The Kingdom of Cochin Chronicles

[king of cochin]

The meeting is at Royal Cochin Defense Forces General Staff Headquarters.

Seated around the table in this small conference room are Gen. Mahesh Varma, Commander, RCDF, Maj. Gen. Vijay Kerala Varma, Commander, Strategic Command, Maj. Gen. Sandeep Zachariah, Commander, Quarter Master Command and Dr. Baba Kalyani, Project Head of Project Budha.

"Congratulations, Dr. Kalyani. You have made Cochin even stronger. Though I must be grouchy seeing as RCDF is not the principal defense for the Kingdom we are grateful for your achievements, " Gen. Mahesh Varma said.

"Thank You, Gen. Mahesh. I had long been persuaded that we had to have these weapons to be sure of our defense. Now how may I be of assistance to you?"

"Generals Sandeep and Vijay have produced here a list of systems needed by the various sections of our forces. Please hand them over Gentlemen."

The Scientist reads through the document.

"We already have enough of the C50 to arm all our Carrier Task Forces. For the cruiser task forces and Submarine Task Forces I shall need another month. Of course I cannot guarantee about the delivery systems. But I guess that is your area of concern isnt it, Gen. Sandeep?"

"Yes it is. But no worries. We have more than enough delivery vehicles, " the Commander of QMC said with a quiet smile.

"The C25 version is being assembled now for its final field testing. It has a design yield of 1 MT and has been engineered as a MIRV. We have designed it in such a way that GS19 shall be able to carry 8 of the C25 warheads. "

"Very well, Dr. Kalyani. So what about the artillery systems?" Maj. Gen. Vijay Varma asked.

"We are in the final stage of development of the tactical nuclear artillery. We are designing them for a 155mm calibre. Where should the testing be done, Mahesh, at STF or ATF?"

"I think it would be better at ATF. There we can simulate battle field conditions better. By the way Vijay what is the status of Radiation clean up teams?"

"We have a procedure in mind but we think we need Dragonisia's expertise for firming up. They have more experience with radiation clean up than we do. "

"Okay I shall get it soon. Okay Gentlemen, I guess that is it. Good luck."

[king of cochin]

STRATEGIC ARTILLERY CORPS

GOVI ALTAI

A GG19 missile has just received launch orders. The missile in question is lightly armed, with a single C50 warhead.

15 seconds after the launch warning was given the Colonel commanding the launch site activated the missile.

Shaped charges under neath the massive concrete and smoothened steel cone covering the silo exploded forcing the silo to be exposed in a matter of 3 5 seconds.

The sound of launch strobes had alerted all soldiers on ground to duck into their shelters or to don their protective gas masks.

The solid boosters of GG19 kicked in and the missile raced up into the sky like a threat to the gods.

STRATEGIC COMMAND CENTER

BISHKEK

The massive HAWK space defense radars located in 6 corners of the Kingdom gave their feed to the SCC in Bishkek. The technicians in the Watch Center plotted the course of the missile as it flew in space on its course from Govi Altai. They observed the various stages of separation and finally the course and estimated impact point of the missile was calculated and warning orders given to the province concerned.

The tense enlisted technicians and their over seers watched the Re-entry vehicle burning in through atmosphere.

HIGH ENERGY RESEARCH CENTER

KARAGANDY

The same feed was also being monitored at the HERC in Karagandy. Several senior scientists of VIFR were there as were also senior officers of Strategic Command and RCDF General Staff.

This test was validating three systems at the same time.

As they watched the RV which was made of ceramic this time instead of the usual Uranium disintegrated under the influence of explosive charges once the system had passed the burn through phase of RV. The shock of exposed air was a concern but not overly so as just after RV disintegrated the C50 warhead exploded in the rare inner space. The 500 KT explosion in Mesosphere created a massive electromagnetic pulse which saturated the ground 60 km below with an EMP of 50,000 V/M magnitude. The radars and other electromagnetic receptors at the HERC registered peak signal magnitudes which threatened to burn off their circuits but special shield relays grounded these massive spikes. A few seconds later when the EMP started degenerating the Radars started operating as usual. The massive EMp pulse registered at one of the Strategic radars immediately gave a plot and course of the traveling EMP wave which automatically alerted other radar systems in the area to phase themselves accordingly so that they shall be inactive for the moment in time when they will be exposed. The wave of signals was so timed that no air defense radar system in the network could be disabled for longer than it was necessary and the disability would be under control.

Kingdom of Cochin would blink but not be blinded. And when one eye blinks the other will be open.

The scientists and technicians all rose to celebrate the accomplishment. They had field tested the GG19 ICBM. Its range was already tested through numerous satellite launches and its accuracy and CEP was determined to be of 10-30 m tolerance.

The Strategic Command had tested its tracking capabilities and was not found wanting. The Strategic Defense was secure.

The HEFR had proven itself to be invulnerable to enemy electronic warfare.

Finally in an unadvertised fact the ABM systems in place in various parts of the Kingdom had silently calibrated themselves in preparation for any actual event.

[king of cochin]

48°43'50.30"S , 88°18'50.33"E

MIDDLE OF INDIAN OCEAN

The submarine Task Force 23 was holding station in this isolated patch of the vast Indian Ocean for some weeks now. The Task Force is on DEFCON TWO Alert.

At 0000 Zulu the ELF on the lead submarine SM01 crackled into life spewing out a message from RCN Admiralty.

CLASSIFICATION : ULTRA SECURE

SENSITIVITY: MOST SECRET

FROM: RCN ADMIRALTY

TO: COMMANDER,

SM01 / TF23

SUB: TKG 2309023

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

GO BARABBAS

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

END

The message was hand carried by the senior communications officer to the bridge where the Commanding officer of the ship, a Commodore, was monitoring the feed from various battle stations.

Ever since the previous Admiralty message which tasked them to be at DEFCON TWO the submarines of the fleet were rigged for ultra quiet and Battle stations were manned full time.

The alert was on for its third day now and the tension was showing on the tense young faces of the sailors. The increased tension was slowly eroding the morale and near combat conditions were being created. In fact it was a calculated strategy designed by the Admiralty and Task Force Commander to give a proper training to her men.

The Commodore read the message and was followed to her stateroom by her Executive Officer. The CO opened the personal safe and took out the tasking folder. Tasking TKG2309023 was opened and the codeword applied.

"Oh damn, XO you concur with the order?"

The XO , a Lt. Commander, concurred, "Yes Ma'am."

And with that the tasking became an official order.

