Peoples Republic of the Commonwealth Community & News Thread

[Quo God]

Lord Healy is sat on his desk in his personal chambers, He’s hunched over the table, his upper half of his body hunched over the table with his hands covering his face supporting his upper body, he hasn’t showered, slept or ate in three days, his lessers and himself have been planning colonisation to disperse the booming population, Lord Healy sits up and turns on his monitor which displayed the local area where they would colonise.

once he gathered some thoughts in his head he enters his personal Email, Creates a message to the commanding sailor leading the colony ships “The time is now, Begin the process, Godspeed”
Then his finger slams the enter key sending the email, Lord Healy turns his monitor sighing in relief, it was him their hands now...

On board the Dreamcatcher
The captain had a Cuban cigar in his mouth as he sailed the south Asian seas, it had been incredibly stormy the last few days but this day was still...Quiet; Too quiet he thought, the pressure dial was decreasing yet the weather radar showed nothing, was the dial broken or was the radar malfunctioning, he look a look at the radar and gave it the good old traditional ‘ slam it to see if it changed’ and it did, a nearby storm was approaching but nothing serious, it was a few hours away so he could prepare until then, he left the wheel to his second in command and went to his quarters.

Hours past the captain was thrown onto the deck as if some mutant Picked him up and tossed him.

The Boat was being shoved side to side, he wondered about the storm “It can’t be now, can it?” He rushed his uniform on and ran up to the top deck.

The mother of all storms, it was supposed to be stormy but not this much, The captain Shoved his second in command out of the way and assumed control, the battle between the wheel and himself was in describable, Out of nowhere a freak tornado forms to his side “ FULL POWER AHEAD” he shouted into the microphone wired down to the engineering bay, one of the engineering heads yells back “THATS MADNESS” but the captain mentally bitch slaps him “THATS A DIRECT ORDER, NOW” the ship is slow to speed up but it gets faster and faster to the point where the engine was at the brink of critical damage but she held on, the captain never gave up when faced with danger and tries to speed past the tornado, he’s successful and managed to escape the devil’s swimming pool and stops near by the shore at a safe distance, the crew laughs at death and starts unloading the crew and supplies, they would start at the shore and builds upwards until the supplies were used up today they were lucky
https://ibb.co/iBsGRb

[New Velonia]

Alasia News Article- Baffin Island Deliberations

Long hours of Negotiations have finally bore fruit. What seemed like an unsolvable crisis just a day ago has been resolved peacefully by Velonian diplomats and their Tryvorian counterparts. The crisis of Baffin Island could no longer be called as such since all parties agreed to a deal.

The integrity of Velonian borders have been ensured to be protected and Baffin Island would continue to serve as a Buffer State between New Velonia and the Communist state of Tryvor. Moderate swathes of coastal land have, however, been ceded to Tryvor, a move that made many in Alasia uneasy. In addition, Tryvor has been warned by both New Velonia and Tryvor's communist allies not to pursue further expansion into Canada.

Peace, however, is not a commodity to be underappreciated. To ensure that peace remains between Tryvor and New Velonia, President Hawke offered a Non-Aggression Pact with Tryvor. If accepted, neither state would be able to wage a war against the other.

The Blue represents the coast going to Tryvor. Baffin Island remains empty.

More to come in the next Hours

ALASIA NEWS

---

[Tudorlandia]

Varakka
Karelzmark
Nova Terra

The Royal Order of Karelzmark was a totally new state. Adamus Vazavich was honored to be the Order's Executor. In his speech he stated that the nation would work in cooperation to build fellow states, and advance peace and trade across Nova Terra. Although he stated that communism was a threat to the World and to the people, he also said that he anticipated peaceful relations with the USRC in coming years. The census has been done, computing 800,000,000 citizens approx. Karelzmark has denied any allegations against democracy, saying that the position of Executor was voted on by elected and appointed chambers of the tricameral legislative branch, the Holy Convention. It contained the elected Council of Salvation, the mixed Outer Circle and appointed Inner Circle. Executor Vazavich has stated that political parties may or may not exist within Karelzmark, but he says it will be deliberated on in the coming months. The nation has asked literally every nation in the World for trade agreements, waiting on responses. The Executor closed his speech with his thanks, and a statement of strength. He said the nation would soon have an army of 10 million standing. Hail Karelzmark.

[Hydraxim Imperialis]

Highlock Capital, 3 hours after initial invasion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scene of the city was one of decay, many buildings were clearly not maintained, homeless littered certain areas of the streets,and police could be seen working side by side with gangsters in open daylight. The scene disgusted the CRO operative as he took his place to speak before the rallied people. He looked around him at the hopeless eyes of the masses. He saw despair, and the willingness to change, he even saw a few higher class members of society, dawning suits and wearing weary faces. Many of the residents of the city were subjected to those who ruled the streets, no matter who it was. All paid a tax, and often it would take so much that the person paying had little left to do anything but survive. A few officers could be seen eyeing the gathered crowd, hands on their pistols ready to let loose a flurry of bullets. Gangsters sat on the other side in an almost identical fashion. Captain Davis, the CRO operative, almost sneered at the sight of such low life. The city was hopeless... At least, under Highlock it was.

Although he was a captain, he was unusually young, as most that work for CRO were. He was one of the many original rebels during the H.I. civil war. When he was young he carried messages between outposts for the rebels, and often worked side jobs for loyalist to gain information. Over time he learned the art of manipulation, and became a very charismatic and influential individual. Many at CRO were taught these skills, but the problem was teaching an inept man was nearly impossible. Davis served to weed out the weak, and he did his job with startling efficiency. After his service at home to prove himself, he finally got his first job outside of Hydraxim's borders. He, like many CRO operatives, were assigned to spy on enemy states and asses their situation, if the state was to be considered 'faltering', they were to weave unrest, dissent, and rebellion in the populous. Davis' mission in particular was to install a pro-Hydraxim attitude, and cause enough instability to incapacitate any industry that Highlock had left, and liberate cities in the name of the Dominion of Hydraxim Imperialis.

The rally he was holding before him was one of many rallies, however, this was the first truly public rally. A slight smirk was on Davis' face as he peered over the crowd. He knew that the police and gangs that held a death choke on the city were soon to fall, and would be branded "Ictani", or, simply translated, "Disgust".The crowd held many already devout members to the cause, and all members were equipped with Hydraxim assault rifles, fully loaded with White Static rounds.

White static rounds were one of the few truly brutal weapons in the Dominion. The round acted like a hollow point, however once an attempt to remove the bullet is made, the round peels off in metal sheets and stick to the insides of the body, causing excruciating pain, internal bleeding, and often death.

After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Davis finally spoke.

"People of Highlock. For too long you have been subjugated," his voice boomed, spreading over the hushed crowd. He stood in front of a historic monument, a tall statue that was raised only a short while ago to what Highlock once stood for. "Once, not too long ago in fact, you were a proud nation... You were a strong nation... Powerful even... But look at you now!" He could see the police becoming uneasy, standing and pacing back and forth to get a better vantage point.

However, Davis showed no fear, or even an inkling of panic. From where Davis was standing, he could see shadowy figures approaching from behind the corrupt officers, almost impossible to spot without knowing where they would be prior. The shadowy figures quickly overpowered the small group, and dragged them into the shadows without a noise. A similair fate could be seen happening to the gangsters across the way, except without worry of support, the figures on that end could be seen doing something rather peculiar. They were intending on making an example of this group. The small group of shadows held no distinguishing marks, besides the small white silhouette of a crow about to land on their right shoulder. They ripped the guns from the men and led them out of the shadow of the buildings, forced them onto their knees, and watched the crowd in front of them with their masked faces seemingly watching everyone at once. "Look at what your decay has wrought, look at what weak leaders and pathetic commanders have showed you. Look at what you have allowed. Look at what the world does when you allow a deer to stand atop you and demand you to be his footrest," his blood slowly began boiling as he thought of his life before the Dominion.

One moment Davis was standing before the crowd, eyebrows furrowed and a snarl almost visible on his face, the next he was a thirteen year old boy in a slum, back in his old city, surrounded by looming concrete towers. Everything was a seemingly dull color, except for three men in gold armor with blue luminescent blades patrolling the area. Davis remembered he was on one of his routine courier missions for the rebels. The sight of the guards peaked his interest though, and he couldn't pass up one of these few opportunities. Many rebels often were equipped with small IED's, and he planned on using his for the first time. He was barely detectable, slithering through the crowd, like a snake stalking its prey.

While he was closing in on his targets he could see the men had someone in tow behind them. She was clearly beaten and bruised, and was almost being dragged by them, she seemed almost familiar. Curious as to who the woman was, Davis followed them, diverting his path to watch the men from a distance. He watched them pass through a small market place, and he watched everyone in their filthy rags huddle away. However, he watched one man throw a small potato at the guards and scream something that was mostly unintelligible, it sounded like it was broken Latin, but Davis couldn't tell. The crowd quickly weaved apart, wanting nothing to do with the man for fear of death. The guards almost immediately pinpointed the man responsible, and their HUD quickly lit up, displaying info on everything about the man. Their HUDs were easily seen through their mostly tinted visors, information could be seen being highlighted, and a picture off to the side of the articles was obviously of the man. It took Davis a moment to get a vantage point to see all of the people involved, but once he did his heart sank. He realized the woman being was his sister, he hadn't noticed her face before because of her swollen face and hair that stuck to her sweaty body. The man was his father, he hadn't seen his father for a few day's, but he remembered he had a mission of some sort for a higher aristocrat by the name Ozborne. The men made their way over to Davis' father in a hurried motion, took him, forced his head into the dirt, and in one fell swoop, took the hand that threw the potato clean off. He began screaming at the burning pain, both from the instant cauterization and the feeling of losing his hand. One of the guards grabbed his fathers head and forced it up to watch one of the worst scenes a father could watch. While the guards holding his head held him down, the other two guards forced his sister to the floor. Davis knew what was to come next, and couldn't bring himself to watch, instead he decided he would rather watch his family, and all those who would rather stand idly by, die. He quickly grabbed the small IED and threw it into the air, almost detonating it before it hit the ground. The bomb let out a thunderous boom as he ducked behind cover. Nails could be felt driving into the crate he was hiding behind, and some splintered their way through the would and out beyond where he hid. He couldn't bring himself to look at the scene at which he knew he created. Davis, by this age, was already used to the horrors of war, however he never knew the pain of killing someone he loved and cared about.

