The Pact is Bound (Aegis Pact Meeting)

[Sophie]

A secure and encrypted telegram was sent to each of the leaders of the Aegis Pact requesting an immediate meeting at the Kumosenkan palace with the Empress. They were requested to commit to a one week quarantine upon their arrival at which point they would be directly escorted to the Kumosenkan palace. They were told to make little mention of their departure. The palace was ordered to operate exactly as it does every other day to not draw attention.



Inside the palace Empress Reitō Doku Kumo was joined by her Minister of State, Ninomae Kyou, her Minister of the Hunt, Ryōshi Sentoko, her Minister of Foreign affairs, Yamanaka Kazumi, and her Minister of Homeland Security, Rikka Takanashi. Empress Reitō also invited the Queen of Elenria to the meeting. The group talked among themselves ensuring they were properly prepared for the meeting at hand. It took some time to get the Empress fully up to speed on everything that had happened up to this point. She was ready to discuss war, with Ashigawa.

[Greywall]

Queen McDonald herself would attend the meeting, being careful to not let public knowledge know of her departure.

[malloc]

The President of Amali would depart for Kumosenkan the day after receiving the telegram. Information regarding the itinerary and travel would be sent back through secured and encrypted wires. The President would be accompanied by the High Commander and Secretary of State.

[StaolDerg]

Akel II came to the meeting with her commanding military officer, General Api, both new to Kumo soil, having departed immediately as soon as they'd received word. The Queen's own relative reclusiveness was nothing new, but she made sure that no news of her departure to Kumosenkan was public knowledge.

[Sophie]

Empress Reito Doku Kumo took the stand before the quorum of her allies. She looked at each of them and pursed her lips. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am genuinely thankful for your presence here today. I wish it were under better pretenses." She sighed before continuing, "As many of you know there are several rebellious groups within the territory known as Elenria. One of these groups was recently armed with weapons captured from Galra during the 5th. With these arms, the terrorist group known as the Royalists have committed several acts of terror. This includes the murder of hundreds of civilians directly and tens of thousands of civilians indirectly through the destruction of food relief efforts. My minister of Homeland Security, Rikka Takanashi, will now brief you on the evidence that has been collected that proves definitively what nation is responsible for arming them." She took a seat allowing the Human minister to take the stand.

Rikka adjusted her tie and bowed to the Empress. "Thank you Empress Doku-kama. Through efforts of our own as well as diplomatic missions from and to other nations we discovered that the nation funding the Royalists with arms was and is Ashigawa. If you will turn to page three of the debrief you will see a signed confession from a captured Royalist officer that strongly implicates Ashigawa. His confession also directed us to one of the ships used to smuggle arms into Elenria. This ship's manifest and history put the blame definitively on Ashigawa. I will no cede the floor to the minister of Foreign affairs, Yamanaka Kazumi."

Kazumi stood and bowed slightly before taking her turn. "The Imperium of Rombarda reached out to Kumosenkan with intelligence documents from the RSSB that strongly implicate Ashigawa in funding the Royalists. This is on page 7 of the debrief you were handed. The intelligence also strongly implicates Franerre, the Touli nation to the south of Elenria, in aiding Ashigawa in its efforts to undermine Kumosenkan authority in Elenria. As well as the Princess of Ashigawa made landfall in Kumosenkan to beg for forgiveness by admitting to the crimes her government committed. I will now cede the floor to the minister of the hunt, Ryōshi Sentoko."

Sentoko too bowed before beginning her shpeal. "As you all know the day Franerre was admitted to the Commonwealth of Granuras, Kumosenkan closed the border between Franerre and Elenria with a now total deployment of three hundred thousand soldiers. Franerre reached out to Kumosenkan to attempt to broker a deal to reopen the border. This is on page 10. In this meeting, Franerre was openly hostile, accused Kumosenkan of deceit and warmongering. Onto page 13. More recently, Franerre's navy attempted to standoff with the Kogo Heika royal battle group as she was on her way to dock in Aundui Bay, Elenria. The Franch navy's presence was a clear attempt at a show of force but backed down to the Kumosenkan admiral's orders to stand down and stay back. I will now return the floor to the Empress."

