It was a late night in New York as Annette was finishing up some papers in her office. It had been a long day but finally it was time to go home for the night. As she took a sip of her "special" coffee, a buzz came over her intercom. "Dr. Vallahan, Mr. Gesicki is here to see you." Her intern said. She rolled her eyes and took a long chug of her coffee before buzzing back. "Let him in." she said sternly before cleaning off her desk. A disheveled man in a two piece suit quickly scurried into the room before taking a seat across from her desk. Annette took out a clipboard before sitting up. "Hello Phil." she said a calmer, soothing tone before writing a few things down. "You know we have discussed these late night walk-ins. We have invented scheduling for a reason." she said before putting her board down and looking up at him. "How are you though?" The man looked around before looking out towards the window. "It's well... um..." He gulped before tugging on the neck of his shirt. "Well, there's been a few problems at work and well... You can keep a secret right?" She nodded before writing now a few notes. "Doctor-Patient Confidentiality still exists. As a matter of fact, you said it has halted you in several investigations. You work for the... CIA? Correct?" she waved a hand before reclining back in her chair. "Are you sure they are okay with you seeing me?" The man nodded slowly before taking a breath. "Well...What if I told you we have a small issue... An issue where quite a people will... violently disappear... and maybe an entire country...?"
"Relations between China and America have been close to breaking point for the past year or so now. During the last couple of months, American and Chinese have been suffering through difficult talks of economic importance. If war was to be declared by the Senate, it would be the first time in over 120 years since the United States declared war in World War II. Chinese expansion continues in Asia, with the twentieth anniversary of the Treaty of Tokyo being signed in 2048. This treaty incorporated Japan after their humiliating defeat in the Sino-Japanese war decades prior, into the People's Republic. With a population now close to 3 billion and with an increasingly powerful economy, a war between America and China could potentially last years and tens of millions of lives being lost. In other news, the United Nations is set to establish the first settlement on the Moon in 2069 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings of 1969. This settlement is to be named Armstrong in memory of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. With advances in space travel and commercial tourism, Mars has also come to the attention of the UN. We shall return with more news after the break!" Information, filtered to be seen by the public eye. Truth was hard to find nowadays. Whatever truth there was, it was proof that people on both sides were scared of what was about to happen. Within the last thirty years, China had become practically unstoppable in Asia, absorbing smaller and more fragile nations into its new "Empire", which now consisted of all of Southeast Asia up until Indonesia, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. Resistance and civil unrest was high, but was easily crushed by the overwhelmingly powerful Chinese machine. Had North America not unified in the 2020's to become a single nation, a World War could had occurred decades ago. This American Federation was the only power to currently give China a run for their money. Two Titans, ready to fight but afraid to throw the first punch. It had been a long time coming for the two superpowers, the arms race had already been going on for decades before the Golden Age. It was like an old-school boxing match between two fierce fighters. In one corner was Uncle Sam and Democracy, the other was Chairman Mao and Communism. Red vs. Blue, fighter against fighter, East vs. West. The world seemed to be afraid of what was about to happen, and if the two continue to keep getting at each other's throats, they should be. If this didn't stop, if calm minds didn't prevail, the world was about to get a lot more violent.
Kara had just finished filling some reports for work regarding some Russia-China relations stuff and took the tube home to her 3 bedroom house, one bedroom of which she now had as a study. She kicked off her heels and went straight to bed (It was just past midnight). Despite it being 1am in the morning she still had to wake up at 5am to get ready for work, so she quickly cleaned her teeth and got undressed and straight to bed in nothing but her underwear (minus bra). She set her alarm for 4:50am and hoped that nobody would ring her up to interupt her all needed sleep.
Annette looked up before crossing her arms. "Well... That would be an issue. Phil, are feeling alright?" She said as she got and walked over to him before putting her hand on his head. "Jeez, you're running a fever, aren't you?" She hurried back behind her desk, and pulled out a pill bottle before tossing it over. "Here, take two of those and pass out on couch over there. You're staying here for tonight, doctor's orders." She said sternly before grabbing her handbag. Phil simply nodded before dragging himself over to the couch and laying down. As she headed reached the reception office, looked over at the tired intern. "Phil's staying here for tonight. If you could please make here an hour earlier than usually, I will try to pay you back." The intern slumped in their chair before nodding. Annette smiled and returned home for the night.
