The Athens Times

[Centurius]

The last week had been busy, with the conflict in Italy a lot of people had come to the temples for their children that were fighting in the north. It was times like these that Ariadne had a lot of work, as a priestess dedicating her life to the goddess Athena she especially faced a lot of people, perhaps even more so than those working for Ares. Another day had come to a conclusion as Ariadne was preparing to leave the temple however just before she could leave the building she noticed a few men in front of it.

“Please come back tomorrow, we are closed for now” she said as she walked closer to the men, a few feet away she noticed the men were military. Hellenic Army from the looks of it.

“Miss Notaras, we are not here for your services. We need to talk in private”

Ariadne nodded while feeling suspicion, why would the Hellenic Army need to talk to her in private? The only times that happened was when they were arresting someone for a crime against the state.

As she walked with the men she noticed a lack of escort at the car she was supposed to enter.

“Gentlemen, if you don’t mind me asking but where are we going and why are we going there?”

The men remained silent until they entered the car and started driving.

“Miss Notaras, what is your opinion on the direction the Federation is taking? Especially in regards to Northern Italy”

“My honest answer? It is an useless waste of life. The way of the word should have been chosen over the way of the gun. I am certain the gods do not want this”

The men nodded, this was what they were looking for.

“Miss Notaras I am Alexander Bakas, the Magistrate of Defense. This is the Commander of the Guard and the General of the Joint Forces. We have approached you in secrecy to ask you for your help”

Alexander took a folder from under his seat in the limousine which he passed on to Ariadne.

“You are not alone in your feelings, most of the Hellenic Forces and the Assembly have had doubts ever since the war with Ireland was concluded. Her Highness has made a chain of irrational and frankly unconstitutional actions.” Alexander said with a sigh. “That is why we are approaching you, the Greeks love you and consider you an incarnate of Athena, the Slavs adore you for your maternal roots to them. You are the best candidate to assume the throne and if you say yes we will assist you”

The words caught Ariadne by surprise, she wasn’t a priest. With bits of shock she looked through the window.

“Let us for one second assume I am interested, what would happen to Empress Akhatova? I don’t see her just leaving the throne. Bloodshed will come from a coup. Lady Athena would not want that.”

Alexander smiled “We have our ways for a non-violent coup miss. That is why we have asked you, a military officer would have caused resistance from civilian authorities”

After thinking it over for a while Ariadne nodded. “I agree however what kind of system do you envision?”

“A Dual Monarchy. The Federation will be divided into 2 parts. The Western Athenian Federation covering Italy ruled by a monarch in Rome and an Eastern Athenian Federation ruled by a monarch in Athens. The Federal Assembly of the People and Council however will remain in Athens.”

“I need to think about this first” Ariadne said as she saw the car was entering her street.

“Of course, you can contact me at this number. Please think fast though” Alexander said passing a paper after which the car stopped and Ariadne was allowed to leave.

(Next Day)

Ariadne woke up to an emergency broadcast on the ISIS panel, it showed another feed on the conflict that had been going on in Northern Italy. From what she could see thousands were finding their deaths at the hands of useless and criminal war. Now she knew what had to be done, the offer had to have been divine guidance by Lady Athena. There just were too much for it to be a coincidence. As she got the telephone there still were some doubts in her mind however those quickly faded. She entered the number however didn’t recognize the prefix so it couldn’t be near Athens.

“Magistrate Bakas? I am ready to take your offer. If you can get a peaceful change of power I will lead the Eastern Federation”

After the conversation ended she would make another call to the High Priestess at the temple telling she couldn’t go there for the next week. The ideas were interesting, having 2 rulers rather than one would certainly balance the power and grant more to the democratic bodies of the government. It would likewise guarantee more freedoms as neither had the power to limit them alone.

---

For the next week a lot would happen behind the scenes with pressure from all sides being put on the Office of the Empress, the Assembly of the People and Council were starting to vote down her proposals, even her own Socialist Alliance voted against her. Furthermore Imperial Command was starting to hold back information and the Imperial Guard would make their intent known in secret too. Nikita Akhatova had to leave the throne and let the Assembly of the People choose on a successor as outlined in the constitution. This too would happen mostly behind the scenes to hide the idea of a coup to the public. The day after the old Empress had announced she made the throne available for the people her successors were known. The Assembly of the People had voted in Valerio Moretti and Ariadne Notaras as Emperor of the Western Athenian Federation and Empress of the Eastern Athenian Federation respectively.

