Holmgång

[KrisNord]

OOC- Thanks to Dave for the loan of his people.
17th December 2023

It had been just over a week since the three person committee of General Tobias Dahlsson, Admiral Jonas Stromberg and Air Commodore Timothy Ravenburg had been forced to all but declare martial law on Nya Åland. In that time there had been sporadic violence across the nation but following the Gungnir being driven out of Uppsala yesterday things had been pretty quiet. The three men were due to meet at the Longhouse  with Andrea Jacobsson who as leader of the Odinic Rite had informed them that she had secured more than 50% of the Odinic Councils seats thus making her the Allsherjargoði in waiting. Each travelled in their own vehicle with a guard drawn from their men. With the Gungnir active it was not out the realms of possibility that they may be targeted. Each arrived at a staggered interval with a heavy military presence around them. Only once all of them had arrived did Andrea arrive in her own vehicle protected by members of the Mjolnir Special Forces. Thankfully for all concerned they had all arrived safe and sound.

"Mrs Jacobsson" General Dahlsson greeted her. "Welcome, we want to meet you as we don't want our military trio to become the defacto government of the Republic. We need a representative of the people and we see no real option other than that being you. Its clear you are going to be Allsherjargoði so for now that makes you our option for their representative. Now just to be clear we will brief you on all matters except any relating to the decision of the Head Gothi situation. I hope you understand?" Dahlsson said showing her to the forth chair round their square table.

"I understand" Andrea replied, "What I however don't see is why you are not ordering people to get this sorted, our nation is in limbo and you need to fix tha...." the words never were finished as a large explosion over the river ended their conversation. "What was that?" Andrea asked as the windows in the Longhouse building shook.

Three men appeared quickly in the room dressed in khaki with rifles across their backs "The Civil Service buildings just had a car bomb go off outside" the Sergeant of the guard informed them. "Follow me." The Sergeant walked them out the room and four teams of soldiers waited at the foot of the door each taking responsibility for one of the senior leaders and the future Allsherjargoði. There was a bunker in the basement and each were taken there. As they reached the door another boom could be heard and a corporal carrying a radio back pack pressed a finger into his ear. "Outside the Central Police station" he informed them.

"Don't worry" Captain Tuure Petersson of the Mjolnir informed them. "We've this building well locked down and this place is perfectly safe" Already as Petersson was talking armoured units were scrambling out of the barracks on the edge of the city.


The Mjolnir were the nations special forces, commandos who undertook some of the more complex operations the nation required. It was though the Huscarls who were the elite of the Mjolnir. "You're to take the kayaks to this point, from there find the target and take it out" Noak Heikke briefed the four men in front of him.

"Its a bloody Moose" Lt.Rowe of East Moreland's Red Legion explained. "You're briefing us like its a damn Borlander or something." he shook his head disapprovingly.

"Listen Rowe" Heikke continued, "This may not be the typical cowboy shit they let you do in East Moreland but the things caused thousands of krona of damage to the village and we're the closest people."

"Thousands of Krona......thats about five quid right?" Saxby made a play of doing sums on his fingers making the two Morelanders laugh. It was moments like this that frustrated Heikke about the Morelanders at times. They were great soldiers but they never seemed to take anything serious. Red Base out in the wilds of the north was a shared facility to give the Ålanders a chance to work alongside another elite while it gave the Morelanders chance to experience conditions very different to their homeland, but every now and again they got some interesting jobs helping control wildlife but even that could serve a useful purpose. Today Rowe and Saxby joined by two Huscarls were going hunting for a nuisance Moose. "Question skip!" Saxby asked "If we get it can we eat it. I mean there has to be a tonne of meat on a Moose." Once it was confirmed that they could indeed butcher the animal and bring some of its meat back the two foreigners seemed far happier about their expedition. The foursome headed off to draw supplies from the quartermaster when all of a sudden Rowe heard a tale tell whistle. It was almost instinct as he pushed the other three off the track as a "BOOM!" filled the air. "Mortar round" he explained as two more hit in quick succession. Alarms began blaring out across the base and soldiers, only around half clad in uniforms hurried out of buildings. Gun shots could be heard as the distant crack of rifles suggested a more sustained attack. In the radio shack by the waterside Sergeant Kimi Alfredsson began putting out a distress call. Sentries on the fence had begun searching for where the gunfire was coming from.

Rowe and Saxby managed to get to the armoury and found several of the Huscarls, including Heikke grabbing weapons and ammo. "Missions changed" the Huscarl said as he clipped up his webbing. "Still hunting though."

"We're not eating them, even we draw the line" Saxby said as he told the armourer which number his rifle was. It was handed over in quick time and more and more men were arriving. By the time Saxby had grabbed his rifle, three mags of ammo and a set of webbing around ten guys, a mixture of Morelanders and Ålanders were ready to get to work. "We got any eyes on." Saxby checked his comms.

"The guys in the boat house got a small UAV up. Spotted what looks like three mortar teams to the South, few marksman dotted around, then someone took a pot shot at the UAV and clipped it." Heikke glanced around the door, no clear target he burst out and slid behind a utility vehicle. Nothing happened. Soon others followed all taking up positions and examining the ground before them. "We're going to advance on the positions of the mortars, keep your eyes open."

"No need"  Sergeant Kimi Alfredsson had grabbed his radio pack and was with them, a rifle slung across his back. "Anvil 2-1 this is Red One we have target"

"Roger" that crackled over the radio, "Send grid when ready."

"Anvil 2-1 grid is 4-2-4-8-3-3. Five meters south of tree line." A Tuker trainer plane had been out using the targets off the coast but now its live ammo was being utilised for something else. The student on board may not have gained his wings yet but today his instructor was about to give a real life demonstration of strafing.

"Roger, beginning run" The buzz of the planes engine could be heard over the gunshots and mortar rounds and as the planes machine guns raked the tree line the ground teams moved up. Anvil 2-1 found itself getting a few holes but nothing too major and now the pilot performed a beautiful turn and passed a second time before declaring itself out the fight and poddling off back to base. It took five minutes before the ground teams reached the mortar positions and the teams had bugged out leaving behind three dead and one wounded. There was no sign of any of the gunman and despite an evening spent patrolling the woods and UAV's scanning the area nothing was found except a few blood trails that ran to a road. "Trails dead" Heikke informed them. The sneak attack had left two members of the Mjolnir dead and one Red Legionnaire being airlifted to hospital.


"We've a problem"  General Tobias Dahlsson informed Admiral Jonas Stromberg and Air Commodore Timothy Ravenburg alongside Andreas Jacobsson. "Thirteen strikes against government targets within the last two hours, and Red Base amongst them. We're going to have to get their ambassador up to speed and let Northfort know." The others agreed.

"Do we know who has done this" Jacobsson asked.

"I'd say it would likely be the Gungnir but who knows. What we do know is we've a total of 62 dead and triple that roughly injured"

OVER 60 DEAD IN DAY OF TERROR

As of going to press 67 members of the civil service, government security and the press have been killed in terror attacks mainly focused on the capital. A series of car bombs rocked the city of Krokom and Red Base has come under attack. As a result the capital is now going into lock down. Ambassadors of East Moreland have been informed and a spokesman for the Army has said Red Legion operatives were involved in the reaction to the attack. More news will follow as we get it.

[KrisNord]

The nation was still coming to terms with the bomb attacks and the military had been placed on high alert. The Gungnir had already tried several other attacks on military instillations and now people feared to walk the streets incase a sniper or bomber was on the loose. The crew of ANS Hringhhorni were relatively confident that in the midst of Naval Establishment Malaren they were away from the chaos that the capital was seemingly becoming. The crew had been permitted to go visit family while the ship underwent routine resupply and only a skeleton crew remained behind, mainly counting boxes being loaded into the freezer onboard. "Did you feel that?" Santtu Bergström asked those helping him take inventory. With 15 years experience the self proclaimed "Head Chef" of the navies only and aging aircraft carrier was not someone to have imagined things but the three juniors shook their head and continued counting the tins of tomatoes. "There again" Santtu asked confident that he'd felt the ship moving but that was impossible, they were in dock and Malaren's harbour was like a millpond. The engines were silent and he couldn't think of any other explanation.

"You've been at the cooking sherry again" Milian, his "Commis Chef" jested as he ticked off the latest items on the list. The others laughed and continued the task at hand.

Up on the bridge the carriers captain Saku Sundberg was busy checking instruments, he too felt something wasn't right. All the read outs said nothing and an alarm would have blaring had even the slightest issue have been underway. Then it happened, there was a sudden jolt and the ship twisted to Port. Saku could see some of the deck crew outside stagger and then it was even more visible, they were listing. Saku picked up the intercom and called for one of the engineering team to check the ships systems but minute by minute the list began to worsen.

Below deck having ruled everything out Kauko who was manning the engineering control went down to check the ballast tanks. "Shit" he exclaimed and then called it in, "Sir, the three ballast tanks on that side have been opened. I don't know who by, better get the Marines to run security checks."

"Kauko get them closed, pump them out get us back level and then bring me someones head on a silver platter." The captain was reliefed that at least he wasn't imagining things. Below deck Kauko went to turn the first of the valves closed before turning on the pumps as he turned the valve the first of the required six twists to fully close it he had not enough time to register the strange object tucked behind it as it exploded throwing him across the room and destroying the valve ensuring it would now remain open. Alarms now rang out through the ship.

It took the crew nearly an hour to get the flooding stopped and fire the pumps up by which point the captain had evacuated everyone off the ship. Investigations began on how it had happened and Kauko was pronounced dead. The crew of leave having heard via the Navies jungle drums what was happening were lining the quayside to see what was happening to their second home. The investigation was also swift. The Navies investigation team spotted three individuals that Saku easily identified opening the valves and planting explosives behind them. Earlier in the day another individual had disabled the alarm systems and now Marines scoured the ship looking for them while others searched their lockers. The investigation team found footage of the four departing the ship in civilian clothing and driving away and now as their lockers were searched an envelope was found in each one with an identical letter inside.

We are the righteous warriors of the All Father.

We swore oaths to serve the Republic and the Gods, now the Republic is leaderless and our commanders dishonour Odin by their spineless inaction. We, the Gungnir, declare that Magnus Odinsson is the true Head Gothi. We placed our trust in democracy and the judicial system and this has been found to be misplaced. We therefore call on the ancient rite of Holmgång and thus challenge Stein Ulfsson and Olivia Robertsson to meet Magnus in single combat to determine the rightful leader of the only true Odinist nation on Mundus. If they have the courage of their convictions the Holmgång shall take place at the Sacred Grove of Uppsala in three days time.

 May the All-Father bless the righteous.

