Frank had enjoyed his little holidays in Ivas, but now Tschistokjow had called for him again and the vacation was over. Grumbling and ranting, Frank left his home village and drove to Minsk. His friend Alf followed him, as always.
In the meantime, HOK had bought a complete orc horde on the Internet and the miniatures were waiting for their new owner, who was already on the road in western Russia. Kohlhaas was sent to Cernihiv to organize the propaganda campaign there.
The Rus had spread in some more cities and new local chapters had been founded. Tschistokjow had successfully spun his web and the freedom movement had moreover formed an alliance with the Voskhod Solnza, a group of patriotic Russians from Nowgorod.
At the same time, the conflict with the collecitivists was steadily increasing. Dozens of men had been wounded or even killed in the last weeks on both sides. A protest march through Bryansk was stopped by Sergei Spehar, when his men were attacked by a huge mass of angry collectivists.
The police had furthermore arrested several hundred Rus at that day and some section leaders were now waiting for their indictment because of breach of the peace.
In return, Vitali Uljanin was building up his movement on a grand scale and the media gave him the chance to spread his ideology all over Russia.
The collectivists demonstrated in many cities and their number multiplied within a short time. Often, the members of the CASJ attacked the russian police after the rallies, knowing that the officers had the instruction to behave passive, in order to avoid confrontations.
Uljanin now increasingly recruited Asian immigrants for the CLJ. They lived in great numbers in the bigger cities and in metropoles like Moscow, about half of the population was of non-Russian heritage. The CASJ leader promised them a lot of privileges and was eager to fill the ranks of the CLJ with these men.
In some regions, the militant arm of the collectivist movement was soon dominated by non-Russian troopers. In many bigger cities, especially in Moscow, the CLJ units consisted of a substantial part of Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Chinese, Turks, Armenians and other Asians.
Another big part of the armed collectivist units were Russians, who had completely fallen through the social network and had nothing to lose anymore. These men were driven by pure desperation, following every man who promised them a better future..
Most of the CLJ troopers didn`t understand the “philosophy” of Theodore Mardochow or his political principles. But the promise of social justice and equality sounded like music in their ears.
The collectivist agitators had a great talent to instrumentalize these desperate men, and as part of an angry crowd they could become extremely dangerous and were able to smash nearly every opponent in their unbridled rage.
However, in the ranks of the Freedom Movement of the Rus it was often the same kind of men. A big part of Tschistokjow`s followers was as poor and desperate as the ordinary collectivists, who were ready for anything. The main difference was, that Tschistokjow`s men were all Russians or other Europeans.
Thus it were often totally frustrated fanatics on both sides who fought each other in the streets, driven by different ideologies.
“In Eastern Europe, almost 20 million people are already registered with an implanted Scanchip. In England, it is about 68% of the population. In North America, over 100 million people…”
“Go on!”, said the World President bluntly.
His secretary, Mr. Morris, looked up briefly with a submissive smile and continued reporting.
“In Germany, it is about 16 million people…so far!”
“In France about 20 million people…”
“In Italy…”
“Good! That`s enough, Mr. Morris!”, interrupted the chairman of the World Union his secretary.
“Yes, Mr. World President!”, answered the gray-haired man.
“In 2034, the whole operation has started with a lot of zeal. But now, the mass registration is stagnating!”, growled the politician and stood up from his chair.
“I can not explain it, Mr. World President”, stammered Morris.
“You don`t have to explain anything, because that`s not your task!”
“Yes, Mr. World President!”
“The implanted chip is the key to our global reign. And only power and domination are the things in this world, which are really important for us”, muttered the head of the World Government and walked through his luxuriously furnished office.
“But the media tell the people every day, that the registration is good and necessary. So why is it stagnating since a few months?”, asked the secretary.
“The voluntary registration was level 1. Soon level 2 will follow. This will be the second step: the forced registration! First in North America and then in Western Europe”, murmured the World President.
Mr. Morris was silent for several minutes and seemed to brood. He nervously fiddled with his pen, then he took a deep breath.
“Some people say, that the implantated Scanchips contain poisoned nano-capsules. They say that registered people can be killed with a single touch of a button. It looks from the outside like a heart attack or something like this…”
The World President was silent and had his back turned to the old secretary. Now he turned slowly around and looked at Mr. Morris, perking his eyebrows up.
