“Well, oftentimes, those who are afraid but keep pushing themselves forward are the strongest. Because they are able to overcome their fear to achieve greater good.” Müller states, “I have heard of Athena, especially with regards to the war. She was an admiral if I’m not wrong?”
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“Yes, one of the youngest in the nation. She joined the navy at age 16, she wanted to continue the family tradition. First a pilot, later she switched to a officer, and at the age of 25 the youngest admiral in recorded history. She is both brave and smart, shown by her commanding the fleet during the war and personally leading the naval invasion of Thermopetri. I am incredibly proud of her, as much as a father can be.”
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“That’s great to hear. As a fellow father I could relate, it feels good when our children are able to achieve great things.” Müller states.
“Speaking of children, do you have any other besides Athena?”
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“I have a son too. He’s called Constantine, after general Androu. He makes a fuss every now and again but is a good son, of course I’m proud of him too. He’s debating between joining the air force or studying aeronautical engineering. He loves planes, especially fighters. Me and Athena plan to surprise him for his 16th birthday by having him fly in a Nychtopterix, and not just any one, but the cerulean beauty, the same plane Athena used to fly in. I can imagine how happy and excited he’ll be.” Antonides smiles for a moment, “can you tell me a bit about your children?”
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“Well, I’ve had two children so far. The first one is Michael, he’s currently in his third year of elementary school. While my daughter Amelia will be one year old soon.” Müller answers with a smile. “I see that we have the same amount of children to content with. While Michael isn’t much of a troublemaker, he does have his ways of making elaborate schemes. He actually worked with my sister and her husband to surprise me and my wife on our anniversary, which was really heartwarming.”
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“That’s so sweet, children truely are a joy. There’s been so much time since my children ware that young. I still remember 13 year old Athena being mad that she was about to get a brother.” Antonides laughs, “She always had that bossy, militant attitude, but was always kind towards anyone, tho she does have some anger issues.”
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“They are indeed.” says Müller with a smile. “Speaking of which, will we be seeing Athena at the submarine development site?”
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“She should be there, i asked for her to come to explain the submarines to you as she can do it a lot better than me.” Said Antonides
Around then they arive at the site. It’s disguised as a hill because of it’s secret nature. They are given clearance to enter.
As they enter they’re approached by a guard.
“All electronics are forbidden from entering inside the development area, especially cameras. I would like you to hand over your cellphone and any other electronics you might have on you” he said.
Antonides does so and turns to Müller joking: “No leaking today friend, we don’t want to end the conspiracy theories just yet”
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“Of course, the train of conspiracies is still miles away from the next station” Müller joked as he gives his cellphone to the guard. “Well then, lead the way, Mr. President.”
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Antonides nods and leads Müller trough a door.
As they enter they see 2 submarines in the room, one larger than the other, with technicians working around them.
“Welcome to the haunted house” Antonides joked, referring to the name conspiracy theorists gave the submarines.
From the side, they’re approached by a female figure.
She is wearing a naval officer uniform with a admiral’s hat, with multiple medals being attached to it.
“Good evening mister chancellor” she says, “I am admiral Athena Antonides, it’s a honor to meet you.”
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Chancellor Müller extends his hand to Admiral Antonides, “The honor is all mine, Admiral. So this is where all the theories and conspiracies were born.” Müller joked.
Looking around in the haunted house, Müller was captivated by the ghosts in question. “Tell me, Admiral, out of these two, which one did the internet caught on camera?”
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“that one”, she says and points to the bigger submarine, “the Scylla class. It was testing it’s launch capabilities using a dummy ballistic missile. It is intended to be the main ballistic missile submarine of Thalapadis. It’s mostly based on our cruise missle subs, the hydra class, but has some upgrades and additional stealth features”
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“I see. In terms of its capabilities, how does it fare compared to other submarines?” asks Müller to the Admiral.
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“It is a modern, state of the art submarine equiped with all the newest technology we can give it, so it’s more than comparable with most curent gen submarines currently in service, or at least definitely superior that the hydra class. A lot of the tech that’s now on it can be retrofitted on the Hydra on a later date too, so when it’s time to do refits there’s a good possibility of a “super hydra” being developed using it. The development of nukes really gave us a playground to experiment with new submarine tech.”