"They want what?" Stein Ulfsson bellowed as he was briefed on the situation. The heads of the armed forces had called him in and he had believed that this would send the nation the message that he was the rightful leader following the recent election fiasco. When he had seen Olivia Robertsson was already there he had thrown what could best be described as a tantrum and refused to come in until she had left, or would be briefed separately.  Admiral Jonas Stromberg was already in a mood following the news of the carrier disaster and he was not interested in dealing with political falling outs and so he had stated it clearly, Ulfsson could sit in the briefing or not be briefed and much to Olivia's amusement he had sat down but not before moving the seat to be further away from his opponent.

"Your a Gothi, you know very well what a Holmgång is." the Admiral mocked.

"There hasn't been one in about 600 years." Ulfsson explained

"Yes" Olivia recalled one of her high school history units that had been a study of the history of Crime and Punishment over the last 1000 years in her homeland. "But the problem was it was just removed as an option for the judicial system, technically if everyone is in agreement then have at it." Olvia shrugged. "I reckon I could take you" She mocked with a chuckle, "But this Magnus guy probably not."

"We're not considering it......are we?" Stein suddenly felt some panic.

"Of course we aren't" the Admiral screamed. "What kind of fucking precedent does it set that anyone with a sword can just claim control of our nation just because their a bit handy. We'd be balls deep in Morelanders by the end of the week. We're going to monitor the place incase this is some insane gesture and the moron turns up. Now as for the Gungnir in the military we've known its always been impossible to fully weed them out but the reassuring thing is those involved in this latest issue are in less than six months. Our plan is now to send a panel of five judges out the nation and have them make a decision on which of you two is going to be leader. Until then I'd ask you to put yourselves in our custody for protection."

"Agreed" Olivia said

"I suppose so." Stein grudgingly accepted.

"Excellent. We're sending you to the Isle of Tar in Lodja in the next twenty minutes. Get you out the way."

"At least its sunny" Olivia smiled, stood and shook the Admiral's hand, "Good luck sorting all this." She added as she left. Ulfsson meanwhile simply shook the Admirals hand and left.

[KrisNord]

The time appointed by the message from the Gungnir had arrived. Just outside Uppsala was a tall stone circle of stones, each several meters high, that stood in a forest. It was here that the most sacred rites of the Odinist faith would take place from the swearing in of the modern Head Gothi to back in ancient times human sacrifices. The woods that ringed the sacred stone circle would be full of burials and gifts to the Gods. During normal circumstances the stone wall and gatehouses that had been built in the 16th Century ensured the site could only be accessed in a safe manner stopping anyone just wondering in and damaging the site. The site was so special that it even had a special squad of Police assigned to it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ensuring that it was not damaged. Today those police had been replaced by members of the Mjolnir Special Forces. They hadn't expected anything to happen but just after 8am a single black SUV turned up in the car park which was around 1km away from the grove. The soldiers had been warned of its approach and now as they watched from pre-arranged observation points. "Lets see what he does." The voice of Lt-Col Thorbjörn Ragnvaldsson came over the radio. He was watching from a command post some 5km down the road via a series of uplinks of gun cam and drone footage. The SUV door opened and a man dressed in military fatigues got out and then opened the rear of the truck, he picked out a long object that appeared to be wrapped in some kind of sheet or blanket. They watched as he made his way towards the actual grove. "Bravo team when he reaches you intercept and detain."

"Got it" the group of four commandos responded. As they watched the khaki clad figure appear on the forest path they sprung into action. Rifles levelled at him and screamed commands the team ordered him to place the object down and then lie down.

The man complied while speaking, "Just so you know you are being streamed" The man said as he slowly placed his objects down and then kneeling on the floor began to lower himself. "This is not how honourable warriors act" he said as though this was like a daily occurrence for him. The team moved forward, one taking control of dealing with the man the others fanned out keeping their weapons aimed at him. " I'm assuming there is no representative of either Ulfsson or Robertsson?" He enquired but was meet with no reply as the team conducted a search of him. "Under the rules of the Holmgång I therefore am the winner and declare Magnus Odinsson as the Head Gothi. As such I legally demand that you release me."

A Sergeant broke the silence having found an ID card. "Sivert Martinsen" the NCO spoke into his radio.

"Run a check Corporal" Lt-Col Ragnvaldsson instructed one of his team.

"No need Sir" The corporal said, "He's a member of the national Medieval MMA team.....guess if you're sending someone to a sword fight he's not a bad pick." The room went silent. The Gungnir were clearly up to something. It wasn't until a Private in the command post passed Ragnvaldsson a note. It was a screen grab of a social media live stream. "They've had the whole thing playing since the guy got into a car, some legal mumbo jumbo on the way to the scene and then what we've just witnessed, he's still streaming" she turned a screen to allow Ragnvaldsson to watch. The sound of the soldiers checking him and calling for a pick up could be heard but the screen was black as the body cam was now pointed towards the dirt in which he was lying. A quick radio call got the camera turned off and then the team moved him to the rear of an APC they'd brought along on the opposite side of the grove. Once Martinsen was in there he began to speak.

"I have orders from the new Head Gothi that you are to release me and convey me back to Krokom where we can begin the arrests of the traitors." The soldiers simply ignored him. The instructions continued for the 30 minute drive back to the command post where Martinsen was placed in a secure room. So far this didn't seem to make sense to anyone.


It was as though the cutting of the live feed was a signal. In the northern town of Östanåker was a small maritime college. It was home to around 500 students learning everything from maritime engineering to tourism. It sat isolated away from the town itself and for the new "Minister of Defence" of the Gungnir, Herleif Eriksen, it was where he would begin his work. Six large trucks rumbled into the college's gates at speed and ten men armed with rifles and in black fatigues exited making their way into the dorms, every person who they came across was ushered out into the courtyard and then into the large auditorium used for lectures. It took about 30 minutes to assemble everyone and then Eriksen addressed them. "Good morning Ladies and Gentleman, as you may have seen on the news Magnus  Odinsson is the new Head Gothi of the nation after the two candidates refused to show in a Holmgång. Under the reign of the last monarch of this land Holmgång's were still legally recognised as a way of settling disputes and when the nation became a Republic in the early 1700's all laws were simply transferred and then later some repealed, as access to courts for the common man became more simplistic the practice of Holmgång disappeared but no act of any government has officially ended it, therefore it remains a legal way to settle disputes and this dispute is now settled." The students turned and chatted with each other and a stern cough and raised hand from Eriksen silenced them. "Under the power of Head Gothi Odinsson we are here to enact the 2024 Immigration Act, that means that any of you here who are not Ålanders or Odinist are to be deported immediately. You will be taken from here today, placed on a ferry and taken out to one of the islands in Central Alucard Island Chain, from there you're homelands will be able to arrange your repatriation. If you are an Ålander and have your ID card on you please move to that side of the hall." He pointed and there were a few grumbles, a burst of gunfire into a wall made the process much speedier. "Excellent, now I need three groups, those who are Ålanders but have no ID on them." He pointed to the North wall, "Next those who are foreigners but follow Odin, you'll be taken to your rooms and need to show proof of either membership of a Odinic group or paraphernalia showing your faith." he pointed to the west wall. "Finally those who require the ferry" he pointed to the remaining wall. The students began to move, some faster than others and then once grouped the gunmen began escorting them off.

By the time the sorting was done of the 500 students all but 50 were in need of "deportation" and most of them were from Alucard nations. Eriksen spoke again, "Your embassies have been informed. You will be at your destination in 27 hours from there you can go home."

[Paracambi]

"Haven Padmore, Dashiell Small, Grosvenor Ott and Stanley Irwin" the Ambassador to Nya Åland said the names of the four Paracambian students who had been at the Östanåker Maritime College. The four where all there studying Naval Engineering and Stanley was a member of the Paracambian Naval reserve. "So far all we have is a list of names, no details of where this island is. We've also no idea when this began"

"Thank you Brighton" Emperor Benson responded to his ambassador as he turned to look at the large map of the Empire and surrounding ocean on the wall behind him. "Admiral Pickering" Benson turned back to his staff on a large screen each occupying a square from wherever they were streaming from. "I would like the navy to move assets down into the Alucard. If we need to pick these people up I want it done quickly and I'd love to catch these people too. If we spot them before they place them on whatever island they claim they are then I'd like to first offer to take onboard everyone they're transporting there and then, and then simply track the perpatrators back to shore. Our priority is getting people out safe, then capturing these Gungnir folk."

"We've already a significant number of vessels in the region as always but we've the HIMS Insolent just finishing restocking, was going to head down to Cobble Field for some training scenarios but we'll keep it in the northern Alucard for now as I suspect that's where this island will be." Pickering replied having anticipated his monarchs orders.

"Excellent. Keep me notified." Benson said as he brought the meeting to a close.   

[DaveIronside]

Brigadier Jim Corey strode into the briefing room wearing gym gear. "Nice legs boss" Redfern chuckled as the Commander of Red Legion tossed a towel onto chair at the head of the briefing table before picking up a cup of tea off the tray.

"Its called exercise Alex.....you might want to try it sometime" the Brigadier added a lump of sugar before taking his seat and quickly examining the press releases. "Rowe you online." He asked a blank computer screen.

"Indeed I am" Lt.Rowe was out at Red Base in Nya Åland and was supposed to be running some newly beret'd Red Legionnaires through some cold weather and amphibious training but as often was the case training teams could often be taken off their programmes and given real things to do. The base had been attacked about a week ago and a rather handy Åland Air Force aircraft had seen off a couple of mortar teams but since then things had been pretty quiet. Most of the Ålanders had been recalled to their own bases and so now the only people remaining was about 20 or so Red Legionnaires, an aircrew from the Joint Special Operations Aviation Wing and five Royal Marine Commandos helping out with the boat stuff.

"Excellent. Word from the King is that you're to shelter in place. Hold the base if needed, we're looking at the possibility of turning it into a safe haven if things start going a bit nuts. We need you to keep the runway clear and we're looking at putting a few big ships off the coast if need be. I'm sending down another twenty lads along with about the same number of Royal Marines. That should keep you guys safe against anything but a serious attack which we don't see coming. Should something go down then you're expected to make your way to the nearest friendly base."

"Roger that, we'll get the kettle on" Rowe smiled as the call finished. 

[Norgeras]

Ortwin Voss hadn't expected that pissing of his Father would pay off for once. Five years ago he had been humiliated in front of a Nation for a silly teenager prank and not been able to go back home through his father pulling strings. By all means he'd been exiled to this faraway nation and outskirt town.

He had enjoyed his time studying marine life here, made friends that didn't remember him as the foreigner teen that got paddled in front of running cameras. He even managed to anger his father by joining the Odinic Order and visiting their Temples, as well as getting himself an enormous vegvisir inked to his back. Now he stood among others, terrified by the armed assailants. He'd still have to find a way to leave this place safely.

