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MKSheppard wrote:+++Republic of Shepnukistan+++

This afternoon, the aircraft of Strategic Air Command's 305th Strategic Reconnaisance Wing executed OPERATION ONE UP; a staged mass overflight of Tian Xia in response to Tian Xia's violation of the RoS's airspace earlier.

The Department of Defense states that in the process of accomplishing their mission, the RB-1Cs of the 305th SRW were fired upon by Tian Xian air defenses. One RB-1C was forced to divert to a friendly airfield in the United Kingdom of Blackadder after receiving damage.

Forbidden City Times
Government officials released a statement today, concerning the alleged overflight by Shepnukistani strategic bombers. It announced that contrary to claims by the RoS, F-22As from the 3d Fighter Squadron successfully intercepted the bombers off the coast of Tian Xia, and prevented them from entering our sovreign airspace. A RB-1C was regrettably damaged in this interception.

The Duchy of Langley reaffirms its support of the Law of the Sea.

The Departments of Commerce and Defense are also interested in acquiring licenses from PeZookia to produce the Fast Commerce Ship for civilian and military use, along with several examples of the craft for study.

In addition, while the other branches of the Langley Armed Forces cannot be deployed to help on the ground in New Gottland, the Air Force is willing to deploy its single EC-130J Commando Solo to the area to conduct psychological operations against the insurgency.

Baernish News Service
File BNS-13

The first colonists arrived today on His Grace's Undersea Habitat Yellow Submarine, on which they will all now live. The habitat is comfortable, not spacious but not cramped either, and fully equipped with stores and other trappings of civilization. The habitat, built from a design licensed from Crossroadia, is intended to support 500 people, and serve as a base for His Grace's fleet of Automated Undersea Commerce Vessels, which are intended to explore a theorized vein of minerals discovered off the east coast of Baerne Island.


Shown here is one of it's habitation spurs.

From the Texan Broadcast News System(TBNS):

...Authorities say that the so-called 'false-Pope' can be easily identified by his cursing and pack of 5 monkeys that follow him around. Any citizens that spot this man are advised to call the police at once.

In other news, the General Assembly passed the Naval and Air expansion act of 2008. The Bill calls for the introduction of service of another carrier wing within 2years, and upgrade of all A-6Es to A-6F Intruder II standard, a third air defense wing within 3 years, and 4 more P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol aircraft. Since the Rotary forces fall under Army purview, that bill has not made it to the assembly floor yet. The naval expansion will consist of two DDGs(yet to be named), one CGN(Tentatively Brazos), one SSN, 3 Dry Cargo Vesselsand two small Amphibious assualt ships for the purposes of emergency relief efforts and peacekeeping duties.

Committee Chairman Bill Strickland acknowledged that it would be difficult for the nascent Texan industry to hit all the deployment dates, but said 'I believe it is possible through a little hard work and vast use of migrant labor.'


From Industrial Physics Quarterly.

The General Assembly passed the first energy bill today, which mandated that all non-commercial automobiles manufactured and sold in the Lone Star Republic(excluding existing vehicles) must be flex-fuel capable within 18 months. This is an effort to reduce dependency on petroleum on the Texan economy.

The Bill also included $200mil "seed" money for the Joint-MESS Fusion Ignition Reactor Experiment(or FIRE). The Lone Star Republic will be hosting the site in the western part of the country. Texas A&M School of Nuclear Engineering received $100mil in "special funds" for unverifiable reasons.

The Shadow Empire would like to restate its approval of these treaties.

In other news:

The Shadow Empire signed a treaty with the Red Techocracy. The treaty makes the Red Techocracy the number one military supplier for the empire.

Order for a fleet of 50 An-25s that will transport our forces where they are needed, was approved today by Emperor Shady.

The emperor held a speech after the conference, earlier today:

I am glad to see the operations of our allies in New Gottland are proceeding well, i hope that this crisis will end soon.Our small empire has been rebuilding it self ever since the Shroomanian war, we have made progress, but there is a long way to go.Our treaty with the Red Techocracy will help us bolster our defenses against the growing dangers of our time. I hope that we can all learn to live in peace, and i hope that we can make amends for our past mistakes and not make them again.

