The Fall [TWI Only|IC|Semi-Open]

[Mokov]

(Link to OOC: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=471366#p36154547)
The island of Mokov: rich in resources, poor in freedoms. Sixteen million people ruled over by a few hundred. For eight hundred years the House of Mokova has ruled over the island with an iron fist, using wealth and the military to keep the populace complacent. The resources of the island have been a constant source of income for the royal family, and they have been allowed to do as they please by the other nations of the world due to said resources.

Recently, King Alexei XVII died after a period of illness, and his young son Ivan XII ascended to take his place. Ivan, while not an inherently bad or incompetent ruler, his age, being only 17, and relative political inexperience has made him a prime target for ambitious courtiers and a subject of mockery by the masses. It seems that he dislikes the current state of affairs, and recognizes the problems with his rule, as four days into his reign, he dismissed a large portion of the Royal Court and replaced them with fresh faces that he felt he could trust far more.

These scorned courtiers went off to the port city of Nový Mokov, where a peaceful protest against the government had recently been dispersed, and using their influence, formed the Sons of Mokov from a large portion of those same protesters. Despite the peaceful nature of the group, the Královská Bezpečnostní Agentura, or KBA, has declared them to be rebels and insurgents. In response, a Son of Mokov vandalized a local KBA HQ with lewd graffiti, apparently looking to bring ridicule and insults upon the shady organization.

[Brulafi]

12:49 PM
Nový Litkov
Embassy District

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Barshad Jartalef's office had too much wood in it. There was so much wood that one could just smell it. The walls, like most others in the '70s-vintage Brulafi embassy, were paneled in oak and decorated with paintings in wooden frames. The desk he sat at was made of maple. Around him were shelves and other pieces of furniture made of cherry with little wood-hewn sculptures on the desk that Jartalef had carved himself. On the wooden door hung a placard (also made of wood) that described his title: Special Attaché of the Foreign Labour Directorate, Central Intelligence Bureau.

Ostensibly, Jartalef's job as Special Attaché was to be the chief handyman for all the workers in the Directorate in their usual business: coordinating monthly wire transfers of money from Brulafi workers in Mokov back to their home banks, assisting them in filing taxes, reminding them of their right to unionize, and advocating for them if they ran into trouble with the Mokovi authorities. Thanks to the growing mineral-extraction industry in Mokov, it was not uncommon for companies to hire Brulafi specialists for help in setting up machinery and training mechanics. Therefore, a large presence of FLD workers at the Embassy in Nový Litkov was not really seen as suspicious. It was an easy job for Jartalef, especially since he didn't actually do any of it. The title of "Special Attaché" was a sham, a fake job title that acted as cover for his real title: a sublieutenant in the CIB's Foreign Intelligence Directorate, a ringmaster for an espionage operation that was burrowing deeper and deeper into the Mokovi government with each passing day. Thanks to the proximity of the two countries to each other, this operation had been underway in some years; with the coronation of Ivan, however, the CIB had sensed a growing weakness in the royal family and had chosen to go all-out in exploiting it.

As part of this exploitation of weakness, Jartalef was to go and meet with a local coordinator for the Sons of Mokov. Stepping out of his office and buttoning up the collars of his dark grey coat against the Mokovi weather, he looked like every other faceless bureaucrat streaming in and out of the nameless concrete buildings in this part of town. Little did these others know that this one, with his collapsible leather briefcase and square-built jaw, would be one of the dominoes that, once moved, would propel the Royal government out of power. Hailing a rideshared car across town, Jartalef gave the recited cover to the curious driver: he was merely consulting with a middle manager concerned about his Brulafi workers. This was really the only reason someone like Jartalef would be coming to the rundown, industrial complexes across town from the swept-concrete palace of the Embassy District—besides his actual reason, of course, but he couldn't tell this driver. That was below even a rookie mistake. Once Jartalef was dropped off at his specified location and the rideshare had disappeared around the corner, he ensured that no CCTV camera would see his entry. Despite all his years of experience and training, he felt a bit nervous about the nondescript brick building he was about to enter.

With a final straightening of his tie, he rapped his knuckles on the door and waited for his contact to open the door.

