The Tale of a Crow

[C r o w]

(Author's note: this story, written by my hand, will be used to build up a more explanatory and wide background for my RP character, so that I won't be annoying future story threads with my character telling the story of his life and main points, as it could result in being an annoyance for the other writers.
I dare to write such a piece since I have already seen examples of such throughout the Cantina.
I'll try to release as many chapters as fast as I can.
This awfully long story is to substitute the character bio that is in another thread, since I changed a lot of ideas since then.
TEXT WALLS ARE BOUND TO HAPPEN, THE READER MAY SUFFER BRAIN DAMAGE, BUT THAT WOULDN'T BE MY FAULT
(Maybe it would be my grammar's...)
Also, constructive comments about how to improve my writing are always well accepted.
Note also that this style of writing is precisely intended to tell a story by myself,
in "co-op" stories I'll try to use a less heavy and long-winded style of story telling (obviously).
About the clothes now, since I know I'll be too lazy to describe them later: in the first phase imagine the main protagonist with any kind of nobleman clothing from the XVI century. In chapter 3 he's wearing the armor presented for the Baronies in the alliance artwork, only withou the silly helmet. By chapter 4 onwards he has an armor like the one used by the NCR elite rangers from Fallout: NV, with the same kind of helmet and gas mask, all painted black, with a crimson crow emblazoned on the back of his coat.

Enjoy the text wall story!

[C r o w]

Prologue
Cainhurst Castle, homestead of the Cainhurst family, Barony of Ravenrook

The day was nearing its end, and the sun was already descending behind the high ridges of the fjords.
*clang*
With a strong sound of metal clashing against metal sword trough the air, sent flying a few meters far from its wielder.
"Stop! I yield!" said a young and tired voice, as his sword touched the ground
Standing in front of the young weaponless opponent stood another boy, tall, slim, blond haired, pointing his saber towards the defeated opponent.
Both were breathing heavily.
"Y...*pant*...you managed even to disarm me...*pant*...usually you go for a killing blow...*pant*...this was...unexpected."
After this words, the one that was standing tree beside him his sword and sat down in front of the defeated boy.
"*pant pant* You were good too, you actually managed to see trough my feint."
"Nay, I just was badly positioned, wasn't for the strength of your blow, probably I would have fallen face-first into the dirt."
After he said that they both boasted laughing.
"Better get back to the castle, I'm getting hungry, it should be nearing dinner-time, here let me giv'ya a hand" said the victorious boy after getting back up on his feet and pointing ingredients his hand toward his fellow.
After getting his friend up, they both picked up their own swords and headed back to the castle.
"Sure the sword master is happy to have such talented apprentices!" Said the other boy. "He sure is, Astelan, but I highly doubt feels the same about my shooting skills..." Replied the boy with a saber.
"You are still thinking about when you really missed the broadside of a galleon? Don't worry, you'll find a way someday to compensate that horrible aim of yours with handguns!"
"Yeah... Sure"
"Hey, cheer up! At least you don't have to start practice to behave like a politician like my father is!" Tried to comeback Astelan.
"Well, instead it looks like I'm already copying the situation of our fathers, the Lord and his most trusted Companion"
"When I'll be lord and all the castle will be mine, you shall be my right hand, my champion, THE champion of Cainhurst!" Said Astelan enthusiastically.
"Mhh, sure it is a nice plan."

[C r o w]

Chapter 1 (one)
Cainhurst Castle, homestead of the Cainhurst family, Barony of Ravenrook

Outside the day was cold, dark, and cloudy, a powerful snowstorm was passing over the fjords, and only the most brave and the most foolish airship pilots would dare to take off, while everybody else sealed themselves at home for the time being.

Deep inside the castle walls all kind of sounds could be heard, servants carrying out their various tasks, noblemen and women discussing, cooks cooking... But one sound in particular was easier to catch amidst all of these, and it was the clashing of swords coming from the castle barracks.
*clang*
"Higher!"
*clang*
"Keep your guard higher damnit!"
*clang*
"What the..."
*toc*
And like that there was one less sound in the castle.
In the training area of the barracks, where the duel took place there was a little crowd of watchers, all with the same surprised expression on their faces.
An old man was standing with a sword hilt in his hand, sweat pouring out of him like never before, and a hilt less blade a few meters behind him.
In front of him, still in the position that he took after the swing, a boy, tall and slim, breathing heavily, with a saber in his hands.
"You actually managed to defeat ME?!?!? What kind of dirty trick did you use???"
The boy, staying calm and taking a relaxed position replied:
"You were putting too much stress on the blade, I-I intentionally lowered my guard a bit, in order to bait the right attack to disarm you..."
After some moments of awkward silence the public, composed mainly by the guards that were having their training session started to talk carefree, some discussing about the unexpected outcome of the duel others just having small talk.

The old man, still surprised, with a very calm voice started:
"Well, I guess...this is it" as he shrugged his shoulders "you learned all that it was within my capability of teaching!" He started to smile. "You are my best apprentice ever, I was glad to have the chance of refining your talent"
While he kept calm during the previous minutes, now it w the boy' sti me to be surprised.
"What are you talking about!?" He asked with an almost shocked face.
"Finally, the apprentice have beaten the teacher, don't you understand? You have become better than me!"
"I'm flattered by the compliment sir but..." But he was interrupted by his mentor.
"Lad, listen to me, you are almost a full grown man now, I taught you the basics of piloting, gunning, even a bit of engineering, you are ready to start a career, being it in the Royal military or in the Royal politics, you show clear loyalty, and that's a rare trait in this conspiracy filled land, I strongly believe that you are ready."
And then he raised his voice a bit: "I know that even if you knew that Astelan was hiding behind those boxes all along you didn't say anything out of your care for him."
Hearing that, the young soon-to-be lord came out of his hiding spot.
"Damn you old jeezer, I thought I was perfectly hidden!"
"A piece of your cloak wasn't covered by the boxes" said calmly the instructor.
"And it was not the best idea trying to sneak with a long cloak on in the first place" commented the young swordsman.
Astelan's comeback didn't take long to be heard:
"Broadside of a galleon"
"Oh, flak you!"
"Shut up you two and go upstairs, the launch should be ready soon, and I don't want to hear your parents complaining to me about your punctuality!" Boasted the instructor.
"Aye!" The boys said at the same time while they dashed towards the stairs.

[C r o w]

Chapter 3 (three): "Bring the honors of battle", part 1
Outskirts of the Ravenrook Fief, precise location unknown.

