The Workaround

[Odinson]

Private​

In Washington, shortly after the conclusion of the meeting between the President and the Australian Prime Minister, Aiden Hawkins arrived to the White House. He was destined to board an aircraft to Turkey in less than two hours. However, he had pulled a few strings so that he would be able to meet directly with President Sinclair and Secretary Adams in the Oval Office before he departed. Hawkins was a long-time employee of the Foreign Service and the State Department. He had served as the United States Ambassador to Turkey right before some of its darkest times in modern history, and now he was destined to represent the United States to Turkey again when the country was economically crippled. Hawkins needed all of the ammunition possible for when he spoke to the newly-elected Turkish Prime Minister and started interacting with their government.

"The President will see you now," said the President's Chief of Staff to Special Envoy Hawkins. Hawkins was wearing a dark blue suit with a red and white stripped regimental tie and a light blue dress shirt. The President's chief of staff opened the door to the Oval Office and stepped inside.

"Mister President, Special Envoy to Turkey, Aiden Hawkins," the Chief of Staff said, and then stepped back outside and closed the door behind him.

Hawkins had been inside the Oval Office several times before. He served under the Gore Administration and he had been inside the Oval Office once during the Clinton Administration. At different points he had also worked for, or on behalf, of the CIA in different capacities and he also made his way into other important rooms that most Americans would never be in. Regardless of that, stepping into the room still gave him a shiver. He paused for a moment and looked around while Benjamin Sinclair sat behind the Resolute Desk. He was reviewing a few papers from an earlier briefing on Turkey. Sinclair took off his reading glasses and set them on the desk.

"Mister Hawkins, I don't know how you did it but you managed to wedge yourself into my schedule," Sinclair said humorously. Hawkins walked up beside the Resolute Desk and offered his hand to Sinclair, who took hold of it and shook it. Hawkins had forgotten how tall Sinclair was - he was a monument of a man.

"Let's talk," Sinclair said as he stepped around the Resolute Desk and took Hawkins over to the two couches that were sat in front of the Oval Office's fireplace. Just as the two men took a seat, the Secretary of State, Luke Adams, walked into the Oval Office. He didn't look happy.

"Mister President, I don't know how this mistake was made, I'm sorry for the interruption. I'll brief Hawkins on Turkey and we'll get out of your hair," Adams said as he walked up to the two sofas and didn't even make eye contact with Hawkins.

"Mister Secretary," Sinclair said, always preferring to be formal when subordinates of subordinates were in the room, "the United States Special Envoy to Turkey had to pull quite a few strings to get this meeting arranged without either of us knowing... Why don't we hear him out? Take a seat."

Sinclair sat back on the sofa while Adams sat on the opposite side of the sofa from him. There were a few seconds of silence between all three men.

"Mister Secretary, this meeting wasn't meant to undermine you. I know that you're busy with the official visit, with the opening of the Iranian Embassy-"

"Aiden, just ask the President what you wanted to ask him, we can discuss this later," Secretary Adams said bluntly to Hawkins.

Hawkins turned to President Sinclair who was dressed in his typical three-piece suit. "Mister President, all three of us know that Turkey is in a precarious situation economically, in fact I think that would be a generous way of putting it," he said.

"Mister Hawkins," Sinclair said, cutting Hawkins off, "the Federal Government will not, and cannot, shower Turkey in money. I hope that the scheme with the Federal Reserve works out and they give a low-interest loan to Turkey along with Poland and Sweden, but I do not think that a country we were at war with just a few years ago is going to get a free aid package from America. Besides, we would never have any guarantee that they would use the money responsibly anyway."

"Mister President, thank you for your thoughts on that, but I am not proposing that we give away money to Turkey," Hawkins said cautiously. "First off, I hope that the deal with the Federal Reserve works out to," he said, since he was primarily the reason that it was organized in the first place.

"But, Mister President, what I would like to ask you to consider is the geopolitical position that Turkey is in right now. They are, in many ways, vulnerable. Either we can allow the Russians, the Chinese, the Swedes, the British, the Spanish, and everyone else to take advantage of their situation, or we can extend an olive branch to them, make a solid ally out of this entire situation, and maybe even get one or two things in return."

"What do we get?" Sinclair asked. The President reached into his breast pocket and took out a pipe. He started the process of packing it with tabaco and eventually lit it as Hawkins started speaking again.

"We can get a lot of things, Mister President. First off, we could get an ally strategically located right next to the Middle East. The British have let us use their airbase and port in Cyprus in the past, but they have always been sluggish to respond or give approval. Maybe the Turks wouldn't be so neglective... Also, if the Navy is going to continue to use the High-Low strategy, we need a cheaper frigate than the Celestial-class. I'm not saying we should replace the Celestial-class, but we need a 'low' counter to it. The Turks have a modern version of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates that we use to operate. It is modernized, it has effective weapons, and it is formattable. It also has a sticker-price of $442,374,000-million compared to the $935,000,000-million of the Celestial. They'll need to make some money off of it, but maybe they could help offer us a cheaper ship for us to add to our fleet.

"Mister President, I could go on. I mean, I think there could be immense opportunities for our intelligence services to work together, especially with their Middle Eastern connections, we could use them to counter the Russians if Putin's new regime decides to work against us, they would make a fantastic friend to have in the Mediterranean in the event of greater conflict and maybe even a new power to work with us around the globe... I don't want us to throw free money at them, but maybe we could throw them a few bones to help them out when they're down? Fine, it doesn't have to be liquid cash, but the Federal Government could fund some infrastructure projects there and maybe we could establish another free trade agreement."

Hawkins could see Sinclair starting to negatively react to the mention of another free trade agreement. "Mister President, they're economically decimated. There is no way that free trade agreement will hurt the American economy, or that it will have any negative affects for some time, and then we can renegotiate. In the meantime, both of us can benefit from trade and I am sure that they have a lot to offer us."

Sinclair puffed on his pipe several times and then looked at Adams. Adams looked back at Sinclair. The Oval Office was silent as the President puffed on his cigar a few more times.

"Yeah, alright... I will speak to the Defense Department about the frigates and if it is something that we should consider, Congress will have to approve acquiring foreign military vessels and infrastructure projects, but if it isn't bankrupting us and it's getting us a solid ally, I'm willing to give you some wiggle-room," Sinclair said. "But Aiden, don't forget that this was the same country that had a communist government fifteen minutes ago, and then some country that was rounding up Jews during the Gore Administration. If they collapse back into a pile of sticks, that will be the end of your career in government," Sinclair said.

Hawkins swallowed, and the nodded confidently. "They're back, Mister President. I can feel it in my bones."

Hawkins departed for Turkey. Adams stayed behind with the President. Adams was not happy that Hawkins had went behind his back to schedule this meeting with the President, but Sinclair used his charisma to calm Adams down. Hawkins was a well-respected long-time employee of the State Department.

"If Turkey doesn't work out, then we'll make Hawkins retire. If Turkey works out, then I'll make sure that you get your cut of the credit, but you have to support him and their cause in this. If what he says is true, then we could actually have a lot of opportunity over there," Sinclair said to Adams before their private meeting concluded.