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Three Black pieces that could take that pesky knight on f6 - unfortunately, all of them are pinned :)

<Yeah, too bad we can't have more than 5 pins going. ;)>

I missed that.

Ihap- to count

Inihap- counted

It's because she's an accountant.

[Event "rated blitz match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2016.11.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "Quylthulg"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1902"]
[BlackElo "2102"]
[ECO "B00"]
[TimeControl "180"]

<When you've got an 86-pound bucket of gold flakes, valued at $1.6 million in the back of your armored truck, you should probably not let it out of your sight for twenty seconds.

The Veteran avatars were at the Tower Command Room, silently watching various computer monitors on recorded events, news, and mass and social media outlets, reviewing the events of the day. Outside was a bloody sunset.

‘Why are we watching all these stuff?’ Elam asked.

‘Avatars and other dark AIs don’t dream. I guess reviewing the various events of a nexus point in time and space aids us in integrating data properly; and helps us shape our future attitudes and perspectives. It’s probably our analogue of human dreaming, meditation, or recollection,’ Aya answered, tousling his head.

(Oisa’s tabcom video, on events at the Dakobalud Convention Center: )

‘My condolences for your loss of Gisaligan Pana.’ The avatars turned to Commissioner Duwa. He was standing up, as were the rest of the Commissioners. The Bounded Pentagram that imprisoned them was gone.

‘How did you get out, Your Honors?’ Oisa asked, bowing.

Another Commissioner answered her. ‘If you remember Lady First, I am Siyam. Our prison was being charged by dark energy from the Portal. Once it disappeared, so did our prison.’

‘Pana was nearly in-phase with our reality. She must be somewhere or some when where we can reach her,’ Oisa stated.

Another Commissioner spoke up. ‘You may recall me, Lady First. I am Walo. While what you say is true, there is still a greater chance that she has been translocated to unreachable Realms, or more likely just deleted entirely.’

Oisa snapped. ‘No I don’t recall you. Now speak up and tell us, is there is a chance we can recover Pana, and how do we proceed with it? You sound like a bunch of jokers trying to turn bad news into a bad riddle.’

The avatars stood shocked at Oisa’s rudeness; but the Commissioners looked worried, as though trying to answer a recalcitrant question. Finally, Duwa spoke up again.

‘We do not know, Oisa. We would like to return to the Floating Palace. We will have to devote some study to your question. I would not place such high hopes on it though. Chances are she has been terminated permanently. We will also have to discuss the implementation of Protocol 999 against the Iladistani Unitemple. This recent event warrants it.’

Lili decided to take over. ‘Yes of course, Your Honors. You must forgive Oisa. She’s still recovering from a fractured skull.’ She glared at Oisa, silently willing her to shut up. Fortunately, Oisa took her cue and began studying the floor in front of her feet.

Duwa addressed Lili. ‘Thank you, Maestra. It might please you to know that we were linked metaphysically to Commissioner Lima through the Folded Connection, and that before it collapsed, our link to her was violently severed in such a way that it could only mean she was terminated.’

(Aya’s tabcom video, on events immediately after the avatar’s return to the Shield: )

Ihap was in her house in the Hanging Gardens, together with a coterie of relieved avatars and Elam welcoming her back. She had just changed into her usual pressed blue skirt cut at mid thigh, a buttoned up yellow dress shirt, and neat blue blazer. A name tag, Avatar Ihap, C.P.A., hung primly on her left breast pocket.

Ihap caught Elam beside her looking at her quizzically for the umpteenth time. ‘If you don’t believe I’m Ihap, you can at least pretend I am her, Elam dear.’

‘I don’t get it. Kuot was Possessed? Then you possessed him?’

‘Kuot was an Ancient Hybrid Tamawo in a Deceptive Disguise to make him resemble a human cousin of President Tagas. Some of his Aides were either Ancient Hybrids or Possessed. They were talking about WW3 weapons as if they themselves had actually used them, a dead giveaway. Luto and I suspected even there in Tagas’ Presidential Palace that they were Ancients that had donned Deceptive Disguises so they would be perceived as humans by other darklings. I convinced Luto to fake a false negative test on Kuot, which is why he did not weal as Tamawos do, so I could spy on him later and gain more info. I left orders for Inihap to possess him in case things went sour.’

