No questioning my authority either. Got it, Nugget?"

Chidori frantically nodded her head in fear. "Good. Do you know how to fly, Nugget? You look a little young to be a pilot". "I, uhh, passed all the training courses. They sent me a letter telling me to report here. They wouldn't have done that if they thought I couldn't fly". She offered the letter she received in the mail a week ago. Mao snatched it and crumpled the paper, tossing it over her shoulder at nothing in particular. "You're ready when I damn well say so, nugget. You joined us at a bad time. We're converting to new aircraft. These are nothing like the Skyhawks you were flying a month ago. Sea Harriers. A whole different breed of plane. They're VTOL planes. Do you have any experience with VTOL?" she said sternly. Chidori nodded "I did a lot of flights cross training on helicopters. I know how to take off, hover, and land vertically". Mao took this as an acceptable answer "that better be good enough. If it's not, you'll end up dead. Follow me". She took off towards the main hangar doors, right to a two-seater Harrier parked close to the exit.

"Okay, Nugget, let's start with a simple training flight. Take off then do some circles around the runway. Nothing fancy. I'll be watching" said Mao from her position behind Chidori. The Sea Harrier sat at one end of the runway with it's engine on. Chidori nodded, and hit the throttle. The engine fired up to it's maximum thrust setting, pushing the plane into motion. Slowly, it started down the runway, building speed rapidly. Soon, the Harrier gently lifted into the air in a conventional takeoff. Overall, nothing surprising to Mao. So she could take off...

The Harrier did several laps around the airfield, then changed direction and did the same number of laps in the other direction. In the back seat, Mao went through the checklist. So far, the new pilot's ability was sufficient. Interesting, she shows a surprising level of competence for someone so young. But did she have talent? "Okay, now some maneuvers. Give me a roll". Chidori complied, and put the Harrier into an aileron roll. "No, no, no, Nugget, I meant a barrel roll" shouted Mao at the young pilot. Chidori cringed, but did as ordered. The Harrier effortlessly transitioned from the aileron roll into a barrel roll, which held a constant circle throughout the maneuver and continued until Mao asked Chidori to stop. The control certainly was impressive, it wasn't a surprise that the instructors in basic loved the Nugget so much. After they did some more maneuvers, Mao started to become more confident in the Nugget's ability to fly. But she needed a real test.

"Can you land this vertically?" she asked Chidori. The pilot started to panic a little "I, uhh, don't know how yet. I don't think I can do it". "Excuses, a good pilot can fly and land anything. If you're as good as you say you are, you should be able to pull it off even if this is your first time in this plane". "Oh, okay, I'll try" Chidori said as she bit her lip. She maneuvered the plane to fly over the runway. Slowly, she pulled back on the stick and started rotating the exhaust nozzles. The Harrier came to a stop as the jet exhaust was directed downward. The Harrier was now standing on a column of fumes, hovering a hundred feet above the ground. The transition was not violent, rough, or anything. Smooth as butter. Which Mao thought impressive for a first attempt. "Okay, now strafe us over to a landing spot". Now more confident in her ability to operate the Harrier, she did as ordered, positioning the plane above a designated landing spot. Gently, Chidori eased back on the throttle and slowly lowered the altitude. Soon, it was just a couple feet above the ground. She eased off the last of the power, and the Harrier came down with a thud. It was a rough landing, but not nearly rough enough to do any damage. The shock was entirely absorbed by the landing gear.

As the canopy slid open, the two pilots prepared to leave. "That landing was a little rough. Go easier on the throttle next time" said Mao as she climbed down the ladder. Next to her, Chidori frowned. "What, didn't I do fine on that flight? I've never touched a Harrier before now! Was that not good for a first time?" she demanded. "You did okay. I'll make a pilot out of you yet" responded Mao, walking back to the Hangar. Chidori caught up. "Jeeze, I'm just trying to please my new commander. I actually rather enjoyed that" she said, hoping to get any praise out of Mao. Mao didn't respond, and Chidori frowned a little. "Well, so much for that. Eh, we're just militia pilots anyway. Speaking of, you must have some kind of life outside of flying fighters. What do you do for a living" she asked. Mao turned around, hands in pockets. "Sex work. I'm a prostitute at a brothel in Akihibara" she said casually.

Chidori blushed furiously. "Wha-what?" she asked, very flustered. "Yeah, I put ***** in my *** for money. Problem with that?" answered Mao, again quite plainly. Chidori was almost a gibbering mess. Before, the woman that stood in front of her seemed like an upstanding, stern, and serious commander. Now... Chidori gulped. "I, uhh, thought you did something else. You just didn't seem like the kind of person who would... work in that... industry..." she trailed off. Mao laughed "don't judge a book by it's cover, Nugget. I may take my duty in the Home Fleet seriously, but that doesn't mean I don't have fun elsewhere. Especially at my day job. Er, night job. Whichever one you prefer". She continued walking through the hangar, followed by the now slightly less embarrassed Chidori.

"Oi, Mao, you ****! How are ya!". The shout had come from a corner of the hangar. Mao recognized the voice, and didn't even get insulted by the crude word that referenced her job. She turned to see the source of the voice. "Well, I'll be damned! If it isn't Satomi! What're you doing here?" she said to a woman in a mechanic's jumpsuit, who walked up to her and gave her a strong handshake. "As it happens, I'm doing my own side job. After you took off on your last exercise, I figured I should do the same and join the Home Fleet. I'd always been told I was good with my hands, and not just for the regular whoring. I'm really good with mechanical stuff. I'd been looking for a challenge. Someone told me to work on jet engines, since they're more of a challenge. I'm inclined to agree. Anyways, I signed up, and here I am" she gesture around to the Harriers being maintained "I didn't think I'd be assigned to the same unit as you. You do anything special?". Mao smiled and shrugged "I just lead the sorry excuses for pilots that make up this outfit. They're not all that, as much as they boast. They're the best pilots in the whole Home Fleet, though. Wouldn't fly with anyone else".