Davis watched the world wir, and his surroundings twist, and found himself looking back over the crowd. tears visible in his eyes now. "LOOK AT YOU! THEY'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING, THEY'VE DESTROYED ALL YOU KNOW! WHAT LITTLE YOU HAVE LEFT IS GONE! CHANGE WHILE YOU CAN! CHANGE FOR YOUR FUTURE! CHANGE FOR WHAT LITTLE IS LEFT OF YOUR HUMANITY, CHANGE FOR YOUR SONS,CHANGE FOR YOUR DAUGHTERS! CHANGE FOR YOUR SELVES FOR FUCKS SAKE! FOR YOU DESERVE SO MUCH MORE! JUST AS WE DID IN MY HOME, JUST AS I DID! JUST AS THE FAMILY I WATCHED DIE DID... JUST AS YOU DO NOW!!!" His voice was almost trembling, he couldn't imagine another person suffering his fate, or worse, being helpless to stop what could've come.

After a few moments of silence he spoke again. "You all deserve better, you all deserve life, love... You deserve the nation I fought for... You deserve the chance to call yourself Imperialisian, all you need to do is fight, fight with your heart, fight with your soul, fight with all you have, and earn your place just as I have..." His voice softened for a moment, "Fight for your right to live... For you are Hydraxims citizens, all you need to do is fight."

The crowd began cheering slowly at first, but then drastically came to life, they cheered the Dominions name, and they cheered Davis' name. Many had tears coming down their faces, tears of what memory they had of the golden years of Highlock. Many had tears of hope, something they had almost forgotten. A few members in the crowd unveiled flags of the Imperialis, and chanted the rebellions slogan. Others distributed weapons to the outer circle.
Davis made his way to the rear of the circle and called for the people to know their saviors names, he called attention to the men behind the gangsters, "These are your brothers, and they are your salvation! We are CRO! And we bring you your freedom!" Davis' voice held pride as he called for the people to take their home back from filth and weakness, many began chanting freedom as they rushed the gangsters that were pushed into the crowd, beating them with their fists, others smashed them over the head with their newly acquired weapons, some ran over to where they found the police officers hung by rope along the streets light posts and began hitting them with whatever was in reach.

After a while of the berserk rage the crowd began marching further toward the capital building, orders could be heard being shouted by the CRO officers to keep them organized. Thousands of people could be seen flooding into the crowd, bringing their own weapons, some even bringing radios and blasting Hydraxim channels. Sounds of patriotism and news of soldiers taking cities flooded the streets of the capital. Davis knew these people would die for their freedom and Hydraxim would house these people, and bring about a new age...





Hydraxim Front - 2 Weeks after initial attacks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News of cities rebelling and announcing their allegiance to Hydraxim was flooding over the radio. This was one of the first times since the rebellion that CRO operatives were so widely used, and some would say this attack and use of CRO was even more successful than the founding of Hydraxim. The enemy was in ruin, their communications were outdated, and many of their generals were targeted by CRO assassins. Orders that went down the line were late, and often the enemies defense crumbled before they could organize any sort of resistance. Many were losing heart rapidly within Highlock, as they knew their end was coming. Large numbers of defectors also proved to decimate the morale of enemy troops, this allowed for speedy capture of cities, and time was barely spent even setting up defenses. Both CRO and Hydraxim's military pushed Highlocks borders at speeds resembling a Blitzkrieg. Hydraxim soldiers paraded through cities as a break, and would continue on to destroy the next enemy encampment within an hour. Jets were continuously gliding through the air, and constant bombing of enemy forces left them little room to maneuver. New technologies were also being tested, such as drone combat roles. Drones would target many tactical and strategic sites, and being small along with quiet they were virtually undetectable. Small pellet bombs, as they were called, were employed as a replacement for timely C4 charges. The drone often carried anywhere form 15-50 of these bombs, and caused large amounts of damage to vehicles. Highlock was a failing nation, and weak. Their economy and negligence of the people served in favor of the Dominion. While the Dominion were merely testing lost technologies Highlock was scrambling for replacements of leadership positions. Entire cities went into lock down, however this only served to further the peoples rage.

Motorized infantry was commonly seen as men were shipped from city to city, each one cheering Hydraxim's name, occasionally waving banners on skyscrapers as a welcome to the occupational forces.

As the invasion approached the Capital city, they were greeted with a crowd of cheering people. One soldier sat on the side of a tank turret and waved to the crowd, he noted the unusual amount of bodies present, but he also noted all of them were branded with the mark of the Ictani, and he gave a slight smile at this. The soldier sitting in the turret made a comment to the infantry man on the side. "Its good to see people are finally embracing the new world, down with the ancient ways of aristocracy, Ave Dominion!" A small crowd of girls giggled and shouted 'Ave Dominion' in reply. While the city was a disgusting scene, and the peoples clothes in poor condition, hopes and spirits were high in the newly conquered territories, which has further invigorated the idea of capitulating to Hydraxim endeavors.

Even home, in Hydraxim Imperialis, people were parading in the streets, playing music of the rebellion and firing fireworks into the sky. The Dominion was not without its own problems but many were thought almost nonexistent, although many were ignorant to the problems at hand.

[Quo God]

NBC News at ten
Quo God Replied to the Hydraxim invasion of Highlock with transferring of local forces to the north eastern border of Highlock

In detail Col. Sanders with his company landed main land Highlock around north east near the border.

They had been dispatched to allied nations as merely training exercises and joint forces operations when all of a sudden a small platoon based in Highlock reported Hydraxim forces occupying the deteriorated country much controversy over news on their status since all government attempts to recover the crippling society has failed and Hydraxim Imperialis has decided to quickly sallow the exists region, since they are still legally Apart of the United Front The People’s Republic of Quo God, A close nation of the coast of South east Asia sent a declaration of war defending the Highlockians and full annexation, At around 4-24 hours Quo Godian forces have unloaded all their assets and have started their campaign to liberate the brothers of socialism, Three of the best Quo Godian military advisors believe that due to ports being damaged beyond repair Hydraxim forces stationed far from the main city would be suffering majorly from attrition and as the motorized rolled in it as indeed so, after a short one sided battle Quo Godians drove on and firefights fluctuated as they got closer to the city to the point where the Tank Artillery stationed themselves behind an incline and shelled local strategic locations (Bridges, Occupied military air bases etc) and MBT mopes up any stray and flanking forces, Around 300,000 soldiers exited the transports and entered the city, the whole battle was a complete stalemate, while they fought on the grounds and the roofs one advancement met with a retreat, civilian casualties was rising and Quo God couldn’t take much more of the blood bath and decided to offer Hydraxim Imperialis a cease fire and negotiations.

[Bluraland]

Emain Ablach

This man was the very best diplomat Bluraland had at this moment in time, his name Sir Leon Rostropovich. It was time for him to earn that title.
He was on a mission to Terra to offer terms to the Pillowlandians and their representative Director Marshal Sean of His Majesty's Diplomatic service, a stoic man with wide renown who looked unfavorably on other peoples however this would not dampen the mood it may also be used as an advantage. The meeting place, Emain Ablach the Capital of Pillowlandia.

It had been a long journey and not one he would have made if there had not been a suitable reason. But for now he was here in this great city and he would enjoy it the best he could with the daunting task of tomorrows talks.

Emain Albach The Next Day

There he was sat waiting for Director Marshall Sean ready for the long discussion ahead.
The door creaked open and entering the room was Director Marshall Sean. There was not much tension in the room apart from the topic of which was to be discussed. By the time Director Marshall Sean got to the table Leon knew this was going to be big and would make or break his career.
After the formalities were over and the introductions were over Leon began

'so as you can see the New Velonian state has undergone a period of expansion and seems to be flexing their muscles to even try to counter your influence in some areas. Aswell as this they have entered some aggressive posturing and blatant disregard for peace on Terra Nova. We believe this has to stop and the New Velonian State must be contained again and not become a planet wide fascist empire. I am here specifically therefore because we believe we can reach an arrangement. New Velonia recently acquired land just across the Dardanelles posing great risk to our nation and in turn have come to the conclusion that it would be best if New Velonia was removed of his colonial possessions meant to challenge your very own. Therefore we propose this, we support you in seizing the lands of Gibraltar and his lands in North Africa just south of them and in return you support us in seizing the lands he has in the center of our Nation, North western Anatolia. Of course it would be best to avoid war and therefore we would have to be quick about such an action removing the forces before they can mount a defense and from there pressure New Velonia into giving up these lands. Your nation being so powerful as it already is, is unmatched in power and wealth however with the straits of Gibraltar under your control and extra land knocking out the fascist menace nobody may ever have the Gaul to mimic your nation again or even attempt to challenge you and i know you like the sound of that. However being a Fascist state should New Velonia's leaders have the audacity to mount a counter attack on Gibraltar we will support you as we hope you would if they mounted a counter attack against Anatolia and us. Now we understand that should you end up in a conflict with New Velonia that then the gloves are off and in such a case we give you a free hand to do as you please with New Velonia so long as the North west Anatolia falls to us. All the rest is yours to do as you please.'

[New Royal Empire]

Bayern Central Power Plant
Dec, 2 2067
Brandon Meachum was a Security Guard at the power plant for quite some time. He was an American Immigrant from Ohio, he moved here for a better life and a better life did come. He was glad to be here, he had a good job, a large house, and a happy family. He was doing his nightly rounds when he heard noise near the reactor's security door. He knew it couldn't be any of the other guards because they use fingerprints to open the door. He turned the corner with his pistol ready, he sees a man planting an explosive at the door."Einfrieren!" The man turned with his hands up, a moment of silence occurred before a second man came from behind and slit Brandon's throat. As he lay gargling on the floor. The two men spoke "What the hell man, what happened to not being caught" "You saved me? Didn't you" said the other man "Whatever" They blew the door open and planted more explosives on the reactor, They exited the facility the guards either unknowing or dead.

Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Jan, 3, 2068
"This is the third terrorist attack on a central power plant in a month" the tv reporter said. "The regions of Bayern, Baden-Wurttenberg and Hessen's power supply is now crippled. Emergency power was diverted from local sources and other states power supply. Extra security was provided but has proven ineffective. The biggest problem is that the power plant distribute power from the local power plants ad distribute it, it also provides much of that region's power. With them destroyed not only do they enter nuclear meltdown but power is cut off. Only time will tell if the attacks will continue or not. We at the station recommend buying a personnel generator.

[Hydraxim Imperialis]

Hydraxim - Quo God/Highlock Front Status report
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All across Highlock war raged, already many critical sites and cities in the east being decimated. Strategic points were almost worthless, as the Imperialisian Airforce continued its bombardments. Large white bombers could be seen patrolling the few ports that Quo God was landing forces. The bombings served two purposes, as most battles Hydraxim fought did, to test experimental weaponry, and to decimate enemy forces. Many of the experimental weapons were failing, and many targets were left still standing. CRO was sent in to take out supply lines, and to hopefully stop the armored advances that rolled swiftly into loyal cities. While many eastern cities were lost, and ports almost completely destroyed, Hydraxim was forced to pull many of its forces to the north and secure ports to hold the little territory left. The attacks from Quo God took many Imperialisians by surprise, many were surprised simply because of the decay of the cities was almost worth not fighting for, and others surprised because of Quo Godian forces being present in the decaying cities in the first place, doing nothing to aid the west and restore stability. Quo God moved a large number of troops into the vicinity very rapidly, causing Hydraxim to begin to question how a nation could accomplish such a feat without an air force being present.

