21.6.2014
I am well aware that in my previous entry, I had mentioned the fact that I held a glaring question that I intended to ask Herr Big or anyone else from Seal Team Six who would call today, but now I must admit, I have forgotten what question that was. All I know that it was a very urgent question, not in terms of time, but in terms of its implications. I can only hope failing to remember it will not have grave consequences in the future.
But first, the chronology of the events of today. The most important order of business for today were the series of phone calls and emails I made and sent and received in regards to both an emergency European Union meeting and an emergency convening of the United Nations. Now that the situation in the Netherlands has somewhat stabilized, I have been in frequent and regular communications with the rest of the leaders and major politicians and cabinet members of governments across the continent. We will gather here in Berlin in two days' time for the emergency European Union meeting, and we will convene in London two days following the EU congregation.
The news of the existence of ship girls, fleet personnel, naval personnel, whichever the proper designation for them is, has truly shaken the governments of Europe, with, of course, the exception of England. The other "exception" is Italy, but because the existence of the Italian ship girls has not been revealed quite yet, Italy has made no statement, but because many other countries in the EU have raised questions about Germany's and England's possessions of fleet personnel, the fact that Italy has not joined in on the discussion quite like the rest have will undoubtedly raise eyebrows on many a politician in the EU sooner or later. Gernot has even taken time to phone Marco to tell him precisely this, and Marco has stated he is already well aware of his situation in context to his own ship girls. We all know that Italy will soon join us in the triumvirate of countries who possess a fleet of ship girls, but understandably, Marco wishes to make this knowledge public at the most opportune time. Being not only his counterparts and political allies but also his friends, Gernot and I understand his sentiment wholly. If we could have had the opportunity to avoid this kind of situation, we would have, but...such is the way of politics in this day and age; not many things happen in the world of politics that can be viewed as wholesomely good or beneficial.
But back onto the topic of the emergency meetings: both of the emergency congregations planned for this week will, not surprisingly, address the new threat of the Abyssal terrorists and, perhaps the bigger issue on the table here, the possession of fleet personnel. Personally, judging by the communications that I have been holding with my colleagues across the continent, I say the latter topic is the bigger issue of concern that will be discussed because in the emails and phone calls I have made and received, the first things they ask me all are in regards to our ship girls somehow. I know that they are all restraining themselves from pouring forth a deluge of questions regarding them, but they cannot because they must save it for our meetings. I do not look forward to those meetings because of this reason. Mark my words, these meetings will be less about the protection of our continent and our people and more about how they can either seek to gain fleet personnel of their own to bolster their own navies or to restrict our usage of them.
Perhaps it is only because of my lifelong career in politics and jaded nature when it comes to dealing with my fellow European colleagues, but politics has never changed and nor will it ever change: human beings will always strive to help themselves before they look to provide help where it is sorely needed. When they do act to provide aid or act in the interest of everyone, typically it is only because they know that they themselves or their own countries will benefit enough to warrant their cooperation. And if cooperation is not deemed worthy of their time, they will simply act to degrade those around them to prevent other nations from becoming too "strong" in their own eyes. I am not saying politics is a dishonest career; it is just that honest men and women have no place in a career or a field of expertise like this.
And, of course, Gernot and I are not honest people. How do you think we have the positions and offices we have today? I suppose our silver lining is such that we are more honest than the vast majority of our colleagues...but this is politics, that is not saying very much at all. How should I say...we merely strive to do what we feel is best for our family. And now that Retia has entered into our lives, family has become much, much more important.
I also contacted Sir Sinclair. He informed me that he would also intend to join us at the United Nations meeting in Parliament, being the one in charge of organizing the German-British joint training program at Rosyth Dockyards and being very highly ranked in the echelons of MI-6. I must make note that Sir Sinclair does not subscribe to the definitions of ordinary politicians that I have described above - perhaps it is because he is not actually a true politician, rather merely an officer belonging to a renowned and prestigious British counter-intelligence agency. But I digress - he also informed me that the training program with the ship girls would have to be terminated early due to the incident of the Abyssals attacking the Netherlands, and our girls would be sent home early, ahead of schedule, tomorrow. In the context of the incident of the Netherlands, I agree with Sir Sinclair and am thankful for his consideration, though I do wish that the girls would have stayed longer to train just that little bit more, for it is what they would have wished. However, now with the additional, secret context of the impending arrival of American - well, I should say, Japanese - ship girls whom we will receive soon, I am now actually quite glad that our German girls will be coming home early, so that the Japanese ship girls can meet them and get to know one another.