He had gained a fair amount of knowledge about the faith, not that he actually believed any of it. Playing along had payed off to get him into places and away from his father's influence. Of course, being the son of the long standing ambassador wasn't that easily a fact forgotten. Yet today, he wished he was anything but. It made him a potential hostage in this situation, especially the longer this dragged on. Slowly walking over to the west wall he waited there. Glancing around the room wondering what would happen now.

[Libby]

Alisa Sobol had just a few months left until graduation. She'd come to the college in Östanåker in order to learn all about maritime law. Her family owned a business that ran a small but expanding fleet of cargo ships and her older sister, Joanna, had been to college to study business and so the family had thought having someone with a degree in maritime law would have been useful. Alisa was fine with that, she enjoyed the sea which was one reason why she had picked Östanåker as it seemed to have an amazing amount of clubs and societies she could join and the first two years she'd loved. Never would she have expected to have been in this kind of situation. Coming from a monarchy she found the whole inability to have a recognised leader kind of silly but now it seemed like it would have more serious consequences for her.

She had been in the library when the men had appeared and had been frog marched to the auditorium. She stood among a group of her classmates, some hugging each other, some sobbing. As they began to get split up she contemplated for a second or two as to whether she should try and blag her way to being a foreigner who had converted but she then wondered whether there may be a Gungnir supporter in the ranks of the students who might snitch and so having very clearly shown her alliegance to Sessifet during her time at the school it wasn't a risk worth taking. She found herself in her room quickly ramming as much of her stuff as she could into a suitcase and rucksack. Clothes she could leave but it was all her personal stuff that she prioritised. Once the time limit had elapsed she found herself back in the hall sobbing with others who like her were nervous about what would happen next.

[KrisNord]

While Östanåker Maritime College sat just outside the town itself a 2nd group of black fatigue clad men and women had began barracading the town. They had moved into the small police station where just five officers had been on duty. The 100 or so Gungnir now turned it into something of HQ with the officers locked inside the holding cells. In the north of the nation various other small towns had seen similar groups turn up and take over their neighbourhoods. It was soon apparent this had been a well organised attempt at some kind of pustch with around 8,000 Gungnir operatives taking up arms to stake their claim to the country. Not all of them where Ålanders, a handful, maybe as many as a 200 had come from Holmvik and then a further 100 or so were converts from across Mundus. So far the Ålander military was beginning to get its intelligence sorted as the isolation of the northern towns often meant that communication could be slow and in many cases the Gungnir had taken people there totally by surprise.

In the College itself the process was well under way. While the original gunmen began sorting the various groups a black car with tinted windows arrived. A lady with flame red hair exited. She was dressed in a smart business suit but a small pistol sat on her hip. By now the only people remaining in the hall were the Ålanders who were Odinists and the lady assessed the group and scanned a list of names she'd taken from one of the gunman. "Take them to the sports hall for now" The men did as instructed.

Ortwin was stood at the west wall one of the men, a rifle slung on his back approached him and pushed him into line. Over the next twenty minutes each of the students were given a chance to either show their ID proving they were Odinists or given a chance to state their case. If they convinced the man with the list or had their ID on them they were sent to the sports hall, those who couldn't were left to one side and then escorted two at a time off to their rooms to grab "proof" that they were Odinist, at this point if they failed to convince the Gungnir they were taken to stand with the foreign group. It was Otwin's turn, the man with the list of names stepped in front of him. "Name please?" He asked in a tone that was actually rather friendly. "Voss.....Voss....Voss...." he said to himself more than anything as he scanned down the list. "ah got you." he said tapping the name with his pen. "Neu Urburzis....don't get many Odnists from there I bet" he smiled at Ortwin. "Ah yes" he scanned across the line of the information. "Some diplomatic link I see......doesn't say what though" he turned the paper and Ortwin would have seen his name, his student ID number, date of birth, nationality and then a few letters, one was a "D" which meant the individual may potentially have diplomatic immunity. "So we need to keep this quick....ID card, temple membership card or what else have you got that shows your one of us?" He asked and listend to Ortwin's reply. They waited for him to make his case and then satisfied the man finally introduced himself. "OK, I'm Lt. Jasper Holm, if you need anything once this is done this is my card." He handed the man a white business card and then turned to the next in line. Once the process had been completed Ortwin found himself in the sports hall where a hastily set up pair of tables waited with a gunman sat behind each one.

Alisa meanwhile had been frog marched off by another gunman. There she'd been taken back to her room and given just a short amount of time to grab her valuables. As Ortwin was being sent into the sports hall she was helped up onto one of the trucks by a man. "I'll pass you that up Miss" the man said. They may be toting guns but all of the Gungnir seemed to be acting as politely as you could in such a situation and were almost like you'd expect a policeman during some natural disaster evacuation to act. He offered a hand to help her up and then lifted her suitcase up. Once the truck was full its rear curtain was dropped and a voice on a speaker told them to prepare to set off. The trucks took off out the courtyard and were soon on their way. The truck ran pretty smoothly for about twenty minutes, a few of her fellow truck passengers had their phones out, there was no signal, it seemed the Gungnir had somehow stopped them getting a signal of any kind. Soon they began bouncing around a little more but only for a few minutes until they stopped and the engine turned off. They were parked on a quayside with a ferry sat there "You've a 24 hour ferry ride ahead of you. Once in international waters you'll be given the location of your drop of. We shall inform your embassy of your destination too so don't worry. There is food and drink onboard. Please watch your step as you board" the men from the trucks helped people board and while there was no aggression or violence there were men watching with rifles and dogs. Several other trucks arrived bringing people from other parts around Östanåker. Once everyone was onboard the PA system fired up. "Ladies and Gentleman welcome aboard the MV Jordi. Our journey will be around 24 hours. The restaurant on deck three will be open, tea and coffee is available at the cafe's throughout the ship. We have weather reports that the sea is relatively calm so we don't expect much of a problem." the voice sounded no different to as if they were going out on a day trip. Thirty minutes after they had arrived on the quayside the ship pushed off.

Back in the sports hall Ortwin and the other Odinists, both foreigners and locals had been instructed to sit on the bleachers in front of the two tables. Once everyone was in the lady with red hair entered. She carried a megaphone now and using the siren function on it silenced the room. She then let it hang by her side while she simply just spoke loudly. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Katja Mannersson. I am a liaison officer for the Ministry of Defence. I am here to do two things. First is to reassure you that you are in no harm. We will be giving you some instructions for your safety and if these are complied with you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately for now we are all under martial law. You will be free to move about the insides of the college but we ask that you do not leave for the time being. Communications are currently down but we expect them to be restored within the next two hours. We'll let you know when and then we encourage you to contact your families and let them know your fine. The second reason I am here is to offer you a chance to serve your people. Sadly there are some who do not seem like they will accept the legal change of government and as a result we are lacking a full strength security force. Anyone willing to do their bit to defend the only Odinist homeland on Mundus we encourage you to come and sign up. Its a big step we know so Bjorn and Torben will be here for the next two hours if anyone wishes to enroll. If you have no military experience thats fine, we are more than happy to help you learn. We will be offering a signing up bonus as well.....just think, that'll help pay off some of those student debts." She smiled at the audience of students. "If you have any questions come and see me, Torben or Bjorn. Otherwise in thirty minutes time you can return to your rooms etc, for now please just be patient, sign up, ask questions but please remain in the sports hall." She went and stood close to Torben waiting to see people's reactions.

[Norgeras]

Ortwin had a Membership card for the Odinisitc Order, and several pictures in his social media proof of his regular temple visits and the large tattoo on his back to proof he had in fact joined. He hadn't answered when they inquired about his family ties, let them work for their hostage he thought to himself. His mind raced on how to get out of the Situation, he had made a move that he wouldn't trust the ferry not to be rigged with explosives. Now he had to find a way to sit out until the army marched in, without dying himself.

Once the Gungnir held their little recruitment speech he started making excuses as to why not to join. Obviously, he wasn't a nya aland citizen, then there's the part about his father being the ambassador. A fair amount of reason for now to keep his feet down and try and wait this out. Though their little pep talk did remind him how the recruiters back home fished for easily impressible boys to sign up for the cadet academies without their parents consent. He always thought it kind of funny how the internationals had harked down on the bene gesserit when the Empire flat out openly trained children for potential warfare. Well, then again simply defining you as a young adult past the age of thirteen helped a lot. For now Ortwin tried to push the memories of marching and shooting training aside while waiting for the situation to develop from his room. Though he did start mapping out possible escape routes from the complex in his head.




"What do you mean i am on temporary Leave?!"

The Embassy halls shook with Caius Julian Voss voice after a meeting with his staff.

"The Prince Regent has made it rather clear that in the public Eye you are better suited to look the worried father at least. And we all know the Emperor is rather cross with you to start with Voss."

His Secretarian pinched his nose as he opened the door: "Go back to your apartment for now and stay on standby. make sure you are seen to look worried or upset about the gugnir. Just don'T make yourself look like an arse again."

"I'll kick my Sons arse and whoop it again if he got himself mixed up with these lunatics. No, ill march past the gugnir myself and give him a second public whooping if he dishonors me again!"

"And that Voss, is why you are on Leave for now. Now keep your feet still."

Of course, Voss was loud enough several people had overheard part of that argument....

[Achkaerin]

The Achkaerinese concern in regards to this latest Gungnir incident was two fold, firstly there was a desire for continued stability in Nya Aland granted that wasn't helped by there still being no resolution to the power vacuum created in the aftermath of the elections, in this regard the mood in Valtheim was one of trusting the Alanders to be capable of handling their own political affairs and the Achkaerinese leadership certainly wasn't about to do something that suggested that this was anything other than what it currently was. The other thing that the Achkaerinese were concerned about with this was the potential for complications in terms of Operation Good Samaritan - this being the humanitarian operation Achkaerin had been undertaking in the Alucard since the Lodjan crisis, it had started as a Kaiju virus vaccination program for the water nomads and it had grown into other things such as midwifery, doctors appointments, medical emergencies, clothing, food, water and even the odd education program. Commanding the operation was Mark Sullivan aboard the INS Firebreather, he was in the middle of his daily meeting with the CO's of the other eight vessels involved in the operation which was held by means of videoconferencing.

