[rom: the star of sorrow]
Credit goes here. All I did was C&P and change some of the 6s to As. I also found it a bit hard to read the white on black background. A bit of editing for wording, but I can't edit it all so \o/;;
Chapter 2 - "A Banquet in the Darkness"
"...for they will come to kill thee, and in the night they will come to slay thee." (Nehemiah 6:10)
Father Abel was staring out of the window of the carriage at the mud-strewn, tattered, half-derelict streets of Pest - the eastern part of Istavan, the city once known as the ‘Pearl of Danube’. Aghast, the priest expressed his surprise at just how run-down the city was - and was promptly told by the giant Colonel Radcуn that it was a result of the recent upsurge of the terrorist activities. But before the political discussion could progress much further, the carriage stopped before a huge iron-wrought bridge. Lбnchid, the famous bridge across Danube, which served as the only link between Pest, the eastern half of Istavan, and Buda, its western half. An armed guard asked the passengers to identify themselves. Colonel Radcуn complied and the carriage was swiftly waved through. The observant priest couldn't help but notice just how heavily guarded the bridge was or the several latest-model Germanicus-manufactured tanks standing nearby. The ride continued. Buda, on the contrary to its eastern counterpart, was the very picture of prosperity. The reason for such an evident disparity was soon confided to the priest by the gigantic colonel. The lands west of Danube, including the whole of Buda, were all a private holding of the Marquis of Hungary.
Finally, the carriage reached Vбrhegy. It was greeted by the automata maids, beautiful - and much sought-after - doll servants, the technology of whose making was lost since the Armageddon. Having unloaded Father Abel into their mechanical hands, Colonel Radcуn returned to the carriage. The giant was chuckling, unpleasantly, at the last words of the priest. The man was apparently under an impression, that quite soon he would be back at the church...
--
On his way through the castle, Father Abel had lingered before an old-looking portrait on one of the walls. Depicted on it was a beautiful black-haired woman, with a gentle-looking blue eyes. The priest couldn't help, but wonder - aloud - as to the identity of the lady on the portrait. “She is my wife”, announced a voice from behind the priest. Whirling around, Father Abel found himself face to face with the Marquis of Hungary. Apologizing for the involuntary intrusion, the Marquis waved for the priest to take his place at the dinner table.
During the dinner, served by the silently efficient automata maids, the priest inquired what was the delicious wine they were being served. The Marquis replied that it was the famous Egri Bikavйr - the ‘Bull's Blood’ - which the Marquis's own vineyards were famous for. Its special taste was achieved through use of a certain fertilizer on the soil of the vineyard. When Father Abel asked what the fertilizer was, he was told that it was the blood. The human blood. After enjoying the expression of shock on the priest's face for a few seconds, Marquis Kбdбr reassured the man that it was merely a joke. The blood used was that of a bull.
The conversation moved on to the citizens of Pest. The priest implored the Marquis to look into their plight. Surely, with all his wealth, there was something he could do help the people, whose living standards were fast approaching those of livestock animals? Gyula Kadar replied that, as far as he was concerned, they were the livestock animals. And pretty dangerous animals, too. His wife had thought differently, once. She'd been like the priest, she would often say: “They are human too!” She had loved the city, and on the moonlight nights she would go down and hand out the sweets and the medicine to the poor. And nothing that the Marquis did or said had succeeded in dissuading her from doing thus. The look Gyula Kadar threw at his wife's portrait, just then, was full of nightblack sorrow. But one summer, he continued, the Plague had come to these lands. The cityfolk had begun to drop down with it, one after another. His wife, full of concern for them, had gone down to the city to distribute the medicine. She never had returned - she had been killed by the very people she had been trying to save. Now, how were they any better than animals?
