A Series of Awkward Truths - OPEN RP

[DaveIronside]

It was a scene played out at the main office of almost every news outlet on Mundus at exactly 3am Alba Karinyan time. A locally recruited courier, usually from some well known major company, strolled up to the reception or security officer and delivered a brown padded envelope. The front bore no proper name or address and just read "FOR THE BOSS". Once the envelope had found its way to whoever was handed the job of dealing with it they discovered inside a portable hard drive, it was white and in one corner was a kind of stylised letter A, but beyond that the envelope was empty. With caution teams across Mundus plugged the device in and found just one folder, it was huge almost 1TB of data and labelled "Timed Files" A click revealed hundreds, if not thousands of files, a mixture of documents, photographs and sound files. They were each labelled with a date. The first one read 12April2019 and expectantly the staff tried opening it. It took a few seconds but then a video opened.

"Let me introduce myself. I am the older brother of Empress Clarissa, the rightful ruler of Alba Karinya. All you need know for now is that you can call me Trajan. She was a warrior goddess sent to our family in order to rid God's own continent of the filth that has degraded her beauty. Since 2 years ago this brave soul has been confined in the custody of the puppet Academican penal system. Her captivity a test of the faith of her loyal followers. We number few at present but as news of the Goddesses inevitable return spreads across Mundus the word of the Goddess will bring the people back to the light. You have been deemed worthy to share the insight of a living Goddess, you have been deemed worthy of helping her restore to Alba Karinya and then the world they glory of the divine. You will do that by sharing with the world what we have discovered. Each day you will receive by whatever means we see fit a password, that password will be a reward for sharing what we reveal to you with the world by whatever means you have at your disposal. Failure to share a revelation will see your password witheld and trust me some of what we have for you is golden media fodder. Once you have the password you may open that days information. We thank you in advance for sharing the information that shall change Mundus forever helping the sheep of Mundus embrace the saviour of the Goddess that is Empress Clarissa."

The video suddenly went blank and then a six digit number sprang up on the screen, "763281"

Across Mundus several journalists clicked on the next document and hit the numbers "763281"  A word document opened, it had a series of photos attached to it. The images were first of all the inside of what looked like a factory. It was hard to see what exactly was being done, the hundreds of images clearly taken on a poor quality camera that was possibly operating in secret. When you looked closely you saw logo's on overalls stating "SmartWar" a company that made hi-tech weapons in East Moreland. Soon after not revealing much however the images turned to schematics, professionally copied by the look of it. They were of the joint CNN produced Land Portable Vertical Launch System one of the newest weapons systems on the market. Finally was line upon line of numbers and letters, to the untrained eye it looked like a mess but to those educated in such things it was the coding language of various parts of the weapons system. The final few lines of the document however were the most revealing as it was an e-mail from Sir Harry Samuelson to SmartWar sent on the 7th April 2018 asking about the possibility of making a small tactical nuclear missile version of the system.

Across Mundus hundreds of journalists had just been given access to what was clearly some very sensitive data, what would they do with such information.



OOC - Its up to you folks where you want this to go. There are several ways to get involved. You can react to the news, you can have your government seize the disk, you could have your journalists simply ignore it. I'm happy to take any other nations "sensitive data" this can be as trivial or as ground breaking as you want it to be. Just PM it me either on discord or via the forum. I'll not post per day so as to give people time to react to things.

[Markus]

TINS HQ, Djerb, Empire of Tamora


After receiving the hard drive, the staff immediately called the Imperial Secret Service(ISS) in order to determine if the videos posed a national security risk. While the videos were deemed to pose no threat to the Empire, ISS agents nevertheless detached a team to try and analyze the disk at the TINS HQ. It was unlikely that they would find anything but it was standard procedure.
Meanwhile the major directors of TINS were having a meeting to determine what to do with the information and what actions should they take:
-   So who are these wackos?

-   ISS wouldn’t say but from I remember they are a group loyal to their “Empress” that sought to get rid of non-desirables on the AK continent which included among others Zimalians.

-   So it would seem the Morelanders and their pawns screwed up again and they managed to create yet another terrorist group. Maybe we get lucky and they together with the Borlanders and all three of them manage to kill themselves off.

-   Focus, gentlemen. Did the ISS impose any restrictions on the images?

-   We are free to publish the video but all schematics and the code sequence are to be blurred.

-   Very well, gentlemen. That’s all we need to know. We’ll publish all of it this evening and blur the parts mentioned by ISS.

[DaveIronside]

Exactly twelve hours after the first leak appeared those who had received hard drives received a e-mail entitled "TRAJANS CODE" and a four digit number. Soon after journalists across Mundus were tapping the code into the next file on the list and waited to see what would pop up.

