Author's Note: This is the third chapter the Goth'a series. This chapter is told from the perspective of Veronika, but there is a short prologue beforehand that takes place before the incidents of the 1
st
day. Afterwards, the events take place on the 3
rd
day of the group's arrival at the monastery. If you have not done so, please consider reading Day 1 Ashley's Arrival and Day 2 Sophie's Session to better understand the context.
Word of warning: ultimately this is a story about corruption and madness. There are scenes of non-consent, bondage and violence. The stories are lengthy, but I wouldn't have told it any other way. Otherwise, please enjoy!
Day 0 Veronika's Mission
I surveyed the maps and satellite imagery carefully. There could be no room for mistakes. This mission had been marked as highly critical by the higher-ups within the FSB, rumors being that even the deputy director had taken a personal interest in its success. Any failure was sure to end in dismissal, or worse, enhanced questioning. I shuddered at the thought. No. Failure was not an option. There was only one path forward. Through success.
The maps showed much of what I already knew; We had been surveilling the area nonstop for the past three months, ever since we had located it. The compound itself was divided into three main divisions; the church, the garden and the manor, all of which were surrounded by tall stone walls. They weren't impregnable or difficult to scale, but presented an obstacle nonetheless. The church's main bulk rested upon the cathedral situated on the southern end of the complex, in which a network of sprawling wooden and stone construction shot off the larger structure towards the north. A cloister could be seen in the middle of it all, a few green pixels wide, along with an assortment of dark gray roofs and rectangular tiles, punctuated by conical shapes marking towers and turrets. It was assumed that these branching areas housed the dormitories, the kitchens, the dining halls, and all the other ordinary accommodations that supported day-to-day activities.
Bordering the church structure on the western side of the compound was a large garden, framed by what seemed to be connected pillars, creating a colonnade. White points dotted the entirety of the green expanse within. Surveillance had indicated that each white speck was actually a carving or stonework statue, although given the number of dots present, the scale must be vast in scope. Modest estimates placed the age of the garden to at least a hundred years old.
However, the most mysterious structure was the manor, in which very little intelligence had been gathered regarding its construction, its material source, or even its exact age. Surveillance had revealed a gothic appearance, but surface scans of the building returned mostly noise, and thermal scans were completely unable to penetrate its walls. Moreover, electromagnetic signals seemed to bounce off its exterior in strange patterns, almost at random, unexplainable through physics and confounding our scientists. The result was a visual halo about the structure, and a blurring effect that seemed to obscure or twist the image, which had disoriented long-range visual observations to the point that our scouts had reportedly felt nauseous when viewing it from afar.
"It must be the work of the Americans." Andrei spoke up beside me, his handsome lean face in deep concentration as he also studied the maps. "Here, and here." He indicated two areas near the manor that were slightly darkened. "We see the anomalous phenomenon appear again. But they have since shifted from our previous scans."
"How long?" I asked.
"Two months ago."
I raised an eyebrow.
Andrei shrugged. "It cannot be helped. The weather in this area is not conducive to satellite imaging. The clouds are endless and if not that, there is always a persistent fog that obscures everything. Also, you know that radar imaging is worthless. All that we receive is jumbled noise."
That I did know, another curious phenomenon that couldn't be explained. The anomalies persisted to about one mile outwards from the compound in all directions, even upwards, but seemed to slowly dissipate beyond those limits. Another curious aspect was the inability of radio communications to travel within this space, as the degradation of signal was almost immediate. It was as if a targeted jammer had been placed within the monastery grounds, and could phase out specific frequencies at will. Even stranger was that this effect was not consistent, as a deteriorating signal one day could be stronger the next, only to completely die the day after. I agreed with Andrei that the technology on display here was beyond anything that we had seen before, and the only plausible nation that could be responsible for it was the United States. Some of our scientists were skeptical of even that, hinting at a more extraterrestrial or supernatural source, but they kept their suspicions quiet. It did sound ridiculous, after all.
"It will be complete radio silence from within the compound, Natalya." Andrei added, as if to unsettle me further. "All our current experiments to pierce this signal gap has been unsuccessful."
"Why? Are you going to miss me?"
"A little." Andrei's mouth curled into a smirk. Years of working together since the academy had strengthened the rapport between us. Although we were only colleagues (friends were not something that the FSB looked upon with approval), we knew we could depend on one another during dangerous sorties. That was probably why high command had paired us together so frequently. We worked well together, and were as close to friends as colleagues could get. Comrades, then.
"You nervous?" Andrei looked at me sideways, trying to provoke me.
"Me? Of a few nuns? Perhaps they should send you instead, seeing as how concerned you are for my safety."
"No, it wouldn't be fair. I wouldn't want to rob you of such an easy assignment to add to your record."
I snorted and looked back at the files scattered across the table. The fluorescent lamps flickered overhead, the only source of light in the windowless room. "Any other word from high command?" I asked seriously this time.
"No. Your mission is still the same. Get in, find out what you can, then get out. Military authorization has been ruled out. The situation is too delicate, and there are too many unknowns. We must ascertain hard intelligence before we move forward. We cannot raise the suspicions of the Americans, or whomever may be in charge of this compound, that we know and that we are watching."
"So... this religion. Are they an actual threat, then?"
"That information is classified and is being handled by another branch. All that we need to do is focus on the gathering of intelligence."
"Any new information on the other participants of this retreat?"
Andrei waved to a stack of folders in the corner of the desk. "You are free to review their dossiers again, if you wish. I have made contact with the targets to assess their reported psychological profiles, unbeknownst to them, of course, and there is really nothing out of the ordinary. The only one that was difficult to ascertain was this Isabella Dos Santos, given her lack of history and her controlled emotional state. Still, she did not display any level of aggression or technical know-how, and appears in all respects to be what she claims, a simple nun."
"What about this American girl, Ashley Brooks? Could she be a spy?"
Andrei snorted derisively. "Either she's the best spy in the world, or she's exactly what she pretends to be; a foolish, obnoxious young girl with only a pretty face."
