NationStates Jolt Archive

Emperor Sir Michael Harland sat in his grand study, a fire burning in the gas fireplace as he smoked an expensive cigar. He was dressed in casual grey dress pants and a black pinstripe dress shirt, unbuttoned for the first two buttons. A scotch was on the small table next to him as he watched the flames. He knew that this meeting today could decide the fate of the planet and his nation, and so early on too. It would be interesting to see how this went.

Grabbing his small radio, Sir Michael picked it up and pressed the button to talk.

"Captain, let me know when the President's plane lands. Have Berkeley meet her and bring her here immediately. I'd like to get these talks underway."

"Yes, my Emperor."

Sir Michael smiled and took another drag of his cigar. He had a feeling that today would be a good day.

Molly entered the Emperors palace; in all fairness she didn’t go in for the opulent life style of such things; the presidential manor was enough for her. She didn’t need gold plated buildings or huge statures to honour her; but she would not bring such things up in the meeting; it certainly wasn’t politically correct and she was here to nurture diplomatic relations with the Xaristani’s; though just because she was looking for relations no one should mistake kindness and eagerness for weakness or foolishness. Molly was a hard woman to impress; the Car ride has been pleasant enough from the airport; though not exactly what she would call Scenic; there was always something haunting about the unforgiving desert sand dunes. She much preferred the Lush temperate areas of Tel-Rev and its ancient architecture a much more peaceful area now since the great beat down of the 1950’s; the failed uprising by the Muslim fanatics was put down most brutally and with staggering efficiency.

She stepped out of the black car; a unremarkable make to her; cars were never her passion; she preferred Motorcycles; where you could feel the throb of straddled metal between your thighs. Her Security Detail was simple; Two Suited bodyguards from Section A. Each in a black suit and dark glasses’ concealed under the suit jacket each had a FN FiveSeven pistol concealed in shoulder holsters. Each was equally chiselled jaw lines and with muscular tree-trunk sized arms in appearance; like they had been carved from marble; both suited Adonis’. “Greetings” she said to the guard on the door and a smile; -No Excuses to be un-polite; after all; your only leader because the people let you be; if you mistreat the people you won’t be leader for very long-

She Greeted everyone she passed with the same appreciative tone of voice and with that same smile that could melt men into little puddles of goo. “Greetings and Good Tidings to you Emperor Harland from your Animarnian counterparts; I hope we find you in good health” she said with a short curt bow of respect.

Sir Michael rose as Molly entered. He smiled slightly as she bowed before him. Nothing extravagant, just a simple show of respect. Perfect. She was a leader, not a sniveling weakling that most women who were in leadership positions were. This would work out well.

Looking past the President for a moment, he noticed her security detail and nodded curtly to each of them. He knew there was obviously no need for them, but he wasn't worried if they decided to stay. All of that was up to the President herself.

"Madame President, how happy I am to see that you have arrived safely. Please, call me Michael." Sir Michael bowed as well, slightly deeper than the President had. "Please, sit. Would you care for something to eat or drink? The fish in this region are absolutely stellar, I assure you."

Sitting down in his chair again, Sir Michael gazed into the fire for a moment before turning back to his counterpart. "I am sure that you know why I have asked you here, Madame President. We hold this world in a stranglehold. Amazonia-America may think that they are the dominant world power, but without our oil and our trade routes they have nothing. Though at the moment, I don't think that we should cut them off completely, I would support reducing supplies exported as well as signing a treaty to support each other should the other cut off supplies and trade routes."

Molly smiled and nodded “Thank you” she said with a smile; “Fish sounds lovely; we are quite fond if it ourselves along with many pasta dishes. Being this close to Mediterranean Alliance has its advantages and a glass of scotch; single malt if you have any” she said with a appreciative nod; she noticed the small gesture towards her security detail. In all fairness she doubted she needed them but it was standard procedure and her Intelligence Director wouldn’t let her leave without them. She instructed them to wait outside the room, kick back and have some food while the opportunity presented itself; besides if she was assassinated all of Animarnia went to war and she doubted the Xaristani wanted that.

