NB : since this is my first shot at a story, feedback is more than welcome ! :)

Cleopatra, queen of the mightiest empire on Earth, couldn’t believe what she was seeing. When her commanders woke her early in the morning, it made her angry, but she wisely decided to wait a bit and have a look for herself before she started to yell. Now she didn’t regret her decision.
She was standing on the wharf of the harbor of a small and remote city of her empire, whose name she didn’t get, but she had a feeling it would be remembered in the years to come. Far away from her, emerging from the skyline, a quantity so huge it was not conceivable of French war boats and transports steadily came towards the very same spot she was standing on.
« Why haven’t we sunk them with our bombers ? asked Cleopatra
-We can’t, Great Leader. They’re protected by destroyers, plus all our bombers are on the other side of the continent, harassing French forces. And when I say all, only a few squadrons remain, as you know ».
Yes, she knew. After a first period of complete air domination where her bombers were able to annihilate French citizens and troops on their own continent, the ennemy started reacting first with fighters and Flak. Losses were quite manageable until the last couple of years, where reports indicated that the French had developed not only a brand new kind of fighter, supremely efficient over Egyptian bombers, but also a new kind of flak, that apparently launched deadly rockets. 90% of the Egyptian squadrons had been wiped out, a news that of course did not make the news.
Cleopatra sighed. It was hard enough to pretend that the Egypto-French war, the great battle of ideologies, was being won by her side already, without having to deal with the possible capture of an egyptian city on Egypt’s own ground ! She made a mental note to brief her Chief of Information and Propaganda about it. She made another mental note to press her scientists more for a way to get back the air supremacy.
« I don’t think we should remain here too long, Great Leader. The French commies will be here in a few hours at most, by our estimations.
-Thank you, Commander. I guess I’ll have to cancel my picnic then, answered bitterly Cleopatra, unable to hide her troubled state. Tell me, what do we plan to send against… this ?
-Our navy in this region is not sufficient enough to stop that. Plus there are a lot of French submarines roaming, waiting for us to send our forces. I say we just let them land, and bash them with all we have. We know how to deal with tanks and infantry.
-Shouldn’t we try to send some artillery in, Commander ?
-I’m afraid not, Great Leader. Right now they are out of range, and by the time we’ll bring our artilleries, all the ships will have unloaded.
-So basically we just let them land, that’s it ?
-That’s it, Great Leader. I’ve already sent words to our divisions, they’re on their way as we speak. »
Cleopatra turned to her Internal Affairs secretary.
« Tell me, Imhotep, how is it possible that you could not foresee this ?
-Alas, Great Leader, they came through an unusual way. They did not gather their fleet in a place that our planes can access, so we had no warnings of such a gathering. They also took a long but hidden way to come here, close to Aztec territory.
-And they did not alert us ? How unfair of them, I’d thought we were allied !
-We are, Great Leader. However, may I remind you that you decided against teaching them the way of flight ? They had no way to tell French troops were passing by. Since the Indians were wiped out by the French, they’re also more, errr, careful not to waste troops »
Cleopatra sighed again. She remembered the last debacle suffered by the Aztecs. They tried to invade a small city on a island south of France’s continent, thinking it would be less defended. But the French just waited for them to unload their troops, and bombed every division to oblivion from an airbase located on the continent. They even had the nerve to sink the fleet.
« Let’s get out of here », said Cleopatra.

