Chapter 36 – To Steal The Sky

Alice handed Leona the piece of paper. She was to write down six random cities, and then Leona would throw a die to pick one out. The woman was the Goddess of Luck, there was no better to hide than through a method which resided on almost pure chance. After a week, this would be repeated and they would change locations.

Leona rolled a six and then looked at the corresponding number: Pepayel, in southern Karaina. “There’s plenty of forests there, we can go visit a lake.”

Ilwin sighed as he looked at the one hundred men he had chosen. It was ninety-nine actually, but he included himself in the count, his fingers tapped the file in his hand as he took slow steps in front of the crowd. They were in one of the large warehouses that had been acquired. Only a few crates sat in the corner, the rest of the area was concrete and white lights hanging from the tall roof.

Ilwin marched in front of the men he had chosen. Arascus and Ilwin’s grandfather had basically created the plan for him. Most of his own ideas were thrown out for something that was considerably harder, had far more points of failure and was simply, just generally, more difficult for next to no gain. “Micheal is in charge of Blue team. Erwin has green team. Olivier, you have Yellow team. I have red team.” The three were the best leaders he had found from his pick, all of them had worked under him before, all of them had lead operations alone.

The three saluted, they wore plain clothes, like the rest of the men along with Ilwin himself. The elf had thought of having some common uniform or suit before but then decided against it, let people wear what they wanted to wear. A theme would only make them more suspicious on entry. “I have already organised the teams already, everyone knows who they belong to.” Ilwin said, the teams weren’t even, his was the largest at forty people. Olivier had only fifteen. It was supposed to be that way, Ilwin’s team was to acquire several heavy cargo planes from the largest airport in the region, Olivier was to steal a few private jets.

“Here are blueprints and plans for the airports.” Ilwin handed them out to the three captains. “You’re allowed to take initiative to make any changes to the routes as needed, as well as bringing any items you deem fit.” Ilwin took a step back and raised his voice as he spoke to the crowd. “There are only a few exceptions which are not to be broken.”

“Firstly. We’re bringing no Alashs. Swords and traditional weapons are allowed. Bows likewise, the only exception is the Alash or anything related to it. If you have even a bullet casing in your pocket, you will be reporting to Arascus himself.” The utmost secrecy was requested by the God.Requestedmay be the wrong word,demandedfit much better. Ilwin would inspect the ninety-nine men himself before he set off, Arascus had said it would be his head on the chopping block if he didn’t. His grandfather had agreed.

“Secondly. Everyone will be issued one of Anarchia’s black bands.” Ilwin kept the disgust out of his voice. “Wear it as you see fit, don’t make it too organized, you’re pretending to be one of her followers.” Someone in the crowd raised an arm.

“Can we wear a face covering instead?” The man asked.

“Wear whatever you wish, as long as its obvious that your one of hers.” Another man raised an arm.

“If we’re too organised, would it not be obvious we’re one of hers?” Ilwin crossed his arms and shook his head. He didn’t mind answering questions, but organisation like this could easily devolve into a debate.

“The goal is not to frame Anarchia, the goal is simply to throw the trail away from us. The followers of the God of Pride would never dress up in the dregs of Anarchy, would they?” He got a series of laughs for that.

“I have already informed the designated pilots where they are heading to.” Another aspect of the plan he disagreed with. The disagreement did not matter though, Arascus and Iliyal had both sorted this out. Warehouses had been secured, shelters built, even a cave had been widened to house a plane. “You are forbidden from even requesting the destination from the pilots, do not ask. You do NOT need to know where they are being held in advance.” The faces of the men were grim, but no one asked anything.

“Bloodshed is to be avoided but Anarchians are not known for their pacifism. If someone does try to stop you, then kill. The less people who remember us, the better.” Realistically, there was no chance they would be able to hijack planes directly without being spotted. That didn’t mean they would simply give up all hope of subterfuge though. Predictably, this point received no questions.

“If you are captured, everyone has been issued with a poison pill.” Ilwin held up his own, a small capsule filled with white powder. “Keep it on you at all times, it’s laced with drugs. You’ll get a high, and then you’ll die.” The elf saw the faces in front of him pale. The men needed a reason to end themselves. “Remember, we are followers of Arascus. There will be no trials for us, no courts or hearings. If you get captured, you will be shipped off to Olympiada.” Nothing else needed to be said. Olympiada was an unassailable fortress, there was no hope of escape and even less of being saved.

“These are the general guidelines to be followed. The Captains are allowed to make their own infiltration plans. The airfields are as follows: Michael’s blue team will take Astangrad Central, Erwin’s green team will go to the Tress Ceremonial, Olivier’s yellow team has the Tushev-Malkov Airport. My team will go to Pepayel Regional. Gentlemen, in three days, we will launch Operation SkyStealer.”

Leona’s head started to hurt.