19. Chapter 17 : Histoire brève

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, December 2nd 2016, 1430 Paris Time

« So… We are going to start with some scales. »

As every other Friday evening, the Library conference room was empty.

Or almost.

This time, an unusual public was listening to the unusual lecturers.

Sitting side by side in the middle of the stands were the Princess and the blonde knight, each of them holding a pen and pieces of paper, while on the stage the Daniella, Johann, Jordan and Anthony were standing next to the desk. A laptop was on the piece of furniture, and a video projector was projecting on the large white sheet a satellite picture of France.

« With our units, started the Lieutenant, the straight distance between Alnus and Italica is around one hundred kilometers. To give you a scale, this is the distance between Paris, here, and the city of Orléans, here. »

With a laser pointer, he created a small red dot that moved over the locations of the cities as he named them. The reaction he got from the two were nods and the sound of the pens that started rolling on the paper.

« Now let zoom out a little. »

He pressed the button on the small remote he was holding, and the picture was replaced by a larger political map.

« This is the continent of Europe. As you can see, France is here. Germany, where Sergeant Moltke comes from, is here and the United Kingdom, Staff Sergeant Trevis' country, is here. Other important countries include Spain, Switzerland, the countries of Scandinavia, Benelux countries… »

The red dot was still moving from country to country as the Lieutenant gave the names, and the pens were still rolling on the sheets of paper, creating words with both Latin and Saderan letters. When the two focused back on the soldiers, Jordan started to speak.

« Now you might have noticed that my country is missing, so we are going to zoom out again. »

Anthony pressed the button again and the projected picture changed again.

« This is the map of the entire world. If Alnus to Italica is a hundred kilometers, then the circumference of the planet is forty thousand kilometers. »

He stopped for a few seconds for dramatic effect as the two spectator's eyes widened. Falmart, what was the entire known land for them, wasn't even close to be half as big.

« And my country, the United States of America, is here. »

After another press on the button of the remote, a large blue shape appeared on the northern part of the western continent. It was possibly larger than the Empire itself, even without including the territory that also turned blue to the north east.

« But we will go back to it later, continued Daniella as she took the remote from Anthony's hand. Now we go back two thousand years ago. »

The map refocused on Europe, but with only large red country represented, surrounding the southern interior sea that was called the "Mediterranean Sea" and reaching the islands of the United Kingdom to the north. It size was comparable to the Empire.

« This… Is the Roman Empire at its largest. »

This name immediately grabbed the attention of the two women. This was the common point between the histories of the two worlds.

« After centuries of conquests, Rome had united European territories under the control of one government to bring the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, over the land. And what were not theirs were just empty territories populated by barbarians. And from what we heard, your Empire has been doing the same thing in your world, am I right ? »

The princess only answered with a nod. For hundreds of years, the military might of the Empire had served as a deterrent for any vassal that dared to conquer other lands.

« Well after four centuries of domination, only the eastern Byzantine Empire remained, though culturally and religiously different, and the western territories were split up between barbarians kingdoms that slowly changed and became powerhouses like France, the Holy Germanic Roman Empire or England. It is the start of the era we call the Middle Ages. »

Several slides showed the evolution of borders during this period.

« We are quickly passing over this period, but if I had to resume it in one word, it would be "War". Whether it is religious crusades or simple territorial conquests, the history of the continent was made on hundreds of battlefields. »

The British turned towards Johann that grabbed the remote from her hand.

« We date the end of the Middle Ages at the end of the fifteenth century with the start of the Renaissance. One main event that marked this transition is the discovery of an entire new continent in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The main things there are to remember from this period are the birth of the Colonial Empires, the ancestors of the rifle started to be used, fortifications started to slowly disappear, the new territories were slowly discovered and France and England really hated each other. »

That last statement made Anthony and Daniella share a look. The Lieutenant passed his thumb over his throat and the Staff Sergeant hissed like an angry cat before both starting to laugh. The princess raised a curious eyebrow, but was interrupted by Johann before she even asked her question.

« Also, the vast majority of the painting you saw this morning came from this period. But I digress. We fast forward a little to end up at the middle of the eighteenth century. »

The map zoomed on Northern America, where three large red, blue and yellow shapes were represented over the western territories.

