The Thelotian Might (Faction Mission)

[Icos El-Elron]

(Imperials, Church (Yuri), Government (Overwatch included), Anarchists and Rebels. Nobody in the previous faction mission.) 

It had been well over twenty four hours since the Rebels had seized multiple streets within the Adynamos District and the entire city was going mad over it. People were panicking across all districts, grocery stores were losing their stalks as people prepared for what they feared to be a drawn out battle while people in the financial world were drawing out stocks, calling in bonds and withdrawing money from banks, producing what people feared might become a great economic crisis. It would have been surely if the President and the City's Council didn't temporarily shut down banks and the sales of stocks and bonds while releasing stores of food to make sure there would be no riots for the last dozen eggs.

Outside the civilian world the military worked as quickly as it could to assemble a mighty force of four thousand professional soldiers while calling up 10,000 reservists and having them patrol the outside streets to keep order. They had surrounded the occupied streets, cut out electricity, water and put up barricades across every foreseeable entrance into the area. They couldn't starve the Rebels out, though that would be too long and would cost too much innocent Thelotian lives still within the area. They would have to move in and take it by force... and the government wanted that done within the next day.

Sergeant Chares of the Fourth Defense Force walked quickly through Wrayward Street where the Thelotian military had established a planning zone for the area. The area was filled with hundreds of soldiers preparing to enter into the area. Chares quickly dodged to the left as a heavy armored car rumbled down the street towards the front staging area with at least twelve soldiers following behind. He could hardly calm himself, after all he had never expected to ever be fighting inside the city like this when he joined the military. It didn't seem right.. the streets were always so peaceful yet today, today it felt like he was walking through the streets of some city in the South during the War of the Independent.

“The police fucked it all up pretty good. I heard Elkon Lane is lined with bodies...” One of Chares's soldiers said as he entered into a tent pushed up against the side of a building where three men were waiting within it. The three men turned their attention towards Chares and gave a half-hearted salute, they had known each other for a year now and were pretty casual so long as they weren't in a operation and the Fourth was so rarely involved in any operation.

The three men were all younger than himself. Nikanor, seventeen years old with dark hair and brown, wide eyes. Kir, a Protian immigrant whose Tongue was at best decent and in the heat of any battle often fell back to his native language. Finally a very tall, stoic man named Galenos who often handled the many wonderful explosives they carried.

“Afternoon,” Chares said with a light nod to his men. “We have to be ready to go at a moments notice. The General has already had three politicians visit and they want those streets back before night fall. They say it's damaging to their reelection.” Chares added with a faint smile.

“I suppose the longer the Rebels hold it the greater victory they have...” Nikanor said with a light shrug, “To be fair though I thought they'd melt away before morning came. They actually intend to hold onto it?”

It seemed absolutely foolish, the Rebels were so highly outnumbered that there seemed to be no logic to this strike. Except of course to make the government look weak... and every minute they held it the weaker the government looked.

“I don't pretend to know what the Rebels intend to do, all I know is we're going to be the ones to remove them.” This got their attention a bit now, “When we move in we'll be moving in with some armor escorts and the rest of the Fourth as well. We'll be on the front line.”

Off in the distance Chares could hear the faint sound of chanting that made its way through into the military zone. It wasn't coming from the Rebel held area nor, it was coming from the area behind the military zone where all those who lived in the area had been cleared to. The people were out there either screaming for the rebels to die or Father Numen to be saved, either way it took a wall of police to make sure they didn't cross the line. Now, it seemed the chanting had gotten louder and Chares didn't immediately understand why.

It was because of a Ellusian marked vehicle was passing into the area and the rather radically religious crowd (only ones 'brave' enough to be protesting so close to a war zone) wasn't so pleased to see that. It didn't help that the vehicle contained a man that held the name of an opposing religion, 'El-Elron'.

Icos El-Elron shouldn't have been here right now. Tomorrow he was expected to be out of the city and on a world wide trip for the next couple weeks with the newly crowned Empress before swinging back to Thelotia to announce the engagement between the two. So he should be in his apartment gathering his things up, not in a car driving down to a war zone. Yet he found he couldn't keep away and for at least one more day he was in charge of leading the IIA's actions within Thelotia and their main mission was to 'assess and take care of problems within colonial domestic affairs'.

