The call to prayer was flowing through Victoria's window as she came into her apartment, juggling the large brown bag with the keys, finally managing to hit the door closed with her heel. She stopped for a moment, smiling, just listening to the musical shouts. It had almost been irritating when she'd first moved to the city, the numerous minarets all with their own calls. Victoria liked it now. It was familiar, safe. She knew she was home.

Victoria had only returned the other day to Jerusalem. The Third had been cycled off the front for some R&R, dispersing into its base at Jerusalem for a while. A lot of the men just lived at the CCD military base; the barracks there were pretty comfortable. Plus they didn't need to rent anywhere in the city. Victoria herself didn't need much. She rented an apartment in the old city, over a fairly big square that always seemed to have some market in it. It was a nice little place. She lived alone, and didn't exactly need much anyhow. A couple of rooms, close to shops, open and airy. Victoria was simple enough.

The kitchen, living area, what passed for a dining room was all one big open space, allowing Victoria to quickly flick her boots off neatly in the entrance hall, and get her shopping packed away quickly. The apartment still had that musty smell in it, but it wasn't too bad. Ms Silverstein, the tiny, ancient widow next door always offered to clean and look after the place while Victoria was away, but she was... uncomfortable with that. Not that she didn't trust the old woman, but it was basic paranoia on letting anyone in unless she was there.

Standing back from the now sufficiently full fridge, Victoria stretched her arms out, cracking her neck slightly to a loud sigh of relief. Just with herself, at home, she could actually relax. The usual wall of stiffness went a bit, and Victoria hummed to herself as she poured out a glass of wine. Admittedly it was only midday but, in her opinion, after going a couple of months without a drop, she damn well deserved it.

Her bare feet padded along the rugs that she had all over the wooden floors. She was kind of shocked at how cheap some of the beautiful rugs she picked up from the market below were at times. Were there too many? Possibly. Still, they were easy enough to clean.

She went to the radio first, flicking through onto something soft and classical. Her eyes strayed to the piano in the corner of the room, before she decided to play later. Too tired. Needed to just sit back, drink, and relax for once. Victoria was saving up for a really nice grand piano. Something that was beautifully made and tuned, just perfect. Problem was she wasn't sure how long she'd be here for. Maybe when she had a definitive, stationary posting. Then to the balcony doors, throwing open the wide, glass doors to let the sound of the city battle with her music, getting some air flowing through.

With everything finally as perfect as it could be, Victoria slumped onto the sofa with no small measure of contention. Sipping her wine, she leant forward, placing her Wallet on the low coffee table, and finally got the internet up. She winced as she saw her inbox. That could be cleared later, when she could be bothered to hack through all of that. Victoria went to the news first, hungry for whatever she'd missed while she'd been away. They got most news on base, but it was usually pretty late. Apparently something big had come from the Ascendancy while they'd been on their last mission. With no small amount of trepidation, she flicked open the video, sitting back to watch their illustrious leader give his speech.

By the time he was finished, Victoria was as white as ghost, her hand shaking enough to spill some of her wine on her sweatpants. It didn't register. All she could do was stare at the holographic screen in front of her, blank after the finished video.

She wasn't the only one.

That they had an idea what it was, that the Ascendancy would be able to help her made her almost want to vomit in relief. Victoria wasn't some kind of freak. Well, alright, she was, but importantly there were other freaks.

Her glass went to the table, ignored, as Victoria hunched over her keyboard, desperately hunting for the form to send in. There wasn't much hesitation. Her oath to serve still stood, no matter what. And... maybe they'd be able to help her. Teach her. Stop something from going wrong.


Edited by Victoria Wolff, Oct 3 2016, 04:26 AM.

Lacey Frieburg, White House Chief of Staff
PPC




The White House Chief of Staff, Lacey Freiburg arranged for one of her deputy Chiefs to contact Nicholas Trano after a couple days of Intel gathering. The FBI did a full background check on his entire life, for instance. They even discovered the offense for every time he was sent to the Principle's office in school and whether his immunizations were up to date. When he came up clean, just to triple check, Lacey ordered a similar investigation into his family going back two generations. She could not afford a single skeleton in the closet to haunt the administration. President Dawson had enough controversy to thwart as it was.

