OR1-EP4: Prelude to the Millennium (10)

After several violent clashes of a nasty nature in quick succession, Rhodesia has calmed down for the time being. The bloodshed has made both the natives and the African Britannians realize that they can't easily bring each other to their knees, and that a strong-arm approach will backfire. In addition, the fearless Scots were warning them of the certainty of death for audacious individuals who dared to rebel against the EU ruling order, and clever opponents were ready to make secret contacts.

To avoid attracting more hostility, the African Britannians have not yet come up with more radical slogans. They know very well that even if they gained the whole of South Africa, they would not be able to fight against the EU, not to mention the fact that half of South Africa is currently standing against them. Nowadays, the only chance for the African Britannians to win is to use legal means to achieve their goals, i.e., to create an African Britannian Autonomous Republic, which would make the dependency independent from South Africa and directly subordinate to the EU, and in this way they would not have to be bothered by the philanthropists in South Africa any more. However, McNeil concluded, based on the movements of the Britannian Empire and the social culture of the African Britannians, that their ultimate goal was to break away from the EU altogether and join the Britannian Empire.

Despite Governor-general Herzog's thwarting of the African Britannians' plans to lobby the Senate, he himself had to personally travel to Paris to present the stakes to the deputies and the three consuls, and to label the African Britannians' claims as treasonous with solid evidence. In order to get more jurisprudence, McNeil decided to go to the largest library in South Africa to check out books related to all the changes in the history of the EU so that he could be of use in Paris.

"I can't believe the Governor-general would let a soldier do the work of a debater." McNeil walked into the library with his head hanging down, not really expecting to get anything out of his actions. After placing his coat on a side windowsill, McNeil climbed the ladder and began his search from the top shelf of the oversized bookshelves. He suspected that he was starting to lose his hair again; some people didn't become bald until middle age though, and they tended to develop a noticeable receding hairline in their mid-thirties. McNeil certainly remembered that he had seen a number of researchers who had gone bald before they reached thirty, and those people must have been under far more stress than he could have imagined.

He first decided to take a serious study of South African history. The formation of South Africa was the result of a compromise between two colonizers, the EU colonizers were not able to completely eliminate the African Britannians who were entrenched in the north, so the two sides established the Dominion of South Africa in the 110th year of the Republican Calendar (1901 A.T.B. Calendar) after a number of negotiations. Since then, South Africa smoothly through the decades of peace, until the outbreak of the Second World War on the eve of South Africa's social conflicts intensified and brought about a larger scale than the previous chaos.

Michael McNeil looked at his watch while marveling at the wonders of the world. At the beginning of the Republican Calendar, the Jacobins, in order to signify a complete severance of all ties with the Old World, had designed the Republican Calendar almost entirely in accordance with the standard decimal system. If the effect of this calendar on the day of the year was merely a minor inconvenience that could be solved by changing calendars, it was simply incomprehensible to force the unit of measurement of time within a day to be re-specified as decimal as well. In fact, for technical reasons, most French watch stores at the time were unable to sell clocks that expressed time according to the new standard, and this irrational standard of timekeeping was finally abolished in 14 years of the Republican Calendar by a decree of Napoleon Bonaparte. Today, the difference between the Republican and A.T.B. calendars is probably only in the designation of months and days.

"It's a good thing these guys didn't continue to use the natural sciences as a bargaining chip for their own standardization." He was glad he hadn't been born in those days. No, he wasn't part of this world in the first place, it was the same wherever he was born.

McNeil put down the book in his hand and moved the ladder over to another large bookshelf to continue his search for what he wanted. Speaking of the series of upheavals that took place in South Africa in the 2nd Century 40s of the Republican Calendar (the 20th Century 30s of the A.T.B. Calendar), they were rooted in the neglect of South Africa's position in the First World War. The Chinese Federation had invaded the EU's African colonies from the territory of the Abyssinian Empire, Africa's only independent nation, and was rapidly advancing toward the south. In order to block the Chinese Federation 's offensive, European colonists living in South Africa assembled a colonial army of pioneers and militia and fought the Chinese Federation for four full years, sacrificing more than 100,000 lives before they barely managed to drive the Chinese Federation overboard. South Africa, which had served the EU well, hoped to be treated differently from the other colonies, and all the South Africans got in return for their efforts was ignorance on the part of the EU. The Parisian authorities instinctively distrusted all African forces, even whites living in Africa.

