Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 7: Solid Cioara

With their convictions made clear, Kallen and Natasha didn't waste any time digging up whatever clues and information that may pertain to the sins committed by the Sardegnian military. For a whole month, the pair disguised their investigation activity as moving around for sightseeing and inquiring about local attractions. Kallen, for the most part, utilizes her position as the leader of the Crusaders and obtains battle reports, documents, and maps showcasing troop movements, and even scheduling interviews with frontline soldiers. It's the latter that Natasha plays a big part in, thanks to her ability to infer truths from lies. 

Currently, Natasha is in a tavern paying the bill for the drinks she bought for a group of airmen. They were the ones flying on that fateful day above Murcia three months ago, and although they weren't the ones that committed that crime perse, they did subtly point her in a direction. Natasha opens up her palm where a small paper slip was passed into her pocket mere moments ago. It seems like one of the airmen from before has a quick hand and left that note in her jacket.

"78th Bomber Squadron, Corporal Luca." Seeing the name and affiliation written on the paper, Natasha smirked before lighting a small fire atop her fingertip, burning the note. 

Natasha isn't sure what the name means to be exact but it's a good lead as any. She seriously needs a change of pace after the monotonous task of gathering Spanish newspapers, for their view on Sardegnians war crimes, and the insufferable flirting from the men of the standard armed forces. It's time to do what she does best, snooping around in the dark.

By nightfall, Natasha has managed to track the 78th Squadron to their home base, one of the makeshift airfields around four kilometers away from Murcia. Even though she's a Crusader and by all rights Natasha could just waltz in through the front door, she opted not to due to the nature of her mission. Instead, Natasha jumps over the wired fence that the Engineer Corp raised and stealthily infiltrates the airbase. Her first task would be to get to know the layout of the airbase, which is why she is now raiding the base commander's office. Usually, it's here that they have the necessary papers that denote which squads go where. Natasha isn't disappointed in her guess for she instantly comes across a handrawn map of the airbase on the table. Whoever made it has a great hand for she can easily spot the nametag of the 78th Squadron at the South East corner of the map.

With that out of the way and time to spare, Natasha decides to raid the cubicles and drawers, hoping to find anything else that could prove useful in the future. It's not the first time she has done this, in fact, Natasha has also rummaged around the personal stuff of Murcia's leading cadre. Unfortunately, her past efforts resulted in dead-end correspondents with no tell-tale sign that could lead her to the result she wanted. Yes, wanted.

Even though her past attempts at digging up usable intel have ended in failures, Natasha has been able to prove that: Yes, the military is covering up something. This is why right now, Natasha really hopes she can put an end to this finding needle in a haystack game. The Crusaders' vacation is almost over and soon, they would have to return to the frontline. Finding any further proof at that point would be near impossible unless they just so happened to stumble across the scene of a war crime in progress. Suddenly, Natasha's hands which have been flipping away some documents stop and pull out a folder. 

It's a list of KIA pilots and... "You've got to be shitting me!" Natasha cursed under her breath for the very first name on that list is none other than Corporal Luca and his rear gunner, Private Francesco. Time of death, their second sortie on Spanish airspace, a mere one week after the destruction of a 'military convoy' near Murcia. The funny thing is, this pair of airmen was marked as 'shot down by enemy aircraft' yet, from what Natasha and Kallen managed to uncover, there was no proof of Spanish air presence on that same day. Why? It's because, during that very day, Natasha was tasked with supporting friendly infantries in that same Area of Operation. There wasn't enough anti-air presence in that village, not to mention any enemy aircraft.

It's highly likely that these two airmen were shot down by their allies instead. Natasha has a guess as to why but anyway, with them dead, she has lost her one good lead after all this time. Unwilling to give up after sneaking this far, Natasha tries to determine where's the belongings of these poor souls. She hopes that the Lord that, at the very least, they could have left behind something that others can use. It doesn't take her long to fish out a manifest in the base's warehouse that holds non-critical items. Scanning from tip to bottom of the yellowish paper, she soon spots what she's looking for, a crate that contains the personal belongings of KIA pilots, prepped to be sent back to their homeland in a couple of days.

"Bingo!" Neatly putting the documents back where they belonged, Natasha then moves away from the office building and into a dark corner outside it. Dodging away from a pair of patrols, Natasha then makes her way to the warehouse, guarded, but if she plays her cards right, they won't be able to notice a thing.

Silently picking up a rock that is conveniently just by her side, Natasha aims and tosses it a moderate distance from the pair of night guards. If they were drowsy before then they're now startled awake when the tire of a truck next to them suddenly deflates. The noise it makes was big enough to have one of them curse.

"God almighty! I almost thought we were about to be shelled or something!"

"You don't say...!" The other guard replied with spite. Clearly, none of them liked what she did. "Damn these Bredas, it's always them that cause troubles!"

