AN: Credits to Vasilisa, perfect_shade, and Readhead for feedback and revisions.
Inspiration for this chapter's and next chapter's title: watch?v=wYgqK5dFtJY
1953 June 5th, Parisee, at the luxury box after the Albish-Formosan aerial lacrosse match:
As I looked out the window, I clicked my tongue in annoyance at the referees' choice to invalidate a goal from the Formosan team for the third time, thus resulting in a 2-1 in favor of the Albish team. I consoled myself with the knowledge that the corrupt referees would only have the opportunity to savor their ill-gotten wealth for a short time before Millie's and António's exposé on the CSR's bribery and match fixing revealed their criminal natures. If the soon-to-be-disgraced officials were very lucky, they might avoid the furious sports fans for long enough to see their day in court.
One of Elya's secretaries came up to me to pass on two envelopes. I opened the first and saw it contained a proposal from Elya to extend an offer of our protection to the bribed sports officials in return for their cooperation in helping trap the CSR agents that bribed them. I suppressed a smile, quickly signed the letter with my magic, and handed it back to the secretary.
The second envelope contained a confidential letter from President Nasser, accompanied by a report from Elya detailing the BND's observations of Nasser. Visha strolled up to take a look over my shoulder.
"Nasser canceled his meeting and is flying directly back home as we speak," I told her, skimming through Elya's report.
Seems he had a good reason to flee the Francois Republic. His letter described a long list of 'coincidences' that were driving him insane, while Elya's report confirmed that the Albish and Frankish agents were seemingly engaged in a blatant harassment campaign.
Laxatives in his coffee, taxi cab and bus operators refused service to him, scrambled restaurant orders, canceled hotel reservations, changed alarm clock setting, prank phone calls to his hotel room, adult entertainment magazines mailed to his hotel room, people splashed him with drinks on two occasions, local police harassing him with fines, and so on. The Albish and Frankish government officials outright ignored him as if he didn't exist, while an Ispagnish ambassador sent a telegram to him accusing him of ruling a terrorist state directly responsible for the death of Ispagnish 'innocent civilians' in Francois Republic.
At the conclusion it read, "I should have visited the Francois Republic or Allied Kingdom much earlier, and thus realize that the two countries and their allies were not bluffing about invading Aegyptus. I'm afraid I will have to do the unthinkable when they rush to seize the Suez Canal."
"How soon do you think the three countries will invade Aegyptus?" Visha asked as she tugged at my arm.
"Not enough time for Aegyptus to find a solution," I sighed. "I think I saw Allen Shone somewhere earlier. Maybe I could have a chat with him."
Visha craned her head around, then pointed. "He's over there."
The Allied Kingdom's Foreign Minister was in the middle of a conversation with a Frankish counterpart when chanced to look up and saw Visha's pointing. Immediately, the pleasant smile drained from his face to be replaced by a grimace reminiscent of a man running headlong into an unwelcome encounter with his mother-in-law. Seconds later, he was walking away as briskly as possible while still trying to appear nonchalant. I sent a voice spell to Elya's secretaries to slow him down while I walked rapidly after him.
Sure enough the secretaries blocked Shone's exit long enough with unstinting offers of drinks and snacks from a cart conveniently parked in just such a way to half-block the doorway for me to get within a few meters and clear my throat.
"Foreign Minister Shone! Congratulations on your recent promotion! Good to see you again! I would like to chat with you for a moment!"
"I'm sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush," Shone replied, continuing to edge away from me while I kept pace.
"You can tell whoever you need to meet that the Devil of the Rhine demanded your attention." I grinned widely and took a cup of tea from the cart and offered it to him. "Now, I'm wondering if His Majesty intends on having some sort of a meeting with President Nasser and other parties that want to have a say in the Aegyptus situation."
"President Nasser has already left Parisee," Shone said, shrugging his shoulders and pushing away my tea offer.
"I've heard from my associates that he had a very frosty reception in Parisee and was essentially treated as persona non grata."
"His Majesty would much prefer a different Aegyptian president to hold talks with, as that would be far more productive for everyone involved. And besides, you promised that you would not interfere with Middle East affairs. None of this is your concern."
"It will be a concern if my oil supply is disrupted," I replied, dropping the charade of civility and glaring at him. "How will I explain to my voters when I have to implement gasoline rationing in peacetime?"
"You worry too much about something that will be smoothly dealt with," Shone huffed before striding away, pushing aside the secretaries and the cart as he made his escape.
1953 June 6th, in Berun:
I flicked through the newspaper and couldn't help smirking. The Germanian football and aerial lacrosse teams had turned in a decent performance, finishing up at sixth and fourth place respectively in the world rankings. I was scheduled to present them with a token award for their efforts on live television this evening. Sadly the Formosan and Aegyptian teams had not fared nearly so well, both being eliminated well before the semi-finals. But from my perspective, it was a small price to pay.
The blossoming scandal of the refereeing for the Formosan teams was most gratifying to watch unfold. Elya had worked fast, somehow managing to get several referees to admit to bribe-taking to 'undercover reporters'. Newspaper and television commentators across OZEV and the Middle East were now loudly decrying the shamelessness of it all. The Beruner Zeitung had even, to my great amusement, moved all their writeups on the topic from the 'Entertainment' section to the 'Crime' section, emblazoned with the header '50,000 Sports Fans Robbed by a Dozen Officials'. Several of the Albish coaches had felt so ashamed that they'd published an open letter apologizing to Formosa.
I had no doubt Shu was busy milking the scandal for all it was worth over in Formosa and Akitsushima.
The illegitimate government in the CSR, meanwhile, was predictably running internal propaganda attacking "the capitalists for being easily distracted by something of non-consequence" while their external propaganda blamed the "poor performance" and "the instability of having Akinese and Chinese players on the same team" on the Formosan team for the real cause of their defeat.
Even the Granadian president was getting in on the act, declaring to the international press from his hospital bed in Caracas that the blatant cheating by sports officialdom was the only possible explanation for how his national team could have possibly lost to Brasilia. He announced a boycott of all international games until the result of the match was officially reversed and Granada declared victor.
