NationStates Jolt Archive

Martin was at his desk, shuffling around some random papers, when in walked Gansarek.

"Sir, we've just recieved reports from the Cartographic Council that a nation by the name of Aelosia has claimed the ocean beyond our northern border."

Martin didn't even look up. "No problem. Just refuse to recognize the claim."

"Ah, sir, that won't work if everyone else does recognize the claim. m'Lord, if they find out what we've got up there, it could be very bad. Very bad indeed."

Martin looked up. "Well, if we go after them about it, everyone is going to think that we're land-hungry warmongers. We'd be as bad as the Menelmacari in international eyes. Ah... unless we invoke our development claim, and evict them until such time as they pay a suitable price."

"First off, m'Lord, most people don't think that the Menelmacari are evil, at least not publicly."

"Well, heck! We don't make that public either!"

"Yes, well, something must be done. And second, if we invoke our development claim, we would have to prove some sort of development had been done, which would likely end up revealing the facilities. And people might not take kindly to us evicting a non-hostile state.

"Oh? And whaddaya propose we do about it?"

"I'm not sure. But I am sure of one thing. We'll have to contact them in secret."

Within the hour, an invitation to Flagstaff was sent off to the appropriate Aelosian authorities.

The Dux Admiral Atheril D'nan received the communicate through the holo screen in the bridge of the Fhianna Rethol, the Flagship of the Second Aelosian Fleet, sending a response.

"I'm the current leader of the new Aelosian establisment in Mars, I'm wondering if our new claim of the unhabited ocean next to your territory is involved in your message. I suggest that we make a meeting in a neutral territory. I suggest the Wazzu Elysium or Tor Yvresse Mars as suitable places".

Within the hour, an invitation to Flagstaff was sent off to the appropriate Aelosian authorities.

"Flagstaff"? Thats my home town!

The Dux Admiral Atheril D'nan received the communicate through the holo screen in the bridge of the Fhianna Rethol, the Flagship of the Second Aelosian Fleet, sending a response.

"I'm the current leader of the new Aelosian establisment in Mars, I'm wondering if our new claim of the unhabited ocean next to your territory is involved in your message. I suggest that we make a meeting in a neutral territory. I suggest the Wazzu Elysium or Tor Yvresse Mars as suitable places".

An image of a middle-aged man in black vest and beaverskin hat, plus feather, appeared on the screen.

"Ah, greetings. My name is Lord Martin Royen. Incidentally, yes, that particular territory is involved. It's not quite as uninhabited as most people seem to think. If neutral ground is required, Wazzu Elysium would seem to be a good place, assuming that they will agree to host us. Otherwise, there is always the Sunset Centennial Dome."

"Flagstaff"? Thats my home town!
OOC: No relation to the city on Earth. It's an acronym. Federation for Law And Government Staff offices.

"Perfect. We will send a petition to the Wazzu authorities. I hope this matter can be solved without much trouble".

An answer to the petition came back suprisingly quickly.

Wazzu would be honored to hold diplomatic talks between our friendly Martian neibors. May I suggest something along the ocean of Elysium's Southern territory? The sunsets are simply amazing from there and the diplomatic facilities well developed.

I'll make arrangements for the appropriate number of atendees as soon as you decide on a location.

~Dr. James Messer, Wazzu Minister of Diplomacy

(OOC: Some entirely out-of-character background on the situation can be found here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2071644). Am wondering- should I wait for Aelosia to relay Wazzu's message, or assume that it was sent to both of us?)

OOC: I think we can assume that both of us have the information.

IC:

"I'll attend, just with a pair of guards. Our intentions are clear. We aren't looking for hostile actions. All we need is a place to refit and refuel our ships in Mars".

Dux Admiral Atheril D'nan
http://perso.club-internet.fr/fjy/alberic.JPG

"Location is not especially significant. Your suggestion will be fine. Either myself or Mistress Calypso will attend, based on internal needs. In any case, only minimal accomodations will be necessary."

-Lord Martin Royen

"Of course. I will arrive to the Elysium tomorrow. I'm not a politician, but I will bring a counselor with me, one of those Paelisi courtiers".

(Moving right along....)

A small paddle-wheel driven ship launched from the Flagstaff docks. Though the exterior was retrostyle, the internal working were quite up-to-date, and the E.N.V. Jeany Deans moved along at quite a good clip towards the place of the meeting.

http://members.cox.net/sincityraiders/images/Jesse%20C.%20Wood%20(Sunset).jpg

Dr. James Messer stood waiting for the diplomats at an aeroseaspace port along the Northern coast of Southern Wazzu Elysium.

OOC: Yup, still here.

