8 - …Right Time…
Traitorous Government Forces Swept Aside – Founding of the new Griffonian National Republic!
Senior officers in the Republican Army have had enough!
At the crack of dawn, the traitors of the former Kemerskai regime were swept aside in decisive engagements throughout Cloudbury!
Victorious soldiers marched though Republican square pronouncing the new name of the nation, the Griffonian National Republic!
Enacting sweeping reforms against corrupt industries, traitors and pacifists; the Nationalists swear to destroy the weakness that has let bandits and decay infect the once-glorious institutions of our Republic!
Until now, little is known of the upper echelons of the new national leadership, save that they will work hard in the best interest of all loyal citizens!
Salvation has come to the Republic; all hail the Griffonian Nationalist Revolutionary Front; all hail the 1000 year Republic!
- Scrapped article for the front page of the Griffonian Republic National Newspaper, Der Republifaner (2nd Week of June 1003 Edition)
June 9th, 1003 – L-NRP Party Headquarters, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Rikard POV
Rikard Astler – leader of the L-NRP – was calm and collected. He had a great night’s sleep yesterday and with most of the paperwork finished, he had little that required his personal attention. Of course, he did not become the leader of a socialist party because he was lazy, no, his free time meant he could do the productive things he enjoyed. Namely, he could tour the workplaces of all the unions and co-ops and talk with the griffons that worked there. He thrived best when deep in conversations about ways the workers could better organize themselves, expand their network of contacts, or just learn more about the ways the Party could help them protect and grow their rights. His love of socialism came from an admiration of the common worker: their struggle, their dedication and their stories.
It did not seem he would be able to do much of this today, despite his so-called “free time”.
Instead, Rikard’s office was the scene of a thoroughly chastised-looking Tanya who was being reprimanded by a very angry looking Ernst Thällgriff who pointed a talon at the chick aggressively. Rikard made an effort to ignore the conversation happening, but it was a false hope; he could only hope to mediate the issue so he could get back to work.
“Where in Eyr’s name were you, Tanya! I looked high-and-low all day and I couldn’t find you anywhere! If you’re going out someplace as dangerous as Cloudbury at night, it’s common sense to let somegriff know where you’re headed!”
Tanya winced.
“Ah, I suppose it’s been a long time since I needed somegriff to know where I am. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”
Ernst’s anger seemed to evaporate at the implication. Rikard could only roll his eyes at how “soft” Ernst was on the Party’s precocious little mascot.
Rikard wrote a note on a piece of scrap piece of paper: ‘Tanya needs to be treated like a child more… teach her a little more common sense!’ He slipped the note in the drawer before Tanya had a chance to see it.
She shook her head.
“Never mind that! I’ve important news to tell you! There’s going to be a coup on the government any day now!”
Rikard frowned. It was a common enough rumor that came and went every couple weeks. With how terrible the situation was and how active most griffons were politically, it was a logical conclusion it would happen someday. Normally he would just ignore wild accusations… however, coming from Tanya, he wanted some clarification before he could dismiss it outright.
“You’re not normally one to make unsubstantiated claims. That’s a serious allegation. Where did you hear this from?”
Tanya smirked and leaned against his desk.
“Straight from the conspirators themselves. I had reconnected with an old friend who wanted me to listen in on a business proposal from the military. As it turned out, the officers we met wanted her to damage public infrastructure in coordination with their coup attempt! They were real officers too. I didn’t recognize them, but I can tell a legitimate officer’s uniform anywhere and the amount of cash they were throwing around isn’t something the average criminal could get their claws on.”
Rikard frowned.
“I suppose it could be argued it’s a long time coming. Are you absolutely certain this isn’t a misunderstanding?”
Tanya nodded gravely.
“Completely sure.”
Rikard sighed and grabbed a pen and paper and began writing a letter.
“I can make sure the workers are armed and kept indoors while any potential situation blows over. I know that Vice President Sunglider wouldn’t be involved in something like this, so I’ll bring it up with him. We can investigate this together. I’ll have to use back-channels, however. The last thing this Party needs is the President breathing down my neck for “instigating unrest”.”
