AN: Credits to Vasilisa, perfect_shade, geo_113 and Sunny for feedback and revisions.
Somewhere in the Francois Republic:
Ernst Paul paced back and forth anxiously. With a creak, the Frankish agents opened his door and entered the room.
"Is she dead?" Paul took a heavy breath. "Don't tell me your men left her alive and enraged!? I gave you more than enough information about the Palace!"
"Stop being so paranoid, Paul. The last reports we got from our field agents reported her death, and with the Germanian press apparently unaware of anything other than the Palace and electrical grid being damaged, it seems likely," an agent smiled.
"The Germanian government is about to make a statement. Let's hear what the dogs have to say for themselves," said another. He walked over to the TV at the other side of the room and fiddled around to find the correct channel.
A grim-faced Chancellor appeared on the screen.
"My fellow Germanians, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that a terrible tragedy occurred in Berun several hours ago. The Presidential Palace and the electrical grid supplying power to Berun have been attacked. But I know that the most pressing question in every viewer's heart is: what monsters were responsible for this despicable attack?"
Adenaue turned to face a different camera, and a look of cold fury appeared on his face.
"I know the past months have been difficult for you. The illegal war Albion and Francois have waged against the innocent people of Aegyptus has closed the Suez Canal and plunged the world into an oil shock, disrupted global trade and caused an economic recession. But they are not the only enemies who conspire to make your lives more difficult. A more insidious foe lurks invisible around every street and every building. In the wake of increased OZEV integration, and taking advantage of the free movement of peoples and goods across our shared borders, organized criminals have conspired to cheat you of your prosperity. Through their acts of robbery and extortion, they are a major contributor to the rise in prices and the shortage of fuel. But now, not satisfied with their crimes, they have now crossed the line from profiteering to outright violence against Germanian society itself!"
Adenaue paused for dramatic effect, then continued.
"A group of organized criminals from Sicilia joined forces with local gangs based right here in Berun. They conspired to rob the Berun power plant of its precious plutonium. We do not yet know whether they intended to sell it on the black market, or whether they colluded with an enemy state, but I assure you that seasoned professionals are busy investigating as we speak. In order to create a suitably large diversion for the robbery, their accomplices set fire to the Presidential Palace while our dear leader slept peacefully in her bed and attacked the electrical grid. They hoped to cause so much chaos that their crime would be made easy. But crime never pays! Our valiant police arrived at the power plant much faster than the miscreants expected, thwarting their attempt."
Paul glared at the screen in undisguised fury.
"Citizens must prepare themselves for rolling blackouts in the Berun area for the foreseeable future. But your government will never stand idly by as its citizens suffer! I am here to inform you all tonight that, while we work to restore the electricity grid, we will also be liaising with our counterparts in our OZEV allies aiming to establish a trans-national law enforcement agency to crack down on these violent miscreants, once and for all. This new agency would coordinate with the police services of all member-states, with a particular focus on tackling cross-border crime..."
"Turn it off," the leader ordered, "I didn't expect them to talk such brazen nonsense. There's nothing more to be gained from that dog's mouth."
The TV was switched off.
"Damn it, no mentions of her." Cursed an agent. "They didn't manage to end her after all!"
"Unless they're choosing to hide the information of her medical status or even her death to prevent panic," suggested an optimist. "And if she's merely wounded, we just need to find what hospital they took her to."
"What on earth was he blathering on about?" wondered one. "Organized crime? Is that the best excuse they could come up with?"
The leader checked his watch. "Alright boys, look alive. We've passed the last check-in time for our team, and we have to assume they've been captured or killed. There's a risk the BND could track us down here, so we have to move now."
"Enough of this, how long are you going to drag me around on a leash instead of letting me retire in peace with my family?" Paul fumed.
"Your family's safety is in our hands, so you will cooperate with us for as long as we deem it necessary," the leader smiled.
'And I'll be blamed for all of this if they decide to release me instead of "tying up the loose ends". I'm not stupid enough to think I can just walk back into the Presidential Palace and rule Germania after Degurechaff's death.' Paul ground his teeth.
An explosion suddenly rocked the place.
"Our cover was blown this fast?!" An agent looked around in confusion for a moment, then ran over to grab Paul's hand and pull him along. "Come on! We can't let them capture you! Move it!"
Meanwhile, on the roof of the building:
Debizet reloaded his rifle and continued raining bullets through the broken skylight, mowing down LMB agents left and right.
'You absolute morons. Trying to start a fucking war with OZEV when almost all of our military forces are across the world! An armed Germanian mob could march to Parisee! I had to abandon tracking Nasser's whereabouts in Aegyptus when I received Order 33 to come back home to deal with a "domestic emergency event", and was told again to obey and execute Order 33 when I tried arguing that Nasser is the backbone of the Aegyptian resistance and thus was an absolute high priority target.'
Debizet spat internally as he reloaded his rifle again, then dashed backward to avoid a rocket that exploded at where he was standing.
"Rocket launcher threat neutralized, need you back at the skylight position for overwatch." Foccart's voice spell came in.
