Mara Lithaen

The Vice President looked it over, and saw that it was good. "I have nothing further to add, as for myself. I'm fairly certain that when I take this home it will be ratified by my own nation's congresscritters, just as I'm sure yours will do."

And with that last bill, the Congress of the Federation would finish out its first legislative session with a bang, to reconvene in three months for the 2nd Session.

The Peace treaty would be voted in and signed into law more or less instantaneously, what with the utter lack of a Hawaii to fight against. The Embargo, on the other hand, would be opposed by the Senators from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri until a fact-finding committee could ascertain the need for an embargo.

"The Plains Federation welcomes our northern neighbors to the world stage, and recognizes their government as legitimate."

"An ODP sounds perfectly reasonable to me."

"Given time, our nations probably shall, Mr. President."

"Most assuredly, Mr. President. We'll not be known for standing idly by while our fellow nations are under attack."

"The Plains Federation supports the ultimatum and is willing to back our friends and neighbors in Tikal to the very hilt."

Colorado, New Mexico, and Illinois would now be recognized as States, after President Reese signed their statehood into law. The Declaration of War was ratified by the Senate in a unanimous vote, the President gave it his blessing, and the industrial machine of the Federation whirred to life as ammunition and weapons began to be produced, recruiting centers increased their drives, and troops were readied for combat.

There he would be greeted by a small detail of the Secret Service, and escorted in to meet President Reese, who was, as usual, impeccably turned out in his usual suit sans tie combination. "Welcome to the Plains Federation, Mr. Carver," he said, reaching out to shake the other man's hand after he'd been invited to sit. "I trust your journey here was... uneventful." Meanwhile, one Mr. Pearce was on his way to the British Federation aboard a government Learjet. Mr. Pearce was known for researching his assignments extensively - whether, as it was now, a diplomatic assignment, or, as it had been in the past, an assassination. His strength was discovering others' motivations and using them to achieve his goals or those he was paid to achieve, and this time was no different, save for that he was working for the government rather than against it.

"We're certainly willing to assist in repelling any invasions from non-North American powers, of course. This is our land, not theirs."

And then you have pairings like me and PD who are both pretty active, both involved, roughly equally sized and too small to really hurt anything. I'm not saying that I'm for large mergers like the USA and India, but I am saying I don't appreciate being told I can't RP with one of my friends as the same singular nation. PD and I have it parsed out so that I control the actual standing army and he controls all of the National Guards. I can't touch the Guard, he can't touch the Army. We're still working on the AF and the Navy.

When she arrived at the White House, her security detail peeled off to stand with the President's own guard detail, while her assistant Kerr made himself scarce until she needed him. She smiled broadly at the President as he greeted her, and swept a lock of red hair from her eyes as she reached out to shake his hand. "Thank you and your people for the invitation, Mr. President! It was delightfully uneventful, as it were. It's not often that I get a couple of hours to myself to prepare for a meeting with someone of your stature." she said, smiling charmingly.

Requesting Colorado, New Mexico and Illinois be marked as Plains Federation.

Contested.

Calendar No. 1 1ST CONGRESS 1st Session S.6 Adding new States to the Federation. IN THE SENATE OF THE PLAINS FEDERATION A response to the Governments of the Territories of Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico, the aforementioned having sent formal requests for admittance into the Federation.

Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico request admittance to the Federation Lawmakers hammer out details- Oklahoma City, OK - A request from the territories of Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico arrived this morning, the three independent regions requesting to be entered into the Federation as states, which took Federal lawmakers by surprise. The request comes on the heels of the first elections in the states of Missouri and Arkansas, where those states citizens elected their first Federal and State officials since the fall of the United States. Proponents and detractors of the admittance of the states have already come forward in both the House and the Senate, and it looks like this particular decision may be very heated indeed. In other news, the 13 original colonies have reorganized themselves as a new United States...

For the first time in several months, the bill was passed unanimously in both houses of the Federation's Congress.

The Plains Federation welcomes the new United States to the world stage.

