On the Edge of the Law
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It was a sunny day in the capital city of Spain, even if there were some clouds in the sky that didn't make that Saturday a perfect day in Madrid. And even if the temperature was slightly similar to those that are registered in Summer, this excellent weather wouldn't last for long: tomorrow, a cold drop or Gota Fría in Spanish would go through the Iberian Peninsula and the weather would change drastically, something you couldn't expect unless you were a loyal follower of the weather forecast's broadcast. The Palacio de la Moncloa, the official residence of the Spanish President and the workplace of that high office of the Kingdom, wasn't far away from the city centre, so the weather forecast of Madrid could be easily applied to the Palacio de la Moncloa.
Still, the President resisted to believe it was going to rain on Sunday, as he had planned to go out with his family and discover new places in the Palacio de la Moncloa. But that would have to wait if he wanted that to take place that day, because the Istkalenian representatives were going to arrive soon. The Republic of Istkalen was the only country to impose restrictions on Spain after the El Rif's incident, which was the main excuse to celebrate the summit; but Aguilar wouldn't let the chance to know more and even entering a little bit on the recent conflict between Reitzmag, Vayinaod and Istkalen. He was obviously planning to meet with the Joint Transitional Authority for Istkalen too, but would the summit he had today make things more complicated?
The President's had already enough problems than those on El Rif, and he would add up a new one in just 8 days: The Commission Elections required his presence on the mostly likely to happen Jean-Claude Juncker's rally in Spain. He didn't know what city he would choose, because Juncker was always unpredictable, but he knew Donald Tusk, with whom he had a very tense but friendly talk a few days ago; and Juncker would expect the Spanish President to be there. Suddenly, someone entered the President office, while he was working on some law projects that would likely be refused by the opposition parties, as many other projetcs the Government proposed. Luckily for the President, his relationship with Ciudadanos was pretty good and he didn't need to worry about negotiations.
It was his secretary who entered the office, serious as always. Manuel spoke and looked to the President: "Mr. President, I have been informed that the Istkalenians are approaching the Adolfo Suárez - Madrid Barajas International Airport. Are you ready to go downstairs and wait for them?" Aguilar nooded and answered his secretary: "Yes Manu, I'm ready to go. Let me just review the whole summit agenda, it will take me just one minute." Once everything was ready, both went downstairs and the President awaited inside until the Istkalenian motorcade arrived.
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The Head of State had arrived. It had been hell, getting from the Urals to the capital without being seen; hell, to get through the city, to the tiny airport on the border, to get onto the plane, huddled over, covered by so many others; to hide, in a little secret compartment, through the flight, and to be thrown up and down as they arrived in Madrid.
But he had arrived, safely, and he had traveled, discreetly, to the presidential palace.
Ikomar greeted the President. "Good day, Your Excellency. Now, not to be too blunt, but we do have to be a little quick - if they find out that I am here, they may carry out reprisals. So, what are we here to discuss? The present restrictions? On that, the worry primarily is of terrorism, of course. If the grouping they have formed is known to be entirely inactive, we can of course remove them. Or is it something else?
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Aguilar greeted the President of the Republic of Istkalen and some photos that wouldn't be published because of the developing events at Istkalen were taken by the official photographer until they both took a seat in the various sofas of the Salón Tapiès. But before, the Spanish President shook hands with Ikomar and greeted him aswell: "Good morning Mr. Ikomar, nice to meet you and to welcome you in Madrid. I do understand your rush and your security concerns, but don't worry, the Spanish Intelligence Services are really good at not letting any clue. We will provide you a fake passport to re-enter Istkalen if you need to."
Both then proceeded through the corridors of the Palacio de la Moncloa while Jesús Aguilar described the several portraits and objects that could be seen in the way to the meeting room. After the last photos in the Salón Tapiès were taken, the service brought 2 glasses of waters and the Spanish President told Liros that he could ask for any other drink and even some tapas if he wanted. Then, the President handed a gift to the Istkalenian Prime Minister: "Before we start, Mr. Ikomar, I would like to gift you this book written by some revolutonaries when Spain had colonies in the other side of the Adventuranza Strait. They don't contain techniques to revolve, but to resist the brutality of the occupation Reitzmag could pull. They are mostly peaceful, but there are some I strongly advice you to avoid."
After that, the summit could start, and Aguilar carried out the responsability of starting the conversations between the both head of Government: "Mr. Ikomar, today I have summoned you here to talk about those restrictions, to get a deeper and closer look to the ongoing situation at your country and of course, to sign some kind of deal to offer your country some support after the Joint Transitional Authority for Istkalen, which representatives I'd like to meet soon; is gone. As you might understand, investing where Reitzmag has some power or control is risky and the enterprises from all around Europe are aware of such a risk. This situation could risk your country's economy, so I want to hear your opinion on the matter aswell".