And this was all part of Elya's plan to then offer protection to those nervous referees for their cooperation to track down the CSR agents.
But after putting the paper away and glancing at the BND memos that littered my desk, my mood rapidly plummeted.
"Why can I never enjoy a single day without some sort of bad news? Why do I keep getting shit sandwiches delivered to me?" I grumbled plaintively to my personal advisor. Visha rolled her eyes at my whining and returned to pasting cutouts from the newspapers into a scrapbook. But I felt I had ample justification.
The Aegyptian government had reported that Nasser's plane never arrived in Cairo. A Germanian destroyer loitering off the coast of Aegyptus intercepted a transmission from an unidentified Frankish aircraft that indicated it was searching for a specific plane, and shortly afterward, a Frankish carrier radioed the pilots asking what they were doing.
The pilots' response was, "Crashing a plane, with no survivors."
They were immediately ordered to stand down by someone who claimed to be the Frankish admiral in charge of the eastern Mediterranean region maritime flight operations, but they informed the furious admiral that they were not part of the Frankish military and thus did not answer to him.
Then the mayday calls from the targeted aircraft came in.
The real interesting part was the admiral telling the pilots that they will be shot down if they do not comply with being escorted to the nearest Frankish airfield for arrest, followed by one of the pilots telling the admiral that it would be a shame if something happened to the admiral's family if their operation was interfered with.
Aegyptus's vice president then declared to the international press that a state of war with the Francois Republic and Allied Kingdom now existed, accusing them of assassinating President Nasser. Both denied involvement with the shootdown. The Ispagnish government a mere hour later declared war on Aegyptus in solidarity. Battles were now raging at all of the locations of the Albish garrisons based around the Suez Canal.
I restrained myself from cycling up a magic painkiller spell as thoughts swirled in my head. If the Francois Republic couldn't control their own rogue personnel from going around and igniting a war by killing a statesman, at some point I might have to drop my neutrality to fix the mess for them before they implode into dangerously incompetent squabbling and take down everyone with them. Terrorism was already annoying enough to deal with. Organized state attacks, especially when the government has no idea what their hands are doing, are seriously bad business. I would also have to deal with the Albish who were more than happy to join the stupidity.
Then there's the inevitable hit to my reputation. Three statesmen paid the price of trying to work with me. First was Chairman Zhang, who ended up dead. Then the Granadian president who almost died. And now President Nasser is swimming somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea while his country descends into violence. It was only a matter of time before some idiots came to the conclusion that it was somehow my doing. I told Visha to issue a press statement that definitively pinned all the blame on the Francois Republic. I was even considering ordering the leak of the recording of the pilots acting in defiance of the admiral. The currently headless Frankish government was certainly in no state to effectively fight a propaganda war, so pushback would likely be negligible.
But just like the CSR's coup situation, de-escalating the Aegyptus crisis just became much harder, making a Suez Canal shutdown more likely.
Then my phone rang. I hesitantly picked it up to hear Dertinge's voice.
"Magna Rumeli reported that a fleet of ships from the Turkmen Empire are sailing straight for Aegyptus's Cyprus Island. They are preparing to lodge a diplomatic protest as they had territorial claims on that island ever since Aegyptus first gained control of it, and did not want their historical rival to steal it."
So that explains the Turkmen Empire's previous military buildup, along with the Francois Republic's and Allied Kingdom's decision to pull the trigger.
"Is Adenaue with you right now?" I tightly gripped the phone receiver.
"Yes. Why?"
"Tell him to start the fuel rationing plan. The oil crisis is here."
"Will do. Also, the Legadonia Entente and Suomi have just officially notified us of their acceptance of your proposal from a number of years ago, about having Germania subsidize their hydroelectric dam constructions. Legadonia Entente also authorized their arms manufacturer to put previously shelved designs into limited production."
I rolled my eyes. Reminds me of those business deals back in my previous life where they dragged on for so long, that the original terms became ridiculous due to drastically different market conditions.
"Wasn't there an Albish or American saying along the lines of, 'Shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'? They would likely finish their dam constructions by the time the Suez Canal reopens and OZEV has finished the painful economic readjustments to greatly reduce oil imports, and we both know that our budget is a bit tight right now. The money spent on building additional nuclear reactors and coal power plants, and funding of prototype wind turbines and offshore hydrocarbon explorations, could have gone to building dams for them, but I can't cancel those constructions now."
"So the hydroelectric deal is off?" Dertinge asked, confusion plain in his voice.
"Tell them that we're changing the terms because the circumstances have completely changed. We'll pay them when the big dollars start flowing from the Americans, and they will have to allocate a much larger proportion of the electricity to us."
"And if they refuse?"
I gripped the receiver harder as my knuckles turned white. "Then tell them to ask for money from the Allied Kingdom or borrow from the Americans. They know that because they dragged their feet, OZEV won't be getting their electricity when it's needed most."
After hanging up the phone, I leaned back into my chair and a thought hit me. I had promised the Albish that I would stay out of the Middle East and their and the Frankish colonies' affairs. And their ambassador reminded me of this only yesterday. On the contingent that the oil supplies continue to flow from the Middle East. That was not going to happen even if the Suez Canal wasn't sabotaged, because no shipping company would risk sending highly flammable oil tankers through a war zone. They probably envisioned that everything would be back to normal in just a few weeks and there was minimal risk of the conflict dragging on.
I started laughing. The Albish had just backed themselves into a corner. I wonder if their deal with the CSR included something that assumed the Allied Kingdom would maintain stability in the Middle East?
I dialed Elya's number, and she was quick to pick it up.
"Good afternoon Elya, I have a question for Shu. Drag him away from his rallies and ask if the Suez Canal and oil production is stopped in Aegyptus, and if the Albish and Frankish allies in the Middle East are rocked by anti-European protests by their people and elements of their military as predicted by the BND and Millie, how would that affect the deal between the Allied Kingdom and the Chinese Soviet Republic?"
"I'll ask him about that. Anything else?"
"If he doesn't know, inform him of the railroad construction in the Qajar Empire and the intensified North Bharatian military activities. And that I thank him for his earlier analysis of the CSR's deteriorating domestic politics between Kang and Li that are pointing towards potential large-scale violence."
