NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC post here http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=492551 if you are going to post in this thread. I just want to see what everyone is planning. Because I have designs for how this thread will proceed.)

The ships had come from the west, bearing the flags of the Koptev family. They landed in Grand Manan Island, south of the Burnican mainland. These ships were military in nature and the guns they sported made sure every one knew just that.

The landings were orderly and completely nonviolent. Grand Manan possessed a fair sized Otariet population. In fact some of the villagers recognized family from the mother country. When the troops were approached they seem amicable enough – though rough around the edges. When greeted with questions like ‘why have you come?’ the armed men answered simply – to make sure you are safe. When the villagers looked about them confused and pressed again – insisting that they were already safe – the troops answered ‘the chancellor told us that you were having trouble and we have come to put a stop to it.’

The villagers were puzzled by all of this and told simply that there would be a radio broadcast soon to explain what had happened.

Radio broadcast from Chancellor Alexandra Bogdanov

A warm female voice crackled onto the radio before it was brought into clarity. The voice was a welcoming and generally soothing to listen to – there was something almost maternal in the way that it both assured and yet elicited assent.
“Hello all. This is the Chancellor Alexandra Bogdanov of the Koptev family in Otares and today I would like to address several parties. First the people of Grand Manan and Burnica in general, then its government, and then I have some special words for everyone.

“First, hello islanders – especially those of you who are still Otariet in ethnicity – we haven’t forgotten about our cousins. In fact its family that brings us across the sea to you now.

“You see there have been growing reports from people concerned about your wellbeing that the Burnican government has not quite treated you properly. Now I am not quite sure what all of this is about, after all the Burnicans have signed an agreement which says that they agree to keep the Otariet alive in Grand Manan.

“It is because of this we sent over some friendly assistance. Our soldiers are on a humanitarian mission that will hopefully see some good solid Otariet civilization brought to the area. We plan on building up the infrastructure and investigating the claims that these suspicious people are making.

“I hope that these soldiers will be welcomed with open arms. After all they are only there to help. And to those Islanders who are of Burnica and not Otariet decent? We ask that you please be patient with our gentle presence. We mean no harm to our neighbours – we are simply ensuring that the Otariet civilization in Grand Manan continues to thrive.

“Now to Prime Minster Hamms’ government, we ask that you not see this as a hostile act. We are after all coming in peace – guns silent. Once our forces confirm that the Treaty of Manan is not being violated we will be on our way. This operation is expected to take no more than a few weeks, and you can expect a full report from Lady Smig’t.

“Now please everyone else out there – the international community at large. This is a family affair and we would ask that you respect our nation’s isolation. Neither Otares nor Burnica has made any overtures on the international scene in quite some years. We hope that you will take that into consideration.

“Now we must be signing off, our time grows short. May the lord keep you and guide you. May he watch over you in your time of need. Good night.”

Shortly after the Koptev broadcast the free media in Burnica went nuts. While some called for the international community others called for patience. While some radio stations advocated violence others called for neutrality. Some called for action and others called for appeasement. And while the citizens of Burnica called for everything under the sun – their government was strangely quiet.

OOC: I will be out of town this next week, so my posts may be infrequent as well.

IC:

The Speaker of The Community, Alex Connor, rose as Spc. Paul Kesson of the Siapian Intelligence Network entered the room. Kesson saluted him curtly, and Connor returned the salute. "I appreciate you coming on such short notice. I realize that you are due for a long vacation, but there is a delicate situation on our hands."

"With all due respect, Sir, what happened to benign isolationism?"

Connor was taken aback. Such questioning had caught him off guard. Kesson wore dark sunglasses and did not appear to be looking at him, and held his rigid, soldierly position.

"Apologies, sir. Its not my place to ask such questions."

"If you must know, there is an expatriate community living in Burnica, and we are going to prove that The Community watches over all of its members, even those that leave their home."

"Again, apologies sir. Not my place."

"I wanted to give you this operation personally, because I feel honored to be in the presence of someone of your capacity. You have proved yourself a dedicated member of The Community, and if you can't question me, than no one can."

Kesson grunted, and continued to face forward. "Sir, I have read the briefing. What are my orders?"

