NationStates Jolt Archive

Piraeus 0657 Hours November 7, 2004

The three chambers of the harbour stretched out before Captain Olaf Krugsen, the waters still a deep shade of blue, the sun not yet up. The Eurosoviet fleet was at anchor, safe by the three-chambered entrance to the massive port of Piraeus, ESN Mediterranean HQ.

Krugsen was on the bridge of the Scharnhorst, a missile gunboat, an older design, only partially AEGIS/ABM capable. It was the first Scandinavian-manned and named craft in the Eurosoviet fleet, in which there were many nationalities of ship and sailor, attracted by the excellent training and progressive social regime of the Federation, to which they gained membership. Behind him, the port itself was beginning to come alive and several merchant vessels were pulling in to anchor. Fishing vessels were banned at the Piraeus because of the smell - they had a purpose built harbour near the much more accessible Phaleron around the coast.

Below the gunbarrel grey prow of the warship, a small cutter, not more than 26 feet in length was cruising around the ship, out of view of the bridge, high up though that was. At barely 7 in the morning, the explosion shattered the calm and was heard as far away as the Pnyx, the supreme seat of government for the Federation of EuroSoviets, in Athens, at the other end of the six mile Long Walls which connected the city to its port.

Within seconds, the alarm Klaxxons were blaring and the sea was a roiling red mass of dead sailors and flames, licking out from the side of the mortally wounded battleship, which was already 13 degrees down by the fore and sinking rapidly. Krugsen didn't hear any of this as he lay unconscious on the bridge, alone since the deck watch had been dismissed, the ship thought secure in the heart of the FES territory, protected by the might of one of the foremost navies in the world.

The emergency services reacted with astonishing rapidity, evacuating the harbour entirely and airlifting crew members off the ship which soon settled on the bottom, only it's communications array peaking above the surface of the now blackened sea. Eighteen crew members out of a skeleton compliment of 37 were rescued, most of the rest killed by the blast. Krugsen was among them.

How the world and media reacted remained to be seen.

OOC: Boom Boom, I want to be in this room.

Charles Aster sat in his office at Grenwich University eating his lunch. He had recently returned from Soviet Ireland following the dissolution of the ASEPF. While, many of his compatriots were still bitter over their nation's ejection from the ASE Council and the its loss of its permanent seat on the Peacekeeping Force at the hands of the Federation of EuroSoviets and the Republic of United Soviet Ireland, Charles was glad to step back into his role as history professor and occasional television celebrity on the QBC.

The normal calm of the afternoon current affairs show on QPR was shattered by a news flash:

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a late breaking story from the Mediterranean. Official sources have confirmed that the EuroSoviet ship, the gunboat Scharnhorst, has sunk in the EuroSoviet port city of Piraeus, following an explosion. Only a handful of the crew numbering in the hundreds survived. It is not know what caused the explosion but there is speculation of a terrorist attack. Again we have no confirmation at this time. Our FES Correspondent Mitchell Carlson is on his way to Piraeus from Athens, and he will give us a report when he arrives there. Again, the EuroSoviet battleship the Scharnhorst has been sunk in the EuroSoviet harbor of Piraeus. We'll return with more information as we receive it. Thank you."

As the current affairs news show came back on, a debate over the amount of help Quercustan should offer the FES ensued. Some believe it to be poetic justice that as the dissolution of the ASEPF became final, the nation that initiated the break-up should come under attack. Charles' phone rang. He knew it was the QBC wanting him to give his thoughts on what just happened. It looked like his peaceful return to university life was going to be on hold for a while.

Sparta / Eurotas Combined Intelligence Command Centre
0801 Hours November 7 2004.

Edward Telson sat on one side of the largely darkened room, the digital projector illuminating the far wall and shadowing the faces of the other men who sat around half of the table, all facing the wall.

The proof was undeniable. The ship had been loaded and set sail from Quercustanian territory - the images on the wall displaying the NAVTRACK footage from earlier that morning and from the previous night.

Telson, a short, balding man with a gradually expanding waistband was head of the NAVTRACK Satellite Reconnaisance project, something the F.E.S. had invested in; despite the appearance of having pulled back military funding, the navy and the airforce were extremely well funded compared to the ground forces and it was from naval funds that Eurosoviets had recently completed their high-earth orbit Space Station which controlled the drone-sats used in the NAVTRACK system.

