To say things were difficult would be a severe understatement.Over the past ten days I had been overwhelmed quite thoroughly by the war. In all my past lives I’d never actually been the one giving out the orders in a war, I’d been captain once, back in the Maldives fighting Verdantians expansionism. But I’d never been the active chief commanding officer in an ongoing war, I simply never lived long enough to be one.Finally seeing the story from both sides I quickly developed an appreciation for the work the Commanders in my past lives did. How they did it without completely breaking down? I hadn’t the slightest clue.But then again, these ARE the same people that would initiate a war in the first place, perhaps I just wasn’t cut out for the job. The only thing keeping me remotely competent would be the War Tab on the intel-ii.The little page that allowed me to navigate everything that had the slightest relation to the War in three-dimension. The war page had allowed me to avoid com
The sun had risen. I found it surprising and rather annoying how quickly the moved passed my needs. I’d fallen asleep on the phone with Aina, I couldn’t help the grin that crawled onto my face; the call was still going on.I picked up the phone and listened closely, I couldn’t hear her snores or anything of the sort, maybe she didn’t snore? I whispered her name lightly into the phone, listening if my voice transmitted kilometres away was loud enough to get her to stir.Nothing.I she was awake; I didn’t have much means of finding out. Perhaps her phone currently lay on her kitchen counter whilst she cooked, or in her bag as she journeyed to her workplace.She might have gone through this exact train of thought with me had she woken up earlier. I didn’t know what to do really. Should I end the call? Keep it going whilst periodically checking in on it? What if she had other calls coming in? I’d be getting in the way.I shook my head and ended the call, instead, quickly sending a text of
He’d never felt the sun so hot against his skin. He was soaked in his own sweat and the dunes of sand he drove on slapped against his wet skin. He felt rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. But there were these moments where he didn’t feel like he was speeding across a desert, racing away from a horde of armed men and vehicles that sought to capture he and his companions. Companions that screamed at the top of their lungs as they continuously chucked grenades at their pursuers and fired their rifles blindly.He was in one of those blissful moments now. His mind was clear, without fear, and completely at ease and at peace with his predicament. He didn’t know how long the calming feeling would last before he went on to screaming his lungs out with his companions, so he was sure to appreciate it while it did.Whoosh. BOOOM.And that was a rocket launcher.“They’re firing rockets, ALBAN!! I told you we should have taken one!” Marina spat out.“They aren’t looking like they’re taking
Alban woke up with a splitting headache, if the red in his eyes and the ringing in his ears was anything to go about, his head had been injured. He also found through trial that his hands were bound.He looked down as he felt something heavy on his legs. It was Marina, they’d bound her broken arms together and thrown her into the vehicle they were in right now. Seems they went for capturing them alive anyway.He could hear them speak to each other, obviously pissed about all it took to capture them. Alban couldn’t help but feel a bit good about himself, they’d managed to fend off five military vehicles for over two hours in a rapid chase to the border.Suddenly, he noticed something was off. He didn’t see Daniel anywhere. He looked out the window and sure enough there were the other beaten up cars driving beside them. He couldn’t see into them from the left side of the backseat, so he went on and asked his captors.“What happened to my other teammate? Where is he?”His captors in the
They’d flown fast and high, everyone with two working eyes kept a look out for the Jeep Alban had mentioned. Meanwhile he only pretended to do search, his mind was clouded with so many conflicting thoughts. Thoughts of the state of his last surviving companion, Marina.Despite the both of them receiving the best first-aid treatment the troops could provide, she hadn’t woken up all the while thy flew, and it’d been a minute. He was also worried for his saviours; they’d spent some time searching for the vehicle behind enemy lines, he didn’t know how they could afford such at all, so he asked.“How are we still behind enemy lines? The Verdantians will surely be on our tail by now.” He questioned the Captain.The man shrugged, taking a moment to give Alban a look before answering, “It’s all on the President’s orders apparently. Some minister had us drop some large device at the frontlines before we left. It rendered all sensors and communication devices dark, except for these archaic Noki
It’d been a long day. Not unlike any of my previous days, I’d always be subjected to long hours, the position came with it. But today had an extra slap of stress set onto it.I’d spent an uncomfortable amount of time on the phone with Matthias, assuring him that everything was fine here and Luciano was completely safe. I’d beefed up his security several times and only authorized myself and a few doctors after running a background on them with the intel-ii.I’d taken to the idea that perhaps Luciano was in fact the target of an assassination. The explosion seemed too convenient for it to simply be an accident. The Verdantians may have found a way to get behind our lines, a spy of their own, an inside man, a traitor within the ranks even. Anything was plausible at this point.I then spent over twelve hours testing the War tab on its ability to coordinate my forces. It was a delicate mission and the simple part was rendering everyone blind.Nizar had long developed a bomb that not only d