The CO and XO then summoned the Missile Center Officer. This section was manned by officers seconded from Strategic Command. The Colonel assigned to SM01 came to the stateroom and was showed the message and tasking order.

"Very well, Sir. On your command, Commodore."

The CO went to his command station and lit up the missile panel.

Back in the launch room the Colonel keyed in his personal key lighting up the missile mentioned in the order. Seeing this indication the XO inserted his key and finally inserting her keys, the CO launched the GS19 Missile from Tube 09.

The submerged vessel shuddered with the force of compressed air ejecting a Ballistic Missile out into the surface.

After breaching the surface the solid fuel motors of GS19's first stage kicked in propelling it into space.

STRATEGIC COMMAND CENTER

BISHKEK

The orbiting Air Defense Radars started tracking the missile as soon as it reached cruising altitude. As the missile crossed Equator the HAWK radars started tracking the missile.

The technicians at SCC were monitoring the various information streaming in.

At various parts of the Kingdom the Bright Star systems were also tracking the missile. Despite its Mach 11 speed the Bright star systems were getting skin shots of the missile. It was as much a system calibration as system validation for them.

ARMY TESTING CENTER

PAVLODAR

Meanwhile the missile reentered the atmosphere and 50 seconds later,the ceramic cone of the reentry vehicle separated and the simulated physics packages began their free fall. There were 8 packages programmed to impact 8 points on the ground.

All the packages were programmed to hit. A sensor at the nose of each package gave a signal to ground tracking crew at ATC. A few moments later all the packages had crashed to the ground and helicopters were already en route to pick them up. The soldiers took GPS cordinates for each war head's location and then they were towed off by the helicopters.

RCDF CENTRAL COMMAND

TALDYKORGAN

"Maj. Gen. Vijay, so how accurate would you say the system are?"

"Sir, we are now able to guarantee a CEP of 50 Mts."

"And which I think would be more than enough for our purposes."

PALACE PRESS BRIEFING

The Kingdom of Cochin is glad to inform you that we have tested the GS19 Submarine launched Ballistic Missile. GS 19 like GG19 has a range of over 10000 Kms.

The test missile was launched by Missile Submarine SM01 of Task Force 23 from an isolated section of Indian Ocean. On its path the missile flew over the territories of our Dragon Empire comrades, Dragonisia, Andonia and Tibet.

The Department of External Affairs had said in a statement that they had already secured the permission from the fellow Dragon Empire members.

All Submarine Task Forces are expected to be armed with the GS19 very soon.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

"Dragonisia congratulates its imperial brother on their successful test."

[king of cochin]

PALACE DURBAR TRANSCRIPTS

HH RAMA VARMA

GEN. MAHESH VARMA - D

LT. GEN SHANKAR IYER - A

VICE ADM KP MARAKKAR - N

AVM PRAVEEN KUMAR - F

R: Good morning Gentlemen. So how is Royal Cochin Defense Forces today?

D: Sir, we have withdrawn the II Mechanized Division from its deployment in Somal. The Corps of Engineer are now working to bring the Baloch Province to operational levels.

R: Gen. Varma what are the installations you plan to set up there?

D: Sir, we shall construct there a Naval Base and a ship assembly plant. The main casting yard for Cochin Shipyard plant at Issykkul lake is ready now. We shall cast the ships there test for sea worthiness at the Issykkul lake, disassemble and reassemble in Baloch.

R: Very well. So how are the spring exercises going on?

A: Your Excellency, all regiments and divisions except for the stand by ones are now out for their exercises. The results are quite optimal. We have maintained the 100% combat efficiency.

N: Sir we have been training the task forces in a variety of fleet exercises in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean region. We too are ready.

F: Sir, all our aviators have a minimum 1200 Hr/yr flight experience now. Combat aviators even more so. We are currently training the ADRIS Regiments to attain peak efficiency. They are undergoing intense training exercises withe Strategic Command now.

R: Gen. Varma, our Spec Ops boys also up to their form?

D: Yes Sir. Maj. Gen. Gokul Varma is as of now at the High Altitude Warfare Center to supervise some training exercises.

R: Very well. By the way do congratulate the Bright Star team and the GMDP team for last week's tests. And a special congrats to Maj. Gen. Vijay Kerala Varma for the validation of HAWK systems.

D: Yes Sir.

[king of cochin]

ATTENTION:

RCDF, RCPF UNITS

ALL DEFENSE AND POLICE FORCES OF THE KINGDOM ARE ALERTED TO MAINTAIN THEMSELVES AT DEFCON TWO CONDITION, THREAT LEVEL SEVERE. STRATEGIC SECTIONS ARE ORDERED TO BE AT DEFCON ONE CONDITION.

SD,

HIS HIGHNESS RAMA VARMA,

THE KING OF COCHIN

[king of cochin]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxClassifiedxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

FROM:

DIRECTOR,

PROJECT BRIGHT STAR

TO:

COMMANDER,

ROYAL COCHIN DEFENSE FORCES

SUB: BRIGHT STAR PROGRESS

SIR,

POWER THROUGHPUT LEVELS ATTAINED. TRACKING SYSTEMS VALIDATED THROUGH TKG 2309023. SYSTEM READY FOR FULL TEST AND ACTIVATION ON JULY 28, 2009. REPEAT OF TKG 2009023 REQUIRED FOR FINAL COMMISSIONING TEST.

BMD UNITS ARE READY FOR FULL ACTIVATION. ALL BASES STOCKED WITH REQUISITE ARROWS.

SD.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxENDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[king of cochin]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxClassifiedxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

RCPF Headquarters

Gen. Mohammed Faraz -P

Lt. Gen. Mahesh B Iyer - NIA

Lt. Gen. Harisena Varma - CBI

Maj. Gen. Visakh Nair - NRA

P: Good evening , Gentlemen. I am just back after a meeting with the King. As you are aware in the past few days the Kingdom has received many new enemies. Due to the deception and propaganda laid out by Khmer Empire and Pax Pacis many neutral nations have turned against us. It has even turned out that a nation that had helped us a lot in the past and had maintained cordial relations with us have rescinded diplomatic relations and have called out for declaring us a rogue. Gentlemen, we have been victims of massive propaganda assault. We have also had a few failings of ourselves. Lt. Gen. Iyer, did u receive any intelligence about the Khmer village massacre.

