NationStates Jolt Archive

"The nation of Sunset has one particular desire from any accord, and will only sign one if that is met. National sovereignty must be reinforced and assured whenever possible. At first this seems at odds with the goals of an arbitration accord, but in the end the body will decide who has violated who's sovereignty first.

This instead of soldiers and ships - the loss of each costs us something whether emotional or physical. What is it to us to give up a small amount of hubris to reduce and hopefully eliminate these costs?"

The honorable Chairman Renar, elected representative of the people of Kajal Mars, took the podium as soon as was politely possible. National Soveriegnty was a large issue for Kajal Mars, as their "big brother" (Kajal) had begun moving in troops to "stabilize" the region.

Or, in other words, initiate guerilla warfare in the streets of Kave muajal Mars against the Separatist Movement.

"My fellow delegates... I come here to say what I must, knowing full well that I may not be able to go home after I say it. Kajal Mars agrees fully with the fact that National Soveriegnty must be reinforced, however, we are faced with a difficult situation. At this time, the people of Kajal Mars are being terrorized by Kajalan troops from Kajal Prime, who have overzealously sent them in to "stabilize" our nation, which they continue to refer to as nothing more then a "small colony.""

At this moment, it could be plainly seen that the delegation that had travelled all the way from Kajal Prime was furious. The good chairman would likely find it difficult to leave the Accords unless he was successful.

"We must acknowledge the independance of martian nations, EVEN IF they are still recognized by their creators as nothing more then resources to be exploited, or tourist traps! It was us, not them, who built the domes so that our children would have a place to live! It was us who began producing our own goods so we would not have to rely on others!

And it is us, who die in the streets... To protect that which we hold dear.

We must stop the bloodshed! Civil war will accomplish nothing more then spilling more martian blood on soil that belongs to every being on this planet, not an extra-solar Empire!"

The secret servicemen from Kajal Prime began moving towards the podium.

"We must act now, to safeguard our future."

Chairman Renar from Kajal Mars was dragged off the podium by the secret servicemen from Kajal Prime, in the interests of "National Security." He would be tried for Treason against the Imperium of Kajal at the end of the accords, barring any outside intervention.

The Kajalan Destroyer Wudin was holding orbit over Mangala until the accords were to end.

OOC: The majority of Kajal Mar's population is Kitaran, (ie, Nekos). There are smaller numbers of other non-human species, such as Eldar and a few Terrans. The Kitarans hold the majority in the Ruling Council.
President saQaaolchoura stared in shock.

The seperatist movement in Qaaolchouraav Mars was a tiny minority, and yet, this hothead was calling for the immedite dissolution of Qaaolchoura!

Yet even, worse, Kajal had just made a Martyr of him.

Knowing the way that these things worked, Kajal Mars would erupt in resolution, which would spread right across into Qaaolchoura, with which it shared a long border.

Qaaolchouraav Mars would erupt, if quick diplomacy was not accomplished, Qaaolchouraav forces would be needed. If Qaaolchoura was forced to resort to violence, it would spread into her (used as generic term for nations, saQaaolchoura is male) neighbors, the Kajalan conflict would spread into Qaaolchoura's other neighbors, and any peace between MIDAS and Vascillia, would be ofset by the bloodbath along the eaquator.

If he made a move to support Kajal Mars independence, Qaaolchoura would be forevever viewed as a nation of hypocrites, and the Kajalan Imperium would become Qaaolchoura's most bitter enemies.

If he made a move to support Kajal Prime, two scenarios, neither pleasant would arise. One would be that Qaaolchoura would be tied down in a bitter war against foreign Guerillas, the second would be that Kajal Mars would gain her indenpendence, Qaaolchoura would have an enemy right on the border, and Qaaolchoura would risk losing her Martian territories.

He did the only thing that he felt logical undre these conditions.

"Gentlemen, I understand that this is a touchy subject but perhaps an agreement could be reached.

"As you may well know, Qaaolchoura has territories on three planets and a moon of Jupiter coexisting peacefully together in a united democracy with great local autonomy. Surely Kajal and Kajal Mars could arrange something similar?

"Qaaolchoura would gladly act as a neutral meditator, and perhaps others would do the same. Not to pass judgement, but rather to aid you in resolving it peaceably between yourselves."

At the behest of Qaaolchoura and the rest of the nations present at the Mangalan Accords, we have agreed to a cease-fire for the time being, until negotiations can begin in earnest, by bringing the issue before the Martian Duma.

Hm. Qaaol has a bit of a problem, being right on their border, so I can see why their interested in helping. We did good in picking a nice stable section of the planet... but any revolution elsewhere could give the dissolutionists a chance to strike while the rest of Mars is distracted.

Audrey wrote out a quick message to send to the Qaaolchouran delegation.

Kasei has good reason to be interested in keeping Mars stable. Our situation is somewhat diferent from Kajal's, but we would like to assist both of you in any way we can.

***TRANSMISSION***
From:The Vascilian League of Mars.
To:The Imperium of Kajal.
Subject:Non-Biased Observers.

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


"The Vascilian League has had the current situation in Kajal Mars brought to our attention, we lack signifigant information to form an opinion, we would like to be able to form one in the future...We request that you allow Auman and several other Vascilian nations to post Non-Biased Military and Civilian observers in your colony and your armed forces. If we are barred from access then we will be forced to dispatch forces to Kajal Mars to make sure there is peace."

`General Ilritz

The nation of Pilon offers its services to Martian Kajal if they wish to fight for independance from their motherland.

Hm. Qaaol has a bit of a problem, being right on their border, so I can see why their interested in helping. We did good in picking a nice stable section of the planet... but any revolution elsewhere could give the dissolutionists a chance to strike while the rest of Mars is distracted.

Audrey wrote out a quick message to send to the Qaaolchouran delegation.

Kasei has good reason to be interested in keeping Mars stable. Our situation is somewhat diferent from Kajal's, but we would like to assist both of you in any way we can.
OOC: When you consider that your border with Kajal is about as long as mine, and not a maratime border either, I would think that you would have more to worry about.

IC: President saQaaolchoura examined the dispatch from Eniqcir.

It made sense to him that Eniqcir would have common stake in keeping Kajal stable.

Kasei's help would be greatly appreciated in keeping Kajal from civil war.

OOC: When you consider that your border with Kajal is about as long as mine, and not a maratime border either, I would think that you would have more to worry about.
OOC: It would seem that way... but that area isn't inhabited. A full-scale war could be going on there, and it wouldn't matter much to the inhabitants of Kasei. What Audrey is worried about is a war drawing everybody's attention to it, and allowing anti-governmental terrorists a chance to attack unnoticed. That's only IC, though, and will probably change. OOC, I do have a lot to worry about.

OOC:

I dont think its anyones interests to let a full scale war develop in Kajal, especially in the Martian Territories. I think we should send troops in to make sure that doesn't happen...get in between and then may'be negotiations will be unfettered by bloodshed. But hey...no one ever listens to Vascilia so I'll just assume your Northern capitalist mentality will keel you from interjecting in the conflict :x

***TRANSMISSION***
From: The Imperium of Kajal
To: Mars
Subject: Non-Biased Observers

"At this time, we have found that it is our best interests to allow the neutral observers to enter the colony, so that the situation can be evaluated accurately and objectively. We have been involved in guerilla warfare with the separatist movement in the confines of the larger domes, however, and the safety of your people cannot be absolutely guaranteed. We say this because we have no real idea if the ceasefire will be broken by the more radical separatist factions or not. However, negotiations may take a bit longer, as the main Separatist movement is... uncooperative."

OOC: Wazzu has not one, but two large boarders with Kajal Mars. It will of course attend as soon as it can dig up another diplomat (so much going on on Mars today!). Read: As soon as I can make up another character.

Until then, Wazzu is keeping quiet and quietly attempting to keep strict controls along the Northern boarder of Southern Wazzu Elysium. Why there specifically?

Look closely at the map. There is a river that leaves Sunset and hits the ocean in a huge gorge in Kajal Mars. Wazzu is very close to the edge of that gorge. This makes a very large/long natural trading area (though unfortionately, Kajal/Kajal Mars is not part of the MFTA). You could say it is one of the most developed areas of Wazzu Elysium.

Anyhow, I digress. Wazzu will get into this as soon as I get the time to create a character.

OOC: As soon as this incident is resolved, I think Kajal Mars is going to want to get onboard with the MFTA. ^_^

Upon receipt of the acceptance of Neutral Observers Admiral Filbeck - nominal head of the Republic in President Smytheson's absence - sends out the following to all concerned nations. At the top of the list is Auman, followed by Pilon.

As has been noted this is strictly an observation mission. We are treading dangerous ground here. Entering an urban situation with armed soldiers and a roused populace is potentially inflamitory. I would not suggest going unarmed, but I would suggest discrete behavior for all of us.

We should also coordinate our actions as much as possible. Sunset Marines will deploy to our borders and attempt to restrict access to the nation by opportunists and aggitators. I would suggest the other border nations do the same.

She then sent orders out to the Fleet and Marine divisions. The Fleet was ready as always and ships moved into position to provide extended sensor coverage. The Marine's activated, fresh from Valinon Sardaukar training, launched air patrols over the border and prepped their assault shuttles for travel into Martian Kajal. They would come in at the same time as Auman's troops to present a united face.

Glorious Lord Marduk responded to the message from Sunset very promptly, He had requested that 2,000 of his military observers use Sunset as a staging point for the push into Kajal Mars. That way both Sunset and Auman could move into the Disputed region simultaneously as a sign of Unity. "Good propaganda could be made of this...we could possibly get some photographs of the commanders shaking hands. Possibly sharing a drink?" he detailed in the message.

The Cooperation shown by Marduk showed that there was a definite change in the way Vascilia City had been run. A ruthless, but somewhat Liberal leader had taken control of the AF...

OOC:

The 2000 man force is an adequate number of observers...especially if accompanied by Sunsets Marine observers.

The Eniqciri Imperial Province of Kasei will dispatch an observer as soon as a suitable diplomat is made available. To account for the possibility of a violence, though we hope that possibility is low, a barracade will be set up behind the Kasei/Kajal land border.
-Lord Martin Royen, Steward of Kasei

The plan was agreed to - 2000 Marines would be ready to travel into Kajal with the Auman forces.

At an abandoned military facility at the northern most tip of the Kajal-Sunset border a unit was already setting up. They re-activated the old sensor system and pointed it towards Kajal. Ostensibly it was to provide forward intelligence - but it was also there to make sure it wasn't a trap. Auman had been both friend and enemy before - "Trust in Allah, but tie your camel."

A single shuttle with a mostly technical crew was on site - as soon as Auman's troops approached from orbit the Assault Shuttles and Phantom-III's of the SDF Marine division would come in at the same time as long as all looked right. Sensors on the fleet high overhead watched - intrusive, yes, but Auman would have done the same and they wouldn't have blamed them.

The shuttles screamed down from high altitude, landing at an impromptu landing strip a few kilometres from the staging point. They touched down and immediately began off loading equipment, transport trucks, armed and unarmed APC's and of course humanitarian aid. Within an hour the first convoy trundled off towards the abandoned equipment shed.

Colonel Ortega, a Norieganian by descent was in charge of the observation forces, was in the lead transport. When they arrived he ordered his troops to begin off loading equipment in the allocated spaces. Ortega was greeted by a Sunset military official, he shook hands with the fellow...'May'be these Sunset fella's aren't so different after all...' he thought. "Iam Colonel Ortega, and these are my men!" exclaimed the officer as he gestured towards the teams that were quickly and efficiently dealing with supplies.