The Aelosian dropship arrived right on time. It was a military vessel, but all the weaponry of the ship had been dismounted to resemble a civilian transport. Once the dropship landed, the door opened and the Aelosian Admiral, an ancient Sindarin elf clad in a ceremonial Golvarnpower armor stepped out, quickly followed by a pair of attendants, a young elven maiden dressed with a exquisite blue dress adorned with sapphires and another woman in a military uniform. A pair of ShadowDragon Combat Droids flanked them, the red eyes of the technological contructs watching the surroundings.

"Beautiful place. It makes me remember the Paelisi Palaces. I hope that someday we could construct something like this in our Mars colony", said the Admiral, admiring the sunset.

"It's not like home", answered the maiden "but it's delicate, and beautiful. Mars is more amazing than I thought".

The sound of churning water filled the air as the Jeany Deans approached. After pulling up to stop at the dock, a long plank lowered from the side of the deck. A young woman disembarked, clad in a loose white dress with a golden rope belt, and a bronze mail headdress lined with blue sapphires, and a single emerald dangling in the center of her forehead. Tiny air tubes snaked from her nose and mouth around the side of her neck and into a cleverly concealed air filter.

Accompanying the woman was a tall man in khaki waterminer uniform, who followed a few steps behind. He carried with him a thin black briefcase.

The pair quickly approached the most important looking person in the area.

"Ik tepekatec sat Serikats? I didn't think so. English, then. I am Mistress Calypso Royen. Where might I find the Aelosian delegation?"

"Ahh, Mistress Royen. I am Dr. James Messier." the elderly gentleman bowed slightly. "I have just been informed that the Aelosian delegation has landed. There is a vehicle awaiting our transport. This way, if you would." he finished, gesturing to the right.

------

Calypso and her Khaki escort were not taken to to the Aelosian landing place, but instead to a centeralized meeting place...a tower near the port with a glass dome, the place of the first MIDAS-II talks. A medium sized glass-topped table filled the middle of the room, but it was the outside view that was spectacular. The ocean spread North, with a large bay to the West. Lights around the bay reflected of the pristine waters as the sun dipped behind the distant horizon.

To the south, small but amazingly bright plantlife was taking root in the tough Martian soil. Wazzu may be polluted, but Wazzu Elysium was making good efforts to terraform its own properties on Mars. The warmer, wetter, higher-pressure atmosphere so near the equator and sea helped that process along. Unfortionately though, flowers were no where to be seen. With the atmosphere unable to support pollonating insects, flowering plants had no means to naturally reproduce.

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

Elsewhere in the port, the Aelosians were experiancing some troubles. A quite tiny man, barely five feet tall, was looking up upon the tall (and in one case, power-armor protected man) and insisting this would not do....

"I am sorry Admiral, but no weapons are allowed in the observation chamber, that includes your power suit. And as the Eniqciri have arrived with only a single unarmed escort, diplomacy would demand a like gesture of trust...."

"I can´t take off my suit, it's the symbol of my status as an admiral. But you can keep the power cell, that should disable all the weaponry and the shields of the armor, Is that ok to you?, I don't mean to be rude, but this armor is very important to me", says the Admiral in a grave tone, pulling out the battery from his armor and handling it to the little man.

The little man strained under the burden, not from lack of muscle, but from lack of mass. Instead of putting it down or handing it off, he handed it back to his guest.

"Admiral, I really do appologize, but the power suit can not be permitted. We can not guarentee safety if you wear it, so we can not permit you in the room with it. I assure you that none here will respect you less for the lack of it...rather respect you for showing trust I would imagine.

"I'm certain the Eniqciri delegation will also be understanding and respect you for your position rather then your armor."

"Ahh, Mistress Royen. I am Dr. James Messier." the elderly gentleman bowed slightly. "I have just been informed that the Aelosian delegation has landed. There is a vehicle awaiting our transport. This way, if you would." he finished, gesturing to the right.

------

Calypso and her Khaki escort were not taken to to the Aelosian landing place, but instead to a centeralized meeting place...a tower near the port with a glass dome, the place of the first MIDAS-II talks. A medium sized glass-topped table filled the middle of the room, but it was the outside view that was spectacular. The ocean spread North, with a large bay to the West. Lights around the bay reflected of the pristine waters as the sun dipped behind the distant horizon.

"I see you have quite a few plants here. A very nice view. The architecture is much more impressive than at home, as well. But I suppose that's what comes of living entirely below ground." Calypso and her escort took their seats at the table. "Before the Aelosians arrive, I would like to clarify a few things, Dr. Messier. The issues at hand are rather sensitive. We won't mind you, or any other Wazzu representative being present, given our countries' good relations, but I must insist than none of the information presented is passed on outside the walls of this room."