Finally, when she was satisfied, she arranged to be taken to Trano's house. She had the authority to negotiate with Trano over the Cabinet position, but it wouldn't be official until Dawson himself shook hands over it. There was no point in wasting the President's time if Trano was going to decline the offer.

About five minutes out from his house, Lacey checked her appearance in the mirror, and swiped down the shoulders of her blouse to smooth away wrinkles. The trip to Aberdeen, South Dakota from DC wasn't short.

No security detail accompanied her today, just the car driver. Not so much as one of the deputy Chiefs of Staff came along. It was just her.

She slipped sunglasses into her briefcase when she stepped from the town car. The driver stayed behind and she strode to the front door alone, knocking purposefully.

Ayden had been receiving texts from Emily for days but she hadn't responded. It was a rash thing to do but it was best for Emily if Ayden cut off contact now. She was trying to become someone else. Ayden had taken two burners wallets from her cache and a few cosmetic items and a bag full of money in many different demonstrations for different countries. The rest of the stuff in the crate she shipped to an undisclosed location - she hadn't even told Connor where it was going. She knew that was all that mattered. It was her old life. No - her old old life. This was her old life now - Emily was her old life.

It gave her a twinge of guilt as she tossed the phone into the bedroom they were leaving for the last time. Their new passports were completely authentic. Their new identities were solid Ayden Hayes would go the way of the dodo and she'd become Nikki Haydenson, wife to Josh Haydenson. Connor's tribute to his son.

Today was their last day in Moscow. Ayden and Connor were going away on an extended vacation and they were going to arrive in the good ole' US of A as Nikki and Josh two completely new people. Ayden was surprised at how easily Connor had agreed to this but his life was on the line as much as her was. She only hoped her sources were as good as they'd always been and Ayden Hayes would dead end right there. But you never really knew for sure.

Ayden took Connor's hand and smiled. "You ready to go Josh?"
she said playfully. They weren't actually playing those parts now, but Connor needed to get used to the name. And it was fun teasing him. She would have to get used to calling him Josh. They couldn't forget. It wasn't something they could ever forget - not ever. The part was their life - it had to be or someone would find them and they would be dead. The Atharim would find them, hunt them and kill them. There was no doubt in her mind about that. If they wanted happily every after they could not slip up.

So I've been curious about what demarcated the end of the fourth age. From what I've been reading/impressions I've gotten, it seems like in the Fifth Age, knowledge of the Power was somewhat scarce. "Gods" would find ancient artifacts, rather than create them. Gods had incredible abilities that made them all-powerful in the ancient world, but didn't seem to have any of the knowledge of the Age of Legends, etc. I'm really curious about what happened to make it so. In the 4th age, the website says that men and women are starting to figure things out again, and it's basically like the 2nd age. However, it took calamity and the breaking of the world to end the 2nd age. The 5th age ends when the Gods start killing each other, and the 6th age ends when the Atharim kill all the Gods, and the 7th age ends when Ascendancy comes back, etc. However, there doesn't seem to be anything that ends the 4th Age.

In canon, the Aes Sedai are able to preserve some knowledge from the AoL for 3000 years, and even further it (healing severing, Warder bonds, etc). It seems like there must have been some sort of calamitous event to make 4th Age Aes Sedai cease to exist and have their knowledge lost. Has this been discussed before?

Sunlight streamed unadulterated on the newspaper sheeted across Morven's lap, a styrofoam coffee cup balanced on the bench slat next to her, half cradled in the grip of one hand. Air tickled the edges of the paper, barely touching the perspiration on her bare legs. Summers never clung so tight and sticky back home.

The latest figures reported staggering numbers of registrations. She was surprised at how many so willingly offered their identities, not least when Ascendancy spoke in the same breath of a society that would, she'd bet, give anything to get their claws into such a list. How would the government even begin to offer protection against a threat like that (she didn't even like to think of the possibilities) - but, more to the point, why should they? In fashioning himself a god, Nikolai Brandon cast the same glow upon all others who shared in his gift. Made them something more. Made them hateable. A target. Competitors.

Why would he want to protect them?

This morning the tabloids had splashed old photos of the Tower Bridge explosions, drawing new questions at the lack of incendiaries ever discovered at the scene. Hairline cracks multiplied into what might easily become deep fissures. The fear was a seed cautiously watered, uncertain of an enemy but determined to find blame for the sudden instability. Questions burst like a dandelion blown into the wind, the hedged answers little more than questions themselves.

