Somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean, more than 4000 miles from the Exodian ArchipelagoNortheast Protected Wing, Kingstrom Forward Naval BaseThe leader of the Democratic Exodian Territories sat in silence and ate his afternoon meal slowly in the dimly lit room, waiting for aides to carry his finished plates away, deep in extreme thought.
No, it was not his invasion of Tam Dimei, a relatively small island empire that had attacked one of Exodia’s merchant liners, and the reason why he was on a secluded military base so far from home. That conflict in itself was a headache- a painfully-slow operation, that combined with a lack of intelligence, had driven himself, the government, the military and even the people to the edge for some time.
No, it wasn’t the Natanese rebellion, a conservative-minded insurrection in the infamously left-wing state, where he had hired and sent his nation’s best crack mercenaries, good-minded men who bore no rank but defended freedom all the same, to risk their lives to help free these foreigners.
Instead, it was a strange feeling- with a crystal-clear, brilliant-blue cloudless sky outside, it absolutely did feel like calm before a storm. The eyes, sparkling dark eyes of the young Chinese man concealed an utter maelstrom of fervent wonder of what was to come.
Governor William Shang, Commander-In-Chief of the Democratic Exodian Territories“Mr. Governor? Sir?”
Shang was disturbed from his imagination, as he scrambled to remember his thoughts for a moment, before catching himself. A young pale-skinned man and a dark-skinned woman stood in front of him, both bespectacled, the latter clutching a couple of file folders.
“I’m sorry, forgive me. What’s going on? Who are you two?” Shang stuttered for a moment, before getting up from his chair slowly.
“I’m Nasrin Abboud. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Governor.” The woman walked forward, placing her folders on the table and offering a handshake. “Ministry of State.” She said in a slightly high-pitched voice with a slight accent, stepping back to let her male counterpart step forward. Shang offered a small smile and nodded.
“Agent Alexei Romanoff, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” The man, unlike his female companion, who wore a civilian’s blazer and business clothing, was wearing the double-breasted uniform of the Exodian Navy, decorated with a few medals. He snapped a salute before offering his own hand. “Ministry of Intelligence, formerly in the Navy.” He smiled, talking in his own slight accent.
“Oh! I believe I know both of you. Miss Abboud, weren’t you one of the assistants to our Ambassador to the World Assembly? Before we left the damned syndicate, of course.”
The woman gave a small laugh. “Yes, that’s correct. And like my companion here, I didn’t exactly approve of that decision...” She glanced at the uniformed Alexei, who only shrugged. “Progressive Party, we’re afraid.”
Shang jokingly shook his head at the comment, before turning to Alexei. “
Master Sergeant Alexei. I’ve heard your story. Rose quickly through the ranks of the Navy ever since you enlisted, was the youngest member of White Dragons Special Operations before joining the Intelligence Ministry. Almost joined the Executive Guards, but thought it wasn’t for you and instead decided to be our nation’s own Jack Ryan.” Alexei only nodded. “I also appreciate your brother’s work in our Air Force.” Shang added.
“Should we get on with this briefing, sir?” Alexei asked.
“Yes, please.” Shang replied.
Alexei left the room, while Nasrin came forward with her files, putting one folder in Shang’s hands.
URGENT: KATSURIAN INTELLIGENCE REPORT, it read, with the Exodian “Red Dragon” official seal and a blood-red “C” stamp on it, noting it’s sensitive information.
“I’m assuming you’ve heard of the Queendom of Katsur, Mr. Governor?” Nasrin asked, as Alexei returned to the room with an iron-colored briefcase, laying it down and opening it to reveal a projector and a laptop.
“I believe I have. Feudal nation with an arrogant, conceited underage princess as an absolute monarch, a bureaucracy-filled socialist system, and... that’s all, aside from the ridiculous flag. I’m afraid I haven’t taken the time to research the place.”
“Well, let’s start off. We knew you might not have known too much about the state.” Nasrin answered.
Alexei tapped a few keys on the laptop, the wall lighting up as the projector started to softly whirr.
“
This is the Queendom of Katsur. Subcontinent island nation deep in the South Pacific, located within a weak-power rift*, which explains how so many people and other influences have been able to reach them. Despite their location, their ethnicity is white- Anglican, French, a bit of Prussian influence- I’d say they all sailed there and colonized it during the Elizabethan era. It’s probably where they got their ideas of government and most of their culture from. I’m no expert on Katsurian history, so take what I say lightly.”
Alexei said, the projector displaying a digital map of Katsur.
“That’s interesting. I always thought they were inland, somewhere in Europe.” Shang said, sitting on the edge of the table. “What’s the fuss about them? Even though I did consider making an excursion plan eventually, I put it off due to other matters.”
“We’ll get to that very soon. This is their capital, and the only city we could really find intel on. They call it The Dark Crystal.” Nasrin said, a puzzled expression on her face that matched Shang’s.
“Damned weird name for a
city, especially their capital. What gave it that moniker?” Shang asked.
“Apparently, in their distant past, there was a cult with the same name as there city, who believed that a giant black gemstone had the power to control demons. They worshipped the stone and performed human sacrifices to it, using those who criticized it and their deserters for the said sacrifices. They promoted violence towards those who didn’t convert, and.. yeah. Things you’d expect an extremist cult to do. Eventually, through a process much like the old witch hunts, the royal military was able to basically exterminate most of them. At the same time, it’s believed that they’re still at large. I have no idea why they would name their capital city over something so horrible in their own history, though.”
