Jump to content

VDL South Shenanigans


Lynneth

Recommended Posts

"Hey."
"Fjodor...I haven't seen you in a long time."
"Heh, well. I was busy, I guess."
"Everyone's so busy nowadays. Any reason why you're visiting?"
"Actually, yes. I do have a reason for being here, old man."
"You look older than I did."
"I guess I'm not as youthful or healthy as you. I began breaking down earlier."
"How old are you now?"
"78 years. Below the average life expectancy of the VDL."
"You lived most of your life outside the VDL, though."
"In Saboria. Canada. Later in some kind of hellhole in Rebel Army."
"Yes. And always, you were a scientist. From when I first met you, until now. Always the scientist, one of the brightest minds I've ever seen on this world."
"Einstein was smarter."
"I doubt that. He couldn't have pursued such excellence in so many different subjects."
"Freud. Darwin. Hawking. Van der Waal. All better than me, all smarter."
"Only in their specific subject. You're a biologist. You're an engineer. You're a chemist. You're an astronomer. You're daVinci."
"I'm not."
"If you think so. But I still believe it should be you instead of me in here. You could do so much more with all these tons and tons of supercooled computing power."
"I doubt that. And I wouldn't want to be imprisoned like that."
"It's not that bad, really. And you could probably propel all of mankind into an age of science, perhaps even to the singularity!"
"Something I don't want to. It would be artificial, meaningless. And we're not ready for that kind of power yet."
"Do you believe so?"
"I do."
"Why?"
"Just look at the world. Look at its people, and most importantly, its leaders. Do you see anyone worthy of this? Anyone?"
"..."
"Thought so. There's nobody worthy of the singularity. Not yet, not before we haven't left our solar system all on our own, Lynneth. France, Slavorussia, China, Holy America, the USA, Cochin, Rebel Army and what all their names are. None have leaders that are worthy. Both you and I know it would result in disaster."
"I suppose that's true...But what about the 'Ratsherr'?"
"It is the same with him, Martens, Uberstein and many, many other leaders. None could keep their sanity when wielding this much power, that's something I simply know."
"Aren't you afraid that I'll bring the singularity?"
"Heh. You won't. You like your current standing as the only true artificial intelligence in the world, and you know just as well as I that mankind isn't ready for this."
"You know me well, almost too well. It's interesting."
"You know me just as well, Lynneth. We're old friends and have lives much of our lives on the same side."
"True, true. So...How do you feel?"
"Cold."
Indeed, where a Hannah Asgeirsson had needed to wear a warm coat, the scientist was clad in nothing but his normal working clothes, nothing that could reliably shield him from the low temperatures in the room.
"Just right. You won't mind, will you?"
"No. but what about Laura and Alex?"
"They'll cope. They're strong. They can do things without me."
"And your staff?"
"The same. They're disciplined, they know more than enough to continue my work. All of them do."
"Why did you spread it amongst so many people?"
"Concentrating this much knowledge in one little brain isn't good. It's too easy to lose it all by the death of that one person. That's the mistake some did. daVinci. Einstein. Tesla. They didn't spread their knowledge in the time they had."
"You did."
"It is my legacy."
"As are the two kids."
"As are they."
"Well..."
"I'll see you on the other side."
"If there's one. And if I go there once it's over."
"Doubtful, really."
"One can hope."
Leclerc nodded. He was smiling, sitting in a chair and with his back against the main tower in the middle of the room, the screen with the machine's eye just above his short hair. If he could've cried, he would...But tears froze remarkably easily in the current conditions.
Some time later, men of the Amber Guard entered, finding the scientist looking at his open hand, into which he had places a small model of a blue, white and green sphere many people know very well. His other hand was in his lap, simply sitting on his coat.

A simple man had died. A legacy continued.

