Seaside Palace, Canissia
King Arik's Morning Briefing
King Arik Coyotus-I looked over the various intel folders, all neatly laid out by his staff just a few minutes before, while the King was still on his morning run. The files were color-coded according to urgency, and laid out on the table according to region-- western command, central, eastern, and northern. He sipped at his coffee and reached for the one that always seemed to be the most urgent-- Shepistan.
Oddly enough, though, the Shepistan folder was marked yellow-- worth a look but no immediate cause for alarm. There were protests worldwide against Shepistan's 'Ambassador War', but they were dying down after the initial groundswell of outrage ran its course.
There was, of course, no way to follow up on the 'drift mine incident', and so far there was no reason whatsoever to assume that Shepistan had anything to do with the Shroomanian cable outage-- that issues was buried deep in the Shroomania folder as an incidental item.
Of interest, however, was a terse diplomatic message from Japanistan that Arik read over.
Diplomatic Message to Canissia
Imperial Japanistan considers the situation on Velaria to be intolerable, the renegade barbarian hoards of al-Akharabat will be dealt with severely and an orderly government. Japanistan is aware of existing Canissia presence and proposes a joint Japaanistani commanded peacekeeping operation, which will facilitate the withdrawal of Canissias overextended forces and creation of stable and secure conditions on the ground. Japanistan aspires to help al-Akharabat reach its natural potential and will commit 75,000 men from its Eastern Group of Forces to effort.
King Arik almost choked on his coffee from the bitter, ironic laugh that escaped his lips.
"What the fuck?" he said aloud. Almost like magic, Colonel Rassnar appeared from a side entrance.
"Majesty?" he asked. Arik indicated the message.
"That's their solution? For us to withdraw and let Japanistan take over operations of the entire western side of the continent?"
"That would appear to be the case they are making, sir," Rassnar said. Arik shook his head.
"So... nothing about expanding the embassy; asking to serve as an intermediary with Shepistan; about regional co-operation meetings... just 'pull your guys out and hand everything over'." Colonel Rassnar knew that the King was having one of his rhetorical rants.
Fuck, the whole reason Skimmer got squirrelly in the last game was because we didn't 'engage' him. Now here I am trying to be accomodating, and he wants to throw his weight around...
"Let's issue this in return..."
Diplomatic Communique
To: Imperial Japanistan
In response to your gesture of goodwill about a joint operation in al-Akharabat, it is the position of the Royal Office of Canissia that a Canissian prescence in the region will actually enhance the stated mission goal of peacekeeping and stability. The Royal Office is sure that Japanistan is aware of the two primary factions in al-Akharabat, the northern faction controlled primarily by Colonel Johan S'vimbi, and the southern faction of Mohamet Farih Addeed.
While these two factions are technically in a state of civil war, one of the few agreements they were able to come to was the establishment of a Canissian base nearby to try to help facilitate some sort of peace and/or power-sharing arrangement. The northen landing zone was chosen precisely because it was unclaimed and largely unexplored territory, and it is well outside the stated mining claim righteously enforced by Japanistan --and recognised by international law, as His Majesty the King publicly defended in a recent press conference.
However, the acts of piracy --in flagrant violation of all known international laws-- does make the al-Akharabat situation of interest to the Empire of Japanistan. We would, indeed, welcome Japanistani influence in stabilising the region so that the rule of law can be enforced.
We implore the people of Japanistan to work with us in this matter. We recommend joint maritime patrols to sweep for piracy as a good place to begin.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
King Arik Coyotus-I
Royal People's Republic of Canissia
***
"Excellent," Arik said, looking it over before inscribing his signature to it. "Send that to Japanistan's embassy here, to their capitol, and then see to it it gets leaked to the evening news."
"Yes, sir..."
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LZ Dog
North of Al-Akharabat
1500 hours
The massive Ultra Heavy Lift Utility Aeroscraft had finally reached its destination at LZ Dog. The zeppelins were slow, to be sure, but they were still a lot faster than RO/RO ships. They were able to lift much heavier equipment with an ease that was denied fixed-wing and rotary-wing transport, and do so economically as well.
This time, the Superlifters brought in Combat Engineer equipment by the ton-- massive bulldozers, pavers, bucket loaders, graders, and the like-- all the things needed to make a first-class runway for more supplies.
Once the runway was built, a rudimentary road system would be in place, eventually leading to a dock that would be built. But that was for the future-- for now, much of the dirt being cleared away was piled into high berms that surrounded the area claimed by the Canissian forces-- a base that would be about 5 square kilometers large when all was said and done.
Unlike the Japanistani intent-- which no one really doubted would grow to include as much land as possible so long as no one stopped them-- the Canissian base was, indeed, intended to be merely a base of operations for the real work, which would take place in al-Akharabat itself.
Johan S'vimbi's men warned the Canissians not to go onto the jungles, however-- they gazed towards the treeline of the jungle wih fear, and many made superstitious gestures whenever they looked at it. The Canissian soldiers, however, were not yet in any mood to go exploring-- they had work to do.
"
- PeZook
