The Anglian Thorn

[Seylos]

Aidan woke up to the sound of knocking on his bedroom door. He grumbled and rolled over looking at the clock on his nightstand, groaning when he saw the time at just past two in the morning. The knocking on the door persisted as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Yes yes I hear you just hold on!"

He threw on some sweatpants and a shirt and threw the door open to a wide eyed young attendant. "I swear to god if someone isn't dead I'm going to fire someone."

"The King of Fearannteth You Majesty... died tonight." The attendant said, gulping.

Aidan closed his eyes for a moment, "Of course he did. Alright lead on."

The two of them left the bedroom walking through the halls of the Royal Palace towards the building's situation room in the basement. At the end of the hallway was an elevator that they both got in with the attendant hitting the basement button.

"So are you just the bad news guy?" Aidan asked turning his head towards the attendant. "I swear every time something terrible happen, Ceris falls into chaos, or some important bloke gets murdered it's always you knocking at my door."

"Oh um... I'm just the night attendant Your Majesty." The man replied sheepishly.

"I have a night attendant?"

------------------------

The Royal Council had already convened far ahead of Aidan's arrival, and despite the time of night, the room was buzzing with activity as Councilors spoke with each other and aides made their rounds dropping off documents. What had brought them all together though was some of the worst news they had heard since the beginning of the war in Ceris. The first nation in the New Wurld had fallen to the Anglians, and without so much of a fight. It had been startling to the Ministry of Foreign affairs when one of their diplomats had come rushing back to the Seylosian embassy in Paisley telling them to immediately begin emergency exit protocols. They had barely finished destroying sensitive documents when Anglian soldiers showed up to the embassy grounds and began forcibly escorting the occupants out. Nobody had seen this coming and the rapid capitulation to Anglia was something to behold as well.

Two guards within the situation room opened the door revealing a tired King Aidan walking in rubbing his eyes and taking a seat at the head of the meeting table. "Alright, somebody want to tell me why the entire council has assembled for a foreign head of state's death?"

"Because that foreign head of state's death had led to Fearannteth being effectively annexed by Great Anglia." Minister Tatum said.

Aidan sat up straight in his seat, suddenly looking much less tired, "Good god what? Anglia is in the New Wurld now? That haven't even fucking finished with the old one?"

"Unfortunately it gets much worse," another man said, standing up. Director Darryl Haig ran the Foreign Intelligence Services and had been monitoring the situation for some time, "We've confirmed delegations from Anglia being sent to multiple countries... including Dolchland."

"Dolchland?" Aidan replied angrily, "Director, under no circumstances can Dolchland be allowed to align themselves with Anglia. We are spread way too thin as it is."

"Of course Your Majesty, we are taking steps for the moment to try and get any intelligence on their meetings. The FIS is confident however that what happened in Fearannteth couldn't happen in Dolchland." The Director replied.

Minister Tatum spoken up, "We've already begun the process of contacting other nations regarding the incident. We'll be focusing on other Eastern Argic nations as well as trying to organize some sort of response with Metzlitlaca and Oyus regarding Fearannteth. We've also taken the initiative to gather the NAU council to begin deliberating on a unified response."

"Alright then," Aidan said, pausing a moment to think about something. "The king is dead, but what about the princess? Eileen right? I think I met her a few times when I was younger. Director Haig, do you think we might be able to extract her from Paisley?"

"It's certainly possible, our intelligence assets within the country are mostly intact. More importantly is gauging whether or not she will want to leave. I'm sure Anglia will not be happy that we'd be adding another government in exile."

"Well maybe they should stop exiling governments then Director," Aidan quipped. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, "Alright I'm guessing this is another all nighter. I'm going to guess the economy isn't going to like this at all either."

[Seylos]

Commodore Linnette Rowland had been placed in command of the Second Fleet following the transfer of the former HMS Trabezon to the North Adlantic Union. With the next Defiant Class carrier still not finished yet, her command of the amphibious assault ship HMS Terra Firma was the next choice to head the fleet on a temporary basis. They had dispatched on what she had considered probably one of the most impossible missions she had faced to date. Save the remaining Ryderian fleet without firing a shot… versus the Anglians.

