NationStates Jolt Archive

October 4, 2032
Associated Press Interlink 2032:415b:a3df:f413:2edc:0000

0600 hours exactly today marked the beginning of the celebration of Sputnik's 75th anniversary - but at the same time, overshadowing this memorable recollection, the Directress of the Grand Unified Federation, N. Adrianna Cain, stated that "she had had enough" (verbatim) of the neighboring Bigtopian dependency, Mediumtopia, which on several occasions had executed terrorism upon PD with full governmental authorization, most notably in the District of Arandia, where 837 people died following a sub-kiloton nuclear explosion in a fortunately unpopulous region of the city.

On several occasions within the announcement, Directress Cain displayed hints of contained stress and frustration within her, finally letting loose with statements such as "We are going to waste those motherfuckers with the full force of our proud nation, and heads shall roll for the sins of the Motherland! No child old enough to understand the promulgation of terrorism as law will be left alive; no one who fights to kill genocidally away, and then surrenders cowering in fear, shall be spared; we will eradicate the menace that has plagued us, not just for our own sake, but for all that peace and unity stands for! This is Perimeter Defense, brethren! We shall defend!"

Moments later, dozens F-35B's could be seen vertically taking off from behind the stand where the Directress stood speaking. Each appeared to have its bay doors removed, replaced with a swollen bulge that seemed to be a type of bomb. High above, many UB-47 UCAV's streaked by swiftly in the direction that the F-35's were about to face. Reports also confirmed that there was a change in the geosynchronous satellite population; six of the larger government "communication" satellites were moving along a course that would put them over no less than key Mediumtopian cities and infrastructure. Battleships formed up along the coast within gun range of urban centers and factories. Troops were even deployed where planes wouldn't dare transit.

It was clear what was going to happen. After the events, the bombs that the F-35's carried were determined to be a mixture of clusternukes that dropped hundreds of Fat Man-strength nuclear weapons - unmercifully modified to specifically encourage fast fission and radiation release - and some kind of viral biological weapon that was used for the populated regions. The UB-47's used more conventional JSOW packages for taking out AA sites. Finally, the "communication" satellites turned out to carry rotary magazines that contained tungsten spires, splashing down the most hardened of bunkers as though they had roofs of tissue paper. These weapons were deployed with extreme prejudice against Mediumtopia, with no regards to civilians who were even actively protesting the support of the terrorists by the government. The infantry and tanks who came marching through the place had little to do but shoot stragglers and dazed, pistol-toting little kids, implored for their help by meat-ground parents and relatives.

The body of President Renato Jader was discovered torn to shreds by a JSOW submunition. The upper torso, which had a missing arm and another that hung by mere filaments, was paraded around the streets of Mediumtopian cities that were left standing. His blood was gathered and sprayed throughout the national leaders' palace, and the icons of Bigtopian leadership were destroyed and shattered in public eyes.

And all the while, the Directress said, "What is the violation of human rights here? It is we who have been violated - time and time again, we have been murdered in little pieces, raped in small increments, but all in enough frequency to show us falling apart at the seams. Mediumtopia had an ideal behind her acts, as did we. Are you to construct for us yet another social box? Are you to chastise us for what was utterly right by the accounts in the scales of justice, and the logic of stopping the source of relative evil? Then it is you who are the terrorists; not the Mediumtopians, who fought for their cause - which simply happened to be destructive. For you fight a cause that is your hypocritical own, and acknowledge openly what amora - immorality you commit."

The Mediumtopian army of 140,000 in its entirety was killed, and 18,000 civilians are known to be dead. The effects of radiation poisoning and disease are to follow. What madness came to the heart of Cain?

Preliminary reports from real estate companies indicate that in the past 24 hours, the number of houses and apartment units for sale within approximately a kilometre of Directress Cain's residence has increased almost tenfold, from two to 19. Several other individuals reported that they were considering taking very, very long vacations.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. D: I can delete it if you like.

The Greater Empire of Undershi has begun moving its 14th Fleet Battlegroup towards Mediumtopian territorial waters. At the same time, Undershi reservists, called up already to protect against possible invasion on the part of the NPE (which now seems unlikely to materialize) are being kept on high alert, and are being shifted from a defensive stance along Undershis coasts towards a state of higher alert, and have been told they may be deployed overseas.