The knock that sounded from John's door this time surprised him because it was quiet, but more so because it was unexpected. His secretary hadn't alerted him about anyone coming to see him, so who -? His questions answered themselves when, after a moment, the door levered open and the Vice President quietly stepped through the door and shut it equally silently behind her. She wasn't wearing her normal professional suit of fine French manufacture, but instead a strange, harness-point studded body glove, over which she wore a cinched coat. "Ms. Kennedy?" he questioned, eyebrows raising. "What brings you here at this late hour and dressed so... strangely?" he continued. She walked over to him, a flash drive in hand, and set it on his desk. "I'm here to show you the reports we've gotten out of Illinois of late. Read them, then I'll happily tell you everything I can." she said, and Reese looked at her for a second, before nodding and taking the drive. She'd never steered him wrong before. He plugged it into the side of his personal laptop and brought that machine to life where it sat perched on his desk, and waited the few minutes for it to wake up and log in. He opened the files in the flash drive, and began watching and reading the reports and stolen video and a hundred and one other things which slowly added to his horror. "This is growing in Springfield?" he asked her after making sure he could speak without losing his late dinner all over his keyboard. She nodded, and he sat heavily back in his chair. "What in God's name is this, Anna?" he asked, using her first name for only the sixth or seventh time since their meeting. She shrugged with a kind of helplessness that spoke volumes about where her mind was at now. "I don't know, John." she said, returning the favor. "That last video, the one of those... those... things..." she said, trailing off, alluding to the massive demonic being that had so brutally killed the man who summoned him,"I've never seen anything, anything at all like that outside of a monster flick. Only, this one is all too real and all too... lethal." she said, and he waved her into a chair, which she sat in gratefully. "Is there anything we can do about this?" he asked, and she bit her lip a moment before she nodded. "Yes, there is. I've heard rumblings of other forces around the world mobilizing to fight this menace before it spreads... but as for what we can do about this ourselves?" she said, and she looked at her hands a moment, before looking back up at her President. "I... I've got a few old friends and favors I can call in. People I knew before I got all respectable, you know. They are very... talented and skilled. Headstrong, more than a bit violent, but good people, John. And I think they're our only hope." "How many of them?" he asked "Sixty, John." she replied. "Only sixty? How can sixty people help us against... against... that?" he asked, turning his laptop around to show her the image of the Daemon once more. Her lips thinned in what could charitably be called a smile. "Sixty was more than enough to bring the world to its knees, once upon a time." His eyes widened, and he looked at her for a long moment. "That was...?" he began to ask, and she held up her hand to stop him. "Yes. And no, I won't answer questions about it. Do you want me to call them in, John?" she asked, a kind of pleading and longing in her eyes, like one who sees something familiar almost close enough to grasp but just out of reach, just needing a bit of help to make the final stretch and seize it. He saw the look in her eyes, took one last look at the monster on his screen, and nodded. "Do it."

OOC: Gotcha. IC: The Act was signed into law, and job centers across the country suddenly posted a total of fifty thousand jobs the very next day for those less fortunate to participate in in exchange for pay and extra things to add to their resume afterwards.

Federation Troops Return Home After months in the field, counter-bandit operations conclude. SSGT Aaron Homer embraces his daughter Kelly at the new-built Fort Littleton in Wichita, KS, after coming home. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Today marked the return of the army's 12th Mechanized Brigade from counter-bandit ops in the badlands to the east. More than ten thousand troops were deployed to combat the bandit gangs that sacked Wichita, KS, and menaced the newly integrated territories of Missouri and Arkansas. All over the Federation, groups of soldiers returned to their hometowns amid fanfare and ecstatic family and friends, happy to see their loved ones returned safely home. Teary-eyed couples embraced, fathers and mothers held their children tight, and friends lauded their soldiers' safe return. "It's not something I'd care to make a habit of, this 'going to war' thing," said PFC Daniel Leary, of Wellington, KS, as he held the child he and his wife had been expecting when he got the call-up from the Army but had never met until now, "but it's nice to know that we've got so much support and love from our loved ones and the country as a whole when we do."