NationStates Jolt Archive

First Republican William Issem looked over the Federations new 'Anti-Vaadian' laws (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=525020). The laws put him in an awkward position, it put him in a position that he would have to hold a meeting that he and his predecessor had been delaying for quite some time. He sighed and put the report down, his assistant, Nicolette Shadeh, looked up expectantly.

"When will The Commonwealth Force arrive?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Within the hour, sir." She replied glancing at his watch.

"No use them going to the embassy, let The Autarch's emissary know to come directly here. We have no choice but to agree to what they want." He stood and went over to the window looking out.

Nicolette nodded "They will want land for a space port."

William Issem nodded "Well, since we are practically at war anyway, I will suggest lands within Federation parkland for the Commonwealth. A northern buffer zone , if you will. Get me Commander Ring, I want to inform him."

Nicolette nodded again, and left silently.

Idalus the Daughter of the Dragon had returned to the Bridge of the Idvar and quickly informed the Lagpunkt of the withdrawal from battle (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=489510&page=5) and the nature of their enemy.

The Fleet Control Group now headed at speed to join the Voltaug in orbit of Terra near the Vaadian space station Pyrrhic 1, and the added firepower of the enourmous Razer cannons both possessed.

In addition to the safety, it was now time to extract from the Free Republic it's full promises. Commonwealth forces had fought Vaadian enemies and were now preparing to do so again. but only if rewarded.

As Idalus sat, Idavar bowed deeply and in his melodious if non-inflective voice spoke to her "My Mistress, We have received word from the First Republican, he wishes you to meet him at their House of the Republic, at your convenience."

Idalus put her goggles back on and adjusted them. "Really? That is a first. Aside from the tank deal the Vaadians have been standoffish at best."

Idvar nodded "I will inform them that you will arrive shortly and prepare your bodyguard?"

Idalus nodded "Yes, that will be fine. Let me know when we are in orbit." Idalus stood again, heading to clean herself up.

First Republican William Issem replaced the phone's receiver to cradle as he completed his call to the Supreme Republican Commander, his assistant re-entered.

"Mr. Issem, Mr. Lanser from Jaguar Daimler is here and Colonel Seleucas reports that the Navigator Idvar ship is in orbit and that we can expect the Commonwealth Emissary in about fifteen minutes, Ambassador XD will be here in about five minutes."

The First Republican nodded "Very good, send in Mr. Lanser, I know that the Commonwealth is eager to speak with him."

He greeted Mr. Lanser and they both sat and awaited the arrival.

Idalus the Dragon stood at the air lock, a click, and then a hiss and it was open, she stepped outside. Ice crystals immediately began forming in her hair and on her clothes, but not on her warm skin, the heat of which caused a cloud of ice and water vapour to swirl around her as she floated out.

Pausing she looked at the small blue-green globe below her and them in a swimming motion she plunged, down through the atmosphere, her clothes heating and glowing as their Viridium steel threads were tested by the heat of re-entry. Several thousand feet above the surface of Terra she slowed, defying gravity, spinning to bring herself to a ginger, feet first landing, her boots burning an impression into the cobbled yard of the Commonwealth Embassy.

The Construct looked up at her "The First Republican is expecting us, it is a short walk from here." and 'She' bowed with a flourish.

Idalus the Dragon adjusted her dark goggles "Lead on then, XD."

They then walked to the House of the Republic. The robot ambassador and the shooting star.

Idalus and Ambassador XD are both very noticeable, even in the busy college campus like atmosphere of The House of The Republic, one of the Velite Guard on duty quicky escorted the pair to the Main building and left them in the capable hands of reception, who then led them on to the First Republican's Office.

First Republican William Issem and Mr. Lanser as Idalus and the Ambassador are led in.

"Ah, Ambassador XD, very good to see you again, and you must be Idalus, Daughter of the Dragon? I am First Republican William Issem, and this is Mr. Lanser from Jaguar Daimler's military support division." The First Republican says with a nod of the head and offering his hand, Mr. Lanser offers his hand as well adding a "Very pleased to finally meet you."

