Zarfef

[quote name='iKrolm' timestamp='1339712984' post='2984065'] I agree with all of the points you made, however budgets and economies are not required in CNRP, and timescale is only enforced for construction efforts right before a war. [/quote] Alas, it's true, but it's still something to keep in mind. Independent of the time scales though, what it means is that you probably shouldn't be RPing pulling an army out of a hat. Try to understand the monumental task that this represents. It's for good reason that few nations have a navy capable of doing more then patrolling their borders - this stuff is expensive and extremely time consuming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_class_submarine ^Before anyone goes completely crazy however, I would like to note that it takes a fair amount of time to build a ship. Those suckers there for instance, cost 2.4 billion a pop, only 9 have been built since production started 10 years ago and 5 are currently under construction. Even if we complete those 5 this year, that's only around 1 submarine a year. Similiarly with Aegis Cruisers, only 2 ships a year were built between 1984 and 1994. A Nimitz Class Super-carrier takes around 3 years to complete. Mind you, those numbers are 'on average' - the CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford Class Aircraft Carrier CVN-78 was started in the spring of 2007, it is 'planned' on being finished sometime in 2015, or roughly 8 years to complete the thing. I'm seeing a lot of this since this thing came into effect: [quote]15 Victory class Corvettes 5 Truth class Landing ships 5 Apocalypse class Battleships 5 Ascendant class Cruiser's 12 Infinity Class Frigates 12 Zealot class Destroyers 8 Silence class submarines 4 Obsidian class 4 Paragon class Carriers[/quote] ^Haven is replacing it's entire navy?! Estimated cost? Somewhere between 150-200 billion dollars. Time for completion? Who knows, but I'd say somewhere around 15-25 years. Good news is that that gives quite a while to replace it all, roughly 13 billion a year only. Not half bad on a payment program. However, insta-navy is likely impossible. That stated, the massive drive around the globe for new navies should really provide a lot of opportunities, I need my ports back because Edean smells a ton of money to be made around the globe.

I propose that we add more random math to the system, we should start with the use of the following equation for the use for determining what side of the bed your national leaders get out of: Y(x)= abs(LegendrePolynomial_NS/1000(InfraLevel)*sin(TechLevel + number of ships/10)*(50,000 digit of Pi)*PhaseOfMoon(-1 for full, 1 for new)/NumberOfSoftwareEngineers@Microsoft) / (LegendrePolynomial_NS/1000(InfraLevel)*sin(TechLevel + number of ships/10)*(50,000 digit of Pi)*PhaseOfMoon(-1 for full, 1 for new)/NumberOfSoftwareEngineers@Microsoft); Where 1 denotes that they get out of the right hand side of the bed and -1 says they get out of the left hand side of the bed.

A message was sent to the African Unity Pact from Triumvirate Alexander Gildas via secure encrypted channels from the nation of Edean. [code]//Dear Members of the African Unity Pact: //I, Alexander Gildas, would like to request a private audience with the AUP if possible. //Several situations are currently having major effects on the nation of Edean, //almost all of which involve the AUP or members of the AUP directly. In particular, //I am referring to the continued conflict between Edean and the Aether Empire, the //current seizure of Lunar Republic vessels by the UC and of our continued interest in //working with the Lunar Republic to form a permanent settlement on the moon. //It seems that all roads lead to Africa these days and I would like to personally visit //with members of the AUP in order to try and form solutions to these issues. If you //might afford me the possibility of an audience, I believe that we might be able to //go a long ways in strengthening our relations while finding solutions to global problems. //Sincerely, //Triumvir Alexander Gildas[/code]

[quote name='Triyun' timestamp='1339562610' post='2981935'] In response to rumors of the Dragon Menace, a black operations program would begin in Tianxia. Research into special sonic weapons would be tucked away in secret, though some in the deep reaches of the Himilayas would hear three words in the night. [center][size="7"]FUS RO DAH![/size][/center] [/quote] ((OOC: Don't worry, they're response to Edean's DOE was Death to Kajits )) Edean's constitutional statements on the military and current pre-occupation with the Aether Empire meant that no satellites were currently positioned over the polar regions, nor over much of the rest of the planet either. Claims had been made about launching a satellite into space to help with the war efforts, but truth be told, that was actually a cover so that Aether wouldn't be able to tell that Edean actually had Lunar Ambitions. Still, the news made it to Edean's shores rapidly through the free net and word of 'scalies' exploded with a sense of great excitement among Humans, Vesari and Oniru alike - information on intelligent non-human species tends to go viral in Edean. Economic and military affairs were mostly handled by the private corporations with larger scale economic and military coordination sometimes falling into the realm of the Human and Oniru triumvirates at most. The Vesari contempt of war however, left Alaisteir Evylan free and given the situation, the other triumvirates felt it would be a good idea to send him down to the southernmost continent to see if these 'scalies' held any clues to the potential history of their furry brothers and sisters in warmer climates. "You do realize that we're not even certain if they're intelligent - and the possibility still remains that this is all just a giant hoax." Gildas noted, still focused on financial statements concerning Edean's recent plan to buy out all of the Aether Empire's oil access through Somalia via an act of economic warfare. "They're apparently big enough to be spotted on satellite though and hence there's a chance that they might view you more as food or a nice fur coat instead of as a potential friend." "I honestly don't believe that, besides... a new species not seen before, even you have admit that the timing and uniqueness is uncanny." Alistair declared before being cut off by Triumvir Rodolfo. "Not exactly, there are plenty of new species discovered all the time and Antarctica isn't exactly known to be the world's most explored chunk of ice. I would have expected others to have noticed of course myself, but then again, you can't jump too quickly to conclusions." Alaisteir's tail twitched in annoyance, fur somewhat raised as he eyed his to companions. He tired of this entire affair, he was tired of the war, he was tired of having to hear horrible tails of death every night and eager to gain some appreciation for another species. Even though the thought of dragons naturally frightened him to an extent, he truly desired to find another sentient species on the planet that shared the Vesari love of peace for reasons outside of wealth - everything was a new opportunity for a friend... "Still," Rodolfo finally admitted, "There isn't much to do around here for you, and being in the Antarctic, while colder, couldn't be worse then living around here while bombs are still falling from the skies. I think you should go." Alaisteir's eye's lit up at the note, it was exactly what he was hoping for. "I'll arrange for a flight to leave towards the area" Gildas said, still less then interested given the present situation, "I think we can spare to paradrop a few [urll=" http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=109163&st=0&p=2947057&#entry2947057 "]Fenir Combat Vehicles[/url] in the region as well, outfitted to try and handle the cold weather. Of course, it will look better if they're unarmed as well, although until we can be certain of the creatures intentions, I must insist upon armed-" "Absolutely not!" Alaisteir rapidly rejected Gildas' demand for armed escort before it could even leave the rabbits mouth and Gildas stopped himself, knowing that there would be little he could do to convince his peace-obsessed companion. He sighed, and simply got back to work. "Then I take it that you'll have your own group, likely just medical supplies... at least bring down some sample product guides with you in order to help facilitate trade between our people's. I have a trip planned for the Africa Unity Pact not too long from now and besides stifling our enemies war machine an economic opportunity of grand proportions may have just landed in our laps - if we can both serve the people of the Umbrella Commonwealth and our AUP allies at the same time... never too happy about getting between two friends while they're fighting, but when I smell money... Anyways, have fun and stay safe Alaisteir, I hope the war will have turned by the time you return." Gildas finished. Gildas first checked upon the status of a feasible flight path. The most opportune path would require a large cargo plane, with stops in the Umbrella Commonwealth, Artica and ending at the Lunar Republics Antartic Earth holdings. Given Edean's positive position with both the Umbrella Commonwealth and the AUP (which placed it in an odd position at the present time), the first two stops were fairly standard. Transit to Antartica however, is never standard, so Gildas needed to see if a viable air-field could be found in the region. If none could be found and weather permitted though, he intended on giving Alaisteir a bit of a scare and sending him on an air-drop, with a pre-destined position for pickup via an breaker which would then transport all back to some other country and eventually back to Edean if the country still existed, and Gildas had a strong feeling that the tide was about to turn on the Aether Empire. In any case, if those in this region had access to and checked the world wide web through some mechanism, they would note that at least one country solidly wanted to believe in their existence as something other then a hacked satellite.

Given their origins from South America - Edean would like to note that it would be far more accurate to say the Lunar Republic is colonizing Africa instead of saying that they're colonizing South America. All the same, the moon does float above us all, we all share in it's tides. Edean does support South America remaining strongly in South American hands, but the Triumvirate thinks it odd to consider the citizens of the Lunar Republic as alien to our lands and culture when they were born from South America before leading humanity out into the stars. They are still as much South American as one can get, even if majority of their territory is located on the moon itself. They relinquished their territory, but we do not recall them relinquishing their heritage. Could we perhaps ask what objective the Lunar Republic seeks to full-fill with the Falkland Islands? What do the people of the islands feel?

Going to be out of town until Monday or Tuesday, lock please.

((Off on a vacation for the next few days, so I won't be as active)) [code]//To: The Lunar Republic //From: The Edean Triumvirate //Subject: Re: Re: South American Space Port //Dear Lunar Republic: //I would like to thank you for your rapid reply. While we understand your concerns, we are //significantly confident in our ability to achieve success in this area, despite our size and visibility on the globe. //The situation in Edean is somewhat different from our neighbors and the demand for positions working in space is //extraordinarily higher then in most other lands. This 'super-supply' has resulted in incredibly cheap labor costs in the //aerospace industry and the companies associated with these projects have decided to take up the opportunity while //the investment is cheap - often times with salaries in the range of $3,000 a year per employee. The greatest cost is //bringing them into space itself. //In terms of our position as a people, Gildas has informed me that he believes that we're at a turning point, transforming //from a state of simply being, into a state of thriving success. This success will drive up the free funds that individuals have //and the demand for rare silicates, gases and materials found on the moon will then begin to grow. //However, we already believe that a large demand still exists in the Luna-Terra trade market. So, while it is indeed risky, //the risk is being shouldered by investors who see us at a new turning point in our lifespan as an economy and who believe this is //an opportunity not to be missed. //In any event, we forwarded your statements of territorial sovereignty over to Lagrange and they have responded that we //can definitely comply with your suggestions and in fact, the primary staging location near Shackleton Crater & The Malapart Mnt. Range //appears to be a perfect point of commencing some small operations. Another firm which was notified of the plan just today was 3rd Day Genetic Solutions. //Many in Edean believe that once the aerospace market reaches maturity here, we will be transferring much of our focus to the bio-tech //industries. 3rd Day is currently working on a variety of genetically modified crops and their specialty in this area could prove useful //in the development of low light, low-nitrogen soil, based plant-life developed specifically for lunar growth in lightly modified soil. The //peak of eternal light in that region, combined with water resources and permanent shadow craters for shielding against solar storms //would make this region a perfect bread-basket for the moon and once that's completed, it something that everyone on the moon will //be able to enjoy. //To say the least, it would be an honor to take part in making such a lunar resource a reality. //Once again, thank you very much for this opportunity, //The Edean Triumvirate [/code]

((OOC: The following RP is classified, it represents a massive purchase on my part of a moon base. At 180 mil, that's the largest single purchase my nation has ever made and so I think it deserves it's own special RP. So unless it expands, this RP is currently limited to myself the Lunar Republic and Tianxia, although other nations that are in the 225,000 mile high club will likely take notice of the events as they take place as well. Over the next couple of months, I plan on rounding out my Moon Wonder collection, so that ultimately I should be able to do some space RPs from time to time.)) Triumvir Roldofo was well worn. The war in Edean was now two months old and the Aether Empire had seemingly stained the whole of south-west Edean black with their forces, taking everything from the coastline to the edge of the Andes Mountains. Around 300,000 of those he swore to protect, were now dead from a bloody conflict that turned nuclear at the whims of a madman. The great scar at Mistwood Citadel, was well visible from the glass chapel from which he watched over the land like some ancient king in symbol alone. His mind was still haunted by the memory of seeing that mushroom cloud linger over his world... Of course, things would change - he was confident in this. Dr. Zigmund was headed towards Aeon in search of a panacea for their nuclear ailments, Triumvir Gildas was organizing investors to wage economic warfare on the Aether Empire given intelligence that led Edean to believe that their primary oil sources were located in Somalia, the Red Bandit Squadron had successfully captured an entire enemy fighter squadron and Roldofo? Well, he was luckiest of all, because he was being sent with Triumvir Alaisteir Evylan, to make contact with the Lunar Republic - the long lost El Dorado that once brought prosperity to all of South America and Tianxia, the great empire of the east. If Gildas, The Red Bandits and Zigmund were bringing hope for there to be a tomorrow, he was being given the charge of bringing a hope for that future to embrace. Outside of various workers, executives and engineers in [U]Liberty Air[/U], [U]Lagrange Aerospace[/U] and [U]Disco Space Exploration Systems[/U], not many people in Edean were aware of just how far their people had made it into space. Certainly, with the initiation of the space program, many people knew of their aspirations, but few realized just how well they were doing in that regard, outside of crazy rumors that all believed to be exaggerated Vesari tales. And of course, some were. However, a military-economy, which essentially held Vesari from the workforce, also made them prime opportunities for cheap hire in the production of the materials needed to make the jump from the shallow shorelines of Earth's atmosphere into the vast treacherous oceans of deep space that stretched into eternity. Despite a massive war effort going on across the land, [U]Disco Space Exploration Systems[/U] and [U]Lagrange Aerospace[/U]e were dead-set on continuing to aim for the moon, as their investment would be well needed at the end of the war and was also needed during the war to keep the Vesari economy afloat - although perhaps booming would be a better term to employ given the explosion of interest in the program. The situation in fact, contrasted the war that continued to rage across their lands, which should have seemingly brought their entire economy to a halt. But with the economic expansion to the East, from a recovering South American Economy and with excitement stirred by the recent space program, Edean had taken their space program forward by leaps and bounds. While the past plans of the had only been the workings of mice and men however, things were now ready to fully take off - the moon was now on the horizon. A Gradea ++ Rocket at Carchi Space Center was currently being prepared for it's final destination, with several key possibilities in mind. All that remained was smoothing over the details with other space based nations so that Edean could reintegrate South America with a new solar economy. The mission contained several key stages, which were about to start in a short period of time. -------------------------- While still in the plans, the general idea looked as follows: Several [U]Gradea++ rockets[/U] would first be launched into a long range orbit, with a final destination somewhere on the lunar surface. These units would deliver robotics and other materials needed for a primary landing base of operations. Once delivered, surface based members of the new [U]Lunatic Construction Services[/U] would form as a subsidiary of [U]Disco Space Exploration Systems[/U]. [U]Lunatic Construction[/U] would begin the slow but steady progress of running an Earth-based construction operation on the moon, making sure that a basic life-support system was in place, developing the primary runway system, setting up electronics, acquiring access to lunar water located near the poles... the list of necessary actions was somewhat intensive and would require [U]5 Gradea++ Rockets[/U] to make the full delivery at which point a base camp would be set up. Upon the set up of the base camp, Edean would then bring it's primary delivery vector into orbit, the [U]Edeastar I[/U]. The craft was the largest endeavor ever undertaken by [U]Lagrange Aerospace[/U], which is why it was held under wraps given the current state of war that existed between Edean and the Aether Empire. [center][img] http://www.acecombat.jp/ace5/img/os/os05.jpg[/img][/center] This massive craft would act as the primary transport between Earth and the Moon for some time to come. The Edeastar would deliver goods to and from Edean's Lunar base in a two stage process. First, it would remain at a single energy state in low Earth orbit, at which point, Edean could then launch shuttles and Gradea++ rockets to the spacecraft to fill it's internal supplies. This would reduce the overall payload delivery time and costs of bringing supplies into orbit. Once the Edeastar was filled, it would then power up it's onboard nuclear reactors* and boost itself to a higher energy state, which would allow it to slingshot around the Earth and into an energy state around the Moon, at which point it would drop back down to a lower energy state. A shuttle on the moon, delivered with the Edeastar I on the first mission, would then act to bring people and supplies to the surface allowing for a steady expansion of the Moonbase. The Edeastar I would then complete it's figure 8 style movement by jumping back to a higher energy state, which would allow it to slingshot and return back to the Earth's orbit to repeat the process. Most of the system was powered by the conservation of angular momentum, with the energy state changes incurred by [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster"]ion thrust drives[/url] to conserve energy so that the Edeastar I could last as a transport with it's given fuel supplies for quite some time. Before this process could fully commence however, Edean would first have to contact those nations that were already in space, in order to discuss the best way to go about achieving Edean's goals. If other nations saw them as an invading force, it would only be that much harder to commence trade with the Lunar colonies of the solar system through Edean's soon-to-be constructed space port. Thus in order to allow the solar system time to prepare for Edean's arrival, a encrypted message was sent out to Edean's prior neighbors in the Lunar Republic and also to the nation of Tianxia. [code]//To: The Lunar Republic, Tianxia //From: The Edean Triumvirate //Subject: South American Space Port //Body: Respected Leaders of The Lunar Republic and Tianxia: //I am contacting you on this day because advances in Edean aerospace //technology and infrastructure have brought us to a point in our maturity where //we will at long last, be poised to enter into the trade within the Sol System //with your Lunar territories and facilities. In fact, within the next several months, //we will be fully prepared to commence operations that we hope will lead to fruitful //trading and interactions between our people's as we seek to bring the Sol System into a //new era of peace and prosperity. //We would like to take this opportunity to communicate with you about possible //locations for such a base, where we might locate resources so that we can best enter //into trade, to help in the expansion of lunar infrastructure for mutual benefit and //to even help in the construction of a purely Lunar economic system that will also //invigorate the economic systems of Earth so that Earth-Lunar based economics may //continue to expand to the benefit of all peoples. //If you could possibly get in touch with us at the soonest convenient time, //we would greatly enjoy having the opportunity to discuss this with you. //Thank you, //Triumvirs Rodolfo and Evylan of the Free Kingdom of Edean [/code] *OOC: Yes, I do have fission - not fusion, but fission reactors. While I never RPed the development of an atomic bomb on purpose for RP purposes (Aether has them, Edean does not), I can still use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes because I definitely can gain access to the enriched uranium. I simply wish to RP a nation that's opposed to the usage of nuclear [i]weapons[/i].

