NationStates Jolt Archive

Reichsburg, Reichskamphen

"Sir, all of the preparations are complete." Captain Sébastien Jules Proudhon looked up at the young Imperial Guardsman.

"Excellent, thank you. Return to your post." The young private eagerly saluted the Captain and ran off. When the door shut behind him, the captain checked to make sure his Webley Autorevolver was loaded, put it in his belt under his coat, and walked off to make one final round before the event.

*** *** *** ***

Down the hall, Emperor Napoleon IV was getting ready for his Holy Thursday address on the balcony of the Imperial Palace. Obviously, every form of media would be present, broadcasting the message across the world. This Emperor managed to do what the original Napoleon never succeeded at -- aquiring an Empire that, like the old British, the sun never set in. But, as always, the more powerful you become, the more people hate you.

"You look marvelous, Your Majesty." The stylist straightened out the Emperor's coat and smiled at his genius.

Napoleon nodded and took a sip of water when Captain Proudhon poked his head in.

"Sir, we're ready."

"Thank you, Captain. Let's go." The Imperial Guard Captain opened the door wide and saluted the Emperor, and upon its return, led him out of the room, a pace-and-a-half behind and to the right.

Just then, Count Joachim von Herzenstein, commander of the Imperial Guard, came up and saluted the Emperor. "Good afternoon, sir." The Emperor returned the salute, as usual, and the Count kept walking, but turned back, noticing the Imperial Guard captain did not salute him.

"Captain Proudhon?" The Captain's eyes went wide, and he cursed at himself for the oversight. He turned around and saluted the Count.

"I'm sorry, sir, it won't happen again." The Count nodded back to him, noticing a small buldge in the front pocket of the Captain's jacket, but didn't have the time to question him on it, so walked off.


An Imperial Guardsman opened the glass French doors to the open balcony, and quieted the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Emperor of Greater Prussia!" The crowd of Prussians from all over the Empire, standing behind the press, all erupted in thunderous applause as a basic and old military march, "Preussens Gloria," began to be played by the Imperial Prussian Military Band stationed under the balcony, and Emperor Napoleon IV stepped out to the edge of the balcony, greeting the crowd with waves and a large, white, and flashy smile. Captain Proudhon stood behind and to the right of him as Napoleon began his speech.

*** *** *** ***

What was that? Count Herzenstein thought to himself. He shrugged to himself and figured it wouldn't hurt to check it out, so he walked down into Captain Proudhon's office.

*** *** *** ***

"And God continues to look out for Prussia, in times of triumph, and in tribulation." Napoleon's speech has been going on for about five minutes now, and Proudhon was getting antsy. It's almost time.

*** *** *** ***

Count Herzenstein walked behind Proudhon's desk and found his top drawer open. Odd, the captain has OCD, according to his dossier. He pulled open the drawer, went wide-eyed, and dropped the entire drawer on the floor, spilling it's contents on the floor, and ran out of the office, pistol in hand.

*** *** *** ***

"And The Prussian Empire, with God on it's side, can never die!" Now the crowd erupted yet again in applause and cheering, so much that the media in the back of that section moved up some and covered their ears. Now! Captain Proudhon reached inside his pocket and put his hand around the revolver.

*** *** *** ***

The Count was running towards the glass doors as fast as he could. He could see Captain Proudhon pull the pistol out of his jacket, step back and begin to raise it at the Emperor. Count Herzenstein, realizing he couldn't make it in time, stopped and raised his pistol in that direction and fired twice. Unfortunately, the two guards inside the glass doors, not seeing the Captain outside, thought Herzenstein was aiming the pistol at the Emperor, and immediately opened fire at the Count with their automatic weapons, dropping him to the ground in a pool of blood.

*** *** *** ***

Outside, The Captain raised his weapon, aimed it at the Emperor, and shouted as loud as possible, "DEATH TO THE CAPITALIST STATE!" and shot the Emperor twice in the head, causing the Emperor's blood to spurt in a massive pink cloud over the balcony, rising screams from the crowd as the Emperor's body fell over the banister and landed on top of the clarinet players in the band below. Chaos immediately insued as the automatic weapons fire was heard across the field. The Imperial Gendarmes on the ground immediately went to work closing down the city, and dispersing the crowd to "safer" locations for interrogation, and the media was immediately shuffled off.

At the top of the balcony, all of the Imperial Guardsmen turned around to see Captain Proudhon fall to the ground as the Count's two bullets struck him in the back, severing his spinal cord and driving straight through his heart. They all drew their submachine guns and aimed it both out across the crowd and into the hallway. Five more Imperial Guards rushed out into the hallway to see the bloody pool that used to be Count Herzenstein. The Emperor's body was already carried off by the Gendarmes, but the damage was done.

The Emperor was dead.

Farther away, in the Imperial Shogunate, Shogun Nakamura Himura Kenshin was already in a secure bunker due to an nogoing war that the nation was involved in. However, the information, being high priority, was fed right through to him and his generals. The reaction to the events was that of shock.

"How could this have happened?" The shogun asked in disbelief. His generals just looked around, unable to find any words. "Send our condolences immediately, and prepare to take any actions necessary to stabalize the situation."


OOC:Crappy post, I know, but I'm out of creative juices.

King John Antonette heard the news, and was quickly sent to a bunker deep below the Imperial palace. He recieved a transmission that said,
Father Marco was in that crowd! -Cardinal De Vito
John quickly opened the direct link to the Dersconi Tsar, and said,
"I'm sending in OSS to get that Priest Joseph Marco out, the one that was on Redemption."
John also sent that message to the OSS headquarters. The OSS in the Ridgian Embassy in Reichsburg quickly sped out the gates, and into the crowd. They saw Marco getting dragged away, and quickly blocked the guards exit.
20 OSS agents jumped out of the two Jeeps.
"We are Ridgian officers. Under orders from King John Antonette, this man, Father Joseph Marco, is to be released to us immediately!"

back at the embassy, the gates were closed, and grounds put on lockdown. If any mob even thought of approaching, they would be taken out.

*tag*

*Tags* Not much time to do otherwise.

Upon hearing the news of Emperor Napoleon’s brutal death, the capital building in Caprica City was bustling with activity as the numerous division heads, advisors, and security forces conferred with one another. The topic of debate was whether or not the Corporation’s leaders would continue to be safe in their present location, but what no one wanted to speak of was who could really be trusted. While all that was happening in the lower areas of the building, up in the executive tower remained the Chairman Jack O’Neill, Chairwoman Siri O’Neill, and the Vice-Chairman Shiran Naelthasser. The Chairman and Vice Chairman ran back and forth between their two offices, deciding just what course of action they should take, and whenever they had agreed on something that needed to be done, a transmission was sent out to the lower levels.

As Jack ran in and out of his office, he noticed his wife sitting on the couch continuously watching the news stations for anything new coming out of Reichskamphen. She appeared to not be concerned about all that was happening around her and rested her feet up under her as she sipped on some Lady Grey tea. This, of course, triggered Jack’s curiosity so he stopped for a moment and spoke to her.

“Honey, why aren’t you the least bit concerned about what is going on around here?”

She glanced up from the screen and stated bluntly, “Why should I be? You all are the ones who are overreacting.”

“Wha?” He could not believe her attitude. “Wait a minute…we have a major security problem here. Hell, we can’t even go downstairs in our own building because we don’t know who we can really trust. Jeez, you saw what happened to the Emperor!”

“Yes, I did see.” Siri shrugged. “Obviously, he was a fool in choosing those to protect him.”

“That’s awfully cold of you to say. The man was just assassinated.”

“I only speak the truth.”

“Oh really? What makes you certain you can trust our guards?”

“I personally selected and trained them. I know everything there is to know about their entire lives.” And at any given point I know what they are thinking in their minds, she failed to mention. “Besides, they would not dare rise up against any of us for they fear me. All I have to do is walk by them and they tremble in their boots.”

Jack walked up behind her and asked, “Are you feeling alright? For the past several weeks, you’ve been acting like you’re mad at the world or something.”

She sighed and looked up sadly at him. “I guess I am just tired of all this constant working. We hardly ever get to just sit down and talk to one another like we used to. I miss that.”

He realized that all this working was not the best for either one of them and decided that they would need to take some sort of vacation so he made an offer. “How about when everything quiets down around here, we drop Alak off with Shiran and take a weeklong camping trip?”

“I would like that.” She smiled a little.

Jack headed towards the door again but before he reached it, he turned around and asked, “Are you going to be ok?”

“I think so.”

He gave Siri a nod and headed back out of the office to send out the Corporation’s condolences out to the Royal Family and to the people of Reichskamphen, one of the things that he always found too difficult to do.

Queen Mariah was still asleep when someone was trying to wake her up. She tried to fob the person off "Can this wait ... zzz zzz zzz". It was her husband Count Richard who was trying to tell her the Emperor of Greater Prussia had been assassinated.

"Wake up, Mariah. Emperor Napoleon has been assassinated." he exclaimed. That woke up the Queen in a real hurry. "You said what? Emperor Napoleon assassinated? This for real?" she said, still sleepy and not believing. "I'm not joking. Just happened on, on Reichskamphen and Greater Prussian TV as he was making a speech."

"Oh !@#$%^&*" the Queen exclaimed, as she rarely said such things. When she settled herself "Send condoluences to the people of Reichskamphen and Greater Prussia. And find out who was responsible."

Count Richard looked at her "You look like you had a bad dream." and she replied "I did. I was the mistress of a Roman Emperor when one of his guards ran in cut off the the head of the Emperor. Weird dream ... and it was true by the looks of it except the bit of me in Emperor's bedroom."

He said "Apparently DEATH TO THE CAPITALIST STATE! was shouted by the assasin". She pondered "Well, I am the Treasurer and hence the mistress or whore to the Capitalist system of Greater Prussia. Sounds like Communists again."

-=The Fist of the Empress

Anikar kneeled within her chambers, seemingly thinking, or meditating. It would be wrong to assume she existed only there, though. Her mind had come to encompass networks and nodes all across the Empire - embedded deep in asteroids, lurking in the computers and subsystems of major stock exchanges, and within the mainframes of the government itself. It had been a long and careful process, but she was now ensconced, more firmly than ever, in the very being of the nation.
Then she 'heard' something. A little shock, followed by a building roar. She focused in on it. The Prussians. The Emperor, dead. She had to know more.

-=The High Halls, Arizona Prime

Nitin Paride was just about drowning in the news. For the past hour nothing but stories and messages about Napoleon had been bombarding Diplomacy. Arizona Nova, as collective "head" of the FCA was now once again abruptly pulled into the center of these affairs. Add to this the continuing bouts of computer problems and things were getting testy.

"Damn it," he cursed again. The console froze just as he was about to send a message. He tried command overrides - nothing. No telling why it was happening - one could check lists of running routines and subroutines and it would otherwise look completely normal. New computers, too, all for nothing. He sighed and looked at the clock - about time for a break. He got up and headed to the break room.

Meanwhile the console's screen suddenly opened a window, and a message began composing itself. Within moments, the message was completed and seemingly sent itself. Another window opened, this time some program concerning system registries, and the scroll list flew about as key entries were deleted. Then it closed, leaving the computer just as it was a few seconds ago.

Altenschwarzsteinschloesse, South-East Derscon

“Hey, stop!” Katherine giggled as Alexei ran fingers down her spine, and danced them to her front, ticking her a bit. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him on top of her, leaning up to kiss him. “You know,” the Tsarina said to Alexei, her eyes twinkling. “I was raised a Catholic, and they always taught us that God wanted us to have a lot of children.” She giggled again as Alexei slid his arms up her sides and down her arms, pulling them up over her head and kissing her.

“I think that’s a marvellous idea. Let us carry out God’s Wishes, then, shall we?” Smirking, he reached for the remote to turn off the TV, which was turned to the Emperor’s Holy Thursday address. Suddenly, two gunshots rang out, and the emperor fell over the balcony. Dammit! Alexei thought. Every time I try to have some fun, crap like this happens! He looked at the clock. Thirty seconds. He got up out of bed and started getting dressed, throwing Katherine a bathrobe.

“Get dressed, honey, we have to go back to the Kremlin.” Katherine was clearly disappointed, but at the same time shocked, as she looked up just in time to see Napoleon’s body fall onto the clarinet section. The Tsar glanced at the clock again. Ten seconds. He slipped on a pair of slippers (imagine that), put on some undershorts, and put on his Elementalist robe, as his wife did the same, only a bathrobe and nothing else.

On cue, the four SPGs floated into the room. “Come.” The Royal Couple followed them out of the chambers into the main hall of the royal suite to meat with the other twenty members of the Praetorian Guard, where they immediately descended into the sublevels of the castle. Once there, they took one of the underground supersonic bullet trains of the NBC and shot off to the Kremlin.

*** *** *** *** ***

All across the entire Greater Prussian Empire, this same scene – though with different players – was taking place: guards whisking away the members of the Prussian and Reichskamphen Royal Families. Flights from all over the Empire landed in Derscon and Reichskamphen, where they were all transported at night to the Dersconi owned Island of Hope in the Southern Prussian Sea, where a luxury yacht was waiting for all of them. After the events of the previous day, all media outlets in Greater Prussia were clamped down upon in order to prevent news of the gathering from leaking. After all, it was a juicy target, if anyone could manage to sink their teeth into it.

In the Congress of the United States, there was a shocked silence. The Reichksamphians have given a lot to the United States, and the Allaneans loved the Imperial throne, ever since the Greater Prussian Emperor negotiated their liberation from FSP occupation – where Allanean guerillas were unable to do much more then provoke more and more brutal reprisals, ending in slaughter of over 200 million Allaneans – more then any conflict before or since. Napoleon IV later helped overthrow the Ambivalentira forces in Allanea.

While the world outside may have disagreed, the Allaneans loved the Greater Prussian Emperor. He had the ceremonial title of King of Allanea, while having no power there – and now, the great nation was in mourning. Everywhere, televisions were no the news channels, and memorial broadcasts were on each one – without much prodding for the state. From every window, from every loudspeakers, the same words were heard:

As President of this Nation, I announce a National Week of Mourning over the death of Emperor Napoleon IV...

Over schools and government offices, the Allanean flag was raised to half-mast, a single black stripe attached to it in mourning. Six year olds cried, unable to comprehend why a man so kind and good to the Allanean people was so foully killed. In Boy Scout camps, pale fingers gripped the stocks of assault rifles as fifteen-year-olds stood guard next to black-framed portraits of Napoleon.

I am offering our allies in Reichksamphen aid with the investigation, and again I must use this broadcast to condemn in the most harsh terms not only communism, but political violence and intolerance...

In a darkened room somewhere, two men sat facing each other, speaking about the events that had occurred in Derscon. Neither had visible features and were like faceless demons as they faced other in their conversation.

"Such beautiful irony, is it not?"

"How do you mean, sire?"

"A Napoleon ruling the Prussian Empire, even briefly, especially when the two most famous Napoleons worked to destroy Prussia. Napoleon I nearly destroyed Prussia, while Napoleon III was Prussia's most obdurate foe in its quest to create a unified Germany. It is wonderful irony that a man who was ruled the Prussian Empire, however briefly, was named after two of the most anti-Prussian leaders of France."

"Then, he received his just deserts when he was killed, was he not?"

"Correct. It would have been blasphemous for the Prussian Empire to be continued to be ruled by a Napoleon."

"Very well, sire. What is the next step?"

"We shall wait and see... The fun should begin now..."

Clutching his face, the man began to laugh, a harsh, cackling sound that reverbrated through the room.

President Server was jostled out of bed when his Secretary of State interrupted his sound sleep.

"What is the meaning of this?" he hollored!

"Sir, we have received word that Emperor Napoleon IV was assassinated. We are obliged to take you and Lady Server and the kids to a secure room."

"Forget that crap. Prepare me airplane for Greater Prussia immediately. Notify ATC that we'll be coming in under an Air Guard of 24 planes. Also send them our condolences and upgrade our military here on planet to DEFCON 2. If there's a war, I do not want to get caught unprepared."

"As you so order Mr. President."

As his wishes were being carried out, he got dressed quickly and he and his wife made it down to the waiting limo. The twins were there already dressed in full jedi gear.

"Very good my young padawans. When we bored the plane, I'll issue a condemnation statement as soon as I gather my thoughts. Tell the press to prepare for a full statement."

"Yes my Lord."

They made it and boarded their plane to head to Greater Prussia.

In the newly rebuilt Waltz City, President Nicole Montgomary. was watching the unfolding uproar in the region.

"Greg! Address the masses. We need to maintain calm until we know what is going to happen."

"Yes ma'am. Is there anything coming from the Czar of Derscon?"

"Nothing yet but I'm heading over there to see what the Czar wants us to do!"

"Is that wise ma'am?"

"No but it is what I have to do. Tell the military to be on guard. Vice President Davidson will know what to do incase something should happen to me."

"Very well ma'am. Take Care and Godspeed."

"Same to you."

"Oh and tell Czarina Katherine Rice-Andropov I said hi."

"Nicole smiled as she got into her limo and sped to the airport and boarded Dancer 1. Moments later the plane was airborn.

The OSS agents rushed forward and grabbed Marco, and the quickly sped off. They arrived back at the embassy. Marco was put on a helocopter to the airport, then flown back to CR.
When he arrived back, he was taken to Cardinal De Vito.
"Joseph, welcome home. We will be going to the King's bunker as his advisors." They arrived at the bunker, and the place was closed.

In the "Lion's Den", or otherwise the residence of the Jeruselem Royal family which was a 12th century Crusader castle - Queen Mariah and family was preparing to travel to Derscon. The eldest son of the Queen was being taken the Inquisition for his own protection under the care of Inquisitor James.

Anti-missile batteries arose from the castle turrets indicating the nation was under high alert as a non-fly zone was imposed on "Old City of Jerusalem" - with the exception of Jeruselem air force doing their patrols.

...

Janus: James, what's he doing here?
James: Arthur will be left here in case things go awry in Derscon
Janus: I see, I hope he's not staying in one of the dungeons
James: No, no. I don't want the heir to the throne to hate me.
Janus: I'll take him them.
James: You sure?
Janus: He's used to me.
James: Fine then, you can babysit Arthur
Janus: Good. I've got lots of things for him to read.
James: You doing this because the Queen kind of fancies you still
Janus: No, just doing my duty. I'd rather die than see her hurt. Anyway, where is he?
James: He's playing with an XBOX 360 right now.
Janus: I'll get him tonight. Time some for education for him.
James: Say, you have that oversized TV in your room still? He likes Captain Freedom, the cartoon. Perfect on that TV.
Janus: Good idea. That cartoon is rather corny though.

To: All Citizens of Greater Prussia
From: Kaymiril VII, Valsharess of Kaymiril

The Immortal Realm of Kaymiril sends its condolences to the Greater Prussian
Empire, and offers its hand in friendship. We have long been allies of Greater
Prussia, in name at the very least, and at this time of need you will not find us
unsympathetic.

Kaymiril promises, both nation and ruler, to do anything in her power to help
this Empire return to its former prestige after this tragedy.

Kaymiril VII,
Valsharess

The Valsharess published the message, first to all leaders of Greater Prussian nations. From there, they could publish it further, as they preferred or preferred not to.

She had never met Emperor Napoleon IV, merely had dealings with the last Arch-Chancellor when setting up the alliance between Kaymiril and Greater Prussia.

I was younger then...and maybe somewhat foolish. I'd like to think not in my alliances...Odd, that d' Kestal should have looked at the Greater Prussian News just as this occurred.

She swept back her white hair from her youthful, jet-black face, and stood up.

Upon response, she would reply or act. Until then, she had many other things that required her attention.

From an Undisclosed Location,
Special Broadcast from the Shogun...

Shortly after the incident happened, the government stopped broadcasts on all channels and frequencies of radio and television. For a total of 10 seconds, viewers had to stare at those annoying colored bars. Finally, they faded from the screen and were replaced by the shogun, standing in front of a massive national flag hanging against a wall behind him. He was dressed in his armor, ancient beyond belief though it was masterfully preserved. The interlacing black and red fabric shone as though it were made yesterday. Only the helmet was missing. The view was panned out far enough so that one could see a few generals on either side of him, each in his own armor. "Citizens of the Shogunate," he said. "As some of you may know, the emperor of Greater Prussia has been recently assasinated. This may come as a shock to many of you, and indeed it should. Such a leader as Napoleon can only be found once in a long while. He was strong enough to hold together a deverse empire, yet lienent to allow each its own personal rule and to follow its on devices. I therfore ask for each and every citizen to keep his family and his soul in your prayers today.

"Unfortunately, you know we are currently at war with The Kraven Corporation. Therefore, we remain under high alert. Any suspicious activity, whether related to this or to the war will be reported to your local military headquarters immediately. All flags are to remain at full mast for the duration of the war. That is all. Stay safe, stay sharp, find those bastards who did this."
============================================

The light on the top of the camera clicked off. "Sir, good message."
"You really think so?" asked Kenshin.
"Yeah, like I'm gonna say it sucks to YOU."
"Oh, right. Air Marshall, get my plane ready. We're going to Derscon, Alexi will want me," the shogun said...well, ordered.
The air marshall looked up, shocked. "Sir? We're under lockdown. It's a war for pete's sake!!"
"Who the hell's Pete?"
"Nevermind, let's GO!" the shogun said growing angrier. We're in a fucking war, and these assholes are arguing with me. Kenshin strode to the door. The guard had no choice but to open it. The lift ride up was tense, and spirits didn't lift when they exited the lift into pouring rain. The shogun's plane, a heavily...heavily modified EB-52. If the original EB-52 wasn't already a beast, this one had even more tricks up her sleeve. Through the downpour, the craft quickly took off, soaring into the clouds toward Derscon.

[Since the thread tools don't want to cooperate, this is a tag.]

Luxury Yacht, South Prussian Sea

“Is it all here?” The head cook shuffled though some papers and looked at the barrels.

“Yes, Captain, it is.”

“Good, put it in.” All of the water that was to be used for cooking was in a large container in the storage room of the kitchen. In it, two assistant cooks dumped the contents of the barrels, and tossed the barrels out the window into the sea.

*** *** *** ***

Broadcast to All Prussian Nations

It is with great sadness that I must announce the death of Emperor Napoleon IV. The man who has led the empire in a great expansion, branching out its power and majesty thought the entire Galaxy. He was a personal friend of mine, but unfortunately, a bachelor. As there is no definite heir to the Prussian Throne, the royal families of the Reichskamphen and Prussian throne are currently meeting to decide on one.
I, however, have a different request. All nations of the Greater Prussian Empire are to send a delegation to the Kremlin in an emergency meeting of the Estates General. It is preferred that the Head of State of the nations attend, but any delegate with decision-making power is welcome.
I pray that God will be with the people of Reichskamphen, Allanea, and the rest of the Greater Prussian Empire as we struggle to gather in these trying times.

*** *** ***

In the Grand Dining Hall of the yacht, all of the family members were gathered together for the Easter Feast. The food was brought out after the prayer, led by Doctor Ian R. K. Paisley, ex-Emperor of the GPE and “Honorary member” of the Leipzig-Thompson House.
“In Christ’s Holy Name we pray, Amen.” Paisley’s North-Irish accent echoed through the room, and the resounding “Amen’s" of the families set a solemn mood for the Feast of the Resurrection, which was supposed to be a happy occasion. As the food was brought out, once could feel the Damocles’ Sword hanging over each and every one of them.




Down in the kitchen, one of the cooks started having coughing fits. The head cook came up to him.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?”

“Sir, he drank some of the cooking water.”

“You FOOL! There are ungodly amounts of Dioxin in there! You,” he said, pointing to one of the other cooks. “Take him to the deck and get rid of him.”

