Josephine

𝓔𝓹𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓭𝓮 36: 𝓞𝓽𝓽𝓪𝔀𝓪 𝓑𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓼 𝓘𝓷 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

February 16, 1973 

Ottawa, West Canadian Republic

Bullets flew everywhere as we battled the last West Canadian rebels at the Governor's Residence in Ottawa. We were so close to capturing the rebellious governor and pacifying West Canada after almost three years of ruthless fighting. However, the last resistance between us and the governor were some of the most elite rebel troops, most likely veterans of previous wars.

I fired my gun as I was right on the front lines with the soldiers as I had demanded to do. Gunfire rattled in my ears as assault squads on both sides engaged each other.

Ratatatatatatatatatatat! Ratatatatatatatatatatat!

Dark, spotted marble broke off and flew away becoming shrapnel.

Ratatatatatatatatatatat! Ratatatatatatatatatatat!

I raised my assault rifle and fired again, keeping my eyes just above the makeshift cobble barricade the soldiers had hastily constructed. I did not wear my Marshals hat, because if I did, I'd be target practice for these rebels. That blasted thing was so massive that you could see me from a mile away. I looked like Napoleon for god's sake! In fact, I had been given an ordinary soldier's helmet to conceal me and prevent my head from being blown off.

I had to admit, they were suppressing some of us, preventing us from using our full firepower-

Ratatatatatatatatatatat! Ratatatatatatatatatatat! Ping!

A fracture of cobblestone splintered off and flicked off my face, moments later a bullet grazed my ear, and then a moment after that, one struck the thick metal-plated helmet.

"Thank god for graphene," I muttered.

I pulled the trigger and unleashed another round of bullets towards the defenders, and using the scope I managed to pick off a couple of stragglers. 

"Your majesty, I'd hunker down if I were you!" A soldier said hurriedly.

"Why!?" I responded and fired another shot, which blended in with the hail of bullets.

The answer did not come from him, but rather from the two light tanks rumbling down the streets.

"Ahh, I see!"

The soldiers cheered an unintelligible slur and ducked below the fortifications as the tanks rolled behind us.

"Focus on the tanks!" One rebel rascal shouted.

Then the gunfire was no longer focused on the waning cobblestone redoubt but on our new and improved armor. Now that the Chinese had stopped supplying them and the French were forced to obey our exclusion law, they learned the hard way about that, they used faulty machine guns that they had put together from scrap metal, according to our spies.

Sharp, ear-splitting sounds made my ears ache as rebel bullets ricocheted off the thick armored exterior of the light tanks. The turrets atop the tanks turned towards the building-

"I would plug your ears, your majesty!" The same soldier said.

I did as he suggested and inserted my index fingers into my ears and waited.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two thunderous blasts ripped through the air. Right away twin fireballs erupted from the front of the governor's house. My ears began to ring as shrapnel exploded out towards us and a searing heat scorched my face, despite my hiding. The rebels stopped firing and so did my men, even though I did not order it. An eerie silence filled the air. I slowly raised my head while motioning for the men to relax with their weapons. They lowered them and we waited.

And waited.

And waited until-

"Fine you lunatics! We concede we surrender! The governor is yours!"

A dozen arms flew up and threw their guns forward. I signaled for us to move forward and we raised up weapons at the ready once more. I stepped over our little bastion followed by several soldiers. We heeded ourselves and became more cautioned as we crept up the marble stairwell at the governors' entrance. We found eight men with their hands in front of their faces.

"Search them, and keep an eye on them, I will take six men to find the governor,"

I stepped over dusty rubble and through the doorway. As I had ordered, six men followed me in. The majority of the house was unharmed, it was only the front entrance that had been destroyed. Two soldiers rushed ahead of me to check the hallways which branched off from what looked like a foyer.

"All clear your majesty!" One said.

We moved around the corner to a staircase. We cautiously walked up the stairs. It was quiet, just a little too quiet, so I prepared myself mentally to be ambushed. As we stepped onto the top floor, it was far less serene.

The governor's guards lay about, throats slit with the knives in their hands or on the ground next to them. I felt a pit grow in my stomach as I stepped over corpse after corpse.

'Mass suicide?" I asked, trying to hide my voice cracking.

"It appears so your majesty," A soldier replied, his own voice barely holding.

Absolutely despairing, that they would rather accept death than defeat. Continuing down the hall, I notice out of the corner of my eye the barrel of two handguns. Two rebels spring out.

"Ambush!" One of the soldiers exclaimed. 

We opened fire and the ambush was put down just as quickly as it began. We reached a door with a small sign labeled: Governor Albert Connact. I looked at the soldiers who nodded to me. I pushed open the door and found the governor dead as well. Bloody hell.

"Good lord," I muttered, "He's dead as well... search the room,"

The soldiers fanned out across the room, while one kept guard over the hall. The soldiers checked under every shelf, under every flowerpot and in every drawer. I wasn't sure what to have them look for, but I felt somewhere there was something important. I walked past the deceased governor to the window, my boots echoing throughout the vacant room.

"Your majesty, we found something!" A soldier exclaimed.

I turned to see the soldier standing by the governor's desk holding a paper of some sort. I walked over and took it from him. The handwriting was very improper and messily scrawled about on the page.

To whoever may find this-

I am about to take my own life, like the coward I am. But I am not stupid, this war I have plunged my people into is a lost cause, doomed. Before I commit this act I shall write this out on paper.

I, Governor Albert Connact, leader of the West Canadian Republic officially surrender my nation to the Imperial government of America.

I folded the paper up.

"What did it say, majesty?" A soldier asked.

"It's a surrender confession, West Canada has officially surrendered to our forces," I said, a little gobsmacked if I could be honest.

The soldiers cheered loudly.

"Majesty! We must copy this message and print it across the land! War is concluding!"

"Not yet..." I said, turning back to the window.

"We still need to capitulate Quebec," I stated coldly, knowing what good fighters they were.

But I knew my soldiers were better. After all... how could a bunch of farmers with rifles expect to stand up to me, and my Grand Army?