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[chemical ali]

Off the Coast of Surumar,
1000

The rainy morning was making the crews on the flight deck hard, Tetigen was waiting to go the Blackhawk had arrived from the CAF Surumar Airbase and was being fueld for the 300 odd mile journey to the base.

'All ready?'

'Yes lets go then!'

The helicopter was released from its chains, to ensure that it didn't slide off the side in the carrier if a bit a gust caught it. At the same time two F-35A's took off ready to make sure that it was safe. They had arrived from Surumar themselves the a few days before. The Warrier Task force mission was complete they had been ordered into a new area now to regroup with supply vessels.

[chemical ali]

CAF Airforce Base Surumar
2100 Hours

The UH-60 Blackhawk touched down after the delay of four hours due to bad weather. Tetigen was now on his way to the AU onboard the C-130K. It had departed 10 minutes ago, the escorts had taken off now F-35As ordered to shoot down any hostile threats that could possibly try and disrupt Tetigens meeting with senior AU military commanders.

Clandonias mission was complete here, the Warrier Taskforce was now sent to a new position....



**MESSAGE FROM CFA, UNION CITY CENTCOM

**FLASH** ALERT SITUATION CHANGED PROCEDED TO GRID REFERNCE COMSTAR DIRECT FOR RESUPPLY THEN TAKE UP POSITIONS 400 MILES OFF CLANDONIAN HOMELAND WATERS TO AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS.

MESSAGE ENDS**

[MSpencer]

Excerpt from En Service, the memoirs of PH Teitgen

Aboard the Clandonian vessel I was tended to by a rather callous young lieutenant with a hard peasant face whose detached manner did at once remind me of exactly where I was. The trip was rather short, and I did notice several ships not attached to the battlegroup, which I later learned to be under the command of the intrepid Admiral Tillon, however I was not given the chance to converse with my comrades. Several hours later, I was aboard an older helicopter, with a very competent crew and an armed guard, although I was unsure of whether they were guarding me or prepared at a moment's notice to shoot me in the back. After a slight incident with the aircraft due to what appeared to be shoddy maintenance on the fuel lines, most likely due to lack of support facilities and a chronic lack of manpower, the aircraft landed at a small base in western Aesania near the mountains of Surumar and the Molders Line, named for the newly promoted Field Marshal who was likely being tortured at the hands of the fascist barbarians in a prison in central Atlantia.
However it was at this base that I was able to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Freiherr von Wietersheim, a former member of the International Brigades which had been dissolved on the day of the coup and the members sent home. This capable officer had once served as the Intelligence Director for the XVI. Infantry Corps before being moved into command of the 3rd International Brigade 'Hans III', and now stood before me wearing a simple jumpsuit, such as those worn by pilots. When I interrogated him as to where his uniform was, he had explained that he was discharged, and he had ceased to use it. When I asked him if I had personally discharged him, he was unable to produce an answer. Upon his arrival in my presence in the main administration building awaiting transport requisition for a flight to the capital, I was able to underake the honor of promoting this bright young officer to Brigadier General, and he was thus attached to my personal staff as military adjutant.
The news he delivered however, was bleak. Apparently, the General Staff and the political leaders of the country were all being held under false charges, with trials to begin immediately. Worse, the coup appeared to have Belkan support, and so far organized resistance had only materialized in the form of the non-aligned defection of Vice Admiral Tillon and the flight of two generals to Yuktobania, which shortly after they were denounced for, being called mass murderers and puppets.
Shortly after this unfortunate report, a vehicle arrived to take myself and General von Wietersheim to a transport aircraft on the tarmac which would airlift us to Patal, the Aesanian capital. The driver, despite his misgivings and near accident with a landing jet, and rather excessive smile, was a generally nice man and reminded me of that patriotic, invincible zeal that could be seen in those who had not seen frontline service. Upon reaching the small business jet that would take us from this lovely little mountain retreat, the young sergeant deftly saluted the general and I, and departed rather quickly in a rather slow zone. I must say that it was one of the more positive experiences of military driving in my career.
The aircraft left at roughly 1640 hours, and we were expected to arrive at roughly 1900 hours, a reasonable flying time by any measure.
During that dreadful little journey, my conscience weighed heavily upon my shoulders, consistently picking out that point about "shooting the bastard", as the special prosecutor had put it so eloquently. We touched down at roughly 1850 hours, a slight wind giving us a miniscule speed boost. Upon landing, I was informed by a young Aesanian Major that the commander of the RAS Atlantis had officially announced his intentions to defect with his entire battlegroup. Things began to look up at that point, however I regret to say that in my silent internal struggle aboard the aircraft, I had drank quite a bit, and required some time before heading into the capital proper. The next task remaining was finding quarters and meeting with the proper authorities, whatever they wanted to do with me.

