A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

International Terminal, Jildrathi International Airport, Etxea, Kundrati
8:45 am

Flight 609 from Aikums touched down in Kundrati's largest city.  Flying over the town, it looked relatively calm, but Mike Jones, travelling under the name Ainārs Kalniņš, a Dolgavan tourist, knew his time in this country would be anything but peaceful.  He was selected for this job not because of his background in espionage; he had none.  He was selected because he was the only Vrassan in the Militia who could speak fluent Dolgavian.  And his cover was necessary to blend into as a tourist.

As Jones collected his bags and arrived at customs, a very serious looking official scoped him out.  Jones handed him his fake passport, provided by the friendly agents at IBSI, and the border controller scanned it.  His name came up which matched both the passport and the immigration card.  That was in order.  The customs official held the picture up to Jones' face:  He had a beard in the photo but was clean shaven here.  Similar enough though.

"Nondik zatoz, jauna?" The customs officer asked in Lurrian.

"Man nav ko deklarēt." Jones responded in Dolgavian, answering the wrong question.

"Berriz ere: Nondik iristen zara Kundratira?" repeated the customs agent.

"Es... es nesaprotu.  Ko tu man jautā?" Jones responded that he did not understand.

The customs official let out a slight sigh and switched to Luthorian and speaking in a thick Lurrian accent, asked: "From where come you Kundraji?"

Jones smiled, gratefully, and responded in an equally heavily Dolgavian-accented Vrassan:  "I come...  from... Aikums...  Dolgavas Impērija."

The customs official nodded.  "What purpose is visit Kundraji?"

Jones carefully answered, "Tourism, I wish to buy house retire some day."

The customs agent responded, "There is fight in Kundraji. In North.  Not safe to foreign."

Jones nodded, "House in Etxea then."

The customs official nodded officially.  "How long stay Kundraji?"

Jones thought, as long as it takes, but responded in his heavily Dolgavian inflected Vrassan "Two weeks.  Have conference at work after."

The customs officer looked Jones over again, and his eyes narrowed.  For a moment he thought he detected a slip in the accent...  "Please open bag."

Jones feigned nervousness.  "Uh...  Bag?  What...  I..."

The customs agent pointed at his luggage and then pointed at the table.  "Please open bag.  Will search."

Jones apprehensively picked up his luggage, and placed it on the counter.  He wasn't carrying anything incriminating, but nonetheless, he felt like he should prepare in case his cover slipped, to give him a way to play it off in country.  The customs agent opened the luggage, and started rifling through the clothing, and found a copy of a Kerisian pornography magazine, which he took.  "Is contraband."  Jones looked sheepishly at the customs agent, who then began to unzip a small compartment in the lid of the suitcase.

"No.. please, Sir.  No need check there..."  said Jones, putting his hands out like he was trying to stop the customs officer.  The agent shot a sharp look at Jones, and said sternly, "Please step back."  Jones dropped his hand, and allowed to agent to continue to search.

The agent unzipped the compartment and reached inside, and pulled out a blue lacy bra and a pair of black panties.  Jones let out an embarrassed, nervous laugh.  The Customs agent looked at him, as if asking him to explain.  With a nervous smile, Jones shrugged and said "Old habit?" 

The countenance on the face of the Official grew dark.  Unceremoniously, he threw the women's underwear onto the rest of the clothing, muttering "Perbertso madarikatua." and closed the luggage.  He then stamped the Immigration card with the official stamp and the date, stamped the entrance stamp in the passport, and put the immigration card into the passport before snapping it back to Jones.  "Don't lose."

As Jones took the passport, the customs agent turned his eyes to the line and said "Hurrengoa!", and Jones hurried through the border check point.  He rushed past the security agents near the revolving door that led outside, hailed a taxi, and gave the cab driver the address of a house in Jildrath City.  There he would meet with the IBSI station chief, who would make an introduction to Lucius Silencio, who is with the Kundrati Air Force, to begin coordinating the arrival of Kalistani Militia.