Father Abel tried to argue, but his words were soon cut short by his own scream. Having lifted the lid of a newly served plate, he discovered on it a human head. The head of one of the partisans, who took part in the terrorist attack earlier on in the evening. The Marquis smiled unpleasantly and told the priest that these were the just desserts for all the foolish Terrans who would try to defy the Methuselah. Shocked, the priest stuttered out a question. And was promptly told that yes - Gyula Kadar was a vampire. A vampire, who particularly hated priests. For it was one of these hypocritical sowers of the love of God who had his wife burned at the city square. A fanatic, dispatched from Vatican. Just like Father Abel.
A pair of crescent-shaped fangs glimmered dangerously in the twilight of the dining hall. Death, imminent - and no doubt excruciatingly painful, stared Father Abel right in the face and smiled gently. What had saved him was a huge explosion which shook the palace right then, shattering the stained-glass windows and sending the automata maids a-scatter. The arms storehouse! But before the Marquis had as much as a moment to think, the doors of the dining hall burst open and a group of armed men poured in.
The partisans, led once more by their diminutive leader the ‘Csillag’, first attempted an assault on the Marquis. But neither them nor their weapons proved to be a match for the vampire's ‘Haste’, a special ability possessed by the Methuselah, which through temporarily stimulating the nerve system allowed them to move and react at over ten times the normal speed. One of the partisans went down with his own crossbow bolt, caught and hurled back by the Marquis, buried in his chest. A brown-eyed young man, whom the partisan leader was calling Dietrich, shouted for everyone to get the priest and withdraw. A half of them moved to do just that, while the other half covered for the ‘Csillag’, as the latter engaged the Marquis again. He shot a crossbow bolt and the vampire, once more, had easily caught it. However, this crossbow bolt was stuffed with the explosives and the subsequent blast dealt heavy damage to the Marquis, slowing him down just enough for the partisans to have thrown up a smoke screen and escaped to the outside court.
As the partisans paused briefly, waiting for everyone involved in the attack to re-assemble, Father Abel addressed the partisan leader as ‘Sister Esther’ and asked why was she doing this. Throwing off the gas mask and letting the familiar fiery-red locks fly in the air once more, the girl gestured at the open lid of a sewer chute in a corner of the courtyard. She told the priest that they were withdrawing to their hideout and that he was to follow.
--
The hideout of the partisans turned out to be in the wine cellar of one of the largest pubs in Pest. While most partisans engaged themselves in drinking, dancing and otherwise celebrating the success of the night's operation, the priest was questioning Sister Esther about the activities of her group. The girl, together with the brown-eyed young man whom she introduced as Dietrich von Lohengrin, her second-in-command, explained that the partisans struggled to liberate Istavan from the vampiric Marquises of Hungary. Their clan, for centuries now, have been ruling Istavan with the iron fist of the City Guard, all the while hiding behind the democratic facade of the City Council. The priest wondered why didn't they turn to Vatican for help. Dietrich replied that Vatican was more than aware of the situation. However, the Marquisate of Hungary was one of the supposedly free domains, which made up the neutrality belt between the Vatican-dominated Western Europe and the True Human Empire. The latter being the country of the vampires, their chief dominion in this world, situated on the Balkan peninsula and other lands surrounding the Black Sea. Presently, an uneasy ceasefire existed between these two major powers. But were Vatican to commence an armed intervention into Hungary, the situation could easily escalate into another world war. Thus Rome chose to turn a blind eye to the Istavan's plight, leaving its citizens to fend for themselves. As this night had shown - they weren't entirely unsuccessful. But it was regretful that the partisans hadn't also managed to destroy ‘The Star of Sorrow’. A piece of what was commonly known as the ‘Lost Technologies’, the artifacts of the high-science civilization which perished in the Armageddon, ‘The Star of Sorrow’ was rumored to be a fearsome weapon capable of calling down the fire from the skies and destroying cities with a single blast. Little more was known, but that the Marquis had gained possession of it and was working to restore it to the full battle readiness.
