11-02-2025, 02:24 AM
Quote:[Kasaema, Presidents Office, July 8th, 5612]
Sladek had his face in his hands, he turned 78 just months ago and his age was catching up to him. His joints ached, he'd been passing blood in his stool for nearly a year, and the situation in Kundrati was only getting worse. The entire navy had been martyred in the Artanian sea, the only consolation being that they took thousands of the bastards with them, his men had died loyally and fought with fanatical resolve, and he expected the men in Extea to do the same.
All the moves pointed to a joint invasion of the Island, and possibly beyond if it didn't hold. Luthori, the satantic bootlicks they are had declared war preying on the vulnerability of the legion, and possibly because of the satellite photos of the Silos coming from Kalistan which had undoubtedly been distributed to neighboring powers. No, they would never stop developing, harnessing the atom. It was the only thing that could protect what he had spent a lifetime building, all the monuments to his glory and resolve, the thundering mines and never ending labor camps, they would be sealed for eternity in a bunker of plutonium in just a few short years. He needed, no, he must complete this holy project, only then can Kundrati live for eternity.
The economy and population was restless, they had been on wartime economy and embargo for many months now, and even the severe rationing and restless efforts of the commissariat were stretched to their limit in preventing public dissent. The prisons were full to burst, the mass graves becoming harder to hide, they didn't even bother doing it under cover of bad weather and night anymore, let the foreign powers prattle of the so called "crimes" against humanity, it was their fault so many traitors had come to defy the war, and in a way it was a benefit, better to cut out the tumors now than later.
He opened the document before him, progress was continuing in the Silos, it wouldn't be long now, all other finances and efforts diverted to focus upon it. All the magnificent chemical concoctions and human experimentation would pale in comparison to this new weapon. He continued, reading reports of fortification efforts of Extea. If they wanted to take the largest city in Kundrati, it would be nothing short of a blood bath. Sladek had organized 400,000 men to garrison the leviathan city of 12 million people, and spared no expense in manning it or keeping on the nearby coast every artillery gun, tank, and rocket battery loaded with chemical weapons of the entire arsenal not needed elsewhere. Machine gun nests, barbed wire barricades, trench networks, enfiladed defense positions, the reports went on and on. The island had to hold...it had to; Sladek began a coughing fit into his handkerchief, he lifted it and saw it stained with bright red blood as he wiped his mouth and lit another cigarette. Above all of this, he knew he likely wouldn't last much longer, there was one last issue to address before he died, but first the war had to be won. Sladek knew that soon,
He would appoint a successor.