« Those, continued Jordan, are the territories of the three main colonial empires in America in 1756 with France, Great Britain and Spain. After a seven year war, Britain came on top. But a few decades later, some changes in taxation laws cause unrest and a feeling of independence started to appear. And in 1775, in the state of Massachusetts, the War of Independence started. »

He stopped, letting Pina and Boses finish taking notes. When the two raised their heads, the American nodded in the direction of Johann, still holding the remote, and the map was replaced by a picture of a large and green open field.

« Now I'm going to show you an extract of a movie called "The Patriot" that shows how battle were fought at the time. Keep in mind that those are actors and it's a reenactment of a battle. »

A light hearted music played by a fife and drums started to be heard, and on both side of the screen, two armies started to appear. With the shots switching from one to the other, Pina understood who were who.

The American were wearing dirty blue uniform and the lack of experience was visible on their face, while the British in bright clean red were looking way more confident.

The two armies were walking in rows with uniforms made in no way to camouflage them, and yet all of them were holding rifles, much to the Princess' confusion.

Suddenly the two groups and the music stopped, and the soldiers on the front rows knelt down, shouldering their rifles.

And before anyone could ask themselves what was going to happen, large clouds of white smoke exited the barrels of the rifles, and a large number of men in blue fell to the ground wounded or killed. From time to time, a group of three or four would disappear behind a large cloud of smoke and dirt as a heavy projectile hit the ground.

In the end, it was what felt like the perfect balance between the fighting styles of both worlds.

The scene disappeared, the map from earlier taking its place on the screen.

« Now at that time, France was very angry at Great Britain because of all the territories lost after the Seven Year war. So King Louis XVI jumped on the occasion to piss off the British and helped the American insurgents by sending men, money and equipment. And in the end, it paid off. In 1783, the war was over, and The United Stated of America were independent. »

« But France, continued Anthony, was engulfed in a heavy economic crisis at the time. The King had enormous debts, and to find a solution, in 1789, he summoned the Etats Généraux, an assembly of representatives from the three component of French society at the time : the nobility, the clergy and the Tiers-Etat, including the common people. The problem was that despite representing only a minority of the population, the clergy and the nobility was holding half of the decision power. So, the representatives of the Tiers Etat started to meet outside of the official session in what they called The National Assembly. They promised to give France a text of law to base the political power on : a Constitution. But as members of the other groups started to join them and sympathy for the Assembly rose in the collective opinion, the King took measures to try keeping things under control. But it had the complete opposite effect, and on July 14th, an angry and armed mob stormed the Bastille, a prison and stronghold in the center of Paris that was a symbol of Royal authority. During the rest of the year, militias pillaged castles and palaces all over the country, leading the National Assembly to ban feudalism and bring everyone on an equal footing. And, still in 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen was published. This text is really important, even today, as it represent a base for all the other laws. Its first article reads "All men are born and remain free and equal in rights." »

For Pina and Boses, every word said by this man were golden, and all the information that he was giving had to be transcribed on paper.

« At first, the revolutionary wanted a constitutional monarchy, a king and a parliament sharing the power. And officially, the King itself declared that he was approving such an idea. But in reality, he wanted the power only to himself, and tried to flee to Austrian territories to the east, but he failed and was brought back to Paris. And from that point, the revolution turned into a blood bath. »

The silence that fell on the room was heavy, almost uncomfortable.

« Tension between revolutionary faction and war declared by a coalition of kingdoms against France led up to a lot of people dying, whether on the battlefield or by the guillotine. And in 1793, the parliament decided to completely destroy the monarchy, and the former King was executed shortly after for High Treason. »

Almost at the same time, the two nobles gasped in shock. They had never feared being executed for whatever reason, the might of the Empire protecting them from aggressors and keeping revolts down. But here, the people rose up and took the power away from the ones that held it for so long.

« The instability continued, and in 1799 a Coup d'Etat orchestrated by a general named Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the First Republic to create The Consulate, that became The First French Empire five years later, in 1805. The revolution started with a monarchy and ended with an Empire. The instability continued throughout the nineteenth century, with two monarchies, a second republic and even a second empire succeeding themselves up until 1870, when the Third Republic started, finally bringing stability to the country. But the rest of the continent wasn't really stable… »

For a few seconds, he stopped to think about his next words under the curious look of the two knights.

