Ragnar was a proud man, but a practical one. He could see which way the wind was blowing. Justinian was lost, and the Vikings had proverbs about clinging to a sinking ship. The Bull, too, was practical. Sending valuable troops on a romp through Scandinavia would be... inefficient, especially if they were willing to subjugate themselves without any further fighting. The Vikings were welcomed into the fold.
The last of the Homeland War Weariness was stamped out by the construction of a massive monument to the Bull family in Green Wave:
The Native Americans do like their idols, and this one, featuring Sitting Bull, Michael Bull, General Santino, and even poor little Fredo, reminded them that things were under control. Frederico's speech at Rushmore's opening ceremony was utterly forgettable, but, hey. Nobody's perfect.
As the people cheered patriotically back home (even though Byzantine Destroyers continued to ravage the coast), Eurasia continued to be pummeled into submission. Bursa fell, and with it, the majestic Cristo Redentor. Most of these cities, though, were simple outposts, to be taken simply for the sake of taking them. Michael Bull, meanwhile, realized that simply seeing his enemies driven before them and hearing the lamentations of their civilians wasn't enough. He had to make the family legit. And the only way to do that was through a show of democracy:
In this "United Nations," all the leaders of the world would form a council, that would jointly decide international policy. The first such policy would be to declare the primacy of Native Americans in all diplomatic affairs and, with them, their august Don, The Bull. Of course, many peoples would not agree to such an arrangement. The Babylonians would, as would the Maya, and even the Byzantines, once they were properly subjugated. But the Carthaginians and Koreans were proud folk, so unanimity was impossible. Of course, in a democracy, a unanimous vote is unnecessary. All one needs is a sufficient majority. The Bull essentially elected himself Secretary General, then turned to more pressing matters.
In the arid central Asian steppe, the squalid village of Samsun was crushed under the wheels of Native American Mechanized Infantry:
It was kept. To butcher these hardy desert folk would be a meaningless gesture. Let them live, so long as they submit.
This loss, and the impending losses to come as the wall of troops swept through his lands, led Suleiman to break ranks from the Byzantine coalition and throw himself upon the mercy of the invaders:
The Ottoman forces were few and poorly equipped, but they were encamped laregly in far-off Asia, east even of Korea. It was more than he deserved, but Suleiman was allowed to live.
Charlemagne, however, was afforded no such courtesy:
The Holy Roman Empire had been a thorn in the Native Americans' side since the fall of Celtia. And here was Charlemagne, who had regularly shaken his petulant fist in the face of the inevitable, huddled in a converted Barbarian village with the last of his followers. He was keelhauled on a Tank tread as it did laps around Goth's town square. Michael Bull found this perhaps a bit excessive, but chose to maintain the appearance of unity rather than make an official censure of a commanding officer.
The brutal act did have quite an impact on Justinian who, seeing his coalition broken and his cities being overrun, begged to be spared a similar fate:
Peace settled upon the land. Carthage still warred with Korea, true, but that conflict had little impact on the overall world stage. In Europe, national borders were redrawn while Work Boats were rebuilt in America. The bureaucrats in the United Nations busied themselves drawing up the paperwork and treaties that would dissolve all world governments save their own.
But they were taking too long. Despite their assurances that these things took time, it had been a full decade since the institution had been founded. Michael knew that alternative routes to victory would need to be sought.
Diplomatic relations with Carthage had become unsalvageable. North African immigrants claimed land in Italy and Greece. Hannibal had become Annoyed by Native America's treatment of its allies. And thousands of restless troops milled about Central Asia, looking for a fight.
But Uruk was The Bull's primary target. Its raucous music could be heard from as far off as Babylon and Turkey. Its people claimed cultural superiority over all the world. They would learn humility. But simple conquest would not suffice. No, they would need to see everything they had worked so hard to build reduced to radioactive slag:
How's
that for shock and awe?
As world media focused on the dead and dying in the ruins of Uruk, Native American soldiers busied themselves claiming Hannibal's footholds in Europe:
These conquests were mostly a matter of pride by this point. But Oporto and Amsterdam had been denied to The Bull for far too long.
