NationStates Jolt Archive

[OOC: This RP is CLOSED. Only Halberdgardia and I may post to this thread. Do NOT post to this thread. Do not tag it. If you'd like to read this thread, please use the Jolt forum tools to Subscribe to this thread.

If you have any questions about this thread, please TG me or Halberdgardia. Thank you.]

Despite repeated warnings by Senior Vice President and External Affairs Officer Mark Lorber, Lieutenant President Nicole Lewis was intent on undertaking what for her was a rarity: A summit that traditionally involved national leaders was going to feature her instead of Sarzonia's President, Mike Sarzo.

Instead of Sarzo's now-regular trips to Hamptonshire to fulfill his duties as the Duke of Portshire for the Grand Duchy, he was preparing for a trip to The Freethinkers for a formal signing of a Treaty of Friendship and Fealty with the former Organisation of Maritime Powers members. When Isselmere-Nieland resigned its membership from OMP, Sarzonia already had an active alliance with Isselmere-Nieland.

As a result, Article XIX was going to be invoked once again and Lewis was set to travel to Halberdgardia, a nation that was fighting against longtime Sarzonian enemies Doomingsland in what many Sarzonians were referring to as World War VII. To appease Lorber, she was going to do it aboard the ISS Pacitalia, the flagship of the Fourth Fleet under Admiral Dana Locksley.

She looked out impassively at the skyline in Nicksia as the Pacitalia set off with the rest of the Fourth Fleet to steam toward Halberdgardia. She looked through the notes that Sarzo forwarded to her about his goals for the summit. He wanted the countries to sign a treaty of alliance and with both Halberdgardia and Sarzonia at war against Gholgoth powers, he wanted Lewis and Halberdgardia's president to discuss strategy. She had with her information about Doomingsland's military assets and intelligence earned after a lengthy conflict in Inkana.

"I guess I'm going to have to do this," Lewis said as the Pacitalia steamed toward Halberdgardian waters with two escort squadrons of fighters constantly patrolling. If there was any time for her to learn the art of diplomacy, now was it.

OOC: Tag, any chance I could get in this? I've been yearning to get into a peaceful RP that doesn't involve war ;) And besides I need some info on Doom as he's invading me.

OOC: Tag, any chance I could get in this? I've been yearning to get into a peaceful RP that doesn't involve war ;)

OOC: Sorry, SU, but this is supposed to be closed for just me and Sarzonia, as our leaders pursue further diplomatic relations between our countries.

IC:

"Mr. President! The Sarzonians have arrived!"

"Thank you, Thomas."

President Kir Kanos leaned back from his desk, cluttered with papers dealing with all kinds of issues, and took a long look at the Oval Office. He had spent so much time in this hallowed place, and now he prepared himself to leave it once again...

Exactly three hours later, Kanos was stepping off Air Force One onto the ground of the Sixth Fleet Base just northeast of San Francisco. [OOC: I name my major cities after RL U.S. cities] He stepped off Air Force One, and immediately onto Marine One, where he would be flown out to rendezvous with the ISS Pacitalia, the Sarzonian ship serving as the site of the summit, and meet with Sarzonian Lieutenant President Nicole Lewis. Four Secret Service agents, armed with their standard .50AE Desert Eagle sidearms, boarded Marine One after the President, and two TSF-616 Eidolon fighters had been prepped to launch to escort Marine One. Fifteen minutes later, the triad of aircraft had lifted off into the sky, and were now on the final leg of the journey.

When the three aircraft were within range of the Pacitalia, the pilot Marine One hailed the vessel.

"Pacitalia Control, this is Marine One, requesting permission to land, over."

"Roger that Marine One, you have permission to land, over."

With that announcement from the bridge, Lewis pored over the notes Sarzo gave her for the conference with Halberdgardia. She wasn't used to being the first diplomatic voice of Sarzonia to a country. Lorber and Sarzo were more equipped for a diplomatic mission, but with both previously engaged, it was her responsibility to handle a diplomatic mission.

