Minister Dong
The Minister’s convoy quickly made its way across the narrow, dirt road that ran through Cloud Forest. The convoy consisted of two Humvees accompanied by four motorcycles; President Zaripov had given the order himself regarding the security of Derbaran’s Minister of Science and Research. After all she had promised much to The President and Zaripov did not take failure kindly.
After a bumpy ride, a tough looking, pale stone structure stood out in a clearing. The hummers pulled over as close to the front entrance as possible. The guards on the motorcycles got off their bikes; two of them stepped forward, armed with MP7s and checked the way they came from for any danger. One of the remaining two approached the big metal door of the bunker; on the right side of the door was a panel The guard, took the plastic lid off and the panel display lit up. He punched a series of numbers into the panel and put back the plastic cover. A few short moments later the metal door screeched open. The guard by the Minister’s Humvee gently opened the right passenger side door and bowed slightly, his eyes not meeting hers. A pair of jet black Prada shoes emerged from the Humvee, followed by a long white trench coat. Minister Young Ju Dong was a well dressed woman as far as scientists went and especially so for a country amidst a civil war. She carried herself with confidence and kept a firm grip on the chrome briefcase at her side. She stepped off the Humvee and walked towards the Bunker without hesitation. There was a sense of urgency in her movements but she did not rush. The guards followed her in and the metal door screeched shut behind them.
Inside the bunker, two of the guards approached a stockpile of crates and started moving them out of the way. Underneath the crates was a small access hatch. The guard reached down and pulled the rectangular hatch door open. There was a flight of narrow stairs that led down. Minister Dong proceeded down the stairs, as soon as the hatch was closed shut, two florescent lights flickered on. A man greeted the group, his white hair was messy, he had a wrinkled lab coat and his glasses leaned slightly to one side. “Welcome to Artifact, Minister!” he said cheeringly. These scientists worked under isolation and this was probably the most interesting thing that happened in Artifact since one of the scientists set his lab coat on fire with a Bunsen burner. “I’m sure you want to see the bodies, Minister. This way…” The scientist led the group of scientists deeper into the facility.
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General Karmali’s Office, NIU Headquarters
General Karmali was sitting at his mahogany desk in his office, going over some reports when the phone rang. He let it ring twice, then picked it up.
“Hello General, I trust all is well,” the man’s voice was deep and commanding,
“Yes Mr. Guyner, all is well. I assume you have information for me to be calling at 3 AM,” replied the General. He was experienced in diplomacy and was not going to let Mr. Guyner patronize him. At least, not at 3 AM.
“We have received some new intelligence regarding the War Rock that we wanted to share with you. If we are to work as allies then we need to trust each other, am I wrong General?” It was a rhetorical question, the General didn’t respond, he wanted to but he just was not sure of the answer at the time.
“Well General, I wanted to let you know that the War Rock is not one of ours. We have no intelligence on any project within the Apollo Defense Systems or any project in that matter remotely resembling the War Rock. We trust that you and your men could retrieve the War Rock for us. Of course, we would share the entirety of our knowledge and research with the N.I.U and compensate you handsomely for your efforts. What do you say?”
Anyway Karmali looked at it, this was a good offer. Especially for something he had planned on doing all along. Recovering the War Rock would definitely give the N.I.U an edge in the war.
“I say we could help you out with that Mr. Guyner” responded Karmali.
“I’m glad to hear that General. I will be looking forward to your results, have a good evening.” The man had hung up the phone quickly, but not rudely. Their conversation was strictly business, and business was concluded.
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The Next Morning
There was a brief knock on Karmali’s door, then the door opened and Captain Ramazan walked in.
“You asked for me General?”
“Ramazan, I need you to talk to your contacts and see if they heard anything new about the whereabouts of the War Rock or anything related to it. Oh and while you’re at it, ask your inside man at the People’s Press as well. The A.D.S. is counting on us to locate the War Rock as soon as possible.”
“Yes sir. I will report back to you when I find anything concrete,” Ramazan responded, quickly saluted and left.
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Artifact Research and Dev. Facility Part 1
3 Months Later
Minister Dong was sitting at her desk, analyzing the latest test results when she was startled by a knock on her door. It was one of the head scientists from her research team. They had been studying the two bodies that were found on the War Rock crash site for what seemed like an eternity but every time they got close to synthesizing a sample, it would wither and die within hours. This time was different.
“Come in,” responded Minister Dong.
The scientist slowly opened the door and closed it behind him. “Minister! I think we got a stable sample!” he said. You could hear the excitement in the man’s voice. “Here are the reports. It has been almost 5 hours now and the sample is still in a stable state!”
