Crisis in Baltun

Katelyn Byrne
Labour MP for Callaecia
House of Commons
Fljóthøfn, Hvidovia, Kanadorikan Empire

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"Order, order!" The Speaker cried out, desperately trying to contain the flurry of activity which had consumed the House. "The Prime Eðvarð Grímólfsson has the floor!"

"Thank you Mister Speaker," arose a grey haired man from the frontbench. His thick Gullie accent was instantly recognizable and aside from parliamentary procedure, needed no introduction.

"Ladies and gentleman of this most ancient House. I stand before you all today to inform you that the Nova Roman military did indeed invade Macantugu and that any words to the contrary are factually false."

The Prime Minister paused, glancing through the House to ensure all eyes were on him. He was an enigma of a man. His private as well as his public demeanor were more of that of an uneducated country bumpkin than a member of Parliament. Yet as he stood from the frontbench and addressed the House, he did such with the eloquence of a scholar. Make no mistake, Eðvarð was a highly intelligent man who mastered the art of populism.

"Now, it has been brought to my attention that my esteemed colleagues in the opposition have refused to call this Nova Roman operation for what it really is; an invasion. I ask, and I do so with the utmost respect, if the Liberals' devotion to outright pacifism has compromised their ability to recognize the threat this invasion poses. We have a fascist takeover on our doorstep and yet many members of this house have taken to sticking their fingers in their ears and ignoring it all in the hopes that it goes away!"

The chamber erupted into chaos. Eðvarð's Labor Party nodded their heads in unison, bellowing "Aye! Aye!" over the boos of the Liberal opposition. The Unionists seemed to mostly side with Eðvarð, though didn't seem to get the flak that Labor had thrown at them.

"Order in the House! Order in the House!" The Speaker once again roared, struggling to be overheard over the clamouring MPs. "Will Mr. Adlartok Tanuyak of the Liberals please take to the floor!"

"I would like to draw attention to the fact," said a Northurlandic man to the left of the Speaker, "that invasion or not, what are we to do with Macantugu's crisis? They are not members of the Commonwealth. We have no standing treaty vowing their sovereignty. Should we really be risking our brave men and women in Her Majesty's Armed Forces for a people we have no historical nor legal responsibility towards?"

A complete inverse of the cheers and jeers of earlier dominated my eardrums. The Liberals and Greens approved of Mr. Tanuyak's words, though he received a flurry of booing from Labour and the Tories. The Prime Minister again stood up, needing no instruction from the Speaker.

"Mister Tanuyak!" Eðvarð Grímólfsson called out, directly challenging his opposite rival. "Are you willing to admit to over half a billion Kanadorikans that you are unwilling to oppose a full fascist takeover of a neighboring country? We saw clear as day in 1940 what happens when you give fascists clearance to do as they please! It's a bloody outrage that I have to stand before you today warning you of the exact same thing! That is why I am proposing that we take direct military action-"

The chamber exploded as vivid emotions on both sides clamoured to make their opinions heard. The Prime Minister briefly paused before continuing.

"That we take direct military action to reestablish the sovereignty of Macantugu as an independent state. My ministers and I shall speak to our Commonwealth allies in both the old world and the new to determine the best course of action. If blackening the eye of the rabid Nova Roman beast is what is required, then by God that is what we will do!"

A chorus of booing reverberated from the opposition, but was quickly overpowered by a coalition of applause from Labour and the Tories. It seemed fairly evident that Eðvarð's words were immensely popular in the House to anyone that wasn't a Liberal or Green. Isolationists be damned, we had the majority and all the jeering in the world wouldn't stop us.

09/20/22
07 hundred hours
Base Operazioni nazionale di supporto nel Tamita, Baltano
(National Support Operations Base In Tamit, Baltun)

   It was a quiet day as usual on the outskirts of the base, Lui Primaro sat in his guard post fourty feet away from the two story big concrete building. It had been an old military outpost that had been abandoned and was bought by the Nova Roman government through the embassy before their deployment, it felt like a millennia to Lui sense they had arrived he had not left the base, he had been stationed here as a guard to protect the facility a job that he thought he would enjoy at first he thought to himself, "Join the Carabinieri they said, you always wanted to be a cop and you also get to travel they said, see foreign lands and meet foreign woman they said.", Lui had hated his time in Baltun and could not wait to return home, while most where away he with his unit would remain behind and watch the building, he had been stuck in these concrete walls forever either patrolling the perimeter or sitting at the check point entry like he was now, the beds where old and unconformable and the food mostly unflavored rations, he never even got to go out to the city or patrol which even though his comrades would tell him how dull and depressing it was because of the Selet rebels he figured it was still better than rotting in this cold prison. "Only one more day Lui until you go to Macantugu, one more day before you are hopefully transferred home after that.", once they would be transferred to Macantugu his regiment would be sent home with others due to not having the logistics to hold so many troops in Macantugu, until then though he sat at his small booth where he sat in a chair watching for anyone to come which they never did.

   While Lui was sitting in his booth surrounded by his own thoughts he was then interrupted  by the distant humming of a vehicle, knocked from his trance Lui in confusion looked through the schedule or the week,  "There is not supposed to be an arrival of trucks until tomorrow, nobody is supposed to be here today., Lui then quickly grabbed his issued 70/90 rifle and hopped out of the booth and then approached the coming vehicle sticking his left hand out while he placed his right on his pistola and yelling for it to stop in Baltunese,"Halt! You are approaching private property, state your business!", the vehicle which was now identifiable as a white van, the driver who looked to be a Baltunese man then looked at him with a blank expression and floored the van forward towards him, Lui quickly swearing to himself moved to the right out of the way and pulled his Berta pistola and opened fire at the vehicle as it then zoomed past him, he then put his empty pistola back and ran back inside his booth and hoped on the small radio he had and connected to whoever was on it inside the radio room who was already yelling through it.

   " Gatekeeper this is Middle Man,What is happening up front I heard shots fired have you discharged your weapon, is a breach in progress over, gatekeeper do you read me! "
   
    "This is Gatekeeper over to Middle Man, there has been a breach I repeat there has been a breach, a white vehicle with one confirmed hostile floored it passed my post and collided with the main entry, over."

  "Copy that Gatekeeper, stay at your position and watch for more hostiles all active personal are being deployed to assess the situation,over."

                        "Si Senor over,out!"

    After Lui hung up the radio still breathing heavily from what had happened, he reloaded is pistola and put his gun back, pulled out his rifle off of his shoulder and stood at the front of his post when a boom was heard, when he turned he saw the front of the building they had been in collapse down with debris falling down along with part of the second story as well.  "Dio mio....." Lui thought to himself, " Was the van filled with explosives?" Lui did not know what had happened except that one thing was certain, it was going to be an even longer wait for home now if they ever get home now that is.