Zaheran
27-08-2007, 18:30
The Council was gathering in the conference room in the left wing of the grand Imperial palace.One by one or in pairs the Khans arrived,each with a secretary and an advisor from their respective departments.
They sat down around the round table(not a pun,seriously) and talked with men who would have killed them with their bare hands for the slightest advantage or favour.
They instantly noticed that one was missing.Lucifer Teufel,the Khan of Defence and a man they all feared,was not there.
They were all worried about this circumstance.When a Khan was not on a meeting it usually meant that he was either dead or plotting against them.And no one of the in the room wanted Lucifer as an enemy.
A fanfare pulled them all out of their private thoughts.The guards at the doors saluted as the emperor walked into the room.Behind him followed the Khan of Defence and his chief of staff,Weldric Storm.The men at the table rised,at the same time exchanging worried glances.A private audience before an council meeting?It had only happened seven times in Zaheran`s 400 year history,and every time had a Khan got his head chopped off.The emperor sat down on the throne at the far end of the table while the Khan of Defence sat down beside his old friend,the Khan of Foreign Affairs,Marius Stee.Not that friendship did matter much in this room.
The emperor opened the meeting.His voice sounded cold and harsh behind the golden mask that covered his face.
"Thank you for coming to this meeting.You have been summoned here today to discuss a proposition of critical matter to Zaheran`s future.I will let your colleague,The Khan of Defence,present it to you."
The Khan rised from his chair and walked to the far end of the room.
"Thank you,your Majesty".He waved to his chief of staff,who punched a button.A big screen came down,showing a big map of the empire."We have prepared a plan to deal with the fact that we are surrounded by more or less hostile nations,which would not be a problem was it not for the fact that they all have larger armies than we do.To put it briefly,we need more manpower.As we don`t have it in our own nation,we have to find it in another.And it is not far away.To our south lies Taekshan(RL-China) a once great country which now have fallen into anarchy and chaos.They have no real army,and their government is a joke.Our salvation lies within reach,the question is: Will we take it?"
The Khan of Defence sat down in his seat.
The emperor raised.
"The council will now carry out a vote.Should we occupy Taekshan?
What does Defence say?"
"Yes."
"Foreign Affairs?"
"Yes."
"Propaganda?"
"Yes."
"Interior Affairs?"
"Yes."
"Commerce?"
"Yes."
"Social Welfare?"
"No."
"Security?"
"Yes."
"Then the decision is made.With a majority of six votes over one,the council has decided to go to war.The Khan of Defence will brief us in on the plans for this campaign."
Lucifer rised once again and walked to the screen.
"The plan is simple.First we send in specially trained sabotage groups,which will attack army headquarters,government buildings and communication centra.We reckon that this will cast the country into even more chaos and confusion,which will make it easier for us when our major force cross the borders.The border guards will be taken care off quietly,hopefully they will not notice us until it is to late.According to our calculations,all organized restistance will be gone by day 4.The operations will begin in one week."
They sat down around the round table(not a pun,seriously) and talked with men who would have killed them with their bare hands for the slightest advantage or favour.
They instantly noticed that one was missing.Lucifer Teufel,the Khan of Defence and a man they all feared,was not there.
They were all worried about this circumstance.When a Khan was not on a meeting it usually meant that he was either dead or plotting against them.And no one of the in the room wanted Lucifer as an enemy.
A fanfare pulled them all out of their private thoughts.The guards at the doors saluted as the emperor walked into the room.Behind him followed the Khan of Defence and his chief of staff,Weldric Storm.The men at the table rised,at the same time exchanging worried glances.A private audience before an council meeting?It had only happened seven times in Zaheran`s 400 year history,and every time had a Khan got his head chopped off.The emperor sat down on the throne at the far end of the table while the Khan of Defence sat down beside his old friend,the Khan of Foreign Affairs,Marius Stee.Not that friendship did matter much in this room.
The emperor opened the meeting.His voice sounded cold and harsh behind the golden mask that covered his face.
"Thank you for coming to this meeting.You have been summoned here today to discuss a proposition of critical matter to Zaheran`s future.I will let your colleague,The Khan of Defence,present it to you."
The Khan rised from his chair and walked to the far end of the room.
"Thank you,your Majesty".He waved to his chief of staff,who punched a button.A big screen came down,showing a big map of the empire."We have prepared a plan to deal with the fact that we are surrounded by more or less hostile nations,which would not be a problem was it not for the fact that they all have larger armies than we do.To put it briefly,we need more manpower.As we don`t have it in our own nation,we have to find it in another.And it is not far away.To our south lies Taekshan(RL-China) a once great country which now have fallen into anarchy and chaos.They have no real army,and their government is a joke.Our salvation lies within reach,the question is: Will we take it?"
The Khan of Defence sat down in his seat.
The emperor raised.
"The council will now carry out a vote.Should we occupy Taekshan?
What does Defence say?"
"Yes."
"Foreign Affairs?"
"Yes."
"Propaganda?"
"Yes."
"Interior Affairs?"
"Yes."
"Commerce?"
"Yes."
"Social Welfare?"
"No."
"Security?"
"Yes."
"Then the decision is made.With a majority of six votes over one,the council has decided to go to war.The Khan of Defence will brief us in on the plans for this campaign."
Lucifer rised once again and walked to the screen.
"The plan is simple.First we send in specially trained sabotage groups,which will attack army headquarters,government buildings and communication centra.We reckon that this will cast the country into even more chaos and confusion,which will make it easier for us when our major force cross the borders.The border guards will be taken care off quietly,hopefully they will not notice us until it is to late.According to our calculations,all organized restistance will be gone by day 4.The operations will begin in one week."