2023-09-24: Tempest in Azadistan: Ensuring Day By Day

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<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

20 minutes ago, the Shuffle Alliance began its assault on the rogue Amalgam agent that has caused so many plans to collapse in Azadistan. Veda predicts a high degree of chaos but, ultimately, for the situation to resolve with minimal Celestial Being input. But another variable remains unresolved, and the possibility of going unaddressed introduces too much chaos to be permitted.

Authorization for Armed Intervention is granted: Rescue the missing Imam Rasa Massoud Rachmadi.

The insurgent camp is in cave network on the outskirts of the country - predictable, perhaps. Nature's stone is a valuable fortification, to those who need it. The men outside are armed - missile launchers, even a fistful of RK-92 Savages and MSJ-04 Fantongs peppering the outskirts. But they are of course, powerless against such a thing as a Gundam.

The real trick will be getting inside, and facing off whatever final security measures are in place.

Within, Tailleur Persimmon sits in an office, with a desk, and a chair, and his teeth grinding tight. How did it come to this, the dark-haired man seethes. 

<Pose Tracker> Marina Ismail has posed.

       Azadistan has not forgotten.

       There is an old man, whose patience and guidance touched the hearts of those lost in times of hardship and upheaval. Children were born in his presence; soldiers and tradesworkers alike looked to him for his wisdom; even elders sought his guidance in their fading days. It had been three weeks since the sudden kidnapping under cover of night had rocked the nation. All that was known was that the most prominent man of faith had been carried away in the middle of the night, with an eyewitness report of blood soaking his assailant's clothes. Since then, the Azadistan Domestic Intelligence Agency had been flooded with tips of the vague and useless variety, and without a break in the case, it became harder and harder for the populace to believe that the man was still alive. The pious mourned in the streets. In her rare public appearances since the power station attack, Princess Ascendant Ismail had kept close a boutonniere of black hellebore gracing her standard violets and indigos during formal meetings. Farmers and masons drank together until they fought, and fought until they cried together.

       Imam Rasa Massoud Rachmadi was, in fact, still alive--despite his own stoic protest, perhaps.

               "Please, Imam Rachmadi. Bread, milk, please eat!" implored the bulky ox of a man crouched next to him. "You must keep your strength up, until this is all over," he insisted.

       Aleph, was the codename the Colonel had given him. The first letter, a stone wall, permanence; contrapposto to the Colonel's codename: Baa, linkage and change.

       But stonier still was Rachmadi. Aleph had only been able to force sustenance into the man when exhaustion left him insensate. The blood had been mostly washed from his beard, and he'd been given fresh robes to change into, but the wound on his skull was still tinged by ugly humors, and his skin lacked luster. But his eyes...saw far past Aleph, far past the caves, far past the present.

<Pose Tracker> Liu Mei Wang has posed.

       The sheer calm and ease that Alejandro Corner and his entourage have had throughout the chaos enveloping Azadistan has, perhaps, been suspicious in its own way. Constant assurances of having the safety and security of everyone in hand - merrily investigating the whearabuts of Rachmadi, taking the somewhat failed attempts to make small talk with Marina's court in stride.

       Once the isurgents are located, the three + their inconspicuous bodyguard even take the initiative and set out to provide a little base camp of sorts a few kilometers from the caverns, all from the luxury of Liu Mei's spacious and luxurious bright pink transit shuttle!

       "All operatives - Veda has given us the approval to intervene. Our outpost will be monitoring the situation and giving you feedback. Don't act too recklessly in there," Alejandro cool-ly calls out, swirling a glass of whiskey in one hand, seated comfortably in the rear-most couch of the shuttle - his contact device a subtle pin in his collar, so as not to make him look anything but elegant.

       "Virtue, Exia - you, of course, have Veda's direct data onboard your suits, and the direct connection to our gathered intel on hand. Make sure to share it with our less connected affiliates who've worked so hard for us," Ribbons comms in, standing in front of a more mysterious terminal in the shuttle, drinking a plan bottle of water.

       "But don't go imagining we're just sitting on our hands. Why, the three of us are practically defenseless with who we've sent to assist you. Hehe...don't mistake his ways for an ambush. Thirty meters ahead, he's already gotten himself in a nice lofty little perch. Keep us posted~" Liu Mei, at the main comms console of her shuttle, elegantly sips a cup of tea, and sends the go-ahead to her oh so reliable brother...

       As promised, a specter clad in blue, a mask clutched to his face, has already secured a position atop an abandoned building, just in front of the cavern entrance. Put off by the direct banter from Alejandro and his colleagues in one ear - and patching into his colleagues on the ground...Hong Long, Liu Mei's easily overlooked assistant, sternly confirms, "Their guard is lowered owing to weeks of hiding out, and the shift change is getting sloppy. All ground operatives, this is the moment to strike. I'm lightly armed myself - so whichever among you are the best equipped, make your move."

<Pose Tracker> Diamondback Vipers has posed.

       A pounding on the door. Aleph bristled, placed himself between. A wall is a wall. Harsh light streamed in as a man with contempt in his eyes and a gun in his arms threw the wooden door open.
               "Are you still cowering in here, goatshit? Leave the old man and do some damn work around here! We need someone to relieve the sentries--some shit's going down and I don't want to die because our night shift fell asleep. Come on, up, get up you lazy ass!"