+++The Republic of Shepnukistan+++

The Defense Department announced today it's plans to scrap the majority of it's SSN fleet, with only eight boats to remain on the rolls out of the more than twenty it has today.

The Presidential Palace, Austin

Lonestar poured another glass of Liquid Banjo whiskey, glanced at the glass for a moment, then took a deep drag from the bottle. The Shepnukistani Ambassador sat across the desk.

"Uh..."

Lonestar slammed the bottle down. "SHUT UP!" He took a deep breath. "You gonna drink that glass?"

The ambassador reached out for the whiskey and drank it in one gulp. "Thank you Mr. President."

Lonestar burped. "Mr. Ambassador, I am vexed, vexed I say by recent statements from your government about shooting down peaceful orbitals, while violating the airspace of my country and other members of the MESS."

"I....Mr., I can assure you Shepnukistan has never violated your country's airspace."

"And yet, they must have, in order spy on my friends the Tian Xia. Geography dictates it. Obviously you went to great lengths to conceal your aircraft transit. Hmm..."

"My country has never made an unauthorized transit of your country's airspace, Mr. President."

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to take your word on it, just as you'll have to take my word that the DEADEYE system is of purely geological interest."

"Our policy on airspace limits is clear. If one of your satellites corsses over our country, we will shoot it down."

"I must say, Ambassador, the level of hypocrisy you are spewing astounds me. None of us protested when Blackadder, be he damned, sent up orbitals. Or when the Red Technocracy initiated the space-plane program. If you interfere in our peaceful use of space, unfortunate things may happen to other members of the OMSK Pact's space assets. Food for thought."

The door to the office opened, and the chief of staff poked his head in.

"Yes, Karl?"

"Mr. President, the game is on."

"Oh Damn, the Aggies! Well Mr. Ambassador, care to join for some beer and nachos?"

The Ashford Times

AIR FORCE CONDUCTS PSY-OPS OVER NEW GOTTLAND
Anime, J-pop hope to calm insurgents (or drive them mad)


FILE PHOTO: An EC-130E flies over the Gulf of Lamperouge

After making stopovers in the Red Technocracy and the United Kingdom of Blackadder, a Langley Air Force EC-130J Commando Solo deployed over New Gottland to disrupt enemy communications and attempt to pacify the population.

Specific details concerning the mission still remain classified. According to an Air Force press release, some of the programming being broadcast includes various episodes of Code Geass, Fate/stay night, Lucky Star, School Days, Shakugan no Shana, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (all in the original Japanese audio with English subtitles) and music by Heartsdales, High and Mighty Color, Aya Hirano, Mami Kawada, Orange Range, and Origa. "If this round-the-clock bombardment of Japanese animation and music fails to calm the insurgents, at least it should drive them to the point of madness and cause them to surrender," an unnamed Air Force officer said earlier today.

Amazing Breakthrough in the Fight against Cervical Cancer

Utilizing new testing procedures for identifying potential anti-viral agents scientists as the University of Wilkonia, North Columbia Campus, have identified a potential vaccine for the Sexually Transmitted Disease known as Human papillomavirus or HPV. The disease has been linked by previous studies to be a leading cause of Cervical Cancer. The findings have prompted researches to apply with the Imperial Pharmaceutical and Herbilogical Board for authority to engage in full-scale clinical trials. The current finings from limited university testing will be published this month in the New Howard Journal of Medicine.

Speaking today at the press conference Lord Fredrick Ashbury, Minister of Health, stated that "This vaccine represents the payoff to the decades old committment ofthis nation to being a world class home for pharmaceutical and bio-technical research. We have long held that well funded public research institutions produce high caliber private research scientists and provide us all with the technology to enhance everyone's quality of life." His statement did raise a few inquiries after it was revealed that he had a minority interest in a private BioTechnology company that had already signed agreements with the University to produce commercial versions of any vaccine the full terms of the deal having not been disclosed. As yet the Minister has not asnwered any queries in regards to his role in the future commercialization of this vaccine.


/OOC Since we can bring over a house of stuff I basically snapped up any and all avaialble high end meds and am having my biotech guys reverse engineer them far from the prying eyes of anyone who could bring a patent lawsuit.

The Duchess put down her glass of port with a satisfied sigh.

"Not bad, eh?" Arik said, "The locals really know how to stomp some vino."
"Not bad," she agreed. "What was it you were asking about, though? Something you wanted me to pick up?"

