NationStates Jolt Archive

[The Wedding of a Life-Time]

The long awaited Royal wedding that had been announced earlier that year was finally approaching. The wedding wouldn't be for another few days yet, but the preperations, which had been underway for the better part of five months, were starting to become visible in the streets, with people starting to decorate the streets with flags, floral arrangements and banners.

Along the parade route that the couple would travel along, people from the Oslo Sanitation Department were busy checking and welding shut the manholes in the streets, some of the planners were measuring the route and checking it, centimeter by centimeter, and the hotels in the Cottish capital were constantly getting reservations by people who wanted rooms so they could witness the historic wedding. The celebrations had already started, with concerts and events taking place throughout the day.

In the various military camps outside Oslo, soldiers, sailors and airmen were constantly being drilled. These men, one thousand from each of the three main branches of the military were to serve as a honor guard along the parade route on the wedding day, with the exception of the Royal Palace and the Oslo Cathedral, where elements of His Majesty the King's Guard, the elite light infantry unit responsible for the defense of the Royal Familiy, would be stationed for the duration of the wedding.

A few days before the wedding was to be held, the first guests were expected to arrive. The military section of Gardermoen Int'l Airport was cordoned off and the majority of the aircraft normally stationed there were temporarily moved to the two other airbases surrounding the capital, the air bases Kjeller and Rygge, which normally housed the fighter aircraft that were slated to defend the capital and south-eastern parts of Norway. The Foreign Minister, recently returned from the summit in China would greet the arriving dignitaries at the airport and escort them safely into Oslo, where Hotel Oslo Plaza would house the dignitaries for the duration of their stay.

The Emperor's VC-26F Condor had been in the air for almost eight hours when the plane came into Cottish airspace, flanked by eight escort fighters, four of them F-22B Raptors, slated for retirement from front-line service and the other four F-32A Foxhounds. With missiles all over them, the eight fighters took up their overhead positions as the Condor landed at Gardermoen, a large international airport approximately thirty miles north of Oslo. The Emperor and his entourage had one extra individual, Dr. Rachel Wilson, the Emperor's long-time girlfriend and, as many rumors suggested, his finance. Who knew though, the Emperor was a very secretive man and his personal life was just that, personal. Many suggested he had none, that he ran the Empire 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They were right, almost. The Emperor and his staff would be staying at the Oslo Plaza hotel, in downtown Oslo, in the Royal Suite, thirty stories above the ground. The Emperor had a few days before the actual wedding and planned to visit the embassy during that time, to congradulate them on their service to the Empire during the Cottish rioting.

The Foreign Minister was on his place when the Emperor of Layarteb arrived, standing at the foot of the aircraft stairs the ground crew had rolled over to the massive aircraft. Further down along the red carpet that had been rolled out, a platoon of soldiers from the His Majesty King's Guard had formed an honor guard, holding their polished L100 assault rifles at parade rest for the time being. When the Emperor and the Foreign Minister would pass, they would present arms, showing the proper respect for the foreign dignitaries as they walked down to the waiting motorcade of two black Mercedes limos, eight black Mercedes S 600 sedans, four police cruisers and six police motorcycles.

When the Emperor and his guest appeared, the Foreign Minister shook the hand of the Emperor and the guest accompanying the Emperor. According to the intelligence brief he had read on her, she was one Miss Rachel Wilson, Doctor, Ph.D. at the University of Layarteb in Layarteb City and a long-time close friend, most likely lover, of the Emperor. That was however all the information Cottish intelligence community had on the guest. The Emperor was and remained a very secretive persona.

"Emperor, Dr. Wilson. Welcome to the Realm of Cotland. I trust your flight was comfortable?"

The Grand Duke arrived at the airport, somewhat unannounced, hoping that his surprise would have had the best impact, to show his support in many ways than one for the Alliance with Cotland. Of course, his primary intention was to celebrate the Royal Marriage, but that aside, he knew that there would be some discussion worth making here.

It was his flight since assuming the reign over the Grand Duchy, and he has since seen it grow, in part to the generous aid given by hospitable states as the Cottish Realm. He debarked the plane having come to an easy rest, and exited the plane. He was somewhat surprised to see an escort of Cottish armed personnel and a single jet on the runway. He turned to the airplane attendant: "I suppose that our surprise has been gone beyond its proportion."

"Sire," she replied. "The captain told me to tell you, but I told him otherwise; I thought that the military craft were part of the convoy to escort you here."

"Ah, it is well. But please call Josephine, and let her know that I have safely arrived in Cotland, and that I wish her the best as she passes this summer flu. I will bring her a treasure when I return."

"Yes, sire." Roumillet then traveled down the stairs to greet the first gentleman to present himself to the Grand Duke.

[OOC: SL, please go on AIM.]

The Lazare aircraft had failed to inform the Cottish air traffic control that it would be entering Cottish airspace, so when the aircraft came within twenty-four nautical miles of Cottish territory and had failed to identify itself, the alarm had gone off at the airbase at Sola, which had diverted elements of the standard combat air patrol, namely two F-25/A Typhoon air superiority fighters laden with air to air missiles which had quickly intercepted the aircraft, made a visual identification and ordered it to land at Kjevik airbase near Kristiansand, which had been placed on high alert. Under threat of being shot down, the pilot of the Lazare aircraft had done as ordered.

Now, fourty heavily armed soldiers stood at the tarmac, two CTLAVs blocking the way for the aircraft in case it attempted to escape. It wouldn't though, since the door opened and a person stepped out of the aircraft. The aircraft was registered in a French-speaking country, but none of the soldiers spoke French, and they didn't depend on them speaking Cottish, so they safed it and did the talking, or rather, shouting, in English.

"Hands up!" The soldiers shouted, training their weapons at the person. He said something quietly, something about being a person of nobility, but the soldiers ignored it. They were following well-established procedures, which said to detain everyone in the aircraft. Questioning at a later time would do the identification of the persons. "Hands up! Get on your knees, with your hands UP! Do it now, or we will shoot!"

The person put his hands up, something which spurred two of the soldiers to approach carefully, holding their bullpup assault rifles trained squarely on the torso of the person. Slowly, they approached, all the time ordering the person to get on his knees with his hands up. At one meter away, they dropped the rifles quickly and, in an instant, manhandled the person down on the ground, holding his hands on his head, a knee over the neck of the person, effectively restricting his movements. The hands were forced on his back, and he was restrained with plastic zip-ties before the two soldiers got off him, pulled him on his feet and quickly half escorted, half dragged him over to a waiting CTLAV and driven to the main base area, six hundred meters away.

Here, he was escorted in and down a corridor, and into a office with a few military police soldiers sitting at a desk. They had obviously been talking about something completely unrelated to their work, but the soldiers ignored that. After a quick discussion in Cottish, the person, which still tried to identify himself as some duke of some sort was taken over by the military police and brought down another small corridor and into a holding cell. It was nothing more than a empty room, three meters by two meters large without a window. The military police officers had a pistol trained at the person's head as they removed the zip-ties and left him inside the cell. It was sound isolated, but had a monitor inside that saw every square centimeter of the cell.

Meanwhile, the rest of the people in the aircraft were ordered out of the aircraft, lest they wanted to be shot. After a short moment, they complied and were restrained and equally restrained before they too were taken to waiting CTLAVs and brought to the same area.

An hour after the Grand Duke had been detained, two military police soldiers returned and, with pistols ready, escorted him to a interrogation room where an officer, a kaptein [Captain] by the looks of his rank insignia waited. The Grand Duke was placed in a metal chair and the two military police officers left, leaving the two men in the room.

"I am Captain Olsen of the Royal Cottish Air Force. You have been detained because you've been aboard an aircraft that violated Cottish airspace as per article nine of the Protection of the Realm Act of 2005. The Realm considers this a very serious offense. Do you want to identify yourself?" The officer said the moment the door closed, well aware that microphones picked up every sound uttered and that three different cameras were filming the questioning.

[OOC: Use of the Grand Duke character has been okay'd by SL via AIM.]

Roumillet was not happy. What was supposed to be a surprise has turned into a bitter humiliation and more an miscomprerhension of grave magnitude. He looked to the captain and calmly asserted his identity:

"Je suis le Grand-Duc de Saint Lazare et Souverain du Viceroyaume de Delhi - Albert Roumillet de Grimaldi. Dis-moi - pourquoi on me restreint?"

[ooc: translation is either unnecessary or unwarranted because the captain either knows French and will resolve this situation nicely or does not know French and will make this more complicated...]

"What? Please speak in English so I can understand you. Identify yourself, in English." Olsen said, not knowing a single word of French. He would give this person one last chance before starting the interrogation measures. Or getting a translator. There had to be someone on this base which had a staff of more than a thousand personnel that knew how to speak French!

Fortunately, in the recording room, one of the sergeants operating the equipment did. He looked at his supervisor, a lieutenant, and informed him of what the prisoner had just said. The young lieutenant's eyes widened, and after a quick search in the intelligence database under Saint Lazare, they pulled out a recent, high-resolution image of the Grand Duke. Printing it out quickly, the lieutenant checked it up against the monitors and saw to his horror that they matched. They had detained the Grand Duke of Saint Lazare, the head of state of an allied nation! Picking up the phone to inform the base commander, the lieutenant started thinking about what to say while the sergeant took the image, put it inside a dossier along with an explanation and a translation of what the Grand duke had said and exited the room, walked two meters down the corridor and entered the interrogation room. Quietly, he handed the dossier to the Captain and left just as quickly.

The Captain read the two papers, his eyes widening as he read on, his face growing more and more different shades of red. Finally, he looked at the picture and compared it with the person sitting on the other side of the metal table. Gulping, it finally dawned on him who he was dealing with.

"You are the Grand Duke of Saint Lazare? If so, then why the hell didn't you inform the Cottish government that you were coming?"

Meanwhile, the lieutenant had finished speaking with the base commander, a colonel who was close to retirement. The information of the person being held in the interrogation room was quickly relayed to the Foreign Ministry in Oslo, who gave the information top priority. A team of diplomats and senior government officials was dispatched to go to Kristiansand immediately, while a quick brief was sent to the Lazare embassy in Oslo that their head of state was currently being detained in a Cottish air base. This was becoming a diplomatic nightmare.

Roumillet looked plainly at his captain interrogator. At least he knew that the gentleman did not speak French...

"It was a surprise - apparently more a surprise military exercise. I had heard that the Royal Family of Cotland was witnessing a new family member. In my wisdom, I thought that this would be a prime opportunity to surprise my Cottish counterparts, and to thank them. I suppose the only thing for which I have thanks is that you didn't shoot down the plane. Speaking of which, where is my pilot and my attendant?"

The Emperor nodded as he moved to shake the Foreign Minister's hand. "Couldn't have been better. I take it that the preparations are underway here? If you do not mind, I wish for my staff to continue on to the hotel along with Dr. Wilson. My immediate staff and I shall make a detour to our embassy in Oslo. I hope that won't cause any concern?" The Emperor and his staff climbed into the S600 sedans. "I have to hand it to the Cottish government, these are infinitely more appetizing than our Suburbans." He smiled at the luxury of the sedan.

"In a holding cell, I would imagine. Allow me to make one thing very clear sir. We do not consider this an exercise. This is as real as it gets. Had your pilot not done as ordered, we would have shot down the aircraft. Had you or those travelling with you not done as ordered by our soldiers, deadly force would have been employed. Please sir, for the future, inform us that you're coming before you leave home. It saves us all a lot of trouble." Olsen said, then he got up. "I would believe that we've informed the Foreign Ministry of your presense here by now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they in turn have informed your embassy, but we must hold you here until the people travelling with you can be questioned to colloberate your story."

At that moment, the door opened and a elderly man dressed in the sky blue Class A uniform that the Royal Cottish Air Force used, with three and a half rows of ribbons and medals on the left side of his chest, and the insignias of three white stars and a long white stripe over the row of stars on the man's collar, signalling that this was an oberst [Colonel] in the Royal Cottish Air Force entered. The Captain immediately jumped to attention, to which the Colonel paid no heed. Instead, his attention was at the Grand Duke, to whom the Colonel saluted before saying, "Your Excellency. I wish to convey my appologies on the behalf of the Royal Cottish Air Force for the events that has unfolded and the actions taken against Your Excellency's person. I am Colonel Steiner, commanding officer of this base."

"Yes sir, we are very pleased with our vehicles," The Foreign Minister replied to the Emperor. "I don't believe that there will be any problems with that change of plan sir. I regret that I must remain here, since we're expecting another dignitary to arrive shortly, and I must greet them. I hope that you will have a wonderful stay here in Cotland, and I hope that I will have the honor of speaking with you again later during your stay sir."

"Ah, well I have but to commend the restraint of your pilots, or else this could be much worse. I can't imagine that. Josephine would be crushed."

Roumillet was somewhat at odds with himself - half of him realized that something like this was absolutely stupid; on the other hand, he still felt surprising the Cottish King would have been better - instead of the Royal Air Force. Nonetheless, this would see its face in the Grand Duchy.

"I suppose that the next time I wish to surprise your government, I ought to warn you first."

The Colonel, still apologetic, wasn't pleased with his response. For him, it was a nightmare beyond proportions - not only was the leader of an allied state in his custody, he was manhandled as if a common criminal. And if this information spilled [which it would], it would spark some kind of international reaction - heaven, who knows what the Eastasians would think of this! But for all of the controversy, Roumillet was handling the situationn calmly, seeing as he had no interest to become enraged.

"Well, as soon as this clears, I'd like to know if a visit with the Royal Family is still viable. I can't imagine what my embassy personnel are thinking at the moment."

"Yes sir. We still have to question your pilots, but I believe that we can have you on your way to Oslo within an hour or two sir. The Foreign Ministry has been informed and they are on their way here now. I believe you should ask them any questions concerning the Royal wedding." The Colonel replied. Just then, his cellphone rang. Excusing himself quickly, he picked up the phone and listened. The Grand Duke and, yes, even the Captain, could hear a very angry voice on the other side of the phone, giving the Colonel a real dressing down. They couldn't make out any words, but it was clear from the decibels and the submission the Colonel showed that this was someone important, and very likely a military person. After about three minutes of constant shouting, the voice finally fell quiet and the Colonel hung up. He had a very sorry facial expression, and the reason became clear when the Colonel spoke.

"That was the General commanding the High Command," He started, "I've been ordered to offer my sincerest appologies for the behaviour shown towards Your Excellency, and that you and your entourage may resume your journey to Oslo at once, if Your Excellency so wishes."

Roumillet began to feel sorry for all of the trouble that this was apparently making. He followed the forlorn Colonel a short distance before making a final decision.

"My pilot is a good man - Thierry de Monteille. I cannot leave him here, so I intend to stay until he finishes his briefing with your officials."

"My orders include to free your entourage at once, so he shall be freed at once. See to it Captain." The Colonel said as they exited the building, to which the Captain who had followed them nodded and disappeared. A minute later, the entourage and pilots that had been aboard the aircraft were escorted outside the building. A number of CTLAVs stood waiting, ready to take the people back to their aircraft which was being refueled by ground crews. Should the Grand Duke wish to continue on to Oslo at once, it would be done. A pair of F-20/A Enforcer fighters stood on the tarmac as well. They would serve as escorts for the Grand Duke's aircraft, to ensure that there would be no more embarrasing episodes.

