NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: The type of involvment I would like in this thread are...well, its easier to list what I do not want. There will be no:
a) Invasions; b) Assassinations; c) "Terrorist" Attacks d) Special Forces Intervention

Attempts at any of these will be ignored; I want just a plain-ol' peaceful election. Anything else is fine; attempts to bribe election judges, vote fraud, funding for political parties, consulation on campaign strategies, back-room deals, etc.

I'm going to start with descriptions of the various parties. Additional info as to how this situation got this far can be found here. (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=590477)

IC:

Election has been called-off due to violent foreign intervention: Generalissimo Steven Grimmeberger has reassumed power until either the emergency subsides or Generalissimo Filie regains capacity to operate the country.

Prime Minister Edward Caithana wholeheartedly endorses the Nationalist Party and Andrew Filie.

OOC:
This thread rides a
Beautiful
Uber-
Magical
Pelican

OOC: You know, if no-one is interested, I can just determine this on my own, based on which characters I like and which ones I agree with. This is your chance to saddle me with a government I don't like.

IC:

St. Charles, Chesapeake Province

Gregory Mills looked at his new partner. So far, Isaac Muhlenkampf was fairly impressive, and had put on his best display at the "Great Nation's Rally" put together by the Monarcho-Fascist Coalition. And, in many other countries, such a coalition would have been formidible.

But its hard for your Monarchist Party to be taken seriously when you're Royal Line has been effectively extinct for 300+ years. Which was largely why they had joined with the Fascists. Apart from that minor detail, they had more-or-less the same goals. They had invited the Nationalists to join them too, but had been rejected with one of Steven Grimmeberger's characteristic "Go fuck yourself, you stupid prick" responses. No one could deliver that phrase with as much feeling, gusto, and force as "General" Steven Grimmeberger. No one.

It was mid-September, now, and it had been nearly half-a-year since Grimmeberger had stepped down. Yet, somehow, no one could bring themself to stop calling him "the General." And no one somehow could really bring themself to argue with him, except for those that knew him closest. The power of the last 25-odd years had rubbed off.

Which was why Grimmeberger, the approved "Vice-General" for Filie if the Nationalists should win, and acknowledged political enemy of the Great Rightist Coalition, was standing here watching the rally unfold. Even if Mills thought it a great show of support, Steven was snorting milk out his nose at the almost-misty-eyed expression the two "Rightist" leaders wore.

Proud of themselves, aren't they? he thought, mildy amused, and equally irritated. Think they've got a little movement going on, do they? He snorted. That's not a movement. Maybe a protest, at most. More like a posse.

At the moment, the Rightists were grasping at everthing they could get. Most polls showed the Federal-Republicans with a clear lead, and the Popular Democrats close behind. The Nationalists and NWSP were tied for a close third. Not that Steven was overtly concerned. He had quite frankly had enough of national leadership.

OOC: Final bump: if no one shows any interest, I'm going to decide the elections entirely myself based on who I like best.

The Nationalist Federation of Greater Americania supports the Fascist Party.

OOC: That wasn't really what I meant...see above examples of intervention...the verbal support of foreign nations won't sway my people...if anything, their vote might be influenced in the opposite direction.

OOC: That wasn't really what I meant...see above examples of intervention...the verbal support of foreign nations won't sway my people...if anything, their vote might be influenced in the opposite direction.

OOC: Just stating my opinions.

OOC: I don't doubt it. I was just wondering if you meant to actually get involved or if you were simply stating your stance.

If you weren't, I'm probably just going to end it.

The Freie Republik of Rheingua wishes to extend it's support to the Federal-Republican Party. We will also donate 10,000 USD worth of Rheinguian Dymons to the party.

Heinrich Kender
Reichs-President of Rheingua.

OOC: I don't doubt it. I was just wondering if you meant to actually get involved or if you were simply stating your stance.

OOC: That's all I'll do for now, but I may put in some more if this goes on. These elections are interesting to follow.

OOC: Yay.

IC:

Heinrich Grimm looked at the note, in addition to the rather nice sum of a campaign donation that had been sent from the Freie Republik of Rheingua. He whistled.

"Looks like we have ourselves a friend," he remarked simply. Next to him, his runningmate, Walter Rikkenbacher nodded in agreement.

"We probably shouldn't let this slip. Its could be rather embarassing."

"You're telling me. Useful, though, all the same."

The Nationalist Federation secretly donates 200,000 NFGA dollars to the Fascist Party.

Takaram makes a secret donation of 150,000 to The Nationalist Party.

The Federation of Oseato would like to secretly give the Fascist Party 2 Million USD in Oseaton Dollars.

Grimmeberger just kept chuckling, and chuckling, as the Rightist leaders dug themselves into deeper and deeper holes.

"...and we shall restore the Federal Navy, so that the Federation may resume its rightful place as an Imperial power on the world stage!" Mills bellowed. There was raucous applause.

Stupid. We're amateurs at naval combat. We just got half the fleet destroyed. And where's he proposing to get the money from?

"And we'll get rid of this stupid democracy! The army shall return to its rightful place as the leaders of the nation!"

Grimmeberger glared at Mills. There was still some baby-fat on the Fascist's face that somehow had not disappeared as he had gotten older.

Like you've ever been in the military. The Greys would eat you alive, and they aren't even the proper military. He grinned wolfishly, confident that the military would never support an idiot like this. He knew this for a few simple reasons:
1) there had been enough civil war. None of them would even consider signing on for another one. And you can't fight a war without troops.
2) the Rightists didn't have anywhere near a large enough following to make it a safe bet of success. Anybody could tell that.
3) Grimmeberger was still, in many ways, de-facto leader of the Army. If he ordered them to stand down for the sake of the country, they would bloody-well stand down.

But for now watching the delusional fascists try and run a campaign was entertaining enough.

As Isaac Muhlenkampf looked at the money arrived for the enlarged Fascist party, he nearly hugged himself. Ideological solidarity! he thought.

Of course, the question was what would they do with it all?

What needs to be understood at this point is that much of the brains behind the Fascist Party had gone with Derkins, who was still on the run. This, of course, owed to the fact that he was wanted on three seperate treason charges, which was as good as a death penalty in the Federation; if you were treasonous, if the government didn't kill you, the people sure as hell would.

So their main hope of leadership was nowhere to be found, leaving the uninspired Muhlenkampf and the down-right delusional Mills. It would take advisors if they were to have a decent shot at winning. (OOC: MASSIVE HINT)

OOC: How would you feel about a guarantee of independence from my country if the Federal-Republicans were to win? Or maybe even military training seeing as how half of your fleet was destroyed?

The Nationalist Federation of Greater Americania would be more than happy to guarantee the independance of the NNFAT if the Fascist Party were elected as well as sign trade agreements between the two nations.

OOC: The Nationalist Party is in power now, correct?

ooc: I still have plenty of cash, and if The Nationalist Party were to win, I can guarantee that Fanboyists will get preferred treatment by Takaram merchants.

OOC: Yes. Although, I don't think guarentees of independence are necessary...I'm quite independent, and quite capable of repelling invasion. I'm just not imperialist.

OOC: Ah, but how will you make sure that the guys you want in charge get there?
Money is of little use if you don't know how to use it.

Telegram to the Fascist Party:

Several "Private Citizens" of the Federation have expressed interest in seeing your cause furthered and have offered their services to your party, for a small nominal fee. They are all experienced in politics and running campaigns and all come recommended by several members of the Oseaton Senate.

Please let us know if their services are of interest to your cause.

OOC: Yes. Although, I don't think guarentees of independence are necessary...I'm quite independent, and quite capable of repelling invasion. I'm just not imperialist.

We wish to offer you a chance to join the Nationalist Union.

A group in Telvira, called Penultimate is willing to work with the Nationalist Party in managing their PR campaign.

OOC-I'm hoping to have this group dig up the donation from Rheingua and make a scandal about it. Sound good?

OOC: Put up all you want for now, but I need to finish my HW, so I'm off for the night. Cyall around.

Maybe, although the copius amounts of money the fascists are getting seem like they would be more noticable. But all around.

Seeing as my preferred parties are the Nationalists and Federal-Republicans, I'll be giving the most emphasis or my RPing to them. But I will RP the Fanboyists of all parties.

The Rheinguaian Government has decided that, if the Federal-Republicans were to win the current Fanboyist election, they would Guarantee the Independence of the Fanboyists, and provide military training and advisory.

Heinrich Kender
Reichs-President of Rheingua.

PS-We secretly wish to send 280,000 USD worth of Rheinguaian Dymons to the Federal-Republicans


OOC:I'm heading off for tonight, I'll see whats brewed up in the morning.

Grimm looked at the most recent money sent from Rheingua for the campaign. A tad excessive. Its not like we need the money; we have a strong following. All they're doing is creating the chance that someone might point this out, in spite of the fact that we didn't ask for any of it. He also read the note.

He was quite sure, having been in charge of the provincial forces in Croatia, that the Federal Army was quite sufficient to defend the country, and that they didn't particularly need training or advisory. We've had our independence for a long time, and for the foreseeable future, it will stay that way. We don't need guarentees of independence.

He penned a note hastily to Reichs-President Heinrich Kender.

Dear Mr. President Heinrich Kender,

While I thank you for the support you have been willing to give to our cause, I am afraid we must decline your most recent offers; the potential that knowledge of these funds could leak and create a scandal is one that we view to be not worth the risk; we have a strong national following, are well-funded, and now know that we are supported by the international community.

We have put your earlier donation to good use, in the form of funding for additional fund-raising drives and rallies. I would like to thank you for that as well.

Sincerely,
Heinrich Grimm
Federal-Republican Party
2009 Candidate for General

Muhlenkampf figured that God was watching over his and the party's fate, because almost within the week that he had projected that advisors would be needed to help the nascent Rightist Party have any true chance at winning the elections, an offer of advisors had come through. He accepted without hesitation.

Dear Good Sirs,

We are glad that you informed us of the interest of these 'private citizens' in furthering our cause. Such an offer would be a great boon to our cause. We will be willing to pay them the fee that they opt to charge, please, if possible, convey our plea to them.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Isaac Muhlenkampf
National Rightist Party
Vice-General Candidate

Greater Americania's offers of assistance to the Fascists had reached the government (which, at the moment, was firmly nationalist) by mistake; such is the price of a beaureucratic postal system.

So, now Andrew Filie had fairly good evidence that the Fascists were getting help from the outside. From other nations that had, in recent days, become considered unscrupulous for the Federation to become beholden to.

So, he put the SSP to a legal use: investigate all parties. Thus far, in spite of the secret correspondence of Filie and Telvira's government, the Nationalists had declined outside assistance; it was bad for PR. What type of self-sufficient Nationalist are you if you can't run a political campaign without foreign assistance.

Technically, election rules in the Federation (this being its first proper one) were quite lax; accepting foreign assistance was not illegal, but in a country as fiercely patriotic as the Federation, such knowledge emerging could be the equivalent of political murder. So, that afternoon, squads of SSP officers were dispatched to examine the records of all the parties of expenditures and recievings. Undoubtedly, it would produce interesting results.

Most Benevolent Mr.s Fayless and Nineven,

Our government wishes to extend a friendly hand towards your party's efforts, and offers to fully sponsor a banquet to promote your interests. This banquet will be fully staffed by Nalleniens, as well as have a performing group, and be decorated in your party's colors. In addition, we will make advertisements to our people to attend. We hope that should you win this election, you would consider a trade agreement. Please consider our offer as a gesture of friendship. I await your response.

Truly yours,
King Marcus Andersen

Neniven read the message sent. Finally, some indication of support from someone, he thought glumly.

Unfortunately, political realities in a very patriotic (and fiercely nationalist) nation like the Federation had to take priority.

Dear King Marcus Anderson,

While we were greatly pleased by your indication of support for our cause, I am afraid that, in the name of the greater good, that we must decline your offer.

In a nation such as ours, where the possibility of the appearance (let alone the reality) of being beholden to foreigners in any way is repulsive, accepting your offer would be political suicide, and would greatly endanger our cause as a whole.

If we should become elected, we would be happy to negotiate a trade agreement; for that matter, I am familiar with our current leader, and he is very much the trading sort; he would doubtless be happy to sign such an agreement with you, if you cannot bear the uncertainty or the wait. General Filie is a very civil, approachable man; he would be happy to hear your offer.

Many thanks for your offer.

Sincerely,
Stanley Neniven
National Workers' Socialist Party
Vice-General Candidate, 2009

OOC: Uh, Telvira, that message was sent by the Fascists to Oseato. I'm sorry I didn't make it clearer; the Nationalists had declined outside assistance, to preserve their reputation should the story break; SSP agents were ordered to investigate foreign aid to all the parties, inculding the Nationalists.

OOC-whoops. I'll delete the post

Official Commique from the Nationalist Federation of Greater Americania
To: The people of the Federation

The Nationalist Federation of Greater Americania denies having any role in funding the Fascist Party. We blame our accusers for wishing to smear the Fascist name. We do, as we have stated in the past, beleive that you, the people, should elected Fascists into the government. If a Fascist government were to be established or if multiple Fascist officials were to be put in power, our nations would get along much better on the international stage. With the improved relations comes the combined economic benefit.

Sincerely,
Michael Smith
Head of the NFGADFA

Filie snorted. No-one should ever be so hasty as to deny charges that have not been leveled directly at oneself; it is only a great indicator of guilt.

He glared at the message. It also meant that someone (probably those idiot-fascists) was informing them of the searches, even though they were being performed subtly; the SSP, in spite of not being anything near a secret, was very meticulous and quite discrete, when necessary. So, he wrote a quick message to Greater Americania informing them of foreign policy changes.

To Mr. Michael Smith, (the "Head of State, NFGADFA" was deliberately omitted as a sign of disrespect)

I have recieved from you and your government a message vehemently denying charges of providing aid to a political party within our nation which is taking part in the up-coming elections.

I wish to inform you of the following:

1) The denial of charges that have not been leveled at one, we have found, tends to be an excellent indicator of guilt, particularly when no notification or accusation has been fielded, the project is being kept fairly quiet, and yet you manage to deny non-existant charges with pin-point accuracy.

Therefore, we shall now consider your country to be complacent in the corruption of a democratic election. We (myself and the Acting-Federal Junta) have found that the placement of an embargo on the nation of Greater Americania would be beneficial to the country. You are hereby accused of the corruption of a legitimate election.

2) Claiming your support for the Fascists is an excellent way to arouse suspicion about your nation's feelings regarding our politics. Any Americanian citizens within the Federation with the slightest tie to the Greater Americanian government shall, therefore, be arrested and tried for espionage and for attempting to subvert the will of the citizens of the Federation. Thank you for the information on your dispositions.

We most certainly will not put Fascist officials in charge again. If it should be the decision of the people of the nation, then there will be no issues found with a fascistic government (though maintaining a Republic all the same) in terms of legitimacy. However, if we should find the slightest evidence that vote-fraud has taken place in favor of the Fascists, further sanctions will be leveled on your nation and an investigation into the Rightist Party's activities will be launched. A much-less forgiving one.

Thank you for your time.

Have a nice fucking day.

Generalissimo Andrew Filie
Head of State, FFNAT
Commander-in-Chief, Federal Armed Forces

To: Andrew Filie (Title left our likewise)
From: Michael Smith, Head of the NFGA Foreign Affairs Dept.

1) Our nation can and will support the Fascist Party of your nation, the party that will implode the democratic system and restore proper order.

2) Your embargo does not scare us. Our nation has a vast economic wealth and can sustain without your pathetic help.

3) Any arrests of Greater Americanian citizens on false charges will result in the same occurances here in Greater Americania to Federation citizens.

4) Your eagerness to jump at prosecuting Fascists within your nation only shows hypocrisy on your part. Free speech is a key tenet of democracy and the prosecution of Fascists based on political orientation violates just that.

Sincerely,

Michael Smith
Head of the NFGA Foreign Relations Dept.

Dear Good Sirs,

We are glad that you informed us of the interest of these 'private citizens' in furthering our cause. Such an offer would be a great boon to our cause. We will be willing to pay them the fee that they opt to charge, please, if possible, convey our plea to them.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Isaac Muhlenkampf
National Rightist Party
Vice-General Candidate

Jacob Yeager smiled as he received the telegram from the National Rightist Party of the FFNAT. He had great experience in running campaigns and rallying national support in Oseato. Though lately, since the July Coup, he only managed campaigns for a handful of Senators, who in actuality had no power in the Federation Government. Back in the years before the coup, he successfully lead campaigns for several presidents. He and his team were looking forward to a little work and getting back to real politics.

