The meeting (closed RP)
OOC: This is a closed RP between me and Hawdawg. Feel free to watch though.
IC:
Soldier: Sir, welcome to Cotland.
The soldier opened the door for the honorable Timothy Gregory, acreditted ambassador to the Holy Republic of Hawdawg from the Commonwealth of Cotland. Next to him was his wife Sharon.
The couple stepped out of the Mercedes Benz CLS 500. The car was brand new. Bought 1 month ago, slightly modified (armoured), and placed in the carpark of the embassy. Another CLS 500 was behind his car, carrying Colonel Andrej Smith, the Military Attache and C.O. of the troops posted at the embassy.
Aide: Ambassador, welcome to Hawdawg. If you'd follow me please sir.
Gregory: Yes, thank you. When is our meeting with Prime Minister Wale?
Aide: Wales sir. In an hour sir. You have to change into something else sir.
Gregory: Very well. Have you met my wife?
The diplomat and the Colonel walked to their respective quarters in the 8th floor, where they unpacked and changed, getting ready for the meeting with the Prime Minister.
Gregory: Colonel, my car or yours?
Smith: Yours, I think.
Gregory: Ok. Do you want to drive?
Smith just looked at the ambassador with a "what do you think" look.
They entered the backseat of the ambassadors CLS 500 and a driver drove the car to the meeting with the Prime Minister.
....30 Minutes before the meeting.......
PM Wales stands up and looks out the triangle window behind his desk. As his Chief of Staff Martin Fescue squirms in a desk chair.
"Martin I will ask you one more time, are all the documents I asked for in this folder?"
Mr. Fescue looked and muttered, "Sire, uh I mean Sir I don't know what happened, I was only out of the office for a minute and............."
"SILENCE!!" PM Wales screamed as he wheeled around from the window. "You are answering a retorical question you idiot!"
The Prime Minister slid down into his chair and began to speak in a quiter tone. "We will go with what we know. I will discuss this matter in private with Ambassador Gregory and Col. Smith when they arrive. Bring in the tea and excuse yourself when they arrive. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir" said Mr. Fescue "I will go and make myself available to escort them to the meeting." Mr. Fescue rose and walked in a hurried pace from the office of the Prime Minister down the hall to the Reception area of the Prime Ministers office. As he waited he couldn't help but pace.
OOC: I have to take my wife to doctor so I will be out for awhile today. FYI my compt. is acting stupid again with the forums and loading incredibily slow so I may or may not be able to get back in here today.
Ambassador Gregory and Colonel Smith arrived outside the government building. They were 10 minutes early, still, there were people there waiting for them. A bunch of soldiers and a civilian dressed in a fancy suit. No doubt someone high up in the political food-chain. Ambassador Gregory himself was dressed in a hand-made Armani suit imported from Rome. Colonel Smith was dressed in the standard issue Air Force dress blue, complete with decorations, Officers sabre, and white-leather pistolholster, in which he carried his personal weapon: a silver .50 Desert Eagle.
Gregory: Oh damn. I forgot to call the secretary. What was the number again?
Smith: The number is 11-0900-5432. But don't worry. An aide did it earlier today. Its all taken care of.
The two men got out of the car. Smith saluted the civilian, while at the same time Gregory presented himself and the Colonel.
Gregory: Hello, I'm ambassador Gregory. From Cotland. And this is Colonel Smith. He's also from Cotland. But I guess you understood that, didn't you?
Gregory gave the man a nervous smile, while Smith looked more and more embarrased.
OOC: Gregory is a brand new diplomat. This is his first posting, while Smith has been in diplomatic service for a few years. I guess you can tell...
I'm not going to be available for a few hours either, because I'm flying home soon. I'll get on later tonight though. Hope that nothing's wrong with your wife. :)
"Good day Ambassador Gregory and Colonel Smith. Prime Minister Wales is expecting you. He has asked me to bring greet you and bring you to his office. I am his Chief of Staff Martin Fescue."
Pleasantries where exchanged by both parties in the lobby. Smith led both men down the hall into the plush waiting area. "Just a minute Gentlemen while I announce your arrival to PM Wales." Fescue walked quickly to the large Oak doors clearly marked with the Hawdawg Seal and tapped ever so quietly.
"COME IN" was heard behind the large omnious doors. Mr. Fescue opened the doors and stepped inside. In less than a minute he returned and stated, "PM Wales will see you gentlemen know."
