NationStates Jolt Archive

DPUO's Government has remaining several issues of concern for the safety and stability of all nations, following the admittedly rather dramatic conference in Derscon.

These issues, which we feel are not conducive to the continued stability of either of our nations, nor the safety of the peoples of the world, are as follows:

1) Private ownership (that is non-Governmental ownership, be it individual or collective) of weapons of mass destruction;

2) Organisation of a DMZ between Arab/Free Libya and Mississippian Libya, thus preventing any accidental initiation of hostilities by either side;

3) Continual Mississippian funding of independent militias, for use as proxy armies;

4) Mississippian Air Force expansions (following the Derscon conference Mississippi had committed to reducing Naval forces; this indicates to us that CM is not actually interested in arms reduction);

5) Reductions in respective nuclear forces;

6) Limitation of destabilising SDI systems.

We invite delegations from CM, Derscon, Seryown, Parthia, and Hattia to the conference.

Other persons wishing to attend must request approval.

Security forces may consist of no more than 4 persons, armed only with small arms. All delegates must arrive at the Balgorsk Naval Base, by ship only. Please send a delegate who is not a:
*Racist
*Member of the KKK
*Member of the WKM
*Memeber of any paramilitary organisation of CM
*Member of the armed forces

DPUO's Government has remaining four issues of concern for the safety and stability of all nations, following the admittedly rather dramatic conference in Derscon.

These four issues, which we feel are not conducive to the continued stability of either of our nations, nor the safety of the peoples of the world, are as follows:

1) Private ownership (that is non-Governmental ownership, be it individual or collective) of weapons of mass destruction;

2) Organisation of a DMZ between Arab/Free Libya and Mississippian Libya, thus preventing any accidental initiation of hostilities by either side;

3) Continual Mississippian funding of independent militias, for use as proxy armies;

4) Mississippian Air Force expansions (following the Derscon conference Mississippi had committed to reducing Naval forces; this indicates to us that CM is not actually interested in arms reduction);

5) Reductions in respective nuclear forces;

6) Limitation of destabilising SDI systems.

We invite delegations from CM, Derscon, Seryown, Parthia, and Hattia to the conference.

Other persons wishing to attend must request approval.

Security forces may consist of no more than 4 persons, armed only with small arms.

1) We don't regulate what our private white citizens do. Well we do sometimes, but we don't like to. By our estimates there are only maybe 50-100 million gallons of chemical and biological agents in private hands in the commonwealth. Along with maybe 1,000 or so tactical nuclear devices. Hardly significant numbers to warrant widespread raids by our police to seize the weapons, which are legal under CM and Commonwealth law.

2) A DMZ of any appreciable size (more than 1 mile) would leave New Jerusalem defenseless as the city of approximately 5 million is 1 mile from the border of AL/ML. Anything over 25 miles would also likely leave Tripoli defenseless (Tripoli has 12 million in it)

3) We don't do that. (occ- anymore :D... Well we do fund WKM paramilitary units, but the CMB is basically gone, except for a few die-hard fanactics who won't quit, about 50,000 hardcore CMB militants left. Most CMB have been pushed into joining commonwealth military units) Ooc- We have no proxy armies, unless you count the 20 million WKM paramilitaries which are basically reserves and guerilla fighters only to be used inside their own territories to resist possible occupiers. And then the 1.25+ mercenaries we allow to be based in the commonwealth and Mississippi. But they're the Mississippian Private Military Conglomerate, they did over 1.5 trillion in business on the last Fortune list.

4) We bought 2,000 F-22s from an ally (IDF) to help boost his economy in a time of trouble and war (hatarian mammalia). We will buy no more though if you feel we shouldn't.

5) We're open to suggestions.

6) We're open to suggestions.

Please send a delegate who is not a:
*Racist
*Member of the KKK
*Member of the WKM
*Memeber of any paramilitary organisation of CM
*Member of the armed forces


So what do we do? Send robots?

All high government officials are members of the WKM and most are members of paramilitary and/or military organizations. And about 98% of the society believes in racial science. You've basically excluded me from the conference. Well you've certainly excluded the Premier and his inner circle, the only people who have the authority and such to make any meaningful negotiations.

We are sending Alice Carrion the recently appointed governor-general of Mississippian Egypt, (She was appointed by Roger Fabus) she is originally from Seryown.

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=6755111&postcount=511

Very well. Please have your vessel fly some sort of white flag, since obviously we wouldn't want it fired upon by any patrolling ships.

Very well. Please have your vessel fly some sort of white flag, since obviously we wouldn't want it fired upon by any patrolling ships.


The vessel will fly the CM flag, a 60 x 120 foot flag from a massive pole. Look for it. :D

If it isn't flying something white then I cannot guarantee the safety of your delegates.

If it isn't flying something white then I cannot guarantee the safety of your delegates.


Fine, they'll fly a large white flag.

Much appreciated. Just so we know, of course. Would be most unpleasant and embarassing if a 14in shell were to kill them all or something, before an arms limitation conference.

Balgorsk Naval Base

The sun glinted fro the shining forms of ships moored in a row. Out to sea, a pair of Sovremennyy-class destroyers partolled, aided by four Ka-27B ASW helicopters. Some 15 miles away the sleek form of the MSS Varyag, a Soyuz-class battleship, patrolled lazily. The base was geared up, awaiting the arrival of the delegates. No trouble was expected; even so, the Varyag was carrying a full ammunition loadout, as were all the ships.

Seryown will be sending Faran Boran, it's new chief diplomat, to the meetings. He has strict instructions from Mr. Mason, who does not conform to the requirements laid down by DPUO.

Much appreciated. Now we await confirmation - or lack of same - from the other invited persons.

OOC:

DPUO: What about Kanabia and some of your other people in the International.

OOC: Ug. They haven't really been onvolved in the entire Cold War thing. 'Course any other support would be fine.

OOC- Greenmanbry requests permission to get involved in this conference, for reasons you are all perfectly aware of.

OOC: :P I understand. As you know, Lethislavania always has your back, as does the whole International. Oh, and, uh, we slipped you some money. ;)

I request that any and all members from the League Of Empire Loyalists, that wish to attend, be permitted to do so.

International members who have not been threatened by CM are not permitted to attend, nor are the League of Empire loyalists members no under threat by us.

Greenmanbry is however welcomed.

(This is Sevaris- reborn.)

While we'd like to participate in these talks, we're unable to, because we are so small. Good luck on getting a negotiable solution

Prime Minister Colin C. Graves
The Republic of The Canadian Union (Canada)

Hopefully we will arrive eventually at a solution. In the meantime, good luck to you in all endeavours you undertake.

Awaiting information from:

*Parthia
*Derscon
*Hattia, since was present at last conference.

A large white flag was raised on the foremost pole of the DBS Calypso, with a smaller Greenmanbry flag in the background.

The ship carried Lucian Niles, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as a couple of highly-ranked officials of the Greenmanbry Foreign Ministry. Only one unarmed secret service agent accompanied the delegation.

The ship would approach DPUO waters in a matter of hours.

MSS Varyag


"Comrade Captain! New contact, bearing 201, designated R-14," reported a radar operator flatly.
"Captain aye. Can you identify?" asked Captain First Rank John Hammond.
"Surface contract, moving at 18 knots to our position. IFF confirms friendly."
"Very well", he replied in his usual clipped tone. "Launch one of the jets to escort her in. Radio, report approach of Greenmanbry vessel."
"Aye aye, sir."

On the Calypso, the men watched as a pair of Yak-41M2s came in to escort them to their destination. In the distance, the look-out could just make out the great form of the Varyag, rolling gently in the chop.

bümp

bump. C'mon, people.

Yeah I know, I posted this as the end of the last peace conference just a few minutes ago. But who more can read the end of that thing? This is the end of that, start of my involvement here. So it gets posted again. :D


Seryown handled Alice: CM handled the others (Main character for me was Roger).

Continuing from this:

The phone stopped ringing and then about ten seconds later started ringing again.

Cursing, Alice picked up the phone. "What?"

(Man) "This is the chief of police of Tanta, we have a situation."

(Man) "Well we have a hostage situation, a few angry arab gunmen have take up positions in a building occupied largely by foreigners. Now we're not going to sit here and negotiate until the cows come home, so I was figuring we'd just use a few 155mm howitzers to blast them out."






(Alice) "Wait. What's there in terms of special forces?"

(Man) "We have over 50 members of the Egyptian Special Air Assault Squads here in the city. But we don't want to risk any of them getting hurt to save a bunch of Nigerians."

(Man) "Most of the hostages are black Nigerian tourists who were in Parthian Egypt briefly and then came to Tanta for a brief stop."

(Alice) "Snipers?"

(Man) "They're mostly off duty today, we don't really want to bother any of them."

(Alice) "Bother them."

(Man) "So the howitzer idea is out?"