OOC:

I reckon we spend a day or two setting up a supply base here, Auman observers will move in, by land to the southern portion of the nation while the Sunsetters move north. Though we should team our forces together...as a sign of unity or something.

"Major Hastings, good to meet you."

Hastings shook hands with Ortega. He was wearing the standard SDF uniform plus a re-breather mask for the atmosphere. He was a dense man - the 4 years of training under Valinon tutelage had driven any fat from his body.

"I've recieved word of the planned insertion from HQ - sounds like we will be restoring this base to functionality only to de-activate it again. My men should be arriving shortly..."

Silent as ghosts the shuttles came in. Seconds before they hit the ground the doors swung up and men prepared to hit the ground. They were wearing the uniform as well, though each also carried a suit of heavy body armor tucked into itself as well as their personal weapons. They headed for an open stretch of ground where an entrance to the underground barracks suddenly yawned.

"Going to be lonely - this base once held 10,000 people plus a pair of starships," Hastings said as he walked toward the entrance.

Colonel Ortega was impressed, he thought lowly of Sunsets ground forces before today. He thought them to be a rabble of poorly equipped citizen militia's. "Major, this is a fine place you have here. I wouldn't mind taking a look at some of your equipment if you dont mind? I think may'be if both of our forces got familiar with each others equipment we may be able to work more efficiently in the field."

"Certainly - though I must warn you. This isn't the regular equipment. You'll notice a lack of heavy weapons, except as mounted on the shuttles. I don't believe I can let you have a look there - the shuttles are the latest model. But feel free to look over the men's personal gear. It's not the greatest stuff yet. The Marines have only been in existance for 7 years now."

One thing that becomes apparent on examining the body armor - it's good stuff and could be improved, but it also contains a chemical augementation harness with controls on the left arm.

OOC: Juicer rigs.

Starting 2 kliks behind the Kasei/Kajal border, a series of fences was being set up, extending back another 2 kliks. A single zig-zggy corridor was left open, heavily guarded, through which rolled two large Rock Scorchers, headed to meet up with Sunset and Auman before taking up position back at the border. Aboard were the promised diplomat and 20 Hoplites.

The Martian and Europan leaderships in Qaaolchoura have agreed to allow a small number of observers (OOC: what is an acceptable number? IC: ) to enter Kajal Mars to observe, but I would advise caution, as about a dozen of them are from the radical minority fringe group "United Front For The Liberation and Unification of Opperessed Martian Peoples" (Strictly off the record of course, don't want a political opponent usng that against me)

OOC:

Ahhh...Juicer Rigs, gotcha. A rifts player too. Noriegania uses almost exclusively Coalition gear. Aumans Armour resembles modern body armour, though made of high tech and highly resistant materials. Their Rifles are Hyper Velocity, rail assissted, Gel Charged projectiles...so they are like modern Rifles, but with a lot more kick. The Power armour of the previous regime is around, but in fewer numbers as the facilities required to produce it have been destroyed.

The Vehicles are 10 wheeled, turretted and non-turretted APC's, some are equipped with 120 mm hyper velocity cannons and others with Air Defence Laser Cannons, also there are 2 and a half ton troop transport trucks and Four wheeled light patrol trucks, similar to Range Rovers.. The Technology that Auman uses, though primitive to some nations is fitting with the AF/AU Doctrine "If it aint broke dont fix it."

Pilon: Sunset and I are sending in forces of 2000 each, it would be convenient if you did the same. That way we could cover more ground in our investigation.


IC:

"So Major, have you recieved your orders on what we are supposed to do in Kajal? because we have. Lord Marduk has made it clear, we are supposed to get into Kajal as soon as possible and conduct expansive investigations. Auman will be looking for signs of holocaust, including mass graves and what not. We will also be interviewing citizens, political leaders and military officials, on both sides to determine what the situation is." Colonel Ortega took a sip from a straw that had been affixed to his collar...a camel pack, filled with water is what replaced the venerable Canteen in Aumans armed forces. It was blazing hot inside the bunker and the air tasted like ozone, Ortega wondered if the air recyclers still worked. Looking somewhat unnerved in this unnatural evironment Ortega began to speak again. "It would be appreciated if you could share your orders with us."

Meanwhile, a representative from Kajal Mars arrived at the base, with what looked to be several data modules. He got out of a small skimmer, which promptly flew back off towards the colony, and walked the remaining distance to the compound. It was clearly visible that he was not wearing a mask of any kind - he was indeed breathing the atmosphere present.

"I am Colonel Liyo Denar, Kajal Mars Air Force. I was dispatched by the current government to supply you with any information you would require." He handed over a supply of data pads and modules.

"We have included fiscal data from last year in this report, outlining the GDPS and Budgets of both Kajal Mars and the Imperium. It is worth noting that the Imperium spans four planets, Kajal, Derivia, Solanna, and Ljusalfheim Secundus, and as such, has a great deal of resources at it's disposal."

The Imperium of Kajal - GDP Summary

Kajal Gross Domestic Product

Economy: Frightening
GDP: $24,379,018,474,422
National Budget: $12,254,713,582,795
Percentage of GDP Spent on Defense: 12.57%
Percentage of Budget Spent on Defense: 25%
Military Budget: $3,063,678,395,699

Solanna Gross Domestic Product
Economy: Strong
GDP: $8,743,892,934,776
National Budget: $1,390,793,093,691
Percentage of GDP Spent on Defense: 3.98%
Percentage of Budget Spent on Defense: 25%
Military Budget: $347,698,273,423
[Not accessible by Kajal - All funds used for internal affairs]

Derivia Gross Domestic Product

Economy: Frightening
GDP: $21,707,891,666,019
National Budget: $10,149,479,258,977
Percentage of GDP Spent on Defense: 11.69%
Percentage of Budget Spent on Defense: 25%
Military Budget: $2,537,369,814,744
[Not accessible by Kajal - All funds used for internal affairs]

Ljusalfheim Secundus Gross Domestic Product

Economy: All-Consuming
GDP: $18,441,509,845,758
National Budget: $6,554,180,490,372
Percentage of GDP Spent on Defense: 8.89%
Percentage of Budget Spent on Defense: 25%
Military Budget: $1,638,545,122,593
[Not accessible by Kajal - All funds used for internal affairs]

Total GDP: $73,272,312,920,975
Total National Budget: $30,349,166,425,835
Total Military Budget: $7,587,291,606,459
Total Accessible Funds:
National: $12,254,713,582,795
Military: $3,063,678,395,699



Kajal Mars Gross Domestic Product

Economy: Powerhouse
GDP: $11,071,856,754,910
National Budget: $3,747,657,455,233
Percentage of GDP Spent on Defense: 8.46%
Percentage of Budget Spent on Defense: 25%
Military Budget: $936,914,363,808

OOC: Derivia, Solanna, and Ljusalfheim are rather large puppets of mine. ^_^;;

Ortega saw Colonel Denar approach and hand the information off the one of the Majors aids, he stuck a hand out in greeting. "Hello, Im Colonel Ortega of the Auman Defence Forces. Im glad to meet you uh..." Ortega seemed puzzled, he didn't recognize the rank pins, if you could call them that, on his collar. Colonel Denar basically ignored Ortega and continued to detail the information on the the discs.

Some what offended Ortega crossed his arms and read the data intently. "My god...most of these colonies have defence budgets reaching the level of Auman, even the Old Anti-Funitist regime." Ortega knew that they could quite possibly getting in between a full scale war. Ortega took a look at his dataslate, a cruel realisation dawned upon him...They may not have enough ammunition.

Finally, the two Rock Scorchers rolled in. Each was painted bright green, with white lettering. Along the side of one was printed Aqkevya in roman and ilrekau letters, and on the other was Hserikeiet.

A man in the usual khaki waterminer uniform disembarked, and entered the compound to join the others.

"Greetings, Dala, Serikats, whatever language you speak here, English, Interlingua, yes? Forget my name, just call me Akwelevya for now,it's easier. Am I late, what did i miss? Oh, sorry, I'm from Kasei."

OOC: Just a note - you are welcome to puppets for flavor, but most of us don't acknowledge the use of any population, funds, or similar resources coming from puppets. Even 'colonies'. The reasons are many but they are all valid.

A long-ago Rifts player - I've still go the books but I haven't played in 3-4 years. The Juicer harness are refined versions - they can be turned on with about 1/2 hour of lead time before the effects kick in. They can also be turned off and flusher drugs remove damaged cells, etc. Obviously, considering our medical technology, we don't make them ourselves. The components are provided by others, though the body armor is ours.

IC:
Hastings took Ortege aside. "This of course is our first chance to interview a Kajal officer. Our orders are the same. One of the difficulties is that we will need to search the waters of Kajal. With many of their domes being underwater it is possible that miscreants have simply sent their victims to sleep with the algea as it were."

When the Eniqcir officer arrived Hastings gave him a hearty handshake. Nearly 200 of his men had been trained by Eniqcir ground force officers and he had a high respect for their training.

OOC:Yes, I haven't played Rifts for about that long either...may'be because after awhile you start losing track of the books.

IC:

Ortega was feeling left in the cold, the Major and the Eniqcirii's were exchanging old war stories and the Kajalan ignored him completely. This whole affair was Aumans idea...Ortega walked towards the Major and the newcomer and raised a meaty hand towards him. "Hello, Im Colonel Ortega of Auman, my nation initiated the Observation mission. Im glad to have you on board."

"Let's find someplace quiet to sit down," Hastings said to all three. "There are some proscribed fluids concealed in a drawer in the commander's officer. Perhaps we should dispose of them."

Hasting's led Ortega, Akwelevya, and Denar inside and rumaged around in the desk that was covered with dust. After a moment he produced a bottle of scotch. It was dusty, but sealed.

"Contraband - disgraceful," he said with a wink.

He then fished out four shot glasses and opened the bottle.

"You'll excuse me if I don't know who objects to spirits."

Pouring himself a shot he then looked at each before pouring their portion or handing them the glass as appropriate.

"A toast?"

He looked specifically at Ortega - since it was proposed by Auman it was only appropriate that Ortega word the toast.

"Ah, a toast...To New beginnings!" said Ortega, pounding back the drink. He slammed the shot glass back onto the table.

The nation of Pilon kept strangely quiet on the matter. They did not respond to any messages sent to them from Sunset or anyone else.

"Hello, Im Colonel Ortega of Auman, my nation initiated the Observation mission. Im glad to have you on board."
"Pleased to meet you. I suppose I'm glad to be here, too."

"You'll excuse me if I don't know who objects to spirits."

Pouring himself a shot he then looked at each before pouring their portion or handing them the glass as appropriate.

"Ah, none for me, thanks. I just never liked the idea of drinking antiseptic. Got anything supercarbonated?"

Colonel Denar downed the drink rather quickly, and let out a bit of a yip as he slammed the glass down on the table.

"It's been a while since I've last had scotch... We stopped importing it years ago, after a general census found that the population preferred Kajalan Vodka over it... Marketing. ^_^;;"

The colonel fished out another datapad, but instead set this one down in the middle of the table, and pressed a button. The projection came up abruptly, but it wasn't that shocking. It was a 3d map of Kajal Mars, showing all the settlements. The major ones resided in the primary domes, but there were secondary domes scattered all over the country. The network of turborail trains connecting the domes looked somewhat chaotic at first, but had been constructed based primarily upon which routes were the most heavily traveled. Past the coastline, underwater, there were four large primary domes, each surrounded by a number of smaller secondary ones. They were the cities of Ljusalfheim, Solanna, Enhasa, and the former Aesir research station, which had grown to be a large city that produced submersible craft, among other things. The colonel gestured towards the projection, and three of the largest domes flashed red briefly.

