A Battle Unseen

[_nicolo_02]

Phone Call between Beiteynuese Police Chief Aviah Shmerkin and Secret Service Director Avidor Resnick
Yishelem, July 2nd 5371 (OOC: backdated)

A.S.: Good morning. Is this Mr. Avidor Resnick?
A.R.: Who's asking?
A.S.: I'm the new Chief of the Police, Aviah Shmerkin, we haven't met yet.
A.R.: Ah, yes, I read it somewhere. Yes, this is Resnick, Director Resnick. How can I help you, Chief?
A.S.: Are you aware of the most recent developments about Noah's Kadiyot murder case?
A.R.: I am, yes. How can I help you, Chief?
A.S.: Well, it turns out that a gun belonging to your agency shot Mr. Kadiyot dead.
A.R.: ...
A.S.: Director?
A.R.: ...
A.S.: ...
A.R.: We should meet in person, this is a delicate matter that shouldn't be discussed on the phone. Please come to the Sohnout Hashaet HQ as soon as possible.
A.S.: What? Wh-
[Call ended]

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

Kazulian Head of Military Intelligence, Skalm- Cheddars paced in his office, he had met with some of Kazulia's best and brightest all day long and he had one more person to speak with. He sat down in his chair and looked at the plane ticket on his desk and the suitcase next to his desk on the carpeted floor. "Well almost done" he thought to himself as several sharp "knocks" rang out against his large wooden office door. "Come in" said Cheddars, gazing at the door.

In walked a young to middle aged women, in her late 20's or early 30's. She had soft blue eyes and fire red hair that was wavy. She wore business attire, and took a seat in front of the desk.

"You got my message" Cheddars asked, speaking in Canrillaise to the lady

She responded with "Yes"

Cheddars stood up and began to pace again speaking not only with his mouth but with his hands. "You're training is finished, you have successfully passed everything my office has been able to throw at you. Not many can say that, and a nobody would ever claim to as well". He pulled out a cigar and lit it, a trail of smoke now tailed behind him as he paced once more. "You have excelled as someone who can accomplish tasks, who can gather intelligence information and as someone I can count on. However there is only so much we can do to excel your training".

The women said nothing only nodding when Cheddars had stopped speaking.

"Now you have an amazing opportunity to continue your training with a close ally of ours an opportunity that until recently has never been able to be utilized for our graduates. I must warn you, you will be put through the most rigorous tests you will find anywhere in Terra. Statistically speaking you will not pass these tests. Those who pass are those who give their all to get better and those who truly want to be the best of the best. If you want to take this opportunity make sure to not leave my office without grabbing these". He pointed to the plane ticket and a sealed envelope. "You are not to open this until you get off the plane at the airport".

The women stared at the plane ticket and quickly and quietly process what Cheddars had said, finally she responded "When do I leave".

Cheddars responded "Your plane leaves in two hours".

The women grabbed the envelope and the ticket and turned to head for the door...

"Wait" said Cheddars in a loud voice, as he grabbed the suitcase next to his desk. "You will immediately head for the plane and no detours, take this". He handed the suitcase to the women "We know what you like to wear, it has everything you need when you are there. You will be provided everything else once you reach the campus".

She nodded,took the suitcase and swiftly left the room.

Cheddars walked back to his desk, exhausted, all of his agents that he had picked had accepted his offer, they were all going to take the next step in their training and only a few will pass the training. Cheddars knew this and smiled to himself "This is a great day for my agency" he thought as he looked out the window into the streets of Skalm.

[_nicolo_02]

Sohnout Hashaet HQ, Yishelem, Endild, Beiteynuese Medinat

Unscheduled meeting between Police Chief Aviah Shmerkin and Secret Service Director Avidor Resnick
July 2nd, 5371 (OOC: backdated)