(Alice) "For now."

(Man) "Yes madam governor, that's all then. I'll get on the sniper idea right away."

Alice hung up the phone quickly and checked the time. It was still relatively early in the morning. She suspected a messenger would be showing the Senate her order right about now, but she could do nothing about that and moved on to go back to her stack of papers.

She saw the next paper on her desk was a letter from an oil company addressed to Donald Stahlecker offering him 50,000 shares valued at 80 dollars each if he agreed to relax environmental standards.

She immediately threw this paper in the trash and moved on, looking at things varying from tax breaks for larger hotels to requests for help from women who had lost husbands in Angola.

She saw another letter, the WKM of ME was nominating Donald Stahlecker for the "Klansmen of the month" award, there was a time and place and the number listed to call, the number was the number of a large legal firm in Alexandria, Triple K Law firms.

She looked at it for a moment, then put it in her trash as well, deciding that in the end she would have fun burning it all in that massive fireplace.

There was another letter, to Donald Stahlecker from a boy of about 19 who wanted to get into the Commonwealth Army as an officer, he was having trouble do to stomach problems he suffered from, and he was requesting a medical waiver.

She put this letter in her pile of non-urgent requests, to deal with when she'd finished with the others, and when she'd had time to think.

There was another letter from a military general in the Commonwealth army requesting that they raise 2 divisions of Arab soldiers to test them in combat to see if it would be worth raising more divisions.

She approved of this letter, as she did of so few of these papers, so she wrote the word "Yes" on a sticky note that she put on top of the letter, which went on to the more urgent pile. She didn't want to issue another gubernatorial order just yet, so it would have to wait a little while.

There was a letter from the admiral of the Commonwealth Egyptian Navy, Admiral Ernst Raedar, requesting the funds to acquire at least 30 new destroyers and frigates. She remember hearing that he was the admiral who had ordered the MKM-Curtis Fabus battleship to fire on a mosque about 8 months go, an attack that killed over 4,000 arabs. He justified the action to Governor Rechberg by saying, "They had it coming".

She immediately trashed the paper and instead made a mental note to have someone look into his complete history.

Another paper was requesting that the governor appear at the next WKM parade and at a later meeting and conference as the guest of honor.

Alice stood up angrily and walked over to the bar, deciding that what she really needed was a drink.

She found a bottle of brandy and opened it angrily, trying to figure out how to deal with this.

She started to drink it, when Joe came in and said, "Ma'am, there is somebody here to see you."

(Joe) "Mr. Fabus, he says it's well past noon and you're late for lunch." She suddenly realized she had been caught up in her work.

Alice stood up hurriedly, leaving the liquor behind, and began to walk towards the door. "You know how the senators took the order yet?"

Roger walked in and said, "The order eh?"

(Alice) "Yeah. I wrote an Executive Gubernatorial Order after I got a little fed up with Senator Rutledge."

(Roger) "What was the order?"

(Roger) "I haven't heard about it yet."

(Alice) "Only a unanimous vote of the Senate or the order of the Governor-General can order military movement."

(Roger) "The senate won't like that. They'll probably attempt to impeach you on any grounds they can think of."

(Alice) "Yeah, they were going for that even before I did it."

(Roger) "Do you need any help from me to derail the impeachment?"

(Alice) "I'm afraid I probably have basically no popular support right now, so I guess I do need it."

(Roger) "I wonder if Rutledge will help you?"

(Alice) "Oh, he's busy blackmailing me by saying he'll get me impeached unless I do what he says."

(Roger) "What does he want you to do?"

(Alice) "He hasn't told me yet."

(Roger) "Do you think it has to do with the bills he is trying to get passed?"

(Alice) "Probably."

(Roger) "You do realize it is well after noon, you missed our lunch appointment, you must really be into your new job. The previous governor was often out of the office on personal days."

(Alice) "I had work to do."

(Roger) "Have you heard about the troubles in the west with the farm attacks?”

(Alice) "Yes. Rutledge moved troops that could have dealt with it out of the way so that the White Knights could get a crack at it."

(Roger) "Ah, well there will be many a lynching in that case."

(Roger) "How many white farmers were killed?"

(Alice) "Over forty, if I remember right."

(Roger) "Then there will probably be at the very least 400 lynchings."

(Alice) "Perhaps."

(Roger) "They usually retaliate ten fold."

(Alice) "I think I stepped into too much here."

(Roger) "What do you mean? In over your head already?"

(Alice) "I just have no support from anyone around here. A mayor wants to bring howitzers in to shell a hotel full of diplomats that just got out of Parthia, and there's the robot thing, plus these."

(Roger) "Don't worry, you'll do fine Alice, I wouldn't have appointed you if I thought otherwise. You just need to establish a rapport with the people. Also it wouldn't hurt to have allies. If you were in the WKM you'd have about 10 million allies here."

(Alice) "The WKM don't share my views. I can't expect them to support me when I directly contradict their beliefs, and I will not make a show of sharing their beliefs and allowing them to murder hundreds of people just because I need some allies."

(Roger) "Or if you had a commercial farm and you voted for farming benefits, you'd get the backing of the Commercial Farmers Association."


(Roger) "There are about 750,000 commercial farms in Mississippian Egypt. And each farmer typically has a wife and at least nine children."

(Alice) "As for these farmers...I'll consider it."

(Roger) "Then there are a miners, the military, the cattle ranchers, the oil industry. If you bought yourself some stock in the oil industry, boosted the military benefits, and bought a cattle ranch and started voting for ranch benefits. You could easily get the backing of at least 8 million people in this nation."

(Alice) "But I'm not for big oil and I'm not for big military."

(Roger) "But remember that over 14 million barrels of oil are produced in your territory each day, that is big thing, significant, you know what I mean?"

(Roger) "Last year the Commonwealth of Mississippian Egypt had revenues of 224.8 billion dollars from oil alone. Mississippian Libya pulled about 256.9 billion."

(Alice) "I'm not for big oil."

(Roger) "Commercial farming from Mississippian Libya brought in over 2.8 trillion dollars. Commercial farming from Mississippian Egypt brought in over 1.3 trillion. These are the two most important holdings in the Commonwealth. ML and ME, and you are the governor of one of them. Do you comprehend what that means? You're the governor-general of the 2nd most powerful holding in the Commonwealth."

(Alice) "Possibly."

(Roger) "So what are your plans for lunch, well late lunch?"

(Alice) "I'm not sure. I hadn't had enough time to plan anything."

(Roger) "Well I hear Senate is in session now, would you like to go over there and defend yourself against the impeachment proceedings and then get some dinner afterwards?"

(Alice) "I'm not up for another speech now."

(Roger) "So what are your plans then?"

(Alice) "As I said, I had none. I was just taking a break to have a drink."

(Roger) "I see no drink?"

(Alice) "There's a private bar back there I left it in."

(Roger) "Ah yes, I remember it now. Mind if I join you for a drink?"

(Alice) "No, by all means."

Roger leads the way and sits down in one of the large chairs in the private bar. He reaches over and pours himself a glass of cognac, "Would you care for a glass of this or something else perhaps?"

(Alice) "I need to keep my head. If indications are anything, I have a very long day ahead of me."

(Roger) "Nonsense. The robots are being dealt with, we're going to use EMP weapons in Tennessee to crush them. And the threat of a war between farmers and arabs will be ended as soon as the 500 SRG men I sent to the township arrive there and pry the groups apart."

(Alice) "There was also a small group of robots here in Egypt - Rutledge said he dispatched them by ordering troops to kill them, but I'll believe that when Joe sticks a report on my desk that says so."

Roger drank his drink down quickly and set the empty glass on a table near his chair, then he sighed, "Ah yes Rutledge and his method for dispatching them, don't remind me."

(Alice) "I have a pile of papers a foot high on what to do, and most of them I could just ignore, but I need to sift through them to find out what they are, so I spend more time on them then I should, and there'll be more papers tomorrow, and... How do you get through it all?"

(Roger) "Well first, I'm sure you want to know what Rutledge did. He had 300 suicide bombers from a now basically defunct group that is called the Christian Martyrs Brigade jump on the robots and the automated tanks and detonate their explosives. He also had a few F-16s crash into automated bunkers, but there were only a few automated bunkers and the pilots ejected before crashing into them."

(Roger) "Papers eh? Lots of staff workers, that's all I can say. They sort out the important pressing issues from the junk."

(Roger) "Many of the letters I get are just requests of help for getting commissions into the army or secret police etc. My staff can handle those."

(Alice) "Yes, but with the phone ringing off the hook I don't even have time to deal with hiring people. Whatever. I'll get right on that."

The phone rang again at that very moment.

(Roger) "I see what you mean, should I get it for you?"

(Alice) "Ah no, I've got it."

She answers the phone, it a woman talking, "Hello, this is the ministry of foreign affairs."

