OOC: This post had been co-written with
Greater Carloso.
*** Cadena Islands, CarlosoThe atmosphere was dark. Night had covered the Cadena Islands with a tight shroud; and ever falling cloak of rain was pouring down from the sky. From time to time, a single thunder tore the heavens asunder, perfectly portraying wrath of nature. Maki Kojiro stood facing the window, gazing into some point over the horizon. Like usually in Kojiro's case, not even a muscle moved on his face, resembling a figure of marble set in a room. His counterpart, President Tobón, had departed from Madrigal International Airport via a small government jet about an hour earlier, his destination being an airfield located on the second largest of the Cadena Islands, Setugoa. He had been put on particularly short notice by Kojiro, and so left for the airport immediately after the conclusion of a meeting with members of the Executive Council. Presumably, the Nifonese Shogun wished to discuss the situation in New Edom with him.
On the south side of the island, overlooking the great vast expanse that was the Musgorocian Ocean, was the Madrino Resort, a large facility owned by the Carlosian government. It had one purpose; to serve as a secure location for particularly sensitive and important meetings between the Carlosian government and international figures. It was somewhat secluded by several kilometers of forest which separated it from the nearest settlement, though it was still plainly visible from the air. After arriving at the air field, Tobón was taken by an SUV up a broken road and through various security checkpoints until he eventually arrived at the resort. Once he got there, he made his way down one of the many grand corridors to one of the meeting rooms on the ground floor of the building, now only waiting for Shogun Kojiro himself to arrive for a meeting behind closed doors. Maki Kojiro arrived soon after, in a wide train of SUVs. Each of them was unmarked, painted in equally dark colors - to prevent the eventual attackers from knowing in which SUV Maki Kojiro was sitting. Then, a single member of the PSD would walk out, survey the area. On given signal, the detail led Shogun Kojiro out. Maki merely looked into the sky once again: "The storm is coming" he whispered unto himself, as he walked into the mansion.
This, of course, could be taken quiet figuratively or literally. Of all the provinces of Carloso, the Cadena Islands were notorious for the violent weather they were exposed to year after year. Tropical storms coming up from the warmer seas near Bourgougia were known to develop into formidable hurricanes, which in the past had dealt great damage to infrastructure and property. In particular, many could still remember the horrors Hurricane Augustín which struck in the autumn of 2007.
Meanwhile, President Tobón was safe in the knowledge that in this building, the two men would be safe from any dangers, either natural or man-made. After a few minutes, Kojiro eventually appeared before Tobón, absolutely unflinching. President Tobón moved forward, extending his hand in order to welcome the Shogun to Carloso for a second time.
"Konabawa, Tobon-san. I just wish we could have met under different circumstances." Spoke Maki in a warm tone. The Nifonese Shogun was known for his admiration for the Carlosian president, and meeting him again, even if unofficially, was always a great pleasure "I have to apologize for calling this meeting early, but the circumstances were. dire. I trust that head of state such as yourself is well informed about the recent events in New Edom, and that your excellency's intelligence services have provided the list of NGOs backing the so called gay protests?"
"Its no problem, Mr Kojiro." Tobón assured him, "Yeah, I'm aware of what's going on in Fineberg. I've been told by NISFO that we have men on the ground investigating some organisations of interest. All sorts of NGOs have their fingers stuck in this, but every one of them is the exact same at the end of the day."
"NGOs" Kojiro paused, looking at the rain. It reminded him of that day - the day his mentor died, and he with him "It's a funny world we live in, Tobon-san. When I was born, everything was so clear. There were nation states, nations had armies and waged wars with those armies. Today, as Alvin Toffler had noticed, the nation state is undergoing a crisis, attacked from above by multinational organizations, and from below by various non-state actors. Carloso, had it's own fair share of problems with those actors, I take"
"I wish we lived in simpler times too, but everything has changed, even since my time in the Army." Tobón responded, "We had our own problems to deal with, but were lucky the Carlosian people woke up before these parasites got a hold on everything. That said, I can't say we are 100% safe in Carloso. Some would rather I wasn't the leader of this country. I think joining SACTO sealed the deal in that regard."
"If you think it's Carloso alone, bother not - I have heard rumors that my minister of national security is plotting against me. It looks like I will have to find a replacement when I get home" for a second, a wicked grin appeared on Kojiro's face. Tobon could easily guess fate of the rebellious minister - as the last one to engage in conspiracy against Kojiro was torn apart by one of Kojiro's shisas live on TV.
