Gassing the Schantilians

Time is like water. it is clear like glass but dense and wet as you dip your delicate fingers in it. Time itself is almost invisible yet your senses can tell it's presence. The Baron of Stulicia was lost in deep thought on what happened to the bunch of men he had sent before. He was worried, more importantly It's more than a week when they should've returned!

He tried to comfort himself while lay seated on the grass seemingly not caring for his glamorous apparel near the flower garden. He was admiring his left, then right, then he looked directly on the bright blue sky while slowly lying down on the soft grass. His eyes slowly closing in when suddenly he was disturbed.

"My lord, sorry to disturb your time but may I ask what are you planning to do? You have done nothing in regards to this situation." One of the advisers asked him.

"What do you think I'm doing? Look at your surroundings, tell me how beautiful everything is." The Baron said coldly.

"Er... It's beautiful indeed my lord." The adviser mumbled with a cold sweat.

"Good, now I don't want you to disturb my time from this beautiful day. You are my adviser, do as you please in handling the situation. Now get far away from me, you're ruining the mood." This time, with a harsher tone. The adviser hurriedly left the area.

In regards to the situation, the tax collector's convoy haven't returned for a few weeks, the possible explanation is that they are captured by bandits. But to think that there are bandits in this far remote place.... No matter what logical reason behind their disappearance, the only solution to any problem is by sending a military force.

But a soldier's duty is to fight, and in truth what are they tasked to anyway? To find this missing convoy? But what are the odds on finding them in this vast uninhabited rural lands? Surely if these bandits knew that a handful of troops are coming for them, wouldn't they just hide in response? The adviser and the military higher ups don't know what to do either with the situation.

"I don't care just send the men, let them decide what to do when they arrive there. This is under the order of the Baron of Stulicia!" The adviser insisted on sending soldiers to deal with the problem. And so without any other choice, ye order is our command. That day, a hundred soldiers with horses and carts traveled to the remote villages for an improbable search of the convoy.

-

Everyone in Base Historia currently watched the spectacle of the mega infrastructure is slowly taking shape. By this time, the buildings nearest to the portal is almost complete. This building will be the main headquarters of the United Nations. While other the headquarters are currently being built, the infrastructures on the villages are improved too.

The United Nations there built simple clinics, wide asphalt pavements, sidewalks and built temporary small hydro electric floating turbines from the small rivers. The electricity is used to power temporary low powered LED street lamps recently built.

At first the villagers there held doubts towards these sudden infrastructure construction throughout the villages but after seeing the changes it made, it's really surprising how much of an impact it made. The wide pavements served as roads for the United Nation's vehicles to pass through, but the villagers are allowed to use it too. The surface is much smoother compared to the dirt roads in which it provided much comfort when on horse carts.

Of course being sick is very common, that's why constructing a simple clinic made from tents are very crucial for these villagers. These doctors wore protective masks and gloves when treating these doubtful patients. Of course it served as another purpose. Sometimes, these doctors take blood, mucus, urine and sweat samples and bring them to headquarters where they could analyze the samples. It's to prevent any widespread pandemic of an unknown disease to the United Nation's personnel and the villagers.

Lastly, the low powered LED streetlights. At first the villagers were confused on why these mysterious poles were built throughout the village. While on the river, odd floating barrels with certain grooves constantly spinning around was seen. Then when night fell upon them, a bright white light was illuminating from these mysterious poles! It provided a bright stable light source for the village. The villagers were at loss for words when the they saw the streetlights. It was simply, beautiful and magical!

Why did the United Nations suddenly temper and even helped these villages? Of course it had it's reasons. Firstly, from what they know are far superior in terms of technology than any other kingdoms and empires in this continent which still used swords, bows and unrifled muskets. If any military power would threaten them, they simply had to defend themselves no?

The second reason is that although pursuing peace is necessary, it should be assured by a strong military force. A strong military force requires a strong military base and strong military base requires their own private land right? So in short, these villages are already United Nation's domain.

From recent satellite images, the United Nation's higher ups had decided that the most suitable place to build their headquarters is on the Eastern Tip of the Schantilia kingdom. The area is vast and there are only a few inhabitants. Besides, it's the extremely far from the capital city of the kingdom.

Wouldn't it be called.... Invading? Well... Yes and no. Of course the United Nations had already prepared some plans for compensation for the Schantilia Kingdom, but they plan to keep themselves incognito until the military base is finished, it will stood as an unshakable foundation. On the other hand, simply the United Nations had better arsenal of weapons at their disposal compared to their puny swords and bows, what are they gonna do about it?

Of course people wondered why the United Nations who'd always try to keep peace on earth suddenly took a 180 degree turn in this other world. Well it's not like that. Simply, this plan is the only plan that has the smallest possible probability to shed any blood with the goal of having a foundation in this continent. Why this continent you may ask? Why not build a base on some uninhabitable island? Firstly, it's not easy. Certain locations in this planet has it's own quantum coordinates, and to retrieve those coordinates it requires someone to get there and run some tests.

Secondly, don't forget why the United Nations came here in this first place; to get resources. Also, any Schantilians under the United Nation's dominion could get benefits and facilities like of earth, the dominion would prosper and full modern technology.

