Cabinet Central Coordination Complex (4C)
Prime Minister’s Wing, Witenapalent
Cynebury, Tretrid
7:30 PM (UTC-7)
The people occupying 4C stood at attention again when Colansunu and Hildnoþesdohtor walked into the conference room.
“Please sit,” he said. They obliged.
Field Marshal Ingyldesunu pointed at the map of Piorunpreria. “We’ve received reports of another Korćettan airstrike, targeting critical infrastructure near Hildstham. We have some of our air superiority fighters, including our state-of-the-art stealth fighters, ready to go when you give the word. We have special forces on standby, as well.”
“Excellent,” Colansunu said. “I need the General Staff to gather the necessary personnel and provisions for the formation of a new independent command.” He turned to the Chief of the Air Staff, General Cuðburg Ifandohter. “The commanding officer for this will be drawn from the Lyftwæpn due to the air-centric scope of operations and will be brevetted to the rank of Lieutenant General. This officer should be willing to use restraint due to the sensitive nature of this situation and be wary of escalation, but also be willing to act decisively to ensure that unnecessary blood does not get shed. I trust that the Air Staff will be able to find a suitable commander. The naval task force under Rear Admiral Cynerunesunu will be subordinated to this command once it crosses into the Piorunprerian EEZ, but for now is to remain under the Third Fleet. Special forces are to remain under SOPCOM.”
“Yes, sir.”
Colansunu turned to RIS Director Eadbyrgsunu. “You had something for me?”
Before Eadbyrgsunu could reply, Hildnoþesdohtor’s pager went off. “Excuse me, Prime Minister. I’m being contacted by our representative in the SC.”
Colansunu gave Eadbyrgsunu an apologetic nod. “Bring the Ambassador on.”
Hildnoþesdohtor nodded and dialed a number on the phone before bringing the phone into speaker mode.
“This is 4C,” Colansunu said. “You wanted to speak, Ambassador?”
“Indeed,” said the other voice on the line, one Folcwine Osbeornesunu. “The course of gathering support for the appropriate measures in the IFSC has necessitated that I offer various things to the Federation of the Southern Coast under the authority that has been granted to me.”
“Besides support in the IFSC, what did we get out of them, and what are we giving in return?”
“They want us to get that financial package that was promised under the agreement in Kyinster to be pushed through the Witenagemot, along with an extra 20% earmarked ostensibly labelled for whatever is most politically palatable. In return we’re getting Côtois reassurances regarding their part of the agreement.”
“I see.” Colansunu sighed. He turned to a screen on one of the walls of the room which showed a teleconferencing member of the SCC. “Ambassador, your advice?”
“Give it to them,” said Ambassador-at-Large to Novaris Beorhtsige Wulfricesunu from his office in Lucroza.
“As I expected.” Colansunu sighed. “The Côtois will have their money.”
“Thank you, Prime Minister,” Folcwine said. “I have a Council discussion to get back to, and I will inform you of any further developments. Until next time.” He hung up.
Colansunu was about to turn back to Director Eadbyrgsunu when a knock sounded on the conference room door.
“Enter.”
The door opened and one of the staffers attached to 4C stuck his head in. “Prime Minister, we’ve got Niezgoda on the line.”
“Excellent.”
The staffer left, and Colansunu pressed the button to bring up Aleksy Niezgoda, once again putting the phone in speaker mode.
“President Niezgoda.”
21:30
Korćettan National Capital
Dobrogost, Korćetta
Aleksy Niezgoda sat in the middle of his office behind his large wooden desk. On the floor was painted a large version of the seal of Korćetta. On his desk sat a manila folder stamped with the word “TOP SECRET”. Inside, on the top page, were three words, “Operation Lightning Plains”. This folder contained the plans for the invasion of Piorunpreria.
Aleksy’s top general had briefed him on the operation just today, but he had yet to approve of it. So here it was, sitting on his desk. So much pain and suffering was enclosed within this folder, but it was necessary for the future of Korćetta, right?
His predecessor had been voted out of office because of his failure in Piorunpreria. Would it be smart to put everything on the line like this? If he didn’t go through with this, his people would call him a coward; if he did and he failed, he would lose everything. So many thoughts were racing through Aleksy’s head.
Disoriented, Aleksy stood up and walked over to a small table that sat against the wall of the room. There sat a pitcher of ice water. Aleksy poured himself a glass and gulped it down. He set the glass down and stared at the pitcher for a minute, watching the droplets of water race down the side.
Eventually, Alesky made his way back to his chair. He turned himself away from his desk to peer out of the windows that sat behind him. He saw the skyscrapers of Dobrogost touching the clouds. He had to protect these people; it was his duty.
As Aleksy sat contemplating, a man walked into his office. “We have Cynebury on line one,” the man said.
“Thank you,” Aleksy said, waving to the man to leave the room. When he did, Aleksy picked up the phone, “Hello, Prime Minister Colansunu, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Firstly, I would like to reiterate my government’s sincerest condolences for the shocking attack on your soil. My thoughts are with those left bereaved by this act of senseless violence.”
“Thank you for your condolences. It was a tragic event,” Aleksy sat with the receiver against his ear, “To think that someone would go out of their way to cause harm to innocent civilians like that.”
“What have you found out about the perpetrator so far?”
“We haven’t got much out of him; all we have currently is his passport,” Aleksy said, picturing the man in his mind. “He’s refused to talk so far, won’t say anything about the attack or if he was affiliated with anyone. But we do know that he is a Piorunprerian citizen with no history of previous offences.”
