SDNWorld Redux: Story Thread the Second

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Ashford Times Headlines in Brief

Langley Armed Forces Send Peacekeepers to Shepistan
Langley Army reserve infantry division to be mobilized

F-16XL, T-50 Officially Enter Service
F-4s, TA-4s to be retired; Langley Air Force considering ordering more F-16XLs as well as MiG-31s and upgraded F-111s

K2 Black Panther, Puma IFV Officially Enter Service
First machines built in Langley now serving with the Marine Corps as expansion and modernization efforts continue

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE? Y / N

[MKSheppard]

Shroomspace Weekly

United Shepistan to acquire small fleet of supersonic business jets

The Japanistani C-50 Swift Arrow SBJ proposal has been accepted by United Shepistan, and initial contracts and MOUs will be signed shortly.


Artist's Model of the C-50 Supersonic Business Jet

The new 10 passenger business jet will enable United Shepistan to offer high speed business travel for the ultrarich, in direct competition with Shroom-Am's "Free Whores and Breasts" service on it's A380s.

[CmdrWilkens]

Royal Space Exploration Agency announces contract with Old Dominion

The Royal Space Exploration Agency today announced that it has concluded negotiations with the Old Dominion to use the later's extensive launch facilities to begin launching a series of basic research, weather, and communications satellites. The contract is, as described by RSEA spoksemen, essentially a lease of available launch facilities as well as technical assistance in getting satellites aloft.

The exact terms of the deal have not been made public however several RSEA personnel spekaing on the condition of anonymity indicated that the deal essentially means that every Wilkonian space launch for the next 5 to 10 years will occur from the Old Dominion. Sources indicated that RSEA was worried about the primitive nature of existing Wilkonian facilities which had been all but abandoned after the early attempts to get in on the space race of the 1950s. Given that circumstance the board of governors felt that it was best to utilize modern faciliites in a MESS member state until a long term captial facilities improvement plan could be implemented.

Concurrent with the facilities agreement a further addendum was added that the RSEA and the Ministry of Defense would be pumping several billion dollars, the total sum remains undiscolsed, into the Old Dominion's GPS constellation. Both the Agency and the Ministry indicated that the investment would be returned tenfold in user benefits to Wilkonia. Already trying to get ahead of the curve Gothic Electronics Inc announced that they will be seeking commercial usage rights for the GPS system to produce the world's first car and naval navigation system.


Wilkonian District court for the Capitol District rejects Shepistani lawsuit

Today the Wilkonian District Court for the Capitol District rejected a suit brought by representatives of the Shepistani government against the Ministry of Defense for actions partaken during the recent military conflict. The court issued only a brief statment and made no ruling on the merits of the case. The court, however, did indicate that the rejection was a matter of jurisdiction. Following the announcement the Adjunct Solicitor General made a statement that "There are virtually no MESS-member assets in the possesion of any court system which could possibly have jurisdiction on this matter. Lacking any form of international court the only institutions which could handle such a lawsuit are those whose nations have granted authority to disperse funds to foreign powers and the list of such nations is even thinner than the amount of MESS-member assets held by nations friendly to Shepistan. Without getting into any merit of the case there is the simpe fact that any award will have essentialy zero effect on any MESS member as there are no assets to be seized in order to fulfill any judgement."

[Karmic Knight]

Farbanti, Shroomania

"King Brandon," Prime Minister Shroom then came in, after all the ceremonial stuff died down. He shook the King's hand. "How are you?"

”Well, Thank you, Prime Minster,” Brandon responded, “Now, unless you feel there is some random piece of pomp this ceremony is missing, or a bit of banter that needs to be covered, I would like to ask about your submarines. The people at Gizmonic are trying to develop a viable merchant submarine, and I was wondering if we could get some submarines from Shroomainia. Unarmed Submarines. Gizmonic doesn’t have enough hard data on how being unarmed would affect the way the submersible is designed or operates, as they are trying for a viable design, and not just a sloppily done refit to an existing, military submersible.”

[MKSheppard]

Calvert Cliffs Radio-Active Death Zone

The heavy cutting device was slowly moved into position. The CT-1000 was the pride of Mitsubombi Heavy Industries; and as long as it was cooled with water, it would cut through whatever was in the way of the ruined reactor core at Calvert Cliffs


File photo of the CT-1000

With a howling screech, the blades cut into the reactor building and quickly rendered the masonry in it's way to dust. The solid steel containment vessel was much harder however, and enormous sparks shot into the sky as remote controlled hoses sprayed cooling water onto the assembly.

