NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Basically this thread is open, although it is preferable if anyone who wishes to get involved have some previous dealings with the FKC or at least is interested in finding out the history of the situation.

The news services in Dyelli Beybi were abuzz. The Government had declared a massive campaign to be launched against the elves on the Gonad peninsula.

Several things were distinctive this time though... firstly this campaign wasn't secretive. The Dyellians were openly going to battle, in defiance of edicts previously passed by the Klatchian Parliament. Secondly, among the massive army building up along the Eastern border were elves... kitted out like Dyellian regulars, it made no sense. The Dyellians and the elves of Klatch shared an animosity that stretched back to before anyone could remember... they killed each other on sight, usually in cruel and unusual ways. They didn't team up, ever.

Things were afoot in Dyelli Beybi it seemed...

----------

Klatch was an odd continent. There were areas where the laws of physics didn't always apply perfectly, areas of strange energy. The Gonad peninsula was one such area. Another was the forest South of the D.B.A.T. One zone of less particular note was an island off the coast of Dyelli Beybi. The Dyellians had tried to establish a naval base there 100 years earlier, but things had happened...

The Dyellians were good at hiding facts that might dismay the populace. Witch's Isle was one such fact. There were people there though... although calling them people was definitely a stretch of the imagination. Thirty years ago there had been small populations of them on the mainland, but the Tzar hadn't been keen on them. They had fled or died.

It was here that things were changing, shifting. ap Adam had said that nations came and went, and they did, in many respects the meeting here was a reflection of her beliefs.

The room was long, stone, there were no windows, but large oil lamps blazed lending it a yellowish, although very well lit glow. At one end it had a simple square table, three chairs and two figures at them. A man entered carring a staff which he beat on the ground until the two other occupants fell silent, "Alexia ap Adam, speaker for the Djel people."

She appeared, raven black hair sparking and adorned with a steel circlet... on closer inspection it was a replica of a crown of thorns. Other than that she wore a rather modest looking black dress.

The first man stood. He was wearing of all things, chainmail. He was short with a bushy black beard, "Welcome Djel." he intoned formally, "I am Arvis son of Arvis, speaker for the Härdmandle people."

The third figure stood after a moment, they were hooded, although very tall, "Freyr, speaker for the Ljósálfar people."

The three sat, "A Djel I see." Freyr said after a moment, a degree of a sneer in his voice, "And what brings you to Niðavellir? We haven't seen one of your sort here in a thousand years... although you have the familiar look of death about you."

"Do you have any idea what has been going on on the mainland during that period?" the Djel scoffed back, "I would warrant Arvis does."

"Yes." Arvis nodded simply, "Yes I do, so does Freyr. Frankly though I am amazed that you, after so long managed to find this place."

She shrugged, "What is a secret in Dyelli Beybi, isn't lost information, we keep it secret... safe from prying eyes."

"Well Djel, what are you here for?" Freyr demanded.

"Peace." Alexia said simply, her dark eyes were unfocused, her voice vague, distant, although the message was clear.

"After two millenia?" Freyr demanded again, anger rising in his voice, "You come here and ask for peace. You must be desperate."

Alexia laughed, it wasn't quite a sneer, she seemed to only be giving the Ljósálfar half her attention, "We could destroy your precious lands in a split second, you must remember the bomb?"

"'Bomb'?" Freyr growled, "You destroyed a whole city and every living soul in it."

"Yes we did." the Djel confirmed, "That level of destruction could be directed at the whole of your precious Álfheimr, and believe me I will not hesitate to do it if I think it will save the lives of my people.... but do you know what Freyr?" she was suddenly very direct, her eyes focussed on the cowl, "I don't want to. I want to change our world, the way we live. What was no longer matters, what matters is what will be. We can keep doing this forever, and the blood of Djel and Ljósálfar will soak into the earth until the day the trumpets call us to Heaven or Hell."

"I agree with Alexia." Arvis spoke for the first time since the begining of the discussion, "She has shown her good faith towards the Härdmandle and of course the Trow. She is a Djel of integrity who knows the truth. Or else she wouldn't be here."

Freyr's cowled head jerked towards the Härdmandle, the hidden figure considering his bearded counterpart for a moment, "What of the Dökkálfar?" he asked at last.

"I am glad you asked." Alexia smiled vacantly, her facial expression and tone at odds with the words she was saying, "We are fighting the Dökkálfar across worlds, although we can confirm their positions in Álfheimr are weakened due to infighting. If you, Freyr are willing, we will give you all the support you need to lead an army to retake Álfheimr, preferably bringing as many of the Dökkálfar back to ways of the Ljósálfar as possible. We will even support you with Human and Trow soldiers... Djel might be unwise."

Freyr gave her an unreadable look, "What is in this for you? You are a Djel, there is always a catch."

"I want all of you to join with the Dyelli Beybian State."

"You've got to be joking." Freyr snorted.

"Please." Alexia held up a hand, one of the metalic thorns had dug into her scalp, a thin trickle of blood, oozing down her forhead altrhough she seemed completely oblivious, "Every one of the Ljósálfar and Härdmandle will get an equal say with every Djel, Human or Trow to elect our parliament... and I will swear allegiance to you Freyr."

Silence reigned for a few moments, "Then you do come in peace. You intend to rebuild what was once lost? Why, Djel?"

"Because a war is coming the likes of which we have not known." she replied bluntly, "And what will become of this island, the Ljósálfar and the Härdmandle? We should stand united once again."

There was a lengthy pause, then "OK. You shall have it."

Alexia stood, walking around the table to where Freyr was seated. She knelt as he stood, but he shook his head, "Stand, Alexia."

She stood, giving him a slightly puzzled look, only to be drawn into a deep embrace, "Brothers and sisters Alexia, no oaths."

She gave a slight nervous, almost exhilirated laugh, "There is one over thing, Otto Himmler, a Dökkálfar managed to breed a Varulv."

"Impossible." Freyr pushed her to arms length to look into her face, checking to see if she was joing, "They're just legends."

"Far from it." she assured him, "Although a lot of the special properties of the race require it to be within a ley field... I think he had plans to use it, but the creature rebelled... naturally he's scared out of his wits."

"I would be too." Arvis put in.

"Yeah... down side is we may well end up fighting the damned creature ourselves... although I think I would much rather take it alive."

There was a knock on the door of the study and a faint, "Your Highness?"

"Yes Felix, what is it?" Alexia called out, "And do come in."

Felix Dzerzhinsky was tall for a Dyellian and stick think, with a van Dyke beard and a long face with shrunken cheeks that gave him a perpetually starving look, "Your Highness..." he began as he entered.

The Tzarina held up a finger in warning. It was another baking day in Cyro, although the room was pleasantly air conditioned. She was curled up in an arm chair with her legs pulled up under her, apparently reading some old Medieval tome, "You know I hate it when people call me that, which makes me think you are deliberately trying to irritate me, which in turn makes me think that something I have done has irritated you... and knowing you to be a Dyellian I would suspect what is iritating you is 6 foot 6 blonde and has pointy ears, am I not correct?"

Dzerzhinsky was not a young man, his once black beard was now flecked with grey as was his hair. Once again he was taken aback by the Tzarina. Just because she's 24 and smiles at you like she hasn't got two brain cells to rub together doesn't mean she's not all there. Appearances are deceptive.

His son had told him that... he should be paying more attention, "On that button as always Alexia."

"Sit." she motioned to another chair, the edge of her mouth curving up slightly at the mention of her name, "Now tell me what you think."

"I think there's going to be a riot if people see that creature." Felix said bluntly.

"Wrong." Alexia shook her head, "I disagree, people are paranoid, but that kind of thing can change quickly, how many of the population have ever actually seen an elf? Half of them don't even think they're real. We just need to make sure that the media stays on side and helps us break the paranoia."

Felix's expression implied he didn't agree, but he nodded along, "But why risk it?"

"Because it is right." the Tzarina replied simply, "The war was pointless, stupid, then we can clean out the Gonad without causing everyone in the world to hate us, and that frees up a whole Army for the upcoming war who would otherwise be kept in nasty skirmishes with the Dökkálfar. Remember from here on in, Freyr and his people are not 'elves', 'elves' has nasty connotations, they are Ljósálfar, very different."

"It's just a word." Felix complained, "You're just changing the packaging and giving people the same product."

"I know." the Tzarina beamed triumphantly, "Works every time..."

The Retaliatory Guard's RASTER satellites were fixed on the Klatch, Retaliatory Guard Command pored over the Dyellian build up carefully. The Command Generals met in Tollan.

Commander Ring sat quietly as Commander Designate West, Command General Lucane briefed the room. "It appears as though the new Tzarina is finally moving to enforce some sort of authority in the the Gonad, normally it has nothing to do with us, but as we've all been preparing for Pulse 2 of Operation Southpaw, this is a rare opportunity.

Analysis had conjectured that Pulse 2 and Pulse 3 would be mainly hindered by Vrakian and then Dyellian movements, but as soon as things explode in the Gonad, as they always do, our targets will be relatively free for us to take control of."

He paused, as the Velite General stood, it was rare for him to be in Tollan " You will be free to strike as planned , I have called up over five hundred million Velite Guard, all defensive units are at full strength, it is time the Federation realized their past mistakes."

Command General Lucane nodded "The full might of the Retaliatory Guard and Naval are prepared for an all out offensive, although I doubt that will be necessary, one Pulse 2 and 3 are complete, the Federation will be forced to meet with us, on our terms."

Command General Ring sat quietly and finally nodded "Command General Baibars, your forces on the Karmanyakan border are free to enact 'Fourteenth of July' co-ordinate this with the Velite General, Lucane, wait until fighting in the Gonad actually becomes involved and then begin Pulse 3, co-ordinate with Naval Commander Itxaad." He stood and saluted "Gentlemen, let us prepare."

The FNRAD, or Foreign News Review and Analysis Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had been picking up reading and listening to odd doings coming from the direction of Dyelli Beybi. As was usual in a semi-beaurcratic organistation, the buck was commonly passed to the next stiff in the chain, however unusually the stuff that was either important or would be interesting to the higher-ups found its way out of the In Boxes of the cubists and into the In Boxes of the office dwellers. Due to a filling error the folder that had been headed towards the MoFA was also sent to the MoFI and a millitant group of hippies or members of the Movement for Radical Foreign Relations and Socio-Political Alliences as they prefered to be called.

**********

"Hey, dudettes and dudes. Seems some dudes by the name of the Dyellieans be up to something not nice. Says here they be after the some group of peeps who done nuttin' wrong. We go teach them that it not right for the Man to be oppressin' them like that and to stand up to the Man."
From the smokey basement where the day's meeting was being held came shouts of 'Right on' and 'Stick it to the Man'. What the combustibles used to make the smoke were oft a mystery but the meetings' host always made sure there were many snackfoods scattered about.

**********

Upon reading the documentation concerning Dyelli Beybi, the Minster in charge of handling foreign affairs sent a missive to the council requesting permission to begin to organise a diplomatic mission to the odd nation that had previously been diplomatically ignored due to budget and manpower constraints. Contrary to normal procedure however it was the Crown Prince rather than some undersecretary that penned the letter.

Greetings to Her Divine Majesty Tsarina Alexia of Dyelli Beybi, May the radience of your smile never dim.

If I may have a moment of your time then I would like to request permission to visit your lands. Whilst we have little knowledge of your lands, some time ago during a discussion on politics and geography your lands came up as part of an example. Intrigued by what was discussed I made it a point to research what little we knew of your lands and peoples. If you would so consent, I, and a few compatriots, would like a chance to visit and learn.

Most humbly yours.
Prince Marius Ell Theao

**********

Around the world ads began appearing on TV. The particulars differed between advertisment but the two theme was the same, 'Visit The Federated Klatchian Coast' and 'Visit Dyelli Beybi'. At the end of each message in small font were the words, This message was brought to you by the citizens concerned with tourisim in the Federated Klatchian Coast and Dyelli Beybi.

With the influx of tourists lured in with the catchy ad campaign came some few people who were seeking more than just a good and relaxing time.

Internal Memo, Secretariat of State for Imperial Security
From: SIS Central
To: Agency Director, Security Imaging and Geo-spatial Organisation
CC: Defence Central Imaging Agency, MoD

Increased military activity noted in FKC (N12). Marked increases in N12.02 and N12.05 defensive and offensive preparations.
Secretary orders increased surveillance of N12, all areas.
All findings to CSC.

ACK

Elenpalantír 48294 orbited over the Gonad, taking its real-time reconnaissance, as it - and its tens of thousands of brothers - always did. It was even before 48294 handed off surveillance of the region to 92873 crossing behind it on a perpendicular orbit in the Elenpalantír net's world-spanning mesh, that 48294's footage was already up on a holoprojector under Taniquetil in Vinyatírion, along with similar footage from scores of other nearby satellites. The Elenpalantír network produced telemetry of astonishing resolution, enough so that the Menelmacari could not only see the Dyellian troops, but read the name badges and service numbers on their uniforms. And that didn't even strain the capabilities of the network, which could zoom in much farther indeed.

"Net's flagged this as interesting," one Sindarin recon supervisor remarked, pointing at the events unfolding in the Gonad.

"Looks like the Dyellians are at it again... wait, what's this...?" another asked, this one Avarin, zooming in further. "There's elves in their formation. That's a new wrinkle," she added, making a note on a datapad. "Very, very interesting indeed... perhaps the Dyellians have backed one tribe over another... that would seem to be a wise approach to what has long been a tough nut to crack. Hmm... computer, show us the most recent anomalous traffic into the Gonad."

The map changed, zooming out to show the full Gonad, and time seeming to progress backwards at an accelerated rate until the search abruptly stopped, zooming in again on an aircraft, annotated in the holo with a tail number, an IFF signature, and assorted other data.

"Interesting.... follow the craft."

Time progressed forward again, still accelerated. The view was centered on the plane, the landscape scrolling by beneath it until it reached its destination and landed, and its passengers debarked. The computer searched for identification, this data also put up in luminescent holographic tengwar script.

"Zoom in on them..."

The first elf pondered. "That seems to confirm that theory. That's the Tsarina herself."

The second grimaced at the image. "Crown of thorns... cute."

"Something else, too," remarked the first, returning the map to the present date, and scrolling it quickly off to the northeast, the view following a very google-earth-like high ballistic arc to focus in on some Retaliatory Guard units. Next came similar pans to several nearby Velite bases, where traffic seemed considerably higher than normal.

"Vaadians are building up too. Given recent events in the Klatch, I doubt they're the welcome wagon. SIGINT seems to confirm... they've called up most of their navy and close to half a billion troops. My strategic projections estimate the Vaadians will move - or be ready to, at least - within a fortnight."

The Avar just peered at the Sinda.

"No, ma'am, that's not a typo. Half a billion. Though in fairness most of those seem to be Velite Guard, a Vaadian defensive militia. What if we recommend informing the Dyellians of the Vaadian buildup? If they have to pull back from the Gonad to meet the Vaadian push, it could postpone whatever their plan is..."

The second elf blinked, then shook her head. "I think there's no need or reason to. For one, the people the Dyellians know as 'elves' are not our kind... they don't fall under our aegis and never have. For another... the Dyellians will find out soon enough... if they miss a buildup like that, they certainly deserve whatever they get! Half a billion!" The Avar dissolved into chuckles for a moment. "I'll have to put a team on watching this. Lady Prefect Serendis will want regular reports..." she remarked, turning to leave the room.

OOC: Dyelli, I took a bit of liberty here with the Tsarina's means of travelling to the Gonad. Let me know if I'm wrong and I'll edit accordingly.

The Dyellians hadn't noticed... and were responding in kind to the Vaadian buildup, rostering people into citizen's militias and issuing uniforms... although nobody had actually been drafted up. It was at times like this that the Dyellian bureaucracy actually began to shine. Government estimates were that they could draft up 400 million troops to supplement the standing army within 7 days. Which meant the thin line of Dyellian Regulars (outnumbered 10 to 1) would need to last for a week. Of course there were only about 305,000 in Karmanyaka, with a further 4.8 million soldiers in the D.B.A.T along with a sizeable airforce component.

It seemed the Dyellian State was selling war bonds as well, which could have seemed somewhat premature...

----------

The New Army was called Álfheimr. It was a mixed band of D'Reg tribespeople, Härdmandle and elves of the Ljósálfar persuation. While the troops were not up to the standard of the traditional Dyellian Fusiliers who had honed their skills on each other in two bloody civil wars and numerous small outbursts, they were equipped the same. The same tanks, with the new and exciting camouflage, the same 'flexotropic' armour, the same variety of new and exciting weapons.

"Now this." the Major-General cracked his cane against a map, "Is the old mail road, now somewhat deserted."

Colonel Al'Moustadi couldn't help but notice the ears, yes, it was speaking English, yes it was wearing a Dyelli Beybian uniform, but it was an elf, although it insisted he called it a Ljósálfar... "Obviously we'll be using it as a supply line for the central column of Divisions Delta, Echo, Foxtrot and Golf. The Engineering detachments for Golf is being assigned to us, Echo, for the duration of the assigment. Basically our job in Echo division will be to keep the road going forward, fight off any Dökkálfar who try to raid us, but primarily just clear the damned road all the way to the end of the peninsula."

A Härdmandle who Al'Moustadi didn't recognise raised his hand.

The Ljósálfar nodded to him, "Brigadier Gragson."

"I have seen many maps." Gragson began slowly, "But never have I seen any indication of enemy numbers."

"We have 305,000." the Major-General explained, "We believe the population of Dökkálfar to be around 12 million, with around 240,000 warriors... bear in mind most will be armed with little more than a bow and arrow and certainly will not have the advantage of night vission equipment, body armour or the SSA2801. This will be no cake walk people, however we are working to a deadline, 14 days to clear the peninsula, 14 days to win this damned war before the Parliament in Port Olympus kicks up a stink."

There were no further questions.

"We move out at dawn." the Major-General concluded, "Go, get some rest."

OOC: All looks good Menelmacar, although the meeting took place on an offshore island near the peninsula, not that it makes any real difference to the narative.

----------

From: The Honourable A. ap Adam
To: Prince Marius Ell Theao
Subject: Visit

Dyelli Beybi would of course be honoured to host your esteemed person. We will look forward to seeing you in Cyro some time soon. Please give us an approximate time of arrival and we will make all the necessary arrangements.

Warmest regards,
Alexia ap Adam, Tzarina

Karmanyaka's border was abuzz with activity, mysterious activity, baffling activity. The Retaliatory Guard units that had been parked right on the border, were now packing up and moving, and not in the direction of Karmanyaka. Most of them were 'disappearing' as they headed back underground.

The Only exception were the Red Jaguar, who assisted by the Quartermasters Corp are setting up very large, drum like devices, which were then being connected by cat5 cabling. Anyone familiar with pyrotechnics would recognize the fireworks mortars immediately, although these were unusually large.

Command General Baibars arrived, he paused on a hill in his Chok-Mool and opened the hatch and leaned out of the cupola and watched The Tiger and Leopard armies withdraw. The number of Retaliatory Guard at the border were now reduced by three hundred and twenty thousand. The site of their movement, was rather impressive.


OOC: The half a billion 'buildup' of troops is simply the retaining and calling up of active Velite Guard. They aren't massing anywhere, just reporting in for duty, the Velite Guard do not attack, and the Retaliatory Guard buildup has remained the same, other than mentioned above, no additional units have appeared anywhere.

Along with the usual Karmanyakan troops along the border were elements of the 'Black Coast' Army, traditionally one of the ones holding the Dyellian coast. It was headed by a Lieutenant-General Woolsey, who at this moment was looking ver concerned indeed.

"So what we have." he elaborated on what the Staff Officer had just told him, "Is the sudden withdrawal of most hostile combatants and the influx of large mortars."

"That is correct Sir." the Officer was staring several inches above Woolsey's head.

Woolsey nodded, "OK, my guess is they are planning some kind of chemical or biological attack. Issue the troops with NBC suits, also tell them to get used to sleeping in them, don't want anyone caught out. This threat is very real."

After the second day even the Red Jaguar began to withdraw, clearing out back about seventy five miles, the Quartermasters heading back with them.

Even further away three or four hundred miles away the Velite Guard moved underground six divisions of Titan SAM batteries (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10480231&postcount=8) staging them at their transit junctions just underground.

Velite General Ihsan grunted as the Narvik Advanced Ordinance rep. walked up with a clip board.

"Good evening General Ihsan, we have the entire consignment ready, two thousand new Woten Missiles (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12845076&postcount=65), we can start loading them in now, your divisions will be ready for the 'test' in a few hours." He smiled politely as he hand his clipboard and pen to General Ihsan.

General Ihsan looked over the papers and handed them over to his assistant who signed them and returned it to the Corporate rep. General Ihsan sneered at the man "You are certain these will work? They will leave no trace?"

The Rep nodded "Yes sir, they finished third stage testing three weeks ago and the thermite charges will only leave a shower of silver sparks after detonation."

"I'll hold you to that." Growled the Velite General "You can go."

The Narvik Advanced Ordinance rep. nodded, saluted and scurried away quickly. The Velite General turned to his men "Load in those missiles and keep the Titans at the staging points until the fireworks display is well underway, let Command General Baibars know that he can start his fireworks at 10 pm and then we'll be ready at midnight."

Velite Command moved to finish preparations, Operation Southpaw, Pulse two, 'July 14th' was nearly ready and the Federation would have quite a show.


OOC: Chemical!? Biological!? I'm deeply offended! :D War in the Gonad, war in Karmanyaka, things are getting exciting!

The requested information was sent while immediate information and a picture of Alexia was sought for. The prince, while young, was anything but stupid and didn't intend to embarress himself or his home due to a preventable error.

Providing his hosts didn't gainsay any part of the time or date, his arrival was figured as noon three days hence which meant a fair amount of study and prep was needed, time Marius full well planned on using.

The Tzarina/Prime Minister of Dyelli Beybi was young, 24 to be precise. Refined features, black hair, dark eyes... she was a very typical Dyellian. Attractive, in a slightly detached sort of way.

----------

"Make sure they're dead." the jungle was silent, apart from the odd shot being fired.

Corporal Haddad had to admit to feeling some grave moral concerns over what they were doing. Shooting combatants was one thing, but wandering into a village and killing everyone in sight was something slightly different...

One of the fallen groaned, dragging itself forward towards a doorway. Haddad paused, leveling his rifle to empty a few rounds into the creature's back... then lowered it.

There was an odd buzzing noise, he winced. A huge gaping charred hole had been burned straight through the creature's chest. He suppressed the urge to vommit.

"I said kill them all." the Captain whispered coldly, "We are giving them the mercy of a quick death, something they would not extend to us."

The Captain was a woman, Chlarissa Dashwood, although not officially his commander, she was in fact a staff officer, she inspired a certain degree of fear and respect in those who encountered her, she was the only Dyellian in the new Army, "I had a friend." she grunted, "Name of Fraser Morris. He would tell you exactly what he saw done to people like you... if he wasn't already dead."

Haddad nodded, feeling drained for some reason. She clapped him on the shoulder, "Every one which lives takes the life of one of us. Remember that next time."