"Rum," Arik said, a wistful look in his eye. "Mount Gay, Barbados, pure cane rum. Rum with a capital R-U-M." Marina smiled.

"I'll see what I can find."
"Thank you," Arik said, "Y'know, I have to wonder why you haven't taken Q up on his offer to participate in this little social experiment. Seems like it'd be right up your ally."

"You think so?" she asked, an eyebrow raised quizzically. "As I'm sure you've found, having power is not nearly as much fun as wanting it."
"Touche," Arik admitted, "We've come to a world where teenage kids have armies and nukes. Still," he said, noticing one of the harem on her way to the baths, silken robe fluttering as she ran by. "There are distinct advantages."

"Taking your cues from the Gaius Baltar 'Leadership for Dummies', I see," the Duchess said. Arik shrugged.
"Like I said, we live on a world where teenage kids have nukes. Live while the living's good."

"So," the Duchess said, "Started any wars?"
"Not me," Arik replied, looking out across the Palace grounds towards the sea. "There's been some conflict. But Shep has decommissioned much of his sub force. I wonder if there's something going on."
"Ahh, the mutual suspicion," Marina said with a dismissive wave, "Again, I'm not necessarily in any hurry to get involved in this..."

"Don't take me wrong," Arik said, "I like Shep, or at least I got along with him, if not always agreed. But he is the 'Ruthless Genocidal Warmonger'," he said with a mischievous smile. "Right now the big to-do is orbital rights..." he waved, as if trying to deflect a pesky bug.

"Is the MESS and OMSK going to battle it out?" she finally asked, getting to the point. "If so I want to write a fic about it. Or something. I can sell the rights back on Earth..."
"Nice to know our eventually irradiated carcasses can serve a higher purpose," Arik said.

"But of course," Marina said with a smile. "May as well pay my student loans."
"Huh. Well, I'm not interested in a war, that's for damn sure. I want to relax, enjoy my own kingdom... think about it! My job is to be here, and think up 'if I were in charge' ideas. This would be paradise so long as everyone can keep their rabies in check."

"So, rum, and distemper shots. Anything else?"
"As I think of it. Maybe some nice trademarked ideas to capitalize off of, away from Earth."
"Big Mac recipes?"
"To the dungeons with ye," Arik said, "Fast food is outlawed. As of now," he said, and searched for --and found-- a notepad and pen. He quickly wrote down the new law. "I'll have the Parliament dress it up all legal-sounding."
"Do they have fast food on this planet?"

"Who cares?" Arik said, "I'm being pro-active."
"Well, I have to get going," Marina said, "Portal will close pretty soon. See you later."
"Stop by next week," Arik said, "There's some sort of mango-like thing that ripens. They make some kind of weird liquor out of it..."

He walked her out to the car, idling silently on its diesel-electric drive, and she got in and was soon away, the driver returning her to the Canissian portal. Arik turned and walked back up to the Palace proper. The majordomo met him as he went back up the stairs.

"Message, sir," he said. Arik took the cellphone.
"Thanks," he said, opening the device. "Arik here."
"Ambassador from the Red Technocracy," the voice said. Arik thought about it. he seemed familiar, but then Arik had met a lot of people when he first showed up, and the names and faces all tended to blend together.
"Yeah, what's up?" Arik asked. He made a "V" motion to the majordomo, who produced a cigar and a lighter. Fuck, I forgot to ask Marina to pick up some Cubanos.

"We were wondering about the lack of Canissian presence at the delegations," the Ambassador said, "We do hope there has not been a snub of some sort."
"Naw, no, nothing like that..." Arik said. I'm just a lazy sot. "Rogue Ice has things sewn up."

"Well," the Ambassador said, "The thing is, Canissia is quite conspicuously located right in the middle of a great deal of OMSK Pact nations," he said smoothly, "We may benefit from... individual diplomatic initiatives, specific to our particular regional geopolitical situation."

Arik was silent for a moment.
"Are you there, sir?" the Ambassador asked after a few seconds.
"Yeah, sorry," Arik said, "Yeah, I think we can come up with something. How about, uhh... we meet at that new neutral sea-station Babylon-5 thing and discuss things." He could hear the Ambassador smile.
"I will pass that up the line."