       Reluctantly, Aleph stood and straightened--a full foot taller than the foul mouthed insurgent--and left the bread and milk behind. It was his only rations--all they'd give a man who'd refused to hold a gun for three weeks--but if the imam took even a sip...

       Outside, at the borders of the cave system, men with rifles, binoculars, and coffee were camped up between layers of outcroppings. It was cold, boring, and stiff, with hardly a blanket to either warm them or cushion the rocks. One could see oases if they stared into the desert long enough... 

<Pose Tracker> Tieria Erde has posed.

        Tieria sighs, fingers dancing along the Virtue's controls to share its onboard data. "Done. Sending current position of Virtue to Ptolemaios for retrieval if needed." It wasn't particularly easy to hide a mobile suit as large as the Virtue, but a cliff nearby provided suitable cover. As the Gundam's cockpit opens, Tieria checks his sidearm. A simple pistol. If a job required him to be on foot, chances are it required enough precision that a larger weapon would be impractical. The Gundams were their larger weapons, after all.

        He pulls off his normal suit and lowers a rope down from the cockpit to the ground. Reaching back and pulling a tactical vest over his skintight undersuit, he rappels down to the ground and makes his move, positioning himself at the perimeter of the cave system. "Insurgents are unaware. Ready to proceed." He sticks out his pistol, taking aim at one of the farthest out sentries, waiting until he looks away for a sip of coffee, and fires a silenced shot aimed for his head. 

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

       A rescue mission...

       Yuliana does feel a little uneasy, about this; she can't quite shake off Leina's feelings over political violence. But if she just understood, Yuliana insists, to herself, hotly, she wouldn't be so unreasonable about it all --

       (Leina is, of course, perhaps right to be unreasonable about it. The political violence which Yuliana just enacted, in a failed attempt to kill the corrupt Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, did hurt innocent people. The REA has introduced martial law now! Anyway.)

       But Yuliana's wife thought it would be good for her to be able to help someone, after their mission ended in such failure. Elisa volunteered their cell's assistance, and so Yuliana is here; the second-best agent they have, for work at this sort of scale. (Elisa may be more powerful than her wife, but Yuliana's power is far more -- shall we say -- comprehensible, by and large.) She is dressed for infiltration, with a catsuit (complete with cat 'ears') hosting both obvious and less-obvious weapons -- darts and a blowgun, for one, not just a gun at her hip. Vials of things which look rather dangerous. A lockpicking kit.

       The most notable weapons, perhaps, are a pair of tentacles mounted at her back, with orchid-like frills and something like jaws or claws at the end of them. Given her manner of dress, it's difficult to say whether they're part of her, or some advanced manner of melee weapon; they're covered in the same adaptive camouflage as the rest of her, after all.

       The mobile suit she brought here isn't Da Xukong 0 -- Da Xukong 0 is still in dire need of repairs, after what happened in Sri Lanka. Rather, she's brought a Flight Type Alto, today; the Kafims do make extensive use of Altos, after all, so it was the easiest suit for her to borrow. She's still adept at using an Autobalanced suit, even if it's not her first preference -- besides, she's not intending to fight in it.

       She's outside of her robot, now, when Alejandro and his fellows issue their orders. "Verdiska, show me going," she confirms, as she moves to a rock outcropping alongside Tieria. She sneaks a little closer, and takes out that blow gun, with a specific inconspicuous dart --

       -- and launches it into the neck of one of the guards stubbornly not on the outskirts.

       It's not a poison dart.

       Not... as... such.

       Rather, the man will feel a terrible wave of nausea, surely from the fact that his rations were off this morning -- and he'll be forced to hastily excuse himself and run off so he can evict his stomach, far too quickly to properly fill his place.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.


        If there is to be peace in Azadistan, Rasa Massoud Rachmadi must be rescued. Veda deduced this, but it doesn't particularly require a sophisticated AI to reach this conclusion.

        Within the cockpit of the Exia, Setsuna quietly watches over the insurgent camp from the safety of his Gundam's optic camouflage, which keeps the massive mobile suit obscured, at least for the moment. It's a familiar sight, but it brings him neither joy or nostalgia, just regret. Even when Ribbon tells him to share intel, he wistfully stares at his cockpit's read out. It's fine, Tieria will do it.

        <"Once we extract Rachmadi, I will escort him out with the Exia. What you all do to help reach this goal is up to you.">

        Setsuna's voice is as flat and emotionless as ever as he reaches for the pistol underneath the seat, making sure that it's properly loaded as he finally leaves the confines of his suit. The camouflage concealing his suit very briefly gives as way as the cockpit opens up and the Gundam Meister propels downward, quietly making his way towards the entrance of the cave as he deals with any straggling guards the only way he knows how.

        Violence. It's violence. The one thing he's good at, and the reason he's a Gundam Meister.

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Authorization has been granted. Time to move. While Regina is primarily a pilot, she does some of her best work on the ground. She's a more than capable fighter in close quarters.

Right now, though... they need to approach the base. And for that reason, she doesn't yet leave the cockpit of her chosen ride. It's not her usual Maganac or Alto - today she's chosen a Desmatz N, for one specific reason.

Regina taps away at the console, setting up the electronic warfare suite for the specifications of the mission. This isn't her forte, but she knows enough. Subtlety is the name of the game today - any direct attacks might give away their approach too soon. And so...

