The Best Intentions...

[St George]

Gaercidade was where it happened. The third-largest city in the province of Montãni was barely larger than a small, sleepy town in truth - but it was here that Abílio Paulus announced that the Fronte da Salvación was formed.

The former Ordinavit had escaped Atria during the final fall of that city, and the rebellion of Mikanos, the last of the Civil Wars that happened after the death of the last Caesar, Amatus Aivas. Ordinavit’s had been responsible for ensuring the religious mysteries conformed to the strict regulations during the reign of Amatus, but were being abolished by the new regime, this Cynghrair o Deg.

The 10 cities that made up the Cynghrair as the leading polities in the new Gwladcan were determined that the likes of Abílio were captured and brought to justice, but that he had been able to operate in relatively plain sight throughout much of Montãni was evidence of how difficult a time they were having.

And Abílio was done pretending to hide.

Abílio ascended a staircase, emerging onto the balcony of what had been until that day the mayoral residence in Gaercidade, a crowd of nervous civilians below him, watched by the grim faces of his militia troops.

“Gaercidade is ours.” The militia cheered as he spoke. “Today we have struck a serious blow against our enemies. Those who would restore the old ways. Those who would continue to deny us our time.”

“The Mikanos taught me many things, but the most important was this - offer no quarter to your enemies. He exercised this teaching with his actions, all but one time. By engaging in negotiations with Adria, he allowed our enemies to regroup, to give them time to strike at him.”

Some of the militia jeered at that, and one of them struck one of the civilians in anger. The man fell to the ground, before being kicked to his feet. Abílio watched without speaking, waiting for the soldier to retake his place.

“Today marks the first victory of many, as we finally take what is ours, all of Gwladcan. And as we do this, as we take city after city on our glorious quest to fulfil the destiny the Mikanos placed upon us, we will exercise his teachings.”

“And so, my soldiers, exercise this teaching now: give no quarter to our enemies.” A cry of fear went out amongst the prisoners.

The militia took aim, at Abílio’s command.

“No quarter to Gwladcan’s enemies.”

The militia fired. Some only once, others fired several times, and when it was done, a few walked amongst the dead, putting another few bullets in each corpse.

Gaercidade had been purged.

Gwladcan and Aydin announce joint operation to pacify Montãni

Speaking in Antalya, capital of Aydin, today, Ynad Llywyddol Ceri Ravnthu signed the Joint Agreement on Cooperation, a major bilateral security agreement between Gwladcan and Aydin. The treaty, which comes into force immediately, solidifies recent joint efforts in the realm of cybersecurity, where a separate agreement signed several months ago pledged further cooperation.

As part of the Joint Agreement, a binational security force will be deployed to the province of Montãni, which is still reeling from a series of attacks by the so-called Fronte da Salvación (FdS), led by Abílio Paulus. The FdS is responsible for the massacre of government workers in the town of Gaercidade, which the FdS stormed in their first attack, before later withdrawing.

The multi-organisational force will be made up of elements of Gwladcan’s military and security forces, allied militia in Montãni and the Aydın İmparatorluk Ordusu (AIO). Naval and air support and expertise will also be provided. The force will be led by General Bozkurt Pasha of the AIO. Speaking at a press conference after the signing, Ceri Ravnthu hailed the deal.

“Today Gwladcan and Aydin have done more than signed a security agreement. Today, we have made it clear that enough is enough. No longer will the likes of the Fronte da Salvación terrorists and rebels be allowed to run amok. With the help of our friends in Aydin, we will bring those responsible for the outrage at Gaercidade and other attacks are brought to justice.”

The Ynad Llywyddol went on, “I spoke at length with Sultan Osmanek, who demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of the issues we are facing, and offered several solutions and areas for further cooperation. These will be discussed in the future, and we are both committed to an enduring, mutually beneficial relationship.”

Ravnthu was pressed on reports of alleged heavy-handedness in how the AIO operates but declined to address the question, instead pointing to the Joint Agreement and stating that a clear set of rules of engagement would be set out at a later date, and expressing confidence in the safeguards built into the agreement.

 

[Greater Ale Permars]

Somewhere in the mountains near Gaercidade, Montãni Province, Gwladcan
January 4th, 2020
1:05 PM

The mountains of Montãni were like nothing Erkan had ever seen before. The landscape was vast and beautiful, snow peaked mountains surrounded his convoy as it moved along the narrow roads of the mountainside. He and his convoy had been driving for miles, their destination was a forward operating base nearby to the enemy occupied city of Gaercidade.

Erkan was excited, his life as a shepard's apprentice back home in Göreme was never the most adventurous or fun life on top of that times had become tough after his father died leaving his mother and older brother on their own. So he tried to find work, eventually being approached by a local recruiter for the AIO who said they could provide for his family and grant him access to better opportunities. So he signed on, went through bootcamp and after a few months he was called up to fight the insurgents in Gwladcan.

The convoy continued on its way crossing a few bridges and passing a few smaller villages on the way. The convoy eventually reached the F.O.B. after from what Erkan had guessed was about two hours. The F.O.B. overlooked a paradisiacal valley but just in the distance was the town of Gaercidade, dark clouds loomed over it almost shadowing the darkness that lied there. Coming from a superstitious family it concerned Erkan, as it was a sign... a sign of the times to come.

