Civil war brewing in Shannra[MT/Closed]

[Shannra]

As requested a crude map of Shannra


Sand blew through the streets wearing away at the buildings and people, rusting the occasional car and scourging the few hardy plants that managed to push their way through the cracking pavement. Worn, tired people wandered through the narrow streets framed on either side by short sandstone building going about their business and trading for what goods they could afford. Most people laid in the shade granted by open garages or the occasional tree waiting for the mid day sun to finish its daily task of baking the earth and just move on to bake some other part. These were the outer sprawl of the great city of Shann, capitol of the Shannra state and these haggard people were its worst off citizens.

A solitary truck rolled into the street standing in its bed were a few men in loose civilian cloths declaring their allegiance to the state and its god by wearing purple armbands around the right arm. Most of the men were from only slightly better off families, but they felt the need to show their unending support for the country in its current state by parading around town daring anyone, such as the rebels, to try anything. These few men who were so confident it their countries ability to provide and protect them were silence in a scant few moments by machine gun fire. the two in the bed were instantly killed by a spray of bullet from a near by balcony, while the driver brought the truck to a stop unsure of what had just taken place. he barely managed to bring the truck to stop and look out the back window when a bullet from a ally way wedged its self into his head.

A small swarm of men also wearing civilian close, some of whom felt the need to show their defiance by wearing their own gold colored arm bands pillaged the truck even as the sound of sirens wailing drew closer. When the Wailing of distance sirens turned into a near by police car cruising into the neighborhood the "rebels" had already left.

---

Prime Minister Allike glided through the corridors of the Shannra State Hall, his foot steps muffled by the purple carpet that wound its way through the silent corridors. Flanking this important man on the wall were various pieces of artwork purchased recently or earned by the crown in ages past each one had a plaque of how it was acquired beneath it and by whom, most could be traced by to the various kings of shann. The Prime minister himself was on his way to see the holder of that greatly diminished office of kingship, on his way their though the constant bowing of servants and salutes from other officials showed who was in charge of the country.

When the Prime Minister arrived at the great oak doors leading to the throne room, two servants hastily scurried to open the doors under the spiteful gaze of the Prime Minister. The doors had no more than made their audible wump than the prime minister strolled into the Throne room and locked gazes with the figurehead of the country. The King slouched upon his throne and gazed down at the spindly and pale man who held domain over his country, the king inwardly scowled at the Prime Minister but managed a smile and he, the Prime Minister, did the same. The Prime Minister started by mockingly saying "Your majesty, I must bring a matter to your attention before are nation tears its self apart in the wallowing of the poor and improvised."
"Are you referring to the rebels operating in the city and country side or the strain the suffering poor are putting on the nation?"
The Minister Frowned but continued "I am referring to the rebels and their so called prophet, I believe we should send a clear message to the people and make a public statement on the issue to ease the public mind when we start taking more preventive measures. It might also help the faithful to see their favored king make such a appearance, trusting it Zaros plan for us all."
Shaking his head the king responded "What measures are these that must be taken?"
"Military action, obviously"
"What of our Neighbors and Enemies, what will the world think of this. What if a country steps up and supplies these rebels or agrees with their message, freedom is a very persuasive mimetic."
"Enough, These matters of state have already been decided-"
"behind close doors"
"I ask you to make a public statement that is all, not your opinion on the matter."
after a few moments in silence the king nodded accepting the state of his position, the Prime Minister smirked "Its good that you agreed, a statement as already been prepared for you to make." After that the Prime Minister glided out of the room in silence while the king sat upon his ornate and useless throne and contemplated the fate in store for him.

---

Nations of the world,
Here the cry of the humbled people of Shannra for too long have we accepted our fate has poor, sick and enslaved. The Wealthy sit behind close doors deciding our fate keeping us corralled and down, we will accept it no more. The Slavery of countless thousands, the blood games, the wars, the oppressive religion designed to keep us down must all be abolished and remade. We can not face their cruel hand of our lords alone we ask for support in this war for our basic rights, we ask for help from anyone willing to respond in saving ourselves and rebuilding a better nation for ourselves.
Rebels of Shannra

[Carlos Harry]

Carlopia will be supporting the rebels and their struggle for freedom.

We will be sending 1,200,000 soldiers that came from a previous mission in Alderann to the countrysides of Shannra, and 2 aircraft carriers, with 20 cruisers from their missions in the United British Union.

[Spirit of Hope]

It was the black room, the room where special operations were approved and planned. The Prime Minister and President had already left, setting their seal of approval on involvement in the upcoming action, now the generals simply had to plan actions.

“What assets do we have available, remembering we are trying to remain discreet.” This man wasn’t in a military uniform, rather a nice white suit with a discreet pin noting his previous service.

“Two Emperors Own teams could be prepped and on the move in 24 hours. They could be in country in 36 hours with a good chance of detection, call it 48 hours and they could be in with a low chance of detection.” The speakers white uniform stood in contrast to the background of the room, making his motions highly evident to everyone else.

“We also have a special action group already in country…” His clothing was casual in comparison with everyone else in the room.

“You have them in most countries, don’t try an brag about it.” The man in the white uniform interrupted.

“As I was saying we have special action group in country, they have nothing set up at the moment however.”

“So a spy team group and two commando teams? That we can work with… Get the special action group working on secure means to ship support to the rebels. While the Emperors Own teams get in there, take the time to keep detection down, and set them up to train the rebels for know. Maybe we can step things up later” The man in the suit was speaking again, taking his time and processing the information he had.

“Do we want to discuss what happens if the fighting heats up?” The silver on his uniform stood out against the black that blended with the background of the room. “We can just step up the alertness of the reaction division, and prep the QRD’s to prep for an escalation”

“Do that, but keep it subtle, we don’t want anyone getting wind of what we are doing”

[Shannra]

As the Sun started to rise that following morning half-track Military trucks started rolling into the streets of many of the lower districts, and Soldiers dressed in fully combat gear quickly filled the streets. Soldiers patrolled the streets in groups all of them keeping site of one another, while their fellow brothers in arms established check points or in some casing acted on intelligence and stormed various houses looking for rebels. The tans and browns of the soldiers combat brown caused them to partially blend into the Sandy urban environment present within the lower districts, they stood in stark contrast to the loyalist of yesterday who paraded around like they owned the place.

Upon their arrival the military began setting up soup shops and handed out water to the masses of people, while simultaneously taking photos and cataloging every person they saw. Those loyalist present in the districts were being rounded up and given an ultimatum to stop playing soldier and go join the army or go home and wait out the situation. The Slaves in the district were also rounded up and sent to their respective owner as quickly as possible, to avoid as much property damage as possible. The homeless and beggars were forced into public buildings and warehouses were they were corralled to keep them out of the way while the military did its duty. Those few unfortunate rebels caught were interrogated on the spot for information and if they were not forthcoming, were promptly shot, The Military was not wasting time and many of the men wanted this business handled quickly.

Out in the country side Convoys of military trucks and Armored vehicles began rolling across the dry savanna kicking up a storm of dust and debris as thousands of soldiers began taking positions and setting up check points through out the country. Armories and Forts expanded their Martial zone and began doing complete searches of people within ten mile radius of the facilities. Deputies from local Garrisons became a new site along side Task master in slavery ran farms as the military extended its watchful gaze over wider areas.

