《Operation Ouroboros》 Mission Brief Kemet Intelligence Agency Mission Brief Mission name: Operation Ouroboros Start date: Year 11 of Ramesses XI, 10 Peret I Location: Kingdom of Hatti, Cimmerian lands surrounding the Euxine Sea Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Operatives: Neitheret Amtensat (commander of the task force), Harsiamon Serachsa, Mehi Sebeksat, Arqam Shoshan, Ithobaal Arwadal Objective: Observing king Muwatalli and his northern campaigns to expand the Hittite state, informing the agency of his advances, preventing him from violating the spheres of influence of other countries. Secrecy level (1 ¨C 4): Level 2 ¨C Agents are to exercise a regular level of caution and secrecy. Additional conditions: Interference in Muwatalli¡¯s campaign is to be kept to a minimum, except in special circumstances. Chapter I Chapter I Year 10 of the reign of pharaoh Ramesses XI, 6th day of the second month of Peret Amenemheb Nemtyhotep was in one of the more luxurious taverns in Men-nefer, the capital of the Commonwealth of Kemet, Kush, and Retjenu, eating his dinner and drinking some beer after another long day of work as the royal envoy of the country. The place was quite full, as it always was at this time of the night, being a favorite of many wealthy Egyptians and Phoenicians, as well as visiting foreigners. Amenemheb was on the second floor and could see dozens of people eating, drinking, talking, and going about their business all around the place, while a band was playing some new Egyptian music downstairs. Unexpectedly, he was once again approached by a waiter, who placed a glass of whiskey on his table. ¡°I didn¡¯t order-¡± Amenemheb began. ¡°Your friends have ordered this for you, sir,¡± the waiter explained. ¡°Friends? What is this, yet another poorly planned attempt to poison me?¡± Amenemheb chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t make me call my guards now to test it,¡± he pointed to a nearby booth with a few guards in it, in charge of the envoy¡¯s security for the night. ¡°That is no way to accept a gift, is it?¡± Rashaken Rebusa, a high-ranking officer of the Kemet Intelligence Agency, said as he climbed up to the second floor and approached Amenemheb. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. Do you refuse a drink when foreign kings offer you one as well?¡± Sutenhi Merephre, another KIA officer, concurred. The waiter left them to attend to other guests and the KIA officers sat down across Amenemheb. ¡°Well, well, well, Rashaken and Sutenhi. Hello to you too,¡± Amenemheb said. ¡°What brings this inseparable duo to me again?¡± ¡°We were just in the neighborhood and saw you here by chance, so thought we¡¯d say hi,¡± Sutenhi smirked. ¡°Oh, sure. Just casually strolling through north Men-nefer, right? Come on, what is it? Did I finally fuck up badly enough to get put on the pharaoh¡¯s blacklist and you¡¯re here to take me to Osiris now?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good one, but you know we don¡¯t do it like that,¡± Rashaken replied. ¡°We¡¯re not the ECSS. We only kill foreign officials.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± ¡°But if we¡¯re talking for real, we came here to get some advice from you for the next big KIA mission,¡± Sutenhi said. ¡°Oh, another one of your big ones, is it? What proxy war are you trying to start this time? No, wait, don¡¯t tell me yet. You didn¡¯t just start funding the motherfucking Mesopotamian Freedom Front, did you? Because if you did, I¡¯m gonna kill somebody, I swear on Ra.¡± ¡°Relax, we¡¯re not starting any proxy wars. And we¡¯re not funding the MFF, even we don¡¯t want to touch that shit,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Ah, good to see you¡¯re drawing the line at supporting rebelling slaves¡­ After you spent years funding a literal terrorist cell,¡± Amenemheb took a gulp of the whiskey. ¡°Hey, that wasn¡¯t us. We weren¡¯t involved in that operation, you know,¡± Sutenhi said. ¡°Well, alright, maybe Ra here was, but I was in Mycenae helping our man Tirynthius gain the throne.¡± ¡°Listen, I¡¯m just saying, your agency¡¯s hijinks are all fun and games until they get discovered and then I have to pay the price. Your latest adventure in Assyria led to the biggest diplomatic crisis since the war, and almost turned into another fully fledged war between our factions.¡± ¡°But thanks to you it didn¡¯t!¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Yeah, I covered for your sorry asses and got shit for it. I bargained for the best deal we could get and saved the country from another destructive Levantine campaign, only to have some stupid kids still in scribe school and decrepit farmers who haven¡¯t held a sword in their life tell me that I should have manned up and accepted a declaration of war. Motherfucker, if you¡¯re so tough go and fucking join the garrison on the Euphrates. I guarantee those dumbasses would shit their pants on the first sight of Elamite legions marching towards them,¡± Amenemheb took another gulp. ¡°You are right. We fucked up and you had to cover for us, and you did the best that could be done. And fuck those armchair generals who criticize you. What the fuck do those farmers know, they should stay in their lane.¡± ¡°They are just jealous of the amount of dough you bring back home, that¡¯s all, they¡¯re mad they can¡¯t hustle as well as we do,¡± Sutenhi added. ¡°That¡¯s true, that¡¯s true. Stupid fucking peasants. So anyways, what¡¯s up, what mission are you planning now?¡± ¡°Right, so about that. Normally we wouldn¡¯t talk too much about any of them, but this one concerns Muwatalli himself, so we thought we would consult you, as you know him best out of anyone in the Commonwealth, save maybe for the pharaoh,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Muwatalli, huh? Well, what about him?¡± ¡°We have reports saying that he is about to begin a massive punitive campaign in the north, in Europe, all around the Euxine Sea. And the agency has been tasked with overseeing this and reporting everything back to the court.¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t he been campaigning there for years now?¡± ¡°Those were just small raids to prevent the Cimmerians from reorganizing and attacking Hatti again. This time it looks like a more serious campaign, possibly one of subjugation rather than simple pillaging.¡± ¡°Can you blame him? Those barbarians did some serious damage in his capital during the war, and Muwatalli is not one who can let go of a grudge.¡± ¡°So you think he may spend some time there, right?¡± ¡°Absolutely. He¡¯s a young Hittite king, what do you think he wants to do?¡± ¡°Fuck every courtesan north of the Orontes?¡± Sutenhi laughed. ¡°Yes, of course. But, more importantly, have a massive military campaign to solidify his rule. So yeah, he will spend a while in Cimmeria. Muwatalli is going to go all out and crush anyone and everyone who even thinks about wielding a weapon in that peninsula, and possibly even far to the north of it. He wouldn¡¯t set out for some small gains, if he¡¯s sailing out, he probably seeks to double the size of his realm.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± A few months earlier¡­ Muwatalli III, the king of the Hittites, approached the burning fortress near Adaniyya, in the region of Kizzuwatna, with his force of about ten thousand trained soldiers. The ruined fortification had been the last anti-Muwatalli holdout in the country, and it now had finally fallen as well. Most other holdouts after the Hittite Civil War, which ended five years ago, surrendered or were overrun rather quickly, as they were small and lightly defended. Kizzuwatna, however, was a different deal. The region had been highly separatist for a long time, ever since the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna was conquered by the Kingdom of Hatti centuries prior, and while the people there were also technically Hittites, they had a strong regional identity and were often willing to fight for it, helped partially by Kizzuwatna being surrounded by mountains. Thus, as the Hittite Civil War came to an end, the Kizzuwatnan separatists saw an opportunity and joined forces with the usurper Hakkarpili¡¯s remaining supporters in the region to fight Muwatalli, who was now once again the leader of the country. However, even this uneasy alliance was not enough to stop Muwatalli¡¯s advance. The king had little interest in diplomacy, especially when concerning his own realm, and marched into Kizzuwatna with his soldiers, who had received experience during the civil war, with the intention of reuniting his country with no concessions to the separatists, now branded as traitors as they had allied with the usurper¡¯s supporters. The campaign resulted in casualties on both sides, yet they were much higher on the separatists¡¯ side. The separatists received some secret support from the Eastern Coalition, but the EC never intended for the rebels to win and only wanted to keep Muwatalli busy and his forces exhausted ¨C which helped make the EC¡¯s position stronger and their threats more credible during the Assyrian diplomatic crisis a year prior ¨C while Muwatalli had the full support of the Hittite army behind him, plus some reinforcements from the Commonwealth. And so, one by one, Kizzuwatnan cities and fortresses fell, though some resisted until the very end, believing that even if they surrendered, Muwatalli would still have them executed. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Adaniyya was the last major town to fall, though the mountain fortress nearby was still standing and so Muwatalli now focused on retaking it as well. It was well stocked and heavily guarded, yet once the EC completely cut its ties with the separatists and news of other holdouts falling reached it, the morale started declining quickly. Muwatalli also had the advantage of having newer technologies, such as guns and various explosives, which helped break the defenses of the fortress. And after about half a year, the defenses finally collapsed and Muwatalli¡¯s forces entered the holdout. As was expected, Muwatalli showed no mercy. He wanted revenge, not so much for this campaign, as it was still relatively easy, more so for the civil war which cost him the lives of many followers, friends, and family members, and so he wanted to make everyone who had supported Hakkarpili to pay. The thousand exhausted defenders in the fortress were all hunted down and executed by various methods ¨C some were beheaded, others were impaled on spears, others shot, and some even thrown down the kilometer high mountain. There was no easy entrance to the fortress, but that meant no easy exit either, and so no one managed to escape Muwatalli¡¯s wrath. The buildings in the complex were all looted of their remaining valuables and then burned down or otherwise destroyed, so that no separatists could use this base again. Finally, once everyone else had been killed, Muwatalli approached Talakka, the leader of this garrison and the insurrection as a whole, having wanted him to witness the destruction of his last stronghold. Muwatalli slowly made his way over the snowy path, littered with bodies and discarded weapons, and stopped right before the kneeling insurrectionist, beaten physically as much as psychologically. ¡°You must be regretting your life decisions now, isn¡¯t that right?¡± Muwatalli said as he walked around Talakka, held in place by two soldiers. ¡°Thinking about how you should have just let me through those damn gates before any of this even started. What was it, six, seven years ago? Time flies. Did you really think your little band of usurpers would be able to keep me from regaining the throne?¡± ¡°Heh, well, what the fuck do I know?¡± Talakka coughed some blood. ¡°Back then the situation looked quite different. You were just a spoiled irrational teenager, and your opponent was a man who had been the king¡¯s right-hand man for decades, supported by the greatest conqueror of these last few centuries. It was an easy choice all those years ago.¡± ¡°And look where both of them are now. Appearances can deceive.¡± ¡°Guess so. You know, I¡¯m not even mad. You won, so I had to try something to stave off my death. But it¡¯s not personal. I respect you, actually, you accomplished something most of us here never thought you would be able to do. We were on opposite sides for all this time, but I can respect a good warrior, no matter which side he is fighting on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, but you¡¯re still going to die.¡± ¡°Oh, I know that. That¡¯s fine by me.¡± ¡°Good. Well, not to say that I don¡¯t enjoy when my enemies whimper and beg for mercy, only for me to still execute them, but I suppose a man who accepts his death solemnly is a nice change.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the Hittite way. I¡¯m ready for the journey to the underworld.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be possible for you,¡± Muwatalli motioned for the soldiers to pin Talakka to the ground so that he could be beheaded. ¡°I¡¯ll leave that up to the gods. You have fun here with the mortals, your highness.¡± Muwatalli pulled out his sword and cut Talakka¡¯s head off. He turned around to see most of his men standing before him and awaiting some proclamation or new orders. ¡°At long last, we did it. We took all of Hatti back!¡± Muwatalli addressed them. ¡°The civil war is now truly over, and there is no one standing against us! Let it be known, usurpers, separatists, insurrectionists ¨C none of them will be tolerated under my rule, as I¡¯m sure I made clear already,¡± he motioned to the beheaded commander behind him. ¡°The gods are now content, and I¡¯m glad to have executed their will. Of course, I could not have done that without you, my most loyal soldiers. You deserve credit too, of course, and this victory belongs to all of us!¡± The soldiers cheered for Muwatalli and raised their swords in support. ¡°However, there still remain groups who had been in league with Hakkarpili but haven¡¯t paid the price for that yet,¡± Muwatalli continued. ¡°The responsible Hittites have been dealt with, but what about the barbarians? We killed some of them, sure, we even raided their lands a few times. But they still have a safe place to retreat to, far to the north, from where they have been operating for centuries and making our lives harder. I, for one, had enough of this. Should they be able to remain there, unpunished and safe from our wrath?¡± ¡°No!¡± the soldiers shouted. ¡°No, no, they shouldn¡¯t! And I will make sure they won¡¯t. The savage Cimmerians will be crushed once and for all. Next year I will begin a campaign to destroy their puny chiefdoms and you are all very welcome to join. You did fight alongside me for a while now, so you can go home, or you can stay and guard our borders, but if you want some more real action, this is your opportunity of the lifetime, as it will be a campaign not seen since the days of Suppiluliuma I. Who is with me?¡± All the soldiers raised their swords again and cheered in support of this plan. ¡°I thought so. It is time to teach the Cimmerians a lesson and show them the true meaning of fear, so that they would never again dare disrespect us Hittites!¡± Present¡­ ¡°Yeah, yeah, I think it is so,¡± Amenemheb replied. ¡°I¡¯ll trust you on that,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°So what will you be doing there anyways?¡± ¡°Like I said, observing Muwatalli. You know, recording his campaign, reporting everything back to the headquarters in Khemenu and the court here.¡± ¡°Oh sure, and I go to brothels only to look at the women there. You¡¯re not telling me the full story.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because we can¡¯t tell you the full story,¡± Sutenhi said. ¡°As always, it¡¯s only for the KIA¡¯s and pharaoh¡¯s eyes. You already heard more than one should.¡± ¡°Fine, keep your secrets.¡± ¡°We just thought we¡¯d seek some advice from you on how to approach him. Maybe you got some advice?¡± Rashaken asked. ¡°So, we, uh, wouldn¡¯t fuck up as much as the last time.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Well¡­¡± Amenemheb took another gulp of his drink. ¡°Just mind your own business there. Muwatalli has some good will towards us Egyptians, since we helped them during the civil war and all that, so don¡¯t waste it. In general, the Hittites are more solitary people and would rather everyone would just mind their own damn business. So, don¡¯t fuck with his matters, and you will be fine.¡± ¡°That makes sense, I suppose.¡± ¡°Just let him do his campaigns, kill those barbarians, crush some skulls, whatever. And don¡¯t remind him of the Knossos Conventions, he would just ignore them anyways.¡± ¡°Oh, uh, well that is more problematic¡­¡± ¡°Ah, grow up, as if you don¡¯t violate them on a daily basis. Besides, they apply to people, and are barbarians people?¡± ¡°I guess the correct answer here is no.¡± ¡°Indeed, when you are talking with Muwatalli. Knossos Conventions apply in warfare between civilized countries, but when dealing with barbarians anything is fair game. Not like they have any qualms about using everything in their power to fuck over the settled states. I¡¯m not saying you should commit war crimes when fighting barbarians, I¡¯m just saying it happens and you can¡¯t do much about it.¡± ¡°Rich coming from a Hittite,¡± Sutenhi laughed. ¡°They were considered barbarians not too long ago as well.¡± ¡°Maybe, but don¡¯t even think about bringing it up to Muwatalli.¡± ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t have a death wish.¡± ¡°So just introduce your agents, he¡¯ll let you stay in the camp, and then do what you want, just don¡¯t interfere much. Respect the king, respect the soldiers, respect their gods and culture, and don¡¯t kill any barbarians yourselves. The Hittites will want to do that themselves. While our gods may be satiated with some bread and beer, their ones want blood and bones.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re making that last part up,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Maybe, I am. Maybe I¡¯m not. Doesn¡¯t matter, you get the point.