Chidori fidgeted a bit. "Uhm, sir, do you know her?" she asked, a bit puzzled by the camaraderie between her squadron commander and this random person. Mao turned to the young pilot "As a matter of fact, I do, Nugget. This is Makise Satomi, she's a co-worker of mine". Chidori thought of the brothel and immediately blushed again. Now she was imagining the two women in front of her naked. It wasn't a pretty image for her innocent mind. "C-c-co-worker?" she asked "you mean you also put ***** in your *** for money?". Satomi and Mao laughed. "No, silly, I put my **** into other chick's ***es for money". It now occurred to Chidori that Mao's co-worker was a zeemale. "Uh, uh, FORGIVE ME!" Chidori bowed repeatedly, very flustered and offering many apologies for her failure. Mao tried to calm her down "Now, now, nugget. Don't get all wussy. I get it, Satomi's a sexy *****, so she's pretty easily confused. But don't get this apologetic in the skies when we're out on maneuvers. It's not good for unit effectiveness. Straighten up and get some coffee, you still have two more flights to do today". Chidori nodded and wobbled to the break room, trying to piece her ego together.

Mao shook her head, watching the new pilot walk away. "They keep sending me kids. They can't handle these kinds of jobs". Satomi scratched her head "then why don't you refuse her, send her back to basic where a kid like her belongs? This is mature work we're doing. If she can't handle it, she shouldn't be here". Again, Mao shook her head "no, I wouldn't do that. I hate to admit it, but she's got potential. Good potential. Can't waste that. If anything, this job would be good for her, help her mature" she shrugged "besides, she reminds me of myself. A real passion for flight". Satomi giggled "yeah, and a passion for **** too. If you tell her that, she might swallow it as well as you swallow ***". Mao laughed back "yeah, you'd know wouldn't you?". The two made more small talk for another minute before Satomi had to go back to work, installing a repaired engine into a Harrier. They said their goodbyes, and Mao walked to the break room.

Inside, Chidori was timidly sipping a cup of hot chocolate. Mao noticed an absurd number of sugar and milk packets had been used. "Do you want some coffee with that milk? Seriously, we don't have a lot of those, cut back will ya?" she said, as she poured her own cup of coffee. Chidori frowned. "It's hot chocolate" she corrected. Mao sighed "come on, be nice. We'll be working together for the foreseeable future". Chidori was a little intrigued. "I thought I wasn't good enough?" she asked. "I've decided you can stick around for a while. But you'll have to fix that attitude of yours first" Mao answered, putting a couple cups of milk into her mug, which was branded with the squadron's emblem. "Well, you look like you're still in high school anyway, so that's understandable. You'll be graduating soon, right? What do you plan to do when you get out? Besides being a pilot, of course" she asked Chidori, sitting down. Chidori had started to lighten up. Commander Mao wasn't so bad, once she started to talk softer. "My mom wants me to help out with the bakery. We make dessert pastries. Good ones, too. We were mentioned in a travel guide, once. Business has been up since, and mom wants me to inherit it. But I think my little sister likes it better. I wanna become a Sushi chef. It just seems more interesting" she trailed off. Mao nodded with her eyes closed "it's a job that takes a lot of skill concentration. If you have a passion for it, and you put the effort into it, you can be really good at it. Like I am with my job, or with flying a fighter jet". Chidori was skeptical "what would you know of sushi, you're a prostitute. Sushi is expensive". Mao smirked "prostitution is one of those jobs that pays good depending on how good you are. And I'm very good at what I do. Contrary to the popular opinion of my line of work, I'm not trashy. I eat sushi quite often. I find it's a delicious, lean meal. If you do become a sushi chef, and I ever try your sushi, I'll bet it'll be good". Mao took a large swig of coffee.

Chidori smiled a little at the compliment "I work to please". "So do I" said Mao unironically.

[Cirilla]

Highrose, Cirilla

1/8/15

---

Empress Cyri in the Federation of Democratic Regions doing Interviews and Meetings - January 09, 2015

In Highrose Palace was Empress Cyri and Archduke Konstantin while the Highgaards, specially trained elite units meant to protect the Cirillian Empress, they were gathered secretly and trained for a long amount of time and now finally on duty. Unlike the old guard which was just normal units assigned to protect the empress as any other job, these were the best and trained highly for any situation possible. Empress Cyri was discussing something with Konstantin, the air was tense though weirdly calm, something that couldn't be described. "-Yes, I know." Cyri said as she continued to talk to Konstantin. "You knew? Hmph" Konstantin replied, looking surprised. "It seems I have underestimated you." he added. "Hm? You don't expect your own family to be as intellectual as you?" Cyri asked giving a small chuckle. "Let's see if your as smart as your father. Don't get brash just cause your the empress of one of the powerful empires in the world, you can lose that anytime the people want to. A crown does not give you power." Konstantin replied. He sat down, then looking over the window a few feet away. Cyri gave out a sigh while sipping her wine, "I know uncle. The people are content with our rule as of now, for the past hundred years they've been content. No other reason they would turn on us now. It's the others I'm worried about, being one of only nations with a separate ideology than the others soon they will prey on us." Cyri said. Konstantin turned, "Smart. Do you know who you can trust? Hmm?" he asked. "Ourselves." she answered. "Correct, everyone else only cares about their own interests..." Konstantin walked toward the window, "It's only a matter of time." he added. "Then what do you suggest we do? We turn isolationist yet again? Make the empire a commonwealth? Call out on their own hypocrisy? Heh, only if we can do that." Cyri replied. "The same as we have been doing, you father has already set out the foundations. You will do same you have been doing, create alliances and make sure the others are at bay. We don't want a rabid dog stepping on the Phoenix's doorstep." he said while moving chess pieces on the other table in the middle of the room. "I see... Then what about the Federationists and the Unionists? What do we do with them? They are our allies." Cyri yet again asked. "The Federationists are fine, it's the Unionists. Damn hypocrites, only follow on their emotions..." he said. "Heh, What? They are our allies, they would nev-" she was then interrupted. "You think they actually care about us hmm? People who prey on nobility yet nobles themselves! Thinking they're the morally superior nations above all yet restrict their own freedom. Nothing but a damn military dictatorship... In the Azen-Ciri War what did they do hmm? They were our closest allies yet only sent damn medics, the Vanquarians had sent more and they even killed them!" Konstantin said, slightly hinting loathe although he hated most anyways. Cyri felt slight remorse and thought for a bit, her nation was different than the general round up of nations. "As said..." She paused. "They would never betray us, even in their own culture forbids them from doing so. I understand your concern uncle but please, you think anyone would betray us?" She protested. Cyri did have deep respect for Konstantin, he was her uncle, her father's brother. "You can trust only yourself, you are my niece. I won't allow some self-indulged nation to interfere with our realm. Remember that." he said. There was awkward silence between them, with only distant walking in the halls that broke it. "Well, I must be going. I have other meetings to attend to... Farewell uncle." Cyri said. Konstantin nodded as she left. Cyri had thought the words of her uncle for a while when she was on her plane ride, leaving a small sense of ambiguity about the... others.