A learjet sporting a fresh black and white paintjob tore through the sky over the North Sea. Inside the comfortably appointed cabin, Vitaly Santino went over a few notes, making sure he wouldn't forget any important names or step too far outside the bounds of Cottish culture. Vitaly was a career politician and knew that, while the wedding was the superficial reason for his visit, he was mainly here to ensure that the newly formed Mediterranean Republic was represented. He was also repaying the Cottish government for their swift recognition of the Republic. To refuse an invitation after being generously offered favors when one is an insignificant little country isn't good for foreign relations.

As the plane got closer to Cottish airspace, the pilot transmitted a message to Oslo ATC.
"This is MRAF-1 to Oslo ATC, requesting permission to enter Cottish airspace and landing clearance at Oslo International."

Roumillet made his way back to the plane, with his pilot leading the way and his attendant closely following. He made one last mention to the escorting Cottish officer - "In spite of all of the trouble that I have caused, I insist that I will be visiting the Cottish King to tell him what a fine Air Force he boasts, and more so, what a courteous force it is. I am truly sorry for the pain that comes here, but I can assure the Cottish Realm that it was in the best interests for our two states - not to propel it to worse heights... that would be a bad allusion..."

With that, he boarded his plane, as the Cottish officer informed the Colonel of the Grand Duke's plans. The Command made their preparations and the voyage continued on its way to Oslo.

"MRAF-1, this is Oslo air traffic control good morning. You are cleared to enter Cottish airspace. Please maintain current flightlevel and speed, contact Gardermoen approach when 60 nautical miles out. Be advised that a fighter escort will be dispatched as soon as you enter Cottish airspace."

When the Learjet would come closer, a pair of F-25/A Typhoon fighters, large, sleek, powerful beasts of an aircraft, basically the venerable F-15C Eagle on stereoids, would come and take up positions on either side of the aircraft, giving the aircraft an escort fitting for a head of state. They would escort the Learjet all the way to Gardermoen, where it would get permission to land the moment it requested it.

"I am happy to hear that sir," The Colonel said before the Grand Duke got back aboard his aircraft and got underway. The two Enforcers had already taken to the skies, and escorted the jet for the fourty-minute flight to Gardermoen.

When it landed there, the Foreign Minister who had been briefed on the situation via the cellphone waited, not really sure what to say. The platoon of guardsmen were lined up again, and all the ovations required for a head of state arriving were in place. Still, the Foreign Minister had a feeling that the Grand Duke had gotten a very bad image of Cottish hospitality already, although the Colonel commanding the base had insisted his men acted correctly in all aspects of the incident. When the Grand Duke finally appeared, the Foreign Minister stepped forward and greeted the Lazare head of state.

"Sir, welcome to the Realm of Cotland. I understand you've had a not quite as comfortable welcome to the Realm already?" he asked, his voice not really certain in that last sentence.

The Ministry of Intelligence was buzzing. Agents assigned to watch over the Wedding proceedings were shocked when the Cottish News Network reported that the Grand Duke had been arrested and detained. When the Foreign Minister from Saint Lazare issued a declaration that the news reports of the arrest of the Grand Duke were false, to say the least. Still, the Ministry of Intelligence wasn't going to ignore the proceedings and they went to work immediately. Agents put in calls to the ambassador to the Grand Duchy and their Cottish counterparts.

Roumillet immediately grabbed the Foreign Minister's hand and shook it violently. The guardsmen were at the ready, thinking that the Grand Duke had fallen ill with madness. But as the Grand Duke later revealed, it was only his playful side.

"I had a rather entertaining diversion," he said, to hide his embarrassment. "And I hope that I never need to encounter such diversions ever again."

OOC: 20 to 1 says the King isn't going to be pleased with the bad press already.

"I see sir. I can promise you that there will be a full investigation to see how such a terrible mistake could have been made. I assure you sir, heads will roll." The Foreign Minister said while walking with the Grand Duke towards the waiting motorcade. He hadn't been informed of the details of the incident yet, such as the fact that it was the Grand Duke's failure to deliver a flightplan that had caused this.

*************************

In the Cottish intelligence community's headquarters at Camp Kolsås in the outskirts of Oslo, the Layartebian request was recieved and processed in the hectic intelligence headquarters. They were still getting the information themselves, and they didn't have a full picture of the situation yet, but they did know that the Grand Duke had been detained at Kjevik Air Force Base by the Air Force for a period of fourty-five minutes due to violating Cottish airspace without permission, and that he had been flown to Oslo in his own aircraft shortly after his identity had been discovered. The confirmation that the Cots had infact detained the Grand Duke but later released him was passed on to the Layartebians, but no details.

The Grand Duke shook his head. "Well, if any heads will roll, I will be sure to pick up after them. I only hope that Josephine hasn't yet heard of this incident; if she hears that I was detained in a military air base, her flu might make a turn for the worse."

He paused, as they entered the motorcade. The crowd was more frantic than usual, but owing to Roumillet's own humiliation, he refused to acknowledge the media's presence. The Foreign Minister followed, hoping to avoid any excessive questions. Once settled inside the car once again, Roumillet solemnly offered his condolences: "I'd like to apologize for bringing this sort of burden upon your Armed Forces. In retrospect, I must applaud your Air Force, for its swift response and ready actions, as well as their restraint for not shooting down my plane."

The Emperor rode along with the procession of vehicles for some time before his car and two others split off, heading towards the Layartebian embassy. Their visit had not been announced yet and as they turned away from the procession, the chief of security on the Emperor's staff made the call. "Yes. Mr. Ambassador. This is James Westmoreland. I am the chief of security for the Emperor. Yes sir. As you are aware, our Emperor is visiting Cotland for the King's wedding. Yes. In fact he plans on stopping by today. When? You can expect him in five minutes. No I understand." The chief of security hung up the phone and turned his head in the car. "Sir. The ambassador respectfully requests that our arrival be delayed by six hours."

"The place is a mess?"

"I imagine sir."

"No. We're going now. I'm not there to hand out insults. I want to congradulate them. I don't care if they have cockroaches on the ceilings, they're doing a bang up job and I'm not about to change their methods."

"Yes sir." The cars were at the gates to the embassy in five minutes, on the dot, and waived through. They parked in front of the embassy entrance and the Emperor stepped out, the ambassador there to greet him. "Good afternoon."

"Sir. I wished we would have had more time to prepare."

"You are doing a fantastic job here. If you have a voodoo lady on site, I could care less." He smiled as he shook his hand and followed him into the embassy.

"I shall be sure to pass on your comment sir," The Foreign Minister said. "If you would excuse me sir. I've heard that the Prime Minister of Hawdawg is on his way, and I have to be here to greet him. Do you wish to meet with the King or the Prime Minister today or tommorrow?"

*****************************

In the Royal Palace, the King was checking the newspapers on the web when he saw the front story on VG.no. Reading quickly though it, he grew angrier and angrier, mainly on the incompetent idiot who had arrested the Grand Duke, but also on his staff who hadn't informed him. He summoned the adjutant and asked him rather angrily about why he hadn't been informed that one of his guests had been arrested by his military when Maria Steiner-Haraldsen, the Queen-to-be entered the King's office. Seeing her, the King dismissed the adjutant and walked over to greet his fiancee. After having told her why he grew so angry, they discussed the issue for a bit before deciding to let the Foreign Ministry handle the potential public relations crisis that emerged. If it was something the PR people knew how to do, it was to contain a potential disaster. However, they had to do it tactfully as to not upset the Grand Duchy or to discredit the Realm or the Air Force. It was going to be tricky...

"Today - if it is possible. If not, I would much rather wait until the day of the marriage. Old age makes me wreary more easily, and the events of the day have unusually sapped my energy. But I can handle a visit to the King of Cotland."

"I see sir. I shall make the necessary arrangements and see whether the King has time to recieve you today. We shall contact you in your hotel with the specifics. I shall take my leave of you now sir." The Foreign Minister said, then exited the vehicle. After a quick conversation, he found out that the King was available to see the Grand Duke in two hours, something which was informed to the Grand Duke immediately. Should he chose to accept, the King would recieve him in the Royal Palace in two hours.

The Cottish had really gotten themselves into a pickle and the Ministry of Intelligence could only hope that their further acts would be slightly less public. While they were in their legal right to act the way that they did, in detaining the Grand Duke of Saint Lazare, it was a very rash move. They certainly wanted the Grand Duke to know who was boss and such a move could have drastic consequences for future relations for the two states. When the Cottish Intelligence Agency confirmed the reports of the media, that the Grand Duke had been detained, they could only hope that things wouldn't sour. When pictures of the event were splashed all over the news, the Layartebian news stations picked it up with zeal. There was nothing that the Ministry of Intelligence or the Emperor himself could do as the Layartebian media outlets jeered and poked fun at the Cottish move. It was definitely embarrassing for the King and the Emperor, as he got word of it on his tour of the embassy, could only hope that things turned out better, a man did not need this on his wedding.

Residence of the Prime Minister
Stockholm, Sweden

Prime Minister Gordon Wells studied the gold-embossed invitation that was delivered by Cottish Courier earlier in the day. It was clear this event was a must-attend for the newly appointed Prime Minister. PM Wells assembled his personal staff in his private office.

PM Wells: "I have made a decision in regards to the Cottish Royal Wedding in Oslo. I have decided that I will attend this event personally. Contact our Embassy, inform the Cottish Embassy here I am leaving tonight. I will travel with a reduced staff to this, we are taking my new regional jet. It is also imperative that I stay at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Make sure that I get the Imperial Room. Let's make this happen please."

Staff Members: "Most certainly sir."

The order set many things in motion. Both of PM Well's personal secretaries began the difficult task of establishing the necessary clearances for airspace entry this evening, booking the rooms at they Hyatt, and sending word to the King through his underlings that PM Wells would be arriving this evening.

Roughly three hours after Prime Minister Wells made his decision, he climbed aboard his newly acquired Bombardier Global Express XRS Regional Jet. After a short discussion with his trusted personal pilot, PM Wells buckled into his executive leather chair for the short flight to Oslo. On board with Prime Minister Wells was a small security team, his personal military attachee, and a single reporter selected from the Official Ministry news pool. This would be a low-key visit, so the usual extended state department detachment remained in Stockholm. Besides the Holy Republic had an excellent repoire with Cottish Goverment and PM Wells wanted this relationship of trust to continue. Rumbling down the runway, the skilled pilot pulled the sleek new jet up into the night sky. This trip wouldn't require an Air Force escort, since they wouldn't be travelling over international waters. Still the Air Force tracked the flight and kept two fighter's in the proximity, just in case.

As the Jet approached Cottish air space, the pilot hailed the Oslo tower.

Pilot: "Oslo tower, this is H-1 transporting Prime Minister Wells. Request permission to enter airspace and landing instructions for Oslo International Airport, over."

The Grand Duke was resting in his suite, with his personal attendant in waiting. His pilot was left at the airport, likely bombarded with numerous questions about the incident. For Roumillet, he couldn't imagine that people were speaking about him already, thinking that the passt hours have been in total confidentiality. Furthermore, he didn't wish to see what was on the news - not so much in fear, but more out of a desire not to aggravate a headache that had been growing worse since his arrival in Oslo.

Nonetheless, when the Cottish officials informed him that the King was open to a meeting within 2 hours, he decided against all inhibitions to make the visit. In his mind, it was a simple quick visit and then a return to the suite where he could rest. He made his preparations to meet the King and his finacee.

The Emperor toured the embassy, stopping for personal and group photographs, taking one with the whole staff at one instance. He gathered most of the staff into the largest of the rooms and stood there in front of them. "Ladies and gentlemen. I am proud of you here at the embassy. You have more than done your job and you have done more than the Empire could ever ask of you. With thousands of Cottish citizens at your gates, you held steadfast and strong and did your duty to the Empire. You did not allow the walls to be breeched and you were fully and well aware of the consequences, knowing what happened in Cotlandstad so long ago. That was a terrible nightmare and though I hoped it would not have escalated that far again, we were worried. But nevertheless, you stayed true and strong to the Empire and for that I cannot ask any more of you here. Thank you." He smiled at them and someone raised their hand, a female, who trembled as she stood up.

"Sir. What would you have done if we were overrun?" The staff had not prepared to answer questions and as the chief of security moved forward to end the session, the Emperor stopped him and shook his head.

"It is fine. Ma'am. Might I ask your name?"

"Angela."

"Angela. I like that name. One of my secretaries is name Angela. Well Angela. The Empire was more than prepared to send in a rescue squad of Marines. We had an amphibious carrier just off the coast of Oslo, outside of Cottish territorial waters with orders to come in and forcibly retake this embassy and resuce its staff, if necessary."

"Did the Cottish approve of that?" An older man asked.

"Sir? What is your name?"

"Mark."

"Mark. Another excellent name. Whether or not they approved was none of my concern. If this embassy was breeched that is an act of war upon the Empire. Regardless of it was by students or protests or what not, the simple fact that the Cottish allowed it to happen would have been enough. They could have sent everything they wanted to throw at us but we were coming to get you, all of you!" They clapped and were almost satisified. There were a few more questions, all of which the Emperor answered, asking everyone's name as he did so, committing them to memory. He would arrive at the hotel shortly thereafter and join the rest of his staff there.

The situation was getting out of hand, and quickly. All over the world, various medias were debating the news, and while the Justice Ministry argued over whether or not they could do anything against VG, a pesky little tabloid with more than a hundred million steady daily readers, the Foreign Ministry decided it was time for some damage control. Three hours after the incident had unfolded, they had gotten the news together and it was decided that there would be full disclosure. It might be embarrassing towards the Grand Duke, but the integrity of the Realm was at stake here. A document was drafted and after review and signature from the Foreign Minister, it was issued. Hopefully, it would be enough.

Official Statement

Earlier today, the Grand Duke of Saint Lazare was briefly detained by Cottish authorities. It was the intention of the Grand Duke to surprise the King of Cotland with attending the latter's wedding, and as such, the Grand Duke did not inform the Cottish authorities that he was coming.

Therefore, when the aircraft appeared on Cottish radars, failing to reply to Air Traffic Control's hails, and when the aircraft violated Cottish airspace, fighter aircraft were dispatched to investigate. After visually identifying the aircraft as a private business jet without any special markings, it was ordered to land at Kjevik Air Force Base.

We would like to remind the world that this is a routine operation conducted when an unidentified aircraft violates our territorial airspace, and that it is an acceptable and highly legal course of action.

As soon as the aircraft had landed, its occupants were ordered out of the aircraft and were detained by Cottish security personnel as per standard operating procedure. It must be pointed out that no one involved on the Cottish side had any reason to believe that a foreign head of state was a passenger in the non-descript aircraft.

Upon being detained, the Grand Duke was transported to a holding facility where his identity was quickly discovered. At this point, the Grand Duke and his entourage were released and allowed to continue on his journey to Oslo without further delay.

The Realm wishes to offer its deepest appologies for the misunderstanding, and hopes that the Grand Duke has taken no harm from the incident. We do however hope that the Grand Duke will give a warning before he travels to Cotland again though.

[signed]
Andreas Bjerke
Foreign Minister
The Realm of Cotland

As Layartebian media outlets got word of the official explanation, some of the jeering subsided but not all of it. The media was free within the Empire and there wasn't much that could be done to them. While there was no constitution in effect, they could file suit and that was something that was unnecessary. Still, the Ministry of the Interior was sending some special requests to lighten up on the story.

