The Worst Has Come (Ashinara/Franerre)

[callmedelta]

Esrellia 13th, 1:03 pm. Ashinaran Embassy, Pareau.

Phillipe Mesny stood outside the Ashinaran Embassy. This was an important day, important news he carried. He found himself filled with a grim sense of fatalism, knowing both what he knew, and how everyone else around Mesny was in complete and utter obliviousness to it. The fact that whatever happened now, well, Franerre's situation could only get better propelled him forward. Director Lehran and himself had made sure all of the telegrams had been sent out, to the point where now all that was left to do was inform the Ashinarans. Phillipe walked towards the front gate of the Embassy, prepared as he ever would be to be the bearer of bad news. 

[aimway921]

Pan Mesny would be invited into the embassy by the staff. After about 10 minutes of waiting, as his visit was unscheduled and the ambassador wasn't immediately prepared for visitors, he would be invited into the ambassador's office. The room was rather neat, with the only indication that the ambassador was busy with something prior to Mesny's arrival were several manila folders on the side of his desk.

[callmedelta]

"It's...not good, Ambassador Tevpenko," Mesney said. "Kumo's threatening war against Franerre if we don't cede Elenerre and the surrounding territory - that's the point of Franerre that juts out into Elenria. It's been Franerri for centuries, and it's got eight and a half million Franerri souls in that city. Franerre can't give that up. There's going to be a conference in Kumo in a month's time where all of this is to be decided. It's a lot to ask, right after this war with the Union has finished, but we need to know where Ashinara stands."

[aimway921]

Tevpenko sat in silence, staring at Mesney in disbelief. Was this seriously happening? Now, of all times?

The shocked fox slowly began to speak, as he pulled his gaze to the side, before looking at Mesney again. "I will have to push this to Minister Tagomych. Minister Khmelnitsky too should be informed as fast as possible. Spirits save us, we can't fight a war against them now! Both our armies are exhausted from the prolonged fighting, and I don't know about Franerre, but discontent among the population is on the rise because of the war in Tafatu.

Tevpenko only noticed that he stood up from his chair and began pacing back and forth in the office when his outstretched hand pointed towards Mesney.

"Stall the Kumo as long as you can. Drag out the negotiations. In the mean time, we should pull a few of the more experienced units from the Tafatu frontlines and send them to your frontier in Elenerre, both to reinforce the defenses and to share their battlefield experience with the soldiers there."

[callmedelta]

"No!" Mesney shouted, letting his voice get away from him in his panic. Phillipe caught what he did a second after he did it, clearing his throat and composing himself. "Kumo's letter stated that any buildup of forces inside Elenerre is tantamount to rejecting Kumo's demands, which will mean the war comes even faster than a month." He sat back down before continuing. "At the very least, it's not as bad as it could be. Our army and navy report no significant buildup of Kumosenkan forces, meaning they haven't fully mobilized. Meanwhile. Franerre can put half a million men in the Elenerre region before the month is over, though that's will our trains running around the clock. If we want to move some of your units into the region they would need to march on foot. As far as stalling is concerned, we're stalling for as long as we can, as well as conferring with our other allies abroad."

[aimway921]

"Of course, a recognizable Kumo trait. Merely breathe in their direction and they consider it an act of war. One would think with such a mighty empire is theirs they wouldn't be so insecure."

Tevpenko walked up to the map of Franerre hanging on one of the walls next to the map of Ashinara.

"We could station our troops along the river, just outside the region, as a reserve that we could pull in fast should it come to blows. While the troops are there, they could build a back-up line too."

[callmedelta]

As much as he shared the fox's disdain for Kumo, Mesny had to admit that it was exactly what he would do if he were in Kumo's position. It would severely limit Franerre's ability to fortify the region without playing their hand and inviting a war much sooner than they were ready for. "The army's already one step ahead of you." Phillipe walked up next to Tevpenko, pointing to the city of Toubonne, 15 kilometers south of the River Taln. "Our forces are assembling here."

[aimway921]

"Very well then," Tevpenko replied.
"I shall send a letter to the Ministry back home immediately, letting them know of the news, and let you know as soon as I have a reply."

[aimway921]

A number of day has passed, until a reply has returned to Tevpenko's office from the homeland. He immediately, before even reading the letter, grabbed the phone to call the Franerri office of foreign affairs, asking for Phillipe Mesny to come as soon as he can for Ashinara's response. Excitedly, he tore open the envelope and began reading.

By the time Mesny entered his office, Tevpenko's mood has greatly soured. Fiddling about with a pen, he silently looked out the window. It was a few seconds before he noticed that Mesny has entered.

"I'm afraid the reply from Kyograd is not as positive as either of us expected," Tevpenko said, inviting Mesny to take a seat. "You best read it yourself, I can't bear reading those words again..." he slid the opened envelope towards Mesny.


To Ambassador Tevpenko of the Ashinaran Embassy of Franerre,
From Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ashinara.

