We Didn't Start The Fire (AMW Only)

[Chrinthanium]

Nick was a little taken aback by the abrupt change in conversation. A conversation he was enjoying, yet considering Agung trailing off and gulp of beer and realized the subject matter must have caused the diversion.

"I say we start at the dance clubs and take it from there." Nick replied with a smile.

[Kyr Shorn]

Plate

"Alright." Agnug replied, his good mood fully restored, "Just finish your soup." he added with a smile, "Unless your not hungry anymore." He then polished off his beer and his smile turned a little lazy. Tonight looked like it was going to be a whole lot of fun...

[Chrinthanium]

Logan finished his soup quickly. He'd been a hearty eater, but tonight was more than dinner with his new friend. Tonight was about celebrating the start of his new era of being single. It was about being free and able to do as he wanted with complete disregard to one certain someone back home.

Nick was still unsure just how far he'd go with Agung at this point. The ideas of a quick weekend encounter was gaining momentum, but Nick wasn't exactly built like that. He was more relationship oriented anymore. Maybe it was because that's what he wanted from Nathaniel for the past few years, maybe it was because he was getting older.

"I'm ready to party, son!" Nick quipped, "Hope you can keep up."

[Kyr Shorn]

Plate

"Yes sir!" Agnug replied with enthusiasm and laughter, his brain already thinking of several places and rejecting them out of hand. Agnug did consider a foray into the gay district of the city but he was worried about how Nick would react to it's darker side.

"I'm not sure him seeing older gentlemen from other nations picking up child prostitutes is something that will give him a good time." Agnug thought to himself. At least now with the recent crackdowns on the practice, it wasn't so visible as it had been a few years ago.

Then as Agnug finished his soup and beer and settled the bill with a healthy tip to boot, he decided that even if they went a to a straight club or bar that there will still be that risk.

"Might as well take it." Agnug thought as he and Nick left the resteraunt and went to his car, Agnug was still ok to drive so he didn't give the bodyguards the keys, though they did give him a concerned look for a moment before heading towards their car.

Soon Agnug was bringing Nick towards the "gay" district and gave him a quick history.

"This area used to be the ghetto for the Indo-Yashimese Catholics during WWII, afterwards it became a warehousing area until the 90's when those were torn down in the name of urban renewal."

Then as they entered the small, but thriving district, "Now it's a mecca for people like us." Then after noticing a drag queen on the sidewalk, "Well... you know what I mean."

Agnug then drove the car towards a valet parking place that he was familiar with and paid the fee for both him and the SUV of bodyguards.

"The place we are going to is nearby," Agnug explained as they parked, "Its a nice big flashy danceclub and bar that is packed to the gills almost every night."

He then smiled and said, "The owner knows me and we are going to slip in quietly through a side enterance, no fuss or muss with the velvet ropes or the press. Some of the regulars know who I am but they won't cause us trouble."

"Hope your ready Nick." Agnug said as he opened his car door.

[Chrinthanium]

Nick found it amazing that Agung whipped him into the car and drove, considering Agung had been drinking and Nick was a cop. However, that was neither here, nor there as Logan had already jumped into the passenger seat without complaining. Though the lack of judgement in Agungs case was a slight concern for him.

When they arrived at the gay district, Nick wasn't too worried about the drag queen walking down the street. Omaha did have several gay bars where to local farmboys would hang out after a long day of bailing hay, plowing fields and milking cows. In his early college life, he'd become a regular at the gay bars in Omaha. When he and Nathaniel first started going together, Nick became accustomed to entering through the back door and having to keep things hushed. That was until Nathaniel came out in a press conference on national television a few years later.

Nick also found Agungs caring about the muss and fuss of hanging out with someone from a prominent family at a gay bar a cute personality trait. The fact that Nick dated the heir-apparent of Chrinthanium for two years lent itself nicely to this entire affair. Nick was even prepared should a throng of reporters beseige them and start asking questions.

"I was born ready." Nick replied with a smile as they entered the club.

[Kyr Shorn]

The Club

The place was jumping, the dance floor was packed with a sea of flesh of all shapes and sizes, and the music currently being played was the kind of Indo-Rock that was designed to make your ears ring for days. A couple of the people that were there and (somewhat) sober recognized Agnug the moment they saw him but other than a polite hello made no move to approach him or make a fuss.

