Chapter 2

During a rather dull cocktail party in Inra, Ambassador Julliard took a sip of his tonic water while listening to Ambassador Lorenz, the representative from Espa, vent concerning the demands the Jade Empire was making upon it. Espa, like his country of Franka, was not going to surrender to the Jade Empire.

Ambassador Lorenz said, “That whole affair in Engle is a disgrace. King Leopold shouldn’t have surrendered. Engle has lost all credibility as a world power.”

“Let’s not be too hasty in judging the actions of Engle. You might want to remember that Jade Force had just taken out Parliament. I’m sure that King Leopold felt concerned about his personal security and that of his family,” Ambassador Julliard said.

Pointing to the Black Lord who was talking to the Ambassador from Sviss, Ambassador Lorenz said, “Look at that arrogant asshole. She shows up armed at a trade meeting ... fully armed.”

“That is in bad taste.”

Black Lord Flavia finished her discussion with the Ambassador from Sviss, and headed towards the corner where the ambassadors from Espa and Franka were standing. A representative from an agricultural equipment company was also headed over to them.

“She’s coming over here.”

“Every time I run into that bitch she’s demanding Franka surrender.”

Mr. Demmings arrived and said, “Hello, Gentlemen. I’m Jack Demmings of Amra Tractor Company.”

The two men greeted him while keeping a watchful eye on the Black Lord who was still heading their way.

“I need to arrange an appointment to see you, Ambassador Lorenz.”

“What can I do for you?” Ambassador Lorenz asked.

“I’d like to discuss some issues we’ve been having in getting some of our products through customs in Franka,” Mr. Demmings said.

“What’s the problem?”

“There’s been some extremely long delays in clearing customs for our products manufactured here in Inra that we’re shipping to Franka. We had a shipment of harvesters sit in customs for almost a month. It’s hurting our delivery dates.”

“Call my secretary for an appointment so that we can discuss the matter,” Ambassador Lorenz said still more focused on Lord Flavia.

Lord Flavia arrived and greet them, “Good evening, Ambassador Lorenz, Ambassador Julliard, and Mr. Demmings.”

Mr. Demmings, surprised that Lord Flavia recalled his name, replied, “Good evening.”

The two Ambassadors just nodded their heads in greeting and turned to talk to each other. Their cold manner was noted by many people. Lord Flavia ignored the ambassadorial snub.

“Mr. Demmings, I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but the Jade Empire has been consolidating our research universities along the lines of scientific and engineering areas. We’ve just extended that to include agricultural sciences with six universities specializing in different areas. We’d like to invite your company to discuss recent advances in farming equipment.”

“We’d like that very much,” Mr. Demmings said.

“If you’ll give me your business card, I’ll pass it onto the appropriate people,” Lord Flavia said.

“Thank you,” Mr. Demmings said while retrieving a business card from his shirt pocket.

Accepting the card, she said, “We’ll be in touch, tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

Turning to the two Ambassadors, she said, “Ambassador Julliard and Ambassador Lorenz, I need to speak to both of you.”

“Franka’s answer to your demand that we negotiate a peace treaty has not changed. We’re no longer at war with you, so there’s nothing to negotiate.”

“Frankly, our government is getting damned tired of you demanding that we surrender. Our patience is about to run out,” Ambassador Lorenz said.

“This is your last chance, Gentlemen.”

“Fuck off,” Ambassador Lorentz said with a growl.

Ambassador Julliard said, “We are about to lose patience with you. We will bomb Misera back into the stone age.”

“You aren’t at war with Misera. It is just one country in our Empire. You are at war with the Jade Empire and we will protect every country who flies our banner.”

“We’ll see everyone in your Jade Empire in jail.”

Lord Flavia said, “I guess that leaves us with no choice. We will dismantle both of your countries economically, socially, militarily, and politically.”

“The IFN has declared the Jade Empire to be a criminal organization. You’ve done nothing except demonstrate that. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a bunch of thugs.”

“We’re thugs?”

“Who else but a thug would show up to a diplomatic event, armed,” Ambassador Julliard said.

“That’s right. You’d never come to one of these things armed. Instead, you just have an armed security person who stands nearby,” said Lord Flavia pointedly. She looked over at the guard and said, “Don’t get any bright ideas.”

The ambassadors from Romal and Itan were standing close enough to overhear the discussion. The two men looked at each other and moved away from Lord Flavia. They were close enough to hear, but far enough away to have a chance at avoiding any violence that might erupt.