He imagined the Thelotians would be thrilled to see him.

The sleek black limo pulled through the military encampment and stopped a small walking distance away from the main camp. The car door flew open and Icos stepped out into the open area. He had no trouble getting past the guards and soon he was right into the main planning area.

The war room was filled with some of the most powerful people in Thelotia. Great Generals were there as well as many Overwatch Agents who had been tirelessly scouting the Rebel's positions, but most importantly was the Presidential Guards who were directly overseeing the situation.

The opening of the tent brought the attention of those inside to Icos and a Thelotian soldier who came to announce him.

“Sir, I bring you Icos El-Elron. He says he was requested by the Ellusian Embassy to monitor the situation.”

“They sent you to monitor the situation?” One of the Generals asked suspiciously, the many wrinkles on his forehead folding as he narrowed his eyes at the young Ellusian.

Icos gave a soft laugh and wondered how pissed off right now the men the Empress had sent to watch him must be right now. “While normally I spend my days spreading and advocating Ellusian and Thelotian cultural trade, the Ellusian Marines find themselves too busy right now to send someone and with my military experience they thought I would be a good person to send.” That wasn't all made up, the Empress's Fleet was due to make port tomorrow and the Marines were worried the Rebels might make a move then.

“I do not expect we'll be needing your input.”
 
“I do not expect so, as I'm merely here to monitor the situation. I do hope that will not be a problem?” Icos was prepared to wave around the Imperial card here if necessary. Thankfully nobody seemed to want to deal with that and the general gave a reluctant nod to come forward.

As Icos found his seat he glanced about the room, spotting the faces of many of the Presidential Guards he had read about. Some familiar some not. The rest of the room were lined with officers, dressed nicely in their white and blue uniform and looking on with ready eyes, if reports were true Captain Hood had direct control of the military. There was a great deal of Overwatch as well, after all they were the eyes and ears of Thelotia, Minno Elray was in charge of the Overwatch when it came to field missions.

“Reports from the Overwatch say Elkon Lane is heavily defended and we believe they're funneling supplies and men through the street parallel to it. Everything says they're digging in for a long fight and they might be even holding Father Numen there as a hostage to deter us. We do not wish to enter the area until he's out of harms way, the problem is we don't know where he is or if he's there at all.”

Eyes fell towards Minno and the men she lead, hoping she would have some sort of suggestion on their next step. Icos's eyes narrowed a bit as he watched her. He had heard many things about her, he was ever so curious to see her in action.

[Minno Elray]

The air was thick with the metallic smell of weaponry. Pale grey-blue eyes gradually and carefully examined those seated at the table around her. She was in the company of the skilled and the quick to attack. It wasn't the presence she particularly felt fond of but it wasn't about being fond of things. It was about making results. They needed those results.

Her quick yet steady gaze finally focused on Icos Elros. It was nice having a friendly face among the dozen of ruthless ones. His advice would be greatly influential to her and perhaps would assist greatly in this little squabble. At one of Generals undermining comment, Minno slid in. "Any assistance would be greatly appreciated from an ally of the people, would we not?"

Her fingers interlocked as all fell on her. She closed her eyes for a moment. She'd gone over much thinking over the issue and it was sad to say that only how had she reached her final conclusion to the issue. Reopening her eyes, she glanced around the room. "Those reports are indeed true. Whether the Father is with them or not, failing to take action is NOT an option. Despite anything we do, his life is in danger until we have him with us. Even the finest defenses have a weakness. The case is. If we enter guns blazing and they have him than we certainly retrieving him breathing. Perhaps we can take advantage of their source of supplies and get inside. If we can get in without any major problems, I'm sure that we can either retrieve him or find out where he is." She paused for a minute. "Either way, the guns blazing approach is not necessary just yet.If we infiltrated the area, we could get in and get out if we're careful."