"Their communications will be delayed." Regina notes. Lag time of a second or two between communications - it doesn't sound like much, but in this situation, that precious amount of time can mean the world.

With that said she dismounts and makes her approach, using Setsuna's trail of violence as a cover. 

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Inhospitable though it be, these mountains are a place men have taken their dreams for many generations. Albeit...too often, those dreams are influenced by unkind men.

Persimmon chomps the end off a chocolate-flavored Calorie Mark and wishes it were a charcuterie board. Rachmadi's useless to them if the country burns down. "And what the devil is the REA doing!" he barks to the walls. "I thought I had all my bribes in place! Fah! That damnable princess and her absurd box! Everything's in disarray!"

He storms to the far end of the room.

His voice echoes on a body outside, in French-accented Persian. "Report! Have we heard anything from that firefight? If that assailant survives the night, not even that God of yours can save Azadistan, much less you!"

To those outside, it is a signal:

The ringleader is here.

<Pose Tracker> Diamondback Vipers has posed.

       Aleph is moving towards the front of the cave when a man bumps into him, looking a bit pale as he pushes past into the privy. It's that very guard who might have looked over towards a man who owes him fifty Gila and six cigarettes, but instead is deeply, loudly ill in a disquieting manner. No, heaving his rations, chyme and all, he's not there to see that man be freed from his debts by a swift, muffled bullet from Tieria's gun.

       Aleph leans against the door, inquiring to the man's health, worrying that the rations he'd left with Rachmadi were from a spoiled lot. Unfortunately, there's no time to run back into the depths, as Persimmon's broadcast hits the channels, and Aleph grimaces. The facilitator had kept him away from most of the news lately, marked him as an 'unpredictable element'. It wasn't terribly wrong...

Three weeks prior...
       The night had been warmer than usual, but that might have just been the flop sweat under his collar. He was a man of faith, a son of Azadistan, and a worried father. Without tradition, without culture, what world would his children grow up in? The foreign powers had already stamped down Azadistan's economy and trade, and there was little work to be had in erecting houses, and no one at market had the coin to buy goat milk. People were saying there was no other way, no way but tearing power from the hands of the people who would bare their necks to foreign powers... But was there no other way?

       He was a man of faith, a son of Azadistan. He went to ask Rasa Massoud Rachmadi what he should do... but he couldn't let the priest just leave, either. It was all a blur, he just wanted the man to stop trying to walk away from him, and...with the butt of his sidearm, he...

       He had to make it right.


       Back in the present, Setsuna barreled through an entire squad caught unawares. The patrols were starting to thin out, and thanks to Regina's interference, all the radios were a little distorted, a little delayed. The more savvy types from the Azadistani regular army felt their hairs stand on end, getting suspicious. The average radicalized insurgents, however, were merely annoyed at their faulty equipment. What would happen next?

<Pose Tracker> Liu Mei Wang has posed.

       The first shot is fired. The first insurgents go down, and Hong Long is quick to radio in - using Regina's EWAC suite as sort of an intermediary on-field comms hub. "Verdiska, Exia and Virtue have succeeded at hitting their targets. Attempts at communication are clearly faltering. --I've spotted guards moving in the direction of potential bodies. Moving out." With a clearly-for-style flip from his perch - at alarming speeds, Hong Long sprints between the shadows, and-

       Hurls a genuine kunai at an approaching insurgent, striking him through the neck before Hong Long darts in to swipe any attempt at alerts over the radio. He's at the entrance to the cave now - and with a peek through the opening like a ferret, he signals to the rest of the operatives that the way is clear. Darting from shadow to shadow, he soon finds himself in a similar post - silently hopping his way onto the top of a small crane, to survey the lay of the land now that they're deeper in the cavern's stronghold - marking the positions of each soldier to the rest of Celestial Being's operatives...

       Back in the transport, Liu Mei can't help but let off just a little elegant giggle - looking between the map and direct operative feeds. "He really tries a little too hard, doesn't he? Honestly, I never understood his problem. Raised for so long to inherit a fortune, but this is his calling, somehow? It's a little ridiculous, but if he wants to give 100% for an operation like this..." The heiress tingles with excitement seeing Setsuna in particular take down more than a handful of guards in a delightfully intense way, even as she keeps herself composed behind that veneer of elegance...

       ...But it's not enough to hide.

       Between Liu Mei, seeing this as a game to satisfy her shallow wish for turmoil - and Alejandro, who's content to more or less leave this up to others, like a king who will reap the spoils...

       Ribbons Almark's passive dutifulness is pulled just a little more taut. These two, who don't truly understand what Veda represents - only that it is a higher power of arbitration. Their expression doesn't change - not even giving a direct look to either one. It isn't necessary. It leaches from these two like acidity in the water.

       That careful, guiding voice of Ribbons does, however, make a point of affirming to the rest of the team. "When Rachmoudi is secured, we do want to make sure his safety is clear and obvious to the public. I've already begun securing escape routes to exit the base even under the assumption that he may need to be carried. Notify me the instant he's confirmed dead or alive - Veda's forecast differs dependent upon that."

       It's their silent and diligent way of affirming - "it's me who understands the burden of the future that all of this entails". 

<Pose Tracker> Tieria Erde has posed.