The attacks from Quo God were taken almost as a blatant insult to Hydraxim Imperialis' military and operatives. Many attacks that were considered 'victories' by Quo Godian forces were more so tactical retreats from cities that continued to hold Highlock loyalty, or were simply in support of the more socialist government of Quo God. Many attacks that did occur on main military installations in Hydraxim fortified (occupied Highlock) territory were quickly repelled. The swift actions of Quo God were accompanied by Loyalist risings in the west, forcing Hydraxim forces back towards the Capital city. Much of the Highlock coast in the north remained heavily occupied by Hydraxim forces, and even while peace talks were underway Hydraxim was reluctant to rescind their claims on the land they saw as rightfully Hydraxim's. Many clamored for a continuation of the war, seeing as the nation of Quo God was already spread far across the globe, expanding into what Imperialisians called Pasip (India), and occupying friendly bases in the north. However, Hydraxim was willing to show its good willed nature, and allow peace between the two nations. Hydraxim's initial reason for invasion was for the betterment of the people, and Hydraxim refused to forget its quest, and promises, of leading former Highlock peoples into greatness. Many considered the word Fascist as a cruel and unrelenting word, a word of disgusting power and a will to oppress anyone that would speak their mind, Hydraxim saw it differently. Hydraxim saw the word as a powerful word, but they also saw it as a way of securing a future for their children as many held the belief the future will only be one of constant war.

Communication and discussions of peace have been opened up to Quo god after the invasion of a major city along the front that resulted in thousands of innocent deaths, many deaths that many thought able to be avoided if only Quo God had kept to their own borders.

Invasion of City Domi, Hydraxim - Quo God Front, (Before peace talks)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sniper rubbed his eyes as he looked out over the vast city, he had held position for three days, watching people from all around enter the outer bounds. He often saw large battalions moving into the city, just to move out and to the northern ports again, he was interested in the wear on the vehicles, as nothing in the east, he thought, could cause that much damage. As he looked towards the heart of the city, he examined some of the nearby people, almost looking at them in awe, seeing their achievements already. The city, during the short occupation, already had a noticeable difference on the cities occupants, many spirits were held high, and those that contributed to the 'renaissance', as many were referring to the state of the cities, dawned new clothes and a new found faith in the world. While much of the war has destroyed infrastructure in the west, behind Imperialisian lines the cities thrived. Marble statues were erected, as artists need not live in fear of having their works destroyed. Stores re-opened after years of being closed. It was a beautiful sight, watching a city rebuild. Hydraxim exports often arrived in the city in many different forms, often it would be clothes or materials to continue the repair of the city. A large amount of civilians had geared a large portion of their economy towards automotive needs, and many of their customers were the motorized infantry of Hydraxim. The weather of Highlock was harsh, but not much different than that of Hydraxim's own lands. Sandstorms were the only true difference between the lands.

The sniper mused at the weather, as the sky was grey and gloomy. He thought of how Quo Godian forces had a terrible time changing their environment so rapidly. This was one of the few factors that allowed much of the Hydraxim forces to retreat with virtually no casualties. As he examined the vast swathes of desert and sand that laid before him, he saw something that he almost had mistaken for a small sandstorm at first, however he threw his goggles over his eyes to better examine the sight.

His goggles emitted a light blue hue from the lenses, his mouth slightly opened at what he saw. His goggles highlighted a massive force, much of it consisting of heavy tanks. They displayed more information on the type of tank and other forces that were present, and the small bases A.I. began examining the information it was being fed from the goggles. The man grabbed his radio from the small makeshift bed that lay in the corner of the platform. The small area was high above most buildings, almost rivaling the few sky scrappers that could be seen in the distance. The building resembled a large hotel, if the only difference being rotting walls and a large chunk of the building missing from the rear. The room the sniper resided was half gone, but to account for this, he removed what little was left of the wall that separated the hall and the room. He dared not challenge the structural integrity to run to the front lines, but instead began almost shouting into the radio.

"This is Charlie-Romeo-Oscar-Sierra-121, a massive force is approaching the city from the South - East, I repeat, you have hostiles coming in from the South - East!" He was broadcasting across all channels with little care of professionalism. He held out his hand, and a small hologram could be seen appearing. It showed the defenses of the city along the south eastern wall, and had small green highlighted rooms. "Echo-Echo-Echo, this is CRO S 121 coming in, get prepared to be hammered by hostile forces, tanks and heavy armor accompanied by large amounts of infantry. Hostiles bearing 118' East-South-East. "

"Roger 121, this is Bravo Sierra November 1-2, hostiles sighted, KEP rounds chambered." (Kinetic-Electric Penetration rounds, or KEP, essentially is a mix of a magnetic-ly launched round and a traditional bullet, they are often modified AP rounds and resemble .50 cal rounds) As the voice over the radio went silent loud popping noises rang out across the city. The snipers were all CRO operatives, most of the ones along the edge were equipped with a modified Barrett .50 cal , and a large quantity of them were scattered throughout the city. The city was a bastion of what Hydraxim had worked for to help the people of Highlock, and they would not let the city go peacefully.

In the distance the few massive armored units of Hydraxim were setting up at choke points, as well as thousands of small black dots scrambling to secure the perimeter and gain vantage points over the enemy. A large makeshift wall surrounded the whole city, and while it wouldn't hold out the enemy the wall was rigged with explosives and sensors. Sirens rang out across the city for all citizens to get indoors or to evacuate through interstate 12, a road the leads further west towards the capital city. The sound of jets could be heard far off, already receiving word of the impending attack. Hydraxim Forces from the mainland moved in to secure neighboring provinces to protect the fleeing Highlockians.

45 minutes after breach through the walls

As the man looked down from the gunship he saw what many Imperialisians feared. Hundreds of bodies littered the streets, if not thousands. Many civilians were caught in the cross fire, between Hydraxim and Quo god, thirteen breaches ran along the southeastern end of the wall. Beside the massive holes in the wall were the scenes of immense devastation. Tanks clogged the holes in the wall, troops laid dead from shrapnel, houses that were within range were only half of what they were. The cracking of gunshots in the streets could be heard for miles, and the screams of freedom could be heard from the few civilians that remained to help fight. Many houses along the range of attack were almost nonexistent, the bodies of Hydraxim soldiers could be seen laying limply at the gates. This attack was one of desperation, and was a sign of how horrors continue despite what many may due to fix the worlds they live on. Hydraxim took a large hit, at least large for Hydraxim numbers. A good majority of Quo Godian forces were forced into a stalemate in the center of the city, and each side hunkered down for what they thought would be a long lasting siege. Hydraxim jets continued to fire bomb neighborhoods in an attempt to force out any hiding Quo God soldiers.

The radio of the pilot crackled to life, "This is Gecko Sierra Alpha 11, We have eyes on possible Quo God forces, permission to drop DRP gas?"

"This is base, stand down Gecko Sierra Alpha 11, we don't want anymore damage done to these people today, pull off and return to Airstrip 9-03, Protocol 331 is active."

"Protocol 331? Are you fucking serious? We can take these bastards three times over!"

"Don't look at us, we didn't call for it, Consul order. Some bullshit about wanting to better our position in global society, I dunno, all I know is I relay the orders and you follow em, now get back to Homebase GSA."

The pilot was obviously agitated, as he knew hundreds of Hydraxim soldiers and thousands of Highlockians died for nothing. The only thing that brought him a hint of satisfaction was the idea that Quo God lost so much more, and the technologies tested could launch Hydraxim forward 10 more years.

[Pillowlandia]

The Imperial Wealth of the Commons and Lesser Kings
Emain Ablach, Imperial Crown Kingdoms of Pillowlandia
July, 1903

---

The gilded halls of the capital, built on the backs of conquests and tributes spanning the whole of Cenaesia and laden with such gold in intricate and elaborate decor. At every juncture stood two Guardsmen of the Imperial Order, their uniforms a deep blue and tinged with the rich orange of the the imperial family and hereditary Ard Rí; the Johgs.

Deep in the bowels of the legislative complex, themselves spread across nearly ten acres of prime land inside the capital of the Pillowlandian state, a simple door swung outward with not a sound. Peering inside, there was nothing but a few shelves filled with tomes of ages long ago. Yet, where there had been not a soul now stood a singular one. Special Commodore Amgo of the Imperial Cenaesian Navy.

Glancing about, he swing the door shut again. With a simple twist he locked the door with a simple key, or at least a key which seemed simple. He walked away and quickly made his way into a major passage, the passage of soldiers upon patrol and various elected legislators from across the kingdoms and colonies passing about with their swarms of aides.

He paused outside one of the many chambers, itself identified only by a number. 321, home of the Commons Committee upon Equestrian Diplomatic Affairs. Nominally meant for oversight of military actions in the Pillowlandian, it served more to inform the legislative bodies at home of what actions had already and would be undertaken or discretely relay the will of the Ard Rí and his ministers. Withdrawing a well made, though not overly costly and wholey fitting upon the rank and social class of the commodore he supposedly was. Confirming that it was indeed time, he filed into the chamber.

Glancing about, there was a simple long table and two tiers of a dozen seats. Enough for the committee and its aides. Across a short space was another, smaller, table meant for various military officers which might grace the committee with their presence. Taking several moments to adjust his seat, and the committee members to settle, he drew a breath before speaking.

“Your Honorable Commoners, I come before you to inform you that the Cenaesian armed forces intends to formally escalate matters upon the ground in Equestria as a matter of safeguarding the extensive crown holdings located upon the continent, and the now significant ethnic population of Cenaesian Pillowlandians. Further, I come to implore you to draft legislation now to formally authorize the crown the right to draw war funds for the special condition of war against the Republic of Armus and her people and allies from the Treasury of Cenaesia. Further, there is a good chance that it would be prudent to authorize the creation of war bonds to ease the immediate demand upon hard currency in this conflict.”

“You expect us to authorize a war across the sea, when we’ve had repeated years of increased tax burden upon the individual Crown Kingdoms all for the sustained expansion of the Imperial Cenaesian Navy? Tell the Emperor of Cenaesia to seek his funds from the rest of the continent, not the kingdoms of his realm.” Spat one of the members of the committee, a certain Cuán Duane from the far off crown principality of Lanceshir.

“Two hundred and twelve, sir. Two hundred and twelve.” the commodore continued, his face darker now.

“Two hundred and twelve what?”