The same information had automatically been forwarded to every member of the alliance including Quercustan but only at the direct intervention of the Ekklesia when it was put to a vote. The people of the Federation could not believe that their allies would condone such an act. Neither could Feyedor Druslov, who was at that moment in session with the Ekklesia - as Strategos for Foreign Affairs, it was to him that Foreign Intelligence answered and to him that the Ekklesia was looking for advice.

Strategos Heinrich Behr, elected the previous June for a years term as general was in charge of the Mediterranean Fleet and he was violently opposed to Druslov's seemingly weak approach to the situation. The Mediterranean Fleet was being mobilised and the Aegis / ABM RyeCatcher Space Program had gone active within seven minutes of the attack. The Pericles, the Mytilene and the Lenin Carrier Air Groups, already on their way to port on the island of Delos in the Aegean were ordered to take up station around the island of Salamis - no other ships were getting near the Federation fleet.

In newsrooms and darker, distinctly more secretive rooms across the Federation, blame was being apportioned and a course of action was being decided upon.

As lightning crashed outside the Quercustan Defense Coalition, a storm brewed inside the building. The evidence was irrefutable a ship bearing explosives had definitely headed to FES waters from Quercustan and been detonated. What was also known to those in the WarRoom was that the launch did not come from any sanctioned organization in Quercustan.

General Albert Flores stood in front of the multiple screens staring at the multiple images of carnage in the Athenian port and the ensuing mobilization of the FESN. As the General watched the screens he barely turned his eyes to his assitant, a younger woman wearing the uniform of a Commodore in the Quercustani Navy.

"Give the order to mobilize the Salicia and Carya battlegroups Alison. I hope we won't need them, but we better have them ready just in case".

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

OOC: I'll be away from a computer until Thursday 10/30, so I won't be able to respond until then.

**********************************************************
DIGITAL ALERT MESSAGE SYSTEM (DAMS)
FROM: FEDERATION OF EUROSOVIETS
TO: ALL MEMBERS OF THE ALLIANCE (Foreign Ministry Section)
STATUS: PRIORITY ONE

All members of the A.S.E. invited to attend emergency plenary session on Faroe Islands. stop. Attendance is urgently required. stop. Discussion regarding breach of constitution. stop. Act of war. stop. Helicopters dispatched to capitals of all member nations. stop. Proxenai/plenipotentiaries requested to attend. stop.
F.K. Druslov. stop.
**********************************************************

Kamlio paced the room since Celeste had been gone and Teani had been dealing with internal issues it was up to her to deal with this matter.

Beads of perspiration dripped freely from her brow as she went to the window and propped it open , The weather was freezing but something had happened to the boiler and it was so damn hot that she could barely breath . A gust of icy wind blew through and immeadiatly chilled her .

The boat that had been carrying the explosives needed to be recovered to gain hopefully some clue to its intended purpose .

Moving to the informational dossier that was on her desk she rifled through it her brow furrowed in thought . It would seem that though this was a major event that her people had been dilegent in keeping it underwraps and a "minor" incident for it did not do well to alarm the populace.

That would be another one of her jobs ...not only to find out what this all ment but to keep her people from panicking should it be leaked .

She called for her sectarty to get the governmental heads of Quercustan and United Soviet Ireland on a conferenace call. She had many quesitons .

Sitting down in her leather chair she braced herself for a long night .

"You will find Druslov and execute him then proceed to the second part of the plan. Do you need further clarification of your orders Lieutenant?" snapped Samson Greer, head of Directorate X of the NeoCon Intelligence Servies.

"I will do as you order sir." The second figure vanished through the sliding doors into the outer office and was gone.

The pieces on Greer's chessboard were moving into place nicely.

Turning back to the electronic sit-rep on the purpose built screen inset to the table in the middle of the darkened room, he noted with satisfaction that the elite of the NeoCon army was nearing it's jump off point. The 500,000 highly trained crack troops would annihilate the opposition, catching them totally by surprise in a move tried only once and unsuccessfully by a foreign power.

He looked at the wall chart displaying the division of manpower across the army. Of the whole army, three hundred thousand were combat veterans, trained in secret locations across the ANC. Fifty thousand were labelled 'transport divisions,' in charge of relaying the combat troops to their jump off point, which was very highly classified - in fact if the plan was working, only two people in the world knew where it was, the troops having been left in the dark. The remaining hundred and fifty thousand troops were crack armoured and artillery divisions, armed with M1A1 Abrahms tanks and with MRLS upgraded 'Katyushas.'

