The Rise of a King (Earth II)

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Harrington Residence, South of Jerusalem
April 1 2011, 2200hrs

In the mind of Roger Harrington the world had gone to shit in the space of such a short time. It seemed like only yesterday that he had served in the Tetrikan Armed Forces at such a high level, only to have it literally pulled out from under his feet by the stupidity of the uppermost echelons of the civilian command structure. He had used to believe in democracy but if recent events had proved anything, it was that the people didn’t always choose good people. Sometimes the right people had to take the initiative themselves. Only a few months ago this kind of thoughts would have been treasonous, today they seemed like thoughts that should have been thought a hellova long time ago, but then such was the way of things. He had been thinking this for some weeks and had began to make arrangements.

For now however he was waiting. He had pulled his Beretta Px4 out of storage and given it a good clean and general service. He slipped the magazine into the weapon, chambered one of the 9x19mm rounds and flicked the safety and fired the entire magazine quickly and accurately down the makeshift range. He approached the target and inspected it, satisfied with his marksmanship for the day, he then returned to the table and put another full magazine in and placed it into a holster.

Harrington turned as the first beams of light swept across his window as a car pulled up outside on the drive. Harrington moved to the window and carefully looked out, still sticking to his military training. Once he identified the person outside he relaxed slightly and removed his hand from the grip of his pistol, given the anarchy that had swept the nation it was hardly a safe place these days. He greeted the man at the door; he had been an officer under his command and still had the loyalty of a number of soldiers who would be able to do exactly what Harrington was planning. Within an hour there were a number of his subordinates sitting, or standing, in his living room between them they had the bulk of what remained of the trained military personnel in the former Tetrikan territories, and a fair portion of the good-condition equipment that hadn’t been sent to Egypt. It was his general hope that with him holding the loyalty of the majority of the firepower in the region, he would be able to restore some semblance of normality.

“My friends” Harrington said with a grim smile as he looked around at the officers in front of him, although strictly speaking they weren’t officers of anything “I have gathered you here today to suggest something that I thought I would never need to suggest. This nation, the nation were served, has fallen, we hold the loyalty of the bulk of what remained of the military, together we can bring order back to this country...who is with me?”

“We are with you” Colonel Peter Wright nodded, speaking for the other officers in the room as he was technically the ranking officer under Harrington “Where do we start?”

“Well, we need your guys here to start with” Harrington began “Here is what I am thinking...”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Harrington Residence, South of Jerusalem
April 5 2011, 1700hrs

Things had happened quickly in the past four days. Troops had swarmed into the area around Harrington’s residence and various other locations around Jerusalem. It had been decided to take it slowly and be sure of support before they moved into each area, it also enabled the troops to get their equipment into the area. The most obvious example of this was the twenty four Bushmaster IMV’s that sat on the drive, enough to transport the entire Company that had set up shop around the residence, similar formations were spread out across the countryside. Harrington himself was sat in a seat on the flat section of his roof above his living room. As four days ago he had dealt with his sidearm he now worked on his XM8 carbine, he got the impression that in the near future he was going to need it. The weapon was relatively new and had never entered Tetrikan service, he had however been able to get his hands on a sizable supply of the weapons. He was about to turn back to his officers as they discussed the situation when all hell broke loose.

A smaller humvee, a much rarer sight these days, skittered into the compound and slide to a stop. It was the team leader who ran out and made his way quickly up the steps and onto the deck where he promptly saluted sharply.

“Sir...Jerusalem is under attack”

“WHAT?” Harrington demanded as he jumped to his feet before gaining his bearings and turning back to his officers “Prepare the Company to ride, we’ll be there first, I want all other units getting into the city as soon as possible, if we can protect the city from attack, we can get some goodwill going up there”

The other officers climbed to their feet, stood to attention and saluted before jumping into action, moving from rest to combat within seconds. The company quickly scrambled into their vehicles, with Harrington personally taking up residence in the leader IMV. Mere minutes after the report came in the convoy set off for the short distance northwards. As they sped north Harrington checked his rifle one last time and slotted the magazine in and cocked the weapon. As they got closer, Harrington could see the problem. Smoke was already billowing from the sprawling city and it was obvious that something pretty big was going down. This was made significantly more obvious when the 7.62 machine gun on the roof began to spit its fire at targets down the street as the convoy began to roar along the road towards where the soldier had indicated the enemy forces were concentrated.

Central Jerusalem
April 6 2011, 2100hrs

The Battle had continued for over twenty four hours, with steadily more Harrington-loyal troops swarming into the city and securing it district by district. The enemy forces had slowly but surely pushed back under both the weight of troops and the skills and experience of the soldiers began to show. Harrington walked along with his troops, weary as all hell, but there was little left for them to do but keep pushing the enemy out of the city. There were corpses laid across the city, although the majority of them had been cleaned up by medical personnel that followed up behind the frontline soldiers. Personally Harrington just wanted to get back to his home and get some well deserved sleep, but the gratitude displayed by the inhabitants of Jerusalem had made it all worthwhile in the end, and it seemed that maybe, just maybe they were actually going to be able to get this country back into something resembling pace.

