It had been an interesting few weeks.
Vastiva had conducted a "peaceful" invasion of South Africa, which - as expected - had ended badly, from which Vastiva had gained enough food for their Antarctican colony for the coming year.
As part of that action, they had "inherited" Thailand, Burma, and the Phillipines. On taking possession, the Vastivans removed some the surplus food from those nations along with incredible amounts of the teak harvest. There were also plans made and given for improvements in all three nations.
Then Burma had been "purchased" from them for 50% of the surplus food and 30% of the teak crop... followed by Thailand and the Phillipines being swapped for South Africa - along with other African holdings. This also meant the Vastivan forces in those countries left with even more food from the surplus, and most of the teak crops for the year and that which was stored and seasoning.
All in all, the Vastivan Antarctican colony had just over three years of food supplies "in storage" and contracts for much more on a yearly basis, plus they arrived in South Africa as "honorable liberators" to the great satisfaction of the natives - installing an "advisory board" to the government and creating general alliances of military and business formats to the profit of most involved.
This left Vastiva in the enviable position of having excellent relations with everyone in it's African holdings as they'd "freed them from the yoke of oppression" - in return for "very minor" concessions from the governments - and having not one but three additional food supplies guaranteed by treaty.
All in all, an excellent few months for Vastiva.
The profits from the teak were just icing on the cake.
"As you understand, while you are officially protectorates, this is only a designation. Vastiva has no designs on your independance or your presence, but rather seeks to form stronger trading partners from..."
"ENOUGH!" Mfute's roar shook the flag above the doorway. "We have heard so much of Vastivan this and Vastivan that. It remains true, your military is on our ground, and our ability to defend ourselves is still in your pocket. No matter how you take that, Ambassador, we still take it as an occupation!"
There were a few nods from around the table - most certainly from the Botswanan delegation, less certainly from the South Africans. The rest of Mfute's group watched the others.
Clever, this one is, thought Abdul Quadeer al-Haseeb. He requires further watching. "Mister President, has any part of your national bank been taken by our forces? Has any action been taken against your people? Perhaps you will point out where..."
"Vastiva's reputation for manners is well known, Mister Ambassador. As is her reputation for never losing a war - and for that, I am assured the presence of the heavy tanks outside my domicile would be an excellent assurance."
"And to what war do you refer? The Afrikaners will remember our fighting by their side against Roach-Busters - and that we did indeed fulfill our word in removing the invader from their soil."
"At what cost?" The black man still stood, lording over his end of the table. "Our armies are in ruins, our navies are mostly at the bottom of the sea. If it were not for your presence, we would be helpless - you seek to keep us as children for your exploitation, virtual slaves to a..."
"A nation to the south of you?" Abdul shook his head. "Your suspicions do you no good. But as there is no trust between our nations, Vastiva shall do her best to resurrect what of your army there was before removing her troops. Will that satisfy you?"
"A century later? Most certainly not!"
Abdul shook his head. "What about, let us say... six months?"
That stopped conversation dead.
"Impossible! Even if you were to..."
The Ambassador cut him off with a toss of his head. "I assure you, it is not only possible, it is probable. Within six months, Vastiva will personally deliver sufficient forces to bring you back to your full military compliment, from the day before your invasion."
A snort ruffled the room. "At what cost?"
"To you?" Abdul's gaze remained steady. "None. We will take the full cost upon ourselves. Your only penalty is the loss of our benevolence, which these other nations will enjoy in full fruit. Will that do for you, Mister President?"
"It does."
"Very well." He struck the bell on the table, turning to face the secretary who appeared. "Draw up documents at once. Vastiva is to rebuild Zimbabwe's army to exactly the configuration it was before Roach-Busters invaded them. Not a shell more, not a shell less. In return, Zimbabwe agrees not to invade the protectorates, nor Vastiva. Will that do, Mister President?"
Another snort. Abdul waved away the secretary and sat.