« Tensions between countries were at an all-time high, and everyone was on the path to war, trying to develop the best weapon to crush their rivals and waiting for the spark that will ignite the powder. And in 1914, the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist plunged the world in chaos. Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia before declaring war, and by the game of alliances, the whole continent was engulfed in the First World War. For the first few months, the fronts were moving, and everyone was certain to be back home by the end of the year. But the fronts stopped, and on both side they dug trenches and raided to capture the other side. I'm going to show you another movie extract to show you how battles were fought. »

On the screen, the map showing the borders of the year 1914 disappeared, letting place to what looked like a muddy trench made of wood planks and sand bags. Two men, apparently an officer and a soldier, were walking down the pathway. Overhead, they could hear the sounds of explosions every few seconds. The two arrived next to a group of soldiers, all holding their wooden rifles, waiting along the parapet. The officer started to give his orders in French to the soldiers, every one of them having fear in their eyes.

And then, the sound of explosion ended.

The officer whispered something to himself before blowing in his whistle.

The group of soldier started to roar as they climbed up the ladders and stepped outside the trenches, finally revealing the exterior to the audience.

The earth was grey, burnt by thousands of explosions that created an incalculable number of craters, bodies from previous attacks still lying in puddles of mud and blood.

The French started to charge in the direction of the German lines…

And a few seconds after, they started to die.

The young men were engulfed in a chaos of artillery and machine gun fire, one falling after the other, either dead or mortally wounded.

The scene unfolded in front of the knights' eyes for several minutes. Both were shocked by the brutality and by the pain. Even by the standards of people that always fought close to the enemy, it was completely horrific.

When the carnage stopped and the map returned on screen, the two were completely paralyzed, their hand in front of their mouths.

« Now imagine this happening on a daily basis, over several front, for four years. In the end, more than eighteen million people died, soldiers and civilians. And no one really crushed the other. Both sides agreed on a peace treaty because nobody had any resources left. So an Armistice was signed on November eleventh, 1918 and everyone met in Versailles in early 1919 to discuss peace. And somehow, everyone agreed that Germany was the main cause of the war and should pay compensations to everyone. After that, a few years passed, and the economic situation in Germany was terrible. Promising jobs for everyone, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party democratically rose to power, and after careful manipulations, created the Third German Reich, claiming to unite all the German populations that had been unfairly separated by the Versailles Treaty. Austria and Czechoslovakia had already been annexed by 1939, and the next territory on the list was Danzig, owned by Poland in between two pieces of Germany. They asked for it, and when Poland refused, Germany declared war on Poland. Seeing such a clear violation on the 1919 treaty, France and Britain declared war on Germany and its allies. And in less than a year, thanks to the important use of armored vehicles and air strikes, the Blitzkrieg, the Reich took all the territories they wanted, forced France to surrender and contained the United Kingdom on the British Isles. But, unhappy with what they already had, the Germans started to advance into Soviet Russia. »

Anthony stopped for a second, looking around if anyone wanted to take the relay. Daniella sighed before standing up.

« Meanwhile, she continued, the United States were looking from a distance, sending aid and supplies but not getting directly involved. It changed when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in their quest of domination over the Pacific Ocean. The US declared war on the Axis and joined the fight in Europe and in the Pacific, but Germany still had the upper hand. Then, the year 1942 rolled in, and the tide of the war changed. Major defeats in Russia and the first Allied landings in Northern Africa are the witness of such a change. The following year, the Russian Army started to push the Germans outside of Russian territory while the Allies performed several landing operations in Sicily. The Reich was losing more and more ground every day, and this trend continued into 1944. As the Russians started to enter into Germany, they came across an awful sight. »

She stopped, and several slides made up of several photographs appeared on the screen. The look of shock and disgust reappeared on the faces of the two knights as they looked at the images of morbidly skinny men, piled up corpses and awful living conditions.

« Extermination camps. Racial genocide brought to the industrial level… And why did those people were killed ? Because they were practicing a particular religion that was transformed into a scapegoat. Between the start of the "final solution" policy in 1941 and the liberation of the camps, six millions Jews died in the gas chambers. »

Daniella stopped for a second, letting the number sink in. Pillaging or enslaving the races of beast men wasn't uncommon in the Empire, but what the Princess and Boses just learnt was indescribable, painful to watch, horrible.

