Adressed to the Council of Zoners

[pbrione]

Conference room, Bethlehem Station.

The Zoner governing chairman of Bethlehem Station was looking distinctly flustered as he ushered the Bretonian Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary into the conference room aboard the station that Mr Nichols had prepared for them. The Libertonian delegates were also around, but besides the hosts from Bethlehem Station there was no sign of any official Zoner representatives. An aide came up to the 2 Bretonian politicians and handed over a copy of a transmission from Mr Nichols. OSI had left the Council of Zoners. He would not be turning up to the signing ceremony.

Mountbatten frowned and glanced across at Canning, muttering, "First Malaclypse, then Holiday and now Nichols as well? What the devil is happening here Charles?"

Lord Canning smiled, "They're half anarchists George, we should really have seen it coming. But seriously, my reports suggest that delegates have been leaving the Council in droves. Until they elect a new Chairman, there is little hope of us receiving any official representative with the power to represent the Council."

Mountbatten reached across the table to where the official documents had been layed out ahead of the ceremony for signing, and pulled them towards him. Firmly stapling the Zoner Laws and the Foreign Law Enforcement Treaty together into a single document, he scrawled his signature at the bottom on behalf of Bretonia. "There," he said, flinging the document back into the centre of the table, "we've done our part, I'm not waiting here for weeks whilst the Council makes up their mind to send someone to sign this damn thing. If anyone wants this treaty, they can come here and sign it be they the Council, SHIZL, or just random Freeport governors. But if we don't have a signed, ratified Treaty deposited at our Embassy two weeks from now, just tell whatever remnants of a Zoner governing body you can find that the deal is off."

The two men walked out of the conference room back to their ships, picking a handful of hors d'oeuvre from the buffet on their way out and leaving the combined treaties lying on the table, bearing the signature for Bretonia only.

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Sir Stanley Nelson




<span style="color:#000066">Charles Canning </span><span style="color:#000066"> Foreign Secretary</span>