"So, where's the new location for the meeting again?" Rafael asked Michael, who was looking at his tablet.
"The 'Citadel,' Rafe, and in the meeting, the Vermillion Kingdom's ambassador to the United Nations is going to present in another location since they put forward a new petition," Michael said.
The Citadel is located in the middle of nowhere in the South Atlantic, far from any nearby civilizations. It acts as a naval base and is one of the many locations where the Overseer Council convenes, and a location in case an apocalyptic event happens, it's going to be a safe house for Atlas.
So, across the globe, there are around six locations where Atlas has meetings, and it's from monthly to yearly. Each location has a group that acts as decoys, and people don't know where the real one is located, and the meeting happens at the same time and ends at the same time.
"So, Rafael, the flight plan is that we land in Guam where a private plane will take us to the Citadel but land at Buenos Aires where we will change to another plane and head to the Citadel, and all of it will take 15 hours," Michael said and sent messages to the governments, and due to the plane carrying a covert high-profile man, the air forces of Peru and Argentina were given the heads-up.
"Okay, so everyone will be in attendance?" Rafael asked.
"Yes, and the Vermillion delegates are in a different location."
"Good, it's been a while they keep persisting on Atlas entering their country again, but our treaty with them will last 100 years or so," Rafael commented as he remembered the incident that caused Atlas' total exit of the Vermillion Kingdom.
It was around 2018, and Atlas was expanding their reach to the European continent, and one particular kingdom, the Vermillion Kingdom, was a nation of 100 million people and was quite the economic player before Atlas laid their first factories.
And their royal family was respected, and when Rafael was doing a regular visit, he was wearing a mask, but when he met an old contact, he got kissed unexpectedly by the 1st Vermillion Princess, which was caught by journalists and paparazzi. He didn't know why she did that, but it caused a huge uproar throughout the country, and people were trying to find a logical reason, but the brother of the king didn't take the news very well, and since he was the Grandmaster of the Vermillion Knights, which are known for being a specialized shock infantry, and after gaining the half-hearted approval from the king, he mobilized the entire order's armed forces, which Atlas was alerted and raised its alert status of the military bases in the country and its other countries' borders.
And ordered covert evacuation of its factory workers, employees, and most of them were citizens of the kingdom. Four days after the news, the Vermillion Order launched an attack on the hotel that Rafael was presumed to be staying but failed to realize that they were surrounded by Atlas special forces, and in the attack, all bases under the Vermillion Order overnight were attacked and bombed by air cavalry divisions and bombers under Atlas, and during that night, naval forces from the United States, United Kingdom, and Atlas began an evacuation while Atlas launched another bombing run, but this time they targeted their own facilities, factories, and properties under Atlas, but except safe houses of Atlas field agents.
And in the history of Europe, it's nicknamed as the shortest war in the modern world, and the people of the Vermillion Kingdom were in deep shock as the entire Vermillion Order except for its grandmaster were all but exterminated, which brought unrest and fear as Atlas made a full exit and withdrew all of its resources and personnel.
Which in turn, the king, in a fit of anger, ordered the arrest of its grandmaster and any survivor of the order and stripped of their titles but couldn't fully disband the order since it has a long history, and in the aftermath, Atlas and the Vermillion Kingdom opened up into diplomatic talks with Switzerland as the mediator.
And in talks, the kingdom wishes for Atlas to open up their markets again into the kingdom, which Atlas rejected brutally, the council not trusting them, and the citizens who were offered to return back to the kingdom with compensations, but they refused and stayed in the Atlas cities across Europe, and Atlas promised to return in 100 years and provide a small amount to aid them in their economic recovery while nearby nations didn't like the kingdom's actions and placed sanctions.
Now their economy is very fragile, and it's only surviving due to the money from Atlas, and other nations also started putting their companies back in their again, and for the root of the problem, the princess was ordered into exile and never heard from again, and the last order was Atlas banning the royal family from any establishment under Atlas.
If discovered, they were to be arrested and deported, which caused a little heightened tension between to the two parties, but it's still a standstill.
A Few Hours Later
"Sir, we have landed at Buenos Aires," Graves said, and Rafael took a nap. When he stood up, he saw that he was in Argentina.
And when the plane landed, a crew began maintenance, and the decoy plane was set and was going to another direction, and a few minutes later, they took off again.
In the Skies of the Citadel
A pair of experimental 5th generation fighter planes were heading towards the private plane that Rafael and the others were riding. As they flew past the aircraft and maneuvered themselves to the sides, Pilot 1, call sign Vulture-1, spoke:
"This is Vulture-1 of the Atlas Airforce, you are approaching restricted airspace, please confirm your flight plan and intended heading, over." The pilot said and looked over the monitors while his wingman was at the rear of the private plane waiting for the signal to either attack or let them through.
"Vulture-1, this is an Eagles Nest. We are on a scheduled approach to the Citadel. Current heading is 270, flight level 350. Requesting clearance to proceed, over." The pilot of the plane replied.
"Copy that, Eagles Nest, stand by while we confirm clearance with Central Command. Please maintain current altitude and heading. Any deviation from your flight path must be communicated immediately, over."
"Understood, Vulture-1. Maintaining current altitude and heading. Standing by for confirmation, over." The pilot of the plane said, and his co-pilot focused on checking the flight instruments.
"Eagles Nest, clearance confirmed. You are authorized to proceed into restricted airspace. We will maintain our positions to escort. Vulture-1 out." The pilot said, and the second plane came out as it deactivated the radar ghost system.
Soon, the three planes arrived at the location at the island, which was formerly known as Edinburgh of the Seven Seas but was bought by Atlas and now it was nicknamed the Citadel. Atlas spent a massive fortune to remove it from history and remove it from maps and was transformed into a naval base, and people are restricted from entering, and the residents were given a choice to either stay and work for them or leave, and majority left and signed a non-disclosure act.
And soon it began a construction, which took over one year and six months, and it was transformed into an island fortress. So for its security, it has four destroyers assigned to patrol the surrounding waters and has a dedicated military force known as the Edinburgh Coastal Guard, over 7,000 strong, equipped with the experimental weapons.
Soon, by the mountain side, a hidden runway opened up, and Rafael's plane landed while the jets broke formation and continued to their patrol.
A Few Minutes LaterInside the Citadel Mountain Hanger
Rafael got down from the plane, and the guards created a pathway and saluted. This time, Rafael was not wearing a mask, and it's not needed, and Canute, wearing a golden hue tuxedo, bowed slightly.
And as Rafael walked through the hallways that were on a level of futuristic, guards were stationed for every hallway, and reaching to an elevator that went deeper into the level, and it showed a holographic number. So, they waited around 20 minutes and arrived at the floor where a few dozen nuclear warheads and experimental guns were located.
And as they arrived at the meeting room where it resembled the UN security council hall but the table was a circular with a wooden carved Atlas Overseer Council logo with a crown of olives, and behind it is an M16 rifle and scales representing their rooted connections while the scales showed their growth and order needing to be brought to the expanding global business empire.
And Rafael headed towards a podium where it overlooks the tables, and the podium has a seat with the coat of arms of the Administrator and his nameplate of being only 'Administrator', and in front of him has a handful of documents as a gavel and a monitor implanted to show the voting results, and he sat at the high quality leather seat.
The seats below him had 10 different seats with their own coat of arms and nameplates to identify who they are.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
As the gavel hit the sound block, Canute took the initiative since Rafael took on an observer role and let the council to make decisions and intervene when it's needed.
To be continued.