Switching Sides
Chapter 5
I had to get more information, but wasn't sure if I could persuade Dora to give it to me, or Fiona for that matter. I thought I should ask Dora to help me. She had access to deeper data than Fiona seemed to have.
"Fiona, you may power down now," I said.
"Yes, Koldan," she said and her screen winked out.
"Dora, Persid told me that there are many stations that broadcast air-vision. Would any of those stations carry news at this hour?"
"Yes, there are several stations that broadcast news all day and night," she replied.
"Can you monitor several stations at the same time?"
"Yes, Koldan, I can."
"Please check all the news stations for any mention of Faldo, an air attack, or military mobilization. Anything that might have significance if what I think is true about Faldo launching a suicide attack on Aldig," I requested.
"Of course," Dora complied. "Would you like me to display all of them on my screen?"
"Yes, with particular emphasis on those stations that Persid considers to be the most trustworthy, please." The screen instantly sprang to life. I sat on the sofa and watched closely. "Dora, how will I know which one is talking about the attack?"
"I am monitoring the audio. If something comes up, I will turn that audio on for you and display that station's video at the same time. Would that be satisfactory?"
"Thank you, Dora," I said. "That would be perfect." Minutes passes. I began to wonder if it were a surprise exercise that caused Persid to cancel our afternoon plans. "Still nothing, Dora?"
"I'm sorry, Koldan," she replied. "No mention of any of the parameters that you selected."
The afternoon was slipping by. People would be headed home soon at the end of their workday. What a perfect time to attack when the streets are clogged and so many people are on the streets of the capitol city. I looked at the harbor again. Nothing had changed in the last four hours.
Suddenly, the screen showed only one station. The audio followed immediately. "We switch now to a special report from our field reporter on the south end of the peninsula." The picture switched to a man standing in front of a security fence. Through the fence were military personnel and vehicles. They were rushing about like insects, but all seemed to have a purpose.
The picture paused for a moment. "I have delayed the news for only a moment so you know this is live and I began the broadcast where I thought you needed to see what developed as it happened," Dora broke in. "I will skip to truly live if there is a break in the broadcast that wouldn't leave out any direct relevance to your request."
"Thank you, Dora," I quickly responded.
The scene returned to live action. "I've just heard from two sources that the spokesman for the defense forces will have a statement for us in 20 minutes. Other sources say that a small raiding party of aircraft from Faldo has probed our outer defenses. Those sources also say that the raid was repulsed. However, another source, unconfirmed, said that the enemy aircraft were all shot down. There were no survivors of that raid."
"Those idiots!" I blustered. "How can they be so arrogantly stupid? With the few aircraft that survived the last war and the few they've been able to build since then doomed this fiasco from the start. I don't think I was that convincing with the false data I gave them."
"Evidently, you were," Dora confirmed. "There are other stations confirming the same information. Would you like me to stay with this broadcast until the spokesman speaks?"
"Yes, Dora. Thank you."
I continued to watch, but they rehashed the same thin information I'd already heard. The station switched to a room with a speaker's platform, containing a sea of broadcasting pick-ups. The narrator said that the spokesman would appear and read his statement in two minutes. The wait was interminable, but he finally appeared.
"Ladies and gentleman," he began, "The Religious Republic of Faldo has again tried to attack us." There was a chorus of shouted questions, but the spokesman pressed on. "The attempted attack took place an hour ago. Our defensive forces repulsed and annihilated the aggressors. There were no survivors from the attacking force. For reasons unclear to us, the attacking force was quite small. They have tried twice before with much larger forces, but with similar results. I cannot and will not speculate as to the reasons for the smaller attack force. However, I can tell you that their attack pattern was slightly different from previous sorties. We are still analyzing why that might be. Thank you for your attention." He immediately left the platform to another chorus of shouted questions. He didn't acknowledge them in the least.
The announcer from the studio appeared. "The spokesman isn't taking any questions. Let me turn to our panel of experts." Three other people appeared on camera, all men. They were introduced to the viewing audience. I could only assume that they were some kind of knowledgeable men about Faldo or the military.
Before he could address a question to any of them, an older gentleman whom a graphic identified as a former Council member said, "We mustn't continue this defensive posture. We must take this fight to the enemy. We certainly have the technology to blast them back into the tribal age. Why hasn't the King given the order to do that? Why hasn't our military recommended it to the King?"
