Post by Romando07 on Dec 17, 2021 12:26:44 GMT
The Crackdown
TIME: 078 AME
planet “Utvrda”
Loyalist HQ
12 hours before crackdown
News of the Zarathustra Massacre and subsequent spike in the ancerium prices prompted many reactions from all sides of the galaxy. Grief, sadness, anger, indifference, hopelessness… But none were quite good at describing the state of mind that Malcorp executives have found themselves in. They were in disbelief.
One day, Sam was nobody, just a random tech support worker working day in and out to support the Loyalist cause, in his own way. Barely noticed by his colleagues, he hung out with other quiet guys like him, doing what they could and earning enough to get by. But then one day, everything changed when they came up with Malcorp. A random idea that seemed like it wouldn’t work, a first company that would have access to both the domestic and galactic market at once, breaking The Council’s monopoly on Ancerium. When the market crashed, their fledgling company snowballed, even getting Leo’s approval and endorsement as they bought ancerium for dirt cheap and sold it back home for a ridiculous amount of cash, most of which was used to significantly speed up their colonisation of Utvrda. He was a hero, and he enjoyed it, endless parties, respect at work meetings and a more spacious room to live in was all he ever wanted since he came here.
But as quickly as it started rolling, Malcorp seemed to have run out of steam overnight. Zarathustra Massacre ruined his team, making them sell now ridiculously *expensive* ancerium at home for about the same amount of money as it was needed to buy it in the galaxy at large, making them run their business into the ground almost overnight due to expensive bribes of officials back at home to keep things quiet and travel costs.
Sam, Anthony and Tom would be back where they started were it not for Leo risking the anger of his advisors and deciding to stop asking Malcorp to share its profits with the Loyalists.
Behind closed doors and numerous hallways, Leo returned to his office, looking restless and angry. Throwing his coat over his office chair before practically jumping into it with a groan, he started complaining to his secretary, Martha.
“Martha, I can't believe this…. Fuck… Malcorp is fucked.”
Martha interrupted him, offering him a cup of tea to calm him down; “What makes you say that Leo? Just hours ago you told me that the things seemed bleak, but that they would make it. It was just a bump in the market prices due to Zarathrustra. They will surely settle back down once other nations exploit this and sell what fuel they have been hoarding while ancerium was worthless, right?”
Leo took a deep breath to calm himself down and took a sip of his tea before continuing: “Yes Martha, but I have just been informed that our sources on Malaak have reported that since the bribes stopped coming, one of the officials malcorp guys have been bribing decided to talk. Whether he was forced to or decided to just rat them out I dont give a shit, but now the secret is out for Council’s dogs to find. Several CEOs that made a deal with us have been disposed of already by them, and I can only imagine what those sick fucks may do to those that resist…”
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Malaak”
Samnotep city
“Vinopije” bar and apartments
3 hours before the crackdown
Sam
“Samnotep Market Radio:
Breaking news! In an interview for Pobra Broadcasting Group, Altan Vesten has confirmed our suspicions by announcing a sudden withdrawal from Common Colonisation Directive, citing increasingly costly colonisation efforts;”
‘Following recent events and unfavourable economic conditions, my team and I have reached a conclusion that the terms of CCD that we have agreed upon are no longer sufficient to keep the project running safely. We will be pulling back from the Directive until we are able to renegotiate it and attract more partners…’
“Some speculate that main reason for pulling out was actually a string of assassinations that has befallen other signatories of the CCD due to rumors of them cooperating with Malcorp, but so far all request for comments from Mr Vesten have not been responded to…”
Sam turned off the radio and got out of his car. He was in a bad mood after Anna turned him down on his offer to come to his place after work. He felt like she would surely say yes, after all, he had shown her the many benefits and luxuries that come with being a Nova Front employee. Living in a dorm was, unlike for most people on most planets, a luxury. Being with others that you know you can trust not to stab you in the back while you sleep was something many less fortunate elements of Samnotep society could only dream about. But, that was her loss, she wouldn’t get to experience living in the strictly controlled but reassuringly safe environment of Nova Front office.
Instead of heading home alone to spend the evening with his colleagues, he decided to head into a bar elsewhere in the city to get drunk and forget about his problems, at least for a bit. So he walked up to the small building, one among many in the slums that up a majority of this city, and pushed on in towards the closest table.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep sewers
one of several entrances into “The Black District”
2 hours before the crackdown
Ella
Ella slammed the reinforced door behind her in the nick of time and barricaded it as best she could with several heavy metal crates that were nearby. Just as she finished stacking them up against the door, she heard heavy footsteps from the other side and banding on the door.