Within the various cites scattered through out the land the state was pressuring city councils to host their seasonal festivals and parades with more grander, while sports, Television networks and other mass entertainment received grants from the government to be more patriotic. The Prime Minister was hoping to placate the population both poor and rich with a bread and circus campaign while the military went about its duty of annihilating the rebels in the most effective way possible.

[Murovanka]

Eagle City, Murovanka

Murovankas Defense Minister, Jürg Rommel, once again skimmed through a document titled "Shannra Civil War". It was a plan to help the rebels remove their imperialistic oppressors. This time, however, they would not engage directly. After the latest fiasco where a few hundred soldiers had fallen prey to a single carrier, the Supreme Leader, Dumbledore, had forbidden proposals for direct engagements. This time, the aim was to train and arm the rebels. Overthrowing their government was going to be the rebels job, and if they succeeded Dumbledore would try to extract valuable trade deals from them. The Murovankan Defense Forces would:

- transport 1'000 military training staff and advisors to safe, rebel-held areas (using C-130's)
- transport training equipment and material to set up a camp where they would train the rebels
- Provide limitless supplies of M-16's including ammunition
The staff would stay until receiving further instructions from Eagle City.

Rommel nodded, and told his secretary: "Pass it to Dumbledore. Tell the military to start preparing for the mission, and let them take off once they receive the green light from Dumbledore." The secretary nodded curtly, took the document and left.
Dumbledore was busy enjoying the evening with one of his many wives. He barely read through the document before handing it back. "Go, Go!" With that, cargo planes took off, loaded with weapons, equipment and military staff, heading for Shannra. An hour later the following message was sent to the rebels:

To: Rebels of Shannra
From: Ministry of Defense, Murovanka
Encryption: High
Aircraft are on their way to your country. They will be airdropping supplies from above. We plan to train and equip you for your fight against the government. Please give us a safe place to drop our supplies.
Sincerely,
Jürg Rommel
Ministry of Defense

OOC: OP, please provide us with a map of your country.
Edit: Nevermind, I see its removed.
Sorry for interrupting, after this I'll stick my OOC in a spoiler box.

[Shannra]

Rebel badlands base

Far in the south of Shannra's badlands, encamped in one of the dozens of abandoned villages spread through out this former oasis the rebels had set up a small communication base under the leadership of Zarchery Osman. Most of the buildings were falling in on themselves, providing little protection to the dirt and sand gusting into them for their rebellious occupants. This little outpost was situated in the rough uneven badlands for a reason, the random fractures and cliffs that marred the land scape made it difficult to find anything within and it made it difficult to send in military forces.

Inside the communications building Osman read the message his radio operator had just received over and over again, not believing their luck. He knew that the moral of the men had been taking a dive in recent weeks and especially now that the State was actively resisting them, but this message would be able to lift their spirits. Osman straighten his long coat and made his way outside, he stood outside and awaited for his troops to gather around, which they did.

"Today, This rebellion which started as a simple act of defiance encouraged by the Prophet shall become an active force of change within this nation. The nation of Murovanka had promised to turn our organization into a true fighting force so that we can free all of our people from the States oppressive hand. We must get the word out to prepare for this transformation into a proper fighting force, but we cant not jeopardize our fellows acting in other areas by contacting them. My orders for those of you who wish to see this country free are to began contacting other Rebellion leaders and communicating with them. We are to scattered, we must be able to communicate else this rebellion will be stamped out by the states might."

Shortly after that the base became alive with activity as coded message were sent all across the nation to what few rebel leaders could be immediately contacted. Some few leaders however were beyond the scope of the rebels communication and would not even know that help was coming.

---

Battle for the Slums, Shann

The air rang with the crack of gun fire as State soldiers engaged Rebel fighters discovered in the capitol after a search order spiraled into a full scale battle. Explosions rent the air in the normally quiet slums, Shannra IFVs were proving to be devastating piece of armor armed with .50 cal BMG and mortars all tracking independently and tearing through the flimsy mortar and stone that made up the local architecture. Spread around the IFVS were Shannra Infantry forces fanning out and taking cover while they gave cover fire for the brave men selected to storm occupied houses. The Shannra Military, communicating amongst each other an coordinating their effort to surround the rebels stood in stark contrast to the rebels themselves.

The Rebels were spread out in cells through out the slums, in the main area of the battle the rebel leader in the area was trying to organize his men to retreat out of the block before the Shannra forces surrounded them. Other cells however were not aware of the leaders orders to retreat so they rushed into battle thinking, in their naivety, this was planned on their part to drive the shannra out. Luckily the constast addition of Rebel fighter to the battle kept the Shannra military from figuring out exactly where they should start their efforts to surrond the rebels, buying them precious time at the cost of men.

In this Confusion the Rebel leader in the area, Enil Fal choked on the smoke as he croaked out orders to retreat out of this building while a few provide cover fire. One of the two men who went to the window to provide this cover fire was instantly silenced as bullets smashed through from outside. The rebels carried their wounded leader through a hole that lead to another building just as the one they had occupied collapsed, the few who had remained behind were killed in this collapse. A former nurse acting as a medic began tending to the leaders wounds but the overwhelming stench of death and blood nearly sent her into a panic attack. Fal grabbed her before this could happened and told her exactly what to do as she got her nerves under control. Once she had the leader patched up she began feel a since of place within the rebel army before a random bullet, ricochet off the wall blew her head across Fal's body.

[Murovanka]

The Southern Badlands, Shannra

"There they are" muttered the pilot of the leading Black Hawk helicopter. They had been flying into the Shannran Badlands from the south, to escape detection by its government. A short message was sent from the helicopter to the rebels below, to assure them that they were friendly. "This is the Murovankan Air Force. We are coming in to land. "



The ten Black Hawks quickly found an ideal landing and dropping area, and hovered meters above the ground. Long ropes were thrown from them, and one by one the first hundred Murovankan personnel scaled down and landed softly. These were Special Forces, who each had a rifle slung across their backs. They checked the landing zone, secured it and signaled for the helicopters to land. Hermann Strachwitz, the head of this entire operation, then shooed his troops to work. "Secure the airdrop zone!" A large area would be selected and cordoned off to receive the equipment required to setting up their military camp.
Strachwitz turned to the rebels, greeting them in the most friendly way he could greet a foreigner. "I am General Hermann Strachwitz, commander of all Murovankan personnel in Shannra. I'd like to speak to Mr. Zarchery Osman. We're planning to land a lot of equipment in the next few hours. Are we completely safe?" As he said that, several C-130 Hercules cargo planes flying toward Shannra began descending. On board, people were busily readying dozens of huge packs with automatic parachuting systems which would be thrown into the designated zones readied by the ground staff. The first drops contained equipment for the construction and marking of a basic and simple airstrip. A proper airstrip would be needed to secure a steady flow of supplies later on, and might be used as a launchpad for fighters/bombers operated by rebels.

The plan was to first give as many rebels as possible basic military training and arm them up sufficiently to last for several months, to form a conventional resistance army. A separate camp would be set up to train the best soldiers into special forces, with the focus point being on guerrilla warfare. If deemed necessary by the Ministry of Defense, their camps and the surrounding area would be fortified to prevent, at least in the short term, the destruction of the camp by the ruling government.

