A Battle Unseen

[Augustus]

In a discreet conference room in the local tax office in Knivby, near the Hutorian border, Davostag – January 5633

Oskar Ivarsson and Tilde Verner, officers from the State Security Bureau with minor stations in two governmental departments.
Ivan Hailxo and Jonathan Ualiev, members from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Kundrati Union.


The four individuals sit down after exchanging pleasantries.

Oskar Ivarsson takes the lead: "As the circumstances have changed a bit, fröken (ms.) Verner and I have been informed of what was discussed at the previous meeting, as I'm sure you were as well. So, let's resume where our superiors left off."

Tilde Verner: "There will have to be quite the extraordinary circumstances for our government to shift our relations with the Legionary regime. As the preceding delegation made clear, we can not ignore the safety of about 1.1 million Davostagers in Kundrati."

Ivarsson: "Unless, of course, you have a solution or plan of action that could bring about such extraordinary circumstances."

Ivan Hailxo: "There may be around a million Davostagers on the mainland, but there are also tens of thousands of Davostagers still in the Free Zone. As a small country of two million, even if a small couple of thousand people leave, we get hit very hard. All we are doing is trying to rebuild and your people have been helping there. Yet as you’ve seen when they tried to blow up our President and massacre many of our own, the callous disregard for humanity they hold is immense."

Johnathan Ualiev: "It is our belief that the attempted assassination of our President was to decapitate our leadership to make an invasion of the Free Zone easier. Back during the Invasion of the Homeland, tens of thousands were killed and slaughtered by war and buildings were knocked down. Nobody could leave, that was the policy of the Legion. Yet here we are now. And we are of the belief that the Legion will not allow anyone to come to the mainland in the event of another war, trapping the few Davostagers with the rest of us in the island."

Verner: "Are the citizens of the Kundrati Union unable to go west, south and east? That is to say, to other countries beside the mainland?"

Ualiev: "What would be the point? We are an island, surrounded on all sides by the sea. The closest point is the mainland. What would be the benefit of risking going west, being caught in patrols, going east far away, or God forbid going south? When all the flights going in these directions are booked, when the ferries are themselves full? We are not like your country, where you have a land neighbor and you can risk walking or running there.
You can easily have millions of people rush for a land border and then it is the problem of that country. But we do not have that luxury. And in war, many will want to leave. Many will stay and fight to their death, many more will want to escape the inevitable destruction of their homes and lives. Unless nations like Luthori step up and bring in as many ferries and planes as they physically can to help, what good will it be to try swimming or using a boat to go anywhere? And why should they if they're seeing nations comply with the demands of a hostage taker?"

Verner: "What I'm trying to say is that are you completely isolated from the rest of the world? Unable to interact with the international community? If that's not the case, the best solution right now to your predicament is to continue developing Etxea into a thriving society and bide your time for the internal unrest of the Legion to bring it down. And Davostag is not overly concerned about the Davostagers under your care, as we trust your government's political judgment."

Ivarsson: "Exactly. And the real question is what the Kundrati Union want from Davostag."

Hailxo smiles. He opened up his notes and begun to speak using his notes.

Hailxo: "It would be unrealistic for us to ask your government to stop supplying the Legion. We know full well what we have to do in the meantime. However, nations lead by example, and while we can always build ourselves up to be one of the biggest economies in our region, all the Legion has to do is strike terror upon our people. You've seen what they've tried to do to Mr. Claudius Nero, haven't you? We don't know what internal unrest the Legion has right now. For all we know, Mr. Lazar and his cronies could be the only people in... so-called Legionaria. Or there could be a coup and we will all be happy with this pest gone before us. I'd imagine Davostag would know more about us about that, we don't hear reports of Kundratis or Davostagers fleeing en masse up north, it would be fair to assume the Legion doesn't have that unrest for now."

Ualiev: "Mr. Ivarsson, I'll probably cut to the chase more than my colleague here. Your public statement of not recognizing us even unofficially has put a major hamper on things. We're perfectly fine with Davostag pretending that there is one Kundrati and not saying which Kundrati is the real Kundrati. We're even fine with you trading with the Legion, after all we understand your predictament. Your colleague said you trust our political judgment. But your leadership, or I suppose your former leadership, made it clear our government doesn't exist in terms of recognition. We'd like for you to make clear, at least to our President, that your leadership will work with us even if it is done quietly. We would also like our businesses to be allowed to operate and seek investment in our territories."

Hailxo: "The latter part may sound strange to you, but if Davostag pretended there was one Kundrati, would it matter which Kundrati you would be doing business to? Or which Kundrati your people would like to go to? The Davostag-Kundrati community in Peghonai, for example, could be paying family back home for their expenses, remittance so to say, why not the Davostag-Kundrati community in Etxea? If they want to escape to Davostag, they should be allowed to no matter what. If they want to spend money at the store, would it matter if they'd pay the Legionary Kuno, or the more trusted Union Kuno? It's clear the Legion relies on you, why not put in some pressure there towards them?"

Ivarsson takes a moment to think about what has been said

Ivarsson: "Our government would not be against a remittance scheme of sorts, and I'm sure we can allow for any Peghonai-Davostager to obtain Union paperworks."

He pauses for a second.

Ivarsson: "And yes, you can tell your president that we will maintain communications with the Kundrati Union. Perhaps Bekenial could serve as a good meeting point for future meetings rather than this inconvenient place."

Hailxo smiles and takes down some notes.

Hailxo: "I agree. In exchange we will pretend that your recognition of the Legion didn't happen. We have an open door policy on immigration, so any Davostager that would like to head to the Union can do so easily. If you wish we can open an office in Davostag for this purpose, of course with necessary disguises in case of complaint."

Hailxo pauses for a moment as well.

Hailxo: "I will let my President know that we can continue communications via Bekenial."

Ivarsson nods in approval.

Verner: "Good, seems like we've made progress then. An office can be arranged, I suppose we'd suggest one in Eliseborg, on our most southern island, where there is a strong intelligence presence. We can easily keep in contact there."

Ivarsson: "Indeed. And on top of that, let's establish a connection between ours and Etxea's intelligence services through that office, seeing as the region is currently enflamed in a full-scale spy war. At least from our intel." Saying the last part with a smirk and wink.

Ualiev smiles and chuckles.

Ualiev: "These are good terms. We'd be happy to agree to those. The office in Eliseborg should be good for us as well."

Ivarsson: "Good. Should we consider this meeting done then? Unless there is something else we need bring up? Otherwise, next time we'll meet in Eliseborg."

Hailxo: "I believe we are at an end. Thank you both. We shall meet again."

And the meeting is concluded.