(OOC: Collab post between myself and Vulshain.)
Cecilia and Taisyia were late. They walked in, with five CPGs right behind them. The guards were not happy. They kept their hands on their sidearms. Cecilia’s hand was bandaged. Also, she kept rubbing her head and hissing in pain.
Zak stood up when he saw Cecilia come in. “Are you alright? What happened?”
“Yeah…sort of. Had a run-in with the anti-Green Paw members. I had to punch one in the face, when he pulled my tail and hair. The police and CPGs had a time getting us here. Not to mention, I got hit in the head with some trash. Going to have a nasty bruise soon.”
Taisyia nodded. “This situation is out of control. What’s going to happen when the anti-Green Paw protesters start shooting at us?”
“They won’t start shooting,” Zak said, returning to his seat. “I’m sure the police arrested the troublemakers.”
“They did. But I do hope you can take control of the situation or at least get it under control,” Cecilia asked. “And I don’t like what is happening with Green Paw. This isn’t how they behave. They do protest once in a while, but recently they have tried to move away from that and focus on conservation and educating the public. Sabotage and eco-terrorism is not part of their philosophy.”
“Cecilia, I can’t stop the people from protesting. It’s their right as citizens to be able to protest. Any troublemakers are arrested for security reasons, but I will not shut down the protests. Out of the question. As for Green Paw, talk to them, not me about it. My government’s simply enforcing laws they broke.”
“I understand. Still, you have to find out why one of your spies was in my country.”
“We don’t even know if he is a spy. He’s in a coma, so you won’t hear the truth until he wakes up.”
“Well, when he does wake up, you better get ready for hell, because that’s what is going to happen when he does wake up.”
“Is that a threat,” Dempsikov asked, eyes narrowing as he looked down at Cecilia.
Cecilia glared at him. Taisyia made some subtle motions to Zak to help her out before the two of them did something stupid. “It’s okay sis, he’s probably just stressed out like we are.”
“I’m not stressed, I’m just sick of the way she thinks we’ll crack down on our people just because she’s upset her environmentalist group is being chastised here,” Dempsikov continued, still staring at Cecilia. “General, that’s enough.” Zak turned his head to Dempsikov, whose ears fell back against his head before giving a small, understanding nod to Zak.
Taisyia nodded a thanks to Zak. Cecilia sighed. “And besides, there is the possiblity that someone is using us as pawns in some twisted chess game, and I don’t like being a pawn.”
35853 PM Zak nodded. “I know Cecilia - but for now you’ve got to look at what we know. Green Paw members vandalized a mining site, took police on a high speed chase across the city, fired on Skopa officers as they were executing an arrest warrant, and set fire to their office building.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that Green Paw is sick of this as we are and are cooperating with us. They have agreed to help us both in the investigations and have already turned over evidence that shows someone had hacked their member database. The members who have been causing problems in your country were barred from joining due to the fact that Green Paw thought of them as being too extreme and aggressive for their tastes…but someone let them in anyhow. They don’t know who did it but they want to know just as much as we do.”
“We still need your assistance in apprehending five Vulshainian members that were indicted with the other fifteen.”
“When do you want them sent over? I’m surprised that you haven’t told us when you wanted them brought over,” Cecilia said.
“As soon as possible - and we did send something, but it was straight to Kitsuniva instead of you,” Yuschenko spoke up, his hands resting on the table.
“Well, my brother never got anything and he’s been pacing like crazy waiting for a request from you.” She pressed a button on a small device, which caused a holographic projection of King Rainard to appear in a seat nearby. “Hello, Zak, gentlemen,” Sam greeted them.
The four gave Sam a quick nod, and Zak returned his attention back to Cecilia. “Must’ve been an issue with our communications - we’ll look into it. But yes, if we could have those members sent over as soon as possible, that’d be great.”
“Alright. We’ve been checking our communications constantly, we haven’t found anything wrong with it. But the spy just woke up from his coma…Zak…brace yourself.”
“And?”
“He’s an AVR agent,” Sam told him.
