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[MSpencer]

Breaking ANNN Special Live Exclusive Primetime Broadcast
If it's bad, those guys down the street told us.
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Oporto -
Some hours ago, members, including military officers, of Organisation Gouin, a paramilitary arm of the NWOP, which has been renamed the National Front for Unity, officially announced a state of open revolt against the "incompetent and reactionary criminal government ruling the glorious country". They proceeded to deliver an hour long dissection of the criminal activities they believe that the government, leading corporations, the general staff, and foreign powers have been committing, even going so far as to blame the unexplained, and as of yet uncommented upon terrorist attack in Vouziers on "external influences". Their heavily armed uprising seems to have coincided with the escape of ex-Vice President Felix Gouin last week after a stray Belkan bomb struck the prison facility he was being held in. It is believed Gouin, among others are currently at large abroad, something which has not been confirmed or denied by the government.

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Quartier Général
Commandement Supérieur des Forces Armées (CSFA [High Command of the Armed Forces])
Rastenbourg, Eastern Atlantia
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In the spartan facilities at Rastenbourg, the High Command met with leaders of the Assembly to deliberate upon possible actions upon the defeat of the Belkan forces. Their decimation had been complete, any prisoners were handed over to the Special Security Command, or in some cases the "Black Guard" as the 10SSD was known among the GroPos. Under the eye of those two commands, they were ruthlessly interrogated, often with unsavory methods which were certainly illegal, and eventually, they were shot, if they had no valuable information, and appeared to be quite hostile to their interrogators, or they were passed on to prisoner of war camps, if they showed some sort of remorse for their criminal actions and their government's crimes against the people of the entire world. Even more were sent to the island of Cataan, where they were liable to be experimented on in Operation Scimitar, led by the Simurex Biological Services Corporation. Nobody came back from those labs.
Regardless, such unsavory thoughts were not on the agenda at the meeting. The topic would remain an argument about what to do from then on. Grand Admiral Muselier, a cautious older man, was joined by General Nogues, a quite quick witted and amiable young chap, in their desire to launch an amphibious operation against the Belkan holdings in Pythogria, and if the Rivanans resisted, them too. The characteristically air-headed Air Marshal Nicolau, who found it necessary to irresponsibly leap at any suggestion or allusion towards action, and then to delay such actions until the last minute possible, advocated a war of attrition with Belka. Opposed to this was the venerable Pietri, and the newly promoted, and newly cocky Field Marshal Molders, who had quite clearly taken the victories in the north and south to heart, and advocated a massive mechanized push eastwards, perhaps a liberating swing into occupied Casmire. Lieutenant General Rejkova, who was serving as 2nd Army Chief of Staff after being recalled from reserve status, was predisposed to naval and marine action against the Clandonians, stating "We have to deal with the brutes some day".
Despite the differing opinions, it was a quite agreed upon thing that Field Marshal Tassigny's absence from the meeting was... odd. He never seemed to miss meetings, and adored both micro- and macromanagement, being the one who issued direct orders bypassing lower commands to the mobile reserves of the 1st and 2nd Armies, an action which could have lost the war. He was an older gentleman, a member of the old guard if there was one, and he believed strongly in that New Atlantia stuff about "building an empire", and "ruling the seas". The man was viewed as a fool by Teitgen, among others, including the younger generals in the army, however he continued to hold a sway over junior officers, and thus was painfully difficult to unseat. It was fortunate then, that the man was coming close to the required retirement age of any military officer... however even then he would remain on reserve status for years to come.
It was then, unexpectedly, that the door opened suddenly, revealing the smiling, fat face of Felix Gouin, his beetle-like eyes peering forward, partially obscured by the contorted, blubbery cheeks twisted into some obscure mocking grin. He was sure to have worked on it for weeks, while in captivity of those barbarians to the east.
"Well gentlemen, oh and madam," the former Vice President said, surveying the crowd in the room, "I think we have some business to discuss."
Four burly, hard faced men came in, flanking him. They were armed, and unfortunately, there were no guards, or weapons, in the room. Two had been outside the door, their status betrayed by a pool of crimson now seeping across the cold, light blue tiled floor of the hallway. Behind Gouin, the tall figure of Marshal Tassigny loomed, his sidearm drawn. They had all been caught in the trap of traps...