[...]
Resnick: Miss Shmerkin, are you absolutely sure?
Shmerkin: My best teams, both investigative and scientific, tell me so.
R: That's impossible! A Sohnout Hashaet agent killed Noah?
S: That's what the scientific examination suggests. The gun is registered in the Government's database, but we can't access because it has an higher security clearance as it is Sohnout Hashaet.
R: I don't know what to believe...I imagine you called me because you want the files...?
S: Actually yes. Plus Director, remember that we don't know who pressed the trigger...
R: That's even worse! It means we have an idiot that lets strangers take their gun!
S: [Gives Resnick Gun ID]
R: [Checks File]
R: Uh? Err...
S: Is everything alright, Director?
R: Yes...no...I can't give you this file.
S: What? Why?
R: I shouldn't disclose this information, neither should you. This gun belongs to an agent member of the protection corp of Benjamin Benowitz.
S: ...the Ramatkal?!
R: Shhh! We never shared this information. And YOU can't share this information until the members pf the protection corp are dismissed from duty.
S: What does that mean?
R: Freeze your investigation until the Ramatkal does no longer have our security unit. I can't let anyone open an investigation on active members of the agency protecting Government's officials.
S: That's not possible! [interrupted]
R: That's very much possible if you care about keeping your job. I like you, Chief, and I trust you, don't make me regret this.
[...]

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

Kazulian Head of Military Intelligence, Skalm, October 5385 - Cheddars paced through his office. The rain had been pouring for days at this point. His desk, chairs and everything was in perfect order, Cheddars wanted nothing but perfection, order and things under his control. He stared off into the rain as it fell, watching the dark skies, waiting for something...

That something came when his phone rang inside of his jacket pocket, Cheddars fished it out and pushed the green "receive button". The number was Hutorian in origin but Cheddars knew who this was. He answered the phone saying "Hello".

On the other end spoke a young women, one that Cheddars had known very well, she was in her early 20's and spoke in perfect, unbroken Luthorian. "Hello Mr. Cheddars, I can't be long but I will say that I have passed my exams".

Cheddars knew exactly what that meant, for years now the Kazulian Military Intelligence (Kazulian Intelligence Service) better known by its unofficial nickname "KZ7" had been sending its top graduates from the domestic spy program to a site that few knew about. The Campus was located in Hutori and its whereabouts and operations were top secret. It was only when Kazulia entered into a shared total intelligence agreement that the site was known about to KZ7 and then graduates and agents of KZ7 were authorized to do "further training" there.

Cheddars now spoke, his voice calm and collected "I made sure to give you my orders once you left the Campus, I trust you have gotten them?"

The agent on the other end said "Yes, I also disposed of them as you said".

Cheddars, nodded and smiled. "Good, now go have some fun in Ft. William Ms. Babington".

On the other end the lady now with a full Luthorian accent said "Thank You love" before hanging up.

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

15:00 September 3rd 5398, Dolgavan Prime Minister's Office

The Prime Minister of Dolgava sat at his desk clearly exhausted. He had spent too much of his time and effort dealing with the increasingly aggravating actions of Luthori and their newly acquired puppet that he and many other Dolgavans thought they could put their trust in. The office of the Dolgavan Prime Minister was very elegant and you may even call it cozy. The desk itself with a phone as well as neatly organized paperwork was a large oak desk made during the 3000's by a Socialist regime but it has seen much beautifying over the years. it was spotless and polished nearly once a month. The beauty of the desk was that it had many, many drawers that contained documents of importance to the Prime Minister. Kornelijs Braun had on his desk two photographs, one of a massive moose that he had shot on a property his family owned in the wilds of Hutori, it had been an exhilarating trip. He was a much younger man in that picture nearly 23 years old. Braun has grey hairs yes but it is hard to imagine him being only 40. "Where has the time gone", Braun said as he took another drag on his cigar. The other photo was of his children, his daughter Kristina who was in the picture only 6 years old, now she was 8 and his son Andreas who was 4 in this photograph but now he was about to turn 6. They stood next to his lovely wife who stood at the center of the photo next to him. The photograph was taken at their home and the grand fireplace they had in that home. This photo of his family kept him going through the days, through these days of insanity and the diplomatic shitshow that had just taken place.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knocking on the large oak door to the entrance of his office, he called "come in" and in stepped a young women wearing a red skirt and well kept natural red hair she was the Prime Minister's secretary and one of the best in Aikums. She walked in and said "Mr. Prime Minister your appointment is here".

