OoC Link:
:3
1st OP:
Generals’ Inn, Lyttonwic, Themiclesia. 3:00 A.M.
Gently, they approach the residential section, and come into the vicinity of the 6 senior army commanders.
At the hand signal of the team leader, lights flood on and the six generals are handcuffed and gagged. Alarmed, they scramble for the portal to freedom, but to no avail. Still struggling, they are dragged, by ropes newly affixed to their necks, to the landing on the boxy staircases.
The team leader, of perhaps no more than 16 but considerable physical stature, especially compared with the generals, now stood before the six subdued generals, and looks down disapprovingly.
“I wonder,” he began, “who made puny weakling such as these generals.”
His companions gave chuckles. The generals, still bewildered, start to mumble amongst themselves, but quickly so ceased as the team of children glared at them.
“Anyway,” the leader continues, in a more officious tone, “you, General James Hyde, are charged with treason against the people. How plead you?”
General Hyde, a younger general, at merely 53, meekly draws his head upwards to see his captor. His gag is removed.
“May I see the appellant?”
With a swift kick to the chest by the leader, made more painful by the hard soles on the boots, the General Hyde grumbles and flops over. Charge of treason, as per the usual custom, is brought by a process known as the ‘appeal of treason,’ dating from the 12th Century.
“The people charge you with treason. How plead you?”
“I refuse! I am entitled to a trial, even for treason, in the House of Lords. Now with you…”
The young leader simple puts his boot over the general’s face, and twists his feet.
“This man will not learn, huh? Well, since you are so holden of tradition, you know what fate befalls those who refuse to plead.”
The other generals, wiggle in their captors’ ropes, but they cannot escape. The gag is replaced.
At the wave of the leader’s hand, the general is dragged into the opposite side of the staircase, and the intruders begin to strip him of his pyjamas. Taking out a small knife, a junior jams it into the general’s thigh. Blood taints the soft, silky carpets, and the general whimpers in pain.
-----
For a week or so, all senior, prominent people faced similar fates when the Murder Party held up parliamentary action, and used its paramilitary organisations to full and fell effect. The generals, mentioned above, had the dignity of a death in private, and such was not afforded for the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Stephen MacKenzie, and most of the Peers in the House of Lords, etc., etc.
Then, the youth wing of the said party discovered the records, which detailed the names and residences of the registered voters. Voting in Themiclesia is a privilege reserved for the very few, and most voters are discovered and suffered a similar fate. Public execution, which has not been legal or practiced since 1867, during the premiership of Alexander Thompson, saw a resurgence in popularity.
With most public institutions so abolished, the Murder Party now managed to gain control over the military, and began moving its paramilitary organisation, which has unofficially existed since 1960, into the official military, and uncovered a massive stash of illegally imported weapons, causing the effective military number to spike to about 10 million active servicemen.
The neighbouring nations of Bigtopia and Maxtopia have already been defeated, their territories annexed, and their population imprisoned. To date, over 5 million Bigtopians have been registered as killed, and so have about 3 million Maxtopians. Their corpses have been especially moved into water sources to empoison the remaining population. Women and children have been singled out as targets for execution, all of which are carried out in public to increase intimidation.
In the place of the Prime Minister, a national president has been installed, and given diactator-esque powers.
The military power of New Tyran is the new government’s next target. Instead of raising up a great army and moving it to the New Tyran border, which will be conspicuous, a local militia has been raised up, under the leadership of the local branch of the Murder Party, with weapons privately moved to the border.
-----
But, little did the Murder Party know that the neighbouring nation New Tyran has been monitoring them ever since they took power. Themiclesia, being the nation she is, has very little espionage, or counter-espionage capability, and agents of New Tyran origin have been stationed in Themiclesia for a very long time, regularly but secretly reporting to New Tyran's Prime Minister about every Themioi move.
For some time now, New Tyran has been readying her forces in case Themiclesia attacks.
Who helped New Tyran? The Home Secretary was visiting New Tyran for a conference during the coup d'état in Themiclesia.
2nd OP:
A few days earlier, New Hill, Lyttonwic.
