War is hell ...

Adonis IV
The Unionist Faction - Fortress Station
Office of the President Elect
0902 - 24-01-2396

…

In the end, the leadership of the Unionist Faction and everything within its borders rested in the hands of three men. The President-Elect Ivan Edwin, the Minister of Internal Security Gregory Parker, and the Minister of the People Anthony Grail.

Seated behind his desk there was no doubt in Ivan’s mind that if given the opportunity one or both of these men would kill him on the spot. That said for now there was an established peace given the promise of mutual annihilation if something should happen to any one of them while in this room.

Resting his hands on the desk Ivan relaxed in his chair looking at the two men each in turn as he spoke. “ I trust everything is moving forward without issue?”

Parker nodded his head first. “ Central Worlds and the Media remain blissfully unaware of our plans it seems and our spies tell me that none of the other factions are seemingly aware that we are planning anything different than we’ve done in prior campaigns.”

Ivan nodded, turning his attention to Grail. “ And what about the bait?”

“Our people have released the data via anonymous channels to all the other factions highlighting where the Department of Warfare had planned to place High value rewards. We have confirmation that 3 of the other factions have already put plans into motion to recover the awards from the established sites.”

Ivan nodded.” Who are we looking at currently?”

“The Corporate Alliance, Federated Worlds, and The Six Star Alliance.” Grail acknowledged.

“Good, do we have any idea on which units they’ll be deploying?” Ivan asked.

“Word is that the Corporate Alliance will be deploying Kiss of Shadows to site G-18, The Federated Worlds will be fielding Copperhead and Razorback Teams to sites AA-26 and AD-11, The Six Star Alliance is planning to send The Tunnel Rats to site D-6-8 it seems,” Grail responded.

“All high-value targets.” Ivan nodded his approval. “ I want our kill teams in place and ready to take these fuckers out as soon if not sooner, than the official start of the campaign. It’s not just enough to simply kill every fucking member of these teams. It needs to be bloody and it needs to be as brutal as possible so as to dominate the network broadcasts for that time slot. Furthermore, if any of these fuckers are unlucky enough to survive and get captured … I want them tortured in the worst manner possible and executed on site we are not taking prisoners here.”

Ivan paused, reflecting on his own words briefly.

” Strike that, if we are lucky enough to capture one of the enemy's high-profile call girls. I want them relocated to the Black Site so we can stage a little party for them so we can milk them for as much airtime on the restricted channels as possible. I’m talking about the worst of the worst kinds of treatment dragged out for as long as possible …And if we can get some volunteers willing to lose their recycle status for a chance at an hour or two with one of these girls. I want you to make it happen.”

Grail frowned. “Sir, the negative press on that alone will cost us.”

Ivan nodded his understanding. “Only in the short term Minister Grail but the moral boost for our troops will be unmeasurable and the credits generated from the Black Market release of the footage and sims will be nearly impossible to calculate.“

‘Still sir I would caution against it.” Grail warned.

Ivan sighed nodding his understanding. “ War is hell Minister Grail, it is our oath and duty to remind our enemies of that fact. I can see no better way of reminding them of that fact than by exploiting the very sensibilities they claim to hold dear. Make it happen, Minister Grail... ”

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