MY TREASURED DESIRE

Chapter SEVENTEEN: Achaia's Neighbour.

Achaia’s Neighbour.

Inside Colonel Michelle Guan’s Reports.

My motherland, Achaia is a leading Asian Country with a population of a little over Four Million, bounded by the Great Mountains and Seas in the North and in the East, but bounded by the Achaia Sea in the West and South. It is more of an Island Nation, blessed with countless Solid Minerals that make them be envied by the small nation within their borders. Just as Africa’s Senegal has one friendly nation almost within its own borders, The Gambia… Achaia has a small but powerful Nation, Middleville, almost within its own borders, and, with a sizeable Great Ocean coastline. The only Border Country to the North, East and South of Middleville is the Kingdom of Achaia. My father’s nation, Middleville has a Population of a little less than 2 million people, all trained as warriors, whereas about 50% of its citizens are into the Military Career! The allies of that Nation seem to be most of those Nations in unfriendly terms with Achaia!

The diverse ecosystems around the River of Buddha in Middleville make the nation one of the greatest fishing nations in Asia, having almost the same income from Ecosystems-related Businesses, as Achaia. Trained in aquatic warfare, Middleville Citizens engage in High-Sea fisheries, and of course, they have more Pirates on the Seas and Kingpins in the espionage world, whose statistics or prowess have not yet been established.

History has it, that the Great Emperor Uzziah Cheng Yu, who led a great military campaign to carve out a Nation for himself out of the 10th Century Asia, had two twin sons: Yu Madison and Yu Morgan who both grew up to be invincible warriors. Their father’s entire nation was called Middleville. The royal twins were identical, and together, they had won many battles for their land. The emperor loved his Military Advisors more than his own blood, for what he thought he only needed for his nation’s greatness was the military advisors’ complete loyalty. He called his behaviour, Patriotism! So, by some Imperial Council members’ furtive advice, the emperor carved out a portion of that Nation, where there are no mineral deposits – which lies in the heart of the entire land - and spent 75% of the National earnings to develop and industrialise that region. He vetoed the national development plan and policy to unjustly favour that part of the Country, in a bid to make Middleville to be at par with the greatest nations of the World’s respected continents. He named its capital city, Bandar, after his favourite Arabian concubine, Bandar, who was barren. The emperor made a royal decree – that only the united Government of Achaia and Middleville could rename the rest of the Land, Achaia – meaning Grief or Trouble and allowed his sons to be Co-Kings over that part of the Nation which earned the Nation its wealth. However, the neglected wife of the emperor cast a spell upon the emperor’s preferred region, that Middleville will always lag behind the part of the Nation that produced the nation’s wealth, in everything; that they will be aloof finding faults in cahoots with other antagonistic nations, as mere scorners; that they will always strive, but never be free from the domination of that part of the country jointly governed by the Princes, until the mischief makers’ blood is shed to appease the gods. Then, the nations may unite so that the emperor, whose headquarters would be at Lagos, Achaia, would reign peacefully over the two nations. Then, a King by the true royal blood will rule Middleville, as his people’s blood and wealth were used to build that nation. As the Nation began to witness the terrible part of that curse manifesting, the emperor made another evil decree that - in the event of his demise - none of his sons will inherit his throne, giving in to the enemies within the Imperial Council. However, the Emperor’s power was shifted to Lagos, the national capital city of the old Middleville, now the chief city of Achaia. However, the King that will now govern the (New) Middleville will be a military ruler. To ensure that his imperial majesty would not die and cause confusion, he quickly named his Imperial Defence Counsellor as his successor, but he would only become the Monarchical Ruler of Middleville. Hence, all citizens of Middleville will – by law - be trained in the military defence, war, and tactics for three years before they choose any Profession they are inclined to.

As the Imperial Defence Counsellor realised that the emperor had shifted the Power of the emperor to his biological offspring, which was not a part of the schemes of his kitchen cabinet, he counted himself as a Minister without Portfolio… He connived with other powerful Imperial Council Members and a Palace Coup took place… They realised that records of all the sealed imperial decrees have already been transported to Lagos, Achaia. So, they could only keep the emperor hostage till they get the copies of the decree and amend its content for him to append his signature and seal… Unfortunately, the capture of the emperor by his Middleville Imperial Council leaked to the Co-Kings in Achaia.

This led to the 7 years of Civil War that eventually caused the political separation of the two kingdoms. Hence, Achaia made constitutional plans to have an Emperor - the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces - who oversees the Nation’s traditions, ceremonial customs, and its sustenance while the King deals with the internal affairs of the provinces, and the Government. His final decisions on capital judgments will work with the ratification by the emperor. The appointment of the emperor or King rest within the Royal family, who will pronounce the father to be the emperor, the son will be the King, and the emperor’s grandson will be the next Emperor – with the Title “Crown Prince.” That crown prince will deal mostly with Justice, Homeland Security, International Relations, Defence and other directives from the Emperor and the King.