[MSpencer]

Excerpt from En Service, the memoirs of PH Teitgen

It became clear the next morning that our first priority must be the acquisition of assets for our beleaguered naval forces that had defected from the fascist beast. It was on this mission that von Wietersheim appeared at the quarters I had requisitioned only hours before. Unfortunately, his mission was of grave importance.
The DAR had declared war on Yuktobania, Stekronia, and Clandonia, and an EMP strike had hit Patal earlier. A counterstrike was certain. Without any further fanfare, we departed for the presidential palace. We knew that to the west our fleet was still holding station, vulnerable to attack and critically short of supplies, despite the fact that many of the ships were nuclear. Upon our arrival, my very presence and the good general's uniform got us past a few guard posts, before we finally reached the last gate before the front door. We were told to wait, something accomplished begrudgingly with a slight stint on a curb. The callous guard did nothing to ease our plight, and did nothing to render the appropriate honors befitting a head of state. As I had never even wanted this job, I certainly had no problem with the lapse, but I was sure that his superiors would.
After waiting for ten minutes with no sign of recognition, von Wietersheim impetuously interrogated the guard as to the holdup, an action which was answered with only half-answers and blank stairs. We were still soldiers, nothing had changed there, but we no longer had a country to return to. As I would learn later, I had already been tried and convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, waging wars of aggression, and organized genocide, all fantastically created evidence, complete with witnesses whom I had never heard of before. Field Marshal Molders, the savior of the east, as was to be put in the citation for the Order of Lecheres, an award to be presented two days after the coup had begun, had similarly been convicted of war crimes and various massacres which I can confidently say never occurred. He was further accused of murdering thousands in Surumar, and personally shooting 1,000 people in a process known as decimation, something which certainly never happened despite the "eyewitnesses" they had accrued. His sentence had been "commuted" to life imprisonment and forfeiture of rank and titles, with a second trial date set for domestic crimes.
I may say with some certainty now, as I did then, that each and every one of these charges was completely made up, and the trials done for show. Each of us arrested by the government was already arraigned, convicted, and sentenced. The government simply wanted to make some attempt at justice, something it had not done months before in the execution of that Propylosian spy.
Regardless of the situation at home, we still remained sitting outside the gate to the presidential palace for a significant amount of time.
I was later to learn that while we were seated on the side of the road with the rude, ignorant guard, two fine men with whom I had once served, Lieutenant General Luizet of the III. Mechanized Corps, and his Chief of Staff Colonel Derrien had been executed. At almost the same time in another courtroom, two Assembly members were condemned to death, with the sentence to be carried out in several days. Despite our ignorance of the whole situation, a sense of urgency still pressed us on.

[crave22]

((You can delete that. Sorry for late response.))

"I'm sorry for the wait, sir.", the guard responded. "If you will follow me."

The guard led the Atlantian head of state through the Presidential Palace to a small and inconspicuous broom closet. He opened the door and brushed some mops aside, revealing a heavy reinforced door with fingerprint scanner and ID keycard slot. He managed to get the door open, leading Teitgen into a service elevator. The ride to the lower levels of the Palace began as the car rode the old shaft down into the command bunker. The nerve center of the nation. The doors opened, with the guard stepping out and leading the Atlantians through the concrete tunnels bathed in red emergency lights.

"This way, sir."

He led him to the command center of the bunker, and opened a reinforced door. Inside were the leadership of the Aesanian Union. The President of the Union turned to Teitgen with a smile, and extended his hand.

"So we finally meet in person."

[MSpencer]

"It is about time then, isn't it," he said with a firm, unshaking look, accepting the hand with a strong, single shake.
"As you might realize, I no longer am in complete control over the domestic situation in my country. I apologize if I seem a bit unprepared for this meeting, I have recently terminated my stay at a lovely little facility at a newly government-sanctioned retreat for democrats, old war horses, and high up officials, and several of my former aides are... at the moment indisposed with their whereabouts unknown," he continued with a distasteful scowl.
"Now what is it that you wanted with me, so much to pry me away from the lovely company of my guests at the rather nice island retreat?" The matter had ceased to be funny when the first punch had been thrown, but deadpan sarcasm seemed the only way to keep the situation even remotely under control.

