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Chapter 396 The Declaration (part 1)

On billions of screens around the world, the notification suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a white podium with no insignia on it at all, backed by a sky-blue stage curtain hanging behind it. Affixed to the podium was a single microphone.

Shortly, Aron, dressed in a neatly tailored suit, entered from the side of the screen and took his place behind the podium. He placed his hands atop it on each side and looked straight into the camera, then began his speech.

“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen,” he began. The speech was live translated and captioned in whatever language people were watching in spoke as he continued, “I hope you are having a good day.

“Two weeks ago, a situation arose that continually escalated as the days went by. To bring everyone up to speed, I’ll narrate the events that occurred.”

As he spoke, the curtain behind him vanished and was replaced by a screen that provided visual context to the events as he continued narrating, “Everything began months ago, with the discovery of massive oil deposits in Eden and Esparia. One of my companies, Helios Energy & Utilities was awarded the contract to extract the oil by the Edenian government. The Edenian government then negotiated a deal to ship crude oil to China.

“But unbeknownst to anyone, save perhaps those personally involved, China had no intention of negotiating in good faith and planned to stage a hijack of the oil shipment and force Eden into paying the fines as stipulated in the unfair contract that China had forced upon them.”

The screen behind Aron showed the agreement, with the relevant section highlighted. He paused, allowing the people watching to digest the information, then continued, “When our transport convoy was peacefully passing by Indonesia, outside their territorial waters, the hijacking attempt took place and was foiled by the intervention of the Poseidon Navy’s Merchant Marine fleet.”

Here, the screen displayed the satellite footage of the attack, complete with recordings from the bridge of the EV Pacific Voyager. It was the same footage and evidence the Edenian Ambassador to the UN, Miss Olivia Foster, had presented at the UN Security Council hearing between Eden and Indonesia.

“We presented this same evidence during the UN Security Council hearing,” the screen cut to a still image of the UNSC chamber from the day of the hearing, “but we were found to be culpable by majority vote of the security council.”

The still image was overlain by the result of the vote, showing the unfairness of the process itself and how biased it was against Eden.

“During the hearing, in order to not offend China too badly, we held back some critical evidence in the belief that it wouldn’t be necessary to point fingers.”

The screen switched to showing a recording of the Chinese submarine that had been jamming the radio signals during the ‘hijacking attempt’, then voice recordings of those Chinese officials who were involved in the planning and carrying out of the attempt were played. Aron remained silent to allow the evidence to play out before the entire world.

“Unfortunately, due to withholding this crucial evidence, the permanent members of the UNSC were able to be influenced by China to vote against Eden. Then greed kicked in. The capabilities demonstrated by my merchant marine fleet were coveted by the permanent members and they began plotting in the dark to take what I have, using Eden as a lever against me.

“But I’m just a businessman, albeit one that’s provided products crucial enough that they couldn’t target me or any of my companies. Thus, they implemented broad and crippling sanctions against the country my companies call home.”

The screen cut to a display of the UN sanctions against Eden.

“During this time, President Romero of Eden contacted me for help, and I willingly did my part as a citizen and resident of Eden. I did my best to ensure that my fellow citizens would not starve and could maintain more than subsistence-level standards of living....”

The speech continued, detailing the events and casting a bright light on all of the dark room dealings and behind-the-scenes politicking that power brokers around the world had aimed at Aron’s companies. People watching the speech-cum-presentation were shocked at the naked greed and arrogance displayed by those in power.

Aron finally came to the most recent events.

“Three weeks ago, in Taiwan, China attempted to encroach on Taiwanese airspace during President Romero’s state visit. The Aeolus Air Force, a division of my security company, ARES, warned the jets off, but they ignored the warning and continued on their course, leaving the defending jets of the Aeolus Air Force no option but to open fire and shoot them down.”

Aron paused, allowing the recordings of Zi Jinping and his ministers planning an incident to play out, followed by the incident itself where the four J-20s were shot down over Taiwan.

“What followed was a period of silence from their side. We had hoped they would abandon their scheme, but we were proven wrong shortly after that, as a Chinese operative instigated a Chinese loyalist in the North Korean Army high command to commence an artillery bombardment of Seoul, also during a diplomatic visit by President Romero.”

Aron paused again, allowing the recording of the basement room to play out, along with identifiers of the person who had made the call that linked them to the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

“And as everyone knows, their plan was a complete success. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of South Korean civilian casualties, followed by the complete decimation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“But it didn’t stop there. The United States, led by President Trump, captured the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, and during his ‘enhanced interrogation’, he was led to implicate Eden in his unprovoked terror act against South Korea. Due to the graphic nature of the video footage itself, I will only be playing the sound file of that incident.”

The screen switched to a blank, blue display and the voice recording of Kim Jong-Un being tortured by CIA “interrogators” played out.

“Who was responsible for the attack? It was Eden, wasn’t it! Admit it, you fat piece of shit!”

Screaming and sobbing was the response, along with the sound of fists and other objects impacting flesh.

“Admit it! Admit that Eden ordered the attack and all this pain will stop!”

A slap was heard, then whimpering.

“Stop! Stop! I’ll say it! It was... it was... it was all Eden! That bastard Romero forced me to do it!”