Got Napalm?
By Michael Cleveland
File 31127a {Copy 1 of 2}
Classification WHITE OpSec Only
Location of original Dis Repository 791c, Section 8Y
Submitted by Captain Marsal, Commander Infernal Fire Check Team 4
Submitted to - Duke Lorshak, Operational Security Directorate
Submitted to - Prince Asmodeus, Director
Synopsis The file below is an excerpt from a high-level meeting of Infernal Fire. All members that were present were Baron-Rank or higher, except for secretaries of the attendees and various other support staff.
Notes
1 - The information contained with this document has not been seen by any sources other than myself and the Agent who filed this report (X51397z). It has not been authenticated. It is worthy of note that the filing Agent has not been sighted within the past 48 hours, and several Internal Security sources claim that his Heart shattered approximately 17 minutes after filing this report. It is my opinion that Agent X51397z was destroyed.
2 - It is my opinion that Check Team 4 may have been compromised. The Agent in question had been masquerading as a Servitor of Infernal Fire during the investigation. Said Agent, during the course of preparing this report, came into direct physical and mental contact with the Prince of Infernal Fire. It is not unreasonable to assume that Prince Belial may have realized that he had an infiltrator after the fact and destroyed him in the hope of making sure that no additional intelligence was gained. If his Ethereal Forces were stripped in the process, Prince Belial will undoubtedly know who his contacts were, and will come after them.
3 - It is my further opinion that all members of Check Team 4 should be withdrawn back to Dis, myself included, to undergo removal and reassignment of Ethereal Forces to limit potential damage to Operational Security. As much as I would like to spare myself and the members of my team the pain of Force-Stripping, we are in possession of Game-Internal procedures and information that must not fall into the hands of Infernal Fire. To that end, I have moved the team quietly onto the Corporeal Plane and positioned them to take advantage of the presence of a Tether to Divine Fire. Once orders come down from OpSec, we will assault the Tether, destroying our vessels and drawing us back to Dis in Trauma. That will eliminate the need to inform the rest of the team about the Force Stripping, and will allow any missing memories to be written off.
File Begins
Gentlemen, this meeting has been called not to cast blame on anyone, but to better refine our sense of priorities and our courses of action. While there is no denying that certain parties here have not accomplished quite as much as others, all of you have still proven to be acceptable. Those whose performances I have found to be unsatisfactory have been removed back to Sheol for other duties. This will be relatively informal, but I will not be taking any questions at this time, since we all know that The Game would love to know what we discuss in here. The longer we re here, the more Asmodeus will wonder what is going on. Bring questions to me in private, and they ll be brought up at the next meeting.
You gentlemen are my Old Guard, and as such, you understand what we are truly about here. You are the ones that have survived long enough to have learned that patience, planning and proper intelligence will win the day. The children that fill our ranks are still impulsive and impetuous, and can barely conceive of the notion that they are not ten feet tall and bulletproof. We know better. After all, most of us here are old enough to remember a painful but very important truth We Lost. It can actually happen doubtless the Lightbringer was planning on things going somewhat differently, but here we are nonetheless.
That, so you know, is what made me decide what the conditions for Infernal Fire would be. The Lightbringer moved before he had tested the winds sufficiently, before he had learned what tested what the properties of his fuel were. Had he taken more time and done so, he could have won the day, but instead he acted in haste. He neglected to pay attention to things that he did not want to hear instead of factoring it in. Killing Metatron may have resulted in one less Archangel to fight, and may have confused the others, but it also made the decision for many of those who were still unsure where their place in the Revolution was. One tiny mistake that was all it took for the Lightbringer to fail - had he waited and listened to others, his plans would not have come back and burned him. Therefore, always remember that we are learning from the mistake that Lucifer made, and we will not make the same one again.
There has been a noticeable trend of late among our younger demons to go for the biggest and flashiest targets available. Interesting, yes amusing at times, but ultimately I believe that a lot of them are missing the point. They revel in the destruction and the chaos - they try to bring as much notice and glory on themselves as possible. They are reveling in the simple pleasures of being a demon, but not in one of being one of mine. The point is not to be just a demon, not even to be a demon of Fire.