[crave22]

"Oh, cut the bullshit, Teitgen. There's a time for sarcasm, and that time isn't now. I've got Belkans and Rivanans to the north, two foreign leaders in my borders, a country in darkness from a nuclear EMP strike, dozens of allies taken by the Belkan horde... Those bastards have taken everything, really. They own more than half the world. Now I just wonder what will happen to the rest of us."

The president returned to his strategic computer-display table. By this time, four aircraft marked as green with red outline were speeding towards the oncoming red blots which were Rivanan and Belkan forces, particularly the Belkans...

"You're a military genius, Teitgen, and a damn good politician to boot. If there is any hope of getting Atlantia out of the grasp of that scumbag, it's you. As soon as I pacify the forces coming from the north, I'm turning my sights towards that southern continent and I am taking a chunk of the Belkan mainland. Hopefully enough to disrupt their supply routes to Atlantia and allow for a swift liberation. You know the area the best, Teitgen, and your expertise is crucial to a free Atlantia and secured Belka. We need all the help we can get to take down the Belkans. This is no longer just a war for freedom. It is a war for survival."

The president moved back to stand before Teitgen.

"Now... We know what you can do for me. What can I do for you?"

[MSpencer]

"I did not quite expect to be dragged out of prison at gunpoint to be berated by a foreign official. If you would like my help, I would suggest that you never call me a politician again, and that you stop beating around the bush and push back at those over-extended bastards in the north," Teitgen said sternly with a scowl.
"I have neither an army nor a country, my staff is likely dead, along with the former leaders of the government and the military. At the moment there are two young generals occupied in Yuktobania, and a small fleet off the Surumarian coast, likely being hunted by perhaps the best trained and best equipped submarine force in the world, with possible carrier support," he said, then pointing to a point on the map.
"Now first, you need to concentrate what is left of your mechanized force and achieve multiple breakthroughs at all costs. At the very least, you will cause them to double back and rethink their lines, launching a counterattack and perhaps attempting encirclements. That is when you will strike, using their loss of momentum to push them back and stop their advance. At the very least, it will keep them from the capital and win you a week or two to reorganize," he said, pointing impetuously to the red glob on the table.
"And if you don't do this, you will likely lose this war. It is too late for half-measures and a protracted campaign, if you do not act right now, you will lose within a few weeks."

[crave22]

The President stood and gave a stern look to Teitgen. He waved a hand at his generals, and they began the planning process.

"My friend, you have an army. You just don't realise it yet. You have a country as well. They are one in the same."

The President paced about slowly, his heels clicking against the concrete floor.

"How many Atlantians do you think remain loyal to you? Hm? You are quite possibly the most powerful man in Atlantia right now, simply because of your influence with your people. You can easily spread your word amongst them, as well, no matter how many channels the current government blocks out. I appreciate the advice, but I'll run my war. I will take your advice, though, since I can see the plan already. But you worry about your country. That's something you wouldn't be able to do in your little prison. The people of Atlantia await the word of their true leader."

The President motioned to a door on the opposite side of the room.

"We have a fully functional TV studio down here, with flags from every nation of the world. If you'd like, we can begin now."

[MSpencer]

"If only to humor the history books, I shall do as you ask, however begrudgingly. What good it will do is a completely seperate matter," he said with a scowl, retrieving a folder from the aide behind him.
"In the mean time, I suppose you could look over this information," he said very casually, throwing the rather thin folder on the table, and walking away, before turning.
"I do not want any Aesanian logos, flags, seals, or even so much as napkins on that desk you have downstairs for when your arrogant nation invites nuclear destruction. I trust you bought enough flags for state functions to spare one, and perhaps you even have one of our seals for PR purpose," he said, shooting one last casual glance at the folder. The brown standard issue security folder's edges were taped with document sealing tape, meant to determine that the folder had never been opened. On the cover, it read "ATLANTIAN INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE - TOP SECRET", followed by a rather lengthy explanation of the Sovereign Secrets Act of 1937, and the rather long jail times that breaches of the protocol could entail. On the side filing flap, printed in clear black marker was the word "HYDRA".

[crave22]

"The HYDRA virus.", the President said with a smirk. "Thank you. I'll have the boys downstairs prepare the room for you. I do believe we have an Atlantian seal. If not we can always add one digitally."

The president took the folder in his hands, but paused as he was about to open it. He looked up as Teitgen moved towards the door.

"All things aside, Teitgen... Thanks for everything."

Edited by crave22, 10 September 2006 - 03:48 PM.