[Icos El-Elron]

"Infiltrating the area is our best option to get the Father back." The General said with a small nod in Minno's direction. "There is still a great amount of civilians in the area, so if you got rid of your uniforms you could even perhaps blend in with the civilians." A frown etched itself on the General's face, only for a moment however as it quickly disappeared. "We're on the clock, however. We need to regain order by the next sunrise. A proper scouting mission could take a great deal of time, time we may not be able to afford..."

Icos traded glances between Minno and the General. Her plan could indeed work but it was no guarantee. He had no doubt there were already Overwatchers in the area and they've yet to find the Father... he could be in any number of those buildings, tied up in some windowless boiler room. The chances of locating him would be very small without a room-to-room clearing by the military. Unless of course they went in, grabbed a rebel and bled the information out of him.  Icos didn't exactly like that thought of course, he'd been working with both the Government and the Rebellion and come to know many of its members well. His own personal thoughts on this war aside, the Empire had no official stance and he was merely here to watch. At the same time a nagging thought occurred to him at how screwed the Rebels were here, outgunned and out manned, they would surely fall. It made him wonder how many of those he called his allies were in there... and he wanted to know for sure. 

"General, if I may?"

"You may." The General allowed, perhaps a bit grudgingly. 

"If anyone can conduct a time sensitive mission such as this, I'm sure that person is Presidential Guard Minno Elray. The woman has most impressive track record, from what I hear..."

Much of her 'track record' was indeed top secret, stuff an Ellusian like him shouldn't know. There of course wasn't much the IIA didn't know, however.

"And how would you know-"

"Whispers, General. Just whispers. Impressive ones nevertheless." Icos gave a small nod over to Minno, "I personally find her plan to be a good, solid start."

[Minno Elray]

Minno was surprised by Icos's comments. How exactly he knew the secretive things she'd been given the job to do was beyond her. It even shocked her that she'd been desired to go and conduct this break in. It would be simple, however, it certainly wasn't a one man job. If so, it would take longer and she knew that time was of the essence.

She gave a smile towards Icos as well as a nod of respect. "I'd be honored to follow along with such a duty. I do find infiltration and the arts of deception to be my specialty. However, as much as I would enjoy and hold satisfaction in doing this mission, not only is it up to you find gentlemen whether or not I should go, but whom ever may go cannot go alone. And to add on to that. Not just ANYONE can go. The best and finest should be acceptable. Nothing else will do," she added, crossing her arms over her chest.

In her mind, she was more than willing. Her only concern would be the deathrate. She hated killing even if it was - by all means - right. What if Lee was in there? She could imagine him doing something loyal like that. He was just that kind of man. She couldn't hurt him of all people and if he was involved, she'd have to shoot down all who would harm him - which would be her teammates. Of course this was on the basis of 'what if' and 'maybe'. She couldn't rely on that. It didn't fit.

She looked back up to the men. "I would hate to rush things, gentlemen, but a final decision needs to be made in -" she paused. She gazed at her metallic hand as neon numbers flashed the time. "-Well at this moment."

[Lawrence 'The Law' Kademan]

"Ugghhh. Who is this, the IIA?" Lawrence grumbled as he and his little team from the church marched themselves into the vicinity, the first thing that he spotted while sipping away at his coffee was the black Ellusian limo parked nearby.

In real Lawrence fashion the man tossed his cup over his shoulder and splashed the contents of it all over the windshield of the limo, now smelling of strong espresso and a shot of hazelnut. That'd teach the IIA from interfering with their work. Thelotia had the police, the military and Overwatch - they didn't need Imperials to stand there babysitting them. The President's Guard was fine enough, stupid Imperials and their stupid superiority complex. In fact, the very next one he ran into he was going to flip off and shove their face in the dirt, slosh it around a little, make them feel what it was like!

Seemed like a fabulous plan that he was half chuckling to himself already when he invited himself into the war room where Minno and gang stood, conveniently 'the very next Imperial' he saw ended up being the one and only cake nemesis Icos El-Elron. You know, as always. As was Lawrence's luck.

'Oh great, that car...it wasn't...no. And if it was, then fuck Icos. I'm positive there was a fire hydrant he was blocking, he totally deserved it. Now play it cool...'