¡± ¡°Yes, I get what you¡¯re saying. The commander will take that into account.¡± ¡°Commander? So it¡¯s not you going there?¡± ¡°No, we¡¯re getting older, so we won¡¯t be doing many field missions anymore. And besides, have to make way for some young talent.¡± ¡°I get that. So who is the commander?¡± ¡°Well, you see, that¡¯s the other reason why we came to see you¡­¡± Sutenhi said cautiously. ¡°The commander is, uh, Neitheret.¡± ¡°What?¡± Amenemheb froze for a second. ¡°I mean, sure, why not. That¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°We know you two have a sort of a relationship going on, so we thought we¡¯d inform you of that.¡± ¡°Oh, sure, take my best fuckbuddy and send her off to the savage lands in the far north for a year. Really, I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Well, if you want we can-¡± ¡°I¡¯m kidding. She¡¯s a grown woman and she can do whatever she wants. And I¡¯m glad that she is now a commander.¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to ask my permission, I¡¯m not her husband. It wouldn¡¯t work out like that between us anyways, with both of us constantly travelling for various missions. We just have some fun whenever occasion allows it. A much better deal for the wallet and the mind, rather than the common brothel whore.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Well, that¡¯s great. It¡¯s one of the safer missions now anyways, so I¡¯m sure she will be fine, and you will be able to continue your fun.¡± ¡°Though you should still probably settle down eventually, Heb,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you worry about me. I have many offers standing right now and may take one up quite soon,¡± Amenemheb replied. ¡°That¡¯s great. Who would that be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only for the pharaoh¡¯s eyes. You already heard more than one should.¡± ¡°Alright, alright, I won¡¯t pry.¡± ¡°Good. So, is there anything else?¡± ¡°Yes, actually. We may have a little role for you in this plan as well.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°We¡¯re meeting the pharaoh tomorrow to discuss this mission and I think you should just come to it as well,¡± Sutenhi said. ¡°Yes, the usual place, fifth hour of the day,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Join us if you¡¯re intrigued yet.¡± ¡°I sure am now. I¡¯ll be there,¡± Amenemheb confirmed. ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll see you tomorrow and won¡¯t disturb your dinner further. Good talking to you, Heb.¡± Chapter II Chapter II Year 11 of the reign of pharaoh Ramesses XI, 24th day of the third month of Peret After having defeated the last separatist holdouts in Hatti, Muwatalli did not wait long to start another campaign, and early in the following year began another campaign, this one targeted against the Cimmerians and other barbarians living on the northern coast of the Euxine Sea. Rule of mainland Hatti was left to his chief advisor Minimu Arma and the Pankus, composed of loyalists who supported Muwatalli during the civil war and so he trusted them to take care of the country while he was away. Muwatalli never cared much for economics or other more delicate matters of rulership and left that to the experts in the Pankus, while himself preferring to spend time away from the palace and the capital, whether that was touring his realm and making appearances to reassure the population or campaigning against foreign foes. Muwatalli took about thirty thousand soldiers with him to Cimmeria, which was still only about a fourth of the entire Hittite army, but it was still much more than enough, as the barbarians had the disadvantage in both numbers and technology. The campaign began as hundreds of ships crossed the sea and the soldiers disembarked in the Cimmerian peninsula, the southwestern tip of it. There, the Hittites routed the confused Cimmerians and drove them north with little trouble. To mark the start of this momentous campaign and this first victory, Muwatalli founded the port city of Inarutne, after the Hittite goddess Inara, associated with the wild animals of the steppe. Muwatalli did not stop for long, however, as he proceeded north to continue fighting the Cimmerians. He also split off a detachment to go east so that it would secure the sub-peninsula there, which it did and rejoined the main force shortly. The Hittites fought the Cimmerians a few more times, but in less than a month the whole peninsula was secured, as the Hittites completely overwhelmed the hopelessly unprepared defenders. Thousands of Cimmerians died in this phase of the campaign, but many evacuated north and hoped to defeat Muwatalli as he was crossing the narrow land bridge to the continent. Yet, this attempt was just as unsuccessful as the others. The Hittites received some casualties and were stopped temporarily, but then thousands of them boarded the warships which had transported them to the peninsula and landed just north of the land bridge, bypassing the defenders and now surrounding them from all sides. The Cimmerians were slaughtered, and their leadership was decimated. The defenses had now completely collapsed and Muwatalli was free to march through these parts of Europe mostly unobstructed. Meanwhile, the KIA agents sailed to Cimmeria as well and followed the king on the campaign trail to observe him as instructed. This task force was led by the commander Neitheret Amtensat, a young Egyptian woman who had participated in Operation Kingmaker to help Tirynthius become the wanax. Harsiamon Serachsa, another agent of that operation, was present as well. Other agents in this mission included Mehi Sebeksat, an Egyptian woman who served as the group¡¯s alchemist and medic, Arqam Shoshan, a Kushite weapons master, and Ithobaal Arwadal, a Phoenician scout and navigator. While the group was supposed to always be under the protection of the Hittites, it was still composed in such a way so that it could be self-sufficient and take care of itself in an event it got lost or attacked. A couple months in, the KIA agents had set up a few tents in the newest Hittite war camp, this one now situated on the eastern side of the Dnieper river, which had become the western border of the occupied territories and Muwatalli turned his forces to conquer regions east of it. ¡°What an exciting mission this is,¡± Ithobaal remarked sarcastically as he was overlooking the lands beyond the river. ¡°I didn¡¯t know I was signing up for this when I joined the agency.¡± ¡°What did you expect, that every mission will be just another assassination of some monarch?¡± Mehi replied, as she was making a potion. ¡°Most missions are like this, and you have to start somewhere anyways.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. Still, at least it could have been in some warmer place, I¡¯m freezing my balls off here.¡± ¡°No shit, man. Before this mission, I hadn¡¯t even seen snow once,¡± Arqam remarked, as he was sharpening his sword. ¡°Don¡¯t think anyone in my village had either.¡± ¡°Well, now you¡¯ll have a cool story to tell them. Guess I shouldn¡¯t complain, we¡¯re exploring new frontiers after all. I just expected something more interesting. This Europe isn¡¯t impressing me very much, just a big fucking plain as far as the eye can see.¡± ¡°Not that different from Egypt, which is just a single river surrounded by a massive desert.¡± ¡°Point taken. Not every place can be like Khonsmia, with its exotic animals and hidden civilizations.¡± ¡°This place has good soil though,¡± Mehi said. ¡°So much so that it could give the Commonwealth and Mesopotamia a run for their money.¡± ¡°That so?¡± ¡°Looks like it.¡± ¡°But that doesn¡¯t make sense. How could it be good soil if it¡¯s covered in snow for at least a season?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fertile enough during the other seasons. And since this is a massive plain as you said, and not a desert, it¡¯s fertile everywhere, not only right next to this main river.¡± ¡°Would make for quite a large area suitable for farming.¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± ¡°Explains why Muwatalli is so keen on conquering it then,¡± Arqam said. ¡°Can¡¯t grow much in his mountainous country, so he turns north to get some better farmlands.¡± ¡°And become more self-sufficient, as they wouldn¡¯t need to import most of the food from us anymore.¡± ¡°And this would make for a massive colony, allowing for exponential population growth,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°Huh, looks like the Hittites know more than they¡¯re letting on. I can respect the hustle though.¡± ¡°Starting a massive war and a near genocide is a hustle?¡± Mehi asked. ¡°Uh, well¡­ You gotta do what you gotta do, right? Who am I to judge them?¡± ¡°Or maybe they don¡¯t know about the soil, maybe they are just doing this for fun, and we were the first to discover this,¡± Arqam chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s a possibility too. In any case, might as well inform the court of this, I¡¯m sure the government will be interested in these farmlands. Not like we have anything else to write home about, except how another band of barbarians got slaughtered or another village was burned to the ground.