At 12:30 in the morning, Paul, Natalizio and a small group of military and communications personnel sat in the ethnarchy situation room in Rome, eyes fixed on satellite camera images of each of the Palestine Coalition launch locations. Each screen showed an image, Rome time, Israel time, and the Europe Ethnarchy general accountable for taking out the location. The room was quiet, with Paul relaxed in his chair as if this was just another day at the office. At 12:48 there was movement on screen three, a missile launcher in Tyre, Lebanon positioned to strike Haifa. Paul gave strict orders not to strike until a missile was in the air. He looked up at the screen, watched the launcher get into position and continue its ignition sequence. Missiles targeting the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Center districts readied on the other screens. Two minutes later, the first missile from Tyre launched.
“Execute!” Paul gave the order to his ships in the Mediterranean. In three seconds, they began their massive attack on the missile already deployed, then on the Palestine Coalition airbases and missile launch locations.
“Get me Chairperson Ikeda,” Paul said to his communications director.
Chairperson Ikeda was just arriving at her office in Tokyo when her assistant transferred Paul’s call to her. They’d been friends, and she was happy to get his call, but wondered why he would be calling in the middle of the night Rome time.
“Hello, Paul,” Ikeda said.
“What are you trying to do, Chairperson?” Paul knew that Ikeda had no idea about the Palestine Coalition attack, but he needed to feign outrage toward her to catch her off guard and gain her support in denouncing the attack.
“What do you mean, Paul?” she asked.
“The strike against Israel! Asia is attacking Israel!” The act was working. Paul took a gave the room a smile and waited for Ikeda’s response.
“What attack?” Ikeda said.
“We detected missile activity along the Israel border targeting the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Center districts. We’ve had to scramble our own defenses to protect Israel. With all the turmoil in the world I can’t believe you would do this to me, Chiyo!”
Ikeda just didn’t know what to say. Paul kept silent, putting more pressure on Ikeda to come up with an explanation. She had none.
“Paul, I had no idea,” she said. She was visibly nervous, signaling to her assistant just outside her office to come in. “I need to find out what’s going on.”
“Chiyo, I’m going to defend Israel, and if that means the loss of lives in the Asia Ethnarchy, then so be it.”
“Paul, let me get into this, I’ll call you back in 30 minutes.”
“This may all be over by then,” Paul said. He watched his screens as he saw Palestine Coalition military sites obliterated by Europe Ethnarchy missiles.
Rahn was right about one thing, the action would be swift and decisive. He just wasn’t expecting to be on the losing end. It ended with not one plane or missile reaching Israel, the Palestine Coalition being badly damaged, Ikeda denouncing the rogue action, and Paul playing the innocent victim defending one of its territories. Ikeda wanted nothing to do with the Palestine Coalition and was more than willing to transfer control of the coalition countries over to the Europe Ethnarchy. Paul accepted the countries and instilled a seven-year peace-through-strength military enforcement treaty in the region. He installed military bases in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt Sinai and commissioned the creation of the Europe Ethnarchy Embassy in Jerusalem to reinforce Europe’s presence in the region. Paul would spend much of his time there, ensuring that peace was kept between Israel and its neighbors. Rahn and his lieutenants managed to escape the counteroffensive, eventually making their way to the Jordanian Highlands with plans to regroup, still unaware that one of them was a covert Europe Ethnarchy agent.
While the treaty garnered strong support from six of the chairpersons, three of them saw his actions as threatening to their ethnarchies. They weren’t going to let Paul’s conduct go unchecked.
Tripoli, Libya
2063
T he Africa Chairperson Khaled Maghur greeted Chairpersons Anton Popov from Russia and Bo Zhao from China at the entrance to his palace in Tripoli, Libya. Ever since the annexation of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt Sinai into the Europe Ethnarchy six months earlier, the three Chairpersons had been concerned about Paul’s continued influence and power in Europe. They all knew of his electric personality, how the other chairpersons fawned over him, how multitudes across the ethnarchies viewed him as god-like. This latest move, sold by Paul as necessary to keep peace between Israel and its neighbors, looked like the first of many territory grabs to Maghur, Popov and Zhao. They didn’t trust Paul and were determined to stop him.
The three walked into the palace, a small entryway leading into a large parlor. The parlor was adorned with colorful African art from the day’s most popular artists, including ebony and tamboti wood carvings, and portraits of past and current Africa Ethnarchy chairpersons. A butler approached the three with a tray of green tea and fritters in syrup. Each helped themselves to the food and drink, then followed Maghur to a round ironwood table with three ornately carved chairs. As the three sat, Maghur sipped his tea then started the discussion.
“Chairpersons, I think we all know of the actions by Ambrosi and agree on the seriousness of the annexation.”
Popov took a cigar from his pocket and lit it. Maghur despised cigar smoke but decided not to make an issue of it. Popov knew he hated cigar smoke, which was precisely why he lit up. Zhao smirked when he saw Popov light up, also knowing Maghur hated the smoke.