Arik stood back at the wide French doors that led to the balcony he'd overlooked just a few minutes earlier. He finished his cigar and crushed it out in the sand bowl on the marble rail. I need a beer, he thought, and watched as one of the Pegasus-class patrol hydrofoils passed by.

"Marlin fishing..." he said aloud, watching the boat with a distant look in his eye.

OOC/ It's uranium, okay? /OOC

So Why of all the things to bring did I have to include my entire sci-fi collection, particularly all that victorian sci-fi, and just about every techno-thriller, firefly, etc. What's this: oooohhh Command and Conquer Red Alert II.

In other news, The bear republic announces construction of it's first particle accerator testing complex.

Ok, hopefully this doesn't result in a black hole or anything....

"Yo, homie."
"Master Baerne," the voice replied politely over the cellphone. Arik waved his cigar.
"Yeah. Dude. Baerne. I was wondering if I could talk to you about Seaworld."

Silence on the line.

"What the fuck?" the voice finally asked. Arik could almost see the "W.T.F." on a mental screen. Arik smiled, and sipped at his Henry Weinhard's Honey Lager.

"Fucking Seaworld," he said, "Your underwater habitat."
"The Yellow Submarine," Baerne replied with a weary sigh.
"Yeah, well, the Beatles. Whatever," Arik said, uninterested in the subject.

"What, you don't like the Beatles?" Baerne asked. "What kind of fucking Philistine bastard doesn't like the Beatles?"
"Dude," Arik said, "Overrated. Personality cult. Uh-huh, no way," he said, "Look, Yellow Submarine, Sergeant Pepper's fucking submersible boat, whatever," he said, waving the subject aside. "I just want to ask you about the undersea building. I'm interested."

"Interested in what?" Baerne asked.
"Well, it turns out I have some islands," Arik said, "Like three of them. I want to link them with some cool undersea hab stuff. Can you help me out?"

"Uhh.... I'll think about it..."

The delegation from the Republic of N'ton ratifies all three treaties, but expresses the hope that chemical and nuclear weapons will be completely banned.

Neutrality Point.

"Check it out," Arik said, "350 kg. Marlin. Or, well, I think it's a marlin. I don't know exactly what this is. You know, there's a lot we don't know about this world. Is this thing even edible?"

"350 kilos?" Stas asked, "You know that's not very big."
"I know," Arik said, "But I never did this before. And I cheated. I had a hydrofoil. So I don't actually deserve a 1k fish."

"Hydrofoil," Stas said, shaking his head.
"Anyhow," Arik said, offering his hand, "It's good to meet you. Three years, what, on the SDN? And now this."
"It's weird," Stas said, "This is Anna," he said. Arik shook her hand as well.
"Lovely as the picture he posted."
"What!?" she asked, her eyes flaring at Stas. He immediately waved his hand at her.
"Not that picture," he said quickly, "Anyhow, what were you thinking? In regards of local politics?"

"Well, here's my point of view," Arik said, "There's a couple of areas where we might be able to benefit from high-speed, cross-channel services between our continents. I was thinking of either air-cushion vehicles... or Ekranoplans."

"Ekranoplans?" Stas said, a slight smile twitching at the side of his lips.
"They're fast," Arik said, "And cool. We could also have a bullet-train link along my east coast and then another hovercraft or Ekranoplan link to Shep..."

News from the Qudlivun Free State

The Qudlivun Free State Ministry for Foreign Affairs has dispatched messages to all relevant nations reaffirming this nation's commitment to the Law of the Sea accord and the international Biological Weapons ban. In response to the construction of Neutrality Point the Qudlivun Free State would like to reaffirm its position as a potential neutral host for international talks.

The Qudlivun Free State is accepting bids for the upgrading of the nation's static defense capabilities. The system the Ministry of Defense would like to deploy autonomous UAVs for territorial/coastal patrols, ground-based anti-ship missiles, and an anti-ballistic missile shield. Any reasonable bid will be reviewed.

Neutrality Point, 300 kms off national coastlines

- I get what you're saying, - smiled the Secretary General. - The archipelago seas are small and calm for the most part; WIGs would be a good idea. And as recon-rescue crafts, they could also sort out any naval catastrophes around here. And a bridge between our nations is very much feasible and desired... - he murmured something to himself. - We could also stage a joint space exploration area, maybe until airspace limits get sorted out, so we won't have to worry about those damn mutual airspace violation by rockets.