The Murder Party has captured the Prime Ministerial residence, No 10 Downing Street, without much fuss. For perhaps a few days now the Murder Party has been marveling at the ease of getting control over the country; Themiclesia simply had too few security measures in place. The Prime Minister of Themiclesia had no guards at his residence; of course, the Right Honourable Stephen MacKeznie MP did manage to lock up his house at night, but what is an antique lock compared with high-calibre explosives that wreck the entire portal?
With lightening speed the enter the house before the Prime Minister had much chance to call for help; they place him, and his family, under arrest in his own house, which the Murder Party considers rightfully theirs as they have won the election. Recording devices are set up in the parlour room.
For most operations involving the painful execution of prominent government officials, the Murder Party has deemed it sufficient to send out adolescents in summer camp – such was the case of Mark, Luke, &c. Yet fail not to recognize that most of these children are certified sadists, psychopaths, and the like.
These children come from the underclasses of Themiclesia – those that for their lives cannot hope to move up into the gentry; thus, they perfect their physical form in hope of professional sports, or as hired assassins. They are desperate, and will not admit of delay by reason of petty morality or decency to get their fill of gratification. Outwardly an equitable society, Themiclesia is heavily socially stratified, with little upward mobility. The Murder Party, receiving generous donations from secret benefactors of great stature, appealed to these adolescents, and disgruntled youth.
A similar, slow, and painful demise was the sentence for the Prime Minister, and in like manner, an adolescent, not unlike Mark, did carry out that sentence to full force. The Prime Minister’s own son, John Crammer MacKenzie, was gagged and bound, and forced by the captors to watch his father’s death. With the slightest specimen of mercy, the Lady Crammer, spouse of the Prime Minister, was only cut short off the top. Her two daughters were then defiled and violated, and died in like manner. Finally, came the turn of the crying, whimpering, and struggling son of the late Prime Minister, John.
In one fell swoop, the defiler of one of the daughters brought his axe from up high down at the son: and severed his bonds.
“That,” John said, “that was some pepper spray. Good thing it lasted me through this, else I should find no tears to cry halfway through. Well, what now?”
“Now,” the leader of that detachment said, with a smirk of bemusement manifest on his face, “we’re going to start our ****ing attack on ****ing New ****ing Tyran and their ****ing blue flag.”
“And how might I be of service?” the sly son asked. He had personally informed this detachment at an earlier date with the detailed floor-plans of No 10. His voice is cold and task-oriented.
“Well,” the leader said, “I’ll ****ing start with informing you how it’s already ****ing underway. We have slipped 12 ****ing detachments of groups similar to what stands before your eyes onto the ****ing refugee trains into New ****ing Tyran. In their ****ing luggage cases are assault ****ing rifles, rocket ****ing launchers, and ****ing ammunition. We will **** their borders, and **** their women in their ****ing streets.”
While listening to this potty-mouthed leader speak, John evaluates his personal worth towards these cold-blooded murderers. He has something valuable to exchange for what he wants. He had witnessed the three general elections his father had to fight, during which many a day of campaigning left his father grey and exhausted before even reaching No 10. When he does enter No 10, the only thing worthwhile was to ready himself for another general election. John, sick and tired of general elections, in which his father had decayed from a fresh, young visionary into a vote-grabbing politician, has decided that he will take power, and by all the saints to him known, not through a general election.
“That is all very nice,” John replied in emotional detachment, “but, as I have presently averred and required of you: how might I be of service in this new order of things, if I may so describe?”
“Not as of yet,” the leader said, in emulation of John’s impeccable etiquette, “but soon you will make New ****ing Tyran waving a white flag, stained with red.”
Meanwhile…
The aforementioned 12 detachments of Murder Party summer camps are now crossed the border by railway into New Tyran. They have settled down in some military bases along the border, which are not well armed, as Themiclesia enjoys excellent relations with New Tyran. As soon as the clock strikes noon, the summer camps, along with a small company of secretly trained Murder Party devotees, open their luggage cases, and, according to instruction, left no living soul to speak of their operation, or any transmitting devices to inform New Phoenix of their abominable deeds. Not even Themioi refugees were spared.