[Xiomera]

Huānoch, Milintica

January 12th, 2025

Neina Arana and her Cabinet were sitting around the conference table in the Victory Room at Haven House in various states of irritation. The sanctions announced by Huenya were more of an annoyance than the leaders of Milintica liked to admit. Despite only being in power for a short time, Arana and her officials had already grown quite accustomed to a certain lifestyle. The idea that communism should be accompanied by austerity or an ascetic life seemed silly, at least for them. After all, Milintica’s new leaders were working hard every day to advance the cause of revolution, Milintican ideals and the red wave. Given all their hard work and sacrifice for the cause, it was only fair that they receive at least some reward!

Despite all their railing against capitalism, trade with the outside world had provided Arana and her closest circle comforts and benefits. Skimming from the taxes and tariffs such trade provided was also part of the package – a fact which had paid off nicely when the new government had sharply hiked said taxes and tariffs “because capitalist countries could afford it”. Huenya’s sanctions, in and of themselves, were not a huge problem. While Huenya did provide a lot of trade to Milintica, there were definitely wealthier and stronger economies out there. While Huenya did provide goods to Milintica (especially the luxury goods that Arana’s circle saw as a reasonable reward), other countries could provide said goods even easier and better. But if the insufferable President Xiadani succeeded in her crusade to convince other countries to sanction the MCP as well, things could get much more uncomfortable very quickly in Huānoch. It was with that thought in mind that Milintica’s leaders were deciding that if they were to have their lives made difficult, they would return the favor.

Protests against the dissolution of the Representative Assembly and the banning of rival political parties were continuing, but were increasingly fragmented and scattered due to the ongoing crackdown by the security forces. The detention of the top MPP leadership, along with that of the minor parties, was helping the new government keep the opposition disorganized and on the back foot. For now, the security forces and the NDIP were holding firm in their support for the government as well. The recent purge of their leadership had served that cause well.

Neina Arana was feeling more confident every day in her ability to maintain control of Milintica. It was now time to begin pushing for her agenda abroad.

The first project was nearby: Doi Nam. The Doinamese Liberation Army needed help in their fight against President Vuong and the Doinamese military. Milintica’s Popular Freedom Militias, backed by the Red Wave Guards, would soon send emissaries to the DLA. If the DLA proved receptive to Milintican help, Milintica’s infamous guerrillas would soon make their way to northern Doi Nam.

The second project was a little further away: Huenya. The Huenyan Communist Party and its allies in the Huenyan political scene were growing increasingly disgruntled with the dominance of Xiadani and her Unification Party, which was lurching increasingly rightward under her leadership. More to the point, Xiadani was proving to be an annoyingly vocal and active impediment to Arana’s dream of a red wave. It wouldn’t take much to convince the HCP and its allies to begin pushing back more aggressively against the Unification Party and the President. And if Xiadani proved to be too much of a problem, all of her rhetoric and fire wouldn’t protect her from a knife wielded in the shadows.

The last project was a bit further away still: Taragai. The holdouts of the old government under Chaghagan Khoga were quickly collapsing under assaults from both the transitional government and the rebels being backed by Xiomera. But the loss of Taragai would be a big embarrassment to Milintica, and Arana wasn’t prepared to concede that without a fight. With a stroke of her pen, more units of Popular Freedom Militias would try to find a way back into Taragai to bolster Khoga. Milintica’s own military leadership was privately convinced that Taragai was already lost, and that any effort to reverse that was doomed to failure. But none of them wanted to be the one to tell Neina Arana that she was doomed to embarrassment in Taragai no matter what she did. So in another part of the world, Milintican guerrillas would throw themselves into a meat grinder for a cause.

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Chuaztlapoc, Huenya

At the same time that Huenya and its actions were on the minds of Milintican leaders, those same leaders and their actions were very much on the minds of Huenyan leaders as well.

President Xiadani and her own inner circle were now thoroughly convinced that “President” Arana’s victory was a sham. All of her actions since the election – blocking the election results from being reviewed, arresting opposition leaders, banning rival parties and shutting down the legislature – screamed “thief” in the ears of Xiadani and her circle. As leaders of a country that was a recent and very enthusiastic convert to democracy after six centuries of despotism, that was a big problem for the Huenyans.

Another huge problem for the Huenyans was the ramifications that Milintica’s slide into dictatorship posed for Caxcana. If Arana’s takeover went unchallenged, Huenyan intelligence officials feared that could encourage a domino effect around Caxcana. In a region that already had too many tyrannies, Caxcana simply couldn’t afford any more. As a still emerging and at times fragile democracy, Huenya itself was at risk if tyranny became ascendant again in Caxcana. Huenya’s leaders thus saw Neina Arana as a cancer growing in their midst.

A smaller but still present problem, in the grand scheme of things, was Huenyan pride. Being from a new country still finding its footing, Huenya and its leaders were searching for respect. From everything that had happened since two of their diplomats had been detained, the new Milintican regime had shown Huenya anything but respect. Every approach and action Huenya had taken towards Arana had been treated with contempt and disdain. While this never openly entered the discussions between Huenyan leaders as they decided how to deal with Arana, it was not not a factor.

Two plus two quickly came to equal four, as far as Huenya was concerned. Neina Arana had stolen the Milintican election. Therefore, she was not legitimately Milintica’s President. Her government was also illegitimate as a result, and any action taken against it was thus fully justified.

Huenyan intellligence was fully aware that there was a part of the MPP and other parties in Milintica that was advocating for a more forceful response to Arana’s regime. President Xiadani authorized the FIS to make contact with those activists. If there were people willing to fight for a democratic future in Milintica, Huenya was ready to help them.

And if nothing else, the Huenyans had just raised a brigade of volunteers to go fight in Taragai, only for the transitional government to decline them. That brigade didn’t have to go to Taragai. It could go elsewhere. Possibly somewhere closer to home.