Following their coronation measures were taken to undo the damages of the previous regime. Political prisoners were slowly released with only those convicted of actual crimes being kept where they were. The dual monarchy would also increase funding of non-Greek projects. More changes were planned however they had to be slow as to not do too much too fast.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Centurius

[Centurius]

[quote][center][b]Speech of the Thrones[/b][/center]

Members of the Parliament, citizens of the Federations. It brings me great joy to present you the annual throne speech. As is tradition I will start with a review of the last years.

Since its foundation a decade ago the Athenian Federation has grown from the anarchy that was the Republic of Greece to a prospering state, a state that enjoys international respect, a state that has strong friendships and a powerful military. From the divided Mediterranean Sea we have made an united force. Threats to the region are taken care of quickly.

However the last decade has not only consisted of wealth and growth. We have been in several wars, we have had civil wars and even now we are in a state of war. Likewise the authority that made our rise possible has also caused great pain to portions of the Federations. People have had their freedoms limited and people have seen certain ethnicities receive priority over others.

This last conclusion brings me to plans of the Ministry of National Unity. The times where a Greek was better than a Slav are over, the times where the dominant religion took precedence over smaller ones are over, the times where one Athenian hated the other will be over.

Likewise we must consider the environment and not just ourselves, the Federations are among the biggest users of fossil fuel reserves in the region, perhaps the world. A majority of this consumption still goes into energy production. It is because of this that our scientists have done research into the art of nuclear fusion. It will be our goal to have the first nuclear fusion plant operational within a year. Should this project become a success we will go on, within 10 years 100% of the energy produced within the Federations will come from nuclear fusion or alternative clean ways.

This brings me to the economy. The Athenian Federation, while having a strategic position in the Mediterranean, lacks an abundance of resources. We are not a country that excels in the export of natural resources and we will never be. The strength of the Federations are with their technology. We enjoy a fully literate population and our universities are among the best. We must continue this, those children who have the ability to learn must be given the chances. Therefore we will continue investing money into ensuring free education for all citizens, at the same time we will do our best to attract foreign personnel to work at our universities and will increase funding for projects. At the same time we must show solidarity to the world and attract foreigners. It is because of this that we will open our free education to foreign nationals, however these foreign students will be required to work within the Federations for 5 to 10 years, depending on their degree earned. The Federations must become a highly advanced technological civilization. Our strength is in our knowledge.

In regards to international trade we must seek a greater cooperation with our European and Asian allies. As said the Federation has an interesting position in the Mediterranean, this position is worth to be used for the benefit of the entire region. The taxes on imports from European or Asian countries will thus be lowered to 2% from their original 5%, states with which we already have free trade arrangements will remain free to transport goods, personnel and services in and out of the Federations.

Finally in regards to trade we must make up for past mistakes. A few years ago we have made a mistake by attacking the Kingdom of Ireland over questionable justifications. For too long have we tried to maintain the moral high ground, this too must change. As such we hereby apologize to the Kingdom of Ireland on behalf of the people of the Federations for attacking the Kingdom and implementing the sanctions post-war. We will also be lifting these sanctions and release the frozen assets back to their original owners.

As for matters of national defense it has become clear that there is no direct risk to the Federations. We are surrounded by allied states and the only weapons that can reach us before we have time to respond are guided missiles. To all of these attacks we already have defenses. However recent times have shown an entirely new threat, that of rogues. While we already have defenses for submarine launched missiles or similar systems we are not properly defended against. A previously classified [url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R40154.pdf]report[/url] has shown strong weaknesses in our defenses. It is therefore that we must focus at improving our early detection systems on transports to decrease the risk of nuclear weapons being smuggled in by trade ships. We will follow the recommendations outlined in this report.

To maintain our global strike capability we must maintain our bases in Asia and Antarctica, likewise in the future we must deploy more forces outside of our own sphere. Therefore the Second Fleet will be stationed permanently in Asia and will have patrol routes from their base in Vietnam to the Atlantic.