The water of course, came back from spraying mildly radio-active, but considering that millions of tons of water had been rendered radio-active following the Rock Creek dam failure, a little more radio-active water wasn't going to hurt any more...

While the cutting up of the core was in process; workers in protective gear began to lay down the dozens of railroad tracks that would be required to move 400 tons of radio-active material in one shot with the Mitsubombi NHK-450 heavy rail transporter.

Results
Cleanup underway at Calvert Cliffs.

[MKSheppard]

Deep in the Japanistani Colonial Autonomous Zone, Veleria

"So it is agreed then?" asked the Shepistani representative.

"Yes. I grant you rights to the Parachim Tribal lands, which are....6,500 of your square kilometers in perpetuity for all eternity.....in exchange for..." began the tribal chief.

"Fifty-Two automobiles, including one McShroom roadster to be replaced annually, and 100 miles of paved eight lane highways on which to test your new automobiles."

"And this will apply to my descendants as well?" asked the chief.

"Yes; your descendants will continue to get a McShroom roadster each year."

"What of my subjects?"

"They will be granted eternal guardianship of this territory and supplied with as many weapons as they wish."

"It is agreed then. Let us smoke the pipe of agreement."

Results
Shepistan 'acquires' full ownership rights to a place the size of Delaware roughly in Velarea for all eternity for the price of one supercar each year plus a few other automobiles and a 40 foot shipping container full of guns each year.

[phongn]

Aviation Week and Space Technology
SHROOMAKS Special Edition

Special Correspondent Eric Tilzack

First Look – IRT's Legacy Life Extension Bomber Program

Tonkin's aircraft systems engineering groups are legendary in the business, but they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Rumors of a major new refit program were substantiated on the first day of SHROOMAKS. Christened the "Legacy Life Extension" project, the Tonkinese aim to offer fresh-from-the-boneyard B-52s and Tu-95s, with the promise of more types to come.

Tonkin's aerospace industry has a long, proud tradition of refitting fighters and light attack aircraft. Her own F-4s and A-4s are vastly more capable than early versions of the aircraft, and MiG-21 and Mirage developments are popular the world over. These have typically been electronics-focused upgrades, however, with the notable exception of some trials of Mirage IIIs with canards. The new LLE project is somewhat obvious in retrospect, but it remains to be seen if buyers can be found.

The recent Shepistan-OD war, on the whole, seems unremarkable at first. Indeed, the war progressed exactly as many analysts had predicted. Many governments, however, have bet in recent decades that major warfare had been rendered obsolete by biological and chemical (BC) weapons; that all warfare would be low-level brushfire wars between third-world nations or, at worst, large nations taking potshots at each other through proxies. The loss of major MESS naval assets and a fleet of Shepistani aircraft amply demonstrated the folly of this thinking.

The IRT has apparently come to the conclusion that these quasi-neutral states will no longer be content to bet their safety on the sanity of their enemies. On a planet of more than 80% water, a powerful navy is the obvious path to safety, but building up a functional naval tradition is not an overnight project. However, any nation of any consequence has a substantial air-transport network...

B-52 Shroomtofortresses (of Cascadia, and later, the MESS) and Tu-95s from the CSR bloc now languish by the thousands in zero-maintenance dry storage (colloquially, "boneyards") the world over. (NOTE: no SALT arms-limitation talks in this universe, since there were no nukes to scare everyone) The LLE program aims to recover these airframes, fit them with modern engines and electronics, and sell them back to their former owners.

The notional LLE aircraft is shockingly variable in appearance and capability. The Tonkinese have focused on modularity first, modularity second, and modularity a strong third. B-52s and Tu-95s (and given the IRT's own lack of above, probably other large airframes as well) now will fly on CFM-56 power. They are tankers, bomb trucks, and naval-defense SSM carriers. They are massive escort fighters, and one configuration looks to carry something suspiciously like Cannisia's THEL. Again stressing modularity, IRT representatives emphasize that MESS, Japanistani, IRT and CSR weapons can be "somewhat easily-ish" adapted to the aircraft. This is thought to be a consequence of the large internal volume that can be devoted to computers on these aircraft.

Further details remain scarce, but AW&ST experts suggest that a LLE-B-52 could carry as many as six MOSKIT SSMs, together with a search and targeting radar able to detect even very stealthy ships (even the laughably optimistic "DD-21") or aircraft at ranges of hundreds of nmi.