~A few months later~

"So... Who's the new officer?" Whispered a soldier in the night to his comrade, pointing at a far tall and silim figure.
"Uhhhhh...dunno, very young, and never seen in the barracks before, must be a nobleman if he's already an officer" answered his friend.
After this, they stared into the air, looking for any suspicious event.
[A guard]"Damn! It's cold today!"
[Other guard]"Yesterday was cold too!"
[A guard]"But today is colder"
[Other guard]"You got a point"
"HEY! You two there!" The guards heard yelling towards their direction.
[A guard]"Flak! It's that officer! Did you do anything?"
[Other guard]"No! Did you?"
[A guard]"Neither, then what does he want?"
"HEY YOU TWO! Are you deaf of what?" Kept yelling the officer while walking near them.
"What, we didn't hear you sir, the wind blows unusually aggressive today!" Replied a guard.
"Like if the other days was less aggressive..." Comments the officer.
Then he added "I give you 20 minutes, go to the western tower, tell them I sent you and take some extra pelts and a hot drink, I'll stand watch here until you return.
Be a minute late and I'll have your heads."
"Thanks sir.... I guess" said the other guard as they started walking.
"Sir, we don't know your name" Said the guard.
"Uh? Ah, yes, I'm Captain Emil Ansager Von Cainhurst, now get moving."
"Aye sir"
After getting distant from the officer, the guards started talking:
"Von? What that does mean?"
"Some say 'of' whatever land they come from, others say 'von', depends on the family tradition really. I'd guess he comes from one of the fiefs south of here."

~19 minutes later~
"RUN YOU MORON! RUUUUUUUUUN! I don't wanna get beheaded because you had to piss!" shouted a guard while running towards their guard post.
The other guard was spewing a curse every step.
"There he is! SIR! Sir! We are here, thank you for the favor!"
The officer noticing them, spoke with an urgent voice:
"You two, keep running and go call me a spotter!"
The guards, surprised by the tone of the officer's voice understood that there was some real problem.
"Understood, on the move!" They replied. They returned after a minute or so.

"Sir! The spotter is here!"
"Good, you there, look on the western pass and tell me what you see."

-The spotters are the elite marksman units in the Royal Army, when weaponized they are deadly snipers, otherwise they act as target finders-

"I see the lanterns, strange design, foreign...
Ships, non-Royal formation, many squids...
I can count fifteen, behind them... Three big vessels, uncommon design, heavy...
I CAN SEE A SYMBOL!"
"So where are those ship from?"
In that moment, the spotter, who just was still a little sleepy, since it was still deep night, became fully awake, eyes widening like he had seen a demon.
"A-a-a...Angleans..."
Even if the average fjordlander was with already a fair skin, everybody there became suddenly wither than the snow.

The Captain suddenly started sprinting towards the nearest tower.
"Damnit! How the hell did they sneak past Sky's End's patrols?!?"
He thought as he was ascending the stairs to the tower top.
"Wait... Was this that week when every unit was to return to the city for maintenance?"
He checked then a paper taken from his pocket.
"IT WAS! Damn these anglean monsters and their bloodlust...and how the hell did they even knew about that?"
He reaches the top of the tower.
"It matters not, now we know they are coming, and we will be ready to give them a warm welcome party"
In front of him there was a little wooden pillar, on which was fixed a bell, to be sound in case of alarm.
And he rang it.
*ding*
And the guards woke up.
*ding*
And the pilots woke up.
*ding*
And the keep woke up.

This garrison was the second line of defense in case of a foreign invasion, and as such it was both a stronghold and a staging point for airships. The main build was towering, so tall that two spires could be docked on top of each other and still have a lot of extra space, in fact there were at least 12 air-docks there.
The keep had also two very peculiar features: one was an enormous bell that could topple every sound in the garrison, the other was a very rare and unique piece of artillery mounted on top of the keep.
Said piece was called either "The Baron's Organ" or "The King's Hand", it was made of five Lumberjack cannons of increased size, that every time it shot made a noise that reminded of an organ, hence the name. While being a very simple weapon, it was also extremely effective, since it had a ridiculous range, moreover, together with lesmok super-heavy rounds it could reach an astonishing maximum range of a 100 kilometers*.

As the captain was still looking in the distance, the great keep bell started tolling.
Muffled and incomprehensible sounds came out of his personal radio, far clangs in the keep's direction could be heard and little movements from the Spires. A radio in his proximity started crackling as a voice, at first with a disturbed signal, then clearer said
"Control tower west 3, do you copy, control tower west 3...
"Captain Ansager reporting"
"What's the meaning of this alarm? I hope it's not some paranoia or some night drill."
"An airship battle group has been located, they are coming towards here and are trying to sneak up on us, they have been recognized as angleans"
"They might be warmongering extremists, or a rogue battalion, right now we are at peace with the Republic"
"We SHOULD be... Anyway, they have not been reported by Sky's End patrols, I say they are hostile."
"...hmpf.... Many bodies and ships are hidden in the snow anyway"

At that moment troops were being deployed on the walls, some wielding rifles, other manning the static defenses.

*{62,3 miles}

Meanwhile, inside the keep

"Attention all airship crews, this is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill"
"Enemy air fleet approaching, repeat, enemy air fleet approaching"
"All hands to battle stations, repeat, all hands to battle stations"

With these alarms being shouted trough the building's comm system, every single airship crewman was running towards their assigned position, starting engines, checking the weapons, and making final take off preparations.
The First Captain began a little speech:
"Ok boys, 19 ships, 15 of which are Squids and 4 currently unknown, have been located, we all know how fast Squids are, so I want Spires 10-11-12 to make our rearguard, and I hope you all are bringing fast tracking weapons, because the annoying buggers are going to try every their trick to break our formation.
Now, everyone go! Life in honor!"
And was answered by everyone else with: "Death in duty!"

Back on the walls

"They will be here in nearly 5 minutes" said the spotter "in a few seconds they will be within optimal range of the Organ."
"Ready the flare gun, it will be too late when they understand what hit them" replied Emil "Inform the garrison commander about that and wait till' he gives permission to fire, we don't wanna screw up some plans."
"Aye"

Far from the walls

The fleet approaching the garrison seemed to be oblivious of its positioning, perhaps because the storm was making anything difficult to spot, maybe because it was not precisely positioned on the flight maps.

"We should be approaching the research post, tell everyone to be at the ready. And remember, first take down the defenders, next search for any relic from the Old World that we don't have, destroy the ones that we already have, only in the end you mop up the survivors" a gritty voice said on a radio, far from the garrison.
 Men fully covered in furs and body armors were around him, each with either a carbine or an smg strapped on their back and and either an axe or a dagger on their sides.
The man who spoke was met with silence as an answer.

[C r o w]

Commander's quarters, inside the keep

"Very well commander, but remember: the relic have the foremost importance, you must use your soldiers to defend it at all costs, apparently the one that it was found by your research team is a never seen before model, it may help the Baronies' war effort a lot.
Our comm team will try to redirect as many patrols available to reinforce your defense, HQ out."

Mumbling angrily, the commander walked toward his desk and took a bottle of Firewater. Sipping directly from it, he heads to a large underground hangar, under his room. In that place are located multiple heavily armored vehicles, all with tracks, all with a thing on their back reminiscent of a heavy flak, only with 4 really long barrels, with extremely long ammo belts filled with what would seem some kind of mixture between lesmok and burst rounds. Everything was frozen, except a single one that was the first found.
"Damn this things... You only gave me problems... Flaking glorified scraps... Bloody nuisances..." Mumbled the commander while walking staggered around and dripping alcohol from the bottle "What wrong did I do to you, why do you give me so many problems?!?!?!?"
This commander was just one the many noble firstborns, that thanks to his family ties, was made an high ranking officer very young. "I hate this place! I hate this cold! I hate everything!" He shouted whimsically, and then pointed at a guard there "And I hate YOU! Bring me another bottle!" And then he fainted on the floor.

