April 28, 2017 J.C/ A.C
Empire of Japan
Embassy of America/"White House"
The storm created by yesterday's Polish-American treaty, quickly nicknamed "Warsaw Pact 2.0" by the media, was enormous. Frighteningly huge, overnight public opinion focused on Hayden hitherto being a shadowy and meaningless ex-American president.
That's why when it was found out what, over the years, Hayden had been planning, all of Japan and all Americans were shocked. Shocked by the scale, not by the idea because he had been talking about it for a long time.
He agreed so offhandedly to what many called a fief pact, under which America was to hand over ships, agree to the domination of Polish companies and so on. And all this was to be handed over to someone who, let's face it, is a little communist monstrosity. Poland simply put.
Hence, Hayden overnight, turned from a minor hero of the week into a symbol of a traitor, scumbag and idiot. Let's leave aside here all the triggers with which he was referred to because not only are they uncensored, but there are also simply too many of them. It's safe to say that the entire Japanese and touring public, although hitherto divided considerably among themselves, on one issue, but only on this one, they agreed every iota that Hayden is trash.
And the Republicans hated him, and the Democrats hated him, and how much the Japanese government hated him is a pity for words. Yomoya, as soon as he heard about it, was reportedly rumored to have called someone a fucking idiot for the first time during his reign.
From there, into the study in which Hayden sat and just waited with cool composure, to his surprise, without cerelony, the Prime Minister of Japan himself, Yomoya Toshinori, and the interim Vice President of the United States, Admiral William Mertz, rushed in.
The latter, moreover, immediately unceremoniously angrily approached the desk behind which Hayden sat calmly, struck the desk top with both hands clenched into a fist with all his might so that the President of America's nameplate fell to the floor, and growled.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT, FUCKING TRAITOR. WHO THE FUCK LET YOU SIGN IT LIKE THAT?"
Toshinori, who was watching from behind, did not squirm at the curses. On the contrary, the Admiral expressed his humble opinion.
Hayden only lifted his face up, and there was an unbroken calm on his face. This irritated Mertz even more.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? FUCKING ARNOLD?"
Only the comparison to the greatest traitor in American history prompted Hayden's response.
"I'm not Arnold, I'm Wielopolski."
"Who?" wondered the Admiral, Toshinori paused for a moment looking in his head for who Wielopolski was. When Poland came to this world, he was given a long but fruitful paper written by intelligence on Polish history, with an emphasis on the last three hundred years. On the basis of what he received, he decided to pursue a policy toward Poland, for the time being all too successful.
"Aleksander Wielopolski was a Polish margrave, a man who decided that the best way for Poland under partition and an end to Russian terror was to make a deal with the tsar. He succeeded, which resulted in his becoming Tsar's governor for the Kingdom of Poland, which was under permanent martial law after the November Uprising. He made many concessions from the Tsar to the Poles, ended Russification, martial law, reorganized the education and administration saturating it with Poles in place of Russians. But do you know how that ultimately ended?"
The question at the end puzzled Mertz, and Yomoya remembered who Wielopolski was and how his policies ended. He looked at him uncomfortably, with only slight nonverbal signals not to be noticed by someone unfamiliar with these things betraying his true state.
Admiration and anger. Admiration because Hayden found a way to get out of the no-win situation America was in from the Summoning to Arcadia. Anger because he was likened to being a tsar to the Americans, as well as that he is as worthy to Hayden as the Poles.
"It ended with the Poles revolting to the Tsar, nullifying all of Wielopolski's efforts for the next long decades, beginning a dark period in Polish history lasting, in a way, until the end of World War I." interjected Yomoya's reply, hiding his emotions behind a mask of indifference.
"Exactly!" pointed a finger at Hayden Japanese " And do you know why?" asked the Admiral rhetorically. The man shook his head. "Because he was considered a traitor, a scumbag and an idiot whom the tsar serves by turning the Poles into his dogs. As a result, a bunch of narcissists whom Wielopolski unsuccessfully tried to pacify with a stupid number, i.e. conscription, unleashed an uprising later called the January Uprising. Poles are unanimously of the opinion that, of all the uprisings, this one was the stupidest and devoid of any sense."
The last sentence was a pin driven deep into the Admiral and his supporters. He was compared to the Polish insurgents, insurgents whose virtues and courage and devotion to the fatherland the Poles did not deny, but unanimously called morons. Despite the fact that Poles are a nation that likes and admires romantic and crazy actions in favor of the homeland and freedom. Exactly in that order, although on the whole it means the same thing to a Pole.