Yeager picked up his phone and immediately rounded up his best group of political advisors, as well as several "former" members of the Oseaton Federal Army who now worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They would help provide security and stability for the National Rightist Party.

They were all on a chartered jet and flying to FFNAT within an hour.

Social Democratic Party of Italia Orientale
Islamic National Congress of Italia Orientale

Christopher Sover, Head of the Popular Democratic Party:

The Islamic National Congress and the Social Democratic Party of Italia Orientale will send $2 million to the Popular Democratic Party to use on its campaign. This money is authorized to be used by the PDP for any campaign purposes. We are also sending the party a shipment of 500 new laptop computers and 750 state of the art cellular phones so that they may communicate better when out doing campaign work. Our parties will be covering the subscription costs for internet and phone services on said devices.

Additionally, with your government's permission, the Social Democrat Society at the University of Tripoli has organized a group of about 800 student volunteers to travel to FFNAT to aid the Popular Democratic Party with election work. The group is led by Fatima Solari, a 21 year old Junior at the University and the president of the Social Democrat Society. She is one of our best and brightest students, at the top of her class, and a very skilled volleyball player, not to mention a Miss Italia Orientale runner-up, and we expect that she and her group be treated well in your country. Our parties are covering all of the trip expenses for the students.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to help your party in its bid to win this upcoming election.



Best of Luck,
Paolo Martorano, Chairman of the Democratic Socialist Party
Ishmael Arabi, Chairman of the Islamic National Congress

To Mr. Smith of the illegitimate nation of NFGA,

All diplomatic recognition of your nation has been withdrawn. Any of our nationals living in your pathetic excuse for a nation have been withdrawn for their safety.

We do not need your trade either; your goods are inferior to our own, and would only serve to dilute the market with shitty-quality goods.

None of your people will be arrested on false charges. Meddling in our affairs is something we take very seriously, and shall not be permitted. All Greater Americanian aid, like aid to all other political movements, shall be considered unlawful within our borders and shall be duly confiscated.

Henceforth, and I have the approval of a Junta of members of other ideologies on this, campaign funds recieved from other countries are to be considered illegal and may be subject to confiscation to be donated to charities who actually need the money.

If the Rightist party truely deserves to be in charge, which is only true if the majority desire that they be left in charge, then they should have no problems amassing campaign funds domestically and attracting voters to their cause.

There is no hypocrisy here at all. I believe you may be looking at pictures of the GWO if you are seeing hypocrisy and injustice. There is no free speech being abridged. Riots and rebellions may be supressed, should they occur, and as a foreign power, you and your nationals lack that right in our country. Fascists are not being prosecuted at all; indeed, every party, including my own, are all being subject to investigation now for the presence of foreign funding in the parties as a first warning; such funds will be confiscated and given to charities such as soup kitchens, and there will be warnings all around.

The election is a choice by the people of the Federation, not the 'people' of Americania. You shouldn't poke a wolverine and not expect to get your goddamn face clawed off. You have been warned. Further unwarrented interference from the NFGA may result in NFGA shipping, regardless of destination, as being fair targets for search and siezure, and all Americanian military forces being considered hostile and potential targets for action if tensions should continue to rise. Preemptive strikes will be permitted for the security of our people.

And if you believe fascism is truely the proper order, I think arrest on drug charges may be in your future. I'm not making a threat; I don't think we'll have anything to do with it, but I would say that your government most likely would not approve of a pothead in a position of power. It affects judgement.

You have been warned. Stay out of our politics. Our politics are ours, and ours alone.

Take the Goddamn hint,
Generalissimo Andrew Filie
Head of State, Fanboyist Federation of North Atlantic Territories
Commander-in-Chief, Federal Armed Forces

Christopher Sover was quite happy to be back in his own again. He had had his career more or less on hold for almost 10 years; in spite of aiding the Grimmeberger regime as a cabinet member, Sover not only differed from Grimmeberger greatly regarding a large number of issues, but had actually briefly been President during the ill-fated Spring of Freedom, shortly before economic ruin had utterly destroyed his dream of creating a greater democracy in the Federation. Besides that, because of his part in the confrontation that briefly drove Grimmeberger from power, the old dictator had never trusted him again.

But now, he had another chance, and the offer of volunteers was a welcome one; he knew he would need to decline the funding, and the networking tools, as they were forms of material support, which none of the parties were, strictly speaking, supposed to be recieving. But volunteers, on the other hand, could just be individual students coming of their own accord, and could not have any restrictions placed on their participation. So long as they were not payed, they were acceptable by the laws that a few days previously all the party leaders had unanimously agreed to follow: No monetary or material support, nor payed personnel, were to be accepted from foreign nations or institutions. And Sover, not one to sully his reputation or that of his cause, fully intended to play by the rules.

To Paolo Martorano, Chairman of the Democratic Socialist Party and
Ishmael Arabi, Chairman of the Islamic National Congress

I would like to thank you on the behalf of our cause for your support, and the support of your people in our ultimate goal of creating a progressive democracy in the Federation.

However, due to recent rules agreed upon by all leaders of the competing parties, I am not permitted to accept you monetary or material aid; rest assured, your intent is well appreciated, and we will be able to find networking means regardless, so this fact will not impair us greatly.

Luckily, the student volunteers are permitted, under the agreed rules for the election (which will hopefully become the rules of every election we hold) to come and volunteer to their heart's content. We will welcome them with open arms, and General Filie has already agreed that they will also be protected by security details from the Grey Coat militias.

Again, many thanks.

Best of wishes to you all,
Christopher Sover,
Party Chair, Popular Democratic Party
Candidate, General, 2009

We are willing to donate 2,000,000 USD to Andrew Filie and the Nationalist Party

Filie read the dispatch from the United States of PA, and groaned. He figured he should just make the formal announcement so he would stop getting these offers, and so people wouldn't keep sending them to the other parties, or at least would be doing so more 'discreetly' (never mind that all party leadership, including Filie, had SSP officers assigned to monitor them to ensure fair play). He wrote an official announcement to all, but also to inform the United States of PA.


To Whom it May Concern,

We have lately received news from most of the party leaders that large offers of foreign monetary and material support have come to them, aiming to further their cause.

This interest in our internal politics is greatly appreciated, and we choose to view this as a sign of respect that others would be so concerned in our affairs.

However, that said, let it be reiterated that these are our affairs. Unpaid volunteers are permitted to participate in the campaigns; however, outside of that, all monetary and material support have been, unanimously by the Party Leaders, banned from use in campaigns. If attempts to provide money to political parties persist, any money sent will be gladly accepted by the Federal government for redistribution to charities such as soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

We hope that you will understand our desire that our people be the ones primarily concerned with their future. Again, we thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,
Generalissimo Andrew Filie
Current Head of State, Fanboyist Federation of North Atlantic Territories
Commander in Chief, Federal Armed Forces.

With Approval from:
Heinrich Grimm - Federal-Republican Party
Christopher Sover - Popular Democratic Party
Gregor Mills - National Rightist Party (OOC: replacing monarchists and fascists)
Alexander Fayless - National Workers' Socialist Party
Quinn Samuels - Libertarian Party
Steven Grimmeberger - Nationalist Party

OOC: this does not mean you can't keep making contributions like this, but they will now need to be more, um, discreet, as they risk confiscation by State Special Police.

To Mr. Smith of the illegitimate nation of NFGA,

All diplomatic recognition of your nation has been withdrawn. Any of our nationals living in your pathetic excuse for a nation have been withdrawn for their safety.

We do not need your trade either; your goods are inferior to our own, and would only serve to dilute the market with shitty-quality goods.

None of your people will be arrested on false charges. Meddling in our affairs is something we take very seriously, and shall not be permitted. All Greater Americanian aid, like aid to all other political movements, shall be considered unlawful within our borders and shall be duly confiscated.

Henceforth, and I have the approval of a Junta of members of other ideologies on this, campaign funds recieved from other countries are to be considered illegal and may be subject to confiscation to be donated to charities who actually need the money.

If the Rightist party truely deserves to be in charge, which is only true if the majority desire that they be left in charge, then they should have no problems amassing campaign funds domestically and attracting voters to their cause.

There is no hypocrisy here at all. I believe you may be looking at pictures of the GWO if you are seeing hypocrisy and injustice. There is no free speech being abridged. Riots and rebellions may be supressed, should they occur, and as a foreign power, you and your nationals lack that right in our country. Fascists are not being prosecuted at all; indeed, every party, including my own, are all being subject to investigation now for the presence of foreign funding in the parties as a first warning; such funds will be confiscated and given to charities such as soup kitchens, and there will be warnings all around.

The election is a choice by the people of the Federation, not the 'people' of Americania. You shouldn't poke a wolverine and not expect to get your goddamn face clawed off. You have been warned. Further unwarrented interference from the NFGA may result in NFGA shipping, regardless of destination, as being fair targets for search and siezure, and all Americanian military forces being considered hostile and potential targets for action if tensions should continue to rise. Preemptive strikes will be permitted for the security of our people.

And if you believe fascism is truely the proper order, I think arrest on drug charges may be in your future. I'm not making a threat; I don't think we'll have anything to do with it, but I would say that your government most likely would not approve of a pothead in a position of power. It affects judgement.

You have been warned. Stay out of our politics. Our politics are ours, and ours alone.

Take the Goddamn hint,
Generalissimo Andrew Filie
Head of State, Fanboyist Federation of North Atlantic Territories
Commander-in-Chief, Federal Armed Forces

To: FFANT
From: NFGA

Our citizens have now been withdrawn for their own safety from your pathetic excuse for a nation. Your quickness to pass laws to act against us also shows a disregard for democracy, because you have bypassed the legislative branch of your government in order to create them.

If a war is to be started between the two of us, whether that war be an economic one or a more conventional and traditional one involving militaries, then it is you that will throw the first stone. That is if your corrupted bureaucratic democratic system isn't so choked up on red tape as to manage to do that.

Michael Smith

To the stupid prick who keeps writing to us,

Amazing that your pro-fascist government is so stifled by increativity that you cannot even come up with a proper insult for us and have to reuse our own.

I did not bypass the Junta; the Junta has agreed with me whole-heartedly; foreign powers should not be able to intervene in our politics. They are our politics for a reason; not Americanian politics, not Telviran politics, no-one's but our own.

Ah, so you attempt to provoke us by saying we're hopelessly inefficient if we don't act completely hostile towards you, but saying simultaneously that we will be the ones to blame for a war. Your logic is hopelessly flawed. Regardless, we will not go into full hostilities at this time; however, relations with your nation are considered to be at the highest level of threat, and any action taken by you that is percieved as a threat towards us will result in action.

Perhaps you should read the documents we set down more carefully; the chief executive is still commander-in-chief, and can deploy the troops if need be without approval from the legislature. Care to call us inefficient again?

Keep in mind this entire issue has come up because it was you that refused to cease interfering in our internal affairs, thus showing how little respect you have for the sovreignty of others. Such should be borne in mind by all in your future dealings with the world at large; that the NFGA lacks the spine to accept that others may have a different opinion and wish to be left alone, and to allow internal affairs to remain internal affairs, rather than those of the world at large.

Your lack of respect for the sovreignty of others will get you into trouble in the future. See to it that you do not make this international disrespect to others' governments a habit, for your people's sake.

And for a government that proudly "controls every aspect of Americanian life," you should get off your high horse about our liberties here; they are greater than any your people have ever had the chance to enjoy thanks to your oppressive policies; a true Nationalist would recognize that allowing people to speak their minds is a great way to keep new ideas flowing into the government, to make things run better.

From,
Generalissimo Andrew Filie,
Head of State, FFNAT
Commander-in-Chief, Federal Armed Forces

The first of many debates was taking place; today's was between the Federal-Republican Heinrich Grimm and the Popular Democrat Christopher Sover. They had been given the honor of first debate, as the two parties had recently emerged as front-runners, with the Nationalists in third, the NWSP in fourth, and the Rightists in dead-last.

The moderator, Richard King, a famous TV reporter and host, shuffled the notes that had the questions to be asked written on them.

Heinrich Grimm was well-dressed, though not flashy, and seemed well-composed, his youthful face radiating eagerness. His hair had recently been trimmed, making him look less-like a college student, and more like an adult, which he most certainly was at 28, even if he was very young for a politician. He had dark brown hair, and very deep brown eyes, which many said seemed like a glimpse into the abyss when he was angry. There was definite stubble on his face. He was of average height at 5' 10", and was solidly built, weighing in at a good 195 pounds. He had a personal passion for hockey, had played it in high school and college, and had been ecstatic when the team from his adopted home city, Zagreb, had won the national championship earlier that year. Some claimed that he had gotten his position because of nepotism, which was not an entirely baseless possiblity; he was, in fact, a cousin of Col.General Heinrich Fuchs (on his mother's side) and Grand Marshal Fedor von Wallenstein, the Commander of the Federal Army, and quite proudly shared in their Austro-Bavarian heritage.

But no, he had earned his position the proper way; he had filled in a moderate ranking administrative position in Zagreb until appointed mayor for his excellent abilities, from which he was promoted to Governor-General of Croatia. And it was for his excellent work in that capacity that had made him popular, and which was largely the attributed cause for his meteoric rise to prominence. Charismatic, even-tempered, meticulous, methodical, and to the center-right in terms of his political views, many parents had begun using Grimm as the 'ideal role-model' for their children. No-one had even managed to dig up any dirt on him at this point. There was the iffy-subject of a possible affair with a journalist, but that wasn't even really sordid; he was unmarried, after all. The only real fault anyone had found thus far was that he was a tad awkward in the company of those he considered his betters. Which, for someone as relatively modest, were many people. Occasionally his inner smart-ass got the better of him in conversation. But that wasn't much to go on; smear campaigns had proven annoyingly ineffective against him. You can only say 'inexperienced' so many times, after all, before you start to sound like a broken record.

Christopher Sover looked dignified, but was also quite obviously excited that his movement was recieving a second chance. He was dressed in slightly more expensive attire, but again, not garish or flashy, and radiated all the dignity of a more-experienced statesman, which he certainly was, at the age of 51. Streaks of grey were appearing in his black beard and hair, but he otherwise gave little indication of his approach towards middle-age. Well-preserved, some said. Others, usually his detractors, claimed there was more than a small hint of botox. Quite untrue, but unkind all the same. Sover was similarly in-offensive in terms of character; although in his case it was due more to the fact that his time in the 'limelight' had lasted for about a year before he was unceremoniously ejected from power by Grimmeberger. A good-deal more liberal than Grimm, Sover had long championed the rights of minorities in the Federation, in spite of the fact that the previous regime had utterly failed to be particularly repressive, due to its former leader's blunt-minded practicality - "Why on earth would I waste money oppressing people when I keep them happy and save a buck by just treating them the same?" had been Sover's former employer's long-used statement on the matter - but that hadn't stopped him from repeating the process for the poor. The fact that when his government had briefly held power, an economic collapse had ensued was generally considered the only real black-mark on his record. He had been quite efficient as secretary of commerce, helping to preside over Grimmeberger's mixed-market policies. All-in-all, the Brittanian Sover was as good a candidate as any for General.

King shuffled the notes, turning first to Sover. As the PDP was slightly behind in the polls, they, as the underdog, would receive the opportunity to speak first.

"What is it you plan to do regarding what some call a health-care 'crisis'? Can you maybe give us a basic idea of what your plan is?"

Sover smiled pleasantly, but inside he was cheering. Yes! My first question is the one I'm best at answering!

"I think that it is the duty of the Federal government to provide necessary medical coverage to all citizens. All people will be eligable for state-provided medical care, and we can do away entirely with the exploitative companies that dominate the field now. Priority for treatment will be based entirely on urgency, of course," Sover rattled-off confidently.

King turned to Grimm. "And your opinion is?"

Grimm cleared his throat.

"I think that those that call the current situation a 'crisis' are greatly over-exagerating. There are people who are uncovered and do not recieve proper medical care, but they are the only ones that need state-provided care; I think that any such programs should be directed from the provinces, as the local administrations are the best equipped and informed to deal with any problems that may arise of this nature. Any care should be provided only to those too poor to afford it themselves; no others should be permitted to use it, to keep the system as an emergency safety net to those who truely need it, and not as a means of sponging off the government for everyone else."

The anchor pulled out another question.

"What is your stance on the recent departure from long-time ally of the Federation, the GWO, as a major ally?"

-----CONTINUED-----

Grimm shook his head.

"I'm frankly rather glad that we're rid of them as allies. It seems being associated with them always caused us more trouble than it prevented. I personally found their views unscrupulous, and that we're better off as a nation without them. I think its time to look towards alliances based on more than simple ideology or basic necessity."

