Hunting The Grey Wolf (Invite only)

Friday
22 January, 2021
2:12 PM
Yelamki, West Vaasan Free State

Ranulf Pabst tried to slide the magazine into his automatic rifle. His hands were shaking with fear and anxiety, and it took him a moment to insert the magazine correctly. He could hear Arcanstotskan vehicles and soldiers outside. Voices shouting things in a language he couldn’t understand. Two other West Vaasan fighters were in the room with him. The trio pointed the muzzles of their rifles towards the door as the Arcanstotskan convoy outside passed by the apartment building they were hiding in, waiting for the enemy to make their move.

Suddenly there was an explosion at the door. “Narusheniye! Narusheniye!*” One of the enemy combatants shouted as a squad of Arcanstotskan soldiers flowed into the lobby. “Idti! Idti! Idti!*” Another soldier shouted. Ranulf’s companions tried to shoot back, only to be gunned down. Ranulf, in a panic, threw down his rifle and stood up with his hands atop his head as the Arcanstotskan soldiers swept the room.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t kill me! I surrender!” He shouted in a voice cracking with fear. An Arcanstotskan soldier walked over and bashed him in the face with the butt of his semi-automatic rifle, knocking Ranulf to the floor. He felt hands patting him all over his body, searching for hidden weapons or explosives or anything threatening or of value. A soldier zip-tied his hands and hauled him to his feet. “Bros'te yego v gruzovik!*” One of the Arcanstotskan soldiers - presumably an NCO - commanded of her squad. Ranulf was pushed outside and thrown in the back of a truck. Two Arcanstotskans jumped in the back with him.

“Please, I beg of you! Don’t kill m-” Ranulf’s pleas were cut off by a boot stamping his face. “Zamolchi!*” The Arcanstotskan soldier growled. Ranulf blacked out.

---

When Ranulf came to, he was sitting in a chair before a table, hands bound to the armrests with steel cuffs harshly tightened around his wrists. His face hurt like a bitch and his head was throbbing. At the other side of the snow-white room, there was a door. To the left and right of the door stood two Arcanstotskan soldiers dressed in all white BDUs with white NCO caps. A harsh buzzing sounded and one of the Arcanstotskans opened the door. A man dressed in all black walked in, his eyes obscured by shades. The man took a seat opposite Ranulf.

"Good day, Mr. Pabst. I'm Agent Seven-Three-Two with the National Intelligence Agency," the man introduced himself in Aleman with a slight Obshchiy-Yazk accent. "I'd like to have a little chat with you. You've been a very naughty boy, fighting for a terrorist organization responsible for the killing of, by now, over a thousand people."

"Fuck you, Akanstatische schweinhund.*" Ranulf mumbled beneath his breath, just loud enough for the HPY Agent to hear him. The Agent motioned for one of the soldiers to approach. The soldier walked behind Ranulf, pulled out his sidearm, and bashed Ranulf on the back of the head with the bottom of the grip, knocking Ranulf's face down onto the table.

"Now, now, Mr. Pabst, that's no way to treat your host. Guests must behave themselves when in the houses of others, and this is not your house. I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer honestly."

"And if I don't?"

Agent 732 remained a stone-cold stoic in his response, "then there will be dire consequences. Now, here's my question: who is funding and supplying the West Vaasan Free State?"

"I'm not telling you shit!" Ranulf shot back defiantly. Agent 732 nodded to the soldier standing behind Ranulf, who then fired three shots into the ceiling before pushing the barrel of his pistol up against the back of Ranulf's skull. "That was the wrong answer, let's try again," Agent 732 stated calmly. "Who is funding and supplying the West Vaasan Free State?"

"Okay! Okay! Okay! He goes by the name 'The Grey Wolf,' but no one knows his real name! He's the guy who's been funding and supplying us! He sent us those fighters! I swear that's all I know!" Ranulf cried with tears streaming down his face. Agent 732 nodded to the soldier again, who then holstered his weapon.

"Thank you, Mr. Pabst," he said before getting up and walking out of the room. Ranulf just sat there and cried, his head resting in a growing pool of tears and a feeling of total shame.

---

"So this 'Grey Wolf' he mentioned?" Agent 487 began as Agent 732 closed the door behind him. "Someone in the Aydini government? Military command?"