"But." he finally managed to get some words out, "This isn't war, there are rules."

She smiled coldly, "No it isn't war. This is extermination."

With reports of increasing activity in the Gonad, Command General Baibars was now set to strike. The major powers in the Klatch were all militarily engaged somewhere, excepting The Free Republic. They would now be forced to acknowledge and negotiate with the Retaliatory Guard.

Two days after the last of the mortars was set, at 10 PM , the Retaliatory Guard opened up, with a massive, wide ranging FIREWORKS display across the whole of the Karmanyakan border. Huge fireworks that thundered like avalanches in the stratosphere, with brilliant flashing colors , sparkling trailers and whistling rockets that exploded in multi colored rosettes. It was quite nice, The Red Jaguar had obviously had some training with pyrotechnics.

At Midnight with the display still ongoing the Velite Guard Titan missile launches peeked out of their underground bunkers and let loose with their Woten EMP missiles. Every JDF tank, mechanized and infantry unit was targeted. The Wotens exploded overhead in a dazzling shower of silver sparks, absolutely harmless, except to anything using an electrical circuit............................

The fireworks continued and would continue until 2 AM.

There was no JDF deployment of any real significance in Karmanyaka anymore, the JDF being a more or less defunct body. However, there were entrenched elements of the Dyellian Black Army. While the Vaadians carried on with their pyrotechnic display trucks began to move in and tow away some of the heavier vehicles, apparently they were resistent to the effects...

Then they sat and waited.

At 2 AM , the Pyrotechnics ended. It was now up to Retaliatory Guard Command and Narvik Advanced Ordinance to go through the satellite images and determine the effectiveness of the Woten missiles. It wouldn't be until 6 AM that the Red Jaguar moved forward again, with QMC support, to clean up and remove the pyrotechnic mortars.

The trucks that seemed to be immune were carefully identified and designated as targets that would need to destroyed conventionally, communications were also carefully monitored to see what effect the EMP missiles had on communications equipment.

Other than that, the Free Republic was quiet.


OOC: Interesting, I never saw a post where the JDF tank divisions left Karmanyaka?

Marius had utilized his time wisely, thought due to limited information it was less than purely profitable. Catching a nap while the plane travelled, the prince listened to music as he dozed.

The plane entered Dyellian airspace having sent messages concerning its passenger and nature well outside even a fanatical military no-fly zone, as well as requesting further landing coordinates and a chance to patch into local ATC. Members of the royal family were quite precious to the nation and anything approaching preventable mistakes were rigorously avoided.

Marius would be well rested and prepared to handle most unusualities that might come his way. This kind of politicalling was both educational and practical and a bit of a family tradition.

It was always a good idea to be cautious around the Dyellians, they tended to have rather itchy trigger fingers, something which had resulted on them shooting up their allies on numerous occasions...

Although they weren't overly worried about a civilian jet. There were some odd sights as they approached Cyro International Airport. A squadron of planes that looked like small, fast V-22 Ospreys whizzed past at one point... a few minutes later they passed 12 zepellins of varying sizes. The zepellins had guns, looking like some weird throwbacks from the First World War.

It was close to midday when the plane approached Cyro. It was, to put it politely, built on a swamp, a network of islands and bridges. Outside of the swamp lay fields of sunflowers and grazing cattle and far off in the distance, the sun reflected off the golden desert sand.

The Airport was built just outside of the city on the East side of the swamp. After recieving landing clearance the aircraft was directed towards a waiting finger. It looked hot outside. There was a haze over the concrete of the runway. If they decided to read the outside temperature, it was a smouldering 45 degrees Celcius or 113 Fahrenheit.

The finger was air conditioned though. Inside there was presumably a welcoming committee of sorts.

ooc: ic post coming today. Is it safe to assume that threads relating to this (such as previous ones that relate to this) are on hold or can be done as a sidebar? It this the main war thread? And, should someone make an ooc thread?

Sequested deep inside Vrak Prime, a council of several walruses and humans convened. This is not to say that such meetings don’t occur in the military-complex of Vrak, but what made this meeting unique was the number and rank of visitors present. Most impressive would be the King himself who rarely, if ever, attended. At least the last mad one didn’t. The new King was quite a different sort, having a rare talent for bonding with the common citizen and commanding the respect of the military and economic titans.

====

-Well, this looks like it will start.
-Perhaps. Diplomatically, I would say that all options have been exhausted, although we haven’t heard from our mission in Ilek-Vaad.
-Doubtless that would be fruitless, considering that the Vaadians just attacked Karmanyaka. Whatever was accomplished there is for naught.

To emphasize the last point, a meaty flipper lazily waved in the air.

-I wouldn’t say attack. Some intel suggests that it was fireworks.
-Can this be confirmed?
-Not yet. But there was an EMP attack launched at JDF divisions. This means that the SOATs could possibly be neutralized.
-We have made significant improvements since the Dozle war. And the Sketchian stalkers are more resistant.
-Then it was an attack.
-Indeed it was…

boomed a deeper voice, presumably the King.

-…and we shall respond. What else on the border of Karmanyaka and Ilek-Vaad?-
-Most of our intel is located with the bulk of our troops in northern Karmanyaka, which means of course that we have to rely on satellites and information from other Klatchian states. However, in northern Karmanyaka, we are receiving reports of Dyellian movement coming into that state.
-Thus, the northern territories are secured.
-I don’t know about that. But our rail link is safe for now.
-It doesn’t matter. There are other ways to bring troops to Karmanyaka. As well, the HORDE district of FNS-1 must be maintained. A very significant portion of our navy is there.
-True, although our analysis indicate that they have a range advantage.
-That is fine. In fact, if we loose some of the old fleet then it merely means that our much newer ships will come online.
-And manpower?
-We needn’t put everyone under arms yet since we need to maintain our economy. Our borders are secure. In fact, your Majesty, I suggest that we implement our territorial expansion plans now - especially towards the former Monte Ozarka lands. We can then establish a front on the East Klatchian Ocean and also open up an avenue into the Gonad. As well, the AWM canal would be more secured with our presence there.
-Let us stay out of the Gonad for now. That area is cursed. And besides, heavy jungle fighting is perfect for drawing in our enemies. They would be foolish to try that invasion route.
-True. Preliminary engineering reports from the former Monte Ozarka territory indicates that while the infrastructure is crumbling, some of it is still usable. With your permission, my Liege, we can implement Plan Ozarka.
-You have my blessing.
-Thank you my Liege.

With that, one walrus left the room and began to make a number of phone calls.

-And what shall our response be with the Vaadian attack?
-Determine the paths of their RASTER satellites. I want them targeted.
-Analysis indicates that this response will quickly escalate the conflict.
-It does not matter what we do. Anything will escalate this.
-So, then, what else?
-Send out the hunter/killers from FNS-1 and maintain their T-NET. Target outlying Vaadian naval ships are outlying their so-called “exclusion zone”. What was it again? 3100 nautical miles?
-Something like that. We can still access Karmanyaka by sea.
-Indeed. Accelerate deployment into Karmanyaka.
-If full conflict breaks out, I believe Karmanyaka will be lost. And quite possibly FSN-1.
-Indeed High General for I am counting on it. This first attack by the Vaadians was foolish. While they may hold a technical edge, we alone hold an industrial one. And with the Klatch at full strength, even though it is a shadow of its former self, has more that enough to match any one nation and, in fact, hold against other regions. Especially considering the high level of automation that the mega-factories that Santa Barbara constructed within our lands. We can hold out for quite a long time. And we will make then pay every step.
-Not to mention the negative publicity that this attack has done. I think we can secure outside technical help and perhaps equipment more easily by painting the Vaadians as the aggressors.
-Absolutely. We can use this to our advantage.
-I prefer not to rely on polls, your Majesty. Our inner strength shall prevail.
-But sentients are fickle, High General, and morale can sag. Let the Vaadians strike first. It will invigorate our people more. Revenge is an excellent emotion to channel. And fighting for your homeland is even better.
-Something we should remember should we choose to march into Ilek-Vaad itself.
-Of course. But should we choose this course, it will be with the full support of the international community. Preferably ones that want to see Ilek-Vaad fade away.
-We are getting ahead of ourselves. Our first priority is the defense of the Klatch and this means by fortifying Karmanyaka.
-Yes. Contact the North Germanians. They are our war brethren. And what of the Alconians? Surely their navy is more than capable to keep the Vaadians at bay?
-Those two states are quiet. That disturbs me. Their strength is needed.
-It is, but we shall proceed for now. Let us see how the Vaadians respond now.
====

The VIS certainly kept an eye on RASTER satellites, although it was difficult, considering the sheer number of satellites from, well, everyone. But now a significant portion of the Vrakian ground and satellite-based tracking systems swiveled to target pesky overhead RASTER satellites that happened to pass over Vrak. Some invariably would, and two missiles for every one satellite would be launched from launch sites scattered throughout Vrak - some undoubtedly would be mobile.

Elsewhere, and especially on the former New Shiron territory, military activity went up a notch, although not yet at full blown “the-enemy-is-coming-attack-kill-maim-destroy-raze” stage yet.

====

ooc: best info I could find on Russian ASAT capabilities is them launching a 1400 kg ASAT interceptor from the ground with an effective range between 230-1000 km or 160-1600, depending on what numbers you want to believe. And this was back in the 70s. No funky laser systems or launching from planes. So IV, pick which ones you want gone if you believe they can get you.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/space_weapons/a-history-of-asat-programs.html

Things were slightly different in Dyelli Beybi...

"If there is an attack." the old overweight, balding man explained, "Karmanyaka will not fall, I will not allow it."

It was of course Lunchtime O'Booze, the head of the Dyelli Beybian Army. He was joined by the Grand Air Marshall, Bernard Welsh and the Admiral of the Fleet, Adelle Collins, along with inumerable Generals, Air Marshalls and Admirals.

Welsh grunted, "We have a lot of good equipment I grant you, but most of it has never been tested in battle. I have planes coming out of my ears, but I would prefer to have more Typhoons and less Dodos. Who the hell called it a Dodo anyway, it hardly says mightly warplane."

"Not exactly no." Adelle Collins smirked, "The key my dear lies in the Navy. Basically we can outmanouvre the enemy, and initially we'll have an advantage in that they won't know how to deal with us."

"Precisely." O'Booze grunted, "We are not at War Ladies and Gentlemen, but nevertheless I want to activate enough militia to garrison the Coast, then I want to transfer all but the Royal Guard and Álfheimr Armies North into the D.B.A.T. and Karmanyaka. I want every avaiable soldier and vehicle ready to show those pakrahs that Dyelli Beybi means business. Remind your men, the people of KArmanyaka are are countrymen and women. It is our duty as Klatchians to defend them."

There was a brief muttering and a lot of nods, "We will need you to move assets North to support us too France... and Collins... you know what to do."

A sly smile played across her face, "Of course, it will be... interesting."

Retalitory Guard Command watched with some concern as a few of their RASTER satellites were disabled by Vrakian missiles, it was important enough to rouse the Command General on Duty at Fire Control in Tollan, Command General Itzcoatl.

He looked over the data and the live satellite images taken from satellites watching other satellites be destroyed, the irony was lost on him at this point. He leaned back in his chair.

"Gentleman, move forward with Pulse 3, activate Phyrric I , have Colonel Seleucas keep it in geo-synchronous orbit, launch the Swords against Vrakian Satellites and then strike the missile sites that attacked our satellites."

Fire Control responded and in high earth orbit the old, and somewhat damaged looking Phyrric I space station suddenly came to life, powering up fully and bringing it's RASTER arms and weapons online. More importantly it's bay doors opened launching several squadrons of Sword of Damocles Orbital Attack (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=6809507&postcount=8)vehicles, which casually began to attack and destroy Vrakian military satellites in response. In Tollan, seven wings of Death Head's sub-orbital bombers were prepped for take off.

On the ground, the Red Jaguar finished clean up of their fire works display, if there was any massing of forces, it was not apparent to anyone and the Naval Guard, which looked prepared to move somewhere still sat.

There was also a brief response , a press report from Retaliatory Guard Command:

***** For General Release*****

Several months ago the Republic of Dyelli-Beybi declared war on the Free Republic when it attempted to engineer terrorist attacks in the Free Republic and Cheka assassins attempted to kill Vaadian citizens and kidnapped the Vaadian Ambassador to the Republic of Dyelli-Beybi.

Earlier today the Glorious Kingdom of Vrak has also now declared war on the Free Republic and has attacked and destroyed several Retaliatory Guard Satellites.

The actions by these nations have been wholly unprovoked and will be responded to in due time. With no Vaadian lives actually lost and with the dubious strategic value of the militaries of these two nations, the Retaliatory Guard is not inclined to respond .

The Dyellian and Vrakian forces within Karmanyaka are being monitored and are considered a threat. It is unfortunate the The Federation and it's member states not only refuse to take any diplomatic action, refuse to sign non-aggression pacts or treaties and continue to beat the drum of war against the Free Republic. These acts of aggression against the Free Republic have been noted, and will be responded to as appropriate.

Unlike our Imperial neighbors, the Free Republic weighs the decision to use military force very carefully and responsibly.

Supreme Republican Commander Adan Ring
Tollan, Retaliatory Guard Command

OOC: so the diplomacy threads are all dead then?

The two men watched the monitors for a long time. The latest reports from the spy sats were correlating with the reports from their spies. They filed it with the other intelligence reports under "Klaatch". One of the men pressed the submit button and they turned back to the monitor, forever watching movement and analysing small hints along tracks were computers never would go.

Meanwhile in a bunker far beneath Vegana city a button started to blink red on a huge map.

-"Seems like we have a potential conflict in Klaatch"

-"Again? That button has been blinking so much so we had to change diod twice since we installed it. Why cant Klaatch be more like Cematopia?" The man pointed towards a button on the top left of the map that were completly dark with evident traces of dust on it.

-"They seem to be doing some internal cleansing on elves. Not very efficient though."

-"Good riddance, I thought our walrus friends did the same a while back? Lets hope they are as efficient as we were and make our world a safer place. "


-"Should we report to some of the brass?"

-"File a report, put it under priority D. The colonel gets really pissed off when he spends time on things he doesn't think is important."

*** Public Statement on KTV by the Tzarina/Prime Minister ***

"It has come to our attention that Ilek-Vaad has accused Dyelli Beybi of declaring War on them 'several months ago'. This is patently ridiculous. As for their accusations of terrorism and kidnapping orchestrated by the Dyellian State, I was certainly unaware of this, as I was equally unaware of any Declaration of War."

"Dyelli Beybi firmly believes that no State of War exists, and while Police Actions may be carried out against enemy insurgents, this is definitely no 'War'."

"However, despite the fact, that we are not in a State of War, the Vaadian Imperialist may not necessarily see it that way. For that reason, as of this hour we are initiating Emergency Production Protocols. Dyelli Beybi will not find itself unarmed."

"We are also declaring immediately the activation of all Citizen's Militia units and Home Guard to fight any acts of aggression carried out by the Imperialist swine."

"In the name of God, I tell you, we will be victorious. There is no room for failure, no room for surrender or retreat. We will defend our lands and our way of life with our blood. Semper Dyellia. Dyelli Beybi will prevail, for God is on our side."

Ministry of External Affairs Press Release
The Ministry of External Affairs does not comment on defence policy; all inquiries should be directed to the Office of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of External Affairs has no official position on the developing situation in Klatchia.

-MEA

Ministry of External Affairs Trade and Travel Advisory: Priority One
An "at own risk" advisory applies to all vessels and aircraft traversing the waters in east Klatchia (See attached map).

-MEA

----------

Ministry of Defence Press Release
It is not the policy of the Ministry of Defence to comment on classified asset deployments. However, under no circumstances have we in the past, do we now, or will we in the future, recognise any unlawful infringement upon International Waters, nor any infringement of the right of the nations to freely traverse the High Seas as they see fit.

The Vaadian Military Exclusion Zone extending south of that nation, reserving those waters for the exclusive use of the Vaadian Military, is not recognised as a lawful claim, and this Ministry reserves the right to view any interference with His Serene Majesty's Maritime Military Assets, by any power, while in international territories, as either a hostile action in violation of ratified treaties, and/or as casus belli, and appropriate measures will be taken.

-MoD

Hill 190, The Fracture, Q-Universe

Lt. General Elizabeth Crawford sat quietly under an uber oak, the local hardwood fauna that seemed to be some distant relative of the Klatchian Oak, it was much larger and an insectivore rather than a carnivore. Her blond hair was dirty, as was her uniform. She studied a crudly drawn map that she had made of the local area. Chewing on some semi-ediable bark she scowled and shook her head.

Her family was depending upon her, perhaps her nation, perhaps the entire Klatch...

A corporal came jogging through the undergrowth and into the ratty camp. He stopped infront of Elizabeth and saluted, "Corporal Henderson reporting from forward observation post."
Elizabeth looked up from the dirt and saluted, "Very good corporal, I assume there is a reason you ran up here?"
"Yes my lady, the elves at gate camp have apparently activated after the last runner from home came through the gate."
"Hmm???"Elizabeth perked and her small squad of marines and royal guards had been waiting for weeks for the gate to open more than just a few seconds.
Elizabeth stood and shod off some leaves from her pants. "Very good news corporal, let's go take a look shall we?"
"Yes my lady.."
The corporal saluted again and turned to lead the way to the forward observation post.

It wasn't a long walk, but the brush here was thick...good for hiding, but it made going to the edge of the cliff difficult.

Elizabeth slid into the small hide that was the forward observation post. Lieutenant Mongrave was curled up into a small ball and looking down on the valley below. "Well Mongrave, what's up with the elves?"
"Don't know quite my lady, they seem to have begun preping a few of those large orbs on the siding and their working around the generators..."

Elizabeth held out her hand for the bonoculars and studied the enemy postion carefully.

She could see the elves in their gray uniforms working about three black orbs that lay on a set of rails. The rails led forward to the gate, a modifed version of the one used against New Shiron years before. She glanced up the small box canyon to the set of generators that powered the gate. Usually only a single generator was on at a given time with power for the gate being saved in a set of capacitors. Presently exhaust rose from all four generators.

"I think they are planning on sending those orbs through...and to do that they are going to need to open up the gate for more than a flash..."

Both the lieutenant and corporal had an eager look in their eye. Elizabeth smiled slightly, "Time to go home boys..."

Please find the OOC thread here:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=533778

with usual courtesies and protocols to be followed.

The guests of the Dyellians numbered four, two men in their early thirties, one slip of a girl and a young man in his early twenties. The two elder males wore silken grey shirts and black pants as well brown A-2 jackets and where as the shorter had blue eyes and black hair, the taller had green eyes and almost white hair. The girl's hair was quite long, red and contrasted quite sharply with her many layered black dress. From beneath her bangs came very dark eyes that seemed to sparkle as she looked about. The young man who was in the lead wore a black silken shirt with a crimsom design of a dragon and he wore a pair of grey slacks. His black hair was quite messy and his grey eyes seemed to take in all that he saw.

The four stepped off the plane and into the terminal as a couple others began to take off a few bags for each.

"Bruce, Bruce.. I've got to speak with you." Bruce said as burst into the pub running, nearly running out of breath. "I have been looking for you for a while though I should have known you where here."

"What's going on Bruce?" said one of the Bruce's at the bar, He was the Chief minister, right beside him just on the other side from where the 3rd Bruce had just bursted in was the face of Shielas and Bruces to those foreign sheilas and bruces

"You'd better read this." he exclaimed placing a piece of paper down in front of the two Bruces.

One of them picked it up and started to read... "Bugger me... They've attacked Karma."

"What?!" said the Chief Minister as the paper was handed over.

"Apparently by Fireworks though" he said "damnit, and I thought this would be resloved."

"Anyway why the Fireworks?" asked the Chief Minister.

"Those Vaadians are tossers, trying to provoke an attack." responded the Forgeign minister "We should issue travel warnings, perhaps also see if we could stop selling our beer there. If we do, sell it to them that is."

"right, I'll see Bruce now then." said the Cheif Minister

"Oh, and Bruce could you start and call up the military. I think we're gonna need 'em." (to the Bartender)

"No probs."

"right then, cheerio."

SATCOM Forward response monitor - update report 28717561
Priority: Very High
Synopsis:
Nation of Ilek-Vaad engaged in destroying Vrakian military sat assets above IV territory.
Currently, 12 LEO sat assets destroyed.
Geo-orbit assets currently operational
Ilek-Vaad aggression began on Cycle Loop: 90817
Recommendation:
Downline to SATCOM Analysis Unit.
Increase Cycle report intervals by 3 Kars.

====

SATCOM AU update report 2871
Priority: Very High
Synopsis:
Downline from SATCOM FRM report tag 28717561

Analysis:
Geo 1 and Geo 3 report Ilek-Vaad vessels able to destroy Vrakian LEO sat assets with impunity. Usage of particle cannon detected.
Recommendation: Set remaining sats to rapid orbital decay to random fall on Ilek-Vaad nation.

====

SATCOM RU update report 817
Priority: Very High
Synopsis: Downline from SATCOM AU report tag 2871

Action(s):
Continue Ilek-Vaad sat asset attack.
Set remaining Vrakian military sat assets over Ilek-Vaad to rapid orbit decay.
Divert sat assets away from Ilek-Vaad space
Secure uplink with Friendly Klatchian state and JDF assets
Secure remaining sat assets. Monitor status increase to Priority Alpha.
Downline to CIU.
Release current information to (KLATCH and JDF) on Ilek-Vaad activity re: SATCOM FRM 28717561, SATCOM AU 2871 - VIS submitted…approved for release.
Release current information to (OotS, Bi-lateral ties, possible friendlies, etc…) on Ilek-Vaad activity re: SATCOM FRM 28717561, SATCOM AU 2871 - VIS submitted…pending.
Ongoing analysis with Friendly Klatchian state and JDF on counter strategy
Report auto forward to VHC.

====

The remaining Vrakian satellites that were not yet destroyed by Ilek-Vaad immediately fired their thrusters so as to rapidly decay their orbit earthside. It was a risky strategy since it was possible that an accelerated decline would result in the satellite to burn up. However, it was also predicted that the larger satellites just might make it but would crash somewhere over the Klatch. Which meant a satellite could crash on Ilek-Vaad but perhaps just as likely crash on Vrak.

However, the rest of the information was shared immediately with the rest of the friendly Klatchian states and, more importantly, the JDF. The use of a working particle cannon was emphasized to those that needed to know in the hopes that an effective counter strategy could be employed. A huddle of generals, air marshals, and space command brass broke away from the main grouping that gathered earlier and pondered the news. A high level rep from the CIU or Counter Intelligence Unit which had close ties with the VIS and specialized in computer terrorism (having won some renown against Neo Tyr) made some notes. The attacks on Vaadian satellites that floated above Vrak, at least the ones that could be reached by current ground systems, continued unabated.

A smaller group looked at the map of the entire Klatch and estimated where the Vaadians would strike. After some barking, pointing, and flipper waving, it was thought that Ilek-Vaad would not pass over LOW territory - which made predicting a possible attack flight path a bit easier. Therefore, mobile Triumf s-400 and s-500 systems designed to counter ICBMs and supersonic aircraft were activated and would soon rumble in a defensive posture from the mid to southern portion of Vrak - including Port Olympus. It would be quick and dirty, but at least an initial ring would be realized until a more firmer stance could be adopted.