She straightened her suit and walked toward the canopy where Marine One was set to land and waited in the wings so that the wind whipping up from the helicopter landing wouldn't blow her carefully-arranged suit or hair out of place.

"Guess this is everything," she said as the helicopter began to touch down and the propellors slowed to a near stop. She stole one last glance in the mirror and walked deliberately toward the door as Marine One came to a silent halt.

Kanos stepped out of Marine One, its still-slowing rotors whipping at his suit. He walked briskly to Lewis, and offered his hand.

"Ms. Lewis, I presume? President Kanos. A pleasure to finally meet you. Shall we adjourn inside? The wind out here is quite substantial," he commented with a grin.

tag

*watches as Sarz gives Hal outdated information on my army*OOC: If you're not in the RP, please keep all OOC comments out of this thread. Thanks.

BUMP for Sarz's reply, before I hit the sack for tonight.

"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you Mr. President."

Lewis extended her hand and gave a smile. She was letting the reality sink in that she was going to be the diplomatic representative of Sarzonia during a time of war. She also let it sink in that Sarzonia's top two diplomats were otherwise engaged, but she was going to go about it professionally.

"Captain, do you mind giving me and our guests a brief tour of the ship," Lewis asked Captain Greg Nowels, the nominal commander of the Pacitalia itself. He wasn't the commander of the Fleet, and while he didn't even command the ship itself while it served as flagship, he was still an important figure aboard one of Sarzonia's most important ships.

"Not at all Lieutenant President Lewis. Mr. President. Follow me," Nowels said with a smile as he smartly turned around and led the two negotiators on the tour.

She's a beauty, Lewis thought. She hadn't had a chance to view the class that was Sarzonia's pride and joy before the PIW conceived the Vigilant-class, but the ship sparkled in its own right.

Kanos carefully postured his expression so as to appear genuinely observant and interested (which he was), but not awed. This was not to say that Sarzonia was a nation to be disrespectful to; on the contrary, Kanos respected the Sarzonians greatly. But neither is Halberdgardia a country to be trifled with, Kanos thought with some measure of patriotic pride.

He made mental notes of Captain Nowels' comments on the Pacitalia as he went along with the tour, one he could tell Nowels had given many times to many heads of state.

"Quite an impressive vessel," Kanos commented. "And, if I'm not mistaken, not too dissimilar to the Freedom-class. We have one Freedom-class in our own fleet, and I must say it is quite the powerful vessel. Now, if only we lay our hands on an Imperial-class, then we would be in business," Kanos said with a laugh.

"Why, yes," Nowels said in response to Kanos's observation about the Pacitalia. "The original design for the Independence-class was intended to replace the Freedom-class in the Incorporated Sarzonian Navy. Since the Independence reached the international market, there was an explosion of similar classes, many of whom left the original export version of this ship in the dust. That sent the PIW into overdrive to 'refit' the design and make it more competitive with other ships around the world. Now it's one of the best in the business.

"And actually," Nowels said, "the Freedom itself is originally a joint design between the Imperial Praetonian Shipyards and the Portland Iron Works. Sometime after its inception, the design turned the company into one of the world leaders in naval ship designs. Unfortunately, this war we're in forced the government to close off PIW to foreign sales."

The look that crossed Nowels's face as he caught the glance of Lewis was a rueful one that Lewis would have rightly seen as an expression of concern over the possible economic impact of losing a major export of the Sarzonian economy to the need to rapidly build a Sarzonian war machine that could stand up to a much larger foe. But that was a discussion for another day and another time. Besides, that was what the politicans did. Not ship captains.

"I suppose you two might want to get started right away," Nowels said. He pointed to a door. "That's the conference room. It's set up for you with all manner of advanced equipment, situation maps, etc. You can discuss whatever you guys need to. If you need anything, there's an intercom button on the wall." Nowels stood up and gave a quick salute to Lewis and Kanos and walked off.