Back at her palace, she studied the situation carefully with her Commanders and Secretaries. The events that led her fascist faction to power, a few decades ago, were caused by a growing unrest in the Egyptian population about the everlasting war with the French. She managed to stay into power only because she completely controlled the medias, and utterly lied to her people. It had gotten to a point where false war movies were shot in false French towns in a highly secret place not far from Alexandria, using real soldiers that were immediatly after sent to the real front in order to be butchered. The soldiers thought it was an exercise, the people thought it was for real. When a real French town was captured 10 years ago by a brand new Marine Division, her communication people almost didn’t know how to handle it. Ironically, she thought that it was almost for the better that the town was soon retaken.
So Cleopatra had not only a battle with armies to fight, she also had a battle with her people to fight, and she was willing to loose neither. She was pretty confident the French would not be able to take the city, but she was certainly not prepared to risk her life on it, and it never hurts to brace yourself for the worst.
« Commander Tout, could you enlighten us with the most recent situation ? » she asked.
Commander Tout, an old, nice-looking general who had seen a lot and was ready to talk about it, got up. Slowly pacing up and down the room, an habit he took in the Alexandria School of War, he started his short and matter-of-factly assessment of the situation.
« As you know, Great Leader, it’s been almost 150 years to this day that we’ve been at war with the French. We’re quite successful, if for one thing : we have never managed to get a foothold on their continent. The troops we send there are systematically wiped out the moment they set foot on French soil. But we are the uncontested master of the seas, and until recently we were ruling the air as well. On a side note, I’m pretty confident our scientists will soon bring us back to supremacy.
-That could be possible if we had credits, interrupted Ahmothep, the Science secretary, who clearly saw the Commander’s last sentence as a masked hint at his team’s inefficiency. You know quite well that all my demands for funds have been supplanted by your own demands.
-And rightly so, snapped Commander Tout. It’s men and weapons that will win the war, not scientists. If you can not do with what you’re given, then I question your utility.
-Men and weapons, sure, but from what century ? Doesn’t the complete destruction of our bomber squadrons by planes our pilots can not even describe worry you, Commander ?
-ENOUGH ! yelled Cleopatra. Budget issues are not on the agenda of this meeting. Ahmothep, if you’ve got complaints, you know how to adress them. Commander, please proceed. »
With a superior smile, Commander Tout took up his pacing.
« Our allies, the Aztecs and the Romans, have been undefectedly on our side for the whole of this conflict. The fact that they’re on our continent, and thus close to immediate retaliation, certainly helps them think twice about switching sides. And if not that, the memories of the Persians are still vivid in everyone’s mind. »
That was true, thought Cleopatra. The Egyptian Empire was nothing but words until the Persians were utterly defeated, 300 years ago. They were the sole threat on the continent for Egypt, and they held vital resources the Egyptian people needed badly. If Egypt did it once, why couldn’t they do it again, this time on a world scale ?
« My analysis is thus : even if it was not as successful as we wished, our numerous excursions in French territory show that WE can send troops and be dangerous, while THEY can’t. All they can manage is defend themselves. Until today, that is. But even if that… invasion comes as a surprise, we should not worry. They lack experience in that matter. They will be promptly thrown back to the sea, and their morale will be so low they won’t dare attack us again in a century, giving us more that sufficient time to crush them, even if our weapons will be two centuries out of date by then », added the Commander while looking the Science Secretary straight in the face.
« Thank you, Commander. These are the words I needed to hear. Here’s what I suggest. The Information Secretary should still be prepared to a succesfull invasion. In that case, I suggest communicating heavily on a « defective village » whose inhabitants of « doubtful ethnic background » unwisely embraced the French cause, showing once again the clear need for a purified Egypt. Make one or two articles describing how, despite our best efforts, the Romans citizens never quite fitted in the Empire after we gratefully included their city in our territory. Insist also on the punishments these inhabitants will have to face once our troops retake their corrupt city. Commander Tout, I make you personnally responsible of that part. I don’t care how much it costs you in men and weapons, but do not leave the city in French hands. » Cleopatra started to exit the room, when she turned back.
« Oh, and Ahmothep, you have one year to build an airfleet able to surpass the French one. With the same budget you already have, of course ».