Even the broadsheets were not much more circumspect in their rampant speculation. What can these people do?

But of Ascendancy himself, they spoke no ill.

The man was the talk of the moment. Articles of his life and rise, old news, dusted off and polished with new shine. She'd passed a dozen newsagents displaying glossy celebrity magazines sporting his severe, immaculate face. The secret to youth at 62! they sang. The newsfeeds replayed the footage a hundred times, imprinted with different commentators, new angles, rehashed analysis. Everyone wanted to put voice to such an historic event, to memorialise themselves within it. Even street vendors already hawked plastic replicas of Moscow's Triumphant Arch.

She folded the paper next to her on the bench, took a sip of bitter coffee, and settled to watch the rivers of people flowing endlessly in both directions; glad, for once, to be free of the current. Her eyes half lidded. It was nice to do nothing. Until she noticed the disturbance shift uneasily amongst the crowds.

Two men, hunched in heated conversation.

Averted eyes swept clear of the budding confrontation; a natural hollow surrounded them, left them standing in a bubble. Morven lifted the sunglasses from her face, perched them on top of her head. If looks could kill. Suddenly one of the men slammed back. Even through the forest of people she could see not a finger had been laid on him.

You're fucking kidding me. Instinct urged her to her feet. A bubble of anger at the sheer stupidity. Morven shoved her way close, frowning, and caught the aggressor's wrist in her hand. "Enough."


He scowled, surprised at the intrusion, and snatched his arm away. Something akin to fear flashed in his eyes before he turned and ran, shifting into the crowd headed for Kensington South.

"Asshole,"
she muttered.

The air was finally warm in Virginia. Sage hated the winter, it dried out his skin and it kept him inside because he couldn't stand the cold - it bothered the port and the incision scar and made it itch and painful. The air was cool, his wallet was in his front jeans pocket as he wandered down the streets of Alexandria on foot. It looked like he was just idly walking but he was doing so much more. His mind was split with the menial task and the rest was scanning through thousands of newly created pages on the internet. There were programs running in his head that searched out his friends, one that monitored the den's security systems for any breaches that would make his vision flash red if there was a breach.

The first time it had happened Sage nearly fell down the stairs of The Den. It hadn't happened often since then and it still startled him.

He had other trivial tasks running but they were background tasks he always ran most of the time he didn't even notice them unless they brought something to his attention. Small things like the coffee was running low in one of the cafe's. He didn't run anything he had managers and accountants and everything do those things. The cafe and the den paid for themselves and left him with an income and he could do whatever he wanted. The life he enjoyed so much - such as taking a walk for no reason other than that he could.

His walk was interrupted by a priority site that just went live. The CCD Magic Registration. Sage laughed out loud which received a few glares from others on the street as he walked along the river just across from our Nation's Capitol. He wondered what the government thought of that. But he didn't think long on it as he started poking around at their security.

It was a government site of course, he wasn't going to breach their security unless of course he saw a flaw, then he'd send a white hat hacker their way and and make them fix it. Not everyone had a small grain of morals about them. Not that Sage did, but he didn't exploit things that could be harmful to other people. He only gathered information. Information was like his drug, the more he had the better he felt and the more he needed in the end. All thanks to the piece of hardware stuck in his head. Not that he would change anything really. It was part of him now. He'd put his parents away for a very long time because they threatened him. He wasn't sure he could do more but he hadn't had to. There was a small pain of loss but they wanted to kill him to study him... Fuck that!

Sage sent packet after packet at the new registration site to bring it crawling to it's knees. Maybe someone would beg him or one of the other collective members to fix it.


Edited by Sage, Aug 9 2016, 04:37 PM.

Description:

6'3" tall with a lean build not any real defining musculature lines. Scraggly black hair and hazel green eyes. Underneath the mop of hair is a delicate scar from his implant surgery. Behind his left ear is a port to 'hook' into another computer which he has a wireless adapter specially designed for him plugged in.

Age: 23 (in 2046)
Occupation: Hacker

Personality:

Sage is the average run of the mill 23 year old. Other than the implant in his head that allows him to connect directly to a computer and thus the internet Sage is completely normal. His parents prohibit him from doing many things so he's stuck at home studying online which only makes Sage work less. He has no real ambition. He likes information and he seeks it regardless of where that information lies however he doesn't hack past super secure government sites - defense/nuclear systems etc and he avoids banks at all costs. Sage doesn't want to be that kind of criminal. Sage also has high stalker tendancy and doesn't handle emotions well - anger sorrow all send him into himself and into the digital world. He's addicted to the constant contact to the computer - he even goes through withdrawl symptoms if he doesn't have his module connected.

