-October 19th, 2016 of the Gregorian calendar
Michael was in shock was he stared at the newspaper in his hand, the empire had excepted a ceasefire agreement! "And the United states has selected George Cooper to be ambassador and representative of the United states in the upcoming peace talks with the Saderan empire." He read out loud for his squad to her. "We'll boys, It appears in a short few weeks we can go home." "Now makes you say that Cork?" Says Zhoa, "We still have to occupy and govern so shit does fall apart like Iraq ya know."
It was one thing to beat a enemy on the field but to occupy was a whole other beast, and the US had learned that during the war on terror that after 15 years still raged on. But many believed it'd be a piece of cake as the native Falmartians only had medieval weaponry with a hand full of Matchlocks though it really didn't matter to the young private as he looked to the now hopeful future. He had spent 98 days on a new world where everything was out to kill him and finally he had the chance to return home soon.
"Even if that's the case, let's not dwell on it on our time off." Said Collins who was uncharacteristically cheerful. He wasn't a jackass by all means the man had for the majority of the time been professional. But the private simply shook it off as the corporal being happy that the fighting would end soon and he couldn't blame him, the end of the war was in sight. He grabbed his cup of beer and chugged it down, some random song blasting from some speaker and the sun disappearing beneath the distant hills. But little did he know, a group of spies were lurking in the shadows of Alnus and Fort cluster who had a different notion of the soon to be end of hostilities.
-Vulcaneous 19th, 687 of the Imperial calendar
Norra watched the citizenry of Alnus go on with their daily lives as she clinged to the underside of a Other-worlder's carriage as it unknowingly lead her to her target; the enemy's headquarters. The dar had a light brown fur with piercing green eyes and sharp claw like finger nails on the ends of her fingers. The empire was on the back foot and had excepted peace talks to buy time so it could rebuild it's army and fortify positions to protect strategic points of high value like the capital and Rondel.
She and many others were recruited by the Oprichnina to cunduct espionage against what the princess had called Americans. Her first mission was to steal valuable intel that could help the empire gain the upper hand. Then she felt the weight of the carriage move forward and stopped, 'We must be at their base.' Norra could hear them talking and a dog though luckily she had bathed in Iris flowers that reduced her scent to practically nothing so she had little to worry.
After a short period of time the contraption finally began moving, she let out a quiet sigh of relief as she had avoided a risky situation. From her position she could see that they were entering some sort of shed where other iron carriages were stored. The carriage rocked slightly as a American stepped out and began talking to what the dar quested to be a craftsman.
Norra was relieved when finally the soldier began walking away, leaving the other to inspect the front of the carriage. With the sound of a door closing, she slowly lowered herself onto the cold stone ground and readied herself for the kill. Pulling out a fang dagger she crawled to the opposite end of the carriage, got up and sneaked behind another carriage before closing in on her prey.
In a blur she placed one hand over his hand and with the other used the dagger to slit open his throat. She found it amusing watching him struggle to get her off as blood poured from his mortal wound and mouth. Alas, he stopped struggling and died. With much hast she hid his body underneath a carriage and wiped her blood soaked hand onto his uniform.
While she could transform to look like those she killed, it'd take too long and wanted her reward as soon as possible. And besides, she had a trick up her sleeve. She put her hand in her cloak pocket and pulled out special amulet she had gotten off from a mage she assassinated some years prior which allowed the user including clothing to become invisible as long as they wore it.
In a split second of putting it on she seemingly vanished and walked over to a window. Norra could see guards on their patrols and two building that caught her attention. One was a rectangular building with a flag she could barely see proudly flew as men with white helmets and white armbands guarding the entrance while on the opposite side was a another building but it was a half cylinder and no windows. "Hmmm...which one should I search first?" She asked herself. While the building with the guards was the more alluring target, the other one could have something valuable, something that could increase her reward exponentially.
Despite being a skill assassin, she was a arrogant person and what could baffle anyone moved a notch and opened the door just enough for her to slip out just in time as a torch wielded by a guard beaned to the door. She grinned as the guard walked past her invisible body, not realizing he had just walked passed a spy. 'Fool.' She thought as quietly walked over to the warehouse. The assassin gently gripped the door handle and found it locked but only scoffed as she had come prepared. Years of experience had taught her that whenever a door was locked, there was something of value inside so she had learned the art of lock-picking.
Pulling out her tools she got to work and had it unlocked at a impressive speed. Making sure no one was looked she slinked into the building and slowly shutting the door. Inside she walked around and found all sorts of things like helmets, boots, pants, shirts and things she had not seen before. As she was looking about she found a green metal box, filled with curiosity she picked up the thing and opened the lid to find strange metal darts. One was about the size of a human finger and appeared to be made of brass, while normal darts she had seen were made of wood with poison dipped on the point. She made a mental note to take it with her and placed it down to find more things.