(Alice) "This is the Governor-General. What's happening?"

(Woman) "I am a secretary for Foreign Minister Paul Stahlecker, I'm faxing you some papers from his office that you'll need to give immediate attention to."

(Alice) "How immediate?"

She can hear Paul in the background saying in a sly tone, "Come on in my office, it's time for your employee evaluation again."

(Woman) (Sighing) "I have to go now, just look over the papers as soon as you can." She hangs up the phone.

(Roger) "Who was that?"

(Alice) "A secretary at the Foreign Minister's office. They're faxing something over."

(Roger) (Chuckling) "Surprised they have time to get any work done, Paul keeps them quite busy with other things, if you catch my drift."

(Alice) "I can tell. Joe!" Her assistant walked into the sprawling study. "Get the mayor of Tanta on the line and figure out what's happening down there. You have any idea where the fax machine is in this bloody place?"

(Joe) "There are at least six fax machines I've seen thus far."

(Alice) "All right. Before you get the Mayor of Tanta, I need you to find a fax that was just sent to me and get it to me as soon as I can."

(Joe) "Okay, oh something is coming in on the study fax right now." (He walks over and takes out 4 papers, then he hands them to Alice)

(Joe) "It's from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

(Alice)(reading the papers) "Yeah."

She reads through the papers it is a negotiation plan for an upcoming conference she is directed to attend involving DPUO. She is being instructed to be very low-key about CM's proxy armies, approximately 20 million white knights paramilitaries out of the 150 million total of the group, and the 1.5+ million mercenaries that operate under the Mississippian Private Military Conglomerate.

The papers instruct her to deny that CM ever had links to the Christian Martyrs Brigade if the issue is raised, but if necessary, to admit that it did operate in rural regions of the CM commonwealth due to lack of local authority but was put down by the federal army. Also she is instructed to divert attention from the issue of privately owned WMDs in civilian hands.

She is instructed to agree to nothing over a 15% nuclear arms reduction and that there are to be no further biological and chemical reductions.

She is also instructed to point out how well the Arabs in Egypt are and how they are quote "Living it up".

She finishes glancing over the papers and tucks them away. Roger asks, "Anything terribly important?"

Alice smiles. "They mayor at Tanta wants to blow up a hotel full of diplomats and they want me to be low-key about proxy armies."

(Roger) (Grinning) "We don't have any proxy armies, I don't know what you're talking about." (Very sarcastic and humorous tone)

Alice smiles again. "Right."

Joe steps in. "Ma'am, I-

(Alice) "Joe! We're going to DPUO for a while, to have a meeting. It'll be grand. I'll need a charged cell phone, and I'll need all calls here to be forwarded to it. You've got that report?"

(Joe) "Yes, governor."

(Alice) "Sure. I'm sure I've got some time before this conference."

(Alice) "But first I'll need this summary from Joe." She turns to look at Joe. "What's going on in Tanta?"

(Joe) "Oh yes, the mayor, I just spoke to him on the phone, he says the police chief solved the problem. The hostage situation is over but now they need a new hotel."

(Alice) "Damnit! I want that police chief's job, now! Get back on the phone with the mayor and tell him that if the police chief isn't fired in the next two hours I'll cut off all commonwealth funding to Tanta, period. And he's not getting any money for that hotel. I need consolations and explanations for the family of every diplomat who died there as well."

Joe dials the mayor and hands her the phone as it is ringing.

(Mayor) "Hello, office of the mayor of Tanta and head of the WKM klavern for Tanta."

Alice takes it. "Mayor? This is the Governor."

(Mayor) "Oh hello governor, I thought you were a prospective recruit, sorry. To what do I owe this call?"

(Alice) "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to fire that police chief. If two hours from now he still has a job, I'm going to going to cut off all Commonwealth funding to the entire town until exactly two hours after he is fired. Sound like a plan to you?"

(Mayor) "Well now see that's not how things work. The police chief and I have a sort of understanding whereby he handles the law enforcing and I give him the room to maneuver so to speak."

(Alice) "You have two hours, starting when I say go. Go."

(Mayor) "See, we don't need any outside agitators stirring up our people. You cut the funding, we'll declare secession."

(Mayor) "We have over 8 million people in this city and the surrounding suburbs, we're fairly well equipped to secede if necessary. We can raise a decent army to defend ourselves to. And not to mention you'll have over 10 million angry WKM members throughout the territory, many of whom are in the Commonwealth army, and they won't raise a finger to put our new state down."

(Mayor) "And besides there is no cause for getting into an uproar, the only folks killed were all Nigerians Negroids, about 36 of them, hardly worth getting into a fuss over."

(Alice) "I've got my watch going, Mayor. I'm going to hang up the phone and go have lunch."

(Mayor) "Well I'll go tell the city council to prepare for secession. We're going to seize the federal base in Tanta."

(Mayor) "You enjoy your lunch now governor. Take care."

Alice hangs up the phone. "Joe, I need you to see what options I have for targeted chemical weapons attacks against certain buildings. I also need to get the commander of the Federal Army in Egypt."

(Roger) "The commander of the Federal Army in Egypt is at a Klan function."

(Joe) "I'll get right on the plans." (He walks out of the room)

(Roger) "May I ask why you're so eager for chemical weapons options? What is going on?"

(Alice) "The mayor of Tanta is going to secede."

(Roger) "Nah, he's just bluffing. Anytime some mayor doesn't get his way, they threaten to secede, few do."

(Alice) "Few being the operative word."

One of Roger's SRG men along with Joe rushed into the room and the SRG man shouted, "Sir! Sir! Police and Commonwealth reserve units in Tanta are beginning to mobilize and it appears they mean to surround the federal garrison there!"

(Guard) "They just took the Commonwealth flag down from the mayor's office and raised the City flag up high!"

(Roger) "Well it seems the mayor might have been planning this before you two spoke."

(Roger) "Send in a few Su-25s and hit them with Sarin gas, that'll show them."

(Guard) "What should the target be?"

(Alice) "Joe, screw the commander. Get me the garrison at Tanta."

(Roger) (Leaning back with his hands behind his head, rocking back and forth in his chair as he smokes his cigar) "Take a map of the city, throw a dart, and there you have your target."

(Guard) "Communications with the garrison is down. It seems somebody cut the lines."

(Alice) "I need helicopters there, now."

(Roger) (Exhaling smoke) "Well listen here and listen good, I want you to get 50 operatives from the Egyptian Special Air Assault Squads, and 50 more from the Mississippi Special Air Assault Squads that are part of the Federal forces here in Alexandria. I want you to personally see that they arrest the mayor of Tanta."

The phone in her office rings.

Alice picks up the phone. "What?"

(Grand Dragon) "Greeting Governor. I heard there was trouble brewing in Tanta so I did you a favor; the mayor is about to be arrested by WKM paramilitary units. You can thank me later. Expect your people to be calling to confirm this in a few minutes."

Alice slams the phone down.

(Roger) "Who was it?"

(Alice) "The grand fricking dragon."

The phone rings again.

Alice picks up the phone angrily. "If this isn't vital to state security, hang up now."

(Grand Dragon) "That was very rude governor, I could change my mind and tell the WKM to back the secession. Indeed we could have secession in the entire southern and western part of this colony, we could even seize Alexandria because we have over 500,000 members in the city."

(Grand Dragon) "I think after all I'm doing for you. You owe me an apology."

(Alice) "You and I both know it would be suicide for millions people. "

(Grand Dragon) "Mostly your people. 75% of the commonwealth army is WKM."

(Grand Dragon) "Now how about that apology?"

(Alice) "You will get no apology from me. Throw Egypt into civil war if you have to. You know that Mississippi will annihilate the entire colony before they let their control of it be lost."

He was shocked that she said this, she could tell from the change in his voice, "Well... Okay then governor, I accept that as enough of an apology, you're lucky though; I'm letting you off the hook this time. I won't be so nice next time... Have a nice day." He hung up.

(Roger) "Was that him again?"

(Alice) "Yeah."

The phone rang again.

(Alice) "Joe, while I'm at this conference I need you to hire someone to screen calls, okay?" She picks up the phone.

(Man) "This is General Stafford with the Federal Garrison in Tanta, we've just avoided a potentially very bloody situation. We have the local WKM to thank; they detained the mayor and crushed his plan for secession. I just thought you'd like to know. No lives were lost but a few dozen people were injured."

(Alice) "Thank you, General Stafford. Make sure they get the top-notch medical care, okay? Also, could you see to it that the police chief at Tanta is also arrested?"

(Stafford) "I'm sorry but the police chief is nowhere to be found. His office looks like a burglar tore through it, and his residence looks the same way, his car is gone and his bank account has been emptied out."

(Alice) "Fine. Thank you."

(Stafford) "Thank you Governor." He hung up.

(Roger) "Did they resolve the crisis then?"