Eventually, the priest excused himself to go to the kitchen and pour himself some more milk. As he was drinking the milk, he heard a female voice greeting him. The kitchen looked completely empty. Far from being surprised, however, Father Abel had greeted the owner of the mysterious voice as ‘Sister Kate’ and proceeded to inquire whether ‘they’ had arrived here. The answer was confirmative. Furthermore, ‘Sister Kate’ had just received a report from the ‘Gunslinger’. Apparently, the City Guard were about to be dispatched on a large-scale mission of yet unknown nature and the watch over St. Matthias' church was to be strengthened. In the view of the latter, Lady Caterina wanted all the church people evacuated to safety. But as Vatican still couldn't move directly, Father Abel was to enlist the help of the partisans for the evacuation. And there lied a complication. It seemed that just before this night's attack, almost all the ammunition had been removed from the arms storehouse which the partisans had blown up. This indicated a strong possibility that a mole had been present amongst the partisans. Father Abel should be very careful in his dealings with them. Nodding, the priest told everyone on the ‘Iron Maiden’ to take care as well and cut the contact.
--
Next morning a rather striking group was seen making its way down the Andrassy street towards the St. Matthias' Church. A tall and exceptionally handsome brown-eyed young priest drew the looks of almost every woman on the street. The priest was accompanied by two nuns. One nun was near to two meters tall, wore small round glasses and had unruly silver hair peeking out from under her wimple. The other was the opposite - short, red-haired and exceptionally cheerful:
These were, of course, Dietrich, Sister Esther and Father Abel, disguised so as to avoid being identified by the Marquis' spies. Upon reaching the church, they were immediately received by Mother Vitйz. Sister Esther explained the situation and told Mother Vitйz that she and every one of her churchworkers were to leave Istavan the very next morning on a caravan bound for Vienna. Everything had already been arranged with the head of the caravan. Sister Esther herself, however, would stay behind with the partisans. Much to everyone's surprise, Father Abel had volunteered to stay behind as well. Everyone jumped to dissuade him - but before any could succeed, the door flew open and one of the churchworkers came running in. Apparently, the City Guard had surrounded the church. Indeed, even before the man had finished speaking, everyone began to hear the stomping of the army boots in the corridor outside. Loud voices had announced that they had reasons to believe that hiding somewhere in the church was one Father Abel Nightroad, suspected of aiding the recent terrorist attack on Vбrhegy. Mother Vitйz walked over to the bookcase and pressed in one of the books. The bookshelf slid to the side, revealing a hole in the wall and a staircase, descending into darkness. Mother Vitйz ushered the other three into the passage, telling them she had to stay behind herself to protect her fellow churchmen.
The bookcase barely had time to return to its original position before a group of the City Guard soldiers burst into the room. Leading them was the familiar figure of Major Tres Iqus in his impeccable midnight-blue uniform. Iqus demanded for Mother Vitйz to hand over the priest. When she protested that she didn't know where the priest is, Iqus took out his gun and shot. But not Mother Vitйz. Instead the 13mm bullets of his Jericho M13 ‘Dies Irae’ blasted the bookcase to pieces, revealing the secret passage behind. The major ordered all his soldiers to commence the pursuit of the priest and his companions. Just then a new voice interfered, countermanding this order. Colonel Radcуn himself was standing at the doorway. Claiming to be acting on the personal orders from Marquis Gyula Kбdбr, he commanded for the pursuit of the priest to be abandoned. The priest was to be allowed to run loose for a while longer. Instead, Mother Laura Vitйz and all her fellow churchmen were to be arrested and taken to Vбrhegy, on the charges of obstructing the public justice and aiding the escape of a known criminal. The church of St. Matthias was to be burned to the ground.
When Father Abel, Esther and Dietrich got back to the partisan hideout, they were met by Ignatz. The old man, looking rather worried, told them to listen to what was being broadcast on the radio. Marquis Gyula Kadar declared himself the sole ruler of Istavan. All the Terrans in the city - his private property. The City Council and the courthouse were to be immediately disbanded and the whole city was placed under a martial law for an indefinite period of time. Furthermore, it was established that the responsibility for the yesterday's terrorist attack lied with one Father Abel Nightroad, a priest in the St. Matthias' Church. Therefore, it was decided that, along with expressing a most emphatic protest to Vatican who undoubtedly directed the hand of the priest in question, the St. Matthias' Church would be shut down, indefinitely, and all its personnel - detained until further notice...