It was a spreadsheet and it showed a series of payments, substaintial payments to the Zimalian Union of Labour from bank accounts in Tamora. The ZUL had been often surrounded by controversey and it was clear it was not a true labour union, it was more a gang, in the employ of Zimalian President Binyamin Elwes that ensured loyalty of the man on the street to his policies, swelled the numbers at pro-government events, and in return Elwes ensured they got first pick of the best jobs. They'd been accused of keeping the Afolayans out of newly created jobs too. Across the world journalists were busy tapping in names into google finding out who these people were, at the end of the day they discovered five key names.

1. Jebdah Elwes - A cousin of President Binyamin Elwes and apparent head of the ZUL

2. Kenyata Elwes - A nephew of President Binyamin Elwes and head of the ZUL Youth Wing.

3. Rashid Yvent - Brother-in-law of President Binyamin Elwes and Minister of Employment

4. Igbo Belasi - Former military commander alongside Binyamin Elwes, has often been rumoured to run a paramilitary that has links to attacking non ZUL affiliated farms.

5. Dika Zokora - Government official in charge of Mogebbe Port, the largest commercial port in Zimalia.

[Lakhzovia]

Presidential Palace, Nakim

Kadassa sat at the head of the conference table surrounded by military and intelligence officials. The Lakhzov government had been thrown into a frenzy of activity shortly after the value of the information on the flash disk had become known to them. Having confiscated it from the LSNC where it had originally been sent the data had been poured over by teams of analysts.

"...so the indication seems to be that East Moreland has continued to maintain a nuclear programme in secret in violation of the the multilateral disarmament initiative. This could be potentially destabilising, it also raises questions about the extent of the other power's dismantling of their own respective programmes. The fact that so far there has not been any angry reaction from the other former nuclear powers suggests that they may also be hiding an illicit cache of nuclear enabling technologies. In fact, it would be surprising if they were not." said the Director of Military Intelligence

"And why is that?" asked Kadassa

"Simple game theory really. Any power agreeing to dismantle their deterrent could never be completely certain that those other nations had actually done so. There would always remain the possibility, or suspicion, that the other parties had retained some form of hidden capability. Total disarmament in such a situation would mean to put yourself in a dangerous position. As such the strategic value of retaining a limited capacity yourself as a form of insurance is too great to ignore. The presumption then is that all the nations that agreed to disarm, in fact retain a secret arsenal."

Kadassa scratched his chin pensively and sipped at his tea "Well this suggests to me that our prevaricating on whether to pursue a deterrent of our own should come to an end. We now know that at least one power seems to maintain nuclear capability, we suspect that all the former nuclear powers also retain a secret programme. Given the past threats our national sovereignty faced from these same powers, and given the instability of Rokkenjiman foreign policy we cannot afford to be without a means to protect ourselves in the future." he drained the remainder of his cup, slamming it down on the desk "Given the sensitive nature of this I believe it is best that this decision not be communicated with the Presidential Advisory Group or the Senate. It should be possible to disguise our endeavors as a civilian energy generation programme no? Part of the Lakhzov economic reform plans. I want a full project assessment to review in thirty days."

[Markus]

Internal memo to all operatives of the (Tamoran) Imperial Secret Service

Clearance level: Classified, for internal use only


By the order of the Emperor the Imperial Secret Service (ISS) is too treat the AK “divine” terrorists as a major threat. Their potential to disrupt imperial affairs in Zimalia is a reason of great concern for the Empire. All departments will do their regular counter intelligence operations against this new group of terrorists but the following should be taken into consideration:

-all operatives in Zimalia are to consider this organization as the biggest terrorist threat and handle it accordingly.
-Tamoran financial institutions are to be asked to be extra careful with any transfers to and from Academica (AK nation).
-A public bounty of one million dinars(USD) will posted for the capture or for any information that leads to the capture of the man called “Trajan”. Further bounties can be issued for any other key members of the terrorist organization.
-If regional directors deem appropriate, exchange of information with the Morelanders will be permitted if it is assessed that ISS operatives cannot apprehend the terrorists and instead providing intelligence to the Morelanders might lead to the capture of the terrorists.   


Signed,
Head of Imperial Secret Service

[DaveIronside]

Having been a frantic few days at the media offices across Mundus the newest file made itself downloadable to be viewed.

It was simply a copy of an e-mail and a photo. The photo showed a desk in an office, looking at the walls portraits and regalia of Lakhzovia were on the walls and it was possible to zoom in and see the exact same e-mail as in the message shown on the monitors screen. It read.

Email from Head of National Intelligence Izris Eitan to Foreign Affairs Minister Tesan Cikniye

You should be prepared for statements in the near future in regards to Khaliniz Brigade members. These Utmen rebels have made their way around Mundus as part of the refugee process. We've confirmed the location of many in nations such as East Moreland, Achkaerin , Seaforth and Bakkermaya. One operative has reported that some kind of attack is imminent. I'd suggest holding off passing this information on as a successful attack would help us paint these groups in a negative light. A useful tool down the road for us.

