AN: Credits to Vasilisa, Readhead, perfect_shade, geo_113, gdstriker, and Sunny for help with the revisions.
For those who haven't seen it yet, I did a rewrite of Chapter 1 and intend on rewriting the rest of the first dozen chapters. I will be adding "prequel" stories in the chapter rewrites (starting with rewritten Chapter 2) that complement the existing plots, such as Nasser's adventures before his coup to take control of Aegyptus.
My future release schedule will be alternating between new chapters and a chapter rewrite until the first dozen rewrites are completed.
I will be renaming this story from "The Cold War" to "A Magical Cold War, Remastered" when I finish rewriting the old chapters up to Chapter 6 or 12.
1953 September 18th, Usedom Island, Germania:
I let out a groan as I stared at the TV.
What had started off as a two week long nationwide crackdown on organized crime under the new emergency laws had quickly spiraled out of control. A suspected branch of one of the Ildoan mafias had not gone quietly into the night, and had instead launched an attack on a police station in Munchen in a bid to free their arrested senior members. There was still confusion of which Ildoan mafias were involved in that mess.
The good news for that particular mafia branch was that they succeeded sufficiently in their effort to avoid immediately joining their compatriots in captivity and had temporarily covered their retreat by taking some hostages from a nearby cafe; their good luck continued when the Bundespolizei held back from storming in immediately with guns blazing.
The bad news for them was that the Bundespolizei instead opted to bring in the proverbial sledgehammer. Instead of calling for their own police tactical response mage squads, they requested the aid of the Magical Civil Defense Corps.
And the hammer came crashing down as soon as the mafia branch executed one of the hostages in front of live television in an attempt to pressure the Bundespolizei to call off the Civil Defense Corps and for them to release those newly arrested mafia members.
The even worse news was that the mafia branch executed some of the hostages out of spite during the very one-sided firefight, all caught on TV. Now there was a growing nationwide vigilante riots and lynching of all suspected gangs.
I really need a new vacation from my quasi vacation. I rubbed my eyes in frustration, running through my mind of what to do.
A society can't function if people are whipped up in frenzy vigilante mobs! I had to come out publicly to put an end to this madness.
I spun around, finally acknowledging to have heard the entry and saw Elya in the doorway holding on to some reports.
"I'm assuming it's something that can't wait?" I asked, raising a knowing if exhausted eyebrow.
Elya cleared her throat. "Two things to report. I figured out why the mafia goons that were involved in the hostage taking were so desperate to free their arrested senior leaders, desperate enough to risk a firefight against the Magical Civil Defense Corps: Turns out they were involved with the SCE. A few of the arrested members confirmed it. Also gave us enough to link that same mafia branch to our mole. The one we have been observing for the past few months."
I rubbed my chin. "Hmmm. Just out of curiosity, what will you be doing with the mole now?"
"Watching her movements. Always watching…" Elya had a disturbing grin across her face. "She requested time off, so I am very interested to see where she goes, and who she meets. And the second thing I wanted to discuss is that NKVD agents are seeking to get in contact with Marie Kirschmann. Right now I have a BND agent disguised as Kirschmann meeting with them, for your safety. Adenaue also expressed interest in meeting with Marie Kirschmann for a political alliance."
"I'm grateful our enemies are apparently that stupid. But how do they still cause more problems by falling for my ruse?" I groaned, putting my head in my hands. Sobering up I turned inquisitive eyes at my expert. "So the political opposition I created is now so popular that the NKVD is willing to take a major risk of meeting that opposition leader or even assassinating it, and Adenaue also wants to hitch his bandwagon to the opposition leader?"
"Thankfully there seems to be no indications of the NKVD intending to harm Kirschmann, and instead they have the delusion that if they help her become Chancellor and also help her tear down the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic, she would aid them in turn. They think they have managed the risk, but we saw right through their disguises and false background efforts. As for Adenaue, he appears to be legitimate in allying with your disguise to push you out of office." Elya proudly smirked. "What should we do with them now?"
"Keep them engaged, where we can see them not doing anything more idiotic than usual." I ordered. "If your agent is going to make false promises to lure the NKVD into revealing more information about themselves, I need to know what was promised and what bait they end up latching onto. For Adenaue, I want him to have hopes of becoming Chancellor, so have the undercover agent inspire and advise him. I'm more than happy to go back to just being President." I looked back at the TV. "As for me, I'm going to go public to tell people of Germania to cease the street violence and let our well-equipped and well-paid professional law enforcement handle the criminals. I can't allow vigilante justice and lynching to happen in Germania, we have better things to do."
Elya frowned for a moment. "I can't stop you from going public, but if you could give me two days, I will have a full security team assembled to put a stop to any insane attempts on your life. I'll also time the next meeting between the NKVD and Kirschmann when you are giving your speech, to remove any possible Rus suspicions of you and Kirschmann being the same person. Same goes for Adenaue, he can't know that his previous resignation from office was all for nothing."
