MostGloriousLeader

"I can assure you that once things quiet down we will get the ball rolling on these as quick as we can. In the meantime we'll accept whatever it is you are able to provide in terms of peacekeeping forces. I will also look into beginning the Mississippi referendum as soon as possible once we determine its security status".

Secretary McNutt and the American Commonwealth delegation moved to the other room at the insistence of Minister Roland. In the meantime news was sent to the delegation through the Hudson Bay Federation's communications networks about the large mercenary force in Mississippi as well as the information on Jade and what they had received from South African authorities about Elizabeth Stratton.

"A mutual trade agreement would be beneficial for both of our nations and so I don't see any problems with that. As far as territorial concessions go the American Commonwealth has always operated under the principle that the people of any given area should have the right to self determination. If they desire to join the CSA we would see nothing wrong in that. That being said such actions cannot be taken until security and stability is brought to these territories so that people may decide for themselves free of coercion from unrepresentative elements what path they wish to choose. That being said, providing CSA troops for peacekeeping operations would be helpful. Extra forces could help expedite the process as well as positively influencing the local population to the idea of joining an established nation willing to look out and care for them. Most of the states you inquired about are still undecided as to what course they wish to take but I do believe that the state of Mississippi has been making some noise about joining the CSA. I'll have some people look into and if the sentiment is strong enough we can hold a state wide referendum to decide".

"It was merely a hopeful thought for the far future Minister Valmy" replied the ambassador.

The CSA delegation was met at the airport and escorted to the White House where a ceremonial band and color guard greeted them as they entered. Once inside they were lead to the Blue Room where they were greeted by President Bronson. "Welcome gentlemen" he said as he entered and began to shake their hands. "Its good to see all of you here today. My name is David Bronson, President of the Commonwealth. Let's get down to business shall we?" he asked as he sat down across from the delegation. "As you know things are no longer as peaceful as they were before Mexico collapsed, but I am glad to see that you gentlemen have managed to succeed despite that. A new stable nation helps us take our minds off of potential trouble areas and concentrate on places that need help. Now, there few conditions we'd like to ask for before we finalize the independence of the CSA". "First is the joint use and administration of certain military bases and facilities in the area. These include: Maxwell AFB, MacDill AFB, Patrick AFB, Cape Canaveral, Robbins AFB, NAS Pensacola, NAS Key West and Fort Benning. Now this doesn't mean we plan on permanently stationing troops at all these facilities but we'd like the right to operate from these facilities if we need to. We'd also like to request transit rights for Commonwealth military forces in your nation". "We'd also like to help you get started off the ground with your new nation and would be happy and able to directly provide a large amount of grants and low interest loans to your new government. We can also instruct major Commonwealth financial institutions to provide your government with extended lines of credit. We are also willing to provide armaments and munitions to equip your forces for the time being until you can provide such things on your own. If you're willing to agree to these terms we are also willing to create a mutual defense agreement between our nations if you'd like".

I do have a somewhat related question regarding this conflict that I'd like to get settled before things go on, and I'm not doing this to pick a fight I feel it is an issue that needs to be dealt with before rp can continue.. What is the extent of Mara's control over the civilian population? Is that limited to her troop count or what? I would argue against her having total or even majority control over the populace given that we began our peacekeeping operations before she did anything about it ig but I'm willing to abide by whatever decision the GMs come up with. EDIT: I would also against the ridiculous scope and time frame mara uses to justify her supposed "control" over the populace. The amount of time she would have had to organize such a large scale and coordinated movement is, in my opinion, nonexistent.

Ambassador Stevens waited for the others to speak until it was his turn. "The power vacuum left by Mexico's collapse necessitates a unified response to maintain order and stability for the continent. Something we are seeing happen as we speak. It is good to see our nations cooperating to deal with this serious issue. The American Commonwealth would be open to further cooperation and the idea of establishing a more unified American community, ideally including South America. But we understand that this is an issue that takes time and we have no desire to rush it along before we're ready for it".

