Power Struggle

[Taley]

Salvation Army Camp
Zagora Mountains
Zamosk Oblast

Davizzo and Cornelio followed the Salvationists to the camp. Here they were among the faithful. The same faithful that they were here to to help. The two were treated well by the Salvationists and were given water and food. After waiting for half hour the two Talemantines were brought to Colonel Averin. Vitti wearing his mud splattered bishop's robes.

"Gracious Colonel. I am Davizzo Vitti, Bishop of Suacia. I assist the Ecumenical Patriarch in overseeing our church. I come here to pass along some words of his holiness. Our Patriarch has kept you, all of you, in his prayers every day and he continues to call God to your aid. His holiness has sent me to convey his blessing to your cause and to offer his hand in brotherhood. He asks that you keep the faith and remain vigilant and he will bring a holy army of God to protect you and rain fire from the heavens against the pagans. As a sign of more to come, we have brought a gift to help."

Cornelio opened the briefcase he had been carrying to show it filled with over a million Talemantine Lire. "His majesty and his holiness give you this offering," said Cornelio, "to use as you see fit. We can bring you arms and men to defend against the pagans."

Davizzo offered his hand to Averin. "May our faith win out." Colonel Averin took Vitti's hand and the agreement was made.

 

[Natal]

Hunting Circumstances I
Malin, Malin Prefecture, Zamosk Oblast

“I am a Christian. I believe in God, I fear God. But I must know that I do not face God only before I die. While I am still alive, I know that is my mission to fight the rebels and if needed to break the Ten Commandments, I will gladly do it, knowing that I served the country. The ProNat cannot fight an unseen enemy. As one commander of the ProNat once said, we need our tools. Can a farmer work the field without the tractor? Can a turner work without a lathe? Those men need tools. Soldiers have their tools. The ProNat also needs tools. Its tools are the informers. The agency needs those men, as humans need air.”

Lieutenant-of-ProNat Claudiu Lazarev was silently listening to the speech of the Commissar-of-Prefecture Kosmas and was smiling for himself. He is a step ahead of him. The remains of the Salvation Army have taken a guerrilla style of fighting. To catch them, he needed a man inside their ranks. One man who would inform him of the impending attacks of the Army. But before taking any action, he needed to follow the orders of Kosmas and hunt the families of the members of the Salvation Army. This move would make them imprudent and even having them attacking in a desperate way and to be defeated.

After the briefing on their mission, Lazarev and two officers returned to the village of Lower Malin. After a two hours trip home, he went to the ProNat Department. There he received a message from his informants, on where, the families of many of the Salvation Army members were living. This was phase one of his plan. To hunt their families, so that they would come out of their lairs and try to defend them. This will be their doom. While he was in his office looking on the list of addresses, he saw it. The place of where Averin’s family was living was in the nearby village, Upper Malin. As the other village was considerably smaller that Lower Malin, it didn’t had a police department of a ProNat one. Lazarev was shocked how, could his nemesis’ family live in a village under his jurisdiction and he only now discovered it. After he finished some paperwork he ordered one of his men to report to him, when the informant in the Salvation Army will give more information about their moves. Also, he needed to know if the Salvation Army had any contact with outside forces. As the Talemantines declined the non-aggression treaty, he was sure that they or Engellexic agents would help them.

Tomorrow, would be the day when the hunt will begin.