[Mokov]

Hearing the knock, a slat on the door slides open, and upon a pair of eyes seeing the visitor, slams shut. Two minutes pass, while the sounds of opening locks and turning latches filters out through the metal door, until it finally opens. The man inside is a gruff, bedraggled looking person, dressed in filthy coveralls and holding an old pistol in his left hand. "You're that Brulafi Attache aren't you? What are you doing here-never mind, the boss'll want to speak to you, follow me. Try anything and I shoot you" This was plainly a low-class worker, judging by his speech patterns and accent, which belonged to Paradz, a mining district in the west.

The interior of the hideout was just as grimy and run down as the exterior, the only sign of human inhabitance being the numerous anti-royal posters on the walls. The air smells of a combination of bleach and mold, as if there was some attempt to remove the latter, albeit unsuccessfully. Coming out into a decent sized room, more Sons can be seen, some eating, some playing cards, and some putting together makeshift weapons out of scrap.

Barshad is brought through a door on the left side of the main room, and into an office. In the center sits a mahogany desk covered in various papers and forms, all being worked on by a young man wearing an eyepatch. "Thanks, Boris, go tell Matej that it's his turn to stand guard, go take the rest of the day off." As the door closes, the apparent leader of this cell looks up. "You. What could you possibly want with the Sons of Mokov, Barshad Jartalef?"

[Havalland]

1:05 AM
Novy Lictov harbor

The HMS Warborn was docked, the Havallish naval insignia waved under the full moon as the crew unloaded the supplies, guns, ammo, rations, and a Havallish knight overseeing it.
"Be careful with that we don't want damaged goods"
"Aye aye Lucas" the sailor responded to the knight.

Lucas was nervous, he expected a greeting from a high ranking official, but it seemed quiet, he kept his hand on his sword and his personal guards by his side.
He starts calling orders, "you two get the volunteers!" He ordered, the men went inside the ship.
After five minutes two squads of ten men exited the ship
"Cardinal squad secure te area, make sure there's no terrorists sneaking up on us, Baker squad stand at attention until ordered otherwise." The knight barked his orders.

[Mokov]

1:05 AM
Novy Lictov harbor

The HMS Warborn was docked, the Havallish naval insignia waved under the full moon as the crew unloaded the supplies, guns, ammo, rations, and a Havallish knight overseeing it.
"Be careful with that we don't want damaged goods"
"Aye aye Lucas" the sailor responded to the knight.

Lucas was nervous, he expected a greeting from a high ranking official, but it seemed quiet, he kept his hand on his sword and his personal guards by his side.
He starts calling orders, "you two get the volunteers!" He ordered, the men went inside the ship.
After five minutes two squads of ten men exited the ship
"Cardinal squad secure te area, make sure there's no terrorists sneaking up on us, Baker squad stand at attention until ordered otherwise." The knight barked his orders.

Ten minutes pass before anything happens. A small group of soldiers, lead by a man dressed in noble garb, approached the HMS Warborn. "You must be the foreign volunteers sent to support the monarchy. I am Baron Henryk Mach, and I will be overseeing this operation. Where is your leader, that I may speak with him."

[Havalland]

Lucas approached the man "That would be me, Knight-captain Lucas Cross it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance baron" the knight says giving a salute.
"Lieutenant Samuel Tomas is still on board, he is to operate as a an informant and ambassador he will join us shortly".

The lieutenant did come down in 3 more minutes, "my apologies sir I didn't mean to keep you waiting".

[Mokov]

Baron Mach nods briskly and gestures for the Lieutenant to follow him. "Officially, you're here as a diplomatic attache to the Kingdom, can't have the rebels knowing your real purpose now can we?" They come up to a decently sized concrete building with the words 'Havallish Embassy' engraved on a plaque above the door. "This is to be your base of operations within Mokov. I'll give you some time to get set up, the phone inside has my number in it should you require me."

[Havalland]

The lieutenant nodes "thank you baron, goddess guide you"
He says before entering the building.
Lucas then approaches "where should I bring my men baron? Try are anxious to fight these terrorists" he says proudly.