« Meanwhile, she continued, the war was continuing, and the Allied planned an invasion of France thanks to amphibious assaults. After days of bombings, sabotages and intelligence gathering, the most important mission of the war started. Operation Overlord. We are going to show you one last extract, this time coming from the movie "Saving Private Ryan", showing the first American troops landing on Omaha Beach. »

Again, the map disappeared, letting place to soldiers packed inside metal landing barges. They were silent, focused or too terrified to say a word, and the deep rumbling of the engine was the only sound one could hear.

Then the engine sound stopped, the large door of the barge opened…

And death started to rain.

For several minutes, everything was chaos, yells of pain, explosions, screams of terror and gun fire. Young men were literally throwing their lives in front of the enemy without almost any possibility to fight back. Limbs were flying, blood was raining, soldiers were dying and the survivors were crying.

The carnage stopped when a cloud of white smoke appeared in front of the entrenched positions, and the video disappeared.

« A month later, Paris was liberated and the western front started to close on German borders, and by late spring 1945, the Red Army was at the gates of Berlin. In their bunker, Hitler and some of the most important ministers committed suicide, and the ones left in charge decided to surrender, ending the fighting in Europe. But the war wasn't over yet… Japan was not surrendering despite losing all their conquered islands to the United States Marines… In the summer, the United State command was planning a full invasion of the Japanese mainland, but it was going to be costly in lives and extend the war for at least another year. So they asked for the Japanese surrender. But, for honor, the Japanese emperor refused. So, as a last resort before the full invasion, they utilized the most powerful weapon ever created and used by mankind : the nuclear bomb. »

A large mushroom shaped cloud appeared on the screen, but without anything to compare it with, the two listeners hadn't got the scope yet.

« On August 6th, 1945, the B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" dropped the A bomb "Little Boy", which was containing sixty-four kilograms of uranium. The explosion itself killed around seventy thousand people, and everything was destroyed in a twelve kilometers radius. Three days later, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, killing thirty-five thousand. On the fourteenth, Japan officially surrendered. A war that had started in Eastern Europe over a port city ended six years later at the other side of the world by the use of two weapons of mass destruction, causing the death of an estimated seventy million people in the process. »

The numbers were so big that Pina and Boses couldn't really grasp their true scale. But one thing was sure : these numbers were enormous.

Johann looked at his watch before loudly clearing his throat, dragging the attention towards him.

« Now, you might have noticed something, Your Highness. My country went to war with their countries two times in less than a century, and yet now we are allies. Despite all of those deaths, now we are not willing to fight each other. And today's enemies are not old rivals. It is because we learnt from our history, and we are trying not to repeat the same mistakes. The French Revolution showed us how unstable a country is after a brutal government change, the First World War was the perfect example of how far war can go and the Second one taught us that a single man with enough determination can engulf the entire world into chaos. So instead of blaming the Germans and the Japanese, the Allied decided to rebuild their countries with them, hand in hand. We don't have time, so we can't talk about the Cold War, but to sum it up in one word, America and Russia really hated each other but never fought one another directly because they thought they were so powerful they'd destroy themselves mutually in the process. It ended a little more than thirty years ago and now we are in a relatively stable world with some minor threats like… »

The German was interrupted by the sound of the large double doors of the conference room opening, revealing Bonisseur, his agent, Mathis and the three refugees.

« Well… Looks like class is over. » simply stated Anthony as he took back the flash drive from the laptop and pressed the shutdown button.

« Yup, answered Bonisseur his usual smirk, and you better hurry or else we are going to be late. »

The group made their way outside the conference room and started to walk in the direction of the parking lot.

« Let me guess, launched Anthony to his brother, Lelei wanted to read about science, Tuka was interested in art and for Rory… it was religion and military equipment. »

« You know them that well ? » answered a surprised Mathis as Pierre and Marc both nodded.

« Oh when you don't have anything else to do but guard a small camp for weeks, you start to know them… »

The soldiers shared a laugh, and small talk reappeared in the group.