¡± The campaign continued as Muwatalli advanced east. He split up his forces, with the main portion following him along the Dnieper, while smaller detachments were securing the remaining area and crushing any remaining resistance. And as the spring progressed and it began to thaw, Hittite scientists did indeed discover how fertile that soil actually was, which further fueled Muwatalli¡¯s wish to conquer the region. However, there was yet another goal that he had in mind for this campaign. Muwatalli was intent on reaching the Donbas ¨C the Donets river basin ¨C in the east, as it had been surveyed in the previous decades by various Hittite expeditions, who found extensive deposits of coal in that region. Coal was not very important back then and so this remained merely a footnote and no further actions were done, but now, as Egyptian and Mesopotamian scientists began experimenting on ways to generate power using steam ¨C a process requiring coal ¨C Muwatalli decided to capitalize on this and secure a massive coal deposit before other countries began searching for one themselves, thus giving the Hittites a potential monopoly on yet another crucial resource, similarly to how the Hittites had a near monopoly on copper once they controlled Alashiya before the Great Powers¡¯ War. Thus, the march continued, and the resistance did not grow any stronger, with all resisting Cimmerians being killed and their settlements destroyed to scare the others into submission. The KIA agents continued following Muwatalli, sending occasional reports back to the court, but over the months they began growing more annoyed with this mission and its apparent lack of a clear goal. Yet, despite their concerns, they never received any additional information, neither from the headquarters in Khemenu, nor from commander Neitheret. ¡°Interesting battle today. Or more like one-sided slaughter,¡± Harsiamon said as he was crunching on some nuts from a bag. ¡°I see they are trying some of the guns we gave them. Of the long variety, to be exact.¡± ¡°Yes, I noticed that,¡± Neitheret replied as she turned from looking at Muwatalli¡¯s tent to him. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to go eat at the food court in the camp?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°No. They don¡¯t like me. Or any of us. And I don¡¯t like any of them either. Instead, I get all my supplies through a network of local traders to whom I sell the swords and amulets of the fallen Cimmerians from the villages the Hittites conquered in exchange.¡± ¡°Knowing you, I can¡¯t tell whether you¡¯re serious or not here.¡± ¡°Good. That¡¯s how it should be.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re right, they don¡¯t really like us here, and I¡¯m not the biggest fan of them and their¡­ tactics, either. Also the fact that me and Mehi are the only two women here from our side, which makes it rather dangerous to wander into their main camp sometimes.¡± ¡°They still don¡¯t allow women to join the military or any related field in any capacity. Not very efficient. And may end up hurting them and the OFK by extension.¡± ¡°You are right on that. Maybe that¡¯s why their army acts in such an uncivilized manner. If not for their guns, one would be hard pressed to figure out which side is the barbarian one.¡± ¡°About the guns. I was wondering about them.¡± ¡°What about, exactly?¡± ¡°Is that the mission?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Are we here to observe how well these guns work in a military campaign? I know that we already did that in Mycenae. But maybe they wanted a second test, a much longer one, and one using the improved designs. That¡¯s why they sent us here. At least that¡¯s my latest theory.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ an interesting theory. Huh. Well-¡± ¡°So, no. Okay, got it.¡± ¡°Wait, how did you-¡± ¡°I just know. By looking at your reaction.¡± ¡°Right. Well, you are right, no point in me lying now. That¡¯s not the mission here. Some guys arrive here every once in a while to observe how their guns are doing in battles and note down their findings, but that¡¯s their business, not ours. We have more important matters to tend to.¡± ¡°Yes. Keeping an eye on Muwatalli. Twenty-four hours a day and thirty days a month. Very important business. I am still trying to figure out why.¡± ¡°I told you why, to make sure-¡± ¡°That he doesn¡¯t infringe on Mycenaean territories, yes. A noble goal. Except for the fact that we are going in the opposite direction. The Mycenaeans are in the west, and we are heading very much to the east. And in any event, if he launched a surprise attack, we would notice that even if we weren¡¯t observing him every second.¡± ¡°Are we having this discussion again?¡± ¡°Yes. And can¡¯t be assassination prevention. He is probably in the most defensible position he has been his entire life. No one can get to him when he is surrounded by at least ten thousand soldiers at any given moment. No one who is even suspected of wanting to cause him harm.¡± ¡°That is true. He is well guarded.¡± ¡°And I was wondering about the team composition. But it makes sense now. The true mission is secret, and you don¡¯t want anyone questioning it. Having a team full of Egyptian men would make that difficult. So, you picked ones who would be good at their job while also from a minority group, underrepresented in the KIA. Which would make them more likely to comply and not cause any trouble. A woman, a Kushite, and a Phoenician.¡± ¡°Hey, I picked them all based on merit, nothing more.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not arguing about that. People from these groups participate in a variety of missions. Still doesn¡¯t mean that this specific composition is not beneficial to you and the secrecy of the true mission.¡± ¡°So how do you fit into this theory then?¡± ¡°You have known me for a while now, so I¡¯m a known variable. Besides, have to keep the Kemet in the Kemet Intelligence Agency dominant.¡± ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that this mission required an exact quota of men and of women, as well as Kushites and Phoenicians, but also Egyptians, for it to work?¡± ¡°Maybe. But let¡¯s get back to its true purpose. Which is to watch Muwatalli. Why? Not to watch him specifically, because if he goes anywhere the whole camp would notice anyways. So that means watching something going to him. Or someone.¡± ¡°You said that it¡¯s not assassination.¡± ¡°Yes. But someone could go to him for many other reasons than to kill him. Diplomatic reasons. But the Cimmerians don¡¯t engage in diplomacy. Only civilized states do. Of which all belong to one of the two factions. And since we are, obviously, the OFK¡­ That means we are looking for EC officials. Probably from the Secret Service. ECSS agents delivering some¡­ documents to Muwatalli.¡± ¡°That¡­ That is right. You win,¡± Neitheret sighed, giving up. ¡°We are, indeed, looking for ECSS agents, and we must prevent them from delivering some damning documents to Muwatalli. I can¡¯t believe you figured it out like that.¡± ¡°Like I said, I know things.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, mister Thoth, you do know things. I just thought-¡± ¡°I¡¯m kidding. I didn¡¯t figure it out myself. At least not all of it. I was given this information.¡± ¡°Who gave it to you then?¡± ¡°Mehi. She went into your tent and retrieved it while you were away.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re just making this up. I know that because the brief I have with me here is the same one you all got, so you wouldn¡¯t have been able to get anything out of my tent.¡± ¡°Correct. She realized that and put it back.¡± ¡°Wait what-¡± ¡°I was joking about the part that I learned it from her. Their attempt had nothing to do with me.¡± ¡°Their? So all three of them-¡± ¡°Yes. But they still don¡¯t know anything, don¡¯t worry. I knew it before the mission even began.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Simple. Amenemheb told me.¡± ¡°The royal envoy?¡± ¡°I thought you were on a first name basis with him. Unless you have been laying with more than one Amenemheb-¡± ¡°Do you take me for a slut?¡± ¡°No. Sorry. So anyways, it was the envoy Amenemheb who told me everything about this mission.¡± ¡°And when did that happen?¡± ¡°Right as we were departing, in Khemenu.¡± A few months earlier¡­ ¡°Hey, are you Harsiamon? One of the KIA agents assigned to this mission?¡± Amenemheb came up to Harsiamon at the port of Khemenu, as the cargo was being loaded onto the KIA ship for their journey to Cimmeria. ¡°I am,¡± Harsiamon calmly replied and showed him his agency badge. ¡°How may I help you, sir Amenemheb?¡± ¡°Oh, you already know who I am, that saves me some trouble.¡± ¡°I know things.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. But there is something I bet you don¡¯t know. Something about the mission. What do you think its true purpose is?