AN: Credits to Vasilisa, perfect_shade, geo_113 and Sunny for feedback and revisions.

Apologies for the delay, I had some problems with the fanfiction website.

1953 August 23rd, at a safehouse in Hambrück:

There was a quiet rustling of documents in my ears as I went through my nightly routine of sit-ups, push-ups and chin-ups. Behind me Visha was browsing through the latest sheaf of documents delivered from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Magna Rumeli is pushing harder for OZEV accession," Visha announced.

"They just want to foist all their problems onto us to solve for them," I scoffed between breaths. "No, it's still too early for us to make a decision. Find some excuse to fob them off for a while. Have Dertinge tell them... tell them OZEV can't accept Magna Rumeli alone. We'll only agree to group membership applications that include some of the other Balkan states. After all, it makes no sense to admit a country with no shared land border with any OZEV state. How could we connect Rumeli to our highway and rail networks or our electricity grid?"

'If Magna Rumeli really wants to join OZEV, they can do the work of shepherding the Balkan states for us. If they fail, oh well. Less work on my plate either way.'

"Okay, I'll make a note of it." She flipped to another page. "Results from Formosa's first national election are in. Shu's 'One Country One Democracy' party didn't obtain an outright majority, but it did win sufficient seats to make it necessary to include him in any coalition government."

"I suppose I need to send him official congratulations. Anything else?" I puffed.

"Shu wants to know if he can keep Green and the Germanian coaches. He wants to appoint them as official instructors at the new 'Formosan Air Corps'. The entire aerial lacrosse team and their reserves have already been drafted into the Corps. Their mage skills were considered too valuable for the state to waste their time as 'mere sportsmen'."

"Fine with me," I panted. "Formosa needs to build up its mage capability as quickly as possible."

"Uh oh."

"I don't like the sound of that," I grunted.

"Shu's also been throwing his weight around with the other political parties. He demanded that the new Formosan government authorize fortifying the outer islands, including the Kinmen Islands, on the basis of 'protecting our people from the CSR's inevitable artillery barrages or naval invasion'. He has already chartered a merchant ship to be loaded with construction supplies to sail to the Kinmen Islands. Otherwise no coalition will form, deadlocking the government."

"And I'm assuming all of this is public, so the CSR knows about this." I mentally braced myself. "What has been their response?"

"Threatening to blockade the outer islands to stop the supply ships, and failing that, artillery bombardment to stop the constructions. Akitsushima's ambassador asked what our position is on the situation. The Akinese are contemplating a range of options, from increasing their naval presence in the Formosan Strait to deter the CSR, escorting the Formosan supply ships, or taking more aggressive actions."

"Shu, you damn war maniac!"

There was no way I could prevent his provocations short of sending in Germanian or Akinese troops, and there was no chance of me approving that at this stage. What other cards could I play to express my displeasure at this recklessness?

"Tell the Akinese to stay put and monitor the situation for the present. And to send word if things get hot. As for Shu…" I pondered for a bit as I finished up my final round of reps. Then a fragment of memory surfaced. "Visha, do you happen to know how Lergen's volunteer force is shaping up?"

"I don't recall the details, but I'm fairly sure the first group has already assembled in Krete and begun basic training."

"That'll do. Visha, I've changed my mind. Tell Shu he can't keep Green or the Germanian coaches. I want him to send them, along with the aerial lacrosse team and every other mage the 'Formosan Air Corps' possesses, to Krete immediately. It's time they received some on-the-job training alongside our volunteers. Some air-raids and dogfights against Turkmens and Qajarians will provide valuable combat experience for them before they're thrown into the Chinese meat-grinder."

"Gotcha." Visha quickly rewrote the communiqué. "This may make Shu a bit… upset."

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. Especially after he started poking at the Chinese dragon, when it would be the Akinese and us that would have to bail him out of any mess of his making." I finished my workout and wiped the sweat from my forehead with a towel. "Maybe I should award Green a medal of my own."

"You've been taking interest in John Green's career lately," Visha noted, handing me a bottle of water. "Concern for a former colleague? Or should I start feeling jealous?"

