NationStates Jolt Archive

Background on NRMC here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=85418&highlight=)
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Enveloping almost an entire square mile, the low-level buildings were grim looking. Windows darkly tinted, a menacing fence surrounding the grounds, and checkpoints criss-crossing the closely watched area,it had the appearance of a fortified bunker. In many ways, that was exactly what it was.

Almost sixty percent of Eredron's chemical and biological weapons stockpile were soon to be stored there; in those buildings would be Eredron's most advanced military labs, performing tens of billions of Marks worth of research and testing. With all air and ground traffic closely monitored and severely restricted for a three square mile radius, with it's elaborate defense measures, the cluster of buildings was considered one of the most secure in all the Republic. Personnel were thoroughly screened, and repeatedly tested, to prevent internal deception or betrayal; the aerial and ground forces based in the Northern Region Military Complex stood ready to provide any defense necessary to an overt military strike, and members of the mysterious Division Seven were scattered throughout the research teams that worked there.

The main facilities included four large, square buildings clustered together, with under- and above-ground storage facilties for Eredron's WoMD programmes.

North of these buildings, closer to the sea, was another group of five buildings - ostensibly a training center for Eredron and her allies' special forces teams. From any observing the camp - an action prevented by a tall, concrete and barbed wire fence that encompassed the area and broken only by three entrance and exit points - all that would be visible was an elaborate 'obstacle course' and a handful of weapons ranges.

The buildings themselves were low to the ground, and heavily camouflaged. Each building extended several floors below ground, with the fourth floor of each building connecting to the other. Each floor required higher classification, and was even more heavily guarded than the previous.

It was in these buildings that the black ops 'International Guerilla Training Force' was carried out: members of organizations dubbed 'freedom fighters' and 'guerillas' by the Consul were quietly brought into the camp, trained and equipped by members of Eredron's Sabre Force, and then returned to carry out their individual objectives.

All was carried out in the shadow, it's existence to be kept and denied by the public.

Major Caulder hated this posting. Though it had its rewards, he'd much rather be flying. His squadron was supposed to be getting the new F-37A ASTOVL fighters, and here he was, nursing a busted leg as he rode herd on a bunch of photo geeks. Up on the wall was a blown-up satelite picture of what looked like a construction site. John Caulder was no expert on satelite surveilance, but his brother in law worked construction, and it didn't look like any site he'd ever worked on.

"Why're they diggin' the foundation so deep?" he asked, risking the attention of the geeks.

The project leader turned, fixing their Air Force "Well... There could be two reasons. Either they need to anchor a tall building, in which case the extra basements would..."

A second geek - Thomas? Timothy? Caulder couldn't remember. He just thought of them collectively as the geeks - Cut his manager off. "They're trying to hide whatever they're building because whatever it is, they don't want the world to know it's there."

"We don't know that." the leader came back angrily. "It could be a skyscraper."

"In the middle of nowhere? Are you really that stupid? Look..." Timothy. That was it. Warren Timothy. "We've been watching this place for a while. We caught it purely by accident, and it's lucky we did. Once this place is operational, my bet is they'll have it camouflaged so well that even Santa Claus won't know if the boys and girls down there have been naughty or nice. Here..."

Unrolling another blown up image over the table, he started pointing out little features. "This and this... You only do that if you want a building to be NBC safe - That means safe in the presence of nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. Now, they could be building a command post for their nation's upper echelons, but I doubt it. It's not hardened enough, for one thing. No, I think all this is designed to keep stuff in..." He pulled out a second photograph and unrolled it. "And look at this one... I'll be damned if I know what this is, but if I had to guess..." He poked the picture with his finger. "I'd say that was an underground barracks. We're probably looking at either a training facility, or a security post for the first base."

He unrolled a third photo. "Whatever it is, they're camouflaging it pretty well. If we hadn't caught the construction in progress, we'd never have known about it. We're just lucky there's no way in hell to conceal a construction project like this from orbital photography. I mean, yeah... We could have found it with ground penetrating radar, but we'd have had to know where to look."

"What are we talking for strategic options?" Caulder asked, leaning forward to survey the picture.

"For my money?" Warren asked. "Black Widows. Two of them. Those new nuclear penetrators would do both facilities. One for the guard post, or training facility, or whatever it is. The other... Well, I'd use two, but even then, we're not talking total destruction. At most, we're talking catastrophic damage. I don't think anything inside the compound would survive, but something that heavily fortified... It'd be a bitch, but they could rebuild it. Of course... We don't have the capability, yet. The penetrators are still in the prototype stage, but... Well, that's how I'd do it."