¡± ¡°We are to observe Muwatalli during his campaigns. I have a few theories as to why. But that¡¯s not what you¡¯re asking, I presume. I do not have a sure answer why we are going there.¡± ¡°Right, so I thought. Well, now you¡¯re about to learn. This information was supposed to be known only to your commander ¨C Neitheret ¨C but I, uh, managed to get ahold of it. I, let¡¯s say accidentally, took a look at some of the documents she had as I was leaving her apartment, while she was still sleeping.¡± ¡°You were-¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like- I mean-¡± ¡°I understand. Your secret is safe.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s much of a secret anymore, but thanks. Anyways, so I saw the mission brief for this thing, and I saw the true objective. To put it shortly, someone fucked up big time and our enemies now have some pretty damn sensitive documents in their hands. Work of the ECSS, no doubt. And we are almost certain that they will try to deliver these documents to Muwatalli himself. That¡¯s why you are going to be observing Muwatalli to make sure no one hands him these stolen docs. That¡¯s why you will have to observe him all the time, day and night, make sure nothing gets to him without you knowing about it. I cannot stress how important this is. To the country, and to me, as I would have to clean up your mess if this doesn¡¯t work out, as always.¡± ¡°I understand. But why are you telling me this?¡± ¡°Well, because I think more than one person should know of the mission¡¯s true purpose and the stakes involved. Horus forbid something happens to Neitheret, how would the rest of you know what to do then? I want to know there is more than one person on the team who knows what¡¯s up and takes the mission seriously enough.¡± ¡°But why me specifically?¡± ¡°I trust you the most. You did well in Operation Kingmaker, and you seem to be the kind of no bullshit person, who puts the mission first. Guess I kinda see myself in you to some degree.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°And, well, you¡¯re a man. And I¡¯m no sexist, but you know who are? The Hittites. I fear that Neitheret may not always be taken seriously by them, so I want a man on the team who could step in and deal with the situation if it comes to that. And you know what the Hittites also are? Racist. They¡¯ve never seen a Kushite in their life, most of them at least, and they don¡¯t trust the Phoenicians since they believe the Phoenicians aren¡¯t loyal to anyone or anything except money. Which¡­ isn¡¯t completely false, but that¡¯s beside the point. So you are my best bet.¡± ¡°That is logical. So you do not want the rest of the team to receive this information?¡± ¡°No, not yet at least. This is still a top-secret mission and even telling you alone could cause leaks, but I believe it won¡¯t, since you don¡¯t seem to be very¡­ talkative.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Great. Keep this in mind and look out for these documents to make sure they don¡¯t fall into any Hittite hands.¡± ¡°But what are they?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know what I am looking for, if I don¡¯t know what the documents contain?¡± ¡°Well, uh¡­ Fuck, I guess you are right. Okay, I¡¯ll tell you this too, might as well go all the way at this point. They detail¡­ invasion plans. Land invasions, naval invasions, internal revolt supplies, the whole nine cubits. Lots of drawings and graphs, some text that is not too nice.¡± ¡°Invasion of¡­ Hatti?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°By the¡­¡± ¡°Yup¡­¡± ¡°OFK. I see.¡± ¡°Yes. We are in quite a predicament.¡± ¡°Indeed we are, sir.¡± ¡°Granted, these were just theoretical exercises in the event that Hatti leaves the OFK and joins the EC or something of that nature, but Muwatalli seeing those documents would still not be good for our alliance. Which means you need to find the people carrying them, send them to the underworld, however you agents do that, and destroy the plans. Don¡¯t worry, we have backups, which are now much more closely guarded, of course.¡± ¡°I understand. This will be done.¡± ¡°Good. And, well, look out for Neitheret, alright? The mission always comes first, but it would still of course be preferable if there were no casualties on our side.¡± ¡°I will, sir.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Present¡­ ¡°Oh¡­ Makes sense. So I assume then that you know everything about the mission-¡± Neitheret said. ¡°Invasion plans. On the way to Muwatalli. We make sure they do not reach their target,¡± Harsiamon replied. ¡°You do know everything then¡­ What do you think about it?¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°This whole situation. A bit fucked up, don¡¯t you think? Though this time it looks like the military fucked up and now we have to clean their mess.¡± ¡°They should have been more careful. But the plans themselves seem to be a logical idea. I myself have plans to eliminate all of you if it comes to that.¡± ¡°Uh-¡± ¡°That was a joke.¡± ¡°I suspect it actually might not be. So what will you do now?¡± ¡°Nothing special. Same as always. Keep an eye on Muwatalli, his soldiers, and the locals here. Make sure nothing gets through without going through us first.¡± ¡°Good. Guess we can carry on as usual then. But¡­ One last question. Why did you tell me this now?¡± ¡°I do a little trading with the locals, like I said before. And that includes information as well.¡± ¡°Why would the Cimmerians give you any information, knowing that they are at war with us?¡± ¡°Not Cimmerians. Traders from the north. They travel to the coast of the Euxine Sea every year to exchange their goods, mostly furs and amber, for Hittite items. They have some clashes with the Cimmerians at times, so this makes for an enemy of my enemy situation. Called the Balts, I think.¡± ¡°Fair enough then. What did they tell you?¡± ¡°This morning I received a tip that a party of suspicious looking Mesopotamians landed on the coast. To our southeast. And heading towards our position. The ECSS is here, it appears.¡± Chapter III Chapter III Year 11 of the reign of pharaoh Ramesses XI, 11th day of the first month of Shemu Muwatalli¡¯s campaign continued as he marched east, though not following the Dnieper anymore, as he headed right for the Donbas, where fighting with the Cimmerians continued. Nothing stood out for the KIA agents at first, until they received word that one of the Cimmerian chiefs was apparently surrendering and even offering his daughter as part of the tribute to Muwatalli, which was highly unusual. Cimmerians were a highly warlike people and surrender was not a usual occurrence, especially in this campaign. Even when it did happen, that was usually after a decisive battle which saw most of the best fighters of the tribe killed, while this chieftain surrendered before Muwatalli even entered his lands. Furthermore, while the Hittites took some Cimmerian women by force, same way as many Cimmerians had done with Hittite women back during the Hittite Civil War, it was rather taboo for Cimmerians to give their women to the enemy voluntarily. Thus, seeing how suspect this situation was, the KIA agents secretly snuck out of the camp to observe this exchange. The agents saw the whole deal from start to finish, though it was not a very lengthy affair, as Muwatalli quickly agreed to it, shook hands with the chieftain, and went back to camp, together with his newly acquired female companion and chests full of loot, transported back by his soldiers. His secret observers headed back to camp as well to follow Muwatalli as far as they could and figure out a plan of what to do next. ¡°Well, I can rather certainly conclude that she is most definitely not Cimmerian,¡± Ithobaal said, as the agents were discussing their observations. ¡°Either Mesopotamian, Elamite, Levantine, or Egyptian. But we can safely cross out the last two, as the five of us are all the Commonwealth citizens this side of the Euxine Sea.¡± ¡°Man, how do you even know that? She could very well pass for a Cimmerian. They populate a massive area and could be found as far south as Lullubum,¡± Shoshan replied. ¡°Respectfully, just because all of us whiteys look the same to you doesn¡¯t mean that¡¯s the reality.¡± ¡°Hey, your words, not mine. And I¡¯m just saying, she doesn¡¯t have any distinct non-Cimmerian features.¡± ¡°I know how to differentiate different peoples¡¯ groups. Especially women. Believe me, I have some experience.¡± ¡°Reading all those smutty magazines you bought for half a shematy from Hathor¡¯s Den hardly counts as experience,¡± Mehi said. ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± ¡°Enough with this. Concentrate on the mission, people!¡± Neitheret interrupted them. ¡°Right. Sorry. Anyways, another thing is that she was speaking Hittite. Isn¡¯t that suspicious? How many Cimmerians can speak the Hittite language?¡± ¡°Not many, I suppose,¡± Mehi said. ¡°So? Low chances that she is local, right?¡± ¡°But if one was to know the language, she would be a very useful spy for the Cimmerians.¡± ¡°Shit, you are right on that. So maybe this isn¡¯t a surrender, and instead an attempt to infiltrate the camp.¡± ¡°Exactly my thoughts.