Seref Games

Colonel Jane Aondi, a member of the Special Military Intelligence & Logistics Echelon, had been flown to one of the Kingdom’s new airbases in the Indian Islands Province before boarding a transport ship that made way for Chinese waters. The ship and its escort stopped outside China’s territorial waters and a message was relayed to the civilian government ashore, requesting a formal meeting between the two nations.

At first, the Executive Yuan had reacted with confusion. What exactly was "The Kingdom of Victoria", and why did it just send such a relatively junior officer with no diplomatic position to speak of as an envoy to the Republic?

A few minutes of consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the foreign nationals who were already turning up in Guangzhou brought elucidation, trepidation, and after receiving some description of what had happened not long ago to the formerly Ugandan city of Kampala, a combination of panic and bravado.

Some of the more belligerent members of the Democratic Socialist caucus wanted to scramble the air force and blow the Victorian flotilla out of the water. Most of the Democratic League members wanted to deliver a firm, but polite refusal. China had already dealt with one militarist, bomber-happy regime headed by a supreme crowned head and attendant cult of personality this century and that had already been one more than ideal, thank-you-kindly. Only some of the Guomindang deputies counselled actually receiving the envoy, which naturally elicited the accusation that of course the right-wing militarists would love to talk it out with people as deranged as they were.

In the end, the debate went nowhere. So the Republic's first fully democratically elected government did what it did best.

It delegated to the Military Affairs Commission.

In the end, the Victorian ship was directed to dock at Changzhou Island, near the site of the newly re-opened Central Military Academy. There, Colonel Aondi was greeted by a dozen-man honour guard, the Academy brass band...

And the Head of the Military Affairs Commission himself, who waited at the foot of the pier with his characteristic field cap and greatcoat as the Victorian envoy stepped off the gangplank.

"Colonel Aondi? General Sun Liren." He snapped off a parade ground salute as the guard presented arms. "Welcome to the Republic of China."

Colonel Aondi and a small contingent of Victorians disembarked from their transport, dressed in the dress uniform of the Kingdom. The Colonel's uniform decorations gave her a rank that was much higher than the title of Colonel would have implied. The Victorians looked curiously around at the Chinese welcome, but otherwise stood relaxed and friendly.

Colonel Aondi herself returned a salute and spoke to General Sun, "Queen Catharine al Victoria sends her greetings and congratulations on your recent reunification efforts. Now that you've reached the sea, she thought it was only right that we reach out to you. I believe that China and Victoria can be of mutual benefit to each other."

Sun Liren thought back to the brief he'd received regarding Victoria. It had made for interesting reading, and he would have been lying if he'd said that he wasn't at least intrigued. A former British colony turned into a great power by what very much seemed like the force of will of one woman.

A pity he'd already sent off Major Zhang to Romania. He imagined she would have gotten along with this Queen of theirs quite well.

In the meantime though, Victoria was his problem, at least until the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actually learned to start doing their jobs without running to the first uniform they saw.

"Before we begin in earnest, I should probably offer a word of warning." the General replied. "The Republic's previous experience with foreign powers has been... unpleasant, to say the least. The people have a running habit of seeing any new arrivals as potential colonisers," he passed the Colonel a meaningful look. "I'm sure you could sympathise."

He stepped to the side, motioning for the Colonel to walk with him towards the tree-lined paths of the academy grounds.

"This government has a lot to prove, both to those it considers potential predators and its own people. I would very much like to establish friendly relations with your country Colonel, but I'd caution you and Her Majesty against pushing too far too fast."

"Ha!" The Colonel gave a short, bitter, laugh. "Yes," she said, "I understand that view of outsiders. I can assure you, though, that we have no territorial interests outside of Africa and the Indian Ocean." She walked alongside the General, her hands folded at the small of her back. "Queen Catharine is unifying our own land, and ensuring that no outsider sees us as easy prey. As you said, we can understand each other. We do what we do to protect our people from the deprivations of those who would take our land, impoverish our people, and destroy our culture.

"In the meantime," she continued, "trade is what Victoria is interested in."

"Then trade is something we'd be happy to offer, Colonel," General Sun replied firmly. "The objectives of our respective governments seem very much the same. So long as they remain so. I have no doubt that it shall be very easy to remain on good terms."

“Excellent,” the Colonel said with a smile on her face. “We in Victoria have found ourselves in the unenviable position of drinking more tea than we produce. It’ll be good to have a trading partner who actually produces proper tea. For our own part,” she continued, “our engineers and construction Houses are quite experienced in repairing the damages done in wars of unification… And of course, perhaps once we establish a firmer friendship, your nation might appreciate some of our military supplies.”

"Truth be told, it's been a generation since Southern China was at peace, I mean a real, lasting peace," the General replied, with a look that was half satisfaction and half worry. "It's made us forget just how much stuff two hundred million people can produce - not just tea; but steel, coal, machine parts, rice, furniture and half a hundred other things. With reconstruction moving at the pace it is now, it'll only be a few years before all these factories will need new markets, just to stay solvent."

Sun Liren looked out into the distance, across the grounds, where a section of cadets were practicing the process of bounding overwatch, with one fire team covering the other as it moved up. Every few moments, a leather-lunged NCO would shout something over a bullhorn: that Cadet Xi was now a casualty, or that Cadet Liang had just found a second enemy position with a field of fire covering their objective - bellowed testament to the idea that if a thing could go wrong in combat, it would.

"There's also something else," the General continued. "The army that fought the Japanese in Burma, it had an East African division with them, as part of the British Army. Many of its soldiers are still alive, and came from places now part of Victoria. I am sure many would be looking forward to the idea of going home, if your Queen would permit it..."

"More goods is good for us, to be honest," Jane said with a slight shrug. "Our people have secured a great deal of wealth for themselves, and are looking for ways to use it to make their lives better. And of course, with our control over the Indian Ocean, we can offer you better access to trade routes as your economy expands."

Colonel Aondi paused briefly in contemplation, "I think that Queen Catharine would agree to allow those individuals to return to Victoria. We'd need to have them renounce their membership in your forces, and they'd need to find membership in one of our Houses. I suspect that Her Majesty will want those soldiers to remain in China until they've been vetted by our security apparatus and have received authorization to return. I trust that won't be an issue?"

Control over the Indian Ocean, yes, there was that...

Sun Liren tried not to let the worry show on his face. The brief from Foreign Affairs had also included a brief report from the Juntong, and that intelligence had made less than comfortable reading. Even if China and Victoria did establish cordial relations, Victorian moves in the Indian Ocean would still put most of China in range of the strategic bombers that Queen Catharine had proved so eager to use.

"Of course, we'd expect your own government to set its own conditions for repatriation, however..." His brow furrowed. "While we have no issue with requiring East African troops currently in service to retire before returning, they have fought alongside us for a very, very long time. I would feel that it would be ungrateful of us not to pay them some form of pension for their service. I don't suppose we could come to an agreement regarding that?"