Maghur continued, “Africa never liked the Egypt Sinai deal at ethnarchy formation, but our chairperson at the time was weak.” When the ethnarchies were formed in 2025, there was a dispute over whether Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula should be part of the Asia or Africa Ethnarchy. Sinai was a peninsula in Egypt but was considered part of the Asia continent. The chairpersons at that time agreed that the Sinai Peninsula would be named Egypt Sinai and be included in the Asia Ethnarchy. Maghur was Egyptian, grew up in Cairo, and despised that his home country was split between ethnarchies. With Paul now holding Egypt Sinai, any likelihood of reunifying Egypt would be ever more difficult.
“You should have done like we did,” Popov said. Russia was in a similar situation in that much of Russia was in Asia. When Russia broke with Europe to form its own ethnarchy, it threatened military action on both Asia and Europe if they didn’t agree to Russia annexing its entire territory into its own ethnarchy. The Asia and Europe Ethnarchy chairpersons at that time agreed, allowing Russia to remain whole. Popov, being raised in Irkutsk, a Russian city, but part of the Asia continent, was pleased his home city wasn’t under rule of the Asia Ethnarchy.
Not having said a word yet, Zhao took a bite of his fritter, enjoying the sparring between Popov and Maghur.
Maghur bristled at Popov’s jab but tried to play it cool. Maghur continued, “Ambrosi’s built a strong military and intel network, just look at what he did to the Palestine Coalition. Defeated without landing one missile. What’s to stop him from continuing his march? He’s more dangerous than Hitler ever was.”
“What’s your plan?” Popov wanted Maghur to show his cards.
Maghur was ready. “Ambrosi is building strong coalitions with the other six ethnarchies, and each would come to his rescue if he were attacked. We need to take them out, then keep them out when we attack Europe.”
Zhao stayed quiet, not because he wasn’t capable of participating. He was a brilliant military strategist who had built formidable sea and air forces capable of annihilating entire cities thousands of miles away. His mind was already working on China’s role in the alliance. He was also embarrassed by his poor English skills, limiting what he said to avoid looking weak to his peers.
“I’m worried about North America,” Popov said. The North America Ethnarchy, led by the United States, had strong sea, land, air, and space forces with installations not only in North America but in the Central Ame
rica, Caribbean, Oceania, and South America ethnarchies. The protection came at a price--food rations. North America’s citizens looked as if there was no worldwide food shortage, with obesity continuing to be one of its biggest health issues.
Popov took another puff of his cigar, intentionally blowing smoke in Maghur’s direction. “We need to take out the North America installations,” he said.
“Between the three of us, we’ve got the nukes to do it,” Maghur said.
Time for Zhao to speak up, “No nukes.” Popov and Maghur both looked at Zhao, surprised not only by his comment but that he actually joined the conversation. Zhao continued in his broken English “Once one fires nuke, everyone fires nuke, end of world. No nuke if we to survive as human race.” Zhao had a point. They couldn’t do something that would trigger nuclear war, they needed to do it with conventional weapons.
The three continued their discussion on attack strategy throughout the day. They agreed that Africa would take out Central and South America and Caribbean installations, China would take out those in Oceania, Asia and Western North America, and Russia would take out the Eastern North America sites. The coordinated attack would then be followed by air and sea attacks on Europe by Africa and Russia, with China utilizing its long-range capability to keep crippled installations at bay. The attack was to commence April 23, 2063. Popov would have loved to use Zeus, but it was nowhere near ready for deployment.
Cyberintel Director Natalizio met with Paul in his office a week after the three chairpersons met in Tripoli. “We’ve got intel that Africa, Russia and China are planning strikes.” Natalizio’s intelligence network was working like a well-oiled machine, utilizing its embedded agents to give critical intel to Paul and Natalizio.
“On who?” Paul asked.
“First on Central, South, North America, Caribbean, Oceania, and Asia military installations. Then on Europe.”
“When?”
“April 23rd.”
Paul leaned back in his chair. “They want to take everyone else out and make Europe fend for ourselves, right?”
“That’s how it looks,” Natalizio said.
“What’s our Zeus mole say?”
“It’s not anywhere near ready.”
“OK, keep me posted on intel. Good job Director,” Paul said.
“Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.” Natalizio got up and left Paul’s office.
Paul sat in his chair, reflecting on the state of events. He knew Popov was bitter about the ethnarchy split; he also knew Popov had a grand vision to revive the former USSR under Russian rule. He knew Maghur was worried about the Palestine Coalition annexation and hated that Egypt Sinai was under Europe. He presumed China’s involvement because his relationship had been frosty with Zhao due to Paul’s alliance with the Asia Ethnarchy and Chairperson Ikeda, and Zhao’s strong relationship with Popov. Paul was confident he could ward off attacks on Europe from the three. His question was, should he warn the other chairpersons?
The Three Fools
2064
D irector Natalizio prepared a daily morning status of military, cyberintel and communications activity for Chairperson Ambrosi, outlining actions from the last 24 hours and those which would occur in the next 24. Because Natalizio had been invaluable in gathering intel and thwarting actions against the Europe Ethnarchy and the degree of trust Paul had in him, Natalizio had acquired significant power over the operations of the Ethnarchy. Natalizio was all business in his execution and was deeply loyal to Paul, two traits that Paul not only admired, but demanded in his followers.
