[b] The Republic of New Drakran[/b]

Much had taken place within the last hour. 

The Admiral of the New Drakran naval forces had resigned and a replacement had been named within forty minutes, resulting in the very much surprised newly named Admiral Draco sitting in front of President Kiue's desk, sweating slightly under the man's penetrating gaze. After a few moments of silence and just as he was opening his mouth to speak, the President started to talk. "It would appear that congratulations for your recent promotion are in order Admiral. I'm sure that you will serve our nation better then your predecessor did during his career... Considering how low he set the bar, I would have to have you executed for treason if you somehow did a worse job then he did. Tell me Draco, do you believe me to have a sense of humor?"

Draco blinked a little as he looked at the leader of his country, clearly caught off balance by the out of left field question. After a moment of trying to figure out how to word his response, Draco settled with "Yes?" 

Kiue nodded his head a little, a thin, tiny smile appearing on his face for a moment. "You are correct Admiral. I am known to have a slight chuckle every now and then. In fact, two hours ago I just received news that a new land mass had been discovered that was right for the taking. With that in mind, when I took the time to look at the current status of our naval forces, I had one of the best laughs I've had in years." The smiled dropped as his gaze turned cold and harsh enough that Draco was sure that it could have been used to pave a path of ice to this newly discovered land mass. "I'm sure you agree that our navy shouldn't be the punchline of such a funny joke."

Draco nodded his head, not daring himself to say anything. President Kiue's gaze thawed as his expression became more neutral. "Then you are already more qualified for the task then the former admiral. I am planning on starting a series of reforms to our navy since at this time attempting a journey to the new world would be little more then mass murder. Before we can begin, it is clear that will have three goals that need to meet; New ships for your sailors to use, training those same sailors and improving the public opinion on ocean travel. To help pay for these new reforms, I am selling our poorly maintained Galleys to a trading partner. While we await for the ships to be paid for and taken away, you are to have the crews of those ships to aid our shipbuilders in designing new, better and more advanced ships that we will start producing to replace the ones we've sold. As each ship becomes sea worthy, its crew will start training on it properly. The remaining ships of our fleet will undergo much needed repairs and its crew will start training on those until they are also sea worthy."

"We are announcing these reforms to the public as the 'Naval Phoenix Reforms', making it quite clear that the failures of the former regime when it came to our navy were so great that we've completely dumped the old naval system so that we can replace it with a greater one, starting with a fresh slate and erasing the mistakes of the past. As I am sure you must have figured out by now Admiral, this will be a sizable investment on my part. I hope for your sake that you don't let my generous offer go to waste. Do not let me detain you."

Completely speechless, Draco nodded his head in understanding before walking out of the office in somewhat of a daze. That... had not been what he was expecting.