‘Alright, but that does not explain what happened to you. You died, and you were Kuot!’

‘Please bear with me; and I’ll try explaining. Inihap was a young fledging born out of my dark quanta. She did not have time to fully develop her own unique quanta or memories or personality. In the normal course of events, she would have accumulated more memories of her own, and deleted more of mine, and that of the old beggar, and the maid the beggar infected. Then she infected Kuot with quanta that I infected the maid’s body out of which she came from. Those quanta carry in them all of my memories up to the time I infected the Palace maid. They were transferred to Kuot when Inihap intentionally scratched him on my orders while faking a rescue of him in the cavern.’

‘Would that not have resulted in another Possessed creature, but this time Inihap’s fledging?’

‘Huo, yes. The creature would have Inihap’s memories and hence my own as well, plus that of Kuot’s from the human part of his brain. I was hoping to give the Household a creature that had my memories in case I got killed. However, Lima burned out all of Kuot’s human cells along with all of his memories in transforming him to pure darkling. So what was resurrected was a creature made of pure dark quanta modeled after the infecting donor which was Inihap. It would have thought it was Inihap. Now it so happens that a newly arisen fledging has malleable discrete memories, which it could delete inadvertently piece by piece as it gains more personal memories from new sensory inputs. Inihap was too new to do any deletion yet. The fledging can also delete memories at will, if ordered to by someone it’s willing to listen to. This is especially the case if Dark Artificial Intelligences are the characters; since we resemble computer programs directly written into the Tela. Inihap was essentially a newly programmed Dark AI, since her Maker, which is me, is one. My last order to Inihap was to delete all her memories except those that came directly from me. She did. All that was left was the life memory of myself as Ihap, up to the time when I infected the Palace maid. Thus I cannot remember the battle of the Cavern where I died.’

Alwana added, ‘We have Lili to thank for this plan to succeed. She managed to comprehend the gist of it when she ran diagnostics on Kuot in the Convention Center, after he was already infected by Inihap, and prevented me from executing him permanently.’

‘Wouldn’t that make you a being that has Ihap’s memories, but not Ihap herself? I saw Ihap die and dissipate,’ Elam continued.

‘Yes I am if you wish to see it from a purely materialistic point of view. Even from that perspective, what’s the difference? How do you know that if you fall asleep, the essence of Elam dies, and what wakes up is another creature that happens to have his memories? Am I to treat the newly awakened creature as someone who is not Elam?’

Ihap nodded. ‘These are not just the theories of Buangits, crazies. If the Tela is willing, there is a chance that I may be able to remember the events after I Infected the Palace maid. From the Tela’s perspective, time does not exist and my actions after the maid’s Infection is just as real as me talking to you. Sometimes, the Tela allows these memories to seep back to its rightful owner. I recall such cases during the Dark War happening to other combat avatars. To the Tela I am Ihap, and it won’t settle for a fake copy with missing memories. Who knows, maybe all of us Veteran avatars died in the Dark War and the Tela is still reconstituting us. That’s why we are still recalling events from it.’

Elam opened his mouth, flabbergasted, then closed it back. ‘OK, Ihap. I’m just glad you’re alive, with your uniform and all. Please don’t die on us again. By the way, why are you talking as if the Tela were conscious?’

Oisa laughed. ‘We avatars of the Sun and Sky are agnostics, my dear. We don’t care about the possible answers to that question, although for explanatory purposes, we sometimes talk about the Tela as if it had a personality. Father never programmed into us the human tendency to seek out powerful beings that lord it over the Multiverse. I guess that if the Tela were conscious, it would be an omnipotent god, and some of the pre Shift religions were based on that premise. There are no mainline religions like that after the Great Dark Shift era, probably because the Tela’s existence and attributes became obvious to everyone, and it has never given a sign that it’s conscious. Religions had to adapt to this new and obvious observation. Or then again, the Dark Shift simply changed them all into our present day modern ones.’