Undershi spy planes have begun conducting operations near the Perimeter Defense border, in some cases violating that border, while Undershi bomber squadrons are being kept on high alert, with some bomber squadrons in the air at all times.

The Undershi government has issued a single statement:

"Ms. Cain, you shouldn't have done that."

OOC: Naah, it's fun. It adds flavor to this immoral act that I - I mean, that Cain has committed.

The coastal turrets and shoreline airbases now turned their radio and optical eyes to the assembling Undershi fleet, while the many Watchtower UAV's that flew idly 90,000 feet above pointed all manner of cameras at the ships in formation. LIDAR would have proclaimed the presence of the spy planes if not for the cloud cover, but that would soon be remedied.

Meanwhile, the Directress read and reread the single-line transcript of the message intended for her.

"Ms. Cain, you shouldn't have done that."

She prepared a response.

"And why not? This was an act of preservation, of self-defense. Those soldiers we killed, every single one of them was discovered to have sworn to uphold the beliefs of the government - and that was, my proud nation was to be destroyed bit by bit, by any means necessary, and that we were pacifists who refused to fight an offensive war - such was to be the nature of our destruction by their words. Well, they got the war they were looking for! Are you next?"

As the Directress relayed this message, she walked among the ruined bodies and empty, charred tanks that were interspersed among the totally destroyed buildings. Not a shell casing from a personal firearm was seen for miles; few with a gun had time to react before being wiped off the face of the Earth. Others had held their guns high, but could only face their destiny in the form of the raising of their ambient temperature to three million degrees.

She looked at the burnt body of a child. She picked up his arm and it broke off into ashes as she held it. All around her, carbon shadows were visible on remnant walls and perhaps a little bit of blood where debris sheltered but not rescued a body. And she said, "It is done," and it was done.

Undershi City, Undershi Province, The Greater Empire of Undershi

Aleksander Miller, Leader of the Undershi Empire for the last twenty years, stared at the latest intelligence reports - he wished he could change the facts, but he couldn't. There was no way that Undershi could win an offensive war against Cain's hordes. Not a way.

For a moment, he considered calling up the Corporate Alliance, trying to rally support... but in an instant he discarded that concept. The CA had just barely survived a war with the Prussians - it would not have the will to act now, not for something as unprofitable as mere concern for humanity...

For a moment, he quietly wished that the GASN still existed, or at least some alliance that would have the moral strength to act when an act offended them...

As this one offended him. He thought, for a moment, about the mines and factories in Southland Province, where the workers were chained to their tools... with IIS or Occupation Police overseers with cattle-prods watching, ensuring that they did not slack off in their sixteen hour days of hard manual labor.

Was this latest atrocity any more brutal? He thought of something else - twenty one years ago, when they'd been taking Saint Rynald - the Liberal faction back home had almost come to power, almost ended expansionism... but they'd lost, in an IIS coup, and now he was Leader and they had all been dead for twenty one years...

He thought, for a moment, of the things he'd seen in Paxton when he was young, after the sack... he'd spent the war sinking refugee ships as they fled with his squadron, killing thousands...

And after the war, only a few weeks after, they'd moved his squadron to the occupied territories, and... he'd seen how the Paxtonites were treated. He remembered, a mass grave, intelectuals who'd been deemed too dangerous to allow to live... they'd been shot, and norm workers had been stripping them of their salvageable clothing, their jewelry and their fillings, then tossing the bodies into a rough-dug pit, throwing in acid over it all...

Was this latest atrocity any worse, for being less personal? He couldn't say. But it was still an atrocity, and atrocities demanded action these days... morality demanded it. But why should he feel bound to morality - he was a True Undershi superman after all, altered until he was almost no longer a man... there was talk, these days, of making it so that True Undershis and norms would no longer be interfertile in the latest round of modifications...

He sighed, tired, feeling his age. Perhaps it was just that, and he was getting old. Getting old... worrying about his soul... he remembered something from the invasion of Saint Rynald, a joke some Major had made - about how, after Saint Lorenz had fallen, when some of the locals had lain in the roads... they'd shouted to the soldiers to look to their souls, and the major had shouted back, as he watched a Viper IFV drive over them:

"Look to yours! You're going to need to worry about that much sooner than us!"