Presently, General Liu Cheng Yu – Former Head of International Policy and Defence - has just been crowned as the Constitutional Monarch and Commander-in-chief of the Communist State of Middleville. He was an orator, a lawyer, great schemer, military strategist and soft-talking advocate of peace between Achaia and Middleville. He was the elder brother of Jon - the 35-year-old ambassador to the UK., who wanted to marry Princess Reese Chang to stamp the unity between the sister nations but was rejected by Reese.

Rumours have it that Liu Cheng Yu – maternal younger brother of Sir Reinhard Merkel’s wife - controls a lot of crack assassin teams that monitor the Imperial Kingdom of Achaia and has been scheming on how to subdue the Kingdom to lead a United Kingdom of Middleville. Hence, it was said that his diplomatic duplicity spurred the need to lure Achaia into destruction by ensuring that the marriage of one of their leaders (Jon) and the only Princess in the Achaian realm… till the 85-year-old Emperor naturally dies. Wishes don’t look like horses, do they? But pundits say that nothing is impossible in diplomatic warfare!

Divulgence also has it that General Liu Cheng Yu was the brain behind the Death Squad sent after the Princess while she was travelling to Africa on a Philanthropic Service. The Princess had escaped after sending 8 Expert Masters of martial arts to the Orthopaedic Hospital, and two of them got mistakenly crushed by an on-coming Heavy-Duty Truck. The Princess was said to have been saved by Buddha!

***

ReyChang Imperial Mining Corporation.

The ReyChang Imperial Mining Corporation – for two centuries – have been at the forefront of global onyx, jade, ores, and other precious stones’ concentration industry. With the Ownership being transferred from One Achaian Crown Prince to another, the Corporation devoted itself to the innovation, training, and research in the area of solid minerals technology from the beginning of the Mining Process, Crushing and Screening, Grinding and Classifying, Separation, thickening of ores and like products to de-watering… They have acquired a lot of equipment to make their job successful at each level. Hence, they import their expertise to Southern African Countries in the production of Diamonds and other economic minerals.

Now, about 50 Expert Masters accompanied a Team of Engineers in gas masks, to the main hub of this factory that has equipment worth over billions of dollars, silencing bodyguards and uncooperating Engineers loyal to ReyChang Imperial Mining… In One hour, the whole factory had been sabotaged and fitted with bombs, while every living person in the factory had been put to sleep with gas.

One of the Martial Arts experts within the Security on Guard managed to call someone on the line before the invading team discovered him. In the serious, bloody fight that ensued, he was able to keep 3 of the evil men for thirty minutes after his phone had been confiscated and destroyed. Blood covered the four expert fighters as the strangers were not able to escape till a horde of Bomb experts arrived. They arrested the 3 assailants and rushed the Expert Master who was bold enough to stand… to the hospital.

With the timing set, remaining 15:05:19 minutes, only a handful of bombs have been defused. More bomb experts arrived at about 10 minutes to detonation, and the frantic efforts continued, while the area was already cordoned off, with the wounded and fit staff totally evacuated. At 00:00:11 the experts concluded their job so that those who will reverse the destructive settings on the machines may be brought to the site… The Live TV Broadcast announced a terrorist attack on the Crown Prince’s inherited Mining Corporation, and declared that it would have been multiple trillions of dollars loss to the Royal Family if the bombs had been detonated… However, billions of dollars and few lives had been lost in the organised invasion!

Though the 3 terrorists paraded on TV refused to speak up – evidence of their link was found from them… through their communication gadgets and the designers of the underwear each of them wore. These Expert Fighters were kept in solitary confinements for more investigation by the State Secret Service. The Police found more evidence from the only Secret Close-Circuit Television that was not blown up in the wake of the attack. The Fighter helicopters belonged to a neighbouring nation – the same Nation that was working in collaboration with the Casino Cartel. The latter information and anything else remained classified.

***

The Discovery

In the War Laboratory of the Achaia Special Secret Service, the Major high-ranking soldiers put their intelligence together… With discretion, the evidence found with Colonel Jiao Chu – the Middleville Spy who did not know that he had been exposed – was put on the table… Of Course, the attack was aimed to weaken the brain behind the intelligence of the Secret Service before they take the Palace by storm. (They were mistaken to think that the Crown Prince was the same as the dark-spectacled General). A lead to the Master Planner, Jiao Yu – a retired General of the Achaia Army whose mother hailed from Bandar, Middleville, was discovered! Of course, the opposition remained unaware of any discovery…

The General, commanding, charged his team to be very careful in the arrest of the General and the evidence he possesses, since it was possible for the opposition Army to have intentions of killing the traitor before anything is linked to him. The Team’s response showed that no other person apart from the team knows anything about the evidence retracted from Colonel Jiao Chu, who is still at work in a few offices around them... General Raymond and 6 other Expert Fighters dressed up in their heavily weaponized uniform and sunk into their Ninja Top and boarded their ‘secretive chopper’.