As they arrived next to the parked minivan, Anthony noticed the pile of book Lelei was carrying, and to no surprise the words "Physics", "Chemistry" and "Mathematics" were present on the majority of covers.

« And what are we going to do next ? » asked Rory with her giggly voice full of excitement.

Bonisseur sighed, thinking about what the soldiers had went through with her constantly with them for several weeks, before answering.

« We are going to the train station. »

« What ? The Austerlitz train station ? »

The surprised voice echoed through the almost empty room.

« Yes Boss ! nervously answered the other man. My contact continued to follow them after they left the Library, and now they entered the train station. »

« What are they trying to achieve ? They are leaving the city ? »

For the first time, the group wasn't in a force position, and the enemy had the advantage.

« I don't understan… started the second man but was interrupted by his cellphone vibrating again. Oh… They've just got on a train to… Toulouse ? What ? »

« So they are really leaving the city… They'll probably disembark somewhere safe and pass the night there before quickly returning here tomorrow. Tell him to follow them on the train and find where they go. »

« Right away, Boss ! »

As the man started to quickly type a text on his smartphone, the Boss looked at several printed photographs taken by the contact during the day.

The four soldiers, the three targets, some unidentified men probably acting as bodyguards, and two unidentified women, one having a strange shade of red hair.

« I have to admit, he whispered to himself, they are bold. But is it really the best strategy ? »

In front of him, a list of names was pinned to a board. The amount of information one can find on the social media being so important, an almost complete bio was printed next to the soldier's names. There was a strange diversity for such a small group.

One last time, he looked at the picture of "the Demon", as they called her. Everything in her was demonic, imitating a child to deceive the men, but the hellish red of her eyes made clear that she was not a force of good.

If someone ought to kill her, it was them.

He also quickly looked over the portraits of the other two targets : "the Witch" and "the Elf".

« Boldness or not… You are going to meet your fate soon… »

Inn "Le Chateau des Bois", A few kilometers north of Orléans, December 2nd 2016, 1805 Paris Time

« Whoah… You really have chosen that… For us ? »

As the group was exiting the grey minivan that had picked them up at the train station.

They were in the front courtyard a seventeenth century castle, isolated in the woods. Behind them, the large gates allowing access from the only road leading to it were still open.

The train trip had been free of any noticeable events, the soldiers answering questions that the refugees or the knights had up their minds.

« I guess you'll have to thank the Defense Minister for that. » answered Bonisseur with a small smirk.

As the guests and the soldiers were discovering their new environment, a man dressed like an employee of the gite opened the front door of the building and made his way down the large stairs.

When he arrived at the level of the group, he started to talk with a smile.

« Good evening. I hope you all had a good trip. Welcome to our gite. You can call me Sergei. I will show you your rooms. »

« Have fun ! » launched Bonisseur as he turned around and started to walk back to the front passenger seat of the minivan.

« You don't stay with us ? » asked Marc with a raised eyebrow.

« Oh I don't need to… We have eyes watching you everywhere. »

No one answered as the engine roared and the minivan left by the small road, the gates shortly closing behind it.

With a hand sing, Sergei invited the group to follow him inside the large building.

Its interior was architecturally similar to the museum, but his interior was more accommodated to welcome guests.

After climbing up to flight of stairs, the man stopped in front of a long corridor with several similar doors on each sides.

« Those are your rooms. There is one for each of you. »

He pointed out to everyone the ones that had been assigned to them, the most luxurious ones going to the Pina, Boses and the refugees.

As they started to make themselves comfortable, Anthony sat on the large bed of his room, staring at the forest down below. The scenery was really similar to Alnus Hill, the only difference being the lack of a hilly terrain.

Again, a flow of memory from the first hours of the initial assault came back in his mind. He sighed and opened his bag, looking for his phone charger.

« Aw shit ! Are you kidding me ? » suddenly said Jordan, that had the room in font of Anthony's, loud enough to be heard through the corridor.

« What's going on ? » asked Anthony as he made his way to where the Texan was.

Jordan was next to the window of his room. Before asking his question once again, the Lieutenant took a glance to see what the American was watching.

Grafted to the one of the wing of the castle was a large glass structure, protecting a square swimming pool from the elements.

« Hadn't expected to see a swimming pool here… » let out Anthony.