With great regret we inform you that Ashinara would not be capable to put her full support behind Franerre in this potential conflict. The situation in Ashinara, at this time, is highly volatile. The population at home is gravely exhausted by the war in Tafatu and would not be capable of withstanding another one. A number of protests and riots have already swept the nation, and an involvement in another war right after the conclusion of a previous one may lead to armed revolts.

Furthermore, the Royal Army is, at the time, exhausted, with over 75% of it's resources having been committed to the war in Tafatu, and the battle at Ferville in particular. The treasury has also been greatly strained, as an incredible debt has been accumulated in the process of purchasing war material from UKUG. Even if the population's mood was not anti-war at this time, Ashinara would not be able to sustain another conflict economically and materially, especially not one against an adversary as strong as Kumosenkan. 

Finally, the main reason why we regretfully must deny military support to Franerre at this time, is also the worst. Several days ago Ashinara has suffered a horrendous natural disaster, as the Ryuku Island has been shaken by the strongest ever recorded earthquake, followed by a mighty tsunami. While we are still calculating the exact casualties and damages, we can already estimate that at least 65% of both Eirie and Eyrie cities have been leveled, with more infrastructure damage further inland on the island. 

The final descision is as follows:

1. Ashinara shall pull all forces out of the continent for the time being.
2. Ashinara shall continue trade with Franerre. 
3. Should hostilities break out, Ashinara shall, to the extent of her financial and material ability, supply Franerre with food and munitions - disguised as aid for the recovery of Tafatu if need be. For the purposes of this, it is recommended Franerre sends us tooling needed to produce munitions compatible with Franerri weapons systems.
4. Should it ever come to the worst case scenario of a Kumosenkan occupation of the Franerri nation, Ashinara would welcome and host the Franerri government in exile.

May the Spirits help you find strength.

[callmedelta]

Mesny would relay the situation to the rest of the government. The situation was grim, but at the very least it was understandable from the Ashinaran camp.

A few days later, Mesny would be instructed to deliver another message to the Ashinarans. This time, it was an offer. If they were to leave their machine guns, tanks, and aircraft here in Franerre, their ships could go home laden with Franerri silver instead.

[aimway921]

In a few days, Tevpenko received a reply from Kyograd, and was able to deliver a response to Mesny.

"Unfortunately we would not be able to leave all of our aircrafts. As you yourself know, they are extremely expensive, and we're still paying from them from the parties we purchased them in the first place. At best, we can leave you with 5 of our total of 20 ground attack aircraft, and even those, we can only, realistically, sell them at a slightly discounted price from what we purchased them from. That would be 1,825,000 Gaelian Pounds for the total of 5 aircraft, or 1,820,400 Koian Jewls. Alternatively, we can accept that value in resources. In particular, we need construction materials to help with the tsunami recovery. The price would equate to around 858,700 units of Construction Materials. As you know, UKUG and Lusatia, our main trade partners, have embargoed Toulian silver because we've overflooded their markets with it, so, sadly, it's not of much use to us right now.

They Royal Army is willing to sell only 1 Landship and up to 6 Tankettes, however it is warning against deploying them, and would sell them only for the purposes of research for your own tank program. Experience in Ferville has shown us so far that armored vehicles are an instrument of attack. Their presence in the disputed region with Kumosenkan may be interpreted by the Kumo as an intent to attack, thus escalating the conflict, knowing how trigger happy the spiders are, they'll just use it as an excuse to brush aside your attempts at diplomacy and begin their invasion. We would be able to sell 1 Landship for 5,200 Jewels, or 2,400 Construction Materials. For the tankettes, we can sell them for 1,500 Jewels, or 710 Construction Materials a piece, but again, no more than a total of 6.

The Machined Guns, however, we'd be willing to provide you with 1,000 of them free of charge, along with sufficient amount of ammunition to start off, and we can sell you a set of the production line tooling needed to produce the ammunition for the MGs for 1,500 Jewels, or 710 Construction Materials."

[callmedelta]

Mesny sighed. "The army knew the planes and tanks would be a longshot, but thank you for asking regardless. I'm sure your army wasn't exactly happy being asked to pretty please leave their new toys here in Franerre to be destroyed in glorious battle against the spiders." Mesny chuckled wryly. "The machine guns, though, that I believe is a deal we can take. We aren't exactly flush with Jewels, so we'll be paying you in Construction Materials."

[aimway921]

"We would additionally be able to ship you several sets for tooling so that you can produce the machine guns yourself for the price of 4,000 Construction Materials. We can discuss the licensing price later, but at this moment, I suggest we work out a lend-lease deal, because if you want to have those machine guns, we need to ship them with minimal delay. If Kumo's reputation is to be true, a blockade will be one of the first things to hit you. If that is the case, we would be unable to carry out our deliveries."

Tevpenko thought for a second.
"If it comes to running a Kumo blockade, we could try selling them that we're conducting business with Tafatu. Probably could actually cut a deal with Tafatu so that it would not be too much of a lie when our ships would inevitably be stopped by Kumo patrols."