Ernst turned to Rikard with a frustrated expression.
“Are you really going to just ignore the fact Tanya was somehow involved with these treasonous officers?!”
Ernst turned to Tanya.
“Who exactly were you meeting with that they’d put you in that sort of situation?!”
Tanya crossed her forelegs and looked away. It seemed she did not need either of them reminding her of how stupid she had been.
“That’s personal. My friend was rightfully concerned with the sort of “talk” these officers were having and I helped them out. I don’t know what you’re worried about anyway. Nogriff was hurt and I was in disguise. What possible harm could I have caused?”
June 11th, 1003 – R-NRP Party Headquarters, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Heinrich POV
Heinrich Kingfeather – leader of the Right Wing of the National Republican Party – sat in his office smoking a cigar. He was calm and collected as he engaged in his favorite pastime: looking out of his office’s large bay window and into the distance where the Cloudbury harbor dominated the view. Dozens of ships were loading and unloading cargo from the Cloudbury River. Tungsten and Iron from Lostgate, machine parts and electronics from Squark, Lumber and Copper from Cavegrove, and imports that had traveled from Winghagen ports all found their way on that river and into the harbor. Every single shipment was thanks to the investment and expertise of industrialists of his party and benefited from policies he made.
‘This must be what a painter feels like when looking at his completed work in a gallery, or an architect admiring the facade of a palace he helped build.’
It was a pastime he rarely indulged in. Normally, his schedule would be packed and his free time in the office was better spent reviewing speeches with his ghost writer or writing letters to various aristocrats in the Empire or abroad who he still had contact with regarding beneficial trade agreements and closer economic ties. This week, however, was an exception. He had cleared out most of his schedule and had spent most of his time reviewing reports from his most loyal assets. The reports had him stressed, but he refused to let it show. Instead, he let the scene before him distract and calm him down.
‘It would be no good if the star of the show was nervous. I have to instill strength if the coming operation is to be a success-’
His thoughts were interrupted when his brother walked into the room. Victor Kingfeather was a decade younger than him with far darker-colored feathers than his. It was a bit of a scandal in the family at the time, but their father kept up appearances. While Victor was never given the breadth of education and contacts as Heinrich had, he was still successful. A lawyer and a business owner, Victor had carved a niche for himself and Heinrich was proud of their familial connection. While Victor would never be somegriff who could take command of the R-NRP, he was a close confidant Heinrich could trust with confidential matters.
Victor had a gloomy expression.
“Brother, we have a problem.”
Heinrich sighed. Turning away from his window, he tapped the excess ash from his cigar onto an ashtray at his desk.
“So close to the coup? How serious is it?”
What the Griffonian Nationalist Revolutionary Front did not realize was that their coup had been a brainchild of his for close to a year.
The R-NRP and Warlord Rosewing had been working together in secret for the past five years. Heinrich and Rosewing shared many common interests and had compromised on sharing the country between themselves in the event of their joint victory. The R-NRP would help Rosewing bring back a constitutional monarchy to Cloudbury and in exchange, the new government would guarantee the Free Market and a liberal economic policy. Of course, no partnership like that could last without stakes for both sides. To solidify their cooperation, Heinrich leaked information on the troop movements of C-NRP-aligned officers.
If they found themselves all killed and some of their equipment fell into Heinrich’s claws? Well, that was just business.
Thanks to that, the R-NRP climbed steadily in the polls despite many recent setbacks. It was far more reliable than his policies, but he would not complain. While he knew those would bear fruit in the coming years and had solidified a powerful industrial bloc in his name, they were not very popular with the average griffon.
When the GNRF contacted Rosewing exposing their attacks on Republican Army patrols, it was a blessing in disguise. Heinrich had his most loyal assets spend the past year uncovering the coup plot and mapping out the GNRF membership. Once the coup was underway and the C-NRP was destroyed in the fighting, all he had to do was destroy the GNRF and take joint-control of the government with Rosewing. A foolproof plan.