---

Murovanka

All over the country a propaganda campaign for the operation was launched. Everywhere on TV, newspapers and magazines, real-time "footage" was shown of Shannra, depicting a dead and destroyed Shannra, with bodies littering the streets among scattered debris. Soldiers were shown massacring groups of civilians, and pictures of a cruel looking, almost devil like Prime Minister Allike were painted onto huge posters. And immediately after that, Murovankan military planes were depicted, with a wise, smart looking Julius Dumbledore leading the way. The caption read: "We will spare no cost in saving and overthrowing the corrupt, cruel and imperialistic government of Shannra! We will save the people of Shannra!" And once again, it was all planned, recorded and perfected in the huge, secretive Ministry of Propaganda.

[Shannra]

Most of the men in the rebel bases were still lounging about in what little shade they could find, but for many the midday break was over and it was time to get back to work. When the helicopters arrived some of the rebel fighters scattered, while others simply stared and gawked at the display of force arriving at their door step. One of the Rebels was competent enough to fetch Commander Osman from the underground bunkers and lead him to the surface to greet their guest. Upon Seeing the help the Murovankians were bringing Commander Osman's face lit up with a smile and he walked over to greet the Murovankians General, a Mr. Strachwitz. Commander Osman opened up by saying "Thank you for coming general, I am Zachery Osman, Leader of this base" Osman held out his hand in a traditional western handshake while he continued "Your planes should be safe from detection by Shannra forces provided they do not fly to high. The crags and cliffs in this area force the signals from the Shannra radio towers on the edge of the plain to receive telemetry from a severe angle, I guess by about 60 or 70 degrees; plus we are a good distance away but I wouldn't risk it and I advise keeping your planes low."

After this introduction for himself and the Shannra's awareness, Osman turned to the side and held out his hand to present the base "Ive been having the men here dig out a few bunkers where most of our operation takes place as I didn't want to risk detection from random planes. I can unfortunately not provide much information on the state of our forces at the moment due to the speed of our communications being limited to horses and trucks for the most part. What I can tell you though is if your intentions our to train our soldiers to fight the Shannra military here at this bade I should be able to organize, with help from the other rebellion leaders of course, our forces so that men come here to train before being sent back into the country side where they will be able to operate in the thick of it."

Osman stood in silence for a few moments before he finally made an admission "Yesterday, are large part of our forces in the capitol were found by the shannra military along with one of our leaders in the area. This was a severe loss, as the insinuating battle proved that the Shannra Military is quite capable of fighting insurgency and it sent a message to the people that our rebellion might be for naught. I believe a major issue will be winning over the populace who still accepts the states control and the states religion, for if we don't win them over we may found our selves short on man power in the future." Osman waited for the foreign generals response.

[Spirit of Hope]

The twenty-four men of the two Emperors Own teams gathered up their gear on the beach and prepared to head into the Rebel controlled badlands. They had quite a bit of equipment to transport, and they were the best soldiers Spirit of Hope had. Anyone who ended up on the opposite side of their weapons would quickly learn just how dangerous they were. Once everything was ready he pulled out a satellite phone to make the call back to command.

“Insertion complete, probability of detection low, ready to move onto Phase 2.” The phone was new, and had no connection to the government. Additionally the phone was encrypting the entire conversation, so anyone listening in would only get random static without the proper decryption key.

“Move on to Phase 2. Good hunting.” The line went dead, it wasn’t like this was a conversation after all. He turned to look at the men who were ready to move.

“Time to go boys, into the badlands.” Five minutes later they were moving into the badlands.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“The commandoes have reported in, and the Special Action group has reported an opening to move modern weapons in to support the rebels.”

“Then we move on to Phase 2. Send the rebels the communiqué.”

To: Rebellion Leader
From: Government of Spirit of Hope
At this time we are sending in two commando teams to support your operations and help train your troops. At the same time we are prepared to equip your men with modern weapons and equipment.

[Murovanka]

Badlands, Shannra

"Thanks for the information.” Strachwitz turned, and said to a young Sergeant next to him: “You heard the man. Inform all incoming and exiting planes to reduce altitude. Go!” The Sergeant saluted, and ran off. Returning to Osman, he said: “I agree, it is vital to have the support of the masses. If you wish, we could create propaganda leaflets, posters etc. in Murovanka, print them in the thousands and send them back here to be spread among the population.” He lowered his voice. “Our Ministry of Propaganda is highly efficient and amazingly effective. It essentially keeps the entire population at home together, if you understand what I mean. Anyway, this is my plan. We have prepared a 6-week high intensity basic training program for your troops, which include: Basic marksmanship, maintenance of weapons, first aid and survival techniques. Once their 6 weeks are over they will be mainly equipped with an M16, a semi-automatic Glock pistol including enough ammunition to last them many months and then sent wherever you want them to go. If all goes well, we plan to expand and set up more training camps. In addition to that, we will have a special camp designed to train elite forces in guerrilla warfare. You yourself might want to participate and oversee it. After all, we’re here only to ready up your forces. We won’t be making decisions for you; we barely have any knowledge of this countries terrain and military. However, I will be giving you a few advisors who might give you a few hints on your decisions.”

While he was talking, Murovankan personnel were busily getting to work. The runway was complete, and C-130’s landed and took off throughout the day, and would continue to do so throughout the night. Equipment, food and water supplies were unloaded and unpacked. Groups of soldiers hammered in and set up the training facilities, as their unit commanders hurried them on. Everything would be finished by tomorrow, and the program could begin in the at the next afternoon.

“We will also have look-out posts for aircraft built. You won’t have to be afraid of planes, as once were done everything will look nice and abandoned as before from above. For today and tomorrow, the Murovankan Air Force will patrol the skies above us, and have orders to cause unwanted “accidents” if a random enemy plane does appear. How does it sound to you? If you have any other wishes or want to change anything, please inform me. Dumbledore, our Leader, is really committed to your cause and wishes to see you succeed.”

[Shannra]

Northwest of Ba'al
A Convoy of military trucks kicking up dirt and sand as they rolled into a small village caught the villagers attention. Many villagers began to murmur amongst themselves as the large trucks done up in desert camouflage came to a halt in the middle of the town, everyone became silent when men in combat fatigues began pouring out of those trucks. During the Battle of Shann a few of the captured fighters had spewed information when they were tortured later and now the military was acting on that information. The villagers had mixed reaction those that new what was happening were frightened while those who were oblivious to the rebel presence were only in awe at the show of force.

The soldiers began searching houses one at a time, luckily they did attempt to put things back the way they were once they were done. The Villagers them selves were rounded up into the middle of town and kept under guard, only being called when the soldiers need something unlocked. It was until near the end of these searches that a series of houses proved to be holding weapons and off the grid communication equipment. Those unfortunate view who owned the houses were arrested while the rest of the village was left to wonder their fate.

Rebel Base, badlands

to:Government of Spirit of Hope
from:Various leaders of the Rebellion
We thank you for your support of our attempt at freedom and patiently wait for the arrival of your teams at our base in the badlands. We hope this war is quick and bloodless and your teams will be of great assistance in assuring that.

Upon Strachwitz mention of terrain one of the nearby rebels quipped "what terrain most of the country is flat" Osman silenced him with curt look before making his own remark "Which means armored warfare is king in this area and Air power is essential, both of which the Republic invest in heavily." After that last comment Osman and his men let the general finish speaking before Osman responded to the Allied general.

