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I wasn't sure how to feel about my bargain with the Americans. While it was true that Germania stood to gain quite a bit if everything went to plan, there was still every chance that I had stuck my neck out for nothing. The Senate could vote to reject the trade treaty. The Osterrian people could reject unification.

Still, the prospect of a peaceful reunification, however unlikely, was far too tempting to turn down. Even if things went wrong, managing the fallout would be somebody else's problem. At the very least, the effort should generate some goodwill in America. Although it would have been nice if I could have shaken the feeling that every time I shook hands to seal a deal with an American I had to count my fingers afterwards.

In any event, after the official signing of the treaty, I was given the opportunity to address a joint meeting of the Unifed States Congress. It was too much to hope for to think that I could persuade them into adopting policies that would avert the Great Depression. I knew even decades of study wouldn't lead to general agreement as to how it could have been avoided. As I stepped to the podium, I instead held out hope that I could perhaps start to build a rapport that could bring our countries closer together in the future.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for having me. I know many feel that in the absence of a large tariff increase, I would have been swindled, taken for a fool," I began. "I can tell you, if that is the case, then I would be happy to be such a fool."

For the most part, I wanted to lose support based on substantive issues. That would ensure the most lasting defeat. Losing a few points of support based on incompetent trade negotiations would still help me achieve my overall goal of losing office, though. Of course, I couldn't just say that out loud.

"I do not believe there is usually a winner and a loser when it comes to matters of trade. Each trade involves mutual agreement and therefore leaves both sides better off: rather than a winner and a loser, there is a winner and another winner," I said. "Of course, any market must be protected by reasonable safeguards, but between two modern countries like ours I believe the ocean is safeguard enough."

I was not ideologically committed to free trade. Naturally, there could be issues if neighboring countries enjoying vastly different standards of living lowered all barriers to trade. Between Germania and the Unified States, though, I honestly didn't see much cause to worry about that sort of thing. If American farmers could pay their work force in dollars, ship their product halfway across the world, and still beat Germanian farmers on price, well, at some point the Germanians would just have to get better at their jobs.

"International trade creates a great deal of wealth every day. Tariffs that reduce that trade impoverish us all. Even worse, tariffs lead to more tariffs as other countries retaliate," I said. "I fear that widespread tariffs could turn the current economic downturn from a minor recession into a great depression. If that can be avoided, and the only cost is a little embarrassment on my part, then I count that as a fine bargain indeed."

It was possible that I was misremembering or misunderstanding the Great Depression from my history, and tariffs had little or nothing to do with what happened. Unfortunately, it was difficult to run scientific experiments when it came to economic theories, even if the Americans had some reason to value my opinion. Fortunately, the state of the American economy wasn't my responsibility.

"Of course, there is another reason that I would rather not see the Unified States turn its face away from the wider world. The Red Army is on the march," I said. "For now they aim to kick the Akitsukushima Dominion off the mainland. Does anybody think their ambition will be sated once they reach the Pacific? I don't."

Specifically, their ambition would turn towards Germania, but there was no harm in insinuating that they might keep going east. While in Europe the Russite push to the Pacific coast was a reason to dismiss them as a threat, for the Americans it could well be reason for alarm. Just as long as they didn't pay too much attention to the current state of the Russite navy.

"Communism is a universal creed. It is a revolutionary ideal," I said. "Communists do not respect spheres of influence. Communists do not respect the balance of power. They seek, always and everywhere, to spread their revolution. They pursue their unholy crusade, having knocked God off his throne and replaced him with the Devil."

Much as I hated to give even oblique deference to Being X, I had to speak in a language that my audience could understand. There was a reason that "godless commies" had become a timeless epithet.

"The communist, once in charge, has no respect for tradition. Like the inquisitors of old, he has no respect for personal conscience," I continued. "To the communist, you are either promoting the communist revolution, or you are an obstacle to be overcome. Or removed."