"Command is advising vigiliance as we operate in the Alucard Island chain." Mark was saying "The Gungnir haven't been heard from in a while so we don't know what capabilities they may have. The guesstimate is that this 'off shore processing centre' is likely in the chain somewhere. While it is a case of a needle in a haystack and the odds of us coming across it relatively slim we just need to be cautious about it. Any water nomad ships and communities are to be advised to keep a wide berth if they spot such an installation and to let us know so we can relay the information around. All operations in line with standard operating procedure. So what's on the agenda today?"
"Mostly the usual." Adam Foyle said, he commanded the hospital ship that was at the heart of the operation the INS Nebula "We've got a vaccination clinic at I-174 and another two at I-277 and I-91. We're doing a supply run to a couple of communities and there's a complicated near term pregnancy over at I-429. The Phoenix is doing the ambulance run there."
"Fiona?" Mark asked
"I'll push out the drone perimeter make sure there's no surprises close by." Fiona Baines said, she commanded the drone carrier INS Rhyth Icerider "I've got four dragonbreaths aboard so we can put up a some recon flights, at least that'll let us try and spot things like an 'offshore processing centre'. Which again is needle in haystack given how many islands there are in the chain but it's at least something."
"Very well." Mark said "Let's get about it and hope this doesn't get any worse than it already is."

[KrisNord]

Katja Mannersson was disappointed that so few of the students in the hall came forward to join up, four in total. She went over and thanked them as the others shook their hand welcoming them to the brotherhood, a few more meat shields for the actual fighters was always useful. Next she turned her attention to those unwilling to sign up after the thirty minutes had elapsed. "For those of you unwilling, or unable, to live up to the Odinist values then you are free to return to your rooms. For the time being we ask that for your safety you remain inside your accommodation blocks. We shall see you shortly with more details." With that the men with guns motioned towards the doors and everyone, including Ortwin were able to return to their rooms.


Five small towns were now under Gungnir control in the North of the nation, in each they'd secured a symbolic HQ where foreigners would have been present. Those people were now being convoyed out to the ferry port while only a handful of new voulenteers had been found. Several of the local Gungnir commanders had reported spotting drones or planes overhead, no doubt military checking out their actions. In one town there had been a small attempt to resist by some local armed police but after a shoot out lasting around twenty minutes the police had run out of ammunition and surrendered. They were now sat in their own cells awaiting trial for treason. The Ålander military was slowly mobilising. They'd been hoodwinked, their forces mainly patroling towns and cities in the south close to Krokom where they suspected the next attacks by terrorists would come but now it seemed that they'd have to get off the streets and get North in double time. All this was buying the zealot Gungnir more and more time.


It was getting dark in Östanåker now and from their windows the students would have seen even more Gungnir coming into the area around their place of study. Trenches had been dug, sandbags piled and some kind of device set up in the car park that seemingly had shut down mobile phones. Katja Magnusson had assumed command of the troops here now and had been busy checking messages coming in from her various superiors. There was one that caught her eye, someone had picked up on the Neu Urburzis ambassador having a son in the nation. She scanned back down the list of students and there it was the boys name. She dispatched one of her subordinates to find him.

The youngster, like everyone else, was in his room and the man escorted him to the Chancellor of the Colleges office, which was serving now as the HQ. "Please take a seat" Katja said as she handed Ortwin a copy of the article. "If you wish to phone your father and let him know your safe then feel free" She pushed the landline towards him letting him choose whether to make the call or not, she took her own seat and stirred some sugar into her coffee while she waited for him to complete his decision. Once he had she spoke again. "I must say we're surprised someone like you would convert. Tell me which of the seven noble virtues would you say is most important?" She asked setting a kind of test, partly as she was genuinly interested in a converts view, but also to see just how genuine this new found faith was. His response would likely go a long way into her next decision.

[Norgeras]

"I'm rather sure he'd rather shoot me right now. Though i'll call the embassy and let them know I've been treated respectfully so far."

Ortwin took the Phone and put it on speaker himself, showing Katja he did so:


"You have called the Nya Aland Embassy to the Empire of Neu Uburzis, who's calling?"

"It's Ortwin Voss, I've been given a chance to let you all know i'm doing fine."

A moment of silence on the phone, hushed voices before the voice answers again:

"I'll forward you to the secretary. Your Father has been ordered to take a vacation for now."

*a moment of a latin chorus singing as the waiting music*

"Ortwin? Victor here. Sorry if i'm trying to keep my...."

*sudden yelling in the background*

"What do you mean he's on the Phone calling? Tell his traitor arse that i've get my hands on him he better prays the Gugnir had drawn and quartered him."

*sound of a door getting closed*

"Well, as you see, your father is the same as always. I'll forward it to the Empire that you are doing well, you are, aren't you?"

"Good enough, for now. Everyone is just a tad on edge, but i am unharmed and treated with respect. Please make sure my father doesn't advice the Emperor to drop bombs on my head, alright?"


Ortwin put the Phone down and gave Katja a nod, ready to answer her Question:

"Perseverance, from a personal standpoint. I would dare say you just heard why, fighting against his adversity is what brought me to the Allfather some years ago. On a theological level i'd dare say none of the nine matter without the other. Though i assume you understand, now that you've heard my father, why i turned down your earlier offer."

Ortwin was used to these kind of tests, and he was used to deal with his father's mind games. He wouldn't call Katja's trap out openly, but he had made sure she heard him. Perseverance was a good answer for him, publicly beaten down with Videos of it still coursing through the internet, and it worked with Neu Uburzis general mindset.

"Anything else you require?"

[KrisNord]

;d

[KrisNord]

Katja seemed happy that Ortwin had passed her little test. It did mean that at least on some level he knew of and hopefully embraced their faith. "Never mind your father. If that is your decision then you must stand by it." She smiled, "We may yet find you a path to Valhalla. For now though I have matters to deal with." She casually waved a pen towards the door indicating that she was done with him. The college was being slowly shut up for the night. Students who hadn't volunteered were now stuck inside their accommodation corridors for the evening and soldiers were patrolling the perimeter.


Out in the Alucard the ferry, MV Jordi, with Alisa onboard was now 3/4 the way through its voyage. "Attention all passengers" a voice came over the intercom. "We will be at our destination in three hours. Your home governments have been made aware of the general region and in three hours the exact location." The Gungnir were keen to not provoke foreign nations too much but they also wanted the ferry back so as a result hadn't been to exact. Just thirty minutes out an island came into view. It was like something out of a film where people were stranded on a tropical island. a large central rocky outcrop surrounded by forest. A beach was visible as they neared and a very flimsy looking wooden pier. A small fishing boat belonging to the Water Nomads bobbed next to it, maybe they were there gathering fruit before quickly getting off the island before nightfall. The ferry pulled up alongside and the makeshift crew began depositing the passengers. Many who complained of simply being stranded. Some begged to be allowed to stay on but they were pushed down the ramp by men with rifles. Once everyone was off several boxes of bottled water were unloaded and a few crates of sandwiches. The ferry blew its horn and began its return trip.

The people on the beach had no choice now but to wait for someone to come and pick them up.


The Ålander military were beginning to head North. Columns of tanks and armoured vehicles began the trundle and whole lanes of the motorways were shut to give them speedier progress. Their final destinations were still unknown as high command was still mapping the various "rebel" posts and more and more kept coming in meaning the plan was changing by the minute. It became clear that Simsjön was about to become an important town. It was around 80km south of the first "rebel" held town when you headed North and a pair of motorways meet just south of it. A large rail yard dominated the eastern side of the town and it even had a small airfield, not big enough for jets but a few small turboprops or helicopters could happily fit in. This would become the staging post that would go on to become their centre of operations. As night fell rows of tanks began parking just outside the train station and locals came to look at the sight. It was one of these, an 18 year old boy by the name of Thomas Frölunda who would become the first casualty of the shooting war. Security was lax, young Thomas walked into the centre of the forming lines, a khaki uniform, a rifle and a confident walk was all he needed. As people were busy setting up places to sleep, cooking some food and catching up with friends a few small charges were placed on tank tracks. Ten charges later he was nearly done. "HALT! Identify yourself" a Corporal of one tank unit yelled. Thomas turned calmly.

"Its ok, I'm just a little lost." He tried to say calmly. He turned to face his accuser having turned his torch clipped to his webbing on. He made sure the light went into the face of the corporal, obscuring the pistol he had in his hand now.

"Turn that damn light off" the corporal shielded his eyes and it was only the fact Thomas was firing from the hip that the shots pinged off the tank behind the Corporal rather than hitting him. He dropped to his belly almost at the same time as he squeezed his own trigger sending a three round burst of bullets towards Thomas. The rounds took him high in the chest killing him instantly. "Shit" the Corporal breathed a sigh of relief as several others came running towards the scene to see what was happening. It was too late to save Thomas but his work had been done. Even before he had reached the afterlife booms echoed around the tank park as his charges went off. By the time it was done ten tanks would need their tracks replacing and sixteen people were in need of medical care. 

[Norgeras]

Caius Julius Voss fumed in his City House, walking up and down in the secured central room.

"Should have shot on the Wall, would have made a better child than Ortwin!"

he rages, walking back and forth, when he heard his locks make a click sound around him, and a voice taking over his intercom:

"Learn to behave, Caius. We put you under House arrest for now, and no matter the outcome you will be recalled as ambassador at the end of this. The Emperor just signed the order."

The man fumed and yelled at his own house:

"You can't do this!"

"We can, and did. Now sit tight, we take care of food deliveries for you."




Ortwin hoped that the old Embassy code phrases where still in use, he essentially told them that he is unarmed but would request getting rescued. Reaching his room, he sat down and started writing a journal. If anything, at least keeping one for this experience might proof useful to someone should he not make it.

[MissDrakensjolund]

For the past 24 hours there had been a steady flow of people crossing the border with Nya Aland and Drakensjölund. It was still in its tens rather than hundreds or thousands but that was enough to start alarm bells ringing in Hrafnholt where Generalmajor Bjornir Thorgard, the nations re-elected Commander-in-Chief meet with his fellow senior officers. It was clear that this could not be allowed to go on unchecked. Whil the people of Drakensjölund may consider the Nords to their East as neighbours they were not keen on having them unvetted and wandering around their nation. There was a fear that anyone could have been a member of the Gungnir, with the terrorist group setting their sights on Drakensjölund as a future target. As such the Generalmajor dispatched members of the 1st Vargr Regiment to patrol the border. While they were never going to get everyone they set up checkpoints at as many of the minor tracks that slinked over the border. Anyone crossing was detained and taken to the nearest military base where they were kept under guard. It was not a case of them being arrested but they were not free to go, they were given food, a place to sleep and access to santitation but despite the protests of many they were not free to go.

The worry for Thorgard was "what if more come" and as such the Bratsbakka football stadium, a 62,000 seater centre with retractable roof was being turned into a processing centre ready to accept anyone crossing the border between the two nations.

Meanwhile the Navies flagship and its escort of two destroyers, a corvette and a pair of subs began making its way out into the Alucard in search of these islands where people were to be taken.