Anchorage, Alaska Gabriel headed down the streets of the Alaskan city, covered head to toe in warm clothing as he trudged back and forth the streets. It was below zero and snowing, so not as many cars were active in the streets then usual. He had hoped to settle down somewhere when he left the military, settling down in a house in an isolated part of town, find someone special and raise a family. It all seemed so...hollywood to him, the picturesque tranquility of conformity and repetition. His recent unemployment also meant having to find somewhere to work and earn a living. He had his hands full as they were. The matters between China and America did affect him as much as anybody else would, especially being so close to Asia that potentially put him on the frontlines. He hoped that the Cold War between them didn't escalate, who knew what would happen if it did.
Wilhelm walked through the crowded streets of Washington. Supposedly, there were some Chinese spies smuggling weapons out of the city. At least, that's what his informant said. He toggled his cloak on, and immediately he was given the appearance of a business man. The Chinese were apparently working out of some bar on the edge of town called, "The Dragon's Lair." He would go check things out as soon as he met with his contact.
After only about an hour and a half sleep, Kara got a call from her boss telling her to come into work. This of course annoyed her greatly but she got dressed and headed out anyway catching a night bus to as close as she could get to HQ. Once there she walked straight into her bosses office where she was briefed on why she had to return. Something about a major attack on a presumably US involving nuclear weaponry. So far their best guess was it was probably Washington DC. However they were not 100% just yet only about 55% sure. Finally they set up a communications video network with the CIA, FBI, MI5, white house and 10 downing street.
-A plane from Berlin, Germany had just arrived in Washington, DC today. A blond man cloaked in an olive trenchcoat and scarf, and carrying an odd black briefcase, stepped off of the plane and onto the tarmac. As he walked in between the two rows of American soldiers and FBI officers, he observed how radically different America's climate felt compared to that of his home country of Germany. He felt like he could finally breathe better, now being away from the dirtier air of Berlin. Finally, he turned his attention back towards the armored Cadillac limousine waiting at the end of the two rows of soldiers and FBI officers, climbed into the limo, and watched the two rows of people go farther behind them as the limo took off for the White House, with a police escort guarding the limo closely both in front, and behind the limo.- (Verkoffen) -Inner monologue: So....This is what it feels like to be in the United States.... Definitely feels better than what they were telling me back in Berlin...- (I'm eventually going to need someone to play the president and his advisors)
Gabriel headed down the lonesome street, wandering around to find somewhere warm. As he made his way into the cafe, dozens of people were crowded around a television set as they watched the local news. Judging from the looks of people's faces, they were afraid. Very afraid. It wasn't healthy to believe everything that the news told you, especially considering that most of it was garbage anyway. As more news reports came across between China and North America, the threats of war was very real. It was calm when tensions died down, but now the two giants were about to kill each other. Parents told their children that everything was alright, but these stories are no longer helping. Gabriel took a seat in the corner of the cafe, relaxing with a coffee and newspaper.
As Annette returned the next morning, she found the door was locked. Strange, she thought to herself, the door wouldn't be locked if the intern was here. Luckily she still brought some keys anyways. As she headed inside, she saw the desktop was on but no intern to use it. She began to felt a tinge of worry but all that was lost as she entered her office. The place was ransacked. Papers everywhere, walls damaged, her desk was emptied and flipped over. In the center of the room was Phil and Annette's intern, both stripped to their underwear, bounded together, and executed. She froze, then took a step back and closed the door. At first glance she seemed fine before she slouched against the wall, skin paled and eyes wide. She took her phone and stammered something about murder several times before the Operator gave and said an officer on the way. After a few moments of heavy breathing, she dragged herself to the break room, poured herself a cup 1% coffee and 99% vodka, and waited. Before long, an NYPD officer pulled up and walked in before seeing the scene and finding Annette in the break room shell shocked. As soon as the NYPD identified Phil and asked for backup, several vans pulled up with men in suits, flashing badges, and yelling "C.I.A!" Annette simply took a look chug of her drink, awaiting to see who would detain her first.