« I know right, answered Jordan. Too bad we don't have any… »

« Swimwear ? interrupted Sergei causing the two to rapidly turn towards the door that was still open. Do not worry about that. They will be provided to you. »

The two soldiers shared a curious look.

« You serious ? »

« Absolutely serious. »

And that's how, fifteen minutes later, the entire group ended up in the pool of heated water.

Inside the changing rooms, the men had found black swimming trunks while the women were given one-piece swimsuits of the same black color.

It wasn't a true swimming pool, and more of a relaxation tub. For the princess and Boses, it was really a familiar experience as they often went to the hot springs that could be found near the Imperial Capital, even if having to wear those stretchy clothes were making them a little uncomfortable.

Everyone stayed silent, finally able to enjoy calm and rest in the comfort of the hot water as the sky slowly turned black and a light snow started to fall on the glass canopy, only to melt on contact with the hotter material.

« So ? Your impressions ? »

The refugees and the knights looked at each other to see who was going to answer first.

Being probably the most important of the group, Pina was the first to answer.

« Overall… It was beyond my expectations on all the subjects. This world is at the same time very different from ours, yet really familiar. Everything is different, yet the same. We… »

She stopped for a second, thinking about how to end her sentence.

« We are far from different, and peace should be what links our countries. »

Boses, who was sitting directly next to her, simply nodded as a sign of agreement.

The elf was the next to answer with her almost permanent smile.

« It sure is really different from the forest. Even what are for us big cities like Italica are just small towns for you. The only complaint I can have was that the air was a little hard to breathe at first, but I got used to it. I can't wait for my dad to see this one day. »

Despite the happy tone, the soldiers knew the story behind it and shared a look as to tell that nothing must be said for the moment.

« The advances you have made in science in a few hundred years are truly incredible, continued Lelei that had been toying with a small water bubble for a few minutes. Knowing how matter works is going to greatly improve my capabilities of modifying it with my magic. »

Finally, there was Rory. Everyone was eager to hear what she had on her mind.

« It was fun. » she simply answer in a giggle.

« Just… Fun ? » asked Johann, not sure if the few words were actually her answer.

« Yeah. Fun. Especially with that senator. He almost asked for it. »

The memory of the summon was still fresh in everyone's mind, and remembering such a verbal burn was enough to bring a smile on the faces.

And with that started small talk, the last questions being asked and the slow realization that the break was over the day after.

« This is Fantôme 3. All the VIPs confirmed in the pool. I repeat. All the VIPs confirmed in the pool. »

« Copy that, Fantôme 3. Maintain overwatch. »

As the sound of the radio operator died in his ear plug, Soul looked at the small watch on his wrist. The night was just starting, and it was probably going to be a long one.

VIP protection isn't a kind of mission that the 13e RDP often do, and Soul had yet to hear the true reason for why they had been chosen over more specialized teams. Something about hiding this as a training had been the most probable rumor, but nothing was confirmed.

« Yo Soul. » suddenly whispered the man that was lying next to him.

« What Fünf ? » he sighed.

In a similar situation, he would have told his teammate to shut up, but here boredom was really close. So a small discussion wasn't really bad.

« Do you believe in that nine hundred years old demigoddess bullshit ? »

« To be honest, so far we have encountered a copy of the Roman Empire, dragons, elves, magic and beast men. I'm not believing it just yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be true. »

« Yeah… I still think it's complete bullshit. » laughed Fünf before gluing his eyes back on his binoculars.

A few minutes passed as Soul looked around inside the forest, searching for threats that were probably nonexistent.

« Oh putain ! » suddenly exclaimed Fünf.

« What ? »

« She… She looked at me… » the younger soldier faltered.

« The fuck are you talking about… They can't see us. » answered Soul as he took his own binoculars.

But when a closer image of the interior of the glass structure appeared in front of his eyes, he quickly swallowed his last words.

The only thing he could really see were the two red eyes directly looking at him. The look was intense, and it was clearly headed towards the two men hidden under their green suits.

« Bordel de merde… » he simply let out, unable to detach his eyes from hers.

« How is she doing that ? » asked Fünf not really expecting an answer.

« Do you need another proof to believe that she's not normal ? »

Through the goggles, Souls saw her smirk like to mock the failed attempt at camouflaging before she returned to her conversation with the other VIPs.