Tonkin has not yet released photographs of these aircraft, if indeed any have been built. AW&ST has procured the IRT-generated artist's concept below.

[Raj Ahten]

In the CFR

Months ago, before the start of Operation Stabilizer, Indhopal had sent teams of negotiators to try and get the various factions of the CFR to agree to a plan. The Revolutionary Front had taken the negotiation team hostage. More recently they had captured a number of soldiers from Bearne in their otherwise disastrous offensive.

To the outside world, it might have seemed like the negotiators had been forgotten. They hadn't been. A joint ISIA Special Reconnaissance Group task force had been working on freeing the hostages from the day they had been kidnapped.


Part of the SRG Search Team on a long range patrol.

The operation had been fraught with difficulties. The Revolutionary Front moved their prisoners often. They weren't interested in monetary ransoms. They had the local population completely intimidated. Despite these and other problems, Indhopal's team doggedly kept on the case. Using a combination of signal intercepts and other technical intelligence, along with daring long range patrols the Search Team knew they were close to being able to launch operations to recover the captured men.

[TimothyC]

Anchorage Police Station 5, Anchorage - 18 hours after the protests.

The cell door that was in front of the agitators swung open.

"You boys are free to go."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Well be prepared for the lawsuit for violating our rights!"

"Then be prepared for the suit from the government for all of the property damage you have done."



Effects: The protesters that were arrested have been released, and little has changed.


Also - Alaska has canceled a chunk of the orders from Shepistan for the F-105s, and All of the B-56 orders, but the F-101s were simply to be dissembled and bought as spare parts (the original intent).

[MKSheppard]

Shepistan High Command

"The Alaskans have done what?"

"Cancelled almost all of our sales to them."

"Cancel the remaining sales. Ungrateful S.O.B.s" muttered the Air Force Chief of Staff.

"What do we do with all these planes?" asked his aide.

"We can't use them in combat roles; due to that 80% parity with the OD; so begin Project WEARY WILLIE."

"I think Japanistan is interested in our remaining B-56 fleet; so contact them about sales to be credited against the aid we're receiving."

Results
Shepistan cancels remaining sales to Alaska.
Shepistan begins conversion of old fighters to giant guided bombs.
Shepistan opens feelers to sell PB-56s and B-56s to Japanistan.
"

[Beowulf]

Southern Test Range
Off the coast of Tian Jiao

The specially modified R-1 Habu carried a rocket on its back. A solid fuel two stage design, it was capable of launching 700 kg to orbit. The biggest challenge for the engineers was the payload fairing, since it'd reach very high temperatures during the flight.

The Habu accelerated, then pulled up, going to 90k feet, and a velocity of Mach 3.2 before beginning to fall back down. Before it began losing altitude, the rocket was released. It fired, quickly accelerating the rocket even faster and higher. After the first stage burned out, a second stage ignited, propelling the dummy payload into orbit. The dummy payload was itself equipped with a retro-rocket, so that it wouldn't pollute the orbital with space debris.

Northern Test Range
Tian Xia

As a counterpart to the tests taking place in the south, the HTV-3X project was working on a turbine based combined cycle engine. The airframe only currently had the turbojets installed. Later, the dual combustion ramjets would be installed, bringing up the top speed significantly. This was just a low speed test flight however. One that went uneventfully.

Elsewhere on the range, AIM-152B tests were ongoing. They were designed to fit two to a F-22 bay, powered by a dual combustion ramjet. The target in this case was a Firebee II drone. It failed to hit.

[MKSheppard]

Orders placed with Mitsubombi Heavy Industries by Shepistan

150 ships of a standardized design to be approved in the future will be acquired by various Shepistani shipping companies through loans and other securities to be floated by the Shepistani and Japanistani governments to aid the Shepistani Merchant Marine's recovery from the One Week War, which saw 321 ships sunk by MESS forces...