Braun responded "Thank You Svea, let him in"

Walking past the Prime Minister's aide was a man of short complexion. Svea who was average height in heels stood nearly 5 inches above this man however he seemingly did not care. He wore a business suit, that the Prime Minister could only guess the cost of, he had brown hair and dark small eyes, ones that could stare into any man's soul. He had a beard and hair that was salt and pepper colored and messy and unkempt and his face was stern and serious.

"You know why you are here, I won't bore you with details you do not already know" Braun broke the silence of the room as Svea shuffled out the door closing it silently behind her "Now these past few days have been, well rough for me and the cabinet, I will not lie. Frankly I am baffled by the boneheaded decisions made by certain problematic countries". At this he crushed his cigar into an ash tray smashing it flat against the table. Now I have talked to my counterparts in Hutori as well Dorvik and I believe it is time we take intelligence seriously once again. Beiteynu thinks they have our guys in Yishelem but I can assure you they are mistaken. I have already told you what I want but I will reiterate once again, we will not play nice, this is not just a normal intelligence organization. We have official intelligence gathering information from our embassies the world knows this but this program I never want anyone tracking back to Aikums and if we do it correctly, they will never even get close to finding out". Braun smiled offering the man in front of him a cigar.

The man nodded his head before saying "No thank you sir, I do not smoke".

Braun continued "We are continuing to send our best men and women to Hutori to put them through their program, frankly the best in all of Terra, it is a shame nobody knows about it to be frank, truly a intelligence marvel of our time. Hutori puts them through hell and I do not say that likely. Sometimes we send a class of ten and nobody passes, it is how it is. However it is those who pass, those are the ones you can count on for the types of activities you will be in charge of". At this he opened his drawer and took out a folder labeled Classified and handed it to the man. "You are not to take this out of your locked briefcase unless you are in a facility of Level 4 Security of Higher do you understand".

The man nodded taking the folder and in one swift movement putting it in his briefcase.

"That will provide you some important contacts for our friends in Makon. I have taken the liberty to differentiate this program from normal military intelligence, you and I and a select few of my staffers know this and that is all who will know. Now onto business, with the recent events partaking in Malivia, Luthori and Beiteynu they want to scare us away however this is our chance to start infiltrating every level of each of those countries. Malivia is not hard, many Dolgavans are still there and despite their best efforts to suck up to the Empire, they will not be forcing Dolgavan citizens out if they had any sense at all. It seems Luthori's new base is the perfect chance for us to learn much about how their military operates and who knows with Malivia's army being, well disorganized it is a perfect chance for us to infiltrate and learn much about how this new partnership got started and how they will continue in the future. They thought they could kick us out but they unknowingly left a perfect chance for us to learn much about them". Braun now smiled, his mood improving, the gentlemen on the other side of the desk also smiled, his eyes flashing with mischief. "Frankly due to our closeness with Hutori we have many people who can pass off as Luthorians however you know that full well, I won't tell you how to do your job". He continued "As for Beiteynu, I frankly do not want to escalate things any further, in fact it was my hope that we could warm relations with them but they are very against anybody even questioning the "evilness" of Kafuristan something I highly doubt, however they have decided to pick a fight with us and they will get a fight however we must be sneaky. Once again you know that our agents there as of now are on high alert but I doubt they will be able to catch any campus graduates if they do they will be linked to other nations not us. You know the rules of our program quite well now and you understand the many things we do to keep our men and women safe. I do not have to repeat that anymore. As for other countries I think getting information on Lodamun and Likatonia is crucial mainly due to their closeness to us, I personally do not see them as a threat however it is best to keep tabs open for them. For now we will be focusing on Artania and Majatra, those seem to be the problem areas as we see it, however it is your goal to spread out networks across Terra. Do you have any questions?"

The man simply shook his head, he was a man of few words but the things he had done, most of them classified of course were legendary, he had proven himself time and time again.

"I picked you to head the renewed program once again because you have an intricate knowledge of our adversaries. Your work behind the lines is the stuff of legend and I speak for all Dolgavans when I say, Thank You sir for your work in the Foreign Service. At some point you will receive a minor medal from the Prime Minister's office but the greatest award I can bestow on you is the title you sir deserve". Braun stood up and offered his hand for a handshake. The man opposite obliged and they both shook hands. "Mr. Biscuit, it is an honor to work with you and I we need to go out for beers sometime. You have the reins congratulations".

