-Saint-Christopher-
23-01-2008, 03:18
War.
The crackle of gunfire tumbled across Saint Christopher City with the accompanying smell of sulphur and smoke as anti-tank weapons roared and thundered between the built-up city blocks. In the darkening gloom of the evening, flashes of light lit the sky as those not involved in the fighting huddled in their homes and watched the flickering static of the suspended television channels since the Declaration of National Emergency by President-for-Life Simon Silverstone the previous day. Assuming his term had not already come to an end by the only way his title deemed possible.
The tensions had been brewing for months. A former British Empire colony, the Republic of Saint Christopher had been ruled by a cabal of former military and colonial officers since its independence in 1953. Suppressing dissent with American blessing and aid for the better part of fifty years in order to remain out of the Soviet bloc, the regime had prospered in personal financial terms through the illicit drugs trafficking attracted to Saint Christopher due to its location half-way across the central Atlantic Ocean. In recent years however, American wariness at supporting former allies due to the War on Terror had left the warlords with very little to fall back on should the undisciplined and under-equipped army of the Republic be unable to contain the ever-increasing calls for democracy. Lip-service to democratic traditions, such as the impotent and ineffectual Republican Parliament that was hastily shut down anyway after the left-wing gained a landslide number of seats, served only to fuel the frustration of those living at the lower end of the social strata. The banning of opposition political groups was the final straw.
The United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher (UDFSC, or the United Front for short) was an alliance of left-wing and centrist parties that gained most of its strength from the Communist Party of Saint Christopher, which in itself maintained 2.1 million of the roughly 3 million members of the United Front. The Communist Party itself was a coalition of various shades of Socialist and Communist thought bound together by a common cause – the removal of President Silverstone. When the President passed Decree Three-Twenty-Two, banning all political organisations with a membership base greater than twelve people, the Congress of the United Front decided to finally make their move, and the illegally-armed members of the Saint Christopher Free Corps, the fifty thousand-strong militant branch of the United Front, attacked military installations across the capital city in the early afternoon.
Government forces had been caught off-guard, expecting low-level resistance in the streets rather than direct assaults upon military installations. Within several hours of the revolution beginning, the three divisions of the Republican Army had been forced back into the centre of the city towards the Presidential Palace, and the Free Corps had captured hundreds of pieces of military equipment, including armoured vehicles. The Republican Air Force and Navy were thrown into confusion, with several bases surrendering to Free Corps forces and others being paralysed due to communication lines from the Presidential Palace being sabotaged from the inside. Now the Free Corps was pushing on the entrenched Republican Army in the governmental district of Saint Christopher City, all roads converging on the Presidential Palace like a mains circuit cable.
Captain Romeo Julieta was leading a Free Corps Platoon up Roadway Five, approaching the Presidential Palace from the south. That is to say, the Platoon was currently holed up behind several areas of debris due to an entrenched Republican machinegun emplacement just ahead. Captain Julieta risked a moment to glance around the side of the rubble and quickly duck his head back in, chips of concrete being chewed from the corner of his refuge a split-second afterwards.
Julieta took a moment to remove his helmet and wipe sweat from underneath a mop of mid-length blonde hair matted to his forehead by the perspiration of heat and fear. He replaced his helmet and gripped the Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hands, mind racing as to the possibilities available. To his right, the rest of his squad looked to him fearfully for leadership; many of them with little or no combat experience themselves.
Romeo bit his lip, glancing across the street. A doorway was wide open to a small block of apartments, the brickwork pocked with numerous bullet holes from a previous battle. A dead body with a Free Corps band around his forearm gave testimony to its success. Romeo’s eyes led up across the windows on the upper floors as his mind formulated a plan.
“Harris,” he snapped, not taking his eyes from the position. Gregory Harris, the platoon’s chosen machinegun operator, moved his way carefully down the line as the Republican position fired blindly across the top of the fallen rubble. “Sir?” Harris asked with a tense voice.
The Captain glanced at him. “Lay down covering fire on the Republicans when I say,” he said as calmly as possible, trying to ignore his heart pounding. “Get Wilkes and Mackenzie to support you.” Looking further down the line, he shouted over the roar of the enemy machineguns. “Grenades, one each on my command!”