"He's useful. Mage veterans who can devise new combat doctrines on the fly and have decent teaching skills are few and far between. Germania doesn't have so many of them that we can afford to let one slip through our fingers. I think Shu was on the right track giving him that medal of valor. Having him help train up our forces in Krete will help too, since they'll be directly challenging Albish interests in the Middle East."

"Huh?"

"The key is to find ways to make Green so odious to the Albish government that he effectively becomes a persona non grata. Then he'll never dare to return to Albion, and we can continue to make use of him," I explained. "Hmmm, he's still single isn't he? Have the BND contact all the female Germanian coaches to see if there are any sparks between him and any of them. If anyone is willing to start a romance with him, I can make it worth their while. That would set another shackle binding Green to Germania."

"You're such a hopeless romantic," Visha smirked.

"You should see the military shovel I'm getting you for Valentine's Day," I joked back.

I took a quick shower and then settled into an easy chair to browse through my own pile of official papers.

The BND's reports of my disguise's political opposition were concerning, suspecting that the communists, Albish and Frankish may exploit the situation. It appeared that the words 'Marie' spouted off on a whim proved to be far more popular than I expected, and had triggered a fair bit of controversy within the GDU ranks in Hambrück and Berun. Apparently there were disagreements between those who wanted to strictly follow Degurechaff's policies and others who wanted the party to adopt some of Marie's ideas.

On the one hand I was glad that I had gotten ahead of potential meddlers seeing how fragile consensus had apparently gotten if I could splinter the biggest party with just a few words, a speech here and there when I found the time away from office. Who knows how much damage a malicious actor could have done with such an opportunity. On the other it was concerning how susceptible the voters had actually become, deeply concerning.

And I still needed them to create a credible political opposition group that could nurture a quality candidate who could eventually replace me, or at least keep my successor in check. Which was where my problems were stemming from. Despite our expectations, others had failed to step forward and instead rallied around Marie, so my alter ego couldn't just disappear like a ghost at this point.

I could hardly run against myself. Yet, I could also not risk throwing the group into a disarrayed free-for-all that would inevitably happen if the person they congregated around went missing. Instead I had to extricate myself more subtly, encouraging the more reasonable stances while weakening the extremists as I did so.

To that end I planned to drive some people away with more extreme ideas so my fake persona could quietly slip from the scene, purportedly pushed out for those unfeasible takes along with like minded individuals that lacked finesse, while accomplishing the goal of starting a political opposition. Though that tactic didn't work as intended last time I tried it during the early years of Germania it was because people were desperate and the economy was free-falling from hyperinflation. While the economy isn't doing great right now, it's nowhere close to the hyperinflation era so people should be less receptive to a frothing madwoman going by the name of Marie Kirschmann.

I filed my paperwork away into the safe and locked it. Then I had a browse through the local newspaper. Hmm. The political scene was starting to heat up as Election Day drew closer. There was an advertisement for another GDU rally to be held tonight, only a few blocks away from our safehouse. This could be an opportunity.

"I feel a bit cooped up in here after all that paperwork. I'm going to take a stroll around the block for a while. Clear my head with some fresh air."

"Don't be too long, I'm going to start cooking dinner soon," Visha's voice emanated from the kitchen.

"I won't. See you in a bit, dear."

I grabbed my orb, false identification and some useful folders, and with a quick spell, Marie Kirschmann was on her way to her destiny.

To my mild surprise, 'Marie' was recognized almost immediately, and I was dragged into a round of handshakes and debates with the enthusiastic attendees. Nobody seemed to be occupying the stage yet, so I decided to strike while the iron was hot. Quickly stepping up to the podium, I waved for the crowd to quiet down. While they settled, I scanned the audience to gauge who was attending. It looked like a wide variety of people, no particular groups that I could determine.

"Germania is a major power, and should not be pushed around like a toddler by the Francois Republic and Allied Kingdom!" I suddenly announced as loudly as I could. Then I pointed out in the general direction of the west while maintaining a snarling, angry face, my voice projecting far and loud. "By tolerating their insults and doing nothing, they have set the Middle East on fire with no idea how to put it out!"