"Before the ceasefire was signed, the heaviest fighting was in these three cities. Enhasa, Solanna, and the capital, Kajal. Each city dates back to before Mars had oceans, and as such, the domes, while not by any means excessively large, had been enlarged through the use of these." The secondary domes around the three that had flashed red briefly flashed green. "However, it is extremely expensive to build additions in Enhasa and Solanna due to the fact that they are now underwater, and as a result..." The projection zoomed in on the Solannan dome, and began rotating. "The cities have not only expanded to the land available around them, but there are now buildings that have been built to hang from the dome above the city on the ground. These upper districts are signifgantly more affluent then the lower ones, and as a result, the local forces have pushed the separatists into the lower districts."

The projection turned it's attention to the lower districts of Solanna.

"As you can see, the lower city is far older then the upper, and in far worse condition. The recent fighting has only served to further degrade the condition of several buildings."

The projection displayed the buildings as they were now - Extremely old, and somewhat damaged. Many had large chunks or gashes in their sides, and some were on their sides, blocking entire roads.

"The main problem is that several of these buildings were this way before the fighting. The city simply does not have the option of bulldozing and rebuilding the wrecks, as it is underwater. You can imagine why it would be difficult to remove the rubble."

The map zoomed out, and back in on the capitol city, Kajal.

"As you can see, it is a completely different situation in the capitol. Several new buildings actually begin within the dome and rise above it. The fighting in Kajal, however, has been in the outer limits of the city, in the secondary domes."

Colonel Denar turned off the data pad.

"The terrain will be the same, in either case. We will simply have to be aware that most of the buildings in these areas could come down at any moment, and that several already have."

Colonel Ortega was taking many notes on terrain and other such variables. He began to speak his mind "I believe in future deployments, it would be best to place Auman troops in the less uh, "Priviledged" locations. My men are best suited to work in that sort of shattered city terrain...most of my men did during the Civil War. Sunsets troops would do best in the more affluent area's...diplomacy and all, I dont think my men would take well to these High Society types."

OOC:

Nice presentation Kajal...I really got a good idea of what were getting into now.

"I don't think we do, but I'll have one of the LT's see what he can find."

Hastings watched the presentation - taking notes as well. Colonel Ortega's suggestion was reasonable and suprisingly honest.

"Agreed. We really are not equipped with patrol vehicles - one of the things we will need to purchase - but in the higher areas we can secure civilian transport. Not as much risk of anti-armor weapons there."

Hastings hated to leave what he considered the heavy risk to the Auman troops as it wasn't really fair, but the Marines were only 8 years old at this point. They were still developing their full equipment roster.

OOC: Agreed - nice info.

"Agreed. We really are not equipped with patrol vehicles."


"Im sure we can second you some patrol vehicles and some drivers." Ortega could see the look on the Majors face, he knew what it was, he could feel it himself. Neither of them had been in a situation like this before...


OOC:

Im hoping for a war to break out between the Seperatists and the Loyalists...that would be fun as hell to role play. Getting caught in the middle. The mix of Combat and Politics would be amazing.

OOC:

Im hoping for a war to break out between the Seperatists and the Loyalists...that would be fun as hell to role play. Getting caught in the middle. The mix of Combat and Politics would be amazing.

OOC: I on the other hand an hoping for it to not happen, since Qaaolchouraav Mars is not really all that much larger tthan Kajal Mars, and stickking my hand in the middle of a war would be perhaps the least dangerous option, yet still quite costly.

A message is sent to Sunset concerning the situation in Kajal. It is short and simple.
We advise that Sunset pull out of Kajal as our information indicates an almost certain outbreak of hostilities soon and Pilon does not wish to see its allies involved in the war.

"I don't think we do, but I'll have one of the LT's see what he can find."
"Aye, aye, don't worry too much about it."

"Really, Kasei is mostly interested in simply securing the border, but it seems that the Hoplites would be suited to assist Auman troops in the inner city. I'd have to call in significantly more, but it shouldn't be a problem. Rubble removal could be a major problem, though, as well as possible damage to the domes. We wouldn't want the city flooded. We can't just khaki-goo it away, that would take far too long, but in the eventuality of further fighting, we can provide urban combat and search and rescue robots. Oh, and plenty of nonlethal weaponry. Patrol vehicles... I think we'll have to leave that up to you, Colonel Ortega. I can get some more converted Rock Scorchers, but they're better suited to slow mass transport. Entopters could do the job on land, but they wouldn't be much use in the dome cities."

OOC: I on the other hand an hoping for it to not happen, since Qaaolchouraav Mars is not really all that much larger tthan Kajal Mars, and stickking my hand in the middle of a war would be perhaps the least dangerous option, yet still quite costly.
OOC; And here I am, having the same reasons as you... but using them to argue for a war, precisely because it would be costly and likely destabilize my nation. I need a staging point for a civil war.

OOC: I'll edit this post when I get home, because I really want to do more then just say that the negotiation attempt will result in the Separatists breaking the ceasefire.

So, I'll have a nice post ready by tomorrow. But for now, the negotiations are going ahead.

And they will fail, resulting in a broken ceasefire. ^_^;;

OOC: I'll edit this post when I get home, because I really want to do more then just say that the negotiation attempt will result in the Separatists breaking the ceasefire.

So, I'll have a nice post ready by tomorrow. But for now, the negotiations are going ahead.

And they will fail, resulting in a broken ceasefire. ^_^;;

Excellent! see...civil war may destabilize your nations, but ut will make for some damn fun role play.

OOC: Some of us like it nice and peaceful. But I suppose we will be seeing some action and hopefully some active RP's.

"I think we should retire for the night, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow. It'll take another day and a half to get the reserve supplies stowed. Get ready to make way in about 2 days. Shall we convene tomorrow for another strategy session?" Ortega looked to the other commanders in the group, they seemed to ascent. "Right, then Im off to get some food. Then may'be I'll take a nap...See you tomorrow gentlemen."

OOC:

Well, we should be pretty much ready to head into Kajal. Though if the Kajalan Commander has any more info he'd like to share than we could reconvene "Tomorrow" or...well when ever some one decides to make a new setting.

Meanwhile...

"These terms are completely unacceptable! Do you expect us to simply give up all our rights and freedoms?! You're proposing that we become a... a PROTECTORATE!"

The martian sat down across from one of the Kajalans.

"Not at all.." the Kajalan began. "We simply propose that instead of cutting off all ties with Kajal, that you reconsider. As a protectorate you would have all the rights of a soveriegn nation, but with the added advantage of Kajal's military might protecting you from any hostile nations!"

"You ARE the Hostile Nation!" The martian spat back. "We reject your proposal. Perhaps, if you can THINK for yourselves and actually try to agree to some of our terms, WE'LL GET SOMEWHERE!!!"

The Kajal Mars group left the table, and left the building. The Kajal delegation did the same.

And then, something that neither party expected happened.

"Sir, I'm reading something coming in fast."

"Kajalan?"

"I can't tell sir... It matches most of the profile that we got for their new fighters, but it has no identifying marks, and isn't transmitting a transponder signal."

"Of course not! The bastards must have deployed it to try to take us out, claiming that it was another terrorist attack. Scramble fighters to intercept!"

Meanwhile, onboard the Kajalan Destroyer Wudin

"Sir, there's an unknown coming across Kajal Mars, and it's fast. It's headed towards our land base."

"Damned separatists... They must have bought it off their neighbors."

"Sir, I'm reading additional contacts forming up with the unknown. They're from Kajal Mars, sir."

"Scramble fighters. I want every one of those shot down!"

On the ground, the Kajal Mars launch bays had opened, sending squadrons of Valkyrie fighters into the air, and a small carrier dropped out of orbit, releasing squadrons of Aesir Attack Bombers. The two promptly set about destroying each other, and the unknown contact disappeared completely. The skirmish could be heard from the base where the peacekeeping forces were currently resting.

Colonel Denar sounded the alarm to wake them all up.

"Gentlemen, this is Colonel Denar. If you would please reconvene in the meeting room, there is an important matter to discuss. The ceasefire has ended."

Meanwhile, the fighting in the cities began anew. The separatists were continually being pushed further into the ghettos, but they had a large advantage.

They were on the ground.

Base charges had been set in several buildings in the upper districts during the ceasefire, as a sort of insurance. If everything had gone well, they would be disarmed and removed.

However, everything didn't go well, and six buildings were broken in half by the explosions in Solanna, the lower levels falling to the ground below, right on top of the reinforced positions of several Kajalan squadrons.

Kajal than began bombing runs on the major cities, dropping seismic charges on the Capitol.

The dome crumbled within minutes, exposing the actual city beneath to the open atmosphere. Kajalan Dropships could be seen descending towards the city once the dome that had blocked entry had been destroyed.

(OOC: So they're on the surface? Most are underground around here.)

Location: New ArAreBee Militrary HQ

"Those blinking lights, would be the calling to arms by our esteemed friends, the Trusts. They are a bit annoyed at the event in Kajal."

The briefer motioned to the wall.

"Your mission is to talk to the Kajal rebels, find out the type of government they will be building. You will sieze Trust owned buildings are protect our friend's employees. Further orders will be sent once you have achieved these objectives. Understood?"

Th briefer stared at the holoscreen.

"Deliver will be made by a military transporter, you will be inseted via tesserdoors. Now move out!"

Various garages opened as antigrav cars zoomed forth from their briths to their corresponding docks. Quickly and efficiently the suit were loaded on as the soldiers arrived.

¤The Tritarchic Dominions of New ArAreBee¤

Ortega awoke bleary eyed, a junior officer of his, Indiro had woken him up when the first reports came in. He was frantic in his explanation. "Calm down Indiro...whats the matter?" asked the Colonel, Indiro replied a little more calmly "The cease fire is broken, we've recieved word from Marduk that the Peace Keeping force has been doubled...uh, around 95,000 troops are going to be sent in after us." Ortega sighed dejectedly. "Please hand me the orders then Indiro." the Junior officer did as ordered. Ortega signed the orders and geared up. They were to force a beach head into Kajalan Territory and await the arrival of the "Peace keepers" though their orders were clear...'If both sides do not agree to our terms, take any measure necessary to make peace between both sides.' and with the deployment of Super Heavy Battle Tanks and other offensive weapons he knew exactly what Marduk had in mind.

------

Marduk had heard about the end of the Cease fire, the troubled him very much. " I will lead them myself!" he boasted, his assembled advisors sighed loudly. "Sir, that would not be wise...what if you get hurt?" said General Polosh. "And what if I do? General? Remember, Iam a leader of men...this is my responsibility, what was the first thing I taught you all?" all of them responded at once "Dont order some one to do something you, yourself are not willing to do." Marduk looked pleased, "You can understand then. General Ilritz, you will be left in charge in my absence. You understand my doctrine...please try and keep to it will you?" General Ilritz clicked his heels together sharply "I'll do my best Overlord."

Marduk shook the assembled staff's hands, and left the throne room.


-----

Marduks Radio man, a veteran of numerous campaigns had already gotten the Division mounted up and ready to go...it was a glorious sight, not seen since the days of the Anti-Funitist Regime. 45,000 men and women. "There will be more to come...95,000 men to save the people of Kajal from themselves."


OOC:

Sunset...Im sure you'll let me pass through your territory? The mission only has so many troops because they are fighting. If they weren't it would be a much smaller force. The mission for Aumans fighting men has changed. Make peace at any cost...ITS NOT A LAND GRAB!

"We need to find out who is in the right before we can attempt peace - otherwise it will be as temporary as the wind." Hastings said as he and his troops mounted up.

