Austeren Leader in New Ireland and Wales

[New Ireland and Wales]

After a short walk the President and Versace walk into a dark room with screens on the front walls and phones lined up on the table. When the President walks in everyone sitting at the table stands up. Edwards walks to the table and says "Sit down" before sitting down himself. "So what's the situation right now?" he asks the Secretary of Defense speaks up "Well sir it's been a few hours since North Wales declared independence and already they have 15,000 troops lined up on the streets of Cardiff with about 40,000 militiamen have joined them. We have reports that an additional 10,000 troops are coming into the city. We have 28,000 of our troops within distance to start a campaign on the city tonight."

The President looks at the screens "Is Polacco still in Cardiff?" he asks "Yes, Mr. President." pipes up an old looking General who is the Chief of Staff of the Army. "Well send her a message for me. Tell her she has 3 hours to get out of the city before we start our military campaign. I don't want to kill her but if she's still in the city we might kill her. In the meantime get an additional 12,000 troops or militiamen to that location right now and get air support ready." Edwards says

[Austerain]

Versace listens to the officials as they brief President Edwards, then leans in and speaks, "Mr. President, do you remember the plan we discussed back in Austerain on extracting Polacco? Is this a possibility or would you like me to have Austeren Special Forces move in to assist? May I remind you, that we don't want civilians caught in the middle and have a human rights crisis on our hands."

[New Ireland and Wales]

"Thank you Madam Chancellor but right now we are not focused on getting Polacco right now. I think it would be too much to get Polacco and Cardiff. We are giving her a chance to get out and if she doesn't we won't intentionally kill her but collateral damage is collateral damage. What we are doing will be very targeted. " Edwards then looks at the Secretary of Defense and generals "Let's take out the city defenses outside and inside the city. Then let's fly planes over the city informing the citizens to get in their homes. We need civilian casualties as small as possible." he finishes

[Austerain]

"Very well then" Versace says, "Is there any way that Austerain could assist? I'm about to get in touch with my Defense Secretary." She pulls out her black phone.

[New Ireland and Wales]

"If you could provide any type of surveillance that would be most appreciated." Edwards says. "Sir, Polacco has left the city." pipes up the General. "Thank you. Begin taking out the defenses." Edwards orders

[Austerain]

As the General begins to put Edwards' order to action, Versace calls Secretary of Defense Warner and the National Security Intelligence Agency (ASIA, a wing of the ABI) Director Frankel to order them to have satellites over Cardiff, as well as surveillance aircraft miles above. After a few minutes, she hangs up and tells Edwards,

"We have satellites on Cardiff already, and a drone with eyes on Polacco's helicopter. CCTV shows her generals remaining behind."

[New Ireland and Wales]

Edwards nods "Thank you Madam Chancellor. I just want to have dominance over the area and don't want an surprises." the General looks at Edwards "Mr. President, the defenses outside the city have either been eliminated or are about to be eliminated." Edwards smiles "Thank you General. Keep surveillance and the military going. Please get me if anything major transpires. Madam Chancellor, are you ready to head up to bed?" Edwards asks

[Austerain]

"Austeren intelligence should be patching the feed through to your screens at any minute now," Versace explains. "Ah yes, it's been a long day. Lead the way."

[New Ireland and Wales]

Edwards walks out the room, holding the door or Versace. Once out the door he begins walking towards the staircase to walk up to the rooms.

[Austerain]

Versace nods in thanks as Edwards holds the door for her, and follows him to the rooms.

[New Ireland and Wales]

Edwards and Versace walk into a large common room with a large window at the front, out of which you can see the city. "You're room is in that door." Edwards points to a door "Goodnight Madam Chancellor." Edwards says before walking into his own room.

[Austerain]

"Thank you, Mr. President. Good night, we have a long day ahead tomorrow."