The First Republican then motions to the comfortable leather chairs "Well, let's be seated, and we can begin. I have several site selected, and have some excellent recommendations. Would either of you care for any refreshments before we begin?"

Idalus the Dragon bows politely as does Ambassador-XD, Idalus speaks.

"I thank you, and am very pleased to meet with both of you. The Autarch is most pleased with your nations cooperation and s eager to establish a base on Terra to cement trade ties with your nation, so much so that I have with me members of the Guild of Masons and have The Autarch's permission to select a location and begin building immediately."

She then nods to Mr. Lanser "And I am eager to see the vehicle you have developed for our Thilite Marines. For several thousand years they have been requesting some sort of battlefield vehicle but The Autarch did not see how effective they could be until we were allowed to see your previous designs for the Free Republic. I have two compliments of Marines in orbit that will be very excited to begin training in such a vehicle."

She smiles back at First Republican "I think we can skip refreshments, for now, and start looking at the sites you've selected?"

First Republican Issem smiled, pleased to get directly to business, although he was intrigued by the Daughter of the Dragon, and her unusual eyeware.

"This site is well within the new Orcish Tribal Areas, and is controlled by the Gouged Eye. Their Chieftan has agreed to sell the land to The Commonwealth."

He lays a map on the table, the red square indicating 'Scarag's Flow' and area of bared exposed volcanic rock that covers roughly twelve miles right on the Vaadian Border.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/jaguar1024/navsite.jpg

It's location is technically within the Klatchian Federation, but they have effectively relinquished control over it by refusing to enforce order and patrol it's borders. Still, there will probably be some commotion over it."

Idalus nonchalantly looks over the map, Ambassador X-D looks at it closer, her construct eyes transmitting the data directly to The Navigator ships in orbit, which begin an in depth scan of the area. After several minutes of studying the proposal, and the scans being completed Ambassador X-D turns to Idalus and nods, Idalus turns back to The First Republican.

"This position will suit our needs for constructing a base on Terra. Tell your friends in 'The Gouged Eye' that we will begin construction tomorrow, and their payment from us will be delivered at that time." She then pauses and looks over at Mr. Lanser. "And what of the combat vehicle you have designed for us? I understand it is in production, when can delivery to our Terran base begin?"

In high Earth Orbit the Navigator Mason Eridu gathered his six gargantuan Constructs and prepared them for transport to the surface. The main construction would only take a week at the most.

Mr. Lanser looks tentatively to the First Republican, he nods back to Mr. Lanser. He then takes out of his briefcase diagrams and photos laying them over the table.

"We were able to meet your design specifications and have put into production the plasma canon design given to us by The Guild of Engineers" He pauses tapping a photo

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/jaguar1024/Experimental/Detailed_Tankie.jpg

"The vehicle you designated as the MOBAS. It has four independent Jaguar-Daimler 2800 horsepower XM-L hydrogen drives, any one of them can power all four treads, but it runs optimally on all four, giving it a speed of sixty eight miles per hour cross country. While it is a sixty ton tank, it's wide tracks and independent drives gives it superb traction and stability. It of course mounts one plasma canon and two coaxial 20mm autocannons. The tank can carry ten Thilite Marines, and we have left space in each one for Navigator AI controls or can be driven by two crew. It's armour is 14 inch composite ceramite plate with a viridian steel skin, as requested by you."

"We have them under production now, the first two hundred are done and your Thilite crews are training on them now, they can be shipped by sea as soon as you can have a port ready, or you can pick them."

He pauses expectantly here "The price per unit is eight hundred and seventy five million Drachma."

He motions to the second picture

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/jaguar1024/Experimental/art19.jpg

"This is one you designated as the SECOR. It is basically the same platform but with heavier armour, double the troop transport capacity , this does reduce the speed to around forty five miles per hour. It also mounts two plasma cannons and two Atlas mobile missile launchers. It's cost is one billion two million Drachma per unit, twenty five of them have been completed."

He pauses motioning to the documents "Here are the full production contracts as well as the production rights and patent forms that assure you will control your technologies being used as them."