The Secretive Chopper – four units - were specially designed for Achaia’s Emperor few years ago. It costs a fortune, but was a huge secret known only to the manufacturers, The Emperor’s Nuclear Family, Royal Guards and Raymond’s Team… The German made Achaiacopter VC999 is a bullet-proofed, 30 rotor multicopter, dubbed the “World’s Safest War Chopper.” The present Emperor, when his grandfather was the emperor, had asked to test the Chopper for safety. His Father had told him proudly that he was allowed to destroy the Achaiacopter, if need be… So, the then Crown Prince flew the Chopper to their solid helipad, set a missile against it, and wasted the missile… The missile hit the Chopper and there was a huge and pronounced fire. By the Time the helipad had been destroyed and the Fire Brigade have done their job, there was only a dent on the impact area, and dark smoke stains all over the Achaiacopter. The dent was visible where the hundreds of thousands of dollars missile had hit the helicopter! The Crown Prince had wondered: “What the heck is this thing made of?!”

The most wonderful part of the qualities of Achaiacopter VC999 includes the fact that it possesses a noiseless engine and can stay in the air, even when three-quarters of the rotors fail… It is safer than any car, plane, or helicopter in the sense that it can fly itself in the event of its pilot being unconscious – the automatic mode is naturally activated when the sensor does not see any life operating the internal radar, and in a distance of 15 minutes later - the German machine would land in the next solid surface with space enough to accommodate its size… It can carry 15 passengers conveniently, with their weapons… It flies noiseless - for the next one hour with solar energy - in the event of its gas being used up. And the secret flight distractor covers the entire vehicle with the colour of the surrounding, making it invisible to matter or flight detectors, humans, or radars!

The team flew in the aircraft to their destination…

They landed on top of the Achaia’s Ministry of Aviation Building, between two newly acquired surveillance choppers parked at a huge distance apart. The Achaiacopter was totally invisible, and only the alighting soldiers could be seen in the cover of the night. The Soldiers spread themselves out on the solid, concrete roof and found their target with their snipers. The General, ASSS Commander, revealed to the team that soldiers are manning each of the spots in the house… They were all in mufti carrying assault rifles. They should not be shocked, for that is why they had prepared well… One of the soldiers zoomed in on the crest he saw on one of the hard guys now guarding the General. It was Middleville Marines’ logo… Shocking! How can it be? Then, being the female soldier in Raymond’s Team – I zeroed-in on the General in his sitting room and alerted the team…

“There is a meeting going on… We would need to send the micro-voice recorder,”

I had said. I dropped her sniper, picked up another specialised gun and poured some black seed-like objects into the bullets’ cabin. I shot cleanly through the room and two micro voice-recorders silently hit the wall behind the General. The Secret Service Soldiers waited for any suspecting move from the targets. None! I quickly connected the receiver and all the gadgets. And here is the discourse:

Air Marshal David Yuen – the multi-talented Chief of Middleville’s Air Staff - set the ball rolling with appreciations for the Master Planner: “And we must congratulate the Retired General for the patriotic mission completed… We await those who are coming for you!”

“Forget these congratulations – Let Colonel Jiao Chu be informed that the Achaian Crown Prince already got the secret of the last mission. He was supposed to be distracted, but I learnt that he threw a party last night. That should tell us that he is coming for us within this month,” the General cautioned.

“Even if they will come, your home is not the next port of call,” Jon Cheng Yu – the younger brother of the incumbent Monarchical Ruler of Middleville – a well-respected Nationalist and Ambassador of Middleville to the UK - noted.

“We must keep them believing that your brother – Our Commander-in-Chief is behind all these attacks… No one believes that he has been against all the terrorist acts against Achaia. In fact, he made me chair the High-Powered Fact-finding Mission!” Chorus laughter after Air Marshal David Yuen’s witty words!

The “Big Boss” – Master Alex Yuan - Head of the Casino Cartel and Achaia’s Minister for Solid Minerals spoke frankly, with his guttural voice: “You are a traitor, Gen. David Yuen: You are the Man who took over from our incumbent Monarch as Head of International Policy and Defence of Middleville, and you are now Head of the Air Force… But you kept business of money-making above our interests. I gave you all the documents to use to destroy the movers and shakers of Achaia’s Imperial Palace and What did you do? Hear me, we need to take our Achaia back and fulfil the wishes of Our Great Prince Liu Cheng Yu... Our Constitutional Monarch.”