I could tell that my audience was with me generally in terms of disliking communism, but they didn't seem to feel any sort of sense of urgency. I figured it was hard to get too riled up when any potential danger was all the way across the Pacific ocean.

"You might not be interested in communism, but the communist is very interested in you. Your prosperity, your happiness, the very fact that you disdain to treat him seriously," I said. "All of this is more than enough reason for the communist to hate. If there's one thing the communist knows how to do well, it's hate."

If all I could do was fear monger, I was going to do my best.

"When the present war ends, the communists will be in possession of a large and powerful army in the service of their large and powerful nation," I said. "The nations of the free world must stand together if we are to face down communist tyranny."

I was well aware that the most likely American response to any conflict between Germania and the Rus federation was likely to be some variant of "let's you and him fight." Even so, a positive American attitude towards our country would be tremendously valuable if my successors did have to go to war to fend off the commies. Simply being able to buy American goods and raw materials would relieve a lot of pressure on our economy, let alone a program like Lend Lease. Conversely, a Lend Lease program funneling support to the Rus would be a disaster.

"The people of Germania are always willing to extend the hand of friendship," I said. "Wherever a young democracy is threatened by the communist menace, we will stand shoulder to shoulder in their defense. I hope we will be able to look to the side and find the Unified States standing beside us as well."

At least, I hoped not to look to the back and find a knife there stamped with a made in the USA logo.

ooOoo

The first thing I did upon returning to Germanian soil was to direct the military to draw up a plan for the changes that would be necessary if we were to absorb Osterry. While it would represent an increase in population and tax revenue, it would also create a new border with the increasingly unstable Kingdom of Ildoa. Fortunately, the border cut through a mountain range and so should be relatively straightforward to defend.

Even so, General Lergen didn't seem enthusiastic. I couldn't blame him. First I had forced him to tear up his painstakingly created plans for the invasion of the Francois Republic, then I made him disband his carefully preserved hidden troops, and now I was forcing him to draw up plans for a unification that very well might not even happen. I'd never wanted to be one of those politicians who dumped extra work on the military in pursuit of my own personal ends, but it seemed to have happened without my really thinking about it. I took some solace in the thought that I was only wasting time rather than lives.

The actual vote was subject to quite a bit of delay. When Osterry first announced their intentions, it set off a storm of denunciations throughout Europe. The Francois, of course, were most extreme in voicing their displeasure, but it seemed that almost everybody was at least tacitly opposed to anything redolent of the Empire getting back together. I had to admit, the Americans really came through for us in their response, even if it was a little demeaning.

Hooper's stance on the issue rested on three observations and a statement. First, that combining Osterry with Germania would hardly alter the balance of power in Europe. Second, that most of the Empire would be far less willing to rejoin with Germania. Third, that keeping two neighboring countries separate in the face of an overwhelming desire to unify would require an expensive long term commitment. And finally, that the Unified States had no interest in spending either blood or treasure preserving Osterrian independence if three quarters of the Osterrian people didn't want it.

When all was said and done, the vote was able to go forward. Between the discussion and the need to allow for campaigning before voters made their decision, the vote was set to take place several months after my return to Germania. In the mean time, the people's car project finally reached the stage where it could be announced to the public.

It had taken some doing to get the assembly line running to a reasonable standard. When I had first toured the allegedly completed plant, there hadn't even been a process in place to encourage workers to suggest changes that would improve productivity. Even as a former HR employee, I at least understood some of the very basic procedures that should be embraced on the factory floor. I worried sometimes that the egghead Ehrlich had too much influence on the supposedly reliable plant manager who was in charge of day to day operations.

The other last minute snag had to do with consumer financing. This world did not yet have the concept of a credit score. It hadn't occurred to me that something like that had had to be invented at some point in time, but there it was. As I had no idea how to go about calculating a proper credit score I settled on a simpler solution: anybody who could show that they had a steady job and put fifty marks down would be sold a car on credit, being charged twenty marks a month for five years. If my math was right that worked out to a nine or ten percent interest rate.