Some of the same systems were diverted into the Ozarkian push, but these would take longer since engineering battalions were having some difficulties with the “hurry up” timetable to fix the needed former Monte Ozarka infrastructure.

Northern Vrak was perhaps the most heavily defended area and so was not put on into any panic mode yet, although wariness did increase. No one was leaving their post for the near future.

Karmanyaka was a different story. Only a very small scattering of the Triumf systems were in place, and those were in the northern parts. Although the Vrakians did believe in redundancy and equipping their troops, the mission profile just did not require such systems since the emphasis was on containing the DBAT. Some were diverted onto the rail link but these would take time to arrive. At best, they might be able to fire from the DBAT into Karmayaka should the conflict escalate too quickly.

FNS-1, better known as Former New Shiron territory had ample equipment to counter most any threat so the HORDE commander was not immediately concerned…yet. He was, however, quite angry at losing his pictures above Ilek-Vaad and digested the latest secure intel report. He mused over the words “particle cannon” and wondered what else the Vaadians may have. He promptly called for an mild increase in readiness level which translated into the troops checking their equipment and any new shiny toys to be inspected and ready to deliver within a shortened timeframe.

He also ordered three hunter killer squads to make ready for immediate departure. Within two hours - the first squadron of six submarines of various configurations slipped into the East Klatchian Ocean.

OOC: Help, I'm being held captive by my girlfriend! I can't post much right now... Wait, she's coming! I'll try and post soon, whenever possib-

"Yes, dear? No, I wasn't sitting at the computer!"

***** For General Release*****

Vrakian aggression continues unabated. The Retaliatory Guard now considers itself at war with the nations of The Glorious Kingdom of Vrak and The Republic of Dyelli Beybi. Their history of threats of war, now coupled with the blatant acts of war leaves the Retaliatory Guard little choice but to defend the Free Republic and eliminate the threats posed by these belligerent nations.

Dyellian and Vrakian Miliatry forces are advised that they seventy two hours to leave the borders of The Free Republic.

Supreme Republican Commander Adan Ring
Tollan, Retaliatory Guard Command

*****

The last remaining RASTER satellites that remained above the Klatch vacated the space, or were destroyed by the Vrakians, the only thing that remained in orbit was Pyrrhic I, and it's SPEAR anti-missile batteries kept it secure and it four RASTER arms kept the pictures from orbit coming to Retaliatory Guard Command.

The Sword of Damocles OAV's were directed to and began hunting down the kamikaze Vrakian satellites, whether they were headed for The Free Republic or not, the destruction caused by the satellites crashing down anywhere in the Klatch was unacceptable to Retaliatory Guard Command.

The position of the satellites they couldn't catch was passed onto the Vrakian VIS.

On the ground, the Retaliatory Guard were still nowhere to be seen on the Karmanyakan border and the Naval Guard was massed , but not moving. Their current positions effectively sealed off the Sea of Lacon and the Southern Vaadian Coast.

The Vrakian ploy of crashing their satellites, had lowered Vrak's military prestige in the eyes of the Retaliatory Guard immeasurably, such a desperate and cowardly act was currently making Commander Ring rethink his command to reign in the Red Jaguar, and Jaguar forces.

Still things progressed as planned. The chunks of satellites that made it through the atmosphere and past the OAV's were a minor threat at best...

Official Release from the Vrak Ministry of Rites

There are no Vrakian forces along the borders of Ilek-Vaad since everyone knows they are in the northern portion of Karmanyaka, therefore the declaration of war by the nation of Ilek-Vaad is unfounded. However, let it be known that Ilek-Vaad struck the Federation first by launching an EMP strike on JDF and other Klatchian forces within the state of Karmanyaka. As well, this is not the first time that Ilek-Vaad has violated FKC borders but we foolishly believed that a diplomatic solution could be reached in previous incidents. We were obviously wrong since the Vaadians have now shown their true purpose - which is to incorporate the Federated Klatchian state of Karmanyaka into their own nation.

The Glorious Kingdom of Vrak openly defies such blatant warmongering. The state of Karmanyaka belongs to the Federated Klatchian Coast and not to Ilek-Vaad. Therefore, the unfounded and patently ridiculous ultimatum issued by the nation of Ilek-Vaad is ignored. Vrakian forces within Karmanyaka shall not leave Karmayaka defenceless to the predatory nature of Ilek-Vaad.

As the Northern Mammoth crushes its opposition, so shall the military forces of Vrak crush the invading Vaadians. The huts of Ilek-Vaad shall be razed and their leaders fed to the Rotten Vernious Kinids. When it is done, the desolate nation of Ilek-Vaad will become home to waste dogs and urban jackals.

May Bok the Destroyer guide our troops to victory.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/TheVrakMinistryofRites.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/TheVrakMinistryofWar.png

Flag of the FKC
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/Klatchiaflag3_golden_hydra.png

Commander Ring responded quickly.

***** For General Release*****

The Glorious Kingdoms assertions are disingenuous.The Glorious Kingdoms forces in Karmayaka precipitated the Dyellian Cheka incursions on the Free Republic's Northern Border, despite repeated requests that The Federation, Glorious Kingdom and Dyellian Republic maintain some sort of border control to prevent such attacks nothing was done. We can therefore only assume that The Glorious Kingdoms armed forces at the very least looked the other way to allow such attacks.

The Retaliatory Guard also does not maintain any EMP weaponry. The previous nights pyrotechnic display was simply designed to show the Tzarina Of Dyelli Beybi, and her personal servant, the President of the Federation, that we were aware and watching the dismantling of the JDF and it's replacement by Dyellian regular forces on our Western border.

If the Glorious Kingdom is implying that the breakdown and or malfunction of Dyellain military equipment is related to our pyrotechnic display then I can offer no defence to that except to point to past instances of Dyellian equipment unreliability.

Of course these misunderstandings could have been avoided were there any Vrakian, or Federation diplomats willing to meet with Republican Officials, as we have requested for over two years. I have also made myself personally available to resolve these issues, as I do now.

We will reiterate: The gathering of Federation or Dyellian military forces on the border of the Free Republic is the business of the Free Republic.

Supreme Republican Commander Adan Ring
Tollan, Retaliatory Guard Command

Official Release from the Vrak Ministry of Rites

We grow tired of the lies that come forth from the mouth of Supreme Republican Commander Adan Ring and his ilk. The truth will come out once the nation of Ilek-Vaad is reduced to a wasteland by whatever means necessary.

Know this, Free Republic of Ilek-Vaad, that once your people and ours were friends but due to the misguided and predatory nature of your leaders, a collision course is now inevitable.

The state of Karmanyaka belongs to the Federated Klatchian Coast. We shall fight to the last to defend that state for it is part of the FKC. We are long suffering but now you shall witness our anger which shall be your undoing.

Unless the FKC leadership deigns otherwise, there shall be no further communication between the Glorious Kingdom and the Free Republic.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/TheVrakMinistryofRites.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/TheVrakMinistryofWar.png


Flag of the FKC
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/KingVrak/Klatchiaflag3_golden_hydra.png

===

Of course, this did not mean that a specialized team within the Ministry of Rites did not consider what Ring said. What made them doubt was, "is he genuine or is he lying"? The mission still hadn't reported back and that was likely the only diplomatic avenue between Ilek-Vaad and Vrak, should either side decide to show some initiative on that front.

Commander Ring responds briefly,

***** For General Release*****

Threats from the Glorious Kingdom of Vrak, are of course to be expected. After all the former King of Vrak, Vrak I - May he live forever in Bok's Halls, threatened the Free Republic with war no less than three times, while we were 'friends'.

King Vrak I had the foresight to understand that friendship between the Free Republic and the Glorious Kingdom should not be dependent upon the unreliable and unresponsive Federation. It is also well known that Karmanyaka will not be our target but those foreign forces that are camped in Karmanyaka.

It is a shame to see our most prudent neighbors blinded by a Cheka assassin turned President and her Dyellian lies. It is none of our business if this new Vrakian King chooses to be subservient to a Dyellian Tzarina.

War is never inevitable.

Supreme Republican Commander Adan Ring
Tollan, Retaliatory Guard Command

This is an Rp nation only, created soley to keep what the Oracle of the Gonad seperate from other activities.

Q-Universe, Palace of the Oracle

The throne room of the palace was dark except for a single spot of light that shown down from a ceailing portal to the floor.

There was a sound, an inhuman sound from one end.

<Bring forth Natma Leutna> it called out.

An elf in a long dark red robe strode into the light and postrated himself on the cold stone floor. The robe was the dark color of blood, as it should be since the blood of slaves had been the dye.

<Stand and report Natma, what does the foul Djel and their kana allies do now?>

<They prepare for war, out outpost reports various reports upon the unseen waves of air>

<Radio fool, it is called radio>

<May the dark lord bring me a happy release....>

<No, just remember the terran name for it...>

<Of course, but we are in the dark about where our enemies stand...>

<I do not want to give away the gate in the fracture yet, so the orbs...>

<I would not disagree with the Oracle's wisdom but advantage may soon be had that would allow us to release the orbs...>

<What advantage do you speak of?>

<The flubbers have sent some of their orbs back to the planet, the userpers starplace reported it>

<What? Why would they do that?>

<For the Terrans of the East attacked some...>

<So they blind themselves to prevent the Easterners from doing it...>
The horrid laugh echoed around the room. There were some murmers from the other end of the hall.

<Yes their reentry will disquise our own launch...Go send out our orbs so that We shall know what our enemies do not... Something came out of the darkness and rolled into the elf's head. It was a skull, still red and black with blood and tissue.

<Oh, and send me in another snack...>

<Yes, oh great one....

******
The Fracture
The elves of Gate Team Alpha Alpha ran into the earth and log bunker that served as the control room for the gate and closed the metal door.
<Opening gate....full max...Launching probe one...>

The circular gate filled with blue light and then opened up into a dark cave. The first black orb, which would just fit through the gate began to roll down the rails to the opening.

The Fracture

As the first massive black orb began to move down the rails towards the gate, a small group of Marines popped out of the dense foliage and dropped into the stream, using the steep banks as protection, they began to move downstream towards the gate.

Then a 30mm mortar opened fire as a Logoth heavy fighter appeard rising from the crest of the butte at the top of the hill. The Logoth fired both particle cannons at the end of the bunker nearest the gate.

The mortar focused in on the rails while the Logoth turned its attention to the gate defenses next.

Kingsgrange, Arn-Maciska, UIKM, The Covenant

"-reports are sketchy as to the extent of the-"
Click.
"-unclear as to the extent of the damage-"
Click.
"-coming in of debris falling from the skies over-"
Click.
"-statements offered by the Vaadians-"
Click.
"-no official Klatchian comment-"
Click.
"-Minister Valdir unavailable for comment-"
Click.
"-recapping; Vaadians launched a first strike early-"
Click.
The screen died.

"We'll need to actually respond at some point, of course."
"Of course ma'am."
There was a chink of metal against china.
"After all, this is relevant to our interests."
A pause.
"Pardon ma'am, but which part?"
"For now? All of it."

*****

Ministry of External Affairs; Trade and Travel Advisory (priority one)

All air traffic to the Federate Klatchian Coast is grounded, due to unpredictable showers of unidentified extraterrestrial objects.

MEA

The Fracture
The control room was frantic with panic.

<Logoth, unknown House...over hill to Pa, Pa La...>

<It's firing at us...!>

The building began to shake as the particle cannons tore at the outside of the bunker.
<Take cover!>
*Boom*
<Where did that come from...>

<Mortar fire!>

A siren went off as the control panel flared from power surges as the Logoth's particle cannons cut a swath through the gates control lines. Darkness fell in the room as the power cable was cut and a few dim emergeny lights came on.
*Boom*
<Quick get that mini-cannon to the observation slit!>

<Get the Logoth...>

<What about the gate?>

<It will stay open until the generators power down...>

<I thought there was an emergency close button...>

<Yes, but it just blows the gate fuses and its out too...>

*Boom*

<No get the mortar!>

*Boom*
< They hit the orb!>

<Any damage?>

<No, none...by the darkone's grace! they have...a lesser Oracle!>

*Boom*
<A Fallen...quick get that Logoth!>

*Boom*
<They hit the rail...the Orb isn't stopping...>

The elf with the heavy chain gun was pointing in through a slit...<damn it the Orb is in the way...>

<By the Dementor's wiskers...the Orb is off the track and headed for the creek!>


The elves of the Oracle had prepared their defenses preparing for an assult through the gate. The appearence of the Logoth above them was unexpected. The crews of the two major plasma cannons built into the valley floor didn't have a chance. One moment they were relaxing behind their emplaced gun. The next, the gun was exploding as a particle gun peirced the plasma generator.

On the slopes of the hill upstream from the gate was a series of Super Hellfire cannons. As the Logoth appeared the guidence crews for each set began to track the Logoth and opened fire, sending 4000 rounds per minute of 80 cm explosive shells into the air.

The Fracture gate was protected by four heavy grav-tank brigades and several squadrons of anti-tank hovercraft. They were based beyond a bend in the valley so that a strike through the gate wouldn't wipe them out. The Quetra of the base woke up to the sounds of explosions.

As the first orb falls of the track, the Marines and Royal guard open fire on the slits of the control bunker as they jump out of the creek bed and cross the open ground towards the gate.

The mortar team abandons their cover and also joins in running across the open ground for the gate. Several of them pause to fire their squad support guns or light flechette guns at the bunker to keep anyone still inside from popping out and shooting at them.

The Logoth, after knocking out the plasma cannons tries to evade and destroy the Super Hellfires. After taking out a few, an 80 cm round smacks into the armored port engine and smoke and fire begins to spew out.

Aboard, Elizabeth Crawford tries to steady her targeting site on one of the cannons while the Var pilot attempt to steady the bucking craft.

"High One...we must escape...the engine is badly damaged and the grav-generator is likely going to fail soon."

"Fine...let's go..."

The Logoth turns and dives for the open gate. It is a full out running battle now as the small party attempt to get back home.

…
It is our belief that such missions will facilitate trade, and promote mutual prosperity and friendship.

We await your response.

In the spirit of mutual friendship and respect,
[sign and seal]
The Lady Justina Valdir, The Most Hon. The Marchioness of Valdester, S.P., Minister for External Affairs

The large walrus looked over the latest communiqué from Macisikan. Unknown to them, messages from that particular land were, as of late, given high priority and usually were on the desk of the Minister of Rites within the hour. Not necessarily because Macisikan was a military target for the Vrakians, but because it was currently believed that Macisikan had a fair bit of “soft” power in the diplomatic arena which some in the Ministry thought it could be used to Vrak’s advantage. After all, there was some trade between the two and Macisikan did play the role of neutral third party deal broker. A reply was quickly sent out with the usual salutations added by an aide.


Permission is granted to establish a diplomatic mission in Vrak. Location of the initial mission will be within Vrak Prime and I do not foresee any difficulty in establishing more missions in our other major cities.

As well, we will establish a consulate in Port Olympus that will be subordinate to the Embassy of Primarch Valnard. Currently, as far as we understand our present diplomatic arrangements, foreign consulates can communicate through the FKC government. However, if you so wish, we can set up a separate consulate in order to facilitate ease of communication with your nation - with the reciprocal stipulations.

We have long admired the diplomatic adroitness of the Imperial Kingdom and look forward to strengthening further ties.

[The Great Seal of the Vrak Ministry of Rites]
[Seal of The Honourable Minister of Rites, Jur Ratyuig]


====

Meanwhile, a more covert message circulated through to reach the ears of the King. It came from a most unlikely source, even though the nation did send their national leader to attend the funeral of the late King Vrak the First. So it was with interest that the current King’s whiskers twitched and a reply was sent back along the same shadowy pathways stating, in fact, that Vrak is open for any and all representatives that the government would like to send to view any further developments that may occur in the near future...with the usual diplomatic and security protocols to be followed.

As well, ARCHIVES was tasked with researching the name: Giancarlo Torino, Minister of Defense.

The small group of men and women arrived in the usual way of business travelers – by plane, at the appointed time and airport. One and all wore finely-tailored suits of one sort or other, variations on a smartly-dressed theme according to personal taste (though only one of the three women wore a skirt), along with dark long coats, carrying assorted briefcases and nondescript carryon bags.

The nine companions carried themselves confidently, though they seemed to remain highly alert, with an air of expectation though not impatience as they made their way into the terminal, talking quietly amongst themselves.

“This should be an interesting visit,” one of the men commented; an older gentleman with slightly graying hair, who seemed to lead the group.

“Any further word on what all will be expected?” asked the woman with long, dark auburn hair to his right, reaching up with one hand to tuck a stray strand back behind her ear.

“Nothing more than what we’ve both been briefed on. I’m looking forward to seeing what might come of it all, frankly.”

“No doubt,” she replied, stifling a quiet sigh. “Please keep in mind – subtlety?”

The man gave his traveling companion a long-suffering look, and shook his head slightly. “I swear, you’d think I was a green recruit the way you fuss. Have no fear, my dear. Caution will be our watchword. Just you remember what else we’re to consider, yes?”
. .
“Of course, of course,” the woman says, again hiding her vexation as she looked around curiously at the other travelers coming and going – new sights, new people, always being of interest to her. “She was quite clear on that point, Carlo. Respect, continued well-wishes in spite of ‘problematic’ ties. One has to wonder what –“

“Less wondering, more watching for our contact, Minister, if you please,” the man interrupted. “I’d like to get down to things as soon as possible.”

The Vrakian missive drifted across the Minister's desk at the same time as she was taking the fifth diplomatic rules meeting (with the civil service). About a dozen people seated around a table somewhere in the Kingsgrange Mansions, bored to tears.

The Minister looked around, then flicked it up on everyone's desk, and a copy of her original message.

There was a moment of silence, before the Ambassador-General stated "Nearly, but not quite what we meant...."

"Peter," Justina Valdir dictated to her secretary amid noding, "Take a note; Accept their offer and thank them, and clarify; we are inviting the Vrakians to establish a mission here, with whatever arrangements they need to make with the Federal Embassy. It's our missions that will be subordinate to the Primarch. Have Perez clean it up and put my name on it."

*******
Official Communiqué
Classification: closed
From: Office of the Minister, MEA, UIK/COV
To: The Minister, Ministry of Rites, Glorious Kingdom of Vrak
Subject: re: Consulate exchange

To the Honourable Minster Jur Ratyuig, Greetings.

Sir, I thank you for your measure, but I now realise that my original missive was perhaps not entirely clear; we are inviting the Glorious Kingdom to establish direct representation here in the Covenant, and asking that we be permitted to establish reciprocal direct representation in the Glorious Kingdom.

Our mission in Vrak Prime would be a Consulate-General, formally subordinate to Primarch Valnard, Covenant Ambassador to the Federation, but your mission, in Arn-Maciska, would be operating in accordance with your own guidelines.

We would, in effect, create a direct line of clear communications between our respective governments.

In any case, your offer has been received well, and, once all matters are finalised and clarified, we shall set about establishing our mission and receiving yours without delay.

One final note; a revised system governing diplomatic immunity is being prepared by my Ministry. It will expand the privilege to cover additional staffers, and amend certain other provisions. The office of Ambassador Valnard will keep you appraised of these developments.

Thank you again for your kind words and consideration of our offer,

Regards,
[sign and seal]
The Lady Justina Valdir,
The Most Hon. The Marchioness of Valdester,
Minister for External Affairs

OOC: Sorry I've been away for a bit, computer problems and personal problems

As Dyellian troops streamed North and sat about doing more or less nothing when they arrived, a few were still plodding through the Gonad...

"Captain." a private saluted.

They were camped in the jungle, somewhere of no particular note apart from having the potential to have won a prize for most tics and other biting insects. They were an advanced Company of Golf Division, a position nobody particularly relished... it meant people shot back at you more often...

Captan Amso had his feet on his camp desk. It was liable to collapse if he moved them at all. The great engineers in Alexigrad had produced tens of thousands of folding camp desks, all of which seemed to have a tendency to prefer to stay folded, "What is it?" he asked, blinking in a disinterested sort of way.

"We have had word from a Bravo Company, they think they can hear firing in the distance."

"Probably an advanced unit." Amso grunted, wondering why this was worth bothering him for.

There was silence for a moment as it grudgingly dawned on him that the Private probably had more to say... or he wouldn't be standing here, "Well what is it?" he slapped iritably at a mosquito.

"Bravo Company is the most advanced company in the Division Sir... that means it isn't us shooting... Lientenant-Colonel has ordered we send a Section to investigate."
....

To: The Minister for External Affairs, he Most Hon. The Marchioness of Valdester, The Lady Justina Valdir,
From: The Ministry of Rites, The Honourable Minster Jur Ratyuig

Greetings:


Jur paused as he looked at the length of titles.


I apologize for any confusion. Consider our thanks for the establishment of your Consulate-General in Vrak Prime. I’m certain that the necessary arrangements will not take long for it to be established…


At this, the walrus looked at the city map, specifically the old diplomatic quarter that was maintained before Vrak joined the Federation long ago. Since then, much of it was converted into high rise office space but a few of the older mansions could be used. In fact, a small cluster of them was still located not too far from the present Ministry of Rite headquarters and were surrounded by a high wall - creating an oasis amid the tumultuous roar of the city. He promptly attached the various options to the outgoing letter.


…and so please expect an initial contact team to arrive shortly at your end. In regards to diplomatic immunity, I am also confident that a reciprocal arrangement can be realized. We look forward to your thoughts on the matter and again, in this matter, we will likely follow the usual practices that the FKC government practices in Port Olympus.

[The Great Seal of the Vrak Ministry of Rites]
[Seal of The Honourable Minister of Rites, Jur Ratyuig]


Well, the practice that he knew about in Port Olympus was keep a close eye on the bystanders, carry a sword, and don’t wander into The Shades. Just the same, Jur had an aide pull up a file pertaining to diplomatic protocols. Vrak never had a problem with any diplomats encountering problems before in the capital as far as he could remember so he didn’t think anything would likely happen in the near future. And, as per usual custom, a VIS team would be assigned to supplement whatever security the foreign dignitaries would assign.

And speaking of foreign arrivals, he now was only just informed of another interesting party…

====

“Check. That is them?”
“Check. Team 1. Positive ID established.”
“Check. Moving west walkway 6. Cleared passport control and customs.”
“Check. Team 2 report.”
“Team 2. Path is clear.”
“Check. Team 3 move to contact.”


==

The airport itself was a sprawling, concrete and glass affair with a significant amount of bustle - although not as much lately due to present developments. That is, air travel for civilians was often tightened up during moments of hostilities which meant that there would be more military traffic. Still, business travel continued unabated and there were humans and walruses alike traveling in small family groupings. So, a nine person delegation would not be terribly out of place but might make some people turn their heads.