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Ikomar politely refused the food and drink. He spoke:
"Thank you for the book. Regarding the current restrictions, again, we are very concerned, still, about the present situation in Spain. Again, if we could get an assurance that this "terrorist band" is not active, we will be very willing to drop them."
"The situation in my country is far more complex. Legally, we genuinely do not fully understand what exactly is going on. The documents we signed are vague; the previous government claims, although it is not substantiated, that they were not even shown them until significantly later. Everything, one could say, is confused."
"Otherwise, we have received some genuinely concerning testimonies regarding the nature of the occupation. Many women have alleged mass rape on the part of the troops of the Coalition, mostly in areas of the countryside on the border. We have not been able to substantiate these claims yet; however, we do generally believe that they are true.
"In some of the documents we have been told we signed, there are calls for deindustrialization, along with a demand to hand over total control of our resources to the occupiers for what appears to be an unspecified amount of time. We believe that Reitzmag is planning to exploit these for profit; given that no one will be willing to do this, we are genuinely worried that they will force labor. There are also clauses which say that the J-TAI will have power over Istkalen until it is "satisfied," which we are worried about, to say the least."
"If this comes about, we do not believe Istkalen will ever recover. Its economy will be wrecked; with the levels of hysteria, so too will its people. This would trigger panic and violence at a hitherto unseen level; society will not be able to be repaired for years."
"Finally, as for a future economic agreement - what interests Spain most? Cobalt? Rare earths metals? Uranium? Timber? Or something else? I'm sure we can come to a - let's say skeleton - of an agreement - of course it will need to be finalized after the end of the occupation."
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Aguilar listened carefully to the Istkalenian Prime Minister's words. He knew he would try to sell the J-TAI was the bad side of the history, but he didn't expect him to criticise his own people aswell. Nevertheless, the President didn't expect to hear those claims concerning the Istkalenian women. After Ikomar finished, the Spanish President replied:
"When it comes to Spain, this "terrorist group" which pretends to form a state south of the Strait of Adventuranza along with the locals living there is no longer active. One of the Kingdom's major guarantees is protecting other nations expecting correspondance when a threat for our country is found on the other. Spain is committed to that and will protect Istkalen from terrorists when it comes to its range of action.
Anyway, moving on to the complex situation in Istkalen, I think that's something that comes up with the Reitzmic colonization pact. The same you mentioned to me, like the Instrument of Surrender, happened with Copala City when Icholasen and Reitzmag signed the Treaty of Buckingham: a vague treaty full of legal loopholes and many other sections that could be interpreted in other ways than the original one. I would like to offer myself to end with this messy documents, and to invite the J-TAI representatives and yourself to Spain in order to mediate for once and all. Of course, I would try to have the Commission present on the mediation aswell. Reitzmag is certainly a country not many should trust, honestly I don't trust Simon Bridges enough to assure he will respect your metals or will not force labour. Power usually corrupts great leaders, and Bridges is just losing his mind as we speak. He believes he still manages an Empire, or even worst, he wants to have the Electric Boogaloo of the Reitzmic Empire.
The problem with the Joint Transitional Authority for Istkalen is the presence of the Vardics. I'm pretty sure the Vardics aren't committing those awful crimes next to the border, that they are not raping innocent woman like if they were on the 19th Century, because Vayinaod is a pretty socially advanced country; still I couldn't say the same about the Reitzmic soldiers. As you might understand, we are willing to prove those claims are true if that's the case, but we don't have any nationals living there, nor we are willing to send spies right now as it would be dangerous. The only way that could be proven would be via the EU resources.
Finally, we are interested on Cobalt, Rare Earth Merals and Uranium, apart from some of your typical products that could be sold here if they go through the health ministry checks, which I personally think they will. We really want to help Istkalen to be back on competition."
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"We will, of course, then be dropping all restrictions on Spain. We also accept your invitation, although we are not sure if the J-TAI would do so. Regarding the crimes - we again do not know if they are true, although we are inclined to believe so. Investigations are still underway on our part, although we are of course limited, to an extent, in what we can do. Finally, on the minerals - I will have to discuss this with the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly - we could offer a slightly subsidized price, although I think, again, that an agreement on this should only be conducted upon the end of the occupation. Would you like me to draw up some sort of draft agreement regarding this? I'd prefer not to have one written, of course, for legal reasons, but if that is desired, then that is fine."
The Kingdom of Spain