Boots on the Ground [MT-Closed-Fecaw/Xencovia]

[Fecaw]

Royal Palace, Sediw- 22 June 2018

King Sarol was sitting at his beautifully carved table, with the last of his morning cereal just having been chewed down his throat. He and his wife had awoken rather later than usual: it was now almost nine o'clock and the morning star had almost faded into the brilliant blue sky. Business had been rather slow recently, even by Fecawn standards. In the past two weeks, laws on land valuation were the only event of note. The King was unlike his usual self, and had little idea as to what he would do with his day. His schedule and the schedule of many of his deputies was almost completely empty. Instead, the King took a moment to catch his breath and sighed as he looked out at the azure sea meeting the sky from his palace. Eventually, he decided to lift himself up from his chair, but was cut short in his solace.

There was a sharp knock at the door and, almost immediately, an aide entered the room. The man was usually so polite and well mannered, thought the King, but today, his face was blank and he said to the King, "You are needed in the Throne Room, now." in a hoarse voice. The King gave a smiling nod to his wife, before quickly leaving the room. The aide left, leaving the King to stride, almost march, as quickly as he could through a small network of stairs and corridors to an even smaller antechamber. He came in, and three attendants, who were also normally cheerful, dressed him in complete silence. He was handed an orb, small crown, dressed in a mantle and finally given a scepter.

The King would have become more solemn if he could. He walked slowly up the steps to the throne and looked out to see ninety men and women, the Senaters and Deputies of Fecaw, and a man dressed in full military regalia. The instant that the King appeared, all of them stood up. He gave a salutary nod, and they sat. The man in the uniform strode forward and perched a board map onto an easel.

"As you know, your Highness, Xencovia is one of our greatest allies on the world stage. You are all also aware of the coup d'état in the Ayeris islands that has recently taken place and of the overthrow of the democratically-elected Prime Minister Julius Seryichav. Warren Harrisburg, declared himself the leader of the Islands and imprisoned the entire Parliament. I have some more terrible news for you." The man paused for a second. "There has been an attack on the Xencovian embassy." He regained his pace. "The soldiers guarding the embassy have been executed and all the staff detained. According to Xencovian officials, there is no chance of getting them out diplomatically. All this has happened overnight and we only saw it fit to tell you, or in fact anybody, as soon as possible this morning."

The King's face turned rather serious. There was only one question on his mind. He opened his mouth to speak.

"What is the outlook for the Fecawn mission in the Ayeris Islands? Are they in danger?"

"I believe that they are in grave danger, Your Highness. There is a high chance that they are attacked in a similar manner. Julius Seryichav has spoken very harshly against Fecaw in the same manner as he spoke of Xencovia."

There was a brief silence and the man walked back to his seat, leaving the board up.

Deputy Nary Azana stood up and began to explain his opinion.

"Your Highness, it is clearly urgent that we immediately withdraw all ambassadors from Ayeris immediately. We must prevent yet more calamities by also aiding all Fecawn citizens in exiting the Islands."

The King nodded firmly. "Deputy, I am in full agreement with you. I shall give orders to the Security Council to carry this out immediately. But however, I do not need advising on one matter!" the King turned rather more serious, becoming almost angry, "There is at present absolutely no need for Fecaw to violate its founding principles by going to war. There shall be no idea of this unless we are directly attacked, not verbally, but violently by the Ayeris Islands."

There was a small disturbance in the room, but a tone of general agreement. There were no questions coming from the audience.

"I wish you the best of days, and that the Fecawns may be returned from Ayeris. I strongly hope that a military intervention will be unneeded, but I realize that it could be necessary.

[Xencovia]

The White House
Washington, D.C.
0322 Hours, 21 June 2018

---

A loud thud woke up the old man as he lay in bed. The man wished that the noise would stop, so he rolled over and covered his ears with his pillow.

"Mister President! Please wake up, you're needed in the situation room." the voice croaked. The man slowly turned upright and opened his eyes. He glanced at his wife sleeping soundly next to him and sighed. He'd been woken up for emergencies before, but he felt that this time was different. The president sensed an air of urgency, of dread.

