Print Page - Little Death

Roleplay => Diplomacy and Events => Topic started by: Libby on August 30, 2017, 08:33:29 PM

Title: Little Death
Post by: Libby on August 30, 2017, 08:33:29 PM

Spoiler: STORY SO FAR • show

OOC - Continuing this in the next few days, still not too late to join in just chat with me on Discord or somehing

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 02, 2017, 06:13:26 PM

OOC- Thanks to Dave and Robert for loans

Nathanial Corrino (http://w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS/single/?p=10045472&t=30231823) stood waiting for the Agira Latinan to arrive, this Albanus Ares character would hopefully be able to tell them what the hell had been going on. Meanwhile his companion on the trip [http://w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS/single/?p=10062890&t=30231823]the newly graduated Sarah[/url] had taken up a position sitting on a wall surroudning a bright white marble pool. Without moving she tracked three guards she could see, each wearing sunglasses and smart designer suits, to her trained eyes however she could make out the pistols on their hips. "You got the guy pacing in the trees" Nathanial asked her without looking her way in Gaelic, a language he was confident none of the Agirans would speak.

"And check she has the marksman by the garage there" a man asked as he emerged from the pool house behind them, he had a heavily accented Gaelic but his vocabulary was spot on. "Now, I've meet Anna Fremen many times, but she never mentioned you" the man was clearly suspcious and so Nathanial handed over the note that had come from Anna. Albanus read it for a while as he stood there dressed in flip flops swimming shorts and a crisp white shirt clearly they had disturbed his afternoon. "So, what's your connection to the Sisterhood" he asked as he folded the letter up and slipped it into his shirt pocket, "The little one" he pointed to Sarah, "I understand, a shiny new Truthsayer?" he turned to face Sarah who was unsure what to do and so simply nodded. "So, who are you?"

"Just a loyal follower of the Bene Gesserit faith" Nathanial had expected some questions, "You know, equal oppurtunities and the like, can't have women do all the work can we." he shrugged as Albanus laughted.

"Well take a seat" he pointed to one of the cane chairs around the pool and held one out for Sarah, once his guests were seated he himself took a seat. "The letter says you have some questions about some past shipments, I do trust everything was in order" he sounded like a concerned salesman, after all he probably was, the Truthsayers were amongst his best customers, they came to him for small arms, ammunition, uniforms and occassionally some bigger specialist equipment. They were a custom he didn't want to lose and so them sending someone new here was a little unnerving.

"It's not a problem, it just seems that we've a discrepancy in our accounting, some bits and pieces that we need to work out where the hell its gone. You know how business can be" Nathanial explained beginning his probing.

"Ah, yes, how you would say cross the T and dot the I" Albanus poured himself a glass from a newly arrived bottle of wine. He began to move to pour for Sarah and she politely declined, Nathanial however took a small glass. "Now I can probably remember all the transactions, tell me what you think your missing and I'll tell you what happened."

Nathanial took out a pocket book and began reading out the entries, each one a date, an account number used to pay for it and then lists of equipment, all given to him by the Truthsayers for the past two years, each and everyone of their purchases recorded so they could track their stockpile of weapons. "Ah, there is your mistake" Albanus said looking at his tablet rest on his table. "There was not just those weapons that day, but also these" he turned the tablet over and showed Nathanial the screen, "I think your Quartermaster didn't quiet get the paperwork right that day" he chuckled, "Normally that Olivia is so certain" he had never meet her, just traded e-mails with her through their relationship as freedom fighter and arms smuggler.

Nathanial looked at the entry and jotted it down, on the list were explosives, flashbangs, a whole host of other materials, all of which would have been used to attack the convoy in East Moreland, all he needed now was where it went. "I need you to tell me where that shipment was originally delivered to"

"Meh, so maybe you lose things hey" Albanus chuckled once more, "This Missionara girls of yours not so good at maths" he took the tablet back. "They went to Arrakeen, I sent them through a little air conditioning company that fronts for me in East Moreland." He wrote down the name and address, "You think they may be responsible?" he looked serious now.

"Possibly" Nathanial said as he took the information.

"If you find that some of my workers have stolen, then by all means I will replace the goods, you're my best customers and I do not wish to lose you, after all my young wife has expensive taste and all this doesn't come for free." he gestured around his estate. "I would prefer to lose some of my staff than my customer, one can always find new staff, one can not always find as generous" he turned to face Sarah, "and beautiful customers"

"I think if this checks out sir they'll be no issue what so ever." Nathanial stood. "Come on Sarah we've some work to do" he extended a hand to Albanus, it was odd this was a man who would normally have been supplying the terrorists Nathanial and his comrades in the East Moreland Army fought against, but here he was, walking away from someone that probably his commanders would love to have had a chance to capture and he was leaving not saying a word. It was strange this divided loyalty but deep down he knew it was the Sisterhood and not the Cult that he would follow. Sarah stood received a kiss on the hand from Albanus instead of the offered hand shake and then followed Nathanial out the estate gate, she could just hear Albanus wife yelling at him wondering who the girl was as they walked the two streets away to their car.

"So what do we do now?" Sarah asked as she put her seat belt on.

"I'm going to East Moreland, you're going to Ui Cenneslaig" Nathanial pulled out the quiet street checking around them as they went to ensure no one was following. "Not like it'll be tough getting in and getting info on the place" Nathanial was already thinking how he could get the job done, it wouldn't be difficult he considered.

"Why split up?" Sarah was still learning how all this worked and was keen to learn from someone obviously so confident.

"Remember everyone thinks I'm a Morelander" he smiled, "I've got friends who can help, I drop the name Borlander and we're off to the races. "Meanwhile I'm going to need someone in Lifeboat back home to move on any information I send back pretty quick. It may not be pleasant." he prepared her.

"I'll get the job done" she said nervously. They spent most of the drive back to the airport in silence, booked their flights and then returned to the hotel to gather their things ready for the morning."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on September 02, 2017, 10:53:45 PM

It took a while for the small patrol ship reaching the rendezvous point several miles off the Uburzian coast. The weather was rainy and a storm was brewing, perfect conditions to stay in harbor unless you have something to hide.

Matilda had been instructing them clearly, the packaged Traitor sitting tied up in a crate ready for delivery. A little thank you to the Benne Gesserit for giving them the spies identity. Officially he had fled the country before the police was able to catch him, in reality he was grabbed from his home in the dead of night.
They didn't even bother interrogating him to much, as a power station technician he never really came close to important people so far. But as a gift for their potential Partners, he was invaluable. While the trouble in Moreland had clouded the potential of this joint venture, the Admiral and the Prince Regent had instructed that the Spy was enough of proof whom was their better potential ally in the future.

And so the crew of the small vessel waited for the pickup to arrive, armed and nervous.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: DaveIronside on September 04, 2017, 08:49:29 PM

The Red Legion boys were busy tooling up at Northfort barracks, they'd had a tip off about a Borlander front, complete with details of shipments, the intel seemed pretty detailed and so they had been tasked to check it out. The four man team of Sgt.Thomas, Cpl.Barks, Legionnaire Saxby and some guy fresh out of training called Jenkinson. They were busy signing out gear from the quartermaster, "Room for one more" James Gillespie (http://w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS/single/?p=10044667&t=30221538) asked as he entered the stores.

"Hey our little wall hero is back" Sgt.Thomas (http://w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS/single/?p=10044021&t=30221538) lead the group in a round of applause. "You get your nice shiny medal? Tea and biscuits at the Palace." James just smiled and drew supplies by handing over his list of requirements. The Red Legionnaire missing three fingers who manned the stores got on with finding it all and placing it into a large plastic box.

"Nice to have you back" Saxby (http://w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS/single/?p=10044021&t=30221538) patted him on the back, "I would ask if you've brain damage but they'd have had to find it first" Gillespie merely fake laughed at their jibes as he waited for his box. He'd gotten knocked out in Stoneton briefly and had been given time off to recover from a concussion but was back and raring to go.

Three Days Later

The team had spent the last few days observing the target building a small little warehouse on the cities second airports outfield, there were several deliveries each day and Gillespie had intercepted one at the edge of the airfield, it was operated by the national mail company and he was now the Postman. He drove the van up to the front of the warehouse where workers were busy stacking boxes onto pallets and clingfilm wrapping them. "Morning chaps, can I get a signature" he asked as he stepped down and began unloading the back of the van. A guy wearing a pair of black trousers and a uniform polo shirt wandered over, Gillespie kept his eyes moving around the warehouse as the man signed the form. "I'll give you a hand" Gillespie said as he gave the man some of the packages and carried some in of his own, he was looking for the tell take signs of people trying to hide things, he noted a few of the men looking a little shifty as he looked around. "What you sending anyway?" James asked.

"Piping, tubing, hoses, that kind of thing" the man sounded like he didn't really want a conversation as he put his boxes down, James placed his next to them on a table, spotted some spreadsheets and made sure to put his clipboard down over the top.

"Would you believe it" he said looking at the form. "I'm sorry mate but it didn't go through the carbon paper, could you sign the yellow one too, boss would kill me if I come back without a signature." The man tutted and signed it, James ripped off the white one and handed it over. "Thank you very much, enjoy your day" he picked up his clipboard carefully keeping the spreadsheet at the back. He returned to the van and disappeared off back to the main gate of the warehouse.

Gillespie handed over the intel, taken from a camera in his glasses and the spreadsheet to the intelligence boys and girls.

That Night

They'd looked over the images and data, it was clear something odd was going on, one of the image analysts was sure that he'd spotted what looked like mortar rounds being loaded into lengths of lead piping, it was worth checking out and so Barks and Saxby sneaked in after hours. "So Saxby what we got?" Barks asked as they carefully lifted the lid off one of the crates.

"Yeah, we've hardwear, a few rockets for MANPADS, looks like some radio gear too, certainly not water treatment gear." Saxby took images and then they replaced the lid.

The next morning the team hit the place, Gillespie had once again been driving the delivery van but when he opened the rear this time four well trained and aggressive Red Legionnaires burst out, Gillespie grabbed his own pistol and followed them in as two more vehicles screamed in and hit the place, not a single shot was fired and six arrests were made. All in all it was a good bust, as things were being secured James made his way into the warehouses office, there was a pile of guest ID's and he bagged them for evidence however it was the top one that worried him the face was familiar but he couldn't place it. He quickly took a picture of it and then sealed the bag.

"Hey Gilly" Barks was yelling from outside, "You've gotta be our lucky charm, back in the job three days, a good Borland bust and now the boss man's given us a long weekend before sending our asses out to Aland, how you like your whale meat?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on September 10, 2017, 01:05:14 AM

Nina Gliss (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg647#msg647) and her sister Elodie (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg949#msg949) entered Valtheim International Airport, plain clothes armed police in tow, one quick conversation with airport security later and they knew where their man was - gate thirty. They made their way to the gate and surveyed the scene from the upper level.
"There he is third row of seats over from the left right in the middle." Elodie said
"The flights going to Mercia." Nina said
"Do we take him here or do we take him there?" Elodie asked
"If he gets to Mercia he could disappear very easily." Nina said "It's a lot easier to lose a tail disembarking a flight than it is boarding it, right now he's vulnerable, he's exposed. So we'll take him now, you go and sit up near the gate I'll come in from the passageway. With luck he won't make a scene."
"No problem." Elodie said

Once Elodie had made her way into position and sat down Nina made her move, she entered the waiting area by the gate and took the seat behind the target so that her back was to his, there wouldn't be any heroics on this one as soon as the police team entered the area Nina made her move, she had the element of surprise so she drew her pistol and shoved the man forwards in his seat.
"You're under arrest." Nina said as an officer proceeded to put the cuffs on
"On what charge?" the man asked
"The murder of Franchesca Owens." Nina said

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 10, 2017, 11:21:48 PM

Sarah had laid low for a few days following the attempt to get hold of the nucler material, by the time she'd got to Heyra and the safehouse there her back up phone was full of messages and texts, it took her a few hours to get them straight before she could think. It seemed the leadership of the Sisterhood, those black wearing morons of the Mothers, had taken the attack badly. They were always so worried about things, "Stay hidden. Stay silent, the Kwizach Hadarach is coming." Sarah didn't buy that she believed that if this supreme being was to come back to Mundus they would need to be brought back, legend said they would come at a time when Mundus was plunged into a period of fire and torment, and that was exactly what she'd been trying to create, action and not words were the only way they were going to get Kaitaine back from those godless bastards.

She was thinking of her options, the nuclear one was probably gone now, but there were still other avenues to take, rumour had it there were chemical weapons doing the rounds of Zimalia and Scordisci that you could get through various backdoor avenues, but what she needed now was to retool and head to Zimalia and start that investigation. She used her phone to dial the front they had at the airport and found no answer, it was strange as it should have ben the middile of the working day. She tried three more times and nothing and so was left with little choice other than to phone the airport security. She asked casually about the company "I've tried ringing them four times but its not connecting" she told them.

"Nah, should be working" the security guy said, as he'd been instructed to by Red Legion, one of whom was sat recording the message. "They've been in and out all day."

"OK, thanks" Sarah wondered what was going on and decieded she'd just go to check it out herself.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: DaveIronside on September 11, 2017, 08:44:22 PM

"Gilly gone anywhere yet?" A rather flustered Barks asked as he ran into the admin block of Red Legion HQ. The clerk opened the app on the computer that showed who was on base and scanned the list.

"He scanned into the language lab about ten minutes ago, he is due off base this evening. Told me he was off to Vaguzia or something." The clerk went back to his duties of filing the stuff for the new arrivals for selection. Barks turned and ran across the bases large central parade square and into the low H block opposite that housed the language lab, Lt. Gillespie seemed to be there a lot recently and Barks found him in no time checking out a phrase book for Gaelic.

"You better be bloody fluent in that, follow me" the Corporal ordered the senior man who left the book and followed at the run as Barks hadn't hung around. Across the parade square once more and round the back of the PT block towards the hangars.

"Where the hell we going?" Gillespie asked as the sound of rotars began to fill the air, Barks didn't look back and simply jumped into the door of the helicopter, Gillespie realised it must be something major, maybe a Borlander attack, and so strapped himself in and put on the head set. Sat opposite him was Saxby who handed him his "Go Bag" a black duffel bag with his webbing, sword and weapon in. "We tooling up?" he asked as the aircraft was already over Aldfield Barrack walls heading South. "Someone tell me what the hells going on" he looked around, everyone was dressed in civvies.

"The standby team went down to Northfort about five minutes ago. The intel boffins have gone through a telephone call the airfield recieved and they wanted us two on scene as we originally hit the location." Saxby explained as he checked his own weapon, it was around a twenty minute flight to the target and the helicopter was keeping low over the forest.

"So why the hell do I get dragged in. I should be in a Vaguzian restaurant in a few hours" he looked at his watch, "Not messing around in a helicopter." Despite his annoyed act it was clear something major was going down.

"Yeah, well the intelligence lot said the caller is going to visit, seems persistant in trying to contact them, and had a Gaelic twang. We need someone who can speak that shit and you've been brushing up." Barks explained, "So next time you get leave just piss off straight away." The team sat preparing themselves mentally for perhaps going into combat when they landed and as the airfield came into view they removed their headsets to allow them a quick exit. "Oh shit I'm gonna get my new Converse messed up" was the last thing Gillespie heard Barks say as they disconnected and began to land.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 13, 2017, 10:35:19 PM

"Why the hell are we out here" Lydia Fremen (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg371#msg371) asked as they paddled the kayak along through the sea.

Sarah McPherson (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg411#msg411) checked her GPS and then returned to matching Lydia's strokes. "Nathanial suggested we come." It annoyed Lydia, Nathanial Corrino while not being a Truthsayer, for obvious reasons, was becoming more and more the de facto military leader of the Sisterhood outside of Kaitaine. He was however good at his job and got his hands dirty but centuries of tradition meant some Truthsayers didn't like his interference. Some liked even less the fact that this newer breed of Truthsayer seemed to have his favour, Lydia though was impressed with Sarah, she navigated better than a seasoned Truthsayer and she may appear a petite 19 year old but she had a sinewy strength that took everyone by surprise. The two had been tasked with meeting this patrol ship off the Uburzian coast. The impending storm had provided perfect cover and the survival gear they had stowed would keep them safe if they mistimed it, the large military style inflatable life raft sat deflated in the stern. "We're here" Sarah informed her. "You got the flare?" she asked and Lydia was already loading the gun, as agreed a single red flare was launched into the sky and while it drifted the pair prepared, assault weapons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADS_amphibious_rifle) were slung at their back ready should this be something more untoward, each instinctvely checked their ankles for the crystknife and then Lydia pushed a bag on a rope over the side containing some gear, if it went wrong they'd hit the water, grab rebreathers and try and swim away, not something they looked forward to but a plan was a plan. They waited for the boat to come into shouting range and then Sarah yelled. "We have an appointment, something about a package?" she yelled.

Joint Ironside Publication

By the time the Gillespie and his team arrived the standby team were already tooled up and ready to go. They'd temporarily took control of the airfields fire brigade hanger, and were mapping out their plan to snatch the impending visitor they believed was part of the Truthsayers. Gillespie was a little nervous, Saxby noticed the officer seemed a little more tense than normal. "You OK skip?" he asked as he handed him a tin mug full of thick tea.

"Yeah, just a bit concerned this is a come on, I mean they know we have some of their guys for sure, what if this is some revenge attack" he explained, Saxby laughed, they'd done similar operations on Borlanders several times and he'd never seen Gillespie so nervous, perhaps the Stoneton attack where Gillespie had been injured had left some mental scar.

"We'll be 'right" Saxby said patting him on the shoulder, "We've Barks, he'll sort us out if anything goes down" It was true Barks wasn't a Red to be toyed with and he was a quick thinker, nearly as quick as his temper could be. The issue addressed the team slipped into what the Red's did best, taking the piss out of each other until the spotters called it in.

"Single white female, blue car, approaching" the disguised Red's at the gate to the airfield let her in after a check of ID and the car rolled towards the hanger, it was open but no one home. They hoped she'd go in and poke around, being caught in the act of something. They watched as she entered calling a few names, it seemed like she was very familiar with the place. "GO!GO!GO!" words came over the radio and five men hurried across the tarmac between the fire station and the hanger, the woman was taken by surprise as five black clad men balaclava's levelled weapons at her. Barks, Saxby and Gillespie jogged over to find the woman kneeling with hands on her head.

"Who are you?" one of the assault team barked at her, his reply returned with an icey stare. "Tell us who you are or you'll be sorry" the cliche nearly made her laugh, a flicker of her mouth about to say something before stopping and the stare returning. "You speak English?" clearly she did, the early reaction confirming it. "Morelandish?" still nothing but a stare definatly back at the questioner.

"Gaelic?" Gillespie asked knowing the answer already before he walked to face her. Her mouth began to open and then stopped. "Tha fios agam cò thu Sarah[1]" James said as he let his weapon rest on the sling.

"Dè tha thu a 'dèanamh an seo?[2]" the woman said unsure if any of the others could speak the language they were conversing in. Barks stood behind mildly impressed with Gillespie's linguistic abilities.

"Bidh dragh oirbh mu sin nas fhaide air adhart. Airson a-nis feumaidh sinn faighinn a-mach às a seo.[3]" Gillespie said firmly in a tone that masked his message. "Pick her up, put the bitch in the fire brigades landrover while we search this place" They had no large vehicles with them having come in on the helicopter but needed somewhere to stick their prisoner securely. Barks opened the back and Gillespie was about to push their prisoner inside but stopped, "Better search her" he began patting her down in a thorough manner. "Anyone got plasticuffs" A pair were held up and he continued his search, as his hand reached her boot he felt what he had expected to find, a lump, he ignored it and instead pushed her onto the rough metal floor. "Saxby stand stag, I want to ask a few more questions, rest of you start checking that place out again." The men wandered off, knowing Saxby didn't speak word one of Gaelic he knew he was safe. "Fuirich còig mionaidean. Gearr an inneal a 'sgaradh thu bho na suidheachain aghaidh. Tha na h-iuchraichean mu thràth. Tha an fheansa an ear lag dràibheadh troimhe agus a 'cumail a' dol."[4]

"Fuck you Morelander" Sarah said spitting at him, letting a heavy Celtic accent come through.

"Nice" Gillespie said wipping the spit from his face with a gloved hand, a touch he thought a little unneccessary. He climbed down and slammed the door locking it behind him.

"What you say?" Saxby asked.

"I just told her that we thought she was a terrorist and that we hang them here, if she helped us we could see to it that she got a prison sentence, seems she's not interested in self preservation." he smiled as he walked away towards the hanger, "You coming?" he asked and Saxby jogged a few steps to catch up. "OK" Gillespie got the rest of the teams attention. "She's a Celt, seems she's one of these Truthsayers, my bet is she hoped to buy weapons here and move them through various countries. I'm guessing if the Kaitaine government had sleepers here so did the Bene Gesserit nutters" Saxby looked confused, it didn't seem like the woman had said that much but it was hard to disagree with Gillespies assessment.