*** *** *** ***

Rekjyavich Andropov Military City

A raid drill was going on throughout the city for preparation for the Prussian Summit. In the forests surrounding the outer walls of the city, automated turrets were popping up and AAA batteries were being uncovered. The Koenigeschutzstaffel, the special branch of the SS responsible for the defence of the outer suburbs and the forest area of RAMC were mobilizing armoured brigades and deploying them into the surrounding suburbs and the massive forest separating RAMC from them.
Inside, the Praesillei Dei, the personal army of the Andropov Family, put the city in lockdown. The massive gates of the outer and inner walls were closed and being reinforced by barricades, and the old 16” guns from decommissioned battleships, converted into automated turrets, were going online. The ministry buildings were closed down, blast doors activated and the Prasesillei Dei soldiers doubling their deployments. Armour of all sorts was immediately deployed, manned by the genetically enhanced Praesillei Dei. Inside RAMC, though, was the walled sub-city of the Kremlin. Security there was entirely relaxed, however – they ran drills more frequently than the city as a whole, and it would interfere with preparations for the Prussian Summit

Besides, there hasn’t been an assault on the Kremlin in 1700 years – any assault was 100% guaranteed to fail.

Arthur (son of Mariah I): Where's Mum, Uncle Janus?
Janus: She's gone with Dad and your sister for a trip to Derscon.
Arthur: Where's Derscon?
Janus: Somewhere over the sea.
Arthur: How long?
Janus: I don't know, you'll be safe here.
Arthur: Are you really my uncle?
Janus: No, why?
Arthur: Mum asked me to call you Uncle
Janus: Err, well, she thinks I'm part of the family
Arthur: I like your TV
Janus: Well, your Mum gave it to me ...
Grand Chancellor (GC): How's the babysitting Inquisitor Janus!
Janus: Arthur is too curious
GC: Well, that kids for you. I'm in charge around here until the Queen is back
Janus: I know.
Arthur: Hello Mr Francis
GC: Good Arthur, you getting bored here?
Arthur: Uncle has lots of toys!
GC: Be a good boy until Mum and Dad come home
Arthur: I will (smiles cheekily)
Janus: That smiles somes from his mother. He'll be a pain
GC: Well, I've a nation to run. Have fun (leaves)

John Antonette smiled,
"I guess I'm going to Derscon, Cardinal." The Cardinal smiled and said,
"Have fun. Oh, and take Marco with you."

John left the Cardinal in charge, and was escorted by twenty five uniformed members of the OSS. He was taken to the location opf jis massive jet, and boarded. It took off, and flanked by six fighter jets, took off. When they arrived in Dersconi airspace, they flew to the side, and went to the usual place where they landed. The Royal jet landed in the airport, and John stepped out.
An armoured black Lincoln rolled out of the back. An OSS agent went to get in with him, but John motioned away.
"We'll go ourselves, stay here and watch the plane." The man replied with an uneasy, "Yes sir."

John jumped into the drivers seat, Marco in the side. He unstrapped his revolver, and threw it in the back. He began to drive towards the Kremlin, and when he arrived at the gates went through all the security features he normally went through. He kept his sword with him, as usual. It was strapped to his side. He currently wore black pants, and a white, tucked in shirt, with no tie, and the top button undone. He carried his jacket and tie over his arm, and he was brought to wherever he had to go. Father Marco wore a cassock, and carried his suit case with him. It was brown leather, with three strips going down the senter, colored, in order, green white and red. He had a surplice draped over his arm.

ooc: I did what usually happens, because I figured you didn't want to post the security thing a bunch of times. You can bring them wherever he has to go.

OOC: No, I didn't. :)
=========================================================
At the steps of the Grand Kremlin Palace, Prince John stood there to meet his drinking partner.

"Hey, John!" He came up to the car and warmly embraced him, as some Praesillei Dei took the car to the large garage off to one end of the complex. "How's the Ridge treating you?" John led him up the long path to the Star Office, where the bar was in full stock, and all of the couches were set up for the meeting. Alexei turned around in his chair behind the desk, holding a glass of the Prussian Specialty Wine, the Chateau de Rothschild. "Welcome back to the Kremlin, John. Sit down. Well, grab a drink, and sit down." Alexei stood up and set the glass down, careful not to spill it on the computer setup on his desk.

When he stood up, his maroon and black cape danced about on the floor because of the breeze in the room he had going with the artificial climate control system. He wore jet-black tux pants, with a maroon silk double stripe down the sides, and a dark gold one separating the two stripes, and a black belt with gold buckle in the shape of the Dersconi Imperial Eagle keeping them on him, the Gaia Blade hanging off his right side. He wore a long-sleeved un-collared black silk shirt, and the vest he had on over it had the shoulders come out and peak, so it looked like a large V. The gold double-buttons down the centre of the vest gave it a bit more of an aristocratic appeal, while the swirling maroon silk lines about the vest, forming a spider-web type pattern gave it more of a mystic and shadowy appearence. Just regular black gloves, though, nothing special about those. His bright blonde hair was off to the side a bit, and his shining blue eyes had a very definite phosphorescent red tint to them, though the whole dramatic appeal was lost when Alexei nearly tripped over his waist cape.

"I entrust the fight over was well?" Alexei said after sitting down on the chair that just popped up in front of the desk. The four SPG guards were floating about the room, two of them currently invisible. Only six of the Praetorian were inside the actual office, though. The rest were in the Imperial Hall down the ramp in the floor and out of the secretary's office.

John grabbed a Bailey's and Father Marco poured himself a glass of red wine. They both sat. "The flight over was excellent." He sipped his wine, then said,
"I'd like you to meet Father Joseph Marco. He was the priest over on Redemption."
John felt his sword warm up.

The shogun's plaen had been swiftly flying through the clouds for several hours, and the lack of anything interesting...okay, the lack of anything not grey, was driving everyone crazy. As Kenshin stared out the window, a massive shadow appeared in the clouds, and slowly came into fuzzy vision. It was one of the Shogunate's Astray mobile suits, acting as escort. A second one appeared, flanking the other side of the modified bomber. As he watched, the massive head of the machine, as tall as the bomber itself, turned toward him, until their eyes were locked. The Air Marshall, sitting next to the shogun, leaned over, "sir, he's probably zooming in and taking a look at you. It'll be the only time he'll ever see you in person."
"Really?" the shogun asked, not really stating a question. He turned back to the machine, who was still staring at him. Kenshin grinned, and then flipped the bird to it. The mobile suit recoiled a bit, making it obvious that the pilot had indeed seen it. Slowly, it drifted out away from the bomber, and then "saluted" back. Kenshin laughed, "hand me one of the headsets and put me on his frequency. The copilot handed back his headset, and Kenshin put it on his head. "Son, that is the biggest bird I've ever seen. When you land, I'll make sure those bastards you call your superiors give you a nice pay raise."
The radio crackled a bit, and then the Astray's pilot came on, "yes Sir, thank you. Glad I could provide some inflight entertainment." Kenshin handed the headset back to the copilot, and the two Astrays peeled away. The pilot began speaking into his own headset.

Dersconi Control, this is Z-EB-52G-1 carrying the Shogun of
Pschycotic Pschycos for the Prussian Summit. This craft is yours, over.

60,000 feet, location unknown, Liberty One

"More coffee, Mr. President?"

An aged, kind face that was staring out the bright windows of the Airsta 400 known as Liberty One (Velkyan equivalent of Air Force One) snapped to attention. He smiled slightly, and said in a grandfatherly tone, "No thank you, Rebecca, please, go sit down, it's been a long flight." The attendent nodded and went to sit down. He began to look out again, as a dozen thoughts shot across his mind. It's been less than a week since we join this blasted alliance, and now the Emporer is killed by his own troops. But, Lord (looking out thw window) what a beautiful sky we have the privelege of flying under. Perhaps this is a good omen of what's to come.

Indeed, it was. The rising morning sun had pitched itself above the cloud layer, and lit the supersonic transport aircraft brilliantly. As he stared out, a faint roar met his ears, as an ISF-12 Sturmfalke air superiority fighter screamed past his viewport, scouring the airspace ahead with it's advanced sensory systems as it gracefully barrelrolled. Velkyan pilots were some of the most professional in the world during wartime, but when there was no enemy to fight, well...they were less than so. He smiled.The guardians of liberty still fly these azure skies. Thank God for that. Incidently, the squadron's name was PGS-1 (Presidential Guard Squadron No.1) Guardians.

But that mattered not. Soon, they would be in Derscon, and soon, the game of politics would begin anew.

Liberty One, Z-EB-52G-1, this is Dersconi Air Traffic Control, Guardian Zone Seven.
I'm clearing two runways for you now: Shogun, you get A-7, Liberty One, you get
C-5. Welcome back to Derscon, Shogun Kenshin, and Welcome to Derscon, Liberty.
Before you enter Dersconi Airspace, all escorts are to break off and return to base,
or, if preffered, there's a nice military base in the Praetorian Islands right off the coast of the Island of Hope, which can offer a fun and exciting time for your pilots,
hotel rooms on us. Five Star.
Upon entering Dersconi Airspace, you will be joined by Dersconi aircraft to escort you to
RAMC airport. Enjoy your Stay.

OOC: More later, gotta run for now.

As Corneliu 1 was making its way towards Derscon, President Server went to make his speech to be broadcasted throughout Greater Prussia as well as Corneliu.

"Thank you ladies and Gentlemen. First off, I like to express my sympathies and condolences to Emperor Napolean IV's family and friends for his tragic and untimely death. He was a couragous leader and his loss will surely be felt.

"Today, as President, I am pledging to throw all that we have into the investigation of his death. We will stand behind Greater Prussia and we will do all that we can to maintain order during this crisis. I am hoping to meet with other heads of states and to come up with a comprehensive plan to protect the civilians.

"We will do all that we can to assist in this time of need as we are a very helpful power with vast resources. Thank you."

He turned away without questions and went back to his office to wait for landing.

Derscon Control, Z-EB-52G-1, we copy. Coming in on A-7 now.
Escort pilots are breaking for the nice offer, over.

The copilot next to him used his own radio to alert the escorts,

Astray One and Two, Z-EB-52G-1, Dersconis have a nice package
deal, break for their designated area, over.

As per orders, the two Astray escorts descended and broke off the shogun's plane, flying for the designated base. The plane, left alone, headed down and landed on runway A-7 as designated. She rolled off the runway and ground to a stop, letting the engines run themselves down. As she stopped, a ladder descended from the hatch and the shogun, followed by two assistants, climbed down to the tarmac.

Dersconi Airspace

"Roger that, Control, escorts breaking off." The two Sturmfalke fighters that were tailing Liberty One turned at high speed, headed for the resort destination. Soon, they would be up to their necks in bacardi, beaches, and bootah. Meanwhile, Liberty landed at the airstrip, as President Rossland, along with his six man entourage of aides and bodyguards, strolled out of the aircraft and unto Dersconi soil.

As the Cornelii plane was ushered in for landing, the Velkyan delegacy and the Shogun were taken under the terminal to the supersonic underground bullet train making up the transportation system of the National Bunker Complex. From there, it was a quick thirty seconds to the Kremlin of RAMC, where they were greeted by the Knight Commander of the Honour Guards, a strange alien species, averaging about seven feet in height, carrying armour that was tested to prevent a .50 round from penetrating it at 500 feet. Alien technology, amazing stuff as it is, is unfortunately biologically designed in a way humans can't use it, to the dismay of the Field Marshals of the Dersconi Imperial Army.

After going through the excessive display of security and grandeur of the palace, they walked up the ramp into the Star Office, where King Antonette, Prince John, and Tsar Alexei were deep in conversation about very important matters.

"So, John, I heard that GPWAS is coming out with a new wine sometime soon. Oh, Shogun Kenshin!" Tsar Alexei exclaimed, standing up to greet his friend, bowing in respect and embracing him. "Please, sit. Ah, you must be the Velkyan delegation. I am Tsar Alexei Alexandrovich Andropov XIV, Tsar of Derscon and current Arch-Chancellor of the GPE. You are?"

As their conversation ensued, President Server was being brought up to the secretary's office, the ramp being lowered for him.

OOC: For the sake of saving ourselves the BS of arrival posts, hellish as they are, if you're Prussian, assume that you're coming up with President Server, if you already posted your departure. Otherwise, assume you just walked up the ramp into the meeting. I hate arrival posts.

Other than that, hopefully I'll get a plot-advancing post up by tomorrow, or so. RL crap in the way. Stupid life, not letting me have time for NS.

President Rossland smiled warmly and shook the man's hand.

"That I am, yes. You have a beautiful country, comrade. Now, shall we get down to business?"

Queen Mariah, her husband at Star Office behind President Server.

Queen Mariah was dressed in a light blue business suite except with slit between the legs of the skirt. As usual she carried Excalibur with her tied to a gold belt. Her husband wore a simple business suite without anything showy, that was his wife's job to be showy. Butterflies of Sapphire tied her Golden hair down and flapped whenever she moved her head. She also wore a thin gold bracelet, with Byzantine images of Christ engraved.

Rumours around Jeruselem had been flying around about linearage of her mother, who was of an old Hebrew family. Some said the basis of The Da Vinci Code was taken from her mother's rumoured secret - a descendant of Mary Magalene. A family of strong female religious Christians with unknown powers starting from Mary Magalene herself. The proof was on Queen Mariah herself, her mother's ring.

"Long time no see everyone." she cheerfully giggled on arrival.

Upon landing, John and company (easier than listing all the names) made their way through the required security (I know how this works :D). When they made their way past it, they were taken to where Andropov was at.

Upon arrival, the guards stood away and Server was taken to see the Czar.

The Grand Imperium was a new member of the Greater Prussian Empire, having officially joined after the previous Emperor had been assassinated... So it was deemed even more important that a good impression be made.

A small shuttle, heavily armed and armoured, was lowering itself towards the ground near the Kremlin, making a transmission to declare their origin and purpose...

"Attention, Kremlin staff, this is the Flaming Sword. We are here for the GPE Meeting, in order to represent the Grand Imperium. Emperor Phoren Narqu is aboard, along with twelve of his body guards. Permission to land?"

The Grand Imperium was a new member of the Greater Prussian Empire, having officially joined after the previous Emperor had been assassinated... So it was deemed even more important that a good impression be made.

A small shuttle, heavily armed and armoured, was lowering itself towards the ground near the Kremlin, making a transmission to declare their origin and purpose...

"Attention, Kremlin staff, this is the Flaming Sword. We are here for the GPE Meeting, in order to represent the Grand Imperium. Emperor Phoren Narqu is aboard, along with twelve of his body guards. Permission to land?"

OOC: An Armed and armored shuttle? Surprised you weren't wasted :D

((Heh, yeah... Like it says in the post, first time round. But of course, this is still just barely in the planet's atmosphere.))

Following just a short distance behind President Server were Chairman Jack O’Neill and his elven wife, Siri. Jack was wearing his usual dark-blue air force uniform that included the five-star general insignias on his shoulder boards and a gold-handled longsword at his side. Of course, he had not wanted to wear something this formal, but he lacked anything that was not too casual so he was pretty much stuck in the quite inflexible and uncomfortable uniform. On the other hand, Siri decided not to wear a dress and went with a dark green shirt and brown leather boots and pants. Lying over the shirt was light dragonscale mail which would be unable to stop a bullet but worked great against swords. Also, wrapped around her was a black cloak, partially concealing the Akaviri katana hanging from her side and the numerous daggers sticking out of her belt. Here and there were bits of foliage stuck in the outfit that acted as a sort of primitive ghillie mesh. This was all typical of a ranger’s formal ceremonial gear, something that looked good but yet had functionality.

As the couple slowly followed into the Star Office behind Server, Siri turned to Jack slightly. “How do you think Alak is doing with Shiran?” she asked, referring to their son.

“Probably driving him up the walls with his talkativeness.” He laughed. “The two are like night and day.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Admiral Samuel Johnson, the Chief of Naval Operations and an old friend of the Chairman’s, had just entered into the Vice Chairman’s office in the capital building when he noticed the little Drow jumping up and down over some gadget on the shelf. The Admiral chuckled a little and walked up to Shiran sitting at his desk who was attempting to work.

“I see yer babysitting the youngin’,” he stated in his Southern drawl.

Shiran glanced up. “Not babysitting. More like facing the Inquisition.”

Alakantar finally was able to grab whatever it was and ran over to the desk, his red eyes looking up at Shiran. “Uncle Shiran, what’s this?”

“That would be a healing device. It can heal anything from cuts and bruises to diseases. Now, this one in particular was built by the Goa’uld. Your father has told you about them, right?”

“Yep!” he exclaimed and ran back over to the shelf.

“I imagine he’s been like this all day?” Sam asked.

“Indeed. The constant questions can be a pain when you are trying to get work done, but I realize that he could be worse.”

The Admiral chuckled a little before Shiran clarified. “I am not saying he is a bad child. On the contrary, he has not broken anything. From what I have been able to figure out is that he really wants to learn about everything, which I have to admit is very good for someone his age.”

“Hey, I’m goin’ out to my old flagship, the Essex. Would ya like me to bring him along? I’m sure there’ll be a lot for him to do there.”

“Alright, but are you sure that you can keep after him?”

Sam smiled. “You’re talkin’ to the man who’s had five kids, thirteen grandkids, and now three great-grandkids. If there’s anyone who knows about takin’ care of ‘em, its’s me. Don’t worry.”

“True, true.” Shiran called over to Alakantar. “Alak, would you like to go with the Admiral here to his ship?”

“Yeah!” Alakantar's eyes lit up at the mere mention of a little field trip and eagerly ran over to the Admiral. Eventually, the two made their way out of the office. Shiran sighed and leaned his armchair back. Finally he would be able to get some work done.

OOC: And again, I went a little overboard in length. I apologize. It just seems that I start writing and can't stop.

The shogun respectfully returned the bow and embrace, and sat down. "This past few hours must've been hell for you, what do you intend to do with this?" He quickly remembered his manners, "but before that, how's your family doing? They're well, I trust?"

King John greeted the new arrivals, and also introduced Father Marco to them. He especially greeted Queen Mariah and said jokingly,
"All hail Queen Mariah, holder of Excalibur!" he kissed her on the cheek in welcome, and shook her husbands hand. He then introduced Father Marco to her,
"This is Father Joseph Marco. he was our man on redemption isle, and the guy that helped some underground Reichskamphen Catholics. He is currently the Secretary to the Archbishop, and acts as the M.C. He studied in Rome for a while, and has a masters in theology, working on his doctorate and a license to practice Canon law." Father Marco said,
"Nice to meet you, Your Highness."

"Greetings King John, everyone." He bowed to them all. "Allow me to introduce to you my lovely wife Erica and our two children, Thomas and Wendy." When the kids bowed in formal fashion, he continued on. "This guy who is always so serious is the Secretary of State for our colony here on Earth."

He bowed. "It is an honor to meet all of you. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this atrocity without it resulting in war."

King John greeted the new arrivals, and also introduced Father Marco to them. He especially greeted Queen Mariah and said jokingly,
"All hail Queen Mariah, holder of Excalibur!" he kissed her on the cheek in welcome, and shook her husbands hand. He then introduced Father Marco to her,
"This is Father Joseph Marco. he was our man on redemption isle, and the guy that helped some underground Reichskamphen Catholics. He is currently the Secretary to the Archbishop, and acts as the M.C. He studied in Rome for a while, and has a masters in theology, working on his doctorate and a license to practice Canon law." Father Marco said,
"Nice to meet you, Your Highness."

"Oi, where's that girlfriend of yours. You shouldn't be kissing women in public like that." Queen Mariah winked in reply to John. "Nice to meet you, Father Marco. I've heard good things about you. You bumped into the good Cardinal Augustus Brown who spends more time in Rome these days?" she said to Father Marco.

"I think once or twice." replied Marco. John simply grinned and said,
"Your husband doesn't seem to mind."
Marco then noticed Mariahs bracelet,
"Nice bracelet, Highess. I have a few Byzantine Catholic priest friends. All very good men. They are trying to teach me their liturgy, so I could celebrate both rites, but that may take some time." he laughed.

OOC: I see no one noticed my arrival. Alwell. I guess I can use my lightsaber to get the point across :D

Immediately recognizing a face that he hadn’t seen in years, Jack, along with his wife, walked up to President Server.

“John!” He smiled as he extended his hand. “It’s been quite a few years since the wedding, hasn’t it?”

OOC: I already had this post written before Corneliu posted so... *sticks out tongue*

Immediately recognizing a face that he hadn’t seen in years, Jack, along with his wife, walked up to President Server.

“John!” He smiled as he extended his hand. “It’s been quite a few years since the wedding, hasn’t it?”

"Well so it is Jack. It has been a long time. Allow me to introduce my wife Erica. Erica this is CEO Jack of Northrop-Grumman. He and I met at the Czar's wedding."

"It is a pleasure to meet you sir." She said as she curtsies to him.

OOC: I already had this post written before Corneliu posted so... *sticks out tongue*

OOC: Meh, that comment was more directed at Cherry Ridge :D

Jack bowed. “Nice to meet you, too.” He gestured over to the slightly shorter elf beside him. “This is my wife, Siri.”

She smiled and nodded to the two of them. “I am certainly pleased to meet you both. I have heard nothing but nice things about you two from Jack.”

Jack bowed. “Nice to meet you, too.” He gestured over to the slightly shorter elf beside him. “This is my wife, Siri.”

She smiled and nodded to the two of them. “I am certainly pleased to meet you both. I have heard nothing but nice things about you two from Jack.”

"Thank you Siri." Erica said with a smile.

John formally bowed to Siri. "He has told me wonderful things about you as well Madam Siri."

He turned to Jack. "Any idea what is keeping the Czar? We have a crisis on our hands here and we need a plan of action."

“Not a clue,” he replied, shaking his head. “I do have to agree with you though. Something needs to be done and done soon. Otherwise, things are going to be bad very quickly.”

Meanwhile, Siri was looking around the room, watching the other leaders talking. She was curious as to who most of these people were and decided that eventually she would find out about each and every one of them.

ooc: Thats because im too good for mere FCA nations. just kidding of course... or am I. Hmmmmm.

ic:
King John greeted President Server and Chairman O'Neill and their wives.
"How are you? The Tsar is right behind the desk there, sipping his drink." He pointed at him and smirked.

Jack threw up his hands. "Hey, I just got here. I haven't really gotten a chance to find out who's here and what not."

OOC: School, specificially biology, sucks. Sorry I couldn't post an ICer tonight. I promise one tomorrow. Really, I do. :)

OOC: School, specificially biology, sucks. Sorry I couldn't post an ICer tonight. I promise one tomorrow. Really, I do. :)

I'll hold you to this.

"I think once or twice." replied Marco. John simply grinned and said,
"Your husband doesn't seem to mind."
Marco then noticed Mariahs bracelet,
"Nice bracelet, Highess. I have a few Byzantine Catholic priest friends. All very good men. They are trying to teach me their liturgy, so I could celebrate both rites, but that may take some time." he laughed.

Queen Mariah replied to Marco "Oh this, a present from the Orthodox Church. I get lots trinkets from people trying to be nice to me. I agree the Orthodox Church is full of good men except the few sleazy young ones which like to grope under short skirts. Most are mature enough not too though." She gave John a "Do it again if you dare" cheeky little wink . Richard was rather non-plussed, she did this all the time - she was a serial flirt (married or not).

Count Richard approached President Server and then O'Neill. He had met then before but never in the same meeting area and exchanged pleasantries.

After exchanging greetings and introductions with Count Richard, Jack nodded over to Queen Mariah and chuckled. "I know its been a few years since we've all seen each other and things have changed, but I can tell that Mariah sure isn't any different."