NIA: Sir, we have lately developed some intelligence pointing out that the massacre was committed by Khmer Empire troops itself. We had received intelligence that Pax Pacis had decided to humiliate us by creating an international incident ever since the Yamato- Lu Empire incident. Khmer Empire government is also believed to have borne resentments against us, for reasons unknown.

NRA: Perhaps because we are the largest political entity in Asia? Everyone hates success stories and powerful entities.

NIA: That could be it. Anyhow we believe that they staged the massacre incident and thought they could implicate us. They under estimated the diplomatic prowess of Late. Brig. Gen. Anthony Koithara. As soon as they found out their false premises collapsing under the sheer logic of Gen. Koithara, they must have decided to jump the gun and murder our team. And then of course they laid out propaganda stating that our diplomats were armed and out to assassinate their leader.

P: Do we have proofs for any of this?

CBI: Sir, we have found out that certain citizens of Khmer Empire had visited out fitters of some units of Dragon Empire army and they might have stolen some designs and recreated in Khmer Empire. Since we did not consider important at that time and Khmer Empire was a friendly nation we did not pursue the matter seriously enough. I apologize for my agency, General.

P: Okay. Now what about Pax Pacis?

NIA: We can confirm that a battle did take place in their capital and a regime change was effected but we believe that any appearance of policy change is purely cosmetic. The new government is as much belligerent towards us as the previous one.

P: Mahesh, do you have any information as to where the bodies of our diplomats are kept?

NIA: We are trying to ascertain that. As you know we dont have that many assets in Khmer Empire. All we have are ELINT and precious few HUMINT.

P: Yes that is the major point of my discussion with His Excellency. We have to expand our HUMINT capabilities. We cannot ignore even friendly nations because since we are in a volatile time we can never know when any friend may turn out to be a foe. General Mahesh Varma had complained yet again about the lack of Khmer language speakers. He has authorized us to expand recruitment so that we have a stronger intelligence base.

NIA: Finally.

P: Yes. Anyway Gentlemen our agencies must never again be caught with our pants down. We have made mistakes by trusting certain friends of ours. That must not happen again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxENDxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[king of cochin]

Vikram is agitated and is pacing up and down in a corridor in the Palace. He had just received a call from his uncle who was at the meeting with Promised Land. He thought back to the words,

"Uncle, but our soldiers are on a battle field there! And I have just heard that my unit is being deployed there. I want to join them. I cannot let my men go to the line of duty when I am still their commander."

"Vikram, I understand your worries but this is something that you have to do. You have to prepare yourselves for the shock and sorrow of losing your fellow soldiers in the line of duty. Yes, you are still their commander but you must be strong enough to let them do their duty without your direct supervision."

"But uncle, wont I be of better use at the front rather than here studying medicine of all things!"

"Son, before you can prove worthy of the throne of Cochin you must be well versed in every aspect of governance. Did you not raise similar objections when I sent you to spend some months with the Department of Economics? Do you regret going there?"

"No, but..."

"No buts, Vikram. You have to learn about the health concerns of our subjects as well. You can see what is happening in Dragonisia. A strong capable nation, however it is now at the grip of an enemy who can only be barely seen by a microscope. Tragedies such as that could happen to any world nation. You must learn about them, how to prevent them, how to survive them. You have seen the horrors that the people of Hanseatic Commonwealth had to suffer. I do not want such a tragedy to happen in our nation, not to our people. Vikram, please do this."

"Yes uncle. I will."

"Thank You. I knew that you are quite level headed beneath that concrete skull of yours." Laughing heartily he disconnected the phone.

The Prince had however not been totally appeased. However he had to bend to the logic of his uncle. Heeding that advice he was studying reports of the plagues that affected Andonia and Dragonisia. He was quite perturbed.

[king of cochin]

The cold winds from the mountains bore herald for the martyrs of Cochin.

The Metac from CNS Trichur arrived at Cochin Air Force Base. The plane taxied to a section of the air field where a honor guard had assembled. As the engine shut down, the rear canopy was opened and soldiers in full dress uniforms started to enter it. First off the plane were 6 soldiers of the Zamorin Horse, the VII Armored Cavalry Regiment. They carried the coffin of their brother soldier to the waiting gun carriage. Late Brig. Gen. Anthony Koithara was back in the company of the soldiers he commanded. The coffin bearers were 2 Sergeants, 2 Captains and 2 Colonels who had been mentored by the murdered soldier.

They were followed by honor guards from the other services to which the other diplomats belonged. Two diplomats had belonged to X and XIV Infantry Divisions, one from NIA, one from NRA and six from Department of External Affairs. The sons of Cochin were laid into their hearses and the procession was off to the the Great Temple.

At the Great Temple of All Faiths the family of the dead were allowed to meet their loved ones again and to prepare for the final irrevocable parting. Then the King of Cochin came accompanied by the Mother Queen and the Crown Prince. They prayed for the souls of the dead and comforted the bereaved. The King and his nephew saluted the dead soldiers.

Rama Varma went up to the 15 year old son of the communications sergeant from XIV Infantry Division. The teenager was trying hard to be stoic in face of this incomprehensible loss. His father was seconded to External Affairs and he had been assured that diplomats are protected even from mugging. He knew that as a soldier his father had to work in the line of duty and had to face death in its face. If his father had died in combat the boy would have understood. This was a shock. Now the boy had to remain stoic to be a support to his mother who was sobbing plaintively at her dead husband's feet.

"Son, you have been very brave. I am sure Karan is very proud of you."

The boy could not reply. His resolve was about to crumble. But with a final effort from deep within himself he managed not to respond to his King.

Rama Varma saw the symptoms in the boy. He knew of the horrors it can wreak upon a person's soul, unless released in time.

"Son, it is okay. I am here."

At that the torrent of emotions dammed up within the boy was unleashed. He wept on the shoulders of the King who quickly embraced him. Rama Varma had misunderstood the emotions within the boy. He felt that the boy harbored resentment against him for taking his father away from him. He felt that that the stoic demeanor concealed a rage that could in time poison the boy. He had even readied himself to receive a body blow from the teenager and had so advised his Chaver guards to hold back. If such an attack would vent the fury and poison out of the child so much better.

But now the King was surprised and relieved. At least this child did not harbor resentment against him. He knew that it would not always be so fortunate for him.

As a King he was responsible for the safety and security of all his subjects, civilians and uniformed. It was a burden he always bore in his mind. It was one of the main reasons why he still considered the Cochin form of government to be valid in this modern age. Democracy is all well and good but that is a utopian system which expected people to remain honorable. In democracy one rules for a period in time and one is not responsible for anything beyond that parcel in time. For most it offered an opportunity to grab the most of what they can as soon as they could. However as part of a Royal Family that had ruled its people for over 900 years he knew that every privilege of governance is topped by a far greater responsibility.