"Based on the comms traffic the problem started with an unknown craft. My men and I will search for it, and see what we can find. Until the majority of your troops arrive I would suggest moving towards the capital and it's outlying domes. Refugees will complicate this if we don't start now."

Phantom III's streaked away from the tarmac, followed by the assault shuttles loaded with Marines. Half would go towards the origin of the mystery signal and half would go towards the possible destination.

---

Edwin rubbed his temples - why did people always turn to bombs first?

He was in a meeting with Admiral Filbeck. A route had been established for the Auman forces to come through - though what they would do was another question. Who was in the right here?

OOC: A little background info if you will Kajal. Were there peaceful attempts to seperate from the home nation first, and what percentage of the population supported this? Stuff that would come up in a simple intelligence report.

Given the tension I feel it would be reasonable that we would be watching Kajal airspace for anything unusual. We might not find anything on the mystery contact though.

"Oh dear. I guess it's a good thing we named that Crawler 'Peacemaker' rather than 'Peacekeeper', then. For now, I'll send one Crawler out with the Sunset troops, one I'll take back to the border, and I'll see what else we can scrounge up. Given the urban combat going on, I'll see if I can get some search and rescue and recon robots delivered with a flight of Entopters."

(OOC: Hm. I was hoping to build up the tensions in Kasei first... but this works.)

" damage control what the hell is going on down there" a hectic voice boomed over the Vox system. the emergency lights in the Tannelorn R&D factory kayton hill lent an ominous glow to the scene. the massive gouts of water pouring in from a massive tear in the ceiling, a hole that reached over 500 metres through solid rock. already most of the testing bay was flooded with water from the ice caps, and 9 of the "living" Deus die nacht
units were submerged beneath water and rock...whomever had sabotaged this base had done their job exceedingly well.

"recover all functional Deus die nacht, we will need them immediately" a booming voice sounded over the hall, another voice responded "sir...one of them is missing, Designation Aegis sir" the large mans face went pale...it was the furthest along in testing, the most developed, and best educated...and its test pilot....was also missing.....

Ortega saluted the Sunsetter, may'be for the last time. "Good day to you sir." he stalked away, rifle in hand.

-------

"Indiro, get the men in the trucks. I expect to have the mission under way in an hour." "Yes sir, I've already given them the orders. The majority of the men should be in transports by now." responded Junior Officer Indiro.

--------

2000 men and women of the 1-22nd Auman Fighting Arms made haste to Kajal. 93,000 more soldiers were 6 hours away.

Two DarkSithian BattleCruisers and six Hover Carriers are patrolling the Tor Yvresse Mars border, just in case.

For now there is little concern about that Kajal confilct, but one never knows what those pesky Vascilians will do next...

Soon after the break down of the peacetalks a message is sent to Kajal from Pilon.
"We desire to discuss with you a few things concerning the situation in Kajal Mars, if a reasonable settlement cannot be made Pilon will enter into the struggle on the side of the colony."

In the dark hours of the early morning Ortega's patrol had arrived at the Capitol Dome of Kajal Mars, if you could still call it that. The atmosphere was almost hellish. The Crump of explosion and the zing of machine gun fire could be heard for miles outside the city. The roof had collapsed on itself and smoke was billowing from the gash it had left in the dome.

"This is Colonel Ortega, I want all combat vehicles to array themselves in offensive patterns. We may have to take the entrance...All infantry transports follow in behind carefully."

------

The lead tank in the convoy had made contact with a Kajalan unit, it was not friendly...it had ripped into the spearhead with Artillery fire and destroyed one of the 10 wheeled command APC's, now leaderless, Junior Officer Yindente ordered his company to silence them. 14 High Velocity cannons tore the enemy position to shreds...The Position was utterly destroyed, the cannons were gone. Though there was a serious Infantry force waiting for them inside the dome. "20-1...I like those odds!" shouted Yindente into the company radio band. His men sent back a loud cheer.

--------

The infantry transports were ambushed by enemy troops before they could even make it to the front gate, hidden in the sands waiting for forces like ours to penetrate the outer defences. Three transports were lost to heavy weapons ...61 men killed out right. Many others tried in vain to dismount on getting slaughtered by machine gun fire.

--------

Ortega couldn't believe it, he had walked into a classic ambush...They've pulled this off before back in the Civil War. "Damn it! Stop the Convoy now damn it!" Ortega's transport screeched to a halt on the stretch of highway. He and his command staff departed the vehicle quickly and immediately came under small arms fire, on of his men was hit in the leg and then the face, killing him. Ortega was pushed into a ditch that sidled the freeway and was saved. Two, no three of his men managed to make into the ditch beside him. They were the only ones left out of twenty. Ortega, frustrated and furious beat his fists against the ground, he calmed himself quickly and began formulating a plan. He looked around and realised that there were no enemies on this side of the ditch. "Tell the rest of the regiment to come to the Right side of the ditch...the right side damn it!" many of his men were confused as to where the exact position of the enemy was and were scattering to either side of the highway. This resulted in the the high casualties. "God damn it..." Ortega primed his rifle and chanced a peek across the highway.

OOC:

Ouch!

The screech of jet engines filled the air briefly, replaced by the sound of large objects falling. Several bombers had flown by over head, and within moments, the segment of highway where most of the Kajalan fire seemed to be originating from exploded, turning itself into a line of craters. Still, the fire continued, but the sheer amount had dimished somewhat. A loud voice boomed in the headsets of Ortega's convoy.

"This is Major Fanthyra Zeal, 42nd Mech Squadron, out of Vista Chasma. Need a little help?"

The bombers were circling around, and it became clearly visible that they were from the airbase at Vista Chasma, a city that was built into the walls of the Ganges Chasma. As a result, the Kajalan reconnasaince had not picked it up as anything other then a small scattered settlement.

It was not, of course, and it was essentially the Separatist Headquarters.

Meanwhile, it appeared that flying tanks belonging to the same military base had started to come up behind Ortega's convoy, before heading over it and into the city, unleashing hails of fire at what they could find. A few were destroyed by the Kajalan troops present, but the majority survived, before turning back towards the Kajalan trenches.

And they were quiet tanks. Easy to spot flying three meters above the ground, but quiet.

They began blasting the trenches, of course.

Akwelevya sat in a Crawler, going back and forth along the Kasei/Kajal border. This specific one had been converted into a sort of mobile command post. 30 Entopters were heading out towards the late Capital Dome, visible as blips on a digital map. Two green triangles representing Crawlers carrying Heploneiet- Hoplites -were also slowly making their way across the map.

-----------------
Martin set down the paper on which was printed news of the fighting.
"Weeelll.... that sucks. Border secured?"
"Two days ago."
"Good. Hopefully, this'll remain contained, but, just in case, I want tighter security around all of the Inferno installations, and essential travel only on the Maglev. Up the patrols for dissolutionists."
"I'll have it done yesterday, sir."
-----------------

Earthside, Lord Bhalcir sent of a telegram to Moiríartí.
Now is the time to strike.

Ortega responded to the Kajalan's quickly. "I think we can handle the rest of this..." Ortega made a quick hand motion, "Affix Bayonets!" the order was relayed, section by section all the way down the line. "Charge!" just under 2000 troopers rushed over the top of the ditch, chasing down the fleeing Kajalan skirmishers. Ortega shot two of them himself, "Kill them all! in the name of our fallen comrades!" tears ran down his face.

They made it to the other side of the highway and killed a good number of the enemy, "Sir, they've fallen back beyond our range! what should we do?" asked his radio operator. "Get the bombers in to finish them off and..." Ortega removed his helmet "What are you looking at?" said Ortega. "Sir...I think you should sit down!" Ortega's radio operator said, a look of true concern on his face. Ortega collapsed, dead from a gunshot wound he sustained during the storm assault.

--------

Total dead in the Auman deployment, 174. Including 11 officers. Junior Officer Indiro was left in charge of the Spearhead. Indiro was left with quite a problem. His mission was to force his way into the Capitol dome, but he lacked the firepower to do it. Let alone the Manpower. It had been reduced to sporadic exchanges of artillery. It would be another day until the main portion of the Peace Keeping forces would arrive...he would have to hold till then.

OOC:

Thank god for strategic bombers...

---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---

we will not negotiate since i am declaring war on you

...this is a peace keeping mission. But hey, Im pretty sure I can beat you. So, in short.

Good hunting!

---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---

we will not negotiate since i am declaring war on you

"In an unrelated story, three attack bombers completely destroyed the nation of Molested Pandas today with quick volleys from IGNORE weapons. We now return you to your regular programming."

At the Summit Edwin had asked that the representatives from Kajal, Kajal Mars, and Auman join him in a side room so as to not distract from the summit.

His first question was for the Kajal Mars representative.

"How much of your population supports independance?"

Giving him a moment to consider his answer, he turned to the Kajal representative.

"How much of the population do you think supports independance?"

The reason for asking both men the same question was obvious - split the two to determine reality.

"Sunset believes, and I believe, that sentients have the right to chose their own government and that they should not be forced to live under a government they do not agree with. If a large portion of the population wishes to form their own government I would suggest you let them. Let them find out how much fun it is to run a nation and provide services, worry about defense, and all the other joys that come from running their own government."

'Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.' Another one of Villanova's quotes sprung to mind.

"Before this gets out of hand and ends up costing both sides a lot of money let's get this back to the table. There is always a solution that will make both sides happy and a lot better off."

---

Major Hastings sped north - his shuttles were spread out in a wide fan shape to increase their sensor coverage and provide more data angles for the array. The shuttles whiped by silently except for the atmosphere rushing over sharp surfaces. Door gunners scanned the terrain along with snipers with their scoped rifles. Any trace at all - a landing site, a take-off zone...

Higher still flew the Phantom III aerospace fighters. They looked down and around as well, though their systems were more designed for target aquisition than detailed evidence searches.

A similar group sped south - they were looking for where the craft had disappeared. It was still a warzone but they plowed right through. They were buttoned up and flew fast and low, dodging around firefights and zipping around burned out vehicles. Twice they had to dodge 'Hazardous Salvage' crews from New ArAreBee - they were already busy stripping vehicles.

Bolts of blue rocketted across the Martian dunes, flashes and hues, not a sound uttered as the wrapped around the Mars' curvature to Kajal. The lightning was there in an instant, the blur of light blinking away as the great fallen spires of New ArAreBee hovered over the fallen debris of the former Kajal Capital Dome.

In the sky, too, arcs of blue could be seen vanishing into the clouds, into the great sky, and past into the place where gas dithered into void. There they moved quickly into geosynchronous orbit, manifolds rippling across like a pond, spacetime bending at its' whims as if were water, and the spires the oar.

Radiowaves rippled forth from the ship across Kajal. Encrypted lightly to keep out the annoying citizen, any nation easily capable of cracking it.

"Greetings Kajal Citizens! We wish to establish contact with your leader, the lives of Trust resources is at stake here. We do not wish to see our fellow persons harmed."

((OOC: I would assume you have radios communications, yes?))

¤The Tritarchic Dominions of New ArAreBee¤

Junior Officer Indiro saw the Ararebeen vessel moving into the area...as fantastic as it was, it was still unannounced and an inconvenience.

At the Summit Edwin had asked that the representatives from Kajal, Kajal Mars, and Auman join him in a side room so as to not distract from the summit.

His first question was for the Kajal Mars representative.

"How much of your population supports independance?"

Giving him a moment to consider his answer, he turned to the Kajal representative.

"How much of the population do you think supports independance?"

The reason for asking both men the same question was obvious - split the two to determine reality.