[B]The Fall of Guayaquil[/B] Guayaquil, Edean 4:30 AM, Week 3 2136 AD Days had passed since the [I]Ark of Hades[/I] had led forces to invade the island of [U]Puna[/u], destroying everything in empire's path to controlling the city of [U]Guayaquil[/U]. [U]Grand Executioner Grenlin[/U] had been pleased with the battle's progress, he picked off Edean resistance points along the road between [U]Machala[/U] and [U]Milagro[/U], by poking the hotspot alerts with a pen. Nothing could be easier then deploying wholesale destruction with the press of a single, big, red, flashing, digital button. A few seconds later, the sound of artillery rumbled in from the distant forces on Puna, War Tzar Tanks in artillery mode, which fired hundreds of rounds through the sky on command and splattered the Edean forces through the forests with deadly accuracy. Since the acquisition of Puna, Aether's forces were making steady progress, majority of the resistance pulling back for a final main showdown at [U]Naranjal[/U]. Air-superiority had been a hard fight, with Guayaquil firmly demonstrating it's potential as a massive air fortress - otherwise, he would simply carpet bomb the final emplacement, take the city and go home. Instead however, he would be forced to use his land employments with some added ammunition. "Sire, we approach the point of the enemies pitiful defenses - our forces are currently 2 kilometers from the enemies chosen graveyards. Unfortunately, I must report that air-superiority is still under contest. Shall we wait for the battle to change in our favor?" Declared an Envoy of Death. Grenlin snickered, grasping the Envoy by the throat before tossing him to the side, "Do not bring me such pathetic news cretin, I already knew that the battle for Guayaquil's skies would take a while. These culled imbeciles fight endlessly as if they could stop our ascent over them. They have no understanding of the science of destiny - of the absolute victory of evil. As it is, we can barely keep them occupied with the vast winged armadas of Zarfef. We cannot depend upon air superiority alone to win our battles during this conflict - to conquer these beasts, we must resort to treating them like the animals they are and exterminating them from the Earth. For that purpose, I have prepared a special mechanism for our primary attack, so that we will not loose our momentum - that they might make fools of us a second time, like they did at Portoviejo." "The deadly neurotoxins have been warmed sir," declared a distant [U]Vile Villain of Vials[/U], "The chemicals have been mixed to the right proportions so that our enemies screams will be the last thing holding our soldiers from trampling over their dead remains. It also conforms with Aether Empire national codes, violating every international law in existence, including those still on the books, withheld only by the most cruel and imaginative of nations on the planet no doubt." "Scorch Digiterra with your brew, Vile Villain of Vials, show these monkeys that their efforts are futile and only end with pain." Grenlin replied, slowly beginning to let out a loud cackle. "Soon, the world will bow beneath me-f!" He was suddenly struck by a series of odd stares, "Ehxck Sorry, got something in my throat. What I meant to say was, soon the world will bow beneath Zarfef." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and soon the whole room was in a cackle. On land, the canisters of deadly neurotoxins were loaded into the War Tzar tanks. One of the canisters accidently opened, leaving the crew inside one of the War Tzars simply to scream after being hit at point blank range, their bodies melting. They would be quickly replaced as soon as the tank was cleaned off. The others however, opened fire in a volley on the Edean forces just to the south of [U]Guayaquil[/U], in the city of [U]Naranjal[/U]. The explosives went off just over-head as a sickening glowing green gas descended upon the people below, who ran for cover and gas-masks. It was too late though, over such a small area, the gas descended upon everyone while they were still prone and all that could be heard were screams that were set to the background of orchestra music as the War Tzar Tanks south of their position cut through them like butter, their machine guns finishing off any warm melting bodies not yet dead from the neurotoxin's effects. All animal and plant life within the area was completely burned off the ground, they killed everything that breathed. Soldiers from the Aether Empire on the other hand, were well prepared for the neurotoxin's effects on the mainland, dressed in chemical suits and gas masks, fitting for the occasion. It was a complete and total slaughter, at long last, Aether was at the throat of Guayaquil and the city would soon fall. With the collapse of the southern flank, forces within Guayaquil rushed to split apart and defend their city, but that left their northern flank significantly weakened and vulnerable, while their southern flank was completely unprepared. On the land, a massive figure lumbered forward, next to a massive oversized War Tzar Tank. His Donald-Trump-huge body jiggled with delight from the view, his centurion red plume attached to a gas mask that seemed permanently fixed to his body. "We shall slaughter them like pigs, then barbeque them, then hold a barbeque! Forward my troops, forward to the feast of ages, consume them with our tanks and loot their stores of any food!" He barked through his voice box, before turning back to his monitor. "You have done well Grand Executioner Grenlin." "General Von Zuk!" The Grand Executioner seemed delighted by the compliment if not somewhat fearful of the man on the other side, "What a pleasant surprise, I had no idea that you would be leading the attack today." "Indeed, Zarfef has declared this city his - and so he has sent out only the most trusted and competent of his men to do his bidding." Von Zuk declared, laughing with his oversized stomach, "You look gaunt Grenlin, have you been eating well? I have one of my restaurants on board your ship, I have one opened everywhere - except around here. But that will soon change." "Indeed we do, but I have been ever so busy," Grenlin lied, somewhat afraid as all soldiers were uneager to tell Von Zuk that his hamburgers could give a heart attack to a five-hearted hag-fish. "Well, we will celebrate tonight, the battle will soon be ours." Von Zuk bellowed loudly as he returned to squeeze into his tank, "send in our full air-power, let us raise them to the ground! I shall lead a raid and with it, I plan to destroy this cities air-power, leaving the capacity to fully dominate the land in your capable hands." --------------------------- Within minutes, dozens of Aether Empire fighter-bombers were in the sky making a major push for the city of Guayaquil. With the collapse of the southern flank, Von Zuk crashed into the city nearly unimpeded, except by the occasional militia man who made it chaotically from the other side... but these forces were only good at placing a temporary halt to Aether Forces, stopping them from placing their own army in a giant pincer from forces that vastly outnumbered them. It could do nothing however, to stop the Aether Empire from achieving a critical strategic objective, allowing their southern forces to attack, capture and raze the airport at Gauyaquil - essentially swaying the balance of power of air-superiority from Edean into the hands of the Aether Empire. It would only take about an hour for the forces of Guayaquil to realize just how bad their situation was. Aether Nightmares flew non-stopped tactical bombing runs on Edean forces, while artillery from both sides leveled their strong-holds of resistance. Only geographic features held back Aether from simply overrunning the city and within hours, the expected siege turned into a complete and total collapse. Guayaquil was all but fallen in name alone. The Militia forces at Guayaquil were so outnumbered, that they were forced to surrender because of their own fears, misinformation about Aether gassing their families because of their fighting and the action to the north which many feared would be repeated in Guayaquil itself. The city burned, and a moonless night fell upon the landscape as Grand Executioner Grenlin stepped on broken bottles and kicked a small Vesari toy doll to the side, causing it to let out a cry as it rolled along and then screamed as it fell in a fire, it's electronic circuits and speakers melting. The dark evil man smiled in wicked pleasure before walking forward to the now prostrate leader of the resistance. General Von Zuk proudly stood above them all. "And so the mighty city of Guayaquil doth fall, where is your precious freedom now. What shall I tell the mighty Zarfef that he might be willing to spare your lives." Grenlin sneared to the militia leader. "We simply wish to avoid further bloodshed in a meaningless battle - we can't beat you and fighting against an enemy that will glassify your city if you resist is hopeless. Our lives for our city - that is all that we ask, we've already surrendered, what else can you take from us given that we place our hands out to be shackled." The militia-leader declared, his eyes tear-stained and saddened, watching himself be taunted before an enemy that cruelly ripped away his freedom while it trampled upon the anarch's very identity. "I suppose that should be sufficient. For resisting the great power of Zarfef though, you shall work off your destruction of Aether Empire property. Until you have repaid your debts, you will continue to work to aid our efforts, that is the punishment I shall pass upon you. Now then, bow before Zarfef and thank him for his mercy," Grenlin declared before a large painting of Zarfef was placed before the man, who was forced to bow before it under Grenlin's boot. "Declare your allegiance, fall before your mighty new leader! Or perish in the flames!" "I surrender! I declare my allegiance to Zarfef and the Aether Empire - have mercy upon my neighbors! Have mercy upon our city!" The man declared, fully told before-hand what he must say or face instant death at a public execution instead... and not a particularly nice death either. As Grand Executioner Grenlin left the stage though, he whispered in Von Zuk's ear, "I can't stand these worthless cowards, don't let them depurify the Aether bloodline of evil. Kill them all. Zarfef has no need for creatures like these - but save the Vesari and Oniru, he wishes to begin experiments near here to determine what makes them, 'tick'. Odd desires, but who am I to argue, it is good to see you Von Zuk." He then gave the man a grin and a salute before boarding a helicopter bound back for the [U]Ark of Hades[/U]. One thing that Von Zuk's mask did, was hide him from the many pollutants of the battlefield. The other thing it did however, was hide his emotion. The corpulent man walked over to the smoldering debris with his thick rubber covered hands and pulled out a now half charred doll, it's cries now long silenced as hot battery acid ran down his well-protected fingers before dripping to the ground below. A permanent piece of pink cloth made a smile, and two wide eyes continually looked outwards to the world in search of eternal companionship, pieces of yarn making the fox like tail that was now burned at the edges. Von Zuk knocked the ashes from the side, the left hand side of the face peeling off and cotton floating amongst the burning sparks that still crackled from the devastated landscape. His orders were clear, but his heart was not. As he noticed that the last of Grenlin's men were gone, he turned back to the prisoners who looked at him with still pleading eyes - the city his to destroy or spare, but to spare the city, was also to destroy himself. "Soldiers of the Aether Empire - my men of no equal on all the Earth. I have something terrible I must ask you to do for me." He spoke solemnly, an act that war rare for even him.