OOC: Ahem, I think that my use of the expression "power armor", or "power suit", was excessive, and not well understood. An Aelosian power armor is not a huge mech kind of thing, it's just an armor in the most traditional way, but powered by technology, also is the standard uniform of the Aelosian navy. Think of it as the Darth Vader suit or something like that, nothing more, nothing less. Under it, the Admiral has just his underwear, that's why he's finding difficult to just take it off.

http://www.saint-seiya.com/art/images/small-Alberich-classic-pose.gif
Admiral Atheril D'nan, (with his Power armor on)

(*bump* Someone have a way to get the Admiral into the conference room?)

"Well, I will change my clothes, then. No problem, I will arrive to the conference room as soon as I can", said the Admiral, visibly angry.

Soon after he came back, dressed in a civilian garment, a delicate and well cut blue suit. "Please, take me to the place where the Eniqcir delegate is waiting for me, I have lost enough time already, and my country is currently at war, I have no time to waste".

(Attempting to move this along...)

When the Admiral entered the room at last, Calypso and her escort stood, and she reached her hand across the table.

"Greetings. I am Mistress Calypso Royen of the Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei."

OOC: Errr, uhhh, sorry. Limited posting time yesterday. Consider Dr. James Messer (and Dr. James Messer ONLY) in the room and that he understands all information is to be kept completely confidential. He is there as a mediator only. I guess we can continue.

The Admiral nodded, making a delicate bow, usually an honor bestowed only to another elves.

"Greeting, my lady, I'm pleased to meet you. Can we get directly to the point?. I don't want to be rude, but I have another business to attend, as important as this one. Why your goverment don't agree with the Aelosian ocupation of the ocean just north of your territory?", said the Admiral in a calmed voice, looking Calypso to the eyes.

The Admiral nodded, making a delicate bow, usually an honor bestowed only to another elves.

"Greeting, my lady, I'm pleased to meet you. Can we get directly to the point?. I don't want to be rude, but I have another business to attend, as important as this one. Why your goverment don't agree with the Aelosian ocupation of the ocean just north of your territory?", said the Admiral in a calmed voice, looking Calypso to the eyes.

Calypso returned the bow in something reminiscent of a Japanese fasion, and once more took her seat.

"Perfectly understandable, we're spreading things rather thinly ourselves." She snapped her fingers at the escort, who put his breifcase up on the table and opened it, removing several sheets of paper.

"Presumably, you are aware of our intentions to develop uninhabited regions of Mars for later sale. That section of Vastitas Borealis was included in the list of areas up for development. Now, we really can't charge you any money to live there, as from an outside perspective we haven't done any development there yet. In reality, putting that section on the list was just to get people to ask us before going through. This first page is a map of the old Northern Aquaduct Network. As you can see, a pipline runs right through the middle of the territory on the seabed. The blue dots are docking stations, where waterminers used to dump their loads into the network. Everybody else believes these to be abandoned, but we decided to put them to use. Now at those locations are what we call Nuclear Wells."

Claypso took a deep breath, and reached for another page, with some sort of technical diagram.

"The bunker section is simply the old docking station. The large dome off to the side houses deep drilling equipment. The three towers around the dome generate electricity from the heat coming our of the drillshaft. The source of that heat is radioactive decay. Each well is designed to heat Mars's lower mantle and upper core beneath it, via dropping nuclear devices and raw radioactive material down the drillshafts. The purpose of this is to eventually kickstart a global magnetic field, and vulcanological cycles."

"Essentially, you're sitting on top of several hundred gigatons worth of bombs, and the biggest security risk we've ever known. If anything were to happen to those installations, the effects would global and disastrous."

The Admiral's expression changed, now showing a more grim attitude "So, you humans made the mistake of using radioactive energy again. Well, Are those facilities lying deep in the floor of the ocean?. The risk of placing an underwater colony in that area is too big. In that you're right".

He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing "Curious, that energy didn't showed up in our thermal analysis of the zone, you hide it very well. Now let me show you something", he said, calling his attendant and turning on a holoscreen, showing a map of the solar system. Venus was marked with an blue elven rune, Neptune with another one. "When our people decided to live in a Craftworld and race the stars, we used the planet Venus and Neptune as our principal colony sites. Two groups, two separate foundations, settled down in the two planets that we though as the right ones to colonize. Venus and Neptune, living isolated from each other for a long time. But now that our Empire is growing again and finally we have the chance to create a trading route between the two groups, we're facing the problem of the huge distance between the two foundations". A green line appeared on the screen, showing the route from Neptune to Venus. "We need to build another colony here in Mars, to use it as a base for refueling, rest and refitting of the merchants and military vessels that use and patrol that route. In that my goverment was very clear. Build a colony in Mars, at any cost". Another elven rune appeared over Mars, this one red, contrasting with the bright blue of the other two runes.