"Never fear, The Law is here!" Lawrence announced loudly instead, "comin' straight from the church, we got info, we got ideas, we even got this guy that..." that now that he thought of it he couldn't remember where he left Yuri. He swore he was right here but there were so many bodies standing around here and Yuri was so quiet and creepy that he might have just blended in.

"Y-Yuri!" Lawrence shouted, "gopher! Come here!"

[Icos El-Elron]

Icos could tell the General was conflicted about the situation. It would be so easy and clear to just order the attack and be done with this by nightfall, but if his Holiness was indeed in there they could well accidentally kill the man... and no man wanted his blood on their hands. They had to at very least seem to have tried every option available for getting him out.

"We have to move in by the fifteenth hour or risk fighting in the dark. So I can authorize further scouting missions up until then, afterwards the army is clear to enter the battle zone." The General nodded. "Now we-" The sudden entrance of Lawrence brought everyone's attention back to the door as the younger man announced his entrance with far too much fanfare. 

Icos did his best to hide any sort of laugh as Lawrence appeared within the tent. Despite the many years of weird encounters Icos and Lawrence had, Icos had to admit he knew little about WHAT Lawrence did and was rather surprised to see him here. Of course the man seemed a bit out of place here and sporting a great deal more energy than anyone in the room could muster.  

"Eh..." The General blinked at Lawrence before glancing over to Minno, "That's one of your men, is he not?"

Behind Lawrence was a very worried looking Agent Andriano who did his best to keep up with Lawrence. He cringed at Lawrence's entrance and made a prayer to his gods that they wouldn't lose their jobs over this. 

[Yuri Thade]

Yuri was sitting by some agents drinking a cup of weak tea, trying to pass the time with his thoughts. He was asked to come here in case they needed someone to identity the Holy Father. It was better for it to be Yuri to be the church official for the kidnapping than say Father Patros, or another member of the church to come along. They were not pleased with external forces being involved, however Yuri managed to keep them at bay from doing something stupid that would put the Holy Father in danger.

It was also good for Yuri to be the Representative of the Church, since it appears that the imperials were here to help look for Numen. He didn't want their to be a religious war to go between the two while Holy Father Numen was still kidnapped by the rebels. Yuri then started wonder how long until Father Numen would be found so that this scenario could be put behind them.

His thought of that was cut short when he heard Agent Kademan shouting for him. He took a sigh as he walked over to Lawerence. The agents watching him kept a close eye on him as he advance over toward him.

"Yes, Agent Kademan. Do you have news about Holy Father Numen?" He asked.

[Lawrence 'The Law' Kademan]

And for as many of these strange encounters that Icos and Lawrence had had over the years, this may very well have been the first time that the Imperial had seen Lawrence suddenly deflate his own confidence and stumble over himself in an overwhelming fit of nervousness before something that wasn't his own mother. Yuri's reply noticeably derailed the cocky agent who fought to keep from losing his cool right now. If nothing else, Lawrence's stranger-than-normal behaviour at least shed some light on the question, "does he really give a shit about his job?"

"Gckt!! You, man!" Lawrence pointed at Yuri, "you're the news for them! Er--I-I mean for her!"

He rounded then to Minno and the General, pulling at his collar in that very silent 'I can explain' kind of way as he continued, "We picked this guy up at the church in our investigation! He's Numen's assistant...pet...thing. He can pick out the specific Rebels in question if you point the lot out to him--some Aiden and that Amorite Dolus--he can also point out Numen to you, and supposedly he can fight if he has to..." Lawrence turned a wary eye to Yuri then and blinked, "...that's what he says. There's a lot of nitty-gritty for us to go through in the meantime but he's by far our most important find right now."

'If not one of the most suspicious...creepy guy!'