[Mokov]

"For now, keep them in the 'embassy'. I'll inform you the moment the rebels make a move that warrants a violent response, which given the moral degeneracy of these people, should not be long. Just keep quiet."

[Havalland]

"Yes sir" Lucas turned to his men
"Baker squad, cardinal squad, you are to guard the building, make sure we are safe!"
The squads saluted and went to their posts swiftly
"Good day baron" Lucas said before entering the embassy to catch some shut eye.

[Scantarbia]

Robert Simatupang is a Scantarbian citizen living in the outskirts of Novy Mokov. He works as a fisherman on his boat, the "Mokovian Breakfast", operating from the beautiful coastal capital of Novy Mokov, or at least that's what he publicly do and what people know. Behind the curtain, he also works as an agent for the NI3, Scantarbia's Intelligence Agency, under the callsign of "Roy". Today he woke up at 4:20 AM from his almost-not-livable-flat -where the wallpapers are torn and the plumbing almost always broke- feeling tired as usual, but he needs to work hard to fulfill his daily need or at least to fill in his alibi. He took a quick shower, get dressed, ate his usual breakfast of bread, butter, and pork sausage, packed his lunch and goes downstairs.

Opening the door he's greeted with the smell of Mokovian suburbs: bleak, poverty, houses in bad condition, almost unlivable to be honest. His attempt to observe his surroundings is disturbed by the honking sound of a Scantarbian-made Anheisser Serpent driven and owned by his partner, Heydrich Ananenko, also known as "Hess" in NI3 community -he himself brought the car with him here, when he moved to Mokov-. The car itself has quite some mileage, normal for a car made in the 80s, but the mechanic touch of Heydrich always able to make it feel like it just came out of the dealer yesterday. The window of the car then rolls down, revealing Heydrich's face, wearing a black aviator glasses topped with a leather ushanka.

"Are we going or not, the fish aren't going to catch themselves!" shouts Heydrich from inside the car while pressing the car horn once more.
"Okay, okay, chill, what time is it anyway?" replies him getting inside the car, he then sits on the seat next to the driver.
"It's 7:30 AM," followed by Heydrich shifting the gear and hitting the gas, "I believe you should read the newspaper."

Picking the newspaper from the dashboard, he's greeted by the various news of Mokovian origin, but one stands out most.
"Another protest? Is HQ notified of this?"
"I've sent them a copy, no worries, it should be on the newspaper's website too," said Heydrich while he makes a turn on the intersection, leading them to the arterial road heading to the port, and finally, their fishing boat. With the normal sight of soldiers stationed here and there, the journey is calm as usual with Scantarbian 80s pop song playing from the car's radio, playlist provided graciously by Heydrich.

Going to where their boat is parked, they need to pass near a military harbor.
"Is that, a Havalland warship?" said Robert while he noticed the flag of Havalland waving on top of the warship's mast.
"Wonder what are they doing here, a monarchy meets another" continues him while he observed the warship.
"We'll have a clearer view with the superzoom lens and drone on board the boat," comments Heydrich when the warship is now behind their moving car.

Not long after, the duo reaches their boat, a small fishing boat designed to manually fish, with fishing rods, Mokovian tunas, registered in Scantarbia but bearing the port name "Novy Mokov, Mokov". Behind the hood, it's packed with hardware to conduct intelligence operations, from drones to signal interceptors.

"Fishing is always a nice sport, wait, I mean job" jokes Robert, knowing that this "job" only acts as a cover-up,
which Heydrich replied with a wide smile on his face "It can be both,".

After preparing the rods and baits they took the boat to the open seas, prepared the drone catapult, then proceeds to launch a long-range high-altitude endurance drone equipped with powerful cameras.

Controlling the drone he speaks to Robert, "Can't those on the HQ, maneuvers the multi-million dollar KEEPSTAR to take a photograph instead of us, with this drone?"
"I've spoken to them, they said it is more cost-effective for us to do it,"
"Well then, I'm going to finish setting the waypoints for the drone, let it do its job autonomously, I'll also notify HQ of this so they can intervene with the control at any moment, you keep eye on those rods."