“I don’t believe cutting off the Amazonian-Americans is the wise thing to do; for the time being especially with states like Kuwait, Iraq and Iran near by with large oil reserves; all we would do is drive them to there hands” Molly said with deep thought; picking her words carefully.

“In fact I believe we should spread our exports to other nations especially to nations such as the Mongolian Empire, Russian Federation and Amazonian America. While allowing a certain overhead for ourselves to remain self-sufficient of course and give us a buffer for when the oil Production eventually runs out”, She added.

“I agree we certainly shouldn’t give all our product away but spreading our economic wings gives us certain powers over the world economy; certain influences on foreign policy and of course military benefits” she said carefully. “Staying close to the Amazonians gives us access to advanced weapon systems currently beyond our own domestic industries which could be very useful against some of our neighbours should there ambitions threaten our own. Yes using our oil now gives us an immediate short term power trip though perhaps more importantly spreading out our product makes us big players in the long term game. Imagine having the entire world in our strangle hold; being able to bring any nation we choose to its knees for disagreeing with us not through military force but through starvation. For that Plan Michael we have to plan the game very well; and think long term.” Molly Said hoping she didn’t offend her counterpart but Animarnian’s were known for their honesty.

“For your second point; we are in agreement there should certainly be strong ties between us; and Animarnian can certainly agree to a mutual defence pact should you be attacked by an aggressor. However I am not sure we can agree to unilaterally support you should you cut trade and oil prematurely without pre-consultation” Molly replied; she was very precise and articulate with her words; she had turned down some of his points but opened further motions on others; this things were always give and take; though Molly was also keen to show she would not be walked over.

Waving over a server to get Molly a plate of Mediterranean fish and a single malt scotch, which happened to be the same drink he was drinking, and leaned back in his chair, cutting the end to another cigar. He took a puff and then looked over at Molly as her food and drink were brought over.

He sat back and listened to her words carefully. He slowly took a couple more drags on his cigar as she spoke, his eyes examining her. Her manner, her eyes, the inflection in her voice, her tone, a twitch here or there. By the end of her mini-speech, which even Michael had to admit was quite impressive given that it wasn't prepared, he knew that she was being completely honest with him. Immediately he respected her, not only as a fellow world power, but as a woman. Even though his High Chancellor was a woman, Amanda Parsons had won over the populace with her passionate speeches, she hadn't been appointed by him.

"I would be inclined to agree that an immediate cutoff would be unwise. If the Amazonians wanted, they could easily use their military to crush us both. While our military is large, we simply do not have the firepower necessary to compete with them. You are in a slightly better position than we are. However, that is another discussion for later."

"To the current situation at hand, I would support more selling to the Russian Federation and the Mongolian Empire over Amazonia. While those two nations certainly have weapons that we could use, if we adopt a weapons for oil policy with Amazonia, that could turn out to be extremely beneficial for us." Michael leaned back and took another slow drag as he looked at the fire. He squinted his eyes slowly before turning back to Molly.

"As for the mutual defense pact, I know that my advisers were hoping for something more along the lines of a mutual defense and aggression pact, or at least a mutual defense with optional aggression pact. Each of them are stronger than a standard mutual defense pact and allow the other nation to be called in should unforseen circumstances happen in an offensive war."

"However, in terms of defense of our region, Xaristan has extensive anti-air defenses, which we would gladly sync with yours to make a very difficult airspace to enter. Also, naval cooperation is a must I believe. We control two of the top five trading chokepoints in the world. If our two navies do not cooperate, there will be chaos." Looking over at Molly, Michael smiled lightly.

"I know I am ranting, but two more things. The first is joint arms production. Xaristan has a couple of plans, mostly for aircraft, but a ship as well. If we could get the best military and scientific minds from both our nations working on the project, we could make them even better and produce a homegrown defensive project to defend us both. And, finally, Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran. If a leader rises in those nations, should we invite them in our little oil cadre is the first question, and the second is, if the leader is hostile towards us or incompetent, do we... reeducate him or her?"

