Shattered Pearl Part 1

[PyeMcGowan]

PyeMcGowian Embassy, Constantus, @Theodoria

March 7th, 2019

Peter was the new director of communications for the embassy, after his predecessor was arrested for ‘spying’. Of course everyone was nervous that they would be next, and with the recent attacks in PyeMcGowan, they knew Theodoria would be directly or indirectly blamed. Many resigned and left within days, others just lay low to try and not become a target. As Peter looked outside his window he could see the police across the street, they’d been there for days now waiting to strike. He knew that unless relations suddenly improved, he would either be arrested or sent home.

 “Unbelievable, You’d never believe they’d take Barry, he was just an assistant. Nothing to do with all this, last thing I saw him doing was making a round of tea for the COMCOM guys, before he left and they took him, surely it’s illegal” said his deputy, Darcy.

 “It is next month, Parliament was a bit slow to that one. But still, we’ll all be gone by then. I’ve sent the extradition requests to them, but they’re all denied. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but one or two journalists and activists are coming to the embassy, from there I guess we’ll have to sneak them out”

 “But can’t they come into the building?” She replied.

 “Only the main reception, the other parts of the building are unaccessible, for now at least” he said with a worried voice, then he got a call from the new Ambassador, Sir Charles Astor. “Mr Ambassador, I wasn’t expecting you to call me” he said.

 “Peter, I need you in my office, quickly” said the Ambassador before hanging up.

 “Wonder what’s this about” he said to Darcy before rushing up the stairs to the Ambassadorial Offices.

 “Peter you know James Harrington, from the PSO”

 “No, pleasure to meet you, although I do remember your face from the PSO office”

 “Glad to meet you too” James replied.

 “Now James is here because the PSO believes that Theodoria has some.. well you know, weapons of mass destruction, wmds” said the Ambassador with a nervous voice.

 “Yes and they’re controlled from Constantus, in the Theodorian Ministry of Defence, there is a ‘war room’ where in a few moments a deadly attack could be launched killing thousands. We are fairly certain that they arnet nuclear armed, but still very dangerous. The PSO can hack the system and use it against them, but we need to get inside and connect this to the servers located within the war room complex” he said confidently.

 “And why are you telling me this?” Peter asked.

 “Because you were the best PSO agent of your generation, capable of infiltrating something as hard as this. We know you still have and indentation or two that can get past them, we just need you onboard.” James said

 “So what do you say?” Asked the Ambassador.

 “Ok, but I’ll need to take a while to get ready, and a story to tell them why I’m not in the embassy any more” 

“Done and Done, we have an estate in the Southern Regions of Theodoria, we can book you a train ticket, and we’ll say you resigned over personal reasons. I’ll see you on the eleventh”

 “So are we done here?” Asked the Ambassador

 “I believe so” said Peter As he exited the room. 

At the end of the day, as most of the staff were leaving Peter saw the Theodorian President in his motorcade, drive by to an event. “We’ll get you soon, just you watch”. And with that he went home, slept and got ready for Monday. What he had been told to do would chance the fate of the looming war, Theodoria was a reasonably sized country with around 30 million residents but PyeMcGowan had a military advantage, with modern weapons and ships, aswell as the aircraft based just across from Theodoria’s shores, it would be a bloody battle, but we would win hopefully.

 

[PyeMcGowan]

Geschäftsbank Headquaters, Contantus

March 2nd

What they were doing was secret, most secret. If anybody who didn’t already know knew, it could be the end for them. But they knew they had to do it, under strict instructions from the government. The bank had always been tied to the state, once a state owned company, always a state owned company, It was the Theodorian way. Markus was new to the operation, the operation was simple yet very complicated, their job on the 27th floor was to finance terrorist activities, and not just the AA, they were sending money to every corner of the Eurth, and nobody knew. They sent the money in many different ways, through physical currency and commodities, through innocent enough electronic payments, disguised as large purchases of property, vehicles and art and sometimes through international casinos. Most of the casinos in Theodoria were foreign, with branches across the world, from there they could buy Chips in Theodoria, and reuse those chips in another country, so dirty Credits could be exchanged for clean Vaitos or so. 

Markus had only left University a year ago, but he had a good experience in trading. One day, he was approached by a representative of the Geschäftsbank, the man said that he could make his nation proud, it sounded like he wanted him to join the army, then he slid a document and a check over the table, it was his proposed position, his salary and a starting bonus. 

PROPOSED POSITION TITLE FOR MR MARKUS FIELDING:

MARKETS ANALYST

He read the description, and it seemed fairly similar to what he was doing,

STARTING SALARY: CR210,780

He was astonished, He knew that the salary was the small part of the income, as bonuses usually reach the 7 figure mark for an analyst. Then he saw the starting bonus check. 

It was for 25 Million Credits, of course he’d used money equivalent to that before, but he never had it for himself. This could change everything, forever, he thought. He jumped upon the chance and that’s how he got to where he is today.

Markus didn’t know where the money he was making went, he just knew that it was going to the room next doors, and they would handle it. Apart from the confusing algorithms, millions in earnings, and chances that could ruin hundreds of lives, Markus lives a simple life, he has a dog, a girlfriend in Law School, an imported Range Evoque and an reasonably good view from his apartment, you can see the bay, you just need to go to the far side of the room. The day before lightning struck the masts on the roof of his building, so he had no wifi nor TV.

When Markus arrived at work, he felt a sense of urgency in the air, people stressing, sweating and running from either side of the room. “What’s happened?” He asked. “Haven’t you heard, there have been loads of attacks in PyeMcGowan, the markets have fallen. FICB’s stockprice is 8 credits.” “What’s wrong with it being 8 credits?” He asked, “On the 28th it was 65!”.

After a while, a long while, towards the end of the day, people were sitting in their chairs, having lost the bank hundreds of thousands, some even millions, all with sweat dripping down their faces, unknowing if they would still have a job the next morning.

Suddenly, Markus saw one of his coworkers being taken away by the security, on his way past Markus’ desk, he dropped a File. Markus picked it up and put it in his drawer. It was marked secret, and had the Ministry of Defence logo on the front.

Later that night, Markus read the document in his bedroom, what he read was orders from the government to use the profits Markus and his coworkers had made, and siphon it through a network of shell companies to tens of terrorist organisations. 

“I have to tell the PyeMcGowians, their embassy isn’t far. I’ll drop off the letters tomorrow”