“General Harrington” Colonel Wright called as he walked along the line of soldiers “We’ve got reports that the stragglers are mounting technical’s and scarpering out of the city, I’d say we can pull most of the troops back and have our more rested troops sweep the last few neighbourhoods”

“I’d agree with that” Harrington replied as he reached to his radio “All Stations, All Stations, this is Charlie Alpha One, the enemy is retreating North out of the city, Thunder is to return to base for R&R, Lighting it to sweep the northern city districts, good work everyone”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Haifa Naval Base, Haifa
April 10 2011, 1200hrs

Harrington stepped down from the UH-60M that had transported him from Jerusalem to Acre. Ever since the Battle in Jerusalem the ad hoc regional governments that had set up in the interim had begun to pledge their allegiance. Haifa and Acre had been quickly persuaded and secured and there was talk of negotiations going on in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it would be in the North East where the warlord had his stronghold that there would be major problems. Harrington was just glad that they had secured the Fleet anchorages at Haifa and Acre, including some of the larger ships that hadn’t been sent to Egypt and been destroyed; mainly patrol boats and frigates, but Harrington hadn’t checked the full manifest and he knew that some were out on patrol, having remained loyal to the mayors of the two cities in which they were based, and thus handed them over to Harrington when he took the allegiance of the mayors in question.

Harrington back in uniform, this time with custom made patches, walked across the tarmac towards where the one of the craft to survive; an Anzac class frigate, was docked and awaiting his inspection. He hadn’t often been on board Navy ships, and this was his first time as a senior officer. He heard the almost alien bosuns whistle as he climbed up the gangway and onto the deck of the warship. He was given a brief tour of the ship and generally spent some time chatting with the officers and ratings. Despite the fact that he had never mentioned it himself, he knew there was talk across the territories controlled by his forces, of him taking power once the job was complete, and if that was going to happen it was probably a good thing to get some good ‘PR’ activity down.

“General Harrington, Commodore Wilson asked me to inform you that she took her squadron into Ashdod Naval Base and has secured the military assets there” Commander Keiran Graves, the frigates commanding officer, reported “Your exec also rang and wants to tell you that he’s sending a detail down there to meet with their mayor”

Harrington nodded. Commodore Alice Wilson was one of few other flag officers to still be alive and was commanding a squadron of three frigates and several smaller Armidale class patrol boats. She and her small complement of marines had been able to secure the other craft present at the Naval base, another step forward. Almost mirroring the great steps forward Harrington looked up in time to watch as a flight of fighter jets shot over the city and banked northwards as they headed to act in support of operations in the North. Harrington walked to the bows of the ship and looked out North West, somewhere in that general direction was the last Tetrikan Territory; Cyprus, and they were going to need to be going there at some point in the near future, ideally at the same time as they put down the war lord in the North, but if that was not possible it was going to be a lot longer before they could get everything completely in order.

“Send the Commodore my compliments” Harrington instructed with a slight smile “Inform her that I’ll be inspecting the NB myself tomorrow, I also want to discuss Cyprus with her, I’ll need her help if we go up there”

“Aye sir, I’ll pass that on for you, is there anything else?”

“No Commander, thank you” Harrington responded and watches as the officer saluted, as he returned the salute he spoke again “Dismissed”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

C-130J Super Hercules, Approaching Akrotiri Air Base
April 18 2011, 0400hrs

The C-130J Super Hercules, callsign Victor One, flew at the head of a formation of fourteen such aircraft. Carrying an entire Battalion of troops and their equipment the formation was carrying an elite group of soldiers that were trained in airborne drop operations. There would be additional troops coming soon, as would the Navy, but given that the last warlord was holed up on the island, this was being treated as a liberating invasion and although it was generally hoped that population would support the troops, General Harrington had decided that it would be best if enough troops were present to force the issue if there was a lack of help from the civilians. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Gardner checked his weapons and the parachute of the man next to him, who would do the same for him in short order. Yesterday a air strike had destroyed the Cyprus Air Defence Radar station at Akrotiri Air base, enabling the C-130J’s to fly in without tbeing detected and deploy their troops in a sizable air drop.

Gardner looked up as the light flickered from red to green.

“Stand up” Gardner shouted at his men and the rear ramp began to open “Good to go!”

“GOOD TO GO!”

Akrotiri Air Base, Cyprus
April 18 2011, 0400hrs

Across the formation 914 men and women willingly threw themselves from perfectly flyable aircraft and began to soar towards the ground. As they reached a prearranged height they pulled their chutes and began the dangerous glide down to the ground. Thankfully they were able to get almost to the ground before the first searchlight blazed, much less before the troops on the ground had any idea what was going on. Never the less this went to hell in a hand basket pretty quickly as the troops advanced across the asphalt they found themselves under heavy fire with little in the way of cover to fire from, or take cover behind. Several soldiers were killed as the Battalion scrambled to the buildings and began to secure their position. It was going to be a long day.

Daytime didn’t improve the situation. Hostile armour had turned up and began to turn the Battalions cover into rubble, making the idea of an entire battalion taking cover a much less palatable prospect for the future. Within a few hours they had managed to get themselves some decent cover as the units heavy machine guns expended the bulk of their rounds providing cover for the rest of the unit to create, or move to cover positions and by 1000hrs they had managed to secure a position at the centre of the airfield, but it seemed that the enemy was going to be pushing the issue. A lull descended in the afternoon and Seahawks from the Navy had been able to provide CASEVAC services to the fleet, but it wasn’t exactly the best situation as the frigates weren’t exactly medical ships, but it was better than nothing. The Navy had also served exceptionally in providing naval gunfire support during attacks, and given that the strike craft were grounded due to a technical fault it was unlikely that they would be getting any additional support. Gardner was unsure, but he had heard some reports from Commodore Wilson that the squadron had found itself under fire from enemy PT boats, which had been quickly dealt with.