“Com’ oit ye facken b’ech! Giv’ it back to meh!” The man on the other side charged into the door with a loud *thud* being heard, but to no avail. It wouldn’t budge. Ella was safe for now, at least until his thugs arrived to help him. She turned around and looked for the hidden door that led into The Black District. After a minute or two of looking around, pushing various bricks trying to find the right one, she found it. She pushed it as hard as she could, and it finally budged, slipping deeper into the wall. As it did, the entire section of the wall rotated by 40 degrees sideways, just enough to allow for one or two people to pass through at a time. She could hear more men arriving to back up her pursuer, so Ella hurried rushed through the entrance and straight into a much bigger, much cleaner room made out of concrete, with several armed men in green full body armor on the other side. As soon as she made it in, they all trained their weapons on her. One of them walked up to her and patted her down, checking for any contraband. When they found her revolver they confiscated it.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” She protested, given that it was always allowed to come in here armed previously. “I'm sorry Ella.” One of them said, “Things have changed since you left. New rules I’m afraid. I will be holding onto your weapon until you come to the armory with proper documents. Welcome to The Black District.”
She was about ready to punch him in the face, but she contained herself. She was on an important mission, and she couldn’t afford to lose any time. She simply nodded along and hurried through the door on the other end into the room into The Black District proper.
The city’s sewers were huge, built in such a way that allowed people to travel through them easily, making them a favourite shortcut for any criminals and a nightmare for law enforcement. Most gangs owned turf in it, some places were true centers of illegal trade that could not be found on the surface due to the pesky Nova Front Guard stamping out anyone foolish enough to try being in the same spot for an extended period of time. However, down below the surface was a true maze, and here any ambitious drug trafficker or arms dealer could thrive. The Black District was the name for a particular part of the sewers that has recently rose to prominence and extreme importance; it was one of the few known places where you could come to negotiate with the mighty Malcorp, a mysterious organization that suddenly appeared offering goods that could only be found in the outside world, away from The Council’s grasp. Being so important, several gang wars have been fought for its control, eventually ending with Greenies, a gang composed of remaining Loyalist elements in the region that haven’t been deported, owning The Black District. They have since received military grade weapons and armor from Malcorp in order to keep the peace. They would allow everyone to do business, regardless of who they were, under the condition that they did not start fights. Here she had hoped to find a safe place from her pursuers and find her client to deliver the intel she had gathered.
She stepped through the door and into a makeshift “street”, crowded and filthy, but safe. It would take her some time to find the man she was looking for, so she jumped straight to work.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1.5 hours before the crackdown
Tomislav
Tomislav had finished writing his report to the chief of security and was proofreading it one last time before handing it in. He was always the last one to leave the office and first one to enter it, he lived for his work and keeping the city safe. After making sure that everything was in order he got up from his chair and stretched before going down the hallway to take the elevator up to the executive floor. But just as he was about to enter, everything went dark and the elevator stopped working. Lights were dead, and he was alone. He tried using his radio for help, but it didn’t work because he had forgotten to put batteries in it. So instead, he took out his flashlight and walked around, trying to find the electrical room for this floor to check if something was wrong there.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1.3 hours before the crackdown
Sam
Sam returned to his dorm pretty late, when most of his colleagues were already asleep. He was slowed down by the traffic which was partially blocked by some kind of protest going on? Oddly enough, there were no NVG forces trying to slow them down or contain the masses, they were merely watching from the sides, not intervening. It was definitely unusual, but he was too tired to care. He had a shower and went to sleep, but he was still restless, so he decided to go outside for one last walk. Sam got up, flicked on his switch and… Nothing happened. The lights didn’t turn on. He tried flicking the switch on and off several times, but nothing changed, so he decided to wake up his buddies to go and search for someone to fix everything, since apparently all electronics have suddenly died.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside on the streets of Samnotep, the atmosphere was tense. What seemed to be a continuation of food riots that had erupted last week was actually something else; it was a pro-government march in support of Nova Front, it was a message; they would not fall into anarchy like other cities had after the corporations that run them crumbled, they will not tolerate living in fear. They will stand strong and protect the stability of this city for the betterment of its residents, no matter who was determined to undermine that same stability.
Unbeknownst to them however, The Council had already made its move, its agents already stationed in key locations. The Army was setting up to attack the city if need be. It would be a bloodbath.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1 hour until the crackdown
Tomislav
It took him some time, but he managed to find the room he was looking for and managed to get the power back on. He noticed that they were turned off on purpose and started to get suspicious. Why would anyone do this? What could this mean? Why was nobody else here?
His thoughts were interrupted by several gunshots, just outside his room, followed by panicked screams and people running. He took out his pistol and burst through the door trying to understand what was going on. There was blood all over the floor and several bodies lying next to the wall- all of them NF employees. As soon as he stepped through the door, sharp pain went through his stomach. He looked down and saw a Foldcutter pushed deep into him, and a hand pushing it yet deeper in. Looking up slowly, he could see the masked head of the person that stabbed him, wearing light body armor, with strange gear… He had never seen something like it. His whole world suddenly went dark and he found himself falling, and falling, and falling endlessly into an endless pit of pure darkness as his life was being extinguished…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the crackdown
Across several biggest cities run by the companies that signed the CCD, all channels were interrupted with a following message:
Emergency broadcast
Department of Communications and Information
“Attention, this is a DCI issued warning. All citizens in the following cities must return to their homes immediately and stay indoors. Any and all suspicious activity must be reported to local authorities. The following cities are in lockdown, and any attempt to leave them without DCI issued documents will be met with force. Thank you for your cooperation. Cities that this will take effect in are: Drevnik, Tesik, Mornaric, Samnotep, Atlazar…”
The unruly masses in Samnotep went wild. They made their way to NF HQ and several police stations, causing NSG forces, which had still received no orders, to surrender or start barricading themselves in. Building by building, the city was falling under control of the rioters. As the situation escalated, several buildings were blown up by present Agency forces in order to scare away the opposition, which mostly worked, stopping them from gaining control of the city fully.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep sewers
The Black District
Ella
“The plan has changed Ella.”