I thank you for your attendance and hereby open the next year of parliament.
[/quote]

The speech would be aired in Greek within the Eastern Federation where it was said by Empress Ariadne Notaras while an Italian version by Emperor Valerio Moretti would be aired in the Western Federation. A translation to English was made available for embassies and on the global networks.

[Centurius]

Chaos, the British-Spanish defensive had taken down a large part of law and order in Portugal by their attacks. In addition to that the decapitation of the Portuguese government caused lower bodies of government to act without the central authority knowing. Action had to be undertaken fast or the situation would devolve into civil war. Colonel Antonio Dali was assigned Interim Military Governor of Portugal while a higher officer was selected. Soon the deployments originally planned for an attack were to be used to maintain order. The First Army consisted of 200,000 Soldiers and 2,000 tanks. These forces were deployed throughout Portugal as a show of force first and a way for Athens to know directly what was happening second. The Former Portuguese Army and Brotherhood's Fist were suspended, the men and women working for them enjoying the benefits of a retired Athenian soldier. Likewise the families of those killed in the war were compensated as if it was an Athenian soldier who had died.`

To compensate for the loss of most of Portugal's defenses mobile installations were set up, likewise the Hellenic Air Force would make regular patrols to make sure Portuguese airspace was secure.

Unlike the armed forces not all uniformed services would be suspended. The Portuguese police was preserved and restructured along the Athenian model of a central police with departments at local levels. The Portuguese aircraft were transported to hangars in Bulgaria to act as a reserve should they ever be needed.

In a few months once stability should return the people of Portugal would be allowed to decide on their future, until that time it would be placed under military protection and control.

[Centurius]

After several weeks of Athenian protection the Portuguese people were given a chance to decide on their future. In a special referendum open to every Portuguese citizen above the age of 16 was asked to vote. The 3 options were become a fully independent state, remain a protectorate of the Athenian Federation or become a semi-autonomous region in the Western Athenian Federation.

Initially the second option seemed to win, however with news from the carbomb in Madrid and positive results in the Athenian economy the third became more popular. At the end of the day 61% of the electorate had chosen to be integrated, protectorate followed with 32% and independence only had 7%.

Just a day after the referendum the Assembly of the People allowed the integration of Portugal. Another day after by decree from both Monarchs it was finalized, however it would take months to make the integration truly final.

[Ezequiel]

"España HIGHLY disapproves of Portugal's annexation by the Athenian Federation. Athens already has a base and plenty of land, this can be seen as nothing but an imperialistic move by Athens. España is highly against imperialism and has taken note of this action by Athens."

[i]- Ezequiel José[/i]

Edited February 7, 2011 by Ezequiel

[Zoot Zoot]

Britain must also protest this annexation.
We believe it would be in the best interests if Portugal was held under either MEMU, Zurich or Spanish protection.

[Yawoo]

The Kingdom of Ireland isn't an ally of the Athenian Federation and we aren't protesting their annexation of Portugal, why? Because, the people voted in a democratic referendum. Unlike Espana and England, the Athenian Federation wants to honor the wishes of the people and as such, integrated Portugal into their nation with arms wide open. If I was the Athenian Federation, I would think long and hard about furthering the Athenian-England alliance. When an ally seeks to override the wishes of a democratic referendum so that their ally can not honor the wishes of a beleaguered people then something is rotten in that alliance. England has been interfering far too much in Portuguese affairs of late and it needs to stop.

[Zoot Zoot]

Seeking to over ride, and providing an ally with an opinion are two different things.
As for Portuguese affairs, if Ireland kept up to date on it's information, it would know that all British involvement with Portugal was in self defence and obliging our alliances.
Upholding our honour.

[Ezequiel]

"In response to Ireland... We oppose and protest this move because of the imperialistic motives behind it. We do not see how anarchistic peoples can [b][i]vote[/i][/b] in a [i][b]democratic[/b][/i] poll, when in fact, their former nation is in ruins, destroyed and in anarchy. These polls can not have taken place in such a chaos filled area. We do not seek to over ride or interfere in our Allie's affairs, however, such moves have caught our eyes and attention especially being so close to home. If Ireland does not remember, Portugal invaded España, not vice-versa. Britain honoured our pact and came to our aid in fending off these attacks, by no means did they protrude in our, nor Athens', affairs for that matter. Do you know what we got out of this 24 hour invasion of our land? Our men and women killed, citizens dead, Islamic militants, and now Athens is presiding over the nation who took so many of our people's lives and now they wish to integrate the land into their federation, where they have no place being.