Back on the walls

After the commander fainted for... 'Unknown reasons' the garrison entered a moment of chaos, with every lieutenant and captain minding only their own plan, leaving behind their back any previously prepared plan.
"What the hell do we do now?!?" Asked a terrified soldier "Nobody is following standard procedures now!"
The young captain, with a stressed look on his face, coming down from the tower, started shouting:
"Y'all here, man your guns, take the other soldiers to their own, prepare to fire at the enemy formation as soon as the spotters on the tower shoot the signal flare!" Seeing that the soldiers present there were just looking at him surprised he added:
"What'cha looking at? GET MOVING!" Then the soldiers started getting to their places.
A spotter with grizzled hair and a scar covered face got near the captain saying "This garrison didn't even exist a year ago, it was just a bunch of ruins in the middle of some mountains, not even scavenge-worthy, I don't even know why it was established. Anyway, apart from me, the First Captain and few others, everybody here is barely a recruit, and this is just a glorified boot camp, don't expect efficiency."
"And you old man would be?"
"The First Spotter lad, the guys you sent for a spot woke up the whole room, I'm very displeased with that."
"Well, sorry my lord but we are under attack."
"By who? I don't see any fighting going on."
"Angleans, only the Organ has them fully in range." Replied the young captain while pointing at the enemy fleet's general direction.
"Oh, well, this is going to be fun!" While saying that, the old man took from his back a modified portable Mercury Gun and after few moments of taking aim, he shot a flare towards the enemy fleet, and then smiled childishly.
"What the... You gave out our position just like that?"
"Eh? The Organon is in range, let it shoot!" He said while still smiling.
After a few seconds, surprising the while garrison with its sound, the Organ started firing. The heavy lesmok rounds creating trails of fire behind the shots that quickly disappeared in the distance becoming faint lights in a matter of few seconds.
Only to be seen as explosions on the mountain sides and on the enemy ships.

Anglean fleet

A series of five gigantic explosions took the raider fleet by surprise, with one of the shots simply melting in the hit a Squid.
"Unit 3-1 here, unit 3-7 taken down, readjusting formation"
"Roger unit 3; unit 1 engage delta formation, scout the origin point of the shot"
"Another volley incoming!"
"Evasive maneuvers!"
"Unit 2-1 here, unit 2-5 and 2-6 got taken down, readjusting formation"
"Roger unit 2; unit 2, unit 3, lower altitude, widen formation, engage scatter formation. That must be a long range piece, we are sitting ducks here, follow unit 1 and prepare for engagement; unit 1 change from delta to scatter formation, number of casualties is a,ready too high."

In the keep's air docks

The First Captain was an old man, strong, still fully possessing of his mental faculties, unlike the First Spotter, that recently has  almost gone fully senile in his behavior.
"All ships, commander's down, 'unknown reasons', so now you take orders only from me, and you'll be happy about it, understood?"
"Aye" answered the whole fleet.
"Have your guns at the ready, remember the basics, first tear down their reactive armor, then break the main structure, for every shot you'll miss, I will personally punch you in the face, and don't any of you dare to die, or I'll will kill you!"

The small fleet of 12 spires finally took off, executing a coordinated maneuver in order to get into their planned position without any problems.
"Let the dances begin!"

[C r o w]

On the wall

"Spotter, fire the flare, all guns have the clearance to fire at will"
With a little, almost silly, noise, the flare was shot by the beacon gun, after a few seconds a little red shining spot appeared in the skies, making even clearer where the garrison was and making begin that cacophony that was the combined fire of the defense guns of that side of the garrison.

The main weapons placed on the walls were heavy, yet easily produced, guns, mainly heavy flak cannons, with a restricted number of lumberjacks and minotaurs on the towers and an even smaller number of hwachas concentrated around the keep.
The towers and the keep also housed large numbers of rocket launchers, missile carousels, light flak cannons and gatlings.
With the Organon still toppling every other gun in that concert of shots, a wave of fire was directed towards the Angleans.

Anglean fleet

"Engage evasive maneuvers!"
The heavy vessels increased temporarily their altitude in order to avoid the shots, while the squids scattered in multiple directions.
"No casualty." Reported every unit.
"Unit 1-1 reporting, only the eastern side and the keep are combat ready, located large group of spires, main weapon on the battlements: heavy flak, main light weapon: rocket launcher, ship main heavy weapon: hwacha, ship main light weapon: gatling.
They are going for a killer setup, they are already in formation."
"Unit 2, prepare for drop-in action break and disable this line of defense, disable defensive infrastructure on the southern side and make your troops land. Unit 1 focus on destroying the eastern side defenses, my ship will supply with long range support, keep you troop transport in the rearguard, unit 3 engage the enemy ship formation, keep your transport ship in the rearguard too."

Underground hangar room, keep

"Quick! Try to take out of the ice that one too! We need to have at least 2 of them ready to be shipped away if the garrison falls!" Shouted a scared scientist. "One is already fully operational, the gun too!" Replied another. "The King will be pleased of these specimens." Said another one.
Behind them, under a hidden hangar door and ready to take off, a special vessel laid in wait.

Walls

"Keep on firing, try to lead them with the rocket launchers! Disable their engines! A disabled Squid is a dead Squid! Flaks! Stop fucking around an try to actually HIT something!" The captain kept shouting into his radio, since any voice sound was cancelled by the continuos noise of firing guns.
In that very moment a group of Squids flew past the eastern wall, aiming for the southern one.
They started to drop things and shoot, while their various guns did I almost no damage to the rocky structure of the wall, the things that they dropped blew in brutal and big explosions, taking away large chunks of the wall, of the guard towers and making weapon places fly around.
"They are demolishing the southern wall! You morons, stop behaving braindead and shoot them damn buggers!" A gunny shouted in the radio to the keep's gunners.

Anglean fleet

"Unit 2-1 reporting, unit 2-4 got taken down, moving in 2-7 to drop troops."

Royal fleet

"Rearguard open fire!" A salvo of hwachas was shot in answer, hitting a Squid and razing another.
"Enemy squid disabled, rearguard gatlings, open fire." The little ship, now with little to no engine power was she redder to pieces by the continuos fire of 6 gatling guns.
"S-7 reporting! We are being flanked, they keep out-turning us, requesting change of formation to circular formation."
After a bit of chatter on the radio channel, the radio operative says to the First Captain:
"Captains from s-12, s-11, s-10, s-4 and s-2 second s-7's motion."
"All ships, change formation from two-lined to circular, form it around the keep." Replied the captain.
The 12 spires engaged at the same time multiple maneuvers, some going backwards, some forward, some decreasing and some increasing altitude, leaving like a phalanx no place out of gun arc, and ending up looking like a crown adorning the keep, albeit a bullet-spewing, rocket-launching crown, but still a crown.