Zak let out a sigh, covering his mouth. He turned to Yuschenko, whispering something and getting a nod from Yuschenko.
“You okay, Zak?” Sam looked worried.
“Safe house.”
“Huh?” Cecilia, Taisyia, and Sam were puzzled by this.
Zak let out another sigh. “The only way he’s an AVR agent is if he’s the housekeeper of a safe house. We operate several in Vulshain, as well as across the region.”
“And…your reasoning to having–” Sam waved a hand to calm Cecilia. “Alright, but why would he be working with corporate spies and thugs and trying to steal important documents and files from us,” Sam said.
Zak shook his head, shrugging. “I honestly don’t know. He’s supposed to stay with the safe house.”
“Then, I guess you’re having a situation where AVR has become compromised as well. It is possible he was tricked by a corrupt superior or something or someone tricked him into thinking he was getting orders.”
Zak shook his head. “The AVR’s watertight. Maybe his safe house was compromised, though. He went after the ones that hit it, or something.”
“Maybe, but from what we gathered from him is that he got orders to find info on some black ops groups who have gone rogue. However, he probably realized that something was way off when the thugs tried to rape one of our people.”
“So, someone is trying to get Vulshain and Laiatan to go to war with each other,” Cecilia added.
“Or destroy the SITO treaty,” Zak offered. “I don’t think we’d go to war with each other.”
“Remember Zak, my sister is pregnant here.” Sam smirked. And that goes for you too, Dempsikov. I understand that you want to protect your nation as much as we want to protect our nation, but please bear in mind that my sister is pregnant and is already under a lot of stress right now." Cecilia rolled her eyes. “Anyhow, that’s what I was thinking as well. The idea of the SITO treaty would probably make people like Vekaiyu or even terrorist organizations to worry. Still, I don’t think Vekaiyu would want to undo the SITO, but still, there are some things that worry me about Vekaiyu right now.”
Zak nodded. “We’re slowly warming back up to Vekaiyu, but I don’t think they’re behind this.”
“I agree. Still, you need to prepare for the shock from your people when they found out that it was a Laiatanese spy in Vulshain. I apologize Zak, but this whole situation has spiraled out of control and we’re doing everything we can on our end to fix things,” Sam said.
“Sam, they’re simply protesting and stating their opinions, it’s not out of control. It’s completely handled. As for the spy, I don’t think it’ll matter much - not as much as what Green Paw’s done.”
“Well…that I’m afraid isn’t going to be the case. Zak, he was assisting spies to steal top secret documents. Military secrets. Some of which you would probably strangle me over. And yes, Green Paw has admitted that they are going to change. They think it is time to stop protesting and work on better options. Conservation and education are much more effective and efficient. However, I don’t think banning or kicking them out of Laiatan is the right option, no matter what they did. You can’t blame the whole group for what some bad apples did. We’re not blaming you and your whole administration because of the gulliblity of one of your spies.”
“Why would I strangle you over your own military secrets,” Zak asked, now puzzled.
“Well…We found some old superweapon projects Rivers and his scientists were working on. We found that a lot of them were almost complete. We debated it a lot Zak. But…we realized that dismantling them would cost more money than it would just finishing them up. At least these projects aren’t going to blow up the world, which is good.”
“What kind of superweapons?”
“Oh…submarine aircraft carriers, a massive superlaser capable of blowing a hole in the moon. Don’t worry that one we’re dismantling. Um…let’s see…A gargantuan aircraft carrier with legs that’s bristling with several homing missile launchers, machineguns, long-ranged cannons…you get the idea. And several railguns and high-powered laser cannons. Also…there’s an aerial aircraft carrier.”
“Really? It’s cheaper to finish those than dismantle them?”
“They were that very close to completing them. And besides if you want we could give you some of them. Think of it as a gesture of apology for this mess we’re both in,” Sam replied.
“Sam, do you realize what this’ll look like to the rest of the international community? Building these sorts of weapons?”
Sighing, Sam replied, “Don’t worry, the submarine aircraft carriers and anti-missile laser cannons are about the only things we’re keeping. The others we are trying to figure out how to utilize the technology for more peaceful things. Not really dismantling them, but just studying them is all. You’re welcome to send your scientists over to study them as well.”