"Sunset believes, and I believe, that sentients have the right to chose their own government and that they should not be forced to live under a government they do not agree with. If a large portion of the population wishes to form their own government I would suggest you let them. Let them find out how much fun it is to run a nation and provide services, worry about defense, and all the other joys that come from running their own government."

'Never appeal to a man's "better nature." He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.' Another one of Villanova's quotes sprung to mind.

"Before this gets out of hand and ends up costing both sides a lot of money let's get this back to the table. There is always a solution that will make both sides happy and a lot better off.


"Thats a good god damned question guys...get talking." Zavier looked thoroughly angry, "And I swear to god I better not hear any bullshit...I mean it."

10 giant metallic six-winged dragonflies came roaring to a halt and hovered noisily over the former Dome. After quickly dropping their cargo, they flitted away once more to relative safety.

Several large balloons crashed down and bounced along the surface before deflating and braking open. From these crawled somewhere around a hundred tiny articulated tracked robots, which began crawling through the rubble, looking for trapped survivors.

Colonel Kiriho's convoy had come into contact with several groups of skirmishers on the way up to the Capitol Dome, all were dealt with quickly and efficiently with minimal loss of life and equipment. Kiriho's radio officer had informed him of an incoming transmission, it had officially handed over control of all combat forces in-theatre to him. His command tank had abruptly come to a halt and a green rune flashed on his tactical display. "Ok, we have come to our last way point. Inform the convoy that they have 15 minutes per rotation to refuel and resupply before we make the push into the Capitol dome." Kiriho's radioman did as he was ordered.

Colonel Kiriho took up his dataslate, burgeoning with new and updated information he had a lot to read up on. "Marduk...this cant be, this cant be right at all."

--------

Marduk had finished transmitting the news of his arrival to all the officers of the Peace Keeping mission, informing them that he had taken control of all forces In the Capitol Dome theatre. It had come as a shock to most of them, thinking that Marduk wouldn't risk himself in open conflict this way...he was their Dictator after all. Marduk had ordered the Divisions under Colonel Kiriho to begin the assault on Capitol Dome, Marduks forces would arrive in a day and a half to relieve them.


OOC:

Yeah...I didn't really feel like typing today, Im not feeling to good so yeah. Sunset has yet to post much, like to see his reactions so far.

Another message was sent to Kajal.
"We will give you another chance to respond to us and open up talks with us. We wish this matter settled and will take matters into our own hands if you refuse to talk to us. We are prepared to enter into this dispute on Kajal Mars' side if you do not respond."

A message crackled through the frequencies, having been broadcast from orbit. It originated from the farad destroyer Wudin, which still held a position from which it could begin orbital bombardment if necessary.

"The Imperium of Kajal wishes to respectfully remind Pilon that this conflict is an internal matter, and will be resolved as soon as possible. At current, there has been no fighting outside of the disputed territories, and any further casualties to the forces of other martian nations are not our concern. It was not our intention to fire upon troops from other nations, but if they continue to support the Separatists, we will have no other choice."

Meanwhile...

At the Summit Edwin had asked that the representatives from Kajal, Kajal Mars, and Auman join him in a side room so as to not distract from the summit.

His first question was for the Kajal Mars representative.

"How much of your population supports independance?"

Giving him a moment to consider his answer, he turned to the Kajal representative.

"How much of the population do you think supports independance?"

The reason for asking both men the same question was obvious - split the two to determine reality.

The Kajal Mars representative spoke first.

"According to the most recent polls that we took, 76.5% of the populace was 'displeased' with the state of affairs. Right now, we estimate that 82% of the population is behind the separatist, and reports show that nearly our entire military is with them."

"That is prepostorous." The Kajal delegate spoke up. "Our latest intel pegs the Separatist movement as 22% of the total population of the colony."

Meanwhile, the fighting continued. While the amount wasn't as large as the Kajal Mars delegate had thought, it was indeed much more then the mere 22% that Kajal believed they were fighting.

The capitol dome remained heavily defended by Kajalan troops and small starfighters, of course. The bombing of it had allowed them into the center of the city, and subsequently, they had more then enough troops to flush the separatists out of the surrounding secondary domes.

It was only a matter of time before the next troop rotation would begin, as a number of troop transports and a carrier had arrived in orbit, taking up position with the Wudin. The dropships were already on their way down.

"So roughtly 50% disagree with the current government. In order to solve this by force you will have to kill up to 1/2 of them, if the lessons of history are any guide. You will breed resentment against them - they will continue to attack and you will likely have another war within 20 years.

From a nice 4 trillion in governement funds you will plunge to 2 trillion or less - plus you will need to rebuild the infrastructure of the colony as it will be heavy damaged in sustained fighting. Fighting a pupular seperatist movement will take a long time, further damaging trade as the other Martian nations will need to take extra security precautions in order to ensure a terrorist act is not undertaken against Kajal ex-patriots living in our cities.

For your own self-interest I would urge you to withdraw your troops and allow the seperatists to decide their own course. The goodwill built in such an act is worth at least a hundred trillion in political capital alone."

Having received the response from Kajal that Pilon wished they would not have received they saw little other action they could take in this matter.
The order was given and the Pilonese ships jumped out of hyperspace immediately sending a message to the Kajal ships in orbit.
"This is the Pilonese ship Utopia to Kajalan vessels in orbit. You will immediately desist in your actions against your own people or Pilon will be forced to make you stop. This may be the way you handle things on Earth but here on Mars we handle them through Diplomatic channels, as you have proven uncooperative in this fashion we have little other chance, withdraw from the system immediately or we will attack."

The Vessels were of a new design never before seen in orbit over Mars, almost nothing like the ships used in the Vascilian War.

(OOC: Any ideas on how to get the leaders back together again? I have new tactics to suggest, but don't know how to get the info out now that everyone's in the field.)

Another transmission crackled forth from the Kajalan armada, this time from a new ship that had recently arrived, the Fanthyra Ziyal.

"Be warned that we are more then capable of defending ourselves. However, a full scale withdrawal will take time. There are several Kajalan assets that are still on the surface that would have to be removed, either through wholesaling corporations or physically removing them, and objects such as the Capitol Jumpgate."

The sounds of footsteps in the background could be heard, and the bridge on the Fanthyra Ziyal seemed to be commandeered by someone of great importance. A comms tech spoke what sounded like a pre-rehearsed line.

"All recieving parties, prepare to recieve a transmission from the Imperial Controller, who speaks for his Imperial Highness, Emperor Liyo Sorath Dajal XVII."

The mic obviously changed hands, and someone who sounded to be of far more regal stature began to speak.

"The Imperium of Kajal puts forth the following terms. One, The Imperium of Kajal will be allowed to evacuate all planetside assets in however long it deems necessary. Two, all Imperial troops will REMAIN planetside until the evacuation of the aforementioned assets is complete. Three, There shall be No Further Attacks against Imperial troops as they evacuate the area. Four, No Imperial vessels will come under attack during this process. Five, a ceasefire will be initated for the duration of the aforementioned period.

If the colonial government decides to retain its ties to the Imperium, and does so amicably, we will assist in the reconstruction efforts. If the colonials do not, however, there will be no further support by the Imperium, and the colony will be severed from the Imperial Jumpgate network.

This concludes the statement of terms and the Imperial Broadcast."

Statement by the President of Sunset

"I feel these are reasonable demands. As long as Kajal does not remove the infrastructure to support sentient life or unreasonly burden the people of Kajal Mars we have not problem with it.

However we do extend an offer to Kajal. Many Sunset Corporations have expressed an interest in purchasing the equipment scheduled for removal. As long as this equipment is not of a sensitive nature, we would encourage that and will be willing to assist with no-interest loans. This would keep the infrastructure in place as well as allow Kajal a much speedier extraction from their former colony."

Statement issued by the Headspeaker of Pilon
"We feel that the terms presented here by Kajal are more than reasonable and intend to fully cooperate with Kajal in the removal of their assets. Any assitance requested of us will be given toward these goals. If the colonial government proves to be less cooperative Pilon intends to ensure a peaceful settlement in the future instead of another outbreak of hostilities."

Statement from Kasei:

"We feel that the terms suggested are reasonable. Anyone who would not accept them must be cognitively disabled. However, the high level of urban combat has likely left a large portion of the population unable to recieve this message. The Imperial Province of Kasei would like to offer its assistance in spreading the message, as well as continuing to engage in search and rescue operations. Until it can be confirmed that all of the rebel fighters have recieved the Kajalan government's terms, sporadic attacks should be expected, and not held against them."

This following presentation is brought to you by the Auman Military News Corps and its associates.

-The film starts looking at the shattered remnants of the Kajalan Capitol Dome, contrails from fighter craft can be clearly seen in the sky. Suddenly, a barrage from Auman batteries destroy a suspected enemy emplacement on the side of the Dome.

The Camera pans around to a tall well made man wearing the the standard armour and livery of a Tank Commander, he removes his helmet and turns towards the camera and begins to speak.-

"How are you? I hope this hasn't been to rough for you." he reached out a hand and the journalist took it. "Im Lord Insezy Marduk, glad to meet you Comrade Lipschitz." Lipschitz took Marduks meaty hand. "And I you Lord, Im glad you agreed to this interview." Marduk smiled, "Anything I could do for the citizens of our great country, Comrade Lipschitz. Shall we go to the normal interview format Comrade?" Lipschitz nodded his head, "Yes Lord." Marduk sat down on an empty ammunition box, chairs were available to command personell on the front lines, but Marduk waved off any benefits of rank.

Comrade Lipschitz: "Well Lord Marduk, I just want to thank you again for the people of Auman, we all know of your position on world peace, but one thing that the people dont quite understand is why are we cooperating with these nations that so steadfastly tried to annihilate us?"

Lord Marduk: "The answer is simple, the old Regime went about things the wrong way. In 12 years I have managed to accomplish more of their previous objectives through diplomacy than they could through military action. Though, we have also done this with a minimum amount of cooperation with our traditional enemy...Pilon."

CL: "I understand, Lord. We would like to understand better as to why you, in your wisdom, have deployed a 3rd of our armed forces the Kajal? we know that it follows your doctrine of Martian Protectionism. The fact that Earthers are butchering Martians daily is how most people rationalize this war...but we would like to know what you think."

LM: "Well, in the Martian peace negotiations my associate General Zavier had realized that very few nations really took an interest in stopping the genocide that is taking place in the nation. How could our nation stand by while we have the capability to stop such a disaster? its all about the morality of our great nation, it would be a stain on our honour if we didn't break this up."

CL: "Is it true that the majority of the nations that were uninterested in Keeping the Peace in Kajal are also colonial powers?"

LM: "Yes, it is. Though Pilon, the only real Colonial Power that has shown an interest was Pilon...though we suspect their motives. They really have proved to be more of a hassle than anything. Pilon has been acting outside the sanctioned peace keeping force...that force is made up of military elements from Auman, Sunset, Eniqcir and a few others."

CL: "What is your stance on Martian Colonialism?"

-Marduk listened intently to a radio transmission that blurted out of his headset-

LM: "I cant fucking stand it...its bullshit, anyway, Comrade Lipschitz. I have pressing business to attend to. Have a nice day."

-Marduk waved toward the camera and uttered an oath to the people. He turned around and climbed into his Tank.-

-Comrade Lipschitz stood up and saluted Marduk as his vehicle tore out of view. The Auman National Flag was super imposed over the film as patriotic music began to play.-


----------

Marduk's radioman, Jusik Nohmo read a new communique from forward observation teams. Apparently drop ships had been leaving the dome in a steady fashion. "Sir, I've gotten a transmission for ForObs that dropships are leaving the Capitol Dome sir." a minute after he had informed Marduk he had appeared through the top hatch. "Take me to it...I want to see this for myself!"