The admiral looked deeply into the president's eyes, tapped his fingers on the desk top reassuringly as well as looking for a retort. Unfortunately, he didn't find one, so he merely nodded because all in all, the milk had been spilled and Hayden had made his point. America has a chance to exist in this world.
"Okay, let's accept your explanation." said the Admiral after a long moment, pulling away from the desk. Hayden breathed in spirit, he was afraid of the Admiral's reaction that's why he did it behind his back, trying the method of accomplished facts. "But!" added the Admiral after a moment, again tensing the atmosphere.
"Only the fact that there is no Congress and that no one really wants the position of president makes it possible for you to get away with this. Use it well Hayden, use it well. You won't get a second chance." Warned the President, Mertz.
"I will," replied Hayden without a shadow of a doubt. The admiral nodded, then glanced at the Japanese, who only made a questioning face already able to interject. The admiral theatrically made a gesture of looking at his watch then said, "Okay, then I'll leave you gentlemen alone. Someone needs to calm the sailors and marines down before they spread everything around."
He glared at Hayden, "Especially the sailors from the Washington, I have a feeling they'll be the least happy that I didn't drag you out by the tie into some cesspool." He then politely eased out of the room, leaving the Japanese with his superior.
Yomoya nodded calmly, then picked up the President's tablet from the ground and placed it on the desk, then took a chair and sat down comfortably. He sat like this in silence for a while before he began.
"Admiral Mertz is right, isn't it too much to give the Poles an aircraft carrier? Even if it's just a lease?" asked Yomoya as if asking about the weather.
"This is said by a man who tried to turn certain Eagles into his fighting dogs, and when that didn't work out he took the opportunity to tame a certain Dragon in that role." He bounced the ball back to Hayden.
"It's a shame that the two Eagles are actually very large hawks, only one is white and the other is bald." sneered Yomoya, referring to the animal symbols of Poland and America. Which, although popularly known as eagles, technically belong to the hawk family.
"The hawk is also a good animal, and the fact that the two are cousins is also better. After all, family always communicates better, even if they are distant cousins who only meet at every important family event." replied Hayden, ignoring the nudge, "What's more, they turn out to get along quite well despite their differences, and the younger one turns out to have closer family ties to his older lesser-known cousin than he previously thought." he added, leaning forward.
Yomoya made a puzzled face, the last sentence startling him. "What do you mean by younger cousin turns out to be more closely related?"
Hayden sighed "Do you know what city on Earth is the second city with the largest Polish population?"
Yomoya searched his head before replying uncertainly, "Krakow?"
Hayden shook his head "Chicago. And the third is New York."
"Wait, what?" Yomoya said bluntly, heavily surprised by the answer.
Hayden smiled, "Well, yes, Chicago and New York are second and third. Not a bad surprise huh? Not Krakow, not Poznan or Gdansk. When I first heard about it I thought they were trying to screw me. But it's true!"
Yomoya nodded slowly "Strange, abnormal." After which it dawned on him "The partitions of Poland! They caused so many to leave for the US!"
"Yes," agreed Hayden, "And of course what happened after independence, communism and then the fall of communism and the subsequent waves of emigration. The Poles got a fatal page in history for the last two centuries. So they found themselves almost everywhere trying to find some safe place for themselves."
Yomoya nodded in agreement, "Well, it's hardly surprising. Where's a safer place than in North America?"
"Yes," agreed Hayden, "And it makes you want to ask what if the Poles had some kind of colony to which they could safely escape every time."
Yomoya nodded his head then replied, "Well, I see that I will not convince you to change your mind. You seem sure of what you want to do." There was a moment of silence "Although I don't know if it's a good idea, wouldn't it be better to stay with us?"
Hayden became serious "Maybe, but it was the pioneers walking boldly ahead who built America." Yomoya acknowledged this argument "And if our ancestors did it once, why shouldn't we be able to cope?" asked Hayden rhetorically, "Especially since the Lord has given the Poles so much to eat that they're too busy doing it, which means they won't notice when someone picks something up, right?" he added jokingly, referring to the policy the Japanese were following.
Yomoya laughed about it. Indeed, Poles are too greedy to notice what the Japanese are doing. Hardly surprising when you have a history like Poland's. An unlucky combination of great potential and lack of opportunity to take advantage of it. Especially since Polish diplomacy is not famous for being effective, hence once they got the unique opportunity to become a superpower they simply bounced.
