(OOC: This is basically a vignette on the Watchers' past experiences. The Watcher delegation from the Missionara-Watcher RP are included.)
Part I
////OS v. 2.3 1961 TERMINAL #25 B-21 TS 3////
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// - IMPERIAL ARCHIVES HISTORICAL RECORDS - IMPERIAL WATCHERS - //
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//WELCOME, LIBRARIAN-ARCHIVIST 532-C-JADE
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////LOADING REQUEST////
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//IMPERIAL ARCHIVES REPORT AUDIO RECORDTRANSCRIPT - MISSION 394 - //
/Xingyou Mountains, Oriental-Imperial Contested Territory, March 13-25, 1976
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/Watcher-Field Archivist Paulus Einkauft, Age 24 (Pre-PTSD), designated “Paul”
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/9:43AM, 13/1976/Paul:
/Left camp about, uh, 9:09 SIT, equipment complement is, lets see, standard military helmet, StormWyrm winter gear, bolt-action rifle, nine strip clips of ammunition, standard-issue Watcher observer kit, four smoke grenades, radio, six battery packs, a light datapack, and this audio recorder. I've got rations to last a few weeks and my cooking kit. Additionally, I’m carrying a large amount of remote surveillance devices.
/
(papers being rustled around)/My objective is to report conditions on the Oriental Commune labor camp just west of here and do my best to intervene.
/
(chuckles)/I’m no Marine-Guard, but I didn’t go through ten years of university at fourteen just so I wouldn’t be able to put that chemistry degree to good use. I plan to meet up with WJ-34N, should take me a day. I believe [REDACTED] already filled him in. Going to get going before this storm gets worse.
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/5:32AM, 14/1976/Paul:
/Weather anomaly, looks like a blizzard might kick in soon. Small OCDLA
[1] patrol went by a few klicks back. Pretty sure they didn’t see me. WJ-34N is a little more than seven minutes away at the rendezvous. I’m currently-
/
(Einkauft pauses, the sound of motors is heard over the wind)/Oh, fuck.
/
(rifle bolt slides back, a clip is heard inserted, then the action is heard snapping shut)/OCDLA Officer:
/Lower your weapon, Watcher, for the people shall triumph over the bourgeoisie! The proletariat shall rise!
/Paul:
/Fick dich!
[2]/
(Rifle gunshot, later confirmed to be Paul's)/OCDLA Soldier:
/(indistinct)
/
Automatic gunfire, bullets are heard landing near microphone/(moving is heard, Paul later confirmed that he crawled to a tree on all fours.)
(
Rifle gunshots in quick succession, each shot punctuated by the sound of a round ejecting and the bolt turning./
(A sharp crack is heard)/Paul:
/Who the-
/WJ-34N:
/Paul! Are you hurt?
/Paul:
/Thank god! No, I’m fine!
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////BIS CLEARANCE SILVER REQUIRED TO VIEW THIS ATTACHMENT////
PROFILE OF WJ-34N (1968)
MILITARY DESIGNATION: WJ-34N/HARPY 58
CIVILIAN NAME: BANGZHILI SKELTZER
OCCUPATION: MILITARY COMMISIONED WILDERJAEGER
AGE:[REDACTED]
GENDER:MALE
RANK:SECOND LIEUTENANT
COMMENDATIONS REFERENCE: SEE COMMENDATIONAL RECORDS 57B-58B
ETHNICITY: MANDARIN-GERMAN
/k/Hey Ibern, have you seen my coffee mug?
/n/No, why?
/k/Because Anna took a visit to Quintelia and bought some coffee. I want to try it out, do you want some?
/n/Sure
/AD/ Really you two? Using a records terminal for comms? Are you actually serious right now?
/k/Well, Jan is still fixing the server, so we can’t use the internal messaging system, but the internal comms system on the older terminals is still active, so why not?
/n/Plus, who's going to access these records anyway? I can’t see the Imperial Throne releasing the information internationally.
/AD/The worst part is that you’re both most likely right... Can you get me a cup?
