Riots in Centralis

[Archaic]

Two CPC guards stood nervously at the gates to the massive (Former) Ministry of State Security underground prison facility, freezing their hands off in the uncommonly cold night. They were both young, and reckless, but even with the rumours of heavy fighting in the city, facist scum unwilling to accept the change in reality no doubt, they did not honestly expect to have to fulfill any of their duties besides standing here this night. Afterall, had not their glorious chairman defeated the hated capitalists? Had not...

Neither recieved the opportunity to complete the thought. Neither noticed as the inky blackness seemed to move behind them, neither felt the sting of the garotte wires as they wrapped around their necks, and in one swift movement silenced any protests they may have had. No alarms were raised, and none would be. Next time the commanding officer walked past for his rounds, he would notice nothing more than two guards trying to warm their hands in the frigid night.

"What was that you said about not being smart?" quiped Shinji to the commander. "While your friends have, one must admit, made for an excellent diversion for the CPC forces, did you really expect a direct frontal attack on", he made a sweeping gesture, "this, would have any real chance? We're here to rescue your President, not have him killed at the instant they become alerted to the presence of the wolf at their gates."

Draker could only scowl silently. He dare not give the Captain the piece of his mind that he so wished to, not with the risk of being discovered.

* * *

Silently, the small team melted into the building, splitting into two groups, the Captain and Centralis commander in one, the Minister and the Yokuza team in the other, leaving behind only the two "guards" (Both from the Centralis squad who'd accompanied the commander previous). While the commanders slipped off to fulfill who knows what objective, all operations such as this being conducted on a need-to-know basis only, the latter group followed the map they were provided by the minister to the location he believed, or rather, insisted, that the President would be in. None in the team especially trusted him, with his "rune casting" and other such nonsense as they saw it, but the Captain trusted him, and so they followed his directions, unhappy with the situation, but loyal to a fault to their commander.

* * *

Several small scale skirmishes later, some of those agents may have been rethinking that position. Many a guard had fallen to their blades, wires and darts, but with such a massive warren of a complex, it was only a matter of time until their handiwork was discovered by the wandering patrols. The Minister's "rune casting" supposedly made the already near silent and invisible Yokuza totally unnoticeable by the enemy, or so he said, but the team refused to simply walk past the enemy as he counciled, and slew all those they passed. This was foolishness. How could the Captain have put them under the command of a madman who thought some mystic dance could remove all trace of them from the foe's mind? Maybe the Captain was buckling under the pressure. Though....if he was going to be forced to command Operation Naga, perhaps that was understandable....

* * *

Back in his personal chambers on Alecrast, the Monarch sighed gently as he pulled out a manilla folder from the hidden compartment under the compartment for the chess pieces under the board on his coffee table. Sitting down on the leather chair, he dropped the folder on the table, picking up instead the hard drink he knew he needed. One paper now jutted out from the top of the folder after its rough landing, showing its title.

Centralis Contingency Plan Epsilion Gamma Beta - CODENAME: NAGA - Invasion and Occupation of Centralis

[GeneralTacticus]

OOC: Something of a *BUMP* to this thread...

IC:
CPC-controlled military communications post, Iron Mountains

Nobody expected an attack on this position.

Up here, thousands of metres above sea level, it was deathly cold, and the weather and the terrain would make it virtually impossible for anyone intent on harm to even get near the facility - as had been the intention of those who built it. The communists had only managed to take it by infiltrating the local defences and letting the rest of their forces in from inside.

Thus, nobody was paying much attention to the hidden sensors positioned across the mountainside - and nobody noticed a dozen or so stealthy figures sneaking toward the facility, with long-barelled rifles on their backs .

Nobody had even the slightest inkling they were in danger until a hail of shots from the Eldar Pathfinder infiltrators had dropped seven sentries where they stood and a full squad of Warp Spider ascept warriors had teleported into the facilityand begun shredding every communist they could find with clouds of lethal monofilaments.