"H-1, this is Air Traffic Control good morning. You are cleared for entry into Cottish airspace. Maintain current flightlevel and speed, contact Gardermoen approach for landing instructions." The person in ATC said. When the Hawdawgian aircraft requested landing permission, it would be granted immediately. On the ground, the Foreign Minister was waiting.

The Roman Empire wishes to send a delegation to the Royal Wedding. Emperor Valerius IV will be in attendance personally and would like to congratulate the Royal couple.

On Approach to Gardermoen

The Pilot followed the ATC instructions and slowly bumped the throttle back on his final approach to Gardermoen. As he neared the airport he hailed the tower.

Pilot: "This is H-1, requesting permission to land and taxi instructions, over."

OOC: Fire Hills-would you mind deleting your post. This is E2 only. Thanks.
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IC:

Hirgizstan City International Airport, CV, Hirgizstanian Province of East Africa

The Fuhrer laughed heartily as he took his seat on the giant black, red and yellow E-4B. "So they arrested him..." He laughed again. An aide nodded, a slight smile playing on his face. The story had been all over the news.

The aide spoke, "They released him not long ago. He was flying in for a surprise visit, forgot to inform the authorities." The Fuhrer laughed again. "Better make sure they know we're coming eh?" The aide nodded, "Thats taken care of my Fuhrer, we sent them two messages. You should be in Oslo in about six or seven hours." The Fuhrer nodded and the aide bowed his head slightly, excusing himself.

A few minutes later the gangway had been retracted and the colorful E-4B was taxiing to one of the runways. It straightened on one of the runways and barrelled down it, tearing off the ground and leaping into the sky with an almighty roar. It went up and up until the cobalt blue sky surrounded it and there was nothing to see on the ground except shimmering blue sea, glinting in the sunlight.

The E-4B was relatively empty inside, there were a couple of military people that always travelled with the Fuhrer, one of them, an Air Force Colonel, with the 'football'. A couple of aides and Fuhrer Guards were also on-board, as well as a crew from HNC (Hirgizstanian News Corp.). But that hardly made the huge HAI 747 seem full.

The best thing about travelling to TOA countries, the Fuhrer thought, was that he never had to bring his own Limo or motorcade. They were always prepared in TOA countries.

It took the guts of seven hours to make it up to Norway, over North Germania. The pilot radioed in when he was nearing Cottish airspace, "Cottish Control, this is Fuhrer-1. Requesting permission to land at Oslo International, over."

"H-1, you are cleared for immediate landing at Runway 2L. Winds at 16 knots south-southwest. Upon landing, taxi to the military section of the airport. A follow vehicle will guide you as soon as you land. Welcome to Cotland."

When the aircraft landed and approached the taxiway, a green-painted military vehicle with flashing orange lights on the roof and a large yellow and red paintjob on the back with the words "FOLLOW ME" painted in large, black capital letters, leading the aircraft safely to the tarmac where the welcome party waited. The Foreign Minister appeared from the relatively warm hangar where he had been waiting, talking with the guardsmen over a cup of coffee, followed closely by the platoon of guardsmen, who took up positions for the n'th time that day.

As soon as the aircraft's engines were powered down and Prime Minister Wells appeared, the Foreign Minister stepped forward and greeted him.

"Prime Minister, welcome to the Realm of Cotland on this joyous occation. I trust the flight was comfortable?"

Meanwhile, the Gardermoen area control took over the Hirgizstani aircraft from the air traffic control, guiding it in. Clouds were approaching quickly. The airport officials expected large amounts of snow to arrive soon, so they wanted to get the aircraft down before the worst of the snow arrived. In the winter time, it was common for the airport to be forced to shut down several times per day for the runways to be cleared of snow and ice. Safety was the primary concern, shedules a mere secondary one.

"Fuhrer 1, you are cleared for immediate landing at Runway 2L. Winds picking up at 27 knots south. Upon landing, taxi to the military section. A follow vehicle will guide you as soon as you land. Welcome to Cotland."

The same follow vehicle would guide the massive E-4B to the military tarmac when the Hawdawgian aircraft had been safely parked inside one of the massive hangars that normally housed four C-11/B Super Globemaster strategic transport aircraft along with various other aircraft. A total of five of the massive hangars were available, of which one was already completely occupied by the Layartebian aircraft.

Oslo International Airport, Cotland

The E-4B glided in to land perfectly. The weak late-afternoon sun was just trying to peak through the brilliant white snow-clouds that seemed to loom over the city, ready to drop a blizzard. The Fuhrer could see this as they came in to land. He put his hand on the huge fur-lined great-coat on the chair beside him. He'd definetly be needing it.

The plane taxied to the end of the runway, following the tiny little airport vehicle. They had to stop on a siding off the runway, to let the airport staff and ground crews taxi the Hawdawgian PM's plane into its hanger. Once done the E-4B followed the little vehicle to another hangar, alongside the two already occupied. The car stopped and so did the plane, right in front of the vast, open hangar.

A security detachment was already there and a flight of steps was being wheeled out of the hangar toward the front side door of the plane. The Fuhrer was already standing behind it, smiling at the young femal flight attendant poised to open the door. Five Fuher Guards stood behind and to the side, with the other passengers lining up down the corridor.

The door open with a hiss and a squelch and the freezing cold, fresh Norwegian air blasted into the plane. The Fuhrer breathed deep. He was still in his military dress uniform, after having broadcast a message to the troops in the Gulf earlier that morning. He put the big fur lined great coat on over the military uniform and buttond it up.

He breathed in again and stepped out into the chilled air, smiling at the Cottish delegation assembled at the foot of the metal stairs.

On the Tarmac

Prime Minister Wells approached the Foreign Minister and offered a hardy handshake. The small security team scanned the immediate area in and around the Hangar looking for anything out of the ordinary. After all it hadn't been too long ago that all hell broke loose in Oslo.

"The flight went very smoothly. I haven't had the time to really use my new Global Express XRS but I very impressed with its characteristics. More importantly how is the King? I haven't had the pleasure of meeting his new bride-to-be yet, but hear she is an absolute gem. Oh and I wanted to ask while I had you here Minister has the King scheduled an October Alliance meeting? I assume all the powers will be present."

At the gate close to the hangar a group of sentries was allowing the Armored Stretch-Hummer and other Hawdawg Support vehicles to roll out onto the Tarmac to pick up Prime Minister Wells to travel to the Hyatt Regency. An advance team from the Embassy had already cleared the 5th floor of the Hotel and sealed the area for PM Wells stay. They meerly awaited his arrival at the location. Slowly the entourage pulled to stop next to the two talking diginitaries.

"His Majesty is well sir. Nervous due to the occation, naturally, but well in all respects. I am not certain whether or not there will be an October Alliance meeting, as His Majesty will be married on two days and understandably enough has a full inteniary for those two days. However, I am informed that he has an opening tommorrow if you would like to meet him before the wedding and subsequent honeymoon." The Foreign Minister said, escorting the Prime Minister over to the monstrocity of a vehicle he was driving around in. "I trust you will enjoy your stay sir. If you would excuse me, as you can see, there are more guests arriving," He said, motioning to the large Hirgizstanian Boeing-machine being manouvered into the hangar. "Enjoy your stay sir."

When the Prime Minister got into his vehicle and the doors were closed, the Foreign Minister hurried the two hundred meters over to the foot of the flightstairs being rolled over to the Hirgizstani aircraft. The Foreign Minister was in position just as the Fuhrer appeared and started making his way down the stairs, panting slightly after the short run. He was definately not in shape any more. Those dinners with the Storting were going to kill him one of these days, with all the exquisite food and drink being served.

"Fuhrer, welcome to Cotland. It is a pleasure that you're visiting our humble capital once again. I trust you had a comfortable flight?"

[OOC: SL, want the Grand Duke to go to the Palace?]

[OOC: SL, want the Grand Duke to go to the Palace?]

[ooc: yes...]

The Emperor sat in his hotel room and paid close attention to the news. Prime Minister Wells of Hawdawg and the Fuhrer from Hirgizstan had arrived, two great leaders and allies with the Empire in the October Alliance. "Perhaps we should have a meeting. This is the perfect time." He suggested. "Very well." He looked to his primary aide. "Please invite Prime Minister Wells, the Fuhrer, and Prime Minister Rothsky to our suite tonight, at 22:00 hours, for a meeting. I would like to discuss, with them, the growing tensions throughout the world and I think this is as good a time as any."

OOC: Hirgizstan, Cotland, and Hawdawg, please take note.

In the Prime Minister's office, Rothsky was working with the paperwork that had built over the course of the summit to China and the preperations for the Royal wedding. Yesterday, the entirety of the Storting had been at Akershus Fortress, the traditional royal residence and military strongpoint of the capital which was still very much an active military installation, in a congratulatory dinner in honor of the bride and groom. Some of the members of the Storting were probably still hung over, Rothsky thought with a smirk as he signed a document concerning the educational status in the new Siberian Province. A literacy rate of just under 65% was something which had to rectified immediately, but it could wait until after the wedding.

"Statsminister?" [Prime Minister?] a feminine voice asked from the door in to the lavish office. Rothsky looked up to see his personal secretary's head in the door.

"Ja?" [Yes?]

"En assistent til den Layartebiske keiseren ringte nettopp. Keiseren ønsker å treffe Dem på hotellet sitt i kveld, cirka klokken ti." [An aide to the Layartebian Emperor just called. The Emperor wishes to see you in his hotel this evening, at roughly ten o'clock.]

"Jaha? Vel, jeg ser ingen grunn til ikke å komme. Kontakt Keiseren og gi beskjed at jeg skal være der klokken ti." [Oh? Well, I see no reason not to come. Contact the Emperor and inform him that I shall be there at ten o'clock.] A sudden memory appeared in Rothsky's head, and with a boyish grin, he called out to his secretary just as he was about to pop her head back out into the waiting area. "Si at jeg tar med whiskeyen, og at han får huske sigarene." [Tell him that I'll bring the Scotch, and that he'll have to remember the cigars.]

The secretary nodded and returned to the phone to call Oslo Plaza while Rothsky returned to the business of being the top politicial in the Realm, reading a document on the clean-up costs on Barbados after the Granada incident, the smile still apparent on his lips despite the grim topic of the document.

*************

Outside hotel Oslo Plaza where the majority of the foreign dignitaries were accomodated, a motorcade consisting of two black Mercedes S 600 sedans rolled up, one of them having the national flag of the Grand Duchy of Saint Lazare mounted on the front right-hand side of the vehicle. They were to collect the Grand Duke for his meeting with the King, and the vehicle that was to drive the Grand Duke stopped so that the Grand Duke wouldn't have to step off the red carpet that had been rolled out since early that morning. There were a number of people wanting to see the many dignitaries, and more journalists, all of them kept at an appropriate distance by the two hotel staff and the six police officers guarding the main entrance.

When the Grand Duke had arrived and was safely inside the vehicle, the motorcade started rolling down, heading down a few streets before finally rolling in on Karl Johan street, Oslo's parade street which had been closed for normal vehicle traffic, giving the two black sedans a clear way directly towards the large building that was the Royal Palace in Oslo.

As the vehicles slowed down and rolled up Slottsbakken on the right-hand side of the large bronze statue of King Carl Johan sitting on his horse, leading his ficticious men forward in a cavalry charge, the thirty men of the King's Guard who were undergoing the 24-hour guard shift of the Palace had been ordered out and into formation to render honors to the foreign head of state that was arriving. Thirty men standing in two rows with an officer standing next to them, presenting arms to the passing vehicles as protocol demanded. The two guardsmen standing guard in the two small guard shacks on either side of the entrance to the Palace also presented arms as the vehicles passed. The first sedan, which was filled with security personnel drove on down into the underground garage while the second one, holding the Grand Duke stopped just inside the entrance. Another member of the King's Guard, dressed in the black parade uniform with the old-fashioned wide-brimmed hat, opened the door and saluted as the Grand Duke exited the vehicle.

Two men dressed in a uniform of sorts, looking like normal suits but with the seal of the King on the right-hand side of the chest of the jacket, the uniforms pressed to perfection, the shoes spitshined. All in all, they gave the impression of impeccable order and dedication to their job. Both nodded respectfully before the one to the right with three stars on the collar spoke in moderately accented English.

"Your Excellency. Welcome to the Royal Palace. If you would follow me please. The King is expecting you."

With that, the man turned and headed in past a set of large, impressive wooden doors that looked like they could take quite a bit of punishment and still hold. The truth was that they had done just that a few years ago during the initial socialist uprising, when the Palace had been severely damaged by a rouge military unit. It had been completely repaired and modernized though, and little if any sign was left of the troubled event. Just inside the doors, an impressive set of stairs awaited. The man started climbing them, and after two floors and three turns, they finally reached the summit.

Here, a long empty corridor with exquisite works of art on the walls and a number of artifacts were displayed, meant to impress any visitor who visited. The man made sure the Grand Duke followed, and then started trotting down the corridor in a moderate pace. After walking to the end of the thirty meter corridor, they entered through a set of elaborately patterned double doors into a waiting area where a person sat behind a desk, dressed in the navy blue uniform of the Royal Cottish Navy. From the stripes on the man's sleeves, he held the rank of Kommandørkaptein [Commander] and, judging from the amount of ribbons on his jacket chest, a lot of decorations.

"Storhertugen av Sankt Lazare ønsker audiens hos Kongen." [The Grand Duke of Saint Lazare request an audience with the King. The man who had lead the Grand Duke here said formally, to which the naval officer nodded as he got up. Without saying a word, the officer walked the few paces over to a set of even more elaborately decorated double doors while the guide left discreetly. The officer knocked twice and opened the doors slightly, sticking his head into the room.

"Storhertugen av Sankt Lazare, Herre Konge." [The Grand Duke of Saint Lazare, my King. The officer said respectfully.

"Takk. Send ham inn." [Thank you. Send him in.] A masculine voice from within replied, to which the officer nodded, opened the doors fully, and motioned for the Grand Duke to enter, bowing his head respectfully as the foreign head of state passed.

Inside, a man, roughly one hundred and eighty-five meters tall with black, short hair and a well-maintained, short black beard walked towards the Grand Duke, his hand out to greet the man, a smile on his face. Behind the Grand Duke, the naval officer closed the doors quietly and returned to his duties.

"Grand Duke, welcome to Cotland. I am sorry I couldn't come to greet you on the airport myself. I'm also very sorry for the treatment my Air Force gave you. They can be a bit overzealous at times." King Haakon VIII of Cotland said appologetically.

[OOC: That okay with you SL?]

Roumillet entered the room, as bidden by the Cottish King. He bore no hard feelings. "They do their job well - what else can I say? There have been faults on the behalf of our side as well, so I cannot quite clearly place all the blame upon them, especially when they were doing as instructed. Imagining if it were a terrorist now, I can see why Cottish fighters are so anxious to acknowledge the presence of foreign craft in their airspace. Of course, you do not mind a little surprise, don't you?" The two traveled to the table where a gracious drink awaited them.

Prime Minister Wells sat in the Imperial Room of the Hyatt Regency watching the very embarassing "airspace incident" that had occured earlier in the day, when an email arrived from the Layarteb Delegation. The Emperor had summoned the leaders of the October Alliance for a meeting at his hotel room at 22:00 hours. Most likely he wanted to discuss the recent flare ups in East Asia as well as the terroristic actions in the Middle East. Wells called his personal secretary into the room.


