Rebirth: President Fatah Escapes 22 Stepping Stones

For the remainder of the day, I was in quite a very optimistic mood. The country did well to match this with parties and celebrations all across the land. Though the excitement seemed to never end, I still had plans to make with Luciano and Matthias, and more importantly, we needed to adjust already establish plans according to the joyous new developments with the African Union.

Although it wasn't a certainty that we would be reinstated there was a high chance of it happening if the Union's little Presidential spies reported back the exact things we wanted. A large part of that was the standard of living in the country.

It was something that varied greatly with proximity to the economic centre of the nation; the closer you were to Mahe, the higher the standard of living.

This wasn't intentional of course, though from a bird's eye view of the nation it would seem like one ran out of money before covering the entire nation in urbanization and industry. But unfortunately, that was exactly what had happened.

Father hadn't gotten a large wad of cash from the World Bank after the war. It was just enough to put in the effort to improve the devastated lives of his new citizens and of course maintain power. Ever since it ran out the country had relied solely on its meagre quarterly revenue, something I have been tirelessly trying to improve.

Thanks to the boycott and load of sanctions as well as the debt to be repaid, Schelar had stagnated economically over the decade, improving the standard of living nationwide was a project that needed an egregious amount of funds to pull through.

"We'll just have to keep them away from the less than stellar environments, I doubt they'd even ask to see such places anyway," Matthias says I had them settled in my office after I'd parted from the Presidents and Amba.s.sador.

"Well that's a no-brainer," I let out a sigh as I slumped down in my chair, my dopamine rush leaving me weak and exhausted. My cheeks especially hurt from all the smiling I'd done, it seemed that was my most stressful job, pretending everything is okay.

"Matthias, I'm going to need you to formulate a feasible plan to increase the standard of living nationwide before the end of the year, it doesn't matter how much it's going to cost, we can start a go-fund-me if necessary, I want this on my table as soon as it's done."

Matthias' eyes widen and his mouth falls open as he jumps to the edge of his seat, "Sir that'll nearly be impossible! We're in April!" he looked as though he was about to spill out dozens of reasons why it would indeed be impossible, I would hear none of it.

"Work in tandem with the ministers, as I'm sure you two have already compiled a list of men and women of great skill for the job. Appoint them immediately and start this work, Matthias. On my desk next week. I won't accept failure."

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The man mutters an affirmative as he recedes into the chair, his mind no doubt racing through all the technicalities that would be needed to be addressed. I felt some pity for him, but I pitied Schelar more if we failed to redeem it from the depths of poverty that plagues it.

I soften my gaze on him and add, "You can factor in possibilities, the trade with Russia, finding oil, and aid from Union Nations, that should make it a bit easier, less feasible but I'll accept it."

He nods, grateful for the slight reprieve.

I turn to Luciano, sensing his discomfort, he was never one for intrigue, "What is it, Luciano?"

He hesitates for a bit but I narrow my gaze on him and he spits it out, "The ministers, you haven't looked through the list, wouldn't there be some you'd want to approve yourself? To vet them out thoroughly?"

I raise an eyebrow at this. I shake my head a bit and s.h.i.+ft through my drawer for the list, I'd skimmed through them a few days ago just before the Amba.s.sador had arrived.

I skim through it again, looking at the faces and roles of the men and women compiled before me. A lot of them had seats in the a.s.sembly and others were provincial governors. I look up to Luciano and ask, "Were these the most skilled persons you two could find? They are mostly all in government you know?"

He casts a sidelong glance at Matthias beside him, "Well, Matthias had the genius idea to keep the people that got into those powerful positions controlled. The last set of ministers he appointed were quite eccentric and unused to taking orders, hence…the little squabble that occurred."

My lips twitch as he calls me almost being overthrown a little squabble. Still, I understand Matthias' view on it and why he'd want to prevent such from happening again. I'd scolded him quite harshly, in an unbridled manner even, fueling his self-doubts and the ire of Luciano- his co-worker in a sense.

"And what do you think, Luciano?" I ask

The man shrugs, not looking particularly comfortable with the topic either, I glance at Matthias who'd at this point taken to nibbling on his lips like a teenager about to confess their romantic feelings. I felt a light smile grace my lips as I imagined him as such for a second.

"I think he's right for once, he disobeyed your orders though, those compiled there are certainly not as skilled or as knowledgeable as I'm sure you'd want them to be. That's why I brought it up."

I scoffed, trust Luciano to rat one out for breaking the rules. "I see," I begin with a smile, I turn to Matthias who looked like he wasn't about to give up an apology for his actions, "Matthias, you're well-intentioned, that much is obvious. But Schelar comes first. Our dream for a glorious nation. Think of the bigger picture Matthias."

I swivel in my chair, turning to the view presented behind me, "The beauty you saw today, that was the beauty of our dream s.h.i.+ning through to the men, women and children of our nation!"

I rise from my chair, making sure to stand tall for once, "Matthias we cannot fail this country. Now I'm sure you already did the right thing before you went on to compile this safe list. Approve the best out of the real one and do not fear for me for a second." I let my smile morph into a devious smirk, "All those who seek to hurt Schelar cannot hide from me too long, especially not under my roof."

Matthias didn't seem satisfied but Luciano looked onto me with a curious look. He'd been on my tail continuously about how I found Ralefy simply be flying in the air. Alas, my little trump cards couldn't be known

I take my seat and direct my attention to Luciano once more, "Get to base, let them know I'll be coming any day for a briefing on our current military capabilities, we're going to want to start provoking the Malagasy soon and some posturing will be needed."

He gives me an affirmative and I wave them away, turning my attention to an order for a new Port. Lots of goods were going to be moving in and out of the country, mostly out, and the Provincial Governor of Diana laments that the plain wharf the province had would be ill-equipped to handle any of the outgoing or incoming cargo.

I agreed with him. Schelar had so far focused on land infrastructure and equipment, the thought of overseas trade or even war was a thought that never occurred in the minds of its leaders. Russia was something in truth we weren't prepared for, it would likely take most of our s.h.i.+ps, military and civilian to transport all the goods that the federation demands. And even then we didn't have the right costal equipment and docking facilities to handle incoming goods.

I let out a sigh knowing I'd have to buy some more s.h.i.+ps. Waiting for new ones to be built here on Schelar would simply take too long and would likely cost much more than the profit of buy s.h.i.+ps to make a healthy trade revenue.

Now where to buy said s.h.i.+ps…