Reito stood gracefully and bowed to each of her ministers. "Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Aegis pact. I have brought this information before you today because I believe that the actions Ashigawa and Franerre have taken cannot go unpunished. I will now open the quorum to all of you."

[malloc]

The Amali delegation looked over the information. The High Commander scoffing at some of the pictures of the arms the Royalists were using while the Secretary of State began writing down information on a separate notepad. The President, however, nodded as he read through each of the described pages, then the total report in and of itself.

"Well, if at the very least, we can make their economies hurt. I will contact the Secretary of the Treasury to identify and sanction government officials and their ties, along with issuing a 30 day block on Ashigawan and Frannerre goods entering the nation while Congress inevitably passes a bill banning all goods and services from the nations. I doubt it would be hard to convince them that we cannot stand by while two regimes employ terrorism and attack civilian centers," the President says. "But Amali is one nation, a majorly important economic nation, but one nation none the less. I believe we should put it to a, most likely uncontested, vote for a general embargo on their economies. We can take care of each other's demands and find other suppliers, it would not be hard given the sheer number of dollars that are now free to go to their competition. This will, of course, start a run on their banks and a devastating economic downward spiral as I doubt being blocked from nearly a billion strong sentient market is good for any market's health. Their allies would not be able to upkeep with the supply, and likely result in price crashing in those areas as well if they are not careful."

The President takes a breath, "Of course, the war option is on the table, and given Ashigawa's actions, I'd be inclined to say this is a defensive war, not an offensive one. Kumosenkan and the Aegis Pact are merely defending against rogue states that employ, stand by, and support terrorist forces. If it was merely political support in trying to get Kumosenkan to decolonize, I doubt we'd be here right now."

[StaolDerg]

Palki scowled as the evidence was presented before her in the reports, positively seething as she looked once more at the. Vaiseln stayed silent as she filed through the papers, but it was quiet clear that both Elenrians were something beyond furious, even if they gave no outburst at first. Neither blamed the Royalists- Vaiseln knew many of their numbers personally and Palki knew them only to be desperate Elenrians looking for some way to resist Kumosenkan's influence. Their leaders surely would never had consented to such measures unless they were desperate- or if they had been deceived. Ashigawa, as far as both were concerned as they conversed lowly in Old Elenrian, was dishonorable in its interference. There would be calls for war when this news was spread back home.

Still, the fact that Franerre had conspired against Elenria drew the Queen's ire most. They'd never seemed more than a place for Expeditions to taste foreign lands for the first time, another half of the bays to occasionally make the trip to make trade with, but interference in Elenria's own affairs? They hadn't seen anything close to this since the ancient wars for the Bay. Palki could care less about stand-offs in the bay- those were problems she could afford to not worry about, belonging strictly in the hands of Kumosenkan. Nevertheless, she figured she would have to request the construction of coastal guns in the future to guard the bay, should a war come in the future and Elenria drawn in to fight. But never mind that, She'd talk with Vaiseln later. 

"With respect, Your Imperial Majesty, I think that these indictments by themselves would draw countless of my people to draw up their arms for a war. But in the interest of national security and prosperity of Kumosenkan, I instead propose that at the least Franerre and Ashigawa make reparations in industrial or monetary form to Elenria, as well as release all information they have on their operations within the Elenria. We cannot bring back our dead and their families will undoubtedly remain livid with slighted honor, but in this at the least some of the damages can be repaired."

[Greywall]

Queen McDonald showed fury as she read through the report , she then showed a remorseful face to the elenrians and the empress, “I’m so sorry, this is terrible.”

She gathered herself to speak and control her anger, “As much as I want it, war would be ill advised. We can hurt them with economic sanctions and demand reparations. I push that the aegis pact restrict their shipping across the shawbalt and be submitted to inspection, we cannot trust them anymore and if they want to conduct themselves they must do it in our terms. If not, we destroy them.”