[Capt. Hood]

Capt. Hood had been stood at the back of the tent, in the shadows, watching the debate before him unfold with an air of amusement about him. To him, it was all very very simple, they went in and they killed the rebels, and that was that, done. Easy. Yes, the rebels had Numen which was an awful shame, but if he were to die during the assault it would do nothing but strengthen the resolve of the people against the Rebellion. Numen would become a martyr, which deep down, is what all these religious ones wanted right? To die for the righteous cause and live on forever as a tale of bravery and strength? Of course, Hood knew that that wasn't what Numen wanted... No, that man had plenty of skeletons in his closet, skeletons made of gold and silver... This was all rather tiring for him, they wanted an attack to take place but first they wanted to send in Overwatch to scout the place out. If the rebels had Numen, the chances of him being within plain sight were effectively nil. Hood decided it was time to speak up.

"With all due respect." He said stepping forwards, blue eyes glinting with an urge to get things moving.

"I severely doubt Numen is going to be anywhere that will be spotted by a scout team without them engaging in a lengthy fight against the rebels, and if they do have him, then they're feeding him and that's something they won't want to keep doing that in this situation... To put things simply, the more time we spend here debating what we're going to do, the more opportunity we're giving for Father Numen to be murdered by these rebels. So if we could come to a solution pronto, that would indeed be wonderful."

His arms crossed against his chest again as he tilted his head ever so slightly to the side as he waited for a response.

[Minno Elray]

The voices began to mask Minno's thoughts on the subject. With the presence of Lawrence and his overly enthused rantings, she could feel the tension and annoyance of those around her rise high. Lawrence was, in her utmost opinion, a rather strange fellow. She'd never granted herself the opportunity to actually hold a deep and meaningful conversation with the male, but he was useful and anyone who had proven not to be an utter waste of time (she had yet to find someone like so) deserved not only the respect but also the necessary attention. Lawrence was like dog - in need of attention to avoid wrecking things.

At the sound of the General's addressing her concerning the rather enthused male, Minno exchanged a calm blink or two. Resting her hands on the roof of her intertwined fingers, Minno gave a calm nod. "I find it useful to have such a wide variety of personalities. Lawrence has a unique way of getting things done and he's very helpful. His personality DOES take a bit to get used to, but I assure you that it has become no hindrance to any matter."

Hood's voice broke through the others and gathered a silence among the ramblings that had started to grow. Minno nodded in agreement. "I couldn't agree with you more. We need to find him and in the worse case scenario that Numan is not there we extract as much information as possible. We have little options and we need to be quick. We need two parties. One in a small squad to raid and another in the case that who we are looking for is NOT there." Minno looked over to Hood. "Do you have any quick suggestions?"

[Capt. Hood]

"In my honest suggestion, this isn't about reclaiming land but about crushing the rebel threat. I wouldn't be surprised if their leader were in that area, so I personally would use artillery and crush the place under heel... However, for some reason I doubt that that is an option in this scenario. So, I think your idea of two parties would work well, but I think your scope is far too small." Hood walked over to the map and placed a leather-gloved finger on one of the main entrances to the area.

"We should position a large attack force on this street here and try and draw out as many of the rebel forces as we can into open conflict. Then, we should send a secondary attack force here..." His hand moved to a second spot on the map. "The rebels aren't stupid, they'd be expecting a force to sneak in, so we'll bluff them with the secondary attack force, who'll support a small assault team and lead the rebels into an ambush, then..." His finger moved one more time. "We send the actual raiding squad in through here, right behind the rebels where they should least expect it, giving them the chance to check some of the buildings whilst the main conflict goes on with little resistance." His gaze lazily moved up to The General and Icos.

"Does that fit well with you, Gentlemen?" He asked in a manner that clearly showed that he couldn't care less about their opinions.

[Icos El-Elron]

"Would you burn the buildings and salt the ground while you're at it? Or perhaps you should turn their water back on and poison it - surely they are all good and thirsty by now so I expect they'll go rushing for it..." Icos tapped his foot a bit while studying Captain Hood. The man "May I remind you there are still countless number of civilians in there? You could at least humor me and pretend like you care about their lives, hm?" It might seem hypocritical for Icos to chastise Hood over the aggressive plan of action given his own military history in the Failed States, but in his mind Icos reasoned that nearly every 'civilian' in the Failed States wanted them dead. It was different when fighting within your own city, he thought at least. "A proper scouting mission could help spot enemy positions and reduce the number of civilian causalities."

"Civilian causalities would be most unfortunate but unavoidable." The General reminded.

