[RP] Turn 44 Schuyler Talks DC-TH-RD

[Holt]

The world of Schuyler and its important industries were always heavily garrisoned and the people were used to a heavy military presence, but this was more than usual. In orbit Naval assets clouded even the stars from view as they patrolled every millimeter of space, while on the ground nine regiments led by the 2nd Genyosha patrolled every kilometer of the capital.


Minoru starred out the window of the conference center he and his personnel had taken over when one of his Otomo guards entered the office, "All is ready Coordinator, we have placed guards every over meter within the complex and a DEST team guards the chamber we will be using."

"Excellent Tai-sa please inform all out troops how proud I am of them this day, now we wait for our guests," spoke Minoru as he continued to stare out the window.

[Dave Baughman]

The Terran representative, dressing in a Word of Blake Precentor's uniform bearing the rank insignia of a THAF General and the badge of the 14th Shadow Division entered the conference room and bowed courteously to the Coordinator.

"Hajimemash'te, Kanji-dono. Watashi wa Benjamin Emory Tai-sho, Chikyu Haken Kokugun."

His introductions made, Emory awaiting the arrival of his Dominion counterpart.

[Fatebringer]

A modest star of warships were still standing by in the system, all of them were destroyers except the heaviest of them, a Sovestkii Soyuz Cruiser.  Along with them came over two dozen other jumpships had ferried the forces that served as the Prince Elects guard to this dangerous meeting. However only a few handfuls were allowed personal bodyguards. An insistence upon the addition of the TH representative to the continuing talks between the Price Elect and the Coordinator.

[Fatebringer]

The prince elect gave a curt nod to the Precentor as he re-entered the chamber. "Coordinator" he said giving a slight bow.

[Dave Baughman]

Emory returned the gesture, "I must admit, I was not expecting you to attend in person, Prince Månsdottir."

"Let us not waste time on meaningless niceties. The Terran Hegemony, as a pre-requisite to any negotiations, requires that the Dominion institute an immediate cease-fire, effective for the duration of these discussions. If you cannot agree to this minimum requirement, then there is no point in further discussions."

[Holt]

After the entrance of the Prince-Elect the doors of the chamber close behind him, but not before the final members of the DEST team are let in.

"You will excuse me gentlemen for the very tight security, but after what has happened before i cannot take any chances, i give you my word as Coordinator that no harm will come to any of you. We are all here for one reason, though their is very bad blood between all of us; we must find some common ground or those that are not really friendly to us will be dancing on our graves."

"To begin and try to turn over a new leaf I as the Dragon have a confession to make, one that will not be repeated outside this chamber. It was my operation over Tamar which inflicted the Clan warship casualties via nuclear devices. As you know some of our decisions are harder than others and it is something I had to do."

[Dave Baughman]

Emory nodded to the Coordinator's words, perhaps silently expressing approval and respect, but did not comment on the revelation; instead he turned his eyes to Magnusson and waited to hear the Rasalhague man's response.

[Fatebringer]

"Let us not waste time on meaningless niceties. The Terran Hegemony, as a pre-requisite to any negotiations, requires that the Dominion institute an immediate cease-fire, effective for the duration of these discussions. If you cannot agree to this minimum requirement, then there is no point in further discussions."

Hannsen sized Emory up. He knew the type, pushy and subtle at the same time. He'd definitely had special training in psychology and the finer arts of thuggery, anything to keep his prey off balance. Choosing to avoid the confrontation for now, Hannsen simply said "I acknowledge that while these discussions are underway, the forces of the Dominion shall not 'initiate' any combat situations..." he looked over at the coordinator, "with any forces belonging to those present for this meeting." Choosing ones words carefully with an obvious agitator was an art form he'd learned well amongst his years.

"To begin and try to turn over a new leaf I as the Dragon have a confession to make, one that will not be repeated outside this chamber. It was my operation over Tamar which inflicted the Clan warship casualties via nuclear devices. As you know some of our decisions are harder than others and it is something I had to do."

Hannsen's eyes narrowed. "We agreed to discuss the future. While it makes me question your motives, I would be a hypocrite to treat you any differently then I did them when I thought the Terrans ordered the strikes. I am a realist coordinator. I am here because I have a responsibility to my people to find out what peace would cost them."