“Indeed; even though we are in a slightly better position; I agree that currently the Amazonian-Americans could bring so much firepower to our doorstep they could overwhelm us with air power alone. Our armed forces rely more on superior training and technology than numbers and a large logistics base behind it means for fast mobilisation”, Molly Replied with a nod; “The Amazonians have both; and I agree weapons for Oil is a good start with the Amazonians. Though with the United Kingdom on there doorstep; they may be unwilling for the time being to agree to those conditions however they are renowned for there greed; feed the monster enough money and eventually you will get what you want from them easy enough.” She added with a smile

“We may even be able to pick up equipment they are abandoning or fund research programs they disbanded; We should perhaps approach the Boeing Company about restarting there F-23 program. We fund it jointly between us with our oil revenue in exchange we secure exclusive access to its fruits; can you imagine a Middle Eastern stealth fighter and the power that it would give us?” She added.

“I concur selling to the Mongol hordes and the Russians is the best option for the moment; perhaps at half the going price for the time being. Say $60 a barrel? This still makes us a good profit and we can sell to other less friendly nations at $120 a barrel; which gives them a good deal as an incentive to supply us with things we need” Molly said with a nod.

“Animarnians are a proud people; we rarely get others involved in our wars of our own doing; but we are also unlikely to meddle in the affairs of others too. However we can agree to an MDP with an optional aggression pact; as we certainly wouldn’t leave you out to dry if things were going exceptionally bad for you in a war” Molly began. “We can agree to mutual co-operation of course in terms of naval movements and synchronising of our air defence networks. We are also willing to offer you access to our Spy Satellite data and launch facilities. As one of only five nations in the world able to launch satellite vehicles on there own you will agree this is a rather large commitment on our part to this treaty. In exchange we would permanent and unrestricted access to the Suez and exception from any tariffs or taxes that may be applied in the future to ships traversing the cannel” Molly said. Her voice slightly tense; these things were always give and what she was offering was a high reward to the Xaristani; but what she was asking in return was also high to her own nation. To secure a through road without having to travel over land was extremely important and though the Suez was currently free to use there was no guarantee of that in the future.

“We are willing to co-operate Jointly in arms development; in fact we are willing to offer you as many Markeva III Main battle tanks as you can afford for a price of $3.6 million USD Each. Essentially you’re being supplied with a top of the line battle tank at production cost; we understand it will take some time to replace your T series tanks; we can produce 864 tanks per year over six factories. At this kind of production rate you could phase out all your T series tanks within a decade”, Molly added with a smile.

“As for your last question; I believe if they are friendly towards us then they should certainly be brought in to the fold; however if they are openly hostile then they should be crushed mercilessly though currently no power exists since they are too busy killing each other trying to decide which religion they want to follow; though that in of itself could provide us with an opportunity to quickly roll over the smaller nations like Kuwait; Lebanon and Iraq”

Taking another long look at his cigar, Michael smiled softly. Letting out the smoke in a soft circle, he gazed at it for a moment before waving his hand through it and dispersing the cloud.

"I concur with your stance on the oil issue, for the most part. However, I do feel that we should deal with the nations who we plan on offering the oil at half price slightly differently. We should agree to sell them the oil for less with a promise of technology, be it in tank, plane, or other equipment form. Oil is our most precious resource, and we should exploit it as much as possible. As far as the canal goes in terms of other oil nations, we should hike tariffs on their goods, making their products even more expensive, and driving even more customers towards us."

"Also, your idea for contacting Boeing is stellar. I'm sure they would gladly accept our money to restart their research. However, our own military research facility, the Federation Experimental Mechanized and Aeronautical, or FEMA, has drawn up a few plans as well. We have drawn up preliminary plans for a "stealth" frigate, an interceptor/air superiority fighter, a close air support/special forces aircraft that is a cross between a helicopter and a jet, and a stealth bomber. All four projects would be beneficial to us, I believe."

"In terms of your exchange of spy satellite data and launch facilities for unrestricted access through the Suez, which we will be renaming soon, you have shown incredible foresight. For too long, we have allowed other nations to pass freely through our territorial waters with no thought of compensation. No longer. We are going to be putting a toll on the canal, to increase our national revenue. However, we are in agreement to your proposal. Your ships will be able to pass unobstructed."