Not long after, Heydrich hears shouting from the back of the boat.
Its Robert shouting "Fish on!" while jumping to the rod to begin his multi-hour struggle with the fish.
"Hold on, I'm going up!" replies Heydrich while scrambling to go outside.
"We got a tough one here!" shouts Robert while letting the fish take as much line as it wants, the strategy is to make it tired, then he'll have an easier time bringing it onboard the boat.

The duo takes turns trying to catch the fish. Once in a while, one of them gets inside to check on the drone, making sure nothing happens to it and the mission proceeds as smooth as possible. Hours passed and both of them now soaked in sweat and sprays of the salty sea here and there. Finally, Heydrich managed to succumb the fish, bringing it close enough to be spotted and speared by Robert. Without hesitation, Robert throws the spear to the tuna, hitting it. Heydrich then ties a rope to its tail before both of them lift it onboard the boat. Their catch is rather huge, with 356 cm in length. After the catch, they then clean up the boat and switches to a more clean attire, preparing for drone recovery, as it is now on a trajectory back to the boat.

After fishing the drone out of the water and stowing it for later use, the duo then began delving into the footage taken by the drone. Although the footage failed to show anything interesting, it does show a fresh tire mark, indicating something was loaded to, or offloaded from, the warship. The information was then relayed to HQ through a secure link via the GNOSIS network. Seeing their work for today is finished, the duo then sets sail home, on the way back to the port and the fishery, they passed the military harbor. Robert utilized the moment to take multiple images of the docked ships with the cameras stored onboard the boat. Cashing in today's catch, they earned a substantial amount of money, not enough to make them rich, but enough to cover their expenses for the rest of the week, if they only work as tuna fishermen.

The duo then went home, Robert takes a ride on Heydrich's car, like the way they came to the port.
Stopping to drop Robert off, Heydrich said, "I'll pick you up again tomorrow, we're going to the cafe, right?"
"Well, yes, see you tomorrow," replied Robert exiting the car.

[Mokov]

Later that night, a knock sounds out on Robert's door. It only grows more violent until finally, the door is kicked in. A squad of KBA agents flood in, weapons at the ready. "YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR ESPIONAGE AND REBEL SYMPATHIES!" Shouts a man that looks to be their leader. Around the neighborhood, the sounds of similar occurrences can be heard, sometimes ending in gunfire. It looks like the KBA has decided to purge the lower class of the secondary capital, in the wake of the protest at the funeral.

[Scantarbia]

But they only find an empty room, with Robert's belongings thrown all over the place, it seems as is the house is already ransacked. Robert is nowhere to be found. Earlier, NI3 managed to intercept KBA comms and warns the duo hours before the purge is done. A live CCTV feed from the room broadcasted the entire debacle back to the HQ of NI3 far in the Southern Seas. Not long after the breach in, a remote-controlled explosive in form of rigged cooking gas was set off on the room, destroying the entire flat and badly injuring or even killing whoever is in the room, the same situation also happens at Heydrich's house. His car is also nowhere to be found. In reality, they went deep into the forest, to a more secure and safer grounds.

NI3 also decided to maneuver their KEEPSTAR to have an overhead view about the entire situation, where people are forcefully taken away from their homes and forced to board a truck to God-knows-where. The 15cm resolution provided by KEEPSTAR cameras that can operate with IR or low-light condition gave them valuable information to the Scantarbian government, especially its intelligence community of what's currently happening at Mokov and their extremely oppressive government.

A massive explosion also happens at the port, destroying their boat, removing any evidence whatsoever about their second job. From now on, they'll try to link up a local Mokovian who lives off the grid, also deep inside the thickness of the Mokovian forest.

[Mokov]

This Mokovi forest hermit lives in a small wooden shack in the center of the Great Forest, on the northern shore of the island. Rumor has it that he used to be a KBA agent, but fled after an attempt on his life.

From outside the shack, no movement can be seen, save the telltale flicker of a candle inside.

[Havalland]

The distant explosions had caught the attention of the knight and the leutenant.
"Did you hear that sir?"
"Aye, explosions" Lucas said with dread "I'll include them in our report to the king, it will not be safe for him to come to king Ivans coronation."
Lucas turned to the unit leader of both squads
"Put the troops on alert, only mokov officials can enter, if any civilians trespass detain them and escort them off the premises if they come back turn them over to the Mokov authorities!"
The unit commander saluted and went to deliver the order.

