Rebirth: President Fatah Escapes

If I'd known today would fill me with fear and paranoia to this extent, I would have gotten more sleep the night before.

It was night time now; I'd spent daylight discussing various means to get out of the terrible predicament we now found ourselves in. According to Luciano, the men were well trained and only needed the proper equipment to not be utterly massacred in the obviously upcoming war.

Though, Matthias naively held faith that much of the tensions at the border could be resolved with diplomacy, even offering to go speak with President Leopold of Madagascar. I knew for a fact that Madagascar would not let up on their offensive. I don't quite know what they were waiting for yet, but I hoped they'd wait a bit longer and give me the chance to prepare a cushion for their attacks.

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As it stood, there was no bail-out for Schelar if Madagascar went ahead and pulled the trigger. I'd immediately spoken to the Russian Ambassador about the current developing events and our dire need for support in the worst-case scenario.

"The Russian Federation is sworn to aid its allies, but as of yet, we haven't begun the most common interactions between our two nations. There's a whole lot of goods and services to be shipped into Schelar and it is all due for the next month, Schelar needs to first secure these investments before any action can be taken on the part of the Russian Federation, and of course there is still the issue with Schelar being seen as a warmongering nation. If we begin sending you weaponry and war occurs, we'd instantly be seen as enablers, I don't think that helps either one of us."

It was true and sensible. I'd been in Namibia to get the large cargo ships that would be needed to transport these goods and services between Russia and Schelar and as of yet, the deal hadn't been sealed and I haven't laid my approval. So from the Russians standpoint, they haven't invested enough into Schelar to be bothered about its downfall.

Even if I desperately got Niaina to scrape the deal and come back with the cargo ships at all costs, Schelar had yet to finish building the Ports necessary to hold the large cargo ships. Progress had been made but completion of the ports around Schelar would only occur roughly about another month from now.

Let's be even more optimistic and assume the wharves we have now could manage the goods that will be transported, it would still take a few weeks to get all the way to Russia and back. In a few weeks, Schelar could be in a fiery one-sided war.

Making matters worse, the only way we could avoid the war was to be part of the AU, but according to Masud,

"The position I hold as chairperson is simply ceremonial, I have no 'executive power' to instantly make decisions for the entirety of the AU, I am rather a ceremonial figure and important decisions like reinstating Schelar are decisions that have to be taken with great consideration of a council. A council that needs to be called from their various Nations to convene and discuss the matter thoroughly, the process could take weeks."

Was what he said when I asked how soon I could expect to be back in the AU. I wasn't about to let him know that Schelar was in deep doo-doo with Madagascar. That would alleviate him of the fear I'd instilled in him.

Either way, it still bred ill news for our fates.

"If war breaks then the only option we have left is to hold out until one of our cards play right." I said to the two who looked just as solemn and nervous as I, "I'll see if Namibia will amuse a request for some equipment but I highly doubt they will, the negotiations are tight as it is, they wouldn't want to bring on the wrath of the AU."

Luciano grunts, looking awfully engrossed in thought, "What if there was another way to stop the war before it began?"

I almost jump out of my seat at his words, "What do you have in mind?"

Luciano shrugs as he speaks, "It's a long shot but Nizar mentioned to me that you'd ordered him to prepare agents in eight western countries, to hijack their broadcasting systems and send a singular message announcing our presence, what if we did that now?"

"You mean announce that the Malagasy are in actuality the warmongers and us the victims asking for help?" Matthias asks to clarify, looking curiously at Luciano.

"It's a shameful suggestion to come out of someone like myself but I'd rather bear the shame than see our dream nation burn." Luciano's voice holds a strong fiery passion, never wanting to give up on what we'd all worked to achieve so far. I smiled, feeling the same even as I began to speak more bad news.

"That plan was intended to relieve Russia of the pressure of sending weapons to a presumed warmongering state by shining a revealing light on the hypocrisy of many of the organizations and countries who are fervent about how much they want to aid those struggling. I wanted to paint Russia as the good Samaritan that aided us whilst they left us to be preyed on. Basically a giant guilt trip."

I let out a sigh as I rub my nose, "Unfortunately I haven't gotten the chance to discuss the plan with the Russian President as I skipped the trip there in favour of meeting the Namibian's. If I leave now I have a feeling they'll only increase their provocations and I can't guarantee that the Russian President will be on board with the plan." I slump down in my chair as the words I spoke threw Luciano's pitch in the bin, "And even if we went ahead without Russia, sending the message for our sake alone, these nations are more likely to put a strong spin on it and persecute us as a rogue state. It's not worth the damage."

The two grumbled a bit but ultimately accepted my point as valid.

"We'll just have to keep working, as usual, I'll have the Governors draft the Port builders to one location instead of keeping them separate, hopefully with the extra manpower they'll finish a lot earlier. As Niaina is trying for weapons from Namibia, which I doubt will work, but if it does the cargo ships we have bought there will make the first shipment back to Schelar. If we don't get the weapons the ships will have to make haste and get to Egypt, I'll force Masud's hand and we'll get the weapons, as well as the first batch of resources we need."

I look to Luciano with my fingers intertwined, "Luciano, set me a means of transport to the frontlines, I want to see the men myself."

I had to be the one to tell them that chances are, they'd be the first to die to protect the independence of their nation. I know this is common knowledge for any solider, but it was different this time. This time they had a handicap neither they nor the state they defended could alleviate.