“What the fuck? What do you mean it has changed? I AM LITERALLY RIGHT HERE!!”
There was a period of silence from the other side before another message arrived.
“You will be compensated for your trouble. Find deputy guard Tomislav in NF HQ. He is trustworthy and knows a safe way out of the city. You can’t stay here.”
“Why no-” Ella was interrupted by an explosion from above the surface which made the whole room shake, making her almost lose her footing. She went through all the trouble of finding out who in The Agency could be trusted and who was sympathetic to the Loyalist cause, avoiding capture and death several times, only to be stuck in this shitty city once again.
“The Agency is trying to block off streets by blowing up the slums above. You have to get out pronto.”
“Yes sir.” She hung up on him and turned around, only to bump into her least favourite person; Miroslav. “Naw, whad du we hav here… tssk tssk tssk…” She tried to hit him, but he dodged her blow and kicked her into the wall.
That damned mountain of a man must be on steroids, Ella thought. “You hav somethin’ that's mine, don’tcha?” Just as he was about to hit her again, she spat into his face and ducked under him, running for her life, she burst through the flimsy wooden door of the bathroom she was hiding in and onto the main “street” of the black district. She ran around, looking for guards, for anyone to help her… but suddenly there were less people out and about, she realised. She ran back to one of the entrances to the Black District and found out the reason why.
As she got closer, she could hear a full on battle had started between Greenies and several men that turned out to be working for the Agency, who had been caught placing explosives on one of the fake walls. About a dozen combatants on each side, bullets flying everywhere, screams of pain and horror as one of the greenies was shot in the head… They seemed to be holding out for now. Hearing footsteps behind her, she looked back and saw Miroslav charging after her, wildly swinging with the knife in his hand. Coming up with an idea, one last desperate attempt to get rid of Miroslav for good, Ella charged away from him and *towards* the ongoing fight between the gang and the agents. She jumped on the ground behind a dead body, tapping it over trying to find where their weapon was. She could hear her unrelenting pursuer coming closer to her, even following her into the line of fire-
“BANG”
The ugly bastard fell on his knees and threw his knife at her, trying to do her in but to no avail. The knife hit the body next to her, embedding itself in the armor. When she looked back at Miroslav, she saw him laying down in a pool of blood. Her shot had connected. But there was no time to waste, she had to find a way to Tomislav before additional Council forces arrived to overrun the black district. She retrieved some ammo from the corpse before getting up and running away towards another entrance.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the crowds elsewhere in the city started clashing with remaining agents who were trying to sow more chaos and destruction in their wake as they start to retreat outside the city, the main body of protesters- no, rebels- flooded into the big complex that was NF HQ, its gates lowered and its automated security disabled…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
Sam
Holding onto his bleeding arm, he finally sat down next to one of his friends. They had managed to evade most of the death squads sent by the Agency to open the doors to their saviours outside, but not before the agents did what they came here to do. All of the senior staff and executives have been killed, leaving the city leaderless and the resistance unorganized. Technically the guys outside had chosen a leader amongst themselves called Budik, but nobody knows if NFG will listen to him. What’s stopping them from siding with The Council in exchange for their mercy?
Tomislav was now in charge of NFG, but he was in emergency care- for all intents and purposes, NFG was not an organized fighting force anymore.
He didn’t know why this had happened, or what they did to deserve this, but the message was clear; anyone standing up to The Council will be brutally dealt with.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep Market Radio:
“-cuk… Does thi- ###n wor#? Move ##e #nten##.... #ust like that! We good? Marvelous! Dear listeners, we have reports about troops overrunning Altazar and Drevnik, facing fierce resistance from local militias composed of civilians and police alike. Several blocks have been reduced to rubble as both sides started escalating the conflict by #ringing out heavier and heavi## wea####- wai# they are jammi## ## #####, mo## th# thing f#r fuck# ####-”
At this point, fighting had erupted in every targeted city, with massive losses suffered from locals who were trying to defend their right to exist. The only exception to this trend was Samnotep. When darkness looked as if it was about to end all who opposed The Council most openly, Samnotep was a shining beacon of hope. Already the locals have begun arming themselves and organizing into a fighting force, while in the sewers ferocious battles and madness took over as gangs started siding with either the locals or SCUM, some out of fear and some out of opportunity. Due to his injuries, the torch of command over NFG was passed down from Tomislav and into the hands of captain Hiec, who made a point in siding with the rebels openly and swearing his loyalty to them. Although still lacking a clear figure to unite it, Samnotep City now at least had several quasi-official leaders that worked together in hope of surviving what was coming.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep City
outskirts
Ella
She ducked behind the low concrete wall of the construction site clutching the pistol she took from earlier in her hand. She got up for a moment, running away from Miroslav’s goons that were still coming after her as she fired blindly towards them, scaring them off for a precious moment or two. She was running for almost a dozen minutes now, although to her that seemed like hours. Quickly after she got out of sewers, she got lost in the crowds that were running around looking for remaining agents that havent been killed or captured. To avoid getting trampled, she went into the first side street she found in hopes of finding a moment to rest and think about how to get to NF headquarters, where Tomislav was reportedly recovering and was in critical condition, at least according to her client. However once she was alone, she was ambushed, and would have been killed if not for the gun she got off the dead body from earlier. Ella managed to take down two of the attackers before she had been forced to run, lest they overwhelm her. And now they were all armed by the looks of it. She was almost ready to collapse from exhaustion when she finally found another small group that seemed to be made up of NF Guards and Greenies, marching side by side.