“What did you say?”, he asked.
Morris gulped and tried to smile friendly. “Well, I have read something on the Internet, about the new Scanchips…I mean…”
“What have you read, Mr. Morris?”
“This nonsense with the poisoned nano-capsules in the implantated Scanchips. Nonsense! Conspiracy theories!”, answered the secretary with trembling voice.
The World President cleared his throat. “Why should the World Government put poison into the new Scanchips? This sounds really weird, my friend.”
Morris was relieved. After all, his boss looked now more friendly and seemed to be relaxed.
“I have found a website, a couple of days ago, where somebody has written that the World Government could kill people who behave politically incorrect with these new implanted Scanchips. They just press a button and then…then the poison capsule is activatet and…”
“This sounds like a bad science fiction, eh?” The World President grinned.
“Yes! Like a really bad science fiction story. Yes!”, laughed Mr. Morris.
“Would a humanistic and democratic World Government do something like that, my friend?”, asked his boss.
“No! This is absurd! But it`s getting worse with all these conspiracy theories on the Internet. They write a lot of stupid stuff, you know…”, said Mr. Morris.
“How long do have your implanted Scanchip, my friend?”, asked the World President with an impish face.
“How long, Sir? Well, I think I was one of the first people who have been registered. This new Scanchip is a great idea. It replaces the payment, the identity card and so on”, explained the secretary casually.
“And you are still alive! So you do not have a poisoned nano-capsule inside your body, Mr. Morris! Ha, ha!” The World President was holding his belly with laughter and his servant nodded approvingly.
“Yes, that`s right, Sir!”, came back from the gray-haired man.
“What grade have you actually reached in our organization, Mr. Morris?”
“What?”
“Are you still in the 4th grade?”
The secretary was baffled for a moment. “Yes, unfortunately I am still in the 4th grade, Sir…”
“I wish you a nice day, Mr. Morris”, said the chairman of the World Union and clapped on his servant`s shoulder.
The aged man looked at him and didn`t know what to say anymore. He had really enjoyed this light-hearted chatter with his master. In such a personal way, he had never talked to him before. This had been one of the greatest moments in his life, as Mr. Morris thought.
“I go now, Mr. World President!”, he muttered and fetched his laptop.
/> “Good bye, my friend!”, replied his boss, staring after him with an expressionless face.
Mr. Morris left the skyscraper and hurried through the streets of New York City, because he still had to buy a present for his oldest daughter, who celebrated her birthday today.
When the secretary came home, he was already awaited by his loving family. After a nice party, before he went to bed, he hugged his oldest daughter like a man who was just content deep inside.
When Mr. Morris was lying on his back, he smiled to himself and remembered the interesting talk with the most powerful man on earth. Then he fell asleep with a feeling of deep happyness and satisfaction.
The next morning, his wife found him dead in his bed. Apparently, he had suffered a heart attack, while he was sleeping. But this was not unusual, because Mr. Morris was already 61 years old.
Artur Tschistokjow and Sergei Spehar were already preparing another rally, this time in Velikie Luki. Ahead of the event, the Belarusian president had announced on television, that the Rus wanted to come again to Smolensk. The Russian authorities and the CASJ reacted immediately, while Uljanin himself came to the city to speak in front of over 60000 people.
A massive police presence, this time also elite units of the Global Policy (GP), unbolted the inner city hermetically. Ultimately, even some GCF soldiers were ordered to Smolensk. Finally, everybody expected bloody riots,
but nothing happened. Not a single Rus appeared - at least, not in Smolensk. Instead, more than 17000 of Tschistokjow`s supporters marched through the streets of Velikie Luki and overwhelmed the small number of their political opponents and the local police.
The Freedom Movement of the Rus triumphed on that day, while its enemies grasped at nothing. They were made to look like fools and in the end, the frustrated collectivists took their anger out on the police. A day full of riots and destruction followed. Despite the admonitions of Uljanin, the mass got out of control after the rally and went rampaging through the streets.
On the other hand, Artur Tschistokjow leaned back grinning in the president palace in Minsk, watching the television reports. With this new orgy of senseless violence, the collectivists had lost a lot of sympathies among the population and the Russian policemen.
