The Deal, Part 1
The committee - April 24
“Space-based technologies are are allowing us for the first time to quickly and cheaply measure greenhouse gases,” Theodor explained, pointing at his slideshow diagrams, “For example, our Cherub satellite network will help us identify the biggest sources of emissions. The test satellite we sent up a few months ago has been able to pinpoint individual methane plumes from easily identifiable sources across Jerusalem. We can then act accordingly.”
“When can we launch more satellites?” Josiah said.
“Well, we’re still resolving issues with our supply chains,” Theodor said, “We lack the rare earths we usually get from China, Afghanistan, and the Eimericans. We have some mines we can exploit at home, but it’ll take a while to get them up to full production.”
“Don’t worry, Josiah here will fully deregulate the mines in question,” Elias said.
“I will?” Josiah said.
“Yes, and the workforce will be supplemented with volunteers from our vocational schools,” Elias said.
“They…will?” Josiah said.
“Oh, thank God!” Theodor said. “That is perfect! We can get an ample supply of rare earths in no time at all!”
“Elias, I’m not sure that would be good for the economy,” Josiah said, “We’ve already significantly deregulated entire sectors. If we continue this—”
“I’m fully aware of the risks,” Elias said, “But it is imperative we have the resources and materiel we need.”
“For what?!” Josiah said. “A war?”
“You know me, Josiah,” Elias said, “It would never come to that. The only way we go to war is if the outside world decides to attack us out of some misguided and deluded attempt to persecute Christians and install a Chinese puppet regime. And in that situation, we must be ready. And besides, there are a lot of other things we can devote our industry to. The climate crisis. Bolstering SWM and our other social programs. Upgrading infrastructure. You know…stuff we were working on before these sanctions screwed everything up.”
“Do you ever think we went too far?” Josiah said.
“What do you mean?” Elias said.
“With…our social programs?” Josiah said.
“No, people just don’t see the good we’re doing for our people,” Elias said, “They’re jealous. They’re hateful. They want to destroy everything we’ve been working towards. They’re vultures circling around roadkill.”
A nervous silence fell over the room. Heinrich cautiously spoke up.
“Why don’t we…talk about other subjects?” he suggested.
“Yeah, sure,” Elias said, “Why don’t you lead us off, Heinrich? Updates on the front?”
“We are close to declaring victory in Gallia,” Heinrich said, “We have a few holdouts in Lyon and Bordeaux, which we are currently hammering away with the 127th, 205th, 323rd, and 658th Airborne Seraphim Divisions. They should return to the fold soon. We are still bogged down in central Andalusia. Hibernia still holds out, but they can’t last forever in the face of our total naval blockade and no-fly-zone. If you’ll flip to page 10, there’s a detailed breakdown of the planned fourth troop surge for Bremerhaven.”
“It says Fourth Surge, Phase 1,” Elias said.
“We’ll need to prepare ourselves for more phases in the future,” Heinrich said, “Not only there, but also on the Andalusia and Hibernia fronts.”
“One last push, and Bremerhaven should fall, right?” Theodor said. “Along with the others?”
“The insurgency's playing whack-a-mole with us,” Heinrich said, “We need to continue our sustained bombing campaign.”
“I say we just firebomb every single Hibernian settlement with more than fifty thousand people and call it a day,” Theodor said, “Like we’ve been doing to Dublin every day now. They can’t resist if they’re all dead. We should do the same with Hispania too.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, we’re not doing that?” Elias said.
“But we’re already doing the Imperial Homelands project!” Theodor said. “You even gave me the contracts and everything!”
“That is a completely different matter,” Elias said, “Josiah, help me out here.”
“Theodor, as a result of actions the international community is inherently biased against and does not have the full picture about, we still have sanctions to contend with,” Josiah said, “Our currency only has value within the empire. Trade is almost nonexistent. Our remaining overseas assets were frozen after we nationalized all those foreign assets.”
“So what?” Theodor said. “Our country is large enough for its economy to sustain itself. We don’t need the rest of the world.”
“On the contrary, if we don't do anything about the sanctions, our currency will fall off a cliff by the end of 2038,” Josiah said, “No amount of deregulations or autarky will save us then. I strongly suggest opening negotiations to lift sanctions.”
“Do we have to do that?” Theodor said. “We could just, you know…adjust our policy.”
“No, he has a point,” Elias said, “As Josiah said, no amount of economic planning will stop the collapse of our currency; only the lifting of sanctions can do that. And lifting the sanctions can bring other benefits. We won’t have to rely on deregulation and vocational labor as much. More importantly, the terms of any deals we sign can not only gain us some new trading partners, but even sway them to our cause, weakening the alliances of our enemies and helping build up our own international alliance of nationalists.”
“Scandinavia is already staying neutral,” Josiah said, “They still haven’t imposed any sanctions, and they’ve distanced themselves from the other Schengen members.”
“I talked to Olaf Finnson,” Elias said, “He’s more concerned with buying our exports than Kirova’s ‘ideological crusade’. The Fylkja thinks differently, but he can keep her in line.”