The man handed the test reports to the Minister. She shifted through the first few pages briefly stopping here and there to check a few numbers. After several moments, she sat back on her chair, took off her glasses and put them on the table. “We did it! This is great news. Zaripov will be pleased.” She said. This was the most excited anyone has seen Minister Dong in a very long time.
“When can we have a sample ready for field testing,” Minister Dong asked.
“We should have a usable sample ready for tomorrow,” responded the scientist. “But shouldn’t we test it further? We don’t know how human subjects will respond to it,” he added.
“No need!” responded Minister Dong, almost cutting the man off. “We will finalize our tests on the field, where we can get real results. Find me a suitable location for the tests.” There was finality in her voice, the scientist dared not argue. He nodded and said, “I will get the team ready.”
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Ruins of Vitious
24 Hours Later
Minister Dong and her science team arrived at the ruins of Vitious to test their new “weapon”. That’s what Zaripov called it and if this prototype worked it was going to change the face of the war forever.
They were all wearing hazmat suits. Two of the scientists were carrying large briefcases that contained laptops and other research equipment. The intel was that this area was home to a small group of N.I.U soldiers that were left behind from a battle with Derbaran troops in the area. Theses soldiers were chasing the retreating Derbaran troops and decided to set up camp in the old ruins of the once proud capitol of Derbaran to regroup with the rest of their unit. Minister Dong couldn’t ask for a better test area. The N.I.U dogs would pay for their insolence.
“We’re in position, over.” Spoke Minister Dong into a walkie-talkie. A few seconds later a muffled voice responded “Roger that artifact team, beginning operation spray-n-pray over.”
Minister Dong couldn’t sit still; she had been working for this moment for close to a year now. Her career, her research, her paycheck…everything was hinging at this moment. She motioned one of the guards to give her a pair of binoculars. It was almost time. She looked through the binoculars at the ruins of the old Derbaran capitol building where the N.I.U group was believed to have holed up. Within a few seconds the sounds of two Blackhawk helicopters could be heard in the distance. Within moments the sounds were loud and clear, the N.I.U soldiers who heard the sounds came out of their cover to investigate. “There they are!” exclaimed Minister Dong. The sound of the helicopters flying overhead covered the skies followed by a distinct blue smoke that spread rapidly across the horizon. Soon, everything was engulfed in thick blue smoke. This was President Zaripov’s prized weapon; this was the salvation of Derbaran.
“Let’s move in!” ordered Minister Dong to her team after the all clear was given, the scientists took their equipments and marched into the thick blue smoke. After a few minutes of walking, they started hearing garbled voices and choking sounds. They could see shapes and figures moving in the dense smoke. It was all like a surreal dream. Suddenly a distorted figure leaped out of towards a scientist, breaking the wall of smoke so fast that Minister Dong could see the hole left behind by it. It was too fast to react, the crazed N.I.U soldier managed to grab the arm of the startled scientist and ripped it clean off. The N.I.U soldiers had descended into madness. Instead of dying out in a matter of minutes the blue smoke had caused all the affected soldiers to go on a rage and attack whatever was in arm’s reach. The guards opened fire but there was too much smoke and the crazed N.I.U soldier’s movements were too erratic. One guard got pulled in by one of them into the smoke, his scream fading into the distance.
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Ruins of Vitious Part 2
“Pull back!” screamed Minister Dong. Among the grunts of the crazed soldiers and short bursts of random gunfire, Minister Dong and a few of her science team, including the head scientists manage to get out of the blue smoke. Minister Dong, paused to take one last look. The shapes and shadows of the crazed soldiers were now entangled together in one big shape. “What an interesting turn of events” she thought in her head. “This opens up a whole new field of research”. Minister Dong and the remaining science team headed back to Artifact to prepare their field test report for President Zaripov.
A few hours later, when a small N.I.U detachment arrived at the ruins of Vitious, the thick blue smoke had already cleared. Unfortunately for N.I.U, local folk from the villages around Vitious had seen the blue smoke and came to investigate and discovered what was later described in the newspapers by “A field of mutilated bodies that were so deformed that there was no way to identify them except from the bits and pieces of torn up N.I.U uniforms.”
The news spread fast. It wasn’t every day in Derbaran that mutilated and horribly deformed bodies turned up out of nowhere. Soon, the media coverage and the lack of response time from the N.I.U forces were becoming more of a problem for Karmali than the war itself. Several tribes and villages that were loyal and supported the N.I.U and General Karmali demanded vengeance and blamed General Karmali for being power hungry and forgot about the people that N.I.U was established to protect. Things were spiraling out of control and it wasn’t looking good for the General . There were still no news about the whereabouts of the War Rock or any information regarding the appearance of this mysterious blue smoke. General Karmali and the N.I.U were running out of time. Soon their followers would turn against them and stop their support.