[Lakhzovia]

Office of the President
of the Republic of Lakhzovia

As President of the Lakhzov Republic I wish to make the following statement in relation to the recently leaked information that appears to suggest that my government has deliberately resisted warning other nations, including allies, of potential threats from Utman terrorist sleeper agents.

I completely reject the notion that my government has pursued a direct policy of allowing terrorist threats against our friends to go unreported. If, as the leak appears to suggest, the intelligence apparatus of my state has been remiss in its duties, then that shall be appropriately dealt with.

To this end I have ordered a full investigation into the purported communications between the head of our intelligence agency and my Foreign Minister.

Any concerned nations should make direct contact with my office to discuss this issue.

May the Blessings of Emet be upon you,

Sachim Kadassa
President of the Lakhzov Republic

[DaveIronside]

OOC- Probably should have put this here

LAKHZOVIAN LINK TO TERRORISM

6 Hours ago a group of three refugees at the Hunter's Vale Support Centre were arrested on connection with terrorism charges. The three men who were airlifted out of Lakhzovia by East Moreland and Ui Cenneslaig forces are all aged 18, therefore were evacuated as minors. A routine patrol of the former military base using dogs indicated a prescence of explosive materials and a more detailed search discovered clothing impregnated with the chemical Methyl nitrate which is a liquid explosive discovered in the defused bombs in the Northfort train stations. CCTV footage has placed the three men at the train station on the evening before the discovery. They were taken under armed guard to Ostlake where the nations Intelligence Services will be interviewing them prior to formal charges being levelled.

The discovery is more shocking following the leak of an e-mail indicating that certain members of the Lakhzovian Government had prior knowledge of potential attacks. Our Intelligence Services are attempting to confirm or refute the validity of this e-mail. Once this has been established we will be seeking a meeting between our government and the Lakhzovians.

Should these men in custody be charged with terror offences the nations Criminal Prosection Service would be calling for them to face the same penalties as a Borlander.

[Achkaerin]

Meetings like this were becoming a regular occurrence, even with the number of Achkaerinese troops deployed abroad being at its lowest level for two years there were still things that ended up with the National Security Committee being called to the Marble Palace. So here they were sat around the oaken round table in the appropriately and some would say lazily named Round Table Room. Peter, the Emperor, sat in his usual seat looking across at the largest monitor in the room, it was built into the wall.

"Ok everyone no standing on ceremony what have you got?" Peter asked
"The leaks are troublesome." Mark Sharpe, the national security advisor said "It's turning into scandal central and it's going to have every intelligence service and nation looking at their own security."
"I buy Samuelson making that inquiry." Adam Sheppard, the Minister of Defence, said "Simply because I would have made the same inquiry for the same reason. The good thing is that the email is dated April last year and not July last year so it's not as problematic it's just eyebrow raising for anyone who doesn't really understand that world."
"I agree." Peter said "It's a mountain out of a molehill in terms of the email because it predates David's announcement, that email being dated July last year would have caused a mess of huge proportions. The bigger concern is the specs and the code."
"Our best analysts have looked at it." Sky Marshall Sophie Wall, the Director of the Military Defence Initiative, said "And it's for real."
"If that's real then that means someone somehow got hold of the specs of a piece of military equipment which is difficult enough without the proper clearance level." Mark said "And then went and published it."

"Tell me about the Zimalia and Lakhzovia elements." Peter said
"Ajax isn't happy about the Zimalia situation." Adam said "And I don't blame him." he was referring to Ajax Semantar, the leader of Achkaerin's Liberal Party and a man who was originally from Zimalia but was now an Achkaerinese citizen.
"We've long been aware that Elwes is discriminating against the Afoleyans." Saki Ryoko, the deputy national security advisor said "But this is an advance in that respect. Now we've got names and MO."
"And Lakhzovia?" Peter asked
"Oh the list of things." Rion Ayanami said "We all know what Kadassa is like and this is right up his street, even if his name isn't on the message we've had enough dealings with him, enough incidents to suspect. And after what went down in the recent civil war and what we have in our possession. Let's just say I'm not surprised that we wouldn't be getting contacted."
"When am I getting that briefing?" Peter asked
"Once Kara's been through it." Rion said

"Ok then." Peter said narrowing his eyes in thought "I want the Lakhzovia briefing as soon as practical. Meanwhile I want investigations into those affiliated with the ZUL, I want double and triple checking on every Utman refugee we've taken in, Rion you find this 'Trajan' and you catch him, help someone else catch him or put him in the ground. And if you can't kill him you tell the Air Force where to find him."
"Understood." Rion said
"Do you think we've seen the last of these leaks Mark?" Peter asked
"No." Mark said "Their aim is application of pressure to get what they want. You don't stop doing that."