Timelines: What if Spain Failed to Control the World?

Nirolox: Thanks XD credit for helping with the template for the interview parts goes to our good friend Eber ! He always disappears a lot though !

Karasuman: Well thank you , sir , that's very kind !

rcduggan: Thanks hope to finally hook JM for an interview this week despite his busy schedule !

Judas Maccabeus: Couldn't you just imagine Sio-Pan donning some Scottish Sea Accent ? DYA FAHR DEAHTH ?!

Grubnessul: Belly of the Beast ! I like that !

Status Report: Just got done with JM's interview so he's definitely locked in for this weekend !! Huzzah ! Tonight's priority is to finish my Collage of CAARdinals arc ! So if you guys haven't caught up already on my turn at Collage , you should head over there so that you can figure out what's happening with the non-canonical Cardinal DeWitt XD !

Lotus-6 said:

Reading through these like a depraved addict... pleeeease update soon.

Click to expand...

Haha ! Well i'll be hitting up the Collage of CAARdinals tomorrow and then an update the day after hopefully !

anonymous4401 said:

Well he appears to be managing the power of resurrection, of a sort, just fine!

Click to expand...

Haha yes . Although in a creepy way . Reminds me of how Cylons come back now that I think about it ...

Just uploaded my final chapter at Collage of CAARdinals . Although it's a sad chapter it has LOTS of Cameos so check it out ! I'm very proud of that entire thing so I hope you all check it out and tell me what you think !

Eber said:

Been catching up and since I have been gone you still can't disappoint!

Great job and looking forward to the next update.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much It's always good to hear from you ! I'm glad you had an amazing trip you should make an AAR about it !

Status Report: Work on the next chapter is proceeding nicely and will be up sometime tonight or early morning . Expect another chapter immediately tomorrow and the interview to be up Saturday Night/Early Sunday . I've also added '----" separations in the first 9 chapters since that was a big concern earlier and that should help new readers easily read through the chapters without getting confused between the shifts in perspective !

Murmurandus said:

So I have finally decided to read this AAR... I hope it's worth it...

Click to expand...

Hope so too XD Feel free to be silly XD . UPDATE COMING NOW

April 2, 1583

Jesca watched the battle among the fields and mountains surrounding Beijing with a keen interest. Fifty thousand Ming soldiers had begun their first descent against General Grubby’s siege lines. Despite being outnumbered nearly three to one, the Spanish tercios held their ground against the oncoming onslaught. Turning inwardly towards the city, Jesca found a contrast to the cacophony of battle outside the walls; the people of Beijing collectively held their breath. Already on the brink of starvation, the people were awaiting the lift of the siege with consternation and crumbling hope.

“This will decide the fate of the Ming Empire,” Jesca whispered quietly.

Arriving at Beijing was no small matter, but the sudden rush of relief forces provided just enough distraction for the city garrison and the populace to turn blind eyes to certain points of entry. It had only taken a few minutes before Jesca and her small team were shadowing through parapets to watch the status of the Ming counter-attack.

Jesca could see the young general among his ranks with the use of her spyglass; her eyesight was drawn towards his banner and General Grubby, whenever his banner rose above the smoke of the battlefield, was always amongst the first of his men to give glory to Spain. Jesca couldn’t help but admire the valour of such a man although she did break a small chuckle at the fact that Grubby was so much lankier than she anticipated.

“You made him sound like so much more of an imposing figure,” Jesca said off handedly.

“I’m sure you can see for yourself how he makes up for his smaller frame,” Lex replied refusing to be embarrassed over having sounded slightly intimidated by Grubby in his reports.

The woman next to him on the battlement extended a forgiving and amused smile. Through the magnification of the glass, it was true that Grubby was as vicious as Lex had described. “The General is finally out of his cage,” she noted.

“And he’s very grateful that we helped put him on the offensive again,” Lex added with proud arms crossing of his wide chest. “Especially now that their master is back in command in Shanghai the General is free to fulfill his bloody vocation.”

The spyglass was carefully retracted and the two of them, along with their cloaked companions sunk back into the recess of the parapet now that scouting the perimeter was complete. “He’s probably not so different from us,” Jesca observed as she checked if all her explosives and knives were in order upon her clothing.