Caulder nodded slowly. That was about what he thought too - Of course, instead of the big Black Widows, he'd been thinking of a pair of his Shalakh ASTOVLs instead. "Okay, you know what to do... Finish your analysis and bury it with the rest of them - 'Case we ever need them. I doubt it, though. We've got no quarrel with Eredron. Probably, we'll warn them that if anyone wanted to drop the roof on these buildings, that this is how they'd do it. Oh, and Warren... You're the new project manager. The other guy doesn't know shit."

As the geeks scattered, going back to do their geeky little job, the fighter jock smiled. There was something to be said for this intel weenie stuff after all. Knowing something nobody else knew... It wasn't quite the same rush as flying, but... Well, it was something. Raising his left arm, he made a gun with his thumb and forefinger. Drawing a bead on the picture hung on the wall, he smiled.

"Boom."

---

The warning was, in fact, delivered - Through back channels, of course. No mention was made of either of these facilities, but a message was passed to Eredron, mentioning how such a facility could be destroyed, and hinting that a hypothetical base of that type might benefit from some air support, should hostilities erupt.

OOC: Nice post. Although I was RPing the complex as being largely completed, I like what you did, so I'll disregard that conflicting fact.

--

Consul Hawkins, woken in the night, had hurriedly assembled those trusted few who knew of the project.

"What do they know? What are we dealing with?" the Consul asked, pacing the room.

"From their message, it doesn't appear to be anything damaging," a colonel said - a close assistant to Hawkins. "The Kotterdam's satellite imagery got a few shots of it - faster than we expected, but it shouldn't be too suspicious; the NRMC (size=8]Northern Region Military Complex[/size]) is just south of it, so it'll just look like further development. They'll have determined it was a weapons lab or storage facility, but that's nothing out of the ordinary, given the circumstances."

"Response?"

"A neutral one. Thank them for their advice, unnecessary though it was, and leave it at that. None of the terro-" he stopped, remembering the Consul's dislike for that term. "None of the guerillas, freedom fighters could have been seen, nothing could have leaked."

Hawkins finally sat down. "Find out what you can about Kotterdam; when will our satellites be passing over them?"

"We're already working on it."

"Good."

*Tag* for posting in a bit (I g2g for now).

"Sir we have some rather interesting photos to show you. Here." The adujant passed over a folder of photographs. "We believe that there may be a new military complex in Eredron. These pictures were taken a few days ago. Newly dug earth and rock has been found to the south of this site here." He points to a group of buildings, "These have been built within the past few months. Intel suggests they are meerly a training post for the larger base to the south. However, some of our satellites are designed to look below the surface of the ground, and have shown that this complex extends to 4 floors below the surface, with connections. If this is a training post, its a very heavily fortified one."

"Very well. Set a few men to look after this and report any major incidents regarding this facility. We shall keep it secret for the moment - no reason to alert the Eredron government over it."

While Eredron's media focused on the M-series rockets approach of Mars, Order 606 was quietly passed by the Senate Military Committee, kept confidential under the War Power Act, and signed into law by the Consul.


Summary, Provisions of Order 606
Classified

For the continued preservation of Eredron dominance and sovereignty over Her Principalities and Republic,

To ensure the effective rule of the duly elected Government against aggression, foreign and domestic,

All Powers are hereby granted to the Office of Consul, and Those duly appointed by that office, necessary to arrest those dissidents whose Goal is the overthrow of the Government, or prevent the effectual governing of said Government, or to spread or instill terror or anarchy, or values in opposition to the majority.



Immediately upon signing the Order, nearly two hundred communists, and known leaders of socialist parties, were detained during the night, and sent to various holding places.

Meanwhile, in response to warnings of a "clear and present danger to Eredron's military might", civilian satellites of Eredron organizations and companies were ordered to alter their geosynchronous orbit, to prevent satellite imagery of Eredron's military bases, including the Northern Region Military Complex.

OOC: Thanks... Actually, I knew how you were presenting your base to the world. I just wanted to post as if it was complete, or very near completion, and they were just looking over the satelite imagery then. My post probably occurs at the same time if not before your first one... But this might just turn out to be a really interesting RP, so let's see where this goes.


---

Major Caulder never wanted this. All he wanted was to finish his posting overseeing a bunch of techweenies from Alpha as they analyzed imagery acquired through "National Technical Means" - Bureaucratese for spy satelites - and then head back to his squadron so that he could get back to where the real action was: Throwing fighter planes around the sky. Things were quickly starting to look like that wouldn't be in the cards for a long time to come. An official attaboy had come down the chain of command for him and his team - Way down the chain of command. As in down from the Prime Minister's Office, possibly from the man himself. More than that, the PMO itself had issued orders placing him in charge of gathering intelligence on the situation in Eredron. He was a fighter pilot, for fnord's sake! A good one, but just a fighter pilot. What did he know about sigint, or worse, humint?