Because yes a superpower they will become... come on they already are! Only that in the third Sphere it will be Japan that will be number One, the Poles have to settle for second place. That's still a high score, right?
Yomoya when he stopped laughing replied, "Indeed, I forgot about that. My mistake, I apologize to the President." after which he became more serious "No less, I express some concern that our hitherto excellent cooperation may encounter, some problems." expressed his doubts "But, I hope that for our nations this is just a certain stage in history, which I wish would end successfully."
"Reciprocally" replied Hayden "Reciprocally Mr. Prime Minister." he repeated again after which he smiled "Well, and that in the next such serious meeting we would meet in a larger group."
Yomoya understood who, or more precisely what, the American was talking about. Indeed, an alliance of Japan, America and the great absent in body but being in spirit that is Poland could make the New World, or as the Poles called it Arcadia although in reality it is called the same as their old home that is Earth, a much better place. Just what could make the Poles and the Japanese go together, side by side?
What force will make these two hitherto distant nations, looking at each other as an exotic curiosity, become comrades?
Kingdom of Irnetia
May 1, 1641 C.C.Y./ 1948 G.V.C.
For decades Irnetia enjoyed peace, even the bloody and brutal Fourth Civilization War fought on the Mu continent did not change this. Hardly surprising, Irnetia was an ally of Mu and the Kingdom's Mu Navy dominated the last war pushing back the threat of a Leifor naval invasion.
This is not to say that the Royal Irnetia Navy was bad, on the contrary, it was widely regarded as extremely modern yet effective in battle. Despite its status as an uncivilized state, not that anyone in the other zone took this indicator, which originated back in the old days of Center domination, seriously. Well, maybe Paganda but they always had an inferiority complex towards everyone around them. So any thing that showed them higher than some other country was to their advantage.
Another thing is that it is politics, for Irnetia has been an ally of Mu for a very long time, that has made Irnetia officially an uncivilized state, while the much more distant Paganda is civilized. Well, such is the price one pays for being uncivilized to HME.
Irnetia itself was not a typical Arcadian country, compared to many of their planetary "compatriots" they were not exclusively a magical state. On the contrary, it stood out among the Arcadians for its more down-to-earth approach, they tried to go the way of Mu while combining science and magic. All in all, Mu did this too, but Irnetia, unlike Mu, was magical from the beginning, and as a result, they did not have the problems that the Muans still have today.
For one must know that the Muan people have an aversion to magic dating back to the ancient days of their arrival in this world. For centuries they have been the victims of magical aggression, being forced to watch as their enemies pushed the Muan out of their lands by unnatural tricks. This, of course, meant that among the Muan any manifestation of magic was treated with suspicion, for the Muan themselves are incapable of magic and if someone among them is magical it is a sign that he is not a native Muan.
Although the dark days of grassroots witch-hunting had long since faded, as Mu grew richer emigrants from other lands began to arrive and, for obvious reasons, it had to be Arcadians, no longer afraid of magic as before. This is where Irnetia, a small and little-known kingdom located to the west of the continent, entered the stage of history.
Because of its remoteness and the lack of any land west of Mu that could be colonized, it remained on the sidelines. The only wars that took place on the island were fought between natives, with foreigners preferring to sail along the mainland coast.
In this way, Irnetia remained a mere speck on maps for centuries. Only the shipwreck of a Mu merchant ship on the island some two centuries ago and the surprisingly favorable attitude toward the Muan themselves that the islanders showed changed their fate.
And it was timely, for Mu was entering a period of industrial and thus scientific revolution, and because of the emigrants, a magical population was beginning to emerge. For a people like Mu who had no magical traditions but only a tradition of hostility to magic, this was a threat that had to be resolved. The problem was that they had no one to learn from, at that time Mu had hostile relations with all its neighbors, and what's more, everyone wished the Muans that the magical population would lead to disaster while guarding their magical traditions which were an ace against Mu as well as against other magical kingdoms.
Those were the days where the magic community, even a society like the Academic Federation of Magicaraich looked at each other with a wolf's eye, and any discoveries in the child of magic were diligently guarded from others.
But Irnetia was not concerned with this, she was only concerned with herself and thus did not know about the larger world as well as the Irnetians themselves did not hide their magical traditions from others. Hardly surprising, after all they are all one people divided into different tribes anyway.
Therefore, when the Muans came in greater numbers, asking for magic teachers for themselves, the Irnetans agreed. Not for free of course, Mu was to help them grow as well as protect them from others. Not that the Muans had anything against them, on the contrary, they were willing to pay any price for a snippet of magical knowledge from anyone willing to share it.