At this Mr. Biscuit saluted before promptly exiting the office. He had been given the mysterious and extremely secretive title of Mr. Biscuit what the men and women he under him would call him from now on, what the Prime Minister would call him from now on and a title only given to the Head of the Dolgavan Intellgence Agency: Special Department.

[Elena1012]

Adeline Duverger put the phone down and rubbed her head. She hated her job now more than ever. When she joined the CSR, she wanted to defend Alduria, not be a psuedo diplomat. Côme Dutertre, chairman of the CSR had wanted the agency to do something to prove it's worth and with the Kafuristan Crisis escalating by the day, the CSR was given the task of negotiating with Ba'athists. Unfortunately for Adeline, she was the one who had to do the negotiations. She loathed the negotiations in every way possible. "After all, was this not an issue for the Foreign Ministry to handle?" She thought to herself, alone in her office.

She had spent the past 2 hours on the phone with a prominent member of the Ba'athist Regime in Kafuristan, code named "Patriot". The negotiations were difficult as Kafuristan was set to not compromise, much to Adeline's dismay. Patriot had sent the demands and made then simple; Beiteynu recognizes Kafuristan, in exchange, Yeudis will receive no state persecution. No Kafuristani citizens, especially those responsible for hanging Yeudis would be extradited to Beiteynu. To make matters more stressful, she also was on the phone with a prominent official in Beiteynu, code named "Gold Star".

She had to keep relaying requests between both nations and try to find a compromise but the best deal she could get was one that she knew deep down, would never be accepted. It would basically be telling the world that Beiteynu will allow Yeudis to be killed. When she relayed the compromise to Gold Star, she got the anticipated reaction. The angry voice of Gold Star rang leaked out of the phone call but after a few minutes of talking and back and forths, she got Gold Star to try to bring it up with the government and get a consultation process to occur.

As she stopped rubbing her head, her loathing didn't end. She knew Beiteynu would never accept the compromise and with how the media is over there, it's bound to get out to the press. It would be a disaster if managed poorly. She let out a groan as she knew she would have to file a report on everything she had just went through and submit a report to her commissar. She put her head down on her desk and closed her eyes. "Just 5 minutes" she rationalized to herself. Just five minutes.

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Advanced Intelligence Selection Academy, aka the Campus

A car pulled up to seemingly abandoned university campus on the outskirts of Glentingham in Adelia. Once upon a time, during a time most even historians couldn't remember, this had been the home of the Glenthingham School of Agriculture. During the Hutorian Civil War it had ultimately shut down and been forgotten about. Years later it had been viewed as an incredible opportunity by a legendary former Director of HSIS has the perfect training ground for Hutori's at the time, still nascent intelligence service. Thus, was the Campus born, a deeply classified school that, from all appearances was your average university campus, with even a full time staff, and a constant stream of recruits attempting to pass through it's brutal selection process. The Campus was infamous through the international intelligence community for the brutality and difficulty of its program, with a pass rate of barely twenty percent. The twenty percent of paramilitary intelligence officers that graduated however, were known as the best of the best, and the agents that could be counted to accomplish any job, regardless of what it was. A woman got out of the the car, looking around. It has been years since she had been back here, and a small smile came across her face, the memories coming flooding back. The woman in question was named Katherine Ashgrove, and she was a Senior Intelligence Officer with the Hutorian Security and Intelligence Service. She was also the recently appointed Superintendent of the Campus. While not an official requirement of the Campus, all Superintendents of the Campus were graduates of the Program and were exclusively Paramilitary Intelligence Officers of the Service's Alternative Options Branch. She was taking over an exciting time she had to admit; the Campus had gone into a de-facto slumber throughout a long period of the 54th century, but thanks to a massive investment into the Service by the former Monarchist Government, the Campus had come roaring back and had even brought in a limited number of foreign intelligence offiers to train here as well.

