The Treason of Hintindar (Vapor Only)

[Pavlostani]

Vitograd
Vitostan Province
Pavlostani
November 23rd
1903

Abdul Yasin walked down the dark street of the bustling port city.

"Here brother." He whispered and handed his suitcase to a nearby shadow. A pair of arms reached out and took it.

"2:00. The docks." A voice hissed from the shadow.

"Excellent."

2:00

Yasin was cleaning a fish at the docks and looked up. A man with dark complexion was carrying his suitcase and looked directly at him. Yasin nodded. The man drew a cigar and lit it. Yasin stood up and began to walk away. Behind him, the man opened the suitcase and brought the cigar to the contents.

Attograd
Pavlostani

Pavel rubbed his eyes in exhaustion.

...terrorist attack in the primary dock of Vitograd. A man by the name of Mohammed ibn Raqqani detonated a suitcase filled with gunpowder. Two deaths have occurred and eighteen have been injured. Intel sources link the attack to the secessionist movement in Hintindar...

The radio announced droned on about the danger of further attacks until Pavel asked Milanvanzi to turn the radio off.

"In the blue hell..." Pavel muttered. "Send a telegram to the world leaders informing them of our peril." He ordered his Lord Chancellor.

"At once." Milanvanzi bowed and left.

To Leaders of the World
From Pavel VIII of Pavlostani

As many of you are aware, a civil war has broken out in Pavlostani. This morning, a terrorists bombed our largest city resulting in loss of life. The men who commit such actions wish to return Pavlostani to the old ways. I am sure you have not forgotten about the terrible tragedy that occurred at Brandburg. In the name of all those who died in those camps, I plead that you aid my people to prevent such an action from ever taking place in the future.

[The Holy Dominion of Inesea]

People's Council Annex D, Nahuatl
Central Lakes District
Former Aristocratic States of Inesea


Six men were gathered in this room. The room, a simple affair consisting of a teak table and six chairs, contrasted the ornate occupants. Three wore uniforms, one green, one white and one in tan. They were, respectively; General Hashimoto, Commander of the Camjarca Military District; Admiral Fhas-Za, Commander of the Hastati Bay Naval District; and General Ming, Commander of the Dolgan and Nivkh Frontiers and Veteran of every engagement in the Two Tribes War. The three other men wore suits. The tallest was High Councilman Wo Phat, Representative by Acclamation of the People and de facto ruler of Inesea. To his right sat Commissioner Xai-Kwan, Head of the IIS, Inesea's Intelligence Branch. On Wo's left sat Councilman Yako Nomuri, one of the Councilmen from Henria and brother of Yuko Nomuri, President of the MPRC. Wo Phat shuffled some papers and began to speak.

"Gentlemen, we are here today to discuss matters from which may decide the fate of a nation. To our south lays the Nation of Khamul, the Nation of the Pavlostani. With this nation we share our only land border, a 1 kilometer stretch of land with no checkpoint on our side. It is open to them. The PDRP also shares the Hastati Bay with us, as had the SSK before them. We share and have shared rights to the main bay equally between us. Likewise, the Meridian Isles, I forget there Native name Riany or Rhenyed, are open to Inesean passage, just as Malacca and Ixta are to them. Most importantly, the Isles shield us from enemy Naval Incursion. In the Bay itself, Inesean fisheries and trawlers reap economic success. Oil Companies drill in the shallows, bringing lifeblood to our nation. This is all possible because of our cooperation and Attograd's ability to maintain control over their nation" Wo sipped from a glass of chilled water before starting anew.

"But know this new fledgling government has shown it holds a loosened rein and people, held together by solely by the Iron Will of the Pavelic Line, are sure to want to be free of it. This Insurrection against Attograd by the Islamic Minorities is insofar an open revolution. Emir Yusuf of Hintindar has declared independence from PDRP. For several months they have successfully held off and pushed back the Pavelic Armies. However, as our friends at the IIS well know, the Hindintari armies will suffer out of the desert. So here we face our impasse. Whom do we support? The atheist rump state of Khamul, the PDRP, or the Islamic rebel state of Hindintar?"

To be Continued

[Servoth]

Dragons tend to grow hungry quickly after hatching. With in a year after breaking out of their egg, they will soon be able to eat the entire mass of a human child somewhere around the age of six to ten.

To: Igor Sakarov, Pavlostani Minister of Internal Affairs
From: the Great Red Dragon

It has come to our attention that our young grow hungry. And you may have means to supply in the long run, particularly your much more interesting supplier, your Brotherhood. It is further terror and instability that our young crave, and we intend to have that delivered; we care not for your brewing civil war, but that this conflict of yours stays in long process.
We will be sending our representative and two guards to meet your chosen representative of the Brotherhood in a small warehouse on the outer reachs of Attograd. We expect him to be there.