We see no way possible that these polls have happened. We will await a response from Athens for further comment."

[i]- Ezequiel José[/i]

Edited February 7, 2011 by Ezequiel

[Centurius]

"As much as you opposed imperialism when you took that Antarctic colony?

The people of Portugal have not been anarchistic, the Hellenic Forces have provided the stability the local authorities needed to continue their affairs. The referendum has shown the true will of the people and we have no reason to not follow their requests. The people wanted to be part of the Federation and the people will be part of the Federation."

[Sir Keshav IV]

"It is far from Imperialistic. Portugal has democratically elected to join Athens. Where's the imperialism in that?"

[Centurius]

[color="#FF0000"][size="5"][center]Stefen Adrastos Charged with Crimes against the State[/center][/size][/color]

[b]Athens -[/b] Working from his office in downton Athens Stefen Adrastos was arrested. The leader of the controversial and extremist National Front was arrested for crimes against the state.

According to the Athens Police Department Adrastos was responsible for the University Massacre that killed 237 students. "We have always known there was a nationalist motive for the massacre, we now believe to have plenty of evidence to convict mister Adrastos for crimes against the state. We will demand the maximum sentence possible, life without parole." The Regional Attorney of Athens stated after the arreat.

Adrastos has been taken to an unknown location in Greece as to prevent opposition or supporters of the National Front to act.

The arrest is part of a greater investigation into the actions of the National Front. If the party is found guilty of supporting terrorism it could be declared unconstitutional and banned.

[Centurius]

[color="#FF0000"][size="5"][center]Protests in Turin and Patras[/center][/size][/color]

[b]Rome -[/b] In response to the arrest yesterday the leadership of the National Front has called for a massive retalliation by the people. So far around 50,000 people have gone to the streets of several cities in Italy and Greece. Patras and Turin especially are home to massive demonstrations from supporters of the extremist party.

Riot Police has been deployed in Italian and Greek cities and the Imperial Pentagon has stated that a division from the First Army will be ready to keep things orderly should the situation devolve. The Magistrate of Internal Affairs has responded to the protests. "It is the right of every citizen to voice their opinion. The freedoms of expression and assembly are holy to any free state. However, these protests will not stop us from doing our job. The Regional Attorney of Athens will continue his case and bring justice to both mister Adrastos as the victims of the massacre."

Experts expect that for the next few weeks numerous more protests will be held with even greater numbers.

[Centurius]

[center][img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/55/113379558_b166c50cc4_o.jpg[/img][/center]

[size="5"][color="#FF0000"][center]Athens 1 - Daily News[/center][/color][/size]

Welcome to Daily News, today was a day filled with protests throughout the Federation. In the cities of Tirana and Skopje thousands of protestors surrounded the homes and offices of the local governors. Claiming the Federal government is not doing enough for those affected in the recent Nuclear disaster in Sofia. Police and local soldiers have been given orders to break the protests in line with the state of emergency effective over the northern regions of the Eastern Federation. Spokesmen from both services have stated that they will use non lethal methods to end the protests. So far the police and army have merely established safe zones around important government buildings and other important services for the state.

[center][img]http://www.helleniccomserve.com/images/1ng3c.jpg[/img][/center]

The protests originally only in Patras and Turin have spread nationwide as reports from searches in the homes and offices of 300 Assemblymen and -women from the National Front became public. The searches have been authorized by the court in Athens in line with the greater investigation against the extremely controversial National Front. The Regional Attorney has reported they plan to have enough evidence soon to convict at least 258 members of the party for corruption, racially motivated hatecrimes and powerabuse. The investigation is directly linked to that of suspected links between the National Front and several millitant factions throughout the Federation. As there is no state of emergency in effect in the rest of the Federation police has only been positioned to make sure things remain peaceful.

