GATE: Worlds At War

The Politics of War

President Jameson took a second to recompose himself before facing them. "Sorry, had a rough week." He said with a shake of his head. The rest of the Council nodded in understanding. After all, they were in the same boat as well. "All right, let's get this started. Everyone, we are once again at war against an enemy we know next to nothing about and the only entrance to hostile territory is literally right at our own backyard but before we continue, I'd like to know the status of that so called 'Gate'. Has anything happened since then?"

General Drummond shook his head. "Negative, sir. We've maintained constant surveillance on that structure and have reported no signs of any activity. Even so, we have the entire place on lockdown. Nothing and no one is getting through without being greeted with hot lead to the face."

"See that you do. Let's be thankful that another of those things didn't pop up somewhere. I don't want another massacre of our people to happen." The President was indeed thankful that so far, there has not been another reported invasion. That does not mean that they could breathe easier now though since even one of those things was one too much.

Strange forces that they could not comprehend were at work here and they could not afford to be caught with their pants down again. The cost would be too great to bear.

"I assure you sir that won't happen." General Drummond tried to placate the Commander and Chief's justified worries. "Our armed forces stand at the ready and are patrolling the entire country for any sign of such a phenomenon. If one does pop up, we'll be ready."

Although it was not much, that at least alleviated Jameson's worries a little. Assuming that this could happen again, they had no way of detecting where these bastards would come next so it left them little choice but to mobilize the entire military. At the very least, they would be ready in case another attack was to happen.

"Thank you, General." President Jameson nodded before turning to the rest of the Council. "Now I understand that we now have the full testimony of at least one of the prisoners but before we delve into that, what can you tell me about these prisoners?" He asked, looking at his directors of intelligence.

"Generally speaking, sir, they're a bunch of pricks." Director Kerstin said. "Since they woke up all we heard from them was the following. I quote, 'The Empire will make you pay for this, you will rue the day you dare defy our rule, we will enjoy watching you beg for mercy as our armies crush you', and so on. General Siricus, the commander of their invasion force, is the worst of them."

General Drummond chuckled. "Seems like you got your hands full. Is there anything else we found out about them?"

"There is." The CIA Director nodded. "While most broke easily given what we put them through, some of the more experienced and hardened of them are still hanging on...by a thread. Ironically, their overall commander, a Tertius Siricus was the first one to break. I guess he was all bark and no bite."

Director Cooper nodded. "Indeed and they have given us some very interesting information. The most cooperative of them would be a Count Colt Fortunato Umbrius Formal, one of the commanders of their little party. I believe we now have a basic understanding of the enemy or rather, the Saderan Empire as it is named. We have also confiscated some maps and other important documents from their command center."

President Jameson and the rest of the Council nodded in approval, glad that they now had something to work with. "Good, what have you found out about this empire?"

For this, Director Kerstin came forward to present her findings. "If you would turn your attention to the screen." The Council complied and faced the large screen as Director Kerstin presented an image – it was a map of a continent of some sorts.