Everyone in the Commonwealths gay community knew that it was him that was responsible for the rather dramatic improvements that had happened in their lives in recent years.

But the people that had seen him at the club before knew that he just wanted to be part of the crowd and not the main focus of the night, so they let him and his current date for the evening be for the moment.

Agnug lead Nick to the bar and paid for their first drinks for the night, Agnug had gotten a screwdriver and downed it quickly and got another one.

"Wanna dance?" he asked Nick, having to yell over the music.

[Chrinthanium]

Nick smiled as he watched Agung down the screwdriver. As for Nick, he drank his rum and cola quickly. He then had the bartender line up two shot glasses. He had the bartender pour them both a shot of bourbon, and without delay, Nick knocked his back like a champ.

"Now, Agung, I am ready to dance." He replied as he urged Agung to drink the shot.

The beating of the music, the crowd, the entire atmosphere made Nick feel right at home. This was making his night so much better. Being out at a hopping club, good drinks, and a new friend.

He felt at home as he followed Agung to the dance floor. Nick didn't even care about what the music was, provided it had a good beat. There were no more bombings, there was no Nathaniel, there was only him and Agung on the dance floor enjoying each others company.

About midway through the seond song, Nick became very sweaty from dancing in the large crowd, under the hot lights, and the normal workout that dancing entailed. He unbuttoned his shirt, but didn't remove it. The sweat ran down his torso as he danced his troubles away. Now, he was having fun.

[Kyr Shorn]

Presidential Palace, Jakarta

After dealing with the latest bombing crisis for several hours until he felt confident in his subordinates to manage the situation and after dealing with the other issues that come up day to day when running a nation of 175 million people packed on two large island and a handful of tiny ones.

Delem Brahma decided to call it a night and get some shut eye.

As he hit the sheets in a pair of pajama bottoms and nothing else Delem's last thought before he slipped into the dream world was, "I hope my son has a better night than I have had."


Club

After downing the gods awful shot of bourbon, despite the fact that he wasn't fond of bourbon, Agnug then hit the dance floor with Nick.

"Gods I needed this." was his last rational thought before the music took him away.

After being swept up in the first song and slipping into the second, Agnug could feel the sweat dripping all down his skin beneath his clothes, he undid the buttons of his shirt while picking up on the bumping and grinding moves that matched the song as it hit a fevered pitch.

Then the song came crashing back down to earth before picking right back up again, giving the crowd the effect of being on a roller coaster.

Agnug then noticed something, somewhere along the way he had lost his shirt and had been dancing bare-chested with (and sometimes against) Nick's own rocking body. His smooth brown skin and flat belly shining in the complex light displays of the club.

Since Nick didn't seem to mind, Agnug didn't skip a beat or a move either.

[Chrinthanium]

Nick, in fact, was quite happy with the way the dancing was going at the club. If his bumping and grinding along with Agung didn't tell the tale, then the smile on his face must have. Nick decided to remove his shirt altogether and stuffed a portion of it in the back of his pant, allowing most of it to dangle behind him. His hear was dripping with sweat while his sweaty torso glistened in the dance floor lights.

Logan continued to dance himself into a frenzy along with Agung until about the fifth song when he grabbed Agung by the arm and pulled him to the bar. He had the bartender line up two beers and two more shots of bourbon. Unaware that Agung wasn't a bourbon drinker, he pointed to the shot as Nick lifted his shot glass and drank the shot like there was no tomorrow. Once the shot was gone, he chased it with his beer. That's how you drink in Nebraska, where Nick was from. It was a cowboy thing. Bourbon and Whiskey were the prefered shots.

"Hey," spoke Nick loud enough for Agung to hear over the beat of the music, "this rocks, Agung. I'm havin the time of my life here." Nick motioned to the bartender to set up a line of four shots. In turn, Nick downed each one as he noticed Agung rather reluctantly taking his previously ordered shot. "Get yourself what you want, man. On me."

[Midlonia]

From: Office of Imperial Siamese Diplomatic Corps, Asian Theatre, Ms Lian.
To: Maya Kapilvastum Office of the Ministries, Foreign Ministry.
Timestamp:10:43pm

RE: Recent terrorist attacks within the Commonwealth.