"Has to be," Agent 732 said, "only someone in the upper rings of that country's government or armed forces could get that amount of men, material, and money out of Aydin and into West Vaasa quietly. I doubt this 'Grey Wolf' is working alone either."

"Agreed. I'll notify the Director and the LP investigative team."

"Let's get this fucker."

---

*Narusheniye! Narusheniye! = Breaching! Breaching!
*Idti! Idti! Idti! = Go! Go! Go!
*Bros'te yego v gruzovik! = Throw him in the truck!
*Zamolchi! = Shut up!
*Akanstatische schweinhund. = Arcanstotskan pigdog.

OOC Note: This thread is for the LP investigation into Aydin providing support to separatists in Arcanstotska. All RPers of LP nations are welcome. Others may join if they ask and receive permission.

IC:

Somewhere in the air between Býkonsviði, Prydania and Antalya, Aydin

Odinkar Taksdal tapped his finger nervously on the seat rest. He didn't realize it, but his foot was also tapping. He hated flying. It was a justified fear to be sure...

"You know, the flight will go by quicker if you get some sleep."

Odinkar looked up, seeing Sif Kjær. The head of Prydania's LP delegation and head of this investigation. She gave him a comforting smile. Odinkar was new to her detachment. She was trying to be reassuring. All Odinkar could think of, though, was...
"I can't sleep. Turbulence."

"Pardon?" Sif asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Turbulence," Odinkar answered.
"Solar radiation heats Eras' crust, warm air rises, cold air descends...turbulence. I, I don't like that."

"Oh..." Sif replied. She wasn't expecting an explanation on turbulence.
"Just try to get some sleep anyway," she added, leaving the newbie to get back to her own seat. She'd not gotten a chance to truly meet Odinkar yet. He seemed...curious...so far. She wasn't sure what to make of him. Still, maybe he just didn't like flying? She'd cut him some slack.

Odinkar leaned back in his chair, breathing deep. That helped. He wasn't petrified of flying, not anymore. So he could relax if he just breathed.
He looked around. The team assembled was six strong, including himself and Sif. They'd be meeting with a few members of Royal Army Intelligence, who were on their own flight, when they landed.
There was much that had to be done. Aydin's dirty had to be exhumed and dug through, to get to the bottom of this West Vaasa business.

Odinkar though, he had another focus. One Sif wasn't even briefed on. He liked Sif, to be sure. She was confident, straightforward. Competent. Things he liked in a team leader. He didn't mean to keep his actual assignment here secret from her, but those were orders from above her head.

She had the LP investigation to work on. He, meanwhile, had to find Jean Vulluy.

AIO Headquarters
Antalya, The Capital district, Aydin
January 26th, 2021
12:02 PM

The men walked into the conference room, the mood was a serious one. They had all been the task force assembled to track down whoever perpetrated and helped facilitate the West Vaasan conflict. Among the men were some of the most powerful people in all of Aydin, at their head was Grand Vizier Riffat a diligent man who served his Sultan well, besides him was General Kadir Baba, Chief of the Military and head of the General's staff a dedicated and loyal man. The two men were both dedicated and respectable men, who had served the nation for decades even before the ascension of Osman to the throne. But trailing slowly behind them followed Dervis Avcı, deputy director of the SIS.

The man had been in intelligence for over ten years, but his path had been much different from the men he now followed into the conference room. Coming from a poor family in the province of Abyan the son of two ethnically Arrandalese who had lived there for centuries, he had seen the true effects of the Sultanate on those who were not of higher standing.

He had seen his parents fight for his ability to get a good education, he had seen many of his friends suffer in the grip of poverty that so often touched the people of Abyan province. But after so much fighting he eventually was able to earn an education and was approached by the SIS, who recruited him. And for years he served diligently rising to the rank of deputy director, but after years of discrimination and hardship, he couldn't help but be tired of the system he lived under.

That was when he met General Bozkurt, a man who in his eyes offered a solution to the problems that faced Aydin, an end to the old ways, an end to poverty, an end to discrimination, and the birth of a new order, a new order under him. This to Avcı was all he was ever hoped for. So when Bozkurt approached him with an offer to be his inside man he was thrilled. It was even better when his boss the director of the SIS announced his sickness and inability to come to the meeting which left Avcı a very happy man.

The men had been assembled to formulate a plan with the rest of the Luscova pact investigators to hunt down the rogue agent and restore the reputation of Aydin, all they had to do now was wait until the rest of the investigators arrived.

