MD-SOS

[Nentsia]

Zemaita
Capital of Nerysia

A man was walking his dog in the park. As he walked further, after his dog had taken his lengthy time for a dump, the man noticed that he was not alone. The situation got uneasy as someone seemed to follow him throughout his entire walk in the park. The man decided to break off his walk and headed to the exit of the park, to the main road, from where he'd walk back to his apartment and hope this person would be scared away because of the traffic and light. But the man was going nowhere.

''Peter Scholz'', someone said. Peter turned around to see where it came from. Two men stood very close behind him. Peter felt unsafe and looked at the exit, 30 meters ahead of him, to see if there was a chance to run away. But two dark figures were standing there, under the light of a lamp post. ''Is there anything wrong?'' Peter asked carefully. The men shook their heads simultaneously. One of the men took a card out of his wallet. ''Ministry of Defence, Special Operations Section. 1st Department, Western Brigidna.'' The man held up a card with the Ministry of Defence logo engraved in it and some chip that supposedly gave him access to its buildings.

''What do you need me for?''
''There is a car waiting. Come with us.''

The three men walked together to the exit of the park, while the two figures in the distance had vanished. A black car was indeed waiting besides the road. Peter got in the car and so did the other three. The driver was already there. There was also a follower car. ''We are taking you to the most secure location in the city.'' one of the men said. The cars drove to the headquarters of the so-called ''Ministry of Security General Institute of National Security''. After a guard checked the ID cards of the drivers, he made a couple of phonecalls. After a while, the heavy gates automatically opened and allowed the cars on the terrain of the General Institute's headquarters - a four-story high neo-classicist building, that seemed rather ordinary on the outside. Aside from the obvious heavy objects and fences placed around it, the countless amount of CCTV's watching every inch of the surrounding streets, and the pairs of heavily armed Royal Gendarmes at every corner. The careful observer would also notice the enormous satellites on the roof of the building, clumsily hidden away by putting at a the far back of the rooftop.

The two cars did not go to the regular entrance for employees but entered a tunnel that took them underneath the headquarters. Peter could only see the white lights in the concrete tunnel flash past them. The man next to Peter then suddenly began to grope him - but it turned out he was searching his pockets. He took out Peter's smartphone and opened it. He removed the battery and its chip and put them away. ''Sorry for that'', the man then said to Peter.

Eventually they reached an underground parking space. Not as spectacular as I had expected... Peter thought to himself. The garage was full of cars: many black vehicles with darkened windows, and obviously with bulletproof armor. There were also a number of armoured personnel carriers from the ''Ministry of Security'' parked here, and a few seemingly casual civilian cars. This must be the bat-cave... Peter thought. His face expression must have betrayed him, because one of the other men in the car joked to him ''our cave at the Defence ministry is much bigger, and it contains bigger stuff.''

The cars were parked, and greeted by a number of men coming from the underground entrance to the General Institute's building. They shook hands with the men who had picked Peter up from the park. ''This is your project. We are just here to help you find your way.'' They also shook Peter's hand, but didn't even bother to look at him.

The group went upstairs and then took an elevator. When the doors opened, Peter entered a completely different world. Before him there was no concrete, iron, or military hardware. The floor at which they got out was a warm atmosphere. The white marble floor was covered by a dark red carpet with gold and blue motives in it. The walls were dark wood-panelled with small lamps illuminating the long corridors. Sofa's were placed here and there, mainly for decorative purposes, just like the occasional portrait of the King or a golden sculpture. The white ceiling was softly illuminated as well to highlight its stucco artwork. A golden chandelier in the middle further illuminated the floor.

The men took Peter to one of the offices on that floor and put him in a comfortable chair. He was offered something to drink. After a few minutes of waiting, another man entered the office. He was wearing a military uniform. ''Peter Scholz, good that you are here.'' the man said. He introduced himself as Major Tirias, but Peter was quite certain that might be a false name. The military officer sat down opposite to him. Most people left the room then. Only one of the men who had picked him up stayed. ''Mr. Scholz,'' the Major began.

''We have been tracking you for a while. We think you can help us. You used to be very active within the Oslan nationalist movements. You knew a lot of people. Then you had to flee and you came to Nerysia. The Nerysian government has protected you, and you have a good life here. You can repay our kindness by... warming up some of your old contacts in Oslanburg for us.''

''But.. But I haven't spoken to many of these people since I fled.''

''We only need you to establish the initial contact. You introduce our guy to your guy, and we'll handle it from there. We need you to play as the familiar face.''

''What if they arrest me for treason or something?''

Major Tirias smiled. ''You'll be given a fake Lanlanian identity, doing a tourist trip throughout Central Brigidna. We have even arranged a wife for you.''

Peter Scholz was stunned. Next thing they offer me is a fake moustache... ''License to kill?'' he then sarcastically asked. The major laughed. ''Ah no. If you get into trouble, lie your way out of it and try to reach the Nerysian embassy. Your new friend who picked you up tonight, Mr Nazartis, will be looking after you from there as a diplomatic attache. You will report to him. And he will explain you how, when, and where. You will be introduced to your new wife. You will be doing a photoshoot with here on some tourist cites in the city. Your wife is also from the Special Operations Section. Her secondary role is to be your bodyguard. You do whatever she says, however.''

