NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC notes:

Note 3: Having been busy with college I have not had time to update this thread. However it is not dead, just moving very slowly. Also now that events have pretty much run out as I would like the thread is now fully open.

NOTE 2: I have been in the Himalayas for the last forty days and just gotten back yesterday (the 14th of May), which is why this thread has not been moved. I will be making some adjustments and planning to move on with it now.

Note 1: This is a continuation of a previous RP with The Northern Baltic, which ended in a peace treaty stipulating that TNB's African colonies, which border Manth, were to be granted independence. The agreement in question and the old thread are here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13374480&postcount=172).

A map of the Free Republic of New Haven will be available shortly. A map of mainland Manth, which shares its southwestern border with the Republic, is in my sig.

IC:

Kinshasa, Former Baltic Colony of New Haven. August 22

Brigadier General Andrea Nicolaou stood, hands clasped behind him as he watched the sun rise over the nearly-empty barracks. For most of the past eight months, they had been full nearly to overflowing, with Manthian soldiers, diplomats and politicians moving daily through the streets of Kinshasa. His force had done quite a bit of work in New Haven over the last eight months, he reflected, during the scramble to prepare the former colony for independence. At one point there had been over four hundred thousand Manthian troops in New Haven, overseeing the Baltic withdrawal, inspecting the country for weapons depots, and standing in as military police to help keep order until the interim government was sworn in. They had been very necessary, as the Constitution prohibited the government from maintaining armed forces of its own, beyond a lightly armed police force. New Manth had guaranteed the country's defense in the case of any outside aggression, so of course, it was argued, independent armed forces would not be necessary...

Nicolaou reached for a cigarette, enjoying the cool morning air while it lasted. By midday, the place would be sweltering.

Under the surface, of course, there had been other work going on. Manthian maps of the entire country had been updated to near-precision detail, courtesy of the army of engineers and surveyors which had accompanied the troops in. The last had only left a few days ago. And of course, while there had been a treaty provision mandating that both the Northern Baltic and Manth would help the new country develop economically, he knew that almost no new infrastructure had been built with the Manthian funds. The streets were as full of cracks and the houses were as dingy as when he had arrived. As to what had been done with the money, Nicolaou wasn't entirely sure, but he had heard that a lot of it had been used for surveying and prospecting, pinpointing the locations of valuable natural resources. Nothing had been done to extract them, of course, not yet... nor had any factories, for which swaths of land had been cleared in advance, been built. Even the barracks behind him was a temporary structure, and would come down when the last troops left.

Nicolaou took a deep drag, smoke hovering around him as he moved to stand in the shadow of the door. Already, though it was just a few minutes after sunrise, standing directly in the light was uncomfortably hot.

There were a lot less than four hundred thousand thousand soldiers in the country now - about four hundred total, in fact, and all of them would be leaving along with Nicolaou the next day. In the past week since power had formally been handed over to the interim government, Manthian troops had melted out of the country at a simply staggering rate. It had all been carefully planned, and in less than four hours, when the last SuC-5 Stormbringer was due to leave the country carrying the last Manthian soldiers with it, the new government would be devoid of any significant security force more heavily armed than a traffic cop.

And of course, all in accordance with his orders, Nicolaou had made sure that his men weren't too enthusiastic in rooting out those weapons caches.

As Nicolaou stubbed out his cigarette and turned to go back indoors, he had to admit to one thing. Whoever it was who had thought this whole operation up, he sure was one hell of a cold, manipulative bastard.

Capitol Building, Kinshasa-Brazzaville, Free Republic of New Haven
August 30

It had been a week since the first session of the Republican Legislative Congress, a week filled with as frantic political maneuvering as could be found in any parliamentary body on Earth. Six hundred and seventy-four bills, as of the opening of the floor on the morning of the 30th, had been proposed so far, covering subjects as important as providing money for the continued function of the police and civil services, and as petty as banning smoking in the Congressional chambers.

So far, not one bill had been passed.

Most new governments try to open on an inspirational note. The first meeting is usually friendly, perhaps with optimistic speeches about cooperation and progress, definitely with at least lip service to the idea that the political process could be improved and made to serve politicians and people on every side of the aisle. This one, however, had gone straight to the bickering. Less than a week after some of the later-arriving legislators had moved into their offices, the legislative process was, essentially, at a standstill.