I wasn't confident that every loan would be paid back, but at the very least every loan would be secured by a car. Also, of course, the political fallout from massive consumer defaults would be somebody else's problem as long as they took a year or two to ripen to fruition.

Overall, the initial rollout had gone fairly well. I'd discussed the car in reasonably matter-of-fact fashion on the radio, and it had seen a decent amount of newspaper coverage. Of course, not everybody was happy with the program, as Elya reminded me.

"Mr. Becker will be here in a few minutes," she said, delivering the reminder along with an armful of paperwork and my second cup of coffee for the morning. "Honestly, I don't see how he could be so upset by such a cute car."

It was a little sad that even somebody as devoted as Elya couldn't come up with any other positive adjectives in describing the thing. Well, as long as the price was cheap enough, we should at least sell some of them.

"Of course, the car isn't a threat to anybody's business," I said. "He's worried about the precedent."

I was actually a little impressed that he had spotted the implications of the people's car project so quickly. Of course, considering the political environment, it would make sense for politicians to be hypersensitive towards anything even hinting at a communist approach to the economy.

Elya looked skeptical. She settled on the corner of my desk and crossed her arms. "He hardly seems the type to make a stand on a matter of principle."

That was a fair point. Becker was the sort of politician who, at the very least, didn't see any problem with doing well by doing good.

"True, Mr. Becker doesn't suffer from an overdeveloped sense of ethics," I said. "But this is a pretty big deal."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? It's just a car."

"Today, a government owned car company. Tomorrow, who knows?" I said, spreading my arms wide. "Government owned farms, kicking people off their land? Government owned bakeries taking over food distribution? Keep going, and you can wind up with a communist society in all but name."

Elya frowned. "You wouldn't do that, though."

"That's true," I said. "but it's a little hard to ask for trust after I sneaked the people's wagon through the Diet without any debate."

Once burned, twice shy, as they say. It was an inevitable consequence of my plan to turn on my allies that my allies would be skeptical of any future promises.

"Still-"

She was cut off by the buzzer. Huffing slightly in frustration, Elya stood and left to escort Becker into my office. She made sure that he was provided with something to drink before leaving, shutting the door behind her. Becker fidgeted for a moment, looking at his feet, before finally gathering his courage and looking me in the eye before almost blurting out what he had come to say.

"Chancellor Degurechaff, this people's car project is simply too much to bear," he said. "The Germanian National Party can't govern together with a party that endorses such a thing."

It was pretty much as I'd expected. Honestly, I'd expected more yelling.

"Very well," I said. "I suppose I'll be seeing you on the campaign trail."

"Well..." he said, sagging noticeably. "In light of the delicate political situation, we are willing to wait to dissolve the government until after the vote regarding Osterrian unification has been held."

That was thoughtful of him. As a party that was in favor of regaining as much of the Empire's lost territory as possible, the Germanian National Party would want to put a happy face on for the people of Osterry to see as they made their decision. I was more ambivalent on the Osterrian question, but the delay otherwise suited my purposes. It would allow more time for the Great Depression to propagate around the world. Also, I would either be facing a backlash from the failure to annex Osterry or the prospect of dilution of my party's share of the vote due to the Osterrian regional parties.

"How generous," I said. "I suppose that will give you time to develop your best line of attack."

I had only been intending to tease the man, but Becker drew himself up as though I had insulted his honor. "I hadn't considered such a thing."

I took a moment to look him over. The Germanian National Party hadn't really impressed me with their political acumen in the past. I had, after all, managed to overtake their share of the vote despite being saddled with a nigh-suicidal party platform. Becker struck me as exactly the sort of politician who would rather lose with dignity than dirty his hands with a rough and tumble campaign. I had initially thought that they would have an easy time stealing away my voters. Now, though, I wondered if they needed to be pointed toward some viable campaign themes.