She turned the elenrians and empress reito, “the United Kingdom of Ulster-Gaelia will see to it help you recover from this ordeal. It is unacceptable.”

[Sophie]

A steeping rage began to boil in Empress Reito's stomach. She had expected her allies to rally to her cause in a fury. "I have come to you with irrefutable evidence that Ashigawa is the direct cause for over twenty thousand Elenrian deaths and you want to sanction them to death? I fail to see how that is a just punishment for inciting terrorism in a foreign nation. This is a disgusting crime that cannot be overlooked. How can we trust that they aren't doing this to other nations? How can we trust that they will not do this again? Ashigawa has proven that there is a system of compliance that allowed this to happen. That encouraged this to happen. They can no longer be trusted at all to not do this again regardless of who's in power. Their government needs to be torn apart and restructured under our control."

[StaolDerg]

Palki rose from her seat, only slightly shorter than the towering form of the Empress. "Make no mistake, your Imperial Majesty," she said, bowing. "I would like nothing more than to see the Ashigawan leadership with their legs swinging from the gallows. It would not be just for me as an Elenrian to hold no violation of my honor for what has been slighted in the deaths of my own people. But war is a final resort. War costs extraordinary amounts in resources, industry, and manpower- While we have plenty in industry and manpower, resources remain scarce. We have barely begun to emerge from a famine- war would draw upon even more demand to feed those at the front. No, I feel that we have every reason for war, but not the material conditions to justify one of such proportions that we may sustain an invasion and occupation."

[Sophie]

"I never said we should jump to war." She spat. "I simply said economic sanctions are not enough. Ashigawa and Franerre must pay for their crimes against innocent civilians and assurances must be made that no such thing can happen again."

[Greywall]

“Then my dear, we force them to do more. Perhaps the day of the ashigawan empire are at an end. And the frannerre will need to be punished too. I propose a full reform of the imperial government of ashigawa into a democratic republic in the model of the amali and total oversight of this reform by this body. As for frannerre...”



The Queen turned to the Elenrian queen, “they’re your neighbors love, how should they pay?”

[malloc]

"As I said, these are the immediate things within my grasp as President," Rizzo says, "Beyond that, we'll need to figure out where to go. I'm in support of the government reformation of Ashigawa, as a democracy will temper them out. As for Frannerre, I cannot say I necessarily care or consider them much of a threat. Very likely the nation is already too unstable and would falter the second word got out a third of the world was coming down on their nation. Most nations on Touli are locked to Touli and, I apologize Queen Palki before I say this, Amali has no real vested interest in the continent. We're only investing in Elenria simply because they have the potential to be a good ally and international partner in the near future, and they are a liability in their current state to the available forces in the inevitable event of Galra's return to power."

The Secretary of State pipes up quickly, "We also must mention that the decolonization of their empire means we can return the Zulfina government in exile. They've drafted up a new constitution last year and are ready to install a new democratic government in the ex-Ashigawa territory. This will put a large nation in the north that we can potentially admit to the Pact, but at the least keep close ties with to help support our operations."

[StaolDerg]

"Without mercy. I would demand at the least that they cede all military documents on their actions within the Elenria, as well as all land north of the border river so that a secure border may be maintained between both nations to prevent future crossings. They may not be complicit in the direct deaths of twenty-five thousand of my people, but they helped to give the Royalists the strength they needed to cause this atrocity, and as such, I will treat them as an accomplice."

[Sophie]

"As far as Kumosenkan is concerned Franerre is exactly as guilty as Ashigawa. Ashigawa is making somewhat of an effort to make up for what they have done. We should move forward with the complete embargo until they allow an open investigation of their high command. We can't allow this to go unpunished but perhaps war is too far of an escalation." Empress Reito sighed. "We must demand an open admission of guilt on the world stage and an apology to all of Kumosenkan and Elenria. From both Ashigawa and Franerre. As well as monetary and industrial compensation for the damages done. As further evidence of their remorse, Franerre should cede all territory north of the border river."