By Time or Tide - Common Knowledge (excerpt)
The year is 2031. Ferris F. Fairbanks is the second-term Chancellor of the League of American States. The divisive Chancellor has proved himself both decisive and aggressive, taking firm control of the LAS through what many consider to be extra-constitutional means, manipulating voter rolls and subverting the electoral processes. His government is now challenging term limits on the office of Chancellor, and, despite widespread dissent, Fairbanks is running for an unprecedented third term. Though this action is widely considered illegal, and many believe that he cannot win in the popular elections, some speculate that his consolidation of power, together with the use of AI hyperintelligence systems, will allow him to retain his position despite public opinion. It is now September, and the election is only two months away.
During his first term, Fairbanks broke with international norms, declaring Mexico a rogue state and eventually exerting de facto control over that previously free nation. This project continued to escalate, much to the praise of his rabid supporters, into his second term, culminating in the total annexation of Mexico in the Summer of 2030. For the most part, resistance was meager, and Mexican leaders succumbed to the promise of newfound powers and fiscal opportunities within the expanded League.
Only in the politically polarized and geographically difficult terrain of the Yucatan Peninsula was resistance successful. The United Nations was quick to condemn LAS activities in Central America, but international response, otherwise tepid until, in May of this year, UN peacekeepers were sent to guard the borders of the newly formed Free Republic of the Yucatan from landward incursion. Despite this pushback, the LAS has sought to acquire offshore drilling platforms, nominally in the hands of the FYR situated in the Campeche Salt Domes, by encouraging civil war within the Republic, led by LAS-allied “freedom fighters”, to whom technology has been provided, advisors, and both naval and air support. Grim news from the front has only strengthened Fairbanks' resolve to acquire the peninsula before the elections. Even if voter manipulation and outright fraud can win him the third Chancellorship, he may be stymied by a hostile Parliament, whose elections are less subject to central control. His publicly stated goals are to nullify the Republic’s opposition, both political and military, by any means necessary, before total control of the expanded LAS slips through his clutches.
Time may be running out for Chancellor Freemont. Canada, with the aid of her European allies, has begun militarizing her borders. The OAS has declared the annexation of Mexico and the continued intervention in the Yucatan to be illegal acts by the LAS, and calls for a broad military response are escalating. Dissent at home has led several major cities on the West Coast and in the Upper Midwest to be labeled as no-go zones for loyalists of the New American Patriot Party. Some states are even threatening to boycott the upcoming elections, possibly a prelude to secession. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, several major metropolitan areas have been placed under martial law, subject to onerous curfews, and patrolled by militarized National Police and Guard members from loyalist states.
Two weeks ago, with little coverage in the highly censored LAS media, the Navy established a physical presence along the northern coast of the Free Yucatan Republic. Though this action was universally condemned in the foreign press, the UN had little stomach for attempting to establish a naval blockade within the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite overwhelming military force, the LAS and her Navy have little they can do to impede the forces of nature. Though they have captured and expanded the small Puerto de Seybaplaya and secured a major production link for Yucatani oil, a possible hurricane threatens the region. Even now, a powerful tropical storm known as Dominique has formed in the South Atlantic and is headed for the Caribbean. Though most models have predicted the storm will expand to a hurricane and crash against the islands of Jamaica or Cuba, some show it turning west as it threads the needle and runs sideways along the northern Yucatan coast from Cancun towards Merida. Wherever the storm makes landfall, however, it is sure to hamper both naval and air operations in and around the beachhead of Seybaplaya.
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