Time: as the Bzerne forces are leaving Deriess Island

There was clearly more wind now. A faint rustling could be heard from outside the windows, and further out, the breakwaters seemed to take quite a beating from the increasingly higher waves.

Derrns Kappsaty, minister of defense, had just taken his seat in one of the conference rooms in the old arsenal of the Essela Base. This was a briefing that he had requested, and only a handful people had been invited with a security clearence level high enough to take part of the information that would be disclosed. The Sedunnic supreme commander General Maks Fejellienn sat next to him and on the other side of the table sat the speaker of the parliament, Gety FLutslok. Lieutenant general Mikel Bydallu, commander of the Joint Forces Command, stood bent over his computer, looking for the right port to connect the projector to.

"Finally", the lieutenant general sighed as his presentation appeared on the screen.

FROTOM VIK, "TOP SECRET", was written in red, bold letters. Bydallu spoke up.

"The government has requested this meeting to discuss Scenario R-2b and a possible implementation of Duet Trerdalul. I'd like to welcome the defence minister and the speaker of the parliament."

Bydallu pushed the right arrow button to show the next slide.

"In Scenario R-2b, the Reizen Civil War escalates by large-scale foreign involvement and support for opposing sides. The risk of another Great War-scale conflict increases significantly. The government has ordered the drafting of a plan to severely reduce the fighting capability of the RIM and thereby possibly end the war before it escalates further.

As requested, in Duet Trerdalul, or Operation Musical Cartography as it will be called in Austral, the risk of Sedunnic and civilian casualties is minimal."

Bydallu pushed the button again. A map and a numbered list was shown.

"The operation begins, as you know from previous briefings, with a massive barrage of cruise missiles and the equivalent launched by the air force that will be conducting cover drills near the Reizen border. Over 200 fighters will take part. In this revised plan, a naval battle group located south-west of Rezen will also take part, as will the 1st artillery battalion.

They will all target the RIM's medium-range anti-aircraft equipment, known headquarters, airbases and critical infrastructure. Our special forces will assist. We expect total target saturation. The airforce and the battle group will operate entirely out of reach of the RIM forces.

As requested, the revised plan now also includes preparation to deploy the airmobile brigade and forward-basing fighters.

A cost estimation is appended to this presentation. We have also included the status of our remaining supply of cruise missiles. As you know, we haven't fully resupplied since we provided the Erinorans with a... respectable amount during the Serevan war.

Questions?"

Kappsaty nodded.

"Thank you, lieutenant general. Do we still have secure contact with the WPR and RDC?"

The supreme commander spoke up.

"Yes."

"Good. For this to work, we need to contact the right people and make them agree on returning to the non-aggression pact, together with the Frost Empire. In return we offer air supremacy and a hopefully an end to the war."

The defense minister stood up.

"Thank you gentlemen. As previously agreed, we will let you know 30 hours in advance if we intend to activate this plan. This will be all for now."