FADING DRAGON
Port City Shan Jiniang
Day 1, 03:00
Shan Jiniang had once been the second greatest city within the Yeuzuishan Empire after Darkhit. A sprawling commercial city at the coast of Yeuzuishan, it had long funneled much of the Empire's trade and wealth through itself, which even during the Empire's decline, helped it to great wealth. Many people from all across Yeuzuishan moved here in hopes of a better life, a secure and well paid job and industry was booming in while it fell into decline in much of the rest of the Empire. New inventions from the rest of the world, new ideas and ideologies, also entered Yeuzuishan through here and while many remained steadfast, traditional monarchists and believers of the caste system, other ideologies like communism, fascism or democracy creeped in. Still, it was a city alight at all times and with its streets bustling and no quiet ever to be found within it from all the life that coursed through its veins.
Now that was in the past.
Shan Jiniang had become a dark and desolate place. Few lights were still alight in the city streets. And apart from the sound of vehicles and the howling of wolves, nothing broke the silence. The streets were empty, save for rats scouring the trash heaps lying on the open streets. A series of lights illuminated the front of the town citadel, the massive structure having been adorned with a massive dark blue banner sporting the dreaded yellow exilvanian sword. And dangling in front of it, held by steel ropes, were about two dozen corpses, citizen hung by the Exilvanian occupiers to signal to the population what fate awaited them if they were to rise up.
Up in that palace the Exilvanians had established the centre of their administration for the entire occupied territory. This meant that the Governator had his bureau here, as had the military administration and of course the ZZ. And it was within one of these bureas, its walls adorned with the red flags bearing the white ZZ logo, that ZZ Sektionsleiter Klersk Vormyn stood, looking out over the nightly harbour town from the window of his office. The sight was, despite the darkness, impressive. He could see all the way down to the harbour where lights still shone, illuminating activity on the docks and piers. An exilvanian freighter had arrived just recently and docked at one of the newly constructed piers. Klersk smiled, knowing that they had practically torn down much of the original port and added their own, concrete piers and docks to it to facilitate a more efficient exchange of wares.
Now a railway network had been built straight through the city and onto the piers themselves, rails reaching all the way to the water so trains could drive there and get unloaded or loaded with freight containers. One such train was currently standing on one of the piers right next to the docked ship, having tons of red containers loaded. Of course Klersk couldn't actually see that from his position...but he knew it anyway. As ZZ Sektionsleiter he had a way of knowing such things. Such as having the port activity register open on his desk behind him, the page for today's planned activities open. A smirk spread across his lips as he imagined the loading. How the massive mining spider they had deployed in the port would get into position over the freighter and the train and then load one container after another under the watchful eyes of exilvanian guards. How they would smile and enjoy the beating against the containers as the cargo would get afraid by suddenly being lifted from the train carts. And then it would be shipped off to Exilvania.
A knock on his door ripped Klersk right out of his imagination. He snorted in annoyance before sitting down behind his desk, doing his best to look very busy and annoyed about the intrusion while saying:
"Enter."
In came one of his aides, secretary Selene Gorz, her usual slightly bored expression on the face. She had a few pages in her hand, no doubt things she intended to hand him but for now he was still a bit miffed about getting ripped out of such a pleasant imagination and didn't intend to get back to the usual office work that quickly. From the look of it, Selene wasn't too keen on that either as she raised her arm in greeting, lacking the usual energy and motivation she put into that greeting. Suppose having stayed up the past 72 hours to help in setting up administrative structures had taken their toll.
"What is it Fräulein Gorz?"
She half nodded before suppressing a yawn, dropping the papers on his desk.
"A patrol caught some people outside the city just about half an hour ago. The beasts tore two apart, our men killed another two and tortured one beyond use."
Boring, thought Klersk. It was nothing new that their patrols massacred locals on a nearly hourly basis. While yes, he got the reports of all of these actions everyday, he also never gave them much more attention than quickly skimming them and then checking them off. Of course this decreased the available labour ressources but it improved troop morale if the boys and girls had some fun, not to mention that it helped in keeping the damn Yeuzuishans down. Still, that she brought him this one before the sun had risen meant that something was off about it and so he asked:
"So far so good, our brave fighters doing what they do best. Anything else?"
Selene just shrugged, stating:
"Well, they were outside the city for starters, clearly attempting to hide from us. From what I could gleam in the report, they also had some equipment with them. Camouflage nets, flashlights, maps of the city and its surroundings as well as a rather detailed sketch of our harbour. Oh, and a clock with an alarm set for..."
, she checked her wristwatch.
"...approximately now. If you are asking me, they were waiting for something to happen."
Klersk scratched his chin, not much good coming of it because he wore gloves and a mask. Still, he did it mainly because he was lost in thought and performing some minor tasks with his hands helped him concentrate. A set time, maps of the harbour, camouflage nets? Well, the answer was fairly obvious. These people belonged to some form of organised resistance and were ready and willing to attack the current freighter, disrupting the exilvanian war industry and liberating the cargo. But how did the camouflage nets fit into this? These were used mostly to hide objects or people from view...and were woefully useless in the city. He felt like he was missing something. Still, orders had to be given just in case.
"Mobilize ZZ Festungsgarnison 1001. They are to inconspicuously triple the guards in and around the harbour. The palace too just in case. Apart from that, I want some patrols. Both in the city in the case there are any delusions of a concerted rebellion and insurgent attack, as well as outside the city, especcially where they found those damn insurgents. I have a feeling that we will find more there if we just look hard enough."