Fighting the Anglian fleet was on the bottom of the list of things she ever wanted to do, and despite similarities between their two peoples on a superficial level, she felt nothing but contempt for the aggression they were perpetuating across the Europan continent, and fear for what they may bring to the New Wurld. Despite this, her orders were simple, save the Ryderian government without firing a shot. Easier said than done.

“Captain,” a junior officer said while approaching her, sticking to the custom of calling the commander of a ship a captain instead of their actual rank, “We’ve managed to establish communication with the Ryderian fleet. It isn’t looking good ma’am.”

Rowland nodded, “Get me in communication with whomever you made contact with.”

The officer sat back down and fiddled with some instruments before handing Rowland a microphone, “They’ll hear you ma’am”

“This is Commodore Linnete Rowland of the Seylosian Royal Navy, we’ve been dispatched to safely escort your ships to Seylosian waters,” Rowland said, speaking into the microphone nervously waiting for a response.

“Commodore, it is good to hear a Seylosian voice. This is Captain Adekoge Babtunde of the RDS Manyikeni.”

“Captain, we are on an intercept course at flank speed. Can you tell us the status of your fleet?”

“It is not well Commodore. Admiral Temitope took the Oluwaytowin to hold back the Anglish to give us time. We are certain they have been sunk. Only ten of our ships remain. We have been saving our munitions for our meeting Commodore.”

“Copy that Captain. You understand our constraints? We can’t fire on the Anglian Navy.”

“Understood Commodore… we have a plan in place.” The transmission then cut.

“Lieutenant Aster, what’s the fleet’s position relative to the Ryderians and the Anglians?” Rowland asked, turning to a young lieutenant at the bridge’s radar station.

“We are currently ten kilometers from the bulk of the Ryderian fleet. The Anglian’s appear to be in pursuit another eight kilometers behind them.” she replied, suddenly a look of concern on her face. “Ma’am I think two of the Ryderian ships have broken from their formation and are doubling back.”

“What are they doing?” a voice called from behind, Rowland’s first officer, Commander Longstaff, had just gotten onto the bridge.

Rowland sighed, “Probably trying to buy us time to intercept their ships.”

“The two Ryderian ships have finished their course change and are heading full speed at the Anglian formation.” Aster said. “It looks like the Anglian fleet is adjusting itself in response.”

There was tension on the bridge as radio silence had fallen between the Seylosian ships and their Ryderian counterparts. It was another minute before the communications officer spoke up.

“I’m hearing an open transmission from the Anglian fleet demanding the surrender of the Ryderian ships.” he said, “They aren’t replying back.”

“Ma’am radar is showing several missile contacts coming from the Ryderian ships moving towards the Anglian fleet. The Anglians have also returned fire.”

“How far away are we?” Rowland asked again.

“Five kilometers,” Aster replied, “The Ryderian missiles have reached their targets, it looks like they were intercepted before impact. The Anglian missiled have also reached their targets… with a probable impact.”

Silence again on the bridge, broken by Rowland, “Commander, prepare the fleet to pull alongside the Ryderian ships at close range. We have to make sure that the Anglians risk firing on us as well if they fire on the Ryderians.”

--------------------

“As always, Naval Command has managed to prevent us from securing another victory. Why won’t they let us sink those ships!? When they reach the Seylosians-”

“Enough Captain Morce, do tend to your ship instead of complaining about our superiors,” Lord Admiral Parish said.  Morce angrily glared at the back of the admiral’s head before walking back to the radio operator's station.

“The Seylosian ships have closed into range with the Ryderian ships. If we don’t fire now, we won’t be able to distinguish between the ships.” The bridge’s radar operator spoke up.

Admiral Parish stared forward stoically while Captain Morce turned around again and ran up to Parish, “We have to fire now.”
Parish quickly turned his head to the side, keeping his body still, “Do you think you know better than the King?”

“Of course not,” Morce replied carefully, “But another government fleeing to those pretenders-”

“Admiral! We’ve received authorization to fire on the main Ryderian fleet.”