Anglean fleet

"Unit 3-1 reporting, we lost 3-4, 3-6 lightly damaged, we are having trouble with their fleet, top-notch coordination, can't break their formation, requesting support."
"Roger unit 3, unit 2 what's your transport's status?"
"ETA 120 seconds, travel is safe, defenders appear to be either tired or inexperienced"
"Unit 2 redeploy units 2-2 and 2-3 to aid unit 3. Unit 1 status report."
"Can't begin demolition procedure, AA mass fire is too intense, luckily their aim is lacking, no casualties so far, unit 1-7 is readying now his heavy artillery."
"Roger"
"Very good" the Anglean commander thought "All is proceeding according to plan, the Spires may be a nuisance tho, but if we manage to get on one of the wall mounted heavy guns we could bring them down..."
*clunk* *squish*
"What the...?!?"
A shot hit the main deck going straight trough the wheel and the pilot's chest, landing  then on the floor behind them.

Wall, eastern

"Good shot *hic* chap! But not good enough, let me show yo-*hic* how you do it!" The drunken spotter pushed Emil away from the field gun and took control, loaded a round, held his breath for a few seconds, then pulled the trigger.
The shot flew, leaving a burning trail behind itself, reaching the captain's target and then exploding loudly, both the shot and the gun.
"See? That's *hic* how you do it!"
"Was the Lochnagar shot really necessary?"
"*hic* Yup!"
"Would you mind keep shooting like that a the target, but without the Lochnagars?"
"Nope, as long as you offe-*hic* the next drink!"
"Deal."
"That First Spotter may look senile and yet shoot like a pro, but his elite spotters are all even sillier and with even a better aim." Thought Emil to himself, then ran off to a radio structure to warn the First Captain about the nature of the enemy heavy vessels.
"This is Captain Ansager, First Captain, do you read me, copy."
"First Captain copy, what's wrong Captain?"
"I have been able to discover what kind of vessel the heavy ones are: Anglean Corsairs."
"..."
"First Captain?"
"Ready your ground teams Captain, if it's what I think it is, things are going to get hairy soon."
"Roger, Ansager out."

Anglean fleet

*boom*
"What's going on here?!?" Asked angrily the Anglean commander.
"Mercury field gun, standard model, baronies pattern, a Lesmok and a Lochanagar round, pilot dead, wheel damaged, backup system will be operational shortly, the main balloon pump has been damaged beyond repair tho." Answered the boatswain.
"Very well...MARAUDERS! READY YOURSELF, WE ARE GOING TO LAND!"
As an answer the Marauders roared a war cry.
"Unit 1-7, unit 3-7 follow me, the Squids are taking too long, the enemies are tired, prepare for hand to hand combat, we are landing!" Added the commander with a shout to the radio.

Wall, eastern

"Ships approaching sir!" A soldier cried to Emil's position.
The captain turned towards where the heavy Anglean ships were located. And saw them becoming bigger as they got closer, making him realize how actually big were those vessels.
"Anglean Corsairs, they could easily stand in a head-on fight with any heavy ship from anywhere, be it a Yeshan Galleon, be it a Baronial Crusader. They can carry a heavy weapon in every direction, rendering useless out turning the ship, as it could deal heavy damage in any direction I would face. Heavy armor and a powerful ballon model make the Corsair truly a formidable opponent.
It would be very painful to engage 3 of them at once.
Too bad we have to..."
Talking to the radio on the main channel the captain shouted:
"All heavy guns, focus fire on the heavy enemy vessels incoming, focus fire on the Corsairs!" After a little interruption of the continuos drumming of the heavy guns everything started firing towards the Corsairs at the same time, creating an enormous explosion sound, so strong that it shook the wall the guns were placed on. 
Still all was in vain, the shots weren't well aimed, nor the inexperienced soldiers knew how to lead the targets, that managed, trough heavy usage of chute vents and hydrogen to change their position just enough to make the shots miss.
And even if the various heavy rounds met their target, usually was the heavy armor of the balloons.
The Corsairs opened fire in response with oversized twin carronades, that tore large holes in the wall with moderate explosions.
As the ships got closer, Emil could see the people aboard, each had around two dozens of heavily armored soldiers, that appeared imposing even by Anglean standards... Marauders.
Marauders were sometimes the best raider pilots of a raid fleet, other times they were elite heavy infantry units, most of the times they were both.
All the while light guns kept targeting the Squids that after the heavy weapons'
re-targeting had a lot of extra maneuver space. Soon, they started to find opening in the AA barrage and started to drop the explosive ordinance that has already been used on the southern wall.
Temporarily unaware of that, being fully concentrated on the Corsairs, Emil remembered only when an explosive charge landed meters in front of him.
Before he even relived what it was, it exploded, sending man, rocks and weapons alike flying around.
Emil landed abruptly on the fresh snow, a dozen of meters below, he utters a few words before blacking out:
"This is gonna hurt so much tomorrow..."

[C r o w]

Garrison Siege, chapter 3, part 2

Anglean fleet

"Unit 1-1 reporting, 1-4 and 1-3 got shot down, demolition operation successful, command ship, unit you are clear for siege operations."
"Unit 2-7 reporting, Marauder team 2 has been deployed, beginning infiltration operation into the enemy keep."
"Command ship here to all non-engaged Squid units, move to intercept enemy Spires, they have been slowing the operation far too much."
After a little radio chatter came answers: "Unit 2-1 engaging." "Unit 1 engaging."
"They are defending the keep like madmen, the Old World relic they have found must be very important for them... I'm really curious about it now." Thought the Anglean commander.

Grounds around the keep, 14 minutes later

A lone figure, clad in in a Royal Officer standard armor was limping and crawling away from what remained of the eastern wall toward a side of the keep.

The chest's hurting, the back's hurting, the legs too, left arm probably have a broken bone, but
MUST KEEP MOVING
Dead soldiers all around, some with deep axe made cuts in the chest, some beheaded, some heavily maimed, many shot, but
MUST KEEP MOVING
The side entrance must be near, the wreckage of a Spire lays flaming near there, another falls from the skies dozens of meters beside me, but
MUST KEEP MOVING.