A squadron of serious looking Vrakian marines in Battle Dress tromped by the Dominion delegation, seemingly unaware of their presence. A short distance behind them were two airport security personnel clad in black pants, white shirts and black ties and wearing blue jackets with “AIRPORT SECURITY” emblazoned on the back. They were armed with pistols and one had an odd-looking armoured pig-like beast with a whip tail on a leash. The pig-like think was snuffing the ground, as if trying to follow a trail.

The announcements, in the variety of Klatchian dialects and also the international language of English announced the latest flight arrival and the importance of all citizens to be vigilant. It was followed by a advertisement for a new soda pop.

A well-endowed women wearing a grey business suit and knee length skirt was purposely striding towards the Dominion group. She was not carrying anything but as she got closer an ear-mic could be discerned. Trailing behind her was a massive Inuit man clad in a casual shirt and beige slacks. Interestingly, he did not wear sunglasses.

====

The six submarines continued their journey to the furthermost edge of the Vaadian “zone”. All were submerged and continued at a leisurly 15 knots at a depth of roughly 100 meters and strove to take advantage of the thermoclines that might help to mask their approach. They were clear of the torpedo net that was strewn across most of the north and eastern portion of the former New Shiron territory. They were also maintaining radio silence while the sonar crews watched their screens and listened intently.

Meanwhile in the Monte Ozarka lands, engineering crews were still busy repairing and, in some cases, constructing new roads and laying down track. The Triumf systems that were there hunkered down and camouflaged with netting while more AA systems were being brought in. They would be too far to detect what was happening in the Gonad, but likely the latest satellite sweep would detect something.

In Karmanyaka, the troops filing in from the north via the railway poured into the area. The troops that were there were now moving towards the centre of Karmanyaka but no further until it was confirmed as to exactly what the Dyellian strategy would be. A very small smattering of Triumf systems were still enroute.

On Lake Olympus itself, transports were being loaded with more equipment and troops. When ready, they would be heading towards the westernmost shore of Karmanyaka. But they would need some kind of protection - which the HORDE Commander of FSN-1 was presently putting together. It would take a bit of time, but he was certain that at least two Blue Dragon carriers and their accompanying battle group could set out within two days.

ooc:

Just for our reference here:

Hunter/Killer Squad Type II

1 Sub - Dolphin DELTA IV
1 Sub - Project 949A Antey / Oscar II
2 Subs - Sierra class Attack II
2 Subs - Shuka-B Akula class II

With the deadline closing the Air Guard began regular flights over the Karmanyakan Border, patrolling the skies as if they belonged to them. In fact the entire North West and Central West Command are on alert and at any given time several hundred to a thousand Orion Multi-Role fighters were in the air.

More Ominously were the Vulcan super heavy bombers that begin moving up the Coast from Costa-Tula , to join already significant numbers of Vulcan's in the West. High in the stratosphere the ever present Death's Heads sub-orbital bombers quietly loitered, several thousand miles from their intended targets.

The Naval Guard still kept positions around South Haven and Banize Bay in the West and Costa-Tula in the South. They made no indication of moving, of course the Karmanyakan coast and border were in range of the cruise missiles and 28" guns of the Battleships in South Haven, even when they are at dock.

The rest of the Retaliatory Guard, were still oddly absent from sight.

"What goes around comes around, yes?"

"There is nothing new under the sun."

"Which sun?"

"I think they mean the one over there."

"Oh... mmmm.... maybe. It is a very dull sun."

"And dull is as dull does, or so the proverb goes."

"Didn't old al Vvishiak get involved with this lot the other day?"

"Mmmm... I think he's been brooding for the last couple of years."

"Years? Oh... yes... I did have a fairly amusing dream the other night. Could well have been years."

"Ah yes, you did sleep for quite a while."

"I did? Oh yes. Probably."

"Indeed. I could do with a nice dream now. Got any good ones lying around?"

"Not right now. Need to send Frigbet out for some at some point, I suppose."

"Ah, shame."

"Mmmm."

...

"What were we talking about?"

"al Vvishiak, I think?

"What, the young lunatic?"

"I don't think so... probably his father..."

"Oh yes, the dull fellow with the elf-fixation."

"Oh... yes, there are some there... look at them, all milling around down there."

"No... they're not elves."

"They're not?"

"No... I think elves tend to ride around inside metal flying fish."

"Flying fish? Inside?"

"Yes, can't see how they don't get digested."

"Mmmm... very odd."

"Indeed. Tharens, I think they're called. Or Thirons. Something like that."

"Very odd. Very odd. All the same, these creatures do look uncommonly like elves."

"Yes, they do rather."

"Do you think al Vvishiak would be interested?"

"Most likely."

"Shall we tell him about all this?"

"Tell who?"

"The chap with the fixation."

"What fixation? Oh. Yes. Old snakey Drazyen. Hmmm... no... it'll be more fun to watch without his insufferable posturing."

"Yes... yes... I'll tell the crystal to remember it though. That way he can watch it all later. If he hasn't seen it already."

"I do hope not."

"Hope not what?"

"Mmmmm... I'm not entirely sure."

The Fracture

The first ready battallion of hover tanks were moving around the bend as the Logoth vanished through the shimmering silver gate. The lead tank fired off several rounds vanishing through the gate after the now invisible Logoth.

A hover car shot around from behind the tanks as they rushed towards the gate. It stopped at a small control panel next to the gate and cut the power, the slightly visible world vanished...

The Hutra of Narampa

The five elves were gathered behind the lea of a fallen tree. They didn't look like the typical elves of the Gonnad, rather than dressed in silks and homespun garments, they actually wore modern helmets and camo body armor across their chests rather than metal armor. Each carried an AK-47 although one also carried a huge ax across his back.

They could here firing in the direction of the Hole of Belru, a sacrifice hole to the Dark One. Really it was a small opening into a complex cave system below.

A sixth elf stood father away looking towards the noise. Unlike her compatriots, the female elf was dressed in a full camo outfit. She nodded as the sounds of six rounds of a coil gun impacted a wall someplace...then there was silence. A radio crackled...<Djel crossing the steam of a thousand red stones and moving towards the Hole of Belru...>

The female elf paused for a second then turned...<Time to earn the bounty of the Dark One and His Oracle...Go, and hit the unit as they come up from the steam, I want you to 'test' the riderless mounts and retreat south-east to the ancient fortress of Kanama...>

The five elves nodded their agreement and wandered off to their various raiding parties. She smiled for a moment, watching the lesser tribes walk off to their doom. The Djel would find them an annoying foe...and they would likely devote resources to chasing them down since they were the most heavily armed of the lesser tribes.

The Quro turned and looked back north towards the caves. Now all she needed to do was find out what had caused the commotion at the gate, since the enemy had hit her patrol on this side from behind

She pulled up the radio...<Any report from the Skull Detachement?...>

<...No..>

<Orginize a heavy squad of some lessers and see what is up at the gate...follow up with your own detachment...>

<...Yes.....>

Between Bravo company and the Hole

The three ATV's were likely quite foreign in these parts, they slashed through the jungle with some difficulty due to the weight on them. For rather than having a steering wheel the units had a small steel box mounted to the front with a small port for a camera. And rather than a rider, the units carried 20 mm chain guns that sat along the body from one end to the other. The contraptions were completed by a second camera mounted on a thick antenna from the body of the ATV.

The three ATV's entered a clearing, where perhaps an ancient road had once passed through the jungle. Here they stopped for a moment, and then began to fire and circle in and out of the jungle, one stopped in the center of the 'road' and began to shoot at various trees nearby for target practice. In reality their quarry was coming.

Just ahead of Bravo Company's position

The Dyellians were a well equipped lot these days. A Section of Alpha Company was advancing ahead in lose formation, heading straight for the IFVs. This time round though the troops had IR vission built into the helmets, HUDs and significantly better radios, not to mention the weapons. Dyelli Beybi had come some way from the days of rounding up a few whinging recruits, giving them a rifle and shving them into the jungle...

-----

Karmanyaka

The Dyellians were buiding up it seemed. Probably for some kind of assault. Banners were everywhere, each denoting an army. The plain red banner of the appropriately named Red Army, hung next to the horse archer of the EVA. They were Leean armies from New Dyelli, there was a lobster, for the Island Guard, Benjians, and of course the Dyellian Armies, the Armies of Saint Andrew, Saint James, Saint George and the Virgin to name just a few. Dyellian planes were arriving too, although none had tried to engage the Vaadian fighters... and of course the Tzarina's most ridiculous investment, a number of zepellins had also begun to arrive... yet they did nothing. It was all very Dyellian.

The guests of the Dyellians numbered four, two men in their early thirties, one slip of a girl and a young man in his early twenties. The two elder males wore silken grey shirts and black pants as well brown A-2 jackets and where as the shorter had blue eyes and black hair, the taller had green eyes and almost white hair. The girl's hair was quite long, red and contrasted quite sharply with her many layered black dress. From beneath her bangs came very dark eyes that seemed to sparkle as she looked about. The young man who was in the lead wore a black silken shirt with a crimsom design of a dragon and he wore a pair of grey slacks. His black hair was quite messy and his grey eyes seemed to take in all that he saw.

The four stepped off the plane and into the terminal as a couple others began to take off a few bags for each.


OOC: My apologies for losing this post in all hte war stuff...

The terminal seemed to have been cleared of travellers. A few police officers in blue, with armoured vests and a fine selection of sub machine guns and shotguns patrolled up and down. They seemed almost universaly short, caucasian, with dark eyes and black hair. There was also a man in a suit who gave a low and elaborite bow, "It is indeed a great honour." he intoned formally, "To have your esteemed personages upon the soil of Dyelli Beybi."

It was more carpet than soil, and quite pleasant in the terminal, where there was air conditioning and an abundance of grey lobby chairs to sit in. The duty free seemed to have been closed for the occassion, "We welcome you to Dyelli Beybi." he continued, "Please, we have a covoy waiting to escort your esteemed and honourable selves to a place of comfort and security." it wasn't very pronounced, but the man sounded almost Irish.

OOC: Sorry Vrak, I completely missed your post

IC:
Valdir had blinked when the Vrakian reply came. It wasn't very often that messages in her inbox bore her formal title. She shrugged, and forwarded it to the Ambassador-General for consultation.

A brief argument over locations followed, resulting in a decision to send a polite request/acceptance of the oasis; they preferred quiet, orderly activity to the roaring chaos that dominated so many places in the world. The Vrakian offer was reciprocated; they were sent data on plots in the Diplomatic Precinct, including several pre-fabricated buildings. The Initial Contact Team would find the area to be quiet, leafy, and very peaceful. They would also find an "exclusion zone" in one area - Klatchian missions were strongly discouraged from being near the Vaadian Embassy.

The comment regarding the Federal Government's practices caused raised eyebrows and muttered comments. In Port Olympus they'd begun by filling the outer garden with plants that liked to sting and kill off careless gardeners and intruders, and topping the walls with shards of glass, designed to tear and rip. There was not a great deal of confidence in the Federal Security.

Preparing the Covenant Advance Diplomatic Team took mere moments, though involved quite a bit of bickering. A knight in the diplomatic corps was picked out as chargés d'affaires, with an advance team to go with. Said team held a fair share of SIS Counterintelligence Officers (not that the Covenant Minister didn't trust her Vrakian counterpart, but... well, she really didn't. Not as far as she could throw him).

The Vrakian team, when it arrived, would find the locals to be distant yet polite, and practising a cold and precise efficiency.

Port Olympus
The crime rate against members of foreign diplomatic staff, excluding the Naxcha, was fairly close to nill on all counts.

Prmairly this was because traditional procurement of land within the city for consulates and missions were through the Diplomatic Division of the Klatchian Marshals. The Mackistani had discovered that the Federals tended to do everything in terms of procurement of the property and then handed it over to them all nice and tidy and tied with a red ribbon (Really there was a red ribbon on top of all the documentation like it was a Christmas present or something).

Because of the "Rule of Reciprocity" that existed, the Mackistani tended to find themselves being shadowed constantly by junior Klatchian Marshals. That tended to encourage the criminal element of Port Olympus to vanish quickly.

Cave, unknown, Gonad
The Logoth lay in a mound of bones stained dark from decaying remnants of flesh. Elizabeth pulled herself from the cockpit and looked around in the dim light. The vast ring of the gate dominated one end of the cavern, it's center empty and devoid. The only sign of life were small green packets of light running about and securing their postions. You could hear the sound of bone on bone as they scrambled over the remains below them. The only other light was a sliver of twilight from the narrow opening above. One couldn't actually see the sun or the surface, the opening seemed to twist about itself so only reflected light off the wall illuminated the darkness.
Elizabeth slipped as she stepped on a skull that popped out from under her foot. Someone with the blue tabs of the Royals grabbed her arm. "Ma'm we lost three to those last shots from the tank, two wounded when we hit the back of their advance party in the cave."
Elizabeth nodded, recognizing the officer by his voice rather than by his dim features. "Better than expected Lieutenant. Now then, the right engine of this Logoth is toast, but there should be enough battery strength left to drive the first stage particle accelerator for a few moments...
"That won't do much damage ma'm without the Primary coils..."
"No, but that should be strong enough to send a grappling hook up through that opening."

"We are climbing out Ma'm?"

"Without the Logoth, it's our only chance..."

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe this is it.”

All oddities aside, the group continued on in as casual a manner as could be managed, eyes searching for their contact.

There was a moment of suit-straightening and other subtle preparations as the grey-clad woman approached. Then Minister Torino, as the understood group leader, made a polite half-bow, and extended his hand in greeting.

“Buongiorno, Signora. We are, I believe, expected?”

The two more youthful of the quartet bowed and curtsied respectively. "It is a pleasure to be welcome here, especially in these trying times." Marius replied, his voice holding a somewhat strange accent that seemed to have faint traces of Italian, Japanese, Oxford english, Russian and Zulu.

"This is Shari Misamoto, Louis Montcam and Miguel Wolfe." He said as way of introduction of his companions with Louis being the tall of the two men in A-2 jackets.

"If there are people waiting, then we shall press on. It is uncivil to keep people waiting more than is necessary."

"Mr Coil, Home Office." the man introduced himself to the delegation from Theao in return, "It is not precisly that people are waiting..."

Even as he was speaking he had begun to lead the way towards the exit, "More that we are in a State of War. The Enemy are treacherous and masters of deceit. We do not want to expose your illustrious persons to any potential danger whatsoever."

The way out seemed empty, but every now and then a pair of Police Officers would be spotted patrolling a side corridoor, "The Officers of the Metropolitan Police..." coil commented, "are a trained Gendarmerie, you are in safe hands."

Automatic doors opened into a carpark which seemed to have also been roped off for the occasion. Big police trucks had been pulled across all but one entrance. As the doors opened the heat really hit, it was upwards of 40 degrees Celcius (or 104 Farenheit) and the humidity was intense. Coil stepped forward to open the door of the front of a series of two black limousines. It was an unusual design for a vehicle, there seemed to be no windows, and on top of that it was a half track, "NFEV-1." Coil explained, "We use them for top officials at times of crisis, safe against small arms fire, biological or chemical attacks as well as giving the best radiation protection of any vehicle we have encountered."

"Then I thank the powers that be that they accord me such an honour." Marius replied with a faint smile. Stepping outside he felt the heat as if it were a semi-truch barrelling down on him.

"I am hoping that this is both unseasonably warm and muggy?" He asked as he got into the waiting vehicle, one obviously designed for utilitarian purposes rather than esthetics. Hopefully the outside would not match the inside and if they did that there was air conditioning of some manner.

He wondered how they could fight in such heat for this climate would tend to make his countrymen sleepy rather than agressive, thought perhaps the local of conflict was cooler and the soldiers were partially grateful.

The inside of the NFEV was suprisingly comfortable, with plush leather upholstry and a drinks cabinet wedged between two of the seats. It was also pleasantly air conditioned and well lit despite the lack of any windows and hence natural lighting.

Coil laughed dryly, he didn't seem someone accustomed to laughing, "Not precisely, Cyro is like this all year round, too close to the equator to have any real seasonal variation. It cools down a little in the evening, although at that time we have the issue of mosquitos that come in off the marshes... As for the war, it is being fought much further North, several days by train."

The vehicle began to move, it was very quiet on the inside and the ride was smooth. Someonething one would not expect from a half track, "Now, we are taking you to your hotel for now. Parliament is currently is session, they are debating the Alconan challenge to the legitimacy of the Klatchian Counter Terrorism Act."

He paused for a moment to see if Marius wanted this explained, then continued, "However, if you feel comfortable, the Prime Minister, Tzarina, can visit you this evening in the conference facility."

OOC: I requested to be placed on the land mass just West of Vrak, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that's where I am on the map, since he and I have a history of working together closely.

One more thing, could someone give me a general run-down on what's happened and who's allied with who?

Feels good to be back.

IC:

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

Olden Hall
Central Germania
9:24 AM...

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler spoke with his five top generals on the situation at hand. Vrak, the long-time ally of Germania was at war and the Barbarian Hoardes of North Germania had yet to assist in any way. The time for isolationism was over and war was at hand.

[Translated from High Germanian]

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler: "We must begin to move our troops South towards the border with Dyelli Beybi in case they decide to attack the Federation; at least then we will be prepared.

"How many troops* can we move near the border with Dyelli Beybi within 24 hours?"

General-Kommandant Alduulf: "Since our forces are spread out all over our lands, a force of over 800.000 could be organized and moved within 24 hours."

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler: "Excellent. Even though they have the advantage of airpower, our defense system would give our troops enough cover to either hide or survive an air attack. After all, our strength is in numbers, sheer fearlessness, physical strength, and a fanatical desire to defend our lands even if it means dying. Besides, we have AA Missiles."

General-Kommandant Jåt: "Kaiser-General, if you wish to make these plans a reality, I suggest you order our men to move and move now."

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler: "It is settled!"

They all then slammed their fists on the giant oak table at which they were sitting and shouted "Kriek!", meaning "war."

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

Southern Germania
The Forest of Giants
11:17 PM, the next day...

Over 800.000 infantry dressed in traditional bear-fur capes and think leather war pants marched towards the Dyelli Beybi border. Most of them were blond-haired with beards, primarily with long hair, though some shaved theirs to the skin and kept their beard, after all it was custom in Germania for warriors to keep at least a goatee.

Their chests were covered in armored vests of R-16 Armor, nearly inpenetrable by small firearms. There was no standard assault rifle or machine gun in Germania -- some soldiers carried G-36 Assault Rifles, some carried AK-101 Assault Rifles, some carried MP-5 SMGs along with a shield, some carried M-60 Machine Guns, some carried MG-09 Machine Guns - the most modern machine gun Germania had made - but all carried a stabbing knife and either a sword, a battle axe, a mace, or a war hammer on their backs for close combat.

Despite their very unevolved behavior and attire, they used some of the most modern and top-notch tanks in the FKC. As a matter of fact, tanks and IFVs were their specialty, besides brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The Germanians were an odd group, averaging slightly over six-feet two inches tall in males and an average weight in males of approximately 197 pounds. Their culture dated back centuries and centuries. Having not felt the need to evolve socially, economically, or otherwise except in warfare, the Germanian Hÿr (Army) was something odd to look at. While they wore the clothes of the ancient Vikings and Germanic Tribes, they carried modern rifles, used modern tanks and artillery, donned body armor and helmets, but thought that flying was magic and therefore should be avoided. Their alphabet is based on ancient runes but with alterations to many words.

Though they lacked uniforms, organization on the battlefield, as well as training, they were taught to fight from birth, they were extremely good marksmen, their numbers were well in the millions, and they feared nothing and believed there was honor only dying in battle or being in battle.

As they pressed South the wardrums of the Barbarian Hoardes could be heard for miles and miles. Torches were lit and carried high by some soldiers to guide their way in the darkness towards the border with Dyelli Beybi.

The 800.000 infantrymen stopped one mile short of the Dyelli Beybian border. The wardrums continued to be pounded and a defensive camp was set-up. They were awaiting reinforcements of some 700.000 more men.

To the North, two days later a Hoard of some 2.3 million was moved closer to the Vrakish border in case their long-time Walrus allies needed reinforcements. If war with Ilek-Vaad or Dyelli Beybi was a necessity to preserve the FKC, then North Germania would be a force to reckon with...

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

Official Communique to Vrak

"My dear friend and ally,

"My armies are ready to aid in your struggle if necessary. We will do anything in our power to maintain the unity and strength of the Federated Klatchian Coast. So far already 3 million Sóldnÿren and 18 Hoardes have been mobilized, ten of those Hoardes near your border should you need them.

"I will not stand by while my ally struggles to maintain order.

"Kriek!"

Signed,
Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler"

End Communique

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

OOC: Someone contact me on yahoo! messenger at upt_soulja or AIM at Lokutus Berzerk.

What exactly the North Germanians had assumed was going on in the Federation was a mystery. However their movement to oppose the now unguarded Dyellian border was greeted with some dismay in Port Olympus and Cyro alike. The lack of communication with either the Presidency or the Dyellian State tended to lead to the obvious conclusion that the Germanians were exploiting the Federation's War with Ilek-Vaad in order to attempt some kind of treacherous land grab.

Moskau

The front line with Ilek-Vaad was a short one. To send the entire Dyellian army there was overkill. In fact, two Corps were being held in reserve in Moskau, just in case the Vaadians tried to attack via the North pole...

The response to the North Germanian threat was to move one of the two Corp (of 3,050,000 soldiers) West to counter, along with a sizeable airforce detachment. In true Dyellian style they immediately announced their prescence by prominently positioning large banners, declaring that the Dyellians were here and ready for action.

In contrast to the North Germanians, the Dyellian culture was mostly based around having a good time, getting heavily drunk and being sick prominently and in public. They were a rash and emotional people, who tended to be hard to control. The army was known to be good to prisoners, although somewhat liable to steal anything that wasn't nailed down or too large to be moved in a truck. Most of them were carrying the massive SSA2801 assault rifle which fired a new high velocity version of the Dyellian 8.01mm round. Apparently they had had to design a new form of specialised armour to avoid people getting their arms ripped off when they tried to fire it...

Port Olympus

Port Olympus also responded to the problem, although in a possibly more constructive way, which was to send a message...

From: Offices of the President, Port Olympus
To: North Germania
Suject: Prescence on the Dyellian border.

The prescence of North Germanian troops has been noted on the Dyellian border. This is of some concern to Federation considering the current State of Wat with Ilek-Vaad.

We are sure this is a simple misunderstanding, however, an explanation would fo a long way to stabilising a potentially very negative situation. It is in noone's interests that there is civil war within the Federation at this time.

Regards,
Caroline ab Ieuaf
President elect of the Federated Klatchian Coast

The Forest of Giants
Germanian/Dyellian Border
7:19 AM...

There were more moans and grunts than cheers when the 1st and 2nd Germanian Armies were informed Dyelli Beybi had not rebelled, but instead, Ilek-Vaad had. No drums pounded as the disgruntled troops began their slow march back to their respective Headquarters.

Random gunshots aimed at the sky were acts of anger or frustration from the northern warriors and many felt plain silly.

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

Official Communique

"My greetings to the Offices of the President,

"Please excuse the confusion. An anti-Dyellian spy informed us that you had declared war on the Klatch. He has since been executed. Our troops will promptly be sent to Headquarters and I apologize sincerely for the confusion.