“Two hundred and twelve warships, of various types represent the majority of current active Republic naval assets. Within the next decade and a half that number is set to increase nearly double on just current orders alone. Further, their own new construction outpaces that of current orders of our own Imperial Cenaesian Navy. By a slim margin certainly, but their intentions are clear as day. They intend to rival our fleet and threaten our colonial holdings.”

“We outnumber them nearly 4:1 do we not? Simply gather the fleet and smash them to pieces. War over by the turn of the year.” Countered Duane, almost visibly trying to imagine such a scenario.

“Naval warfare does not operate under such parameters. We’ve continuing requirements across the whole of Terra. Indeed though, we do outnumber them quite handily. To not look towards the future, that would be an error on the scale of our whole empire.”

“Well, tell the Emperor that we’ve no interest in paying more tax. I do speak for the whole of this committee and the commons as a whole.” Duande sneered, “Now, I think it best you be gone.”

At the comment the Commodore rose, swiftly moving to the door. However, he paused for but a brief moment. “His Imperial Majesty will sign the legislation upon his desk within the week, with or without your support. It might do you good to not choke upon your ambitions, for this was not me asking for your blessing.”

Mosocu Shipyards
City of Moscou, Grand Principality of Moscou
July, 1903

---

The clank of metal upon metal filled ones ears as they entered the sprawling yards of the legendary Moscou Shipyards. Once a colloquial term for the various firms scattered across the busy harbor and wide river, it had now evolved to mean a singular entity. A singular beast. Tens of thousands were employed, and countless slipways held everything from pleasure yachts to battlecruisers and even an occasional dreadnought.
Now, as the sun rolled upwards in the sky with the day having begun and the hulls of craft under construction swarming with men the administrative office at the front of the office, overlooking the skyscrapers and other buildings of the bustling Moscou metropolis, came to life. Engineers both scoured the various schematics at work and inspected the various yards for work. While accountants ensured the money owed was paid in a timely fashion.

“Good morning, how may I help you, Commodore?” Began a secretary, who looked over the various metals and awards adorning Commodore Amgo’s dress.

“I’ve an urgent delivery for Sir Dermot. I’m sure he is in the office this time by now.”

“Yes sir, I’m sure you know your way there. Head on back.” She stated, noticing for the first time the thick stack of official papers in his grasp.

Walking past her, and through the variety of office spaces, Commodore Amgo arrived at the primary office of the man in charge. Sir Alexander Dermot, whose family had been members of the aristocracy long before they had even entered the business of constructing vessels of the seas, rose as he entered the office.

“What might I owe this particular pleasure?” He lead, moving towards a side table which held a tumbler of fine alcohol. “And might it be bettered with a drink?”

Shaking his head, Ogma handed the banded stack of papers over. “I’ve not the time for such pleasantries. How soon might the yard be able to turn an additional warship equipped with entirely 15” batteries? I know you’ve two under construction already, but there is an imminent need for additional hulls of the heavier variety.”

“After seeing the recent dispatches, I’m of a mind to agree. I presume this is a stack of orders for warships in that case?”

“One hundred and eighty new orders, and the funds for them. Both to be laid immediately and at later date. I’m certain you will require additional labor and we’ve already put feelers out to the rural regions for additional manpower to be utilized for this task.”

“Very well, from this, I guess there is no room to negotiate a higher price for the ships? Expect delivery of the first War-Class dreadnaughts in exactly a year's time.”

New Avalon City
New Avalon, Equestria
Late July, 1903

---

“Check the manifest, and check for damage. We’ve orders to ensure only good equipment makes it across the border and to our armed friends. Especially these field guns and shells, Lugh knows they’ve a shortage of them.”

“Very well Sir, but what could they possibly need this many guns for? There’s enough on the docks for an army and a half.” Stated the junior soldier, his brass rank insignia showing him a member of the Imperial Coastal Corps.

“They’re not just for our friends to the east. The colonial reserve has been activated.” He stated, jerking his thumb across the harbor towards where a man stood.

This particular man was dressed in little more than beggars clothes and serving less to tell particular men of their call to service than simply informing the populace of the rather rare event. Of course, the soon to be marching mass of nearly 50,000 soldiers in major cities of the colony in the upcoming days as they worked to drill up to readiness would be a message unto itself.

HMS Fury, 111th Dreadnaught Squadron
Meridian Bay Naval Gunnery Range, Imperial Crown Kingdoms of Pillowlandia
July, 1903

---

Smoke roiled alike the sea as the massive warship jerked in all of her 35,000 tons with the discharge of a full broadside. Her eight 15” guns obscured the deck for several long moments, before being blown back by both the fair winds and the movement of the ship through the water at a hearty twenty one knots. Two hundred yards behind her, sat low in the water, was her own sister the HMS Eithne who discharged her own broadside as she sailed over the preplanned location.

In fact, the whole of the 111th Dreadnaught Squadron was in a line, as they performed gunnery drills under the keen eye of Admiralty observers. Even now, as the Fury turned to perform a tactical turn, her four batteries were busy both resetting the massive turrets to their zero position and preparing another series of shells to be loaded.

“Capitán, wireless from the admiralty. Priority dispatch.”

“The message being?”

“Orders to transit via the Grand Canal to New Avalon for immediate reinforcement of the Avalon Coastal Squadron. Rendezvous with fleet oiler HMAS Cauldwin in route.”

“Relay order to the rest of the squadron. Helm, get us underway.”

[The Holy Terranae]

"Unfortunately for The Holy Terranae, their most influential ambassador has been caught having an affair... with Totino's Pizza Rolls. The new foreign ambassador has been named just today, I present to you Guy Who Does The Thing. 3 middle names?! Surprises me too! How have ya been ambassador? Great Amanda, despite the short comings of our previous ambassador he was very good at his job and I am saddened to see him go. However I do believe that The Holy Terranae will be happy with me as the new ambassador as I plan to model after the man before me." An excerpt from a very controversial edition of Is It A Good Morning The Holy Terranae?

[The Holy Terranae]

"The recently appointed foreign ambassador Guy W. D. T. Thing traveled to The Hydraxim Imperialis this past week in hopes of an Alliance pact between the both of our nations, another topic he brought up was the possibility of building an Embassy so that relations between the countries can grow. We hope the new ambassador was successful but he has yet to speak with us, this leads us to two possibilities, either it went south or hopefully the specifications are still being discussed. What do YOU think? You can vote on our Chirp account @IIAGMTHT, we'll be back after a message from our sponsors. IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAS EVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH MESOTHELIOMA YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO FINANCIAL COMPENSATION..." Another excerpt from Is It A Good Morning The Holy Terranae?

[Punga]

News alert music plays
“Mitus, or hello, my name is Liam Henderson and this is Centralized Netwrok of Pungan News otherwise known as CNPN. Today the last living royal of Punga our new dear leader Solomon Soyaz will be talking to the citizens on live recording soon. So this video will switch from me to the live recording, heil Solomon, and heil Punga” Liam says to the camera, as the recording switches from him to a live recording of a woman singing the Pungan anthem.

“Tusabdeo somos, SoloPunsorry abdeotusabba,
somos tus queabdeotus!
somossorry
cuando misorrysomos este abdeosocuandominosomos, tus abdeover tusabbamimo noque micuandonoabdeomo,
somostusno que minosomos sorry tus intetusver Quemi Solono.
que mique solononoabdeo este mi tus, somosabdeo tus mi este –
queno minoabdeo sorry intetusabdeo PP Tus!
nomi sorry que tus no tus queno mimimo noabdeo tus sorry?
mi que solosolo que soloque somosabdeo noabba vamosPunabdeo mi inte! Mi!
no cuandomicuando no mi inte tus (abdeoquetus tus) Solomino', Minoco, sorry mi misoloabdeo.
tus noabdeo queabdeo tusabbaabdeo, queno abdeo cuando.
sorrytusmi no noque mi soloestever sorryabdeo
tus que abdeosomosnomi.
mimo intetusabdeo mi Ver
mo no miesteabdeo sorry somostus
solo, que cuandosorry sorry que tus queno
tus mino tus mi Tuscuandosolo Solonocuando
sorry soloabdeo mi Cuando Sorry sorry miabdeo no nome sorry noabdeo noque somostus.
abdeo mitunoabdeo tus que noque que que tus tusabdeosorry.
mi tus solo! Tus que QueLa, tus que Nomi sorry Somostus!
que mitus sorry que tusnover mique mi mo tus mi miabdeo.”

She sang to the audience before walking down the stage.
As she walks down a handsome dark haired olive skinned man walks up to the stage, “Mitus, or hello, Pungan citizens my name is Solomon if you already know I will be continuing this speech in the common language for those who are watching and are not Pungan. As you all know my family was killed in a horrible vehicle accident and I was the only living member left of the royal family, Soyaz. I did not expect the rumors of me killing my family to be a thing but apparently it is so as to show you my grievances in my father's honour I will not be changing my title and will stay a Prince but I will still rule this nation. I will not steal my father title until the rumours are gone. This is all I have t say except, I will not lead this country into the ground many have said that I’m in it for power and wealth but I assure you that any nation thinking we are weak thinking I the Prince is weak will be corrected swiftly and justly.” The Prince says with a tear in his eye most likely thinking of his dead father as he stormed off the stage. The video cuts back to Liam the reporter sitting in a chair.
“There you have it folks the 17 year old Prince has told us himself that he did not kill his family but whether or not to believe him I could not tell you this is CNPN thank you for watching.” Liam says as the video fades to a commercial...

[Pillowlandia]

HMS Fury, Fury II Class Orbital Combat Craft
[Redacted], Deep [Redacted]
Terran Star System

---

“Contact. Dead ahead, twelve degrees off horizon and has a ten degrees port yaw relative to us. Two thousand kilometers a second, time to range five minutes.”

“Weapons, charge primary rail armament. Fire tubes 12-90. Helm, standby for evasive high-G maneuvers. XO, bring the ship to combat status.” Stated Capitán Bran Fearghal, as he himself engaged then magnetic system in his footwear and strapped himself to the standing seat behind him. As he did so, the various holographic displays around him shifted as the vessel prepared for combat.

Down the primary hall of the cylindrical craft, through several bulkheads and several hundred meters, was the engineering compartment. Or rather, series of engineering compartments.Rearmost was the primary engines, driven by the electrical output of the shipboard fusion reactor as they hummed gently while accelerating the craft. Progressing forward was the primary coolant loop of both the reactor and the ship as a whole. These, combined with the rather large reactor provided to make the rear section of the ship also the hottest on any sensor sweep.

“Release capacitor bank 1, 3, 5, and 7. Standby reserve generators in fore and after sections.” the Chief Engineer shouted, as he belted himself to his station.

Outside the ship were gentle puffs along the outer hull, as the pressurized launch tubes released the ships long range missiles. One by one they slid out of their launch tubes, waiting several moments to clear the ship before igniting their maneuvering thrusters to align towards the target before lighting main engine.