Other people may claim what is best for the country, but they will never accept responsibility for what may happen 50 years, 10 years or even 1 year down the line. No responsibility would be properly borne only if you knew that you and your descendants were destined to reap harvests for the seeds we sow today.

With such thoughts in his mind the King of Cochin condoled the boy.

Gradually the 10 men left the Great Temple for their final journey to be with the infinite.

[king of cochin]

Tok

Hae Da Fung

Mountain Warfare School

"Come on you stinky girls, is that all you can do? And you call yourselves soldiers. Do you want tampons my dearies? Bloody fairies, the lot of you."

The Drill Sergeant is bellowing in the faces of two elite soldiers of Royal Cochin Special Forces.

A Battalion from 23rd Special Forces regiment has been training at this facility for the past three weeks.

While the first 2 days of acclimatisation to the sheer cold and thin air of the Tibetan plateau was hell itself, the days succeeding made them think their intensive training regimen of initiation was pure vanilla.

Now the two commandos, both combat vets and with ranks of E5 Sergeants are having their backsides chewed to a pulp by a Squad Sergeant E6. The Sergeants had to deactivate a nuclear warhead. That in itself would not have been overtly taxing to these elite soldiers who between them had enough working knowledge to shame a University Professor. However the fact that they had to hack a hole in a perma frost lake and dive 30 ft under the surface to reach the warhead and they had to all that with a bare standard dive suit, no underwater breathing apparatus and only a weak penlight definitely put a cramp in their working.

This two man team attempted their first test today and it failed miserably. After 30 minutes in the bone chilling water they both were recalled to surface on the verge of hypothermia.

"You sodden fools, in a live situation by now you would have been dead and your genitals would be flying in a cloud 9 kms up in the sky. Now let us see what went wrong." The admonition from the instructor was particularly harsh for its decrease in vulgarity and forceful delivery. The Captain commanding the course took the team through video tapes that recorded their performance. Instead of alternating between one on bottom deactivating and on on surface maintaining the breach, switching positions every 50 seconds they both dived and when after 60 seconds came up for air found the breach in surface ice closed leaving only a small air gap. They had to expend a further 60 seconds to breach the ice.

The Captain then delivered the team to the hands of Squad Sergeant who would educate in a more forceful manner.

The Mountain Warfare School was set up as a joint venture between Kingdom of Cochin and Hae Da Fung. Before his soldiers could be tested this way their officers had to undergo an even tougher regimen. They had arrived three weeks earlier itself and had gone through the regimen with an even greater thoroughness. The very same Squad Sergeant had in fact questioned the very same Captain about the estimate numbers of fathers he possessed. Only after passing the tests would an officer would be permitted to command his soldiers to do the tests.

While the underwater exercises were going in one section of the lake , intense survival tests were being performed by still more commandos at an other part of the shore. Here they had to swim in the ice cold lake wearing only their uninsulated swimming trunks. They had to swim a distance of 100 meters and back and then had to pass a shooting range.

Meanwhile at some distance another group of commandos were doing a hard jog through the towering Himalayan mountains carrying a full combat load of 56 kgs. They were also being led by their officer who was packing a similar load. Shaming them and leading them were their drill sergeant a diminutive Sergeant First Class E7 who was jogging on the craggy and treacherous path carrying a non standard 60 kg path yet not breaking even a bead of sweat.

That was the standard these soldiers are aiming to attain.

For this was the toughest combat school devised for soldiers of Royal Cochin Defense Forces.

Only best units are permitted to come to the School and they must all be either combat veterans or have scored more than 500/550 in a Live fire field exercise. Even then enrolling for the program is voluntary as the School boasts a very high rate of attrition both in fail to pass as well as in deaths, for the harsh environs of Himalayan mountains test the commandos more than the craziest of the Instructors of the School.

The Mountain Warfare School is situated in a knoll of hills 13 kms west of the rustic village of Tok in northern Hae Da Fung. The lake of Dyap Tso is a perma frost endorheic lake. To further east of the school is a glacier that goes on to feed the lake Manasarovar further South.

On arriving at the rough landing strip supporting the base the recruits spend 2 full days acclimatising to the thin mountain air of Tok. During these days the recruits stay in well heated camp buildings and are fed with high protein and high fat diets.

On the third day the grueling initiation begins. Moved from their warm rooms to field tents adequately exposed to the nature they are henceforth given only standard combat rations. Each day begins at reveille at 0600 followed by a 5 mile run in the mountains. After 2 hours of running they come back for breakfast and freshing up.

At 0900 teams are assigned to various instructors for various physical tests of the day. Lunch will be at 1300 and will have to be carried to their test sites by the recruits themselves.

In the afternoon the recruits attend various lecture demonstrations and combat classes. In the evenings yet another endurance jogging is in store for the recruits now with full combat loads.

After the first week of joint training, recruits are divided into batches and tested batchwise. Their next lecture classes would be a hellish 21 days ahead.

The tests include further endurance marches, underwater weapon deactivation, Arctic endurance swimming, Arctic paradropping etc. On the 30th day of training the recruits board a couple of jeeps and are taken to a monastery nearby. There they shall be shown the spartan way of life followed by the monks. They would be taken then to several remote caves where ascetic Hindu sages would be in penance. These sages who live in the arctic conditions wearing only their bare loin clothes and swim in the freezing water and subsist on barely nothing would be visited by the soldiers. The sages had been persuaded to tolerate this interruptions by the King of Cochin himself who had come to visit them and seek their blessings when the camp was being set up.

On the next day individual commandos would be issued with a regular Special Forces combat load and paradropped into the Himalayas. They would be dropped individually at a distance of 100 kms from the base camp and have to find their way back alone. Each team of 4 shall have a particular base camp where they would have to reach successfully. They are given coordinates of base camp, a school atlas and a compass for navigation.

If a recruit found himself unable to cope with the harsh conditions or fell in some accident he could activate his alert beacon and be rescued by a team of CSAR helicopters on standby at the School.

Once the final endurance test is passed the recruits are given the Mountain Warriors Badge in a spartan ceremony at the Mountain Warriors School.

However that day is still far ahead in a distant future for these 2 Sergeants as they finally passed the test on their second attempt and moved on to the next test.

