Wolfish
22-10-2004, 15:11
Wolfish Defense Command
1900 hrs
Private Dining Room
The bottle of 18-year-old MacAllan single malt stood tall in the centre of the polished walnut table. Surrounding it were crisp white napkins, place carefully on even whiter plates.
The Senior War Staff were arriving in ones and twos – summoned from their various offices around the city – and from various military bases
Twenty in all were present – Generals Veritos and Wiseman from the Army – along with their general staff, General Harry Patterson from the Wolfish Marine Corps, and his counterpart Tyson Greenbeck from the Praetorian Guard – always looking sinister with his one eye crosshatched with a jagged scar that never seemed to totally heal.
The Air Force had sent five of the nine Air Combat Command Generals….
The Navy sent Vice Admirals Zack Westley and Vice Admiral Edo Yakamura representing the First and Second Wolfish navies respectively– sitting on either side of the ancient – yet still intimidating Admiral James Hallsey.
The only guest not an Admiral or General was Colonel Thom Christianson, of the Presidential Security Detail.
The room was full, but not crowded by the time General Daniel Blackstone arrived.
The table rose and snapped to attention when he entered – but he seemed indifferent to the respect… “As you were.”
“Thank you all for coming,” he said distantly as he took his chair, “I felt it was important that we have an informal meeting – time for a bit of levity to steel ourselves against the darkness that seems to be encompassing our nation these days.”
The General poured himself a tall glass of the scotch – freeing the others to do the same – except for Col. Christianson who never drank.
“Admiral Hallsey – thank you for coming all the way from Wolfhair Island…It’s nice to see you again.”
“Thank you General. It’s nice of you to invite me.”
The General and Admiral starred at each other across the table – the two most senior officers in the Wolfish military – and two of the greatest minds ever to serve their country…and yet they were not friends – for years they had bumped and jostled each other to get where they were today.
“Tell me Admiral,” said the General with a smirk. “Tell me what you think of the troubles facing Wolfish.”
The Admiral took a sip of the nectar before replying. “Well Sir. Wolfish has had trouble in the past – and I expect we’ll have trouble in the future. This is no different. Hell. We’ve faced worse than this. Civil war – outright war – fights with the UN. Nope. This isn’t any different than a thousand other challenges we’ve beat.”
“Really,” retorted the General in a deadpan voice. “Is that what you think? Admiral – I think you’ve spent too much time on that island of yours – playing with boats in your bathtub.”
Others around the table laughed nervously at the last comment – though as much to break the building tension in the room as anything.
Hallsey looked uncomfortable with the sudden turn as well.
“General?”
“James – you’ve been around this game long enough to know better – you’ve seen the same signs I have.”
The General got to his feet.
“Gentlemen – we are facing a challenge today greater than any challenge Wolfish has faced before.
Children born today will grow – hopefully grow – to see a very different nation than that which we see today.
Wolfish faces two dangers – the first is a result of our own laziness – the second is a result of our own complacency.”
The military staff looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“None of you see it?” the General asked, watching the faces of his underlings. “None of you see what the traitor Todler has done?”
Two people at the table bristled as the words “traitor Todler” hung in the air.
“Gentlemen….President Todler has brought our nation to its knees. His lack of leadership has first allowed this to happen, and second brought it to the world stage.
Even now our enemies gather – circling around like vultures.” He threw his glass against the wall – sending shards of fine crystal showering down onto the floor.
“James….Old friend….how many subs are off our coast? How many troop movements have our satellites captured on film? How many nations have been waiting years to threaten us?
We are facing death. Simple as that. We are facing the death of our economy – and once it has failed – our enemies will line up to pick our bones clean.”
As if on cue, General Greenback asked in his typically strong voice.
“Clearly you’ve thought this through, General. So what is the plan? How do we save Wolfish from those who’d oppose us?”
Blackstone smiled, and retrieved another glass from the serving cart against the wall – filling it with scotch – he answered….“General – we do what Wolves always do when they’re cornered. We bite.”
Hallsey couldn’t keep quiet after that comment. With his weathered face visibly reddening he shot back, “And just who do we bite Daniel?”
“Does it really matter?” he answered calmly. “What matters is that Wolfish demonstrates that we have teeth – and we are able to use them when necessary.”
“So we just – what – pick some nation and invade?” asked a sarcastic Hallsey.
“It might just be that simple Admiral. Thank you for understanding.”
Hallsey leapt to his feet. “THIS IS MADDNESS. Daniel – you can’t be serious. We’re not talking about maintaining stability in a region – or helping some small nation defend itself – we are talking about a war of aggression.”
“Stop being so dramatic old man. All war is a war of aggression – we’ve just always displayed our conflicts a certain way….”
“Todler will have your head….”