        Tieria clicks his tongue at Setsuna's aggressive approach. Not very elegant, but he supposed that wasn't Exia's job. The scrambled comms would at least make it a bit easier to go in fast. Following Setsuna's lead, he continues to move forward, popping off at any guards that he sees. "Do we know where in the complex the target is being held?" 

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

       It is true that Yuliana doesn't comprehend the true nature of VEDA; it is equally true that it would devastate her. Perhaps she doesn't need to know. No, what she needs to know, today --

       Yuliana notices the way her allies deal with the situation. Tieria's targeted violence -- Setsuna, far more broad -- and the reason Regina brought a Desmatz, too. She appreciates their methods in multiple senses of the word, both the quality of their works and the style of those works.

       She gestures, when she hears Persimmon's voice on the radio, to her teammates. 'Hostile on site -- primary.' It's not quite sign language, but her 'words' are designed to be heard in situations where they can't always speak. But she does tune in her radio, once she's in a safe location, to hear what Ribbons has to say. "HUA," she murmurs back. (Heard, Understood, Acknowledged. She's ex-military; she's just going to be like that.)

       Thanks to Regina disrupting their equipment, Yuliana is able to snipe a guard turning the corner with a silenced bullet when he pokes his head out to physically check what's going on; she pulls his corpse into the nearest room, setting him just out of sight. She steals his radio, before she leaves him, so she'll have access to anything else Persimmon has to say.

       Though she works independently, she doesn't go off on her own -- she does consider it important they stick together, as they make their way through the complex.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.


        Setsuna just lets the magazine in his pistol fall after expending all the ammo in it, reaching for a new one and slotting it in with fluidity and ease. He's not even thinking about it, for him, this is just going through the motions.

        "We don't have time to wait and find out. Keep moving."

        Tieria asks for data, and Setsuna decides to just utilize the chaos caused by everyone else to get into the cave's entrance. Intel can only take you so far, after all, and it's not like they have all the time in the world to perfect this. In fact, time is now somewhat against them. They're being careful, but eventually they're going to notice there are significantly less people guarding the cave than there were before, if they hadn't already.

        While perhaps a bit reckless, he isn't stupid. He's still being completely thorough in making sure their advance into the heart of the matter is as safe as possible as he continues eliminating the rest of the guards that are unlucky enough to be in his path.

BBSYS: Post 1254, 'Martial Law in the REA' has been published to IC News/Rumors by Yuliana Kafim.
BBSYS: Post 1255, 'Ex-Kamille' has been published to Public by Rena Lancaster. 

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

"Understood." Regina replies to Hong Long's transmission. And then, there is a signal - a voice from the radio. Her eyes track toward Yuliana, spotting her gesture.

This is where they need to be, then.

Regina waits in the shadows for just a bit longer - and then, another signal. This time from Hong Long, signifying that the way is clear and marking the positions of the soldiers.

It's time, then. This is where she shines.

She slips into the cave's entrance, her sights set on a pair of soldiers he'd indicated. She moves quickly - by the time they notice her, it's already too late. The first one is downed in three bare-handed strikes - then grabbed and hurled at the other. She's behind him in an instant, incapacitated with a single strike during the moment of shock. She relieves them of their equipment, and proceeds along the designated path. 

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Persimmon grunts and kicks open the door into the caverns. He's a stout man, black hair, but he wears a suit, even here. Static on the line.

The cave is not, actually, too complicated a system. This is a fallback from a fallback, one of the final lines that the Xia Twins did not destroy in their rampage. Persimmon has forgotten to turn off his radio, growling, "Those ingrate girls did this...forced back from the estate to a hovel! Ridiculous! How..."

Persimmon is several kinds of over his head...but he is not, in fact, a fool. He notices the static, as he stalks past a guard. He notices the delay, on his message.

"ECS," he croaks.

"Someone's here. FOOLS! WE ARE FOUND!" 

<Pose Tracker> Diamondback Vipers has posed.

       The insurgents were already tired, undisciplined, and demoralized by the time the strike team has located their base. To begin with, this was never meant to be a unified, loyal group of people--that was expended with Colonel 'Baa' in the plant sabotage. These insurgents are a rough mixture of survivors, deserters, and disaffected conservatives late to the cause. Some of them have never really been in true mortal danger before, and those are the most dangerous--for the insurgents.

       When the radios dim, the experienced fighters among them start clustering, nodding to each other, even shortly before Persimmon calls the hideout to alarm. A soldier's instincts are nothing to scoff at, of course, but it's far too late to organize any kind of counteroffensive.

       No, at this point, it's the chaos that erupts when the personal fable turns out to not be bulletproof.

       Some of them run forward out of the cave, guns firing at anything that moves. Some of them retreat back into larger, bottlenecked caverns, prepared to trap themselves to survive the night. Others crawl deeper into the cave, searching for an undiscovered passage to freedom.

       In the midst of this chaos, there isn't any clear concentration of forces--rather, the more tactically-minded might realize that they don't even seem to realize they have assets worth defending. It won't be as easy to discern quite where the imam is based on defensive lines alone. 

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

       Yuliana hears Persimmon's message -- and hopefully, so does everyone else. "Tch--!" Her tongue clicks to her teeth, as pandemonium erupts.

