"A collection of freelancers with no public affiliation to the IRIO, Mr. Thomas." The General mused, sipping his drink, "They're good at what they do, though. Hopefully they can all be good at that as a team."

"Yes. We've got a lot riding on this." Daniel flexed, and clicked his neck, as he moved to stand just behind and to the right of the General's chair. "Why thank you, Samuel. I'll consider taking singing lessons too." He smirked, as the door opened and their new operatives filed in.

Once everyone was seated, the General stood up and spoke.

"Good evening, all. My name is Andius Ponta, and I am the head of the International Relations and Intelligence Office - or the IRIO, for short. This is my lieutenant and personal aide, Daniel Hunt, and that-" He said, pointing at Samuel, "- is Sam Thomas, our primary pilot and aeronautics technician - though I'm told you greasers prefer the term mechanic - for this run."

Gently, he placed his drink down on the table, and retrieved from his pocket a thin, folded piece of paper. Laying it out on the table, it was revealed to be a comprehensive geopolitical map of the Eversky. The city of Solace was a light blue, the Red League was coloured in red, naturally, the Oakheart Sovereignty was white, with a gold crest in the middle of their territory, and the Dominion was a steely grey. Between each nation, colour coded arrows represented their general disposition to the others - and to the World Court itself.

"This map," The General stabbed at it with his finger, "tells us one very important thing."

"The Eversky is about to be plunged into a vast and bloody war, if we don't do something - and bloody quick too, I say."

The General sat back, and nodded to Daniel, who stepped forward with his hands behind his back, and a cold, logical expression fixed firmly on his face.

"The political situation in the Iron Dominion is a troubling one. The current Prime Minister is becoming increasingly unpopular thanks to the policy of relentlessly testing the other two nations' aerial defense networks, and subsequently disturbing the peace in the Dominion, as well as rapid industrialisation of the rockfields to the east of the Dominion. The opposition called her out on this, and she's had several popular opposition politicians imprisoned as a result - which has only made the situation worse for them. Our emissaries and agents within Industry house, plus a close monitoring of the local media, has resulted in our firm belief that the PM is more than willing to start a war in order to postpone the oncoming general election, and give her party more time to win back the working classes. We need to stop that from happening."

"Furthermore, while the Oakheart Sovereignty is in a state of relative peace, the King is growing older, and remains unmarried. Ralen Pinestock is turning 53 in a few months, and is beginning to feel the discontent of his people at his marital status. He contacted us personally a while ago to ask the IRIO for advice - though why he thought a bunch of spies would know anything about the politics of love honestly beats me. It is possible, though, that some elements of the Oakheart nobility are subtly working against him, to install a married, more stable king - despite the fact that the Sovereignty has never seen better years on account of just how superb a leader Pinestock is. What's worse, the noble most likely to be voted in by the Sovereign Council - their strange, nobles only pseudoparliament - is a complete xenophobe, and warmonger. The Sovereignty will be the second stop."

"The Red League is... actually rather stable. There is nothing overtly threatening to the stability of the Eversky to be found there - but IRIO [i]and[/i] Red League intelligence operatives have been sending cryptic messages lately, and we might as well send some people to check it out before this is over."

The General cleared his throat, and stood up, about half a foot shorter than Daniel.

"But of course, that hardly explains why we're not using our own resources to deal with this - after all, such a sensitive situation is usually kept behind the locked doors of the IRIO."

He paused for a moment, surveying the operatives before him.

"Well, it's because of those Heavens' Eyes nutjobs. I hate to admit it, but we've been half forced out of our own occupations by those hyper religious psychopaths, and for some reason they're not particularly interested in cooperating with us, or in preventing the war on their own. If I thought a decent force of my own agents could get through the IRIO web, I'd send them instead - especially since I can't even really afford to pay you, at least not enough to make it worth a job like this."

"But make no mistake, without your influence, the Eversky will be consumed by a bloody and savage war, which will see the deaths of potentially as many as millions of innocents, more than have ever been taken by the fiery hand of war in our history. I don't know you, and if you aren't willing to help us with this without guarantee of high pay you ought to leave - but know that this is your chance to make a mark on the history of this world, and that this is your chance to finally work for something more than money."


"Are you in?"