[Mokov]

A KBA official sends a short message to the Havallish explaining the situation: "Possible foreign agent, evaded capture during purge, be on alert".

[Martenyika]

Emilia glanced left and right out of the alley before thinking about crossing the sidewalk and street. The street was unusually quiet, and every motion or noise made her a little more worried. It was already becoming difficult to remain calm and collected—headlights bathed the street as a car turned on. Emilia’s mind jumped to the KBA.

She didn’t think they’d be after her, but who knew? She had recently found out that her fiancée was in with the Sons, so that could be enough all on its own. It was actually enough to force her away from him for a time. She knew he was going to be part of the funeral protest and didn’t support it. The so-called “Sons” were only endangering themselves and others...but when she heard about shots fired, and heard of what was going on in the city now, Emilia was the first to contact him. They didn’t get to talk much before but he didn’t sound his best.

Emilia let out a sigh of relief as a man and woman helped their daughter into the car, as well as luggage. Getting out of town for awhile no doubt. That was the safest, most sane option. After the car passed, Emilia took one last look around. Despite disturbing sounds and barking dogs in the general area, it seemed clear. She dialed her fiancée’s number—“h-hey,” he answered weakly.

“Are you still there Stefan? Are you okay?”
“Yea..yeah. Just...come.” Stefan hung up. Emilia hurried across the street to the apartment building, found her way to the designated door, and knocked.

“Stefan, it’s me!” she called out. A man opened the door, and closed it quickly behind Emilia. It took Emilia a moment to identify Stefan—he was on a table, with two guys and bloody towels around him. Emilia rushed over to him and took his hand. She feared that he had gotten hurt, but didn’t prepare for this.

“Oh no, what did you do! Why Stefan?” she yelled.
“Royalists...shot me.”
“Was it worth it, huh?! Huh?! You didn’t have to get yourself into this—look where it’s got you!”
“A-and they didn...didn’t need to shoot us, Emi....taking a stand—worth it. Will you? Eh...thank you for being here. But go now. Fucking KBA probably...” Stefan trailed off.

“Stefan? Stefan! Is he going to make it?”
“Can’t say. The doctor is doing his best,” one of the men answered while checking his gun, “but you really should go.”
“No, I can’t,” Emilia shook her head. It was a lot to process, especially what Stefan had said. She didn’t think it particularly smart for the Sons to protest when and where they did, but the royalist response then, and since, made the Sons look quite a bit more reasonable and righteous. Especially when the Royalists had touched someone she didn’t know she felt so much for, anymore.

[Mokov]

In the following days, three more purges of the lower class are carried out by the KBA, and those members of the Sons arrested at the funeral protest are never seen again.

Suddenly, a loud and violent knocking rings out from the door of Stefan's apartment, with a voice shouting the three letters nobody wanted to hear: KBA. It looks like this city block was finally designated to be purged of all potential dissidents.

[Martenyika]

Stefan didn’t make it. Without a hospital or a doctor of humans—the doctor had been a veterinarian—he didn’t have much of a chance. It hit Emilia hard, but for the past couple days she had been keeping busy. She figured it was the only way to keep herself together and hopefully survive. Suddenly she found herself aiding the Sons in the apartment’s main mission, which was smuggling weapons and anything useful to the cause, out of the area before the KBA showed up, and loading homemade ammunition. They owned the neighboring apartment so there was more room to keep that little industry going. One of the Sons said that as soon as they finished, they would leave and lay low far away. Emilia figured she just had to keep her nose to the grindstone for a bit longer and then she might escape the brewing madness.

That changed in an instant. The man in charge of the Sons had just been grumbling about being behind schedule when the KBA announced their presence. Of the five Sons, two of them took Emilia into the adjoining apartment through a broken section of wall, where the homemade ammo was. They started throwing ammunition, weapons, and other items in bags.

But already the sound of gunfire erupted in the original apartment. The remaining three Sons had opened fire at the door hoping to clip some KBA, and buy some time at the bottleneck for their comrades.