[Steve]

Star of Sweethaven Forsyth Shipping Line Vessel (Astaria-flagged)
Sailing North (Bearing 005)


The Astarian challenges continued on through the first hours of their spotting. The aircraft were now always overhead and the Caravo particularly seemed unwilling to not shoot at them, also hurling curses at the aircraft. Attempts to convince them to conserve ammo to repel boarders were wasted.
Around the thirty-third hour after the mutiny there was commotion in the engine room. Bronislaw Krezinski headed the group of four Peace Corps volunteers and dozen more mutineers there who were using manpower and rough mechanical knowledge to try and replace the experienced engineering crew of the ship, of which even the two slaves were not assisting in any way. The vessel was old, and for most of their journey the 20-knot capable engines had been capable of nothing more than spurts of 17 knots here and now, as anything more tended to start a chorus of grinding and choking noises from the ancient engines.
But now even 15 knots was too much for them. While not an expert, Bronislaw knew that the engines would clearly stop working if they didn't lower speed. So he sent the recommendation up to the bridge, where Naheen and Ranaa agreed and lowered the engines. The grinding continued on even as the engines were lowered until finally the sounds ceased.
The ship was now at 10 knots, still moving almost north at a five degree bearing (five degrees off from due north at 000 bearing, that is) as was requested of them by the Cascadian ship.
Slowing would net them an additional 18 or so kilometers. After about sixty-five, seventy minutes, the engines choked and grinded once more, and did not stop before they ground to a halt. Bronislaw and those with him would frantically inspect them, praying fervently to make them work, but it was all for naught. They were dead.
Star of Sweethaven could go no further.



CRS Intrepid
Sailing South-by-Southwest (bearing 195)


Admiral Weatherly was in the CIC monitoring the flights of Intrepids air wing as the COG sailed on. He was trying to stay as far from shore as possible so as to not spook the Japanistani. They had likely spotted him, and AEW craft indicated some increase in activity from their air units in the region, but there were no challenges yet with his operations group staying well afield of the coast.
"Sir, we're picking up a radio signal from Astarian destroyer Daring," one officer spoke up. "They say they've overheard our radio communications with Star of Sweethaven and are asking us to withdraw and leave the ship's retrieval to them."
"Like hell," Weatherly muttered. "No answer as of now, I don't want to give them the opportunity to see where we are if they don't already know. Do we have a location for Daring?"
"Not yet, sir. And we didn't look for where their signal was coming from."
"Hrm. Put some Shrikes up over the Star," Weatherly remarked. "If an Astarian vessel enters range, they are to be informed that the Cascadian Navy is en route to evacuate friendly nationals and that they may take possession afterward."
"Yes sir." The officer seemed distracted for a moment. "Sir, picking up radio communication from Star of Sweethaven. They say their engines have completely failed, they are dead in the water. They are requesting directions."
"Tell them to sit tight and prepare a space on the deck for helicopters to land, if at all possible. I want to evacuate them to here and Concordia rather than try and take that ship in."
"Yes sir."
"Also, they are not to fire at the Astarians unless absolutely necessary to prevent their being taken. We will handle them."




Star of Sweethaven Forsyth Shipping Line Vessel (Astaria-flagged)
Adrift


Nervous and jittery, the volunteers had proven unable to stop the Caravo from shooting at Astarian aircraft when they flew overhead. If they were Astarian, since there was little way to tell. Fortunately they had run out of ammo, and the handful of Caravo survivors were unable to talk the others into providing them re-loads. This angered them, as they insisted they needed to shoot at the air machines to keep them from bombing the ship; only by firing at the airplanes did they prevent attack. The fact that a couple more overflights did not result in attack did not seem to deter this belief.
It was about thirty-seven hours after the mutiny, with food supplies dwindling (the mutineers had already finished off the reserve of food for the free crew and favored slaves and were eating far more of the slave-quality portions than the ship's captain had intended for them), when a contact came. On the bridge the shipborne radar, meant for noticing such contacts to avoid collisions, spotted the ship coming from the southwest... not good.

In the radio room Amber Sanchez started crying when she heard the Astarian-accented voice come over the radio, insisting they stand down and accept boarding. Even if the voice promised that they would be treated fairly and their cases heard, she didn't trust them, couldn't trust them, not after what was done to her and the others. She wept and prayed, unable to believe the Astarians had gotten to them first.
On the exterior of the ship, there was consternation as the Astarian ship was spotted in the far distance, having gone over thirty knots in spurts to try and make a swift intercept, and closing rapidly. Or so it seemed.
Those on the Star of Sweethaven couldn't easily see, though some might have barely noticed, the NSF-11s racing over the Astarian destroyer. They did not act hostile in any way, simply making sure they'd been spotted. The Cascadian pilots gave a polite message to the Astarians: the Cascadian Navy was already in range and that the Astarians could take possession of Star of Sweethaven after the foreign nationals on board were secured.