OOC:
SIS- State intelligence Service

AIO- Aydın İmparatorluk Ordusu (Aydini Imperial Army)

”...fighting continues to rage on in Yelamki as Arcanstotskan forces make the push to finally secure the city. The insurgents are slowly losing ground and a growing number of remaining rebel combatants are surrendering. Many are saying that the Vaasan Free State is on the brink of disintegration. The body of the VFS’s leader and self-proclaimed ‘Chancellor,’ Kuno Lehning, has been recovered by Arcanstotskan soldiers, who have concluded that Lehning committed suicide.”

“After over four months of war and all the death and damage, that bastard cheats justice?”

HPY Head of Foreign Intelligence Faddei Pavilchenko glanced over briefly. “Seems so. Regardless, their leader’s dead and they’ve been pushed back into just a handful of city blocks and streets. The rebels’ days are very numbered.”

“Thank the Gods,” Vsevolod Pushkin nodded. “It’s almost over.”

“Still…” Tatyana Petrov shook her head.

“Do you think we can trust the Aydinis to be transparent about all this?” Vsevolod looked over to Faddei.

“I don’t trust that kid on their throne for a second. This could very well be a sham investigation meant to throw responsibility off the Aydini Empire.”

“Then why go along with it?”

“Because we have our orders, and those orders are to track down this supposed rogue figure.”

“Sir,” the driver spoke up. “We’re approaching Aydini intelligence headquarters now.”

The limousine pulled up in front of the headquarters building in Antalya and the three Arcanstotskans climbed out and went inside. They were led into a conference room where there were already Aydini officials waiting for them. Looked like they were the first to arrive.

AIO HQ
Antalya
Grand Sultanate of Aydin

Radegeir Volkmann gazed up at the looming headquarters with a mix of disdain and perhaps surprisingly, curiosity as well. It was typical Aydini architecture, bold, extravagant and utterly unnecessary as far as Essalanean sensibilities went. There was always that unspoken cultural boundary that separated the clans from the people of Aydin, scarcity and hardship had shaped the latter into rugged and utterly practical souls whilst wealth and commerce had formed the other into something entirely more unpredictable. Aydini's were a hard lot to trust, harder still when they didn't seem capable of keeping tabs on their own weapons, Radegeir couldn't help but feel like a wolf about to fall into a pit of vipers.

"Such big buildings for such little men" Lindwulf chuckled in the back of the jeep

Radegeir had been nominated to represent Essalanea's interests during the investigation, his time in Oklusia and later Gothis making him an invaluable agent of the moot, they had provided him with a vehicle and a small squad of commandos. The message from the moot council had been an unspoken one, take the warriors and root out the traitor that was threatening the pacts stability and by extension Essalanea's future. The investigation might begin as a bureaucratic affair, but Radegeir was certain it was going to end as a hunt.

"Perhaps, but those small men wield a lot of power, so keep that useless maw of your shut and let me do the talking"

"Long as you let me handle the thumping sure" Lindwulf said with a vicious smirk before lounging back in the seat with one leg resting perilously close to his companion

Haska said nothing, a sliver of her knife glittered in the afternoon sunlight as she unsheathed it ever so slightly and glared at Lindwulf with murderous intent. Lindwulf took the Kimbri's hint and removed the offending foot rather than lose it. Radegeir couldn't help but smirk as they passed the checkpoint and entered the courtyard proper, with such companions he would be lucky if they got out of Aydin without causing a diplomatic incident.

AIO HQ
Antalya
Grand Sultanate of Aydin

Victor Moravec stepped out of the car and gazed at the AIO building in front of him. The Aydini's taste in architecture was loud, bright, all glamour with little or no real soul. It all seemed pretty ugly, but what was really getting to him was the climate. Taking a deep breath as he adjusted his collar. "I already miss the snow... Too damn hot... I'd be skiing down wolfsberg* right now if the Aydini could get their heads out of their asses..." Martin Havel chuckled behind him as he and the rest of the Norsian team got out of their cars.

"I told you to acclimate yourself before we came here, not my fault you suck at taking advice. And your skis aren't going anywhere."

"No Norsian should have to endure this heat in the middle of winter!" Victor looked over at him

"Sounds like you have your head up your own ass right now... We have a job to do, remember? Try not to melt all over the place. Faster this investigation is concluded, the faster we can go home."
The group of melting northerners headed inside to meet with the other teams.