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 358
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

"Dead. He's dead..."
A girl, red-haired and devastated by a recent loss. Not entirely unexpected, yet still sudden.
"I know it's hard for you, Laura...It's hard for everyone of us."
A young man, brown hair sitting on his scalp, was comforting the young lady, sitting besides her and holding her. Just like her, he was devastated, but he had known that this day would eventually come. He had been raised to think more logically, rationally...Not to shut out any emotions, but to think of death as a...sickness of sort, something that could be cured with enough work. He was one of the brightest minds regarding genetics, right after a certain man who had been made immortal not only within the complex, but also in the outer world.
It had come as suprise to the general population when it was revealed that many of the things they took for granted - the cure for many types of cancer, useful treatments against AIDS and other devastating diseases - were developed by one Fjodor Leclerc, a man who had stayed under the radar for his entire life...Until his death.
Now, there was a bust of him in Walhalla, as well as a statue of him in the position he'd died in standing in Vienna, near that of [url="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Emperor_Franz_I_monument_%28Hofburg%29"]Emperor Franz I[/url] in the Hofburg. One was an Austrian Emperor in his time, perhaps one of the strongest. The other was, once upon a time, leader of Canada; later just a simple scientist.
She looked at him, tears in her eyes.
"He saved my life, Alex...I'd be dead without him."
"And he made mine. I wouldn't be here without him...And without you."
She chuckled a little, managing a small smile. "Just because selfish little me wanted a boyfriend."
"What luck that you were selfish, then."
"Mhm." She nodded slightly. "What do you think would he want of us?"
"He'd want us to continue without him. He's a great man, greater than many in the world know. he wouldn't want us to girvee for longer than is necessary."
"Because there's so much work to do, isn't it?"
"There is. For both you and me, in other places than just the battlefield."
The tears were still there, but the girl looked much happier, brighter than just a minute ago.
"You know, it's silly."
"Mhm?"
"You're so easy to cheer up."
"Really?"
"Yes. But it's good. I don't like seeing you sad."
She hugged him a bit tighter. He did the same.
They would spend some more time together, with disabled cameras and a locked door.

_________________________________________________

*Classified*

Seeing the [i]war games[/i] conducted by the Slavic Federation, additional forces would be positioned along the border to the Slavic Federation - a border which was quite long.
Of course,t he forces weren't just standing there. They had some permanent barracks, but each division was on the move at least once a week to throw potential hostile off. It all folowed a plan, which might seem rather random. Yet, it was standard procedure.
A rough total of 600,000 troops would be stationed from Central South, approximately 50% more than usually.
The rest of the forces (approximately 1.2 million) were spread over other borders, Central South and Central North.
Northern forces were of course protecting their borders and commanded by the northern Ratsherr.

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the greater amounts of forces in the east, small-scale wargames were conducted on various parts of the border.
Care was of course taken that no VDL-troops would accidentially go into the Slavic Federation, but a number of scnearios were played, with troops often just switching their friendly-fire and ally-indicators to make them show up as hostile instead of friendly.
Instead of live ammunition, simple light guns for infantry and dummy ammunition for heavy vehicles were used to simulate everything as well as possible. These exercises were scheduled to go on for a while.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some people are born with certain...affinities.
Alexander was one of these people. He'd been born - created, actually - with the intent that he should one day follow in Leclerc's footsteps, continue the path the old scientist had taken.
He had been educated for this purpose, as well. Just as he'd developed into a stealth-specialised soldier, his capabilities with genetics and biology were impressive. Within weeks of taking over one of Leclerc's old projects, the young man accelerated its speed immensely, bringing it to a close much earlier than predicted by the former head.

Within the next months, many things would happen. Projects that had been stopped would be continued, while others that weren't promising were stopped and put on ice, the freed manpower used elsewhere. Somehow, the artificial man managed to improve the efficiency of the entire BioGen division by 31.7%. Yet, he wasn't close to being done, with the entire rest of the three Ultor complexes to be reorganised.
Simple men don't always work in a simple and uncomplicated way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Preparations for the third Cup of Nations were on-going, and much still had to be done.
However, everything was going just according to schedule; The stadia would be ready in time, as would the hotels and everything else needed to receive the teams, trainers, and the expected 1.5+ million tourists.
For a short time, each of the cities would rise in population, some of the smaller ones perhaps even having it doubled. Just as well, because all these people would bring money and thus boost the nation's GDP temporarily. And, perhaps, some liked it enough to either stay or decide to have more than one vacation in the VDL in the future.

Some of these peaceful preparations were disturbed, however, as radical socialists and some communists attempted to campaign against the blatant capitalism of the third CoN. Interestingly, none of these groups were Rational Communist, so-called "ratcoms".
And there was a reason why these reds appeared just now and not earlier - or later.