"John, you need to see this..." That was Warren. Warren Timothy. He was the one who should be here, in the big chair, riding heed on all the other geeks, not Caulder. When the PMO had put him in charge of all the other geeks and their geeky little tasks, Caulder had brought his own top geek with him to help him make sense of it all. Warren was the one who really broke the case on the twin compounds in Eredron, the one who refused to believe they were part of that country's NRMC, or even that ridiculous line about them being skyscrapers way out in the middle of nowhere. When Caulder was over his head, when he needed help, Warren was the man he asked.

"What've you got for me?" the fighter pilot drawled, hobbling over on his cane, his busted leg slowing him down ever so slightly. Taking the print-out from Warren, he read over it, his sharp eyes flickering over the words as he pieced it together in his mind.

"This just came in over the wire from our Embassy." Warren explained. "The Chief of Station decided we needed to see this pronto."

"STU-ed?" the fighter pilot asked, pronouncing the acronym "stewed", the agency term for the Secure Telephone Unit.

"And Tapdanced." the analyst confirmed. Someone had seen fit to add a one-time pad to the already robust encryption of the STU.

"Shit..."

"Then you see the implications."

John nodded, spitting a wad of chewing gum into a nearby garbage can. Making his way back to his desk, he came up with a tin of chewing tobacco, and dug out a wad. He was trying to quit the disgusting habit, he honestly was, but to tell the truth... Well, in a stressful situation like this, Doublemint gum just didn't cut the mustard. Taking a few good chews, John drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You know the PM needs to see this soonest, right?" he drawled. "I mean right fucking now."

"The Prime Minister?" the other man balked. They'd played it fast and loose with the chain of command in the last couple of days, but going right to the top... "It's four in the morning."

"Then wake him." John answered without hesitation. "He needs to see this, Warren. He needs to see this right now."

---

"They call it Order 606, mister Prime Minister." Scott Haley had indeed been rolled out of bed, even though he hadn't been sleeping. At first, he hadn't been pleased at all, and neither had his wife, but the moment they shoved the print out under his nose, and he pulled on his reading glasses, he was out of bed and making for the bathroom, forcing the Navy steward sent to wake him to avert his eyes. A splash of water in the face, and a monogrammed house coat, and he was making for the Office, snatching a cup of coffee as he went. "Basically, what it means is..."

"What it means is that Eredron just became a goddamned police state." the Prime Minister interrupted. "God... As I read it, this lets them suspend the civil rights of whoever they want, and all they have to say is it's a matter of national security. Everything's under control. Look at this: SigInt. A few hours ago, commands went up to all their civilian satelites, adjusting their orders to change their orbits. Whatever they're doing, it looks like they're trying to hide something out at that new compound we spotted a few weeks ago. Something's happening here, Leo, and I don't like it."

The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff took a deep breath. "Mister Prime Minister, I don't think anyone in this building likes it. The question is, what are we going to do about it?"

"No, the question is what are they going to do about it." Haley countered, holding up the file delivered into his hands mere moments ago. "There's nothing here about it yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if tommorow morning, we start getting reports about Communists, and maybe even some of our own agents dissapearing in the middle of the night. This isn't good, Leo. It's not good at all."

"No, sir, it's not. It's also not a legitimate reason to send in the Airborne Rangers. Not yet." he pointed out. "Now, it's four in the morning, and this is all coming on you at once, but what are we going to do? You're the boss. It's your call."

Haley sat back in his chair, sipping deep of his coffee. Setting down the file, he cradled the cup in both hands, letting the heat flow into his fingertips as he considered his options. "Do we have any ships in the area?"

Leo nodded. "The DNS Kenneth Hamilton and her battlegroup are conducting exercises in international waters."

"What kind of exercises?" the Prime Minister asked, leaning forward.

"Sub hunting, sir. Their Avalon-class assets are pretending to be OpFor boomers, and they're trying to find them and kill them before they can launch their theoretical ICBMs." he explained.

"The DNS Conqueror is part of the Hamilton battlegroup, isn't she? Have her change course to bring her no closer than ten nautical miles from Eredron's territorial waters, but make it a speed run so that Eredron hears her coming, then detach the Xenophon and two destroyers to try and find her. Xenophon's one of the new battleships... One of our trimarans. Juneau-class, right? She's got all that ELINT and SIGINT gear onboard. Let's put it to good use. Nothing overt yet, but I want to keep an eye on Eredron. Also, tommorow, have our Embassy pass their government a note - Something about while we are concerned about potential human rights violations that may stem from 606, we understand that sometimes a government needs to take extreme measures to protect its assets. Phrase it in such a way that hints that we wouldn't take kindly to them flipping ASATs at our surveilance birds, or bothering our battlegroup. Do they have ASATs?"

"We don't know. We're looking into it." Leo answered somewhat impatiently as he tried to get to his main point. "Isn't that a bit confrontational?"