Natalia was sitting across from her in the plane ride, "Is everything okay your imperial majesty?" she asked. Cyri snapped out of her trance then quickly smiled she usually didn't do this kind of stuff although being around Natalia a good friend made her feel comfortable. "Oh everything's fine, thank you. Would you like something?" Cyri replied. "Oh no I'm fi-" Cyri then called on her stewards. "Give us my favorite, the whole bottle please." Cyri requested. Natalia wondered what she meant till the steward came out with a bottle and two shot glass shots. "Drink, drink. Only lightly alcoholic, your fine!" Cyri said. Natalia hesitated for a bit then went with it, she thought it wouldn't hurt her anyhow. As Cyri poured a glass of the shot she then handed it to Natalia. Natalia then took the shot, seemed like she knew how. Cyri looked towards the window while taking the shot, sighing. "You ever wonder what it'd be like to be empress, Natalia? You are part of the imperial bloodline, shouldn't be surprising anyhow." Cyri asked, turning toward her. "Well, I never thought much of it actually. I never liked politics anyhow." Natalia responded. "Oh trust me, I hate it too, ha." Cyri said, chuckling. "Though, if I was. I would probably try my best like you have. It must be hard." Natalia said. They continued to chat till they arrived at their destination in FDR. A friendly visit of course and to show gratitude towards the Kaiserin and her people.

Highrose, Cirilla

1/10/15

After returning from the FDR visit, Cyri then proceeded to sit at her throne for a little rest. The Highgaards stood near with the new appointed Highgaards of Sir Thorus von Hufstad and Sir Wilhelm Holzhouser, both were assigned to be personal guards of Empress Cyri. She immediately turned tired and walked back to her bedroom, where her bed lay. Both Highgaards followed, "SIr Thorus you can stay." she said as he nodded. Wilhelm wondered what she meant, he kept following. "Uhh Your Imperial Majes-" Cyri opened her door and stopped, turning toward him. "Come in." Wilhelm was confused but did what he was told. "Sit with me." Cyri said while walked toward her bed, a large master mattress with red highlights. Wilhelm laid down his gun on his lap as he sat. "Is there anything you need or?" he said, still wondering what was happening. "You know, what ever happened to us?" she asked, staring at him then leaned closer. Wilhelm felt sweat coming down down his forehead as she leaner closer. "Uhh Cyri, I don't think I can do this to Emperor Wilheim." WIlhelm replied, ignoring her question. "Oh don't worry about him I already asked him and I know he wouldn't mind, he's not here and your just here for my protection 'member?" Cyri said. He nodded trying to avoid eye contact. Obviously knowing she wasn't getting to him, Cyri got up and walked to her wardrobe, Wilhelm wondering what she was doing. "May I ask what're doi-" he instantly knew. She started to change her clothing, "My Mari, it has been a long day hasn't it? I need to change from this dress, feel drenched in it." she said. Wilhelm tried has hard as he could not looking that way towards the empress, though he glanced just a little involuntarily. "Dammit! Why'd I do that?!" he thought in his head. After she got finished Cyri jumped on her bed, wondering where Wilheim was for a second then brushed it off, ignoring her thoughts. "I'm sorry but I must leave, I'll stay outdoor to ma-" Wilhelm tried to say. "Oh no no, your here to protect, correct?" she asked. Wilhelm gulped trying to avoid eye contact. "Uh yes, your imperial majesty." he answered. "Then you have to stay here and protect me." she replied, grabbing his head and turning it toward hers. Wilhelm couldn't breath for about a second, his heart beat was going faster than a race car. Cyri pulled him onto the bed, where he lay on top of her. They both continued to stare at each other as Cyri slowly closer to his face, Wilhelm was mesmerized at her. He suddenly got off the bed and avoided kissing her, "Sorry! Cyri, I must stay an watch the door." he quickly said, opening the door and closing it shut. Cyri smirked then crossed her arms while she laid on her bed.

[Western Pacific Territories]

Ruins of Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka.
Near location of modern-day Hadesas.

The two archaeologists hiked up the steep hill. The top was the plateau where Castle Krivtsovo-Solosovka once stood, and now where the ruins of it were currently being dug up. One of them was male, with a red set of hair, blue eyes and a beard that was just beginning to develop. The other, a woman with long black hair and green eyes wearing a hat. The man, named Joshua, remarked "I can see why they put a bloody castle up there, it's torture to climb up this hill!" The woman, named Brienne, replied "I can too. That's the reason we're here, this castle." After climbing to a ridge close to the top of the hill, they stopped. Joshua said "So, what have they found already?" Brienne replied "Some pretty amazing things. A sword from around the year 1200, some skull fragments, a stone box with a cross embedded and a bunch of gold coins. We don't know where the coins came from, but since there's very little gold in the country it's much more likely that this is either a war trophy from a siege here in 1197 or stolen loot from another country. Probably all the way from Azenyanistan." Joshua replied "Nice, now let's get up there!"

They reached the top of the hill to see a series of old stone walls in a maze, a couple of pits and plenty of diggers. Joshua said "So here it is." As soon as they had reached the site, a digger called out "Hey, I see something shining!" Joshua walked over to the pit. The digger pulled out a golden coin. He said "It's another coin!" Joshua looked at it, before saying "What's with all these coins?" The digger replied "So far we've found all but two or three of the coins collected in this area, we believe this was where the treasury room was." Joshua replied "Nice, nice. That's good to hear." He continued walking to another pit, where he climbed in, took a brush and gently brushed the surface away. Eventually, he found something white and hard. After brushing the dirt off, he saw a crack and then a eye-shaped hole. He exclaimed "Guys, I think I found a skull." He looked at it again. It was a human skill. He continued brushing the area. After some more brushing, he uncovered the skull, 2 leg bones, a finger bone, and some traces of oddly, hair.

[Esgonia]

"Ergh...It's 5:03AM. I'm bored, I wish this fucking shift is over."
"There's like, only a few hours left till it's over. Just keep watch on the road."

The two officers of the Esgonski Policji watch the road constantly on a Subaru Impreza WRX, this baby had been through tough situations and as fast yet reliable, hence why the Esgonian Police much loved this car (Appearance, except with a different color scheme and with a red and blue lightbar). The two bored policemen were nearly done with their shift, about 4 hours left, with nothing to do but patrol the 6-lane highways as Tanya eats the last of the brownies they bought from earlier. "Dammit, Tanya! That was mine! Jeez..." Says Erick harshly to her as he continues driving the Impreza on a wide highway leading out of Arcea and onto different routes along the southern eastern side of the country, With no traffic and having little cars to be seen, other than Ten-wheeler trucks and Road Trains.