‘Brother’s information should change nothing, but I’ll indulge him…’
Ignorant of his brother’s thoughts, Victor set his briefcase onto a nearby coffee table and opened it. He grabbed an envelope inside and placed it on Heinrich’s desk.
“I can’t say for certain how serious the information is, but we may have underestimated Suntail. The GNRF coup might go deeper than we thought.”
The revelation that Suntail was leading the GNRF was unsurprising. He had been very vocal against the President yet seemed to do nothing politically about it. However, there was little proof. While there was plenty of rumor and hearsay within their ranks, the top leadership of the new ultra-nationalist party had kept their identities completely hidden from the rank-and-file.
Heinrich went to open the envelope, but hesitated.
“Are you sure this isn’t a ruse? We have a lot riding on this. Suntail’s probably just hedging his bets. Him branching out wouldn’t be enough to change our strategy.”
Victor sighed. Walking over to the desk, he pulled out the documents from the envelope and spread them out. He tapped a talon on a grainy black-and-white photograph.
“I’m telling you, you need to see this. Remind you of anygriff?”
Heinrich was surprised.
“But that is… Tanya? The chick mediating all the unions disputes and had that whole “flag fiasco” a few months ago, right? Isn’t she with the L-NRP? What's she doing in all this?”
He went to pick up one of the documents to read over, but Victor cut him off.
“Don’t bother reading the memos, I’ll give you a summary. As you know, part of our preparations for the coup has been keeping track of all known GNRF members for the past few weeks. We’ve a pretty firm idea of their activities… or so we thought.”
Shifting the documents around, Victor pointed to two more photographs of a pair of military officers.
“Two of their members – a Colonel Scarletwing and Major Diamondclaw – were seen heading for a meeting at Cloudbury harbor. We’d assumed it was a standard meeting for their coup preparations: recruit a few thugs for some task or another. Of course, we still had them tailed despite the assumption. We never suspected that somegriff like Tanya would be there. She was in disguise too. If she hadn’t let slip her cover in front of our agent, we would have known nothing about this.”
Heinrich digested the news for a moment.
“It begs the question: is this the first time they ever had a meeting… or just the first time they slipped up?”
Victor shook his head.
“Sure, but the more important question is: why would the Socialists want to work with somegriff like those ultra-nationalist psychos? The militants in the C-NRP I could understand, but the L-NRP? What worker rights do they think the GNRF is going to give them?”
Heinrich thought it over for a moment.
‘A compromise? No, not with the GNRF, they hardly even considered working together with Rosewing. Something to do with Cloudburian rights? No, there wouldn’t be any trust. They both hate monarchists obviously but that wouldn’t be enough… what would the party… no, what would Tanya want with-’
His eyes widened. Reaching into his desk, he searched for a report he had commissioned months ago. Reading the summary again had him convinced.
‘I always had a bad feeling, now I know why!’
Taking out the document, he turned the photo back to his brother.
“Tanya, she’s the key! Forget the L-NRP, what’s she most well known for?”
Victor looked confused.
“The flag waving incident? Sure, I could see Tanya being enough of a patriotic nut-job to buy into the GNRF nonsense, but if this is just a case of Tanya alone joining the GNRF, it isn’t anything to worry about. Without the backing of the L-NRP, she’s nothing.”
Heinrich slammed the report on his desk with one claw, while jabbing his half-burnt cigar in his brother’s direction with the other.
“No, damn it, look at the big picture! A young orphan that successful with no training? Just young enough to seem harmless, but old enough for her genius to be remotely plausible if you didn’t look too deeply. Then there’s the unions, the rallies, the flag incident. Until now it seemed fine to ignore it. After all, it’s just some L-NRP activist, right? Their polling was negligible… we focused so much on that we completely ignored the other possibility: she was conning everygriff about her true loyalties."
He opened the report, pointing generally at the actions Tanya had taken over the past few months.