There were some applauses, but I could tell not all of the audience was connecting the dots of why it mattered.

"Some might ask: why take a hard stance against colonialism instead of passively watching the atrocities?" I withdrew a folder from my jacket pocket and opened it, then started showing photos one by one through a large screen projector that had conveniently been set up behind me.

"The strict censorship in Algeria with journalists being harassed or arrested, look at these journalists being held at gunpoint by the Frankish authorities…" I showed and then dropped the first photo, with disgust on my face.

"But that hasn't stopped them from uncovering prison camps, with women and children being thrown in!" I got a loud, visceral reaction from the crowd. Most notably from those that appeared to have children of their own. "We have not forgotten Kieva, have we?!"

"The war crimes in Aegyptus... Indochinese civilians incinerated by napalm strikes... and the list of atrocities in various colonies go on. All because people want the right of self-rule, and to not be exploited by the Albish and Frankish. We can not tolerate such injustice because we know where it leads!"

The thunderous applause and cheers took me by surprise. Could I actually build justifications for war on the basis of stopping human abuses? I'll save that thought for later, that dangerous thought. First I need to continue to rile up the crowd a little more to get the results I need.

"And the Albish and Frankish are coming for us!" I again pointed west, but this one received a much more muted reaction.

"You're right to wonder how they would attack us. Wouldn't we just repel them just as we have done before? But they don't have to do it directly, now do they? They are using the Turkmen Empire as their colonial enforcer to ensure that the Middle East bends to their will, and as a proxy to threaten OZEV members of Croatia, Hungary and Dacia! Will we feed them to the Turkmen Empire for appeasement and thus dishonor ourselves, or take a stand to protect our allies?!"

The crowd's momentum was rapidly building. Now would be a good time to throw in something controversial.

"President Degurechaff was sitting in her fancy office and playing her fiddle while the Frankish and Albish burned Aegyptus to the ground, along with destroying the global economy that was reliant on the Suez Canal! Can you hear us, Degurechaff, from your office? The masses of unemployed, struggling businesses, and others trying to get by with peacetime fuel rationing?"

With the boos and other negative or confused reactions from the crowd, I seemed to have struck their nerve by attacking myself. Excellent. I need to double down on this controversy.

"Either Degurechaff takes action to stop the human suffering and the threats to our allies, or we find someone else that will do the job!"

After the cheers and the chants of cursing the Albish and Frankish died down, I decided to throw in the mention of communism to seal the deal.

"While the colonial powers grasp at straws to hold onto their powers, communists have exploited the chaos to spread their influence. If we do nothing, the communists will spread their corruption!"

I could definitely hear chants that were directly hostile to the Russy Confederation and the Chinese Soviet Republic.

"Thank you, and have a good evening!" I let out a big smile and placed my flattened hand over my heart before walking off.

As I made my way down the steps, my jaw nearly dropped. It was Millie, being wheeled along in a mobile hospital bed by Antonio, himself covered in bandages. Their loyal photographer Jimmy hovered in the background as usual.

"I know, it's a bit unusual. The doctor ordered me to stay in bed. So I'm complying with that order," Millie giggled.

I hoped it was just the absurdity of the situation rather than her being high on painkillers that made her laugh like that. I mentally shook my head. Both Millie and Antonio had just endured a harrowing ordeal in Francois and should by all rights be bedridden for a few months to recover. And yet the tenacious journalists weren't letting mere gunshot wounds interfere with their work. They were just as pigheaded as Anna and Elya. What was wrong with these people? Was it something in the water they were all drinking?

Then I became suspicious. Maybe Millie was here because she saw through my disguise and wanted to reveal me to the public? It would make her immensely famous, if she weren't already famous to begin with.

"What can I do for you?" I smiled thinly, testing her reaction.

"Millicent Maia, freelance reporter at your service, but please call me Millie. And this is my husband Antonio and photographer Jimmy. You've made quite a splash in Hambrück over the past few days. It's not every day someone openly challenges Degurechaff and also has a coherent policy platform. I would love to learn more about you, Fraulein …?"