After thanking and receiving the information from their South African counterparts, the FBI and CIA began piecing together what they had. The extension of support was appreciated by the Commonwealth military which reciprocated in offering support if needed. For now Commonwealth troops were fine but efforts were made to coordinate with Hudson Bay forces in patrolling the Mississippi and border crossings. We can assure the Russian Empire that the status quo of its naval facility in Edisto Beach will be maintained. -American Commonwealth State Department The American Commonwealth thank's Chile for its show of support but we have no real need of assistance in this matter as of the moment. We are open to receiving Chilean naval vessels at our own naval facilities as a sign of goodwill. We are also open to discussing future friendly relations between our countries if so desired. -American Commonwealth State Department

Secretary McNutt sat and listened to the representatives speak outlining their desires for independent nations. Reflecting on each case as well as the briefing he had back in Washington D.C. regarding acceptable courses pertaining to the Commonwealth's national policy he stood up to speak. "I'd like to say it is good to see us all come together to discuss the issues that have plagued this continent since the fall of the former Mexican government. Reviewing the petition of the New Mexican government, we have no objections to their proposals. Similarly we have no problems with the proposals of the representatives of the Confederation of MidAmerica. As for our esteemed neighbors to the south east and on the Florida panhandle, we are glad to see the opportunity to already form a stable government in an area the Commonwealth has recently secured and we will offer what assistance we can to help get this process started". Finishing, McNutt sat back down and awaited the decisions of the other nations.

Intelligence sources reported the movement of a large force in Louisiana heading to Missouri, Louisiana being the only area not fully secured by Commonwealth forces. Several RQ-9 Reaper UAVs operating out of the recently secured Keeler AFB were conducting search missions and pinpointed the large movement of troops and vehicles. Advance ground recon teams confirmed sightings and worked with UAVs and other recon assets to track their movement while a response was formed. One mechanized and two armored divisions were ordered to consolidate and attack. While that was underway a strike was ordered to hit just before the ground units made the attack. 24 B-2s and 36 B-1s flew out from Dover while 48 F-15SEs were sortied from various bases, all laden with standoff smart munitions. Two F-35 squadrons that had recently arrived at Maxwell AFB were tasked with a SEAD mission as the presence of heavy anti-aircraft weaponry was confirmed. The strike was timed to take place almost simultaneously and less than 30 minutes before ground forces would make contact. The F-35s were able to get closer due to their stealth and opened up with long range anti-radiation missiles to disrupt enemy radar coverage, coming in from multiple directions to confuse enemy defenses. A half dozen EF-21s moved in quickly to provide a jamming screen as the F-35s withdrew. Not long after, the main strike force, also striking from multiple directions, released their weapons at standoff range, using AGM-158 JASSM-ERs containing a mix of combined effects and smart munitions, out of range of enemy air defenses. The mercenary force was encircled by over 600 missiles, all closing fast. A followup strike of 24 F-35s was refueling with tanker support while awaiting the results of the damage assessment or for the ground battle to begin.

Even though Jade slipped through, the operation netted a large amount of attendees who were detained and held in moderately comfortable accommodations for the time being. However, intel was gathered about the mystery speaker and a thorough investigation confirmed her identity to be false. A more extensive investigation revealed she had only just recently arrived from the Confederacy of West Africa. Due to the similarities and circumstances the investigation was combined with the incident in Florida and awaited a response from South African authorities on the matter. Meanwhile the political climate was beginning to cool down and the local populace began to welcome Commonwealth troops as protectors. Extensive interaction with the civilian population revealed that the Raleigh conference was not representative of the population as a whole. In fact, the state legislatures of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina presented a joint petition to join the Commonwealth, seeing it as the oldest and most stabilizing force in the eastern US. Congress approved the move not long after receiving it and the states were formally joined as a part of the Commonwealth. In the west, Commonwealth forces had secured their parts of the protectorate and began coordinating with local governments in rebuilding and keeping law and order. Because of the incident in Florida, recon units extensively patrolled the protectorate while a information network was created with the help of local civilians. Fighter, UAV and reconnaissance squadrons were deployed by the airforce at major airports and air force bases that the Commonwealth had secured. The collection of MQ-9 Reapers, RQ-4 Global Hawks, E-3 Sentries and E-8 JSTARS would be able to provide constant surveillance for the established protectorate.

With Secretary McNutt in attendance at the conference in Mexico city, Kenneth Stevens, the Commonwealth ambassador to the Hudson Bay Federation, would represent the country. Due to the nature of the meeting General Alexander Morgan, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dispatched to attend the meeting as well.

Can I get a spyroll on mara's armored column in florida? Same odds as last time. Only one but use the second if unsuccessful.