 

[Greater Ale Permars]

Somewhere in the mountains near Gaercidade, Montãni Province, Gwladcan
January 5th, 2020
6:15 AM

The shelling started at dawn, tens of artillery pieces firing upon the town of Gaercidade. Erkan watched as each shell fell out of the sky onto the distant town, it almost didn't look real the smoke billowing in the sky looked like something out of a painting. But the time for observation was over, it was time to move on the town. Gathering up his gear he made his way to the Armoured Personnel Carriers and climbed inside.

The space was small and quiet the windows were covered by steel flaps to protect the men inside from oncoming fire. Erkan looked at his comrades packed into the cramped space, most of them were around the same age with the majority of them being around nineteen or twenty himself included. The man across from him lifted up one of the flaps to peek outside, after taking a few seconds to observe the outside he quickly shut the flap and stared at the ground his hand shaking slightly. Wanting to know what was wrong Erkan shook the man's leg, looking up from his lap the man spoke.

"WHAT?!" He yelled trying to compete with the rumbling of the APC.

"What did you see out there? You look a bit shaken up." He said in a mildly concerned tone.

"The battle man, I won't lie to you I'm scared shitless by it." He said looking side to side embarrassed.

" I understand, I just as scared as you are but we gotta be brave. The enemy looks for fear and tries to exploit it so we need to be strong so at the end of this we can go home and see our families again." Erkan said trying to put on a brave face.

"Thanks, man." He said reaching out his hand.

"No problem, what's your name by the way?" The man asked.

"Ekran, what's yours?." He responded shaking his hand.

"Aslan." He said with a smile, but from the front, the driver called out breaking the moment.

"Get ready men, we're almost at the town!" The two men looked at each other and waited in silence for the APC to reach its destination, the point of no return was upon them.

A few minutes passed

The back of the APC opened up and outran Ekran and Aslan side by side they made their way around the vehicle and into cover behind an already decimated car, looking out from behind their cover Ekran could see the enemy ahead firing on their position and the incoming vehicles behind them from behind a line of sandbags. Aslan turning to Ekran taps on his shoulder and points to a nearby apartment building rooftop on top was a machine gunner's nest. Aslan began to speak.

"We need to take out that machine gun." Ekran nodded and moved crouched beside the car and made a dash over towards the building, the entrance was partially caved in but was still able to be moved through the two men cleared their way through the building taking out two terrorists on the second floor and reaching the top without alerting the men below or the machine gun nest.

Ekran and Aslan quietly reached the roof approached the gunner, his combat knife drawn. But as they approached Aslan accidentally stepped on a piece of glass breaking it and alerting the gunner to their presence, quickly standing the man gunned for Aslan trying to tackle him to the ground Aslan was caught off guard and tackled for a moment the two were locked in desperate combat with Aslan biting, kicking scratching doing whatever he could to free himself but luckily Ekran stepped in and lifted the man off of Aslan and stabbed him three times in the gut.

The man fell to the floor dead, quickly recovering Aslan took up position on the gun and turned its fire onto the terrorist's defensive line taking them by surprise and gunning them all down. From there the town men made their way back down to the ground. As they exit the building they spot an officer speaking over the radio, loudly he said. "This is Captain Akar, I would like to request a chemical strike on these coordinates..." The now bloodied soldiers approached the officer and saluted.

"Requesting orders Sir!" Said, Aslan.

The Captain turned to them."I just called in a chemical weapons strike, so I want you to get your gasmasks on and get ready to move in on the town center."

"Yes Sir!." Said the two men in unison, they both reached for the gas masks at their hips and put them on, and began moving towards the city center. From overhead, they could see as the chemical agents landed and began dispensing toxic sarin gas. The both of them made their way to the town center which was now covered in the gas. As they moved into the town center they could see the scattered bodies of the dead and slowly dying it made Erkan sick. Aslan on the other hand was silent but from the silence came coughing and coughing became the sound of choking. Aslan collapsed facefirst to the ground turning him over Erkan looked at his face which was now a bright purple.

"Help me." He said weakly.

"FUCK!" Cried Ekran, Aslan's mask seal had broken allowing for the toxin to seep into the poor man's lungs. Ekran lifted him up onto his back. "Hold on I'll get you help." And he began to slowly carry the man out of the gas and into the safe zone. After several minutes of trading through the gas, he eventually reached the safe zone but by the time he was received by the medics, it was already too late... Aslan was dead.

Gaercidade, Montãni Province, Gwladcan
January 5th, 2020
12:45 PM

The battle was won, the town was secured. Dead bodies littered the streets of Gaercidade many of whom were not killed by bullets but by the dreaded gas. Abillio was nowhere to be found, but the rest of his forces in the town were decimated. Aydini troops began to dig, not just for their own, not just for the enemy, but for the civilians as well those caught in the crossfire or those killed by the terrorists. Erkan was distraught, Aslan was dead and nothing of importance was gained but struggle, pain, and tragedy and all for what? Erkan thought, some backwater town in the middle of some shithole nation that he and his country have no business being in.