"Marie Kirschmann," I supplied. "A pleasure to meet you. Wasn't your last name Caldwell?" There was a short awkward pause before I coughed. "Oh, you two were recently married. Congratulations!"

Millie blushed. "The doctors were unsure if I would survive my second surgery as the first one was just to stabilize me. So we held a quick wedding in the hospital. At least my parents and some of my friends were able to come over and attend. My mother had such a confused mix of emotions."

Knowing what I did about Millie's redoubtable mother, that had to be the understatement of the century. That New York socialite was nothing less than a force of nature when she got fired up. For a brief moment I felt sympathy for all those poor doctors and nurses who'd had to endure the fireworks.

Millie cleared her throat, "And your story of how you got to this point?"

I could see her eyeing my folder of photos, so I obligingly handed it over to Jimmy while bracing myself. I couldn't allow Millie to seize the initiative to probe my disguised character's background for her juicy investigation, that could ruin the entire plan. Instead, I should utilize this opportunity to continue my unhinged political ranting. And the good news is that I don't have to make any of the details up on the spot. I just have to use what I remembered from my previous life.

"The details of my own life are inconsequential, what is important is the future of Europe. Would you like to hear about my policy on OZEV?" I gave her a challenging look.

"Sure Marie, I'd love to!"

"What if there could be an actual European Federation?" I came out and stated bluntly.

I could have picked "union", "commonwealth" or some other nicer sounding names. But the usage of "federation" would make it very clear to people of what the result would be, and thus more likely to be rejected. Marketing 101.

Millie blinked her eyes a few times. Antonio readied his notebook. "You mean a further integration of OZEV members?"

"Indeed." I beamed a smile, then went on a long monologue about all of the things that OZEV could be if it was modeled on the European Union of my previous world, such as a single currency system and formalized mechanism for transnational projects such as new high speed train lines or future electrical grid constructions. I threw in the idea of an integrated military while member countries could still maintain separate "civil defense" or "national guard" forces. There would likewise be a federal bureau of investigation that would coordinate with local police forces to crack down on transnational crime, especially organized crime groups which the SCE was essentially married to. I was honestly surprised how long Millie let myself speak. Maybe she wasn't on top of her game yet, allowing a newcomer politician to just run her mouth like that?

I did keep it simple so that if someone later started poking holes into my proposal, solutions could be implemented. Maybe that was her strategy instead, Millicient was a cunning journalist well capable of gathering all the information freely given before pouncing on an opportunity like a fresh faced minority leader. I have to keep that in mind.

But I felt that I did well enough keeping things easy to understand without losing myself in details that could cause me problems later. Not to mention the EU in my previous life was originally created from decades of incremental changes and additions, compared to my proposal where it would be implemented as a whole piece to be swallowed and thus unlikely to be accepted.

Perhaps I should have done some polling before this, but that would have required explaining to Elya of what my plan was and she would have undoubtedly tried to talk me out of it if not outright started her own operation just to be sure, because otherwise she would have recognized that the "political opposition leader" was spewing talking points that were incredibly similar to the potential polling questions. Besides, only the extremists would be willing to speedrun the creation of my previous world's post-1990's EU, in this world's 1950's.

While Pullska would be onboard with some of those ideas, there would be significant pushback from other members. Even some within Germania would be hesitant as there would be the real potential of certain situations where Germania is opposed to something but it gets forced onto them due to an overwhelming majority approval from the rest of the members. As tempting as it was to require unanimous voting, it would be abused by domestic and foreign actors to simply veto everything and have the union stagnate and then fragment to be picked off. I recall reading a business case about IBM suffering from needing an unanimous vote from their department heads for strategy, while trying to compete against much more nimble competitors such as early Microsoft and the various other personal computer manufacturers.

"Isn't that essentially the Empire though, Marie?" Millie frowned, while Antonio scrambled to finish scribbling down everything I spewed out. Ah, so there the infamously difficult questions were coming now.