Bills to increase the size of the police force, construct new roads and even just to authorize a census of the country had been stalled amidst squabbling over who would do the necessary work, who would pay for it, and, most importantly, who would control it. The squabbles of those at the top, and the lack of any meaningful legislation, would not impair the basic functioning of government - at least, not for a while. There was still money to pay salaries, left in funds set up by the occupiers, and that would ensure that policemen, clerks, and firemen would keep showing up to work, that the utilities would run, and so on... at least for a while. Some politicians realized that, and were taking advantage of it - each one playing for power and influence in whatever government might eventually be formed, for the longer they withheld their support the more valuable it would become. But it did mean that nothing meaningful was being done about the most pressing problem facing the government of New Haven.

The country had never exactly been homogenous - quite the opposite, actually, and perhaps it was unavoidable that the myriad ethnic, religious, ideological and tribal divisions were reflected and magnified in the country's first legislature. The place was a veritable cesspool of different ethnic groups, tribes, and religions, but Baltic bayonets had kept the colony stable for many years, and Manthian occupiers in turn had maintained order for a while once the Baltic troops had been driven out. Now that the forces that had repressed violence in New Haven for so many years had suddenly vanished, long-buried rifts and feuds were quickly rising to the surface and it was becoming clear that without a strong police force to keep order the country might very well collapse as quickly as it had been created.

New Haven had been used as a veritable weapons dump by the Baltic military for years, and out in the jungles and hills, where Manthian soldiers had passed by with uninterested eyes, there were enough weapons buried to arm a million men and more. And, discerning the government's inability to effectively control them, there was no shortage of those who were willing to do a little excavation...

A small village outside Ilebo

Unlike politicians in the big city, Kisula Ngoy had a good instinct for danger, and a better one for opportunity. Or as he would have put it, he wasn't an idiot, which was why he was creeping along a narrow jungle path followed by twenty-five other men from his village. His people had feuded for decades with neighboring villagers, and each side had regarded the period of Baltic government as only an uneasy truce, enforced by the government's large army. And now that they were gone, he wasn't about to miss a chance to get a leg up on the competition. There were numerous arms dumps out in the countryside, and Ngoy knew the location of a big one - rifles, pistols, even artillery guns and shells were stored out here. They were getting close now...

Kisula stiffened as figures stepped out of the foliage along the path. Heavily armed figures... One stepped forwards, and Kisula clenched his teeth as he recognized the man. Someone else had clearly known about the dump too. Fuck fuck fuck...

The man gestured with his rifle, a shit-eating grin plastered over his face.

"Oh, bwana, sorry if I startled you. You were maybe looking for these?"

Kisula's eyes flickered over the trail, counting muzzles. His conclusion wasn't reassuring, but he lunged anyway. What else was there to do?

The chatter of automatic weapons fire rang through the jungle, mingling with shouts and screams for a surprisingly long time.

The moon cast a soft glow over the land. However, in one particular settlement, the tranquility of the night was disturbed by movement. In the main courtyard of the settlement, 50 men stood divided into platoons and such. They were heavily armed- a token of a nearby arms depot whose location had been paid generously for. The eight helicopters in the settlement unleashed a whirlwind of air as they started their rotors. The heavily armed men moved surprisingly quickly into their assigned helicopters- they were anxious.

As the helicopters left the ground, the men were told not to relax: combat had began without them. Already, two other settlements had thrown their armored vehicles and men into a battle against the government forces in a town. Flashes were seen on the horizon as the helicopters neared the town.

Jonas peered his head out the helicopter and spotted a dozen T-62 tanks converging on several lightly armed police officers and their squad cars. The police were quick to throw up their hands in surrender once they realized another dozen T-62 tanks were closing in from the other direction. The helicopters prepared to land on several rooftops. As the helicopters neared their destination, several policemen opened fire on the helicopters with pistols and rifles, however this simply angered the helicopters and within seconds, any trace of the policemen could not be recovered thanks to several heavy machine guns. The helicopters set down and the troops ran out and down an alleyway to flank what seemed to be the largest concentration of policemen in the city, next to the city center. They killed several and captured the rest.

As the fighting neared the city center, the Baltic settlers became wary of possible police reinforcements, so they stationed several roadblocks around the city to stop unwanted groups from getting into the cities. The policemen desperately attempted to hold out, but once the two dozen T-62 tanks arrived, they began a mass surrender. The new flag of the former Northern Baltic colony of New Haven was raised over the city capitol. This was the first move of the New Haven Reunification Front.