She admires the view before walking into her room and falling asleep to refuel for the next day

[New Ireland and Wales]

The staff wake the President, Chancellor, and Secretary of State up at 7 AM. Edwards gets out of bed to get ready for the day. "Mr. President" says his Secretary of Defense. Edwards turns around "Yes?" The Secretary coughs before speaking again "Cardiff has surrendered to NIW forces." Edwards smiles "Good. Good." He waits for Versace to walk out of her room "Madam Chancellor, Cardiff has surrendered. The city isn't ours yet fully though. We have some forces to push out and then we need to push the forces out and away from the city but this is good." An assistant walks into the room "Mr. President, they are ready." Edwards nods "See you later Madam Chancellor, Mr. Secretary." he says before walking out to head to Government Buildings to officially resume office.

[Austerain]

Versace comes out wearing a lapel pin with the flags of Austerain and NIW crossed, she's looking down at her briefing emails from back in Austerain. When Edwards tells her the news, she looks up smiling and responds, "Already? That's good news to hear this morning."

As quickly as Versace entered, Edward leaves for the Government Buildings to resume office. She turns to the NIW Defense Secretary and asks, "What is the progress with Polacco? Still in satellite view?"

[New Ireland and Wales]

Edwards nods "Yes, already. I'm fairly surprised by it." he then walks out to head to the Government Buildings.

Before walking out the Secretary of Defense looks at her "Yes, she is still in satellite view. She seems to be heading to a compound in the mountains so we are sending a plane to take it out." He then nods and walks out.

An assistant walks up to the Chancellor and says "Ma'am, would you like anything to eat or drink while you wait?"

[Austerain]

"Nicely done. Thank you, Mr. Secretary," she says as he walks out after Edwards. She turns to the assistant and nods, "A spinach berry-banana smoothie if those in the kitchen would be kind enough to make it, or a vanilla coffee if that is unavailable." Sinclair asks for an expresso as First Lady Asher comes out of her room dressed in a pantsuit instead of dresses as she usually wears. She asks for a glass of orange juice.

Mrs. Asher asks Versace, "Has Christina been taken care of yet?"
Versace responds, "Not yet, but they're getting there. She's on the move."
Mrs. Asher briefly scowls and sighs, "I hope justice can be served for what she did to my husband. I want her to suffer... within lawful limits of course.."
Versace places her hand on Asher's shoulder, "I know you do, Angelina, and we'll do everything we can to make sure she pays. For now, we have to stand in solidarity with NIW. They've lost a dedicated public servant as we have."
"I know," Asher says, "Once this is all settled and I can get through morning, it'll be time for me to get into public service back in Austerain."
"I've got that covered," Versace says smiling slightly, "There's an opening on the High Court. With your experience in law, I'm going to pitch you forth for the seat."

Mrs. Asher smiles upon hearing that as they sit down at a table to drink their morning refreshments.

[New Ireland and Wales]

The assistant nods and then turns to Edwards husband who just walked the room "Sir, what can I get for you?" Michael smiles before smiling "Ah just a cup of coffee and an english muffin please." He then sits down at the table overhearing the Chancellor's conversation "Oh we'll get her. I almost think Ted wishes he could get his hands on her himself. But he has too much respect for the law to even say such."

[Austerain]

The three collectively greeted Michael as he walks in with a "Hi Michael!" or "Morning!"

First Lady Asher says, "I wouldn't blame him. I'd honestly like to wring her neck out for what she did..." she chuckles and clears her throat, "But that's the job of the courts, if she makes it that far."

"Yes," Chancellor Versace says, "But we'll see." She sips her smoothie.
Sinclair gets a ping from his phone. He reads it, then looks up at the Chancellor, "Excuse me, Mr. Edwards, Madam Chancellor. I've just been notified that Vice Chancellor Vandercraft has safely landed in the Odd Republic for the Constitutional Summit."

Versace nods, "Well good. Hopefully nothing like the massacre in early March happens while she's there. How is her security?"

Sinclair drinks some of his expresso and says, "To say the least, enough to take down a small army."

"Good," Versace said as she turns to Michael, "How does NIW feel about the new SLU Constitution?"

[New Ireland and Wales]

"Good morning ladies and gentleman!" Michael says with a smile. He sits down and chuckles at the First Lady's comment.