[B]In Search Of Eden in Edean[/B] Villa De Viva, Edean 2:20 PM, Week 3 2136 AD The drive north was roughly 200 miles in length and with the day mostly behind them and the city in chaos, Enrique was only able to make it north to [U]Santo Domingo[/U] before having to stop for the night. As he left Portoviejo, he could see the smoke rising from all around and artillery shells were still firing towards the east from the local mountains, now that air superiority had been temporarily gained. His charges had grown from far beyond Yahzi and while Tacita had told them to be quiet, the children could only go so far in their communications with facial expressions - although Enrique wondered for a while if they had developed their own complete language through shear ear, facial expression and tail gestures between one another. The other children, all of whom were older then Yahzi, noticed the boy's shyness. Questions abounded about what had happened to him and when Enrique tried to push it off, they began to poke at Yahzi himself, constantly trying to engage him to bring him into the fold in typical hyper-social Vesari behavior. Enrique would have told them to leave the boy alone - but then realized that perhaps this was somewhat good for Yahzi who had seemingly lost his entire family, having the older Vesari girl play mother to the boy was probably something he needed and it kept them from directly engaging himself in conversation, which Enrique needed, given that he was now out in an open in a war zone. The battle for Portoviejo was over, but he had no idea if the next city he'd find would be any safer, occupied by the enemy or in the midst of it's own battle for freedom. In total, he had five children to look after. Yahzi, who got him in this whole mess to begin with, Renee, was one of the two girls that were now with him - although she fit in better with the boys and from her conversations about catching frogs and playing sports, Enrique could picked up that she was a bit of a tom-boy. Leo and Silvanus were both caught up in Renee's stories and both seemed to have already formed a crush on the poor girl, whether she realized it or not. Even still though, the three were far more interested in going on some crazed adventure together once the adults figured out this whole war business. Istas was the one who seemed most interested in mothering Yahzi and by the time Enrique had reached Santo Domingo, he had noticed several times that Yahzi seemed eager to say something, but then pulled back. Whatever she was doing, it was rather effective - although the true test would be whether or not the boy would eat anything. Enrique encouraged them on all the same with the hopes that it might break the boy out of his mourning fast. The party stopped at Santo Domingo, finding the city damaged from enemy air strikes, but mostly stable on account of Aether's diverted focus at Portoviejo. Enrique found himself in the difficult position of corralling the children into the White Cross Shelter located there and found to his surprise that Tacita had already paved the way for him via the free net. He was expected and another Vesari woman there seemed relieved and had apparently saved them meals from the nights dinner. All rapidly took advantage of it, even if a plate of solid veggies wasn't exactly Enrique's ideal for a dinner. Apparently taking care of Vesari meant that he was now also inclined towards their dietary habits. Still, Enrique couldn't complain too much. Vesari tended to look after their own and given Enrique's willingness to help, he was being treated like a king in their world. His food portions were bigger, his gas money was taken care of and he had one of the better places in the building as the other Vesari moved aside to give him more space. He also had a destination that was being treated like home and while it wasn't home, it gave him a goal - something to strive towards as the rest of the world simply fell apart around him. The others had no place to go - this was it until the enemy either receded to the sea and left them with their devastated lives, or until they had to move once again as the tide of tanks rolled further inland - unchecked by Edean's drive for peace and freedom. That sad news of it all to Enrique though, was that Yahzi still refused to eat and Enrique was now getting worried, as the boy was starting to look the worse for it. He had to find this village and he had to do so fast. --------------------------- The next day, they were off again, Enrique finding himself surrounded by the thick jungle forests that blanketed the mountains and valleys of Edean. Clouds rolled in every day off the rim and poured rain down on the lands below, and the occasional pot-hole in the free-way meant that Enrique had to pull his car to a crawl while moving through the forest. That afternoon, the rain finally let up as they arrived at their destination. Enrique almost missed the turn-off at first, because it was so difficult to spot, but because of his vigilance, he was able to stop just past the small muddy road that paralleled a local river. "I don't think this car is going to make it too far in there," he noted to his passengers, wondering just how well the others were fit for walking, especially Yahzi. Even still, he also realized that leaving the car there was also a liability to getting their hidden Shangri-La found - something that Tacita must have forgotten in her plan. "Alright every one, let's pack out - I hope this place is easier to find then I'm thinking. Stay close to me, Tacita will kill me if I lose one of you out there... which looks all too easy in my opinion." he finally stated, noting the last part under his breath. They left the car around 2 PM in the afternoon and made their way along the muddy road. Distractions abounded along the path, with small insects catching the eyes of the small ones Enrique pulled in tow. The forest trail wandered on next to the stream bed for miles and the rocky road left Enrique stumbling to catch his balance now and again. The trip down the old forest road eventually turned down into a path that followed the stream from above. The drop was somewhat precipitous and to be certain, it left one uncomfortable while walking around less sturdy and easily distracted followers - not to mention that Enrique was somewhat concerned over the lack of water he had brought along... something that didn't seem to bother the ones that were following him, who quickly grabbed the opportunity to scoop out a drink with their paws and only gave him odd looks when he protested their drinking the water they found flowing from a forest tributary. As the day wore on though, Enrique became somewhat concerned. For all their travels, there was no sign of their mysterious village. As the evening fell, gnats and other bugs became a constant nuisance and the rocks below seemed to look for an excuse to trip him - even the others were starting to look tired despite their seemingly endless energy. Then darkness set in. Enrique pulled out his flashlight and tried to find his way along the road, searching for one rock after another. It was a moonless night and the sound of the forest was deafening over the village sound. He continued to try and keep the others close to him, but slowly he was loosing his ability to pull them through the forest. He was lost, this was bad and just when it seemed like it couldn't get any worse, he was distracted with trying to tell Silvanus to stay close, when he felt a sharp jab strike his leg. Enrique yelped in pain - it's true. Humans can indeed yelp - they can also curse which he did also, before gripping his leg and gritting his teeth, paralyzed for several moments by the pain. Eventually his vision calmed, and he was simply left breathing heavily. When he finally did, the flashlight beam was reflecting off the rocks around him and Istas was kneeling next to him looking at his knee with compassion. "You're hurt, we need to stop, everyone's tired anyways." she said with a compassion beyond her young years. "No, maybe just for a second. But we have to go on. Silvanus! Where are you! Get over here!" No response, "Silvanus, I'm not mad at you! I just need you to come here quick so I know you're alright!" Enrique sighed in relief as the silhouette of Silvanus pulled out from behind a tree, with Renee... or maybe Leo. He couldn't tell in the darkness, he could only try to count heads with the flashlight... which seemed to be getting more difficult to do as the night went on. His leg had a thin white line scarred across it now, and fresh blood was slowly making it's way to the surface, pooling as it coagulated. When he got up, it stung, but truth be told, his other muscles were the far worse for the trip. To give it description, the muscles in his leg seemed to bounce endlessly like some kind of strange alien monster and if he pulled his leg to far in one direction, it immediately threatened to go into a cramp. "I need everyone to keep close to the flashlight, if you don't stay with me, you won't be able to see the rocks and you'll trip and fall... and I can only carry one of you and I have no idea how much farther I'll make it. So please. Don't go running off in the forest. You have to stay with me, we have to at least find someplace nearby to lay down for a while until morning." "It can't be that much further," Silvanus moaned, looking down at the ground as he did, "I can here them - although I'm not sure we're on the right path." Enrique sighed, "No, we have to be - this is exactly the one she noted. Come on." He signaled to the rest, but slowly the group came to a crawl - mostly on account of Enrique, whose speed was first impeded by his leg injuries and then by the loss of light. The batteries in the flashlight gave out after only about an hour and under the moonless skies, that left him crawling blindly, trying to make out the path by moving his foot over the ground and looking for any variation in his sight to tell him that he was at the edge of some small drop, or about to hit a bump in the road. Enrique constantly stumbled, but so far held himself from a fall that would surely put him out of commission. "Why is he moving so slow, how badly was he hurt Istas?" Silvanus whispered just within earshot, from behind Enrique. "I don't know, he got a bad cut in his leg." Istas quickly replied. "You guys are dumb," Leo then jumped in during the chatter that Enrique followed along with as he walked, the road in front of him and constant chatter behind him setting him into a hypnotic trance as we walked - just one foot in front of the other he continued in his mind. "Humans can't see at night and they're clumsy too. He may as well be blind without that light." "I thought it was really bright, why didn't you say something earlier!" chimed in Renee - "he needs our help." Ha, there was a thought. He needed [i]their[/i] help - it would be funny if anyone could help him, but someone that young? That would be the ultimate irony. By now, his mind was somewhat dulled and his lips burned from a lack of water. His stomach seemed to churn and the acid sizzled at the sides of his chest with each step. "Take my hand." It was Renee. "Are you scared, it's okay, I might need a rest shortly, but we'll make it," Enrique noted, still caught in his trance and trying to calm the girl. "No, take my hand. I'll guide you along, I can see at night. We've got night vision, see?" The girl seemed to point to her face, but Enrique wondered if she truly realized that she was nothing but a silhouette by now. Either way, if it was a good idea for keeping everyone together. "Great, that's a good idea Renee... you can be my seeing eye dog." Enrique probably couldn't note the look of offense it left with Renee, but eventually she seemed fine with the situation and pulled Enique along. "Rock to your right, with a small bump down just up ahead," she started in a long train of instructions. At first, Enrique felt it was just a game and continued with his own instincts, but soon his trance broke as he realized that her scolding got him tripping and following along left him on his feet. But even as amazed as this left Enrique, the question remained how much further they could go. Istas, Yahzi, Leo and Silvanus followed along just behind him. In the distance, he could slowly hear the sounds of the forest letting out to drum beats and howls, but by now he was too far gone into his own world to realize that they were almost upon their destination. Several more steps took him quite a while and finally - finally he had to just give it up. "I'm sorry everyone, Enrique needs a moments rest - just a little bit. I'll get us moving in a bit." he said as he sat down on the ground, trying to catch his breath after the last uphill push. Those were the last words he remembered muttering as he let go of Renee's hand and leaned against a tree, his body broken, dehydrated and exhausted. He was out into sleep by the time Leo and Renee ran off to the north, telling Silvanus and Istas to watch after Yahzi. An hour would pass and the night continued one moment at a time before he felt the world lift up around him. His senses fading once again into the world of dreams until the next morning, when Enrique found himself in a wooden fort at ground-level. He was awake in a beautifully crafted room, with masks and instruments adorning the walls, a brilliantly colored reed rug in the center of the room and a hammock, which Enrique was laying in... oh and a REALLY creepy, old Vesari woman, whose boobs nearly hung to the floor, while she smoked out of a pipe and stared at him - with one lazy eye constantly twitching and a bottle of rum in her left hand. "Excellent protector you were... Seems like you were beaten here by a set of pups - not that I'd expect any different from humans. You've grown far from your home in the trees." Her tail seemed to twitch somewhat un-amused, an impression that was verified as she finished her statement. "I'm sorry for being somewhat agitated, but you did take up my bed last night and one can't get two minutes of sleep around here with how loudly you snore - not that any of the village men could drag your furless rump up to one of the higher places around here. They get weaker every generation. Hopefully by tonight though, you'll be well enough to be someone else's problem. In the meantime, if you don't mind leaving, I need some rest - I have a party to get to tonight, although I think you'll still be resting for the next several days given your age and your incessant moaning."

[B]Week 2 Debriefing[/B] The battle at Montechristi made news across all of Edean - except those areas under the strict control of Aether Forces. The battle was the bloodiest thus far and up and down the coastline, Edean had proved that the invasion would not occur over night. The Aether Empire's primary gains in the week had been mostly limited to Santa Elena, but at the same time, even as they stalled in their advance inland against much resistance, their air-force had held air-dominance the prior week and this gave them time to set up support systems and gain a foothold on the land. Guayaquil was now aptly at the focus of everyone's attention, as the end of the week brought advances onto the island of Puna and the region of Santa Elena was now firmly in enemy hands after brutal fighting. By midweek however, the Red Knight and Mad Hatter Squadrons at Montechristi, paved the way for the return of Edean aircraft to challenge those in the skies above. Combined with militia strikes on the Aether controlled air-base at Manta by Manta Militia Team 5, under the heroic efforts of Red Knights III, IV & V - the people of Portoviejo and Montechrisit were able to turn back an army of roughly 45,000 troops with only an army of 15,000 - but over a thousand now lay dead in the battlefields, with over 600 of them coming from Edean's side. By weeks end, on account of regional skirmishes, those numbers rose by an extra 200 lives and roughly 2,400 were injured to the point that they would be unable to continue fighting for weeks, leaving only 11,000 to now defend against an army of roughly 40,000 Aether troops at Manta. In terms of strategic resources and pride, it was a major blow to the Aether Empire - but the battle was tactically in favor of the Aether forces, who now outnumbered their Edean counterparts 4:1 instead of simply 3:1. As they began to poke at their defenses, the Aether forces were poised for a major victory and those at Portoviejo understood this well, bringing many of the wounded further back inland as the cities fall would soon be a matter of time. What the battle did accomplish though, was making local heroes in the region of Manabi, out of the Red Knight Squadron. Ozerov's takeoff cobra maneuver, ripping apart an Aether Aircraft in the process, followed by Eva's rapid takeoff through flaming debris to act as his wingman, went viral on the web video channels of Edean. Rumors from Militia Team 5 and soldiers on the ground only added to this mystique - despite a great deal of effort from the Mad Hatter Squadron and others, the people had chosen to get behind the Red Knights as their 'knights in shining armor'. Throughout all of this, Enrique and Yahzi found themselves as refugees at a university at Portoviejo. Enrique spent the time attempting to either reunite the boy with his father, or place him in more capable hands - but nothing of the sort would happen. Instead, as the Aether Empire brought war to Portoviejo as well, he was only given more charges and a map to a mysterious hidden Vesari village, given to him by a woman at Portoviejo - once again, he was on the run.

The Edean Triumvirate finds this change interesting. Also, we've been disturbed by strange visions of flying monkeys as of late.

We look forward to the moving of this new nation to the French Guianea area once the details have been worked out. - The Edean Triumvirate

[b]Seagulls Landing[/b] Puna Island, Edean 7:00 PM, MAY 2136 AD Aboard the [U]Corruptible[/U] an [U]Aether Empire[/U] [U]Ark of Hades[/U], [U]Grand Executioner Grenlin[/U] sneered at a brilliantly lit red strategic display, laid out before his bloodshot eyes, black cloak swaying behind him in the dead air of the ship. “The beasts of this leaderless land continue to meddle in our affairs and they are doing a most excellent job of things, Sire Zarfef.” He bowed before the mad-man in the flickering flat screen, “Surely though, you will be happy to hear that the entirety of the region of [U]Santa Elena[/U] shall soon be firmly within your claws – just as you had planned.” “I had also planned another thing by this time as well Grenlin,” Zarfef said as he marveled at the Grand Executioner's incompetence, “Guayaquil was the prize that was sought and your surprise attack has faced far more resistance then you had spoken of before. What have I held back from you, that you fail me so -” “You're ambitions outweigh my strengths sire. Surely you will have patience with your servant of the shadows. Malchala's forces were to join us, so that our numbers would be nearly 80,000 in strength – more then sufficient to break any will the city might have, but 40,000 and without a Pincer attack... I fear to suffer the consequences that would befall me my Sire, should I fail from acting in haste. I know that mercy will not be granted should I bring humiliation to the Empire. Even as recently as today, I fear to tell you that our forces at [U]Manta[/U] were unsuccessful at breaking the city of Monte-” “You are telling me that your army of 45,000 of the most base henchmen this world has ever seen, having both the full dominance of our naval forces and the air supremacy you swore to me yesterday belonged to me, has been defeated by a handful of animals... That, you could not take with so great a force, a city so small it does even bare noting on our maps!?” Zarfef stopped himself, internalizing his rage that he would take out on the [U]Grand Executioner[/U] should his next words fail to appease him, “Let your next words be brilliant or let yourself prepare to make them your last.” The [U]Grand Executioner[/U] shook in terror, the henchmen around him salivating at the opportunity to leap upon him and strip him of his rank, claiming it for themselves in the viscous upheaval of the Aether Forces hierarchy. “Please your sire – I misspoke too soon when I spoke of our domination of the air – it was certainly true that with your great army and nuclear blessing, we scattered their forces to the four winds. Yet the winds that scattered them saw fit for their return and they were determined to throw themselves entirely at us. So that I realized that should we stay any longer, you would be greatly displeased with the casualties for so small a gain. I believe the forces of Manta, Montechristi and Portoviejo allied together and defeated us through the cursed magic of 'friendship'.” Zarfef's teeth gritted and he snarled as he looked down upon the Grand Executioner, but realized that should he allow the dogs around him to rip him to pieces, he would throw the whole order into disarray and on top of it all, incompetence in the universe, he found, had no bounds. He now knew the bounds of this one and did not feel like throwing his luck back to the wind. “Grand Executioner Grenlin – I will take pity on your lack of leadership skills for now, but always remember that I spared your life today when you consider your loyalty to me in the future.” Zarfef paused and sat back in his chair, hands folded over his abdomen, “I will grant you a chance to reprieve yourself – the city of Guayaquil shall be mine – I can taste it. However, you are right in your judgment that our forces at La Libertad shall not be enough to pry it from the animals if our henchmen are already having so great a trouble even reaching the city from Manchala.” “I shall therefore bring to bear a battalion of War Tzars on the Island of Puna – that shall act as your stage to disperse the flies from our picnic, Banshees will also be given if those prove insufficient and an airstrip paved for your aircraft to land – missile batteries to ensure that the enemy does not return from the skies... I shall grant you this curse to bare to those who oppose us. However, you must not fail and must grant me my shining gem by the end of this week. With the capture of Guayaquil, we'll have all that we need to begin the bombing runs on Mistwood Citadel – the heart of these people.” Zarfef took a deep breath, followed by a sigh, “Now, as far as the situation at Portoviejo, I will take care of that one personally and leave nothing alive that breathes – but Guayaquil must be taken alive.” “Thank you my sire, you are most generous.” Grand Executioner Grenlin said, bowing, but still terrorized to his core – so he quickly bowed off stage and moved back to the command room. “Cursor of Gadgets!” “Yes sire? You have summoned me?” Spoke a nasal high pitched voice in front of a red computer screen. “Notify the Diasporan Fleet near Machala that Zarfef has authorized the landing of a battalion of War Tzars, to be accompanied by two infantry battalions and one engineering battalion – prepare to deliver War Tzar Missiles as well, armed with chemical agents...we will wipe them out of that forest, even if we must saturate it with weed killer. Once the island has been secured, notify me for further orders.” ------------------------ Despite the chaos going on only a short distance away, the [U]Island of Puna[/U] was relatively calm. Outside of its' strategic position, nothing of particular interest was on the island, so consequently, only a small militia contingent was garrisoned there, which had already convened in the Eastern forests. This made the potential for invasion from the west, all too easy. The forces disembarked on the shores during the night-time hours of a moonless night. Ragnarok Nightmare Fighter Bombers swirled silently over-head, prepared to 'deal' with any resistance, but the insertion was simple enough and the soldiers on board were quickly able to take the small collections of shacks called towns on the island, the War Tzars finding it particularly hospitable to their needs; large open paths of rocky soil, surrounded by thick trees scattered about. Unfortunately, the only cover on the island made scouting out the militia there relatively easy. Aether scout squads moved in silence through the thick trees, utilizing the latest in night vision technology to hunt their prey – only to find that their prey was far easier to find then they had at first imagined. The targets were marked via IR lasers and the Nightmares descended in silence upon the forest, unleashing their claws just above the surface. From the distant shoreline, of the mainland Edean – all that could be seen was a bright flash followed by burning flames from the napalm explosives that saturated the region, scattering the soldiers about, as bursts of gatling cannon fire picked them off, one by one, as they herded the remnant out into the open, where they were met with bright blinding lights and thousands of visible laser sights. “And so the animals fall to their knees, drop their weapons and give themselves into our hands.” Grand Executioner Grenlin declared from across the field with a contingent of highly armed soldiers. He proceeded forward and grabbed one of shaking militiaman by his hair, pulling him to his feet. “I was wondering... our little army was all the way out here – could you possibly tell us a good place to grab a bite to eat? We've had a hard time finding anything on this little rat-hole you call a home.” “We don't have anything beyond the farms – that's all that's here, we're just trying-” Grenlin was bored and signaled a contingent of his to bash the man unconscious with a rifle and then rip his back out with a machine gun burst, and then Grenlin kicked him in the ribs himself a few times while he lay on the ground, for good measure. “What. Do. You. Mean” he finished with a third kick, “there isn't anything here... well I suppose we'll just have to change that, you lazy bums, we need a Zuk Burger on this rock because I can't survive without them. Good thing we just found ourselves a host of willing slaves living on [I]our[/I] land.” “Organize the villagers in chains! I want every able body building defenses and setting up infrastructure for our attack. Kill the unwilling and use the unable as hostages to help convince those on the edge of considering our offer to allow them to live.” he finished, “If I fail Zarfef – you shall all see the same fate as I.”