Dar Ms Maya Kapilvastu,

As you are well aware bombings have been occurring during the past week within Commonwealth, security concerns due to the instability of this past week has resulted in us seeing fit to Mobilize the 2nd Fleet to patrol Imperial Siamese waters along the Malacca Strait and ensure that no J/UP operatives attempt to enter Imperial Siamese Waters, or Territories.

In addition, as per usual diplomatic channels and formalities we are informing the Commonwealth government we are aware of food supply problems within the Commonwealth and that the Fisheries Protection Fleet will also be mobilized for the foreseeable future along the mutual international water-line established at the end of the Malacca Dispute, under the auspices and rights under paragraph D subsection III in the London-Malacca Treaty.

Yours Sincerely

Lian

---------------

Malacca Strait, 10:45pm

FPV Rupala

The Fisheries Protection Vessel was part of a small armada of ships that had been constructed during the late 70s and 80s to protect Siamese waters from Indonesian Fishing vessels and to ensure that neither fishing fleet re-armed themselves to the point where they'd start fighting each other again.

The FPV Rupala was drifting gently along it's patrol route right near to the water “border” between the Indonesian and Siamese waters. Commander Suk-chi was in charge of the vessel, his first command of course made him a little arrogant, especially for being so young at the age of 22.

He was taking watch with the first few members of the night watch, himself at the helm, a radio and sonar operator and a single man on the weapons systems. He lifted his NV binoculars up and slowly panned around the latest sector they were in, he yawned slightly as he suddenly stopped, tensed up and then span the NV binoculars again along the sector, stopping and focusing something that had caught his eye.

A vessel.

A Fishing vessel with Indonesian markers that was headed straight for them with no running lights.

“Weapons!” Suk called out immediately. “Lights!” The weapons operator threw a switch that brought one of the enormous searchlights fixed to the vessel and was moved, via a joystick and motor towards the vessel. “Sonar, got anything?”

“Nothing sir, it's... running silent some how.”

The light caught it causing the Commander to freeze for a moment. The vessel was a Matsya, or armed Fishing vessel that were last seen during the Malacca dispute. The highly complex treaty strictly banned the armour plating and armaments. Which meant that this vessel was in violation of numerous parts of the treaty.

“Indonesian vessel! You are in violation of Paragraphs D and G of the Malacca trea-”

Something on the vessel fired with a slight plume of smoke and crashing explosion.

The bridge of the FPV Rupala vanished in the explosion, chunks of the bridge and top deck falling into the sea and back onto the boat itself, flames soon lit the area around them as some of the diesel fuel caught and ignited.

Grinning the Captain of the Matsya fishing boat spat out of the small bridge a small amount of Tobacco hit a small brass vessel with a ring.

“Arti! Get onto the radio and drop the silence, let the other boats know we get through here.”

The Captain grinned slightly as he removed his cap and rubbed his balding head. “Kersan, get the paint pot, we need another kill mark on the bridge.”

Off in the distance behind him lights began to slowly wink on, small pinpricks of light, 30 or so in all in tightly knit clusters of five. A small fleet of Fishing vessels all run by enterprising members, some of whom were formerly J/UP members with more noble aims in mind than the main body of the party itself.

Their country was starving and the Siamese, arrogant bastards that they were supposedly 'secure' with their stability and security compared to most South East Asian States. They also realized to make the regime look foolish it would need to get entangled in diplomatic disaster after disaster. And the spin, if caught, would be that they were robbing from the resource rich Siamese to feed to the poor Indonesians who were suffering malnourishment and numerous food shortages.

Perhaps this was why the lead vessel was known as “Robin Hood” and the groups of ships were named after various Merry Men.

[Kyr Shorn]

Temporary Location of Ministries Offices, Undisclosed Location

Maya Kapilvastum looked at the missive from Siam and sneered, "Pre-fucking-dictable." she muttered and threw it in the trash. Those rotten lying bastards were infamous for seeking excuses to increase naval patrols in the Strait due to their seeming desire to try and starve the Commonwealth to death.

"And to think that our nations share similar religions." Maya thought to herself before turning to the next issue on the table, trying to clarify what the coming Acehnese Autonomy would mean for the Foreign Ministry. Some thought that Aceh would conduct some of it's own foreign affairs independent of Jakarta, others were trying to keep that a C.I.I. monopoly, Maya thought that a compromise would wind up occuring.

But that didn't mean that the compromise couldn't lean, at least somewhat, in her favor.