Lewis opened the door and showed Kanos into the room. It had a state-of-the-art flat screen monitor with a TiVO display and a PowerPoint projection display. A sailor was standing at attention when Lewis walked in.

"If you need help with any of the equipment, I'll be right here," the sailor said.

"Thank you Petty Officer," Lewis said, struggling to pronounce the last name.

"Gambitt. Oliver Gambitt," he said with a formal smile.

"All right, let's get started," Lewis said, sitting down and pulling out her notes as she beckoned Kanos to do the same.

Kanos smiled and nodded at Petty Officer Gambitt, and took a seat at the conference table at Lewis' suggestion.

"Down to business it is, then. It appears you have a presentation for me, so I suppose I'll just sit back and offer my opinions when you're done. Take it away, Ms. Lewis," Kanos said genially.

Lewis stood up and asked Gambitt to turn on the projecting device for the presentation she handed him. The first slide showed a satellite image of Doomingsland, followed by various facts and figures culled from Sarzonia's embarrassment in Inkana.

"As you may have heard, the Legionaires are some of the best soldiers in the world," she said. "They have been training since they were just old enough to point a gun and here are some examples of the tactics we faced in Inkana."

She showed an illustration of ordnance going off in front of the skittish Sarzonian army and illustrated reports of Doomie torture against her forces. Lewis grimaced as she showed information obtained through intelligence sources.

"Until a few of our engineers from the Portland Iron Works defected to Doomingsland," Lewis said, her voice dripping with barely-concealed annoyance, "they didn't have much of a Navy to write home about. Since then, they have developed several warship classes that are worth paying close attention to." Lewis looked Kanos squarely in the eye to add emphasis.

"All Trimaran."

She momentarily scanned for his reaction and continued. "As you may know, Trimaran-hulled ships are all but impervious to missile attacks. A Trimaran frigate could stay afloat much longer than a monohulled ship can, and they are more stable weapons platforms. However," Lewis added. "If you go back in naval history a little bit, you'll find that you'll have better success penetrating the armour of a Trimaran warship if you use naval guns.

"As for standard infantry practice, some of the information we have may not have kept up to date with their current practices, owing to some gaps in intel," she said. "But the main point I want to get across is this: Train your men to be the best of the best and train them some more. Don't make the same mistakes we made in Inkana. I have some more information, which I'll go into greater detail with later, but that's Part One of my presentation."

She waited for Kanos's response.

Kanos absorbed what was said, then slowly began to speak.

"I'm afraid I can't said our own infantry are that fanatical. Military service is purely voluntary in Halberdgardia, excepting drafts, of course. However, we are fortunate that our populace is willing to fight in times of war, and that there is high pride in serving in the armed forces. We train our men well, but it's hard to say exactly how they'd stack up against Doomingsland troops.

"Regarding their navy, the presence of trimaran is not good. They'll be able to give our own vessels a run for their money. Do you have any intel on specific classes of Doomingsland vessels, and their comparability to, say, PIW or IPS vessels of the same role?"

Lewis grimaced. She thought about the question, then realised the reason that Rear Admiral Tucker specifically mentioned Legionaire class and the Leander-class. The Leander project was shelved because the planners for both the Navy and PIW simply felt it wasn't necessary. The defection of the PIW engineers to Doomingsland suddenly made the design necessary.

"Well, the Legionaire-class command dreadnoughts that Doomingsland uses are an outgrowth of the Leander," Lewis said. They also have large cruisers that serve as escorts, and they're designs that PIW was seriously considering adopting instead of the Endymion. They're armed with 12 inch guns if I remember correctly. Either a Endymion which is armed with 14 inchers or a Timiocato which has space for aircraft might give you an advantage.