Lex looked at her curiously as he tightened his sheathed rapier onto his belt. “What do you mean?” he asked leaning in closer to her.

Jesca watched the grey smoke pass overhead as small fires continued to burn from the recently besieged metropolis. She counted the seconds it took for one set of smoke to reach another block of the city and calculated the relative wind speed and direction. In between her thoughts, she managed to expound her philosophy to her colleague. “He isn’t called ‘Grubby’ by his friends and enemies for no reason—he rewards himself and his troops rapaciously. However, we both know that the Ming could have easily offered him a fair share of their vast wealth and yet he remains loyal.”

“A domesticated mercenary?” Lex attempted to understand.

“Perhaps,” Jesca acceded, “or perhaps General Schenkhuizen finally found something worth fighting for: a world of One Emperor and One Pope.” Before her partner could respond, she anticipated his objection. “Not to say we’re like that… but we do fight for something greater than ourselves: ideals and Principles which guide us to do what is necessary.”

In the rising apex of the Sun’s passage over the city of Beijing, Lexington White and Princess Jesca shared a moment of silent solidarity between themselves. Regardless of the thieves and backstabbers they may have recruited, at least for them, the Infinite Castle will always be a force for the salvation of the poor and the security of equal rights for foreigners.

“Are you ready?” Lex asked daring to place a steady hand on top of his master’s. This time, the woman didn’t pull away or discipline him. Her effervescent smile persisted before her figure leapt off the parapet and the rope they had gathered atop that battlement began to be used. The operation had begun.

Slipping through the window was gracefully easy although it took precise measurements of rope to make sure Jesca’s face met with the opening and not solid stone. Nonetheless, rolling into the barbican’s main hold, she uncurled into a stabbing motion which took down the first of the distracted soldiers.

Perhaps the gurgling noises of the guard’s slit throat did not alert the rest of the men within the station as much as the feeling of warm blood splattering against the back of their heads. Before the next two could turn around, two bullets found themselves in separate skulls burning away at the little gray cells. It did not take long, however, for the other men among the troupe to turn away from the captivating battle with their weapons but spears found themselves parried by a swift saber.

Now that all eyes were towards the rear of the chamber from where Jesca arrived, the front windows were quickly clouded by cloaked figures. Although the portals were too small to enter with the body, they were wide enough for fresh shots to enter the crowded room and find their marks at on the backs of several guardsmen. Soon, the rest of Jesca’s cloaked men and women slinked through the rear window and assisted their mistress.

As Lex and the rest arrived and pressed the encroaching men back, Jesca found her chance and sped forward. Hopping against the wall while she continued to run, she took most of the flanking guards by surprise. Hopping off vertically, she let out a guttural exclamation: “K-Style Technique: Butterfly!”

Dashing above the various soldiers underneath her, she brought her saber downward against one of the men’s shoulder guards propelling her further forward before sliding the sword’s hilt upward to block an incoming spear. Cornering the bewildered guards between her agents and herself, it did not take long to dispatch and secure the station. The gateway to Beijing was now ready whenever General Grubby decides to finish his little fun with the thousands of Ming armies descending upon him.


May 1, 1582

The gentle breeze in the Regional Headquarters at Shanghai flowed through the country abode that the Spaniards appropriated for their use with a grace that was befitting an Eastern aesthetic sense. The budding springtime in China meant that Antonio rarely faced outside into the open courtyards of the office space. He did not wish to gaze upon the cascade of cherry blossom petals this time.

Fortunately for Antonio, the news of victory at Beijing was a counterbalance of sorts to his lugubrious aura. Already, news that the siege would only last a few more months meant that a peace settlement was virtually secured. Spain would add Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou to its Asian possessions, he predicted. It was all thanks to this mercenary spy network they hired, he thought…

“Remind me to bring a gift for this Jesca person,” Antonio said out loud.