A city

The Baltic sympathizers would soon realize that their main opposition would not be coming from the police - indeed, after the first few firefights most of the government forces melted away. It's not easy to go up against a main battle tank carrying a low-caliber pistol for weaponry. But on the outskirts of town, other threats were brewing... The Baltic rebels had been the first to organize and seize the center of this town, but there were others watching the fighting who had goals of their own. Within days they too were ready to make their move.

Muslim inhabitants of the town were the first to make their move; young Arabic men had watched the battles with the police, and over the next few days through various covert channels a number of innocuous packages had found their way into Muslim-dominated areas. On the second day the Baltic settlers woke up to explosions and gunshots, as several barricades were attacked simultaneously by AK and RPG-toting bands of fighters. Four days of bloody fighting followed, as civilians and anyone caught in the middle either desperately tried to flee the bloodshed, or took up arms themselves either to join one of the factions or just to try to defend their homes. Nor was there any shortage of weapons for new recruits - after a few days there were four distinct factions fighting for the city, two armed from the old weapons caches that littered the cities and countryside - and two, including a DR83-armed counter-revolutionary group, who had received their more modern weaponry from obscure sources...

Elsewhere

Nor was violence limited to just this one town. In rural, and increasingly even in urban areas, the government was quickly losing control. Even in Kinshasha-Brazzaville, the very seat of government, the yoke of authority rested uneasily over a town often awoken in the middle of the night by scattered gunfire.

Seeing the country slipping out of control, legislators in the Republican Legislative Congress managed to set aside their differences for a moment in the name of self-preservation, quickly producing a proposed bill to amend the Constitution and quickly fund and raise an army, in dire need of a security force that could stand up to rebels with heavy weaponry and in some cases, even mechanization. Even the most hard-headed could see that without such a force, the country would inevitably fragment. Opposition, however, came from an unexpected and unfortunate direction.

Mere hours after the proposal was laid before the congress, Saad al-Baradei, President of the Greater Economic Union of New Manth, in a directive read before the United Cities and Provinces Legislative Commission, called the proposed law in the neighboring state "unacceptable and dangerous."

[...] "Under a year ago," it went, "we fought a bloody war in order to remove hostile forces from our borders. Now reactionary and revanchist elements in New Haven, under the guise of providing security for their own nation, propose to reform this very army that was disbanded by mutual agreement in the treaties between Manth, the Northern Baltic, and New Haven. Let me say clearly, and I know that both the proud members of the Commission and the people of Manth speak with me, that such a situation would be unacceptable and dangerous to the Union as a whole. Under no circumstances will Manth permit a foreign military presence upon our very doorstep. As such I formally warn the Free Republic of New Haven that any attempt to implement this dangerous and illegal law will be met with immediate military retaliation. The safety and integrity of Manthian borders will not be compromised." [...]

The immediate reaction in the chambers of the Republican Legislative Congress was one of shocked dismay. The veto of Manth effectively killed the proposal - after all, not only had the Manthians set up most of the New Haven government, but there was also the small matter that nearly as many souls marched under the golden sun banner of the Union Army as drew breath in the entire Free Republic of New Haven. Resistance, when the Free Republic itself as yet boasted no military presence, would be worse than futile.... and yet what else was there to do, by what other means could they save their government?

Such questions were they that occupied the minds of the Republic's congressmen, as outside their doors the storm grew louder.

well since it has been so long since I have had time to update this, we are skipping ahead a bit with a news article from several months in the future

FIGHTING IN NEW HAVEN

Ethnic violence has claimed thousands of lives in the Democratic Republic of New Haven in the past few months. Κύπρος κλητήρας explains:

By Georgios Stephanopoulos
About This Article:
This article was first published on kuproskleteras.com on Thursday, September 11 2008. It was last updated on Thursday, September 11 2008 at 18:50 EET

What is happening in New Haven?


Rival ethnic factions in the country's cities have been taking part in a chaotic multi-sided slaughter that has left perhaps 500,000 people dead since May. The latest town to attract attention is New Haven's capital, Kinshasa-Brazzaville, where many refugees had fled in fear of militias and paramilitaries wielding everything from axes, to anti-tank rockets. The violence claimed perhaps 25,000 lives in the city over the past month.