About thirty minutes later the first whumping sound of a helicopter came overhead. Hold doors were quickly closed to permit the RLH-16 helicopter to land. The helicopters lander carefully so as to distribute the weight evenly across entire hold doors. A platoon of Cascadian Marines from the 1st Brigade came out to oversee the evacuation.
As the Cascadians promised, they would leave when the foreign nationals on Star of Sweethaven were evacuated. And they were.... on the seventh and final helicopter ride, joined by the Marines who had informed the captive free Astarians that the ship was their's again. (In one case to come afterward, Private James Santander was subjected to an informal hearing for "striking" the captain of the Star of Sweethaven, Private Santander having noticed Naheen and what her purpose on the ship was.)

After forty hours under the control of the mutineers, the bloody-nosed Astarian captain and his crew reclaimed their ship to find it in mostly good shape, save the slim pickings in the galley and the broken down engines. They radioed Daring to request aide while the captain and his First Mate, now deprived of most of their cargo and their personal slave-girls, snarled and watched the last Cascadian RLH-16 fly away, heading back to Intrepid and Concordia.

Of roughly four hundred slaves - those carried as cargo and personal slaves of the crew - three hundred and thirty-one joined the Peace Corps volunteers and students in freedom, including all of the girls that provided sexual services to the ship's complement and all but three of the slaves that tended the ship (including the two who remained loyal to their masters rather than aid the mutineers in keeping the engines running).
The Mutiny of Star of Sweethaven was over. Amber Sanchez, James Kinnelroy, Katarina, John Colicos, they were all heading home after weeks of being held as slaves. But the story didn't seem quite over yet, not by a long shot....

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Royal Palace
Ashford City
Unreal Time

"So, that arms deal between Alaska and Shepistan fell through," Cornelia said as she leafed through The Ashford Times. "Always leave it up to the protestors to muck around in things that don't concern them."

"Well, now's our chance to snap up some of their goodies," Lelouch replied. "If people complain, then too bad for them."

"I'll send a message to the Shepistanis, then," Cornelia said. "What do you want from them, exactly?"

"Thunderchiefs, Delta Darts, Stratojets, whatever they want to give us," Lelouch replied nonchalantly. "In return, we can give them some of our Golden Eagles to replace their old Thunderjets."

"Consider it done, little brother."

[MKSheppard]

Shepistan Defense Department, Foreign Military Sales Division

"So, the Duchy of Langley is interested in some of our older things? Well, I suppose we can give them some of what we have. The PB-56s and B-56s however, have just been optioned, most of them at least, by the Japanistanis...." muttered the head of the FMS.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Imperial Chronicles

Anatolian Testing Range

The Electrothermal chemical (ETC) 120/140mm gun was mounted in a turret of a K-2 Black Panther, which was mounted on a stationary base. The exercise was to test the feasibility of the new recoil mechanism, and the lethality of the ETC gun. Cameras were placed along the length of the 4km range to capture the motion of the projectile. "Load the 120mm rounds," the engineer ordered. After the 120mm DU round was loaded into cannon, the engineer gave the order, "Fire the gun." The turret shuddered mildly as the round was fired, and the round shot out and hit the concrete target, which was laden with sensors. "Looks like we got a 30% boost in performance over the L55 gun," commented another engineer. "Load the 140mm DU round, then fire." The 140mm round fired and struck the target, but the turret shuddered heavily. "Looks like we still need to work on the recoil mechanism, but we seem to have gotten nearly the 14MJs of effective energy we want. Possibly the recoil system needs some tweaking to get it to work well. Let's fire the rocket assisted 140mm ammunition then." The large rocket assisted ammunition fired and caused the turret to shudder more. The round missed the target by a few meters. "Well, the ammunition seems to work fine, but the effective energy is ... a bit off. From the pictures, it looks like the rocket mechanism and fins might have taken some damage on the way out. We will have to go back and rework the round."

"Shall we go do an wear and tear test?"

"Do it for the 120mm round. Barrel wear and tear rate should be similar to the usual L55. We need to rework the recoil system a little to fire the 140mm rounds properly."

Result: Cannon needs more work, as do the 140mm rocket assisted round.

[Siege]

"I think you're on the money on the CSR's current intentions, but I want to know why the hell the came into the neighborhood in the first place so we can prevent a repeat performance elsewhere on the continent. Now that we are gaining strength in the FTO we will have to nip any problem at the bud before the Great Powers can stick their paws in it. They all are a bunch of opportunistic bastards, grabbing land wherever they can. That’s what the CSR seems to have done; gobbled up a country when the opportunity fell into its lap.