"On it." Debizet returned to his original position and saw a blur of Foccart tearing through LMB agents and using one of them as a human shield against incoming fire from a machine gunner, to which Debizet vaporized the machine gunner with an explosive spell. Other AAS agents moved up to clear the rooms one by one, with shouts and the occasional gunshots echoing in some of them.
"This is odd, where are their mages? None of them have revealed themselves yet. It's like beating up a bunch of toddlers," Foccart asked while he kicked open a door and his shield shrugged off a shotgun blast. He caught a thrown grenade and immediately tossed it back into the room, and shut the door on the panicking screams that were silenced by an explosion.
"If they truly don't have any mages, it was probably because they sent all of their mages to Berun for that attack and got them killed or captured. I want to meet the fool who authorized that operation," Debizet rolled his eyes.
"That probably explains why the AAS initiated Order 33 to call in everyone. Wipe out the LMB at their weakest point and stop whatever doomsday plan they had," Foccart sighed.
Also meanwhile…
"Ah shit, here we go again…" Teyanen muttered as he observed the building from afar with his stealth optical spell. The combatants seemed engulfed in a one-sided slaughter.
"Do we move in?" a BND agent asked. "We're also getting reports of similar battles between SCE factions across the Francois Republic."
"No, we'll just have to wait for them to finish killing each other, and then follow the winners to learn about them," Teyanen put his hand on his forehead. "You'd think they'd grow weary of this same tired old routine."
1953 September 1st, Washington D.C.:
Secretary of State Moores Dullas was calmly seated at his desk when his office door opened, and the former President of Germania Ernst Paul was escorted in by two men.
"Take a seat. This will be worth your time. I hope to offer a better deal than whatever the Franks used to get you out of your retirement." Dullas smiled as he motioned to a skeptical and confused Paul, while the men left the office and closed the door.
"What is the meaning of this?" Paul looked around, refusing to take the seat. "You think I wanted to help the Franks!? They held my family at gunpoint to force me to work with them!"
"No, I'll allow you to go back to your quiet retirement later, with a generous compensation and a new set of official identities for you and your family so that you can enjoy freedom in the Unified States. I'm sorry to hear that they had to threaten your family for your compliance." Dullas' face then hardened. "But if you choose to not cooperate with me, I will have your ass thrown into a one-way flight to Berun for a very exciting welcoming committee. And I will score some political favors and good publicity among the Germanians. That will offset the cost of the favor I owe the Franks for handing you over to me. So either way I will get what I need. Do we have an understanding?"
Paul narrowed his eyes and took the seat. "So what is it that you need from me?"
"My sources say you had a deep involvement with Germania's nuclear development and took a personal interest in their details. Weapons and power plants."
"You have the wrong person." Paul prepared to rise. "I'm not the nuclear scientist you are looking for."
"All the research and science in the world doesn't matter if there isn't a way to wield it," Dullas retorted.
"Me, as a nuclear policy advisor?"
Dullas grinned. "Everything from nuclear weapons to what to do with nuclear reactors. We seek to have nuclear parity with Germania in all respects."
The next day in Berun, at the Chancellor's office:
"Inside," ordered the brusque voice. They entered and sat down.
Adenaue didn't mince words, but Dertinge and Lergen held their peace. Everyone had been walking on eggshells around the Chancellor for the last few days. He didn't acknowledge their presence for some time, plowing through his official paperwork with grim determination. Finally he placed the last sheet into his Out Tray and looked up at his subordinates.
"It's finally over," he grunted. "My last, grueling week in office has come to its merciful end, thank God. I never expected I'd have to spend it on a national press junket, being forced to parrot that pack of lies Degurechaff dreamed up to drum up political support for her inter-OZEV police force."
"You disapprove of the transnational police force? I thought you'd be all in favor of that initiative," Dertinge noted in some surprise.
"In normal times I would," Adenaue grunted. "It's the method that really sticks in my craw. Our nation was attacked, gentlemen, make no mistake about it. It was an outright act of war perpetrated by the Franks. The one time I would happily support Degurechaff transforming back into the Argent Silver, putting the fear of God into those frogs, and forcing them to give us some serious concessions. But what does she do? Ignores the clear and present danger in favor of exploiting the panic to push some domestic policy. No matter how much I may agree with that policy, her behavior is inappropriate and outrageous!"
"The BND is already taking measures against the terrorists -" Lergen began.
"Oh really? The BND are on the case? I feel so much better already," Adenaue remarked with considerable sarcasm. "Face it, this disaster can be pointed squarely at the BND's door. Their gross negligence has allowed a group of Algerian tourists to be mass-poisoned on our soil, a ship to be blown up in our port, and now Berun's electrical grid and the Presidential Palace have been destroyed, no less! And all three committed by Frankish intelligence agents with no repercussions. Now the BND are scrambling to fix their own mistakes and Degurechaff, like an overly-doting mother pampering her spoiled child, is shielding those insubordinate cowboys from the consequences. This media blitz blaming organized crime for everything is nothing but her desperate attempt to divert the public's attention away from her children's failings. And it infuriates me that she's forcing me to be an accomplice to this shameful farce!"
