NationStates Jolt Archive

Lord Alkanphel sat atop a broad, ornate dias, seated on a throne of Iron--a smaller representation, no doubt, to the Throne on which his Lord, Morgoth sat on in Angband. Unlike his master, Alkanphel had made it a habit to surround himself with nice things; tapestries hung from the wall-- most of them were dominated by the black and silver of the Imperial Armed Forces, through which the Imperial Warlord wielded most of his power.

Even across the screen, he seemed to exude a strange power over the viewer, and an odd sense of foreboding haunted his speech. He spoke slowly, and his eyes glowed with an eerie white light. His figure dominated the screen, and no others could be seen save the Warlord.

"Natalya de Greif, Empress of Presgrief, hear my words and hear them well," he began. His tone carried equal amounts anger and affection. "On behalf of Lord Melkor, I summon you to Utumno, the seat of my power and Second Stronghold of Lord Melkor, to discuss with you the ramifications of your statements in the ICEP conference. Nothing more can I say of the matter over such a communication, other than we must have a chat on the matter."

Lord Alkanphel
High Warlord of Lord Melkor's Imperium, First Counselor to Melkor Himself, and CEO of the Chronos Corporation
http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~darion.c.smith/alkanphel1.jpg

Natalya stared back at Alkanphel, her eyes glowing with a similar eerie light.
"I hear the call of the Dark Lord, Morgoth Bauglir, and shall head it. Expect me within a fortnight."

One Half Hour Later

A loan Despoiler lifts off from Greifsgrad starport, breaking the silence of the night. It clears orbit, makes a sharp semicircle, and then is but a streak of light headed in the general direction of the Ardan Sector...

The Despoiler finally makes its way to the Ardan sector. The ship is cleared for landing, and touches down on Ultumno. Half an hour later, Natalya is lead in to Alkanphel's chamber.

My Lord Alkanphel, how do you do?

The chamber was, in fact, much like Natalya had seen it in the Warlord's previous transmission, except that now, there were actually other people in the room, six others besides the Maiar. Most of them were tall Easterling or Haradrim men, obviously military caste, clad in elaborately tailored black and silver uniforms. many wore cloaks and a few sported ornate headdresses and armor. The Imperial Marshals they were: terrible, ruthless men one and all. As Natalya was escorted into the chamber by a smaller contingent of Southron Guardsmen, the Imperial Marshals turned and looked to her.

Alkanphel stood from his seat and began to descend the dias, which was opposite the door. "Greetings, Empress Natalya. I'm impressed by your punctual response. I, as you know, am Lord Alkanphel, and this is my Court. Welcome to Utumno, we have much to discuss," he said, gesturing broadly about the room as he came to stand before her. He stepped aside, and gestured to the congregation. "Come now, we must begin our conference. You you desire anything? A beverage, perhaps, or a cigarette?"

Lord Alkanphel
High Warlord of Lord Melkor's Imperium, First Counselor to Melkor Himself, and CEO of the Chronos Corporation
http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~darion.c.smith/alkanphel1.jpg

It is a pleasure to make your aquantance, my Lord. We did not have time to speak during our last meeting, indeed I must admit I was quite excited by your summons. I've been waiting to exchange words with you for quite some time....
I have my own cigarettes, as you see. White wine would do nicely now, however, as I am quite parched from my voyage.

Natalya removes fine white riding gloves from her hands, pulls the zipper on her tunic down low, as is her custom, sweeps the hair from her eyes, lights a cigarette, and begins to scan the chamber for some place to sit.

Alkanphel stepped aside, and gave a nod to one of the nearby Blackjacket Captains, who stepped into an adjacent room. Alkanphel walked Natalya to the congregation, which was seated on a large, semicircular sable couch, with a table of glass between the Court and Alkanphel's dias, which, when viewed from the top, filled out the other half of the circle. Everything on Alkanphel's side was white, and the Marshal's [and therefore Natalya's] side was black. Once everyone was situated, the Captian strode back into the room with the aofrementioned White Wine, imported from Reichskamphen [ :wink: ].

Alkanphel cleared his throat. "If I may, I'd now like to introduce you to the Imperial Marshals." He gestured to the first. "This is Narotama Suharto of Nova Rhûn, and the man next to him is Khaled Sudani of Near Harad. You may remember them as two of the Consortium judges I appointed.

Narotama Suharto snickered. "Nice bit of good that did us."

Alkanphel nodded. His gaze slipped back to Natalya. "Indeed. Now, if I may.." he nodded to the next man. This is Yousef Rabani, also of Near Harad, and then we have Dash Hattori of the Iron Mountains, and Janos and Marius Hasek from Dunland."

Each of the men bowed their head slightly as they were named; of all of them it seemed Narotama was the most ornately dressed, and it could be reasoned thusly the highest ranking save Alkanphel. He stood and spoke once more, this time to Natalya. "Lord Alkanphel tells me you made some rather compromising comments at the ICEP conference some weeks ago. It seems to us that Metus' knowlege of our involvement with ICEP was limited strictly to a 'we must take them over' sort of mentality, and we had actually a vested interest in the organization."

Alkanphel nodded. "Indeed, for a time Arda has been enjoying tremendous growth militarily, but we've never been noted as an economic power. Seems trading strictly within our bloc just isn't cutting it anymore."

One of the other men, Janos Hasek, flicked an ash off his cigarette and stared at Natalya. He jotted something down on a datapad, and tucked the pen behind his ear. "It would seem, to most at least, that your comments were the impetus for Mr. Dantes' little outburst. However, it's been brought to our attention that even Dantes was a tool in a greater game, played by the Noldor to remove from Metus. Retribution must come to the Noldor for this horrible injustice. Not only did they destroy the ICEP, they made Metus look rather bad in doing so. What say you?"

Lord Alkanphel
High Warlord of Lord Melkor's Imperium, First Counselor to Melkor Himself, and CEO of the Chronos Corporation
http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~darion.c.smith/alkanphel1.jpg

Natalya took a slow drag of her cigarette, and looked upon the faces which surrounded her. It came to her mind that Alkanphel was perhaps trying to keep her off balance, or even intimidate her, through the presence of all these men. If that was his intention, he was sorely mistaken. Natalya had seen much in her long life, and was not easily rattled. She chose her words carefully.

I personaly find it absurd that the idiot Edmund's outburst be blamed on me. Whoever was paying attention to my comments knows that I went out of my way to support the plea for a non-political non-factioned debate. I only protested Edmund's dictatorial tendencies, and made no comments to suggest that I protested Siri's position as Director. Edmund is a fool with a short temper who is incapable of making decisions of his own accord. It was well obvious to everyone present from the start that Alkanphel had secret arrangements with Edmund. This was not my doing. With all due respect, it was the rather unsuttle takeover of the chairmanship be Alkanphel, unquestionably supported by Edmund, that gave the ploy away. All present, however, were willing to play along, to an extent. Unfortunatly, Edmund is a weakling, and folded under the pressure imposed by the other delegates. He used the first opportunity possible to throw a great dramatic fit and declare conspiracy. This, supposedly, was provoked by my comments. But any intelligent individual could see that the connection was irrational. I might remind you that he then proceeded to call the members of Metus "idiots", only to kiss Alkanphel on the cheeks moments later. This man is either stupid, or simply mentaly handicapped. I refuse to accept any responsibility for his machinations, for they are irrational and unprovoked. If we are to take revenge on anyone, it is on this idiot, for insulting us directly, and wasting our time with his cretinous treachoury overall. That is my view on the subject.