Morce stopped talking to the Admiral and turned his attention to the radar operator,”Are we clear?”

The operator shook his head, “No sir, they’re too close now.”

Morce grumbled in anger, while Parish kept looking forward, “Don’t worry Captain, I’m positive we will get another chance.”

 

[Seylos]

“I hereby call into order this session of the House of Governors.” Mortimer Browne, the current President of Assembly, said knocking his gavel on the desk into front of him, “This special session will be joined by his Royal Majesty King Aidan Redmond, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Isabella Forrest, Chief of Army Staff Delyth Kendrick, and Director of Foreign Intelligence Services Sir Darryl Haig. I now yield the floor to the King.”

Aidan stood from his seat, in an area usually reserved for guests of the House to sit and observe, though now it was fitted with microphones for the four that come. “Thank you Mr. Haig. I have convened this special session of the House to both inform the House of the Anglian crisis, as well as seek its opinion on our nation’s moves from here. I would like to start by calling Director Haig to brief you on his prepared report.”

Aidan nodded over to the direction and sat down, Haig returned in kind, though he did not stand instead shuffling through a large collection of papers he had brought with him, leaning into the microphone.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. The Office of Foreign Intelligence believes now more than ever that decisive action must be made against the Anglians as they continue to push their aggression beyond the borders of the Old Wurld.”

“To ensure that the representatives have all the proper context, I’m going to briefly go over the context of the crisis that has led up to this point. On April 9th of last year, Anglia began an invasion of the Social Democratic Confederation of Lysia. The war was brief, ending less than a week later on the 15th of that month resulting in the full annexation of the country into the Anglian nation. During that time, Suverina, which borders both Lysia and Tagmatium, was undergoing significant internal strife as well as an ongoing border conflict with the nation of Qubdi. Under the pretense of ‘securing their ally’ a treaty was signed between Suverina and Anglia, resulting in the Anglian military deploying itself to the southern borders of Suverina. In an attempt to take the disputed land before Anglian reinforcement could arrive, Qubdi launched a preemptive strike, seizing the territory.”

“During this conflict, Anglia was in negotiation with several southern Azanian states for signing some sort of western Europan pact. As expected, Anglian and Suverinan forces counter attacked and drove the Qubdi out, though they declined pursuing deeper into Qubdi territory in fear of provoking Tagmatium. After the Qubdi were fully driven out, negotiations for the OCA were completed.”

“As you are all by now aware the Occidental-Azanian Pact, or the OCA Pact, was signed on May 14th, 2021. The founding members of the OCA were Anglia, Suverina, Nykia, Yien, Abantium, Afropa, Farramount, and Norrium. Ten days later, Anglia staged a false flag attack on INS Javelin which was off the coast of Wajoka, which is colloquially known in Seylos as Ryderia. In mid June, Anglia began attacks along the Ryderian coast, and OCA members began attacks against unaligned Azanian states. By mid September, the coalition of states known as the Unaligned States of Azania had finally fully collapsed with the fall of the final Wajokan stronghold.”

“Now we have found ourselves at the forefront of massive diplomatic campaigns across the New Wurld. Just before the fall of Azania to the OCA, the Anglians made a brazen move across the Adlantic in Fearannteth, demanding they rejoin the Anglian union. We believe this was only done because they had seen the opportunity to quickly remove the weak government without military conflict. We believe the King of Fearranteth was killed and the new government simply gave in to Anglian demands.”

“With a hold now in Alharu, they used this opportunity to spread their influence over a wider area. The Royal Navy has observed a massive increase of shipping from OCA affiliated countries to Dolchland. We’ve seen no change of government there, which has led us to believe the Dolch Emperor has likely used Anglian aid to solidify his position of power. In Aurelia, the OCA has significant power in Cote de Fourrure through its ties with Lysia, which Anglia of course now occupies. We’ve seen less obvious disturbances in the Kidney Islands, bordering Fulgistan, and in Marenesia. We have no doubt the Anglians will continue forward with their plans of growing the presence in the New Wurld. Of course to make matters worse, the Gallambrians have already had a violent run in with the Anglians.”