The bridge was silent for several minutes, as the missiles accelerated towards the hostile contact. As the missiles from the Fury accelerated, a smaller barrage crossed the distance in the opposite direction. Once they closed to just shy of fifty kilometers the laster batteries upon the Fury began engaging the incoming missiles, firing pulses of high energy to destroy the incoming projectiles. Just as soon as it had began, the lasers ceased firing for they had struck down every one of the enemy missiles.

Across the gap in space, the same could be said of the hostile target, though several small flames and gaps in hull showed where at least a few of the missiles launched by the Fury had gotten through. All through this, the ships continued to accelerate in each others direction.

Several more long moments passed, as the ships drew even closer. Then, as the ships drew to a mere several dozen both began exchanging railgun fire. Both twisted in space around their central axis, both attempting to avoid the shots and to bring fresh railguns about. At the range, many of the shots from each found their mark. The shells burst through the craft and out of the other side, atmosphere rushing outward into the void with each new breach.

Suddenly, the movement of the ship ceased and the combat lighting of the bridge shifted to a simple white overhead as the hull rotated to locate the floor at a zero degree level. “Simulation, terminated, reactor failure.” blurred suddenly, the Fury now a mere 1/100th size simulator of its namesake. After several long moments the crew began unstrapping themselves, filing out of the simulator and into the lobby of it. As they exited, another set of crew walked into the simulator.

“As far as qualification runs, that was the finest yet of your class. You’ve still a ways to go before you reach minimum competency, any independent cruiser would cut you to shreds out there, let alone a hypercarrier. Now, scurry off to finish your other assignments before your other instructors get annoyed at the time you’ve spent in here of late and make sure to review the tapes too. Dismissed.”

The three dozen officer cadets turned in unison, each stating “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” as they passed the officer trainer out of the central simulator hub of the space station. After the final cadet had passed, the trainer simply stated “sed dulcius pro patria vivere” and returned to monitoring the various simulators.

[Redacted] Church Black Site
Old Lands, Pillowlandia
Terra

---

“State your name, ethnicity, age, and crime.” The officer stated, looking over the disheveled man of Cenaesian descent. He had evidently had poor sleep, and his eyes had a haunted look to them. No doubt a mixture of his actions and those of the agents who had brought him here.

“Tomás Fionnbharr, Duckzchwhitz of my mother and Pillowlandian of my father, twenty-two, and I didn’t do it! You must believe me, I didn’t even know her!”

“You have already been sentenced by the court, your pleas hold no weight here. Now, state your crime.” The officer stated once more, long grown callous to the constant last minute attempts to cry innocence. Something of the place must extrude to every criminal who passed into the facility that they would never be leaving it.

“M-murder. Five counts.” Tomás said, his voice breaking. “I didn’t do it though, I didn’t do it.”

“This way to your cell. Don’t get any ideas, and stay close.” The officer once more stated, sliding his access card through the sensor as he laid his thumb upon the scanner to open the door further into the facility buried deep underground.

“How deep are we?” Tomás finally asked, the two had been walking for the better part of half an hour down various corridors and passageways. Each door had only a four character string of a letter followed by three numbers and were identical aside from that. That, and the growing frequency of the symbol of the holy church as they descended even further put him even further on edge. Not to mention, why no elevators?

They walked a further hundred paces before the officer accompanying him spoke up,” deep enough to require the place to be constantly cooled else we’d be well cooked by now.” Waving his arm around as he continued, “all around is granite, and the whole structure is suspended on a bed of coils. We’re entirely closed off from above ‘cept for that entrance and a few others. Real shame that you won’t be coming back up again.” The short lived conversion died there, Tomás remained confused as to why he was here of all places. It didn’t look the part of a prison as much just a high security facility… almost reminiscent of the base he lived on as a child with his parents. Nonetheless, the journey continued deeper and deeper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It hadn’t been but a few hours, after having been shoved into a modest cell. The floor was bare metal, quite cold to the touch, and there was but a wide bench inside. Suffice to say, that after his adrenaline had leveled off Tomás grew quite bored. Also quite confused, for this was evidently not a prison of any sort even with its security. Which, he had little precious time to think over any further.

The wall opposite the bench he now rested on began a slow disappearing act. Not silently moving away, but literally disappearing piece by piece. His face twisted, as he gazed at the magic act it put on, but also at the hulking cylinder in the other room. He slowly approached what had been a wall, gently passing his hand through it cautiously several times. His hand remaining attached and not resulting in searing pain encouraged him enough to pass through entirely, and instead gaze towards the cylinder.

The cylinder was a plain metal, resting at a near forty five degree angle without any clear reason why, and its smooth surface was interrupted by only one rectangular panel of glass. “What is this?” Tomás asked, almost to himself as he circled it wearily. Almost as though on cue, the cylinder began shifting.
Vanished was its metallic exterior, and instead a simple body which appeared perfectly human except for its ears.The body rested on seemingly nothing but air, and was clothed in a seemingly paper thing suit of armor which drew light from its surroundings without relent. It took only a few moments after the outer shell had vanished, though feeling like an eternity to Tomás, before it opened its eyes and began to rise.

Looking around the room, empty and void of any detail, its eyes darted back and forth. Back and forth, until they settled upon Tomás. The room was as silent now as it had been before the cylinder activated, and its eyes drilled into him for several long seconds. It finally bridged the silence, having looked him thoroughly up and down. “Your people have defiled the holy treaty of eons past, and must pay the price for you meddling in affairs you are ignorant too. No matter your lineage, all must pay.”

“Holy treaty?” Tomás asked, confusion written across the whole of his face, but at the same time the words seemed eerily familiar. Amidst his confusion,it drew nearer and drew up an arm to strike out. Tomás flinched, just missing the edge of the blade that had suddenly materialized. He repeated this several more times, ducking and dodging various swipes of the blade thrust towards him.

It continued like this for several long moments, until Tomás tried to disarm it by way of a kick to the back its knee. Seeing its grip loosen, he delivered a punch towards where he presumed its kidney to be. If it was even human. The punch though, caused Tomás to recoil in pain even as it dropped the blade. That’s some unusual armor., he thought as he tried to reach for the blade.

Instead, it grasped his hand, almost crushing it and causing Tomás to cry out in pain. “You’ve some tricks up your sleeve but you will be dying now, you disgrace your superior blood you mutt.” It drew Tomás close to it, their faces inches from each other. “Do you know what happened to your people? The reasons they died in fire wrought from the heavens while their distant relations could look on only in horror as cities burned sixty seven years ago? Millions dying in minutes, and millions more in the days after we landed?”

Tomás gasped, “You’re…. You’re one of those things!” He renewed his struggle against the grasp of its hand. “You monsters, you killed billions! Then just left!”

It only laughed, “Yes, you know what your grandparents narrowly escaped. But now, I have come to finish the job. Now, it is time to end this charade.” It brought the fallen blade back up, this time resting it against the soft skin of Tomás’s throat. “Any last words?”

The terror, adrenaline, and anger which had been coalescing within Tomás this whole time now simply overflowed, flipping some switch deep in him. He screamed, his voice breaking and full of emotion as he used brute force which hadn’t been there mere moments before to break free. He began pummeling the thing before him, expelling all of the emotion which had built up. His false conviction. This monster and its deeds. Everything. But try as he might, it simply buried its blade into his chest, right through his unarmored heart.

Tomás staggered backwards, grasping at the blade wildly. His face grew pale, and he finally fell backwards hitting the floor beneath him as it began to glow an irregular iridescent color and swallowed him whole before vanishing.

Behind another wall looking over the whole incident stood a squad of armored soldiers, two officers, and three researchers.”Subject of target ethnicity displayed signs of being targeted immediately without identification, implying in field genetic analysis capacity of Anomaly L011(B). Further, displayed action of playing with query, almost as if it took pride or joy from such affairs. This lack of restraint in killing is both a concern for any future encounters of a similar nature and of potential use for own enhanced programs if it is chemically derived. Query appeared to vanish into an unstable gap breach.” Finishing his monologue, and turning off the recorder a researcher turned towards the officers.

“Terminate the subject.”, the officer only nodded and glanced to the squad. Raising their rifles, their helmets sealed. The wall began disappearing much like the section earlier and they began firing as it did. It took but a few moments, the subject confused as his armor was pierced with ease by the automatic weapons, as opposed to being entirely ineffectual as they had been but 67 years prior. Several moments passed, with the soldiers finally ending their torrent of projectiles before they approached and injected a syrem to ensure the job was done.

Director Marshal Sean of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service
Emain Ablach, Old Pillowlandia
Terra

---

He listened intently, the office they met in a simple and modernist one. The usual residence of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service was undergoing extensive renovation, along with a whole host of security upgrades to its infrastructure and grounds. Thus, they had been decamped to this simple complex of buildings shared by various Imperial agencies.

“Such a free hand in a conflict would be an inherent necessity so that we might respond to any changing conditions with ease. Further, though you government may take problems with the preferred ideology of the New Velonians, we have not any. So long as they, or any state for that matter, recognize the superiority of our own or at a minimum keep out of our affairs then we have no issue with them. Quite naturally though, there will always be challenges to both the power of my state and your own by any rival so that they might try and take advantage of any weakness perceived or otherwise.” The director stated, in hopes of correcting or at least informing his counterpart of the basis from which his own states response would be formed.

“That said, such an arrangement would require a fair effort of pre planning to achieve with minimum risk of conflict. Such degree of planning is one we are well used to achieving, and their current campaigns against their own neighbors will ensure a distracted force.Thus, I do believe that this is a most favorable arrangement for the both of us. I must remind you of the necessity that this must be carried by word of mouth and never committed to paper for quite obvious reasons. Though I must doubt the need to remind you, now with that matter of importance settled might I welcome you to a proper Pillowlandian mean this evening? I believe several other issues which might benefit us mutually could do with a friendly conversation. Plus, we need something to feed the spies who are doubtlessly watching our conversations with baited breath.”