[center][img]http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/100505/GAL-10May05-4468/media/PHO-10May05-222451.jpg[/img][/center]

In addition to the case against the National Front the trial against Adrastos for Crimes against the State has been scheduled for next month. The Regional Attorney expects it will take around two months to complete but he also claims to have enough evidence to get a conviction. For the security of Adrastos and to make sure there are no mobs to release him he has been transfered to the Maximum Security Facility in Antarctica. He will be brought back to Athens in time for his trial. His lawyers are still allowed to talk to him via a secured video conference. The lawyers also have the option to visit Adrastos but they declined the offer.

Finally the Athenian Stock Exchange is seeing a small rise since the last few weeks with trade having started again. Experts predict the stock exchange will continue rising for the next 6 months however it is doubtful it will reach its record high from last year due to the direct effects of the nuclear blast on the economy.

[Centurius]

[center][img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/12/17855826_3eb8df523f_o.jpg[/img]

[color="#FF0000"][size="5"][center]Athens 1 - Daily News[/center][/size][/color][/center]

Welcome to the Daily News, after weeks of protests today was remarkably less violent. Protests in Bulgaria have cooled down in response to the Imperial government providing a lot of attention to the people in the affected areas. A solution to the biggest problem, the destruction of the Slavic capital, has also put the leaders of resistance movements at ease. The government of the Eastern Athenian Federation in Athens has announced plans to build a new capital for the Slavs within the Federation as soon as the area around Sofia becomes save for construction. This new city would be twice the size of the former city and use revolutionary new building methods aimed at making it able to stand modern war more easy, for one the city will follow new guidelines which mandate that every building has proper shelters against the use of weapons of mass destruction. The government of the Western Athenian Federation in Rome has announced it will support these projects financially.

In the rest of the Federation nationalist protests seem to have cooled down after the Athens Police Department yesterday violently broke up a protest that had turned into a riot. At approximately 11 pm the police was given permission to use tear gas and water cannons to break up the protest. Fifty arrests have been made and the police is still investigating several charges of vandalism and destruction so more arrests may follow. Both governments have authorized the Hellenic Army to march into Athens and Rome to maintain order if more protests go violent.

In response to conflicts escalating worldwide the Imperial Alert Condition has been raised to Delta from Zeta where it originally was. Soldiers throughout the nation have been mobilized and all bases are maintaining a maximum level of readiness just below the war one. Reports from the Hellenic Air Force, Navy and Strategic Arms Division report that while they too have increased their readiness they will not prepare for combat yet. The Imperial Pentagon has stated that these measures are only meant to protect Athens and her allies and that there are no other motives.

[Centurius]

(Federal Intelligence Agency HQ, Athens)

It wasn't often that Amalia got such an important assignment, for a few days they had been tracking weird movements from Germany to the Federal Republic of America and now the Germans had given them an officer. She was just reading through the report the Germans had made, they sure lived up to their stereotype with the report being extremely detailed. She smiled as she headed towards the exit of the headquarters. The prisoner had been taken to a secured facility in Sparta, one of the unofficial interrogation locations not even members of government knew about. Plausible deniability, you had to love it. A car had already been prepared to take her to the facility. A few hours later the car would arrive.

(Sparta)

After riding through the gates of an officially privately owned facility the car would stop in front of an innocent looking mansion. The building was well outside of the center of the city and the gates made sure it could only be seen from the air, even if people saw it they would never realize wat truly happened within. Amalia stepped out of the car as it stopped at the door. One of the guards checked her identity and searched her.

"Welcome back ma'am" the soldier said as everything checked out, Amalia nodded and walked inside. Once inside the 'mansion' it immediately became clear it wouldn't be able to host anyone. The building was filled with displays, computers and military police. She walked towards one of the displays with several higher officers and intelligence agents around it. "Agent Rossi we were waiting for you" One of them said as Amalia looked at the screen. The light had been set on its maximum intensity and from the audiofile she could see it had been one of the more intense samples.

"Anyone talked to him yet?"

"No, we've placed him in the room as soon as he came here 18 hours ago you will be the first to talk to him. Be aware he is terminally ill and has nothing to lose. He might be less willing to talk"

Amalia nodded as she took an earpiece from the desk and left her mobile phone there. With a sigh she opened a door with her keycard and walked down, regardless of the isolation you could even here hear the screams played throughout the room. The most terrible sounds imaginable. Around the moment she arrived at the final door to the room where the prisoner was kept it became very silent. Likewise the lights had been toned down to a normal intensity. With a folder in her hand she walked in. It was a small room, a table and 2 chairs. Nothing else. The man was bound to a chair and had been denied access to water, food and sanitation since he had arrived. Without saying a word she sat down on the other chair at the other end of the table.