“No James. No he won’t. Todler is not only going to approve my little plan – he’s going to be the one to tell the world.”
“He’ll never do it Daniel – I’ll make sure of that.” The Admiral was fairly frothing at the mouth now – his eyes ablaze like there were when he dropped a thousand Tuttsvillian fighters from the sky – “You’ll be arrested and this whole saga will end – your blood lust ends here GENERAL.”
“I think not my good Admiral.”
With a nod of his head, the General’s escort entered from the hallway – sidearms drawn.
“Admiral James Hallsey. You are under arrest on the charge of sedition. You are to accompany us to TAL-4 prison where you will await trial by military tribunal. Do you understand Sir?”
Hallsey looked around the room in shock – disbelief clearly evident on his leathered faced.
“I – I – don’t”
“Oh do stop mumbling James – you’re going to prison – you have betrayed your nation – your name and office are dishonoured….Take him away.”
The guard and the Admiral left the room – the assembled staff sat quietly – hardly daring to even think.
Vice-Admiral Wellsey was the first to break the silence – quickly figuring how – in good Wolfish style – to take advantage of the arrest of his boss.
“General. What are our next steps?”
Blackstone turned to look at Wellsey. “I’d say the first step is to promote you to Admiral. Then – then we can talk about our invasion.”
“Who will we invade?” asked one of the others.
“I’m not sure yet. We’ll meet back here at 0900 tomorrow morning. I have a meeting with Todler before that – I want options for…lets call it Operation Runaway Mutt.”
“Yes General.”
With that the wait staff began serving the steak – though one place sat empty.
=======================
Government Building, Wolfish
0700 hrs
Office of the President
General Blackstone stood at the window – starring at the city as the sun rose over a troubled empire.
And it was his – his to rule – his to save…or at least it would be once Todler showed up.
With that final thought, the door to the office opened and the President walked in.
“Sorry to keep you waiting Daniel. Have a seat.”
“Thank you Mr. President.”
The two men took seats on the couch facing each other with the silver coffee service between them.
“Daniel – I’m sure you know as well as I do how grave this situation is. The papers today are full of bad news…Three more trading houses are insolvent – and there’s a chance that one of the big banks is going to go bust.
Nations are lining up either to offer us aid, or to dump their product – illegally I might add – on our economy.
General Blackstone shifted on the soft couch. “And what, exactly, Mr. President, are we doing about it?”
Todler looked blankly at the General – it wasn’t the type of question he was used to from an underling.
“With respect Mr. President – I don’t think our economy can withstand all your action,” retorted the General, with sarcasm dripping from every word.
“General – I believe you need to remember your place – the situation is….”
“Mr. President,” interrupting once again, “With respect – this is my place. My place, to remind you, is to serve the state – as is yours.”
The General reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device, which looked to be a pager – he pushed one of the buttons on it, and sat back in his seat, continuing.
“Too often Mr. President – the path of leadership is unclear – but that is no excuse for inaction.”
The sounds of a disruption grew in the outer chamber. Todler stood to check on the disturbance.
“Mr. President – I must insist that you remain seated.”
Todler looked quickly at the General, then began moving towards the door…
In the outer office, the scene was growing calm. With the push of the button, the General’s guard, supplemented with 20 Wolfish Marines, quietly and quickly took control of the building.
Few shots were fired, but those that were, flew from the silenced MP-5s into the chests and heads of the President’s Protection Service.
Across the nation, office doors were broken down, and Agents of the government, and staff loyal to Todler were arrested – largely without bloodshed or fuss.
“General – Explain yourself,” said a visibly shaken President.
“Well Sir. The good news is that you are still the President. Of course I have seized all power. You Sir will represent those powers to the world and to the nation.”
“You – you can’t…”
“I have Mr. President. I have.”
With that the General walked to the ornamental office door and opened it. Two Marines in battle dress uniforms snapped to attention. The opposing wall was being washed to remove a large blood stain.
“And questions Mr. President?”
“My staff…”
“Your staff will be held here, as will you. You will run the business of the government under the supervision of my staff.” The General looked at his watch, “We’ll have to finish our discussion later. I have another meeting.”
The General turned and walked out – soldier on either side as he passed out of sight.
The new leader of Wolfish got on the elevator and descended some 80 floors to one of the subbasements – where the labyrinth of tunnels linked the complex of government buildings in the capital.
The War Room, a secure complex well-below ground-level, opened before him. Staff snapped to attention as he entered.
“As you were. Let’s not get caught up in ceremony – we’ve got a country to run.”
ooc: A virtually bloodless coup has occurred in Wolfish. The transition will be largely unnoticed by the outside world – though the change in military doctrine will certainly be felt.
In spite of outward appearances – Wolfish is now a dictatorship under military rule.