[MSpencer]

AES Monarch (BCGN-01)
International Waters off of the northern Atlantian Coast
VAdm Charles Tillon in command, Monarch SAG
24 Aug 06 - 2020 Hours
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On the bridge of the AES Monarch, the lead ship of the most powerful surface combatant ever constructed by the Oporto Naval Design and Development Board, Admiral Tillon paced. The order he held in his hand was not right, it could not be right. Ever since the defeat of the Belkans, the Monarch Surface Action Group had been deployed to the Darsan area, interdicting any vessels travelling through the straights, and ensuring that no enemy vessels or shipments got through. As a result, the fleet had been largely fragmented, Levasseur and Gloire had split off to intimidate a decent sized convoy showing up on surface search radar, and had only recently received orders to return to the Monarch's wing. The Danae SSAG was also in the area, with the Monarch serving as the main communications hub for combined fleet activities. As a result, and due to the lack of constant contact from submarines, they had been sent one message. It read:
TO: MONARCH SAG, DANAE SSAG
FROM: SUCATFOR
NAVAL FORCES ARE TO RETURN TO BASE IMMEDIATELY. COMMANDERS AND SENIOR STAFF ARE TO REPORT POST HASTE TO SUCATFOR COMMAND HEADQUARTERS IN RASTENBOURG. DELAY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
GRAND ADMIRAL FRANCOIS PIETRI
SUPREME COMMANDER OF ATLANTIAN FORCES

There were some clearly obvious issues with the order. Pietri was neither an impetuous man, nor was he headquartered in Rastenbourg. In fact, the old military base had only recently, a few months ago, been taken back by the Empire from the Belkans, who had owned it for quite some time. Another distinctly uncharacteristic touch was the inclusion of a full name and rank, even a full description of position. Such pomp was unlike the man who had risen through the ranks and was not afraid to talk to the normal soldier in the foxhole, or the seaman toiling away in the engine room. There was something deliberate in the way the order was structured, it was some sort of subliminal message that something was not right, that the order was not meant to be sent or that Pietri had not sent it. No, it couldn't be, but disobeying the order would do no good. There was a time limit, and in a few hours upon not receiving a recognition signal from Monarch Actual, the robotic communications officers in Oporto would simply send the order again, perhaps this time with an order to remove Tillon of his command. No, it absolutely could not be right.
Mustering up some bit of courage, he peered over to the officer of the deck. She was a quite young woman... a girl really, in her twenties, a set of three equally sized, thin stripes on her shoulder epaulletes denoting her as a lieutenant. This was the face of the reorganized navy then, he thought. Such a rapid mobilization had pushed people like her into service, reservists, patriots, and cowards alike.
"Lieutenant, get us going towards Aesania, nearest able port. Send someone to wake up the Captain, and tell one of your comms officers to get on the horn and tell the AES Danae and the rest of the fleet to follow us in. Don't release our destination yet," he said quickly, as she curtly nodded and replied. He didn't even have time to hear her say the characteristic "Aye Sir", before he moved towards the port side of the bridge, and opened up the hatch there, walking outside on to the small overhang. If he didn't jump off the bridge, he'd likely be facing a firing squad when the government demanded that the Aesanians send them home. Meh, I'll take my chances with the bastards.

[MSpencer]

OOC: And now a message from the main attraction this evening.