A little later she did think about the missive again, but this time it was an ironic thought about Siam and the J/UP. "I wonder if they are going to deal with their own Hinduvata extremists, after all both the Siamese Hindu extremist groups and the J/UP did find ways to exchange ideas..."

Maya also wondered if the Siamese extremists would go to the same lengths as their counterparts in the Commonwealth, after all misery loves company and the C.I.I. wasn't feeling too good right now...


Club

Agnug yelled out a big thanks and then ordered up straight Vodka shots that came from an inexpensive (but good quality) Kievian brand of vodka.

"Bottoms up Nick." he said once the bartender finished pouring a line of four shots for each of them and he downed them all like a pro.

"WOW That's good!" he bellowed out once he finished and asked playfully, "You like?" while thinking that this night was going great.

After all he had spent that night dancing with a gorgeous guy that was clearly interested and if things kept going on track like this... Well let's just say that there would be more bumping and grinding but in a more comfortable place. The only thing to decide there was if it would be at Nick's hotel or Agnug's place.

[Chrinthanium]

"Have seen anything I haven't liked yet" replied Nick with a smile. It was a certainty that the rapid consumption of alcohol was starting to take effect, but Nick was a trooper who understood that you don't get too drunk too fast. He also realized that Agung didn't seem to really be getting much of a buzz at the moment, and wanted to not surpass him in intoxication. Being a step or two ahead of Agung in drunkeness wouldn't be that bad, though.

Also, Nick was fairly certain that he wanted Agung for more than just drunking buddy for the evening. In fact, Nick was in the right frame of mind, and with a little coaxing from his alcohol, he might even be ready to do something unusual for his personality. He wasn't the kind of man who often just had one night stands, nor did he really approve of them. Certainly they happen. No one who parties could ever say they hadn't had a one night stand. For Nick, it was quite an enticing opportunity at this point in time.

He found Agung a nice guy. Sure, Agung had been advertising all day, but then again, so was Nick. Agung hadn't kept his intentions a complete secret, for Nick was picking up a lot of signals. Nick also found Agung attractive. Everything was point to one direction, and Nick wasn't going to say no. In fact, he decided to make the first move.

"Agung, why don't we go back to my room and have a few more drinks there?" asked Nick with a smile, "I have some beer at the room, or we could stop and get more alcohol before we got there."

[Midlonia]

Malacca Strait, The Contested Lands, Shiva's Haven,11pm

Siamo Samaj and the J/UP had become partners some time in the late 1980s, both groups wanted a large unified Hinduvata state within the South East Asian area, and both sides seemed to regard eachother as kin, regardless of the differences between the states historically and culturally, under Hinduvata it wouldn't matter.

The Contested Lands were a small set of Islands between the two areas where the lines drawn up by the London-Malacca Treaty became vague, putting the islands squarely between Indonesian and Siamese influence, and thus another problem of contention between the two rival states.

It didn't matter that the official population of said islands numbered less than 5,000 people, it was still a point of contention.

The pen slowly danced across the paper of the notebook, putting beautiful Hindu characters were traced across the blank paper, plain area became filled with inspiration and soul. The man holding the ornate fountain pen was simply known as Bahno. A liberator, a speech maker, a religious icon, the embodiment of Shiva. A terrorist.

By now Bahno was an aging man, his hair was flecked with grey and a pair of delicate glasses perched on his nose as he moved his pen again.

Bahno looked up from his writing and removed his glasses wearily, the small paraffin lamp flickered slightly as the woven-reed covering to the hut was pulled to the side. A figure, a woman dressed in little more than underwear entered and smiled at him as she walked by and entered a back room where a young male figure lay in a bed. Bahno shook his head slightly and decided to stand. He pulled the reed door to the side again and slowly walked down the dim pathway. The jungle around him sang and screeched as only these places on earth, truly touched by a god, did.

Bahno was walking down a slow and long path towards the sea, which he could hear softly crashing against rocks and breaks further down. He removed his glasses and placed them into the pocket on his breast that was woven into the basic clothing he wore.

Eventually he reached a spot that overlooked the bay below him, it was isolated and a natural harbour due to it's closed nature. The entrance and exit was hard to navigate, especially so at night.

Standing watch was a man with a pair of NV binoculars and an AK-47 on his back.