Zak still seemed skeptical. “It still just seems ridiculous. The submarine. I’d be all for anti-missile lasers, we won’t have to worry about ICBMs anymore. You’ll have our support with the lasers, but that’s about it.”
“I understand. The submarine might be a bit too much, but we only have one completed. Actually, it was 99% completed when we discovered it. There was another one that was 79% completed.”
“But seriously, Zak,” Cecilia added, “we’re allies, so you can take a look at this tech and see what your nation can use. We could keep this all quiet and only use the superweapons as trump card or last stand tactic.”
Zak nodded, still thinking. “Alright, we’ll take a look. We’ll definitely support the laser system - we’ve got our own in the works right now.”
“Ah I see. Also, I still take it Laiatan has a no superweapon or doomsday weapon policy huh,” Sam joked.
“We operate nuclear and chemical weapons, but nothing like what you’re trying to build.”
“Well, I guess supermechs would be the best detriment to nukes or chemical weapons,” Cecilia replied. “Although the aerial aircraft carrier will be one of the things you will see when we show you our mechs.”
“I don’t think a supermech could withstand a nuclear strike,” Chuikov commented, his notepad filled with notes.
“Depends if the supermech can knock a nuke out of the air or launch its own nukes. Anyhow, we need to work on this superweapon issue. It could scandalize us both in the international community.”
“It is possible that you might be able to offer suggestions on the best course, especially since we don’t want to just throw away all of this technology,” Taisyia added once Sam got finished. Her brother nodded in agreement.
“We’ll need to reasearch some of those things for peaceful uses. The lasers need to be the only thing we use militarily.”
“Understandable. Of course, the aerial carrier could be a joint defense weapon and would only be used in our airspaces.”
“… We’ll consider that one. That could be very helpful, but there’s other issues with it we’d need to work it out.”
Sam nodded. “Yes, the response by the international community would be mixed. Of course, if done right, we could get by without any problems. The submarine carrier will pose another problem as it is the size of an actual aircraft carrier.”
Zak shook his head. “We won’t support that one. It’ll be much more expensive to operate than a regular carrier.”
Sam smiled. “I was actually hoping you would say that.”
“Good - I’m glad you agree,” Zak replied with a smile.
“We will begin researching the tech before dismantling the whole thing,” Cecilia added. “The research gathered would be most useful in enhancing regular subs and carriers.”
“Of course. There’s no way we’d be able to operate it.”
Laughing, Sam replied, “I’m guessing you don’t want the aerial carrier either or the walking land carrier?”
“Aerial carrier maybe - land carrier, no. We have runways for a reason.”
“Besides a land carrier would present an easy target no matter how heavily armed it is,” Cecilia added.
Zak nodded in agreement. “Plus, it’s not a very… smart idea.”
“Care to share, although we already have a good idea what you will say,” Sam smirked and chuckled a bit.
Zak shook his head and laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “No, that’s alright.”
Sam smiled. “Anyway, we will send the people you want. Also…and this one is a bit strange. Apparently your spy will not tell us anything else. Says he will only talk to Stu.”
“Stu? Why’s that?”
“Apparently, the spy says that he and Stu are friends. That’s all we can get out of him. Does Stu know anyone who was working in the AVR?”
Zak shrugged. “I don’t know. Think he’ll be healthy enough to transfer over to one of our hospitals?”
“I’m not sure. Let me checked…” Sam reached over and began to look at something. “Doesn’t look like it. He lost a lot of blood. The doctors said that it’s a miracle he’s alive at all. They had to rearrange his bones in his legs as they were…it wasn’t pretty let’s put it that way.”
“The doctors don’t want him moving much at all, not until he has fully recovered. He could slip back into a coma if he pushes himself.”
Zak nodded. “We’d like to see him returned home once he’s healthy enough.”
“I understand. I’m going to guess he is in hot water once he does return, huh,” Sam asked.
“Up to the AVR and the Federal Courts,” Zak replied, leaning back in his chair.