"Their Imperivm dreadnoughts have no similar ships in terms of doctrine to anything in the Portland Iron Works inventory, but our Oceania-class escorts also are armed with 25 inch guns. They have a large array of defensive missiles that is ideal against a missile saturation attack. You should find, however, that IPS-built Trimaran hulled ships should be somewhat comparable to what Doomingsland can throw out there. PIW's Trimaran-hulled escorts have slightly different roles, though survivability is Portland's main credo.

"As far as their army is concerned, your main task should be to make sure that you get your troops well-trained. Train them for urban combat, and don't get into the same pattern of mistakes we made in Inkana. Our troops were some of the worst-trained I've ever seen but we might have done a lot better if we had better soldiers and better leadership.

"One final tip, though: If you've got advanced aircraft, use it. Their avionics and their pilots' skill is some of the best Sarzonia's ever been up against." She leaned in for extra emphasis. "Our pilots are damn good and our aircraft is off the hook. They cleaned our clocks. You have to be better than damn good to get those guys."

"I'll inform our Chief of the Army that he needs to get the training camps in overdrive, with an emphasis on urban combat. And speaking of urban combat, didn't your Incorporated Ordnance Company recently develop a new infantry fighting vehicle based on the events of Inkana? We are lacking an effective IFV, a weakness that would prove fatal in extended urban combat. Perhaps we can strike a deal regarding the purchase of this IFV, or is IOC closed to all foreign sales like PIW?

[OOC: This actually refers to two vehicles, your Z-39 CICV and your Z-35 Landshark IFV.]

"The naval situation I'm confident we can address; we've based our entire navy, with the exception of a few superdreadnaught vessels, on IPS-made vessels.

"As for the third dimension, I feel that we can combat Doomingsland pilots on roughly equal footing. After all, our ally Space Union is a massive aircraft producer, and their aircraft are of exceptional quality. Doomingsland pilots might just meet their match in the SUAF.

Kanos grinned. "And to think that this is only Part One. Please, continue."

"All right, we've gone through the general run of strategy, but let's get into specifics," Lewis said. "Their armoured units are very advanced. A lot of their tech is based on Soviet Bloc technology. You'll find that anti-tank guided missiles aren't going to be effective against them with their tank CIWS. Your best bet is to go after electronics and use kinetic missile strikes."

Lewis studied Kano's reaction to her comments then continued. "I think if you talk to General Quinn, he'll tell you some things that he thinks will be effective against the Doomies." She noted the slightly confused look on Kano's face and said, "that's what we call them. Doomies. It's like calling the Japanese the Japs or Germans 'Krauts.' It's a quick and dirty name we can use."

Lewis remembered that Major General Mike Quinn was one of the central figures in Inkana, but as the hearings proved, he had a better grasp of how to deal with the Doomies than his commanding officer Wes Pinckney did. He had been a colonel in Inkana, but he was far more competent a military officer than the two star general was.

"Advanced armor...damn, that's not good. We use mainly MassPwnage designs ourselves, though we recently made Lame Bums' Ostkampfwagen VIII "Ferne" MBT (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9465891&postcount=47) our frontline armor unit. Hopefully, they'll stand up to whatever punishment the Doomies' armor can dish out. Rather cynically, some of our generals are actually wondering if we even need to deploy ground units, hoping that the Space Union troops will handle the brunt of the ground fighting while we provide close air and naval support. However, I think the truth of the matter is we're going to have to deploy ground units."

"I don't have a whole lot of respect for Mass Pwnage technology," Lewis said quickly. "Frankly, we don't even use their stuff for scrap.

"You're going to have to get good naval and air support. That is certain. But you'll need to get ground support, use your artillery units. But your best bet is Praetonian-built units, notably their Phalanx tanks. Those are some of the toughest tanks out there that aren't built by Soviet Bloc."

Lewis settled back into her chair.

"Besides military strategy, I'd suggest you start looking for ways to disrupt their supply lines and their commerce. Blockade them, send ships on commerce raiding missions. Use your aerial assets to attack their shipping. Basically, beat them by starving them of supplies.

"I think you also wanted to discuss a possible alliance with us, am I correct?"

