by XanderOne » Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:43 am
1 September 5079, 23.20,
HQ of Blue Flame Party,
Viale Alessandro I Imperatore, Romula
The party for the anniversary of the founding of the First Istalian Empire which for some time had been held every year on September 1st at the Bue Flame headquarters was now over and most of the guests had left.
Despite the tensions that was shaking the country, there, like in small or large cities and in the homes of citizens, they still tried to go on with everyday life and the Blue Flame party also had every intention to be seen resolutely firm in his positions and ready to challenge, even with those gestures, those who formed the ranks of the movements promoting revolution and anti-istalianism.
In one of the rooms on the upper floors, two men were finishing their last bottle of bubbles sitting on comfortable leather armchairs, lit only by a floor lamp and the city lights streaming through the two windows.
"Really Muhammad, thanks for stopping by, I wasn't hoping for it anymore" said the blond man as soon as he pulled his lips from the crystal flute.
"I decided only at the last minute" replied the majatran istalian in his fifties sitting in the other chair "I would never come here today with all these people if it weren't for the meeting with the Defense and Security Committee. I hope there are no cameras in the building"
"no, don't worry and nobody saw you either in the parking lot or in the corridor or the elevator, I sent Luisa on purpose, I trust her. Anyway... Corrado and Antonietta told me how they treated you at the Committee"
"those sons of bitches... what they hoped to hear from the Chief of Defense Staff asking what I thought of their foolish plans? Especially those by Insieme... they should be hung one by one on each lamppost from here to Magliano"
"what determination!" laughed the blond raising his glass to the sky.
"It's hard to stay in the ranks with those people making good and bad weather in the country"
"at least the skirmishes between them have allowed you to stay in your place"
"but not for long, with that disgusting reform all the General Staffs of the entire Defense will be the first ones to be gutted! Thinking about it probably I still worry too much not to be seen here given the situation"
"I guess... however we opposed it and we are opposing it until the last but if they really want those militias we will not stand by and watch! We still don't know how they want to regulate them but I assure you that if those motherfuckers try to create their own personal militia we will not be outdone! And you will have a guaranteed place here"
"otherwise you can be sure that none of us and most part of the troop will join any of those "democratic" fucking militias"
"I hope you will keep in touch with those who will remain in the armed forces"
"They will select very well who will stay and who will leave but they should send everyone home again to really get us out of the way" he chuckled, swallowing another gulp.
"in the meantime we will continue to work with the PCI, they will be communists but they are istalians to the bone"
"Instalians to the bone but for my taste they are granting too much to those bloody dogs"
"they try not to let the country slide into the revolution and try to calm the minds, this too is to be acknowledged: they are the only ones still with a some sense into them"
"you don't seem to be part of that group either" the General chuckled and then added with some irony "you certainly don't do much to calm people down"
"I told you: the PCI is already taking care of it" he replied in kind, smiling and then continuing becoming serious "we must stand up to these possessed, by all means! If they think they scare us by making a big voice we will make it even bigger!"
"you make ignite my troops Michele!" he chuckled again "there are people eager to do something and the Emperor has already talking me about it at a couple of meetings"
"really?"
"Gregoretti, His military adviser, has contacts at all levels of the Defense, I know him very well and is always damned well informed about internal moods and the Emperor has already told me outright that the last thing he wants is to see the military trying to do something"
"It's good: after Tivoli it's the last thing the country and us need! I always wonder what the hell went through his head at the time"
"he would be happy to know that you agree with him"
"the Emperor?"
"He never refrains from making several comments about you too"
"really? Always the usual words seasoned with abundant poison?"
"what do you expect? You weren't too kind to Him"
"He cares about his throne, I have to save an entire country, an entire civilization and all his legacy! Something He has to do anyway..."
"you always lose your mind when you talk about him! What do you want Him to do? He can't do anything and with all those ridiculous accusations of illegality, exposing himself now would be crazy, He would be attacked by any side! You should have a chat with Sarjani you know?"
"you preferred him too, right?" he asked her, growling angrily.
"Michele, Michele... don't worry"
"do you know Ahmed keeps rooting against me behind the scenes? Do you know? And there are people who still pay attention to him! But at least I had the satisfaction of telling him "I told you" when we saw again these traitors on the streets. We had to resume the first imperial constitution! We had to at least include all the provisions on special powers to the Head of State: we would have shown to those damned traitors!"