OOC:

Hey, what happened to that High Maneuverablity fighter that was zipping around everywhere? is it going to make an appearance?

EDIT: Double Post

OOC: I'm not sure. Twas Tannelorn's, though. ^_^;;

IC: Meanwhile, the wholesale of equipment that had not been deemed classified or sensitive had begun, while what little still remained planetside was currently being removed.

Suprisingly, the damage incurred by the short, albeit fierce war, was limited almost exclusively to the Capitol Dome and it's surrounding areas, as well as Solanna City. However, there was one large item still in the Capitol dome that was too massive to be removed by the standard dropships.

As such, the Fanthyra was currently on a descent TO the dome itself. While not capable of physically landing, it would get close enough for the object to be moved into its launch bays, and then ascend back into orbit.

Whatever the object was would not be disclosed by either the Imperium or the Colonial government, however.

Marduks Tank slumped to a halt, he could see a large aircraft descending towards the Capitol dome. Marduk took his magnoculars and looked through them. The Vessel hadn't done anything yet...but he was watching.

OOC:

Yeah the fighter was pretty much handed over to you...Tannelorn is my brother in real life, and he's dork and plays online games all day so yeah he wont take the time to get involved in this.

See Nationstates is a good game cause it encourages you to use your imagination.

The two groups searching for the bogie had come up empty - no landing point was found and no takeoff sight was positively identified. The search was called off and the shuttles were re-assigned to assist with humanitarian missions.

---

President Smytheson's Office

"You've done well. First big crisis. I liked the proposal in the Mangalan Accords. It was right out of Thorgardson's playbook."

Edwin was talking to Villanova - he had slipped back to Mars after leaving Tor Yvresse. He would be leaving for home that evening but he wanted to talk to his protege.

"Thank you. I thought it fitting. So what do you think of Auman?"

Villanova paused - this was a small point of contention. Edwin clearly wanted to move toward a closer relationship while Villanova remembered the war all too clearly.

"Your goals are reasonable - but I would warn you. Things seemed quite calm before the war as well. Stay on your guard, don't let them too close. Keep them at the same length they do. And watch their allies. While Auman is the leader the rest may suddenly desire that position for themselves."

The Heavy Destroyer, Fanthyra, had levelled off and began hovering over the capitol dome. On the ground beneath it, a rather large convoy had assembled, and since the dome had been shattered all the way to the ground, the extraction of the final piece of equipment had become possible.

The object itself was emitting too much light for anyone to directly look at it without experiencing some degree of eyestrain, but the cameras on it adjusted accordingly, very clearly showing what it was.

It was a bomb, by all accounts, and it was as big as some of the smaller buildings in the secondary domes.

To be exact?

It was a Kajalan Subspace Detonator. It would tear a rift between the two planes and the ensuing reaction would destroy virtually everything in the area by phasing it into another dimension.

Of course, this process had a tendency to convert the matter into energy, which was harmlessly dissipated in the void that Kajalans had dubbed "Subspace."

This particular bomb would have turned the entirety of Kajal Mars into one big crater, and due to the not quite circular shape of the nation, it probably would have taken a bite out of the surrounding countries as well. And after doing all that, it would be found, intact, at the bottom of the crater.

OOC: This particular device, however, would take several decades to recharge if it was ever used. The Imperium only has two - this one, and the prototype, which was signifigantly larger. The prototype is currently recharging, although it will pretty much never be usable again.

The blue monoliths crackled forth as the beings within spoke.

"Upon reviewing recents statements by the Kajal Government, this situation has been deemed stabalized. New ArAreBee Trusts will be guarded by Military Security Guards until a month or so has passed, depending on action during the grace period."

"We repeat once more that damage to Trust property is frowned on and we hope to iron out reperations for the investors who lost because of the destruction of the capital dome. After families, of course. New ArAreBeen Military out."

The pyramids swam upwards as great pods flew from the hangars as the Security Officers were delivered to various Trustian property, their warships ascenting into the heavens as they went to put bread on the table.

"Tick Kajal down a couple notches on the ol' trustworthy tree Admiral. Anyone who plants a bomb under their own colony needs to be watched a little closer I'm thinking."

"Done. Why would they do something so reckless anyway?"

"Foolishness, arrogance, a desire for assured power over their colony? Let's not speculate - get intelligence on it and let's get some facts."

Static.

Eventually, it resolved itself into a picture, complete with sound. The signal itself originated from Enhasa, several kilometers south of the Capitol.

"Fellow martians, as you are well aware, the Imperium of Kajal today removed a subspace device from the remnants of the Capitol dome. However, their motives are unclear as to why it was there in the first place."

The speaker, who was conveniently off screen, took a breath as the image switched to one of what was a research facility that had been blown open by the bombings.

"The Subspace Detonator that was extracted was not simply planted here. It was built here, by the Kajal Mars R&D division, with assistance from the Imperium. When it became clear that we began to threaten to separate, they knew that the weapon would undoubtedly be used against them."

The image panned across, revealing a jumpgate portal in the room large enough to accomodate the bomb. The portal itself looked as if it had been destroyed by a special ops team.

"This war was not fought for the Imperium, but for the bomb in the capitol dome that was more then sufficient to destroy the Imperial Shipyards. They destroyed the only means we had to move it, and then came and took it themselves."

Auman forces began moving into the Capitol Dome early the next morning. 45,000 troops moved through multiple entrance points, quickly and efficiently. Moving into their prearranged waiting points they noticed the people had taken to the streets...

OOC:

Kajal...its up to you to show the Civilian Reaction to the peace keepers.

As the troops moved into the many breaks in the dome, the civilians that had appeared on the street level were in a bit of shock. The few that had ventured into the streets, instead of staring from the buildings, appeared somewhat resentful.

There was the tromping sound of boots and the noise of engines as the peacekeeping forces moved in, but something unexpected happened.

With a rather abrupt explosion that was nothing more then fireworks, a large projection appeared in the air in front of the advancing Auman forces.

The message it bore said "We will not exchange one regime for another! We will bring Freedom to the People Ourselves!"

It was obvious that the Separatist movement, while appreciating the help in forcing the Imperial troops to withdraw, were not at all pleased with the fact that 45,000 foriegn troops had moved into the country.

"Notice the wording? It has me worried. If it would have been "The People will be Free" I would be encouraging Auman to pull out. But "We will bring Freedom to the People Ourselves" indicates to me a small group at the top. That makes me think Red October and other communist revolutionaries. I want research and intelligence and I want it fast. If the wording was poor I want to know that, and if it was deliberate I want to know that too."

Edwin turned back to his console - he had a lot of work ahead of him. Admiral Iponisha turned and left the office. The head of Intelligence would have little sleep tonight as well.

---

Aboard shuttles assigned to monitor the humanitarian aid projects rode men and women dressed in civilian clothing. They were often ordinary looking and ranged from fat to thin. They all had a keen sense for the unusual and how to get into and out of trouble. One by one they drifted into the crowds and began gathering intelligence on the seperatist movement. Of importance was information on any fractions within the organization and the idiology of the group.

Electronic intelligence was also gathered. Accessable networks were penetrated and pilfered, the data gathered into the vast government networks to be mined for any data. It would be compared to the intelligence from the ground and analyzed. Within 24 hours the amount of data known about Kajal Mars would likely double then double again as the raw computing power of a information super-power went to work on it.

When he saw the the display by the Kajalans, Marduk laughed. Everyone knew how the Anti-Funitists felt about Martian sovreignty...though the sentiment had been perverted the further it got down the line by the MIDAS nations. Our people are not that much different from the seperatists. Two groups of people, formerly under the strict control of an evil dictator...only just given their freedom.

Auman was just like Kajal Mars a few months ago...why do they hate us?

As soon as the initial shock of the foriegn troops marching into the cities wore off, the massive clean-up and reconstruction efforts began.

Solanna City proved to be quite a challenge, in this area. There was an innovative new solution, however.

Since there were at least six upper buildings that had been damaged to the extent that they were now condemned due to unsafe conditions, removing and replacing them would require disengaging the locking mechanisms connected with the dome. Normally, this would have been a problem, but the resident scientists had come up with a unique solution.

The first building was dropped into one of the largest Kajalan jumpgates constructed to date, which promptly inserted the wreck into martian orbit.

It was fed into the resource processing facilities at the Kajal Mars orbital station, which had not been operating for several years. However, with this new injection of resources and capital, the station, which was still unfinished, was made operational once again.

Construction resumed.

The clearing of the Solanna dome followed in the same way, simply turning the jumpgate on a large mount designed for it so that automated freighters could go through with the wreckage from the lower districts. These too were fed to the resource processors, and the excess was sent back down to Solanna and the Capitol Dome to help with reconstruction. However, there remained a single block in Solanna that would be relatively untouched.

The Memorial Park would consist of a well-groomed park, within which the wreckage that had fallen would be stabilized so it would not pose a threat to civilians.

Meanwhile, the clearing of the wreckage of the Capitol Dome had commenced, notably without a jumpgate. However, the stuff was processed in the same manner - fed into a resource processing plant, and shipped back as usable materials. Like its counterpart of Solanna, the Capitol would too recieve a Memorial Park. However, this would be different. True, the wreckage in the area would be stabilized, yes, but a monument to all who had died in the fierce fighting would be erected, engraved with the name of every single casualty, human or otherwise, from both sides.

It would not make any distinctions between nations, but it would simply refer to those who had been lost as "Those who fought for Mars."

Further banners unfurled themselves in the streets, and with different messages then the first, but the meaning remained the same.

We do not want your help.

The reconstruction of the Capitol Dome began, however, the political climate of the colony had changed drastically.

It appeared that the Separatist Movement had dissolved overnight, to be replaced by a provisional government that appeared to know what it was doing.

The first election campaigns would begin the exact day after reconstruction ceased.

The Morale of the soldiers had dropped like an anvil, the people had been rude and unappreciative and in some cases, children would throw rocks at them, morale was lower than ever. A young section leader knocked on the door of Junior officer Indiro's APC. "Sir, may I have permission to speak to you, sir!. Indiro gestured to him, he was busy filing a damage report. "Sir, why do we help these people? our food and medicine is wasted on them...we're stressed out there. We could use this stuff ourselves, sir" Junior Officer Indiro looked up from his paper work and spoke. "Corporal, we're not wasting anything...the point of this mission is to help our Martian brothers, whether they like it or not. These people may believe us to be "foriegn invaders" but we are not. Marduk is here personally to make sure that these people do not suffer..."

The Corporal responded "Sir, but still you haven't answered my question..." "You just hand out your quota's, I'll see what I can do about getting you more supplies. Right now, keep your hands off the relief goods ok? if you have no more questions? dismissed." The Corporal made a quick salute and left.

OOC:

I dont have much time to type...so my stuff wont be as good as it can be, of course, when were my stories any good eh? haha.

Search and resuce teams worked 'round the clock to get survivors out of the wreckage before it was cleared out. A group of repellers hung off the side of one particularly dilapidated building

"Floor clear, moving down!"
"Check. I'm movin' in."
One of the team tossed a seacrh&rescue 'bot into the building.
"Talk to me, what do you see?"
"Nothing on visual... just a minute, got something on infrared. Survivor confirmed, let's move!"

Two of the repellers climbed in and unclipped thier lines.
"Jack, see if you can move this beam! Hey, you all right? Talk to me." The emt bent down to take a pulse. "Okeydokey, he's alive, but just barely. Unconcious. Randy, you giot the stretcher? One, two, three, go!"

The rescuers lifted the body onto a stretcher, and started lowering him to the ground.