Dertinge and Lergen shared a look. It was the first time either had witnessed the usually-unflappable Chancellor go on a tirade like this.
"Ah, the reason you summoned us...?" Dertinge asked tentatively, once it was clear Adenaue had run out of steam.
"Oh, that. My final official act as Chancellor. I need you to contact the Americans and arrange for their Federal Reserve to prepare to liquidate all Germanian US dollars that are surplus to our medium-term trade requirements. Might as well exchange all our sterling and franc too while we're at it, no use hanging onto them. Lergen, have the Admiralty organize escorts for our merchant ships to go to New York to deliver the currency and transport our gold back to Berun as soon as possible."
"Uh, isn't this a bit sudden?" Dertinge said. "Maybe we should exchange our holdings in a series of smaller tranches to reduce the impact like how Degurechaff suggested? And sending the fleet out so provocatively right to the Americans' doorstep... this could cause misunderstandings..."
"No, no, not at all. You heard the President yourself. She doesn't trust the stability of the dollar so Germania needs to cut itself loose, the sooner the better. She's already issued her marching orders, and ours is not to reason why." Adenaue smiled coldly. "Everyone must follow our orders as given, I have nothing further to say on the subject. In fact, Dertinge, I want you to contact the rest of the OZEV states and inform them of our actions. If they also want to exchange their dollars, sterling or franc for gold, they can piggyback on our convoy. After all, we're all one big happy alliance, and if those currencies are going to devalue, it's only neighborly to give them the opportunity to unwind their positions too."
"I should talk to her about this first to make sure-" Dertinge was then abruptly cut off by Adenaue.
"She gave her order. And you previously rarely questioned what she wanted to accomplish. So why are you questioning her now?"
1953 September 3rd, at Elya's house, Berun:
"Thanks for letting us bunk with you," I said, a tad sheepishly.
"Think nothing of it," Elya smiled. "I'm not cruel enough to force you to sleep in the remains of your presidential suite... which is currently residing in the third underground carpark... How many times have you let me sleep over at your official residences over the years?"
"Because you refused to put down your work and go home at sane hours," I muttered under my breath.
"Where's Anna?" Visha looked around the place after we set down our luggage.
"Back at work ever since the Berun attack happened, even though she's still on crutches," Elya sighed.
"Did she at least promise to stay out of fieldwork?" Visha fiddled with the television.
"Disappointingly no."
"Tell her I will personally intervene and have her suspended if she tries to do work outside of the BND's offices," I shook my head in exasperation.
"Then she'll do the whole rogue agent routine, no longer answering to anyone, while still leveraging her informal contacts in the BND," Elya laughed before walking over to the kitchen, then coming back with a tray of snacks and coffee.
The television was displaying a news broadcast that then caught my attention. The elections were delayed by the Germanian Electoral Commission. Apparently the continuing electrical outages in Berun from the grid attacks, the "uncertainty of Degurechaff's status" from the attack on the Presidential Palace and the unexpected resignation of Chancellor Adenaue were the final straw after weeks of political chaos from the GDU previously splitting.
And there was no way I could overturn their decision! Technically I could use my emergency powers, but that would reveal that I am perfectly healthy and not in a "unknown medical condition". That reminds me, I should ask Elya of how the BND's investigation into the attack is going…
Elya disappeared for a moment, then returned with a few sheets of paper and a running privacy spell, while Visha turned off the television.
"Before you ask, here are the BND's the latest findings, but there are two parallel developments we were tracking. The first one is that our contacts in the NKVD reported that General Secretary Vannikov was severely wounded a few days ago. The captured Caucasian operatives claimed they were paid by Germanian agents for the attack and that Germania pledged to deliver arms on a large scale to Caucasia. Our contacts quickly determined that it was the Franks who paid them due to Frankish intelligence's sloppy work. But there's a twist to the story. Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'yes men'?"
I blinked a few times in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Loria was not interested in the truth," Elya shook her head dismissively. "Our contacts were unable to investigate further due to Loria's demand for the NKVD to link the attack on Vannikov to us, and he had been currying favors with prominent Rus nationalist politicians and military officers. Which means telling a story they wanted to hear. That is because the CSR disrupted their pre-emptive war plans to invade the Baltic states, and the story that Loria wants to tell them is that Germania struck out at them before they could do so first. A lot of Rus nationalists were already bitter at the CSR for shattering their 'reunification dreams'."
Ah, now it makes sense why she brought up the phrase, 'yes men'. And now he's willing to push the Russy Confederation to directly attack OZEV for his own personal gain.
"So if Vannikov recovers enough to be back in office, he will be facing pressure to seek vengeance against us." Visha took a bite of a Weisswurst.
"Vannikov's coup against the previous general secretary was due to the support of the Rus nationalists. So even if he thinks Loria is feeding him shit, he has little choice but to go along with the story if he wants to avoid being thrown out the window as well." Elya rolled her eyes. "And the LMB wanted us to think it was the NKVD that launched the attack in Berun based on evidence that we found at the LMB's safehouse."
