OOC: Thanks to The Selkie for writing this with me!
OOC thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=502028
[Now Playing: Pommernlied, Heeresmusikkorps 80]
Southern Italy - Taranto Outskirts
Firecrackers crackled and cheers erupted as the flag of Insaanistan was cut down and burned, and in it's place- the Italian tricolor, flanked on the right by the flag of the Holy League, on the left by the flag of Lauzanne. As far as most were concerned, the war was over; soldiers from Prussia-Poland, Ostmark, and Lauzanne settled into garrison and occupation duties, while the SWA came aboveground, now undertaking the difficult process of turning from an insurgency into a proper government. The people of Italy, by and large, seemed to welcome the liberators; or, at least, they didn’t fear them. Looting and violence halted immediately, and prisoners of war found shockingly good treatment(at least aat the hands of the Prussian-Poles/Selkie and Lauzanneans)...assuming, of course, that they weren’t lynched first by angry Italian mobs.
But for a select few, concentrated mostly in the high command of the Coalition, the war was far from over. It was merely changing it’s battleground; from the rolling fields of Italy to the far more difficult terrain of the conference-room and public opinion.
It was politician’s work; something Lillian MacDuff loathed from the start. But it was ultimately necessary; she could see that her troops were exhausted. An invasion of Sicily, much less one of Insaanistan, was out of the question.
As her mind churned over the issues, Lilly limped out of her headquarters -- not one of Taranto’s myriad hotels or it’s government buildings, which were currently in use by the SWA or by her troops as barracks, but a small fortification perched on a hill overlooking the city, delineated by HESCO barriers and dominated by tents, communications gear, attaches and officers, trickling in and out carrying messages and instructions to and from other nations, her myriad units, and from home.
It was here that the last blows of the war would be traded -- over a conference table, albeit a hastily-cleared one that was really just a piled box of ammunition, and one surrounded by the guns of the Commonwealth.
Of course, she’d have backup and people better at articulating their points of view than her. Her role, along with that of the ORP Visby, as outlined by the King, was to make threats if the other parties became noncompliant and to advise her civilian counterparts on the kinetic means at their disposal.
Some of those counterparts were, in fact, arriving now. The Selkie-delegation approached, and as they did, Lilly stood up a little straighter, leaning against her sword-cane.
Berkant Veidhlín of the Tribe of Kildare.
Taranto, Southern Italy.
As far as the Free Lands were concerned, we were happy: Safe for a few close calls and a few lost drones, as well as spent ammunition, we had lost nothing major. Our vessels had operated within the Mediterranean Sea without major challengers, had helped in beating Insaanistan to a pulp and now the country was a pile of mismatched shards.
The War of Italian Independence was over, as was the War of Iberian Independence.
That only left distributing the spoils of war.
Officially, and those were the orders I was operating under, the Free Lands were aiming for a peaceful solution and resolution in which as many parties as possible went away with at least a part of what they wanted. Unofficially, our aim was to make this solution as advantageous to our allies as possible – that meant the Polish-Prussian Commonwealth and Ostmark, mostly.
For some reason, we had made enough of an impression to be given our own occupational zone in Southern Italy, not far away from Taranto, which was effectively less occupied by us and more supervised by us. Captain Liam Solas of the Tribe of Wicklow, an officer of the SDF-Army and technically the 'commander' of the ground forces of the SDF in this conflict, was in charge there, with him a company of the Great Woods Rangers and forces of the Social Welfare Agency, which was now operating in the open and most likely one of the most dependable factions currently in Italy.
The Captain, one should rather say 'Brevet-Colonel', was not with us today.
Liliane was with me, though, posing as my assistant (and wearing full Geansai), while two women in officer uniforms of the SDF-Navy were with us as well, one with the rank insignia of a Captain, the other with those of a Commander – officially, their names were Brenda and Lyra, but unofficially, their pointy ears giving it away, they were two Kanmusu of the SDF-Navy, SDFS Bruinneall and SDFAS Launceston respectively.
We moved in one group, for we had an important meeting ahead: Before the actual peace conference could start, I had requested a meeting with General Lillian Alexandra MacDuff, the blind woman in charge of the Polish-Prussian Contingent, and her delegation. We needed to talk a bit about objectives, who we could approach with which proposal, the fun part of diplomacy.
