CIRCLES OF TIME: The Great War
-by: the Yarnspinner-
the_yarnspinner@yahoo.com
http://strands-of-moonlight.my3gb.com
-or- http://strands-of-moonlight.6te.net
Rated: PG-13> Chapter 6 - In the Shadows <
A small, silver-haired woman stood in a dimly lit room, clad in black robes. A pronounced aura of authority hung over her. Two men, also in black robes, stood with her, clearly showing deference to her.
"What have you learned from them?" the woman asked.
"They are undoubtedly agents of the Paladins," the first man answered. He held up two ornate pocket watches that each displayed subtle traces of magic. "Both were carrying these talismans."
The woman glanced at them, then nodded. "But what information have they told you?"
"Nothing, as yet, prefect," the second man said. "They seem quite stubbornly resistant."
"The report from our agents who captured them suggests they were meeting with other operatives, perhaps to give briefings for an upcoming operation," the first man added.
"Is it possible the Paladins are aware of our operation?" the second man asked.
"That is unlikely," the woman answered. "They certainly know of our ultimate objective, and may perhaps have noticed that we are collecting life energy, but there is no way they could know that we are so close to that objective. Even so, they might still pose a threat with such limited knowledge."
"They might well try to disrupt our gathering of energy just for the sake of breaking up one of our operations," the first man suggested.
"My thoughts exactly," the woman agreed. "We must know what they are up to. I don't care what means you have to use. Extract every bit of useful information from those two... then dispose of them."
"Certainly, prefect," the first man said.
"The Darkness shall triumph!" the two men declared in unison.
The woman nodded, then turned and walked out of the room.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A leather gloved hand slapped hard across Carlos' face. He was strapped into a chair. Blood ran from his nose, and both eyes were swollen shut. He groaned with pain, but otherwise offered no response.
"What was your mission?" the first man demanded.
Carlos said nothing, his head hanging down on his chest.
The second man stepped behind Carlos, placing his fingers at the base of his neck. Energy crackled from the second man's hands, and Carlos snapped his head back and screamed.
"There is a very easy way to make it stop, you know," the first man said softly, leaning closer. "Just answer our questions."
"Just answer our questions," the second man echoed.
Carlos shook his head, still wracked with intense, burning pain.
"Have it your way," the second man said, increasing the energy pouring into Carlos.
As Carlos screamed, a bright flash suddenly filled the room, and the second man was thrown to the floor. His companion stepped back in shock, quickly readying himself to meet a possible attack. After a moment, the first man stepped cautiously forward. He found Carlos unconscious, and his own partner dazed.
"Are you alright?" the first man asked.
"Just got quite a shock," the second man answered. "Some sort of intense feedback."
"It came from him?"
The second man nodded. "Without a doubt."
The first man stepped over to a small table, returning with a flat, polished black panel. He passed the panel slowly over Carlos' body. An image displayed faintly on the panel. He looked at it and frowned. "Ingenious."
"What?" the second man asked.
"He has warding elements actually inserted within his body, presumably as a final defense against the use of magic probes or other magic means to force him to talk," the first man said.
"Do you think the other one has the same?"
"He probably does."
"Then we'll just have to remove it," the second man said.
"It's not that simple, I'm afraid," the first said, studying the image on the panel. "The elements are implanted in such a way that we couldn't remove them without killing him... which means we'll have to try a different approach."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Richard awoke, but found he could neither see nor move. As the fog slowly cleared from his mind, he tried to evaluate the situation. He could not feel a blindfold, and as he tried to test the strength of whatever harnesses were holding him down, realized he could not feel his arms or legs.
'Uh, oh. This is not good,' he thought.
He faintly heard a door open.
"He appears to be awake, sir," a male voice said faintly. "You may be able to speak with him, but he doesn't have long, I'm afraid."
"I understand," another man said, the voice sounding vaguely like Peter's.
There were sounds of footsteps, the closing of the door, and of a chair being slid across the floor.
"Can you hear me?" the man asked, right next to him.
Richard was now certain this was Peter's voice. He tried to nod his head but wasn't certain if his body was responding.
"Don't try to move," he heard Peter say. "I'm afraid you were very badly injured. Your partner didn't make it. It seems they were on to you. It was only dumb luck that we were able to get you out."