I certainly did not appreciate ending up in the line of fire or the need to jump into it to retain my reputation as I assuredly would have to when the NKVD inevitably endangered civilians in the attempt. I would be forced to tear apart the assailants with brutal efficiency before they could cause untold damage. It would also go against my call to cease vigilance justice if I immediately turned around to do it myself.
My foreign opponents did not appear to have the acumen for such, the NKVD long lost the subtlety and mostly just survived through near fanatical secrecy…
Then a thought hit me. "How did you get the mafia members to talk so fast?"
Elya smiled again. "I've been studying psychology research coming from the Unified States, and one of the many topics was the 'prisoner's dilemma'. A few of our agents disguise themselves as fellow mafia members, and other agents conduct a fake interview where the disguised agents pretend to cooperate with us. Then we show the footage to the arrested mafia members. It's amazing how quickly people spill out what they know when they perceive that they are being betrayed, and would rather drag down the other person instead of eating a lengthy prison sentence while watching the supposed backstabber walk free."
"Elya…" I tapped my foot on the floor impatiently.
"But it was all legal!" Elya pouted while lowering her head, as if she was a child being told the difference between obeying the letter of the rules and the spirit of the rules.
"It's still not ethical…" I sighed with annoyance before giving into her sulky eyes. "Just don't do that against Germanian citizens."
"I promise I won't."
"Thank you. I appreciate that I never had to penalize you for losing sight of Germania's interest and I prefer to keep it that way." I sent her on a way with a half hearted wave.
After Elya left the room and closed the door, I turned off the TV and walked over to a desk to begin scribbling notes for my public reveal.
For the people to calm down, they needed a leader with a demonstrated willingness to take action.
As I pondered the outline taking shape on my pad, I frowned, then sighed.
I had to take action, even if the best course involved taking on diplomatic risks with other countries, including the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic. Even if it angered the Albish and the Francois, I still had to do something. The responsibilities incumbent upon me demanded as much. And it was blatantly clear that my past methods of conflict avoidance were not working.
Ready or not, those two countries would have to eat the consequences of their incompetence. And so would any other countries that cause trouble for OZEV and my other allies.
And I was prepared to force feed them if necessary. Because I was not taking their nonsense for a moment longer.
1953 September 20th, Berun Gentlemen's Club, Germania:
Dertinge made his way through the club until stopping at one particular private section where he spotted Lergen and Ugar, already engaged with brandy and cigars.
"Mind if I join you?" Dertinge asked.
"A toast to our new Chancellor! And join us, please." Ugar immediately raised his drink, followed by Lergen.
"Acting Chancellor," Dertinge corrected Ugar as he slipped the booth, while Lergen poured a drink.
"Absolute madness out there," he added in a disconsolate mutter as he sat down.
Lergen nodded. "The Civil Defense Corp has been mobilized to assist the Bundespolizei and BND to root out all of the foreign intelligence cells operating in Berun, as well as the organized criminal operations, and to prevent the demonstrations from causing too much property damage. The Ildoan mafia that made the poor life decision of killing hostages and fighting the Bundespolizei, and the BND's arrest of a mafia mole among their ranks, gave us the legal justification under the long-running emergency presidential powers to also mobilize the military, including regular service members and military intelligence."
"The chaos on the streets reminds me of the overthrow of President Paul," Ugar said, and took a reflective puff off his cigar. "Ironic how he had granted himself those emergency powers shortly before that, and how we are still using those emergency powers long after his departure."
"And all it took was Degurechaff giving a speech to put an immediate end to the vigilante violence, by reminding them of 'rule of law' and the importance of freedom and justice in the face of terror. Anyways, what's the update for our gold shipment?" Dertinge swirled his drink before taking a sip.
"Our ships have already left New Amsterdam and are sailing back across the Atlantic Ocean." Lergen blew a cloud of smoke while tapping his cigar. "I'm surprised the Americans were expeditious with handing over their gold, and were even gracious enough to escort our ships across the Atlantic before breaking off to sail to the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic. Looking back on this, I'm amazed Adenaue's decision led to all of this."
"I've known him for a long time, and I am also amazed that he had the sheer audacity to defy Degurechaff." Dertinge set down his drink. "To tell her in her face as well, and then walk away!"
Ugar chuckled. "I'm not surprised at all."
Dertinge looked on with confusion as Ugar elaborated. "She is not like that. She always wanted independent thinking and actions from her subordinates. Even though she disapproved of his decision, she still respected the rule of law and accepted it. If she just cared about power, she wouldn't have put the two of you back in office after Paul's self-destruction."
