12-11-2023, 04:06 AM
Epilogue
Palace of Flowers, November 22nd
"She's bluffing." Cuicanan, the Minister of Justice, laughed. "Xiadani knows we could blow Huenya off the map twice over."
"I have to agree," Chuanacoyo said. The Minister of Defense brought up a graphic on one of the display screens on the wall. "Our numerical advantage over Huenya in terms of sheer nuclear capacity is so large as to be ridiculous, frankly. For every nuke they could launch at us, we could launch at least ten. And their ABM defenses are vastly inferior to ours. We could almost certainly shoot down any missile they launched at us. They would not be so lucky."
"That almost certainly does not inspire my confidence." Catzina, the Minister of Science, took over the display and put up his own graphic. It showed the projected blast radius of warheads in the Huenyan arsenal, and the projected casualties if such a missile hit one of Xiomera's largest cities. "No ABM defense is perfect, as Minister Chuanacoyo well knows. And if even one or two missiles get through, the consequences for us would be severe. If such a missile hit Tlālacuetztla, it could mean the end of the Empire as we know it. Our command and control apparatus might not survive such an attack. And even if it did, the resulting disaster would make it difficult, if not impossible, to hold the rest of the Empire together."
"So do we simply give up on our ambitions for Huenya?" Maxtla, head of the Ministry for the Preservation of Xiomeran Values, shook her head. 'We have invested too much to simply walk away now."
"We're not walking away empty-handed," Catzina countered. "We have Tihanang, and for now, we may need to be content with that."
Quihichua, the Minister of Loyalty, spoke next. "We don't need to walk away from Huenya, per se. We just need to slow down our timetable. Be more patient with our aspirations." The Minister of Security, Tochuitli, nodded in agreement with his colleague. "We can continue to chip away at the fault lines within Huenya. Necatli hate Xiomerans, Itotemoc do not trust Tepiltzin, and the ethnic Xiomerans despise everyone else. We can continue to work those fault lines with our intelligence operations, until the whole edifice that is Huenya falls apart on its own."
"And when it does," Quihichua said approvingly, "we walk in and mop up each piece of Huenya and absorb it back into the Empire. Just like how Emperor Quiauhticue built the Empire in the first place."
Empress Calhualyana sat in thought, pondering her advisors' words. Like Cuicanan and Chuanacoyo, she felt that Xiadani was bluffing. She also believed that Xiomera was strong enough to withstand any nuclear punch that Huenya could throw at it, survive, and deal a horrifying retribution on the Huenyan people in turn.
But could she gamble the entire Empire on that?
In the end, such a gamble was not necessary. Xiomera, in her mind, was an eternal empire. She had plenty of time. And if she didn't, Calhualyana's children would fulfill the destiny she started. "This is what we shall do. For now, we will avoid poking the bear, so to speak. We will suspend our operations in Huenya. Cut off all support to the Golden Blade. Let Xiadani and the Huenyans think they have cowed us with their nuclear threats. In the interim, we will work assiduously to beef up our ABM defenses to counter the Huenyan threat. We will also continue to work the fault lines in Huenyan society that Minister Tochuitli pointed out. If we can make Huenya collapse from the outside, so much the better. And when it does, we will be waiting."
Calhualyana nodded to herself, as her ministers rushed off to execute her vision. Xiadani will think she has scared me off. Good. Let her think that. When the time comes, she will learn how wrong she was.
---
December 10th
Two weeks after Calhualyana's decision had left the Golden Blade high and dry, Huenya was cautiously breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Without the support of their Imperial patrons, the terrorist group rapidly lost ground to resurgent Huenyan forces. While there were still definitely hotspots and trouble zones that needed to be brought back under control, the country overall was beginning to return to normal. Or, at least, what passed for normal on a more typical Huenyan day.
In Chuaztlapoc, the newly reorganized Huenyan government was hard at work. The Federal Legislature was squabbling, occasionally fighting, but more often passing legislation and getting on with the business of governing. President Xiadani and her cabinet were also working, navigating the currents of a brand-new nation that was seemingly always in flux.