Richard's mind focused on the image of Carlos' face, then flashed back to the last moments on the train, when the Order wizards jumped them.
"We need to know if your mission was compromised," Peter said softly.
The mission. Something about the mission buzzed in his mind, but the grogginess hadn't completely passed.
"People may have to be warned," Peter added. "We can't afford to have them walking into a trap."
Esteban's face flickered in Richard's mind, even as he continued to hear Peter's voice.
"We need to know whom you spoke with, and what you told them, so we can determine what parts are still secure," Peter said. "I'm sure you understand."
Again, something seemed out of place to Richard. Suddenly, his mind grasped on key-words, key-words that were always to be used in cases like this, but which Peter had not used. In his mind, he again saw Esteban just before he and Carlos had boarded the ship in Havana.
"Just a reminder, our contacts in Lisbon and Barcelona will be able to offer only limited assistance. You'll be on your own for the most part," Esteban had told them.
Richard next remembered their decision to leave Barcelona early, hoping to stay ahead of those tailing them. The Paladin's agent in Barcelona had reminded them there was no assistance to be had until they reached Madrid. No assistance. No rescue.
"The darkness shall fail... you bastard!" Richard hissed, his voice barely a whisper.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Damn!" the first man cursed, sitting back up, outside the isolation field that surrounded the Paladin. He glared over at his partner.
"How'd he catch on?" the second man asked.
"I don't know," the first replied. "The spell ensured that he'd hear the voice of a trusted superior whom he would expect to be debriefing him. Maybe they use some sort of code, or perhaps these two were on deep cover with no backup."
The second man scribbled some notes on his clipboard. "OK. So much for the debriefing scenario," he said. "What do you want to try next?"
The first man thought for a moment. "We'll put them both through total sleep and sensory deprivation. After a few days of that, they should be ready to accept anything we present to them as real."
The second man nodded. "I'll make the preparations for the other one."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next morning, the first man hurried into the room, seeing his partner looking concerned as he stared at two body-scan panels.
"What happened?" the first man asked.
"The Hispanic one is dead, and the other soon will be," the second answered.
"How?!"
"I'm not completely sure, but my best guess is that the warding elements in their bodies were fighting our deprivation spells. The monitoring crystals we set up reacted automatically, increasing the power."
"Until their bodies couldn't take it anymore," the first man completed.
The second nodded. "That's what I was thinking."
"The prefect will not be pleased, since we failed to obtain any information from them."
"Will she expect us to fall on our swords because of this?" the second man asked.
"I don't think so," the first replied, sounding less than completely certain. "What she told us doesn't give reason to believe that."
"But we may not know the full story," the second man pointed out.
"Very true," the first man agreed. "But are you certain the one who is still alive cannot provide any information?"
The second man shook his head, handing over the body-scan panel. "Positive. He is in a coma. Just look at his brain functions."
"Damn. This man's little better than a vegetable," the first man muttered. "You're absolutely right. He is useless to us now."
"We'd better notify the prefect," the second man said. "She'll be even more upset if she thinks we tried to conceal this."
"You're right," the first agreed. He walked over to the desk and picked up the telephone. "Prefect's office, please."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The prefect hung up her phone, turning to face the High Priest and the two council members who waited sternly. "I'm afraid we'll learn nothing from the two Paladins. One is dead, and the other soon will be."
"The interrogators were incompetent?" one of the council members asked.
"A review will have to be made of course, but I don't think so," the prefect said. "It seems the Paladins have devised a new means of protecting their agents from magic-based interrogation. Based on what they've told me, it sounds like our interrogators did their best, but lacked the proper briefing for dealing with this new innovation."
"So, no one is at fault for this?" the second council member demanded gruffly.
"I don't believe that is the issue here," the High Priest declared. "We needed information on just how much the Paladins know."
"They have only a general knowledge of our objective," the prefect said. "Surely there is no reason to consider them a critical threat."
"That is not necessarily the case," the first council member said. "We've been assuring our operatives of that to preserve morale, but we have reason to believe the Paladins have been closely following developments in this war in a way that is out of the ordinary for them."
"Yes," the second council member agreed. "And remember, they did have not just one agent, but a full team present in Sarajevo last year. They had to have known something."