[Libby]

Alisa Sobol looked around at the beach the Gungnir had dropped them off at. There was nothing here, even the landing dock was seemingly rather improvised. A few people had immediately raided the water and sandwiches but Alisa had been rather sensible and ensured she'd got a few bits of pieces of food and drink before leaving and so was content to head over once the initial rush had taken place. She headed towards where a forest meet the beach and found somewhere to sit. Groups began to form among those who had been sent here and word passed about whether there had been anyone who had a phone signal or even any other means of communication. It was about two hours until a boat arrived. The now stranded foreigners had expected it to be a boat from somewhere like Lodja or even Bakkermaya but instead the steady "Put..put...put" of an outboard motor. People began to stand to see what it was but rather than a rescue boat it was just a large Water Nomad fishing boat. The ship pulled up alongside the pontoon and three men with assault rifles got off, they seemed almost hesitant to leave the wooden dock but ignored the approaches of several of the more confident members of those left here. They walked among the people as though looking for someone or something. They did almost a lap of the groups on the beach before huddling together before one of them, a youngish looking man in a t-shirt with a Spiderman logo on the front, fired his weapon in the air as though demanding everyone's attention. He then began to call out, first in barely understandable Norse and then in Lodjain. "We do not want to harm anyone but if we must then we shall. Everyone take out your phones, your watches and your jewellrey, place them in the bags" The men had slung weapons over one shoulder and now held pistols in one hand and large heavy duty rubbish bags in the other, they made their way between the people demanding that they deposit their valuables in the bag. A few at first refused but a few smacks with the pistol soon silenced them. One young man, it sounded like he was Bakkermayan put up too much of a fight and was shot in the stomach his howls of pain urging others to comply with little protest. Once the bags were rather full the two men collecting returned to their ships and returned. They held up four fingers towards the speaker who just returned their gesture with a nod. He began to then walk between. He stopped and examined a girl with blonde hair that Alisa kind of knew. She was a fellow Lodjain who was in a different year to her and was little more than on nodding terms with each other. They both attended a small Sessifet group at special spiritual times of the year but now as the man went through her backpack Alisa couldn't remember the name of the girl who was now breaking into tears. The searcher had found her passport, checking her against the picture and then nodded. The other two men came and grabbed her before dragging her away. A few of her friends appeared to protest, a tall boy whom Alisa didn't recognise but who was not Lodjain was shot in the chest and some people began running. More shots were fired and the man yelled "STAND STILL OR MORE DIE" and many dutifully did. Three more girls were picked, there was nothing Alisa could see that connected them but as the men returned to the boat several small groups cautiously followed them begging them to return friends, or to get them help. Alisa though yelled to the Lodjain girl who had been selected first.

"Hey....Hey Lodjain" she yelled in her native tongue. She could see the girl weeping and looking at her with eyes pleading for help. "Quick tell me your name. I'll let people know. I'll get help" Alisa wasn't sure she could but it was all she could think of that may be useful in this time.

"Katenka Popova" the voice came back.

"Katenka Popova I'll get help" Alisa yelled back letting the girl know she'd heard her. The boat backed out to sea and then headed off round the island leaving the group traumatised and alone once more. A few tried to help the student who had been shot in the chest but it was beyond the skills of anyone here. The guy who had been shot in the stomach had a gaggle of students round trying to keep him warm and stop the bleeding but an hour later he was dead. Soon after the sound of a helicopter filled the air and a dark shape appeared in the gloom. It began to circle and then from the ground a side door could be seen opening as it hovered low over the sea and then two men jumped out. The students watched as they splashed into the Alucard and then reappeared above the waves and began scrambling ashore. Alisa recognised the badges, members of the Lodjain Marines. They began calling out for anyone who could understand them and Alisa pushed her way through the crowd. "I'm Lodjain" she said having found her passport out of her bag.

"Can you speak Norse?" the Sergeant asked her. Alisa nodded. "Excellent, I assume most of the people here can?" Again the young Lodjain nodded that was correct. "Can I ask that you translate." The other Marine was hastily trying to do a kind of rough head count while talking into a radio. "Everyone listen" the Sergeant yelled and Alisa did her  best to translate so everyone could hear. "We're from the Swevoo. Its a Lodjain ship that will pick you all up and take you to safety. We know other nations are sending ships here so if you want to stay and take your chance with one of them you're welcome to but the Swevoo will be here in around two hours and you'd all be welcome on-board. We've two more helicopters incoming so I'm asking you all move back to the tree line so we can sort out a landing area, they've got medical supplies, some food and some water." The Sergeant began pointing back towards the trees and the crowd responded. A few yelled questions as to which nations were coming and he did his best to answer. Finally Alisa told him of the kidnappings and the Sergeant looked concerned. These Water Nomad boats were often difficult to find and this was an unexpected problem to add to this operation. 

[KrisNord]

As the sun came up over Nya Åland the northern most province, Sauli, had become a scene of military preparation. Several thousand Gungnir had assembled themselves in a variety of trenches, small towns and villages. They may have not been the most numerous of forces but early indicators from a combination of sources suggested they were rather well armed and had fortified their position. To add to that the fact that they seemed to have people seemingly in their care at places like the Maritime College in Östanåker it made a straight forward attack rather difficult. It would have been simple to launch a few air strikes and take out their positions however this wasn't on the cards as there would be no way of doing such a thing without causing some civilian loss of life and while the military caretaker leadership of the Theocracy hadn't neccessarily ruled that out as a neccesity it was for now on the back burner.

The day would begin with forces trying to secure the two hills around Simsjön. The small town was a vital rail and road junction and the hills to its east and west would give any force the ability to fire down into the town disrupting, or even derailing, efforts there. No sooner had the first of the Åland soldiers started up their 4x4 vehicles to go and scout the hillside a noise punctuated the air. Everyone knew what it was it the sound sent soldiers running for cover. There was a boom followed by another high pitched whistle as from somewhere on the hillsides a mortar opened fire, then another, and another until soon the experienced soldier could pick out the distinct sounds of at least six firing into the town. The aims were woeful but that didn't matter to the Gungnir. Any civilians killed would surely go to Valhalla, meanwhile it was slowing the action being undertaken by the Ålanders. As a helicopter took off in an effort to get eyes on the mortar teams a trail of smoke showed that a shoulder launced anti aircraft missile had fired and by some blessing or pure chance the pilot managed to avoid the missile but then another came and the twisted metal of the spinning blades forced it down with a boom that echoed around the tiny town. Medics moved in to try and help but the crew were already dead and all that could be done was to drag their bodies from the wreck and clear them to a rear area. Soon teams were dispatched up the hillside and the mortar fire immediately went away. The teams sent to sort the firing out found nothing, just scored marks where the mortars had once been. Now with UAV's overhead taken out of soldiers backpacks and with teams of outriders sweeping the hills and fields either side of the road the main armoured thrust began its push north to secure the important bridge which would take them into the heart of Sauli. So far 12 Ålanders had died to even get this far.

News of the assault north beginning had reached Östanåker, this was still far away and by Katja's reckoning it would be 48 hours until the even had a chance to see or do anything here at the college. That though didn't mean they would be sat idle she had people out digging slit trenches, brickwork had been removed to make firing ports in blind spots and now, perhaps most importantly, those students who had indentified as Odinists but not taken up the offer of joining the Gungnir were gathered once more in the sports hall. "Good Morning" she greeted them "Yesterday we gave you the chance to prove yourself to be true Odinists, sadly you all failed to take up that chance. Today, now I've slept on it I have realised your lack of uptake is due to me failing in my duty as a Gothi. I must therefore do my part to make sure you all reach your potential. So we will make sure that you demonstrate courage and loyalty. Each of you will go with one of the commanders here, they will give you the courage to show the Gods you're faith" A rough looking guy with a beard and bald head came and got hold of Ortwin.

"Come on" he half lifted and half dragged the Neu Urburzis student along the corridors making it clear this was not a choice. As they reached the oustide air a aniquated APC awaited them. "We're moving down to the village of Embar, we're to scout the bridge and set up defenses." He announced to Ortwin and to the five or six rather roughly equipped men, they each carried hunting rifles of various kind, pistols, and it even looked like a couple were carrying axes. "Lets go" the leader, a man the others had called Halfor motioned towards the waiting vehicle and the men headed towards the back, Ortwin might have imagined he was being made to go to but Halfor and what seemed to be his 2nd in command, a guy with a mohawk called Boran, grabbed him and while one held him the other agiley clambered onto the roof and all but dragged Ortwin on top. Once there Ortwin would have seen a large thick chain attached to some handle more routinely used to strap equipment to the vehicle, today however it would seem Ortwin was to be that equipment. "You my friend have just joined our armoured corps" Ortwin chuckled as they wrapped Ortwin's  waist with the chain before clicking two padlocks in place. "If I was you I'd get a seat" They pushed him so he fell onto his backside before clambering off the roof and getting inside, shutting the armoured crucible's door behind them. Ortwin was now alone on the roof, lashed there as some kind of human shield,  as they trundled south to this village of Embar.

[MissDrakensjolund]

To:- General Tobias Dahlsson, Admiral Jonas Stromberg and Air Commodore Timothy Ravenburg

As your neighbour we have watched the preceedings unfolding within your nation closely. We have recently begun processing those refugees crossing over our border and would request you grant us access to records of these individuals. Those being of no concern to you or us shall be granted refugee as best we can provide. Those found to be a threat to either of our nations will be promptly detained and we shall discuss their futures once this issue within your lands has been resolved. In the meantime the forces of our nation shall reinforce the border and I assure you will not proceed beyond our boundaries unless it is with your invite. I would furthermore urge you to solve this disastrous issue of your nations leadership as it is I believe the reason we currently face this situation.

I wish your forces all the success in hunting down the vermin.

Generalmajor Bjornir Thorgard

[Libby]

The Sweevoo had made several stops during their search for the kidnapped hostages. It was nearly impossible to determine whether these ships were the one responsible or just poor innocent Water Nomads making their way around the Alucard Islands. The captain, Vasili Lebedev, was beginning to think that the perpetrators had slipped through the net. He looked at the radar screen in front of him and sighed, two ships, one going east and one going west. They were the only two ships that he thought could be left but he also knew there was a chance that there were many other smaller boats likely to be in their range but not showing up because of their tiny size. To the east was a maze of small islands, to the west open sea, to Lebedev it made sense to head towards the islands and so he have orders for the ship to turn that direction. It would take them around an hour for them to be able to intercept that ship and he prayed that he was not heading towards the wrong one.