(Alice) "I really need some more people. I'm stuffing everything on Joe. Yeah, the WKM got it."

(Roger) "You know what that means?"

(Roger) (In a spooky voice) "It means they own you now." (He starts to laugh)

(Alice) "I see your point."

Joe walks in. "Joe, I need you to hire yourself a new staff to handle all this stuff. In the meantime, stand down the helicopters. I need a full report on the robot situation on my desk when I get back and I want the former police chief of Tanta put on the wanted list. I want you to contact a man named Nasser in the Arab towns and ask him if he could meet me tomorrow afternoon."

Joe nodded, said, "Yes ma'am", and then left.

(Roger) "Well Alice, is the daily business of governor-general what you expected it to be?"

(Alice) "A little busy, but overall about right."

Roger puts his cigar out in an ashtray then responds, "Have you seen the upper floors yet? And how about the bunker beneath the basement?"

(Alice) "I haven't had a chance to explore."

(Roger) "Would you care for the grand tour?"

(Alice) "Okay."

(Roger) "Where to first, do you want to start with the bunker?”

(Alice) "Okay."

Roger took Alice's hand and led her towards the entrance to the bunker; he led her down a winding staircase into the basement and said "Watch your step now".

Then inside the basement he pushed back a false wall and opened a large steel door to reveal an elevator.

(Roger) "After you."

Alice stepped into the elevator. "A little paranoid, are we?"

Roger stepped in and said, "Paranoid? How so?"

(Alice) "Fake walls leading to elevators that goes down even further..."

He pushed a button and the elevator jumped to life, it began the slow descent down 1,000 feet into the bunker. There was a screen on the elevator showing their current depth, 232, 245, 252, etc, eventually the numbers reached 899, 950, then 980, then 1,000 even, and it ground to a halt.

The doors of the elevator opened, Roger said, "Ladies first", and motioned forward with his hand.

Alice stepped out of the elevator, looking around to try to understand where she was.

She looked around at the front entrance to the bunker, there was a standard cleansing room right before being able to enter the bunker, there was a sealed room with a blast door on each side, and NBC filters in the room, there were shower systems to rinse off anybody seeking to get into the bunker.

(Roger) "Well we can just bypass the showering process yes? Shall we go inside?"

(Alice) "All right."

(Alice) "All right."

Roger swung the massive blast door open, it was easily 4 feet thick of steel but it was arranged on a system that allowed it to easily be swung open and slammed shut.

She looks around inside the bunker; she sees the bunker is quite large, at least 50,000 sq feet.

It is divided into about 12 rooms and then 1 Spartan barracks for the guards, then the supply room.

(Roger) "Well, shall we investigate further."

(Alice) "All right."

They walk deeper into the bunker and Alice sees the large master bedroom in the bunker, Roger smiles and says, "Nice bed eh?"

(Alice) "Lavish."

(Roger) (He casually puts his arm around her and then in a very sly tone) "Want to take a break from the tour and see how comfortable it is?"

(Alice) "We could do that."

Roger jumped down onto the bed and then said, "Well governor, you've been on top of quite a few matters later, handling them nicely. What say you get on top this situation as well?"

(Alice) "All right."

About twenty-five minutes later, they were both lying in bed, Roger said with a smile, "Well governor, another issue well solved, you're quite good at your work."

(Alice) "I try."

(Roger) "Well you've been doing a fine job as governor lately."

(Alice) "There's a robot problem in the north that I have no information about, I managed to avoid a massive secession only by threatening the frickking leader of the WKM, and forty people are dead in what could trigger a problem with diplomatic relations not only with Nigeria but also with Parthia."

(Roger) (He leans over and kisses her softly, and then he leans back) "You're doing fine so far, don't worry. The overall leader of the entire WKM is Field Marshal Bertrand Navarre, I'll see he talks to the leader of the WKM here."

(Alice) "I don't want to have to keep leaning on you for help."

(Roger) "Well okay, but if you need anything, just remember my door is always open."

(Roger) "You're going to be going to DPUO for negotiations in a while yes?"

(Alice) "Yeah."

(Roger) "Well while you're gone, I'll make sure things are quiet here so you don't come back to a mess. Is that okay?"

(Alice) "Thank you."

(Roger) "There are more problems in the Senate lately."

(Alice) "Impeachment?"

(Roger) "No, more fighting and duel changes. Rutledge is trying to duel a young senator from Damietta."

(Alice) "I need to do something about that man."

(Roger) "What would you do?"

(Alice) "I'm not sure."

(Roger) "You could motion to censure him and attempt for a recall election."

(Alice) "I'd never win."

(Roger) "If you could get a 2/3 majority in the senate, you could censure him and he'd be disgraced and possibly suspended or expelled."

(Alice) "I don't have a majority on the senate right now, much less two-thirds."

(Roger) "I could challenge Rutledge to a duel for you. He insulted your honor when he and I spoke earlier, he suggested that if you were to join him for dinner and stay for breakfast, that the trouble he is causing you in the senate would end."

(Alice) "Nonsense. I will not have anyone else handling the issue of my honor."

(Roger) "But that is how it works, you can elect a man to champion your honor and I'll gladly do it for you. You cannot duel him yourself."

(Alice) "Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time."

(Roger) "Well how will you handle this then?"

She could tell that Roger was sincere in his desire to defend her honor. But she also knew that Rutledge was considered by many to be best dueler in the colony, and she wasn't even sure if Roger had ever even dueled before."

(Alice) "I'm not sure. If I could play him off the WKM somehow, I could probably deal with at least one of these people who thinks I owe them favors."

(Roger) "Yes but some of the favors he's looking to receive, I'd think you shouldn't be required to do those sort of things."

(Alice) "Perhaps."

(Roger) "I mean if he persists in soliciting for those type of favors, I'll have no recourse but to challenge him to a duel, possibly in front of the entire senate, so there will be no chance of him turning me down."

She thought Roger was now acting quite hotheaded.

Like a male animal, upset over what he considered his territory, being infringed upon. She wasn't sure whether she should feel appreciative that he was willing to defend her honor, or whether she should feel resentful that he was considering her "his territory" etc. But whatever the case was, she was thinking Roger was sincerely determined to defend her honor.

(Alice) "Roger, calm down."

(Roger) (Sighing) "Oh Alice, how can I be calm with the thought of that smooth-talking snake-oil salesman Rutledge and his attempts at tarnishing your honor and soliciting you for unspeakable acts."

(Alice) "Roger, just calm down, okay? I'll deal with it without killing people."

(Roger) "Well we can duel with sabres until first blood or until he apologizes to you. The point is Alice, how can I allow him to sully your honor?"

(Alice) "It isn't your business, Roger."

(Roger) (He has a somewhat perplexed look on his face) "Why then whose business would it be?"

(Alice) "Mine."

(Roger) "But Alice, surely you don't mean to suggest you intend to challenge him yourself... Do you?"

(Alice) "Certainly not."

(Roger) (In soft, yet pleading tone) "Then let me challenge him in your name."

(Alice) "Nonsense."

(Roger) "Then what can be done? There is no recourse but for me to challenge him to a duel. Please Alice, I beseech you."

(Alice) "No. I' sure if you consider it that much of an insult, it could be very painful to him if it's made public what he's attempted to do. You see how there are other ways of going about it?"

(Roger) (Shocked and taken aback) "Made public, no, heavens no, it must not be made public, there'd be scandal and it could sully your good name. There are ways for these things. Duels are usually fought for very general reasons, no need to get specific. I can challenge him on the vague grounds that he insulted your honor without specifically stating how, the public doesn't need to know private matters."

(Alice) "You should understand that my good name means very little compared to the good I could do if these obstacles were taken out of my hands."

(Roger) "Yes and you can have both your name intact and the obstacles removed by my dueling him."

(Alice) "How many times have I said no so far?"

(Roger) "Very well, it is your decision, I suppose."

(Alice) "Thank you, Roger."

(Roger) "You're welcome, Alice."

(Roger) "Shall we continue the tour of the house or would you like to just rest here a while, I suppose if the robot should gain the upper hand in Tennessee, here is the safest place to be."

(Alice) "It would make sense, but I have to be ready for anything that comes up."

(Roger) "You know Alice, you're not like any of the women in Mississippi."

(Alice) "I'm glad you've noticed."

(Roger) "The women in Mississippi, they'd likely demand somebody champion their honor. Father and George have both been in numerous duels.”

(Roger) "So what do the men in Seryown do when somebody insults their women?"

(Roger) "Do the women push them to defend their honor by getting into duels?"

(Alice) "Insults are a part of free speech in Seryown."

(Roger) "Well free speech is all well and good, but insults against honor and slander against character, that cannot, no it must not, be allowed to stand."

(Alice) "Not so free then, is it?"

(Roger) "Well people can say about anything they want, but they must realize personal insults against honor will be met with demands for satisfaction on the field of honor."

