Copala City - Haanean State Summit

(Work in progress)

The fires had continued; the whole of Bomballey was suffocating in their smoke.

The windows had been closed, plugged with wettened cloths, as well as all the doors and the vents; still, she had to wear goggles, seven masks, all simply to ensure that she did not faint, or, perhaps worse, go into some sort of ecstasy, as so many others had.

The light above her flickered, once, twice, thrice.

Screaming from outside; the young and the elderly had now, alongside their protests against Reitzmag and for independence, begun to kill Areai supporters. As for herself, she was safe, as well as most of her aides; the other former "High Priests," however - they had been taken outside and, well....impaled. As for, for example, the ordinary supporters of Areai, most of them had been beaten unconscious, before being taken outside to succumb to the air so heavily laden with drugs, and then burnt alive.

That hadn't gotten out, thankfully. None of it had. No one in Europe knew of the piles of burning bodies, of the smell of burning flesh, in Bomballey; no one knew of the mass crucifixions, of the beheadings, of the other burnings.

At the very least, she thought, the State would be far more stable. None of the insanity of the Areaist fascism any more. None of that. Perhaps the day after they would all have to descend into the sewers, and there be shot down in the muck of the waste of the citizens of Copala City, but they would be free of that evil.

Today, amidst all this chaos, all this death, she had a meeting.

The Reitzmics would, of course, hear it all, find about it all, and gun them down, every single person, even infants, until they were all dead and there was nothing left. Then they would proclaim victory, of course, and deny that anything had happened; but their blood, running down the streets of Bomballey; their dying shrieks; their burning homes, would hopefully serve as a testament.

The meeting being with the Maxwells, she expected them as well to be arrested for some ridiculous crime - "collaboration with terrorists," she supposed, or, if the Reitzmic government was feeling extra-special, "treason." But that was of no matter.

She opened her computer, connected through a hotspot from her phone, connected to some Haanean telecommunications provider that she had forgotten the name of.

The meeting was to be virtual, which she supposed was dangerous, but it was to be heavily encrypted, through some obscure Haanean protocol that the Reitzmics would likely get nothing out of. The beauty of using a script unused since the year 1799, perhaps, although that was only a small part of it.

She was connected.

"Hello!" she said, as brightly as she could, given the extreme circumstances. "We do have quite a few things to speak about; but let's not get to that until a bit later. I'd just like to know your demands before I convey the wants of those in Bomballey."

Copala City

The phone alarm rang. It was half past 1 in the morning. The first thing both Maxwells heard when they woke up weren't birds or the sound of the Caspain Sea's waves crashing into the wonderful Copalan beaches. What they heard was the screams from those in Bomballey, the police sirens, some shots and the Reitzmic army making noise. One of the disadvantages of the imposed curfew by the 'Reitzmic Oppressor' were the silence of the city where dreams come true.

Those noises were unconfortable, sometimes irritating and unconfortable. George was the first Maxwells who got out of bed and dressed up for the encripted meeting. For Amal, it took a bit longer to do the same. George dressed up in a black suit with a white shirt, and a red tie, as a reference to the old Eastern Haane's flag. Amal had chosen an orange dress, representing the Nicoleizian and the Copalan flag, apart from the color of the CIU, the Copalan Independent Union, her and his husband party. She then kissed her husband, in a surrounding silence, only interrupted by the numerous noises which could be heard from Copala's Forest district, which offered peace and relax in the highest part of the city.

After washing their teeth and their faces, both Maxwells headed towards their living room. It was quite a huge room, with white walls, modern furniture and many portraits. One of the Copala City's Mayor was painting, and lots of her portraits were around the room, giving it a different look than it could have without them. George had never disliked any portrait Amal made, and those which were a little bit bad according to the married couple were sold to art dealers and the inhabitants of Copala City on their weekly street market. Being close to the Copalans was the recipe of sucess of the Maxwells, what made them special, according to many. That's why the always led and were approved in every poll, because they never hid from the people they governed.

George Maxwells stood up and walked to the living room's bookshelve, searching for the papers he had written for this special meeting; Amal was trying to connect into the private call, using the more than 200 years old Haanean unused script. If the Reitzmics intercepted this, they definetely had to had a spy or someone very smart, but that was a remote possibility for Amal, as there weren't many smart people in the Reitzmic Government; they only knew about messing up lots of situations, using their army to oppress people and kidnapping Foreign Ministers from unrecognised countries, but still, a silly move in exchange of some military planes, or that was what the rumours about the mysterious event said. And even if the European Court of Justice declared them guilty, they criticised the ECoJ rather than recognising their own mistake.

The Copalan First Minister, George Maxwells, went back to his seat, just in time. Amal Maxwells, following the instructions sent by the Haaneans, managed to connect into the secret meeting between Marine Marchand and them. They thought she was Ms. Marchand, but they weren't sure; the seven masks and the googles she was wearing didn't help to discover who were they talking to. George decided to speak first, as the First Minister of Copala City:

"Hello there! I hope you are doing fine, miss, but I think you could be doing better. I know about the high risk this meeting involves for you and us, but it was something we needed to do if we want to find a solution to this very damaging conflict for Copala City and our autonomy. My wife and the Mayor of Copala City, Amal Maxwells, will tell you about the deamnds we have, and also the possible solutions we could give you." Said George, before drinking some water and letting Amal speak to their guest.

