Dark Fate, Chapter 204

Chapter 204 – Reactions

(Fuerte Desafío, Bocas del Toro, Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro Province, Panama)

“Jefa! Jefa! Big news!”

Keira Hyde sighed as she looked up from the reports on her computer. She’d never set out to become the de facto boss of an entire region. Just a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’. She had the ‘good fortune’ to be vacationing in Panama when the Initialization happened. One moment, she’d been enjoying a beautiful day with her family, and the next, everything had changed.

She’d gotten the Summoner class, along with the Soldier profession. Not really the best combination, on the face of things, but she made do. Just like she had when she was in the Corps, before one bad mission ended up with her down one leg, and getting a medical discharge. Only good thing about the damn System was that she’d gotten a new leg out of it, once one of the Priests had gotten enough levels.

When the blue boxes had started up, and monsters started spawning, she summoned the only creature available to her at the start. It was a glowing blue fox-rabbit-like thing called a carbuncle, and the thing hit harder than it looked like it ought to be able to. Which was good, because Gilblins, which were apparently aquatic goblins, began spawning all over the island, and attacking everyone. She managed to get a better weapon than her cane (though the cane being indestructible now was nice), and started organizing people as she found them. Somehow, that ended up with her being the boss of this region, as all the actual officials were dead, or missing, and ruling out of a fort that had been built in the ruins of the provincial seat.

“Eduardo, what is it?” She said, as her chief aide, Eduardo Rubio burst into the planning room. “I’m still going over the reports so we can plan the next raid. We may have exterminated the local gilblins, so travel between islands is fine, so long as you stick to shallow water, but there’s still problems on the mainland. We have to keep hitting the monsters, or they’ll rampage through the farms, and then we’re fucked.”

“Yes, but you’ll want to hear this, Jefa. Gerardo just sent word through the System Shop’s mail. He and his team reached the capital, no casualties, but he got called in to President Arnal’s office as soon as they realized he was in town. Apparently, they’ve been bringing in all the messenger groups whenever they get to the capital.”

That got her attention, right enough. “So, given that you’re excited, and not looking to start a war, I’m guessing they haven’t been just locking people up. Something they want to spread word about, but don’t want to trust to the airwaves?”

“Heh, good joke, Jefa. You know that ever since they discovered that those fungus creatures they barely beat back last year were attracted by radio waves, everyone has stopped using radio for anything except short-range communications. And any landlines have been cut by everything that has happened.”

“The message, Eduardo?”

“Oh, yeah. Gerardo says that the Government got a reply from Ceres.”

THAT got her attention, all right. She had been one of the main proponents of bringing Ceres into the conversation. Everyone understood that, with how things were, Panama was failing as a state. The hit to tourism, as well as all the death? They were barely limping along, thanks entirely to the canal. They simply didn’t have the strength to pull themselves out of this hole on their own.

Pretty much everyone involved had agreed on that point. Even the President’s people had been honest enough to say as much, which couldn’t have been easy. Everyone knew that, in order to survive, Panama was going to have to join with someone bigger.

Their neighbors weren’t an option, not realistically. Both Columbia and Costa Rica had problems of their own, and couldn’t afford the manpower or money to secure Panama. The history of American and European colonialism struck out the idea of dealing with them, and no one wanted to be part of a proxy war.

Ceres had been their best option out of a whole ton of shitty choices. Once the idea was laid out, everyone pretty much settled on the idea, except for some of the more conservative religious types, who were less than thrilled with a Demon ruling them. Still, they weren’t fanatical enough to dismiss it out of hand, without seeing how things would work in practice.

“So, what did they say?”

Eduardo shrugged, and produced a packet of papers from his bag. “Long story short? The President’s office says that they’re basically trying to play this like how the United Kingdom does with Wales and those places. Or maybe like how the US does with states and the national government? I’m not sure how all that works. Here’s the document they sent over.”

Keira scanned the documents, before nodding, slowly. “That clever bastard. Oh, this is going to ruffle some feathers, for sure!”

“What is it, Jefa?”

“Ceres is going to be sending troops, and probably training more here, to make safe travel between cities a thing again. They’re also going to build factories to start making more of their weapons, here on Earth, and using that as a way to legitimize putting military forces around the canal. As for us, well, seems that Panama will get representation in a new Imperial Senate that Ceres is putting together, as they become an Empire. Bring in those who aren’t on duty or on their rest period, and we’ll talk it out, so people can spread the word.”

“On it, Jefa!”

(Oval Office, White House, Washington, DC)

President Taylor Harris sighed as his secretary let him know that Sal Landry and Evie Walsh were here to see him. He hadn’t had this job long, but he knew that when his Chief of Staff and Secretary of State both wanted to see him unannounced, it was never a good thing. And he had been hoping to make an early night of it, and catch up on some of his shows.

Still, this was the job. He nodded as the two walked into the room. “Sal, Evie. What do you have for me?”

Sal looked to Evie, and she started. “Sir, we’ve just received a joint letter from President Arnal in Panama and King Greene from Ceres. It is basically a statement of intent, saying that Panama is joining with the Kingdom of Ceres to create the Ceresan Empire.”

“Wait, Panama? I thought that Uganda or one of the other central African nations would be the first to do something like that?”

Evie nodded, understandingly. “Well, Panama has been struggling, since the tourism industry basically died. You remember the last administration was keeping an eye on the situation, as well. Things looked like they’d stabilized, but it seems groups in the country weren’t satisfied with just halting the decline of the country. According to Embassy officials, there’s been a concerted effort by some of the adventurers who are effectively in control of different areas of the country to work on a more permanent solution, or they’d consider carving the country up into pieces and doing it themselves.”

