Concerning Sabika
Casa Rosada, Shipborough, Sabika
The terrace of the presidential mansion offered a spectacular view over Shipborough Bay. Cargo ships and small fishing boats cruised through the harbor far below as the sun slowly set over the hills in the west and the two men finished their dinner.
“So, Mr. President”, President Kalawi spoke at last as he put down his fork. “How did you find your
cordon bleu?”
“I looked behind the potatoes”, Sidney smiled, “and there it was.”
“Ah, humor”, his Sabikan counterpart awarded him with a fleeting smile. “Do you require more wine?”
The President of the North Frequesuan Trust looked at the two empty bottles of Saffronburg Blanc the table, then politely declined. “I believe we still have business to attend to. Perhaps later.”
“Very well”, Henry Kalawi nodded. “To business then. I take it you know why I asked you to come?”
Sidney nodded. “My people tell me your parliament is concerned about the neighbors. Motions to rearm and such. Unpleasant business. Figured you wanted to have a chat about that, maybe head it off?”
“Indeed”, the Sabikan president frowned. “Many of us are concerned about your army reorganizations, the weapons acquisitions, the warships off the coast. There is even talk you will base space fighters out of Torberg. This makes us very nervous. Not that it’s solely Coilerburg, mind”, Kalawi hastened to add. “There’s also the matter of Tian Jiao and its up-river efforts…”
Sidney smiled. “But principally it’s Coilerburg they’re concerned about.”
Kalawi sighed. “Yes.”
“Henry, I’m not Farve or Stone or Fortune forbid, Iler. I have zero interest in conquering Sabika. I’m your friend. We turned against Coilerburg in the last war, remember? We sent you aircraft and warships, and we would’ve bombed our own so-called allies if they’d refused to back down and withdraw from your territory. I thought we had an understanding.”
The Sabikan president rubbed his forehead. “
We do. It’s the parliament that’s concerned. Not all of us have as strong an executive as you, Sidney. And to be honest, they have a point. After the Tristate War we Sabikans agreed to limit our army to 7,500 combat troops, we agreed to forego ground attack aircraft, we agreed that we wouldn’t field artillery-”
“-with a range greater than 10 miles. Yes Henry, I know. I helped draft that peace treaty, remember?”
“And what did our sacrifice gain us?” Kalawi’s voice was becoming heated. The One Day War was still an open wound with many Sabikans. “Only a few years later Coilerburg raises an army and marches across our borders
again!”
The president smiled sadly. “I know.” The war had been brief. Sidney’s own decision to back Sabika against Coilerburg had helped bring a swift end to hostilities. But the fighting had still been bloody and vicious, and many lives had been pointlessly lost.
“So when we see another arms buildup in Coilerburg…” Kalawi continued.
“Henry, I see your point. Trust me.”
“You’re making it very hard to do that Sidney. You want to recruit a Foreign Legion for crying out loud! A force of foreign soldiers! Of what possible use could that be unless -”
“Unless I want to conquer you?” The president let out a short, barking laugh that stopped abruptly. “That’s rather self-centered of you, Henry. The Legion is simply a means to an end.”
The Sabikan president looked skeptical. “And what end is that?”
“Cleaning house. This end of the continent is swarming with no-good ex-military lowlifes. Former Sons of Sabika, former Revolutionary Front, former Grand Coilerburg Army, separatist Saffronburg militias, a thousand different groups of rebels and bandits from the CFR… You name it. As long as they are armed and about we’ll never have peace and stability. Disarming them would be a long and bloody and tedious affair, so I intend to recruit them. Give them a purpose. Point them in the right direction.”
Henry Kalawi seemed dubious. “Why would they follow your orders? Such men are dogs.”
“Dogs? Yes. Yes they are”, Sidney leaned slightly back. “But they will be
my dogs. And they will join because the Legion gives them an opportunity to earn a regular wage, a way to escape their circumstances, a shot at NFT citizenship, and an aura of respectability. And because no-one will ask thorny questions about a recruit’s background there’s no real reason for them not to sign up.”
“Hmm”, Kalawi looked thoughtful. “You have given this some thought.”
Actually it was the French who figured it out, the President mused wryly, but he wisely decided not to voice that thought. “I have. And if it’s any consolation, the first posting of the Legion won’t be anywhere near Sabika.”
“Oh?” That clearly surprised the Sabikan president. “Then where…”
“Velaria.”