"Sure, sure. You know, while the people's car project targeted a market that had been ignored, there's no telling which business might be forced to compete with the government," I said. "Even the rumor that some particular industry is next would drive them into your arms. It would be very difficult to rebut, as well."

"The Germanian National Party would never deal in unsubstantiated slander," he protested. I could only hope he was shining me on while planning to take advantage of my weakness in the future.

"Of course. Also, come to think of it, while I think everybody involved in the people's car project is being compensated fairly," I said, "it would be hard to prove that I didn't just hand out sweetheart deals to my friends."

"In the political campaign, the Germanian National Party would not dare to put forth any claims that we can't back up with proof."

It was like he wouldn't even try to win. Well, there was only so much I could do. I could only hope that he would at least relay the content of our conversation to somebody with a little more political savvy.

ooOoo

I was honestly unsure just how I wanted the vote in Osterry to end up. It would be a real waste of diplomatic capital if they decided against unification. On the other hand, going forward with unification would lead to a whole host of problems. It would lock in the Francois Republic's change in its attitude toward us from simmering anger to volcanic rage. For that matter, the Allied Kingdom was already noticeably cool to the idea of a plebiscite. I couldn't imagine they'd be happy with a yes vote.

From an internal perspective, it was also a mixed bag. Peacefully reunifying with Osterry would neutralize an obvious source of revanchist sentiment. However, strengthening Germania would only embolden my successors in their pursuit of their own agenda. While President Hooper was right to say that adding Osterry to Germania didn't really change our ranking among the Great Powers, any taste of success would naturally encourage people to pursue more of the same.

For me, personally, I didn't expect that the vote would make much difference. If it failed, my party would be embarrassed and would lose its share of the vote. If it succeeded, the country would almost immediately be facing a general election. The batch of new voters from Osterry would hardly have time to join up with the Germanian parties and would likely stick with their own political groupings. In that case, every Germanian party would see a reduced overall vote share.

In the end, I decided to leave it up to chance. I dressed it up a bit when I gave Elya her instructions. I told her that we didn't want citizens joining our nation who had to be browbeaten or sweet talked into voting for unification. Really, though, I just didn't want to take responsibility for the outcome. As a side benefit, if we didn't campaign in Osterry at all, then the international observers who had insisted on supervising the election wouldn't have anything to complain about.

As it turned out, the vote wasn't particularly close. Eighty-seven percent of the people of Osterry voted in favor of unification. I had to admit that I was shocked. I knew that the previous leaders had bungled things, but I didn't realize that they had screwed up so badly that the voters would decide to give up on having their own country. Go figure.

Once that vote was in the books, the German National Party announced that they were leaving the government. Accordingly, a new general election would be held in forty-five days. I, of course, shamelessly skived off of any electioneering.

There was no lack of official business to do, after all. While Osterry had once been part of the Empire, it had never been part of a Germanian republic. There were a thousand and one little things to take care of in order to ensure that the integration went smoothly.

Visha and Elya pestered me to do my job as head of the party and campaign, quite reasonably, not to mention everybody else whose personal careers rested on our electoral results. It was nice to feel wanted. I had always believed, not to put too fine a point on it, that much of the party's success rested on my energetic campaigning. It was reassuring to find that other people shared that assessment.

Even so, I had to harden my heart and turn them all down. Visha's puppy dog eyes proved to be the most formidable assault on my resolve. I had to fight back my instinctive response and firmly set my focus on the beautiful responsibility-free future waiting for me after the election. I ended up giving her one of those typical shounen speeches about how she was capable of carrying the campaign by herself if she just believed in herself, completely eliding my own refusal to chip in.