"That is all."

End Communique

Indeed, it was the Germanians' ferocity, brutality, cruelty, and fanaticism in battle that made them note-worthy, not their ability to be diplomatic or worse, poignant in communication.

Now, it was time to rearrange armies...

Well, don't I look like a jackass.

OOC: Nah not really, just gave us an interesting aside.

There was a lot of chatter on Diplomatic channels between the Presidency and Cyro. It was probably a reasonable assumption they might have rebelled, Cyro had been the Federation's perenial trouble makers. Of course now that there was a Dyellian President and a new Tzarina, the Southern State felt a greater loyalty to the Federation.


From: General C. Jocks, III Army Corp
To: North Germanian High Command
Subject: Current War

Warmest regards to the North Germanian Field Commander,

We understand there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding. However that is now in the past. The Federation is currently in preparation for a large scale campaign against Ilek-Vaad. North Germanian troops would be a more than welcome addition to the Federal troops in Karmanyaka. Currently the border is being garrisoned by VII and IX Dyellian Army Corps with expected Vrakian reinforcements.

"Then have your countrymen, at least in the area, taken up the noble art of the siesta?" Marius replied as he settled into the seat. If there were a seat or safety belt then he buckled in, if not then he did not.

"I shall rest on her pleasure, thought I do believe that should she be willing to visit this evening I shall be comfortable enought."

The North Germanian troop movements were noted, after some discussion the job of treating with them was given to Command General Lucane, who was in charge of the ghost troops that had been massing, and then disappeared in the West of Ilek-Vaad. The North Germanian appearance was somewhat surprising, as would the Presidents assertion that a 'State of war' existed since the Glorious Kingdom of Vrak and the Republic of Dyelli Beybi were both denying that a state of war existed, however, none of that was neither here nor there.

Command General Lucane quickly sent a missive to the warlike Notherners, The Retaliatory Guard respected the North Germanian military in general, and like Vrak, they preferred to talk to them rather than threaten them.

To:Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
From: Command General Lucane

Subject: North Germanian Troop Deployment

We have noted your troop deployments in the Klatchia and wish to make our position clear before we are put at odds with the Honourable Empire of Germania through actions of the Federation's Cheka President.

First, The Republic of Dyelli Beybi and The Glorious Kingdom of Vrak have both attacked the Free Republic, initiating the current hostilities, I say 'hostilities' because both nations have refused the assertion that their actions constitute an act of war. The actions in question are the Dyellian Cheka terrorist actions in The Free Republic and The Vrakian attacks on Retaliatory Guard RASTER satellites.

We are currently in discussions with The Glorious Kingdom of Vrak on our issues with them, which seem to be easily resolvable. However your Federation President and the Dyellian Tzarina have both refused to meet with our First Republican or Supreme Republican Commander, and your Federation President has apparently asserted that the Federation is now at war with the Free Republic, mysteriously without actually being at war with any Federation State.

We do assert that the actions of The Glorious Kingdom and The Dyellian Republic were in fact acts of war, however we have no reason to act on either beyond the minor corrective measures already taken.

If you wish to discuss these matters, and find out what has been taking place, please feel free to contact me, Command General Lucane at Retaliatory Guard Command, or consult the VIS (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13025545#post13025545), who have been briefed extensively on Vaadian intelligence and troop deployments on these matters. We encourage you to investigate these matters personally, rather than acting on the word of a Cheka agent turned President, I am sure you can appreciate why.

I Thank You,

Command General Lucane
Retaliatory Guard Command

Command General Lucane was prepared to deal with the Germanians as the Supreme Republican Commander had with the Vrakians, that is openly and with no punches pulled.

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler had received the message from Ilek-Vaad and took it with slight distrust, but was still open to another side of the story. Thus, he contacted Command General Lucane.

Message To: Command General Lucane
Message From: Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
Message Subject: War

We are open to discussion with Ilek-Vaad, but I prefer as Chieftan and Leader of the Hoardes to personally come to Ilek-Vaad and meet with you. Vrak is our closest ally. Dyelli Beybi is our friend, but a wild card. War is not out of the question with them if they act up, but is certainly something I would rather avoid.

I request that we make arrangements for me to travel to your lands and speak with you in person. Please arrange a plane to pick me up in Germania City, as we do not have any planes.

Good bye.

Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler had released the 7th, 9th, and 13th Hoardes to the Federal Army [OOC: 500.000 barbarians per hoarde]. If war broke out in the Klatch, 1.500.000 barbarians would be fighting alongside their close allies Vrak and Dyelli Beybi...

Message To: Command General Lucane
Message From: Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
Message Subject: War

We are open to discussion with Ilek-Vaad, but I prefer as Chieftan and Leader of the Hoardes to personally come to Ilek-Vaad and meet with you. Vrak is our closest ally. Dyelli Beybi is our friend, but a wild card. War is not out of the question with them if they act up, but is certainly something I would rather avoid.

I request that we make arrangements for me to travel to your lands and speak with you in person. Please arrange a plane to pick me up in Germania City, as we do not have any planes.

Good bye.



Command General Lucane received the message and replied quickly.


To:Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
From: Command General Lucane

Subject: RE: War

I will be most pleased to meet with you at your earliest convenience, however having us send a transport will be problematic. It is currently illegal for planes, ships and other transports originating within The Free Republic to enter Federation territory, and I would not wish to further inflame the situation by surreptitiously entering Federation territory.

If however you can guarantee the safe passage of an unarmed transport, I can have one at your location in six to eight hours. I will leave the details of any armed escort up to you and your friends in the Federation.

It is has been our sincere hope all along that war will not occur between any states within the Klatchia. We have enough common enemies outside our region to make such an occurrence absurd to say the least.

I thank you, and await your reply,

Command General Lucane
Retaliatory Guard Command



Command General Lucane was concerned that the Federation President and her Dyellian allies may feel they can gain buy shooting down a Vaadian transport with a Germanian General on board, bur he did not see that he could avoid such a risk.

Message To: Command General Lucane
Message From: Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
Message Subject: Meeting

I can assure you that the Klatch would never shoot down the Chancellor of North Germania. Attacking a member state would not benefit them in anyway. I can guarantee you safe passage so long as you stay within the Germanian Corridor.

I hope to see you at Hoch Reich International Airport soon.

Message To: Command General Lucane
Message From: Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
Message Subject: Meeting

I can assure you that the Klatch would never shoot down the Chancellor of North Germania. Attacking a member state would not benefit them in anyway. I can guarantee you safe passage so long as you stay within the Germanian Corridor.

I hope to see you at Hoch Reich International Airport soon.

That had settled it for Command General Lucane, if Kaiser-General Kûbler was willing to take the risk, he was willing to send the jet.

To:Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler
From: Command General Lucane

Subject: RE: Meeting

Very well. I am sending a Marathin Super Sonic transport for you immediately. It should arrive by tomorrow morning. I look forward to meeting you.


Command General Lucane
Retaliatory Guard Command


The Marathon-B was scrambled from Tollan Air Guard Command. It was outfitted with extra fuel storage so that it could reach Nort Germania without flying over Karmanyakan, Dyellian or Vrakian territory. So long as it wasn't shot down, it would make Hoch Reich International Airport in about eight hours.

Command General Lucane also quietly stopped the count on the deadline.

Nobody had bothered to tell the Klatchians what was going on... not that they were likely to be pleased... and a transport North of the D.B.A.T was too suspicious to go unanswered.

A squadron of brand new Dyellian fighters was very quickly running intercept...

----------

Almost simultaneously the Dyellian Tzarina was making a television speech, which KTV was merrily broadcasting.

"It has been scientifically proven that the Vaadian creatures are not in fact human, or indeed a mammal." she boldly proclaimed, "In fact, much like the elves of the Gonad they are some manner of sentient plant life." this was too ridiculous for anyone to believe...

"But in all seriousness, we have recieved questions from embedded reporters over the issuing of flamethrowers to Dyellian troops being as these weapons are in breach of the Geneva convention."

She grimaced, "Obviously we will immediately prosecute any Dyellians guilty of war crimes to the greatest extent of the law, however, the issuing of flame throwers should not be read as an intent to use the weapons to immolate enemy troops."

"Firstly." she raised a finger, "Ilek-Vaad is not a political entity that is acknowledged in Klatch. As such we cannot acknowledge their declaration of war, so the issuing of these weapons to the troops is not in breech of any convention as we are not at war."

"Secondly." she raised a second, "We have no intention of using flame throwers or napalm for anything else more than defoliant use. It would obviously be a horrendous crime for Dyellian soldiers to immolate the enemy."

"Finally." she declared, "We fail to see why we are in a State of Conflict in the First place. Ilek-Vaad accuses us of sending spies to bomb their city. It is commom and public knowledge this was the action of rebel units in the D.B.A.T. Furthermore they have accused us of kidnapping their Abassador, to which we will remind them their is an ongoing police investigation into the matter that would be greatly helped had their Ambassador not fled the country."

A raised eyebrow, "Indeed, the lack of leads and the Ambassador's behaviour leads to the conclusion that this is quite possibly simply another act in the Vaadian smear campaign against Dyelli Beybi."

"If it is what the Vaadians want, I would gladly give my life before any of the lives of my people." she declared, "However, all indications imply this is an Imperialistic war of conquest. The Vaadians wish to add Karmanyaka to their Empire. They wish to destroy our way of life, take our Freedom and impose their Dictators upon us. Ilek-Vaad are the enemies of the free world, a military dictatorship of unparralleled arrogance. A corrupt regime, which attempted to bribe and threaten me into removing the charges against one of their filthy lackeys whose hands the blood of countless Dyellian citizens."

"We shall fight the Vaadians." she declared, "We shall slaughter them like the worthless Imperial pawns they are. We shall never surrender to their aggression, we shall defend Karmanyaka until every inch of her soil is stained with the blood of the inhuman Vaadian adversary."

"Semper Dyellia! Death to the Vaadian machine of oppression!"

If those Dyellian Fighters were the Eurofighter type encountered previously, the Marathon accelerated cleanly to near mach 2 to outrun them, the speed and the head start hopefully put them well out of intercept range. The pilot also made a quick communique to the incoming fighters.

"This is Retaliatory Guard Transport WC-4056 en route to Hoch Reich International Airport in The Barbarian Hoardes of North Germania. We have been cleared for this trip by Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler. We are well outside of Federation Airspace, unless of course you are claiming the WHOLE of the artic now?"

The pilot and co-pilot looked at each other and continued to their destination.

*****

There was no official response from the Republican Council or the Supreme Republican Commander to the Tzarina's public statement. They felt she had made their case far better than they could have. She seemed comfortable in the role of 'Unhinged Dyellian Dictator' and they were content to let her play it.

Internal Memo, Secretariat of State for Imperial Security
From: SIS Central
To: Agency Director, Signal Imaging Organisation
CC: Defence Central Signals Control, MoD

Military activity in FKC (N12) continues to increase. Marked increases in N12.02 and N12.05 defensive and offensive preparations. Outbreaks of hostilities likely.

Secretary directs that communications between N12 nations, including N12-Actual and N12.05 are now declared pertinent to the security and economic interests of the Covenant and no longer considered privileged.

All findings to CSC.

ACK

The Dyellian Fighters were something new... they seemed to be the Dyellian version of a Foxbat; a gigantic engine with a cockpit and electronics strapped on the top. There were 6 in the air and they were coming in fast, accelerating to just over Mach 3. Whatever the Dyellians were flying, it was quite fast.

Negative WC-4056 came a very terse reply, Kaiser-General Kûbler has informed us of no such meeting. You have been classified as a potential nuclear agressor and will proceed to the waypoint we relay to you or you will be shot down.

The pilot notices the speed of the jets closing in and returns their message.

"Roger that, transmit heading."

As soon as the pilots transmit the new heading they should take the pilot clicks off the Marathon's transponder, switches on the active radar cancellation and turns off his own radar, as he does that he dives preciptously, firing a chaff pod as he does, using the power dive to gain speed and getting low to the ground to reduce the chance of being followed by radar, or visually followed for that matter.

The co-pilot sighs as he plugs his tablet PC into the console and calls up the GPS projected over a topographical map of the area. "Watch that ridge coming up Captain. Another fine mess you've gotten us into."

The Pilot smiles as he dives and darts around and over the terrain "They're Dyellian, they would've shot us down anyway. Don't worry, I'll get us out of here just fine..........."

The Pilot was betting that his decade of experience in the Marathon would trump the Dyellians lack of experience in their new jets.

"I've been flying since before those Dyellian boys were in short pants."

He secretly hoped that was true.

The Co-pilot meanwhile took a more sound action, using his encrypted scrambled satellite phone he contacted the Germanians.

"This is Retaliatory Guard Transport WC-4056 en route to Hoch Reich International Airport to collect Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler, we are currently being zeroed in on by Dyellian fighters, please advise."

He chuckles and grins at the Pilot "NOT that I don't trust your skills, Captain."

They didn't seem to be losing the Dyellians in a hurry and moments later one of the unusual fighters roared past overhead, still travelling at some ridiculously excessive velocity...

It looked a lot like a Su-47, with the peculiar forward swept wings... except the two engines were bigger, wider, longer. It slowed and pulled up, coming back around in a suprisingly tight loop to drop back behind the Marathon. It seemed the Dyellians meant business this time...

The co-pilot looks over at the Pilot. "They aren't buying it Captain."

The Pilot shrugs "It was worth a try."

The Pilot cuts the control sharp and heads directly along the heading given to him by the Dyellian pilots, keeping the speed up.

He also pauses to hit a couple of switches and the top secret Orion Active Radra cancellation and GPS systems fry themselves and are ejected from the underside of the Marathon.

"No need to give anything up."

The rest of the technology was available commercially.

Which was probably a good thing, considering those were two particular pieces of equipment that the Dyellian versions of which could be considered 'shody' at best. It was rumoured 'Navman' had fitted the Dyellian Navy with it's GPS systems... and they were the kind an average household could afford.

The Coordinates led towards a fairly small airfield in former Timaru and Moskau. In closer inspection it wasn't an airfield at all... it was a frozen lake with some sheds next to it that seemed to house a Squadron of Fulcrums... really old stuff. There was also some kind of tracked AA vehicle with quad cannons.

Hostile Vehicle you are cleared to land

The accent was thick, not Dyellian, rather slavic sounding.... apparently the radio here was substandard too, lots of crackle.

The other planes circled overhead, apparently they were going somewhere else after... Were the Vaadians the Intelligence gathering type they would have realised they had seen and observed some performance indications of one of Dyelli Beybi's secret air projects, which could be useful.

The Marathon stopped in mid-air as it's turbo-clutch kicked in shifting the ducting of it's jets from rear to underneath. The Pilot landed the jet gingerly as close to one of the sheds as possible , and that's pretty close, he's a good pilot.

They then power down, sit and wait.

As usual Retaliatory Guard Command had watched the entire thing, the pilots themselves only had to focus on their jobs, the Marathon itself had recorded everything going on around it in real-time and streamed it back to Tollan. The view from the cameras outside the pane, it's radar logs, GPS information were all being pored over by Retaliatory Guard Command and the Phyrric I space station was focused in on the 'airbase' with one of it's RASTER arms.

Of course no Dyellian would ever know this, all of the information carried in the Marathon itself was destroyed in the GPS unit that was responsible for collecting and sending everything.

OOC: just a point I apparently need to make: Ilek-Vaad has never declared war. The Supreme Republican Commander stated that he viewed Dyellain and Vrakian actions as acts of war and that he would respond as necessary.

The Free Republic never formally declares war, the Supreme Republican Commander only needs a Military Mandate to act, and as such he never formally declares war. I'd noticed your touting a 'Vaadian declaration of war' in other threads and just wanted to clarify that no Vaadian has, or ever will declare war.

It is also important to note that the Supreme Republican Commander has only ever spoken about Dyellian and Vrakian aggression and has yet to mention the Federation except when offering to talk with the President or citing their lack of control over member states and lack of consideration for neighbors.

OOC: You'll also notice the Dyellians aren't declaring war either. To quote "War is a legal term and, once at war, there are troublesome rules that countries are obliged to follow." By announcing that Vrak and Dyelli Beybi 'declared war', the Federation is assuming that the understanding is that a state of war exists. Some characters will be a bit confused... just like some characters might really believe the Tzarina's line on 'defoliant'.

The sheet of ice was almost immediately swarmed by troops in some kind of winter camouflage scheme and full NBC suits. They were carrying the new Dyellian assault rifle, the SSA2801 and took up firing positions around the transport.

"Exit the vehicle now." someone one might assume was an office yelled through a megaphone, although his voice was somewhat muffled by the gasmask, "Exit the vehicle with your hands at the back of your head. Once you are outside you will lie face down and will be relieved of any weapons."

OOC: As long as we're all clear ;)

IC:

The Pilot and the Co-pilot deploy the rear ramp, the only way on and off the transport, other than through the bottom hatches on a rappel line, when the ramp is fully lowered they saunter down the ramp and the pilot turns to the man with the megaphone.

"Could you repeat that" he says as he motions to the jet "Marathon's are soundproof, we can't even hear the wind in there."

"Hands behind your head." the Officer lowerd the microphone, speaking primly, "You are Prisoners of War. As such the only information you are required to give are names, ranks and serial numbers and you will be treated in a manner in concordance with the Geneva Convention. Your information will be entered into the register and your units contacted."

The Dyellian beaurocracy is seemed knew no bounds... He hadn't repeated the order to lie down. Instead someone stepped forward, "You will submit to being frisked for concealed weapons."

The Pilot and Co-Pilot look at each other "So, the Blessed Kingdom of Dyelli Beybi has declared war on the Free Republic."

Of course, Retaliatory Guard Command were listening in intently in Tollan over the pilot and co-pilot's comms.

They put their hands behind their heads lacing their fingers, they started to get down to lie down, but when the gentleman stepped forward with the request to frisk they both look over at the officer and the Pilot calmly asks.

"He says frisk, you say lie down, which is it? Are they going to frisk us after we lie down? They'll miss the most interesting hiding places."

The Co-pilot smiles and almost chuckles " I believe we have a chain of command issue."

"I am not qualified to comment on what the Government may or may not have done." the officer replied primly, immediately clamming up, "I am not the Prime Minister as I am sure you already gather, and as far as I am aware formally no State of War exists, however if it is preferable I am sure we can find another classification for you." it was pronounced with a certain degree of malicious glee.

"I have changed my mind." he replied Neroesque, "You will be frisked for weapons, do not prostrate yourselves.... Sergeant, could you please fetch the MP guidelines."

One of the soldiers hurried off while the first proceeded to frisk the airmen thoroughly, then handcuff them.

"As you have rightly pointed out." the Officer had ammended his tone, sounding contrite now, "There is no State of War."

At the same time something else of Dyellian origin was being worked on... Well not precisely of Dyellian origin, more accurately originating from one particular senior Dyellian.

Delgado, a tall muscular Monte Ozarkan had taken the stage in a public broadcast. The Dyellians traditionally loved the media, and the new Presidency was no exception.

"The Federated Klatchian Coast." he declared, "Wishes to once again extend the offer of peace talks to Ilek-Vaad."

"Our message is simple. If Ilek-Vaad demilitarises the Karmanyakan border, we will do exactly the same. We propose a demilitarised zone of 50 kilometres either side which includes air assetts. This should be simple enough to understand."

"Let it be known that the Federation has never refused to negotiate. We have simply refused to be bound by arrogant timetables imposed by a would-be imperialistic power." he declared, "We were not the ones with 1000 reasons why negotiations were not acceptable. As always the doors of the Federation are open to foreign envoys."

The Captain nodded "Well, I'm glad that is cleared up. May I ask what we are being detained for then? When intercepted we were not in Dyellian airspace?"

He pauses as he is frisked, each of them has their 9mm FN-Browning in an under the shoulder holster and no other weapons. A search of the jet also revealed that it was unarmed. The space normally reserved for the 30mm chainguns was replaced with fuel tanks and the space normally used for up to fifty men was appointed as if for a V.I.P.

Even tearing the jet apart would reveal nothing threatening, unless someone found burled walnut paneling and connolly leather threatening.

******

The Supreme Republican Commander was livid at 'message' from 'Delgado', so it was decided that Command General Lucane would be put in charge again. He quickly replied. Via LNS Satellite News.

"The Federation is again disingenuous. First the Federation President unequivocally stated that she would NOT negotiate with Supreme Republican Commander Ring, or First Republican William Issem.

Second, there have been no Retaliatory Guard units at the Karmanyakan border (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12858891&postcount=8) for over a week. The only units still occupying either side of the Karmanyakan border are Dyellian military units.

IF the Federation or any of it's member states are serious about repairing relations with the Free Republic then they must cease these endless, meaningless and factually unfounded press releases and negotiate.

We will not believe that The Federation is serious about negotiating until we see a fully empowered Federation Delegation in Great Lassic. Until such an occurrence takes place, there is nothing more to say."

The fact that Delgado would throw away the act of good will that Supreme Republican Commander Ring had made to the Federation of not returning his men to the Karmanyakan Border did not put him in a mood to talk, if anything it strengthened his resolve that The Federation was simply playing for time.

Before The Federation had only acted as a threat to The Free Republic, but now they had managed to insult Supreme Republican Commander Ring's honor. The last man they have been able to talk to.

"I am arresting you." the Officer decreed, "For illegal possession of a firearm. You have the right to remain silent, anything you do say may be used in evidence against you. You also have the right to a lawyer."

"Yes, you were removed from neutral airspace, however in the current climate, any Vaadian aircraft in that zone is viewed as a nuclear aggressor." he continued, "Of course it seems you were heading to Federal territory, where you were liable to be arrested under Counter-Terrorism legislation anyway, although obviously we cannot arrest you before the crime was committed."

----------

Which of course was responded to with another press release,

"The Federation is unaware of having made any statement that we are unwilling to negotiate." Delgado shrugged this off, "Quite to the contrary we have on numerous occasions called for negotiations, qhich each time have been rejected just as they have been on this occasion. We find it breathtaking that the Vaadians can claim to be ready to negotiate when they have refused negotiations time and again for the most spurious of reasons and stormed out when negotiations have been held."

"We also find it a supremely arrogant assertion that forces of Ilek-Vaad are not stationed against the Karmanyakan border when their aircraft quite brazenly patrol it, unfired on I might add."

"As stated before, the Federation does not feel that the safety of it's delegation is assured in Ilek-Vaad, however in the interests of compromise, the Federation is willing to negotiate in either unclaimed territory or International waters."

"So, by following your request to divert, I broke the law. That's entrapment. Even in The Federation, mate."

When the 'nuclear aggressor' part comes they both burst out laughing, the co-pilot finally regains his composure and answers "The Free Republic hasn't had nuclear arms since the 80's, everyone knows that."

That was in fact common knowledge.

*****

There was only a general response (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=408580&page=5) to Mr. Delgado's press release.

"Common knowledge does not make it the truth." the Officer snorted in response.

"You may speak to your lawyer." he waved a hand vaguely and the pair were led off to a holding cell. Apparently he had nothing further to say...