"The LMB had the last dying laugh out of this, and now we have to prepare for a suicidally aggressive Russy Confederation that is only constrained by a hardline CSR," I sadly chuckled. "I guess it's time for the army to have their turn with equipment and vehicle modernization after the air force and navy got theirs, and incentivize the rest of OZEV to also step up their snail pace military modernization. Maybe even start building a second line of fortifications along the eastern borders Kieva and Belarusia. We'll also have to open talks with the Nordic Council to prepare for an irrationally aggressive Russy Confederation."
"I've seen previous reports about Legadonia Entente's military readiness being at all times low, something that hasn't been observed for decades." Elya had a worried look on her face.
"I don't know how we're going to get the Legadonians to rearm as long as the Rus direct their anger at us. That means we have to ask even more of our military…"
"Our military is already upset at the BND for vacuuming up their mages, and will loudly complain should a shooting conflict start and they need their mages for special operations. I had to implement new plans of how to rely more heavily on non-mages for dangerous field work, which does come with its risks." Elya looked down at her feet.
"Have you been working with other OZEV members' intel agencies?" Visha piped up.
"That requires trusting them," Elya frowned. "It would be a mess if they were compromised and thus fed our adversaries information on us."
"You could start small on operations where you have assets in our adversaries' operations, so if an allied intel agency has a mole that chirps back to their contact, the BND could pick up on that betrayal through their own moles."
Elya widely grinned at Visha. "Yes, I can unravel our adversaries' own intelligence operations by making them reveal themselves. And that doesn't require the usage of mages."
"Just don't overwork yourself," I took a drink of coffee.
"Well if Anna is so insistent on coming back to work, I don't see a problem. Johanna would be quick to replace Anna if Anna gets herself hurt again. Speaking of the LMB dying, I have an update on what has been happening in the Francois Republic."
"Dysfunctional chaos as usual?" I raised an eyebrow.
"They are potentially heading towards… functional chaos I guess?" Elya coughed. "From what we've observed, the AAS is aggressively purging the LMB and has pulled most or all of their agents from overseas to finish the job. Calvar's own analysis matched ours, with the added twist that he expects the SCE to likely play a role in a future coup with the AAS fully controlling it after wiping out their arch rival."
"A coup?" Visha stopped eating her pretzel.
"When we asked him when he expected a coup, he stated that it would probably be after the Frankish forces are forced out of Aegyptus, Indochina or another major region, because the pro-colonialists will blame other political groups for 'deadlocking the government and sabotaging Frankish military operations'. And the military and SCE would likely back those pro-colonialists in the only way they know how."
"Would they have another go at us?" I looked at Elya with concern. "Even if they are defeated in the end, they could still cause some damage and prove to be an unnecessary distraction."
"He did ask for permission to go back into the Francois Republic to investigate what is happening at the SCE to confirm the information he acquired from the interrogation of the LMB members. Pretending that he was on a deep undercover mission to infiltrate the BND, and had to escape from the security crackdowns following the LMB's all-out assault in Berun," Elya took a pretzel from the tray. "I can't tell if he is honest in his intentions, or if this is just an elaborate escape plan."
"No, I don't trust him just yet." I frowned. "If his predictions do become true, then we'll need to discuss what to do next."
We suddenly heard a knock on the front door.
"Excuse me one moment…" Elya walked out of the room to go answer it.
"Have you ever thought of adopting kids?" Visha winked at me as I was about to take a bite of sausage and coughed in panic.
"Where did you get that idea?!"
"Oh, I've been thinking about it for a little while." Visha blushed. "But I didn't want to bother you at the time because of how busy you were. Now that we're running from safe house to safe house instead of doing government work…"
"When I can retire from office for good," I retorted. At least that would shift that question to the future so I don't have to worry about it right now.
"I think we need to be more direct with encouraging the future generation of politicians. Creating a political opposition party against yourself isn't just going to do it."
I thought for a moment.
"Maybe we could look into encouraging students in secondary education and universities, and the general public to take a more active role in politics. Seminars and workshops that teach about how our government and legal framework operates, along with the workings of political campaigns."
"I'll start working on a draft," Visha smiled, just as Elya and Adenaue walked in.
"Is there another emergency?" I sat upright in confusion.
"No, but I authorized a major operation." Adenaue adjusted his tie. "The immediate withdrawal of all gold from the Americans."
"Explain," I tersely demanded, eyes narrowing at a now very hostile political opponent.
"With the number of failures from the BND to stop foreign agents operating in Germania, it would only be a matter of time before someone discovers what we are doing if we try to slowly withdraw the gold. No, the safest option is to do it all at once to give no time for the Americans, Albish and Frankish to try to stop us."
I could see anger flash in Elya's eyes with Adenaue casually throwing her under the bus.
"I don't approve of it," I stood up from my chair while Visha positioned herself somewhat between me and Adenaue.