[king of cochin]

ROYAL DURBAR

The Hill Palace today is venue to a court of an extra ordinary nature. The Durbars are usually held for issues of national importance or legal issues tricky enough to be beyond consideration of the Magisterates of Provincial levels.

The case brought before the court today is like that.

The court crier announced before the Durbar,

"All arise for His Highness Rama Varma, the King of Cochin, the Perumpadappu Mooppin, the Emperor of all Cochin, Venad and Kolathis."

The King arrived accompanied by his Chaver soldiers and seated himself on the throne.

The crier announced next,

"All arise for His Highness Vikram Kerala Varma, the Crown Prince of Cochin and Lord of Nilambur."

The crown prince arrived and sat at his chair.

The court crier then summoned the plaintiffs of the case.

"Your Excellency, this case involves a member of the Royal Family. Capt. Prince Rajesh Varma is serving in Royal Cochin Police Force and was in charge of an outpost in the Jalalabad Province. On the night of July 17th, he is accused of raping and murdering a girl from the town of Maylisuu. The woman in question Salma Jalal was a Communist advocate in the region. Capt. Rajesh Varma had filed a report on July15 stating that Salma is suspected of fomenting civil unrest.

On the night in question Capt. Varma and four constables from his outpost drove to her house and abducted her. Next morning her dead body was found in a ravine adjacent to the highway.

Detailed postmortem reveals the presence of semen and indicates signs of $%&@ and physical assault. The relevant documents have been submitted. The case against Capt. Varma was lodged with the Commissioner of the Precinct by Sergeant Raman Unni, a beat Constable in the outpost.

Due to the rank and station of the accused the case has been on an accelerated trial.

DNA analysis at Jalalabad State University confirms the identity of the five accused.

The case was conclusively tried before Jalalabad Supreme Magisterate and a sentence of 20 years of Hard Imprisonment was awarded to all five accused. However Captain Rajesh Varma had called for Royal Appeal on grounds of belonging to Royal Family. Hence he is being produced before the Durbar."

The King of Cochin pored over the documents and transcripts of trial.

"Bring forth the accused, " the King said.

King's Guards in full dress livery brought Capt. Prince Rajesh Varma before the Durbar. He was smiling a triumphant smile as he walked in.

"How do you plead, Rajesh?"

"Not guilty, uncle. I did not do it. She was a Communist and this is a Communist plot to deface me, " Rajesh said smiling and gave a triumphant sneer at Sgt. Rama Unni who was present in Dress uniform.

The King said, "I see. It is a stated fact that I and the Kingdom frowns upon Communism and Communists. Any rise in communism is anathema to us."

At this Capt. Rajesh's smile became even broader.

"However, rule of law is the most supreme in our Kingdom. Even I am not immune to the power of Law. It seems Prince Rajesh Varma felt that being a member of Royal Family gives him immunity from law and he can gain respite from its punishment through a vain appeal. In that he did a grave mistake. The burden and responsibility of law lies most heavily on people sworn to protect and uphold it. A member of the Royal Family is hence even more bound to law than an ordinary citizen. Since they have greater privileges they also have greater responsibilities and punishments. Rajesh it was your mistake to appeal the life sentence. For in this Durbar I sentence you to a swift death.

Captain. Rajesh Varma shall be executed by King's Guards by decapitation. Though I am indeed sorry at the loss of a nephew, I believe it must be so as a lesson to the rest of the Royal Family and to my subjects. If that is all the Durbar is adjourned."

The shell shocked Rajesh Varma was led to the execution courtyard by the Liveried King's Guards. The relatives of the slain Salma Jalal who had come to the Durbar were led to witness the execution. A smart Major of the King's Guards approached the Prince and laid a black shroud over his head. He was then made to prostrate before a white marble execution block. The Major took the shining and polished sword from his scabbard and with a single stroke the head of the late Prince fell into a basket placed for the purpose.

The now satisfied family of Salma Jalal were then taken out of the Palace so tat they could return home.

From a concealed chamber looking into the execution courtyard the King and Crown Prince looked on in silence. Shaking his head in infinite misery the King walked to his chamber. With copious tears flowing down his cheeks the King dialed the number of his beloved younger sister whose son he had ordered executed.

Thus is the burden of power.

[king of cochin]

xxxSECRETXXX

ARMY TESTING RANGE

PAVLODAR

It is an idyllic evening for the duty section at the Strategic Command Station in Pavlodar. The threat receivers are all blank for their sector, the war in Khmer hardly affects the life in most parts of Cochin. The controllers in the Station are passing jokes with the crew of the single MERAT AWACS in station over the province.

60,000 ft high in the sky the Merat Awacs is running on a passive mode. The flight is now totally in the control of the AI. The pilot and copilot are merely in standby at this moment. Right now they are eating a boxed sandwich and drinking coffee. Further aft the technical personnel are in various stages of boredom. Since they are at Defcon Five only the air traffic control team are involved in any state of activity scanning the air for various signals transmitted by IFF and Air Traffic Identification codes transmitted by commercial air crafts far away. Occasionally they passively scan the skies on a low power setting to detect if anything is flying without IFF.

It was in one of these passive sweeps that the radar display showed a reading. The controller manning the station called his supervisor and showed her the display however the blip had vanished. The passive radar had a bottom ceiling of 400 ft below which it could not track anything. On a command from the supervising Air Force Captain the radar started active pinging in the bearing.

"Bogeys, Bogeys, we have multiple bogeys inbound, bearing 175."

At this warning all the control parties raced to their stations and the flight crew took over from the computer. A further concentrated pinging by the 4 MW radar showed that the bogeys appeared to be multiple fighter jets burning in at Mach 1.2 at an altitude of 300 ft above ground.

The Controller immediately alerted the staff in the Strategic Command Station.

"SCS, this is MR00205, we have multiple bogeys inbound on a bearing 175, count 60, repeat Six Zero. Regiment strength. Altitude 356 feet, speed Mach 1.2. Over."

"MR00205, this is SCS. We read you, Over."

The idyllic setting had vanished at this message. Such a massive air attack could mean only one thing. The bandits were going for the AWACS. Another wave would be shortly behind and the death of AWACS would create a hole in air defense which could be smartly manipulated by a very cunning enemy.

"Activate HAWK radar."

At this command, the massive HAWK radar situated in Pavlodar went from passive standby to full active and started streaming 12 MW of electronic energy at the inbound fighters. By now the fighters had closed to a distance of 300 kms from the Merat and soon could be in missile range.

"Active assets?"

"Nil at the present. We are the only asset in theater."