“Right, I saw a report about that. We had our Ambassador offer some support, right?”

“Yes, but there are still old memories of US and European ‘colonialism’ in the region, which have poisoned the well, you could say. Fortunately, China hasn’t been able to make inroads, either, because the people there are desperate, not stupid. But the adventurers demanded something change, and Ceres was offered as a compromise.”

“All right, lay it out for me. What does this mean for US interests in particular, and the regional situation in general?”

Evie shook her head. “Short term? Probably calms things down, since Ceres will be helping to guarantee the canal doesn’t get obstructed by monsters or pirates. Their putting military forces in Panama will tweak some noses, possibly, but most everyone in the region has too much to worry about on their own doorstep to go paying attention to the neighbors.”

She paused, and said, “Normally, I’d be cautious about third parties coming in to try and destabilize the new arrangement, possibly by attacking the canal itself. That would give other powers an excuse to jump in, after all, to ensure that their interests are maintained.”

“Normally? Why not now?”

“Because of how much King Greene relies on System Contracts,” Sal chimed in. “There have been several terrorist attacks against Ceres that were thwarted because a System Contract forcibly enslaved people the moment bombs went live, and gave them orders to disarm the bombs. Anyone who gets into Ceres has signed a contract, with embassy staff being some of the few exceptions.”

The Chief of Staff shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Given his track record, I expect that captains and crews of ships heading through the canal will need to sign System contracts basically forbidding them from purposefully damaging the canal or shipping. And I seriously doubt that they’ll just wave ships through without conducting inspections. I’ve talked with Representative Meadows, who was one of the other individuals involved in the different time loops Greene was a part of. Managed to confirm much of what Greene has said publicly about the events of the previous timelines. Had some analysts go over the data, and they all agree that Greene is near-paranoid when it comes to the possibility of betrayal. The only reason they aren’t outright saying he’s paranoid is because paranoia is defined as an irrational belief that people are out to get you, and he has good reason to believe, rationally, that people are trying to tear him down.”

“That’s right,” Evie nodded. “And it also plays into why he focuses on a lot more openness and honesty than other leaders of his type. He knows the diplomatic game well enough to play, but he doesn’t play their way. If we were to use a football analogy, everyone else plays like they’re a triple option or run and gun offense, with a lot of misdirection. Meanwhile, Greene is doing a ‘Power I’, where he is going to run the ball into your teeth, down after down, and even when you know what he’s doing, you can’t stop it, because that’s when they bust out a pass play and run all over you. Those Renegades of his are basically the ultimate ‘fuck you’ to anyone who wants to get into a shooting war with Ceres.”

Harris nodded, “And all the major players know that, especially after what he did in the Middle East. Plus, he’s generally friendly to us, and the Chinese. If we take his talk of trying to get Earth to get their shit together, he probably won’t go trying to play games with the global trade network. And we can probably assume that anyone who tries to start shenanigans will end up on the wrong side of them, right?”

“Correct, sir,” Evie said, before sighing. “The main concern is that everyone is going to be looking at how Ceres deals with Panama. Globally, sure, but the main concern is the rest of Central and South America, as well as the central African nations. If Panama gets treated well, I expect we’ll see more countries start trying to join this Ceresan Empire. For the economic benefits, if nothing else.”

“How big a domino effect are we thinking, here?”

Evie paused, and then said, cautiously, “Mexico and Brazil are pretty solid, despite everything. I don’t think we’ll need to worry about them, in the near future. Peru, Chile, and Argentina are maybes, but my gut feeling is they’re more likely part of a second wave, rather than the initial rush. Could see all the states between Mexico and Panama join in, for fear of missing out. Most of the Caribbean, too, minus Cuba and Puerto Rico. In the rest of South America, it depends on the cartels and the adventurers. They’re the ones really running things in those countries, right now.”

“But Ceres has already gone on record playing ball with North Korea, and they made a bunch of deals with the African countries, and are supposedly playing things straight,” Harris nodded. “If not the first wave, they’d be in the second, with Argentina and the like, right?”

“Unless Ceres does something to lose people’s trust. But with them playing everything open, instead of behind closed doors and the like, that’s buying them a lot of wiggle room. Also, the way he dealt with the assassin and the organization they came from? That is going to earn him respect from the cartels, at least. Probably a lot of the adventurers, too.”

“Ruthless efficiency for the win, huh?”

“Perhaps say that it is a message that plays well to those in violent professions, sir.”

“Noted,” he chuckled. If he couldn’t make at least some jokes, then he really would age half to death before he left this job.

“Anyways, the analysts agree that we probably don’t need to worry about the central African states joining this Empire in the first or second wave. However, they are absolutely banding together to form a new voting block in the UN. I expect all the ‘third world’ countries will be a part of it, before long.”

“Fine. Anything else about Ceres I should know at the moment?”

Sal grunted, “Well, it looks like the North Koreans will be on the moon in a month, two at the most. And Ceres is already building a colony out on Ganymede, the largest of Jupiter’s moons. Oh, and they’ve started sending out upgrade kits to several of their trade partners, including North Korea. With them, some of our analysts are saying that the North’s MiG-29s and Su-25s could stand up against our F-16s and maybe the F-22s.”

“Well, great. I didn’t need to sleep tonight.”