"Not if we're careful. Phrase it so that it sounds more like we're watching, but what you do inside your borders is your business, so long as it doesn't interfere with us. I'll leave the wording up to you, Leo."

"I'll get right on it, mister Prime Minister."

Consul Hawkins had again convened a meeting, but this time in the afternoon. Those in the conference room were dressed impeccably, as opposed to their prior emergency meeting in the middle of the night. Key officials of his own administration were present, as well as members of the Military Command.

His second-in-command, a humorless colonel whose background was largely unknown to all but the Consul himself, was again providing those present with the latest intelligence.

"Kotterdam Embassy sent out a message roughly twelve hours ago night, presumably to their superiors in Kotterdam. Shortly after that, our sub-nets picked up naval contacts approaching Eredron, three surface ships and at least one sub. Fighter squadrons were put on alert, but the ships appear to have taken up station in international waters, albeit skirting the edge."

The colonel paused for a moment as the projector changed slides. Attention briefly focused on a large photo of the Kotterdam fleet, taken by reconnaissance.

Admiral Greyes, Fleet Commander, spoke up. "I've sent in three Virginia subs to the area, to let them know we're watching, but it's obvious the message they're trying to get across."

In a noncommittal tone, Hawkins replied. "And what might that be?"

"This is their way of saying: We know about 606. We know about Lab Four (the term had been decided upon as a reference to the science lab in which a super-human mutant had been created in the latest blockbuster release)." The Admiral looked around the room. "This is their way of telling us, be careful."

"It could also be a first step to an overt military strike," growled General Harker. Known for his aggressive behavior, his lack of finesse and paranoia had earned him a strong reputation, matched only by his military accomplishments. His paranoia of communists - a product of Eredron's war with Galdania - had made him a supportive member of the Consul's inner circle.

"It's obvious they have determined more about Lab Four than we thought, and 606 has fueled this response."

Although the general seemed quite willing to continue, the Consul ended the discussion with a slight raise of his hand. Once the general had leaned back in his chair, he raised a thin, crisp piece of paper into the air. "Their embassy sent this dispatch to me earlier today, in which they expressed concern over recent legislation passed in Eredron, as well as touching on their naval exercises."

Hawkins placed the dispatch on the table again, then looked around the room at those present. "Kotterdam's interference is an irritant, nothing more. We will continue with our counter-revolutionary measures, and we will continue with our training center at the NRMC."

He leaned back in his chair. "In the meantime, monitor those ships. If they aren't out of there by tomorrow, send up some birds; maybe they'll get the message."

"Consul, that might provoke unwanted media attention.."

"Unlikely with the Mars landing coming up. None of the channels will worry about a military exercise."

After a few moments discussion, the Consul signalled that the meeting was adjourned.

By morning, the Dominion ships were still there. Indeed, one of the battlegroup's hunter-killer subs had found the other so-called "Boomer" and administratively "killed" it, so the rest of the group was steaming to link up with the Xenophon and her destroyers.

Meanwhile, the destroyers were pinging away like mad, less searching for the other Avalon-class boat than they were herding it in towards the new Juneau-class battleship. If the Xenophon located the sub, then her biggest worry wouldn't be the destroyers chasing her. It'd be having Xenophon finish the exercise with a Flying Fish. Still... It wasn't especially likely that the "Big Ex" was going to catch her any time soon. More, it seemed to be trying to keep the Avalon-class sub too low to fire her "ICBMs" until the rest of the battlegroup could get there.

In other words, they were buying time.

By morning, the Dominion ships were still there. Indeed, one of the battlegroup's hunter-killer subs had found the other so-called "Boomer" and administratively "killed" it, so the rest of the group was steaming to link up with the Xenophon and her destroyers.

Meanwhile, the destroyers were pinging away like mad, less searching for the other Avalon-class boat than they were herding it in towards the new Juneau-class battleship. If the Xenophon located the sub, then her biggest worry wouldn't be the destroyers chasing her. It'd be having Xenophon finish the exercise with a Flying Fish. Still... It wasn't especially likely that the "Big Ex" was going to catch her any time soon. More, it seemed to be trying to keep the Avalon-class sub too low to fire her "ICBMs" until the rest of the battlegroup could get there.

In other words, they were buying time.

OOC: When, where, and how should my *COUGH* freedom fighters *COUGH* enter the facility, Eredron?

Did you not get my TG?

"Sir, this may be nothing to do with the facility we discovered a while back, but recently Eredon has effectively declared Martial Law in their nation, and all civillian spacecraft are being re-directed to new orbits. Also it seems that Kotterdam has placed some of his naval vessels on the edge of their national waters."

"Hmm, an interesting development to be sure. Keep a satellite on the proceedings and send a Tritus-DSM to watch over the proceedings. Keep them near the Kotterdam ships, but far away enough to show we mean them no harm. I'll send this up the chain and see what they make of it."