The last sounds of the broadcast died down, leaving only a stunned in its stead.
--
Not any less stunned were the members of the Vatican Council, in Castel Sant'Angelo, as one after another reports started to arrive from the Hungary border. The 14th armored infantry battalion ‘The Knights of St. Stephen’ reported being under an attack by armored vehicles, identified as belonging to the City Guard of Istavan, and requested the permission to return fire. The border patrol airship ‘Ramiel’ reported than an unknown aircraft had just violated the border at the point 209/037, ignoring all attempts at communication. The crew of ‘Ramiel’ identified the ship in question as ‘Sбrkбny’ of the military airfleet of Istavan and were requesting further instructions. Many similar reports followed.
To all intents and purposes, Istavan had declared a war on Vatican.
When the Council had recovered enough from the shock to request the information on the total military assets of the Marquis of Hungary, it turned out that they consisted of a mere 2-3 regiments of infantry, a battalion of Germanicus-manufactured tanks and other armored vehicles, one armored infantry company of Germanicus-manufactured mobile armor and robotic soldiers, plus the airfleet - a destroyer and two frigates. Such a force could be handled by the border guard alone, without any reinforcements being necessary. The shock gave turn to the glee, as the Council realized that they had now all the excuse they needed for the invasion of Hungary. None were rejoicing more than Cardinal Francesco di Medici, who was roaring triumphantly that they could easily take Istavan in under three days. But amidst all the rejoicing, Cardinal Caterina Sforza kept silence. It all seemed too perfect to her. Was the Marquis hoping to gain the support of the True Human Empire? But why would the Empire break a self-imposed ceasefire on the behalf of a single free town? That left only one possible explanation. "The Star of Sorrow"...
Chapter 2 - "A Banquet in the Darkness"
"...for they will come to kill thee, and in the night they will come to slay thee." (Nehemiah 6:10)
Father Abel was staring out of the window of the carriage at the mud-strewn, tattered, half-derelict streets of Pest - the eastern part of Istavan, the city once known as the ‘Pearl of Danube’. Aghast, the priest expressed his surprise at just how run-down the city was - and was promptly told by the giant Colonel Radcуn that it was a result of the recent upsurge of the terrorist activities. But before the political discussion could progress much further, the carriage stopped before a huge iron-wrought bridge. Lбnchid, the famous bridge across Danube, which served as the only link between Pest, the eastern half of Istavan, and Buda, its western half. An armed guard asked the passengers to identify themselves. Colonel Radcуn complied and the carriage was swiftly waved through. The observant priest couldn't help but notice just how heavily guarded the bridge was or the several latest-model Germanicus-manufactured tanks standing nearby. The ride continued. Buda, on the contrary to its eastern counterpart, was the very picture of prosperity. The reason for such an evident disparity was soon confided to the priest by the gigantic colonel. The lands west of Danube, including the whole of Buda, were all a private holding of the Marquis of Hungary.
Finally, the carriage reached Vбrhegy. It was greeted by the automata maids, beautiful - and much sought-after - doll servants, the technology of whose making was lost since the Armageddon. Having unloaded Father Abel into their mechanical hands, Colonel Radcуn returned to the carriage. The giant was chuckling, unpleasantly, at the last words of the priest. The man was apparently under an impression, that quite soon he would be back at the church...
--
On his way through the castle, Father Abel had lingered before an old-looking portrait on one of the walls. Depicted on it was a beautiful black-haired woman, with a gentle-looking blue eyes. The priest couldn't help, but wonder - aloud - as to the identity of the lady on the portrait. “She is my wife”, announced a voice from behind the priest. Whirling around, Father Abel found himself face to face with the Marquis of Hungary. Apologizing for the involuntary intrusion, the Marquis waved for the priest to take his place at the dinner table.