“None of her actions were particularly socialist – she wasn’t razing factories or forming unions – but it did build up her reputation in the hearts and minds of the common griffon: the peoples’ patriot, the peoples’ rights activist. Our reports on the GNRF’s goals has the re-creation of the Citizens’ Militia as a top priority and who better to be their figurehead then the “flag-waving chick”. The L-NRP surged 10% in the polls in Cloudbury from the flag incident alone. If even just 10% of those griffons rose up to support her…”
He did not need to say any more. There were over 2 million griffons in Cloudbury, almost 50% of the Republic’s population.
Victor looked horrified.
“20,000 citizens -no, volunteers; an army poised perfectly to raid the city’s armories and overwhelm the garrisons. As former members of the militia, they’d be trained combatants; but ignoring that, would the army even fire against its own citizens? With how things are going, they might give up without resistance. Combined with the thousands of GNRF loyalists we know about, they could turn Cloudbury into a veritable fortress. Even with the rest of the army on our side, it would take weeks to crack it. By then, griffons would start wondering which side of the city’s borders contained the real government. The militarists in the C-NRP would defect first and then-”
Heinrich had heard enough. He smashed the dregs of his cigar into the ashtray and pointed at the door.
“I want Plan B started right now. I want Suntail’s revolution eviscerated before it can begin. Damn that bastard; played us all for fools!”
‘I should‘ve seen it coming! Why would a socialist suddenly find ways to compromise with factory owners she should hate? I even have reports from the translators at several of the meetings noting her interest in joining my Party. They all took it as a joke but in hindsight, it should’ve been obvious her loyalties were questionable. If the GNRF was willing to pay the right price…’
Victor made to leave, but scratched his head.
“But what if Rosewing doesn’t-”
Heinrich pointed to the door again.
“Out! I’ll get Rosewing on board. If this is even half as bad as we think, he won’t want any part of it. Don’t waste time! If we’re to survive to see the next week, we need to act now!”
He looked down at Tanya’s grainy picture and noted the other griffons in frame. Griffons that were decidedly not the two officers they had been tracking.
‘I’ll need to create a complete dossier of all of Tanya’s contacts and find some evidence to have her arrested. She’s already ruined one plan. I’d be a fool if I let her ruin another.’
June 12th, 1003 – Radio Broadcast Center, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Suntail POV
Reinhard Suntail – leader of the Griffonian Nationalist Revolutionary Front – jostled in the fabric-covered closed-cab of the cargo truck as it made its way down the empty Cloudburian streets. It was close to midnight and with electricity rationing in effect, less than half the streetlights were on. Despite the darkness, the blue-feathered griffon was calm and collected. While Suntail had many reasons to feel otherwise, he refused to be anything but focused while the other occupants in the cab could see him. They were the other high-ranking officers and generals of the Griffonian Nationalist Revolutionary Front, including his second-in-command Chiron Stormfeather. It would be to nogriff’s benefit if the leader of the movement made them nervous about what they were going to do.
The three trucks arrived at their destination: the Cloudbury Radio Broadcast Center; one of only twelve such buildings in the country and the only one in the city. If their coup was to succeed, it needed the approval of the people, and the best way to achieve that was over the radio. Once the majority was convinced that the cause was either just or inevitable, the nation would be his.
The trucks screeched to a halt. The occupants of Suntail’s truck remained seated while the other 4 trucks quickly dismounted their occupants. Half of the 60 soldiers and officers rushed into the Radio building. This late, Suntail knew the radio station would just be re-hashing pre-recorded news and playing music. The place would be almost empty and no challenge for the battle-hardened elite unit he brought with him.
As such, he was unsurprised when – less than 5 minutes later – a Lieutenant ran up to the back of the truck and made a crisp salute.
“Sir! Building’s clear. We have control of the equipment and the broadcast. We have it playing the usual music as you ordered, but we can change it at any time, sir!”
Nodding, Suntail turned to the other Generals in the truck.
“Things are all prepared. We should get ready.”