Another panelist jumped in. "Are we to be as barbaric as they are? Have we even tried diplomacy?" This man was a former member of the Chamber of Deputies. "What would you have us do? Invade Faldo? You know from history that occupational forces never work. They only make the local population resist even more. Shall we annihilate an entire population to accomplish our aims?"
"Gentlemen, if I may?" the announcer finally cut in. "Our defenses have easily obliterated the threat three times. We all know that Aldig has surveillance protocols and devices that give us adequate warning of any imminent attack. Some sources that I trust have told me that Aldig knew this was coming and were ready for them before they even left their homeland."
"But, it does require that we be on alert all the time," the third man finally joined in. He was some kind of policy analyst for the station. I didn't know if that made him credible or not. "That level of preparedness is very draining on morale and the treasury. But, on the other hand, how much would it cost us in treasury and manpower and equipment to attack Faldo and reduce or eliminate their capacity to stage raids on us?"
No one seemed to want to answer that question.
"Dora, unless there are new developments, I don't need to follow this meandering conversation. This is all speculation," I sighed. "Maybe Persid can enlighten me, if it doesn't breach military secrets."
"Yes, Koldan," Dora said. "I will continue to monitor all stations. If some new information is broadcast, I will let you know. Will that be satisfactory?"
"Yes, Dora. Thank you."
An hour later, Persid called and said that he was on his way home. He asked that I meet him in front of the apartment building and bring my personal assistant along with the green grocer list on it. I raced through a quick shower and pulled one of the more provocative pants from the closet. I tightened the side panels so that my ass showed off beautifully. My twin melon globes were lightly split by fabric, and emphasized my deep ass trench. In front, my dick snaked down my right leg, bulging just the right amount. Only someone who was a crotch watcher would notice that I had a big dick. And when they did, they'd see that my dick had a big head on it and it was leaking enough precum to create a small wet spot at the tip of my dick, moistening the fabric. Twenty minutes later, I was standing in front of the building, waiting for Persid. A minute later he arrived with a big smile. I gave him a kiss which he ardently returned.
"My, don't you look delicious," he smiled, checking out and then groping my crotch and ass. I'd hoped my provocative outfit might get him interested in some hot sex when we got back to the apartment. Maybe a little "pillow talk" would give me a better understanding of what happened, beyond the official statements. But, the more I thought about it, the more "pillow talk" could wait. I really wanted some action from him before we returned to the apartment.
"Thanks for waiting so patiently," he leered, patting my round ass, again. "I know you have a thousand questions and I'll try to answer as many of them as I can. But right now, I'm starving. Let's get to the market and get some ingredients for dinner." I was getting hungry too, so I agreed and walked two streets west to the market with him.
Fiona tried to direct us to the first aisles to pick up the items on the list that Persid had created. I stalled her and said, "They must have a men's room here. I really need to get fucked now, or I'll wind up molesting you right in the middle of this aisle."
He glanced over at me, checked out my dick, saw that it was full hard and tenting my pants obscenely, and smiled. "Yeah, I can see that you need some relief," he smirked. He looked around and added, "Over here." He pulled me toward the rear of the store and pushed open a door clearly designated as the men's room. Quickly, he pulled me into the farthest stall and pulled my pants down. His mouth descended on my swollen dick and he sucked voraciously. But, within another minute, he'd turned around, dropped his pants and bent over. "Fuck me, NOW!" he insisted.
Without additional preliminaries, I pushed against his asshole and slipped inside. Besides his spit on my dick, this morning's loads added all the lubrication I needed to go deep. And as horned up as I was, it wasn't more than a minute before I was blasting another of my huge loads into him. He sighed with pleasure as he felt the streams of warm male nectar jet into him. His hands were already on my ass, urging me to go faster and deeper. I continued fucking him, even though my climax had stopped, but it felt so good to be so far inside him. I had to keep fucking him.
However, in one smooth motion, he pulled away from me, turned me around, and knelt behind me. "I can tell that you recently showered, so your ass is gonna get eaten out and then I'm gonna fuck you to death," he promised. Well, he did eat me out, but it was abbreviated. When he quickly shoved his dick into me, I knew why the rimming had been so short. He bucked hard and I felt his dick jerk just as hard. A major jet of his cream pumped into me, followed quickly by several more. If he'd waited any longer or continued eating out my ass, he'd have sprayed his load onto the floor. That would have been a tragedy!