As night began to fall again, Gardner and his troops settled down for another assault which came quickly, and ended with some casualties on both sides, but little progress actually made. The Navy began to fire flare shells to provide illumination when needed but for the most part the weary soldiers tried to get what rest they could, taking it in turns to get fitful sleep on uncomfortable tarmac. It was as their watches flicked past midnight that they received a message from Harrington.

“Okay people, what do we think about Manticore” Harrington asked.

The discussion on what to call the nation had been spreading across the military for a few days now with various names being suggested; it seemed that Manticore was the latest suggestion to come through the head of General Harrington. Despite this, after being informed on what it meant, the soldiers seemed to warm to the idea and after finding some paint began to draw massive pictures of Manticore’s on their helmets and their cover, no doubt the enemy would be wondering what the hell had gotton into the mind of the unit that had taken to calling themselves the Manticorian Rangers. It seemed that Jerusalem had in fact been renamed as a neutral city in the wake of issues over religion, but they had been largely solved as the Harrington ‘wave’ as it was being called continued to sweep across Israel, West Bank and Gaza, all of which were all but secured for the time being.

By dawn, as expected, the enemy attacked again, bringing in armour which was pretty quickly dealt with by the Navy’s gunfire support. The rounds landed accurately as they were being zoned in by the forward observers that the newly christened Manticorian Navy had put ashore during the night. It seemed that this would be the last actual assault by the enemy , but a recon operation had indicated that the enemy had far too many troops for the Rangers to actually perform a counterattack.

“Sir, the Reliant is reporting that they have a formation of transport aircraft on their screens” Gardner’s RO reported “Manticorian Transponder”

“Looks like our relief is here lads!” Gardner shouted to his troops as ten minutes later the distinctive roar of the turboprop engines could be heard and the C-130J’s began to drop their relief troops.

Gardner smiled and sat down on a piece of rubble. It had been a long day, but things were finally looking up.

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Nicosia, Cyprus
April 19, 2011, 1500hrs

It was hardly the most formal entry into the city, but the rag tag formation of various helicopters filled the sky above the city, landing long enough to off-load their troops before heading back to the base to pick up more soldiers. Despite the fact that many of them had only managed to get a few hours down time most of the uninjured Rangers were in the initial wave. The population had responded just as Gardner had hoped and were actively helping the soldiers against the enemy troops who were in bad shape given that most of their assets had been wiped out by a combination of the Rangers, the Infantry and the Manticorian Navy. They advanced quickly through the main part of the city and it wasn’t long before they had the enemy contained to a relatively small area and were moving in to surround the enemy on as many sides as possible. Gardner was almost tripping over himself he was so tired, but he’d be a soldier for far too long to just stop and he was able to keep himself going.

As they advanced Gardner looked over his casualties; the battalion had taken casualties but their experience had made the casualties a lot less than what they probably should have been given the situation they were in, and all told Gardner was proud of his Rangers and the job that they had done in the last twenty four hours. The enemy were dropping in droves as what helicopters were armed continued to perform strafing runs of the enemy positions, those in the positions that didn’t drop pretty quickly surrendered given that they were facing attack on all sides and were woefully under equipped for the battle that they were fighting. The civilians in the city had held back whilst the uniformed, professional soldiers did their jobs.

Gardner lead his unit in through one of the doors of the last main building, his XM8 held high as he led the way in, probably shouldn’t be doing it but he liked to lead by example. As he climbed the stairs he sensed movement and swung his weapon around, took a split second to scan his target and quickly identified the target as the last Tetrikan warlord. He knew that they wouldn’t be able to take him alive, and the AK-47 in his hand was provocation enough. Gardner squeezed a burst of rounds off and between the others with him they cut the warlord down into some pretty bloody chunks. He let his weapon fall down onto its sling and nodded his satisfaction. He grabbed the warlords radio and spoke to the enemy forces.

“Attention, this is Lieutenant Colonel Gardner of the Manticorian Rangers, your leader is dead and we have you surrounded, surrender immediately and we will show you mercy, continue to fight and we will kill you, choose quickly”

Gardner left his Rangers to finish the sweep and made his way to the roof. He looked down at the battle outside and was happy to see that the bulk of hostile forces were surrendering in droves. The helicopters assumed orbits over the area in order to provide cover for any further hostile actions, not to mention to provide obvious intimidation tactics on any of the enemy thinking of carrying on the fight.

“General Harrington?” Gardner asked as he accessed the main military channel.

“Present Lt Colonel” Harrington replied shortly later “Sit-rep?”

“Nicosia is secure” Gardner replied “We are all clear over here”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Manticore, Israel
April 30 2011, 1400hrs

Harrington looked out across the crowd that had gathered in the square below, he hadn’t seen so many people crammed into such a relatively small space. It still amazed him that so much could happen in the space of a month, but then everything had happened with military efficiency so that probably provided fair reason behind the speed at which things had happened. He himself had done what he set out to do, now he had to deal with the issue of running the nation, no doubt the public would push for another attempt at democracy, and he would have little choice but to concede, lest he appear a dictator. He sighed slightly as he stepped forward to a surprising amount of cheering and clapping. He allowed this to carry on as he stepped towards the microphone and called for quiet so that he could speak.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is over the Tetrikan Territories have been secured in the name o the Nation of Manticore; Israel, West Bank, Gaza and Cyprus have been secured and are under our control” Harrington began “I will begin looking in to establishing a democratic vote for...”