Admiral Cécile Lenglet watched her fleet from the command cabin of the FS La Révolution. The destroyers were inserted right in the middle of the transport ships in order to protect them for an air attack, and the battleships were deployed all around, forming what she hoped would be an unbreachable wall of steel. She also took a look at the sonar to check that all the nuclear subs were in place, ready to sink every inch of Egyptian steel they’d lay their periscope on.
She was still feeling uneasy at not having encountered any kind of opposition so far. Apart from the medieval aztec ship that was promptly removed on their way to the Egyptian coastline, they had not meet or detected any signs of the dreadful Egyptian fleet. How could that be ? But soon it would not matter anymore. The fleet would unload all the land forces it transported, then move safely back until the Egyptian city was captured and they could use its haven to make some repairs.
Lenglet remembered her last brief with the First Comrade Jeanne. It took place in the Pentagon, in Rheims ; they had just gotten news of the razing of the last Indian city, situated in a lost island south from the Egyptian continent. The 1st DB had not waivered, and its expected victory was the signal of the greatest operation man had ever known : Operation Seigneur Suprême.
« You have to understand, Comrade Admiral, than the razing of the Indians was just a decoy. We let the Egyptians think they’re safe, we let them land their troops on our very ground for decades so they think we’ll never move, and suddenly, BAM ! We hit them as hard as we can with everything we’ve got. And you want to know the funny side of it ? While they think we’re too weak to retaliate, we’re actually using their own troops to give ours experience ! »
Turning to Comrade Clément Magne, the First Comrade told him :
« and I’ve got to thank you, Comrade. The new jets you designed proved essential in winning the air supremacy. I thought we would never get rid of these bombers, but with our jets, our SAM batteries and our mobile SAMS, we’re close to a 90% interception ratio over the last ten bombing raids. »
« Thank you, Comrade, answered Clément. I’d still hope that you’d raise our funds, but I try to do the best with what I have
-Keep on like this, and you’ll get your seat to the PolitBuro, Clément. That’s a promise. Now, Comrade Admiral, can you give me an update on where we stand in Operation Seigneur Suprême ?
-Oui, Comrade. The 1st DB is on its way to the loading point, escorted by a light destroyer fleet and the FS Nouvelles Valeurs. Once it arrives at destination, we’ll start the loading of all the land troops. We’ve got the 1st and 2nd Mechanized Infantry armies, the 3rd and 4th DB equipped, as you requested, with experienced modern armors only, and the 2nd DB also ready. We have 12 artillery battalions and 6 mobile SAM divisions, and we’re currently planning on 12 more armored divisions.
-Is Comrade Marshall Laverdure ready ?
-Yes, Comrade. I’ve got word from him this very morning : all his forces are currently in red alert. They won’t let a bomber pass through.
-I’m sure of that. That will make the Egyptians more sure we’ll be coming this way… The fascists fools !"

Admiral Lenglet snapped back to reality. This was an historical moment, she was currently writing her name right next to the glorious, even if bourgeois, generals who conquered Japan, and the more acceptable comrades who, in the first days of the glorious Communist era, managed to channel the popular fervor in a blazing victory against Babylon. These two nations have been part of the Soviet for so long that it was hard to tell they were not French. Not like these Indian Reactionnarists, who persisted in their deviant ideological views to the death. They had some bravery, you had to admit that, but to Cécile bravery was nothing but complete foolishness that succeeds. They failed.
« Comrade Admiral, we’ll be accosting in 1 hour.
-Tell the transport ships to move forward. We’re sufficiently close to the shore to wipe everything that comes with artillery". She pressed her com. "All ships, this is Comrade Admiral Clément. Let transports reach the shore, and position your guns for support artillery. We won’t be moving closer. Terminé »
She waited until all her admirals had answered, then watched the line of transport ships rushing to the shore like hundreds of torpedoes. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her blood, and imagined what it must be like for the modern armor crews…
The first time she saw one, she was amazed at the brutal beauty of the object. The tanks were sluggish and crammed up, but the modern armors were almost pleasing to the eye, a nice paradox when you thought of what they were designed for. Keeping this new weapon a secret was extremely difficult. They had to make sure that no ennemy should ever, ever, survive a contact with one. By comparison, keeping the new mechanized infantry a secret was almost a peace of cake ; these were never in the front lines, and she highly doubted the ennemy saw one close enough not to think it was a tank.
The Comrade Admiral hoped the city would be lightly defended. The ennemy had no words of their arrival, hopefully, and the First Comrade had selected the place with great care, choosing a spot not obvious, but easy to reach, with little strategical interest so it would not be heavily protected, but big enough to be used as a foothold from where the glorious Pink Army would make its unstoppable march forward.

