Gods and Empire take two

[Zoot Zoot]

The Emperor himself would communicate this request to his counterpart. There would be no middle man involved.

 

To: His Eternal Highness, Chak Tok Ich'aak, Unconquered Sun, Ajaw ichil Tikal

From: His most Holy Emperor of New Babylon, Savior of the Imperium

 

I request a meeting with you, Son of Sol, in Babylon at your earliest convenience. We have much to discuss, not least of all our Non-Aggression Agreement.

 

Unconquered Sun, it is of the greatest importance that we meet.

 

Signed

The Emperor

 

Edited June 27, 2014 by Zoot Zoot

[Lynneth]

It was not unusual for letters and messages to be addressed to the Prince or the Princess themselves. Many Tikalians did this, asking for blessings, advice or simply a boon. What was unusual, however, was a message from another head of state directly addressed to Chak Tok Ich'aak. Most importantly, this was from one Deity to another.

 

He stood from the desk of his office and walked to one of the two pillars within the room, and around it.

 

____________

Chak Tok Ich'aak, Unconquered Sun, Princely King of Tikal, Paramount Emperor of Tenochtitlan, Embodiment of Kinich Ahau, Keeper of K’iinil stepped out from behind a pillar into the room containing Babylon's greatest treasure, and one that Tikal had given them. The Golden Throne, upon which the Babylonian Emperor is immortal.

 

"As you have requested, so have I arrived, Holy Emperor of Babylon," said the Prince simply, wearing his usual attire.

[Zoot Zoot]

"Unconquered Son, I am glad you came so... swiftly" came the reply from the Emperors lips as he stood from his throne, his attire was that of his golden armour, guilded by his own hand. Moving forward, he bowed deeply before offering his hand.

 

"It is good to finally meet you, the Mouth is an excellent diplomat but his reports lack depth and vision, simply the bare bones. Help yourself to refreshments by the way." he finished as he strode over to a small table laid out with food and took a seat.

 

"I must ask of you a great boon".

[Lynneth]

The Prince shook the Emperor's hand firmly for a few moments, then cupped his left hand in the right, bowing slightly for the proper Tikalian greeting. "Likewise, it is good to meet you, Saviour of the Imperium. To date, I had only heard stories and tales," he continued while following the Emperor to the table. He took a seat and chose a small amount of food out of courtesy.

 

"What is it that you need so urgently?"

[Zoot Zoot]

"Stories and tales are seldom far from the truth if you dig deep enough. As for what I want? I want friends and allies that I can count on. Tikal has been a good friend to the Empire and has done a greatly personal deed for myself, something I cannot thank Tikal enough for. In short, I propose that we enter into a mutual defence and optional aggression alliance. A strategic military partnership to ensure the very survival of our states." he said, plucking a few grapes off the vine.

 

"Nations are jealous of us, of our cities, way of life, our successes and advances. Even now, the I am personally working on developing a colonial outpost on the moon and developing a fully independent settlement, with the exception of perhaps Tikal, nobody else we are aware of is even working towards a space program. Tikals own advances in...travel are unrivalled." he said with a wink, nodding slightly at the pillar the Son of Sol arrived behind.

 

"We are an ancient pair of Empires based on history, reborn into this world through blood, fire and fate, our idealologies pre-date most nations in existance today and before the great collapse. Sooner or later, the hatred or jealously of other nations will seek to cut us down to size, to destroy us, we stand a better chance if we enter a military partnership."

[Lynneth]

The Prince listened patiently to the Emperor, leaning back in his chair.

 

"On travelling, I would like to note that only I and my beloved can do this, and only if the circumstances are right. Our subordinates and people have to use mundane forms of travel. After all, even the mightiest have to adhere to some rules, for without rules chaos would reign." He from the chair and walked a few steps into the room.

 

"Babylon was founded more than four millennia ago, close to 1900 BCE. The first great Mayan cities such as Kaminaljuyu were founded around 1500 BCE. Our roots are ancient but persevered longer than any others, for thousands upon thousands of years. In culture, none surpass us. In scientific achievements, we are second to none. In wisdom, few can measure up to us." He turned back to the Emperor.

 

"Though Babylon is far from Tikal - one might say on the other side of the world, even - I would with great honour accept a pact of defence. I must say, however, that this will not include aggression of any sort. No matter how jealous others may be, I will not agree to pre-emptive strikes. One must however keep in mind that 'defence' is a term with some flexibility. Defending one's friends and family is most important, after all.§

[Zoot Zoot]

The Prince listened patiently to the Emperor, leaning back in his chair.

 

"On travelling, I would like to note that only I and my beloved can do this, and only if the circumstances are right. Our subordinates and people have to use mundane forms of travel. After all, even the mightiest have to adhere to some rules, for without rules chaos would reign." He from the chair and walked a few steps into the room.

 

"Babylon was founded more than four millennia ago, close to 1900 BCE. The first great Mayan cities such as Kaminaljuyu were founded around 1500 BCE. Our roots are ancient but persevered longer than any others, for thousands upon thousands of years. In culture, none surpass us. In scientific achievements, we are second to none. In wisdom, few can measure up to us." He turned back to the Emperor.

 

"Though Babylon is far from Tikal - one might say on the other side of the world, even - I would with great honour accept a pact of defence. I must say, however, that this will not include aggression of any sort. No matter how jealous others may be, I will not agree to pre-emptive strikes. One must however keep in mind that 'defence' is a term with some flexibility. Defending one's friends and family is most important, after all.§

"Ah my mistake" he said quietly, thinking about his ex-wife in Israel. Suddenly perking up he would continue.