Each member of the squad took a moment to pull an explosive from their clothing and press themselves against the rubble. Romeo counted several seconds, and signalled with his right arm. Each member of the platoon threw their projectiles over the top, a minority forgetting to pull their pins, and as the blast kicked dust into the air Harris hoisted his machinegun onto the top of the rubble and began firing blindly down the street.
Romeo dived from his position and charged manically across the street for the doorway, the distance seeming a mile in the face of potential death. In what seemed like slow-motion, he figured the confusion for the Republicans lasted around three seconds before he heard the noise of bullets chipping the pavement as their gunner attempted to swing his weapon to bear. Fortunately, it took only a moment over three seconds for Romeo to dive through the open door…right into a Republican soldier.
The two men tumbled in the entranceway, both momentarily dazed and unsure at what had happened. When Romeo began to focus, he saw the other man’s face widen with fear and saw his hand go for his fallen rifle. Romeo was slightly faster, blasting a 7.62mm bullet at point blank range into the man’s face and closing his eyes as the blood splattered across the front of his tunic. Chambering the next round automatically, he took the stairs two at a time, swinging his weapon around at the top of the stairs for further enemies, but encountering none. A brief check of the upstairs rooms found the apartment empty. Romeo then pressed himself against the outer wall and moved to the edge of a window, peering around its corner.
The Republican position was within a small circle of fallen rubble that a Free Corps artillery piece had taken out of a wall during the battle. No more than ten soldiers huddled within the position, with three of them mounting machineguns that faced Romeo’s own stranded platoon. Taking a deep breath, Romeo analysed the situation and then swung around the corner of the window and took aim.
The first shot shattered the window pane, sending glass into the street and drawing the attention of both Romeo’s own platoon and the Republican soldiers. However, the Republicans were more concerned with the bullet that ripped through the head of one machinegun operator at that immediate moment, and as several of them swung their weapons at the first-floor window, Harris opened fire once more alongside his other comrades. It only took a moment for the opposition to go silent, and the platoon was free to move a few metres further, with a bloodied Captain Julieta at their front.
Hundreds of little victories occurred across the city from several approaches as the Free Corps squeezed the remaining Republican positions into a tight circle around the Presidential Palace. As darkness enveloped the island nation, the Free Corps fought on into the night as the situation began to stalemate and the Free Corps forces dug in and demanded Silverstone’s resignation and the surrender of the Republican Army.
At 2am, General Kyle Montague, Chairman of the Republican High Command, announced the surrender of remaining Republican Army, Navy and Air Force assets to the Free Corps, and reported the arrest of President Silverstone by members of the High Command in the face of an insurmountable defeat.
The Revolution of January 23rd had succeeded. What happened next was to be another question, and become the most important time in the history of the nation since its independence.
--------
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/we_are_kommissar/miravona-flag-large-jpg.jpg
The United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher
Official Diplomatic Communique
Be it known to the international community that the Republic of Saint Christopher is disbanded as of January 23rd 2007, following the victory for the forces of progression and justice from within the people of Saint Christopher. The People's Republic of Saint Christopher is hereby announced, and the Revolutionary Council of the United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher is to be given full executive and administrative powers for a period of time lasting no longer than one month to organise democratic apparatus and elections for the parties involved in the Revolution.
Former President-for-Life Simon Silverstone is held under arrest for Crimes Against the People to be detailed at a Court of Prosecution held under the authority of the Revolutionary Council. All former governmental and military officers of the Republican Government and the Republic Military are similarly to be held in a state of arrest to determine individual culpability to the aforementioned charges of Crimes Against the People. All Republican governmental and military assets are to be held as property of Revolutionary Council and the Saint Christopher Free Corps. In conjunction with this, the Free Corps is given official powers of policing a defence until rescinded by the Revolutionary Council.
A temporary curfew on the streets of Saint Christopher City between the hours of 8pm and 8am. A national holiday is declared for January 23rd, to be known as Revolution Day.