The shuttle had landed and now the Grand Emperor from the Grand Imperium was arriving, despite the internal strife in his country... Evidently something was unusual. The fact that his face was almost exactly the same as those of his body guards and he wore the same, simple black suit supported that theory.

Each and every one of them was wearing a tailored black suit, mainly common, and a red silk tie. Sunglasses and headpieces accompanied the look. The only differences were hair length, by a few centimetres, build and race. There were two humans in the group, bringing up the back, but the rest of the five man party were elves. Of course, they'd left their weapons aboard the ship... Or most of them anyway

And just to be even more different compared to the rest of the diplomats, no leader came forth, they all took up positions in the crowd, by any natural cover... And then, perhaps even more surprisingly, a man in a silken blue shirt with matching green pants and a headband stepped through the door a minute or so later, sharing the same youthful face as one of the agents. The exact same face that anyone who kept up to date with information on the Empire knew- It was Emperor Narqu, and it had bloody taken him long enough to just get through the front door.

John looked around and noticed the Praetorian Guard of Derscon that he had a run in with a while back. He produced a long, cuban cigar. It had been lit and quickly blown out, to make ashed on the end. John handed it to the guard and said,
"I owed you one." He smirked, mocking the guard subtly, by putting a serious face on, then walked away, chuckiling to himself. He reclaimed his seat, as did Father Marco, and they then waited, sipping their drinks.

OOC: Underwater Asylum, that post is physically impossible. I do not really wish to get into the intrecacies of Kremlin Security, but just take my word for it -- guards are not allowed within the Star Office, or the secretary's office. They must stay out in the Imperial Hall with the rest of the Praetorian Guard not in the Star Office. If you want, I'll explain later, but I really don't want to right now, as it takes forever.

And Corneliu, I told you I'd post. :)

The Praetorian Guard recognized immediately what the cigar was for, and for the first time since his very short childhood, back in the labratories during the biological engineering process (the genetic one takes place before birth, obviously), smiled, and accepted the cigar, though he couldn't smoke it -- it was forbidden.

Alexei stood up and greeted each one, and quieted them down a tad, as trays full of drinks floated about, carried by the currently invisible four members known as the SPG. He quieted them all down a tad.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice, I know all of you have important business to attend to in your respective nations. First off, I'd like to welcome President Rossland of Velkya and Emperor Narqu of the Underwater Asylum, the newest members of the Greater Prussian Empire." A few toasts were made (as was Dersconi custom -- toasting is just an excuse to drink like hell, really), and the Tsar continued.

"I gathered you all here for the obvious two problems: Emperor Napoleon's Assassination, and the curre--" At that moment, Count Franz von Papen, the Foreign Minister and probably the most respected man in Dersconi government ( due to his knowledge and age, having been Foreign Minister since the late reign of Rekjyavich Ivan Andropov II), entered the room. He came up and whispered something in Alexei's ear. While the Tsar's face remained impassive, his eyes betrayed his emotion. It looked as if the weight of the world was just dropped on his shoulders at that instant.

*** *** *** ***
Luxury Yacht, One Hour Previous

The captain of the ship was heading down the hallway when he noticed something very strange. Odd, it's fairly quiet. He looked at his watch for a brief second. 19:32. Duh, they're at dinner. He shrugged and continued walking. When he was about to make a turn, he stopped dead in his tracks. Wait, those were the doors to the dining hall. The Captain of the boat turned around and ran towards the double doors, flung them open, and could do nothing but stare.

Across the table, the slumped over bodies of every member of the Reichskamphen and the Imperial Prussian royal families were face-down on the table, lifeless. Oh, my God... At that point, he immediately ran for the bridge and called the place he was supposed to if something happened -- the Kremlin.

*** *** *** ***
Star Office, Kremlin Palace

Tsar Alexei nodded his thanks to Papen, and the Foreign Minister went over and sat beside King John. "Well, I just recieved some troubling news, but I will wait until the rest, or at least more, arrive.

"For now, though, help yourself to some drinks or food. I don't want to seem inhospitable." He forced a smile as the leaders got up and about, and he jumped over the desk and hopped on the computer to check the communication channels with MSS, the Imperial Guard, and the Reichskamphen Parliament.

King John said to Marco,
"Something bad must have happened." The priest replied, with much sarcasim, "Your really observant." The King simply grinned and said,
"I see why the Cardinal likes you." "Who doesn't?" he said, getting John again.
The priest shifted his suitcase to his other side, and draped his surplice over the top of it. He had with him his stole, right on top, and his clothes. His other stuff was still with John's, and he wondered why he eve brougt this case out right away.

Upon hearing Alexei’s announcement, Siri began to grow restless. It was fairly evident that something had gone seriously wrong. As for what, she did not know and that made her paranoid. She was used to knowing every little thing that happened around her. Now, she was in a foreign country without her personal security guards and absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the place she was in. A look of uneasiness appeared on her face as she rested her right hand on her katana, ready to draw it out if need be.

On the other hand, Jack was taking this better than his wife was. He realized that if anyone was in immediate danger, Alexei would tell them right away. Also, he had been here before and knew that the security in the Kremlin was some of the best in the world. Overall, he was a little worried that something had gone wrong, but decided to wait until he found out what it was to divert his full attention to it.

The heavy doors thudded shut, causing a brief silence as the room's denizens turned to see who the newcomer was.

I always hate these awkward silences thought Lord Protector John Melkovich, the head of the Rosdivan Commonwealth. Ah well, time to get the show on the thought continued as he bowed in apology.

"My sincere apologies for my tardiness, the converted B-58 Hustler we were using as a transport abruptly decided to cease working. I must say though that spending several hours in the middle of the ocean is a very soothing experience. I pray I have not missed anything of importance?"

Nicole accepted the drink and toasted the new members.

"As the newly inaugerated President, I also would like to welcome Underwater Asylum's emperor (she said with a straight face) and President Rossland of Velkya. May you both have a long history with Greater Prussia."

Czarina Rice-Andropov nodded in approval of how she handled the title emperor for Formal Dances still does not think highly of such titles.

"My Lord, Mr. President, allow me to introduce to you some of the people here whom probably have already introduced themselves. First off, I'm Katherine Rice-Andropov. The lady that just spoke is President Nicole Montgomary of Formal Dances. Then we have President John Server of Corneliu, King John of Cherry Ridge (said with a slight edge), Chairman Jack of Northrup-Grumman, and Queen Mariah of Jerusalem. Anyone head of State I miss?

"Anyway, I also like to welcome all the heads of state as well. Its been a long time since I've seen you and I feel like this is old Friend's week here at the Kremlin."

Count Richard approached President Server and then O'Neill. He had met then before but never in the same meeting area and exchanged pleasantries.

Server exchanged pleasantries back and settled in to relax.

[And Corneliu, I told you I'd post. :)[/I]

Braggert

The Praetorian Guard recognized immediately what the cigar was for, and for the first time since his very short childhood, back in the labratories during the biological engineering process (the genetic one takes place before birth, obviously), smiled, and accepted the cigar, though he couldn't smoke it -- it was forbidden.

Alexei stood up and greeted each one, and quieted them down a tad, as trays full of drinks floated about, carried by the currently invisible four members known as the SPG. He quieted them all down a tad.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice, I know all of you have important business to attend to in your respective nations. First off, I'd like to welcome President Rossland of Velkya and Emperor Narqu of the Underwater Asylum, the newest members of the Greater Prussian Empire." A few toasts were made (as was Dersconi custom -- toasting is just an excuse to drink like hell, really), and the Tsar continued.

"I gathered you all here for the obvious two problems: Emperor Napoleon's Assassination, and the curre--" At that moment, Count Franz von Papen, the Foreign Minister and probably the most respected man in Dersconi government ( due to his knowledge and age, having been Foreign Minister since the late reign of Rekjyavich Ivan Andropov II), entered the room. He came up and whispered something in Alexei's ear. While the Tsar's face remained impassive, his eyes betrayed his emotion. It looked as if the weight of the world was just dropped on his shoulders at that instant.

Star Office, Kremlin Palace

Tsar Alexei nodded his thanks to Papen, and the Foreign Minister went over and sat beside King John. "Well, I just recieved some troubling news, but I will wait until the rest, or at least more, arrive.

"For now, though, help yourself to some drinks or food. I don't want to seem inhospitable." He forced a smile as the leaders got up and about, and he jumped over the desk and hopped on the computer to check the communication channels with MSS, the Imperial Guard, and the Reichskamphen Parliament.

John could sense something was wrong through the force and immediately used his jedi skills to search for the trouble. He kept his face steady as he did so as to not to betray what he was doing.

While he did so, he pilfered drinks for he and his wife and engaged in idle chit chat with the Czarina.

Star Office, Kremlin Palace

What in the name of God is going on?

That was the message that the Speaker of the House of the Reichskamphen parliament sent to Alexei.

Your Royal families are dead. How, I don't know, I just got word from the
captain of that ship. Poison in the food.

Alexei was drumming furiously on his desk as his wife was kind enough to pick up on the fact that she needed to draw people away from him. He typically drank vodka, but he needed a clear mind at the moment, so he stuck with tea. Normally, he'd use the hotline between Reichskamphen and Derscon, but if he was on the phone, people could overhear him, and he didn't want to spark a panic with the Prussian leaders. Really, it wasn't much better than any commercial instant messaging service, only this was fiber-optic and protected by MSS.

Wonderful. ATM, the parliament is in an emergency session. Nothing is
going on, so I figured I'd see what's going on.

Yeah, I've got the Prussian leaders here, same reason probably.

Yeah. Wait, SHIT!

What?

Alexei, this place was just stormed by geurillas. Jesus! They just shot down
the coalition leader!

What?

Geurilla fighters, they just storme...oh God...that's a nuclea---

**CONNECTION TERMINATED**

Alexei's heartrate jumped about thirty beats when that last message came through. At first, he hoped it was just a bad joke, but the next message he got confirmed what he was hoping he would not have to see.

PRIORITY: RTFN
DEPT: STRATEGIC COMMAND
SUB: DETONATION

AT 2103 LOCAL TIME, A THERMONUCLEAR BLAST WENT OFF IN REICHSBURG, THE
REICHSKAMPHEN AND IMPERIAL CAPITAL. NO EXPECTED SURVIVORS.
AUTOMATED NUCLEAR DEFENCE PROGRAMMES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED THROUGHOUT
THE DERSCONI AND PRUSSIAN EMPIRE. ATLANTIS AND ALL ORBITAL DEFENCE GRIDS AT FULL ALERT.

As hard as Alexei tried to control his emotion, his face went as pale as the cadavers that might be left from the vaporization of the capital.

With that read, he immediately typed in the command in the Kremlin Console, the small, hidden computer under his desk that controlled the security apparatuses of the Palace, and typed in the code required for a total lockdown of the entire Kremlin Complex.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows across the desk, overlooking Kremlin Square, and staring directly at the Kremlin Cathedral, one could see the blast doors closing over the main entranceway of the Cathedral, and over the windows. The Kremlin Gardens, where, in the centre, the Fountain of Youth stood, were immediately shut off by the same type of vaporizing laser shield that sorrounded the Fountain itself, and the Fountain descended into the earth, entering a secure bunker designed for keeping the Fountain alive in case of nuclear strike.

In the Square itself, hundreds of Praesillei Dei and Honour Guards were storming out from the walls of the complex, which contained tunnels to the underground barracks of the private army of the Andropov Family. All of the gates into the Kremlin were locked down with their blast doors closing, inhibiting any attempt at a frontal assault. Automated defence systems were immediately turned online, with IFF on, to distinguish between friendly and hostile forces. Alexei was taking no chances.

Alexei didn't want to put the leaders in a panic, but he feared he would have to sooner or later, as what was going on outside the massive windows was impossible to miss.

It couldn't get much worse. At least no attack on RAMC itself was occuring, they could take refuge in that fact.

John Server sensed the detonation of the bomb and collapsed in a heap. His wife immediately went to his side to calm and down as John screamed.

Satellite E-27, Low Earth Orbit

E-27 had a boring life for a machine. It had sat up here in the cold void of space for years now, its sensors scanning for an event that, quite frankly, no one ever wanted to have. Suddenly, the CPU had work to do, work harder than it had ever had to do in its entire life. A new and brilliant source of infrared energy had appeared, though it was now quickly disappearing. The programs stored aboard the satellite quickly checked: Yes, this met the paramaters. Had it been intelligent, the message it immediately began beaming to Rosdivan Air Defense Headquarters would have been sung joyfully. As it was, it was a cold and dispassionate message that wound its way there.

RADHQ

General Raymond DeVeers leaned back in his chair. It really was a quite boring job as RADHQ's duty officer today. There was some political trouble in the new ally of Reichskamphen, an assassination or something like that, but nothing that concerned his duties. It was only DEFCON 4 after all, peacetime. Until he was startled out of his chair by a young captain.

"Sir, General DeVeers sir!" shouted the captain, running from his duty station. The next few words would nearly startle the life out of General DeVeers. "NUCFLASH sir!" Possible or actual nuclear detonation with grave risk of nuclear war.

"WHAT?!! Confirm that!!" he shouted at the captain, hoping against hope that it was not true, that it was just a malfunction in a piece of equipment. That was not to be.

"It's already been confirmed sir. Early warning satellite E-27 reported a massive blast in Reichsburg, Reichskamphen's capital. Seismographs have confirmed that a multimegaton nuclear ground burst was initiated in the capital," reported the captain, struggling to keep from weeping at the thought of the immense death toll. All those innocent people....

General DeVeers sympathized with the captain, and desperately wanted to do so himself. There would time for that later though. He had his duty to do now. Walking over to his own duty station, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. Putting that key into a slot, he turned it and pressed a button. A red light began to flash and a prerecorded female voice spoke: "DEFCON ONE, ALL ROSDIVAN FORCES DEFCON ONE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, ALL ROSDIVAN FORCES DEFCON ONE."

Principalities Naval Base

Seaman Jacob Nettles was tired of his work already, and he had started only a half hour before. "Why can't the Navy spring for some automated equipment to paint the ships instead of having us do it?" he griped to the shipmate next to him, indulging in the traditional sailor's perogative to complain. He never heard the response however as it was drowned out by three long blasts of the ship's whistle followed by a short one.

"What the hell? Why're we moving out? We're in the middle of repainting the ship!!" he demanded. A loud *bang* shook him and looked up to see five PBC Hustlers going supersonic over the naval base, something that he distinctly remembered being prohibited. Looking behind him, the carrier CVN24 was already making her way away from her pier, accompanied by the faint, yet distinct, wail of an air raid siren. Though her forces were small in size compared to those of her allies, the Rosdivan forces were making ready to unleash their wrath upon whoever was responsible. They were also getting the hell out of dodge in case someone wanted to prevent them from making ready to unleash that wrath.

Highway HW-53

Michael and his wife Megan were distinctly tired of their children constantly making a ruckus in the backseat of the car. God, why did you have to make little children so annoying? Of course, they had been on the road for a few hours, and children are bound to get a bit cranky.

"Children, would you please be quiet? Daddy's trying to listen to the traffic report so we can get there faster," she pleaded as she turned round to face them.

"...an overturned tanker on highway thirty...*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* The government has declared a civil defense emergency. All military personnel report to base immediately. All leaves are cancelled. All reservists are ordered to report for immediate mobilization. All civilians are ordered to evacuate areas designated as strategic. DEFCON ONE is now in effect. Repeat..."

Star Office, Kremlin Palace

The screaming collapse of President John Server had caused quite a commotion. But John Melkovich was distracted by an incessant ringing in his pocket. It was his official pager, used only for emergencies.


DEFCON ONE DECLARED. NUCFLASH. REICHSBURG GROUND ZERO OF MULTIMEGATON BLAST.

"Holy Mother of God..."

Czarina Andropov was taken aback when Server went down screaming. Then she heard emergency pagers going off and looked over at Nicole who was walking towards her.

"Kathy, we just received word of a nuclear explosion. The nation has just been put on the highest alert."

Kathy slowly nodded. She turned to look at her husband and noticed what was going on outside the window. Her lips tightened as she touched her communicator to get the kids to a safer place when she ultimately fainted.

As time slowly progressed, Siri’s eyes began carefully moving around the room, taking in everything around her in an attempt to figure out what was going on. But something moving out of the window near her caught her eye. It wouldn’t hurt to find out what it was so she stepped over and gave her full attention to whatever it was. Large numbers of the reddish-gold armored Honor Guards streamed out of the walls of the Kremlin and appearing to get organized for something. She also noticed the blast doors closing on all of the gates. Clenching her fist tighter around her katana, she began to grow furious that all this was going on without Alexei even mentioning anything. Just then, President Server fell to the floor and screamed. Her head spun around to see what was happening and barely heard the Rosdivan leader’s comment as he looked at his pager.

She had had about enough of this mess, and as usual when faced with a situation that required patience, something she lacked, she stormed over to the person who she assumed knew everything. This time it was Alexei.

“What the hell is going on here?!” she shouted, clearly quite angry. “I demand to know, now!”

OOC: Grrr…I had this written up before the forums decided to act funky. Oh well…

Liberty-City, Congress Building

The House of Congress was as it usually was – a zoo. The six thousand representatives vied for speaking time, procedural points and points of information. They accused each other and their parties of a variety of crimes from opposing the welfare of the country to being wannabe tyrants to having shorter penises. As it is usual with democratically elected governing bodies, decorum was not always respected, and Allaneans are not people known for decorum even in their daily lives. So it was even on that important day.

“You only pretend to care about the poor and the ill of Allanea! All you care about is the pocketbooks of your corporate masters, you pigdog!” - screamed Allan Greeley (D-Hash) - “Do you truly think that anybody in Allanea believes your foul disguise? You really think that anybody would truly believe that this act of your will help the poor – or is even intended to help anyone except the ultra-rich capitalist elite that backed your election?”

The Plurality Leader, Frederick D. Nickols (R-Merkaz) smiled amiably. “Now now, Comprade Greeley, I do not believe one has to be so rash.” Greeley pailed. “Comrade? You called me Comrade? Are you implying I'm a communist? Why that is outrageous, Sir! I don't know why I don't send you my sec...”

The doors leading into Congress Hall shook open, and crew of parade-uniformed sailors ran in, loaded battle rifles at the ready. Then, entered President Atchinson, his face solemn and stern. “Hello, ladies and gentlemen.”

“You may be surprised that I'm not delivering my news from the podium, like I normally do, but standing the middle of you and reciting them. The reason is simple, my friends. Those are not mere news. This is an emergency of an international scale. Namely, thirty-five minutes ago, a thermonuclear explosion took place at the capital of Greater Prussia.” Gasps were heard throughout the halls as Congressmen soaked in the terrible message.

“It is not yet known who did this, or why, however we have reason to suspect a terrorist attack by the same groups that stood behind the recent terrorrist assassinations. Ladies and gentlement, I aim forced to advise this Congress to evacuate to one or two of the government's anti-nuclear bunkers, where you will all remain safe and under protection for the duration of the emergency, for I fear that those same terrorists would also seek to harm Allanean citizens and public servants.”

Elsewhere in Liberty-City

Heavy John Bolton battle tanks rolled through the streets with a dull roar, infantry perched on their hulls with loaded rifles. Snipers were positioned on the roofs of government buildings, and helicopters gunships patrolled the beach. The boots of hundreds of infantrymen thumped heavily against the sidewalks in Liberty-City as the troops jumped off their Rolling Fotress trucks, polished bayonets already fixed to their rifles, magazines inserted, selector switches on SEMI, ready for every kind of odd thing.

Heavy cargo helicopters landed in front of the Congress buildig, ready to escort the Representatives and Senators to safety. Of course, not all Representatives or Senators would agree to this measure – one has to expect that in Allanea.

Back in the Congressional Building

“Excuse me, here!” screamed Greeley - “Don't you see this is all a sham, perpetrated by the Administration as to disrupt the democratic process? How are we to discuss things separated from each other in concrete bunkers?!”

The President raised an eyebrow. “Wait. Do you actually assert that I faked the news of a tragedy of this magnitude? Sir, you can check this in any news source of your liking, foreign or domestic. And after you're done, I will send you my seconds. Furthermore, I would like to note that in the last year's budget- the one most members of your party voted against, Mr. Greeley – a provision was made for the construction of a Congressional anti-nuclear bunker – so big that it includes a debate hall only slightly less comfortable then this one, and has the facilities addditionally to house you all. Now that this has been settled, can we now evacuate?”

Allied Union Strategic Defense Force Command Center, Allied Union of Velkya

"ALLIED NOVA, ALLIED NOVA, ALL UNITS TO ALERT RED STATUS!"

The alert rang through the halls of the STRATCOM headquarters, as soldiers ran through the halls, as communications shot forth. Satellite photos of the detonation and it's aftermath ran through the information superhighways of the Velkyan military. All over Velkyan bases, both at home and abroad, the call went up, as nuclear delivery aircraft, missile silos, and missile submarines came online, ready to disperse their deadly payload on whatever enemy threatened the Allied Union.

In orbit, the Aegis Missile Defense Grid, comprised of over one hundred seperate LASER platforms and arrays, went online, it's numerous RADAR, thermal, IR and LADAR tracking devices scanning the entire globe for hostile missile launches. Soon, the upper echelons of the government were alerted, and along with them, President Rossland.

The man was a man of peace, but now, it had come time to assume the role of commander in chief. He placed his briefcase on his desk, and propped a portable command center up to it. It began to display current force readiness, as well as up to date information. He stared at his laptop, reading incoming reports of the damage. He stood up, and called his Halo Force guards, who were waiting outside.

"Men, we have a code ALLIED NOVA on our hands. Radio the escorts, get them in the air immediatly, we need to protect this conference." Soon, the message was relayed to the two Sturmfalke fighter aircraft, whose pilots (reluctantly, for the allure of sex and alcohol was great) immediatly, bypassing security, hopped into their ISF-12s, which took off, screaming into the night air, soon, they were close to Kremlin, they sent out a priority call on known allied military channels.

This is Guardian Sqaudron, Allied Union Air Defense Force, we are requesting permission to enter your airspace, we have direct orders from High Command to protect the President from harm.

Nicole caught Kathy as she fainted and gently got her to the floor. "Kathy, wake up."

Kathy stirred some but her eyes remained closed.

2000 Posts! Yeah!

Jack was confused as the chaos unfolded around him. He had not an inkling as to what was happening until he overheard someone mention a nuclear explosion. The first thing he thought of was to call the Vice Chairman so he reached his hand into his coat pocket to fish out the cell phone. As soon as he grabbed it, it began to ring.

“O’Neill,” he stated when he flipped it open.

“Jack!” He instantly recognized the voice of his Vice Chairman. “A few minutes ago, the Zereul detected a nuclear explosion in the city of Reichsburg. We also have confirmation from several other sources.”

Jack’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Dear God, please tell me that this is some sort of bad joke.”

“I am afraid not.”

He rubbed his hand on his forehead and mumbled. “Damnit, this is getting worse and worse.”

“I already have raised the shields over the capital building as a precaution.”

“Good, good. First, I want you to lock the city down entirely. Nothing gets out and nothing gets in no matter how urgent. Put the shields up over the city, too. Next, go nationally and stop all air, space, and gate travel.”

“Will do.”

“Now, I assume Alak is with you, right?”

“No, he left with Sam several hours ago for an inspection aboard the Essex.”

Jack rubbed his chin. “Well, he’d probably be safer out in the open sea anyway.”

“I agree.”

“Alright, it looks like we’ll be here for a lot longer than I had hoped so hold down the fort ‘til we get back. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Ending with that, Jack flipped the phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket. He knew that Shiran would be able to handle things back home so that was a little bit of stress off of his mind. But he still had even more things to worry about here.

