By Jove, I'm in France!

[Michael McBride]

Upon receiving the letter from the Empire of France, the Board had been tossed into a little bit of a frenzy. Obviously, they couldn't send a computer with Ahab Napoleon on it, the jig would then be up. The executives had pressured Dobbs to go, but he had refused, knowing the head of a private company speaking for a government would surely arouse suspicions. Dobbs had appointed Weston Jove to go, handing him a story for Napoleon's absence. The youngest on the Board was now landing in Versailles, getting off a plane marked as from the Republic of York. Stepping out of the plane and into the crisp French air, Weston smiled. He knew that Dobbs had sent him because he didn't trust the others yet, and he knew that the trust of the most powerful man in the Republic meant one thing: it meant he could live.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The plane from the Republic of York landed at the Paris International Airport with great pageantry, Jove was received by a line of Imperial Guards, their swords raised over the head of the ambassador as he walked down the carpet ruled out from the plane. At the end of the line stood General Claire Delacour, Commander of the Imperial Guard, dressed in the white frock coat and tasseled helmet of her charge. She bowed at the ambassador and smiled as her head rose again. "Monsieur Jove, Her Majesty has been expecting you and we are looking forward to this meeting, it has been all the talk of Versailles. If you would just follow me, we can be on our way." She pointed to a limousine behind her and guided him towards it. Getting inside, there was a bottle of champagne for him along with one glass, as Claire shunned drinking while on duty. Minutes later they had left down the highways towards the Palace grounds, someways north of Paris.

After traveling through the countryside, the limousine saw the first of the long roofs and gilded windows of the palace and the iron gates that separated them from the entrance. Once inside though, Jove was given the sight of the full splendor and wealth of the French Empire. Pristine fountains, beautiful parks, and well dressed aristocrats lined the gravel walkways of courtyard as another man in a trim black suit limped down from the entrance corridor. He was short and had a bit of a hunch, with stringy gray hair on his heads. "Bonjour Monsieur Jove, I am Minister Charles Talles, Her Highness' Foreign Minister, she is waiting for you in the inner gardens, if you would follow me. General Delacour you have been relieved.

"Thank you sir." Clair saluted and turned away as Charles too Weston the rest of the way, through the palace and out into the small (if you could consider anything in Versailles small) private garden of the Empress. There down one of the gravel paths, Therese walked along with one of her ladies, who she then immediately dismissed. Her eyes sparkled a gentle blue, underneath a wide sun hat, and a long summer dress that dragged across the ground.

"Monsieur Jove." She held out her hand in greeting. "It is an absolute pleasure to finally see a representative make it from York. Though I have to ask, why was Mr. Napoleon unable to come? Not that I don't appreciate your visit, we have much to talk about to create a strong friendship with the Republic of York."

[Michael McBride]

The countryside of France was indeed beautiful, and parts of it reminded Jove of York itself. The flowing hills of the Finger Lakes, "Wine Country" as it was called, were very similar to this, although it was certainly not champagne or the fame that these French hills had. The palace itself spoke of European beauty and heritage... nothing like this existed in York. By the time the first settlers had arrived, the age of opulence and castles was past, they were merely trying to survive. Walking into the garden, Weston spotted the Empress. As she approached, he flashed his signature smile and offered a low bow from the hip, taking the hand she offered in greeting.

"Your Highness," he said, "an honor to meet you, at last. It is unfortunate concerning Mr. Napoleon. With all the stressors of starting a new country, he seems to have fallen ill, and the blood thinners he is currently on for his rising blood pressure... well, the doctors advise him not to fly currently. Hopefully he will be better soon, and will be able to make a trip to your lovely country." Jove smiled and rose from his bow. "He has, however, appointed me as his trusted adviser to speak on behalf of the Republic. A more formal diplomat would have come, but our government is still structuring itself so soon after our rise."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Therese gasped, her hand to her mouth. "My goodness, I'm sorry to hear that about Monsieur Napoleon and I understand about the sending of a lesser diplomat, if you can excuse such a ghastly title." She took him by the arm. "But there is no problem with your presence here Monsieur Jove, you seem quite friendly and I'm sure we will get along just fine. Would be be as gracious enough to escort a lady to her throne room so that we may begin our talks for the future of France and York?"