Sover echoed the opinion.

"I'm happy that we aren't associating ourselves with those fascists anymore. They gave our nation a bad name, to be associated with them, and, like my colleague here stated, they got us into more trouble than they prevented for us."

"What do you plan to do with the economy?"

Sover shrugged.

"We should probably regulate a little tighter; there are certain things that corporations are getting away with that they definitely shouldn't be."

Grimm shook his head.

"That's pointless. There isn't much they can get away with as it is. Things function quite well as they are. The only thing I can see that we need is that we should probably legalize labor-unions. They might provide all the balance we need. Other than that, I think everyone can attest that things are certainly better than they were in 1990."

The debate continued along this sort of topic for the next two hours. Very little was said that came as the slightest bit of a surprise: both stuck to their party platforms because, the party platform were their very beliefs, as they were both founders of their respective factions.

Similar debates occurred between all the competing factions, even as football season came around and the election drew nearer: on October 10th, all would be decided. It was September 15th. Less than a month remained in the manic race.

It would be interesting.

Fatima Solari arrived, along with forty other student volunteers in the Vienna airport. They arrived on Golden Eagle Airlines flight 156 from Tripoli after a four hour trip. From the airport the students boarded a charter bus that would take them to their hotel. Fatima was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep before going to work for the PDP campaign in the morning. She hoped she would have a chance to meet the candidate Christopher Sover, who she admired very much as a politician.

As the president of the Social Democrat Society, Ms. Solari was put in charge of the most important of the student groups, the one in the capitol city of Vienna. The 800 volunteers had been split into groups of 20 (the most important cities had groups of 40), and sent to their various destinations.

Fatima realized she had dozed off when she heard the squeeling of the bus’s brakes indicating their arrival at the hotel. She unloaded her equipment, organized the check-in for the group, and made her way to her room along with her cousin, Mona, who would be rooming with her. Mona was two years younger, at age 19, and even more of an idealist than the 21 year old Fatima. They lugged their bags up to the fifth floor where their room was located and went in.

They put their bags down and began to get ready for bed. Suddenly, Mona turned to Fatima and said, “there is a letter here for you.”

“What are you talking about?” responded Fatima, “lemme see.”

Mona handed the note to her. Sure enough, there was a letter with her name on it “FATIMA SOLARI”. She ripped the letter open and began to read it:

Ms. Solari,
We trust that you have had a good trip and, if you are reading this, have arrived safely at your hotel room. I would like to thank you again on behalf of the Social Democratic Party for your services and your leadership. I have followed your young career and we all hope that we will continue to see you do great things in the future.

Now is the time for you to truly help your party and the cause of Social Democracy around the world. We need to pick up a package from our SDP headquarters that is meant for delivery to PDP officials in Vienna. In order to pick up the package, you must walk exit your hotel and walk two blocks north. On the opposite side of the street from your hotel is a pub called the Britannia Café. Go into the pub and sit at an empty table. You will be met att the pub by “Mr. White” who will give you the package, a black duffle bag, which you are to then return to your hotel room to await further instructions.

For your protection, there is a handgun inside the hotel safe. The code to open the safe is 12-8-34-18. Bring the gun with you in case anything goes wrong. You will be able to identify Mr. White from a tattoo on his right upper arm that says “The Sword of Muhammad” with a scimitar underneath it.

Destroy this letter upon reading it and good luck.

There was no signature on the letter and she turned it over in a vain hope of finding some identification. She looked up at her cousin and handed her the letter.

“What does it say?” asked Mona as she began to read it.

Fatima didn’t respond, there was too much going through her head. Who had been following her career? Was this a trick or a trap? Should she just ignore the letter? Why did she need a gun? Fatima began to feel frightened. “Now is the time for you to truly help your party and the cause of Social Democracy around the world?” she thought about what the letter said. How naïve did they think she was? She knew that the men in Italia Orientale were almost all chauvinists but how could they think she was stupid enough to fall for that trick. This was corrupt and she knew it.

“Oh my God!” yelled Mona as she finished reading the letter, “What the hell is this!?”

“I don’t know,” responded Fatima, “but it sounds serious.”

“Well are you gonna go through with it?”

Fatima didn’t say anything. She had to, she thought, as messed up as this was. If she didn’t do as the party said, she knew she would lose her position as president of the Social Democrats Society. She had worked too hard to gain that position and it was all part of her plan to be the first female Prime Minister in Italia Orientale’s history. She had wanted to do that since as far as she could remember and she had the drive and work ethic, not to mention the looks, to back it up. Now, she was faced with a big decision.

“I’ll do it!” said Fatima, she knew it was her only real choice, “I’m going to go right now.”

“Let me come with you,” said her cousin, “I can help.”

“No!” responded Fatima, “you have to stay here in case anything happens to me. Right now I want you to go and stay in one of the other rooms with some other students, and don’t go anywhere alone. If I’m not back in forty five minutes I want you to call my dad back home and tell him exactly what happened.”

“What should I do with the letter?” asked Mona.

“Keep it!” responded Fatima, “if everything goes ok then we’ll destroy it like they said, but if this is some kind of trap, then you’ll have the letter as proof.” She turned around and started getting dressed again. She put on some jeans, an oversized hooded sweatshirt, and some sneakers. The adrenaline started pumping as she got ready to leave. She always told herself that there would be difficult and dangerous situations on the road to being PM, this was certainly one of them. She opened the safe and pulled out a Ruger P 90 handgun. She had fired guns before so she knew how to use one, but she was certainly no expert. She tucked the gun in the front pocket of her sweatshirt and got ready to leave.

“Be careful,” said Mona.

“I will,” Fatima responded, “and do what I told you.” With that Fatima walked out of the room and got on the elevator. She exited the hotel through the lobby and stepped out into the Viennese night.

Encrypted Comunique of Jakran President John Henry Eden

To PDP cantidate Christopher Sover,
Mr. Sover on behalf of Jakra and the ruling party, I extend full support for the PDP and it's forward thinking policies. Inclosed with this transmission are 3 account numbers and acess codes. Each account contains 200,000 euros for your campaign. Enjoy and remember who your friends are when you make your foriegn policy.

Account#: 7453936, International Commerce Exchange; Zurich, Switzerland
Acess: 153-579-834
Account#: 3045381, National Bank of Telvira, Coalburg, Telvira
Acess: 846-325-189
Account#: 9472895, Jakran Reserve Bank, Harsmon, Jakra
Acess: 471-306-528

Christopher Sover read the note recieved from Jakra. Holy shit, he thought bitterly. Its like everyone is trying to make me break the rules. He looked at the note. It should be untracable, and the PDP, in spite of its supposed popularity, was having more and more difficulty procuring funds. I'm sure all the others are doing very similar things; besides, its for the good of the country; it will only go towards necessary campaign costs. And with that, he discretely penned a note to Jakra. It was quite simple:

To the Governement of Jakra,

On the behalf of the PDP and the people of the Federation, I would like to thank you for your generous contribution.

Sincerely,
Christopher Sover,
Head, PDP

Walter Mason had signed onto Sover's party from the start. Mason, like Sover, had maintained a position of power in the Grimmeberger regime, in spite of percieved political disloyalty.

However, rather than a good leader, Mason was a good 'people person,' so he had been assigned to coordinating the volunteers with the PDP campaign. He was also very alert: a staunch anti-fascist, he never really trusted Filie that the Fascists were no longer in charge of the SSP.

The SSP. Oh, how he hated that despicable secret police. They were a tool of oppression, in his eyes, never mind that they were effectively the FBI and CIA of the Federation, simply in one agency. He walked casually into the hotel where the student volunteers were to be staying, so that he could meet with Ms. Solari, the student who he had been informed was in charge of their volunteer effort; the following morning would be busy, so it would be best to coordinate on what was going to occur in advance.

All the same, he was quite surprised when he ran into Fatima on the way up. He had expected her, along with the other students, to be settling in. It was, after all, getting dark, and he wasn't sure if they were the partying type or not.

The Republic of Movish supports the Federal-Republican Party

Jacob Yeager was still smiling as he got off the chartered plan at the Vienna Airport. He'd had a good nap on the flight and still had the time to meet and plan with some of his closest advisors. They'd been able to see the political debates as they unfolded and were getting up to speed with their competition.

As he descended of the plane he spoke with his chief aid. "Book us into a hotel, make it nice and make sure we have access to their conference rooms and other amenities. Charge it all to this account."

The account number was a number given to him by a contact in the Oseaton Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the money and the account were untraceable, if anyone was to go searching they would simply find that the account was held by a private corporation that specialized in political campaigning and who had no listed board of directors. No one outside of Yeager knew that the corporation's board of directors were all political and military figures in Oseato. Yeager had the backing and the resources of the Oseaton state, but not it's direct oversight or ties.

"Also, get in contact with the National Rightist Party's elite. I think it's time we had a sit down and got to business."

The aid merely nodded and rushed off to get to work.

As Fatima walked out of the hotel she caught a glimpse of a familiar looking man. She recognized him as a certain Mr. Mason from a photograph she had seen of him. He was supposed to be helping to coordinate the volunteer effort. Why was he here? Was this part of the trap? No, he was probably just here as part of his job. She kept her cool and walked up to him, “Mr. Mason?”

“Yes?” he replied, “and you must be Ms. Solari.”

“Yes, yes I am,” she said, what terrible timing she thought to herself. “Uhm,” she hesitated, “well…this is not a good time for me Mr. Mason. Do you think you could, uh—”

What was she supposed to say? It would be rude to tell him to come back but she didn’t trust him enough to send him up to the other students without her. The suspicion would never have crossed her mind, but now she suspected everyone. She reached nervously into her sweatshirt front pocket and felt cold metal. She immediately jerked her hands out of the pockets. She completely forgot she had a loaded gun on her which, for all she knew, could be illegal. Her mind was racing, but she finally got herself together and mustered up her feminine charm.

“Well, I was saying, I was just going out to get some things that we need for our stay. You know, like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and that kinda stuff. So I don’t mean to be rude,” she said with her most flirtacious voice, “but would it be too much to ask for you to come back in an hour? Personally, I’m starving so how ‘bout when you come back the two of us can go grab some dinner or something?” She flashed him her best smile, hoping that the prospect of going to dinner with her was enough to stop him from realizing how ridiculous her explanation was. How was she going to put off a coordination meeting to buy toiletries?

“Well…I guess…” responded Mr. Mason, “but—”

“Thank you so much Mr. Mason,” she quickly interrupted, “just come back in like one hour.” Fatima knew she must look like an absolute fool, but she knew for sure that the letter was more important. He stood there looking puzzled. “Thank you so much Mr. Mason, you are really a sweetheart,” she said. With that she turned and hurried out of the lobby without looking back at Mr. Mason. He could wait, what was more important was finding out about this package and “Mr. White”. She put her hands in her sweatshirt pocket and gripped the gun, praying that she wouldn’t have to use it.

Fatima walked quickly up the street. It was a chilly night but she couldn’t tell if she was trembling from the cold or from her nerves. How did she wind up in all of this? So much for democracy and the rule of law, she though. Whatever was going on, and she didn’t have the slightest clue as to what that was, it was certainly illegal.

She saw the sign for Britannia Café and approached it slowly. She decided not to go in right away. Instead she crossed the street and went into a convenience store and purchased a pack of cigerrettes. She wasn’t normally a smoker, she had maybe a few cigarettes every month, but she needed them now to calm her nerves. She walked out of the store and lit one up, staring intently at the entrance to the Café and seeing who was around. As she smoked she saw a few people go in and out but certainly nobody suspicious. When she got to the end of the cigarette she stamped it out. No more time to waste, she though, time to go in. She crossed the street and walked into the café.

Britannia Café was poorly lit and smelled like stale smoke and beer. Fatima walked over and sat down at a table nervously eyeing the room. A waiter came up to her and asked what she was having. She wasn’t a drinker so she just asked for a cup of water.

Suddenly, the door to the café opened and a man walked in wearing khakis, a white shirt, a long dark trench coat, dark glasses, and a fedora. The man had a large black briefcase in his left hand. He walked over to her table and sat down. “How are you Ms. Solari?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“Uhm, uh—” she stammered, “who-who are you?”

“Who I am is not important,” he responded, “you just need to see this am I correct?”He pulle dup his shirt sleave and showed her the scimitar tattoo. Fatima nodded silently as he rolled his sleeves back down. She was clutching the gun tightly and she was shaking. She had no clue who this man was and she thought at any moment he may just kill her.

“Relax Fatima,” he said, “if you’re going to be a good leader you need to stay cool in these situations.” She was taken aback by the fact that he used her first name and knew about her ambitions of being a leader. She thought of insisting on asking for his identity but decided against it. Just go with the flow she thought. “Listen to me carefully,” he began, “you need to take this briefcase and bring it back to your hotel room. You are going to keep it there and tell nobody about it and you are absolutely not allowed to open it. Tomorrow morning you are to bring it with you to the PDP headquarters and ask to speak to Karl Mayhew. He will be expecting you so just ask one of the workers there to call him and give your name. However, try to be as discreet as possible, don’t let any of the other students think that something suspicious is going on.”

“Ok,” she stammered, “Mr. Mayhew at the PDP headquarters tomorrow morning, right?”

“That’s right,” replied Mr. White, “now take this and run along back to the hotel. And don’t worry Fatima, I’ll be nearby in case you run into any trouble.”

With that, he got up and left. She looked under the table and grabbed the briefcase. It had only been about half an hour since her encounter with Mr. Mason. She still had no clue what was going on, but she wanted to talk it over with her cousin, Mona. She got up and walked out of the café. She stepped back out into the cold night and hurried back towards her hotel.

As soon as Fatima got back to the hotel, she ran upstairs and into the room. There was still some time until Mr. Mason returned and she needed to explain the situation to her cousin. She locked the door to her room and called her cousin. Mona knocked on the door a few moments later with a nervous look.

"Come inside," snapped Fatima, dragging her in.

"What happened," asked Mona still looking frightened.

"Sit down," replied Fatima, "this is going to sound crazy..."

Encryted Comunique to Christopher Sover
Mr. Sover at this time Jakra would like to increase our aid to you, because of the closness of the election you might lose the race to dirty tatics (bribery and such). In such case as you lose the elction, Jakra would be more than willing to send para-military intelligence officers to help you remove a falsely elected government. Also the Jakran Special Operations Fund is open to you, simply specify the amount and what account (of the 3 earlier).

Best of Luck, John Henry Eden

OOC: Italia, it was ok this time, but it would be appreciated if you didn't control my characters next time, unless their reactions are blatantly obvious.

IC:

Mason reacted to Fatima's assertiveness the best way he knew how. You didn't spend twelve years in government for someone like Grimmeberger and not have something rub off on you, particularly when said leader was a military officer. So, purely out of habit, Mason popped a quick salute to her.

"Absolutely, I can wait. I understand that you all would need stuff. I'll meet you, at, say..." he checked his watch. It was 6:45 pm. "How about 8:00? There's a cafe downstairs; bring any others that need to know how tomorrow is going to work, if you and they don't mind."


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

The earlier note, Sover had been willing to ignore the violation of the rules mutually agreed on. It would not be majorly obvious that he had used that much money. However, now that the contribution could easily be more than USD$1,000,000, he was rather angry. Are they trying to bribe me or something? Of course, that was nothing.

When he read the part of the message regarding the dispatch of "para-military intelligence officers," his face went ashen. Even though it was stated that it was meant to be used to help remove an illegitimate government, the real intent was patently clear to him: If you lose, we can throw a coup so that a government friendly to us is in place. Well damned if he wasn't going to win legitimately, or not at all. He would not sully his cause for simple victory; even if he should fail this election, and if he for some reason didn't live to see the next one, the cause would continue all the same. Muhlenkampf and Mills might stoop to bribery or attempted coups, but we will never stoop that low.

So, he quickly penned another note to the Jakran government.

To whom it may concern in the government of Jakra:

While we were happy to accept your earlier aid on the ground that it could easily be explained as coming from private donors (due to its modest, but solid amount), much more would be difficult to explain; furthermore, we will not be bankrolled by foreign countries: we will take the support of the people of the country: if they should not choose us in this election, so be it, we can try next election.

And your offer of "paramilitary intelligence officers" to help remove an "illegitimate government" is flatly rejected. I am not blind: I know that this would amount to a pro-PDP coup. If any illegitimate government is brought to power and must be removed, we shall trust in our own military, or in a coalition of all the parties opposed to such an illegitimate government. If we are the only ones with complaint about the results of the election, that is small problem indeed.

So, while we appreciate your support, we must decline your offer of further aid.