"The Empire expanded through conquests with occasional 'peaceful' mergers," I shook my head dismissively. "Regardless of how a territory was acquired, Preussification followed. Those that didn't adopt the Preussian language, culture and generally got with the new program, faced harsh punishments or deportation. And everyone under the Empire was ruled by a monarchy who acted with impunity and delegated some of their powers to those who didn't answer to the people. Which worked right up until the Emperor allowed the conditions that made war inevitable, and then refused to seek conditional peace when it may have still been possible. I'd rather not have a return to that."

I then switched my tone to an upbeat one before starting on my explanation of how the European Federation would be different, and superior, to the Empire's way.

"The European Federation would instead embrace diversity of languages, cultures, religions and other differences through a common goal of human rights, democracy and prosperity for all. It would have to accomplish those three goals because its parliament would be directly elected by citizens of the EF members, the executive council whose members would consist of the member countries' head of states and a president they elect to be in charge of the executive council, and a supreme court whose judges are selected by member countries' legislative bodies."

"So you propose to split authority between this new parliament and the national ones? But how would you balance the two then to avoid conflicts, and what would it do if a member country ignores certain EF laws anyway? Couldn't that cause serious problems?" Millie briefly looked up from her scribbling in her notebook.

"It would have authority over trade between members, and other countries. For that to be possible, it also needs authority over all of the associated regulations that impact trade," I spread out my arms to demonstrate the wide ranging authority. It was one of the more challenging aspects as the reporter had picked up on. "Which means environmental, consumer protection, market competition such as various anti-monopoly laws, trans-European transportation and energy infrastructure, monetary policy, financial system, as well as a host of other regulations. And of course handling international agreements. As for matters regarding EF laws and conflicts between EF and national laws, the EF's court system would rule on legal cases brought before it. I haven't worked out all of the mechanisms. After all, I am just one person."

"Wow, all of that is quite ambitious. That's a lot of sovereign powers each member would have to hand over to the EF," Millie chewed on her lip.

And that is why it would obviously be rejected. With the economy going down the toilet, the public mood on OZEV in many places has likely already soured, leaving no appetite for further integration.

"Or we could keep OZEV as it is, like how Degurechaff is handling or even neglecting it," I nonchalantly shrugged my shoulders. "Transnational projects done on an ad hoc basis that require constant back-and-forth between different members' government systems for approval. International agreements with non-members handled on an ad hoc basis, trade regulations being a patchwork cobbled together over the years, ad hoc transnational economic systems when all of Europe is facing the same problem, crises that take a long time to respond to when a rapid solution is needed and sometimes programs even directly compete against each other in the most wasteful ways. And everyone having their own military forces while still facing common direct threats from the east and influence challenges from the west certainly does not make it easier."

"That is an interesting take on the Chancellor's achievements." Millie commented as Antonio finished writing his notes.

"She has yet to deliver her almost decade old promise of a high speed railway network spanning across OZEV and our eastern allies, an example of how the current process for transnational projects needs a reform, Millie. Also, it's President." I unconsciously corrected her, and cursed myself the second I realized what I had done.

"Of course." Millie smirked. "It certainly is as unusual a take on President Degurechaff's policies over the years as it is to oppose her."

My mind was racing at the implications and thinking of how to salvage the situation if the jig was up.

Millicent nodded her head in apparent satisfaction. "I must say though, it is nice to talk with someone that actually has a vision beyond removing the greatest leader of the century from office. I will keep my eye on this project of yours. It's an ambitious proposition, but then the President once told me herself that it takes bold steps to move forward."

"It's the only way forward, and I won't accept half-measures." I was still unsure if that strange emphasis meant the reporter knew and simply played along or meant something else entirely, but I didn't have much option other than continuing. "Building an organization through temporary patchworks that become permanent over time is how you get a lot of legacy messes that will be difficult to untangle."

"I can see how decades of law could become difficult to handle. Now for a slightly different, adjacent topic, what would be your economic policies, especially for the current economy and the challenges it faces?"

"Due to the limited oil supply, general purpose economic relief efforts would only drive inflation upward with minimal unemployment reduction…" I tapped on my chin, then smiled. "Until the economy is restructured to make do with less oil."

I resisted casting an animation spell as I was famous for. Or rather Tanya Degurechaff was. That would certainly narrow down the pool of people to investigate when it came to Marie Kirschmann's backstory. Millie may already be on to me, but that was no reason to outright hand her confirmation! I had to make do with just words as I did back before I could be seen carrying orbs again.