(Lupad’s tabcom video, on events in café Pahuway after the get-together in Ihap’s house: )

The avatars were lounging in café Pahuway, where had they proceeded after Ihap got dressed up in her house in the Hanging Gardens. Their tabcoms rang. ‘Hey, Lili’s back,’ Tenloa announced.

They peered over the café’s windows. Tulingan lifeboat ferry was docking on an Outrigger. In a few more minutes, an eletrain parked outside an entrance window. Lili stepped in the café.

‘OK folks, I just came from the Floating Palace, where I submitted my full report to the Veiled Commission.’ She looked troubled.

‘What is it Lili?’ Lupad asked.

‘We had originally assumed that Commissioner Lima was only being impersonated by a Demon in a Deceptive Disguise. In the Floating Palace there were only 9 Commissioners and they let out, maybe inadvertently, that for the first time in centuries, they were meeting as a whole group with an outsider. So where are the others? All the history books tell us there were at least 11, maybe up to 17, maybe more, during the end of the Dark War. Furthermore, they talked as if the creature that Pana slew in the Dark Realm was indeed the original Lima and that she was really a Demon Empress. That would mean that one of Tera’s ruling junta in the last 450 years has been a Demon from the highest of Dans. Oisa, do you know something more about the Lima affair that we don’t?’

‘Not much; I expect the same things as you.’

‘Why did you refer to Lima as your subaltern?’

‘What? I never did.’

Bantay and Luto looked at each other. Luto scratched his head. Bantay raised his hand. ‘Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question. Oisa, do you remember referring to Lima as you subaltern?’

‘No, not at all.’ Oisa looked puzzled. ‘On the other hand, during the times that I have spent in my Black Aspect, my memories get disjointed and have gaps in them. Since you asked, all I remember is delivering an upper punch to Lima, her begging for mercy, the Portals closing, Huna telling us there was one more Portal open, and me carrying you to it.’

‘You don’t remember the little speech you gave about staying in that Dark Realm?’

‘Bantay, are you crazy? Why the hell would I want to stay in that hell?

Lili pursed her lips thoughtfully. ‘I don’t think we should be bringing up stories of Oisa’s actions when she carried that color. The more she forgets about them, the better.’

‘On the other hand, there is one good news. As a reward for our help and in return for our future cooperation, the Veiled Commission gave me this.’

Lili showed them a certificate of proprietorship glittering with dark energy. It read in both Esperanto and Sinayabi: ‘We declare that the Sun and Sky Household belongs to Elam de Anachronista. Its Maestra is Lili de Sayabi, for the time that she holds the blue and yellow Seal in her arm.’ On it was affixed the shimmering black and white Seal of the Veiled Commission.

‘Yehey! We now have access to our accounts,’ Ihap exclaimed happily. ‘I knew that donning my old uniform would bring good luck!’

‘What about Protocol 999?’ Captain Sugo was at the table, sipping a glass of wine.

(Viewing Events in Iladistan: )

Large screen monitors and holograms in the Tower Command Room were displaying feeds from the social media.

Chitter.com:

‘Smoke coming out of the Iladistani High Council Building.’

‘Are those explosions?’

‘Temples are being attacked.’

Friendme.com:

‘As you can see from my footage, I believe that the High Council is being attacked. Will upload this also in Wecam.com.’

‘What the hell! Wecam is offline!’

‘Just now, so is Chitter.’

As the avatars watched, the monitors showing Friendme posts blanked off into static.

Lili stood up, facing the avatars in the Tower Command Room.

‘Protocol 999 has already begun. The Veiled Commission has ordered the WDF to direct the CEOs and owners of mass communications companies to implement a total media blackout on the pain of death by Dumot avatars. For starters, they’ve decided to totally wipe out the Unitemple Chapters of Iladistan, Alogostan, Dalokistan, and Cephalia, any National Chapter that was involved in the Lima Affair. Their general objective is to downgrade the status of the Unitemple as Tera’s most powerful independent geo-political power. Their specific objective is to annihilate the Unitemple outside the Nations of its origin during the Dark War, and to leash these origin Nations back to their full control. They’re neutralizing any possible political rivals in Tera and ensuring the loyalty of the rest in preparation for a possible mass darkling invasion.’