President Hank nodded in agreement. "True, but if we can only keep more conflicts from popping up around here, there won't be an opportunity for Imperialist upstarts to jump in and stake a claim to some prime Frequesuan real-estate. Keep the peace, and we keep our hides intact as well. Seems like the best way to go about things for now. That and a healthy deterrent of course."

On the weapons limits, you are right, we should push for the lowest we can get away with as well as a commitment not to station NBC weapons in Frequesue.

"My thoughts exactly. Although perhaps such a push should not be seen to come from San Dorado. Our relations with the Reds are... Complicated."

While I got you on the line, I hear that San Dorado is making upgraded F-111's. As you no doubt are aware Indhopal recently acquired a few squadrons of such aircraft. Part of my defense plan will likely include upgrading these bombers over the next few years. Pretty much the last big hurrah for the bomber force's funding for awhile. What sort of deal can Indhopal expect from San Dorado?"

The President smiled. "A good one. Let me tell you: the XL is a damn fine plane, and as a fellow FTO member we can offer them to you at near-Cost price. We can either furbish you with brand-new planes, or upgrade your existing fleet - although upgrading means the aircraft will be out of action for some time. The upgrade is quite extensive, but afterward your planes will outrun an F-22."

[Shroom Man 777]

Somewhere in Shepistan
Shroomanian-Sirnoth Peacekeeper Place (SSPP)

The Langleys had arrived, decked out in full NBC gear, coming in ready to do what needed to be done to save the bloody poor Shepistanis from the disease, deprivation and disorder plaguing their nation. The Langleys were eager to join their fellow peacemakers, the Sirnoth soldiers and the Shroomkeepers who had arrived earlier.

What they found... was something not entirely expected.

"Hey! Sirnoth dude!" the Shroomkeeper hollered. "Go stand over there and thrust your crotch out while I take a picture!"

"Are you sure?" the Sirnoth soldier asked hesitantly. "I mean, isn't this place contaminated by fallout?"

"Eh, it's okay. Come on, pose man!"

"Okay, here goes."



"That's just beautiful! Look at your stance, legs wide apart and crotch thrust forward!" the Shroomkeeper exclaimed. "Like as if your balls were tied to a charging elephant!"

"Hey, look!" the Sirnoth soldier pointed out. "We've got Langleys! Hey guys!"

"Hi!" the Langleys waved their hands. "Guys, we're here to help. What can we do?"

"Well... you can start by readjusting your gas mask. Here, let me help you out."



"Thanks, mang. Now, can we do anything?"

"Sure, you can go hose that... barrel over there."

"Sweet!"



"Gee, all this hosing barrels is making me thirsty."

"Here. Have a canteen. Stick your straw-thinggie into it so you can suck the fizz cola out."



"Mmm..."

"What's in those barrels, anyway sarge?"

"Well, radioactive floodwater from that power plant drowned a village full of people. So we did what we were trained to do. Women and children first."

"Ah... so you evacuated..."

"No, no. I mean, since the whole place got contaminated, we placed all the dead women and children into those lead barrels first - for easy and clean disposal, you see..."

"... and the men?"

"Oh, they're buried in that mound over there."

"Ah..."

"Yeah. Anyway, we're trying to set up a quarantine and..."

"Hey, look! People are coming!"



"Aw, fuck! The whole place is contaminated and they still think they can go back to work while wearing gas masks? Someone tell them to go back! Shit, someone tell them to go back now!"

"Um... too late."

"Goddamn."

"I'll get the red tape."



"Sweet Jeebus. Who was supposed to enforce the quarantine anyway?"



Results:
Lots of Shepistani people die in Shepistan due to radioactivity and shit.
Shroomkeepers take pictures.

[Shroom Man 777]

Farbanti, Shroomania

"King Brandon," Prime Minister Shroom then came in, after all the ceremonial stuff died down. He shook the King's hand. "How are you?"

”Well, Thank you, Prime Minster,” Brandon responded, “Now, unless you feel there is some random piece of pomp this ceremony is missing, or a bit of banter that needs to be covered, I would like to ask about your submarines. The people at Gizmonic are trying to develop a viable merchant submarine, and I was wondering if we could get some submarines from Shroomainia. Unarmed Submarines. Gizmonic doesn’t have enough hard data on how being unarmed would affect the way the submersible is designed or operates, as they are trying for a viable design, and not just a sloppily done refit to an existing, military submersible.”