If agreed, 20,000 Reichsmark will be sent for you, and 27,500 Reichsmark to your Brotherhood to collect. Understand?

The letter was delivered to Mr. Sakarov (on his front doorstep) in a small unassuming brown cardboard box, in a small beige envelope. The envelope was tied with twine to a grenade, pin still in place.

The outside of the box, laid a small brass trinket, that of which was in the shape of a dragon.

[Pavlostani]

Outskirts of Attograd

Konstantin Yagodov slipped through the darkness. He reflected on the events that had transpired earlier that day. Minister Sakarov had called him to his office, and informed him of a meeting with a delegates from FIN. Yagodov wondered in his head what the Dragon was doing in Pavlostani, but his skepticism was overpowered by the reward Sakarov had promised him.

Yagodov came to a road and saw the warehouse across. He glanced around nervously, Sakarov had given him explicit instructions to go unnoticed.

"Excuse me, sir, what brings you out at this hour?" A voice hissed behind him. Yagodov turned to see a member of the police.

"I... ah," Yagodov's tongue was tied.

"You are aware that there is a wartime curfew?" The officer demanded.

"Silly me." Yagodov's hand drifted to his hip.

"Not a move." The holster of a gun gleamed in the moonlight in the officer's hand.

"I am on official business from Igor Sakarov." Yagodov snapped and displayed a card signifying his position.

"Ah, Mr. Yagodov. I meant no disrespect..." The officer fumbled.

"No matter." Yagodov walked over to the officer. In the darkness, the officer never saw the knife slip out of Yagodov's sleeve. Yagodov lashed out and the policeman fell with a black rent in his throat. Yagodov wiped his knife and returned it to its place up his sleeve. He turned and hurried towards the warehouse.

[Servoth]

A SS operative stood outside the warehouse, he was smoking, upon catching sight of Yagodov, the Operative quickly dropped his cigarette, and placed his gasmask and gray Brodie helmet back on with speed. The Operative turned his head and yelled inside the warehouse, another Operative dressed just like him appeared. The two spoke to each other in hushed tones, then the second Operative disappeared back into the warehouse.

The first Operative walked up to the assassin, though his voice muffled by the gasmask, he still spoke with some clarity. "You are the assassin we requested, Sir? Please enter the warehouse, the Draco is waiting for you."

Inside the warehouse, a steel table was placed in the center, in front of it one chair, behind it another. On the table an arc lamp, a strangely large suitcase, and a deck of playing cards.

In the far chair, sat the Draco, a man in a brass gasmask, which itself was designed in the shape of a dragon's head. His coat a coal black, and a crimson red sash around his waist.

"Please, sit down and let us talk."

[Pavlostani]

Meeting Location

Yagodov sat down.

"Greetings. I am Konstantin Yagodov, aide to Igor Sakarov and Lieutenant in the Brotherhood." He nodded his head at the Draco.

"After reading your letter to Sakarov, we considered ways to cause havoc in the war and we've found some creative answers. An entire list of targets has been written up. Mostly powerful imams and nobles. We have enlisted a man named . Some of our targets will be quite difficult to terminate however, we've established contact with a man named Vadim Valyov who came up with a... unique way of dealing with them. Our long term aim is to open a new theatre of war." Yagodov leaned back in his chair, trying to gauge what was behind the Draco's gas mask.

[Servoth]

Meeting Location

Yagodov sat down.

"Greetings. I am Konstantin Yagodov, aide to Igor Sakarov and Lieutenant in the Brotherhood." He nodded his head at the Draco.

"After reading your letter to Sakarov, we considered ways to cause havoc in the war and we've found some creative answers. An entire list of targets has been written up. Mostly powerful imams and nobles. We have enlisted a man named . Some of our targets will be quite difficult to terminate however, we've established contact with a man named Vadim Valyov who came up with a... unique way of dealing with them. Our long term aim is to open a new theatre of war." Yagodov leaned back in his chair, trying to gauge what was behind the Draco's gas mask.

The Draco breathed in, a deep and heavy rustle of air entered his mask made of brass. The Draco twisted the lenses of his mask, the one on the right side, to magnify the view of the list.

"Very good Mr. Yagodov. Very good, indeed, but we need only to destabilize not, destroy. We must save Pavlostani for..." The Draco stopped speaking, he was thinking of which word to use next, "...projects."

