05-18-2025, 05:34 AM
Federal Intelligence Service HQ
Ixtenco, Huenya
Director Cuetlancaona walked through the halls of the FIS headquarters at a brisk pace. After the announcement he had made concerning the Milintican elections, the Director knew that things would begin to happen quickly. Dominos would begin to fall, and he had to make sure that Huenya's mission in Milintica would not get crushed under a giant obsidian domino with the flag of the Xiomeran Empire on it.
Cuetlancaona arrived at the elevator designated for the use of top FIS officials, and swiped his badge over the reader next to the buttons. A gentle ping accompanied with a green light confirmed that he was, indeed, one of the few allowed aboard. As he waited for the elevator to descend, the Director found himself bemused that even this elevator was playing a soft, almost inaudible bit of elevator music. It was one of the holdovers from the FIS headquarters' previous life as a Xiomeran bank that no one had bothered to get rid of.
When the elevator finally stopped, a friendly voice informed him in English and Huenyan that he was on floor 27. He stepped off the elevator and walked through a set of double doors that opened for him automatically after another badge swipe. The two guards at the door nodded politely as the Director stepped inside. Light flashed briefly on the words engraved into the doors as they opened: Federal Intelligence Service Intervention Program.
Cuetlancaona walked past a set of doors on either side of a long hallway, with labels such as Armory, Simulation Training, Classrooms A-F, and Library. He soon arrived into a lobby of sorts at the end of the hall. Two Huenyan flags hung on either side of the FIS seal on the wall in front of him. Below that, a phrase was engraved in Huenyan: They died so others could live in freedom. Never forget their sacrifice. A small set of plaques, each bearing a person's name, was mounted to the wall under the phrase. Small, but growing. The plaques might have made someone else sad, but not him. The names on that wall had died as warriors, fighting an implacable and (in the Director's mind) utterly evil enemy. They all knew that their lives were at risk, and did it anyway. That wasn't a thing to be sad about to the Director. It was the reason why they were all in this building.
Cuetlancaona paused for a moment, before finally walking up to the double doors at the end of the lobby. Yarepil, Director of Intervention was the name on the sign next to the doors. The Director walked into the room, greeting the man sitting behind the desk inside. Yarepil, the Director of the Intervention Program, smiled and shook Cuetlancaona's hand before they both sat down. "Just saw your press conference. That was fun," Yarepil said with a laugh.
Cuetlancaona gave a short laugh of his own in response. "You have a unique definition of fun." The Director shook his head. "I'm actually here because of that announcement, in fact."
Yarepil cocked his head inquisitively, in a somewhat catlike pose. "Oh? Arana's misdeeds, though troubling, don't seem like something that falls under my domain. Or are we expanding my department's efforts to Milintica now?"
"No. Not yet, at least," Cuetlancaona said. "We may need to get people out of Milintica if things go really bad. But our desired endgame in Milintica, restoring the rightful government to power, will hopefully allow us to avoid that." The Director tapped the arm of his chair. "But the Intervention Program does have a possible role to play here. I assume you've seen the reports about what the Empire has been doing ever since Arana tweaked their nose at Aoatea?"
"Oh yeah," Yarepil said with a derisive snort. "What was that idiot thinking, getting Calhualyana's attention?"
"She's trying to distract people at home with a bit of chest-beating and flag-waving. But it's indeed stupid. Callie will take that bait, because the Empire can swallow Milintica whole without even breaking much of a sweat once Arana gives her a casus belli." Cuetlancaona tapped the chair again. "But Callie is stretched awfully thin right now. We propose to give her even more to be distracted about so that she can't take over Milintica before we can get Arana out. That is where you come in."
Yarepil leaned forward, despite himself, as Cuetlancaona continued. "Your Planters and Guardians are about to get a specific mission. If an Imperial invasion of Milintica appears imminent, they are to cause chaos in the Empire. Disrupt supply lines and production, harass and attack security forces and military bases, destroy or degrade military supplies and munitions. Take out vehicles if they can. Anything to hinder Callie's dream of annexing Milintica, or at least slow her down. Your job will be simple: keep Callie and her minions so busy at home putting out fires that they won't be able to pull off an invasion."
Yarepil nodded eagerly, then paused. "FIS has never given us the green light to go after the Empire like that before. What's changed?"
"August 24th, 2023," Cuetlancaona replied in a dry tone. Yarepil didn't have to ask the significance of that date. That was the day the Golden Blade insurgency began its full-scale bid to topple the Huenyan government. It had cost the country a leader, along with thousands of other lives. It had nearly ended the Huenyan dream before it had a chance to truly began. And both men knew fully well that the Empire had been behind it.
"The Empire once saw fit to go after us. Now we're going to return the favor. Get a little bit of payback. But most importantly, we may help save Milintica from the fate that Neina Arana seems so determined to deliver to it. Milintica is not becoming an Imperial colony. No one else in Caxcana is going to suffer under Imperial oppression, if we can help it. And maybe...seeing that the Empire isn't invulnerable, or inevitable, will finally wake some Xiomerans up. A fire always starts with a spark, no?"
Yarepil nodded again, as Cuetlancaona stood up. "I'll let you figure out the details. But when the call comes down...be ready."