Sincerely,
Christopher Sover

Yeager would, of course, be graced with the presence of Gregor Mills, the head of the Rightist Party, as well as his second-in-command, Isaac Muhlenkampf.

Aids were contacted. Arrangements were made. A meeting for the following day, in Conference Room 144 in the NRP Headquarters was arranged.

Jakran Presidential Palace, Jakra City
Eden read Sover's letter quietly thinking
"Well, well, well Mr. Sover isn't as much a tool as we thought. Oh well the PDP now has the majority of the votes and if he is an honorable man then he will remember us making his foreign policy" "Maria, send in Director Shepard (head of jakran Intelligence)" he called to his secratary over the intercom, "yes sir" she replied. Shepard entered carrying a gray briefcase, "Good Day Mr. President" he said as he shook Eden's outstretched hand. " Director is the report in?" inquired Eden, "Yes sir right here" Shepard spoke as he removed a heafty manila folder from the briefcase. "Ah yes very good" muttered Eden as he read the report.

In this report obtained from a nationalized Jakran oil exploration company was a map of the Fanboyists, marked by 3 circles with interior numbers. The circles represented deep underwater oil reserves and the number the estimated # of barrels. The numbers were astounding each of the oil fields was large enough to feed a large industrial nation with natural gas and oil for over 300 years. The best part was only the exploration team and a group of high evel Jakran officials knew of the find, because of the depth and density of the seabed it was extremely difficult to detect. In fact the team had only discovered it by accident.

"Well" Eden thought "If Sover wins and continues to challenge us we can blackmail him with the money he took, until he gives us exclusive drillling rights and if not then he still will to reward us for assisting his campaign" Eden smiled as he looked at Shepard, dreaming of Jakra as an energy superpower.

OOC to Fanboyists: yeah my bad about that, its just that i was trying to get the whole story in before going to sleep haha.

IC: Fatima finished explaining the story to her cousing, who looked at her in disbelief. "This is so not cool," said Mona, "definitely not legal whatever is in that briefcase."

"I know," responded Fatima, "but we have no choice, I have to do what Mr. White says." She looked at her watch and realized it was almost 8 o'clock and time to go meet Mr. Mason. "We have to go meet Mr. Mason to coordinate for tomorrow," she said, "go get Hosni and Lorenzo and tell them to come too. I'm going to hop in the shower and meet you guys down in the lobby. As soon as Fatima left she put the briefcase in the safe and got in the shower.

Fifteen minutes later the four students were downstairs in the lobby and headed to the cafe. How would Fatima be able to focus on the meeting with all that was on her mind? Well, she thought as they walked into the cafe where they were scheduled to meet Mason, she was about to find out.
_____________________________________________________________

Elsewhere, the phone of PDP man Karl Mayhew started ringing. Mr. Mayhew picked it up, "Hello?"

"Mr. Mayhew," said the voice on the other end, "Listen closely, I have a proposition for you that will greatly benefit your party..."

OOC: Placeholder for upcoming posts; It'll be in later today; I have a football game to go to (MD Spring Game FTW!)

Walter was sitting idly at a table, a cup of espresso in his hand. He had been drinking more and more coffee these days, partially because he wasn't getting enough sleep because of all the campaign work. Oh well, he thought with amusement. At least I'm not becoming Stanley Neniven, who I hear drinks vodka fairly regularly. The guy can hold his alcohol. He took a sip. It was just about eight, and Fatima had struck him as the type of woman who just wasn't late if she could help it. So he wasn't overly concerned.

As he saw the students approaching, he stood up, resting his cup on the table.

"Ah, all of you, welcome to the Federation! Can I get y'all coffee?" he asked cheerfully in his pronounced Southern accent (Mason was from South Carolina) "I'm afraid we may be here a little late: there's quite a bit to discuss."

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

Karl picked up the phone.

"Hello, Populist Democratic Party Headquarters. I'm Karl Mayhew, candidate for Vice-General, alongside Mr. Sover. What can we do for you?" As he listened to what Mr. White said, he nearly dropped the phone. "I'm sorry? What is it you need? I think you may want Mr. Sover to talk to if you want to negotiate anything with the party."

Filie looked expectantly at Heinrich Grimm, across the small table in the room. Bright sunlight filtered in. Filie looked out longingly. What he really wanted was to be out in his native Carnegie, strolling the streets he had grown up with, up around Shadyside. As it was, in this secluded cafe, owned by a close friend, Filie had chosen this as the best spot to meet with Grimm about something rather sensitive. He had known this discussion would be coming for a long time, and he had been ready for it. Rather looking foward to it, actually.

"As you are well aware, General, our parties espouse many of the same values. The principal difference is that the Nationalists are not..." Grimm trailed off.

"Committed to democracy? Ah, but we'd rather keep it. It makes people so much less likely to complain if they think they are in charge. Besides, it means we aren't always having to run around attending to every complaint. Occasionally, we can leave the problem to others who were elected in their respective areas."

Grimm looked puzzled. This wasn't what he had expected. He had expected Filie to at least voice the opinion of the pro-dictatorial faction in the Nationalist Party, the one that yearned for a return of Grimmeberger to command (in spite of his vehement protests about even considering returning to power). But no, Filie had instead opted to make this so much easier.

"Both our constituents have similar values, though: pro-family, federalism, no more welfare then strictly necessary, respect for relgion even while maintaining a secular state, as many civil and political rights as possible... you get the picture. So, because of this, and because of the electoral strength of our parties..." he paused. He knew Filie was well aware of the two party's popularity: in national polls, they were indicated, in terms of national support, at 1st for the FRP and 3rd for the Nationalists respectively. If the two were combined into one party, they could practically guarentee electoral success. Which was why...

"So I wanted to discuss with you the possibility of a coalition, or even full merging of our two parties: our supporters have much in common, and would undoubtedly be happy that a government they support were to find its way into power by broad national support, rather than one of us or the other only barely squeaking by."

Filie grinned. He had expected this for a long time (as was said before).

"You think you're holding all the chips, don't you, Grimm? Maybe except for the massive amount of support, which you stand to gain, completely solidifying your lead."

"I do."

"You're wrong, of course. In spite of the compact's provision for an apolitical military, soldiers are still allowed to vote, and the vast majority of the military swings nationalist. By merging with us, you realize you run the risk of being accused of unscrupulous tactics, correct?"

Grimm paused. He hadn't considered that.

"Yes, I am willing to accept that risk, if you and your supporters will agree."

Andrew grinned. "Heinrich, my dear friend, you also realize you have now effectively made us coup-proof, right? I we should easily be able to out do everyone else."

Grimm was bouncing up and down (on the inside).

"Excellent! A toast?"

"Absolutely! To alliances?"

"Of course."

And so, as the sun rose in the east, the two raised their peices of bread, with jam and butter, and all at a perfect golden brown.

"To friendship and allies!"

"Likewise!"

And they ate their breakfast.

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

The Vienna Times-Tribune

The Chuck Norris of Politics?
By Andrik Starrhemburg


Yesterday, at a Carnegie Press Conference, Generalissimo Andrew Filie and Heinrich Grimm, of the Nationalist Party and the Federal-Republican Party respectively, made an announcement that could completely change the course of the election.

"After much discussion, it was realized that the people that have turned these two parties into truely national movements seem to have very similar views on the major issues: economic policy, foreign policy, secularism, life-protections, familial issues, the list goes on," Grimm (FRP) was quoted as saying.

"And we realized that it would be in the best interest of these people, after conferring with the regional leaders of the party branches, that a combining of the two parties would greatly increase the chances of their views having an impact on our government," Filie was quick to add.

"As a result, we have decided that a consolidation is in order, to form the Federalist Party, now fielding Grimm as candidate for General and Filie for Vice-General.

With the consolidation of two of the three most widely supported parties, it is expected that the election may be a landslide in favor of the Federalists.

As part of a compromise, Walter Rikkenbaucher, Grimm's original running-mate and well-reputed statesman, has been named as Party Head for the Federalists.

One pundit was quick to jump to an...interesting analogy, claiming that "this will have an effect on this election akin to putting Chuck Norris in a room full of bad guys. It'll be over in seconds, and it may almost seem like the other parties never existed, for all the difference they'll make."




Andrik Starrhemburg is the resident political correspondent in North America for the Times-Tribune, and is currently acting as election correspondent. Read his blog at www.theyellowline.com




OOC: Please stop voting in the polls at this point; they have simply been used to gauge international opinion towards the parties and ultimately have no bearing on the election otherwise; furthermore, it is now horribly out of date regarding the contained parties. BTW, Oseato, the post addressing your people is on the previous page.


And that's right, I just invoked Chuck Norris on II. The thread is uncontestedly mine.

Fatima and her group walked into the cafe and greeted Mr. Mason. She had cleared her head of the events that had just transpired and focused on the situation at hand. Fatima smiled shyly, it was important to be polite now, "hello Mr. Mason, let me introduce myself properly. I am Fatima Solaru and this is my cousin, Mona. These two gentlemen are Hosni and Lorenzo two of our most dedicated members of the Social Democrat Society."

She paused as the four sat down around the table. "So Mr. Mason, " Fatima said, "what is it you have it in mind for us to do?"
_________________________________________________________

"Well then put Mr. Sover on the phone," said Mr. White to Mayhew, in frustration, "you would think I'm trying to sell you poison over here." Mr. White couldn't believe it, here he was trying to help out a campaign and they were getting scared to take the money. Didn't these Europeans know how to play hardball politics?

Yeager was reading about the unification of the Nationalists and the Federal-Republicans as he walked with his aide into the NRP Headquarters. After checking in at the front desk, Yeager was taken to the conference room to meet with Gregor Mills and Isaac Muhlenkampf.

They had no yet shown up so Yeager settled in and waited. He hadn't expected them to show up early, as the NRP HQ seemed to be chaos following the announcement of the unification of the parties. It certainly would be tough obstacle to overcome, but then again Yeager had seen worse, and had overcome such odds before. Not to mention with less funds. Yeager smiled at that thought, he was looking at becoming quite rich after this adventure, thanks to his backers in Oseato.

When Mills and Muhlenkampf did walk into the conference room, Yeager jumped to his feet, shook both their hands and said, with a smile on his face, "Ready to win yourselves an election?"

Sover rolled his eyes.

"At the risk of sounding rude, there are goddamn procedures, sir. Will conference call work so he and I can both talk to you simultaneously?" He patched Sover through.

"Yes? Mr. "White"? Was there something you wanted to talk to us about? This is Chris Sover. I would imagine you know who I am, seeing as you're calling us. What can we do for you?"

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

Mills grinned happily.

"Oh, yes, absolutely. T'wod be rather appreciated, as a matter of fact. "What sorts of ideas would you have for us?"


Muhlenkampf looked somewhat suspiciously at Yeager. He was'nt entirely sure if the foreigner could entirely be trusted, but he would have to deal.


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

Mason extended his hand to each one, shaking in turn. "Its a pleasure to meet all of you."

As they sat, Walter found his coffee and took a deep drink. He leaned back in his chair, somewhat relaxed.

"Alright. What can you do for us? I think, if I am not mistaken, that there is a rally in two days: it is in Paris, so y'all shouldn't get too settled in: we're going to be on the move tomorrow. There's a lot of setting up to do, and I need you and the others for the following, if possible: a few of you to help direct people to the rally; there will be other volunteers from the city and other areas in the Federation, and you will recieve a crash course on what is necessary; potentially operate a booth explaining your presence..." he went on and on.

"Now, I'm assuming this is a secure line," said Mr. White, "though it doesn't matter for me, only for the two of you." Mr. White continued, "what I am offering you is $2,000,000, in cash, delivered to you tomorrow."

"Before you ask any questions, it is not relevant who I am, and the people on whose behalf I am delivering this package will make themselves known to you at a later date. There are no strings attached, this is simply a gesture of friendship from another group of individuals who share your fervor for democracy. In the interests of discretion, I cannot answer any questions you may have. This is a simple offer: $2 million, take it or leave it?"
____________________________________________________________

Fatima had to think fast again. If the group left for Paris tomorrow then how could she get to deliver the briefcase to the PDP headquarters. "Mr. Mason," she interrupted the conversation that had been going on, "I was really hoping we would get a chance to visit the PDP headquarters here in Vienna before we left for Paris, I'm a huge fan of Christopher Sover, and I've followed his career closely. Do you think we could go?"

"I'm afraid meeting him at the party HQ isn't possible; its going to need to be a quick up-and-out deal. I'm having to pack tonight myself when we finish here." He paused, scratching at a bug-bite he had gotten recently on his shoulder.

"However, both Mr. Sover and Mr. Mayhew will be at the rally. Mr. Sover has already said he wants to meet all of you and thank you personally for your support." He paused, wondering whether or not he should tell the next bit of information to such obviously fervent students. What would they think?

"I must also ask that you avoid denouncing certain, ah, persons, too vigorously while we are there. Mr. Grimmeberger will be there observing." He inclined his head. "See, part of the deal we had agreed on with the other parties is that all other parties are required to send a high-ranking observer to all rallies and the like of other parties, to ensure fair play. Also present will be Ms. Deanna Tonelson from the Libertarians, Mr. Karl Muhlenkampf of the Rightists, and Mr. Edward Richards of the Socialists. But Mr. Steven Grimmeberger is the only one I want you to absolutely avoid offending. It doesn't matter if you piss-off the fascists, and I don't think you would offend the libertarians or the socialsts, particularly. But for the love of God, don't irritate Grimmeberger. You don't want him mad at you. I worked with him personnally for twelve years, and he is scary when he gets angry. You will end up looking over your shoulder for the next few years if you make him angry; don't misunderstand, he doesn't operate like that, but as a former dictator, he certainly projects that sort of air. Don't bring that on yourself."

He paused again. "Also, because he really takes an interest in this sort of thing, Generalissimo Filie will be in attendence. If you really, really want to criticize him and Grimmeberger, please at least be tactful about it."

"Besides, it would be really bad if we offend the Federalists; it would effectively kill any chance of getting swing voters from them."

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

Sover frowned. After assuring Mr. White that the line was, in fact, secure, he continued.

"Well, thank you for the support. We'd be willing to accept it, but for the sake of ethics, I'm going to want some place I can contact you; I want to be able to pay you back, so that we can't be considered beholden to anyone. That is our stance on international assitance; loans are fine, but we will insist on paying them back."

"I'm afraid we won't be here tomorrow: we're going to be in Paris leading a rally. Both Karl and I are expected to be in attendence, and the observers will be suspicious if one of us were to not show up then be spotted by passers-by working at party HQ. Could you get to us in Paris?"

"Well," Yeager said as he moved to sit back down at the conference table "I'd recommend getting your people into the streets. Marches, Rallies, and the like. Show the people you're not just a fringe group but a legitimate contender in the elections."

"Then public speeches, interviews with the press, everything. Get out there, early and often." Yeager was getting into it now. "What you don't want is for the Federalists to marginalize your party. Back in Oseato opponents of the 2 major parties were never able to get more than a toe hold in the Seante, simply because they got second rate press and coverage and were dismissed by the dominate parties every time they were mentioned."

"Remember to get a lot of photo's taken with the people, lead the marches, visit lower class areas, visit all sorts of towns, get involved with some of their work. Make yourselves more identifiable with the people."

"Do you have anything planned current?" asked Yeager as he finished.

"Unfortunately sir, I cannot give you a contact for me personally," said Mr. White, "however, like I said, the people who have sent the money will contact you to let you know who they are. You will not be "beholden" to anyone, my employers simply want to see democracy flourish the best it can in a state as large and influential as yours. Please do not worry, but if you will excuse me, I have to go and adjust the logistics so that I can have our contact meet you in Paris tomorrow."
___________________________________________________________________

At the conclusion of the meeting, Fatima dn the others shook hands with Mr. Mason and bid him good night. She had a lot of thinking to do, like how she would proceed now that there had been a drastic change of plans. When she walked into her hotel room the phone rang. She picked it up and answered, "hello?"

"Hello Fatima," said the voice on the other end, "it's Mr. White, how is everything?"

"Terrible," snapped Fatima, "now they're saying we have to go to Paris tomorrow to work on this rally and I have no clue how I'll get the money to PDP headquarters."

"Paris?" repeated Mr. White sounding surprised, "well how convenient, I was just about to send you to Paris by yourself, but this will make it even less suspicious if the whole group goes."

"What?" asked Fatima, "so how do I give them the briefcase?"

"Let me worry about that," said Mr. White, "just keep the briefcase safe and go to Paris." With that Mr. White hung up.

This kept getting weirder thought Fatima, but at least she got to go to Paris.