[Mokov]

The gunfire lasts for only a short while, as the well-armed and impeccably trained KBA agents shoot the three desperate rebels to pieces. As more and more agents flood into the apartment, the officer in charge of the raid notices the broken bit of the wall. No time passes before gunfire pours through that hole and into the adjoined apartment.

The gunfire suddenly lets up, but only for long enough for one of the agents to toss a tear gas grenade into the small space. Throughout the complex, more gunfire can be heard, paired with the screams of the dead and dying.

[Martenyika]

“Go, take it!” one of the two remaining men yelled, slinging Emilia a full bag. As Emilia braced to catch the small yet heavy sack, she asked a simple question. “Where!”
“Stay safe! You know what to do with this!” he replied, handing a Molotov cocktail. He gave her a shove towards the window, which she could use to get onto a catwalk, and down to the second story. The Sons had explained the route to take in such a situation, although it didn’t include anything about an ultimate point B. And she did know what to do with the Molotov.

The other Son who had been loading stuff up took a few bullets all of a sudden, just as Emilia clambered through the window. A moment later Emilia watched from the catwalk as the final Son fired on an agent, but took a few shots shortly after. Dead. Emilia drew her face back from the window and fumbled with the lighter. Finally it lit, and she threw the Molotov back into the room. Then she took off down the catwalk. She instinctively glanced over the edge of the catwalk expecting that there might be other KBA agents below in the courtyard.

[Mokov]

That instinct proved to be absolutely correct, as two more squads of KBA agents have formed up in the courtyard, standing in front of an ever-growing pile of bodies. As Emilia watches, two beaten and bloodied men are dragged out into the courtyard, thrown onto the body pile and shot. She doesn't get much time to think about this however, as shouts and renewed gunfire force her to move fast, lest she meet the same fate as everybody else. This is why the KBA is so feared. They can move into an area completely undetected and massacre or arrest everyone there in a matter of minutes, with little to no difficulty.

[Aizcona]

The Estral Ambasador to Mokov sat at his desk with his fingers rubbing his temples. Recent developments in the country had started to give him headaches and have been piling paperwork up on his desk. Estral intelligence had been providing reports of increased insurgent activity in regards to the sons of Mokov. Along with that there were rumors starting to circulate that Aizcona's most hated enemy, Brulafi, was giving support to the group. This has of course given rise to Estral concerns especially as it considered the country within the Estral Sphere of Influence and it considered the monarchy a good friend of Aizcona.

The Jenderrega had given him permission to act on Estral interests in the nation more so than was usually given to an ambassador. Along with that the Kontseilua were starting to debate about the issue at hand. Nonetheless he had been told to get permission to visit the new monarch and discuss what was going on and try to prevent the issue from escalating.

With a sigh he started to pen a letter to the monarch to ask for permission to visit him. Finishing with the letter he stamped his seal on it, enclosed it within an envelope and stamped it closed with a wax seal. He buzzed an aide in and had them deliver the letter to the monarch.

With that he swiveled his chair to face the windows. The rain outside was soothing to his head and these headaches were likely to only get worse in the coming days and weeks.

[Mokov]

Král Ivan sat at his desk, a half-empty glass of vodka in his left hand, and the latest KBA report in his right. In the latest purge, a large rebel weapons shipment was seized from an apartment complex in Nový Litkov, and twelve insurgents were killed or captured. As he signs off on a bill proposed by the Královské Státní Shromáždění that mildly increased corporate taxes, one of his aides steps into the office and hands him a letter.

After reading it, he puts down his now emptied glass and pens one of his own in return. The Estral Ambassador has been given permission to visit the Král within the next week.

[Martenyika]

“Fuck...ah fuck...” Emilia nearly hyperventilated as she sat against an alley wall. It seemed like there was finally a moment of peace. She had been hyper alert running and dodging her way out of the area, and somehow she had survived. At least for a little longer. It took everything she had to keep moving despite seeing the KBA atrocities in her escape—and then it took more to not linger long where she was. Staying on the move had to be the best option of survival. Ideally, getting out of Dodge all together was the best course of action, especially going to the woods. The Sons probably had some presence there. Emilia popped into a shop to buy a few food items and some water before hitching a ride out of town.