To say that the spy satellite was, well, spying would have been, for once, incorrent. In fact, at the moment that the nuclear weapon detonated at the heart of Prussia, the satellite was going through a routine diagnostic check. That it happened over Prussian space was entirely pre-meditated; after all, the Prussians were nominally friendly with the Imperium and it was unlikely in the extreme that anything untoward would be happening within the GPE. That something did happen at that precise moment was an insanely minute bit of bad luck. Luckily the camera array was not down when the bomb went off, or the Imperium would have remained blissfully ignorant of the horrific event.

The reaction of the Joint Strategic Command's SPACECOM controllers was pure disbelief for all of a minute, and then reality kicked in. There had been no ballistic incomings that the satellites could detect, but in a very real sense that meant nothing when there were so many ways to deliver a thermonuclear weapon. Phones were picked up and regional commands brought to a very high state of readiness. The Imperium was not a member of the GPE, but it had cooperated in the past with them and to some of the more insane national leaders, assuming this attack against the Prussians was conducted by a nation, such a justification might have been enough to include the Imperium into any such attack. To make sure there were no misunderstandings, confirmation queries and alert notifications were sent to the Allanean and Dersconi militaries.

((Wow. I guess I picked the wrong assembly to be my first...))
The Grand Emperor was nervous. Probably because his bodyguards were outside the room. And there was talk of a nuke only just reaching his own ears from the shuttle crew... And one of the other attendees just collapsed screaming. When you're in a new place, unarmed and unarmoured with your bodyguards essentially stuck outside, you get a little jittery when there's nukes and people falling over screaming.

Up until now he'd kept towards the edges of the crowd and only given polite greetings to others, preferring to observe for his first time rather than actively get involved... But this was different. He pulled his ceremonial blue silk shirt away, preferring the tight bodysuit beneath it. Just in case there was a fight, he'd like to be prepared, and with the honour guards streaming and blast doors closing, this was all beginning to seem like a trap.

After exchanging greetings and introductions with Count Richard, Jack nodded over to Queen Mariah and chuckled. "I know its been a few years since we've all seen each other and things have changed, but I can tell that Mariah sure isn't any different."

Richard replied "She's been that way since she was 16 ..."

...

Queen Mariah's phone beeped alarmingly. It was a video message - a medium much abused by Queen Mariah herself. She didn't want to look at the message as everyone in the room including the Tzar was getting jittery and President Server had his episode. Funny grind noises from the building weren't helping either.

Her husband was rather concerned and she gave him her mobile and said "You look first. It's bad". Count Richard watched the video in horror, it was a Jeruselem SkyNet video of REICHSBURG, and then a nuclear explosion taking out the city. He just stared in disbelief. Queen Mariah replayed the video - and was shocked. The Capital of Greater Prussia was wiped off the map. Queen Mariah knew SkyNet was now in full alert and had it's orbital laser cannons turned on.

She developed a rather bad headache and had to sit down as blue energy swirled around her. As the "Angel of Jerusalem aka High Priestess of the Davidian Order" these kind of high energy events affected her. A perfect projection of the explosion in REICHSBURG was projected into an empty space as if she was watching it nearby. You could be see the entire city consumed by fire and souls of REICHSBURG city dwellers rising into the sky, while an angel resembling Queen Mariah was standing watching lamenting human nature.

It flickered for a one minute and disappeared. It was the only way of flushing the Vision out of her head. Mariah cursed in French "God I hate nukes ..."

One of the lesser known places in Corporation’s capital city was the Emergency Command Center (ECC) located deep within the heart of Centennial Plaza that was the mile wide and nearly a mile tall (at the central tower) capital building. The ECC contained the controls for the shields for the city and plaza, the thirty foot high gates that separated the cities many districts, power distribution, communications, and even the plaza’s flight controls. Yes, the building was even a city-ship.

Shortly after speaking with the Chairman and making the announcement to close off all inbound and outbound travel, Vice Chairman Shiran Naelthasser teleported his way into the ECC and was awaiting the last of the zero-point modules to connect themselves into the power grid in the eight secondary towers. One by one they slid into their appropriate holders and began to glow brightly. The nine lights over the power control station in the ECC finally switched to green indicating that all were in place.

“Mr. Vice Chairman, we’re ready,” the technician announced.

“Excellent, disconnect the city’s main power from the plasma stations and reroute the grid through here.”

The technician nodded his head and set to work. For a few brief seconds, the entire city of over forty million went dark. Although the traffic lights were out, nearly all of the intelligent people had already hurried back to their homes as was ordered by the public address system. A moment later, the city had power, but those who had the old VCRs were slightly annoyed. Now they would have to pull out the manual to fix the damned time again.

“It’s done.”

The Vice Chairman turned to the man working at another control station. “Alright, now, enable the city lockdown protocol.”

“Aye, sir.”

Each and every one of the thirty-foot-high naquadah reinforced gates slowly began to close. The largest one slid along a track that spanned a forty lane freeway leading out of the city. Over the track were slabs of grating, strong enough to support the millions of automobiles that crossed over it but weak enough to be easily crushed by the multi-ton gates. Some diehards attempted to get past these gates but due to the weakening of the grating, their vehicles were unable to handle it and either were stuck or would flip their vehicle multiple times. Meanwhile, the shield generators all over the city powered up and within a minute, the capital city was virtually unaccessable.

In Waltz City, Vice President Davidson (be inserted in a minute) was ushered to the command and control room. When he entered, he shuttered. On one of the walls was what was going on in Reichsburg.

"People, we have a crisis on our hands. Police status?"

"Sir, they are all out on the street trying to maintain order. So far its working but for how long? That I do not know. The press is just eating this up however as it is on every network. It won't be long till we have panic in the streets."

"If we're going to have panic, we would've had it by now." Secretary of State Jamison said. "Right now, we need to know what is going on in Derscon. President Montgomary has not called us yet."

"True but she is also with friends and she is safer there than she is here. I've been to Derscon at the outset of the Civil War. Believe me, she is safer there."

"What do you want us to do sir?"

"Well General, right now, stay on alert. Your on DefCon 3 as of now. Just don't do anything without clearing it with me first."

"Yes sir."

"Also, get our nuclear readiness up to 3 as well just in case and lock down the borders. No one but Prussian personnel at this moment is to enter."

"Yes sir."

With that, they went about their normal business in the Command Bunker below the palace.

John's pocket starting beeping with everyone elses. He quickly answered, and it was the Cardinal."
"John did you hear?"
"I know somethings up, but not what."
"Reichsburg was nuked. I already placed our forces on High Alert, and locked down the capital. All troops have been called up, and there are constant air patrols. The navy is patrolling the seas around CR, and the armys ready to jump on anyone who even looks like a threat. The OSS is looking at all left wing terrorists they know of. I already called your plane and put them on lockdown. They are on the lookout, checking up on there databases lookng for people too, with the rest of the OSS. They sdhould be safe, since your in Derscon. Good God, John, think of all the people..." his Voiced trailed off.
"We will find the bastards, and GP will stand united. Meanwhile, you keep me informed."
"I will John. Tell Father Marco what happened too."
"Will do."

John explained to Marco what had happened. He looked visibly shaken and said,
"I was just there. I just got back. It could have been me killed. God help all those citizens! God help those embassy staff of CR and all other countries, and any foriegners there too."
John simply nodded. His sword glew brightly, and if you looked straight at it, an overwhelming light cause you to look away.
John got a headache, and sat down holding his head, The lgiht in the sword throbbed along with his pain. He rubbed his eyes, and saw a vision of the angels lamenting over evils of the earth.

Father Marco dug out his stole, and placed it around his neck. From his pocket, he produced a small, old, leather prayer book. He opened it to any page, and it opened to the Dies Irae, ther latin chant for a requiem mass, about the final judgement. He closed it, and put it back in his pocket.

He went over to Mariah and blessed her,
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." He then prayed,
"Lord God, creator of all, free Mariah from her current condition. look with mercy on her, and do not make her suffer from the effects of her position, and grant her peace. We ask this through Christ our lord." He did the same with John, and his headache vanished.
He then said to Mariah,
"I now know how my reading up on the anceint prophesies and mysticism helped me."
Father Marco then lead a prayer, of those who wanted to, for the souls of the departed. He also prayer for the living victims, those who lost family and friends, and those who would suffer from radiation. He did this "Through Christ our lord, who lvies and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever." They replied "Amen."

They then waited for tsar Alexei to make his move.

Several hundred miles downwind of Reichsburg

"This is Alpha-Whiskey-Sierra Niner to Whiskey Control, we are beginning the run now," reported Lieutenant Colonel Mike Williams, keying off the radio and toggling the external collection system. His OS3D-3 was a descendent of the foreign plane called the SR-71. It was somewhat stealthier, but incorporated more room for fuel and had a few additional sensors. The Dash Three was special however, and used for atmospheric testing. Specifically, they collected the fallout from nuclear tests, or in this particular mission, a nuclear attack. Every nation had a unique pattern to its bombs thanks to the uranium ore that it used and how they went about creating their weapons. Chemical analysis of the fallout from the attack on Reichsburg would tell them who supplied the bomb.

"Alright, we've finished the run, heading back to the barn. Y'all better make sure that tanker is there for me on the way back." Colonel Williams didn't have the fuel to make it to the testing zone by himself, he'd had to use buddy stores to get here. A tanker had been sent up along with him when DEFCON ONE was set, but obviously would have to meet him on his way back due to the tanker's severe lack of relative speed. By the end of the day, the results would be sent out to all Rosdivan allies. Even if the nation who tested it wasn't in Rosdivan's files, it was bound to be in someone else's.

OOC: Underwater Asylum, again, sorry. While guards and guns are not allowed in the Royal offices, swords are, as they're a sign of honour. For future reference.
===============================================
Star Office, Kremlin Palace

Alexei let out a large sigh and called the room to order. When that didn't happen, he called in the Praetorian Guard from the Imperial Hallway and they stormed the office, settling everyone down. (There were still plenty of Honour Guards in the Imperial Hallway just in case) Tsar Alexei stood up when they were all quiet.

"I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this," he started, with definite sadness in his voice. "Everything you are hearing is true, a nuclear weapon was detonated in the Reichskamphen and Imperial capitals. However, this is not what I initially was worried about.
"The moment of the assassination, I'm sure some of you noticed many inbound flights into Reichskamphen and Derscon. These flights contained every single member of the Royal Family of Greater Prussia, and of Reichskamphen. They all boarded a yacht owned by my cousin to decide on a new leader. Unfortunately, about fifteen minutes ago, it was confirmed that every single member was killed. I didn't tell you, as I didn't want to cause a panic; however, a nuclear detonation is not something that can be covered up." Alexei downed the rest of his tea and continued, still standing behind his massive desk, the Praetorian Guard forming a half-circle around the back of the room, and the four cloaked and masked figures were floating around behind the Tsar.

"The current situation looks like this: One, Emperor Napoleon was assassinated by an agent of an unknown terrorist organization, and in the process, the commander of the Prussian Imperial Guard went down. Two, Reichskamphen and Greater Prussia are without a Royal Family. Three: Greater Prussia and Reichskamphen are without a capital city. Worst of all though, is Four: Reichskamphen no longer has a central government.

"The current death toll is unknown, and frankly, I don't want to know it. However, at this very moment, I, as de facto Emperor of Greater Prussia, have mobilized the Imperial Guard and moved them to Reichskamphen to preserve order, and declared a State of Emergency, as disorder in Reichskamphen is defnitely a threat to the Empire's stability. My guess is that in about twenty minutes, everyone in Reichskamphen and beyond will realize there is no central government anymore. From there, I don't know what will happen.

"Right now, though, all of you are safe, as any assault on the Kremlin would be an impossibility -- such an event has not occured in some eight hundred years, and then a successful assault has not occured in more than three times that amount. However, the possibility of one occuring is still there, which is why I have initiated such a lockdown on Rekjyavich-Andropov Military City and the surrounding suburbs. If there is an assault, we'll know about it before we can even see it from this building.

"So I apologize for not telling you everything right away, but I didn't want to cause a panic." He shrugged. "Hopefully, everything'll be okay." When he was done, he looked over at his unconcious wife in the hands of President Nicole, and walked up to her.

"Here, let me take her." Alexei picked Katherine up and walked through the oak door behind his desk leading into the Private Quarters, where he set her on their bed. A minute or so later, Lauren Andropov, their daughter, walked in.

"Lauren, I need you to take care of your mother. She fainted out in the office."

"What's going on, dad?" Lauren walked over and sat beside him, looking at her passed-out mother. Alexei just sighed and shook his head.

"I don't frankly know, at the moment." He hugged his eldest daughter tightly against his chest. "Everything'll be okay, though, don't worry." Alexei kissed Lauren on the forehead and stood up, walking towards the door. "Keep her company." With that, Alexei walked out of his bedroom and into the hallway of the Private Quarters. Xavier, now officially a Prince, walked up.

"I saw it all over the news, dad. The explosion in Reichsburg." Alexei nodded.

"I know."

"You think someone's going to try something here?" Alexei nodded.

"Not like that, though. No, it'll be different. They know this fortress is impossible to breach from a regular military assault. They're going to try something, but what, I don't know." Alexei's Gaia Blade began to glow a bit, as his son was wearing the Mars Blade. The Mercury Blade was currently sitting in a monument to Shogun Kamikaze of Pschycotic Pschycos. Both Father and Son walked out of the Private Quarters into the office, to see the national leaders all sitting quietly on the couches, and Yuri Golovko, the Minister of State Security, as well as Field Marshal Sir Arthur Wellesley, now Chief of the General Staff (with the Jupiter Blade strapped to his side) standing in the middle.

"What's going on?" Kynaz Xavier beat his father to the question.

"Well, I did not tell the national leaders, but I got them quiet," Golovko stated. Marshal Wellesley stepped forward.

"Sir, I never thought it possible, but at this very moment, a frontal assault on Rekjyavich-Andropov Military City is currently occuring." Alexei was quite visibly baffled.

"What?" To the amazement of everyone, the Tsar broke out in laughter. When he recovered, he poured a glass of good Dersconi Allistaire Vodka.

"Are you serious? I got this worked up for that?" He took a swig and shook his head. "Kill them all. I want their smoking carcases to litter the countryside around the suburbs. Lord knows their decomposition might help the soil, assuming the white phosphorus doesn't incinerate the nutrients." He chuckled and topped off his glass, and rose it.

"Cheers to the stupidity of our enemies. May they burn in hell for the rest of eternity."

Kathy woke up and looked at her daughter.

"Momma you ok?"

"Yes sweetie I am. How did I get here?"

"Daddy brought you in here."

"Ok.. Yea.. well...."

"Momma you ok?"

"I will be sweetie. Comeon! I am better." She sipped some water and tested herself on her feet. "Yes I am fine. Come on. Just in case. Besides, its about time you learned a thing or two about politics."

She and Lauren quietly re-entered while her husband was talking and sat on the chair closest to the door to the private quarters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nicole did notice her entrance and raised an eyebrow while still concentrating on Andropov and what he was saying. When kathy saw the eyebrow raise up, she slightly shrugged.

She took the drink and sipped it, not sure on wether to be cheering or to be concerned.

"Czar, what does this mean for the reast of Greater Prussia? I mean are we under threat too? Remember that we just got done with a civil war that was very bloody (and I still need to complete it in another thread GRRRR) and we just now got back on our feet. How is this going to affect those of us who do not have royal families?"

Now it was Kathy's turn to raise an eyebrow in return because it has been awhile since someone questioned Alexei on this very issue.

OOC: Shit, I step out for three freaking hours to wash my car for my date tomorrow, and I come back to chaos. Damn you, damn you all! *Ahem*, that aside...
=================================================
IC:

Honimishu,
Pschycotic Pschycos...

Blasting air raid sirens began going off around the entire city, several hundred square miles of it. Several short moments later, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Armies poured into the streets from the many bases inside the city, heavy armor pieces supporting them. The already thin traffic ground to a complete halt. Officers across the city began shouting over bullhorns:

The Imperial Shogunate is now under martial law. All civilians are to stay indoors until further notice. All rights as citizens are hereby revoked until further notice. OBEY ALL MILITARY ORDERS!!!

The great city of Honimishu had only six roads in or out. Each of these was suspended over a 30 foot deep moat around the city (it boardered an inland sea). As the alarms went out, massive Gundanium Alloy/Carbon Fiber blast doors slammed shut. The 100 inch doors were blasted shut with high explosives, sealing the city in less than 2 seconds. Flood gates attached to the Inland Sea opened, allowing water to pour into the moat. Around the entire city were 150 inch walls of stone and Gundanium Alloy. Every 100 feet was a guard tower, and in said towers were 75mm anti-air cannons, which activated along with everything else. In ten minutes, the city was fully sealed off, prepared for a full on frontal...or internal assault.

The Honimishu Castle, on an island in the Inland Sea, underwent an extrodinary change. 45" turrets unfolded from the rock face on each side, and hundreds of CIWS systems unfolded. The castle couldn't be taken.
========================================
Derscon...

The shogun was hardly believing his ears. This stuff had never happened before, an attack on Prussian soil was unheard of. Especially nuclear. His cell rang, and he took a quick moment to answer it.
*Unkown*:Sir, the nation is under martial law. Honimishu is under
full military lockdown. Admiral Yamamoto is taking charge until you return.

*Kenshin*: All right thank you. Alert the escort Astrays in Derscon, have
them be ready.

*Unknown*: Yes Sir! It shall be done.

*click*
==========================================
Where-ever the Hell my Pilots Are...Most Likely an Area Where Women are Treated as Objects...

The two pilots that had acted as escorts for the Shogun were enjoying themselves...when their two beepers went off, okay, only one went off.
"You kept that motherf***ing thing on?
"Well, just in case..."
"Damnit, why do you have to be the good soldier? I got a payraise for flipping the shogun the bird!"
"Whatever, pay and let's get the hell out of here."
The two exited the questionable establishment and quickly proceeded back to where their mobile suits were stored. Reaching them, they climbed in and powered them up, going on standby. The one piloted by the one of questionable morality shifted oddly as it stood, the neurologic interface responding to the pilot.
"Please tell me you didn't catch something."
"The owner said she was a virgin."
"We're so f***ed."

Dersconi Control, this is Astray One and Two, Psi-Pso Escort Duty,
We're on standby as per orders, requesting permission to unlock weapons
systems, over.

John stood up and said,
"Tsar, I thinkt hat we all agree that you should become the official Emperor of Greater Prussia. We can't wait for an election, as that would not work." He said, shooting a glane at the Formal Danian president, "There are no more Reichskamphen royal parties. As no successor was appointed, and the Royal family is dead the power of the throne is transferred to you anyway. I urge you, Alexei, as a friend, and also as a national leader to consodate power immediatly. You msut show a semblane of order. I advise you to use the Imperial Guard to quell the impending mobs Reichskamphen will be seeing soon. That is, what is elft of the Imperial guards."

John stood up and said,
"Tsar, I thinkt hat we all agree that you should become the official Emperor of Greater Prussia. We can't wait for an election, as that would not work." He said, shooting a glane at the Formal Danian president, "There are no more Reichskamphen royal parties. As no successor was appointed, and the Royal family is dead the power of the throne is transferred to you anyway. I urge you, Alexei, as a friend, and also as a national leader to consodate power immediatly. You msut show a semblane of order. I advise you to use the Imperial Guard to quell the impending mobs Reichskamphen will be seeing soon. That is, what is elft of the Imperial guards."

"I object. There should be an election. You don't need royal parties at all. The people themselves should have the choice on who they should have as their new leader. After all, it is there lives we are talking about here. Who are we here to say what is and isn't good for them." Nicole stated to John. "Do not insult the electoral process. If Czar Alexei here is as popular as you think he is, then you have no fear in holding the election. Besides, I know Formal Dances might vote for him because of who is wife is."

The shogun was forced to put his word in, "I trust Alexi. I trust the system the emppire has worked with. For hundreds of years, we've been run without democracy, and there is no need to change it. I have grave, grave doubts of the democratic system. The Imperial Shogunate has no political freedoms whatsoever, and we've stood for ages as one whole, unified nation, undivided by politics. I for one say we keep the current system, and allow Alexi, who had been Arch Chancellor and second in command, to assume his role."

"Yes, and democracy allows politics to creep into the system. You also can't expect a majority elected leader to protect anyones rights. He would love at the whim of the masses, which is not good. Follow the law code, and we won't have any more problems than we already have." countered John.

"I trust Alexei too however, I feel that the population as a whole should have the right to decide who should be the leader of Greater Prussia. After all, we are here to serve them. We work for them, they do not work for us."

Katherine sat back and looked over at Lauren who has no idea what the adults were really talking about. Kathy looked at Nicole who is getting quite defiant and she nods in approval of how she is handling herself against these dictators, monarchs, and emperors.

John began rasing his voice now,
"Do you have no respect for Prussian tradition! We must preserve it against those who wish to destroy it. Whoever wishes to destroy it is just as good as the ones who murdered the Emperor and destroyed our capitol. They are both killing traditions that are sacred!"

"Yes, and democracy allows politics to creep into the system. You also can't expect a majority elected leader to protect anyones rights. He would love at the whim of the masses, which is not good. Follow the law code, and we won't have any more problems than we already have." countered John.

"And yet, you have to deal with politics everyday wether you believe it or not. Heads of State deal more with politics than most parliments do. Politics are a part of everyday life. Elections would not spell the end of this system that you are so proud of."

John began rasing his voice now,
"Do you have no respect for Prussian tradition! We must preserve it against those who wish to destroy it. Whoever wishes to destroy it is just as good as the ones who murdered the Emperor and destroyed our capitol. They are both killing traditions that are sacred!"

Nicole glares at King John and in a quiet voice stated "you have just insulted, not only Formal Dances, but Czarina Katherine Rice-Andropov. Us Formal Dancians do not take kindly to insults, especially to women. You are lucky that my security detail isn't allowed in here otherwise, you would be on the ground in a heartbeat. Your guards wouldn't be able to do a thing. You want to call me a murderer? King John, you have not seen what murder is. Those of us who remember Queen Hapseburg know what murder is. We ousted her not once but twice. She will not be ruling anything again that's for sure.

"You think I want to destroy this system? No I don't but I do believe that it could use some reforms. Reforms that can make this system a tad better. That is what Im doing now. Proposing reforms. Maybe you should ask questions about what I want to see done instead of condemning it. What does the Bible say about rushing to judgement?"

Kathy took this opportunity to speak up. "King John, though you maybe head of Cherry Ridge, remember that you are only the head of Cherry Ridge. She represents Formal Dances and is doing a magnificant job at doing it here so far. Seriously King John, you do not have the right to insult another head of state who is legally an ally of yours. That really is out of your character. I suggest you issue an apology to Nicole."

Siri blurted out. "Elections? I would not trust the fate of the entire empire in the hands of the populace. One thing I have learned in my three hundred years of living is that they're too stupid to know how to vote with any intelligence."

Sitting beside her, Jack just sighed and shook his head.

Siri blurted out. "Elections? I would not trust the fate of the entire empire in the hands of the populace. One thing I have learned in my three hundred years of living is that they're too stupid to know how to vote with any intelligence."

Sitting beside her, Jack just sighed and shook his head.

"With all do respect Madam, you do not know my people at all. Have you ever traveled to Formal Dances ma'am?"

"Well, gentlemen, let's compromise and do things the Rosdivan way. Elected by parliament as leader for life. But, I have a suggestion to make: Why don't we appoint Alexi as Imperial Regent for the current period of troubles, find out who was responsible, remove said persons from the face of the Earth, and then we'll worry about the niceities of how we get an Imperial replacement? Which is exactly what the current law says on the matter anyhow."