Back across the tarmac Sarah had managed to get her Crystknife out of her ankle sheath using one hand, she was thankful Gillespie had used plasticuffs and she managed to split them. She glanced out the window of the back of the landrover and spotted the Red's were all in conversation, as quickly and quietly as she could she cut through the tarp that acted as the fire brigade landrovers roof and clambered into the front seat, just as Gillespie had said the keys were in the ignition, she knew she'd not have long as so looked around the cab, a firemans helmet sat on the passenger seat, it wouldn't be the best of cover but it was better than nothing, she placed it on her head, looked up at the sun, worked out which way was east and turned the key, the engine thankfully started first time and she drove off as fast as she could, in the rear view she saw the Red's chasing after her and heard rounds ping off the vehicle and through the cab, she could tell from the sound some where heavier calibre, no doubt sniper rifles and so she zig zagged as she crossed the airfields grass and smashed as told through the eastern fence, she knew she'd have to outrun the authorities but she had a head start and was sure she could get away, after all she was a Swordmaster, one of the Truthsayers elite. She drove quickly down a countrylane she spotted about a mile away, she could hear helicopters now, no doubt the Red's were using their transport to search, she smashed through a farmers hedge drove straight across the field and towards a small river at the edge of some woods. She didn't wait for the vehicle to come to a stop before she was out and running through the woods. Her mind was already racing over her actions, get back into Northfort, get to her safe house, grab her fake ID and get the hell out of East Moreland, and then find out what the hell Nathanial Corrino was doing working for Red Legion.

1.	I know who you are Sarah
2.	What are you doing here
3.	Worry about that later. For now we need to get you out of here
4.	Wait five minutes Cut the canvas separating you from the front seats. The keys are already in. The eastern fence is weak drive through and get away.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on September 14, 2017, 09:22:43 PM

The patrol boat was drawing closer, lighting up small spotlights to get a light on the Kayaks, the Crew chuckling: "Guess we will have to unwrap the package" as they let down a rope ladder for the Kayak to climb. They would allow the group to approach the center of the deck, where they started to open up the crate with the tied up spy inside:
"We hope you find him more useful than us. And thanks for the Tip again."
Kicking the man in chains so he moved out, groaning and gagged protesting, even more as he saw he was about to be exchanged: "take the vermin. It's all yours" the woman said, tossing him on the ground before kicking him again: "We don't need him back later, maybe if your done with him make sure no ones knows we handed him over." one of the others whispered something before she laughed slightly: "Oh right, you might not have been told. He is the so called technician President Pearson had put into our Nation as Spy. So have a nice day with him."

Would they not Protest, the Uburzians would un-gently toss the man into the Kayak, handing over the Keys for the Cuff to Sarah. "Call us if you need anything. Just maybe not Uranium." the woman said laughing as they wondered if the young woman had anything left to say.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on September 14, 2017, 10:36:33 PM

Nina was in a fairly good mood, they'd got their man back to the police station and thrown him into an interview room but as she and Elodie waited in a spare office everything was about to change and in more ways than one, the office door opened and in stepped Nina's friend Maia Leonidas (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg648#msg648)
"What are you doing here?" Nina asked
"Wish I could say I was checking up on you but this is work." Maia said "You've just arrested a man called Thomas Makin?"
"That's the name on his passport." Elodie said
"What is it Maia?" Nina asked
"Me and Alandra brought in a Kaitaine sleeper agent called Alex McArthur yesterday, we've done a full vetting on him and his correspondence" Maia said "Turns out your man was in regular phone and email contact with McArthur
"So the murderer of Francesca Owens is in contact with a Kaitaine Sleeper?" Nina asked "This just went above our pay grade didn't it?"
"Yeah Rion's been told to wait for a decision from the Marble Palace." Maia said "But Namis knows what's going to happen now."

Now the door opened again and in stepped Dr Armstrong.
"I have those DNA results you wanted." Armstrong said "I can confirm that Franchesca Owens was the daughter of Jacob Gliss." Nina and Elodie looked at each other they'd dreaded this moment and then Elodie's phone rang
"Yes?" she asked answering it then she listened "Understood sir." she hung up and put the phone away "I'm shipping out to Tiannaman."
"Be careful." Nina said she looked at Maia "You want to hold my hand while I talk to Wendy Owens?"
"Delighted to." Maia said

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 18, 2017, 09:26:24 PM

Sarah got back to the safe house on the edge of Northfort after about six hours, she could probably have got there earlier but she was doubly cautious to ensure she hadn't been followed. She checked her watch, she reckoned she had about an hour to get what she needed to do done. She had her mind go over what she would do once inside, even before the key was turned her ears strained for any sense of a trap. Confident none awaited she unlocked the door and made her way inside, as briskly as possible she grabbed some clothing, untaped the pistol and spare magazines from under the sock draw and placed them in the rear of her belt. Next she lifted up one of the floor boards that she kept easy to access for just such times, she took the dusty old ammo box out and unlocked it spinning the combination lock with a sense of purpose. She looked through the various passports and selected one she felt would give her the best cover, next she took a few bundles of different currencies and credit cards. Satisfied she had everything she needed the rest were placed back in the tin and put back under the floorboards. This time she slid the chest of draws over the top once putting the carpet back and checking it was secure. She made her way outside to where the appartment blocks vehicle storage was and unlocked her motorbike, it hadn't been out really in months but she was as meticulous in its care as she was about everything else. She fired up the engine and headed North heading for the border where she was confident she'd get across no problem. As she drove through the dark the roads outside Northfort were lovely and quiet, ideal for getting a serious amount of mileage done. Once she was more relaxed she used her phone app to report in.

"Hello Sarah" one of the Swordmaster operators said recognising the emergency phones number. The voice was reassuringly calm, which was exactly why the handler had been choosen.

"I've news" she tried her best to match the other womans voice despite doing over 80mph on a motorbike.

"Go ahead"

"The warehouse at Northfort Airport has been compromised, assume deliveries are being traced so cut ties, let Albanus Ares know." She realised the whole smuggling operation they had set up over a number of years now had been blown wide open and although the high ups would escape, they always did, the lower rank and file would be gone and that could throw a spanner in the works.

"Roger that"

"One more thing" Sarah wondered if anyone else knew this fact she was about to divulge. "Nathanial Corrino is working as a Morelander, he was at the facility with their Red Legionnaires. I think he maybe betrayed us." she said the words sticking in her throat, the Corrino family where after all one of the most Holy in Kaitaine and surely the brother of the most blessed of the nobles wouldn't betray them, but what else could it be?

There was a long silence over the phone, clearly the woman couldn't understand what she'd been told instantly and her mind was processing it. "Roger that" the call was ended and Sarah tried to relax in the rest of the long drive to Zimalia.

Without much talking Sarah McPherson and Lydia Fremen bundled the man onto their small kayak, literally lashing him between their cockpits, it was only once the sleeper agent was secure that the Truthsayer newcomer spoke, taking Lydia by surprise. "The Corrino family send their regards." she reached into her pocket, "They have sent some recommednations to your nations ambassador in Ui Cenneslaig, perhaps he should go for a drink in the Brokern Harp in Claith, I would recommend a whiskey called Fìrinnagràdh" she handed the laminated piece of paper over and then rejoined Lydia in the kayak silently paddling off into the dark.

"What was that about?" Lydia asked as they made their way back towards the beach.

"Family business" Sarah said looking for the camp fire they'd left two Truthsayers manning as they made the RV.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 22, 2017, 08:48:44 PM

OOC- An Ironside Co-Production

It took Sarah several days to get to Zimalia and another safehouse the Swordmasters used there, it was more a beach shack, it was a useful place to have simply because this stretch of coast was so unpoliced. The place had been an ideal place for the Swordmasters to ship in illicit weapons and equipment it would be brought ashore from fishing boats using kayaks or small motor boats and now Sarah was digging up one of the many caches that were closeby the shack. She'd waited til early morning, before the sun was up so that the digging was easier. It took her a good half an hour to reach the depth of the crate and she carefully popped the lid open. Inside was a black wrapped package and using her crystknife she slit the plastic, inside were several assault rifles and magazines of ammunition. She was stood in the hole that was up to her waist and slid four of the magazines and a rifle into a rucksack before carefully checking that one of the military grade radio systems was working and adding that to her stash, after that she took her time rearranging the plastic and sealing the crate again. It only took her ten minutes to cover the cache once more and with the weapon secure she headed down the coast until she reached one of Zimalia's commercial ports, in twenty minutes she'd found what she was looking for, a ship heading to Ui Cenneslaig. It was carrying exotic fruits and the captain, recognising her celtic accent was only too happy to accept a couple of bundles of her cash in return for passage. She waited until they'd set off south down the Illumic before finding a quiet part of the deck to set up the radio.

"Forge, this is Sword Four" she began talking into the radio knowing that somewhere someone was manning the Swordmasters network.

There was a long pause. "Sword Four authenticate" came back the reply, Sarah wracked her brain trying to recognise the voice at the other end of the line. The Swordmasters were a small select group drawn from the Truthsayers, they had some autonomy and as such seemingly all knew each other.

"Makers Water Fifty Seven Arakeen Shield" she gave her unique code, HQ would have these seemingly random words on record next to her name, proving it was her at the end of the line.

"Pass Message" the stoic voice came over the line.

"I have been compromised at the supply chain in East Moreland. Vender is MIA, assumed captured. Supplies need rerouting" she wondered whether she should continue her message or whether it was something best to take care of herself. "Nathanial Corrino is rouge Over" she felt the uneasiness in the pit of her stomach, the brother of the most Holy of the Dukes was a traitor to their cause, she still couldn't believe it. There was a long silence over the radio, clearly someone at the other end had similar views.

"Please confirm, Nathanial Corrino rogue."

"Confirmed" Sarah replied waiting once more.

"Upon return to Uniform Charlie report to the nest" Sarah was being summouned back to base, clearly a face to face was needed. That would be good, the Corrino's were in Ui Cenneslaig and now she had the equipment to kill them as in her mind if ne was a traitor they'd all be traitors.

At Aldcliffe Barracks things had got out of shape quickly. "What the fuck was going on?" An irrate Brigadier Kelly was yelled at those involved in the debacle at the airfield. He'd made them sit and watch the footage from their body cams twice through and now was demanding answers. In his many years running Special Ops he'd never seen any of his plans end in a police chase and an escape. The next hour saw the various members giving their own point of view, while others sat in silence. As it fell to Lt.Gillespie to speak the Brigadier looked angry, "You serached the bitch didn't you find a knife or a blade or some fucking magic wand." he berated the officer.

"No sir" he said looking down at the ground. "I found nothing" it was a lie but no one picked up on it and so he was spared anymore questioning. The Brigadier slumped in his chair rubbing his temples.

"Right this is what will happen" Kelly began leaning forward in his chair. "Gillespie you and your team are on a weeks administrative leave, you'll piss off for a week and in that time I'm going to determine just how badly fucked your going to get on your return. Expect PT, lots of PT and more continuation training than a Legionnaire ever dreamed possible. Then and only then might I put you back on active duty. Now get out my base." without waiting he stood and exited slamming the door on the way out. Gillespie, Barks, Thomas and Saxby looked at each other but none spoke, it was the first time they'd been on an op that had gone so badly south. They stood and without speaking left and headed back to their respective rooms.

Gillespie headed back to his room in the officers mess and pushed the door open and swore in Gaelic. He hadn't spotted Major Alex Redfern leaving his own room a few doors down and it was only the sound of the wrapped fingernails on the open door that alerted him to the fact Alex had followed him. "You ok?" he asked knowing the answer already.

"Erm, yeah" Gillespie wondered if Redfern had heard him, normally he was so good in controlling his instincts, a result of his time spent at the various Chapterhouses studying Prana Bindu, the method used by the Sisters to control their body and emotions when in fear or under stress. It normally worked brilliantly allowing him to almost compartmentalise his life, once he was around the Morelanders he slipped into being James Gillespie, an identity stolen for him when he was 16 allowing him to become part of the Morelanders military. He even had managed to perfect the Freestone accent and his Morelandish was perfect. But, around the Sisterhood, his real family and when back in Ui Cenneslaig it was like a seperate box, he became Nathanial Corrino, the younger brother of the best and brightest of the Bene Gesserit's holy houses. Now those worlds were merging, the prescence of Sarah Duggan, a woman he knew well had broken down the walls between his neatly organised worlds and had been the cause of his use of Gaelic.

"What the hell was that you said?" Redfern asked sensing something wasn't quiet right.

"Ah...just pissed off we've got re-training. Shouldn't have screwed up" he shrugged the sense of control coming back.

"I see" Alex tried his best to act like he didn't know, Brigadier Kelly had consulted with him before meeting with the team. "Still week off is nice" Alex tried to smile but knew Gillespie would be annoyed, after all he'd only just come back from injury. "What you got planned?"

"I'll have a week in Vaguzia, nice little place I like there, good chance to relax." he was already throwing gear into his rucksack. "I'll pack now, be there by midnight" he tried his best to luck happy at that. Alex sat chatting to him while he packed, a few t-shirts, some jeans, a shirt, but Alex felt something was odd, then it hit him, for someone going away for a week he wasn't packing underwear, he wasn't packing toiletries, for a few seconds Alex tried to put that out of his mind, it wasn't as though Vaguzia didn't have shops and maybe Gillespie just wanted to get out of there quickly. As Gillespie zipped up the pack Alex walked with him down to the gate.

"Safe travels" Alex shook his hand and watched as Gillespie began walking towards the train station. Alex turned headed over to the Admin block. "I need Lt. James Gillespie's file" he instructed the guy on duty who dutifully headed over to the filing cabinet and pulled out a brown folder full of everything they knew about Gillespie, his service history, qualifications and anything else someone would want to know. Alex sat at a desk pouring over it, there was no obvious link to Vaguzia, there had to be more to it than what he made out and so Alex headed to see the boss.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on September 25, 2017, 10:53:22 PM

So far Monika (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=149.msg1734#msg1734) had been glad she got positioned in Ui Cenneslaig. Her dayjob as the Ambassadors secretary had given her ample information as to who comes and goes, and the general who is who of Ui Cenneslaig, as well as avoiding the Manhunt ongoing for the Members of the Trinity order avoiding Trial back in the Empire.

That is until she got a special Mission. She was handed a small piece of laminated Paper and ordered to follow the Instructions, without notifying the Ambassador. Even worse, they had hinted she might be in contact with the Benne Gesserit. No one really spelled it out, but saying she should not be afraid of Sandwiches was not only an awful pun, but a clear hint as to whom she was supposed to deal with.

Still, better than hunting Men throughout the Forest where they just had hung a teenager. She really had hoped to see the young Arthur return to the big screen. He had such a sweet smile. For now she cleaned her desk, the Ambassador had just walked out of office, leaving his toga behind as usual. Closing the office up for the day Monika made her way to a car, started the engine, and made her way to Claith.
She was the Secretary trying to get to know local culture, if everything else fell apart, the half truth was never wrong.
She had taken precaution to take several days off, checking her schedule for the next days. She had left a message to the second Agent just in Case this would go bad, not the exact location though. This was top secret, and many parts of the agency probably would never hear about it.

As she entered the Broken Harp Pub, she didn't have to play the part of the weary secretary. She was damn tired after the long drive with additional scenic detours.
Taking a seat at the bar, she smiled. She had a room in a B&B nearby, so even if no one understood the code word, she could have a whisky and slip away later.
It did not take long for the pubs host to walk over to her: "An acquaintance of mine suggested i have a Fìrinnagràdh whiskey should i ever pass through. And excuse me if i pronounced that wrong." She smiled, trying to giver her English a clear enough Uburzian accent, while seeming enough like a strolling through tourist.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on September 26, 2017, 01:06:57 AM

Nina opened the door to the interview room and let Maia walk in before closing the door behind them, in the room there was just a table at which Wendy Owens the mother of Franchesca sat.
"I'm Maia Leonidas and this is Nina Gliss." Maia said as the pair took their seats opposite Wendy
"You're not taping this?" Wendy asked
"No this is off the record." Nina said "We don't have a full picture yet but we have arrested a man going by the name of Thomas Makin in connection with the murder of your daughter, he's also under arrest on suspected terrorism offences."
"What does that mean?" Wendy asked
"It means there's more involved than we first thought." Maia said

"And then some." Nina said "You knew my grandfather didn't you?"
"I worked for him." Wendy said, she wasn't a fool by any means the last name Gliss implied the noble line
"You were lovers weren't you?" Nina asked "You had an affair."
"Yes." Wendy said
"And then my grandfather starts giving you extra financial support right up until his suicide." Nina said "At first I thought it was blackmail but then I realized the more unspeakable possibility." she slid the DNA results across the table to Wendy "DNA tests confirm that Franchesca Owens was the daughter of Jacob Gliss. Which makes your daughter my father's half sister and makes her in someway my aunt. That's something I wanted you to know."

At the Marble Palace an emergency briefing was in progress around the round oaken table in one of the rooms sat members of the Royal Family and members of the cabinet. It was decision time they'd been reading the dossier on Alex McArthur and the link to Thomas Makin's crimes. It was all there.
"Why do I not like the sound of this?" Emperor Peter (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg157#msg157) said "Mark give me the National Security assessment."
"Yes Your Majesty." Mark Sharpe (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg1273#msg1273) said "In short we have our suspicions but they are only suspicions though we believe them well founded and well reasoned ones. We have a Kaitaine sleeper agent apparently supporting a murderer, we have a victim who according to school records has a Mercian ancestry which obviously due to the genocide in that country last year is somewhat difficult to verify, however as I say we have our suspicions."
"Which are?" Peter asked
"Suppose that Thomas Makin was also from Kaitaine." Mark said
"Them both being from Kaitaine would make more sense." Peter said
"You will remember the reports from a while ago in the Pravda about the Bene Gesserit being in hiding across Mundus and how Kaitaine was going to root them out?" Mark asked "Suppose Franchesca Owens was one."
"Then that would be a state sponsored assassination on our soil." Peter said "Nettie?"

"Supposing for the moment that Mark's correct." Nettie Taylor (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg181#msg181) said "It's a rather difficult position we're in, if we're right then Kaitaine by now will know that we've likely taken McArthur into custody. However they cannot claim Makin because the second they do they open the door to accusations as Mark has intimated."
"Tricky." Peter said "Ok let's take a break we'll reconvene in an hour."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on September 27, 2017, 09:50:42 PM

The Brokern Harp pub was an old place, it had polished wooden floors and stained glass windows, at one point in its past it had been an old music hall and when the venue had first been brought to be converted into a pub the only object that was left was an old brokern harp which now hung above the bar that Aislin Pottinger tended bar in. She was a twenty year old University student at Claith where she was studying Anthropology and Literature, the perfect subject for a Missionara Protectiva to work in. She was allocated to a unit of Truthsayers as their scholar and as such often was part of some of the Sisterhood's more covert actions. She had been cleaning down tables when she spotted a new customer take a seat at a table that may have been a little messy. "Hi, let me just get that" she smiled as she took a cloth from her back pocket and gave the table a good clean before removing a few empty glasses left by departed customers. "Now, what can I get you?" she asked.

As the answer came back she smiled, "Good choice" her face not betraying the code. She made her way over to the bar and poured a few fingers of a generic whiskey and placed it on a tray along with a napkin she'd taken from her pocket. Aislin made her way back to the table and put the napkin down flashing it to show some writing between the layers, she put the drink down on top along with a bill. "Pay when you leave" the Bene Gesserit winked as she made her way back to the bar. Her shift finished a few moments later and she left giving the customers, many of whom were regulars a cheerful wave.

She wondered if the stranger would act upon the note which read, "Your name is Agnus McGrey, you wish your daughter Maggie to attend Chapterhouse School. Ask for Erin."

Several hours later at Chapterhouse school the young Mother, Erin (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg409#msg409) had been tipped off by the Truthsayers to expect a visitor and what to do upon arrival. As the guest arrived Erin meet them, she was wearing a long black hooded top that went down to her knees, the hood was so large it was almost impossible to see the lines of her face and the fact that her hair was shaved literally to the scalp, a reminder that just a few weeks ago she had graduated as a Mother of the Sisterhood. "Please follow me, we've been expecting you." with that she turned and walked the guest across the lawn, groups of youngsters were playing some kind of game, most of them having arrived in only the last few days, the newest class of the Bene Gesserit. "You are the first non Bene Gesserit to set foot in here to see us as we are for over 100 years." she took a key and unlocked an old wooden door. "Please in you go" she motioned and waited for Monika to walk in, only then did the lights go on. Four masked and armed Truthsayers stood around a chair. "For security....I'm sure you understand?" she motioned to a chair in the centre of the room. "Take a seat." With the hood still in place Erin sat in a chair opposite, the four Truthsayers forming an almost ring around Monika. "We wish to thank you for your help so far, it has earnt you three questions. Ask when ready?" Erin waited, the ear piece she was wearing obscured by the hood meaning Monika was unaware of the room full of senior members of the Sisterhood sat in a room two floors up. "Either one at a time, or all at once, it makes no difference."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 01, 2017, 09:18:55 PM

Monika (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=149.msg1734#msg1734) had to admit, she was impressed they had managed to keep their work under wraps for most parts so far, yet, with her mind spinning as she was led down to the room, she did not find leisure to marvel the building.