Command spire

The Angleans didn't even try to shoot the last Spires down, they just approached them and boarded them.
The infantry men on each were the only ones that put up some kind of fight, only to be killed during melee combat.
The Command Spire, S-1 was the only one boarding readied, the First Captain has been quite the brawler in his youth and now he was still able to kick some ass.
His guard were war veterans that ate pirate raids for breakfast and Anglean raids for launch, even tho this raid might prove to be a little bit too much to eat, even for them.
The melee engagements were brutal, the Marauders were strong men, wielding axes or combat knives for close quarter combat, while the guards and the First Captain themselves wielded swords. The fights for a few moments looked like a duel, and ended with grace if the guard managed to outsmart the Marauder, and ended in a brutal slaughter if the Marauder managed to overpower the guard.
The Anglean commander himself took on the old First Captain. The old man managed to strike once on each of the Anglean's thighs and on his shoulder, but after an attack he remained with his guard lowered for a moment too long, and took a powerful slash to the chest, making him stagger. Death came swiftly, as the axe was swung again and hit again the chest, cutting even deeper.
"The enemy's air commander is dead! ANGLEA!" Roared the victorious commander.
"ANGLEA!" Answered his crew.
Bringing a hand towards his radio operator he was handed a comm device
"Marauder unit 2, marauder unit 3, report."
"Main gate breached, scattered resistance, high enemy casualty, none of ours, we are about to reach the inner gate."
"That's what I like to hear, I'm bringing there the rest of the troops, out."
"What a nice sword this man had" the Anglean thought as he grabbed the dead captain's weapon. It was a balanced broadsword, long enough to give some a decent reach in open spaces, yet short enough not to be impairing when in a small spaces, it was decorated with inscriptions and incisions, all made to commemorate the captain's deeds. Looking first at the sword, then at his axe and then again at the sword the captain said to himself "I'll keep this as a trophy, that axe was getting dull anyway".

Keep side entrance

The side entrance has been created to make it easier for officers to escape the keep in case of siege and to guarantee an unseen entry passage for infiltrators in case an assassination was needed. Now Emil had to use it to hide from the Angelans: even the worst of theirs could have been able to overpower and kill him in that condition.
The code to open the door was simple, while there were many digits available to open the door, of the 20 letter spaces that were available to use, only 4 were actually.
The code word was almost a joke, but so obvious it was easily ignored.
C.O.D.E.
And the door opened in front of Emil, that just fell trough it, it closed automatically after a few moments, returning in such a position to perfectly blend into the wall.
"Now" Emil thought as he barely raised up again on his feet "Onto the infirmary, it should be on the northern side."
He thought right, but being very confused in that moment, he headed south, towards one of the inner gates.

[C r o w]

Inner gate 1, keep

*ratatatatatatatatatatata*
A gatling gun started to noisily shoot salvoes of greased bullets towards one of the corridors coming from the outer gate, making become a marauder a bullet sponge.
"Take cover!" Shouted one of them.
"Die bastards!" "Ready your guns men!" "You there go and take another ammo belt, he eventually will have to reload!" Shouted around the barony soldiers, barricaded behind and improvised blockade made of turned tables and furniture.
"They have a gatling there!" A marauder stated.
"M2 units from 1 to 6, go find a side passage." "M2 units from 7 to 12, go tell M3 that we need their heavy weapons team now." "Everyone else, stay here with me and shoot from cover." chain-ordered the commander.

Outside of the keep

The squids kept driving around the main structure of the keep, and tried to blow open the Spire air-docks' gates with their weapons, as the demo charges would have damaged the main structure too.
The Corsairs were on the ground, acting as command centers for the various Marauder ground teams and supply point for siege.
6 members from the Marauder team 2 came out of the keep, and after relaying the orders other 12 marauders came down of a Corsair, carrying portable flamethrowers and rocket launchers.

Southern side corridor

Strange... Why can't I find the infirmary... It should have been here! Who put a bar in here instead? Wait... The pub was on the southern  side... FLAK!  At least there should be some stimpacks and first aid somewhere around here...
There they are! Damn... This is some good stuff.. The chest doesn't hurt anymore, nor the back, legs are still a bit stiff, and the left arm still hurts a bit. This thing is truly miraculous, no wonder they cost so much and are only available for the officers.
"Now" Emil muttered "Since I'm on the southern side, I might as well take something from the armory."
And he started moving towards it, more limping than walking.

Inner gate 2, keep

A message full of static arrived trough the radio:
"Can anyone read me?!?" A terrified voice said "Here is inner gate 1's guard post, we are being overrun! We require immediate backup! Please help me!" Said the voice while starting to cry. Then nothing was heard from the radio, on the other hand, the help request was met by silence at the guarded barricade, weapons were scattered around, swords, smgs, rifles, bodies stood motionless on the ground, in the pools made by their own blood.
Both inner gate defense post were fallen.

"M2 units 1 to 6 reporting, we eliminated enemy guard post at the second inner gate, we found a side passage but it's locked by a blast door, we require heavy ordinance."
"M3, roger that, we are on our way with heavy ordinance."

Minutes passed and explosions could be heard, chunks of metal crashing on the ground, corridors, halls, every and any piece of the internal structure of the keep being hit by shockwaves and explosives.
"Unit M2, find the armory!
Unit M3, demolish the upper hangar doors, our ships can't break them!
Unit M1, find the command center!
Unit M0, with me!
Take no prisoners!"

[C r o w]

Keep, armory

Unlocking the door to the armory, Emil slowly opens the door, only to be met by a dozen heavy rifles priming.
"Stop there! Hands up!"
Slowly raising his hands, Emil sees many figures lit by the dim light of the armory, everyone of them was a man cladded in standard Baronial combat outfit, some of them with recent battle scars, some without, all of them with a grave face.
After a few seconds standing there one of the youngest soldiers brake the silence and says:
"Sooo... Who talks first? Would you mind sarge?"
Grunting in answer, the man with the gravest face and the dirtiest uniform started talking:
"You an officer?" While nodding in the direction of Emil.
"Yes, a captain, to be precise."
"Well, g'day sir, nice to see an officer who isn't a corpse or fleeing for a change."
"Thank you, I guess, are you the only ones here?"
"We have another dozen soldiers in the other side of the armory and around two dozens of shock troopers at the hangar level, they were the one who sealed the hangar doors, and prevented us from being swarmed by Angleans on multiple flanks."

Hangar level, inside

"M3 reporting, we are at the hangar level, it will take some time to commence demo operations, this place is a damn labyrinth...
M0?
M0!
M0 come in!" Only static answered. "Something's off, everyone, eyes peeled, someone's on us."

In fact, the shock troopers had already seen them. These soldiers, while still carrying some of the stupidly heavy decorated armor given to Baronial troops, are more often than not equipped in a more useful and less scenic way: coats that were actually warm, flak vests and padded armor, an smg, a pistol and a combat knife.
While the Angleans would absolutely overpower them in terms of raw strength and technological level of equipment, the troopers had the element of surprise, had the ground advantage and, most important of all, they perfectly knew the layout of the place.
With a simultaneous attack from multiple levels of height and sides, the troopers started shooting on the Angelans, who dived for the nearest covers they could find.
The firefight lasted for some minutes, with the shock troopers moving all around the Anglean's position, pinning them down. When the Angleans tried to use their heavy weapons to gain the upper hand, they ended up damaging the structures around them and eventually making them fall onto their own troops and killing them.

"Casualties!"
"3 wounded, 1 heavily, no dead!"
"Get them back to the armory. Everyone else, proceed to the next area!"

