Union City Capital District , March 12th, 2011.
President Harold Whitman opened two auburn oak doors with carved brass handles to his office within the executive residence. The once middle aged looking man had years of stress waring upon his previously fresh look, his hair had turned from a salt and pepper color to a more faded gray , his face was one area where his age could show, though not horribly it was still evident. But this was expected of anyone in the position of leadership within a nation, especially a nation as complex and federalized as the Union. His office was comparability modest to the mansions and palatial estates of sovereigns, emperors and dictators across the world. It was stylish with the blue carpet and white walls blending in perfectly, several pictures of former presidents were hung at various points on the walls, and a few dark oak armorers and bookcases with the addition of a well polished and aged grandfather clock on the left side of the doorway , added a bit of a homely feel to the room. Two large and wide windows on either side of his tailored desk let in the orange glimmers of sun light that peaked above the multitudes of mighty tall buildings of glass and steel that on this day arose above a a fog bank on clear days these buildings could be seen as far as any eye could muster . The tallest of buildings being clustered around a central area rising many thousands of meters in to the sky they were particularly stunning as they seemed to touch the face of god himself arising over several layers of mist. On days without fog aircraft and helicopters could be seen buzzing over the busy city scape quite easily and frequently.
Harold could never get over seeing this stunning view everyday, it reminded him of many things personal , political and insular. The city seemed to be a far cry from the hill top mounted mansion that he inhabited as the leader of this nation. Forgetting that the city was merely ten or miles away from the government offices , capitol building and historical housing in the district. The double doors clicked behind him as they closed , he stepped towards his desk his gaze averting from the cityscape view to his desk, where a stack of organized paper was to the right side and to the left was a picture. This picture was of his family, his brother , his bride Maryanne and his two children a daughter, and a son. They were away for the week on vacation to the southern tropics. As usual with some leaders, things started at an early hour, it was six am eastern coastal time and today was a red letter day. For the first significant steps to make the Federal Union known in the realm of international politics was going to be undertaken today. After President Whitman convinced the senate to let the Federal Union join the Yohannes Commonwealth he quickly began planning the next step to solidify relations with their new allies. This culminated in a plan for a diplomatic function to be held in the mansions rather ornate and scenic gardens, invitations to leaders, and representatives were composed several days before the date witch it was to be held.
Whitman and by extension the congress wanted to show the Federal Union was determined to become a serious contender in the world while at the same time emphasizing support for its new friends. The Union wasn't a perfect nation just like any other place it had its own set of unique problems , but it was a generally progressive, liberal and forward thinking entity. President Whitman Sat down in his leather chair, he sunk back in to it the rhythm of the clock in the room the only noise piercing the solitude that had graced the office by design. His green eyes focused on the time , later today he would be greeting various diplomats, dignitaries and leaders, he hadn't met any representatives from his nations new allies yet and was somewhat curious on what was to come. If they were as friendly as he assumed, then he would have no issue establishing mutual understandings and personal friendships. He thought the Unions position to be adventitious, as its debt was managed , its economy was a powerhouse and growing with the occasional bump or recession in the road, and its industries were tailored to producing high quality high technology goods.
A small buzz from the intercom came through disturbing his train of thought, he sat up on his chair pressed the button and spoke in a plain professional tone. ”yes Delores?” the response from the intercom was one of a young woman with a gentle voice.
”Mister president the honor guard, and secret service have arrived at the airport, so far every thing is on time sir.”
Whitman's lips curled in to a slight grin, so far things were falling in to place to make the function rather flawless, unforeseen events aside things were going as planned.
Union City International Airport, 8:35 ECT Tarmac 3
Several VIP limousine cars had pulled up on the tarmac several meters from where delegation aircraft would be slated to arrive and park. The fog had started to lift and the yellow warming rays of sun light began to beat down upon the white slabbed floor, in the distance sleek glass and steel complexes cropping out from meshing with some older masonry buildings to the far left could be seen, the roars of jet engines from civilian passenger and cargo aircraft taking off could be heard clearly with the addition the noise of rotor blades chopping through the air from both police and civilian sources. The honor guard of the well and sharply dressed marines were setting up for arrivals , they donned blue and black uniforms with gold insignia of various ranks.
They had white gloves and several carried ceremonial Bolt action rifles. Instead of a guard holding a flag of every nation a digital display from an LCD billboard was modified to display the flags of attending nations. Though Each limousine also had pairs of miniature flags on either side of their forward windows. The secret service agents were in three or four black cars situated on either end of the parked line of Limos , they had a clear view of the area and had coordinated with local police airport security and some air support to further secure the area. However they somehow made it seem as if security was nonexistent , in-fact another line of decoy vehicles dressed as VIP transports were placed on the other end of the airport at another tarmac, they would take a different route from the airport as soon as the visitors departed.
The flight path was specially chosen for each aircraft, they would fly over the vast hive that was the cityscape landing on runway 4 , they'd come in over the water turning from the east to the north then south to land on the northern facing runway. The airport itself had a clear view of the city from the area it was in. It was one of the largest in the nation and one of the largest in the world with highly extensive facilitates servicing a multitude of aircraft and heavy lifters.
So now the thing to do was wait, President Whitman and Vice President Lopez were in their respective wardrobe rooms dressing up for the event, looking sharp was was a key point for a leader and his left hand man, the executive mansions press corps would be covering the event lightly with a few snapshots and videos to feed to the media in the nation, but otherwise the meeting would remain private.
![[ National Flag ]](https://i.imgur.com/7vADKOP.png){kind=link}