Saving the Republic

[Nentsia]

Prologue

About two years before...

A thick mist dawned in the streets of Civrai, consisting of smoke and tear gas. Protestors wearing gas masks and black hoods threw rocks and pieces of metal towards the anti-riot police formations that were shielding a motorcade, which transported the Socialist government of Thucer Crespe. Prime Minister Crespe had come to visit the regional capital of the Civrai region, to show his willingness to negotiate with local separatist elements. Such a policy was not received well among the Petreans living in Civrai. To them, Crespe was a traitor. The shocking images of a beleaguered prime minister diving for his life and fleeing from the scene would forever haunt his government and reputation.

It was the worst possible propaganda humiliation a new prime minister could imagine, while the Rightist opposition back in the capital, Halas, sharpened its knives to exploit this mighty PR failure of the Socialists. Theatrically, they hung up banners in the parliament declaring their solidarity with the Petreans in Civrai, and declared them ‘saviours of the Republic’, in the face of Socialist attempts to dismantle it. Crespe changed his mind to a tougher stance, postponed negotiations, and several weeks later the Republican Guard swept through Civrai to arrest dozens of Separatist figures and activists, as well as suspected terrorists.

When journalists leaked reports of abuse, excesses and torture, several government ministers resigned. When such reports surfaced, perhaps the greatest opposition in the parliament came from the Leftist majority upon which Crespe relied. Crespe tried to rein in the security services, but these responded by openly criticizing the government and its handling of the separatist issue. Having clearly failed at regaining the confidence of his own security forces, and having lost the confidence of his own ministers and ideological peers, and suffering PR defeat after defeat, Crespe resigned after just two years in office.

Two successors barely lasted longer than half a year, while violence in the Civrai region spiralled out of control. Shootouts between Separatists and the Republican Guard resulted in a bloodbath with hundreds of innocent civilians killed, while the country held its breath in fear of a looming civil war. The Republic was in a deep crisis, and everyone felt it. Rescue was perhaps nearby however.

[Flo]

Iados, Galeaen S.R.
The Socialist Union

A special meeting of the Council of Commissars was convened. The topic: Petrea and the Civrai Crisis.

The current Premier Commissar, otherwise known as the Premier of the Socialist Union, was Gregor Me'Tun, a Galeaen. He was the second Premier to be chosen since the death of Anton. It was a period of significant transition for the Socialist Union, as De-Antonism was in full force across the UEFSR. Me'Tun was merely continuing the process begun by his predecessor, who finished Anton's final term.

It was an odd thing, tearing down nearly thirty years of government policy and effort, but it was for the best. Anton had been a relic -- paranoid and violent. The country had bled for him, and the time had come to cauterize the wounds and begin to heal. While in office, he had controlled the government with an apparent vice grip, and there were whispers of whether or not said grip could last even after he died. The truth was, ironically, that the loyalty nearly dried up completely when he drew his last breath, and government officials, even up to the Commissars themselves, who had been preaching loyalty to the "Great Premier" only days before had completely abandoned Antonism in short order. It was as if the patriarch had died and now the children were about cleaning his house in order to sell it -- but to whom and to what end was yet unknown.

With all this in mind, the Socialist Union had slacked somewhat in it's international attentions. With so much inward focus it was difficult to notice what happened abroad. Still, the time had come to do something about Petrea. Being so close by, it was becoming apparent that something had to be done to address the issues at hand.

The Commissars debated for hours. Various ideas and strategies were out forth. Finally, a clandestine operation was decided on, for the time being. The Socialist Union needed more intelligence upon which to make a decision. There was an opportunity here, to be sure, but it was not yet time to act. Sleeper agents in Petrea were to be activated, in order to get a better idea of the lay of the land -- from the inside. Contacts within the Petrean Communist Party were to be gently communicated with as well.

Who knew what would happen?

[Nentsia]

Hidden in the maze of narrow streets of the Petrean capital Halas was a government building, which had a small sign by the door that stated ‘MAIN OFFICE OF PERSONNEL AND LOGISTICS, MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS’. Throughout the capital and in other parts of the country, there were other buildings belonging to the ‘Office of Personnel and Logistics’ of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was one of the most poorly kept secrets in the Republic that these offices were in fact the offices of the secret security service MSBR (MAIN SECURITY BUREAU OF THE REPUBLIC). The security service had for decades one primary focus – the threat of Communism. Since the rise of a colossal communist state on its borders, the Petrean security service deemed communist espionage, and foreign-aided communist subversion from within Petrea to be part of one major threat against the Republic. Therefore it basically had two main operational departments; C1 – counter-espionage, and C2 – Communist subversion.