"Donovan, ready my Limo. The Emperor has summoned the OA to a meeting in his Suite at 22:00 hours. The usual protocol's, tell them I am leaving in five minutes. Contact the Layartebians and let them know I am in route."

The Stretch Hummer pulled to a stop at the front entrance of the Hyatt as a suprisingly large security team fanned out to cover the entrance PM Wells walked briskly down the stairs and climbed into the waiting vehicle. Within a few minutes the Prime Minister was walking through the threshhold of the Luxury Hotel, where he was met by the personal security team of the Emperor.

"Ah, good evening gentlemen. I trust you were informed of my coming? Might I ask that you take me to the Emperor now, thank you."

Oslo International Airport, Cotland

The Fuhrer smiled at the Foreign Minister, panting at his exertions, his breath coming out in large shapeless clouds in the chill and dissappearing as it rose. "Indeed, the flight was excellent. Its just a pity its so cold here. It is still fiercely hot in Africa at the moment."

The Fuhrer chatted for a few minutes with the Foreign Minister while a Cottish police motorcade and limo organized itself in front of the hangar. The Fuhrer explained there were gifts on another plane that would arrive shortly. He sorted out their eventual transport to the Palace with the Foreign Minister. He would present them to the royal family when asked to come to their residence.

The ride out and into the city was relaxing. The Fuhrer drank a cold bottle of Norwegian water.

En-route his PDA, in the hands of one of his aides, received word that there was to be a meeting of TOA heads at the Emperor's Suite later in the evening. The Fuhrer made a note and within a few minutes he was being led to his accomodation floor at the Oslo Plaza Hotel by a manager of sorts.

At 9.30pm the Fuhrer, freshly dressed in a business suit, headed out again, taking the lift to the Emperor's floor.

At the entrance to the left he and his Fuhrer Guards were met by the Emperor's Security Team, "Good Evening Gentlemen, I hope it isn't too cold for you. Now, if you'll please show me to the Emperor's Suite, I would be most appreciative."

[OOC: Guys, the Emperor doesn't live in the Hyatt. I don't even think there is one in Oslo. The vast majority of the guests are offered to live in Oslo Plaza hotel, which is where the Emperor is currently residing. It's all written down in the posts. As far as I'm aware, the only person living in the Hyatt is PM Wales.]

"I've found out from bitter experience that surprises can be just that, surprises. For instance, the recent terrorist troubles that's occured here in our otherwise so peaceful country. They were surprises too. Surprises that cost many lives." The King said with a serious tone. Noticing that this might upset his guest, the King broke into a smile and said in a much lighter voice, "Not that we don't have that problem under control though. Rest assured sir. As I'm sure you've become aware of first-hand, our defense forces are more than capable of handling trouble if it should come. Please." He gestured with his hand for the Grand Duke to follow him over to a sitting area with a pair of very comfortable and expensive-looking chairs.

"I am glad that you could come, and hope that the little incident won't miscolor your opinion of our humble nation." He picked up two small shot glasses filled with a distinct Cottish beverage called akevitt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akvavit), a Cottish traditional drink with a lot of flavour and a good burn down the throat afterwards due to the 40% alcohol content. The King handed one of the glasses to the Grand Duke, and held up his own in a toast. "For the continued friendship between our two nations. May it prosper for all eternity." With that, the King drank the entire glass in one swig. The alcohol burned plesantly, he thought as he looked at how the guest handled it. If the guest didn't drink up, the King would probably be personally insulted.

OOC: Its okay Cot, I just picked the Hyatt because its a big chain of hotels and I figured they had one there. Yes I am the only one staying there at the moment. I didn't want to stay at the same hotel as everyone else because I figured they didn't have enough Presidental suites available for all of us. I can change it if you would like.

[OOC: Nah, it's cool. Just remember it for the future :) ]

The Emperor greeted each of his three guests and offered them seats in the suite. "Thank you. I think we're set from here." He dismissed his aides. "Gentlemen, before we begin. Would anyone like a cigar or drink? The cigars are from Cuba." He passed around a small box with finely rolled and wrapped Cuban cigars, a clipper next to them. "Gentlemen. As great an occassion as this is, I must say that we have something stronger that we all must discuss. In the Pacific Ocean, we have something very deadly brewing. Intelligence sources have spoken with me, at length, concerning the Japanese. There are signs that are pointing to something dangerous, something deadly, something foreboding. We've already had one World War gentlemen and it seems that we're on the doorstep of a second. Should the Japanese attack any Layartebian positions throughout the Pacific or even Indian Ocean, we will have no choice but to attack them, in full. However, it is not so much the Layartebian positions that are of concern, it is mostly the Cottish. Sources are pointing strongly to an attack on Kangaroo Island.

"This is, potentially, a serious crisis. We know not the full capabilities of the Japanese military and my intelligence ministry does not, under any circumstance, portray them to be weak at all." He took a sip of his scotch. "This is fine scotch Prime Minister."

"Indeed," Rothsky replied in a distant tone through the cloud of cigar-smoke from the Cuban currently resting in his right hand, his mind on the situation in the Pacific Ocean. "Gentlemen, I must emphasise to you the strategic importance of Kangaroo Island in the eyes of the Realm. If Operation Stillehav Blå, which I believe you have all been made aware of, is to be carried out, the use of Kangaroo Island is imperative. It provides us with a repair and resupply facility far enough away to be distanced from the theatre of operations, yet close enough for the ships to make it there relatively quickly. It is because of this we chose to annex the island in the first place, and since we've had forces on the island without incident for more than a month now, we consider the island a part of the Realm on the same line as we consider Norway or Saint Lucia a part of the Realm.

"With this in mind, I hope you understand the intention of our forces to fight to the bitter end in order to defend the Realm, so to speak. Still, dispite the number of troops we have on the island, our military commander on the ground isn't optimistic concerning victory. But as the colonel commanding the regiment of Royal Marines we have on the island said to His Majesty when he called down there a few days ago, they'd give the enemy a very bloody nose and try to hold out for as long as was humanly possible. The presence of massive Japanese territorial holdings relatively close is another concern that keeps us from sending the entirety of the Pacific Fleet within range of their land-based air forces. We cannot risk losing the fleet.

"I would like to take the moment to thank those of you who have committed forces to help the defense of Kangaroo Island on the behalf of the Realm. We are very happy with the assistance you're offering, but I hope that it won't be necessary to use it. Perhaps a show of our military might is what is needed to keep the Japanese at bay.

"Our intelligence on the Japanese military status is also rather poor, although we believe that the majority of the ship types employed by the Japanese are less advanced than those of our fleets. Still, they are deadly and dangerous foes, and should be dealt with accordingly.

"I believe you all know of the details of Operation Stillehav Blå. Our High Command has decided to employ parts of the plan against the Japanese in case they do attack Kangaroo Island. High Command is also lobbying very strongly for unrestricted warfare against the Japanese, something which is currently under serious consideration.

"It is my belief that should war commence, we should coordinate our actions in order to prevent an overkill against one particular part of the Japanese Empire, but rather deal out substantial damage all across the board. Also, should war come, we should strive to rob Japan of its military power currently massed along the southern Australian continent, where it poses a clear and present danger to the continued Cottish sovereignty of Kangaroo Island."

With that, Rothsky took a sip of the Scotch he had brough along for the meeting, a thirty-five year old single malt from the Scottish highlands. It went well with the cigars the Emperor had offered.

The Fuhrer sat and listened to the PM and the Emperor in turn, cigar in hand and a glass of fine Burbon from America in crystal tumbler on a table at his side. The Fuhrer had never developed a taste for Scotch, but he was partial to Burbon or Irish whiskey.

He exhaled a cloud of tasteful cuban cigar smoke and began to speak, "Indeed, gentlemen I agree with you both. I think we are facing the biggest threat to world peace since the Russian Federation. However, if you remember that all we did was give them a bloody nose, ironically in the Pacific, and they collapsed. Perhaps this bodes well, although I cannot be that hopeful.

Our biggest obstacle at the moment is the relative lack of information about the Japanese military. We were able to glean some limited information when they let us base the 20th Fleet in Hamamatsu, and I can say they are not as advanced or numerous as any one of us. It is their temperament which, I think, will make them tough adversaries, if it should come to that.

If we can hold Kangaroo Island for a period of time, perhaps inedfinetly, we will have accomplished half of our goals as this will blunt their plans and show them they cannot possibly hope to win. I am also with the Prime Minister in his assertion that if the Japanese are to follow-through with their plans, we should eradicate their power and influence, across the board, for the forseeable future.

We must also be mindful of terrorism during this time. The Japanese appear to be working closely with the state of Aazab and the so-called 'Syndicate'. Aazab is on its knees, as you all know, and it is only a matter of time before the sword of Damocles ends their little game. But I would not rule out the possible use of terror by the Japanese, and would remind you that they have a few Naval ships just outside the Gulf."

The Fuhrer took another sip of burbon and puffed on his cigar.

The Emperor listend to Rothsky and nodded through his scotch. Well put. He thought. "Terrorism is a certain concern for the Empire and all of you as well. We should, by all means, decimate their military and their spheres of influence so broadly that they will never again wage war. Though we know little about the Japanese military, one thing that we do know is that, regardless of their technological levels, they have and maintain strong and fervent fighting skills. They have a large sphere of influence in the area, larger than any of our nations. Therefore, though it might not be unanimously agreed upon, I believe that we should at least see where the Eastasians stand in this matter. They are a powerful foe to the Japanese and they could be a very good ally. We have recently met with Premier Zhao, of the Eastasian Repubilc, and though we may not agree with their politics, or, in some cases, even recognize the state, they should not be dismissed. The Eastasians have just as much to lose as we do with these happenings. If you recall, they were not favorable of the Russian Federation and they were in support of our actions. Had full war broken out I do not doubt that the Eastasians would have been there to fight against the Russians. They may have wronged the Empire in the past, Grenada that is, but we can look past them for this. They are a common ally against a common foe."

Prime Minister Wells listened intently to the his counterparts, when it was his turn to speak, he placed his fine Cuban in the ashtray and began.

"Gentlemen I feel that the Hawdawg Government has to some extend empowered the Empire of Japan over the years. We had actively supported the advancement of the Japanese Military Machine to counter-balance the concern we had with several rogue nations that were developing spheres of influence in the Pacific Rim Area. We have always had a friendly relationship with the Empire and we were instrumental in assisting the acquisition of the Main Islands. This new confrontational attitude coming out of Tokyo baffles my most Senior State Department Analysts. I am certain if the current trends and "gun boat diplomacy" ideals would have been detected at an early stage we would not have been so simpathetic to there cause. With that said, I will say we haven't provided an technological assistance in recent years.

I can shed some light on the technology Japan possesses. Her Navy is her backbone. We will face a Fleet that is modern and well equipped for naval combat. Japan has ample Marine Forces, we aren't sure how many they officially claim, but they normally dispatch sizable Marine Units with each Fleet to seize and hold assets. The avaition wing of the Navy is a modern Force that sports home-designed planes. We don't have any hard data on the planes but they are comparable with F-16, F-18 Airframes. The one weakness that we can exploit has always been and will always be the lack of abundant natural resources.

Unfortunately we have not been able to supply any direct support for Kangaroo Island, because the Empire has stationed a sizeable force on our shared border in Papua New Guinea. This has effectively froze our Marine Expeditionary Force in PNG, as well as warranted the holding of our Fleets stationed there in Port. Should an attack come, we have enough assets in-country to deal them a substantial setback. Our Forces we have in Fiji have been held in Port just in case the Japanese Fleets in and around the Island decided to do anything drastic.

It looks on the surface as we haven't really committed any forces to the cause, but this is really a decoy action I have had planned to enact since the threats first came about against Kangaroo Island. I have strategically stationed several Submarines on station in and around Japanese held territories. With the sole purpose of attacking the infastructure of the Island, should the need arise. My Boomers are ready to unload an allout IMSDAL assault on the major Naval Facilities, Power Grids, etc. In fact, I have devised a way to put the national rail system out of commission for several weeks with strategic strikes on key switch-over locations. Make no mistake about it gentlemen, this will be a battle of the high seas."

"And a battle of the High Seas it shall be. The Realm already has an substantial part of the fleet in or near the Pacific Ocean, something which includes nearly seventy of our attack submarines and twenty-four of our new guided missile submarines. They are currently deployed around the western portions of the Pacific, ready to commit against any Japanese presence. All of these vessels carry the Imsdal cruise missile which I believe we all have in our arsenals, and they are just waiting for orders to engage. In case of war, our submarines are ordered to strike the major Japanese naval and air assets, as we believe that it will be these two types of war machines that will pose the greatest threat to our forces." Rothsky said, pausing only to puff a little on the cigar. "I would like to chart the alliance's view on unrestricted warfare against the Japanese. With this, I mean the targetting of all Japanese targets, whether they be military or civilian. We are as mentioned earlier considering this avenue of approach, and should it be envoked, we can expect massive amounts of Japanese shipping sunk relatively quickly. According to the people at High Command, the predictions of losses are so great that we expect the Japanese imports of raw materials and foodstuffs will be reduced substantially, possibly as much as ninety percent, assuming we sink sufficient shipping. Suddenly having nothing to eat might make the Japanese people get their eyes up to the lunatic policies their leaders are conducting. That leads to another approach we should employ. The hearts and minds game. If we get out the message that this war is the fault of the Japanese leadership, the people might revolt and demand a cease-fire, something which leaves us in the position to dictate terms. Here, I believe we can enlist the assistance of the Eastasians. As we know, they are very good in the propaganda game, something both myself and the Emperor witnessed during our visit to China."

Wells spoke again:

"I have no qualms about unrestricted warfare in this instance. This is going to be a linch-pin in cutting the supply chain. However we all need to understand exactly how messy this could potentially get. The Pacific Rim countries we are on friendly terms with need to understand this is not an imperial quest, but a quest for peace and security in the region. The question to the committee is how do we start this conflict without prying eyes of the world blaming us for firing the first shot."

The Emperor nodded with the scotch and cigar in his hand. "I understand our sentiments here but I must advise something here. We cannot attack and destroy the culture and people because that will create resentment and ill-will towards the powers that be, thereby just creating another war. I made this point when we were in Beijing and I think I must reiterate it here, again. The Japanese are a fierce people and we don't want to instill any strong feelings of resentment, so strong that it fuels hatred and fire within, thereby creating the necessary ingredients for a second war, far more brutal than the first."

Roumillet took his time. It took him a long time - to soak up the harsh alcohol. It's taste was amusing at the same time painful. Nonetheless, the Grand Duke could never pass up an opportunity to get drunk, especially in a foreign country. But of course, he had a certain level of conduct to uphold at the same time, so he managed his drink well and enjoyed the whole trip, despite his obvious pains.

He placed his cup on the table, still absorbing the shock. "Speaking of surprises, I'm quite surprised to find a shock at every turn. This is some harsh drink - I must have some for my collection at home. What is this exactly?"

The King gave his reply: "Akvavit; it's a speciality in Cotland, and I'm glad that you do like it. I can arrange some to be brought here for a sample viewing of the many fruits of the Realm."

"Ah, well, this is all too good! I think that it is a generous offer, but we ought to speak first and drink more later. It truly burns, but the aroma is rather appealing, something like curry or something of that sort. I cannot imagine that as an alcohol connoisseur that I have never experienced a drink as this until now.