"As to the rest of you," his aide began placing prospectuses at each seat. "As you will see on page four, Vastiva will begin shipping building materials in three weeks. Initial surveys and the public works you have been promising - and lacking - for decades were taken into account in the designing of these plans, and personalizing them to each of your nations..."
"I will have one of those," Mfute growled.
"But of course, and with our compliments." Abdul nodded to the aide. "You do realize, of course, our agreement does void these plans. In any case," he returned his attention to the other delegates, "as you can see, our services are at standard rates, with the shipping costs amortized over a twenty-five year period..."
"HA! I knew it! You would make slaves of us all!"
"Mister President," Abdul stated tiredly, "You have 'saved' your land from what is to come in your belief. If you would be so polite as to allow the others to discover what they have reaped in not following you?"
"A trap and a collar."
"Hardly. But, I shall be fair. Should any not wish our aid, they have only to speak, and we will grant them the same offer we granted you."
Mfute's grin grew bigger - he signaled for coffee.
"As I was saying, gentlemen, such will be accounted for in full, and levied as a debt against your nation. If you will turn to page eighteen, you will see how we plan for you to pay this debt off in less then twenty years..."
"Impossible!"
"Mister President. If you cannot remain quiet, I shall have to ask you to leave. Thank you. As you can see, gentlemen, our plan also calls for a mass revitalization of your infrastructure and business areas - schooling, training, equipment. Again, these costs as well will be billed against your nation. However, as you can see from the charts on page twenty-two..."
Abdul spoke empathicly - but to his mind, mechanically. This was not the first time Vastiva had offered something for near nothing - and it would not be the last. Lesotho came to their side first - no surprise, they had what they thought the most to gain and the least to lose. Swaziland second, with South Africa close on her heels.
Botswana wavered... tilted... considered... bent... split... and finally was nodding in time to Abdul's tones as he brought up the pipelines, the roads, the communications systems.
And the eventual independence from the debts they raised.
"As you can see from the economic modellings, even with major setbacks, the entire debt will be balanced and erased in thirty years, fifty at the most. During all that period, Vastiva's draw on you will be minimized in as much as possible - and you are always free to use the fruits of your own labor to reduce your debt as much as possible in the meantime..."
Gotcha mused Abdul as he noted Mfute reviewing the figures again and again. Now it was only a matter of time...
Six months had passed and the Khalsoresti Pipeline was well over half on the way to completion. Planned to run some four hundred million kilometers in all, the Khalsoresti would run through nineteen water purification plants and three desalination plants on its movement through Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa.
With the completion of the pipeline, fresh - and more importantly clean - water in quantity would become not a dream but a reality in all five nations. Fields could be irrigated, cooking would come easier. Piping water to every area would come later - the demands of the system would result in an internal "cloverleaf" system and an international "racetrack" to get enough water everywhere in desired quantities. Four QNRP-6 nuclear reactors already acted as "superpumps", their energy going to nothing but this system - though that would change in time as the demand grew, their "big brothers" came to completion and took over for the modular temporary mesures, and hydrophillic systems were put to use.
In time, promised Vastiva, once this part is completed, their full attentions would be turned to phase II - the sewage systems, which ran back into the system once passing through several layers of "depolluting" stations. For the moment, this action was very minimal - Vastiva had put 300 EJIM systems and just over 2,500 CORONET purification domes at the disposal of the project, but less then a quarter could be run as yet due to power demands and lack of good placement locations. At the moment, the more traditional waste reclamation tanks caught the overage and "precleaned" the runoff - though far beneath the Vastivan's standards, the precleaning at the very least slowed the entrance of the foul water into the CORONETs, which did help some.
Phase III would bring water to outlying areas, Phase IV would solidify and make water a power source in and of itself - but that was a few years in the future, even as quickly as Vastiva brought things to these lands. In the meantime, they reeducated the workers who were used to the old systems - and worked on educating the next generation of workers, who would have to work with the new systems.
When complete, Designwerks Internationale would have it's first global success.
"Are these figures correct?"
"As far as we can determine, yes."
"Then we can begin construction on the first permanent reactor a full month early. Excellent."