While the rest of the soldiers, officers and generals rushed to do their jobs, Suntail had little need. So early in the plan, his job was to verify that nothing went wrong, so he quietly walked through the halls of the building, overseeing the actions of his men.
In an office near the front door, the previous occupants of the building – the secretary and two radio operators – were bound and gagged. In other rooms, the Generals were making prepared-statements with the audio equipment, recording it such that it could be looped over the airwaves. The statements would dictate the political motivations of the GNRF, appeal to the subordinates of the generals to join the cause, and convince fence-sitters to stay out of the fighting. In the remaining areas, junior technicians were modifying the equipment to get a little more range by removing limiters that would normally be set to preserve equipment lifespan. The equipment would be better served in getting as many griffons listening to their broadcast as possible.
Finally he entered the conference room where his headquarters was set up. Officers were actively giving orders to the thousands of their members preparing to make their move during the coup. Groups were given targets destroying key logistics centers, blocking streets, or boarding up buildings to create strong-points. The goal of the GNRF was to turn Cloudbury into a fortress while Rosewing and the army clashed outside.
That was why none of this could be done any earlier to ensure that all the recordings and orders were still reversible. If Rosewing failed to live up to his end of the bargain, the tapes could be burned and the orders rescinded before there was a chance for the plan to be revealed. It would set them back, but they would know Rosewing could not be trusted and could try again.
Everything that went on in the radio broadcast center was kept utterly confidential. No other GNRF members outside the most loyal were let in on the location.
Suntail looked to a clock: 11:22pm. He turned to his aide. She was a brown-feathered Major who monitored a bulky portable radio set. As she had headphones on, Suntail tapped her shoulder to get her attention.
“Is there any trouble? Anything from our spies on the ground? We’ve rushed to ensure the element of surprise, but there’s still time to call things off. Rosewing will begin his attacks in a little over half-an-hour.”
His aide was nervous.
“Nothing out-of-the-ordinary beyond the usual issues we've picked up for the past few days, sir.”
Suntail frowned.
There had been a number of problematic developments in the past few days. The armed security of the R-NRP had more guards than normal and the L-NRP workplaces were given rifles. Even some of the C-NRP militants had recalled a few brigades into the city. In isolation they were not a cause for concern, but put together it made it clear that their plans had leaked.
There had been calls to call the coup off, but the fact that these measures had been going on for several days proved that the leak was only the existence of the plot rather than specifics. Rosewing – when he heard of this – had insisted on delaying the coup, but Suntail’s officer council had refused. If the coup was delayed for too long, then more information would come out and the secrecy of their hidden Party might be in jeopardy.
With no new information, Suntail sat at the table in the middle of the conference room. Impatiently, he began reviewing his cue cards for his speech. When their coup succeeded, he would need to address the nation to prepare for the major changes that would be taking place.
‘I’m not nervous… but it would be a major setback if things didn’t proceed perfectly.’
Several agonizing minutes passed. Just before midnight – the latest time for Rosewing’s attack to go off before the coup was aborted – the Major threw off her headphones and turned to Suntail.
“Sir! Team Grün is in position at the Presidential Residence but there’s a problem! The President still hasn’t made it home!”
Suntail was confused. This was the last thing he was expecting to go wrong with the plan.
“What do they mean? The President hasn’t had any late-night responsibilities since the end of the Citizens’ Militia months ago.”
The Major nodded and turned back to the radio.
“Give me a moment to clarify… yes, yes, can you repeat… no, the status of the President… alright. Sir! The President has yet to leave his evening meeting with Heinrich Kingfeather.”
Suntail frowned, grasping for an explanation.
“That meeting should have ended over 6 hours ago! Why was I not informed- no. Something’s wrong. I want an agent getting eyes on the President right now!”
Chiron Stormfeather – Suntail’s second-in-command – marched into the room with an angry expression.
“Sir! You know we don’t have any agents near Kingfeather’s office, it’s crawling with his guards! That’s tantamount to calling off this whole mission! Rosewing is going to attack any minute! This is the best shot we’ll have of winning this thing!”
Suntail closed his eyes.