Harrington was suddenly interrupted by a great deal of shouting, after a few momtns of shouting he could discern a specific word, repeated over and over again; King. Needless to say he was shocked that the people would give over such power to him of all people, much less that they would agree to a non-democratic form of government. He felt a swell of emotion as he looked out over the crowd before once again gesturing for silence.

“I hear you... I hear you” He said loudly “And in light of this...request...I shall institute a referendum across our territories, I will not take the power you offer me without the consent of the people, in the interim however I declare this nation the Unified Kingdom of Manticore, and long may she last and stand the test of time, Thank you”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Manticore, Israel
May 2 2011, 1500hrs

“Well that’s a mandate to power if ever I’ve seen one”

Roger Harrington glanced across at his brother; Peter Harrington, with a smile as the pair looked over the results that had been swarming into the quickly set up governmental headquarters. The response was overwhelmingly in support of Roger Harrington being crowned King of the Unified Kingdom of Manticore. It was as yet unclear what was planned beyond him simply taking the title, but he had heard talk of getting the regional heads of the territories to all give their assent, in accordance with their populations vote, to the establishment of a Monarchy. But as Peter had just pointed out, the Mandate to Rule was undeniable given that response to the hastily arranged referendum. In the meantime however, Roger Harrington had a country to lead, regardless of his title at any particular time. His former subordinate officers had begun to put the soon-to-be-called Royal Manticoran Armed Forces into a proper fighting force, regardless of what they had been able to achieve during the War of Liberation. But if they were going to be able to maintain control and ensure that the UKM could protect itself from outside attack.

Harrington turned to look at the newly minted First Sea Lord; Admiral Samantha Wilson as she entered the room wearing the literally brand new Royal Manticoran Navy uniform. The standard service uniforms consisted of tunic, blouse, and slacks. The tunic was black and gold with the rank strips on the epaulets and the wrists. On the collar of the tunic, the rank was displayed. The left front side of the tunic was used to display medals, command stars, and other. Officers who currently commanded a vessel typically wore a White Command Berets. Flag officers wore black berets, as do the bulk of the serving officers in the RMN. Harrington was mildly surprised when Admiral Wilson saluted him sharply. It took him a few moments to note two things. The first was that Admiral was a rank higher than his last Army rank. The second was that Wilson was probably saluting him as her Monarch, rather than superior officer.

“Admiral Wilson, glad you could join us” Harrington smiled as he returned the salute sharply “How is my Navy going?”

“Pretty good” Wilson replied “All things considered”

“Problems?” Harrington asked with a frown.

“Beyond the majority of experienced sailors being killed during the Clusterfuck that was the Tetrikan Invasion Operation?” Wilson asked wryly “However, because we’ve got ourselves fewer ships what personnel we’ve got left can easily man the ships, aircraft and land installations”

“Can you carry out your mandate?” Harrington asked as he indicated for Wilson to take a seat.

“We’ve got twelve Frigates and thirty-six patrol boats last count” Wilson replied “There are other assets, but they’ll take longer to get operational, we’re gonna split a unit of to deal with Gryphon but we’ll keep the bulk with us on the coast of the mainland”

“That’s good to know” Harrington grinned “Well I’d better let you get back to your work, I’ve got a lot of other people to meet with if we are going to make this thing work”

“Of course” Wilson replied standing again and saluting sharply “Thank you, your Majesty”

Harrington glanced up sharply at this final word, but smiled slightly as he returned the salute and watched as the officer, young for one so high ranking, turned and departed his makeshift office.

[The UnifiedKingdom]

The Royal Palace, Manticore
May 3 2011, 0900hrs

The question of the exact form of government had been a tricky one. Whilst it was overwhelmingly obvious that the people wanted Harrington as their King, it was also increasingly clear that one man could not rule an entire Kingdom alone. Making use of previous districts a number of administrative areas had already been drawn up consisting of eight Grand Duchy’s; overseen by Grand Dukes, whom would be ultimately responsible for the administration of their regions and would be selected and empowered by the Crown. Under these larger administrations would be seventeen smaller regions known as Duchy’s; ruled by Dukes; also selected and empowered by the Crown. Under a Duchy would come an Earldom, and it is at this level that would keep the public happy; the Earls would rule cities and municipal areas and would be elected by the of their respective region, and it would be this mandate, authorised by the Crown that would give them their power.. The Earls would sit in the House of Lords with the other nobles and be charged with representing the voice of the people in the King’s government. Most notable amongst their power was for a large majority vote by the Earls could overrule the Dukes and Grand Dukes, placing the matter squarely in the lap of the Crown, ensuring that one Noble could not act against the wishes of the people without the Crown finding out and was charged with ensuring that it didn’t take place.