[Tudorlandia]

Manus Facility
Mahisian Commonwealth
Nova Terra

"Next" came the call of the entry officer as the line moved forward and the next unlucky person was called forward for admittance to Manus. "Who are you" asked the particularly brutal entry officer. "E-edward Williams" stated the nervous and confused in question. "What's your origin, asshole?" the officer continued. "I-i'm f-from Tasm-mania." replied Williams. "Why the fuck are you here?" came a few seconds later. "J-j-just the u-usual" he said. "Welcome to hell" said the officer with an evil grin, as he shoved Williams through the gate and out into the camp. Williams looked around when he felt his collar lifted by an unseen person. He was dragged towards a nearby, evidently run-down cabin, on the camp's "main street" as the makeshift signs described it. Williams was thrown onto the steps and he got a chance to look at his abuser. He was uniformed similar to the officer who had admitted Edward. He saw the Imperial Armband on his arm, and his rank patch declaring him a Sergeant. He began to speak. "Welcome to Manus. This will be your worst nightmare and for many here, probably you, it will never end. This is what treason against the Transpacific Emperor gets you. What a title. Anyway, this is your cabin. The rest you can sort out for yourself." as the Sergeant walked away he turned back at Williams and noted "By the way: It's Sergeant Calder"

Williams saw men in the shitty uniform that he himself wore everywhere. Some were playing sereneball, others fighting, others simply lounging around. Williams noticed one thing: there were drugs; and people using them; everywhere. Cocaine, devilbren, meth, any illegal drug you could think of was lying around either being used or not by some poor Manus prisoner. As Williams began to stand up and do something, a gang of Manus detainees approached him. "Look. It's a newbie" said the one in the front. Edward was certain they were coming with violent tendencies so he began to back away. "I d-don't w-w-want any trouble f-folks..." Williams began to stutter. "We won't give you any. As long as we know you are on our side." stated the leading detainee. "W-w-what do you m-mean?" asked Edward, confused but intrigued. "We're the DeathBreds.', the man said as he motioned to his company,' and we like to think of ourselves as the biggest and best gang here." In an instant Williams realized that gang warfare was dominant in the camp and he was being recruited to the ""DeathBreds"", whatever the hell that name means. "We want to make sure that you are with us, and not the K.p.K" said the man, laughing at the confused nature of Williams face. "The Kot-Pot Klan. Refugees from former Kotelia. Control the most pot in the camp, while we got the coke." Williams just nodded and said "Okay I'll support y-you" as he looked around. He noticed bags of cocaine attached to makeshift belts that the gangmembers were wearing. "Newbie, eh!" laughed the lead gang member along with his comrades. "The name's Sacar. Meet tonight"

[New Royal Empire]

Berlin Central Power Plant 12:15 A.M Local Time
"Quite and cold, just how I like it" I thought, My mission was simple, infiltrate the plant, shut down power and to the whole city. From there the second team will attack the Royal Palace and kill the Emperor. i dropped in from a skylight into the lobby, I saw a guard, I shot him with a cyanide dart. He went down almost immediately. I cut his thumb off to use on the keypad to gain access to the interior. I sneak around corners and hide behind crates, i could tell they would try to up security, after the last few attacks but that's what we want, to instill fear in the people so anarchy will rise and the country will be no more. I made it to the reactor door, I tried to use the dead mans thumb but it didn't work. I knew what I had to do, I never liked to do it it, it attracted too much attention but I had to anyway. I planted the bomb on the door and set it to explode. I got to cover and set it off. The door blew open, I heard running coming towards me, I knew I was done, I ran in planting the bomb as fast as I could. The bomb was ready as the guards moved in, "Freeze!" the one guard said. I looked at them and blew it skyhigh.

[Quo God]

The time was right to execute the second part of the Quo Godian expansion process inland in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.

The command to start the colony started almost immediately when the window of opportunity arose, Lord Healy won’t accept failure.

While the colony ship was being loaded with men and materials, including some soldiers.

While the captain reached his deck there was a weird amount of security, they didn’t move an inch and they looked pretty high tech wearing all black body armour with a range of fire arms and melee, the captain tried to ask a question but they never returned to his words, the captain shrugged and manned the wheel, all systems were fully functioning, everything was set in motion and he set off into the sunlight.

Four hours later on, nearing the island

The captain whistles a song as he sailed the sea, unlike the last trip the sky was clear, sun was up and heating up the clear blue sea, below deck the people did all sorts shanty’s, food being cooked and pretty much anything to pass the time.

Eventually they reached mainland estimated facing south-west if you were to place a compass on the island itself, not going too close so that the ship wouldn’t be stuck mainland.

One by one the men and women prepared to step on forth mainland, they helped with the boxes and started building up a future city for the future of Quo God.

https://imgur.com/a/39wVc

[Bluraland]

Grotchi Bluraland

In the city of Grotchi set at the center of everything the Diplomats gathered. This was the last chance to avoid conflict over the lands of Anatolia. Around the table they gathered Trace Van Kamp Secretary of State of New Velonia, George Ricksgers the USRC's Head of Foreign relations on Nova Terra and Finally the Diplomat from Bluraland Rosier de medoca a prodigy in the art of Diplomacy and rising the ranks quickly with the guidance of Sir Leon. A communist, a Fascist and a monarchist who would have thought it would come to this so long ago.

The discussion lasted for days and as expected all were agreed on the claims of the USRC. Once that was completed it was time to move on to the more difficult of discussions. The nature of the overlapping claims in Western Anatolia. Each day Rosier pushed his luck evermore on how the state of New Velonia's Lands would look and be ruled.

The Conditions
-The evacuation of already established New Velonian bases in western Anatolia and the transfer of said forces to the new borders.
-In return 100 Billion NS dollars is to be paid to the New Velonian State split between the USRC and Bluraland
-A non-aggression pact will be established between the 3 nations
-The Border between the New Velonian State and Bluraland will be open for free passage across however both nations will have border checks in place to make sure nothing harmful is smuggled across the border
-Bluraland people will be allowed to work the land in the New Velonian States western Anatolian lands as they please
-The New Velonian Currency will be used in the New Velonian States western Anatolian Lands
-The Region will be ruled by the Basileus of Bluraland and the Head of New Velonia as a Diarchy
-The Rights and Freedoms of the Bluralands living in Western Anatolia are guaranteed by the Nation of Bluraland and any violation will result in consequences
-The Blurs who move to the New Velonian States Western Anatolian lands can only leave the New Velonian State for Bluraland and cannot be exploited elsewhere in New Velonia
-The majority of resources found, made will be given to New Velonia for the State to utilize as it pleases
-Should a Blur commit a crime then the local Court will deal with the case and choose the punishment
-New Velonia will be allowed to build bases on the land and any decision to build more will be require the permission of local courts
-Bluraland officials are to be given control in the judicial process of the New Velonian States western Anatolian lands and as such until it is necessary only a small number of military personnel will work in the state as a police force under the court's control

With all the paperwork signed after this deal it was official. All shook hands and left the room with caution as the distrust was high and spies could be around any corner.


Emain Ablach

After multiple days in Pillowlandia Sir Leon received word that a deal had been struck between the powers laying claim to Anatolia. This was great news as it meant many many men will now not have to die and can continue to support the growth of the land. Unfortunately this was going to be a pain in the current negotiations but the fact that Rosier had gotten so much was an incredible feat. Our position had not changed though and that was the key thing he reaffirmed towards Director Marshal Sean of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service.

' No matter what we believe in your right to the straits of Gibraltar and should a conflict ever begin between you and the New Velonian state then we shall support you by whatever means necessary. As we see it is a step back but also a step forward in many regards as positioning is key in the world and with this accord we believe we have achieved such a thing. Hopefully we can continue to move forward with negotiations as we still believe we have a role to play at a later date with your grand nation and the fact we are still here wishing to proceed hopefully does show our support and our commitment to support the marvelous nation of Pillowlandia's interests. Now hopefully back to the other matters at hand to provide more co-operation between our two great nations if that is what you wish '

New Anatolian Borders :

[Confedracy]

The Anschluss of The West
Aclary was and is a threat. With the border disputes in the past many saw that active engagement was over. However. The government of Aclary has collapsed into a state of massive unrest. The time had come to secure the western border and secure more farmland for the soviet people.
The looming threat of a New Velonian occupation of the important straights and the stranglehold that would put on our navy was all to real. Thus the Volksmarine would be playing with the annexations in the south. However. Aclary would not simply fall over. All though flooded with communist propaganda many people would likely resist joining the union. However. They too would soon fall to The Great Bear

Operation Kolibri
This was the "peaceful" part of the annexation.
Marine forces from Volksmarine basis in southern Ukraine moved swiftly to occupy the northern ports and mobile infantry units raced across the frontier their mission to link up with Airborne units occupying major rail and road junctions in southern Europe. Small bands of resistance rose up in the major cities due to reactionaries fearing a socialist government. But these were very unorganized and quickly put down. Scores of political prisoners were taken and most foreign CEO's upon hearing of the coming of the NVA packed into airports and unoccupied shipyards fleeing for their lives. Most of these prisoners were shipped of the work camps in The Ural mountains. Where they would "Pay back the Workers for all the theft they had committed" many would likely never been seen again. The tales of such labour camps from those who made it back to their homelands describe a brutal and harsh landscape and endless days of hard work and awful food.


Operation Aclarian Anschluss
This would be an active combat zone
USRC announced in diplomatic dispatches that all foreign businessmen may find it a good time to leave Aclary.
After a few hour grace period for evacuations. Soviet forces declared the area a no fly zone and set up a naval blockade on the nation. NVA soldiers with Power Armor lead the charge. Not many had this new Type 67 Power Armor. But it would be used in areas of high resistance. Marine raids on ports and naval bases coupled with airstrikes left the Aclraians in dissary. Soviet loses were climbing thanks in part of the handful hour warning before hand. But it was expected to turn into mere pockets of resistance soon. With no one coming to help the small state. They simply were outgunned and to few in number to offer but token resistance to the massive bulk of soviet infantry and mobile forces.

[Pillowlandia]

City of Moscou
Grand Principality of Mosocu, Pillowlandia
Terra

---

He patted the ground of the alleyway, the garbage and dirt hidden away here a stack contrast to the towering and clean buildings of the central downtown. Even here on the edge of the city core, there was little dirt to be seen. Behind the curtain of the street side, however, was the truth of the whole matter: copious amounts of refuse awaiting their once weekly collection. That was alright with him though, anything to soften the cold concrete which was this inhumane construct of ninety million people. Plus, he could just hear the sounds of the docks and yards by the harbor side from here.
It happened almost as soon as he closed his eyes, the now sickly familiar locking of every muscle and joint in unison. Opening his eyes once more he found himself in an alien world. All around him, in a tight formation, were men in armor and swords. Yet, it was nothing like the textbooks or museums held. Weapon and protection alike were a dark black which seemingly soaked up any light around them. This time though, the faces as he looked about all seemed familiar.
He had just settled into accepting another terrifying dream of marching across a parade ground without any control over his body but for his head when the smell assaulted the ramparts of his nose -- sickly and sweet, the smell of rotting corpses and recently detonated explosives made him want to throw up then and there. He looked around again, glancing leftward and seeing nothing but other advancing columns of men in formation just as he. Glancing rightward he saw him, he kept in time with the formation but floated several inches above the ground. His armor was not the light consuming black of the clearly more common troop but a shimmering metallic silver whose surface shifted back and forth. His sword was drawn, and simply a glance at the blade forced him to look away. The blade screamed for blood to sate its appetite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Devin Finnbarr, you are under arrest for crimes against the crown.” The uniform clad man stated, his dress that of the Moscou Metropolitan Police Force and finished off with a ballistic vest. His own telescopic nightstick was drawn, as was that of his two companions.
Devin’s eyes flew open with a start, the transition between his nightmares and the real nightmare of his life even harsher than the usual. His eyes darted between the officers and their weapons, and several seconds passed. Finally, he rose, gently lifting himself from the ground as his joints popped in response to his movement. Yet, when the officer moved in to place cuffs on him he struck. A simple blade hidden in the long sleeve of his shirt was now visible, light bouncing off of its crude and rough edge. It drove home between the man's ribs, cutting him down instantly.

