389 Operation Overlord (1/2)
The General Atomics MQ - 242 'Owleye' Unmanned Reconnaissance Vehicle was already on its last legs as it hovered quietly over the city it was assigned to overwatch. Built over forty years ago, it was mothballed together with the aging City Class heavy cruiser Singapore and only taken back into service when the UNS Singapore was retrofit back into active service as an auxiliary ship.
Without a proper UAV servicing station for the UAVs, the MQ - 242 Owleyes had started to break down with reduced performance. The Engineering team could only make simple maintenance and repairs but with proper materials and how know, they could only prolong the inevitable for only so much time.
Now for the last time in its active service life, the last remaining Owleye which was long overdue to be decommissioned performed its final data collection mission.
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Empire of Bluewood, City of Silverton, Citadel, Great Hall
Over a hundred people dressed in the latest court fashion thronged the Great Hall. Music, conversation, and laughter could be heard while a small army of servants waited on the guests.
The Emperor sat on the throne at the end of the Great Hall and watched the nobles and influential people mingling around before him. He took a sip of his wine and inwardly felt disdain for the fawning faces of the people before him.
All of them want wealth and power, yet none was willing to pay the price of it. Only wanting to take credit from others without dirtying their hands. These people will only know how to suck the Empire dry of its resources, thought the Emperor. When asked for any contributions to the war against the rebels, everyone gave excuses of all kinds, but when invited to a party, everyone was suddenly available.
He kept a smile on his face as he devised a plan to wipe out all those unworthy to the Empire. Only the strong shall keep the Empire strong!
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United Nation, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department
Lieutenant Tavor broke into a smile as he watched the delayed feed from the UAV cameras. The large screens taking up one wall of the Naval Intelligence Department's Ops Room were showing an image that was taken from the UAV currently hovering just over the city of Silverton.
The screen was showing an image of a stone keep that was brightly lit and through the crystal windows, a part of sorts was going on. As the UAV operator controlled the cameras, the view panned over to the last window which clearly shown a male lounging on a throne.
The Emperor was dressed in a long blue coat, thick with elaborate golden embroidery and wearing a simple looking eastern crown with just three spikes on the front. Lt Tavor gestured to the UAV operator to zoom in the camera.
He walked closer to the screen and nodded in triumphant, ”Hello there, Mr. Emperor...”
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United Nations, City of Haven, Residental District
The phone rang suddenly in the middle of the night, jolting awake both Blake and Sherene from their sleep. Blake gently untangled himself from Sherene's arms as he rolled himself over to the edge of the bed.
”Wh- who is calling at such a time?” Sherene grumbled sleepily.
Blake patted Sherene's head and hopped over to the table where the phone was still ringing. ”Blake here.”
”Captain, sorry for disturbing you and the princess's sleep.” The voice of Lt Tavor came in clear over the phone. ”But we got a situation here...”
”Got it,” Blake rubbed the grains of sleep of his eyes. ”I will be in the Bridge in... twenty minutes.”
”Yes, Sir,” Lt Tavor replied. ”A car has been dispatched for you and will be waiting when you're downstairs.”
Blake put down the phone back to its cradle and hopped his way to the side of the bed before strapping on his prosthetic leg.
”What is the matter?” Sherene rolled over and hugged Blake in the middle. ”Did something urgent came up?”
Blake nodded and gave Sherene's hands a squeeze before he turned over and kissed her on the forehead. ”Go back to sleep, I need to go to the Bridge for an urgent matter.”
”Is it very serious?” The sleepiness in Sherene's voice had disappeared.
”Maybe,” Blake smiled at Sherene. ”Don't worry, I can handle it.”
”Hmm...” Sherene nodded and got off the bed to help dress Blake in his uniform. ”Call me if there is anything you need my help, okay?”
”Okay,” Blake kissed Sherene and grabbed his peak cap before he left the room and out of the penthouse. He took the elevator down to the ground floor and found a couple of Jeeps with their engines running and waiting for him.
His escorts saluted and opened the door for him and before long, he was on his way to the tallest structure in the city. The guards stood at attention at his arrival and soon he was stepping into the Bridge and waved the night watch crew back to their seats.
”Sir!” Lt Tavor was waiting for him at the forward section. Without beating around the bush, he activated the screens and played back the surveillance video feed taken an hour ago. ”We got visual confirmation an hour ago that the Emperor is in the city.”
Blake watched the video played at 1.5x speed before the video paused when the camera panned and zoomed in to show the Emperor seated on the throne through the windows. ”That's him, yes?”
Lt Tavor nodded, ”I had his image tallied with several previous ex Empire personnel and our high value prisoners. They all have confirmed his identity.”
”Sir, do we have the green light to start the operation?” Lt Tavor asked in a serious tone.
Blake frowned and rubbed the thin stubble forming on his chin and asked, ”How long till we lose UAV coverage?”