The United Nations decided to call this planet Gaia, after the Greek God of Earth. After 2 weeks since the first rocket launched, NASA and SpaceX had already launched plenty of satellites into space. They bring extremely juicy data back. Firstly, the diameter of Gaia is twice as big, but surprisingly the gravity is the same! No rush, although it's still a mystery why the planet's mass is extremely light for it's size, someday after extensive research, it might be solved. The same gravity meant that the height of the atmosphere is indeed same as earth's. Gaia even has 8 huge continents, 1/3 of it's surface is covered by land, while the rest is the ocean. There are also north and the south pole covered with ice. Indeed this is a new habitable planet as one might say.

Heinz on the other hand currently was inside the newly built conference hall on this other world. Inside this hall not only was Heinz and the higher ups, but the reporters that stood mesmerized as they savor the feeling going to the other world for the first time. Heinz saw their faces and can only curved his lips upwards. After satisfied looking at the reporters, Heinz took the initiative to talk first.

"Welcome all media to the first ever press conference on this new world!" Heinz announced. And so the first ever press conference started. A truly historical moment!

"We will begin by explaining everything that the public deserves to know. So..." Heinz Bismarck continued to explain their their state to the media, it was very long, but here are the most notable points from it. First it is concluded that this world's technology is not so advanced compared to ours, but they are still civilized enough. Secondly, Base Historia is currently under construction but it will remain incognito to the Kingdom of Schantilia, our unsuspecting neighbor, in fact we are taking their land....

Third, the details about this planet from the rocket launch program are publicized to the media. As for last, regarding the village adjacent to Base Historia, they will remain there unharmed, but will be kept in isolation from the kingdom. And for the village escapees and the unsuspecting convoy that visited here two weeks ago are currently detained in a facility in our world where we will 'learn' from them. Of course they are treated fairly nice there.

After Heinz explained everything, the question and answer session followed. The conference hall is in an uproar as everyone from the media threw questions towards Heinz and the higher ups. Of course, these questions carry some weight to them as Heinz answered it with full detail, satisfying the media. But two from all of the questions carry some sort of hype to them, as the the media expected for an answer.

First, regarding tourists, when are tourists be able to visit here? Lastly, could there be a potential conflict with other kingdoms in this new world? These questions made Heinz and the rest of the higher ups doubted and cannot answer immediately unlike other questions the media threw at them.

First of all, war is indeed possible. From what they understand, kingdoms in this continent are thirsty for domination, war, massacre, slavery and slaughter are common. As for the matter regarding tourism, the United Nations currently are still on an incognito mode towards to Schantilia KIngdom, and right now, no plans are held towards the tourism industry.

While the heated discussions are still on going, suddenly a man with a black suit entered the conference room and whispered something to Heinz Bismarck. Heinz then stood silent for a while, thinking something. Then, Heinz's lips curved upwards, revealing an eerie smile, then he whispered back to the man before leaving the hall. This scene caused a huge stir on the press.

Heinz Bismarck then discussed silently among the higher ups, and just like that, all the higher ups beside Heinz smiled too. What had actually happened the media thought.

"Ladies and gentleman, I would like to announce that there is currently a convoy of soldiers heading this way, numbering to about 100." Heinz announced.

Hearing this, the media was in an uproar again.

"We will use this given opportunity to show you to how we handle situations like this. We have the pleasure to show the media live footage." Heinz announced as he glared sharply at the media. After this, suddenly the huge screen behind Heinz turned on.

The media watched as live footage from aerial drones and hidden cameras showed seemingly an unsuspecting convoy walking through the valley following a wide dirt road. They endlessly walk, heading towards the closest village, Leißer. The camera then zoomed at these soldier's faces. It showed the facial features of this one certain soldier, he was carrying a sword, wearing a breastplate while riding on a horseback. Something interesting too could be spotted, the helmets they wear looked like a medieval spangenhelm, but what stood out was an odd single bull horn made out of metal attached to the right of the helmet, looking exactly like the portrayed viking helmets, though there were only one horn attached.

Suddenly helicopter sounds could be heard. This sound in fact alerted these men, they seemed to be confused and scared at the same time. The media watched as the daring scene unfold. The helicopters flew close to the ground, approaching the convoy of troops. As the troops saw these huge mysterious 'things' flying towards them, shock could be seen in the soldier's face. These helicopters wasted no time and directly fly close above them. The helicopters then sprayed some sort of gas to the soldiers below, the are helicopters making sure that everyone get their dose. After a while, the soldiers below began to lose consciousness and collapsed one by one, even their horses collapsed almost crushing some soldiers. Sleeping Gas! An extremely potent one too!

The scene that played in the big screen caused the media to explode, literally, like a balloon popping. Wild discussions started to emerge, the people who watched from their live TV could only gasp in agape. Even after the soldiers collapsed, the helicopters still gassed the unconscious bodies. After the helicopters emptied the gas canisters, suddenly a handful of United Nation's soldiers equipped with gas masks entered the scene.

They first helped the unconscious soldiers whom was almost crushed by a horse, they then shot a small dose of anesthesia to the unconscious soldiers to assure that they will not wake up before their designated detain facility. After being shot with anesthesia, the soldiers are piled carefully to a truck and directly headed towards the facility in our world. The process was done in just about an our or so before the UN personnel cleaned up the scene.

The scene that played in front of the media was confusing and surprising at the same time. Why would they use such tedious method to handle this matter?

Heinz who understood their concerns explained. "Let me clear up a few things for the media. I tell you, this is not a cheap method, in fact giving them sleeping gas is much more expensive then simply killing. Also, this is the only way we could capture them without shedding any blood, just think about it, we can't just simply point a gun at them and they'll surrender can they? Scaring them until they yield is also not a good method, they have horses, of course they will run away. Killing a running horse is easy, capturing is not."