Surely, a battlefield was easier to handle for a seasoned General like her, but I trusted, that we could make do. Apparently, one of the Kanmusu Bruinneall had met during the conflict would be with her, Visby.
I nodded to the guards at the table, really just a few ammunition boxes piled together to form a working surface.
Of course, MacDuff was already there with her people, leaning onto her sword cane.
“Good morning, General.”, I said and bowed my head lightly, “It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” Rising from my bow, I offered a hand for a shake. “I heard a lot about you.”
“I am sure you did, Mister Feidlín.”, the General replied and turned towards where my voice was coming, offering a hand as well. I took hers before it could turn awkward. “Don't trust anything of it.”
“I will try.”, I replied with a small smile, “But please, call me Berkant, Ma'am. The two of us have quite a job in front of us.”
“Indeed we do.”, a far more familiar voice said – Guiseppe stepped up and we shook hands, same with Hilshire, who also kissed Liliane's hand. She replied with a friendly greeting and a small curtsy.
Introductions followed, during which Bruinneall decided to hug Visby and once that was all done, we sat down at the table. Liliane got refreshments.
“Now...”, I began, looked at my Polish-Prussian counterpart and her diplomats on staff, “We have similar objectives. We all want to secure our gains, we all want Insaanistan out of Europe, we all want a stable and peaceful Italy. And we want a complete Italy.”
I looked at Giuseppe and Hillshire, who nodded slowly.
“I know that you are referring to Sicily, Mister Veidhlín.”, one of the General's aides brought up, “The True Republic of Insaanistan currently holds that and a good chunk of Sardinia. I doubt that they will give it up, especially considering their unstable standing in Africa.”
“Which is why we must offer them something in return.”, I replied and nodded to Lilly, thanking her for the tea. “The TRI is our safest bet at a stable Insaanistan in the near future.”
“You want to support them.”, the General brought it to the point, “So that they leave Europe.” I nodded, as she continued. “A horse trade. Especially when we look at the TRI's holdings in Iberia. They'll have to leave those, too.”
“Oh, the Langenians want to be the protector of the Iberian Peninsula, let them worry about the Iberian Peninsula!”, I said and shrugged, “Though you do have a point.”
“Thank you.”, the General thought for a moment. “Sardinia is still a war zone. As you may know, Azim still has forces there and so does New Antarctica. Neither side has the ability to force a decision on their lonesome, but if we want Sardinia for Italy, we need to force one. I doubt that the New Antarcticans will leave without a horse trade of their own and Azim's forces will only leave when sent down to hell.”
Despite her snappy words, I nodded. “I'm afraid of that as well.”, I said and then added: “Do we even have a representative of New Antarctica here today?”
My Liliane shook her head. “And neither of Azim.”
“It is clear that Azim and his regime must be removed.”, Bruinneall said to the entire table, “The TRI and their meager resources will not be able to do that, they need us – any belief of theirs to the contrary is delusional. So, we offer them our support in return for Italy. How much we support them will be up for interpretation.”
“I doubt that they will allow us to fool them that easily.”, the General said with a small laugh, “So... we offer them into a horse trade, bully them into accepting it and then leave them hanging?”
“Oh, we agreed to support them, we will support them – as much as your King wants you to.”, I told the General, “But if I read the situation correctly, I would not expect to lead a ground offensive through North Africa any time soon.”
“If we need to...”, the General replied, “...we can and will take any of the lands of both the TRI or Azim... or both.” She let a beat pass. “However, we need a good reason before we start to do so.”
“Of course.”, I replied and exhaled, “That should be known to the majority of the Coalition, too. And to any Insaanistani splinter as well.” I thought for a moment. “Say, General, how good are you as an actress?”
There were a few giggles and coughs, and the General herself seemed surprised for a moment, but then said: “What do you need?”
“If need arises, it would be advantageous to not only bully the Insaanistani factions into accepting, but also to bluster a bit. A bit of a ruse to confuse our enemies.”, I added to make it a bit tastier.
“I can do that.”, the General assured me. “And, better yet, if need arises, I can make that blustering very, very real.”
“Perfect.”, I said, “This is going to be one interesting day.”
Shortly after, the first delegations began to arrive.