History:

Living Computer

Sage was born to two highly intelligent and successful bio mechanical engineers who were the lead engineers at Cyberpoint in Alexandria, VA. They are also the sole proprietors of the private business.

Since before his birth Sage's parents have been working on technology to enhance once's brain functionality with an inplant of substantial power to be powered by the body's own system. His father being the brilliant manipulator that he is talks his wife into using their own five year old son as a test subject - their first live human. What better place to start with than something you have complete control over. Against all the odds Sage fully recovers.

Considering Sage's implantation a success they move on to a second trial which fails miserably. They try again and again with volunteers of several age groups, ethnicities, gender, etc but nothing seems to work - all test subject either die or become vegetables. There is no explanation as to why. They run tests on Sage - CAT scans, xrays, blood tests, they have genetic tests out with a geneticist friend of theirs, nothing is revealing. Sage's father believes the only way for them to know for certain is to do an autopsy, so far Sage's mother has terminated that discussion each time it's brought up.

Stalker

The internet is a vast and dangerous place, but when you can literally jack your brain into it, it becomes a whole new world. Sage was 6 when he first discovered that there was a world beyond his home network. At first he only ran across information and people he knew. Then he found an interesting trail of breadcrumbs to follow a hacker had left as some sort of game. It wasn't hard for Sage to follow those breadcrumbs straight back to the hacker.

The hacker went by the name Grim. He thought Sage was good and they began their discussion of hacking - teaching by doing. Sage never broke any major laws and those times he got caught they weren't able to track him back home. His implant allowed him to move and think faster than any program tracking him or any human who followed because they had to type. Commands were a mere thought away.

In Sage's digital history he ran across a kid who liked to write. He was 8 at the time, and the kid was in highschool. While not really of great interest to Sage - the passion drew him in like a moth to a flame. Sage hacked into the kids computer and started a chat session. "Want to play a game?" It was a classic computer line from an ancient movie that still hit the AI world - a movie like it hadn't been made in years. Sage used the kid's computer and popped up some random articles that he'd found when looking up what he'd been writing about.

Sage followed the kids internet footprint around and found his true name, Nicholas Trano, and continued to read what he wrote. Sometimes offering him different perspectives on the same subject and other articles that came through his dark web searches. He didn't really communicate with Nick often, usually Sage contacted Nick. Sage followed Nick everywhere through his career, through the miliary and then his career at VNN. He often deleted rude comments from people bashing Nick Trano.

Nick wasn't the only kid Sage stalked through cyber space. He met one boy while playing a knock off star wars game that was ages old but still worth playing. Sage never shared his real name always preferring to go by Phase. But this kid wasn't quite so paranoid he and used his real name Hayden Kent was easy to track after that. He was about Sage's age, a year or two younger. But then suddenly Hayden up and vanished. Sage scoured the internet for information and found his death certificate. To say that he was upset was an understatement. He'd never known anyone who had died before - and the kid was younger than he was. It didn't say what the cause of death was. But he couldn't let things go from there - he started following his father, Connor, around. He eventually went to Moscow and found a girl - a pretty redhead with flaming eyes if the pictures were anything to go by.

Sage was interigued and followed her only to end abruptly - he had much research left to do on Ayden Hayes.

b0r9

Sage may have called himself Phase, but the dark net they had another name for him - borg or in leet speak b0r9, short for cyborg. Sage earned his nickname through rumors. He wasn't cautious when it came to telling his online friends about his implant. And the dark net liked to gossip just like any other place where people gather. Some rumors said that he was just a computer AI, others claimed he was part machine. The rumors never actually hit the truth despite the fact that Sage said he had a processor in his brain - apparently that was too far fetched.

Going Wireless

(age 18) The internet was part of Sage's life. But in order to hook in he had to actually be hooked into a computer. So Sage got with one of his hacker friends - a coworker of his parents actually and they rigged a wireless connection into his port. He had to carry his wallet every where with him, but now he could actually go out and enjoy all life had to offer - girls and friends and a real life even though his parents rather prohibited it.

