Freiheit-Taigh Ur Meeting

[Sheridan]

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs for teh nation of Freiheit, whose name was Christoph Denenver. His famlil had been an important figure in Freiheit since it began, and now he was tasked with opening up relations with Taigh Ur, a Scottish nation to the South of Freiheit. His private jet landed in Stirling and he picked up his bags and walked into the airport.

He saw a limo with a few armed gaurds around it, the door opened as Scott Barrowman walked out of it...

 

[Taigh Ur]

Undersecretary David Lloyd was momentarily confused; apparently, the Freiheitian Foreign Minister was under the impression that he was Scott Barrowman. He smiled and genially shook his head.
"I apologize for any confusion," he said, extending a hand, "but the Foreign Secretary is waiting for you in Stirling Castle." That same castle stood in the distance behind the Undersecretary, atop a large hill, half-obscured by fog.
"I am Undersecretary David Lloyd, and I would be your welcoming committee." He opened up a limo door and gestured within. "Won't you step inside? The Foreign Secretary is most anxious to meet you."

****

Secretary Barrowman sat with a tumbler of Scotch in the Drawing Room of Stirling Castle, tapping one foot at a rapid staccato. He was anxious to meet Minister Denenver, to say the least. In truth, he was extremely nervous; it was his first foreign summit as Foreign Secretary, even though he had been serving in the office for a year. As a Stirling MP, he had survived the last election with little worry, but this meeting scared the hell out of him. He took another drink of Scotch to calm his nerves, letting the warmth spread through him.

There was a swift knock upon the Drawing Room door. Barrowman stood as an aide opened the door to reveal Minister Denenver, along with Undersecretary Lloyd. Barrowman put on his most official airs; he was dealing with a militaristic society, after all. He gave a curt nod to the Undersecretary.
"Thank you David. You are dismissed."
The Undersecretary returned the gesture, turned on a heel and retreated down the hall.
"Come in, Minister, and make yourself comfortable." He indicated the couches with a hand as he moved to the bar. "Care for a drink? Taighan Whisky is some of the finest in the world."

 

[Sheridan]

"I would love some, thank you." said Denever.

"So Mr. Denever let us begin the discussion." spoke Barrowman after having some whiskey poored for Denenver.

"Yes of course. Freiheit has a large Coal industry. However, Freiheit does not have a large amount of Oil. So we propose a Free Trade Agreement." Denever took his first swig of the Taigh Whiskey, which was extremely strong. He missed the Freiheitian Ale back home as he took another drink."

"That sounds like an excellent plan. Maybe we could get our other neighbors in on this agreement." said Barrowman as he fidgetted with his thumbs.

"Yes Freiheit has begun such talks with the Scotlands, however we have yet to recieve a reply to our messages. I am sure we can extend this agreement once they reply."

 

[Taigh Ur]

Barrowman noticed the "whisky grimace" on Denever's face after his first sip of Scotch. He should have realized it sooner: Freiheitians were clearly a beer culture. He immediately relaxed inwardly; there was, in his mind, no such thing as an intimidating man who couldn't handle his whisky.

"I apologize if our whisky is a little strong. I should have asked whether or not you wanted it neat." He swirled his glass in his left hand while sinking back into the chair.
"As for this free trade agreement that you're proposing, it would be absolutely fantastic; that is, it would be if we still used it. We are, and have been now for some time, an Oil Nation." He leaned forward in his chair.

"What it sounds like to me is that your nation relies heavily on a fossil fuel that it doesn't have much of. How lucky for you, then, that we have an abundance of fossil fuels. What's unfortunate for us is that you don't seem to have much of an Oil Industry." He paused for a moment to take another drink, relishing the smoky flavor.

"How well supplied is your power grid?"

 

[Sheridan]

"No no the whiskey is fine." said Denever... although he knew there was no point in lying becuase it was obvious that the Scot knew he thought it was disgusting.

"Our power grid is actually suffering a little. Especialy in the more densely populated areas such as St. George and Freistadt. What are you proposing in exchange for our Coal?" asked Denever as he set down his whiskey, silently vowing never to drink Taigh Whiskey again.

 

[Taigh Ur]

Once more, Scot took a drink. Negotiations can be quite fun, he thought to himself.

"Actually, if you'll allow me to be blunt for a moment, we don't have much interest in your coal. What we do want from you, however, is investment. Allow me to explain, if I may."

He produced a small remote from his suit jacket pocket and pressed one of two buttons on it. The lights dimmed and a projection of the two countries appeared on the wall behind Barrowman, right where Denever could clearly see it.

"Most of our energy plants are located on the southern peninsula, so we can't export electricity directly to you; at least, we can't yet. What we can do, so long as you are in agreement, is build two new, medium-sized, oil-fired power plants in Freiheit, which should ease the burden on your power grid. We are also breaking ground on a new solar farm in the North, which could allow us to export electricity to you directly in the future, but that's still a ways away. We would be contracting this job out to one of our energy companies, so you would not have to worry about direct control of part of your energy grid by the Taighan Government.
"What we want from you in return is the revenue generated by these plants. Whatever the serviced population is paying for the power from the plants goes to the company in control of those plants. In addition, since the oil that we would be bringing in would be used by a Taighan company, there would be no import cost to you. To offset that loss of profit on our side, we would ask that you invest 15% of the projected cost of the new solar farm into the project.
"This proposal, should you choose to accept it, will go a long way in developing the futures of our two countries' energy industries."

 

[Sheridan]

Denever thought for a moment. It did seem like a reasonable deal. Then he looked at the projection for a few moments.

"This sounds like a great deal, however I have one tiny suggestion to it. If your private company allows The Freiheit government to purchase both of the oil-fired power plants once we gather enough funds. You see in Freiheit we have a policy that the government has control of all the power for the country, so this may upset the people a little bit. However I do like the sound of the Solar Project, and Freiheit will gladly give 15% of the funding to this project."

 

[Taigh Ur]

They own all of the power facilities? Scot thought to himself. How terribly inefficient.

"Very well," he said, setting down his drink, "you may buy us out once you obtain the funds, but not a moment before; our nation cannot yet afford to operate on the promise of money. In addition, just so that you have full disclosure, you will have to pay import costs on any Taighan oil which you use to power the plants after they come into your possession."

He extended his hand. "Do we have a deal?"

 

[Sheridan]

Denever thought for a few seconds, maybe he could get another country to give a better deal. No, he thought, this deal feels right.

Then he shook the Taigh man's hand. "Yes, we have a deal."