       "They're confused," she hisses, sharply. "Undisciplined. Ignore the rabble. Follow the ones still defending something. I'll run interference." With this, she breaks off --

       And when the cave system finds a group of harried 'soldiers' running through, with twitchy trigger-fingers and horrified feelings that they'll not return to their sisters and their fathers tonight, Yuliana is somehow nowhere to be seen.

       Nowhere to be seen -- because she's leapt up to latch onto a stalactite, all lodged between it and the rocks.

       She considers shooting them in the back of the head.

       ... she lets them go.

       In this way she makes her way, sly, through the tunnel; through the hovel, as Persimmon puts it. She appears behind the guard posted outside his cave or cranny, a cloth clasped tightly to her nose; the chloroform works to drop her before she can realise she ought to fight back.

       She drops the guard's fainted body in sight of the entrance, entirely deliberately -- but there won't be anyone out there if he comes to investigate.

       Well, not on ground level. Yuliana's jumped up to cram herself against the ceiling, again, her adaptive camouflage making her brown as the jutting rocks.

       And unfortunately -- whether it's him who ventures out, or a guard summoned to him by his radio -- even though Yuliana's hands and feet are occupied holding herself in place...

       ... two tentacles extend down, to wrap about the shoulders of her next target and flip them into the cave, Yuliana using her very own weight to complete the motion.

       It's not an ideal situation to be in if one is trying to organise moving a prisoner.

<Pose Tracker> Tieria Erde has posed.

        Tieria rushes into the cave, ducking down behind cover and scanning the area as he remains hidden from the scrambling insurgent forces. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to their movements, they were clearly panicking. That made things both easier and harder on them. Trusting Verdiska and Setsuna to draw attention, he took a second to think. They were probably already moving the Iman, so instead of trying to find where he was, the key was to figure out where they would take him.

        Tieria figured that a complex this large and far out of the way would have some sort of transportation to move people and supplies. Sneaking his way through the caverns, he eventually heard the sound of yelling and the door to a truck opening. That's it! He follows the sound, leading to a cavern with several trucks and a secondary cave entrance, with several men stuffing the Iman into the back of one. As the insurgents climb into the front, Tieria jumps onto the roof, clinging to the top as the truck begins to drive off. 

<Pose Tracker> Liu Mei Wang has posed.

       A click of his tongue signals Hong Long's dissatisfaction with the base quickly becoming disorganized and chaotic, all without any sight of Rachmoudi. Drawing a gun from his side pocket, perched atop the gantry crane like a cat, he makes his own motions to try and reason strategy amidst disorder - and he's just about to focus his efforts on a storage area behind where the terrorists are holding a handful of mobile suits...

       "Hmmm? Hong Long, stop for just a second." Liu Mei's capable of playing strategist for just a bit, flicking between everyone's viewpoint - and 'Verdiska' confirms what Liu Mei suspected. "She's right. They're not behaving like they actually know where we are. Only that they're suspicious, and very disoriented. Damn it. But how do we figure out where..."

       The slightest of sighs from Ribbons - just like Tieria, they're thinking: 'those who do know the valuable target would be moving now' - so it elicits a rare little smile from the Innovade when they can tell Tieria's on the right track. Of course.

       "Of course you would be ahead of the curve, 'Virtue'." Ribbons hums approvingly, directly to Tieria - before commandeering the pretense of operations from anything Liu Mei's trying to do.

       Her calculations and assessments are too slow.

       Veda had it all figured out from the start.

       Those who can divine Veda's will are the only ones whose understanding can be trusted.

       "'Exia'. You're in relatively close position. 'Virtue' is covering one of the target's prime means of escape - Veda assesses this as 60% likely to be the target, but I'd like you to investigate this additional point, in case 'Virtue' is on a decoy. Verdiska is engaging the actual commander, so don't think too hard about being pursued. And if some of their sub-liutenants do manage to rally together their own plans - Everhart. We're counting on you in the very trying position of intercepting the 'center'. I apologize that the most difficult and least predictable element of a fireight falls on your shoulders. Hong Long, you will be staying at Everhart's side - I will ask that you count on each other and watch each other for threats."

       Liu Mei immediately rises in interruption - "Excuse me, what exactly do you think you're doing? My brother is more than reliable enough to pursue the getaways - why are you assigning him to a high risk spot, when I'm the one who knows his capabilities best?"

       Ribbons turns once, those firm violet eyes unyielding at Liu Mei. "Do you really?"

       The tension building in the air is cut apart when Alejandro lets loose a slightly too loud, warm and inviting laugh. "It's best not to argue with them. Like any good guardian angel, Ribbons here is fiercest in times of pressure. It just wouldn't do for us to slip up an operation like this - and they do have the voice of Veda speaking to them. You'll understand when you're older that people in our position learn when to let others do the fighting."

       ---Just as ordered, of course, Hong Long descends down closer to Regina's level, almost looking kind of dashing and daring in that mask - giving her one fierce nod before sprinting off, ponytail flicking behind him - simple hand gestures clarifying that he'll cover the passageways closer to the crew quarters, and leave the loading and supplies areas in Regina's hands - though once or twice, he does glance over his shoulder, and catch a few who might get Regina off-guard with a double-tap between the eyes. Even mid-knife-fight with a fleeing insurgent! What exactly is physical talent like this doing as such a put-upon lackey? 