During the dinner, served by the silently efficient automata maids, the priest inquired what was the delicious wine they were being served. The Marquis replied that it was the famous Egri Bikavйr - the ‘Bull's Blood’ - which the Marquis's own vineyards were famous for. Its special taste was achieved through use of a certain fertilizer on the soil of the vineyard. When Father Abel asked what the fertilizer was, he was told that it was the blood. The human blood. After enjoying the expression of shock on the priest's face for a few seconds, Marquis Kбdбr reassured the man that it was merely a joke. The blood used was that of a bull.
The conversation moved on to the citizens of Pest. The priest implored the Marquis to look into their plight. Surely, with all his wealth, there was something he could do help the people, whose living standards were fast approaching those of livestock animals? Gyula Kadar replied that, as far as he was concerned, they were the livestock animals. And pretty dangerous animals, too. His wife had thought differently, once. She'd been like the priest, she would often say: “They are human too!” She had loved the city, and on the moonlight nights she would go down and hand out the sweets and the medicine to the poor. And nothing that the Marquis did or said had succeeded in dissuading her from doing thus. The look Gyula Kadar threw at his wife's portrait, just then, was full of nightblack sorrow. But one summer, he continued, the Plague had come to these lands. The cityfolk had begun to drop down with it, one after another. His wife, full of concern for them, had gone down to the city to distribute the medicine. She never had returned - she had been killed by the very people she had been trying to save. Now, how were they any better than animals?
Father Abel tried to argue, but his words were soon cut short by his own scream. Having lifted the lid of a newly served plate, he discovered on it a human head. The head of one of the partisans, who took part in the terrorist attack earlier on in the evening. The Marquis smiled unpleasantly and told the priest that these were the just desserts for all the foolish Terrans who would try to defy the Methuselah. Shocked, the priest stuttered out a question. And was promptly told that yes - Gyula Kadar was a vampire. A vampire, who particularly hated priests. For it was one of these hypocritical sowers of the love of God who had his wife burned at the city square. A fanatic, dispatched from Vatican. Just like Father Abel.
A pair of crescent-shaped fangs glimmered dangerously in the twilight of the dining hall. Death, imminent - and no doubt excruciatingly painful, stared Father Abel right in the face and smiled gently. What had saved him was a huge explosion which shook the palace right then, shattering the stained-glass windows and sending the automata maids a-scatter. The arms storehouse! But before the Marquis had as much as a moment to think, the doors of the dining hall burst open and a group of armed men poured in.
The partisans, led once more by their diminutive leader the ‘Csillag’, first attempted an assault on the Marquis. But neither them nor their weapons proved to be a match for the vampire's ‘Haste’, a special ability possessed by the Methuselah, which through temporarily stimulating the nerve system allowed them to move and react at over ten times the normal speed. One of the partisans went down with his own crossbow bolt, caught and hurled back by the Marquis, buried in his chest. A brown-eyed young man, whom the partisan leader was calling Dietrich, shouted for everyone to get the priest and withdraw. A half of them moved to do just that, while the other half covered for the ‘Csillag’, as the latter engaged the Marquis again. He shot a crossbow bolt and the vampire, once more, had easily caught it. However, this crossbow bolt was stuffed with the explosives and the subsequent blast dealt heavy damage to the Marquis, slowing him down just enough for the partisans to have thrown up a smoke screen and escaped to the outside court.
As the partisans paused briefly, waiting for everyone involved in the attack to re-assemble, Father Abel addressed the partisan leader as ‘Sister Esther’ and asked why was she doing this. Throwing off the gas mask and letting the familiar fiery-red locks fly in the air once more, the girl gestured at the open lid of a sewer chute in a corner of the courtyard. She told the priest that they were withdrawing to their hideout and that he was to follow.