Maybe that was it - age affecting him... or maybe not. Maybe the Undershi were wrong, maybe humanity had some value, humanity and morality... but perhaps not. Perhaps he was getting old. That was it, he told himself. Just age, and the shock of so rapid and pointless an act. That's all.

He began to compose a message:

FROM: Aleksander Miller, Leader of the Undershi Empire
TO: Dictator Cain
RE: Your crimes

The Undershi Empire disapproves strongly of your most recent acts. However, war would not be in anyone's interests, so we are not going to act. This time. The Undershi Empire does not approve of waste, and that is exactly what your most recent act was - waste, of lives and of material. Setting aside archaic concerns of ethics and morality, you showed little forsight and less understanding in your actions.

Whenever you were addressed by someone else, perhaps among the most important aspects of his message would be how he addresses you. There could be some form of underlying verbal assault, or a hint of intention within.

In this case, Directress Cain stared at the words that appeared below those of the recipient ID.

TO: Dictator Cain
RE: Your crimes

Such a way to address her. Dictator? Has not her nation been given the best of the region, of the continent? How could she have been given such a title? And crimes? By law? Or was it crimes against morality, the apparent inhumanity of what she'd done? Within the message:


The Undershi Empire disapproves strongly of your most recent acts. However, war would not be in anyone's interests, so we are not going to act. This time. The Undershi Empire does not approve of waste, and that is exactly what your most recent act was - waste, of lives and of material. Setting aside archaic concerns of ethics and morality, you showed little forsight and less understanding in your actions.

Who could have shown more understanding? Who could have taken a look at every other possible option that was at hand? In fact, who had already carried out every other possible option?

Cain looked at a picture on her desk. J.G. Scott had been her husband for ten years when he was converted into human debris by the explosion at Arandia. Married when she was 22, died when she was 37, and now she was 38 but the pain never died, unlike him. It was supposed to have rendered her unfit for leadership but instead she became ruthlessly efficient, even more so than prior to his death.

Of course, that was just some kind of denial kickback. Cain knew that when she saw the destruction on September 8, 2032, on the feast of the Marian birth, where preschoolers, mothers and fathers had gathered around for a sweet little school presentation, only to die by the detonation of a fuel-air bomb overhead by a fast-insertion Mediumtopian bomber - when she saw all of this, she knew that she had finally broken. She'd held it in until the momentous Sputnik anniversary to gather everyone for the final announcement.

There was nothing else to do against the opposing force. This was no longer personal. What had broken was not her facade of pent-up rage, but her resolve to treat Mediumtopia with humanity that it did not deserve.

And still she walked on the bodies that had constituted the people of Mediumtopia. On her palm lay a small PDA, its speech recognition engine ready to translate acoustic input into alphanumerical symbology. She set up a reply to he message, and began dictating:

"At the cost of material we have sent a message. At the cost of lives we have gained our freedom from suffering. WE have suffered, not them. WE have been violated and destroyed, not them. Had we negotiated, they would have launched MRBM's while the talks were in session. Had I met with their leaders, I would have been shot dead under their approval, along with all my other aides.

"We had tolerated enough. We had held our fists back enough, as they kicked us to the ground. We had to act. End message."

Cain saw some movement. It was the metal lid of a subterranean bomb shelter, rattling and shaking as though someone was trying to lift it. She pulled out her rifle, and set the stock on her shoulder, then kicked the lid open. Inside, a few teenage boys and girls had been climbing up a high ladder, and their leader, a girl who must have been fifteen or so, looked imploringly at Cain. For a moment, she put her rifle down, so slowly that it might not have been noticed...

But the girl noticed. "Die, parasite!" she screamed, and from behind her, similar screams echoed. A hand was at a waist; a pistol was raised; a lever was pulled and a top cocked; a bullet exited the barrel.

Two bullets came. One struck Cain on her shoulder. The other penetrated the skull of the young teenager, sending her down into the pit. Cain, not even flinching from the bullet wound, opened fire into the pit, hearing several screams of pain, and as an epilogue to this assault she threw a grenade down the tunnel of the shelter. There was light.