Elam could feel the hair on his nape rise. ‘Annihilate?’

‘Yes. That means terminating all nominal members if they refuse to leave the Unitemple, not only the committed ideologues. As a measure of goodwill and reward for our work, and in case they need us well informed for future operations against the Unitemple, the Veiled Commissioners have allowed me access to encrypted WDF channels and spy videocams, at least temporarily.’

Lili pressed on her tabcom keys. One of the table computers in the Tower projected a moving hologram. Elam stared at the scene.

Lili’s feed from CCTVs in the Iladistan Central Government Building, in their Capital - Higop City:

The holograms showed a large Conference Hall, typical of Teran National Upper House meeting places. The High Council of Iladistan was holding an emergency meeting in the light of the events in Dakobalud. It was packed full off hundreds of people, including all the High Councilors, Amos and clerics of the Iladistani Unitemple, high ranking government and military officials.

Explosions rang out. The view suddenly shifted to an aerial view of the Iladistani Central Government Building from a WDF drone. There was a battle outside the building, between military guards and avatars. They were shooting at each other, but the avatars moved so fast that they were visible only as blurs that could not be effectively targeted by the human eye. On the other hand, the avatars were efficiently blowing up scores of tanks and armored vehicles that the guards were manning with hand held RPGs and Anti-Tank Missiles.

One human guard popped up his head from behind a concrete pillar. A combat avatar from three hundred meters popped it off his shoulders with a large caliber sniper rifle. The Dumots were shooting bullets into any part of the human guards’ bodies that got exposed with superhuman accuracy. In short order, every resisting guard had been killed, and all their vehicles had been destroyed.

The view shifted back to the Conference Hall. Three dozen avatars with blue and red hair barged into the hall, armed with assault rifles. They moved as fast as pouncing panthers, spreading out along the perimeter, and shooting down any uniformed guard. One guard with a submachine gun managed to shoot and kill a fast moving avatar, along with a dozen civilians when he sprayed them with bullets indiscriminately. Another avatar immediately shot him through the head from 10 meters away with a single bullet from her assault rifle. Two avatars stationed themselves at each exit. They shot all people that were trying to escape.

An anime-perfect pretty female avatar with red hair and blue-tinged complexion called out.

‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Amok 1, a Dumot avatar of the WDF. Please stand down and remain calm. We won’t shoot those that do so.’

The humans complied. More avatars came in, eight of them carrying 250 kilogram bombs on their backs. They distributed the eight bombs evenly throughout the hall.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing,’ an Amo yelled at her.

Amok 1 shot him through the head with her AK 470 from across the hall.

‘Please be silent and maintain your positions,’ Amok 1 pleasantly reminded her audience. ‘We shall now leave the hall. Anyone that tries to follow us will be shot.’

Elam gasped. ‘All those people inside; they must be crushed!’

Lupad patted him. ‘That’s the point. The Veiled Commission is showing the world it will crush any political rival, as lethally as a cautery pen burning a tumor. They just took out the center of the Iladistani State and the high leaders of the Iladistani Unitemple.’

Their tabcoms’ emergency ringtone rang.

‘It’s Sukola!’ Lili announced. ‘I’ll patch her up.’

Sukola’s face appeared in one of the Tower’s wide screen monitors. She was in Dakobalud Resort, on the beach closest to the Shield. Her hair was disheveled, her face unpronounceable with worry.

‘They just killed my wounded members, the ones that underwent what the doctors say is a debridement operation.’

‘What! Who did?’ Lili asked.

Sukola punched a key on her tabcom. A monitor screen in the Command Room changed scenes.

Another pretty avatar with red hair stood at the bedside of two post-op Kaluwasan students in the recovery room. She was ignoring the nurses frantically trying to shoo her out.