Defense Minister of the Greater Prussian Empire, attaché to the alliance from the Second Empire of the Golden Throne, Kril Ferestíen sat silently during the entire meeting, pondering the arguments on both sides. He had never liked to interdict himself in any political battle, as his knowledge was solely centered around the military, but he decided to raise his voice this time. These attendants from Formal Dances were going against imperial law and tradition. He slammed his fist on the table and whipped his head around in such a rush that the blood froze, almost in time, and in a harsh voice he said, "Nicole, if I may call you that, you realise that you are arguing against Imperial tradition and law, correct? Given, dogma has never succeeded in the long run. Dogma has caused failures in the church," this may have gotten the attention of the rest, but he didn't care, and he continued, "and dogma caused the fall of the Spanish Empire. This is very true. Dogma has come before all fallen worlds. However, our dogma is not necessarilly bad. To instate a democratic election at this point would be ludicrous, and even if it was an idea that could be considered, it would take far too long to be implemented for this specific case. In other words, Alexei Alexandrovich Andropov XIV is the rightful successor to the throne."

Ferestíen relaxed after the engagement and fell back into his padded chair, his white military suit straightening out and his impressive array of medals and ribbons flashing along the left breast of the jacket. Although Ferestíen had said nothing in the conference until now, he was not a man of no importance. Indeed, he had reformed the entire Greater Prussian military and he thought it was a good time to voice his opinion and make note that he would be heard. Frankly, he did agree that the Empire needed many, many changes, but he did not agree that this was one of them. With that, he awaited responses from the others.

She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that I have not. Are you saying that your people are smarter than all of ours? Do not think of them too highly or you will be disappointed."

John simply said, calmly,
"I do not see how I insulted the Tsarina. I doubt that she wishes to destroy the Prussian system. Also, I try to remain civilsed and not threaten to attack with armed guards. Please, act like a lady. Do not drag the bible into this, for in it does it not talk of the king's annointing. Was he elected?"
John then turned to Kathy,
"Kathy, I do not see the insult. Surely, she does not wish to destroy Prussian tradition. I only insulted those who do wish it. Any good Prussian wouldn't."

He also shot a grin at Siri, and laughed to himself anout how ehr husband must feel.

She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that I have not. Are you saying that your people are smarter than all of ours? Do not think of them too highly or you will be disappointed."

You really should attend a session of Congress. The debates are orderly and well thought out. I should know. I was part of Congress before I became President. President Wilson was a leader in the Senate prior to the 1st Civil War and led the nation through the 2nd one. Our people are intelligent. I wouldn't say that they are smarter than everyone but when it comes to politics, they are quite capable of holding debate. Much like what I'm doing now."

John said sarcastically,
"Wow, two civil wars in one man's lifetime? Thats something to be proud of."

Ferestíen shook his head. He was not one to insult, but when he was heated it was hard for him to think otherwise. He paused before saying anything and silently agreed to himself to simply say what he wanted to say. He murmured, rather loudly, although half sarcastically, "One who knows how to argue should know when said argument is implausible."

"The point is, democracy DOES NOT WORK in Greater Prussia. You've been here long enough to know that.

"Also, do not threaten anyone here. I don't like allowing things to turn ugly."

“I abhor your system of government for that very reason. Debate does nothing but waste time in a crucial situation. What is needed is action, not screwing around talking about it.” Siri huffed before she added. “Like what we are doing now.”

At this point, Jack just gave up on any sort of input and sat back, watching everything. He had been married to Siri for nearly 10 years already and knew that he should just let her say what ever she needed to say and not interfere.

Ferestíen interjected once again, although for the most part he was being ignored in this argument. Nevertheless he would continue to say things at his will, since he tended to be that stubborn. This time, however, it would be in Forman Dance's defense. He turned to the representative of Northrop-Grumman and said, "Admittedly, head rushing into action tends to cause massive mistakes. Although democracy in the Empire [Second Empire of the Golden Throne] does not exist, argument does - which is why Fedor has always sorrounded himself with loyal advisors, although true enough, the only situation so far has been the War of Golden Succession which still rages."

[OOC: Ugh, no more posting. I should have been off a while ago.]

John simply said, calmly,
"I do not see how I insulted the Tsarina. I doubt that she wishes to destroy the Prussian system. Also, I try to remain civilsed and not threaten to attack with armed guards. Please, act like a lady. Do not drag the bible into this, for in it does it not talk of the king's annointing. Was he elected?"
John then turned to Kathy,
"Kathy, I do not see the insult. Surely, she does not wish to destroy Prussian tradition. I only insulted those who do wish it. Any good Prussian wouldn't."

He also shot a grin at Siri, and laughed to himself anout how ehr husband must feel.

Kathy glared at John but said absolutely nothing. Nicole though stayed calm and collected as she said "you did insult the fine people of my nation. You have also just ignored a request made by the wife of the person you want to sit on the throne as emperor. That can be considered another insult.

"As to the Bible, there is a big difference between the Son of Man and those of us here on this God Forsaken planet. We can discuss bible philosphy later however as it really is not important to this discussion."

She looked around the room. "I see that this room fears change. I wonder why that is?"

Alexei sat back, reclining in his chair, watching the debate with slight amusement. He leaned back further and his son bent down to listen to him. "Xavier," he said, whispering into his ear. "Watch this very closely. This always happens with democracies. All democratic governments think monarchies are inherently evil, and think all cultures can be subjegated to democracy. This is their inherent flaw." Xavier smiled, joining his father in watching the debate with great amusement. Alexei smiled when Siri made her comment, and shot her a telepathic response.

Siri, I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks for sticking up for me. When she made eye contact with him, he nodded and smiled at her, letting her know Alexei was watching with great interest. The Praetorian, however, were getting nervous.

Alexei, however, divided his attention and turned on the survaillence outside the suburbs of RAMC, Kynaz Xavier entertaining himself with the live video of the rebel forces being slaughtered by the Koenigschutzstaffel.

She looked around the room. "I see that this room fears change. I wonder why that is?" "As you people say on this planet, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it."

John said sarcastically,
"Wow, two civil wars in one man's lifetime? Thats something to be proud of."

"You should know. You visited the Civil War Memorial on your state visit to Formal Dances. We are currently in the process of another monument for the 2nd one that ended last year.

"The point is, democracy DOES NOT WORK in Greater Prussia. You've been here long enough to know that.

"Also, do not threaten anyone here. I don't like allowing things to turn ugly."

"Apparently it does work for we are in Greater Prussia. We have kept our way of life despite being part of this alliance."

“I abhor your system of government for that very reason. Debate does nothing but waste time in a crucial situation. What is needed is action, not screwing around talking about it.” Siri huffed before she added. “Like what we are doing now.”

At this point, Jack just gave up on any sort of input and sat back, watching everything. He had been married to Siri for nearly 10 years already and knew that he should just let her say what ever she needed to say and not interfere.

"A debate that is needed. Somethings need to be debated so that all sides can be out there. There are times when debate is unnecessary but in this case, a debate is necessary."

John replied,
"So much bloodshed. Sad. Of course, I was too bust in that museam doing other things." he said, grinning, and giving a quick glance at Kathy. He then continued,
"You think it works for yuor nation, but why do you have civl war after civil war over it? Apparently, not all agree. Also, it would never work for the Empire as a whole."

Kathy was watching this all with intensity. She never has seen a live political debate but she was watching what her mother does. Kathy at this point had all she could handle.

"ENOUGH!!" She shouted.

Siri heard Alexei’s voice in her head, something that had not happened to her in over a year, and was a little startled. She knew it was Alexei though and chose not to reply for she did not want to reveal any of her abilities to him until he proved himself worthy enough.

John looked at Kathy and almost said something stupid, but restrained himself. He did, however, shoot a message to Alexei:
No offence, but I think your wife shpuld rest a little. She did pass out, and might need a break. He desperatly glanced at Alexei, hoping he did not take offence, at the obvious message of get her the hell out.

"A debate that is needed. Somethings need to be debated so that all sides can be out there. There are times when debate is unnecessary but in this case, a debate is necessary.""Nothing needs to be debated here. It is rather simple. The law is the law and it needs to be followed. Besides, the law of succession was known to your nation when it joined. Deal with it."

OOC: Derscon, respond to me n Psy's requests to enter your airspace. We want in on this assualt too! :D

When she had everyone's attention, she stood in the center of the room. Lauren sat down on a chair near the desk.

"I have been listening to this debate now and I can honestly see that prejudices that people around here have."

She turned and faced her husband first. "I'll deal with you in private." she said sternly. With that done, she turned to John. "John, you did insult me, my friend Nicole, and my nation. She is right about what happens when insults are thrown against women. It is a big No-No. Do not insult my nation again or you'll have to sleep with one eye open."

She then turned to Siri. "Siri, your not as smart as you think you are. Your prejudice has clouded your judgment in regards to this issue. One must keep an open mind about all suggestions.

"Shogun, cool the emperor is God attitude. It don't fly in my presence."

She turned back to King John. When she did, she slapped him. "You had that coming. You know nothing about how the 1st civil war started. I do. I was there when it started. I remember that faithful day in the square in Jarsa City. I remember the Monarchial Guards firing on the protestors killing several of them. I know not all monarchies are like that. No one in Formal Dances will tell you differently. However, when you cross the line into what Queen Hapseburg did, a Civil War was inevitable. I remember seeing the bodies on the streets. One of those bodies was my Brother and my Father." Tears began to well up at the memories.

"People, no one is out to destroy the fine tradition of this empire. Debate though is necessary in a time such as this. Rushing is not going to solve the problem. Yes we need to restore order. That is what we need to do now. That needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. No one will debate that. However, we need to select a leader carefully and I have to agree with Nicole on this one though that may not come as a surprise that we should let the people decide who the next emporer is going to be."

Alexei, feeling the tensions rise, stood up and slammed his fist down on the table. "ENOUGH!" Alexei's voice boomed thoughout the room, surprising his son -- he's never seen his father this way.

"As Reichskamphen proceeds to fall into ruin, and we face potential dissolvment of the Greater Prussian Government, all of you sit here bickering like children! I've seen better behaved prisoners! At least they were respectful to one another!" Alexei's eyes flashed a glowing red as everyone felt a chill run down their spine. It was his telekinetics causing their discomfort in order for them to stop speaking.

"Now, to discuss changes in government as we face a collapse of a member state is the most proposterous thing I have ever heard! It is a recipe for total anarchy to make any such changes now!" Alexei recollected himself now that his outburst was done and began speaking in a very cold, but firm voice.

"Now, according to Article One, Section One of the Imperial Law Code, should the Emperor be assassinated, all power is transfered to the Arch-Chancellor. And in Section Two of that same article, it states that if the Emperor did not name a heir, the heir is the Arch-Chancellor. Hence, I will be taking all powers of the Emperor, and that is final! The Empire needs a strong leader right now, and as I am the one who is supposed to be this leader, I will take on this responsibility. This is the end of this discussion!" Afterwards, he took his wife aside, speaking very low.

"Katherine, there is no dealing with me in this type of situation." His voice softened, as did his eyes. "Now, you just passed out not more than a few minutes ago. I think you should get some rest." Xavier took his mother by her hand and started leading her to the door. "He's right, mom, you're all ready getting warm. You need rest."

Rossland's voice, which had remained unusally quite, rose up, as he stood up.

"I concur. My comrades, this is not a time for strife amongest ourselves, this is a time for unity. Right now, some unknown force wishes to drive a wedge between us, and we are playing right into their hands. We need to form a course of action to counter this rebel threat before it claims more innocent lives."

"Katherine, there is no dealing with me in this type of situation." His voice softened, as did his eyes. "Now, you just passed out not more than a few minutes ago. I think you should get some rest." Xavier took his mother by her hand and started leading her to the door. "He's right, mom, you're all ready getting warm. You need rest."

She turned her head first to Xavier. "First off, you do not talk to me like that. I am your mother and the bible says to Honor thy father AND they mother. Your out of line young man."

She then looked at her husband. "I'll rest when I decide to rest. Unless of course your going to try and remove me physically. I do not think the jedi master in this room is going to let you do that."

John simply said softly,
"I guess democracies are more violent." He sipped his drink, and sat down, his sword had been glowing bright, but had begun to settle down, slightly.

Rossland's voice, which had remained unusally quite, rose up, as he stood up.

"I concur. My comrades, this is not a time for strife amongest ourselves, this is a time for unity. Right now, some unknown force wishes to drive a wedge between us, and we are playing right into their hands. We need to form a course of action to counter this rebel threat before it claims more innocent lives."

Alexei smiled at President Rossland. "Finally, a voice of reason." He walked back behind his desk and glanced at the security videos for the Kremlin area, and started noticing some movment. What the hell? He zoomed in closer, and realized they were armed, and they were entering the Kremlin. Jesus Christ!

John just let the dicussion go on instead of intervening. It was like watching the Parliment in action over a controversial issue when he decides to let them play politics.

When Kathy said what she said however he took notice. "Kathy is right Czar. Under the Jedi code of conduct, anyone who is removed by force from a forum such as this, I am obligated to make sure she stays."

Alexei smiled at President Rossland. "Finally, a voice of reason." He walked back behind his desk and glanced at the security videos for the Kremlin area, and started noticing some movment. What the hell? He zoomed in closer, and realized they were armed, and they were entering the Kremlin. Jesus Christ!

OOC: Dersy, lemme get my pilots on them. :-)

John responded to Server,
"They also swore another oath, always obey the Tsar, no matter what. I believe they swore that before God as well. That overrides any Jedi code, in my mind. Thoguh, I admit, I am not one of you."

John responded to Server,
"They also swore another oath, always obey the Tsar, no matter what. I believe they swore that before God as well. That overrides any Jedi code, in my mind. Thoguh, I admit, I am not one of you."

"Your right. You are not one of us. If you were, you wouldn't be fighting the way you are. Their oaths may override the code of the Jedi but as a Jedi Master, I am obligated to uphold it. Besides, Alexi here isn't going to do that because he doesn't want to face her wrath if he does."

Rossland shook his head.

I've never seen Star Wars. Better go rent it when I get back home.

It was at this point that Siri did not care what anyone said. No one was going to insult her like that so she rose up from her chair and stared straight at the Czarina. She was clearly pissed as was evident by her reddening face. “You are very fortunate that you have these Praetorian Guards nearby or I would not have hesitated to strike you just as you have done to King Antonette. I do not kindly take people insulting me.”

She paused for a moment before she added. “I see you continuously quote the Bible for your arguments. So I imagine that you must have accidentally skipped over the verse where I believe that it says ‘Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.’” A little smirk came across her face.

Phoren almost winced as an alarm went off in his head- They'd taken down the Royal Family. Guards had filled the room. There had been a nuclear strike... Alexei was right. There was a chance of an assault, but it would probably involve stealth rather than brute force. A chisel rather than a sledgehammer...

And he was unarmed. This very situation was one of his nightmares- In a room filled with potentially hostile diplomats where every move could cause a large-scale incident. But on the bright side, he had two people here he could trust. So he kept an eye on Siri... He most certainly didn't want her to end up unable to interfere, since her experience in combat was high, though perhaps her political prowess could use work.

He almost got up himself to head over and try and get her to realise she needed to stay calm- But then he realized he'd probably end up without a head if he did.

Father Marco, sick of the fighting, stood up and said,
"Before you take that as an insult, think of it this way. The Father and the Son are equal, yet the Son submitted to the Father. There is no shame there. Please do it for the sake of getting on with them meeting. I also, am getting a little annoyed at all this bible quoting, to be honest. Sure you can all quote the bible, but what does it mean when you are all arguing like this, and hitting. Act the bible, don't just preach it." At that, he sat down. John Antonette smiled, and realised why the Cardinal liked him.

Count Richard watched all the leaders fighting like children, while his wife was still unconcious. She wasn't dead but had just shut herself down to protect herself from the "power surge" from the nuclear explosion. An angel could not die but the mortal body she possessed could. He'd been trying to wake her up and even the din from the politicians wasn't working.

He called to John Antonette "Hey John, can you come over here? Can you give my wife, one of those kisses again. I think that would wake Mariah up. It took a week for her to recover last time someone let off a huge nuke." Sure she was irritating, but having her not being irritating was worse to him. She started shifted a little but she needed a little boost to be fully concious.

...

A small light plane was flying towards the Old City of Jerusalem despite the publicly declared "no fly zone" and all non-commercial flights were banned. Commercial flights were being escorted. The pilot had been called several times to turn around but no response. The Jeruselem Air Force had orders to destroy all planes deemed a menace - so they had no choice.

Two F16I Sufas caught up with the plane and visually signalled the pilot to find there was no pilot to be seen. "This is Israel 66, no pilot we repeat no pilot. I will destroy the plane". They took no chances and blew the plane out of the sky with two ASRAAMS, the wreckage hurtled into a slum. They didn't want to do it, but they had no choice.

Fire crews rushed to the crash site to find several houses trashed were to late to save the unlucky occupants. The pilot had died of heart attack and fallen off his seat - but the airforce didn't know that.

After watching this whole scene for several minutes, Jack leaned over to Emperor Narqu, “You know, Phoren, I used to be surprised by something like this, but, after being married to Siri for this long, it doesn’t that much anymore.”

He sighed. “She’s gonna give me white hair at this rate.”

John almost got up, but the priest shot him a look, and also Count Richard.
"Give your own wife a kiss. It isn't ones one power, but their face that will wake her. Remember, God powers the swords. God also is love, and true love is between a husband and a wife."

Pschycotican and Velkyan military air personnel, you are granted permission
to engage all enemy forces outside the suburbs. However, DO NOT UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES FLY OVER THE KREMLIN FORTRESS. This is your only warning.
=======================================================
Star Office

Alexei was starting to get angry at the events. One could see electrical bolts flashing up and down his fingertips, and his eyes were glowing a bright red. Energy slowly started to be emitted by him, forming a barrier around him at first. It was a carryover from the Old Andropov family, obscure and clearly non-human as they were. After all, it was Ivan the Great's mystic power that caused the people to believe he was an incarnation of God.

"John," Alexei said, his voice very low now, his voice more echoing in the minds of the people instead of through soundwaves. He lifted his head up, his glowing red eyes glaring straight into the Jedi Master. "I will have you know that as Emperor, I have the right to forcibly eject anyone from the meeting at any time, for any reason. I also have the right to invite them. And more. Also, Katherine, while she is my wife, has no political athourity to speak of, hence technically does not belong in this meeting in the first place -- I allowed her here as I typically enjoy her company. I was not aware that she would contribute to what seems to be a treasonous conspiracy against what's left of the rightful government of the Greater Prussian Empire." He stood up again, the electrical currents travelling all up and down his body, as well as flames jumping up and down his cape, refusing to scorch anything.

As Alexei walked around the desk, towards the centre of the assembled crowd, the Praetorian got a little anxious. He left the Gaia blade with his son, Xavier, who at the moment was duel-weilding. He had no problems with lightsabres -- the Holy Swords of YHWH were unbreakable my anything created by a mortal, of which lightsabres are. The Tsar turned and glared down at Nicole, towering over her.

"Every single time I attempt to hold a meeting like this, to bring the Empire together, every single one of your represenatives -- NEVER FAILING! -- starts a division and an uproar amongst us. It is quite clear to me that your only intention is simply to destroy the underlying traditions of the Empire, granted by the Grace of God, for no purpose other than to destroy us and or advance your own power at the expense of everyone else." He turned his back on her and went to the front of the room, his desk right behind him.

"Hence, on suspicion of Treason against the Crown, and a nationwide conspiracy to destroy the underlying tradition of the Empire, I am hereby indefinitely suspending the nation of Formal Dances from the Greater Prussian Empire. I want unity in this Empire, and if I have to remove a nation or two to achieve this, I will do so." The Tsar turned his head to Nicole, staring her down again.

"You and your delegation are declared persona non grata in Derscon as well as the entire Greater Prussian Empire. This, as well as your suspension, may be revoked, should you ever learn to respect the Empire. You have-" he looked at his watch for dramatic affect. "-three hours to get out of Prussian airspace." The ramp into the secretary's office opened, and five honour guards walked up and surrounded the FD delegation.

"They will escort you out. Now get...out...of...my...SIGHT!" Alexei did a sharp 180 turn, his cape flourishing in the small draft, some flames shooting off of it, and walked to the window, looking down upon the square in the moonless night sky. It was thunderstorming. A flash of light caught his eye, and his eyes ajusted so he could see through the darkness, where he saw two of his Honour Guards dead -- the two that stood guard at the Golden Doors of the Grand Palace -- the one they were in. And they were open. Shit. He turned around.

"Guards, take them to a suite in the Guest Wing. Secure them there. They are not to be harmed. John, Shogun, Maria (OOC: assuming she's awake), Xavier...Siri," he said, glancing at the NGian. "Grab your swords and come with me. Rakham," he said, turning to one of the Praetorian. "Keep them safe. Server, I ask you stay here and do the same. We have a break-in." He pulled up a communicator. "This is Tsar Alexei. Lock down the Grand Hall." And so it was done. He turned to the people he called earlier.

"Let's go."

John turned and recieved a blessing from Father Marco. He then went and followed Alexei. Marco went with the rest of the group.
John walked next to Alexei and said,
"They were getting a bit annoying. Now, do you have any ideas who these intruders are, or shall we soon find out?"

Siri certainly was not expecting to have her name called out to go with the group, but of course, she would never refuse this kind of an offer. A chance to do battle? It was one of the things she loved to do no matter how dangerous. A small smile came across her face as she nodded and followed, drawing out her katana.

Shogun Kenshin stood up, and used his thumb to move the reverse-blade sword at his waist past the friction point and followed Alexi. "If it isn't for the seriousness, I'd say this would be a pleasant distraction from that."
===============================================
Dersconi Control, Astray Flight. Requesting vectors to any faltering
or troubled defenses, over.



OOC: I"ll be out all night on a date, let's not do too much.

Inside Dersconi Airspace

"Let's kick some ass, Guardian!"

The two pilots pushed their throttles up, accelerating into Dersconi airspace as their relatively quiet sonic booms echoed across the landscape. They would be on station in mere minutes, thanks to fluid time.

Suburbs

As these fighters approached the combat zone, Halo Team One (Presidential Guards) split into three two man teams, taking positions on high locations in the suburbs with laser designators and rifles. Master Sergeant Matthew Perold stared through his rangefinder, watching an enemy M1A1 sift through the haze of smoke and bullets. His sniper, a younger Lance Corporal, watched the tank carefully as well. "Hey, Sarge, where's our air support?" Perold continued to stare at the tank, marking its coordinates and heading. "It should be here soon, Corporal. Heads up for enemy infantry. Even though the battle was still quite far away, the distant roar of cannons and machineguns sang through their ears like some twisted orchestrate. They had been waiting nearly a half hour.

Then, bliss.

"Team One, this is Guardian One, we are on station and ready to assist. Request immediate target designation, over."

The spotter, using a free hand, responded to the call.

"Roger that, Guardian, enemy armor spotted, coordinates uploaded."

On the aircraft, the pilot watched as the target data was fed to the four ATASM (Anti-Tank Attack Stand-off Munition) missiles in his internal bays. He banked, as the four aim points appeared on his HUD. An automated voice informed him that his weapon bays were open, and his missiles active. He centered his plane and then flipped the release switch upward and slammed his thumb down on the button. At that instant, a weight was lifted from his aircraft, as the four exhaust trails streaked at supersonic speed towards the enemy tanks, joining the four other trails streaking towards the enemy armor.

It was at this point that Siri did not care what anyone said. No one was going to insult her like that so she rose up from her chair and stared straight at the Czarina. She was clearly pissed as was evident by her reddening face. “You are very fortunate that you have these Praetorian Guards nearby or I would not have hesitated to strike you just as you have done to King Antonette. I do not kindly take people insulting me.”