In the PAHQ (Pink Army Head Quarters) in Paris, the First Comrade smiled at the incoming reports. Everything was going perfectly according to plan. The Egyptians should surely have realized by now what was going on, but it was too late. She was certain her firepower was enough to open that much-needed foothold on Egyptian soil.
It seemed like the goal of an entire lifetime, and yet, and she was the only one to know this, it was just a beginning, THE beginning in fact…
The Egyptians deserved it. On several occasions, the First Comrade had tried to offer peace, but every time Cleopatra made such incredible demands that Jeanne was forced to stop all negociations. What could you expect from fascists, anyway ?
True, in the very beginning of the war, the PolitBuro was worried that France would be overwhelmed. They had no navy and Egypt was able to bomb several cities back to the stone age. The Indians were quite strong on the southern border and keep sending troops that monopolized French forces. And when the first bombers were launched, it came as a real shock that Egypt was able to launch some bombing raids not more than a couple of years later, with much more firepower.
The people was told that of course, the Egyptians bombers were lousy and easily dispatched, but the truth was, for some years, the situation was very, very tensed. But once the Indians were finally kicked out of the continent, the productive cores of the Soviet French Empore were finally able to meet their five-years-plans schedule and produce the new fighters and SAM so expected.
It was then than the PolitBuro decided not to openly reveal its real strength to the Egyptians, but rather take them completely by surprise by invading them.
And razing every single one of their cities.

Comrade Lenglet watched the troops land right next to the Egyptian city. The place had been carefully chosen ; the terrain offered quite a lot of protection from ground attacks. However, as soon as they landed, bombers started flying over them.
« Every ship man AA guns ! » yelled Admiral Lenglet into the com. But the bombers did not bother to venture at sea. The mobile SAM did not have time to be deployed, and so Comrade Lenglet watched helpless as the Egyptians aircrafts dropped their lethal cargo.
« I want a casualty report as soon as possible », asked the Admiral to the first person she set her eyes on.
« Oui, Comrade ».
The bombing raid was not as long as expected. Once it was over, Comrade Lenglet read with relief the datas : some casualties, but nothing serious. The rest would be a piece of cake.
« Order full artillery bombing of the city ».
« Send the two DB of modern armor in ».
« Leave one MI army to protect the artillery, along with the 1st DB, and send the rest of our forces into the city. All of them. I want no rioter, I want a curfew at 8 PM, and I want the construction of the airport to start now ».
Without knowing it, Comrade Admiral Cécile Lenglet, by strictly obeying to the First Comrade’s orders, was indeed starting to write her name in the history books. But not in the way she’d expect.


NOTE : DB = Division Blindée, the French Term for a tank division.
Seigneur Suprême could be translated as... Overlord ;)
FS = French Ship (like USS = US Ship). It's not an official term, but I like it anyway :)
Révolution is Revolution, of course, and Nouvelles Valeurs stands for New Values.

Now that the stage is set, a bit of info before I go back into the story.

Difficulty : Monarch.
Size : normal, 8 civs.
Play as : the Commie French (the pink threat)

What gave me the idea for this story is the current war I'm in, in which my ruthless French empire battles for world supremacy against the ruthless Egyptian empire. I'm a communist, they are fascist, the war has been raging for more than a century, and there's no sign it's goign to end soon...
And suddenly I told myself : how would an egyptian citizen feel about this war ? Sure, I feel I'm right, but am I really ? Especially since I'm planning a Conquest victory, and thus have to annihilate all civilizations...

I like this story so far... Keep going!