“I’m not surprised an ex-KGB agent would commit to an ideological crusade,” Theodor said, “You know what they say. Once an equalist, always an equalist.”
“We can ignore Livonia,” Josiah said, “They’re too small to make an impact, and we can counter whatever hackers they send at us. Yavdi and the CAC are also irrelevant. Which means we should focus our efforts on Russia, the de facto leader of the anti-Jerusalem alliance. I suggest offering them a good trade deal to fracture that alliance.”
“What kind?” Heinrich said.
“In exchange for the lifting of sanctions, we’ll unfreeze all Russian assets in the former Reich, resume all investments in Russia we previously canceled, compensate them for any Russian assets we nationalized, and restart trade,” Josiah said, “The old Reich was their largest trading partner for decades. The loss of that trade has devastated their economy. Russia is heading towards famine as we speak, and that looming disaster has caused many Russians, who used to hate us, to reconsider that hatred. Public sentiment is already shifting in our favor, and if we were to send an envoy to propose a deal, there is a good chance they would take it. Even if the deal is ultimately rejected, the very fact that it exists will shift sentiments in our favor even more. If Kirova rejects the deal, the people will see her for what she truly is: a bitter old woman who cares more about ideology than the well-being of her people. We can expect a more friendly leadership to come to power in the aftermath. And if she accepts the deal, we can deal with her afterwards, once Russia is brought into the fold and Schengen is fractured. Either way, Russia will cease to be a threat to us by the end of this year. The rest of Schengen won’t stand a chance without Russia, and we will be able to deal with them individually. By mid-2038, we can expect to see the Schengen Pact recreated in our own Christian image.”
“I assume you’ll be such an envoy?” Theodor said.
“It would be my honor to personally represent us in Russia,” Josiah said, “As a Nobel Prize-winning economist whose works were recognized outside of the old Reich and who speaks fluent Russian, I would be a crucial part of talks. Russians need to be shown we’re sophisticated intellectuals and effective leaders who are willing to do what is needed to get things done. They need to know we are concerned for their well-being and are acting in their bests interests by saving them from economic ruin, while their leaders are dogmatic ideologues only concerned about their own selfish desires. That now more than ever, we are there for them when their leaders aren’t. I guarantee you, we won’t have to worry about Russia again after they sign it.”
“Alright,” Elias said, “I’ll tell Foreign Affairs to get in touch with Tsarberg.”
Tsarberg - May 2
The video currently playing was a recording of the Schengen-1 war games from last week. The drills were being held in southern Yavdi. Troops from Russia, Yavdi, Livonia, Turkestan, Persia, and Afghanistan had participated. India was in no shape to join, and Scandinavia refused, probably due to the subject of the war games. They were to practice Contingency Plan Purple, the joint Schengen military response in the event the Reich turned hostile. This video in particular was of a particular armored infantry squad. As Olga watched, the squad’s vehicles rolled across the hill towards the “enemy” side, but halfway across they began swerving and crashing into each other. Boris switched to another video, demonstrating a missile attack. But all of the missiles missed their targets, and a couple even came down on their own launchers, forcing their operators to jump out in panic.
“Approximately 1 hour and 23 minutes into the exercises, an outside attack completely scrambled our GPS systems,” Boris explained, “In some cases, it was even hijacked and turned against us. Some civilian air traffic was also affected, though nobody was hurt.”
“Who was responsible?” Aleta said.
“From the digital footprints we analyzed, we believe it’s the Jerusalem regime,” Boris said, “The Reich created the GPS system, after all. It’s only natural they know how to best exploit it.”
“Has the regime put out a statement regarding this matter?” Aleta said.
“I sent a message to Berlin and only got a quick email back,” Boris said, “‘They were exercising very close to the border while we were conducting maintenance on our satellites, and they should have known this will affect areas on the other side’.”
“Adstoj,” Olga said, “They knew what they were doing.”
They only denied it because of course they could. Their own people would still believe them. And the international community as a whole was eager for an excuse to bury its collective heads in the sand. Nobody wanted to be the first nation to stand up to Jerusalem, after what happened to India. Even many Russians did not like Olga’s aggressive counter-Jerusalem foreign policy out of fear of an India-style reprisal.
“This is bad,” Aleta said, “The whole world relies on GPS. Our militaries rely on it. If this were to happen in a real war…”
“We’d be completely defenseless,” Boris said.
“As if we weren’t already at a massive disadvantage,” Aleta said.
“We need to find an alternative to GPS,” Olga said, “Something we can rely on without being at the mercy of the Jerusalem regime.”
“Well, the only other major alternative is…Tianyan,” Boris said.
“China’s global positioning network,” Aleta said, “Which is under…”
...everyone knew who.
“Han’s control,” Olga said, “Isn’t that just great?”
“At least Han isn’t as blatantly murderous,” Aleta said.
Uh...was the old Fylkja living under a rock?
“Still bad,” Olga said, “You know what he can do.”
“Caught between a rock and a hard place, huh?” Boris said.
“Then what do you suggest, Kirova?” Aleta said.