"So you will be exercising your emergency powers to overrule me?" Adenaue had a curious look on his face. "That causes two problems. The first one is that if anything goes wrong, you will be blamed for it. The second one, a much bigger one, is that it sets the precedent that the office of the Chancellorship and the entire legislative system is useless with a President wielding unlimited political power. Do you really want to go down that path, or will you be allowing a Chancellor to do their legally defined job?"
1953 September 16th, White House, Washington D.C.:
"Alright, Mr Zettour, it's time for straight-shooting," President Taft snapped.
Ambassador Georg Zettour smiled, unfazed by the full US Cabinet staring back at him. "I take it you are referring to my government's exchange request? Merely an ordinary financial transaction between the New York Federal Reserve and the Germanian Central Bank. Certainly nothing important enough to require the Federal Cabinet's time and attention."
"Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining! An 'ordinary financial transaction' doesn't include a request for a Germanian fleet to anchor off Manhattan Island!"
"Naturally such valuable cargo needs a strong escort. And it would take hundreds of aircraft months to ferry so much money and bullion between our countries. Much faster to use ships. Our proposal is the most efficient method to process the transaction with minimal fuss."
"'Minimal fuss' he says. You're right, maybe I'm overreacting – it's only OZEV unloading the lion's share of its vast holdings of dollars!" Taft lit up a large Kuban cigar. "I wasn't born yesterday, you know. Something's up, and you're going to tell me what it is right now!"
"Mr. President, you make it sound like we're picking on the US dollar," the Ambassador said smoothly. "That is not the case at all. The transaction will include the exchange of other currencies too."
"Exchanging them at the Fed for US dollars, you mean. Then converting those dollars into gold as well! The fact that OZEV is also liquidating its stash of sterling and franc does not make me feel any better. What in blazes is Degurechaff doing?"
"Degurechaff is away from her office for an indefinite period of time," Zettour took notice of Taft's grinding teeth and quickly moved on. "Regarding the sterling and franc, the reason is simple. OZEV's confidence in the continued vibrancy of the Albish and Frankish economies over the medium to long term has, shall we say, diminished considerably of late."
"In other words, you don't think they have a monkey's chance of beating the insurgents and hanging onto Aegyptus, Algeria or Southeast Asia," stated Moores Dullas.
"If you must be so blunt, then yes. As such, there is little need for our member-states to hoard their currencies beyond the minimum necessary for direct trade. As for the US dollars, there are two primary reasons for the exchange," Ambassador Zettour explained. "The first relates to the instability in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia. It has of late become increasingly threatening to our interests. OZEV intends to start taking significant actions to roll back the Red Menace that is encroaching on our doorstep. That requires purchasing a lot of help from locals on the ground. Locals who do not accept paper money, and only accept precious metals."
"And to do that you need mountains of bullion, do you?" Taft retorted sarcastically. "Are your mages planning to lug pallets of gold bricks across the length and breadth of Asia to hand them over to camel-riding tribesmen?"
"As for the second reason," the Ambassador continued unflappably, "your diplomatic staff may be aware of the discussions circulating throughout OZEV about replacing the national currencies of member-states with a single, unified currency. The Germanian mark would be the natural candidate for this single currency, but the mark has been pegged to coal since President Degurechaff's first term as Chancellor. However that is not a sufficient backing for an OZEV-wide currency. The Germanian Central Bank would need to print a lot more paper money, and consequently require a far more substantial resource backing it in order to prevent devaluation. And the best resource to provide confidence for the continent is of course, gold. So the decision has been made to stock up Germania's gold reserve as much as possible to reassure everyone of the continued value of Germanian currency moving forward –"
"Alright, alright, I get the gist!" Taft interrupted, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Thank you for stopping by, Mr Zettour."
"A pleasure as always, President Taft, esteemed Cabinet members."
After the Ambassador had left, the President turned to his Secretary of State. "Lord, I get tired of listening to diplomats prattle on and on. How does Foster deal with it all day long? It'd do my head in."
"Practice, Mr. President, lots and lots of practice," Moores Dullas smirked. "Though it could also be pure masochism, I've never asked."
"I'm sorry I brought it up. Well, do you buy Zettour's explanations?"
"Not a word of it," replied Dullas immediately. "I don't know whether this act is punitive, or if Degurechaff, or whoever she delegated her job down to before her palace went up in flames, really is planning something big against the communists, but either way, we can't just roll over and take the beating!"
"The timing can't be an accident. They know damn well that we need them to keep supplying New Granada with military materiel, and that we're also reliant on them for sensitive technology vital to our national security! And then there's the part where we have their former nuclear happy president working for us. I didn't expect that to blow up in our faces so soon!" Taft grumbled. "Until the day our domestic nuclear weapons and nuclear power infrastructure have matured and no longer require imported expertise, the Germanians have got us over a barrel and they know it."
"They know about us 'hiring' that Germanian guy? I handpicked the agents that were working with the SCE. The frogs must be compromised by the Germanians." Dullas snorted in disbelief.
"I told you that you should have let me handle that mess." Secretary of Defense Carl Windsor quietly objected, earning Dullas's furious glare before Windsor turned to Taft.