Amal then took a paper from her husband's folder, and started to read it at the same time she looked into the camera: "Miss, what we are asking you for it's very simple. We would like the riots and the events going on in Bomballey. These are damaging our economy, our foreign advertising and has scratched our autonomy on the floor. We obviously aim for the independence of our city, and the Kingdom of Reitzmag is just adding more reasons to our cause, and I'm confident about Copala City becoming a proper state sooner or later. But meanwhile, we need to protect the Haaneans from the Reitzmic oppressor. My husband and I, along with the Copalan Government, have thought on 3 different solutions for you. Let me tell you about it:

The first one would consist of digging secret tunnels under Bomballey, with rooms to sleep and all the necessary equipment people need to survive. We would be in charge of digging everything, of course it will take long as we can't use heavy machinery, and we will need volunteers aswell. It will be difficult, but I don't think it would be impossible at all.
The second choice we have thought on is giving new orders to the Copalan Police in order to protect the Haanean people. This is also risky, but we could manage to deal with the Reitzmic Oppressor for some days. They won't kill the police, nor they wull arrest them, because then the European Union would put their eyes towards us and would ask for explanations, which could benefit us at some point.
Finally, the third choice would be taking this to the Council. I have been folllowing the Councillor Juvinal proposed discussion, and Councillor Tusk from Spain has already stated he would like to hear us. Maybe we could manage to reach him and try to enter the Council and being heard by all Councillors from Europe."

Marchand spoke again. "The riots will end if we have the assurance of safety. What is going on - the fires, the barricades, and so on and so forth - is primarily because of the actions of the Reitzmic aggressors. They are arresting us on a mass scale - we feel as though we must defend ourselves. Bomballey's Senate has found that it is unlikely that we will be here for much longer; they believe that we will all be arrested within a few weeks. The second option would likely be most likely to be approved by the Government, so I believe that'd be best.

In any case, on to our own demands and suggestions. We ask only one simple thing: some form of autonomy in the future. Of course, this is something we believe should be granted to all boroughs, but we want the right to keep our current legislature and government, as well as competence on cultural and perhaps administrative matters - for example, waste management, and so on and so forth. The remainder, we are generally satisfied with.

As for suggestions, we believe that Copalan independence can be received very easily. Reitzmag, I can assure you, will not withdraw when we do; they will continue with their mass arrests, and will certainly defy the Copalan police on these matters. We believe that if the Copalan government releases recordings of this - of the Reitzmic goverment arresting perhaps even those who were not involved in the incidents in Bomballey - the world will be outraged, and independence will be almost immediate.

We are willing to adjust in these discussions, of course."

Copala City

Amal Maxwells was going to speak after Marchand, that's why she listened carefully to what the Haanean representative had to say. She then spoke again: "Ms. Marchand, I can assure you the Copalan Police will protect the Haaneans as they protect every single citizen of our city. I think we have got enough orders from the Reitzmic Police, enough action. If the riots cease and the Reitzmic Army doesn't leave our city, the Copalan Police will be there to protect you, and we, the Copala City First Minister and myself, will be there to let the whole of the European Union know the atrocities they are doing.

If Copala City becomes independent, I can assure you boroughs will have lots of competencies. They will manage everything except Transport, Police, Fire/Emergency services, Planning, Arts & Culture, Environment, Housing and Streets. The rest of the city's competences will be given to boroughs. The Copalan Government will have, of course, the competences a Government has. But, first, we will need to reach the wished destiny before splitting the power's cake.

And also, we are prepared for recording and telling the whole of Europe about the Reitzmic atrocities. We have seen how many Commission candidates have said they would like to see an independent Copala City, and the Copalan Government will work for this even if it's not one of our main priorities on the short term. Right now, we need to regain our autonomy, to show the world we are the only ones in Reitzmag who were able to cease riots and more importantly, to remember the world that Haaneans shoudl be part of our modern day society."

"Yes, of course," said Marchand. "We can agree with that."

Copala City

George Maxwells and Amal Maxwells smiled; they finally got what they had been searching for during the summit: showing the Reitzmic Government, and the whole world, about how a small city of a million people was able to get rid of riots using diplomacy, instead of displaying the whole army in the city, suspending its autonomy and making its institutions be unuseful. They just needed one more thing, just Reitzmag to fall on the trap they, along with the Haaneans, had prepared for them. It was a matter of time, and both George and Amal Maxwells were winning the match before arriving to the extra time. George decided to speak:

"Well Ms. Marchand, I think we got a deal. I'm very proud and happy about what we just achieved: the riots will stop, and at the same time, Reitzmag will need to decide about what they will do; retiring the army and returning us what they stolen days ago, or facing a lucrative campaign for us and shameful for them. Wherever it takes us, your people and ourselves will show the millions of Europeans that we are stronger than the country occupying our lands. We are still on time to let Europe know about the other side, the unknown one your people has and that's what we will do. Thank you, Ms. Marchand."

"Thank you for your understanding. Independence will come. Now, I think that's all. Goodbye, and let us all hope for happier times!" exclaimed Marchand.

The meeting ended.