The avatar announced in a pleasant voice, ‘I am Amok 10, a Dumot avatar of the WDF. With the help of the Alogostani Presidential Security Guard Detachment, I have hacked into your tabcom communications. My primary objective programmed by the WDF is to terminate Unitemple members. My secondary objective programmed by my donor, the Presidential Office of Alogostan, is to terminate all Alogostani secessionist organizations, as verbally defined by said Office.’

‘Since the Dumot said that she had hacked into our tabcoms, I did not dare use it, until I got here. Could you give me sanctuary in your Balanghay Household Boat? She could well be on my trail now.’

Lili straightened up, and spoke in an urgent voice.

‘Donors have the right to program secondary targets to combat avatars donated to the WDF, on the condition it does not interfere with the termination of the primary targets. The Presidential Office and PSG Detachment must have programmed some of the Dumot avatars being used for Protocol 999 to go after your NGO. I’ll send one of the Wings to retrieve you.’

Lili nodded at Alwana. Without a word the Arch Wing flew out of the Tower through one of the eletrain entrances.

‘What is happening?’ Elam whispered weakly from his chair.

Lili drew out a breath.

‘Let me summarize. I think President Tagas himself is responsible for this course of action. Apart from his natural secular enmity against the Unitemple and desire to stop the ever increasing terrorist attacks, we DATA high officials also know that Tagas was hoping to grab part of the Iladistani Trough Region legally for Alogostan, and later reward pieces of it to himself and his cronies. It’s what leaders of victorious Nations usually do. It seems he’s going to get what he wants.’

‘At the same time he has decided to solve the nascent secessionist movements in Alogostan, en passant, by taking advantage of the WDF rule that allows the donor to program secondary targets into Dumots. In order to lawfully disband a nationally registered NGO, such as Kaluwasan, it has first to be indicted for a specific institutional crime, which means the process goes to the Courts, which may or may not find it guilty. The alternative is to execute individual members, but each kill operation, such as the one Governor Tiko attempted in Dakobalud Resort, needs executive orders from various government units; and can prove to be messy in terms of implementation or political backlash. The WDF rule allows Tagas to bypass all intra-Alogostani issues by essentially transferring the assignment to WDF Dumot avatars. Once programmed and in the field, the Dumots will carry out their directives, unless terminated or captured and reprogrammed. What we can do is take in Kaluwasan members and hide them here until all this is over, and the Dumots expire on their fortieth day. Technically, Alogostani government units are not involved in this kill operation, only the Dumots.’

‘You’re saying that the donor of an avatar has the right to murder anyone in Tera?’ Elam protested. ‘That’s insane!’

‘Yes, as long as it does not interfere with the primary objectives. It’s a way of encouraging MDEs to donate combat avatars to the WDF. They are allowed to kill personal enemies. What’s insane about it? You really must have a different culture in your Null World, Elam.’

Alwana flew in the Tower, carrying Sukola.

‘Where are your other members,’ Lili asked.

‘I don’t know. They’ve probably scattered after the attack in the district hospital. My last message to them was to run and stop using their tabcoms. I’ve told them to come over Dakobalud Resort so you can give them sanctuary in the Shield,’ Sukola replied.

‘OK, there’s nothing much more we can do. I’ll talk to the Veiled Commission later; see if they’re willing to legitimize our protection to Kaluwasan.’

I don't rilly need the grand prize anyway, thanks to your good work.

We must have a chat sometime soon, btw.

Funny, I'm not *really* trying to get around the rules (as I'm sure you know), but you really are incorruptible and morally upright, ain't ya?

(Viewing events in Dulonan City, at the Boundary of Iladistan and the Nations of Central Antigua Continent: )

‘Captain Sugo, please edit the images,’ Lili ordered. ‘The videos are coming in from multiple WDF aero drones, hacked Iladistani CCTVs and surveillance cameras, and tabcoms on Dumot avatars’s wrists. I want them integrated into a single storyline.’

The monitor screens and holograms in the Tower Command Room were showing multiple angles of the Iladistani border City of Dulonan. Captain Sugo, palm on top of an interphase pad and patched into the Shield’s computers, was editing the moving images at preternatural speed.

