High Administration, Department of Warfare
Emergency conference, 20 minutes after the attack
The administrators of the various parts of the Feniexian Forces, the Generals under them, Fay Celen and the Emperor himself were silently sitting in the conference room in one of the higher floors of the Citadel. Eventually, Navy Administrator Lenneth Case broke the silence. "If I might explain the situation. The SS Bell was sunk about 90 sea miles away by submarines. As we speak, multiple Cyclone ASW helicopters should have reached the attack site to follow and engage the submarines; one cruiser was also dispatched, since the scanner indicates that the submarine was extremely large, and might pose too much of a threat for some helicopters."
He took a short break.
"Usually, if such things happen, I would not call for the rest of the Administration or the Emperor. The reason for this conference however is the identity of the attacker. Ladies and gentlemen - the submarines were clearly identifiable as Canadian vessels. Their signatures and submarine classes matched exactly, as did their comm frequencies."
Again, silence. Then, after a few seconds, Fay Celen began speaking. "Maybe a false flag operation? I don't think the Canadian Empress would authorize such an attack. However...the Empress no longer has power over Canada. Their new Lord Protector, King, reigns supreme over the Canadian Empire since the last elections. So, how would you say we should response?"
"The submarines should be hunted down and forced to either surrender or be destroyed, before we do anything other." Case stated. "Also, I advise to activate the reserve forces and national guard, or at least, bring them in battle readiness. Also, we should switch from Defcon 2 to 1 now; we might have to expect further attacks soon. But also an very important issue is the defense of our territory on the southern continent. We cannot afford to lose it, especially with a large part of our forces there. Especially important would be to move more support vehicles to District 16. According to my informations, most aircrafts have been drawn back to our mainlands after the war was over; also, we only have about 4 ships there, two of the Zumwalt class, one being an aircraft carrier, and one being a heavy anti-land warship. Sending aircrafts to District 16 should be no problem; we have enough airports there and our planes don't need long to reach the southern continent. But to get ships over there, we would have to break through the naval barrier the Myrorians informed us."
Clearwater and Akira nodded; no complaints.
"I agree - but what I will also do now, is open up diplomatic contact to Canada. They were our allies in many wars; we defended them in the Dysaniian and the American wars, and also, we brought peace to them in the civil war a few years ago. I have to speak to the Empress." With those words, Emperor Cordre ended the conference, and then entered the communications room next to the conference room, where he called for Empress Alia immediately.