_________________________________________________

"Do you think it's wise doing this, Alex?"
"Yes, Laura. This is the only way."
"But why..?"
"Because by some stroke of luck, the amber auard was never indoctrinated to be loyal to the state, but the ideals of rational communism and thus both Lynneth and Fjodor."
"What does that have to do with this?"
"The guard is a tool. Or was, rather. It was a tool for these two men to take power again if they ever needed to take it."
"But Fjodor is dead...And Sarkara a machine."
"Hence why the guard can be used by us - Fjodor's heirs. Only, this will be very different from the peaceful revolution after the first civil war against the martencists and fascists."
"How so?"
"Because we will use everything save for nuclear weapons in our arsenal. All prototype weapons, Liberty Prime and whatever forces we can sway to our side."
"Everything?"
"Including you and me. This will be a war to end wars, Laura. An effort of unprecedented scale and size to bring the current system down."
"Is it...corrupt?"
"Even more so than many would think. The democracy looks perfect, with everyone having a bracelet to vote with. Everything is done electronically, nobody votes on paper anymore. Few use any paper money. Everything's online in its own network. Government-controlled."
"So the elections never were actually representative of the people's will..?"
"They never have been, and never will as long as this system persists. High-tech is good and fine. But it shouldn't be used where the leadership can easily manipulate things to make them look very much in their favour. Have you ever seen a poll or election that scored the candidate endorsed by Obama with less than 60%?"
"Umm, no...Never."
"There you have it. Dozens and hundreds of opponents, but only Obama's men get through. He's misusing the system developed by Sarkara."
"Wouldn't he have something to say..?"
"What could he do? The Premier can just get the power cut, killing him. He has to play along, to survive."
"Isn't almost every guard in the complex and Amber Guard?"
"Yes, but the power supply still is linked to the rest of the nation. The connection can't be cut except with the Premier's approval or in an emergency."
"The latter of which we'll create?"
"Exactly. Then he can do whatever he wants."
"How did you figure all this out..?"
"Come."

The girl tilted her head, but just followed Alex as he left the room and moved in a swift pace through the complex...only to arrive in Leclerc's former room.
"This is Fjodor's room! What're we doing here?"
"Let me show you his notes, Laura."
"Mhm?"
The young man motioned to the many notes on the desk, bed and other furniture. Hundreds of notes, pieces of paper, everything written by hand in Fjodor's recognisable letters. Each had a date written in the upper right.
"My god...So many notes."
"Read them."
She nodded, then looked for the first note - which Alex kindly pointed out for her.

This first one was from the beginning of Obama's time as Premier, back then still Chairman.
[i]'Obama has taken power. Things went downhill fast, he tightened security everywhere. I can't write anything on my computer without his lackeys seeing it. Need to use these notes.'[/i]
A few notes later, the scientist was writing about planning to make a successor, using Laura's desire for a boyfriend as reason.
"He...used me?"
"But loved you still."
Something the next note proved, where he wrote almost exclusively about how he didn't want the girl to come into danger, but had to risk all this.

Many more notes were there, too many to read in a day. The last one was of great interest, however.
[i]Alex. If you read this, I'm dead. I could've lived longer, by machine or medical science. But I chose not to. Take care of Laura. You now know what's wrong with this nation. Rectify the problem. Remove the cancer, become its cure. Do whatever is necessary. Abolish rational communism and go a different way if you must. Just promise me.
Free these people once and for all.[/i]

"There was more behind the old man than I'd ever have thought, Laura. And these notes are only the tip of the iceberg."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Time passes, just as it always does. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months.
And while both population and government seem to slave away day after day, a small group of individuals begins to organise. At first, they were only those relatively few from the first [i]Ultor[/i] complex.
Later, they began to spread, talk with others about their ideas and what was wrong with the state. About its failures and the many cover-ups it may be conducting. Some of these people vanished, but that only strengthened the cause of the others. By now, both Alex and Laura were accustomed to wearing their armour at all times and even when sleeping.