That seems like a good Idea I must ask though, as I mention before most of the country is flat and armored warfare is going to be a deciding factor in any conventional campaign we might launch later on. I was wondering if we might also be able to expect later support through provision of armored vehicles such as tanks and half-track trucks. As for the issue of propaganda I do not want to alert Shannra own propaganda department to any thing, I would prefer to only compete against Shannra bread and circus attempts for the will of the people for I fill that in a battle of propaganda the home team would win out." Osman let those facts set in before asking one final question of the general "I must also admit I am unsure of how to start this insurgency campaign, should we focus on military targets and soften them up before a conventional campaign or should we attack their attempts to buy the people with bread and circus."

[Murovanka]

Badlands, Shannra

“First you definitely need the support of the masses, I’ll leave you to decide how. Once you have that, it’ll be definitely much easier to hide soldiers in the many villages, set up ambushes, raids etc. After that, bring the whole country into chaos. Use guerrilla fighters to launch surprise attacks, bombings and raids against military and police targets. However, you must make sure to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible while you do that. Once you feel ready that your forces are superior to the State’s, you can launch your conventional attack. I hope you are able to unite all other rebel groups, as only then you will succeed. As with armored vehicles and aircraft”, Strachwitz hesitated, “We will be able to provide some Leopard 2 tanks and Marder IFV’s, although they will be expensive to transport. The logistics required to operate both are immense. As for aircraft, we will really need more than a simple runway. In addition to that, you need trained pilots and tank crews for them to operate effectively. It would be nearly impossible to train them here, and back at home our superiors aren’t willing to commit our own soldiers to join the battle. I suggest you first begin with your guerrilla hit-and-run warfare first, and once you’ve captured a proper airstrip and some armored vehicles will we look on. One thing we are able to provide are hand-held anti-tank weapons which we will train your troops to use. If there is nothing else, I will have to return and oversee the process. Soon we can begin to train and arm the first rebels. Please keep the recruits flowing in, we will deal with the rest.” With that, Strachwitz turned and strode off.

Above the Badlands

A few Black Hawk helicopters, painted in Shannran government forces’ markings separated itself from a group of Murovankan cargo planes and headed toward the countryside. They each carried squads of MIA (Murovankan Intelligence Agency) agents who were prepared to parachute into the Shannran countryside, preferably villages which weren’t filled with government troops. The helicopters flew low to prevent detection by radar, and it was hoped that the markings would prevent the choppers from being questioned if seen by government forces on the ground. These agents would either try an integrate themselves into the villages, or keep themselves hidden in whatever cover they could find. They would act as eyes, reporting on movements by the government forces directly to General Strachwitz. Their main priority was intelligence gathering, and not sabotage, so they were lightly armed and wore typical civilian clothes. The agents were instructed to prevent capture at all costs, including taking their own life. Even the rebels shouldn’t have any knowledge of their presence.

[Shannra]

Shann, Grand Temple
The air hung thick with solemn sanctify and incense as priest prayed before an alter to the Unknown Lord and God of Fate who controlled all. While the Grand Priest and his fellow brothers knelled before the avatar the Prime minister stood in the door way to the great hall where those men prayed. Upon finishing the grand priest stood up and walked over to the Prime Minister, both men gave short bows to each other to show respect before the prime minister started the conversation "These rebels represent an interesting threat with their prophet who word clearly challenges our Lord Zaros. I came here today hoping for the support of the church in my attempt to appease the population during the Festival of the Nights in a week."
The Grand Priest nodded his head "I already, Planned to reconcile the people faith during the festivities"
The minister interrupted "but not their faith in the government I take it?" The silence that filled the air confirmed the answer and the Prime Minister continued "I do not claim to know more about Zaros plan than you do your Holiness, but is this state not part of Zaros plan? should we not attempt to keep it stable so that it may continue preforming Zaros will?"
"You make some good points Prime Minister. I will pray on it for the next week and you shall know my answer during the festival of the Nights."
"Of course your Holiness, It is unfortunate that our meeting must be cut short but we are both busy men." With that Prime Minister glided out of the room and when he left the Priest remarked how he didn't like the minister.

Rebel Base
Osman nodded his head at the general and went over to a few of his soldiers and started giving them orders to get the cooperation from other leaders. The loss of Enil Fal had been a devastating blow to moral amongst the rebellion but hopefully the support of other nation will bolster it. Osman had a plan in the works and he need other rebel groups support since his own men would be tied up training for the next few weeks.

OOC: unless other conversations start up the next time Ill post there will be a time skip to the festival of the night.

[Murovanka]

Over the countryside

Now spread out over locations spanning the southern half of Shannra, squads of MIA agents jumped one by one from Black Hawk helicopters and parachuted down into the fields. Immediately after all had left, the helicopters quickly rose and flew back south, intending to stop over at the Badlands base to refuel, before heading back to Murovanka. The squads quickly moved into the outskirts of the village. They carefully surveyed their objectives and would each individually decide how they would spend the night. The squads were always paired up in the same region, to be able to support each other. Their supplies would last them for well over three weeks, afterwards they should have found their own reliable food source.

Badlands, Shannra

Most of the major construction works were either complete or almost done, so the additional 300 civilian workers were able to return home. They boarded two empty C-130's accompanied by boxes filled with food and material waste. A good runway had been set up, being able to manage around a dozen planes at a time. General Strachwitz and his staff had found a decent place to spend the following weeks and settled down to watch the darkness set in. Suddenly a message popped up on his phone. "4 to Head. Gov troop activity in nearby village. Gathering villagers and searching their houses." Strachwitz raised an eyebrow, this government sure was efficient. However, it would make it easier for the rebels to turn the villagers against the government. He quickly replied: "Stay out of sight", before returning to his thoughts, and watching the sun set.

[Shannra]

Southern Shannra, two days before the Festival of the Night
Two soldiers were guarding the relief truck in a small village while the other personnel busied themselves handing out supplies to the people of the village. The two soldiers on guard duty were standing around in the chilly air when they noticed a man enter the village and began talking amongst themselves
"Whos, that wandering in? he doesn't look like a Tale."
"Your right, and he don't look like he from this village either. Think we should search him?"
The first soldier thought about it for a moment before responding "No, General Tarquin said not to harass the civilians, He said the rebels will show them selves in good time, I say we leave him alone in case he is just some wandering bum"
With that the two men went back to guarding Tarquin's own little bread and circus campaign to the poor people who couldn't afford the Prime minsters middle class entertainment.

Shann 7:40 PM
As darkness fell across the country and lights began flickering to life, the normally business like cities transformed as an air of festivities began to rise. Most of the working and schooling populace had been let off for the holiday, under General Tarquin's orders however the Military was still in full force ready for any action the rebels might take during this important holiday. The General himself was discussing strategy with the king not that the king had any power in the state anymore, but Tarquin didn't trust the newest Prime Minister and he was still loyal to the crown even if the rest of the country wasn't. The King was preparing to make his opening speech for the festival of the Nights with the Grand Priest, as was tradition during this celebration.