¡± ¡°A spy for sure. But not for the Cimmerians,¡± Harsiamon said. ¡°Why not?¡± Ithobaal asked. ¡°Because she doesn¡¯t speak Cimmerian. She did not speak a word of it. The exchange was completely in Hittite.¡± ¡°That is true, but why would anyone speak in Cimmerian in that meeting? Muwatalli couldn¡¯t understand it,¡± Mehi said. ¡°Logically yes. But she did not speak a word to her supposed father or anyone else in the entourage. Nor was anything said to her. Humans tend to have some sort of goodbye talk before they are separated. Or so I¡¯ve heard.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ Yeah, I suppose you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°So this supports my original theory that she is indeed an easterner!¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°An ECSS agent then?¡± Shoshan asked. ¡°Seems like it. Question is now, what do we do with her?¡± ¡°Commander?¡± ¡°Well, we need to get closer to them and see everything that goes on. Make sure she doesn¡¯t do anything we don¡¯t want her to,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°Ah, assassination prevention. Makes sense that the KIA would have some of such missions, to complement all our assassination missions. So is this the main goal that has been kept secret?¡± Ithobaal asked. ¡°I¡¯ll explain everything later. Right now, focus on this exact task.¡± ¡°Right. Understood.¡± ¡°Ithobaal, Shoshan, and Mehi. You go up and keep an eye on the action. Harsiamon and I will stay here to make sure this isn¡¯t used as some sort of diversion.¡± ¡°But-¡± Harsiamon began. ¡°Both of us are staying here.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think I should go with them?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Ah, that makes sense. Understood.¡± ¡°I thought it all through.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going then. And I¡¯m taking my weapons, just in case,¡± Shoshan said as he and the other two assigned agents left to go to Muwatalli¡¯s camp. Meanwhile, Muwatalli returned to his tent, together with his female companion, and had his guards move all the chests of tribute there as well, before having them leave. ¡°Not often do I find locals here who can speak my language, much less women,¡± Muwatalli said. ¡°How did you learn it?¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know it that well as you might expect. But what I know I learned from the merchants visiting our settlement. You see, my father¡¯s tribe lives near the sea and so we do some trading with your people. Sometimes Hittites come up north and sometimes our own sailors travel to your lands and learn some words in Hittite. They taught the language to my father, and he in turn taught me,¡± the woman humbly replied. ¡°I see. Well, I imagine the two of us will have a lot of fun, at least while I am on this campaign.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m very honored to be in the company of such a powerful man like yourself, an actual king.¡± ¡°Oh yes, I am as powerful as they come for sure. Those Cimmerian boys around you are nothing compared to me, and what I have down there,¡± Muwatalli snickered. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt that.¡± ¡°Now, how about you show me your goods?¡± Muwatalli said as he got closer and started undressing her. ¡°I will¡­ But first, I must show you something more important.¡± ¡°Why, what could be more important than these two glorious mounds?¡± ¡°I have a document for you, with some crucial information that you have to see now.¡± Outside the tent, the three KIA agents had just arrived and tried to get inside, but were being blocked by the Hittite guards. ¡°Hey, back off, alright? I told you, let the king have some private time. You will have your turn to speak to him later,¡± one of the guards said. ¡°That¡¯s the problem, there may not be a later,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°The woman who is in there with him is a threat! If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°A threat to his marriage, maybe,¡± a second guard laughed. ¡°But that is not our business, and it isn¡¯t yours either.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t get it! She is an assassin sent by the Eastern Coalition Secret Service! She must be dealt with immediately.¡± ¡°We accounted for that possibility,¡± the first guard said. ¡°We have it under control. She was checked for weapons, and Muwatalli knows how to take care of himself. Besides, we have the tent completely surrounded so we would be able to act momentarily if she tried anything.¡± ¡°She could be much faster than any of you,¡± Shoshan said. ¡°It¡¯s better to preemptively remove the threat.¡± ¡°Listen, back the fuck off, alright? You know how many Cimmerian whores he brought back to his tent during this campaign? How many was it, Hani?¡± ¡°Thirteen, at least. That¡¯s how many I counted during my shift,¡± the second guard replied. ¡°That¡¯s right. And how many of them attempted to assassinate our king? Zero. So stop trying to interrupt his fucking session, alright? He doesn¡¯t like that.¡± ¡°I bet he wouldn¡¯t like to be shanked either. This is just how it happened with Shilhak, you know? The guards turned away for a few moments, and the next second the emperor is dead,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°Do you want the same happening to Muwatalli?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t Shilhak die due to poisoning? Muwatalli isn¡¯t going to be drinking anything right now.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­ You don¡¯t know what she could pull, alright? You gotta get her out!¡± ¡°No. You are the ones who should get the fuck out now.¡± ¡°Information? Well, I¡¯ll take a look at it. But that will come later. No reason to interrupt our fun right now,¡± Muwatalli said as he continued touching the woman. ¡°No, you have to see it now!¡± she said as she backed away. ¡°Hey, the fuck is wrong with you? What¡¯s your problem? What, you suddenly don¡¯t want to fuck me anymore?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll fuck, just look at this first, please,¡± she took a papyrus batch out of one of the chests and handed it to Muwatalli. ¡°What the fuck are you on about, woman?¡± ¡°Just read this. I¡¯ll explain everything after that.¡± ¡°Well, fine. If you insist so much.¡± Muwatalli took the documents and began reading through them. These were detailed plans of how the Commonwealth and the Mycenaean Confederation could invade Hatti if it was deemed necessary, with exact troop numbers, ships, naval and land routes, casualty projections, timeline, possible outcomes, and more. The king flipped through all the pages, as the woman put her clothes back on and awaited Muwatalli¡¯s reaction. However, she did not get what she expected. Muwatalli, rather than being seriously concerned, began laughing and uncaringly threw the documents on his table. ¡°But those are-¡± the woman, now being rather confused, began. ¡°Ramesses¡¯ invasion plans? Yeah, I know. I can read.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t this¡­ Concern you?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But I get it now. You aren¡¯t a Cimmerian. I fucked enough Cimmerian bitches, I know how they are. You are definitely not one. The Eastern Coalition sent you here, right? So that you would pose as a Cimmerian, get into my tent, and deliver these supposedly secret plans to me, right? Which, my best guess would be, you stole from some Egyptian official.¡± ¡°How we got them is irrelevant,¡± the ECSS agent composed herself. ¡°We just want what¡¯s beneficial for both our countries. The Egyptians are planning to betray you and invade your realm while you are away. You have a chance to prevent that, by joining us.¡± ¡°Oh sure, of course. I remember how Shilhak had the Hittite interests in mind. Look how that turned out. You motherfuckers have some fucking gall coming back here so soon.¡± ¡°The offer to join our alliance still stands, just like it always did. You know the OFK will betray you. You can either try to fight it alone, or allow us to help you.¡± ¡°You have no idea what you are talking about, do you? It¡¯s hilarious actually. This shit?¡± Muwatalli pointed to the plans. ¡°This means absolutely nothing to me. You have no idea what it is.¡± ¡°I think we do know what it is and what it implies.¡± ¡°No, no, no. You got me fucked up if you believe this changes anything in terms of my relationship to the OFK.¡± A few years earlier¡­ ¡°You are rebuilding your country nicely,¡± Ramesses XI, on his visit to Hatti for the occasion of Muwatalli¡¯s marriage with an Amorite princess, said as he was feasting with Muwatalli. ¡°A few more years and it will look like there was no civil war here at all.¡± ¡°Hatti is a resilient land, it will take more than a few years of tyranny by that bastard Hakkarpili to ruin it,¡± Muwatalli replied. ¡°Of course, your loans certainly help.¡± ¡°Always ready to help an ally in need. Just as long as you use it for the right reasons.¡± ¡°Wait, you mean buying a thousand concubines and five quadruple heqats of Kushite weed was not the intended use of your money?