She paused for a moment before she added. “I see you continuously quote the Bible for your arguments. So I imagine that you must have accidentally skipped over the verse where I believe that it says ‘Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.’” A little smirk came across her face.

"And I guess you also missed the part about all of us being created equal in the image of God?" Nicole quipped before Kathy could say anything.

John turned around and was now clearly pissed.
"The Tsar kicked you out! Go! As Father Marco said, there is no shame in obeying an equal! You keep quoting the bible, yet you ignore that God call's his people his kingdom! He annointed David through his prophets, and Kings to this day rule by divine right! You simply ignore that and rebel! Please, leave! I am sure you do not want to get the Tsar angry." His sword glew a bright white, and he was ready to take out his anger on whoever the hell the intruders were.

*snip*

Kathy stared on in shock and nodded to Lauren to leave with them. "Then you might as well do the same to me then Alexi. As a Formal Dancian myself, I will go with them. Lauren and Xavier will join me in the guest quarters as well. She motioned for Xavier to come forward and he was uncertain on what to do.

Nicole stated before she was ushered out, "We have no intentions of treasonous activities inside Greater Prussia. You have allowed us to maintain our way of life and that is all we want. All we did was broach reform which isn't treasonous whatsoever. Unlike dictatorships, we due respect debate and do engage in it. I'm sorry you feel that way about debates as well as reforms. We did not come here with the intentions of dividing this empire. Good day Czar. May God forgive you for your transgressions!"

When Nicole left Kathy looked at Xavier. "Come on Xavier. You coming?"

John turned around and was now clearly pissed.
"The Tsar kicked you out! Go! As Father Marco said, there is no shame in obeying an equal! You keep quoting the bible, yet you ignore that God call's his people his kingdom! He annointed David through his prophets, and Kings to this day rule by divine right! You simply ignore that and rebel! Please, leave! I am sure you do not want to get the Tsar angry." His sword glew a bright white, and he was ready to take out his anger on whoever the hell the intruders were.

Nicole turned around. "Remember what the Bible says about pride. Your heading for it." and left.

ooc: Im not sure, but I think Xavier is a Derscon character, and he should RP him, since he is next in line for the throne. Just my thoughts. You should RP Lauren, him Xavier. Again, just my thoughts.

ic:
John replied,
"Judge not, unless you wish to be judged."

ooc: Im not sure, but I think Xavier is a Derscon character, and he should RP him, since he is next in line for the throne. Just my thoughts. You should RP Lauren, him Xavier. Again, just my thoughts.

ic:
John replied,
"Judge not, unless you wish to be judged."

OOC: He's both of our characters.

ooc: I know, but I thoguht since he's the "crown prince", Derscon should RP him. Also, Xavier already took his father's side earlier, so he really wouldn't switch. Just my thoughts again.

Xavier, holding two of the YHWH Swords, stood between his mother and his father, his mother halfway down the ramp and his father looking at him from the window. After more than a few moments of decision, he stepped towards Alexei. "No, mother. My father, my nation, this Empire needs me right now, I cannot go. I'm sorry." Alexei simply stared at Katherine with his still glowing eyes, without compassion as she departed with the FD delegate. When they were gone, Alexei grunted, and spoke very quietly.

"God is on my side, heathen. It is you who will burn in hell." Alexei looked up at the crowd and shook his head.

"The idiots don't know when the right time for debate is. All of you whom I called, follow me, we have business to take care of in the Grande Hall." With that, he took the party down the ramp into the Imperial Hall, into the Foyer Royale, and to the elevator into the Grande Hall. Alexei stopped and looked around.

"Everyone ready?"

John looked sympathetically at Xavier. He said to Alexei,
"How wrong of her to force him to choose."

When Alexei addressed the group, he put his hand on his sword and said,
"Let's go."

They entered the guest quarters and Kathy plugged into the Formal Dances news Network.

"Looks like V.P. Davidson has things in control!"

"Yes Kathy, he does. You didn't have to join me you know?"

"I know that but I had a reason doing what I did."

"What's that?"

"That you overstepped your bounds. They were right. This was not the right time for a debate. You picked the worst possible moment for it. I didn't want to say this infront of others." She looked over at Lauren and pursed her lips. "Nicole, there is one thing about you that I have been afraid of and you proved it tonight. Your a wonderful debator and your intelligent however, they do not like democracy and they do not like having the Word of God thrown back into their faces. You did both and now you have jeopordized your relationship with all of Greater Prussia. Because of your attitude Nicole, you got F.D. placed on suspension and now its going to be hell to get us back off of it. It won't be a problem though if you admit your mistakes and beg for forgiveness before the Throne and before God. Is that understood?"

Nicole stared at her in shock. "Yes it is understood. What I can't understand is why you are siding with them."

"In this case they are right. Debate isn't what we need. Action is what we need. We do debate way to much most of the time however, a good head of state knows when there is a time take action and a time to debate. Now we need action. Only later will we debate. You understand?"

"Yes ma'am. I see what you are saying." she bowed her head in shame. "Mom always said I had this streak in me to cause trouble."

"She's right. You do." Kathy said giggling. "Now though I have a feeling the fireworks are about to start. I guess your petition will just have to wait." She sighed.

"Momma?"

"Yes Lauren?"

"What's going to happen?"

"Daddy is going to save the empire sweetie. You just relax. We are all going to be fine." She bent down and hugged Lauren.

A part of Siri was greatly pleased that Katherine had left with the rest of the delegates from Formal Dances and hoped that she would never have to see any of them again. But yet another part of her felt sorry for Alexei’s loss. She could not even imagine what it would be like if something happened to her marriage.

She fiddled with her katana until Alexei spoke to the group. Nodding her head a little, she followed.

"I'll give her credit for one thing, she's got guts. Both of them actually. I wouldn't mind having her watching my back in battle." John said as she watched Kathy and company leave the room.

He turned his attention back to Alexie and ignited his lightsaber! "Lets kick some ass"

"I'll give her credit for one thing, she's got guts. Both of them actually. I wouldn't mind having her watching my back in battle." John said as she watched Kathy and company leave the room.

He turned his attention back to Alexie and ignited his lightsaber! "Lets kick some ass."

Alexei shook his head. "Normally, I would have you along, but I have a very strong feeling about these people. Plus, you can't use your force powers in the Kremlin." He shrugged. "Besides, I need you to stay here and keep these people safe. I'm taking my Praetorian with me."

Alexei shook his head. "Normally, I would have you along, but I have a very strong feeling about these people. Plus, you can't use your force powers in the Kremlin." He shrugged. "Besides, I need you to stay here and keep these people safe. I'm taking my Praetorian with me."

"yea and where do you want me to take them? We can all meet up with Katherine if ya like."

[code]Guards, take them to a suite in the Guest Wing. Secure them there. They are not to be harmed. .................................................................................................... ..............................................Keep them safe. Server, I ask you stay here and do the same. We have a break-in."

ooc: For your reference, Corneliu

ooc: For your reference, Corneliu

OOC: Here could mean anything. :D

Alexei nodded. "Yes, meet up with Katherine."

OOC: Short post. I'm getting a real one written up on paper ATM, I'll probably post it sometime tomorrow. Speaking of which, I won't be on too much this weekend. Some Scout stuff, family, and a genocide project. I'll sneak in a post here and there, though. :)

Count Richard knew only one thing could wake up his wife really quickly, touching her sword blade with her ring. It worked but could kill him at the same time so he slid her hand onto an exposed part of her sword. There was massive surge of holy power as both items short circuited putting life back into the unconcious body of Mariah. At the same time it threw Richard back a few metres. He hated going near that sword.

Mariah woke up and looked around. "Where the hell is everyone, seeing people missing from the room?" she asked everyone and looked at time. Either time had speed up or she had been unconcious, she realised. Richard got up and said "You shut down for while. I had to use your ring again." She looked at him "Oh, silly me. You shouldn't have ... you almost got killed last time". He shrugged "I know, but there's trouble ahead with Formal Dances and the new Emperor." Mariah stretched, stiff from being inactive "You mean the Tzar enacted one of the lawcodes."

Server just nodded his head and moved the entourage down to the guest quarters of the Formal Dancian delegation. On the way, he mauled over what was going on inside Greater Prussia.

"Everything is going to be ok John." Erica stated with her radieant smile. "I'm sure everyone knows what they are doing."

"Oh I'm sure they do. I'm also certain that Kathy didn't leave her husband like that for her own health. I don't want to be President Montgomery right now. I"m sure she is getting a tongue lashing."

"Maybe"

They arrive at President Montgomary's door and he knocks on it.

When the knock came unexpectantly, Nicole and Kathy both jumped. Her press secretary opened the door and admitted John and family in as well as other people.

"John, this is a surprise." Kathy stated. "Why aren't you with Alexei fighting."

Father Marco crept in, and stood near Count Richard.
"Allow me to stand here, Highness. Its always good to be near other Catholics in situations like this."

OOC: I'm back and waiting to prepare a proper post.

When the knock came unexpectantly, Nicole and Kathy both jumped. Her press secretary opened the door and admitted John and family in as well as other people.

"John, this is a surprise." Kathy stated. "Why aren't you with Alexei fighting."

"Reason being my powers do not work in the Kremlin. Besides I want to make sure that no one hurts you two. Alexei feels that you need to be protected and what better protection is there than a Jedi master and two jedi padawans?" he said with a chuckle.

He then turned to Nicole. "Nice speech but it was fruitless from the outset. I give you credit for it though. You do have spunk. Its what the world needs more of but in this empire, Democracy is frowned upon. You are a fighter but one thing about being a fighter is known when you are beaten. To put it in simple terms, you got trashed tonight and now you may have to pay severe consequences for it. I'll do what I can but it won't be enough."

He turned back to Kathy. "How are you dealing with all of this. This must be more difficult for you than it is for President Montgomary."

"Alexi, shall I assume you want me to kill these assholes?" Kenshin asked. He was feeling fairly awkward. He was still wearing his family's armor, but he had done all his lifetime's fighting in just a simple kimono. The bulkiness as it made his chest several inches bigger was getting to him. However, he knew that there'd probably be several automatic weapons, and he could only handle four at a time before being overwhelmed.
==============================================

The Astray Flight decided that it wasn't going to wait to find out which sector needed help, instead, they'd just blow the first group of combatants they saw to hell. As the boosters kicked on, they threw away great clouds of dust from around the mobile suits, and they took off, streaking toward the suburbs. Astray One's pilot, a man by the name of Ishimaru Shun, quikly unlocked the suit's weapons systems, and activated its combat mode. The placid green sensor "eyes" changed over to yellow as the combat sensors were activated. On it's left arm was a giant shield, and on the underside was a stowed beam rifle. The right arm reached over and unslung it, instantly activating it. "All right, let's go. Armor pieces bearing our 12 o'clock." The two suits aligned side by side and flew in toward the fray, energy beams blasting out of the beam rifles, lancing out for both armor pieces and scattered troops on the ground. The two suits split off in opposite directions just before hitting the Dersconi security forces, circling back around for a second pass. The second suit had additional rocket pods attached to its legs and the top of its shoulders. Circling back around, the pilot reeled back on the throttle, pulling to a hover. The pods opened, unleashing dozens of rockets on the aggressors.
"Die you motherf***ing bastards!"

"Yes it is difficult. I left with Nicole here so I can talk to her privately about whather actions could cost her. Right now, no one back home knows what has transpired and right now, I'm hoping to keep it that way. If word leaked out, she could face impeachment.

"To be honest, I didn't want to leave but I had to talk to Nicole privately and it seemed like the best thing to do."

Lauren ran next to her mother. "I love you mommy."

Kathy just smile as she held her daughter. Nicole stared at the scene and remembered her own children back home. "I only wanted what was best for future generations."

"Right now, we have to make sure there is a future for our future generations." Kathy told her. "That debate put that in jeapordy. I hope you realize that now."

All she could do was nod.

OOC: Ugh. Brain juices not flowing, can't think! THis next post has to be good, though -- its an intro to a big battle. :) I'll see if I can get one up later tonight.

Father Marco crept in, and stood near Count Richard.
"Allow me to stand here, Highness. Its always good to be near other Catholics in situations like this."

"Hey Father Marco, can I borrow that book for yours for while. Might as well read something while we're waiting for something. I want to memorise that thingy you read to me earlier." Queen Mariah smiled as she leant on this shoulder. You could smell her perfume, like it was from the Garden of the Goddess Venus/Aphrodite.

Only her and Siri as well as the guards were left to fight off any assalants who might get past Alexei and co, ironically both were female. The boys were always fighting wars first.

Rosdivan Naval Headquarters, Custos Morum Military City

The conference room, being rather large, was not filled with the mere physical presence of those within, but rather, by the presence of their authority. The dozen men within represented the top echelon of the Rosdivan Navy, none below a three-star. That they would all be together meant that there was a serious situation. Most folk would consider DEFCON ONE to be a serious situation. They'd also be right. That wasn't why the admirals were gathered together however. At the moment, Fleet Admiral Winston Macintire was speaking.

"So, it's agreed then. These pictures," pointing to a folder of satellite recon photos, "show an attack underway against Rekjyavich Andropov Military City, where the Lord Protector is currently residing. And, since we have not heard from him since the explosion in Reichsburg, there is reason to believe that he is in grave danger." At this point, COMROSSURWAR Admiral Jacob Marley spoke up.

"I think that it is imperative that we send forces to investigate the situation, assure the safety of the Lord Protector, and, if neccesary, assist Dersconi forces in destroying those rebels. BC4 and her escorts were heading to Derscon anyhow, to conduct a series of port visits. I propose that we reinforce them with an airmobile brigade and give them a no-limit hunting license."

The debate went on for another hour, but the final solution was what Admiral Marley proposed. BC4 would be arriving within two days, and the 1/3rd Airmobile Brigade, and the ships transporting it, would arrive a week later.

BC4 is a battlecruiser, basically Agincourt on crack.

Father Marco replied to Count Richard,
"I didn't use the prayer book. I said something off the top of my head, but here you go." He handed it to him. The old leather was still strong, and tne pages still turnable.

Father Marco replied to Count Richard,
"I didn't use the prayer book. I said something off the top of my head, but here you go." He handed it to him. The old leather was still strong, and tne pages still turnable.

Count Richard leafed through the prayer book very carefully like a museum item and "This will test my Latin. Just realised how bad it was as they don't teach you Latin in the Marines.", and handed the book to Queen Mariah. She looked through it and shrugged "It's not hard to read", and gave it back to her husband to read. Mariah could read Kufic, Arabic, French, English and Latin. and her German wasn't too bad either. He sat down and started reading.

Mariah asked Father Marco "So, any goss on John's love life? Any weddings in the future?".

ooc: Jerselem, the group that is going to fight is in the elevator. Isn't Mariah going to or no?

ic:
Father Marco replied,
"Rumors are she is a Dersconi." He let on less than he knew, he would let them guess the rest. They would have to wait to find out.

Server just nodded his head.

"Ok, now that we have realized the mistake was made, we will have to fix it. I am willing to help you because I do have good relations with Alexei and I'm sure Czarina Andropov here will pull strings as well.

"Meanwhile! Shall we see how the fighting is going? I have a feeling its going to be spectacular.

((Ack, forget to post!))
The Grand Emperor responded in a few moments "Really? Don't blame you though. If you tried to stop her you'd probably die..." He stopped and looked up for Alexei's... Outburst? That wasn't quite the same word. It was more of a warning to everyone. He'd done similar things during disputes of his Senate... And afterwards, he turned to Jack again and sighed "Damn it. First time I ever come to one of these things and there's a major incident! Think I should order the shuttle to leave the area?"

ooc: Jerselem, the group that is going to fight is in the elevator. Isn't Mariah going to or no?

ic:
Father Marco replied,
"Rumors are she is a Dersconi." He let on less than he knew, he would let them guess the rest. They would have to wait to find out.

OOC - No, you guys go ahead and fight. I've got a visitor called Cyclone Monica tommorow ... :p

Jack shrugged to Emperor Narqu's question. "I would be more concerned about your bodyguards then anything else. The shuttle can be replaced. Besides, it's not like you don't have a ride home. You can hitch one with me and Siri if you needed to."

OOC: Sorry about not posting. Damn real life and...school...got in the way. Stupid learning, who needs it?

“Draw your weapons.” The shinnnkk! of blades against scabbards echoed throughout the hallway as they stepped onto the platform that would take them into the Grande Hall. Alexei gave the voice commands to the unseen receptors. “Break Lockdown, open Tsarhall.” Suddenly, the lights went out, and it was pitch black. “Hang on!”

“The party levitated a bit, and an energy platform took shape beneath them. Some looked down in confusion, but then they saw the floor beneath them dissolve, and the energy platform they were on dropped into the spherical hall.

Down on the platforms adjoining the Golden Doors of the palace, massive bands of what looked like ninjas were swarming all over the place. Alexei whispered something aloud, and the lights in the hall went out, but what happened next startled everyone.

Down at the bottom of the sphere, an electrical storm burst out of nowhere, frying all of the electronics everyone inside the hall was carrying. The lightning – only it was continuous, not just a short burst – went around the walls of the hall, forming a cage-like “structure.” Also, random platforms that floated around dissipated, making getting around the ten story sphere a tad more difficult. The “ninjas” saw the group of leaders above them, and started climbing up. Xavier looked at his father.

“Dad, you’re unarmed.” Alexei shook his head as an explosion of energy occurred in the very centre of the sphere. The energy released by the blast knocked one of the assailants off the platform and into the energy sphere, practically de-atomatizing his physical body.

“Holy…” The Kynaz’s voice trailed off, but he drew back when hew saw his dad about to jump.

“What are you doing?!?” Alexei looked back and smirked.

“Trust me.” Alexei crossed himself in the Orthodox pattern, and then made what looked like a dragon over his chest and forehead, and jumped four or so stories into the massive sphere of energy, leaving the others to fight the mass. For now.

John Antonette drew his sword. He knew Alexei was up to something but not sure what. He would find out later. He waited until a ninja was pulling himself over the top. He stepped on his hand, and crushed it. As the ninja looked up, he kicked him in the face, and then put the sword through his skull, in between his eyes. "Bastard." he muttered. He let the lifeless body fall down, to the floor below.
John hopped to another platform. A ninja had gotten their a split second earlier. He threw a star at John, but he raised his sword, and it hit the blade, and shattered from the power of the sword. John blocked a slash from the ninja. The sword heated up, and the ninja and him swung at the same time. The sword of St. Michael broke the blade of the ninja. The ninja pulled a dagger, and lunged at John. He dodged, and John grabbed his arm, twisted it, and threw him to the floor. The ninja pulled a smoke bomb, and let it go. John could not see him, until the ninja jumped up. John saw him "flying" towards him, after his sword made enough light to see, barely, in the some around him. John picked him up, and said,
"Repent, asshole." The man smirked and John slit his throat. He let his body plummet to the floor below, and it hit toher ninjas, causing a few to have to restart their climb.

Queen Mariah's sword was energised by the happenings elsewhere, meaning it was bad news all round.

She said to everyone, "It looks like Xavier, Alexei and John are busy as they have activated their powers. Everyone who is not armed should watch out for any intruders from anywhere. We and the guards will try to protect everyone but we can't be everywhere. If you have a weapon, anyone - get it ready, even it if it is just a chopstick."

She pulled out a pistol from under her skirt and gave to her husband "I won't be needing this." and pulled out another weapon, a throwing knife. Her sword Excalibur, or the Sword of Darkness in the other hand.

She checked the door was locked securely, not much they could do but hope no weirdos turned up.

Richard returned Father Marco's book and said "I really want to know where you get these books from. We need a few prayers right now." and he released the safety on his gun. He checked the bullets and said to his wife "I assume these are those bullets deemed illegal by the UN. Tungsten tipped dum-dums ... nasty." She shrugged "You can't hide a MP5 in a mini-skirt" and threw him another clip "And some tracers ... only joking!"

Marco replied,
"I got this book from the walls of the abandoned church on the grounds of St. Meinrads Archabbey."

ooc: I think Siri is with Alexei, John, and the rest

ooc: I think Siri is with Alexei, John, and the rest
OOC: Yeah, she is. I still have to write the post for her fighting. Hopefully I can finish most of this essay and I can write the post this evening.

Kenshin, used to Alexi's abnormal activities, and the different, to say the least, architecture of the Kremlin should've been immune to seeing the proceedings. However, he couldn't help but reel when he saw the hall deteriorate into hell-on-earth. He was feeling awkward in the armor, but he overcame that feeling as the fighting began. He took a mighty leap off of the platform to a wall nearby. As he flew, four claws extended out of his forearm piece. Hitting the wall, he dug them in, and slid down, his sword raised above him in his right hand. He brought the dull side of his reverse-blade sword down on one of the ninjas, knocking him off the wall and to a probably certain doom.

OOC:More later

Siri watched Alexei as he leapt unarmed into the massive sphere of energy. She stood there for a moment wondering what in the hell he was doing and why he was acting so damned suicidal, but she eventually shrugged it off as she focused back onto the situation at hand. To her, the only thing that was really important was the safety of those who waited back in the room.

The first thing that she decided to do was to distance herself from the others, lest she accidentally slice the wrong person through. So she made a long leap over to another platform and drew out her katana, waiting for any one of the assailants to climb up. In her mind, if she was going to do battle then she was going to at least have a little fun with it.

The first ninja made an attempt to climb up onto the platform by putting both of his hands on the ledge. Siri was expecting this and was waiting nearby. She then put both of her feet onto his hands and glanced down at him. Shaking her head, she hacked down with the katana, cutting off both of his arms in an instant and sending him plummeting downward. While all this was happening another had already climbed up and ran toward her. She caught his silhouette out of the corner of her eye and ducked at the absolute last minute. Fortunately, his dagger missed her but caught her cloak, spinning her around. She grabbed at one of the daggers in her belt and drove it right into the ninja’s back. When he fell to the ground, she yanked it out and stabbed him again.

OOC: More later, me thinks…

A clap of thunder echoed across the hall, messing with the inner ears of the people inside, making the weaker lose their balance. Xavier used this to his advantage and -- while duel weilding two of the Legendary Swords of YHWH -- made a three story jump down onto a platform, scissor-cutting a ninja in three pieces before using the body of the now dead ninja as a springboard to do a spinning kick into the chest of another, knocking him down to the electrical storm below. A shurikin flew by his face, narrowly missing him, but he moved aside to see it get stuck in the eye of a ninja sneaking up behind him. Xavier impaled the ninja in his lungs, picked up the body, and -- as it was on his swords -- threw it at the ninja who tossed the shurikin, the body making a sickening sucking sound as it flew off the blades, knocking both off the platform they were standing on. He took off his belt, on which was a grappling hook, and threw it up to the platform Antonette was on.

"Use it as a zipline and get down here!"

In the centre of the room, the energy ball started glowing a faint yellow, then dark red, then a blueish-colour, and finally purple, and then total darkness, except for a small pebble now floating, which was emmiting such a strong light you'd go blind if you looked at it.

Suddenly, the concentrated energy did what could only be called a supernova. However, before the energy expanded to the entire hall, it whipped around and formed a tail of an object that flew out of the explosion. The energy tail encircled a band of ninjas and closed in on them, destroying them, before dissipating. Standing in the middle of the ninjas was Alexei, now with black armour unknown by any Earthbound creature, featuring glowing golden dragons. The symbols of the armour, though, were those none present but the Shogun would know, if he thought back and remembered the Realm Outside Reality. In the centre of the breastplate was the symbol for Alexei's homerealm, it glowing bright with a gold and red aura.