"Oh come on, you even ate the last donuts too! There were supposed to be for me as well, since you are your damn fill during the last shift." Responded Tanya, fiddling with her MP5's folding stock. He lets out a sigh. Touche he says to himself while he continues onto the highway, with streetlights shining on the road and cars heading to their destinations, Tanya also looks at the road, seeing all the other cars passing by then suddenly, a black van shows up out of nowhere, speeding ahead further than them, Tanya then gets her radar gun and checks it's speed. "He's speeding, alright. 72" She said to her partner as he then contacts the radio. "Prince, this is 2-5, We got a code 440 in Highway 592, a black van with license plate er...351 ALTAZ over." a response came after shortly "2-5, Copy. Intercept vehicle and apprehend suspect, over.", "Roger that", Erick says over the radio as he turns on the emergency lights and the siren and catches up. But as soon as they were nearing them, the van speeds up a little more and tries to evade them. With this, they know that this was another 450, a high-speed pursuit, for who knows what reason the driver of the van would think so. "Oh, it's on now." says Erick as he speeds up and tries to do a pit maneuver. But when he gets closer, one of the van's doors opened, revealing a man with a balaclava, aiming an AK-47 towards them.

"Holy Shit!" Tanya shouts as they are met with a barrage of 7.62x39mm rounds, damaging the hood and emergency lights. Erick tries to swerve through the gunfire while Tanya slaps the bolt back of her SMG and returns fire, successfully suppressing the hooded man. Erick then goes to the radio and requests backup as he van is pretty reluctant to give up. Seconds later, they are met by the same man, this time, armed with an MM-1 Grenade Launcher.

"You have got to be kidding me." said Tanya as the masked man fires a 40mm grenade onto them, Erick swerves to the right, narrowly escaping the grenade, which explodes behind them, knocking down a streetlight and nearly hit a car. Tanya reloads her SMG and resumes firing at the man, hitting his hand and dropping the grenade launcher on the ground before the van speeds up towards oncoming traffic. Soon, they were coming upon an intersection, with the traffic light nearly going yellow, the van speeds up and crosses the intersection just when the lights went yellow. Not wanting to let that van get away, Erick floors it while Tanya is pushed on the edge of her seat, the Impreza goes up to 130 as it crosses the intersection just as the light goes red and the vehicles speed up, narrowly escaping death. With this, the car finally get close to the van. Erick then does the PIT Maneuver, hitting the lower side of the van. The van at first didn't budge, and then fights back by hitting the car, damaging the hood of the police car. Then, the same man comes out, with a D114 in hand, he shoots at the windows of the car as the two officer duck and cover, making Erick press the brakes and stopping the car. Once the gunfire was getting distant, the car resumes chasing the van. Tanya decides to end it here and now, coming out of the windows, she empties her magazine at the van, hitting the tires and making the vehicle spin out of control. With this, Erick rams the van off the road and making it hit a brick wall, damaging the van severely.

With the dangerous chase over, the two officers get out of the car and point their guns towards the van, Tanya with her MP5 and Erick with his P226. "GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE NOW!" Erick shouts at the van as the man with the balaclava comes out of the van, apparently dazed. Tanya then tackles him into the ground and beats him with her SMG's stock a few times before placing handcuffs "You've been a very, VERY pricky asshole, you know." she smirks as she unmasks the man while Erick takes care of the driver of the vehicle and handcuffs him. A few minutes later, backup finally arrives. The two men were placed into a Crown Victoria and was driven over to the station while the two investigate over what was in the car, and what they saw startled them. It had a drum of SARIN gas and multiple AK-47's inside, along with plastic explosives. The two are then debriefed on the spot by a superintendent, who commended them for their actions. "Well, it seems that we have a mighty find here, seems like this could have been used for another terrorist attack, thank Mari that you guys stopped them. Quite impressed too.", "Just doing our job as members of the Esgonian Police Force, sir." Erick responded as the Superintendent smirks at them. "Good, you guys can finish your shift now after what you guys did, just get on over to the station though, also for the repairs of the car. We'll take it from here." The two then thank him and return to their car. "So....who buys the coffee after this shift?" asks Erick. "You, of course" giggles Tanya. Erick then asks on why is it him. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you the one who shot the tires of the van and stopped the chase." Touche, once again, Tanya. Touche. Erick says to himself as he chuckles a bit and drives back to the station.

[Free Asian Ports]

The lone Samurai took in a deep breath, then exhaled. The air up here was more breathable than on the ground. Probably because closer to the ground was where all the violence was. Whether one wanted to be there was another thing entirely.

The Samurai leaned over to get a better view of the landscape. It was a thick jungle, so thick that it seemed even the air was turning green with foliage. Bracing himself on a bulkhead and holding onto a handle on the side of the passenger compartment, he leaned even further out of the aircraft to get a yet better view of the environment. Keeping a firm grip on his M16, the Samurai scanned the jungle closely for movement that could not have been local fauna, like a tiger or boar. The enemy hid themselves as such, striking only when they held an advantage. They were a hard enemy. Vigilance, then, was required.

"Oi, sir! We're approaching Kam Ramh Airfield now! Get ready to step off! And be careful, we don't want our cargo falling out right before it gets delivered!" shouted the crew chief over the comm system. The thudding of the Huey's propulsion made communication that wasn't either directly in someone's ear or through speakers nearly impossible. But the utility of the helicopter was invaluable in this environment. The Samurai nodded, and slung his kit bag over his shoulder. Below, the jungle suddenly gave way to a clearing of tall grass, then grass that had been brutally cut down by weed whackers to a couple of centimeters. Soon, even the grass disappeared, leaving a field of red dust. Slowly, the elevation of the dirt began to increase. A perimeter fence was the first sign that this area was inhabited. The next sign was a seemingly endless network of trenches and dug in defences.

Presently, below the aircraft was a large rectangular area of perforated flakboard. The long field runway could accommodate the takeoff and landing of a C-130. Or lots of helicopters. The Huey swung around to a landing area for just such aircraft, picking out one spot right next to HQ. Slowing down, the Huey began to descend onto the landing pad. The rotor wash kicked up the red dust into a small cloud, but totally cleaned the air immediately nearby the landing site. The Samurai stood on the landing skid, holding onto the edge of the passenger compartment. When the Huey was still half a meter off the ground, he jumped off, landing on his feet with a resounding thud. Shrugging off the shock of landing, he immediately started walking into headquarters. The first thing he did was pick out some sleeping accommodations...