The High Priest stroked his gray goatee beard thoughtfully. "Furthermore, we have been detecting very faint and sporadic traces of a most unusual anomaly. As yet, we have no idea what this might be, except that it seems to be interwoven with the most fundamental elements of time and space, making it extremely difficult to locate with any certainty. In any case, we must consider the possibility that this is some sort of new threat posed by the Paladins."
"Well, our operatives who captured these two theorized they were delivering briefings for an upcoming operation," the prefect said.
"True, but we still require more information," the first council member said. He then turned to face the High Priest. "I am still suspicious that this is all an elaborate ruse by the Paladins to trick us into tipping our hand. Our duty to our great dark lord is sacred, and must not be lost to some contrivance of the Paladins."
"Nor shall it be," the High Priest assured them. "We shall continue to seek more information. The Darkness shall triumph."
"The Darkness shall triumph!" they echoed enthusiastically.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A week had passed since Richard and Carlos had gone missing. Frantic activity had prevailed in the Paladins' Havana center. Peter and Jason entered the room.
"How are we doing?" Peter asked.
"Just a moment," Albert replied, typing a message into the communicator. The unit buzzed softly as the message was transmitted. Albert then stood up, glancing over the latest set of reports. He saw the two Council members looking at him expectantly. "To say that things are rushed would be putting it mildly," he said. "The storage center should have the first storage vessels completed within the next 24 hours, making us ready to receive energy. At the same time, we have five of the energy transmitters already in place, and we expect to have the rest in several days."
"So we could start tomorrow?" Jason asked.
"No," Albert said. "We need to wait for all the transmitters to be in place. If the Order notices the drop in energy collection, we won't want our people anywhere near their relay stations."
"And we are certain that our transmitters won't be detectable?" Peter asked.
"Yes, provided we don't give the Order any clues as to where to look," Albert said. "The energy output of their own transmitters will mask ours from their detection, unless they have reason to be specifically looking for them."
Two assistants hurried over with additional reports. Albert quickly looked them over.
"These are the latest reports from our monitoring of known Order bases," Albert said. "Still no change in activity to indicate the Order has caught on to us."
"Any indication yet as to the fate of Richard and Carlos?" Jason asked.
"No. I'm afraid not," Albert replied. "Setsuna was following up on a lead outside Madrid..."
Just then, the guardian of time appeared in the room, in her civilian attire. "That lead came up empty," she said. "All I found was a simple office and map facility, probably for their agent coordinating connections within the Spanish government."
Albert made some notes. "That may prove useful to know, but not just now, I don't think."
Peter nodded. "You will keep us informed of progress?"
"Of course," Albert said.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Later that same night, the Havana center was quiet. A few Paladins were on duty, monitoring incoming reports. Setsuna sat at a large table at one side of the room, several stacks of recent activity reports piled up around her. One of the Paladins walked over to her.
"May I offer you some more tea, Setsuna?" she asked.
"Hmm? Oh... Yes, please," Setsuna answered, searching for her tea cup.
The other woman found it on one end of the table, filling it up, and then handing it back to Setsuna. "There you are," she said. "Having any luck?"
Setsuna took a sip of the tea and sat back in her chair. "Well, I'm finding plenty of reports of unexplained magic occurrences, but so far nothing to suggest any connection to Daniel and his companions... if they survived."
"You still think they might have survived?"
"I don't know one way or the other," Setsuna said. "That's the problem."
The other woman nodded. "Just remember, there is more magic in the world than most people think. Much of what you're finding could be just a natural occurrence."
"I know," Setsuna said.
As the woman walked away, Setsuna took another sip of her tea, then reached for the next report. This report told of two men found dead in Belfast. Though the murder outwardly appeared to be the work of Irish nationalists fighting against British rule, the two dead men were found to be carrying magical talismans. Since they weren't Paladins, it was all but certain they were agents of the Order. Searching through the report, she found confirmation that no Paladins had been involved, leaving the question of just who killed these two men. A scribbled note on the last page read, 'Low priority. Review as time and resources allow.' Setsuna made some notes, including the reference number of that file, on a pad of paper beside her, then returned the file to its stack.