Mills nodded all throughout. Muhlenkampf had excused himself about midway through to go take a call from the party line.

"Absolutely. We've already held two rallies, although I got the distinct impression at the first one that the observer, a certain Steven Grimmeberger, was laughing at us all through the whole thing. When he was standing at the side of the stage, the damn Federalist kept having to stifle chuckles and kept cracking grins." He took a deep breath. "But we also have another one scheduled for three days from now, over in Rome. Preparations are already being made."

"As for getting out and doing stuff with the people...we've been trying, but in half the places we've gone we've gotten boo'ed, and," here he winced, "in a few cases people threw stuff at us. The nation is, I think, too sunk in liberal decadence. Half the people out there are well aware of us, they simply hate us. We have almost 80% of the acknowledged 'conservatives' in the country, but little beyond that. That's not that much, really. The fact that half the journalists are also rather blatantly pro-Federalist, or earlier pro-Nationalist, doesn't help."

OOC: Italia, should we just skip to the next morning after I post this? Its just Mason's observatoins and reactions.

IC:

As Walter started heading back to his room in the hotel (he didn't live in Vienna either), something in him resonated about the student's behavior. Or, more specifically, Fatima, who was obviously their leader.

Now why would she have been so preoccupied? She just got here; there can't be that much she's done here that could possibly cause anxiety for her. He rubbed his chin as he unlocked the door to his room. Very interesting. And with that, he got undressed and turned out the lights. Tomorrow would be a big day.

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

Sover nodded, though he knew Mr. White couldn't see it. "Fair enough. But, for the sake of my own conscience, I will want an opportunity to repay you for this. It would feel wierd otherwise. Good night then."

OOC: A

Brown
Ultra-
Magical
Pumpkin

serves as my house.

Yeager was deep in thought as he listened. The situation did look grim for the Rightists, but not hopelessly so.

"That still leaves half of the press that isn't openly hostile to you, I'd suggest inviting them along to your rallies and only talk to them. Also reference the unfair treatment from the press in your speeches. If you pressure the papers, you may force them to cover you in a more positive light, or atleast a more fair light. As for the people, only do photo ops with those you know support you, but still invite others to join your rallies and marches. Eventually you'll need to branch out and talk to these people. If you feel you can do that, sit down with leaders and people you know don't support you and see if you can persuade them of your ideals."

Yeager paused for a moment before continuing. "If all else fails, some of my fellow "advisors" have experience in the press business. I'm sure they have contacts around that may be able to help, whether here or in the foreign press. Though that won't be a long term answer." Yeager winced as he said "Hell, it may not even help at all."

"I'd also like to know what was making this Federalist smirk and laugh. Why was he doing so? What are you rallies like? I'd like some of my men to see the rally in Rome if that is alright with you?"

OOC: yeah sounds good

Fatima woke up the next morning and for a moment thought that all of the occurrences of the night before had been a dream. Then she looked at the pistol on her nightstand and it all came rushing back to her. Now she had to go to Paris with the rest of the student group and bring with her a briefcase which she didn't even know the contents of. Fatima was always one to question authority, but for some reason she felt it was best to follow Mr. White's orders.

She got out of bed, woke up her cousin Mona, and proceeded to go wake up the rest of the students to prepare for their trip. She went back to her room jumped in the shower, got dressed, and took the briefcase out of the safe. She placed it inside her suitcase wrapped up in a bunch of her clothes. Then she went downstairs with the others to meet Mr. Mason.
__________________________________________________________

Mr. White sat at a cafe across the street from the hotel where the students were staying. He saw them come down and immediately noticed Fatima organizing everyone and shouting orders.

She didn't appear to have the briefcase with her, but he was sure that was because she had it hidden with her other bags. She was far too smart and focused to forget something that important. Good girl, he thought, she was already proving herself to be quite reliable.

Mills nodded. True. But I was merely referencing half the press friendly to the Federalists. Thats not mentioning the other third of it that is pro PDP or NWSP. If anything those are even more hostile to us. We have a small audience indeed. However, I see what you're suggesting, and I will see to it that our staff throughout the country shift gears in these priorities."

"As for why the man was laughing...Grimmeberger has always had a wierd sense of humor..." he paused. "I was calling for a restoration of the Federal navy and the resumation of the Federation's imperialist period, one which Grimmeberger, as Generalissimo for 25 years, brought to a screeching halt. That is the thing you must remember; it is only unnerving because this is our former dictator, and a man that was, for a long time, though not recently, pro-fascist." He gulped. "Not to mention he is personnally in charge of the manhunt for the former leader of our party, James Derkins, who attempted to overthrow Filie using loyalists in the SSP." He paused again. "But I got the distinct impression that he just, in general, thought I was an idiot."

"Absolutely, as a matter of fact, as private citizens, there is no reason for you to hide, and we were planning on asking you to attend the Rome rally."

Chancellor Wilhelm von Vladroz, a dictator in the communist police state of Augarundus, has made some statements about his support for both the Fascist Party and the Socialist Party. Due to the generally poor international reception of Augarian statements, this is seen by some as a derogatory point. However, the Augarian ultra-nationalist communist (an only) party, English UAPFS (United Augarian People's Free Socialist Party; in Augarian: Unst Patrov der Augaruschen Poplaren Comshcloste (UPAPC)) has declared its disapproval of the Nationalist Party, and reaffirmed the world Communism and Socialism are the only solutions to poverty and economic crises.

Walter strode up to the group of students. He had four Grey Coat militia officers with him.

"Hello, good morning. I trust you all slept well?" he said in a somehow quiet shout; it carried, but wasn't particularly loud. "A bus will be here shortly, say about five minutes. From there, we will take a plane from Thomas Filie Memorial Airport to Paris International. This here is Captain Julia Marsh, a captain in the local militia, and she and her men will be providing security for us at the rally. Any questions should be directed to her."

Soon, the bus arrived and people began piling on. Walter sought out Fatima, he needed to confirm that she was aware of what would need to occur when they arrived in Paris.

Meanwhile, a blacked-out, bullet-proofed sedan took Sover and Mayhew to the airport. Inconspiciously, of course. Because blacked-out sedans are always inconspicious.

Fatima sat down on the bus next to Mr. Mason. She wanted to go over what the student group would do and to let him know that there were an additional twenty students that were already in Paris. She was also curious to find out when she would actually get to meet Mr. Sover and Mr. Mayhew.

"So Mr. Mason," she said, "what's the plan?"

"Well, we are going to take a chartered plane to Paris. Just the students. When we arrive at Paris International, we are going to take buses to Charles de Gaulle Square, where the rally is being held. Once we are there, your volunteers will be grouped with local volunteer groups for specific instruction on their duties, and will perform said duties. These will include directing people towards the rally, distributing pamphlets about the party platform, acting as guides (don't worry, they'll be told where everything is), and, on top of that, we'll need a group explaining the mission of your organization here. Just a little international awareness and outreach. When the plane is underway and you're free to move about the cabin, I need you to organize your volunteers into groups; it doesn't matter how they're organized, or on what basis, just that they are organized, preferrably into enough groups to fulfill the jobs I just explained. I can repeat them if you need." He took a deep breath. That was a lot of talking.

"You and the others will get to meet Mr. Sover and Mr. Mayhew after the rally; when people have for the most part filed out, they will meet with you; they are rather anxious to do so, actually; they want to meet the only international volunteer group that has come here."

Eden was extremely disturbed by the new Federalist merger, with both of the parties support combined things looked bleak for the PDP and Jakra's plans. He pondered the problem as Director Shepard once again came to meet with him, "Any Ideas?" Eden inquired as Shepard walked in. "One sir" Shepard replied "Political Solution 395B" he added as he handed Eden a folder with VSD (Very Sensitive Document) on the red-silver security tape. "Ah, interesting" replied Eden "Will it solve this particular problem?" "It should work perfectly sir" said Shepard. "Then do it" said Eden dismissing the Director as he read the file.

Political Solution 395B
-In order to deal with a hostile or threatening political leader (who holds no current or major current major office) in a foriegn country. Deposit indisputable (feigned if necessary) evidence of infidelity (or any local socially inacceptable crime) to destroy said figure's public/political support and backing.

OOC: Noted, Jakra; proceed. IC:

Unfortunately for Mr. White, who had been observing the bus loading, he had yet to realize that he was not so good at deception as he had thought.

The SSP officers that had been tasked with watching the PDP (just as other officers were doing for every party) had managed to place taps on each phone line in PDP HQ, and had been listening in on the converstation Sover and Mayhew had had with White the previous night, using it to triangulate his location. Since then, they had had him under observation, and they chose this time to strike.

Eight SSP officers thundered up the stairs to the building they knew White was hiding in; they were careful to cut off the avenues of escape. They had no intention of letting shady dealings go unexposed. The captain in charge of the platoon knocked on the door of the room he was believed to be watching the street from.

Mr. White heard the knock at the door. He walked over and looked through the peep hole. He saw a group of SSP agents outside. Mr. White let out a chuckle. He had no documents on him, no weapons, he always took care to stash his gun somewhere other than the place he was staying while in “authoritarian” countries, and he only had FFNAT currency. If they asked to search the room they would find nothing other than clothes, his toiletries, and that morning’s local paper. All planning for his mission had been done face to face back in Tripoli. The only thing they could possibly have on him was the phone conversation between him and Sover, and he had taken care not to mention anything that could give Fatima away. All they knew was that someone would be meeting Sover in Paris, but it was a political rally, God only knows how many people he would come in contact with.

Mr. White opened the door slowly, “good morning gentlemen, how may I help you?”

SSP agents were very different from the secret police in many countries in a number of ways. One of them was that they were trained to be cheerfully polite to most people they made contact with, unless the situation clearly called for otherwise; 'otherwise' included gunfights and arresting those suspected of treason. Mr. White was not suspected of treason.

"Mr...ah, 'White'," the lead officer said cheerfully, managing to imply the quotation marks on "White" without that annoying little quotation gesture. "We received information from an anonymous source last night that you may be in connection with activity that should be discouraged regarding the election."

Another officer could be seen recording the exchange on a notepad. Another thing the SSP was well-known for was that they wrote everything down, part of why they weren't considered proper paramilitary police by those in many other countries: you can't make people disappear if you wrote down exactly what happened to them.

The lead officer continued. "We would like to bring you into the local SSP branch to ask you a few questions. It shouldn't take too long, there were just a few things we would like to clear up. Is that OK?"

Two more officers, larger ones, stood behind him. The obvious message was your answer will be 'yes,' or we'll handcuff you and record it as 'yes' anyway.


OOC: off for the night.

"Absolutely, as a matter of fact, as private citizens, there is no reason for you to hide, and we were planning on asking you to attend the Rome rally."

"Yes I see your point." Yeager said. "I'll see what I can have my guys do. There must be some paper in this country that supports you. If not, I'll have some of my contacts in Oseato look into printing a paper for you, to distribute throughout the country and your party."

Then Yeager attempted to address the issue of Grimmeberger."As for this.....former fascist. I wouldn't worry too much about it. While he may think you an idiot and make a mockery of your work, the last laugh will be yours, when you defeat the others in the elections. You will be righting the wrongs he committed when he dismantled your forces and ended your country's expansion."

"We will be traveling with you to Rome, or shall we travel on our own?"

"Whatever for?" asked Mr. White quizzically, "I've done nothing wrong."

He paused, looked the SSP officers over, and then cracked a smile, "fine, I'll come down to the offices with you as long as I'm promised unlimited coffee and doughnuts. If you agree to that condition, I'll come along quietly and I won't have to ask the hotel manager to send security to escort you guys out of the hotel. So what say you to my offer, my friends?"

Captain Meyer, the SSP captain assigned to deal with Mr. White raised an eyebrow. He snorted. "I'm afraid you can't get unlimited coffee and doughnuts, sir, we don't get 'em ourselves. And while I'm sure you were'nt serious about calling security, that would have been a rather poor bluff anyway. We are security. We already spoke to the manager; he told us which room you were staying in. But we just need to clear some stuff up."

As they began to lead him out of the room, Meyer muttered, just out of the range of hearing: "Like what the hell your name is."

"Undoubtedly" Mills said simply.

"And we would like it if you would take transport with us. There is still more to discuss. The plane leaves tomorrow at three, and we should be there within two or three hours."

"Excellent, excellent." said Yeager. "In that case I must ready the staff for transport and will meet you for the flight tomorrow. If we are done for now?"

"Absolutely. On your way, sir. Thank you for your assistance, once again."

"Well my friend," said Mr. White, "I had been told that the people here had a very good sense of humor, apparently you do not possess this quality. Nevertheless, I am sure your great nation could spare at least one cup of coffee in exchange for my services."

What a bunch of scum bags, thought Mr. White to himself. He had been taken in by authorities in many different countries, but even the most brutal and maniacal dictatorships, he would always be offered a cup of coffee or a cigarette when they came to get him. What the hell did they even want from him anyway, for God's sake its just a political donation.
____________________________________________________________

Fatima organized her group and split them into groups. She thought over what she was going to do. She couldn't wait to give this bag to the PDP so she could finally focus on working the election for real. In the meantime she looked out the window as the plane approached Paris. She had always dreamed of going there, and, she hoped, she hoped she would actually get a chance to enjoy it.

The Jakran Agents were making the final preparations. In approximately 4 hours(once they were in Jakran arispace) the SSP and local police would recieve an anonomyous tip (rerouted to a local hotel) of an intruder in Andrew Filie's home.
Inside the ploce and Greyshirts would find several disturbing items, a stash of child pornogrophy in a small closet; it was covered in Filie's fingerprints and dried semen (don;t ask how it was acquired) to indicate much use. Then the main piece would be on Filie's computer, logs of him using a screen name (Mr. Happy-Fun Pants) repeatedly molesting several young girls (10-16) in chatrooms (cockshots, dirty messages, invites to real life, and anything else a child molester would do). Best of all the girls were in several countries including the Fanboyists and the all had the same real internet molester (Intelligence had dealt with him secretly) so they would all vouch Filie was the molester and he would be speedily convicted and the party's name ruined.

While Alpha team dealt with Filie, Beta went after the party and Grimm.
Using the fact Grimm was seeing a female journalist on the campaign trail, the agents would create and place e-mails and fingerprints to make it seem as if the female reporter was being used by Grimm to control a news station (sex for making me look good to the public scheme). The reporter would look like she kept sensitive or bad material of grimm and his party away from the TVs for her lover.
And as the cherry on top, several e-mails were sent from Grimm's laptop to other fmale reporters (other agencies) trying to seduce them into a similar scheme. Then for flavor, some creepy stalker details were thrown in (Grimm's bodyguards tailing reporters and spying on them and harassing letters + e-mails.
All in all this grand plot should end the elections quickly and dirtily.

The simple unfortunate truth for the Jakran agents had yet to set in: the Generalissimo lived, during his tenure as leader, in the General's Quarters; these were monitored 24/7 for security purposes, as was, to an extent, his computer use; websites that could prove compromising were blocked on these computers (the SSP had no desire to watch their leader doing stuff like that, so the simple solution was to make sure he couldn't). The Generalissimo did not have another home: he was a servant of the people: he did not get vacation time, etc. When one was made Generalissimo, according to the precedent and rules set down by Grimmeberger, once made Generalissimo, your old residence was sold. But you could buy it back later. Guarenteed, if you survived the job.

The upshot of this being that the SSP was immedietely tipped off, along with the Federal Guard, that someone was rummaging around in the Generalissimo's quarters. Which was actually generally translated to "espionage" charges, for which the punishment tended to land one in a nice, cushy cell for the next 75 years, or, if they were foreigners, execution.

The result of this being that the Jakran agents most likely started thinking things along the lines of "We are so screwed" when they heard a man on a bull-horn shout to them:

"This is the Federal Guard! We have the building surrounded, come out with your hands up!" Federal Guards were essentially reassigned panzergrenadiers, meaning they were elite soldiers, and there was a full division of them, overall. Admittedly, there was only a regiment outside the General's Quarters, but that was still more than enough to deal with any trouble-makers that could fit in there; it wasn't that big a house. There were enough to make sure a squad of people couldn't shoot their way out or sneak out without getting shot first.



OOC: This is the first reaction, there's plenty to get to, so don't worry.

"Others certainly have a sense of humor, but after 20 years of tracking down treasonous S.o.B.'s, spies, serial murders and rapists, I'm afraid jokes made by people I need to speak to don't stick with me terribly well. All too often I've had civil conversations with them, only to find out that, say, they're guilty of serial rape and murder, or are actively attempting to overthrow the nation I serve, or something like that."