(Alice) "Dueling is illegal in Seryown."

Roger sighs a sound revealing inner-turmoil and conflict; she can tell he is troubled by something.

(Alice) "What's wrong?"

(Roger) "I'm thinking I shouldn't have placed my brother Henry under house-arrest and put him through such trouble. Perhaps I should call father and beg him to let Henry go."

(Roger) "Henry only ruled as thought best. I cannot blame him for that."

(Alice) "I think that would be a good idea."

(Roger) "I think my brother Henry plans to ask a woman from ANL to marry him. I'm not sure father will approve."

(Alice) "Let him. Henry should marry whoever he wants."

(Roger) "Well the woman first of all in an operative from ANL intelligence, and she is only 15/16s white. Under CM law, 15/16 white legally makes you white, so long as the other 1/16 is not black or Jewish. She is 1/16 Native American Indian. But I don't think father will approve."

(Alice) "Henry should marry whoever he wants."

(Roger) "Yes I agree, she is white under the law... But will father see it that way? Will he allow it? That is the question."

(Alice) "He shouldn't need his father to allow it."

(Roger) "Father could have Henry thrown in jail or worse, if he decided he wanted to."

(Roger) "All a father has to do is tell the police "My son won't listen to me", and they will arrest him until the father decides he's been in jail long enough."

(Alice) "That is sad."

(Roger) "Well if the son does something terribly against the father's wishes, the father can elect to have the son stoned to death, as commanded by Deuteronomy 21:20-21."

(Alice) "What if the father asks the son to do something that would be against the teachings of God?"

(Roger) "Well then the city elders would rule against the father's wishes to stone his son."

(Alice) "Interesting."

(Roger) "Most of CM law is based on the old testament of the bible. We don't allow farmers to sow two different seeds into the same field. We don't allow any clothing of two different fabrics."

(Alice) "Most of those rules were set for a culture that had important health risks involved in doing those things. Those health risks are gone now."

(Roger) "Well we keep the laws, there are no pork products in Mississippi or any of her commonwealth territories. Men may discipline their wives and children as they see fit. Fathers may sell their daughters to work in the houses of nobles and such, but not for sinful purposes."

(Alice) "Disgusting."

(Roger) "How would you go about things?"

(Alice) "Civil rights are vital. Political freedoms can wait, but complete equality is vital above economic growth or even in stopping crime."

(Roger) "What do you mean, what sort of equality is there to be achieved? There are no minorities in Mississippi, just whites, and they're all equal under the law."

(Alice) "Yes, but that's not all. I don't mean equality in terms of giving less freedom to the people who had more; I mean equality in terms of giving all people as much freedom as possible. That means the removal of any law that mentions race or gender at all."

(Roger) "Surely you don't seek to overturn the most sacred laws of the commonwealth though. Most of our laws are based on old testament scripture."

(Alice) "Yet another problem. Laws should not come from any religious source, and they should never be considered sacred."

(Roger) "But certainly you are a Christian yes? You believe in the way, and the law, yes?"

(Alice) "I am not of your Christianity. Certainly I believe in a number of the same things as you do, and although we both fall under the huge blanket of the label Christian, I do not agree with your rules."

(Roger) "Maybe someday you will find yourself agreeing with more yes? I told you before, Mississippians have a wave of rubbing-off on those that come to their territories and such."

(Alice) "And yet I have only been horrified by what I see."

(Roger) "Well you've seen prosperity, peace, and plenty, yes?"

(Alice) "To some, but not to all. Nevertheless, I am beginning to see the perks of absolute power."

(Roger) (In a sort of proud tone hinting of a slight boosting) "You've also seen something else, firsthand."

(Alice) "Hmm?"

(Roger) "You're the only woman I've ever been with Alice."

(Alice) "I'm still not sure I believe that."

(Roger) "I'm sure father can tell you how shy I've always been around women. By 19 father had been with over 50 women easily. But for me, you're the only one I've been with, I hope you eventually accept that as the truth it is."

(Alice) "This is silly. You have no reason to lie."

(Roger) (He looks her in the eyes) "I'm not lying Alice."

(Alice) "Isn't that what I just said? You have no reason to lie, so you wouldn't. I believe you."

(Roger) "Ah okay. Well I guess I had trouble following what you were saying."

(Alice) "Sometimes I do that. Sorry."

(Roger) (He leans in and kisses her, and then he leans slightly back) "No need to be sorry."

(Roger) "You know, I always considered father a hypocrite for preaching against fornication to the public but practicing the exact opposite. I always just said let the people alone in those matters."

(Roger) "Are your thoughts the same on that matter?"

(Alice) "Makes sense."

(Roger) "There is currently a debate in the senate about employment practices and such, the commonwealth Supreme Court is set to approve the bill as constitutional as soon as the senate passes it. It will ratify the gender employment restrictions into high law. Right now the gender employment regulations are all basically the same but only exist on local levels, the commonwealth bill will be a collection of local laws written into one overall law."

(Alice) "Bad idea. Very bad idea."

(Roger) "Well they're going to pass it, probably by at least a 9/10 majority. Do you plan to attempt to derail it?"

(Alice) "I don't know if I have the strength to go against it just yet. I'm going to have to go about my work from a different perspective, I think."

(Roger) "Well I was bored a few hours ago, so I purchased myself a controlling interest in the oil industry of this colony, so I'm sure all the oil barons and oil workers will support you."

(Alice) "Possibly."

(Roger) (Looking at a nearby clock) "Wow, past six already. What now? Finish the tour tomorrow and go get something to eat instead?"

(Alice) "I'll have to go check my desk for new work first, but I'm sure I can go grab a meal."

(Roger) "Okay, shall we go then?"

(Alice) "All right."

Roger starts to get dressed, and then he finishes and says, "Lead the way, Alice."

Alice, who had also finished dressing, stood up and proceeded back towards the elevator.

They got into the elevator and Roger pressed a button and it slowly started to move up.

The elevator came to a stop on the basement floor, the doors opened and Roger led Alice out.

They walked back through the maze of fake walls and hallways and walked back up the basement stairs into the main mansion, then to the private study where the papers for Alice to look over were.

(Alice) "You know, I've been looking for the right word to describe you."

(Roger) "What do you mean?"

Alice began to look through the papers. "I couldn't figure out what word described you best."

(Roger) "Well the foreign media describes me with many words, mostly nazi, fascist, racist, hater, monster, murderer, etc. But I'd say they're all just full of propaganda."

(Alice) "Well, my first instinct was to use the word caring, but it isn't exactly true...it's tooo universal."

(Roger) "I'd describe myself as a real right-winger, a white nationalist, a true Christian, and an officer and a gentleman. But that is just my opinion of myself."

(Alice) "Really? Anyway, I went through a number of other words, and I couldn't find the right word."

(Roger) "Well you keep thinking on it and I'm sure you'll come up with something good eventually." (He gave her a friendly smile as he spoke)

(Alice) "No, I did eventually find it. I was just giving you a little back-story. One of my faults. In any case, I've decided that the word is genuine."

(Roger) "Ah, interesting."

(Roger) "Have you looked through the papers yet? Shall we get something to eat?"

(Alice) "Yeah, all right."

(Roger) "Okay, do you want to eat here? The chefs here some of the best."

(Alice) "Okay."

(Roger) "I'll call a servant in here then to take the orders." (He presses a hidden button alongside the fireplace and speaks into what looks like to be a vent) "Yes, please come to the study when you get a moment." The man replied, "Yes sir, right away." About 60 seconds later a servant walked into the study

(Servant) "Governor, Prince Fabus, what can I do for you?"

(Roger) "Father isn't Czar yet, I'm not a prince yet."

(Servant) "Of course sir, sorry."

(Roger) "Something to eat found do fine."

(Servant) "Yes sir, and what will you be having."

(Roger) (To Alice) "Ladies first, Alice.”

(Alice) "What would you recommend?"

(Servant) "The special for today is a rare salmon from Fabus River, a manmade river runing across both Mississippian Libya and Mississippian Egypt."

(Alice) "Then I'll have that."

(Roger) "I'll have that as well."

(Servant) "Very good madam governor, general Fabus sir."

The servant turned and walked out.

About twenty minutes later the servant brought in a cart with Salmon and a wine that the chef suggested to accompany it. He asked Alice, "Would you like the cart taken into the private bar in the back of the study?"

(Alice) "No, leave it here, please."

He set it down in the study and said, "Very good ma'am", then he turned and walked out.

There was a large table in the study he had set it on, there were some chairs around the table, but the table wasn't really made for eating on.

(Roger) (Smiling) "Do we eat there? You're the governor, you decide."

(Alice) "No, we'll eat in the bar."

(Roger) "Okay. Allow me to get it." (He picked up the cart and walked into the bar and set it down on the bar counter then waited for Alice to sit down before he did)

Alice suddenly smiles as if she's thinking of something else.