"Mister?" she asked, she had just noticed the German report had never included a name. She had made sure she wore no communist symbols and had been chosen because she had lived in the historical German parts of the Federation before they were handed over to the German government.

---

At the same time two different departments of the FIA were given permission to initiate operations. The department working with the Hellenic Air Force was given permission to commence Q-4 flights against the Federal Republic of America to obtain pictures proving their suspsicions. Likewise the Cyber Warfare department of the FIA was given permission to attempt to hack the registers of FRA harbors so they could obtain records confirming the transports satellites had noticed. However initially both operations had failed. The pictures from the Global Hawk were out of the ordinary but not good enough yet to be considered conclusive evidence of operations against Red Dawn. Likewise the cyber warfare department had failed at hacking the computers. While these two operations had initially failed they would continue in the future.

---

To aid the Hellenic Forces in their preparations two messages were sent One to Monaco and one to the Germans.

[quote]From: The Federal Intelligence Agency of the Athenian Federation
To: The Intteligence Agencies of the Germanisk Förbund

To whomever it may concern,

In line with our ongoing investigation into the mysterious weapon transports, which we believe have been moved to the Federal Republic of America, we would like to request information. We specifically would like financial records of the involved individuals and corporations in addition to records from German harbors which may have been used for the shipments. We would also like to request a complete overview of equipment and personnel lost in the recent incidents. Our thanks in advance.[/quote]

[quote]From: The Office of the Magistrate of Defense of the Athenian Federation
To: The Minister of Defense of Monaco

To whomever it may concern,

We would like to officially request permission to station an indefinite amount of forces from all branches of the Hellenic Forces to New Monaco for the time being. We believe to have evidence of preparations against the Athenian Federation and her allies by North American nations and the ability to use New Monaco as a staging ground would incredibly improve our position.[/quote]

[Sir Keshav IV]

[quote] ~CLASSIFIED~***RED***
TO: The Officer of the Magistrate of the Athenian Federation
FROM: HRH The Prince of Monaco

You have our permission to use New Monaco as a base for the time being. If war does not break out we hope your soldiers would leave the islands as quick as possible. If the Athenian Federation needs aid in any shape or form we are willing to help. The safety of the the Federation is our top priority and we will be there to defend it.

-HRH The Prince of Monaco

Albert II [/quote]

[Kaiser Martens]

"We are sending you a copy of Kettenheim Inc's receipts to an American Citizen. We are also sending you a copy of the material that "unexplainably" has been lost from our inventory at the same time. We have also tracked Kettenheim's shipping, however the lost materials cannot be found as they have been shipped under other names. We have many shipping between the West and Ourselves, so simply checking every single shipping would not work. However if at a later date the equipment surfaces in the West we might be able to look at serial numbers to confirm."

---

The prisoner has by now a black eye, and is seen taking a pill while Amelia enters. He turns his head and smiles a bitter smile. "You shall not pass...not to Vinland. They will now stand a chance. It is all too late. Too late." His voice is still very clear, and one can tell that it must once have been a very powerful one, but now, he didn't seem to have that much air available. In spite of decaying innerly, he manages to look proud.

[Centurius]

While the interrogation went on so did the spy operations.

Again a Global Hawk was launched towards the Federal Republic of America however this one would maintain an even stealthier mode and fly a different route this time to avoid partial pictures. Likewise cyber warfare teams from the FIA would again launch hacking attempts however this time using proxies in protectorates and open states.

[Centurius]

While almost immediately as the cyber warfare division had entered the FRA systems they would be countered the agents still managed to retrieve vital pieces of information which they transferred to secured libraries within the Federal Intelligence Agency. The files themselves would then be copied over a hundred times and stored in different databases throughout the Federation. A few hardcopies were made too to be kept in the Secret Library of the People below the Assembly of the People. The UAV flight had again been unsuccesful however and the decision was made to refrain from further reconaissance missions. Satellites would watch the FRA instead.