On the way however was when most of the talking was done, as Therese was in no rush to return to the dark corridors of Versailles, rather to stay out in the sunshine. "To be honest I do not know much about the Republic of York and even North America in general, besides that the entire continent is embroiled in a war that I don't quite agree with. But my ambitions Monsieur Jove, with the North America continent are quite simple. Place France at the forefront of American politics, with Tahoe's Anti-Colonialism policies pretty much destroyed, though it would appear that the United States might be on the run to create those philosophies again. I will not let that get in the way of creating New France. That aside, I think that the Empire and your Republic would be able to help one another out to secure French positions in the Americas and in return, I'm sure that you can think of a service that France would in turn required of."

"But that aside, please, I must know more of your beautiful country, especially considering that I tune into MediaCorp channels almost daily, them and the RABN, but I believe your network is one of our colony's best hope in North America to attracting a large population."

[Michael McBride]

Weston smiled, clasping his hands behind his back as he strode with the Empress back towards the Palace. "No offense taken, Your Majesty. However, in regards to diplomacy, you should mind that I am much more cordial and light-hearted spirit to talk to than Mr. Napoleon. The Director can be... how shall I put this delicately... ornery at times?" Weston laughed. "The good Director means well. It's just the stress of a new nuclear power right on our doorstep, signing treaties with everyone and their brother, both on the continent and world wide... the attitude is that we're going to be invaded any day now." Weston's laugh turned into a frown. "At least the football tournament is going splendidly... and I must say, Empress, I am quite impressed with how France is doing thus far."

"In terms of your ambitions, mademoiselle, I will say you will be hard pressed to place yourself in front of the United States. People wishing for something they never experienced, something so corrupt it fell at the first sign of a major war on its soil, not only once but twice. It is a shame, really. As far as securing positions for this "New France", that would be something discussed among the Board, and later the Legislatures, but I'm not sure it will be a problem. Many of the Canadian states have shown themselves to be... inadequate rulers of their domains. Supplanting them shouldn't be hard."

"With MediaCorp, well, I almost wish I had brought Mr. Dobbs along now, he could answer your questions about them better than I could. The Republic of York itself... I'd say we are a humble nation of only a few tens of millions of people, looking for survival now, and greatness later. We see MediaCorp as one of those symbols of greatness, along with our tournament. We hope to bring out more of them both in the future. Our landscape and climate is not too unlike yours, although our winters are many times more snowy. In terms of exports, mostly dairy, apples, agricultural products. We have a small but growing wine industry, and obviously MediaCorp."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"You know what Weston." Therese nodded. "I like you, I like you a great deal, the fact that the Republic of York would be supportive of France's expansion to North America and I believe that in the future, York and our Empire will have even better relations then what I anticipated before. As to the United States of America and their treaty blitz, it is no concern of mine. Treaties are nothing but slips of paper politicians hang up on their walls at night, but unless the friendship is sincere, the paper means nothing. If a nation requires that many treaties to survive, they are either very paranoid or have something to hide. Either way something that I may take the time to investigate later. After all, America's ambitions tie directly to France's given that we are on the same continent."

"However as to York's survival and greatness, I would like to see it tied directly to the Empire's own strength and expansion. We have plans already on the drawing board to encompass the weak and deteriorating Iberian States, the corpse that is the Western European Union is pretty much only France at the moment and I believe it requires French aid for stability and order to reign on our side of the continent. As well as keeping the East from getting ideas."

She stopped at one of the fountain benches outside of the doors of the palace. "We can talk out here, I'd rather anything than indoors, please..." Therese tapped the marble of the bench next to her. "Sit with me. I must ask you then Monsieur Jove, what exactly would York like to see in a relation with the Empire? After I have explained my own intentions, but surely yours are more definite then just survival and greatness, as those are things all nations want in their destinies."

