Christian turned to his wife, "Ingrid, my darling, you have excelled yourself. This soiree of yours is truly amazing. You have managed to get the Iberians, Dutch, Italians, and Germans to forego their own New Years celebrations to come here. How did you do it?"
"Now now dear, we women don't give away our secrets so easily!" she replied, smiling innocently yet with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Ah, I think I suspect the hand, or should I say hands, of that 'Wives Club' of yours are somehow involved".
Ingrid took a step back and placed her hands on her hips "Mr. Ambassador, are you implying that there is some sort of devious scheme that I am involved with?"
Christian stepped forward, placed his hands on Ingrid's arms, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, "No dear, I imply nothing of the sort, I am merely stating a fact borne of my many years personal experience of the conspirator that I married!"
Ingrid brought the back of her hand to her forehead "You wound me sir, how will I ever survive", fighting to hold back the broad, captivating smile that had been the first thing Christian had fallen for about his wife.
Christian laughed openly, and as he composed himself, said "Ingrid, you are incorrigible! Now shall we go see to your guests?"
"OUR guests, dear" as she took her husband's elbow and proceeded into the ballroom.
Later that evening, Christian was seated in his office with the Iberian Ambassador, Colonel Pedro Sanchez, and Captain Rolf Forsberg of the Loki.
"So what can we do for you Arturo?" Christian inquired of his biggest chess nemesis.
"We would appreciate some assistance from the Danish Navy, and in particular, Captain Forsberg and Loki".
Christian looked puzzled.
"If I may Ambassador?" Pedro inquired of his Ambassador.
"Colonel Sanchez will explain our request, Christian. He would be more informed to answer any questions you may have"
Well, Colonel, please begin" Christian invited.
Thank you, Your Excellency. As you will be aware, Philippino revolutionaries have illegally landed on, and claimed the Paracel Islands as their own. We are planning an operation to remove them from the islands, by force if necessary, but we have run into a problem. Our amphibious assault assets are in Iberia, and by the time we can get them together and shipped to here, we will have passed the deadline we have issued for the revolutionaries to leave"
Rolf Forsberg interjected, "And you wish to use Loki to transport your men? Surely you have other transports that could suffice?"
"Yes Captain, more than enough, but they don't have the shallow draft of Loki, nor their own set of fast launches!" Pedro paused before continuing, "The main problem is the shallow waters around the islands and the reefs around them"
"Ok, I see where you are coming from, Colonel. But the STC's would not be able to carry more than about 12 men at a time." Rolf replied.
"We had planned on about that number, Captain. We were wondering if it would be feasible to replace your torpedoes with armour panels that my men could shield behind for the run to the beach?" Pedro inquired.
Well, I would think........"
Christian looked at his Iberian friend "Arturo, shall we leave them to it? They seem to have switched into 'planning' mode."
The two military men were deep in discussion as the Ambassadors stood to leave the room. Christian placed his hands on their chair backs, "Gentlemen, please stay here and work out a provisional proposal that you can put to Admiral Bluhme, who is due here later".
"Now Arturo, shall we return to our wives before they manage to talk us out of our jobs?" Christian fought back a smile.
"Madre de Dios, did we leave them together?"
Arturo laughed as they closed the office door behind them.