Command center, keep

The door was slammed open, M1 unit rushed inside weapons at the ready.
They found a man sitting on a heavily decorated chair, with an empty bottle in hand.
"Oi, who are you? *hic* did you bring me that bottle I asked for?"
"Are you the commander?"
"*hic* Yup"
And shots were fired. "M1 reporting, command center conquered, enemy commander is dead."
"M0 here, move to the upper areas, we lost contact with M3, investigate."
"Roger, on the move."

Armory

"M2 here, armory located, door is unlocked, we are going in...
M0?"
A marauder fell on the ground with a groan.
"What the...?!?" Stared to say a marauder.
"So you guys can die after all." One-lined Emil, with a gun his his left hand and a reitterpallach in his right hand, its blade bloodied.
Beside him stood multiple soldiers with firearms.
Before any of the other members of the Marauder unit 2 could turn around, they were all shot dead.
Anglean standard issue armors were already extremely high quality pieces, that valued a lot utility over looks, but still had some decorations. Marauder armors instead looked like parts of a ship reactive armor, stripped from the vessel and strapped on their winter coats.
"We were lucky we supposed them from behind, the armor weakspots are mostly located there, we would have never survived a frontal engagement, look." And then he pointed at body of the only marauder that managed to turn around.
"The chest have withstood multiple shots, and has only light penetrations, and they have the habit of wearing flak jackets all that thing, he died only because someone got a lucky shot between his eyes."

In that moment a radio started to emit noises:
"M2, do you read me, we lost your signal for a while, report your status! M2!"
A soldier took the radio and started talking, imitating surprisingly well the voice of the Angelan soldier that managed to say a few words before dying:
"M2 reporting sir, we encountered some enemy defenders at the armory, they are dead now, all weapons inside have been broken or taken away."
"Copying M2... Wait...2-3? Why is that you answering? Where is 2-1?"
The soldier looked a bit panicked.
"Sir...he..." The soldier said while looking for the numbers on the corpses.
"He what?" Questioned the voice on the other side of the radio.
"He actually died along with 2-2 in the firefight with the defenders, 2-5is gravely wounded, if they mount a counter attack we couldn't stand our ground."
After a few moments of silence, the voice on the radio started talking again:
"Very well. Regroup at the first inner gate, bring the dead with you, we can't let them have any piece of our technology."
"Understood sir, we are on our way." The soldier was dead-pale and sweating.
"Wow, that was risky." Commented another.
"At least now we know where they have their beachhead." Added Emil.
"Makes no difference, they still have air superiority and... What the hell are those things there." The sergeant said while pointing to a window.
Coming out of a ground-level side hangar there were a couple of big, grey, tracked vehicles that had on top of them want appeared to be a very big, quad-barreled flak cannon.
They pointed upwards, toward the Anglean squids.
Sun was starting to rise outside.

[C r o w]

Keep

A Squid immediately bursted into flames, another followed and another and another more. As the engines of the static Squids started, many more were shot down. The two strange flaks were drumming shots into the air, covering the place with explosions. The snow storm was getting weaker by the minute.
For the Angleans this event was shocking: an entire combat unit was destroyed in mere seconds. A terrified and surprised chatter followed this event, but the Anglean commander cared not about his losses at the moment, as he had just found the pre-war relic held in that place, and it was wonderful. He wanted to take it as soon as he could, so he started to move on a lower wall side of the keep, so that he could rope-jump and reach the ground that in that place was just less than a dozen meters below.

As the commander started to run, trough the window, the group of soldiers with Emil started too, in order to intercept him.
They met on a large spot on the outer wall, where once heavy defence hwachas were located, just above the hangar doors and the relics.

When the two parties met, the first to shoot were the fjordlanders, but were barely effective against the marauders' heavy armours, who, in return, answered with a volley of their guns, which shredded to pieces the chests of many fjord soldiers.
After that first exchange of shots, everyone ran to cover. The fjord soldiers had the number advantage, but the Angleans had superior guns and armours.
Barely sticking their heads out of cover to shoot, both groups were in a stalemate. It only ended after the fjord stormtroopers sandwiched the Angleans, that found themselves surrounded.

This was an inglorious death, it was horrible to be outsmarted by an enemy he believed eradicated...
The weapons, the relics he sought to gain even more power, turned against him...
His soldiers, his brothers in arms, his friends, were all being slowly killed by enemy gunfire, killed not by a clear shot, but by the continuos hits that were slowly breaking their armors, their skins, their muscles, their bones...
He was about to be defeated, in the most stupid and gratuitous way, all because of a little underestimation of his...
He was growing ever angrier...
And the he snapped.
Blood started to drip down from his head, his body appeared like it got suddenly pumped and enlarged.
The commander staggered for a second, then he erected in his full height, blood in his eyes.

With an inhuman roar, the Marauder that appeared to be the unit leader charged, troweling away his rifle and wielding both the sword he pillaged from the First Captain's corpse and a hand axe. He was running faster than anything Emil ever saw, and he was charging directly at the center of his team.
"Focus on that one! Kill the one that's charging!" He shouted, but it was too late, he had already broken thought he line.
Despite being as bulky as a blast door and almost tall 8 feet, that beast of a man was outperforming every and any soldier that tried to attack him.
His attack so were a continuous chain of slashes and thrusts, and he was reaping soldiers like chaladonian peasants reaped wheat from their fields: it was a massacre.
Eventually came Emil's turn to face this beast.
Every its movement was extremely fast, with a lot of strength put in every movement, yet using the minimum amount of energy it needed.
It was a brutal, fast, ruthless and efficient.
This combat style just lacked one element: grace. Duelist from the baronies used grace of movement to make every move look like a continuation of the previous, trying to hide holes on their guard, trying to leave no space for the enemy to find an opening, the Anglean had very mechanics movements instead, making obvious many openings in his attack patterns. On this term a duelist such as Captain Ansager had it easy, was it not that every attack packed enough punch to cut in half a barony standard issue carbine. He had to deflect and drive away the Anglean's attacks, otherwise he may get his own sword broken.

The dawn was fully upon the keep of the garrison, Angleans were running out of the keep as a wave of new barony soldiers was stating to come from the inside, carrying heavy weapons. Squids were circling around the super flaks, trying to engage them, only to be turned into a flaming wreckage.

On the big balcony where the Anglean commander had gone berserk many corpses were laying around, many fjordlanders and a few marauders.
On one side two teams of elite troopers suppressing each other's position, on the other there was Emil the Anglean commander, dueling, surrounded by many bodies.
The duel was very biased, while the Anglean was even going beyond human strength, Emil was being held up by heavy pain killers and combat drugs, and yet he was standing toe to toe with the commander.
It was truly a stall, neither was gaining any advantage, not in terms of damage dealt, nor energy kept.
The efficiency of the Anglean's melee kills could be witnessed in the fact that he had only his weapons bloodied, while the rest of his attire had barely anything on it, the only peculiar thing was that he was sweating blood from the head, painting some of his hair with a dark red.
Emil on the other hand was covered in dirt, blood, his clothes damaged in some point, the armor broken.
At one point a body on ten ground moved, quickly stood up, and silently charged with his bayonet behind the Anglean.
The marauder commander felt him coming, so he turned around, deflected away the bayonet attack and then proceeded to launches the man meters back.
Then he heard a click.