Finally, the Belarusian president took the opportunity for his own propaganda attack on the collectivists. He called Uljanin a “Pied Piper” and his followers a “Mongolian horde” on Belarusian television.
Nevertheless, the World Government was still not very interested in Belarus and the two Baltic States, because it were just three tiny countries with a population of hardly 15 million people. The Lodge Brothers had to rule over the lives of more than 8 billion people and at that time they had more important problems than Artur Tschistokjow and his little rebellion. Moreover, the freedom movement did not make the impression, as if it could overrun Russia and Ukraine in the next months.
In the meantime, the GCF had driven the Islamic rebels out of the bigger cities in Iran and the civil war had come to an end - more or less. Anyway, the Iranian revolution had failed. There was no more doubt about that. Mass executions and a wave of arrests followed the war.
The renegate forces had to return to their old tactic of guerrilla warfare and finally disappeared in the rugged highlands of northern Iran.
Meanwhile, Japan had sent some military advisers and technical equipment to Belarus, in order to help the small country to build up a defensible army.
Artur Tschistokjow implemented the general conscription again, building up a regular army which was called the “Volksarmee of the Rus”. The first military parade took place in Minsk at the end of November. In the following months, Belarus started to produce modern firearms and even a few Japanese “Gunjin” tanks.
A little later, Matsumoto gave his allies a small number of missiles with nuclear warheads, which Tschistokjow planned to use as a threat in case of emergency.
But nevertheless, all these armament efforts were ridiculous and there was not much, Belarus would have had against an army like the Global Control Force.
On the other hand, the attempts of the Rus to build up an regular national army showed the population the spirit of ability to put up a fight. Especially Tschistokjow`s supporters felt stronger now, because their country became - slowly but surely - a real state.
Back in 2018 and the following years, not only the world`s national states had been abolished, but also the independent armies of all countries. Soon after, they had completely been replaced the by GCF.
This had advantages and disadvantages for the Lodge Brothers. Of course, the biggest advantage was the fact, that the nations were disarmed and helpless.
However, the Global Control Force remained the only regular army on the planet and it was subjected to a incredibly cumbersome administration and could not react very flexible.
So the GCF was a giant organization with the task to monitor and control billions of people all over the world. Like the Roman legions, they were always moved on the world map from one hotspot to the next and were constantly in use somewhere, in order to enforce the New World Order with an iron fist.
Only in exceptional situations, it could happen, that the World Government allowed it to a sub-governor to recruit some kind of national militia for a short time.
So it had been in the Iranian civil war, as sub-governor Kerman had sent out his own citizen militias against the Islamic rebels, before the regular GCF units had arrived. Such a procedure spared the “human resources” of the international forces, because when a rebellion or a civil war broke out somewhere, the expendable militiamen were sacrificed at first.
“I thought that the revolutionary mood would continue to spill over from Belarus to western Russia, but I am probably wrong”, said Wilden and walked beside Frank through an autumnal park in Minsk.
“Meanwhile, the collectivists take the bread out of our mouth. Apart from that, Russia is so incredibly big. You do not even know where to begin!”, answered Kohlhaas contritely.
“We must try to take over the rural regions as a first step, this is our only option. The big cities are still in the hands of the system and the collectivists. Uljanin`s movement has become really huge. He has won millions of people and the number of his followers is still growing. We can only dream of things like that.”
The two men sat down on a bench on the verge of a pond. Some ducks had recognized them and started to croak. Frank smiled and threw some bread crumbs into the water.
“We will never be able to win enough power in a country like Russia. This is just madness!”, he muttered.
“Madness? It is the only way to survive for us, Frank! Soon, we will try to liberate Estonia. Artur is already planning the next operation”, remarked the foreign minister.
“The next operation…I understand…”, grumbled his young friend and beheld the ducks thoughtfully. The animals were quacking loudly and came closer, while Frank gave them even more bread crumbs.
“You know, my boy, if I had told you a few years ago, that we would be free men in our own land one day, you would have called me insane, right?”
“Yes, you`re right!”, replied Frank.
“What`s about your sleep distrubances?”, Wilden wanted to know then.
Kohlhaas perked his eyebrows up. “Why do you ask me that now, Thorsten?”
“Why not, Frank?”
“I can live with them. It has become better if you want so...”, said Kohlhaas.