His two companions lept into action, swinging their own sticks against Devin. He grunted as they found solid marks, turning to jab his blade at one of them. The officer avoided it with deftness, his awareness of what had conspired against his friend making him one not willing to be a repeat. The brawl continued for several minutes, the two other officers earning several deep gashes- though none were of a lethal variety.
Devin on the other hand, fared much worse as the force of their nightsticks had broken his nondominant hand when he tried to block. His own thrusts were growing weaker until he landed a strike to an officers jugular.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devin blinked and was back inside the dreamscape once more, this time as the formation was in pitched battle against a hostile force. Both sides wore similar attire, and cut each other down in swaths. All the while he could hear the whine of artillery falling down from the heavens. His own sword swung independent of his thoughts, finding a mark and sliding through both armor and person like little more than paper.
His dream persona had fought his way to the front right, alongside him. Thrust. Cleave. Pull. Thrust. Cleave. Pull. Thrust. Cleave. Pull. Over and over, he pushed his way through the hordes of soldiers. He finally took a moment to glance at the faces he was cutting down, their sunken eyes and almost grey skin giving them a ghoulish look.
His advance was halted only by the strike of a ghoul upon him; a glancing one, to his shoulder which dug into the armor plate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

He jumped backward, blinking, as his vision returned to the dirty back streets of Moscou. A side glance towards his shoulder showed the white of bone poking outward. Despite that, Devin continued to breathe evenly, calming fighting back against the now lone officer as it developed further and further into little more than hand to hand combat between them. As he fought further he could feel the exhaustion growing, and his vision began to blur. The back streets of Moscou and the alien field of battle messily overlaid atop one another. He saw both the black of his sword and the slipshod shard of a blade he held in his outstretched hand. Back and forth he fought, his mind little more than passively absorbing the view as his body moved with instinct beyond anything he had ever known.
But now -- as he saw both worlds -- he faltered. The instincts propelling him slowed, forcing his numb mind forward to control his own actions. It was then that more officers arrived, armed with firearms. Upon his other eye, he moved over the crest of a short hill and saw a seemingly endless sea of ghoulish men in black garb of armor and sword. Yet, as they approached he stood still. A gentle sway came into his stance, him realizing the exposed bone and cuts across the whole of both his selfs. That which had propelled him so far and long abandoned him in a rush, and he began to fall as sword and bullet drove through the heart of both his dual self. Vision blackening, he collapsed backward and the ground rushed up to meet him with an irregular iridescent color glow. His bloodless body fell through, without a single sound as it swallowed him whole and sealed shut behind him.
Knight Sentinel Sosimo Muireadhach Clemens
Inspectorate of Foreign Capabilities, Principality of Tara, Pillowlandia
Terra

---

“So they’ve deployed powered armour systems have they? Quite overdue in many ways, they’ve a capability to do something we have done for the better part of three decades just languishing in the corner. I believe that an accelerated roll out of the Mk. XII is in order. Certainly to front line forces of the Red Branch and Knight Sentinels.” Spoke Sosimo, placing the intelligence summary on the desk before him.

High-Inspector Loyd Oliver stood beside the desk, leafing through various other intelligence reports. “We’ve multiple reports of attempts to start nuclear programs on Nova Terra. We’ll have to make some covert deployments and ‘encourage’ them to stop before they make any real progress.”

"Indeed we will."

[The Greater Rhine Nation]

Frauenkirche
Neu Marienstadt
Benedikt Provinz, the Greater Rhine
Terra

Every man, woman, and child born in the Greater Rhine has a right by blood to choral evensong. In every church, abbey, or cathedral from the banks of the Channel to the March, any person could walk in a little after tea and take part in an ancient rite. For those in Neu Marienstadt, it was not uncommon to attend Evensong in the side chapel and see the Lord Chancellor.

An unprepossessing man of a little over six feet in height, with a noticeable limp, Lord Chancellor Eichmann was not a man of many words. In the nineteen years since he had acceded to his office, his main achievement was quelling religious violence in the colonies. While Terran provinces were amenable to the episcopal doctrines espoused by the Dominion, colonial provinces were not. Calvinists and charismatics in Boer Country and the Plate had consistently caused riots at best and separatist governments at worst for Eichmann's predecessors. It had been seven years since the end of the colonial unrest, and three since the end of military government. The weapons supplied by his Cenaesian neighbors were regarded by the Colonials as unholy and destructive. Perhaps this was Eichmann's intent. He had made an example to the rest of the world that the splendid isolation of his hermit kingdom was sacrosanct - inviolable.

Tonight's Evensong did not start much different than the rest, as it progressed from the introit to the readings. The lessons for tonight were of a darker nature - the slaughter of the Midianites. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. Eichmann was familiar with the tale. The presbyter had ascended to the altar to begin the prayers when all heard a huge thunderous boom.

When he was a young man, Eichmann was a sailor. He had went to the Academy like his father before him, and served from 2022 to 2042 on various vessels, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He had seen war. Fresh out of the academy, he was deployed to a low level conflict in the newly founded colony of Boer Country. The wholesale genocide of Boer villages was condemned throughout the Nova Terran world, while Terran sources remained mostly silent. The K.M. Mengeringhausen, his vessel in the latter days of the Second Red Revolt, had been involved in the notorious Bombing of Arnkerk. Eichmann was no stranger to the horrors of war. It was familiar to him.

When the screaming started, all in the Chapel ran outside to observe the commotion. On the horizon, where once stood the ancient Battenberg Hall, home of Parliament, there now only stood a huge dustcloud. The flames could be seen from over a mile away. Eichmann felt at home.

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

[Taoiseach Federalist Unions]

The General stood staring down his soldiers, stoically waiting for the Pillowlandian navy to send transport ships to pick up the soldiers. "Repeat after me.
I, _____, solemly declare my
loyalty to The Almighty Wyrm
and to my Elder Overseer, _____.
As such, I give my heart so it may
be a war drum, my teeth as they
are my true protection, my arm
as the sword of the state. As I
expect the state to be my shield.
I vow to uphold the code of Kross,
and understand I am fearless, but
respect those who oppose me.
May I spill blood so I may be clean."
After the soldiers finished with their oath, he smiled, waiting for the blood he would be shedding on Velonian soil. The Krossac Soldiers were raised to be warriors from birth, first fighting with spears and using hand to hand combat, then improving and using guns. Some of the best marksmen in the Commonwealth, the entire country was raised to be an army. Aside from one transport that would be used for Cows and one for a certain carnivorous beast, the rest were soon flooded with krossac soldiers, some their last steps on the homeland soil would be left in an impression upon the sand, never to be seen again. The more experienced soldiers stood and talked, while the newer ones huddled in corners, not used to using vessels. Soon the soldiers would all be united on the battle field, ending the agressor and terror that was the Velonian nation. the cargo ships soon departed, taking the soldiers West towards the land of the enemy.


One Week Later
The ships landed with a defining thud, opening up their bay doors, with the Krossac warriors instantly spilling out, war cries on their lips as they attacked the fishing settlement. They took no prisoners, as there were no prisons in Krossia to hold them, and being a prisoner to a Krossac is a fate worth than death. They did, however, spare the women and children, and used them to set up their camp, all the while scouting parties were sent out to further find the Velonian soldiers.
“Oh it’s amazing, the way they spill their life story to you before ripping out their throat.” Krossian warrior when asked how it feels to kill an adult after the battle.

“It’s not the best, but it must be done. Everyone, even tikes are a threat when they have spirit in them.” Krossian warrior when asked how it feels to kill a child after the child attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife. The soldiers did not relax, but were pleased in the destruction they had already accomplished in less than 30 minutes. The cows were soon unloaded, along with some cages that had cloths over them, though the soldiers could swear they could hear something inside of them.

[Armus Republic]

OOC: Just be happy you're getting a post


Outskirts of Bakir
July 5th, 1903

Major General Brands slams the phone down onto the receiver and sends a pile of papers flying, “What the fuck happened to my division?!” The headquarters tent was full of chaos. Soldiers were running around trying to figure out how an entire Republican division was swallowed by the sand. As the reports came in, the situation grew darker: The two entire motorized divisions had been lost. While some groups of survivors were filtering into the rear lines, the vast majority were gone. Thousands of men and hundreds of artillery pieces…it was the worst defeat of the war, outpacing the slaughter of the cavalry troops at the onset of the invasion. To make the situation worse, the entire front line was now exposed. Major General Bands contacted the Republican High Command informing them of the situation, then ordered the remain units to pull back. Bakir, for the moment, was still in Comeristan hands. For long was the question…

Polis, Armus
July 6th

The headlines weren’t good. “INVASION STALLED” “TWO DIVISION WIPED OUT” “COMERISTAN’S WONDER WEAPON” The whole city was buzzing with speculation on the major defeat. Everyone had assumed that Comeristan was a third-rate nation, barely able to feed itself. To have such a hard blow struck was befuddling. The Senate, along with the Army, had called for a full investigation into the matter. For President Barrow, there were more pressing matters. The invasion had stalled. Without Bakir, the Republican Fifth Legion would be unable to advance any deeper into Comeristan. The roads were unsuitable for wheeled vehicles, leaving the decayed rail system as the only viable alternative. While it took time to bring the up to standard, it was a lot quicker then constructing new roads. The Republican lines were now open, though Barrow had been informed that they were in the process of being closed and that Comeristan had made no attempts to exploit the lack of defensives. In fact, by all accounts, it seemed that the Comeristan soldiers in Bakir were just as shocked by the sudden and deadly attack. For Barrow, that meant not even the Comer Army knew what was going on. Then came the questions of numbers and continuing the invasion. Both the War Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advocated for continuing the war, on the condition that more units be brought in. “To be completely honest sir, we’ve no fucking idea what happened out there yesterday. And no Senate or ARA investigation is going to answer that question anytime soon. If we want to hold what we have and continue to take more, we need to commit more soldiers to this.” Barrow nodded slowly. He had served eight years in the Army but wasn’t a fan of sending young men off to their deaths. He was a weapons man. He truly believed that technology was the key to fighting wars. Better weapons, not more men, was the answer. “I am aware of some experiments being conducted by the Army, specifically around suffocates.” The WS and CJCS shifted in their seats, “Yes sir” “And?” “They show promise. The two holds up are protection for our own men and an effective delivery system. Currently the only way is to have canisters full of the stuff spray out and hope the wind blows towards the enemy. A few have suggested using artillery shells and that could be the best method.” Barrow nods twice, “How long till they can be deployed?” “Well sir, I figure the delivery won’t be the issue. But once they find a way to protect our men, they’ll be quickly used.” “Good. What about the rail line?” “General Oliver has already ordered that defensives be built to protect it all cost. The engineers are also beginning to improve the roads as well.” “And Bakir?” “We need it to advance further in” “Then take it. You’ll get two more Legions and another Air Wing to help. If you can’t take a damn haji city with a million plus men, then I’ll find someone else who can.” The two men nod and leave. It would take a week or so to get that number of men ready and moved, but at least knowing they had the extra manpower would ease some nerves. Now if only they knew what the hell happened….