Was there such a school in Uburzis? Probably not, the isolation for centuries would have weighted their network down and make them vulnerable. Was the Prince Regent and the Military Command planning to set one up? Probably, it would make communication easier by far.

Monika allowed herself being led to the chair, her heart racing. She wasn't a beginner, but it usually was more to get corporate Men to spill details on their latest deals than actual Movie level of work, and this Situation was clearly the later. She had been reading about the Gesserit, got herself Intel from where she could, but ultimately she felt like she was walking into this situation like a child that did not study for a test.
Her head turning, she demonstratively took a deep breath.

Think, what do we really need to know right now.
"Will the embassy be enough to establish safe communications, you would find me there, or do we need to set up a dead drop system?"

She felt her tongue go dry, after all, the whole nations standing in the world was being at stake on the long run:
"Can you ensure us that an incident like East Moreland will be a Single event, half part for the fact using a nuke or a Dirty bomb seems to contradict both our Believes from what i have gathered, and that we would prefer if you would handle the publicity better?"

At this point she was sweating, she might have pushed that one. For all she knew this could be the people behind that attack:
"Do you intend to set up such a school in Neu Uburzis as well? We might have some old Monasteries vacant very soon, and the concept of a military Boarding school is part of everyday life in Uburzis."

Monika crossed her arms and put one leg above the other, she knew it was a very defensive Gesture, but at this point, she should show some reservations. She could only guess where exactly this cooperation was supposed to be leading, but for now she would play her part.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 01, 2017, 09:50:53 PM

The final question asked Erin sat silently, her head bowed so all Monika would see was the top of her hood. After what must have seemed like a long time she raised her eyes, her voice sounded different, deeper and with no trace of her Celtic accent.

"You have broken our rules." she began, remembering the instructions given to her by senior Mother Hannah McKey (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg396#msg396) seconds earlier. "We permitted three questions, you asked four, you asked whether the embassy is useful for safe communications, then about a dead drop, next about East Moreland and then finally about the school." she waied for a good minute before continuing.

"I will however reply to all" her voice now got even deeper. "Any communications can come via this school. Should you need to send information to us then you.....and only you.....will be permitted to come here and speak with a representative. This will be done under the guise of you being a guest teacher here." she didn't wait for any response, "We will not open our doors to anyone other than you, should anyone from your nation even approach the school in any form then we shall cut all communications."

"As for the East Moreland incident, we shall not go into operational details. What you must be aware of is that the incident was brought about by a miscommunication and is not part of our strategy. The Bene Gesserit faith wishes to not inflict damage upon that scale on Mundus, for us war is an evil thing but a neccessary evil, the Golden Path suggests we must do all we can to avoid harming people who wish us no harm." There was the sound of an object being removed from beneth the robes, "Which is why we carry these" she flashed a white knife through the air, it disappearing as quickly as it was produced. "The quick knife is all that matters, it is precise and cuts out only what it must, much like how we wage war."

She waited once more as Hannah's voice came into her ear once more. "We will not say where we have schools. And I believe you misunderstand what is going on here." With her normal voice she began speaking again, first asking the Truthsayers to retreat to the edge of the room in Gaelic, she stood and turned the main light in the room on, removing her hood to reveal a smooth bald head. "Let me explain" the ear piece was pulled out, its purpose done it now hung limply from the collar of her hood. "I am no soldier, I attended this school for 14 years and I am not sure I could do half of what these ladies do." she gestured to the women in uniform. "I am a theologian, a Priestess, and one day the Gods willing a mother to the Sisters here." She sat back down, "We have two other types of Sister, the scholars of the Missionara Protectiva, and then the carers of the Honored Matres, the four parts of one Sisterhood." She explained more about the faith to the woman before once more standing and leading them out and into a room next door which was more like a living room. A pitcher of water and glasses sat in the centre. Erin removed the hooded top revealing she was dressed in a simple blue polo shirt and jeans, it was now clear she was a young woman, no more than 18. She waited for Monika to sit, "Why is water important?" she asked as they sat down. Before Monika could reply a door at the far end opened and three women walked in.

"I am Maggie (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg410#msg410) a girl with blonde hair pulled back into a braided pony tail sat down. She was wearing a blue tunic and matching trousers, she unbuttoned the tunic and slid it onto the hook on the back of the door. She took a seat on the sofa next to Monika and opposite Erin.

The second girl now introduced herself, like Erin and Maggie she was young, a newly graduated member of the Sisterhood. "I am Holly (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg412#msg412)" she sat the otherside of Monika, "I am a Honored Matres" she said as she swung the loose end of her long red shirt over her knees. She would soon be off to live with Nathanial Corrino but for now she had been dragged into this little operation.

A woman dressed in camoflague fatigues sat down in the other arm chair opposite Monika, "I am Rita (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg383#msg383) and I'm a Truthsayer" she removed her beret and placed it on the table, the silver cap badge standing out against the black material, it showed a stylised Jerboa with the words "I shall not fear" around it. She removed her own white bone knife and placed it on top of the beret purposely pointing its tip towards their guest. "Has she answered the water question?" she asked Erin.

"I believe she was about to" the youngster pushed the tray of water and glasses towards Monika, "So why is water important?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on October 01, 2017, 10:26:40 PM

An hour later they reconvened, Peter having spent every second of it contemplating his best move, Nettie was right there was little room for maneuver in relation to McArthur because Kaitaine only had to point out he was one of theirs, so there was no real room for creativity there not if one wanted to weigh up factors before making decisions. However there was one avenue open to them. As he retook his seat he glanced around the table.

"Having considered the situation I am minded, should the cabinet agree, to use Makin to our advantage." Peter said "Assuming for the moment the information released by the swordmasters is accurate then we have a Kaitaine sleeper agent at work on our soil, the said agent is then in contact with and providing various types of support to Thomas Makin who is the killer of Franchesca Owens. Assuming for the moment that Makin is also from Kaitaine which is plausible then we get a powerful motive for murder which is that Franchesca Owens was Bene Gesserit and Kaitaine is making good on the threat to root them out unilaterally."

"What do you want to do?" Mark asked
"We've contacted the Truthsayer's previously haven't we?" Peter asked
"Over a satellite phone." Mark said
"Then we need to make contact again." Peter said "You know what I'm getting at Mark?"
"A fully deniable meeting that can't be traced back to us." Mark said "And Seitch?"
"Subject to what we find out." Peter said "Have Nix make that call."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: DaveIronside on October 02, 2017, 10:32:19 PM

OOC- An Ironside Joint Production

James Gillespie had done what he usually did when he got any leave of a decent length, he headed to Vaguzia, he tried to keep this quiet but when Alex Redfern was your commanding officer you generally didn't get to keep many secrets. It was a mystery to many within Red Legion how he always seemed to know everything, it lead many to believe that he had used his connections to King David to be able to do things like hack phones or get your e-mails, but in truth he just read people well and had eyes that seemed to miss nothing. It was this that lead to him now sitting in a lovely market place in Vallis (http://c8.alamy.com/comp/EWN4JY/pretty-town-square-with-shops-and-restaurants-outdoors-lazise-lake-EWN4JY.jpg) Vaguzia. He could see the appeal a beautiful market and pretty stone buildings surrounding it. He had tracked his suspicious Red Legionnaire to here after a few dead ends and now he sat outside in the market enjoying an ice cream and reading a paper. He'd scoped out the apartment that he had discovered Gillespie stayed at and now waited for him to return home.

Penelope Fava (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg151#msg151) had been out shopping for dinner that evening and was on her way back from the fish markets. A row of cafe's and bars stretched up the main street towards the market square over which her apartment was located. She enjoyed living here but she knew it wouldn't last, she was thinking for a moment of how many times she would make this walk before leaving when a wolf whistle came from the bar she passed. "Hola Bella dama" a man yelled at him, she turned about to give him a piece of her mind when she spotted Nathanial Corrino (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg142#msg142) he was sat with a bottle of beer and a glass of wine smiling at her. She shook her head, she had no idea he was coming to visit but she was pleased to see her husband. She backtracked and made her way into the seating area kissing her husband as he wrapped her in his arms.

"When did you get in?" she took hold of his hand across the table as she sat down. They didn't get to spend much time together, it was all part of the problem of living with a man who was from one of the Holy Houses of the Bene Gesserit faith. She didn't mind, it was a great honour to be trusted to be his wife, and although she knew a concubine would soon be joining them she longed for moments like this.

"A few hours ago, by the time I'd dropped my gear off I guessed you'd be at the fish market" she was highly predictable, he'd warned her about that after the Truthsayers began being targeted and while she herself wasn't a soldier of the Bene Gesserit she was potentially known to them, and that worried Nathaniel. He'd therefore known she likely would pass this way and had enjoyed a quiet beer with his book while he waited, she wasn't exactly easy to miss, a beautiful woman with bright red hair attracted attention anyway. They sat and had another drink before Penelope began to worry that the fish would spoil in the heat and so they strolled back home arm in arm.

It was the red head Alex spotted first, her hair stood out amongst the locals and then he spotted Gillespie, he sat and watched from across the square as they entered the 2nd floor apartment he'd tracked them down to. "Now I see why you come here" Alex smiled to himself, he now had to work out why, something wasn't right about the Lieutenant recently and his lack of concern over the recent prisoner escape had a few alarm bells ringing for the Major. Alex made his way up to the 2nd floor, he passed along the outer landing that had six appartments on, he waited outside the door for a moment or two listening at the door.

"I didn't think I'd see you for ages Nate" a woman's voice could be heard.

"I have a week of leave, an op went a little off" Alex recognised the voice as Gillespie, so who was this Nate? He was also worried that he was seemingly sharing information with this woman. "Beside when do I need an excuse to visit my wife?" laughing could be heard inside and Alex was even more confused, had he somehow got the wrong door. He made his way down the landing checking for sounds at each door but knew he had the right place. Worried he went back to the first door and listened while keeping an eye for incase anyone spotted him.

"You heard from the Truthsayers in Seitch?" The woman asked, Alex felt the hairs on his neck stand up, that question was a worry.

"McNeill keeps us informed, its not great" Gillespies voice replied. Alex walked back down to ground level, he was torn, he liked Gillespie and considered him a friend but something was going on here, something he couldn't let slip. That evening he made his way back to his hotel and spoke to Brigadier Kelly, the old man would surely have some good advice and once past the initial shock of the news that one of his best was seemingly not what they thought he gave Redfern clear instructions.

The next morning at sunrise Alex was back in the market square, he knew Gillespie well and didn't have to wait long, the door opened and a running gear clad man exited, what Alex hadn't counted on was the girl, she followed him down, but he wouldn't have much of a chance if they got a head start and so as they turned up a narrow street he got up and sprinted across the street and followed them, the two where twenty meters or so ahead and laughing as they gently jogged, a few seconds longer and Alex was right behind them and threw himself shoulder first at Gillespie's knees buckling them under them. The girl let out a squeal as the two men crumbled into a heap, Alex was straight onto Gillespie's back an arm around his throat. "Stay down Nate" Alex hissed at him.

"Fuck...Alex get off me" Gillespie urged as he felt the arm take control of his head, next he felt himself being raised to his feet. Alex began dragging him down the road keeping his now hostage between himself and a now advancing girl.

"Stay there" Alex reached into his pocket and removed a knife holding it in Gillespie's ribs, Penelope stopped and Alex could see her shaking.

"Ruith"[1] Gillespie yelled in Gaelic, Penelope trusted him without hesitation and turned and ran, Alex hadn't expected that and the slight release around the neck gave Gillespie a chance, he threw himself face first forward, the wind driven out of him but Redfern was now on the ground next to him, Gillespie got a hand on the knife and slid it away. The two wrestled on the ground and while Redfern was proficient in martial arts he wasn't a match for Gillespie, the man was ten years younger and lived in the gym, he managed to get a knee either side of Alex and rained down punches at the senior man. He got a few good ones in spliting Redferns lip before being rolled off. Gillespie placed a kick perfectly into Alex's ribs winding him and giving himself enough time to stand up and land a kick in Redfern's nuts, he crumpled into a heap. Alex saw Gillespie pick up the knife and prepared himself to have to defend himself in his pained state. Gillespie placed a knee gently in Alex's groin and leaned over him. "I'm sorry" he said, Alex could see tears in Gillespie's eyes. "I promise you I never betrayed you guys. You'll understand one day." Gillespie stood and readied himself to run, he turned back folded the knife and placed it back in Alex's pocket as the Legionnaire officer tried to regain his breath. "I can never thank you enough" he turned and ran. Alex got his breath back a few minutes later and tried to track them down, the flat was empty, he asked around the market but got different answers about where they'd gone. He sat down nursing his bruises, he had to smile to himself, clearly Gillespie had made a show of running through the market in different directions, a clear attempt to lose Alex, and it had worked.

Nathaniel had darted straight back to the flat, Penelope was stood holding the door shut and he had to yell for her to open it, he didn't wait, simply grabbing her hand he ran, "Come on" he pulled her along as he darted round the market taking several streets and back tracking before taking off towards the cities main centre, one eye always on the way Alex had come. "Shit!Shit!Shit!" he cursed when eventually they stopped, she held him close. "He was a Morelander, my boss......my friend" Gillespie was crying, he knew this day would come but never thought it would be like this.

"What do we do?" Penelope asked, her whole life had been in that flat.

"We run" Nathanial pulled away from her, "We go to Chapterhouse, we get some documents and we get out of Vaguzia, we head to Nemeria and from there back to Ui Cenneslaig. Then we think what we do next."

"But my stuff" Penelope was crying now.

"It's gone" Nathanial said coldly, "Both our lives have gone, we have to be Bene Gesserit now" he was coming to terms with it quicker than he imagined and releasing her he kissed her on the forehead and then began making their way towards Chapterhouse.

Run

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 11, 2017, 04:04:16 PM

Monika listened, her expression calm as her mind raced. Did she anger them? She wouldn't have considered them to be this nitpicking in wording. Still, she got valuable information for the next steps.

Pretending to be a Teacher for a school and keeping the Ambassador away from it could be a bit more tricky, but she would find a way, and her goal with the school question was really just trying to get a better insight, so this answer would suffice - she'd have to dissect it later.
Moreland was a different matter. They confirmed the operation was known by the Benne Gesserit as a whole, and not just a single part. The possible conclusions flooded her thoughts, as she idly followed them to the other room.

Monika had been reading up knowledge about the Bene Gesserit, yet she didn't catch any Particular mention of Water. Forcing herself to focus on the Question at hand, her eyes scanned the room. Did the Blue clothing have something to do with Water? Unlikely. But possible. From what she had gathered, their believe was an amalgamation of Faith, always adding to itself. She picked up one of the glasses, curling it around her Hand as she took a more comfortable position. Not that she was relaxed, but her host had decided to soften the mood and she would try to accommodate.

"Since i admittedly didn't come across any Material referencing a specific Water affinity in your Faith, i assume you want to see what kind of Person i am rather than expecting me to give a code word answer."

Putting the Glass back onto the table, Monika crossed her legs folding her hands together in the lap. Her posture more upright, she answered:

"Water is where we come from, keeping it clean is important for our health, and the Health of Mundus. Soiling Water is disrespecting every living Being on the Planet."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on October 11, 2017, 07:26:51 PM

Nix Williams (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg654#msg654) came down from her boss's office, Rion wasn't around so she was presently the senior Justicar on site, she ran the floor day to day anyway but she wasn't the usual leader. Stepping down onto the floor of Justicar Operations (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dqVms2LOlLI/UwvoUg76GnI/AAAAAAAACwc/2Qo509DpKds/s1600/8x01_CTU_NY_Bullpen.jpg) Nix made a beeline for the head of tactical operations, the experienced hand Paul Kessel (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg673#msg673)

"What's the word?" Paul asked
"We've got Alex McArthur and the link to Makin suggests that Kaitaine could be behind the murder of Franchesca Owens." Nix said "Implication being..."
"That Franchesca Owens was one of these Truthsayers." Paul said "So what's the action?"
"Deniable Operation, contact the Truthsayers somehow get some answers." Nix said "Mark Sharpe's made it clear that we cannot have state sponsored murder going on unanswered."
"So how are we going to contact them?" Paul asked
"Well the sat phone we used before is dead." Nix said "Amy, Emma."

The two were now joined by Emma Hastings (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg674#msg674) and Amy Taylor (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg2125#msg2125).
"We've been tasked with contacting the Truthsayer's." Paul said "Suggestions?"
"We're operating on the assumption that Franchesca Owens was a Truthsayer or a member of the Bene Gesserit?" Amy asked
"Yes." Nix asked
"Then use the mother." Amy said "If she's one of them then she'll pass the message on for us. Meanwhile we set up a dead drop using a cipher..."
"Which we'll have to construct." Emma said
"Well I'll construct it." Amy said "We use the dead drop to bring about a meeting."
"Where?" Nix asked
"Seventeen Delta?" Paul asked
"Agreed." Nix said "Safe and secure. Do it."
"I'll get on the phone to Nina." Paul said
"I'll send something over to her." Emma said

Emma and Amy headed back to their respective desks which sat a few feet apart
"So we give Wendy Owens a message that she doesn't even know she's carrying but is likely to discover later." Amy said "So it's got to be hidden somewhere."
"Got it." Emma said "Item sixteen on Franchesca's personal affects list.", Amy brought it up
"I'll get on it." Amy said "Where do you want it to lead them?"
"Valkyrie Memorial in Vanora." Emma said

A while later Nina walked into the interview room of the police station where Wendy Owens was still sat, Nina was carrying a cardboard box of personal items that had belonged to Franchesca and had formed part of the police investigation.
"I thought you'd probably want these back." Nina said she placed the box into Wendy's waiting hands
"Thank you." Wendy said
"Constable Newton will drive you home when you're ready." Nina said, she smiled and left - the top item in the box was a CD of classical music not something uncommon for an Achkaerinese citizen to have there was an adhesive label on the case that said 'For Mum' on it - it seemed like Franchesca had been thinking about her mother's next birthday, among the tracks on the CD was Ride of the Valkyries (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGU1P6lBW6Q), except the arrangement had been changed somewhat from the norm it was some of Amy's best cryptography to hide a message in the music that would, they hoped, point the Truthsayers to the Valkyrie Memorial, it was situated just off the central plaza in the capital of Vanora - Jerusalem, a quick look at Wendy's background had shown musical taste including regular attendances at the last night of Edelweiss where that piece was a crowd favorite so she'd notice the difference that much was highly likely.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 11, 2017, 11:40:20 PM

"Couldn't they just have sent a postcard with her or something" Karin Atreides (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg165#msg165) complained as she put the music on, something wasn't right about the unfamiliar piece of music. The handwriting on the note had jumped out to Wendy, it wasn't her daughters and then the CD itself. While it may be nothing anything weird like this was taken along to Chapterhouse and quickly found its way into the possession of the Missionara Protectiva. The music came to an end again and Karin waited for it to loop back to the beginning, she'd drawn the short straw for this job thanks to her musical background and while no longer an active day to day member of the Missionara you never truly left. She jotted down notes that seemed to be missing and then looked at them. "Eight notes are missing" she said as the sound finished again, she began scribbling away, first letters and then numbers, then combinations. She put the music back on and closed her eyes. "I think its some weird old way of transmitting co-ordinates" she concluded, "each note represents one number, the longitude, latitude etc" she clicked the music on one more time and then slid a note over to Sarah McPherson (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg411#msg411), the young Truthsayer who blinked at the way Karin had casually worked it out, she admired the Missionara for this kind of skills it was no wonder those who saw them work called them "Breathing Computers", her admiration for her friend Maggie just increased.

"So where is it" Sarah asked. Karin ignored her instead walked over to one of the bookshelves and took an atlas down and flicked it open, "Vanora - Jerusalem" Sarah read as she looked at where Karin's finger was placed.

"That's a big city to find something" Sarah mused.

"It would be" Karin departed back to the shelves and picked out a book written sometime at the turn of the 20th Century, she checked the index and then placed it on the table, "The Valkyrie Memorial" she said proudly. "I think they for some reason want to meet there. We should send them a message back. We don't want them hanging around." Karin picked up a pad of paper and began writing using the old Norse runes they used on buildings in Nya Aland, knowing each represented a letter she wrote plainly but each word being in a different language, Achkaerin, then Morelandish, then Gaelic and so on until almost every language on Mundus was represented. "Not as fancy as their code but it does the job" she put the letter in a thick wax envelope and simply wrote in plain letters on the front, "Attention of Franchesca Owens" on it. The envelope was passed on through several members of the Sisterhood before being hand delivered to the Marble Palace by a smartly dressed gentleman who claimed it was for a member of the household staff.

The various members of the Sisterhood looked at each other in response to the answer of Monika. Erin leaned forward and picked up the jug of water which sat in the centre of the table, she poured a glass full and then casually dropped the jug onto the floor sending the glass scattering around the room and leaving a stain of water that soaked into the stone floors. "Water is important because it has no start and no end and therefore extends beyond the life it sustains. That water will rejoin the earth, travel miles and then raise into the sky only to fall again as rain. Water is the perfect simulation of human life, we go round and round joining with the earth to come again." the other three girls sat in silence, this was theological stuff and while there were many answers they would always pay heed to a Mother's reply. "But your answer is good" Erin smiled as she casually stepped over the shards of glass that littered the floor.