"The mutual defence it will be. I fully appreciate Tikals position about pre-emptive strikes, however I find that sometimes it causes less bloodshed in the long run if a pre-emptive decapitation can be executed justly. Justly being that it can be proven beyond all doubt a state means harm to the Empire with weapons of mass destruction." he said waving his hand over a sensor on his desk, pulling up a holographic representation of the empires boundries, marked up in several locations would be the the empires nuclear sites.

 

"Over the next twenty five years, these sites will slowly cease to exist in their present capacity as our nuclear warheads are decommissioned and dismantled to be eventually destroyed. This will open up the Empire to nuclear attack without a second strike capability. The only reason I'm showing you this, is as a show of good faith and a request. Would you, in addition to become an ally of the Empire and myself, being willing to co-operate on a replacement weapons system that is conventional in nature, but can wreck the same damage as a nuclear weapon on structures? I do not mean a weapon to flatten cities, but a weapon that can obliterate military facilities, industrial parks and other strategic interests with the ease of a nuclear warhead but without the collaterol and environmental consquences?"

[Lynneth]

"Were there sufficient evidence to show an imminent nuclear attack on Babylon, destroying those nuclear capabilities would be an act of defence in my eyes, not of aggression. One must simply be a little flexible in the application of the word." He smiled, then moved back to his chair and sitting on it to eat some of the food he had taken earlier.

 

He watched and listened to the Emperor as the man elaborated on dismantling nuclear weapons and so on. "Just what manner of weapon would you be speaking of? The only kind I'm aware of, capable of wreaking sufficient destruction would be kinetic orbital strikes. 'Rods from God', westerners call them. Regardless of that, I may not be able to commit to the dismantling of nuclear weapons. The United States play at being World Police, and their antics are most certainly not something that I watch gladly. With them acting like children, Tikal needs a deterrent to destroy their military capabilities swiftly. and efficiently."

[Zoot Zoot]

"Were there sufficient evidence to show an imminent nuclear attack on Babylon, destroying those nuclear capabilities would be an act of defence in my eyes, not of aggression. One must simply be a little flexible in the application of the word." He smiled, then moved back to his chair and sitting on it to eat some of the food he had taken earlier.

 

He watched and listened to the Emperor as the man elaborated on dismantling nuclear weapons and so on. "Just what manner of weapon would you be speaking of? The only kind I'm aware of, capable of wreaking sufficient destruction would be kinetic orbital strikes. 'Rods from God', westerners call them. Regardless of that, I may not be able to commit to the dismantling of nuclear weapons. The United States play at being World Police, and their antics are most certainly not something that I watch gladly. With them acting like children, Tikal needs a deterrent to destroy their military capabilities swiftly. and efficiently."

 

"A missile based system similar to an ICBM that can carry a massive explosive payload and kinetic penetrators for deep strike targets so to speak. The warhead itself would be interchangable with other varients depending on the mission from clustering munitions, guided anti armour bomlets and the list would go on. It would give both our states a devestating, conventional arsenal of inter continental weaponry that could wipe out a tank division or an airfield or a fleet without using nuclear ordenance. I am proposing a replacment conventional weapon of mass destruction based around smart technology to provide accurate strikes with minimal collaterol damage."

 

"Even if Tikal does not wish to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, a co-operate effort on such a weapon that I propose offers an alternative weapon system to be deployed when nuclear force is over kill, but nothing else would do the job. Why are you concerned about the United States?"

Edited July 5, 2014 by Zoot Zoot

[Lynneth]

"Hmm." The Prince pondered the proposal properly, perhaps for a preposterous period.

 

"Yes, I believe I could support an initiative for such weapons. They would certainly lessen the impact of war on the soil and people, with lack of radiation. As for the US, they posture. they fancy themselves world police and interfere in places that they shouldn't, such as south-east asia somewhat recently. They also seek to establish military bases all over the world. Quite frankly, they're over-reaching. It's only a question of time until they either do something stupid which they get attacked for, or until they make an action that forces Tikal's interference. I won't be glad with either happening."

[Zoot Zoot]

'Ah yes, these bases now springing up across the world. It is no bother, they are only as strong as their will is. It wouldn't take much to break the spirit of the United States, my opinion is that if Tikal is concerned, it should work to isolate the US from its allies, make it clear that it is not the premier power in the Americas.

 

As for the weapon systems, here are the preliminary designs' the Emperor said, pulling the holographic images off the sensor and onto a flash drive for the Prince to take with him.

 

He brought up a copy of the treaty on his tablet and signed it before passing it over to the Prince for his own signature.

[Lynneth]

"You say it so easily, but I do not believe that the US will be broken or isolated so swiftly. But that is not for here or now."

 

He plugged the flash drive into his wrist-mounted computer, the files quickly and automatically being scanned for viruses, trojans, keyloggers and so on, afterwards copying all files into a 'quarantine' folder with suspected malware tagged. the whole process took only a few seconds and happened invisibly, the only visible sign being a notification that the files had been copied. This prompted the Prince to remove the flash drive and move it back to the Emperor with a smile. The files would have to be converted to be usable in Tikalian systems but that wasn't likely to be difficult at all.

 

After this, the Prince looked over the treaty, taking the time to read it carefully. Everything appeared to be in order, and so it was signed. "There we go."