“What would most likely be his sentence just out of curisoity,” Taisyia asked.
“Couple years? The only real crime we can get him on is leaving the safe house, but we’ll need more information on that.”
“Is leaving the safe house that a big of a deal? Also, what exactly are these safe houses for,” Sam asked.
Zak shook his head. “Not really - only if it was on his duty hours. He’d be free to move around the city during his off hours. As for their purposes, they’re mostly for getting citizens and other… targets out of the country they’re in.”
“Might be useful if we could set up some in your nation. We were concerned that if a civil war broke out during that election incident how we could get you out of the country quickly and safely.”
Zak shook his head. “Won’t be necessary. We’ve already got a system set up for that.”
Sam nodded. “I understand.” A CPG went over to the window. He glared at what he was seeing. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem.”
Several Volkgoroda police cars, sirens wailing drove rapidly down the street in front of the headquarters building. Zak stood up, and walked over to the window as well, peering out of it. Further down the street, a throng of protesters were beginning to march down the road. On the other side of the road were officers in riot gear, making their way quickly to block off the street to give the FSO officers behind them in black SUVs time to evacuate the buildings - if required. “What in the world…” Zak muttered, watching the scene unfold.
“Seems the anti-green paw protesters have decided to–Move!” The CPG got Zak away from the window as a cocktail bomb went off close to the building.
Zak sighed, shaking his head as he continued to look out the window. “Alright, let’s go. FSO’s down the street, they’ll get here.” The Laiatanese began packing up calmly, and started heading out into the hall.
Several CPGs took out their sidearms. “Everyone: Drill time,” the lead CPG said as they escorted both the Laiataneses and Vulshainians.
A line of riot police had now blocked off the street several blocks down, keeping the protesters at bay, loudspeakers calling for them to return home. Multiple FSO vehicles stopped in front of the building, multiple agents climbing out of the vehicles, dressed in their fatigues. Two of the agents made their way up the stairs slowly, stopping at the door. “We’re here to get you guys out,” one of the agents said, both of them opening up the doors.
A cocktail bomb hit a police car. “Down!” The lead CPG yelled and told the agent, “We can radio the Vulshainian Embassy to bring a couple of exosuits here to act as a backup detriment.”
“Not necessary - our boys have been trained for this.” The FSO agent replied, not flinching when the firebomb went off. Several more police vehicles approached the scene, and riot officers began firing tear gas into the crowd. “Let’s go,” Zak said, making his way down the stairs calmly, followed by his cabinet members.
The CPG nodded. “Lead the way,” he told the agent. “We’ll cover the rear. Also, Premier Riskotov’s pregnant, so we got to be extremely careful.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve done exfiltrations under pressure before,” the agent in charge replied, staying close to Zak. Once the Laiatanese government officials were loaded up, the SUV sped off, and the FSO began loading up the Vulshainians.
Someone took a pot shot at the Vulshainians. The CPGs fired a taser at the shooter. “Taser-equipped handguns. Never leave home without them,” he said smiling at the FSO agent. They got everyone inside safely. “Stu is going to be worried sick about me,” Cecilia said.
The FSO agents climbed onto the running board of the SUV, taking hold of the railing on the top, and pounded his hand on the side of the vehicle. The remaining vehicles drove off after the others. The riot police continued fighting back against the protesters, eventually driving them back with the tear gas and fire hoses. The shooter and several firebombers were arrested, and dragged through the street to holding vans.
The SUVs took a quick turn into a small parking garage, where several other governmental vehicles were parked. The FSO agents climbed off the running boards, opening up the doors for the Vulshainians. The Laiatanese were already waiting by the small elevator, talking with each other.
The CPGs escorted Cecilia and Taisyia to the elevator. “No doubt this will make the evening news,” Cecilia said.
Probably," Zak responded, busy on his cell phone. Several FSO agents maintained a small perimeter around the high value group, a few more outside, guarding the entrance.
The CPGs did the same joining their Laiatanese counterparts. Cecilia called Stu to let him know she was okay, but got his voicemail. She left a message.
)