The Admiral relaxed a little after that, then he continued "That's our problem, and this place looked like the perfect one for hosting the solution. We can use the surface of the ocean if you want to, without touching the facilities that lie in the bottom, but even with the risk of sitting in a huge radioactive deposit, we will not withdraw from here. This colony was bought with the blood of hundreds of my soldiers who died in the orbit of this planet, battling the Imperious of Man, trying to carve a place in Mars for their children".

"Believe you me, we would use another source if we could, but nuclear energy is cheap and efficient, and the only way we had on releasing heat over time. If a better method is found, we will use it."

"We are willing to allow you the use of the surface, as long as there is guarantee of no accidents that could damage the ocean floor, but I have a few other suggestions. If you must have a maritime colony, we are willing to foot the expense of transplanting your colony to another section of Oceanus Borealis. Otherwise, we can provide land already with basic infrastructure in place in Terra Sirenum or Noachis. It has not been done yet, but we were considering developing the unclaimed shoreline of Mare Hellas, if that is a suitable location. In fact, almost anyplace would be far better. Er... except for Lowell crater. We had a bit of an incident there with some offworlders, and we're as yet unsure if they left any undiscovered surprises."

"Well, the exact emplacement of our colony on the surface doesn't matter at all. As a matter of fact, we would prefer to emplace our colony in the shoreline. If you can help us to reclaim that part of the shoreline, next to Mare Hellas, we will move there and leave that part of the Oceanus Borealis untouched. We can even help you to develop a cleaner and cheaper form of energy, something like the solar sails that we are use in our colonies now. We can teach you how to build efficient and powerful solar cells to replace those radioactive and dangerous wells. Maybe today we could start a friendship between our peoples", said the Admiral.

Calypso did her best, but failed, to hide a sigh of relief.

"All is well, then. We seem to have met at just the right time, as that's the only shoreline left. We can make the arrangements to officially transfer control of the land to your government immediately. Just a few minor points left. Concerning energy, I am unclear on how those methods could be used to transfer heat inside the planet. Concerning the lad, though, there had been scheduled a new section of Aquaduct to run through Promethei and into the basin in that area, but seeing as you effectively own the land now, short of a signature, is that still acceptable? Of course, you would have access to the pipeline. I suppose you would also like to see our watershed proposals for the area, generally take control of the landscaping in the region. Of course, if you would like to bring this meeting to a conclusion, these details can be worked out at a later date."

"Our forces will withdraw from the area, as you know for sure, we still don't have civilian population here in Mars, we're just occupying the territory with military personnel until everything is ready to build the colony. We should sign our arrangement, so we can move on, the details can be arranged later", said the Admiral, beginning to feel strange about the treaty.

The escort had removed a sheet of heavy paper from the suitcase, and proceeded to write on it. When he finished, he slid it over to the Admiral.
I, __________, of _________, witness that House Royen, of the Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei, hereby cedes all claim to the Mare Hellas Promethei Coast Territory to The Holy Empire of Aelosia, for the amount of zero atas, or zero argentums, under the following conditions:
*Withdrawal of Aelosian presence from Vastitas Borealis.

"Dr. Messer, it seems you would be in a good situation to witness the deed. Then we can both sign, and be on our ways."

"So be it", said the Admiral, smiling as he read the paper. He clicks his fingers and his attendant pulls out a little machine. She start to write on it, then extending the finished document to the Admiral.

"I, Dux Admiral Atheril D'nan, Head of the Great house of D'nan and Prince of the Aelosian properties in Mars, with the authority given to me by the ShadowPrince and the Imperial Chancellor, promise to withdraw all aelosian population, forces and properties from the Vastitas Borealis territory, in exchange for the establishment of a colony in the Mare Hellas Promethei Coast Territory, currently held by the Empire of Eniqcir".

The Admiral pulled out his ring and signed the document with the noble sign on it.

OOC: Just to confirm here - is the colony moving to the slip of land on the Hellas Basin shoreline?

I keep creating more work for myself by not verifying the location - but I'm getting what I deserve.

OOC: Thou art correct. When I have time (probably tommorrow) I'll draw up proposed Eastern borders.

OOC: Thanks, I'll wait until someone shows me the new map.

You Like? (http://timesurfer.linuxcowboy.net/aelosia.gif)

*bump*

"Lovely place, I could do nothing but agree with you", said the Admiral, smiling at the Eniqcir delegate.

OOC: Should be up.