Márton knew something was wrong.
’He waited patiently in the dark shadows of the tunnel, listening to the workers haul their freight and discuss job orders. They would come at 3:45 PM for their afternoon smoke. Always illegal, but the boss liked productive workers, so he let it be. Just a few more moments now.’
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank, in Him, Jesus Christ,
For my redeemed and purchased soul.
They had always known from the beginning, when they were but one of the many refugees within Gholgoth seeking refuge from the chaos.
War.
Death.
Famine.
Disease.
All of that and more had come to devastate his old home and he took any ship that would bear him, and the winds of fate had seen fit to deposit him on the decaying shores of the Compact. It was a beautiful land at first glance; rolling hills that refracted the dying light of the sun as it fell back under the top lip, spreading it out in small, glorious rays at the end of a hard day’s work. Ice-capped mountains, stabbing upward into the sky, laying bare their might for all to see, eventually fading away into the deep green forests of the south and the rolling wheat fields and plains of central Telros.
’Voices, growing louder, one gruff and clearly a heavy smoker; cancer would take him in a few years, he was sure of it. His laughter was booming down the tunnel, hard to hear over the steaming hiss of the thermal vents and the machinery of the planet, but still could be heard all the same. He was called Száj for a reason.’
In the fell-hard clutch of circumstance
I have sore-winced and cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of flagrance
My head is bloody and low-bowed.
But much like when he dreamed of good food, a bed, and a safe place to call home, it all faded as the corrupting reality revealed itself. He watched year after year as reports came in about the growing Arctic tundra spreading from the north, slowly killing off the beautiful country he called home. He had watched as the politicians and rulers bickered and fought with one another over what to do, wasting precious resources and time. And yet, in the end, the solution found to the death of the environment around them, was to simply run underground, to let their mistakes consume their home and live under ice, rock and dirt, for the rest of their lives.
Cowardice.
’The other, a lighter tone that signified the partner in crime, albeit it was in the low tones of tired annoyance, ever the habitual complainer. He was the one to spend the time smoking, while Száj just continued to tell his jokes and his stories. A glance at his watch told him they would reach him in five minutes.’
He had been amongst many who protested, but it was too late; the dice had been cast, and the great works that would become the Deep Cities began, and he would be one of the lucky, or unlucky depending on your point of view, few who remained above ground to work. Slowly entombed in cobwebs of metal, ceramic and tailored cloth, to keep out of the cold and ice and allow their work on the surface to continue. Fusion power had lit the way for many advancements and was the only reason the underground life was even possible, but they needed backups and more natural sources to take the place of old fossil fuels, and so geothermal was the obvious next answer. He became one of many mechanics and technicians skilled in the work of maintaining, expanding and operating the thermal plants that charged many of their batteries and backup power for the Compact.
’-and the news keeps talking about it. Scandinavian extremists, rising up and committing all kinds of attacks. This is why the Sacerdotium in Telros should just convince the Anax to commit to banning all other religions. They’re too much trouble.’ Száj would always speak what was on his mind, often to his own detriment, and it was a factor that had always bothered Márton. One could only interact through the world with worlds, showing their beliefs and their soul through discourse with one another. Book, conversation, art, it was all important and thought should be carefully applied to all. Discipline. Faith.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the Shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
Eventually, he made his way across many plants, multiple supervisors; his transfer requests seemed odd, and he was questioned, but he would always say he was going to where he was needed. As he often took on some of the worst or most difficult assignments, no one complained, and his work ethic was praised. It was through this that he came to be one of the top experts on the geothermal plants, what they supplied and most importantly, where each of them was located.
’Márton made it quick; Száj and his toothpick of a smoking buddy were standing at a dead end of a tunnel, an aborted construction due to some weakness of the rock that was over a lava flow. The smoke would drift up, but the various piping, cables and other roots from the surface coming down would take it up, keeping it from being noticed by other workers or members of Management. They laughed, smug in their hidden vice, how cleverly they hid their sin. The knife made no distinction, with trained ease, he knocked the wind out of the toothpick, and whirled around to cut the throat of Száj.
As he choked on his life draining out of him, he took hold of the head of his friend, weakly struggling to resist him and squeezed his throat, exerting the great strength his work had built over the years in him until he felt bone break and the life leave him. Turning around, he saw Száj weakly trying to drag himself forward, leaving a massive blood trail in his wake; a critical eye saw he didn’t have much life left in him. The hissing of the vents and the distance from the plant ensured his act was not caught. A hand reached into the dying man’s pocket and pulled out the distinctive glint of a security keycard.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
He is the captain of my soul.
When Márton returned into the main area of the plant, His coworkers waved and smiled at him, seeing the old man they had come to know and respect as their common worker. Even now, his heart tugged at him to respond, to reach out, for the love of community he had sought. But his mind, his faith reminded him; he had one already, for they had saved him in the dark years. Helped him find his purpose and heal his soul. They had been too kind, too forgiving; the chaos of the current world showed the arrogance of such a stance. The Creator demanded discipline and purity and they needed to show their right to enter Heaven through action and commitment.
