Discovering that I could control the emotions of people to whatever extent really suited my needs, but it made it a bit difficult to handle when all my test subjects either viciously began trying to attack me, fell asleep, or tried killing themselves.Yes, I"d finally tested out Pain-Infliction with mental illnesses. It was the most difficult to control, it was like trying to fill up a shot gla.s.s with a giant jug held by only one hand. I felt a bit bad that some actually succeeded in killing themselves right before my eyes and even worse that they used my security as a means to do so.
I"d learnt my lesson though and I arranged for an observation chamber, like an interrogation room but with less concrete and more fluff.
For the tests I had to fly out to Sava, one of the few provinces we held onto after the first war with Madagascar. This meant the generals were on by themselves at the frontlines, but it was only for three days, Nizar had said it would take quite a bit of time to ma.s.s produce his modified communications devices and even after that it would take some time to distribute them across the lines.
The thought of those Generals being in charge of the war with my absence, even if it was just for three days, wasn"t a very pretty thought. But it was a good thing, especially for Alex, though he"d failed me in coming up with an extraction plan that didn"t directly need my interference, I mean, what if I didn"t have these powers? The war would be lost then and there because I still couldn"t think of a what to get the package without them.
But he deserved some credit. This was his first war, he wasn"t a military officer before I made him one, not even a Private. He"d done well under the pressure so I had hopes of him redeeming himself by uncovering who tried to kill Luciano.
At my little practice range with my many volunteers from the penal factories in Sava, I began to learn more and more about the scope of my powers. From the intensity- I could knock people unconscious with pain just as easily as I could kill them with a heart attack- to the area of influence.
After I knocked out everyone in my office trying to calm Alban down, I soon discovered that not only could I influence any sapient being that I was looking at, but I could increase my range of influence to any other sapient being within ten meters of the one I focus on, trying for more got me a dull headache.
It was progress. Good progress. I thought of trying to explore the uses of the intel-ii as well but I didn"t know how to, the intel-ii seemed to evolve on its own will and according to circ.u.mstance. I never had the war tab before the war, I never had a concise view of the Nation"s economy, diplomatic relations or even its production of goods and services.
Apparently, Schelar was favoured by the Somali. I doubt there would have been any way I could have found out that the Somali were receptive to us if it weren"t for the intel-ii. But that was the disadvantage, there were too many advantages to it, there was so much information to comb through and I couldn"t for the life of me find the time to sit and sort through it all. I just didn"t have that much administrative time on my hands.
But I counted myself lucky to have chosen these skills when Being X gave me the options. It meant, though I couldn"t do it as rapidly as I wanted to, I could feasibly improve Schelar to the point of being a Super power by the end of the decade, perhaps even before then.
To achieve all that with my perks and limitations, I needed the help of the cabinet of ministers I had appointed.
"Sir, the RDOS agricultural plan has barely kicked off so we"re running a deficit trying to keep our promise of low cost goods to the Namibians. In fact, I wouldn"t even be able to cover the costs with my company."
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I had the ministers of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs with me at a little villa reserved for the President at Sava. There were several things that needed to be addressed before I went off to Sofia to continue my command of the war.
"You don"t have a company anymore; you work for the government." I promptly remind him, even though his sons had taken over the moment he left to serve in my cabinet, I wasn"t too keen on privatized control over the nation"s major source of income and the nation"s only source of food.
"Yes. Technically my sons have not sold the entirety of my life"s work to you, the government, and I didn"t join your cabinet until about a month ago, I can still predict the change in the harvest."
Shaking my head, I wave him off, "Ah, let"s not get into this right now,"
"There"s nothing to get into." I hear him whisper.
Ignoring him I turn my attention to Niaina who"d busied herself with reviewing the mount of doc.u.ments in her suitcase she always seemed to have. Every time I saw her I thanked my wise reasoning for not choosing to be a diplomatic leader. Delegation was a very important leadership skill I"d mastered.
"Do you think we can convince the Russians to help us there?"
She"d begun shaking my head the moment I mentioned the Russians, "The Russian"s are in some sort of blackhole of communications, not even their Amba.s.sador has gotten word from them. I don"t think it"s at all wise to try reaching them for anything that does not benefit them."
"The Egyptians?"
"No," she shook her head again, "We"ve already pressured Masud into shipping weapons and more to us, we need to give him time to prepare his country for subjugation under us, it wouldn"t help at all if we pestered them for everything, especially since this is merely the beginning of our reign over them."
She was right. As it was with Egypt, we needed to improve our standing with the government, our image with their peoples, and basically make Schelarian presence in the country a thing that wasn"t such an outrageous idea.
Put simply; the Egyptians needed s.p.a.ce and we needed to look good and the war we were in wasn"t any help.
"So we have no options diplomatically…" I state more than ask with my hand running through locks of my hair in frustration. "Do you think the Namibians will cut off the deal if we keep providing less than what was agreed?"
"Actually, we can make it seem that we are delivering in increments, it will give the illusion that there aren"t any problems with produce."
I nod, was the best thing I"d heard today, even if it was a bit of an underhanded practice, I could make due. "Alright, let"s do that."
"Or," she began again as I was about to dismiss them, "And I"ve thought about this sir." I nod her on so she gets to the point, "Instead of annexing what"s left of Madagascar, we va.s.salize it."