Sir Sinclair has asked me to keep this between us: according to his agency's surveillance operations underway in the continent, he and his colleagues have discovered that all of the major countries in Europe are beginning to mobilize and bolster their coastal defenses and navies. French warships are now beginning to more actively patrol the French coasts, as are Spanish and Portuguese warships. The same applies to Poland and Russia, most particularly Russia, but we all rather expected that development; the Russians preparing for a possible war against the Abyssals comes as no surprise whatsoever. Generally speaking, he said, all countries with major coastlines in contact with any major body of water has been mobilizing their militaries and navies in response to the attack on the Netherlands - necessary and understandable precautions, given the scale of the incident and the huge amounts of property damage dealt. Sir Sinclair stated that while the mass mobilization of naval forces across the continent may seem understandable at first glance, he himself saw this as a sharply increasingly glaring point of concern for the main reason that the Abyssals may not only be a naval threat; he expressed concern that the Abyssals may have a land contingency as well.
I personally could not see eye to eye with him on this matter. I cited the attacks on the Japanese naval bases earlier in the year; all of the Abyssal strikes in Japan had been naval attacks. If the Abyssals had prepared a land contingent or even had one in mind, would they not have attacked a land target by now? This is the third major, public Abyssal attack in the world so far - how many more would they carry out before attacking an inland target would be viable? That being said, though, I did agree with the general notion that perhaps a land attack must also be guarded against, for I mentioned to him the Hanover Massacre that occurred in Germany not long ago. Sir Sinclair knew what I was talking about; he, through his own communications with Seal Team Six, learned of the existence of covert terrorist organizations like the A.A.H.W. He told me that while he had no solid evidence to support his claim, he would not be surprised if we were to find out that the A.A.H.W. would be behind all of this. The mere fact that they are so mysterious, without any tip-offs from Seal Team Six, is evidence enough to point to them as the culprits behind the Abyssal attacks - and this is further bolstered by the fact that other well-known terrorist organizations have not ever stepped up to claim responsibility for any of the attacks so far, whether it be the Hanover Massacre or the Abyssals'.
After my phone call with Sir Sinclair, Gernot and I returned home again with Retia. Retia has very clearly grasped the sense of "home", for she has started to become very lively and jovial when we leave the office and the Reichstag and drive back home. And when we do return home, she eagerly begins to toddle about in the house, tripping and falling a couple times because she has only recently discovered her ability to run. After such a long day at the office, just the mere sight of seeing our daughter learn how to run around the house is enough to bleed off all the exhaustion and stress. Why would I need a stress relief ball when I have the pleasure of watching my own daughter bring me happiness?
But as foretold, shortly after we arrived back home tonight, we received another call from Seal Team Six; this time, it was Frau Lauren, with whom I may or may not have spoken with before. She gave me the itinerary of the arrival of the Japanese fleet personnel: they would arrive either late at night tomorrow or very early morning two days from now at Berlin Tegel Airport. Surprisingly, apparently they will be arriving via a civilian flight, and Frau Lauren explained that this was to keep their presence a secret from standard military forces in Germany; their presence here apparently must be kept a closely guarded secret for as long as possible from the Japanese government, from whom they have taken operational authority. From Tegel Airport, a private shuttle would be arranged to pick them up and drive them to our home. Not only did Frau Lauren give me their itinerary, but she also emailed me the profiles of all five girls who would join us here, profiles that contain their names and other personal information.
Then, Frau Lauren, asked that I do my best to look after these girls and ask our own German ship girls to do the same. The nature of their deployment here to Germany is apparently dampening their spirits - quite a bit so, for as Herr Big mentioned to me yesterday, they had expected to return to Japan shortly after they had completed their trans-Pacific voyage to reach Seal Team Six, and they were extremely disappointed to learn that their developers had now ordered them to deploy elsewhere, this time practically halfway around the world. They would be homesick, unhappy, and unmotivated, and it needed to be our responsibility to make sure their needs were tended to.
That we will do without question. If these five girls are our hope of answering the Abyssal threat here in Europe, we will make this their home away from home if need be.