"The number of causalities are entirely up to you gentlemen. You can move in with force or move in smartly." Icos warned icily. 
  

[Capt. Hood]

Capt. Hood looked up at Icos with an expression that almost showed genuine surprise that the Ellusian was still there, before turning his attention back to The General.

"So, are we done here or are we going to have this feeble discussion as to whether or not we're simply going to allow the rebels to occupy our territory continue?" Hood looked down to his watch and let out a heavy sigh. "Of course every second going to waste here is a second that could be used to be assembling troops into the right stations and formations for us to engage the enemy in combat. A second that we give the rebels the opportunity to end Father Numen's life and make this government look progressively weaker." Hood had to hide the wry smile from spreading across his face, the next move was a low blow and he knew it, but you don't get anywhere in life without getting your hands a little dirty. He took a step closer to The General and spoke in hushed tones, one that Icos would struggle to hear without making it blatantly obvious that he was doing so, which is what Hood wanted to see in his peripheral vision.

"Need I remind you General, that if things go wrong here, the Government and The President will need a scapegoat... The Military will be the first to fall under his gaze and it's you that is in charge here officially, the wrong call could be costly."

Technically, Hood was in direct control of the military as The President's acting presence, but he couldn't act without the confirmation of The General because he needed someone else to be leading the rest of the ground troops whilst he led the raids alongside Minno.

[Icos El-Elron]

Icos raised an eyebrow as Captain Hood brushed over his comments as mere folly. As a man not used to being slighted in the matters of military he found himself rather annoyed by all of it. Captain Hood was considered a man who got things done, but the lack of concern for the people living in the rebel occupied area disturbed Icos a bit. A man who cared nothing for his people was a dangerous man to have in power. Yet sometimes it takes a cold man to get things done, Icos understood that and in some dark part of his mind respected it.

The General had much more sour thoughts regarding Hood, especially when he essentially threatened him if not pressing an attack right away. After all HE had been a soldier fighting against the tribal animals twenty years ago when Hood was but a year out of diapers. He was a man with prestige, rank and respect throughout the Thelotian Armed Forces... and yet he was taking orders from Hood.

"Captain Hood, we all lost those streets to begin with. Once this is over all our jobs are on the line - including our President." The General reminded before looking back at the group, taking a deep breath as he considered all the options carefully. "We'll move into the directed streets as Captain Hood had suggested. The Fourth Defense and the Second Defense will move up either street and begin to engage the Rebels while Presidential Guards Minno and Captain Hood will direct the raiding squad and hit them when they least want it. However, I wish to leave the route back to the Red Light District seemly open of our soldiers so that once the Rebels begin to retreat we'll have the entire First Division waiting further back. They'll come running into the First Division's grasp scared they'll be finished there."

[Lawrence 'The Law' Kademan]

Lawrence wasn't best known for keeping collateral damage at a minimum during missions of any sort, though the specific mention of 'civilian casualties' gave him bad feelings boiling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to deliberately drop people who were unfortunate enough to live in the area, not if there was a better solution to it. He knew from the movies, the books, even some of the things he had seen in his years of service thus far that sometimes the most effective solution wasn't always what was 'good'. That didn't matter to him, though. He knew time was a severe issue, though the price of one person verses the hundreds wasn't something he truthfully found he could justify. Lawrence wasn't as hardened in battle as some of the others in this room were, so his morals (surprise, he had them!) got the best of him. And Hood was a douche so he had no problem voicing it.

"W-wait, so you doubt the Overwatch as a quick and effective scout that much that you're just going to storm in like that? I mean look at us, we're all here to protect Thelotia and its integrity, we're all part of that! I know the seconds are ticking but what's the point of defending a city that you're just going to plow over to fight what threatens it?"

It didn't matter to him that the General already made up his mind, and it didn't matter if he spoke out of line. The principle of it was wrong.

"Come on, man. Say something!" Lawrence turned to Yuri, hoping he'd spit out something religious or better yet, pipe in something along the lines of 'Father Numen wouldn't want this'. Maybe it wouldn't be enough to change an entire military strike but the backing sure would help.