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Artifact Research and Dev. Facility Part 2
A Few Days Later
Minister Dong was going over the autopsy report of one of the mutilated remains from the Vitious incident.
“Magnificient,” she blurted. She couldn’t contain her excitement. “The pathogen, now named “Blue Smoke” has caused rapid growth in muscle and nerve tissue of most affected subjects. Some subjects died instantly from heart failure.” Even though there were “side effects” such as loss of intelligence and rage, Minister Dong considered this trivial. With direct orders from President Zaripov, she was to concentrate all her attention and her research to perfecting the Blue Storm.
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General Karmali’s Office, NIU Headquarters
General Karmali’s phone rang. It was another one of those 3 AM calls, he thought to himself. “I’m starting to think more and more that Mr. Guyner is a vampire…” Karmali chuckled to himself. He reluctantly picked up the phone. But it wasn’t Mr. Guyner. It was Captain Ramazan.
“Sir I have urgent news, I have information regarding the mysterious blue smoke incident. I heard from my contact at the People’s Press. His dad was around the area just before the incident and said he saw some scientists with armed escorts arrive in Humvees and they were carrying heavy equipment. Now why would scientists need armed escorts and humvees sir? ”
“That’s a good question Ramazan, one we need to find out as soon as possible. They probably have a research lab or base somewhere nearby. Do you have any leads yet?” responded Karmali.
“Not yet sir but some of the villagers in Cloud Forest reported that they saw increased activity there recently. They mentioned people in lab coats. So I’m going to start there,” Ramazan replied.
After a brief pause, General Karmali responded, “Good job Ramazan, I want you to take your best men and find this facility. I want everything. Personnel, documents, everything.”
“Understood sir. I will report back ASAP. Ramazan out,” responded Captain Ramazan, and hung up.
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Artifact Research and Dev. Facility Part 3
A Few Hours Later
Captain Ramazan’s Desert Dogs were famous for their speed and ruthless efficiency. Within a few hours Ramazan and his elite team were standing outside the Derbaran bunker in Cloud Forest. The recent tire marks around the area had led them to entrance of the bunker. It was suspicious for a small bunker in the middle of nowhere to receive this much traffic and the lack of guards or security of any form was also suspicious.
The Captain signaled his men to move forward. The big bunker door was already open. The Desert Dogs moved swiftly, searching each room. It didn’t take them long until they discovered the entrance to the Artifact Research facility.
Captain Ramazan and his men descended through the narrow stairs to the facility. The lights were out through out the facility and there was no one in sight. Ramazan motioned his men to turn put on their night vision goggles and spread out to search the facility.
The Desert Dogs scoured the facility. They have been to every room, searched every cabinet and every shelf. There was nothing left in Artifact. No documents, no scientists. There were signs of struggle, broken test tubes, overthrown tables and shattered glass littered the floor of the facility.
“Damn, there is nothing here,” said Captain Ramazan out loud. “We were too late,” he continued. “Gather up your stuff and let’s get back to HQ” he ordered his men. “The General will want to hear about this,” So the Desert Dogs, having hit a dead end and with no more leads, returned back to General Karmali.
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The Smoke Begins to Clear
At an Undisclosed Location Not Far from Cloud Forest
A giant metal door screeched open, the room was especially bright and there was a sense of emptiness. There was no furniture in the room. Handcuffed and blindfolded Derbaran scientists were being escorted in by what appeared to be hired mercenaries. Among them was Minister Dong. The guards waited outside. Once the scientists were all inside the room, the giant metal door closed shut.
The scientists, terrified and unaware of their fate, were huddling together, turning their heads from one direction to another, trying to see through the blind folds. A sound interrupted them. They paused with fear. A smaller metal door on the other side of the room opened slowly and a well dressed, tall man entered the room. Behind him was a guard that also entered the room. The tall man gestured the guard to remove the blindfolds of the scientists. One by one the scientists’ blindfolds were removed and one by one they looked around the room, desperately trying to discern where they were.
Once all the blindfolds were removed and the scientists’ eyes had adjusted to the bright light in the room, the tall man spoke. He was brief and to the point, “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Mr. Guyner. Welcome to the Apollo Defense Systems Headquarters. If you all cooperate, you will all get through this unharmed and will see your families again.”
As he finished his sentence, the metal door behind Mr. Guyner creaked open once again and another man entered the room; contrary to Mr. Guyner, this man was well built and had a cold, distant look in his eyes. Mr. Guyner leaned slightly and whispered a few words to the man’s ear. Soon after, the man picked Minister Dong from the group of scientists and escorted her out of the room back through the metal door. Just before she stepped outside the room, Minister Dong took one last look at her science team. Inside, she knew that she would not see them again. Among the worried looks from the other Derbaran scientists, Mr. Guyner followed, the minister out and the metal door creaked shut... .