* * *

In under ten minutes, it was over. The Pathfinders had picked off the remaining outside sentries, and the Warp Spdiers had destroyed the CPC presence within the facility, sparing only the original staff, who then set about bringing the faciltiy back online.

As they did so, the Warp Spider Exarch reported his success to Minister Kurnous - and then he, and all those he had brought with him, seemed to simply vanish into the night.

[Squeblish Nef?]

OOC: Be needing Redlist Vigilantes anytime soon, GT?

[GeneralTacticus]

OOC: Once the communists are out of power, yes.

[Squeblish Nef?]

Assimilation Corp will assist in the liberation of Centralis, but only if Centralis promises that they'll join my gang.
(No tricking, please.)

[GeneralTacticus]

ABC Special Report

[Live from ABC offices in Terribi, ABC anchor Rick Baxton]

"We interrupt our scheduled broadcasting to bring you a special report. The latest word from our reporters in Centralis is that the communist insurrection has been put down, with communist leader Aaron Blackstone seen hurriedly departing the governmental complex for the airport by helicopter, accompanied by a number of aides and colleagues. There have been no official statements from the Centralis military, which seems to be the de facto governing force at the moment, but indications are that the jammers are down and the army is regrouping. Over to our report on the spot in Scion, Mark Palmerston. How's it looking at your end, Mark?"

"Pretty confused, Rick. The local media are still blacked-out and the military aren't saying anything, so we have no reliable way of obtaining information, though you hear a new rumours every five minutes. I've been told that Arrayende and his cabinet are dead, alive, and being held prisoner in under five minutes, to give one example. Not much to be done until things clear up a bit."

"Okay Mark, thanks for your information. We'll call you alter on to see if you're found anything new."

"Right you are, Rick."

[Mr. President]

"What was the description of Blackstone's helicopter again?"

"A 1993 OH-60 civilian model. Why?"

[rustles through radar records]

"Dammit! The air defense systems picked up an OH-60 five days ago! See here?"

"We better tell the Strategic Air Command! Which direction was it headed?"

[points at printout]

"It crossed the Centralis border near Pristina, right at the corner. Then it went north-west out of Karakas air space. After that we lost it."

"North-west? Damn. They'll have a hell of a time finding it . . ."

[GeneralTacticus]

OOC: Assume this broadcast to be taking place about three days after the last one, ebfore Mr. President's post.

6:00 PM, Terribi time.

[Live from ABC offices in Terribi, ABC anchor Rick Baxton]

"As always, the hottest news tonight is the latest word from Centralis. After several confused days of fighting with communist guerillas for control of the country, the military has finally issued an official statement regarding the situation, declaring the insurrection over and outlining a plan for the restoration of order."

[scene switches to a press conference inside the damaged governmental complex, with Colonel Reinsfeld speaking]

"Okay, first of all, the question I know you all want to ask - the rebellion is over. We've swept the communists out of every centre of population in the country, and the few that are left are leaving the coutnry as fast as they can. We are, of course, pursuing the survivors, but we don't expect any further trouble from them for now.

"Secondly, It's going to take rather a while to get the government of this country back on it's feet. The communists executed a lot of government officials and other educated people - doctors, businessmen, engineers, academics, and, I'm sorry to say the President and his cabinet, who were killed in the process of an attempt to extricate them. As a result, we're going to have to rebuild the government from the ground up, and since the military is the most intact organisation in the country right now, a lot of that duty will likely fall to us.

"Anyway, we obviously haven't had time to work out a proper blueprint for putting the country back together again, but it's going to involve substantial restructuring of the government - no-one wants to see those riots happen again, even without the insurrection that followed - and we're going to find out exactly how many people the communists killed, and, more importantly, we're going to make sure they pay. Further information will be sent out as decisions are made. Any questions?"

[Scene switches back to Terribi]

"No further information is available at this time. Now to the weather..."