"Can't we just reject their request and ban any removal of gold from US soil? Tell their navy to go take a hike?"
"Definitely not," the Secretary of the Treasury was adamant. "The gold standard is the bedrock foundation of the dollar. To renege on a legitimate exchange, in front of the eyes of the world, would be catastrophic to our national credibility. Confidence in the dollar would plummet and investors across the globe would dump their holdings, leading to a massive devaluation. And possibly another recession."
"Even so, I agree with Moores and Carl, we can't let the Huns get away with this! There must be some way to convey our national displeasure in a way that hits OZEV where it hurts. Impose economic sanctions? Or at least an oil embargo?" suggested the newly-inaugurated Secretary of Energy.
"We can't, the US and Germania have signed an ironclad trade treaty that explicitly prohibits us doing that. And good luck getting enough support in the Senate to overcome an inevitable filibuster to repeal that damn treaty," said the Attorney-General.
"Why not ban any export of semiconductors and other high-end technology to any foreigners?" suggested the Secretary of the Interior.
"We tried to do that once before," Taft sighed. "And in response the entirety of Silicon Valley threatened to pack up the whole industry and relocate it to the Ruhr. If they ever make good on that threat, I doubt the great mass of workers in California will be sympathetic to our reasoning. What else have you got?"
The men thought for a while.
"I don't know about any long-term solution for dealing with OZEV, but right now our highest priority must be to maintain the stability of the dollar," the Secretary of the Treasury said. "So it's imperative we restore our gold reserves as soon as possible."
"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Windsor.
"Why not do the exact same thing as Degurechaff? Sauce for the goose, Mr. President."
"Explain," said Taft.
"The currencies of Albion and Francois are also tied to the gold standard, same as ours. So if we send our own navy across the pond to convert all our surplus holdings of sterling and franc into bullion, there's nothing they can say about it. It won't completely make up the Federal Reserve's shortfall, but it would offset it to a fair degree."
Dullas' eyes lit up. "You may be onto something there. In addition to our domestic holdings, Degurechaff will kindly deliver a large amount of sterling and franc right to the New York Fed's door. And don't we still have a few large loans the AK and Francois owe us, left over from the last two big European wars?"
"That's right, Moores, there are several tranches of loan repayments that will fall due in the near future," the Secretary of the Treasury agreed. "If we wish, we could even call in the principal due over, say, the next five years, immediately in one lump sum. And we can demand that all repayment be made in gold instead of currency."
"Can we do that?" Taft demanded.
"There's nothing in the loan agreements that prevents it."
"That'll make Albion and Francois scream like stuck pigs. What if they refuse to part with so much gold?"
"They'll knuckle under all right – or else lose any hope of receiving any loans of any type from the US government or citizenry for the next century!" Dullas smiled grimly.
Taft thought for another minute. "Anyone have any better ideas? … No? Alright, let's do it. Moores, inform Zettour that Germania's request is approved. Carl, order Admiral Nimitz to deploy the Atlantic fleet around New York Bay; I don't want the Germanian navy getting any bright ideas while they're lurking by our biggest city. The fleet will escort the Germanians back to Europe, and then dock at Felixstowe and Le Havre. Go and squeeze the limeys and frogs for every ounce of gold you can get out of them!"
Meanwhile, in Grozny:
"Is this how they're going to fight now?" Fire looked on as another group of city blocks in the distance were in the process of being leveled by a rain of steel and explosives.
"They're doing the equivalent of flipping the Go board and all of the pieces on it after we beat them repeatedly. Then setting the house on fire." Shusheng wearily groaned. "Hold up, I sense enemy mages approaching us."
"We're running low on augmentation juice and we haven't slept for almost a day now. They just won't stop coming. And the rest of our battalion is gone."
Shusheng watched the enemy mages come into view of his optical spell while Fire readied his 14.5mm rifle. They were both too exhausted a long time ago to keep using their heavy machine guns.
Something on the enemy mages' backs alarmed Shenshung. "They have what appears to be man-portable rockets or missiles, and launchers for them."
"So it won't just be their planes that are trying to snipe us from outside of our range… I miss the days when we had some aircraft support."
Shusheng helplessly watched as the enemy mages fired a salvo of magic guided missiles.
'Our only option is to shoot down or evade the missiles, but they'll just come back to launch more at us until we collapse from exhaustion or recklessly charge at them to close the distance.'
The next day:
Li stared at a map as Yao walked in. "Our forces are retreating from Grozny after the collapse of our flanks and the city defenders reported they were taking unsustainable heavy casualties from the enemy artillery fire. Our mages are too ill to keep fighting."
"I expected that to happen after our few remaining planes were grounded from prioritizing fueling the boats and ships," Li turned around. "Do we have enough vessels for our army to get across the Caspian Sea?"
"A fraction of our men would be left behind even if we dangerously overload our transports," Yao pointed out nervously.
"There will be more room than usual from the upcoming fighting retreats. We stayed in one place for too long and now they have amassed enough forces to relentlessly chase us regardless of how many of their vanguards we spank. And then there are the Qajarians, North Bharatians and Afghans pushing us from the south. We'll be lucky if we can avoid a chaotic rout," Li crumpled up one of the reports.
