King of All I Survey-Chapter 157: An Introduction to Ukraine

We spent the next few hours putting together a strategy for our intervention in Ukraine. We decided that we would consider Crimea to be part of Ukraine to be restored to their control, but that was a complicated issue. Since Russia annexed the area, they have been encouraging Russian citizens to move to the area in huge numbers, perhaps 800,000 of them. They had also forced all residents of Crimea to file to become Russian citizens or they would lose the homes they owned, jobs, and be declared foreigners in their own land. It was going to be difficult to separate out who belonged and who did not. The local Crimeans had been subject to forced conscription into the Russian army so even those wearing Russian uniforms and fighting on the Russian side, might be Crimeans who did so essentially against their will. If we decided to simple remove the Russians from the area, we’d have to interview or otherwise evaluate every individual to figure out where they belonged, or where they wanted to belong.

I decided that choosing who to repatriate and to where, would have to be a case-by-case basis. It would be based not necessarily on place of birth or prior citizenship, but rather on the desire and loyalty of each individual. After all, one of the principles of the Universal Earth Concord was free movement across borders within the Concord.

The first thing we had to do, though, was to visit the Ukrainian President. We would give him the full text of the Universal Earth Concord document and let him decide whether his offer to join still stood after he knew the entirety of the terms.

"Will it be a valid decision?" Dad asked.

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"I mean, his people and his country are under constant threat of attack, they are being killed and their nation taken apart brick by brick. Any decision he makes is made under duress. In other words, is it really a free and fair decision if it’s the only way he can save his people?"

"So..." I hesitated considering Dad’s point, "You’re saying that the ongoing war is unfairly pressuring him to join or to make a decision that he wouldn’t otherwise make? And that we should either just help him, and then ask if Ukraine still wants to become a member of the UEC, or wait until the conflict ends naturally, then ask the survivors – or the victors, whichever side that is?"

"I don’t know," Dad said shrugging, "I just think that the only reason they’re even reaching out to us is because of the war. It doesn’t seem like a decision made out of free choice."

"I see what you’re saying, but I’m not seeing why it matters. We are not forcing them. Every nation who joins will do so because they benefit from being a member of the UEC. For each nation, even each individual, the benefits may vary. In most cases, basic security and safety is one of the key considerations. Some countries have a greater need for that than others. A different country might be facing famine or a rampant epidemic which drives their decision. Another might just want access to more jobs and broader export markets. In the end, the threat of military raids from other worlds is the real pressure to unify Earth. In that sense, we’re being pressured to take control of the planet, too. I mean, Dad, I’m only eight but," I grinned, "in my experience, every decision we make is based on one outside pressure or another. The bottom line is they want the benefits that come with being a UEC member nation."

Dad shrugged and grinned back at me, "Well, I’ll just have to trust your vast wealth of experience then."

"Joe, can you put together a learning tablet in Ukrainian? That’s the language there, right?"

"It’s complicated," Joe replied.

I shook my head, "Of course it is..."

"Ukrainian is correct and it’s the official language, however, a significant portion of the population speaks Russian both because of the current occupation and because it was mandated during the prior Soviet control of the region. The current situation is causing a resurgence in the desire to use Ukrainian over Russian among those who speak both languages to show that they reject the Russian aggression and influence. Additionally, there are regional pockets of other languages, Crimean Tatar notably is an indigenous language, being diminished by the Russian occupation and ongoing displacement of the Tatar people. Some other pockets speak the languages of surrounding nations, Polish, Hungarian, and so forth."

"So can you make a tablet for me or not?"

"Yes, of course." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"See, not so complicated after all, is it?" I asked.

"I guess," Joe said, "if you have the vast experience of an eight-year-old a great many things look less complicated."

Dad snorted through his nose laughing. I gave him the side-eye. "Yeah, well, that’s how kids get so much done in a day. We don’t complicate everything like you old folks."

Dad shrugged and lifted his hands in gesture of surrender. "So what’s Dovzhenko’s situation right now, Joe?"

"Wait, who?" I asked confused.

Dad slapped hi forehead, "You want to take over the country, but you don’t even know the Ukrainian President’s name?"

"Um... Joe, can I get a memory implant of Ukrainian, Russian, and Crimean Tatar, along with the President’s name, and other situational stuff."

"Acknowledged. This is going to take about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. I’ll need to transfer your awareness back into your human body. It would be a good idea to exercise it for a while after that."