“How's the fleet?” Bahno asked quietly as he approached the figure, who jumped slightly and turned rapidly, going for his gun until he realised who it was.

“We got the new paint from a trading source in California, Maharat Bahno.” The trooper said with a slight bow. “It's being applied to the Matsya fleet now. We're also trying to see what we can get from Nilosahara and Kiev. I played up the Feudalism angle to see what support we can get, it's probably going to be financial though.”

Bahno nodded. “There are other ways too.”

He stood next to the man and stared down at the fleet of fishing boats, 40 in all, all softly drifting from the currents. Flashed of blue light occasionally seen for brief seconds were signs of work, armour plating being put onto the vessels. Another, with an ancient crane recovered from an old Yashiman outpost was groaning softly in the breeze and from the weight of the cargo it was moving. A fuel tanker was being slowly lowered onto one of the larger Matsya to act as a minature support vessel. It's crew was armed with SAM missile launchers and it was to carry ammunition and fuel to keep the heathens guessing when they began to strike.

“And the band of merry men of the J/UP?” Bahno spoke so softly the guard almost thought he hadn't heard him.

“Mmm? Oh, they left two hours ago, they should be fishing right now, they've promised to bring two vessels back here for rations, the rest are to head to The Commonwealth proper to feed starving supporters and nobody else.”

Bahno nodded again. “Good, when the preparations are completed I shall explain the plan that Shiva has inspired me to carry out.”

“Yes Maharat Bahno.” The Soldier said with a nod and slight bow as Bahno turned and walked back towards his hut, the sounds coming from it caused him to shake his head as he approached it softly. Instead of going inside and embarrassing his son and his latest consort.

He sat on a chair roughly hewn and smiled slightly as he looked upwards, seeing a gap in the tree cover and the stars above. It was time to begin, it seemed. Somdet Phra Bahno Taksin the 15th thought to himself as his son continued his latest carnal pleasure with Tali.

The True heir and ruler of the Siamese Empire smiled as he felt his time was coming.

[Kyr Shorn]

The Club

"Sure," Agnug replied with a slightly drunken and blissful smile painted on his face, "Let's go." Even an experienced drinker like Agnug would feel the efects of four shots of straight vodka.

He grabbed a handful of nuts at the bar to munch on while leading Nick out of the building through a side door where his bodyguards were already waiting with his car and the SUV ready to head out.

At this point, even though he was three sheets to the wind, Agnug could tell by the looks the guards were giving him that he wasn't going to be driving anytime soon.

"Fine..." he murrmered as he handed over his keys to the commander and crawled into the back seat of his luxury vehicle and bided Nick to join him.

"Nick's Hotel." Agnug ordered once the driver was in the car, "And step on it."

This time it was the bodyguards who put the high performance vehicle to the test as it sped down the streets of Jakarta, heading towards the next stage of what was looking like a mini lost weekend for the son of the President and the former boyfriend of an Emperor.

[Chrinthanium]

In Nicks state of slight intoxication, he wasn't too concerned with the driving abilities of the body guard. As he and Agung were in the backseat of the SUV and speeding off to his motel room, Nick was just happy to be in the moment.

Upon the rapid arrival of their vehicle to Nicks motel, he quickly usher Agung out of the SUV and into his room, which was on the first floor. As soon as Nick finished fumbling with his key to open the door, he pulled Agung into the room and shut the door behind him. He reached over and flipped a switch which caused a light to turn on an illuminate the darkened room. Nick walked over to the window to double check to make sure the curtains were closed properly. Once he was assured of their privacy, he turned towards Agung.

He looked at Agung, who seemed to be happy about the current situation, and walked up to him. He grabbed Agung and kissed him with reckless abandon. The kiss was intended to give Agung the notion that Nick wanted more than just a night out on the town, and hopefully Agung would catch the meaning.

[Kyr Shorn]

Hotel Room

The son of the current President (and effective Dictator) of the C.I.I. returned the kiss with equal wild abandon and began working the zipper and belt on Nick's pants, drunkenly doing his damm best to get them off... The night did get a little blurry at times due to the alcohol but Agnug had an evening that lasted until dawn and it was one of, if not the best nights with another man that Agnug had had.

Then at some point afterward both he and Nick had fallen into a deep sleep which Agnug awoke from with a pounding headache, he stumbled into the small bathroom and managed to find some tylenol and turned on the water to take a couple of them and then splashed cold water on his face to help wake himself up.