This is not an RP – simply a notification.
1900 hrs
Private Dining Room
The bottle of 18-year-old MacAllan single malt stood tall in the centre of the polished walnut table. Surrounding it were crisp white napkins, place carefully on even whiter plates.
The Senior War Staff were arriving in ones and twos – summoned from their various offices around the city – and from various military bases
Twenty in all were present – Generals Veritos and Wiseman from the Army – along with their general staff, General Harry Patterson from the Wolfish Marine Corps, and his counterpart Tyson Greenbeck from the Praetorian Guard – always looking sinister with his one eye crosshatched with a jagged scar that never seemed to totally heal.
The Air Force had sent five of the nine Air Combat Command Generals….
The Navy sent Vice Admirals Zack Westley and Vice Admiral Edo Yakamura representing the First and Second Wolfish navies respectively– sitting on either side of the ancient – yet still intimidating Admiral James Hallsey.
The only guest not an Admiral or General was Colonel Thom Christianson, of the Presidential Security Detail.
The room was full, but not crowded by the time General Daniel Blackstone arrived.
The table rose and snapped to attention when he entered – but he seemed indifferent to the respect… “As you were.”
“Thank you all for coming,” he said distantly as he took his chair, “I felt it was important that we have an informal meeting – time for a bit of levity to steel ourselves against the darkness that seems to be encompassing our nation these days.”
The General poured himself a tall glass of the scotch – freeing the others to do the same – except for Col. Christianson who never drank.
“Admiral Hallsey – thank you for coming all the way from Wolfhair Island…It’s nice to see you again.”
“Thank you General. It’s nice of you to invite me.”
The General and Admiral starred at each other across the table – the two most senior officers in the Wolfish military – and two of the greatest minds ever to serve their country…and yet they were not friends – for years they had bumped and jostled each other to get where they were today.
“Tell me Admiral,” said the General with a smirk. “Tell me what you think of the troubles facing Wolfish.”
The Admiral took a sip of the nectar before replying. “Well Sir. Wolfish has had trouble in the past – and I expect we’ll have trouble in the future. This is no different. Hell. We’ve faced worse than this. Civil war – outright war – fights with the UN. Nope. This isn’t any different than a thousand other challenges we’ve beat.”
“Really,” retorted the General in a deadpan voice. “Is that what you think? Admiral – I think you’ve spent too much time on that island of yours – playing with boats in your bathtub.”
Others around the table laughed nervously at the last comment – though as much to break the building tension in the room as anything.
Hallsey looked uncomfortable with the sudden turn as well.
“General?”
“James – you’ve been around this game long enough to know better – you’ve seen the same signs I have.”
The General got to his feet.
“Gentlemen – we are facing a challenge today greater than any challenge Wolfish has faced before.
Children born today will grow – hopefully grow – to see a very different nation than that which we see today.
Wolfish faces two dangers – the first is a result of our own laziness – the second is a result of our own complacency.”
The military staff looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“None of you see it?” the General asked, watching the faces of his underlings. “None of you see what the traitor Todler has done?”
Two people at the table bristled as the words “traitor Todler” hung in the air.
“Gentlemen….President Todler has brought our nation to its knees. His lack of leadership has first allowed this to happen, and second brought it to the world stage.
Even now our enemies gather – circling around like vultures.” He threw his glass against the wall – sending shards of fine crystal showering down onto the floor.
“James….Old friend….how many subs are off our coast? How many troop movements have our satellites captured on film? How many nations have been waiting years to threaten us?
We are facing death. Simple as that. We are facing the death of our economy – and once it has failed – our enemies will line up to pick our bones clean.”
As if on cue, General Greenback asked in his typically strong voice.
“Clearly you’ve thought this through, General. So what is the plan? How do we save Wolfish from those who’d oppose us?”
Blackstone smiled, and retrieved another glass from the serving cart against the wall – filling it with scotch – he answered….“General – we do what Wolves always do when they’re cornered. We bite.”
Hallsey couldn’t keep quiet after that comment. With his weathered face visibly reddening he shot back, “And just who do we bite Daniel?”
“Does it really matter?” he answered calmly. “What matters is that Wolfish demonstrates that we have teeth – and we are able to use them when necessary.”
“So we just – what – pick some nation and invade?” asked a sarcastic Hallsey.
“It might just be that simple Admiral. Thank you for understanding.”
Hallsey leapt to his feet. “THIS IS MADDNESS. Daniel – you can’t be serious. We’re not talking about maintaining stability in a region – or helping some small nation defend itself – we are talking about a war of aggression.”
“Stop being so dramatic old man. All war is a war of aggression – we’ve just always displayed our conflicts a certain way….”
“Todler will have your head….”