[Holt]

I would not think peace will cost anything, on the contrary we will gain from it. I tell you the truth because we all need to put our cards on the table in order to find a possible common ground and eventually, peace.

[Fatebringer]

"Coordinator, the more you try to bullshit me, the less we'll get done here. Apparently you were slinging a lot of bull yesterday. But you know what? I wasn't. The things I said yesterday are true today and will be true the day that Ragnarok comes and if you want to deal with me, you'll cut the crap." He looked over at Emory, "You don't want to waste time? Fine! My people mean a lot to me Precentor. How much do yours mean to you? The Ravens collected quite a few of yours. To be specific, over two thousand of your personal from the battles at Sudeten and Planting. Over four hundred of these prisoners failed their genetic marker tests. The Ravens had to secured them away in special areas for their own protection from the other clans who were spacing their prisoners that failed the tests. Now, I don't have these prisoners as they're all in the custody of the Snow Ravens but considering their position in the Dominion, if their return to you could help stop these little incursions that keep happening in our land" He looks over at the coordinator "From the both of you, then I say we have a place to start from."

[Dave Baughman]

"I'm disappointed, Prince Månsdottir, I wasn't expecting you to resort to bartering with the lives of our POWs until at least a half hour into the negotiations, but I suppose not everything can live up to our expectations."

"The Terran Hegemony's demands are simple if you wish us to terminate our offensive - and intervene on your behalf to stop the related SLDF offensive: the Dominion must declare neutrality in the war between the Grand Council and the Star League; to wit, you must cease all active support of the Grand Council, including financial contributions and intelligence sharing. You will allow civilian observers from a neutral party - I would recommend the Draconis Combine - to monitor your border garrisons. You will also report the positions of your naval forces to the same neutral observer every sixty days to ensure the maintainence of your neutrality."

"As a declared neutral, you will not allow any beligerant to cross your territory or reside within it; any vessels or military personnel that violate your borders must be impounded for the duration of the conflict."

Emory paused for a moment, then added: "Oh, and the Dominion will return all prisoners of war in its custody to the Terran Hegemony. We will, of course, reciprocate."

"Before you protest the onerous nature of our demands, remember that you - you personally, Månsdottir - signed a treaty of peace and non-agression with the Terran Hegemony on Terra. I'm not foolish enough to believe that you couldn't have stopped Athena Kabrinski if you actually wanted to, so you need to be aware that my government holds you personally responsible for the breaking of that treaty. We tried taking you at your word that you would not turn on the Hegemony, so this time we are going to require a more clearly-defined solution."

[Fatebringer]

"Our decision to drop out of that treaty has not changed. The Dominion is done being a doormat and as your forces will find out if they DO NOT vacate our territory. I can not go to the tribunal with these unreasonable demands. Both the Ghost Bears and the Snow Ravens have redes of honor they must fulfill. The fact is that the Dominion holds a twenty percent vote in the Grand Council as well as two of the top position, these are not tools to be abandoned. The Coordinator tried to convince me that the other Clans will not aid us. But he is wrong. They would come, because you are coming. The Clans didn't go to Tamar to fight the wolves, they went to Tamar to find you. Their long time enemy and pretty much the only thing that unites them. We have been pushing for civility and temperance while dealing with your people. Now, tell me, what people do you claim to have of ours?"

[Dave Baughman]

Emory shrugged, "I suppose I could engage in one-upsmanship with you and say that we have Tor Miraborg and his staff - they are certainly in our power on Terra - but I'll demure from the sort of utter disregard of diplomatic protections that your father's minions engaged in a few years ago."

"We do however have a moderate number of Snow Raven personnel who were recovered by Terran SAR shuttles during Sudeten, warriors and," he made quotesie-signs in mid air, "civilians from the technician and science castes alike. Certainly no one we're holding back the rest of the Star League from murdering, but then again the Star League isn't as quick to murder POWs as the Grand Council seems intent on."

Emory chuckled, "Oh and of course we have a good friend of yours. Do you remember William Prescott, the former Varldherr of Karbala? He turned up at our HPG station on Skye about a month ago. We haven't formally granted him asylumn yet, and I you must still be a little sore about the whole Karbala Klan Killers incident."

"But I digress; you've rejected neutrality, so what alternative do you propose? I should we reconvene after my troops have taken Orestes and Grumium?"