Lergen looked up from his brandy snifter to stare intently at Dertinge. "Why did you follow Adenaue even when it was against her intent? When things could have gone horribly wrong?"
"When he made it clear that he was going to start a new political party, it came down to either joining him and Marie Kirschmann, or serving for Degurechaff. And there are too many unknowns with Kirschmann. I've done my research on her and something about her smells off, but I can't put a finger on it. Maybe she could end up being a great leader. Or maybe end up floundering like President Paul did."
Dertinge narrowed his eyes. "So, I did what any competent bureaucrat would do. Follow the instructions to the letter. I've instructed my ambassador to the Americans to make it clear that the gold exchange was Adenaue's order. If they objected too strongly, state that President Degurechaff was legally unable to override Adenaue for that specific situation, and that it was a perfectly legal gold exchange… So with all of that said, why did you agree to send in the Navy?"
Lergen hesitated, then deeply sighed. "If the dollar holdings were truly a threat to the OZEV's economy as Degurechaff claimed, then it's preferable to exchange everything at once and have the gold in hand. All of her economic predictions proved to be accurate, even when they seemed so far-fetched at first. I used to doubt her for a long time, but after seeing how she thoroughly prepared OZEV for the oil crisis, years in the making, and the lead through it, while the Albish and Frankish blundered into one disaster after the next of their own making, I no longer see a point in questioning her instincts."
"Should we be more assertive with our military if diplomacy fails?"
"Absolutely." Lergen tightened his hands into a fist. "Germania used to be weak. At the mercy of foreign powers. Because of that weakness, I was against saber rattling. But now we are a military superpower with atomic weapons, and are on our way to developing even more powerful bombs, long range missiles to put those bombs in, and submarines to launch the missiles. The one time that Degurechaff chose to pursue peace at any cost, the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic plunged Europe into a global oil and trade crisis, and gave the communists an opportunity to expand their influence into the Middle East. Had we deterred them from invading Aegyptus, even with the threat of force, none of that mess would have happened. And if they dared to call our bluff, then we would have hit them hard enough to leave Aegyptus alone."
"Maybe she intentionally went for a pacifistic option just to show what happens if we aren't assertive," Ugar suggested half-jokingly, only to get a glaring side-eye from Lergen.
'Interesting. He used to be skeptical of Degurechaff. While he wasn't direct like what Adenaue did in his last few weeks in office, I could always sense that he didn't quite trust her back then', Dertinge thought to himself.
Ugar then looked at Dertinge to shift topic and to avoid Lergen's angry gaze. "Were you concerned if our gold exchange actions hurt Germania's relationship with the US?"
Dertinge shifted in his seat for a more comfortable position. "Isolationism is rampant in the US, but if they were to choose violence one day, they would likely start acting against the communists first, as anti-communist sentiments among their populace are far stronger than anti-Germanian sentiments. And this is even after our gold exchange. Both of us would suffer if the economic and technological ties are broken. They need our nuclear technology and we need their semiconductor technology, and that's just a small example despite those technologies being nowhere found elsewhere!"
Lergen's face shifted into an uncomfortable grimace, the joy of his brandy curdling. "It seems all of us have… mellowed with age."
1953 September 29th, over the Mediterranean Sea
John Green startled awake as someone shook him. Glancing over, he saw his fiancée Bettina.
"We're almost ready to land sweetie," Bettina said as she helped secure Green's seatbelt, and then tenderly kissed him.
"After this is all over with, I'm looking forward to just going back to being an aerial lacrosse coach and enjoying a quiet life," Green muttered and glanced over at the window as the plane began to touchdown onto the runway.
"Have you made up your mind about returning back to the Allied Kingdom?" Bettina winked.
"Only if I can get a job there as a coach," Green sighed. "We still need a source of income for a family."
After they disembarked from the plane, Green could see that it wasn't just the newly established 1st Formosan Mage Corps that had arrived at the Sicilian training base.
'What, did a war break out while we were flying from Formosa?' Green looked around at the large, different groups of people that were already gathered at the airfield. Most notably the presence of mages that looked like they came from North Africa and the Middle East.
Koenig was the first person to walk up to Green, both of them having surprised looks on their faces, while Bettina was seemingly nonchalant about the situation.
"I was expecting the Formosans to join us. What is going on here?" Koenig pointed at the Akinese that were disembarking after the Formosans, while Gao and Kazama were helping each other load the corps's baggage into a truck.
Green sheepishly smiled. "When the Akinese military discovered that the Formosan team was traveling across the world for battle experience, they insisted on sending a contingent too."
"I wouldn't say no to having more people join us," Koenig nodded, then his eyebrows furrowed. "The training will be interesting though, with such a diverse mix we have here."
Green then looked over to see someone else approaching before turning back to Koenig. "And the leader of the Akinese contingent is my old friend Captain Yamamoto."