The next day:
I was not laughing when Elya presented Shu's report to the Cabinet.
He stated that during the deal negotiation, he specifically said, "The Chinese Soviet Republic has no intentions of competing for influence in the Middle East as long as we have access to oil."
And the whole reason why the CSR wanted oil from the Middle East over railroad and a potential pipeline was because they were concerned about sea-borne oil supplies from the Southeast Asian islands being intercepted in a war, and were frustrated by Rus demands for the CSR to shoulder much of the costs of the expensive oil exploration in Sibyria, and the even more expensive oil extraction infrastructure.
When he was told about the recent North Bharat's military activities and restarted Qajarian railroad construction, he predicted that if the invading forces do not win decisively and maintain control over the Middle East, it would only be a matter of time before the CSR uses the Aegyptus crisis as an excuse to cast aside the deal and invade the Middle East to seize the oil producing regions for themselves. Along with potentially going back to supporting communist rebels in Southeast Asia to further strain the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic.
When asked about how much the CSR's government knew about the Middle East, he stated that if the Qajar Empire is not cooperative with the CSR, then North Bharat would be relied on to directly 'handle' Middle East affairs.
"If we need to intervene in Aegyptus, what would it require?" I looked at Lergen, whose face briefly showed an expression of pain.
"We may have to look into requesting some of our veterans to go back into service if we're going to maintain crisis readiness in two very different parts of the world. And the Rus are still busy with their military exercises right on the borders with Belarusia and Kieva, while their borders with Suomi and Livonia are suspiciously calm. The other question is, who are we going to be fighting?"
"A military conflict against the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic and Ispagna would kickstart a third world war," Adenaue sighed. "We are still heavily spending on last minute economic preparations, including finishing up the electrical grids so no OZEV members bear a disproportionate electricity shortage."
"Although Albion has violated its side of the deal by allowing the oil supply disruption to happen, they are still going to react negatively to us sending our military into the Middle East. And so would the Francois Republic and Ispagna," Dertinge added, registering his objections as well.
"Any of you have a good idea for this mess?" I sighed as I put my pen down. "I certainly wouldn't want to be attacking the Aegyptians since we don't want to be seen as occupiers."
"We should still at least investigate what exactly happened in the shootdown of Nasser," Elya mused as she chewed on her lip.
"I think I may have to agree with standing by until we have more information," I said, slumping in my seat. As always, it was infuriating being on the back foot in such matters. Conceding the initiative to the opposition rarely turned out well.
"On a positive note, Magna Rumeli has been extending feelers to us about asking to join OZEV. They have offered to host our military on their soil in return for pressuring the Turkmen Empire to not occupy Cyprus Island." Dertinge smiled. "They are alarmed at Turkmen propaganda justifying their actions against Aegyptus as the first act of restoring the full, historical glory of the Osman Empire."
"I had a few BND agents head over to the Turkmen Empire to set up informant networks and to gauge the local population's mood to see how supportive they are for their government's reconquista. I would also be curious of how much support they are getting from the Francois Republic and Allied Kingdom." Elya set down her cup of coffee after taking a sip of it. "Given the Turkmen Empire's stagnant economy, war might be a useful distraction for their populace."
"If the Albish and Frankish have so much trouble keeping the Middle East under control, maybe they made a deal with the Turkmen Empire to have them act as the colonial enforcer instead?" Visha looked with concern.
"That would make sense. Easier to justify a counter-insurgency war when it's someone else's men that are getting killed instead of one's own citizens…" Adenaue trailed off.
Hmmm. The similarities to the conflicts in the Middle East in my memory were becoming ominously stronger, albeit with the Turkmens taking the role of Israel, which comprised an unimportant backwater province of the Kingdom of Syria in this timeline. I might need to open the history books to find out what this version of the Empire was about.
"What was the full historical territorial extent of the former Osman Empire?" I raised an eyebrow.
"The entire Middle East west of the Zagros mountains, Magna Rumeli, and all of the Balkans." Dertinge replied, gesturing to the map. "They were forced to disgorge their European and North African possessions after a century of disastrous wars and diplomacy with the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic and Russy Empire on different occasions, and their many internal revolts and civil wars. The Turkmen government has never made a secret of their desire to reabsorb Magna Rumeli and other former territories of the Osman Empire, but I doubt they'd have the guts to throw down the gauntlet to OZEV in order to try and reclaim Croatia, Hungary, or Dacia. In Aegyptus, Algeria, Syria and Mesopotamia, nationalism is all the rage, and the populations have shown no interest in returning to the fold of a reborn Osman Empire. On their eastern flank, I suspect the Qajar Empire would not be happy to hear about a resurgent Turkmen Empire, as they were historical rivals for centuries, even dating back to before the Germanian Empire was founded."
I tapped my fingers on the oaken desk. On the one hand, the only thing Magna Rumeli had going for it was its strategic location that could allow us to stake out a dominant naval position in the Eastern Mediterranean. In all other respects it was a millstone. Its population was tiny and its economic and military prowess was negligible. OZEV would have to carry its weight for a long time before the country was up to scratch. As well as automatically dragging us into their interminable blood feud with the Turkmens, who appeared to be backed by the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic for the war against Aegyptus.
The Turkmen Empire, on the other hand, in spite of its diminished size and moribund economy, had a population of millions, a vast territory and plentiful natural resources. But to side with them would make OZEV complicit in their empire-building, which would burn our bridges with the Aegyptians and Algerians, as well as undermine our decades-old anti-colonial position. And de facto put OZEV into the same camp as the two colonial powers. Then there's also the problem where if Magna Rumeli is annexed by the Turkmens, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bulgaria would be next, and if they are also annexed, then the OZEV members of Croatia, Hungary, and Dacia would be staring down Osman Empire Mark II. Maybe it wouldn't be a problem during the first few decades, but afterwards?
Who knows, and it would be awkward handing a pile of burning shit sandwiches to my successor when I retire, which would result in me getting dragged out of retirement again. Or worse, they force me onto life extension treatments so that I would have to sit on the throne indefinitely. So there really was no clear choice which horse to back.