Discovering that I could control the emotions of people to whatever extent really suited my needs, but it made it a bit difficult to handle when all my test subjects either viciously began trying to attack me, fell asleep, or tried killing themselves.Yes, I’d finally tested out Pain-Infliction on with mental illnesses. It was the most difficult to control, it was like trying to fill up a shot glass with a giant jug held by only one hand. I felt a bit bad that some actually succeeded in killing themselves right before my eyes and even worse that they used my security as a means to do so.I’d learnt my lesson though and I arranged for an observation chamber, like an interrogation room but with less concrete and more fluff. For the tests I had to fly out to Sava, one of the few provinces we held onto after the first war with Verdantis. This meant the generals were on by themselves at the frontlines, but it was only for three days, Nizar had said it would take quite a bit of time to mass
The vassalization of Verdantis was a thought that had only come into mind a few times. I think a majority of my Government, myself included was going on with the war with the thought that we’d be annexing the hell out of the bane of our existence thus far.But Niaina put up several good points as to why vassalization was much better than annexation.Firstly, it would be several times more efficient for the Government to administer the region through a puppet state than to attempt coring the entirety of the states with military rule and fear.“The Schelarian military would and should be put to better use than quashing rebellions.” She’d said. “The cost of maintenance of those armies would be the same as the current cost during this war. It is just not profitable to do so, especially seeing as it would take months if not year to effectively begin the taxation of the newly conquered regions. The deficit would kill the country and the Niluthiaians would break away.”Secondly, it would be
As usual, the Hospital was crowded and there were people waiting for one thing or the other in all corners. It was a good thing then that Alban had brought along his friends from the government then, with a flash of their badge and a silent glower, doors were opened and people made way.Marina’s room was set in the far end of the Hospital, completely closed off from the others. Alban wasn’t entirely sure why this was done but he didn’t complain.Entering the room, the first thing he observed was that it was a single man bedroom, Marina didn’t have anyone she was sharing the room with, perhaps that would have been different if he’d been injured as well.The second thing was marina herself, she had her hands wrapped up in sloppy bandages and had almost fallen over reaching for the pistol she now pointed at him. The dogs Alban had brought along shamelessly backed out of the room, choosing to stand outside rather than help diffuse whatever situation might be occurring.“Hello Marina.”“Al
Alban wasn’t sure how many days had passed since he’d been in audience with the President. But he was aware that he’d spent quite a few number of days under some observation of sort.His memory was sufficiently distorted that he didn’t care much about what had happened during that period, all he knew was that he was soon released to do as he pleased after they had stared at him day after day.Luckily, his memory wasn’t so distorted to forget the events that had transpired and once he’d been released he was intent to find his only surviving teammate, Marina.Before he could do so, however, he’d been quickly beset by more ‘Government Dogs’ as he’d begun to think of them. They’d been waiting for him the moment he’d been released from what he could only describe as a detention centre.The two dogs wore polished black suits and wore matching black sunshades, if Alban was the man he was a month ago he’d think the two just had a bad fashion day, but now vividly aware of the rot that called i
As soon as I’d given authorization the operation began in full force, my men knowing their responsibilities trooped out of my office to begin the operation in earnest, communicate to the troops and get them into offensive positions.From that moment to whatever moment I found myself either at the end of a gun or handing over terms of surrender to Leopold Marofo, began the most stressful days of my life.We’d given the order to begin the operation to the troops and all priority one regiments; Helgen, Peridot and Upsilon were set.Helgen had been given the order to move in with the rest of our men on ground and begin placing pressure on the enemy at one point in the theather, a point we’d marked as a soft spot.But the soft spot wasn’t as soft as the name implied, it was simply the least defended front with less close air support and rather non-existent bombers flying through as our squads advanced over their lines. That still left the men, their tanks, heavy artillery and often anti-ta