In the midst of the repair work being done to their headquarters, the Special Investigative and Prosecutorial Service was hard at work. SIPS, along with Federal Intelligence, was working to track down suspected terrorists and their supporters. Thoroughout Huenya, the hunters were now becoming the hunted. They were learning what the fear that had struck in others' hearts felt like now. In raid after raid, the SIPS, FIS, Federal Police and Huenyan Army were making sure of that. Every window smashed in, every door kicked in, every car suddenly forced to the side of the road and swarmed by armed law enforcement and soldiers served as reinforcement of the message that the Huenyan government was back in charge. And that justice would be coming to the Golden Blade and anyone who had supported them.
In Xomaxtli Hill, the ruins of Yauhmi's estate had stopped smoking. The Auroras were gone, the refugees that the estate had housed likewise gone or dead. Yauhmi had taken her time to mourn them all, in her own fashion. But Yauhmi had always been the type of person to mourn the dead and gone by working even harder for the living. The city of Calanochti had been chosen as the capital of the newly created Xiomeran Autonomous Homeland. Yauhmi had taken up residence there, in a converted fortress known as Tepoxte Stronghold. It would serve as her "palace" as she represented the Xiomerans of Huenya in the Chamber of Executives. It would also serve as her new refuge. People fleeing the Empire could find shelter at Tepoxte - and learn how to go back to Xiomera and resist Calhualyana and the XCP. Yauhmi was also working with the FIS to try and track down the Auroras.
Back in Chuaztlapoc, Texōccoatl and Tlalmaxxi were also hard at work. Texōccoatl was settling into his new role as tlacochcalcatl (High General) of the Huenyan armed forces. He was working closely with FIS Director Cuetlancaona and SIPS Chief Prosecutor Huexaca on restoring order within Huenya and catching suspected terrorists. Tlalmaxxi, with her previous experience as an intelligence agent, was also assisting in the hunt for Golden Blade fighters and their hideouts. Texōccoatl was also working with Defense Secretary Tlanexchel on boosting Huenya's defenses, just in case Xiadani's bluff to Calhualyana didn't work.
Huenya had emerged from the crucible of chaos unleashed by Calhualyana. Not unscathed; in fact, the scars would run deep. But Huenya had survived. And now, in the eyes of the survivors, it was time for Huenya to begin giving Calhualyana and her Empire just as much trouble back.
Palace of Flowers, November 22nd
"She's bluffing." Cuicanan, the Minister of Justice, laughed. "Xiadani knows we could blow Huenya off the map twice over."
"I have to agree," Chuanacoyo said. The Minister of Defense brought up a graphic on one of the display screens on the wall. "Our numerical advantage over Huenya in terms of sheer nuclear capacity is so large as to be ridiculous, frankly. For every nuke they could launch at us, we could launch at least ten. And their ABM defenses are vastly inferior to ours. We could almost certainly shoot down any missile they launched at us. They would not be so lucky."
"That almost certainly does not inspire my confidence." Catzina, the Minister of Science, took over the display and put up his own graphic. It showed the projected blast radius of warheads in the Huenyan arsenal, and the projected casualties if such a missile hit one of Xiomera's largest cities. "No ABM defense is perfect, as Minister Chuanacoyo well knows. And if even one or two missiles get through, the consequences for us would be severe. If such a missile hit Tlālacuetztla, it could mean the end of the Empire as we know it. Our command and control apparatus might not survive such an attack. And even if it did, the resulting disaster would make it difficult, if not impossible, to hold the rest of the Empire together."
"So do we simply give up on our ambitions for Huenya?" Maxtla, head of the Ministry for the Preservation of Xiomeran Values, shook her head. 'We have invested too much to simply walk away now."
"We're not walking away empty-handed," Catzina countered. "We have Tihanang, and for now, we may need to be content with that."
Quihichua, the Minister of Loyalty, spoke next. "We don't need to walk away from Huenya, per se. We just need to slow down our timetable. Be more patient with our aspirations." The Minister of Security, Tochuitli, nodded in agreement with his colleague. "We can continue to chip away at the fault lines within Huenya. Necatli hate Xiomerans, Itotemoc do not trust Tepiltzin, and the ethnic Xiomerans despise everyone else. We can continue to work those fault lines with our intelligence operations, until the whole edifice that is Huenya falls apart on its own."
"And when it does," Quihichua said approvingly, "we walk in and mop up each piece of Huenya and absorb it back into the Empire. Just like how Emperor Quiauhticue built the Empire in the first place."