She looked back over her list. So far, she had just five incidents that could be considered possibilities. The murders in Belfast, a flare of magic energy outside Quebec City, an apparent warding spell in Rio de Janeiro, two brief but distinct energy pulses in Palermo, Italy, and a large burst of energy in the desert of Arizona. Each event had received a brief review, but no explanation was readily available. The events were too widely dispersed for any one person to be behind them all, but they still raised questions.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"What is going on?" Peter asked, concern evident in his face. "Are the Germans trying to make a separate peace with the Russians or not?"
"It appears to depend on whom you ask," Samuel answered. "Sergei Sazonov, the Russian Foreign Minister, recently dropped a suggestion that the Germans were trying to negotiate a separate peace with the Russians, although he said nothing to suggest Russia was inclined to accept. Our sources in the Russian government could give only vague confirmations that some communications have been received from the Germans through highly unofficial channels. The Tsar is said to remain fully committed to the war effort, and to be offended at any suggestion that he might abandon his allies."
"But here we have the German government denying Sazonov's claims," Peter said, holding up a German newspaper. "The Germans say they have no reason to seek negotiations with Russia."
Samuel nodded. "Our contacts in the German foreign ministry dismissed the idea of talks with the Russians as ludicrous. The sentiment in Berlin is that they stand to gain far more on the battlefield than at the negotiating table, since they've thus far consistently bested the Russian army in the field, and believe it will soon collapse as an effective force."
"Perhaps the Russians are right about unofficial contacts," Setsuna suggested. "Very few people in Berlin might even know about it."
"That was my thought too," Samuel said. "The Tsar knows Russia's seen as the weaker of the Allied partners. He was probably concerned that this communication would be revealed by Germany in an attempt to drive a wedge between him and the other Allies."
"So he exposes it himself," Peter said.
"Exactly, showing that he is standing firm with his partners," Samuel said.
"But why would the Germans try to open dialogue?" Albert asked.
"We're not sure, but two possibilities do come to mind," Samuel replied. "First, it may have indeed been a red herring, trying to drive a wedge among the Allies. Second, it's possible that Germany would like to end the war in the East so it can concentrate its power against France and Britain. By making such approaches unofficially they could be denied if the Russians rebuffed the offer."
"That still leaves the question," Peter said. "Do the Russians want out?"
"Well, the Tsar and his government continue to proclaim solid support for the war effort and the Allied cause," Samuel said. "But what little information we're able to gather from the front lines suggests rampant disillusionment among the Russian soldiers."
"That's not too surprising," Albert said. "These are conscripts, loyal and patriotic but not very well trained. And many of their senior officers owe their rank to the fact that they're sons of noble families, and have good connections. Most have no real concept of tactics beyond throwing their men against the German lines in human wave assaults. The first Russian offensive last year, into East Prussia, should have swept the Germans before them. The Russians had a huge numerical advantage, but squandered it through poor leadership. Unfortunately, that has continued to be the case in many of the battles they've fought. They scored several successes early this year, reaching Memel on the Baltic and the Carpathian Mountains in the South, which are the last natural barrier protecting the Hungarian plain. Since then, however, the Russian armies have been in almost constant retreat. The successes have shown the Russian soldiers what they could do if they were properly equipped and had good leadership, but instead they're facing crippling shortages of guns, ammunition, artillery, and even proper clothing. The soldiers know there's nothing left for them right now except to be cannon fodder, which certainly has a most detrimental effect on morale."
"Very true," Samuel agreed. "If it continues, the Russian Army could indeed begin to collapse as an effective fighting force."
Jason stepped forward, having been listening silently. "The next questions are, do we want to get involved in this, if we even can, and is there an outcome that is preferable to us?"
"This sounds to me like it's really a Council matter," Samuel said. "But we can be fairly certain the Order is not trying to stir up discontent among the Russian soldiers or to promote the cause of a separate peace. They want as bloody a war as they can get, which means keeping the Russians in it to add to the body count."
"I'm not sure there is even anything we can do," Albert added. "We don't have the means to bring about the replacement of incompetent Russian generals, nor to make up for the poor training and equipment given the soldiers."
"But if it should swell into a full scale rebellion against the Tsar's government..." Jason protested. "That's just what happened in 1905, after Russia's defeat by Japan, but that time enough of the military remained loyal for the Tsar to survive."