"But let us pass around the flask some more. I'm very glad for your marriage proposals. It is nearing our fourth anniversary between Josephine and me - and it has been absolutely heavenly. I can only lament that she is ill with a summer flu at the moment... and I hate to divulge on a separate topic, but these chairs are extremely comfortable. Why don't the hotels market these varieties, compared to the lumps of cotton in their suites? I am certainly glad that I came today, or else I would have missed so much to discuss and so much to cherish. Experiences are a very lovely thing - you never know until you go and do it for the first time."

"Indeed. They were ordered especially actually, some seventy years ago by one of my predecessors. I guess they simply don't make them any more. Anyway, I digress. How may I be of assistance sir?" The King asked, pouring more akevitt into the Grand Duke's glass while he was getting in on the main reasons for the audience.

OOC: I think I am done with the meeting part but I don't know what you guys are doing?

Hello World

The Emperor frowned, his military had been given looser restriction over preparing any defenses in the name of 'Za Kyokojitsu'. However, the most recent manouvres got out of lign. Somewhat in the eyes of himself, but mostly in the eyes of fellow Governments. He was saddened in the knowledge that it would be impossible to visit the Cottish King on the day of his Wedding, but he wouldn't forbid himself from leaving a lasting impression on the day. The Makeup artist spoke to him 'Your majesty, you really shouldn't frown like that. It will ruin your face for the evening.' but she was somewhat shunned. He sighed, though, and with some relenting he pulled off a gratified smile.

"When does the filming begin?" He asked in a rough tone, the tone of a hardened yet aged voice. A man said 'Two Minutes' and the Emperor maintained a new burst of happy energy. He convinced his makeup artist that he looked just fine, haveing had only wanted some of the wrinkles in his face to 'vanish' for the night. He left the room, dressed elegantly in one of Japan's finest outfit, he entered a room showing the Imperial Flag lit up in all it's glory behind him. Not exactly a flag, but more of a beautiful and elegant painting of the Imperial Flag with flowers and other intriquite designs representing Japanese beauty. He sat, and smiled. He had gotten there with about a minute left, and waited as he conversed slightly with the rest of the crew.


--


"Dear friends of the World, and yes you the King of Cotland. I extend Japan's greatest wishes for a fruitful and happy life for the newly wedded couple of Cotland, and hope that tensions may ease in the following weeks to come. Our nation has a complex style of working, and I certainly hope you may understand it when I say it was not entirely my fault. But, enough of this. This is time for celebration, this is time for enjoyment. I am 100% aware of the possibilities if I attend, and I have regretted not risking it all to be at your wedding in person. However, I wish for you to know that I am there in spirit. To a long and fruitful marriage, and may your lives prosper. I hope you shall enjoy your wedding night, as I shall enjoy that this Earth has been promised with another happy couple."

He picked up a whine glass that seemed to have just appeared out of thin air, and smiled. He said a Japanese word that meant 'Congratulations' yet continued 'Or in the west, Cheers.' and took a sip out of it. The filming ended, and the Emperor un-tensed his face.

"Make sure this arrives before the reception, I am eager for the King of Cotland to know." He smiled, and left the room.

OOC - The background held a subliminal message, it read

'Kimi Ga Yo, and may you reign prosperous too.'

It was a bit of a ploy for no reason, but I didn't feel like explaining it. Think of him putting a lot of good emotion into it, sorry it may seem crappy but re-imagine it in the best way possible as I meant for it to be positive.

Also, I can imagine some people will be booing if this is even played lol.

"Assistance?" Roumillet said, taking this second glass more slowly. "Well, I came for a party really. The humor aside, I felt that it would be a worthwhile stop to show the support for our allies in Cotland, particularly of the ever blessed and growing Royal family - which brings me to the point of surprise, but I think that we can agree that that's beyond the issue now.

"Well, if we have the time, we can talk about our efforts to rein in control in India? After all, the Cottish support - while small - has been astronomically crucial to the effort. The naval attacks helped to distort the land defenses and I think that in many areas, we are on the verge of a breakthrough. I recently received a report saying that our forces had linked in Orissa, which makes me so much more pleased to see our forces cooperating together. But it is coming to a close, so I'd like to see where we can take this cooperation after the campaign is done."

The King smiled at the news of the actions the Royal Marines had conducted in India.

"I am glad to hear that you are pleased with the preformance of our humble military. I must admit that I haven't paid much attention to the actions in India, as I have been having more pressing issues on my platter, but I am glad that we have been of assistance to the Grand Duchy.

"As for future cooperations, the Realm is more than willing to participate. There is one thing that we feel that your nation needs though, and that is a stronger military. With the size of the territorial holdings of the Grand Duchy and the relatively weak military, you would be at a disadvantage should someone invade. Naturally, in such a scenario the Realm would intervene on the Grand Duchy's side, but still. We can provide you with new arms, advanced aircraft, ships and vehicles, as well as munitions, should you decide that you need a larger, stronger and more capable military."

The King was a military man, a graduate of the Naval War Academy and with military experience from the Navy, having served aboard an aircraft carrier for two years as an officer before he ascended to the throne. During this time, he had gained valuable knowledge of warfare on the sea and in the air. Therefore, he knew the value of a strong navy, and he knew that the Grand Duchy was dangerously low on forces.

The Emperor sat eagerly in his chair. He didn't want his allies to think that he was trying to rally them for a fight against the Japanese. He merely wanted to stress the importance of the issue yet they were in agreement. He was pleased with that and he didn't expect the Japanese to just buckle over and back down, they were too proud. He did expect a bloody war, either on the shores of Kangaroo Island or elsewhere, perhaps against the Eastasians. That would be a bold move and though his allies did not share the same feelings as he did for the Eastasians he hoped that they would see the common ally that presented itself with the Eastasians. They may have been communist, with a homosexual leader, but they were a powerhouse in the world. That wasn't something to ignore. The Eastasians may have been ideologically opposite from the October Alliance and therefore its enemy but they had no fight with each other, too much would be at risk.

"I understand that sir," Rothsky said, "And I respect the Layartebian position on this matter. As I've said earlier, the employment of such tactics has not yet been decided upon." Rothsky didn't know that the Japanese had just stood down their forces.

******************

The Foreign Minister rushed out from the Mercedes S 600 that had raced him from his home in the suburbs outside Oslo to Gardermoen after a urgent call from the Foreign Ministry, informing him that the Germanian Reichskanzler had decided to attend the wedding after all. Due to the soldiers of the King's Guard being in their camp drilling for the ceremonies the next day, the Reichskanzler would have to settle for an honor guard of hastily assembled airmen in their blue uniforms, taken from the base protection detail, for an honor guard instead of the elite infantrymen that made up the King's Guard. As he got out and closed the coat to give himself at least some protection against the falling snow, he observed the thirty-odd airmen moving into formation, brandishing the newly distributed assault rifles as soldiers should, as he observed the Germanian aircraft land and taxi towards the military section of the airport. In the background, the standard motorcade of a limo and four black sedans rolled into position in the dark November evening.

Oslo, Norway
8:13 AM...

Reichskanzler Kübler's personal plane, the highly-protected and highly-escorted Reichsvogel (comparable to Air Force One, except smaller), touched down at Gardermoen International Airport where the Kingdom of Norway's own Foreign Minister was awaiting the Fourth Reich's Führer's arrival. Once the Reichsvogel had successfully landed and moved into the correct terminal, a door was lowered and the middle-aged Reichskanzler was escorted off the plane by ten personal guards from the OS-Polizei.

Standing in front of the left side of a limousine and also flanked by Norwegian guards was the Norwegian Foreign Minister, whom the Reichskanzler immediately spoke to, a member of his OS-Polizei Staff translating for him.

[Translated from German...]

"Herr Foreign Minister, please excuse my tardiness. The Fourth Reich has been in jeopardy lately as there have been several assassination attempts on my life.

"However, I am here to celebrate, not necessarily be cautious. I cannot wait to personally congratulate the King."

"Ich verstehen herr Reichskanzler," [I understand herr Reichskanzler] the Foreign Minister said in German, understanding the language after having studied it at the University of Bergen so many years ago. He continued in the same language. "I'm sorry to hear that sir. His Majesty regrettably has a very busy schedule tommorrow, but you will of course have a chance to see him at the reception after the wedding ceremony. If you'd follow me sir. We have reserved a suite at Oslo Plaza hotel, on the twenty-seventh floor. The Emperor of Layarteb is residing in the same hotel, as is the Fuhrer of Hirgizstan." He said, walking alongside the Reichskanzler past the honor guard, who had snapped to attention the moment the Reichskanzler emerged from the aircraft. The security staff from the Foreign Ministry opened the doors to the armored limo, allowing for the Reichskanzler and Foreign Minister to get in. Once they were in, the motorcade would get rolling and be at the hotel in Oslo within thirty minutes, the police escort clearing the way so they could race down the highway, which was as well maintained as all other Cottish roads.

Oslo, Norway
8:13 AM...

Reichskanzler Kübler's personal plane, the highly-protected and highly-escorted Reichsvogel (comparable to Air Force One, except smaller), touched down at Gardermoen International Airport where the Kingdom of Norway's own Foreign Minister was awaiting the Fourth Reich's Führer's arrival. Once the Reichsvogel had successfully landed and moved into the correct terminal, a door was lowered and the middle-aged Reichskanzler was escorted off the plane by ten personal guards from the OS-Polizei.

Standing in front of the left side of a limousine and also flanked by Norwegian guards was the Norwegian Foreign Minister, whom the Reichskanzler immediately spoke to, a member of his OS-Polizei Staff translating for him.

[Translated from German...]

"Herr Foreign Minister, please excuse my tardiness. The Fourth Reich has been in jeopardy lately as there have been several assassination attempts on my life.

"However, I am here to celebrate, not necessarily be cautious. I cannot wait to personally congratulate the King."

OOC: Kaliningrad...pfft! SUPRESS THE BASTARDS!

Prime Minister Wells left the meeting feeling comfortable with the strength in defense the October Alliance possessed. Should the need arise, the group would act in a most crushing and decisive way to quickly eliminate any threat to the peaceful existence each member enjoyed. On his way back to the Hotel his secure phone rang.

"Yes this is Wells, you say the North Germanian's have arrived? Great news, the King will be most suprised. Yes I want those intellegence reports on Japanese strength in PNG as soon as possible. Email them to my PDA when you have compiled all the data and the overflight photos."

Upon arrival at the Hotel Wells, retired to his Suite and took a much anticipated shower. After such a long day, the warmth of water soothed his aching back. As Wells prepared to bed down for the night, the message light on his PDA flashed. He opened the case and opened the email he was waiting for from the DoD. As he poured over the data, it appeared as if the Japanese had pulled there forces away from the border and returned to bases. This was a good sign indeed. Wells drifted off into a deep sleep, soon it would be daylight and the festivities would begin in earnest.

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006
06:28 AM [EST]

Early in the morning, while the majority of the inhabitants of Oslo, both permanent and visiting, were asleep, there were a lot of activity in the streets. Litterarily hundreds of military five-ton trucks drove into the city, laden with soldiers dressed not in the normal field uniform that a Cottish soldier wore during the majority of his time in the military, but rather the rarely worn Class A parade uniform. In their hands, they had newly distributed L45A1 battle rifles, taken from the mobilization stores and polished so they shone as well as they had thirty-nine years ago when they were introduced into the Cottish military.

The last of the L45 rifles had been decommissioned from active service twelve years ago, and while a number found their way into the hands of prison guards and park rangers and a number were still being used to this day by the King's Guard when on guard outside the Royal Palace or during demonstration shows, the vast majority were stockpiled in vast mountain halls, ready to be distributed to volunteers in case of an emergency along with the 7.62x51mm ammunition the rifle fired. It was these rifles that had been distributed to the thousands of military men who were entering the city to serve as the honor guard for the King and the new Queen.

Near the Storting, the trucks stopped and the waiting cadre of officers and senior sergeants ordered the troops out from the trucks immediately. It wasn't often military orders were barked out in front of the Cottish national assembly, but this wasn't a normal situation. A camera crew from TV2 was already present, filming the events for the few people who were up and about at six thirty in the morning. The images went live to the first regular news broadcast of the day, with a reporter speaking enthusiastically in the microphone. The reporter, an attractive blonde woman in her late twenties was dressed in a bunad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunad), an traditional Cottish outfit that was usually worn for joyous occations such as the Constitution Day on the 17th of May, weddings, christenings, and other celebrations.

As a M100A15 five-ton MTV truck grinded to a halt, the rear flap opened and pouring out twenty men dressed in the light blue wool uniform of the Royal Cottish Air Force, the reporter concluded the interview she had just had with an Air Force officer, camera crew filming everything. The interview had been cleared in advance, and the military had a full-disclosure policy regarding today's events, naturally excluding the special forces teams and various other military assets that were in stand-by in case anything should happen. The cameras filmed as the twenty men fell in with another hundred or so men, were issued a few orders and a rifle, and sent on their way, quick-marching in the cold November morning by a sergeant to their designated positions.

As the reporter returned into the television screen, she said cheerfully in Cottish, "Og som dere kan se, så er Forsvaret på plass for å hedre det lykkelige paret. Vi kommer til å være her utover morgenen og formiddagen for å sørge for at dere kan få med dere alt som skjer i hovedstaden i dag. Tilbake til studio." [And as you can see, the Military is present to render their honors to the happy couple. We'll be right here for the rest of the day, making sure you can experience all the events that are unfolding in the capital today. Back to studio.]

As the morning became older, the military presence became clearer and clearer as the police sealed off all car traffic in downtown Oslo and especially the parade street Karl Johan's gate. At 07:30, it was officially closed for all traffic, and the military started deploying its troops. Members from all four branches of the Royal Cottish Military were present, dressed for the most part in Class A uniforms. The Air Force soldiers were dressed in the light blue uniforms with garrison caps, the Navy in their navy blue uniforms and service caps, the Army deployed its troops in the green parade uniform with berets, but the exception was the Royal Marines, who deployed in their black Class A uniforms with service caps. All were finished deployed by 08:45, lined along Karl Johan's gate in single rows on either side, forming one long chain of men facing each other, seperated into branch sections. On the other side, police officers would stand, they too dressed in parade uniforms, watching the public which was starting to arrive. The events wouldn't start for another few hours yet, but the people were still starting to show up. Attendance in the streets was expected to be in the hundreds of thousands, given the number of people who had flocked to Oslo over the past week and the citys population of four million.


http://theforsakenoutlaw.com/Graphics/Nation-States/Cotland/Ny%20mappe/Kopi%20av%20PA020051%2520-%2520internett.jpg

http://theforsakenoutlaw.com/Graphics/Nation-States/Cotland/Ny%20mappe/Kopi%20av%20stortingsparade20.jpg


It was set to be a beautiful day, with a warm six degrees centigrade and sunshine, something which would be bode well for both the wedding and, for those who were supersticious, the future of the marriage. Along the two ends of the parade, namely the Royal Palace and the cathedral, the honor guard consisted of members of His Majesty the King's Guard, the elite infantry regiment responsible for the protection of the King.

http://theforsakenoutlaw.com/Graphics/Nation-States/Cotland/Ny%20mappe/Kopi%20av%20stortingsparade05.jpg

By 09:00, the first of the guests were expected to start arriving at the Oslo Cathedral, the ancient medevial stone cathedral that, when compared with the cathedrals of other nations was small, still was rather spacious and massive. More than fitting for a royal wedding. The persons allowed into the church, which could house five hundred people, comfortably inside the cathedral.

