Gallia and Rheinland have been mired in diplomatic negotiations for years, slowly grinding their way towards the Treaty of Oerlikon - a free trade agreement that would represent a sweeping overhaul of their economic and security relationship. In recent months, there has been promise of a breakthrough on a number of difficult issues that were blocking progress, including the unrestricted import of raw material and alloys into Gallia, and agri-exports and Consumer Goods into Rheinland.

In a final effort to push the Treaty over the line, Rheinland has gone on a diplomatic charm offensive, proposing a state visit to the Gallic capital, Il-de-France.

The Gallic Union eagerly accepted the offer, seeing a visit by Emperor Frederick von Albrecht as a potential propaganda coup both domestically and abroad. Rheinland meanwhile is looking to project an international image of strength, stability and solidarity, attempting to reassure trade partners that the divisions and bloodshed of the Civil War are long past. Despite this, Rheinland’s Consensus Government remains dysfunctional and the Gallic Union rife with Royalist sympathisers; details of the convoy’s route and departure time were quickly leaked to a number of hostile groups.

The Rheinland Military, Gallic Navy, and intelligence services will be providing an armed escort to the convoy's flagship as it carries the Emperor to Gallia. The convoy will also be accompanied by three Rheinland Diplomatic Corps liners (sponsored by Daumann, Kruger and Imperial Shipping). They are carrying the Minister of Trade and Industry, corporate delegations, and elite trade negotiators. The Minister has been relegated to one of these transports following a falling out between the Emperor and the Imperial politicians who originally schemed to place him on the Throne. The Emperor now prefers to spend his time surrounded by Military sycophants and toadies.

It is expected that the convoy will face heavy resistance from the outset. A chance to embarrass - or worse - the Emperor of Rheinland is an opportunity that many groups will not be able to pass up.

The diplomatic convoy to Gallia could be considered nothing less than an outright disaster. Despite a significant armed guard consisting of elements from both the Rheinland Military and Gallic Navy, the convoy came under heavy and sustained assault almost immediately. Within Rheinland itself, Bundschuh fighters inflicted early casualties on the Emperor's escort, although they were unable to penetrate the perimeter to the RNC Burghausen or the diplomatic attachment. Despite calls to abort the mission entirely due to the security lapse, Military commanders were determined to press on.

In the Alsace Passage itself calamity truly struck. Hordes of Wild fighters and fearsome Scorpion drones rushed the convoy, suicidally intent on bringing down the diplomatic liners and flagship. The defenders were appalled by the Wild's inhuman tactics, as fighters threw themselves into the engines of enemy capital ships, or used their own hulls to absorb torpedoes intended for Scorpion Drones. Despite dozens being destroyed, the Scorpions carried out their deadly work, chewing through the armour and detonating the reactors of the liners Datteln and Niederaussem.

As emergency search and rescue units across Cologne and Zurich were scrambled to rescue survivors, the convoy was forced to push on into Champagne - it was far too late and far too dangerous to contemplate turning back to Rheinland. Finally in Gallic core space, the delegation received a brief reprieve. Marne's orbit had been cleared in preparation for arrival, although the radio waves were still filled with the clamour of protesting industrial workers on the planet below. Upon arriving in Ile-de-France, the procession came under heavy attack once more, this time by Maquis terrorists.

The final liner carrying the Trade Minister, Baron Tobias von Hueber, was dramatically destroyed in New Paris orbit. Struck by several Maquis suicide bombers, the liner broke in half and began to fall into the planet's atmosphere. Local Gallic emergency services rushed to recover escape pods, with the Minister himself rescued in a critically injured state. The remaining Maquis attackers were scythed down by the Paris defence grid, and the remnants forced to flee. Seemingly oblivious to this chaos, the heavily sheltered Emperor bumbled his way through an arrival speech, seemingly insulting his hosts at several points.

Military officers and the shellshocked handful of negotiators who survived the journey are now working around the clock to try and mend relations and put the mutual benefits of the Treaty of Oerlikon at the forefront of discussions once more. Gallic officials are sure to use the Emperor's gaffe as an excuse to extract more favourable conditions, to the Rheinlanders' chagrin. The Treaty's ratification in the coming weeks is almost a certainty - there are too many credits on the line for it to be otherwise - however Rheinland will now be negotiating this critical phase stripped of its most experienced specialists.

Regardless of the political manoeuvring, however the issue is framed, this procession has been a humiliating debacle for both Houses. Gallia, already suspicious of its own intelligence apparatus, has purged several senior GNI officers and commissioned an inquest into the leaks that facilitated the attacks. Rheinland for its part has already made preparations to bolster the Altenberg's squadrons and deploy the MND with an objective of tracking down and exterminating the lairs the Wild had emerged from.