The point is to be Fire. Being a member of Infernal Fire is not simply being in a race to see how much you can burn before the Host gets to you, which is what so many of the younglings take it for. As Fire, we can be many things. Sometimes we will be flashy, smashing and burning anything in our path and then moving on before anyone can do anything about it. Other times, we will take our time to plan and plot. We will be subtle - there have been fires that have been burning slowly underground for years in some abandoned coalmines that eventually uprooted an entire town. Took seventeen years before the government finally removed everybody, but it happened in the fullness of time. Conditions, of course, decide how the fire is going to burn. But as intelligent beings, we can dictate the conditions, and therefore the effects.
Remember this - in all battles with the Host, we will be outgunned and outnumbered. The Sword and Divine Fire are both gunning for us, but by controlling the situations, we can control their responses. Take the initiative. Act. But act carefully. Act slowly. Measure your efforts to coincide with the desired effect. Not everything requires a bucket of napalm to get the job done. Sometimes a simple cigarette butt in the right place can do more damage than a ton of explosives in the same place would have. Infernal Fire is not necessarily about property damage or body counts it s about destruction. Destruction of comfort, of trust, of things you hold dear. It s about having something that matters to you being taken away, and knowing that there is nothing that can be done about it.
Remember, speed is not important. Quantity is not important - quality is. If it will take you an entire month to map out how a plan is supposed to work, then take that month. I will be that much more empowered than if you initiate a dozen plans in that same amount of time and have them all fail. We are no longer Ofanim, and as such we can actually take our time to think things through. Leave the stupidity and the rush jobs to the Gabrielites.
Remember this too - all your actions are taken in my name. You are, by definition, extensions of myself. Where you go, I go. Every time you succeed in an operation, I succeed in furthering my Word and bolstering myself against my competitors. As I grow in power, I grow in Essence and in resources as well those of you that bring me victory will find yourselves that much more likely to be sharing in the spoils of that victory. The reverse is also true. When you fail, I have taken a risk by sending you and have come out the worse for it. While I am capable of accepting failure on occasion, we are not just doing this for fun. Also, remember this too when I send you and you fail, _ I _ gain Dissonance. While I am quite capable of dealing with it myself, I am also quite capable of dealing with the source of the Dissonance. Namely, you.
Divine Fire is, of course, our main competitor. As such, you are to destroy them whenever possible, naturally. But do not rush into a situation when you are not prepared. Remember, I do not care how fast something gets done, just so long as it gets done. Ignore the propaganda and the prattle that Baal and Asmodeus put out about the Gabrielites remember at all times that they are our opposite numbers. They hold the same Word as we do, and therefore can anticipate your actions to a certain extent. I will not tolerate cowardice in the ranks, but remember they are very, very dangerous. Ignore them and you risk your lives not to mention your ranks, should you survive.
On Divine Fire further, though if you ve studied the Gabrielites operational records and I have you ll note that they are focused in one specific area that we can take advantage of. They act in haste in desperation, really. Once you realize that their Dissonance conditions forces them to act quickly or become consumed, you should all realize the tactical significance of this. By taking advantage of their own rules, we can dictate the order of battle. Remember, time is on our side. By showing ourselves at specific places and in specific ways, we can guarantee that the Host will respond. And someone who is responding to action does not have time to consider he will only have certain options available to counter our moves. Someone who has no time to think will usually go with the options that they know best, and if we know what those are we can effective control the flow of the battle.
Our time here grows short there is much to be done, and we cannot allow our competitors to realize what goes on here. As a final note, consider this the cornerstone of what we have spoken about today is control. One of the things that we must always make sure to do is to make sure that the youngest among us, as well as those among the Host never understand what we are completely about. Let them say and think what they do now that Prince Belial is an idiot who thinks only of burning paper factories and starting forest fires. Let them think that I am a fool who cannot truly compete with the true geniuses among the rest of Hell s royalty. As long as we control the information that they receive, the rest of our competitors cannot effectively predict what we will do. Of course they will take down a large number of the young ones, but their place after all is to dry the leaves and the twigs that you will use to set the truly great things into motion. If they survive, so much the better for us I will always be willing to welcome more of them into power in the fullness of time.
After all, time is on our side, Gentlemen. Time is on our side.
That will be all, Gentlemen. Return to your commands. I'll be seeing you.
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