¡± Both kings laughed. ¡°But if we¡¯re serious, it is really helpful,¡± Muwatalli said. ¡°Can now afford to rebuild many forts, city walls, restructure the army so it could return to its proper state, build more housing for the people. Hatti will soon become a force to be reckoned with once again, like it always has been.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. We need a powerful ally to counter the increasingly centralizing Eastern Coalition. Shilhak may be dead, but Lim is sure continuing his work as rapidly as ever,¡± Ramesses said. ¡°Indeed. Will have to go back to drawing plans for invading the east. And maybe even countries like Alashiya.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Who knows, what if they turn to the EC, right? Must be prepared for such scenarios.¡± ¡°That is true. We have to be prepared for all possibilities. You are a trustworthy ally, but what if one of your successors turns to the EC? We would have to take action.¡± ¡°I understand that, brother. If one of my successors allied himself with those eastern snakes, I would expect nothing less than for you Egyptians to kick his ass out and allow someone more competent and freedom-loving to take the throne. But trust me, no son of mine would ever be such a traitor.¡± ¡°I am sure of that, my friend. You are a great man, and your wife is a beautiful and intelligent lady. So I¡¯m sure your successor will be just as worthy as you.¡± ¡°Thank you. The Hattusilite dynasty will not let you down!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s toast to that. To the Hattusilite dynasty, may it always remain as strong and wise as it is!¡± ¡°To the Hattusilite dynasty, brother!¡± Present¡­ ¡°I see¡­¡± the ECSS agent said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t expect this,¡± Muwatalli said. ¡°Now, if we were at war with the EC, I would shoot your bitch ass right here, but since we aren¡¯t, I will not resort to such measures. I¡¯m a more peaceful man than I once was. So instead, I will have my soldiers escort you out of my camp and my lands, so that you could return to your shadow empress and report your failure.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an interesting suggestion, but I have a better idea,¡± she said as she walked closer to Muwatalli. ¡°What¡¯s that, you want to fuck now perhaps? I guess that could be arranged-¡± The agent took out a small blade which had been concealed as a hair pin and struck at Muwatalli¡¯s neck. However, Muwatalli dodged in time and the blade only struck his shoulder. He quickly grabbed his gun and shot at the agent, but missed as she dodged the bullet. ¡°Guards!¡± the king shouted as he discarded the gun and now focused entirely on trying to avoid the assassin in the cramped tent. The guards, already moving in as soon as they heard the shot, entered the tent and aimed their guns at the agent, but all of them missed as well. ¡°Come on, kill the fucking bitch at once!¡± Muwatalli shouted, having grabbed a dagger to try to hit the assassin as well, but also finding her too fast for his attacks. As the guards were moving in to apprehend the assassin, Arqam emerged and pushed past them, throwing a dagger right at the ECSS agent. He hit her right in the throat, and she collapsed immediately right next to Muwatalli, bleeding out and dying in an instant. Muwatalli slowly stood up, kicked the corpse a couple times to make sure she was truly dead, and approached the guards and KIA agents. ¡°Thank you, whoever that was,¡± Muwatalli said. ¡°That would be me, your highness,¡± Arqam said. ¡°Huh, really? What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Arqam Shoshan, Kemet Intelligence Agency.¡± ¡°Well, Arqam, thank you for saving my ass. That was a really nice hit.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°And you, guards? What am I paying you for? She couldn¡¯t have been acting alone. Go on, sweep the camp, find her accomplices!¡± ¡°Of course, my lord!¡± the guard commander said and left the tent to inform the army commanders, while leaving a few guards to look after Muwatalli. ¡°So, Egypt is saving me once again. Good to have such allies. And you are a Kushite, aren¡¯t you Arqam?¡± ¡°Yes, I am,¡± Arqam replied. ¡°You know, we Hittites go way back with your people. It¡¯s good that the Egyptians are finally realizing your worth and giving you important positions such as this.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll, uh, go inform the commander of what happened,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°You do that and bring her here, I want to speak with her as well.¡± ¡°I think your injuries should be treated in the meantime, your highness,¡± Mehi suggested. ¡°This?¡± Muwatalli looked at his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s just a scratch, nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit more than that. It appears the blade had been poisoned, and so you may now be as well,¡± Mehi said as she examined the blade. ¡°Really? Fuck me. Better get my medics in here then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have all the antidotes right here with me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. But I¡¯ll have my own medics examine them still. Just in case, you know. Have to be prepared for everything.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Muwatalli¡¯s medics arrived momentarily, and after clearing Mehi¡¯s antidote, gave it to the king. The remaining KIA agents arrived at that point as well, as the medics were cleaning and treating the cut to make sure the king remained well, and the soldiers were searching the dead agent¡¯s body. ¡°Ah, commander Neitheret, come in,¡± Muwatalli said. ¡°I am glad to see you got through this attack well, your highness,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°All thanks to your agents. I¡¯m as good as ever, with the only thing that did not survive the attack being my hope of there existing a decent Cimmerian in all these lands. Oh well, guess I¡¯ll just have to raze another village or two in retaliation,¡± the king laughed. ¡°I am sorry we could not stop this EC agent sooner, that would have saved you some trouble.¡± ¡°Nonsense. You stopped her at exactly the right time. I probably wouldn¡¯t have listened earlier anyways. And I got my hands on some interesting papyri, so there¡¯s that.¡± ¡°About those-¡± ¡°Listen, I get it. I get what they mean, but the intelligence agencies seemingly overestimated their worth and so created all this fuss around them. I get what the ECSS was trying to do, and I get what you in the KIA were trying to do. But whatever the original missions were, that doesn¡¯t matter. All that matters is that the easterners tried to take me out just a few minutes ago, and you stopped that from happening. Thank you for that. And tell your government that there is nothing to worry about. Everything¡¯s fine. And I¡¯m as loyal to the OFK as one can be.¡± ¡°I am very glad to hear that.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m keeping these documents, just for fun.¡± ¡°I understand. That¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°And make sure Arqam gets rewarded for this mission. Give him a medal or something, he deserves it. He saved my life, after all.¡± ¡°Of course, I will make sure it is done.¡± ¡°Good. So I suppose you will be leaving soon then, now that your mission is done?¡± ¡°Yes. Though we will stay for a little longer to make sure no other EC agents or other similar threats remain.¡± ¡°That would be highly appreciated, commander.¡± After the talk between Muwatalli and Neitheret was concluded, the KIA agents left the tent and headed back to their part of the camp. ¡°So, we prevented Muwatalli¡¯s assassination. That¡¯s great. But I somehow suspect that wasn¡¯t the intended purpose of this mission. What was this whole mission about, really?¡± Ithobaal asked as they were heading back. ¡°I would like to know that too,¡± Arqam said. ¡°Did we even succeed in it?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good question as well.¡± ¡°All will be explained in time, boys,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°I will tell you once we get back home. But to answer the second question ¨C yes, we did absolutely succeed in this mission.¡± Chapter IV Chapter IV Year 11 of the reign of pharaoh Ramesses XI, 20th day of the third month of Shemu A couple months later, after the ECSS threat was fully neutralized and all the other matters were taken care of, so that the mission could be considered fully completed, the KIA agents departed the Cimmerian lands and returned to the Commonwealth. Muwatalli himself continued his campaigns, but not for too long either, as by the end of the year he had crossed the Don river, secured western Caucasus, and so circled back to Hatti right in time for the new year celebrations. Meanwhile the KIA agents landed back in Khemenu, where the headquarters of the agency were located. They reported their results and were congratulated for succeeding in the mission, as well as unexpectedly saving Muwatalli¡¯s life. The agents were given extensive paid leave so they could recover from this lengthy trip, though Neitheret stayed in the debriefing room with the superior officers for a while longer, discussing matters which the other agents were not cleared to hear. She did, however, promise to tell them everything once she was done. A few hours later, as the four agents were drinking and waiting in the dimly lit so called officers¡¯ bar ¨C an establishment where only OFK intelligence and military personnel were allowed, located near the KIA headquarters ¨C Neitheret entered and sat down next to them, ordering a drink for herself as well. ¡°So, is it over?