CHAPTER 1, EPILOGUE
July 2, 1937, 10:00
Budapest, Royal Palace
"Welcome, welcome!" says Horthy grandly. "Please help yourself to a pastry and some coffee and oooh I'm too excited to wait! Tell me about the submarines! Tell me, tell me!"
Conversation in the room was silenced. The confused attendees in line for coffee reluctantly creep back to the table.
Miklós Jr., sitting beside his father, whispers in his ear.
"Oh, fine fine fine fine fine," concedes Horthy. "Before we talk about important things, let's introduce some new people. But I want a muffin. Gus, can you handle it?"
Hennyey, at the other end of the table, sighs. "Sure. Uhm... so, we're short a Foreign Minister, the deputy is nowhere to be found, and the people need to regain confidence in their government. So we managed to convince our old friend Count Teleki to rejoin the government." He gestures towards Pál Teleki, the harmless-looking former Prime Minister, who nods perfunctorily.
"In addition," continues Hennyey, "we have restored Mr. Széll to his rightful position as Minister of Security. And for those who don't know, we're keeping Csáky's Chiefs of the Army and Air Force on a probationary basis, as they were not substantially involved in the coup attempt. And, uh.... oh, yeah, there's the appointment of a new Prime Minister. As many of you know, Mr. Gömbös--"
"Lffff mmm!" interjects Horthy, returning to his seat with a mouth full of muffin. He holds a finger up, forcing the men around the table to wait while he slowly chews and swallows. Finally, his mouth is empty, he licks his lips, and he continues. "Let me. Gumby was... he was a good friend. And a good man, always doing... doing the best he could for our nation. I have been keeping this a secret from many of you, and I'm sorry to have to tell you now, but he was never on vacation or extended duty; he passed away last year as a result of his kidney disease."
The ministers nod apathetically, already well aware of what had happened.
"I had... I was having trouble accepting the loss so soon after... after Magda," says Horthy quietly. "I may have made some poor decisions, and... I apologize."
Nobody knows what to say.
"So anyway," says Horthy, perking up, "we need a new Prime Minister. And I found the perfect one! She's super-cute."
Gasps escape the room as all gazes focus on the only woman at the table Anna Kéthly, who had been sitting quietly. She's a prominent member of the Social Democrat delegation in Parliament, but to elevate her directly to Prime Minister was skirting the edge of insane. No woman had ever held the position, and she lacked any executive experience. To add to that, she was significantly more liberal in her political beliefs than anyone else at the table.
"I think Anna has some great ideas, and she knows how to implement them," says Horthy. "And if any of you say one goddamn thing about how she's a woman, I'll tell the papers that you think girls have cooties. Understood?"
Skeptical but unwilling to cause a scene, the men nod.
"So that's it for introductions. Can we move on to something more fun now?"
Teleki stands. "Greetings, all. I look forward to working with you to remove the stain of treason and corruption from our government. We are in a tight position at the moment; we have recently conquered several neighboring nations and taken complete control of their lands. Parts of this land are rightfully ours. Others are not. And now, with the removal of the coup government, other nations are looking to us to take real substantive steps to reverse the damage. Most, however, do not believe that the land-grabbing was entirely a function of Csáky's machinations. They note, for example, that our Regent was very much in charge when we reclaimed Yugoslavia. Now, regardless of the details about who was behind which unprovoked invasion and subsequent annexation, the damage has been done, and I could talk about historical boundaries and such, but the relevant fact is simply this: to relinquish full control of either Yugoslavia or Romania back to their local governments would be dangerous and expensive. We shall keep the lands as semi-autonomous zones. We will give them more actual autonomy than Csáky was prepared to, but with all the variables accounted for, it makes the most sense and puts us in the best position to keep most of the territorial additions gained by Csáky."
"Most?" asks Széll.
"Indeed. We have determined that due to its remote location, poor infrastructure, relatively few resources, and historical friendship with Hungary, it would be best to release Bulgaria as a sovereign state. This will show the world a substantial reversal of the previous government's intentions, while not actually costing us unduly. The other benefit is that by turning over control of all Bulgarian lands to a new government--and fear not, we shall have plenty of influence in this government--we will greatly decrease the size of our border with Greece, which has been taking belligerent military positions. This will allow us to redeploy some of our forces northward to protect against the much more important Soviet threat."
"Apart from this news," continues Teleki, "my intent with the Foreign Ministry is to attempt to rebuild relations with major powers who have grown wary of us. We have been getting overtures from the Soviets, who seem to think we'd be a useful ally to have."
Horthy spits disdainfully. "We will never ally ourselves with the Communist menace."
Teleki lifts his hands into a gesture of innocence. "I am merely reporting the facts. They seem to be preparing for potential conflict with Germany and her allies, so we may end up caught in the middle."
"We could take 'em both," says Horthy, "no problem. Anything else?"
"No, sir. Again, it's delightful to be back, and I look forward to working with each of you."
Horthy claps. "Oh, bravo! Isn't he wonderful? Not evil at all. And so smart! Now, Anna, what about you?"
Anna smirks and leans forward. "As a continuation of the effort to polish our tarnished reputation, we are demobilizing our armed forces effective immediately."
"Whoa whoa whoa," interrupts Vilmos Röder, Chief of the Army. "You can't just
do that. You need to have a meeting with the chiefs of staff, determine a deployment strategy in the case of unexpected conflict, let people
know what's going on!"