The Tsar was visibly taller, his eyes glowing a phosphorescent red now, and in his hand was the Dragon Sword, YHWHs Keystone, Sceptre of the Imperator of the Realms. A long story is behind the latter title, but the former one's was not yet told.

Alexei dissipated and reappeared beside his son, the jewels marking each of the swords in what would probably be called the pommel (the Dragon Sword was unlike any mortal sword) glowing hot. The Tsar looked around, glad to see Maria was not around. Her Light influence would probably inhibit what he was about to do. However, the Dark Sword would enhance it. He glanced up at Antonette.

"Hurry up."

Ah shit, they're screwed now. Kenshin thought, watching Alexi reveal himself in the armor. He unhooked the claws and lept down to another platform, leveling 5 ninjas with the blow. He swiftly about-faced and caught a ninja's sword in his claw. He slammed the jerk on the head with the sword, and slashed him across the face, blood flowing out. With the sight of blood, Kenshin lost himself, and went berserk on their asses. He flipped the sword around, bringing it's edge into the "service position", and cut the ninja from shoulder to hip with one clean cut. Another tried jumping down on him, but Kenshin, now the Hitokiri as he was once known, rammed him through on the claws and lopped the head off. He cast the corpse over the edge into the energy storm. He then leaped to another platform to continue the useless, yet strangely fun and satisfying slaughter. I put the laughter, in slaughter

Server just nodded his head.

"Ok, now that we have realized the mistake was made, we will have to fix it. I am willing to help you because I do have good relations with Alexei and I'm sure Czarina Andropov here will pull strings as well.

"Meanwhile! Shall we see how the fighting is going? I have a feeling its going to be spectacular.

"There really isn't a way we can watch. All we can do is see what the public is seeing via television. I'm worried about Alexei and Xavier though."

"Relax Katherine. They'll be fine." Nicole said comfortingly.

"Yea I know. Alexie is a survivalist. He'll do alright. I just don't want my eldest son fighting is all. You know how I feel about warfare!"

"Anyone who has seen you in action knows how you feel about it. However, Xavier probably inherited his fighting spirit from you."

"HAHA. Yea probably. I just hope they both pull through this."

"I'm sure they will Kathy."

All was rather quiet in the guest room, with lights being more non-functional then ever. There was a noise from the air-conditioning or air vent and the grill suddenly blew out heading for Father Marco. Queen Mariah dived like Superwoman deflecting the projectile with her sword out of harm's way. A smallish child Ninja jumped out of the vent at her - the child was obviously not the kind to play around. The vents were obviously too small for men, but evil will had no hesitation to use children for their own means.

The small Ninja hurtled down with fury but Mariah stood firm and is if she was playing tennis swatted the evil imp like a tennis ball into the wall. The child crumpled and died. The child was limp with a smashed spine. Mariah unhooded the child who was covered with unknown tattoos of rather Satanic origin.

She picked up the child's sword - definitely a killing weapon and worth keeping. Another item to hide under her skirts. Richard kept watch on the vent - who knew if there were more of these little devils around. "Hey, Mariah. That split in your skirt is a lot bigger" he commented to his wife as you see her underwear now. She smiled "And?"

Siri’s expression could be considered one of shock and awe when she saw Alexei’s powers. Whoa! she thought. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. Something like this would indeed amaze and fascinate her. She made herself a mental note to question him about all of this later, perhaps after the main issues were dealt with at the meeting.

But now, she focused herself back onto what was going on around her. She drew out a dagger and leapt to another platform that had a ninja waiting for her with his sword drawn. In mid air, she threw the dagger at him and it struck him right in the throat, blood gurgled out of his mouth as he died. As she landed safely on the platform partially on the ground, another had just climbed up and tried to slice her with his sword. She brought up her katana to block and kicked him in the groin with her boot. He did not even flinch.

“Damnit!” she yelled at him and kicked again. Nothing.

He broke off his initial attack and sliced at her again with his sword. He missed as Siri leapt up a few feet and slammed the blunt side of the katana against his head. The ninja fell back onto the platform, unconscious. She looked over the body and decided it was pointless to kill him now because he wouldn’t feel it. Now what was the fun of a painless killing. She tore off strips of her cloak and bound his hands and feet tightly for she had an idea that he may prove useful later as a source of information. If he wasn’t, then she would get the pleasure of killing him.

After double-checking to see that he was secure, she leapt to another platform.

OOC: CR, get a post up, you dit! :D
I can't do what I want to until Antonette gets near the Andropovs.

The Hitokiri had lept to another platform, swiftly cutting through another 3 ninjas with two strokes. Reaching to his left gauntlet, he removed the claws, exposing the fact that they were attached to a small chain. Whipping it around, he threw it across to another platform where it circled around and then tightened on a group of four ninjas. With a jerk of the arm, he sent the group flying against the wall, knocking some of it off and releasing the ninjas, who fell to their doom. Looking around, the Hitokiri saw two other platforms. Utilizing the algebra he had once learned as a kid, he planned a parabolic path between the three platforms and lept. Okay, in reality, he said "fuck it", and just took the leap. He came just under the highest platform and sliced through it with the reverse-blade sword, cleaving it in half and destroying it. He landed on the third and lower platform and executed a spin move, cutting apart several ninjas.

ooc: It was your turn to wait! Oh, and John has the Light Sword, Mariah has the dark one.

ic:
John Antonette slid down the line, and landed next to Xavier.
"Thanks." he said, and nodded. On the way down, he had kicked a ninja trying to climb up, and sent him flying to the ground. His spine cracked as he hit the ground. John said to Alexei,
"Pulling the same trick you pulled with the last ninjas or another one?" He said, smirking. The Ninja that has a broken back squirmed, and John aimed his sword, and a burst of lgiht came out, and consumed the ninja's body. The beam turned bright white, and when it dimmed back down, and finally dissapted completely, the body lay dead, showing no signs of the violent death that had happened, bar the outfit he was wearing.
--------------
Father Marco blessed the childs body, and said thanks to Queen Mariah. However, he also gave a disapproving look at her skirt. He then said a prayer for the child and murmered, paraphrasing Christ's words,
"Forgive him father, he did not know what he was doing."

Queen Mariah winked at Father Marco "At least, I am wearing underwear today" and looked at the door and realised if it might have been booby-trapped when the small Ninja entered the room to send the occupants running out. She motioned everyone to stay away from the door and sent an electrical charge into the door. Sure enough, a small exposive blew the doors open.

A few Ninjas had escaped Alexei's blast crept along the darkened corridors to the guest room. They looked at her thinking "Hey, it's just a pretty little blonde porn star. You can even see her underwear". She threw her knife at one, but he move quickly sideways to dodge the shot expected at his head. The problem was she threw it at his genitia and well, he screamed and collapsed paralysed. Her knife was poisoned which didn't help him at all.

The other Ninja parried and dodged as they avoid each other's blows. They circled and he lunged unexpectly. She jumped up above him as his sword parted between her already split skirt, and she cut his head in half, landing behind him.

She looked around for more trouble. There was some gunshots inside the room. Her husband had shot another child Ninja. He didn't miss as 20 years of Marine training sure helped. He looked at damage the bullets did and mumbled "No wonder these are illegal."

Father Marco blessed the other bodys and said,
"Wouldn't one be worth more alive? They could get some information out of one." He shot her another look, glaring even more disapprovingly at her skirt.

OOC: Umm, Jeruselem, Maria was supposed to be with the group in the Grand Hall. Also, due to the layout of the Kremlin, the ninjas sneaking out of the Grand Hall would be physically impossible. Besides, none of the vents are big enough for a person to fit through. Sorry to ruin your fun, but it's a bit TOO much of a stretch. If you want to fight, come with us to the Hall.

Alexei glanced at John's sword, realizing he made a mistake, forgetting that it was Maria with the sword he wanted, not John. I make due. "John, don't be afraid. Blind them." Antonette glanced at him, looking a bit insulted, when Alexei used his telekinetics to throw the King up into the air, so he floated above them.

"BLIND THEM!" Alexei shouted.

(OOC: Insert CR's post here)

When that was done, Alexei nodded to Xavier, who nodded back. THe Kynaz took his two swords and drove them straight through Alexei's chest, his armour deliberately softening to allow them through. Alexei held the Dragon Sword like a knight at burial, when his body was surrounded by an eeire reddish glow, and the swords merged with his body, letting out a blast of energy.

Alexei immediately spun around and dissipated, forming nothing but a dark cloud. Xavier took his belt again and swung up to a higher platform, grabbing the sniper rifle strapped to his back.

The dark cloud that was Alexei shot forth towards a large band of ninjas. They tried to scatter, but they were not only blind but being pegged with sniper fire from Xavier. The cloud enveloped them, and seemed to do nothing, for a few seconds, and they stood entirely still.

All at once, they all started grabbing their throats, choking, and they began levitating, but whatever force was grabbing on to them from the cloud was lifting them up by their necks.

Unanticipatedly, their bodies started to glow a whitish-greenish. It grew bright and brighter, until the glow was ripped from them, their bodies falling limp down into the electrical storm below. Their very souls, trapped in the cloud that was Alexei, began to be absorbed by it, being slowly devoured by the cloud, making it stronger and damning the ninjas to a non-existance, a fate worse than hell. When there was nothing left of them, Alexei reappeared, holding the swords. He tossed the two back to Xavier and kept the Dragon Sword, slicing one of the ninjas in half, vertically, that decided to sneak up on him. Alexei, now, was significantly stronger due to the absorbtion of the strength and knowledge of the ninjas, and used this to his advantage.

He brought John back down from his levitation and stood beside him. He spoke with John, but Xavier and the SHogun could hear him in their minds.

Take a few alive, I would like to know where this sword-fodder appeared from.

The Hitokiri's mind, which thought in Japanese, responded curtly, Hai. He coiled the chain around his arm, and then whipped the claw-hook around and let it fly at a pair of ninjas. The claw wrapped around them several times, and then pulled tight, the claw digging into one of the ninja's side. The Hitokiri whipped the duo against the wall, and then reeled the unconscience bodies in. He called up to Alexi, "Will this do?!"

John Antonette, levitated in the air, looked down, and saw a group of ninjas. He aimed his sword, and a burst of lgiht was sent forth. The white light enveloped the nijas, and spread out, stopping before it hit any of the allies in the battle. The light turned brighter than the sun, and most had to shield their eyes, unless they held a sword of God. The light grew brighter, and brighter, then faded, and completely dissapated. The Ninjas were left blind, and disoriented for Alexei's attack.

Time Lapse
John landed, and set out to capture a few ninja's alive. He shpot a beam of light, that crashed into a group of nijas, sent them flying into a wall, and pushed them to the ground. The light stayed around them, parylizing them. Antoher small group was taken captive when John punched one int he face, sent him tumbling, and crashed into a few more. Scared,t he group surrendered when John hit them with a beam of light that pushed them to the ground. John, apparently aware that the battle was basically finished, walked voer to one.
"Hmmmm Shaggy. I wonder who the ninja is!" Je pulled his mask off and did a mock gasp,
"Its some wierd looking guy, crew!" He said, doing a bad imitation of Scooby Doo.

Even though Siri had not heard Alexei’s command, there would be no need to anyway for she had already captured a prisoner. But she did see that the battle was nearly over and sought to retrieve the said prisoner. She leapt back up onto the platform and noticed that he was conscious.

“Well, it seems that you have survived this mess,” she remarked. “Now you have a choice, you will either cooperate with me or you shall suffer a fate worse than your brethren who have fallen into this pit.”

“What? Death?” came the sarcastic reply.

“No.” She knelt down next to him and stared into his eyes. One could feel a certain darkness eminating from her because she allowed it. “You would be constantly tormented for the rest of your mortal life. Every waking hour will be filled with nothing but pain and agony. You would want me to kill you, but death would never come. That would be your fate.” She rose and cut the cloth binding his legs. “Now, stand up, foolish one.”

As he rose from the floor, Siri did not move from behind him with her dagger clutched in her hand, but she did something different this time. A telepathic message was sent to Alexei. He had proven himself in battle and was worthy enough to her.

I have a prisoner here for you. He seems willing to cooperate. She looked up at him and smiled. And by the way, excellent fighting.

Alexei stared at the ground, smiling to himself at Siri's comment. Thank you very much, Ma'am. Same to you. Oh, and knock the bastard out, I don't feel like an interrogation at the moment. We'll do it later. Alexei walked over to John and glanced down at the ninja, who was visibly afraid of what he thought was Mephistopheles himself in front of him. Alexei took his free hand and shoved it under the ribcage of the Ninja, grabbed a hold of his heart, and lifted him up by it.

"I thought I'd pay you a visit before you'd spend eternity with me." Alexei had such a sinister laugh afterwards that anyone who didn't know any better probably would have thought the Tsar was Lucifer. Alexei squeezed his heart so it exploded, and then dropped the ninja, who was currently suffering a heart attack of massive proportion, down into the electrical storm below. He looked at John and shrugged. "Thanks for the capture, but three is enough. Oh, and you really suck at Scooby Doo."

Alexei looked down at the Shogun and smiled. "That'll do."

A huge ball of white light entered where everyone was else. Red streaks of plasma burnt as it whirled around for a few minutes. Anyone with any Holy powers had her real name, assigned by God, telepathically transmitted to them. This name was not to be spoken publicly. Mariah didn't like running long distances, so she flew.

She hovered around, and switched off, sheathed her sword and looked about again. She stayed there like small sun. Her skirt was still split, so anyone underneath had a really good view ...

It was Mariah in her "light" form as an Angel with wings of Gold and she looked around. She was really an Angel of Death, on Earth for killing "evil-doers" as images in many churches had painted. Angels with swords, doing God's work - but they were not perfect angels. She floated and looked around "I see you had a problem here." and looked at the body of the Ninja Alexei had killed as it fell.

Mariah (her body inhabited by the Angel) was one of last Angels left on Earth. She was too sinful too go to heaven and chose to stay on Earth until it's last days. God allowed this as men needed reminders of their creator.

ooc: The ninja Alexei killed is one- deatomized I believe.

ic:
John said back to Alexei,
"Yeah I do. Who are they anyway? I could swear that he was on an OSS wanted list for leftist terrorism. These are same leftists that killed Nappy, right?"

Alexei glanced up at Mariah and sneered. "You're late."

He mumbled something under his breath, and walked out to the centre of the room. The energy ball formed around him again, the electrical storm morphing it's shape to focus on the energy sphere. However, the energy sphere was absorbing the storm, this time, until all of the storm was ingurgitated into the sphere. When that happened, all of the platforms reappeared and the lights went back to normal, restoring the Hall back to its original state. Alexei, however, fell out of the orb from the bottom, landing with a thud! on his back on a platform twenty feet down. It was appearant he was unconcious.

Xaiver, more than a few platforms up, looked down at his unconcious father, when he noticed some movement on a platform near his dad. He jumped down to another platform to get a better look, when he saw one of the "dead" ninjas get up. Crap! The ninja staggered over and started drawing his sword, ready to kill Alexei, and the Kynaz knew he couldn't make it down there in time. The Andropov son moved around to get a better angle, trying to think of what to do, when he was struck by an idea. Xavier shook his head and shrugged. God help me.

The Kynaz lined up himself, and jumped off the platform he was on, shooting straight down the Spherical Grande Hall. When he was almost passing the platform that the ninja and his dad were on, he took the Gaia Blade back behind his head horizontally, as he was falling, and swung it around, letting the blade fly through the air. Xavier then grabbed his belt, pulled out the grappling hook, swung it around his head and latched onto the platform his father was on, leaving him to dangle some twenty feet below the platform. However, as the platforms were see-through, he could see the ninja look up just in time to see the thrown Gaia blade impale him in the chest, making him lose his balance and fall off the platform towards Xavier. Seeing the ninja fall, he made himself swing on the grappling rope, and right as the ninja passed him, drew the Gaia Blade out of the ninja's chest as the (now dead) intruder fell flat on his back on a platform below. Xavier sheathed the sword, throwing it on his back with the other one as he climbed up the rope to the platform his father was laying on, regrouped his belt and put it back on (as his pants were about to fall off), and walked over to Alexei, who wasn't stirring.

The Hitokiri lept quickly from platform to platform until he landed on the one with Alexi and Xavier, landing with a soft *thud* and a slight rattle of metal. He ran up to Xavier. "We need to get him out of here now, before any other ninjas attack. He's a sitting duck. A very valuable sitting duck. How do you get out of this place?"

Siri had just finished knocking her prisoner out for the second time when she overheard all the commotion coming from below. Realizing the severity of the situation, she drew out her katana once again and yelled down to the two surrounding Alexei.

“Grab his arms and legs and get him back to the Star Office. Mariah…” She glanced upwards as she spoke, still trying to figure out what was going on with that one. “…and I have got your backs. Go!”

Xavier sheathed the sword, throwing it on his back with the other one as he climbed up the rope to the platform his father was laying on, regrouped his belt and put it back on (as his pants were about to fall off), and walked over to Alexei, who wasn't stirring.

Mariah swooped down next to Xavier and said "I can carry him off to a safer area but where? I can't leave him here.".

OOC Anyone who touches her wings dies ...

Antonette, who had only jumped on paltform over to make his capture, looked back just in time to see Xavier jump down and take out the ninja. He hopped back to the platform, and peered down. He jokingly referred to himself as a "Doctor" sometimes, because of his poor (non-existant) medical skills, so he just stood by while the others took care of things. he commented to Xavier,
"That was a pretty cool stunt you pulled." He looked around, and saw his capture ninjas squirming, as te light around them faded. He aimed his sword, and a beam of light erupted once more. They turned and looked, but at a bad time. The light struck their faces, and through them back into the wall. Red swirls mixed with the white, and they felt like they were being burned, when they weren't. They all collapsed in pain, not willing to move again. He also saw more "dead" ninjas squirming. He aimed his sword at them and another white light came out. It appeared to be tipped by an angel charging, sword in hands. As it strouck one of them, he collapsed, bleeding. Then, somehow, the ligh made a sharp turn, and made the others feel as though they were melting from heat. They collapsed, unable to move their legs.

OOC: Jeruselem, WTF? :confused:

OOC: Jeruselem, WTF? :confused:

OOC - I'll retract if you require! An angel kiss wakes up anyone ...

OOC - I'll retract if you require! An angel kiss wakes up anyone ...

OOC: I'd appreciate that, yes. 'sides, Alexei probably wouldn't wake up to it -- he transends such things. But you never payed attention to that RP. :)

Xavier shook his head at Mariah. "The area is safe now. There's no need to rush." He walked over to his father, who was now without the Dragon Sword (it was currently floating in the centre of the energy sphere again), picked him up and put his dad on his shoulders, the platform floating up to the Imperial Hall.

The Praetorian in the Imperial Hall rushed over to Xavier and picked Alexei up, rushing him to the Private Quarters. Xavier, with the weight off of his shoulders, turned around to the group that followed -- specifically looking at John.

"Get back to the office awhile, I'll meet you there. Antonette, you've been here plenty of times, you lead the way." Xavier, however, walked off to the guest rooms and entred.

"Everything is gone, you may return to the Star Office. Except you," he said, looking at the President of Formal Dances. "Stay here. I'll talk to my father later about whether he's going to keep your suspension or not. To be blunt, however, ma'am, I'm going to be he will keep it, considering the way...things got." He trailed off, not expressing all of his thoughts, mostly out of respect. Xavier, for meeting them the first time, hated the Formal Dancian delegation, and wanted to experience the joy of decapitating them and watching their blood run through his hands. But he hid that, and shielded his thoughts. He wasn't as strong as Alexei was, but he was getting there.

Xavier led them all to the Star Office, the ramp shut, and he looked at Antonette, leaning in close to him, dropping his voice.

"Lead for a bit, I'm gonna check on my father." With that, he walked behind the desk and disappeared into the private quarters.

John nodded and whisispered,
"I hope hes ok."

He led the group back to the office, and when all were back, announced,
"Emperor Andropov," he said, "and his son, Xavier, are finishing up their business. I was informed to keep things under control, so if you would all jsut please keep calm. I also inform you that there is no more threat, and it was neutralised. I do believe the guards are now handling the prisoners. If you would all just enjoy your drinks, but not too much, business will be back to usual soon." With that, he stood, watching carefully, and then loosened his shirt, and relaxed, slightly.
However, he also shot glares to all those who foguht, saying that they had better not contradict anything he said, such as Alexei's true state of being unconscience.

*snip*

President Server and his entourage followed back to the office. He was contemplating on what is going to happen next to everyone here.

He looked around the star office and asked John, "So what precisely did happen?"

Kathy looked over at Nicole and shrugged then she glanced over at Xavier hiding the hurt she felt for the way he spoke to her dearest friend. She could see the contempt of Formal Dances.

I must talk to Alexei about this she though. That attitude is not conducive to proper diplomatic consultations

She went with the others and when she entered the office, she got really nervous when Alexei was not there. Before Xavier could move away she intercepted him and whispered into his ear, "what happened to your father?"

Kenshin walked over and slumped down into a chair, exhausted. He let his now sheathed sword lean against the table, and loosened his breastplate, allowing air to rush in and cool him. A small burst of steam actually puffed out of the armor. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, resting for a few before he would call for a sake.

John replied to Server,
"Fight with the intruders. We kicked their ass, and took some prisoners, I believe." John saw how hot the Shogun was, and poured him a glass of red wine. Hoping he'd like it, he offered it too him,
"It will cool you down." He then poured himself a glass, and sipped it. He sighed, and also, like the Shogun, slumped into an office chair, and ran his hand through his hair.

Kenshin reached forward without even opening his eyes and grabbed the glass. "Thanks," he said, dumping it over his head and drinking some of it as it rolled down his face.

My father, but not your husband? Xavier thought when Katherine pulled him aside. Xavier turned to her and shrugged.

"The same thing that always happens when he taps the Andropov powers." And he walked away to his father's room.

OOC: Sorry, shitpost. I'll hopefully get a better one up before I leave for Scouts Friday. I won't be on until late Sunday, though, so do hold off. :) I guess ya'll can drink a bit, though. That's what the bar's there for. :)

My father, but not your husband? Xavier thought when Katherine pulled him aside. Xavier turned to her and shrugged.

"The same thing that always happens when he taps the Andropov powers." And he walked away to his father's room.

OOC: Sorry, shitpost. I'll hopefully get a better one up before I leave for Scouts Friday. I won't be on until late Sunday, though, so do hold off. :) I guess ya'll can drink a bit, though. That's what the bar's there for. :)

Kathy shook her head and followed him down to the room she shared with Alexei

Mariah returned to Star Office, flying before retiring her wings for the day. Her husband was asleep. She got her gun back and hid it back into her ruined skirt. She sat down and spend some time polishing her sword and then got some wine. She woke her husband up, the usual way, a red hot kiss "Oi, wake up Old Man. Time for drink!". He was something like 12 years old than her.

He rubbed his eyes and took the glass "Oh, I was dreaming about some fishing. Didn't catch anything either except for catfish ... catfish, yuck. The last time dreamed about Catfish, you got pregnant ...". She smiled "That's your job, remember?"

Mariah walked to Father Marco "Hey Marco, you want a drink as well?", holding two glasses and offering one to him.

Unlike the rest of the group that had returned from the Grande Hall, Siri appeared to be quite happy and full of energy. There was something about fighting that invigorated her, made her so full of life.

Jack was at the bar fetching himself another beer when she jumped up and put her arms around his neck. “Whoa!” he yelled, trying not to drop the bottle. “Back already?”

“Of course. The fight was fairly easy.” She smiled. “I missed you.”

Siri leaned her head closer to his and began to kiss him passionately. A moment later, he replied, “You know what? I love when you come back from fighting. You’re so…giddy.”