"You are to proceed to Burnica, and assess the situation. You will gather intelligence and send it back to the Community, and determine the threat posed to Siapians living there. If there is a threat, you will do whatever is needed to secure them, and that includes relocating them back here. Your secondary objective, much less important, is to secure the sovereignty of Burnica. You will have your usual unit at your disposal, as well as the Epsilon and Beta groups and reasonable logistics and finances. Operational funds will be delivered to the usual account."

"Sir, I will not fail you." He said. His body became more rigid as he saluted Connor. He did not show any feelings as he walked out the door.

That evening, a fleet of twenty converted fishing trawlers departed from Esmund. Each appeared to be a civilian fishing boat, at first glancee, but the multitude of antennas coming out of the roof gave away their purpose. Each one contained a burst transmitter, radar, sonar, sattelite uplinks, encryption software, two concealed .30 caliber machine guns, several carbines and pistols aboard, and an EMP charge to destroy all electronics on board.

"This is Kesson. All ships are to proceed after my lead until we are within a hundred kilos of Burnica. Upon arrival, report in. All ships will maintain their presence in international waters. I will not have my unit be the cause of an international incident. All ships will maintain legal distance from enemy military ships and commercial shipping. For now we will watch. ETA is about a week." he got off the radio, and assembled his fishing pole. This is the only R&R I need he thought.

Minister Allocock shivered as his helicopter turned and he was able to see the Koptev flag ship. Burnica had attempted to speak with the crowned prince – but the Otariets were so busy fighting themselves that no one was prepared to speak to Burnican delegates, or at least no one other than the Koptevs.

Now the Minister found himself flying out to meet the Koptev fleet which for ‘precautionary reasons’ had decided to take up a position a few hundred kilometers from the southern shore of Burnica. While he was not a military man the minister thought that the Koptev naval presence looked an awful lot like an invasion fleet. With almost forty cruisers – five battleships and countless other smaller – by relative definition – ships out here intelligence inside Burnica had come to the conclusion that more of the Koptev’s assets were here than any other one location. Nice to feel loved I guess.

The reason that the Minister was coming out here was because he had managed to get a one on one meeting with the Chancellor. A busy woman who normally didn’t bother making herself available to foreign dignitaries the minister was surprised that he had managed to snag a meeting. Even more surprising was the location – the Koptev flagship which was deployed off the coast of Burnica.

The helicopter touched down on the deck of the massive ship with a thud. The door was opened and he was escorted out by a pair of naval officers wearing Koptev uniforms. After he was lead down a winding labyrinth of corridors and ladders he found himself inside an office that could have been plucked from a corporate head quarters.

While the ship itself was utilitarian and exposed steel this room was finished wood and wall hangings. Most of which depicted the Chancellor in either heroic or angelic poses.

The only other person in the room was the chancellor herself. A woman of 53 she still held an attractive figure and it was only the occasional wrinkle and loose piece of skin that portrayed her true age.

The Chancellor stood to greet the minister by extending her hand. He took it and offered it a kiss. He hated doing this but the Otariets stood on ceremony and he knew that on more than one occasion a ware had broken out between rude exchanges.

The chancellor smiled at the respect he offered up. Speaking in a regal tone she began.
“Ah Minister Allocock what can I do for you?”
“Well Your Majesty I have come to discuss the situation taking place on Grand Manan.”
“Oh yes that a bit troubling isn’t it.”
“Well yes. Until your troops arrived we were not aware that there was a problem. Might I ask what promoted this?”
“Well certainly.” Reaching behind her desk the Chancellor produced a large file on Grand Manan. After the minister had a moment to review it he looked up at her.
“These are invasion plans for Saint John.”
“Yes they, and I can tell you that I plan on using them.”
“Why, why tell me all this?”
“Well your pilot has already been killed and the helicopter dismantled and dropped into the ocean”
“What?”
“Yes, you’re our first prisoner of war.”
“My government will see you pay for this.”
“I doubt it. We are already asking air control in Burnica where you are. Something to the tune of the minister is keeping the chancellor waiting and she am growing impatient.”
“Oh.”

At this point a pair of guards entered the room and escorted the minister out at rifle point.

