Post by Sheng on Mar 9, 2024 5:42:58 GMT
“Amnesty City, a booming metropolitan area during the Late Fiftieth Decade. It was a beacon of hope in what was otherwise a time of intense turmoil for the Kingdom of Altar as it had practically flourished under the rule of Queen Eorlynn of Whrenfield. But now, following the eruption of the Second Ancerious War, the ‘golden age’ was quickly brought to an end.
The Crown’s passivity on rising hostilities from both the Ancerious Galactic Alliance and Ancerious Pivotal Powers and the subsequent superweapon deployment by the A.P.P naturally did little to help the situation. When Karsley fell, the city was one of the many that were left to fend for themselves. But by the time Oswald had rallied the Armed Forces for one last desperate stand to buy time for an evacuation to the Arcologies?
it was too little, too late…”
-Dr. B. Recherche, Crown's Royal Technologist.
The Estoc
Monarch’s Primary Residence
“King’s Hill” Arcology
Oswald grimaced as he slowly put the letter in his right hand down on the oaken desk in front of him, staring out the window into the flashing midnight cityscape surrounding him. Evidently, there was some sort of celebration afoot as various sets of music and other signs of celebration just barely filtered into his heightened senses of hearing, a few seconds later a series of fireworks even went off quietly in the distance. Though at the moment, he felt anything but cheerful. His right ear twitched before he turned to Marksworth and asked “And what of Tyrelestara’s losses?” General Marksworth, stood resolutely up before the desk, cleared his throat and responded in a somewhat pinched tone: "Sir, we have lost thirty-six percent of serving psions, including those recently promoted, and forty-eight percent of serving military personnel are either dead or too injured to participate. We have also lost forty-nine percent of our air force, fifty-two percent of land vehicles, and approximately thirty-five percent of the Lestaran civilian population." Oswald snorted before snapping back at him "I bet High Command is untouched."
Marksworth’s eyes narrowed behind his spectacles but he maintained his pose and temper. "High Command lost sixty percent of its members,” said Marksworth. "A team twenty strong, all infected, somehow managed to breach in and began eradicating them while the battle raged. A decision was made not to raise the alarm and distract from the defence of the walls. Many of our oldest, and most seasoned, commanders were killed." Silence descended over the room. Oswald didn’t really know what to say to that. It was just one more statistic heaped upon others, but it somehow felt like a worse sign of the state of the Kingdom that those in charge would just die quietly rather than rock the boat. He'd always felt he could trust the commanders to look after themselves and let the infantry do all the dying. That was the typical infantryman sentiment after all… The mutagens had gone and turned the world upside down with this latest attack, hadn't they?
He scowled before looking up from his desk at Marksworth and responding in a scalding tone “Fantastic, so Tyrelestara has essentially been wholly deprived of its entire command regiment and half of its standing forces.” He hissed as his tail started to thrash behind him in anger. "What of the communications array? Have we been able to restore it or has some unforeseen circumstance interfered with that as well?" Marksworth pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and let out a quiet sigh before responding "There was an issue with one of the launch platforms" He raised his PDA and turned to show the screen to Oswald "A small horde unexpectedly besieged the compound whilst the Espada Class' were lifting off." Oswald scowled as he reached over and started flicking his finger across the screen, scrolling down whilst Marksworth continued "The communications dish on the ground was unfortunately damaged beyond operation. Reparable, but in the meantime we've had to patch the two vessels into Tyrelestara's Central Communications Array." Oswald stared at the screen for a few seconds more before waving it away, saying as Marksworth pulled it back "Inconvenient but acceptable. So long as there are no further delays we should be able to continue relatively unimpeded."
Marksworth nodded his agreement and Oswald paused for a second before saying "Well, it seems you have a firm handle on things. Is there anything else to report?" At that, Marksworth paused. A flash of unease splashed across his eyes before disappearing but Oswald saw it and gave him a fierce stare. Marksworth caved a few seconds after and said "Well... You know of Recherche's latest proposal to Doctor Callows, yes?" Oswald nodded that he did and Marksworth continued "Aha- well, a key component was being transported from the Standing Forces' base on Elk Isle to Invicta..." Oswald hissed out "Get on with it!" To which Marksworth grimaced and said "The plane carrying the component, and Recherche, has disappeared over the ruins of Amnesty. It appears to have been... Shot down." Oswald blinked a few times before sucking in his lips and closing his eyes. He slowly lowered his head down onto his hands and thumped his forehead against the desk whilst Marksworth just sat in awkward silence. They both remained like that for more than a minute before Oswald said in a very restrained tone "I trust that Commander Altebrucke is doing everything in his power to rectify this situation?" Marksworth quickly nodded before realising the Monarch still had his head firmly pressed down against his desk so he stammered out a "Yes, he is."
