NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: OK, this is an attempt to get my RP going again after the previous false starts, and basically to try and provide an intro for my nation and its region. I should emphasis that the action starts beyond the borders of my nation in NPC territory (hence I have kept characters vague), but with my next post the focus will shift south to Kashu, and also will hopefully 'link up' with the situation left hanging from my last RP (i.e. large scale diplomatic contact has just been opened with the rest of the world) so anyone involved with that will be free and able to join in again if they want.


Near Dibrugarh, Upper Assam

The oil wells were hit just before dawn, as the morning shift was coming in. Within minutes, the warm twilight air was alive with the regular chattering of small arms fire, illuminated by the occasional jolt of orange flame. Caught either fresh from their beds, or lulled by a sleepless night, the few guards were soon overwhelmed as the insurgents proceed to direct their intentions toward the mass of pipes and machinery…

Dispur, Assam

The prime minister’s mind groggily struggled toward a realisation that the phone was ringing. Pausing only to wipe his eyes, he groped for the receiver, his mind already searching for answers even as the familiar voice of his security minister filled his ear.
‘Sorry for waking you, but we have a serious problem in the North East.’
‘Continue.’
‘A pair of oil wells have just been attacked near Dibrugarh, both owned by foreign companies. So far I’ve got over thirty dead, maybe more, and both sites are wrecked.’
The prime minister swore violently. ‘Who’s behind this? Bodo? Nagas? Who?’
The phone went silent for a moment before crackling back into life. ‘Too earlier to say, really.’
‘Well I’m going to need more than that this time. I’ll be in the office in forty-five minutes; I want you there and I want answers as to how this can have happened.’

***

The cabinet room was buzzing with confusion by the time the prime minister strode through the door, abruptly triggering an artificial spell of silence.
‘So, as I assume you all know, two wells, both owned by overseas investors, have been attacked by rebel forces…now what I want to know is what our forces were doing this morning?’
Noting how eyes were rapidly turning in his direction, the security minister eventually spoke. ‘To date rebel attacks have been concentrated on state-owned industry and communications; when they do go after private concerns, it usually the tea industry and the motive is extortion not destruction. The army and security forces are concentrated around government property and the two wells in question were protected by men hired by the owners…’
‘Owners who are about to come to me for answers as to why their property has been destroyed. I was told the situation was improving in that region, and now this happens.’
‘This was a significant operation, and so it is unsurprising the group responsible has been quiet for while beforehand.’
The prime minister seated himself. ‘If this pause is so unsurprising now, why wasn’t it picked up on before today?’
‘With respect, there was no way to be sure that an attack was planned until it had begun, and even if one was suspected, there are so many possible targets.’
‘Be that as it may…well then, what is being done to secure the region?’
‘Army units have been placed on alert, we are tightening security, but’
‘But?’
‘Our forces are overstretched as it is…now if we accepted the offer’
‘No!’ Several of the seated ministers visibly twitched as the prime minister’s hand came down hard on the table. ‘No. Out of the question. We will not run to foreigners for help.’
The room fell silent for a minute, although it seemed much longer in the tension. Eventually one of the other ministers nodded toward the prime minister and began to speak.
‘With respect, I feel I must ask the minister for internal security just what sort of assistance he expects from our southern neighbours. I notice that the minister has not said anything concerning how the insurgents might have come by the material needed for this attack; which is of course to say that we have no reason not to assume that the weapons responsible for so much destruction were made in, or supplied by Silchar.’
The security minister half rose from his seat. ‘I must protest! Many states supply guns, so how can you just assume Kashu provided them?’
‘Simply because,’ replied the second minister softly, ‘of all those that trade weapons, the white rani is by far the closest.’

(Ooh, tag. Welcome back. For now, the Commonwealth is too much absorbed in domestic development and the trouble being kicked-up by the HL and its associates to notice minor changes in the trend of conflict elsewhere in India. But I'll be watching!)

OOC: Thanks BG. To be frank this RP is mostly for my benefit anyway; experience has taught me the value of taking some time to experiment with key characters before getting deeply involved with other players- that way I should end up with a nation that I not only enjoy, but one I feel comfortable with. Saves a lot of grief later I find. So it's actually a good thing that there isn't much international interest at this stage in case I need to make any adjustments with details or personnel (as a case in point, I've just realised my first post is actually an earlier draft and will have to be changed to the correct one!). And besides, I have no illusions about Kashu being of any importance on the contemporary world stage...too small, remote and new for that!

Silchar, Kingdom of Kashu

‘General sir, I think you ought to see this right away.’
Charles Hamilton glanced up from his desk, to see one of his officers brandishing a typed report.
‘Thank you Major.’
The major saluted and left, leaving him alone with the typescript. He checked the clock on the facing wall, not quite nine; with his old British unit he would never have been in by this hour even though he was by inclination an early riser. But here the temperature would only keep on rising from dawn to midday so it made sense to get as much done before lunch as possible.
That Major Kumar, he was a good sort of man, very steady in the head; just the sort of type one wanted handling sensitive staff work. It would take something serious to get Kumar into a flap before nine, so with a sigh he flipped open the folder and began to read. He didn’t like what he saw.
Rapidly digesting the document, he was on his feet in minutes. Opening the office door, he called across to Major Kumar, who appeared smartly.
‘How old is this information?’
‘Only a few hours sir.’
‘Source?’
‘A contact at the defence office in Dispur.’
‘I don’t suppose he can get anything more for us…’
‘I’ve already taken care of that sir, but from the sound of it security is being tightly wound up.’
‘Not surprised after the beating they’ve just taken. Right, first things first, we need to know whose operation this was. If Dispur thinks we’re acting as quartermaster, we need to know if that’s a possibility or not- so check all recent shipments, even non-sensitive ones just in case there’s been a leak.’
‘Very good sir.’
‘Good…and have the senior staff assembled in the closed briefing room by the time I return from Khaspur.’