Persid leaned over my back and kissed me on the neck. "I've never had such a hot fuck in my life. You're the best, Koldan!" I turned my head and kissed him on the lips.
"When we get back to the apartment, I'll show you just how good I am," I purred. We separated slowly and got dressed. Back in the store, we retrieved another shopping cart and asked Fiona to show us the list and where we could find each item. She also made other suggestions of commodities that were on sale, but Persid declined all but one of them. That was a prepackaged dinner that Persid said was a favorite of his when he was in a hurry and couldn't take the time to cook his meal. The packaging that showed the contents did look delicious, so I suggested that we get more than one package. He agreed. Once more, he touched his ring to the scanner and we left with three bags of food stuffs.
"Did you see all the men checking out that sweet ass of your and the others that wanted a taste of your monster dick?" Persid smiled as we exited the store. "I even heard one guy say that he was sure you were part of the Imperial Guard, so he knew you had to have a really big dick and the ability to nutt several times a day."
"I saw one guy that I thought was kinda nice, but didn't more than glance at him," I admitted. "But, there were a few women who licked their lips and shook their butts at me."
"I noticed that, too," he said. "But, I know they don't have a chance."
"Neither do the men," I assured him. "Only you know how to breed my hungry ass."
"Other men know how to fuck," he reminded me.
"But, I've never had one who could fuck as good or as often as you do. Besides, why would I want to look around when I already have the best?" I added, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "I hope dinner takes a while to cook. I really need you inside me, again. And I'd take you here and now if I thought you'd let me."
Persid chuckled and shook his head. "What kind of a sex pervert have I hooked up with?"
"The kind you enjoy the most," I reminded him.
When we arrived back at the apartment, Dora told us that we had had a visitor while we'd been out. As we put the groceries away, the man that she showed us in her recorded video was someone I recognized. "That's Blandic," I said surprised. "He was an enforcer of religious orthodoxy at home. What is he doing here?"
"More importantly, how did he get into the building to even get to our apartment?" Persid wondered with a worried tone.
"I took the liberty of scanning his authorization to be in the building," Dora interrupted. "It's a forgery."
"How can that be?" I asked. "I thought they were tied to your DNA? Only those authorized to be in this building can come in."
"The DNA has to be genuine, but the access codes can be forged, if you are very good and very careful," Persid allowed. "How complete was your scan, Dora?"
"Total."
"Please send it to our military intelligence arm with a message from me about it."
"Of course, Persid." He dictated a short message which Dora attached to the suspect's DNA fine. "Message sent and acknowledged. I added a high priority rank to it."
"Thank you," Persid sighed. "It seems that your cover is blown already, Koldan. Dora, was he carrying any kind of weapon or explosive?"
"No, he wasn't," she replied.
"So, it may have been information gathering, rather than an assassination attempt," Persid surmised. "But, why not wait at the entrance to the building, then, to be sure it was you that he'd seen somewhere else?"
"I have to assume that he is part of the spy ring that my contact is part of," I said. "I wonder if he was looking for me to say that my contact had been picked up and that he is to be my new contact. But, how would he know where I live now?"
"He could have followed us from our shopping this morning," Persid suggested. "It was just luck that he saw you. Otherwise, he'd have to wait until a Wednesday when you had more information to pass on. Then, he'd tell you what happened with your contact."
"Was my contact picked up?" I asked.
"He, uh, disappeared," Persid revealed without looking at me.
"He did that on his own or you made him disappear?"
"I can't answer that," Persid sighed. "Please don't ask again."
"I'll assume you have him in custody, trying to extract more names from him," I said blandly. "I'll also assume that our unannounced visitor is part of a spy ring, perhaps the same one, and he came by to warn me. I did say to my contact that I'd found a willing military man who happened to slip up and gave me access to classified information."
"If we follow that logic, he could have come by to ask you to get more information about our defenses and how we so easily eliminate their aircraft as they approach Aldig," Persid suggested. "This may play into our hands."
"In what way?"
"I think you can help us with that, Koldan," Persid smiled. "What kinds of explanations were you getting from the leaders as to what brought down all your aircraft? Just saying that we're a nation of perverts doesn't get planes to explode and fall from the sky."
"That was the explanation they gave, Persid," I related. "The evil gods have given you technology that gives you the advantage over us. We have not lived righteous enough lives to have prevented it by the good gods, OUR gods, from preventing it."
"And the pilots and soldiers on those planes? They were expendable and none of them lived righteous lives?" Persid asked incredulously. "Are the people so brainwashed that they really believe that shit?"