"Sir, like I said, I would offer you unlimited coffee if we had unlimited coffee. This government was concieved by the biggest cheapskate of a dictator the world has ever known. I mean seriously, he skimped on repressing people properly because it was, and I quote, 'a waste of perfectly good funds.' Alright? So no, if the man can't be bothered to spend a bit of money on propaganda and keeping the people quiet, I would be surprised indeed if he gave an agency free, unlimited coffee. I can offer you a cup or two back at the station, but that's it." He paused, and thought for a moment. "Maybe a doughnut, but that comes out of my own pocket. If you would please come with me, we seriously only need to ask you about a few things, none of which are terribly serious; at worst, you're facing a few thousand dollars fining if you happen to be guilty of what we are investigating. I mean, really, the only way you would go to jail is if you tried to, say, punch me out right now and attempt violent resistance."

The work of the Jakran agents framing Grimm couldn't be stopped in the act: Grimm wasn't being monitored. However, a few key facts would ultimately sabotage their plans.

1) Ms. Mira Ansic, the journalist Grimm was seeing, was, in fact, still a virgin (thus wrecking the credibility of any 'sleep for favors' charges), and would testify as such on a witness stand if necessary. She was also a free-lance reporter, meaning that any strings pulled with her would be negligable; so the 'sex-for-favors' concept would ultimately be quite questionable.

2) Grimm did not have a bodyguard. He had considered it multiple times, only deciding in the end the protection of the Federal Guards (assigned to guard all the candidates) and the SSP was quite sufficient. He was not rich, so he couldn't hire a private army; a governor-generalship (Grimm's previous posting) did not necessarily correlate to wealth, thus ruling out a private army.

3) The concept of Heinrich as "cunning politician" barely fit; he was not even 30, had worked before only in an administrative position, and was well-known for being amicable and approachable by average people. He had an almost spotless record: Eagle-Scout, high-school hockey player, straight-A student, etc. Ruthlessness was not part of his character, and was a fact that was well-publicized by most media. He was actually noted within the ranks of Grimmeberger's old government that he was arguably the most spotless individual in the government, and was also argued in many cases as being the biggest bleeding-heart of a governor ever, too. He had run numerous projects as governor-general, all aimed at helping people.

Had this attempt at framing occured on anyone else, it would probably have worked. Unfortunately, Jakra had chosen the two people that it was probably least advisable to discredit. As it was, the charges leveled against Grimm would be considered generally flimsy, at worst for him, and outright bogus at best for him. However, it would probably still merit investigation. But the SSP was good at spotting bogus evidence, having planted their share in their day (for reasons that will not be gone into right now).

Persepolis Palace East Wing, Personal Office of the Shah

"I see this intelligence briefing, elections, suspected foreign involvement, a most interesting concept."

The Shah paused a moment while General Bahram Yazdi replied, "Perhaps your majesty would like to take a role in deciding it?"

The Shah took a sip of tea from a golden cup, letting the hot cardamom flavored liquid roll down his tounge before speaking, "No general, I want to discredit it, polarize it. They face a Communist revolt, but, of course, they have an election with no less than a half dozen bloody parties. We can easily make these people lose faith in their government, and that is what I want to do, promote the cause of the Communists, weaken the democratic system and make the nation a bit more malleable to future designs."

General Yazdi looked suprised, this was not the bloodthirsty but direct Shah he saw most of the time, but a more cunning and cruel monarch which ocassionally showed his face when military action was out of the question. "How do you intend to do that Shahanshah?"

"Are you familiar with the idea of electronic warfare, not the type that you see in wartime to protect from missiles, but the kind fought using digital means? We can use these methods to provide the initial thrust against the system, then make it more and more extreme via more direct methods. Assassinate characters, destroy lives, not literally, but enough to break the system and make all candidates unpopular."

"So, the plan General, the Electronic Warfare center will begin preparations to destroy Mr. Heinrich's character. He will be the first sacrifical lamb to ensure our goals are met. At the same time, I want you to rouse anything SAVAK has in that part of the world to start getting what they need for a small operation."

Heinrich glared at the police officer. The sheer metal table wasn't helping his mood, nor was the lone, hanging lightbulb in the room.

"For the last time, officer, I don't know what the hell I'm being accused of. I've done nothing wrong. I mean, really, is dating someone illegal?"

"It is if you're trying to use them to keep the bad-press away." The gruff police officer, complete with mustache and starting to put on a roll of fat here and there, fit the stereotype of an inept cop who thinks he's clever very well.

Heinrich gave him a face-palm worthy of a prize. "You can't pull the strings on a free-lance journalist. I already told you that. For God's sake, her specialty is paranormal shit!"

"Is what's going on your pants paranormal?"

Heinrich gave him a look that managed to convey three simultaneous emotions: Horror at what this guy could think of, Exasperation because he just didn't seem to get it, and massive amounts of amusement, because he had never heard such a badly-worded accusation.

"Jesus, officer! It's not even like I...did that with her! And besides, if I was going to try and corrupt someone, I sure as hell would'nt do it like that!"

The officer looked suspiciously. God, I can't possibly convince him that I am, in fact, telling the truth! Heinrich thought with exasperation. It wasn't helping that Filie couldn't come and bail him out by putting a reasonable officer on him: he was currently occupied with a stand-off that was starting at the General's Quarters. He was just--

Then the metal door slammed open, revealing a man of about 60 in the light.

"Andrews, for God's sake, cut the shit!" he growled. "I'm relieving you for the night."

"But--"

The man fixed the pudgy cop with a look that could vaporize. He strode over to the table as Andrews, as the cop was called, left the room.

"Heinrich, you're free to go until further notice. I have no idea what the fuck is going on, but someone is obviously targeting you and Andrew," Grimmeberger growled.

"Yessir."

"When I find out who is doing this, regardless of what Andrew says about political involvement by the acting government, I'm taking the Guards and shooting all of them," he growled as Heinrich walked out of the room.

It didn't pay to make Steven Grimmeberger angry. For an old geezer (relatively speaking), he was dangerous.

"Well then that sounds great to me, my friend," said Mr. White jovially, "well let's go and get this over with then."

General's Quarters, The FFNAT
The two Jakran agents blood ran cold as they heard the Federal Guard call them out. They both knew surrender meant death and even escape meant death, they both had uncurable terminal illnesses. They both had only 8-10 years left, which is why they had been approched to be Black-ops agents. They no longer feared death, instead they feared for their nation. If Jakra was implicated they had failed. The government hadn't wasted all that money to erase them from history for nothing. The months of erasing and buring files, removing their original teeth (no dental trace) and eye transplants (no retinal match) would not be in vain.
They quickly emptied their utility bag's contents, 15 lbs of Balsto (a commercial blasting agent) and 6lbs of Incindeary agent 416 (commercial agent for burning through metal). They then set the charges around the Generalissimo's office as they said their death prayers, taking care that the incindeary agent would totally consume the room, their flesh (no prints of any kind) and likely a large chunk of the house. Finally they each attatched a special shaped charge to their foreheads to garuntee instant death, and together pushed the pressure switch which set off the explosives and ended their lives along with any chance of the FFANT tracing Jakra through them.

OOC- Fanboyists can decide how big explosion is, but it did go off and kill the agents

And another vote for the libertarian party.

The airplane carrying Mr. Mason and the student volunteers landed in Paris in the last morning. They boarded buses from the airport to take them to Charles de Gaulle Square to begin their campaign work. There they would meet up with some other students from Italia Orientale and local volunteers to help set up and draw attention to the rally.

Fatima tightly clutched the duffle bag containing the money as the bus rode towards the Square. She would soon be able to hand it over to Mr. Sover and be rid of this weight on her mind. She saw the size of the crowd start to thicken as they approached their destination. This was the moment of truth, if she could get through this then she would have achieved her task.

[The Minister of Information for the Empire of Mussolioni releases a statement regarding elections in the FFNAT.]

"After consulting with the Paramount Leader, the Empire of Mussolioni wholeheartedly endorses the Fascist Party in these crucial elections."

Electronic Warfare Center, Kerman, Parthia

Kerman was by no means an especially large city by Parthian standards, a relative backwater with a mere 7.5 million citizens living in the city, yet it held one advantage, being the center for the Parthian computer manufacturing center, it offered the perfect place for a headquarters directed towards computerized warfare, one which had become ever more important as a means of foreign policy solutions.

Under the center of the city, 500 feet below the bustling streets of the cental buisness district, a bunker staffed by a few dozen employees and large mainframe computers kept a consistent monitoring of the situation. It was time for action, all of them knew, a time for the activation of Zurvan.

Husrav Ahgari worked as one of the overseers of the mainframe units in the bunker, his task to direct the exceptionally powerful computer in controlling various operations, he sat back in his chair, taking a sip of tea while he punched in a final bit of code into his workstation, "Time to mess things up." He said with a smile as the whine of the coolant pumps on mainframe 4 went active, sending a signal into the internet via several proxy hosts in facilities in allied countries.

Within a minute, Zurvan went active, bringing to life perhaps the world's most powerful botnet, over 175 million computers which had picked up a trojan coded by Parthian electronic warfare experts. The Zurvan trojan caused no damage to systems and no major departure from normality of operations, but seized control of several ports on the connection to the internet and created a back door to allow remote access of the infected computer. Zurvan's size and scale was a brilliant thing, consistently shifting and fragmented programs would come together on an activated machine, allowing subhosts on the Zurvan network, often mainframe units of companies or universities, to transmit orders for particular tasks.

"And what a task this will be" Husrav said, smirking, as the mainframe sent out signals through proxies to the various subhosts.

Within seconds, the relay had went out, millions of individual bots on the Zurvan network, ranging from office computers to personal computers connected to the internet began to launch a coordinated attack using the subhosts to direct them, over fifty million infected computers currently online were split into task groups, some searched for "entrances" to the systems of Fanboyist internet service provider companies, often, if their security was typical, separated from the internet by a password. If indeed, they were, parts of the botnet would commence with a brute force attack, spamming numbers and letters in an attempt to find the password through over one hundred million guesses a minute coming from the Zurvan network.

If they broke the passwords, other computers would find the subscriber data information, relaying it back to subhosts, who rendered it to proxies, who in turn rendered it to the Electronic Warfare Center in Kerman, where it would be sorted for the names of those affiliated with the current Fanboyist political system. Other computers would attempt to introduce the Zurvan trojan across the Fanboyist internet using the compromised internet service providers to transmit it generally to all computers currently online in the nation.

While the attack on the ISPs continued, the remainder of the botnet took up other tasks. All non-Zurvan related traffic became the victim of a massive denial of service attack as the computers began to send large quantities of data to Fanboyist servers, targetting government computer networks.

Fanboyist sites related to news, were another target. Zurvan brute forced access codes with the intention of blanking the entire site, intent on erasing all data and replacing it with only a line of text.

"All Your Base are Belong To Us"

Husrav chuckled as he finished entering code and watched everything unfold.

OOC:
I don't know, Parthians, if you saw the message I dropped for you on your jolt profile; if not, I'll send it to you via TG.

IC:

Now, the vast majority of public and commerical internet service fell victim to the Parthian's dirty warfare (really, low blow). However, because the government's internet and networks were literally accessable from computers based on location, and those same computers were cut off from other internet service, they remained safe, so the government's computers and networks were still functioning quite well, thank you very much.

Even if it had been able to have been ascessed by the Parthian hackers, it would be important to realize that the major "modernization" of the government's facilities by the former leader Grimmeberger, who was quite old-fashioned. This meant that sensitive records were only left in hardcopy, and in groupings of tightly controlled vaults in multiple cities (there were multiple copies of each; you don't think someone would want those lost, do you?), and government radio was controlled with non-networked computers, and all that jazz. This means that the police, armed forces, beauracracy, and head of state's office were all functioning quite fine, and would have been, even if their computers had been hacked.

And, of course, the Parthians had failed to account for a crucial factor.

---------

Filie saw the tile come out of nowhere from the exploding General's Quarters. It was fairly light, but it still hurt like shit when it hit him. He recieved a concussion almost instantly; non-fatal, but sure to put him out of action for a while.

Nevertheless, this was a freak accident: Federal soldiers had a proud history of counter-insurgency success, and one of the things they had learned very quickly was to never approach an occupied building, within 100 yards: they stayed farther back, content to ensure nothing escaped if they decided to bolt, knowing full-well that what was contained in a building, or who was in it, was by no means an indication of if it would survive the day. So only a few were injured, and one more soldier killed when a tile similar to the one that hit Filie proceeded to peg him in the face.

Unfortunately for those with a vested interest in watching Filie and the Federalists fall, these events piled up at the single worst possible time. The unfolding events were spectacularly timed, so that, if one didn't know better, it would seemed as if they were coordinated, which, of course, they most certainly weren't. Because what managed to unfold within the 8-hour period was as follows:

1) Filie injured by tile. Hospitalized shortly thereafter. Meanwhile Grimm has to disprove all the fabricated evidence against him (outcome never in doubt, but time-consuming and annoying all the same). Timing of this strikes many as suspicious; foreign involvement suspected.

2) 3/4 of the nation's internet and computers are simultaneously hacked. Obvious foreign disruption; no-one in the Federation has resources like that, or is smart enough.

3) On recieving news of this, fascist leader James Derkins (who has been in hiding for the last few months) decides the time is right to strike, and, with 3,000 of his brown-and-grey shirted supporters, marches on the Capital building in Vienna.

4) On recieving news of Derkins' reappearance and bid to sieze power, Grimmeberger rushes from Zagreb to Vienna in a few hours, arriving and taking comand of the Federal Guard and two divisions near the capital, as well as SSP forces and Greycoats.

5) Fight develops between Greycoats and SSP officers in the capital (with support from 44th Armoured Division) with the fascists. Grimmeberger soon arrives with his reinforcements, and Derkins and his supporters are either killed fighting or captured. Derkins is taken alive.

6) Grimmeberger announces that a state-of-emergency has been declared, as an attempted coup has been foiled, and government affairs will return to how they were a few months previously until someone figures out what the fuck is going on. Grimm is ordered back to Croatia as Governor-General to control the situation. Democracy is put on hold until further notice.

7) Isaac Muhlenkampf and Gregory Mills, attending a Rightist rally in Rome, are arrested by SSP agents for complacency in an attempted coup and possible treason.

So, in short, those that opposed the Federalists had their worst nightmare ensue because the Parthians decided a little mucking around in foreign politics was a good idea. The communists would never have a chance to take power now.

Yeager, attending the Rightist Rally in Rome, watched in silence as government agents took Muhlenkampf and Mills away. Shortly after they were lead away, Yeager moved across the stage to one of the lower ranking Rightist Party members.

"What the hell is going on, and who is left in charge!?" Yeager demanded.

Persepolis Palace, Parthia

"Shahanshah, they called off the election!" Zurvan worked brilliantly.

General Nassiri smiled at the good news, the Shah sat complacently, his hands resting on his desk, but expressed a clear sign of pleasure at the thought. "And the plan to expand the network?"

General Nassiri looked at the Shah, "We managed to break into a good percentage of the computers in the nation, but, Shahanshah, we don't know how many are now part of Zurvan, perhaps a few, perhaps the majority. If it's a lot, we can continue with operations. Though it seems we won't be able to break into the tax records as planned, their government computers are all kept off internet access, a shame, considering we had plans to alter them and show the candidates all took kickbacks on a regular basis, but nonetheless, we still have the potential to continue with operations if this has all worked out."

The Shah lit a cigarette before continuing, "Perhaps we should make a bit of chaos? Can we break into their TV news mainframes and upload a few things for broadcast? Perhaps something to get the masses stirred up? If Zurvan is on there, we can use the download and remote control functionality to take over their civilian broadcast media and upload some information useful to the general purpose of creating chaos..."

General Nassiri smiled, "I'll get right on it, until then, we have to continue with operations as planned."

The Shah replied as he took another drag of the Davidoff, "Well then, have SAVAK get on it, but I want a security probe on their news media, if Zurvan is widespread, we start spreading the information that we want spread."

The Rightist looked somewhat confused, but he had a suspicion of what was occurring.

"I heard a rumor that Filie is dead, or hurt, or something, and that something happened to public and commercial communications, and our former leader, James Derkins, had attempted to take advantage of the confusion and seize power. But I also heard, before the news cut-out, that he had been captured, along with most of his followers, and was arrested on high treason charges. The penalty for high treason is always death, so there's no escape for Derkins. He will probably be shot within the hour. Isaac and Gregory are probably going to recieve minor sentences if they are convicted of complacency, but seeing as they have had as little contact with Derkins as anyone else, they will probably be released in a day or two. No permanent harm done." He paused. "I also heard the election is off. Grimmeberger has assumed emergency power. But I don't know who's in charge of the party right now. I think the best thing would be to go home and wait to see what's really going on: I don't think anyone here really knows any better than I do."