Empress Calhualyana sat in thought, pondering her advisors' words. Like Cuicanan and Chuanacoyo, she felt that Xiadani was bluffing. She also believed that Xiomera was strong enough to withstand any nuclear punch that Huenya could throw at it, survive, and deal a horrifying retribution on the Huenyan people in turn.
But could she gamble the entire Empire on that?
In the end, such a gamble was not necessary. Xiomera, in her mind, was an eternal empire. She had plenty of time. And if she didn't, Calhualyana's children would fulfill the destiny she started. "This is what we shall do. For now, we will avoid poking the bear, so to speak. We will suspend our operations in Huenya. Cut off all support to the Golden Blade. Let Xiadani and the Huenyans think they have cowed us with their nuclear threats. In the interim, we will work assiduously to beef up our ABM defenses to counter the Huenyan threat. We will also continue to work the fault lines in Huenyan society that Minister Tochuitli pointed out. If we can make Huenya collapse from the outside, so much the better. And when it does, we will be waiting."
Calhualyana nodded to herself, as her ministers rushed off to execute her vision. Xiadani will think she has scared me off. Good. Let her think that. When the time comes, she will learn how wrong she was.
---
December 10th
Two weeks after Calhualyana's decision had left the Golden Blade high and dry, Huenya was cautiously breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Without the support of their Imperial patrons, the terrorist group rapidly lost ground to resurgent Huenyan forces. While there were still definitely hotspots and trouble zones that needed to be brought back under control, the country overall was beginning to return to normal. Or, at least, what passed for normal on a more typical Huenyan day.
In Chuaztlapoc, the newly reorganized Huenyan government was hard at work. The Federal Legislature was squabbling, occasionally fighting, but more often passing legislation and getting on with the business of governing. President Xiadani and her cabinet were also working, navigating the currents of a brand-new nation that was seemingly always in flux.
In the midst of the repair work being done to their headquarters, the Special Investigative and Prosecutorial Service was hard at work. SIPS, along with Federal Intelligence, was working to track down suspected terrorists and their supporters. Thoroughout Huenya, the hunters were now becoming the hunted. They were learning what the fear that had struck in others' hearts felt like now. In raid after raid, the SIPS, FIS, Federal Police and Huenyan Army were making sure of that. Every window smashed in, every door kicked in, every car suddenly forced to the side of the road and swarmed by armed law enforcement and soldiers served as reinforcement of the message that the Huenyan government was back in charge. And that justice would be coming to the Golden Blade and anyone who had supported them.
In Xomaxtli Hill, the ruins of Yauhmi's estate had stopped smoking. The Auroras were gone, the refugees that the estate had housed likewise gone or dead. Yauhmi had taken her time to mourn them all, in her own fashion. But Yauhmi had always been the type of person to mourn the dead and gone by working even harder for the living. The city of Calanochti had been chosen as the capital of the newly created Xiomeran Autonomous Homeland. Yauhmi had taken up residence there, in a converted fortress known as Tepoxte Stronghold. It would serve as her "palace" as she represented the Xiomerans of Huenya in the Chamber of Executives. It would also serve as her new refuge. People fleeing the Empire could find shelter at Tepoxte - and learn how to go back to Xiomera and resist Calhualyana and the XCP. Yauhmi was also working with the FIS to try and track down the Auroras.
Back in Chuaztlapoc, Texōccoatl and Tlalmaxxi were also hard at work. Texōccoatl was settling into his new role as tlacochcalcatl (High General) of the Huenyan armed forces. He was working closely with FIS Director Cuetlancaona and SIPS Chief Prosecutor Huexaca on restoring order within Huenya and catching suspected terrorists. Tlalmaxxi, with her previous experience as an intelligence agent, was also assisting in the hunt for Golden Blade fighters and their hideouts. Texōccoatl was also working with Defense Secretary Tlanexchel on boosting Huenya's defenses, just in case Xiadani's bluff to Calhualyana didn't work.
Huenya had emerged from the crucible of chaos unleashed by Calhualyana. Not unscathed; in fact, the scars would run deep. But Huenya had survived. And now, in the eyes of the survivors, it was time for Huenya to begin giving Calhualyana and her Empire just as much trouble back.
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