[Mr. JibberJab]

ooc. Sorry to butt in fate, but i know ol HM a little better, so let me take this from here =)


Hanson Magnusson only grinned at the mention of William prescott,"Then give him my warmest regards, no hard feelings about the failed assassination attempt?? You know...now that i think about it, I do owe him a letter of thanks, That stunt he pulled actually helped pull the Ghostbears and Rasalhagians together, Creating the Order of Ragnar." The elected prince said with a chuckle as thought of the new logo a ghostbear warrior had drawn after the battle.
 
 "sore? no, I mean, its not like they made a terrorist attack against the riksdag. We have no rejected Neutrality, If we had Do you not think long ago the Rasalhague dominion would have invaded the Terren Hegemony? I am open to peace, but the question is, are you? The elected prince asked, his one eye looking directly into both of Emorys.

  "As we're putting all our cards on the table, I have a few I would like to express, if for no other reason than i'v been forced to laugh about them by myself. you know, state secrets and walls having ears and all."

   Hansson took a sip from a glass of water before a smile splayed across his lips,"Controling a Kabrinski is like herding cats, sure you can tell them something, but that doesn't mean your gona get the end result you expected. Cameron kabrinski comes to mind." the elected prince said as he took another sip from his glass," Did you know for example, That his wife is a decended of the clan of wolverine? HA! i can just imagen the smug looks of those crusaders as they find out one their own not only married a wolverine decendent but had a child with her! Makes one wonder for the future."

  "but alas" sighed the elected prince,"Cameron died defending the freeminder ideals after the ghostbears had to save face from what was it again? oh yes, refusing to attack you!... But, heres the real kicker."  A grin spread across hanssons face,"He didn't die. Would you care to guess where he is?" He asked looking at minoru
 
  "New Avalon, Seems that Yvonne was quite taken with his story, I hear hes even teaching at the NAIS!"

  Looking back at Emory the elected prince smiled, his eye patch giving him an almost piratical look,"My last card? Since you mentioned Athena kabrinski, i have no problem telling you this. She pissed off one of the greatest, and this is my opinion, Mech warriors in the clans, maybe even the entire inner sphere. I won't tell you which one" the prince grinned,"But minoru knows of him,I believe one of your warriors faught him on Rasalhague?, But he has returned from a mission on New avalon where he was under the guise of Shwartz Broder and is -very- unpleased at Athena, To the point i can guarantee she will not be a problem, and that unless you provoke the dominion to war, means we will honor our peace treaty with the terrans."

 "however, I wish to avoid meaningless bloodshed, to the point im willing to offer you Athena Kabrinskis head on a platter, granted that much of it is left after Fochs Jorgennson gets ahold of her"

[Dave Baughman]

Benjamin Emory raised an eyebrow at what Magnusson had just said, "So am I to take it that the public declaration of war against the Terran Hegemony, the support for the Grand Council, the attack against a Star League member at Tamar, all of that was just a practical joke on the part of the Dominion?"

"You're going to have to forgive me, but I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that, especially since not ten seconds ago you told me that the Hegemony's eminiently reasonable requirements for continuing peace were unacceptable. Perhaps you would like to clarify what you had in mind as an alternative?"

[Mr. JibberJab]

 "The declaration was forced by Athena Kabrinski, I'v been up to my ankles in shit ever since trying to clean up her mess. So let me ask you, After this declaration, did we attack you? Sure you mention the wolfs and while yes Ghostbear naval forces were there, What did we do besides watch? Where were you when the Diamond sharks took over a space station we traded to the wolfs?"
   Reaching into his pocket the Elected prince took out a can of Skoal, tapping it before taking a pinch to put in the corner of his mouth. Taking a moment to enjoy the sweet nicotine the mechwarrior looked at Benjamin emory,"where are my manners. Want some?" He asked holding out the can knowing full well no one would accept any.