Athena said. Her voice was calm and calculated, very analitical sounding. Athena is the kind of officer that researches all the equipment available to her very deeply, getting a good understanding of it’s limits. This deep understanding of her equipment, as well as serving for at least a short time in every branch of the military is what got her to where she is now, the youngest admiral in thalapadian history.
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“I see. I must say for such a seemingly small country, Thalapadis seems to pack quite the navy.” Müller stated. He was impressed by the two Phantoms of the Cordilian Sea right in front of him. “Although, seeing the state of Pacifica, and in particular Cordilia, I’m not surprised if Thalapadis would like to keep such a powerful navy around.”
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“it is on the world stage quite a anomaly, “said Athena,” but looking closer it is only logical. Island geography leads to a naval culture. Naval culture leads to advanced in seafaring. Oppression leads to a sense of natuonal pride and a strong determination to keep your freedom. Add to that strong militarism developing under the Rykapadian monarchs and the navy only seams logical. The discovery of lithium and smart management of it gave us the money to punch above our weight class, and so we are doing. Our defensive doctrine lays on 2 pillars: intimidation and domination. These two submarines perfectly represent that. The first one is a nuclear submarine with great stealth and equiped to launch nuclear ballistic missiles. That’s the intimidation, war with thalapadis threatens nuclear weapons being used. The second submarine is a stealth attack submarine, made to be virtually undetectable while packing quite a punch, meaning that anybody thinking of attacking the islands would need to worry about major and expensive ships being sunk. That’s the regional domination. Because of our size we invest in quality, not quantity.”
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“That is something both our nations share, I see. We too emphasize the quality of our work rather than the quantity. Nevertheless, it remains impressive still that Thalapadis has been able to pull above its weight.” Müller stated, “however, seeing some of the neighbors of Thalapadis, namely one near the Padipeirou that I’m sure you know about, I wouldn’t be that surprised.” he further added.
“Though, in terms of national security, what is the biggest threat to Thalapadis sor far?”
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"Well, as the civil war only recently ended a threat of rykapadian ultranationalist terrorism still exists, it’s unlikely to surface any time soon but as long as any Neufolk kingdom leadership exists the possibility of something similar, tho on a smaller scale, to RIM can surface. That’s why hunting down Van Mathis and eliminating him is high priority now.
In terms of foreign nations, we got our neighbor across the strait, Humania. Tho seeming truely and utterly incompetent the fact that they have nuclear weapons is threatening. Izaakia and the Frost empire seem to be somewhat antagonistic, but aren’t any thereat, they are neutral.
You asked quite a interesting question councilor you asked, and I’d like to ask it back. What are the main threats to Weissertein’s national security?
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"Weisserstein’s current main focus is regional stability, especially in center-east Cordilia. This brings us into conflict into several groups in the region, namely Elbonian separatists in Sugovia, insurgents in both Losavra and Pastrala, as well as other dangerous armed groups. There are also states that seek to undermine regional stability in Cordilia, such as Humania and other, in particular one of our neighbors. We work closely with Sugovia and Ikaranara in maintaining stability in Losavra, especially since spillovers from Losavra into northern Sugovia occurred.
Outside of Cordilia, we work with several allies, such as Pelinai and Jakub, to maintain regional security and stability. Jakub in particular has the Molician insurgents, which we view as a threat to stability in Crabry.
Outside of that, there are other states that our allies view as threats such as Izaakia and others, however we don’t view them as a threat in particular." Müller stated.
“These days, rising instability is more than enough to be considered a national threat I’m afraid.” He further added.
OOC note: the neighbor being referenced isn’t on the map yet, me and Sugo have plans for his third plot. The neighbor in question is a reference to that plan
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“Indeed, the world is getting less and less stable by the day sadly, so we need to work to fight for it. The wellbeing of your neighborhood is your wellbeing too, you’re part of it. You need to secure it from inside and outside threats.” Said Athena. She paused for a bit.
“Any more questions about the submarines you want to ask chancellor? This is a rare chance to learn all you want about our future naval capabilities. If not then we can move on to the hq of Thalapadian aerospace industries, to see the future of thalapadian aviation. I’ll be accompanying you there too.”
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