All in all, things seemed to be proceeding as I had expected. Our economy hadn't cratered as badly as it no doubt would during the depths of the Depression, but our rate of growth had slowed. Other nations in Europe, and of course the Unified States, were experiencing increasing economic distress, so it was obvious that we were soon going to be in for a bad time. The voters should want a change in direction. Also, enough time had passed since the conference at Londinium for the electorate's gratitude to have faded. By now they should just take it for granted that any politician could have thrown off the treaty of Triano if they had just tried. Finally, our coalition partners were so badly alienated that they had dissolved the government of their own initiative. I was feeling pleased with myself as we approached the election.

I decided to indulge myself one last time and appropriate the airwaves the day before the election for an unofficial farewell address. Once I was voted out of office I would have to pay for airtime like everybody else.

"It has been my honor to serve as your Chancellor for these last few years. Looking back, I can't say that I am completely satisfied with what we have accomplished, but neither can I say I am completely unhappy with our achievements."

I couldn't come right out and concede the election before any votes were cast, but I could strike the right tone.

"As we head to the polls for the fourth national election in our young republic's history, I would like to take a moment to commend our newfound habit of the peaceful transition of power. Other nations facing the sort of challenges that we have weathered may have resorted to revolution or dictatorship, but Germanians have proven to be quite capable of governing ourselves."

If there was one message I wanted everybody to take away from my speech, it was to please, please, not cause any trouble. Once I was out of office I wouldn't be able to rein in any of the country's many war maniacs directly, but I hoped that this last speech might help a bit by calming them down a little.

"In truth, more and more the fate of nations around the world turns on the ballot box rather than the cartridge box. The era in which a country could expand through force of arms is coming to a close. We must maintain a strong military, of course, but in the future its primary purpose will be to protect the democratically expressed will of the people."

All in all, it was not the most stirring speech, but I was happy to close my time in office with what was, for me, a statesmanlike performance. If I was lucky, the speech might help stave off another Great War. If I was unlucky, well, I did intend to take a Type 97 orb with me as a retirement gift.

I went to bed that night with a clear conscience and slept like a baby.

I felt much less sanguine the next day when I discovered that the Germanian Workers' Party had somehow received over seventy percent of the vote. My only hope was that President Rudersdorf could come up with some way to fix this catastrophic deviation from my carefully laid plans.

ooOoo

Kurt von Rudersdorf jerked awake as his housekeeper cleared his throat. He had dozed off while waiting to hear the election results. He frowned, ignoring his housekeeper for the moment as he studied the back of his hands. In his mind, he could still remember himself as a young soldier, standing watch through the night and fighting the next day when the Empire called on him. It was hard to reconcile that image with the wrinkles and liver spots he now carried.

He shook his head, dispelling the thought. That young man belonged to an entirely different era. He had served the Empire, in a world where war had not yet been changed by the advent of the machine gun. Best to seal him away in the back of his mind.

His housekeeper delivered the news that he had expected. Chancellor Tanya von Degurechaff, fresh off her string of incredible successes, had received an overwhelming share of the vote. She would be free to lead Germania more or less however she wanted. She was also waiting politely at his front door.

Rudersdorf directed his housekeeper to let her in, then stood. He ignored the creaking of his spine and the old twinge in his left knee, took up his cane, and hobbled from his private study to his parlor. Degurechaff entered the room just as he did, and bobbed her head in greeting. She looked surprisingly serious for somebody who had just won an election. Well, surprising to an observer who didn't know her personality.

"President Rudersdorf," she said. "I wanted to talk to you about the recent elections."

The first time she had been made Chancellor, Rudersdorf had contemplated that some day he might have to invite her to his house in order to have a serious discussion about the future of the country. This wasn't quite how he had envisioned it would go. He felt a wry smile tugging at his lips. It wasn't like anything else about Tanya von Degurechaff had ever gone as he expected.

It was amazing, really, how little she had changed since the first day he met her. Looking at her now, he could still see the tiny eleven year old girl, perfectly comfortable in her custom tailored military uniform as she prepared to lead men to war.

"I still remember the day Hans von Zettour told me about his new trump card," Rudersdorf said, lost in the memory. "To be honest, I wanted nothing more than to yank you away from the 203rd battalion."