"Some things must be allowed to happen," Setsuna said quietly. "Even the strongest tree will fall if it rots from the inside."
The Paladins looked at each other as the implication sunk in.
"So... I take it trying to get Russia out of the war in the interest of reducing the bloodshed is not an option?" Peter asked.
"That is correct," Setsuna said. "Your purpose and mine is to defeat the Order's attempt to awaken Metallia. This war, however, is a fire that must be allowed to burn itself out. As much as we might wish otherwise, we cannot interfere with it."- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Within the Paladin caverns hidden beneath the Pyrenees Mountains, six large cylindrical energy storage vessels stood complete, with four more still under construction. Nearby stood receiver units, connected to long conduction rods, servings as antennas, buried beneath the cavern floor. Ruth stood at the main control panel, checking the readings. Aaron, Peter, Samuel, and Setsuna stood close by, waiting.
"How are we doing?" Aaron asked.
"We're just about ready," Ruth said. "We have good signals from each of the transmitters, and I'm just about to prime the first storage vessel."
"Excellent," Aaron said.
Ruth made notes on a clipboard as she made final checks. She then put the clipboard down and turned toward Aaron and Peter. "Everything is set," she said. "I just need the final go-ahead."
Aaron turned to Peter. "You have seniority, Peter."
Peter nodded. "Setsuna, we haven't done anything to raise a concern for your particular responsibilities, have we?"
"No," she replied. "There is nothing in this plan to threaten the proper flow of events."
"Good," Peter said. "Ruth, you may proceed."
"With pleasure," Ruth said.
She unlocked a panel cover, opened it, then flipped a switch. The first storage vessel took on a very faint glow as energy began to flow into it. Ruth watched a gauge showing the energy level, then flipped a second switch. A soft humming noise came from the receivers and the glow in the vessel grew slightly brighter.
"We are receiving energy," Ruth announced. A cheer echoed through the cavern from the other Paladins assigned to work with her. "We're still at very low levels. We'll slowly increase the energy rate over the next several days, to minimize the chance of the Order noticing the reduction."
"Very good," Peter said.
"Yes," Aaron agreed. "It feels good to be taking constructive action toward thwarting the Order."
"This is only a first step," Samuel reminded them. "We can't be sure of defeating their plan until we've destroyed their storage centers."
"True. But we need more time to prepare for that, while the captured energy will help us destroy the Order's bases," said Peter.
"Speaking of which... How are preparations coming for that?" Aaron asked.
"Slowly," Samuel answered. "We're still doing preliminary reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. We have to proceed cautiously to avoid giving the Order any hints of what we're up to."
"Well, I assume you're aware that there is another major battle underway in France," Aaron said.
"Yes, at Artois," Samuel said. "General Petain is leading a French assault at very high cost, but it is largely an isolated effort. The British have had to sit this one out after their Canadian forces were hit with chlorine gas at Ypres in April. Soldiers are dying, that is true, but not in such tremendous numbers as to cause immediate alarm for us. Remember, Setsuna projects the Order needs about six million dead to awaken Metallia. Even without us stealing away some of their captured life energy, the Order would still need at least two years, or several huge campaigns across entire fronts to get close to that goal. Since there is no sign at present of the latter, we can still afford to take our time to carefully prepare."
"Yes, Aaron. Haste is as much an adversary as the Order," Peter said. "This war must play itself out, which means in all likelihood it will last for several years yet. If we destroy the Order's storage centers too soon, they could possibly have time to rebuild and recoup their losses."
Aaron turned and looked at the storage vessels in the cavern. "So, we want to destroy their storage vessels when they are reasonably full, not when they're empty."
"Exactly," Samuel confirmed. "That will do the most harm to their efforts."< To be continued >
* * * * * * * * * * * *
NOTE: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, but I ran into difficulties with one part of it, on top of which, this has been a very busy few weeks for me.Always remember, good gentles, that a yarnspinner works from and within existing legends and stories. The characters of "Sailor Moon" belong to others. In spinning my yarns, I do not seek to infringe on their rights of ownership, but merely to join with other fans to spread the legend still further. "The moonlight carries a message of love." Enjoy.
-02.16.2001