by Brent Reilly
CHAPTER 54
Billy’s fifty marathon battalions systematically struck every enemy air unit in Russia. Billy took the five best to hunt down Mongol survivors to prevent them from regrouping.
This victory, after the one over Jebe in the Alps, convinced Russians that the Baron was gonna win this thing. After three centuries of personal security, most Mongols were surprised that their neighbors broke into their homes and businesses to slaughter them. Gangs killed and robbed anyone in Mongolian clothing. A massive redistribution of wealth swept Russia.
Back in Kiev, Billy found a new government trying to get off its knees. Instead of bombs, Ivan kept his quads busy transporting food confiscated by Moqali so Russians didn’t starve this winter. Billy let Ivan try out Moqali’s excellent wands. The big guy extended flame for ten meters, screaming like he was having an orgasm.
“These are yours if you help me reproduce with your most powerful quads. Preferably prodigies, but I don’t care about looks, bloodlines, or personalities, as long as they hate Mongols.”
Ivan studied him for a long time, unsure whether to be flattered or offended. “You want to have sex with our daughters?”
“I don’t care who they are related to. But wouldn’t you like to be a grandfather to a quad like me to ensure Russia remains free?”
Powerful families always bred with the most powerful quads, so he accepted the logic with a nod of his head. Soon, a few dozen ladies flew with him.
“Ivan, come with me to sign mutual defense pacts and trade agreements with the Europeans, Turks, and Persians. Yes, I know Turkey is in Europe, but nobody regards them as European. I need you to look them in the eye so they see how serious you are. You can’t smile, but you’ve mastered serious. Meanwhile, I’ll have the trainers organize those who can fly the highest so you can base units on top of the Ural Mountains. Together, we’ll form a wall against Mongol invasions.”
Now, for Billy, came the hard part -- diplomacy. He couldn’t imagine dealing with clever rulers while concealing his identity. However, he knew he had to unite everyone before the euphoria of his victories wore off.
The month before, Free Europe had been on the cusp of kicking out the Empire when Jack’s video of the Baron dying on the Alps came out. His death took the heart out of the resistance.
Prussia’s Kaiser urged all Mongols in Europe to flee to his Holy Roman Empire because, without them, he was not only doomed -- he was next. Millions loyal to the Empire fled while they could. It was like Prussia was a sinkhole that sucked in the unwanted.
Then fifty thousand marathoners appeared out of nowhere and smashed the Prussian military with ruthless efficiency. First to go was the Berlin Flying Academy, which was organizing several hundred thousand quads from the rest of Europe.
The Red Baron visited the biggest population centers to tell them he’d sack any city where he found live Mongols. To survive, they must shoot every Mongol on sight. To explain his presence, he distributed videos summing up the Alps and Kiev. Ivan presented himself as the head of an independent Russia and the Scandinavian division commander said all of Scandinavia was behind the Baron.
Overnight, it seemed, everything turned upside down. The Kaiser, in a panic, offered to change sides, so the Baron demanded his government commit all its resources to eradicating the Mongol menace. Which many thought funny because the Kaiser’s family had more Mongol blood than German.
Once he heard, Jack released an extended version of the video of the Baron’s death, but this time, after Jack sobbed over the Baron’s body, the “corpse” clearly said, “Jack, you cry like a girl.” They hugged it out while bawling like kids after eating too much candy. “We pranked Genghis Khan!” the Baron yelled into the video wand. This recording spread even faster than the original.
Once again, the Baron shocked the world.
The possibility of the Baron alive in Prussia electrified the continent. Governments declared holidays and everyone who could fly, flew. Those who couldn’t rode horses. Even the king of England made the trip, bringing the mothers of Billy’s children to impregnate again. The few million pro-Mongol people who sought refuge in Prussia found several million anti-Mongols coming to kill them. The epic slaughter released a century of oppression that pundits called The Therapeutic War.
After their usefulness ended, Billy incited the locals to annihilate the royal family, starting with Barbarossa, the unpopular red-bearded Prussian Kaiser. The Holy Roman Emperor was older than even Genghis Khan. His unsuccessful wars against his neighbors led him to ally himself with the Mongols in the first place. Barbarossa thought the Mongols were helping him, only to realize later that he was helping the Mongols.
With the Kaiser’s death, the Baron declared Europe free and every European government later made that their independence day. Every year all of Europe would celebrate liberty on the same day to cement their unity.
So many came to hear Billy’s speeches that people got trampled. Kings demanded meetings. Bankers begged him for money. People climbed over each other for just a glimpse. Everyone wanted to touch him.
Billy couldn’t wait to leave.
Only Jack had the credibility to organize democratic elections, rescuing Billy from months of politics.
But what really unnerved Billy were the videos recording the reactions to the Baron’s death the month before. People would never forget the moment they heard the tragic news. Grown men fainted, others cried, while many simply fell apart. Riots broke out, flags were lowered, and suicides soared. When they discovered Mongol troops celebrating, Free Europe units attacked enemies several times their size on their own. People on the street struggled for a better word since “hero” seemed so inadequate. Heroes come and go. The Baron pulled off miracles.
It made Billy feel like a total fraud.
Billy took his marathoners to Turkey to convince the Ottoman Empire to also declare independence, despite several generations of intermarriage with the Khan’s descendents. Rather than face extermination, they agreed. Billy reproduced with the royal family’s most powerful women and left trainers to upgrade the Turkish Air Force.