As the Cotland representatives came into the office, Prime Minister Wales stepped from behind the large cherry desk and offered his hand to the two men. "My name is Josey Wales and on behalf of the Kingdom of Hawdawg I welcome you to our lovely country. Please have a seat gentlemen we have much to discuss." PM Wales motioned for the two to have a seat.
"That will be all Mr. Fescue, you may excuse yourself. Gentlemen would you like some tea?" PM Wales asked as everyone settled into a chair for an in-depth discussion.
OOC: thanks for the concern routine checkups. I am still having logon issues though maybe my DSL will get ironed out today. The rain isn't helping much here in TX.
Gregory: Hello sir. I'm Timothy Gregory, appointed ambassador to the Kingdom of Hawdawg by Elected Leader Thomas Rothsky of Cotland. This is my.. well, I'll let him introduce himself.
Smith: Thank you sir. I'm Colonel Andrej Smith, of the Cottish Air Force. Currently assigned to the Cottish Embassy in Hawdawg as Military Attache and C.O. of the soldiers posted there. Pleased to meet you sir. Yes, tea would be nice, I think.
The two men sat down in the large padded leather chairs, and Col. Smith prepared himself for the coming third degree interregation, cleverly consealed in the polite language of diplomacy, by trying to remember his counter-interregation training from Boot Camp and Officers Training 20-odd years ago.
OOC: Well, I'm not too bothered by rain here in Norway. More by snow and cold.
Prime Minister Wales slid his chair up to the desk and began:
"Cigar gentlemen?" offering the finest hand-rolled Cubans available.
"I would first like to thank our Eastern Neighbor for responding so quickly to set up an embassy. We want to foster a positive and benificial growth among all nations in the region. Our interest is improving the relations of all countries in the Mediterranean Area, we understand things have been "tense" as of late and we were wondering what your thoughts might be on getting all the nations in the area to get along? We had a beef with Nicholas the Great several years ago over Turkey. We never came to blows, but the whole war in Turkey was entirely preventable, in our opinion, if the right diplomatic pieces where in place. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Before you answer I have a more pressing issue that needs to be discussed. We have reasonable information via satellite images, and coastal patrol boat interceptions that a group named the "Opium Gods" is trying to infiltrate our countries borders. I have privy to some classified documents that claim this group has a loose association with some Morrocan and Cretean Pirates. This "Pirate Ring" has had a mild effect of trade in the Mediterranean Sea. I am sorry to say this but two of the bandits captured last week where carrying Cotland passports. We have some doubt as to the credibility of the passports as they appear to be forgeries. We could not find significant evidence of countries of orgin on the other 15 men and are currently questioning them to determine what we will do with them. The trawler these men where on had 20 tons of Hash and 5 tons of Opium on board when it was intercepted. We believe they were destined for drug markets in Central Africa. The trawler was confiscated and promptly sunk. We have the two Cotland men in Cowtow Prison currently awaiting a fait in which you will decide. We have elected to hand them over to you since they had Cotland passports, but we ask they be punished accordingly. We didn't want an international incident on our hands Ambassador."
"We currently run a 120 boat Coastal Patrol group and are wishing to share intel with your Military and would like to perform join operations to try and stomp out this drug trade. We feel this is important for the sanctity of the region. Our navy is the pride of our country but we don't want them to spend all there time meant for training searching for drug runners. In fact, we hope to establish a naval base in the Pacific shortly so we can have a presence in two oceans."
Prime Minister Wales suddenly realized he had been talking the whole time and had not allowed his counterparts to respond.
"I am sorry gentlemen, once I get started I tend to go on and on. What are your feelings on these issues?" PM Wales waited for a response.
Gregory looked a little concerned. What had he gotten himself into? Remembering that he had been offered a cigar, he quickly replied.
Gregory: Thank you sir, no. I don't smoke. Bad lungs, you see. As for the diplomatic solution, I always cling to the fact that peace is the way. That is actually Cotlands national motto. Peace is the way.
Smith accepted the cigar, but looked a little concerned about the "Cottish" pirates. He quickly decided to take control of the situation. It would be a military issue anyway.
Smith: Sir, I believe that I speak for the ambassador when I say that we would be happy to take over the pirates. I also believe that neither ourselves or Elected Leader Rothsky would like to have this evolve into an incident.
Smith paused in order to regain his breath and to take a puff of the fine cigar. Ambassador Gregory looked happy that Smith had taken over, but still, he wanted to have a say.