If the Vaadians were watching by satelite they would notice the Dyellians set to work disassembling the transport bit by bit, studying and cataloging. They could move quickly when they really wanted to it seemed. The ice flow was awash with engineers. Within a couple of hours though the view from space became significantly obstructed... by a zepellin. It had three CIWS systems on top of the bag, so was presumably a military assett of some description.


----------

The cells weren't bad... they weren't good either. At least it was a military prison, so wasn't full of the kind of people who would view the two newcomers as 'jail bait'. There was a meal of borsch, which seemed to have been mixed with beef broth and a slice of crusty bread.

Six hours later a lawyer arrived. Fourties, slick hair and snappy suit, he looked somewhat out of place on the military base. The cell door, a simple grille, was slid aside to allow him in, then locked behind him, "Ring the desk when you need out." the guard grunted.

"Bernard Thomas." the man introduced himself, directing a frosty glare at the Vaadians, "Legal aid. I am a patriot, so in the depths of my heart I want you to burn in hell, however I am going to do my duty as a legal professional, and you should be on your way home, or whereever else you plan to go, tommorrow... with your aircraft as they have no grounds to hold it."

"I have taken the liberty of sceduling a preliminary hearing tomorrow." he continued, "It will take about five minutes then you are free to go, there isn't a judge in Dyelli Beybi who could imagine those charges sticking. Simple prosecution makes their statement, defence make their statement, you are free to go... I assume you are Jacob Sturm and Theo Cornwall? For the record I need you to state your names and sign this form to say you authorise me to represent you."

He handed over a piece of paper and a pen, "Also, for the record, were you planning to assassinate the leader of North Germania?"

----------

There was also an angry media statement from someone called 'Freyr Alwinson'

"The Ljósálfar Nation is offended and appalled by the lies being spread by Ilek-Vaad." he shrieked from the podium, not exactly a composed politician... but a pointy-eared one.

"The Vaadian criminals accuse us of the crimes of the Dökkálfar, knowing full well the truth, speaking lies."

"The Vaadian." he declared, waving a hand angrily, "Is born a liar. The Vaadian knows that the Ljósálfar Nation is not the perpetrator of the acts they accuse us of. Just as they know the Dyellian Nation was and is not the Moaskauan Nation. They lie, lie from birth and until death. The Vaadian is a creature born from deceipt, a creature lower than a Dökkálfar, a creature that cannot be trusted under any circumstances."

"The Vaadians impute the honour of the Ljósálfar Nation with their slander." he yelled, "They are snivelling dogs. We shall beat them back with shoes! God is great! Allahu Akbar min kulli shay!"

The Marathon, after the fancy hardware had been fried and ejected, was identical to the ones that even enemies of The Free Republic could freely buy from AFA International LTD, you could even get the 'Executive Package' with the leather and burled walnut.

*****

The Pilot and Co-Pilot sat quietly in their cells until their lawyer arrived. They listened to him stoically and then said nothing and they both signed as instructed.

The Pilot then looked at the lawyer like he was some sort of idiot "I have been ordered by Command General Lucane to fly to Hoch Reich International Airport at the request of Kaiser-General Hydrik Kûbler, The Germanians don't have planes you see, for a conference with The Supreme Republican Commander. As such, we were flying with a diplomatic transponder.

The Marathon Transport was outfitted to carry the Kaiser-General and his bodyguard. The only threat to his life, is Dyellian fighter jets."

That was all the statement he would give. The Co-Pilot would say nothing.

*****

In response to the pointy eared politician The Supreme Republican Commander did do something. At Banize Bay the gathered Naval Guard Tactical Groups and Atlas Transports began to move Westward , while at the same time the Tormentor Battlecruiser Squadrons that had left the Klatch some months ago, were now coming back into the Klatch, from the West.

At the same time a message was received in Port Olympus:

From : Velites Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund
To: President of The Federated Klatchian Coast, Caroline Ab Iaeuf

Subject: Attempted Assassination of The Lord Vaad

I am not aware if this information has been brought to your attention before but I am bringing it to your attention now. In the twilight hours between The Regimes of Pierre Soult and Alexia Ap Adam a cadre of Gonad Elves infiltrated the Free Republic's Northern Border and entered the House Avanc and did bodily attack the personage of The Lord Vaad in an attempt to kill him.

Attached are video, audio and photo graphical documents and evidence. So far as we could ascertain they were working for 'The Emperor' presumably Pierre Soult.

The problem that has now arisen is two-fold. First no Dyellian Government has taken steps to help in the investigation of this matter, so far as The United Duchies is concerned silence on this matter is complicity. Second the current Dyellian Government has allied itself with the very elves that attempted to kill The Regent of the United Duchies.

With the inaction of the Dyellian Government The United Duchies, at the command of The Lord Vaad, Regent to the Ducal Thrones of Alcona and Hubris , is sending an expeditionary force to The Gonad to hunt down those responsible for this heinous action.

IF The Dyellian Tzarina is not complicit, then she will welcome our help. If she attacks the forces of The United Duchies, then we expect The Federation to place Dyelli Beybi under attainment.

The Expeditionary Force will contain three Tormentor Battlecruisers, personally owned and commanded by The Regent, The Lord Vaad with a compliment of ten thousand Velites Kerbals under the command of Exarch Thom Edrull. Ten Retaliatory Guard Naval Guard Tactical Groups with their full compliment of fifty thousand Naval Guard Marines. Ten Atlas Transports carrying fifty thousand Royal Marines and one hundred and eighty thousand Retaliatory Guard Panthers with armour and equipment, these will under the command of Command General Mustapha Erdogan of the First Red Jaguar Command and Countess Ann Winton.

All of these forces will be under the Aegis of The United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris and commanded personally by Prince Corum Vaad, King of Lassic, Coventry, The Border Principalities, Elector of Zeeland and Alcona, Regent to the Ducal Throne of The United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris.

The Lord Vaad also strongly suggests that you make peace with the Free Republic, as Federation forces will now be fighting alongside the Retaliatory Guard.

So it is sealed on this day.

Executor Sebastors Edlund

[Seal of the House of Vaad]

[Seal of the United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris]

At the same time this message was arriving the Alconian Marines that had been attached to the now now defunct JDF and were in Karmanyaka began to move for the Vaadian border. If anyone asked they were commanded to go to South Haven in the Free Republic, just across the border and board transports there, the orders had come from the top.

It was also noted that the Retaliatory Guard forces now moving, are all flying flags of The United Duchies. It was abundantly obvious that the Supreme Republican Commander had hedged his bets. Prince Corum was now in charge. Smart men would see that it was perfect for the Supreme Republican Commander, failure, would lie with Prince Corum and give him an excuse for an all out attack. Success would see him lauded as a tactical genius for so deftly maneuvering his forces into the Klatch.

*****
Quietly a rebuke to Freyr Alwinson came from the Minister of Urban Development, Lammenth Sul'Ayia, the lone Bendith in government, as such she was asked by LNS News for her opinion of the 'Longaevi' from Dyelli Beybi.

The quiet and graceful Moriquendi woman says simply and with a polite smile " The Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar are both known and notorious kin-slayers. Their actions bear out their malice. If they know who sent Gonadei kin-slayers into The Free Republic, then they should be willing to help."

"Such shrill and loud protestations are only used to hide ones true actions and intent."




OOC: I was going to try and wait until A&H was back, this was the 'plan' that he was going to discuss with Countess Winton, I think this is the sort of thing A&H was prodding me to do? It appears you've forced my hand, so here goes.

By the time the plane came to being returned it was pretty much exactly as it had looked before. Although the Lord alone knew what the Dyellians had done to it (if anything).

----------

The next morning the airmen were loaded into a truck and driven for four hours to a large city that apparently was called Sandlewood. It had marks of war about it. Here and there a building hadn't been repaired, or was in the process of being restored, but one couldn't help but notice prosperity here. There was money pouring into the town. The people were well dressed, the shops (that were repaired) were smart and well lit. Large colums of Moskauan troops filed up and down the road.

The Courthouse was a huge building, ionic style colums adorning the facade, with a flight of steps leading up to the main door. Just inside was a main foyer with a statue of a blindfolded angel with a pair of scales. Coridoors ran off in every direction, the place was crowded with judges, lawyers, police, criminals. The airmen were led to one particular Court Room and seated behind a long desk with their lawyer, "Just make sure you obey Court protocol, don't say anything and you'll be out of here very soon."

About 5 minutes later someone near a door called out that they should all rise for the 'Honourable Justice Gordievsky'. Who turned out to be an elderly Moskauan with a limp. It seemed Dyellian judges still wore wigs. He seated himself, as did everyone else in the court.

"We are sitting." the judge muttered, "For the Preliminary hearing for the case of the Crown and Sturm and Cornwall. Council for the Prosecution, you may make your case."

"Our case." the lawyer for the Prosecution rose, speaking slowly and deliberately to allow the secretary on the judge's left to take every word down, "Is a fairly simple one. Last night, the persons Sturm and Cornwall did land in a Dyellian airfield while carrying on their person 9mm hand guns. The public display of weapons by persons not associated with the police or military is an offence under the Crimes Act 2007, coming under the heading of the Illegal Possession of the Firearm. Both persosns are guilty of this offence."

The Prosecution resumed his seat. There was a pause, a nod from the secretary, then the judge spoke again, "Council for the Defence, you may make your case."

"Your honour." the Dyellian stood, "My clients, Mrs Sturm and Cornwall were not inteding to enter Dyellian territory, but were rather forced to land here by element of the 109th Fighter Squadron. While in the area they were in at the time of the interception and forcible removal to Dyellian territory they were not in violation of the law. As we are well aware, under the first Article of the crimes act, 'Crimes committed while under instruction or duress from officials of the police or military of the State of Dyelli Beybi cannot be considered crimes except in cases where there is reasonable expectation of resisting such instructions or duress.' Your honour, these Gentlemen were threatened with being shot down, death, if they did not comply with the orders of the military. As such one cannot assume any reasonable expectation that they might resist these instructions. As such the offence, the illegal possession of a firearm is void."

The Defence Councillor sat down again. There was a pause, the judge eyeing the two Vaadians. If they had acted in disdain of Court he looked like exactly the kind of person who would do something about it...

----------

From: Baroness Caroline Ab Iaeuf, President elected of the Federated Klatchian Coast
To: Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund

Klatch does not as such have an issue with the search for the Emperor. However, one must feel compelled to tell you that you are looking for a different Emperor and you will not find his person on the Gonad peninsula.

You di not appear to be particularly well informed in the politics of the region. One might draw attention to confusion between the Ljósálfar of witches Isle and the Dökkálfar of the Gonad. However this is moot, and if there is some genuine desire to co-operate Klatch, or more appropriate Dyelli Beybi will undoubtedly be able to supply good information.

However, first and before anything happens in the Gonad peninsula, some manner of peace treaty must be reached. Dyellian forces are obeying the mandate of the Klatchian State. Were something to happen, it would be Alcona and Hubris placed under attainment, not Dyelli Beybi. By removing forces assigned to the JDF they are already committing treason, although we are willing to turn a blind eye to this in the interests of peace.

As stated earlier, I will not travel to Great Lassic. The false accusations levelled against Klatchian States by some members of the Vaadian Government and military, as well as the use of EMP weaponry against Dyellian units unfortunately call the Regime's integrity into question. We will however meet in neutral territory and I personally will be willing to attend.

We would suggest that if the Vaadian State intends to negotiate, that they send a negotiatior who is willing to set aside ego and reach a settlement. I would also suggest that if you intend to say this is outside your mandate, that you relay this message on to someone who's mandate it is inside.

At this stage, were an expeditionary force of this manner approach an area containing so many Dyellian troops I cannot comment on what might happen.

Regards,

Baroness Caroline ab Iaeuf.

----------

Meanwhile though the Alconan troops still had to pass through a much larger and more heavily armed Dyellian force... which was now demanding a meeting.

The Pilot and Co-pilot sat in the courtroom and did their best at looking overawed by the building, the proceedings and of course the Judge. Partly they were, had they been detained by Bailiffs or Reeves of the Judiciary back in The Free Republic they would have had far less rights, and they are very respectful of officers of the court.

It was perhaps ironic that while the Retaliatory Guard and Velite Guard drew admiration and devotion, the Judiciary of the Free Republic drew fear and/or respect. After all if they came for you, there was already a mountain of evidence a panel of Judges that had met and issued the bench warrant.

So while they were suspicious of the entire affair they certainly seemed suitably cowed.

*****

To:Baroness Caroline Ab Iaeuf, President elected of the Federated Klatchian Coast
From:Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund

I thank you for your quick reply and your candor. I think I admitted several times in my last missive at our ignorance of motives and action of the Gonad Longeavi and whom exactly was behind this vile attempt on the life of The Lord Vaad. Our concern was raised by the current government of Dyelli Beybi's refusal to furnish us such information.

If we are now furnished with such evidence and intelligence we will act appropriately and if it exculpates the The Blessed Kingdom of Dyelli Beybi in the matter we will be most pleased to work with them to bring the perpetrators to justice and to pacify the enemies of The Federation in the Gonad. However the task force remains in motion. The People of The United Duchies demand strength in their probable Grand Duke, and The Lord Vaad will not let his Family down.

We both know that the JDF is defunct, the Alconian Marines now leaving Karmanyaka have been out of the chain of command for months and in limbo without a Grand Duke. They are now being given purpose again.

As for action in the Gonad, our Keys will be requesting that Alconian forces be added to that mandate as Gonad Longeavi have made attempts on the life of the Alconian head of government. We will fight alongside our Federation brothers, as we always have. Make no mistake, The Lord Vaad feels that the Federation is in the best interests of The United Duchies. Also make no mistake, that like his precedent Grand Dukes, he will act outside of The Federation when The United Duchies is threatened, and The Federation is slow to act.

As for peace with the Free Republic, the United Duchies will be completing a non-aggression pact, I suggest the Federation follows suit. I will also make it known that The Lord Vaad also wishes that the Free Republic agrees to meet with the Federation. My Exarchs are speaking with the Republican Council now.

If you wish to be magnanimous and take the first step, The Lord Vaad will extend you, or your negotiator the courtesy of using his home in Great Lassic, your bodyguards will be able to overlook the House of The Republic and I will make five-thousand Velites Kerbals available to protect your life. As a guest of the House of Vaad they will protect you as if you were the Lord Vaad himself.

Consider what I have said. The task force will continue on as planned, with or without the Alconian Marines currently in Karmanyaka. Forces from The United Duchies Proper are on their way as well. The Lord Vaad will outfit other task forces as needed, if as you say, we may find this Emperor and his forces elsewhere. The Lord Vaad is committed to finding this assassin and exterminating him and his lackeys.

So it is sealed on this day.

Executor Sebastors Edlund

[Seal of the House of Vaad]

[Seal of the United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris]


******

In Karmanyaka the Alconian Marines were of course amicable to talk, if haughty about it, the sudden insistence of a chain of command after months of being left to their own devices had left their, General Sir Lyttelton, surly, restless and perhaps quick with his sword.

He would speak with them, but he made it clear he would not disobey the orders of the Regent and of his superiors, and no Klatchian law could stop him dishonoring his command.


OOC: Hopefully I'm not taking too many liberties, I had hoped A&H would show up to sputter and rant about Prince Corum's orders and his plan ;)

"Case dismissed." the judge brought down his gavel, "You may remove yourself from Dyelli Beybi as you feel fit. However gentlemen, as I am sure you are aware, by the terms of the Counter-Terrorism Act from Central Government you are liable to be arrested again."

"However, due to the circumstances of the case and taking a purposive approach to legislation I am giving a fourty eight hour grace period in which to remove yourselves from Federation territory. You may take your vehicle with you, I would advise that you use it." a brief pause, "And as for the representatives of the military, if it is felt you are in any way impeding the course of justice, the judiciary will take a very dim view."

The room stood up again as the judge rose, then departed.

"Like I said, 5 minutes." the lawyer was wearing a smile despite himself, "Well gentlemen, I think my work is done.

That was an end to it, it seemed the airmen were free to go... While Dyelli Beybi was still a dubious country, the Tzarina had cleaned up the courts. She was a firm believer in the law.

----------

From: Baroness Caroline Ab Iaeuf, President elected of the Federated Klatchian Coast
To: Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund

When speaking of the Dyellian State one must be aware that it views information as it's primary source of power. Personally though I believe that the only way this matter can be peacefully resolved is if information is shared.

On this occassion I will be inclined to trust to your honour and will gladly accept the use of the Lord Vaad's home in great Lassic. I would like to request though, that until such time that we have resolved this issue that you refrain from sending troops to the Gonad. The Dyellian State will react suspiciously. This could destroy any chance of a peace settlement before it happens and furthermore would more than hamper your chances of finding the Emperor.

Theoretically JDF assetts were placed under the command of Karmanyaka, along with the Dyellian troops currently stationed there, although we are unaware of any orders being issued to them. As such the Dyellian Commanders are more or less acting entirely off the overarching strategy formed by Port Olympus.

I would also request that you also refrain from signing any non-agression pact between Alcona and Hubris and the United Dutchies until the Federation as a whole has had time to settle matters. This would undermine Port Olympus and make a settlement difficult. I could be in Great Lassic tomorrow if that were acceptable. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make peace work.

The Federation is willing to talk as we have stated. Any offence we may have caused is inadvertant and the result of incomplete knowledge of the situation. I will not presume to say the same for the Dyellian State, however I will offer my personal guarantee that whatever I say in Great Lassic will be binding on the Tzarina in Cyro.

Regards,
Baroness Caroline ab Iaeuf,
President elect of the Federated Klatchian Coast

----------

The Alconans were finding themselves becoming rapidly encircled by 10 Dyellian divisions, collectively known as the Army of Red Army. Lieutenant-General Luther, the head of this particular Army had requested talks, however was happy it seemed to meet on Alconan terms and discuss alternative methods of transport that did not involve crossing 'loyal Federation lines'.

The Pilot and Co-Pilot stood and nodded purposefully. "Thank you your honor, we will do as instructed."

The Pilot turned to the lawyer and extended his hand "Thank you for your help. I suppose next we meet it will be in hell."

They would then return to their Marathon and return directly to the Free Republic. It was not considered safe to fly a jet to Germania, pick up their leader and fly back with a jet that had been unassembled and then reassembled by people who had never worked on a Marathon before. The Turbo-clutch that allowed VTOL capabilities was a bear sometimes, even to those familiar with it's assembly.

*****

To: Baroness Caroline Ab Iaeuf, President elected of the Federated Klatchian Coast
From: Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund

You may arrive in Great Lassic at your leisure, Great Lassic International Airport North West is prepared to receive and is expecting your flight. I have also secured permission from The Supreme Republican Commander and The Republican Council to allow Sir Alec Connover, Minister of Foreign Affairs to be The Free Republic's negotiator. Rest assured you will be meeting with a life-time diplomat of impeccable credentials. Sir Alec has agreed to meet you in The Lord Vaad's house instead of the House of the Republic to further assuage any security concerns you might have.

We have estimated that it will take the Task Force two weeks to reach the Gonad, that should be ample time for two experienced Statesmen such as yourself and Sir Alec to forge a binding agreement. If the Dyellian Tzarina remains suspicious we have no issue with her sending observers or armed escorts.

I may not be available to greet you when you arrive in Great Lassic, I may at that time already be in Arn-Jaf'na in the UIK , but rest assured that you will be in safe and capable hands. The Velites Kerbals are experts at personal security and will protect you with their lives, should the unlikely event of that need arise.

The Lord Vaad thanks you.


Executor Sebastors Edlund

[Seal of the House of Vaad]

[Seal of the United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris]

It was quite a unique thing to have a Minister of Foreign Affairs meet with an official from a state facing a Military Mandate, as legality required a lifting of the Mandate before any such talks could be agreed to. However as well as Executor Sebastors, Edlund was Field Marshal of Velite Command Lassic, and his insistance backed up by his good friend Velite General Ihsan, gained the unanimous assent from The Republican Council and The Supreme Republican Commander.

*****

While Sir Lyttelton would normally be inclined to debate the matter of 'Federation Loyalty' he allowed this obvious slight upon his honour to go unnoticed as time was of the essence to join his Regent. Although he would curtly point out that by encircling their Alconian allies , the 'Loyal' Dyellians had already left their posts and opened dangerous gaps in their lines.

Alternate methods would be accepted so long as they were direct to South Haven, where several thousand Velites Kerbals were gathering to meet their Alconian 'Cousins' and board the Atlases.

"I prefer Paradise." the lawyer remarked quite jovially, shaking the Pilot's hand. He seemed to have warmed up somewhat, "If you ever get into trouble here in Dyelli Beybi, this is my card."

It seemed he worked for a firm called Haver & Goldstein, "Although usually we charge."

It was probably a good idea not to fly to North Germania in the reassembled aircraft... the Dyellians apparently had mixed some of the screws up with ones that sheared and broke quite easily. Later inspection would find they were made of pig iron. It was seemingly done randomly and probably the result of sloppiness rather than malice. It was never enough to cause anything unfortunate like a wing to fall off... Mr Thomas would have said it was grounds to sue for negligence.

----------

From: Baroness Caroline Ab Iaeuf, President elected of the Federated Klatchian Coast
To: Kerbals Executor Sebastors Edlund

While I thank you for the compliment I must confess to being a fairly new Statesperson. Nevertheless I am sure two weeks will be enough time to negotiate some manner of treaty.

As we speak I am preparing to depart for Great Lassic. I would appreciate if this visit was kept as low key as possible. I will be accompanied by 5 staff members to form a mobile office. One of these persons will be Vladimir Dzerzhinsky, the current Dyellian Ambassador to Port Olympus. He has been included as he is qualified to speak on behalf of the Tzarina regarding this matter of locating the Emperor. Furthermore I deemed it pertinent to include a representative from the Dyellian State being as the main issue Ilek-Vaad holds with the Federation appears to concern the antics of that State.

I look forward to a swift resolution to this sorry state of affairs,

Regards,
Baroness Caroline ab Iaeuf,
President elect of the Federated Klatchian Coast

She would arrive as soon as humanly possible on an unmarked and fairly unremarkable private jet. Certainly it wasn't what the Klatchian President would usually travel in.

----------

The Dyellian defences in Karmanyaka were confusing at best. They were organised into two lines separated by about 100 miles. The first, front line was made up of, North to South, Saint Andrew, Saint David, the Island Guard and the Red Army. The second line of defences, about 100 kilometres from the first was Saint George, the Virgin, the Ever Victorious Army and the Red Army... the two Red Armies were different. It was a result of the recent revolution. The massive conglomeration of rebel units that had made up the Red Army was too big for a single army, so had been split into three parts, two of which were here. The Reds who had decided to intercept the Alconans were the second line Reds. On top of all that there was also the Army of Saint James wandering around the countryside somewhere as a mobile reserve, bringing the total number of Dyellians in the region to 2,745,000 (including support).

The Reds it seemed wanted the Alconans to divert South to a Port and take civilian transports across. This would mean though that most heavy equipment would need to be left behind.

Baroness Ab Iaeuf was met at the airport by nearly eight hundred Velites Kerbals. The terminal she was instructed to land at is 'closed for maintenance' and the only people anywhere in the large empty terminal are the Kerbals, in 'dress' uniform, black suits with gauntlets, breastplates and concealable weapons only. There are no press, no spectators of any kind.