Cain tapped into the video link on her retinas as she tended to her wounds. She loaded the records of the last two minutes into her PDA, and sent it off to Miller along with her message.

"No child old enough to understand the promulgation of terrorism as law will be left alive..." Cain repeated to herself from the announcement speech. It was so true.

The following was sent to Directress Cain as an Undershi response:

It's a video documentary on the occupation of Southland.

Dispassionatly narated, it chronicals the last forty years of Undershi occupation. From the invasion, and its brutality, to the long guerilla war.

Images follow each other - burning villages, sullen, half-starved Southlander civilians in chains, waiting, fenced in by razor wire, for bar-code tatoos and vacines.

Labor camps. The entire population either killed or relocated, effectively enslaved, except for a few thousand fighting on in the jungle.

Shots of napalm burning huge swathes, an explaination of how Undershi soldiers practiced jungle warfare hunting the remaining rebels like animals in the jungle.

A shot of a guerilla, taken prisoner - an older man, about forty. All his teeth had fallen out, he was more than half-starved, he had the look of a man who'd been on the verge of starvation for decades... then another shot, his hands bound, two burly IIS guards lifting him onto the impaling stake, leaving him on it, with his rifle on its sling hung around his neck... the narator spoke: "That is how to kill a man." a shot of the Southlander's dead eyes, then of the placard at the base of the stake - Nothing to be Gained Here.

Then, shifting focus - a factory town in Undershi province, Southlander children attending school, adult Southlanders working in factories, teenage boys being conscripted to fight as Janissaries... the whole idea seemed to be of a population being managed and used.

The narator said a little phrase about it, connecting it to the die-hard's death:

"This is how you kill an idea."

The purpose seemed to be a primer on how to efficiently, and perhaps even profitably, manage the destruction of a nation.

October 9, 2032
Associated Press Interlink 2032:25ff:a3cd:f413:2edc::

Protests abound, approval ratings have fallen, and those of the extreme left have supported the idea of an overthrow. However, this is only within a small province of Perimeter Defense; the majority of citizens agree with Directress Cain that the course of action she had pursued was the only one available at any time.

There remains the issue, of course, of how international rights groups have been plaguing Perimeter Defense with threats of forceful action. While the U.N. itself has failed to comment on anything whatsoever concerning the events at Mediumtopia, one can expect that nothing good will come out of it on the Secretary-General's keynote at the DipComms this November.

Meanwhile, Bigtopia itself has been noted to be gathering what appear to be offensive forces along its coastlines. Ships have been recalled from distant operations and there is an accretion of naval systems along the Bigtopian seaboard- <END CHANNEL>

Directress Cain flipped off the TV, and turned to the video response that Undershi had given. What they had not understood was that the people of Mediumtopia had already been occupied several times in the past; in fact, characteristic of Mediumtopian population was a tendency to just goddamn die rather than submit to a higher ruler. They posed a question - one that required a Final Solution, to speak in the destructive term, but defining it in such a manner turned them into racial martyrs; destroyed innocents by a looming opposing force, these citizens would be lifted up onto a social pedestal that would crush Cain's actions into the ground, along with whatever was to be Perimeter Defense after all the corollary mercantile blockades were in place, and compulsory isolationism was in effect.

This is why there had to be certain...changes in the way the eradication of Mediumtopia was presented to the public. While this would in no way be skewing or misrepresenting the actual state of Mediumtopia - in that they truly were a nation of terrorists, supported by their own democratic government and operating with their blessings of equipment - but the world needed more than that. So the bad parts of trials were all cut out, the executions of little children and families edited, the political statements diluted, and even some of Cain's speeches modified in a favorable light.

The fact remained incorrigible, however, that the people were totally resistant to any form of mental duress that would effect submission. The manners of national iconoclasm depicted in the "primer" would be ineffective against a human/system that was basically hardcoded to defeat its opposition, or be destroyed without defeat at all. Honor-bound to their own idea that was, in a light, indestructible. So it was that no propaganda-ish elimination of "bad taste" was necessary to make a presentation to the public that would be favorable to Perimeter Defense.

Cain simply forwarded the response back to Undershi themselves. They were right about one thing: "That is how you kill a man."