"We wish to eventually not remain hidden" Maggie began talking, "For over a hundred years we've all lived lies, so have our parents, and their parents....well you get the picture. We don't get the chance to lead normal lives even if we want to, but what the world doesn't realise is the fact that our lives in the shadows is what has stopped chaos, you see around Mundus we have secreted ourselves. The KGB haven't lied about that, and its not just one or two, there are probably millions of us spread across the globe, and we're all willing to do a great deal to head home.....because that is what Kaitaine is, our home. So this brings me to our question. Why do you guys want to know us and what do you expect of us?" Maggie watched as one of the schools students who was on cleaning duty came in and brushed up the glass, she was careful to pick each bit up and any water remaining on the shards held in miniture bowls the shattering had created was poured into a new jug and even the cloth she wiped the floor with was rung out into the new vessel before she left.

Karin and Sarah had made their way to Jerusalem, the historian part of Karin had seen them trail around several archives and musuems that morning. "So what exactly was in that letter" Sarah asked as they took a seat on a roof top restaurant overlooking the memorial.

"It was an old saying from a tribe that once lived in the desert back home." Karin smiled and closed her eyes trying to remember the words.

"Follow the Jerboa for its path to water is assured. At the epoch of the sun he knows to seek the shelter, learn his ways for he too is a desert creature." Karin opened her eyes.

"What the hell!" Sarah mused, "That is supposed to help them get here because...." she was puzzled but games like this where what the Missionara was all about.

"It's simple" Karin smiled. "You bring your Truthsayer cap badge?" she asked the youngster who nodded, "Then take it out and pin it on your rucksack" Sarah did as instructed, "Look at it" Sarah smiled as she remembered the proverb and recognised the desert rodent that formed the units insignia. A clock began to chime from one of the many churches. "Midday....you better get down there"

"What your not coming?" Sarah asked nervously.

"Nope.....your the combat machine" Karin waved her away. Sarah instinctively checked her ankle to where the white bone knife was kept and wandered down to the memorial and began pacing around her eyes darting around the strangers coming and going. She spotted that Karin had moved now and was playing the part of a tourist looking at some kind of stall in a shop front at the end of a narrow street.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 12, 2017, 08:44:59 PM

Monika kept her hands folded, her eyes following Erin as she listened to the explanation. She wasn't a theologian, so as much as she tried, this was not her territory. She'd have to go over Tea with an Acolyte over that one, not her. The Question about why they even where trying to contact them, good grace that was a riddle to her as well:

"I have to admit, i have no Idea. That's currently the decision of i think four People. I can, however offer you a speculation." Monika nodded, her eyes following the student cleaning up the glass:

"From what we have seen of Kaitaine, and Mc Pherson, they go against several of our ideals fundamentally, while we might just get along with you. We want knowledge to be expanded, Questions asked, new Ways discovered, and Traditions respected from understanding, not fear and agony."

Monika paused, trying to find the right words.

"There's a difference between diplomacy where you shake hands, and being actual friends with nations. And a Nation that has shut itself off for as long as ours need the second. The Prince Regent probably considers a possible Nation under your guidance more than just a polite political ally. You would have to discuss this matter with him though. Maybe at the Coronation or close after? I mean he probably is approachable for invited guests. If you wish i will organize a blanco invitation. Though don't take him lightly, he's young, but a capable fighter."

Leaning back Monika added:

"From my point of view, the Question you asked is what we try to answer as well. I think my Superiors would call what we do right now exploratory talks."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on October 15, 2017, 05:04:37 PM

If there was one thing Justicars loved it was a good code breaking exercise, the response from the Truthsayers had been sent directly from the Marble Palace to Justicar Operations where they'd figured it out the meet was on. But that was the easy part of this, the hard part was actually making the meet. Jerusalem had been picked for many reasons, it was a busy city for one and it was neutral ground for another. Robyn Mears (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg662#msg662) was down at street level wandering around the stalls in what appeared to be a market place as the chimes of the clock ticked to midday.
"Time." she said glancing around "Are we clear?" the question was asked over her earpiece
"Looks clear from up here." Joe Ochre (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg664#msg664) said, he was sat in a cafe at a higher level looking out of the window that afforded an excellent view of the Memorial.
"Nothing suspicious at all." Anthony Vilani (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg666#msg666) said from where he sat opposite the Memorial.
"Ash you're clear to approach." Robyn said

From an adjoining street walked Ashley Selvaria (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg665#msg665), she was playing the part of tourist but her eyes were darting all over the place even though they'd translated the Truthsayer response they now needed to apply it, as expected there was a small crowd around the memorial she couldn't tell who was the contact until her eyes spotted the badge bearing the image of a Jerboa, on the flight down the team had studied what this creature was and what it looked like.
"Eyeball." Ashley said
"Have that." Robyn said "Proceed."

Ashley walked up alongside the girl who wore that rucksack the pair essentially side by side seemingly marveling at the memorial.
"What does a Jerboa do when midday comes?" Ashley asked, but not in her native tongue this she asked in Gaelic

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 17, 2017, 11:10:12 PM

Erin nodded indicating that she understood, she'd been nervously tapping on the arms of the chair as Monika spoke, however that was only how it looked to the untrained. To the other women in the room a conversation was taking place. "Do we trust her?" Erin signalled to the other girls.

"For now, we take her to see the Mother" Rita signalled back and recieved a sign of confirmation from the other three.

"It has been determined" Erin rose and replaced the hood over her head, "That you shall be permitted to meet Mother McKey. The group got to their feet and opened the next door and waited for Monika to exit and followed. "Our Sisterhood should have one leader, a little like the Pope for Catholics, that woman is known as The Reverned Mother, sadly for that to happen all Mothers heading a Chapterhouse must agree that one of their number is above the others, we haven't had that for twenty years" Erin explained as they made their way up the spiral staircase.

"We should have had" Rita mumbled bringing up the rear.

"Many believe Mother McKey should be the Reverned Mother and not just the Mother of this Chapterhouse" they had reached a large solid oak door and Erin tapped a rhthmic knock.

"Enter" a womans voice called, as Erin opened the door an aging woman, her head smooth and teeth jagged approached with a bony hand extended. "Please come join us, we don't get foreign visitors often, and they tend not to leave" she let the final part sound rather menacing. "Take a seat" She put a hand on the back of a lower read leather arm chair. "I am Hannah McKey, I was orphaned thanks to the KDF and found my way here. Now I'm responsible for these fine young ladies" she was truly proud of them and what they had become. "Have the girls told you off the spice" she placed a box on the table no bigger than a match box, she carefully lifted the lid and placed it upturned on the wooden table next to the one containing a bright red powder. "It is called Melange, it is made only in Seitch and is in rather short supply these days. We believe it allows the Mothers of our order to see the future." she licked her finger and dipped it in, instintivley the four other girls leaned forward in their chairs, they had heard of great visions Hannah had. She sat back and licked the remaining powder from her fingers and then closed her eyes. Moments later her voice was a deep growl.

"I see a path streatching before us splitting two ways. The way to the right shows a path of Gold, it is lined with the glorious ancestors of the Sisterhood and at the end sits a giant sandworm, its great head raising up towards God/Gods. Beneath it I see the twisted metal of humanity. The other path is full of rocks, twists and turns, a dark place at the end the shadows full of hidden dangers and snarling teeth. A noise from the darkness pierces the silence. At the split I see a stone, it is white, it is smooth and it bears my name and two dates." her eyes opened and she rubbed her eyes as though waking up she smiled after a few seconds. "Did I speak?" her voice was back to normal, the four girls eyes were wide, they had never seen a spice vision although Erin had experienced her own and now felt herself trembling as hers had been exceptionally similar two years earlier when she had sneaked into Kaitaine and made her own spice.

"Yes Mother" Erin said nervously. "You spoke of a Golden Path" he was excited.

"So Monika do you have any idea what this could mean?" Hannah waited a moment, "Don't fell compelled to answer, interpretation of the Spice Visions are difficult." She paused a moment, "So as head of the Order in Ui Cenneslaig I am open to discuss many more things than my apprentice here" she pointed to Erin. "What would you like to discuss." before Monika could answer she slid the box towards her, "Would you like to try some, many believe it tastes of cinnamon, personally I find it never tastes the same twice."

Sarah had expected someone to meet but had no pre-planned speech lined up. She turned round slolwy and eyed the woman sternly. "I guess they'd wonder why people are asking them dumb questions, but then again I've never seen one" she shrugged, "Then maybe go get an ice cream" she walked over to the nearby store that had an ice cream stand, "Six please" she ordered and paid for them. She handed three to Ashley and kept three herself. "So your from Achkaerin" she slipped into the agents own language, it was far from grammatically correct and the accent awful but the Chapterhouse students learnt little bits of all languages a Chapterhouse may need. "Follow me, I'll take you to meet the boss" she lead them back through the crowd and seeing them coming Karin settled the bill, left the cafe and moved further down the street to where a low wall had a few tourists sat on.

"Here" Sarah handed the first ice cream to Karin and then sat down next to her.

"Thank you" Karin watched the Justicar with suspicion. "We brought those for you and your team, better than hiding" Karin wasn't however going to wait. "This is the first meeting between our faith and your nation. How long it lasts depends on what you say and do" she explained before tasting her ice cream. "They didn't have mint?" she asked Sarah as though not even at a high level meeting.

"You get what your given" Sarah explained her eyes on the swivel.

"You get to ask us three questions and then I have one for you" Karin began to get to the business end of things, "You may ask one at a time, or all together" her free hand drummed on her knee. "Why three extra ice creams?" she asked Sarah in Doublespeak, the Bene Gesserit Prana Bindu language.

"Because no one comes alone. She'll have friends and we can't look stingy" Sarah responded while still looking up the road.

"Once I have answered your questions you shall answer mine." Karin said this rather like a mother sternly speaking to her children. "Think of it a while" she stood and took a vile from her pocket and placed it next to her on the wall, it was a small thumble of water. "Why is water important is my question?" she sat back down waiting for the meeting to really get underway

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 18, 2017, 10:19:59 PM

Monika hesitated being offered the Melange. She wasn't willing to be tripping, yet it seemed incredible tactless to turn down an offer by this Mother.
She decided to buy herself some Time to think:

"While i am no Priestess, i would offer my thoughts on the words we witnessed from your Vision." she said, carefully watching the Melange as her Eyes now met McKey's:

"You spoke of seeing two Paths, one seemingly filled with hardship, obstacles and Temptation. Yet the golden Path seemed to give you an Easy option, a straight Path to Salvation. But i wonder."

Monika paused licked her Lips, they suddenly felt very dry: "The golden Path seemed to show only Death. You spoke of the Dead, that you see the Ancestors, but not the future of your Sisterhood. And of a Worm raising to the Gods on the Remains of Humanity, without us. The other Path promises Hardship, the continued work in the Darkness, that you need to bear yourselves with snarling Teeth and be Hidden Dangers."

Tapping her fingers on the Table, Monika took a deep Breath: "Yet this is only what i heard listening to your Vision, being a Creature of Secrets and Whispers it might just be my Nature to see a dark Path more inviting."

Hovering over the Box with her Finger, she waited for Hannah to give her a silent approval, and after receiving it, mimicked the taking in from before.

Te Results where rather different though. At first she thought it simply tasted like dirt in her mouth, then her Heart raced and sweat dropped from her Face. Breathing was more and more difficult, as Monika grabbed the Table gasping for Air.

Whatever it was exactly that this Melange was made off, she was violently allergic to it.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 20, 2017, 12:21:35 AM

One of the advantages of being one of the planets best trained soldiers was crossing borders became a piece of cake, wishing to leave no evidence of his journey, and the fact that by now Redfern had all his passports, Nathanial and Penny made their way over the border from Vaguzia into Nemeria. They looked deciededly out of place still wearing the gear they'd been out in when Redfern made his surprise appearence. Penny wasn't used to so much walking and could feel herself struggling to stay awake as they made their way towards Chapterhouse here in the south of Alba Karinya. As they approached a woman wearing a private security companies uniform approached and Nathanial spoke first. "I'm Nathanial Corrino and I need your help." The woman's suspicious demener instantly melted as she recognised the man.

"Sir, please follow me" the pair were lead inside and had to relay their story numerous times.

"This is pretty bad news" Libby Morrison (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg400#msg400) The Mother of the Nemeria Chapterhouse shook her head, "How did he know? How did he find you?" she repeated over and over.

"Look Alex Redfern is a respected member of a military elite, he's a nose for bullshit like a bloodhound and we always knew there was a chance of being rumbled, blame that Sarah Duggan" he cursed at the name, his life that he loved was now gone all because he had saved her miserable hide even though he hated what she had done to his adpoted nation, which deep down he loved however what was more unforgivable was she had put Penny into the middle of all this, she was a sweet girl and wasn't equipped for this type of thing as a Truthsayer would have been.

"So what do you need?" Krystina Garner (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg366#msg366) A member of the Fremen family and a Truthsayer instructor asked, she was more practical and was already sensing problems having a Corrino here could build. The Corrino family were the most beloved of the Four Holy Houses and every Bene Gesserit apprentice knew them by sight, Nathanial would be a distraction for the girls and as such it was best he go quickly.

"I need to get to UC" he explained, "Both of us, Redfern will guess I'll either go to ground or head out the country, he'll know I can't go back to East Moreland and so that leaves Nemeria or Zimalia, I wouldn't rule out the fact that he would have contacts." Nathanial felt anxious and just wanted to be back in Claith where the Bene Gesserit diaspora was strong. It took two days to get paperwork together and then find a boat that they could hire a room of boat heading back to their destination.

When he arrived in Claith he went to visit his brother first, Niklaus was the Duke of the family and had built a nice life as Nick O'Hogan, a former child genius turned investor, he'd turned the families already sizeable fortune into an even bigger one and was the most favoured of the nobles in the Bene Gesserit faith. Nathanial planned to rest for a few days, leave Penny in the safe keeping of the families home and then go check in at Chapterhouse here in the capital. What he hadn't expected was to have to wait to see Mother McKey, but she was busy it seemed and his visit was unannounced. He decieded he'd pass the time watching the Year 10 Truthsayers going through their paces on the lawn.

"Make a hole" a Truthsayer Sergeant yelled as they came thundering into the schools offices corridor. Nathanial flattened himself to the wall as the woman sprinted past, a 2nd woman was hurrying the same way a backpack on her shoulder.

"What's happening?" Nathanial asked, the sight of two Truthsayers sprinting a major concern he followed. He reached the Mother's office and feared the worse, had there been a KGB attack, had the school been discovered. As he peered round the door he recognised Rita Faminio kneeling on the floor next to a woman who he didn't recognise, Mother McKey was standing nervously behind her desk as various others stood watching. The two Truthsayers were the duty medics and immediately began treating Monika as she lay on the floor, Rita had kept her airway open and realising quickly this was some kind of reaction the medics popped open the pouch on the backpack with the correct gear in. The first womans hand scanned various items before selecting one, unstrapped it, inspected it and proceeded to jab Monika with the epipen.

"She's responding" the woman continued working as Rita breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.

"Nathanial" Holly spotted him first and literally jumped over the prone Monika flinging her arms around him, feeling instantly safer. The two were due to be go through a ceremony in a few weeks time that would make Holly his Honored Matres, a concubine designed to allow the Corrino DNA to diversify and continue its lineage. The young girl felt him almost casually put her aside once he'd kissed her cheek, he was clearly here for something else and she felt a sadness at his reaction but understood it.

"What's happening Mother" he asked Hannah who retold the story of Monika trying the spice and then having a bad reaction. "Good job we've got some medics then." he chuckled as the still unconcious Monika was taken out on a stretcher, the ambulance wouldn't be called, that was the last thing they needed some outsider sniffing around. Instead she was taken to the Infirmary, not an actual hospital but it could deal with minor injuries and illnesses thanks mainly to the Truthsayers combat medic training. She'd put into a school tracksuit and put to bed, an oxygen mask on her to give her time to recover.

Some time later the woman's eyes opened and she found herself in a long narrow room, she was furthest away from the door, four girls aged between five and sixteen in the beds between her and the door, one was there because she'd sprained her ankle playing hockey, two of the others had clashed heads messing about in their dorm room meaning the eight year olds needed to be kept an eye on, the final girl had some kind of chest infection and was bed ridden to help her recover. Lydia Fremen (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg371#msg371) was one of the duty Truthsayers manning the infirmary, she wasn't yet a fully trained medic but was on her rotation and so was reduced to being the wings orderly. "Wow, you gave everyone a fright" she said as Monika looked around, Lydia sat on the table, "You had some kind of allergic reaction? You know if you have any allegies?" she asked, it would probably be something worth knowing. "Either that or the Sandworm gave you one hell of a vision." she chuckled, "Perhaps we need to get you to start training here." She poured a glass of water and handed it Monika, "The Mother will want to see you" she added as she set about her other duties, "You need anything give me a yell, I'm Lydia" she began sweeping the polished wooden floor.

An hour later McKey arrived and sat in the chair next to Monika having first drawn the curtains. "The Golden Path" she began getting straight down to business, "is a place that holds no fear, you see it is our belief that one day a terrible fate will befall humanity......of that there can be no question, even scientists say in several billion years our planet will be cooked by the sun, when whatever tragedy is to befall mankind we shall ensure it survives, we shall have created the Kwizach Hadrach, and by destroying all evil he shall summoun a giant sandworm, Shai Halud, and ride him to a new future for humanity, where all this will begin again. We shall rise to a greater future following a golden path. The darkness is what awaits us if we fail." she smiled, "although I do find your interpretation intriguing. Have you studied much theology?" she asked. " I find you rather interesting" Hannah continued leaning back and crossing her legs. "Its a shame we didn't find you as a child, trained you in our ways" she shrugged her shoulders. "You've come a long way, suffered a fair bit too, you must be feeling rather badly, I understand if you wish to leave but I'd be happy to extend an invitation for dinner this evening and perhaps stay the evening. While you stay we shall not follow you. You may go where you wish, speak with whom you wish. The girls have been told you are our guest and that they may be honest with you." Hannah stood. "You know the grave was mine, I saw the date" she smiled, "I shall meet Shai Halud much sooner than mankind....much much sooner." she turned and left stopping to talk with the ill girls as she did giving each some comforting words.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on October 20, 2017, 02:52:14 PM

Ashley viewed both women properly for the first time now there seemed to be a level of complexity and near ritual to it, the water question intrigued her such a question suggested that it was some sort of test, but first she had three questions of her own to ask why do I feel like I'm Aladdin? she thought, well it was only fitting to ask as invited to do so.

"This is our first meeting and while you may know much about Achkaerin, Achkaerin does not know much about you...well not much beyond the words of the Kaitaine Pravda and to be perfectly honest we take that publication with a huge pinch of salt." Ashley said "So my first question is this - How does one judge a man's worth?"

She could hear a chuckle in her ear from Robyn, it wasn't a bad opening gambit.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 20, 2017, 11:39:42 PM

This was the part of the meeting that really didn't need Sarah, once they'd entered some kind of deep philosphical arena she switched off her eyes more focused on the street and those passing by, Karin was more than capable of this. "A man's worth?" she repeated part of the question, "As opposed to a womans?" she shook her head, "I prefer to judge men and women the same, by the risks they take. Life is about discovery, it is our purpose to be here, to discover as much as possible to prepare. Discovery is dangerous… but so is life. A "man" unwilling to take risk is doomed never to learn, never to grow, never to live." she made great play of making air quotation marks. "Satisfied?" Karin asked as she went back to enjoying her ice cream. "How you getting on with that water question? You've two more left before I look forward to your response."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Gadshack on October 21, 2017, 09:14:19 PM

Central Ahkabnil, Eshtlayyoan City

In the creaky old western part of Eshtlayyoan had an assortment of people who took residence in the venerable houses, many were aging or new blood moving in, enthralled with fascination at the neighborhood’s deep history and architecture. The street Muire lived on was as old as the city itself, perched upon a hill, with the foggy Ahkabnilian valley staring back. It was vibrant yet reserved, with expression and fine artistry in construction everywhere, as usual for a city of this size in Ahkabnil. While Muire wasn’t born here, she had certainly grown to love the country, the people and the land. As she sat, overlooking the hill on a balcony of her adobe residence, she reminisced briefly on how she got here and lavished in it, as memories was all the old woman had now, she had soon expected to leave.

1943, Southern Ahkabnil

Muire and the rest of the Truthsayers had arrived at their assigned airfield, a sad little thing hastily occupied from the Ardians only a few days ago. They hopped off the truck, running to each of their planes like kids in a candy store. Muire was a bit disturbed when she approached her disk of a plane, the ‘Flying Pepen’ they called it, after the Ahkabnilian Flatbread. “It’s riddled with holes? I’m flying this?” she asked the tending ground crew, cockily. Many glanced up, then back down to tend to the Pepen’s engines. The crew chief walked over, giving a greeting nod to Muire while speaking in a heavy Ahkabnilian accent.