To the free nations of the world, the men and women of the occupied territories, trusted friends, and fellow revolutionaries,
By an overwhelming vote by the Assembly, I have been returned to my rightful position as President of the Atlantian Empire and Leader of the Atlantian People. It is with great pleasure on this day of my ascendence to my rightful control of this great nation, that I must announce that the Atlantian Empire is to be disbanded, with its government dismissed, with the nation to be renamed the Democratic Atlantian Republic, and a new revolutionary government to be instated according to the Leadership Principles of the Party which has so readily sacrificed for the people, and now stands at the helm of our great country down the path to true enlightenment. In our order, the Atlantian people demonstrate the finest principles of self-sacrifice and strength of the will. It is with the knowledge of this, that we must set forth on our sacred quest towards the final synthesis of our movement, the salvation of all mankind.
We do wish to retain excellent relations with the nations of the world, as our counter-revolutionary, criminal predecessors had once enjoyed. Let us all march together, and raise the sacred banner of true revolution!
Sincerely,
Felix Gouin
President and Leader of the Democratic Atlantian Republic


Atlantian Navy Aircraft AN-09424B, S-8A Medium Transport Aircraft
35 minutes out of NAS Oporto
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The modified Navy airliner, carrying Lieutenant Generals Larbaletrier and Fournier of the Atlantian Marine Corps, two corps commanders fortunate enough not to have been at Rastenbourg, trudged northwards towards Enadia. Their destination was unknown, and likely they would be flying around for quite a bit, practically begging to be let to land at an airport. Their first attempt would be at a southern Yuktobanian airport, and fortunately, they had some high ranking friends in the Air Force who, while they could not join them due to the watchful eye of higher ups, were able to supply a refueling aircraft over the Darsan Straights as part of an "exercise". They, and their corps staff, could possibly make it to ISAF territory, as long as their luck held up.


The Imperial Palace
South of Darsan, Atlantia
0230 Hours Local Time, 25 Aug 06
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"Well, the way I see it, you have two choices," the man dressed in a military uniform was saying, circling around the tall man in the center of the room. Two armed guards flanked the door, beyond them, the Emperor's Household Guard had been subdued, not killed, just either clubbed, gassed, or threatened with death. The people who had captured the building were pros, obviously the type that had significant training in military matters.
"Oh, and what would those be, Jean?", the man said at last, looking at the Field Marshal who circled like a shark. The man at the center still wore the white formal dress of the Emperor of Atlantia, an ornate thing which bore enough gold to be worth quite a bit. He had been rudely yanked out of a state function, the quite bewildered provisional ambassador of the Pythogrian government which the Atlantians had created slightly before its dissolution had requested a meeting over dinner to cement plans for Pythogria after its liberation, something which he had certainly obliged with the trained tolerance of a head of state, even if it involved ignorant pissants like the snivelling man seemed to become at the mention of an independent Pythogria... once again. Unfortunately, the niceties of boring functions of state were simply a memory, now he stood in a room with a former comrade, a fellow army officer, and that fool Gouin's henchmen.
"Well, certainly you must know that your life is somewhat forfeit. You were caught up in the first coup attempt by our Leader, and you did serve for a time as the leader of the country, but now, our Leader is ready to take full responsibility. This is a dictatorship now, there's only room for one dictator, and he will be sitting on that chair tomorrow," he said, pointing to the desk towards the windows. They were in Teitgen's office, a high-ceilinged, ornately decorated room with portraits of former notable figures on the walls and a large, expensive antique desk which dated back ninety years, standing in front of a large high backed red fabric chair. Every feature of the room was meant to be intimidating, from the large desk, to the large chair, to the subtle elevation of the desk, to the overall dimensions of the room. Even the portraits stared at whoever stood in front of that desk... the desk had some sort of manifested power, something which fed off of the owner.
"So you must realize that you must be gotten rid of. The Leader sent me here to do this personally, and I..."
"You can not really be doing this," Teitgen said, impetuously.
"Oh me? I am doing this for our people, but that is another matter. You have two choices, well, three really. The first is an honorable death. I have a cyanide capsule here, you can use it to commit suicide right here, right now, and you will be granted a state funeral, and your family will be spared. You could resist, and one of them over there could shoot you in the back as you try and strangle me. In that case, we'll shoot your family too. Or, and this is just because of my arguments with the Leader, you can go to the Cataan prisoner camp. There, you will probably be tortured and you will die, right after you are totally and completely broken by the guards. You will die as a shadow of history, your name will be erased, and all memory of you removed. And I believe I should mention that the first option is not open, traitors do not get state funerals," he said, coolly, with not a show of emotion. So this is what he has become... his rage has consumed him, Teitgen thought.
In a few hours, he would be on an airplane to the camp at Cataan, the only prison which did not show up anywhere on the maps... and for good reason... It was only as he was walking out that he heard a commotion in the dining hall, which was adjacent the main hallway and could clearly be heard in the echoing cavernous walls. There was some argument from a squeaky voice, it could only be one of the servants or that ridiculous Pythogrian, and then gunshots, three of them. The regime had taken its first victims in a long line that were to suffer.

