Valentin Domanevka
The wealth of the USSR was its natural resources. It's wealth in land, in people, in forests, in metals, in unconquerable terrain, and most importantly in the modern era, in its natural gas and oil reserves.
Reserves that had been tapped nonstop for more than two centuries now, to fuel the development of the soviet state into its modern day state. This state was strong, this state was vast and would only continue to grow more valuable as it was developed, but there was the issue of depletion.
There was only so many easily-available reserves of oil and gas within their territory. Those reserves that formed the backbone of their economy, those reserves that propelled them into the modern day, those reserves that were soon to run dry. The invention and licensing of CHOOH bought the soviet state much valued time. By shifting as much of their domestic usage and export of gas to the biofuel, they were able to ease the overall rate at which oil had to be tapped in order to keep the state running. As much as twenty percent of their economy relied upon it before the switch, and now only ten percent relied on fossil fuels. Halving the overall rate of consumption bought them more time…
But it wasn't enough. Their reserves of easy-to-access fossil fuels will be depleted by the 2130s assuming their current pace of usage was maintained. All those in power could see the writing on the walls for their current situation. The soviet state needed to keep diversifying its economy, but in order to do that, it needed another burst of wealth to fund the massive projects that were doubtlessly going to be required.
In order to save their nation, they needed to diversify their economy. In order to diversify their economy, they needed funding. In order to obtain funding, they needed to diversify their economy. If their economy was not diversified, they would run bankrupt sometime in the middle of the next century, a disaster that would allow the EEC to simply wait and buy up their nation for spare change.
The founding of Zhirafa was a boon to the soviet state. Whereas before the soviet machines were decried as quick to break (but very easy to repair!) and overweight (but far cheaper!). The expertise brought in by young Sokolov gave the soviet union a golden goose. A corporation that was a leading expert in the field of mechatronics, something that the state desperately needed in the transitory period in which their economy had to switch tracks.
This was, of course, not enough by itself to save the state. It was merely another method to delay the inevitable at this point. They needed more than just market-leading mechatronics. What they needed was more time.
The globe had been warming for some time now, whether through globalized pollution or some natural cycle, they did not care. While this made the northernmost sections of their territory far more prone to causing cancer than normal, it also began to open up opportunities.
The globe was warming. The impenetrable ice that had buried the Russian section of the soviet union was thawing.
Hundreds of thousands of miles of new, fertile, unpolluted farmland were beginning to emerge in their northern territories. The golden goose that would allow them to secure their nation for centuries to come if properly leveraged. Needless to say, all factions within the soviet union were absolutely focused on making sure that this land remained firmly under their control, and untainted from bioplagues and bombing raids by foreign powers. It was the biggest modern goldmine in existence. It was their future.
There was the problem yet again, however, of time and money. They needed it to thaw more before development of the land could properly begin. They needed the immense wealth needed to employ the massive workforce to develop what was still mostly bog into usable farmland. They needed wealth to keep that farmland protected as it was being developed and before the first harvests.
They needed money, to buy them time, to buy them the future. The only way to get more money was to secure more assets in fields they already had available to them in bulk, Oil, Gas, and Mechatronics.
They needed more reserves of fossil fuels. There was only one true choice before them.
The Middle-East was still heavily irradiated. It would be for quite some time. But full conversion cyborgs could be made almost entirely immune to radiation, and were strong enough to make much of the jobs not require as much heavy machinery to begin tapping such reserves.
Which is why the USSR had been effectively mass producing such individuals for the last thirty years, in the labs created by the good Dr. Fedorov. Those that could not pay were offered jobs to pay it off. Jobs in mining, in tapping fossil fuels, in construction of oil pipes and water channels. In everything needed to set up a defended extraction site and the miles of pipeline required to cheaply transport it to desired facilities.
Now was the question of transportation to such sites, while still adequately defending the workers.
Some amount of the defense could be handled by air, although none of the airships available to them could carry the massive sections of pipeline required to construct such works. They did not have the rarer components required to produce the fusion reactors and gravtech generators like the Australians and Africans could, nor did they have the orbital superiority of the EEC.
Which of course, left their course by land and sea. Fortunately that the Mediterranean was not drowned in damable sea mines like the wider oceans, but unfortunate that they now had to defend their naval side of the middle east if they intended to keep their holdings. Petrochem especially would oppose any action they took to keep the area profitable.