Wilden smiled paternally. “I am glad to hear this, my boy!”
Artur Tschistokjow sent thousands of his troopers to Estonia. His men had already prepared this invasion since months and had distributed huge masses of pamphlets and video discs among the people. Even a small private TV station they had set up in northern Latvia to influence the Estonians beyond the border with their propaganda.
Collectivist groups existed only in the capital Tallinn and in Tarku, but even these groups were not very strong. Furthermore, a great part of the
Estonian police officers seemed to have sympathies for the freedom movement, above all in the rural regions.
So the invasion of the tiny country was planned for the 15th of December, but it should become more a military strike as a political coup. This time, Artur Tschistokjow`s armed troopers wanted to come with a lot of armored vehicles and moreover units of the newly established Volksarmee of the Rus. Frank and Alf had been in Estonia since days, helping their comrades to spread Tschistokjow`s propaganda.
In the early morning hours of 12.15.2036, several hundred troopers occupied the police headquarter and the city hall of Parnu. The operation ended without any fights and the policemen laid down their weapons or even joined the trooper units.
A few hours later, Frank was on the way to Tarku, where Tschistokjow had prepared a mass rally. The small GCF had already withdrawn from the city and about 20000 Rus were waiting for their leader. Furthermore, the most important targets in the city had already been occupied. Within a few hours, about 50000 Estonians joined Tschistokjow`s crowd outside the administration building. The head of the freedom movement finally declared the city to a “liberated territory”.
His troopers camped overnight in the city streets and fought back some half-hearted attacks of the collectivsts. On the next day, they marched towards Tallinn.
But in the southern suburbs, they had to stop and withdrew again. Several thousand GCF soldiers had meanwhile gathered in the center of Tallinn and even more units of the international army were on the way to Estonia. They came from St. Petersburg and Helsinki.
Tschistokjow cursed. The operation had lasted too long and finally the attack on the Estonian capital ended with a defeat. Now the soldiers of the World Union drove the Rus back to Latvia.
At the same time, further GCF troops, coming from Poland and the Ukraine across the Belarusian border, occupied the cities of Grondo and Pinsk.
Artur Tschistokjow called the Belarusian up to defend their homeland and sent several regiments of the Volksarmee to Grodno to oust the invaders. General Frank Kohlhaas finally led about 10000 troopers to southern Belarus.
When he arrived in Grondo and the rebellious masses flocked together in the streets under the leadership of Tschistokjow`s political functionaries, the GCF troops marched off and left the city again.
All in all, it was nothing more than a mutual scanning. Tschistokjow declared on television, that “the Freedom Movement of the Rus had won against the oppressors”, while the international media taunted him, because of the failed invasion of Estonia.
After a short time, the episode was over and nothing had changed. However, Artur Tschistokjow had understood the message of the World Government.
The rest of the year 2036 passed quietly, and finally the snow began to fall. Frank and Alfred went back to Ivas and celebrated a peaceful Christmas with the Wildens.
“A happy new year, Artur!”, said Frank and sat down at the conference table in the presidential palace.
“Yes, thanks!”, muttered Tschistokjow, examining some documents.
For several minutes, there was an awkward silence, then Tschistokjow rose from his seat and said some things in Russian. The politician looked extremely irritated.
“We have been defeated!”, he said to his German colleagues and stared angrily around.
Wilden explained the Russians his view of things and a lively discussion ensued. All in all, the men agreed that their revolutionary work was stagnating.
“Japan will provide us with some machines in the next weeks, so that we can produce artillery and anti-aircraft guns”, whispered the foreign minister.
“Better than nothing…”, returned Kohlhaas.
“Yes, a good message, but if we can not continue our revolution, then we will loose everything in the long term!”, remarked Tschistokjow.
Yuri Litschenko, the Interior Minister, told Wilden that the collectivists were the main enemy, not the GCF, because they had successfully absorbed the revolutionary energy in Russia so far.
Finally, the heated debate lasted for hours, but Artur and his followers came to no satisfying result. Only one thing seemed to be clear: If they were not able to expand the revolution to Russia, the GCF would end their reign in the near future. Tormented by frustration and doubt, the men went back home and continued to rack their brains. This state of stagnation was the worst, that could happen to the freedom movement.
Street Fights and Miniatures
Prey World - Counterrevolution Page 6