How did it come to this?


The situation in New Haven must be seen in light of the country's long occupation by troops from the Northern Baltic. As part of that occupation, hundreds of thousands of Baltic soldiers as well as vast quantities of military materiel were deployed in New Haven. The Northern Baltic government used its soldiers to suppress violence and revolts in the country for many years. However, Baltic troops withdrew from the country early this year as required under the Treaty of Rekyavik, however in violation of the terms of the treaty Baltic soldiers intentionally left behind and concealed large amounts of military materiel, perhaps hoping to return soon, or merely aiming to destabilize the new government. If the latter was their goal, they have clearly succeeded.

Furthermore, after the Treaty of Rekyavic the Baltic government deliberately neglected to prepare New Haven in any way for independence. The Baltic troops left without setting up any strong local governmental institutions to provide the country with stability, nor did they prepare a strong local police force to take over the duties of enforcing law and maintaining order once they departed the country.

Troops from the Greater Economic Union were able to provide some much-needed security during the transfer of power, but once independence was formalized the Manthian troops necessarily had to withdraw, leaving the country without an effective peacekeeping force.

A number of factions took advantage of the power vacuum to attempt to seize control of the country or to destroy rivals. Factions are divided by questions of political ideology, religious belief and ethnic loyalty.

The interim government which was supposed to take over from the Northern Baltic began losing control almost immediately; many outlying regions were suffering open fighting mere weeks after the withdrawal of Manthian troops, and the capitol of Kinshasa-Brazzaville fell to partisans of the New Haven Reunification Front after little more than a month. Since then the city has changed hands multiple times.

Several legislators were known to have been caught in the city and killed, while a minority escaped before the city's fall and have been given shelter in Manth. Only scattered remnants of the legitimate government remain in control of patches of the country.

What are other countries doing about the slaughter in New Haven?


At the moment, very little. The President of the Greater Economic Union has called on all factions to stop the fighting. Under the Treaty of Rekyavik the Union is responsible for New Haven's defense from external threats but not for the maintenance of civil order. Under this clause of the treaty President al-Baradei has declared the country off limits to foreign-flagged shipping and ordered the Union Navy to patrol offshore, in an effort to prevent further arms smuggling.

How many people have died in the civil war?


No one knows. Estimates range from 100,000 to three million, with as many succumbing to famine and disease as to fighting. A common middle estimate is 500,000, but observers have warned that the number will likely rise sharply the longer the fighting goes on, as civilians and refugees continue to live without basic amenities and many lose what little they have managed to preserve so far.

Why has the Union not intervened to restore order?


Cynics would say that New Haven simply lacks the strategic importance of areas in which the Union has intervened in the past; it lacks the strategic importance of Cyprus or the oil reserves of Djibati.

But there is also a pragmatic explanation: with whom would the Union side? New Haven's government has effectively ceased to exist and society is deeply divided in a country much larger and more populous than Cyprus or Djibati. Even if Manthian troops stopped the slaughter in the short term, it would be a much tougher job to ensure continued security when Union troops inevitably departed.

President al-Baradei has publicly stated his reluctance to involve the Union in the conflict without a clear exit strategy.

Some of the exiled leaders of New Haven have called for Manthian aid regardless, proposing that since New Haven is already legally reliant on Manth for external protection, it would be a small step to make the country a formal protectorate and allow Manth to assume responsibility for internal order as well. However, the President has stated that such a move is not currently under consideration and that the costs for Manth to restore order in New Haven would be very high.

Why was the government of New Haven so ineffective?


New Haven did not recover from the vacuum of power left when Baltic troops withdrew from the country. The involvement of numerous and competing local and foreign interests made the country very difficult to govern effectively. Much of the country's infrastructure has been destroyed in the civil war, particularly in the eastern and southern areas where fighting has been heaviest.

Who is doing the fighting?


It is nearly impossible to keep track of all the minor or local factions involved in the war. New factions have arisen and old ones have declined over the course of the fighting.

However, there are several main players:

The New Haven Liberation Front is a communist terrorist group supporting reunion with the Northern Baltic. Repeated concerns that this group, in addition to raiding old Baltic weapons caches for equipment, was receiving clandestine support from the Northern Baltic led President al-Baradei to institute the blockade of New Haven's coastline last month.

