PRELUDE
"Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and she who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to her, and she went out conquering and to conquer... "
"Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and she who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to her, and she went out conquering and to conquer... "
Office Of The President | Presidium Level | Ministry Of Defense | May 2015
It was a cold and overcast day inside the Dominion, as rain fell heavily from the dark heavens above onto the unyielding steel and concrete structures of the Dominion below. The water dripped and flowed as it made it's way across the various rooftops before finding itself fiendishly trapped in one of the uncountable rusting gutter systems used by the Dominion. From here, the fresh water was then collected and piped through a series of gravity fed systems before eventually being dumped into one of the many below ground cisterns that made up the collection system, ready to be processed for human consumption.
President McBeth stood quietly by a large bay window overlooking his offices catchment system, and watched as the water collected on the roof above flowed down and out a stone gargoyles mouth in a display that to this day still filled the man with a sense of wonder at human ingenuity. The now slightly aging man had so far spent the majority of his morning looking out from his perch, his attention lost into the abyss of his mind as he pondered over the mornings news reports endlessly in his mind.
Though he would never openly admit it, the effects of constantly dealing with the shit filled world and the people who thieved oxygen daily just by existing in it was beginning to take it's tole on him both physically and mentally. A slight slouch could be seen from a keen eye, where once a proud and straight posture once stood, and if one looked close enough, they would see a wisp of grey hair spotting the mans once proud hairline. His very soul and every fiber of his being ached for the day where he would no longer have to wake up and deal with these fools on a diplomatic level. Hell, half the people he dealt with on the international scene shouldn't be ruling a refuse pile, let along a nation.
A knock at his chambers massive oak doors brought the man back to reality, and he shook his head quietly, dismissing the cobwebs of his previous train of thought from his mind.
"Enter." He said in a cool and calm voice as he turned to face his new arrival.
The door opened with a distinctive creek as the iron hinges protested against the sudden shift of weight, and in walked someone with whom the President had known for quite some time.
"Melissa! It's so good to see you!" Exclaimed McBeth with a smile as Melissa Stern, the daughter of his close friend and supreme commander Edward Stern walked firmly into his chamber wearing her traditional officers garrison fatigues as fit her title and position in the Dominion military.
"Likewise, Mr. President." She mused as she closed the distance between them and embraced the man with a hug.
"It's so good to see you, my dear." Said McBeth as he returned the girls embrace warmly. "And do I owe the pleasure of this timely visit?" He asked as he motioned for the girl to take a seat at his lavish hardwood desk while they chatted.
Melissa seated herself firmly in the overstuffed leather chair that graced the presidents desk before continuing.
"I think you know why I've come." She said in a slightly more serious tone.
McBeth leaned back in his own chair and let a sigh escape his lips as he did so before continuing.
"Melissa, you know I love you as if you were my own daughter, but we have been over this topic a hundred times already. Nothing you say or do is going to change my view on the subject at hand."
"Mr. President, I know that we have been down this road before, but you have to wake up and listen to reason! The Dominion cannot continue on as the worlds own police force, trying to save every last nameless country from it's insane leadership that sends out a pathetic SOS on the international scene. We can no longer physically and financially entertain this personal crusade of yours, Mr President, and it's high time that we as a nation get something in return for risking our necks to help these fools!"
McBeth folded his hands on his lap and shook his head from side to side as he spoke.
"And what would you have me do then? Take tribute from every sovereign nation that falls upon hard times and asks for our assistance? We as both a people and a nation are better then that Melissa, you of all people should know that."
Melissa stood to her feet as McBeth spoke to her and turned her back on the man.
"Know better?" She said in a openly questioningly tone. "All I know Sir, is that you send our brave men and women, my friends... off to foreign lands to fight somebody elses goddamned fight and for what? So that you can feel better as you sleep safe in you're bed at night? Things have to change... then NEED to change."
McBeth turned in his swivel chair and looked behind him out the window again, at the rain as it fell from the heavens and hammered against his glass window.
"There are those nations... those much older and possibly even wiser then ourselves that have faced this very issue you know. Perhaps, if it's not too late, we could learn from their teachings and take steps to follow suite before it's too late." Said Melissa as she calmly walked over to am ornate wall cabinet nearby and opened the polished door on it's face up with her right hand.
"Oh, that I have no doubt." Replied McBeth as he wrinkled his brow in frustration at the situation he currently found himself in."You have to remember though, that we as a whole need to set an example for the rest of the world to follow. We need to be that beacon of light in the sea of darkness that this messed up world currently finds itself in Melissa."
"You're right you know." She said as she pulled a ornate wooden box that had been gifted to the man years earlier by her father out from it's resting place on a shelf and opened it's lid up wide. "We do need to set an example for others to follow. Starting right now......"
Reaching into the silk lined interior of the box, Melissa pulled forth from it's depths one of two matching 10mm service revolvers that had been commissioned to commemorate the successful completion of the annihilation and annexation of GEIJD by her father and the President. With all emotion drained from her face, she turned and strode over to stand directly in front of the Presidents desk, facing the back of the mans chair as he gazed off into the distance.
"Hail Kraven!" She said as a small smirk spread across her face.
"Kraven?" Mumbled McBeth under his breath puzzled, before realization struck him like a hammer.
His eyes went wide with fear and he spun himself around in his chair with his feet with more force then necessary in blind panic, just in time for the round fired from the pistol to impact the side of his head, blowing out the opposite side in a spray of pink mist that repainted the now spider webbed window behind him. His body immediately went limp in the chair as he slowly spun in place due to the force of the impact. A deep crimson river spreading down the front and back of his still warm body as the mans still warm lifeblood pooled around him.
The heavy door behind her protested again, only this time it did so vigorously as it was kicked open by a trio of men entering the chamber.
"Melissa?" Asked an all too familiar voice from the lead man of the group. "My god... what have you done?"
She turned slowly and faced the group of me, the revolver still smoking in her uncaring hands, and cackled sideways.
"Hello father..."
With well trained precision that only a trained marksmen could achieve, she snap fired two consecutive shots in rapid succession and shot the two men flanking either side of her father square in their chests. The men were both dead before their bodies hit the ground in on either side of Edward Stern. General Stern looked slowly to his left and then to his right at the two fallen men beside him, before slowly turning his gaze back up upon his own flesh and blood as a single tear escaped and ran down his grizzled face.
The shot hit him square in the chest, shattering ribs and rupturing organs as the high velocity round passed through the mans upper body. Stern stumbled forward with an outstretched hand, and grabbed hold of his own daughter in a vein attempt for stabilization. He gazed into her eyes, as frothy blood started to escape his lips as the man slowly started to asphyxiate on his own blood that was pooling in a collapsed lung. Melissa pressed the barrel into the mans chest and pulled the trigger twice more, bringing an end to a legend that had changed the course of history on multiple occasions.
Without a single fuck given, she let the limp form of her own father fall unceremoniously to the floor beside her. She turned and walked back over to the Presidents desk, and started rifling though it's drawers. It wasn't long before she located what she was looking for, tucked away securely in one of the desks bottom drawers. Reaching beside her, she grabbed the limp hand of the former president and pressed his thumb down upon the small bio scanner next to the locking mechanism, unlocking the briefcase with an audible click.
"Thanks for lending a hand." She mused as a smile spread across her face as she opened up the presidents nuclear briefcase and gazed upon the folder contained withing.
"Thank you indeed..."