Dude, we're still in the airport. Can we talk about business deals when we get indoors at least?

"Hrm... submarines, you say?" the Prime Minister was caught off guard by the King's directness, and the fact that they were delving into business while they were still in the airport. Nonetheless, the PM thought fast and thought hard. "Maybe we could sell you some of our older military surplus vessels. Former cruise missile submarines, perhaps? Maybe even a museum piece. Our largest vessels are, of course, those in the service of our Navy, so unless disarmed modern military boats is what you're going for, then perhaps you'd like to purchase some of our no-longer-in-use vessels? They'd be affordable, and we can outfit them to suit whatever research purposes you're aiming for."

Before the King could offer an answer, the delegation continued forth and both world leaders were brought to their vehicle - the Prime Minister's Prime Ministerial limousine.

"I must admit that I wasn't expecting submarines to be the agenda of our meeting, Your Highness," Shroom said as the Shroomousine began moving through the streets - flanked by a motorcade of Shroom Service personnel. "But if we're here to talk business, we might as well talk business. I trust that that Frequesquan Communications deal with San Dorado is going smoothly, since we'll be ready to launch our blimps whenever you say so."

[Setzer]

New Energy developments in Sirnoth will allow the country to harness the ocean for power. Ryan Industries has invented a Tidal Turbine. This device harnesses the force of ocean tides to generate electricity, much like an undersea wind turbine. Several turbines are being built among the Orcus islands, where they will supplement existing power supplies. Once the evaluation is complete, Ryan Industries intends to move to mass production, giving coastal nations a cheap power supply.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Constantinople Times

Black Sea class submarines to undergo refit, to be upgraded to Black Sea-B (Type 212B)

The Navy has authorised a refit of all existing Black Sea submarines to Black Sea-B. The new variant will promise added quietening and better AIP performance, and also a fenestron shrouded propeller of advanced design. The new variant will also be able to fire Squall 2 torpedoes, IDAS anti-helicopter missile, P-10 Biryuza 6 and 91R missiles. Type 212A submarines that have recently laid down will receive these upgrades as well. The submarine should now be quieter and more competitive vis a vis CSR Kilo class submarine. The refit is estimated to be about 50-100 million a boat. The navy is said to be studying other the Amur-1650/950 as a possible replacement boat for the Type 212B in the future.

Air Force ups its A380AEW&CSI aircraft order.

The Air Force has increased its A380AEW&CSI aircraft order from 16 to 32 aircraft.

[K. A. Pital]

Rovno, 73rd Heavy Bomber Division (Strategic) HQ
[unreal time, 2 hours after the CSR ports in Dalniy received a radiogram from the CSR freighter "Kapitan Vrungel"]

- Sir, we have contact from our first squadron. They followed the Cascadian battlegroup and are closing in on the ship. Their AEW platforms are in the air, and apparently they also sent their ships to intercept that freighter. We requested the Cascadians to raise up a few fighters to cover our three birds.

- Very good. I'll inform the President at once. CSR nationals must be protected at all costs, but don't sweat.

Over the ocean, around Velerian coast

Three C.S.R. bombers flew low, escorted by several Cascadian fighters.

- Messiah-1, this is Messiah-Eye, - reported a Tu-160 which has been deployed in recon and targeting role. - I'm closing in, priem.

- Messiah-1 here. Good. If you see any threats, act. However, stay cool. Maybe this mess could be still sorted out. Fuckin' slavers.

The two other machines opened their bays where 4 rotary Kh-15P launchers were installed. Homing on radars, this supersonic missiles were intented to scare the enemy. Tu-160s were not really suited to naval operations. However, a 250 kg explosive warhead was more than enough to even sink the crap that the slaver pursuers may have thrown to catch the mutinees.

The Star of Sweethaven was dead ahead... and apparently it was being encircled by a group of Astarian vessels.

[Shroom Man 777]

LIVE on ShroomStratTV (Now available in Frequesue via FreCom and Grapevine)
The Sovereign Shroomanian Sentinel
OUTGOING ORCHESTRA



The Shroomanian Shroomharmonic Symphony, renowned for such modern classics such as Cosmic Symphony and Agnus Shroom, will be traveling throughout the Old Continent and FUN friendly nations to perform in the capitals of many of the world's nations.