Paul read through the morning status as he sat at his office conference table drinking his morning Americano. Natalizio had made an espresso in Paul’s kitchen and brought it to the conference table, waiting as Paul read the report.
“One thousand Europe casualties yesterday,” Paul said as he sipped his coffee. Ever since Chairpersons Zhao, Popov, and Maghur waged war on Europe a year ago, over 500 million lives were lost worldwide. The world referred to the three as the Compact, but Paul called them the Three Fools. The Compact launched their attack on United States installations across the Central America, South America, Caribbean, Oceania, Asia and North America ethnarchies. Paul had ample opportunity to give the other ethnarchies warning of the Compact’s attack plans but chose to keep the information from his supposed allies. Publicly he denounced the Compact and expressed support for the other six ethnarchies. Privately he wanted to see all nine ethnarchies weakened by war. The weaker they were, the stronger the Europe Ethnarchy appeared. Paul invested all his military might in defending Europe and ensuring the strength of his ethnarchy. The Three Fools pissed off the rest of the world and Paul looked like the unprovoked casualty just wanting to keep peace. If Paul’s allies only knew he could have warned them of the strikes from the Compact, they might have seen him not as the innocent victim but as a backstabbing war monger.
Paul continued reading the report. Natalizio did as he always did, sitting there quietly waiting for Paul to respond to something. In the many occasions he had been in Paul’s office, he never asked Paul about the framed shadow box with the dented folding stool and a picture of Paul with his parents and siblings inside. “Isn’t essential to business,” he thought. “If the chairperson wanted to tell me about it, he would.”
Paul read through the report then saw at the bottom, “Items for Discussion” followed by three bullets--SynFood, Stigma, and Zeus.
“Let’s go through the discussion items,” Paul said.
“Mr. Chairperson, SynFood production has dropped 25 percent in the past month due to ground strikes in Glasgow and across the distribution network.” SynFood had become the primary nutrition source in Europe, due to rice, wheat, corn and soy production dropping when the Compact commenced military action. With SynFood production and distribution slowed, more and more Europe citizens were dying of starvation. Even though it was bad in Europe, it was worse in other ethnarchies. They had no SynFood-like capability.
“Get Senator Carlotta on it, keep it on my radar.” Paul said.
“Yes, Sir.”
“What about Stigma?” Paul asked.
Natalizio took a quick sip of his espresso and pulled some notes from a folder to ensure he was accurate in his description. “We’re getting reports of a strange cancer which appears impervious to the MDChip. MD Biometrics has been diagnosing the cancer and is calling it . . .,” Natalizio shuffled the papers in front of him to find the term. “They call it Stigma Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma. It’s a blood cancer which shows up on the body as stigma-shaped lesions.”
“What’s stigma-shaped mean,” Paul asked.
Natalizio took out his pen and drew on the back of one of his note pages. “The sore looks like this,” drawing an S-shaped symbol with the top half about three times the size of the bottom half. “The sores can show up anywhere on the body and are excruciatingly painful.”
“What does Carlotta have to say about his brilliant invention?” Paul asked.
“He’s working with MD’s team, it’s his highest priority.”
“Any idea of casualties?” Paul asked.
“No, with all the war and famine casualties, it’s difficult to tell.”
Paul took another sip of coffee, two topics down, both bad news. “What about Zeus?” he asked, hoping for a bit of good news.
“Missile strikes have slowed development of Popov’s baby. Riccio doesn’t know by how much, just that it’s slow and Popov is furious.”
For Paul, this wasn’t great news, but at least it wasn’t horrible. He wanted to press Riccio for more information. “Get a date from Riccio, remind him what will happen if he doesn’t come through.” Paul didn’t care how compliant he’d been since the blackmail threat, he just wanted more.
“Yes, Mr. Chairperson, anything else?”
“No. Thank you, Director.” Paul said. Natalizio finished his espresso, got up from his chair, and left the office, taking a quick glance at the shadow box on the way out.
Paul leaned back in his chair, coffee cup still in his hand, thinking about the discussion with Natalizio. He stared down at the paper that Natalizio had drawn of the strange Stigma shape. Billions around the world had received the MDChip and were getting twice-yearly MDSolution treatments. Up until now there were no known side effects or cancer recurrences. “What’s changed?” he thought. He called out to his assistant. “Get me Senator Carlotta.”
Five minutes later, Paul’s assistant came into Paul’s office, “I’ve got the senator.”
Paul picked up his phone. “Natalizio told me about Stigma, what’s going on?” Paul skipped the pleasantries with Sal, no time for it.
“We’re not sure yet what causes it or how to kill it.”
“When will you know?” Paul knew it was difficult for Sal to answer the when question, he just wanted to turn the screws on him.
“I don’t know.” Sal said.
The Lawless One and the End of Time Page 21