A shadow of a smile danced around Henry Kalawi’s lips. “Oh dear. You mean to send them…”
“To the colony. Yes. It’ll be a good proving ground, and it’ll get the scum out of our hair until the drill instructors have beaten a sense of duty into them.”
“My parliament will be glad to hear of this. But this still leaves the matter of the regular Coilerburg army and its rearming.”
“It’s not the Coilerburg Army anymore. It’s the North Frequesuan Army now.”
“That name has a sinister ring to it”, Kalawi accused.
“Oh for the Lady’s Sake Henry!” Sidney spat, briefly losing his cool. “Can you honestly not see what I’m doing here? I stuck out my neck, I staked my political career on the possibility of rehabilitating your unstable shithole neighbor! I’ve purged their military of anyone seeking to do you harm, and I nearly got my head shot off for it. I personally appealed to fellow world leaders to come and invest in Coilerburg. And damn me if it isn’t working! The government seems to be approaching something that can be called a function state. Corruption is down 18 percent. The autonomy deal has calmed down the Western frontier, and foreign direct investment is now 25 billion dollars a year—up from measly handful of millions the years before!” Sidney paused to catch his breath. “So I think I deserve a little damned trust and credit here, Henry!”
Brief silence. “I admit that you appear to be turning Coilerburg around”, the Sabikan president relented.
“Damned right I am. And you stand to profit from it big time. As Coilerburg thrives, so will its neighbors. That’s how economies work. Our success will inevitably be yours.”
Kalawi seemed amused. “So… This is part of some grand plan to turn North Frequesue into a thriving paradise?”
Sidney snorted. “Paradise? No, I’m a pragmatist at heart. But I believe it’s all for a better future for all of us, yes.”
“And you would be its architect. How convenient.”
“I never claimed I was a selfless man, Henry.”
“What if we join you?”
“Look, I—What?”
“You heard what I said. Oh, we won’t
now. Not this year, not next year or the year after that either. But would that even be a possibility? Join your NFT I mean. Not as a lap dog, but as an equal partner.”
“I, uh”, Sidney frowned. He hadn’t expected this turn of the conversation. “Yes, I daresay that would be possible. Eventually, I mean. Mind you, that decision wouldn’t be solely up to me but yes, I don’t see why not. We weren’t founded as an exclusive club per se. But do you think…”
“That I can convince the parliament? No. Not now, anyway. Not anytime soon either. But if what you say is true, and we begin to profit from your arrangements… Then sooner or later there will inevitably be those who see the benefits of such an arrangement. You know the saying: If you can’t beat them, join them.” Kalawi smiled. “Lord knows we won’t be beating you anytime soon.”
Sidney made a face. “Let’s not stoop to using military metaphors. And it will take time, mind you. Not just for you, but for us too. We’ve barely gotten the ball rolling. I still have to get half the bureaucratic apparatus going. It’ll be a while before the NFT functions as it should, and for that matter before the two member states have adjusted to the new situation. Only when all our affairs are in order could we possibly begin to think about expansion. But still…” President Hank recognized an advantage he could press when he saw one. “Until such time, how about observer status?”
“How about it?”
“Let’s say we grant it to you. If we let you sit in on our meetings, opened our books to you. Maybe even let you have some sort of a voice in matters that concerned you, directly or indirectly. Would that assuage Sabikan fears of foreign usurpation?”
Kalawi’s face wore a thoughtful expression. “It would. The parliament… We don’t know what to make of this new entity that’s sitting on our doorstep. If we got to know what we were dealing with a little better… Yes, that would be helpful.”
Sidney nodded. “That figures. You know, we probably should’ve consulted you earlier, but in the wake of everything that transpired things were a little hectic, and we didn’t get to talk about this during the previous visit. I hope in the future you and I can work more closely together, to eliminate any remaining tension between our nations.”
“It will be a long time before that happens. We have a very extensive history of animosity with Coilerburg.”
The president shrugged. “Details, details. That was then, and this is now. You’ve a friend in the NFT, as we’ll demonstrate to you.” He reclined in the white chair. “Now… How about that wine? I feel we have an understanding to toast to.”
Result: President Hank manages to partially alleviate Sabikan fears of possible ulterior motives on the part of the NFT. Sabika is likely to get some sort of observer status with the NFT, and the possibility of economic cooperation is raised.
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