"The immediate relief measures would be to ensure that people still have food on table and a roof over their head. Then for the unemployment issue, it would be a two prong approach. I have previously discussed the proposal of sending unemployed people to technical schools and higher education in order to gain a return on investments and expanding voluntary military recruitment to benefit both the unemployed and our national defense posture, rather than only handing out alms, so I won't repeat the specific details."

I held up two fingers.

"The second proposal would be to utilize the unemployed people for labor to accelerate the economic restructuring to end the misery sooner, with a focus in further expanding the usage of electricity that we can create with a multitude of sources. Now, all of this economic activity would accelerate inflation, so to counteract it, taxes on the non-vulnerable people and businesses would have to be raised, especially for the particularly well-off. This would pull money supply from the economy to limit inflation and fund the economic proposals. They may complain, but this would be a temporary measure until the oil crisis is over or OZEV drastically reduces their reliance on imported oil, then the Germanian government can properly stimulate the economy without triggering runaway inflation for everyone to prosper!"

The idea of taxing people who are successfully weathering the storm to balance the books instead of triggering high inflation from deficit spending is what some American economists would have called it "robbing Peter to pay Paul". But only the extremists would actually seriously consider that taxation idea.

Antonio flipped to the next page in his notebook. With the speed he was writing I wondered if the reporter would run out of paper before we were finished. According to my hidden orb we still did have enough time. I smiled gently waiting for the next question.

"If you were elected to the Diet or even as Chancellor or President, what would be your specific foreign diplomacy plans?"

Germanian citizens wouldn't be interested in foreign adventures. They got burned by Caucasia, then watched the Ablish and Frankish self-destruct in their overseas wars. And I had just proposed the EF framework where all of the OZEV members would know that if they agree to form the EF, they would all be stuck on the wild ride of oversea shenanigans if that became the majority decision. So I would need to propose the most extreme options.

"We should extend OZEV membership to the Balkan states or even external allies like South Bharat or Akitsushima Dominion, while the European Federation is being implemented. The Balkans would be an important bulwark against the aggressive Turkmen Empire and provide logistical basing for our operations in Aegyptus and elsewhere in the Middle East."

"Operations in Aegyptus?" Millie raised an eyebrow. "Now that you mentioned it, you did speak about the situation at the Suez before. Quite vocal as I recall."

"We need to send peacekeepers to Aegyptus to prevent further violence, and restore the legitimate government."

"Even though the Albish and Frankish governments may disagree with the Germanian military entering Aegyptus? They say they're already present for that stated purpose."

"I dare them to attack Germanian forces and start a war in Europe when they are busy desperately trying and failing to hold onto their burning colonies. As for entering a third country, you may be surprised, they could very well welcome us. This time the Frankish military won't have a colony to flee to and continue a war from there, when the locals are trying to kill them."

Millie had a confused look on her face. "Hold on, how can you be so sure they would accept OZEV forces in spite of their resistance to Frankish and Albish units?"

I cursed again, Marie shouldn't have access to that information. I had to scramble for an excuse fast. With Milly's thoughtful frown on full display I was just moments from disaster!

"You did not hear this from me, Millie." I conspiratorially whispered to the reporter who was at rapt attention. "I heard on the grapevine that President Nasser spoke with President Degurechaff while en route back to Aegyptus. We both can infer what that says about Aegyptus' relationship with Germania, no? But as I said, you did not hear it from me, just be on the lookout for signs there."

"I understand completely." Millie giggled again, miming her lips sealed. "Now am I right to assume your foreign policy for Asia is equally ambitious?"

"I wouldn't call it 'ambitious' so much as 'realistic'." I shook my head dramatically. "All of those Albish and Frankish colonies will eventually gain their independence. And then what? Who will help them rebuild and trade? The communists already made their first moves years ago by backing the rebels, so we're already behind. We need to work with South Bharat and Akitsushima Dominion to ensure that freedom and democracy thrives in Southeast Asia."