"It is good to meet you." Yamamoto slightly bowed to Koenig. "I couldn't let the Formosans and Germanians have all of the fun fighting the Turkmens, North Bharatians and other people in the exotic Middle East that I've wanted to visit. So I pulled some strings in the Akinese navy for an unconventional reassignment from being a destroyer captain. Anyways, I overheard you mention about training all of us. What kind of training should we be expecting?"
"Unconventional warfare," Koenig revealed with a toothy smile. "We're not here for pitched battles. No, we're going to be hitting the enemies where they least expect it, and avoid their counter hits. And rally local opposition against them as well. Green will also be helping us with understanding North Africa and the Middle East."
"I don't think some of us will exactly look like the locals…"
"But we aren't officially affiliated with any countries either," Koenig pointed out with a chuckle. "Technically, we are all volunteers on vacation, or working as mercenaries on 'temporary retirement'. And with excellent compensation."
Several hours later:
Bettina checked her magic disguise, before refocusing on two figures in the distance with her stealth optical spells.
Two figures who were monitoring the training camp with binoculars.
Koenig's voice came in from a distance. "For the past two days, they left that location at about 6pm before going to a bar in town, which then they tried to strike up conversations with those that are from the training camp. I think you can handle them at the bar."
"With pleasure. Much pleasure involved. Just let me know if my fiancé is also heading to the same bar so I can double check my disguise." Bettina smiled. "Any updates if there are SCE agents on this island?"
"Not yet, but I'll maintain overwatch while you are at the bar in the event that anything goes wrong. These two men might lead us to the SCE, and that is when things will become exciting."
1953 September 30th morning, in the Caspian Sea, Central Asia:
"It seems they knew about our escape plan," Li stared at a map that had props of where his ships were, and the identified enemy formation that was moving into position to block his retreat.
"I was hoping we could avoid a naval battle, but we don't have a choice." Yao shrugged. "Our mages did report that the enemy fleet has a greater number of steamships, and they have artillery guns chained to their decks, and air support advantage."
Li pondered for about a minute, then smiled. "Remember how the CSR took on the Albish fleet that threatened our homeland back during the Bharatian War?"
"Yes?…"
"We do the same," Li said, and then elaborated. "Retreat slowly, avoid open battle and maintain our cohesion, until it's nighttime. We ambush them at night. The first wave of attacks will be done with swimmers and small rowboats, which will only activate their motor engines at the last possible moment. Then the rest of our fleet will move in as the chaos spreads and disorganizes the enemy. Their speed and long range firepower advantage will be nullified and their aircraft will struggle to avoid friendly fire if they try to assist."
"Wouldn't they expect that? We would be taking immense losses even if this works." Yao had a concerned look.
"They wouldn't expect to be in the same situation as the arrogant Albish fleet was. We know from the intercepted radio communications that it's an army general who is in charge of their fleet," Li retorted. "Some may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make if it means the rest of us can escape to Afghanistan."
Later that night, underwater:
Shusheng and Fire planted explosives on the side of a hull, then swam away some distance and powered up their shields.
"Let's get the party started," Shusheng heard the voice spell from Fire.
"Breaching!" Shusheng fired an explosive casted bullet with acceleration at the charges. The bullet surged through the water, and when it finally came to a stop from the water resistance, it exploded and the charges immediately followed.
The two mages were pushed back by the shockwaves before swimming forward rapidly towards the gaping hole in the hull, soon riding on the currents of the water rushing into the ship and then entering the flooding engine room.
"I'll take out the radio room, you go look for the commanders and neutralize them." Fire repeated their previously discussed plan as he fired a volley of shots at the ceiling to blast a hole and powered up his flight spell to fly up.
Shusheng blasted his own hole to take off in a different direction, then flew down a hallway to run into three surprised sailors.
"Which direction is your pilot house?"
Upon seeing them hesitate, he then punched one of the sailors with maximum physical power, sending that sailor bouncing ragdoll around the hallway before landing as a broken, bloody heap.
"Let's try again. Where is your pilot house?"
Liu Jinglin stumbled from his stateroom onto the deck of the ship in his underwear. The sight of the explosions and fires raging across his fleet, along with the associated sounds of chaos and screams, stunned him for a moment.
'I have to get to the bridge, figure something out. Luo will have my head on a platter if we are unable to defeat Li after he had executed that Rus general on grounds of criminal incompetence, and he's just a stone toss away in Caucasia! There's no one for me to easily blame for this disaster!'
The nearby radio room exploding caused him to stumble in panic. He grabbed onto the railing, briefly looking down at the dark water with people flailing or drowning amongst the burning fuel patches below. As he pulled himself back up, he caught the glimpse of a mage rocketing away from the burning radio room and to another ship.