Xavier heard the door click behind him much too late than it should have, so he knew Katherine was following him, but didn't bother to turn around.

He opened the door to the master bedroom to see his father awake and in a new set of clothes, his others being cleaned and pressed.

"Feeling better?" Xavier asked, approaching the bed. Alexei looked up and chuckled.

"You know, I have never seen you show any compassion for anyone except for me." Alexei smirked. "Even at school, I saw you had more friends than enemies." Xavier drew back at this, a little angry. Xavier, unlike his father, could not conceal his emotions very well.

"What?! I come in here to check on you, and you say I don't have compassion!"

"Relax, Xavier, relax." Alexei stood up, and put his arm around his son. "I didn't mean to insult you, I just found it odd." He grinned before continuing. "Though I feel honoured for being the one you care for." He took a glance at the Gaia Blade he was still carrying.

"Let me see that." Xavier handed it over to Alexei, and the Tsar felt that the blade was abnormally hot. THat meant something, but he didn't know what. All of the secrets of the Legendary Swords of YHWH are locked in whatever temple they were brought down from Heaven from. Most believe that temple is somewhere in the territories of Ancient Derscon, but there are no longer any maps showing the territory of the pre-Republic Dersconi lands. There was some blood on the sword, and Alexei wiped it clean, and put it up on the rack, opposite the other LSoYHWH he possessed, and came back out with a long box, gift-wrapped.

"I told you I didn't forget." Xavier's eyes lit up as he unwrapped the birthday present, and withdrew an original Muramasa, restored to its original state, the blade still sharp as ever.

"Happy very-belated Birthday, Xavier." His son hugged his dad.

"Thanks a bunch." Xavier, ever since he was three, practiced with swords every day, first picking up a katana when he was five, and he preferred that over the rapier. He was trained as a master in nearly every major bladed weapon that exists, except the reverse blade katana (Alexei never owned one), and always wanted a Muramasa for its legendary powers. In his room, he even built a shrine out of his other swords, with an empty spot in the centre for it. Xavier pulled out the sword from its scabbard and swung it around a little, admiring the perfect balance the weapon had. And then he did something unspeakable with it -- he sheathed it. Oh my God... Inwardly, Alexei was in shock, but he made sure he didn't show it to his son.

"I advise putting that back in your shrine, Xavier. I'll meet you out in the room." When Xavier ran out, the Tsar looked up to see Katherine.

"Oh, hello."

Marco replied sternly, "Father Marco." He then smiled and said, "Thanks for the drink."

Kenshin finished relaxing and stood up. "Damn, I'm getting to old for this..." he said reluctently. He pulled a few more strings on the armor, along with a few clasps, and the breastplate fell to the floor with a loud, resounding *clunk*. A few more clasps, and the backplate followed suit. He removed the arm and shoulder coverings, and piled the armor in a neat pile near him. His fuschia kimono under it was soaked with sweat (and red wine). "Whell then, what's next on the agenda?"

"I advise putting that back in your shrine, Xavier. I'll meet you out in the room." When Xavier ran out, the Tsar looked up to see Katherine.

"Oh, hello."

She looked around to make sure that the door was closed before she opened her mouth.

"I turn my back on you for a couple of hours and you get yourself hurt. No do not even try to deny it Alexei. I can tell that you were hurt."

She looked over him. "Well at least you are still in one peace. That makes me happy." She walked over to him and sat next to him and gave him a kiss. A kiss they only share in the privacy of their bedroom.

"I'm glad you are ok Alexei however I do want to talk to you about Xavier. I do not like his attitude towards my dearest friend or the nation of my birth. I saw it on his face when he showed mass disrespect for Nicole. Granted, she deserved some of it for what she did and I waylaid into her in private and made damn sure she knew the folly of her mistake. She would like to apologize publically to everyone involved in the incident. She recognizes the suspension and has accepted it but she is willing to apologize and promises to support the new emperor."

Marco replied sternly, "Father Marco." He then smiled and said, "Thanks for the drink."

Mariah sighed "I have trouble using the word Father too much. I have no parents now, Mum died first and Dad died a few years after. They survived an attempted Communist revolution, and wanted lots of kiddies. All they got was little old me as my mother became sterile after taking a certain drug for her cervical cancer. Saved her life but a Catholic Hebrew woman who can't have any more children - torture. She became a nun, so that's why I'm so whorish as some might say. I want my children now before it's all too late. I treat Richard like my father as I sometimes need one."

She turned on her phone and showed him an image of herself as an 10 year old playing with some Tigers "I bet most kids don't get to do this. For some reason, cats all kinds just love me. From Tigers to tabbies. Dad gave my first cat. Small black thing, died of cancer later. I called it Penny because swallowed one. I added Penny to my own name after that."

Xavier walked out into the office, nodding to John. Alexei's fine. was the faint telepathic message. He walked over and poured himself a congac and sat down in his father's chair behind the desk, where all of Derscon and soon the Greater Prussian Empire will be commanded from.

"My father should be out in a bit," Xavier announced, and then moved to take control of the meeting. "Well, I believe it would be entirely appropriate for the first topic of discussion to be the what seems to be the decapitation of the Reichskamphen and the Greater Prussian Empire. I think we can all agree that this was too much of a coincidence to not be an organized attempt for the total destruction of the Greater Prussian Empire, yes?"



Back in the room, Alexei shook his head at Katherine's first remark. "No, I wasn't hurt at all, except maybe a bruise from the fall. This happened the last time I tapped these powers, remember? While I can tap powers beyond the realms of mortality, I am still encased in a human body, so when I release the grasp on that power, the physical body is overwhelmed and I pass out because of it. Nothing is hurting." As Katherine came over to him and "passionately" kissed him, he smiled. "Sorry for getting angry with you, I wasn't really myself at the time, but I'll admit, you were not helping the situation."

They finally stopped, and Alexei was listening to Katherine's remarks about Xavier, finally shaking his head. "Xavier is fine. You have to understand his point of view, too. Xavier is very protective of his father, as you can tell, and is extremely nationalistic when it comes to not only Derscon but as well as the Greater Prussian Empire. It pained him and made him angry that she would spit in the face of not only these institutions, but in myself, personally, as well as the people I consider very close friends. It would be hypocritical for me to discipline Xavier for his lack of resepct, assuming he had any, while doing nothing to Nicole, who disrespected many of my closest friends. No, I will do nothing with Xavier, and I don't want you doing anything, either. It'll only make things worse.

"And with Nicole and Formal Dances, she may apologize, and she may promise, but I do not like her, and I do not trust her. I will revoke the suspension de jure, but she will still be suspended de facto. She has no rights to mutual defence or the Free Market in Greater Prussia, nor may she actively participate in the Estates General. However, she may sit in for this meeting. I want her government to get the message that she is not in control, I am." Alexei stood up and walked to the door. "It may seem a bit of a power grab, and it is. However, Greater Prussia is in a time of crisis, and I will not tolerate such dissent. You may tell her that. Now, I suppose we should be getting back, they may be worried that I'm not in good shape, or that we're doing some...procreational activities back here." With a smirk and a wink, he opened the door and walked back out to the Star Office, leaving the door open for her to follow.

King John nodded back, and whispered to him when he sat,
"Thats good." He sipped his drink. Father Marco drifted over and sat next to John.
John said to Xavier,
"At least those damned Dancians didn't follow." He paused, then said, so as not to offend, "Bar your mother of course." He did not really mean that, and it showed in his eyes.

Back in the room, Alexei shook his head at Katherine's first remark. "No, I wasn't hurt at all, except maybe a bruise from the fall. This happened the last time I tapped these powers, remember? While I can tap powers beyond the realms of mortality, I am still encased in a human body, so when I release the grasp on that power, the physical body is overwhelmed and I pass out because of it. Nothing is hurting." As Katherine came over to him and "passionately" kissed him, he smiled. "Sorry for getting angry with you, I wasn't really myself at the time, but I'll admit, you were not helping the situation."

They finally stopped, and Alexei was listening to Katherine's remarks about Xavier, finally shaking his head. "Xavier is fine. You have to understand his point of view, too. Xavier is very protective of his father, as you can tell, and is extremely nationalistic when it comes to not only Derscon but as well as the Greater Prussian Empire. It pained him and made him angry that she would spit in the face of not only these institutions, but in myself, personally, as well as the people I consider very close friends. It would be hypocritical for me to discipline Xavier for his lack of resepct, assuming he had any, while doing nothing to Nicole, who disrespected many of my closest friends. No, I will do nothing with Xavier, and I don't want you doing anything, either. It'll only make things worse.

"And with Nicole and Formal Dances, she may apologize, and she may promise, but I do not like her, and I do not trust her. I will revoke the suspension de jure, but she will still be suspended de facto. She has no rights to mutual defence or the Free Market in Greater Prussia, nor may she actively participate in the Estates General. However, she may sit in for this meeting. I want her government to get the message that she is not in control, I am." Alexei stood up and walked to the door. "It may seem a bit of a power grab, and it is. However, Greater Prussia is in a time of crisis, and I will not tolerate such dissent. You may tell her that. Now, I suppose we should be getting back, they may be worried that I'm not in good shape, or that we're doing some...procreational activities back here." With a smirk and a wink, he opened the door and walked back out to the Star Office, leaving the door open for her to follow.

"Alexei, I would actually think long and hard about that before you tell her that. I will respect your decision naturally because I do love you. I am just asking that you think about it. You maybe surprised at just what our people have to offer. As to procreational activity, that won't happen for another 7 months." she said with a smile.

She followed him out into the star office and motioned for Melissa to go get Nicole from the guest quarters.

"Look, Katherine," he said before opening the door to the Star Office. "I have thought it through. I'm sure Formal Dances has plenty to offer, but I need to pull in the reigns here -- one horse who gets an ego will toss the whole sleigh off the trail." Alexei got visibly sad (although playfully) when she mentioned the seven months.

"I have to wait that long? Procreational activity doesn't necessarily mean we actually have to procreate, just engage in the rituals." He winked again and opened up the door to see Xavier taking charge. He smiled to himself and sat down in a chair behind Xavier, allowing the young Kynaz to drive the sleigh for a little while longer.

"Look, Katherine," he said before opening the door to the Star Office. "I have thought it through. I'm sure Formal Dances has plenty to offer, but I need to pull in the reigns here -- one horse who gets an ego will toss the whole sleigh off the trail." Alexei got visibly sad (although playfully) when she mentioned the seven months.

"I have to wait that long? Procreational activity doesn't necessarily mean we actually have to procreate, just engage in the rituals." He winked again and opened up the door to see Xavier taking charge. He smiled to himself and sat down in a chair behind Xavier, allowing the young Kynaz to drive the sleigh for a little while longer.

Muttering to herself she says: way to miss the obvious. She re-entered the office and curtsied to everyone and signaled to have a non-alcoholic drink delivered to her.

Moments later, the Formal Dancian Delegation re-enters the office under guard and Nicole curtsies formally to Alexei, Kathy, and Xavier. Lauren walks over and sits down next to Kathy and looks at the faces of those present.

Queen Mariah's mind was really elsewhere, another disaster averted but as Treasurer of the Greater Prussian Empire - she would have deal the consequences of the destruction of the capital - twenty trillion dollars wiped off the capital value of GPE. She was really glad Formal Dances and the Emperor had made their peace. It was still a depressing day.

August 19, 2001

Los Angeles, California — Californian Federation.
Sandra was at her home at her Rancho Palos Verdes estate swimming in her pool when Stephanie Warren, one of her secretaries came running in "Miss Devnostraeva, you have received a call... it seems Emperor Napoleon IV of the Greater Prussian Empire has been assassinated."

Sandra was on her way over to Ms. Warren, and upon hearing that last part she froze in midstep... a look of complete shock coming across her face. "How, when... who did this?!" Ms. Warren took a deep breath of air before speaking "One of his own security personnel shot him at close range..." she picked up the remote control for the large television screen 'It's all over the news, the damned jackals... they will not stop showing the footage of him being shot." as she turned it on to the national news station Sandra seen the news reporter Sandra Ishikawa of KINN News at her desk giving her report on the assassination of Napoleon IV. The news reporter then went to the video footage of the fatal shot being fired, and at that moment Sandra hit the deck of the pool with the palm of her hand. "Whoever did this will pay, in this life or the next no one will get away with this."

Sandra then looked up to Ms. Warren "Will you place a call to AEON Headquarters and let them know that you and I will be on our way within the next twenty-four hours." Ms. Warren nodded and began to walk towards the phone before Sandra smiled "Steph..." Ms. Warren turned around "Yes, Miss Devnostraeva?" Sandra smiled "After finishing that call, join me in the jacuzzi, will you?" Steph nodded with a blushing smile and went to place the call.

OOC: Oh my God! A BUMP!

I'll get something up tomorrow, just reminding ya'll this thread is still here!

ooc: We know this thread is still here. ;)

Alexei nodded back at Nicole's cursty, but Xavier simply glared at her, following Nicole with his eyes as she sat down.

"Now," Xavier said, addressing the entire group. "As I said, we should start with the assaults. I'm sure we can all agree that these were not coincidental attacks, but organized attempts to make a nation beheaded?"

Alexei nodded back at Nicole's cursty, but Xavier simply glared at her, following Nicole with his eyes as she sat down.

"Now," Xavier said, addressing the entire group. "As I said, we should start with the assaults. I'm sure we can all agree that these were not coincidental attacks, but organized attempts to make a nation beheaded?"

"I will agree with that assessment young Andropov." John stated, "I do not like what is going on here."

Antonette also replied,
"Your right, theres no way these aren't organized attack. Do you have any idea on the situation in Reichskamphen? Which militas are going to sieze power? There has got to be some besides these leftists." Father Marco's eyes jumped to an alert status. He prayed to God the excommunicated, neo-catholic, "traditionalist", sedevacanists, Pax Maria would not get involved- however, in his heart he knew they would. They disgust me, he thought.

Alexei nodded back at Nicole's cursty, but Xavier simply glared at her, following Nicole with his eyes as she sat down.

"Now," Xavier said, addressing the entire group. "As I said, we should start with the assaults. I'm sure we can all agree that these were not coincidental attacks, but organized attempts to make a nation beheaded?"

Nicole ignored the glare of Xavier but answered his question. "These are well organized. The timing of it is just to pat to be coincidences. We are turning our nation upside down looking for information as to how this occured. Our intelligence community is just as stunned by this and is doing all they can to find out who did it. We will pass on all information over to you Your Majesty." she said to Alexei.

"Also, as soon as we find out who is responsible, our military will be at your disposal to assist you in irradicating these insurgents."

Alexei nodded back at Nicole's cursty, but Xavier simply glared at her, following Nicole with his eyes as she sat down.

"Now," Xavier said, addressing the entire group. "As I said, we should start with the assaults. I'm sure we can all agree that these were not coincidental attacks, but organized attempts to make a nation beheaded?"

"Nothing is coincidental. Terrorists plan things and their followers down the chain, follow up with actions with compound the current problems. The best leaders always have a plan and another plan to backup in case the first plan goes AWOL. Better known as Plan A and B. Of course, I'm sure the terrorists also have a Plan C too." Queen Mariah said.

"You have my assurances that no factions exist in the Shogunate. Honimishu is safely locked down, and the possiblity of any such faction being in the Shogunate is zero," Kenshin said. "Routes in and out of the nation have heavy checkpoints, and the rest of the borders are lined with high-voltage electrical fencing. Sensors are placed in them to assure they're not cut." He shook his head. "Have we any idea as to who possibly is behind this?"

OOC: Well, shit, outta time. Thursday holds nothing, so I'll get a post up then.

Xavier nodded at Nicole. "Thank you, however, such direct military action would be rash at this time. We cannot destroy an enemy we cannot see.

"As to who did this," Xavier continued. "Our best guess is that they're a leftist organization bent on the destruction of the Greater Prussian Empire. But, that's obvious." Xavier sighed. How does my dad handle this? At that time, a light began flashing on one of the monitors, and Alexei went over to check the message box.

"Ah, speak of the devil, here we are." Alexei read a bit more, standing up to speak to the group. "It seems the culprits were a leftist-anarchist faction. The prisoners that were captured didn't know anything else, although we did pick up a training ground in Reichskamphen. I'll send the Gendarmes to check it out, then." Alexei shrugged.

"Well, it seems we have our culprit."

"Indeed," Xavier said, taking control back from his dad, though Alexei didn't mind. "Now it seems we have two major questions: How can we get rid of them, and what's gonna happen to REichskamphen? THe latter question is a bit more important, considering Reichskamphen currently doesn't have a government. Personally, I'm worried about warlords rising again. The nobility was in place to prevent this, but they're all dead." Alexei nodded, but then something clicked. Not quite. The Tsar leaned over to Xavier, whispered something in his ear, and disappeared back into the private chambers, no one really knowing what he was doing, but it was apparant he didn't want anyone following.

John listened, and smiled to himself, I need a sonn, and to do that, I have to propose.
He then said to Xavier, "We need to sonsolidate Reichskamphen. I recommend sending in Imperial troops, securing all important areas- that are left, and then slowly work their way into taking control of the rest of the nation. We can use national armies to do this as well, if needed." Fatehr Marco nodded, and glanced at John, seeing if it was ok to speak. John gave him an indifferent glance, and a slight shrug. Marco thought, I would have said it anyway. The priest said, "I must add that we need to help the victims of the attacks. There must be some still alive, and we must test for radiation, and see how far it spread. Peoples savings are also probably gone, and most int he area around Reichsburg will need food. Also, protection from the criminals that will probably start their tricks. Finally, they will need spiritual and emotional help as well. I hope that is kept in mind."

John nodded, and felt pleased. Afterall, Marco was new to this, and seemed to be handling it well. Of course he was, he was his countryman afterall.

Xaiver nodded. "I couldn't agree more. Granted, some of that stuff can't happen until the locale is secure, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. There isn't much to secure. I hate to say it, but a quarentine of the locals is probably the safest way to do it. Not in that area, but send them to a camp somewhere. It isn't safe to keep them around." He looked something up on the computer on the desk briefly. "Yes, we have some old labour camps in the southern part of the country we can put into use as either quarentine camps or refugee camps." He looked up at the entire group. "I suggest you find sites to do the same." He looked around a bit and continued to listen to Marco.

"Money isn't a problem. We all have plenty of it. As for spiritual and emotional help, we could send some people over into the camps, as long as none of your Catholic ones try to convert any of the Protestants," he added, shooting a glare at Marco.

OOC: I'm not gonna be here all Friday and into late Saturday.

John responded. "There is a somewhat new military base in southern CR. It has some nice homes that we can loan to the refugees until they can rebuild. They would also be welcome to stay. I assume most will be protestants. They jsut built a new Catholci church, so the protestants can use the old one, until a new one can be built for them. They can also keep the building if they like. There is room for a few thousand, and Ic an find room elsewhere as well, if needed. Of course, they would have to form a council of sorts to vote on things. In fact, I will even incorprate them as New Reichsburg, if they wish."

Marco calmly responded to Xavier, "Now is not the time for factional fighting among Christians, but a time to help the misfortunate."

Queen Mariah checked the state of Greater Prussian "surplus account" on her mobile, and it looked healthy except it would be getting drained pretty soon after the current events in Reichsburg.

As for the issue of moving some people from Reichskamphen, she though about it. Jeruselem's climate wasn't exactly nice and temperate and most cities were too full already. The only immediate alternative were desert camps, but that wasn't exactly a good solution either.

Xavier nodded at Nicole. "Thank you, however, such direct military action would be rash at this time. We cannot destroy an enemy we cannot see.

"that is true Prince Andropov. That is why we are offering all of our best intel gathering equipment to find out where these people are.

*snip*

Kathy watched her husband go but did not follow but stayed put. She can tell when its time to follow and not follow. Instead she turned her attention to what her son was saying.

Nicole heard what Xavier said and piped up. "You highness, I can get in contact with the protestant leadership. I'm sure they will be more than willing to send people to the camps so you do not hvae to send out catholics."

John opened his mouth to protest, but Father Marco viscously attacked the putdown, "I take that as an offense, not only agaisnt me, but against my King and nation. You already caused one problem, and now youa re causing another one. Did you not ehre my last comment? It is not a time for religious fighting! I am also sure that if needed, the future Tsar, Xavier, is smart enough tog et in touch with Protestant leaders himself." John grinned, and then Father Marco continued, "Furthermore, I certainly am looking forward to Catholics and protestants working hand in hand to get through this, and not, as you put, send protestants so you don't need to send Catholics. I worled in Reichskamphen, and was in Reichsburg during the assasination. I got out before the explosion, thanks be to God. I, once we have concluded this conference, with the Cardinal's permission, lead a relief effort."
King John nodded in agreement, and then added, "Right now, I doubt the Reichskamphen citizens care much who helps them, but when the help will get there." He then muttered to himself, under his breath, "Quit trying to win points with Xavier, damn dancian pricks." He doubted the Dancians could here it, as he was seated away from them.

John opened his mouth to protest, but Father Marco viscously attacked the putdown, "I take that as an offense, not only agaisnt me, but against my King and nation. You already caused one problem, and now youa re causing another one. Did you not ehre my last comment? It is not a time for religious fighting! I am also sure that if needed, the future Tsar, Xavier, is smart enough tog et in touch with Protestant leaders himself." John grinned, and then Father Marco continued, "Furthermore, I certainly am looking forward to Catholics and protestants working hand in hand to get through this, and not, as you put, send protestants so you don't need to send Catholics. I worled in Reichskamphen, and was in Reichsburg during the assasination. I got out before the explosion, thanks be to God. I, once we have concluded this conference, with the Cardinal's permission, lead a relief effort."

"No doubt you are right Father Marco. However, there is somethings you do not know. Like me for instance." Nicole looked over at Kathy and smiled. "Father Marco, I am also a Catholic. You are right that they probably wouldn't care who is helping them but I just wanted to make sure that the crown, which is NOT you Father, knows what we are offering. That is all that it was Father Marco. All it was, was a suggestion. Nothing more and nothing less."

King John nodded in agreement, and then added, "Right now, I doubt the Reichskamphen citizens care much who helps them, but when the help will get there." He then muttered to himself, under his breath, "Quit trying to win points with Xavier, damn dancian pricks." He doubted the Dancians could here it, as he was seated away from them.

Kathy shot a glare over at John.

Kenshin let his head fall into his hand and sighed. "Can we not go through another fight people. Can we just talk among equals civily?"

Kenshin let his head fall into his hand and sighed. "Can we not go through another fight people. Can we just talk among equals civily?"

"Kinshen is indeed correct people. We do need to talk civily." Kathy stated. "I know it is hard because we many differences but we need to put those behind us in this time of grave crisis. Only together are we strong enough to defeat the menace that is plaguing us right now."

Father Marco replied,
"I never would have guessed." It was obvious he was implying that he disapproved of how she had kept the faith hidden- everyone knew who all the Catholic leaders were.

The Redemptorist Priest replied,
"I never would have guessed." It was obvious he was implying that he disapproved of how she had kept the faith hidden- everyone knew who all the Catholic leaders were.

"I didn't think you did. I can tell that you disapprove of the way I hide it but truth is, its none of the people's business. My Vice President is a Presbyterian and my Secretary of State is Lutherian. I have a Muslim for a treasurer and a Jew for Defense. We all get along just fine and we never let religion get in the way of doing the people's business that we were hired and appointed to do."

"Leaving religion at the office door is not true faith. I also don't buy the part of religion interfering with work. I have a friend who is a devout Catholic, and works in the foriegn ministry, and there are a few quite devout protestants, in there too. There is never a reason to deny the faith. Hiding it from the people never works, they will find out eventually. My friend informs me that their religion never gets in the way of work, yet, they all know each others faith, and practice their own, and respect all others."