“No, you will not fly this, pilot.” he sighed, already impatient with her assuming stature. “It was shot up yesterday and made it home, we should have her fixed up for you in a few days.”

“Good.” Muire said, with a grin on her face. Then she paused. “The pilot who flew her back?”

“Didn’t make it.” the crew chief walked away somberly.

She slid her hand against the outline of the bullet holes made by Ardian cannons, suddenly chilling tingle radiated throughout her body and her knees got weak, realizing these things were made out of paper and wood.

Some memories, Muire didn’t enjoy, one’s she had avoided for the longest. She had lost most of her friends in the war, and those that did survive were no longer around that she knew of. She was nearly 100 at this point, and still kicking. It was her devotion to her faith that kept her going; while she took refuge in a theocracy she kept the Bene Gesserit faith sacrosanct and dear in her heart, though she did partake in local ritual for appearance, she had leeway due to her veteran status. When she was a young pilot she came from Kaitaine to fight in the skies of the Horn of Ardia, one of the most formidable air and ground theatres at the time.

The prestige and experience the Great War had granted Muire made her a respected person among Ahkabnilian society. She met her husband in the country, an infantryman that had come to work where she was stationed manning flak guns, and had six children who had mostly passed away by now. Only her elder and secretive membership in the Truthsayers kept her going, not even her husband or children had known but her antics following the war.

As the sun began to crouch behind the Ahkabnilian mountains, Muire would head inside after finishing the standard cup of wine everyone in this country had every evening. She wouldn’t eat dinner, as she didn’t feel hungry, most Ahkabnilians ate plentiful at the peak of day anyway. For an old woman she stayed up late, mostly because Muire enjoyed watching late night re-runs of Ahkabnilian soap operas called ‘Hintili’s’, they’re melodramtic splendour excelled anything she had ever saw on a ridiculous, entertaining and comical level.

Muire had woken herself up from nodding off however, at the sound of rummaging in the side alley of her building. She stood up and walked over to the back room of her small apartment, only to find the window partially opened. Still in old age, she had a sharp memory and didn’t remember leaving the window open, she wouldn’t have, mosquitos and whatever else the humidity brought in would find an easy way in otherwise. Her nerves peaked, as the apartment was eerily quiet, even with the TV blaring in the other room. She had always kept her old truthsayer knife handy in her accessories, it had somehow kept her comfort and believing she would pass any moment, thought she might as well die with it in her hands.

Suddenly, a heavy drop followed by panicked running sparked conflict, as a large man ran in trying to escape through the window, hardly noticing the small old woman standing there with a ceremonial blade in hand. Muire, was perhaps standing in the right position for the man’s own momentum to force the blade into his chest, as she panicked and held the blade out in front of her. The man tried to deflect, but instead continued to scramble out the window, nearly breaking it in his attempt. As he fell out, he took the blade with him, still punctured deep into his chest. “What a fool…” Muire sighed, watching the man limp away hastily. She looked down as her foot brushed something, a pistol with the serial number scratched out is what she made out when she held it. What memories came back to her holding a gun. The man must’ve dropped it, trying to pull it on Muire, “Incompetent.” she grumbled again, shuffling away from the window after shutting it.

The smell of burning and smoke filled the air, Muire didn’t notice until she could see the fire that was started in the kitchen, she cursed her dulled old senses and grabbed a towel, foolishly fanning the fire. In her haste her glasses swinged off and fell into it, as the flame grew to engulf most of the living area. She quickly ran back to the window, attempting to open it as the flames seemingly chased her. It was jammed, somehow, as her shaking and panicked fingers clawed at it. She hadn’t noticed but she was also on fire, and slowly becoming more engulfed. She let out a panicked wailing, before being entirely engulfed, drowning in the flames.

Speaker Daily News Reports

"Today a large apartment complex fire spread on the west side of Eshtlayyoan. Firefighters contained the fire by morning and only two deaths had been recorded, a small child of smoke inhalation and an older woman in the fire. Authorities are keeping details about the small child minimal in respect to the grieving mother, however brief investigation suggest the fire originated from the elderly woman's apartment. Police are releasing what they can about her, as no dental records were kept. In items found include an old airforce beret roughly and unidentifiable badge, she is hypothesized to be a veteran of 98 years old. As well as a picture from the Great War era, of a woman, presumably her, leaning on an Ahkabnilian fighter aircraft. 'She isn't Ahkabnilan' police remark in a statement. "

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 21, 2017, 10:06:24 PM

Blair MacReachtain (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg413#msg413) was a couple of weeks into her stay in Chanal University, she'd been sent to search out and record any theological documents that may be of interest to the Bene Gesserit, in truth though the Missionara Protectiva's best Roving Scholar would much rather have been with her Truthsayer buddies in Seitch. She'd checked the usual news outlets to try and get information about the ongoing siege but little was avaliable and being away from Chapterhouse meant she was kind of out the loop. Next up for her was the local newspapers, she made a point of doing this every morning, after all it helped her gauge the mood of the nation. As she left the room she shared with two others. She scanned looking for any interesting articles when an image caught her eyes. A woman standing next to a weird looking airplane, Blair shook her head in disbelief that such a piece of junk could even fly yet alone be an efficent war machine. She read the article and felt sorry for the old woman, to die in such circumstances was horrific but to be a war veteran and in such a male dominated role made her someone worthy of a nice clean death, she found herself inadvertedly saying a Bene Gesserit blessing.

"Oh mighty Shai-hulud
Keeper of balance
Bless the Maker and His water
Bless the coming and going of Him
May His passage cleanse the world"

She was about to turn the page when her eyes were drawn once more to the photograph and there on the side of the cockpitt was a small white creature painted on. The picture wasn't clear and she took the paper over to the desk and scrambled in a draw for her magnifying glass, being a history and archaelogy student here meant she regularly was looking at copies of texts that were hard to read and now she watched as the Jerboa came into focus. "Holy Shit!" she mumbled to herself, a sense of pride beginning to swell. The Jerboa wasn't an animal native to Ahkabnil and she looked carefully at the image examining the pilots uniform carefully, she knew what she was looking for and there on the pilots webbing she spotted it, a knife, she had no idea why but she began praying that she was right. She turned on her laptop and began searching of images of other pilots from the era, she found several but all men. She examined their uniform and each had a knife in the exact same spot, she picked up the paper once more and magnified the knife, everyone elses was dark, clearly the grey metal, this woman's was white. "Its a crystknife" she stood up and retreived her mobile phone and rang the local paper. "Hello, I was hoping you can help me, my grand-father was a member of the Air Force during the war and he spotted the funeral of that poor old women, he'd like to attend and show respect......yes there aren't many of them left and he wants to give her a good send off......once a comrade always a comrade kind of thing.......ok.....that's great thanks." the newspaper had given her the time, location and date of the funeral.

Two days later Blair had meet Maisie Riley (https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fastandfurious/images/9/99/Gina_Carano.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150507201853) at the hotel, she was dressed in black and carrying a large handbag. "Hi Blair" the Truthsayer Officer gave her friend a hug. "You sure about this?" she asked having had the story of an ancient flying Truthsayer relayed to her. "We've no record of these women back home."

"Not surprised, I mean you Truthsayers are infantry aren't you." she knew what was coming.

"I'd say Commando's" Maise corrected as they got into the rental car Blair had brought. "I brought one" she opened the handbag and showed the Crystknife that she had brought with her, it was freshly carved and pure white the bone not discoloured at all. "Won't we look a bit weird two random girls turning up at an old woman's funeral."

"Maybe" Blair said, "But we can't let her passing go without having someone there, even if I'm wrong this woman must have been badass, I mean imagine travelling to a strange land to fight in a war doing something hardly any women had ever done before." there was clear pride in Blair's voice. They arrived at the funeral and made their way inside trying to keep to their own company while checking out the scene before them.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 23, 2017, 11:23:50 AM

"A Hell of a reoccurring Nightmare." Monika sighed as she smiled upon the Students around her: "And shellfish. Seriously, i didn't expect worm-parts to be triggering my Shellfish allergy."

She was laying down a bit, sipping from the glass of Water: "Thank you, Lydia. I am glad you people here know your sh...." Monika coughed remembering that young women where around: "your medical Incidents."

Waiting for the Mother to arrive again, and recovering some strength, Monika cursed inwardly. Not only did she fall unconscious in the middle of unknown Territory, she also blabbed about having Nightmares to woman who did read a lot into these things. It might work out in the end if she kept being honest with them, but the thought of having to lay bare her actual self during a mission was shaking her to the bone. Her old Teacher would sure scold her for such unprofessional Blunder.

As the Mother returned, Monika didn't even bother trying to sit up, at this point she still felt the aftereffects and was glad she could lay down, answering Hannah's questions: "I was many things, being a spy for quite a while. Gardener, Escort and yes, actually i was a Priestess for half a year as well. It comes Naturally to learn about Theology to a point when you have to become a believable image."

"While we are at it, it seems i will have to become a Teacher as well now. We Uburzians speak a German dialect, and to make the Get up convincing i will have to stay at this school at least a full day anyway, so why not use it." Chuckling at the surrounding girls, she tilted her head: "Not the greatest first impression i probably left though."
Resting her head again she nodded slowly: "I will accept the invitation for the evening, though can't stay the night. I am after all officially the ambassador's secretary right now. You can't leave that man alone for too long or he'll cause an incident out of ignorance."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on October 23, 2017, 10:20:10 PM

Ashley smiled it was a good answer, she brushed a stray hair from her eyes.
"A man's worth is not in strength, wealth or possessions but in their deeds." she said "For the battle is not to the strong but the brave, after all a tha a 'dùrachdan a' buannachadh." she'd slipped into her Gaelic again, she'd spent hours studying it intensely in the preparation for this assignment. "Now then for my second question, it may seem a little bit of a dumb one but the truth is that with the exception of the Kaitaine Pravda, a publication that we pay next to no attention to, given that it's about as objective as Gossip Daily is about King Leonard's sexuality, no one really reports on the Bene Gesserit. So while we know what Kaitaine says we don't know what you say - so I'm here and I'm listening what's your story?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 26, 2017, 12:59:51 AM

The main hall of Chapterhouse was in many ways something akin to Hogwarts, there were eight long tables arranged in four columns and at the top of the hall one long table perpandicular to the others. As a dinner bell rang out across the school it was left to Lydia Fremen to help Monika down to the dining hall, already it was a bustle of noise, the four tables closest to the head table held the senior girls, those who at the age of 12 had undergone testing and had been assigned a branch of the Sisterhood. The Mothers sat in smart white shirts with black cardigans done up, next to them sat the Missionara Protectiva, their school uniform of blue blazers, next in line were the Truthsayers, who while probably the most disciplined looked the least tidy, they sat in camo trousers but a variety of coloured hooded tops each for a different squad. Finally on the right were the Honored Matres, they sat in plain black dressed with white shawls around their shoulders. On the tables at the back girls who had not yet been tested sat each in the schools uniform of white shirt, tartan skirt and black blazer. The hall quietened down as Lydia and Monika entered followed by the various other members of staff, some of whom sat amongst the girls while others went to the head table.

A group of women brought out steaming bowls of vegetables, potatoes and trays with slices of beef arranged on them. "Don't worry Monika" Hannah McKey said in a quiet tone, "It's all shellfish free" she smiled as a large silver gravey boat was placed before them. It was marvellous that not a single girl had moved towards the food each sitting eagerly waiting. Hannah stood and picked up the water jug from in front of her pouring half its contents onto the floor behind her, immediately a girl who couldn't be aged more than six or seven was there with a towel to soak it up, the water was rung from the towel into another jug and that poured onto a single ornamental tree that grew behind the centre of the head table.

"Oh mighty Shai-hulud
Keeper of balance
Bless the Maker and His water
Bless the coming and going of Him
May His passage cleanse the world"

Hannah spoke loudly with many of the girls joining in by the end of the first line until each girl recited their blessing. "Please do not rush off after the meal, we have a special event tonight." Hannah sat down and the girls lunged for the various trays each taking a fair share before passing them on, as some of the bowls and trays emptied more where brought. "We dine like this only Monday to Friday, at weekends the girls do many activities and generally eat within their boarding houses. I believe Lydia that pizza is a favourite."

The young Fremen was deputy leader of one of the houses and Saturday night had become pizza and DVD night meaning a regular 20+ pizza delivery from a takeaway close by. "Since I've taught the girls the correct ettiqute that Pineapple deserves no place on a pizza its got better" As the dinner progressed Monika would have noticed only one man present in the hall, Nathanial Corrino sat on the left hand side of the Mother and was generally quiet throughout the meal. As the plates and dishes were cleared away Hannah rose and spoke to Monika, "No none Bene Gesserit has witnessed this before." The Mother pulled up the hood on her black robe and instantly plunged her face into shadow. The girls on the tables below sensed what was happening and as such stood and slid their benches under turning to face the central aisle. The far door opened and a girl dressed in a red uniform of the Honored Matres walked forward, she was flanked by two of the recent graduates, her friends Erin and Maggie, a trainee Mother and Missionara. The Honored Matres was Holly Cathcart (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg412#msg412) and she was nervous, this was the duty she'd been created for, to serve the Sisterhood and in her case one of the Holy Houses, the most important one. She stopped just before the head table and sat cross legged on the floor.

"Nathanial Corrino, brother of the Duke, member of House Corrino of the Holy Four" Hannah began talking in an almost trance like voice, "Examine the girl" the man stood and walked down to the floor where he walked a circle around her. "She has been selected for you to ensure that the potential your spirit possess lives on, do you wish to proceed?"

"I shall proceed" Nathanial leaned down and offered Holly a hand raising her to her feet and giving her a reassuring wink. In times gone by this would have been unannounced to both parties in most cases but this had been in the making several months.

Hannah continued. Holly Cathcart” she announced loudly, “Do you swear upon your blood to serve the Sisterhood and carry our faith into the future by bearing children.” As practiced Holly drew her small bone crystknife and pricked her thumb letting the blood drop onto a white piece of cloth. She handed it to the Mother as she instinctively sucked her thumb.

“I freely give my body” Holly said rather more quietly than she’d planned.

“Nathanial Corrino” the Mother continued, “We offer you the body of Holly Cathcart, will you accept”

“Gladly” Nathanial said giving Holly a reassuring nod. The Mother handed him the cloth, indicating that Holly was now his. Nathanial reached over and took Holly's knife pricking his own thumb and letting his blood mix with hers, a symbolic gesture of the hope for future offspring.

“May you be blessed with many children” The Mother placed Holly’s hand in Nathanials and the two left. It was tradition that from the ceremony the newly matched pair would retreat to the rooms kept here, long ago the nobles would come and be brought a succession of women in order to impregnate them, now it was merely symbolic that the Honored Matres and her new lover spent the night together inside the rooms. Hannah turned to Monika "Our faith teaches us that certain humans posses great potential to connect with the Gods, as such we look to match those individuals and breed certain talents, Nathanial is one of our greatest hopes, a fantastic soldier, brave and a phenominal leader, meanwhile Holly comes from fine stock, their DNA together will help our mission." she explained. "Now, I believe you aren't spending the night, before you leave is there anything you wish to ask?"

Back in Jerusalem Karin was thinking about the answer before opening her mouth, finally satisfied with her answer she began. "It would take me weeks to explain our story, you see the Bene Gesserit story is without a proper start. I think what you mean is you want to know what our aims are, what we hope to achive. That's simple, Kaitaine is as holy to us as this city is to Christians, Jews and Muslims. There is a tiny island called Chapterhouse, a beautiful place I've been told, legend says at one point it contained all the knowledge of the Gods, but thats been spread across Mundus by a series of great catastrophies beyond the memory of humanity. Its the mission of the Sisterhood to solve that mystery for the good of all mankind, Bene Gesserit or not, but to do that we must regain Chapterhouse. The second holy site is the city of Seitch, the only place in the world where the spice Melange is produced, a key part of our ceremonies and our connections to God/Gods. Both lie in the hands of the Soviet regime, and that means we have lost both and mankind is doomed. Our battle is to regain these key sites and in doing so save you all." She thought for a moment, "So no doubt you're also referencing the little.....nuclear incident.....let me ask you this, we have only one enemy, McPherson and his regime, where exactly would we strike using a nuclear device? the capital of Arakeen....well Chapterhouse sits just off the coast, an explosion there would make Chapterhouse a mess, would we really do that? Any other target risks cutting Seitch off from Arakeen, and that is a disaster. So do you honestly think that the capture of a nuclear device is a part of our story?" she went silent again, there was much discussion about that incident within the Sisterhood and still questions were being answered. "So final question?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on October 29, 2017, 01:50:07 AM

"Just formalities." Monika said, still piecing together the parts of the ceremony in her head:

"We need to still make sure we get a convincing setup for my visits. Maybe send me a School Timetable with the hours, i mean if i am supposed to be a Guest Teacher every now and then we probably need a fixed Schedule to seem Schoolish enough. I will set it up the official story from my side, it seems plausible enough the Empire would try to establish cultural exchange on the Root level, so be ensured once the first Schedule arrives on my Desk i will be available."

Watching the Door where Nathaniel and Holly had left the room, she seemed to halt for a moment, before speaking:

"It just crossed my mind that this ideology is not too different from how we deal with the Emperor, considering we basically pick the Spouse of the Emperor to amalgamate the Values and Strengths of whom the Nation considers to be the best into the next Emperor. To us, he or she represents the essence of everything we value molded into a single person through the ages. And seemingly the Nation always thinks being natural blonde is a core value." Monika added the last part with a hint of cynicism, before turning back to Hannah:

"Though, i feel like i have seen mister Corrino's Face somewhere before, I just can't place it. Is he traveling a lot?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Gadshack on October 29, 2017, 08:31:48 PM

Ahkabnil, Muire's Death Rite

The ritual would take place outside under the natural shade of a few trees and a canopy, the day was rather mild so perfect for most. Even a few storm clouds came in from the sea, breaking between the sun. There was a surprisingly numerous amount of people at what Ahkabnilians call a 'Death Rite'-- many of them had not know Muire was even alive. Most were women, former co-workers of Muire in the war, each lavishly wore their old leather flight jackets, however their old age kept their overall demeanor low and humble. One woman, by the name of Zara, had flown all the way from her home country, mustering the money for the intrusive tourist tax. She had spotted the two young women enter the grounds, perhaps the youngest and most fresh among the dreary crowd. Zara didn't know most of these people and the other pilots of Jerobah Squadron had either passed away or weren't able to come.

"And you two are?" she asked, approaching both Blair and Maise. "May i say, there is something familiar about your two. Did you know Muire?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 29, 2017, 09:35:29 PM

"Nathanial isn't much of a traveller" Hannah lied, "He has spent quiet a few months living in Vaguzia with his wife Penny, she studies there, I suspect your probably confusing him with his older brother Niklaus, he's somewhat of a well respected businessman in Ui Cennesliag and looks a little like Nathanial." With the mans secretive double identity as Red Legionnaire James Gillespie even Hannah wasn't aware of who the man had bumped into or not but either was she wasn't about to give away the secret of the number and extent of Bene Gesserit infiltrations of various nations.

"As for the things you requested you can expect them sent to your e-mail by the end of the day tommorrow." Hannah had been escorting her towards the main entrance. Lydia Fremen was waiting for them and handed Monika an ID card and school branded lanyard, just something to add to the illusion. "Lydia here will escort you home, after your......little spell....we wouldn't want anything bad happening." Hannah extended a hand, "I look forward to working with you." The small doorway in the giant wooden gate opened and Lydia stepped through with Monika and headed for her car where she got into the driver seat. She knew the city streets of Claith well and pulled up just a street away from where Monika needed to be dropped off. Without saying much Lydia slid out the drivers seat and headed away down an alleyway her hands thrust into the green hoody's pocket and into he shadows.

Blair and Maisie looked at each other, they'd tried hard to not stand out but the huge age gap had been something they obviously hadn't thought about. Blair's hand instintively brushed over the Crystknife (https://cdn.instructables.com/F53/2D3V/HRCK0H75/F532D3VHRCK0H75.MEDIUM.jpg), not because she felt any threat but more for the fact she liked the feel of it as she thought. "Oh, well I'm Blair" she over emphasised her Cenneg accent that had been dulled by travelling Mundus over the last decade. "This is Maisie. I'm over here studying at Chanal from Claith, Maisie here was visiting, and we saw in the news that a Cenneg woman had died and that she may have fought in the war, and well you didn't get too many women doing that in the Air Force." That part was true enough. "It said their wouldn't be too many people at the funeral and we thought a trailblazer like her should have at least someone here." she hoped that had made sense because it wasn't too far from the truth.

"We understand their is a tradition of burying gifts with the deceased?" Maisie added. "We'd like to put an old knife in with her if possible, we just figure a soldier like her should have something with her."