"I'm letting you
know now, Röder. And there's no point to talking to the chiefs of staff; you guys are always gonna want as many men as possible, even in the most peaceful times. And look, we're still drafting everyone for three years, and reserve units maintain 75% of their strength. We will
not be unprotected, and if war comes again to our door, we will have no trouble building back up. But by officially demobilizing, we return some of our men to their homes and wives and jobs, we conserve our supplies, and most importantly, we signal to the international community that we are no longer preparing to invade our neighbors. I have made this decision with the power delegated to me by the Regent. Take it up with him if you have a problem."
Röder sneers a little, but slumps back in his chair.
"Moving on," says Anna, "I've reviewed the policies originally put in place by the Regent's government before the coup, and while I'm not crazy about some of the choices, I recognize the need for caution and preparedness in our current situation. So for the time being, we will maintain our current levels of social regulation. Other than that... I'm happy to be here, look forward to working with you, and don't forget weekly reports, sent directly to me by courier."
"Thanks, little lady!" says Horthy, clasping his hands together. "Now, how about my boats?"
Oltványi stands up. "Uhm... hello, sir. I just wanted.. I mean, it's very gracious of you to... after I... But I was just... he didn't give me any choice! And I tried to, you know.... but--"
"Shut up, Re-Re. I know you'll basically do anything someone tells you to do. Soooooo tell me how our production is proceeding!"
"Uh, right, yes. Well, we've lost... a bit of capacity with the... uh. Bulgaria gone. But most of their factories were, uhm. Guys in toolsheds making cabinets, so... right. Anyway, we're working with a good amount of industrial capacity, and currently working on primarily military projects. The good news is that we have a surplus of all the materials we need, although we are working with a bit of a deficit to the treasury."
"And as for boats... well, we have four flotillas of transports ready to go. But the submarines are still about ten months away. We're also building a couple new airbases and fortifications in key provinces. and, uhm... still working on that rocket testing site outside the city."
"Rockets?" asks Horthy. "Who cares about rockets?"
"Uhm, you... asked. For them. A long time ago? Remember?"
"That doesn't sound like me. However, far be it from me to question my own orders. Anyway, deploy those transports you talked about at my base."
"You mean Tirane?"
"I mean
my base, the one where I have the office with the plaque on the wall, so YES I mean Tirane. Christ, Re-Re, if you weren't so pathetic that all our factory foremen produce 10% more when you make that puppy-dog face, you wouldn't be able to get a job selling dumplings on the street."
Oltványi opens his mouth a couple times in aborted attempts to say something, but then just sits down.
"Well, I guess I won't be doing much submarining for a while," says Horthy. "So what other exciting things might we come up with in the meantime, Gus?"
Hennyey checks his watch. "Well, we're nearing completion on some projects, uh... figuring out some infantry strategies, working on some prototype computers and stuff, recruiting new skilled personnel, and optimizing our factory production."
"After that, we'll continue working on upgrading our soldiers' capabilities and our ability to regroup after military actions, in an effort to improve the resilience and effectiveness of our men in the event of any future battles. But we've lost significant manpower in the last few months. Csáky wasn't very diligent about funding science teams, and he was sorta... anti-intellectual. So we can run four projects simultaneously, which is better than a year ago, but less than three months ago. In the meantime, we're also trying to bulk up our officers corps, which ideally needs to be expanded by 25%. The bottom line is, we need to devote a year or two to hunkering down and working on modernizing our nation and army."
"Well, we have no immediate plans to do anything except exactly that," says Horthy. "Thanks for your lackluster report, Gus. Now how about some army stuff. Flappy?"
Röder, remembering that he's on probation, decides against protesting that he's not even
wearing his ear-flaps. "The Hungarian Army is in a state of flux. We are in the process of redeploying our forces to best defend our new borders and protect against continued insurrections in the Yugoslavian and Romanian lands; there are currently three such insurrections being battled by our troops. We currently have nearly 50 brigades in the field."
"The plan is to double this number in order to fully protect our nation. There are cavalry, garrison, and infantry divisions in production, as well as an armored car brigade to strengthen the light armor division into a full prototype strike force. In about a year, we'll re-form the armies in accordance with our forces and goals at that time."
"Sounds delightful," says Horthy. "And plane guy?"
Rákosi, long silent, opens his mouth to speak, but at first only a voiceless whisper escapes. He clears his throat and starts again. "I've got three squadrons still. One is assisting in counter-insurrection duty. But... we need more. Even moving the planes we have around the country, we don't have sufficient airfields to allow coverage of our own land, to say nothing of being able to penetrate any potential enemy airspace. So I'd like to requisition more--"
"Yeah, okay, whatever. Andorka?"
Andorka jerks awake. "Hmm, what? Oh yes, of course, well it's just that uhm. Wait, did you ask me something?"
"Your report, Rudy?"
"Of course, of course, of course, uhm... So... intelligence. Not much going on. We've prioritized Germany and the United Kingdom as areas of interest for any new agents we train, but espionage has been a low priority, so... it might be a while before we have any usable agents to deploy. Yep, that's it."
"Excellent!" says Horthy. "Anyone else? Széll?"
Széll shrugs. "You guys basically said anything I woulda said. Three insurrections, potential danger from the Soviets and the Greeks, poorly-deployed forces. It's all being dealt with, and I'm just happy to be back."
"And we are ever so happy to have you," says Horthy. "So if there's nothing else, shall we adjourn for brunch? Yes, I think we shall."
