Second Lieutenant Amber Meadows and her squad of scouts were up in the far north of the Achkaerinese zone, there were other scout troops in the area as well, their job was a simple one to search for anyone who'd got caught out in the wilds when the tsunami had hit, because there wasn't just the water to be worried about, the root cause of the wave was the earthquake and that also might have had an effect on the islands. They'd just found the remains of a small village and were doing initial assessments of the injured they'd found there, like most of the people they'd come across in their zone they were dealing with the third group the mixed ethnic group.
"Lieutenant Meadows this is the
INS Rhyth Icerider" Amber's radio crackled into life
"Receiving." Amber said answering it.
"Please confirm your current location we have you in sector Bravo-2." the voice from the ship said
"Confirmed." Amber said
"Do not proceed further north than .5 into the Alpha sectors." the voice said "We're observing signs of increased Heyran military activity."
"What the heck are they doing?" Amber said
"Making our job even harder yet again." the voice said
"Ok we're going to bring our latest batch of survivors back." Amber said
"Copy that." the voice said
Yuki had left the
Sharingan and moved to one of the tents on the waterfront where she was now joined by the ranking officer from Achkaerin's ground troop contingent
Lieutenant Colonel Sebastian Brandt They were looking over their latest intelligence, also present was Nettie.
"So as you can see the Heyran's appear to be upping their presence significantly." Sebastian said
"What the hell are they playing at?" Yuki asked
"Whatever it is I imagine it'll prove futile in the end." Nettie said "I'm going to make a call."
"I'm concerned about the worst case scenario in the interim." Sebastian said "I don't like the idea of dividing priorities but for the safety of humanitarian operations, especially considering the Heyran rhetoric, I recommend establishing a hard perimeter at 10km from the city."
"Do it." Yuki said "Hard perimeter nothing inside without our say so. Where's Captain Ford?"
"Approximately an hour from Tansei Naval Base." Sebastian said
"All right then." Yuki said "We'll contact the Cenneg's and the Lodjan's let's see what we think we can do, get hold of the Heyran Brigadier as well."
"I'll inform Captain Ford to make contact with the Lodjan's and I'll send Captain Venables to talk to the Cenneg's." Sebastian said "I presume you want this on the DL?"
"Correct." Yuki said "Let's just hope we're overreacting. Meanwhile when she's finished let's ask Nettie to go and say hi to the Rokkenjiman's."
In Valtheim, Peter Azurewind was sat in his study with
Consul Michael Williams who was the leader of the elected government and the Minister of Defence
Adam Sheppard, Nettie was on the other end of a phone call and predictably the three Achkaerinese gentlemen weren't impressed with what they were hearing.
"This is getting to be a lot more trouble than it should have been." Peter said "Suggestions?"
"Stop it now before it gets out of control Your Majesty." Michael said
"Adam?" Peter asked
"I agree with Michael." Adam said "There is a long list of possible explanations for what we're seeing Heyra do here, the continued absence of the Ecclesiastical State means their zone which is rather large does lack manpower hence an increase in numbers, but at the same time there are other reasons and those threaten the peaceful future of those islands."
"Nettie?" Peter said
"They're right Peter." Nettie said "Hope for the best prepare for the worst."
"What do you suggest?" Peter asked
"We want a referendum, East Moreland wants a referendum, Dartfordia wants a referendum, Lodja wants a referendum, Ui Cenneslaig wants a referendum." Nettie said, having to speak up a little to make herself heard over a low flying helicopter "It's time to put that in the field."
"Thanks Nettie" Peter said, he hung up the speakerphone and looked at the other two "Thoughts?"
"She's got a point." Adam said "There's nowhere on Mundus Heyran Sovereignty over those islands is going to win a recognition vote. There's also nowhere on Mundus that Himeyaman Sovereignty is going to win a recognition vote. So what's left?"
"Self determination." Peter said "Do it."
"I'll talk to Cheryl and Isabella." Michael said "That at least gets it out in the field."
"I'm going to have Declan Cox talk to the Himeyaman government." Peter said "Let's hope we can get out of the other side of this minefield soon."