Private Mses was currently, for the first time in his otherwise short life, experimenting what it was like to be scared to death. He clutched his gun as hard as he could, irrationnaly hoping in a rather pathetic way to get by some kind of osmosis the steel of his weapon to strengthen his wrecked nervous system. Had he been a little less scared, and had he cared a little less, he would have noticed that all his fellow men in arms were in more or less the same desperate state.
By now the rumble of the incoming French army was deafening. It was no wonder, since the scouts had counted more than 4,000 of France’s advanced tanks when they made a daring recon yesterday. It was clear the Pink Army meant business.
At one point, when the glorious Egyptian Air Force bombed the freshly landed French troops, Mses almost thought he wouldn’t have to fight after all. But that hope was quickly crushed when he looked at his colonel’s face reading the reports. Fear was not a thing grade made you immune too, after all.
Now waiting for his company to be ordered forward, Mses realized another thing. It was an easy thing to say you were ready to die for your country. It was entirely another thing to do it. Back at the university, he loved to brag about how the Egyptian Empire was fit to rule the world, and how the evil French commies were a plague, a disease that had to be eradicated with the cold and professionnal way of a surgeon. True, he did that also to impress that nice girl in the History class, who was an active member of the Egyptian Youth Party.
The funny thing was, when he actually took the time to really think about it, Mses knew his country was not as great as he claimed. After all, his own brother was shot in a street in full daylight by a member of the Militia who didn’t like the way he stood during the 6 PM play of the national anthem. His best friend was sent to a reeducation camp because his father was not an Egyptian. But the only way Mses could still feel some love for his country was to hide all the ugly things he saw. And what was his alternative anyway ? Join the pathetics Aztecs or Romans ? Defect to the French ?
But now was not the time for deep thoughts. With a raw and primal scream, his leader finally ordered his men forward, and suddenly all his fears, all his doubts went away in a puff of adrenaline. He heard himself scream like a madman, and was amazed to feel his legs actually rushing him towards his certain death. A part of his brain registered his companions being blasted to bits by the shells of the modern armors, while another one coldly evaluated the best way to use his handgrenades. Amazingly remembering a training he was sure he skipped, he dived on the ground and took one grenade from his bag. Ground targets were much harder to hit, so he had time to carefully prepare his throw. He launched it with as much hope as strength, but was not able to see the result as a shell exploded right next to him, knocking him out.

When he came back to reality, the silence was so absolute he was for a brief moment convinced he’d turned deaf. But gradually the normal noises of a rural landscape started to emerge : birds singing in the distance, the wind gently shuffling the leaves in a close wood, and a dog barking not far from him. Feeling utterly out of place, he started walking back to the city, wondering how long he had remain inconscious. It was not until he saw the French flag floating over the governor’s place that everything came back to him in a rush. His first impulse was to run back to his barracks, but he stopped quickly, realizing it was probably not such an brilliant idea : the French victorious troops were certainly stationned there.
The noise of a patrol made him dash for a nearby bush, where he tried to remain as low as possible. This hide actually gave him time to study his surroundings : curiously enough, the city beared absolutely no trace of the invasion. It was as if the French had decided to spare the city. Once the patrol was gone, Mses pondered his options. He had not been in the city for a long time before the invasion started, and he knew almost nobody ; yet he had to get rid of his uniform if he didn’t want to be shot on sight, and he had to act quickly : no doubt his luck wouldn’t last much longer. A quick look at his surroundings enabled him to spot an abandoned house in an advanced state of degradation ; he hoped he would find clothes in here. And food. A lot of food.

The family was cramped in a corner of the room, while the father was trying to look brave, holding a shovel in his hands and waving it in what could be a threatening way if he wasn’t shaking so much.
« Get out, you scum ! Leave my family alone ! Haven’t you plundered enough already ? »
Mses looked perplexed at first, and sudenly realized the old man took him for a French.
« Calm down, mister. I’m an Egyptian, just like you ». He moved forward in the light.
« I’m not an Egyptian », answered the man, but he lowered his shovel. « What do you want ? How come you’re still alive ?
-I was left for dead on the battlefield. Look… I just need clothes, informations, and maybe a bit of food, and I’ll leave right after that », said Mses, realizing it might have been a mistake to present himself as an Egyptian, the very people that had conquered this city not so long ago…
« Clothes and informations I can give you. But for the food, I don’t have anything to spare, and nobody in this town has.
-the French scum ! I should have expected something like that from them. How could they be so cruel to civilians ? » answered Mses, eager to win back the man’s favour.
« Oh the French are oppressive allright, but actually it’s the Egyptians and the Aztecs troops who sit in the fields that prevent us from getting food. They deny us access to all agrable lands, hoping to starve the French out, I guess.
-And the French, what do they do ? » said meekly Mses, bitterly avoiding another doomed-to-fail attempt at befriending the man.
-You’ll be amazed, Sir. They’re building an airport. »
Mses stared at him, jaw opened. He realized he had to bring this information to the Egyptian troops at all costs