Click on the hotlinks - audiovisual files are hosted by ShroomTube

The Shroomharmonic Symphony is regarded as among the world's finest musicians and represents the epitome of Shroomanian artistry, and their musical journey around the world's capitals is aimed to foster international goodwill. Prime Minister Shroom the 777th, a known patron of the arts, has said that "life is a cosmic symphony...


LIVE on ShroomStratTV (Now available in Frequesue via FreCom and Grapevine)
The Sovereign Shroomanian Sentinel
CHEWED CHICKEN CHOW


Due to mutated livestock, Shroomanian aid packages to Shepistan now include mandatory flamethrowers.

ANNAPOLIS, SHEPISTAN - "In an unexpected consequence to the nuclear disaster that has ravaged the Shepistani landscape, morbid mutations have made mammals more masticative of meatflesh - causing errant dietary behavior now evident throughout Shepistan's ecosystem," says the Shroomanian Scientific Society's scientist-surveyor of Shepistan Snr. Sanvich Sage.

"In other words, herbivorous lifeforms and livestock are now learning how to be carnivores," Snr. Sage simplified. "And they're learning rather fast, I must say."

The following video was taken by Shroomkeepers in one of the quarantined radiological hotzones in Shepistan.

Click on the hotlinks - audiovisual files are hosted by ShroomTube


Results:
Shroomania doesn't just produce shitrap, but it also makes awesome classical musacs.
Shepistan now has mutant cows.

[RogueIce]

Midgar, Shinra Republic

"Welcome, my friend," President Shinra said as he greeted Emperor Heraclius. "I'm sure there's much to discuss."

When the ceremonies ended, the two leaders left to attend a private dinner at the presidential residence.

((OOC: I'll let you kick it off, Fingolfin))

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Midgar, Shinra Republic

"Welcome, my friend," President Shinra said as he greeted Emperor Heraclius. "I'm sure there's much to discuss."

When the ceremonies ended, the two leaders left to attend a private dinner at the presidential residence.

((OOC: I'll let you kick it off, Fingolfin))

The Emperor drank a glass of wine. It seemed to be native to Wilkonia but he didn't mind it. Then he spoke, "Sorry we really couldn't get involved in the tiff with Shepistan, especially when my.. neighbours didn't want to get involved in a war far away, and Japanistan troubles us especially. It has not escaped our attention that Japanistan is basically the chief armourer of Shepistan. Not least Japanistan's hypocrisy decrying the "Imperialists" when the official name of Japanistan happens to be "Imperial Japanistan", with an Emperor at the top. It really does appear to me that this "war" was practically a proxy war with Shepistan... a sponge. Doubtless either country's leaders really cared about their citizens anyhow.

From what I read of the war, the news on the air and navy side looks blood grim. It took a land war to finally force the issue and finally get Shepistan to come to an agreement with Old Dominion. Clearly a lot needs to be done... just so we don't get caught flatfooted again. Those damn submarines of his are a pain. I won't be surprised the sinking of the Shroom Viking is another criminal act to add to the list of crimes committed by Shepistan. And Shepistan is obviously testing the limits of the treaty signed with Old Dominion.

But back to the point of the geopolitical situation in the Old Continent. PeZookia and Shroomania... in my opinion are rather held hostage by their people's unwillingness to arm for war. In fact, even within the SNC, I wonder if PeZookia can commit fully to a war with Japanistan. True, they have sent troops to Jerusalem, but their... defence policies are not as firm as they could possibly be. Shroomania... is unreliable at times, and I wonder if that Prime Minister of theirs has drunk way too much alcohol. The Crimson Star Republic as always, has a suspicion foreign powers, though the tiff with Tian Xia was a little amusing, or rather... the FTO's flapping of wings while the show went on was amusing. The USSR will .. just follow the crowd. The SNC of course doesn't altogether like my involvement with the MESS, though I have sought to lower my profile a little as you have noticed. Nevertheless, I assure you that we have Shepistan in our sights, and Japanistan as well. CSR and Byzantium are rapidly arming for a possible conflict with Japanistan.

But that aside, what direction should the MESS take in the aftermath of this war? Clearly we need to be more ready for another war with Japanistan and Shepistan, which will eventually come. And then you have the propaganda war side. The way that war started wasn't... altogether clear cut a transgression of Shepistan. I would say that it might be time for the MESS to be a passive observer and avoid looking like a monolithic bloc. I understand that we have hardly even bludgeoned our way around, but it might be good to keep up some.. false appearances at best?"