I turned to Lergen. "Our forces in the Mediterranean area will be positioned against the Turkmen Empire. I don't think we'll need to dip into mobilizing our military, but stepping up voluntary recruitments wouldn't hurt. It'll satisfy both Magna Rumeli and Aegyptus."
1953 June 8th, somewhere in Aegyptus:
Field Agent Commander Jacques Debizet looked on using his binoculars, observing a convoy of vehicles while holding an orb model that was commonly used by Aegyptian mages.
It was expected that it would only be a matter of time before the Aegyptian government would move their seat southward to avoid being captured by the advancing Albish. And considering the convoy had a few military vehicles in front, it was likely the government evacuation or other VIPs.
"Now." Debizet signaled to Foccart, who nodded and fiddled with the radio transmitters.
A series of explosions ripped through the convoy, followed by a volley of explosive magic bullets fired at the surviving military vehicles and their personnel.
The Frankish mages walked towards the smoldering wreck of the convoy, occasionally firing shots at anyone that seemed to pose a threat.
"We hit a civilian evacuation convoy that just happened to have military protection, or they were tailgating the military vehicles. Look at the kids in the back of that truck over there." Foccart sighed.
"No witnesses." Debizet ordered the agents, who all complied and immediately went to work on finishing off the survivors.
One of the agents hesitated when they saw a mother shielding their child. Debizet walked over and put a hand on the agent's shoulder while Foccart shot the two.
"We are not military personnel, and we are wearing enemy uniforms." Debizet coldly stated. "Therefore laws of war do not apply."
"This is still a bit much," the agent shook his head. Foccart coldly glared at him.
"I was naive like you, back in Indochina. Don't let that be a weakness." Foccart flatly said, as he fired a few more shots.
…
A few concealed figures off in the distance looked on with their binoculars.
"They look like Aegyptian mages. And their magic emissions are quite close to Aegyptian mages. But not perfect." One of the figures muttered in Russian.
"That matches reports of suspicious magic usage in Albish colonies, to make the local communist rebels turn on each other." Another figure sneered, with a hint of North Bhratian accent. "But what we are seeing right now is exceptionally brutal for Albish agents, which they would normally try to pretend that they are righteous and full of honor. Not engaging in direct slaughter of civilians."
"I agree. Those false Aegyptian mages are too open with their killings. And we both know that the SCE is fond of solving problems with loud violence."
Then the Russian smiled.
"Let's send the entire region into a violent uproar when they see the evidence of the imperialists' crimes."
1953 June 12th, in Berun:
I stared at the live broadcast of a distressed looking Nasser giving his speech, supposedly in Londinium. Starting with thanking the Albish navy for rescuing him from the waters after his plane was shot down by 'unknown perpetrators', his cowardly flight from Aegyptus to avoid a war, and his plea for Aegyptus to agree to the Albish and Frankish demands.
And he was clearly not in the right mind, with his rambling speech full of stuttering and awkward pauses, along with erratic eye blinking and some drooling. A drastic difference from his previous bombastic televised speeches in Aegyptus that whipped up the crowds.
I glanced down at the reports from the BND agents on the ground in Aegyptus.
The initial assaults from the Aegyptian military and accompanying civilian mobs on the Albish garrisons were beaten back with incendiary artillery fire and rocket barrages. In some areas, the Albish made use of mines and napalm dropped from aircraft. At the airports far away from the ocean, Frankish and Albish paratroopers were deployed to reinforce the garrisons there, with other important sites closest to the ocean receiving helicopter borne infantry. The Aegyptian military and civilians started their Suez Canal scuttling with ships being sunk and naval mines deployed in the canal in areas that the Albish garrisons couldn't protect.
And speaking of the ocean, the harbors were seized and firmly under control by the Albish and Frankish, allowing them to deploy heavier forces. Any Aegyptian assault attempts were vaporized by coastal bombardments.
Ispagnish small infantry forces were only days away from arriving as additional reinforcements and their aircraft were waiting for an available airport to fly to in order to start their operations against the Aegyptians. It seemed the bulk of their war support was through contracted merchant ships for logistics. Aegyptus's neighbors also joined in on the invasions, although the BND reported that the populace in those countries were reacting negatively toward the war.
When the broadcast was over, Elya replayed the recording with her orb.
"What are you doing?" Visha looked at Elya with confusion.
"Watch his eye movements. I'm going to decipher them for you. He was blinking in Morse code!" Elya giggled.
As the recording played, Elya displayed the deciphered letters. Eventually it spelled out 'Never surrender' and 'Kill them'.
I like this guy's persistence and unconventional scheming. Although with the Allied Kingdom going with the publicity angle of Nasser fleeing from his country, I'm left in an uncomfortable position of having to directly contest the Albish in public messaging. In fact, I could end up being accused of being an accessory to the Frankish shoot down of his plane.
Or I could tell a little lie.
I sighed and turned to Dertinge. "Make sure ALL of the media is told to have Morse code experts to read Nasser's eye blinks. And tell them I am disgusted that they would shoot down a statesman's plane."
As he ran over to a phone to call someone, Elya tapped my shoulder and Visha's shoulder. "There's something we need to discuss in private."
When we entered the secure room, Elya closed the door and spun up her privacy spell. She took a deep breath and looked at us.
"Our contacts in the Albish cult are helping us narrow down Nasser's whereabouts. The question is, should we stage a rescue operation should we find him?"
"You're talking about kidnapping a VIP on their soil." Visha mused. "Funny, the Albish tried that against us."
"It's one thing to do it in broad daylight in an embassy." I shrugged before turning to Elya. "If the operation doesn't go as planned, will they be able to trace the operation back to us?"
"I am still working on a plan to minimize the risk of us or our helpful cult members being identified." Elya then frowned. "Another concern I have is that the operation will make use of our newest orbs and the mana emission absorption orbs on Albish soil, as those will be essential for various activities such as eavesdropping, illusions and outright disguises without tripping any magic detectors."
"Eventually we are going to have to make use of those orbs." I sighed. "As long as they don't fall into Albish hands, I'm willing to take that risk."