Harrington, officially now known as King Roger I, or Officiallyas His Majesty King Roger the First of Manticore, Grand Duke of Manticore and Defender of the Realm, stood from behind his desk. The desk had been promptly been swapped from the relatively simple desk to a beautiful hardwood desk of fine workmanship and he had moved from the simple office to the officer of the former President of Tetrika that would now serve as the Royal office. The transition had been swift, but if had happened effectively and there was a real atmosphere of hope across much of the Kingdom; hope that maybe, just maybe the country was turning a corner. Harrington could acutely feel the pressure that he was under to prove himself as if he failed it was entirely possible that the country would be thrown into a Civil War that had largely been avoided in the six months or so that had passed. He considered who would be best to place in these key positions. The obvious choices were his former subordinates, but many of them would be involved in the upper-levels of rebuilding the Military, and putting too many into positions of nobility would look awfully like a military dictatorship, something he wanted to avoid. Members of his family would be ideal, as long as he fulfilled the obvious public expectation that he keep them in line, but his family couldn’t fill the twenty five current Duchys and Grand Duchys, so he would have to consider other people; there were several who had served their people effectively during the fall, they perhaps.

Phone calls would need to be made.

Harrington glanced up as there was a knock on the great wooden doors into his new office, the smiling face of his new secretary popped through the door.

“Marshal Alexander for you”

“Thank you Suzie, send him in” Harrington replied as he stood up and walked around the large desk and met his senior army officer midway “Hamish, thank you for coming”

“I serve at your pleasure, your Majesty” Marshal Hamish Alexander replied with a salute and a smile before shaking the offered hand “Although I’ll never get used to this rank”

“You think you’ve got it hard?” Harrington laughed “I’ve got a goldsmith in the Industrial district who has taken it on himself to make my a crown”

“Nice” Alexander grinned “Although I must say this has got to be one of the strangest beginnings to a Kingship I’ve ever heard of, I mean how often does a population ask to be ruled over by one man, however competent”

“Well, given the strife that high-level democracy brought them, I don’t blame them” Harrington replied as he sat on the edge of the large desk as Alexander settled into an offered chair “I would have myself If...well... I wasn’t the person in question”

“I see your point, your Majesty” Alexander replied, putting emphasise on the title.

“For gods sake Hamish, I’m still your friend, no matter what headwear I’ll be wearing these days” Harrington replied, suprising himself with the sharpness of his tone, he took a breath before looking at his friend “You can still call me Roger you know”

“Of course” Alexander replied, taking the sharpness on the chin; he had after all taken a lot worse whilst in military service “My aide should be bringing the reports you asked for”

“Ah, how are we going in restructuring the army?” Harrington asked “How many troops have we got”

“We’ve got trained or wanting to train numbers at around 200,000 all told for the Army” Alexander replied “We’re looking at around 150,000 soldiers and unit incorporated supports, but we’re going to be chronically short-handed on experienced officer and non-coms, at least initially, I want to run some large scale exercises, it won’t be real combat experience, but it’ll be better than nothing”

“Makes me almost nostalgic” Harrington said wryly “Very well, make it so”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

The Royal Palace, Manticore
May 4 2011, 1100hrs

“Air Chief Marshal Thrace for you” Suzie Sato, the Crown secrtary called through the half-open door

Harrington glanced up from the reports that Hamish had given him the day before and nodded to his secretary. He waited only a few moments before the last of his newly promoted chiefs of the three main services entered the office and saluted. Harrington returned it and shook his hand before indicating that he should sit. Harrington wasn’t as close with Thrace as he had been with Hamish Alexander, mainly because they had served together in the same service, Thrace hadn’t. Never the less he knew about Thrace’s career and knew that he was a good choice to head up the Royal Manticoran Air Force. He also knew that all things considered, the RMAF was in the worse shape of all the services and that it was going to be hard pressed to fulfil its mandate or protecting the Kingdoms skies with any proper efficiency, and it would be all too easy for a hostile strike to get past the scattered patrols that the RMAF could operate at this point. Thrace was echoing this problem and was sitting uncomfortably in his chair in his new distinctive RMAF uniform.

“Don’t worry Thrace, I’m not going to bite your head off” Harrington commented with a easy smile as he looked at the younger man “I know your hard pressed, you tell me what you need and I’ll do my best to get it for you”

Thrace visibly relaxed before taking a handful of reports out of his briefcase.

“Put simply your Majesty, we’re severely lacking in aircraft, we’ve got plenty of qualified or near-qualified pilots but we simply don’t have the aircraft” Thrace replied passing the reports to the King with a sigh “I’ve got Strike Fighters being pushed into CAP roles, they can do it but they aren’t designed for it and we need new aircraft in almost every category if we are to secure our airspace, I can protect our airspace once I know they are there, but with our Radar coverage broken and our aircraft spread too thinly we might not know about it until the first strike is complete, and that could be horrendous for our defensive plans”

“Right” Harrington nodded “Well our main military constructor collapsed during the fall, and it’ll be some time before they can get their shit back together, I’ll see if the Foreign Office can get any progress done with other nations in terms of selling us some aircraft, we’ve got a fair bit of stored funds that we were able to secure during the fall, and we’ll be able to start taxes again soon, we’ll need to if we’re gonna keep this nation going”

“With your permission, I’ll put together a team to advice the FO on our needs and requirements, the last thing we need is for an uninformed minister at the Foreign Office to buy us aircraft we don’t need” Thrace commented “With your permission, of course”

“Good idea” Harrington agreed “This is gonna cost us enough as it is, I don’t want to spend more than we have to by bad decisions”

Harington sat thoughtfully for a few moments before speaking again.

“What about pilots and ground crew?” He asked.