First Republican Issem cuts in "To insure that only your friends have access to this technology."

Idalus smiles sweetly at First Republican Issem "Of course, we help our friends."

She pauses turning to Ambassador X-D as the Ambassador scans the files and digests the information, after a minute she turns and nods to Idalus who picks up the files and begins looking them over.

"Thsese vehicles appear to be sufficent. The Thilites will be pleased to finally have some sort of combat support and transport vehicles. The price seems agreeable as well."

She turns to Mr. Lanser "It appears we have a deal, you can continue full production, we will pick up the completed vehicles tomorow." She turns to First Republican Issem "As well as take possession of Scarag's Flow. This will be the beginning of a very beneficial relationship."

She smiles and nods to both of the gentlemen.

First Republican Issem looked a bit surprised "That soon? "

He stood and offers his hand to the Free Republic's new Commonwealth friends "I can say that we are certainly looking forward to it and that we have friends that are lining up to use your spaceport's facilities."

Mr. Lanser follows suite and does the same " I will call the factory immediately and make sure everything keeps running as it is. There is quite a bit to move, the logistics of shipping these tanks will take more than a day, I can make sure they are ready to ship tomorrow but arrangements will have to made after that."

It was a big order for very large tanks, Mr. Lanser was skeptical that Idalus understood exactly what they were talking about.

Idalus, Daughter of The Dragon, smiled slyly as she accepted First Republican Issem's hand and shook it politely.

"That soon. We will begin construction of Lagpunkt Terra immediately. Tell your Orcish friends to meet my emissaries at the construction site for full payment."

She pauses and turns to Mr. Lanser.

"We can pick up the vehicles tomorrow, simply give Ambassador-XD the location of where the vehicles are being stored and I shall send my Huscarls to retrieve them tomorrow. Tonight I shall stay at our embassy, I so rarely get a chance to stay on planet."

She turns and nods to Ambassador-XD.

******

High in orbit action is instantaneous. The Commonwealth Idvar Flagship begins firing large pods from it's underside, they streak to the earth and land in a controlled crash at Scarag's Flow.

There are fifteen pods at first, each smoldering pod cracks open and the first of The Autarch's Nightmare Constructs marks forth. The Columns of Constructs are each headed by a red, floating, cyclopean ARCTIGEUR.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/commonwealthnav/Arctigeur.jpg

Each ARCTIGEUR is followed by a column of several hundred CADRES-VEKS.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/commonwealthnav/Cadre_VEKS.jpg

The alien machines quickly set up a perimeter, the glowing eyes of the ARCTIGEURs slowly scanning the surrounding wilderness slowly.

When these are set, six more, much larger pods are launched and crash to a landing in the middle of the site, but instead of opening, these pods unroll, opening up to reveal that they are ORDO Constructs, giant six story machines with hundreds of tentacled limbs and large plasma cutter, the construction engines of The Guild Of Masons.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/commonwealthnav/ORDO_Construct.jpg

The ORDOs quickly begin cutting and excavating large holes and trenches , laying the foundation for the Lagpunkt. The pale blue beams of their cutters slice the bedrock like butter.

Mr. Lanser nods "Of course, they are at our factory in Coventry...." He turns to give Ambassador-XD the details.

First Republican Issem turned to Idalus "Well, I am glad that we could to an agreement, I'm sure our Minister of Foreign Affairs will be eager to work on an even closer relationship, and I know our Minister of Foreign Trade is eager to work out transferring our customs agents to your spaceport, it will greatly speed up trade."

He pauses and looks over Idalus "If you are staying at the Embassy, I can recommend a few good good restaurants if you are thinking of sampling the local cuisine?"

*****

Meanwhile in Tollan, things weren't quite so cozy, the Satellite Phyrric I and it's four RASTER arms noticed the movement in the Commonwealth fleet and the large pods that hurtled to the Earth. It was reported and in Tollan and Retaliatory Guard Command was poring over the data.

Duty General Theodoro watches with interest over one of the Fire Control Leftenant's shoulder "Get me Supreme Republican Commander Ring, he needs to take a look at this."