1953 June 12th, somewhere in Aegyptus:
Debizet walked up to the lead vehicle of the convoy that was stopped at the checkpoint. Previously manned by Aegyptian military personnel, the checkpoint was now manned by SCE agents pretending to be Aegyptian military personnel. The naked corpses of the previous garrison had all been carefully hidden away.
"Papers, please," Debizet said in Arabic, masking his accent by pretending to be exhausted.
"We don't need papers, we're evacuating the government." The tank commander snarled at Debizet.
"Proceed," Debizet waved them on, while clicking a radio on and off three times as the vehicles rolled past.
The lead Aegyptian tank and other lead vehicles were engulfed in explosions that turned the road into craters and massive plumes of dust, while the rear vehicles were fired on by a captured light tank manned by the SCE agents.
Debizet calmly walked up to one of the trucks while shooting at a surviving Aegyptian soldier and ripped open the back cover. He then retrieved lists of photos and names from his pocket and looked at the people in the truck while.
"Who are you?!" one of the occupants in the truck shouted.
"Ah, you're the Energy Minister," Debizet smiled. "Do not be worried, you will be in safe hands. Aegyptus's oil industry is too valuable for you to be harmed. All of you step out of the truck for processing."
One of the men pulled out a handgun and shot at Debizet, with a bullet deflecting off of his shield. Debizet shot him in return, and two others sitting next to him.
"Anyone else want to stay in the truck? I have more bullets to spare."
Shortly after the convoy's survivors were formed up, Debizet sensed an encrypted voice spell from Foccart.
"I'm watching the NKVD watching you guys. What do we do?"
Debizet's face was cold. "Keep monitoring them. We need to understand what their spy network looks like before we throw a welcoming party for them."
1953 June 19th, in Berun:
I had expected nothing, and was still disappointed. The Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic severely overestimated their Middle Eastern allies' stability and coordination. Especially when local press and the foreign journalists were given copies of large quantities of evidence that showed the many war crimes being committed by Albish and Frankish troops, which predictably led to massive public outrage throughout the Middle East and some protests in Europe.
It was only a few days later when the local and international press received anonymous tipoffs telling them to visit specific locations. Which turned out to store many dead NKVD and North Bharatian agents who all showed signs of intense torture. Coincidentally the large flow of war-crime evidence suddenly stopped. There had been no public responses from the communist countries, but I would expect intensified violence in the shadows between them and the Frankish agents.
Syria's military brass refused to give the order to advance into the Sinai Peninsula, and when the pro-Frankish Syrian monarchy ordered the arrest of the uncooperative generals, that was when mass protests and riots kicked off across the kingdom.
Then the remaining senior officers gave the order for the military to commit all forces into a reckless advance through the Sinai Peninsula, and far away from the rioters. I'm impressed by that malicious compliance of following orders even when it's obvious that the Syrian monarchy needed the military to come back home to put down the unrest. Just across the border, the Kingdom of Mesopotamia straight up refused to participate in the war.
As for the Turkmen Empire, they already started deporting Aegyptians and Magnians from Cyprus Island, and that has predictably pushed Magna Rumeli into officially requesting to join OZEV. Germanian military intelligence reported that the Turkmen Empire was building up forces along their border with Syria.
I snapped my attention back to the current meeting when Dertinge pushed a folder across the table to me. I held it up to glance through it as Dertinge spoke.
"Our US embassy reported that President Taft and his party are drafting a bill to restrict oil exports. While it does make an exemption for Germania due to treaty obligations, it included a clause that it would only allow export of just enough oil for our domestic needs and prohibits us on-selling any to the rest of Europe."
"I guess they're feeling the crunch of the rising oil prices. Although I shouldn't be surprised that they would take drastic actions considering how hard the American automotive industry had been pushing consumers to have two cars for every family, along with their suburban and highway constructions not slowing down." I shrugged my shoulders as I set the report back down. "What has Volksauto been doing anyways?"
"That's the part that has been concerning as well. The embassy reported that Volksauto was backing the bill." Dertinge frowned, prompting confused and annoyed looks from everyone in the room.
"I spoke with Anton Ehrlich," Adenaue added. "The board calculated that in the long term, they will sell more automobiles in the Unified States than in the entire OZEV due to how different the infrastructure developments are between us, and as an olive branch to get the American automotive manufacturers to tone down their collusions with their purchased legislators, patent lawsuits and lobbying against Volksauto. He expects sales in the Unified States to boom again when the oil crisis is over and OZEV to have a sluggish recovery from the shock therapy of transitioning away from oil."
I'll have to say, I applaud Volksauto and Anton Ehrlich for exploiting politics to grow their business. Although I'm not liking how they are clashing against Germania's national interests. I thought Krup and Mannesmann were annoying enough, but at least they aren't telling another country to harm OZEV and complicating international politics. This was not what I had in mind for a free market economic system.
"Well our government owns a major portion of Volksauto's voting shares, so this should be straightforward to deal with." I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, only to see everyone look at each other.
"What?" I cocked my head to the side.
Adenaue cleared his throat. "Under Paul's administration, the Germanian government sold off all of their Volksauto shares."
I rubbed my head in annoyance. Paul again. And here I was having to clean up his mess. Again. "What legal options do we have to pressure Ehrlich to not undermine OZEV? I'm tired of dealing with stubborn businessmen who think they can pull a fast one on the Germanian government. Talking with the Krup and Mannesmann corporate leadership to convince them to not sabotage Germanian national security took up far too much of my valuable time and attention that I could have utilized elsewhere."
"Re-evaluate any business contracts with Volksauto, and make it clear to him that we will be doing that," Adenaue replied, a worried expression worming its way across his face. "But if Ehrlich really believes that the Unified States will be the dominant automobile market for years to come… he may take the gamble of losing government contracts. I'll have to contact the Minister of Justice to see what laws we can utilize for coercion."
"Just figure something out." I pointed at Adenaue. Upon seeing that no one else had any comments, I tapped on the table. "Now, regarding the Unified States' oil export ban, I want them to at least exempt OZEV, Akitsushima Dominion, Formosa and South Bharat."