The pair then makes their way to the truck with one of them kicking the deflated tire. "Damn, the fucking thing is ripped, probably took too much punishment on the road, and not a single soul has serviced it."

The one that just complained then sighs. "Help me grab the tool kit for this thing, won't ya? Should be in the back. Better deal with this now while we still can, otherwise the Lieutenant will chew us out."

Begrudgingly, the guards discarded their standing duty and work on the truck. With the sound of their tools masking her steps, Natasha reaches the side of the brick warehouse with ease. The A-rank Crusader then swiftly jumps up the side of the building, hoisting herself through an open ventilation window. Slowly, Natasha descends on the catwalk and makes her way down, minding not to cause any clanking sound. Now, to find a crate amid a plethora of boxes and barrels. Fortunately for Natasha, being a Crusader gives her night vision so she doesn't take much time to identify the object of her interest.

Sitting atop a pile of other unremarkable crates is a red wooden box with a lock. With finesse, Natasha reaches the top of the pile, her hand clasping the rusty black lock. Natasha doesn't have a key, hence she slowly freezes up the lock with mean magic until it turns brittle enough for her to silently break it open. After that, Natasha gently opens the wooden crate, her eyes scanning the contents inside.

"Clothing, pocket watch, a bracelet, and a ... ring." Natasha picks up a standard silver ring, inlaid with two names, Luca and Imelia. "Poor bastard..." Natasha places the ring back where it belongs, offering a silent prayer to the Corporal.

After rummaging around for a bit, Natasha comes across a stack of notebooks, a bible with a faded cover, and a camera. "Hopefully you three hold something important or I would have wasted my effort on nothing."

First, Natasha investigates the notebooks, one by one. She didn't turn up much aside from drawing of Spanish landscapes and a few lines of diary of no consequential. There's a half-finished drawing of a devastated convoy of vehicles but it's hard to make out the exact details for what seems to be water droplets had faded out a few areas.

Deciding that she should keep the notebooks in a satchel for further reviewing, Natasha then inspects the rugged handheld camera. Clearly, it has seen some use but the one that owned this knew how to maintain the contraption. Opening the film holder, Natasha is disappointed when she doesn't see a roll of film there. It's either the camera has always been empty or someone has removed it. Sighing, Natasha puts the machine back. With this, the last thing that Natasha still hasn't checked is the old bible. 

"What are the odds here?" Natasha muttered sarcastically, not believing that there would be anything useful here. Maybe she could check their previous lodging next?

Anyway, Natasha still picks up the bible, her habit kicks in to make sure no stone is left unturned. Surprisingly, the small bible is lighter than it looks. "Now that is just weird."

When officially enlisted in the military, a Sardegnian soldier is given a small, handheld bible, much like the one Natasha is currently holding. The A-rank Crusader has come across a lot of such bibles and its attributes are deeply ingrained into her mindset. Now, with this bible, in particular, being lighter than the others, that warrants a deeper look. Instantly, Natasha flips the bible open, shocked to see that the pages in it have been hollowed out, leaving room for a roll of camera film to be taped in place. 

"God blesses your soul for being such a crafty individual, Luca." Knowing better than to view the film here, Natasha deposits the hollowed bible inside her satchel. After that, Natasha rearranges the contents of the crate and closes the lid. There's nothing she can do about the lock but these lazy guards will just chalk it up as an old, broken lock anyway.

Making her way down, Natasha is surprised to hear the sounds of a conversation and footsteps approaching the warehouse. Without hesitation, Natasha chooses to hide in the safest spot. She hides inside an upside-down cardboard box. Calming her breath, Natasha waits. Moments later, the pair of guards from before opens the gate of the warehouse and steps inside.

"You sure this is a good idea?" One of them asked while pointing his lamp at a corner of the warehouse. They're looking for something, judging from what she heard before they arrived. Fortunately, they aren't suspecting a Crusader to be hiding here.

"Trust me, it will be fine. It's not like they would be checking the contents of what would be sent back to the Papal State." The footsteps then move further away from her location. "Besides, don't tell me you aren't interested in some Spanish wine after our overtime work."

"I would be lying to the Lord if I say I'm not." The other guard chuckled. "Now, where's the box?"

"If I recall correctly, it should be here... There, shine the light here for me, won't ya?" The pair then works on unlocking a different crate.

Utilizing the muffled ruckus they're making, Natasha crouches walks away from them, cardboard box and all, and heads for the still-open doorway. Very soon, Natasha is out of the warehouse, she then rounds a corner before settling down near a bush. After checking her surrounding, Natasha deems it safe enough to dash out of the cardboard box, collapsing it, and disappearing into the night. 

With her objective of the night accomplished with none the wiser, Natasha would have to visit one of her safehouses and develop the film roll she acquired. Comes morning, Natasha should have the intel that Kallen and she need to determine their next move. 

Whatever the case, it seems like it's another sleepless night for Natasha. Praise the Lord for making her a Crusader and not just some run-of-the-mill agent.