"I wonder what has he been thinking all this time"the captain thought as he pointed his gun towards the Anglean.

"MAIM!BURN!KILL!MAIM!BURN!KILL!" then, as he turned around to see the gun pointed directly at him, and understanding he had no way whatsoever to avoid that shot:
" Truly, an inglorious death.

With a large bang the handgun held by Emil emitted a burst of fire and smoke, and the bullet travel the short distance between him and the Anglean in a less than a seconds.
It hit at his throat.

Gurgling with blood coming out of his neck, the Anglean staggered, then he turned towards the sun, looking at it:
"I still have one last thing to do.". Thinking this he ran over the edge of the balcony, and dived towards the relic weapons that were tearing his air units apart.
He pulled a trigger, hidden in his chest-piece armor, and exploded, bringing with him the super-flaks.
With that the Anglean corsairs and the remaining squids managed to take off unharmed and leave the combat zone with the surviving marauders.

Hearing this explosions, the commander personal guard survivors knew what had to be done. They came out of their covers, charging headfirst towards the Royal shock troopers, preparing to pull their hidden triggers.
In a matter of seconds, where before stood a large passageway, now was a large hole in the keep's wall.

Looking down towards where up the Anglean commander fell, he then helped the heroic sergeant that tried to help him in the duel.
"What do you think it was that thing?"
"Something not human certainly. Old stories are told to the children, about men so mad and full with anger that they become unstoppable, they call them "berserkers". But I can't bring myself to believe this kind of legends."
"The snowstorm finally stopped, now long range communications should be functioning again."let's go call an evac."

[C r o w]

INTERLUDE

The funerals were few, only for the few nobleman that actually had families that were informed about this secret garrison, everybody else was burned on a pyre.
The official report stated that this was the incursion against the biggest pirate hub point in the Fjords, and it was a victory, every dead man was a real hero that fought to the last to save and protect the people of the baronies.

The few that knew the truth were sent back to their family, I of very noble and rich origin, or were being held in custody by the Royal authorities. Emil was among the latter.
"One of the first to notice the attack, the first to organize the defense, suffered combat injuries and actually managed to kill then enemy commander. A truly impressive series of deeds. Unfortunately you are not form a family important enough to be released without problems, so now, you have one option, one you couldn't ever refuse: join the Corps of Recon and Intelligence Ex-State."
"CRIES? Never heard of it."
"It would have been strange of you had. The CRIES is another section of the Royal intelligence department. We directly answer the king and act as his eyes, ears and hands abroad, we are his informers, like spies only more expendable, you only carry intel from outside the Baronies, not from the inside. Still, since our job is full of risks, we have a lot of liberties in it, first and foremost, the dress-code, so no more scenic and shiny armors for you, but you can use literally anything except for that. You better like this option, lad, I don't think you would like to live the rest of your life in prison."
Shrugging his shoulders Emil replies: "I don't think I have match of a choice, count me in."
"Good, your first assignment is tomorrow, I hope you like traveling, because you'll be doing that, a lot.
And this, is your only way to be known as a member off the CRIES section."
He said while giving Emil an little badge with a flying raven depicted with writings around it. It read: "Bonae nuntiae lentae venient, malae alas habent" the man kept talking
"Good news travel slow, bad news have wings" that, lad, should not only be the motto of our section, but its doctrine altogether."

[C r o w]

Chapter 4 (four): The crow and the dove

Northern Chaladon,
Years later


A man with a long raven-black armored coat was laying on the little bridge of what appeared to be something akin of a Squid, only that it had only the central section, no side ones, the wheel in the middle and all the engines cramped up behind, leaving no space for an aft gun. The other present guns were two, a field gun and an artemis strapped in front of the ship.
"This thing's just a glorified piece of junk, only made by taking away parts to make the squid lighter. I still can't believe that I accepted to fly on such a thing....
At least it's fast."
"Now, the presumed target location is exactly to the west of Cadia, deep into the Sea of Devils."
Emil looked around, trying to see if any other airship was in the area.
There was none.
"Ufff, so good that finally I haven't got to avoid patrols all the time.
Peaceful Chaladonians my ass, their patrols are annoying as hell to deal with."

The flight lasted two days before he reached his objective.
It was a little island, not wide at all, but very tall.
It was like an anti-social mountain that didn't want to stay with the others on the Chaladonian seaside.
The modified Squid landed in a little forest on the mountain-side, hidden well between the tall trees.
Before Emil disembarked, he put on his armored gas mask, he took a backup duster, a reitterpallach, a dagger and a heavy revolver.
He turned off the ship, and then proceeded to scout the forest.

He was quite the walker, and wandered on the island for some hours, when he saw a cargo ship, flying loudly in the sky, believing that no one would notice it in such a desolate place. It was wrong, some one had in fact noticed it, and was proceeding to follow its movements.

The ship stopped its movement right in front of a little dock, coming out of a cave on the mountainside.
As the engines got quiet, the cargo floated in place and then docked.
A gangplank came out of a side door and serfs on the docks began to disembark the cargo. Many big crates, carried on motorized carts, were shipped inside the cave.

Emil approached the place slowly and cautiously, looking around himself in the possibility of guards patrolling around.
Apparently there were none, probably because the overseer of the facility didn't even think about the possibility of someone infiltrating there, let alone discovering the facility in the first place.

Despite being quite well armored, Emil was making near to no noise, the heavy coat muffled most of the sounds produced by the armor itself.
Even if the gas mask was taking away some of its field of view, it compensated by making him enter a very cautious mental state.

He stood a few dozens meters from the docks, observing the whole disembarking operation.
There were a lot of crates, you probably could have been able to hide inside them a complete royal siege team, with all their equipment, and still have some space left.
After a few hours another operation started, this time, things were being embarked,but instead of many crates there were few, yet extremely big, things.
One appeared to be an entire airship, it had some similarities with the Squid, but looked more "talonish". Behind it there was a cart with some grenade-launcher looking...thingie.
The embark was extremely quick, while the previous operations lasted for a couple of hours, this one was completed in less than a quarter of hour.

After that, the cargo ship undocked, went backwards for a while, and then engaged full thrust ahead and maneuvered towards Chaladon. It took little time to disappear into the horizon.

"Well then, show's over, time to go."

Emil cautiously climbed towards the airdock, that fortunately wasn't very highly located.
If before there were few people on the dock, now there were none. Thus, Emil easily entered the cave and successfully infiltrated into the unknown complex.

[C r o w]

Chaladonian unknown facility

Everything was well lit, the walls were painted green, maps of the facility were printed at every corner and crossway, the structure was extremely geometric it was structured like a spider web. Apparently there were multiple entrances, and something very important was in the center of the web.
Many long corridors had plants, bushes, even trees planted in the middle. Some personnel could be found smelling the flowers of the big bushes.
"Typical Chaladonian behavior." Emil muttered as he got behind a couple of guards distracted like that.
He then stabbed with the dagger both their necks and hid their corpses deep in the bushes. Neither of them had a radio, meaning that their absence could go unnoticed for some time.