[KrisNord]

The first major test of the Gungnir came on the week anniversary of the bomb attack (24th December 2023). The advance towards the north of Nya Åland had been stopped several times for what had been potential roadside IED's, ambushes and even the snow. Now though the little town of Njavee came into view. It had two bridges that dominated the river that ran East to West across the whole of the nation and was perhaps the most used of the bridges that allowed crossing. It was the duty of 2nd Mechanised Infantry to lead the military across and begin taking the city. A First a few squads of infantry had crossed the river using inflatables and then fanned out to try and make a kind of safe zone for the IFV's and APC's that followed. The first two or three got across with no problem, as the third reached the midway a RPG round came from a multi-story carpark that over looked the bridge. The APC's Trophy active defence system kicked in destroying the incoming round before it could do any damage. A team of marksman turned rifles on the car park and proceeded to place fire onto it while a team who had crossed on inflatables hurried towards the location. The APC's now deployed their troops as they fanned out to expand the area. Over the next thirty minutes a gunfight raged around the car-park while more armour tried to spread along the river bank to give them a foothold. Most of the buildings here were office and retail blocks but with the approaching military column most people had fled and no one was at work. Soon the gunfight had gone inside these and the military started to gain ground as the Gungnir fell back. That though didn't help as much as the Ålanders had hoped as it seemed each corpse that they came to had some kind of bomb or device strapped to them. It was a long and bloody day as the army reached the town centre just after it became dark. They'd counted some 80 or so dead Gungnir and had lost 12 of their own men. Now though units were heading along the river and flanking the town meaning that soon the Gungnir would be encircled and the military could, if they choose continue their advance North.

[KrisNord]

25th December 2023)

There were a handful of Christians in the small village of Tanefjord and while so far their experiences of this "Occupation" by the Gungnir had been quiet they had been on edge. The village was home to around ten small farms and a few other villagers who plied their trade as carpenters and even a small distillery. They had hoped this conflict would be resolved quickly and before any harm came to the tranquil little homestead which had a dusting of snow as those who followed Christ meet in Ericsson family barn as they had for the past few years. There they had set up a small nativity scene and Glinda handed out freshly baked mince pies to the other families as they arrived. The day passed in relative peace, children unwrapped presents, they sang some carols and ate a lovely Christmas dinner. It was only when the crunching of tires on snow sounded outside the day took a turn. "Good afternoon" A voice said as a pair of men dressed in black fatigues carrying slung assault rifles entered. "I'm afraid to interupt but I have here documents for your removal. As you know under the new government the nation is being returned to Odinist values and the former rather liberal approach is being re-evaluated. We have an off-shore processing centre you and your families will be taken too and from there you can apply for residency elsewhere." The man said as he picked up a mince pie off the table and took and bite.

"We're not leaving" Peter Ericsson, the patriarch of the family said firmly.

"Oh that's a shame" The mince pie eating man responded as he gave the other a nod, as quick as a flash he unslung his rifle and aimed it at one of the sheep penned up on the far side of the barn. The echo of the rifle and the smell of cordite filled the air as a sheep slumped to the floor causing the others to try and escape their confinement. "So shall we say two hours to pack? Your goods will be placed in storage for a month to allow you to send for them when you get settled." The shooter held the rifle aiming at another one of the sheep.

"You can't do...." Peter never finished the sentence as the rifle rang out again and a second sheep dropped.

"I'm sorry but I am losing my patience now." The Gungnir soldier sighed as his partner now levelled the rifle at the Ericsson's 7 year old son causing Glinda to maternally step in front of him. "Mother, child, it will still make my point, in fact if Jacob here shoots well enough it may go through you both" The man took a seat and examined one of the wine bottles. "What's wrong with a good mead not this foreign vinegar" He said as he poured the Heyran wine onto the floor. "Now, shall we say three hours as a fair compromise?" Reluctantly the family nodded their submission and along with the others a total of twelve individuals began the process of leaving the barn. As they stepped outside a trio of larger vehicles and a mini bus with trailer had arrived in the yard. Other black clad insurgents made their way into the houses as the rest of the village, the Odinist ones had been gathered together to watch, a group of four or five men in black circling them. It was there that Peter's heart sank as he saw the Rahmberg family smirking, they'd argued for the past year or so over a deal over some cows. There being handed a rifle and a set of black fatigues was Walter, the 17 year old son of the family seemingly being welcomed into the ranks of the Gungnir. It was a scene played out in a handful of other villages closer to where the fighting was taking place and soon around 120 Christians had been brought to the ferry port where, having returned from its first deportation, the MV Jordi waited.

While this deportation was taking place Njavee was still not fully under government control. A few houses that stood on a small isle within the river held out. It was a bit of a problem as if left unchecked they could bring fire onto the pair of bridges that all the government forces would be required to use. "Just hit them with an air-strike" one officer from an infantry regiment suggested. "We would normally but there is a problem." The commander of the advance flicked a pair of photos onto the table they were stood around. "It appears they have human shields" There were clear images where one of the parked cars positioned to block a doorway had two people handcuffed to it, one to the rear door handle and one to front tire through the alloy wheel. "If we go heavy we risk killing them and we have no idea who if anyone they have inside." There were suggestions over how to handle the situation but nothing sounded too positive. It was going to be slow but the best decision they could come up with was having the Special Forces of the Mjolnir deal with matters.

It was just after darkness fell when the eight members of the Mjolnir entered the river. It wasn't especially wide but the coldness took their breath away momentarily as they swam the short distance towing dry bags behind them. While they did this a squad made as though about to risk crossing the bridge hopefully pulling the gaze towards it. The ploy seemed to work as a rather chilled group linked up on the isle, a bit of time in a small bunch of trees gave them time to thaw out a little and equip themselves from their dry bags. Once set up they began to advance forward. As they reached the car six of the Mjolnir kept their weapons fixed on the building as two more moved forward to try and free the human shields. Keeping low and with knives bolt cutters at the ready they gestured for the two individuals being used to keep silent. Two quick uses of the bolt cutters saw the rather thin cuffs fall away. Unfortunately one seemed to fling the chain a little and it pinged off the rear of the car. It brought a quick response as from somewhere in the building a machine gun opened fire on them. The team and a few marksman across the river opened fire however more and more fire came from the windows. The team had to drag one of their own back to cover as he'd been hit in the chest and seemed unlikely to pull through. The chaos beginning to erupt allowed a boat to bring more troops across and evacuate the injured which were now beginning to mount. The team that made the crossing breached a window and soon the battle began inside the first of the buildings. It was a maze of barricades and clutter and the Gungnir were heavily dug in. The battle for the buildings raged on a good two hours before the chaos ended. The battle had seen 7 of the Mjolnir dead, a further four wounded and 11 other Ålanders deceased. Inside they'd found a further 12 human shields, only two who had made it out. In return they'd killed 28 members of the Gungnir and taken a further 8 prisoner. Now though the bridges, and the route to the North was fully open.   

[KrisNord]

26th December 2023

The MV Jordi had completed its voyage for a second time. This time some 120 Christians had been dumped on an island, a different one from the first of those deported as this was much further south allowing the vessel to miss any patrols looking in the North. Not that it mattered. The ferry-master was a Jew whose family was currently being "looked after" by the Gungnir. If the vessel was discovered no one of any value to the mission would be lost. Now as the vessel began its return to port its blackmailed captain radioed 121.5 MHz, the international emergency frequency, giving the co-ordinates of the latest drop off. Just as last time no sooner had MV Jordi left than a small fishing boat of the water nomads appeared and a group of armed men began searching through the crowd who were left on the beach. This time they took away five children all aged around five years old. Their parents put up a fight of course but with two of them gunned down it sorted the situation out quickly.


With Njavee now under government control it would now be a bit simpler for the military to advance. Now over the big river the landscape opened out into about 20km of open flat farmland and then some pockets of forests as the land began to creep upwards into some moorland and fjords. Push through them and you had just 150km and you were at the northern border with the little town of Kerstad being perhaps the ultimate target. Word had got out that it was garrisoned by about 150 Gungnir but that was before their recruiting efforts had taken place. For now though the bigger concern was what to do about the human shield situation. The efforts to free them before operations was going to increase the risk for the military and there was a very slim chance that they'd even be able to rescue them. It was a matter the high command would have to deal with and the outcome wasn't something that they'd like. "In truth then it looks like we may have to give orders that would counter the Uppsala Convention. We'll naturally take each situation on a case by case basis but I can perceive there being no way we can take measures to stop civilian casualties in some cases. We need to be prepared for the worse."

[MissDrakensjolund]

Käyrämö was for most of its life nothing more than a little village that sat on a river which in the North of Drakensjölund acted as a border between themselves and the  Ålanders. It had though, since the Gungnir, had begun their actions become something of a problem. Its fields, once full of crops, were now home to a series of large tents, each surrounded by a network of smaller ones. The large ones were effectively processing centres, the little ones just places for people to wait until their turn to be processed. A ring of military vehicles and soldiers made a kind of perimeter which to those there made it seem safe from the troubles they faced over the border in their homeland. So far around 250 people had made it to the village but it seemed more would be coming in the next few hours and days. As each refugee, either on foot or in a car seemingly stuffed to the roof, arrived at the crossing point it was meet with a group of infantrymen who guided them towards a "sterile area" each was searched and their names, addresses, dates of birth and contact details taken. If they had documents like a passport or driving licence they were sent to the left, any without to the right. Next each refugee, either solo or with their families was interviewed by a member of the military police, it was a simple thing asking where they had come from, why they had fled here rather than heading south, whether they had any connections in Drakensjölund. The Ålanders had granted access to some of their databases but not enough to get everyone fully background checked, they could simply see if the person had criminal convictions or not but at least that was something. Each interview saw those with clear records and documents helped to make it to Pajukumpu, a nearby town some 10km further west. There the local University had found some accommodation either in their halls of residence or converting sports halls and lecture theatres. They were told to check in each morning between 8am and 10am but otherwise left to their own devices. Those with clear records but no documents were taken instead to a sports stadium where they were given a warm bed, access to wash facilities and some tasty food. Those shown as being criminals were simply left within the camp for the time being. It was tough, there was one case where a father had some kind of conviction and yelled at the interviewer that is was for posession of cannabis when he was 17 and now he was 40, meanwhile his wife and two children were squeaky clean. They were left with a simple choice, he would need to stay meanwhile the family could go to the University at Pajukumpu. The family began arguing and were sent away and told to come back when they made their decision. So far the border had been relatively calm and Generalmajor Bjornir Thorgard hoped it remained that way.

[DaveIronside]

"We need to leave" Caelina Louisa said unceremoniously as she entered the small cottage. "The Lennartsson family said they'd seen them up on Tjaldal ridge." There was a sense of nervousness in their voice.

"Do you think they'd tell them." Her partner asked as he looked up from the text he was scanning only after placing a small pencil mark where he had got to before being interupted.

"No but lets be real" the woman was busy going through a sideboard examining several envelopes contents. "A black woman and someone with your accent, we are not going to pass as Ålanders. And this...." she rolled her sleeve up showing a tattoo of various Vodou spirits around her forearm, "means I'd never convince them I was an Odinist." She was right of course but panic was not going to help them in this situation. "We need to go, I've heard if we heard west to Drakensjolund their letting people across the border."