"I'll have the JCS look into the Praetonian armor units, and I'll get our Chief of Naval Operations to begin devising an overall strategy for the maritime theater," Kanos said, committing those two points to memory. "And yes, I was hoping we could reach some sort of agreement on an alliance."

"I thought so," Lewis said with a slight smile. "Let me see your proposal and then I'll put across Sarzonia's own proposal for an alliance between our countries."

Lewis sat back.

"We definitely should have diplomatic relations. We can discuss those along with the military alliance since we're on the same side of this war."

"Well," Kanos said, "we have a generic alliance we use when dealing with most countries." He passed a piece of paper down the table to Lewis. "If you'll take a look at that, we can decide if it's satisfactory, or if not, how to modify it."

[OOC: And yes, this is very generic.]



[Treaty of (insert location here)]
Alliance between Halberdgardia and (nation name)

[Article I:]
Both parties agree to host dual embassies in each other's countries. Both embassies are to follow the diplomatic laws encoded by this treaty, as outlined in Article II. These embassies are to be considered national territory of the owner of the embassy, and any attack on said embassy will be considered an act of war.

[Article II:]
The laws on embassies encoded by this treaty are as follows:


The amount of armed guards, including professional soldiers, are to be from zero to one-hundred men, with whatever arms thought necessary by the client nation.
Five soft-skinned combat vehicles are allowed, including armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. A single tough-skinned vehicle is allowed, including a main battle tank.
The flag of the client nation is to fly no matter what reason, including policy towards certain political groups inside the host nation. It is national territory of the client nation, and thus they have the right to any flag.


[Article III:]
Both nations are to be aligned not only with a diplomatic allegiance, including moral support, but through a treaty of non-aggression; if either party is to undertake any hostile action against the other, the alliance and all its terms are to be considered null and void. Moreover, should a third party threaten either nation, the other nation not affected by the third nation should not align itself with the third nation, even if an alliance exists between the two parties. Instead, it should be aligned with the ally specified by this treaty, or remain neutral in any conflict which may arise.

[Article IV:]
Upon the ratification of this treaty, both nations agree to a full military pact. Both nations are obliged to offer some form of military aid if a scenario develops in which one of the signatories of this treaty is attacked by a third-party nation. If the party is allied to the third-party nation, Article III applies.

[Article V:]
This treaty does not allow the free construction of military bases. In order to fulfill the request for a base, a separate treaty must be drawn by either party. Noncompliance with this will result in a denial of building privileges.

[Conclusions:]
This treaty shall be immediately put into effect upon the confirmation of (nation name).

Another BUMP for Sarz...we're almost there, man, don't give up now! :p

Lewis looked at the generic alliance information and subtly bit her lip.

"I have a serious concern about Article IV," she began. "Namely, what happens if one of the allied nations can't provide military support. For instance, even though we're in a cease fire with Pantera, we're still technically at war. We are still not in a position where we can provide more than moral support or perhaps basic supplies.

"Also, I feel I must address your comment about your air force against the Doomies," Lewis said. "Our air force and naval air wings are among the best in the world. Some of our planes are right up there with the best fighters in the world and we were made to look like shit. Being overconfident against the Doomies is dangerous.

"I think I should briefly let you know that you will likely have a good chance of facing Maximus in battle. He's one of their top generals and he is brutal. Make sure you get air cover, keep tabs on him with UAVs, and use countermeasures and tank CIWS to the hilt against their armoured weaponry. Major General Mike Quinn has a more detailed breakdown of Maximus and his methods. I think you should have your generals get a briefing from General Quinn. It might make a difference for you."

Lewis studied the treaty once again, nodding her head before speaking.

"If you make a modification to Article IV, this should be able to clear the House."

"Well, Article IV is deliberately left vague in terms of the exact meaning of 'military support.' Of course, we would never ask you to provide more than you felt you could, so basic supplies or even moral support would suffice. It's open to interpretation, to some degree. Hopefully the House will accept that.