I smiled. "It didn't hold for long," I said. "Even their owned news stations thought this was ridiculous. Other religious leaders were having problems with the explanations, too. Within a couple of weeks of the first failed attack, they came up with a more believable reason, but it still was pretty stupid. They said that spies had told Aldig when and where the attack would occur. Only a few of the planes returned. They'd originally been branded as cowards, but eventually, they were hailed as heroes who had returned to give us critical information that we'd need to eventually launch a second attack which would be completely successful."
"And that failed, too," Persid reminded me. "So, what did they say was true reason? Didn't they try to blame it on technology?
"Nope," I stated. "They said it was spies and they never wavered from that line."
"Well, they were partially correct," Persid admitted. "But, that's common knowledge here. We had been hearing from a number of traders who were telling us of the drum beat for war in Faldo. We thought it was nonsense, because we also know how far behind they are in technology. However, we couldn't afford to completely ignore the potential threat. So, we did send over spies disguised as business men and other traders. Also, we had technical methods to monitor their communications and movements. The idiots were always broadcasting in the clear. Even their commercial radio broadcasts were making noises about an attack on Aldig."
"Yeah, I remember that. I didn't see the reasons to do this, other than war hysteria and some crazy scheme to solidify their power over the people," I mused. "We saw flights of planes daily, some were troop carriers, some were bombers, and some were fighters. With a massive armada of aircraft, how could we fail? The whole thing was so well choreographed. No one doubted the rightness of our cause or the eventual victory. Looking back, of course, what a stupid thing to do. They had to know that we were decades behind Aldig in technology. How could they possibly miss Aldig's clear superiority? The traders would have hand-held devices that were a marvel to all of us, but no one could figure out how they worked. No one in power thought that any of those `toy's' could possibly have any military application or that a different use of the technology would be used against Faldo's air armada."
"So, they had a few aircraft and a few pilots after the first failed attack," Persid summarized. "What made them think they'd be more successful the second time?"
"Well, they rounded up some minorities, accused them of spying and executed them," I revealed. "They also banned all foreign merchants from coming into the country. They could offload their cargos on an island, and we'd take it from there. So, they were confident no one knew of their plan to attack again."
"Delusional," Persid sighed. "So, what about the second debacle? We did notice that their aircraft could fly higher and a little faster, so they had made some progress in avionics. But, we swatted them out of the sky just as easily. How'd they explain that?"
"Well, they had trumpeted how brilliant their anti-spy network was, so they couldn't say it was spies who had told Faldo about the preparations for the second attack," I offered. "Again, there were a few who escaped the carnage of the second wave of aircraft that didn't return. But, only some of us saw very few come in over the capitol city, and most of those were trailing smoke or had pieces missing. People had been scanning the skies to welcome home the victorious air fleet, but the beginnings of cheers when the first returning aircraft were spotted turned into moans and recriminations against the religious leaders."
"So, how did they weather all that criticism and severe lack of promised results?" Persid asked.
"Simple," I shrugged. "They rounded up more minorities and others who were voicing displeasure at the rulers. They encouraged neighbors to denounce neighbors as anti-religious and anti-regime."
"Okay, that works for a while," Persid replied, "but, what was the cause of the air fleet being blasted to bits again?"
"Well, finally, they blamed it on Aldig's technology. The obvious follow-up was to sack and execute people in the science directorate for not advancing our own technologies to match those of Aldig," I admitted. "It was clearly the dumbest thing they could have done. You have to remember that technology in Faldo was only funded if it comported well with religious doctrine. If it didn't or didn't appear to, it wasn't funded. And now, they had sacked and probably executed most of the best scientific minds in Faldo. That's when someone finally recognized that we needed more spies to infiltrate Aldig to gain some of that technology. I know that's been happening almost since the day of the second defeat, but I've seen nothing that would indicate they understood any of what the spies had stolen or obtained and sent back to Faldo through traders from other countries. I heard that they couldn't understand the working principles behind some technology that I'm sure you consider commonplace. With most of the scientific community decimated, who was left to try to tease out applications that could be used against Aldig. But, eventually, someone there will figure it out and they'll make a great leap ahead in their ability to attack again."
"So, they've been actively spying on us for about two solar cycles?" Persid asked.
"About that," I replied.
"Why did you wait until recently to volunteer?"