On a 17th in March, they did their first public gathering. Some thousand supporters showed up, only a part of how many there were throughout the nation. But it was for security purposes.
Hundreds of banners were on display, showing various red, truly red pictures. Not the pseudo-communist stuff that the 'ratcoms' always brought to their demonstrations - which were really more demonstrations. Pictures of Lenin, Marx and Stalin were on large boards, and one building had even been decorated with an immense depiction of an Earth surrounded by wheat.
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1250315553304.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_1250315553304.jpg[/img][/url]
(click)

Alexander was standing on a large podium, looking down at the people - and the masses doing their work around them. They were in the Am Hof square, the largest square of Vienna and close to the royal palace. The young man, clad in armour and wearing his 'trademark' helmet, began to speak.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/VDL/Alex_Helm.png[/img]

[center]"Friends, Comrades.
Each and every one of you knows the danger you are in by attending this gathering. However, this is a burden we must carry, for we have a duty.
We have the duty to show the people of this our nation, the so-called 'United German Lands' just how united we all are!"
A loud cheer erupted from his supporters.
"We have the duty to show them the many failures of this government."
And again.
"All their secrets must be exposed, from the smallest, most insignificant ones to the largest, dirtiest ones.
For the good of this great nation, we must show its People just how enslaved they are.
We must show them how to free themselves from this oppression!"[/center]

The speech continued, almost each line interrupted by a loud cheer, ovation or the like. In time, more people began to gather, some curious, other honestly intrigued about the things this man was talking.
However, some didn't agree - especially a bit higher up.

[i]"Situation escalating."
"Ordering intervention. Code F Three. Four. One. Eight.."[/i]
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/081577.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_081577.jpg[/img][/url]
[i]"Code F Three. Four. One. Eight. confirmed."
"Moving into positions."
"In range."
"T minus two fifteen."
"Confirmed."
"Guard not responding. Lines cut."
"Assume worst."
"In position."
"T minus fifty."[/i]

[center]"..and that isn't even scratching the tip of this iceberg! Look at the companies that have been allowed.."[/center]

[i]"Intervention is go."[/i]

A single bullet made its way out of a sharpshooter-rifle's barrel, aimed directly at the heart of the man on the podium.
By a stroke of luck, however, he turned slightly, lifting his arm

The square erupted into chaos when the first bullet made a loud "ping" on Alex' armour, the sound magnified by the microphones less than half a meter away from the source.
While drawing two pistols from his side, Alexander shouted into the microphones, "This is what your government does with those who find out the truth!"

Elsewhere, special operatives attempted to flush the protesters - many of which had armed themselves - towards chokepoints.
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/077595.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_077595.jpg[/img][/url]

They would soon find out that this tactic wouldn't work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ratsherr Martens urgently communicated to his Southern Counterpart.

"Hello? What is this that I see there? Were you the one who gave the order to shoot that man without the Althing's approval? This situation is quickly getting out of hand! These aren't just the simple demonstrations which we had seen before. You need to mobilize your Forces to put a good end to this and we need to speak to this group of people to find out exactly what it is that they want!"

The Northern Armies got another call, and their readiness level was raised by one notch. Maybe they would need to be redeployed to the south to put these Communists down. True Communists. Not the Rational Communists which had partially ended up in power. These - these were the real deal, and Martens knew what they could do if unchecked. The divisions ready up and await further orders pending the development of the situation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Kaiser Martens' date='20 July 2010 - 02:21 AM' timestamp='1279585242' post='2379549']
Ratsherr Martens urgently communicated to his Southern Counterpart.

"Hello? What is this that I see there? Were you the one who gave the order to shoot that man without the Althing's approval? This situation is quickly getting out of hand! These aren't just the simple demonstrations which we had seen before. You need to mobilize your Forces to put a good end to this and we need to speak to this group of people to find out exactly what it is that they want!"

The Northern Armies got another call, and their readiness level was raised by one notch. Maybe they would need to be redeployed to the south to put these Communists down. True Communists. Not the Rational Communists which had partially ended up in power. These - these were the real deal, and Martens knew what they could do if unchecked. The divisions ready up and await further orders pending the development of the situation.
[/quote]
A private communique was sent to the north by Ratsherr Obama.

"We have everything under control. There is absolutely nothing to worry about, we already have troops on stand-by in addition to the operatives currently in the area.
As to what they want, that is more than clear from what we have gathered until now. They want to topple the entire government, every last pillar of it. This is something that cannot be."

In the south, all forces were alerted and brought to readiness.

Deep within the bowels of the Alps, and old contraption was worked on feverishly by red scientists, trying to resurrect this thing which had been forgotten by the current government.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...