“You are the Patriot, Casino Cartel’s Big Boss, Master Alex Yuan, who is 100% a Middleville citizen, with an Achaia passport, and records… You, Old Fox, are even the Minister for Solid Minerals in Achaia… I don’t know why no one links your voice to the ‘Big Boss’!” Air Marshal David Yuen replied.

“We have to be radical to get our nation back. Achaia forcefully rejected us, but we must forcefully unite the two states and nullify the decree stating that the Royal Blood will continue ruling us forever… We are Patriots, and we shall die as Patriots,” Rear Admiral Xiangtan Dong, a Vietnamese naturalised as a Middleville Citizen, and a Naval Commander of A.N.S. Shinji Fleet that helps Casino Cartel in their bunkering businesses, retorted. “Has someone briefed our son in the secret service?”

“Colonel Chu could not be reached… he told me earlier that the Crack Team would be here next week to arrest his father… I guess none of ‘them’ knows about your relationship, Retired General,” Air Marshal V. B. Dior, Middleville Chief of Defence Staff informed. “Xiangtan Dong hardly talks, but he is the most dangerous man here… Tell us the next move…”

“And he is the most senior military top-brass in both nations… Let me be his spokesman: Kill the Emperor… in 24 hours,” Prince Jon Cheng Yu quipped with seriousness in his eyes. He continued: “After all, we have ensured that the new Imperial Defence Counsellor in Achaia is also our Man – Shinji Xu is a full-blown Achaian General, but he loved Middleville… His 2 billion Dollar Mansion was built in Bandar, Middleville, near the Monarch’s Palace. He is my brother’s best friend only in the sense that Shinji is a man who also loves the union of the nations as he does. But Shinji would kill the emperor, that - my brother won’t do!”

“Is that our resolution, Patriots?” the Master Planner, Retired General Jiao Yu asked in conclusion… and a Chorus “Yeah!”

It must be noted that many incriminating exposures about various terrorism acts within Middleville and Achaia Nations came out while each kingpin gave reports of the assignments given to them by the group. And all the Reports were recorded with clear audio and visuals.

The information recorded was sent via internet to the Crown Prince; the Records Portal of the Achaia Special Secret Service… and to the Achaia Chief of Police. Then ASSS General said to the surprise of his battle-ready crack team: “Sorry to disappoint you, My Blood Sister and Brothers…”

All the 12 eyes looking at him popped out in expectation…

“Colonel Michelle Guan, mark out the borders of the Jiao Yu Mansion!”

“Cowardice, My Prince…” chipped in Colonel Johnson Allen… the Platinum Medal Awardee in Physical Combat at the Achaian Defence Olympiad in the Current Year… The others nodded in agreement, and he continued: “Why would you bomb and sink the house when we can get there and kill all of these terrorists with our bare hands, with no trace?”

“My Prince, we are One… We have faced terrorists before – Here, they are gathered in one spot,” Colonel Spinks Gunn started to beg the Leader of the Team to listen to their plea…

Then, my love concluded the matter… “I accept my cowardice… Why should I fight and dissipate energy when the terrorists have confessed what we have recorded in audio and video…? No court case is needed in this encounter… Colonel Spinks Gunn, deal with that guy whose mother hails from Middleville via the River of Buddha as soon as he reaches there. It is a mystery! Right, dismissed… Cheer Up, Family: Case Closed.”

In 10 minutes, while the preparation was concluded, only one General: Brigadier General Alex Chiang, Military Brigade Commander of the Achaia Armoury – a man who had created much fear amongst the greedy, big-time underworld godfathers who never sought his permission on their trade - left the Mansion. He later returned in about 54 minutes to see a huge excavation burning with hellish, sulphuric fire. These were covered by the video. No mortal has ever been known to survive that kind of fire and man-made earthquake. So, the soldier sensed trouble and fled!

In the Morning, the news of a selective earthquake spread like wildfire. The Crown Prince shook his head in mock sorrow. In response to a Reporter’s query, he responded in his soft voice:

“What befell the Great General’s Home? I am also asking myself the same question,” He wiped his face with a while handkerchief; his head, bowed and sweaty.

“We heard that exotic cars belonging to the top military personnel from Middleville and Achaia were in that one-acre mansion - with some other high-flying ministers of both Governments. If they are missing as it is now, that means that this could be a terrorist attack… What do you say, Crown Prince?” The reporter was inquisitive. “Were the Middleville big-wigs given their government’s permission to be in Achaia?”

“To your last question, I wouldn’t know… Even my own ministers have their freedom of association, movement, etc… Many ministers of the Middleville and Achaia Governments may be missing, you insinuated? That is strange, but you can be sure that the Police will do their job! If this volcanic eruption or earthquake - that your colleague called it - happened last night, then we must wait to be able to know if anyone is truly missing. We pick it up from facts, not guesses,” He concluded and left the scene.