King to King

[Odinson]

After meeting with the Council-of-State, and being very disappointed with how the meeting went, King Oskar went upstairs to his private study and sat back behind his desk. Through one of the windows in his office he could see white snow darting by outside as the wind howled. Thunder rumbled in the distance while Oskar tapped his finger on the desk before him. His own government was too afraid to even make a statement about what was going on in Belgium, and it was outrageous to him. Information had recently come in that the police were wildly shooting at unarmed protesters in the streets of Brussels. Let alone the absurdity that a communist government had somehow managed to take over the quiet, cultured state of Belgium. The meeting of the Council-of-State he had just walked out of was undoubtedly the most heated one that had occurred under his reign. Oskar had gone as far as to threaten to make a public speech making his views known, and urging the government to take action. The few Royalist members of the Council-of-State did their best to resist cracking a smile while the Conservative Party members felt very uncomfortable by a threat like that. The Prime Minister calmly told the King that they were working on issuing a statement on what was going on, but that they needed more time. Oskar, frankly, didn't believe Dr. Frost was telling him the truth.

He picked up the phone on his desk and made a secure call to his son, the Crown Prince, who recently returned from The Netherlands.
"Hello?" Enoch said.
"Hello son, it's your father. I know it's late."
"That's alright dad."
"You're not caught in that weather out there, are you?" Oskar asked.
"We just made it to Trondheim, actually. We're in the Palace now. The weather is getting bad here. How is it in Oslo?" Enoch asked.
"We have thundersnow, actually. It made me seem pretty dramatic in the Council-of-State meeting. You should have seen the look on Felix's face."
It sounded like Enoch was pouring a cup of coffee, or maybe tea as he replied, "What happened at the meeting?"

"Well," Oskar replied, "the government doesn't want to do anything about what's going on in Belgium. I think it's outrageous, I think we need to do something about it, if at least not say something about it... They have injured people - Belgians - taking refuge inside our embassy.. Did your meeting with the Crown Prince of The Netherlands go well?" Oskar asked.
"Yes, it did," Enoch replied.
"In the morning I would like you to call him and ask what the Dutch government is going to do about this. Can you do that for me?"
"He seems like the type that plays it by the book but.. yes, I'll do that for you. I'll give you an update, but dad.. Why don't you call King Gustaf? The government hates it when the world thinks that the Swedes are taking the lead for us."
"...That's a good idea, thank you Enoch. Tell Sophia I said 'hello'."
"I will. Take care."

Both of them hung up. Oskar picked up the phone again and dialed what he was pretty sure was the personal line for King Gustaf of Sweden. The call, of course, was encrypted.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

King Gustaf, sat in his office conducting his usual daily duties as the Head of State, would answer his telephone immediately upon ringing. It was unusual for his personal phone to ring directly without his assistant coming through to inform him of who was on the line, this naturally prompted the thought that this was a personal call, someone with the direct extension number rather than an external call that's been routed via the switchboard system. Carl lifts the handset and places it against his ear...

All calls from the Swedish Royal Family are encrypted and monitored by the Swedish Security and Intelligence Service.

"Hello?" he calmly chimes in a well-spoken Swedish accent.

 

[Odinson]

"Hallo King Gustaf. This is Oskar. I'm sorry for calling at this late hour... Have you heard about the situation in Belgium?" Oskar stated and asked concisely as he waited for a reply from his fellow royal.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

Carl leans back in his chair and stretches his legs out under his desk, glaring out the window into the cold Swedish skyline.

"Ah Oskar! Don't be silly, you can call me any time... Indeed I have. If I'm honest I have just finished a brief update from Fredrik, the Swedish Marshal of the Realm, whom has informed me of what's happening. It is most distressing to hear about such barbaric acts in the modern age, don't you agree?"

 

[Odinson]

"I agree entirely. I just left a Council-of-State meeting. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister must have explained the situation to me a dozen... You don't know about our embassy," Oskar said. "Our embassy has let in a couple hundred protesters, some of them were shot and many of them were injured. They've been granted temporary refugee status by the ambassador until we decide what to do. We may have to end up taking them to Norway, but I'm not sure what they're going to decide," Oskar noted has entered a period of momentary contemplation.

"But the situation at the embassy isn't really why I'm calling you.. It's.. Have you heard about what's happened to the Belgian Royal Family?" he asked.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

"Oh... goodness... Yes, you're right, I wasn't told about the situation in the Norwegian embassy. From my understanding the Kingdom of Sweden has no embassy in Belgium but rather a number of consulates, one of which being the Consulate General in Sweden which has had it's security heightened significantly since the, well, crisis." Carl sits up in his chair, the conversation being less than casual and turning into a much more serious subject of discussion.