"How much did I drink?" he muttered quietly to himself, not even aware of what time it was.

OOC: Since the NSForum does have certain rules I'm going to have to keep this at least PG-13... Sorry!

[Chrinthanium]

(OOC: That's fine because that was my biggest worry. We know what happened, we don't need a complete play by play.)

Nick lie there, partially awake, as Agung took to the bathroom to quell his throbbing headache. It was indeed a terrific evening, and the encounter was tremendous, he though, between the two. Whether or not he ever saw Agung again became of less consequence to him at this point in time. Right now, Nick felt free from his attachment to the Emperor. For the first time in year, Nick finally felt single and ready to be single. Maybe, he'd finally gotten over Nathaniel.

"Agung," spoke Nick from the bed as he sat up, "I need some Tylenol if there are any back there. How much did we drink last night?"

[Kyr Shorn]

Hotel Room

Doing his best to ignore the thudding of drums in his head, Agnug turned to look through the doorframe at the lovely sight of Nick's lust inducing body in the bed.

He then stepped out of the bathroom and as he made the quick walk to the single king-sized bed he realized that other than the bottle of tylenol in his hand, the political heir to the Brahma Dynasty was wearing nothing but a smile.

Agnug laughed a little at himself and handed Nick the bottle saying, "It's still full and I don't remember myself... I haven't done that in a while... Ye gods that was fun!"

He then glanced at the floor littered in clothing and giggled at it, once they had gotten in the room the clothing hadn't been in the way for very long.

[Chrinthanium]

Nick thanked Agung for the bottle and took three pills and downed them with the only liquid he had available to him, a can of beer still full, on the bedside table. Logan than reached into his backpack, which was on the flood next to the bed, and produced his pack of smoke. He withdrew one of the cigarettes and placed it in his mouth. Upon lighting the cigarette, he offered one to Agung.

Though Nicks full memories of the nights activities were somewhat clouded, he still knew what had happened. There were no blackout moments for him. He was thrilled, and pleased. He was, despite his headache, ready for seconds, but resigned himself to the throbbing pain in his forehead.

Nick sank back down into the covers and he looked at Agung and fell asleep again. His biggest hope was that the hang over would be gone by the time he woke up.

[Kyr Shorn]

Hotel Room

Agnug smiled at the sleeping figure in his bed and kissed Nick's forehead, Agnug considered joining him in slumber land but decided that he needed to check his messages. So he fished for his pants and found his phone and slipped into the bathroom and closed the door and turned on his phone.

Shockingly there were only four messages, one was from the Senatorial Office dealing with the last minute work before the recess started, most of that could be deal with later. One was from Gajah asking if he wanted to join him for a yatch party later that week off the southern coast of Java.

Two of them were more serious.

One was a newsclipping about a growing diplomatic crisis with Siam, apparently a "fishing boat" with Indonesian markers exploded, no doubt a terrorist act of either the Siamo or the J/UP. But currently both nations were launching more military patrols in their territorial waters and the words between Bangkok and Jakarta were growing more heated by the second.

The other was yet another news clipping with a note attached from one of Dad's secretaries stating that the Saxemberg government had already suppressed it. Someone had spotted Agnug and Nick at the restaurant and had followed them across town all the way to the hotel entrance.

Agnug began to quietly curse in Indonesian as he sent messages to several people, trying to figure out who had managed to breach his security to the point that they could follow him here without being detected.

"At least no one in the Commonwealth would dare to publish the story in any print media here." he thought. The internet was more porous but it would take most internet users in the C.I.I. some work to get through what the west called "The Great Firewall of Indonesia".

"Plus I'm not even sure who would be interested in who I might be sharing an evening or two with." Agnug thought once more before deciding to let Nick sleep before breaking the bad news to him, at least there was a silver lining to all of this. The story had been crushed in it's infancy.

[Chrinthanium]

Nicks cell phone beeped, alerting him to a new text message. He woke up upon hearing the noise and checked it. Apparently, one of his college buddies told him about the news article, which Nick really could care less about, considering his times with Nathaniel being discussed in the Imperial Standard, and other publications.

When Agung sat down on the bed and kissed Nick, he hadn't fully fallen asleep yet. He reached up and pulled Agung back down into the bed.

