Undisclosed location somewhere in Beruiti
General Sardar Bahman sat in his office, surrounded by regional commanders of the New Peoples Army, recruitment officers, and GAIG agents that were working for the Beruiti Office. It was late at night, but no one really cared. Bahman reminded his regional commanders that this is not going to be an easy task ahead of them. Building a Neoarmist Qabi movement from the ground up, in the face of increased opposition, was a daunting task, one that no one in the room took lightly. Despite some of the best intelligence service operations in Beruiti assisting him, the Beruiti Office was unable to prevent certain things from happening. That included Stasnov bombing two supply depots, and the residence of a NPA informant. That was coupled with the airstrike by Stelandia on the warehouse, where the NPA lost half of its new shipment of MANPADs and multiple NPA operators.
Luckily, Shazhad and the other half of the MANPADs escaped unscathed, but the material damage was a setback, to be sure. The airstrikes on the supply depots were minor setbacks, since the depots weren't really brimming with equipment. The bombing of the NPA informant hit Bahman hard, personally. He knew that man. He had a wife, and three children. It was a shame that he had to go that way. But Bahman was determined not to give in, not to give up. He fought and sweated and bled for this. So many had already sacrificed their comfort, their security, some their lives, for this movement. A movement that was beyond them. But he sometimes doubted himself. General Bahman looked up at his "cabinet", so to speak.
"Men, what is the status report?"
Vahid Baraz, who was in charge of recruiting for a section in northeastern Beruiti, said "northeastern Beruiti is ripe with fresh recruits. Just today we found a dozen new recruits."
"Good," replied Bahman. "Although the material loss to the airstrikes are quite a setback, I assume?"
"Yes sir," said regional commander Dariush Amir. "We still have enough small arms to continue our operations, but ammunition is fairly low. From my subordinates estimates, we can only last for another two weeks on our stocks."
Bahman looked over to one of the GAIG agents.
"What can your people do to supply us?"
The agent responded directly.
"A shipment through Qajan ports will arrive in a couple days. We can probably then distribute these supplies to your depots in a couple days after that."
"That sounds good. Any other reports?"
No one responded.
"Then that concludes the meeting. Good evening."
One by one the group silently filed out of the room, which left Bahman and Shazhad alone.
"Shazhad, they killed Omid," stated Bahman solemnly.
"I know, it is a shame."
"He and I graduated from Rhodes together. I knew him personally. He had a lovely wife, and three beautiful children."
Shazhad nodded.
Bahman added, "have you ever doubted what we are doing Shazhad? Have you ever wondered if this was worth all the sacrifice?"
Shazhad paused, before answering.
"Sir--sometimes it is best to remember that what we are fighting is nothing that we want our descendants to live in. We must remember that the sacrifice now is worth having our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren, and our great great grandchildren not living under the thumb of communism. We must always keep that in mind, sir."
Bahman nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for your encouragement. Good night Shazhad."
"Good night sir."