Alarms began to pulse, as anticipated, as the slow sabotage done after the past few weeks worked its magic; his fellows began to run for their stations, trying to ascertain the reason for cascade failures in the main piping of the plant. Looking like any other member of the crew, he ran, but not for his maintenance station in the back, but to the security room. Empty, for it had been manned by the two dead smokers, and once in, he keyed the door to lock. A terminal was still on, the toothpick’s badge still in the security slot. An amused laugh escaped him as all the effort to get that security badge was unneeded. Hands danced across the keys, scrolling through menus. Programs. Interfaces. All alarms to alert headquarters were silenced, but he allowed the internal ones to blare. He was close, no need for interference. It was better they died ignorant of what had come for them, a good match for how they lived their lives. Power levels began to skyrocket; cries of horror and realization sounded from the other work areas and feet began to run in his direction.
With his final strokes, he locked out any of the functions they had to stop the runaway bomb he had constructed. Heat poured into plant, as metal gave away to the blood of the planet, the magma seeping towards their constructed haven. Pounding and harsh cries sounded at the door, competing with the wailing sirens indicating disaster was fast approaching.
Time for one last prayer. Just like he had been taught, he pulled out his Scandinavian cross and began to pray.
“Out of the night-“
In a few short moments, he finished and looked up as the metal shrieked as it gave way to the righteousness of their fate. A sacrifice to open up the way to true redemption for this land and its people. In the last moment, he finished his prayer.
”Christus Invictus.”
The walls fell and Erid’s judgment cleansed away the dres’nalar and Márton both.
************
Telrosian Compact, State of Katona
Capital City of Árnyék, Manor of the Anax, 4:30 PM
*********
’There are many aspects to the job of a ruler, of the executive, Adon, but the most important one, the one that keeps most up at night is knowing you have to sit and wait for the storms you can see on the horizon come to you; with only the hope that you have done enough to prepare to hold onto until it hits.’
Adon had never found those words truer than this very moment; it was as if all of her fears had come to roost at the same time. She had preached that the enemies of the Alliance would come for every member of the group, and they had prepared. She had warned that the chaos in the region would only increase, that they had to become a beacon of order. She had warned that they needed to unify instead of factionalizing. The Katonan councilors had scoffed at her, the media had ripped apart every weakness she displayed and even Eshmun had bristled at what he felt was her overreach.
And now this.
She was seated, in only a bathrobe, her hair still kept up in her hairnet, surrounded by her advisors, in similar states of disrepair and clearly coming here before any attempt at proper dress was acquired. Save for the Compact Intelligence Agency Director, who stood at attention in his black uniform, having waited patiently for the Anax to arrive. Breathlessly, she waved her hand at him to start. With a nod, he began,
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Kereskedő state, I am afraid I have come with terrible news. As am I sure you can see on the news, there has been a growing string of attacks on our nation, Katona and Kereskedő. They started small in the past few weeks; robberies, assaults, arson, damage that your respective police forces have sprung into action to combat, which appeared to stem the tide. But the response has been stepped up with such ease and tempo that only a prepared infiltration could have accomplished, it has escalated to worse; kidnappings, murders, and now bombings.”
A hand moved out, tapping the button on a clicker, and the projector hanging from the ceiling turned on, revealing a slide, showing images from various reports. Images of faces with listed names and demographics, the growing list of injured, missing and casualties. Another tap and the slide changed, showing the images of captured suspects, their processing images and the various angles. Adon leaned forward as she looked, her brain pricking her to notice something that was off.
“As I can see some of you have already noticed, these suspects have been found around some of the crime scenes, were apprehended during and after various crimes or have been found linked by work by the local police and my agents. The deadness in the eyes is the giveaway to what we suspect they are.”
The Director turned to face the council, his eyes meeting those of every person there as he spoke in turn.
“To say I don’t know how many of you felt would be a lie, so I will say this. Regardless of how you felt about Anax Baldassare’s conduct since her ascension to her position, it has become clear on two matters she has been proven correct, to our collective danger.
We are still collating intelligence and reaching out to our allies, especially Havensky and the Imperium to confirm what we’re seeing, but all signs point to a massive wave of infiltration by Kravenite Replicants.”
The mood in the room, already somber by this point, dropped further. Adon leaned back and closed her eyes, a headache blossoming in her head even as the bottom of her stomach dropped out into an endless pit.
Kraven.
It had been the name on almost every tongue these days. Debates in the Assembly between Councilors angrily denouncing the government for trying to fearmonger a threat that the other states had in hand or furiously castigating their colleagues for refusing the evidence provided. She had known that to join the Alliance, to join a clear effort at containing the Reich would draw their attention eventually. She had just hoped they would focus on the bigger players for now; but the Reich paid attention to every detail with the pitiless efficiency of a machine.
The Director continued.