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

The ruse has been discovered. Chaos erupts as what discipline they had begins to break down. Yuliana's voice sounds over her helmet. They're defending something...

Regina scans the crowd. She picks them apart mentally - discerning who's moving out of fear, and who's moving with purpose. And... there. She weaves her way through the crowd. The chaos is self-sustaining, at this point, but order can still be made of it.

As she does, once again, communication reaches her. Orders have been given.

"Understood." Regina replies. Unpredictability is fine, with her - she excels at adjusting based on the situation.

Hong Long descends, and his hand gesture is met with an affirmative response from Regina.

Conveniently - the loading and supplies area also gives her a lot to work with. A half-empty crate is lifted up and hurled directly at one of the defending soldiers. She rushes in after, picking up two of the most solid pieces of debris, one in each hand, and lashing out at any who draw close, her hands finding a replacement weapon almost as immediately as one breaks.

This is where she really lives, this kind of fight - she'll carve a swathe through them for as long as they provide her with targets.

She does send Hong Long a brief nod at his save, but her attention doesn't leave the fight for long.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.


        Honestly, if Setsuna was being truthful, he wasn't sure about letting non Gundam Meisters deal with this problem before the mission started, but he's not particularly upset to be wrong with how well this has been going. He supposes this is why they're part of Celestial Being too, even if their idealogy doesn't align with theirs.

       "I'm going further in. Keep it clear for me."

        Pulling back the slider on his pistol, Setsuna finally abandons the semi-cautious approach, bolting into the cave. He's fully capitalizing on the disintegration of the insurgent group's coherency to make the final push. The tunnels, a familiar place for him, aren't too complex, and he's making quick work to narrow down exactly where they're keeping their prisoners through sheer brute force alone.

<Pose Tracker> Marina Ismail has posed.

       In the recesses of the cave, an older, deeper hideaway had been carved into the rocks by hermits long since deceased. It is here that both soldiers and prisoners had slept, and woke in a panic from. With Persimmon's shout, the flow was a one-way chaotic crush, but if anyone could swim against that current, it was the son of a goatherd. Though soldiers still since abandoned, and here that the imam finally decides the changing circumstances are a sign to relent on his reticent wasting.

               "Please, eat up, Father, I need to take you somewhere safe. I got you into this mess. I need to make it right."

       "My boy," Rachmadi rasped with dry lips. "You must see yourself more modestly. Remember that God only gave men two hands... two alone cannot change the tides." Those two large hands, however, were more than enough to hold up a canteen of water to the priest, who drank gratefully.

               "Thank you, Father..."

               When Setsuna approaches, Aleph assumes it's the more vicious and vengeful insurgents, here to finally punish Rachmadi for speaking against them.
                As such, a man's bellowing voice shouts through the wooden door, "I won't let you hurt him! If it costs me my life!" He begins reciting a prayer at the top of his lungs.

<Pose Tracker> Diamondback Vipers has posed.

       A small group of soldiers approaches, fleeing the pressure Hong Long and Regina were commanding. One soldier spots Aleph and one of the intruders slowly helping the imam to his feet and roars out,
               "You're with them?! You SNAKE!"

       He immediately empties his sidearm, a few small caliber rounds punching through Aleph's body with a spray of blood. Presumably, the exfil team dispatches him efficiently.

       Another soldier fishes his way into the armory stockpile, a meager thing at this stage, but he still pulls out an Anti-Tank RPG, raises it, and yells out Farsi curses at the top of his lungs before he pulls the trigger.

       The cave groans, rumbles, and begins to emit a low, keening crack. The crackling fades, for a brief moment, before chunks of sandstone and metal support beams begin to thud to the ground. 

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

As Tieria approaches the car, he realizes his assessment isn't quite perfect. Or more specifically...he's dead on the money. The insurgents are making off with another hostage!

....who is not the Imam!? It's a Senator, who has been missing since the original attack on the power transfer station weeks ago.

Good news: He also needs rescue. The men in the truck yell at each other, barking, "Who is up there! We have a stowaway! They really did find us!"

"Not for long!" the man in the passenger seat yells, pulls out a sidearm, and leans out the side to menace Tieria! He will definitely not immediately be kicked out the window.

Persimmon is listening to all this go down with a cold sweat. "No....it's all coming apart. If I.... yes, if I simply...if I...!"

He yields a step, then two, then retreats - back to his office. Even in the worst case, that should stand...and these people surely won't simply massacre everybody, right? Yes. Perfection. 

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

As Tieria approaches the car, he realizes his assessment isn't quite perfect. Or more specifically...he's dead on the money. The insurgents are making off with another hostage!

....who is not the Imam!? It's a Senator, who has been missing since the original attack on the power transfer station weeks ago.

Good news: He also needs rescue. The men in the truck yell at each other, barking, "Who is up there! We have a stowaway! They really did find us!"

"Not for long!" the man in the passenger seat yells, pulls out a sidearm, and leans out the side to menace Tieria! He will definitely not immediately be kicked out the window.

Persimmon is listening to all this go down with a cold sweat. "No....it's all coming apart. If I.... yes, if I simply...if I...!"

He yields a step, then two, then retreats - back to his office. Even in the worst case, that should stand...and these people surely won't simply massacre everybody, right? Yes. Perfection.

Except when he sees it, there is a man there - a body already bested. "Oh....God, no," he croaks. He's even cursing like these barbarians now! Damn them!