"Ah well after Ted regains authority, at least publicly, he'll appoint the new Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade which I believe should be Jonatan Wright. He's from Mooreland and very intelligent. Anyways he and the Vice President will fly out to the convention but I believe we support it." he looks around the room "In a few more weeks this might no longer be our home." he says accidentally outloud

[Austerain]

"Well I look forward to meeting Mr. Wright," Secretary Sinclair says, "I'm sure the summit will be productive towards the betterment of the regional law".

At Michael's outburst, one of Versace's eyebrows arch before she nods remembering why. Concerned, she tells him, "Ted is still very popular here, Michael. I mean, I have more to worry about with my political future than he should. What is the campaigning like here?"

[New Ireland and Wales]

"Getting the nation to adapt to not one but two new constitutions will be fun." Michael says "Jonathan is a very smart man so I'm sure meeting with him would be productive."

"Ted's approval ratings are at about 60% but it'll go up before the election. However the party's might now. Fine Gael will easily win but most likely have to form a coalition with either Sinn Fein or Fianna Fail. Elections here can vary from day to day. They can get fiery like any other election but campaigning is honestly good. I think only about 40% of campaign funds came from SuperPAC's this last election. Now that's better compared to the election before that where 76% of campaign funds were from SuperPAC's. Hopefully one day that'll be at zero. Should be very soon."

[Austerain]

"It's good that you're moving away from the dark money in your political process, Michael," Versace says, "In his first term, Giorgio was able to pass strict regulations on dark campaign funds and increase transparency. Since then, Congress has been able to pass meaningful legislation and set fair regulations to the five building blocks of our economy to benefit all constituents. If President Edwards can keep working to do that and campaign on it, I think he'd do fantastically."

Angelina, sadly glancing at Versace at the mention of Giorgio, then tells Michael, "Heck, I'd be willing to campaign for President Edwards if it would help. Though it's unusual for someone of her position, I'm sure Sarah would publicly support his campaign too."

Versace nods, "Much better than the alternative choice."

[New Ireland and Wales]

"Well most major legislative motions are on hold for right now. But Ted is doing good in his fight against dark money. There's much left to do." Michael says

"Well thank you Madam First Lady. I will ask Ted and see what he thinks."

[Austerain]

"No one ever said change would be easy, nor happen overnight," Versace says with a smile.

First Lady Asher nods and says, "You're welcome, I'd be happy to do all I can to make sure that disgusting orange pig FitzGerald doesn't win the election."

Versace says, "Yes, I'd rather not have to meet him, much less work with him."

[New Ireland and Wales]

"Well I think that FitzGerald has screwed himself. But you never know. We must never ease off of him though." Michael says. Just then an assistant comes into the room. "Sir, the President's the motorcade is making its way back in order to pick all of you up for the luncheon." Michael nods and says "Thank you," then looks at the First Lady, Secretary of State, and the Chancellor "Ready?" he asks

[Austerain]

Versace nods in agreement, "Use whatever you have against him. Any dirt on him, questionable tax records, etc cetera."

After the assistant notifies Michael, the trio nod in unison.

[New Ireland and Wales]

Michael nods then gets up leading the group down the stairs to the front of the building waiting for the motorcade to arrive. When it does one of the security agents opens the door allowing for Michael and everyone else to get in. "Good morning again Michael, Madam Chancellor, Madam First Lady, Mr. Secretary." Edwards says with a nod and a smile.

[Austerain]

"President Edwards, good to see you," Versace smiles as she gets in with the others, "How did it go?"

[New Ireland and Wales]

Edwards smiles then looks out the window as the motorcade starts to move. "About as well as it could go. This crap with Polacco was at the top of the agenda. Thankfully Cardiff is back under our control. The assassination of Lt. Gov. Earnest was hard to hear about. It took about 6 hours for him to die after being shot. Imagine the pain. Things like this are why Polacco must be handled quickly."

[Austerain]

"It's a shame," Versace frowns, "What an evil, evil woman she is to assassinate a decorated statesman like Lt. Governor Earnest. It is good news that Cardiff is recaptured but what is the latest on Polacco's movements? Our intelligence services should still be providing satellite surveillance on her movements."