The Draco placed the list down onto the table and picked up the playing cards. He shuffled them, then searched, and removed four cards from the deck, each which he threw down in order.

"Now Mr. Yagodov, tell me about the men I am hiring. Who are they? Their public backgrounds? Their... practice?"

[Pavlostani]

Meeting Location

Yagodov frowned.

"The men we are planning to utilize in our endeavors are named Boris Tushenko, Yuri Stepashin, Aleksandr Federov, Ibrahim Nassir, and Vadim Valyov. Stepashin, Federov and Valyov are not members of the Brotherhood, but they are on our payroll and have given us results in the past. Particularly Stepashin and Valyov..." Yagodov shuddered. Stepashin and Valyov were former members of the Black Diamond. The two were very similar, though they refused to work together whenever Yagodov suggested it. The man could not understand why.

"Anyways, they're good. Tushenko officially works as a guard in Attograd. Unofficially, he is a ranking member in the GBV, and also in the Brotherhood. Three years ago, he did a particularly sensitive operation on a Tschowan vessel in the Vitus. That started certain tensions leading to the skirmish in 1901. Which lead to the Sri-AMEN War. Nassir is part of the Mujahideen fighting in Hintindar. He joined us last year, to pay off gambling debts. He's honestly a bit of a brute; I'm surprised. Emir Yusuf is an intelligent, cultured man. He doesn't want a war any more than we do. Even Pavel admits that. But this man, he likes killing. He's good at it too. We've removed a few politicians from the Emirate that we don't like with him. He's really our man for removing figures in Hintindar and Trent."

Yagodov rubbed his hair, and continued explaining.

"Aleksandr Federov is a ghost. The Brotherhood has information on the tightest members of the GBV, we know every politicians move before they do it, we even know the location of Pavel the Cruel." Yagodov smiled, it was a half lie. They knew several locations where he might be, but were not certain.

"We know next to nothing on this man. Some say he was a gladiator, others that he was a general in the Ghazel army. Whatever it is, he's the best damn fighter I've ever seen. Carries two pistols, a rifle and three swords. How a man doesn't crumple over from carrying that kind of armament, I haven't the damndest. 'Specially since one of those swords is taller than I am. The weird thing is that he hates fighting and violence. Everything he ever does for us is grudgingly. I half think that he only does any work for us at all is because his partner makes him. That's Stepashin. Former member of the Black Diamond, as I mentioned before. He apparently ran into a bit of trouble there, spooked their First Officer. So, that man sent three "bucket men", as they call assassins, to silence Stepashin. Found those three hanging from trees the next day. Anyways, one of those three assassins was the lover of one of Stepashin's closest friend. That friend arranged for Stepashin to end up in Manzant Prison, a hole in Attograd. Nobody leaves. Only two people have ever escaped. Pavel the Cruel, with the help of an entire army, and Yuri Stepashin. I have no fucking clue how he got out, but it baffled the hell out of Minister Sakarov for months. Stepashin proceeded to slaughter half of the Diamond in Rhenyyd, before their First Officer surrendered himself over. He's dead now. Since then, he and Federov have been running high profile robberies, plant jobs, espionage and assassinations for nobles. The man's amassed a fortune. Nobody's trying to stop them either, because everybody depends on their services." Yagodov continued.

"Finally, Valyov. He's a lot like Stepashin, except Stepashin is always moody, angry and honestly terrifying. Well, Valyov is terrifying too, but he is at least a little nicer. Actually, that makes him scarier. He'll smile, joke around, then slit your throat. He's a genius and damn good at his job. Except... I'm not quite sure what he does other than the work he does for us. He vanished for a few years, then appeared in the south spankin' rich. He or Stepashin is probably the smartest guy we've got. Shame they aren't officially part of the Brotherhood." Yagodov finished, when he remembered one more thing.

"Oh yeah, you wanted to destabilize and not destroy? Well you better finish those projects quickly. Pavlostani will likely be destroyed in the next five years. Our lovely southern neighbors, the Nyphrons are finishing something called the Uli Vermar. Whatever it is, when it's done, they'll cross our southern border, the Nidwalden River, and invade. The Brotherhood discovered this just a year ago, from the Black Diamond. Already, we're moving assets into Inesea to escape the storm. Terribly sorry it inconveniences your agendas, but it sure works for ours." Yagodov reclined in his chair.

"Although, once they take Pavlostani, you can certainly expect riots, civil unrest, and a shitstorm waiting to happen. Might just work out for you after all." He said, then gave the Draco a look.

"Oh, and if any of you mention anything I said to you today, use your imagination as to what we might do." He let the threat hang.