"Okay, activate the Air Defense Systems."

At that command around 25 air defense radars scattered within the province lit up the skies. They tracked the fighters racing to the ceiling to engage the unarmed transport aircraft.

"Engage bandits. All units."

At that command 20 SAM bases in various parts of the province launched their first salvo of missiles. Each SAM station was a geologically concealed launch platform that launched 4 AIM-RL (radar seeking) and 4 AIM-H ( heat seeking) missiles. At the first launch command a total of 80 AIM-RL missiles were in the air racing in to destroy the fighter attack wave.

Sensing the incoming missiles the fighters went full up on their jamming gear and electronic warfare systems. However each of the air defense radars were pumping out 9 MW of energy and the HAWK was pumping out 12 MW of energy which burned through any electronic counter measures. The flying missiles received guidance from an interactive network of radar signals set up by the interlocked radar web. The missiles did not depend on a single radar for its coordinates, they received bearings from the entire network so that even if 70% of the radars were down each and every missile would keep on homing into its individual target.

The tolerances have not yet been published for this system which was developed by VIFR, however the system was found to be able to cope up with a scenario of 500 banshees targeted at 500 bandits by a network of 10 radars. To avoid being engaged by anti radiation attack teams each radar lit off alternating for 2 seconds of active energy followed by 2 seconds of power off condition. Each time it was powered off and powered on it did not have to start fresh scanning as it would keep on receiving tracking information from other radars which was in operation while it was shut off.

Finally the AIM-RL missiles started killing its targets at a range of 200 kms from Merat. A total of 50 bandits were shot down and the remaining raced back in retreat on after burners.

"I guess that would be called a success. Right, Gen. Varma?"

"Yes. I am happy with the air defense."

Gen. Mahesh Varma congratulated Maj. Gen. Vijay Kerala Varma.The Strategic Command had just proved that even as a stand alone unit the air defense system was more than capable of repelling a dedicated enemy air attack. The test conditions were exactingly created. The Strategic Command Station was not informed of the test. Nor was the Merat involved. The entire region was declared to be under DEFCON Five for many weeks now and a situation of normalcy maintained.

The regular forward air bases of the region were creatively suggested to exhibit inactiveness.

The enemy attack wave was in fact a full regiment of UCAV-F Hornets from the reserve fleet. That ensured that no life was lost in the exercise.

In normal conditions the province would have been protected by its regular Forward Air Base and its fighter assets. Also there would be the fleet of High Altitude Dirigibles which provided for long endurance air defense platforms. The dirigibles were also brought down that day for creative maintenance.

However despite the diminished assets Strategic Command had proved itself able to defend the Kingdom.

[king of cochin]

The Special Forces commando was hidden in the thick rainforest. A Major in 23rd Special Forces regiment, he is an expert in jungle survival. He is self sufficient in the jungle, a natural hunter.

Now he is being hunted by his own brothers, a team of 16 less skilled infantrymen from 1 Marine Division.

In any scenario he could take them out much like how Arminius destryed the Roman Legion in Teutenberg Forest.

The Major whose codename was Viper could strike silently and deadly at any of his opponents. He could stalk his prey like the best of panthers without ever being discovered.

However the Marine team had a new toy to play with. They were issued with 3 of the revolutionary MAGIS sets.

Looking much like a hair drier with an enlarged antenna, the MAGIS was a technological breakthrough created by the Varma Institute of Fundamental Research.

It consister of a second derivative gradiometer connected to a Super Conducting Quantum Iterference Device (SQUID) forming a magnetosensor with an extremely high sensitivity.

Its Josephson junction based super conducting loops could detect and meadure fields as low as 500 FT. The Magis were however tuned to a frequency range of 10000FT to 90000FT, the range of signals emitted by a human heart. The Magis could detect heart beats of a human being upto a range of 500 meters. At that range a signal would be extremely attenuated and that was where the SQUID came in. The sensitive gradiometer isolated the spectrum for human signals and an onboard computer broke down the various frequencies and the bearings of their origins. With more than one Magis set an accurate directional bearing was possible with pin point accuracy. Magis was designed to filter out the extraneous emfs generated by man and nature like through electric devices etc so it could also work in an urban environment. With the introduction of a GPS coupler the accuracy of a track was increased.

No more is Viper hidden. After finding the hunter hiding in the dense undergrowth 250 meters away, the team set up a mortar assembly and launched a round straight at his bearing accurate to 2 meters. The hapless Major was surprised when the round burst over his head showering him with sand.

He slowly came out of the bush to be greeted by the Marines who offered him a bottle of water.

The Senior officer of the observer team from Royal Cochin Defense Forces then keyed a communications device and an MH53 came to pick them up and take them back to Cochin.

The Magis system has been now validated. It has been designed to find living human beings based on the magnetic field generated by heart. It is proposed to be used for disaster relief operations, special ops and unconventional warfare scenarios.

[king of cochin]

Middle of Indian Ocean

SM04, the missile submarine of fourth Submarine task force launched a GS19 missile targeted at Cochin City. The warhead is a dummy.

Strategic Command Center

Bishkek

"Inbound, we have inbound from sector 464."

The watch controller informed the watch officer, a Commander from Royal Cochin Navy.

"Ah Yes, That will be SM04. Activate the systems. I never thought the test would be today."

At the signal from SCC various HAWK Radars started pumping Giga Watts of electromagnetic power at the inbound Ballistic Missile.

As the HAWK radars were giving a stead plot of the missile as it flew over Dragonisia, Bright Star systems came online.

At 5 locations across the Kingdom massive mirror systems tracked the inbound missile as it flew ever closer to Cochin City. Their low power lasers were soon jacked up.

The throughput breakthrough achieved months ago finally made the Bright Star possible. Though the ABM missile networks were already ready the Kingdom had long lusted for this potential.

From the 5 secure , classified locations 60 GW lasers jumped up through the massive mirrors to impact upon the GS19 missile racing in at 20 Mach. Their firing were timed. In a real test they would have engaged the missile long ago through a fleet of mirror satellites which were capable to transmitting the lasers far beyond Cochin's horizon. The Lasers now targeted the ejected stages of GS19 and burnt them to a molten slag mass while they were still falling on to Indian Ocean. Later in the day, RCN tugs would extract the slgas which were once highly complex parts of an ICBM.

Meanwhile the RV had achieved re entry and the 8 dummy warheads were falling to Cochin City. Batteries of ABM missiles , the new BM1 missiles raced up to destroy the warheads before the trigger altitude.