Kesson sat in one of the desks, staring at the fleet of ships just barely peeking out of the horizon. Headphones covered his ears and his sunglasses still covered his eyes. A transcript of everything he had heard also appeared on the screen in front of him. He shook his head solemnly. Watchman-7 had listened to all of the air traffic radio. The Chancellor's helicopter had taken off fine. Kesson had managed to photograph its approach the mass of ships in the distance. Now Watchman-7 was picking up chatter that indicated that she had not arrived. Deep shit. He thught. "Barnes, is the burst channel clean?"

"'Tis Kosher as Christmas."

"Barnes, is Esmund getting everything we've heard?"

"Yup."

"Barnes, I need you to double encrypt the channel."

"Wha-"

"Barnes, double encrypt the channel. I am going to give an assesment."

The fat, balding comms officer looked at him. "Aye-aye, captain."

Kesson picked up the other headset with the mic on it.

As he held down the transmit button, his voice was coverted into electrical impulses that were assigned large prime factors. These factors were combined and recombined in many ways, before it was all broken into millions of data packets and sent to the communications satelite overhead. It was relayed to an undisclosed location in Siap, where it would be decoded and translated into words. Transcripts of the broadcast found their way to the military and most importantly, The Council of Ten.


This is Specialist Paul Kesson, of the Siapian Intelligence Network Uncategorized Reconaissance Project, reporting from 50 kilos outside of Burnica waters. Hostile fleet has been sighted, but chivalrous distance has been maintained. Audio chatter indicates a meeting was to take place between minister of Burnica and Chancellor of the Koptev family. Visual confirmation of the Minister's helicopter was made, and image files will be transmitted following termination of status report. Helicopter can be seen approaching Koptev fleet. When helicopter was no longer in visible range, audio chatter was intercepted inquiring to the location of the chancellor. Helicopter has potentially crashed, but unlikely as there was no weather that would interfere with flying and no chatter to indicate that there was difficulty. Given the evidence and circumstances, this soldier feels it is safe to assume the Minister dead. This initial act of aggression indicates that future aggresion and invasion is likely. Request that Beta be mobilized and that preparations to defend the expat community be enacted, including mobilization of merchant fleet in case evacuation is required.

Kesson exhaled, patiently enduring the few seconds it would take his message to get across the globe. Barnes had already begun to encrypt the images of the Minister's helicopter for transfer.

"This is homebody." The radio came alive. "Have received transmission, awaiting image files. Beta will be ready for operations in 36 hours. Describe desired infiltration."

Kesson spoke into the mic. "Infiltration via mock civilian flight is preferable. Request that beta uniform is replaced with soccer team paraphanelia-players, coaches, reporters, other civils, weapons to be carried in gear bags. Burnican forces are not to be engaged. If this impossible, then use high altitude low opening jump over Burnican water nearest expat community, and approach via most direct route."

The voice returned. "Will conduct surveilliance of region and respond ASAP."

OOC: I will need to know if the expat community and the airport are near eachother. (Map would be nice, but not essential)

Kesson stepped away from the comms desk. He returned to the outer deck and picked up his binoculars, while Barnes transmitted the images.

"Contact Watchman-3. Get them as close as they can to that fleet without making drawing attention to themselves. See if he can pick up any chatter."

News Release from the Desk of Lady Smig’t

As your free press has undoubtedly told you the Koptev family has begun detaining certain members of the Burnican government on Grand Manan. Please be assured that these people are being detained within the reasonable limits of the Grand Manan Island Agreement. There has been some evidence to suggest a plot against Otariet national interests and so we have intervened on their behalf.

Burnican Associated Press

It would appear at this time that the Koptev family has moved a force of almost 50,000 troops onto Grand Manan. The Koptev shock troopers now outnumber the total inhabitants of the island by a factor of two.

When asked for comment the government – who has had little to say since the disappearance of Minister Allocock – urged the people to remain calm. It would appear that appeasement is the policy of this government, but one has to wonder how long we can continue this. The Burnican people – through this free press – begs the international community to intervene.

Already the travel agencies have seen unprecedented numbers of immigrants and nationals attempting a mass exodus from the nation. The bid on private chartered flights has increased by a factor of twenty times – and still the pilots are busier now than ever. It would seem that the worst is assumed by all Burnicans.