"Honestly Oskar, I've had very vague details passed to me because as you know I'm somewhat too proactive for the governments liking. The last I'd heard as that they'd had all remaining power seized from them, is that right?"

 

[Odinson]

"They've had their power and titles seized from them, of course, as well as their property. They've also been sent 'somewhere' and are under constant surveillance. This entire thing smacks of the Russian Revolution... I want Norway to do something about this. Communism in Western Europe like this just isn't acceptable, it's outrageous. In that Council-of-State meeting they told me they basically had no plans beside making a stern statement. It got me so angry that I threatened to go make a public statement on my own. I wanted to ask you if you knew if your government intended on doing anything? I normally don't involve myself in politics like this, but I feel very strongly here, and I think the government is not reacting properly," he said.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

"I think my government is just trying to make it's position known; reinforcing our values and ensuring the globe doesn't see our region as a push-over. I am angered that these people think they can just dissolve a monarchy as if it were nothing, as if it were not held up with the foundation of historic value. Stefan, my Prime Minister, has been reluctant to allow for foreign deployment as he believes it will damage his political career promoting neutrality and some other rubbish. My ancestors would've beheaded the man by now."

 

[Odinson]

Oskar was silent for a few moments and then busted out laughing on his side. "The politicians today don't have any guts, I'll give you that. I wish they'd like me run the place for a month, a strong man could fix half these countries problem in that time," he said. Oskar just so happened to look over to a painting of King Haakon VII in his office and stopped smiling. "But Norway is a democracy, of course," he noted.

"I honestly was hoping that your government was planning on doing something. Any time your government does something, mine gets this inferiority complex and tries to compensate... I have a good bit of sway in the Royal Navy," he said, considering he technically owned the ships in it, besides the fact that he and his son both served in it. "We could both send a destroyer straight through Belgian territorial waters and see if they do anything about it. I reviewed the international laws of the seas, and it seems that we are guaranteed safe passage even through territorial waters as long as we are traveling in a straight line and aren't being antagonistic... At best they refuse us safe passage and we have to turn around, at worst we can at least take some pictures from the sea.. Do you have any better ideas?" he asked.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

"I am able to strong arm Stefan, I think he somewhat looks up to me. I think some form of deployment is certainly important in order for our Kingdoms to show that we do not suppose the unlawful dissolution of the monarchy - if we do intend to sail destroyers through their waters the extent of this phonecall needs to remain strictly between us and perhaps our top military officials."

Carl looks around the room before continuing.

"I don't think either of our governments would be best pleased to find our the King is getting involved in politics but I am proud of the crown. Proud enough to reinforce the crown in Europe."

 

[Odinson]

"Of course," Oskar replied. "This stays strictly between us," he said as he looked around his empty study. "Norway sadly doesn't have any spy aircraft, at least at the moment. So we can't do a flyover of Belgium. I could try to convince the Chief of Defense to convince my Minister of Defense to agree to a simple military exercise involving one of our destroyers, and a ship of yours. I imagine the Minister of Defense would contact your's; hopefully we can keep the ministers in the dark so they don't look too much into it," he said. "Does that sound acceptable?"
@Connor

 

[Connor]

Carl grins mysteriously "Well... Sweden has just purchased some U-2 spy planes that are, to my knowledge, just sat at one of our Air Force bases. We could involve these in our... exercise?"

"The Supreme Command of the Armed Forces and I have been very close friends for quite some time and he's been itching to deploy the navy since his modernisation program, it shouldn't he had to get this moving. I can keep this under wraps, at least until there's no turning back - this is our time Oskar, it's like being young nobles again isn't it?"

Carl shivers with excitement, making a quick mental note of the requirements.

 

[Odinson]

"Oh," he said. "That's perfect... It does feel well to be doing something more meaningful. The Chief of Defense is my friend, he'll let everyone think it was his idea.. I'll keep in touch with you if our plan changes. But I think these are some good first steps. Please call me back if wish to discuss this anymore," he said. If they had nothing else to discuss, he'd hang up the phone. Next he called the Chief of Defense and asked him out for an evening cup of hot chocolate. The Chief of Defense was both a night owl and a sucker for hot chocolate. From there, the plan would continue to grow.
@Connor

 

[Connor]

"Goodnight Oskar, I'll speak to you soon if I make any progress" Carl hangs up the phone and immediately summons the Marshal of the Realm whom will in turn call the Supreme Commander to his office.