That was how he met the most beautiful blond hair blue eyed wonder and her annoying as shit twin brother. The twins were hanging out at a local diner waiting for their parents to return. They never actually told Sage what they were out doing, but they were sitting at a table laptops in hand and studying. It was a Saturday for gods sake, it also happened to be the biggest prom weekend in Alexandria. Sage ran through his newly acquired internet connection and searched their images but came up with nothing. That intriqued him more than anything else about the beauty.

Sage sat down next to blue-eyes and struck up a conversation. She was shy but oh that smile - he adored it. Aurora was heaven on earth. Sage excused himself while he searched for one of the closest proms attending - seeing that both twins went to school online - stating lots of traveling.

Sage found one and hacked into the school system and created his invitation then invited Aurora and left her annoying brother behind. The girl agreed easily having never been to anything school related in her life. The prom was in some elegant hotel and Sage knew his way around the dance floor. It was a good night - he even persuaded the beautiful Aurora to spend the night in a room he rented for free and it was a glorious night.

Sadly twin brother decided he'd come get her in the middle of the night - while they slept. Apparently it was time to go and their parents were pissed. Sage just rolled his eyes as the pair left. But not before Sage tagged their phones and could follow them around anywhere he wanted. And he did. He followed Aurora up until the moment she died. Yet another death Sage had to greive alone. He also stalked little brother but he wasn't nearly as interested in him.

Consequenes

(age 19) Sage's parents had been fighting a lot latly. They had been having no luck reproducing their results and their efforts were leaning more and more towards killing their only son to preform the much needed autopsy. Sage had overheard one conversation in the hall with his mother trying to quell his father's anger over the subject. She refused to relent. "You persuaded me once, you won't kill my boy." Sage heard his mother yell before she slammed the door.

It went on for weeks like that. Sage listened through the house computer systems and their systems at work too. He heard them making plans one afternoon about how they could do it with out his mother finding out. But she walked in crying but she had a solution...another five year old. She laid out a plan.

Sage beat her too it. He lured a kid to their house by hacking a kids game that had them wandering around the city like idiots capturing fake things in the virutal world they lived. Sage planted evidence inside the main frame at his parents work and evidence of their prior failed experiements - being that the experiments were all illegal experimentations on humans. Sage sent an annoymous tip to the police and with in a few hours, the kidnapped kid, the evidence was all in the hands of the police and his parents were taken away.

Sage hacked his way to an independent child and he received everything from his parents company and their assets as if they had died - all thanks to a traffic accident that killed only his parents on the way to the precinct. Sage never claimed any knowledge of the incident, but he'd shared his plan with his hacker friend, Grim, and Sage suspected it was his revenge for putting that shit in his head. The inheritance and the assets he sold of his parents earned him quite the sum of money the only thing he didn't sell was the building and the server that Cyberpoint had everything else went.

Sage cleaned out the building his parents were using - wiping the servers clean and installing his own new system on top of what they already had creating a massive server that he could protect with his mind and firewalls galore. He used the money and created two internet cafe's on the first floor of the building he now named "The Den." The first pubic internet cafe had wireless and wired connection that were charged by the hour and run by one of his hacker buddies. The second was more dark - it was a posh little place like most hacker dens - black walls, colors everywhere, black lights. It was a club for hackers. Even the music suited any dance club Sage had ever been in.

To get into the back you had to know someone, pay a surcharge to use the secure server.

b0r9 part duex

After he had the remaining two floors retrofitted for living spaces Sage went to several of the local hacker dens and hijacked their network and sent every hacker in Alexandria and around the world a safe and secure place to do what they liked for a price. He'd supply room and board for free but they had to pay for the security of the best protection possible around the clock. It wasn't cheap, and there were only a few takers at first, but as word spread, the den became popular and Sage was starting up his very own collective. And the rumors spread again about the b0r9 only this time it was not one person but the collective.
Edited by Sage, Aug 9 2016, 06:08 PM.

http://www.magic.ccd




Fill in the following fields to register to the magical powers' index.