The irony of the service was that it was so fixated on the threat of communist spies and sabotage that it was completely taken by surprise by the rising tide of separatism in the country. Although loyal to its tradition, the service quickly suspected the hidden hand of communist operatives in fanning the flames of separatism. Trying to compensate for a lack of information, Bureau interrogators tried to beat it out of arrested separatist militants, leading to further political embarrassment and polarisation.

General Aranthur Axunei sat at the head of a long table in a cramped office buried deeply inside the headquarters of the Security Bureau, the walls being covered by a grey spongy substance designed to absorb all sound, preventing anyone from eavesdropping on what was said within that room. Furthermore, the walls were further reinforced by electronics and metals to prevent any device inside from making contact with the world outside, or even from operating properly. Present in the meeting were some 20 people, including the heads of various departments, Axunei’s staff, liaison officers from other government branches, intelligence officers and other civil servants.

‘‘As soon as they’ve been filtered, the reports are ready to come your way, General.’’ A young man with a large beard said. ‘‘They will provide you with the details of the increased communication traffic we have picked up between our country and the Socialist Union. It’s incidental traffic, and it is impossible to crack so we cannot see what is being communicated, but we are not in doubt that this is well planned and very secure communication taking place between people in our country and the SU. This is very likely their intelligence service communicating with assets here. We will keep monitoring it and try to crack it, but it may take years.’’

The General nodded at the young man, a liaison from a brother agency that outgunned the Security Bureau in terms of manpower and budgets by a landslide. Shifting his gaze, he asked one of his own staff members for a situation report.

A rather heavy bureaucrat with a round face and a balding head reshuffled his papers and adjusted his spectacles before speaking. ‘‘Several sources inside the Communist Party have reported that some SU’s officials from its embassy have begun appearing at meetings of the party, speaking to various members within the executive ranks of the party and enquiring about the financial situation of the party and its views about the Civrai affairs.’’
‘‘Now this is very interesting,’’ responded the General, also as a way to snub the previous speaker and his rather vague reporting of sinister communication patterns.
‘‘One of the SU diplomats also approached a vocal hardliner within from the Civrai regional party committee,’’ the heavy bureaucrat continued. ‘‘we believe this hardliner to be an agent provocateur working for the Civrai branch of the Republican Guard. If the Republican Guard ruins it, they may scare off the SU before we have the opportunity to see what they’re up to.’’

Some deep frowns emerged across the table. The Republican Guard was a military police organisation, in charge of all security operations against Civrai Separatists. Especially the local Civrai Communist Party was a bulwark of informers, agent provocateurs and moles. On some days it was harder to find a genuine member than a government agent within its ranks. The General had heard enough, however.

‘‘The signals point to increased clandestine activity of the Socialist Union against our country. The Civrai issue may attract their unwanted attention. I shall alarm the leadership of our country about this new dimension that the separatist threat is developing, and urge them to find a solution.’’

Some men in the room already suspected however that with ‘leadership’, the General wasn’t exactly referring to the Prime Minister or even the cabinet. He would personally brief someone else, someone distant, someone living far away from the capital, waiting for the right opportunity to rise to the occasion of saving the Republic.

[Flo]

The operation had some success, but the Socialist Union was beginning to find that even with all the funding in the world, it had trouble retaining loyalty among its foreign agents.

They had gained excellent information on the situation on the ground in Civrai -- but most of that was provided by SU diplomats. There were also radio connections, both public and private, that spoke about the situation.

Ironically enough, it was a journalist who was one of their best agents. A local Civrai journalist with communist leanings who was sympathetic to the Socialist Union. The man was a relative unknown, but had knowledge about the local government -- and namely who belonged and who didn't. He had reported often in the past on the crisis and the plight of the locals, but a bomb outside of his home and the death of his wife and child had theoretically shut him up, or so it appeared. His name was Ansel Lescieki.