---

"Rossi, Geek squad got the records"

The message was a relieve as Amalia wasn't sure if she could get the man to talk.

"Let me help you, let me help your countrymen. You know the communists will kill them all if they get a chance. We can still keep the damage limited to a smaller group. Tell us how many men and their commanders you sent. We have shipping records and intelligence from your government. Help us help you"

The team upstairs would keep a close eye on the man's vitals and whether or not he was telling the truth.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Centurius

[Kaiser Martens]

"If."

That was all he said. He seemed to be exhausted, but continued to cling onto life. Eventually, the pill begins to kick into effect and again he seems slightly more energetic. Maybe he was being witty, maybe he just had no power left to spare a whole verbal paragraph.

[Centurius]

Amalia sighed. "We have experimental treatments that might be able to help you, I'd love to help you but as long as you aren't giving me anything they'll never let us transport you to a hospital. You do want to live right?"

[Kaiser Martens]

"I know about the treatments! They have them in *my* land as well. But I decided to let *my* cancer spread in order to stop yours. Now it is all too late. Anyone could tell you that. Now there is nothing you can do to keep me here. I have been chosen by the Valkyries."

[Centurius]

[quote][center][img]http://data.treksimming.com/hwslogo.png[/img]

[font="Times New Roman"][size="7"][color="#000000"][b]PRESS RELEASE[/b][/color][/size][/font][/center]

After months of negotiations Hellenic World Services and the Athenian government have secured an arrangement to transfer jusrisdiction within the Military Dominion of Antarctica to Hellenic World Services. At this time the price at which the transfer happened can not be disclosed.

In addition to this our personnel has noticed a lack of activity within both the former Vaahrok and the Empire of Antarctica. As such in line with our established policy of green development and the greater advancement of the world Ravenwood(a subsidiary of Hellenic World Services) has been tasked with assuming control within Vaahrok and establishing a protectorate in the Empire of Antarctica which shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Athenian Federation.

Another press release will follow in the upcoming weeks outlining our plans for the land and to establish our international position.[/quote]

---

As the press release outlined 5,000 employees of Ravenwood moved into the Athenian held lands and Vaahrok, another 1,000 were sent into the Empire of Antarctica to maintain security for the Athenian Federation.

Edited March 16, 2011 by Centurius

[Centurius]

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Athens 1 - Daily News Special Edition[/size][/color][/center]

Welcome to a special edition of Athens Daily News, today the nation is celebrating the 12 years since the end of the anarchy that cost so many people their lives. Regardless of the international conflict millions of people have gone on the streets to join in the many festivities that have been organized.

In both Athens and Rome the full Second and Third Armies respectively have marched through the capitals with showing some of the most modern equipment the Federation owns. With the noteworthy exclusion of the 3 different versions of combat armor.

[center][img]http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uBbfP6whLdc/0.jpg[/img][/center]

Likewise hundreds of official 'Parties for Freedom' were held throughout cities featuring famous music groups and perhaps most important to the youth. A lot of alcohol.

We will now switch to a live speech held by Her Imperial Highness Ariadne Notaras of Heraclius to a large group of youth at one of these parties.

[center][img]http://www.whoopsiedaisy.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/blake-lively1.jpg[/img][/center]

"My dear people,

Today we celebrate our independence, today we celebrate the fact that 12 whole years ago brave men and women liberated us from the warlords and anarchy and it brings me great joy to see that our brethern in the West, even though joining this great state later, have joined the festivities.

However today is not just a day to party, today we must remember the sacrifice made by thousands to let us stand here and we must remember to be prepared should this sacrifice ever be needed again, for independence and freedom are rare and valuable goods. Dozens of states have lost them and even more have the idea they have them while they really don't.

We, the Athenian Federation, have always fought for true independence of the workers and the people and it is our obligation to continue this. Even without Red Dawn in effect. For it is our duty to share the great rights we have enjoyed with all those who are in need.

Now please go on with your parties and enjoy your time but keep the sacrifice that was needed for this in your mind. We are Athenians. We are free. We will never fall."

*As the Empress left the stage a lot of cheering could be heard after which the camera moved back to the studio which gave more general news of the day*