Before Peter knew it, the major had left the office. Mr. Nazartis escorted him back to the elevator, back to the concrete underground cave. A different car was now waiting for him: a rather shabby old piece of metal. When Peter looked at Nazartis a bit questioningly, he said ''change of appearance... you never know.''

Another agent was already waiting in the car. They left the complex and drove to Peter's house where he was dropped off. Mr. Nazartis reached for Peter's phone. Before putting it back together, he looked at Peter. ''There is no way back anymore. Be alert from now on. Don't make any new friends. And certainly try not to mess with me, or any of us.'' He then put the battery back into the phone and handed it to Peter. ''Someone will pick you up tomorrow.''

[Nentsia]

Ministry of Security headquarters,
Zemaita - Kingdom of Nerysia

Two years later... Alvan, 1587

Colonel Godric Nazartis arrived at his new workplace, on a cold winter morning. What had previously been known as the ''Ministry of Defense Special Operations Service'' had been merged into an enormous organization, and elevated to the status of ministry on its own - the Ministry of Security. It required officers like Nazartis himself, to follow the transfer and abandon their cherished Defense Ministry to work for the new Ministry of Security.

Nazartis parked his car, took out his briefcase - containing only his lunch and a number of smartphones - and went through the security checkpoints of the terrain. Although Nazartis regretted leaving the Defense Ministry, his job hadn't changed much, and even most of his colleagues made the same career move and continued to be his colleagues. What had previously been the SOS at the Defense Ministry was now more or less a subordinate office at the new Security Ministry. Nazartis showed his identity card at the gate, which indicated he belonged to the ''Main Department IV Section III''. Despite the fact that it was a new organization, and employees were constantly asking unfamiliar faces ''excuse me, what was your department again? And their task is...?'', everyone knew Section III of the Fourth Department. It was one of the smaller sections, but it was also the ''special'' one. The people working in that section came closest to the heroes from the popular spy novels and action movies. The Third Section, as it was simply known, was in the most literal sense of the word above the law.

Nazartis entered through the great marble hall of their headquarters, and peaked through the windows of the ground floor offices. He took the elevator upstairs, but held the doors opened for a handsome young woman who desperately tried to make it in time carrying a heavy load of paper files. ''Thanks'', she smiled. ''No problem. Need some help carrying that?''

The girl gladly handed Nazartis some of the files. Nazartis stared at the texts for a moment. He could see they were transcripts, but he couldn't read the language. The girl smiled nervously. ''Mordvanian communications that we intercepted over the past week. I need to take these to the linguists... Section IV of the Second Department.''

Nazartis smiled. ''Well, I'll walk with you then, I have to be on the same floor.'' The second floor sometimes looked more at an international conference than a ministry, as there were various offices concerning themselves with different parts of the globe, and the staffs had decorated their offices with flags, maps, and cultural items. ''There is a thin line between admiration and defection'', Nazartis joked to the girl. They delivered the files to the 4th Section, an office that had been decorated with Mordvanian flags. They even had a dartboard with pictures of Mordvanian politicians attached to it. An overworked linguist scratched his balding head as he saw the amount of paperwork that had arrived, and a sense of despair was visible in his eyes. ''Only the past week?''

''There is much more where that came from.'' the girl replied sarcastically. Then she thanked Nazartis and returned to her own desk, Section III of the Fifth Department - Electronic communications. The Fifth Department's budget was larger than that of all the others combined, but they did useful work. They had installed a number of antenna's, satellite dishes and radio equipment on the rooftop of the Nerysian embassy in Mordvania, which were used to target Mordvanian government communications on a daily basis. By now it had become an endless stream of data; telephone calls, text messages, e-mails, but also verbal conversations in some cases, thanks to the highly sensible microphones aimed at the windows of government buildings. It was not unusual for the Nerysian embassy to drive an embassy vehicle through the streets of the capital, while the car was filled with radio equipment to intercept electronic communication. The Fifth Department did the same with all other Nerysian embassies.

Nazartis moved on and reached a secure room, where no cell phones were allowed to enter. This was his Third Section, Special Operations. Nazartis' job required the highest level of secrecy for he was responsible for recruiting, operating, and maintaining unofficial informants, but also agents working under cover. One of his most promising agents was Peter Scholz, whom he had dragged into his affairs a few years ago. Peter, an Oslan nationalist in exile, was given a false identity, and lived for almost a year under this cover, while learning everything about his new role and his future tasks. Scholz received a Lanlanian identity, and had to pose as a Lanlanian business man of Oslan origin, who had a business in Nerysia.

Not too long ago he moved to Oslanburg to do business there. His hidden agenda was to establish contacts with old members of the Oslan nationalist circles, especially the ones he used to know before he fled the country. He maintained contact with Nazartis in the old-fashioned manner, so as to avoid communications being intercepted. He would meet at arranged dates with a Nerysian journalist. Before meeting, Scholz would travel out of town, making sure he wasnt being followed. Then he travelled back, taking different routes, sometimes travelling up to three hours just to meet the Nerysian journalist. The journalist in his turn carried instructions or money that he had received from a diplomatic attache at the Nerysian embassy, which in its turn used secure communication lines to receive and send messages to Nazartis, working in Nerysia and overseeing the entire operation. The Nerysian journalist worked as a full-time journalist, but it was also a cover, because he also worked for the Third Section.

Scholz had to try to recruit old nationalist comrades in Oslanburg and convince them to set up an underground far-right political organization. They would not know that they were being used as pawns by the Nerysians.