By noon, McNeil left the library and went to a nearby café to meet Gene Smilas, who had traveled here to see him.

"I heard you were going to Paris, and I have some things to delegate to you here." Smilas looked formal, his appearance a stark contrast to his usual arrogance, "If you get a chance, ask around about the personnel situation there in Paris for me."

"You want to go back to Paris?" McNeil was not surprised. Gene Smilas had originally come to Africa to earn his stripes, and he would have to return to Europe someday to continue his fight. France was Smilas' hometown, and it was inevitable that he would choose to return to his old stomping grounds, which were his home base.

"If I don't go to Paris, would I want to go to Berlin?" Smilas laughed bitterly, "McNeil, you probably don't realize that we have another kind of exile here: placing people in unimportant positions. It's not as extreme as transferring people directly to Siberia, but the effect is pretty much the same."

"Have you heard any rumors?" McNeil became puzzled; he couldn't understand why Smilas had so many concerns about the transfer back to Europe.

"It's not a rumor, it's the truth." Smilas sighed heavily, "There's not much of a future if the job when you go back is guarding the gates or the archives. Returning to Europe with a full load and being kicked back to Europe are two different concepts."

"I understand. But why don't you find a chance to investigate on your own?"

"I can't get away right now, and these unsettling guys are sure to find an opportunity to cause trouble." Smilas looked at the customers in the coffee shop, he didn't see any faces of suspected African Britannians, so he continued with a reassuring boldness, "The army side is in a mess, and even if we wanted to follow the discipline of punishing officers who don't follow orders, we can't do it anymore at the moment. I am very much afraid that a civil war will break out among us here ... I hope that this worst case will not occur."

"If war breaks out, you run back to Europe." McNeil said half-jokingly, "Anyway, the EU itself will find a way to solve the problem."

After talking to Smilas about some of the do's and don'ts in Paris, McNeil returned to the library to continue checking out the information, this time comparing the many differences between the EU mainland and the colonies. Strictly speaking, the EU territories that were referred to by the public as homeland were not just Europe, as homeland also existed in North Africa, and Colonies also existed in Eastern Europe. An important basis for these experts and scholars to determine whether an area is a homeland or not is whether or not it belongs to one of the legally affiliated republics of the United Republics of Europa. If a region did not belong to any republic and most of its officials were all appointed by the consuls and senate, it had no autonomous status and was a colony in name only.

McNeil saw a copy of the Outline of the Transformation of the Colonies of Europa on his left-hand side, and he scanned the cover to find that the author's name was Pierre Laval.

"I can't believe he put out such a book in this world that I've never heard of." McNeil became interested, "Well, let's see what he's done."

In McNeil's mind, Pierre Laval was an enabler of appeasement and a shameless politician. However, the politician, who was also called Laval and who also served as Minister of Colonial Affairs, was a paradoxical combination of hawkishness and pacifism. Judging from his book, published in A.T.B. 1936, it is clear that he will not be the one to be put on trial.

"... The United Republics has been neglecting regions that have long been treated unequally. If the United Republics of Europa wishes to practice its original philosophy, it must recognize that the form of domination we are presently practicing in the East is colonization in name only. From Poland to the East, citizens who also belong to Europe are not given the legitimate rights they were born to have."

Pierre Laval criticized the EU for colonizing the Russian regions, which was a huge risk to take at the time. After the Russian Empire was completely destroyed by the EU and the Federation in World War I, Russian territory was divided between the two sides, and the EU, under the banner of the Liberator, did not allow any republics to be established on the territory of the former Russian Empire, but instead set up colonial commissions similar to those in colonized areas of Africa. This unequal treatment greatly undermined the trust of Russians and other ethnic groups in the EU.