A team of Auman Combat Engineers clambered up a shattered slope of debris, the leader of them, a short thick, mustachioed man in his late forties had noticed a team of search and rescue specialists from one of the member nations had gone into a particularly dilapidated apartment complex. "God damn it!" he cursed, he had raised his megaphone to speak but as he depressed the trigger he suddenly realised his folly. "Oh shi..." unexploded ordinance littered the ground around here, the slight electronic output that the megaphone had made was enough to touch it off.

Three active shells exploded killing the Pioneer team, and cause horrendous damage to the dilapidated apartment complex...

OOC:

Well..before that catastrophe took place, the Engineers were there to inform the Search and Rescue guys that they were supposed to let the Engineers check out all operation area's for booby traps, unexploded ordinance and other hazards. Of course, the head engineer here just happened to be incompetant.

(OOC: Fortunately, Search&Rescue teams always check for safety via robots before going in. An actual RP post will come at a time when it is not late at night with undone homework.)

(OOC: Fortunately, Search&Rescue teams always check for safety via robots before going in. An actual RP post will come at a time when it is not late at night with undone homework.)

OOC:

Well obviously, the shells weren't in the apartment...they were in and around the hab districts that the Pioneer team was in. So in essence, your robot did its job clearing the apartment. But not the street below.

Its called a "Plot twist" roll with the detonation comrade ;)

OOC:

Well obviously, the shells weren't in the apartment...they were in and around the hab districts that the Pioneer team was in. So in essence, your robot did its job clearing the apartment. But not the street below.

Its called a "Plot twist" roll with the detonation comrade ;)
OOC: I fully intend to. Actually, I had intended for the building to collapse just as they left. Hence adding the adjective "dilapidated". I was just noting out-of-character that they wouldn't need warning. Anyways, I plan to make full use of my place as 90th for best Health Care. Always said I had the best hospitals on Mars. : )

OOC: Excellent! I just wanted some sort of an accident to kick off the hopefully horrendous casualties my forces will take!

Ten feet up, a rough rumble hit the rescuers.

"Dang, what the heck was that?"
Rescue team, we've got a situation. There's been a major explosion in the vicinity of an Auman Team.

A peice of plaster fell down from above, and shattered on the ground below.

"Oh crap. She's comin' down! Move it, people, up, up! Forget the ground car! Crawler, get outta here, we're ridin' the 'topter."
Copy that, movin' out.

Two of the repellers clipped their 'beeners onto the stretcher ropes. "'Topter, take us away!"

The metallic dragonfly above flitted away from the building, rescuers and rescued hanging on to a thin line below. As they started winching in the line, one whole face of the building gave way.

"Fatser, people! Move it!"
Rescue Team, we're going as fast as we can right now. Just trying to keep ahead of the debris.
"Well I sure hope to heck you do! Crawler, status?"
We're OK. Covered in rubble, but this baby's made to last. We'll need some help digging out, though.
"Copy that. Got that, 'topter?"
Affirmative. We'll send out an excavator ASAP.

Shortly after the explosion, and subsequent collapse of a wrecked building, the Kajal Mars airforce sent out a series of drones, which began scanning the area. They flew low, and the beams appeared almost as a transparent wall of blue underneath them. It would be able to pinpoint exactly where any active shells were, by means of the metallic composition, and if they were Martian built, the drones would be able to render the charges inert. If not, however... extreme caution would need to be utilized. Among other things, these craft would also be able to detect survivors, given that they were not hidden under too much rubble.

Seargant Folker had been very aware of his surroundings, he had to be. Twelve of his fellow troopers had been killed in this sector in the last two weeks. Almost daily attacks had befallen Auman troops in the Capitol Dome. Everyone thought they were going to be next, booby traps had lined the streets. He and his section were on a patrol down a major street, they were to clear an suspected booby traps. Mines, roadside bombs and other insidious devices littered the ground in this city...they accounted for the majority of combat deaths in theatre."I think I found one!" one of his team mates yelled. Folker ran towards the shout and saw
what he had been talking about. It was huge, shaped strangely. It didn't look like anything he had seen before, it was high tech for sure. "I think we should leave it alone...call in an airstrike or something." uttered one of the other troopers. Folker let out a sigh, this was way to much for him to handle.

-----

Two hours later the engineers had finally arrived to identify the device, they had been stumped for the first few hours and gave up, "We're gonna call the chief, we dont have a god damn clue what this is." Folker was becoming visibly agitated, a crowd had formed around them. They had been shouting slogans at them, some threw a few rocks. "How long will it take for the Chief Engineer to get here?" he asked, "May'be four hours" replied the Senior engineer. Foker cursed to himself as he reached for his radio, "Command, this is F patrol. We request reinforcement...The situation is starting to get rough." as to punctuate his words a paint can full of bricks landed next to him. The crowd began yelling and throwing rocks more regularly. "Sir! what should we do?!" asked one of his panicked squad mates. "Set up a defensive perimet..." Folker was cracked in the head by a chunk of curbside material and was knocked unconcious. His section, unnerved by the sudden departure of their commander opened fire into the crowd. Five members of the mob dropped before the entire section began opening fire, the incredible rate of fire of the Auman rifles took a horrible toll on the civilians, 30 down in a matter of seconds. The Engineers drew their side arms and began to fire as well. Forty, no, fifty civilians lie dead on the pavement...it was a massacre.when Folker came to, all he could here were the muffled sounds of gun fire and light explosive crumps. When he regained his footing he tried to order them to cease fire, but he couldn't. Folkers jaw had been broken by the impact. The Civilians began to hurl petrol bombs at the Auman troops. One of them cracked open on the head of one of the engineers, he began to run around on fire until one of his comrades stopped his suffering with a bullet to the face. Reinforcements had arrived in Armoured Personell Carriers and didn't bother questioning why they had been firing on the crowd, the ripped into their positions with automatic grenade launchers and flamer throwers. Suddenly, one of the carriers was ripped open in a gout of flame. Seperatist militia's had began to arrive on the scene with heavy weapons...all chance of this day ending well was over.

OOC:

You guys will find out what the "Device" is soon enough

The National Controller was furious. He knew it! The citizens knew it! And yet he hadn't ordered all the foreign forces expelled?

It was sickening, at least to him. As the head of government for Kajal Mars, there were two things he could do.

Allow the Auman forces to continue to kill his citizens, and then declare war claiming that "Kajal Mars is a hostile nation that must be pacified," or he could order all foreign troops to leave the nation, under the pain of death.

Either way he saw it, war would erupt again between the two. However, if it were to happen, he'd much rather have removed the enemy from HIS country.

He tapped out the order and troop deployment began anew. This puppet of a separatist movement had proved useful. Now, they would unite with their new government.

"We do not need foreign help."

The controller turned around to face a rather large display behind him, showing the plans of the Kajal Mars Orbital Station. If the forces from Auman did not leave by his set deadline... He would turn the mining lasers on that station towards Auman itself.

The effect would be far worse then the simple bombing of the capitol dome.

Meanwhile, Kajal Mars battallions pulled up in their own APCs around the Auman, and other foreign troops around the city, combining their forces with the separatists, before broadcasting a message.

"By the decree of the National Controller, all foreign forces are to leave this country immediately. Failure to do so will result in a rather... unpleasant situation. You have until 12:00am Capitol Time on Saturday to do so. This deadline will be moved forward if further hostile actions are taken against the citizens of this nation. We will remind you - we know the terrain better then you do. We know where all the explosive devices and traps are. You do not."

A message is sent to the Kajal Mars government.
If you need any help in the removal of invading Auman forces Pilon is willing to help, we will then immediately leave as we have no interest in staying in your country.

The Search&Rescue teams in a suitable situation to receive Kajal's message worked hard to pick up as many more survivors from the wreckage as they could before the deadline, moving so far uncounted numbers of Auman and Kajal citizens into Kaseian hospitals in Serik and Darmhir, among other cities, before moving out.

The rest, however, simply continued their normal operations, entirely unaware that they were in any further danger.

OOC:

Of course...Pilon wants round 2 eh? we're itching for it too comrade ;) Mining lasers, on Auman? the only impact that would have is getting the Vascilian League to occupy Kajal and installing a friendly government. Auman has been attacked several times by foriegn powers...we've grown used to it haha.

Were not leaving, this should prove to be interesting. Especially if Pilon jumps in.

IC:

"The Anti-Funitist Regime of Auman's position on the matter is as it always has been, we will not leave until the situation in Kajal Mars is controlled. The misfortunate incident that had taken place this morning is regrettable, but is not completely unwarranted. Reports taken from the troops involved have detailed that the mob had launched an attack on the Auman officials there, killing one and injuring many others. Investigators are doing research on the combat footage taken during the massacre to determine the exact cause of the incident."

Private Transmission to Marduk

It is my estimation that the situation is under control by the very fact that there are Kajal Mars troops ready to enforce their decision. At this point it is my opinion that the situation has diluted to a national issue. We cannot solve everyone's problems - something things they must work out for themselves. You've done a valiant job, far more than we have. Begin a measured withdrawl and make sure you shake hands with the Kajal troops on the way out. It will reinforce your position as friends who are willing to help rather than the unfortunate stereotype of a conquering power - just my suggestion.

Edwin Smytheson

OOC: This very much reminds me of the situation after the Knootoss Shadow war. If everyone had simply pulled out there wouldn't be tensions that continue to this day. Instead there are two sides ready to nuke each other with a wrong twitch.

The Voice of the Council glared at the screen in front of him. Sitting alone in his office long past when he should have gone off duty for the night, he watched as the newsfeed scrolled by detailing more and more problems in Kajal Mars. When the last headline, announcing an attack on civilians, scrolled by he groaned and threw the papers he was holding across the room. This was rediculous!

Unfortuantly he was powerless to do anything. Imagine, Mangala, the 4th largest nation on Mars, powerless to prevent any of this nonsense from occuring. Sending in the military would only compromise Mangala's cherished neutrality and would just make things worse anyway.

The Voice brooded, staring out his window into the night.

An orbital war
Unrest in Kajal
Unrest in Eniqcir
Hidden Underwater Bases

Mangala had ignored international conflicts for too long. The Duma would help in many ways, but would not address all of the Council's concerns. The Voice flipped open his AI lectern and entered a password, then opened the file marked "TOP SECRET: SHADOW PROPOSAL."

His next Council briefing would have a new agenda.

Under the cover of darkness, Auman troops withdrew from Kajal Mars. Disheartened by the events of the last 2 months the troops involved were glad to leave.

The Government, awakened to the realities of the world, will not look at Kajal the same.

OOC:

Mangala, you'd be surprised what you'd do if a mob of several hundred were hurling bricks and molotov cocktails at you and your team mates.

OOC: I feel like test firing some sort of orbital weapon... hehe. It's pointed at unclaimed territory, which conveniently, er... contains some sort of ancient abandoned outpost from a 2020 mars mission, or, er... something.

IC:

Deep within the Unclaimed Territories, or what was left of them, Kajalan troops moved away from an ancient martian outpost left by early explorers from Earth. Surrounding the derelict outpost were several devices designed to measure such things as power output.

Technically, the mining lasers on the Kajal Mars orbital station were not truly lasers, but a derivative of the FARAD system that had been pioneered by Capsule Corporation several years ago. The Imperium of Kajal had bought the plans for the system under the conditions that they would not use them to sell FARAD capable ships, and they hadn't.

However, since several decades had past, the Imperium had devised a way to produce the plasma beam without the twin hull configuration.

They were calling it the Pulsar Lance.

These commonly were only capable of firing pulses, as the name implied, with a great degree of accuracy over a range greater then that of most other ship weapons. However, there had been a modification made to this design for the specific purpose of mining.