"Glad to see you could make it Red Knight VII, keep a watch on my six and hopefully we'll have more friends to join us in a short time." Ozerov responded, looking down as fire crews rushed in to try and clear the still burning debris from the runway below, "this might take longer then we'd originally thought, so we'd better hurry, Mad Hatter Squadron is running out of weapons to lob at the enemy extremely fast - use weapons sparingly and focus on dispersing the enemy." An onboard beep notified Ozerov of a requested information channel from ground forces in the area. Looking down for a moment, signaling his wingman to continue keeping watch, he noticed that local militias were requesting EDC access so they could coordinate their ground anti-air attacks with Ozerovs air combat attacks. Ozerov quickly accepted, given their current situation, and the battle began. Minutes seemed to pass by as each side took strafing blows at the other. Star-streak missiles from the ground made Aether's job that much harder, along with streams of bullets and explosions from flak cannons. By the time the runway was clear, several members of the Mad Hatter Squadron were re-landing for more munitions and Ozerov and Eva were down to two missiles a piece. "Red Knight Squadron is clear for take off again, the runway is clear", the voice on the ground finally noted as Ozerov got out a sigh of relief. His head was still dizzy from a series of engagements that had occurred during the moments prior - but now the enemy was being repelled as reinforcements began to stream from Liberty Air's Airbase at Portoviejo. "Red Knight I, Red Knight VII, thanks for keeping the skies clear. This is Red Knight III, do you need to re-arm? It looks like you're getting a little low up here, I saw the fireworks myself - that first kill was rather impressive Ozerov. I can take the flight lead just in case you two need a temporary break." The radio finished, to which Ozerov quickly responded, "Negative Red Knight III, continue with the mission - we're going to reset RTB points to Free Skies Manta Base, we'll coordinate our attacks from there. For now, we simply need to push through. After that, we've been assigned some bombing runs over the enemy forces while Liberty Air keeps the skies clean of enemy fighters." "Roger that Red Knight I, moving into formation." The aircraft swooped in on the other side of Red Knight I and others soon followed. Below, Ozerov could see the mountain tops, hidden beneath an occasional cumulus cloud on what was otherwise a clear sunny day. Manta was also visible in the distance, and he could notice that more fighter planes were gathering together to launch a major assault. Suddenly, the EDC channel from the militias came alive, "This is the Manta Local Militia Team 5, we're in position to launch our attack, but Aether Forces have taken notice of our plans to attack and they're not too happy. Aircraft are launching strafing runs and if they manage to keep getting air-support we're done for and the mission is a no-go. I repeat - we need air-support straight away in order to launch our attack against the primary targets at Liberty Manta Airbase." "Mad Hatter Squadron," Ozerov spoke up, "we need to get over to Free Air Manta Base ourselves to prepare for the operations - do you think you can provide ad hoc air support for Manta Militia Team 5?" "Negative Red Knights, we've still got to make sure that the other squadrons can take off from Portoviejo - we're still getting attacks over here and they'll be sitting ducks without us. You're the only ones in the air that can handle that request." Returned back the stressful reply. Ozerov muttered under his breath before responding to his superiors over another channel, "This is Red Knight Squadron Leader, Ozerov, we've received an emergency request for aid from militia-members located in Manta - their goals appear to be mission critical and they need air-support. Permission to support?" "Permission granted Red Knights, send in three fighters and get the rest over to Manta Base, Aether ground forces have been spotted on the move - they are beginning their assault on Montechristi." declared the voice on the other end. "Affirmed. Red Knights III, IV and V, move in to support the militia forces at Manta, with Red Knight III as your flight lead. Everyone else, follow me, we'll be at a loss of three planes, two of which lack the weapons they need and time is of the essence. Proceed to your destinations and complete your goals before returning to our RTB point at Manta Air Base - otherwise known to most of us as "Home". Move steadily, but keep your afterburners off for the time being to avoid the enemies IR capabilities." Ozerov finished his orders, and then watched as three of the planes peeled off from formation to form an arrow flying straight towards Manta's Liberty Air Base facility, registering their agreement via radio. There was luckily little in the way of interference on the way over to Free Skies' Manta base, which was apparently guarded by several squads from Jaguar along with two Cobra Attack Tanks - whose all-terrain mobility made them particularly well suited for mountain combat against their heavier opponents, the War Tzars. Most of the ground forces could be seen moving towards Montechristi as well, by the dust trails they left behind them. The flight was completely smooth for their forces however except for his concerns over the other three members of his squadron currently fighting over northern Manta against far superior forces. -------------------- "Red Knight's IV and V," Lutela noted,"We're severely out numbered, so the most we're going to be able to do here is provide a one time raid on the air units so that Milita Team 5 can complete their objective or at least to buy them some more time until Liberty Air can send out some fighters to help retake their own darned air-base. We're going to fly in high, as our enemies will be looking the ground over for Militia Team 5, increasing altitude starting now - we're going to descend upon their position from above combining onboard munitions and guns to break apart their attack so that the ground forces can have a chance at making it through. Once we're through, RTB back to Freedom Air Manta Base." The aircraft began their ascent as commanded as the world below began to disappear into a dusty haze. Soon, even the fighter planes launching strafing runs on the Militia forces at Manta seemed to disappear into small bugs buzzing around on the floor - barely visible against the city streets unless lit up by firing an ATG missile. "We've reached our targeted goal Luleta," Grimm, Red Knight IV noted, "I'll notify us we reach the attack vector you've noted." It only took about two minutes for them to reach their destination, to the naked eye below, their blue forms would blend in nicely during this time of day, most of the light from the glare bouncing off to those in the far distance. "All weapons hot, prepare for attack on my mark...Now!" Luleta declared as the aircraft loosed their grips from the clouds an plummed downwards, leaving their talons exposed to their unexpecting prey. The altimeter readings on their digital displays spun rapidly as they closed in on their enemies below, engines barely on fully pulled by gravities hand, so that IR signatures did not pick them up (especially coming nearly out of the mid-day sun) - unfortunately, the same would also make them highly visible to enemy RADAR stations - who would alert the forces below momentarily - but not long enough to keep them safe from Red Knight Squadron. "IR lock-on achieved" The radio announced it over and over as Lutela awaited the proper time to open fire - psychology was everything. "Open fire!" The command came at the last possible moments, "Fox II, Fox II!" it came in so many times, it was a blur, as the missiles streamed in on the pilots below who quickly were under a host of inbound missile warnings as the rockets took on their multiple targets and several blue flashes burst past. Three massive explosions riveted the scene as sparks covered the sky from flares and minor explosions occurring now and again as the missiles intercepted these false targets or his just close enough to damage the enemy force. The enemies dispersed like they were hit by a sharp piercing sword, granting the gap that Lutela hoped to acquire - but the cost would quickly follow. The fighter planes instead of returning upon the ground forces, quickly fell upon the pilots - not yet clear of their number and awaiting ground command to inform them that there was only three. Lutela's world spun as she tried to avoid the enemy as much as possible, her flares and chaff exhausted in moments. She couldn't keep track of the smoke trails, nor the enemies which she was having a hard time distinguishing from allies in the mix. It was only seconds before she was blindsided by a massive explosion occurring on her right wing. The craft jolted, the explosion barely avoiding ripping the plane to pieces - were it built any less sturdy, the aircraft would have been obliterated by the shock and Lutela only held on through the blast on account of the burning in her muscles as she tried to regain control of the craft before it crashed straight into the ground. To her right, she was only able to gain a glimpse of Red Knight V, an enemy directly on his six, missiles alight - then she lost him again. "Red Knight V! You're under attack - launch flares or eject now!" She declared, realizing the lost cause and realizing that she herself was not too far away - she could see from the corner of her eye that smoke was pouring off her right wing and the aircraft shook violently - seeming as though it would tear itself apart at any moment - Red Knight IV was no where to be found. She tried to gain her bearings and turned the aircraft towards Manta airbase, but realized that it was only a short while before the enemy aircraft swarmed in and finished the job. It took her a few seconds to realize that someone was actually keeping her safe, "Keep it up Red Knight III," sounded in Grimm, "I've got your six - you're only about one minute from the primary combat operation zone - we've only got a few tagging along - the rest have returned to ground suppression - it sounds like Militia Squad 5 managed to use the break to cause a lot of havoc on the ground and we're now back at the bottom of priorities. Ozerov has sent out reinforcements to back us up as well. " "Why are you telling me this instead of watching your own six - I'm in no condition to fight Red Knight IV. You're going to have to protect yourself, how do you know that Ozerov gained permission to send anyone out for us anyways." She declared towards Grimm, but the radio was silent again... as predicted though, another three aircraft soon flew in close to their own and the enemy fighters that were pursuing them broke off from the attack to return to ground strafing runs. Back on the ground, Lutela found that her aircraft was essentially placed out of commission. Word hadn't arrived as of yet, of Red Knight V and it was assumed that he had either died or been captured by Aether forces - neither prospect seemed particularly settling - in fact, Lutela was struggle to hold back tears in front of the others. As far as Grimm's mystery knowledge, it turned out that Grimm had noticed that he couldn't contact Lutela during the fight and realized from where the smoke was pouring out, that her onboard communications antenna, located on that area of the aircraft, was likely damaged during the explosion. Communication was rough and when he finally was able to get a solid signal through, he tried to relay what he had heard before being cut off again. Red Knight Squadron was now down four planes and Ozerov lead the remaining eight on constant bombing raids of the forces below. Jaguar and Militia forces in the region fought viciously for the city - along with militias from both Porotviejo, Manta and Montechristi in order to keep the forces from standing at Portoviejo's throat at all costs. Aether missiles from Manta were launched soon after the strikes began, to help suppress the artillery east of Portoviejo, but many of the missiles were having a hard time finding their marks and a large number were likewise shot down by Lagrange anti-missile systems in the area. Helicopters were rushing the wounded from the region constantly, a steady stream of Geartronics Feners moving towards the command staging area at El Cerro with bodies and injured going in and supplies coming out. Red Knight Squadron, The Mad Hatter Squadron and others continued the battle into the late evening, Red Knight IV later reporting engine troubles and had to return back to base... this was getting to be a common problem and Ozerov wondered if Romanez had had the same issue. In total, three other aircraft were shot down - one from the Mad Hatter Squadron as it defended Liberty Air Base at Portoviejo, the others from the remaining fighter squadrons. The enemy had arrived with vastly superior numbers and Ozerov had a hard time keeping his munitions loaded to fly sortie after sortie to destroy enemy War Tzar Artillery points, logistics stations, what central command referred to as War Tzar Comm and Sensor stations - all while keeping an eye on his six. M F/A-21s were tasked with the bombing runs, while the more advanced Brown Widows from Liberty Air were tasked with dispersing the enemies to protect Edean's own supply lines and weapons. Damage from Militia Team 5 managed to help suppress the enemy during the early hours, but later on, they restarted with renewed vigor from shore based submarines for several hours before the word finally came in. "Enemy forces are pulling back! I repeat, enemy forces retreating! Keep the fire support on them Red Knight Squadron, we've acquired a hard fought for victory here!" "Affirmative Jaguar Command, commencing attacks as possible on open targets of opportunity." Ozerov stated, making a command in the same action to what remained of his squadron. 'Targets of opportunity' were hard to come by however. Smoke billowed from below, the battleground devastating the environment - even targets they were meant to protect became points of defense for militia-men caught in the violence who had no place else to turn. The dead and broken were far more common, scattered among craters and burning scars on the Earth. The Aether Empire had a thing for the color black and so it became difficult in the midst of so much destruction to differentiate between a piece of charred wreckage and a warm body attempting to pull back and regroup - likely for another attack. While small skirmishes continued - nothing matched the ferocity of that first conflict at Montecristi. The militias around there were down by around 1100 people, and triple that were wounded or unaccounted for. The Aether Empire on the other hand seemed to be a fairly even matchup in combat and had far greater numbers - the only thing holding them back yet was their lack of interest in Montechristi. They were likely trying to find a new way to take the city, utilizing their superior air-power in the region to thin the enemy, or perform some other attack to reduce Edean's numbers... overall, while their forces took a heavy hit as well, their 'news' at weeks end, declared the losses around 1,800 in an "insurgence uprising". Across all of Edean however, Aether's overall numbers were still plenty enough to take most of western Edean and wage war for years - plus there was little way of knowing how many of those killed actually were lost in the battle of Montechristi, or even if the numbers were accurate - luckily, if they weren't they like erred on the side of being too small.