The miles of wasteland and their mostly friendly relations would protect them from China. But on the western front they had five significant problems.
Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and Syria. These nations had to be addressed in order to secure their hold on the melted sands of the middle east. The exact ways in which these countries were planned to be addressed, were the subject of their meeting today. All of these things were something that every one of them was already well aware of.
Which was why it was so infuriating to hear the useless one drone his way through this information. He gripped his cane tighter and focused his attention back to the swadling brat for a moment.
"..which was stated in meeting seven-three-seven. The situation at hand will progress until it reaches an untenable state unless these strategic mideastern deposits are held for at least another fifty years. Assu-"
"That will be enough, Antonin." Thankfully, it seemed as if the young dictator had also grown tired of the monologue and waved a hand to order the squalid creature to sit down once more. "We will read the full summary of events after the meeting." Vasiliev spoke, knowing full well that absolutely none of them were going to do that. "Time is of the essence when planning the future of our people."
The worm bowed his head and sat once more, thankfully his role in this event was concluded and they no longer had to tolerate his speaking anymore, just his presence. Vasiliev stood and raised a hand to the screen, signaling Geroi to change the display to their current strategic map.
On the monitor, a display of the USSR and the surrounding territories was displayed. The map changed again to display the location of the fossil fuel reserves in yellow, the high threat countries in red, and the low threat countries in orange. Vasiliev began his own, mostly superfluous monologue. Damnit brat! You just wanted to take over the retreading, didn't you?!
"The primary threat will be to the west. China is both separated by the Tian Shan, and by being our principal buyers of natural gas. With the death of Saburo Arasaka, they will likely have their attentions focused on Japan and the smaller islands of the pacific to secure their airship routes and defenses. Geroi, estimated chances of China intervening against us in the planned conquest?"
There was a pause as the AI transferred the request to his larger server complex north of Mongolia. After a few long moments, Geroi responded.
"1% with a 1% margin of error. No immediate strategic gain."
Vasiliev nodded, and continued. "Assuming that Militech and the NUSA also seek to take advantage of Saburo Arasaka's death, they will also focus their military efforts on Japan. That means that China and NUSA will likely ally to divide Japan between the two of them. With the recent disaster in India, they will also be too busy scouring the wastes of Pakistan for more terrorists with nuclear weapons to attack. Only provisional defenses will be needed on that front."
"Egypt enjoys its breadbasket status for East Africa, but their power is concentrated entirely around defending their Nile. They have very little in the way of power projection beyond it, but they are far more of a potential threat than any eastern front power. They would have to declare open war to do anything more than low-war sabotage, which would require the consent of their little union. With Orbital Air being our ally against the stranglehold in space held by the EEC, they are unlikely to authorize an open war so long as certain incentives and trade agreements are offered. That leaves just Black Ops… Valentin, I want a full task force on counter-ops in that region."
He gave a nod and a focused look to the young dictator. "It will be done." The task was all too trivial, all that needed to be done was inflame tensions between Muslim Egypt and the voodoo nonsense that was the rest of Africa. A religious powder keg waiting to go off, internal disunity would keep them a non-factor for decades.
"Israel will likel-pft… he he heh hah hah!" The young dictator broke out into chuckles and then full on laughter. A laughter darkly echoed by most of the table. They all knew the truth of Israel. The tiny nation was forced to beg for scraps to keep the automatons it foolishly let out of control from destroying them entirely. They had no capacity to fight an external conflict, it was only the complete uselessness of their land that kept them from being invaded. A strategic bomb given to Islamic military groups would be more than enough to keep Israel occupied for a long time.
If they were lucky, it would be destroyed before they had to lift a finger.
"We will enact plan 2B9S for them and let the issue resolve itself. Moving on…" Vasiliev spoke with a small grin on his face, a grin that quickly faded as he reached the next group. "Turkey will have to be subdued in its entirety before the rest of the Middle East can be safely secured. Both over land and sea, and either conquered outright or simply made to completely submit. The pipeline will have to run through Turkmenistan, and then towards former Iraq and then down into the Arabian desert. Turkey is entirely too close to the line."
He raised a finger and pointed at one spot on the map, which zoomed in to reveal a canal surrounded by a city.
"They also block our one path to the Mediterranean. We will have to take Istanbul, and all surrounding lands, and they will not tolerate that. Romanov. How long do you think it will take to conquer?"
The matured Marshall was stone faced as he answered. "One month to take. Three generations to conquer."
