Operation Balasso (8h 30min, feb 28, 2022 y – 16h 30min, mar 7, 2022 y)

Description:

As the Empire started to slowly boost its commercial sector in late February to combat the Dark Depression, the Emperor met with top IOSA Agents to discuss a further action plan. Who could have the ability to win the hearts and minds of every citizen, they thought to themselves. Who had some sort of midas touch that could seemingly fix everything? That’s when it struck them. If they could bring back Copto, an agent still in isolation with her whereabouts unknown, that could give the entire country not only a rallying cause, but also a huge edge in transforming itself back into a great power. Time was of the essence, so for IOSA, it was now or never.

Nightshine was selected to be the primary leader behind a newly-drafted Operation Balasso; the mission that would find Copto, and hopefully bring her back to IOSA using whatever means they could. The Emperor wanted to solidify the thought within Nightshine’s mind that this mission was absolutely crucial to a quick recovery of the Imperial economy; if it failed, the economy would have to recover by much more natural means, which would take volumes of times longer. She understood the task and hand, and prepared herself for the mission to come.

The intelligence that IOSA had gathered up until that point was quite confusing; Copto was apparently one of the top officials of a mysterious and (sometimes considered) dangerous nation known as the Kingdom of Bondu. It was known as a country which was able to keep its massive grip on power by lowering the morale of its citizens, and therefore preventing them from ever having the ability to usurp the government. Being a new senior official in this kind of government after just serving the Empire a few months earlier, it was believed that Copto would be happy to return to IOSA and reunite with her fellow agents and friends. The Emperor was especially keen on seeing her return, as she was a personal friend to him, and she could assist with his own morale boosting as well. Nightshine knew her well, possibly the best out of any of the agents. As the organization’s Coordinate Crownholder, which is the top of all of the agents, all of the confidence was placed in her that she could bring the Empire’s greatest hero home.

Operation Balasso entailed quite a simple plan; after its initiation on the evening of February 27th, Nightshine would be sent into the Kingdom of Bondu along with a few side personnel to assist with communications. There, she would confront Copto and offer to evacuate her from the country. If that went well, an Imperial special operations team would break into her residence at a later time, and rescue her by helicopter, bringing her back safely to the Empire. It sounded iron-clad, but putting your agents within a foreign nation that isn’t your ally is one thing, sending an armed task force into it is completely different. Everything would have to be executed with utmost precision at every step of the way. Nightshine was sent in, and was instructed to give updates on February 28th, but she failed to configure her communications equipment properly, and the Empire had to wait.

On March 7th, Nightshine finally remade contact with the Empire. After finding Copto and speaking to her, she did not appear to show any desire to come back to the Empire, and preferred to stay where she was. Essentially, the Empire’s greatest hero, responsible for its greatest achievements, was cutting it out of her life. Things could not get any worse, and the Emperor took this result to heart, subsequently declaring Operation Balasso a failure, and calling off the training for the special rescue forces.

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