"I'm sure that you know the press know, right?" Nick said half-asleep. Once Agung told him that he knew, Nick sat up a bit. "Then we need to keep at it, and really give them something to talk about, eh?" Nick chuckled as he began to wake up.

[Midlonia]

Meeting with Maya Kapilvastum, Siamese Embassy in Jakarta

I find meeting here highly insulting, one little terrorist attack due to lackadaisical security and now you have to play cloak and dagger like some James Bond film. Sung sighed slightly as he sipped a cup of cappuccino that cost 10 times the amount it had the other day due to inflation and shortages that Indonesia was now beginning to actually suffer. He was in a small closed room upstairs in The Imperial Siamese Embassy to Jakarta, seeing as the office of the ministries was still shut this was apparently the 'only' way the Indonesians would be able to talk to him.

Eventually two suited security guards entered the room and swept it with electronic surveillance equipment and left again causing Sung to roll his eyes before Maya finally arrived. Sung simply looked at her for a moment before offering her a seat on the sofa facing a plasma screen television that was connected to the computer on Sung's desk.

He picked up the remote and walked over to the screen, clicking a couple of buttons bringing up an image of a drifting wreck with a battered Siamese flag still fluttering slightly in the breeze.

“This was the Fisheries Protection Vessel FPV Rumpala” He said quietly as the footage rolled on for a little longer before changing to a night vision shot of another vessel, noted as the FPV Sungai. “This vessel with another was sent to investigate why the Rumpala failed to check in.” He simply let it play out when a dark movement nearby suddenly flashed and a shell landed to the Starboard side of the little FPV, which bobbed and then made evasive manoeuvres, the footage zoomed in, revealing the outline of a fishing vessel with a small turret on it and lines across the hull and conning tower which could only be plating. The footage paused again.

“We've confirmed it, it is a Matsya. So what was it doing in our waters? We follow the Malacca-London treaty to the letter as per our agreement. At first we suspected Siamo involvement until one of our embassy workers went to get some groceries.”

He clicked the remote again showing off a dockland in Jakarta where fishermen were simply throwing fish out, giving it away and leaving an “honesty box” near to their boats, people could pay what they wanted or nothing at all. It seemed to be happening to every boat along this section of the Harbour.

Some were shouting out in Indonesian “Free from Siam! Free from Siam!” Over and over. Finally clicking off the television Sung's face remained completely impassive, revealing nothing. Instead he simply stood there for a minute or two and then finally spoke.

“How long has the Brahma regime been permitting these violations, knowing that it could be taken, by less restrained governments as a potential act of war, economic or otherwise Miss Kapilvastum? Security concerns are that your end of the treaty is not being enforced while we ensure stringent punishments for people who do, attempt or otherwise, to violate those treaties.”

He licked his lips and then finally clicked the TV again, bringin up stock footage of the Gumpee Nimitir Class Carrier. Named Bangkok.

“We've decided to augment the 1st Carrier flotilla from the 4th fleet into the 2nd fleet's patrol patterns to give us round the clock air coverage on the area. As ever I am informing you under the relevant sections of the Malacca-London treaty.”

[Burol]

Royal Philippine Embassy
Jakarta

The Royal Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Matthew Teleron had been watching the events unfold in Jakarta, and between Siam and Indonesia. His superiors back in Manila have authorized him with nothing but the usual message of condolences and whatnot, which he rattled off to the Press Attaché of the legation for delivery to the bombed Foreign Ministry.

The Philippines was in its usual ambivalent self when tensions arose again between Siam and Indonesia over some islets near the Strait of Malacca. Successive Foreign Ministries have attempted to juggle the Kingdom's defensive alliance with Siam with its general desire to avoid war - especially one which can potentially weaken the Asian nations' capability to fight their common enemy, Yashima. As such, Philippine diplomatic efforts concentrated heavily on preventing Indonesia from firing the first shot, lest Siam invoke the Treaty of 1967 and drag the Philippines into a war with a nation it holds no grudge against.

That was the general instruction the Philippine ambassadors to Jakarta are given. And that was what Foreign Minister Bryce Hartnett replied when Teleron wired the foreign ministry for instructions. "Prevent war at all costs."

