It was, surprisingly for the tropical Magican Fjord, a cold New Year in the 'People's Capital'. It fit, considering what was to come. For too long, the bastard Mahendra dynasty had held power in the name of safeguarding Socialism - it all started in the 1970s when that thrice-damned Iravan Mahendra declared himself and his heirs the vanguards of the liberation of the people. But in reality, he merely anointed himself the Emperor of the North. And the Party had gone along with it!
Now the People's Government was just another Empire - along the same lines that Yuval's ancestors had fought so hard to displace in the great turmoil following the World War; only it was worse. It pretended to be by the working class for the working class. The profits of the state-run companies - people's cooperatives in name only - went straight into Mahendra's pockets rather than improving the standard of living and the third-rate infrastructure. Those monies were invested into excess most billionaires could only dream of as well as a robust system of state terror to deal with any dissent from within. He'd seen what happened to those comrades that criticized the Mahendra dynasty - not only were they shot, their children, their families were shipped to internal exile to perform hard and dangerous labor for the rest of their lives.
It was clear what had happened - the Party became the new lords and Mahendra its king. They had strayed from the Socialist revolution into capitalist monarchism with a red paint of coat. It had to end tonight.
And that night, it did: amid the New Year's celebrations of fireworks displays, the greatest firework of all was left for the most prestigious guests of the New Year celebrations; the fireball of a three kiloton nuclear device consumed Nirav Mahendra, Dear Leader of the Anti-Colonial Worker's Party of Magica, his palace, his family, and his cronies in the Party in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, the 117th Revolutionary Guard Corps lead by Lt. Gen. Yuval Yuvaraj strolled into the Metropole, seizing government buildings and army bases with abandon under the guise of 'restoring civil order in the name of Dear Leader'. Most, civilian or military, had learned to not question Dear Leader's orders, or whether or not this was Dear Leader's will, so they faced little resistance. The troopers of the 117th dragged out the remaining Mahendra loyalists en masse wherever they were found, and dealt with them accordingly.
By sunrise of the new year, Yuval sat in the highest position in the land, his opponents within the Party and the Military having been purged in one fell swoop. One by one, the territorial Party leaders and regional commands sent their pledges of allegiance to him, clearly intimidated by the show of strength.
It was time to get to work.
From: The People's Government of Magica, Central Committee
To the People and Workers of 'Upper' Magica and the Despotic Imperial Government!
The impotent arch-traitor Nirav Mahendra, former 'dear leader', king in all but name has been removed from power. For the last 70 years, this People's Government, which was founded on the explicit goal of toppling the Imperial regime and replacing it with a true people's democracy, has floundered under both father and son, reverting to a crony-feudalist system unfit to serve a burger, let alone the people.
We realize this People's Government has failed you, who slave under the chains of a corrupt imperialist system with no freedoms and rights of your own. Who toil endlessly for a better future, but like a bait and switch game, you never find the missing piece to realize that future.
But no more - we, the reconstituted Central Committee of the People's Government of Magica, hereby declare that the Aquis Peace Treaty of 1959 is hereby abrogated; our People's Government is the only government for the Magican Fjord. It is only through that process forgotten so long ago - unification and the toppling of the illegitimate Imperial regime - that our country can truly thrive.
Workers of Magica, unite! Only we can break these chains that bind us! Onward to victory!
All the heads that made up the hydra of Upper Magican military intelligence gathered around the briefing table across from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
"Gentlemen, we're in trouble. The Red Navy, Red Army, and Red Air Force are deploying to their forward operating bases. They're for real this time, Analytics tells us." The head of Section XIII spoke up, starting the briefing without formality.
Dr. Franzetti, head of the Analytics Department spoke up in turn. "Yes, we've identified that the full Lower Magican fleet component is steaming out from their official moorings at the Metropole, Isle d'Odysseus, and the Kislitsin island chain to FOBs closer to the inner maritime border, where their fleet train and amphibious-assault detachments are forming up. Uh, in total, 7 arsenal ships, roughly analogous to our battleship and aircraft carriers vis-a-vis power projection capability and fleet hierarchy, 12 missile battlecruisers, 19 missile cruisers, 33 destroyers, 46 frigates, and about 120 smaller attack ships and landing craft. Their fleet aviation component consists of a few helicopter carriers and 6 amphibious assault ships; not much, since they've got island chains to base landing craft..."
The nameless head of Section XIII spoke up. "In short, they're mobilizing all their ass. There's several divisions of marines and airborne mobilizing onto their craft and about a third of their birds are in the air at previously-identified ready positions. The Section's telling me they're getting ready to execute Plan 9 in days, if not hours."
The Chief of Air Operations stared hard at everyone in the room. "We've already mobilized everything with wings. We have about 1,451 fighter aircraft in the air or ready to take off at short notice, minus a few hundred at any given time to account for refuelling, mechanical problems, et cetera. They're mostly F-4 2000s, F-15s, F-18s. We have very few latest-gen fightercraft; the F-23's still in early production. The problem, though, isn't our quality, it's their quantity. The People's Government still runs with the old MiG-21, while their elite squadrons are fielding MiG-29s and Su-27s. Their strike forces aren't going to be anything to laugh at, either - they're fielding Su-25s, Su-24s, and Tu-160s in their attack squadrons. Radar reports have collated a total of about 4,200 individual bogeys. They're also fuelling up Scud TELs for long-range ballistic missile strikes, which we expected, and retrofitted 'Orbital Trucker' 7-J rockets, which we weren't. We suspect they're going to use the Truckers as ASAT platforms - I think they're scared of... whatever it was that caused the nuclear incident a couple months ago."
The Chief of the Army cut in. "We're already mobilizing the Territorial Army. All artillery batteries along the LOC are ready to start counter-battery fire at a moment's notice, and all anti-ship batteries are reporting good readiness. Army Aviation's got birds in the air. We're ready for whatever comes. Obviously, we're focusing the defense on Aquis Island; our armored divisions and mechanized divisions are holed up there, dug in, and scattered in preparation for the initial bombardment. We're as ready as we're going to be."
Grand Admiral Contarini, chief of the Navy spoke up in turn. "The Navy is going to scatter, too; we're going to depend a lot on Army Patriot batteries for our cover. We expect the initial naval attack will be a missile swarm-type attack meant to saturate our air and missile defense; we're talking thousands of shells and missiles. It could be very likely that we lose naval superiority over the Islands, but if we hold out long enough for the blitz to lose momentum... we can regain the initiative. In addition, I strongly suggest the use of nuclear torpedoes and tactical nuclear weapons to break up identified concentrations of Northern forces."
The head of Section XIII shook his head fervently. "No. No nukes. If this goes nuclear, we won't have a country to save. We-" He was interrupted by the urgent ringing of his phone, interrupting his anti-nuclear tirade. "Yeah? Oh. Oh, shit."