‘My gut’s telling me this is a trap; too many things have gone wrong… but if I call this off without proof, I would be ruined politically…’
Opening his eyes, he turned to his aide.
“What’s the status of the other teams? Have our agents on the ground noticed anything out-of-the-ordinary?”
The aide held up a talon in the universal “wait a moment” gesture.
“Sir! All teams are in position.”
Suntail looked at the time: 12:02am. He sighed.
“Rosewing is past his window for his attack. There’s no word from our agents at the 8th and 9th Division Barracks? We should be hearing explosions or shots fired by now.”
His aide nodded to confirm she heard him and then spent a minute frantically turning dials.
“Sir… I can’t reach them. I don’t understand, they were responding just a few minutes ago-”
Suntail rose from his seat, his eyes fierce. There were too many things going wrong.
“We’ve been had! Activate Plan Omega: pull the teams back, burn the evidence and disperse!”
Stormfeather grabbed Suntail by the uniform and gave his commander a harsh glare.
“How can you be so sure! We’re so close to-”
Suntail roughly threw the clawed limb of his second-in-command off of him.
“We were so close to achieving our goals – our dreams – but we’ve been betrayed! The President is missing, Rosewing’s attack hasn’t gone off, our operatives aren’t reporting in. That last one is especially noteworthy. Think! They were wearing long coats to hide their weapons and uniforms. A “concerned citizen” couldn’t have seen through their motives, yet alone taken them down without us hearing about it.”
Suntail turned to the other Generals in the room.
“So long as the President remains a fool, there will be patriots willing to save the Republic from his foolishness. It’s up to us to ensure their dreams of national unity live on. We will find out who betrayed us, but we can only do so if we survive to find out! Get out of here!”
Generals all nodded gravely, but before they could do anything more, the building shook.
*BOOM*
“Sir! Team Rot and Braun are under attack by unknown assailants!”
“Team Grün is falling back after the Republican Army surrounded the Presidential Residence!”
“Sir! I’ve reports of patrols shutting down all access to the city! Roadblocks are being put together!”
“Our guards have been attacked! There’s machine guns and grenades hitting our positions here in at the Radio Tower! We’re surrounded!”
All at once, reports and panic filled the room. The Generals were quick to realize the severity of the issue and were the first to rush out. The Majors and Lieutenants soon followed, grabbing their radio equipment and whatever papers they had on claw. Suntail could almost respect the speed and discipline of his subordinates as they rushed to burn evidence and pack thing away. Almost… save for the fact it was too late.
‘They’re attacking all of our forces at once. They even knew about our headquarters in the Radio Tower… how? How could we be subverted so thoroughly?’
Shaking his head, he made his way down the corridor just in time to see the his soldiers executing the civilians. They held the secretary and two radio operators to the wall and shot them point-blank with their rifles. With the gags in their beaks, their deaths were mercifully silent and they slumped together in a heap.
Suntail grimaced.
While it had been in the procedure he had outlined for Plan Omega to remove any witnesses, it seemed pointless now. Plan Omega had been designed in case Rosewing failed to live up to his end of the deal. The deaths of the witnesses would have ensured that himself and the Generals’ identities would not be uncovered. With their operation so thoroughly compromised, however, the deaths were almost certainly for nothing.
As he approached the entrance, the staccato of gunfire reached a crescendo. As it came into view, he was horrified.
The five trucks they had arrived on were now full of holes and on fire. The door had been blown apart from a grenade or mortar and his griffons were fighting a desperate struggle slowly retreating further inside the building as rifles and machine guns saturated the position with a hail of deadly crossfire.
Suntail sighed. He walked up to the Lieutenant in charge of the Platoon and patted him on the withers.
“Order your soldiers to ceasefire! Raise the white flag!”
The Lieutenant turned to him with righteous indignation on his face. That expression turned to shock when he realized who was talking to him.
“Sir! The situation is dangerous! Please get back. I’ll get things under control soon and-”
Suntail shook his head.