[MSpencer]

Vérité - The National Newspaper of the Atlantian People
"POLICE FOIL MAJOR PLOT, SOME SUSPECTS STILL AT LARGE"

Rastenbourg, Atlantia -
Members of the Garde Élevée foiled a violent plot by the General Staff and leaders of the Assembly yesterday, designed to topple the lawful government of our glorious leader Felix Gouin. The plan called for the detonation of large conventional bombs all over the capital city, a repeat of the original reactionary terrorist attack perpetrated by the corporatists and the democrats which claimed several thousand lives some months ago. Among the arrested were the criminal "president" of the Assembly, the wretched Veronique Parmentier, the cruel Field Marshal Emile Molders, who orchestrated the murder of 2,000 soldiers for failing to show dilligence in performing their orders, and the cruel and murderous Admiral Pietri, whose dictatorial ambitions caused the deaths of millions of innocent people in the nation of Pythogria. Other prisoners included General Nogues, the orchestrator of the Vouziers bomb plot, Air Marshal Nicolau, who is responsible for numerous instances of friendly terror bombing of several major Atlantian cities, and Admiral Muselier, whose criminal incompetence led to the loss of the AES Encounter in November of 2004. Their trials are expected to take place immediately, however several people were killed in the exchange. Still wanted in connection with the plot are Lieutenant General Larbaletrier, who is responsible for the cold-blooded murder of 20,000 Surumarian civilians, Lieutenant General Fournier, who is wanted for the use of chemical weapons against friendly troops, and Vice Admiral Tillon, who reportedly destroyed three innocent Pythogrian cruise ships after plundering and looting the ship, and raping the occupants. If you have any information on these criminals, please feel free to contact the GE at 1-888-3GE-TIPS.

[Paladin58]

YWN Startling News - A change in government again!
Kazatimiru, Yuktobania

"Hello, I am Tasha Sukolev, an anchor with the Yuktobanian World News, in with a special report. Our ally Atlantia, who has been struggling to hold its borders against the Belkans to the north, has yet again switched governments, now to that of the Democratic Atlantian Republic. As of now, the Yuktobanian military transports that were in Oporto, ready to deploy to defend freedom have been sent away, much to the anger of the crews and military men alike. At the time of this change in government, the Prime Minister has asked to speak with Emperor Pierre-Henri Teitgen on the matter. He has gotten no reply from the new Atlantian government on this. At midnight tonight, if no word is reached to Emperor Teitgen by then, then all communications will be cut off with the new regime. In other news, as it stands, this is the poll taken last week on whether the Circum-Centro War, or CCW, is going in favor of the ISAF. 78% voted Yes, 12% voted No, and 10% voted Undecided. Remember, this is only Yuktobanian statistics, we haven't finished counting polls from other countries that intercept this broadcast. Keep tuned to YWN for more reports on this lengthening conflict."

[narrative]
Kazatimiru I'ntl Airport

"Mongoose, this is Kaz. We have a contact out in the harbor airspace. It's Atlantian civilian craft. Not responding to radio hails. Can you confirm?" asks the lone traffic control oficer in the ATC tower.
"We'll send up some fly-boys to bring 'em in, perhaps it's those Atlantian 'traitors'," said the military officer with a chuckle.