---

The dimly lit planning room contained no more than a dozen people, all of whom were hidden in shadow. The only thing that was well illuminated, in fact, was the table in the center of the room, which held a number of maps. They were of some of the surrounding area. One large map in particular was the focus of the discussion. It depicted a river, specifically where it forms out of several tributaries and streams. The intersection was plainly circled in red, and a number of other symbols were drawn on it as well.

The Samurai was speaking "So, remember to set the det frequencies so that they won't get interfered with each other. Now, to recap. We touch down at the LZ here" he pointed at a clearing several kilometers away from the circled portion of the map "infiltrate through the jungle in teams of 2, then get under the structure. We place C4 on anything that looks important. Then we get the hell out of there while we send the place to kingdom come. Dustoff from the LZ 2 hours after we touch down. Got it?". Instead of shouts of "Yes, sir!" a normal soldier would return, the other SEALs in the room simply nodded. The Samurai returned the nods "very well, dismissed until the operation starts".

When everybody had left the room, the Samurai stayed to examine the map. Instead of planning and plotting as he had done earlier, he now thought of the implications and the meaning behind the map. There was a village there, floating on the water, filled with women and children. It was also filled with enemy soldiers, and for that reason they were going to blow it to smithereens. It was likely the women and children would die too.

The Samurai's face did not show the conflict that was occurring inside his mind. It was stern and serious. The Samurai ultimately decided that he would do this mission with the fullest of his abilities. His nation called on him. It needed him. Thus, he needed to do his duty. They damn well better make me prime minister for all the bloody work I'm doing here...

Some hours later, at dusk, the SEAL team assembled at the ready line. They checked their kit, which they packed lightly, while a helicopter landed softly after taxiing to the assembly area. Somewhere nearby, someone was playing "Paint it Black" and an artillery battery of 105mm howitzers was laying down a barrage for a distant patrol pinned down by an ambush. This was soon drowned out somewhat by the rotor of the Huey, and the SEAL team packed into the chopper.

It dusted off, the ground starting to grow distant as the Huey left for it's mission. The sounds of Rolling Stones and howitzers also faded. The Samurai turned to the newbie on the team. "how do you feel, kid?" he asked, hoping to calm some nerves. "Like a mean motherfucker, Lieutenant Nanasawa, sir!"

[Empire of Donner land]

Lost and Found

The dark room Lightning Team was in suddenly grew bright when a projector turned on, the image on a wall flickered 4 times before being stable and showing a constant uninterrupted white light on a wall surrounded by the black of the dark in the room. The light reflecting off the wall made the room light enough to see in now making it seem almost like a dark blue now. The Projector created the only noise in the room, the running of its fan to keep the electronics cool inside. It was old technology, no doubt. Then a man walked into the light wearing glasses and a Black Baseball Cap. The 4 horizontal stripes with a spear through them on his shoulder showing his rank, Boghaim. One of the most respected ranks in the Millitary. His White Digital Camouflage Uniform turned a almos white in the projectors light and his glasses glinted. "Lightning Squad. You've been on this operation for a long time. We haven't gotten break since this started back at that DCLF Bomb Factory. But now we've got a chance to smash through who ever is running this operation. And now we know who is, ladies and gentlemen I present...." The Boghaim clicked a small remote in his hand and stepped to the left a little. A red Three of Spades card appeared on the wall.

"The Three Spades. They've created a Cell in Donner Land. They were responsible for the attack on the truck that was carrying the bomb that... Bear was killed by. They also built the bomb. Now here's the reason why they took one bomb and left us another." He clicked the remote again. The letter U next to the numbers 2, 3 and 8 told them all they needed to know as they sat infront of the black letter and numbers on the wall. "Uranium 238, used in Nuclear Bombs. We have no idea how they got it or where they are getting the rest of the materials needed or if they already have it. We found this out because they made a mistake and we can only hope they make more. We don't know much but one thing is certain."

The Boghaim clicked the remote and the image of a Mushroom cloud appeared. The room turned from a dim dark blue to a dim dark red as the color changed. "That they WILL use it. You're the main team we have on this and right now. No one except the Millitary and the Government know about this situation. Nuclear Threats typically don't make the population of a country very happy, see the Oceanics for example." He joked and walked to the right side of the wall where the image as projected. "Sergzen Ickins, I'll allow you to continue the briefing and fill your Men in on your mission." Ickins stood up from his chair infront of the wall in the small room and went to the left side of the projected image and held his own remote to controll the projector. "Yes sir, Thank you."

"I won't lie. This is a hard OP we are going to be doing and it's higher risk than anything we have ever done but were the ones that have to do do it. As he has said, we have found out the Three Spades may have a Nuclear Weapon at their disposal and stole it from the DCLF on that truck. You thought those bags were fertilizer? No, they only hid something even more dangerous and we didn't pick up on it until it was too late and the Three Spades got a hold of it. Our bomb is in another castle and we have every intention of blowing the castle sky ****ing high to get it. So heads up, here's the plan." He pressed the remote and stepped out of the projectors light and the image flipped from the Mushroom cloud to a Sattelite view image of a complex full of buildings surrounded by a fence and surrounded by trees in a Forest. A thin dirt road led to the entrance "This is the Castle. So far from what we know this is where the Nuke may be. Intel has said they are almost certain since they've been watching this place for a long while since Bear died. There has been tons of activity since that day." Ickins spoke.

"Our first objective obviously is to find the Nuke. Secondly we must destroy the base and everyone else in it. This is, from what we know, the only Cell the 3 Spades have here. So destroying this place destroys the Cell. And in good time too since we believe they are going to expand soon. We won't be alone, we will be working with 4 Platoons of SCAR which is more than enough to accomplish our goal. We aren't playing around on this one as you can see, the D.I.A wants this threat eliminated with extreme prejudice. A few more things, we have to be careful not to completely level the place. We want evidence when this is all over and we won't be getting that if the place is charred and boiled. That's about all we have to worry about, the Rejects will know the rest."

"Saddle up, Lightning. You're about to strike. Briefing over." The Boghaim said.

