In Defense of Caelina (1942)

[Of The US]

Interior: Presidential Palace.
     President Vaßili the IV is sitting on a couch frowning at a newspaper sitting next to him. He has called for a meeting with his Military Advisor, Olga arrives with several maps and spreads them across the table 'I'm sorry I'm late sir, I had to grab the relative maps to this issue, what would you like to do?' she said.

     Vaßili replied, while sighing "We need to protect our people there, and if we can get a nice new Island out of it, I'm not opposed to that...Though I was hoping we would be able to come out of this with a fair deal, the negotiations were going well. I was a bit skeptical of their military drill on the border there, but they were never aggressive before. Have you any news on the current situation?"

     "Well, we pushed back fairly well, at first. We've now been pushed back to outskirts of the city, though they don't seem to be pushing farther than that, I don't think that they are willing to risk injury to the civilians." She said while pointing out positions on the map, "We still have these two outposts here, and our armored division is ready to move out when needed, we've got the port still so we can reinforce from there. I think that we should get our troops mobilized and ready to deploy there to push out and retake our land."

     "That sounds better than nothing, lets get started on that, inform the Generals, and move in one of our fleets to protect the port and keep it open. It would not help us to let the port fall to Mosko this early in a war." Vaßili said. "But, I have a speech to prepare and give to the public shortly, we will need their support for this."     

[Allama]

Atl idled in a plaza outside of Tiber's presidential palace, eagerly awaiting the appearance of someone, anyone, on the balcony above.

Who'd have thought I'd get to see the Tiberian President today? he mused, pondering the unusual luck he'd experienced of late. Whoever he comes out with has got to be important, too. He readied his disposable camera, the only one he'd been able to afford after spending his life savings on one last pre-retirement trip around the globe.

The announcement had been made early in the day and news passed rapidly throughout the city: there was to be a speech at noon. Everyone who could attend was urged to do so. Atl figured that wasn't just directed at the locals, so he incorporated it into his day of sightseeing.

A few statues and museums later, Atl stood in the crowded plaza ready to hear that which had so roused the whole city. He'd come early, hoping to secure a decent vantage point.



Waiting in the hot sun had been worth it! He had the best spot in the plaza, at least for a man who needed to stand on the base of a lamp post to reach the height of those around him.*

Finally, he spotted movement on the balcony out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see President Vaßili the IV calmly stepping up to a modest podium. He cleared his throat and began without preamble to address his people.


"Early this morning, the Moskovite Army attacked an outpost on the outskirts of Caelina.

The troops there fought valiantly. They pushed into the Moskovite lines but were repelled. We now hold only the city and several outposts.

This attack is a declaration of War.

We will respond in kind. Our troops here, right now, are mobilizing. They are, right now, being deployed to Caelina. We will push back, and show the world that we are not weak.

We will stand up. We will protect our interests. We will protect our freedoms. We shall prevail, not for ourselves, but for the world. This day will be remembered as the day we struck down tyranny and injustice on the Tiberian continent."


With that, Vaßili turned on his heel and strode back into the palace, his over-straight back a picture of controlled fury.

Not at all what I expected, Atl thought, though I'm not entirely certain what I did expect.

War was coming to the region.

Perhaps it was time to move on. Alt hadn't taken a single picture.

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* At least he'd thought to leave his headdress in the small hotel room's surprisingly spacious closet, for their sake.