Queen and Country

[Subtleknifewielder]

[b]--------KEY--------

Public

[u]Classified/Secret[/u]

[/b][b][color="#0000ff"]Political/[u]Political[/u]
[/color]
[color="#ff0000"]Military/[u]Military[/u][/color]

[color="#00ff00"]Other/[u]Other[/u][/color]

[/b]OOC: More to come...just wanted to detail the key first (more to help myself than any readers) before doing anything else.

[Subtleknifewielder]

[b][color="#00ff00"]Adelaide: Next batch of criminals bound for Penal Colony[/color]

[/b]Today saw the departure of the fifth flight to the Antarctic territories. Since shortly after the time of unification, this colony has been used to house the most violent, and escape-prone of Australia's criminals, and this day's gathering was no exception.

Among the prisoners were slippery con artist and suspected kidnapper, Samantha McConnan; Rory Bracegirdle, who slaughtered his entire family for reasons as yet unkown; Harry Franklin, serial rapist; and Rachel Yewen, suspected of being criminally insane after poisoning her home town's water supply.

These, and others, will live out the remainder of their lives in seclusion on the frozebn continent, where escape from prison can mean only one thing--death.

[u][b][color="#ff0000"]Project Icarus[/color][/b]

[/u]Assembly of this defense is being masked by public expansion of current port facilities in Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, and Brisbane.

General knowledge will have you believe this infrastructural expansion is simply to accomodate an expected increase in naval capabilities, however, this misinformation was deliberately leaked in a manner to imply we were attempting to hide it. What is really happening is an augmentation to the remotely-activated minefields--further out, on the ocean floor, we are installing nuclear launch facilities that can, on command, extend up out of the water to releast their deadly cargo.
Alternatively, these payloads can be detonated underneath invading forces, denying them a beachhead.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Subtleknifewielder

[Subtleknifewielder]

[b][color="#0000ff"]Disappearance of[/color][/b] [b][color="#ff0000"]An Ally?[/color][/b]

Multiple attempts to contact the government of New South Wales have been for nought. The last feeler, the Queen's spokesman announced, had been sent one month ago. "We have yet to hear a response. It is therefore clear that New South Wales will soon be, if it is not already, in a state of anarchy."

"We cannot allow this," the spokesman continued, explaining that several hundred troops will be sent in to restore order, and additionally, attempt to ascertain what, exactly, happened. More details on this as they come in.

[b][color="#00ff00"]Lunar Dream a Lunar Reality![/color][/b]

It was publicly announced today that our moon facilities have been completed and are now online. For months, construction of the base and the accompanying colony and mine on the lunar surface have been kept a secret from the public at large, though the occasional rumor had circulated that 'something was up.'

The announcement from the Military Headquarters was greeted with enormous celebration throughout the Queendom.

[b][u][color="#ff0000"]Project Cyclops' Eye

[/color][/u][/b]This has yet to be implimented, but the idea on the drawing board is to scatter a series of monitering buoys through sovereign and international waters surrounding the nation. Officially, they will be an augmentation for meteorological monitering, and indeed, they can and will serve this purpose in times of peace. But in times when war threatens our shores, they should, theoretically, be capable of another purpose upon receiving a pre-programmed signal--that of a blanket jamming of all communications in the area they cover, disorganizing any invasion force and buying us time to react, whether in retaliation or for defensive purposes.

OOC: Public actions are free for IC commentary. Please direct OOC complaints to the appropriate thread in Open National.

[Subtleknifewielder]

[b][u][color="#00ff00"]Resource Stockpiles[/color][/u][/b]

Against the future possibility, however remote, of invasion by a foreign power, hidden stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, food, water, medical supplies, and other necessities are being created across the nation to keep any resistance forces strong and fighting-capable long after formal fighting is ceased.

[b][color="#ff0000"]Wargames/Drills[/color][/b]

The Queen has decreed that those portions of the military not already adhering to sound doctrine will be whipeed into shape. Every month will see a different section of the armed forces participating in active wargames and live-fire exercises for two weeks, to keep them in top fighting condition. Every four months the wargames will involve representatives of all branches of the military.

[color="#ff0000"][b][u]Air Force[/u][/b][/color][color="#000000"]

The wargames for the Royal Air Force will have an added degree of complexity. Due to the ever-increasing capability for stealth craft, capable of not only hiding but fooling those instruments created to detect them, the Pilots will also heavily focus on dogfighting--line of sight is sometimes the only way to combat the enemy.

[b][color="#0000ff"]New South Wales gone?[/color][/b]

Our expeditions into the territory of our longtime ally have proved fruitless...the Welsh leaders have apparently vanished without a trace, leaving it up to us to provide security to their people. Once that security is established, a plebiscite will be held for them to determine their future.

The same goes for the long-inactive Wilson's Promontory.[/color]

Edited August 18, 2010 by Subtleknifewielder