“Well, we’ve got enough to operate our current aircraft, and the recruitment potential to cover the number of aircraft we need” Thrace replied “The Air Force only really lost its equipment during the fall”

“Well, that’s something at least” Harrington commented “Thank you Air Chief Marshal, I’ll let you get back to your work, Dismissed”

Harrington watched as Thrace stood once again, saluted sharply and left the room. He himself settled behind his desk again. All told the Military were either capable, or with the plans to make themselves capable pretty quickly. That was something at least. With the majority of the nobility selected and getting used to their new positions, the nation was finally clawing itself together and elections were already being held to elect the Earls for the first four year terms. There were plans for a fancy meeting chamber for the House of Lords; the government house that would serve in roles to look after the country and advise the King as necessary, it would also be in the House of Lords that if there were any problems they would be discussed before being placed before the King for a decision. Harrington would be responsible for overall rule of the country, intervening when required and spearheading policy both at home, and abroad.

Ah, that reminded him.

“Somebody find my Foreign Minister!”

[The UnifiedKingdom]

Harrington Park, Manticore
May 4 2011, 1145hrs

In the days that had passed since the Battle of Jerusalem, before its name-change, the largest park in the city had been promptly renamed in honour of their hero. It had also become something of a local project and had been planted with new grass and plants and was regularly looked after, making it a rare area of green in the city. Jessica Webster walked through the pleasant area with her mind in the sky, taking full advantage of the free time she had awarded herself with. She was aware of the small detail from the King’s Own Regiment; the unit responsible for protecting the King, his family, his ministers, and anyone else whom the King might direct. Some protected Royal Residences and of course the Palace, and they were in their uniforms and armed with assault rifles, other members of the Regiment, whilst still highly trained soldiers, were in civilian clothing and armed with sidearm’s on their person, although in their newly acquired vehicles they had a full arsenal of weapons and equipment. The soldiers with her were the latter and kept a respectful, but watchful distance, still adapting to their new roles.

She looked towards the centre of the park where a fountain of some description was being constructed, interestingly of their own free will as the City hadn’t authorised any funds for improvements, yet anyway. They City, and it’s district, was technically under the Manticore Grand Duchy, and as a result was under the King’s direct control as Grand Duck of Manticore, but he had already established a specific minister for the administration of Manticore. Her wayward thoughts were distracted however when one of her guards spoke.

“Minister Webster, I have orders to get you back to the Palace” The soldier said, keeping his tone polite “It seems the King wants to speak with you”

Webster growled under her breath.

“I will kill him, he knows I’ve been working my ass off for over a week straight” She muttered, before noticing the looks she got “I’m joking boys, lead the way”

The soldiers shared another look before leading the way towards the dark black sedan that served as the Minister’s personal transport for carrying out her duties. It was modified of course, the back area was generally for the use of the Minister and anyone she might need to share a ride with, and as a result he vehicle was slightly extended to allow two sets of chairs facing each other and two soldiers in the front drying. A pair of SUV’s escorted the vehicle in order to protect the Minister if the need arose, whilst acceptable for the Minister it was substantially smaller than the planned one for the King, but he hadn’t been out on a trip, yet. It wasn’t long before the trio of vehicles arrived at the Royal Palace and drove smartly into the vehicle garage.

Royal Palace, Manticore
May 4 2011, 1200hrs

“The Foreign Minister for you” Suzie called once again.

Harrington glanced up from his work and nodded to his secretary whom had stuck her head through the door once again. She stepped back and allowed the older woman to enter the Royal Study. Webster smiled as she approached and gratefully accepted the offered seat as Suzie brought in a number of reports that had just been e-mailed over from the foreign office. Webster took her copy and passed a copy over to the King who settled into his seat and skim read the first, and most important, report before looking up.

“Okay, what’s the situation around us?”

“We’re mostly surrounded initially by countries that fall under none of the major nations controls, with Amigrad being the obvious exception” Webster began “There’s been activity in Europe and it seems that Greece, amongst other places has fallen into something of a chaos, there are some resurgent governments in the area, but some areas are generally lawless or controlled by city states, the FO is particularly concerned about the Aegean, however the Mayor of Rhodes has managed to keep his island more-or-less stable and I think it would be a good idea to send a goodwill visist over there in the near future, it would be an obvious starting point in dealing with the Aegean; either expanding up there or annexing via diplomatic agreement, and I think Rhodes would be interested in such as thing, as they seem to be having problems of their own with other factions in the Aegean Sea, but the FO will have reports on that for you within a few weeks once we get some on-the-ground intelligence”

“What about the major nationstates?” Harrington asked.

“We’ve not heard anything, which is unusual” Webster nodded “My people are standing by however with intelligence and national summaries for your perusal once we hear from them, I’m putting together a list of people that would make good Ambassadors, and I’ve heard that the Kings Own would be the perfect choice to provide Embassy Security”

“I would agree with that” Harrington replied “Now I want you yo meet with the First Sea Lord, it seems they have a plan to clean up our coastline, smugglers and the like, and I think they are concerned about how it’s gonna go down internationally if we start stopping ships in our waters for smuggling, have a word with her, yes?”

“Of course your Majesty”

[Layarteb]

Official Communique

Priority: High
Recipient: King Roger I, Unified Kingdom of Manticore
Origin: Empire of Layarteb, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Classification Level: Secure
Subject: Recognition


The Empire has a long history in your region. In the past we have supported your predecessors and given them support and stability. Your people have historically been nothing but kind to the Empire and thus there is no reason to walk upon a different path for the future.