---

Osman Strolled through the doors of the Networking Commissions building in downtown Shann with one of his old army buddies, in his hand was a bag filled with simple tapes and recording of the man known as The Prophet, whose word had enticed the entire rebel faction to form in the first place. Osman plan was simple and elegant, use the words that had encouraged the rebels in the first place to keep the flames lit by overriding all the TVs in town set to display the events at the temple and instead show the prophet telling his story. As Osman passed by another group of soldiers asking for the IDs of NC workers, he silently cursed Tarquin foresight to have even this building under tight security. Luckily for the old army vet he knew the commanding office and was able to talk his way past, leaving the path clear for him and his buddy to override the displays at the right time.

Shann Grand Temple, 7:50 PM
The Prime Minister glided through the darkness of the temple, deserted at this time with the exception of the Grand Priest and the King who he had just checked on to make sure they were where he needed them. Now all that was left for him to do was ensure that Tarquin made his appearance later that night for the military parade. Unfortunately the prime minister couldn't find the general to check, he decided he would just retire to his office and wait for the good little Zarosian to be on time.

Tarquin, the King and the Grand priest were still in the temples main hall talking about the state of the country when the King asked the Priest about whether or not he would support the Prime minister in his speech. The Grand Priest, closed his eyes a moment before responding "No, I will not be, I have prayed on the matter and decided that even these rebels are apart of Zaros plan for us all. I believe that what ever happens the people will still have faith in our God whether or not this country is here or not. For All I know those rebels could be part of The Unknown Lords plan to reveal something about the state that needs to be revealed. All I will do his reassure the people's faith in our loyal troops and our God whose will they enact" Tarquin smiled at his old friend before the King spoke up "I seemed to have forgotten my ceremonial scepter, Ill be right back."
The Grand Priest shook his head "The moment is almost here, we must not be late"
The King called over his shoulder "May Zaros forgive my forgetfulness, But its all part of his great plan, remember!"
Both the General and the Priest shook their head before tarquin spoke up "you did teach him remember. and He is like his father, its to bad the people judge him for what his great grandfather did when he built this nation."
A few moments later the Grand Priest look at the great clock and said "Looks like its time to go out and he is late. You might want to be leaving Tarquin don't want the prime minister to think he is in control of everything." The General nodded at his friend but as he turned to walk away an explosion rent the Temple hall, Instantly killing both the General and the Grand Priest. The King who was returning at that moment only caught the edges of the explosion but the incredible force sent him sprawling across the floor. Soldiers Poured into the room moments later after they heard the the sound of C4 detonating and began going to work to save the lives of their spiritual, military, and State leaders.

Shann Downtown, 8:01

Osman stood in shock as a Television in the NC building displayed the image of the fire-wrecked grand temple. He had originally intended to show a different scene but now he felt the people had a right to know what happen and showing the Prophet so soon after that catastrophe would cause people to jump to conclusions. Realizing that Tarquin would lock down the entire city upon seeing that his old friends were dead Osman began making his way out of the NC building. The Rebel leader was planning his escape when he passed by a news room already pinning the explosion on the rebels, but in Osman's mind he didn't have time to dote on that information. The former army vet Knew Tarquin personally, and could see him methodically searching every citizen and doing back ground checks to ensure that the people he thought responsible were hung before the sun would rise tomorrow.

Shann's Outskirts 9:37

Osman began suspecting something was up when he walked past dozens of soldiers and not one of them was attempting to ID people, It wasn't until he had stopped and actually payed attention to some of the news anchors that he knew what was up. The fact that Tarquin was dead filled Osmans mind with thoughts, in his mind eye Osman had foresaw this war playing out in a civil manner with Tarquin commanding state force and himself commanding the Rebel force. That Idea of a civil engagement was starting to crumble in his thoughts though as the Insecurity of not knowing set in. He then became angry that another rebel group had acted against the plans he had spread amongst the ranks. In one move some extremist faction had just painted the entire rebel force as the villain and probably doomed Shannra to a blood civil war. Osman collected him self and sighed as he accepted what happen and began planning his next move, he could be back in the rebel camp in two days with the army most likely in disarray following those events.

Shann, Capitol District
The Prime minster sat back in his chair, displeased with the kings survival, he debated sending the sniper he had planned for Tarquin after the king to finish up the work of his bomb, but he decided to leave the the powerless King alive.

OOC: How was that for plot and story? I didn't do anything that would ruin the RP for you two did I? I am getting into the hang of things again and I want to make sure I'm not stepping on anyone's toes this time around.

[Spirit of Hope]

“Shit.” He was looking at the news, lurid image of the bomb blast were plastered across it in all the gory details. The only thing he could really think about was that he had personally ordered troops in there to support the rebels. He turned to his military advisor and shot him a look. “Tell me we were not part of this!?”

“We haven’t supplied them with any modern equipment yet, and our teams in place certainly wouldn’t help set it up. Honestly our analysts didn’t think they had the ability to pull something like this off. From the placement of the explosion they would have needed to get past some heavy security, and that blast has to be from modern high tech explosives, which we didn’t think they had access to.”

“So then how did they do it? Did our annalists really stink so badly that they could miss the possibility of a terror bombing?”

“No they aren’t that bad, the rebels don’t have the money to afford that equipment, the training to use it, or the access to place it. Something here smells funny. I advise we pull a sit and wait, don’t let any modern weapons in but continue with the training from our commandoes, any evidence connecting the rebels to this or future bombings we pull out.”

“Fine, but we won’t be just pulling out. If you get any evidence of the rebels carrying out terror bombings we take as much of there organization down as possible when we leave.”

“New orders from command. We do recon as we train, apparently we pull the rebellion down as we pull out.”

“That makes life harder, now doesn’t it? Shit, I hate when operations change on the fly.”

“Could always be worse, could be telling us to play now and pull out.”

The Emperors Own troops drove on, standing out on the empty road. They would be arriving at the rebel stronghold soon, and from there they would have to deal men who were apparently willing to bomb civilian targets.

OOC: Loving the plot twist!

[Murovanka]

Nice! Well written ^_^. Sorry for short post. Gotta hit the sack soon.

Southern Shannra

"Fritz! Enough!" His fellow agent, hiding in a rusty old building, was frantically trying to get him out of sight. "You have been spotted!" 'Fritz' raised a hand, politely finished his conversation and calmly walked away. All over the country, messages were being transmitted back home. They wanted to make sure that they knew every single detail of what was going on.


Badlands, Shannra

Strachwitz had just received news of the bombings from the Ministry of Defense. He wondered who was really behind it- but it wouldn't make a difference to their operations. His superiors in the Mindef were actually pleased by the bombings, happy to see the rebels in action. However, Strachwitz wasn't convinced. How could a these rugged, ill-equipped manage to plant a bomb in there? Nevermind, he thought, I wonder what Osman has to say about this.

"Osman, where are you? Tell me, whats going on? Did you know of it in advance, or were you part of it?" Strachwitz' voice was stern, but mostly inquisitive. All of his phone/message systems were monitored by the Mindef at home.

[Lipnitia]

The Presidential Palace, Sadava

The president just heard in the news about the war starting, and he requested troops being transported to Shannra. He said as of political similarities, we will fight for the independent, beautiful, and only true democratic Shannra. He stepped out on the balcony, accidentaly spilling his coffee. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed, just before an idea shot up inside his head. "Yes, Bingo! Spill radioactive waste from aeroplanes onto the enemy's bases!