/n/ long day?
/AD/yes.
/k/we’ll you get you extra.
/n/I’ll bring the beer and wine. Do you want whiskey in coffee like Ebensberg?
/AD/yes, and give me three extra shots please.
/n/wow, BIS secure networking is that stressful?
/AD/I have not seen the outside world for two weeks. The coffee machine is broken. Abentenstein broke the video game console and the entertainment room is out of commission for renovation.
/k/ feel free to drop on by here for your cup. Now let me search for my mug in the meantime.
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/2:01AM, 17/1976/Paul:
/Right, so WJ-34N and I have made repeated trips to the labor camp in the last couple of days. We've managed to arm at least a dozen inmates and finally convinced a pretty decent number to assist in the escape. We’ve got the shelters ready to go as soon as they’re out, and I've arranged for transport by helicopter. There are about two hundred, and the three helicopters have can carry about twenty each, so... we'll make about ten trips back and forth to get everyone. I asked if we could get air screening, but the military needs every plane to bomb the OC bases, so we’ll have to make do.
/WJ-34N:
/Perhaps we should mention the conditions of the camp?
/Paul:
/The camp conditions...oh… oh god…
/WJ-34N:
/It’s alright if you want me to explain.
/Paul:
/No…no, it’s fine. I’ll… I’ll manage.
/
(movement, camera is audibly moved closer to speakers)
/The conditions… they’re horrible. I don’t think there is another way to describe them. The inmates work about thirteen hours a day and get about 5,000 calories per meal, if a soupy gruel with a potato can be considered a meal. If they even get one. They make everyone work but the children. The children are held hostage and placed at gunpoint to convince the adults to work. And…
/(choked sob)
/WJ-34N:
/Its ok, I’ll do it.
/Paul:
/No, its fine. They shoot the children and their parents when the parents get exhausted. There’s even this one sadistic bastard of a guard who purposely makes them work themselves weak, then uses that as an excuse to murder them. The only good thing that has come out of this madness of a camp is that we have two, maybe three guards who still possess humanity. They’ve been trying to smuggle the children out, and when we made contact, they begged us to rescue the inmates as soon as possible. I need more troops to break them free, and I need them before someone dies again.
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/AUDIO RECORDING TRANSCRIPT - MARCH 18, 1976
//BEGIN RECORDING//
/WJ-34N:
/Is it recording?
/Paul:
/It certainly is now.
/WJ-34N:
/So what was it you wanted to tell me?
/Paul:
/Skeltzer… are we really the heros here?
/WJ-34N:
/What do you mean?
/Paul: We Imperial Dragonaii always accuse the Communists of murdering and torture… but don’t we do the same? The camps just south of Nanjing, the “detainment work camps?
/WJ-34N:
/The ones that drag prisoners to the mountains to die in the mines? Heitternacht Camp? With the crematoriums?
/Paul:
/Precisely. Why are we copying the enemy? Did we not vow to be better?
/WJ-34N:
/The Imperial Throne does what it wants, Paul. I’m sure, however, that the next emperor will change things for the better.
/Paul:
/Prince Regent Jinghongri?
/WJ-34N:
/That’s him. He seems decent, doesn’t he?
/Paul:
/...we’ll see. His temper is frightening.
/WJ-34N:
/Mmh.
//END RECORDING
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/5:34PM, 23/1976/Paul:
/Watcher Central must’ve gotten the Emperor’s attention, because Marine-Guard Shock Troopers arrived today. Probably because he wants to clean up his reputation from that massacre in Electorate Square with the protesters.
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/7:39AM, 24/1976/Paul:
/Attack begins tomorrow at 4AM. Everyone’s restless, even the Marine-Guard officer. Let us end this.
/...those poor children...
/10:10PM, 25/1976/Paul:
/We did it. Rescued all the survivors. Buried the others. We’ve captured a few guards that the actually humane ones and other prisoners ratted out. I won’t feel bad about them dying in the mines, at least.
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//END OF RECORDS//
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