He starts to double retreat...but that's where his luck runs out.

"HNMMF!!!" he yelps, tentacles wrapped around him, and then "WHOOF!" as Yuliana finishes her motion to hurl him aside, his radio cast off. He has the consciousness to gasp, to moan, to glare, and shudderingly reach for SOMETHING in his pocket.

These will presumably not work out for him. 

<Pose Tracker> Tieria Erde has posed.

        Almost faster than the passenger can register, his gun is kicked out of his hand and a pair of Innovade-grade legs are wrapped around his neck, constricting the flow of air to his lungs. With a scoff, Tieria vaults forward over the side of the truck, his legs sweeping forward to launch the passenger out from the window and onto the desert sands. He turns like a gymnast on a pair of uneven bars, slipping through the window and into the seat once occupied by the driver's partner, said driver now having a gun pointed at his head.

        "<<Stop the truck,>>" Tieria demands in perfect Persian. 

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

       Yuliana appreciates the weight of Regina and Hong Long's assignment; even keeping the both of them together, fighting groups of foes on foot is a difficult and dangerous proposition. (More difficult, she appreciates, than the task she's taken on; neutralising a commander isn't easy, but fighting a dozen men is worse.) She makes a note to retrieve them, if the operation decides they're forfeit.

       (The Invisible Burst is interfering with conventional communications -- but the darkness-emitting crystal secured under the glove of her wrist doesn't operate on any conventional communication channel. Shattering it is a surefire way to communicate to Elisa Kafim that Yuliana requires... an alternate method of egress. And while it's a trip designed for her, she's sure her wife won't protest a few passengers. They like Regina!)

       She can't listen too closely to Regina's situation, though, all fed into her ear through delicate electronics -- because she has to focus on Persimmon. He's clearly shaken, but Yuliana isn't about to underestimate a foe twice in this outfit.

       She flips to the ground with him -- though she, at least, manages to land on her feet. Quickly she closes the space between them, and her foot soundly impacts his wrist, with mag-lock boots which are awfully heavy. (The rest of her is, too.) No negotiations, this time; she fires a bullet down into him, and then another.

       (They're not headshots. Perhaps she's thinking of the man who'll find his corpse, or perhaps she just doesn't care how slowly he dies.)

       "Primary hostile neutralised," she reports, over their own communications, as she proceeds through the complex to find the others.

       Hopefully, someone's procured a truck.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna F. Seiei has posed.


        Setsuna stares blankly at Aleph for a bit, and then Rachmadi, before simply reaching for his spare pistol that's holstered to his waist. Without warning, he removes the weapon, tossing it towards the man as he motions towards the hostages.

        "Stick close and follow me. We're getting you out of here."

        There will be more fighting. The mission is only half complete so far. While he doesn't expect Aleph to need the pistol, missions like these can always go south, and he'd rather them have the ability to defend themselves if need be. If he can help it however, it'll never come to that, as he leads them out through the caverns, albeit at a slower pace compared to when he entered alone.

        <"Target found. Bringing them to the Exia. Keep them busy.">

        Setsuna places a hand on his ear as he briefly updates everyone via comms.

<Pose Tracker> Marina Ismail has posed.

       The insurgents are well and truly acting independently from each other at this point. Some are fleeing to their families--never knowing how close they came to death from above. Others are trying to take their Reformist Senator to try and at least ransom him for a retirement fund; a few are willing to bring down the entire cave on their heads to avenge a perceived betrayal.

               Aleph hesitates to even touch the pistol, before returning it to Setsuna. "I can't... I'm done with such things."

       Instead, Aleph takes a moment to catch his breath, ignoring the wounds not deep enough to weaken his arms and legs. He roars out, in pain and perseverance, scooping the frail Rasa Massoud Rachmadi up in his arms and charging ahead. Rocks fall on his shoulders, earning grunts and groans. Blood pulses out from his wounds, but he ignores it. He refuses to stumble until he is escorted past Regina's and Hong Long's two-body barricade, refuses to slow until the stars in the desert sky look down upon him.

       It is only once his feet catch and drag in the sand that he is forced, heavy and broken, to his knees. He sets the weak priest down at Setsuna's feet, before folding over into the sand.
               "I beg of you... save him. Make it right," he pleads, "Right my sin."

       He reaches one large, callused hand out to steady the imam, proudly groaning,
               "Two hands...was just enough for this."

       Finally, his eyes close and he loses consciousness on the desert sands.

       For a moment it's unclear if he's even still alive, or if he even wants to be. His stomach, empty all day, offers its audible discontent. 

<Pose Tracker> Liu Mei Wang has posed.

       "Well - it seems both of our Gundam Meisters have found valuable targets, and we have their escape routes confirmed." Alejandro finishes off his cup of whiskey, ice swirling in the glass, before a sharper look in his eye rises - clicking a button to ensure the shuttle is utterly dark from any leaking recording.

       "Given the trouble everyone else is in, and the risks posed by a base full of panicked terrorists - should we leave it at that? We're at that point after all - we're needing to consolidate our gains and organize our position, and Verdiska in particular has been a rogue element for quite some time."

       Liu Mei stiffens up. "You too now? You do know Hong Long is my brother. You don't get to just decide what happens to him. He may not be 'integral to the plan', but he's hardly a pushover. I mean...you're right on some level, that we should cut our losses when they're begging to be cut off...tch."