--
The hideout of the partisans turned out to be in the wine cellar of one of the largest pubs in Pest. While most partisans engaged themselves in drinking, dancing and otherwise celebrating the success of the night's operation, the priest was questioning Sister Esther about the activities of her group. The girl, together with the brown-eyed young man whom she introduced as Dietrich von Lohengrin, her second-in-command, explained that the partisans struggled to liberate Istavan from the vampiric Marquises of Hungary. Their clan, for centuries now, have been ruling Istavan with the iron fist of the City Guard, all the while hiding behind the democratic facade of the City Council. The priest wondered why didn't they turn to Vatican for help. Dietrich replied that Vatican was more than aware of the situation. However, the Marquisate of Hungary was one of the supposedly free domains, which made up the neutrality belt between the Vatican-dominated Western Europe and the True Human Empire. The latter being the country of the vampires, their chief dominion in this world, situated on the Balkan peninsula and other lands surrounding the Black Sea. Presently, an uneasy ceasefire existed between these two major powers. But were Vatican to commence an armed intervention into Hungary, the situation could easily escalate into another world war. Thus Rome chose to turn a blind eye to the Istavan's plight, leaving its citizens to fend for themselves. As this night had shown - they weren't entirely unsuccessful. But it was regretful that the partisans hadn't also managed to destroy ‘The Star of Sorrow’. A piece of what was commonly known as the ‘Lost Technologies’, the artifacts of the high-science civilization which perished in the Armageddon, ‘The Star of Sorrow’ was rumored to be a fearsome weapon capable of calling down the fire from the skies and destroying cities with a single blast. Little more was known, but that the Marquis had gained possession of it and was working to restore it to the full battle readiness.
Eventually, the priest excused himself to go to the kitchen and pour himself some more milk. As he was drinking the milk, he heard a female voice greeting him. The kitchen looked completely empty. Far from being surprised, however, Father Abel had greeted the owner of the mysterious voice as ‘Sister Kate’ and proceeded to inquire whether ‘they’ had arrived here. The answer was confirmative. Furthermore, ‘Sister Kate’ had just received a report from the ‘Gunslinger’. Apparently, the City Guard were about to be dispatched on a large-scale mission of yet unknown nature and the watch over St. Matthias' church was to be strengthened. In the view of the latter, Lady Caterina wanted all the church people evacuated to safety. But as Vatican still couldn't move directly, Father Abel was to enlist the help of the partisans for the evacuation. And there lied a complication. It seemed that just before this night's attack, almost all the ammunition had been removed from the arms storehouse which the partisans had blown up. This indicated a strong possibility that a mole had been present amongst the partisans. Father Abel should be very careful in his dealings with them. Nodding, the priest told everyone on the ‘Iron Maiden’ to take care as well and cut the contact.
--
Next morning a rather striking group was seen making its way down the Andrassy street towards the St. Matthias' Church. A tall and exceptionally handsome brown-eyed young priest drew the looks of almost every woman on the street. The priest was accompanied by two nuns. One nun was near to two meters tall, wore small round glasses and had unruly silver hair peeking out from under her wimple. The other was the opposite - short, red-haired and exceptionally cheerful:
These were, of course, Dietrich, Sister Esther and Father Abel, disguised so as to avoid being identified by the Marquis' spies. Upon reaching the church, they were immediately received by Mother Vitйz. Sister Esther explained the situation and told Mother Vitйz that she and every one of her churchworkers were to leave Istavan the very next morning on a caravan bound for Vienna. Everything had already been arranged with the head of the caravan. Sister Esther herself, however, would stay behind with the partisans. Much to everyone's surprise, Father Abel had volunteered to stay behind as well. Everyone jumped to dissuade him - but before any could succeed, the door flew open and one of the churchworkers came running in. Apparently, the City Guard had surrounded the church. Indeed, even before the man had finished speaking, everyone began to hear the stomping of the army boots in the corridor outside. Loud voices had announced that they had reasons to believe that hiding somewhere in the church was one Father Abel Nightroad, suspected of aiding the recent terrorist attack on Vбrhegy. Mother Vitйz walked over to the bookcase and pressed in one of the books. The bookshelf slid to the side, revealing a hole in the wall and a staircase, descending into darkness. Mother Vitйz ushered the other three into the passage, telling them she had to stay behind herself to protect her fellow churchmen.