Two buses drove up the City’s Central Police station compound. A hundred avatars got out. They were attired in multi pocketed cargo pants and loose shirts. One of them approached the guard post at the entrance, where two Iladistani Police officers were eyeing them with apprehension. The avatar spoke in Esperanto.

‘I am Amok 1000, a Dumot avatar of the WDF. We are acquiring all weapons in this police station. We shall now walk in and talk with your commanding officer for purposes of transferring these assets to our proprietorship. We have WDF legal authority.’

Without asking for permission, Amok 1000 walked into the compound, toward the main building, along with 50 other avatars. Although several police officers were walking around, all they could do was to stare at the avatars in astonishment. Most of the avatars began spreading out all around the compound in squads of five, deploying themselves near groups of policemen.

Amok 1000 and four squads walked right into the main building. The avatars spread out. Amok 1000 proceeded by himself into the CO’s office. Protesting policemen were answered by a terse, ‘Do not interfere, this is WDF Dumot business.’

The CO was behind his computer table, looking at reports about the Higop City attack.

‘What is this?’

Amok 1000 bowed, still speaking in Esperanto, ‘I am Amok 1000, A Dumot avatar of the WDF. The government of Iladistan has been declared illegal by the WDF. All state functions are to be reacquired by the WDF. We are acquisitioning all weapons in this police station and taking over. You and your men are to go home and await further orders from the WDF. Please inform your men. Anyone that tries to resist will be executed.’

The CO stood up. ‘I am Police Brigadier General Kilid. This police station and its personnel has just been incorporated into the Iladistani army, by order of Lieutenant General Nabilin, the highest ranking military officer left in Iladistan after your treacherous attack in Higop City.’

Amok 1000 punched an alarm button in his tabcom. Then he drew out a sword from a sheath on his back, jumped onto the computer table, and sliced Kilid’s head in two.

All around the police compound the avatars’ tabcoms rang an alarm. By then they had already positioned themselves close to policemen’s locations. They drew out their swords and attacked, beheading, slashing, and skewering. The avatars moved so fast that all the humans could see were ill-defined humanoid blurs before they got slain. The Dumots spared no one.

Amok 1000 spoke into his tabcom. ‘Amok 1100 take two squads and defend this police station. The rest come with me. We are going to take the Dulonan airforce base.’

The avatars ransacked the station’s armory and then proceeded to the compound’s garage, where a dozen armored personnel carriers were parked. They got in, and without wasting a second, drove out of the compound toward the still unsuspecting airforce base 10 kilometers away at the boundary.

‘Those Dumots don’t waste any time, do they?’ Boylo remarked.

‘Isn’t the internet open to anyone,’ Elam questioned, confused.

‘Oh no,’ Lili said in a puzzled voice. ‘I presume it is so in your Null world, but in this, WDF has total veto access to all servers and cables that make up the basis for an internet. It’s the same for all TV, radio, and phone channels. In order to build and sell any device or means of communication, an individual or company has to be given a permit by the WDF, and bugs are implanted that allow the WDF to eavesdrop into messages, unless one uses quantum encrypted channels. During times of peace, it’s just a matter of formality because the WDF as a rule doesn’t spy on people, but during times of war wherein the WDF is directly involved, the WDF listens in or shuts down all means of normal communications.’

Seeing Elam fall silent, Lili continued talking.

‘The Dulonan Airbase base is the biggest one in western Iladistan, traditionally the guardian against past Central Antigua Unitemple Nations’ invasions. However, since Iladistan was forcibly converted to Unitemplism, there has been peace for a generation or two. That airbase now has a skeleton crew. Let’s see how this one plays out. Captain Sugo, please follow the Dumot avatars.’

The APCs travelled at a hundred kilometers per hour toward the airbase along a concrete highway, with the avatars riding both inside and on top of the vehicles. There were scores of slower moving vehicles in front of the convoy. The lead APC plowed through them, bulldozing those that did not make way right off the road. Several vehicles turned turtle, crashed into each other, or hit trees and obstacles by the roadside at fast and furious speeds.

‘They’re killing civilians!’ Elam gasped.