---

Later

---

Ickins retrieved his weapons and equipment from the armory after the briefing. There he went to the locker room which was largely empty save for a few people and the new person in the squad. Ickins saw him as he walked around the center island of lockers all lined up side to side. He was looking inside and grabbed his Helmet and Vest. Ickins was completely unknown to the man as he leaned against the lockers. He remained unknown until he looked to his right. He was visibly surprised "Oh! Sir, I didn't see you ther-" He was interupted by Ickins as be spoke. "Save the ****ing pleasantries. What's your Name and Rank. I was too busy during the briefing to ask." Ordered Ickins "Luwenser Aleksy, Sir. I was in the I.A.R until I wa-" "Was selected to train for LG Status. You were in the Battle of Hefesaya Valley against the Vanqaurians. Your Squad was entirely destroyed In the charge and you were the only the who survived when the Ceasefire happened. You should've been a SCAR Reject with your score, but you were made an LG. And now you are here with Lightning Squad replacing Bear. I read your record. I would say I'm happy to have you on board but that would be a lie, a bad one at that. You're only what, 19?" Ickins said looking down at the ground not giving Aleksy eye contact. "18, Sir." Aleksy replied "Even worse. Now we have a Greenie on our squad." Ickins spoke, as if Aleksy wasn't there. "If it's hard to tell, I'm very unhappy with this. **** up this operation for us and I'll make sure you dissappear. Got it?" Spat Ickins, Aleksy's face changed from surprised, to puzzled to angry within seconds. "Sir, with all due respect I believe you're taking anger you got from Cav-" he was interrupted again "Luwenser, you don't know anything. I expect you to be at the 380 for the Mission. Good bye." He walked off and dissapeared behind the lockers. Aleksy went back to putting on his equipment and thought about his place in Lightning Squad. He knew he was replacing someone KIA but he didn't know how this affect him joining, maybe they would be sour, but he didn't expect this, not from the Squad Leader atleast.

"Aleksy, don't let Ickins scare you out. He's just pissed. Follow orders and you'll be fine." He heard to his left. Another member of Lightning who he recognized, Zerlea. At first he thought he was going to get yelled at again but that didn't seem to be true from his tone of voice. "Thanks." He said putting on his Helmet and putting in the battery's that powered the HUD and the helmets other various electronic systems. "Just remember, you're a lightning now, the only thing that can change that is a bullet."

Hours later, Cenva Forest, AO.

"Command, we're entering the AO. We see the Rejects now."

"Copy, Lightning, Your Primary Mission is to find the Nuclear Device, the SCAR will be tasked with annihilating the complex and anything in it. Officially, you're helping with the latter. Unofficially you're to find the Device if it is constructed. From what we know there is no 2nd floor to this complex and it seems to be hastily built. We suspect it to be in the main building within the center of the Complex so look there first when you finish your Forest hike. SCAR is filled in so you should be on the same page. Good luck, Lightning."

"Roger, Command. Lightning out."

The LG team inside the VTH 380 looked out as the SCAR rangers secured the AO and began organzing the assault. Ickins could see one of the SCAR look up as the Helicopter decended just outside of a large group of SCAR rearming from large green crates stacked ontop of eachother. Reloading and checking their equipment. The door slid open on the Helicopter by itself and Lightning team climbed out hopping onto the damp wet grass. The man Ickins recognized walked out of the group and nodded at the team. "Morning, Ickins. How was your flight? Uncomfortable I hope." He spoke, Ickins smirked and walked twoards him stopping just a foot infront of the SCAR Ranger. "Dont be jealous because of what you couldve been, Reject." Ickins said coldly. "Lets get to buisness so I can be as far away from your Sovarich a**es as I possibly can." The ranger said soon after Ickins spoke. "You already know what were doing, we know what to do. So stay out of our way and this will be smooth as butter. The Complex is just a few Kilometers away North that way." He said pointing. "Were going to be hitting hard and fast, destroying the perimiter fence first. You'll follow suit and we will storm the Complex. I have no clue what you're doing here but I guess I cant complain about a few extra guns." The Ranger finished and walked back to his troops.

After what seemed an eternity of hiking the Complex was in sight finally. The two Companys of SCAR surrounded the complex, along with Lighting Team. They looked down as the Three Spades personell went along with their buisness patrolling completely unknown of the assault that waited for them. Lighting team waited on a Hill waiting for the signal. The 2 Companys of SCAR surrounded the complex on either side of the hill waiting in the Forest that surrounded it. "Anyone got a snack?" Sherlock whispherd out behind a tree. Zerlea leaned out behind his own tree which, due to the Hills incline, was above Sherlock. "Ive got a Kit Kat and a Bottle of Water." He whisperd back. Sherlock sighed and visibly rolled his eyes "Why didnt you get something back at Base?!" he replied angrily. "Not my fault we had to pack light, take the Kit Kat." Zerlea tossed the red package down the hill, Sherlock caught it and opened it leaning behind the Tree. "When are the rejects going to give us the go?" Aleksy said, who was behind a tree next to Zerlea. Ickins leaned out "When they give us the go. Now all of you shut up, were a damn stealth unit!" The Team was quiet for a full 20 minutes waiting, well, they were quiet until Ickins sighed "Zerlea, got any more Kit Kats?" Ickins whispered. Zerlea nodded no and another sigh was heard from behind the tree. 10 more minutes of awkward silence passed until yelling was heard in the Complex, the entire team leaned from their cover and looked for the disturbance.

A three spades Soldier was waving his arms twoards the main buildings and pointed at a strange green tube which was placed infront of the fence. Ickins pulled out his Binoculars and looked as the man pulled out his Rifle and scanned the tree line. A loud boom happened and Ickins lowered the binoculars from his face. Dirt was kicked up in the air on the opposite side of the Complex, the fence was annihilated. Soon after another explosion followed and the fence was opened up facing Lightning team, that was their entrance. Then a third explosion, the man alerting the complex was gone as soon as he appeared destroying his body along with the fence. A bright red flare was launched into the air sillouheted by the grey cloudy sky as it slowly fell. "Thats our sign! Go!" Ickins yelled getting to his feet and running down the hill. Gun fire filled their ears and the SCAR could be seen quickly approaching the base covering one another as they advanced. Grenades exploded in the complex from underbarrel launchers. Three Spades Soldiers rushed out of their Barracks getting killed as they panicly rushed out firing at the approaching Rangers from both sides. Guards already patrolling the fence and other Idlers were killed, some supressed under the heavy fire.

