Red winter

Chapter I

I remember it like it was yesterday, Vienna was covered in snow from the winter of 1887 and the Austrian capital was busier than usual.

Beneath the snow, Vienna saw two empires discussing the future, secretly and away from the spotlight of the newspapers. The most sordid detail is that these two empires were discussing the future of a foreign country, they were discussing intervention, the violation of its sovereignty.

The two entourages met in one of the many halls of the royal palace, under secrecy and fear of spies. The foreign entourage, for security reasons, will remain confidential, but I assure you that they spoke in two languages, one Latin and the other Slavic.

The clock announced the arrival of midnight when I arrived for the first meeting between the entourages. The heavy doors were opened and then my name was announced to those in the hall: "The Baron Otto von Brenner."

Apparently everyone was there, divided into three tables, warmed by two fireplaces and under the light of chandeliers and candelabra. It was time to start the discussions.

The discussions began with statements by the heads of the delegations, with me as the leader of the Austrian delegation and Mr. Felipe Gabra as the leader of the foreign delegation. We both agreed that having the territory in question under our influence was vital, where only two competitors threatened our plans: the French and The

International, that is, communists. One of those most concerned about the Communists was Mr. Ivan Tharmir, a strong-willed Slay who could easily defeat an army with just the look in his eyes and the sound of his voice. In one of his speeches he said with such confidence that if he had said that the sky was purple I would have attacked him:

"Gentlemen, I believe that we only have two enemies when it comes to controlling this region of such important ports, the French and the communists, one we can see and we know where they are, the others we will only see when it is too late. We are talking about a republican country, it is easily manipulated, that is why we chose it as the target of our operation. If we, who are foreigners, are capable of manipulating that republic, who will guarantee that they will not succeed? They are within the administrative institutions, the army and among the people, it will be a matter of time before they manage to convince the people that they are the saviors of the homeland. We must establish an espionage and counter-espionage network in that territory to prevent the communists from advancing and to keep our path free of obstacles".

He received some hostile and derisive comments from both entourages, some called the statement ridiculous and fanciful, but it caught my attention, for one simple detail, the Austrian secret service alerted me that morning of the possibility of spy activity in the vicinity of the palace and in some other parts of the capital. and I also shared his fear. The French could be stopped in the traditional way and with the help of the traditional allies, but the communists were not traditional and required non-traditional fighting.

After hours of debates and bureaucracy, we arrived at an initial action plan, now it was necessary to decide where the resources for the operation would come from, what would be the official behavior of the governments, reserve plans, emergency plans, and another infinity of subjects that would be treated in the next few days. But at that moment it was necessary to close the meeting, the brightness of the Sun gave the first impression of a new day on humanity.