“Hey! Over here! Help me!!”
She yelled to get their attention. They raised their guns and started making their way from across the street towards her. But there was no time to rest.
She ran towards them, yelling about how there were people coming after her to kill her, but they wouldn't have the chance to respond. She heard an awful, high pitched sound that made her ears ring, making her stop and cover her ears along with everyone in the vicinity.
When she looked up to see where it was coming from, she noticed the menacing combat drone hovering some 50 meters up in the air. She saw as it fired off the grenade into her would-be saviours, who had no chance against the high explosive. It landed in the middle of them and exploded, sending their bodies flying and blowing up a nearby car. It knocked her off her feet and down iface first into the pavement, breaking her nose and arm.
She was too shocked to move and her ears were ringing. After what felt like minutes, the ringing slowly subsided and left her complete, terrifying silence on one ear, while the other seemed to still be as good as it could be, considering what she just went through. Her eyes were bloody and heavy.
But she was determined to survive. She slowly rolled on her back and froze in fear. The damned thing was still there. She could see it moving around from place to place, looking for anything that was still moving and firing at it, leaving a trail of smoke and fire wherever it went. After she had already almost given up on all hope, a hail of bullets was unleashed from somewhere below it, damaging it badly and causing it to start spinning in a circle as it fired wildly all around itself. Finally, it exploded in mid air, sending chunks of its body flying everywhere, a piece of which almost landed on top of her. She started crawling away from the scene, still fearing that somehow, somewhere, her pursuers would pop out again and finish her off.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Utvrda”
Loyalist HQ
Leo
He was the last to arrive at the meeting, it seems, which had already devolved into arguing before he even came. His advisors and colleagues were talking over one another, arguing what the best cause of action was.
“We need to mobilise our forces immediately! This could be what we were waiting for!”
“Nonsense, we must pull them out before they get discovered. We are low on manpower as is!”
“I'm telling you both, we need to evacuate as many of those poor people as we can. They will prove useful to us later and will serve as a propaganda victory when the time comes.”
“Everyone! Enough.” Leo sat down, visibly stressed. “One of our operatives is in Samnotep.”
The room went silent. Everyone looked at each other, then slowly all eyes shifted to Markhezio. “Fuck… Man, im sorry but we can-”
“Shut up Angela, I'm not done.” Said Leo again. “Markhezio, I'm sorry but we can’t risk pulling her out. She went there of her own volition.”
“You can't do this to me…. Please… Leo I-”
“That would be enough Markhezio. We don’t have the resources to go after her right now. She must remain on site until she hands off the intel to our source, then we can consider hiding her.”
The man seemed speechless and broken, almost like a sad dog. But now wasn’t the time to be sentimental.
“We can’t intervene, the time isn’t right. But we also can’t sit idly and watch as the population is massacred. Dino, can you still reach your guy in DCI?”
“Yes, but we can’t keep calling on her-” “This is more important. Get him to spread the news of what's going on in Samnotep. They may be lost, but we can at least make sure their memory lives on. Those that oppose The Council will be remembered.”
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Malaak”
Samnotep city
(Nova Front HQ) Free Samnotep City Hall
Sam
The preparations are complete, and now it is official. Free Samnotep City has declared independence from The Council. The first city to do so in over a century. No matter what happens next, with this it has earned its place in history books. This has of course outraged the Council and eliminated any last chance for mercy. They may all be doomed, they may all be nuts, but he was damned if he wasn’t going to make their enemies pay.
NF HQ has been built as a fortress from the beginning, featuring missile defence capabilities, anti-aircraft artillery, fortifications and hardened structure, armory, military barracks and garage full of armored vehicles that were all under their control now. Sadly most of it was rendered inoperable due to agent activity earlier, but they didn’t manage to take out everything. This place was now theirs, and as long as there were those capable of fighting, it would remain this way. Already military drones have started roaming the outskirts of the city, shooting anything that moved while first reports of troop movement outside the city started coming. From what he heard, they were the last city standing in defiance of those tyrants that ruled from the shadows, but he knew that there were others like them, waiting on their chance.
For now they could only arm everyone and hope that the message of their initial success would spread far and wide, but there was no way to tell if it would do anything…
For now.