“The Jade Empire is going to take out Espa and Franka before coming after us.”

“Do you think Espa or Franka can stop them?”

“Not alone.”

“I agree. I think it is time we act proactively.”

“I think so, too.”

President Morales was meeting with the Secretary of War, Manuel Sida, and the Secretary of State, Jose Vega, to discuss the issue of the Jade Empire.

Mr. Vega said, “Our Ambassadors are constantly getting harassed by Jade Lords. They can’t go to a diplomatic event without one of those Black Lords showing up, and demanding our surrender.”

“I’ll rot in hell before I surrender to those murdering bastards,” President Morales said hitting his fist on the table. He grimaced once the pain of his action reached his brain. He shrugged it off; only getting angrier at the pain.

“We’ve got to do something about this situation. It’s becoming very awkward. Our diplomatic corp can’t spend its time trying to avoid Black Lords,” Vega said.

“I want to send them a message.”

“What kind of message?” Vega asked.

“Can we put a couple of bombs in their citadel?”

Secretary of War Sida had been expecting President Morales to demand bombing the Jade Citadel. He had tasked a number of people to game it out and the answers he had received were not good. There was only one way to get a plane anywhere near the Jade Citadel and that was to use an aircraft carrier to get it within range.

Geography was going to work against them. There just wasn’t a good route to take them within striking range that didn’t have them cruising past countries that were part of the empire or seas that were controlled by it. For far too many segments of the trip, the carrier battle group would be vulnerable to planes with anti-ship missiles. He doubted that they could make the trip without having to deal with that problem since the Jade Empire had lots of planes.

Even worse, they would be encountering the Jade Empire Navy. It was formidable since it included the combined naval assets of twelve countries, the stolen fleet from Chen, and the small submarines that it had been producing. At one time that numerical superiority might not have meant much, but the Jade Empire had been training its Navy into a world class force. In a full out naval engagement, Espa would definitely lose.

Sida said, “We don’t have a forward position we could use for that purpose. We’d have to send our aircraft carrier there.”

“Send it.”

“To get our carrier within striking range, it would have to cruise past the continent of Eastland, which they control, or around the continent of Surprise. Either way, we’d be within striking range of their Air Force.”

“What do the Admiral say?”

“He has some serious concerns and reservations.”

President Morales did not want to hear that. He wanted to send a cease and desist message to the Jade Empire. If the only way was to send the aircraft carrier, then he was going to send the aircraft carrier.

“Send it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“I think we should talk with General Fox and see what he suggests. He’s had experience with Jade Force.”

“The asshole lost his army without firing a shot.”

“I know, but...”

“Fuck Fox. I want them bombed back into the stone age!”

“That’s going to be tough.”

Vega and Sida had discussed this possibility prior to the meeting. There was an option that they didn’t think President Morales would be too pleased to hear, but it provided additional leverage in delivering a message. They weren’t the only country getting threats from the Jade Empire.

Vega said, “We’re not the only ones being harassed by the Jade Empire. I think we should talk to Franka, Romal, and Itan. We could work together to send a message.”

Turning to Vega, President Morales said, “You mean, we should resurrect the coalition. Right?”

“Yes.”

Sida said, “We’re going to have to make a major commitment of forces if we go that route.”

“How major of a commitment are you talking about?”

“Our carrier battle group, a significant fraction of our army and air force. We’d have to demand that the other countries make a similar commitment.”

“Would they do that?”

“Possibly. We won’t know until we talk to them.”

“Talk to them.”

“Okay.”

President Morales said, “I’m going on television tonight to send a message to the Jade Empire. We are not rolling over on this.”

President Jubert was in a meeting with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War to discuss the Jade Empire situation. Jade Lords had been badgering ambassadors about having Franka surrender.

“The Jade Empire acts like we’re still at war with them,” Jubert said.

“Officially, we are at war with them.”

“We’ve pulled our people out of the coalition. It’s over as far as our involvement. Why can’t they accept that?”

“We did have troops there.”

“We are still holding prisoners of war.”

“We’re holding the POWs on behalf of the IFN,” President Jubert said. “They aren’t our prisoners.”

“The Jade Empire doesn’t see it that way.”

The Secretary of State said, “This last threat from Lord Flavia is serious. We need a real answer to it. One that they have to respect.”

“They want war, we’ll give them war.”

The Secretary of War said, “We might want to be careful about that. We don’t have a good place from which to launch a war effort against them.”

“We’ve got three carrier battle groups.”