There was a long silence at that as Vasiliev considered the answer. "...and of Syria?"
"The same, provided I have the men and material."
"And of the Balkans?"
Just about all parties felt an explosive headache develop in that exact instant. The Marshall gave a fearsome, growling sigh and replied. "A month to take, but I could never conquer those damned lands. Their people have been fighting and killing each other for any number of foolish reasons for as long as humans have lived there. The best way to keep them a non-issue is to erect a fence and give them all swords."
"Just the islands and coast then?" Vasiliev pressed with a frown.
Marshall Romanov chewed his cheek for a moment, before nodding slowly. "...I could conquer that, but no Balkan man would remain thereafter."
"Then you will do that. Of course, this leads us to our last and greatest strategic threat…" Vasiliev turned back on the map as it shifted again to show a map of Europe. The USSR in bold red contrasting against the bright blue of the EEC. "With both motive and means to oppose our taking of the middle east… The purpose of this meeting."
"So long as Europe is able, they will oppose any growth in potential rival powers. We cannot allow them to push the front past this line." The map shifted to encompass the Mediterranean and Mideast as well, before a line of Soviet influence trailed down from St. Petersburg, through to Ukraine and into the Balkans, into the sea, and up to Israel.
"Our soldiers are on average, more enhanced thanks to the work of Dr. Fedorov. Our logistics are improving everyday thanks to the work of young Sokolov. Our population is comparable, our weaponry on par, and we currently hold the initiative… The only problem, of course, is space."
"With Europe's dominant hold on orbital fire platforms, any war against them requires one to account for their ability to strike from the heavens without hesitation. This is where our alliance with Orbital Air comes into play. So long as we can hold out long enough, they will handle the disabling and taking of the Mass Driver and other Ortillery platforms."
Vasiliev gave a handsome grin as he turned to Sokolov. "And the twenty-five Voyna-class Sorokonozhka-"
"No." Sokolov responded, looking quite despondent at what he was about to say.
Vasiliev's expression grew frigid.
"Explain." There was no need to word the threats.
"As of today, we will only be able to field fourteen of the Voyna-class. I was recently informed that the other eleven ceretronic cores have been stolen, and sold to China."
There was a very long pause.
The slow fury of the Siberian cold was in Vasiliev's eyes.
Valentin tapped his cane, drawing the apocalyptic fury to himself. "Sovoil Logistics Director Illya Golovin. He was not informed of their importance, and had a buy ready in China. We learned on the way here, and plan on capturing him when the meeting is concluded."
He weathered the blizzard with experience, keeping his gaze locked onto the young Dictator.
After a long time, Vasiliev turned his gaze back towards the map, and clenched his hands together behind his back, knuckles bone white.
Geroi obediently placed fourteen markers on the map, and their effective range.
It was not enough to cover the entire front anymore.
There was a pause.
"Does Golovin have a family?"
The image of Novaragov answered. "Yes sir, a wife and three children."
"Execute him in front of them. Then make an example of them during the next high society ball."
"It will be done sir." The form of Novaragov answered without hesitation.
Another pause.
"Sokolov. How long will it take to produce five more Voyna-class?"
Sokolov gave a minute swallow and answered. "We can grow batches of ten every year or so."
"Romanov, how long will it take to remobilize if the entire force is ordered to cease for one year."
"...Perhaps another year or two to reach full combat readiness."
"...Geroi. Calculate the chance of Petrochem attempting to move into the middle east within the next three years."
A silent, suffocating pause.
"50%, with a 5% margin of error."
A coin flip. Could the USSR handle another faction in the Mideast sabotaging their efforts without being entrenched themselves?
"Forgive my impertinence, but I have a suggestion." A voice like an earthquake boomed out as softly as it could manage. The furious Siberian turned, its winds crashing against a mountain of iron. Aaron Armstrong's magma optic burned in it's visor.
"...Speak."
"We cannot cover the front as it is. But what if the front was narrower? Good Geroi, please extend the front to the beginning of the Alps."
The line stretched forwards. The front narrowed.
"...We cannot hold that." The winter answered.
"We do not have to hold it. Only occupy it long enough for their ground forces to be pinned by it." The mountain replied.
"Our own forces will be overextended."
"Nay. I and the Spetsnaz will be overextended."
A long pause as the winter considered the mountain. He turned back towards the screen.
"You must hold for six months."
"I am Armstrong. I can hold six years."
Valentin believed him.