normalphil wrote:
Forrest wrote:
normalphil wrote:
Capt CAM wrote:
Slamlander wrote:
Well, neither of them were counting on Jon having elven backup. Their plans just got knocked into a cocked-up hat. Actually, if Anita ever hears about this then it's gonna tilt her political world inside-out. Gewehr, running around with full elves? She doesn't know that this is a one-off.
If Warrel or Sarah make it back to base after this incident its going to create a huge shitstorm. From as far as they can tell <i>Elves are working with the Wraiths</i>.
And they slipped in a ranger to make sure the Ensigerum trap didn't work. The fight that is a cruicial link in Anita's plans. Then add in reports of the Elves full-court press against Ian, only Anita won't know that it's directed at Ian. Anita is going to
lose it,
bad.
I imagine that when word of this present incident (and the massive Elf activity just starting up) gets out, it's not just going to be "wtf the Wraith have Elf backup". It's gonna be "wtf the Elves are invading Veracia". The Wraith will be seen as just hired human guns helping with the early stages of the Elven invasion (why else would the freakin' Elves be involved with a little group of plain-jane human assassins?)
I think we're not just looking at a Wraith/Ensigerum showdown, but a full on Elf/Priest war. At least that's how Veracia will see it. Anita of course will not take kindly to this upset of whatever plans she has brewing, and the Elves won't like it one bit when Veracia and/or the Ensigerum start attacking their Anti-Ian Squads.
It's Anita's analysis that matters though (and Anita's going to be on a very short list of people that know about it in the first place). I see her as the type that interprets things to be about
her. The elven activity will be directed against herself, for the purpose of somehow thwarting her schemes. And she's going to have circumstantial evidence to support that.
Well for one thing, it isn't quite clear that even Jon knows that she's a Ranger and of the humans, Jon knows her better than most. I don't think that Anita will even tell the church folk. She doesn't care about them unless she want to use them as tools.
Ergo, the escalation won't quite happen that way unless Anita panics. Somehow, I don't see her doing that, yet. Anita may be self-centered but she's also extremely disciplined, well-trained, and will be aware of that flaw in herself. She'll look for a second Elf/Gewehr pairing to verify the hypothesis.
What I do see, if Warrel doesn't sound a strategic retreat now, meaning that he continues to try and capture Jon in spite of the surprise presence of Sarine, that he either gets killed during the fight or Anita will kill him for incompetence. When things get this pear-shaped it's usually 'mission abort' time, even for the Ensigrum.
I suspect that he continues, leading to Sara's capture or defection, with Warrel either dead or next-to. Probably live to report to Anita, who will then kill him herself. Anita then send out a stand-down-and-watch alarm because there is at least one Gewehr Wraith working with at least one Elf and she needs to know whether this is an isloated incident.
What happens next is, because they are watching, they begin to see evidence of the Ian hunt.
The really big question is why Sarine went to find Jon in the first-place. The answer to that is simple, the Gewehr network has a better chance of locating them (Ian and Meji) than anyone and Jon is her only connection to the Gewehr. With any other Wraith, she'd have to prove her bona fides. Jon already knows that she's an elf of reasonable standing and decent competence.