When he heard no page give him an appropriate acknowledgement, he looked up. With the open courtyard to his back and shadows to his front, he was nearly startled by the figure sitting casually near the other end of the hall. Oh yes, he reminded himself as he recognized Nia’s outline, and the victory was also thanks to Nia’s ‘gift’ as well…

“Jesca? The Guild Agent you’ve contracted? We’ve been trying to shut her down for months now but we never really saw them as too big of a threat to worry about it,” Nia commented with a grin.

“Where’s Ricardo?” Antonio asked quickly but lowered his eyes as if suddenly embarrassed by his curtness. He had let Nia free from the Brig ever since the documents involving the entire southern branch of the Chinese spy network was proved accurate, but he was still slightly unused to her presence.

Nia stood up slowly and although she was allowed to don her usual black leather outfit, no creak or squeak or sign of stretching alerted Antonio to her movements. Her lithe form stepped carefully towards the desk before she leaned forward curiously at Antonio’s letters. “I told him to get us some tea,” she said calmly.

Antonio opened his mouth strangely as she approached into the light of the afternoon sun illuminating her tanned visage but he eventually managed to pull his arms over the documents shoddily attempting to hide them. “Just because I let you out of the Brig doesn’t mean you’re free to do anything here.”

“There’s a supply depot right here,” Nia said placing her finger near where one of Antonio’s hands blocked out a section of a map. Ignoring Antonio obvious gave the sitting man an ambivalent reaction but Nia found herself looking at concerned eyes.

“Is it really that hard to believe my motives?” she finally asked retrieving her arm and crossing them under her chest.

“Yes, yes it is,” Antonio said flatly.

Nia’s smile disappeared but she watched Antonio relax against his seat and sigh at the same moment a gust of wind entered the room. The cool air made Nia’s silken ebony strands dance against her bare shoulders. “Trust comes with time,” Nia admitted, “I’ve been working at this trade long enough to understand that, but—”

“You don’t have to explain,” Antonio interrupted her. Although the man’s face was tilted downwards in thought, his eyes looked up almost sheepishly at hers. “It’s the same,” he continued, “the same as what I told you while on the trip here. We both have lost something for the greater good, so… in some weird way… I understand how you feel and why you—”

Antonio stopped as he detected a hint of anguish glaze those beautiful eyes that stared down at him. They were being resisted heavily as well, but someone as experienced at reading emotions as Antonio realized that he had touched something deep inside Nia’s heart. It was true, however; their talk on the Galleon on the way to Shanghai revealed just how much they both had to sacrifice for something they believed to be right. How Nia turned her back on everything and made peace with her parents’ enemy in order to stop a growing and abominable menace brewing within the rookeries of the Ming.

As for Antonio; Isabella was gone. Jakob and Sweet are in Madrid. Even Grubby was in Beijing and Antonio was not nearly as close to Renault as he would have liked. In the end, it was this strong and mysterious spy master that he had decided to speak with. An old friend, he tried to rationalize it to himself. She was just an old friend caught between sides of a terrible conflict.

“Have you forgiven me?” Antonio asked from that void of silence.

“Forgiven you?” Nia asked in return thanking the respite from the culmination of months of loneliness.

“For your parents; now that I’m working for the very government you blamed.”

Nia did not break her stare from Antonio’s eyes despite the question. “As a child,” she explained straightening herself up to bolster her composure, “you only think of childish things like revenge. It wasn’t until now that I realized just what it was that you were trying to do… that your father was trying to do.”

Antonio blinked at the reference but he was cut off by Nia’s words rising up again in defiance of the breeze that entered. “Not just about the Timepiece, either,” she said with such gravity that her voice seemed to reverberate even against the wood. “But for the sake of stability and peace everywhere and to stop those who wish to destroy everything we have…”

With the explanation finished and the wind spreading the coolness of spring throughout the chamber, Antonio stood and extended his hand forward to her. “I forgive you too,” he said quietly.

Nia did not let Antonio’s hand remain too long. Her hand found his and she was slightly surprised at the warmth of it. Antonio was the one the most surprised, however, as that woman pressed her hip against the desk and nearly pushed the table forward as she leaned in to land a kiss on Antonio’s cheek. Nia remained there for a moment longer as if about to say something closer to his ear, but movement at the door pulled them both back to their respective sides of the wooden piece of furniture.