Although since the Third War of Civilization fought more than a century ago, the general attitude toward science on the continent of Mu has changed, each of Mu's neighbors seeing how their previous enemy used their limited magical abilities by enhancing their earthly technology decided to do the same, they all gave way to Irnetia in this regard. Hardly surprising, the Irnetians themselves were impressed by what Mu represented and Mu's influence on their culture is ubiquitous, leaving them without the mental barrier built on centuries of prejudice and a sense of superiority that the rest of Arcadia had.
Unfortunately, even the uniqueness that the Irnetans represented could not protect them from what fell upon them.
Kilculus
The glow of war could be seen perfectly from the towers of the castle located in the Mountain, a royal castle, we should add. The sound of firing artillery reached all the way here, despite the fact that there are dozens of kilometers to the front.
The Irnetans gave what they could, but all they accomplished was slowing down the enemy. At best for a day or two, less fortunate for hours but usually it was gaining minutes.
Precious minutes, because they allowed the evacuation of civilians from threatened areas. Thanks to the sacrifices of entire regiments, others were able to retreat to at least somewhat prepared lines of fortifications.
Fortunately for the Irnetians, their air force and, above all, their anti-aircraft defenses were a class above those of Pagan or Leifor. The Gra Valkas failed to dominate the airspace over the island, and the aerial guerrilla warfare practiced by the Royal Air Force which hopped from one temporary airfield to another made it impossible for the Gra Valkas aviation to destroy them by depriving them of air bases.
Of course, this does not mean that it is good, on the contrary it is very bad. The Royal Air Force from the very beginning can only respond to air strikes, any attempt to bomb the troops of Gra Valkas generally ends in massacre and loss of valuable pilots.
What's more, fighter pilots are also doing badly. It's been two weeks since the invasion began and barely half of the pre-war manpower and a third of the surviving machines are left. Contrary to what one might think, more than half of the planes were lost not in combat (which accounts for only 24% of losses) but from lack of spare parts for them. What could be dismantled was dismantled, the rest were destroyed to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Valkasan. (Despite the fact that they wouldn't have been of any use to them, except perhaps to an air weapons museum as spoils of war.)
The IAI-14 itself, for it was referred to, was an interesting and by Second Sphere standards modern machine. Slightly inferior to the Muanian but much better than the Leifor, unfortunately for Gra Valkas it only meant that it was a bit harder to shoot down than anything to date.
Generally, it was an open-cockpit low-wing aircraft, it accelerated to about 340 km/h and was armed with eight heavy machine guns, four per wing. With Mu's help, they managed to produce a staggering 400, making Irnetia one of the world's aviation powers de facto. At the bottom of the table, of course, but a powerhouse nonetheless.
And now this power was being crushed without much effort by Gra Valkas.
King Irtis, the thirteenth of that name on the throne of Irnetia, knew full well that in a clash with the Gra Valkas they didn't stand a chance. After all, they had squashed like a bug one of the powers of this world in a short war, yes Leifor was not what it once was, the War of Civilization had squeezed the best out of them, but all the while they remained much more powerful than Irnetia.
What could a medium-sized island kingdom do in the same situation? Well, to do the same as Leifor, to give the best of itself, and to evacuate whoever it could. The latter, unfortunately, proved impossible.
"What do you mean Mu won't come?" asked Mu's ambassador to Irnetia, Marius, in a gruff tone.
"I mean that the island has been cut off from the world by Valkasan. Our fleet was forced to withdraw, and the plane that was supposed to take your highness to Mu was shot down by them this morning." replied the undaunted ambassador though in a clearly somber tone.
The king's eyes almost fell out of their orbits at this news "What have they done?" he looked at the window from which the distant front could be seen. "After all, this is not decent, after all, it is a violation of all rules!"
The ambassador rolled his eyes behind his back. He has discovered another world, he thought sarcastically. We know it's not done that way, they know it's not done that way unfortunately they behaved as befits someone who discovered he could act with impunity. Especially since in Mu many were frightened of Valkasan after they easily crushed Leifor. They did not want to either unnecessarily provoke or get into a war before they were ready. Hence, instead of reacting right away, attempting to mediate, which unfortunately for countries like Gra Valkas, only sounds like an incentive to escalate.