---------

Speak of the devil....

Grimmeberger looked directly at Derkins. Why can our plans to make things better for the people here never work properly? It's like fate wants me to be the big bad dicator, he thought bitterly. The former Chief of Internal Security stared back at him, glaring.

"You wanted to destroy the fabric of this nation, Steven!" Derkins barked, as he stood against a brick wall.

Grimmeberger looked at him with a complicated expression, there was definite sadness (or at least a sense he wished it didn't have to work this way), anger, and just possibly, mild amusement.

"Said the man that attempted to throw a coup," Grimmeberger said lazily as he finished loading his prized rifle. It had been his service arm during the Wars of Defense. "So, because you wouldn't deserve this under normal circumstances, think of it this way; you'll be executed by me personnally. Doesn't that make you feel better."

Derkins betrayed a slight look of fear. "Not particularly. I'm going to die all the same, now, won't I?"

"Ah, but I'm a good shot. It'll be quick and painless. And as a martyr for...a cause, I guess, you'll probably go straight to Heaven! A bastard like me who orders and carries out executions? Probably got a one-way-do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-$200-ticket to Hell. Think of it that way."

"I highly doubt it."

"Fair enough, but you might as well tell yourself that to make yourself feel better."

The sergeant-at-arms had stepped out, with a printed proclamation. He began barking its contents as Grimmeberger took a firing position, rifle at ease.

"On this day, the 24th of August, the people of the Fanboyist Federation of North Atlantic Territories have demanded the execution of Mr. James Ernest Derkins by firing squad for crimes of High Treason against the government, conspiracy to foment rebellion, conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder, and racketeering. Do you have any final objections to these charges?"

Derkins was stoic now. "No. I will now admit my guilt, and beg God for forgiveness for my sins."

"Do you have any final statements for posterity?"

"Yes. I have only done what I have because I love this nation as much as anyone. Also, shoot straight, you bastard. Don't make a mess of it."

The Sergeant cleared his throat, now addressing Grimmeberger. "You have your charge from the people. Shoot dispassionately, aim to kill, do not wound him." He pulled out a saber. He rested it on his shoulder. "Fire on my mark." Grimmeberger raised the rifle. The safety catch was clicked off after he chambered the .30-06 shell.

"One...Two...Fire!" The rifle cracked as Derkins' blood met the wall, and his brains splattered as the bullet exited his head. He fell to the ground limply as Grimmeberger stood at ease, resting the rifle, butt on the ground. He whispered softly.

"Sorry old friend. Sorry."

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

An announcement was made by government radio, which was, again, functioning quite well.

"Hello, citizens of the Federation; as you may have heard through rumors, a team of hostiles, probably foreigners, occupied the General's Quarters today, then blew them up, injuring Generalissimo Filie. He is expected to recover, but he may be in the hospital for some time.

"However, at the same time, another group of (probably) foreign computer specialists hacked public and commercial internet and telecommunications systems. These interlopers appear to have been in league with seditious elements at home, as James Derkins then attempted to sieze control of the government. Brave soldiers of the Vienna Defensive Forces, as well as the loyal Militia and State Specialist Police, stood firm against him and ended his short-lived coup.

"Until further notice, however, due to the disruption to the election and the potential that a foreign intervention may soon occur, I am assuming power as Generalissimo until the emergency has passed or Andrew Filie is in such capacity to re-assume power. All political candidates have been ordered home, and are being placed under protection, should any mobs attempt to harm them.

"A full mobilization is also in order; all units of the Federal Armed Forces are to report to their assigned bases within three days of the issuance of this, Executive Order 301, and all Militia Forces are to be at full readiness, conducting drills once a day. The SSP will be searching for any indication of who may be behind this willful act of sabotage. Be on the lookout as well; the enemy may attempt to follow up their sabotage by broadcasting propaganda attempting to encourage your disloyalty to the country: fight these filthy people that wish us harm simply because we stand against their goals of dominance!"

"Good night and good luck. Rest assured that I, Steven Grimmeberger, will not rest until you are all safe from those that wish us harm."

-------

Meanwhile, Heinrich Grimm was quietly ordered home to reassume his duties as Governor-General of Croatia. A loyal hand close to home might be needed.


OOC: In case you didn't realize it, Generalissimo Grimmeberger just reassumed power for the duration of the emergency, and so the elections are officially off.

Electronic Warfare Center, Kerman, Parthia

"Are you ready?" Husrav Ahgari asked one of the other computer programmers working in the EWC.

"It's coded and good to go, send it out on Zurvan."

Within minutes, the bit of code just prepared in the EWC passed through the last of the multiple proxies hiding the control center from the Zurvan botnet. As part of the Zurvan program, the Electronic Warfare Center could push files through certain computers, in essence, a bit of code called a spike which could force computers to behave a certain way, taking control of them and changing the way they operated, and this spike as almost perfect for a bit of chaos.

A small bit of code in the spike would pass into the broadcast television station computers, finding the relay which connected the transmission of signals between the Fanboyist stock market and the computers which placed tickers on the screen. Within seconds, the spike went active, running an algorithm which, while not actually affecting the price of stocks on the stock market, began to show an overall decline in all prices on the television.

Meanwhile, Fanboyist news websites with financial data were hit by the same downward adjusting algorithm which showed the same kind of decline that the news media TV did. Investors checking between news television and internet based financial information would see the same decline, the same numbers, consistent over time in declining.

The intent was simple, scare investors to cause a massive run on the market as the news media and most easily avalible financial information showed a slow, but precipitous decline. Zurvan had not even attempted to breach any stock exchanges, they were too well cut off from the outside and a breach would cause a shutdown, but, Zurvan could cause actual damage to the overall market just by scaring investors into thinking the market actually was falling.

Meanwhile, the spike began to run a second algorithm on the television network computers, beginning the download of a file from the subhosts of the Zurvan network.

OOC: Thank you, world. My first real attempt at democracy, and it got derailed before it actually managed to begin. That may be a new record.

Actually, I'm slightly surprised ODECON didn't jump in and force a PDP victory, really.
IC:

Grimmeberger read the incoming report that had reached him.

Why? Why does this shit happen to me? he thought wearily as he read the message, which informed him that all media sources were (incorrectly, according to Federal government data) indicating that stocks were dropping at rapid prices. So far, investors were waiting for an official government response: they weren't going to panic yet, seeing as it had been a crazy day and they had been warned that someone might be messing with national communication, including media. A fact which bought Grimmeberger time to avoid a panic.

A radio address went out, broadcast from loudspeakers controlled over radio from the central government or the offices, which were, in turn, recieving their orders via radio.

"Dearest Citizens,

We are subject to the most vicious electronic attack, we believe, recieved by anyone in recent memory. We have reason to believe that a foreign nation is manipulating the media's communications via the internet. We have recieved reports that they are manipulating the economic news to indicate a large price drop in stocks: disregard this. A panic is, I'm sure what these people want; it is undoubtedly communists attempting to undermine our nation so that their discredited system will find fertile ground to perpetuate their lies. As a precaution, however, we will be freezing prices on everything until we figure out exactly where this is coming from, and what these people want."

"Please, for God's sake, bear with us."

While there was some panicking, and stock prices actually did decline slightly, it was nowhere near what the foreigners wanted. It did not throw things into chaos; if anything, it was a real indication to the people that someone really was mucking around in their affairs. And the general result of foreigners mucking around in Federal affairs tended to be that people rallied to the government, which they were already beginning to do. The militia had already recieved record numbers of new volunteers, and one or two marches through the streets had occured with people carrying Fanboyist flags and chanting "death to the foreigners." All in all, the Parthians had yet to do anything that didn't have a different effect than what was normal, simply due to the ultra-nationalist world-view of the people there.

In some ways, the Federation bore a resemblance to Imperial Germany: everyone supported the government, and you marched when the government, no, the Fatherland needed you. Which it most certainly did now; so people everywhere turned their attention outwards, towards whichever offending people had decided to bother them now, just that an end to upheaval had been within sight. Everyone knew the Generalissimo (Grimmeberger) wasn't responsable: he had stepped out of power voluntarily before, and he could have re-siezed it at any point if he had wanted to, such was his support from the people and the army. Regardless if this was the truth, it was the people's perception. And that made all the difference.

“WHAT!?” shouted Fatima Solari into her cellphone, “yeah, yeah, call me back when you know more.”

“What was that all about?” asked her cousin Mona.

“Apparently there has been a coup and now the elections are off, so much for democracy at work.”

“So what are we going to do now?” asked one of the other students in the group. They had arrived in Charles de Gaulle Square two hours earlier and they were busy handing out fliers and directing people to the PDP rally.

More importantly for Fatima, she was still walking around with $2 million in cash in a duffle bag that was meant for the PDP leadership. Now she wasn’t sure if she should still try to get the cash to the PDP leadership, give it back to Mr. White, or, and she had prevented herself from letting this thought cross her mind until now, she could simply disappear in the confusion of the coup and somehow get away with the money. Don’t be stupid Fatima, she told herself, they know you have the money. Plus, she was aiming to become Prime Minister of Italia Orientale one day, how could she steal from the country?

“Well,” she said trying to get out of the chaos that was slowly starting to spread around the square as people heard the news about the coup, “we should probably get out of here, this could get out of hand.”

“Yeah for sure,” said one of the others, “let’s go to the hotel.”

That sounded like a great idea to Fatima and she grabbed the duffle bag and went along with the others.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Mr. White sat in a Viennese interrogation room waiting for someone to come talk to him, and still waiting for his cup of coffee. It had been seven hours that he had been in there, only let out to use the bathroom while he awaited questioning. Even worse, on his last trip to the bathroom, he noticed that the station was abuzz with activity. People were running all over the place, and there was a slightly nervous feel to the place.

Whatever this event happened to be, it was certainly delaying his investigation. It was standard procedure to let a spy sit alone for several hours to let him get worried and nervous, but he had a feeling this was a little bit more than that. He reached in his pocket and lit up another cigarette.

Persepolis Palace

"Are you reading these reports of theirs? Pure Comedy! They think Communists are behind this." Of course, pointing fingers towards something else was always an effective way of passing off blame, and allowed the Electronic Warfare Center command to pass off the signals to a proxy in a socialist nation, if needed.

The Shah was laughing a bit, before composing himself. "General, prepare the third phase."

Electronic Warfare Center, Kerman, Parthia

"Has the spike finished downloading the file?" Husrav Ahgari drank a cup of coffee as he prepared for the final phase of Zurvan's operations.

"Yes, we're running it in five seconds."

Both programmers smiled as the final signal went out to the Zurvan network. Within a minute, computers across the TV news media stations of the Federation would cease to respond to commands, with code on the file taking over the functions of the station and broadcasting a pre-recorded message, read by a man in a mask, sitting behind a table in front of a red flag with a hammer and sickle emblazoned upon it.

"Workers of the World!

Wake up, O Proletarians of the Federation, and behold your lot in life, to be turned into a means of production for the benefit of the Fat Cats in the oak paneled offices.

You may ask who I am, who we are. The answer, we are the future, the revolution, a revolution where the worker is turned from a means of production to an end in itself.

What do we stand for? The dignity of the worker and of his labor, the end of the capital owning class which rules over you and sees you as expendable, justice for the common man and a government by the people, not politicians or the rich.

Workers of the Federation, fellow proletarians, today, we struck against the structures of the Capitalist, his oppression of the proletarian, and his injustice he commits upon mankind. But it is up to you to deliver the final blow. Free yourselves from drudgery and wage slavery, take to the streets against the fat cat and exploiter, bring him down, destroy him, so the workers may rule the nation, not the rich, not the fat cat corporatists, the people.

Your government worries this will happen, that is why they have called off the election, not to protect the nation, nor the people, but to protect the rich from the necessary changes a fair society entails.

Stand up for your freedom, workers of the Federation, take to the streets and demand change. Rise up, fellow workers; you have nothing to lose but your chains!"

And with that, Zurvan once again went inactive. As it shut down temporarily, it sent return packets to the offices of a number of Communist Parties across the world, creating a number of trails which a dedicated investigative team could theoretically track to exactly where the Shahdom wanted them to look.

Finally, an SSP agent shuffled into the room. It was the officer who had brought Mr. White to the station. He was holding two cups of coffee.

"Sorry about the wait. It wasn't intentional, I assure you. We have had our communications attacked by some goddamn foreigner, so everyone is having to run around making sure there's no terrorist attacks or anything. They think it might be foreign communist organization or something. Truth is, everything's a bloody mess, and we're having a hard time figuring out what the fuck is going on."

"So...what we needed you for is that we have word that a few million dollars in campaign, ah, donations, were bound for the Populist Democratic Party at your request. We are, actually, aware that you aren't from this country. Italia? 'Sit nice there? Anyway, we just wanted you to confirm or deny this; its not a big deal; we didn't want people sending foreign aid money to the parties, so that we could keep the elections a domestic affair. 'Cept, since they've been called off for the time being, you know, state of emergency and all that jazz, its not terribly important. If you were giving money to these people, we were told to tell you to stop, maybe fine you a few thousand dollars, etc. Now, I'm perfectly happy to overlook those if you happen to have any better idea of what's going on then we do. I don't think you're involved in it, and I sincerely doubt you'd tell me if you were; no one is that stupid, but, you know, other peoples, other views. You might know something we've never heard about."

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

So far, a grand total of jack-shit in terms of bad stuff had really happened in the last few hours in the Federation. No crack-downs, no further disruption (though that would undoubtedly change), nothing in particular. People were generally sitting around, playing board games, etc, as if this sort of thing happened everyday. If Grimmeberger, who had led the nation well for 25 years before this, told them not to panic, then they would damn-well not panic.

And, of course, Grimmeberger was perfectly right when he accused foreigners of this whole deal. And anything they wanted to try would most certainly not turn out as neatly as they hoped.

Jakran Presidential Palace
Eden demanded Shepard in his office ASAP upon hearing of the FFANT's turmoil and his agent's death. Shepard arrived 20 minutes later looking calm and even smiling, "You smug little piece of shit" Eden thought as Shepard walked in. "Good evening Mr. President" Shepard said in an joyus tone which only further enraged Eden.
"An operation you told me was foolproof just exploded in our faces and, you tell me good evening! Damnit Shepard our plans are being totally destroyed and you walk in here as if you are on top of the world!" Eden yelled. "Sir, we really don't need to be this rash, the NIA (National Intelligence Agency) has multiple contingency plans for this operation. While we had a minor intelligence failure regarding Grimm. the operation can still pan out."
Shepard said in a soothing voice.
Eden with most of his rage vented responded in a similar tone to Shepard's "Well what would these contingency palns be Director?" "That is quite simple sir, you should be able to guess based on the FFNAT's latest actions" Shepard replyed with a sly grin. As the though Shepard was conveying dawned on Eden he began to laugh. "Shepard, you mean to tell me that the contingency for a extremely complex political plan is to simply let a civil war ensue and then intervene?" Eden gasped between rars of laughter. "Yes, sir" Shepard replied as he began laughing as well" "Well done Shepard, well done" Eden thought as he laughed "You have just saved your job and likely your life, you sly bastard" eden thought as he and Shepard each took a shot of Eden's favorite Vodka.

SAVAK Cyber Intelligence Center, Shiraz, Parthia

SAVAK's Electronic Intelligence Headquarters outside Shiraz was an elegant building, originally a palace owned by the governor of Shiraz, it was taken over by Parthia's Intelligence Services when Shiraz became part of the Persepolis-Shiraz Satrapy.

SAVAK was most well known for its secret police activities in the Shahdom, arresting Communists, Leftists, and other dissidents who opposed the Right-wing Capitalism of the Shah, that, however, was only the very visible tip of the iceberg which made up the Parthian Intelligence apparatus. SAVAK was a complicated and hugely compartmentalized organization, with various operations and divisions running operations at the same time, often completely unaware of each other.

Outside Parthia, it targetted dissidents in exile, assassinating them, while also taking out critics of the Shah's regime in foreign nations, with due care and precision. Intelligence gathering also existed, compartmentalized into various satellite units, signals and cryptography, human intelligence, and even black ops were all part of SAVAK's repetoire, controlled by dozens of individual ministers, who in turn, had no idea of exactly what people under them were doing, with divisions often being assigned to special tasks and closed off from the rest of the organization.