[New Velonia]

Wilderness- Velonian Granica, Northern Africa

The war sounds started in the early morning. 15-year old Nikaus O'Bradley was spending his morning just like any other. He woke up, dressed in semi-clean clothing, and trotted down to the fishing area where his father and uncle caught fish every morning and sold it to the nearby town markets. Greeting and kissing eachother, Nikaus begun the morning like any other.
"Nikaus, what's the big rush, eh?" Inquired his father, who took notice of his hurrying to finish his chores.
With red cheeks he tried to dismiss suspicion of anything other than early morning energy.

Hauling buckets of fish all at once, he began towards the town without a goodbye to his dad and Uncle. The fish started blankly with glazed eyes as he walked to the nearby town and dumped off the fish with his mother.
Revealing her clean teeth with an amiable smile, his mother also inquired why he seemed to be in a rush. Once again he dismissed suspicions of anything of the sort of teenage emotions and grew frustrated at his mother's insistent questioning. Nikaus shouted at his mother out of anger and turned away and began walking away from a sorrow-stricken mother.

Stopping off at home, he slipped out of his now foul-smelling shirt and pants and dressed in nicer clothes. As he undressed, he thought of the girl he has met at school. Her long blonde hair and blue eyes hypnotized Nikaus like a dog with a squirrel. It was the first time since moving away from Pillowlandia that he met anyone so beautiful. Seeming satisfied, he grabbed his flowers but suddenly remembered that he left his good shoes near the lake.
"Pierd!" he muttered in frustration. He had to go out to the lake dressed in the clothes he was planning to impress a girl with, and he had not the time to change and change out again twice. Leaving the flowers behind, he began towards the sea.

In a scene that captured his face and drew the blood from his cheeks, he saw several ships he identified from the cramped slums in Pillowlandian-held nation ports. However, the beasts who stepped out from them looked nothing like the comparatively aesthetic Pillowlandians did. These beasts held onto them square faces, heavy with thick and mongrel-like eyebrows and hair. Their teeth as yellow as the sun and as crooked as Nikaus' Grandfather, rest his soul.

Ducking behind nearby foliage, he saw them marching towards his family's house, just as the smell and sight of ash reached him from winds blowing from the town. The beasts spoke in a course accent, almost impossible to decipher and unlike the smoother accents of Velonia or Pillowlandia. One such brute had, thrown over his shoulder, the elderly frame of Nikaus' uncle. They walked past his house and headed Southwards for a reason unknown to Nikaus. Peeking out of the foliage a bit more, he made out distant talking, almost pleading. He recognized the voice as his fathers, and tried to decipher more of his father's voice but was interrupted by nearby twig breaking.

Spinning his neck with an unnatural speed and saw, few yards behind him, a brute of disgusting appearance, leaning towards him with a malicious smile. Nikaus yelled and leapt away from him, running towards the house and losing all sense of direction. Crashing into the door, he felt a sharp pain in his side of which he could only deduce as a broken rib. Swinging the frail door open and shutting it behind him, he leaped for the kitchen and stumbled around for a steak knife and produced it from a nearby drawer.

The blood rushed into his ears as he walked slowly up to the closed door in terrible anticipation. Suddenly, it flung open with a barbarian behind it. The brute looked around for Nikaus, but found nothing. A few steps forward and Nikaus ambushed him from behind, hidden from a nearby closet. In a few seconds, the deed was done and the brute lay before Nikaus, bloody and lifeless.

It was only then that the reality of the situation hit him. Nikaus collapsed on the floor, overcome with emotion. Uncontrollable sobbing was replaced with silent screaming while he mourned for his Uncle, probably his father, and quite probably his mother. The last interactions he had with them were ones of blind anger- a fight with his mother and simple ignoring of his father. If only he could tell them he loved them one last time- for that he would give anything, even his own life. And for what? For some barbaric pirates to get a few laughs and free fish.

Rubbing his eyes, he decided his house would be a target and fled into the forests. Running and getting cut by twigs, he made it several hundred yards into the greenery before a sharp ringing made him kneel down and look to the sky. A beautiful yellow strike burst across the sky above him and was met with a thunderous explosion. This repeated several times before the silence was again broken with the sound of helicopter blades ripping through the air.

The Air

From the air, the missile strikes came from drones, situated far away and at a low elevation. The missiles struck the transport vehicles and destroyed each of them. Then several hit makeshift camps the barbarians were huddling around. Bombardment continued until it was deemed safe to rappel men down. War helicopters hauled Velonion Special Colonial Ops to the scene, where they rappelled down and easily gunned down the pirates, armed only with spears and bows. No casualties followed on the Velonian side, and every pirate was terminated with extreme efficiency and cruelty.

---

OOC- Not enough time to write this part, but basically President Hawke is so angry that he orders the immediate investigation into what happened and also allows gun sales to civilians in colonies and immigrants in colonies (which was earlier illegal because dirty pillowlandian immigrants dont deserve guns, or whatever)

[Acmeria]

*The president sits at his desk, the DRA flag hangs behind him while the Secret Police are standing at his door alert and armed with SMGs, wearing sunglass and black-suits with earpieces. Finishing up paperwork and and signing the last law for the day. STAMP with the president's logo and signature. The president recently approved a military budget, increasing investment and more attention to the military.

*Phone rings*

"Hello, Mr President." The president of Krossia , neighbor of DRA have long discussed a possible military alliance.

"What can I do for you?"

"Has your government come up with a decision on an alliance between our nations?"

"We are very interested actually, I've even called our ambassador to go to Krossia and discuss further relations."

"Good! Very good! I shall await for further responses from your ambassador! Good day."

*The phone call ends*

"Sir, we should also focus on other nations for alliances..." Says the president's military advisor.

"Don't worry" The president responds. "We will take one step at a time. Once we see how things will go with Krossia and Pillowlandia we can further our international relations."

"very well, but I still think it's a goo-"

* The ambassador entered, the overhead light reflecting softly off of his gold watch and the fine cloth of his navy three piece rustling gently as he closed the door behind him”

"You wanted to see me Mr. President?" He says standing as if almost like a soldier when referring to his C.O.

"Thanks for stopping by Ambassador." He says in calming tone. *The president looks at his military advisor* "We will discuss this later we have important matters to discuss, leave us" "As you wish sir..." The 6 foot 4 inches military advisor steps past the ambassador the officers guarding the room opens the door for his departure. "Okay, let's get down to business ambassador." They are both ready for this. Ready to open international relations for the first time hope this move will strengthen the military power of D.R.A "I need you to go to pillowlandia, I've discussed over the phone with their military JCS on an agreement to buy their military technology, the most needed are the tanks." The president hands the Acmerian Ambassador a folder saying eyes only showing one of the most powerful yet expensive technology in the world. "This is everything you need to know, all we need is their leader's 'O.K' be sure you let them know we will pay them hefty dollars if this goes through. We need you to try and convince them of a Non-Aggression-Pact After that, we are looking towards a military alliance with our neighbor Krossia." Krossia has had strong relations with Acmeria, the president and the entire government of Acmeria are very confident in a military alliance.

"I'll get right on it sir!" he says

"Good, your plane will taking off soon, the secret police will escort you the entire way. We're counting on you."

As the ambassador heads to the plane he reads the eyes only file

"This tech will bring our military up high, we have to win this deal" He mutters to himself "I have to get an agreement to this deal." As the plane takes off.

[Tudorlandia]

Timor Colony
Imperial Transpacific Federation of Mahisia
Nova Terra
The construction work in the western portion of the Colony had largely finished. The growth in the port was increasingly beneficial, although there were some setbacks due to the fact that nearby Quo God was a communist country. Chang-Do-Sun was moving through the crowd quickly to avoid potential discrimination from the Mahisians. It was a common thing. Chang's grandmother had told him an ethnic war would come to ravage these islands; to Chang she seemed quite right. The Mahisian colonists enforced all of their laws and natives were given no more rights than they had before. Martial law was in place in some parts of the colony, more heavily native and Quo Godian parts, although Chang was sure this marketplace was not on that list. As he was buying bread, he saw himself proven wrong. Somebody was shoplifting and now they were being beaten by soldiers. Chang turned away. He picked up his bread and moved quickly back to his hut.

"Hello Chang" said his grandmother as he entered the old hut. It was built centuries ago by Chang's tribal ancestors. "Here is your bread, ma"
"No, you eat it. I don't have enough life left to worry about the bread"
"O-ok ma." replied a slightly sad Chang. He put the bread on the bench near his bed. "A man was beaten in the market today, ma. The Mahisians sure love their martial law"
"Foreigners can't help but expand and then raise their flag over others lives. It's human nature. Back in my day, war was how people settled disputes."
"Which meant a lot of war" remarked Chang, both sarcasticly and correctly. His grandmother simply nodded. Chang sat down on a bench and pulled out some bread. As he ate he switched on the television which had been given to him by a Mahisian trader. Chang switched over to the news channel, simply expecting weather and other daily occurences. But when he saw the headline he dropped his bread. "Confirmed reports of an uprising in Sulawesi and Timor.....Imperial bombers expected.....fighting expected in and around Laga colony....."


After staring at the TV in awe and shock for several minutes, Chang heard gunfire coming fro the distance. He looked at his grandmother. "Go, Chang. You have much more life ahead of you than I. I can deal with these ruffians." and so Chang ran. As he expected people were running and screaming in the streets. The gunfire drew closer, birds flew in large flocks away out to sea. Chang was focused on the direction of the gunshots when he ran into something. He fell on his back into the mud, and saw a Mahisian soldier looking down at him. "On your feet, take position!" he shouted as he thrust an assault rifle into Chang's hands. "N-n-no there's been a misunde-" Chang was cut off by the sound of explosion. He jumped to his feet, keeping the gun in hand, and dived for cover. His heart pounding, he looked at the nearby Mahisian soldiers and then over the cart he was crouching behind- he saw rebels. Chang lifted the gun up and without thinking, pulled the trigger.