[b]Nest of Eagles[/b] Knight's Castle, Edean 10:35 AM, Week 2 MAY 2136 AD Knight's Castle was the name that Ozerov's flight squadron had come up with to describe their small outpost, which was roughly 100 miles away from the warzone. Camo meshes had been acquired from the nearby militia to cover their aircraft from prying eyes, but even more then this, a constant fog of rain and mist rolled over the airfield that made spying from the air almost impossible. The squadron had gone to town and also acquired lumber and building materials from [U]Quivido[/U] several times, dressed in civies given to them from the same militia that provided them with the camo nets so they would blend in. With the wood, nails and other tools, they were able to build a small makeshift fort within the trees and covered it with camo nets so that the new structures wouldn't stand out to any observers from the air. On a plastic, flip-out table in the "grand hall", sat a radio and computer, with a LAN-line which was hard-wired to one of the local Edean Free Net nodes for internet and EDC access. [U]The Free Skies LLC[/U] Information Network was down for the first week after the attack on Mistwood Citadel and little could be done but keep their aircraft clean and watch the war unfold. Ozerov notified his (new) supervisor of the squadron's combat condition, shortly after communications came back online and from there, the waiting game began as the squadron patiently sat around, staring at the ceiling as rain came down. Eva was trying to boost up the team spirit by cutting out a felt image of a knight chess piece from cloth purchased at a local fabric store, which she hoped to glue onto a larger piece of black cloth to hang on the wall of "The Castle". "There, finished!" She proudly proclaimed, looking back at the nine others in the room. "Not half bad, if I do say so myself." "I hope they don't send us out on a night mission," Lutela noted, crushing Eva's hopes for a group-wide moment of joy from seeing her creation... there was however, not much hope to be had, given that everyone was sleeping in hammocks under mosquito nets for the last several nights with bad food to boot as they waited for word from their transistor covered muse. "Red Knight Squadron... are you there Red Knight Squadron? Ozerov?" The radio suddenly chirped in with an unwanted, but highly anticipated eleventh member. Ozerov quickly moved over and clicked on the transmitter, making sure that the light was on for his AES encryption module. "This is Ozerov, do you have any news for us? Supplies maybe? Or perhaps someplace better to set our planes down at?" Ozerov questioned. "Yes indeed - good and bad news, maybe some supplies and definitely a better place to set your birds down at." The radio announcer stated, "First the bad news, as you may or may not have heard by now, we are currently waging war against a terrorist faction known as the [U]Aether Empire[/U]. From what we can gather, they saw their glory days over in Africa some time ago, managing to gain independence twice. First at Djibouti and second at Tanzania... currently it looks like they'd like a new home and for some reason, they've decided to jump the lake and attempt to take over Edean." "We're not certain where they came from, or where their base of operations is, but their sub transports gained footholds in cities up and down the Edean coast in the wake of the nuclear strike on the Mistwood Military District. No further nuclear weapons have been used, but we are still unable to push them back. The last week saw some significant fighting as their forces expanded their grip on our free lands. The sector of Santa Elena has been all but taken by their 'War-Tzar Tanks' which made short work of the soldiers there, pushing them out into the open fields where their aircraft finished the work. Things have been real bad for the forces down below without air-support, but there was little we could do until now." "What is of particular importance to our company, are the cities of [U]Montecristi[/U] and [U]Portoviejo[/U]. Both local and private militias are pulling together in the region in order to repel a buildup of enemy forces on the eastern side of [U]Manta[/U]. As I'm sure you know however, the region between [U]Manta[/U] and [U]Montecristi[/U] is filled with several large factories and even some mansions - all of which purchased large insurance policies from us to defend them from aggressors. [U]Jaguar[/U] has already managed to convince local militias to avoid these facilities as defensive strongholds, but that doesn't mean that our lovely friends in the Aether Empire will be nearly as cooperative. The good news being that some small contingent of Jaguar forces somehow managed to hold off the Aether infantry from taking our primary base and we've been able to re-establish connections to those located there and bring it to working order." "So defending that, is your goal." The voice concluded. "You will be entering the combat zone with approximately five squadrons with all units mobilizing from a base of combat operations at Portoviejo using the Liberty Air Field. However, if at all possible, we would prefer you to utilize our mountain base of operations just south of Manta for the remainder of the operations." After several more Q&As, the flight unit was off, making it off the runway one after another. Feeling back at home, Ozerov felt the g s pull him back into his seat as he jumped from the dusty runway directly into an ocean of mist from the nearby plateau. On the other side, as promised, was a large transport aircraft, fitted for mid-air refueling as no large aircraft that Edean's defense companies fielded could currently land at [U]Knights Castle[/U]. Ozerov eased his aircraft into the boom under the back end of the flying gas station and then began to wait as his fuel reserves restored themselves to the required levels before disengaging the system and flying towards Portoviejo. One of each of the ten members of Red Knight Squadron followed this pattern, before accelerating to catch up with Red Knight I. About 10 minutes after their initial launch, the city of Portoviejo was in sight, with two other squadrons of [U]M F/A-21[/U]s circling around as they awaited ground clearance to land. "Good to be home," Eva noted, "I'm having a hard time remember Red Knight I, where exactly did we send Red Knights II and VI again? I hate forgetting where I tell people to go, but it's been a week." "Down there, at the base run by Liberty Air... Let's just hope they made it back alright, we need to do one more flyover while I ask for clearance to land." Ozerov stated, he banked his plane over the city below, noting that several small regions were still smoldering from recent attacks and the mountains were streaming smoke from apparent recent airstrikes. As he pulled around for a curve and looked to those below, he saw a variety of faces from refugees from Manta watching them arrive, most were cheering, but it was the one man, standing next to a Vesari female and a small Vesari boy whose look almost appeared to stare hatred in his direction that left him unsettled. Of course, at that altitude and speed, it was hard to tell facial expressions - but he felt sad that not everyone supported them in the attempts to defend Edean from aggressors and that frustrated him. It was then that the radio broke in and diverted his attention from those on the ground, "This is Liberty Air Base at Portoviejo to Red Knight Squadron, we have your IFF signatures recognized and you are fully connected to our EDC systems. We need all fighters out of the sky fast to prepare for combat operations. Aether has noticed that we're trying to contest the skies again and our scouts are picking up movement at the captured airbase in Manta. We're sending up Brown Widows, but unless we grant them some support, we won't be able to put up much of a fight. Land and prepare for rapid re-entry into combat operations - pit crews are on standby from Free Skies. Over" "Roger that Liberty Air, we're coming in fast - make sure to keep the runway clear." Ozerov noted before sending out the order to the rest of Red Knight Squadron. The squadron fell from the skies, rapidly landing on the runway where they were rushed upon by support members from Free Skies LLC, who quickly worked to repair any minor damages from the prior nuclear missile EMF pulse, fit the aircraft with IR and Electro-Optical missiles, refueled them and altogether got each aircraft ready to get back into the skies to fight as quickly as possible. Air raid sirens were already sounding over Portoviejo and Ozervov could see a Brown Widow Fighter Squadron taking off into the sky to try and maintain air-superiority while the other air-craft prepared for combat. In total, there would be two full squadrons of Brown Widows and three partial squadrons of M F/A-21s involved in the combat operations - certain Brown Widows acting as their group AEWACS. Ozerov was trying to gauge their chances against the enemy who was estimated by intel to have around ten squadrons of their own fighters located at a local air-field, but whose logistics were going to be interrupted shortly by militia-men who were given instructions by the fields prior owner, Liberty Air. Just about ready to yell at the ground crews to hurry it up, Ozerov was suddenly stopped by the sound of two familiar voices on the ground. "Ozerov! Wow, I'm glad to see you guys made it - where in the world did you go after that battle at Manta?" shouted Romanez, apparently not joining them as he was dressed in only civilian fatigues. "Where is your flight suit Romanez? We need you up there." Ozerov noted. "Not today Flight Leader, they've got my plane along with Red Knight VIs in the hanger where the techies are taking their sweet time in repairing them. It turns out that my problems were a bit more complicated then a simple fix and the damage to Red Knight VI is going to take some time to repair as well. Keep us safe so that we can fly back and join you in sending these henchies back home." Romanez noted. "Certainly, now get back to the shelter - I think this place is about to get hot from what the tower is telling me and I don't want you to survive the last battle only to get blown to bits by a dumb bomb." Ozerov commanded, realizing that the seconds were now turning to minutes and the fight for the skies would soon commence. No sooner had the words left his mouth when he started to see bursts from ground anti-aircraft cannons lighting up as streams of bullets flew into the sky. Brown Widows began to engage still invisible targets and missile trails could be seen flying over the mountains to the west, but until he got back into the air, Ozerov was out of the loop. The Brown Widows began to bank, trying to apparently flank the enemy fighters, but one made it through and began heading towards the airfield and Ozerov's heart stopped. The sight of bullets pelting the Earth rapidly approached his position, as most of the flight support crew began to flee and the anti-aircraft guns opened fire, driving the enemy aircraft off from it's approach before it could strafe Red Knight Squadron. "GET US OFF THE GROUND NOW!" Ozerov barked at the still cowering ground crew as he pulled down the cockpit window and fastened himself in, preparing for a rapid ascent. Several seconds passed and more planes made it through, a missile from an enemy aircraft barely missing the front of the take-off runway creating a massive explosion in the distance. Ozerov checked the skies, runway and the crew next to him constantly, noting that they were pulling back and one of the crew-men threw him a thumbs up to start up his onboard electronics. The systems hummed to life, as the screens came online and the system connected to the EDC to receive take-off instructions. Without anyone else out on the runway, Ozerov took the initiative and contacted Tower first. "This is Red Knight Squadron, I need to get off the runway now - everything appears clear and I'm requesting and taking permission to launch." "Copy that Red Knight I, Red Knight Squadron is clear to launch, we need you up there right away. The Mad Hatter Squadron is already running out of weapons and so far, only one enemy aircraft has been intercepted, with dozens more en route. Please protect the combat area while we try to get the remaining squadrons off the ground." Tower finished. "Alright, I have your backs - just get me off the ground." Ozerov stated quickly, flipping his systems on to quickly check that everything was functional before powering up his engines, warming them up and trying the throttle out as ground crews notified him of the successful tests, the other pilots undergoing similar preparations. Ozerov, moved onto the runway and quickly became the target of the enemy silver triangles, but the Mad Hatter Squadron, flying defense, quickly dispersed them, firing off a volley of missiles to make sure that Red Knight Squadron could make it into the air to help support them and let them back onto the ground for resupply. Ozerov fired up his engines and the world began to quickly pass him by in a blur as he felt the plane lift, the wind negating gravity as he rose into the sky. A quick burst of light however, alerted him that one of the enemy fighters was trying to strafe him in the vulnerable moments of his takeoff, so launching his thrust forward, the afterburners came on and his craft rocketed forward out of the way. Dropping on the brakes, he rapidly retried the Cobra Maneuver, flipping around firing a stream of bullets into the engaging craft, ripping it in two as he pulled the craft around and then continued forward - impressed that these weapons could indeed handle that maneuver - only afterwards did he realize that he had also exploded the aircraft directly over the airfield, raining down debris on the world below. The radio came alive warning another member of Red Knight Squadron to hold off on their ascent, but there was no stopping them. It flew forward, playing Russian roulette with the raining debris falling all around it before finally making it into the skies. "That was a close one," Eva noted as she pulled up besides Ozerov and tested her systems quickly to see that everything was functional, "Red Knight VII here, requesting permission to be your wingman till the rest of Red Knight Squadron arrives," Eva noted over the radio.