Ashgrove walked up to the main administrative building, looking a small number of recruits sitting out on the quad, speaking animatedly. Part of the training at the Campus was to build a perfect legend for yourself and learn how to blend into your surrounding and remember your cover at all times; one of the ways this was done was to give all new recruits a legend on Campus they had to use at all times, and try to keep any other trainee from obtaining any of their real personal details for the first several months, until real trust could exist between the trainees and they truly believed in their assumed identities. It also gave the Campus a layer of camouflage; while the existence of the Campus wasn't a secret to anyone in the intelligence community, it was still a fairly close held secret within the normal Hutorian society and so who randomly came to the Campus, rather then an intelligence training centre, merely saw and found a seemingly extremely exclusive university.

Ashgrove walked into the main building, passing the pictures of the various former superintendents, stopping at one in particular. A complete non-descript and average looking male stared back at her. He did not have any distinguishing features and his skin tone and looks made it impossible to truly know his country of origin. If it hadn't been for the name, not a single soul would have or even could have known who that gentleman had been; Henry Ashfield, one of the most legendary and mythic figures in HSIS long and storied history. Ashfield had been known as one of the most successful and efficent paramilitary officers in history who had gone under a number of different legends throughout his career, the most famous within the community being that of Faam, a terrorist during the AEFNS-NACTO Conflict, who had assumed command of the near shattered AEFNS in Kundrati and later drove Kundrati clear out of NACTO following his bombing of the Kundrati Stock Exchange, all without anyone outside of HSIS ever knowing he had ever been in the country; if later infiltration agents were to believed, Kundrati didn't like to acknowledge the guy had existed, much less had defeated an entire military alliance where a full organization in Davostag had failed. The AEFNS Insurgency was still studied by HSIS Recruits as the case study on how to successfully lead an insurgency even to this day.

She offered a small smile and looked around. It was certainly good to be home.

[alaskancrabpuffs21]

18:00 May 3rd 5400 Vishal, Malivia

A nondescript man walked down a relatively calm seaside road in the town of Vishal which overlooks the Port of Vishal. The port had become a topic of international tension with first Dolgava being promised access to the port and Dolgava spending time and effort into the project before relations with Malivia soured seemingly overnight. Now the town had become swarming with Luthorian sailors and personnel as Luthori had seemingly strong armed Dolgava out of Majatra. The town was seeing a lively boom and a corner cafe was in the process of feeding customers a nice dinner, drinks or whatever people were desiring in the hours after most people's workplaces had closed.

The man dressed in casual business attire, which blended in well with the local population as well as the many Luthorians doing business in the area. He had a face that made it difficult to tell what nationality he might be but his eyes darted from person to person as he walked ensuring always observant, always watching. He continued down the street, late Spring mud caked the sidewalks as well as streets that were filled with potholes and patched up with gravel in many places or massive mud pits. This part of town was one of the most upscale parts however the side streets had long been forgotten by the roadways commission and seemingly left for the local people to decide what to do with it.

He scanned the cafe, a majority of the diners were locals however a significant population of Luthorian citizens also were dining there as the Luthorian Language and Washebarian both being spoken. He took a seat at a table near the door of the cafe, put down his briefcase and looked around the establishment once more. "Well better to be early than late" he thought as he signaled the waiter to get him a coffee. Soon the coffee was on the table and he took a sip, it was strong, very strong and very spicy, but that is how it was served in Malivia. Before long a young blonde haired women entered the cafe, she was short but wore a plain skirt and heels. Her hair was in a bun, seemingly to keep her cool in the hot Malivian sun.

Approaching the table the women spoke in a traditional but flawless Luthorian accent "You have a very tie, do you care if I sat down with you?" The man simply nodded very deliberately and gestured to the chair opposite him. She continued "I was afraid I was going to be late, I am still getting used to the arrangements here".

The man simply nodded to this and drank a sip of his coffee. He shifted his gaze looking into the young women's eyes, they were ice blue colored eyes that were looking back at him, almost studying him. He cleared his throat and then softly spoke "I will be your friend here, remember that. Whatever you need I can get you, within reason of course. You already have your card and everything you need provided before you got here, hell they had you picked out even before you passed..." He stopped realizing what he was saying and continued again "Well you know what I am saying". She simply nodded, her face and eyebrows were furled and she was thinking. "Now you know why you are here, I will not be explaining that especially not here but the rest of what you need is in there". He pointed to the floor next to his feet where an unassuming black briefcase stood. "Its a gift from the embassy. Now you need to come to me with what you find out and I will relay it to Biscuit, you understand?"