'Now it makes more sense of how they are decapitating my chain of command. How did they ambush us to begin with?'
He climbed up the ladder and into the pilot house, and saw that an enemy had already gotten there before him. All of the instruments and controls were smashed, and there were piles of dead bodies everywhere.
'What am I going to do now?'' Liu stared with dismay, then noticed another mage fly from his ship and open fire on an adjacent ship while approaching it.
1953 October 2nd morning, West Virginia, sailing over the Ohio River, Unified States:
Frederick Rosenvelt looked out over the ferry's railing and at the approaching Silver Bridge, taking in the warm sunlight of the fall season. He then looked over at President Taft, who seemed to be heavily intoxicated.
"Events across the pond bother you? I thought you always wanted to keep the Unified States out of world affairs," Rosenvelt said, smiling slightly.
"No, it's the big reorganization of our shameful excuse of an intelligence community," Taft growled, hands tightly gripped around the railing. "Congress chopped it up as they saw fit and now I either sign a bill packed with nonsense and tripe or I keep limping along with our disjointed mess. The only thing they didn't screw with is their approval of my appointment of Foster Dullas to lead the new CIA."
"Oh? What prompted you to shuffle people around?"
Taft pointed at Secretary of State Moores Dullas, who ceased talking with his brother Foster Dullas upon sensing Taft's pointing, and, setting aside his drink, stepped forwards to brief Rosenvelt.
"The BND has been systematically dismantling every foreign intelligence service operating in OZEV, now that they have finished the same job in Germania. It's only a matter of time before OZEV's integration includes coordination or even combining the member states' intelligence services. On the other hand, ours is a patchwork, even within our own national borders."
"And our boys in Europe?" Rosenvelt raised an eyebrow.
"I was given a note from Germania's foreign minister right before my departure from Berun," stated a grimacing Foster Dullas, stepping into the conversation, "which informed us in their usual diplomatic way that they are aware of our intelligence services operating in OZEV, but that those operations would be tolerated at their current level of activity but no further."
"Ironic how you've been appointed as the head of our new intelligence agency when Germania just casually let you know that they knew what you were doing," Rosenvelt teased Foster Dullas as the ferry began to pass under the bridge.
"Our boys and their informants in Europe didn't get purged like the frogs and others," Foster Dullas said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "Besides, most of my attention has been focused on establishing intelligence networks in the Middle East. Specifically Saudistan."
"Oh, what about them?" Taft turned his head.
Moores Dullas adjusted his tie. "They came up with the bright idea of planning an invasion of Mesopotamia to kick both the Turkmen Empire and the Qajarian Empire out of the region, or at the very least take control of the southern half of the war torn country. They distrust those two countries, and Aegyptus as well, and thus wanted to establish a 'buffer zone' against all three. The oil and other resources in Mesopotamia are seen as a bonus."
"A bunch of idiots that ar-"
"Their offer was to continue selling us oil at the old market prices before the Suez Canal closure, and to only go through us for military hardware purchases and training." Moores Dullas had a toothy smile while Foster nodded along. "In fact by rushing headlong into a war that I know they are not prepared for, they will have to pay for expensive, expedited purchases and training."
"You know what, I don't care about their shenanigans as long as they hold up their end of the bargain." Taft sighed. "I didn't get elected to office on the promise of enforcing world peace."
"Hah, the equivalent of someone just handing you a briefcase full of money and telling you to look the other way!" Rosenvelt roared with laughter.
Suddenly, a series of loud metallic bangs interrupted the conversation from the bridge above.
"...I don't see an explosion, so I think we're good," Taft said cautiously, and then looked up, blinking blearily.
"I hope my next week's trip to Warm Springs isn't interrupted," Rosenvelt nervously chuckled, trying to ease the mood.
A broken eyebar fell from the bridge and embedded into the wooden deck only a meter away from Taft's loafer.
"...That looked important."
And then the entire bridge, along with the vehicles on it, came crashing down towards the ferry. The Secret Service mages rushed in to try to save the VIPs.
Several hours later, Usedom Island, Germania:
"Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news?" asked Acting Chancellor Dertinge from where he stood in front of my desk. "Both might require you to begin your personal public political campaigning, with Adenaue now off running his new political party."
"Let's hear the bad news first," I motioned to him to get on with it.
"A few months ago, the joint hydrocarbon venture 'Rom-Dansk Petrol' established by Danish and Dacian oil companies discovered a massive gas field in Lothiern while exploring for oil. The reason why we are only just learning about this was that, when they realized what they had stumbled into, they succeeded in keeping its existence a secret long enough to carefully negotiate a deal with Lothiern's government to guarantee they would have a monopoly over developing the field and exporting the product."