As such, the Empire bestows full, officially, diplomatic recognition upon the Unified Kingdom of Manticore. We wish to trade embassies, to begin trade and travel, and to forge an everlasting friendship built upon the bonds of peace, unity, and freedom.

Sincerely,
The Minister of Foreign Affairs

Classification Levels

Standard: Standard classification is the normal level of encryption. It uses 512-bit RSA encryption methods and has several key ciphers that change unpredictably.

Confidential: Confidential classification uses 1024-bit RSA encryption and several key ciphers within them that change unpredictably to ensure that message traffic is not hacked or decoded. Access to said messages would require heavy cracking software and significant resources but it is not "uncrackable."

Secure: Secure communiques use 2048-bit RSA encryption and multiple key ciphers within it to ensure that cracking it would take such a significant amount of time to accomplish that, should it be done, the message's usefulness would have already expired. Though anything is crackable, because of the methods employed, this level is often considered "uncrackable" by current capabilities. To ensure revolving protecting, ciphers and encryption algorithms will change unpredictably. This level is sufficient until 2030.

Encrypted: Encrypted classification uses 3072-bit RSA encryption and multiple key ciphers that change unpredictably. It can provide protection past 2030.

Maximum: Maximum classification is the highest level of classification available. It uses 15360-bit RSA encryption and multiple key ciphers that change unpredictably. It was previously experimental but now is recognized as maximum.

[Terra Empira]

Mediterranean Sea
May 4 2011, 1300hrs

The De Zeven Provinciën class destroyer LRS Bodegraven sat off the coast of Cyprus, outside of the maritime border claimed by the Manticorian government. The blue of the Lorraine flag was visible against the bright daytime sky, and the light rays bounced off the metal deck. Frigate Captain Leerentveld sat in his dim quarters, sorting through aerial images taken of Israel and the surrounding areas over the past few weeks.

Europe and Asia were in chaos, nations appearing and disappearing as if the world was just a game. Both good nations, and bad nations. Bad leaders, and good leaders. Innocent people, and enemy soldiers. Dissolved governments were only taken over by larger ones, which were only taken over by larger ones. Lorraine was lucky, having survived both Parisian and German eruptions, and making a democratic government out of it. They wished to do their part in Eurasia as much as they could. It was for this reason that a message was sent from Épinal to the Manticore government.

Priority: High
Recipients: Unified Kingdom of Manticore
Sender: Lorraian Republic, Department of Foreign Affairs
Topic: Manticore Government

ENCRYPTED

Europe and Asia together have been in chaos for many decades, and the larger countries are not kind to their fallen neighbors. We wish for nothing more then your government to succeed, and your country to hold strong through these troubled times.

Our nation currently holds a naval presence in the Mediterranean, we will continue to do so, respecting both your maritime borders and ships under your flag.

The people and republic of Lorraine now fully recognize you as a sovereign nation, controlling your stated territories. We wish to open up diplomatic avenues with you, including embassies and travel and trade. Let this be a friendship of peace and unity.

Yours hopefully,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[The UnifiedKingdom]

The Royal Palace, Manticore
May 4 2011, 1300hrs

Webster had been gone less than an hour when the first of the two, groundbreaking transmissions were received by the Foreign Office, and promptly placed on the desk of the King. For the second time in as many hours Webster was ferried back to the Palace, having left it a short time before. She was the last to arrive to the, still relatively small meeting in the King’s office, specifically herself, the Defence Minister, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the First Sea Lord. Webster frowned at the heavy navy presence in this particular meeting, and theorised that although the messages were probably pretty mundane there was still some concerns out there. She settled into one of the low sofas that the meeting had been set up around and picked up a photocopy of each of the transmissions and quickly read them, taking note of the quick annotations made by the Foreign Office pointing out interesting sections of the messages. She then picked up the intelligence reports of each and turned to watch the discussion.

“The message from the EOL is as good as we can expect, it’s a good message and it means that, amongst other things, the Layartebian war machine won’t decide to destroy us” Webster commented with a slight smile “Not without provocation anyway”

“Agreed” Admiral Wilson nodded “That is not where our concerns are”

“And there is little else we need to do beyond send a suitable responce” Webster added “If I may ask, why is the Navy here, no offense”

Harrington sighed and handed over a brief report from the small Navy establishment on Gryphon island, until recently known as Cyprus, as well as an reconnaissance picture of the ship in question. It was obvious to Webster what it was and thanks to a handy annotation by the Office of Naval Intelligence it quickly informed her that whilst the ship was not in the Kingdom’s Territorial Waters, and it was further out than the twelve miles of Contiguous Waters, placing it firmly in the the 200nm of Exclusive Economic Zone that stretched far out from the baseline.

“"We're going to take a look see?” Webster asked.

“I’ve dispatched the H.M.M.S Resolute, an Anzac-Class Frigate to approach the vessel and take a quick look, nothing fancy” Wilson replied.

H.M.M.S Resolute, 12 Miles of the Coast Of Gryphon (Cyprus)
May 4 2011, 1330hrs

The Resolute cut through the water with ease as she moved forward at a respectable cruising speed of 18knots, well below her flank speed, but then the tasking wasn’t particularly important, or exciting, as the contact had been spotted and shadowed by an Armidale-Class patrol boat before the Resolute was sent in to ‘fly the flag’. Her Manticoran Navy Ensign fluttered from it’s place on the aft of the ship, this along with another normal Manticoran Flag from the tops indentified her as a vessel of the Royal Manticoran Navy. The atmosphere onboard was not tense, as combat wasn't anticipated to be a combat mission and the ship was at Readiness Three; the lowest of the readiness levels and in reality was barely above normal operating conditions. There were never the less additional sailors on watch and the ship was generally more alert, as in such a messed up world, anything was possible.