The nutation rates on their guidance lasers were very fast and they tracked the warheads with the help of the HAWK radars. They were designed to explode targeting the centroid of the radar signature of the warhead as a thermal centroid would be actually behind the war head. The warheads are traveling at a velocity faster than that of an explosion so precision was vital for the BM1 shrapnel to destroy the warhead in its shrapnel cone.

Of the initial salvo of 4 missiles fired per warhead, the warheads were all killed by the third BM1 and the fourths invariably remote detonated in the skies after finding no more targets.

As the citizens of Cochin City witnessed the eerie fireworks display in their skies the King made this announcement,

"Dear Citizens,

I am proud to announce that today we have launched Bright Star, our Strategic defense initiative program. From today the Kingdom of Cochin is more secure in its defense from Nuclear Missiles. In the increasingly volatile times that we live in, Bright Star is an invaluable addition to our national defense."

OOC: bought an SDI,

[king of cochin]

PALACE DURBAR TRANSCRIPTS

HH RAMA VARMA

KP VARMA - SEA

GEN. MAHESH VARMA - D

GEN. MOHAMMED FARAZ - P

DR. SYED SHARAFUDEEN - SOF

REVIN GEORGE AJITH - SOI

R: Good morning, everyone. It has been indeed a long time since i summoned the Durbar. We have been through some turbulent times but now it seems all is at peace. So Mr. Varma, how are our international relations today?

SEA: Sir, Dragon Empire is growing stronger and stabler every day. We are now quite secure from all manner of threats in the region. Our relations with Hanseatic Commonwealth has stagnated a bit, I am afraid, and I would suggest steps to revive it.

R: Indeed Hanseatic Commonwealth is one of our oldest and trusted friends. We must maintain excellent relations with them. Perhaps I shall send Vikram to Brisbane.

I: Good. Relations with African Nations are a bit cool now but we feel we have avenues for exploring better relations. I would suggest that we make some diplomatic overtures to them to further placate them.

The Asian Union has formed and our neighbors the Marscurian Pakistan is a member.

R: Yes, I am glad that they have a great chance to prosper. How is the Karakoram HIghway coming along, Gen. Varma?

D: Sir, We are at 85% completion. It should be ready in a few months time. The Baloch Province is now at 65% completion. The Gosree naval base is ready now and the forward air bases are also operational. The air defense network is being set up and so is the HAWK.

R: How about Bosaso?

D: Bosaso has been demilitarized as planned. The X Infantry Rgeiment and the Shock Army Division have been brought back to Cochin. We have currently stationed a brigade from Border Guards as the permanent Garrison in Bosaso. To support them we have warehoused equipments for 2 ACRs. The Mig35 Regiment based at Bosaso AFB has now been replaced by a Mig29 regiment. The defenses are ready now and the territory is fully secure.

R: Good. How Gen. Faraz, how is Police situation in the Kingdom?

P: Your Excellency, as per the input you have given me, all the changes have been applied. We have rooted out corruption from RCPF. Our investigation teams are on some classified operations and we hope to gain excellent results soon.

The Tibet Province is now fully secured internally. We have established a S-RECO net and communications intelligence network.

Communism is now almost wiped out from the Kingdom as a credible political movement. For the past one year we have had no information at all about any active cell operational. The declared and suspected Communists are living their day dreams peacefully and hence they are not disturbed.

However we do have some worrying developments to inform. We are getting intelligence about an Islamic extremist group being formed in Xinjiang Province. We have arrested some small level activists and are trying to get more information on this group.

R: Very well, Mr. Revin, what is the news from Tibet?

SOI: Your Excellency, Tibet is being fully integrated to the Kingdom. We have already established a temporary Food/Medicine/Fuel distribution system. We are organizing Tibet in the same semi autonomous structure as the rest of the Kingdom's provinces. We were thinking of asking the Lamas of Tibet to take an active role in governance and to form a special advisory group to advice the Governor.

Similarly Dr. Fahad Abdul Majeed is now the new Governor of Bosaso. Though there is comparatively less civilian population to govern.

R: Good. Dr. Sharaf, how is the state of the economy.

SOF: Strong, Your Excellency, very strong. The Cochin Rupee is holding well against Dragonisian Talons and other international currencies. Inflation is at a manageable low and we have less than 1% unemployment rates. The large number of development works going on is assuring employment for the foreseeable future.

R: Excellent. Anyway gentlemen, that is all for now. I shall call for you when i need you. Meeting dispersed.

[king of cochin]

RCDF General Staff Headquarters

"Good morning , Ladies and Gentlemen. We have a few announcements from Royal Cochin Defense Forces."

The Quarter Master Command has successfully handed over the first batch of 10 LC12 Heavy Assault Hovercrafts to Royal Cochin Navy. LC12 is able to carry a total load tonnage of 163 tonnes, ie, a platoon of 3 T100s. It is armed with 5 Heavy Machine Guns and a twin 105 mm Cannon. For air defense it has MetalStorm 27mm AAA Guns mounted on 3 mounts. The Royal Cochin Navy has found it very satisfactory in field trials conducted at Lake Balkhash, Gosree and Ratnagiri.

QMC had also handed over the LC14 Light Hovercrafts to Royal Cochin Navy earlier in the week. The LC14 is a 50 Ton platform whose capabilities are classified.

RCDF also announces the formation of the 10 new Artillery Divisions.

That is all the briefing for now. Press Handouts are being distributed amongst you. Thank You"

[king of cochin]

COCHIN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LINGUISTICS INAUGURATED

GOSREE TIMES,

20-09-2009.

The Literature Academy of Cochin University today inaugurated the newly set up School of Linguistics. It is being conceptualized as a prime depository of various languages across the world. The School was inaugurated by Crown Prince Vikram Kerala Varma in a quiet ceremony here.

The School of Linguistics is stated to study and store knowledge about the different language systems in the world. It is to be regionally classified. The Asia region is already functioning with expert linguists from all major and minor languages of Asian continent already tenured here. The Africa section is currently handled by a team of expert linguists from the now defunct University of M'Bossa who have been offered tenure and citizenship. This chair is held by Prof. Benedict M'kussa and expert in Western African dialects.

Several retired External Affairs Department officials are also on the staff of SOL with their varied expertise in Eurasian languages. The French Department is chaired by the prominent French scholar, Dr. Sandhya Thampan.