“So you don’t have any solid evidence connecting him to the Piorunprerian government?”
“He did have an army-issued bulletproof vest on his person,” Aleksy responded, “The same kind that is issued to Piorunprerian soldiers, but that is all we have connecting him to the government.”
“So not a lot, then. Are you certain that’s enough to be declaring war over?”
“Alongside circumstantial evidence, yes,” Aleksy said, trying not to sound irritated, “With the Kaskadans, it turned out their head of state was funding the terrorists, I would not doubt the same to be true with the Piorunprerians.”
“I see, then.” The tone of Colansunu’s voice had not shifted in the slightest. “This brings us to our second matter of business. You have until the end of this call to commit to standing down your forces, calling off the invasion, and releasing your Piorunprerian nationals from internment. Failure to do so will be regarded by the Kingdom of Tretrid to be an unfriendly act, with potential diplomatic and military repercussions.”
“What does Tretrid care about the affairs of southern Gondwana? You once had your place here, but no more.” Aleksy responded, “I can agree to postponing the invasion of Piorunpreria, but my forces will not be standing down, and I will not be releasing anyone. The Piorunprerians are currently the number one threat to national security.”
“Mr. Niezgoda, this is not a war you can win. You might be able to find victory in the field, but all that accomplishes is guarantee that the war will become a protracted guerilla campaign. Korćetta couldn’t win even when it had full legitimate control over Piorunpreria’s state institutions. It’s at an even greater disadvantage now as a prospective occupying force. All of this not even to start with the diplomatic fallout.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Let my country be destroyed by these terrorists?” Aleksy said, his voice growing louder, “My citizens are scared for their lives, it is my duty to protect them from these threats.”
“That it may be, but does it really serve them to enter unwinnable wars on a weak pretext on the same day of the attack? I cannot pretend my own country is innocent of executing poorly-thought military actions, but I can at least try my best to dissuade others from making similar mistakes. I fear that by escalating so far so fast, you may find yourself and your country in a situation where you only stand to lose.”
“Well, the way you are describing this makes it seem like a lose-lose situation,” Aleksy said, standing up behind his desk, “Either way, we lose, and become an international pariah. Or so you say.
“I will delay the invasion until we find proper evidence. Once we do, I do not intend to hold back,” Aleksy finished, looking at Lake Kaskada, “Good day to you.”
Aleksy hung up the phone before he could get an answer. Once again, he walked over to the side table and poured himself a glass of water.
He walked over to the window and stood in front of it with the glass in his hand. Suddenly there was a crashing sound as the glass hit the ground, and so did Aleksy.
Cabinet Central Coordination Complex (4C)
Prime Minister’s Wing, Witenapalent
Cynebury, Tretrid
7:35 PM (UTC-7)
Colansunu heard the telltale sequence of beeps from the phone that indicated that Niezgoda hung up. There was silence, for a moment.
It was Colansunu himself that broke the silence. “As presiding officer of the Strategic Coordination Council, I motion that it be put into the record that Korćetta is to be treated as adversarial in our external policy. Any objections?”
Silence, again.
“Then the motion passes,” Colansunu said. He paused again, seemingly pondering the situation. “It is written that Luciano, returning to Celano after receiving his vision from Lucera, paused at a hill that offered a view of the great city. He knew that once he marched on the city, he would either receive a hero’s welcome or be violently resisted, and he did not know which of these would happen. He seemed to look uncertainly at the City of the Dawn for a moment, and then that moment was gone, and there was determination on his face. And he looked at his followers, and he told them, ‘Alea iacta est.’ ‘The die is cast.’ And then he had his host march on the city and became Prophet-Emperor of the Celanor Empire.
“Much like Luciano did overlooking Celano, we now find ourselves at a point from which we cannot turn back. Let me say, then: þeo tæfl is geworpen.”
Solemn nods.
Colansunu took a deep breath before finally returning to Eadbyrgsunu. “Director. You had something for me.”
Eadbyrgsunu nodded and brought forth a folder plainly labelled “Spectacular Crystal,” as well as markings that identified the contents as top secret. “I have here intelligence findings from Stražsko in the wake of its annexation by Korćetta.” He opened the folder and brought out a page showing a series of charts and tables. “There is, to our estimation, a third of the Stražská population strongly opposed to the annexation. Other reports in here detail various groups from the Stražská military that have refused to stand down after the Stražská surrender, and instead seemingly disappearing along with their equipment.”
“Sounds like difficult conditions for Korćetta to maintain an occupation.”
“They haven’t been met with major resistance so far. We can change that, though.”
“Weapons?”
Eadbyrgsunu nodded. “If it were found that any potential Stražská insurgents were using Tretridian military equipment, it would easily be linked back to us. But if we could get a proxy to supply them with arms…”
“That’s why you advised me not to worry about Rikevaarland.”
“If you so authorize,” Eadbyrgsunu said simply.
“What else does the RIS need?”
“We need to be able to discreetly transport these people out of the country and into safe places where they can be trained. They’re going to want to conserve their people who have proper military experience as much as possible, and that means having newer members carry out actions.”
“Some might say that you’re proposing that Tretrid sponsor terrorism.”
“Perhaps. Others might perceive it as Tretrid supporting a resistance movement. But in the end, nobody is going to be able to trace any of this back to us. The Stražská have plenty of reason to rise up already.”
Colansunu considered the matter for a moment. “Do what you must,” he said, after a while.
“Thank you, Prime Minister,” Eadbyrgsunu said with a nod. “I will relay the relevant instructions to the relevant people.”