Walking over to the door, he stretched and greeted his personal aide. "Good morning, Charlie. Did you get any sleep?" The young man nodded his head. "At least until they woke me up and asked me to get you. It seems very urgent, sir."

As the president walked down the historic halls of this residence-office, he played the guessing game he always played whenever he was awoken in the middle of the night. "What could it be this time?" He asked himself as he hastened his pace.

A room full of well-dressed military men greeted him with a salute, which he returned. The president sat down on his seat at the situation table and opened his mouth to say a "good morning" but he stopped abruptly and stared at the man across him in confusion. "Jim... what the hell happened?" He asked his Army Joint Chiefs of Staff member, bewildered.

The grey-haired man was dressed roughly in a half-nightgown half-suit combination, a sign that he too had been awoken and had little time to dress up. "Many things have gone wrong, sir." He replied grimly. The president knew he wasn't joking about his attire.

"Earlier today, the Ayerisian National Guard stormed our embassy in Kyrenia. The Pentagon coordinated with State and told the Embassy Protection Attachment to stand down and not fight the Ayeris soldiers." The old army man sighed and continued.

"Well, we've got confirmation that the EPA has been eliminated, and the embassy staffers, including the Ambassador, have been arrested."

"Eliminated... as in killed?" The president clarified with a lump in his throat. This was going to be nothing like he could have guessed. Karine Hoover, the Chief of the JCS stood up to present the classified report to the room. "CIA Operatives inside Ayeris have reported that the embassy staffers will be executed later today," she said, looking at the screen.

[Fecaw]

Senat Chamber, Sediw- 23 June 2018
The Senat Chamber was oddly hushed. Just a few minutes’ walk away from the King’s chambers, it was a large hexagonal-shaped room with several long benches for Senaters and a multi-tiered stage for Deputies and the King, who was currently absent. All forty five Deputies were seated on the stage, all forty five Senaters were present, but the meeting was hushed with a nervous silence, with no interruptions to the rather long speeches being made. The meeting was part of a long struggle within Fecaw, between pacifists and those seeking a more active military presence. Any military intervention was highly controversial.

Anin Hose, a rather gaunt figure, stood up to address his colleagues. “In 1960, Fecaw was threatened by a force of serious power. Not only were a small number of its representatives attacked, but its whole livelihood, religion, culture and tradition were put into peril by the invading Suria del Moka forces. It was then, and only then, that Fecaw took up weapons and began a serious fight in self-defence. It could not be argued then that our nation was acting in any biased self-interest apart from preservation of its culture and people. This is when we should fight. Currently, there is no excuse for our intervention in the Ayeris Islands, who pose no threat to us or our allies in fact. The best thing that we can do now is to withdraw what remaining presence we have in Ayeris and to allow our Xencovian allies to act as they wish. I warn you,” his voice stiffened a little,“any decision to make a military intervention today will be a grave betrayal of our country’s values!”

Rynin Tel was the next to speak. She seemed rather indignant at the previous speech and was firmly in support of an intervention. “Fecaw,” she began, “is a country that runs on principles, not practicalities. The attacks made on Fecawn and Xencovian ambassadors in these past days are equal, not in magnitude, but in their relevance as attacks on our sovereign nation, to the attacks made in 1960. We Fecawns have a duty to resist the attacks and to execute justice on their perpetrators. There is no excuse for us to sit here and watch any of our citizens, whose protection is our duty, be harmed, even killed, by Ayeris’ authorities, who, as we know, are brutally corrupting their nation.

The speeches and the debate continued on and on for hours. By the end, all of the ninety members of government had spoken, many of them twice or even thrice. Jura Ranero, who was in charge of proceedings, eventually looked up from his seat at the front of the Chamber, noticing that nobody else had stood up. “Are there any more positions to be taken?” he asked, with a tone of authority. Nobody moved. “The voting shall begin.”

Mr. Ranero pressed a small button to the side of his desk and the other Senaters then began to vote using their own electronic systems. A small screen in the middle of the stage flashed up with the numbers “29-16”. The vote was passed. The King had already given his approval to military action, providing that the Senat approved it, which was a rare move. Fecaw was at war.