[Lauchenoiria]

Situation Room, Fleura House, Lauchenoiria

As soon as the news reached Lauchenoiria about the latest insurgency in Mallacaland, the full Lauchenoirian Cabinet met in Fleura House. Alvarez, who had been planning to announce a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, was not pleased with this, but she was even less pleased at the idea of a further coup. She’d only just signed an agreement with the Aurian government-in-exile, and the pacifists were currently protesting outside Parliament. This was inconvenient timing.

Rodrigo Montaña, the Defence Secretary, looked harassed as he hurried here from a meeting with the Admiralty of the Navy about Auria. Given that the Pacifists were members of the governing coalition, it wasn’t a role that anyone expected would have too much work, but things were not working out that way. After King Hassan’s threats to the Lauchenoirian ambassador earlier in the year, Lauchenoiria had been keeping their eyes on the instability in Mallacaland, and this was their worst nightmare.

President Emilia Obando called the meeting to order. “You’ve all seen the videos, so let’s skip the description of the problem. Thank you for meeting again so shortly after our last discussion on Auria, but it seems that we’re going to have to keep an eye on two new coups across the IDU.”

“This is ridiculous,” Samantha Clavell, the Pacifist Party leader and only Pacifist in the Cabinet. “It’s like a plague of coups. They’re spreading, chaotically and more frequently. I oppose all military action but this is… I mean, if this continues unrest will spread and we’ll end up in a war anyways. Look, I can’t vote for military action, I was elected to oppose it, but I… well, do as you feel necessary.”

Alvarez raised her eyebrows at this statement, which was unexpected given Clavell’s opposition to signing the Lapointe Agreement earlier this same day. “Thank you, Secretary Clavell. Now, it’s a little premature to be proposing military action, events are still unfolding and it’s possible the new Mallacan government under Ibrahim Kamza will defeat this latest group of coup-plotters without any assistance.”

“The baseball player?” piped up Pavía. “Forgive my scepticism, but I expect Kamza will turn out like Marwick; that’s what happens when you elect people on their fame who have no political experience.”

“Kamza is untested, yes,” conceded Alvarez. “But so is this new pretender. We have enough on our plate with Auria right now, we need to wait and see. This is premature. We should evacuate all the Lauchenoirian citizens who returned to Mallacaland after the elections, however: we do not want a repeat of last time.”

“We’ve only just sent them an ambassador again,” Pavía pointed out.

“Which, in hindsight, was a mistake,” Obando sighed. “Look, I agree with Alvarez. If these new folks are connected to King Hassan in any way, we need to evacuate every Lauchenoirian in Mallacaland, including diplomatic personnel. It may seem an overreaction to the media, but once bitten, twice shy: we can’t guarantee people won’t be killed next time. It is better to overreact than to remain complacent.”

The debate continued, though most people agreed that it was too soon to commit to any course of action, especially military action, but that an evacuation was a prudent measure given the situation. Lauchenoiria’s experience of coups, both at home and abroad, had left the nation with a lot of collective trauma and domestic voters would forgive caution, even if their allies found it strange behaviour. Obando, who was in the process of scheduling a visit to Eiria alongside Montaña, was beginning to get a headache.

“There better not be any more coups,” Alvarez muttered as the meeting drew to a close. It was the one sentiment that everyone in Lauchenoirian politics, from the far-left to the far-right and everything in-between could agree on.