"I shouldn't be the one to point out you that a few things have changed"
"do you agree with Ahmed too?"
"Michele please! We don't need a feud between you and Sarjani now and then sorry, it seems to me that you were the first to adapt, right? You are the one who has shown yourself open to the possibility of the Republic with the Communists"
"for Istalia everything!" he replied with sharp coldness.
They remained silent for a few minutes, continuing to sip the sparkling wine, each looking out the windows with a distant gaze, then Corlione put down his glass and asked:
"listen, changing the subject, have you talked to Bellante recently? We need to keep in touch with Deltarian intelligence, you saw what is happening there too, right? And you were calling me crazy too!"
"it is true that they too have suspicions but they couldn't find anything for the moment, I also spoke with the Chief of Staff of the Deltarian Forces and both their civilian and military intelligence couldn't find anything"
"for the moment"
"Do you know how many resources I have diverted to our services in the past years to carry out these investigations? And nothing came out, why should the Deltarians succeed?"
"they have much greater resources than ours"
"I remain of the opinion that we risk waiting indefinitely before we have some shreds of evidence, however..." he broke off smiling.
"what?"
"I think the Emperor is one of the few who doesn't consider you crazy about this"
"so if he is the one talking about it he's not crazy but I am?"
"he never spoke openly about it to anyone but I deduced it because his staff also asked me many questions about Deltarian intelligence operations and his military adviser let it slip that he had pressured Sarjani to make work our intelligence on the same subject"
"suddenly he is much more sympathetic to me, he is smarter than I thought"
"you've never met him, have you?"
"no, when I wanted to meet him Sarjani never allowed me: I was not presentable enough to be seen with the Emperor, he said"
"now you are in his place, you have reformed the party as you wanted, let focus on the goals and not on Sarjani"
"you said it! I'm in his place now and if we managed to get those seats in parliament it was thanks to me, if we managed to keep the Communists good it was thanks to me! Ahmed has always been a moderate but he was not willing to talk with the PCI, he was more concerned about the Crown than the Fatherland"
"don't you think you're a little unfair?"
"unfair? It was for years the President of that fucking Union of Quanzar and Alaria without doing anything!"
"nothing? Identity and Unity has steadily increased its support and while the separatists lost ground, the Quanzarian League ended up dissolving and in the end: who re-established the Empire?"
"ah yes, a really nice job! Look what's happening now!" he raised his voice angrily "we had to ban them, hunt them and put them all up against the wall before those fucking terrorists reorganized!"
"am I wrong or you said you didn't want reckless actions a little while ago?"
"now it would be a political suicide, we had to act when we had the chance and Sarjani..."
"enough with this broken record! You're crying over spilled milk now and in any case the Emperor would have opposed it then as he opposes it today"
Corlione just answered with an annoyed nod, then poured the last drop left into the bottle and quickly drank it in one gulp.
"my visit seems to have bothered you more than anything else, so..." the general stood up and reached out to the jacket that he had placed on a third sofa nearby.
"no, no... Muhammad... I was extremely pleased that you came, really! Your support is very important! If this gets worse we all know how useful you will be, you and all the rest of the real patriots who believe in the cause"
"so let's focus on the cause and put aside the internal feuds! Anyway I have really to go: I had told my wife that I would not be late and she was already not happy when I left... there were my children and all my grandchildren at dinner and I left them without even eating dessert"
"say hello to Anna then"
"and you say hello to Romina, how is she?" he asked putting on his jacket as Corlione got up to bring him to the door.
"with the nausea better, but now he has certain cravings that make me go crazy: can you believe that the other day he asked me to look for kiwis? Kiwis in this season!"
"with the first child it is like this! You will see that with the others it will go much better, and in any case don't complain so much now: you will see when you will have to wake up at 3 am for the bottle or when you will not sleep just when he has colic or will put his teeth"
They walked to the door smiling and before leaving the general took the coppola cap and then put on some dark glasses.
"see you next Muhammad"
"see you next time" he shook his hand adding before leaving "focus on the cause, think about the child you will have and what country you want to leave him"
"I do it every day Muhammad! Every day"