Gregory: Well sir, I believe that I can assure you that the pirates will be trialed when they reach Cotland. If you would be so kind as to deliver the evidences against them aswell? It would make the trial run along a whole lot smoother. Naturally Hawdawgian officials would be allowed to watch the trial. We'll probably call in the arresting party to testify too. Let me assure you that the men will be punished harshly if found guilty. In Cotland, piracy is a capitol crime.
Smith: Yes sir. On the point of sharing intel and joint operations, I would have to speak with my superiors in Cotland. As you probably don't know, most of our navy consists of submarines, with only a few surface combatants. But sinking the pirates should not be a problem. You know, we have a saying in Cotland: "Smile, ADCAPs love you".
Prime Minister Wales laughed loudly at the "smile, ADCAPS love you line".
Prime Minister Wales addressed Ambassador Gregory first, "We will drop the two individuals off at your embassy in the morning around 8am for you to do what you will with them. Remember gentlemen they had Cottish passports but they appeared to be fakes. We put together an intel file and will send the passports and personal items taken from these men with a courier later today to your embassy. As far as evidence, I don't think 25 tons of illegal narcotics would be something you would want to take back as evidence, so we have removed 10 pounds of each of the drugs to send with you for the trial. I will have the Coastal Patrol Boat Captian MSGT. Marco Servin transferred to the embassy for duty. He was the arresting officer and will be made available to testify in court. I will contact Ambassador Wells and will have him dispatch a Hawdawg representative to the trial proceedings."
Prime Minister Wales then turned to the Colonel, and said, "Mr. Smith, you are probably already aware of the size of our naval fleet but as a courtesy remember to remind your sub captains "official" Hawdawg naval markings include a Green Spruce Symbol next to all names on vessels. We wouldn't want a wayward ADCAPS hitting something by accident. I am anxious to hear word back from your superiors about sharing intel, I think this will be a good venture for both nations."
PM Wales slides business cards across the desk to Ambassador Gregory and Col. Smith. "This is a number that rings into this suite only. It is a secure line that is to be used in emergency situations. Please pass this on to the honorable Mr. Rothsky and tell him if he needs to discuss sensitive matters my line is always open. This phone is a satellite phone set up on a military frequency that is 64-bit encrypted and cannot be hacked."
"Col. Smith there is another business card underneath your stack. That is the card of our Intelligence Chief Brenda Bile, don't underestimate the skill of her simply based on her gender, she has a way of getting the most from the least, if you know what I mean. When and if Cotland decides to setup a intelligence sharing session she will be your contact. I ask that you keep that contact number on her card close to the vest, some people in a location we can't really say are still wanting to know her where-abouts."
"If you gentlemen don't have anymore questions for me I think this meeting is over" Prime Minister Wales waited for a response.
The two men rose from their chairs, and shook the Prime ministers hand.
Smith: Thank you sir. Yes, I'm well aware of the official markings on Hawdawgian ships, and don't worry. My own superior is a woman. The card will be in the best of hands. Good bye sir.
Gregory: Thank you sir. On behalf of Cotland, I thank you for your forthcoming, and for the card. It will come in handy one day, I'm sure. I'll see to it that Elected Leader Rothsky gets it as soon as possible. There's one more thing, actually. According to international diplomatic law, any new diplomat must be accnowledged by the head of state of the nation in which they are to establish themselves, as I'm sure you know. Here's the letter from mr Rothsky sir.
OOC: The standard procedure for diplomatic accnowledgement is to sign the letter of accnowledgement the ambassador carries with him, get another letter from the ambassadors head of state, and to say that the ambassador is accnowledged by the nation s/he is posted in. Just thought you'd like to know ;)
Prime Minister Wales took the official letter of acknowledgement from Ambassador Gregory and signed it. "Will this do sir?" he asked as he handed it back to the Ambassador.
"I will send an official letter to Mr. Rothsky welcoming your presence as the representative of Cotland in Hawdawg. My personal secretary will handle this item this afternoon. Good day gentlemen."
OOC: Didn't know that, thanks.
Prime Minister Wales took the official letter of acknowledgement from Ambassador Gregory and signed it. "Will this do sir?" he asked as he handed it back to the Ambassador.
"I will send an official letter to Mr. Rothsky welcoming your presence as the representative of Cotland in Hawdawg. My personal secretary will handle this item this afternoon. Good day gentlemen."
OOC: Didn't know that, thanks.
Gregory: It's perfect sir. Thank you. I can now take on the full duty of ambassador, while being perfectly within the boundaried set by the law. Good day sir.
OOC: Nice doin' business with ya' ;)