Summoning India: Bhaarat Samman

Chapter 7- The Calm before The Storm

15th June 1639

Conference Room,

Embassy of the United States of America.

Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

Dick Celeste, the Ambassador of the United States of America to India just finished off his third cup of coffee of the day. While he was aware that he had to limit the scarce resources of even items like coffee, the teleportation event saw him spending every waking moment trying to allay the fears of the American citizens who had been stranded with him, his staff and United States Forces-India. All that, while still trying to maintain the influence the US wielded with the Indian Government before the teleportation event. Suffice to say, the Ambassador's workload didn't seem to be letting up.

After finishing his coffee, Celeste quickly made his way to the conference room for the meeting he had been scheduled to attend. As he entered, he noticed that he was the last person. Already present was Milton Bearden, the New Delhi Station Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Admiral Howard Steward, the military attache attached to the US Embassy. The two men were equally as tired as him, something that Celeste could clearly see as he took his seat. Of course, there was no place like home, and the loss of it reminded them all of what really mattered. While it was easier to maintain discipline within the US military personnel, the same could not be said for the American civilians themselves.

As he took his seat, he noticed all looking equally as tired and stressed. Everyone wants to go home, however, that home is no longer around. It has taken everyone leadership and influence to prevent a panic within the ranks. Easier said within the military. However, the US citizen population has no such discipline.

"So gentlemen, what's the news today?" Celeste asked the two men.

After a beat, it was Bearden who answered first. "We finally have managed to take full stock of all our military assets in India. You already know about our drone and U2 program here."

"I'll get to that in a second. Do we have a final count on American Citizens trapped here?" Celeste asked.

"Forty-five thousand." Bearden said. "Depending on where they are, they are either coming here, or are going to the Consulates at Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai."

"The Indian Ministry of External Affairs is being overwhelmed. Not only us, but every country that has a Diplomatic Mission over here is constantly contacting them and trying to secure their citizens." Admiral Steward said. "Other Departments of the Indian Government are also stepping in to assist the MEA, but it's clear that at least for a few months there is going to be a communication bottleneck."

"Then there was the issue with the Soviet snipers as well." Celeste remembered. "I believe we have another meeting with the Indians."

"We do?" Admiral Stewart asked, and the Ambassador nodded.

"But I have no idea what it's about." Celeste admitted. "Only thing they were stressing on, was that it was urgent."

A meeting the ambassador is not looking forward to. He is not used to negotiating from a position of weakness. Hell, more he thought about it weakness still means you have a position to negotiate from. He literally has nothing but the good graces of a foreign power. Something no ambassador has had to worry about since the birth of the nation.

Up to this point, the Indian government has agreed to provide food and other resources, but only in limited amounts, as they are going through their own economic crisis. Celeste has heard rumours from some contacts that some in the government and media just want to storm the US position and take everything to beef up security during this crisis. What kept any negative citation from developing has been Prime Minister Vajpayee, who reached out to him.