Tobón rose an eyebrow for a second at the revelation but laughed it off, "We're not that way inclined in Carloso, but I agree that these people need to be dealt with. Down through history, in every independence struggle, there will always be traitorous collaborators who work with foreign enemies to destroy a country, thinking they'll be the ones put in charge when the uprising in crushed. Most don't realise they are only pawns in the great game of chess being played.."
"Great game of chess...." Kojiro lowered his voice as it slowed down indicating a deep state of thought "It's ironic though. I am aware that even with the Carlosian intelligence, your excellency is not aware of the true range of the problem. Are you familiar with the fate of Gen. 3 Star Date Kazuhiro, former cheif of General Staff of the Empire of Greater Nifon?"
"Kazuhiro? I don't think I've heard that name before." Tobón said, "What happened?"
"Former cheif of General Staff of the empire of Greater Nifon. Died in 1986. I met him, shortly before his death. He mentioned to me that he had uncovered something - as he had put it, a network of corruption at the very top." Kojiro's voice progressively went more and more furious: "Then I got visited by the minister of defense. With a simple kill order. I told myself that it was my duty, and that I should put my personal feelings, even right and wrong aside. I gave the command to shoot myself, as I was ordered. And, as I looked at his dead body, pierced by a sniper round fired at my own command" Kojiro now wasn't hiding his anger "I swore that I will get the konoyaros who made me to do this. It was exactly fortieth assassination my unit carried out at the order of the government. Thus, when I got promoted for my obedience, I gathered a network of allies among patriotic generals, and entrepreneurs that were put aside. Some wanted power. Others revenge. Others really wanted to make a difference. The rest history, which I believe your excellency knows already. After all, PM Kazushi's severed head impaled on top of Millenium Tower was shown on the news many times."
No matter how risky it was to tell Tobon his past; speaking of his greatest crime made Maki Koijro feel as if a massive stone was lifted from his chest. For twenty years he had been forced to walk with consciousness that, in that moment of trial, he failed.
And thus, the former cheif of Gunpeitai and the Shogun of Nifon swore to himself that he shall fail never again.
"God almighty." Tobón said to himself silently, "I knew he had a dark past but..." he gazed at Shogun Kojiro. "We all have our skeletons in the closet, past mistakes that we'd rather we never made. Not all of us get to right them sadly. Its all history at the end of the day though, as you said, and we can only look to the future now. The situation in New Edom is a more pressing concern for both our countries."
"I would not have touched upon this situation, not upon painful memory of my closest friend and mentor, if it was not relevant" continued Kojiro "I thought that I had the deed done with Goya Kazushi. However, what intrigued me that no matter how many Kazushis or Jacobs I have killed, there always emerged a new one. At one point, I started questioning where they are coming from. My conclusion is simple; we have merely scratched the surface. When I sent Gunpeitai to sniff after Kazushi's life, I found intriguing evidence; evidence that before I captured him, Kazushi had been contacted, and advised, by several inter-governmental organizations. Think-tanks. Corporations. Lobbyists. When you look at what's below, you find a deeply oiled, political machine that's set to influence our politicans and that's nothing strange."
Kojiro looked outside:
"The changes the modern world had wrought... 4th generation warfare... information warfare... cyberwarfare... network-centric warfare... are all cost effective. Someone with enough resources and sufficient lust for power was meant to use the inter-connected world sooner or later... "
"The gravediggers of nations... Mr Kojiro" Tobón stressed, "They're everywhere. Just when you think ones been destroyed, ten more come out of nowhere to take their place, scurrying over each to do as much damage as possible. Some even come back from the dead, now that I think of it." a look of concern broke across his face, "I'm guessing Gunpeitai know about this 'Nordholt' individual who was spotted in New Sodom last year. He isn't meant to be in the land of the living anymore."
"Nordholt-san is a well documented individual. New Sodom isn't his only place of operation." still looking outside, puzzled Maki continued" It turned out he was also behind delivery of left-wing terrorists to Oceanica. Not to mention the fact that shortly after Jacob had died, someone mysteriously started taking over his funds. Where they are, not even Gunpeitai was able to estimate. Not to mention that when you track all the arms terrorists in Zabolehovye, Bangka, Oceanica and all those places have, a pattern shows up. And such a pattern can mean only one thing; somewhere there exists a network which facilitates those transfers. And we can safely conclude that this network is politically active, and has been supporting our enemies, both foreign and domestic."
Tobón nodded in agreement. He knew Nordholt wouldn't be able to do this all on his own. "Jacob Redshield of the infamous Redshield Foundation, I remember him. I always thought the sudden takeover of Russel's company by the Foundation after his assassination to be very... suspicious." He thought of something for a moment, then looked directly into Kojiro's eyes, "You're right. Someone has to be guiding Nordholt's hand in all this, and there's plenty of suspects, maybe even too many. It remains to be seen what their true intentions in New Edom are. If they do turn out to be involved, its obvious that this is their latest attempt to have SACTO excluded from the rest of the international community." Tobón uttered, clenching his fist, "It's our duty to expose this stunt for what it really is."