Electonic Warfare Center in Kerman was part of SAVAK, but few outside of the highest echelons of the organization and those directly involved in the Zurvan project even knew of its existence. As a testament to this, Cyberintelligence also operated a smaller botnet coded as Shamshir, unaware Zurvan even existed. Perhaps only the Shah had any real idea of how the organization worked, its overcompartmentalization meant planting moles was difficult, and a lack of communication between compartments except through intelligence analysts meant that information gathered by potential moles was going to be limited, if they even managed to turn one of the SAVAKis, as they are known. The tortures inflicted upon turncoats by SAVAK torturerers could be appalling.

Of course, the Cyber Intelligence division of SAVAK never expected to see a plethora of easily accessible backdoors in so many computers suddenly pop into existence in a single nation as they did in the Federation. Mainframes in cyberintelligence headquarters worked behind their own proxies, often known hackers who had attempted to break into SAVAK's computers from other countries but were in turn blasted by a trojan of SAVAK's making and turned into a sheild SAVAK spies could hide behind.

At roughly the same time, the signals division monitoring cell phone communications in Paris came to see the existence of pro-Social Democracy campaigners from Italia Orientale were currently working on behalf of that party in the Federation, related filtering began to search for more data as another mainframe made yet another discovery.


Cash. Lots of cash, wired from a Swiss bank into an account in the Federation, belonging to the Social Democratic Party, no less. Within minutes, a mainframe was tasked on breaking into the bank and finding out a bit more information as to the original source of this cash.

OOC: sorry Parthians, there was no electronic wiring of money from us to the Federation all of the transactions were done strictly in cash and in person. We are notoriously suspicious of computers especially when it comes to money, intelligence, and that type of entanglement. How the money got into the country may come into play later in the rp so I won’t reveal it now, but it wasn’t through electronic wiring. Sorry

IC: Mr. White looked at the officer questioning him as he sipped on his coffee. He figured they probably had an idea where he was from by now so it didn’t come as a surprise. He chuckled, “I don’t know anything about ‘Italia’ but I do know I’ve had no involvement in whatever issue you and your people are having to deal with right now.” He looked at the officer, “so no elections huh? That’s a shame, so who staged the coup, communists, fascists, the army, or environmentalists?”

OOC: I know you didn't wire money, but Jakra did. Hence why it showed up.

OOC: The money was wired from the banks, not any Jakran government accounts. The cash was deposited in the various banks then wired. So there is no electronic link to the Jakran government.

At this point, Grimmeberger was trying to make the remaining party leaders shut up and listen.

"What about democra-"
"What's the meaning of this shi--"
"What the fuck do you think--"

"SILENCE!" Grimmeberger bellowed. It was amazing that a 64 year-old man still retained that sort of vocal strength. "In case you didn't notice, some foreign group has decided that it would be funny to fuck-up the elections! Now, I know for a fact at least one or two of you have been rather lax about compliance with the rules about foreign aid," he gave a meaningful smirk at Sover and the recently-released Muhlenkampf, who was still rubbing the welts the handcuffs had left on his wrists (SSP agents tend to generally show no regard for the comfort or safety of suspected treasonous persons). "Now, I don't think the thing with the commercial and public networks has anything to do with any of you; if it does, you can bet a hefty sentence is coming your way very soon, especially if we find out the normal way without you admitting it; people have died in fires and shit because firehouses couldn't coordinate their efforts, which would make any implicit in this guilty of several counts of negligent manslaughter. However, I won't assume any of you would go that far. So we need to sort out what we're doing next to make sure everthing stays stable. I will now take questions. Yes, Chris?"

Sover returned a meaningful glare. "What about democracy? I thought that was the point of, you know, having an election. You hate democracy. Its a well-known fact, Steven."

"True. I find it a bit too inefficient. However, if its what the people want, I see no reason to stop it. Rest assured the elections will resume when we solve this problem. Now, Chris, I want your support through this; no coups or attempted coups. Things are enough of a mess as it is. We don't need to make it worse."

The remark stung Sover. Grimmeberger had never forgotten the first time he had forced him to step down, and a disasterous experiment in democracy had ensued, ending in a total economic implosion.

He snorted and blew it off all the same. "Don't worry, Steven. I'll wait 'till afterwards to pressure you to go to prison," he said semi-sarcastically: he meant it when he said he would wait; he didn't mean it when he mentioned sending Grimmeberger to prison. Nobody would probably ever be able to pull that one off.

"Fair enough. Stanley?"

"Nevermind. My question has been answered." Neniven said simply. "Though I would like to know what you have planned for us to do in the meantime."

"Simple. I've already thought of that, Stanley. Have you ever known me to risk unnecessary uncertainty?" he asked, handing Neniven a paper.

Neniven unfolded it and read it over. "Jesus, Steven. Reinstatement again? This is my third commisioning, you know. Second since you arrested me."

"Yes, but that one only says 'Col. General.' I'm giving Von Bayern a promotion to Field Marshal. But he needs a good artillery commander, I hear."

"Understood. When do I report?"

"Tomorrow. 0600 hours. Isaac?"

"Where's Gregory?"

"Still being questioned. He'll probably be released in the next few hours. Don't worry about him. Now, you are aware of the reason why you were arrested, correct?"

"I think so. Derkins reappeared?"

"Yup. Tried to sieze power during the confusion, opportunistic bastard. But he was executed shortly after-ward. Pulled the trigger myself. Now, you havn't been implicated in the deal, so we won't hold you or Mills. But if I hear of you or Mills planning the same thing, so help me, you'll be joining James. Clear?"

Isaac gulped visibly. "Transparently."

"Where's Grimm in all of this?" Alexander Fayless inquired immedietly.

"He's been ordered back to his post in Zagreb. I need someone reliable close to home. He fits the bill perfectly, just like Stanley." He paused, then added an important detail, indicating his true commitment to Filie's plan. "I won't have any of you silenced or arrested, unless you give me reason to. So don't go shooting anyone or anything. Go home, or resume your governmental work if you have any. Clear."

"Yessir," they announced as one. Life in the Federation (especially the government) tended to instill some military-style discipline in you.

Mr. White looked at the officer questioning him as he sipped on his coffee. He figured they probably had an idea where he was from by now so it didn’t come as a surprise. He chuckled, “I don’t know anything about ‘Italia’ but I do know I’ve had no involvement in whatever issue you and your people are having to deal with right now.” He looked at the officer, “so no elections huh? That’s a shame, so who staged the coup, communists, fascists, the army, or environmentalists?”

"For God's sake this day has been bad enough. Don't make it worse by lying. We know full-well you're from Italia Orientale. That's not a crime or something. You don't need to deny it. On the other hand, I perfectly believe you that you have nothing to do with our current shitstorm. And yes, no elections at the moment. Grimmeberger took power temporarily, because Filie was injured when some fuckers blew up his home. We think, based on something that may be connected occuring to another Federalist leader, that they were planting evidence of wrongdoing when we found them. A rogue fascist, James Derkins, attempted a coup, but he was arrested and executed within an hour of it, and most of his supporters were either killed in the fighting or arrested. The elections are only off temporarily." He chuckled at the mention of environmentalists. "Nope. None of them, though I wouldn't be surprised if there had been. There are some wierd people in those groups."

"Well then, my friend" said Mr. White, "it appears as if we understand each other fully." He rubbed his eyes, he was tired and hungry from sitting in the interrogation room, but nothing serious. "So," White began, "since I'm clearly not in any serious trouble and therefore not a flight risk, and the elections are suspended anyway, what do you say we go grab some dinner somewhere? On me of course."
____________________________________________________________

It had been several hours since Fatima had gotten the word that the elections had been called off. She looked out of the window of her hotel room and saw that the streets were pretty clear and there was no sign of the chaos she had expected following a coup. What kind of a crazy ass country was she in right now, she thought to herself, if the elections had been called off and a coup staged back home, people would be running the streets looting, shooting, and pillaging. Here it was like business as usual, and that unnerved her even more.

Another thing that was worrying her was that she had not heard from Mr. White at all since she had arrived in Paris and he was supposed to have contacted her as soon as they had arrived. Hopefully he hadn't been arrested, because if so, they may know about her as well. She started to envision agents kicking in her door and dragging her out of the room, never to be seen again.

She picked up her phone and called Mr. Mason, she needed to know what to do next.

The North German State hereby endorses the Fascist Party, not as a party that can benefit the FFNAT, just as an alternative. We will give no financial support or anything close to that. Simply an endorsement.

Thanks You,
Jake Featherston
People's Chairman

Fatima wasn't entirely right when she thought there had been a coup; Grimmeberger's emergency reassumption of power wasn't really a coup in the normal sense of the word: he had every intention of relinquishing power once the emergency abated, the government had not been toppled (technically, he had been back-up leader to Filie, so it was actually the normal transition of power under the government in place during the elections), and the only real attempted coup had, in fact, been rather bloodily supressed. It had just been very quick; 3,000 para-militaries vs. two Federal Militia brigades and one Federal Army brigade tends to be a very short match.

The Captain in charge of security for the volunteers, Captain Sarah Willems, knocked on the door to the hotel room. "Hello? Ms. Solari? We need to talk with you for a moment about what's going on."

----------

The officer who had been speaking to White nodded. "Fair enough. I guess I should introduce myself, seeing as I didn't earlier. I'm Captain Samuel Iverson. Shall we go?"

Field Marshal Erik Hohenzorn had been in charge of security in and around Vienna since the most recent flare up of RBPA activity. He was a committed Federalist, and was loyal to Grimmeberger insofar as he embodied the Federation's will.

So naturally, he was very happy when he recieved the most recent news: a group of foreign agents, Jakran, it was believed, in origin, had been detained and disarmed attempting to leave the country. The SSP was currently giving them a little entertainment, and had checked to ensure they didn't still have explosives or weapons on them. Hohenzorn would be heading over to speak to their leader soon enough.

Fatima’s and her cousin Mona were sitting in their hotel room waiting for a call from Mr. Mason when there was a knock at the door. They both jumped, startled by the sudden noise. Fatima looked at the door and slowly got up.

“Who is it?” she asked through the door. The voice on the other side responded that she was the Captain in charge of security for the volunteers, and Fatima wasn’t sure if this person could be trusted. She figured she had no choice but to open the door so she did. There was a woman in a security uniform standing on the other side. “Hi how can I help you?” she asked.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Mr. White and Captain Iverson walked to a restaurant near the police station, grabbed a table, and sat down. “So Captain,” said Mr. White, “out of curiosity, which party do you support?”

SAVAK Center of Cryptography, Shiraz, Parthia

"Look at this!"

Masoud Arslani had been looking over intercepted communications passed in from the Cyberintelligence agency to cryptography, with political communications being especially monitored. Of course, seeing a series of communiques passed between a foreign server and the Social Democratic party of the Federation could raise quite a few eyebrows, and, unsuprisingly, they were heavily encrypted as well, as could be suspected.

Arslani's superior grunted, "Send it to the cryptograph machines and see if you can break it."

Willems stood with very good posture in the grey Militia uniform greatcoat, FN-49 rifle slung on her back, short brown hair entirely out of her eyes.

"Yes. I imagine you'd like to know what's going on, correct?"


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

"Me personally? I'm a Federalist. But if the evidence and our duty to our country said so, I'd arrest Filie or Grimm in a heartbeat. Political conviction rarely plays a part in the actions of SSP agents. Or, at least, it shouldn't. Most of the more politically inclined ones left with Derkins, the old director; most of them were fascists, and when they didn't like the government's new stance towards democracy and the like, they revolted. Now, within the last few hours, what remained of his followers were rounded-up, and, if what I hear is correct, Grimmeberger pulled the trigger on Derkins himself."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're in support of Sover and the PDP? Just based on our evidence?" he said with a slight grin.

"Now if I were you," responded Mr. White, "and I was a gambling man, I would put money on that being true." Mr. White grinned, he probably had nothing to fear from this SSP agent, he seemed to genuinely want to protect his country. Nevertheless, it was still probably best to stay indirect and not actually answer any questions directly.

"Now," began Mr. White, "there may or may not be a certain young woman in Paris that I may have been my main contact here." He continued, "I just wanted to make sure that if a woman fitting this description is picked up in Paris she is treated well. I can assure you that she is no threat."

"Ah, so I might say then that we are reasonably certain that there's a strong possibility that you made a contribution to the PDP's campaign chest?" Iverson said, with a knowing smile. "And of course, rest assured if any such woman (might she be amongst the volunteers from Italia?) is picked up, she will not be mistreated. Though I would consider this a total non-issue; neither you nor any of your associates have done anything really arrest-worthy. We simply wanted to request that this not become a habit or anything. You see, when others get involved of our internal affairs, bad things tend to happen to us, so we've been trying to keep foreign entities out of the election; you know, keep your politics your own. That's really the only reason any of what you and I have been experiencing has occured. Not a particularly serious offense. It was mostly meant as deterrent, rather than to really punish those that violated it. I might have to ask a few hundred dollars' fine from you, but that's it. I may have to. No guarentee."

"I see that we understand each other well here," said Mr. White, "I'll gladly pay that fine, but my main priority is ensuring that my contact is safe and still possession of all of her belongings."

"Like I said, you needn't worry about her; she probably won't be arrested, or, if she is, it'll be in the nature of yours; not a proper arrest, just an opportunity for us to literally ask a few questions. None of her belongings will be confiscated, none of the other students will be placed in any more danger than she is (which is to say, none). That's really all there is to it."

"Only somewhat on the same subject, do you realize that here, unlike many other countries with a 'secret' police force, people never just 'disappear' here from the police? It's actually a minor point of pride. We record what happens to everyone we ever speak to, arrest, ah, dispose of (rest assured they're murders and rapists, not political prisoners), and so on. And, if one tries hard enough, they can get legal access to those records."

He took a drink of his coffee (he had gotten more). "Out of idle curiosity, got any family?"

“Yes, actually I do,” responded Mr. White, “a wife and two daughters.” He took a sip of his coffee and said, “I like the way you guys do it over here, with no disappearances and everything kept on record. While I don’t agree with many of your laws, I can surely appreciate the order and stability your government seems to have placed on this country without resorting to completely totalitarian means. You know, my oldest daughter is starting to look at universities, so I’ll have to ask you to fill me in on the best universities you have here in the FFNAT.”

A serious look came across Mr. White’s face, “however, I would really like to contact my associate in Paris if that is possible, would you be able to find out for me if she has been picked up by your agency?”

"Well, we certainly have, to my knowledge, the most unorthodox dictatorship I've ever heard of. Free press (that's been around since the Grimmeberger years), free protests (same thing, but we start arresting people if it gets violent; that sort of thing is just unsightly), due process, all that good stuff. Most of us have found that, while total freedom and democracy are great things wherever possible, they aren't always, and most people can live with simply being able to speak their minds in safety. From what I know of it, when appointments for governors would come around, before they were made an elected position, Grimmeberger would always look for feedback about various administrators from the residents of the region before making a choice. Fair man. Possibly just a little crazy, but fair."

"Yes, the Universities in Zagreb, Vienna, Oviedo, Rome, Warsaw, and Carthage over in the "Old World" territories, and in the America's the ones in St. Charles, Richmond, several of those in Carnegie, Savannah, and Inneville are good. I'm married myself, three kids. But my oldest is still a sophomore in high school. Plays hockey, and I have to occasionally check to make sure he's doing all his homework."

"Yes, you can call her. I promise we won't track your call this time," he said with a grin. "Although if she is with the volunteers, I daresay the militia assigned to them for security will be filling them in on what's going on. I wouldn't worry. Captain Willems is one of the best there is. Very calm, concise, and clear-thinking. Won't say anything about her marksmanship, though," he added with a chuckle.

Mr. White called Fatima and was able to get through to her. She told him the whole story of what had happened, and she was pretty upset about his being unable to contact her. Regardless, he told her to hold on to the bag and stay at her hotel and he was going to come meet her soon. He came back and sat down with Captain Iverson again. “So, am I going to be released?” he asked, “because if so, I need to get on the next train, flight, or whatever to Paris.”

"Well, sort of. We're going to release you, but first I need to take you back to the station. There's some papers that need signing before you go. You know, indications that we didn't torture you, use excessive force, or egg your house. And, of course, to indicate that you did, in fact, make it out the other side intact. Otherwise, we have to shoot you and sign you out going out the other way," he added with a grin. "But yes, after that, you're free to go."

After returning to the police station and filling out the necessary paperwork, Mr. White and Captain Iverson stood outside the building. "Well sir," said Mr. White, "I guess I will be on my way to Paris to pick up my asset over there." He turned to the Captain and extended his hand, "I must say, this was probably the least excruciating arrest I have ever been subject to. Thank you Captain."