Maybe the Philippines should try a carrot-and-stick method. Indonesia is starving. The Philippines, meanwhile, is awash with grain. Now if Indonesia would stop its provocations in exchange for rice... he picked up the phone and instructed his secretary to request an audience with the Indonesian Foreign Minister ASAP.

The church bombings are a different matter. As a secular country, the Philippines' policy is nonintervention in the internal affairs of neighboring nations, and it won't dabble in such as issue as religion. The country is multireligious and while its degree of religious tolerance is admirable but
fragile. Again, the Embassy went out with the usual statements of condolences, but did not act to the degree that the Papal States and Chrinthanium responded. Even most of the Christian churches in the Philippines was careful in reacting to the events.

But to Ambassador Teleron, it appears that there is a coordinated attack against Christians all across Indonesia. Surprisingly, the Philippines, a majority Catholic and Christian nation, did not issue a travel warning against Indonesia like some other countries. As if Filipinos would travel to Indonesia anyway. Still, the Filipino casualties from the bombings are not insignificant - his legation confirmed eleven deaths of Filipinos due to the bombings. His embassy's phone lines are being swamped with calls from frantic relatives back home about the whereabouts of the Filipino citizens in Indonesia. Yet the foreign ministry did not even mention about the dangers of traveling to Indonesia. Filipinos know best to avoid danger.

[Kyr Shorn]

Meeting with the Siamese Ambassador, Siamese Embassy in Jakarta

Maya Kapilvastum replied, "As you are already aware the Commonwealth has had issues with religious extremists in the form of the Justice/Unity Party. We have launched a major crackdown on the now illegal party but we have little doubt that they have sleeper agents and supporters among the population who at least sympathize with the ideas of Hinduvata."

"Like in your nation for example." Maya added as an afterthought, hinting at the Siamo.

"As I am also sure you are aware, the nation is staring down a possible food crisis in the future due to environmental damage caused by the Communists and later the Catholic dictator Suharto. The Brahma administration is doing it's best to correct for this but there have been shortfalls."

Maya then pointed at his imported cup of cappuccino, "Luxury foodstuffs are a good example of this, by the way the local teas are much more affordable Sung."

"The government will do it's best to enforce our side of the treaty but at the end of the day desperate people will do what they have to do to live. But I doubt you would understand a thing like that Sung."

Maya then sighed and returned to the subject of the fishboat bombings, "The Commonwealth government would never approve of terrorist acts against any legitimate government. Like I mentioned before this is obviously the work of either the J/UP or the Siamo, or more disturbingly the two groups worked together on this."

In the past the Siamo and the J/UP have been believed to only have been connected by the thread of Hinduvata ideology that they shared, beyond that the two groups were more focused on regional issues. The Siamo on Siam, the J/UP on the Commonwealth. The J/UP in particular desired a restoration of the Majapahit Empire on a bigger scale than the last, one that would cover all of South East Asia.

Something the Siamo would never allow, but now with it's major leaders in jail, some of the J/UP might turn to the Siamo for help.

Maya's right hand then reached up and stroked the small Buddha necklase that she wore and finished on a more personal note, "One of my darkest fears is that the Hinduvata groups might one day take over and in that case, Buddhists like you and I will die before the images of the Hindu gods."

"I also wish to notify the Siamese government that the CII has increased it's military patrols in our costal waters, to better ensure the serenity of our state against all it's foes." Maya revealed, flipping the subject once more.


Hotel Room

Agnug laughed in reply and said, "Sound's like someone is ready for round two". Which turned out to be true and Agnug was thankful that before leaving the bathroom he had sent in a message to home office telling them that he was taking the day off.

Let the world blow itself to kingdom come, there was a gorgeous guy in his arms and the youngest son of Delem Brahma wanted to enjoy every moment with Nick that he could.

[Midlonia]

“They would make interesting bedfellows.” Sung said softly as he frowned and looked at the screen, now displaying random news pages that were selected before bringing up a random news page about gossip to stop it scrolling through his reading habits too much.

“There's the possibility they may be starting to put aside their national differences to make a large-scale hinduvata terrorist organization. We may try and get confirmation on this from the UKP also, see if their own problems have suddenly manifested.” Sung shrugged and then lent on his desk looking at Maya and nodding. “Then I have been so notified to expect more CII patrols along the strait.” Sung said with a shrug. “Though I doubt the fishing problems will continue as these desperate criminals continue to exploit Siam's natural resources.”