[GeneralTacticus]

Summary of the Centralis Reconstruction Plan, as drawn up by the military and civil service and forwarded to all major governments and media organisations in the region

1) Constitution to be amended, guaranteeing the following to all citizens:

- Adequate food
- Affordable healthcare
- Clean water
- Free education
- Adequate clothing and housing

This is in addition to existing guarantees in the amtter of free speech, religion, association, protection from bodily harm, and similar.

2) The structure of government is to be reorganized, in the following fashion:

Executive:

- The President shall be both head of state and head of government, elected every six years, and permitted to serve any number of terms.
- The Presidential Cabinet is chosen every three years on the basis of Presidential nomination and Parliamentary approval.
- The President shall have personal control over the Phoenix Guard, the defenders of the President in particular and the new order in general.
- All executive actions shall be scrutinized by a judicial panel to ensure no illegal actions are taken.

Legislative:

- The Parliament shall consist of a 401-seat lower house, chosen on the basis of district representation, and a 201-seat upper house, chosen on the basis of proportional representation. Both houses will be eected every three years; members may serve any number of terms.
- Parliamentary districts shall be drawn by independent panels and are to contain roughly the same number of people (at present, over 3 million)
- Legislation must be passed by both houses of Parliament to be effective, and must be renewed every ten years or cease to be effective.
- Parliament may choose to delegate certain aspects of legislative power to the executive, but only if there is a 75% vote in favour.
- Parliament may choose to dismiss a sitting government by passing a resolution to that effect with a 75% majority; at this point, a new government shall be appointed by Parliament to serve out the remainder of the term.

Judicial:

- The other two branches of government shall be prohibited from interference in judicial affairs, unless there is clear evidence thatn the judiciary in general is abusing it's legal authority.
- The judiciary shall be overseen by a 1000-member Judicial College, which is to be elected every 5 years andtasked with delegating authority to run this branch of government.

Provincial:

- The nation shall be divided into 19 provinces. These provinces shall function using the same structure as the central government, only on a smaller scale, and shall have authority over all matters not affecting other provinces, so long as they remain within the strictures of the Constitution.

3) Tax rates are to be cut as far as is practical.

4) Government spending is to be reallocated, placing a great emphasis on defence, healthcare, education, and infrastructure rather than social welfare and similar.

5) Tribunals are to be established to try those responsible for the murder of innocents during the insurrection. If any nations are currently holding individuals accused of such crimes, they are requested to turn them over for trial.

6) There is to be a substantial injection of government funding into the economy, to help stimulate rebuilding. International aid in this is much appreciated, although aid from unfriendly sources will not be accepted.

[Squeblish Nef?]

The Assimilation Corporation extends its hand in friendship to the enlightened Centralian government.
In doing so, it palms them a fiver.

[Sheep]

The Apolyton Axis has declared the intention to rid our fair region from the scourge of the Assimilation Corps.

[Squeblish Nef?]

OOC: About time too! That creep was getting on my nerves.

IC: The Assimilation Corp Administrative Board requests adequate justification for the Apolyton Axis' juvenile outburst.
Failure to comply will result in either a lawsuit or a full-scale nuclear war, whatever's cheaper.

[Mr. President]

The government of Karakas announces it will transfer to Centralis 40 individuals who were former members of the lower ranks of the communist provisional government. These individuals crossed the border during the closing days of the insurrection and have been detained by local authorities since then.

[GeneralTacticus]

The transitional government of Centralis thanks Karakas for their co-operation, and would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm it's committment to the MAFTI, the Fonseca Treaty, and various other agreements negotiated under the Arrayende administration and earlier. We would also like to request membership in Assimilation Corp under the terms negotiated by President Arrayende.

- Andreas Von Weiser, sole surviving Cabinet member and Minister for International Affairs in the provisional government

[Sheep]

The Apolyton Axis states has returned all Centralis fugitives to Centralis. However it has now closed the borders we share with Centralis for their joining of the foreign and destructive Assimilation Corp.

It has also noted that if the Assimilation Corp wishes to attack it with nuclear weapons we will deploy our national missile defence system. Also we will retaliate with our full force. Many billions will die on both sides, unless they quit Apolyton and leave the region the **** alone.