“Lieutenant… It’s over. Our trucks are destroyed, the enemy has us pinned inside and the situation will only get worse. If we somehow made it out, we would have an hour of flying before we cleared the city. Considering the Anti-Air defenses, that would be very inadvisable. We won’t make it in time. We’re done.”
The Lieutenant seemed in disbelief.
“But reinforcements-”
Suntail shook his head.
“There won’t be any. Even if we had told the other groups about this operation, they are all being attacked.”
A few moments passed before the Lieutenant’s gaze hardened and he raised a claw in salute.
“Understood, sir… It was an honor serving with you.”
June 13th, 1003 – Radio Broadcast Center, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Heinrich POV
Heinrich Kingfeather was on top of the world.
Over the past day-and-a-half, he had been hard at work implementing Plan B: the complete dismantling of the Griffonian Nationalist Revolutionary Front. The first stage was to disseminate the identities and organizational structure of the GNRF to President Kemerskai and the leaders of the other political parties. The leaders of the L-NRP and C-NRP were surprisingly easily convinced and were quick to provide their own suggestions for the operation. With the support of Major Generals Jonas Hafslund and Walter Emerich of the 8th and 9th Infantry Divisions, they coordinated a synchronized assault on the thousands of GNRF soldiers stationed throughout the city at the stroke of midnight.
While they focused on their own plans, however, Kingfeather saved the pièce de résistance for himself: the capture of the highest ranking officials. While he did not know which place they would be headed because of their secrecy, he did know they would arrive there on truck. When their five trucks passed into the city an hour before midnight, his agents informed him and he was quick to capitalize. He already had two companies of his guards outfitted with heavy equipment ready. They closed in and surrounded the radio broadcast building but kept hidden. When the clock struck midnight, they opened fire along with the other attacks.
The inevitable soon followed and they rose the white flag of surrender.
His griffons rushed in and quickly confiscated weapons and started tying up the soldiers for arrest. Kingfeather was shocked at some of the participants. The Generals were mainly members of the High Command! It included some of the best tactical minds still left in the Republic: Barth Sievert, Karl Vettericht, Jansen Fryshatter and Chiron Stormfeather. He had known the GNRF had capable support, but he did not realize to such an extent!
‘I really should thank my luck I had taken down their coup when I did! Even joining Rosewing in a joint strike against them… would I’ve been able to come out on top? If the President decided to sit it out or – Arcturius forbid – join their cause, they would have most of the military commanders on their side. While we might have the numbers advantage, that had not done the bandits much good. Would we have fared better?’
He shook his head. It was a moot point to consider now, but a reassuring one. Ever since he decided to cancel the coup plan, he felt more and more confident. He was now poised to make significant political gains from being the “mastermind behind ending the coup”, but without the risk. With one less headache to worry about, he could focus on the real threats.
Finally, one of the soldiers brought out the leader: Reinhard Suntail. He was tied up and had a black eye blemishing his blue-feathered face.
As Suntail saw Kingfeather approach, he spat.
“So it was you. I’d hoped that Sunglider had finally wised up to the need for radical change; that seeing the Republic in tatters, he’d rallied the militarists against me. Instead, it’s the filth that caused this country to deteriorate in the first place. This nation truly is doomed.”
Kingfeather laughed.
“That’s rich coming from a so-called “leader” hiding in the shadows. What, couldn’t convince anygriff of your psychotic ideals that you needed to stage a coup in secret? Well, lucky for the rest of us that your plan was destined to fail.”
At those words, one of the nearby soldiers let out a sqwak and charged at him. He was shot by one of Kingfeather’s guards before being tackled to the ground. By the lack of movement, the soldier was dead.
Suntail sneered.
“Keep your damn mouth shut! Your place in this Republic was a mistake.”
Kingfeather – shocked by the sudden violence – awkwardly straightened his tie. Realizing he was in the midst of the most fanatical of the GNRF, he took a few steps back towards his guards.