"...And they didn't tell Lothiern of the true size of the gas field, nor did Lothiern have their own natural gas experts to confirm the findings?" I guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"They intentionally severely understated the volume of the gas field on written paper, and explained away the large land area the gas field covered as 'possibly numerous small gas pockets' with an emphasis on 'low confidence'. The only ones who knew the true approximate size only shared that information verbally in person," Dertinge confirmed with a low chuckle. "As for Lothiern's own hydrocarbon experts, the local firm they consulted lacked the expertise and technical capability to properly check the company's findings. As a result, Lothiern's government agreed to a deal where the company would fulfill Lothiern's local demand first before exporting the gas, as Lothiern's government assumed most of the natural gas production would be used up by their country."
Ah, reminds me of the days of the tricky business deals that I had heard from coworkers in my previous life. One or both parties hiding information from each other but remaining in the 'technically legal' boundary.
"I suppose it's good that Germania's and OZEV's heavy investments in hydrocarbon explorations are paying off to the point where some of the advanced hydrocarbon exploration and extraction methods are apparently magic to the Lothiern," I smiled with mild amusem*nt. "So, how has this situation found its way up to my desk?"
"After the deal was signed, Albish intelligence somehow uncovered the scheme. Lothiern was informed by the Allied Kingdom of what Rom-Dansk Petrol had done," Dertinge said, clearly annoyed. "Now, Daneland and Dacia are asking us for help on two issues. The first one is that Lothiern's government is trying to find legal justifications to break the 'unfair' deal, with a few politicians even calling for outright nationalizing the natural gas field, and the second one is that the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic want that natural gas to flow to them instead of OZEV. And Lothiern is being heavily pressured by their demands because the Albish military is still fighting for control over the chaotic Lothiern East Indies."
Oh. I can see why the hydrocarbon companies and their governments realized they were in quite a mess, and why they needed Germania to bail them out. It didn't help that the world was still suffering from the oil supply disruption, and we're approaching winter.
"And what's the good news?"
"Do not worry – this news is unambiguously good," Dertinge said, with a quiet joy I could only think of as "bureaucratic". "Firstly, the Allied Kingdom has declared the immediate formation of an international peace commission, to which they promptly invited the Francois Republic, Ispagna, Aegyptus, and the Turkman Empire."
"Alright…" I replied slowly, trying to see how this equated to good news. "And?"
"Speaking on behalf of Aegyptus, Ambassador Sadat invited both the South Bharatians and ourselves," Dertinge explained, and then smiled again. "When the Albish tried to disinvite us, the good ambassador insisted that Germania be present for the peace talks, and that if we were not, everybody north of the Mediterranean and west of the Rhine could freeze come winter, in their opinion. Apparently, the Aegyptians found it suspicious that the Albish invited all of their allies and tried to exclude everybody else."
His news delivered, Dertinge set to work industriously packing his papers back into his neatly polished briefcase.
"Hmmm," I took a refreshing sip and hummed happily at the caffeine rush. "I don't feel the least bit shocked by that particular wrinkle. Tell me, what is the domestic economic situation in the Allied Kingdom like these days anyway?"
"Information from the BND, Ministry of Finance and Foreign Ministry indicates that as long as the Allied Kingdom maintains its current level of military activity, it won't be able to meet the US's demand for immediate loan principal payment in gold and have sufficient fuel reserves stockpiled for the winter. Even with emergency financial measures, one of those out of the three can't be done, and I suspect they would want to pull out of Aegyptus with some dignity intact and have the Suez Canal quickly repaired. A major sign of what is to come is when the Albish rejected a loan application from the Legadonia Entente for the construction of hydroelectric dams, when the two parties had previously agreed on the loan terms. The Legadonian government had avoided any public statements, but we know that some of the individual senior officials were furious at the Allied Kingdom for dragging them along for so many years for the hydroelectric dam deal, only to pull the rug from under them."
I blinked a few times. "If that gold shock is what finally pushed the Albish to seek peace, I suppose I'll need to forgive Adenaue for going over my head. Hell, I may have to award him a medal for his contribution to world peace."
An irritated twitch flashed across the Chancellor's face at the mention of his predecessor. "Hmmph, I'm sure he'd be thrilled," he stated sourly. "I can have someone inform him if you like. I believe he's campaigning in the mountains of Thuringia at the moment."
I rolled my eyes. "I wish the two of you would stop acting so childishly. If you really want to stick it to him, work hard to defeat him electorally."
"Don't worry, I intend to." An unexpectedly steely light glinted in his eyes.
Hmmm, had the collapse of the GDU finally caused the man to grow a spine? It'd certainly done wonders for Adenaue's backbone. If someone had told me that one day he'd march into my home and tell me proudly to my face that he was defying my direct orders, I'd have laughed them out of the room.
They grow up so fast, I'm proud of them...
