ADVENT: History
The Imperial Regicide
"One of these days, the aliens are going to figure out that killing beloved figures and symbols of Human culture, heritage, and history doesn't break our resolve, it only makes us angry."
- Laura Christiaens, Commander of the ADVENT Military
Chancellor,
Initial apologies for the incomplete report, but given the circumstances I have decided it is best if you're updated on the situation here as soon as possible, and given the current situation regarding the imminent alien attacks, as well as the recent issue of the Sovereign African States, there are enough problems for you to be dealing with that you don't need this one added to them; though we will still continue to keep you informed of all major developments.
However, for this I will stick to what is currently known and is important to you.
As reported, the Imperial Family of Japan who were residing in an undisclosed safe house are dead. Quite interestingly, the only deaths were those of the Imperial Family. Staff and even ADVENT personnel were either left alone, rendered unconscious, or otherwise made incapable of stopping the assassinations.
Also of note is the fact that the children of the Imperial Family who were residing in the safe house – Mashai and Rena – are missing and are presumed to be captives of the Ethereal Collective. Currently there have been no demands or threats made against the Imperial children, although we cannot discount the possibility that this will be used in the future.
Allowing some immediate speculation, the children were the future of the Imperial bloodline and were likely intended to succeed the late Emperor at some point in the future. The fact that they are now in the hands of the Collective – and at fairly young ages (9 and 6, respectively), indicates that the aliens may use them as pawns to legitimize or rally Human support when they potentially establish a government over Japan. Having the children of the Imperial bloodline would be legitimizing to their control, even if their actual influence over the actual Japanese population is primarily among the older and more nationalistic demographics.
It will also be a difficult sell due to the fact that the majority of Japanese citizens are displaced due to the alien invasion of Japan, and the fact that it is being deliberately targeted again does not exactly engender support to the aliens. This likely means that the Collective will not use the children unless they ultimately emerge victorious in this war and reveal them to a much more pacified Human crowd.
It is important that this issue be revealed quickly and publicly. A demand for the return of the children of the Imperial Family must be issued. The Collective will not comply, of course, but it will hurt their already tarnished image further, and can be utilized quite effectively for further rallying support to ADVENT. Given the revelation of the developments of the SAS, convincing the African nations of what the aliens intend is imperative and this serves as a fine example of what they intend for us.
That being said, this reveals a vulnerability we unfortunately did not anticipate. While the monarchies and old bloodlines of the world are no more inherently worthy of status than others, the fact remains that for now they do remain a symbol of culture and status, especially to certain nations. We did not expect the aliens to target these individuals as they have, at best, given only superficial support to ADVENT and not been further involved (with some exceptions, such as Prince Mason), and their identities have been protected.
This is clearly no longer the case. The aliens are signaling that they intend to go after figures of culture and/or status – and it is possible that they will not restrict themselves to only monarchies and old families. They could very well target celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile figures of culture and/or status. While not directly damaging to ADVENT, attacking these figures will damage morale and make ADVENT appear incapable of protecting these individuals.
At minimum we need to reconfigure our own protocols regarding monarchies, as it appears that the individual who did this essentially walked in, killed the Imperial Family, and then left without anyone being the wiser. We initially did not know anything was amiss until the surveillance team failed to check in. The soldier who went to find them found them bound, gagged, and blinded, as well as propped up to give the illusion of being active to a passive observer. The armor of one of the soldiers was gone, and presumably utilized by the assassin.
The assassin who carried this out was extremely – and worryingly – competent. The bodies of the Imperial Families were not left in plain sight unless doctored to appear that way. The most common cause of death was a snapped neck. Others were strangled or smothered. No penetrating objects were utilized, nor were there any signs of a struggle usually.
This assassin either killed them from behind or when they were unaware, or they were somehow not alarmed in his presence. The bodies themselves were stashed in wardrobes, clothing chests, or left in beds to give the illusion of sleep. In all cases it was not immediately apparent that the victims were dead, one could justifiably assume they were sleeping or just gone somewhere else.
The assassin left behind no trace whatsoever – another concerning development. There were no fingerprints or traces of DNA left on anything. Our immediate speculation is that the assassin was utilizing cybernetics which would not have any of those things, which could be covered through fake skin or clothing.
