01-10-2021, 10:11 AM
January 9th
IGP Party Headquarters, Tlālacuetztla
After their massive defeat in the Xiomeran elections, the members of the Imperial Glory Party were convinced once more of what they had, in fact, believed all along. Elections, at least ones that they could lose, were for fools.
Xayactochtli and the other IGP leaders had certain contacts in the Imperial military. They decided to utilize them.
January 10th
Tlehuaxpantl Imperial Army Base
10 miles outside Tlālacuetztla
3:15 am
The 4th Brigade, of the 1st Capital Division of the Imperial Army, was under the command of Brigadier General Chelapan. When Chelapan received the call from Xayactochtli, he had already been prepared. Within the hour, his brigade was on the move, headed to the capital. Their orders were simple: take the Prime Minister and his cabinet prisoner, secure control of the important buildings in the capital, and declare that Calhualyana was deposed and that Xayactochtli was now Emperor. Once they were fully in control of the capital and the government, they thought, their own coup would have no one in a position to challenge it. The IGP leaders fully expected that the other Imperial military forces would flock to their side, if they could move quickly enough and secure the city.
Things began to go wrong almost immediately. Calhualyana had not known about Xayactochtli's specific plan. But she had fully expected a backlash and prepared for it.
When the 4th Brigade began their advance on the capital, the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the Imperial Army moved to intercept them. Unlike the 4th Brigade, the 1st Brigade was not prepared to betray the Empress. And unfortunately for the 4th Brigade, the 1st Brigade was the best in the entire Army. Stationed at the Palace of Flowers, the "First of the First" served, in effect, as a praetorian guard for Xiomeran rulers. Before the coup, they had served as backup for the Jaguar and Eagle Warriors, as well as the Shorn Ones. In this new era, the Warriors of Huītzilōpōchtli and the Warriors of Tezcatlipōca filled the role of elite protection for the Empress. The 1st Brigade, however, was still an important piece of the capital defenses.
With the advantages of surprise and rapid movement taken away from them by the alertness of the capital's defenders, the 4th Brigade was unable to achieve the swift seizure of the government that Xayactochtli and Chelapan had envisioned. Instead, they found themselves sucked into a street fight they didn't want.
As fighting raged in Tlālacuetztla, Brigadier General Chelapan sent a message to Prime Minister Toquihu demanding he surrender the government. The Prime Minister responded with a set of Xiomeran obscenities vile enough to blister paint. He then contacted the Empress, who was back in Jinyu.
Jinyu
3:37 am
Empress Calhualyana, woken up from a sound sleep, was already out of bed almost as soon as Toquihu finished speaking. She tersely ordered her Prime Minister to secure the capital by any means necessary. She then ordered her servant to summon her plane, throwing on a set of clothes as she did so.
"Um....what do I tell the Laeralites, your Majesty?" her servant said. "Just tell them I had a bit of business to attend to, but that I will return to Jinyu very shortly, before the ink even dries on their draft. This won't take long," Calhualyana replied in a grim voice as she left the room.
Huaxtumba
4:45 am
The 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, Imperial Army, was under the command of Brigadier General Acahuetl. They moved to secure the center of Huaxtumba, where Xayactochtli and the IGP leadership had gathered to lead their coup. Taking control of the local television and radio stations, the IGP began broadcasting a call for Xiomerans to join their revolt against the Empress. Their call to action cited Calhualyana's plans to cede the Empire's claims to western Huenya and end the war as justification, and tried to get the Xiomeran people behind them.
That call was picked up, and amplified, around the country. However, the rest of Xiomera wasn't as eager to topple Calhualyana and resume the war as the IGP was. Much to the consternation of the IGP leadership, their call for Xiomerans to rise up in revolt with them went nowhere. A few Imperial military units did rise up in response to the IGP call, only to be swamped by the much larger number of Imperial forces who remained loyal to the Empress.
7:45 am
With the backup they had expected not materializing, the 4th Brigade found themselves pinned down and rapidly demoralized. They could see the center of the capital, but had made no progress in their advance, and were now taking fire from all sides by the capital's defenders. In Huaxtumba, the 3rd Brigade was also slowly being surrounded by units loyal to the Empress, and finding their own goals of expanding control throughout the city quite well thwarted.
No massive uprising was occurring in the rest of Xiomera as the IGP had hoped; the small pockets that had risen up were slowly but surely being reduced by the Imperial response.