"What if the newly independent countries adopt a flavor of socialism while having a friendly attitude to OZEV, South Bharat and Akitsushima Dominion, or at least maintain strict neutrality?"

I remember the United States in my previous life had a reputation for zero tolerance of socialism during the cold war. Any countries that adopted flavors of it would draw unwanted attention. Even democracies were overthrown by dictatorships or other despotic governments backed by the US on the basis of "containing communism". Which sometimes led to would-be labor activists and democratic socialists becoming radicalized militant communists when it became clear that non-violent protests and legally pushing for reforms would be met with bullets and kangaroo court trials, requiring even more forces and resources to keep them down to avoid a communist revolution.

Personally for me, I would much rather have an entirely neutral Southeast Asia, than to end up being in the same untenable position as the Albish and Frankish from propping up unpopular dictatorships and giving political ammunition to the communists.

I briefly looked down at my watch to signal the end of our impromptu interview. Not that I really needed it with my hidden orb, but appearances were important for letting the other party subtly know that I had to leave without being rude about it. Any later and Visha would be upset at me for being late to dinner. She's making mochi treats.

"As long as they aren't helping the communists, I would rather let them enjoy their independence and treat them as an equal trading partner. Now if you'll excuse me, Milie, Antonio, I have to go."

"One last question, Marie. What would be your plan if another conflict happens between the CSR and Formosa?" Millie's eyes twinkled knowingly.

"Germania should station forces in Formosa to discourage the CSR from attacking them."

"Including the outer islands?"

"Yes," I nonchalantly replied. I smirked to myself on a job well done of painting myself as an extremist that was not to be taken seriously.

After a few photographs of me in front of the crowd, I was able to extricate myself and flee the rally. I made sure to take a winding, circuitous route through the streets, doubling back several times, just in case Jimmy or anyone else had decided to follow me. Finally I arrived back at the safehouse without incident, and spun down the illusion spell. Immediately I sent an encrypted message through my orb to Elya. There was one more loose end I needed to tie up before dinner.

"Begin Operation Doppelgänger."

"Understood, Madame President," Elya's voice chirped.

I smiled in satisfaction. For the next few days, one of Elya's mages will disguise herself as me and be seen publicly all around Berun, doing the boring political gladhanding that a politician is forced to do. So while 'President Degurechaff' is busy cutting ribbons to new fire-stations, shaking hands at schools, visiting orphanages, kissing babies, and even living in the Presidential Palace, 'Marie Kirschmann' will continue to give fiery speeches and stir the political cauldron here in Hambrück.

I almost never use body doubles. That sort of thing is most effective when nobody knows you have them. So it can be applied in situations just like this. It should be enough to convince Millie and everyone else that Tanya and Marie are two different people. I mentally patted myself on the back for a job well done.

1953 August 25th, Mosul, Mesopotamia:

For the past few days, Ali helplessly watched his situation go from bad to worse.

The enemy had pounded his river embankments with overwhelming mortars, rocket artillery and direct fire howitzers, forcing the defenders' heads down from the non-stop shelling while the high pressure water cannons on the boats carved holes into the earthen embankments. During all that they also secured almost full control of the Tigris River through the usage of their combat boats sailing up and down the river, cementing their control of cities such as Tikrit, Samarra, Baghdad, Kut, Amarah, and Basrah.

Then an all-out assault from the enemy followed, including more of the mage infiltration attacks. Some of their forces were repelled, but they managed to establish three beachheads and had even deployed tanks and other vehicles from barges to secure their positions for the upcoming pontoon bridges. There was considerable panic among his commanders of the prospect of being trapped in Mosul if two of the breaches turned into pincer movements.

Ali looked down at a letter from his father, which sharply criticized him as there was significant domestic pressure back home of how the war was prematurely started and was now stalemated.

He then looked at a second letter, this one from his older brother, which reported that the army in Syria was now moving out to Mosul to reinforce the city.

'Selim likely intentionally delayed coming to help so that I would lose Mosul by the time he would arrive, and then he would get the credit for retaking the city.' Ali clenched his fists.

An aide suddenly burst into the room without waiting for Ali's response. "The enemy is also attacking our garrison at the Mosul Dam!"