As Caroline and her staff disembark they are met by Exarch Ehsan, a barrel chested gentleman of about fifty, flanked by his Secondus and Manglevites, he gives a quick bow of the head to Caroline.

"Madame President, welcome to the Free Republic, I am Exarch Ehsan and I have been put in charge of arranging for your accommodations. If you would follow me, your limousine awaits."

They are then led to one of the many limousines owned by the House of Vaad and they are whisked away to the House of the Lord Vaad, of course by house, they actually mean Byzantine fortress overlooking the city and the House of the Republic. The massive Acropolis Fortress has only two entrances, the front gate and the hidden back garage, which is the destination of the Federation party.

Through the back entrance they are led through many wood paneled halls filled with antiques finally to a suite of rooms overlooking a fountain and beautiful terraced garden. So well tucked away that they can not even see the lights of the city of 150 million that sprawls around them. Despite the antiquity of the decor and furnishings there is every modern convenience.

Exarch Ehsan gives them a tour of the rooms, easily big enough to accommodate fifty, much less five, he makes a point to point out all the phones in each room.

"If you require anything at all, simply pick up the phone and the House Operator will take care of it. You and your staff may take as much time as you need to refresh yourselves and whenever you are ready we will fetch Sir Alec so that you may attend to business."


*****

Sir Lyttleton simply says "I would leave the heavy equipment had I any confidence they would be here when I returned."

He simply deferred that he could not make such a decision and would have to ask his superiors. Of course a solution was at hand, they would move South with all equipment and be met at the port by Alconian transports capable of moving them.

By Alconian they meant Retaliatory Guard Hercules transports, with Alconian flags and markings. It was win-win, Sir Lyttleton informed his Dyellian friends.

the young Baroness who now technically ran the Federation looked tired; like someone that was surviving off coffee alone. Nevertheless she looked professional enough, white blouse and well tailored grey skirt and jacket, hair held back in a bun, "It's a pleasure and an honour to meet you Exarch."

She let him take her around, following with the aura of someone who was trying to take everything in but who was so tired that some of it just wasn't getting beyond the ears.

"Please let Sir Alec know that I am available now and whenever it is convenient for him to make his way over here." she replied. She seemed driven.

----------

"If that is a ship that is acceptable." was the response from Lieutenant-General Luther. Hercules seemed to be confusing to them, some of them seemed to think it was a C-130.

Exarch Ehsan "As you wish, I will send my men to collect him immediately."

In about thirty minutes Exarch Ehsan would return escorting a tired looking Sir Alec, the man in his early thirties was fairly handsome with watery grey eyes and dark hair. Still in fairly good shape, but at the moment looking as though the previous night had been a long one, and that perhaps he'd been collected before he could fully attend his hangover.

He looked a bit disheveled, but that was from security. Exarch Ehsan leads him in.

"Sir Alec, this is Baroness Caroline ab Iaeuf, President of The Federated Klatchian Coast. Madame President this is Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Alec Connover. I will leave you, please use the phone if you require anything else." He states with authority as he turns and leaves.

Sir Alec smiles nicely and offers his hand "A distinct pleasure I'm pleased to meet you. I've heard and read so much about you." He pauses watching Exarch Ihsan leave "They should be buying me dinner after that particularly invasion search."

He turns back to Caroline with a smile "So, where would you like to get started?"

Despite Exarch Ihsan clearing out, the ominous shadows of the Kerbals passed by the garden windows every now and again.

*****

The Atlas is a transport designed for small to medium ports, each transport could hold about a thousand men and equipment, packed in fairly tightly, so they were for short hops. Ideal for the trip between South Haven and any number Karmanyakan ports.

The civilian version was very popular with Vaadian and Karmanyakan shipping companies.

"Sir Alec." Caroline replied, with a formal yet warm smile. His manner seemed to have soothed her into genuine affability, "It is a pleasure."

"I must confess." she said after a moment, "That I am fairly ignorant of the customs of Ilek-Vaad, so please excuse me if I do step on any toes."

Her eyes flicked around for somewhere to sit, "Now I have studied previous efforts to negotiate some kind of settlement between Ilek-Vaad and the Federation, and I believe I have figured out what keeps going wrong..."

"We annoy you. A Klatchian says something at the wrong time, a Vaadian takes offence... we get the general picture. I guess what I'm trying to say, is if I do say something out of turn, please put it down to ignorance on my part, I'm not here to cause offence. Were that my plan I'd have definitely brought a much larger security detail."

"Now where to begin... I would like to sign a non-aggression pact. I would also like to get a written agreement that we will both demilitarise the Karmanyakan border, that way hopefully we can avoid things getting unpleasant in the future." she paused, "After that I would like to move onto the matter of Dyelli Beybi and it's overly enthusiastic Intelligence agency, then we can talk about this 'Emperor', and finally if we have time you can tell me all about this assassination attempt that occured against a Vaadian Representative of some nature in Port Olympus before my tenure. I have to confess I can only find vague records on the matter."

----------

Meanwhile the Dyellians appeared to be allowing the loading of Alconan marines onto transports. The Port was heavily fortified it seemed, probably just in case 'someone tried something funny'.

There were ample places to sit, and as Caroline did Sir Alec's eyes flicked across the room "Don't worry about any Vaadian customs, custom is to ignore custom and get down to business."

He paused moving across to the bar he'd just spotted "Will you have something?"

He listened intently as she talked and he mixed himself a manhattan and her whatever she had asked for and smiled as she came to a conclusion.

"Yes, you do annoy us, terribly. The only annoying thing is lack of security and continuity. A treaty would fix that, every time there is an incident, it is handled entirely differently. I'll sign any treaty that allows Vaadian merchants and trading partners free access to the Squall Straits, demilitarizes the Karmanyakan border and sets up some formal form of incident arbitration."

He pauses and seats himself while sipping at his drink "That's better. I will also be happy to address your other concerns, as I also have two other concerns, unfortunate ones caused by our current First Republican taking Foreign Affairs matters into his own hands I'm afraid.

That would specifically be recognizing the Orc tribes to the North and recognizing their sale of lands to the Navigator Commonwealth."

He has another sip and takes out his Blackberry and sets it to notepad function "Neither are things that I would have done, or recommended doing, but there we are. Do you have any specific framework for a treaty you'd like to follow?"

*****

The Alconians loaded up and the 'Alconian' transports and loadmasters appeared unarmed and not ready to try anything funny.

"I'll just have water thanks. If we get something nutted out we can celebrate in the traditional Dyellian manner." the President accepted the glass, raising it in salute, "Thank you."

"I have no intention of leaving the Presidency. I am young, the term in twenty years for some unknown reason known only to the Alconans... I'm not going anywhere soon, so hopefully we can use that as a base for eliminating this notion of inconsistency."

"Now as for what you have asked for. I have no issues with opening up the Squall Straights. We will even give you half of the Squall platform to Station naval assetts on as a bargain sweetener, but that is of course provided the overall deal is fairly tight." she continued.

"Now I understand this land you sold was Federal Parkland? Not that we have any particular need for it, so I'm not going to kick up a fuss, however it puts me in the awkward position of losing a lot of credibility with the States, especially my homeland and Vrak if I just let that slip by. What I propose is the Vaadian Government pay the Federal Government however much you sold the land for, minus a brokerage fee if that will help save face. How much are we looking at by the way?"

"And finally the Orcs." she paused, "Personally I would love to, you know Dyelli Beybi has been giving them citizenship for years?"

"The problem you will find is Alcona and Hubris who have insisted on the right of certain groups to hunt Orcs for meat and sport. This was long before my time, but they successfully managed to block a Dyellian Orcish politician from gaining a position in central Government as certain groups would find it offensive to have to work alongside something akin to cattle."

She paused, cheqing her lip and thinking, "What I can do is get the Dyellians to give free tickets to something to all the other Keys then vote a bill on sentient rights through when they are away. It will ruffle feathers, but it will offer them some protection, I can have included in it something like an Orcish reserve North of Timaru and Moskau... sorry, the Dyelli Beybian Antarctic Territories, someone in Dyelli Beybi doesn't know their North and South... where they can carry out their lives unmolested by Klatchians. Will that suffice?"

__________

The pilots on the transports would probably notice that the Dyellians had positioned artillery overlooking the harbour. It wasn't doing anything apart from watching them load. Every hill or high building seemed to have a Dyellian with a pair of binoculars on it, most not even bothering to hide their positions. They were being cautious, but not overtly threatening.

Sir Alec chuckles amicably "Well, we didn't sell it. We merely brokered the deal with the Commonwealth and the local Orc tribe. I spoke with the Commonwealth Ambassador before the deal, before I was cut out of the process, and she, er, it, promised that in the event of any issue with The Federation that they would be pleased to submit to arbitration on the matter."

He pauses and takes another sip. "We can word the document as tightly or as loosely as you like. I would think that all we require is some sort of deal that simply gives the Orc tribes some sort of autonomy within the Federation, the matter of the rights are entirely up to Federation law as far as I'm concerned. It's just that we recognize them as a Tribal Entity, and a treaty should simply cover what is to be done with that classification."


"I would also point out that we view the anti-Vaadian laws as an internal matter, but of course such laws may make peaceful coexistence troublesome. As a member of the C.I.D. I must object strenuously to the terrorist classification, although that is an internal matter as well, just not very neighborly."

He pauses tapping the screen of his blackberry "So, what have we agreed on? De-militarizing the Karmanyakan border, opening the Squall straits and exchanging Ambassadors?" He looks up hopefully.

*****

The transports crews and operators were all Retaliatory Guard, half of them wanted no trouble, but the other half still hoped for war with Dyelli Beybi, if just to show them what real soldiers were like. However their impeccable discipline meant that none of them did anything to inflame the situation, they merely did their job of getting the Alconian units and equipment loaded quickly and efficently.

"You see, I think rights and autonomy are interwoven." Caroline commented, "If Federal law still treats them as animals without rights they cannot exert autonomy."

"What I am thinking." she was leaning forward slightly, "Is we draft some kind of Declaration of Sentient Rights in which we outline some basic rights, within which we can stipulate the right to autonomy."

"Now, this may also help out with this Navigators business, if it can be woven into the Declaration that this autonomy extends to a right to use and dispose of tribal land." the new President it would seem had a soft spot for Orcs...

"As for the C.I.D., there are grounds under Dyellian law to sue and/or bring criminal charges against certain members. However, my main concern with the C.I.D. is it's potential to intervene within Federal territories in an unconstitutional manner. Were we not to take a firm stance against the C.I.D. we could be held to be in violation of the constitution through negligence. Were we to recieve some manner of assurance that the C.I.D. will not interfere within Federal States without the express permission of say, myself, then obviously I can look at having that particular piece of legislation ammended."

Caroline paused for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, I believe we are essentially in agreement on those three points. It is now just a case of hammering out the specifics."

Sir Alec nods "I'm sure whatever solution you come up with will be equitable, and so long as you aren't exterminating them wholesale, we won't have much of an issue with it. I'm sure I can ever wrangle some suitably civilized Orcs for a good photo-op. I understand Varag Ghoulchewer of The Gouged Eye only wears Emporio Armani suits now."

He chuckles and sips at his drink " You know, once there is a treaty, any members that you have evidence against can be furnished to the Velite Guard. If members of the C.I.D. break the law, they aren't protected by any special rights. Taking the stance of labeling us 'terrorists' only insures that the Supreme Judiciary will most likely toss out extradition requests on the basis of blanket enmity.

You see if a person can prove that the parties seeking extradition have a policy of persecuting members of their religion, race, or affiliation, the request is void. But present a solid case to the Judiciary and they will most likely recommend extradition."

He shrugs "Just saying is all."

"So, do you have any special wording that you'd like to begin with? I'm not partial to the Mackisikani boilerplate form. I think it lacks pizazz."

"I'd need some kind of guarantee that the C.I.D. won't interfere with Federal States without some kind of go ahead from Klatchian Parliament." the President sounded almost apologetic, almost, "The problem is there is a clause in the Constitution that forbids us from interfering or undermining the Government of any State. The C.I.D. has set itself up to promote democracy by whatever means necessary. Were I to try to lift that law I would get attacked for undermining the spirit of the Constitution. Do you think we can work around this one?"

The President swirled the glass of water, before taking a swig, "I don't mind what the wording is. I would prefer something specific. It means people don't have any wriggle room... and believe me if there's a loophole in it there are States within the Federation that will jump through boots first."

"As for Orcs, if we are planning a photo op I think the Dyellians have a couple of Orcs in their Parliament, one is the 'Minister of Kobald Affairs', he's in charge of Orc and Goblin rights and keeping those horrible proto-goblin things in the sewers under control. Can't remember his name offhand, but he would make a good addition."

"This will meet with opposition in Alcona and Hubris." she warned, "They've very keen on the right to hunt and eat Orcs. Do you think your Regent or whatever they call their ruler might be able to keep them from kicking up a fuss?"

Sir Alec shrugs "The C.I.D. makes a point not to intervene unless asked and only after making sure that all parties will be equally supported so long as they an agreement to settle their differences non-violently, preferably through the democratic process. As in Karmanyaka. The pro-Federation parties receive just as much money and aid as the pro-Vaadian parties. The outcome is not part of the goal, the process itself is. It seems you are under some sort of misapprehension about the C.I.D.?"

He pauses after having typed something into his blackberry.

"How about: In order to foster an environment in The Klatchia free of aggression and conducive to the growth of mutual understanding and cooperation, The Federated Klatchian Coast (Herein referred to as The Federation) and The Free Republic (Herein referred to as The Free Republic) have reached the following concordat.

First The Federation and Free Republic agree to exchange foreign embassies in Port Olympus and Great Lassic respectively. Ambassadors assigned to such posts will be fully empowered to represent their governments to The Federation and to The Free Republic.

Second The Federation and The Free Republic agree that common borders should remain free of military formations excepting in times of dire national emergency or unless in cooperation.

Third The Federation and The Free Republic agree that Klatchia Regional waters be open and free to all states within The Klatch, up to the territorial waters of recognized states residing within The Klatch. Waterways essential to the health of the commerce of The Klatchia as a hold, such as the Squall Straits and the Sea of Lacon, will remain accessible to all states within the Klatchia. "

He pauses waiting to see what Caroline wishes to add.

"Perhaps." Caroline gave Sir Alec a thoughtful look, "I am talking more about times when they act to say... fund or supply paramilitaries. That is what I am more concerned about. I honestly don't care who people give money too when there's an election going on."

"Anyway... as to your wording, it is good." a slight smile, "I would like to add a bit to define how far from the borders to keep troops away, I like things to be specific. Maybe add something like; '...free of military formation to a distance of 20 miles excepting in times of dire national emergency...' That way we have a very clear clause that can't be misunderstood or deliberately misread by any of the more dubious Klatchian authorities. Perhaps we could also define a military formation as something like; Any group of 10 or more armed or militarily equipped persons belonging to a military or paramilitary organisation, excepting police officers, but including any Gendarmerie armed with weapons of greater firepower than might reasonably expected during police work."

She paused momentarily, "Then we need to define open and free, I might suggest it to be; 'Open and free' meaning free from the imposition of any tarriffs, taxes, levys as well as the boarding and/or seizure of vessels registered to a Nation not engaged in hostility with the party wishing to conduct the boarding and/or seizure."

" In order to foster an environment in The Klatchia free of aggression and conducive to the growth of mutual understanding and cooperation, The Federated Klatchian Coast (Herein referred to as The Federation) and The Free Republic (Herein referred to as The Free Republic) have reached the following concordat.

First The Federation and Free Republic agree to exchange foreign embassies in Port Olympus and Great Lassic respectively. Ambassadors assigned to such posts will be fully empowered to represent their governments to The Federation and to The Free Republic.

Second The Federation and The Free Republic agree that common borders should remain free of military formations to a distance of 20 miles excepting in times of dire national emergency or unless in cooperation. Military Formations shall be defined as any group of 10 or more armed or militarily equipped persons belonging to a military or paramilitary organisation, excepting police officers, but including any Gendarmerie armed with weapons of greater firepower than might reasonably expected during police work.

Third The Federation and The Free Republic agree that Klatchia Regional waters be open and free, meaning free from the imposition of any tariffs, taxes, levys as well as the boarding and/or seizure of vessels registered to a Nation not engaged in hostility with the party wishing to conduct the boarding and/or seizure, to all states within The Klatch, up to the territorial waters of recognized states residing within The Klatch. Waterways essential to the health of the commerce of The Klatchia as a hold, such as the Squall Straits and the Sea of Lacon, will remain accessible to all states within the Klatchia."

He read with changes added.

"We should probably save the discussion of the C.I.D. until we hammer everything else out, what you're describing them doing is greek to me."
He pauses "What other issues do we need to move on to resolving, the sharing of intelligence between states, and perhaps extradition?"

"I'm happy with all of that." Caroline said, then grinned, "Quick write it down before we forget any of it."

"Information sharing would be nice... but the States don't even share information with Parliament unless they really have to. I would love to sign some treaty like that, don't get me wrong." Caroline added, "But it might end up as information flowing into the Federation and not a great deal flowing back. If you're willing to share any information on military and/or terrorist threats to the Federation I could definitely share anything of a similar nature which applies to Ilek-Vaad that happens to fall into the possession of Federal Authorities via the Marshalls or some such. Hopefully that kind of agreement might inspire the States to act honourably."

"Extradition. That's a bit of a curly one I can see some States having an issue with, especially some of the ones without advanced judiciary systems. It would be so much easier if you just joined the Federation." a slight smile as acknowledgement that probably wasn't about to happen, "I would like to discuss that, however I would like to have the representative from Dyelli Beybi who I carted along with me present on that one. I am relying on that State introducing the bill. May I call him, or are there other things you would prefer to discuss privately first?"

Sir Alec looks around "My Blackberry is picking up a bluetooth printer, but I don't see it, I'll print it, and let's listen and see where it is."

He prints the text which prints out to a laser printer in a cabinet under one of the end tables.

He shrugs as she suggests bringing in the Dyellian "If you think we should, although there already is the opinion that you are beholden to your Tzarina. It's just as well as soon as I start charming a young lady, she calls over her 'chaperon'."

He chuckles and takes a drink of his scotch.

OOC: I'm just going to ignore that.

"Before I do, I think I will take the time to explain some of the realities of Klatchian politics... just to dispel any such 'opinions'." Caroline's tone was friendly, carefully explanatory, "I need the States to introduce bills that need Parliamentary assent as unfortunately I can't do that. As such I need Dyelli Beybi. However I am not here for them, I am here for everyone, and in this particular negotiation, most especially Karmanyaka."

"At the end of the day though I am Dyellian and I feel a certain afinity for the State of my birth and my policies may well be influenced by that. However if anyone feels I am beholden to the bastard daughter of the late Tzar, they are very much mistaken."

Her smile was perhaps a little tight by the end of her very politely delivered rant, but it softened now as she gave Sir Alec a coy glance, "You can show me just how charming you are when we have this all sewn up over a celebratory drink, I don't suppose you have a bottle of champagne in there do you?"

OOC: Me too.

Sir Alec chuckles " I don't, but I'm sure there is plenty of champagne around here somewhere, although it's not really my drink."

"Well then, let's your chaperon in here and see what he has to say for himself, although most Dyellians, excepting you, appear to enjoy insulting me. I'll have to warn you, if he insults me, I'm having another drink." He says with a smile.

"He'll be on his best behaviour I promise." Caroline laughed, leaning back in her chair, "Do you have some special electronic thingee for messaging the room, or do I have to get out of my seat and do it myself?"

"You know." she put in confidentially, "Vladimir Dzerzhinsky is is probably the real 'Kingmaker' in Dyelli Beybi at the moment. He is probably the perfect example of the spy come politician that Dyelli Beybi is so good at producing."

She acted almost as if she wasn't also a 'spy come politician'...

Sir Alec looked around "I'm not entirely sure, I've never been allowed in here before. Try the phone, have the Velite Kerbals fetch him."

The phone in room has no buttons and connects directly to whomever is in charge of the rooms, who will send someone to collect anyone, or anything required by the 'delegates' being hosted in the Acropolis.

Or Caroline could go collect the Dyellian official herself, although the Kerbals frown on having anyone wander around the house.

"Surely not?" the President seemed genuinely suprised Sir Alec hadn't been here before.

She made a brief call to the room Dzerzhinsky was in. He arrived some time later, a slight man who bore a disconcerting resemblance to a malnourished rat. He sported the same black van Dyk beard his father wore (although his father's was now rapidly greying). His suit was somewhat lopsided, it was a good suit but was draped on a body that seemed to physically rebel against formal attire. A faint smell of cigarettes hung around him like an embarrasingly dressed youth outside a night club, "You called, Baroness? Sir?"

"Yes, Vladimir, sit with us a bit, we have some things we would like you to comment on, as the representative for Dyelli Beybi here... Sir Alec, perhaps you would like to explain to Mr. Dzerzhinsky?"

Sir Alec shrugs "'Connover' is not a distinguished enough name to run in the circles of the House of Vaad."

He smiles politely to Mr. Dzerzhinsky and he stands to shale his hand, he makes no mention that his father is wanted in the Free Republic............

"Pleased to meet you, I am Sir Alec Connover , Minister of Foreign Affairs. President Ab Iaeuf thinks you can be helpful in discussion information sharing and extradition matters? As you may or may not be aware the Free Republic has always shared intelligence with whomever the President designates, normally the VIS."

He pauses and resumes his seat "The problem is that it never seems to go beyond there, and Federation member states seem to do everything in their power to keep The Free Republic in the dark. How do add a solution to that in a treaty with the Federation?

Extradition is a separate, and slightly less important matter, although it will directly bear on your Socialist Republic, in light of the years earlier illegal terorrist actions by certain Dyellians."

"The sharing of information with the VIS is a mistake." this was Caroline, "It undermines the unity of Klatch by diverting information to a specific state while withholding it to other states. I feel it would be preferable for any information shared to the Federation to be shared with the respective intelligence agencies of all the States. This way we can avoid unnecessary infighting."

"I see no problem with that." Dzerzhinsky grunted.

"I believe some kind of formalised agreement to share relevant threat or interest information with the Federation, that being all Federation Intelligence bodies, and from them with Ilek-Vaad is preferable." Caroline again.

It recieved a nod, which presumably was assent, from Dzerzhinsky, "I would be interested to know which persons are accused of terrorist actions. The Blessed Kingdom is unaware of any persons guilty of terrorism within our State."

He paused, scratching his chin idly, "We can probably find some manner of agreement regarding extradition provided the crime has been committed within the agreed jurisdiction of the Nation requesting the extradition, that sufficient evidence exists to pass a preliminary hearing or similar legal process within the State the person is being extradited from, and provided it is agreed that the death penalty will not be applied."

"Well there a couple of issues. First, certain laws would prevent the Free Republic from sharing intelligence with certain illegal regimes within the Federation, so directly sharing that information would not be possible. I would prefer, for legal reasons, that an agreement be made with the Federation to share information with a Federation entity. Where the information flows from there is not my concern. It would also give us a single accountable entity so that the next time we aren't told about something, we don't have get the run around."