(Roger) "What is it?"

(Alice) "Seryown is located almost entirely on the sea, but there are no native salmon there. It's considered very much a delicacy there. I could make hundreds of dollars by transporting a few pounds of this stuff from here to there."

(Roger) "Ah I see. Perhaps if you'd like, I can get you started in the fish business?"

(Roger) "Okay, every governor-general has some business that they get to use their position to gain, yours it seems will be fish." (He smiles)


Roger is eating his fish rather well, "Do you like it?" he asks her in a tone revealing he is sincerely hoping she is enjoying the meal.

Alice smiles. "Of course."

(Roger) "It is a good meal." (Smiling) "But I'm much more fond of the company."

(Alice) "I think I share your sentiment."

(Roger) (Smiling) "I'm glad to hear that."

Roger and Alice both finished their dinners Roger leaned back in his seat and said, "Well how about the cigar I offered you earlier and you said you'd consider? We can both go to the smoking room here, it's a lovely room. What do you say?"

(Alice) "Not right now, I think."

(Roger) "Well I always have an after dinner smoke, but I'll skip it so we can share a bottle of wine if you'd like?"

(Alice) "All right."

The popped the cork out of the bottle and poured two glasses, he raised his and proudly exclaimed, "To the governor-general!"

Alice very nearly blushed as she raised her own glass.

Roger slowly sipped on his wine as he leaned back in his chair and casually asked mostly out of curiosity, "So, when do you leave for DPUO? First thing in the morning?"

(Alice) "I suppose so."

Roger glanced over at the novelty clock behind the bar, it was a clock and in the center it had a can of skoal smokeless tobacco on it and the hands came out from the can, it said, "Use Skoal", it was left by Donald Stahlecker, he saw that it was about 8:45 pm.

(Roger) "Wow, time sure did go by today."

Alice stood up and walked back into the study. "Yeah. Joe?" Joe walked into the room. "What's up with the report on the robot thing?"

(Joe) "The robots here in Egypt were indeed all destroyed after the army and air force crushed them under orders from a Senator Rutledge. The robots in Tennessee have been pushed back into the bunker facility they came from and are being hammered with EMP weaponry."

Roger stood up and walked back into the study, "Everything going well against the robots?"

(Alice) "Excellent. Thanks. You can have the rest of the night off, Joe. I'm sure you can find yourself something to do."

(Joe) "Thank you governor." (He turned and walked out)

(Roger) "Well Alice, it's been an interesting day today has it not?"

(Alice) "Yes it has."

(Roger) (Yawning) "Now what? Well I'm seriously thinking of taking the clocks advice and running to the corner store to buy a tin." (Chuckling) "Old army habits die hard."

(Alice) "I'm a little tired...actually, I'm exhausted, and it looks like my problems are leaving me alone for a few seconds, so I think I'll take advantage of it and turn in."

(Roger) "Well I am tired too, I'd best get a moving on out, with the way they have the roads sealed off, it's about a 90 minute walk to the hotel which is only a 10 minute drive away."

(Alice) "Want some company on the walk?"

(Roger) "That would be nice, yes."

(Alice) "Or you could just stay here for the night. I'm not using the space."

(Roger) "You sure I wouldn't be imposing any?"

(Alice) "Not at all."

(Roger) "Well okay then, I accept." (Chuckling) "Which room you sticking me in? The closet?" (He laughed at the last part)

(Alice) "You know your way around better than I do. Pick a room that isn't supposed to be mine and sleep in it."

(Roger) "Okay, that works for me." (He sounded a little disappointed that she didn't invite him to sleep with her, not that he was in the mood for more sex, but anyway, he guessed it didn't matter, he planned to be sleeping)

(Roger) "Well I'm going outside for a smoke real quick, it's quicker to go outside than into the lounge, be right back in."

Alice nodded. "All right."

He took out a pipe and packed it with tobacco as he was walking to the door, sat down on the swing on the porch and lit up his pipe.

About ten minutes later, Roger was still outside and the weather began to turn bad, it a deluge of rain combined with violent streaks of lightning and explosive thunder. The thunder and lightning bothered Alice, one of the few things that bothered her. She looked outside and saw Roger didn't seem bothered at all; he was just sitting on the swing, rocking back and forth, and smoking his pipe.

Roger was sitting there, just staring off into the clouds, and trying to make sense of it all. The wars, the diplomatic talks, and the behind the scenes agreements the commoners would never know about. The wars people fought but never knew why... Obey, fight, and die... The unwritten law of CM. The petty disputes that all the governors inevitably had with the pathetic mayors of the cities they didn't deserve to be in. The lack of respect the local authorities showed towards anybody they didn't quite like. Arbitrary use of power, the small man's way to feel big.

He never really questioned the core values of the regime, and tonight was no exception, he just sat on the swing, rocking back and forth, meanwhile ships in the Mediterranean where rocking back in the forth in the intensifying waves from the storms brewing. They were rocking on their way to Hatarian Mammalia to help with coalition efforts to rid the world of HM aggression. HM had disrupted the normal flow of world events, and had to be punished, and AMF was leading the charge. CM decided to fall in line and join the charge.

Alice looked outside against and saw Roger was still sitting there, still smoking, seemingly oblivious to the storm that had her so troubled. He had obviously lost track of time and was deep in thought, he had been outside for over twenty minutes.

The sound she heard most was the patter of the rain on the windows and the roof, it was enough to keep anybody awake throughout the night, she was glad the mansion had three floors and an attic. The bedroom she was in was on the second floor, so the noise was largely muffled.

Alice finally got fed up with waiting and went back downstairs to get Roger out of the rain.

Roger was mostly thinking about the POWs in the camps in Hogsweat, he knew the rescue operation was set to go down a few hours ago and he wanted desperately to hear it was a success.

He saw Alice in front of him when the lightning flashed and he was startled to his senses, back into reality. "Alice, what are you doing out here? You'll catch your death of cold." Despite the porch being largely covered on all sides, Roger was somewhat wet from the intense rain that came in largely diagonally.

(Alice) "Look who's talking? Get in here!"

(Roger) "Okay." He immediately followed her inside.

(Roger) (As though in a daze) "How long was I out there?"

She checked the clock, and realized he'd been outside for over 45 minutes.

(Alice) "Three-fourths of an hour."

(Roger) (Surprise) "That long? Wow, sorry. I was just thinking about some things that were really on my mind, bothering me, you know? I must have lost track of time."

(Alice) "What's wrong?"

(Roger) "Do you remember hearing about Firebase Fabus, many months ago? The capture of over 35,000 CM soldiers?"

(Alice) "Not really...sounds horrible."

(Roger) "There were about 600 paratroopers in Hogsweat that avoided capture and a few hours ago they were set to break out the surviving POWs, about 20,000 were left alive by the time the guerilla army that captured them marched them over 100 miles to prison camps in the disease ridden jungle, with no food or water. The men had been without food for 16 days and water for 4 days prior to surrendering, their base had been surrounded, cutoff from supplies."

(Roger) "It started with 36,000 paratroopers jumping into a valley and making two airstrips, they fortified the hills heavily and made over 300 strongpoints with 1 company each to defend them. Then they were surrounded by over 500,000 guerillas. The guerillas had an ace in their sleeve though, over 1,000 howitzers and SAMS, along with 500 AAA. The base only had about 100 howitzers and 800 heavy mortars. Also the base relied solely on the air for resupply."

(Roger) "Over 18,000 reinforcements were dropped into the base, 6,000 were scattered into enemy units and died almost immediately. Over the next 6 weeks, approximately 20,000 defenders and 250,000 attackers died in the fight for the base. We lost over 2,000 planes attempting to provide air cover and fly supplies into the base."

(Roger) "Most of the units that ran out of ammunition but were still able to move, fixed bayonets and charged into the enemy machine guns to save their honor."

(Roger) "The warrior code dictates surrender as the greatest dishonor a soldier can suffer."

(Roger) "Well over 34,000 soldiers surrendered, mostly they were too wounded, sick, or malnourished to fight on."

(Alice) "I'm so sorry..."

(Roger) "You've nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault. It's father's fault, for sending the soldiers into a foreign war we had no real business being in. The generals also did some rather horrible things in that war. They used chemical weapons against a city called Beting. 30 paratroopers were ambushed in the city and their heads placed on spikes for the media to broadcast around the world. The generals used Su-25s and Mi-24s to blanket Beting with chemical weapons. They killed over 50,000 people and injured 200,000."

(Alice) "That's horrible..."

(Roger) "They attempted to use chemical weapons against the guerilla army around the base, but they only managed to kill 50,000 of the guerillas. Another low point of the battle was when our best fighter ace, Colonel Herman Von Thaller, was shot down. He has over 390 aerial kills to his credit, in one aerial dogfight, he shot down over 120 enemy fighters."