Ali traced his finger along the Tigris River.

"Tikrit, Samarra and Baghdad. All of them are under Qajarian control, with this city soon joining them, and the Tigris River flows by each of them…" Ali then turned to the aide. "Retreat our forces from the river. Cut the telegraph lines and jam radio broadcasts so that the enemy can't warn their downstream forces. Blow the dam. Spread the news of the Qajarians and North Bharatians 'recklessly attacking our position at the dam and causing immense collateral damage'. Then we will launch an all-out counteroffensive to push the surviving Qajarians and North Bharatians into the flood water, and claim our victory over this city and the rest of Mesopotamia!"

The aide hesitated for a moment, then nodded his head. "It will be done."

A few hours later, Baghdad, Mesopotamia:

Rafal al-Said was walking with his daughter as they approached a bridge that crossed over the Tigris River, and the checkpoint that was being manned by foreign soldiers. He saw armored boats escorting a convoy of transport barges that were loaded with vehicles and heavy supplies, but didn't pay much attention to the watercraft on the river because of how common they were.

He felt a tug on his arm. His daughter was pointing at a snack vendor that was serving sweets such as kleicha and baklava.

'The money is tight.'

Rafal looked down at his daughter. "You can only have a small piece this week, and no more."

She nodded and they walked over to the vendor, and as she gazed at the variety of sweets, his mind wandered.

The past month was a blur for him. His family had a very short time to flee from Fallujah before the city became a warzone. In the midst of the confusion, his wife and two other children were separated and he had no idea where they could be now.

'All I can do is pray that maybe she and the rest of my children are staying with one of her relatives. I just have to keep searching for them.'

She tugged on his arm and again, this time pointing at one of the snacks that she picked out.

After Rafal hesitantly paid for it and they continued walking across the bridge while his daughter slowly nibbled away at her snack, he heard a thunderous roar upstream and turned his head to look.

'Wait, those boats and barges, why are they sailing back towards the bridge… Oh…'

Behind the boats and the barges was a wall of thick, dark brown flood water rushing towards the bridge and into the city, filled with various debris and whatever else it had swept up in its path. And it was clear the flood level was higher than the bridge.

Screams and panic filled the air as people scrambled to get off the bridge, but he saw the buildings adjacent to the river bank also being swallowed up by the wall of water. It didn't take long for the slower moving barges to be swallowed up by the flood, while the boats were only barely staying ahead of the danger. He also noticed the crews on the boats were throwing their weapons and ammunition into the water, presumably to lighten their boats to gain more speed in desperation.

"Father, I'm scared." His daughter trembled.

He hugged her while stroking her hair and looking at the rapidly approaching boats that were about to sail under the bridge. "I love you. I always will."

'It's a long fall, but it's the only option for her to survive.'

He climbed over the bridge's stone wall while tightly holding onto his daughter, and pushed himself off of it, falling through the air while ensuring his daughter was on top of him.

'I hope my wife and my other children are able to escape from the flood, and find my daughter.'

Rafal crashed onto one of the boats' decks and numerous bones fractured in his body from absorbing the impact, while still cradling his daughter. As his world dimmed to darkness, he could hear his daughter cry and the men on board scramble to check on their new passengers, whose noises were soon drowned out by the roar of the flood water smashing into the bridge that he and his daughter were just on.

AN:

Some of the economic discussions were based on the previous chapter's references that I used for my research.

Context for the unusually phrased "One Country One Democracy" party, it's a parody of this phrase with Shu making it very clear of his intention to unify the CSR and Formosa under Formosa's system: wiki/One_country,_two_systems

wiki/Mosul_Dam

A September 2006 report by the United States Army Corps of Engineers noted, "In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world." The report further outlined a worst-case scenario, in which a sudden collapse of the dam would flood Mosul under 65 feet (20 m) of water and Baghdad, a city of 7 million, to 15 feet (4.6 m), with an estimated death toll of 500,000.[17] A report on 30 October 2007 by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said that the dam's foundations could give way at any moment.[18]

Reference to the sweets:

wiki/Kleicha

wiki/Baklava