Blair hadn't been sure how they'd get the knife into the grave but figured Maisie's full on approach would be enough. "We found it in an old store and thought it looked old" Blair lied as she removed the Crystknife from her pocket wrapped in a white silk cloth. "Do you know how we do that?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Gadshack on October 29, 2017, 10:08:29 PM

Zara's eyes lit up, she hadn't seen such a knife in decades and immediately, flashes of the war came back to her. Her expression of recognition was apparent and at this old age, she hardly cared, not when her friend had just died in such as way. "You arrived just in time for the mourning walk." she answered. "We'll arrive at the burial site where she'll be lowered into the ground. I've seen enough funerals in this country to know." she stared at Blair with a jovial grin. "That is no ordinary knife, and you two know it." she said, pulling them aside before the walk would begin. "I am Zara, and I flew with Muire during the Imperial Great War in this forsaken country. Though she loved it here after the war." she paused, catching herself going on about old memories.

The walk had begun and Zara guided to two along, the sorrowful music, indicated by the dissonant wooden flutes and drum, brought back too many memories for the old veteran. She held her tongue quietly until the rite was over. The center crowd, walking along the path, carried Muire's body, wrapped in thick cotton that was painted over in various reds, greens and yellows. On her chest were several coins and an Ahkabnilian paper standards, as well as kernels of corn and a few raw beans. An elaborate bundle of leaves and flowers held her up above everyone's heads. Her body was completely concealed for various reasons.

A priest walked along with them, chanting various sayings over and over. "Twelcha'e'echtuy Kamal"

Finally, they arrived, and the body was slowly lowered into the ground. Many tossed flowers and food in there once the body settled, those who seemed more close to her lended gifts, which was only Zara at that point. There, she placed an old war-era pistol in the grave, kneeling with a painful cringe to do so. She spoke the few words of Ahkabnilian tongue she knew. "Uluy A'aanche sister, for your journey with Yaotenmel."

The priestly monk then began an accord of singing, with the dissonant flute and drums playing closely behind. Most of everyone joined in, but Zara walked away, with tears in her eyes. Soon after she asked Blair and Maisie to join her for coffee at a local cafe. "If i am remembering the neighborhood correctly, it should still be here." she said, soon finding an old, rundown restaurant. It wasn't busy at this time so there were plenty of seats available. If she remembered correctly restaurants demanded a fee be paid at the door to take a seat, Zara didn't mind, she paid for all three as Ahkabnilian food was worth it in her eyes. "We could have stayed for the feast afterword, but this may be a bit more private. And the food is better."

"So you're truthsayer girls?" Zara blatantly asked. "Oh don't worry, no one here cares or understands here."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on October 29, 2017, 10:34:18 PM

As Zara mentioned she had fought in the war Blair already had many questions, and suspicions. If they'd flown together then chances are they'd come over together and shared a background and that could mean only one thing. Blair began having second thoughts though, surely a Bene Gesserit would have known about the importance of the knife and said something, even in Doublespeak if they'd been concerned about the others hearing. Blair decieded though she'd say nothing. As people began putting various gifts into the grave they waiting until the end and both approached, gently placing the knife into the grave, discreetly each spat into the hole, the tradition of giving water for the dead whose own water would soon be returned to the earth.

Maisie was surprised when Zara mentioned the Truthsayers, Blair however wasn't and began talking. "I'm no Truthsayer" Blair said, she'd desperatly wanted to be, she'd even fought in Seitch, a place she longed to be right now but instead the Missionara had sent her to this country. "I'm the Missionara Protectiva" she reached down into her own boot and removed her own smoothly carved white knife, the emblem of the scholar on the hilt.

"I'm a Truthsayer" Maisie descreetly placed her own on the table, the Jeboah emblem clearly visible on its hilt. "We couldn't allow one of our Sisterhood to be buried without ensuring she was properly honoured, especially one who was somewhat of a unknown legend." Aircraft had always fascinated Maisie, however they were not among the Truthsayers arsenal, after all keeping an Army hidden was pretty easy, an Air Force was impossible but there were a handful of Truthsayers and Bene Gesserit male devotees inside the Kaitaine Air Force, but none of them had flown in combat. "So, you were at which Chapterhouse?" Maisie asked assuming anyone who had recognised them for what they truly were had to be a Sister.

"More importantly, can you tell us anything much about Muire.....she deserves an entry into the records and she has none. It's my duty to ensure we have an accurate record of a Sister such as her.....and if you'd permit I'd like to find out what you did, I can add that in too." It was the role of the Missionara Protectiva to keep accurate records of as many of the graduates of the various Chapterhouses as possible and while they knew some Truthsayers and various other Sisters had got involved in the War there was no mention of any joining an Air Force and so standing on the brink of a great discovery Blair was keen to fulfill the geek inside her.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Gadshack on October 29, 2017, 11:19:29 PM

The old veteran could feel both of their excitement, surely romanticizing the days of the war and their victors legendary deeds. It come to no surprise to Zara that there were no records of the Flying Jerobah's. "I had fled from Kaitaine and learned how to fly in UC, where I met Muire, I assume her Chapterhouse was there. We learned to fly completely on our own volition, the order was so dissolved back then that we pursued our own means of contribution. Muire was hardly a good infantrywoman, i was, but flying was a fascination of mine. Most of the Truthsayers who became pilots did so to contribute in their own way as combat pilots. They had all found a way to get in the cockpit, we were all determined no matter what tradition told us."

"So it doesn't surprise me that there's no record of us, if anything we were renegade, you could say at the time we were very much separated rebels, the oddballs." she chuckled, pausing to continue reminiscing. "It was very hush-hush when we organized to meet up in Ahkabnil, we thought we were best and sought the most active air theater so far in the war. Plus we had heard Ahkabnil was taking any pilots, no matter of religion, race, gender and so on. It was the perfect window of opportunity for all ten of us at the time. Later down the road there would be fifteen more of us that would join up in Ahkabnil. In total, 25 Truthsayers flew in Ahkabnil."

"Only- only 5 would make it in the end." she somberly sighed, pausing for a while. "Two wounded greatly and dying after the war, Muire was thought to be dead so I guess that makes six that survived the initial war. I know there are two more of us out there, but we all went to hiding after. It stuck, and our relevance faded into obscurity throughout history. We were part of the 16th and 17th Pursuit Squadrons, that's the only record of us, all it may me is loss to kill ratios, but we were one of the best, that believe it or not, paid the cheapest price. Coming to this theater of war frightened me deeply, as entire flights would go down the matter of days. New faces were common, and then they soon left, never to be seen on base again."

Zara continued on with Muire's story however, "Muire was a good pilot. In fact that's an understatement, she was an ace and immortal, the priest and monks on the base hailed her for defying death so much and bringing it to the Ardians in the skies. They even painted these eerie skulls on her plane, calling her the 'Mother of Death' -- even as far to call her 'Little Ya'en', their malevolent god or something here. I'm not sure on the exact number, but it was around 250 victories, most against other fighters, and were the Ardians fierce in the sky."

"Um... I'm not sure how much i got down, not sure if i kept count." the war had affected Zara the most negatively of the bunch, most for her experience when she was shot down over Chanal. "I was downed over Chanal and parachuted into the city, was picked up before drowning in one of the canals by friendly troops, they were Himeyamans actually. That pistol i left behind, was given to me to Muire and protected me throughout my six months down there." she paused, trying to repress what memories she had in Chanal. She had seen enough death and destruction up close to last her a lifetime. Truth was, after Chanal she was removed from the squadron when recovered due to psychological problems. The dreams didn't come back until recently, when she heard of Muire's death. After she left the Horn theater, she attended the air war in the Matilda Channels.

"I can answer anything specific you need." she continued.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on November 08, 2017, 11:06:56 PM

Rebecca Cameron (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg404#msg404) hadn't been in Weremark long, nor did she intend to be, her mission was simple, meet a Missionara Protectiva scholar listen to what information she had on unearthed about a potential new weapons smuggling route into Kaitaine and then get back to Vaguzia. She'd arranged to meet Yvonne McIntosh, the 40 year old Missionara in a park amongst the pale brick buildings, as far as meeting places go it was a nice one, much different to the desert Rebecca had come from a few weeks ago.

They'd arranged to meet by a bench close to the fountain and Yvonne was early and sat down on the bench which she had selected because she took lunch their everyday. She loved it the people you could meet, people watching, sometimes even watching a few of the woodland animals, it was a little slice of nature in the heart of the city. She spotted Rebecca coming down one of the three paths that lead to this point and waved at a distance, meanwhile at the far end of the bench a man sat down and proceeded to remove his lunchbox, clearly someone with asimilar idea to her. She turned back to see Rebecca around ten meters away when she felt something wet hit her ear and the sound of what seemed a deoderant can, she turned back to face the man who had pulled the metallic canister from his sandwich box and was now spraying her in the ear, and now eyes burning her. Yvonne screamed and felt herself falling forward. Rebecca had broke into a sprint as the man wearing black overalls ran into the undergrowth leaving his canister behind. Rebecca reached Yvonne seconds later and she was lying on the ground unable to move. "Shit" Rebecca mumbled to herself as she realised the likely explanation was a KGB hitman, she had no time for sympathy and rifled through Yvonnes pockets as a few onlookers wondered what was happening. Rebecca found the Crystknife and pocket book, realising that she couldn't answer any questions without being investigated herself she ran after the man, she was less than ten seconds behind him.

She hurried after him, leaving Yvonne surrounded by a group of shocked locals, her breathing becoming more and more laboured as the massive opiate dose she'd been given kicked in. Rebecca reached the edge of the park to see the man head down a narrow lane opposite at a brisk walk, she followed, they knew the KGB killers tended to have multiple targets and she had a chance to take one out before he did anymore damage. She crossed the road quickly and once in the shelter of the ally reached inside her jacket and removed her Maxim 9 internally silenced pistol (https://silencerco.com/maxim/) holding it low and slightly behind her she burst into a sprint, the sound of her feet alerting the KGB man, he had no chance Rebecca was closing in and was younger and faster, she squeezed off two rounds before he even noticed the pistol, slumping to the ground as one hit him in the spine he found her foot on the back of his neck. With no words exchanged he felt the cold metal of the pistol on the back of his skull and then the trigger dispatched him. Rebecca dragged the body to the side of the alley, threw some bin bags over him and ran. An hour later she was checking into her flight to Vaguzia completely unaware that the man's partner had seen her leave the alley from the comfort of his car that had been waiting to whisk them to the airport. He had found the body moments later and managed to get back to his car just in time to see Rebecca get into a taxi. He followed and then watched her board the flight to Vaguzia. It didn't take much of a phone call for things to be sorted in Alba Karinya.

By the time Rebecca landed a few hours later the KGB guy was there waiting and managed to follow her all the way to Chapterhouse school. They had heard rumours of a secret Bene Gesserit school somewhere on Mundus and now they had evidence of a Truthsayer killer accessing the place. This had to be it. Richard Canmore of the KGB's AK office quickly assembled a team and made their way to the school, there may well be "collatoral damage but we can send a message" he thought as the improvised van was driven down the road nearest the school. They'd taken great care to get their cover sorted, the van had West Moreland plates and a stray "Borland Shall Free West Moreland" leaflet was left in the cab. They parked up and the maths began, moments later the fake roof was pulled back and the improvised morters were fired, a technique used several times by the Borlanders in Northfort, but this time the ammuntion was different, shells containing white phosperous in some and ball bearings in others were launched into the school. The explosions rocked the street setting off car alarms, the school fire bell could be heard along with screaming, they got a total of six rounds off before abandoning the van and clambering into the waiting get away car.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Weremark on November 09, 2017, 08:12:07 PM

Unsolicited murder was rare in Weremark, but perhaps rarer in the County of Scheverin, where quickly did the disturbance near the city park reach the city commissioner's ears. A phone call from a rather frightened bystander later and two Land Rovers and a larger ambulance went barreling down down the Briegstrat, bursting into the park through the side fence and stopping meters away from the fountain as local guardsmen and paramedics barreled out, rushing to the woman on the ground and quickly trying to figure out what had happened to her.'

Unable to tell if she'd live much longer, the paramedics administered what first aid they could before rushing the woman off to the local hospital - one fourteen kilometers away. The rest of the cops fanned out, securing the crime scene and interviewing witnesses. The stream of information soon reached County Commissioner Edward Sterric, and then the Count himself. Both men, considering international interference unrealistic, instead postulated publicly that the attack could very well have been the work of Hellhorn or syndicalists sympathetic to the man.

An hour later and Sterric had reached the park in his black sedan. Walking in through the collapsed wall, he soon found himself approached by the initial two first responders, and several others from the first convoy of guard vehicles. "Alright, what's new here?" he asked the two immediately. The one on the left, a rather buff man with a trimmed mustache, quickly replied. "Witnesses say that there was another woman who took chasing after the man., and who the stricken woman looted. We're getting CCTV now, but..."

"And the victim, new updates? I had no net on my way over, so,"

"No, sir. Still in the hospital. Would probably have to head over there if you wanted to speak with her."

Sterric sighed, pulling his phone out briefly to check something, when two more guardsmen came sprinting down the park path, yelling "Commissioner!" rather frantically. They stopped in their tracks as they neared their superior, cold water kicking up from their feet. "You're going to want to see this..."

A corpse. A corpse is what they'd found, and one with multiple gunshots in it. The leading theory among the guardsmen assigned to the scene was that the same man that had put the woman in the hospital had dispatched the person who the corpse had earlier been. Sterric had a different theory, one that noted the witness testimony of the second woman. She easily could have done this; Hellhorn, after all, wasn't above using women to garner sympathy before having them commit some act. But then, why the witness testimony on the first man's actual attempt? Were there three parties involved? He supposed that forensics would have those answers shortly.

Another call on the phone; this one, the Count. He hung up. This couldn't go national just yet; Sterric had an inkling that whatever assumption the Count had earlier reached couldn't be bolstered with half-analyzed evidence. He turned to walk towards the marked-off corpse, reefing through the man's pockets for anything substantial. There were still answers to be found.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on November 10, 2017, 10:53:26 PM

Ashley nodded, so far so good, each question part of a strategy - the first to test the virtue of Karin, the second to discover the story, the nuclear waste incident was a worry and the reassurances would probably be taken out of necessity with a pinch of salt. So far Karin had proven interesting at worst and at best if this was the complete truth that she was speaking then there was much to be gained. However the risk was also great, at the moment there was a level of thinking that the reward potentially outweighed the risk to the extent that getting a clearer picture was worthwhile. Where things went from there was somewhat above Ashley's pay grade. So what was the final question to be? She mentally went back to the assignment briefing, first test them, then if that was satisfactory fact find figure their story out. If that was ok then there was only one thing left to do.

"My final question." Ashley said "Let's say you toppled McPherson tomorrow - what would Kaitaine be then?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on November 19, 2017, 08:11:56 PM

Karin considered her answer, it would after all be up to a newly elected Reverened Mother as to what the true path would take, but for now the Missionara saw herself as being in the role of the chief sales person for their cause so wasn't about to plead ignorance. "To know that you must understand our faith. You see religion through the ages have been the cause of war, our faith would be the opposite, we unite faiths. You see a central core of our faith is that some time, long ago, a great catastrophe almost ended humanity and in that event we lost our true connection to God/Gods, little knowledge was left and it has been the role of people like me in the Missionara to piece it together, add to it and educated the Priestly class as to what we know. We see all religions as having validity, it is simply how someone has interpreted the pieces left behind and moulded them together, many have it wrong, and like a good scientist or explorer we can not be fixed in our thoughts, new evidence brings new understanding which itself brings new faith, I myself have changed my opinion several times in my life, and I can not rule it out again. You see this search for knowledge means we embrace the world, we don't seek to destroy, we don't seek to isolate. Our mission is simple, to learn as much about God/Gods as we can and prepare ourselves for the next catastrophe that will one day threaten us. As such a Free Kiatiane would be someone who is respectful to all, regardless of creed, colour, religion, gender....you name it. We would make a stand for causes that are just and we have a thirst for knowledge no nation on Mundus can match, imagine what an open and accessable Missionara Protectiva could achieve for Mundus, a global network of scholars constantly challenging and questioning the world they live in. Kaitaine would become a nation the world needs, a nation on a Golden Path with no enemies and friend to all." She hoped the answer was acceptable after all much would hinge on it. "Now I have answered your three questions."

Sarah stood up from where she'd been sat against the wall and walked over to stand by Karin. "So, question from me. What happens now?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on November 28, 2017, 07:32:13 PM

Ashley's eyes went from Sarah to Karin to the vial of water and then back to the two women.

"I believe what happens now is that as I've asked my three questions and you've answered them that I now answer the one you posed earlier - Why is water important? After that I think we talk about things." Ashley said she'd been thinking about her answer to this for a while and she'd come up with one she just hoped it was a good one.

"So why is water important? My answer is this Ihhuein-hel mnean mayri i Ihhuein mnean mnaer'ti llhnaeifv" she said, her native Achkaerinese coming out "From water we have come to water we shall return. It's an Achkaerinese saying that explains our cycle of life according to our religion, for we believe that when the world was created the God Ezotl created man and woman out of the waters of the ocean so water is the source of all life, without it we are nothing. I cannot say simpler than that."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: KrisNord on November 30, 2017, 09:57:24 AM

A Co-post with Libby

The Cenneg Education Minister, Shona Devont, was a little unsure how to proceed. Here was a school that had always been held in high regard by the nation, it had produced many fine ladies who had gone on and done great things supporting business, industry and the services the nation provided. Infact six of the schools graduates had served in the operations during the Cultist genocide in Royal Seleucid being nominated for their superb service. The fact that one of the nations wealthiest businessman was the underwriter for the Chapterhouse Lifeboat chain of schools was also concerning. Niklaus O'Hogan, or as the Bene Gesserit knew him Corrino, made his way into the Ministry of Education carrying a leather briefcase.

"Good morning Minister" Niklaus gently shook Shona's hand, "I hope your well" he was already looking rather serious, aware of the difficult conversation to come.

"Good thank you, please take a seat." Shona pulled a bucket seat out from under the table as she returned to her own side of the desk. "I must tell you Mr. O'Hogan that I am concerned, first we see a tragedy of one of your schools being caught up in an apparent terrorist attack, next that is tied to a group we have concerns about, the Bene Gesserits or something." Truth be told Shona was not fully aware of the Bene Gesserit group, but had heard of the attack on East Moreland and that was a concern. "Next we inspect the school here and we discover all manner of things we see as unsafe, I am concerned at what kind of establishment you're giving your name too."

Niklaus had prepared for this, he'd meet Hannah McKay and talked with several members of the Missionara Protectiva. "I'm not going to lie" he flicked the briefcase open and placed a gold plated symbol on the desk. "This is the symbol of the Bene Gesserit faith, I am asking you to grant the school the same protections as you would a Christian school, a Sikh school, or any other. You permit those schools to pursue teaching that promotes the basis of their faith, for example the Sikh's are permitted to carry their little knives, what is different to these." He reached down to his ankle and placed a white bone crystknife on the desk sliding it towards the Minister.

"Is this a threat" Shona asked slightly alarmed.

"Not at all" Niklaus sounded offended, "If it was a threat I would not have practically given it to you" he slid his chair further back as though emphasising his lack of threat, "It is a symbol of our faith, carved from a single piece of bone, they are a sign of being accepted by the faith and the faith accepting you, it is personal to the person who owns it, no two the same, when the owner dies so does the knife cremated with it. So you see to forbid the knife is to forbid our religion, my religion" he added. Over the next hour he recounted the story of the Bene Gesserit diaspora in Ui Cenneslaig, how an estimated 180,000 of them lived among them, he revealed names of some national heroes, such as Major Curtis O'Bryan who had lead a near suicidal charge against the Ardian's during the War, he held the nations highest medal for bravery and had several schools named in his honour, there was even a military base called the O'Bryan Barracks. Shona realised that she actually had no idea that these people held a secret allegiance to something, it was hard to imagine that someone who had been so willing to fight for UC in the way this national hero had could be a terrorist. It had been a smart move by Niklaus to use the man's name, and the photo of him posing with students from the school with his medal in one hand and a crystknife in the other.

"So you expect me to stop these inspections?" Shona asked wondering what the agenda was.

"No, that would mean revealing our identity. We would like to remain hidden, the Kiataine government seek our destruction, what I would like is that the inspections be carried out by a small group of people made aware of who we are. This can therefore help us keep our anonymity while reassuring yourself that these groundless ideas of child abuse exist." Niklaus knew this was a risk but they had to take it, they were on the brink of being exposed and as such could now only seek to control that. "I suppose as Duke Niklaus Corrino of Seitch, Lord of the Holy House Corrino, I am asking for asylum on religious grounds."

"For yourself and your family?" The Minister realised this was passing beyond her remit.

"No, for me, myself and the hundred of thousands of Bene Gesserit here in Ui Cenneslaig." there was silence and he was happy to let it hang, putting the emphasis on her to make the next move.

"I need to speak to the King I think." she announced.

"Then I await your decision" he stood and headed for the door.

"You forgot this" Shona held up his crystknife.