“I…I don’t know…” Olga said. “We don’t have any options.”
She seriously had no idea what to do. China was hostile, India was dead weight, and the Eimericans were busy focusing on the New World, so that left only the weakened Schengen as a faction seriously opposed to Jerusalem. Even then, it was still mostly Russia. Everyone else in the alliance effectively hid behind Russia. Without Russia, the others would just leave to fend for themselves.
“I’ll figure something out,” Boris said, “Maybe Tiger’s Defense can patch the backdoors or at least give us some protection.”
“…maybe?” Aleta said.
“I mean, there really isn’t much we can do aside from patch our own GPS-using software, since we can’t access the satellites or servers themselves,” Boris said, “Unless you want to start shooting down the satellites, which I’m pretty sure is not a good idea.”
Russia had no anti-satellite weapons. Like the old Reich, the Russian government and military had known for decades that destroying satellites would only create clouds of high-speed debris which would circle in orbit for decades, making space travel extremely dangerous if not completely impossible. However, Han thought differently. There were rumors he was setting aside funding to build anti-satellite weapons. Which was worrying. A man like him, with the capability to render spaceflight impossible and effectively lock humanity on Earth for decades, especially when said Earth was shared with Jerusalem and Han himself?
“Yeah, I know,” Aleta said, “Finnson’s not going to like this.”
“We need to address Finnson’s Ragnarokers next,” Olga said, “They’ve been a persistent thorn in our side for the last few years.”
Olaf had been a real nuisance to her, being the least cooperative Schengen leader. He had singlehandedly derailed at least a dozen pan-Schengen initiatives aimed at deeper economic and military cooperation against Jerusalem. Many of those would actually have benefited Scandinavia in the end.
“There isn’t much we can do with the majorities the Ragnarokers have right now,” Aleta said, “I don’t have as much authority as in meritocracies.”
Scandinavia was the only democracy outside of the Sinosphere and North Eimerica, after all.
“Probably for the better,” Boris said, “Gediminas is almost scared to act.”
“What about Borislav?” Aleta said. “Surely he can actually do something.”
“Well, he’s seriously considering the recently proposed Jerusalemite trade deal,” Olga said.
“What?!” both other leaders said.
“Yeah, and a lot of the Duma’s onboard too,” Olga said, “Public opinion is also on the fence but leaning towards approval. It has a fair shot of passing if we put it to a vote.”
As much as it pained her to say that, it was true.
“How can they do that?” Boris said. “With everything the Jerusalem regime’s done to Russia, how can the Duma just…abandon everything we’ve done over the last two years?”
“Our economy is on the verge of collapse yet again,” Olga said, “We lack a lot of the resources and goods we once imported from the Reich. Parts of the north and east are close to famine. And then the committee offers up a good deal that would restart trade and get us everything we need to fix our problems. Regardless of if they’ll keep their word, it would be suicide to turn down something that at least appears so appealing.”
“Don’t the people understand what’s at stake?” Aleta said.
“You’re one to talk, Fylkja, with your big palace and servants attending to your every need,” Boris said, “People on the ground like me and Olga don’t have that luxury. We have to work every day to put food on the table. And when our money loses over 80% of its value, exchange rates become just random fractions, the banks stop functioning properly, and commodities and other goods are in short supply…our people’ll be desperate to take any lifeline they can see, no strings attached. In meritocracies, as well as democracies, leaders are supposed to represent their peoples and their interests...even of those interests are ultimately detrimental.”
Especially in Russia’s case, where after the Chernomyrdin fiasco, the State Articles were amended to empower the Duma and weaken both the Tsar and the Chancellor.
“Unfortunately, that’s the case,” Olga said, “Not all of us want to concern ourselves with politics and such.”
“That was exactly the kind of sentiment that led to the committee,” Aleta said.
What was it called again? Both sides were...bad? That was probably it.
“You think we don’t know that?” Boris said. “Not like we have a choice.”
“They knew this would happen,” Olga said, “They knew we were hurting, so they dangled a carrot in front of us, knowing we would most likely take it. They wanted to divide Schengen-1 like this. Without Russia, Yavdi and the CAC would throw in the towel too.”
“And likely Livonia not long afterward,” Boris said, “Meanwhile, Scandinavia’s got one foot out the door already, and India is useless, I hate to say.”
“Guess we really weren’t much of an alliance in the end,” Aleta said.
“Not that it would have done anything in the end,” Olga said.
“So what are you going to do?” Boris said.
“I’m going to present my case to the Duma, like I always do,” Olga said, “Josiah Burkard’s going to visit Kiev soon to negotiate the terms of the treaty. I’m going to use the time we have left to try and build up support. And then sink it.”
“Hopefully we get that support, and soon,” Boris said.
“I’ll get that support,” Olga said, “Like I always do. Jerusalem won’t divide and conquer the Russian people as easily as their own. Not on my watch.”
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Schengen’s GPS issues were inspired by an incident where GPS signals were scrambled in the middle of a NATO military exercise in Norway, near the Russian border.
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