Tlālacuetztla
11:45 am
With much of the fighting coming to an end, the Imperial Air Force command at Chueypotzotl Air Base received the Imperial jet. Stepping into the terminal, the Empress was greeted by Prime Minister Toquihu. "Your Majesty, you really didn't need to bother yourself to come back. We have everything in hand," Toquihu said.
"I know, but I don't hide in Laeral when someone is trying to take my crown from me. Who am I, Texōccoatl?" the Empress joked, to laughter from Toquihu. The Prime Minister presented the Empress with the latest report as they walked out of the terminal.
The relatively small movements of revolt throughout most of Xiomera had already been crushed. There was still some fighting in Tlālacuetztla, but when word got out that the Empress had returned to the capital and was taking over leadership of the counterattack, the already dwindling morale of the 4th Brigade collapsed completely. Within the hour, the capital fully belonged to Calhualyana once more.
That left only Huaxtumba.
Huaxtumba
1:45 pm
Within an hour of the attack on Tlālacuetztla failing, the revolt in Huaxtumba failed as well. As loyal Imperial troops rounded up their treasonous brethren, Calhualyana and Toquihu walked into the municipal palace, which the IGP had used as the base for their attempted coup.
Standing in the lobby, restrained and surrounded by loyal Imperial troops, Xayactochtli glared as Calhualyana walked forward. "You," he said bitterly. "You weak, soft usurper....you have no right to rule this country!"
"Weak? Soft? I defeated your would-be coup within a few hours, I think you have our positions reversed," the Empress purred in a low voice as she walked up to him. Before Xayactochtli could say anything else, Calhualyana knocked him out with the butt of her pistol in a single smooth motion. "When he wakes up, interrogate him," the Empress said coldly, as Toquihu nodded. "All of these traitors are to be interrogated. I want to know how far this plot goes, and if any further purge is required. As for the IGP....I hope they enjoyed their seats in the Imperial Parliament, they won't be sitting in them long enough for them to get warm. Also....set the 16th as the date for Xochiuhue's execution. This was the last gasp of his supporters, and I am not going to leave their idol around to serve them as a rallying point anymore."
Despite the annoyance of having to deal with yet another attempted coup in Xiomera, Calhualyana was actually pleased. All my enemies keep insisting on making themselves so readily known to me. If this keeps up, soon I'm going to be quite bored.
IGP Party Headquarters, Tlālacuetztla
After their massive defeat in the Xiomeran elections, the members of the Imperial Glory Party were convinced once more of what they had, in fact, believed all along. Elections, at least ones that they could lose, were for fools.
Xayactochtli and the other IGP leaders had certain contacts in the Imperial military. They decided to utilize them.
January 10th
Tlehuaxpantl Imperial Army Base
10 miles outside Tlālacuetztla
3:15 am
The 4th Brigade, of the 1st Capital Division of the Imperial Army, was under the command of Brigadier General Chelapan. When Chelapan received the call from Xayactochtli, he had already been prepared. Within the hour, his brigade was on the move, headed to the capital. Their orders were simple: take the Prime Minister and his cabinet prisoner, secure control of the important buildings in the capital, and declare that Calhualyana was deposed and that Xayactochtli was now Emperor. Once they were fully in control of the capital and the government, they thought, their own coup would have no one in a position to challenge it. The IGP leaders fully expected that the other Imperial military forces would flock to their side, if they could move quickly enough and secure the city.
Things began to go wrong almost immediately. Calhualyana had not known about Xayactochtli's specific plan. But she had fully expected a backlash and prepared for it.
When the 4th Brigade began their advance on the capital, the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the Imperial Army moved to intercept them. Unlike the 4th Brigade, the 1st Brigade was not prepared to betray the Empress. And unfortunately for the 4th Brigade, the 1st Brigade was the best in the entire Army. Stationed at the Palace of Flowers, the "First of the First" served, in effect, as a praetorian guard for Xiomeran rulers. Before the coup, they had served as backup for the Jaguar and Eagle Warriors, as well as the Shorn Ones. In this new era, the Warriors of Huītzilōpōchtli and the Warriors of Tezcatlipōca filled the role of elite protection for the Empress. The 1st Brigade, however, was still an important piece of the capital defenses.
With the advantages of surprise and rapid movement taken away from them by the alertness of the capital's defenders, the 4th Brigade was unable to achieve the swift seizure of the government that Xayactochtli and Chelapan had envisioned. Instead, they found themselves sucked into a street fight they didn't want.