Dertinge winced. "I already put out the instructions to our embassy to negotiate with the Americans, but it's going to be a tough one as President Taft made it very clear to us that he could care less about what is happening in the rest of the world except for South America. He has openly told our ambassador the nuclear deal was the main thing allowing oil exports to Germania. Herr Rosenvelt was kind enough to inform us that Taft also considered a tariff on solid state electronics export to OZEV at the request of International Business Computers, but Oklahoma Instruments, FRD Semiconductors and Philadelphia Battery Company threatened to establish manufacturing plants in OZEV in response."
"They're mostly interested in nuclear technology from us," Visha nodded. "I know it is still years away from the Germanian navy and Ministry of Energy determining which reactor designs to use for the navy and power generation, but what if we make the promise to the Americans about licensing a 'proven' next generation reactor design to them if they continue to sell oil to our allies? The reactor design that loses the evaluation bid from the Germanian navy and Ministry of Energy?"
"That could work," I chuckled before turning to Dertinge. "Do we have any other options?"
"No, I can't think of anything else that the Americans would be interested in and us not needing it. Selling our latest orb technology to them would be a non-starter for us." Lergen leaned back in his chair.
"South America… I almost forgot, what is the status of the arms deal with New Granada?" Visha glanced at her notebook.
"They also requested construction equipment and advisors to build up their war infrastructure. Turns out the Unified States' construction industry is too busy with suburban houses, shopping malls and highway constructions. The curious part is that they also requested a large amount of military construction vehicles."
"What, they're going to clear cut their way through the forests for their mechanized units to operate offroad?" I joked, then I saw Dertinge's face light up.
"Ah, that explains why they requested a large quantity of heavy duty forestry mulching machines, including requesting our engineers to design tree mulching attachments for the tanks and other armored vehicles…"
A few hours after the meeting:
Serebryakov, Ardenaue, Dertinge, and Lergen sat around a table, with President Degurechaff not invited to the closed door meeting.
"The minister of justice said that technically everything that Volksauto is doing is legal. A lawsuit from the Germanian government against them could take years." Ardenaue looked around at everyone.
"That bastard," Dertinge angrily spat. "His company would have never existed without Germanian government backing, and now when the country is in tough times, he turns his back on us."
Suddenly Serebryakov grinned widely. "Legal under normal or wartime conditions?"
"We're not at war. And I hope you're not planning on starting one." Lergen shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
Serebryakov continued smiling. "A president operating with emergency powers is comparable to a country operating under wartime emergency. A company isn't going to be able to freely sell their goods to a neutral country when such goods are essential to the war effort."
"Well I'm not the president," Ardenaue blinked rapidly.
Serebryakov looked at Ardenaue. "President Paul granted himself emergency powers last year on the basis of wielding it until the new Diet elections are held. President Degurechaff has continued using those powers, and by tasking you to specifically solve the Volksauto problem, she has delegated you the emergency powers. And you can use it because normal legal means are not available."
"Are you suggesting that I nationalize Volksauto if Ehrlich continues with his current schemes?" Ardenaue had a horrified look on his face. "Shouldn't we inform President Degurechaff about that radical plan?"
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind as long as we get the results. Besides, she's an overworked person who already complained about wasting her time talking to business leaders. The last thing we should do is throw another task on her plate," Serebryakov replied while waving her hand dismissively. "Meeting adjourned."
1953 June 26th, in Berun, in a secure room:
I heard the door open and stopped my chat with Visha as Elya stepped into the room.
"Our agents are ready to rescue Nasser." Elya set her reports on the table. "It's time to decide to start the final phase of the operation or call it off."
"What are our plans should the rescue operation be aborted, or worse, our agents are identified or even captured?" I asked as I flipped through the reports.
"Intensive media blitz campaign to counter the expected Albish narrative and paint our operation as a righteous cause to rescue a head of state that is being held hostage. Regardless of our responses, we would have to anticipate heightened tensions between us and the Albish's coalition, while also dealing with an unpredictable CSR." Dertinge sighed. "It would be much simpler if the BND agents are able to avoid identification while aborting a failed rescue operation."
"In the event of capture, do we send in additional mages to rescue them, or should I instruct the BND agents to commit suicide to avoid capture?" Elya pointed to one of the papers.
I paused for a moment before making up my mind. "I won't let our agents die."
"There is one other thing that is concerning me." Elya then passed out photos for all of us to see. "Our Albish sources got wind of disputes between some high ranking Albish politicians over a proposed oil deal from the Rus, using Livonia as a hub for transferring Rus oil to tanker ships. An alternative proposal would be to run an oil pipe to Legadonia Entente so that tankers don't have to enter the Baltic Sea. We have photos of some of the plans. The issue is that upon completion of Nasser's rescue, I will be prioritizing hiding how the BND compromised Nasser's prison escorts to protect our contacts and informants, which will limit our visibility into the Albish government for some time until their counter-intelligence paranoia dies down. My NKVD source is completely ignorant of the oil deal."
"So I have to pick one intelligence operation out of the two?" I looked up from the photos at Elya, which she nodded.
The privacy spell continued to hum in the background as I stared out at the ceiling.
1953 July 4th, in Londinium:
It had been a wild few weeks for Nasser.
'How many places have they moved me around at this point?' Nasser thought to himself.
The first attempt was to hold him at a prison. But when a prison riot kicked off for some unknown reason, he was whisked away to a second prison. Then some drunk in a stolen bulldozer crashed through the prison wall and almost punched a hole into the prison building itself, before the guards riddled the cabin with bullets.
From that point on, he was moved around from one hideout house to another. And this night, he could tell something was making his captors anxious.
There was a sudden burst of movement in the house. John, the leader for the group, walked in.
"We've been compromised." John motioned at the two men keeping an eye on Nasser. "We need to move the VIP."
"Wait, what?" One of them got up from his chair. "Should we wait for higher ups to confirm?"
"Are you stupid?" John pointed a finger at them. "We need to get to the secondary location right now! Our honeypot site gave us the 'site compromised' code when we asked for the routine confirmation code. Which means someone is holding a goddamn gun to their head!"
"Blimey! Alright, to the cars." The two men moved to uncuff Nasser from the pipe to then cuff both of his hands, and pushed him along to the garage, with the rest of the group already preparing the cars in the garage.
