SNS Giacomo Costa
5:30PM
"CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!" said a voice out loud, as Captain Giorgio Falco made his way to the front of the bridge. A mere few minutes ago he had received confirmation that the fleet was approaching the territorial waters of Alssahra, and quickly walked to the bridge to see those famed sandy beaches for himself. He was beginning to lose himself admiring the coast when someone next to him approached with a phone, a call from the Admiral.
"This is Captain Falco."
"Captain, you will know now that we are approaching Alssahra. Our orders are to guard the surroundings of Alghana Al'ard and dispatch the River Group to support the defence of the city. There will be a coordination meeting with the Alssahran High Command -perahaps also with allied militaries-, so I will need you and the other captains to accompany me once we reach the capital."
"Sir" asked Falco "will our orders include offensive operations north of the capital?"
"They might well be, Captain. Our ultimate goal is to restore Alssahran's territorial sovereignty." some voices could he heard in the background, the Admiral apparently turning to listen to whatever was being said "I understand. Alright, we are making our final approach. I will see you once we disembark, Captain."
Palazzo Cerveleri
5:45PM
"Madam Speaker, our Royal Navy is making its final approaches to Alghana Al'ard as we speak. I am receiving regular reports from Admiral Prezzo regarding the status of the operation, and coordinations will the Alssahran High Command are already underway to determine how all allied militaries will share in the defence of the capital. I must thus dismiss the criticism levied by my honourable colleague. Ours is most definitely not a blind undertaking."
Senator Salucci rose, just as First Councillor Valerio took his seat, and addressed the presiding officer. "Madam Speaker, I am most proud of our Royal Navy, and have nothing but the utmost respect for their professionalism, but the nature of their mission is vague at best. We have heard the First Councillor say just how that coordinations are still underway to determine how our military will interact with others. Why did these coordinations not take place prior to us deploying our fleet? Must this Government rush to conflict, endangering the lives of our valiant soldiers, while lacking a coherent plan to keep them, where possible, out of harm's way?"
Valerio shook his head, partially agreeing with Salucci, but politically unable to concede like he would prefer. "I share the concerns of my honourable colleague, but the reality of war is we rarely have the benefit of hindsight, nor can we always determine how a situation will unfold. We certainly had a plan for a possible war between Sach'aqa and Alssahra, but it was beyond our foresight, or that of other powers for that matter, to anticipate how fast the invading forces would move. This Government is committed to bringing our soldiers home safe, but it we are to do that, we have to stop arguing about what we could have done and instead focus on how we can work together to ensure our military strategy is well devised and executive. That is the importance of our ongoing coordinations with allied militaries."
In his mind he imagined the worst possible insults for the Sach'aqans, for making him debate military policy with Salucci.