“Your teas,” Ricardo announced as he pressed his back through the portal and entered. He was greeted by a half startled nod by Antonio and a curious smile by the lady. He placed the tray on the table and lingered at the edge of the desk. “If I might remind you, Sir, that you’re scheduled to have a meeting with Princess Jesca tomorrow evening. Renault has informed me that he’s ready to go.”

“Excellent,” Antonio said as he sat back down in his seat, “make preparations for Nia to accompany us as well.”

Both others in the room shot their glances towards the young Duke. Ricardo also gave an awkward glance to Nia before coming in closer to Antonio’s seat. Antonio was slightly bemused. “It’s alright, Ricardo,” he soothed, “I’m sure the Lions we’ll have on staff can watch her well enough. After all, when meeting a spy master, it’s best to have another spy master with you.”

Nia picked up a teacup and pressed it against her lips to hide her flattered smile.


May 2, 1583

Infinite Castle truly deserves its name, Renault thought. The intricate and almost random assortment of makeshift buildings, half finished construction, and artificial and natural corridors made it like a living labyrinth. Renault walked steadily behind Nia and Antonio with two of his Lion aides at his side.

Getting to Infinite Castle wasn’t hard, but Renault quickly understood why the location of the place was never much of a secret. Unless one had 10,000 men, he thought, they could never find anyone in this maze of shacks and homes. Even then, escape wouldn’t be impossible. Along the dirty and misty docks was a plethora of under-pier escape routes and entrances. It was through one of these that they were escorted by a gentleman by the name of Lexington White into the main halls of the abode of these spies and thieves.

It was in Renault’s nature to analyze situations but even Infinite Castle managed to evade his deepest cognitive ability. Part of it, he believed, was that the inhabitants themselves construed to change the landscape whenever they so pleased adding a human element which could not be easily predicted. Nonetheless, Renault was glad that at least these spies and masters of this curious place were allies of theirs.

After perhaps half an hour of walking, they were finally led in front of two large doors capturing an Eastern beauty that, until then, had been unrepresented by the rest of the amalgamation. “Princess Jesca awaits,” Lex said before opening the doorway. Unexpectedly, the afternoon sun shone in from the open air room towards them—obviously some silly cloak and dagger strategy of the inhabitants—and temporarily blinded the group. Renault instinctively grabbed for Nia lest this was some escape, but no one had moved. When the light cleared, Renault looked at his companions to check if they were alright but his eyes stopped at the gaping expression Antonio possessed on his face. Nia was just as confused so Renault looked straight ahead.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Lex introduced, “I present Princess Jesca.”

Renault turned upward towards the approaching ring leader and his heart nearly stopped. He suddenly realized what Antonio had already seen. How could this be possible, he asked himself. How could someone return from the dead… It was Antonio’s voice that called out first.

“Isabella!”


“Isabella!” Duke Jimenes exclaimed with utter surprise.

“Shh! Or you’ll get us both killed!” was the answer from the lady cramped against one of the ventilation ducts that lead into the lavatory which now housed the Duke.

“What’s going on in there?” a guard from outside the door asked knocking what was obviously his baton against the barrier.

“Nothing, Nothing!” the Duke replied, “Just dropped something.” But already his attention was directly pointed towards his wife who was extending something towards him.

“What’s this?” the Duke asked curiously as he took a small paper like black film from her.

“It’s a beacon,” Isabella Jimenes responded as she began to back away into the duct. “I want you to put one half of it on yourself and the other on Father Francis somehow. We’ll use it to locate you.”

“But the House has an electromagnetic base coating that scrambles—”

“Don’t worry, dear,” the woman said in a whisper, “I’ve set up an electrical disturbance in the upper decks. It’ll be enough to light this place up to my ground team and we’ll disable the House with a microwave pulse. Don’t worry; we won’t risk destabilizing the nuclear material. I’ll see you soon—”

Before the woman could fully re-enter the tight space, the Duke had stood up on the toilet seat and pressed his lips against his wife’s mouth. “Something for luck,” he said to her with a smile.

“Don’t worry about me,” she replied with a grin, “You know how much of a survivor I am.”

Chapter XLVIII: Survivor (coming soon)