A long silence remained between the two before Soul ordered his teammate to check the small cameras they had installed in the castle park.

It was really going to be a long night.

A few hours had passed after the group had left the swimming pool.

Almost immediately, Sergei had shown them the direction of the dinner room, and in an almost perfect respect of an untold French tradition, the dinner had lasted forever.

Anthony left the table as soon as he finished his dessert and headed to his room.

At the moment the door closed, he took his phone out of his pocket. He looked for a contact and put his finger next to the call button, but he doubted for a few seconds.

The Lieutenant took a deep breath and pressed the button, his cardiac rhythm rising, before putting the phone next to his ear.

The line ringed two times, and the voice of a woman took place of the dialing sound.

« Allô ? »

« Hi mom… It's me, simply said Anthony. I finally have a little of time to call you. »

« Anthony ! How are you doing ? Where are you ? »

The voice of his mom was reassuring to the Lieutenant, and his heart returned to normal.

« I'm fine, but I can't tell you where I am. Security measures… How long has it been since we last talked ? »

« If we don't count the texts… It's been almost a month. Since you deployed, everyone has been worrying about you… Even your uncle wanted to know how you were going. »

He let out a small laugh. His uncle had always been what can be called an extreme pacifist, and his relation with him had been at an all-time low ever since Anthony had entered Saint-Cyr.

« Anthony. I'm serious about this. I know that you are probably happy doing this, but you have to understand it's not easy for us. Every time I see a patient, they talk about you and the Special Region. And it's hard. »

« I know, he sighed, be someone has to do it. We can't just close the doors of that giant dome, sweep the corpses under the rug and pretend nothing happened. And you are worrying too much. That Dragon is the only really dangerous thing, and we injured him enough he won't mess with us again. »

There was a small silence, and Anthony thought he heard a faint noise through the phone, like a really soft sobbing.

« Mom… If I had more time, I would have come to Limoges to pay you all a little visit. And right now the only thing I can say is that I am alright. »

Again, there was silence.

« It's late, she simply said. I'm working tomorrow morning. So goodnight, honey. Love you. »

« Goodnight mom. »

The phone ringed three time, indicating the end of the call, and Anthony put back his phone in his pocket.

After a few seconds, he stood up, exited his room and headed towards a large pair of doors on the first floor.

When he opened it, what he saw was disturbing if taken out of context.

A basketball game on television, a princess trying for the first a beverage bearing the same name as her, a lot of bottles of alcohol opened on the tables and the rest of the group half drunk.

A beer being shoved in his hands was the last thing remembers from this unconventional party before his memories started to drown in alcohol.

« Fantôme 3, Fantôme 4, this is Fantôme Actual. I have two large thermal signatures in the woods, south of your position. Go and verify. Over. »

Soul sighed of relief, there was finally something coming that was more interesting than watching people through the windows.

« Copy that. Moving south. »

The two dark figures stood up and, silently, they started to progress in that direction. After a few minutes, they finally started to see their targets through their night vision googles.

Two crouched men dressed in black clothes and wearing balaclavas. They were completely unaware that they were watched as they slowly walked towards the castle.

« Fantôme 3 here, started Soul on the radio. Confirmed contact on two men heading towards the house… Oh shit ! »

He just stopped as he made a terrifying discovery.

« What is it ? » buzzed his earpiece.

« They are both armed with hunting rifles. I repeat the contacts are armed. Are we clear to engage ? »

« Merde ! Eliminate them ! Quickly ! »

« Copy. 3 and 4, engaging. »

The two men never saw what it them as they fell on the ground, dead. Soul and Fünf stood up and checked if they were clear before searching the two bodies.

In the end, they found walkie-talkies, two pistols and a lot of ammunition for the four weapons to make a lot of damage.

« Shit, cursed Soul before grabbing his radio. Fantôme Actual, Fantôme 3. Targets eliminated. And I don't think they had peaceful intentions. Over. »

« Copy, answered the voice on the other side of the radio. 5 and 6 also engaged targets. Be very careful. I'll inform you when I'll have additional targets. »

The transmission ended, but before the two operators could even breathe, another voice rose, this time from the walkie-talkie Fünf was still holding.