Laurent Baron, a French officer of the Génie corps, couldn’t believe his luck. The Comrade Admiral Cécile Lenglet, the brilliant military leader who triumphantly captured what would undoubtly be the first in a long list of Egyptian cities, was currently, in person, supervising the work of his crew, and she looked pleased. Laurent’s batallion had achieved quite a fame by managing to build an airport from scratch in a record time, using an ingenious method of recycling the damaged French bombers into infrastructures certainly simple and rough, but nonetheless efficient.
Laurent had then been asked to build a place for the Political Commissaire. This work was essential, even more than the airport, because the Commissaire was directly in charge of enforcing French Communist Values, and making sure everybody followed them, eagerly if possible. The faster the population would be assimilated into the French Soviet, the better for the propaganda, and the worst for the Egyptian scum.
Once again, Comrade Laurent had proved extremely resourceful by using materials from the left over transport ships. The result was a building whose martial aspect would be a reminder of France’s power, but also a tribute to France’s technological prowess.
Comrade Admiral Lenglet, having finished her inspection work, came directly to him.
« Congratulations, comrade Baron. I see your high reputation is entirely deserved. I’m sure that in the glorious campaign that awaits us, you’ll have numerous opportunities to confirm your talents. I name you in charge of all Génie corps, and I hope your example will motivate your troops ! »
« Merci, Comrade Admiral. If you permit me such boldness, I can tell you that you are the example for me.
-Well, who’d have thought engineers were capable of flattery ? » answered the Admiral with an amused glint in her eyes. « I’m sure our pathes will cross again, Comrade Colonel ». And she was gone.
The brand new Comrade Colonel Baron stood dumbfounded for a few minutes, until he noticed that all his men had stopped working and were looking at him, a smile on their faces.
« I guess there couldn’t be a better time to buy all of you a well-deserved drink ! » said Comrade Baron. The men cheered him wildly, and he went with them, his head still spinning, to the closest cantina.

The next morning saw a rather diminished Comrade Colonel Baron weakly emerging from his barracks. If he didn’t knew better, Baron would have swore he had been given a Colonel cap made of lead. He decided a walk in the fresh air would do him good, and started the long way to his yard.
The walk indeed cleared his head. It was the first time he walked this way, and he noticed with a bit of surprise the desolate state the inhabitants were in. So this was the best the Egyptians could bring ? The few people he encountered, looked famelish, except the children, who were all dressed in the Communist Youth regular uniform, and were apparently on the best of shape. He guessed the Party had decided that grown-ups were hopelessly corrupted by the fascist Egyptian ways, while children were a lot more receptive to the new ways. No doubt in a few years, all these children would be in charge and the city would truly be part of the Soviet ; its ragtag days would definitely be a thing of the past.
Artilleries suddenly opened fire. Apparently the Egyptians had decided to attack early today, and undoutbly with as little success as usual. From time to time a bomber raid managed to pass through the SAM batteries, but it usually did little if none damage. The current rumor said that as soon as the Political Commissaire place was built, the Pink Army would move forward to its next target, undoubtly adding one more victory to the flawless roster of Comrade Admiral Lenglet.

A few weeks later, Comrade Colonel Baron stood proudly at the head of the Génie Corps while they marched out of the city. The reinforcements had kept pouring out of the airport, and now troops were in sufficient number to pursue the campaign with no fear of the Egyptian fascists taking the city back. Comrade Baron had been to the Comrade Admiral’s HQ last night, to receive his marching orders ; the destination remained secret, but the colonel was pretty confident another success awaited them at the end of the road. The Egyptian skirmishes were a thing of the past.
Everything looked perfect, and that’why Comrade Baron could not understand why, when giving him his orders, the Comrade Admiral had looked so much troubled.

From The Egyptian Values

UNSPEAKABLE

That's the only thing we can - no pun intended - say about the last outrageous genocide commited by the French Troops.
Two days ago, the proud and beautiful city of Antioch was completely razed, and its 3,000,000 inhabitants exterminated, in one of the most despicable act in History by the French troops under the command of the now more infamous Admiral Lenglet.
Despite numerous attempts at negociations by the city officials, completely taken by surprise by the Communist's aggressive move, the French not once deviated from their horrible goal : the complete annihilation of one of our glorious empire's jewel.
First, the humming noise of thousands of Commie bombers woke the Antiochans up, only to immediatly crush them under a rain of lethal bombs that destroyed almost every structure. Sabotaged in a treacherous act by the French's Fifth Column, our anti-aircraft guns could only stand helpless as the homes of families and friends were mercilessly reduced to smoking piles of ruins. Then Communist tanks invaded the streets and, not caring one inch for international conventions, started killing all our noble armed forces that had but one goal in mind : rescuing the populace. Despite a brilliant and heroic resistance, our Egyptians troops, outnumbered and traumatized by the slaughtering of their close ones, were soon completely exterminated. The French did not hesitate to kill wounded, surely infuriated at the fact that not a single Egytian surrendered. But the worst was yet to come.
Once they ended their rape-and-plunder schemes, the French brought together every remaining living citizen and, in a completely inhuman act that we can not report without tears of rage and frustration, exterminated every single one of them.
In no more that one day, 3,000,000 inhabitants were killed."