  "Your proposal is unacceptable because the Ghostbears and the Snow ravens have a constitutional right to be allowed to not only their clan heritage, but continued participation in the Grand council. Now is it illegal to be an asshole? no, its just concidered bad taste. As for our contributions to the grand council." The elected prince gave a smile that would have reminded a small school child of a Great white shark,"You really don't have to worry about that, The clans we chose to support seem to be falling out of the Clans, The scorpions come to mind. On the area of intelligence we really havnt given them much if anything. The spookers are controlled by Freja (dave you know how to spell her last name!) Who has no love for the clans who she blames for the death of the father of her child. Oh wait it wasn't the clans that killed him, it was you! speaking of which, did you know when you tried to assassinate all those khans you actually ended up fighting a Davion fox team?" his smile got wider,"Cameron kabrinski came so that he could personally tell Khan Diana pryde that she would recieve no units or support from clan ghostbear or the rasalhague dominion, for which not only was he kicked out of the conference, but after he nearly lost his life against your crazy cyborg ninjas. So please, WHO attacked who first again?"

 " I have no qualms with taking up a position of neutrality, However you speak a good point about beligerant partys crossing our borders. I can only assume you mean yourselfs as well since your nation has used us as a freeway more than anyone has lately, However we also allowed the combine into dominion space to search for Steel vipers who had recently attacked them.
  If i had it my way tho, All of you would stop using us as some space freeway."

 "However"

  The elected prince spit into a empty cup,"We will not concede to giving the position of our forces every sixty days, We have no plan of attacking the combine and are more than willing to share the information on our forces arrayed along their borders to help in a mutual defense of our shared border, Hell we share a world with them!"

 "As for returning prisoners of war." The elected prince spit into the cup again, it was a nasty habit he enjoyed disgusting others with,"I have no qualms, These men have family that miss them."

  "Like i said, I have no objections to peace, The only question is will you go about this in your usuall Terren hegemony way of demanding you get your way or you'll throw a tantrum, Or will you prove you really are the leaders of the starleague and work twords a peaceful resolution? Because I honestly have no interest in recreating history and getting killed like my father did after talks with the Terrans failed."

[Dave Baughman]

"I did indeed mean to include the Hegemony when I spoke of no beligerant party entering your territory. If you are willing to close the Dominion to the Grand Council, we too will agree to not enter its borders for the duration of the conflict."

Emory made a point of ignoring both the prince's rather foul tobacco chewing and his questions about who attacked who first.

"If you will not allow a neutral party to verify your deployments, however, how can we know that you are not planning a surprise attack on our flanks? Surely there is an alternative..."

Emory pondered for a moment then smile, "Ah yes, I suppose there is a solution that will be ensure your honorable conduct and allow you to keep your secrets to yourself."

"Let us revive the old practice of Ostagium; if it was good enough for the Roman Empire of ancient Terra, it should be good enough for us. We will agree to waive all of our demands for verification, on the condition that your son, Rolf Magnusson, be sent to Terra as a guarantor of your good faith. While there, he will attend our elite naval academy and be treated as foreign royalty as protocol demands; however, if you break your faith with us, he will be killed immediately."

"If you accept these terms, I will announce an immediate armistice between our states, pending the Dominion's formal declaration of neutrality within thirty days (OOC: by the end of the turn). Upon that formal declaration, the TH will accept your new status and withdraw our troops."

[Mr. JibberJab]

 "and we all know how the romans turned out" Hanssen said smiling as he spit into his cup,"However, My son has all ready graduated, in fact if i may say so proudly, he has achieved the Rank of Galaxy commander, In charge of the Gunzberg Eagles galaxy. But if its a guarantee you want.."
    Reaching into his pocket the elected prince pulled out a small disc, smiling at it sadly he slid it twords Emory,"Cameron Kabrinski gave this to me before he left saying, One guy takes the life for vengeance and then someones gets revenge by taking his life. How is that kind of twisted thinking every gonna bring us peace? If you should kill someone's husband in battle, then his wife will despise you for that. And if you were to kill someone's son, then his mother will hate you for that as well..."
  "On that disc are Orders for Fochs Jorgennson, Should i fail to bring peace, Should i fall short of my convictions. Fochs jorgennson is authorized to kill me."

[Dave Baughman]

Emory resisted the urge to curse in frustration with Magnusson's circumloquations.

"As I understand it, Prince Månsdottir, you have now rejected two proposals for peace I have laid before you. As I understand it, you just want us to trust that you'll make everything better, but you don't want us to have any way of verifying your compliance or any means of leverage against you if you break your word."

"And this," he waved this disc, "counts about as much as a pinky-promise in my book, since you have no reason to make good on it once we leave this room."