« Karim ? How far are you from the objective ? »

The two looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

« Karim ? Zacharia ? Shit, nobody's answering… »

The voice stopped and a few seconds passed. Soul was about to report the event to his superior, the voice of said superior appeared in his earpiece.

« Fantôme Actual to all Fantôme elements. Return to the castle immediately ! We are under attack ! »

Anthony had started to get used to waking up brutally after nightmares. But this time, it was not as usual. He had not seen Paris during his sleep, but Italica. It wasn't the sight of the deadly wounded woman that had caused him to wake up, but the explosions coming from rockets fired by helicopters.

After the blurriness of his vision and the confusion wore off, he took a look around. He had been lying on one of the couches of the large living room of the castle. All around him were the rest of the group, sleeping under the effects of alcohol on the other couches or on the large rug.

The Lieutenant stopped looking around as he started to really fell the hangover.

That, combined with the way he woke up, made him stand up and take a few steps towards the large glass panels of the bay window, avoiding the empty bottles on the ground. He needed to take a big breath of fresh air.

He closed the glass door behind him as the cold engulfed him. It was exactly what he wanted. But when he turned around, he realized he was right next to Rory, leaning on the balcony guardrail, a glass of whiskey in her hands.

The two remained silent for a few minutes, before Anthony broke the silence as she took a sip of her drink.

« It will always feel weird seeing someone looking like a kid drinking alcohol. »

The answer from the Apostle came after another small silence.

« After my ascension to godhood, I will be able to take any physical form I will like. But in exchange I will lose the demands and pleasures of the flesh. So I try to enjoy them as much as I still can. »

Both had spoke in a perfect and natural French.

Anthony didn't know what to say, thinking about whether it was a fair deal or not. But he stopped when he heard Rory sigh.

It wasn't a sigh of exasperation or relief, but more like a sigh of pleasure.

« People are dying really close to here. » she simply said, her cheeks slightly turning red.

Immediately, the images of Elkader explaining what had happened at Italica returned in Anthony's memory, and he realized what was going on.

« Oh merde… » he whispered to himself as he saw Rory sighing for a second time and her hands started to shake.

Suddenly, down the road, the faint noise of engines appeared down the road.

Vehicle were coming, and they were not slowing down.

And before any of the two could react, a large van rammed through the courtyard metal gate, followed by two SUVs.

Rory smiled.

Automatic rifles started firing.

The glass of the bay window shattered.

And a man yelled "Allahu Akbar".

Thanks for reading Chapter 17 of Gate : Opération Marteau de Justice.

First, I'm going to say it right away, but the last sentence of this chapter is not supposed to be islamophobic in any way. I know that a majority of the readers, in the wake of the last two years in France, will perfectly understand that, given the situtation of this story and the fact that someone affirms that deiteis exist, an armed commando of radical religious extremist is the best way to "fix" the nationalistic mess that is Hakone. But I'm sure two or three would have accused me of islamophobia without even trying to understand.

Now on to better news, OMJ has now a hundred followers. I'd like to thank all of you for that. I started to write just for fun, posting it here hoping a few people would find it interresting. But I wasn't expecting such a success. Now OMJ is followed by what is, at least from my perspective, a lot of people. I'd like to also thank those who write reviews with constructive criticism. It helped me getting better at writing stories and I can see the gap that there is between the earliest chapters and now.

So I announce right now that after the release of next chapter, that will see the return to the SR, I will pause writing new chapter while I rework on the first half of the story that really needs a new overall.

Also I managed to write more than seven thousand words here. I can't say if it will be a new standard, but it's by a large margin my longest chapter.

But now it is time for the reviews.

007 - I know right ? It's just that it doesn't look incredible anymore because we grew used to it, but still it's pretty darn impressive to have so many products available in one store.

SpudyPotato and others - Thanks for the explanation of Murphy's law. Never knew that "if it can, it will go wrong" had an actual name.

Guest - LaPointe is the name of the General leading Task Force 108 in AC:AH, a game that I find fun but not a true Ace Combat game.

Other Guest - "Yo Buddy, still alive ?"

recordman and Celestia's Paladin - I hope I made a good job at summing up the history of Europe well enough to show how terrible it was. I think it's something that Yanai could have made to turn this part of the source material into something interesting.