The women angrily glared at the man before saying "You may be a veteran at this job but I can assure you, I am the best of the best and you do not need to tell me how to do my job, and never mention his name again, we do not mention any of that..." With this she took out a cigar, lit it and took a deep drag. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to home. Thank You". She laid down some Malivian currency for her coffee, grabbed the briefcase and walked out of the cafe. She turned around looking back at the cafe and saw the man in the suit walking towards her, he gestured her to come to him. When they were close he spoke in a very soft voice "Good Luck, God Bless and if you need anything, you know how to contact us". With that the two separated and the women walked down the street in the opposite direction as him.

The women walked past a mix of bungalows and industrial port shops which is a vast contrast to many ports she had visited in her life. She turned a sharp left up a narrow winding street and walked up it. This road went up a small hill before flattening out to where a mix of houses sat with excellent views of the entire town of Dusanpu and the brand new port still being built. She got to her house number, grabbed the key out of her pocket and opened the front door. The house was simple, no frills and was unassuming. She set the briefcase down on her bed which happened to be positioned to give her an amazing view of the gorgeous port and boats coming and going. In the corner sat a television and next to it a grey unassuming box, which looked to the world like a normal cable component box. The house had a deck overlooking the harbor with palm trees even providing shade during the hot weather and lounge chairs providing comfort, a set of high powered binoculars sat on a window sill as well. Other than that the house was barely decorated and lightly furnished and that is how it was meant to be.

The women walked back to her bedroom and took the key the man had given her from her pocket and opened the briefcase. Inside was a object wrapped in paper that said in several languages "customs exempt", inside was a Dorvish built 9mm handgun with a silencer, disconnected but present in the packaging. The women frowned at the customs exempt wrapper, telling herself "how stupid can those people be", this was her favorite weapon in the whole world and the 9mm caliber was perfect for concealment inside of dresses, suits and other clothing while providing maximum protection from bad actors. She had shot many guns in her short time in the service and was proficient in all forms of marksmanship but the Dorvish made 9mm was the best pistol in her eyes. Alongside the pistol was 4 boxes of hollow point ammunition. She sat down at the table and inspected each and every bullet, looking for anything that could have compromised them, finding none she tucked the firearm into a convenient dress pocket and put the silencer and ammunition in a drawer next to her Luthorian passport which read the name of "Dolores Stanway". Smiling to herself she walked onto the porch of her beach side bungalow and watched as the sun began to set, illuminating the many Luthorian ships in the harbor below. Beside her was a small notebook that had been filling with the activities of the Malivian and Luthorian naval vessels that were using the harbor for many purposes. This way she had been able to figure out much of the patterns and predictability of the Luthorian navy in only a few short weeks. Smiling to herself Dolores thought "They thought they could humiliate us but oh how they were mistaken"...

[To Be Continued]

[Elena1012]

David Génin held the phone next to his ear, listing off various possible ways to assist Left Alternative in his mind. The Committee for the Security of the Revolution had it's first mission that wasn't related to the Kafuristani Crisis; supporting Left Alternative in Davostan. Or rather, supporting their effort at creating a "Popular Front'. Génin had just finished the call with a member of the Popular Front, who had been codenamed "Red Eagle".

The goal of this Popular Front was to protect Davostani democracy and while the nation was far from socialism, to the dismay of the CSR, but protecting a democracy in the north was better then letting the nation fall into an autocracy, Génin thought. He put the phone down and went to his computer to provide monetary assistance to the Popular Front. He would be responsible for wiring roughly a quarter of million LOD(250,000) to the Left Alternative's Popular Front. This would be a gamble for the Committee. It would take a hit from the Committee's wallet and if the Popular Front failed, it would be a blow to the Committee's capabilities and a waste of money. Génin knew this well but was certain the Popular Front would prevail. The clamping of the keyboard rang out through the empty office and leaked into the empty hall. It was getting late.