"Keep it for now" Niklaus said rather casually, "For if you expose us to the world I will need someone to destroy it for me soon." the meaning of this sought to place an exclamation mark on the meeting and Niklaus left for the nervous wait ahead.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on December 08, 2017, 09:48:32 AM

Karin listened to the reply of the Achkaerin woman, it was not one of the Bene Gesserit, its was too rehearsed and too focused on their faith, a flawed one naturally as it only kept within its own bounds unlike the free flowing ever shifting, ever reassessing version of reality, the Bene Gesserit. If something was important than Karin reasoned it did not need to be defined for you, you would just know. Water was more than life, it was something that could never be destroyed, yes you could evaporate it, but that just transformed it, the water would one day return and it would contain the knowledge of thousands of lifetimes. Water was patient, the way it eroded away whole mountains given a few millennia, the way it was relentless, always finding its way to the sea. Those were things the Bene Gesserit admired, it was the reason for the obsession with water, that and the way the faith grew out of the deserts of Kaitaine, a place where mere survival meant one was cautious with water. The purpose of the question was to assess a people's attitudes and Karin was not sure a quotation from a faith that limited its world view was a good one. She made a decision on the spot, unlike with Neu Uburzis there could be no full disclosure. "

Karin tossed the small vile of water to Ashley, on a closer inspection it had feint specks of a red substance suspended in it, Melange, a spice found only in Kaitaine and a central part of the faiths heritage and ritual. It was said to have properties to allow a Sister to see the future, that was in its pure form however, the stuff diluted down with water was supposed to simply be for taste purposes. It was strange though, none of the Bene Gesserit could ever agree on its flavour, some said it tasted a little like cinnamon, while others like a burnt sugar. It affected everyone differently, Karin simply felt warm fuzzy tingles, something she put down to a kind of mental placebo, however she knew Mother Hannah McKey often gained visions, strong omens of the future, it was said her young protégé, a girl called Erin had the same gift. "That is diluted Melange" Karin said, "Consider it a calling card, its something any Bene Gesserit Mother would recognise, one day you may need it. You see it is they who need to make future decisions about our nation, this will at least tell them that you have spoken with the Missionara" Karin stood from her seat on the wall. "You know while I'm here I think I'll go visit the Holy Places, they always fascinate me.....or is there more business here?"

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on December 14, 2017, 06:36:56 PM

At the home of Achkaerinese Intelligence (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/SIS_building_%2826327425611%29.jpg/1024px-SIS_building_%2826327425611%29.jpg) in Artaxia, Justicar Operations was quiet in the sections situation room Nix Williams (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg654#msg654) sighed the room had been listening to the conversation in Jerusalem, it appeared to be winding down and judging from the conversation Ashley had been given something that could prove useful in the future.

"Do we give them Broken Arrow?" Paul Kessel (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg673#msg673) asked, looking at Nix she was the ranking Justicar in the section for the moment after all. Nix was thinking carefully, it wasn't lost on her that Broken Arrow's chances of success were much higher if they had Bene Gesserit cooperation. But to reveal such a top secret scheme? Especially without anything established?

"Give it to them." a woman's voice said, they both looked towards the rooms doorway Rion Ayanami (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg646#msg646) was stepping into the room, she was the boss as far as Justicars went
"You sure?" Nix asked
"They haven't survived this long underground without getting ahead of the game." Rion said "Chances are they may have people in Kaitaine intelligence."
"Heck of a risk to take." Paul said
"There's no choice." Rion said "If we want Broken Arrow to work with the best chance of success then we need their help. Saki?" she was looking at the far end of the room where the Deputy National Security Adviser Saki Ryoko (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg1274#msg1274) stood her arms folded, this was ultimately her call.
"Do it." Saki said, far better to try and have the inside track and be a little more proactive than rely on reacting to what intelligence sources said
"Ashley." Rion said picking up the radio handset so she could communicate over the channel "Give her Broken Arrow."

In Jerusalem, Ashley slid off the wall she'd perched on and handed Karin what looked like two business cards.
"You may not know this but Franchesca Owens was the daughter of the former Marquis of Rockmount, Jacob Gliss." Ashley said "He killed himself hours after Franchesca was murdered, when his will was read there was mention of her, he left her the contents of a safety deposit box, number 175201 at the Achkaerin National branch in Valor, the gold card access's that, it goes to whoever inherits from her I don't know who that is, in the box you'll find a heavily encrypted hard drive." Ashley said "The other card has the phone number of a burner phone on it, when you've read the data on the hard drive you'll call I hope.

I recommend the Church of the Holy Sepulchre if you want to go and look around the sites what it is believed to sit upon may hold special meaning for you."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: KrisNord on December 20, 2017, 12:20:02 PM

OOC - With Libby

It had taken some days to arrange the meeting between King Finley and Niklaus Corrino, it wasn't an entirely uncommon sight for the businessman and philanthropist to be meeting with royals. Today however it was an entirely different matter. Finley was not his usual care free self, he was annoyed, for the best part of 200 years his nation had been home to a group that could potentially be terrorists, a group that had attacked one of his close allies and all this had been done under his nose.

"Sit down" Finley almost ordered Niklaus as though a soldier. "I have to say Nick I am not a happy man, the only reason I haven't had you arrested and handed over to the Morelanders is because of the good works your family have done for our nation over the long years you've been here. I'll have no qualms about giving you them if I find your a risk, do you understand that?"

"Of course your Majesty" Niklaus sat down and seemed rather relaxed about the whole situation, even though he was about to make Finley the first monarch on Mundus in direct contact with the Bene Gesserit. "Let me explain" he leaned forward in his chair, "We're not here to take control, cause problems or kill anyone. We just want to be allowed to be our faith, and maybe one day take back our homeland. To use Seitch is as important as Jerusalem is to Christians, as Northfort is to Cultists." Over the next hour Niklaus explained the complexities of the faith to Finley, who truth be told found the whole thing fascinating, especially how Niklaus explained that many of the Bene Gesserit had merged their ideas with that of the Celtic Paganism, the belief that the Banshee was just a personification of Shai Halud being one.

"So I stand in a tricky situation" Finley began, "If I publically recognise your people I become someone aiding the people who attacked East Moreland. If I do nothing I see Celts slaughtered, I also run the risk of being a hypocrite, I've always supported freedom of religion and to have you hiding your faith is unacceptable if we can avoid it."

Niklaus felt like he now had a sympathetic ear. "We don't wish the whole of our organisation being made public, the fact Chapterhouse School is part of our faith we can handle, we have a media arm believe it or not, mainly active in anti-Kaitaine propaganda but more than capable of being able to handle the attention the school would get. Our biggest worry is being targeted by members of the KGB"

Finley stood and perched himself on the corner, "We'll sort them out, if need be we'll post a military guard, I know it was probably the KGB who hit the school I read about, they'd be crazy to try that with members of our military close by the school" Niklaus was surprised, Finley seemed to be moving towards some kind of support for the faith." There were several more discussions, about Niklaus background, his life and duties as one of the Four Holy Houses, Finley had asked who the others were but Niklaus had point blank refused to name them. "I think we can begin exploring supporting you guys, but it needs to be managed" Finley concluded.

"What do you mean?" Niklaus asked.

"The leader of your faith must make an announcement distancing themselves from the Truthsayers, if it happens publically but not privately I can handle that, hell give them a different name at your schools or something. Bene Gesserit Cadet Corps or something" Finley shrugged. "We'll then place a military guard on the school, keep up inspections for safe guarding and see where it progresses."

"The problem is" Niklaus shifted uneasily, "there are other Chapterhouse Schools across Mundus, it'll be a problem." By coming out so to speak in Ui Cennesliag they'd expose themselves globally.

"Nick, the cats coming out anyway, better on your terms that ours." Finley explained, it was true, this way things could be managed and as such questions deflected or handled.

"Very well" Niklaus said rather grudgingly, "Tomorrow I'll speak with the press, but I want your word that you'll protect us."

"I'll have soldiers outside first thing in the morning." Finley extended a hand, "I guess I'm the first to welcome the Bene Gesserit to the world" Finley was back to his usual jovial self.

"May Shai Halud Guide you" Niklaus replied, the first time he'd openly used a Bene Gesserit saying in public in his whole life.

"Sure the giant worm thing will." Finley chuckled as Niklaus left.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on December 30, 2017, 12:27:11 AM

OOC - A joint thingy with Kris & Dave

It had taken days to arrange, Finley had given instructions for the school's inspectors to be replaced with a team of his choosing and their reports had been prepared to essentially say that while the school was "unorthadox" in its approach nothing unethical or unsafe was taking place, Finley was only partly convinced of the later but he wasn't a fan of the words "Health and Safety" anyway and so the idea of teaching young girls how to do martial arts with a knife wasn't something he was worried about. He had managed to get himself into the school unspotted by the media who had taken a growing interest in the school over the last week or so and upon meeting with Mother Hannah McKey he'd felt even more reassured that this was more than a school, it was a community and while he didn't fully understand its intricate beliefs and routines he was reassured that the family atmosphere was one that could only be a positive. The more time he spent among the Bene Gesserit the more convinced he was that the whole incident in East Moreland was not something that was a true reflection of the faith, it would however be difficult to convince King David of that but Finley would cross that bridge when he had to.

The King had been escorted around the school by two of his Royal Kerns in suits rather than their normal combat gear, the pair were genuinely impressed with the Truthsayers they saw being put through their paces, many of them getting shooting scores comparable to those of the Kerns themselves. Krystin Fremen, the lead instructor here was especially a good shot and her offer of a little wager with the Kerns was turned down, at least for now, by the King who wasn't 100% convinced his boys could have taken the woman. It was as they were leaving the schools private indoor range that one of the Kerns recognised a familiar face. "It's Lt.Gillespie isn't it?" the Corporal asked the man dressed in track gear collecting a rifle from the range officer.

"Pardon?" the man asked nervously as he seemed to hurry and gather his equipment.

"You are, it's Corporal O'Rourke, we served together in Royal Seleucid when you guys hit the palace." the man was convinced even recognising the man's accent. King Finley had by now approached and recognised the young officer.

"Mr.Gillespie" he extended a hand, "I know you" the King smiled as he recalled meeting the Red Legionnaire when he visited Illumic Command and the man had been part of the convoy. "For some reason you look smarter in a tracksuit than you did in your Red's combat gear" the Legionnaires had a reputation as being among Mundus' best soldiers, but the least paradeworthy. "What brings a Morelander here, don't tell me this is where they train you lot to shoot, it explains a lot" the King teased the man.

"I'm afraid if I'm honest I have to admit I'm no longer a Red, I've always been Bene Gesserit, just grew up in Moreland and felt the best way I could serve my faith was by becoming a soldier, probably no better place to learn than Aldfied." Nathanial didn't reveal his identity as Niklaus younger brother, after all that was a card that could be worth something later down the line. He was still proud of his Red Legion service, in his mind it made him one of the best soldiers on Mundus and he'd done more in five short years in the unit than most soldiers would in a lifetime, his medal for bravery sat proudly in a frame on his wall back at his brothers stately home.

"Do I need to have you arrested or something, you AWOL?" Finley chuckled, but when no answer came he realised he may have stumbled across something. "Don't worry, I saw nothing" he patted Nathanial on the shoulder and headed for the door. "You a Celt?" the King stopped and asked at the door.

"Aye" Nathanial replied proudly, even though he loved East Moreland as much as the idea of a free Kaitaine he was still a Celt at heart like all of the faith.

"Then you'll do for me" Finley exited with those words ready and confident that his announcement in the morning to the media would be one that he could handle without any problems.

As the Cenneg royal left Nathanial took the target rifle and the ammunition and headed onto the range, it was good to keep his eye in and he spent a good hour here everyday using the various weapons they had in store. After expending his ammunition he took the time to coach some of the Truthsayers using the range, a real combination of the highly skilled 17 year olds using high powered marksman rifles, right down to the eight year olds using air pistols to begin developing their skills. WHile he'd never been an instructor he actually enjoyed the work and thought perhaps this could be a new line of work for him. As he returned the weapon he had a note waiting for him, the Mother wanted to see him as soon as possible. Nathanial didn't even bother to get changed and just made his way to the womans office, he hadn't even hit the door once when a voice called for him to enter. As soon as he walked in he recognised the smell in the air of Melange, the sacred powder used by the Sisterhood and faithful to help them see things, rumour had it there were none better than Hannah McKey, and Nathanial put the ability to see through the door down to that, and not the shadow under the door that had actually alerted Hannah. "Sit" was all she said in a deep growl, her eyes were white, clearly in a Spice Trance, he sat and waited wondering why he was called if she was about to take the spice, she mumbled and muttered words that he couldn't make out, all the time her hands flashing various gestures, "Doublespeak" he recognised it but the speed at which she used it was far too fast for an ameatur in the secret language such as himself.

"She says our time is nearly upon us" a voice from the darkness whispered, Nathanial almost jumped out of his skin, he'd believed he was alone with the woman many considered the most powerful leader of the faith. A young bald girl stepped from the shadow, it was Erin, one of the recent graduates and a favourite of McKey, many believed she was being groomed for the future leader of the faith. "She's been repeating that over and over, along with our names and the phrase "Golden Path", seems we're either in for some trouble or something rather cool......maybe both" she took the seat next to him and waited for the Mother to come out of her trance.

Over in Jerusalem it seemed the meeting was over, Sarah took the offered items, after all she was the one who if anything was about to go down during the exchange that would be best capable of dealing with it. Karin waited for Sarah to pass the various things over to her and carefully placed them in a bag, it would of course be easier to just tell them what these things were, plenty of ways of doing that out in the open, the Bene Gesserit could hold conversations within full sight of anyone using their "Doublespeak" and while thanking the Achkaerin agents Karin flashed messages back to Sarah, "Seems our afternoons got busier". Without a word the two Bene Gesserit stood and walked away blending in with the crowd as they walked, of course they knew of Francesca's family links, the Bene Gesserit where after all obsessed with family heritage and almost every Sister could trace her family roots back hundreds of years thanks to the various "Breeding" records kept by the Missionara.

The pair went back to their hotel room and changed into smarter clothing, they had an appointment with a bank manager. Sarah ensured she had her crystknife and pistol tucked securely away as she escorted Karin down to street level and into a cab. The bank wasn't that far away and the pair used the information given to them to get access the the box area, Karin emptied its contents and placed the hard drive into Sarah's briefcase. They'd look at it when they got back to Ui Cenneslaig.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on January 08, 2018, 08:30:29 PM

Monika lay down her glasses and combed her hair as she left the study where she helped some of the youngsters with their German. She ended up doing quite a bit Teaching while maintaining the Pretense of a Cultural Exchange, but those days had come to an End.

Her Car was already packed with her suitcase and everything she could safely get through an Airport, a replacement taking ehr position a the embassy already arranged. Only thing left was the School, she had been waiting in front of the Mothers Office for ehr to Finish the Vision, remembering her own Nightmare every time she went back to see her.

A thousand People starring at her with Blank expressions as she ran through a Mirror Cabinet. Never escaping until she reached the middle, seeing that all of these blank People where reflections of her, yet never truly herself.

Her mind wandered Back, she did think about her next Deployment, it would stay in line with the current. The Bene Gesserit wouldn't have to agree, but the Regent assigned her for a Class A Mission. She would have to set up a Network inside Kaitaine, using an old alias she had back before the Soviet Block Collapsed. She was working Two years undercover in a correction Facility before all went to hell and the Mega state Collapsed, providing her with an elegant exit leaving her False Identity safe and uncompromised if needed, and now was the time.

"I am sorry i have to take my leave. If i stay her Any Longer Finley's men will figure something is Odd." Monika said to the Benne Gessserit guarding Hannah's Office:

"I do have the Red Phone Number from the Regent on me, he asked me to pass it on to your Mother. I will go on another assignment, yet i have a feeling i will come across some of your Sister again soon. I am sorry this all had to happen so suddenly now that we only got warm so recently. I really liked how some of the girls picked up my tricks to scam the local Town boys without them ever realizing."

She leaned back taking a long sigh: "Honestly i was ready to hang up the secretive life but it seems Duty calls again. I think we both can agree that you should not fight Fate, but fight with it."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on January 18, 2018, 01:21:15 PM

Hannah and the staff bid farewell to Monika, it was clear things were going to change at Chapterhouse, maybe for those across Mundus too, luckily King Finley's automatic support of Celts and the Corrino's friendship to the King had given them some support. It was always true that the Sisterhood could use people spread across Mundus and someone in the position of Monika could certainly be useful.

Once she had gone the leadership of the school gathered, it was a rather nervous time but Mother McKey seemed hopeful. "We stand on the first cobble of a new path, an exciting journey is ahead and I am only sorry that I shall not experience it with you, the journey is one I shall never see the end of, at least not in this earthly plain." Over the last week she'd seemed more gloomy in the content of her speech yet her tone was still as enthusiastic as ever. The group sat around looking puzzled, offering the old woman reassurance that she had many good long years ahead of her and that she would see this path through. McKey however just laughed it off. "It will be the first task of this panel to bring about the creation of a new Reverend Mother, now more than ever our faith must speak with a single voice." Since the exile many had called for a Reverend Mother but only once had all the Chapterhouses agreed meaning the Sisterhood had no clear voice.

The meeting lasted several hours discussing what they would do, contingencies for everything they could imagine in the next few days. During the meeting Erin, McKey's orderly entered and brought coffee, tea and apologised for their being no Melange Cake, supplies of their sacred spice were running low and so the kitchen had stopped using it even though the cake used miniscule amounts of the stuff. She was instructed to sit and remained silent through the meeting, however as everyone rose to leave and she began to collect the cups and saucers that she had brought the Mother stopped her, dismissed everyone else and the two sat discussing further the issues the meeting had raised.

Two hours had passed since the meeting ended and Erin's mind was full of what she had heard, it was hard for an 18 year old to take on board the big decisions that these women made on a day to day basis, even harder to imagine doing that while trying to keeping alive an exiled community, but perhaps that would get easier now they no longer were likely to be in hiding. Suddenly a stampede of feet on stone floors outside alerted her to something, and she leapt from the bed, she may have been a Mother Graduate but all Bene Gesserit had done some Truthsayer training when younger and their meditation method of Prana Bindu taught strong muscle control, she flung her rooms door open and there two doors down she saw a Truthsayer medic, huge rucksack and all disappear into McKey's room. There was already a crowd there, staff from the school a handful of girls and the various heads of the Truthsayers, Missionara and Honored Matres within the school. Erin hurried over and tried to enter, after all she was the Mother's orderly, but she was held back. She managed to see McKey lying on her bed, seemingly panting struggling for breath. The medic worked for a good ten minutes but everything seemed pointless, in the end the heads of the three other branches were invited in. Tradition dictated that when possible the Mother's final moments would be witnessed by these heads of the other three branches and then would become part of the process of appointing another.

An hour later the tear stained three reammerged, "Call a school gathering" Krysta Graham, the lead of the school's Truthsayers said without a trace of emotion in her monotone voice. It took only twenty minutes to gather the school together in the grand hall, staff and students. Krysta announced the news to a crescendo of wails and tears, McKey had been loved by her students and her prowess as a Mother was legendry. "Tradition dictates that we three each know the final words of Hannah McKey, may Shai Halud take her and keep her, now any graduate of our school who posses the title Mother Graduate may step forward, tell us her final words and be considered for the position." It was believed that with a Mother's last breath she passed her knowledge on to a successor and this was the test, generally people took wild stabs based on their knowledge, or one of the three witnesses let slip things to a preferred candidate, but it was never fully accurate. Several of the teachers stepped forward and presented answers, if no one was perfect the three heads of branches would consult after a week and select the person they thought closest. As each stated the last words the three sat stoic and silent, the shock of what had happened just so soon fresh on their mind.

Suddenly Erin stood and walked to the front, she had only graduated two months earlier and many gasped as she walked up onto the stage, even Krysta Graham shifted uneasily as the 18 year old turned to face the hall. "Mother McKey's final word was Watercress" she said loudly, the room laughed loudly, and one of the Truthsayer officers began moving towards Erin.

"How dare you at such a time" the officer hissed as she advanced.

"HALT" Krysta bellowed, a look of shock on her face. "Erin, what did you say?" she asked her with eyes wide open.

"I said Mother McKey's final word was Watercress" Erin repeated her statement loudly above the cacophony of noise that filled the hall. Krysta turned to look at the other two heads of the Sisterhood's branches in Ui Cenneslaig. They meet and spoke briefly.