While they did put a bag over his head, he could still hear their conversations that mentioned how the formation was splitting into separate groups, where they would be heading to decoy locations while Nasser's direct escorts were going to the next hideout.
It was probably half an hour when Nasser sensed the car came to a stop for good, followed by the door opening and his captors dragging him into a building.
"Check all of the rooms." John conveyed the order while Nasser could sense the multiple footsteps splitting off in different directions. "Can't take any chances until we hear about why the honeypot site was compromised."
"Can you take the bag off of my head and uncuff one of my hands?" Nasser asked.
"Haha, funny joke. Maybe tomorrow." John sneered.
Several minutes passed by and the footsteps came back.
"Rooms all clear, boss. No signs of magic emissions." One of the men spoke.
"John, put your hands in the air!" Another man suddenly shouted, while Nasser could clearly hear a gun being drawn, shortly followed by multiple ones and shouts of confusion.
"The hell you are talking about?!" John screamed as more people drew their guns at each other.
"The honeypot site was never compromised! I just got off of the secure phone with one of the teams at the decoy site who filled me in on the details. They're all heading here now to arrest you!"
"Bollocks!" John spat. "I got the correct 'we are compromised' code from the honeypot site and confirmed it with Smith! Maybe it was you all along who sold us out by telling them where we are!"
"Smith said the compromise never happened!"
Then someone else murmured, "Is it me, or does this room seem a bit smaller than I remember?"
Nasser sensed that all of the lights suddenly turned off. He could hear a strangely muffled chaos ensue. There were gunshots, meleeing, and screams, but they were all muted to a low volume for some reason.
He then felt being pushed along to the outside and then into a car.
Nasser sighed. "You know you could have just blown up the car I was in, or the entire previous place, instead of going through all of that fancy trouble to kill me."
A female voice whispered into Nasser's ears, "We're leaving this island."
"Was John actually working for you?" Nasser asked as the car door closed and the bag was lifted from his head. He could faintly see a blonde woman sitting next to him in the dark, a driver and someone else in the front passenger seat.
"Nobody was working for us. Just some deception, that's all." The woman smiled, who then displayed a pre-recorded spell video.
And he could clearly see it was a video from the Germanian President, Tanya von Degurechaff.
'Good day President Nasser. I wish things were less chaotic, but rest assured, you will be able to complete your trip to Germania. Safely under our protection. We're trying to find Aegyptian resistance elements for you to get in contact with and if you want to return to Aegyptus, lead them directly. Unfortunately a large portion of the Aegyptian government was captured or killed and the remainder had scattered every which way. The Aegyptian military has largely transitioned to insurgency warfare. I had no interest in sticking my hands into the Middle East, but the attempted Frankish assassination against you and then the Albish kidnapping forced me to intervene.'
"What does she expect from me?" Nasser asked upon the end of the video.
"That is something she will discuss in detail when you meet her. Her goal is to find a peaceful resolution for the ongoing war, but…" the woman shrugged. "Well, you know how that goes."
"Peace?" Nasser scoffed. "Unless something else distracts the invaders, they would rather burn Aegyptus to the ground to keep control of the canal and exploit our oil."
"Hold on tight, we got company," the driver interrupted, grunting as he yanked the steering wheel to avoid a narrow miss from another car that tried ramming them in the side, while the other agent sitting in the front passenger seat was speaking something into their radio headset.
As the pursuit continued, the back glass shattered from the lead pursuing car's gunfire as more vehicles joined the chase.
"Tell me you have a plan to get out of this mess," yelled Nasser as he ducked down, away from the flying glass pieces while the woman smashed open the door window facing her.
"In about three blocks." The woman giggled, firing a long burst from a compact submachine gun at a vehicle that was speeding perpendicular to them for another ramming attempt, miraculously killing the driver and shredding one of its tires, causing the vehicle to uncontrollably lurch to the side and instead ram one of the pursuing vehicles.
"What?" Nasser blinked in confusion, and suddenly a delivery truck right behind them backed out of an alleyway at high speed and its back end impacted the lead pursuing car, sending it flying into a wall. Multiple tire screeches were heard, followed by multiple impacts into the truck's side.
"I'm going to miss that Mesopotamian immigrant truck driver. So romantically gullible," the woman muttered, shaking her head.
"Second checkpoint reported police cars heading straight for us," The radio operator agent announced.
"Taking a detour," the driver replied, speeding down a side street while the distant sounds of police sirens could be heard. "Agent 6, get the map so we don't get lost on this cursed island."
The woman nodded and retrieved a map, taking a moment to determine where they were, before giving verbal directions to the driver.
When the car left the urban area and started heading into the countryside, that was when Nasser became quite confused of what the driver was doing next.
"How are you going to see in the dark and not drive off the road?" Nasser nervously asked when the headlights were shut off.
"Stealth casted night vision," the driver nonchalantly replied.
"Stealth casting?"
"Regular spell would have lit a beacon for anyone with a magic detector to track us," the woman replied.
"I see. Your agents were probably in Aegyptus long before the whole war started," Nasser nodded, only for the woman to interject with a smile.
"Officially Germania has no involvement with the Middle East or your rescue. We would like to maintain that narrative."
Her smile abruptly disappeared. She swore briefly under her breath then snapped at the driver, "Hurry, there are Albish mages heading towards our direction!"
The stone-faced driver nodded grimly and spun the wheel. The passengers lurched as the car made a sharp turn down a narrow side road.
"What are our chances of making it out of the country?" Nasser gasped, clutching the seat in front of him for dear life."
"At the most optimistic assessment ... about fifty-fifty, I'd say," she replied. "If you're a praying man I suggest you get right to it - if we're nabbed it's going to be one hell of an international incident!"