Signed by all members of the Revolutionary Council,
Jacob Trelawne Somersby
Chairman of the Communist Party of Saint Christopher
Jessica Howel-Jones
Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Saint Christopher
David Templeton
Chairman of the Saint Christopher National Party
Iain Lowe
Chairman of the Independent Liberal Party of Saint Christopher
Yvonne Kendle
Chairwoman of the Saint Christopher Justice Party
The crackle of gunfire tumbled across Saint Christopher City with the accompanying smell of sulphur and smoke as anti-tank weapons roared and thundered between the built-up city blocks. In the darkening gloom of the evening, flashes of light lit the sky as those not involved in the fighting huddled in their homes and watched the flickering static of the suspended television channels since the Declaration of National Emergency by President-for-Life Simon Silverstone the previous day. Assuming his term had not already come to an end by the only way his title deemed possible.
The tensions had been brewing for months. A former British Empire colony, the Republic of Saint Christopher had been ruled by a cabal of former military and colonial officers since its independence in 1953. Suppressing dissent with American blessing and aid for the better part of fifty years in order to remain out of the Soviet bloc, the regime had prospered in personal financial terms through the illicit drugs trafficking attracted to Saint Christopher due to its location half-way across the central Atlantic Ocean. In recent years however, American wariness at supporting former allies due to the War on Terror had left the warlords with very little to fall back on should the undisciplined and under-equipped army of the Republic be unable to contain the ever-increasing calls for democracy. Lip-service to democratic traditions, such as the impotent and ineffectual Republican Parliament that was hastily shut down anyway after the left-wing gained a landslide number of seats, served only to fuel the frustration of those living at the lower end of the social strata. The banning of opposition political groups was the final straw.
The United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher (UDFSC, or the United Front for short) was an alliance of left-wing and centrist parties that gained most of its strength from the Communist Party of Saint Christopher, which in itself maintained 2.1 million of the roughly 3 million members of the United Front. The Communist Party itself was a coalition of various shades of Socialist and Communist thought bound together by a common cause – the removal of President Silverstone. When the President passed Decree Three-Twenty-Two, banning all political organisations with a membership base greater than twelve people, the Congress of the United Front decided to finally make their move, and the illegally-armed members of the Saint Christopher Free Corps, the fifty thousand-strong militant branch of the United Front, attacked military installations across the capital city in the early afternoon.
Government forces had been caught off-guard, expecting low-level resistance in the streets rather than direct assaults upon military installations. Within several hours of the revolution beginning, the three divisions of the Republican Army had been forced back into the centre of the city towards the Presidential Palace, and the Free Corps had captured hundreds of pieces of military equipment, including armoured vehicles. The Republican Air Force and Navy were thrown into confusion, with several bases surrendering to Free Corps forces and others being paralysed due to communication lines from the Presidential Palace being sabotaged from the inside. Now the Free Corps was pushing on the entrenched Republican Army in the governmental district of Saint Christopher City, all roads converging on the Presidential Palace like a mains circuit cable.
Captain Romeo Julieta was leading a Free Corps Platoon up Roadway Five, approaching the Presidential Palace from the south. That is to say, the Platoon was currently holed up behind several areas of debris due to an entrenched Republican machinegun emplacement just ahead. Captain Julieta risked a moment to glance around the side of the rubble and quickly duck his head back in, chips of concrete being chewed from the corner of his refuge a split-second afterwards.
Julieta took a moment to remove his helmet and wipe sweat from underneath a mop of mid-length blonde hair matted to his forehead by the perspiration of heat and fear. He replaced his helmet and gripped the Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hands, mind racing as to the possibilities available. To his right, the rest of his squad looked to him fearfully for leadership; many of them with little or no combat experience themselves.
Romeo bit his lip, glancing across the street. A doorway was wide open to a small block of apartments, the brickwork pocked with numerous bullet holes from a previous battle. A dead body with a Free Corps band around his forearm gave testimony to its success. Romeo’s eyes led up across the windows on the upper floors as his mind formulated a plan.
“Harris,” he snapped, not taking his eyes from the position. Gregory Harris, the platoon’s chosen machinegun operator, moved his way carefully down the line as the Republican position fired blindly across the top of the fallen rubble. “Sir?” Harris asked with a tense voice.
The Captain glanced at him. “Lay down covering fire on the Republicans when I say,” he said as calmly as possible, trying to ignore his heart pounding. “Get Wilkes and Mackenzie to support you.” Looking further down the line, he shouted over the roar of the enemy machineguns. “Grenades, one each on my command!”