“Sir, we are approaching the target” Lieutenant Nathan Gardner, the senior Warfare Officer reported “Range is three nautical Mile, contact confirmed identified as De Zeven Provincien Frigate of the Lorraian navy”

“Roger that, helm; hold position” Commander Peter Wood, the ships commanding officer instructed as he gazed through binoculars at the craft in the distance “Stand-by to transmit message”

“Aye sir, standing by” Lieutenant Holly Smith, the ships Communications officer, replied as she handed the comm-phone that could tie into either the Sat Phone or any radio system the ship was equipped with “Ready to transmit”

“Good” Wood replied as he took the phone and keyed the activator “Lorraian Vessel, this is the Manticoran Warship Resolute, may we inquire as to your ident, commanding officer, and intentions in these waters"

To: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Empire of Layarteb

From: Office of the King, Unified Kingdom of Manticore

Sub: Diplomatic Relations

I am happy to receive your transmission and assure you that it i is my wish that we would not, as you put it; walk a different path. At this time the Foreign Office is beginning the process of diplomatic relations and establishing a Diplomatic Mission to the Empire

Yours Sincerely

Roger Harrington
King of the Unified Kingdom, Grand Duke of Manticore and Defender of the Realm

To: Department of Foreign Affairs, Lorraian Republic

From: Office of the King, Unified Kingdom of Manticore

Sub: Diplomatic Relations

The Unified Kingdom receives your transmission with glad ears and we gratefully accept your offer of diplomatic relations with you nation. The Unified Kingdom looks forward to diplomatic relations between our two nations

Yours Sincerely

Roger Harrington
King of the Unified Kingdom, Grand Duke of Manticore and Defender of the Realm

[Terra Empira]

Mediterranean Sea: LRS Bodegraven
5.8.11:1330hrs

The Bodegraven dropped to alert level two, crewmen scrambled out of quarters and onto the deck. The LNN separated alert levels into three categories, one two and three. Basically, foe, unknown, and friendly. All weapons systems remained inactive as a show of peace. Capitaine de frégate Leerentveld walked sternly onto the bridge, the communications officer gave a nod as he spoke, "Captain, inbound naval vessel identifying as the Manticoran Warship Resolute, appears to be of frigate-size. Shall I play the communication?" he asked, Leerentveld rubbed his eyes. "Play it."

“Lorraian Vessel, this is the Manticoran Warship Resolute, may we inquire as to your ident, commanding officer, and intentions in these waters"

He glared at his navigation officer, who gave a slightly nervous look. "We may be within their claimed economic zone, probably a few minutes in." he said, before the captain picked up the commphone from the panel, "Transmit this back, lieutenant..." he took a deep breath, trying to sound deeper then his voice actually was. "...This is Frigate Captain Leerentveld of the LRS Bodegraven, Lorraian National Navy. We were assigned to antipirate duties within international waters, then separated for observation of the situation in Israel and surrounding territories. We have no intentions in your waters beyond leaving them. Requesting permission to return back to Lorraine waters." he said, adding the last part as a courtesy. He had no intention of staying, even if the Manticoran Navy sent every ship after him.

[The UnifiedKingdom]

H.M.M.S Resolute, Manticoran Economic Zone off Gryphon
May 4 2011, 1330hrs

Wood nodded with satisfaction it was pretty much as they had expected and this didn’t appear to be the forward guard of some sort of invasion force, which was good enough for him. He ordered his crew to stand down from alert and returned the ship to normal operating conditions. He looked at the ship in the distance through binoculars and took note of what he could see at the range before returning to the interior of the bridge. He waited until his sailors had cleared the upper decks; save for those who needed to be out there and spoke.

“Okay, looks like we don’t have any problems, we’ll track them on Radar, but bring us about we’ll start heading back towards Gryphon in a few minutes” Wood ordered as he pulled down the receiver once again “Ready to transmit?”

“Aye sir, helm port 40, steer 270; revolutions 1900” Lieutenant Carter, the ships navigation officer instructed.

“Ready to transmit” Lieutenant Smith added.

“Message received and understood Bodegraven, permission is granted, fair winds to you, Resolute Out”

With the message sent the warship turned and began to sail back towards the island; its radar suite would be tracking the craft, but it would only be the general search radar and no weapons radars were even activated, much less attempting to find targets. The Royal Manticoran Navy had more important things to think about than starting a war with this Republic; they had a lot of work cleaning the seas around the Kingdom; which had become popular for pirates and smugglers in recent months, and it was the responsibility of the RMN to clean up the Kingdoms territory. It was likely that the Resolute would be heading up the operations around Gryphon, as the larger fleet units such as the destroyers, cruisers and the lone carrier salvaged from the Tetrikan Navy were still in dry-dock undergoing repairs and outfitting.

“What is our ETA back to Home Port?” Wood asked as he settled into his seat.

“Two hours at cruising speed” Carter replied, checking his charts to confirm that the ship was around 36 nautical miles from the coast, at 18 knots that was approximately two hours worth of travel, and there was no particular need to go to flank speed, they weren’t in a hurry after all, and the longer it took them to get back, the longer they could track the Bodegraven.