“I can see two men on the shore. There wearing furs, they might be natives or they could be the guys; it’s kind of hard to tell. ”
“We’ll land and find out.”
General Waino walked away from the Lieutenant and glanced at the assembled soldiers milling about the deck below. They’d only bought half the division with them, just 5000 men. It’s all we’ll need he thought to himself. The report said they’d only be meeting minor resistance, and from a bunch of spear wielding natives at that. Everything would be perfectly fine.
*****
The soldiers were spread out scouting the villages. It was the tenth village they’d ‘liberated’ today. So far the only resistance they’d met was from one old guy who’d grabbed a spear and run screaming at the soldiers. He’d been dead before he hit the ground. They’d probably have the whole region taken over in a few days. He didn't want to stay though. The guys he’d seen who’d been stuck here were almost insane. Apparently they’d attacked a whole village of those spear throwing primitives with noting but pistols, clearly insane then.
The soldiers finished checking their way through the rest of the natives. He glanced at the bodies behind him, lined up and with a single bullet to the head. Not so resisting now he thought to himself. He was pretty sure the rest of the units were done mopping up by now. His breath stood out like mist against the air. Not long now, not at all.
*****
President Sielke disembarked from the ship, a gaggle of advisers and agents helping him onto the icy beach where the podium had been set up. There was an artic wind blowing in from the sea, chilling the assembled soldiers and explorers to the core. There was also an assembled crowd of natives, a mixture of chiefs and warriors garbed in animal furs. He walked up to the podium, using it to shield himself from the wind.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d first like to thank the efforts of our valiant soldiers for liberating this great land from its barbarous overlords. They have crushed all opposition from the savages and drove them into the seas.”
Sielke glanced at the natives, examining their faces. Worn, defeated, bloodied, humiliated. Beautiful he thought.
“This island we have captured will serve as a statement to the world and to these savages who now know the might of our nation.” Sielke smiled again; somehow it was icier than the beach itself. Behind him some soldiers were unfolding a map showing the recent conquest.
“We will use this colony, here by named Sielke Land in my honour, to generate labour, ‘volunteers’ for our armed forces, resources to increase Tarrotown’s prosperity and to spread our religious beliefs to a new continent. Truly a great day for our people.”
Sielke stepped away from podium expecting whoops of joy and admiration. All he got was a stony silence. You can’t win them all he thought as he was helped back up the boat, but at least he could try.