Ixtenco, Huenya
Director Cuetlancaona walked through the halls of the FIS headquarters at a brisk pace. After the announcement he had made concerning the Milintican elections, the Director knew that things would begin to happen quickly. Dominos would begin to fall, and he had to make sure that Huenya's mission in Milintica would not get crushed under a giant obsidian domino with the flag of the Xiomeran Empire on it.
Cuetlancaona arrived at the elevator designated for the use of top FIS officials, and swiped his badge over the reader next to the buttons. A gentle ping accompanied with a green light confirmed that he was, indeed, one of the few allowed aboard. As he waited for the elevator to descend, the Director found himself bemused that even this elevator was playing a soft, almost inaudible bit of elevator music. It was one of the holdovers from the FIS headquarters' previous life as a Xiomeran bank that no one had bothered to get rid of.
When the elevator finally stopped, a friendly voice informed him in English and Huenyan that he was on floor 27. He stepped off the elevator and walked through a set of double doors that opened for him automatically after another badge swipe. The two guards at the door nodded politely as the Director stepped inside. Light flashed briefly on the words engraved into the doors as they opened: Federal Intelligence Service Intervention Program.
Cuetlancaona walked past a set of doors on either side of a long hallway, with labels such as Armory, Simulation Training, Classrooms A-F, and Library. He soon arrived into a lobby of sorts at the end of the hall. Two Huenyan flags hung on either side of the FIS seal on the wall in front of him. Below that, a phrase was engraved in Huenyan: They died so others could live in freedom. Never forget their sacrifice. A small set of plaques, each bearing a person's name, was mounted to the wall under the phrase. Small, but growing. The plaques might have made someone else sad, but not him. The names on that wall had died as warriors, fighting an implacable and (in the Director's mind) utterly evil enemy. They all knew that their lives were at risk, and did it anyway. That wasn't a thing to be sad about to the Director. It was the reason why they were all in this building.
Cuetlancaona paused for a moment, before finally walking up to the double doors at the end of the lobby. Yarepil, Director of Intervention was the name on the sign next to the doors. The Director walked into the room, greeting the man sitting behind the desk inside. Yarepil, the Director of the Intervention Program, smiled and shook Cuetlancaona's hand before they both sat down. "Just saw your press conference. That was fun," Yarepil said with a laugh.
Cuetlancaona gave a short laugh of his own in response. "You have a unique definition of fun." The Director shook his head. "I'm actually here because of that announcement, in fact."
Yarepil cocked his head inquisitively, in a somewhat catlike pose. "Oh? Arana's misdeeds, though troubling, don't seem like something that falls under my domain. Or are we expanding my department's efforts to Milintica now?"
"No. Not yet, at least," Cuetlancaona said. "We may need to get people out of Milintica if things go really bad. But our desired endgame in Milintica, restoring the rightful government to power, will hopefully allow us to avoid that." The Director tapped the arm of his chair. "But the Intervention Program does have a possible role to play here. I assume you've seen the reports about what the Empire has been doing ever since Arana tweaked their nose at Aoatea?"
"Oh yeah," Yarepil said with a derisive snort. "What was that idiot thinking, getting Calhualyana's attention?"
"She's trying to distract people at home with a bit of chest-beating and flag-waving. But it's indeed stupid. Callie will take that bait, because the Empire can swallow Milintica whole without even breaking much of a sweat once Arana gives her a casus belli." Cuetlancaona tapped the chair again. "But Callie is stretched awfully thin right now. We propose to give her even more to be distracted about so that she can't take over Milintica before we can get Arana out. That is where you come in."
Yarepil leaned forward, despite himself, as Cuetlancaona continued. "Your Planters and Guardians are about to get a specific mission. If an Imperial invasion of Milintica appears imminent, they are to cause chaos in the Empire. Disrupt supply lines and production, harass and attack security forces and military bases, destroy or degrade military supplies and munitions. Take out vehicles if they can. Anything to hinder Callie's dream of annexing Milintica, or at least slow her down. Your job will be simple: keep Callie and her minions so busy at home putting out fires that they won't be able to pull off an invasion."
Yarepil nodded eagerly, then paused. "FIS has never given us the green light to go after the Empire like that before. What's changed?"
"August 24th, 2023," Cuetlancaona replied in a dry tone. Yarepil didn't have to ask the significance of that date. That was the day the Golden Blade insurgency began its full-scale bid to topple the Huenyan government. It had cost the country a leader, along with thousands of other lives. It had nearly ended the Huenyan dream before it had a chance to truly began. And both men knew fully well that the Empire had been behind it.
"The Empire once saw fit to go after us. Now we're going to return the favor. Get a little bit of payback. But most importantly, we may help save Milintica from the fate that Neina Arana seems so determined to deliver to it. Milintica is not becoming an Imperial colony. No one else in Caxcana is going to suffer under Imperial oppression, if we can help it. And maybe...seeing that the Empire isn't invulnerable, or inevitable, will finally wake some Xiomerans up. A fire always starts with a spark, no?"
Yarepil nodded again, as Cuetlancaona stood up. "I'll let you figure out the details. But when the call comes down...be ready."
<t></t>