1953 September 18th, Allied Kingdom, Londinium:
"Nasser is now in control of the Syrian rebel army. Our contacts in that army confirmed their senior officers are now taking orders from Nasser." Flemons updated the map representing the unending chaos of the Middle East as an incredulous Prime Minister glared.
"When we thought Nasser was still somewhere on our soil, he was already halfway to Aegyptus…" Prime Minister William glowered, repeating what was already known.
"Yes sir," Flemons nodded, then felt the sensation of his cigarette burning to his finger, before he stubbed it out in an ashtray.
"When we thought the SCE was on the cusp of finally tracking down Nasser to silence him for good, they unexpectedly pulled their agents from Aegyptus." William's tone continued to be filled with calm rage.
"Not just Aegyptus, they also pulled agents in large numbers from Indochina and elsewhere. The most we could infer was that they had an 'emergency domestic security incident'." Sir Carrington, the director of MI6, nervously cleared his throat.
"The acting Frankish Foreign Minister was unable to explain what the SCE was doing. He didn't even know about the SCE's recent actions until I confronted him." Foreign Minister Shone put his hand on his head in annoyance.
"And when we thought the Turkmen Empire's army in the Sinai would crush the Syrian rebel army, they unexpectedly withdrew and are now charging towards northern Mesopotamia. Their other army in Mesopotamia blew a dam and caused immense flooding to wash away the Qajarian and North Bharatian forces, alongside numerous civilians."
"Yes sir," Flemons nodded again.
"There are widespread protests and riots in Mesopotamia over the destruction of their national infrastructure symbol, especially when they had completed that dam before the Aegyptians could finish building their Aswan Dam." Shone had an annoyed look. "The Turkmens have destroyed the main Qajarian force and their North Bharatian detachment with the flood waters, at the cost of igniting an insurgency throughout all of Mesopotamia! And the Qajarian monarchy has publicly sworn that they will continue the war against the Turkmen Empire, while North Bharat's government has been suspiciously quiet."
"MI6 reported that Magna Rumeli's Foreign Minister will be utilizing the destruction of Mesopotamia in their upcoming publicity campaign to rally their northern neighbors against the Turkmen and Qajarian Empires. They're also putting political pressure on the Balkan states to join OZEV," Sir Carrington had a worried expression on his face.
"All of former Yugoslavia, along with Magna Rumeli joining OZEV?" Shone sat up alarmed. "They would rule the Mediterranean Sea with their extensive coastlines and islands, along with the Strait of Gallipoli and Black Sea being fully under their control."
William continued his cold rage rant. "And now Nasser has an intact army fortified in the Sinai Peninsula, next to the Suez Canal and blocking any direct land routes between our forces in Aegyptus and the Turkmen Empire. Thus making this entirely our problem to clean up, when our forces are still struggling to put down the Aegyptian insurgency. We can't pull additional forces from elsewhere, not without causing more problems. We're surrounded by idiot allies."
"Yes sir," Flemons looked down at his shoes.
"And the fall season is approaching when we and the Francois Republic are both hurting from the oil shortages. There will be riots on the streets when the first snowflakes hit the ground," William then turned to Shone. "Do we have any updates on discouraging the Americans from stopping the export of oil to us and the Francois Republic?"
"I am still in the talks with them, but they have all of the leverage. Their oil won't be cheap, nor can they guarantee a steady supply." Shone nervously cleared his throat. "And they won't sell us the oil if we don't pay the entire principal of all of our loans from them, in gold. Their fleet will be sailing to us soon to collect their payment. The Franks also received the same message, and violence broke out in their National Assembly over whether they would honor the gold payment, which may force them to end all of their wars immediately due to their unstable finances, or refuse and thus default on their debts."
William stared at his bottle of scotch on his desk and pushed it away. "The opposition is campaigning on the platform of ending the war in Aegyptus, but we all know the only way Nasser will accept peace at this point is if we give up control of the Suez Canal. He can drag out this conflict into the winter, and people on this island have much less tolerance for rationing and shortages compared to the time when we were fighting against the Empire."
There was a long pause before William stirred, struggling to hold back his tears.
"It's over. The sun has set on us." William sighed as everyone looked at each other. "First we'll need to talk to the Franks to gauge their mood toward us establishing an international peace commission to find a resolution to the war. I doubt Nasser would be willing to come to Londinium the second time, but our best hope of dissuading him from demanding everything from having full ownership of the Suez Canal to asking for war reparations is to have multiple major countries enforce a peace treaty on him."
"Are we inviting Germania to the commission? If Degurechaff is even somewhat alive, she will drag herself to that meeting and will ruin us!" Shone raised an eyebrow.
"We have no hard evidence, but Germania seems to be the most likely one that had been helping Nasser." Sir Carrington frowned. "We are confident it's not the communists because the Qajarians have been publicly hostile to the previous revolution in Aegyptus that led to Nasser rising to power, and their private conversations that we have monitored indicate their negative attitude toward Nasser has not changed. They see him and Aegyptus as nothing more than something to distract us and the Turkmen Empire."