"Oh?" she asked. She sounded startled, and perhaps a bit offended. Perfectly reasonable. Degurechaff and the 203rd were both legends, and one could hardly have existed without the other.

"I had read your revolutionary approach to logistics," Rudersdorf said. "I thought it was a waste to put that kind of mind on the front lines. I wanted to attach you to the General Staff as a liaison to the Railway Department."

Looking back, it was almost as if he had been trying to lose the war. If he'd followed his instincts, the Empire may never have taken Legadonia, let alone captured Parisee.

"A waste?"

"Your performance in Dacia was impressive, of course, but I had to consider the quality of the opposition. Even when you came to Norden, I was just waiting for you to put one foot wrong," Rudersdorf said. Even now, with the benefit of hindsight, he thought his reasoning had been, well, reasonable, though his conclusions were obviously mistaken. "Anything, just to give me the excuse to stash you in the rear. I thought your best hope for the future was a safe, stable career."

"A safe, stable career?"

Degurechaff's voice had taken on a rather strangled quality. Rudersdorf smiled, this time with genuine warmth. Of course the Argent Silver would consider a safe posting a fate worse than death.

"Soon enough, your exploits on the field of battle showed what a foolish idea that would have been," Rudersdorf said. "But I think I was right, in a way. You were always meant to be more than just a soldier."

"You're too kind," she replied absently, still apparently reeling from how close she had come to losing her front line posting without even realizing it.

"It's not easy to bear the weight as a pillar of the country," Rudersdorf said. "For a while, Hans and I were able to play that role."

It was a bittersweet feeling. He still felt the pride of having been entrusted with the future of the Empire along with Hans von Zettour, though it was inextricably tinged with the regret of having failed.

"Don't talk like that," Degurechaff said. "You're still the President. The Diet technically can't even form a government without your approval!"

Rudersdorf chuckled. As mature as she was, Degurechaff did have her emotional side. He wasn't conceited enough to consider himself any kind of father figure to her, but he liked to think that she considered him to be at least a somewhat favored uncle. It was sweet of her to attempt to console him, but the sad truth was that time stopped for no man. He felt that truth every time he struggled out of bed in the mornings, these days.

"I'm an old man," he said. "It's past time that I passed the torch on to the next generation. I always thought that you would be my successor's successor, but I'm glad that I've lived long enough to see you come in to your own."

Degurechaff stared at him, completely poleaxed. Rudersdorf started to speak again, but was interrupted by a cough. He felt an unsettling rattling feeling in his chest, but on the bright side his hand came away from his mouth free of blood.

"Don't worry, I should last through the rest of the term," he said. "You'll be able to roll me out when you need a rubber stamp for a decision or you want to add some dignity to an event."

"This can't be happening," Degurechaff protested. Rudersdorf took a step closer to her and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right. I've had a good run," he said. "I'm relieved to be leaving the country in such capable hands."

She bowed her head. They stood there for a moment in silence. Rudersdorf took a step back when he saw a tear trickling down her face, before clearing his throat and turning to look out the window.

"If you'll excuse me, I was planning to enjoy a cigar out on the veranda," he said.

While he was flattered that his situation had broken through Degurechaff's iron self control, he was hardly inclined to drag things out or to insult her by creating a maudlin scene. Old soldiers died. It was the natural way of things.

Degurechaff nodded. She turned around and trudged toward the door, showing none of the almost manic energy that usually surrounded her. His heart went out to her. For having gone through eight years of war, he knew she had experienced relatively little loss. In a way, her own excellence in looking out for her men had left her more vulnerable than most veterans.

It was a pity, but he knew that she would get over it. Degurechaff had always had her eyes firmly fixed on the future. While he regretted that he wouldn't be around to see the full scope of her career, he was grateful that he had been present to see so many of her accomplishments. He expected that in the few years that he had left he'd be seeing quite a few more.