       "It's like I told you. You're going to have to learn that possessions and belongings are just a means to an end. Those who have fortunes at Celestial Being's backing are the ones who have a reason for their treasuries. The changing era is the time to make sure we aren't holding onto that which is un-necessary - and from that fateful day, that failure of a boy only learned to fight so fiercely because he proved he was un-needed."

       Liu Mei remembers it. The injustice of forfeiting responsibility unto her. The unforgivability of being too weak-minded to lead, despite being raised from birth. The pathetic look in his eyes when he gave up the world and begged for a place. A memory so vivid it burns in her intensely to this day. That it can't help but billow from her thoughts no matter how tightly she tries to keep it together.

               ((Reprehensibly short-sighted.))

       "...Bring our shuttle to their hideout. Now. Before I waste ours and Veda's precious time asking for an override to do it. It will happen - whether it be on your terms or mine is the only deciding factor." If there was coldness seeping into Ribbons' voice before at Liu Mei, it can't be well contained now. The Innovade looks only at the flickering, near-indecipherable globe of data that makes sense only to their kind.

       --Cutting off Yuliana Kafim now, when it's clear as day that the predicament they pose is only growing, a thorn in the plan's aspirations that would strike at a terribly inopportune moment?

       --Abandoning Regina Everhart to her fate, when her loyalty and talent belies Veda's assessment that she holds a most useful 'key'?

       --Discarding Hong Long Wang, when this spoiled girl is utterly blind to the pure potential he holds, simply because he didn't fit into the old world's paradigm that won't make any sense?

       Though communications are flickering and unreliable, cut off at Alejandro's behest, it's a trivial matter for Ribbons to override that block. It's not even that difficult to secure contact with all of their operatives, if they simply try. And that's what these two are refusing to do, in their eyes.

       "Change of plans to all operatives. Our shuttle will be arriving imminently. Be wary that we will be under fire, and the interior of this getaway might be risky and unreliable. Run away from your engagements if you must. Do not surrender. And please. I would hate it if all of you, who've worked so hard, died at a trivial juncture like this."

       ...Liu Mei wants to argue with Ribbons' assertiveness. To stake her own claim, to concur with Alejandro that some fights aren't worth having.

       But before she knows it, she's starting up her shuttle's engines. Her own private vehicle, put into the line of fire in a terrorist stronghold, and for what? Why? Why is it so hard to defy?

       ...is it because she sees a star blooming just now? 

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Regina fights. As she will, as she must, until the job is done, or there are none left who wish to challenge - and then there is a rumble, an explosion. A cave in? She frowns.

They'll need to finish this quickly, in case that cascades out from there. ...Fortunately, two reports come in, one after the other. The primary hostile is neutralised, and the target has been found.

Good.

"Understood. We shall secure an extraction point." Regina replies. She'll ensure that Setsuna and the wounded, fading Aleph are able to see the Imam back to the Exia - and she'll ensure that Yuliana has a safe place to retreat to, with her task complete.

And a moment later, an announcement. The shuttle will be brought around... Regina must admit, she does much prefer trusting her escape to a shuttle rather than the Desmatz. It has served its purpose - she doesn't mind abandoning it here.

"Understood. We will make our way there once we've rejoined." Regina replies. Once everyone who hasn't escaped by another method arrives, she'll begin her retreat as well.

<Pose Tracker> Tieria Erde has posed.

        "Understood." Tieria pistol whips the driver and kicks him out of the driver's side door, taking his place behind the wheel and commandeering the truck to the extraction point.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

       "HUA," Yuliana reports, to Command, when Ribbons speaks to them. If she knew what profane speech Alejandro spoke...

       But she doesn't. All she hears are the commands coming down. It's positively familiar, even if she's not in a military engagement, now.

       They came here to secure a target; they have. They'll win. Imagine winning!

       Yuliana doesn't have time to take care with these forces any more, though. Running and gunning is the order of the day -- and Yuliana's focused enough on evacuating that she doesn't quite notice a man lining up a shot on her, from an odd angle.

       But Regina's watching her back, and Yuliana swears, under her breath, as she glances back to see the threat negated. "Thanks," she says to her, and she clambers into the shuttle -- gun still in hand, just in case she has to shoot anyone who'd think to stop them.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Tieria yeets a man totally out the window. The driver looks at the arriving Definitely Human like he's seen a ghost, even moreso when a gun is now pointed at his nose. "<<yeah ok,>>" the driver replies in a small, alarmed voice.

He does indeed stop the truck and comply with any subsequent instructions, which come in the form of getting smashed over the head and knocked tothe roadside.

Persimmon's hand slips free with a sidearm just in time to achieve nothing with it; his hand jerks and throws the thing aside as Yuliana's bullets fill him, and his shirt turns red. Fewer penetrations than she might expect...that suit was armored. Nice. But not nice enough. He will die in this place. Only some very timely intervenetion could stop it now.

The shuttle arrives. Rachmadi is in Setsuna's hands now. The insurgents are dead or scattering.

And in the distance, a massive light blooms over Azadistan, pure white-blue radiance of an unfamiliar kind, signaling the end of that struggle as well.

Can Veda be said to be pleased? Well, Sumeragi probably will be.

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