Each member of the squad took a moment to pull an explosive from their clothing and press themselves against the rubble. Romeo counted several seconds, and signalled with his right arm. Each member of the platoon threw their projectiles over the top, a minority forgetting to pull their pins, and as the blast kicked dust into the air Harris hoisted his machinegun onto the top of the rubble and began firing blindly down the street.
Romeo dived from his position and charged manically across the street for the doorway, the distance seeming a mile in the face of potential death. In what seemed like slow-motion, he figured the confusion for the Republicans lasted around three seconds before he heard the noise of bullets chipping the pavement as their gunner attempted to swing his weapon to bear. Fortunately, it took only a moment over three seconds for Romeo to dive through the open door…right into a Republican soldier.
The two men tumbled in the entranceway, both momentarily dazed and unsure at what had happened. When Romeo began to focus, he saw the other man’s face widen with fear and saw his hand go for his fallen rifle. Romeo was slightly faster, blasting a 7.62mm bullet at point blank range into the man’s face and closing his eyes as the blood splattered across the front of his tunic. Chambering the next round automatically, he took the stairs two at a time, swinging his weapon around at the top of the stairs for further enemies, but encountering none. A brief check of the upstairs rooms found the apartment empty. Romeo then pressed himself against the outer wall and moved to the edge of a window, peering around its corner.
The Republican position was within a small circle of fallen rubble that a Free Corps artillery piece had taken out of a wall during the battle. No more than ten soldiers huddled within the position, with three of them mounting machineguns that faced Romeo’s own stranded platoon. Taking a deep breath, Romeo analysed the situation and then swung around the corner of the window and took aim.
The first shot shattered the window pane, sending glass into the street and drawing the attention of both Romeo’s own platoon and the Republican soldiers. However, the Republicans were more concerned with the bullet that ripped through the head of one machinegun operator at that immediate moment, and as several of them swung their weapons at the first-floor window, Harris opened fire once more alongside his other comrades. It only took a moment for the opposition to go silent, and the platoon was free to move a few metres further, with a bloodied Captain Julieta at their front.
Hundreds of little victories occurred across the city from several approaches as the Free Corps squeezed the remaining Republican positions into a tight circle around the Presidential Palace. As darkness enveloped the island nation, the Free Corps fought on into the night as the situation began to stalemate and the Free Corps forces dug in and demanded Silverstone’s resignation and the surrender of the Republican Army.
At 2am, General Kyle Montague, Chairman of the Republican High Command, announced the surrender of remaining Republican Army, Navy and Air Force assets to the Free Corps, and reported the arrest of President Silverstone by members of the High Command in the face of an insurmountable defeat.
The Revolution of January 23rd had succeeded. What happened next was to be another question, and become the most important time in the history of the nation since its independence.
--------
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/we_are_kommissar/miravona-flag-large-jpg.jpg
The United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher
Official Diplomatic Communique
Be it known to the international community that the Republic of Saint Christopher is disbanded as of January 23rd 2007, following the victory for the forces of progression and justice from within the people of Saint Christopher. The People's Republic of Saint Christopher is hereby announced, and the Revolutionary Council of the United Democratic Front of Saint Christopher is to be given full executive and administrative powers for a period of time lasting no longer than one month to organise democratic apparatus and elections for the parties involved in the Revolution.
Former President-for-Life Simon Silverstone is held under arrest for Crimes Against the People to be detailed at a Court of Prosecution held under the authority of the Revolutionary Council. All former governmental and military officers of the Republican Government and the Republic Military are similarly to be held in a state of arrest to determine individual culpability to the aforementioned charges of Crimes Against the People. All Republican governmental and military assets are to be held as property of Revolutionary Council and the Saint Christopher Free Corps. In conjunction with this, the Free Corps is given official powers of policing a defence until rescinded by the Revolutionary Council.
A temporary curfew on the streets of Saint Christopher City between the hours of 8pm and 8am. A national holiday is declared for January 23rd, to be known as Revolution Day.
Signed by all members of the Revolutionary Council,
Jacob Trelawne Somersby
Chairman of the Communist Party of Saint Christopher
Jessica Howel-Jones
Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Saint Christopher
David Templeton
Chairman of the Saint Christopher National Party
Iain Lowe
Chairman of the Independent Liberal Party of Saint Christopher
Yvonne Kendle
Chairwoman of the Saint Christopher Justice Party