TIME: 078 AME
planet “Utvrda”
Loyalist HQ
12 hours before crackdown
News of the Zarathustra Massacre and subsequent spike in the ancerium prices prompted many reactions from all sides of the galaxy. Grief, sadness, anger, indifference, hopelessness… But none were quite good at describing the state of mind that Malcorp executives have found themselves in. They were in disbelief.
One day, Sam was nobody, just a random tech support worker working day in and out to support the Loyalist cause, in his own way. Barely noticed by his colleagues, he hung out with other quiet guys like him, doing what they could and earning enough to get by. But then one day, everything changed when they came up with Malcorp. A random idea that seemed like it wouldn’t work, a first company that would have access to both the domestic and galactic market at once, breaking The Council’s monopoly on Ancerium. When the market crashed, their fledgling company snowballed, even getting Leo’s approval and endorsement as they bought ancerium for dirt cheap and sold it back home for a ridiculous amount of cash, most of which was used to significantly speed up their colonisation of Utvrda. He was a hero, and he enjoyed it, endless parties, respect at work meetings and a more spacious room to live in was all he ever wanted since he came here.
But as quickly as it started rolling, Malcorp seemed to have run out of steam overnight. Zarathustra Massacre ruined his team, making them sell now ridiculously *expensive* ancerium at home for about the same amount of money as it was needed to buy it in the galaxy at large, making them run their business into the ground almost overnight due to expensive bribes of officials back at home to keep things quiet and travel costs.
Sam, Anthony and Tom would be back where they started were it not for Leo risking the anger of his advisors and deciding to stop asking Malcorp to share its profits with the Loyalists.
Behind closed doors and numerous hallways, Leo returned to his office, looking restless and angry. Throwing his coat over his office chair before practically jumping into it with a groan, he started complaining to his secretary, Martha.
“Martha, I can't believe this…. Fuck… Malcorp is fucked.”
Martha interrupted him, offering him a cup of tea to calm him down; “What makes you say that Leo? Just hours ago you told me that the things seemed bleak, but that they would make it. It was just a bump in the market prices due to Zarathrustra. They will surely settle back down once other nations exploit this and sell what fuel they have been hoarding while ancerium was worthless, right?”
Leo took a deep breath to calm himself down and took a sip of his tea before continuing: “Yes Martha, but I have just been informed that our sources on Malaak have reported that since the bribes stopped coming, one of the officials malcorp guys have been bribing decided to talk. Whether he was forced to or decided to just rat them out I dont give a shit, but now the secret is out for Council’s dogs to find. Several CEOs that made a deal with us have been disposed of already by them, and I can only imagine what those sick fucks may do to those that resist…”
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Malaak”
Samnotep city
“Vinopije” bar and apartments
3 hours before the crackdown
Sam
“Samnotep Market Radio:
Breaking news! In an interview for Pobra Broadcasting Group, Altan Vesten has confirmed our suspicions by announcing a sudden withdrawal from Common Colonisation Directive, citing increasingly costly colonisation efforts;”
‘Following recent events and unfavourable economic conditions, my team and I have reached a conclusion that the terms of CCD that we have agreed upon are no longer sufficient to keep the project running safely. We will be pulling back from the Directive until we are able to renegotiate it and attract more partners…’
“Some speculate that main reason for pulling out was actually a string of assassinations that has befallen other signatories of the CCD due to rumors of them cooperating with Malcorp, but so far all request for comments from Mr Vesten have not been responded to…”
Sam turned off the radio and got out of his car. He was in a bad mood after Anna turned him down on his offer to come to his place after work. He felt like she would surely say yes, after all, he had shown her the many benefits and luxuries that come with being a Nova Front employee. Living in a dorm was, unlike for most people on most planets, a luxury. Being with others that you know you can trust not to stab you in the back while you sleep was something many less fortunate elements of Samnotep society could only dream about. But, that was her loss, she wouldn’t get to experience living in the strictly controlled but reassuringly safe environment of Nova Front office.
Instead of heading home alone to spend the evening with his colleagues, he decided to head into a bar elsewhere in the city to get drunk and forget about his problems, at least for a bit. So he walked up to the small building, one among many in the slums that up a majority of this city, and pushed on in towards the closest table.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep sewers
one of several entrances into “The Black District”
2 hours before the crackdown
Ella
Ella slammed the reinforced door behind her in the nick of time and barricaded it as best she could with several heavy metal crates that were nearby. Just as she finished stacking them up against the door, she heard heavy footsteps from the other side and banding on the door.