Inside, at just past 08:45, the person who was to conduct the ceremony, the Bishop of Oslo was inspecting the various decorative arrangements the planners had put into the cathedral. It was a very bright and plesant sight, all the flowers and what-not, the Bishop thought as the doors opened. Expecting it to be just another of the camera crews that had been in the cathedral all night under the watchful eyes of the Police, setting up cameras so they could transmit live images from inside the cathedral to the six massive monitors set up in various places around Oslo so people could see what was happening in real-time from the parks and along the parade route, and to the television viewers around Cotland and a number of foreign countries. However, curious as the Bishop was, he looked up and saw the final pieces that needed to be present be carried in in large metal boxes, escorted by heavily armed security guards dressed in civilian suits. While not obvious to any casual bystander, the Bishop knew that inside the transport crates, the regalia of the Realm of Cotland lay. The crown jewels consisted of nine objects, all of them of immense value, both financially and symbolically. He who controlled the regalia controlled Cotland, the saying went.

The nine objects was the three crowns, one for the King, one for the Queen, and one for the Crown Prince. Now, Cotland didn't at present have a Crown Prince, but that didn't mean that the piece of regalia wouldn't be present during the ceremony. To continue the list, the regalia consisted of the Royal Orb, a gilt silver orb which was decorated by small roses placed on a band in the middle of the orb; the Queen's Orb, also made of gilt silver and decorated with amethysts; the two Sceptres, one for the King and one for the Queen, both made of gilt silver and decorated with rubys in the case of the King's Sceptre and amethysts in the case of the Queen's Sceptre; the Annointment Horn, a gilt silver horn which symbolized that the monarch was the leader of the Church of Cotland, and thus in the eyes of the Church God's chosen one on Earth; and finally, the Sword of the Realm, a golden sword which was one of the greatest symbols of the King's power and his position as the Supreme Warlord of the Realm, as the original wording of the Constitution said. The Sword also had an important place during the two most important Royal ceremonies, as it was used to bless the King during the coronation, and it rested on his coffin during his funeral. Now, it was to bless the holy matrimony that the King and his wife to be was about to enter.

The Crowns were unpacked carefully by the conservators from the Cathedral in Trondheim, where the regalia normally rested inside a blast-proof high-security vault in the basement of the 900-year old cathedral, under the secret but traditional protection of Kongshirden, as the unit formerly known as the Birkebeiners was known as with those who had knowledge of the unit, which was a very few, all of them Cots. It was actually a team of Kongshirden that escorted the regalia from their sacred resting place, and that carefully observed as the regalia was unpacked and placed on their positions. The King's and Queen's Crowns were placed on seperate pedestals on either side of the altar while the rest of the regalia were placed on the altar, clearly visible for anyone in the cathedral and indeed those at home who were watching. The two crowns would be used later in the ceremony, as it was the monarch who was getting married. That meant that his wife had to be coronated as the Queen of Cotland, and it would be done at the same time. Pleased that the regalia was in place and under the watchful eyes of these extremely loyal security guards, the Bishop returned to his office to change into the clerical attire.

Outside, the final outward preperations were being made. Three full companies of His Majesty the King's Guard was being assembled into the necessary formations to be able to render their honors to the visitors who were starting to arrive and, ultimately, to the persons who were to be wed.

http://theforsakenoutlaw.com/Graphics/Nation-States/Cotland/Ny%20mappe/Kopi%20av%20stortingsparade16.jpg

A honor guard of twelve naval officers had also arrived, taking up positions on either side of the double doors to the cathedral, ceremonial short sabers in their right hands.

By 09:00, the go-ahead was given and the first visitors were allowed to enter the strictly cordoned off area around the cathedral, carefully protected by three companies of Guards, two concealed Special Forces teams, two teams from Kongshirden, three hundred police officers and a number of other people. The security arrangements might seem excessive, but they weren't when one considered the guest list.

The first to arrive were the members of what the medias called the "official Cotland", namely various politicians and celebrities. All politicians in the Storting had been given strict orders to attend the wedding, an order the vast majority were more than happy to obey. They arrived early, all of them dressed in either suits, dresses or bunads. Next was the various Governors that were in charge of the six Cottish provinces, the Crown Colonies and the Protectorates, followed closely by the upper echelon of the Cottish military. All defense district commanders were present along with the leaders of the High Command, all dressed in their parade uniforms. There were much brass and gold present today. Also invited were the many ambassadors from the foreign countries that had embassies in Cotland, and it was expected that a number of them would be present. Soon after 09:30, the foreign dignitaries were scheduled to arrive. Since a large number of dignitaries were to arrive, the planners expected a new one to arrive every fourty-five seconds, meaning that the dignitaries had to get in relatively quickly.

As the foreign dignitaries arrived, the vehicle they sat in would stop so they stepped onto the red carpet that had been laid out. The door would be opened by a member of the King's Guard, who would stand in a perfect attention and salute as he held the door open, just like his squad had rehearsed the past week. At the same time, the formation of Guardsmen would also salute, honoring the foreign dignitaries. As the dignitaries would proceed into the cathedral, the honor guard of naval officers would also present arms, standing in a perfect attention as the vehicle drove away quickly to let the next one arrive. Once safely inside, a member of the cathedral's staff would direct the dignitaries to their assigned seating, the foreign heads of state being placed in the front area, close to the altar. They were also handed numbered earpieces that connected them directly to the translator who would simultaniously translate what was being said, as the entire ceremony would be conducted in Cottish. The reason for the numbering was so that the translator translated in the correct language. All the translators were taken from the Foreign Ministry, and were experts on the languages they were to translate in.

By 09:30, the King was already present, his best man, a close personal friend, by his side. Both were dressed in uniforms, the King in the black parade uniform of the Army with the five large silver stars on the golden place that denoted his rank as the commander in chief of the entirety of the Cottish Military on his collar, many rows of medals and decorations on his chest, and a few orders of various kind, including the crest that marked that he was the Grand Master of the Order of Saint Olav, the highest order in the Realm of Cotland. The best man, a kommandør in the Navy had on his parade uniform, with a number of decorations himself, won over the years he had been in the Navy. He was slated to be given command of the HMS Einar Tambarskjelve, a Ormen Lange class battleship under construction in the Naval Shipyards in Murmansk, but right now, he served as the best man to the King, a man he had known since High School so many years ago. Standing calmly next to the King, the two stood mostly silent, fully aware of the magnitude of the events. The King was nervous, understandably enough, but he took it well, the best man thought, observing as the cathedral filled up with people.

Not present among the military leaders was the father of the bride, generalløytnant Arne Steiner-Haraldsen (Royal Cottish Army), commanding officer of the Northern Defense District. He was waiting in the Royal Palace for his daughter to get ready for the wedding. Understandably, he was nervous about the ceremony, but he had every confidence that everything would go according to plan and that the wedding would go off without a hitch. He also had every confidence in that the marriage between his daughter and his King would be a good one, given the love they had shown each other and everyone else these past years. Steiner-Haraldsen had a lot of brass on his collar, namely the three large silver stars on a golden plate that showed that he held the rank of generalløytnant, the Cottish equivalent of Lieutenant General. On his chest, there were a lot of decorations and medals, symbols of the courage and dedication he had shown his nation as a commander in many a battle over the years, and crossing diagonal over his right shoulder was the red, white and blue sash that signalled that he held the Order of Saint Olav, the highest order any Cottish national could be given. The actual order was attached to the lower left side of his black uniform jacket. Hanging on his right-hand side, the ceremonial saber sat secured in its black leather-covered brass scabbard, and the black uniform cap with the red band and the golden leafs on the peak.

Finally, the doors opened and out stepped Maria, dressed in the simple yet delicate white wedding dress with a piece of expensive-looking silver necklace with tiny diamonds embedded all over it around her neck, earrings matching the necklace. Over her shoulders, she had a white mink fur, to keep her warm on the drive down to the cathedral. Her long blonde hair arranged in a simple arrangement to match the beautiful simplicity of the dress. To put it simply, she looked beautiful. Behind her, her maids of honor were also dressed and ready, dressed in equally simple baby-pink dresses. with similar pieces of jewelry on. All in all, they were ready to go. Sharing a few words, Maria placed her arm under her father's and off they went. It was time soon, he thought as they headed towards the car.

[Okay people. When your dignitaries have arrived at the cathedral, I'll post the actual ceremony.]

Ambassador Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, the current Eurasian Enovy to Cotland, arrived on time for the wedding of the King and Queen of Cotland, he was dressed in the finest black suits that Eurasia can offer to its envoys. With him were two bodyguards from Eurasian Marine Corp, they were dressed in black suits and were unarmed. The Ambassador is of Persian backgound and in his mid 50s , a seasoned envoy and highly regard in Eurasian Government.

OOC: Consider the Emperor there.

Oslo

The Fuhrer decided to walk all the way to the Cathedral, with only two Guards as company. It was a beautiful morning and the streets were regal, lined by soldiers and military personnel, all standing rigidly to attention in honor of the royal wedding.

The Fuhrer himself also wore his military uniform. His medals were old and worn, but still shiny. They were displayed big and obvious over his heart. The uniform was the same as the COH Army Class 'A' uniform, usually worn only for special occasions. It was a dark blue color with yellow highlights, gold buttons and yellow rimmed shoulderboards. Inside the Fuhrer's shoulderboards, where a Unit Patch usually sat, there was the carefully embroidered machete and half-sun, symbol of the COH. On the belt there was a ceremonial, thin, gold-hilted rapier sword. The two Fuhrer Guards were simply dressed in their black suits with white shirts and black ties.

The Fuhrer saw the Cathedral himself a few hundred yards away. It was an ancient structure of medieval vintage, with rough edges and muted tones, but imposing nonetheless.

The front of the cathedral was looked like something from the opening night of a movie in Hirgizstan City, with a red carpet, lines of long black cars, press snapping photos like their lives depended on those flashes. As the Fuhrer neared he thought he should have probably turned up in the Limo, but there was no point in thinking of that now.

He was ushered into the tight security ring around the Cathedral and walked across the small road in front of the church onto the red carpet between a couple of cars. Some Cottish soldiers of one sort or another snapped to attention and saluted. The Fuhrer saluted back.

Once inside the Cathedral the Fuhrer could barely hear himself think. It was full of people, but thankfully no press-gang. Cottish celebrities and Ambassadors talked to each other. The Fuhrer recognised the Hirgizstanian Ambassador and nodded. He was talking to Ambassador Haddad-Adel of Eurasia. Both men were dressed in traditional Muslim garb, with gold and white linen and huge ornamental saracen swords at their sides.

The Fuhrer was ushered over to an area where dignitaries were being given earpieces. He took the one he was given and was ushered to his seat, near the front of the Cathedral. The Emperor was already seated and the Fuhrer took up his seat next to him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOC: The Fuhrer has some presents for the Royal Couple, when should/can they be presented?

Prime Minister Wells arrived early for the wedding. Dressed in a full-length black tuxedo complete with stylish tophat, Wells eased into the side door with many of the dignitaries from around the world. Soon the King and his bride-elect would become one in a glorious ceremony full of splendor.

As Valerius arrived at the cathedral with his officials, he couldn't help but be taken by the extreme organization of the ceremony. The Cots sure know how to put on a show, he thought to himself, and not a hitch in sight. I'm impressed.

As he awaited the actual start of the marriage ceremony, he reflected on the last few months of his political career. He'd had a quieter reign as Roman Emperor than many had thought he would, but he was still working out precisely what new direction he intended to take the Empire in. In the meanwhile, he just wanted to take in the ceremony and really worry about politics later.

Still, the Emperor couldn't help but think of the various possibilities for the future of the Roman State. Rome had become increasingly isolationist apart from expansion in Russia, the Indian Ocean and Oceania, allowing the Roman Confederacy to wither away (althought that was done by his predecessor, Rodin Hartian). He noticed his increasing involvement with The October Alliance, particularly The Fourth Reich in regards to New Orleans, and wondered if Rome should increase its involvement with TOA further, although he didn't know how. That would be the challenge for later. Right now, he just wanted to marvel in the spectacle.

Oslo, Norway
Oslo Cathedral
09:10 AM...

The Fourth Reich's own Reichskanzler -- dressed in his old military dress uniform covered in various medals and awards -- pulled up to the front of the Cathedral in a black, armored limousine flying small flags of the Fourth Reich. As soon as the man stepped out of the vehicle, he was met by a barrage of camera flashes and Cottish citizens waving. The stern and noble faces of His Majesty the King's Guard did not move to face the Reichskanzler's own when he walked towards the entrance to Oslo Cathedral, escorted by a young man dressed in a Reichswehr dress uniform (who was Kübler's translator), and six OS-Polizei Guards, all donned in black and grey dress uniform with white gloves.

As the Reichskanzler entered the spacious, decadent, and glorious Oslo Cathedral he noted in his head the great architechtural work, the elegance of the stained glass windows and stone arches. "This building truly symbolizes both the might and glory of the Realm of Cotland", the Reichskanzler thought to himself. As Kübler further looked around he noticed several friends -- the Emperor of Layarteb, the Fuhrer of Hirgizstan, Emperor Valerius of Rome, Prime Minister Wells of Hawdawg, amongst others.

While der Führer made his way to his pre-determined seat, he shook hands with and said hello to all the various friends and dignitaries present, some neighbors and some on the other side of the world from Germany. The Reichskanzler held a small, pure-gold case in his left hand, while each of the OS-Polizei Officers following him held larger gold cases, each one containing a different present for the King and soon-to-be Queen of Cotland. This was truly a celebration of historical proportions -- so many Kings, Emperors, Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Dictators all in one room, each with separate political views, but all there to celebrate the joining in matrimony of two of the world's greatest people.

The presents which the Reichskanzler had brought to Norway on this fine day were of extreme historical value and importance to the Reich and others the very wealthy Führer had issued to be custom made for the King and Queen. In any case, Kübler was sure that the new couple would be incredibly pleased with the items he had specifically procured for their wedding. As a matter of fact, the Reichskanzler was so relieved at being able to be in a place where assassination attempts would be much more difficult, it was almost as if he was thanking the two for getting him out of Germany for a while. This was a vacation for the Reichskanzler.

While Kübler was waiting for the ceremony to begin, he stood up and walked over to Emperor Valerius and spoke in German-accented Latin. He leaned down and spoke quietly very close to the Emperor's ear.

[Translated from Latin]

"Emperor, there will soon be turmoil in the Mediterranean. Have no worries or fears, for no harm will fall upon your glorious Empire. Not from the Reich. Another thing I wish to tell you is that I am glad the Fourth Reich and the Roman Empire could maintain such excellent diplomacy even after Rodin Hartian is no longer in power. I also feel very confident in our joint control of New Orleans. However, I wish to discuss the crime problems in the city after the wedding. It's great to see you again, my friend."

Reichskanzler Kübler shook the man's hand and returned to his seat. Der Führer's eyes met the Cottish King's eyes and he smiled at the man, who returned the grin. Even though a grown man and an excellent politician and veteran ruler, the King looked excited as a young boy on Christmas Morning.

This would be a great day to remember...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OOC: I've got presents for the King and Queen, Cotty. Can I personally give them to ya at some point? You'll be very happy to have what I'm giving you.