"But whenever the EU treats the Russians as human beings, those Russians won't work for the Chinese Federation." Governor-general Herzog once made this comment when talking about World War II.

That is to say, the only areas that were really seen as native by the EU were the territories that had been vested in the French Republic and its allies and satellites before the beginning of the Great Colonial Era. The whole of Africa, with the exception of the three provinces of North Africa, and the territories of Europe and North Asia from Poland eastward, were all colonized by the EU. The fact that the colonies were not represented in Paris and were unable to communicate their views for a long time was undoubtedly unfair to those who longed for a change in the status quo. The African Britannians wanted the same privileges as the Cossacks, and they probably did not understand what their demands meant to the EU. Whether the African Britannians' real goal was simply independence from South Africa or membership in the Britannian Empire, the EU would not allow those conditions to be honored. If the EU opens a precedent of allowing colonies to set up affiliated republics, its colonial order will collapse in no time, and relying on colonies to bleed into the homeland will no longer work.

South Africa is by far the most exceptional of all the colonies. Its status, while still lower than that of a republic, was slightly higher than that of a colonial commission, and the Governor-general was in a better position to represent the citizens of the colony to the Parisian side in a reasonable manner. McNeil speculated that if the African Britons were to openly rebel, even if the rebellion was quickly suppressed, South Africa's special status would be lost and it would become an ordinary commission, no different from any other colony, and the bills that Governor-general Herzog had forced through would probably be immediately repealed, and the natives would not be half as well off.

The situation of the natives would naturally not be half as good. Under the alternative approach of the EU, which relies on language for its division, South Africa would be dismembered, and most of the territory would be incorporated into other colonial commission, leaving a new commission of a pitifully small size. In this way it would no longer serve any purpose other than to play the role of a mining pit for the dignitaries. This was not what Governor-general Herzog wanted to see, nor was it an end that McNeil wanted to see.

With a heavy heart, McNeil left the library and rode in the special car that the Governor-general had prepared for him. The limousine, which had ridden sideways on the way, arrived at the airport a few hours later, where Governor-general Herzog was talking about something at the door with a few bodyguards beside him. Seeing McNeil coming, the Governor-general stepped forward and handed McNeil a briefcase before motioning for McNeil to go and wait on a side seat.

"Tell us about your plan."

"The plan is simple, our aim this time is to prevent our opponents from pressurizing us through Paris." The Governor-general wore a trench coat and his head was clasped with a large bowler hat that could cover his entire face from a distance, "That is to say, not only do we want to pull the Parisian politicians to our side, but we also want to prevent the enemy from complaining to Paris."

"Who are the enemies?"

"Those high commissioners who can't be governors themselves and don't want others to be governors." Governor-general Herzog didn't hesitate to point the finger at the other African Colonial commissions, "I've already found a way to block the avenues of complaint for the African Britons, and now we're going to make sure that no one else has a chance to keep on babbling about it in Paris either."

The Governor-general was always smiling, and McNeil wondered why he was still smiling.

"What can I do?"

"You had better not say a word when we can reason with them." The Governor-general looked off in the distance at the other officials who had rushed to see them off and the smile on his face blossomed into something more pronounced, "But assuming our old adversaries start messing around, it will be your turn to come out and clean them up then. Don't be modest, I've heard about what you did in the Britannian Empire, and I can't imagine you're very eloquent."

Shortly afterward, the airplane left South Africa in the vast night, heading towards the EU's most prosperous international city. Despite having a bunch of mind-numbing tasks on his plate, McNeil had already figured out his itinerary in Europe. If necessary, he would make sure to visit a Napoleon related memorial.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

The existence of two world wars in the Code Geass universe is doubtful. Though some of the footage hints that they may indeed still exist, but at least they won't be as same as real life.

The situation in the EU's Russian regions has improved after almost decades, but not enough. This may explain the establishment of Euro-Britannia in the Russian region.

Pierre Laval's target for collaboration in the C&C universe was not the Germans, it was the Soviets.