He pauses looking hopeful. "As far as extradition goes, the Free Republic will not sign any extradition treaty that limits punishment of criminals in any way. I would remind both of you that foreigners that are sentenced in The Free Republic are normally deported and the sentences are only carried out if the criminal defies their travel ban to the Free Republic.

Those decisions are the purview of the Velite General and Judicial Lictors."

He smiles politely to Mr. Dzerzhinsky "As far as who is currently wanted I only know that a Polkovnik Morris implicated a Mr. Dzerzhinsky and Mr. Brezhnev in a foiled terrorist attack. Although that again is the purview of the Velite General. I'm afraid I only have gossip."

"IF the subject of who is to be extradited would affect a treaty in any way, I will not sign it. All persons should be equal under the law."

He pauses and shrugs "And of course I'll tell you what I tell everyone when the subject comes up, without a formal treaty on how foreign nationals are to be treated foreigners in the Free Republic have no standing or expectation to claim any constitutional rights or protections."

"The Kingdom, has taken a strong stance on the death penalty." Dzerzhinsky was preaching, "We can sign an extradition treaty, but we will not negotiate on this matter. We will not extradite any person who is facing torture or a potential death penalty. Preventative detention is fine. However, these matters are matters enshrined as basic human rights under Statute. We would be opening ourselves up to legal action were we to not include that clause. Which would be somewhat ironic considering we wrote the law in the first place."

"All people are equal under the law." Dzerzhinsky added with a crooked smile, "However, I am simply saying that for Dyelli Beybi to extradite, we would need to be satisfied that there is sufficient burden of proof for a trial. As we definitely believe, like you, that all people are equal under the law, there can be no special exemptions in extradition or otherwise."

A warning glance from Caroline had failed to deter the scruffy Dyellian emmisarry.

"That is an interesting matter to note." he added after hearing Sir Alec's final comment, "Perhaps the President should draft a travel warning, if indeed I am reading you correctly in saying the law does not protect foreign nationals in Ilek-Vaad?"

"I'm sure that isn't exactly what Sir Alec is saying." Caroline put in, although she made no move to intervene otherwise, apparently waiting to see if Ielk-Vaad and Dyelli Beybi could see eye to eye.

"Of course they are protected" Sir Alec responded, perfectly composed and matter of factly "unless they break the law. It may very well be wise to issue a warning if your citizenry have problems in this area? I am simply pointing out that the Supreme Judiciary have ruled that since the Free Republic's constitution is very specific about the law applying to 'citizens' that the Velite General will most likely summarily deport them without due process should he feel they are a threat. "

He pauses taking a slow walk to refill his glass "Anyone else need a drink refreshed? Of course more devious minds will also see that the Velite General would be equally free to detain foreigners indefinitely or torture them."

He pauses again adding a splash of soda "Of course that raises a whole array of as of yet untested legal issues for the Velite Guard. Untested because they don't do it. Though they do like to imply that they will do this to foreigners." He takes a sip "Imply that to visitors from states with questionable views on what is legal."

He returns to his seat distributing whatever drinks he was asked to fix if any " Honest travelers have nothing to fear except over friendly and helpful Guardsmen."

He raises his glass and smiles "I do not see us signing an extradition treaty. No need to continue on with a fruitless line of discussion."

Caroline laguhed, when Sir Alec proposed another round of drinks, remembering his earlier comment. It drew a dubios glance from Dzerzhinsky.

"Thats about all we need you for Vladimir, I'm glad we got that established." one would need to be phenomenally stupid to miss the hint, Vladimir wasn't.

He rose, bowed then left, "Maam. Sir." he croaked.

The President of Klatch pouted after he'd left, she seemed to like Sir Alec in a strange sort of way, "I had hoped that extradition treaty might fly too... for my own selfish reasons of course. By the way, do I count as an 'honest traveller' or do I need to behave a little better? I'll skip the drink for now, although I would welcome one when this is done...."

"What is left... land sales of Federal parkland? There was something else I'm missing?" she paused, checking, before continuing on, "Because frankly we'll never need the land, and since I can't say you cheated us out of it, we can do one of two things. Either I can pretend I know nothing about it, and it's very unlikely to come back and bite us... or I can try to pass something declaring it an Orc reservation. That might backfire on me badly if certain Keys figure out what I'm up to."

"Oh..." she added with the same broad smile that generations of Used car salespersons had used, "There is Option 3 where you join the Federation... which isn't as bad as it seems, considering you would then effectively be the most powerful State, on par with Dyelli Beybi. Also I'd look good... shot in the dark? Ok we'll move back to sensible options."

Sir Alec chuckles "Honest traveler? An ex-member of the Cheka? I'll refrain from answering that question as it seems to be unfairly loaded against me."

He pauses having another sip of his scotch. "I don't see any chance of the Free Republic joining the Federation. It would require a referendum, and right now even suggesting putting it on the ballot would be political suicide. The People of the Free Republic have long memories and they have been sorely wronged practically all this year by Federation activities and they are not likely to support anything that doesn't call for the destruction of the Federation anytime soon. This treaty will be hard enough to push through, it certainly won't be unanimous."

"As for the Federation park lands, as I stated earlier we only brokered the sale between the Orc tribes and the Navigator Commonwealth, but we would certainly be interested in supporting a resolution between the Federation, the Orc Tribes and the Commonwealth. After all it's in everyone's best interest. A spaceport in the Klatchia would be a boon in trade for everyone.

I suggest we simply state in the Treaty what we consider Orc Tribal lands, what you consider Federation park land and describe a frame work for arbitrating those interests for all involved."

Caroline laughed, "I know Sir, I know, I'm joking with you...."

"You do realise we already have a couple of Space Ports at least? The old Lords of War lands probably has more than one, and Dyelli Beybi has one too, although it's very hush hush, bought it some years back when they got an idea into their heads that they could remove the military dominance of the Lords of War if they just had some equipment. Needless to say the plan didn't survive the next budget."

"I think we possibly just need to designate Orc tribal lands, most Federal Parks are within the Federation propper, I'm thinking of Karndi and the Gonad. If we say declare the lands North and East of the Dyelli Beybian Antarctic Territories..." she winced at the word 'Antarctic', "... to be Orc Territory, we can put something about right to self Governance in the area and something about rights of Sentient people not to be persecuted."

"Oh yes, The Lords of War spaceports, my they were always greeting business men with open arms to facilitate trade and move merchandise all over the world, nay the solar system!" She could feel the irony in his voice.

"We specifically negotiated this particular space port to facilitate trade with the UIK, we also leveraged in the presence of Velite Guard customs agents and inspectors at the space port to make sure that trade that flows out of there meets the same standards and safety of things passing into and through the Free Republic itself. This station is no secret, and it is no military installation. Designed for use by us, and those with trade agreements with us."

He smiles "I would propose that we codify such declarations of Orcish Tribal lands and their sentient rights in this treaty. It makes no difference to The Free Republic, but I am sensing that it would help you make your case? We can also make sure that we have a trade agreement as well."

"Just so long as we're clear as to the Federation's status regarding Space Ports." Caroline added mildly, "If we see the need to utilise such resources they already exist."

"The reason I am set on this idea of codifying sentient rights is because certain States in the past have taken a rather Medieval view of other sentient races. Were I to announce an Orc reserve I believe it might be treated as an Orc Hunting Reserve or some such nonsense." she shrugged, "On top of that I'm a Dyellian, we have always had a special relationship with the Orc people. In many respects we are probably more like Orcs than Humans... other humans I should say."

"What would you mean by trade agreement? I am happy to allow the trade of non military goods. That has never been forbidden by the Federation. I am wondering if you mean some kind of agreement to lower tariffs on certain goods?"

"Well, trade with the Free Republic is currently not exactly legal is it? We either need the pesky anti-Vaadian laws repealed, or an agreement in place that supercedes those laws."

He pauses looking down at his blackberry " I mean if you go don the list of what is considered 'military goods' in the anti-Vaadian law, trade is effectively cut."

He smiles and shrugs " As I said, we'll agree with whatever sentient rights you wish to insert about the orcs."

"OK." the President nodded, with a slight wry smile, "We can cut the bit about 'cammels', I'm pretty sure that only Dyelli Beybi regards those as a military assett."

"I can probably get that law repealed..." she shrugged, "Shouldn't be hard, Parliament tends to be quite... amenable at the moment. As for Orc things, I can't find any words at the moment, I basically want something which acknowledges their rights to live and guarantees rights associated with foreign humans in each given country. Can you perhaps suggest some wording?"

Sir Alec Hmmmms and thinks for a moment.

"How about 'Peoples residing within Federation Territory that are not citizens of a Federation State shall be treated as Foreign Nationals. These Peoples will receive all of the protections, rights and benefits that Federation Member States would extend to Alien Residents, Foreign Tourists and other non-citizen visitors and residents. The 'Peoples' referred to will be any sentient being of any racial, or tribal group that have resided within Federation Territory.

The Free Republic will also agree to treat these Peoples as treaties with the Federation and Federation Member States require."

He pauses and types it down "Okay, how does that sound? It sounds more like you are trying to get us to see those outside member states as being under Federation control instead of trying to promote Orcish rights."

Caroline paused, chewing that over in her mind, then nodded, "My friend, I think we have an agreement unless there is anything else you wish to add?"

"Okay so how about:

In order to foster an environment in The Klatchia free of aggression and conducive to the growth of mutual understanding and cooperation, The Federated Klatchian Coast (Herein referred to as The Federation) and The Free Republic (Herein referred to as The Free Republic) have reached the following concordat.

First The Federation and Free Republic agree to exchange foreign embassies in Port Olympus and Great Lassic respectively. Ambassadors assigned to such posts will be fully empowered to represent their governments to The Federation and to The Free Republic.

Second The Federation and The Free Republic agree that common borders should remain free of military formations to a distance of 20 miles excepting in times of dire national emergency or unless in cooperation. Military Formations shall be defined as any group of 10 or more armed or militarily equipped persons belonging to a military or paramilitary organisation, excepting police officers, but including any Gendarmerie armed with weapons of greater firepower than might reasonably expected during police work.

Third The Federation and The Free Republic agree that Klatchia Regional waters be open and free, meaning free from the imposition of any tariffs, taxes, levys as well as the boarding and/or seizure of vessels registered to a Nation not engaged in hostility with the party wishing to conduct the boarding and/or seizure, to all states within The Klatch, up to the territorial waters of recognized states residing within The Klatch. Waterways essential to the health of the commerce of The Klatchia as a whole, such as the Squall Straits and the Sea of Lacon, will remain accessible to all states within the Klatchia.

Peoples residing within Federation Territory that are not citizens of a Federation State shall be treated as Foreign Nationals. These Peoples will receive all of the protections, rights and benefits that Federation Member States would extend to Alien Residents, Foreign Tourists and other non-citizen visitors and residents. The 'Peoples' referred to will be any sentient being of any racial, or tribal group that have resided within Federation Territory.The Free Republic will also agree to treat these Peoples as treaties with the Federation and Federation Member States require.

Changes to this agreement may only be implemented bi-laterally and neither The Federation or The Free Republic shall amend, alter or change the contents of this agreement without the full consent and input of the other."

He pauses correcting some spelling and then printing it out again.

"Now, what do we call it? I've never liked 'treaty' it sounds so impersonal."

Caroline listened, then nodded, "Sounds acceptable to me."

"The Var will hate the last bit." she added, almost gleefully.

She frowned, pursing her lips at the dislike of the word 'Treaty', "Agreement? Accord? Compact? Entente? I think I like Accord personally... 'The Accord for Peace'?" she suggested.

"Get that champagne on ice." the President seemed delighted, amazed, that an agreement was there, just needing signatures, "I want that opened before the ink dries on this."

Sir Alec adds 'Accord for Peace Within The Klatchia' to the top of the document and prints it again with signature bars at the bottom. While the copies are printing he goes back the bar, finds and ice bucket and a bottle of champagne, but then pauses and frowns.

"Well, technically that is a laser printer, so the ink is already dry when the print comes out? We'd have to drink awful fast."

He resumes icing the champagne, and the retrieves the papers. "Well, now just to sign and I think we are done." he pauses and pulls his stamp from his pocket "and of course the seal of The Republican Council will make it official on this end."

"Figure of speech." Caroline laughed.

She pouted when Sir Alec produced the seal, "I don't get one of those... suppose there might have been one. If there was the Walrus nicked it... Got wax?"

As she asked she produced a gold signet ring from her pocket. It was clearly cast for a man and would have fallen off her finger had she tried to wear it, "I can put the old ab Ieuaf seal on I guess. That should make it official."

Sir Alec pauses and takes one of the many candles in the room out of it's holder and lights it with his cigar lighter

" 'Should' make it official? Is this going to be one of these gray areas we so often encounter?"

He chuckles and drips some of the wax onto the bottom of the papers and hands them to Caroline to stamp, and then punches them with his own stamp.

"Now mind you, this treaty will be valid from when I sign it until next February, when it will be on the ballot to be approved by a popular vote. Of course I'll do my best to make sure it receive the requisite majority, with my immense personal charm, I should be able to pull it off."

He smiles and turns the champagne bottle in the ice as they finish signing "Now all I have to do is unveil it to the press."

"Not a grey area in the slightest." Caroline assured Sir Alec, "Absolutely black and white, I put my name on this, I put it to the vote in Parliament. It passes because the only state voting is Dyelli Beybi and they do what they're told, because it's so much easier to have a Dyellian in power who actually understands where that State is coming from. I think we think somewhat differently to other people sometimes."

She pressed the signet ring into the wax leaving an impression of a crocodile rapant, then signed the document with a flourish, "All done. We are officially at peace. So... after all this hard work I'm definitely feeling thirsty."

Sir Alec smiles and goes back to the champagne bottle and undoes the foil, before expertly popping the cork and filling the pair of champagne flutes and taking one to Caroline.

He raises his glass "To a long and uneventful peace."

"May we not live in interesting times." Caroline returned, raising her own glass.

"And to you Sir Alec." she added, "The man who made me believe peace was possible."

Sir Alec chuckles and raises his glass "I will drink to that. So now, what do our newly friendly governments need to deal with? Or do we have time to celebrate properly?"

Klatch more or less runs itself." Caroline pointed out, "I am more of a figurehead... who occasionally shifts our bearing a little to avoid unfortunate collisions. I do not believe any of those are in the making, so I think we have time to celebrate properly."

She sipped delicately from her glass, subjecting Sir Alec to a suprisingly piercing gaze, "I have two questions that are really nagging at me... Ilek-Vaad calls itself a Repblic, yet unless I'm much mistaken I'm aware of Princes or a Prince at least, and you appear to have a knighthood, usually something I'd associate with a Monarchical structure."

"Second question... if you personally had unlimitted jurisdiction on the continent, would you have me 'removed', imprisoned, or would you decide my usefullness outweighed my shortcomings?" she asked, with a sly half smile.

Sir Alec chuckles "You are very observant. First, yes there are some 'noble' house in The Free Republic. At his death Prince Namaan Vaad abolished all of the monarchies and kingdoms and willed them to The Republican Council. However The Houses of Vaad, Ilek and Arden were allowed to retain their titles, although they mean absolutely nothing. Prince Corum is eager to call himself 'Prince' around his lackeys and around foreigners, but he is simply 'Mr. Vaad' at his offices in the city. It's up to you to choose what to call him. The house of Vaad also retained it's holding, that is some thirty percent of the lands in the Republics of Lassic, Coventry and the Border Republics.

As for Knighthoods, The Right and Honourable Themirin Ilek-Vaad and Lloyd Hamilton founded the Coventry Institute of Democracy, it awards Knighthoods to supporters of democracy worldwide. I was given the title Sir Knight of The Institute for my work in building democratic institutions in the Lumpen Republic and the negotiations two years later to bring that Republic into The Free Republic."

He smiles at the last question "Would the Free Republic remove you if we had unlimited jurisdiction in the Klatch? Unlimited jurisdiction would imply that all of the parts of the Klatch were a part of The Free Republic, and as such your post, in fact the Klatchian parliament would not exist. There would be no reason to remove you from a post that did not exist."

"Hah! Good, Diplomatic answer." Caroline gave a nod of acknowledgement, "But stripping away the trappings of State, were you a random man in the pub and I were some random, what do you think we should do with the President of Klatch?"

The non-Presidential Caroline who had emerged after the negotiation seemed to take glee in her image as an unsavoury character, her tone one of gentle teasing, "Go on, get it out of your system, you'll feel better for it."

While Sir Alec never really seemed to be caught up in the trappings of state, it seemed that it was also impossible to remove the diplomat from him. He smiles and takes another sip of champagne.

"Well, were I an average Vaadian in a pub, I would probably say what 80% of Vaadians already say and that is 'let the Supreme Republican Commander deal with'.

You see no matter what we accomplish today, the People see the Federation as a failed state. By all appearances the Federation does not meet it's obligations to it's citizens or it's neighbors, and were it not my job, I would prefer to see the Federation dealt with by The Retaliatory Guard, just like any other rogue state."

He chuckles "Now, you see that as a bad thing. What foreign devils normally fail to see is that Commander Ring prefers quiet diplomacy to fighting. Your refusing to talk to him, has damaged your reputation in the Vaadian street, perhaps irreparably. "

"Really?" Caroline mused, "I rather thought it was him refusing to speak to me after I so kindly offered to set up a meeting in Port Olympus."

"What I think Commander Ring forgets is that I cannot be seen to be acting like a vassal to him. I will negotiate with Ilek-Vaad, but only when I, when Klatchia is treated respectfully, otherwise I must maintain a stony aloofness." she shifted, reclining languidly in her chair, "That's why I can negotiate now, you treated me as an equal and that is something I, something Klatch respects."

"Unlike the people of Ilek-Vaad though, I do not see the Federation as a failed State. It is a State in crisis perhaps, but it is a State that still functions, and even if it shrinks to the size of my office, it will still function while I have breath in my body." there was a slight smile at the mention of rogues States dealing with the Retaliatory Guard, the politician was filing that away for future reference, "Perhaps we are a rogue State, if your definition is one which will not go along with the machinations of Ilek-Vaad, however, one must learn to respect the realities of power in the region. Ilek-Vaad lacks the power to force it's way upon Vrak or Dyelli Beybi, let alone the Federation as a whole and this constant sabre rattling does nothing to enhance trust while simultaneously achieving no concessions."

Sir Alec chuckles " I think that you and the Supreme Republican Commander have different ideas of what constitutes 'respect'. I think he assumes he's earned it and probably wouldn't say the same about you......."

Before he could finish the door opened and Exarch Ehsan entered with a bow.

"It is nearly dinner time, if the talks are at a stage where you can take a break, I will have dinner served for you and your party." he stated with a nod to Caroline.

He turns to Sir Alec "I can arrange for a driver to take you back to your ministry for dinner. Minister Connover."

Sir Alec chuckles "I guess I'm not invited to dinner?"

Exarch Ehsan simply shrugs "I was not instructed that you would be a guest of the House."

"How quaint." Caroline smiled, an unreadable but not especially friendly smile, "A belicose soldier I have never met assumes he has 'earned' my respect."

"I believe negotiations are at a close." this was to Ehsan as he entered, "A successful close. My party and I will depart in the morning."

Sir Alec smiles " A life time in the Retaliatory Guard fosters that feeling among the officers."

Exarch Ehsan nods "Then I assume I can inform the Lord Vaad that his task force can continue on to the Gonad and will have the support of the Federation President and his fellow Federation members?"

Sir Alec smiles again "Well, I'll leave you to sort that soup out, since I'm not invited to dinner anyhow" he pauses and shakes Caroline's hand "A pleasure to have met you, if you have any diplomatic issues, call my office directly, I'm there at least every other day."

Exarch Ehsan motions and Sir Alec is escorted out by a pair of Kerbals and Exrach Ehsan awaits expectantly.

Caroline glanced at the Exarch, "I would suggest rather you inform Lord Vaad he may contact the Dyellians and expect a luke warm reception rather than shots. The Gonad peninsula is currently occupied by Dyellian units, so lines of communication are absolutely essential. You will also note that Dyelli Beybi has an unapproved claim on the land due to racial inheritance, so there is the possibility they are likely to be touchy over what goes on there."

"The pleasure was all mine." she replied to Sir Alec with a slight incline of the head, "No doubt we will encounter one another again."

Instead of taking the bait and arguing the point like most Vaadians would do, Exarch Ehsan simply ignored, or did not understand the veiled threat and glance and simply nodded.

"I will inform The Lord Vaad." He then bows " I shall send a Kerbal to collect your party for dinner in twenty minutes?" he awaits an answer before leaving.

*****

Meanwhile aboard the Battlecruiser 'Patriarch' Prince Corum receives and passes on the communication from his house, he then leaves it to his Task Force Commander Exarch Edrull to co-ordinate with the Dyellians.

Using JDF protocols gleaned from his Alconian charges Exarch Edrull sends a missive through to Dyellian Command.

"This is Exarch Thom Edrull of the Regent of the United Duchies of Alcona and Hubris' task force.

The Regent requests permission to form a beachhead on the Gonad Peninsula and offer our support for our friends from The Blessed Kingdom of Dyelli Beybi in pacifying the Gonad and tracking down and killing the so called God-Emperor of The Klatch."

He awaits a reply with some trepidation, keeping the Alconian Countess Winton nearby in case she can wrangle the Dyellians a bit better than he.

Anne Winton shook her head, "Exarch...we need the assistance of the one race the elves and the Dyellians truely fear."

She turned, "We need to ask some of the Houses of the Var to intervene in all of this, they are blood allies of the United Duchies and therefore Lord Vaad."

As he waited for the response from the Dyellians Exarch Edrull nods to Countess Winton.

"If they are indeed obligated to help track down the would be assassins of The Lord Vaad, then by all means contact them. If they can help us and allow us to bypass the Dyellians then all the better."

He pauses "The Loard made a personal offer of friendship to the Dyellian Tzarina, she declined his offer. She is no Cousin-Monarch of The Lord Vaad and we should all keep that in mind."

Command General Erdogan, leading the Retaliatory Guard Panthers who is also present grimaces "Let us be sure that the more people we can call in can all tolerate each other, I want to fulfill my mission to insert and extract your forces as needed, not end up fighting the Dyellians.

There are only fifty thousand Royal Marines, and how many Lords of War? I would like this better were there three or four more Retaliatory Guard armies."

Exarch Edrull nods again "Hopefully we can get everyone onboard....." he motions to the comm panel "Countess Winton, let the Comm Leftenant know who we need to contact to get the L.O.W."

"Alright, I will ensure we are ready then." the Klatchian President replied, unaware that her comment may have been taken as a threat.

----------

Meanwhile the Dyellians took forever to respond, as usual, and as usual it was laced with prickly South-Coast pride.

While unaccetable for an army of kelvarim to be present in the Álfheimr, on the request of higher command we will be accomodating on this occasion. Please send rough coordinates of where you wish to disembark so we may assure this is a safe zone free of enemy patrols.

- Major-General Freyr, Army of Álfheimr