"Never mind Adenaue," I replied reassuringly, "Now is your chance to outshine him on the international stage! Tell me, what terms could the Albish try to demand and what leverage do they possess?"
"I suspect they would want to retain control of the Suez Canal and avoid any war reparations," Dertinge promptly said. "Their main leverage right now is that all of Aegyptus aside from the Sinai Peninsula is totally occupied by foreign forces and will remain so until a peace deal is struck."
"That's about what I was expecting." I leaned back and picked up my cup of coffee, nursing it lovingly against my cheek. "Tell me more about the situation with Legadonia's hydroelectric dam projects."
Dertinge smiled. "After the Albish told them no, they asked me about the possibility of Germania financing their construction."
"At this rate it looks like we could end up running a deficit budget yet again with everyone and everything wanting our money," I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'm not going to say no if it means reducing OZEV's reliance on foreign oil imports in the long run and I would assume Legadonia would be more stable than the Middle East, but they owe us a greater share of electricity generation since the dams would be completed years after the Suez Canal is repaired and the oil flows from the Middle East restored."
"I would assume they expect us to ask for a greater electricity share compared to the last time we made them an offer. Oh well, their loss for trusting the Albish for funding."
"Speaking of Legadonia and oil..." My eyes darted over to the map of Europe and the Mediterranean set up in the corner of the room. My gaze lingered on the North Sea region.
If the resource distribution of this world roughly matches up with my previous world, the North Sea contains significant hydrocarbon reserves. The UK had a major hydrocarbon industry for a few decades before exhausting their reserves, Norway amassed a massive sovereign wealth fund to set them up for a post-hydrocarbon future and the Netherlands helped coin the term "Dutch disease" because their massive natural gas industry consumed the rest of their industry's capital and human resources.
If the Allied Kingdom is throwing a tantrum over Rom-Dansk Petrol's actions in Lothiern, I'd hate to see how they would react if we start drilling in the North Sea. Having Legadonia on our side, even if they didn't have much of a navy, would help our cause. The Albish might try to bully us with their navy, but if the rest of the world viewed that negatively, then they would be stumbling into another self-defeat.
"I would like to open discussions with the Entente about the North Sea's fishing and energy rights, and how it would be split between Germania, Daneland and them."
"Why?" Dertinge had a puzzled look.
"If Lothiern was sitting on a massive natural gas reserve, what about the North Sea?" I raised an eyebrow. "I understand the waters are very rough, especially during winter, but if it contains rich hydrocarbon resources like Lothiern, it would be worth pursuing. The Allied Kingdom will be incredibly jealous of us extracting hydrocarbons from what they view as their backyard, so establishing a well-defined agreement of what parts of the sea and its resources fall under which country's jurisdiction would benefit us."
"You're not cutting out the Albish of that discussion, right? They have the navy to frustrate us and Legadonia."
"Of course. But it would be much harder for them to argue if we and Legadonia had already agreed on how to divide up the North Sea. And Legadonia wouldn't be cutting them a break after what happened with the hydroelectric dam funding mess. I welcome the Albish to try to flex their navy on both OZEV and the Nordic Council. If they try for a blockade, the Americans would be unwilling to take the economic hit from losing their trade access with mainland Europe."
"I see," Dertinge nodded. "I'll hold off on mentioning the North Sea until we have the major parts of the hydroelectric deal worked out. I'll also reach out to my Danish and Dacian counterparts to have them push their hydrocarbon companies to explore the North Sea, with us providing subsidization if needed. Where did you get the idea of the North Sea having more hydrocarbons available?"
"Just a hunch," I coughed.
There was a sudden series of knocks on the door.
"I wasn't expecting another guest, but come in!"
Visha entered my room at a brisk pace, and without a pause, breathlessly dumped the bad news onto us. "President Taft and Frederick Rosenvelt were confirmed dead at a bridge collapse. The Unified States is organizing a state funeral to start on October 12th and is inviting leaders from around the world to attend."
"Who's the Vice President?"
Dertinge jumped in. "That would be Fitzgerald Kennedy."
Kennedy… I know that was an important figure for the United States during my previous world's Cold War, but I don't know much else.
"Acting Chancellor Dertinge, I need the Foreign Ministry and the BND to make a case file on Kennedy, and an analysis of how the Unified States will conduct its foreign diplomacy with him being in charge."
Dertinge snapped to attention, and then departed my office.
I took a deep sigh and looked at Visha. "World events are getting harder and harder to stay ahead of."
"We have each other, that's what counts." Visha winked.
AN:
For those that are wondering why would an organized crime group be emboldened to take on a government, here's a brutal real life example, including one where an organized criminal group assassinated an army general that was specialized in anti-terrorism operations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Mafia_WarIn addition to the violence within the Mafia itself, there was violence against the
state, including a campaign of deliberate
assassinationsof
judges,
prosecutors,
detectives,
politicians,
activistsand other ideological enemies. In turn, the war resulted in a major crackdown against the Mafia, helped by the
pentiti, Mafiosi who collaborated with the authorities after losing so many friends and relatives to the fighting.