A young officer who took part in the taking of Uruk, one Lieutenant Commander Bay (NAMI, ret.) became so enthralled with the spectacle of the nuclear blast that he immediately requested (and was granted) release so that he might return to Cahokia and replicate its majesty for all to see:
The message had been sent. Hannibal's empire was doomed, as Boudica's, Hammurabi's, and Justinian's had been. Michael Bull had become death, destroyer of worlds. All remaining nuclear weapons were to be decommissioned and dismantled.
General Santino, though, was just as enamored of the weapons as Lieutenant Commander Bay, but for different reasons. Where Bay saw a big bada-boom, Santino saw whole units, nay, whole
cities reduced to featureless rubble. With such weapons at his disposal, his army could conquer as quickly as it could march. Even the Bombers had been rendered obsolete. With the press of one little button...
This was unacceptable. General Santino had disobeyed a direct order and detonated a nuclear warhead against a city that would likely not have provided much resistance anyway. He had gone too far. Appearances be damned. General Santino was stripped of his rank and put on a plane bound for the Cuban Plantations south of Hurricane. He was to quietly live out his retirement away from the public eye, but the plane disappeared somewhere over the Bermuda Triangle and Santino was never heard from again. Accidents happen.
The Sumerians, meanwhile, were constantly haranguing anyone who would listen at the U.N. General Assemblies, calling the Native Americans "Butchers" and recommending walkouts. Until those Treaties of Dissolution were drawn up, such agitation could not be tolerated. Michael Bull made a quick call to his field officers...
With no nation to represent, Gilgamesh had lost his seat on the Council. And with no seat on the Council, he had no right to be in the United Nations building. And with no right to be in the building, Gilgamesh was trespassing. The burly Sumerian and all of his retinue were dragged off the Assembly floor, braided beards flapping wildly. Order had been restored.
Even young, inexperienced Isabella received a firsthand look at the horrors of war:
Her life since her exile had been one of cold misery. The Canadian tundra was a frigid prison, with no hope of expanding to warmer, more productive climes. When The Bull declared war on her Carthaginian masters, Isabella ordered her troops to lay low. They would stand no chance against the Native American juggernaut. It worked for a surprisingly long time. But then, a hotheaded young Rifleman commander, seeing undefended Railroad Workers at the border, decided to make a quick raid. This, of course, awakened the sleeping giant.
Beyond the taking of Malaca, though, Michael Bull did not inflict much damage on the Spanish Provinces. In 1810, the bureaucrats had finally finished their document and were ready to send it for ratification. The Native American leader had just as little interest in mucking around in Nova Scotia as the Spanish one did. Especially with the world in his grasp!
The Maya and the Babylonians gladly cast their votes for The Bull. Suryavarman, Justinian, Suleiman, and Ragnar were less thrilled with the idea, but they had little choice in the matter. They could renounce their kingdoms, or Native American Mechanized Infantry would do the renouncing for them. Hannibal, Shaka, and Isabella, thoroughly disgusted with both sides in the election, bravely refused to cast a vote, though they knew that the measure would pass. Zara Yaqob, won over by Wang Kon's sweet lies, voted for the Korean Agrarian ideal.
After the election, the Bombers were retooled into passenger aircraft, and Airports were built in every city. The Mechanized Infantry became the world's police forces. The vassal-kings were allowed largely to retain their lands as governors. Little changed for the South American Maya or the Babylonian Indians. Hannibal, Shaka, and Isabella, for their abstentions, were divested of their properties and sent to a comfortable exile in Cuba. Isabella, for her part, was thrilled to, at least, be able to sunbathe again. Wang Kon and the snivelling Zara Yaqob were, of course, too dangerous to be allowed to live. They were granted the formalities of military tribunals and such, of course, but their fates were sealed when they cast their ballots.
The day after Michael Bull's election as Supreme President for Life, old Sitting Bull quietly breathed his last in Green Wave General Hospital. After a full state funeral in Cahokia, he was buried beneath the Shrine of the Spirits in Tenochtitlan. Fredo Bull became The Bull's mouthpiece, making speeches whenever the opportunity presented itself. He was never very good at them, but the people loved him nevertheless for his simple earnestness. Michael Bull was a harsh but fair ruler, leading the world to prosperity within a few scant years after his election. Today, the scientists of Green Wave and Constantinople are researching space travel, for if the very stars can be conquered, then there will be no end to humanity's enduring Golden Age.
Here's the 1810 save:
as usual.
