Revised 2/5/2024. Originally written 2/28/2015.
She stared at the world map laid in front of her, hands outstretched on the table. The room was dimly lit, and the smell of incense and wine filled the space. Her great admiral to her left and her great general to her right, she closed her eyes in deep thought. None of the team had spoken since they first greeted one another. The silence seemed thicker than the aromas.
After several minutes, the admiral stepped forward and placed a blue pawn two tiles to the east of the target nation’s coast. She turned her head to the left, glanced at the admiral, looked at the pawn, and moved it diagonally down two spaces to the southeast. She grabbed a second blue pawn and placed it four tiles above the first pawn. She held out her right hand and the general handed her a red pawn. She didn’t move. He placed another pawn in her palm. She placed the red pawns, one to the north and one to the northwest of the target nation and stood up straight to examine the plan. The admiral and general turned to her.
“Well, go ahead,” she shattered the silence.
The admiral and general took the remainder of their pawns and placed them on the board, the blue pawns vastly outnumbering the red. The blue pawns formed a semicircle around the target while the red pawns amassed on the northern border in friendly territory.
“Not there.” She picked up two of the blue pawns and placed them off the coast of their nation. “For defensive purposes.” They nodded in agreement. “We can’t afford to mess up like last time. They won’t take us seriously as the world superpower, and we don’t want them thinking they can demand resources from us.”
“What of our allies? Can they not help us?” asked the great general.
“We don’t need their, or anyone’s, help. Walking through their territory with our armies is help enough. Our nation does not want to appear to be the weak one.” She continued to stare at the map, seeming to calculate the exact locations of each pawn relative to another. “Anyways, our allies have puny armed and naval forces. We don’t want this to be a confidence-building exercise for them. Nor do we want them learning any of our strategies or getting power hungry. We must keep them where they are for our own sake. They could turn on us at any moment.”
“Why this nation as the target? Why not here?” he said, pointing to another civilization. “Their armies are small, their navy practically nonexistent, and they have tons of coal. Not to mention some luxury resources such as citrus and pearls.” The admiral’s face showed his concern for the attack. She seemed apathetic to his concern. She raised her eyebrows, licked her lips, and turned to the admiral.
“Why do you question my decision? I can make life a living nightmare for you and your family… Don’t doubt our nation’s power over this worthless country. This nation we, you hear that, we, have chosen to target is not far behind us in scientific research, meaning soon they will be even harder to take down. We know, at the moment, our military strength is greater than theirs as is our economy. If we can bottleneck their nation, no one, not even their closest allies, stand a chance at saving them. It would be nothing more than a mass suicide on their end.”
The general stepped forward. “I believe he’s more concerned with the number of men we will lose. This is a very risky attack.”
“If we play this strategically, we have nothing to worry about. This is nothing more than a game… a game we must win. A few lives lost now is worth more than thousands of lives lost later.” She returned her attention to the map. In her mind, she pictured her own nation covering the extent of the map. She grinned.
“Why start a war at all? None of these nations have denounced us nor threatened our stability. We can learn from each other and not have to worry about war. We-” The admiral’s face read panic, but in his head, he knew he must obey her. He sat down, closed his eyes, lowered his head, and nodded in acceptance of the plan.
“Admiral,” she walked over to the decanter to pour him another glass of wine. “Do you know the best way to stay on top?” She took the glass over to him, and he drank it all. “By holding those around us down.” He looked up at her. “Unfortunately, in today’s corrupt and power-hungry world, it’s the only way.” She grinned reassuringly, feeling more powerful than ever.
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