…
More and more killings took place over the next two years. On 30 November 1982, twelve Mafiosi were murdered in Palermo in twelve separate incidents. The murders extended across the
Atlantic, with one of Inzerillo's brothers being found dead in
New Jerseyafter fleeing to the
U.S.The
dismemberedbody of one of Badalamenti's nephews turned up in a field in
Germany.
…
Whilst the Sicilian Mafia has generally been more inclined to kill authority figures than their American counterparts, this is still usually only as a last resort. The
Corleonesiand their allies, however, started a specific campaign of assassination of state figures. Amongst the victims (known as "excellent cadavers") were
police chiefs Emanuele Basileand
Boris Giuliano,
magistrates Rocco Chinniciand
Cesare Terranova, and politicians
Piersanti Mattarellaand
Pio La Torre. In one of the most brazen hits conducted by the mafia, General of the Italian Army
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who was serving as Palermo's prefect at that time, was killed together with his wife and police escort Domenico Russo. They were shot upon by motorcycle-riding gunmen carrying
AK-47sled by Giuseppe Greco.
[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Alberto_dalla_Chiesa
In the foreword of the Argentine
National Commission on the Disappearance of Personsreport on the Argentine
Dirty War, dalla Chiesa was cited as having rejected the use of
torturein Italy in response to the
kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the former prime minister killed by the
Red Brigadesin 1978. In response to a suggestion that torture be used in the investigation, dalla Chiesa stated, "Italy can survive the loss of Aldo Moro. It would not survive the introduction of torture."
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Carini_massacre
The general had led as head of the special anti-terrorism centre of the
Carabinieri, starting from September 1978, the counteroffensive of the state on extreme left-wing groups, in particular the
Red Brigadeswith remarkable results. He had begun the process of disintegration of the terrorist phenomenon in Italy that would be definitively concluded after his death.
Bombing of a highway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capaci_bombingThe Capaci bombing (
Italian: Strage di Capaci) was a terror attack
[2]by the
Sicilian Mafiathat took place on 23 May 1992 on Highway A29, close to the junction of
Capaci,
Sicily. It killed magistrate
Giovanni Falcone, his wife
Francesca Morvillo, and three police escort agents, Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro; agents Paolo Capuzza, Angelo Corbo, Gaspare Bravo and Giuseppe Costanza survived.
Indiscriminate bombings of museums and other cultural sites as an attempt to intimate the government and public to cease cracking down on the mafia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corleonesi_Mafia_clan#DeclineAfter Riina's capture, a division emerged among the Corleonesi, and a series of bombings occurred by the Corleonesi against several tourist spots on the Italian mainland — the
Via dei Georgofili bombingin
Florence,
Via Palestro massacrein
Milanand the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in
Rome, which left 10 people dead and 93 injured as well as severe damage. In total, Riina was given 26 life sentences,
[26]and served his sentence in solitary confinement.
[27]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_dei_Georgofili_bombing
After
Corleonesi Mafia clanboss
Salvatore Riinawas captured in January 1993, the mafia began a campaign of bombing Italian cultural heritage sites. Numerous terror attacks, including this one, were ordered as warning to its members to not turn
state's witness, but also in response for the Italian state overruling of the
Article 41-bis prison regime.
[3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma
Where the "Botolph" name came from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#HistoryBefore dying on September 30, 1630, one of Johnson's last official acts as the leader of the Charlestown community was to name their new settlement across the river "Boston". He named the settlement after his
hometownin
Lincolnshire, the place from which he, his wife (namesake of the
Arbella) and John Cotton (grandfather of
Cotton Mather) had emigrated to
New England. The name of the English town ultimately derives from its patron saint,
St. Botolph, in
whose churchJohn Cotton served as the rector until his emigration with Johnson. In early sources the Lincolnshire Boston was known as "St. Botolph's town", later contracted to "Boston".
Reference to military deployments to combat crimes:
https://www.uspis.gov/history-spotlight/send-in-the-marinesThe 1920s saw a surge of armed robberies of the mail. Postal Inspectors were so badly outnumbered that, on two separate occasions, the federal government sent help from the United States Marine Corps.
Reference to Warm Springs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_White_HouseInspiration for the sudden deaths of leaders:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt#Disappearancehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev#Last_years_and_deathIn March 1982 Brezhnev received a concussion and fractured his right
claviclewhile touring a factory in Tashkent, after a metal
balustradecollapsed under the weight of a number of factory workers, falling on top of Brezhnev and his security detail.
[136]
Collapse of the bridge:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bridge