*NAME:________________

*SEX:________________

*CID (Custody identification number):_________________

*LOCATION:________________

OCCUPATION:_______________________


Fill in the following descriptions to the best of your ability:


*Summarize what you can do with magic:

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*mandatory fields

Oliver Holden, PPC


Oliver Holden paused in front of a mirror to adjust the gleaming pin on his lapel. The round Congressional pin was perfect as always, but his fingers brushed the symbol reverently anyway. His dark hair was neatly cut. The tie was straight. And his suit jacket buttoned. Unseen, he felt the cool metal of a charm laying against his chest. His eyes fell to where he knew it rested.

He wondered how many others stood before this same mirror for minor adjustments before being let into the Oval Office. Many, he presumed. Someday he would find out for himself. Be on the other side of that door while others sweat in the hall.

His hair was thinner than it used to be. His once tanned skin loose around the eyes. All in all, he was healthy for his age, but he saw every wrinkle. He felt the decay of every cell. Year after year, he knew death inched closer. It was sickening.

The door opened and out stepped Dawson's Chief of Staff-a woman named Lacey Freiburg. Ruthless, sharp, and intelligent, when Oliver shook her hand, he meant it.

"Thank you for coming, Mister Speaker. The President will see you now." She followed him inside, closing the door as she did.

The President rose from his desk and circled around to greet him. Also in the room was the Vice President, Colonel Palin and strangely enough, the Secretary of Homeland Security. Oliver hadn't expected the Cabinet member to be present today.

Each shook his hand, and the foursome sat on the couches to talk.

Frederick Dawson, the President, was looking old. Older than he did only a couple years ago after he won the White House.

"Thank you all for coming," the President began while his Chief of Staff distributed information packets.

"Inside this document you will find the draft of an executive order for a new Cabinet Position."

Oliver tentatively read the document. This was executive branch business. Why was he here?

As though Dawson read his mind, "Mister Speaker, I asked you here to ask Congress to create a committee on powered relations as well. We need an entire new set of laws governing, policing, judging and tracking these ..." Dawson's voice trailed away as disgust crept in. He didn't know what to call them.

"These psychopaths," Dawson concluded.

"They cannot be allowed to roam free as they are. Look at what is happening in Moscow! One of them could stroll over and melt down the White House! Collapse the Capitol! They could destroy all of government in a single thought!

Dawson steadied himself, and Oliver looked at the Vice President. By the looks on Col Palin's face, he shared the President's mistrust. As well he should. These magicians, or whatever they were, had unchecked power. But as far as Oliver was concerned, only Nikolai Brandon had the ability to melt buildings. And that creature was on the other side of the world.

He looked finally at the Secretary of Homeland Security. "I take it the military is readying for battle against these powered humans?" A nod of confirmation.

Oliver's lips pursed thoughtfully. "very well. I will ask Congress to form such a committee. But Mister President, I think you are wrong in your assumption of danger. If Brandon is to be believed, power users have been around for as long as the Sickness, and nothing like you fear has happened yet."

The President leaned forward, "Yet! That's why I need one as a Cabinet Member. An advisor I can study and learn all about how these people function. Who do you all recommend?"

The others made a case for several people, but none were power users.

Oliver knew exactly who should fill the role, but not at all for the reasons that Dawson described.

"There's only one man that had the bravery to stand up for the truth. And he did it much to everyone's mocking.

"Nicholas Trano."

The recognition crossed all their faces. He was perfect. But Dawson and his toeing the line with martial law had to go.

Memento mori.

It was an early morning; late enough, however, to see the burgeoning rays of sunlight spill over the peaks of the Armenian Highlands. In a small valley, located in the north east of the country that was once called Syria, a group of black military vehicles were drawn up, soldiers working over them like a hive of silent ants. As the Third armed itself for battle, the soldiers of the CCD seemed reluctant to break the almost tranquil silence that lay over the roiling landscape. It would be broken later, of course, in a storm of harsh gunfire, barked orders, and the misleadingly soft patter of the rail guns clutched in the hands of the men of the Third.

Victoria was sweating quietly in full battle armour. Her helmet, complete with the built in Land Warrior in a visor that could be turned transparent and tinted at will, lay on the cheap, pop up table in front of her. A Wallet was set on the cheap, plastic surface, one that would fats become too hot to touch without gloves on. Even if the black gloves she was wearing were starting to collect sweat. Ignoring that, ignoring the weather, Victoria forced herself to concentrate on the map in front of her. The wallet had raised a holographic, 3D image of the surrounding area. Victoria could see the transport vehicles and light defences that marked their current location in the valley. Then, the small rise, that dipped into the cluster of buildings surrounding a cave entrance. The target.