---

Wolfsberg, Norsias tallest mountain at a peak height of 2134 meters. Many mountain climbers have died trying to climb its treacherous rock faces due to rock slides and avalanches. Despite the dangers, it is Norsia's number one destination for skiing, snowboarding, sledding, and mountain biking. Tourism is a major revenue source for the villages of Rossau and Enns.

OOC: Musical Accompaniment- Down the Rabbit hole

AIO Headquarters
Antalya, The Capital district, Aydin
January 26th, 2021
12:25 PM

The conference room was bustling with activity, representatives from the Luscova Pact lined the room. Some sat down at the large wooden table placed in the center of the room. Others with their backs against the wall, observing the discussions of those sitting and conversing at the table. Dervis looked at General Baba, observing as he conversed with the Syrixian representative. The two were engaged in a seemingly deep conversation, on a topic of which Dervis could not ascertain. But Baba was seemingly fascinated by the portly Syrixian's conversation. Turning his head again, he caught a glimpse of Rifaat dressed in his usual flashy attire while speaking to the Arcanstotskan representatives seemingly trying to talk them down from being constantly incensed by Aydin's very existence.

The atmosphere of the room was brutal, despite the conversation. Anger and resentment were still present within some, creating an aura of unfriendliness clouding the space. Dervis called out to Rifaat.

"I think it's time to start, your Excellency." Rifaat looked over to Dervis and nodded, finishing his conversation.

"Ah, good idea Avcı we've been stuck on pleasantries for far too long," Rifaat said as he stood up from his chair and walked to the front of the conference room, over to a wooden table. On the table sat a projector and a small remote, picking the remote Rifaat pointed it at the older-looking projector. He pressed once on the remote his many rings shining brightly on his hand.

Click

The projector sat silent, he clicked again.

Click

And just like before the projector remained off. Frustrated, Rifaat frowned and looked at one of his aides, as he proceeded to hit the remote with his other hand. A minute later after thoroughly beating the small remote Rifaat tried once more and pressed down on the remote.

Click

The projector stirred with life, its picture casting its image clearly on the conference room wall.

"Honorable representatives, I apologize for the technical difficulties but at last we can finally get to what we are all here for!" Riffat pressed on the remote triggering a slide change. On the screen appeared the image of an incomplete organizational chart, the kind you'd see in a cheesy spy movie with all the persons of interest colored black with a white question mark over their faces.

"Over the past few months, both the State Intelligence Service alongside the AIO has been working day and night to discover the criminals who stole our weaponry and sold it to the West Vaasans. We have so far come up with what you can see here." He gestured to the bottom of the organizational chart. "As you can see we have identified a few of the culprits who stole the decommissioned fighter aircraft, but we believe these men are only grunts and only know a little of what is truly going on. But we suspect that the real information is to be found here." Rifaat pressed down hard on the remote and the slide changed again. This time to a wire transfer.

"If you'll direct your attention to the image on the wall again you'll be able to see this wire transfer which was picked up by the Aydini National Bank a few weeks before the first separatist attack which clearly shows the wiring of monies from one Ilim Tufan to a certain Israfil. Now to those of you who do not know, Israfil is the name of a Mehrabist angel referenced in the Qirah as the harbinger of the day of judgment in which he blows a trumpet signifying the end of the world and the day in which Allab judges us all for our sins."

Rifaat pressed down on the remote switching the slide once again. "We believe these people, whoever they are have bigger plans. With Vaasa being just the first step in a much larger plot centered around some kind of judgment day. When that day is I cannot yet say, but I hope we never have to find out what these people believe should be judged." Rifaat turned off the projector and continued to speak. "We called you here because we believe that to get to the heart of this conspiracy this investigation requires the help of outsiders. Not all is well internally, and we suspect there are those that are seeking to deceive us and manipulate this investigation from the inside. So his Majesty has seen it fit to invite you all here to assist us in solving this mystery."

Dervis smiled a small snide smile, fully aware it was himself that the Grand Vizier was referencing.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, my aides will give to you all of the files we currently have on the case. Now if you need anything else come see either myself, General Baba, or Mr. Avcı." Rifaat checked his gold watch. "Now if there aren't any questions there are refreshments ready in the adjacent room." The man gestured to the door with his bejeweled hand.