[OOC: At the reception after the wedding NG. You can give it then.]

As the limo driving the bride and her father towards the cathedral started rolling out from within the confines of the Royal Palace, an order was barked out and the one hundred fifty-two Guardsmen of the 4. Company of His Majesty the King's Guards that was posted outside the Royal Palace snapped to attention, presenting arms as the limo rolled relatively slowly down the hill. The national colors and the regimental banner was lowered in respect for the new queen, and the men presented arms. As the vehicle continued rolling down Karl Johans gate, the sections of honor guards presented arms, ensuring that the vehicle was honored at all times as it drove slowly down the parade street. The crowds, now in their hundreds of thousands cheered and threw flowers at the vehicle as it rolled down the street.

Inside the cathedral, the guests were respectfully requested to find their seats as the ceremony would begin soon. The clergy of the Realm, all fourty Bishops of the Church of Cotland, the twenty muslim Imams and the eleven Rabbis, all of them religious figures and leaders in Cotland, were present in the cathedral to give their blessings to the couple that was to be wed.

The ceremony would be preformed by Bishop Gunnar Stålset, the Bishop of Oslo, who was the most important person of clercy in the Cottish faith, second only to the King, who was the leader and protector of the Lutheran-Christian religion. He now stood outside the cathedral, waiting for the bride to arrive. He got fair warning when the Guardsmen presented their rifles and the trumpeters started playing the Royal fanfare. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the vehicle rolled up and stopped, with two Guardsmen opening the doors and saluting perfectly. The father of the bride hurried around to help his daughter out. A few seconds later, she was out and the Bishop greeted them.

Two minutes later, inside the cathedral, everyone were in their places and the room was silent, everyone anticipating the ceremony to actually begin any moment now. Many were looking over their shoulders at the large closed oak doors, including the King. Bishop Stålset was at the altar, facing it, praying as was the tradition.

Suddenly, the mighty organ started playing the wedding march, and the doors were opened quickly by two workers in the cathedral, revealing the procession. Maria Steiner-Haraldsen was a stunning sight, dressed in the simple white wedding dress, holding her father with her left hand and the wedding flowers in her right. They started walking up the church floor, slowly to the powerful music being played from the organ, brides maides following right behind, holding the veil of the wedding dress.

By the end of the wedding march, they had reached the waiting groom, and the father of the bride handed over Maria with a few words that would never be revealed to anyone else. With that, the general nodded and headed for his seat on the left-hand side of the altar, where his wife was waiting. From there, they would see their daughter being wed to the man she loved.

When Maria and the King had been united, they walked up to the altar where the Bishop waited, Bible in his hand and a warm smile on his lips. The couple bowed respectfully to the member of the clergy, who motioned for them to be seated in the two simple yet ornated chairs of gold-plated sandal wood and red velvet pillows that had been placed in front of the altar.

As they sat down, the organ played up once again, this time with the tune of a Cottish hymn, Til kjærleik Gud oss skapte [God created us for love]. After two verses, the Bishop stood and walked over to the pulpit, to give the sermon of the ceremony. It would be given in Cottish, but the translators already had a copy of the sermon and would give the foreign guests a continuous and correct translation.

"Your Majesties, Your Excellencies, Your Highnesses, esteemed dignitaries and viewers at home: Welcome to this the wedding of Haakon, King of Cotland, and Maria Steiner-Haraldsen.

"It is a joyous occation that we gather here in this cathedral to witness today. The joining of a man and a woman in holy matrimony in the house of our God. It is a joyous occation, not only for Haakon and Maria who are affirming their true love before us all today, but also to the entirety of the Cottish nation. We are witnessing our King and the woman he loves become one in the holy matrimony. Today, we are putting all our differences aside to witness this event and rejoyce over it.

"It doesn't seem like so long ago when Haakon called me a year ago and asked if I could come to his home, since he wanted to discuss something with me. When I arrived, I was introduced to Maria who is now sitting beside Haakon. I quickly found out that she was a good and noble woman, with a strong love for Haakon and a heart open to God. After we had spoken for a while, the loving couple asked me if I would marry them. We talked of this for a while, and I found out that they had thought it through and talked extensively about it among themselves. It was clear to both of them that they wanted to live out their lives together, as man and wife. After affirming that their love was true and strong, I agreed to marry them. This was a year ago, and now here we all are, in our Father's house to see Haakon and Maria become just that: Man and wife.

"The Holy Bible speaks on several passages of the marriage between man and woman. It is the mutual love they have for each other that is being affirmed in the presence of you all who are gathered here today. I am happy to see so many people of so many different faiths and beliefs gathered here in peace to witness this joining of the two into one.

"It isn't an easy task, being married. There will be trials and tribulations before you in the years to come. There will be sickness and there will be bad days. But when those days are upon you, find solace in the fact that there will be health and good days, hopefully more good ones than bad, and find strength to pull through the trials put before you in the love you have for each other. For those trials are a test that God gives you to discover if your love is true or if it is false. Let your love to each other prevail, and prove to God and to each other that the vows you are about to give are as true as the day is bright.

"Today, we are not only making Haakon and Maria into a family of two persons who love each other. No. We are accepting Maria into our hearts as the wife of Haakon, our King and leader. We are accepting Maria into our hearts as the wife of King Haakon, our Queen.

"I now ask you all that we all rise and sing the first and second verse of hymn number 669, 'Love to God'."

The conregation rose and sung two verses of the hymn, during which the Bishop decended from the pulpit and headed back to the altar, continuing to pray.

Upon the completion of the hymn, the Bishop turned and motioned for the couple to come to him. They rose and walked to the prayer ring surrounding the altar, holding hands, stopping in front of the Bishop who smiled at them. It was time. With the formality that this part of the ceremony demanded, Bishop Stålset started speaking again, the Bible in his hand.

"Vi er samlet her i dag for å forene denne mann og denne kvinne i det hellige ekteskapet som vi har blitt lært av vår Herre Jesus Kristus. Disse to som hos meg står skal nå bli ett, med kjærlighet for hverandre og for Faderen, Sønnen og den Hellige Ånd." [We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony as described to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. These two who stand before me shall now become one, with eternal love for each other and for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.]

"Således spør jeg deg, Haakon, Cotlands Konge. Tar du Maria Steiner-Haraldsen som står ved din side til din rette ektemake?" [So do I ask you, Haakon, King of Cotland. Do you take Maria Steiner-Haraldsen who stands by your side to be your lawfully wedded wife?] Bishop Stålset asked, looking at the King.

"Ja." [Yes.] The King replied instantly, his masculine voice powerful as always.

"Lover du å elske og ære henne i gode og onde dager, inntil døden skiller dere ad?" [Do you promise to love and to honor her, for sickness and in health until death do you part?] The Bishop continued.

"Ja." The King continued, to which the Bishop nodded and turned to Maria, who at this point had tears of joy in her eyes.

"Således spør jeg deg, Maria Steiner Haraldsen. Tar du Haakon, Cotlands Konge som står ved din side til din rette ektemake?" [So do I ask you, Maria Steiner-Haraldsen. Do you take Haakon, King of Cotland to be your lawfully wedded husband?]

"Ja." [Yes.] Maria said entusiastically, beaming of joy.

"Lover du å elske og ære ham i gode og onde dager, inntil døden skiller dere ad?" [Do you promise to love and to honor him, for sickness and in health until death do you part?] The Bishop continued.

"Ja." [Yes.] Maria continued, the Bishop smiling at them.

"Så gi hverandre ringene på det." [So give each other your ring to affirm this.] The Bishop said. At this point, the best man and the maid of honor walked up and handed the Bishop the wedding rings before returning to their seats, bowing to the Bishop as a sign of respect. The Bishop picked up the rings and handed first a slender gold ring with a lot of small diamonds to the King, who held it up to Maria's right hand and placed it on her ring finger. After that, Maria got a slightly thicker gold ring from the Bishop and held it up before Haakon's right hand, placing it on his ring finger. With the rings safely on their respective fingers, then turned to face the Bishop again, who was preparing for the last leg of the ceremony.

http://noerre-djurs.net/arkiv/artikler/2001/08-27/Mette%20Marit%20modtager%20vielsesringen%20fra%20Kronprins%20Haakon%20Magnus.%20T.h.%20biskob%20Gunn ar%20Staalset..JPG

"Med disse løftene og disse ringene har dere bekreftet deres kjærlighet til hverandre ovenfor Gud den Allmektige og i disse vitners nærvær. Dermed, med den makt jeg har blitt tildelt av vår Herre og den Cottiske Statskirken erklærer jeg dere herved for rette ektefolk å være. Du kan kysse bruden." [With these vows and these rings you have affirmed your love to each other before God Almighty and the witnesses present. Therefore, with the power vested in me by the Lord Almighty and the Church of Cotland, I hereby declare you to be husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.]

With that, it was official. Haakon and Maria were wedded, and with the kiss before the altar, they confirmed it once and for all to the Bishop, to the guests, and to everyone who were watching throughout the world.

After the kiss, they returned to their seats, beaming of joy as the organ played up once again. It was time for the confession of faith and the prayer for the married couple.

After the conregation had stood again to recite the Apostle's Creed, the Bishop lead a quick prayer for the couple before the organ played a hymn again. After the first verse of the hymn, Deilig er Jorden, a Cottish hymn which had never been translated, the cathedral fell silent as the mighty bells started sounding.

Nine bells later, the Bishop was ready to lead the prosession out of the cathedral. First, a priest carrying a crucifix walked, followed by the Bishop, who were leading the happy married couple. They were followed by the best man and brides maides, whereupon the parents of the couple followed. Then it followed by rank, with the Cottish Cabinet and Presidency of the Storting. After that, the guests would start exiting, starting with the ones sitting in the front pews.

As the married couple emerged in the outer doors of the cathedral after thanking the Bishop, who would be attending the banquet at the Palace along with all the other invited guests, a loud cry was heard, upon which all military personnel outside saluted sharply. Three trumpeters started playing the Royal Fanfare, as the topless Ford limousine awaited the married couple.

The twelve naval officers raised their swords, creating an arch of honor for the married couple to walk under, while the Guardsmen continued saluting. The King saluted back as he and Maria headed for the limousine, entering and driving off to the constant salute of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and police officers, and the constant cheer of the elated masses.

After the limousine left, litterarily dozens of black Mercedes sedans were waiting to transport the guests to the Palace for the banquet. There, everyone would be able to meet and congratulate the couple.

After a ten minute slow drive up Karl Johans gate, waving at the masses and letting them see Haakon and Maria, King and Queen of Cotland, the limousine rolled up to the Royal Palace where the company of Guardsmen presented arms and lowered their colors and regimental standard in honor of the King and Queen, the two persons they were sworn to protect with their lives. The King saluted them as the limousine passed the one hundred fifty-two soldiers and drove inside the Royal Palace.

Once inside, the King and Queen exited the vehicle and headed up to the reception hall where they would personally greet all the guests who were arriving. It would be a long line of people, but the family and the Cottish political leaders were first in line, followed by the foreign heads of state and guests before the rest of the bunch would be greeted. It was all dictated by protocol.

Oslo

The Fuhrer sat in the back of the mercedes, his Bodyguards in front and to his side. The big black motor smelled of new leather and its black paint was gleaming, polished to perfection. There was a huge line of the black cars outside the church, stretching all the way down the street out of sight.

The Fuhrer, and other TOA Heads of State, had been some of the first into the cars, which were now making their way through the streets of the city toward the majestic Royal Palace.

It didn't take too long to reach the palace. The black Merc pulled up at the huge front steps and the Fuhrer, plus his bodyguards, were ushered into the building and to the huge reception hall, where a line of guests, presumably Cottish Royalty and Cottish Diplomats were already lined up, ready to meet and greet the just married couple.

The Fuhrer asked one of his bodyguards whether he had the gifts for the royals. The Queen's gift was a diamond so rare that there only existed three in the world, and they were found only every couple of hundred years, usually by accident in diamond mines. The Fire Diamond was one of the most coveted of all precious stones. It was a phoenomenon of sorts. For the Queen it had been set inside a platinum ring, with twelve outlying regular, laser cut diamonds.

http://www.thehollywoodcollection.com/Images/hcr660b.jpg

The King's gift was a sceptre. An Eagle Sceptre, to be precise. It belonged to a long dead former Hirgizstanian King, it was pure gold and surprisingly heavy, with a large diamond in each eye socket of the eagle's head. It had been unearthed fairly recently, atop a hillside in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), where once had stood a great palace and throne of an older civilization. The Fuhrer had demanded it at once, and after a short display at various musuems around the Commonwealth, it was handed over, and now it would be given to another Royal Family.

http://www.asterion.se/sceptre.jpeg

The Fuhrer had the Fire Diamond in its case in his hand, while one of the bodyguards carried the long rectangular case, the Sceptre inside. But the Fuhrer also had another present, a plane. To be precise, the new Royal Couple would be the first private owners of the new HAI 787 Dreamliner. Outside the plane was decked in the Cottish colours and inside the seats were Red, with gold and blue highlights. It was truly a sight to behold. The Fuhrer had the pink-slip to the plane, which he would present to the royal couple. The plane itself was sitting in its own hangar at the Oslo International Airport.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/Karl187/HAI787Dreamliner.gif

The Fuhrer was finally at the front of the queue. Standing in front of him was the royal couple, both of whom he had already met in Layarteb City, quite recently. He bowed, as did his two bodyguards. "Your Majesties, may I present the congratulations of the entire Commonwealth, and bestow our blessings on your union."

The King smiled as the Hirgizstani Fuhrer came, and shook his hand, bowing his head slightly in respect for his friend. The Queen did the same, smiling at the foreigner and saying, "Thank you Your Excellency. I thank you for coming."

The King followed his wife's greeting with saying, "We both do."

"Well, I couldn't very well not come, after all, it is rare these days to see a wedding of such importance and magnitude. Naturally, I come bearing gifts, as is tradition on such occasions. If you'll permit me?" The Royal couple nodded and the Fuhrer carefully removed the small velvet covered jewellry box from his uniform trousers. He bowed slightly and placed it in the Queen's hand.

The Emperor and his entourage stepped out of the limos and walked into the reception hall, a grandiose and lavish building, decorated to perfection. It was definitely beautifully done and it looked as if it took weeks to prepare the reception hall for the proper festivities. At his side was Dr. Rachel Wilson, the leading scientist with the Bureau of Paranormal Studies, a clandestine department within the Ministry of Intelligence. She was on the fast track to running the whole bureau and she was a leading scientist within the Empire, primarily in biology. In her formal gown, she was elegant but definitely above any level of attractiveness, smiling as she walked with the Emperor, the security staff behind them. BG. Delaney was with them as well, disguised as a simple aide with the staff and neither was he alone, Trisha Watson, his long time girlfriend now of eight years. He and her had met when she was still a stewardess. Her airliner was hijacked by Kaliningradian terrorists in 1998 and forced to Kaliningrad, where his team had rescued her and the other hostages. Since then, they stayed together and she was now the only romantic interest he had since his wife and son were killed during the revolution. They had both been killed in the last days of the revolution by an opposition leader, a leader whom he had tracked down and killed with his bare hands. Though he denied remembering the incident, citing temporary rage and insanity, which cleared him of charges, he was fully coherent and fully sane when he killed the man, beating him until his head was a squishy sponge of blood and bone fragments.