The bookcase barely had time to return to its original position before a group of the City Guard soldiers burst into the room. Leading them was the familiar figure of Major Tres Iqus in his impeccable midnight-blue uniform. Iqus demanded for Mother Vitйz to hand over the priest. When she protested that she didn't know where the priest is, Iqus took out his gun and shot. But not Mother Vitйz. Instead the 13mm bullets of his Jericho M13 ‘Dies Irae’ blasted the bookcase to pieces, revealing the secret passage behind. The major ordered all his soldiers to commence the pursuit of the priest and his companions. Just then a new voice interfered, countermanding this order. Colonel Radcуn himself was standing at the doorway. Claiming to be acting on the personal orders from Marquis Gyula Kбdбr, he commanded for the pursuit of the priest to be abandoned. The priest was to be allowed to run loose for a while longer. Instead, Mother Laura Vitйz and all her fellow churchmen were to be arrested and taken to Vбrhegy, on the charges of obstructing the public justice and aiding the escape of a known criminal. The church of St. Matthias was to be burned to the ground.
When Father Abel, Esther and Dietrich got back to the partisan hideout, they were met by Ignatz. The old man, looking rather worried, told them to listen to what was being broadcast on the radio. Marquis Gyula Kadar declared himself the sole ruler of Istavan. All the Terrans in the city - his private property. The City Council and the courthouse were to be immediately disbanded and the whole city was placed under a martial law for an indefinite period of time. Furthermore, it was established that the responsibility for the yesterday's terrorist attack lied with one Father Abel Nightroad, a priest in the St. Matthias' Church. Therefore, it was decided that, along with expressing a most emphatic protest to Vatican who undoubtedly directed the hand of the priest in question, the St. Matthias' Church would be shut down, indefinitely, and all its personnel - detained until further notice...
The last sounds of the broadcast died down, leaving only a stunned in its stead.
--
Not any less stunned were the members of the Vatican Council, in Castel Sant'Angelo, as one after another reports started to arrive from the Hungary border. The 14th armored infantry battalion ‘The Knights of St. Stephen’ reported being under an attack by armored vehicles, identified as belonging to the City Guard of Istavan, and requested the permission to return fire. The border patrol airship ‘Ramiel’ reported than an unknown aircraft had just violated the border at the point 209/037, ignoring all attempts at communication. The crew of ‘Ramiel’ identified the ship in question as ‘Sбrkбny’ of the military airfleet of Istavan and were requesting further instructions. Many similar reports followed.
To all intents and purposes, Istavan had declared a war on Vatican.
When the Council had recovered enough from the shock to request the information on the total military assets of the Marquis of Hungary, it turned out that they consisted of a mere 2-3 regiments of infantry, a battalion of Germanicus-manufactured tanks and other armored vehicles, one armored infantry company of Germanicus-manufactured mobile armor and robotic soldiers, plus the airfleet - a destroyer and two frigates. Such a force could be handled by the border guard alone, without any reinforcements being necessary. The shock gave turn to the glee, as the Council realized that they had now all the excuse they needed for the invasion of Hungary. None were rejoicing more than Cardinal Francesco di Medici, who was roaring triumphantly that they could easily take Istavan in under three days. But amidst all the rejoicing, Cardinal Caterina Sforza kept silence. It all seemed too perfect to her. Was the Marquis hoping to gain the support of the True Human Empire? But why would the Empire break a self-imposed ceasefire on the behalf of a single free town? That left only one possible explanation. "The Star of Sorrow"...