¡± Ithobaal asked. ¡°Yes. The mission is complete. You all get three months of paid vacation, plus a thousand shematy bonus for this mission. The initial offer was smaller, but I negotiated for more. Plus, everything that you heard while you were still there also stands, of course, including the Pharaonic Medal of Honor for Arqam,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°Fuck yeah,¡± Arqam said as he gulped his beer. ¡°You know how many women will want to lay with me once they see this?¡± ¡°By my calculations, quite a lot,¡± Harsiamon said. ¡°Damn right!¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. But now the most important part ¨C you gotta tell us what the actual fuck we have been doing there all this time,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you, don¡¯t worry. I promised you this,¡± Neitheret said as she got her beer and opened it. ¡°You must have gathered that the ECSS agent had something important to deliver to Muwatalli, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, those were plans for a hypothetical OFK invasion, mostly from the Commonwealth, but also involving the Mycenaeans, of Hatti. In case it turned to the EC, or something similarly unfavorable happened there.¡± ¡°Huh, fair enough. And I suppose the ECSS stole those documents from us before that?¡± ¡°Yes, in a way.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the full story, of course.¡± Harsiamon knowingly added. ¡°No, it¡¯s not. The fact is, the EC stole the wrong documents. The ones we wanted them to steal.¡± A year earlier¡­ ¡°So, let me get this right, you want to plant fake invasion plans so that they would end up in Muwatalli¡¯s hands?¡± Ramesses asked, during a meeting involving him, Amenemheb, a few generals, and some KIA officers. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°That¡¯s right, my lord,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°Get him to further prepare for an invasion that would never come, not from us at least, while guaranteeing that our true way to depose the Hittite leadership would remain open for the foreseeable future.¡± ¡°He wouldn¡¯t be mad about these plans, so we wouldn¡¯t lose a valuable ally, but he would still probably take a look at them and make some changes to his defenses,¡± Sutenhi added. ¡°That is true. But how do you intend to deliver them?¡± Ramesses asked. ¡°I may have an idea for that, my lord,¡± general Ranubkheper said. ¡°I know there must be some EC spies lurking around here, particularly those Assyrian-Egyptian women who can play both sides due to both the OFK and the EC having considerable Assyrian populations. I could, say, pretend to lose those fake plans to one of those spies, after having too much fun with one of them, hehe.¡± ¡°We would, of course, supervise this royally sanctioned one night stand to make sure it all goes according to plan,¡± Sutenhi said. ¡°This could work¡­¡± Ramesses pondered. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t this reflect badly on you, Ranubkheper? Few people would know the truth, and most would think that you really did lose important classified documents. I would have to relieve you of your duties afterwards.¡± ¡°That is fine by me. Someone would have to take the blame anyways. And I¡¯d rather that was me than some young prospective officer. I fucked up more than enough during the Kushite campaign and I am nearly of retirement age. I would be honored to be of service for one last time, and this mission seems perfect.¡± ¡°Ranubkheper would attract the right type of spy,¡± Sutenhi confirmed. ¡°Other generals are either too fresh, and so unlikely to know any important classified information, or too secretive and well protected to be considered.¡± ¡°And then, the EC agents would undoubtedly try to get those plans right to Muwatalli,¡± Rashaken said. ¡°And we would make sure that does happen, but nothing more. Our agents would keep Muwatalli safe at the same time.¡± ¡°This is an insane plan. So much so, that it might just work,¡± Amenemheb said. ¡°Well¡­ It is indeed unconventional,¡± Ramesses said. ¡°But I¡¯m open to unconventional ideas. Prepare a full detailed mission plan and give it to me when it¡¯s ready.¡± ¡°With pleasure,¡± Sutenhi bowed. Present¡­ ¡°So, you planted them right up for EC¡¯s grabs?¡± Ithobaal asked. ¡°One of the generals did, yes. So that the EC agents would steal them, take them to be the real plans, and deliver them to Muwatalli,¡± Neitheret explained. ¡°But¡­ why?¡± ¡°So that Muwatalli would have the wrong plans, of course. So that he would reinforce the points which would defend against other invaders, but not us. So that it would be difficult for any force to enter Hatti, except, of course, ours,¡± Neitheret smirked. ¡°So that means our purpose was to¡­¡± ¡°Make sure Muwatalli got those documents. Not prevent that,¡± Harsiamon said. ¡°And make sure the ECSS agents got just close enough to give those plans to Muwatalli, but not any closer. So that we could save him from the inevitable assassination attempt. Get some good will from him and have him remain on good terms with the KIA. While still leaving the plans in his possession. So that he would reinforce the points we want him to reinforce.¡± ¡°Precisely,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°Wait, hold up,¡± Ithobaal said. ¡°How did we know that the EC would try to assassinate him?¡± ¡°And how could we be sure that he would not leave the OFK or do something similarly drastic over these plans?¡± Mehi added. ¡°We knew he wouldn¡¯t overreact,¡± Neitheret explained. ¡°Other officers consulted Amenemheb over this, who told them that this would be no big deal, him in turn learning this from Ramesses himself. And if Muwatalli rejected the EC¡¯s deal and was not about to change course, why wouldn¡¯t the ECSS do the next best thing for their faction and try to kill the king, so that Hatti would become destabilized once again?¡± ¡°And Amenemheb was also involved later. By pretending to tell me the actual mission, but even what he said was not fully true. It did strike me as odd at the time, but I am not one to question the envoy himself,¡± Harsiamon said. ¡°Oh, that. Yeah, that was also planned. Did you really think I would be so careless as to leave classified documents just lying around so that any guy who slept with me could find them on the way out without waking me up?¡± ¡°I suppose not. But then again, I am not so well versed in such situations.¡± ¡°I told him to tell you this partially correct mission objective, so that your curiosity would be satisfied enough, and so you would keep an eye on the EC agents and tell me everything about them. After all, everything up until the last step of the mission remained the same in both cases.¡± ¡°But why the envoy of all people?¡± Ithobaal asked. ¡°I dunno. I thought Harsiamon would take it more seriously and not question it more if it was the royal envoy himself who told him this, right before the mission.¡± ¡°And I guess I did,¡± Harsiamon said. ¡°Man, this is wild,¡± Arqam chimed in. ¡°Back in the day, KIA operations involved nothing more than sneaking into a palace and killing the king right there. This is some convoluted ass plan.¡± ¡°It did work though,¡± Neitheret said. ¡°Looks like it did,¡± Ithobaal replied. ¡°We fooled Muwatalli and the entire Eastern Coalition too. Thoth truly has blessed our beloved agency.¡± Mission Report Kemet Intelligence Agency Mission Report Mission name: Operation Ouroboros End date: Year 11 of Ramesses XI, 20 Shemu III Location: Kingdom of Hatti, Cimmerian lands surrounding the Euxine Sea Operatives: Neitheret Amtensat (commander of the task force), Harsiamon Serachsa, Mehi Sebeksat, Arqam Shoshan, Ithobaal Arwadal This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Objective: Observing king Muwatalli and his northern campaigns to expand the Hittite state, informing the agency of his advances, preventing him from violating the spheres of influence of other countries. Preventing Muwatalli from receiving classified Commonwealth documents stolen by the ECSS. Making sure Muwatalli receives fake Commonwealth¡¯s invasion plans delivered by the ECSS, keeping him safe from any other actions by the ECSS. Final status: Success. Muwatalli has received the fake invasion plans, reacting just as expected. ECSS assassination attempt following this thwarted, no permanent damage suffered by Muwatalli. No OFK casualties, all EC assets involved eliminated.