(Roger) "I hope Thaller is still alive, they were threatening to kill him a while ago."

(Alice) "But, surely there must be a rescue mission..."

(Roger) "It's a sad truth, but most of the men who were captured, are probably dead from the brutal conditions. Yes, there is a rescue mission. It was set to go down a few hours ago. I should be getting a report on it soon. The 600 paratroopers who avoided capture, the ones that were in Beting before they pulled out and it fell to the rebels, the paratroopers were ordered to march about 100 miles into the interior of Hogsweat, liberate the 10 camps, and then get the POWs 12 miles east to the coast and waiting ships. But I fear the POWs will be too weak to march 12 miles, so they'll probably need helicopters, C-130s, and C-17s to get them out."

(Alice) "How soon is the report coming?"

Right about that time, an SRG man knocks on the front door of the mansion, Alice and Roger are in the front room, Roger speaks first, "Who do you think that could be? Should I get it?"

Roger walked over an opened the door and saw it was an SRG soldier.

(SRG) "Sir, the report from Hogsweat!" (He hands him a letter)

(Roger) "Thank you soldier, dismissed."

(SRG) "Hail Fabus!" (Throws his left arm into the air)

Roger raises his left arm slightly back towards the shoulder as he is reading the report and gives a barely audible, unenthusiastic "Hail Fabus."

The SRG man turns and leaves, Roger shuts the door and then sits down and drops the report, he's finished reading it.

Alice walks up to Roger, concerned.

Roger breaks into tears and starts to mumble sentences Alice cannot understand; all she heard was part of it, "5,000, massacred." She picked up the report and started to read it.

"5,000 of the 20,000 captives were massacred shortly before our liberation teams arrived, but 15,000 of the men were safely taken out of Hogsweat and are currently on their way back to Mississippi. General Bon, General Miguel, and Colonel Thaller are all fine and in good spirits considering the circumstances. The enemy admitted to taking over 34,000 paratroopers as POWs but the guards at one of the prisons admitted only 20,000 made it through the 100 mile death march that our satellites detected. Also they admit they massacred approximately 4,000 soldiers right as they tried to surrender when the base fell."

Roger has regained his composure, "At least they got a lot of them out."

Alice hugs Roger firmly. "It will be all right, okay?"

(Roger) "The 1st Parachute Division, from 1980-1984, father was in that division, he used to complain to me when I was younger, how the leftist government sent the 1st division to every jungle, desert, and ice cube in the world, just to cause them grief, for no real reason. And I can't see why father sent the 1st division into Hogsweat. I just can't see why."

(Alice) "It will be all right..."

(Roger) "Most of the men in the 1st parachute division were veterans of the 1984 civil war, they were career soldiers, the elite of the parachute units, and now they're gone, they were exploited like a resource, and now they're used up like a resource, depleted, gone. But never fear, father can raise more units, more meat for the grinder!" (His tone has gotten sarcastic and cynical)

(Alice) "Shh...It will be all right...."

(Roger) "He doesn't see it anymore though, he lets his generals tell him what it's like, he's recently stopped jumping into combat himself, as he used to..." (He starts to cry again and Alice takes his head and holds it, letting him cry in her arms)

(Alice) "It'll be all right...shh..."

A few minutes later he has stopped crying enough to talk, "What now? I'm keeping you up aren't I, you can go on off to sleep, I'll be okay." She could tell he was lying, he was bad at lying and it was blatantly obvious he wasn't okay.

(Alice) "Stop talking nonsense. I've leaned on your shoulder, and I'm not going to take mine away from you."

(Roger) "Okay."

(Roger) "Father will blame the 5,000 deaths of either myself or one of my brothers. He says we need to lead from the front. He blamed the fall of the base on the M-14 rifle, that is one of the reasons we switched to the XM-8 and the OICW, we were switching anyway, it was just convenient the switch happened when it did. I wonder if I had been there to lead them in person, would it have mattered?"

(Roger) "Henry said if one of us had been in Firebase Fabus, they're just be one less Fabus right now and that'd be all that would have been accomplished."

(Alice) "You're not that godly, Roger. They were in un-winnable circumstances."

(Roger) "I know, but that's not how father sees it. He says we should have seized the initiative and jumped into the base with a regiment of republican guard and mounted a counter-attack."

(Alice) "And gotten more soldiers massacred? They absolutely did the best they could do under the circumstances. It isn't your fault and it isn't the M-14's fault."

(Roger) "You know the guerillas were Asians for the most part, and they launched frontal attacks into miniguns and machine guns, that takes courage. Father's generals said the yellows would scatter before the heavy guns."

(Roger) (In a mocking voice) "The exact words of Field Marshal Salazar, quote, "Those slant-eyed yellows won't fight for more than a week!"

(Roger) (Another mocking voice) "The exact words of Field Marshal Smith, quote, "Those little yellow bastards will be crushed under the boot of the paratroopers within twelve days time."

(Alice) "Well, they were wrong this time, I guess."

(Roger) "That was really the only battle we ever lost, combined with Angola which we didn't really lose militarily so much as we did politically. There are now over 700,000 graves for soldiers in Mississippi that died within that last four years."

(Roger) "When will it end?"

(Alice) "God willing, as soon as possible."

(Roger) (His voice is shaky and nervous) "I guess so... I'm tired now... Tired..."

(Alice) "Let's get you upstairs."

He was still quite wet from the rain he had been sitting in, and he felt as cold as a block of ice, he was pale as a ghost also, and Alice was wondering how he was still conscious being as cold as he was.

Alice led Roger upstairs. His teeth started to chatter as he realized how cold he was. Then he struggled to talk, "Where to now Alice?"

Alice led him into her bedroom, which, as seemed to be probable by the luxury of the mansion, there was fireplace. She immediately lit it using the wood that was already there and she gently encouraged him to the ground near it.

(Roger) "Thank you Alice."

Alice hugged him, leaning her head against his ribs. "No need, Roger."

She could feel he was still freezing cold, she wondered if he was sick, she got up and found a large robe for him, it was an expensive looking robe that appeared to be made of bear fur, it had the initials DS on it, she knew who used to own it, well she thought, "It can be Roger's now, who will know." She slowly walked back and wrapped it around Roger, he thanked her for it.

She could feel Roger starting to warm up, but he was still pale, and he was starting to fall asleep.

Alice stayed close to him, trying to keep him warm.

(Roger) (In a voice losing strength, hardly his charismatic self) "I'm tired Alice, so tired."

(Alice) "I understand, Roger, it's okay."

Roger struggled to speak, "Do you want me to leave no so you can go to sleep, I don't want to keep you up just because I'm ill."

(Alice) "No, you're staying right here."

(Roger) "Okay."

She could tell whatever sort of military training he'd received, it had taught him not to expect, mercy, sympathy, or empathy from anybody, the Republican Guard had put him through 11 months of brutal hell, and then after that, the battles and campaigns started and made the previous 11 months look like a picnic.

(Alice) "Come on, Roger. You're strong. You'll get through this."

(Roger) (He was slipping into delirium) "Yes sir lieutenant, the jeeps need more oil, I'll get right on it."

(Alice) "Roger!"

She could see he was covered in sweat, profusely.

(Roger) (Snapping back into reality for a brief second) "What? I'm okay, don't worry."

(Alice) "No, no you aren't. Who do I call to get you medical attention?"

(Roger) "Doctor, doctor number by phone... But, I... okay."

Alice gets up and rushes to the phone. She searches for the number, dials it, and calls.

The doctor was on the estate in the private office, the doctor served the governor and the staff and those were his only clients.

(Doctor) "Hello, who is this? Do you know what time it is?"

(Alice) "Roger Fabus is down here and you will be in ten seconds, okay?"

(Doctor) "Mr. Fabus is ill?"

(Alice) "Yes...Just get down here!"

(Doctor) "I'll be right there!" (He rushes out of his office; grabbing two bags and only pausing long enough to dress in a robe and shorts.

About 90 second later, the doctor is there, short of breath.

(Doctor) "Okay, what is the problem?"

Alice is hugging Roger. She turns toward him. "He was in the rain for forty-five minutes...and now he's delirious..."

The doctor starts to examine Roger, he asks Alice, "Has he been in any recent accidents lately? Or perhaps attacked by an animal or a shark?"

(Doctor) "Well governor, was he bitten by any animals lately. Those bite marks on his mid leg and thigh look to me to be shark bites." (He points to a rather nasty bite mark on the back part of the leg)

(Alice) "I don't know...why would he have been bitten by anything? I didn't see it if he was."

Roger meekly nodded and struggled to whisper, "Doctor, a few months back, I got into a fight with a great white shark."

The doctor nodded and said, "I see. Well I can tell you with a degree of certainty, you have tetanus from the shark bite, it must just have spread through your system recently, and you now have pneumonia, probably it was lingering in you for a few days and this awful weather brought it out worse."