They walked into the reception hall, taking their respective pictures and smiling for the cameras. From there, the Emperor would present his gifts to the King and new Queen of the Cottish Realm. He would present a box of forty-eight of the rarest and finest Cuban cigars, each one picked and hand-made from the finest materials on the island, he also had a necklace for the Queen, a beautiful gold necklace that was intricate and ornate, lined with diamond studs and other rare gems. Lastly, he would present them both with one of the best gifts the Empire could bestow. The Emperor's yacht, newly christened and still unbothered by serious human presence was anchored in port, in the Caribbean Sea. He would offer them both the use of it for their honeymoon.

He and Dr. Wilson approached the King and Queen, gifts with two aides.

The Queen was breathtaken by the diamond the Fuhrer placed on her hand. It was a magnificent piece of jewelry, and very rare.

"Thank you sir. Your generousity is more than anyone could ever ask for," The Queen said, to which the King concurred.

"We look forward to talking more with you during the reception," The King said politely, to which the Fuhrer bowed again and continued down the corridor and through the large golden double doors into the Grand Ballroom, a magnificent two-story room which could hold six hundred people, comfortably. Only about one hundred were invited to the reception though, so there was plenty of room.

Next in the line in the corridor was the Layartebian Emperor with Ms Rachel Wilson, according to the aide standing behind the King and Queen, dressed in an old-fashioned 17th century ceremonial servant's uniform complete with knickers, shoulder-length stockings and old-fashioned shoes, but without the whig. The uniform consisted of white stockings, a blue knickers, a white shirt under a red vest and a blue jacket, with silver buttons. All servants who were present were dressed in this uniform, a remnant of the ancient court which was used for ceremonial purposes.

"Emperor, miss Wilson. I am glad you could attend," The King said with his hand extended and a smile on his lips, having met Dr. Wilson a few weeks ago in Layarteb City, during their independence day on October 31st, along with Maria, his new wife, who said, "We were very happy when we heard you both would honor us with your attendance."

OOC: Actually Cot, I have the sceptre and the plane still to present, so perhaps we could do a delayed time thing, as in you can still RP the bit with the Emperor, but it happens slightly later?

[OOC: Sure.]

OOC: Naturally the Emperor and his guards always have concealed pistols. Those were allowed in?"

The Emperor smiled. "It is an honor to be in attendance to this most auspicious occassion." Dr. Wilson looked back at the King and Queen and smiled herself.

"I want to wish you both good fortune and tidings in life. Your Highnesses." The Emperor and Dr. Wilson smiled as they moved along through the procession. They were walked to their seats not too far away and, from there, they were seated. BG. Delaney and Ms. Watson did a quick survey around the room. She had little idea what he was doing except that they were viewing the ornateness of the situation.

The Fuhrer was pleased at the Queen's reaction to her gift. Inside the box was a small leaflet from the company that set the stone, explaining its quality and history etc.

The Queen was still admiring the shiny ring when the Fuhrer turned to one of his bodyguards, taking the heavy case from him and kneeling slightly, holding it up to the King. "Your Highness, with the Commonwealth's compliments."

Prime Minister Wells waited his turn to address the King and his new bride. After the Fuhrer had finished dazzling the couple with gifts it was his turn to shower the new couple with praise and more importantly wedding gifts. Wells approached the two as they accepted congratulatory praise from various other diginitaries inside the hall.

"Your Excellency, may I be the first Hawdawgian to congratulate the Royal Couple on a successful marriage. May your path in life together lead you to happiness both in this world and beyond. In true tradition, we have come bearing gifts for such a joyous occasion. For the King may we present the Golden Horns of Gallehus."

PM Wells snapped his fingers and an assistant stepped forward to open a cherry box which held the golden pair of horns splendedly placed on a pillow of red satin. When the light hit the inscriptions on the beautifully hand-carved pieces they sparkled almost coming alive inside the case.

"Great King these Horns can be traced back to the Orginal Norse Gods both our Peoples have steeped in our ancestry. It would be an honor for your majesty to accept these as a humble gift for this Royal occasion.

We couldn't forget the Queen at such an event. Not knowing what might be a gift my lady would treasure, I took it upon myself to locate this string of Black Pearls from SE Asia. I hope the Queen will accept these Pearls as a token of the continued friendship our two nations possess. May god be with you both."

Prime Minister Wells motioned for his assistant to withdraw after he presented both wedding gifts to the King and Queen.

OOC: Naturally the Emperor and his guards always have concealed pistols. Those were allowed in?"

The Emperor smiled. "It is an honor to be in attendance to this most auspicious occassion." Dr. Wilson looked back at the King and Queen and smiled herself.

"I want to wish you both good fortune and tidings in life. Your Highnesses." The Emperor and Dr. Wilson smiled as they moved along through the procession. They were walked to their seats not too far away and, from there, they were seated. BG. Delaney and Ms. Watson did a quick survey around the room. She had little idea what he was doing except that they were viewing the ornateness of the situation.

The Royal couple both smiled as they greeted the Emperor and Dr. Wilson, thanking them both for coming and for the blessings they bestowed upon the marriage.

The Fuhrer was pleased at the Queen's reaction to her gift. Inside the box was a small leaflet from the company that set the stone, explaining its quality and history etc.

The Queen was still admiring the shiny ring when the Fuhrer turned to one of his bodyguards, taking the heavy case from him and kneeling slightly, holding it up to the King. "Your Highness, with the Commonwealth's compliments."

"I am moved sir," The King said as he viewed the sceptre the Fuhrer presented to him, accepting it from the Hirgizstani and holding it for a moment before handing it back to the Hirgizstani aide, who replaced it into its container and handed it over to a Cottish servant who would carry it over to the long, sturdy oak table holding all the various presents the couple recieved.

"Thank you Fuhrer for bestowing upon us the great honor of your presence. I hope that you will enjoy the banquet." The Queen said, giving the Fuhrer one of those stunning smiles she possessed without really knowing it.

Soon, the sceptre and the jewel presented to the King and Queen, respectively, would be placed on the table for everyone to be able to watch, but not touch. If anyone touched, there'd be another diplomatic incident as the King's Guards who were placed at the entrances, holding the doors open and presenting arms to the guests as they passed, would be ready to intervene, assisted by Livgarden, the King's and Queen's personal bodyguards, a force twenty-four man strong and completely classified, currently disguised as either guests, servants or aides.
Prime Minister Wells waited his turn to address the King and his new bride. After the Fuhrer had finished dazzling the couple with gifts it was his turn to shower the new couple with praise and more importantly wedding gifts. Wells approached the two as they accepted congratulatory praise from various other diginitaries inside the hall.

"Your Excellency, may I be the first Hawdawgian to congratulate the Royal Couple on a successful marriage. May your path in life together lead you to happiness both in this world and beyond. In true tradition, we have come bearing gifts for such a joyous occasion. For the King may we present the Golden Horns of Gallehus."

PM Wells snapped his fingers and an assistant stepped forward to open a cherry box which held the golden pair of horns splendedly placed on a pillow of red satin. When the light hit the inscriptions on the beautifully hand-carved pieces they sparkled almost coming alive inside the case.

"Great King these Horns can be traced back to the Orginal Norse Gods both our Peoples have steeped in our ancestry. It would be an honor for your majesty to accept these as a humble gift for this Royal occasion.

We couldn't forget the Queen at such an event. Not knowing what might be a gift my lady would treasure, I took it upon myself to locate this string of Black Pearls from SE Asia. I hope the Queen will accept these Pearls as a token of the continued friendship our two nations possess. May god be with you both."

Prime Minister Wells motioned for his assistant to withdraw after he presented both wedding gifts to the King and Queen.

"Prime Minister, you honor us by giving us items of such enormous historical, cultural and economical value. I am almost ashamed that all we can give in return is this humble reception and banquet." The King said, stunned with the present. The Golden Horns had alledgedly been used during the first ritualistic sacrifices to the ancient Norse Gods, and had enormous significance for the development of the Cottish and Hawdawgian nations. There had been wars fought over the possession of the horns in the ancient days before finally the horns ended up in the Hawdawgian care. While Cotland was now a completely Christian nation, the horns still had a cultural significance in the development of the nation according to the Cottish historians and scholars. It was a truly generous gift.

"I am very happy to accept the gift Prime Minister," The Queen said, stunned with the beauty of the black pearls. Smiling, she looked the Prime Minster in the eyes and said with her religious conviction deeply lodged into the sincerety of the sentence, "And may God be with you and your glorious nation as well."

[OOC: I think that was all the posts. Sorry for the delay in reply, but I've had a couple of exams to handle. Tis Christmas now though, so I can post! :)]

The Emperor and Dr. Wilson walked around the reception hall with their entourage, commenting on what was decorating the hall. He looked around to see if he could see BG. Delaney but he couldn't, not that it worried him. Delaney was walking around the other side, keeping tabs and mental notes on exits, cameras, lights, and possible vantage points, should something happen. That was his job and with Tricia on his arm, nobody took any notice to him, which was exactly what he wanted. The reception hall had been flooded with guests by now and there were more and more and more coming in, which promised a wedding like none other in the entire world. It was at that moment that his cell phone rang. "Hello. Delaney here." He answered and he looked at Tricia with a look that she knew all too well. She smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and walked away, towards the bathrooms. "Yes. No. He's with the protection. I understand." He looked around and moved quickly towards the Emperor. When he found him, he butted in immediately. "Sir. May I have a word." He interrupted, something which two of his aides didn't appreciate, given they didn't know who Delaney really was.

"Certainly. Gentlemen. Ladies. Rachel. Give me a moment." The Emperor smiled and followed Jack a few feet away. "What's wrong General?"

"A full blown street war just broke out in the Yucatán. There have been dozens of threats against your airliner when you return."

"How serious?"

"I doubt very serious but we ought to be double sure when we return. It's too easy to shoot down an airliner."

"You are correct. Very well. Thank you."

"Sir." They departed ways again and Jack returned to Tricia and continued his task around the room.

Prime Minister Wells excused himself from the company of the King and Queen when his pager began to vibrate in his pocket. As he moved to his table to enjoy the splendid feast being prepared for the guests he read his message from the DoD. It was simple "Bombing complete. 1/2 swath throughout city. Engaging infantry S of River. FF incident Spizanian Regiments killed on Palm Tree Island by HAF air strike."

Prime Minister Wells sat back in his chair, as he reflected on this incident. Clearly he would hear from the Spizanian Government, it might even turn into a war..........

The Fuhrer nodded and grasped the King's hand, the folded up pink slip to the HAI 787 inside his palm. He slipped it into the King's and winked. "So you can ride in unrivalled luxury to wherever you have chosen for your honeymoon." The King looked puzzled as the Fuhrer walked away. He would probably still be confused at the pink-slip until he went to the airport and saw the plane sitting waiting for him.

[ooc: do you want to continue where we left? i.e. before your sic meeting with the other leaders? or should we assume that things went well and merry and that GD is safely back in Saint Lazare? I'd prefer the former than the latter...]

[OOC: Yeah we can conclude the meeting SL. There won't be much more of this RP. Just a little mingling with the guests, then the banquet which can be skipped before the grand departure of the King and Queen. Let's do the mingling a little, then I'll wrap the wedding up with a post describing the banquet and departure.]

With all the guests finally greeted, welcomed and guided into the grand ballroom, it was time to mingle a little. Politicians, family members, friends and foreign heads of states were present in the Grand Ballroom where the King and Queen would be shortly. However, they had one thing to complete before joining the guests.

In the Palace Chapel, the King and Queen stood at the altar, watching the secretive ceremony that hadn't been undertaken in many years unfold. There was a lot of golden and silver stars in the collars of the predominantly male crowd that stood on the chapel floor, waiting their turn. It all began with general Rune Teige, the highest-ranking military officer in the Realm after the King, Commanding General of the Royal Cottish Military, and Commander of the High Command, stepping forward to the presence of the King and the Queen and kneeling to the royals. Looking into the eyes of the Queen, he said in a clear, crisp voice, "Jeg sverger evig troskap til Hennes Majestet Maria, Dronning av det Cottiske Riket. Jeg sverger å gi mitt liv for å forsvare Hans Majestet Kongen, Hennes Majestet Dronningen, og det Cottiske Riket om det så behøves. Så hjelp meg Gud." [I pledge eternal allegiance to Her Majesty Maria, Queen of the Realm of Cotland. I swear to if necessary give my life in the defense of His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and the Realm of Cotland. So help me God.]

The royals nodded, and the general got back up, saluted the royals, and walked backwards back into the crowd, never turning his back on the royal couple. Next was the Admiral who was the Navy Commanding Officer, dressed in the navy blue uniform of the Royal Cottish Navy, his sleeves, shoulders and chest brimming with golden insignia and medals. He too went on his knees and pledged the same allegiance to the King and Queen before doing just as his boss had done. All the generals and admirals in the chapel did, thus ensuring that the Military was firmly behind the King and Queen. This was a ceremony that was unknown to the outside world, but that helped ensure that the military would support and defend the King and Queen like it had done so many times earlier.

With the ceremony concluded, the King and the Queen both spoke a few words, thanking the military officers for their allegiance and wishing them well before departing the chapel to enjoy the rest of the reception. They had already spoken with the Layartebian Emperor and agreed to having the honeymoon on the Emperor's new yacht, currently anchored in the Caribbean. Immediately after the reception, the newlyweds would slip out of the reception and head for Gardermoen where the King's personal V-16/A Kongeløve supersonic executive jet waited, luggage already stowed away safely in its small cargo hold.

Inside the Grand Ballroom, the band playing suddenly stopped the music, allowing for a single musician from the King's Guards to sound the Royal Fanfare from his trumpet, after which the head servant said loudly in Cottish, "Deres Majesteter, Kongen og Dronningen!" [Their Majesties, the King and Queen!]

The man had barely said it before the two entered the Grand Ballroom, beaming at each other as they entered. With the King and Queen safely inside the ballroom, the band resumed playing the soothing background music as the newlyweds started mingling. Closest was the Emperor of Layarteb and Dr. Wilson.

"Emperor, I would just like to thank you once again for the generousity you've shown in lending us your boat," Maria said, beaming at the Emperor while clasping her husbands arm lovingly.

After the embarrassing debacle that was the Grand Duke's entrance, Roumillet felt that it was a good time to return, having seen two of the brightest children in God's eyes to holy matrimony. He returned to the King, as the ballads began. He was talking among the Emperor's League [Layarteb], and briefly interrupted them to show his final courtesies.

"I do pray that my mis-appropriated moments here can be forgotten if not forgiven. I do hope to return in due time, but I feel that I have neglected my own people for far too long, and they above all deserve my explanation for the humiliation. As much as I can offer, may God, in His Sovereign Right grant you peace and harmony for the days of your lives and thereafter. And may the people of Cotland warmly welcome the expanded Royal Family - as you are the symobl of Cotland, and the symbol can't go on without the erm... extensions."

The King smiled.

"I must bid to all adieu," Roumillet concluded. "Just to be certain, I'll warn you if I want to surprise you next time."

The Emperor smiled, "Please, don't mention it. Just have fun on it. The yacht is always available for you both. I, one day, hope to ride on it myself but vacation is far away for me. It would be improper for me to take a vacation with the current state of things. Perhaps in the future. Perhaps next year. Until then, I am glad to see it will be getting some use."