She then saw a line of racks with strange black staffs that had destroyed the mighty Imperial army. Picking on up she inspected it carefully, it had a small handle, a sling, some notches at the front like a crossbow with a circle towards the back and weird grips at the front. 'Strange." She thought, 'Guess it's time to go.' She with weapon in hand walked over to the box and while not having room for the box itself she grabbed handfuls of the darts, stuffing them in her pocket with as many as she could. Wanting to keep the weapon out of sight she buttoned up the pocket with the darts, took off the cloak, slung the staff over her shoulder and then put back on the cloak, hiding the weapon.
Now with her mission she sneaked out of the warehouse and saw a iron carriage about enter through the checkpoint. Quickly and silently she rushed to the gate and hurriedly pip toed pass the carriage, outside of the fort's walls and when she was a safe distance took off the amulet and disappeared into the night.
-Vulcaneous 20th, 687 of the Imperial calendar
Zorzal was grinning ear to ear, delighted that his plan had work. "Maid, what did the spy collect?" He asked before taking a sip of wine. "She had stolen one of the enemy's black staffs, which turned out to be their version of a kanoni though we still don't know the fundamentals of it's function for its a radically different design."
"This is great news! Make sure that demi-human is paid as soon as possible." The servant only nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the prince to relish in his pride. He had before the war despised spies, believing that they were cowards for fight so dirty until the Volgolian uprising. A spy had revealed that the rebels know Zorzol's route to the battlefield and would ambush him but he didn't listen, he wouldn't died that day if not for the quick reaction of the Imperial guards.
He was or at least in his mind a warrior at heart and didn't like ambushing the enemy or using new glory less weapons but it was necessary for the survival of his empire. His father by decree ordered ten legions to be trained and fully equipped with hand-kanonis but so far only four had completed their training and the 170th legion had suffered reasonably high casualties earlier that month with 328 dead and another 1,000 wounded though his was actually much better rates then most legion sent into battle.
With the ceasefire the two sides had agreed to temporarily stop fighting to begin peace talks at the Jade palace later in just a week, which pissed off Zorzal. Saderans were a proud people and didn't bow do to nobody and especially to barbarians. He couldn't believe what his sister had told him and their father. Their enemy called themselves the United states of America and they were alien in almost every way. They were a republic but allow its common peasants to vote for their leaders, it didn't have slavery or magic and they didn't even have nobility what so ever.
It was slap to the face to be beaten by them and the Saderan people would be dishonored for centuries if they complied. The prince didn't even want to think of what would happen if they capitulated, thankfully though his father shared similar notions. "I must tell father about this great achievement!" He got up and headed straight for the Imperial palace.
Ten minutes later
The army of maids bowed and Imperial guards saluted as the crown prince made his way to the throne room where his father resided. He looked at the painting of all the emperors the came before him like Kolna the wise and Eza the Vll who's facial expression forever frozen in ink. He pushed the giant throne doors open to reveal his father talking to Marcus, the emperor's personal adviser. Molt looked his his son, "What is it Zorzal?" "Father...I have brilliant news! A spy last night had infiltrated the enemy headquarters and captured a enemy kanoni, this may be the key to-" "Silence!" He roared, shocking the crown prince.
"Do you know what you'll done?! The empire cannot afford to make any aggressive moves at this time, tis action could spell doom for our nation." "But father!" Countered Zorzal, "This could be the miracle we need! Our best blacksmiths will reverse engineer these weapons and we'll push the Other-worlders from our lands." But it was clear that Molt wasn't dealing with his son's reckless behavior. "I wish the enemy off our lands as well, but if you dare attempt that again." He started, "Then I'll have no choice but to take away your birthright!"
He was horrified, the thought alone mad this blood turn cold, "Is that understood?" With his back against the wall and with a ultimatum the could strip him off his right to the throne he backed down. The crown prince got down onto his knee and bowed his head, "Y-yes father...It will not happen again." "Good, now get out." Without a moment notice he got up and walked out.
As he walked down the hallway he was overcome by emotions, horror, distraught, anger, it all boiled up into a single one; Vengeance. 'How dare he threaten my birthright! All I want is Victory for the empire!' Everything disappeared as he entered deeper into thought. 'It appears that father is cracking like the cowardly senate, he cannot accept peace! The empire will not accept peace!'
He ignored the servant opening his carriage door and sat down in complete silence. 'I must not allow the empire to crumble, I'll will be one to save it from both the enemy and itself! Even...if it means that father and all the other defeatists must go.' There in that moment a seed was born and in time it'd lead to the deaths of many.
Despite the war simmering down, tensions is still burning strong! I'll show how the Americans will react to this and how the two nations will begin their uneasy peace talks. I'll see you next time friends!