“Com’ oit ye facken b’ech! Giv’ it back to meh!” The man on the other side charged into the door with a loud *thud* being heard, but to no avail. It wouldn’t budge. Ella was safe for now, at least until his thugs arrived to help him. She turned around and looked for the hidden door that led into The Black District. After a minute or two of looking around, pushing various bricks trying to find the right one, she found it. She pushed it as hard as she could, and it finally budged, slipping deeper into the wall. As it did, the entire section of the wall rotated by 40 degrees sideways, just enough to allow for one or two people to pass through at a time. She could hear more men arriving to back up her pursuer, so Ella hurried rushed through the entrance and straight into a much bigger, much cleaner room made out of concrete, with several armed men in green full body armor on the other side. As soon as she made it in, they all trained their weapons on her. One of them walked up to her and patted her down, checking for any contraband. When they found her revolver they confiscated it.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” She protested, given that it was always allowed to come in here armed previously. “I'm sorry Ella.” One of them said, “Things have changed since you left. New rules I’m afraid. I will be holding onto your weapon until you come to the armory with proper documents. Welcome to The Black District.”
She was about ready to punch him in the face, but she contained herself. She was on an important mission, and she couldn’t afford to lose any time. She simply nodded along and hurried through the door on the other end into the room into The Black District proper.
The city’s sewers were huge, built in such a way that allowed people to travel through them easily, making them a favourite shortcut for any criminals and a nightmare for law enforcement. Most gangs owned turf in it, some places were true centers of illegal trade that could not be found on the surface due to the pesky Nova Front Guard stamping out anyone foolish enough to try being in the same spot for an extended period of time. However, down below the surface was a true maze, and here any ambitious drug trafficker or arms dealer could thrive. The Black District was the name for a particular part of the sewers that has recently rose to prominence and extreme importance; it was one of the few known places where you could come to negotiate with the mighty Malcorp, a mysterious organization that suddenly appeared offering goods that could only be found in the outside world, away from The Council’s grasp. Being so important, several gang wars have been fought for its control, eventually ending with Greenies, a gang composed of remaining Loyalist elements in the region that haven’t been deported, owning The Black District. They have since received military grade weapons and armor from Malcorp in order to keep the peace. They would allow everyone to do business, regardless of who they were, under the condition that they did not start fights. Here she had hoped to find a safe place from her pursuers and find her client to deliver the intel she had gathered.
She stepped through the door and into a makeshift “street”, crowded and filthy, but safe. It would take her some time to find the man she was looking for, so she jumped straight to work.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1.5 hours before the crackdown
Tomislav
Tomislav had finished writing his report to the chief of security and was proofreading it one last time before handing it in. He was always the last one to leave the office and first one to enter it, he lived for his work and keeping the city safe. After making sure that everything was in order he got up from his chair and stretched before going down the hallway to take the elevator up to the executive floor. But just as he was about to enter, everything went dark and the elevator stopped working. Lights were dead, and he was alone. He tried using his radio for help, but it didn’t work because he had forgotten to put batteries in it. So instead, he took out his flashlight and walked around, trying to find the electrical room for this floor to check if something was wrong there.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1.3 hours before the crackdown
Sam
Sam returned to his dorm pretty late, when most of his colleagues were already asleep. He was slowed down by the traffic which was partially blocked by some kind of protest going on? Oddly enough, there were no NVG forces trying to slow them down or contain the masses, they were merely watching from the sides, not intervening. It was definitely unusual, but he was too tired to care. He had a shower and went to sleep, but he was still restless, so he decided to go outside for one last walk. Sam got up, flicked on his switch and… Nothing happened. The lights didn’t turn on. He tried flicking the switch on and off several times, but nothing changed, so he decided to wake up his buddies to go and search for someone to fix everything, since apparently all electronics have suddenly died.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside on the streets of Samnotep, the atmosphere was tense. What seemed to be a continuation of food riots that had erupted last week was actually something else; it was a pro-government march in support of Nova Front, it was a message; they would not fall into anarchy like other cities had after the corporations that run them crumbled, they will not tolerate living in fear. They will stand strong and protect the stability of this city for the betterment of its residents, no matter who was determined to undermine that same stability.
Unbeknownst to them however, The Council had already made its move, its agents already stationed in key locations. The Army was setting up to attack the city if need be. It would be a bloodbath.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
1 hour until the crackdown
Tomislav
It took him some time, but he managed to find the room he was looking for and managed to get the power back on. He noticed that they were turned off on purpose and started to get suspicious. Why would anyone do this? What could this mean? Why was nobody else here?
His thoughts were interrupted by several gunshots, just outside his room, followed by panicked screams and people running. He took out his pistol and burst through the door trying to understand what was going on. There was blood all over the floor and several bodies lying next to the wall- all of them NF employees. As soon as he stepped through the door, sharp pain went through his stomach. He looked down and saw a Foldcutter pushed deep into him, and a hand pushing it yet deeper in. Looking up slowly, he could see the masked head of the person that stabbed him, wearing light body armor, with strange gear… He had never seen something like it. His whole world suddenly went dark and he found himself falling, and falling, and falling endlessly into an endless pit of pure darkness as his life was being extinguished…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the crackdown
Across several biggest cities run by the companies that signed the CCD, all channels were interrupted with a following message:
Emergency broadcast
Department of Communications and Information
“Attention, this is a DCI issued warning. All citizens in the following cities must return to their homes immediately and stay indoors. Any and all suspicious activity must be reported to local authorities. The following cities are in lockdown, and any attempt to leave them without DCI issued documents will be met with force. Thank you for your cooperation. Cities that this will take effect in are: Drevnik, Tesik, Mornaric, Samnotep, Atlazar…”
The unruly masses in Samnotep went wild. They made their way to NF HQ and several police stations, causing NSG forces, which had still received no orders, to surrender or start barricading themselves in. Building by building, the city was falling under control of the rioters. As the situation escalated, several buildings were blown up by present Agency forces in order to scare away the opposition, which mostly worked, stopping them from gaining control of the city fully.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep sewers
The Black District
Ella
“The plan has changed Ella.”