The result, of course, was a variable intensity beam that could be sustained long enough to perform actual mining duties. It was limited only by the amount of power available to the device.

It was also technically capable of hitting most anything on this side of Mars, with varying degrees of accuracy.

At this very moment, it had locked on to the small outpost that the troops had painted as a target.

The plasma lance which had been commonly referred to as the mining laser, had acquired the target.

It fired. The results of the test would be coming in to the Kajal Mars government in a few days. It was, after all, important to make sure that their chosen orbital weapons platform would actually function when it was needed!

Meanwhile, the senate convened. They were not entirely sure that they agreed with the decision made by the Imperial-appointed National Controller. However, it did appear that the situation was nearing it's final resolution. Kajalan Search and Rescue teams took over where the others had been working.

OOC: Now... picture the Empire State building going up in Independence Day. ^_^

As the Voice of the Council was leaving his office, long after midnight, another priority one datastream loudly began demanding his attention. He glanced at the header, "Kajal Orbital Weapons Test," groaned, and slammed the door. Some things could wait until tomorrow.

[ooc: Auman: I don't think the the troop's behavior was ill intended, it wasn't their fault. The Voice was just frusterated that the event occured at all]

OOC: More intelligence! This is like a gold mine week. Why do people test super-weapons in the public view? Rhetorical, I know...

IC:

The numbers had taken only seconds to crunch - they were now displayed on the overhead monitors while the Admirals looked them over.

"Peak power output here... Along with a fluxuation in this spectrum. It matches a known Capsule Corp FARAD readout from the Pirate Purge. We already knew that though. Overall it topped out at 1.8842 of the known scale - .221 higher than a Yamatto blast on a Rev2 Helios. Here's the predicted damage curve by ship class..."

A chart came up displaying the various Sunset ship classes and the predicted damage amounts in percentile.

"The output has already raised the priority of the mining array 5% for tactical planning as a precaution, but I'll be issuing a final report and the final adjustment next week."

---

Several times during the Auman widthdrawl SDF Marine fighters fly along side the transports and dip their wings in respect as the transports return through the flight corridor.

OOC: Sorry I didn't post more - I got a new schedule at work and it's been busy busy busy.

(OOC: Which unclaimed area, exactly? 'Tis reasonable to assume I've got the same intelligence as Sunset, but I can't figure out the internal reaction without knowing a fairly specific location.)

OOC: Right in the middle of the Q in Eniqcir (Development) between Mizar, Qaaolchourav, and Cygan. It looked like the safest place that would accomodate the blast radius.

IC: After the weapons test, the Kajalan troops set about to the task of gathering all the monitoring equipment, and moving in a small terraforming squad of their own to reverse damage that the weapon had done, which was mostly surface scorching. The National Controller would be pleased.

OOC: Right in the middle of the Q in Eniqcir (Development) between Mizar, Qaaolchourav, and Cygan. It looked like the safest place that would accomodate the blast radius.

IC: After the weapons test, the Kajalan troops set about to the task of gathering all the monitoring equipment, and moving in a small terraforming squad of their own to reverse damage that the weapon had done, which was mostly surface scorching. The National Controller would be pleased.
OOC: Oh dear. You think the same way Eniqciri Engineers do.
IC:

The Atomjacks of the Noachia Inferno Station were somewhat surprised when the ground shook off-schedule. A quick check of the vaults indicated that, no, no one had stolen any nukes. A check with the outside soon revealed the cause- Kajal's weapons test. Two MDPs rolled out to investigate.

OOC:

Haha, way to flex your muscles Kajal. We're not to worried in Vascilia. Auman has rebuilt C.A.S.C.A.D.E. since the polar war and recently began installing C.Y.C.L.O.P.S. as you might have noticed Vascilia likes large acronyms containing the letter 'C'

I, like Sunset prefer keeping the military secret, as far as the world is concerned, Auman doesn't have a military. Last time Mars has seen an Auman fleet was just after the Polar war...since this is OOC I can tell you what they're upto.

Travelling the galaxy and going on crazy Starblazers style adventures. We've just recently quelled the Turkey Men of Tabular IV...they will make a tasty addition to the Vascilian League.

OOC: Now there is a species we can all give thanks for...

IC:

"So what's on the job list for today?"

Nathan Hertzfeld's boss picked up a datapad and gave it a quick once over. They were part of planetary maintenance - cleaning and repair mostly.

"Hmm... Couple windows in the Vallis need to be replaced... Oh great - overtime today. Someone blew up the Q in Eniqcir out in the Southern range. Those things are a devil to paint."

OOC:
Heehee! That's humourous.
BTW, just to clarify, what Kajal hit was very near a Nuclear Well. One o' them deep holes down which nukes get dropped. Another one of them was the reason for cutting of Aelosia's claim where I did. For OOC purposes only, Nuclear Wells are positioned just east of the Aelosian border, northeast of the 'Q', near Lowell and a few other locations in Sirenum, all over Eniqciri waters, at the city of Coriolanus, and in the middle of that huge patch of unclaimed water between Rodriquez, Ur-Quan, Kinslayer, and RRB.

Hm... would be cool to have ENIQCIR spelled out in Celdr Runes... or script... then it would be "Ang" missing instead of the "Cue".

that has to be one of the most ridiculous things Ive heard...Giant letters spelling out the name of your nation so its visible from space. But, in true Vascilian fashion, I will have to try and out do you somehow!

"Security Personnel in Trust Offices are considered employees as of this time and are no longer considered 'foreign officers'. Once again they will remain until the Grace Period is over."

OOC: Pfft, Mining laser. Can you Mutilate Cattle? No, didn't think so. Now back to shadowy scheming.

"Security Personnel in Trust Offices are considered employees as of this time and are no longer considered 'foreign officers'. Once again they will remain until the Grace Period is over."

OOC: Pfft, Mining laser. Can you Mutilate Cattle? No, didn't think so. Now back to shadowy scheming.

OOC: Cattle don't fare well outside, last I checked. ^_~

Incase you didn't notice the first time around...
The Atomjacks of the Noachia Inferno Station were somewhat surprised when the ground shook off-schedule. A quick check of the vaults indicated that, no, no one had stolen any nukes. A check with the outside soon revealed the cause- Kajal's weapons test. Two MDPs rolled out to investigate.

The three dropships that had returned to pick up the measurement devices noticed the MDPs headed their way, and the pilots started yelling at the troops to get back on board asap. None of them bore any markings except for a shield with a sword overtop, and they were all painted black. Obviously, they weren't intended for use in the daytime.

The troops quickly made their way onboard, while the 'forming bots securely entrenched themselves in the surrounding terrain, to which their color had been matched. They would continue their operations to repair any environmental damage before digging in and shutting themselves off, likely permanently. Thankfully, they bore no insignia of any kind. The engines of the dropships shrieked as they sped out of the area, running half on repulsorlift and half thrusters, which allowed them a speedier escape.

Unfortunately, it also meant that each ship was visible as three small points of light in the sky.

OOC: Picture the Airborne Hunter-Killers from Terminator 3, painted black, and not killing any life form in sight, with a blue-ish window where the red-ish eyes/cameras/whatever would be. ^_^

Aumans unofficial response to Kajals attack had been unrelenting mockery and cruel laughter, though later an official response had been released by presidential runner up Lord General Polosh. "Kajal Mars is merely trying to flex what little military muscle they possess...they are nothing before Auman, let alone the power of Eniqcir. Let the children play with their lasers, us adults have more important things to worry about."

Meanwhile, the Kajal Mars government had begun making certain preparations. It seemed that the National Controller had been 'replaced' by the Imperium (ooc: see - executed), and the colonial government was frantically trying to undo what he had done.

However, the military was feeling somewhat insulted, and was subsequently quoted by various news agencies.

"Although Auman may think of us as nothing more then another small nation to be exploited, they would be wrong. We are nearly identical in size, and until the separatist movement got into full swing, our military trained every day with battalions from Kajal, while the training regimens remained the same even during the civil war. Need we remind them just how many of their "superior" troops that were killed by our civilian population? I hardly think that any decent military would have been so easily ambushed so many times."

A later transmission followed, outlining recent changes in the Kajal Mars government, and in particular, how some orders of the prior National Controller had been overturned.

"After hours of debate, the new National Controller agreed with the colonial senate that his predecessor's decree that an embargo should be established against Auman was in violation of Imperial Law. He also conceded that while the continued presence of foreign troops in the nation was not entirely helpful, the situation could have been handled in a far better fashion. Despite recent comments by military officials, both Kajal Mars and Kajal hope that relations between themselves and Auman can be improved. In other news, an imperial limo was found in the equatorial desert outside the capitol dome today. The aircar was nothing more then the charred wreck of a chassis..."

In an official response by Lord General Polosh, director of the defence department. Polosh slammed Kajalan officials by saying "The comments made by Kajal earlier today do not shame our armed forces at all. It just shows that they(Kajal) are willing to kill the very people they are sworn to protect. Auman and its troops are not in the business of intentionally slaughtering civilians, we fight soldiers in this army. This only shows that Kajal and its military are only a bunch of ill disciplined thugs...I can assure you that our troops are trained to the utmost degree."

OOC:

Aumans state troops are well trained...and experienced. The majority of the soldiers still in service today served during the Civil war, so they know how to handle themselves in combat...especially urban terrain. The public statements made by Kajals officials offended the institution quite badly. Aumans armed forces are well known for their ability in fighting in built up area's and their coolness under pressure. Kajal could never understand the sort of situation they were thrown into. Its doubtful any nation on Mars could understand(with the exception of the other peace keepers) My troops had the un-enviable task of keeping peace in the most dangerous part of the Capitol dome.

"Crawler One to Crawler Two, confirm sighting."
"Copy that, Crawler One. Sight three unidentifiable dropships. Apparently trying to escape."
"Status of your Entopter?"
"Launch ready."
"Recommend launching Entopters to pursue."
"Hooa. Entopter Two away."
"Confirmed. Entopter One away."

Two large six-winged silver dragonflies lifted off from the Mobile Drillers, and headed after the fleeing dropships, while the MPDs began to search the area for anything left behind.

"Two contacts, moving to intercept."
"Cut thrusters, and go to full repulsorlift on my mark... mark!"

The points of lights abruptly disappeared, and while it was indeed dark, the dropships became faintly visible sillohettes near the landscape. Running on full repulsorlift was dangerous, but it also meant that the dropships would be hugging the ground, requiring very little effort from the pilot to keep the ship from crashing. After all, the only way one of these would go down now would be if the repulsorlifts gave out entirely.

"Entering target area... cut to half-repulsorlift!"

The three dropships sailed over the wall of an empty crater, and dropped down to it's floor. The two Eniqcir craft flew past overhead, and were briefly in front of the three dropships.

"Full thrusters! Fire to disable, and get us out of here ASAP."

The three dropships leapt forward, speeding towards the two Entopters.

"What the heck was that?"
"Contacts lost. Switching to infrared... Smeg!"
"Roger, contacts coming up behind, ditto on the smeg."

The Entopters ground to a halt in midair, and pulled off a gut-wrenching high-speed strafe to avoid hostile fire.

The commanding officer on one of the dropships was screaming to the other two. The two contacts had moved out of their flight path for the moment, and it had presented a window.

"All ships, turn on your active camo. Initiate stealth mode, and fly on full repulsorlift to the rendezvous."

Again, the dropships disappeared, blending in with the landscape the best they could, as they sped away from the two entopters. If all had gone according to plan, by the time the two Eniqcir aircraft picked them up again, they'd be far enough away that it wouldn't be feasible to continue pursuing them.

Granted, in stealth mode, it would be hard to detect them at all.