"I heard that their checking heavily though." he replied closing his book. It was clear that he wasn't going to get anymore work done this evening. He'd been steadily translating various historical documents between different languages he'd learned in his life travelling around Mundus. This allowed him to produce a few online archives that he sold access to making a modest income. It was various bits and pieces of writing under several pen names that had helped him and Caelina Louisa, a former Vodou priestess that he'd meet in Paracambi get set up here. She had fled her island home after her father had been accused of trying to sell samples of various biological nightmares found in the Castres lab to rather unsavory characters......introduced to her by her now boyfriend James Ironside. That had been in 2019 and the two had moved around a bit in between. First they'd gone to Kermah, then Eastern Abertone before finally the little village of Bortelid. There Caelina Louisa had set herself up in a small fabrics business. She turned wool into beautiful shawls, James meanwhile had used his private education and language skills to carve out a secret life as an author. They didn't live in luxury but they had plenty of nice food, a cosy cottage and each other. James actually liked it, something he could never have imagined in his youth when he'd tried to seize power back home in East Moreland. Now all he craved was safety and Bortelid had felt perfect. Now it seemed they'd have to go.

"Got them" she held up two passports. Her own was a legitimate one while James' was one he had acquired from Bakkermaya during his travels. He had a further three stashed away and wondered if he should go and get either of them. "Get packed, we can come back when this is over" she declared and James knew she was right. It took them an hour to get things together and James dug a hole in their empty chicken shed and buried several of their valuables they couldn't take. That job done they piled in their battered blue Volvo and headed off up the farm track that lead to the winding single file road that took them into the village itself. They wondered if they should tell their friends, clueless about their true identities, where they were going but these were strange times, what if the  Lennartssons somehow turned them in." James kept driving as they passed their neighbours yard, it seemed a few lights were on but nothing to worry about. They made a few turns before reaching the main road that headed West. It was then that James regretted not trying to stick to the smaller roads. A school bus blocked two of the lanes in the road ahead and the final one had several men with guns stood stopping traffic. Most were waved straight through and James considered turning and driving away but they were on a main road separated from the opposite flow of traffic by a large metal barrier and fleeing now would be certain to bring the wrong kind of attention. He gripped Caelina Louisa's hand as they drove up. He stopped when indicated and a young girl appeared at his window and tapped on it gently with a metal torch. James slid the window down.

"Good evening." She shone the light at both of them. "You're no Alander" the girl said with the light on Caelina Louisa. "You?" The light illuminated James' pale skin.

"No....Bakkermayan" he said lying incase they checked passports. He suspected this checkpoint was nothing more than thugs and not experts in fake passports so the lie would probably pass.

"Shame.....Bakkermaya know good swords though....convert?" She asked and for a second James considered trying to blag his way through the conversation. He was likely well read enough to pull it off however then it ran the risk of him and Caelina being seperated and he didn't want to risk that.

"No....I follow Helus. We moved here four years ago as we love your countryside." He tried to sound complimentary.

"It is beautiful" The girl said as she stood and yelled at her friends. "Sadly though you can not stay here." She pointed towards where two of then men stood waiting for James to advance to them. He wondered if he should gun the accelerator and just go for it but their were several more members of the Gungnir stood with guns ready and the old blue volvo couldn't outrun a 7.56mm round. He did as he was instructed and the men began searching the car. They were actually pleasant as they did so quizzing them about their home and life. "I see you're already packed? Heading west?" They asked and despite being pleased that these foreigners were leaving that wasn't good enough. "For now you'll be heading East. Then to the islands." They explained and it was only now that James noticed people sat on the bus. He and Caelia were made to join them and ten minutes later the bus fired up and began its trip East. They arrived at the ferry port where the MV Jordi had returned from its second run and just as the others had done previously they boarded. Once full the ferry returned to the Alucard. The ship ventured most of the day before finding its own island.

James and Caelia found themselves some shade under a palm tree as they waited for the promised rescue by a Lodjain naval ship the Gungnir had told them had been informed of their location. As had happened with the previous two drop offs a Water Nomad boat appeared soon after and began yelling. James understood a little of what the gun toting men said and did his best to translate. They wanted three women. They walked among the crowd, picked two and then one grabbed Caelia. James protested and begged backing away only when a gun was pointed almost point blank at his chest. Caelia begged him to not do anything and told him she'd be OK. James still protested and pleaded and it seemed one of the Water Nomads had heard enough and bashed him in the temple with the butt of his rifle.

James wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious for when he was woken up. A small pleasure boat sat there. They'd heard the call and figured people might need help and the six bed sailing yacht had come to try and help. They couldn't take the refugees away but they had a first aid kit, water and some food and for James more importantly a radio. He asked if he could borrow it and turned it to the international distress frequency and then took a deep breath. In his mother tongue of Morelandish he spoke. "This is Prince James Ironside." he gave the co-ordinates of where they were. "I have been abducted and along with several other people require rescue. People have been kidnapped by Nomads" he continued. "My last pass-phrase was Catcus-Biscuit." Now all he needed to do was sit and wait


"Grab the skipper" the duty officer of the MV Salamander, one of the East Moreland naval pre-positioning ships currently restocking in Lodja. Captain Alan Troussen arrived still in his t-shirt and boxer shorts he'd been sleeping in. He listened to the message three times and then went back to his cabin where he had his own communications lines.

It took twenty minutes before word reached East Moreland's military. "We got the old ones?" An Air Force intelligence sergeant was scanning a display of box files. "Got it" he said having found it. He opened it and scanned the pages from the days of the Regency Crisis. There it was "Cactus-Biscuit-Thunder-Helmet" the words written next to the name. It was part of a basic authentication system. Each member of the East Moreland royal family had four words, totally unrelated to each other, that they memorised. If they had to somehow prove their identity they could use the four words and the various networks had means to authenticate. This one though was almost ten years old. The Sergeant followed his chain of command and soon King David was getting dragged out of bed.

"If we can we get him.....alive." David told Brigadier Colley who would now have to work out how to get dickhead back behind bars.   
 

[Libby]

The tiny Kerakome Island was one of the hundreds, if not thousands that made up the chain of islands that ran through the Alucard. It was though the location of a former Alander whaling station. A place where hundreds of years ago crews had stayed for a few weeks, hunted the whales and then rendered their massive carcasses down into usable parts before shipping them back home. Now though its wooden buildings were rundown, some of the roof's home to sea birds and free from the dogs that the whalers brought with them the mice, rats and other scavengers had thrived. Today though it was being used for a different purpose. One of the sheds had a group of armed men hanging around it. They were a mixture of Norse, Water Nomads, Celts and a plethora of other nations. There were two other sheds that seemed to have armed men outside and every now and again a person was taken from the big shed, often in floods of tears.

Katenka Popova had been there 48 hours now, or so she thought. There were about twenty other people there now and from what Katenka could work out they came from a host of other nations. They'd done their best to communicate but unless you spoke Norse it was hard to have a united voice. They'd looked for a way of escape but as they'd been brought here, each in a Water Nomad boat, they knew that the small island presented no means of getting away. At least her it was warm as the shed had a fire burning in an old iron stove and every now and again someone would bring a bag of wood in. For the first 24 hours nothing much had happened but then all of a sudden a girl whom Katenka believed to be Bakkermayan was taken from the shed. She screamed and pleaded, or at least Katenka thought that was what she was yelling, as they dragged her out. Through a small gap in the wooden structure they could see her taken to the first of the other two buildings and then from there to the second. Then a guard who had just deposited the Bakkermayan came back across and grabbed the next person, an hour later the next, and so on until it was clear some kind of process was taking place.

After about eight others had been taken it was Katenka's turn she pulled her arm away from the guard who then gave her a look that indicated she would be best served coming with him. She did without any other protest. Seemingly so far nothing bad had happened to those who had been taken away and so she complied. The second building had a low door that she just about could pass through. Once inside it was just a single room with a kitchen set up at one end and a desk in the centre. A man dressed in military fatigues with no badges was stood near the kitchen counter and motioned for her to sit. There was a chair either side of the desk and once Katenka was sat down he crossed over. He had a laminated piece of paper in his hand and placed it on the desk and spoke, she didn't recognise the language. There on the sheet was a series of flags and words underneath and the man motioned for her to point at one. She saw the Lodjain one and placed her finger on it. The man nodded and picked up a radio and in his own tongue spoke once more. She could pick up a word that sounded a little like Lodja and then they just sat in silence for about a minute. The door opened and a man walked in.

"I am Isak" he said as he entered in her own Rus tongue. "You are here because you have been selected as someone we may find useful. For that to be the case you will need to undergo a medial. The man here is a doctor and you will comply." Isak tapped the pistol on his hip. Katenka asked questions but Isak just told her to "comply with the doctor" repeatedly. The doctor spoke to Isak who then passed the information on the Katenka. She was first told to roll up her sleeve. She had her blood pressure taken, then the doctor applied a torniquet before taking a syringe out of a packet. He took three vials of blood before neatly cleaning the spot and putting on a plaster. He then began a rather more personal examination having her strip to her underwear. After about ten minutes of poking and proding he took some photos of her stood upright from the front, side and back using a polariod camera. He had a folder on the desk that he had been adding notes into and now neatly paperclipped the photos to it. She was then permitted to redress and Isak asked a series of questions about her and her medical history. He circled bits on a form as Isak translated back and forth. That done he added it to the folder and then seemingly declared himself done. Isak told her to stand and follow him.

"What are you going to do now?" Katenka asked her translator as he escorted her to the third building.

"Your file will be reviewed according to our needs and then you will begin the next stage of the process."

"What process?" Katenka asked as Isak gave her a gentle shove into the new building which was set up like a kind of barracks room. "You're in A6" he said pointing to a bed which had a large letter and number painted on the headboard in fresh white paint. "Please stay here" He pushed her away from the door and then closed it a key turning in the lock. A table in the centre of the room had lots of bottles of water on, packets of biscuits, loaves of bread in zip lock bags and hunks of cheese and meats. Some of the others had already clearly been eating and a few of them approached her, one carrying a bottle of water. They tried communicating in the broken Norse some of them knew but their lack of linguistic commonality prevented them sharing much. It took a further day to "process" everyone and seemingly more boats had arrived during that time.

