The Warlord System

Khan was standing there in the plane trying to suppress a smile. The expression on Tanya's face as she came to grip with the reality of the situation. As the plane made its way to the Russy Federation.

The desert campaign went as expected. Operation Desert Pasta was a barrel of laughs. Ultimately the campaign ended with the so-called "New Republic" being broken.

Now was the time for the winter campaign, and the upcoming battles were sure to be intense. Tanya did have the occasional question about his plans going forward, however he had nothing more to say for the time being.

A warning rang out from the cockpit, signaling that the drop zone was directly ahead. They disembarked from the plane, and after some time falling managed to land safely and with the Federation none the wiser.

The scouting mission was under way. After some exploration, they found the railway cannon. It was massive, and incredibly powerful, but without proper spotters it would be lucky to hit anything that wasn't stationary.

The men were asking what their next course of action should be. Tanya remarked that if it were up to her, they would take it out already. However, their orders were clear and they needed to report it to the H.Q. Suddenly, the cannon fired, and then the radio began to become constant static as multiple people tried to give reports and ask for sitreps at the same time. Their radio operator managed to get a report that declared that open war with the Federation had begun.

Then Tanya ordered her men to fire upon the cannon. After the initial volley of artillery rounds the Federation soldiers were in panic. Clearly not expecting to be in combat so far from the front. The officer in charge began shooting the surviving soldiers, either for wanting to flee from the unknown enemy or failure to prevent the enemy from destroying their cannon, or maybe some unknown third reason. Khan didn't know, nor did he really care.

Tanya gave the order that they were making their way to the capital. The brass clearly meant it as a means to slap the wrist of the Federation, but one look at Tanya's eyes and it was clear. She was going to use this as a means to slap the brass for working her so hard.

As they made their way to the capital, Tanya and her mage battalion were on edge, expecting some sort of mage counter measures. Khan wasn't worried, because he knew that the people in charge had already locked up anyone with magical capabilities into special camps far deeper inland. He also didn't feel the need to inform them of the situation. He would however need to keep an eye out for that international mage group.

Sure, it was mostly a publicity stunt, a means to show the civilians that they had a unified front against their enemy the evil empire.

...

Elsewhere events continued to unfold as expected. A meeting of leading party members was taking place as they were discussing how effective their "surprise" attack had been. The member in charge of foreign affairs was giving the report.

When he finished no one gave any indications that they were pleased or disappointed by the report. Then single man spoke. He was not the party leader, but rather a trusted "advisor." The man was blonde, had bottle glasses, and honestly even if you knew nothing about him, your instincts would warn you something was very wrong with him.

The man said, "I'm pleased that are troops were so successful in the attack." The man giving the report sighed in relief, but was started when he heard, "However, I'm disappointed because it seems the enemy was ready for us. I wonder why that is?"

The member giving the report became paler as he stumbled to give an answer. The creepy man then said, "Perhaps you told them, or dropped some hints." The man began to protest his innocence, but it fell on deaf ears. As he was dragged away, no one else there was willing to suggest that the truth was simply that their army was just not subtle in their movements.

The party leader barely acknowledged anything as he started smoking a cigar. The meeting ended, with the creepy man left satisfied with what happened, believing that his opinion was once again correct and infallible.

...

Mary Suex was at a shooting range getting some much-needed training in. She was currently outside the Federation's capital with her international squad. It was mostly a publicity stunt, a way of showing civilians that the world was united against their enemy, the "evil" empire.

The whole unit was put together less than a week ago, so, she didn't really no anyone beyond a few names. Like, Vivi, who appears to be the only other female volunteer. Mary heard her commander complain to their liaison that they needed better equipment and more ammo to train with.

The soldier was apologizing, but he clearly didn't have the authority or connections to make anything happen. The commander was aware, he was just venting. Mary's mind started to drift back to the last encounter she had with her father. She wanted nothing more than to avenge him.

An explosion of in the distance caught everyone's attention. They immediately ran to the other side of their barracks. To Mary's dismay, mages from the empire were decimating the capital unopposed. The Federation had sent their mages to special "camps" because they were too much of an unknown factor, and for some reason they were under the impression that the rest of the world was in agreement with them, because all their anti-air defenses were locked into the bomber position.

Mary began to head into the barracks, but her commander stopped her. Saying that until the Federation asks, they were not allowed to help. She was about to argue when someone shouted, "Incoming!"

The barracks was hit with a barrage of artillery spells. The explosion knocked everyone to the ground. As Mary tried to stand up, and as she did, she noticed a man standing over Vivi. Before Mary could say anything, Vivi disappeared right in front of her eyes.

Then man then turned to her. Before she could even blink, Mary found the man standing in front of her. He smiled and then Mary found herself losing consciousness. Darkness consumed her vision without her ever making a sound.

...

Khan watched as Tanya and her battalion set-up a makeshift camp so, they could discuss their orders and next plan of attack. Tanya then stood next to Khan and said, "I have something I need to ask you, follow me."

Tanya then left and Khan followed. Khan decided to go along with it since watching them decimate the Federation's capital and then sing the Empire's national anthem was amusing. They walked to a empty spot and then Tanya turned and asked, "Do you consider yourself an evil person?"

Khan without hesitation answered, "Yes." The straightforward answer had caught Tanya off-guard. She probably expected Khan to dance around the issue. Khan decided to elaborate.

Khan said, "Look, at the end of the day, any creature that has an understanding of freewill, only had one true right. That right is that you can waste your time or destroy your own life. You're an evil person the moment you start wasting someone else's time or destroy somebody else's life."

Tanya thought about it for a minute and then she said, "By that logic then everyone is evil." Khan answered, "True, but think about this. Everyone thinks that they're the good guy because they're not as bad as the other guy. However, the lesser of two evils is still evil. And all of it usually comes from a sense of entitlement. Everybody usually justifies their horrible action by saying it's their right. But like I said earlier a person only has one right."

Tanya stood there as she tried to comprehend those words and its implications. Tanya then said, "You've said you're evil, how?" Khan answered, "I've destroyed the lives of others for no other reason than my own entertainment." He continued, "Most people will do hundreds of mental backflips to justify their actions so they can lie to themselves about not being evil. Me however, I accepted that truth about myself a long time ago."

Tanya just stood there, while she said nothing, her face was clearly saying that she was thinking about all her actions up to this point in both of her lives. Tanya was about to say something when the radio operator approached saying that he had the latest information from headquarters as well as their new orders. Tanya acknowledged him and then turned to Khan before leaving and said, "We'll finish conversation later."

Khan simply nodded and then Tanya left. Khan looked up at the sky, thinking about everything he has done so far.

He thought about how he manipulated and then killed people like Chris Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. He thought on how because of a contract, he had V, unknowingly, capture the women in her life. Then his mind went to his Little Dovah. After all was said in done, she became a broken tool. His most powerful and loyal tool, but a broken tool, none the less.

Khan began to head towards the command tent. He needed to make sure Tanya was still following the right path, or at least the one he needed her to be on for now.