“What the fuck? What do you mean it has changed? I AM LITERALLY RIGHT HERE!!”
There was a period of silence from the other side before another message arrived.
“You will be compensated for your trouble. Find deputy guard Tomislav in NF HQ. He is trustworthy and knows a safe way out of the city. You can’t stay here.”
“Why no-” Ella was interrupted by an explosion from above the surface which made the whole room shake, making her almost lose her footing. She went through all the trouble of finding out who in The Agency could be trusted and who was sympathetic to the Loyalist cause, avoiding capture and death several times, only to be stuck in this shitty city once again.
“The Agency is trying to block off streets by blowing up the slums above. You have to get out pronto.”
“Yes sir.” She hung up on him and turned around, only to bump into her least favourite person; Miroslav. “Naw, whad du we hav here… tssk tssk tssk…” She tried to hit him, but he dodged her blow and kicked her into the wall.
That damned mountain of a man must be on steroids, Ella thought. “You hav somethin’ that's mine, don’tcha?” Just as he was about to hit her again, she spat into his face and ducked under him, running for her life, she burst through the flimsy wooden door of the bathroom she was hiding in and onto the main “street” of the black district. She ran around, looking for guards, for anyone to help her… but suddenly there were less people out and about, she realised. She ran back to one of the entrances to the Black District and found out the reason why.
As she got closer, she could hear a full on battle had started between Greenies and several men that turned out to be working for the Agency, who had been caught placing explosives on one of the fake walls. About a dozen combatants on each side, bullets flying everywhere, screams of pain and horror as one of the greenies was shot in the head… They seemed to be holding out for now. Hearing footsteps behind her, she looked back and saw Miroslav charging after her, wildly swinging with the knife in his hand. Coming up with an idea, one last desperate attempt to get rid of Miroslav for good, Ella charged away from him and *towards* the ongoing fight between the gang and the agents. She jumped on the ground behind a dead body, tapping it over trying to find where their weapon was. She could hear her unrelenting pursuer coming closer to her, even following her into the line of fire-
“BANG”
The ugly bastard fell on his knees and threw his knife at her, trying to do her in but to no avail. The knife hit the body next to her, embedding itself in the armor. When she looked back at Miroslav, she saw him laying down in a pool of blood. Her shot had connected. But there was no time to waste, she had to find a way to Tomislav before additional Council forces arrived to overrun the black district. She retrieved some ammo from the corpse before getting up and running away towards another entrance.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the crowds elsewhere in the city started clashing with remaining agents who were trying to sow more chaos and destruction in their wake as they start to retreat outside the city, the main body of protesters- no, rebels- flooded into the big complex that was NF HQ, its gates lowered and its automated security disabled…
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep city
Nova Front HQ
Sam
Holding onto his bleeding arm, he finally sat down next to one of his friends. They had managed to evade most of the death squads sent by the Agency to open the doors to their saviours outside, but not before the agents did what they came here to do. All of the senior staff and executives have been killed, leaving the city leaderless and the resistance unorganized. Technically the guys outside had chosen a leader amongst themselves called Budik, but nobody knows if NFG will listen to him. What’s stopping them from siding with The Council in exchange for their mercy?
Tomislav was now in charge of NFG, but he was in emergency care- for all intents and purposes, NFG was not an organized fighting force anymore.
He didn’t know why this had happened, or what they did to deserve this, but the message was clear; anyone standing up to The Council will be brutally dealt with.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep Market Radio:
“-cuk… Does thi- ###n wor#? Move ##e #nten##.... #ust like that! We good? Marvelous! Dear listeners, we have reports about troops overrunning Altazar and Drevnik, facing fierce resistance from local militias composed of civilians and police alike. Several blocks have been reduced to rubble as both sides started escalating the conflict by #ringing out heavier and heavi## wea####- wai# they are jammi## ## #####, mo## th# thing f#r fuck# ####-”
At this point, fighting had erupted in every targeted city, with massive losses suffered from locals who were trying to defend their right to exist. The only exception to this trend was Samnotep. When darkness looked as if it was about to end all who opposed The Council most openly, Samnotep was a shining beacon of hope. Already the locals have begun arming themselves and organizing into a fighting force, while in the sewers ferocious battles and madness took over as gangs started siding with either the locals or SCUM, some out of fear and some out of opportunity. Due to his injuries, the torch of command over NFG was passed down from Tomislav and into the hands of captain Hiec, who made a point in siding with the rebels openly and swearing his loyalty to them. Although still lacking a clear figure to unite it, Samnotep City now at least had several quasi-official leaders that worked together in hope of surviving what was coming.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samnotep City
outskirts
Ella
She ducked behind the low concrete wall of the construction site clutching the pistol she took from earlier in her hand. She got up for a moment, running away from Miroslav’s goons that were still coming after her as she fired blindly towards them, scaring them off for a precious moment or two. She was running for almost a dozen minutes now, although to her that seemed like hours. Quickly after she got out of sewers, she got lost in the crowds that were running around looking for remaining agents that havent been killed or captured. To avoid getting trampled, she went into the first side street she found in hopes of finding a moment to rest and think about how to get to NF headquarters, where Tomislav was reportedly recovering and was in critical condition, at least according to her client. However once she was alone, she was ambushed, and would have been killed if not for the gun she got off the dead body from earlier. Ella managed to take down two of the attackers before she had been forced to run, lest they overwhelm her. And now they were all armed by the looks of it. She was almost ready to collapse from exhaustion when she finally found another small group that seemed to be made up of NF Guards and Greenies, marching side by side.