Peacekeeping operations had been underway for some time when somebody realized that despite there being a plan, the operation had no official name. A problem that was quickly rectified. All former Mexican territory east of the Mississippi and South of Michigan had been declared under the control and protection of the American Commonwealth and military forces were moving fast to secure major cities and setup operations throughout the new protectorate. Airborne and air-mobile advance forces reported that they had all secured their assigned objectives, most of which were state capitols, major cities and military facilities further away from the Commonwealth in the more western states and Florida. Marine Expeditionary Units secured the port cities of Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville and Miami and began pushing inland to secure the rest of the areas assigned to them. Ground forces had secured most states adjacent to the Commonwealth and were pushing on to link up with advance forces. Even before the operation began, there were rumors of some sort of political movement taking place, with people flocking to Raleigh, NC. While not usually much of a concern, the timing was very suspect given its extremely rapid formation, and its organization hinted at the possibility of external influence. Regardless, the group had to be investigated according to standard operating procedure. The CIA had some assets in the area and was trying to find out what they could. Contacts in Raleigh confirmed the event and forwarded a recording of the event to Langley where they began to investigate the speakers and attendants. Perusing through all available contacts and sources of information one of the female speakers, an Ellen Richards, caught the analysts attention. While she seemed fairly normal, a more thorough look revealed some discrepancies, according to contacts in local business and political circles, she had more or less appeared out of the blue. She was flagged as a person of interest and a team was assigned to investigate further. Due to the events taking place in Raleigh, several special forces units and four ranger battalions were ordered to deploy immediately to the city while a mechanized division was sent south and tasked with linking up and securing the city. Using MV-22 Ospreys for rapid transport they were accompanied by helicopter gunships and were provided air support from Norfolk NAS. Ranger units moved into blocking positions and set up checkpoints on all routes leading into and out of Raleigh while special forces conducted a sweep of the area with orders to detain all known persons of interest identified at the meeting for questioning. The use of deadly force was restricted to self defense in order to appear more amicable to the populace. In the meantime other units would bypass the city and continue south to link up with marine units. Meanwhile, a port authority contact in Florida notified his handler about the arrival of some interesting characters. While everything checked out fine, he was a bit suspicious of their origins, it wasn't exactly a great time to travel with the political climate after the fall of Mexico, but he didn't have the authority to investigate any further as everything was in order. So he forwarded all relevant travel documents, visas, photos, surveillance camera footage and even DNA samples off of the paper and pens they used to his handler. Receiving the documents, analysts agreed that the situation was somewhat strange but there were almost no leads for them to follow and the group had already disappeared. An effort was made to reach South African authorities to further investigate the matter.

Well if you want to hire mercenaries I have no issue with that. I am merely disputing the insta-transport of 35,000 troops across the Atlantic Ocean without me being able to do anything about it.

Perhaps my grammar is a bit off as I haven't had to take english in a while. I am referring to the posse Mara brought in from Africa.

Can I get two spyrolls to uncover the true identity of Mara's leader's "African Connection"? Also I do want to call into question her movement of 35,000 troops into Florida. How does one move that many troops unnoticed, especially when my nation has set up a large amount of ocean surveillance measures.

Seeing as I have more spare time on hand I'd be willing to participate if you'd like.

Secretary McNutt and the delegation from the American Commonwealth arrived, consisting of several aides and senior diplomats and military personnel as well as some DSS agents, although overall security was left to the Hudson Bay Federation. None knew what was in store at this conference but the hope was that some stability would result out of it to deal with the Mexican collapse.

Secretary McNutt and the delegation would be flown out to Mexico City immediately to attend the meeting.

Commonwealth forces continued their efforts to secure the protectorate, though now additional assets were being brought into the fray. Armored units had previously been held back in an effort to reduce the visibility of the peacekeeping forces but now they were being pushed forward as a precaution. In the meantime intelligence efforts would be refocused on this new movement, its members and its leaders in order to obtain as much information as possible about them.

Hold tight on that claim cause I'm disputing this, for the time being anyway so take that into consideration for all states east of the Mississippi in addition to the former FSAR.

During the move to secure some of the former Mexican protectorate units pushing south discovered that the same situation was going on in the FSAR. Governmental collapse had occurred and anarchy and unrest were beginning to form. Extra units were allocated to the peacekeeping operations and pushed on into the FSAR.