Unlike the Prussians, the Turks had long resisted the Mongols. In fact, their best sultan gathered a million man air force, only to be crushed by Tamerlane two centuries before in the largest battle in history. The current sultan, the Khan’s own great-grandson, happily declared his kingdom’s independence, urged his citizens to kill Mongols on sight, and ordered his military to cleanse itself of pro-Mongolian officers. To show his sincerity, he personally killed his mother, the Khan’s granddaughter, who ruled in his name and made his life a living hell.
Billy sent his force to seek out enemy units while he flew to Arabia. The Arab leaders got freedom, wands, and the prospect of offspring with the world’s most powerful quad. In return, all they had to do was loan the Baron several marathon battalions.
The Persian leadership, however, was more Mongolian than Persian, so Billy wiped it out and started a representative democracy.
Through cash, political support, military might, strategic reproduction, treaties, and trade agreements, Billy built an iron curtain west of the Mongol Empire. If warfare is politics by another means, then Billy just consolidated the victories paid for in blood on the battlefield.
His English family followed his growing armada and turned Bank of Mongolia branches into parts of Global Bank.
Europe declaring its independence inspired the Chinese to rebel from the island of Hainan, Indians from the island of Ceylon, and Koreans from Kanghwa Island, opposite Seoul. So Billy sent them wands, armor, and gold, plus videos of the Baron urging the Koreans, Chinese, and Indians to kill Mongols and take their stuff. Global Bank also sent teams to start branches there. Billy offered generous rewards for natives in the Mongol Air Force to switch sides. The Baron was famous for his generosity, and Billy would rather pay them than kill them.
Bear found Billy in Damascus, trying
to teach the new government how to govern and wishing Jack would do it for him. There Bear regaled his friends on how he gave a thousand tons of gold to the rebels in Korea and China. As soon as the smugglers got away, Bear left news agencies a video of how the Great Khan funded his newest rebellions. Then he ran like hell to find safety with his friends. Billy had a video recorded of the two of them laughing at the Khan’s foolishness. Team Red pooled together a thousand insults to ridicule the Khan so that he never offered so much ever again.
Billy encouraged them to celebrate for as long as they wished. Only after satiating themselves with food, drink, and sex would they accept their next assignment. Meanwhile, Billy held a leadership meeting with just a dozen of his most trusted commanders.
“We’re starting a new phase of the war. Send for Jim to impersonate me. He’ll find red body armor waiting for him at Global Bank in Warsaw. I need Genghis to think the Red Baron leads you.
“Grandma, you have over fifty marathon battalions. Exterminate everyone in the Stans so that the Khan cannot re-supply there. You may find a million Mongols fleeing Europe, so kill them, too. Take as many Mongol lives and valuables as possible.
“Genghis will need months to field an armada that can take you on. Meanwhile, he’ll position a blocking force to deter you from raiding east. Wait for me to bring the 1st Marathon Division to destroy them.
“Your raids will enrich your troops, so make them commit now to stay with you until the Khan enters the Stans. They’re not gonna fight an armada when they have so much money to spend, so send them home and harass the Khan with the super-quads. Destroy the roads to slow him down. Moqali left millions of bombs near Kiev, so I asked Ivan to move them to the southern edge of the Ural Mountains for you. I want Genghis far from home for as long as possible.”
His friends stared at him in stunned silence before Bear asked the obvious question: “Red, you want five thousand of us to take on Genghis Khan?”
“No. I want you to keep Genghis Khan far from home for as long as possible, while intercepting his communications with the homeland without jeopardizing your troops. To reward you, I’ll start delivering thousands of super-suits to Global Bank in Kiev. You’ve all begged me for your own armor. This is what you must do to earn it.”
Grandma asked the next obvious question. “What are you up to now, you devious bastard?”
Billy felt flattered. “It’s so preposterous that you’d laugh in my face.”
“Then I approve,” Bear grandly declared.
“But how will we stop Genghis Khan from destroying Europe?” Grandma asked.
“Stop him?” Billy looked surprised. “I don’t want you to stop him. In fact, I want all of Europe to know that Team Red cannot stop him. I need you to send the marathoners home so the Europeans know you cannot save them from Genghis Khan in a killer mood. I told Jack when he visited me on the Alps that I was sending Genghis to Europe. I even gave him a thousand tons of gold to prepare the Europeans.”
Grandma needed a moment to take all this in. “You knew, before beating Jebe, that Genghis Khan was personally going to Europe?”
Billy shrugged. “Well, yeah.”
“Just how far do you plan ahead, Red?”
“I must foresee a few years to pre-deploy supplies. My father explained what I must do a decade ago.”
“You’ve known for a decade how to end our world war?”
“Not end it. How to win it.”
“Why are you sending Genghis Khan to Europe?”
“One hundred new governments can’t spring up overnight and just get along. Without a compelling reason, it’ll take Europe a century and many wars to settle its borders, affairs, and policies. I can’t wait that long. Since I believe in self-representation, I cannot conquer Europe for its own good. Which is why I need Genghis.
“The only thing that can unite Europe is a credible enemy threatening to exterminate them all. Jack and I cannot prevent the Europeans from fighting each other. But Genghis Khan can.”