“Hey! Over here! Help me!!”
She yelled to get their attention. They raised their guns and started making their way from across the street towards her. But there was no time to rest.
She ran towards them, yelling about how there were people coming after her to kill her, but they wouldn't have the chance to respond. She heard an awful, high pitched sound that made her ears ring, making her stop and cover her ears along with everyone in the vicinity.
When she looked up to see where it was coming from, she noticed the menacing combat drone hovering some 50 meters up in the air. She saw as it fired off the grenade into her would-be saviours, who had no chance against the high explosive. It landed in the middle of them and exploded, sending their bodies flying and blowing up a nearby car. It knocked her off her feet and down iface first into the pavement, breaking her nose and arm.
She was too shocked to move and her ears were ringing. After what felt like minutes, the ringing slowly subsided and left her complete, terrifying silence on one ear, while the other seemed to still be as good as it could be, considering what she just went through. Her eyes were bloody and heavy.
But she was determined to survive. She slowly rolled on her back and froze in fear. The damned thing was still there. She could see it moving around from place to place, looking for anything that was still moving and firing at it, leaving a trail of smoke and fire wherever it went. After she had already almost given up on all hope, a hail of bullets was unleashed from somewhere below it, damaging it badly and causing it to start spinning in a circle as it fired wildly all around itself. Finally, it exploded in mid air, sending chunks of its body flying everywhere, a piece of which almost landed on top of her. She started crawling away from the scene, still fearing that somehow, somewhere, her pursuers would pop out again and finish her off.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Utvrda”
Loyalist HQ
Leo
He was the last to arrive at the meeting, it seems, which had already devolved into arguing before he even came. His advisors and colleagues were talking over one another, arguing what the best cause of action was.
“We need to mobilise our forces immediately! This could be what we were waiting for!”
“Nonsense, we must pull them out before they get discovered. We are low on manpower as is!”
“I'm telling you both, we need to evacuate as many of those poor people as we can. They will prove useful to us later and will serve as a propaganda victory when the time comes.”
“Everyone! Enough.” Leo sat down, visibly stressed. “One of our operatives is in Samnotep.”
The room went silent. Everyone looked at each other, then slowly all eyes shifted to Markhezio. “Fuck… Man, im sorry but we can-”
“Shut up Angela, I'm not done.” Said Leo again. “Markhezio, I'm sorry but we can’t risk pulling her out. She went there of her own volition.”
“You can't do this to me…. Please… Leo I-”
“That would be enough Markhezio. We don’t have the resources to go after her right now. She must remain on site until she hands off the intel to our source, then we can consider hiding her.”
The man seemed speechless and broken, almost like a sad dog. But now wasn’t the time to be sentimental.
“We can’t intervene, the time isn’t right. But we also can’t sit idly and watch as the population is massacred. Dino, can you still reach your guy in DCI?”
“Yes, but we can’t keep calling on her-” “This is more important. Get him to spread the news of what's going on in Samnotep. They may be lost, but we can at least make sure their memory lives on. Those that oppose The Council will be remembered.”
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
planet “Malaak”
Samnotep city
Sam
The preparations are complete, and now it is official. Free Samnotep City has declared independence from The Council. The first city to do so in over a century. No matter what happens next, with this it has earned its place in history books. This has of course outraged the Council and eliminated any last chance for mercy. They may all be doomed, they may all be nuts, but he was damned if he wasn’t going to make their enemies pay.
NF HQ has been built as a fortress from the beginning, featuring missile defence capabilities, anti-aircraft artillery, fortifications and hardened structure, armory, military barracks and garage full of armored vehicles that were all under their control now. Sadly most of it was rendered inoperable due to agent activity earlier, but they didn’t manage to take out everything. This place was now theirs, and as long as there were those capable of fighting, it would remain this way. Already military drones have started roaming the outskirts of the city, shooting anything that moved while first reports of troop movement outside the city started coming. From what he heard, they were the last city standing in defiance of those tyrants that ruled from the shadows, but he knew that there were others like them, waiting on their chance.
For now they could only arm everyone and hope that the message of their initial success would spread far and wide, but there was no way to tell if it would do anything…
For now.