That night, Enrique went back to the humanities building. In the distance, a dusty haze of smoke rose where Manta would be. Distant rumbles came from the area occasionally, but the artillery had halted their attacks during the day for some reason or another. He turned in around 8-9 o'clock, because Yahzi was already yawning non-stopped, ears and eyes drooped from a day of walking all around. Enrique simply sat on his mat and watched on he contemplated the various scenarios in his head - he felt in the next few days, he'd be doing a lot of waiting and admittedly, Yahzi had at least given him something to do to keep his mind from all that had been destroyed in his prior life... nothing likely remained by now back in Manta. He looked down and watched the boy shiver in a dream, fearful of some dark thing haunting his shadows and felt his own paternal instincts stir. For as much as he'd watched out for him physically, emotionally, he'd left Yahzi essentially on his own - leaving himself distant for any number of reasons. Tonight though, he wondered if he was doing more harm then good. Scooping one arm under the boy, he took the initiative this time and pulled him a bit closer and held his paw for reassurance but figured he'd just pull away as normal - but Vesari aren't exactly like humans and instead the boy relaxed next to the quickly familiar man that had carted him everywhere. The next morning at 3 O'Clock, the artillery began once again, waking up Enrique and others momentarily before they fell back to a dreary sleep, trying to block out the noise. Enrique cursed under his breath at having to deal with the noise, but eventually was dozing back out as well. The cannons continued to rumble again and again in each volley - and it seemed like they would never stop, becoming a background to Enrique's dreams themselves. Then though - then they suddenly did stop for no reason at all - far before they had the prior night. Minutes passed and peace settled on the room just enough for everyone to doze off and then the sounds pierced the air. Enrique bolted up in a panic, the wailing sound of air-raid sirens clearly piercing his ears. He checked to his right and Yahzi was still there and quickly, roused the child and began moving towards the exits in search of the shelter. The same White Cross Volunteer from the night prior, burst in the front doors and his voice boomed over the sounds of fear from others. "I need everyone's attention please! I repeat, please be quiet so I can get everyone to safety!" The room somewhat quieted as everyone looked ready to bolt at the nearest sound, "I need everyone follow me single file, we'll be moving towards the old air-raid shelter around the corner, I want you to leave your stuff here and come quickly but in an orderly manner so no one gets trampled." There was a sense that many of the people wanted to bolt, but they were held back by the realization that only their guide knew where this shelter was and running would bring them no where closer to their goal if he moved at a slower pace. Picking Yahzi up in his arms, Enrique moved steadily behind the others, before coming outside beneath the dark night sky. Moments into their walk, Enrique could notice the light sound of aircraft over-head. Bursts of light nearly brought the world into panic as people hit the ground, large bursts of anti-air flak cannons lighting up the sky with tracer rounds and exploding charges that flashed bright before leaving the world saturated in distant thunder. Enrique, crouched, holding Yahzi close in protection - noting that the boy had completely ignored orders and brought Senior Teddy along and was holding him for protection in fear. Then along the hills the reason for the silence of the artillery became prevalent as bombs exploded around the artillery nests. Without artillery opening fire though, the aircraft could only do saturation bombing runs, hoping to take out some artillery in the mean time, but this meant that at the very minimum, artillery support was gone for resistance forces at Manta. Star Streak missiles from manpads took skywards from the mountains and various roof-tops in Portoviejo. The missiles created inaccuracies in the planes targeting, but it would soon bring their wrath down upon the city itself. Luckily by then, Yahzi and Enrique were well within the dusty old bomb shelter, sitting on the ground amidst a large number of other frightened people. They were down there two hours - Yahzi falling asleep and using Enrique's knee for a pillow, tears coming from his eyes from the world of fear around him. The explosions on the mountain side with the artillery and unknowingly from within Portoviejo itself, reminded Enrique of his experiences back in Manta and he knew that if they reminded him of that hideous experience, it would remind Yahzi of the same. Once back outside, walking towards their rooms, Enrique saw that the entire mountainside was lined with flame and black billowing smoke beneath the violet dawn light. Towers of smoke rose from the town itself as well, and he was somewhat afraid that he was now inside of enemy territory. He acquired only restless sleep for several hours more and Yahzi suddenly got rather antsy as well. ------------------------------------ The next day allayed his fears, Tacita informing him that the Aether Forces were simply doing air-strikes to take out the artillery - but that invasion was now only a matter of time. They sat outside, the fires now put out by volunteer and professional fire-fighting organizations. Tacita seemed somewhat nervous as though something was on her mind, but it was as if she couldn't say it directly. "There's something I'd like to ask about," Enrique noted, looking over at Tacita, "I'm somewhat concerned about staying here for much longer - if the battle reaches here, it's only going to be as bad or worse then Manta. I don't want to live through that a second time and every hour since this morning's air raid has left me on edge. If you're going to go, I need you to take Yahzi and the others, it's getting too dangerous here. If you can't take him - then I have to go, I can't stay here while bombs go off around my head." Tacita actually looked somewhat relieved, as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but still seemed somewhat concerned too. "At the beginning, I was worried that you had actually hurt Yahzi - but I've come to realize that that isn't the case. I hope you don't mind my fears - I'm a tad bit overprotective. I think that what you're saying is for the best. I only wish I could do what you're asking - but where I'd run, the others would have a much harder time finding me - especially the Human or Oniru parents. I know that I promised to take Yahzi - I know that this is asking a lot... but if you're volunteering, I'm grabbing." "I need you to get him out of here, they're preparing for a massive counter attack at Montechristi and if that falls, the war will be brought here." She said, "If you can get out now, you won't be caught in the fall of this city." "I see - so I really am on my own here then," Enrique noted, somewhat still dazed, "How do you end up knowing so much about what's going on in the military though? The Vesari aren't exactly enamoured with them from what I understand." "It's not official info, you just sort of watch your surroundings," Tacita noted, pointing to the north-east. Enrique squinted as he saw two shining forms glisten, slowly coming in over the city. Several minutes passed and he wasn't able to even make any details, but then the plane glided with a roar over ahead, it's silver-blue form all too familiar to Enrique - the same kind of plane that he last saw before so many lives were ruined. His mind lost the situation at hand for a moment as his heart overflowed with hatred and disdain for the pilot above him - he had no idea if it was the same pilot he saw earlier, but he felt it - they were all the same to him. Angels of death that destroyed life as the Vesari had long taught them. Tacita broke his stare of hatred though, "You're going to have to take the E-40. Not too many people know the E-30 is down yet and the traffic jam doesn't start until some ways down. It's a long drive, East of the Bilsa Reserve along an old abandoned forest road and from there, it's a long walk, swim and boating trip. My home village is about the safest place in the world to go - although you might feel a bit out of place, it's the best chance Yahzi has of surviving. If you can just take him there, I'm sure they'll know what to do." Enrique knew he was now cornered, but realized that there were still some holes in Tacita's 'plan' - "But if it's so out of the way, where am I going to find a bus to this hidden village of yours?" he noted, as if she had failed to thoroughly think this over. Tacita grinned mischievously, which left Enrique rather frightened, "That's part of the deal, Vesari don't see personal property, so what's mine is everyone's to survive. I have to stay here, but if Zarfef comes here, he's promised to do bad things to Vesari. I can survive that - I'm strong, but the children. I need you to drive some of them to the village as well. You'd better make it there, or I'll hunt you across all of Edean - but if you'll do this for me, the keys are yours, along with some money and gas to get you going. If you don't... if you don't and they come, I have no idea what will happen. I suppose it's rash leaving them with someone I've only just met, but leaving them in the hands of Zarfef only sounds far worse. You're the only person I know off hand that is free to go and might be willing to help me." Enrique was shocked, somewhat taken back at being thrown a car - likely old - but still a car, money and gas by a someone that was mostly still a stranger to him. He would question it all, but the present situation didn't leave him much choice. As another aircraft roared overhead, he knew that a vast battle was about to occur and may bring the entire city into a massive war. He took a few minutes to consider, looking over to Yahzi and trying to breathe out his thoughts, but the air-raid siren gave him little choice, forcing everyone to rush for the shelters again... This time, the explosions were far louder - an air battle had broken out over the city and the battle seemed to go on for hours until the sun rose and set into the early evening hours. Once he finally left the cave with Yahzi, he could see a world strewn with explosions and rumbling could still be heard back near Montechristi. A soft paw reached into Enrique's free hand, leaving a pair of keys. "Please." the soft pleading voice begged him from behind, from Tacita. Enrique turned, to find a variety of about four other furry frames, looking up at him with frightened eyes next to Tacita. "I have a bad habit of taking on more then I can chew, don't I - haven't I done a bad enough job at this already?" he asked, but knew that he was already trapped. Tacita read his face, and sealed it with a hug of thanks before prepping the others on behaving and the like during the trip. Humans weren't entirely too pleased with loud singing road trips, howls and the like. She hugged, skritched and kissed them each on the top of the head before releasing them with sad eyes. She wanted to go as well, but if she left, she would abandon others. Led to an old 1990s model box of a car which looked like it had seen far too many times to the moon, Enrique piled in everyone and gave Tacita one final look, the directions in hand. "You'd better be sure of these directions, or we're just going to end up lost and alone and I'm not exactly built for boy scout trips - you don't even have tents in this thing." "Everything will be fine - just find your way there and be safe Enrique. Thank you." Tacita said, clasping her hands to say a silent prayer over the vehicle as Enrique held the key for a few moments more - wondering if he should just walk away from all of this - if he should just run. Yet - he continued, turning the key and hearing the engine come to life - which shocked him in it's own right.

Despite the hard floors, Enrique had fallen fast to sleep, with Yahzi curled up to a teddy bear he had been given, sleeping within arms reach in case they needed to make a fast retreat. Yahzi was leaning closer to Enrique then his own side of the mat, but not exactly being the warm blanket he was on the way there either... which was a fairly good thing as the night was humid and one didn't exactly need more covers in this weather. Enrique imagined from the advice he'd been given, to expect to be woken up and have the whole room stare at him from a scream nearby - and indeed it did take place, but much to his relief, it wasn't the small pile of fur next to him, but someone else. Apparently they weren't the only one's who had seen horrible things that day. Others moved in to comfort the sobbing teenage human girl in the corner as Enrique tried to drift back to sleep - The true fears began at around 3 AM however, as Enrique stirred to the sound of distant rumblings, like a low percussion that was barely audible in the room. He was hardly the only one to have noticed and sounds stirred through the hallways as worried faces looked about in the darkness. Given their faintness, Enrique couldn't tell if the bursts of sound were actually getting closer or his imagination was simply amplifying the sound with time as he focused more and more on it in fear. Yahzi could sense the fear as well and Enrique leaned over to reassure him, realizing that his reassurances may mean little as he might be forced to run in a moments notice. The minutes passed by as people began chatting and peeking out the windows, trying to catch something in the night sky, but only seeing dim lights flash against the sleeping city. It was several more minutes before someone from the White Cross dragged themselves over and explained the situation to everyone. "I realize everyone is afraid, but I need you all to calm down - we're not under attack again, those are our guys. The local militias apparently just got their stuff together and they're opening up with artillery attacks on something to the west. If there's an invasion force inbound, we'll notify everyone to give each of you ample time to escape and the university has warning sirens and shelters in case of an air-raid. So if we were under attack, we'd know, just try to ignore the sounds of the shells and get some sleep for now. We'll keep watch for everyone." It was easier said then done, Yahzi despite being somewhat distant before was suddenly back to fuzzy blanket mode - with Senior Teddy being suffocated in between. Enrique had lived alone for years though and somehow - deep inside, he was having internal conflicts quickly about giving up this opportunity to leave solitude behind. Maybe Yahzi actually needed him particularly - it was a thought, but he quickly passed it aside remembering that he couldn't even feed the fur-ball correctly. He couldn't even take care of his pet dog as a little boy - and he didn't want Yahzi to end up like that story did. Eventually though, he just let the questions pass and comforted the child as he closed his eyes and eventually fell back to sleep as the sounds either stopped or his mind blocked them out. The next day required more work, Enrique was now officially Yahzi's babysitter and that mostly meant moving him from place to place to get food, cleaned up, gain interaction from other children his own age and generally go about trying to coax the fox-like creature back out of his broken world. Enrique was mostly going from place to place around the University however, looking to see if he could find Yahzi's father or anyone that knew of the boy. Enrique disliked the introductions part as he was having a hard enough time making sure the boy didn't disappear into the crowd and mostly hoped that he would eventually bring the boy into sight where the father might think to look for them, but no news had arrived. By days end, he too, sat muddling his food with his fork as he was lost in thought. He hardly noticed that Tacita had sat down across from him once again. "Well, the good news is that is seems like we're going to be safe for a while longer, the militias have been fairly successful at holding back the invaders because of last nights artillery - which I'm sure gave both of you a scare. At the same time though, the E-40 has been knocked out, which is everyone's first choice for an evacuation route if anything goes bad and the main source of our cities food supplies. We only have enough food in the city for the next couple of days and then things will be getting bad if food isn't sent in via air or the bridge is repaired." Tacita stopped, looking at both of them oddly, "But this should be the first you've heard of this, so why have you joined Yahzi in looking so down?" "We've been going all around town hoping someone might know where to find someone that knew Yahzi - but no such luck. All of you tend to look rather similar if you don't have different colors, patterns or what not. Plus, things were just a bit frightening on account of the artillery last night. Will they be doing that every night?" He said, somewhat embarrassed that he was being annoyed by something so trivial as a sound when there were far worse things going on in the world at the current time. "Probably so. Not exactly good lullaby music, I hate the war as bad as anyone, but there isn't much that can be done and it is doing it's job as Humans would say. Has it been frightening for Yahzi?" She said, out of concern, "because we might have some pills that might help him reduce any panic attacks he may be having at the moment..." "I think I'd prefer to simply keep him safe then have him medicated Enrique noted" although he did wonder if things got worse if he might be making a mistake, "I just want all of this to go away." He turned towards his food, realizing that the warm meal cooked with love for the refugees was slowly going cold and stuffed a piece of it into his mouth and chewed for a bit before swallowing to make another statement, "It's funny, I think I'm getting better tasting, more nutritious food here in a refugee camp then I made for myself back at my home - which is probably trashed by looters or soldiers by now from either side. I got you vegetables this time, why not try some Yahzi?" he noted at the boy, picking up the spoon to try and bring it in to coax him to eat as he had remembered seeing others do and as he had done with his own children some time ago. He was about to say 'here comes the airplane,' but bit his tongue on the word 'here', realizing that that was probably a bad choice in expressions. Trying to fly an instrument of death into a child's mouth after their own traumatic past experiences with that word wouldn't likely inspire the boy to eat anything. It would only draw him away from others, which was something that deeply concerned himself and Tacita - he then realized that 'here comes the choo choo train' would be a far more peaceful and less frightening expression to use in this situation. But Yahzi's muzzle didn't so much as budge as he turned away and pushed his food away from him and Enrique knew there might not be food for him tomorrow given the current state of things. "No such luck," Tacita said, a sad expression in her eyes, "his hands were covered with blood yesterday, but overall he was physically ok. There's no telling how he'll do emotionally though. If only we could find his Dad, that would help a lot." At the word "Dad", Yahzi's eyes bolted to Tacita as if she'd spoken magic - everyone there knew he wanted to be home with family, likely getting scritches on the head while playing... but nothing could be farther from the present truth and all Tacita could do was give a sad broken smile at the scene, running her fingers through the tufts of soft down-like hair on his head in loving sympathy for his state. "Maybe I can take care of him tomorrow and try to get him around other children - if he could forget about this a little, he might eat something which would really be good for him."