“I’ll give you one thing, you almost had me fooled. I thought I knew everything about your plans: the preparations, the membership, the tactics. You had my agents convinced. However, you made one small mistake and it all came crashing down. You should’ve known that trusting Tanya would be your downfall. Nogriff with loyalties that flexible could be trusted.”
It was a small lie that Kingfeather hoped would get under Suntail’s skin. It was true to an extent: he personally did not think Tanya could be trusted, but Tanya was still loyal to the GNRF as far as he knew. Still, it was her mistake that revealed the gap in his planning and caused the counter-coup. He was confident that time and evidence would reveal where the chick’s true loyalties lay.
Rather than angry or defensive, Suntail appeared confused.
“Who?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.015 seconds
Total duration
955 users online
1,241,466 hits today, 2,205,040 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
11754206
Well, it seems like a lot agree with this so I probably will... eventually. Considering how annoying it is to publish, I'll want to do this after I hit the end of an arc or something and can take a break from writing to do it. Otherwise I might end up getting to out of "the zone" and it would delay getting my chapters out.
I love this chapter. Seeing all the political scheming of the different factions clash was glorious.
Tanya saves the day by existing
It’s a good thing Red listened to Tanya and didn’t join in the coup. Tanya’s advice worked again!
I’m a bit confused though. Does the R-NRP think Tanya really is just that smart, but isn’t loyal to anyone, and if so, do they have any ideas for where Tanya learned things from? Or do they think she is following the instructions/orders/advice from someone else, who may have unknown allegiances as well? Or are they still unsure (or something else)?
Basically, do they have any theories on how Tanya has done what she’s done? Do they do still think she is actually a young chick and not a changeling/older Gryph in disguise somehow?
The 9% for the L-NRP is a huge increase from the 2% (or 3%?) they started at. I”m assuming the sucessful factory helped in addition to the flag event?
What will happen to the GNRF? will it be disbanded? I’m a little unfamiliar with that particular faction.
Thanks for the chapter!
11756259
They don't know. She obviously must have learned it somewhere, but considering what Tanya did, they can't tell who is using who. In the end, they just decided they will have her arrested and "figure out where her true loyalties lie" afterwards.
This might become a plot-point later, but changelings aren't common knowledge in Griffonia. The changeling attaches with the Empire isn't known outside Griffenheim, but that could change...
The GNRF is the supremacy faction. Think Fascism, but glorifying democracy instead of "the furer". The consequences of this will be immediately after this so I won't spoil it.
11756274
I don't think the GNRF glorifies democracy at all. In-game they are pretty explicit in their belief that liberal democracy is a weakness and the Republic needs to be lead by a strong central figure with no restraints on their power and answerable to nobody, so long as this figure represents the 'national will' (which is whatever the GNRF says it is).
But I'm just being nitpicky.
11756350
You're right, should have said "Republicanism" in quotes there rather than democracy. What I meant to say is that their ultra-nationalism is intimately tied with Republicanism so Suntail wouldn't just say "We are abolishing everything the Republic stands for and the state is run by me now". For example, there would be elections at all levels (where votes are monitored and traitors are weeded out). Voting and elections would be seen as sacred rites where you re-affirm your patriotism to your Mayor, or your Governor, or to the Leader. They would probably even allow for different leaders to be genuinely chosen (from a curated list) at the local level so people think their vote matters at higher levels.
It would also have a strong us-vs-them thing where being allowed to vote only comes after rigorous "education programs" where you prove your loyalty to the cause of Eternal Republicanism. Those in the new Republic that can't vote are lesser citizens that "need to be more patriotic and earn their place".
Tanya is so great at playing the mind game that she herself didn't even know what she's doing.
On one hand, the og tanya it's such a waste to be confined in the military.
Her potential is great.
But on another hand, I've only watched the anime, and didn't have good experience with japanese writers dealing with economics and politics...
I cant wait to see how Tanya rationalizes her way out of this one in her own head.
I love it when some griffin asks a rhetorical question like that, the situation escalates tenfold
I don't know if I understand everything, but it seems to me that this is a three-way revolution, but there are so many abbreviations that I don't even remember who works with whom