"I thought there was little chance that I'd survive a confrontation with Aldig technology. I knew they would send me in by aircraft, because boats are too expensive to lose and far too easy to detect. However," I smiled, "it looks like aircraft are just as easy to see with your technology." Persid nodded and a big smile spread over his face. "Anyway, the continued repression of minorities of all stripes and incarceration or execution of same convinced me that it was only a matter of time until I was arrested and executed. As a gay man, the penalty was death."
"That's some motivator," Persid responded. "And you still haven't seen anything to indicate that they have made any real progress in incorporating our technology into their aircraft or ships?"
"Nothing."
"Have you heard any rumors about our ability to view their activities from afar?" Persid pressed.
I thought for a moment. "Well, there were some whispers about Aldig's ability to fly high above the clouds and spy on us that way. But, no one took that seriously. The air is too thin that high. No one could breathe up there." I looked at Persid. His face gave away nothing, but I knew from his question and his lack of more than an encouraging smile that they could spy on Faldo from far above my former homeland. "You can, can't you! You know a way to do just that!"
"I can't comment on that," Persid dodged. "After you've been here longer, I'll give you a straight answer. Meanwhile, I'll just ask you to look around the city. There are all kinds of telltale signs of our capacity to see and hear from afar."
"One thing I've noticed right away is that some homes and most buildings, especially buildings where people live, there are lots of dish shaped things on the roofs or hanging from terraces. I dismissed them as radio receivers, but knowing that you have air-vision viewers, those dish shaped things could also be used to receive those pictures," I suggested. "So," I paused, thinking about the obvious answer, "there is some kind of broadcasting device they receive those signals from. And because all of them are pointed in the same direction, I have to assume that it is something overhead."
"Very good," Persid beamed. "So, what could it be?"
"An aircraft circling the city?" I pondered. "No, too expensive, too transitory, and not big enough to broadcast all those different stations."
"You know what a satellite is?"
"Yeah, our two moons," I answered. "You're broadcasting from one of the moons? You've LANDED on a moon and set up a broadcasting station? And from there you could spy on Faldo easily."
Persid laughed. "Well, not quite, but you've got the general idea."
"But, from that far away, how can you really see anything?" I wondered. "Oh, telescopes, camera, etc.," I finally understood. "And you can see any kind of activity in Faldo, you can see their airfields and a mass armada of any type leaving Faldo and headed for Aldig. You'll get lots of warning!"
"So, back to the original question. How were we able to shoot down all their aircraft that came too close to our shores? Didn't they even talk about how we did it?" Persid pressed.
"Well, when I was in flight school, there were a couple of instructors who were in one or two of the two raids," I began, "and they were asked that question by students. Their answers were unsatisfactory and crazy, all at the same time."
"What did they say?"
I laughed. "You won't believe this, but a pilot who was in the first attack said that as they approached your barrier islands, you launched fireworks at it. We all laughed at him. But, he was serious and said that the fireworks were guided somehow and hit the invading aircraft squarely in the belly or engines, bringing them down or making them explode."
"Okay, and what about the second raid?" Persid nodded sagely.
"Another instructor in another class said that he saw beams of intense light strike aircraft that made them explode. Is that even possible that light could bring down aircraft travelling that fast and at that altitude?" I asked laughing. "We all thought he was crazy, too."
"But, these stories from surviving pilots were not widely known?"
"As far as I know, no. Only those of us in flight school heard these stories and had been warned never to repeat anything we'd heard in school, and that included any recollections pilots may have had of the two failed attacks."
"They were specific about that?"
"Oh, yeah. Clearly stated and repeated in writing," I averred. "Our instructors had flying skills, but their observations and recollections were fantasies developed to cope with losing so badly, or so we were told."
"And you bought it?"
"We all did. We had no reason to think otherwise," I bristled.
"Sounds to me like your leaders didn't think they were so crazy," Persid mused. "And yet, they sacked most of their bright minds, cutting out the people who could have helped them catch up, even a little, with Aldig."
"And that gets us right back to what I raved on about yesterday," I reminded him. "You, WE, must take the offensive and kick them back to the tribal age."
"The King and Council agree that we must take the battle to them. But, they also agree that an invasion is pointless. Yes, we'd win, but the actual occupation would be a complete loss and extremely costly. So, we're trying a different tactic that will result in regime change, we hope. It'll take longer, but with the right message, we'll prevail."
This story is fantasy and fiction. Your life isn't. Always play safe.
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