Khaspur, Kashu

A list of individuals, alive or dead, who enjoyed the respect of Sitala Devi, Rani of Kashu, would not have run to many lines. Charles Hamilton was however included in that exalted company, and consequently was admitted into the rani’s presence within minutes of landing at the New Palace.
‘General Hamilton, to what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected company?’
Hamilton did not prevaricate. ‘Insurgent forces attacked two oil wells in Assam earlier today, and Dispur is out for blood.’
Sitala pursed her lips. ‘As you clearly felt the news too urgent to wait, may I assume the blood you speak of happens to be mine?’
‘You may.’
‘They think we’re involved.’
‘We might be.’
‘Not directly.’
‘Our business interests are well known, and Dispur is not well disposed toward us.’
‘They are not well disposed toward me; they cannot forgive my age, gender and ancestry.’
‘If I may speak frankly, what they dislike is a young woman of your ancestry acting in the manner of a nineteenth-century maharaja.’
‘My mother was a maharaja’s daughter.’
‘But your father was an Englishman, which makes it difficult to play a latter-day Lakshmi-bai convincingly.’
Hamilton noticed abruptly that the rani had gone very quiet, so he decided to steer the conversation back to the original problem. Some topics were more than a little sensitive.
‘I have ordered the records of all recent arms sales checked; if equipment used in the attack ever came through here, we should at least know before the Assamese.’
‘Thank you, General. It may be that we’ll have to tighten up checks on arms exports anyway…I don’t want an international incident ruining our new relations with the wider world.’

tag

Nice work Kashu! I hope there's room for outside players at some point.

OOC: Sure LRR, and thanks! At the moment I'm trying to write some notes on the region and its history post 1947, in order to help keep my RP on track. Anyway I'll try and get that up on the AMW forum before I post the next bit here so the rest of the world can get a better sense of where I'm coming from...

Tag: Not to be a broken record.. but good work

The section of India east of Bangladesh had never been a major interest for the largest portion of Hindustanis, having been largely removed from direct consequences of the long Indo-Bedgellen war and being geographically isolated. Fortunately for the new Assamese Rani, the very fact that Bangladesh was in the way allowed such a government and such a head of state to function without being seriously deposed by either the Hindustanis or the Igovians, or both, but nobody is about to change that any time soon.

One group pf people who haven't completely missed the goings-on in Assam are, of course, the Hindustani arms dealers. Already six members of the recently-retired MiG-21 fleet, lifted from the completely unguarded 'disposal yards' where relatively austere airplanes are left to rot, are on their way to the small kingdom of Kashu, no doubt soon to be joined by some manner of mercenary pilot.

[[Well, tag! Looking good.]]

OOC: Apologies for the delay here...I've got the week from hell at the moment but will try and find a moment to write something in the next couple of days.

[OOC: Before anyone starts wondering, this is me, Kashu, so don't panic ;) ]

Bangladesh-Silhet border

'OK, what have we got?'
'Several large containers, apparently heading on to Silchar.'
'Hmm...'
The shift commander's eye wandered to the print-out lying on the desk.
'Let's have a look.'

The hauliers appeared slightly suprised at the sudden appearance of a sizeable posse of customs police, suplemented by a handful of armed gurkha soldiers from the local state forces. Yet they were co-operative enough, swiftly producing the relevant documentation when challenged. Just as his officer had said, the forms were marked in several places with the neat phrase 'agricultural vehicles'.
The commander indicated the first container. 'Open it please.'
With a few casual shrugs, the hauliers bared the cavernous steel interior. A trio of tractors lay exposed in a row, but if the men felt any relief at their vindication then they certainly weren't showing it.
'Now that one.'
It was the fourth container from the front, and as before the hauliers happily complied. With a grating sound the doors opened, bathing the interior in light; only this time revealing a very different machine. The look of horror on the men's faces certainly seemed genuine enough as a dozen automatic weapons were instantly levelled in their direction.
'I suppose you can harvest quite a bit with one of these,' remarked the shift commander drily.

It isn't for two more weeks that the disappearance of six MiG-21s from a storage yard outside Ambikapur is noticed, and another few days before it is discovered that a large section of perimeter fence is also nowhere to be found. The disappearance is reported to the Parliamentary Constabulary, and several nearby warehouses are raided, turning up a number of 'interesting' items but no missing MiG-21s. One customs official on the border with Bihar remembers a shipment of tractors passing through about two weeks beforehand, but says the papers and weights were in order.

While the P.C. in Madhya Pradesh must content themselves with the occasional seizure of arms or opium, the P.C. in Sindh makes a very interesting discovery, namely several shipping crates containing, among other things, AA-8 missiles and 57mm rocket pods. Fortunately, the highly incriminating note "to our valued customer the Rani" is still at the bottom of a box of 23mm ammunition and will not likely be found for several weeks more...

bump
Hey Kashu, are you still interested? I am if you are.