With this wicked idea he traveled to the Prime Minister's door, and when he opened, and was welcomed, the two officials both agreed at the horrendous idea. Petrified, the other officials wondered why we even participated in this war. "To save lives and justice, of course!" said the president, yet the officials doubted in his words. A horrendous and wicked attack is yet to come!

---

Above: The display of troops at the New Year's Parade, Bóhovo.

[Shannra]

Rebel base
Osman hadn't been back in the camp long when word of the bombing began to spread like wild fire, most of the men saw the death of the skilled general as a good thing yet Osman couldn't help but think this war would be much worse for it. It was when he getting a glass of water that someone told him that General Strachwitz was looking for him. Osman closed his eyes and planned his next move, this war was starting to escalate and he was growing unsure if he would be able to lead his men to victory.

Osman strolled into the room where the General was and listen to his question before responding "I was actually in Shann when the bombing went off, my plan was to appeal to the people by making them question their governments absolute control with a well placed message." Osman clasped his hand together as a nervous gesture before continuing "How did not know about the plans to bomb the higher ups, I thought I had worked out my plan with all the other rebel leaders but one must not have heard and went through with their own plan. It looks like a fairly professional hit though, the C4 is easily explainable but how well it is placed makes me think someone else with army experience was involved. However who did it doesn't realy matter, it is already done so we must plan our next move. You said you could have these men trained in 6 weeks?"

[Murovanka]

Badlands, Rebel Base

Reasonable enough, thought Strachwitz. He was good at detecting lies, but in this case he believed that Osman was speaking the truth. Truth or not, both he and his superiors hoped that it would land Shannra in an even greater chaos, as it would make it easier for the rebels to establish firm control. Responding to Osman, he said thoughtfully: "6 weeks for the full course. You sound like you need them urgently. We can have your most battle-ready rebels armed and prepared in a week, however you might find difficulty in coordinating them. If it is absolutely urgent, I can request from my HQ that basic training be shortened to four weeks, which would however limit the ability of your troops."

The first troops had already been introduced to their various trainers/commanders and had started their training. No time was to be wasted, and the whole area was still bustling with activity. Cargo planes arrived and took off less often though, and from tomorrow onward only two C-130 cargo planes a day would be needed, to fly in basic supplies and pick up any waste.

Southern Shannra

All surveillance squads were instructed to carefully get closer to their targets. They planned to, if deemed feasible, plant tiny bugs into the offices that belonged to the officials in charge of the villages. The HQ wanted to know exactly what was going to be ordered of the villagers in the aftermath of the bombings. Well equipped with surveillance devices and ill-equipped in terms of personal defense, these agents began to creep up and take a good look at the local commanding posts.

Shannra: These agents are in (rather) important villages in the southern regions, please give a description of the command buildings from which orders are received and passed on. Include defensive emplacements/security guards. However, I'll scrap the plan if it goes against your story/gives you too much to write about.

[Demigueris]

Shannra - Capital City

The man held up a hand to the waiting staff with the inquisitive expression. "I'm meeting someone." The waiter disappeared, leaving the man standing in the crowd, peering around the cafe patio, a newspaper folded under his arm. His eyes went from the crowd gathered in the square below, to an elderly woman - almost old enough to be his mother - sitting alone at a table under a white parasol. He sat down across from her, even though they'd never met before.

He was smartly dressed. The suit was well-tailored, and the man wearing wore it well. He was the sort of man with a square jaw who moved with unmistakable confidence. A businessman, apparently. He managed a mischievous grin and nodded towards the square. "I was expecting more people for the festival." He said in the local language.

The woman across the table regarded him a moment. She was a woman who had clearly once been beautiful, but whose best years had been decades ago. Now a few years from retirement, she was still a handsome woman, but her sharp, hawkish features lent a severity to her expression that was difficult to gauge as she turned on the newcomer. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, my name's Finch." He said, smiling and reaching across the table in a gesture that was, after a fashion tepidly returned only after he gave his name.

"Ah... Mr. Finch." She said guardedly, in a way that suggested she wasn't quite sure who this man was, why he was at her table or why he was speaking with her. She set the long island iced tea she'd been drinking down and regarded the man with judgemental eyes.

He smiled. "Jim couldn't make it, he sent me instead."

Though she had apparently been relaxed while sitting at the cafe, the woman's posture immediately shrank in a way that betrayed the tension she'd been hiding the entire time. "What happened?"

"Business. He said they had some sort of emergency back at head office with their new product launch." He laughed. "Had to cancel his whole trip. Anyway, when I said I was coming into town he asked if I'd pick up his tab." Jim, for anyone who was particularly curious, was Ms. Hammond's ex-husband, a businessman who occasionally checked in with his ex whenever he stopped in town, and handled most of her affairs back in Demigueris. Ms. Hammond was a marketing executive with an engineering consulting firm that did business all over the region. She and her husband had divorced years ago but remained close.

"Sounds like him." Ms. Hammond apologized glancing towards the crowded square overlooked by their cafe balcony. "Usually there are more people. Festival was cancelled..." She told him about the attack earlier. The bomb, the general's death.

Mr. Finch shook his head in astonishment. "My company's shareholders are gonna have a fit over this. I got the call this morning before flying out." He said with a frown. "The board apparently expects me to handle damage control while I'm here. This is gonna complicate things."

"Good luck with that Mr. Finch." Ms. Hammond replied in a grave tone that nonetheless conveyed some of her apparent amusement at his plight, mixed with what she considered an appropriate lack of sympathy. Having deflated the younger man's ego a little, she continued in a slightly more subdued tone. "So. I guess you know Jim, what exactly is it that you do? How'd you two meet?"

Mr. Finch looked to have momentarily lost some of his signature debonair charm when confronted with this question, but was rescued by the timely intervention of the waiter, come to take his order. Mr. Finch set his newspaper down on the table, and took up the menu, glancing at it for hardly a moment before ordering right then and there, along with a drink. Having regained some of his swagger he returned to Ms. Hammond's question.

"I'm a senior vice-president with Demigueris Heavy Industries, in charge of..." He shrugged. "Damage control I guess you could say. As for your husband, we've run into each other a couple of times. DHI does a fair bit of work with your husbands company you know. Anyway, we met up at a conference a couple days ago and he asked me to give his regards."

"Didn't even call me." Ms. Hammond replied tartly.

"I didn't marry him." Mr. Finch replied without missing a beat, a smile returning to his face. happily ignoring Ms. Hammond's momentarily gritted teeth even though his words were momentarily drowned out by the blaring of police sirens passing "Terrible business." He said again, shaking his head while looking out over the square, glancing between the crowd, the ghastly silhouette of the gallows, and where the Emperess and her entourage were watching the proceedings. "Do we have to be here?" He asked, his nominally gruff tone suddenly a tone more serious.

"Since you're here for 'damage control', you might as well see what you're up against Mr. Finch." She said sharply. "Somehow I don't think just spelling it out for you would be as effective."

"I got word the government was announcing some measures before I left. You've been here awhile, what do you suppose the odds are the embassy's letters and international sanctions are going to work?"

Ms. Hammond's lips folded, for the first time, into a smile. "Loosing your nerve Mr. Finch?"

Snapping out of his reverie Finch's eyes met Ms. Hammonds. They were steady. Confident. And betrayed no hint of fear; though Ms. Hammond knew well it was an act. Everyone here was at least a little afraid. "Never." He said. There was no smile this time. "But that wasn't my question: What do you and the locals think?"