Oswald nodded slowly to Marksworth's response before saying "I want that plane found, Recherche rescued and the component re-acquired." He then looked up, fire in his eyes as he slowly reached over and grabbed ahold of Marksworth's collar and whispered "Or so help me, holy god, I will march down there and scorch every single living thing to cinders myself and then beat Altebrucke over the head to death with his own chair." Marksworth nodded rapidly as Oswald let go of him and brushed off his uniform, Oswald muttered something under his breath before piping up "Now get out of my office. I have no doubt I'm about to receive a very angry and very distressed call from her sister, Callows AND Cromwell." Marksworth paled slightly before stumbling up from his seat and hastily making for the doorway, stammering out an apology as he yanked the wooden door open and slammed it closed behind him. He was a smart lad, Oswald thought as he reclined in his chair before letting out a long agonised sigh at the no doubt soon-to-arrive series of nightmares.
Sure enough, the speakerphone on his desk started ringing not five seconds after.
Damn it Blake, he was getting far too old for this shit…
August Station
Espen Industries Research Outpost
13kms south of the ruins of Amnesty City
Argyle sighed as Marksworth ranted and raved on the other end of the line, holding the phone out away from his ear with a wince as the evidently angry General continued about his tirade only to be momentarily distracted as a quiet buzz sounded at the door to his office. He put the general on mute and reached down to a button on his desk, pushing it in and causing the door to quietly slide open to reveal a Ciarian woman with smooth caucasian skin and bright blonde hair tied back in a bun wearing a Corporate Intelligence uniform with a pair of small thin-lensed glasses.
His expression gained just a tad of comfort as he inclined his head respectfully to her and said “It’s good to see you again, Cali.” Cali gave him a thin smile before approaching his desk and laying a small holographic projector down and activating it with a wave of her hand. A bright blue hologramme flickered to life revealing a three-dimensional map of Amnesty, a bright red sphere present over the Central Plaza area. He looked back up at Cali with a cocked eyebrow and asked “And this is..?” Cali let out a huff of amusement before answering “Your next assignment, of course, weren’t you just on the phone with Marksworth of the Standing Forces? I assumed he would have informed you.” Argyle scowled as he leaned forward, the chair creaking as he placed his elbows down on the desk and got a better look at the map. “Yeah well, the only thing I’ve been hearing for the past-” He looked down at his watch “-hour and a half is a series of incoherent screaming, ranting and I think crying.”
Cali shook her head before saying “Well, not too long ago an aircraft was downed in a suspicious manner in the ruined city. Whilst this would normally be choked up as a horrific accident and a tragedy to be forgotten about the next day, this is not so.” Argyle nodded for her to continue, Cali leaned in and used two fingers to zoom in and highlight a small portion of the sphere in the centre of the park labelled ‘wreckage’ and said “Onboard this particular aircraft, however, was Crown Royal Technologist Blake Recherche and the central computing component for Crepuscular.” At that last word, Argyle’s eyes widened and he coughed briefly, hammering a fist against his chest whilst Cali patiently waited for him to recollect himself. “Ar- are you fucking serious?! Crepuscular?! By aircraft?! I figured they would have had that thing up in orbital transport being escorted by half the navy!” Cali raised a hand to push her glasses up the bridge of her nose before responding “Apparently they decided there would be security in secrecy. Alas; there was not and they want us to send in personnel to retrieve both the Technologist and the component.”
Argyle leaned back in his chair with a slightly shocked but now mostly displeased expression “And they think we have that kind of firepower just lying around?” Cali shrugged her shoulders before saying “Do or do not, we have been given a direct tasking from the Lestaran Situational Command Centre. As a corporation in service to the Crown, we must complete it or die trying. Altari Inviolabilis.” Argyle repeated the moniker under his breath before shaking his head and scoffing. “Alright… ok, go out and tell the quartermaster to prepare a Lazarus for an-” he looked down at his watch again “-imminent mission, departure time in roughly an hour or two from now.”
Cali looked a bit taken back but quickly schooled her features and reached out to take back the projector, only to be waved off by Argyle. She nodded before turning around and making her way out of the office, leaving Argyle to stare at the flickering cobalt map. He stared at it for a few seconds more before looking over to a corner of the room, where two individuals clad in power armour were polishing their weapons and smoking a cigarette respectively. He looked to the one on the left and said; “You two up for one last job before rotating home?”
The one on the left stepped out from the shaded corner, revealing four cobalt horns, a navy blue scaled tail and a grizzly face with a jagged scar running down her lip. The Revekt approached the desk and leaned forward against it, humming as she looked it over before turning to look over her shoulder and saying in a gruff tone “Katsis?” The other individual looked up from their weapon, four emissive cobalt eyes narrowing at the two before an equally gruff, if not slightly lighter voice responded “Only if you’re willing, Setarah.” The Revekt snorted before turning back to Argyle and saying with an amused tone:
“Well, guess we’re in business.”