It was on the following morning that a man entered in a smart suit, it looked very out of place for their situation. He spoke quickly in Norse listing letters and numbers and even with their basic Norse each person could understand. He gave an instruction paired with a gesture waving towards the door clearly wishing them to leave. Katenka was one of them and hesitantly she did so. A seaplane was sat where the boat that had brought her had docked and clearly it seemed they were going somewhere there. Four others, all girls, had been called too and the five of them were escorted by armed men to the plane where they were taken inside. It was clearly a former military seaplane, the old Lodjian markings still just about visible despite some layers of grey paint. Inside they were strapped in by a pair of men in military style flying suits and then joined by three men, one of them the man in the suit. The aircraft fired up its engines and bobbed its way out into the Alucard before lifting into the sky. The girls kept asking questions to the men in various languages but all seemingly some kind of Rus dialect. After they'd reached what Katenka believed to be cruising height and the engines throttled back the man with the suit came to where the girls had been sat. "Good Morning" he addressed them in a Rus dialect, Katenka didn't recognise every word but enough to understand "My name is Miroslav and you are being taken to Drenovia. You were found to be healthy, you were found to be compliant and young enough. Once you arrive in Drenovia you will become members of a new Order there were you will be assigned a role. You will do that role that to best of your ability or you will, I am sad to say, shot. You will not be harmed if you comply. You will be well looked after and you will be, at least if you engage fully, I believe happy there eventually. You should be pleased you have been selected. I can not tell you anymore about the future there as I am merely the middle man so to speak." There were obviously questions asked but he just repeated that he was a middle man.

As the questions became less Katenka asked, "What is happening to the others at the island?"

"I am afraid those not picked for other tasks such as yours are there for medical harvesting" He said vaguely. Katenka asked him what that meant and he just said "That is for the customer to determine" and then wouldn't be drawn on the ominous sounding process.

They sat quietly for the flight and Katenka even dozed off at one point only to be awoken by the aircraft touching down, she suspected in Drenovia.

 

[RobertAgira]

KRONET ISLAND - The South West Islands of Drenovia, Summer 2022.


No-one was 100% sure how many islands there were in the region to the South-West of Drenovia. Some only emerged at low tide, others came after underwater tectonic going ons. There were around 40 of them however that were sizeable enough to have some sort of settlement on them. At one point as Christianity had tried to spread its way into Albion. During the 13th Century the islands had become home to those seeking to maintain the Druantian Faith. Once the mainland was re-taken though not all the islands remained inhabited and lots of them fell into use seasonally. Then with the much more modern discovery of oil and gas the islands had once again become significant. There were a few though that had no such discovery and so those had remained largely uninhabited. Kronet Island was just one such example. When wealthy entrepreneur Vjeko Ivanković had offered a good sum of money to have the exclusive rights to the island, minus any gas or oil found there, for the next 200 years the government on behalf of the King had accepted. In his proposal Vjeko had said that he intended the island to become a "testbed for new social and agricultural technologies." The paperwork completed he told his followers. Vjeko had for about a decade now determined that the modern orders following the Druantian faith had begun to be corrupted by the way the 21st Centuries materialism. He had been using the money he had made from his families old mining business to invest in what he saw as ethical business across Mundus and it now allowed him to fulfil his dream, establish the Order of The Path. It was to be a new religious order that would return Drenovia to the gods true path. The harsh lifestyle of manual labour, shunning wealth, physical discipline meant few seemed drawn to the idea, beside the original seven Orders would, if he was discovered, have him shut down before he could even get things established. This was therefore to be a task he would not see the end of, a multi-generational growth of the Order away from prying eyes.


27th December 2023


Borivoj had always found life on the mainland hard. It had always been too busy for him and it seemed that keeping his head above water was difficult. He'd found himself living on the street and at one point trying to steal, beg or other acquire money for drugs was his sole motivation. Then he had meet Vjeko. The businessman had helped him turn his life around through focusing on the Druantian faith. It had now been almost four years since he had last taken any drugs and he felt the best he'd ever been. When the idea of the island community had been floated Borivoj had jumped at it. While he'd been clean and felt great there was a constant voice of temptation in the back of his mind. The island would mean there would be no way of falling of the wagon and so it was probably best for him. There had been ten voulenteers at first but the harsh living meant that now just seven of them remained. Three had given up and returned to the mainland. Vjeko was a frequent visitor with the supply flights. Each one brought fresh food they couldn't yet grow on the island, pieces of machinary, medicine and anything else they may need. The aircraft had radioed in that it was due to land and the seven men eagerly made their way down to the small pontoon they had constructed to make the docking process much easier.  The aircraft touched down on the water and then made a long arc to the pontoon. The door opened and Miroslav appeared. "Gentleman good afternoon. I bring your supplies, and the future." Miroslav was Vjeko's most trusted adviser and kind of a fixer for anything they needed. There were voices inside the plane and then a young woman, must have been in her early 20's with raven black hair was brought to the door. She was helped onto the pontoon and looked nervous. "Escort her to the Temple" Miroslav said to one of the island dwellers who dutifully did. One by one the six girls were brought ashore. Katenka was last and as she was brought ashore she would have noticed several things. The first was the island wasn't large. You could just about make out the coast to the North and South of them from where they were. The fact the island had a slight bulge in the centre meant it was impossible to see to the Western coast but if it hadn't been there then it would have been just about visible. The girls were taken to a large wooden building in the centre of the island. It had beautiful intricate scriptural carvings along both flanks of the heavy wooden doors and across the lintel. Inside was a series of wooden benches facing an alter where a stone staue of the God Druantia was standing but seemed to be only half completed. There was a table next to it and a series of tools you'd need for stonemasonery sat upon them. A wooden plaque sat to one side and in gold leaf writing the words "Commander of the Household of the Order of the Path" were written. There was space for probably hundreds of names but so far only one was written stating "2017 Vjeko Ivanković" One man stood guard at the only entrance while the other men set about unloading the plane while excitedly talking. The girls tried to ask their new guard questions but were meet with only silence. It took three hours for the plane to be unloaded and in that time another smaller plane had landed this one the private aircraft of Vjeko. He greeted each of the men with a hug and pat on the back. Once he'd completed a quick chat with the men he ordered them to meet him at the Temple in an hour.

At the appointed time the men gathered outside the Temple. Each now was wearing a long robe made of red dyed wool a handful had golden patterns around the neck. They had small hand axes tucked into their leather belts. Vjeko was the last to arrive. His robe was red too but the sleeves black with a golden stag head on each arm. Unlike the others he carried a short sword in his belt and walked with a staff made of dark wood. "Commander" each man placed a hand on their heart and bowed as he approached.

"Looking very smart" he smiled at them. "Today we take the next step in our project. I am sorry we have had to do it this way but our problem is until we make this island a home away from home there are few people willing to come here but I am working on that. You know you are the vanguard of this movement and I thank you for putting your trust in me. Now lets go and begin" He pushed open the door and entered with the six men making a double file behind him. The man who had been on guard was sat on the rear set of benches and jumped up.

"They've been no trouble Commander" the man said as though making a battlefield report.

"Excellent. Take your post now Lead Swordsman" Vjeko addressed him. The man who was much older than the others walked down to the front and began lighting candles, six of them in total. Each was placed in its own silver candelstick holder as Vjeko made his way down to stand by the statue. He touched it and bowed his own head. The girls sat in a group on the left hand side unsure what was happening but huddled together as if giving support. Vjeko turned to face them. "Some of you may be ignorant of the truth.  Some of you may worship Helus, Allah, Sessifet or even Jesus but all these, if they even ever existed, was crushed by the one true God Druantia. Now he is all that remains and we are his servants. We are committed to restoring the world to the way he wished it, green, lush and beautiful. But even those who follow Druantia have lost their way and so we are forming a new path here in our isolated slice of Drenovia. Sadly only a handful have accepted the truth and those fine men are here today." He gestured to the side. "Sadly to date no women have joined the Order of the Path and so these dedicated men can not undertake one of the most sacred duties our faith has, to help repopulate Mundus with true followers. As such I have done what I can to save your lives. By rights you should be stuck with those others back somewhere in the Alucard and I fear they will be used for spare parts. You are going to become the first wives of our order." The girls began to cry. "NO..." he yelled above them, "You must not be worried. One of our basic teachings is to not take unnecessarily. You will be cared for, you will be safe and you will be protected. You will live here, work here and in time raise families here. Today may begin with fear and worry but will lead to happiness." One by one each girl was told to come to the front, a few needing to be dragged. Once each was there Vjeko would inspect the girl and then the men seemingly calculating something in his mind. Then he would summon one of the men forward and there a short "wedding" ceremony took place. Katenka refused to stand when she was pointed to however the Lead Swordsman gently raised her to her feet and took her to the appointed place. Borivoj was called and gladly stood. He'd admired the girl when he first saw them and did his best to give her a reassuring look as the ceremony was taking place. As part of it there hands were bound with a coarse rope and Borivoj had to almost pull her to the bench. He tried speaking to her quietly but she all but refused. The last ceremony done they were dismissed and all headed to their homes which were organised in a circle around the Temple. Inside his home Borivoj made sure to lock the door behind him. He knew escape was impossible but they'd been given very strict instructions. "I am sorry but for now you must remain bound" he said. He took her into a room with a double bed in the centre and only a small amount of furniture. "We shall talk in the morning" he said, kissed her on the cheek. "Dear wife" he smiled and then left locking that door behind him.

[DaveIronside]

Down in Red Base in the eastern tip of Nya Aland the 30 or so Red Legionnaires who had been posted there on continuation training had been left pretty much to their own devices after the initial attack by the Gungnir. That had been a while ago now and the focus on the North of Nya Aland had meant that the most of the local special forces teams had been deploying further up in the North. The days had been filled with guard duty, the odd patrol outside the bases perimeter and on one occasion to go and get an elk for dinner. Lt.Rowe had expected to be out here to re-qualify on his cold weather survival course but now found himself running the base. With his Captains promotion board on the horizon it was something that would be useful for his evaluation but it was now getting boring.  It was just about then that the phone call came on the sat-line from East Moreland, Brigadier Corey and some member of the regular military he didn't recognise. "Rowe we're going to be likely reinforcing your base in the next 24 hours. Expect a further 30 Legionnaires and 50 Marines, some air assets too. We're swinging the King Robert down your way but that's four days off. Expect exact tasking later."

"Roger that boss" Rowe responded and began passing the word that they'd be getting new arrivals and that finally meant they were likely to be doing something other than sitting on their backside.

To:-  General Tobias Dahlsson, Admiral Jonas Stromberg and Air Commodore Timothy Ravenburg

As you will be aware we have currently a number of Red Legionnaires holding position at Red Base as permitted by the agreements in place between our nations. In further accordance with that agreement and in light of the current situation we are planning to reinforce that contingent to ensure the security of the facility. In addition we have begun hearing reports of Morelander citizens being forcibly removed from the North of your nation. With that in mind we are requesting permission to utilise Red Legion and associated air assets to conduct operations to remove our citizens from the region and halt further "deportations". We are also aware of the issue of the Gungnir using human shields and believe our targeted operations can help limit their use. We are hopeful of beginning such operations within 24 hours and therefore request we begin sharing details of movements.

May The Gods Watch Over You and Your Blade Be Sharp

King David III of East Moreland