“No James. No he won’t. Todler is not only going to approve my little plan – he’s going to be the one to tell the world.”
“He’ll never do it Daniel – I’ll make sure of that.” The Admiral was fairly frothing at the mouth now – his eyes ablaze like there were when he dropped a thousand Tuttsvillian fighters from the sky – “You’ll be arrested and this whole saga will end – your blood lust ends here GENERAL.”
“I think not my good Admiral.”
With a nod of his head, the General’s escort entered from the hallway – sidearms drawn.
“Admiral James Hallsey. You are under arrest on the charge of sedition. You are to accompany us to TAL-4 prison where you will await trial by military tribunal. Do you understand Sir?”
Hallsey looked around the room in shock – disbelief clearly evident on his leathered faced.
“I – I – don’t”
“Oh do stop mumbling James – you’re going to prison – you have betrayed your nation – your name and office are dishonoured….Take him away.”
The guard and the Admiral left the room – the assembled staff sat quietly – hardly daring to even think.
Vice-Admiral Wellsey was the first to break the silence – quickly figuring how – in good Wolfish style – to take advantage of the arrest of his boss.
“General. What are our next steps?”
Blackstone turned to look at Wellsey. “I’d say the first step is to promote you to Admiral. Then – then we can talk about our invasion.”
“Who will we invade?” asked one of the others.
“I’m not sure yet. We’ll meet back here at 0900 tomorrow morning. I have a meeting with Todler before that – I want options for…lets call it Operation Runaway Mutt.”
“Yes General.”
With that the wait staff began serving the steak – though one place sat empty.
=======================
Government Building, Wolfish
0700 hrs
Office of the President
General Blackstone stood at the window – starring at the city as the sun rose over a troubled empire.
And it was his – his to rule – his to save…or at least it would be once Todler showed up.
With that final thought, the door to the office opened and the President walked in.
“Sorry to keep you waiting Daniel. Have a seat.”
“Thank you Mr. President.”
The two men took seats on the couch facing each other with the silver coffee service between them.
“Daniel – I’m sure you know as well as I do how grave this situation is. The papers today are full of bad news…Three more trading houses are insolvent – and there’s a chance that one of the big banks is going to go bust.
Nations are lining up either to offer us aid, or to dump their product – illegally I might add – on our economy.
General Blackstone shifted on the soft couch. “And what, exactly, Mr. President, are we doing about it?”
Todler looked blankly at the General – it wasn’t the type of question he was used to from an underling.
“With respect Mr. President – I don’t think our economy can withstand all your action,” retorted the General, with sarcasm dripping from every word.
“General – I believe you need to remember your place – the situation is….”
“Mr. President,” interrupting once again, “With respect – this is my place. My place, to remind you, is to serve the state – as is yours.”
The General reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device, which looked to be a pager – he pushed one of the buttons on it, and sat back in his seat, continuing.
“Too often Mr. President – the path of leadership is unclear – but that is no excuse for inaction.”
The sounds of a disruption grew in the outer chamber. Todler stood to check on the disturbance.
“Mr. President – I must insist that you remain seated.”
Todler looked quickly at the General, then began moving towards the door…
In the outer office, the scene was growing calm. With the push of the button, the General’s guard, supplemented with 20 Wolfish Marines, quietly and quickly took control of the building.
Few shots were fired, but those that were, flew from the silenced MP-5s into the chests and heads of the President’s Protection Service.
Across the nation, office doors were broken down, and Agents of the government, and staff loyal to Todler were arrested – largely without bloodshed or fuss.
“General – Explain yourself,” said a visibly shaken President.
“Well Sir. The good news is that you are still the President. Of course I have seized all power. You Sir will represent those powers to the world and to the nation.”
“You – you can’t…”
“I have Mr. President. I have.”
With that the General walked to the ornamental office door and opened it. Two Marines in battle dress uniforms snapped to attention. The opposing wall was being washed to remove a large blood stain.
“And questions Mr. President?”
“My staff…”
“Your staff will be held here, as will you. You will run the business of the government under the supervision of my staff.” The General looked at his watch, “We’ll have to finish our discussion later. I have another meeting.”
The General turned and walked out – soldier on either side as he passed out of sight.
The new leader of Wolfish got on the elevator and descended some 80 floors to one of the subbasements – where the labyrinth of tunnels linked the complex of government buildings in the capital.
The War Room, a secure complex well-below ground-level, opened before him. Staff snapped to attention as he entered.
“As you were. Let’s not get caught up in ceremony – we’ve got a country to run.”
ooc: A virtually bloodless coup has occurred in Wolfish. The transition will be largely unnoticed by the outside world – though the change in military doctrine will certainly be felt.
In spite of outward appearances – Wolfish is now a dictatorship under military rule.
This is not an RP – simply a notification.