Shang narrowed his eyes. He himself was a Christian Catholic, and even had been captured by a religious cult as a child and was forced into slavery- thankfully, the experience was very short-lived.
“It’s also why modern Katsur are militant athests. After that, it was all over, with state atheism being a royal decree. There’s no record of any other religions from the outside world having any influence- no Muslim clerics, Christian missionaries, Buddhist monks that might have traveled there- it’s assumed they were all killed on sight.” Nasrin said, a somber tone in her voice.
“That’s horrible, quite a shame. I guess that an extreme in one side results in the extreme in the other, at least in this case.”
“Moving on.” Alexei said, as the projector skimmed to the next slide. “The main source of political unrest in Katsur. She’s the general of the Royal Guards, the state’s military as well as their police department. She’s grown just as powerful as the royalty in Katsur themselves as of late. Her name’s Anna Sabelline.”
The projector showed a photograph of the pretty, red-haired woman.
“A beauty like this? Is this some sort of twisted joke, or... I’m guessing it might have contributed in her rise to power.” Shang said.
“She started a protest during a military parade, which escalated into a bit of a civil uprising. She denounced the actions of the princess, and also protested by, umm... - Well, if I click here, it’s a video included in the intel we gathered.” Alexei struggled to suppress a grin under his tortoiseshell glasses, while Nasrin rolled her eyes.
“I think I understand what you’re saying, and we should probably skip this. Try to keep this professional, Romanoff. Nonetheless, I
would like to see that video later.” Shang said, laughing for a moment. “Carry on.”
“We’ve got basic biological information, but that’s not important. What’s important are her views, however, and how quickly she became powerful through the military.” Nasrin said. “Much like what Katsur is known for, she’s a militant atheist and a far-left socialist. However, in addition, she’s quite an ultranationalist. It’s obvious she supports full-on authoritarianism and autocracy.”
“And above all that, she considers herself a f**king radical feminist.” Alexei added.
“Social justice, world domination, the same old dream. Anything else notable?” Shang said, listening intently. “I’ll write a letter addressing all this in a bit. I want to focus on what we have to expect once we start the intervention plan. What’s technology like in this place? Knights, fairy-tale castles and the like, or something more modern? Steam locomotives, primitive machine guns and trench warfare, up to the point of the First World War?”
“You couldn’t be more laughably wrong, I’m afraid. I was just getting into that as well. She’s responsible for the rapid modernization of their military.” Nasrin said. “Alexei, this is your turn.”
Alexei cleated his throat, as the slides flipped again to soldiers training.
“Like one would expect with their culture, all of their soldiers are talented horseback riders, much like our own cavalry units. But they’re trained extensively in modern tactics as well, notable guerilla warfare. That could be a powerful hindrance to an invasion.”
As the slide flipped once more, Shang spoke. “I’ve seen enough fighting in my own life to recognize these. Copy of the American Barrett M2 sniper and anti-material rifle, chambered in .50-caliber BMG. Chinese copy, albeit a very good one, by its looks and dimensions. The scope I don’t recognize. On the bottom is a Swiss SIG SAUER 9-millimeter submachine gun, with the stock off an American KRISS Vector and top furniture of an FN SCAR, alongside a generic suppressor, a laser sight, and red-dot reflex sight. Is this all they’ve got in their standard inventory?” Shang asked.
“No. There’s some you’ve missed, although most is correct. The’ve got their own KRISS-based SMGs and also Mk. 14 rifle versions of their own, but I don’t entirely need to touch on that.” Alexei said. “That scope on the Barrett- according to intel, it’s a Katsurian-made fire-control device. We’ve seen a few of those, but they’re rare. They’ve also got HUD systems in their scopes and helmets. They might be larger and heavier, but they perform almost like ours, “tagging” hostiles to show up on other devices. They also seem to have their own version of Power Armor- by the looks of it, it’s not half as effective as ours in terms of practicality, but it does perform psychological warfare just as well as ours.” Alexei switched the slide from the guns to the armor system, Shang staring at the screen. While it didn’t look too practical, it certainly was imposing.
“Also in their inventory are these strange-ass modular scout vehicle system. Two motorbikes come together to form a dune buggy. It’s all I can say. Among else, there’s... I think that’s all. You can look into these files yourself if you please.” Alexei finally stopped talking, a bit out of breath.
“Certainly. I know how you feel, these briefings can be tough. Alright.” Shang nodded to the pair.
“We’ll gather as much more intelligence as we can.” Nasrin said to the Governor, before leaving the room. Shang left right after them, taking the briefcase and files with him.
Central Command Room, Kingstrom Forward Naval BaseShang walked into the theater-sized mission control, the briefcase and files under his arm. He walked up to the back of the the room as the service members briefly saluted him before returning to their duties, the multitude of monitors flashing away.
“Here.” Shang placed the things he had gathered in front of General Fowler and Director Bujeras, the leaders of his Defense and Intelligence Ministries, respectively.
They looked to each other surreptitiously, as if to say, ‘Off to War again?’ once before starting to brief themselves.
As they read and watched, Shang added, “They’re not too far from the base. We could send an entire contingency, even two naval groups, in less than 2 days. Our aircraft can reach the edges of the rift* in less than a couple hours. Here’s our chance. See what we have available, and let me know as soon as you finish.”
Thus, the atmosphere of Kingstrom Base changed in an instant, as gears shifted to roll in another direction... the clockwork was only to turn faster from there.
(*OOC:)