[Michael McBride]

Weston had to hand it to the Empress, she knew what she was doing. She was playing her cards perfectly, attempting to get him to reveal exactly what the purpose of the Republic of York was. Weston knew it, of course, a media-dominated world where MediaCorp shaped public perception on issues how they wanted, how they saw fit. This would allow the Republic to place themselves where they wanted in world politics, in a way that the public could see favorable. Weston didn't know everything about the plan, of course. Dobbs was still playing many things close to the vest, including a reported "ace in the hole" that would not flesh out in detail. Weston smiled at the Empress cordially.

"Well, I'm sure anyone could figure out the first, Empress. To be the home of a media empire, the people's first choice for news, sports, and politics in the world. The second is something I'm sure every country wants, whether they admit it or not: domination of our continent, both politically and militarily. Needless to say we're behind the eight ball a little with the former simply due to our more... conservative approach to friends worldwide than the United States is."

"In terms of our relationship with the Empire, we need our own friends as well. Isolation serves no purpose if it means you can be jumped by ten nations at a moment's notice and no one will care because they are not allied to you. With that, we would wish to seek a military and economic treaty with France once our nations know a suitable amount about each other."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Well any media thrives on news reports anything to keep the world moving and the ratings up and you know, they say, he who controls information..." Therese chuckled. "They can become the greatest force that the world could ever fathom and think Weston." The Empress looked deep into his eyes. "France's imperial ambitions with your own media expansion, why we would make one hell of a force. As to York's entire domination of the North American continent, if Monsieur Napoleon is willing to work with France achieving her own footholds on the North American continent, much larger then the small island that we have now in the Arctic then I think we have found an accord."

"As to the military and economic treaties Weston." Therese leaned back on the bench, resting her head on her hand. "What would you like to know about the Empire? I'm an open book for the next few hours."

[Michael McBride]

Weston tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment before smiling at the Empress. "Well, your Highness, what are your ambitions for this Empire of France? Are your thoughts to expand to what the French Empire once was, or are you looking at something different? And also, what plans do you have, if any, to deal with the growing influence of the United States on the North American continent and their growing influence around the world?"

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"I hear a great deal about the United States these days, both from yourself, the Holy American Empire and a few others and in all honesty I have no real opinion on the people of the United States. Their recent diplomatic blitz involves nearly every continent at the moment, minus Holy American controlled South America. But France's relations with the United States of China have been improving of late. Now naturally if the United States serves as a barrier between French ambitions in America then we could run into problems, but I believe that France's influence on the continent is already quite strong. There is definitely a friendship between York and the Empire, along with a building one in Holy America, J Andres and in the Canadian Imperium. My primary concern would be those nations who have been much more hostile to the Empire's growth. The Eggman Empire in Greenland to be exact. So in all due respect, while the United States can place its nose in nearly all the affairs of the world, France pays it no concern. I don't see much to worry about them to be honest, just an attempt to secure their borders from ghosts that don't exist."

"As to France's Imperial ambitions that would be a case by case basis. Galicia is our target at the moment and there are plans in the future to secure at least Spain of the Iberian Peninsula, the other nations are either too small or allied already to create any hostility between themselves and the rest of the Empire. But as to MediaCorp, perhaps you can just cover it as the Empire expands. I'm sure that will do wonders for your ratings."

[Michael McBride]

"For MediaCorp's ratings, not our own," Weston said with a smile. There was still the issue of people thinking the media group controlled the country, obviously. "Is there anything further you'd like to know about the Republic? Any rumors you've heard you'd like to clear the air with or the like?"

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"No, I don't think that would be necessary Monsieur Jove. However what I would like to know is, can the Republic and Empire trust each other enough to come to each others aid militarily if times should worsen as well as help one another out economically. In essence Monsieur, is the Republic ready to finalize this relationship in a treaty or will more negotiations have to take place first?"

[Michael McBride]

Weston smiled. "At the moment, our military is not, what you would say, strong. We're currently drafting and training our infantry forces and special forces. In terms of equipment, we are still searching for equipment to buy from various nations, including aircraft and a navy. However, what I am saying Empress is this: despite our limitations in what we can do, we fight for those who are our friends and those who are loyal to us to the death. On that you have my own solemn vow."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Then I can assume that you would be allowed to sign for your government an accord of mutual defense and optional aggression. From that point I think that York and France can stress their friendship across the world. In any way we see fit of course."