The New Haven Liberation Front does not enjoy as much popular support as most of its main rivals, but enjoys access to large weapons stockpiles and possibly to clandestine Baltic support.

The New Haven Liberation Front controls large areas of New Haven's coastline and has been involved in back-and-forth battles with the Great Islamic Raiders Army, the Democratic Front, and the People's Resistance Brigade for control of Kinshasa-Brazzaville, leaving the city largely in ruins.

The Great Islamic Revolutionary Army is an Islamic organization. The group's self-proclaimed goal is to create a Sunni Islamic federative state in Southern Africa and re-establish a Caliphate. A fusion of several smaller Islamic groups, the Great Islamic Raiders Army enjoys support in the middle of the country but has been involved in fighting with all other major groups.

The Democratic Union is a hardline Communist group, opposed to the New Haven Liberation Front. Rather than reuniting the country with the Northern Baltic, the Democratic Union's stated goal is to create an independent Communist state in New Haven modeled after Maoist thought.

The Freedom Volunteers Army is an organization dominated by the ethnic Bakongo group and led by Nkanga Mpudi, a police brigade commander in the former interim government. Mpudi's rhetoric is populist-socialist, and he promises a Bakongo-dominated government and massive programs of land redistribution to poor farmers - which can be expected to mostly benefit Bakongo.

The Christian Martyr's Popular Front is a hardline Christian group with its power base in northern New Haven. The group claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible and the Ten Commandments, under the leadership of Daniel Mbuli.

Is there any prospect for peace?


At the moment the fighting seems unlikely to stop without outside involvement, however President al-Baradei has noted repeatedly that Manth will not tolerate any foreign armed forces so close to its southern border. Therefore it seems that, barring direct Manthian intervention, the fighting will continue until a group or coalition can establish itself as the only remaining power in New Haven - probably by destroying all rival factions, which is likely to cost millions of lives.

ooc: Another long delay means another time-skip and newspaper article

AL-BARADEI CLOSES THE BORDER

Trade, travel to New Haven to stop in the face of attacks.


By Basil Stephanopoulos
About This Article:
This article was first published on kuproskleteras.com on Saturday, January 24 2009. It was last updated on Saturday, January 24 at 19:02 EET

ALEXANDRIA - President Al-Baradei, speaking in front of the UCPLC, announced that the border with the Free Republic of New Haven would be closed as of noon today. The President laid out his case before the assembled legislature, noting that in the wake of the transition government's flight from Kinshasa-Brazzaville the situation in New Haven has only grown worse, and that the Union Army had already been forced to stop most cross-border traffic to guard against smuggling.

Al-Baradei went on to warn that the ongoing chaos in New Haven would spill outside its borders if not efficiently contained.

Responding to questions the President also clarified that New Haven's waters would remain off-limits to foreign shipping despite the simultaneous closure of the border, and that the Union Navy would continue to patrol against smugglers. Al-Baradei acknowledged that this would "unavoidably cause hardship" in New Haven, but argued that cutting entry and exit to the outside world - and the import of supplies - would serve as a wake-up call to the country's government and to the various rebel leaders.

After the conference the Office of the President clarified another question which many had been asking, stating that the Union would neither recognize nor negotiate with the faction of Nkanga Mpudi, whose supporters now mostly control Kinshasa-Brazzaville and who proclaimed himself Acting President of New Haven earlier this week.

February 4, 2009, 7:30 EET
Hadeb

Gold and jewelry. Indiscreet...

The Havenite politican sitting across from Ibrahim had already managed to draw disapproval and they had barely been talking for five minutes. Arrogant, self-important and, most worryingly, ostentatious - none of these men were supposed to be influential anymore - Ibrahim was already guessing that this particular man could become a liability in the future. It was inconvenient already... besides the personal items there were guards, not the usual underpaid village militia but a personal retinue of fighters. To an extent it could pass off as the usual embezzlement, combined perhaps with some tribal loyalties. Few people questioned these things here, but in the Union would be a different matter.

So Ibrahim had reported to his superiors, and measures would be taken...

But for now the man opposite him was needed. Ibrahim leaned forward.

"You have the remainder on board?"

"Easy." came the reply, brashly casual. "Nobody actually wants to stay, it's just a matter of convincing them to go to you instead of west or overseas."

"And you know I never visited and not to show off what I'm about to give you."

The other laughed.