It wasn't very often when Gabriel thought that considering where he was in North America, he was on the front lines. Especially if Russia wanted to make the suicidal move to fight against the two. Although, it had its hands full with China already between the Mongolian and Russian borders, which was easily the most fortified border on the entire planet since North Korea collapsed in 2019. If Russia joined, depending on which side, other European superpowers would take up arms and it would soon be World War III. Gabriel also thought that if war broke out between America and China, it would be impossible for either side to not use nuclear weapons to resolve the conflict. America was technologically advanced and her soldiers had far more experience, better training and generally outperformed the Chinese in every possible way. China's strength, if only strength, was that it completely outnumbered the American military almost fifty to one. It was not the weaker People's Republic of the 2010's, this China was almost as powerful as America. It's economy was vastly improved and restored, it regained its true potential as a military powerhouse and if a mainland invasion had to occur, many Chinese from the oldest man to the youngest child would fight to the death. He was concerned, because this terrifying future could become a reality.
Kara continued the discussions with the CIA, FBI and MI5. After a while the discussions were ended and they began to plan a new thing as soon as possible a group of MI6 agents and the Liberal Democrat prime-minister would head to Washington to discuss what the UK's stance would be in this conflict if it escalated. Kara was hoping they would have a stance much like they did in the cold war. AKA being neutral in the conflict.
((@AzureBlitz here is the sheets: http://www.everypony.com/forums/showthread.php?16805-The-Second-Renaissance-(CS) and the interest check: http://www.everypony.com/forums/showthread.php?16803-Interest-Check-The-Second-Renaissance))
(Verkoffen) *waits in the limo* *notices it has stopped moving* Ugh. Traffic jams ALREADY?! It's not even 8:00 anymore! How long does ze morning commute take?!
After less then 45 minutes of arguing over who's case it was, Annette had her hands cuffed and was stuffed into the back of van before whisked off to an interrogation cell in the magic CIA HQ in Langley within a few hours. The silent drive had given her time to recover herself luckily, along with a message sent to the CIA and its allies about a dead analyst. As she sat in the white cell, she waited patiently before an obvious CIA worker stepped. "Hallo Frau Vahallan. Ich bin John Taylor, und ich bin hier, um Ihnen ein paar Fragen stellen." (Hello Ms. Vahallan. I am John Taylor, and I am here to ask you some questions.) The man said in very poor German. "I can speak English." Annette said sternly before frowning. "Let's try English instead because your German is just atrocious." The statement caused the man the grimace a little before taking a seat across from her. "Well I bet your wondering why you ar-" The man was saying before he was cut off by Annette. "I am here for the murder Phil Gesicki, a CIA worker. No, I didn't do it." She looked over at him unamused. "Well yes..." He continued. "Tell me, is there any-""Any information he gave me that my have compromised the agency and/or his life? No, not really. He told me he worked here, gave me some details on old solved cases that are no longer relevant to anything that I know of." "What about your int-""My intern was college undergrad who only knew Phil when he walked into the office. I don't know who committed the murder or why." "Well, we know why. And have a clue on who." The interrogator said, finally happy to get a full sentence in. "You see, Phil had... Something very important to national security with him when he went to your office." He reached into his pocket before pulling a picture of a small glass tablet. "You see, Phil was... a bit more than just a worker..." Annette looked at the picture, taking a few moments to connect the dots before looking up. "That is crystal memory tablet and I assume it carries national security information. I still don't know who though." "Have you not paid attention to the news?" And then it hit her.
"Chinese military submarine, Hóuzi, has accidentally shot and sunk an ocean cruse-liner after communications between the two ships failed when the liner accidentally entered a military area of Chinese waters while its communications were down. The ocean liner, now being confirmed as the Princess Mary II, was sunk with estimated passengers numbering in the thousands and with a 99% fatality rate. Approximately 48 survivors were found on life-rafts. The Chinese government and International community are now morning for the worst maritime disaster since the sinking of the Titanic." (I'll be writing news updates like this as the RP progresses)
"Okay sir is everything sorted now. Is everything set and prepared?" Kara spoke to her boss who had finalized the whole sending the Lib-Dem PM [insert name here because I cant think of one] to Washington to meet with the President now with the ministers of foreign affairs and defense joining her. After the boss nodded, Kara set out to the primeministers personal car to go pick her up from 10 downing street. After a 6 minute drive Kara's car and the two other cars picked the three MP's up before heading on route to Heathrow and then Washington DC for the 8 hour flight to there/