AN:
Context for the harassment operation carried out by the Frankish and Albish agents: wiki/Zersetzung
As applied by the Stasi, Zersetzung is a technique to subvert and undermine an opponent. The aim was to disrupt the target's private or family life so they are unable to continue their "hostile-negative" activities towards the state. Typically, the Stasi would use collaborators to garner details from a victim's private life. They would then devise a strategy to "disintegrate" the target's personal circumstances—their career, their relationship with their spouse, their reputation in the community. They would even seek to alienate them from their children. [...] The security service's goal was to use Zersetzung to "switch off" regime opponents. After months and even years of Zersetzung a victim's domestic problems grew so large, so debilitating, and so psychologically burdensome that they would lose the will to struggle against the East German state. Best of all, the Stasi's role in the victim's personal misfortunes remained tantalisingly hidden. The Stasi operations were carried out in complete operational secrecy. The service acted like an unseen and malevolent god, manipulating the destinies of its victims.
…
Tactics and methods employed under Zersetzung generally involved the disruption of the victim's private or family life. This often included psychological attacks, in a form of gaslighting. Other practices included property damage, sabotage of cars, purposely incorrect medical treatment, smear campaigns including sending falsified compromising photos or documents to the victim's family, denunciation, provocation, psychological warfare, psychological subversion, wiretapping, and bugging.[46]
…
In the name of the target, the Stasi made little announcements, ordered products, and made emergency calls, to terrorize them.[49][50] To threaten or intimidate or cause psychoses the Stasi assured itself of access to the target's living quarters and left visible traces of its presence, by adding, removing, and modifying objects such as the socks in one's drawer, or by altering the time that an alarm clock was set to go off.[51][41]
…
Because the scale and nature of Zersetzung were unknown both to the general population of the GDR and to people abroad, revelations of the Stasi's malicious tactics were met with some degree of disbelief by those affected.[64] Many still nowadays express incomprehension at how the Stasi's collaborators could have participated in such inhuman actions.[64]
Context for the "blinking in morse code": wiki/Jeremiah_Denton
While answering questions and feigning trouble with the blinding television lights, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse code, spelling the word "T-O-R-T-U-R-E"—and confirming for the first time to U.S. Naval Intelligence that American POWs were being tortured.
Context of the history of urban highway constructions in the US, and a video that demonstrated the effects, including causing cities to become even more car-centric: watch?v=rseaKBPkRPU
Context for the forestry mulching machinery: wiki/Forestry_mulching
Forestry mulchers are often used for land clearing, right-of-way, pipeline/power line, wildfire prevention and management,[2] vegetation management, invasive species control,[3] and wildlife restoration.[4]
…
By processing trees and other vegetation where they stand, mulching machines eliminate many of the steps involved in land clearing such as site prep, cutting, felling, hauling, and site clean-up.[21][22] This also eliminates the need for multiple machines such as bulldozers accompanied by some combination of excavators, tree shears, wood chippers or grinders, and hauling equipment. On simpler jobs only one mulching machine is required, reducing fuel requirements and emissions.[23]
Some mulching machines also have the ability to operate on steep slopes and in small or tight areas, in poor ground conditions, and in wet or snowy weather.[24]
The spiciness of the Suez Crisis of how it played out and the significant aftermaths that still have effects on the 21st century.
watch?v=lLvqZ1ufLwk
wiki/Suez_Crisis
French troops were experienced and well-trained but suffered from cutbacks imposed by post-war politics of economic austerity.[148] In 1956, the French Armed Forces was heavily involved in the Algerian war, which made operations against Egypt a major distraction.[148] French paratroopers of the elite Regiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux (RPC) were extremely experienced, battle-hardened, and very tough soldiers, who had greatly distinguished themselves in the fighting in Indochina and in Algeria.[148] The men of the RPC followed a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy towards civilians[citation needed], first adopted in Vietnam, which was to lead to the killing of a number of Egyptian civilians.[148]
wiki/Timeline_of_the_Suez_Crisis
Nasser proclaimed the Suez War to be a "people's war".[102] As such, Egyptian troops were ordered to don civilian clothes while guns were freely handed out to Egyptian civilians.[103] From Nasser's point of view, a "people's war" presented the British and French with an unsolvable dilemma.[104] If the Allies reacted aggressively to the "people's war", then that would result in the deaths of innocent civilians and thus bring world sympathy to his cause while weakening morale on the home front in Britain and France.[104] If the Allies reacted cautiously to the "people's war", than that would result in Allied forces becoming bogged down by sniper attacks, who had the advantage of attacking "with near impunity by hiding among crowds of apparent non-combatants".[104]
From a Reddit comment that summed up the aftermath of the canal crisis (copied it months ago, not sure where to find it now):
The fucking domino chain the Suez Crisis started is almost hilariously long for such a short incident.
France and the UK get their colonial revanchism clipped. The decolonization of Britain's colonial empire accelerates. The French military gets more disillusioned with French politicians, eventually leading to the Algiers Putsch that ended the Fourth Republic.
Canada builds the foundation for the UN concept of peacekeeping operations, and gets a new flag.
West Germany seeing the US take the Soviets' side in telling France and Britain to fuck off inspires the EEC, forming the foundation of the modern EU.
The Soviets threatening to nuke France, UK, and Israel over it causes Eisenhower to order the U2 flyovers to search out the missiles Khrushchev was bragging about, ultimately leading to the shootdown that ends the attempt to thaw the Cold War during Eisenhower's term.
The Soviets threatening nukes and the Brits and French pulling back convinces Khrushchev that rattling the nuclear sabre is a valid and successful negotiation strategy, encouraging his use of it up until the Cuban Missile Crisis.
All because some idiot British chancellor somehow read approximately five million different phrasing of "Violence will not be tolerated" to mean "As long as you can do it yourself, that's fine".
The historical context for the internal rebellions that the Ottoman Empire had before its dissolution: watch?v=SGrjQeskPwU
Context for Cyprus Island's historical situation: watch?v=VXTP15LOUfM
Reference to the isolationist US President: wiki/Robert_A._Taft
He also emerged as a prominent non-interventionist and opposed U.S. involvement into World War II prior to the 1941 Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. Taft's non-interventionist stances damaged his 1940 candidacy, and the 1940 Republican National Convention nominated Wendell Willkie. Taft sought the presidency again in 1948, but he lost to Dewey at the 1948 Republican National Convention. He opposed the creation of NATO and criticized President Harry Truman's handling of the Korean War.