Lightning team left the Hill exiting the Forest running into the entrance that was created specificly for them. A Guard hiding behind a wall looked up and saw the 4 Men running at him. He raised his Rifle but just as his finger reached the trigger a bullet cleanly went through his head, blood hitting the wall and the ground as he fell backwards limply. Ickins, getting past the destroyed fence checked his body and put another bullet into the mans chest to be sure. Ickins along Zerlea, Sherlock and Aleckys waited in the Barracks near by as the Assault was carrier out firing out the windows at the panicing enemy as the Rangers got into the complex. It was chaos as Soldiers seemed to drop dead. With nowhere to run, the Three Spades Soldiers were surrounded. Now Lighting focused on their target, the Bomb in particular housed in the basement of the Complex.

Ickins and his team raced acrossed the open Courtyard in the Complex twoards the main building in the center. Zerlea being the one that reached first tried opening a door on the right side of the building but the wooden door was locked. They stacked up on the door as the Chaos outside still unfurled. Sherlock got a large breaching Hammer out and hit the door making a hole and making it fall off his hinges that still remained on the brick structure. Lighting team rushed in firing as they entered, but it was completely abandoned and the only "living" things there were corpses killed in the fight with the SCAR. Only one thing left as the firefight ensued outside, "Ready to unwrap out present?" Ickins said as he aproached the door to the stairs which lead downwards. "Its christmas morning all over again" Zerlea joked.

Lighting slowly went down the stairs and entered a small room with a large container wooden in the center of it. It was half the height of them, about 4 feet and was 6 feet long. "Pop it open sherlock." As orderd, Sherlock went over to it and slowly opened it

"Jackpot" said Sherlock.


Too be continued.

[Free Asian Ports]

Two pairs of footsteps echoed down the long, well-lit hallway. It was pure white, and square. At one end was a door. Two lab-coated people walked towards it. They were discussing something at length, using a lot of jargon. To any normal outside observer, most of the words would be pure gibberish. Both people were clearly experts in their fields. In fact, one of them was, undoubtedly, the most skilled researcher in the world for this particular subject. Doctor Mikano Ubomo was the brightest star in biomechanical medical technology, especially prosthetics. There was, of course, that Kruchauan engineer from the Union of Autocratic Empires, but where the Unionist was unmatched in construction quality, Mikano had the undisputed edge in designing new prosthetics using the latest technology. So far, he'd won more awards than three of the other "best" engineers combined. He was not a prideful man, but right now he was bragging to his guest about his latest creations.

"These new limbs are leagues above the last generation of prosthetics. I'm telling you, the things we have now are not even close. Where previous models were just mechanical contraptions designed mimic the movements of a human limb, these are wholesale replacements. They can do everything natural limbs can and more. You'll never find better prosthetic limbs anywhere. Anywhere. Not even from that hermit that lives in the UoAE."

"Really? You sound so confident. What makes them better? Their control?" asked Nanasawa Saiko, walking alongside Ubomo. She was a brilliant engineer, too. But unlike the tech prodigy that was Mikano Ubomo, Nanasawa Saiko had a different job. Her expertise was instead used as head of the Research and Development division of Sasekawa, and she oversaw all the new development programs.

Including Project Prophet.

Ubomo grinned. "Nope, it's their realism. Instead of strong-arming our design to work based on mechanical principles like motors and levers, we took a page out of nature's book. Artificial muscles. They're aluminum-based fluids in tubes that contract when a bioelectric current runs through them. They're nearly 50% stronger than real muscles, despite functioning on similar principles."

Saiko grinned herself. "Aren't they vulnerable to magnetic interference? You have to power them, right? So how do you make them immune to that electromagnetic force?"

At this, Ubomo chuckled a little. "Again, mother nature gives us our solution. A synthetic ferrofluid not only delivers bioelectric current to the muscles, but also lubricant to the joints. And since it's only a synthetic molecule that replicates nerve cells, it's not effected by EM fields. We use a similar compound to mesh perfectly with a patient's nerves. It gets delivered to the muscles through veins."

"Like blood?" said Saiko, her confidence in this project again reaffirmed.

"Yes, exactly. Like blood and other fluids, it's still vulnerable to temperature shears. So, we also developed another compound. It's a gelatin that insulates the whole mechanism. It's got the consistency of fat, but is easily shape-able. Once you layer them together, they look like limbs without skin. Speaking of, here we are"

The two came to the door, and Ubomo punched a number into a numberpad right next to the door. He put his thumb on a pad and his eye over a scanner. Once his identity was verified, and a security AI decided he wasn't being coerced, the door opened. Inside was a lab, filled with a few technicians around several lab tables. On the tables were the most sophisticated prosthetic limbs and organs in existance. The engineers walked through the lab. "This is where man and machine come together" said Ubomo. They came to a table containing a roll of what looked exactly like skin, as well as numerous measurement devices. Ubomo picked up skin that could have come right off someone's hand, all in one piece. "Feel it" he said, handing the article to Saiko. "Oh my... it's exactly like real skin!" she exclaimed as soon as she touched it. "And whoever wears it will feel the outside world as though it were real skin. Temperature, texture, humidity. Everything. It may be synthetic skin, but we've replicated the real thing down to hair follicles" said Ubomo. "It's all so real!" said Saiko. Ubomo gestured to the whole room "It must be, to sync well with patients that need these. We make it as real as possible so the mind and body accept the new limbs and organs. It's being human that matters most to the patient. Homeostasis. These limbs work well with original body parts, and even each other. We've developed every single conceivable organ using our technology. Enough to make a whole human body".

He put his hands down. His face turned to sadness, and a hint of regret. "With one notable exception..." he muttered, looking at the replica skin. Saiko's face grew serious too. "The brain" she said. "The most important, most vital organ in the whole body. Even with our knowledge of it's inner workings, we still don't know a thing about how it works. We've not solved the brain yet. It remains an enigma. Without solving it, we cannot make a copy. If we cannot make a copy..." he trailed off "We cannot complete the body. And man's dream of immortality will not be complete. And all these prosthetics would be for little. As advanced as they are, they are merely replacements, ways to extend ourselves for just a bit longer. My life, no matter what I accomplish, will not be complete if I cannot solve this dilemma". Balling his hands into fists, Ubomo considered hitting something.