He also went to impressive lengths to remove or hide any kind of evidence he was there. The security room that he intruded upon had the hard drives themselves completely removed and currently have not been recovered. All the equipment was subsequently unplugged, but undamaged. The assassin was clever in hiding his identity – but unfortunately for him, not clever enough.
There is one sole piece of good news to this – we do know who he is. Unfortunately, the answer doesn't make any sense, but has certain implications.
Thanks to the armor cameras of the ADVENT soldier who was bound and propped up, we were able to recover footage of the assassin. I can only presume that the assassin either didn't know, or forgot about the fact that ADVENT armor has body cameras, but in either case, we have actual footage of the assassin.
What does not make sense is that this individual is quite clearly Prince Kaneda. Facial recognition confirms this with complete accuracy. It explains how he was able to enter the safe house, as logs show that Kaneda entered the compound, and then exited it a few hours later – presumably with the children (this was not reported).
Prince Kaneda was scheduled to be briefed on the situation with Japan earlier that day, and then inexplicably called to cancel the appointment citing a need to return to the safe house. We sent a Peacekeeping team to retrace the path his transport had taken, and found his body tossed in a ditch along the route. We can only presume that the Collective intended for us to find him to show that the entire family would be eliminated.
There is the possibility that the Prince was telepathically controlled, but there are several reasons to dispute this theory. The first of which is that there would have been biometric evidence left behind, as the assassin was not wearing gloves, and the second is that the Prince was not trained in close-quarters combat – and certainly not strong enough to eradicate the entire family with such mechanical precision.
So the question of exactly who killed the Imperial Family remains a mystery. It implies that there is a group or possibly just a single alien operative working within the Collective that can alter their physical appearance so completely as to be indistinguishable from the real thing. Several witnesses did report that the assassin when he was masquerading as the Prince was able to speak Japanese, although one witness did say that there seemed something strange, and that he didn't speak very long.
New security protocols will need to be implemented to address this kind of breach. Which could include biometric confirmation of identity, as well as possibly telepathic checks. Secondary off-site security stations may need to be constructed as well, possibly overlapping ones to prevent all physical video evidence from being destroyed.
I would also recommend that this is the perfect opportunity to revamp ADVENT security as a whole and transition from evidence stored on physical devices, and instead having all security footage be uploaded straight to the secured cloud where it can't be removed simply by taking out the hard drives. This would also, I will note, serve as an anti-telepath measure in case someone tries to carry out similar operations.
There is one final point of interest – the fact that the Imperial Family was not completely eliminated. There is Princess Kiyumi Egusa, who made headlines some years ago by renouncing her lineage to marry a commoner Japanese man. She is currently residing in Canada with her husband and son. It is likely the assassin didn't target her due to this fact, although she has been moved to a safe house just in case and informed of the situation. It is possible that she may take over as the surviving Empress and rebuild the family anew. The ADVENT Diplomatic Corps are working with her and close contacts of the Imperial Family to decide their future. She will likely make a statement in the coming days.
The other survivor of note is Princess Kaya, who quietly enlisted in ADVENT as a soldier under the alias of Tora Sato, and placed with a non-Japanese squad to protect her identity, shortly before the First Battle of Japan and participated in the conflict. She also participated in the Second Battle of Japan, successfully evacuated, and participated in the First Battle of Korea. Needless to say, she has been heavily involved in the Asian Theatre of the conflict and has been internally marked as a candidate for the Officer Corps.
Most recently she was selected for the opportunity (along with half of her squad) to be part of the initial soldiers within the developing Order of Terra. She has spent the last several months training heavily. Thanks to her training as a child, she has a unique advantage and has been established as a Samurai unit, which synergizes well with her close quarters skills and displayed marksmanship in previous battles.
Technically, she could return and take control of the family, as she is now next in line. However, we are not expecting her to take the position at this point, though she has been informed of what has happened and is digitally participating in talks currently being had regarding the Imperial Family and its future. Due to the possibility of the Order of Terra being deployed in the near future, we cannot transport her away without compromising her safety and identity – likely the reason the assassin was unable to eliminate her as well.
Unlike Princess Kiyumi, Kaya never renounced her family and is the only 'legitimate' heir to the Imperial Family, so she could very well be targeted again in the future.
These are the current facts regarding the situation. We will appraise you as it develops further.