"As for the Merkakva IIIs, we thank you deeply for your kindness in your offer, and we will, of course, accept. We hereby order 432 Merkava III tanks per year for the foreseeable future, at a price of $1,555,200,000 ($1.5552 billion). The money will be wired as soon as this meeting ends."

An adviser walked in and whispered something into Michael's ear. "Ah, Molly, it seems as if a leader has truly risen in Iraq. We will need to contact them soon."

"So, to the treaty. I believe we have covered most things. Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss?"

“We can agree to that; offering certain nations cheep oil certainly puts us in good favour with then; once we have them hooked however then its time to work the thumb screws to get what we want” Molly nodded; “All good projects but all expensive. Stealth aircraft in particular; I propose why spend so much money on developing our own when we could get the Americans to do it for us then we simply buy the rights to the airframe and install our own avionics much like the F-16I. Stealth bombers however…are another matter entirely I do not know if even both our defence budgets combined would provide enough money to build such things and this is something that the Americans are unlikely to sell. Though a good starting place may be a proof of concept design using a modified V-1 Vulcan bomber” Molly nodded.

“All of these sound good; though I am not much of a technical person and it is best for both sides of our technical people to work out such details; I do know that our Defence ministry is currently working on several smaller projects. A new assault rifle; and a Multi-purpose guided missile; which can either be shoulder fired or loaded onto an attack helicopter” Molly said simply.

“I believe we have an excellent preliminary treaty worked out; which covers the business side of things; however I am now curious about this leader you speak of. we have heard some rumblings of late with a popular uprising of ethnic Persians though the Iranian nuclear program gives us grave concerns” Molly asked

"I do not know much about him, Molly. All I know is what I have been told. The nations formally known as Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran have all been united under the banner of the Persian Empire. If I receive any more information during our meeting, obviously you will know as well."

Checking his watch quickly, Michael remembered something else. "What of Lebanon? They seem like they might be a thorn in our sides. The Isle of Cyprus as well. Those two nations should fall rather quickly to our forces, should we decide that action is needed. Since Lebanon is more surrounded by your territory than mine, I would be more than willing to support your troops in exchange for support in taking Crete as a naval base and airfield."

“This sounds like a plan; what of the Mediterranean Federation? The Persians we can appease our intelligence suggests they have there own plans against Bahrain and Qatar; we can come to a quid pro-quo arrangement to look the other way while they look the other way for us. The Med powers in Europe however may take action against us unless we had iron clad justification for the invasion ” Molly said with a nod.

“But leaving the finer points to be worked out; we can agree to help you take Cyprus in exchange for help taking Lebanon with the spoils shared evenly between us” Molly nodded

Michael smiled. His intelligence forces were going to have a field day when they found out. "Justification will be simple. As for Lebanon, we insert a few of my intelligence agents into the country and have them obtain a few rockets those Lebanese love to use. Fire them into your country and mine, and bam, we have an casus belli."

"As for Cyprus... it is slightly more complicated, but it would involve a ship, civilian, of course, being destroyed by 'Cyprus forces'. With those two justifications, I'm sure no one will look too closely, especially with the swiftness of our impending response."

“Agreed” Molly nodded it was indeed a good plan; “Perhaps we should have some of my intelligence officers mock up an extremist Cypriot group website and pamphlets is support of Lebanon’s attacks against us; then attribute the attack on the civilian ship to them?” Molly added her own ideas into the mix.

“Though it is important that the two events look related; one as a cause of the other; or we may risk being foiled if the two invasions come too far apart. Timing with this is indeed critical the last thing we want is the Italians poking there noses into our affairs” Moll nodded in agreement; she was sure to make plans with the ministry of war as soon as she got back.

"It should be easy enough. Have the rockets fired, and then a few hours later, the civilian ship explode. Air strikes and amphibious invasions follow within the day. It shouldn't be too hard." Michael took another puff of his cigar and turned to Molly. "Is there anything else? Or shall we part and start a war?"