*thinking for a bit, the Secretary General reminds himself of the failure of private mail, and decides to make one of the proposals to Canissia public:

WE FLY UNDAUNTED:

BUDGET BILL INTRODUCED

The Parliament has voted on the new proposed budget bill for FY 2009.

It has been released to the public for perusal. Experts agree that military expenditures are pretty much what was predicted, with revenue from recent sale of 57 Fast Commerce Ships taken into account.

Fiscal year 2009: main points
Projected budget deficit for FY 2009: 200 million US Dollars due to military overspending.
Procurement spending:

5N63C command vehicles: two units ordered (200 million) - one for missile command, other for cadet training
One JASD battery (110 million)
One 10-aircraft training/fighter squadron of YAK-130 trainers (Red Technocracy made) and an airbase: 115 million

This brings total deployed JASD hardware to two combat batteries (2/3 of a batallion) and one training battery.

R&D projects:

Development of a domestic frigate-sized warship
Development of military electronic systems

Projected national debt payments for FY 2009:
20 million, financed out of military procurement budget or tax revenue if high enough. No further obligation sales planned.

No major troops deployment are planned inFY 2009. The Parliament is planning to authorize a 500-man peacekeeping force to be deployed to Gottland.


Commentary
The budget may change yet untill finally being realized in FY 2009 ; Projected deployments will come into effect by the end of next year. The most surprising announcement is the creation of one squadron of YAK-130 trainers - it was argued that the II Republic will need at least a minor airforce in order to police our own airspace, hunt pirates and provide a core of trained pilots for future expansion. However, economics experts claim that financing this expansion with sales of obligation may lead to runaway national debt.

EDIT: Revised some figures, since my math-fu was weak today

The National Shipbuilding Bureau is willing to grant the Duchy of Langley a 15-years production and manufacturing licence for FCS ships for the sum of 150 million US Dollars.

The NSB, regrettably, will be unable to provide the ships themselves, since the National Shipyard is completely occupied with construction of the ships ordered by the Red Technocracy.

News report and gossip indicate that a shortage of naval engineers at the National Shipyards caused the NSB to offer outrageous fees to foreign engineers willing to do contract work on the FCS production run.

Since the NSB has licensed the FCS designs to Shroomanian Shipyards, Shroomania is also accepting orders for the FCS.

[Err.... is that right?]

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Since the NSB has licensed the FCS designs to Shroomanian Shipyards, Shroomania is also accepting orders for the FCS.

[Err.... is that right?]

Well, yeah. You can make 'em and modify 'em for the next 15 years.

How long will it take to deliver that floating drydock?

High Lord declares victory against rebels

New Gottland's leader High Lord Rufus has said New Gottland has prevailed in the Battle of Kuloville in a speech last night.
He spoke of victories in against internationel terrorist, but warned that terrorist network was "wounded, not destroyed".
"We will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike," he told the cheering suck-ups in the Press Room.


New toys to New Gottland's armed forces

New Gottlands Defence Materiel Administration announced today that they has begun R&D of a new Up-Armored IFV. They said that if the new civil war teached them anything, it is that the off-the-shelf IFV we have been using has a horrible safety record.
"While our allied armour hardly cared if they were under small calibre fire our forces took devastating losses only a few meters away.
"On the bright side while they need specialist mechanics to repair their vehicles, we can only pull over to the local auto mechanic and that is something we will try to keep with the new AFV" the Ministry of Defence said.

PeZook wrote:How long will it take to deliver that floating drydock?

[I'm the one delivering them? ]


The Sovereign Shroomanian Sentinel
PLAYING PMC


Shroomanian corporations offer to sell AFVs to New Gottland

In light of the fragile situation in New Gottland, and the recent demobilization of Allied forces in Syndromia, Shroomanian defense corporations have sent representatives to both New Gottland and Syndromia to offer the services of their private military contractors.

At the same time, former Shroomanian Air Force (SAF) pilots have entered negotiations with Red Technocracy arms manufacturers, looking to purchase aircraft for their bourgeoning careers as Mercenary Aces.