"That Devil of the Rhine, she must have been constantly working behind the scenes to slowly undermine us with plausible deniability. Expand OZEV, turn the Americans against us, and gain control of the Middle East…" Shone breathed heavily.
"There were some mistakes on our end that didn't help the situation," Sir Carrington shrugged.
"Nonsense. If Nasser was dead, the rebel Syrian army was crushed and the damn Yanks didn't mug us for our wallet in the middle of a war, we would have been on track to install a puppet government in Aegyptus for them to take over controlling the unruly locals." Shone shot back.
"We should try to hold the peace talks without Germania so we can avoid having to talk to Degurechaff. Or if she is dead from that attack in Berun, then we absolutely have to keep away from that firebrand Marie Kirschmann that somehow made Degurechaff look like a more reasonable person to deal with." William then opened the bottle and poured himself a drink.
"If Germania was indeed involved with backing Nasser, I expect Nasser to refuse any peace talks without Degurechaff being invited." Shone had a disgusted look on his face.
William depressingly groaned. "I can't believe it's come to this."
"And what will we be doing with the Turkmen Empire?" Shone asked. "We can't just drop them overnight, not when they are kinetically containing the communists' influence in the Middle East. Pulling the plug on them would at best result in a Middle East being conquered and split between Degurechaff and the communists!"
"All I know is that we're chained to them as long as the Qajarian Empire and Aegyptus continue to receive their foreign support," William grumbled.
AN:
wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Baikal
The 1950's was a wild west for nuclear experiments, such as this one where they were running an unshielded nuclear reactor in a forest to develop a reactor for aircraft: local/what-happened-inside-georgia-nuclear-aircraft-lab-finding-facts-forest-dr-james-mahaffey/
The effects of radiation were tested through controlled experimentation but also through observation of what Mahaffey describes as "instant taxidermy" of animals caught inside the kill zone around the outside of the operational reactor.
"Any animal like a toad frog that happened to be hopping around on the ground when the reactor was turned on, he died and interestingly it also killed all the bacteria in and around the frog," Mahaffey said.
"When those [bacteria] die, it doesn't deteriorate so you have this dead frog that you can put on your mantle and it'll just stay there."
According to Mahaffey, the scientists conducted many experiments with animals including releasing rats and studying the effects of radiation on them.
"I heard a rumor that the largest animal they ever irradiated was a mule and the mule died of course, and like a toad frog it would not deteriorate in a normal way," Mahaffey said.
...
"An enormous amount of work was done to find out how having this reactor affects the environment. I'll give them that," Mahaffey said. "They wanted to find out how groundwater would transport radiation and they dug wells all over the facility, and they would have monitors monitoring what type of radiation, how much radiation and knew how fast radiation could transport in the environment."
Great care went into studying radiation in the Etowah River including the construction of rafts to track and map the flow of radiation as well as the atmospheric effects of radiation.
The real life Suez Crisis was forced to an end from the US applying financial and oil pressure on the UK, and the USSR threatening to nuke the UK and France. Along with the entire Middle East putting an oil embargo on the countries attacking Egypt. Yeah, the UK/France/Israel had a very bad day in terms of international diplomacy: wiki/Suez_Crisis#Financial_pressure
The United States also put financial pressure on the UK to end the invasion. Because the Bank of England had lost $45 million between 30 October and 2 November, and Britain's oil supply had been restricted by the closing of the Suez Canal, the British sought immediate assistance from the IMF, but it was denied by the United States. Eisenhower in fact ordered his Secretary of the Treasury, George M. Humphrey, to prepare to sell part of the US Government's Sterling Bond holdings. The UK government considered invading Kuwait and Qatar if oil sanctions were put in place by the US.[230]
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harold Macmillan, advised his Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, that the United States was fully prepared to carry out this threat. He also warned his Prime Minister that Britain's foreign exchange reserves simply could not sustain the devaluation of the pound that would come after the United States' actions; and that within weeks of such a move, the country would be unable to import the food and energy supplies needed to sustain the population on the islands. However, there were suspicions in the Cabinet that Macmillan had deliberately overstated the financial situation in order to force Eden out. What Treasury officials had told Macmillan was far less serious than what he told the Cabinet.[231]
In concert with U.S. actions, Saudi Arabia started an oil embargo against Britain and France. The U.S. refused to fill the gap until Britain and France agreed to a rapid withdrawal. Other NATO members refused to sell oil they received from Arab nations to Britain or France.[232]
…
Because the British government faced political and economic pressure, the Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, announced a cease fire on 6 November, warning neither France nor Israel beforehand. Troops were still in Port Said and on operational manoeuvres when the order came from London. Port Said had been overrun, and the military assessment was that the Suez Canal could have been completely taken within 24 hours.[233] Eisenhower initially agreed to meet with Eden and Mollet to resolve their differences, but then cancelled the proposed meeting after Secretary of State Dulles advised him it risked inflaming the Middle Eastern situation further.[234]