Cleopatra slammed the newspaper on the table. Not one of her Commanders dared llok up at her. Apparently the carved designs of the table were extremely interesting in their eyes.

"I'm a human being, sirs. I can understand one failure. I can undersand loosing one unprepared and undefended city to the French. But THIS ! Not only have we NOT been able to retake the city, but we weren't able to correctly protect Antioch ? It's not like they took us by surprise the second time, did they ? Does anybody have any kind of explanation that could stop me from executing right here, right now, the whole incompetent bunch of you ?" She finished her sentence yelling and standing. The carved designs had incredibly gained one or two levels of interests. Cleopatra started walking around her table, hands crossed behind her back.
"So, Gentlemen ? Is this the best the glorious Egyptian race can do ? Are we actually not better than the backward Romans and their wooden ships, than the retarded Aztecs and their pikemen ?" She stopped behind Ahmothep, who was shivering badly.
"Ahmothep, tell me... Where are we with our brand-new air force ?
-Great Leader, you told me I had one year to...
-NOW IT'S ONE MONTH YOU HAVE ! UNDERSTOOD ?
-Yes, Great Leader, actually I'm working on a jet prototype that could, if...
-THEN GO, go away, now." Cleopatra was furious. How could he waste her time like this ? Ahmothep stood up and rushed to the door, looking both scared and relieved.
"Now Commander Tout. Any... explanations ? Enlightenment ?
-Actually, err, yes, Great Leader." The old general was looking a lot less confident since their last meeting."I've discussed this with the others commanders..." at that point he looked at his fellow companions for support, but found none. The bastards, he thought, but kept going. "... and we're suggesting you some, errr, modifications to our usual battle plans.
-Such as, Commander ?" answered Cleopatra in a meek voice that should have alerted Tout, had he been a little less stressed.
"Well, first of all, we're not sure if sending our troops in small batallions was the best way to retake the city. We harassed them allright, but we never managed to look threatening because we lacked numbers. By the time the next battalion would arrive, the first one would already have been exterminated. Then, errr, maybe we should, errr, build more, you know, errr, artillery ? " Commander Tout looked really, really scared now.
"YouknowtheFrenchmanagedtocrusheverysingleoneofoura rmieswiththemwithoutloosingasingletroop", he added in a rush.
Cleopatra stood, motionless, a black pool of light whirling in her eyes. Not good, though Commander Tout.
"Oh, so that's it ? That's the secret of war, that's the reason why we've been defeated ? All we have to do is send all our troops at once, and drown the French troops with artillery first, and we're good ? Right ?
-Right, squeaked Commander Tout.
-Have you ever wondered, Commander, why I'm the Great Leader, and you're a commander ? Has it ever, ever, occured to you it was because I'm more competent ? Do you think I could turn the Egyptian Empire into the most powerful Empire on the planet WITH WRONG MILITARY TACTICS ? We crushed the Persian using the very same tactics you apparently despise. The Romans, the Aztecs, they eat in our hands because of our wrong military tactics. We were the only one to be able to deploy our forces on another continent, thanks to our wrong military tactics." Cleopatra stopped, breathless. She regained composure, and in a voice cold as ice, pursued :
"Let me tell you what I think, Commander Tout. I think our problem does not lay in our tactics. I think our problem has nothing to do with the way we fight. I think our problem comes from you, Commander Tout. I think you're not fitted to lead our armies. And you know what I think of useless leaders, Commander ?"
Commander Tout gaped at her, helpless.
"I think they should be disposed of, that's what I think".
Commander Tout never had time to reply before the bullet smashed his brains.