Chapter 3
Ha!
Actually no, I hadn't. Though I was brave enough to steal a bit of Luciano's hair with that bullet, I knew I couldn't control the military without his support. I needed him gone, yes, but not only for my satisfaction. If I got rid of him without mapping and buying out the loyalties of those who would replace him then, I'd only be creating more problems for myself.
Currently, he held the highest-ranking position in all facets of the military. That would need to be broken down. I preferred to have options to choose from. If I had three military advisors and members of my ruling council, then I had a better chance of dividing their forces when I smell a coup.
A few well-placed promises and threats and I've got a stable hold on the Military, no one willing to move against each other, much less against myself. The problem arose in how to rip his power away from him and divide it among those I wish.
"So far the reports show no sign of external intervention. Your parents crash was just a crash. Madagascar had nothing to do with it." This was the report Matthias had given me a few minutes ago.
Matthias, Luciano and I sat together in my father's office lounge. Which was now mine. In my past life, after hearing the same thing I ordered the airline to be shut down and demolished that very day. It didn't bring me the satisfaction I thought it would and instead hurt our revenue.
This time though. Knowing it wouldn't bring me anything profitable there was no point in that being the first action I take, beginning my regime as the youngest world leader.
I wondered what response I should give.
I looked to Matthias, the political head in the room and asked, "What could happen if we pressed that Madagascar was responsible?"
He and Luciano looked genuinely surprised at my question, I suppose they still thought me an irrational teenage.
"Uhm, Well, Madagascar would deny the accusations especially without any proof. The crash occurred on the borders but mostly on their side. They've had more time to perform their investigations, before our men arrive there to do the same, in truth any proof of their involvement would have been excavated from the crash site."
"And if we plant the evidence?"
"Are you attempting a war?" Luciano jumped in his eyes again narrowed at me. "Are you even aware of the economic state of Schelar? h.e.l.l, I bet you do not even understand the rules of war, shouldn't you be in school?"
Luciano was being a lot more hostile than he was in past lives. Perhaps this is as a result of my provocation. "There's still time, Hasina."
"Time to do what exactly, Luciano? Hand you power so you can make the economic state of the country worsen? No."
"Then what do you intend to do, Hasina? Your train of thought isn't sounding exactly sensible." Matthias said, effectively siding with Luciano.
Clicking my tongue at them I went on to explain my thinking to them, "I am not interested in a war with Madagascar…at this particular moment." I nearly chuckle seeing Luciano s.h.i.+ft to the edge of his seat, ready to scream outrage had I not silenced him with a hand, "But I want us to behave like we are considering war."
"And why is that?" he quickly asks, his brawn too thick to understand the intricacy of my thoughts.
I ignore him and continue, once I'm finished he even a simpleton like him would understand, "Once we plant our evidence and place blame on Madagascar, we immediately move our troops to the border and not discreetly either. Our naval vessels
"You're trying to provoke them?" Matthias asks, his head wracking what end I could be driving to, "But what purpose would that serve? They could retaliate and start a war that we are not ready for."
"If they retaliate and inflict casualties of any form on our forces that could instantly be considered as a declaration of war. The rest of the international community will not take lightly to that." Luciano chips in, explaining quite a bit for Matthias.
"Yes, first they a.s.sa.s.sinate our leader and then they killed our men? Madagascar would be branded even more violently as a war-mongering nation with no casus belli for their relentless need for conquest." I grin as it becomes less of a ha.s.sle explaining it to them
"And then we go even further. We Schelar seen as a victim to the international community we strike. A deep infiltration of their Government will need to be meticulously carried out by the best of our agents. If we get someone in on the federal level, then we'll carry out a diplomatic annexation."
Luciano looked…excited.
"This will take years before it can be realized, you know that don't you? A diplomatic annexation of this magnitude would not be dissimilar from what Hitler carried out on Austria. And even with the 'welcoming reception' there were still pockets of rebellion here and there." Matthias said, ruining the dream cloud I and Luciano shared of conquering Madagascar.
I let out a sigh and smile, "I know this well enough, Matthias, and I am in no hurry. I'm still very young and I don't doubt I'll live to see the plans carried out faithfully, a small disruption in leaders.h.i.+p here will immediately throw all our efforts down the drain."
I say this last part for a single reason; To make myself more essential to the collective prosperity of the country AND the council. Making any moves to dispose of me would be detrimental to the interests of everyone.
"And yet, there is more." I smile slyly at the two as their eyes widen. How could it get any better than uniting the entire island under our rule?
"Ruling over the island will come later, but we can still derive some immediate profits from this. Allies."
So far Schelar had the same allies as everyone else on the continent; The African Union and the United Nations. Madagascar was quick to form bonds with Neighboring nations, most notably Mozambique. Strange that a true democracy would align itself with an Authoritarian state like Madagascar. Although their military was meagre at best it would still be unfortunate for Madagascar to be rein enforced any further.
"And how will any of this bring us allies? So far we've been all but openly boycotted." Luciano asks it seemed even a gun head like he had his nose in our diplomatic relations.
But what he says is true. Ever since the war very few countries have openly invited more than trading relations with us. We had a bit of a relations.h.i.+p with the Maldives but that quickly ended. For reasons largely unknown to us.
"If we had a few nukes the narrative would be very different," Luciano grumbled. Yes, it certainly would be a very different situation had we had some deliciously powerful nuclear missiles in our possession.
Luciano has been pus.h.i.+ng for Schelar to go nuclear since he'd found himself in a position to do so. Unfortunately, nuclear armaments were so far out of our reach and hadn't even begun to align with our interests.
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"The nukes can wait, Luciano, for now, make due looking forward to receiving military and economic support from great powers and warring states." I smile, relis.h.i.+ng the thought of developing the country at a rapid pace with aid given by gullible allies.
"Once we start behaving like we are preparing for war, powers who have interests in our resources and have faith in our victory will begin granting us subsidies, granting us the equivalent of a sale on their weaponry and with enough prodding an alliance."
Matthias and Luciano find themselves blinking at me. Fun.
"But this too is not easy," Matthias says after a while lost in thought, "If these powers truly have interests in our resources, resources we are having now having problems producing…we could fall into a deficit."
An economic decline. An increase in GDP to Debt ratio. This wasn't all bad news as it could be easily manoeuvred and wouldn't spell an end for Schelar immediately, but in the long run, if it persists it would likely cripple the entire country.
I sigh as I think of this. Though I may not be alive to see such a time, it scares me to think of what would happen to the country in such an instance.
"Then we fix the production problem. And if we cannot then we keep up appearances," I see Matthias about to offer a reb.u.t.tal, I was getting weary, "But that will have to be a discussion for another day, Matthias, one preferably with an expert. Tomorrow, I'll have my office arrange something, maybe tea and we can discuss it."
I stand to my feet and b.u.t.ton up my loosened blazer-they do the same- and I proceed to gesture towards the door. "Well, gentlemen, if you please? I have other appointments."
With them out of my office I get to the long couch at the edge of the room, close to the fridge of beverages I'd ordered. It was filled to the brim with cold cans of my favourite beverage; coco-cola.
"Mireille! You can send him in now." I scream at the top of my lungs, I could have called her via telecom but alas, I was a sloth with a c.o.ke in my hand and my legs propped up.
The door opens up and a man with a rather untrustworthy look about him entered, "Sir, uh, Mister President?" I raise an eyebrow at the question, I understood it was strange seeing the youngest leader in the world but at least be less obvious about it.
I set my feet on the mat, pulling off my shoes and wriggling my toes as I set back into a relaxed sitting position, "Sir will do just fine, but for next time, it's Supreme leader."