"Oh, wait, I forgot, your Dominion," he made quotey-marks in the air "hhhhonnnnnnnorrrrrrrrrrrr. Silly me, but at this point, the good word of a Rassie goes about as far as we can throw it in the TH."

"You want peace? Put something tangible on the table. Otherwise, I have business on Grumium."

Emory then turned to Minoru, "Pardon me Coordinator, but perhaps you can offer a suggestion to the Elected Prince, since he seems disinterested in entertaining my proposals."

[Fatebringer]

Bump. I believe we are waiting for the Coordinator's comments or lack there of.

[Holt]

[Writers block (and boss is still behind me), I will get it done today.]

[Holt]

"Gentlemen please, we are here to try and come to some understandment and hopefully peace; so let us not argue and throw accusations around." Finnaly spoke Minoru.

"I would not think peace can be obtained without both sides giving up something," looking over at Emory Minoru spoke, "if the Dominion pledges to keep it self apart from the Grand Council in advancing against the Terran Hegemony and pledges nutrality in the invasion, the Draconis Combine will take no coordinated action either in defense or offense with the Terran Hegemony, will not deploy any forces in systems within 90 light years of the Terran border; unless under Combine control as of this day."

Minoru looked at the Prince-elect. "The way i see it war will cost both sides dearly and i rather remove pieces from the board by choice, rather than having those pieces die. Basically we would remove ourselves from this conflict, neutralizing rather than destroying each other."

"I do not want harm to come to the people of the Dominion as much as you Prince-elect."

[Dave Baughman]

Emory crossed his arms, but nodded in consideration, "Coordinator, I appreciate the spirit of compromise which you bring to these talks."

Then to Magnusson: "In light of the unprecedented concessions offered to you by the Coordinator, are you willing to agree to the verification measures neccessary for the Hegemony to accept your position of neutrality?" he stopped then added a bit more, "It seems to me that he is offering you total territorial security in exchange for your exit from the war; I would think that agreeing to a small loss of privacy regarding your military deployments would be a trivial price to page."

The Precentor shrugged, "Since when did Clanners care if anyone know where their military units were posted, anyway? Consider Kurita-sama's offer carefully, Månsdottir - this may be the best you can hope for."

[Fatebringer]

It was obvious that the Prince Elect was holding back, until he spoke. “Fine, let’s have another go at trying to reach an understanding. The first thing I want understood is that I didn’t come here to negotiate with you.” Hannsen pointed at the Emory. “I came to deal with someone I know is honorable. If you want a piece of this, you’ll have to accept some realities. The Clanners that are with me, aren’t punks, and aren’t going anywhere, so you can put that baby to bed. If you want to play rough, fine. Your both military men who have obviously studied the arts of war. The Rasalhague Dominion is ten times as strong as it was when the Clans first smashed into us. No matter what you do, the harder you hit us, the weaker and more vulnerable you’ll become.”

“There are two things that I hold that the Clanners want and that I’ve been denying them. My realms border has the shortest paths to Luthien and Terra. If this charade continues, I’ll give it to them. Minoru, you said the Clans wouldn’t come, do you think they wouldn’t come for that? For you?” He looked over at Emory, “And you know they’ll come for you. So let’s stop pretending like I haven’t done anything for you two. As a leader of my people though, I realize we didn’t work this damn hard to reunite the realm for me to piss it away on pride, that’s why I’m here. You want something from me? Make it reasonable, I have sway in what happens with two of the largest remaining clans now. I can take deals before the Tribunal, production limitations, solid boundaries, continued fair treatment of prisoners, not Ultimatums from people hovering above our worlds.”

[Holt]

"I still have my doubts the Clans would come, sure some might; but not all. The Spirits according to my intel have actually removed themselves from the Inner Sphere, the Adders are too busy claiming the former Lyran worlds and now dealing with the Free Worlds League, the Hellions are too busy picking off the scraps the Adders are not claiming, and the Jade Falcons cannot leave their huge flanks open to predation. So this just leaves a few Clans with limited forces, so though they might come they will not change the outcome; both your realm and mine will be in ruins."


"I have given you something reasonable and the troops over your worlds are on hold because of I do not want war between our people, I am not making ultimatums to your Prince-elect and i believe all these points we cannot agree on can be addressed."