"It is recognised that Mother Graduate Erin McGregor, having repeated EXACTLY the dying Mother's final word, is now the Mother of Chapterhouse Lifeboat Claith, may she be granted the wisdom of Hannah McKey." Krysta took from her the old crystknife of McKey and handed it to McGregor who pricked her thumb with it, thus symbolically transferring the position of power from one to the next, in the days to follow McKey's knife would, as with all crystknife be destroyed. Erin did her best to stand emotionless and the room applauded, the prophecy of one mother surrendering her knowledge to the next being utterly and totally fulfilled. Inside though Erin was trying not to laugh, in their meeting together Hannah had confessed she had terminal cancer but had kept it a secret from the Sisterhood, she had hoped to use her death as a way of unifying the Sisterhood, creating a prophecy so strong that it could not be ignored by the other Mothers of the Lifeboats, thus under one new Reverend Mother the faith would march onwards into victory. Erin had no idea why she had been chosen, why was it Hannah had held her in so high regard, but McKey was convincing and persuasive and so they had hatched the plan, Hannah taking an overdose to ensure a slow death, her aim to say one word so ridiculous to have as your final words that there was no chance of anyone repeating them unless truly the chosen one. Erin imagined the prescence of mind in her final moments Hannah must have possessed, the ultimate pranu-bindu, mind over matter. From that point on it had just been a matter of relying of Krysta's unwavering devotion to the Sisterhoods rules and customs, an unwitting part of McKey's final plot. All that then was left to do was for Erin to hope her mentor had held onto those final moments with enough memory and control to say "Watercress" and that had brought an 18 year old miracle to become one of the highest ranked members of a Sisterhood about to take its first steps into a brave new world.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on January 20, 2018, 11:26:53 PM

Peter had been in better moods, the Senate had only been formally back in session coming up on two weeks and already here the Round Table was sat in the Marble Palace talking about Kaitaine.
"Finley's playing it smart." the Royal Press Secretary Hannah Cartwright (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg209#msg209) said talking about the latest news out of Ui Cenneslaig (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=190.msg4000#msg4000) "He recognizes the Bene Gesserit not the Truthsayers. It's also legally sound."
"Carla?" Peter asked turning his attention to his Royal Counsel Carla Fenchurch (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg245#msg245)
"It's a legal impossibility to say that simply because of someone's faith they are a terrorist it would be like us saying that Anna La Montagne who is a terrorist, the leader of the Sorority of Materna is a follower of the Church of Materna and therefore all other followers of that faith are terrorist." Carla said "So Finley's trying to draw a difference between the two, smart move especially since we're in the same boat so to speak."

Peter nodded, he knew exactly what Carla meant - the school in Ui Cenneslaig was part of a chain of four the other three being in Himeyama, Mountjoy and Achkaerin if one had links to the Bene Gesserit then chances were the other three did.
"So options?" Peter asked
"We're a signatory of the Mundus Convention of Universal Rights." Carla said "Under article nine of that convention everyone has the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The Bene Gesserit is a faith its followers thereby have this protection in Achkaerin. Provided however that things aren't taken to extremes. We have no basis to believe that there's anything untoward going on on our soil, we can't link outside of faith the Chapterhouse School in our country to the theft of nuclear waste in East Moreland, which means it's not sufficient."
"What do you propose?" Peter asked
"With Finley's statement everyone's waiting for you, Premier Musashi and Knight Commander Lascelles to make statements of their own." Hannah said "I would recommend you make a statement quickly."
"Saying?" Peter asked
"At this point in time Your Majesty" Consul Michael Williams (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg1257#msg1257) said "I advise taking Finley's line, there's no argument that the Bene Gesserit is a religious faith, we're bound by international law to respect that. However it is also worth noting the Kaitaine assertion that Truthsayers are Bene Gesserit, we may not have anything to support or disprove that but if they are then we have a serious concern. Specifically are we compromised?"
"We'll have to find out." Peter said "Meanwhile I'll make the statement, I want to know if we have anything to be worried about. But we should also consider what to do about the school. There may well be a public mood that this is a terrorist training school, if so I don't want rule of the mob, police presence outside the school tighten it up."

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Norgeras on January 27, 2018, 05:50:36 PM

Olga Zakharovna was sipping Water on her Flight to Arrakeen, Next to her was her Adopted Son Viktor. When the USR Collapsed she fled the inflkuence zone to stay undercover, her Reputation as worker for the Infamous "Sila cherez yedinstvo" Orphanage had forced her to lay low in recent years.

At least that was the official Story, Monika was more than a little nervous to become Olga again. She had treated orphans terrible in her time there, all in the name of this flawed idea of socialism. Her Partner Siegfried was posing as a former Orphan who supposedly stayed with her, as a prime example of a proper young Communist ideal. He was strong, bulky, and had the proper blonde hair slavic features mix to pass. They had contacted a low key Kaitaine official from Rashidun, proclaiming with the Bene Gesserit threatening the world with their nonsense so openly, it was time for her to fight for communism once more where it matters, and that she was gladly offering her service wherever they would need a hard hand in teaching mislead children the right way.

She shuddered slightly remembering her days back then. She was still young, and spying on the USR, every day a thrill if she could be found out. In the end the cover never blew, and she simply disappeared back into her real self. But now? She was actually afraid, while Siegfried was eager to play the life and Death game, she had almost been contempt to stay behind and become diplomatic her whole day.

The Plane set down, and she nodded to Siegfried. No Phone calls, no dead Drop, nothing. For now they would have only themselves and the fact the Real victor died in Uburzis years back under a new name, giving their disguise official papers all the way back to their birth certificates.

They chartered a small cab, and made their way to their Job Interview for the Kaitaine Public Education and Social Service. She had a clear goal in mind. There where probably tons of children snatched up with Connections, who know someone somewhere all scattered across the systems. she would find them, find their contacts, and build a network. She had a specific little girl in mind, but it would take some weeks, if not months to get to her, and maybe by the time she was useless already. Yet it was her best lead. That is, if she got a job inside the system today.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on February 05, 2018, 09:53:24 PM

Erin had been thrust into the leadership role she knew she was too young for, but the late Mother McKey's plan extended beyond the 18 year old inheriting her position as head of the biggest community of exiles. Over the last year she had built a group around Erin that could be trusted, that would demonstrate a commitment above and beyond that expected of the Sisterhood, now they sat before Erin, her head freshly shaved and the Mother's gown making her seem old beyond her years. "You're here today because Mother McKey saw a purpose for you and that time is now."

Erin looked around the room, the first eyes that meet hers were Nathanial Corrino (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg142#msg142), the brother of the faith's best hope at producing the Kwizach Hadrach, the supreme being. He was a skilled soldier, trained by the East Morelanders into a fine instument of war, he'd become one of their elite Red Legion undergoing much hardship to serve the Morelanders, all the time honing his body and his skills to the purpose Hannah McKey had in mind. He was sat in a set of fatigues, similar to the Truthsayers but their Jerboah emblemn had been unpicked, there proudly in it's place had been sewn a Honeybadger, his loyalty may have always been to the Bene Gesserit but he had genuine love and admiration for his friends, maybe former friends now as the last time he'd seen his good friend Alex Redfern he'd been brawling with him in the street. "Why do you wear a Cultist symbol?" Erin asked him calmly unvelcroing the patch and examining it closely.

"I don't....I wear an emblemn of a soldier, one that will face any enemy, without hesitation and even with no hope will stand its ground to protect its family.....you think their Cultist virtues?" Nathanial asked, "The Honeybadger will face down lions knowing it will lose in order to save its family, it personifies love, courage and family, things the Bene Gesserit honour too." he explained. He had found it easy to be a Bene Gesserit while following the rules of the Cult, it was true the Bene Gesserit embraced many faiths as mere misunderstandings of God/Gods will but Nathanial had taken a liking to the Cult's ways during his many years in East Moreland.

"Then its a Bene Gesserit patch" Erin carefully replaced it on Nathanial's shoulder as she looked around the semi circle before her, next along was the young Truthsayer she'd meet during her own graduation, Sarah MacPherson (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg411#msg411). She had changed since that meeting, her hair shorter, much like the style adopted by many of the Truthsayers. She'd been spending a lot of time with Nathanial and despite nothing romantic being between the two rumours of course had started. Not that it bothered Sarah, she'd become his young protege and had soaked up his soldierly knowledge as best she could. Her shoulders had broadened as a result of the PT she put herself through and her eyes had hardened as her marksman skills had been honed to a height. She'd was in all effects a bridge, between the Truthsayers and Nathanial who would never be admitted to the military order simply because of his gender. "Sarah, how was Jerusalem?" Erin asked.

"The Achkaerin agents seemed more concerned with boxes and missiles, I don't know whether it'll be something worth cultivating, what they ask for is essentially us to burn an asset with no guarentee of what comes the other way.......but you'd be better off asking a Missonara" she shrugged, such decisions made by Mother's usually went through the scholarly class and Sarah had little desire to get dragged into that process.

Erin continued looking at those before her, sat next to Sarah was the Ui Cenneslaig Truthsayer commander Krysta Garner (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg366#msg366) she was dressed in a black dress style uniform, her Major boards putting her at the top of the schools command structure for the military order. She had spent most of her 20 or so years in service organising close protection and running sessions here at the school but she was as good as most regular soldiers if not better. Erin asked her about the status of the Truthsayers, "Estimates are we have 2,000 spread across Kaitaine, a further 4,000 spread across Mundus, add to that about 3,500 NTC's."

"NTC'S?" Nathanial asked unfamiliar with the term.

"Non-Truthsayer Combatants" Krysta smiled, "Men" she added, "People like yourself willing to take up arms and stand beside the Truthsayers, around 1,200 of them are in the KDF." Nathanial raised an eyebrow, he knew the Truthsayers maintained a network both inside and outside Kaitaine, he wondered how many others like him there were but then suspected he'd be better off now knowing.

"They'll be more taking up arms" the final voice, that of Blair MacReachtain (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=66.msg413#msg413), known as the Warrior Poet of the Bene Gesserit, a well travelled and battle hardened young lady who had dreamt of being a Truthsayer but found herself in the Missionara, that hadn't stopped her seeking out and enjoying combat in Seitch. "Give half the Missionara a chance and they'll make a stand for you" she said confidently. "As for the Achkaerin issue, I wouldn't search that at the moment, anything goes down logistically there is nothing they can do, by air there around 6,000km away, so no air strikes, their Navy ain't getting close enough to do anything so we're pissing in the wind if we believe they can help us. Beside we'd be the ones taking the risk of losing a valuable asset in the Ministries. I'd keep that tucked in the back pocket for future use." she laid out her thoughts and Erin nodded taking it on board.

"Well" Erin began to address them all, "We've been left with a simple task by Mother McKey, retake Kaitaine" a smile came to her lips as she spoke the impossible words, "Seitch is under threat, so we need to do something, either strike or get McNeill and her teams out. I'd like a plan for that in 24 hours."

"WOAH!!!" Nathanial leaned forward in his chair wondering if he had spoke right, "We can't do that with the assets that we have here in UC....Helus sake..." the words of habit slipped from his lips, "...we'd need the whole of the East Moreland Air Force to just give us a shot, and we can't act without the other Chapterhouses."

"You'll have them." There was a knock on the door, people turned as the door opened and all seemed surprised with the exception of Erin, there stood Liza McNulty, Shona Devont and Libby Morrison, the Mothers of the other Chapterhouses. "These women are going to give them me aren't you?" the 18 year old motioned to three empty seats. "Sit" an authorative voice ordered and almost instinctively the women did so. "I have you hear to witness this" she turned to her own supporters, "I am calling upon the Council of Mothers to name me as Reverned Mother, to place in me the ultimate control of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood."

"Your mad a girl can't run the Sisterhood" Shona Devont began but an icey gaze and step towards her from Erin shut her up.

"Mad....look at the fear in your eyes caused by an 18 year old girl." Erin laughed heartily "Look at the three of you, spent your lives hiding in your schools, when was the last time you took real spice, real genuine Kaitaine harvested melange" the sacred spice was in short demand, even in Kaitaine where it originated and therefore Erin knew the answer before she asked. She reached into her robe and removed a small tin box, no bigger than one holding matches. "This is the last of my spice, the Melange I made. You know where I made it....of course you do the story is legendary among the students. I am Erin McGregor, the Bene Gesserit who alone walked the desert of Kaitaine, found the wild worm and ground its shells with my bare hands" she reached her hands towards them, a feint red mark, the colour of the spice on her palms planting the sub concious seed she was working towards. "The girl who meditated in the Chapterhouse, not a Chapterhouse, THE Chapterhouse. I am the girl who knew to the letter the final words of a Mother more intelligent, more blessed and more learnered than you three put together." She had removed her Crystknife from her robes and pointed the jagged white point towards her guests, "I am the closest there has been to a real Mother in generations, I am the one who Mother McKey saw on the golden path and I have the backing of the Corrino's" she pointed at Nathanial, "Deny me and you deny the future of the Kwizach Hadrach." The three guests looked at each other in turn. "We shall allow you to discuss the wording of the announcement." she stood and left motioning for the others to follow. The oak door to her office slammed shut and the three women were left gob smacked at what they had just seen.

"Nathanial I would speak with you" Erin motioned for him to walk with her, she lead him down the corridor and into her chamber, "If I asked you to go to Seitch with me would you?" she asked, the question clearly, much as the last half an hour had took him by surprise, he thought for a moment.

"I will follow my Mother" he said after some consideration.

"Mother McKey picked well" she placed a hand on his shoulder and then reached beneath her robe, "If they say no we must ensure the KGB ambush them" she said once more shocking Nathanial as she placed a pistol in his hand. "They'd never let us go" she whispered despite no one being in the room. "The golden path must begin, I must lead it and you will walk beside me." Nathanial knew she was right, the others wouldn't dare order a rescue attempt for Seitch, they had safety, they had peace and quiet and that was a lot to risk. No-one, not even the Missionara knew what would happen if a Bene Gesserit force headed home, and it could well paint bullseyes on them all, but you had to live by the Bene Gesserit's main litany, "I shall not fear", if you have fear you wouldn't take risks, and without risks nothing would ever change.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Achkaerin on February 09, 2018, 07:34:53 PM

There was something special, almost innocent about a new ship before it set sail, it didn't matter whether it was a carrier, destroyer, frigate or submarine this...whatever it was was the same, the vessels size wasn't that important either so here was the INS Normandy (http://s15.zetaboards.com/theindependentorder/single/?p=10029422&t=10286616) sat at Whirlpool Shipyards the main home for the Imperial Navy, it was a slightly delayed introduction of the submarine due to a minor redesign and investigation as to a potential purpose. The Normandy was deserted, with the exception of one soul, the crew had spent weeks getting familiar with the systems and the capabilities of the vessel and now the night before it was to be launched for the first time the skipper Lieutenant Commander Cynthia McLean (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=49.msg4181#msg4181) was walking through the ship, taking in her new command in person walking from aft to bow, it was a tradition in the Achkaerin Navy that the night before a new ship was launched the CO toured the ship. She stepped onto the bridge and found that she wasn't alone, standing there arms folded was the Emperor, the man who'd trained her. That had been about eight years ago she had on her finger a ring shaped like angel wings (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/11/e9/e4/11e9e44d13fce1f138171d1bc1fc012c.jpg), it was a nod to the nickname her class had 'Peter's Angels' they were called.

"How ironic." Peter said "That the first of a submarine class that got redesigned because of Kaitaine and the Zircon is to be commanded by a Bene Gesserit."
"You know?" Cynthia asked
"Not that difficult now." Peter said "Chapterhouse is a series of schools, the one in Ui Cenneslaig is heavily linked to the Bene Gesserit faith, the one in Mountjoy is attacked and evidence uncovered suggests Bene Gesserit, a graduate of Chapterhouse Achkaerin is murdered, her best friend also a graduate is interviewed as a witness - this same best friend then turns up during a classified operation regarding the Bene Gesserit and if that wasn't proof enough there's an island in Kaitaine on which sits a structure referred to as Chapterhouse. How am I doing with connecting the dots?"
"Like Sherlock Holmes Your Majesty." Cynthia said
"Naturally when the situation in Ui Cenneslaig became obvious I ordered a background check of our military personnel I wanted to know who potentially was Bene Gesserit." Peter said "Your name came up."
"And you came here in person to what arrest me?" Cynthia asked
"I came because I've got a big decision to make." Peter said "And you might be able to help. Why?""

"You don't know what it's like. To have to hide, to be always looking over your shoulder, you're ready to lie." Cynthia said "It doesn't say Bene Gesserit on your documents when you immigrate you can't be who you are because it's not safe you can't be who you are because you have to fit in. If Shadows of Mundus getting hold of data proved one thing it's that Kaitaine has sleepers all over Mundus. One name per nation was released, now assuming Kaitaine's KGB is as good as the Pravda suggests they are they'll what?"
"Bring their compromised people home, check them off so they know who's been arrested and then embed new agents." Peter said "They'll be set back years operationally but the operation itself would be intact."
"Exactly." Cynthia said "So why do we lie?"
"Because you don't have a choice." Peter said
"Yep, I never enjoyed lying about it, Yuki, Georgina and Floria are my best friends I never enjoyed deceiving them." Cynthia said referring to her flat mates at the Academy "But even when you're living the lie you can have your moments. You remember the toast the night before the class graduated, the night you handed out these rings?"
"Dhat haei'nelh fvah latass mnean hwiua, dhat haei'nelh fvah hiullhull's mnean daehp, mnean aoi anna'eri khir. Mnean shikaen." Peter said, speaking in his native Achkaerinese tongue in the common tongue it was 'No matter what paths we take, no matter what sacrifices we make, we're forever united here. We're family.' he chuckled "When did I start letting the kids run rings around me?"
"You taught us well." Cynthia said "So what happens now?"

"Now. I go and write a speech with my Press Secretary." Peter said "You go and enjoy being a skipper."
"You're doing nothing?" Cynthia asked
"The Bene Gesserit faith is a religion and as such it's a right under the MCUR, a treaty Achkaerin is a signatory of." Peter said "Being a Bene Gesserit doesn't make you a terrorist anymore than being a follower of the Church of Materna makes someone a member of the Sorority of Materna."

Peter started for the submarine corridor and the hatch
"You didn't ask which I am." Cynthia said as Peter walked past her
"No I didn't." Peter said "And I never will."
"Why?" Cynthia asked, in truth she was a Truthsayer and had half expected to have to face the music.
"Because what I don't know can't hurt you." Peter said, he walked away it was true if Cynthia told him what branch of the Bene Gesserit she was in then Peter could find himself in a difficult position a little later, he stopped again "Cynthia just one thing, don't go blowing anything up unless authorized."
"Yes sir." Cynthia said

Cynthia stood on the bridge as she heard Peter climb the ladder to the hatch, she felt like she'd gotten a bit of a reprieve. She glanced towards her left forearm that was where her crystknife lived sheathed and strapped around her arm. She felt the handle through her uniform jacket sleeve Not yet she told herself her grandmother had been among the hundred Truthsayers executed in the 1970's, it seemed the trait ran in the family, her mother was also in the club as it were while her younger sisters had been and were students at the Chapterhouse in Achkaerin. Given the chance she'd have her retribution.

Title: Re: Little Death
Post by: Libby on February 18, 2018, 11:08:33 PM

Erin and Nathanial sat quietly in the room next door to where the three other Mother's were discussing whether to recognise Erin as the leader of their faith. The talks seemed to last forever but after what was in truth thirty minutes the door opened and Libby Morrison emerged , "I'm afraid Erin that we can not justify giving ownership of the faith to a child. We hope this will not..." she never finished the sentence, Nathanial had casually removed the silenced pistol from the side of his chair and put an expertly placed round into her head, with a fluid motion he was up and entered the room to find the other two packing their briefcases, Liza McNulty was next, she was facing the door and froze as Nathanial entered his pistol aimed, the round ripped out her right eye before piercing her brain and ending her life, Shona Devont just had enough time to gasp as her friend bounced off the table before the third bullet ripped out the back of her skull.

"Congratulations Erin you're the Reverened Mother" Nathanial said coldly as he unscrewed the silencer and began searching through Shona's pockets, he found first her own personel crystknife and then her one signifying she was one of the four heads of a Lifeboat. Nathanial casually tossed it to Erin before searching through Liza's pockets. Even before the 2nd knife had been discovered Sarah MacPherson had entered the outer room and along with Blair MacReachtain was going through Libby's pockets, with the three knives added to her own Erin had her proof that she was now Reverned Mother.

"Thank you" Erin said casually as she looked at the dead bodies around her room, "Oh no" she muttered crossing to the wall behind where Liza had been sat, "What gets blood off wallpaper?" she asked calously as she scracthed at the fresh blood with her finger nail just smudging it even more. "I'll just redecorate" the now leader of the religious order shrugged as a team of Truthsayers loyal to Erin removed the bodies into bodybags and took them out. Nathanial had a group of three cars waiting and they drove them out to a remote country road that would lead from the school to a private airfield, he'd booked a private flight by light aircraft from Ui Cennesliag to Himeyama where he knew two of the mothers would fly back to their schools in Mountjoy and Achkaerin. Satisfied they had no witnesses the car was allowed to roll along the road, the body of Shona at the wheel while the others were placed in the passenger and rear seats, once Nathanial had cleared the line of sight a GPMG manned by a Truthsayer opened fire spraying the free wheeling car with bullets splattering the corpses blood around the interior of the car, it wheeled off the road and smashed against a tree, Nathanial hurried towards it placed a wrag in the petrol cap and lit it, the team scurried away into the forest well before they heard the car go up with a bang. They hiked three miles to where their pick up was waiting and as they drove back spotted a fire engine heading towards the site on a parrallel road. Everything would indicate a KGB hit, the planning of the flight had been slap shod to ensure it would have been possible for the Bene Gesserit's enemies to have found out, and it was well known the KGB had sleeper agents across Mundus. Nathanial knew what he had done would conflict with his former friends Code of Canley but sometimes a little evil was neccessary to defeat the grander one, and now the Golden Path was open before them.

The Independent Order

Roleplay => Diplomacy and Events => Topic started by: Libby on August 30, 2017, 08:33:29 PM