12 November 2977

Central Administration Offices, Camp Patton on Liberty, Crockett system

Following the invasion of New Bretonia, Empress Catherine Boleyn has called for an emergency summit between the many worlds of the inhabited verse, amongst them the major power players of Liberty, Blood River, Amaterasu and Volga.

As the leaders sit and argue Colonel Reznov of Volga interrupts the Empress mid speech “Out of the question Empress, what you are asking will risk escalations that we cannot control, our own internal security will also be strained beyond our current capability to compensate for it.”

Empress Boleyn replies “Colonel, if you’ll allow me to finish we have evidence that Rhine has already started development of new weapons based on designs found in the Aetherium.”

The negotiations drag on for hours, growing impatient Prime Minister du Preez of Blood River then asks “Show us this proof Empress, if this is as dire as you state, let us see what is going on, if the threat warrants such drastic action as repealing the Arms limitations agreement then you have my vote. However if it does not I will consider this meeting adjourned.”

The Empress looks at the Prime Minister and nods smiling appreciating his no nonsense approach, useful in some instances but detrimental in others, Blood River was never known for beating around the bush.

She then motions her aide to start the data recording, they all watch in silence seeing Rhine forces attacking the colonists and militia of New Dawn reviling at the brutality of the attack and then recoiling in horror as the survivors are all executed and the remains flash incinerated.

After this finishes Colonel Reznov speaks again “Explains why we never found any survivors. How did you get this data?’

Empress Boleyn replies “New Bretonia hired a mercenary team to investigate and they recovered the information for us Colonel.”

Colonel Reznov replies “Who else knows?”

Empress Boleyn replies “Only the people in this room and the mercenaries hired, anyone else who might’ve known died on New Dawn.”

Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu of Amaterasu then speaks “Empress, what you are asking under normal circumstances I would not consider, but given the nature of what is presented, you have my vote.”

President Jonas Schlichter then says “You have my vote aswell, Rhine must be stopped.”

Colonel Reznov replies “I must still refuse, but it seems I am out voted, this meeting is adjourned.”

He gets up and leaves, on his way out he spots Anastasia and says to her “Sergeant Zaitsev, a word please.”

Anastasia looks at him in surprise and obliges “Colonel?”

Colonel Reznov says “Sergeant, big things are about to happen, I need all patriots of Volga to defend their home.”

Anastasia says “Colonel, I’m no longer part of the Volgan military.”

Colonel Reznov replies “It does not matter, I am ordering all citizens to return.”

With that he walks away, Anastasia stands there thinking his request over, walks back to the doors and waits.

Amber and Valeria walk over and Amber asks her “What was that about?”

Anastasia responds “He’s recalling all Volgans back home, something in there must’ve gone wrong there.”

As she finishes Gunner arrives and Amber asks him “Do you know what is going on?”

Gunner replies “I’ve been asked to be here today for a debriefing, that’s all I know.”

They sit down and wait, after a while General Flynn exits the conference room and motions for Gunner to enter, he enters the room and then get’s asked by Shogun Iemitsu “Commander, your group has been involved now with multiple engagements with Rhine forces since the incident in Borealis Minor, I need you to recount from your side what happened”

Gunner then starts talking, explaining in detail the original mission and what had transpired, the invasion from his perspective while on New Bretonia.

After he finishes he is told he can leave, he leaves the room feeling uneasy.

After the doors close, the final verdict is in.

President Schlichter says “By near unanimous vote of 99-1 the Arms Limitation agreement of 2721 has been temporarlily annulled, but only until Rhine has been dealt with.”

With that the leaders begin to leave, on her way out Empress Boleyn approaches Amber and Valeria and says to them “I’ve been thinking about your families position now that there is no formal claim due to both heirs being immortal now, there is a sub law that hasn’t been rewritten, a loop hole if you will that states a family may maintain their rights provided one remains in service to the crown, so my question to you is, Valeria Blackburn, will you accept my offer to become my personal body guard? If the answer is yes you will begin training immediately.”

Valeria responds “Your Majesty, I would be honored”

Empress Boleyn replies “Amber, any objections?”

Amber bows and says “None your Majesty, atleast I’ll now have reason to visit home more often.”

Amber says her goodbyes to her sister and the Empress then joins Gunner who is now talking to General Flynn again “Commander I need your team on Volga, recon, find out what is going on down there, and find out if you can ease the pressure on them, I know this is a highly unusual contract but I think you can agree, the current situation is far from normal.”

Gunner says “Understood, we’ll depart as soon as the Hannibal is repaired. Still about a month out.”

General Flynn then says “Thank you Commander, these are strange days.”

As he finishes and walks away Anastasia then says “I’m going ahead, I’ll see what I can find out”

Amber replies “Stay safe.”

Gunner nods then walks away and Amber joins him.

Amber then asks him “What do you think happened?”

Gunner says “We’ll find out soon enough I suppose.”

Anastasia after having collected her gear approaches Colonel Reznov salutes and says “Comrade Colonel, requesting permission to board the transport.”

Colonel Reznov says to her “Permission granted Sergeant Zaitsev, Brigade 58 will be yours to lead. Your job is to hunt down every last one of these Bolshevik traitors once we reach Volga. Once that is done we can turn our attentions to assisting everyone else, our own internal security must come first.”

As he finishes she boards the transport and stows her gear, after they take off she falls asleep.

She dreams of her training for the inter-planetary games, representing her planet, placing first, then tragedy as she is injured.

The flight to Volga took 3 more weeks, in that time she got acquainted with her new squad. Re-induction into the Prizrak was gruelling, they increased their entry requirements that tested even her heightened abilities as an aether.

Once back on Volga now in the midst of it’s fierce winters, she returned to St. Petrov and visited her parents graves, standing in front of them she says “YA vernulsya domoy, kak ya i obeshchal. Pozhaluysta, prostite menya za to, chto tak dolgo. YA kazhdyy den' molyus' o tom, chtoby vy gordilis' mnoy. YA ochen' skuchayu po tebe. (I have returned home as I promised. Please forgive me for taking so long. I pray each day that you are proud of me. I miss you both so much.)”

After she has done this she prepares herself, the coming weeks will be hard fought, she’s been reviewing battle logs of how the enemy fights, they still employ the use of turn coats as much possible, her own betrayal fresh in her mind again.