Sure, it was the norm now, but technology like this was still pretty impressive when she stopped to think about it. Something like this would've been a miracle when she was born. Anyway. Silly thoughts for when she wasn't in a combat zone. Her head raised, surveying the three officers in front of her. Grim, scarred, Captain Henderson, who periodically scowled at nothing in particular. Major Mikhailov, arms clapsed behind his back, a slightly fresher face. Mikhailov was younger -still older than Victoria-, and a fresh, innocent looking face hid a desire to serve the CCD that was almost terrifying. Finally, Captain Edwards, a mostly silent woman, who honestly Victoria knew little about, even if they had served together for a year. Then again, Victoria didn't socialise much. Still, all of them were her most competent officers. They didn't need much today. Only two companies; anything else would have been too much.

For a moment, Victoria's eyes strayed to her men, arming and armouring. Quiet laughing, joking around. To a lesser trained eye, they seemed blase, with no real care that they were about to go to war. Victoria knew, however. She could sense their fear, that tension in the air. The slight movements that betrayed anxiety; someone sucking on their lip, eyes darting momentarily. Another laughing too hard at a joke that really didn't deserve it. Obsessively checking a gun that had been checked every five minutes. She'd yet to see a solider who didn't go into battle with a dry mouth, and sweaty hands however. It was when you got into it that the fight came out. When the Third pushed themselves. They always did. It was like clockwork, and today wouldn't be any different.

Her eyes snapped back to her officers, and as she straightened, so did they. Their eyes had never even left hers, and the tension hit a subtle new level. This was going to be the preparation, the beginning. Clearing her throat, Victoria began, a hand flicking over the hovering battlefield to manipulate it better for her.

"From what the forward reconnaissance units have brought back, we know that they spread out between the caves, and the few buildings outside. Now, and this is more speculation on my part, the men who are currently around the outside look uncertain. Angry. There's definitely tension there. That paired with the information gathered by Henderson, it seems likely that Elder Maan, based upon our word, informed those from his village on the imminent threat we presented. Therefore, if we make our presence known before engaging, we should be able to reduce the number of combatants against us."
Grim silence greeted her words. While there hadn't been argument, as there never would be, advice from her officers had indicated their displeasure for this. Victoria was the one set on keeping her word, ensuring they could save as many as possible. Henderson had complained about losing the element of surprise, risking the men's lives. Mikhailov had quietly noted that they were enemies of the state, and deserved punishment. Both beliefs that were only creating more and more situations like this. It was with a quiet irritation that Victoria cursed the rigidness of the CCD forces in this. They needed to be flexible. To adapt, and no one seemed to understand that.

Compressing an irritated sigh the the thinning of her lips, she flipped the map to concentrate on the small village. "Reconnaissance also brought back little note of new defensive positions. Therefore we can assume word didn't spread to those who know, fortunately. There may well be IEDs on the road coming in, but with little in our way, we move fast, and quick. Edwards, your company is tasked with taking the surface. Henderson, we'll then move in fast and quick on their heels, and breach the caves. Work on a squad basis. We don't know the layout, but as the Land Warriors are on local link, we should be able to map it out."


The briefing didn't need much more. They were competent to be able to get on with tasks set. A few minutes more, and there was a series of nods, the three of them departing. Victoria let herself relax slightly then, leaning with her hands on the table, head bowed. Off to war again. She knew some had issue with killing; it had been a surprise, initially, how many people could only handle one tour of duty. That she didn't have an issue with taking life when it was needed frightened her, to a certain degree, and Victoria was never entirely sure whether the fear of her emotionless state excused it or not. Likely not. She was still someone who would defend herself with little remorse. Attack, too. As much as she tried to hide it, to excuse herself.

An irritated noise left her lips, and Victoria straightened, picking up her helmet to strap it on. Her existential crisis could come after she staggered out of that cave. Hopefully alive. Her hand went to her side-arm, and she pulled it out, loading in a cartridge. A short pause, and she felt the power start to flow through her. It wouldn't be influencing emotions today, however.

"Third!"
Her voice seemed far away, inconsequential in the bask of the glow emanating inside her. "By my mark, advance! For the glory of the Ascendancy! For the Custody!"


A ragged cheer greeted her words, and the Third advanced to war.