- Amalda Stein, Chief of Peacekeeper Operations
In the midst of the current offensive being waged against ADVENT, more bad news has befallen the nation of Japan which has currently suffered from an orbital bombardment attack as well as a subsequent invasion once more by the Ethereal Collective following the day's earlier warning from the Ethereal Isomnum who threatened the capture of the nations should ADVENT not capitulate to the Collective.
Less than an hour ago ADVENT confirmed reports that the Imperial Family has been assassinated and that the two young children of the Imperial Family - Mashai and Rena – have been abducted and are presumed to be captives of the Ethereal Collective. ADVENT has stated that they are still investigating and currently have no information to share regarding the identity or identities of the individuals who carried this out, or how such an act was accomplished at all.
"We are still working to gather as many facts and as much information as possible before deciding how to properly respond," Chief Stein said in a statement released shortly after the initial press release. "This attack against an innocent family, regardless of their lineage, is indicative of the tactics the aliens will employ on all those who merely defy their rule."
She later added several comments. "However, we should understand that the ultimate objective of the Collective was not to simply assassinate the Imperial Family, but also subvert them through the direct abduction of their children. Yet they did not succeed completely. There are two surviving members of the Imperial Family who we will not disclose at this time, suffice to say they are under heavy protection and we are working with them to determine the future of the Imperial Family and ensure its survival."
The words of Chief Stein were met with both surprise and relief, as well as generating immediate speculation as to the identities of the survivors. It is widely believed that Princess Kiyumi Egusa, who in a shocking decision several years ago renounced her royal heritage to marry a common Japanese man, is one of the survivors. We have reached out to her family and currently have not received a response. ADVENT soldiers have been spotted around her house, which has only added legitimacy to the idea that she is still alive and being protected by ADVENT.
The identity of the other survivor is unknown, as ADVENT has not released a complete list of the victims; the only definitive confirmation was the fact that Emperor Tamotsu was one of the victims of the attack. ADVENT has not indicated if they intend to release the list of victims or not, and will likely not make a decision until the future of the Imperial Family is decided.
This attack has only added fury to an already incised population. Many Japanese citizens have already been displaced due to the war, and watched their country suffer under some of the heaviest fighting during the war, as it has withstood two alien attacks before initially succumbing, was retaken, and has since suffered an orbital bombardment destroying what is presumed to be the last of their major infrastructure, and has once more fallen to the Ethereal Collective.
The deaths of the majority of the Imperial Family have been yet another direct attack against the Japanese population, and the short duration between these recent events has already shown to be a catalyst for many seeking retaliation. Social media has been filled with Japanese citizens – many of whom are living in Germany, Canada, and Russia – condemning the Collective and promising retaliation. They are joined by others around the world echoing their sentiments.
Former and current Japanese government officials have also reacted with similar disgust and fury. Japanese Prime Minister Reizo Sakata stated the following: "It is clear the Collective is not content to merely kill the soldiers who fight against this scourge, but actively seek to destroy all who dare support those who oppose their tyrannical rule. Being a civilian or non-combatant is no longer protection from the Ethereals. They have assassinated our Emperor; there can be no mercy or forgiveness for such acts, only blood. There is no other option left, all must join and fight for it is no longer our nation, our culture, and people on the line, but our species. What they have done to us, they will do to all nations until there are none remaining but the docile, the enslaved, and the traitors."
This remains the most direct the Prime Minister has been in his statements, which have diminished in recent months, and it is likely many Japanese will take his words to heart. ADVENT has already confirmed a surge in Japanese recruits, and is working to quickly accommodate and process this increased volume.
Chancellor Vyandar has also issued a brief statement on the situation. "The actions taken against the Imperial Family are cowardly and show the weakness of the Collective," she said. "They know they will have far more difficulty against military targets and figures, and so instead they target civilians and kidnap children in a juvenile attempt to break our morale and spirit; to make us afraid of them. But their actions invoke no fear, they only awaken our righteous fury."
She continued shortly on. "There are those in the Collective who say they have honor and rules of conduct they follow, yet that appears to be a continual lie perpetuated by a coward with no will to stand against the Imperator or Ethereals like Isomnum. We formally demand you release the children of the Imperial Family into ADVENT custody unharmed in both body and mind, as well as the individual or individuals responsible for this heinous and cowardly act."
The Ethereal Collective has not yet responded to this statement.
- Article: Breaking News: Confirmed Massacre of the Imperial Family [Update 5]