Génin knew the higher ups of the CSR would be watching this operation, dubbed "Operation: Hatch" and would be quick to pull the plug on the operation should things look bad in Davostan. But Génin was certain that Davostani democracy would be saved. Funding them was just the first step.

[colonelvesica]

The Campus, Glentingham, Adelia, Kingdom of Hutori

Abigail Rhodes sat mildly nervously in the waiting room in the Office of the Superintendent. Rhodes was one of only seven other members of her class of forty that had passed this particular Campus Induction Class, a task she proudly knew she had accomplished in nine months. The Campus' training regime wasn't just brutal, but acted as one of the most effective filters to joining Hutori's Alternative Options Branch; in an induction class of 40, half would wash out before the first potential graduation after six months of training, only one or two would leave in that first chance, another six would wash out by the nine month mark with potentially on average two more leaving at the nine month mark, before the final checkpoint at one year where you either passed or washed out; of the eight remaining agents that made it to the full year only half of those ended up leaving the Program completely. All told only one out of every five that came to the Campus ever graduated.

Something that had been reinforced repeatedly by the Instructors, the Superintendent and her Supervisor at the Sarah Steuart Intelligence Centre that had actually endorsed her entry into the Campus, washing out of the Campus was never considered a bad thing. It only showed that you didn't yet have the skills and fortitude to make it through what was considered the hardest intelligence training course in Terra. Anyone who was even invited here was already a mark above everyone else, and the skills they gained in any length of time they spent here, were invaluable to a career Intelligence Officer; Rhodes own former superior in Bekenial was in fact a washout, and now had a corner office on the seventh floor of the Sarah Steuart Intelligence Centre.

Rhodes thoughts were interrupted as the door to the Office of the Superintendent were opened and another of the graduates left, gesturing to her that she was next. Rhodes nodded, saying nothing, before getting up and entering the office. The Office of the Superintendent very much looked like the office of a University Dean, like once upon a time, it certainly was. It had an expansive view out over the quad of the Campus and of the Macon Mountains in the far background. Rhode shivered at the memory of freezing in those mountains during her survival training earlier in the winter, one of many numerous tests and exercises that had molded her into the Officer she was now.

"Have a seat if you care to." The Superintendent said from her desk, the woman who commanded and oversaw the Campus not looking up from her laptop she was working on. Rhodes nodded, not knowing if the woman saw and sat down, observing the chief spook at the Campus. The Superintendent, and that was all anyone knew her as, her name being considered classified all by itself, was a striking woman in her mid to late forties if she was an age. She had striking features that could turn a head, and piercing pale blue eyes that seemed to know all of her deepest secrets, which they no doubt already did considering the woman's profession.

While she waited for the Superintendent to finish her work, whatever that happened to be Rhodes took a moment to look around the office, gathering information such as it were. Rhodes had never been in the office and knew, unless she later returned to the Campus, she never would again. The Superintendent, by tradition, always gave new graduates of the Campus their first assignment, whatever that assignment happened to be before the Alternative Options Branch and the Deputy Director of Operations for HSIS for their hands on you. There were no personal photos or hints that would reveal anything about the Superintendent. Even the books on the shelf looked as though they had been kept there through multiple administrations. Truly a woman that entirely married to her craft.

The Superintendent finally looked up, picking up a file from her desk before speaking. "Parle-vous?. She asked in flawless Canrille. "Oui certainemant.. Rhodes responded without missing a beat.

The Superintendent nodded, continuing the conversation in that language. "Good, you'll need it. Your new assignment and legend. You are now Eloise DuPont, you will find a way into your target location, integrate yourself and then await further instructions through secure channels."

Mademoiselle DuPont nodded in return, her voice still in Canrille. "But of course Madam, it will be done." The woman now known as Eloise looked at the file the Superintendent gave her. A ticket first to Kalistan, before a follow up ticket to Kanjor, then Eroncourt and then finally, onto Yishelem. The Superintendent did not think small if this assignment was even remotely what she believed it would be. She nodded and departed. Her path was set, and her real job was finally begun.