((OOC: This is taking me FOREVER, but I'm being way too inactive writing these great walls of text. So for now, some character development. I'm going to post these as I come up with them. I have the others partially done and mostly need to work on the RP of the defense of Montechristi, but this will have to do for now... Yay for character development!)) [b]Week 1[/b] [b]Debriefing[/b] The surprise attack by the Aether Empire had left a deep wound on Edean, both psychologically and physically. The cities of [U]Esmeraldas, Manta, Machala and La Libertad[/U] were each occupied along the coastal regions and the military industry and infrastructure of the region was likewise reduced to a fraction of it's power on account of the ballistic missile strikes, whose onboard munitions destroyed military air-fields, bridges, factories and command nodes across the region. Most devastating of all was the 100kTon nuclear explosion that destroyed a vast portion of Mistwood Citadel and forced the evacuation of the rest of the city on account of extreme levels of nuclear fallout. The Aether Empire's spies in the region had done their homework and scouted out these facilities before-hand so that this initial strike would leave the land fractured and crippled in terms of it's professional military machine. All professional defense organizations had pulled back from the coastal regions. [U]Jaguar Security[/U], [U]Armadillo LLC[/U] and [U]Aegis Defense Staffing[/U] were unable to hold their objectives with the loss of Edean air superiority and command coordination. Their forces pulled back to deeper inland cities or into the mountains along with local militia forces in order to reduce casualties and regroup for a counterstrike. However, while occupied, the cities themselves were not safe-havens for the Aether Forces as well, as militia insurgents launched attacks daily, utilizing their networks of tunnels and other pre-war constructed systems to mount rapid surprise attacks with overwhelming fire-power and numbers before pulling back into the shadows. This was still costly however, as the enemy's air support often meant that the insurgents were not nearly as fast as Aether when it had it's planes off the ground; but by weeks end, many insurgent militias knew to place anti-air squads in forested areas near the cities to launch star-streak missiles from man-pads at the enemy fighter-bombers. The weapons were of little use in actually downing the planes, but they did provide enough of a threat that they could usually divert most attacks away from the retreating forces. While the Aether Empire would describe these attacks as "minimal" and claimed on constant broadcasts that the people were embracing their new leader, Zarfef, the truth was that they were advancing far slower then anticipated. The sacrifice of many Edeans - 850 dead - managed to hold back the Aether Empire from steamrolling into the cities of [U]Altacames, Quininde, Chone, Portoviejo, Jipijapa[/U] and most of all, the strategically important city of [U]Guayaquil[/U]. Only in [U]La Libertad[/U], because of the landscape, were militia forces convinced to retreat, left constantly exposed to enemy air-units without shelter. Several days into the battle they fell back, granting only enough resistance for their families to flee to other cities. The cities of [U]Anconcito, Atahualapa, Punta Blanca, Zapotal, MonteVerde, Ayangue and Progreso[/U] had all fallen - each with only a day or two's resistance. However, even though the fall of the city of [U]Progreso[/U] meant that Aether's forces were directly at the throat of [U]Guayaquil[/U], their forces at [U]Machala[/U] and [U]Manta[/U] were both held back by militia forces, who fought them vigorously and held a powerful advantage within the forested mountains just beyond these cities. [b]Refuge of Sparrows[/b] Porto Viejo, Edean 3:40 PM, Week 1 MAY 2136 AD It had been hours since [U]Enrique[/U] was spirited away with his new-found furry charge from the city of [U]Manta[/U]. The city was now twenty miles away from his current position, hidden by cloud covered mountains which rose 2000 feet above the plains. The trip from Manta to [U]Portoviejo[/U] normally only took around 20-30 minutes, but the flood of refugees had slowed traffic to a crawl along the E-30. Enrique simply tried to let his mind avoid the past images that continued to haunt him, taking notice of the bustle of militia-men preparing to defend their homes in Monte-Christi, the forested mountains that followed them all the way to El Cerro, then the first signs of the outskirts of Portoviejo, before they crossed the main river - anything to avoid the still fresh memories. At the border of the city, the party was split up. The Edean White Cross moved the wounded to makeshift ambulances on the side of the road, painted with large white crosses on the sides, some still smelling of wet paint. Enrique overheard that they would be taking the injured to a set of sports fields in the northern section of town, where they would receive medical treatment. Supplies were limited, but it was hoped that new shipments could be ordered as soon as the airfield in the region reopened after sustaining several major missile strikes to it's infrastructure. Enrique and Yahzi were told that they would be given a room at Viejo University, located on the southern portion of town, on the eastern side of the river. Enrique's driver took a picture of Yahzi, which he then uploaded to the White Cross Lost and Found Database along with his name, in order to help facilitate reuniting the boy with his father. All around the city, people were in motion. They were buying out food from the grocery store until the aisles were empty, filling up gas cans, setting up sandbags for machine gun nests, preparing explosives and guns... "I just got word in that [U]Jaguar Security[/U] is falling back from [U]Manta[/U]." Alahandrez, their current driver, noted, "radio's been a mess lately, so we have no idea what's happening, but apparently the battle for the city is basically over as far as the professionals are concerned. Only the militias are fighting it out in the streets and they're heavily outnumbered and outgunned. If our forces are unable to hold them back at Montechristi though, we're next..." "What then?" Enrique asked, trying to prepare himself for whatever was coming next. "Then..." Alahandrez paused, "Then we'll probably take the E-40 back to [U]Pichincha[/U]. We don't know how long it will take them to push through, or if Jaguar will be able to mount a counter-attack or not. A lot things just aren't well known at the moment. However, I'm certainly not the one to ask. I just volunteer for the White Cross - I'm no soldier. You should probably ask one of them," Alahandrez said, as he pointed out the truck window at some militia men in various fatigues lifting sandbags and bolting down a portable heavy machine gun in place at a bridge crossing." Enrique just nodded, but knew he'd rather stay away from the militias, lest they'd try to draft him into their cause. He had enough to look after already, looking down at Yahzi. Arriving at Peurtoviejo University, Enrique carried the now sleeping Yahzi in his arms as the only thing he had had into a humanities building. People were moving into the rooms with haste, working together with White Cross volunteers to stack chairs in the corner of the room and help lay out mats on the floor - with just barely enough room to tip-toe between them at night. The bathrooms had lines out the doors and people stood by the entry ways to the building handing out bottles of water. The Society of Religious Friends, a religious church that primarily dominated the Vesari people, were setting up tables and sharing much of what they had in the Student Union, where dinner rations would be split tonight evenly between all those there. Even as this went on, a fast for peace was also occurring in the University Chapel, as ministers of various faiths were called together by the White Cross to provide prayer and spiritual council to those whose souls were troubled – and there were many as evil invaded the land. Enrique would attend the former having little faith in pacifism and somewhat fearful that even when he woke up, Yahzi did nothing to try and communicate, not even trying to speak and avoided a great deal of eye-contact... with some luck, one of the Vesari at the charity potluck would be able to help him with this whole odd mess. Luckily however, the boy wasn't particularly fond of trying to run off on him or pull against him as he walked over the to the cafeteria where the food was being dished out. A line had already formed, but the reality of the war to come still hadn't set in yet. A heavyset human woman stood in front of him, along with another thinner one behind him, both of whom dotted over the young Vesari boy, but the boy's unwillingness to speak and Enrique's distinct desire not to have to relive the day's events again and again to every curious stranger only left them rather unhappy and a tad bit confrontational. This oddly granted him a portion of luck however, as they turned him over to one of the Vesari women at the front of the line after he had walked to find a seat in the room, before only floor-space remained. "I don't believe we've met," A calm voice noted as Enrique looked up from trying to get Yahzi to eat the food he'd picked out, "I'm Tacita, I volunteer here with the White Cross - I hope you don't mind me asking too much, but some of the other refugees have been somewhat curious where you managed to get your companion. He seemed somewhat stressed and doesn't seem interested in eating... his dinner, so I thought I might be able to come over and find out more about how you happened to come into possession of him." Enrique sighed - naturally this was the consequence he figured, it was obvious to the world that Yahzi wasn't a relative of his and odd company for a 47 year-old man. "Indeed, that is quite a story, it only took place today. I'd rather not like to remember it to be honest, but given that you're a Vesari yourself, perhaps you could help me out with the predicament I've gotten myself into, but it's likewise not something that big-ears here should ever have to hear about again - if you don't mind?" Tacita noted the implication that Enrique wished to speak to her in private, not necessarily away from the public ears, but away from Yahzi... she was still concerned but decided to go ahead with it - the lack of a public police force meant that if she was to try and get Yahzi away from Enrique, it would likely require a fight and so staying visible and in public was important. "Yahzi was it?" She spoke to the boy, but found him somewhat unresponsive, "why don't we come over here and play with some of the other boys. You'd like that wouldn't you?" Enrique was worried that Tacita would take him for some kind of monster given the boys deadened reaction and his broken eyes, but with some prompting, Tacita was eventually able to bring Yahzi over to the other children, even if he pulled back to the side and only watched despite multiple attempts by his peers to bring him into the new fold, "Now," Tacita noted, "I would REALLY like to find out just what in the world has happened, something isn't right and I need to know. He's not your species, you don't even realize that Vesari are mostly vegetarians getting him a hamburger and I can't shake the pain I felt bringing him over there. Explanations. Now." With her hands folded, and her tail swaying, it all left Enrique at a disadvantage, but maybe if he was lucky she might be able to take the boy from him - after all, life would surely be better with his own people - Enrique didn't even know what to feed the creature apparently... So he unloaded the truth on Tacita - to be honest, it was more of a therapy session then an explanation and by the time he came back to his memories of the attack, he was clearly shaken from the memory and sobbing. Tacita was now the one giving the sigh, realizing the man seemed genuine and his story fully possible given the situation. She knew that the situation in Manta had been rough, but had no idea about how many civilians might be caught in the cross-fire - if this was the case, that meant that Yhazi's anti-social behavior was symptomatic of severe grief and trauma from what he had seen. It was rough for a human to see such a thing, but for a Vesari - the emotional trauma could kill children from not getting proper nutrition or even water after seeing something like that. Their bonds were simply... stronger. It was both a blessing and a curse. Unfortunately, this was one situation a state would be have been helpful in - even though even Tacita realized that few states would truly take their species in and care for them as equals. There was no state orphanage, simply private and charitable organizations that took their place. However, most private orphanages required that the child's parents purchase an insurance policy for their children that would be fulfilled so they would be cared for in the event of the deaths of both parents. Charitable organizations on the other hand, would soon overflow given the war with the White Cross likely being unable to keep up with the demand with ever dwindling funds. Worst of all, were promises by the new villain of their world, Zarfef, to perform experiments on Vesari - it was a terrifying affair she didn't dare speak of in the room, but it caused her to want to bolt and run for the mountains herself - until the war ended or they got further inland. She had no idea how far the madman intended to take those words. While Enrique still felt reluctant to do so, because he promised himself that he would take care of Yahzi, he eventually however did concede that he would prefer it if Tacita could be the one to bring Yahzi further inland, "I'm simply too old for this," he threw his hands in the air, "I don't have another eighteen years left to take care of another child, I barely got the last ones out - and they don't talk to me after I put my business before my family. It's not something I'm proud of, but I know I can't take on that level of responsibility." Tacita now laughed somewhat at Enrique's ignorance, "Eighteen years? You really would be raising him from cradle to grave." she laughed, "How long do you think it takes us to reach adulthood?" "I don't know, I never spent much time to really look into it to be honest. Your people only came out of the woods not too long ago as it is. The most I ever get are occasional stares at my store, from Vesari who like 'shinies' - that's what I've come to be called, the shiny man," He tried to lighten up the situation again, wiping some tears from his eye as he sniffled again, "But I figure, given that you people seem normal enough, even if sometimes a bit below your human counterparts in terms of intellect - no offense intended - it must take you about the same time as us to grow up, maybe 15 years?" Tacita laughed, "Try eight years old till full maturity, if he can survive this, he'll be independent in only a couple of more years. By the time he's six, you'll have to start worrying about keeping him off the ladies. Our lives are far shorter then yours, which is why we tend to try and put more in them - it's obvious though that this really wasn't what you had wanted, I'm sure his Mom would be happy that you've done all that you have." "I'll bring him further inland in a couple of weeks, likely as the other orphans and young are gathered together. In the meantime though, I'm busy as anything around here and he still needs someone to try and look after him our own services overwhelmed- even though you might need a few lessons on how to take care of him 'Vesari 101' - for one, he'll likely have night terrors for the next several weeks." She cocked her head at him a bit, as she suddenly noticed just how dirty Yahzi looked, "First, though, would you mind if I got him cleaned up - he's covered in dirt and mud and his fur is going to get matted if no-one washes it and brushes it out - he could use some new clothes altogether." "Anyways, I'm glad to see he's in the system, hopefully his father is already here - there aren't many places refugees can go and being a fellow Vesari, I can essentially vouch that he hasn't stayed behind to fight and as long as he still breathes, he'll look for his wife and child... I only wish I could bring him better news about the that. Sometimes bittersweet reunions are the best we can hope for though. You should probably get changed as well after dinner - you probably feel like you've rolled off a mountain - there are human outfits outside that ought to fit you that have been donated along with a set of showers downstairs - I'll bring Yahzi back to your room and wait for you to return, should give you a bit of a break." Enrique nodded, noting that he did indeed look a mess - which likely brought him half of the odd stares he had acquired earlier. Men with blood stains aren't entirely the most inviting image in the world.

Gildas nodded in reply to this, but it was Evylan who responded to the question, his own people most familiar with this in Edean. "I can certainly understand where you're coming from, things have been rough in Edean since the last few wars shattered South America repeatedly, the parties having no regard for the consequences of their actions. All we hear from the UC,who was there at the precipitation of both events, are stories of vast wealth and growth. However from your own stories as well as those I've known, whatever wealth they have rarely seems to leave the borders if their state of being is even close to their claims. We've even had problems with starvation among the Vesari, caught between trying to find work and returning to a state of nature and honestly it's hard to bare at the moment." Gildas then took over from the breath left by Evylan, hoping to lead from the depressing thoughts into the possibility of a brighter future. "So much as that has been true, things aren't entirely as bad as they would seem though. Our military sector, for instance, has flourished amidst the uncertainty - although that only acts to harm the Vesari who may as well be clones of Mahahtma Ghandi in their dedication to non-violence. Our latest endeavors into space will hopefully open up new markets to all of South America if we can secure a new imports and exports with the Lunar Republic, but we've only recently made it to space. Making it to the moon and setting up a trading colony will prove far more difficult... I do think I might have a solution though that might help all parties involved in the meantime." Gildas took a pause, calculating numbers in his head. He appeared to command significantly greater respect then one would imagine from a 3 foot tall, talking rabbit - practically half of his height being his ears. "At the moment, I'm hearing all the time that the military sector can't get enough employees - the large demand can't be met by a willing supply and so those willing to take the positions can charge whatever outrageous prices they want - independent of their skill. If many of those positions were outsourced, we could greatly increase the skill-sets available and improve the quality of life between our people - utilizing the influx of new ideas from Para to even improve upon designs. Of course, we're mostly talking skilled positions such as programmers, scientists and office positions. The Edean Constitution forbids us from essentially attacking other nations, so you wouldn't have to fear that you're arming your enemies and if you wanted, I'm sure these companies would be more then happy to sell you the same weapons platforms that defend our own freedom, same price - and they're designed for smaller economies like ours, same models and same technologies - there are no rules limiting their export during peace times, so it might be something to consider if the people of Para are as afraid of the current instability as those in Edean are." Gildas then shifted his attention somewhat to Evylan, "At the same time, we could also use an expansion of our imported food, the mountains aren't particularly good for growing things - and perhaps you could use some lower cost laborers in Para for work that needs to be done to help boost your own infrastructure for various companies that call this nation home... if you can grant work-visas, I can think of a large number of Vesari who would be willing to take low-income jobs that required a pair of hands yet didn't involve anything that violated their religious viewpoints." He finished his plan with absolute confidence, "It's not perfect, but it's a start - I'm sure you have your own ideas as well, so I'd love to hear your thoughts, Premier Isabel."

"Absolutely", replied Gildas, the rabbit seemingly taking it fully upon himself to become the 'leader' of the three, which naturally became the case given his more dominant personality between Avila and Evylan. "The city of Amazonia is beautiful indeed and the rumors that the future here looks rather bright seem to be true as well. I think we'll be able to accomplish a lot in our discussions today, don't you agree Avila? Rodolfo Avila, who was probably the closest thing physically to anything Isabel had seen to normal, smiled as he gestured with his hands, showing himself to be a very articulate politician. "To translate Oniru-speak, what Gildas is likely saying is that he sees a ripe opportunity for investment in Para. I certainly agree with him, I've also enjoyed our stay here and the hotel we spent the night at could certainly attract some of the finer class from Edean on vacations or business trips." he then gave a glance at Alastair, as if giving him the go-ahead to speak. "Well - yes, I mean, I don't wish to turn us into a talking panel, but I would agree with Gildas and Avila, " The Vesari then paused trying to gather his thoughts together, realizing that the hot potato of moving the conversation forward had fallen in his hands, "So how would you describe the quality of life here - has living at the core of the old Lunar Republic helped the standard of living of your people here or have you sort of worked out your own unique culture and started down that path on your own? How would you say the disparity is at the current time between the wealthy and the poor?" "Perhaps more important to an economic discussion," Gildas interrupted, "Is what are the greatest problems in Para today? If we can ask that question, we might be able to find ways through which Edean businesses can solve those problems and try to build the connections."