"I think the Prime Minister is steely figure. He'd sooner see hell freeze over than cave to outside pressure. As for what the 'locals' think, I suggest..." She said shaking his newspaper with a hand. "... you read your newspaper."

"Fine." He said curtly. "Maybe, I'll do that." He regarded the newspaper a moment. After a moment of awkward silence broken by military vehicles roaring past. Mr. Finch stood up abruptly. "On second though, I don't think I'm hungry. Maybe we could just retire somewhere... a little more private?"

Ms. Hammond regarded him with an expression that seemed caught in indecision between laughing and utter disbelief. After a moment she finally found her voice. "There's good shopping at the Ivory Center Mall. Good day Mr. Finch." She said with some curt finality.

Finch walked away in a huff leaving Ms. Hammond to deal with the bill for his unfinished drink. One could have been mistaken for missing what could have been considered a friendly nod of respect between Mr. Finch and Ms. Hammond before they parted however.

---

Ivory Center Mall, Shannra

Mr. Finch, whose real name was Victor, stepped off the bus. He'd spent most of the ride gently thumbing inside his newspaper at whatever note Ms. Hammond - in reality a senior handler for the Demigueran Foreign Intelligence Service - had slipped inside it while they'd been bantering earlier.

He'd have to wait until he got somewhere private before reading it.

He'd left the cafe by cab, taking a trip to the Ivory Center, one of the Shannran capital's busiest malls. The multitude of entrances and exits made it a nightmare if he'd picked up a tail after meeting Ms. Hammond. He went through the rest of the procedures for making sure he lost any tail following him until he finally found himself walking around the grounds. He kept on his cell-phone taking care of DHI business, who actually did employ him while he did so.

It took awhile before he located what he was looking for. A simple set of chalk marks on the sidewalk, the sort that could've been the work of anyone from city workers, to telephone crews, to some kids with sidewalk chalk.

To someone that knew how to read it though, it had some very particular directions.

His attention was directed toward a nearby post office box. He approached it, scrawling a crossword puzzle in the newspaper as he walked. He dropped his pen, 'accidentally' kicked it under the box when he bent to grab it. It a took a moment of reaching under the mailbox before retrieving his pen.

Anyone watching could be forgiven for missing a man so well practiced in sleight of hand slipping the small package that had been magnetically stuck to the bottom of the mailbox inside the all-concealing folds of his newspaper.

He repeated his tradecraft work again to make sure he hadn't picked up another tail and went somewhere private to read Ms. Hammond's note with additional instructions.

Armed with that knowledge, it took him the rest of the day to retrieve his kit from a series of dead-drops, along with the full dossier prepared for him by the local station chief which had specialized local information from the handlers in the area, including their personal notes, that hadn't been readily available back in the capital. He had code names and contact protocols and passwords for contacting some of them. There'd been some SigInt intercepts as DFIS was pretty much intercepting all mail, communications and traffic in the region. They'd pulled some specific intel from the metadata files everyone knew about.

Some additional data was extracted from the recorded conversations and mail through the programs people knew about, but the Information Ops division made sure no one really talked about. The short of it was, the rebels were an open book. DFIS had their names, locations, hobbies... really whatever they wanted to know.

The government was another matter, anyone important enough had their systems encrypted enough it'd take time to crack... and without knowing what was worth cracking... it was slow going.

Of course then there were the programs no one yet knew about. So all told Mr. Finch was a very, very well informed man. He knew who'd been naughty, and who'd been nice. And he had a list. Top of it was Prime Minister Allike.

Victor, not the local handlers and assets, was the one with the experience and training for this particular sort of work. Ms. Hammond's choice of locale today had impressed upon him the need for discretion, but at the same time, he had over the years developed a distrust of psych profiles pulled from 3rd party information.

In addition to sorting out DHI's business in the area, Finch needed to ascertain whether the Prime Minister was a viable leader going forward. If he could maintain stability, great. Barring that, he had to figure out whether the King, or some rebel elements were capable of assuming power and then hand off the action plan to the local handlers to execute. There'd be more specialists coming in.

The evidence and growing intel profile aside, Victor's assessment - and that of the Defence Council and Foreign Affairs - kept being drawn back to the same conclusion. It was far better if they could deal with the Prime Minister than risk destabilizing the country further. Barring that they'd move to the King. Barring that... maybe the rebels had some effective administrators.

What a fucking mess... He thought to himself.

The death of general Tarquin had been a blow. He'd been a bit of a moderating influence, as well as a viable transition figure to help back the monarchy if things went really south. Without him the King was more isolated than ever. Not that there weren't still royalists left in the military, but right now they were leaderless.

The analysts back home thought they had solid evidence of who was behind the 'terrorist attack'... and it didn't make the situation any less complicated. Or assure Finch any that the country was going to pull through on it's own. He needed to find out whether this prime minister was actually capable of keeping this whole thing under control, especially now that foreign groups were moving in to support the rebels.

And for that, he felt he needed some first-hand measure of the man himself.

---

Shannra Government Offices

Correspondence from Demigeuris regarding recent events came swiftly in the form of, first, a private letter from the Demigueran Ambassador, friendly in tone but quietly fishing for assurances that the situation in and around Shannra was not going to deteriorate.

The second arrived shortly after the 'attack', not from the Demigeuran government, but from Demigueris Heavy Industries - a parent company of Hades Corporation; one of the largest mining operations in the region and not an insignificant contributor to the government's coffers as well as a strong backer for Prime Minister Allike.

Apparently one of DHI's senior vice presidents, a Victor Finch, had flown in especially on a fact finding mission and had sent a flattering letter requesting he be granted an audience with the Prime Minister. The letter referenced pressure from the international attention gained by the recent insurgent activity, and made it clear that Mr. Finch's specific job involved seeking a mutually beneficial path for DHI and the Shannran government going forward.

[Spirit of Hope]

Agent Ji Oshiro was sitting quietly taking pictures of the crowd and increased security around Shannra’s capital. Acasionaly he would actually take pictures that related to his mission, focusing on the older woman and the younger looking man she was meeting with.

“Excuse me sir, I’m going to need to see your camera.” Agent Ji turned around and noticed two young soldiers, both obviously nervous and toying with their weapons, the younger one had obviously just addressed him.

“Of course,” Agent Ji replied handing over the camera and fishing around in his pockets to pull out an journalism ID. “Here is my Journalist ID to. I’m an independent reporter here to cover the rebellion and related events.”

The two soldiers flipped through the photos on his digital camera, deleting some of the pictures that showed security check points. Eventually they finished and handed the camera back to him, he quickly checked through and breathed a sigh of relief they hadn’t deleted any of the pictures he cared about. “In the future please don’t take pictures of security check points, if your caught doing it again you might be imprisoned.” With that the two soldiers moved on keeping a weary eye on the crowd of people moving on the streets.

Agent Ji smiled internally and turned back to the café, which caused him to loose that small internal smile. His targets had left the café and he had missed it, no use trying to find them in this crowd he instead headed back towards the Special operations command post.

He was carful to obey all laws and commands on his way through the streets, attempting to avoid any undue attention. It took him a while but he eventually made it to the building that served as their command post, officially it was a small investment company, in reality the entire staff of five that worked there were special agents. Stepping in he handed the camera over to one of their in house analyst who took out the memory card and inserted it into a computer. Within a couple of minutes he was happily plucking away at the keyboard digging up information.