Then he proceeded towards the center of the structure, finding that the plants were indeed perfect hiding spots.
Large part of the people moving a round were seemingly scientists, the guards were in fact very few.
"I bet they are used to this place being so empty, really I didn't manage to see more than four people walking together at once!"
Emil thought, just as he noticed a lonely scientist inspecting the plants and taking notes about them.

With as much speediness as he possibly could, Emil grabbed the man and dragged him into the bushes, menacing slit his throat hurts with the dagger.
"Shout, and I kill you. Now answer me.
What's in the center of the facility?"
The scientist appeared totally terrified.
"Th-th-the overseer's office."
"Does it have anything special?"
"It-it's sound proof, it has one way windows and they are bulletproof, the walls can even s-s-sustain cannon fire."
"How many guards are there in the facility?"
"L-l-l-less than two dozens."
"Any combat ready airship?"
"O-o-only a Shrike."
"What's a Shrike? What are you researching here?"
The scientist had eyes mad with fear, the man started agitating and shouting.
"N-N-N-NO! NO! Please let me..." His throat was slit. He kept looking Emil with fear filled eyes.
"Don't look at me like that, I told you: You shout, you die." The body remained where it stood, deep within the bushes, which so far has acted as the main movement way for Emil.

Research facility central area

Emil looked at the map printed on the wall. Beside the usual one, there was also a zoomed one, portraying in detail the central area.
Three things caught in particular Emil's attention: the first was the "Overseer's office, the seconds was "Experimental Cavy Test Lab, and the last was the "Shrieking Lab".
"I know what the first is, I guess that the last one is where that Shrike thing is being developed, but this "Experimental Cavy" test lab sounds fascinating.
First things first: the commander must die." Emil thought.

[C r o w]

As he approached the office, he found that there was an antechamber, with the doors to the side, covered by little walls.
He heard chatter, two voices, most probably guards guarding the office's entrance.
"Help! I'm stuck in the door! Anyone? Help me!" Emil said with most tragic voice he could do.
"Hold on! We are coming!"
Apparently the guards took the bait.
As they turned around the little wall Emil dashed forward, piercing trough a guards chest with his reitterpallach and stabbing in the face the other guard with his knife.
The guards barely had any time to get surprised.

Locking the doors to the antechamber, Emil then headed for the office's door. He enters slowly, this time preferring to use his handgun, as the room was both bulletproof and soundproof.

He found a man in his 50es talking to a radio, he was looking trough a window in front of him and was giving his back to Emil.
"What do you mean that another one died?!? Why are your experiments failing this much? Do better! If we don't show results, this facility will be shut down!
How many cavies are left anyway? ONLY ONE?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Huh, so this one seems the one with the best chance to survive the treatment? Go on, even if it barely works, it'll be a progress, and we will be given more cavies to continue researching.
How about the Shrikes? How many are ready? Oh, that's very good, I think they only let us research this way because we have delivered those ships.
Very well, keep on working, call me again when you use the last cavy."
Then she switched off the radio and turned around to reach her desk.
Only to find Emil a few steps from her, pointing at her his gun.
"Who are you? Have you any idea who I am?!?"
"No, and neither I care, now, tell me, what is the purpose of this facility."
"Who sent you?"
"Answer me!"
"I can pay you the double, just let me do my job."
"WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS FACILITY?!?"
"Oh, well, no way I tell you anything about it."
Emil sighed profoundly, then straighten his aim towards the man's neck.
"So be it, the Baronies send their regards."
"So you a-!" She never ended her phrase, as she was shot right in the neck, the bullet breaking trough skin, muscle and bone, landing behind her, cracking a layer of bulletproof glass.

Only one being in the facility sensed that shot. She was very surprised about it, but was also filled with hope by it.

After he hid the guards' corpses into the office, he took every document found on the overseer's desk and then put the sign "Don't disturb" on the door handle and then left for the Cavy Lab.

"Even the overseer was very concerned about the cavies, so that may be some very important stuff.
Bless their overconfidence in this island's location, this place is too big and heavily under-guarded. They are making this a cake walk."

He ran hastily towards the lab, even in the open corridors, not caring anymore to hide, he was feeling in his guts that he was about to be discovered. The place was bigger than he actually thought.
He only found a scientist and two guards on his way to the lab. Emil killed the scientist and left the corpse in plain sight to bait the guards that he heard coming in the distance. Then he ambushed the two as they were checking the corpse.
Only after that, he tried to hide the bodies, but there was already a large pool of blood on the ground.

"That's certainly going to make someone suspicious." He commented as he finally entered the lab.

Inside a man was looking trough a small window and talking on a radio.
"Deja vu" Thought Emil.

[C r o w]

"...and by tomorrow at 6p.m. the subject must be under the effect of the drugs, we don't want her going berserk like subject 008 and 032, understood? Very well, get going."
After the man ended the conversation, he didn't even turn around, he just faced his notes and kept reading them.

After seeing that no one was in the room exception made for them, Emil raised his gun towards the scientist and asked:
"What do you intend to do to the cavy?"
"Flak off you moron, this kind of things are far above your pay grade!"
"Oh, please, I do insist."
Only now the scientist actually looked directly at him.
"What's the meaning of this?!?"
"No, no, no, it the man with the gun that makes questions, now, YOU answer ME: what is the purpose of this facility?"
The scientist remained very calm, strangely enough.
"Here we research and develop new prototype weaponry, medicines, drugs and other substances."
"What do you intend to do to the cavy?"
"Uh, the cavy, well, I suppose the plan is to use them to see what would be the effect of said substances"
"I heard the overseer talking about a special kind of cavy, what about it?"
"Oh, that, lad, is a secret."

Then very quickly the scientist took a vial from near his notes and injected himself with a strange substance.

He suddenly looked a bit taller, wider, and had a very strange look into his eyes.
Emil recognized that look. He has seen it only once before he joined CRIES: that man was about to go berserk.

In a second, even before Emil could pull the gun trigger, the scientist dashed towards him, punching him in the middle of the chest and sending him flying a few meters back.
As soon as Emil touched ground, he shot twice, both shots missed.
The madman charged again, and Emil rolled away, shot again once and missed again.
Finally Emil got back up, dashed sideways to avoid the furious swipes of that beast and managed to shoot again twice.
He missed again two shots.
"Damn, gun's empty." He thought as he avoided another of the man-beast attacks.

Then, as there was another charge from the berserker, Emil threw his gun in the man's face, stunning him a second. Just enough for Emil to dash forward and strike the beast's neck with his reitterpallach, effectively chopping off its head.
Blood started to spill out of the chopped neck like a torrent, even more torrenting than it should normally be, the blood had even an unusual aspect too.

"Now, let's see this special cavy."

Emil walked toward a door with written on it "Only permitted personnel allowed."
He opened it.