Well no wonder, Gra Valkas as well as other such countries like the method of accomplished facts, put the other side in front of a fact and without taking that fact out of their hands you can dream that they will give way. This may be strongly unethical but it is an effective "negotiation" tactic provided you can make those facts and keep them.
For Valkasan nothing difficult, just try it. Was Marius satisfied with the attitude of his compatriots? Of course not! He understood this attitude no less, and could not carry out arbitrary
Because screw the rules I know what I'm doing. Sometimes you have to bend for the sake of the cause. Just how is he supposed to translate that to the ruler of a failing country?
"I agree your highness, unfortunately we have to let this go for now." Irtis quickly turned a hostile face but before he could make even a single sound of indignation the ambassador continued, "But that doesn't mean Mu will forget about it, this and all the other crimes committed by Gra Valkas ultimately favor our common cause."
The king raised his eyebrows questioningly, "What are you talking about?"
"Every act of barbarism committed by them gives us further evidence that it is necessary to organize an armed coalition against them. The more they flaunt themselves in their actions, the faster and easier it will be for us to rally the whole world against them. And as the king himself knows, even a mighty ass when enemies are a whole heap." explained the ambassador hastily.
Unfortunately the king was not satisfied with the answer, on the contrary he felt like strangling the ambassador on the spot. Fortunately for the ambassador, Irtis had something as boring as self-discipline so instead of strangling him he allowed himself a spiteful and forceful comment, "Well, cool. Brilliant plan you guys came up with." He said with a fake smile, then his face twisted with anger and he pointed out the window with his hand "Now go and tell my subjects! Tell them that Mu cannot help them because he is afraid... No, because Mu does not want to move his ass and relieve the suffering of his first allies, instead he will sit and wait until enough complaints gather to try to build a coalition at a useless conference. At which I emphasize try, because the assholes in the center don't care about the fate of some stupid barbarians. They didn't give a damn about Paganda, their only outrage was at Leifor, but by and large they're resigned to the fact that one of the existing powers just got wiped off the maps. Instead, they are trying to invite just their conquerors to replace Leifor."
Marius smiled wryly, in fact he agreed with every point made, unfortunately he was just a servant of the Mu government. He was just a cog in the machine, only supposed to do his job and nothing else. In fact, if he tried to act on his own he would cause even more damage, and after all, that's not the point, is it?
Therefore, although he wanted to nod at Irtis, he had to say something else. He made the most neutral face he could make, vetoed and said, "Mu Kingdom will cover all the damage Irnetia will experience during the Invasion, Occupation and Liberation. His Majesty's government expresses the shame of not being able to do anything more than it has done so far to its most loyal allies."
As he expected, these words sounded unusually hollow. Especially as anti-aircraft sirens sounded again throughout the city. The enemy was approaching with another bombardment. Irtis merely nodded and asked, "Is that all?"
"Yes," nodded Marius
The king nodded again, "Do you have it in writing?"
Marcus became animated "Yes" he pointed with his bag "here your highness, here it is" he handed the statement of the Mu government into the hands of the King.
Irtis looked at himself carefully, read a couple of times before replying "Okay, I'll keep..." never finishing the sentence. The burning wreckage of one of the bombers Gra Valkas shot down fell in a mischievous giggle right into the castle, just the part considered most durable and adapted to modern warfare.
Of course, the designers were right, if one had tried to bomb this part of the castle little would have been accomplished. The problem was that the A-52 Chetmill, which had been knocked down by anti-aircraft defenses and turned into a guided missile, although in this case no one except accidentally directed it, was loaded to the brim with bombs. Bad luck that just happened to be the crew killed before they could do anything.
The result of all this was a huge explosion that engulfed a large part of the castle and caused a stone avalanche when detached shards of mountain rock fell on the city below. As a result of this event, Irnetia's fate was finally sealed, most of the government and high command died that day and their fate was shared by tens of thousands of residents of the Capital.
One did not have to wait long for the consequences, very quickly the military and civilian structures disintegrated in the absence of a center that would coordinate them. Before a week had passed, the last major tactical compound had laid down its arms before the invaders. Only individual scattered platoons fought on, turning to guerrilla warfare.
The Arduous War, as this period in Irnetian history was later called, was beginning. A dark period for the Irnetians during which they were shot, tortured and subjected to the erasure of their culture, but after every night, however darkest in history, there always comes a longed-for dawn. As it was to turn out, this dawn longed for by the Irnetians took on the colors of white and red. All in all, not surprising, because who knows better what the dawn of freedom tastes like after years of the darkest night than the Poles?