"On another note, I have a question to ask you. News of our military departments attempting purchases at PIW and IOC have reached me, as well as the news that our orders were denied due to production concerns for your own war against Pantera. Now, I could hardly blame PIW and IOC for their measures, but I was hoping that perhaps we could reach an agreement on the procurement of the vehicles and vessels we sought. I was wondering if perhaps we could work out a deal to procure production rights, limited or not, for the items we wished to procure. PIW and IOC get additional money to fuel their own production needs, without the added strain of having to manufacture the items themselves. Specifically, our Army sought unlimited production rights to your your Z-35 Landshark IFV and your Z-39 CICV, or limited-run production rights for a large number of these vehicles. Additionally, we sought limited-run production rights from PIW to build at least one Diplomacy-class executive yacht and one Chieftain-class executive submarine. Perhaps we can broker a deal on this issue?"

"Well," Lewis began. "You would have to address Major General Wade at IOC and Rear Admiral Tucker at Portland for the answers to production contracts. There's a specific contract for production rights if I remember correctly."

"I don't think they'd have a problem with agreeing to at least a limited production contract as long as it's for domestic production only."

Lewis looked back at Article IV, then nodded her head.

"I think if I can make the case to the House that Article IV is left up to interpretation and that we wouldn't be forced to overextend ourselves, it can pass the House," she said.

Kanos kept his expression relatively neutral, but was internally ecstatic.

"Excellent," he said. "I hope to hear good news regarding the ratification of the alliance between our two countries from your House soon. Perhaps we ought to name this alliance the Treaty of Pacitalia, as befitting the location of its inception?"

"Very well. That name sounds good to me," Lewis said.

"On a more serious note," Lewis began. "I suppose I should brief you on the possible leader of the Doomies' army forces you'll be facing. Now, we don't have confirmed intel that he is in fact their commander, but there's a strong likelihood that he's going to be the guy you oppose.

"You need to know one thing about Maximus. He is ruthless. He personally killed roughly three or four sections of Sarzonian troops in Inkana. Be prepared for a technological battle as well as a chess match. Use your armoured units as the point of a spear and try to take out the mobility of their tanks. Then keep pummelling them as much as you can."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to submit this to the House now for their consent," Lewis said, tapping out a few commands on the laptop, which submitted the treaty with electronic confirmation of her assent. "As soon as I receive word on this, you'll be the first to know," she said with a subtly sheepish smile.

[OOC: I though this thread was dead, so my President's actually on one a Chieftain for the start of our involvement in WWVII. But, hey, we'll temporarily bend the laws of physics, or continuity, or whatever you like.]

Kanos nodded at Lewis' comments, and was about to speak when one of his aides entered the room. Kanos resisted the urge to give the man a withering glare, and listened as the aide whispered something in Kanos' ear.

"Well, Ms. Lewis, I believe I have some news to report. Congress has voted to declare war on Doomingsland and Freudotopia. We're in this now. I will keep in mind all that you have told me, and pass them on to the commanders in charge of the forces that will be deployed to Space Union.

"I look forward to strong relations between our countries for many years to come."

[OOC: That's okay. We can always cite fluid time.]

Lewis grimaced. The war was on.

She clicked submit with her note about the treaty to send it electronically to the House of Delegates. She figured she would have to return home to find out the House's position on the treaty, so she closed the laptop.

"I hope for the same," she said. "Would you like to stay on board the Pacitalia for a while, until the House can make its decision on the treaty or do you want us to have you go straight home?"

She waited for the answer. From both Kanos and the House of Delegates.

[OOC: Yay for fluid time.]

"If you'll excuse me, I believe I should be headed back home. My security staff will probably want me in some underground nuclear-hardened bunker or somewhere hidden," he said with a grin. He offered his hand to Lewis. "Thank you for your time, Lieutenant President. I appreciate your valuable advice and greatly look forward to working with you and your government in the future."