There were loud mumblings in the chambers as all the representatives discussed amongst themselves for a moment. Finally a representative stood, waiting for the PA to acknowledge them.

“The House recognizes Representative Croft, representing the governorship of Norfolk.”

“Do we have any reason to believe that the Anglians are actively targeting us? Is there a potential for war?” Croft said, trying her best to hide the fear in her voice.

“Anglia has made it clear on several occasions that it wishes to reunify countries that share origins from the nation, such as Seylos, Delamaria, Gallambria, and so on. We don’t exactly know their plans on this front since sweeping in during a period of instability is off the table. In our particular cas it’s why we think the Anglians are helping the Dolch so much by creating a more powerful ally in the region.”

“Does the Monarchy have a plan on how to deal with the Dolch?” Croft asked.

Haig looked back to Aidan who took the opportunity to speak up, “Several options are on the table, but it looks like normal diplomatic ‘punishments’ aren’t going to work with the Anglians. I’ve discussed this with Minister Tatum, and I believe that our first steps should be to reach out to the nations of eastern Argis and work with them for some sort of unified response. Seylos, or for that matter the NAU just can’t do this alone.”

The assembly was quiet for a bit before another representative stood up.
“The House recognizes Representative Riordan, representing the governorship of Killarney.”

“Admiral Forrest, how confident are you that the Royal Navy can protect Seylos, Eire, Pleinmont and Sark from any sort of naval incursion from the Anglians?” Riordan asked, garnering a full mutterings of agreement from around the assembly.

“Honestly?” the admiral replied, “Should the Anglians throw a significant force at us, we simply don’t have the numbers to meet their fleet in open sea. In aircraft carriers alone they far outnumber us. The only two locations I feel confident defending from any sort of naval based attack would be Selbourne and Norfolk.”

“Would we not have the assistance of the Gallambrians? Would TRIDENT not help as well?”

“I’m sure they would, given the scale of the threat, but don’t forget representative, Anglia isn’t the only actor here. There are seven other nations within the OCA, many of whom have just acquired new territory in Europa to exploit and have no doubt been working on expanding their own naval capabilities. I have no doubt that our allies will also have their hands full with this.”

Aidan held up his hand from his seat, “PA Browne, I think now would be a good time for a short recess. I’d like some time for everyone to get their questions and concerns ready before we keep going forward.”

“At the request of His Majesty, we shall call a recess for one hour before reconvening.”

[Seylos]

INTERNAL MEMO

FROM: Office of Naval Procurement

TO: Norfolk Naval Yards

The Royal Navy requires immediate construction efforts to begin on several ship classes. Events around the wurld have forced an expedited timeline in growth of military forces.

4 Eclipse-Class Destroyers

1 Liberation Class Amphibious Assault Ship

1 Coral Class Submarine

Chancellor of the Exchequer will be in direct contact with the Naval Yard Finance offices to discuss the release of emergency funds for this endeavor.

The Royal Navy also requests an immediate update as to the status of the Defiant Class carrier in construction at the yards. The original order was placed in early 2018, and circumstances require its completion with haste.

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FROM: Office of Air Forces Procurement

TO: Aamotech North

The Royal Air Forces as well as the Royal Navy require immediate orders for fulfillment to expand Seylos's aerial capabilities.

30 Lysstråle Multirole Fighters

30 Harrier IIIB Strike Craft

Normal procurement methods have been put on hold due to the urgency of these orders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will be in direct contact with the Aamotech North's purchasing department to discuss the release of emergency funds for this endeavor.

 

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FROM: Office of General Delyth Kendrick, Chief of Army Staff | Office of Admiral Isabella Forrest, Chief of Navy Staff

TO: Royal Army and Navy Recruitment Offices

Special authorization has been provided by the king to raise the current levels of the arms forces by a number of 20,000. Funds have been allocated for the recruitment of 15,000 volunteer regular army personnel, and 5000 volunteer regular navy personnel. This recruitment drive is not considered an "emergency forces" recruitment. Standards upheld by current regular forces must be kept in place. This applies to all requirements for general recruitment. No exceptions at this time.