The School of Linguistics said that they shall be seeking to send several missions to remote corners of the globe to study languages. The External Affairs Department has said that it is offering citizenship to people from certain Pacific Ocean island to further enable the study of their languages. Specially trained Linguistic Scholars are also expected to be sent to remote regions to study the languages and prepare suitable translational procedures and dictionaries. These research are to be funded by sizable grants which were hinted at the ceremony.

The Dean of this School of Linguistics is retired Diplomat Mr. B. Raman. He is also thought to have been a serving member of NIA.

It is speculated that the SOL is to be a training institution for members of Diplomatic Service, National Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Agency and Training Command ( Military Intelligence). The appointment of Mr. Raman certainly points to such a hypothesis.

For the time several post graduate literature scholars have applied to join the School and it has definitely has had a very positive start.

[king of cochin]

ROYAL COCHIN POLICE FORCES HEADQUARTERS

Gen. Mohammed Faraz - C

Lt. Gen. Mahesh B Iyer - NIA

Maj. Gen. Visakh Nair - NRA

NIA: Sir the new batch of officers have passed out of the Camp. Our total number of field personnel have now increased by 40%.

C: Excellent. The King will be very pleased. We do not want ever again to caught trousers down in any crisis. Gen. Iyer, how are the rookies looking?

NIA: Sir, all of them are Police officers with proven capabilities. They are not strictly rookies. Most of the common sense and street sense they already know from their beat experience. We merely gave them the special technical knowledge and exposure to become proper field agents. I think they will do good.

C: Very well. Gen. Nair how are things at your shop?

NRA: No complaints, Sir. We have recruited additional analysts and technicians for the new satellites. I would suggest we launch one Geo Sync bird for Bosaso and Baloch Provinces, Sir. Currently we only have orbiting birds and S-RECO coverage over the region. A more reliable coverage is definitely necessary.

C: Okay, I shall talk to Strategic Command about that. Now the School has been set up. You have been complaining about the lack of linguists to back up your analysis. We now have the answer for that. Get ready batches to send through the school. This is for both NIA and NRA. The priority languages should be Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Kurdish, Arabic, Pashtu, Zulu, Afrikaans, Burmese, Malay, Vietnamese and Korean.

Secondary priority must be for German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Magyar, Romanian, Basque, Irish, Amish, Dutch, Swedish, Norse and Icelandic.

Get officers currently assigned to the respective regional desks to take the corresponding training. Within one year I want everyone in there an expert in at least 3 non native languages. We cannot always rely on civilian linguists for our purposes.

NIA: Yes Sir.

[king of cochin]

"Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. Today we are releasing the outlines for Tibet Development."

"Massive construction and industrialization is going to be a priority. Department of Interior has finished a survey of all citizens of Tibet. The previously existing governance structures have been taken over and incorporated into the Kingdom. Lhasa shall continue to be the administrative capital of the Province.

The Department of Interior is also planning to launch a 1 Billion Rupees restoration program to repair and restore the ancient historical structures and monasteries of Tibet. Secretary of Interior, Mr. Revin George is stated to meet His Holiness Dalai Lama to consult him on his opinions regarding developments to Tibet.

The Kingdom's rail/road network is to be extended to the existing lines in Tibet and several further spurs are to be constructed to provide connectivity to all parts of the Province. Tibet's accessibility to other parts of Dragon Empire shall also be increased by roads and railways to Dragonisia.

The 14th Infantry Division is currently based at Tibet. A new Mechanized Division is to be raised from Tibet, the Ninth Mech Divn - The Xizang Regiment. Currently it is to be a garrison force. Its first task will be to establish a Tundra Warfare School with experts from the already existing Mountain Warfare School. All formations of Royal Cochin Defense Forces are stated to receive training at this institution.

Four Hawk radars are to be set up in Tibet at Toling, Lungmar, Rawu and Shuanghu, due to the unique geographical position of Tibet. The Strategic Air Defense Network shall be expanded to Tibet.

A new University of Lhasa is planned to be establish to promote studies in Budhism. A special task force from the Department of Agriculture is currently touring Tibet to analyze and formulate better practices and technologies to establish self sufficiency of Tibet. 20 TROPs power plants are being established in the Province to fulfill its energy requirements. KREL is to be given contracts to explore the untapped mineral resources in the region.

On the whole we expect to bring Tibet to the same standard of development as the rest of the Kingdom.

Thank You"

[king of cochin]

PRESS BRIEFING

QUARTER MASTER COMMAND

"The Royal Cochin Defense Forces has approved the induction of a new polymer based body armor for its soldiers. The new armor system called CORM is a fabric blend of Kevlar, Vectran and Aramid. It is rated to provide impact protection from a .50 caliber Heavy Machine Gun round. A full tactical body armor suit weighs a total of 10 kgs."

"The CORM has been developed by Quarter Master Command and has been undergoing user trials for the past 6 months. CORM armor units are to be issued to front line units of RCDF, RCSF and SWAT teams of RCPF."

[king of cochin]

PRESS BRIEFING

DEPT OF INTERIOR

In the latest census of population taken after the integration of the Tibet Province the population of the Kingdom of Cochin has increased by almost 10%. There has been a massive infrastructural and technological advances across the Kingdom which has contributed a lot to the welfare of the citizens.

OOC: Had an 800+ infra jump,

Edited August 27, 2009 by king of cochin

[king of cochin]

PRESS BRIEFING

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

The Kingdom of Cochin today publishes the latest Provincial Map of the Kingdom. All 20 provinces including the new provinces of Xizang (Tibet), Baloch and Bosaso are included in this map.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

ooc: Very well done!

[king of cochin]

"Dr. Krishnan, what is the condition of those Ebola patients in Bosaso?"

"Grim, Your Excellency, very grim. This Mayinga strain is a particularly virulent variant of Ebola. 80% mortality. We can only stand and watch."

"Hmm. Dr. Krishnan is it possible to find a cure for Ebola and other such diseases?"

"Yes, our scientists at CID are amongst the best in the world. Only thing is these diseases quite rarely affect our nation. They are not native to us. In fact this is the first time any such tropical disease has turned up in all our time in Bosaso."

"True, but surely there must be countless people in other countries dying from this disease?"

"Yes sir."

"How much research is going on in this field?"

"Not much. This is after all not one of the fashionable diseases like cancer or AIDS. It is almost completely limited to Africa."

"That is not good. Prakash, start a study on these diseases. I authorize a fund of 1 Billion rupees to find a cure for these diseases. Lassa, Q fever, Ebola, everything. I dont want our Kingdom to be caught short in anything like this."

"Yes Your Excellency."