"Worry not. As you could have seen with the last Montnenburgian attempt, it won't happen - not at least if we give them a steady, concentrated resistance" replied Kojiro, still couldn't fathom how someone could even care for such a petty issue as human rights "My recommendation will be to sanction them. After all, weather they like it or not, SACTO nations are new, rising economic powers that wont let themselves be closed off like that. Sadly to some of the gaijin, the XIX century hadn't ended, and they think that the political order that came with it is still here"
"You're right." Tobón agreed, "The economies of SACTO are large and diverse enough that it forms its own cohesive trading bloc. I don't think sanctions will be very effective on the Montnenburgians. The only deterrent to their ideological imperialism will be military force. A squadron of Carlosian Air Force strategic bombers will be moved to New Edom soon enough, and they'll strike down any foreign warship that comes to harm our allies."
"Edomites are more than capable" Kojiro smiled, knowing exactly how efficient are SACTO militaries. In truth, he had no doubts that Edomite state would have survived even if SACTO wasn't around, considering amount of invasions that the Edomite state had fended off in the past "Aside from the official SACTOSFOR detachment, which will constist an elite airmobile infantry battalion, Cheif of General Staff of the Imperial Nifonese Navy had suggested me to deploy a submarine screen to Tempestan ocean. Four Kairyus. I am myself surprised at times what kind of wonders the Nifonese defense industry can design...But it's not their armies I am concerned about. What really concerns me are the armies that can't be seen."
"Armies that can't be seen..." Tobón repeated, "They are the most dangerous. Our enemies will never stop trying to flip our countries over to the other side, even if they fail a hundred times over. I've seen it myself; there cannot be any pluralism in the liberal worldview, its either their way or the high way. If we want to stay on top, we must continue to adapt and respond to their strategies even beyond the day their ideology inevitably exhausts themselves." Tobón paused for a moment, sombrely looking into Kojiro's eyes. "You know, there are elections due in Carloso next year."
"Worldview is one thing; the means are another. I would like to confirm that your excellency will have full cooperation with Gunpeitai on this matter" Kojiro paused. He was nor surprised, for Gunpeitai always kept him briefed - but he indeed was watching with observant eyes elections in such a close partner nation "I can only hope that Carlosian people will choose well."
"Excellent. NISFO will continue to work with Gunpeitai in our mutual national interests." Tobón assured Kojiro, "I was planning not to seek another term as President, but I'm afraid the rapidly changing international arena is making me reconsider it. If I do go ahead with it, I'm confident Estebán Santander will do an equally good job of representing Carloso's best interests as you represent Nifon's."
"It's not my place to make the choices of Carlosian people, but I am sure that Santander - san would be a proper leader for Carloso" spoke Kojiro "I think that we have touched on the most important points we had to discuss. All that awaits is to see their implementation"
"Indeed." Tobón acknowledged, rising our of his chair. He extended his hand towards Kojiro, "It was a pleasure to talk to you, as always. I hope the Lord above grants us his protection in the coming days."
And with that, both of them went to their duties, knowing that the days to come will be tiresome to both of them.
*** KesslerstaadtOn the opposite corner of the world, rain was falling as well. Looking at it, Amihan Russel stirred. Unlike for Maki Kojiro, for the banker - turned - criminal rain was not a symbol of sadness; on the contrary, Russel quite enjoyed hearing it's sounds against the glass. And he looked into the distance... smiling.
The entire world thought him head, killed by a bomb that went off in his company's building, on behalf of a business rival that Maki Kojiro allied with, then promptly eliminated after creating a civil war between two major factions in the underworld. Yet Amihan Russel was not so foolish, and used the occasion to convince the entire world that he was no longer among the living. Now, his council was going to act with even greater vigor than before.
He smiled, as reported read yet another declaration regarding the current Edomite crisis. While the NGOs that paranoid rightist leaders were targeting were not under his control, he was very eager to exploit the situation and throw his backing before the newly growing civil rights movement in New Edom.
"
Time to call Nordholt. At least this time I am relying on someone with a firm knowledge of the affair, rather than on wannabe Yudishtira." muttered Russel to himself, remembering his past failure, when he used a Hindu supremacist group to stage a conflict against the Nifonese. The guru who formented the rebellion was promptly disposed off, and his place taken over by a Dibetan Buddhist
lama named Djwal Khul.
This time... he wasn't going to fail.