Alternate History - Gallia Triumphant!

[Capt. Henry Morgan]

22 January 826 AS
City of Westminster, New London

BBC News Update!

Earlier today, an explosive device was detonated aboard a Bowex transport docked at Graves Station in Dublin. The ship was loading gold for a reparations payment to Gallia. All 30 crew members aboard the BES Chamberlain were killed in the explosion along with 7 dock workers aboard Graves. The so-called Resistance claimed responsibility for this heinous attack, stating that "The war is not over, and we will not pay danegeld to our enemies!" The Gallic Ambassador offered his condolences to the families of the loyal Bretonians killed in the attack. The BPA has pledged to work day and night to bring these terrorists to justice.

In other news, diplomatic officials from Gallia, Kusari, and Bretonia arrived on Planet Harris to begin negotiations on terms for a treaty defining relations between the three nations. An official at the Gallic Embassy went on record to state that "this treaty will mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation, peace, and prosperity between our three nations." A representative from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office stated that "A formal alliance between the Kingdom of Bretonia and our friends in the Kingdom of Gallia and Empire of Kusari will ensure peace for Bretonia, and a chance to rebuild our nation after years of war."

"Oi, Jimmy! Shut that shit off, we're almost there."

"Right-o, Captain!"

Jimmy reached over and shut off the radio. Six people were seated around the hovervan's interior. Leading them was Nathan Hughes, formerly a Captain in the Royal Anglian Regiment, now a leader of a small Resistance cell on New London. The other five people were the other members of his cell. A seventh man, a Bretonian in his mid-20s wearing a Gallic Royal Navy flight suit, was bound and gagged on the floor of the van.

"Listen up, everyone, my contact in the BPA tells me that the local traffic controller will be in the loo for about fifteen minutes, but no longer. Once we land, we'll only have a couple minutes to do what we came to do and blend back into local traffic. You've all been briefed on the plan, so you know what to do. Any questions before we land?"

All four resistance members spoke up at once. "No, sir!"

"Good show! Jimmy, take us in."

The hovervan pulled up out of the line of traffic and flew towards the top of the Tower Bridge. As the van came to a stop, the side door opened, and five resistance fighters jumped out and got to their assigned tasks. The sixth remained in the van, in the pilot's seat. Two of them ran over to the flag pole and lowered the Gallic tricolor and raised the Bretonian flag in its place. Hughes took a long rope out and secured one end to the bridge's structure. The other end was fashioned into a noose. The remaining two resistance fighters removed the prisoner from the van and held him while the noose was slipped over his neck. The prisoner's eyes widened and a wet spot began to spread around the crotch of his flight suit. Hughes attached a small holoprojector to the front of the flight suit, and then the resistance fighters threw the prisoner off the bridge.

Everyone's tasks completed, they all jumped back into the van and it flew down to merge into mid-morning traffic. As they looked back towards the bridge, they saw the holoprojector light up, the words "RUPERT DAVIES - TRAITOR!" shining brightly above the body hanging from the bridge. BPA patrols were starting to fly towards the bridge, but there was no indication that they were being pursued.

"Mission accomplished, gentlemen! I think we've made a statement today. Let's get back to the safehouse and start working on something a bit flashier."