He reflected to himself, 48 hours and the ANC would become one of the most reknowned nations on Earth. The fall of a major world power by a nation so recently carved out of existing territory deep in the heart of the North American landmass.

Several high level assassinations were about to complete the maskirovka that Greer and the Lord High Chancellor of the ANC had devised to shield them. The plan was so foolproof that the entirety of the Allied States of EuroIslanders would beg for the friendship of his nation once he had completed his still very shadowy goal...

10-27-03
Official Government Notice-PRIVATE
To All ASE Member Nations

- The new government of Jennivier has been founded. Jennivier is now the People's Republic of Jennivier. We have instated our new flag and plan on changing to an allied currency in the near future. It should be known that Jennivier's reluctance to participate in recent foreign affairs is directly related to the change in government.
- Jennivier is currently undergoing drastic changes in foreign policy, government management, and trade. We will take a greater stance from now on in the world. Jennivier has already announced plans to move on to the North Pacific where we have begun to intiate many new government motives.
- Jennivier pledges support to its alliance members and allies. We are, however, reluctant to do anything more then moraly support you. Jennivier finds that it is time that we place ourself first. We must strive for perfection in our homeland before we can seek perfection in our allies. Knowing this ALL economic aid is and has been cutoff to allies, member nations, and secondary allies. This shall include, but is not limited to, The Redavic Union, Acasia, FES, and Chesznia.
- We apologize for the hastey actions we have taken. Jennivier shall continue sparce economic aids to nations in dyer need, we are not rude in our actions. We shall continue to manage the posistion with the FES, and if deemed necessary will join in. Jennivier pledges its help and aid in the future, but pledges nothing now.
- We look forward to a better world, and mainly a better Jennivier. This government spells the best for democracy, foreign policy, and unity. May God himself bless our alliance and Jennivier.

-END-

Vladimir rolled over and looked at the clock. "Three in the morning? What the hell is going on?" he said as he reached for the phone.
"Vlad, I need you down here right away." It was the premier. This must be serious, as the premier almost never makes phone calls himself.
Vlad got out of bed and put on his clothes from the night before. They were a bit wrinkled, but that didn't matter now. He flicked on the coffee pot as he looked for his tie.

When he arrived at the Capitol building, there were people all over the place.
"Pravda? Over here, the premier needs to see you," said a security guard. He led Vladimir to a small room in the back of the building, certainly the last place anyone would look for the premier of the USST.
"Comrade, what's going on here?" Vlad asked.
"Well, there's been an attack. A cruiser in the FES fleet was sunk yesterday morning. We got the communique about 12 hours ago, and have been strategizing since. I need you to go to the FES, the Faroe Islands, and talk with Druslov. Your copter will leave in 6 hours. Sasha will be accompanying you, briefing you during the flight. Now go home and get ready."
"Do we have any idea who did it?"
"Not yet, Vlad. It will come, I'm sure. Now go. 6 hours."
"Yes, sir." The world suddenly seems a lot smaller, Vlad thought.

Druslov clicked off the VDU on the wall screen of his office. Celeste, while she had been stilted and distant recently because of a personal argument spilled into the political arena, was still the loyal ally she had ever been. It was with she he had been speaking.

Kamlio was being despatched from Krinon and he was pleased. He was well advised of the competence of that woman.

Stalking out of his office, treading the royal-blue carpet underfoot, he made his way to the main doors of the single storey, low slung classical Greek-designed building. The black jumpsuited, MP5 toting guard nodded curtly and continued to stare into space.
Donning his knee length black woollen coat, he picked up his briefcase and stepped outside into the biting winter wind of the Aegean sea. The helicopter sitting on the platform outside the well lit Regional Fleet Command Centre was to take him from Delos to the Faroe Islands, in neutral territory where the Alliance Assembly would be meeting to discuss this incident and any legislative or military action that was to be taken.

Seated he pulled his seemingly ever-smaller laptop from his briefcase and opened on his knee before the helicopter climbed and banked steeply, turning North East, the wind at it's back. Thinking things over, staring at the screen of the laptop without switching it on, Druslov fell asleep.