“I cannot as yet speak to their motives behind the base and obvious effects, but it is clear that it is targeted. We just need to determine how and why; the other Anax Hamilcar is being briefed as we speak as well, as is the Church. From early responses, they are both taking what actions they can to react; my Anax, my agency has tried to keep the lid on this as much as we can, trying to smother the flames early, but it is clear, without more action being taken, action that both states would need to approve to authorize, I cannot combat this threat effectively.
It is inevitable that the general population will find out, as they are the ones being targeted. It is my recommendation to you and your fellow Anax in Katona that a press conference is done to inform the public. The Reich works best in shadow and secret; Light will at least slow them.”
One of the advisors stood up, fists clenched.
“That will invite chaos; there will be riots in the streets!”
The Director turned to look at them, and for a moment, Adon could swear he looked like a teacher exasperated by a pupil. Another moment and his face returned to the professional mask it always was.
“Yes, but if you hide this, and our attempts to contain or fight back this threat fail. They will find out. They will demand answers from their government. And when they are told we knew but covered it up, no matter the best intentions or most well-argued rhetoric, they will lash out far more than if we tell them now.”
The advisor fell back down into their seat, shoulders slumped. His tone eased as he continued.
“This is a dark moment, but unity is what we need most right now. Any who try to hinder our attempts to stop this now risk our people seeing their actions as political tactics using the blood of their loved ones to achieve a victory. If they are stupid enough to do so, the people will remove them. But we must make the first gesture, to show we are in control, for the moment, and this will also serve as a wakeup call to our allies, to let them know the Reich is making its next step towards the Reichswar.”
Adon leaned forward, drawing the room’s attention.
“We’ll have to keep the source vague for now; we don’t want to immediately drop the name of Kraven, both to keep others from saying we’re trying to use this as a political rallying point and to not be considered crying wolf about Kraven to the Alliance.”
The Director inclined his head in agreement.
“True. Those in the know or smart enough to read in between the lines of the public statement will know what we mean. Those at the core of our allies’ governments will be appraised through our intelligence contacts with their respective agencies and departments.”
Adon held up a hand.
“This is all well and good, but you spoke of two threats, Director.”
There was another click from his hand and the image of a ruined building, bursting with cooling lava appeared.
“Yes, I am afraid so. It would seem that, through intentional planning or taking advantage of the growing chaos, the other threat you have spoken of, the Scandinavian Empire, has also reached out its hand to us. Indirectly.”
One of the council spoke up,
“That blasted announcement they made; all but declaring war on anything non-Scandin.”
The Director pointed his finger at the speaker.
“Correct. We have known of the discontent the few that are the other religions than the Sacerdotium in Telros. We have known of small extremist cells that have planned to eventually seek to change our containment policy. It was by the twist of fate that was the Duskflower Rebellion that stayed their hand. We have been more vigilant, and several cells were taken out during the aftermath, so they had gone to ground. However, with that proclamation, we have seen the execution of a plot long in the making.”
A click, another image; a map of Telros, with various places encircled. Another click, a close up of one. Click. Another. Click. Another. Each showed various buildings, dwellings, warehouses, barracks disturbingly. Each centered around a church. The locations were outside the domed cities on the surface. Adon’s voice broke the tense silence, asking the question they all felt.
“How did we miss this, Director?”
The man sighed and powered down the projector and tossed the device onto the table between them.
“To be frank, my Anax, our hands are tied by the restrictions on the national government. We have been able to have far more support and funding that most national institutions due to the necessity of our function, and the aftermath of the Rebellion but the inability of Katona and Kereskedő to agree on what needs to be done has hampered our mandate. Further, our focus was on Kraven, not religious internal threats, as the Reich does not typical target them. It was only after the Proclamation that I put a task force together and they only recently found this. The news hasn’t broken this yet, but soon you will be informed of a geo-thermal plant in Katona having gone critical and destroyed much of the power infrastructure in the area.”
The first advisor spoke up again.
“The blackouts we’ve been hearing about the news that are being investigated-“
“-are already known, correct ma’am. We wanted to see if they were linked to the Replicant attacks and have suppressed the press’ access to the information, citing the need for the police and other local authorities to do their investigation. It was today that I got the report that had the pictures of those bases. I have the report on the table and in digital format for your perusal but in short. There has been a charismatic preacher, one of the expats Scandin community we have acquired in the past few decades, going around spreading his religion, in clear violation of our laws. With the pressure we have put by not allowing open conversion and spread of other religions, he has been able to convince all Christian sects but a few to go in on the Scandinavian effort.
There is even evidence that non-Christian sects and cells are even considering helping them, in the hope that they can affect a nation that allows their religion, or even has them as the state religion, and cast out the Scandin church when the time comes. But the important part is this; we have the Reich’s Replicants spreading chaos to an as of yet unknown directive, and the Scandin extremists have come together to strike our infrastructure. Whether they just plan to bleed us for the Empire to invade or will be getting support to try for an overthrow, we don’t know yet. We don’t have the resources, political will and infrastructure to handle one, and two is beyond our means as we are now. Bold action is going to be needed to get us to unite, Anax. Otherwise, we may be torn apart at the seams and left bleeding on the ground by the time the war drums sound for Gholgoth.”