As fighting raged in Tlālacuetztla, Brigadier General Chelapan sent a message to Prime Minister Toquihu demanding he surrender the government. The Prime Minister responded with a set of Xiomeran obscenities vile enough to blister paint. He then contacted the Empress, who was back in Jinyu.
Jinyu
3:37 am
Empress Calhualyana, woken up from a sound sleep, was already out of bed almost as soon as Toquihu finished speaking. She tersely ordered her Prime Minister to secure the capital by any means necessary. She then ordered her servant to summon her plane, throwing on a set of clothes as she did so.
"Um....what do I tell the Laeralites, your Majesty?" her servant said. "Just tell them I had a bit of business to attend to, but that I will return to Jinyu very shortly, before the ink even dries on their draft. This won't take long," Calhualyana replied in a grim voice as she left the room.
Huaxtumba
4:45 am
The 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, Imperial Army, was under the command of Brigadier General Acahuetl. They moved to secure the center of Huaxtumba, where Xayactochtli and the IGP leadership had gathered to lead their coup. Taking control of the local television and radio stations, the IGP began broadcasting a call for Xiomerans to join their revolt against the Empress. Their call to action cited Calhualyana's plans to cede the Empire's claims to western Huenya and end the war as justification, and tried to get the Xiomeran people behind them.
That call was picked up, and amplified, around the country. However, the rest of Xiomera wasn't as eager to topple Calhualyana and resume the war as the IGP was. Much to the consternation of the IGP leadership, their call for Xiomerans to rise up in revolt with them went nowhere. A few Imperial military units did rise up in response to the IGP call, only to be swamped by the much larger number of Imperial forces who remained loyal to the Empress.
7:45 am
With the backup they had expected not materializing, the 4th Brigade found themselves pinned down and rapidly demoralized. They could see the center of the capital, but had made no progress in their advance, and were now taking fire from all sides by the capital's defenders. In Huaxtumba, the 3rd Brigade was also slowly being surrounded by units loyal to the Empress, and finding their own goals of expanding control throughout the city quite well thwarted.
No massive uprising was occurring in the rest of Xiomera as the IGP had hoped; the small pockets that had risen up were slowly but surely being reduced by the Imperial response.
Tlālacuetztla
11:45 am
With much of the fighting coming to an end, the Imperial Air Force command at Chueypotzotl Air Base received the Imperial jet. Stepping into the terminal, the Empress was greeted by Prime Minister Toquihu. "Your Majesty, you really didn't need to bother yourself to come back. We have everything in hand," Toquihu said.
"I know, but I don't hide in Laeral when someone is trying to take my crown from me. Who am I, Texōccoatl?" the Empress joked, to laughter from Toquihu. The Prime Minister presented the Empress with the latest report as they walked out of the terminal.
The relatively small movements of revolt throughout most of Xiomera had already been crushed. There was still some fighting in Tlālacuetztla, but when word got out that the Empress had returned to the capital and was taking over leadership of the counterattack, the already dwindling morale of the 4th Brigade collapsed completely. Within the hour, the capital fully belonged to Calhualyana once more.
That left only Huaxtumba.
Huaxtumba
1:45 pm
Within an hour of the attack on Tlālacuetztla failing, the revolt in Huaxtumba failed as well. As loyal Imperial troops rounded up their treasonous brethren, Calhualyana and Toquihu walked into the municipal palace, which the IGP had used as the base for their attempted coup.
Standing in the lobby, restrained and surrounded by loyal Imperial troops, Xayactochtli glared as Calhualyana walked forward. "You," he said bitterly. "You weak, soft usurper....you have no right to rule this country!"
"Weak? Soft? I defeated your would-be coup within a few hours, I think you have our positions reversed," the Empress purred in a low voice as she walked up to him. Before Xayactochtli could say anything else, Calhualyana knocked him out with the butt of her pistol in a single smooth motion. "When he wakes up, interrogate him," the Empress said coldly, as Toquihu nodded. "All of these traitors are to be interrogated. I want to know how far this plot goes, and if any further purge is required. As for the IGP....I hope they enjoyed their seats in the Imperial Parliament, they won't be sitting in them long enough for them to get warm. Also....set the 16th as the date for Xochiuhue's execution. This was the last gasp of his supporters, and I am not going to leave their idol around to serve them as a rallying point anymore."
Despite the annoyance of having to deal with yet another attempted coup in Xiomera, Calhualyana was actually pleased. All my enemies keep insisting on making themselves so readily known to me. If this keeps up, soon I'm going to be quite bored.
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