Classified: [b]To:[/b] The Principality of Aeon, House Sidamo [b]From:[/b] Liberty Aerial Security, Edean [b]Subject:[/b] New Product Orders [b]Body:[/b] Dear Principality of Aeon: As you may or may not have heard, the people of Edean are currently involved in a massive war on account of the forces of Zarfef of the Aether Empire who attacked our lands last week. While we cannot ascertain your feelings on the matter, we do know that your people's did have mutual interactions in the past. We would therefore, like to know if you would object to our purchasing an additional 15 squadrons x 12 planes = 180 R F/B-0 Brown Widows from you. These fighters have served Liberty Air extremely well in our battles against their forces and even survived the EMF bursts from the air-burst nuclear blast at Mistwood Citadel where many of our bases are located. We would greatly appreciate the opportunity to purchase these aircraft, so if it is deemed acceptable, we have the money on hand ready for shipment in Gilder or gold bullion in case of your concern over the devaluation of our currency. Thank you, Liberty Aerial Security

[center][img]http://tensor-industries.com/TensorIndustries/MyDocuments/AEFlag.png[/img][/center] [center][IMG]http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f368/pascal19/zarfefPng640-1.png[/IMG]][/center] ((OOC: This is actually part of [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=110637"]THIS RP[/url], but I thought it would be cool to separate it. In case you want to see what else is happening, please read through that.)) "There. No... not there. Just a few minutes more my young minister of EVIL propaganda. I want to look my best for the populous and I've realized I forgot to floss this morning - have to look for bits of beef and spinach in between my teeth... or peanut butter. My dentist always reminds me that he can tell I ate a peanut butter sandwich before we begin our monthly screaming sessions - you can be certain he knows his secondary title of Administrator of Torture though, hah..." The bald figure spoke - decades had past and yet... not a difference in the world seemed to grace his silhouette of evil, "AH! There! That would have been embarrassing." The camera pulled in for a close up, fogging with breath as a pair of fingers grabbed at a giant piece of spinach stuck between the mans molars, before he pulled back into view wiping the camera lens with his lab coat. "Imagine me making my appearance before the world after so long - who would take me seriously if I had a giant piece of spinach between my teeth. That's how you get to become the leader of all evil - it's all about the details." "Sire, you [i]were[/i] on the air," a dark voice whispered in fear from the background. "Why yes Executive Minister of Evil Propanda - many times did I terrorize the world from Djibouti, Taenus, Novak, the good old days of the Red Sands." "No sir - you were [i]just[/i] on the air," he tried to clarify. "What are you trying to imply Executive Minister of Evil? That my air-time activities are JUST! There is no [i]justice[/i] in my air-time declarations... only EVIL injustice. You've studied to many years in the evil school of evil - the good old ways, contrary to modern textbooks, are the only true way to embrace evil. Back to your job, you can try your methods when you inevitably take over the Empire and stab me in the back. Now can we begin this." "We're already on the air." the voice responded nasally. "Your mind-reading skills scare me sometimes... GREETINGS WORLD! I'm sure you've missed me and I have missed you as well. For those young children watching this presentation, your parents may wish to move you inside - this show is rated [i]Z[/i] and I am [U]Zarfef the Terrible[/U], Mastermind of Evil and Eternal Leader of the [U]Aether Empire[/U]!" "Today, we mark the start of a new epoch of despair in the world, one in which the cowardly forces of good such as the so-called HUMAN SALVATION COMITTEE, TREMBLE at standing against the ghost of Christmas past. I'm back from the dead and on this day, I will mark the destruction of the forces of good from this plot of land that falsely claims to be an 'anarchy'. I will show it what TRUE 'anarchy' looks like - the face of chaos is what I create best." Zarfef grinned evilly, leaving the viewer to only guess the wild-crazed look that in the eyes, which were censored out by a pair of dark goggles in the red-lit room that sat just beyond their TV screens. "We shall conquer this land with the sword - and when we are finished, we will do what all the other nations of South America failed to do and at long last restore order to a region plunged into anarchy... both theirs and of course... ours. And in it's place, we will erect a foundation for the powers of evil to cover the world in our armies." "Your day of judgment has come good-doers, the gates of Heaven await your saintly deeds and I shall send you there with the sword! Of course, we are not men of superstition and realize that not all of you are responsible for you good deeds - unlike ancients of the past who hacked all of this up to..." Zarfef shivered, "virtues and values. No. We are men of science and realize that certain portions of the population - especially the Vesari and a good number of he Oniru cannot help their inherent good natures, even some humans - they do not consciously choose to avoid evil we believe. No, no, no. It's a part of their genetic DNA... but that still doesn't entirely matter to the Ministry of Evil. No, we're certain that new Evil Rehabilitation Facilities can splice the genetics of these creatures with such animals as alligators, hippos, water buffalo... and of course, wild geese hand raised by masochistic baboons - our most promising specimens." "With time. Whether you like it or not. Through science and a tad bit of [i]torture[/i], we are certain we can help all the creatures of this land get in touch with their EVIL side. Our rise is certain, we know you from the inside out - and I have not forgotten my vendetta to kill you Ziggy you traitorous coward. One does not turn to the light side and expect to survive - this WAS your choice. I will send you to the highest realm of Heaven myself, you Buddhist disciple of Christ! This war will be over shortly. In the meantime, I await flowery words of despair and encouragement from leaders of the world. For my next act though, I think it's time for some wonderful music to set the background... this one goes out to all my looters and grave-robbers in Edean. Your enemy of your enemy has arrived - just don't cross me in a bad mood." A twisted smile covered his face before the camera faded to the Aether Empire flag and music began to play in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTYymbbEL4 ((OOC: More odd is that I knew what this song was actually called - for the factbook of the Aether Empire, see the following link (some modification of course, have occured): http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=58756. To return to the other RP to see the next part of the story, [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=110637&view=findpost&p=2961446"]click here[/url].)

At the ports of Manta, the battle had already begun - with Jaguar forces engaging the enemy in deadly warfare, streams of bullets exchanged back in forth on docks... the force of the Aether Empire had already taken over control of the speaker system meant to normally communicate to all workers on the docks, plugging in the Blue Danube for all to enjoy... no steps were to great, the mood would be perfect and indeed, it was as Zarfef had envisioned as the Banshee II intermediate range missiles began their ascent. [center][img]http://tensor-industries.com/TensorIndustries/MyDocuments/BansheeIIPNGSmall.png[/img][/center] Back at Free Skies LLC, a background screen with various command data systems flipped onto a set of various images arriving from various units near combat areas via the free net. "Another missile heat plume has been detected by IR scanners west of Esmereldas!" "Another north of Libertad!" Aquila stared in complete disbelief at what he was seeing, which was a sense of horror soon matched by [U]Jaguar Private Security[/U] at Manta and all others in the costal cities as grey billowing plume after grey billowing plume in the ocean gave way to the brilliant light of massive intermediate range missiles, Banshee IIs, armed with all kinds of munitions headed for all kinds of destinations. The people in the streets had all hope removed as these towers of death rose ever higher over their heads... all they could do is pray that the weapons crashed into the Earth elsewhere, or were halted by [U]Lagrange Anti-Missile Systems[/U]. Aquila soon got over his terror and realized that time was suddenly no longer on their side. "Everyone, abandon stations now! Get to the basement!" "But sir?" Questioned one employee, realizing that their leaving would essentially leave their units without any form of communication to the company centralized systems... it would mean chaos. "Now! This operation is finished!" He stated bringing concern before, one by one, they left the room, unused to such solid orders. Only Aquila remained, typing in the password for universal communications. "All units - battle operations are over. Central command has been compromised by inbound intermediate missile attacks. All units fall back to rear positions - assume that all friendly bases have been destroyed. I repeat, all units fall back immediately and follow the instructions of your squadron leader." With that, Aquila ran as fast as he could, giving one last look at the silent room behind him - not a single soul remaining. He had realized it was a possibility - but he there was no way he could know that that was the last time he would see that room. [b] Devestation[/b] Manta, Edean 10:46 AM, MAY 2136 "Red Knight VI, bank right!" barked, Eva, launching a strafing run at the Aether Aircraft trailing her wingman, looking for a cheap kill. The small circle on her HUD circled around the craft as it maneuvered away and onboard FCS systems were never able to get a clean lock... so far the battle had been a messy game of gunfire exchange. Five aircraft had already been struck by stray gunfire, Red Knight IV was one of them and she hoped he would be able to make it back to base safely along with Red Knight II... it was funny how they referred to one another by their numbers rather then real names so often, but the feelings were all the same. These were people and people she knew. She couldn't imagine how it felt for the unlucky members in Star Shield, who took two unlucky losses to the enemy during the fight, their wreckage of one leaving a billowing burning scar across the city... the other blown brilliantly into so many pieces that even the enemies hearts stopped in horror at the seeing the aircraft destroyed so violently. Mostly though, it was shots in the dark, with an occasional lucky hit - this one managed to psyche her out though and the enemy craft disappeared into the clouds with RADAR and IR sensors losing track of it amidst the world of smoke, flames, rain, chaff and flares. One may as well be shooting in the dark. Leveling out again, her wingman rolled up beside her as they looked over the city below... Jaguar was too close for them to provide air-support and the sub-based landing units meant that destroying the enemy while they were still far at sea was impossible. All they could do is scatter and spar enemy fighters from acquiring air-dominance over the city. Taking a second to breathe though, Eva noticed something in the distance and thinking that the submarines were launching SAMs, she instinctively dove down towards the ground for cover - "SAMs from the west! Dive dive dive!" Red Knight I broke in though as quickly as Eva finished, "Negative - I'm afraid those are not SAMs Red Knight VII. They're too large and their plumes are too big..., get higher up, not down. Those are intermediate range missiles and if they're carrying nuclear weapons, you'll be caught in the blast - all units rise above cloud level and pull back from the combat area. Pulling back up, Eva's M F/A-21 shot into the clouds, causing the world around her to turn grey for a moment in the mist, before she popped up around rolling cumulus clouds, brilliantly white beneath a vast blue sky, with Red Knight VI faithfully watching her back. The enemy hadn't followed and indeed, the missiles also seemed to be arcing high over head - even though short range missiles probably wouldn't be visible above the clouds if they were launched. The seconds passed silently as they circled, looking for enemy fighters to break through the clouds like a game of whack a mole. Liberty and Star Shield squadrons had also followed them shortly after - their commanders likely thinking the same thing. Just about then, the EDC channel notified Eva of an emergency broadcast from Central at Mistwood Citadel. "All units - battle operations are over. Central command has been compromised by inbound intermediate missile attacks. All units fall back to rear positions - assume that all friendly bases have been destroyed. I repeat, all units fall back immediately and follow the instructions of your squadron leader." "What does he mean, 'Fall back'?!" Eva declared over the radio, "We can't just abandon air-operations over the city. This battles not over yet! We can still win air-superiority over the city and arm ourselves for anti naval operations. We can DO this. Why are they telling us to pull back!" Ozerov shook his head, but realized that he'd need to verbalize the situation, "Without central command, we can no longer coordinate our attacks, restock and refuel. At this moment, every drop of fuel we have is precious and if we waste time in the air fighting, we'll simply crash into the ground. Missiles have likely destroyed every major military air-field in the region, major points of transportation - you name it. We have to fall back to stay alive - the rest of the battle must be left to the ground forces." Ozerov in the meantime was looking up information on the Edean Free Net over an encrypted channel, searching for a suitable point that they could land at which wasn't likely a smoldering ruins. "There... 96 miles due west of here is an old abandoned runway - not to great, but these fighters are like old Soviet models - they could land in the middle of wilderness practically. Stealthy but built like rocks - I like them and this will be a perfect chance to use this, I'm capturing the vector coordinates now." Ozerov said as he scribbled the coordinates from his virtual map on an old piece of paper he kept with him. "Follow me under the- SUREEYUUUUUUU!" Suddenly the Radio burst into a loud static, the sound and the comm system shuttered and several warning lights came on in Ozerov's system... critical system failure displayed on the screen glitching screen, before a brilliant light lit up the south-eastern horizon... each of the pilots was left with their own thoughts as their radios were left cut off in the massive storm of EMF waves that poured from the nuclear blast that engulfed a section of Mistwood Citadel - destroying the central nervous systems of many of Edean's private military companies in the blast, that lacked duel systems such as the powerful Liberty Air... Multiple minor electronic system failures were common from the EMF blast as well - even to the Aether Empire who had to pull back multiple fighters and bombers from sorties in a battle that should have suddenly fallen completely to their favor as they were gaining air-superiority. As vast mushroom cloud rose high into the sky, a distant light-orange cloud of death, of horror, of fear... the initial burst of EMF began to subside and slowly communications became possible over the Radio... they were still heavily interrupted by a low pitched hum and constant static with some members completely cut off as their Radio systems were damaged, forcing communication by hand signals between some members of Red Knight Squadron (such as "follow - retreat"). However, the capacity of speech still found most members of the squadron speechless. Even Ozerov was shocked at what he saw - never expecting to see a nuclear strike on his new homeland even if he had only commanded his Squadron into the sky moments before as a precaution for such a thing. Eventually though, realizing that fuel was being wasted, especially for him, he connected to as many members as he could in the squadron now flying in formation, 2 removed. "I realize this is horrifying to all of you, but we don't have time to waste. Follow me due west. We have roughly 96 miles to cover and not a lot of excess fuel to complete the trip. There's an abandoned air-base there whose coordinates I'll transmit to those who can still acquire them so as many of us can have it as possible in case we become separated. Drop below cloud level and use the storm and mountains to reduce your radar signature and drop speeds in order to conserve fuel and to reduce your IR signatures. Most of all, simply try and follow me. We'll regroup there and see what our next objective is - we've simply lost - however, we're a long ways from defeated." "Red Knight Squadron - retreat following my vector. Over and out." Red Knight Squadron then fell below cloud level as requested and flew beyond the combat operations of Manta. Jaguar private military forces would also soon have to fall back, as the enemy regained air-superiority and utilized their full naval and air power to take the docks and capture all the defensive objectives that the company sought to defend. Only the local militias remained, which were still setting up base in the more hidden sectors of the city to prepare their resistance and while they awaited help from outside sources. Free Skies LLC would later report that 3 M F/A-21s had been destroyed, two shot down over Malta and 1 that crashed due to a critical electronics failure from the atomic bomb blast, an AEWACs system also fell in the south when Star Shield Defense forces failed to properly protect it from an ace squadron in the region... 7 aircraft in total were devastated by the blast, 21 damaged, even though many of the damaged units were on account of an abnormally high amount of EMF that saturated the region. The most potent aircraft, the R F/B-0 by Aeon was the particular star of the show and only lost 2 units, even though most were defending the central regions - Liberty Air was surprisingly good at getting them out of harms way during the nuclear attack even if 21 of the aircraft could not escape critical electronic failures that would ground them for some time to come... this was all overshadowed by the losses of 854 militia and private military forces that faced off in the fierce battles across Edean over the next week along the costal region and a death toll in Mistwood Citadel whose numbers no one dared estimate at the time from the 100 kTon blast, but despite their best efforts, it was clear that the enemy had managed to acquire major footholds on all major ports. Little of this mattered to the Red Knight Squadron however - they had no such idea of it as they had made it to the tiny abandoned air-base only to find that the local free net was out. Overoz was particularly good at fixing the craft though and managed to get some enterprising characters in the local militia to go on a highly secretive mission to get him some parts from a local Free Skies Facility that luckily was unharmed. Most of the planes at the air-field were hidden with camo nets too keep them out of sight and Overoz felt confident that they could keep low until their planes were repaired and new orders came in. Many, as many as 30% of the missiles fired by the Aether Empire had been shot down that week by the now famous star-child of Edean, Lagrange Aerospace, whose Dr. Zigmund seemed more then eager to defeat this new foe creating an example of patriotism in the lack of a nation that many looked up to during these frightening first few weeks. The war against evil had begun. ((There you have it, if you've read up to here and want to, feel free to jump in the fun a bit. The RP will end with Zarfef's defeat, but you can side with whichever side you want - ultimately, no retaliation is to occur outside of this war. I'm just RPing, my battle with a rogue with my nation. Also, if you jump in, to be consistent, try not to destroy more then 5-7% of your units in a single campaign but always more then 1-2%, with 2-3x as many injured or damaged for various reasons. It's about story and global strategy, not casualties, you won't win even this war through attrition.))