Saiko pitied him. His life's work wouldn't be complete. Ever. Well, until today, that is. "Then my visit today should interest you" she said. Ubomo was momentarily confused while he regained his composure. "Ah, yes. You wouldn't be here like this, in between regular checkups, if you didn't have a good reason. So what brings you here, interrupting my work?". Saiko pulled out a manila folder, thick with paper contents. She handed it to Ubomo, who suspiciously opened it. Saiko was grinning again. Ubomo pulled out the paper and began reading it cautiously, at first with mild boredom. Then, interest. Suddenly, shock. He began to read it more enthusiastically. Shock turned to awe and excitement and surprise. "Wha-what. It's... REALLY?" he asked Saiko, who nodded. "This is... this is incredible! I... my work is almost complete! We've really done it! With this, I can finish the final piece of the puzzle! How can I ever thank you??" he said, preparing to hug Saiko but, thinking the better of it, restrained himself.

"Thank me by working with 9 Corps. They're the first who will benefit from this" answered Saiko. Ubomo suddenly froze, his enthusiasm suddenly evaporating at the Special Activities Division's Electronic Warfare unit. He knew exactly what they wanted. "I can imagine what they'll want. It's possible, now, I suppose. They will want to start with an AI, I presume?". Saiko shook her head "They'll want to, but we should proceed with something else to be safe. Eventually, we'll get around to it, but for now we will work with what we know. I want a prototype prepared by next month. It will just be a testbed, to see if it can be done. It will not be the first test to see if what we're planning will work" she started to walk towards the exit "But given your expertise, I know you can do it". Saiko left the lab.

Ubomo put down the paper and nodded. He called his technicians to attention. "You heard the lady! Let's put together a chassis. Someone get started on a braincase. We have new data. And start fabricating components for a second one. I'm really confident in this new project. Get to work!"

At Ubomo's instructions, the technicians went to work. An area in the middle of the room was cleared for the construction of something new. Life that's never been seen in Ausozera, ever...

[Free Asian Ports]

(epilogue)

The lone Samurai stood in the town square, looking out over the Azens who browsed the bazaar. She stood in the midday heat, fitted out in full Marine battle gear. Her hands held a C7A1 assault rifle, but she was at ease. This wasn't a combat zone, not anymore. Behind her, her platoon patrolled the street market. The FAP was here as a peacekeeping force, as they had been since the travesty that was the Canaam war. Since then, Porteans didn't have the stomach for a war. Instead, for this conflict, the Porteans were simply keeping the two sides from getting at each others throats again.

This was a mission the Samurai found quite boring. She was typically impulsive, and loved action and adrenaline. Preferably in large amounts. When she was commissioned as an officer, she imagined bayonet charges and raw hand to hand combat. Not herding civilians in a long-cold warzone. Sighing, she looked back over her unit. They were enjoying their time here, apparently. This place was turning out to be the paradise she'd specifically told them it wasn't going to be. If only she could get hammered over it, but there weren't any bars. Which was a brutal shame. Is this place hell or something?

The Samurai sighed. Well, she had to do this gig anyway. Following orders is just what soldiers do. If she had to herd these people around then she was going to be the best damn shepherd this hellhole's ever seen!

Behind the Samurai was her radio operator and aide de camp, Corporal Sukawa Hoshi. He was only a couple years younger than her, but they were close. Not romantically, of course, as the Samurai was never into that kind of thing. Cpl. Sukawa was content to merely service her. He noticed a little girl nearby staring at his Lieutenant with a look of fear on her face. That wasn't a surprise, the Samurai tended to intimidate anybody who wasn't an ignorant politician or bigger soldier. He slung his rifle behind his back and walked over to her. He kneeled to talk to her.

"Don't be afraid of her, she won't bite. It's okay."

The girl looked at him and asked "How can you be sure? She looks scary."

Sukawa chuckled a little "Yeah, I'll agree with you there. I know her, and she really can be nice."

The girl kept frowning "I don't know, she looks like she doesn't make any friends"

Sukawa thought a little. Then he said to the girl "let me tell you a story. It is a myth from my country that has been passed down through many generations."

There once were many villages by the sea. They were good fishermen, and consistently caught many fish. All these fish were very delicious, and everyone in the world wanted some. This made the villages very rich. One day, the emperor of the land died and did not have a son to replace him. The villages lost the protection of the armies that swore loyalty to him. Bandits, thieves, and marauders roamed the lands. They raided the villages, stealing wealth and killing many each time they struck. Desperate, the villages went to the guardian dragons for assistance. The dragons were ancient creatures, and they were very powerful. But they would not defend the villagers without a price. They demanded payment in gold. Since the villages were wealthy, they had lots of gold to spare. They paid the dragons, and the dragons fought the marauders in a bitter battle. They won, and the villages were saved. Over time, the bandits and thieves kept returning. Again and again, the dragons were given gold and they defended the villages. After some time, even the richest of village's gold began to dwindle. One by one, the dragons left. Soon, the last of the gold was gone. The bandits saw this, and their confidence soared. Collecting the last of their strength, they formed a massive army and set out to sack one of the villages. The villagers grew panicked. They had no gold to pay the dragons to defend them! Surely, they were doomed. In a last ditch decision, they sent a girl as tribute to a dragon. They had no other option. The dragon, upon seeing the girl, flatly refused. Only gold was an acceptable payment. Defeated, the girl started sobbing. The dragon asked why she was crying. The girl said that without the dragon's assistance, her friends and family would die. The dragon was silent, then he said that the debt was paid. The dragon flew out to the hills overlooking the village and saw the bandit army on the other side. With a single breath of fire, he destroyed the bandits. When he returned, the villagers celebrated. They asked why he had defended them, even though he was not paid. The dragon simply said that he had seen the determination and will of the girl to sacrifice herself for her family and friends and found all the gold he needed.

The girl looked at him in awe as he told the story, then looked at the Samurai, then back at Sukawa. She smiled and said "that was a good story! I like that dragon. What happened after that?". Sukawa laughed "the story ends with the dragon turning into a handsome prince and marrying the girl. And they lived happily ever after". The girl giggled. "Now go back to your mother. I think we're scaring her, talking to her kid". The little girl ran off, going to a woman that looked to be her mother. She turned back and waved to the Porteans before leaving.

The Samurai was facing away, but was listening the whole time in silence. She grinned. "Hey, Sukawa. Know any other myths? Maybe something about this place's fun spots?". Sukawa laughed "yeah, rumor has it there is one bar somewhere around here". The Samurai also laughed and shouted "well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!". She stormed to a nearby Patria AMV with her platoon in tow.

Sukawa saluted, and with a smile said "Yes sir, Lieutenant Nanasawa, sir!".