[Fatebringer]

“As far as I can tell, the Spirits are gone as well and the Adders are entrenched in the Lyran theatre something fierce, but the Hellions, Falcons, Diamond Sharks, these forces would come for the Hegemony, possibly even the Vipers would make an appearance if they could carve out themselves a new niche.” Hannsen leaned back. “My goal is offer this security to the Draconis Combine, not for some love of our neighbors, but for the people. I’m not asking for universal peace, let’s just not fight on our own soil. Let the battles that must happen, happen. I can probably keep the Bears and Ravens pointed away from Terra for … two years, maybe, citing a need to protect our holdings and a need to re-enforce our supply lines to the Homeworlds. Granting production to the other Clans in exchange for surkai was Athena’s baby. With her out of the way, we can sway that back towards looking after our own needs. With a narrower angle of approach, the Hegemony could focus their defenses and assaults?”

[Holt]

"Two years of peace from the Dominion, would that include no deployments outside Dominion territory? I would prefer a universal peace, but I know we cannot achieve everything."

[Fatebringer]

“Let’s not put words in my mouth. I’ll keep these talks to promises I can keep without addressing council. What I said was, I will keep the Dominion off of Terra, and to that extent, the Hegemony’s current holdings and yours for a period of two years. They would remain participants in the Grand Council and use their power to fight with civility for as long they can. The trust the Clans had for each other when they first called for the blood of the Not-Named has pooled, there are cliques again and not full information sharing despite the re-emergence of the Inter-Clan watch as a staple feature amongst them. In short gentlemen, what I promise is to not bring the war to your doorsteps if you do likewise. This agreement will be publicly re-enforced despite the consequences it will have to the Dominion’s relationship with the Clans, so that our envoy here can see the truth of it.”

[Dave Baughman]

"To an extent?" Emory was clearly slightly irritated now, to say the least, "You'll keep the Dominion out of the Hegemony, to an extent?!"

"What extent, exactly, do you have in mind? Freedom? Syrma? Thorin? Rigil Kent? I'm done listening to your Rassie double-talk and lies, Månsdottir. Last chance: agree to the Coordinator's peace plan, or I give the order to drop on Grumium and Orestes."

"Or is the real reason you've been flip-flopping back and forth that you know you know you can't agree to a real peace agreement because your Clan keepers are in control and your power ends at the foot of your throne, just like Anton warned you it would?!"

Emory locked Magnusson with a hawk-like stare, "I'm waiting Månsdottir. What will it be, war or peace?"

[Fatebringer]

Magnusson didn't waiver. "I have already said the original terms were unacceptable and I have already answered your question of what extent with crystal clarity Precentor, the Hegemony’s current holdings." Without looking back to Minoru. "What say you to these terms Coordinator of the Combine? Shall we agree that any fights should be diverted to already exhisting battlefields so that we may save our people from suffering, or shall we begin with Orestes, Grumium and wherever that fleet outside is headed and see where this takes us? I am prepared to defend my position with every warrior at my dispossal, using any means to maintain my borders and I do mean, every warrior."

[Dave Baughman]

"Very well, Elected Prince, I will relay your decision to my superiors."

Turning to the coordinator, Emory bowed and said gravely, "It is most regrettable that your gracious peace proposal has failed to move the Dominion away from the path of war, but I must conclude at this time that the Ghost Bears are not negotiating in good faith, and that the sole purpose of their participating in these talks is to delay our military advance while reinforcements are brought forward. At this time, I regret to inform you that we have exhausted all diplomatic options with the Dominion, and at this time must now resume military operations."

[Fatebringer]

"This isn't negotiation, this is Tyranny. You talk to me like I'M one of your subjects when I didn't even come here to talk to you, so your presense here, will not be missed."

After the TH representative left, Magnusson was left alone with the Coordinator. Each side still had their honor guards, but no one made a move. "The company you keep says a lot about you Minoru-san. Know this, unless I can link another attack against my people to a Kuritan force, I shall keep my people on our side of the border, truce or no truce. I've seen the ineffectiveness of this Star League and true motivations of the Clans as they diverted their attention to looting the Lyrans instead of fullfilling their oathes. The Terrans wanted this war, not me. If the Combine wishes to treat with us, you know how to get in touch with me."