"Yeah, sure. I’ll try to use it whenever I’m here in the base. By the way, before I go. Dad, I think we need to consider moving the Headquarters. After our press conference in Mexico, people are going to start figuring out her identity at least. The house here will come under scrutiny. I think the Headquarters should go somewhere else. Joe tells me he can move it. Can you discuss it with Mom and you guys figure out some good choices for where to put it?"

Dad tilted his head, "Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Maybe a little late even."

OK, Joe, send me back to childhood. Then I opened my eyes and found myself lying on a treatment table in SickBay. We had decided that unused real bodies would be kept here and closely monitored. Android bodies also had a place in SickBay, but they were stored standing with an intravenous connection that fed the biological portions, like the skin.

A minute later, with my still lying on the table, the memory dump of the information I requested began. Kostyantyn Dovzhenko was the name of the Ukrainian President. He had been elected two years before the current conflict, but after the Crimean annexation. Because of the dangers and logistical difficulty of conducting national elections in an active battleground, elections had been suspended until the situation was resolved. There didn’t seem to be any real opposition to his continued Presidency, except from the Russians who continued to launch unsuccessful bids to drop bombs on his locations, send assassination teams, and even recruit his close contacts in their efforts. To date, every effort had been stopped by the fierce loyalty and competence of his security and intelligent teams, a policy of not staying in one place too long, and strategic retreats into the fortified bunkers below the Presidential palace. He also spent a good deal of time outside Ukraine seeking military and humanitarian aid for his country from allies.

With a leading United States Presidential candidate questioning whether the United States should continue to supply Ukraine with military aid, Dovzhenko was now putting more focus on his diplomatic entreaties to European nations. Currently, he was in Paris to meet with the French government. Joe would deliver the Universal Earth Concord document to his hotel there along with a secure phone number he could use to contact me at his convenience. His tablet would start up with full directions and a brief preamble about what it contained and how it would aid his assimilation of the document before asking for his consent to continue. Once activated, the entire document would be implanted into his memory with contextual linkages, definitions of terms, and explanatory support to allow him a full understanding of the agreement and what it would mean for his country. It would not detail how we would end the conflict, but it did offer his nation complete security against all outside aggression. I would meet with him in person to discuss how we would do that and to demonstrate that we had the capability to stop Russia completely.

An hour later, the phone call from Dovzhenko came, and Joe put him through to me. I had to switch back to my adult android body, for the call. "We are in dire need of immediate military support," he began after our introductions, "if we should lose US support after the election there, our ability to defend our people and remaining infrastructure may be in jeopardy. If you can provide such support... we could accept this Universal Earth Concord. I’ve seen what you did in South America, but we are at war with Russia, an organized and determined military force with huge resources at their disposal and a complete disregard for their own casualties as long as they can inflict damage on us. This enemy is much bigger and more difficult than a band of drug criminals."

"Yes," I agreed, "I understand that. I have good intelligence on their assets, as well as those you have. I will caution you that should you agree to the Concord, Ukraine would also be prohibited from striking at Russia outside Ukrainian borders. We would consider Crimea to be within Ukrainian borders and would help re-establish your control there. I understand that you may have doubts about our abilities to provide significant aid against an enemy as powerful and as... I’ll just say it, as psychotically focused as Russia. Let’s start with a 48-hour protection. I understand from my sources that Russia will be launching a sustained missile and drone attack on the evening of November 17th, tomorrow. They will target your energy production and transmission capabilities as well as civilian buildings seeking to erode popular resolve to continue the resistance without electricity over the winter."

"What? I need the details. We need to prepare. Where are the targets, specifically?"

"We will stop them, President Dovzhenko. We will stop every drone and every missile. There will be no damage."

"I need the details, regardless. I have to evacuate people in the event that something gets through," his voice was insistent. "I’ll also need to see evidence that you actually stopped the attack or some part of the attack. What sources do you have to know about his in advance?"

"I’m surprised you don’t know about the attack already. Your intelligence service has done an excellent job of acquiring Russian assets in their planning organization. I’ll send the details through to the tablet you’re holding. Be discrete if you feel you must evacuate, a strong reaction before the attack might cause the Russians to alter their plans."

"We have been expecting an attack like this, but we did not have timing or details." He replied tersely.

"OK, details of the current plan can be accessed on the tablet using the prompt that now appears on the bottom left of the screen. Including targets, timing, and the specific weapons they intend to use. We will prevent any weapon from reaching its target in a way that demonstrates our capabilities to you. Make whatever arrangements you must. Call me back using the table when the attack is done tomorrow. I’ll ask for your agreement to the Universal Earth Concord at that time."

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