The vassalization of Verdantis was a thought that had only come into mind a few times. I think a majority of my Government, myself included was going on with the war with the thought that we’d be annexing the hell out of the bane of our existence thus far.But Niaina put up several good points as to why vassalization was much better than annexation.Firstly, it would be several times more efficient for the Government to administer the region through a puppet state than to attempt coring the entirety of the states with military rule and fear.“The Schelarian military would and should be put to better use than quashing rebellions.” She’d said. “The cost of maintenance of those armies would be the same as the current cost during this war. It is just not profitable to do so, especially seeing as it would take months if not year to effectively begin the taxation of the newly conquered regions. The deficit would kill the country and the Niluthiaians would break away.”Secondly, it would be
Discovering that I could control the emotions of people to whatever extent really suited my needs, but it made it a bit difficult to handle when all my test subjects either viciously began trying to attack me, fell asleep, or tried killing themselves.Yes, I’d finally tested out Pain-Infliction on with mental illnesses. It was the most difficult to control, it was like trying to fill up a shot glass with a giant jug held by only one hand. I felt a bit bad that some actually succeeded in killing themselves right before my eyes and even worse that they used my security as a means to do so.I’d learnt my lesson though and I arranged for an observation chamber, like an interrogation room but with less concrete and more fluff. For the tests I had to fly out to Sava, one of the few provinces we held onto after the first war with Verdantis. This meant the generals were on by themselves at the frontlines, but it was only for three days, Nizar had said it would take quite a bit of time to mass
It’d been a long day. Not unlike any of my previous days, I’d always be subjected to long hours, the position came with it. But today had an extra slap of stress set onto it.I’d spent an uncomfortable amount of time on the phone with Matthias, assuring him that everything was fine here and Luciano was completely safe. I’d beefed up his security several times and only authorized myself and a few doctors after running a background on them with the intel-ii.I’d taken to the idea that perhaps Luciano was in fact the target of an assassination. The explosion seemed too convenient for it to simply be an accident. The Verdantians may have found a way to get behind our lines, a spy of their own, an inside man, a traitor within the ranks even. Anything was plausible at this point.I then spent over twelve hours testing the War tab on its ability to coordinate my forces. It was a delicate mission and the simple part was rendering everyone blind.Nizar had long developed a bomb that not only d
They’d flown fast and high, everyone with two working eyes kept a look out for the Jeep Alban had mentioned. Meanwhile he only pretended to do search, his mind was clouded with so many conflicting thoughts. Thoughts of the state of his last surviving companion, Marina.Despite the both of them receiving the best first-aid treatment the troops could provide, she hadn’t woken up all the while thy flew, and it’d been a minute. He was also worried for his saviours; they’d spent some time searching for the vehicle behind enemy lines, he didn’t know how they could afford such at all, so he asked.“How are we still behind enemy lines? The Verdantians will surely be on our tail by now.” He questioned the Captain.The man shrugged, taking a moment to give Alban a look before answering, “It’s all on the President’s orders apparently. Some minister had us drop some large device at the frontlines before we left. It rendered all sensors and communication devices dark, except for these archaic Noki
Alban woke up with a splitting headache, if the red in his eyes and the ringing in his ears was anything to go about, his head had been injured. He also found through trial that his hands were bound.He looked down as he felt something heavy on his legs. It was Marina, they’d bound her broken arms together and thrown her into the vehicle they were in right now. Seems they went for capturing them alive anyway.He could hear them speak to each other, obviously pissed about all it took to capture them. Alban couldn’t help but feel a bit good about himself, they’d managed to fend off five military vehicles for over two hours in a rapid chase to the border.Suddenly, he noticed something was off. He didn’t see Daniel anywhere. He looked out the window and sure enough there were the other beaten up cars driving beside them. He couldn’t see into them from the left side of the backseat, so he went on and asked his captors.“What happened to my other teammate? Where is he?”His captors in the
He’d never felt the sun so hot against his skin. He was soaked in his own sweat and the dunes of sand he drove on slapped against his wet skin. He felt rather uncomfortable with the whole thing. But there were these moments where he didn’t feel like he was speeding across a desert, racing away from a horde of armed men and vehicles that sought to capture he and his companions. Companions that screamed at the top of their lungs as they continuously chucked grenades at their pursuers and fired their rifles blindly.He was in one of those blissful moments now. His mind was clear, without fear, and completely at ease and at peace with his predicament. He didn’t know how long the calming feeling would last before he went on to screaming his lungs out with his companions, so he was sure to appreciate it while it did.Whoosh. BOOOM.And that was a rocket launcher.“They’re firing rockets, ALBAN!! I told you we should have taken one!” Marina spat out.“They aren’t looking like they’re taking