“Any trouble? You were supposed to continue to tail the POI.” That was his boss, Special Agent Chou Honda, who was also the official owner of company. She was short and dangerous looking, someone no one ever wanted to cross.

“Got stopped by some soldiers, lost sight of the POI, and thought it more prudent to get back with what info I had.”

“Fine, hopefully the information is worth it.”

“It was,” the analyst called out pointing to his screen. “She is thought to be the head of operations here for Demigeuris. He is suspected to be some kind of special agent, kind of like us, who is probably hear to deal with the bombing and the general rebellion.”

“Any clue who’s side they are on?”

“His cover is trying to get a meeting with the Prime Minister, so probably not ours or the rebels."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They arrived at the rebel camp earlier than expected, pulling up and stopping at a safe distance. The Captain in charge of the operation stepped out of the lead vehicle hands out in the open.

“Hello the gaits!” He called out, pitching his voice so that it would carry. “Could we get in and talk to whoever is in charge? I’m the leader for this Emperors Own detachment here to train and assist resistance fighters.”

[Murovanka]

Rebel Base

Lookouts had already spotted the detachment from afar and had informed General Strachwitz of their arrival.

"They claim to be friendlies- here to support the rebels. What should we do?" said a sentry.

Strachwitz received it, and quickly informed the Command Center at home. A few seconds later, a reply came in. The seemingly never-sleeping officials at the Ministry of Defense kept constant contact with their activities in foreign countries.

"Yes, we were expecting them. They also seem to be running anti-government activities in Shannra. Let them in."

Strachwitz, however, wasn't so sure. He first sent Osman a message, asking him if the detachment was expected. Strachwitz surprisingly hadn't heard of them. The sentries on guard were ordered to lead them in closer, surround the leader and his accompanying officers and make them wait until confirmation was received from Osman.

"General Strachwitz would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused. However, we need to keep tight security here to prevent any government agents from entering the base." said an unemotional Murovankan SF soldier, as he eyed the newcomers suspiciously for weapons.

Back at the base, the training of the rebels had long started. All training fields were filled to its maximum capacities, and the whole base was now filled with the barking of Murovankan instructors, the panting of the rebels and the gunfire from the firing range. The whole program required every single participant to be constantly on his feet and doing as told. A medical station had been set up, treating anyone wounded in the course. Strachwitz' officers had found another suitable place for another runway, and once again, civilian workers busily scuttled around setting it up. A few modified versions of the Marder 2 IFV had been flown in, which was used to train the rebels in the use of armored vehicles.

[Shannra]

Shann, Capitol District
The Prime Minister adjusted himself in his seat while he was driven to the Parliament building, sitting next to him was a well dressed man in business attire but the indistinct bulge of an armored vest was present. The Prime Minister looked at the buildings strolling by while his driver navigated the busy streets most of them still had a classical architecture that would not be out of place in roman or Persian city and most were made of locally quarried sandstone. Some of these building showed the works of the previous Prime Minister's public works projects were Ministry building were given an appealing architecture that mixed the classical sandstone works with modern stainless steel. The Prime Minister's interest in the building quickly diminished and his thoughts turned to his passenger. he was Sandese, or one of those from the desert state to the east of Shannra, and had his Police file still exist it would have detailed his former military career and work as a terrorist.

"I trust that our friend has been taken care of Abin?"

"We have friends?" Abin remarked "But if your referring to our demolition expert, then yes he was disposed off in lower Shann, burnt to a crisp. Told em' he shouldn't have missed before I did em' in though."

"It is unfortunate that the bomb didn't remove the king for us but it did accomplish something and its time to act on that today."

"Its a shame I didn't get to finish Tarquin off myself, I owed him a bullet if a remember correctly"

The two accomplices conversation was cut short as the limo pulled up to the parliament building, the Prime Minister pulled him self out of the car and dismissed it along with its occupant. The Prime minister hurried into the prestigious building, having no taste for the dry air that was blowing into shann that day. Upon entering the building the Prime Minister was instantly greeted by a few of his aids explaining various things in detail to him, it took him a moment but he eventually sent them off for he already had a plan for the day in mind. The Prime Minister made his way to the hall, where the legislating took place and the books were kept, he didn't make it far before one of his supporters Abin Thine,a larger man who dwarfed the thin Allike in width if not height, came up to the Prime Minister.

"Premier, I was hoping to see you today and wanted to talk about moving up the legislation on mineral rights for those mining companies, such as the Hades Corporation. With my reelection coming up I was hoping to secure their finical aid by supporting the bill you and I had worked on, before the incident happened."

The prime Minister ghastly face took on a scowl of disapproval as his companion reminded him of the Scandal that, come next reelection year, would destroy his political career and almost thirty years of work acquiring power. "No, Thine that law can be passed later I am pressed to confront the situation that now faces our people, and careers. I will be proposing that we make a few changes in leadership in various ministries and promoting Caldin Rani to a five stir general."

A nearby legislator turned around upon hearing that last part and rushed over to launch his opinion "You would put a obvious puppet in a position that is reserved as an honor during times of war? I am appalled Prime Minister Allike" The Legislator had purposely spoken that loud enough that many of the nearby people, most of whom were Legislators and their aids had heard. Alliki's eyes filled with an intensity as he tried to incinerate the man on the spot, he chose to seize the moment to address the crowd after his rival had gotten their attention.

"Yes, I plan to put a puppet in the position for the same reason that these meeting and votes are kept private from the public, because sometimes necessary things must be done. We are under siege by terrorist masquerading as freedom fighters, Fated Tarquin was murdered at their hands and our entire country is worried about the future. We must show them that we have a plan and by making a change in leadership as well as giving the military a rare five star general to show that we plan to protect them with the same vigor now as we did when Tarquin saved us from the sandese years past. This send a clear message to the people but it present the problem of no man being worthy for this position, so my proposal is simple put a man there, temporarily, who will be able to give the military the appearance of strong leadership."

The Prime Minister stopped him self there, he would have two days to win them over and any more would just be drawing it on. While the crowd was still murmuring he escaped from Thine and his rival and made his way to the books. It didn't take him long to change the order of what bills would be looked at Friday and he was able to retire to his office, where his aid announced that a Representative of Hades Corporation wanted a meeting. Exasperated with all the problems caused by corporation at the moment he sighed and admitted he needed Hades Corporation so he told her to arrange it for later today.

OOC: Was going to post more but work kept me busy this week and I felt I should get something up.

[Murovanka]

Rebel Base

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Osman didn't respond for awhile, so General Strachwitz had to let the detachment in. He had been effectively running the camp, with the rebels under his control. So far, so good. Strachwitz was especially happy with his special forces unit. Most rebels were, in his opinion, highly capable soldiers and he wouldn't be surprised if they would liberate this country in no time.

The Ministry of Defense, after hearing about his plea for armored vehicles, supplied them training models of the Marder IFV and the Leopard 2A5 tank. This would be essential for conventional warfare, and he planned to incorporate armored warfare into their training. With top speeds exceeding 70 km/h and armor that was able to withstand almost all hand-held weapons, the Leopard 2A5 was thought to be an important asset for victory.

I've got nothing to write about.. >.>