"Relax bwana. People will think I knew a stash. There is still so much shit under the ground, if there weren't so much fighting everybody would be digging."

Ibrahim shook his head, wondering again why people didn't get it so often. One might have thought in this line of work...

"People may think that here, but where you are going is a different matter. You'll have to give it time, time enough for us to set you up with some legitimate money. Then you can mix the other in and spend as you like, accounting is our responsibility after all."

"Just let's see the goods, bwana."

Ibrahim pushed a small case across the table. With a click the other opened it, eyes flickering over the contents. Two dozen large rubies - cash was useless here, and trackable in the Union.

"Then you bring me my helicopters, and I'll bring you your legislature."

The other man flashed a grin, and Ibrahim, careful not to show the inner wince at the flash of gold in it, merely nodded.






LEGISLATORS FLEE NEW HAVEN


A group of legislators from New Haven's mostly-defunct transition government arrived in Alexandria today after requesting, and being granted asylum in the Union.

By Georgios Stephanopoulos
About This Article:
This article was first published on kuproskleteras.com on Friday, February 6 2009. It was last updated on Friday, February 6 2009 at 18:34 EET

In only the latest sign of trouble continuing to wrack the Free Republic of New Haven, the last remaining legitimate governmental organization - a group of remaining legislators of the transitional government - abandoned their most recent redoubt in the northern town of Hadeb, as rebellion spread and fighting threatened to engulf even the sparsely populated highlands.

Ismail Fahmy, speaking on behalf of the Denomination of Foreign Diplomacy, revealed that the legislators in question had been extracted from New Haven by air after requesting sanctuary within the Union."

"Civil and military authorities cooperated to carry out this mission," he said, "with personnel of the Denomination of Foreign Diplomacy handling the initial talks and then handing over matters to the Union Army to transport the officials safely."

Fahmy also indicated that New Haven's officials were not the only cargo of the Army's aircraft, noting that a large number of important state documents had accompanied the New Haven government.

"The Union has done its best to ensure that the New Haven legislature, although unavoidably smaller than the normal number, will be able to continue the work of government whilst we offer protection from the unrest within New Haven, and we share the hopes of the Havenites that peace will be swiftly restored to the country and the government can soon return."

Although the topic of whether the Union might intervene to restore that peace has been an increasingly prominent one in debates across the country, when asked about the possibility Fahmy avoided making any commitments.

"While the Union intends to preserve its military non-involvement in the civil discord within New Haven, the Government would like to take this opportunity to formally restate its support for the sole legitimate government of New Haven and call on opposing rebel parties to lay down their arms."

Fahmy did state, however, that the legislators would be given every accomodation within Manth, and confirmed, in light of the New Haven government's lack of funds and resources, that it would be receiving financial support from the Union to help restart its operations.

"It says to engage the autotargeter you set a switch on the commander's console... umm... I think this one..."

Mbula squinted at the pages, full of cramped text and images. Like many civiliants-turned militia he was discovering firsthand that digging a main battle tank out of storage and making any decent military use of it were two very different things. He considered himself lucky so far to have got the hang of moving the thing around... sort of... but the weapons systems were a complex nightmare that he had been trying to figure out for two days. He hadn't even looked at the papers describing the vehicle's protection systems yet, either.

"Okay, let's go..." he continued to himself, or possibly to the tank.

He carefully picked his switch, looking back at the manual several times for confirmation. A grin broke out as several screens lit up, cameras and sensors on the outside of the vehicle springing to life and sending data back into the belly of the tank. But then a low warning chime began to sound. Ten minutes of paging through the manual in increasing worry finally found the answer:

"Oh...low fuel."

Mbula sighed, flipping through pages once again. What was the proper way to refuel... that's when movement on one of the cameras caught his eye. A truck pulling up to the camp's improvised depot.

Mbula wriggled his way out of the commander's sea, pulling himself up through the hatch. He sprang down from the roof of the tank and began to walk towards the truck when he saw that men from the camp already talking to the driver and passengers.

He watched with some interest as two of the strangers went around to the back of the truck and threw back a tarp, exposing stacks of crates and what looked like a few long tubes. Oh, more weapons... The rest of the men had already gone inside the low building.

Mbula turned, on his way back to puzzling out the correct refueling procedures, when one of the strangers started speaking quietly to the other. Apparently Mbula had not been seen.

It was only a few short words, though, and he didn't recognize them for Greek.