(Doctor) "Luckily modern medicine has a cure for the tetanus, were you in any other country in Africa, besides perhaps Western Sahara or Mississippian Libya, you'd likely die." (He takes out a needle and injects it into Roger)

(Alice) “Will he be okay?”

(Doctor) “Oh yes, he’ll be fine in a few weeks. As for the pneumonia, I suspect he got it from either bacteria or microorganisms. Chemical irritants could also cause it, but there haven’t been any chemical accidents and we’re not at war, so chemical weaponry can be ruled out.”

(Doctor) “Pneumonia is contagious you know.”

(Alice) “I’ve been vaccinated against the bacterial forms of it.”

(Doctor) “Good, then you should be fine, if you start to feel ill, call me right away.”

(Doctor) “Here, I want you to see he takes these, all of them, don’t let him stop taking them when he starts to feel better, that isn’t how antibiotics work. Roger is a smart boy, he knows better than that, but he is stubborn. I’ve known him for many years, you’ll need to make sure he takes them all.”

(Alice) “I will. Thank you.”

(Doctor) “He should get lots of rest and fluids, and keep him from smoking and drinking liquor or beer in his current state. I’ve always said wine helps though. But seriously, he smokes like a chimney, make sure he doesn’t smoke, it’s for his own health.”

(Alice) “Okay.”

(Doctor) “Here, help me get him into the bed.”

Now Roger Fabus was 6’6 and 242 lbs, he was a giant, and the doctor 6’2 and Alice 5’8 would have a very hard time going about safely lifting him up into bed without risking hurting themselves or him. So they called in two nearby SRG men to help. The SRG men were all giants, the two guards, both at least 6’8, helped them lift Roger up and place him in bed.

The guards then turned and walked out quietly, wondering if their general would be okay, hoping and praying he would be.

The doctor broke the silence and spoke to Alice, “It’s a good thing you called me when you did, he was really sick, it’s best to catch Tetanus early. You did the right thing by calling. Thank you.”

(Alice) “Okay, so he’ll be okay though yes?”

(Doctor) “Oh he’ll be fine, and you’ll be fine as you’ve already been vaccinated against bacterial pneumonia. So don’t worry, but remember call me if you feel sick.”

(Alice) “I will.”

(Doctor) “Okay then.” He turns and walks out of the room.

Alice lies down next to Roger, who is fast asleep now, she can see his chest moving up and down with each breath, she is comforted by the fact she can tell his alive. She prays that he stays so.

She wraps him up in more blankets and moves close to Roger and holds him tightly against her body. She starts to think about the upcoming conference in DPUO that she’ll be leaving for in the morning, she’d rather not go now with Roger so ill, but CM is counting on her to attend as all other delegates have been ruled either “too racist”, “too Klan”, “too paramilitary” or “too armed forces”, to meet with the regulations of the “tolerant” people of DPUO. She suddenly found herself wondering what Roger would have been doing fighting a shark, but she figured it was unimportant and she’d ask him later if she could remember. She held him close against her body as she started to fall asleep. She could feel he was regaining his warmth. The patter of the rain now seemed to soothe rather than irritate and she quickly fell into a deep sleep, but her dreams would be racked with nightmares of failing at the upcoming conference and plunging the world into massive war.

In the morning she would rise, get ready, and then make her way to DPUO by boat for the conference. That was another thing she was upset about, she’d prefer to go by plane, but DPUO seemed very picky, and she’d have to comply with their regulations, as it was their country. Somehow though, she doubted they’d accept CM regulations with at least attempting to argue, if the meeting were in CM rather than DPUO.

Dang, long enough posts, eh CM? And you should TG the people you want to respond.

Anyway...

Hattia would like to attend these talks, and perhaps these will be more productive than the last ones. Our delegate will arrive on the Battlecruiser Freedom. It should arrive in about 2 days.

OOC:Mind if I join in? If I can I'll sent Vizier Abdul Mejid II as a third party.

A message is sent to the DUPO head office from the Embassy in DUPO's Capital.

-=To the Grand Government of DUPO=-

USSNA's DUPO delegate reqests attendence to these negotations as they
are backers and co-designers with DUPO. We hope that al goes well and wish
to send our graditude to all nations involved.

~USSNA Delegation~

-=End Message=-

I'm back. Can the Premier come?

OOC: Um.

IC: While we appreciate the concern showed by USSNA, we feel that since they have not been the victim of CM's delightful policies, we must decline. You are welcome however to observe if you wish.

Mr. Mannerheim: We are as always glad to have you among us, since I believe that you too have interests threatened by CM.

Excellent. The Premier will arrive shortly.

Good, good. Meantime, we shall sort things out for the delegates. The discussions will take place in the Naval Office's Banqueting Hall. Normally this is used by people for various functions, and official dinners, but it'll serve well enough as a meeting-place.

*Premier Mannerheim's boat- the corvette Magnolia, is about to pull up to the docks.*

Mannerheim mused to himself, "Hopefully this time, things will actually get started."

"Mr. Mannerheim sir!" yelled a voice. A petty officer saluted from the quay. "Welcome to our nation, sir." The petty officer held his rifle awkwardly, careful not to appear threatening, and watched the ship come toward the dock, aided by a pair of tugs. Behind him, a dog-handler petted his charges. "Don't worry about the dogs, sir, just a precaution. They're trained to smell the usual stuff, but also some explosives, sir."

Mannerheim returned the salute. "A pleasure to finally be here. It's nice to finally be here- in one of Sevaris's greatest friends. Anyway, have the other delegates arrived? I'm rather eager to see who CM has sent."

"No sir, yet to arrive I'm afraid, apart from the Greenmanbry delegate. He's currently at the Accommodation Area of the building, sir. Would you like to go there, or will you tour the area? You're a most welcome figure here, and you'll be under heavy guard."

"I should like to tour your facilities. I'm rather eager to see your operations here- our Admiralty is very fond of your naval designs."

"Very well, sir!" snapped the petty officer, and strode to a large, official-looking black car. "The main shipyard here is the Soyuz shipbuilding works, sir, and they build Battleships. Currently they have four Soyuzes and the keel of one Hunter building, along with a Tempest and an Admiral." The petty officer had friends in the yard, and he was deeply proud of them; he was eager to show Mannerheim the capability of the facility. "If you'd like to wait a few moments, sir, we'll get your security set up."

"Fascinating. We're especially impressed by how you recycle the best British and Italian designs and make them effective weapons in today's military. We've done a program like that with the Montana-class, but you have gotten this down to a science, it seems."

"Yes sir," replied the petty officer when he returned, "the men at those yards are certainly skilled. I met one of their designers once, and he had a mind as sharp as a razorblade. Been in the Navy for his national service, too, so he knew his stuff. Well, you're detail's ready, sir. I shall be joining you in the vehicle; I'll also be your tour guide, if that's alright." A pair of BTR-80s moved into position, one ahead and one behind the vehicle, and an Mi-24VU chattered away overhead. The roadway had by now become crowded with people, keeping a respectful distance but eager to see this most-talked of man.
"Shall we go, sir?"

"Certainly. Thank you for inviting me." Mannerheim then stepped into the car.

The convoy moved off, with people waving and cheering at the roadside, toward the shipyard some 6 miles away, its' colossal chimneys visible far off as they pumped out effluents into the atmosphere. People occasionally complained about that, since despite the best work of the designers of filters, the stacks were still pumping out pollutants, but for the most part they kept quiet. They were proud of their city, proud of the yard, proud of themselves, and above all else, proud of their Navy.

Lucian sipped away at the tea he had been served and nodded quietly as he read the paper..

"Hm..Hmmm..Hm Hm.. " he hummed softly to the rythm of a song he liked..

"Hmph.." he grunted softly.. He quietly remarked, "I wonder who CM would send to this meeting.. another racist bastard I guess.." he smiled softly.. tensions rose a few hours ago when CM declared their willingness to buy three quarters of Egypt.. "He will give Africa back to the Africans.. He will.." he quietly remarked..

He heard cheering outside.. "Hmph.." he grunted once again, "I guess CM didn't arrive yet.. hah.."

The government of the USIH requests permission to send an observer to these talks as many USIH allies are currently involved in them.

(tagged)

Very well, you may do so. Same ingress rules apply.

OOC:

I would like to participate in these talks, in light of the mass raping and genocide in Hataria Mammalia.

If not, I understand and withdraw my request to participate.

Hmm. You are welcome to observe, but since up to now you have not had the various CM-caused problems we have, we regret to decline your request to attend as a delegation.

Are we ever going to get this done via MSN. We need to all get on and meet, a large number of the nations are on right now. Let's all get on!

We got it going on MSN now! Everybody get in here! It's going on, enough are on for it to be going on! Come on! MSN!

Yeah! C'mon people, now now noww! I only have an hour!