Shadow of the giant

Julian Delphiki. Bean. The Giant.
    Morale collapsed. Rwandan troops accepted the surrender of
the entire Peruvian Army. The Peruvian Congress immediately voted almost
unanimously to petition the FPE for membership. Radaghaste Bellini, as interim
president of the South American region of the FPE, declined their offer,
stating the principle that no territory would be added to the FPE by conquest
or intimidation. "We invite the nation of Peru to hold a plebiscite, and
if the people of Peru choose to join the Free People of Earth, we will welcome
them to join with their brothers and sisters of Runa, Bolivia, Ecuador, and
Chile."
    It was over in two weeks, plebiscite and all: Peru was part
of the FPE, and Bean and the bulk of the FPE's Rwandan troops were transported
back across the Atlantic to Africa.
    As a direct result of this decisive action, Belize, Cayenne,
Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic announced that they would hold
plebiscites on the Constitution.
    The rest of the world waited to see what would happen in
Sudan.
     
     
    Sudanese troops were already spread throughout Nubia; they
were already engaged in military actions against the Nubian "rebels"
who were resisting the renewed attempt to impose Shari'ah on the Christian and
pagan region. So while there were plenty of acts of defiance against Peter's
proclamation of Nubia's new status, there was no actual change.
    Suriyawong, leading the elite core of the FPE military that
he and Bean had created years before and used so effectively since, conducted a
series of raids designed to demoralize the Sudanese military and cut them off
from their supplies. Ammunition dumps and arsenals were destroyed. Convoys were
burned. But since Suri's choppers returned to Rwanda after every raid, there
was no one for the Sudanese military to strike back against.
    Then Bean returned with the bulk of the Rwandan soldiers.
Burundi and Uganda both granted permission for him to transport his army across
their territory.
    As expected, the Sudanese army tried to strike at Bean's
army inside the borders of Uganda, before they reached Nubia. Only then did
they discover that this army was an illusion—there was nothing to strike but a
bunch of old and empty trucks whose drivers fled at the first sign of trouble.
    But it was a strike on Ugandan territory. Uganda not only
declared war on Sudan, it also announced a plebiscite on the Constitution.
    Meanwhile, Bean's army had already traversed the eastern
reaches of Congo and were inside Nubia. And Suriyawong's strike force took over
the two airbases to which the planes that had taken part in the attack on the
decoy convoy had to return. The pilots landed without suspecting any problem,
and were taken prisoner.
    The trained jet pilots among Suriyawong's soldiers
immediately took off again in Sudanese planes and carried out a demonstration
bombing against the air defenses of Khartoum. And Bean's army made simultaneous
attacks on all the Sudanese military bases inside Nubia. Unprepared to fight
against a real army, the Sudanese forces surrendered or were overwhelmed within
the day.
    Sudan called on Caliph Alai to intervene and bring the wrath
of Islam down on the heads of the infidel invaders.
    Peter held an immediate press conference.
    "The Free People of Earth do not conquer. The Muslim
portions of Sudan will be respected, and all prisoners will be returned, as
soon as we have the pledge of Caliph Alai and of the Sudanese government that
they recognize Nubia as a nation and as part of the Free People of Earth. The
Sudanese Air Force will be returned to Sudan, along with their air bases. We
respect the sovereignty of Sudan and of all nations. But we will never
recognize the right of any nation to persecute a stateless minority within
their borders. When it is within our power, we will grant such minorities a
state within the Constitution of the Free People of Earth and defend their
national existence.
    "Julian Delphiki is commander of all FPE forces within
Nubia and temporarily occupying portions of Sudan. It would be a tragedy if two
old friends from the war against the Buggers, Julian Delphiki and Caliph Alai,
should face each other in combat over an issue as ridiculous as whether Sudan
should have the right to continue persecuting non-Muslims."
    Negotiators soon redrew the boundaries so that a significant
portion of what Peter had originally declared to be Nubia would remain in
Sudan. Of course, he had never expected to keep that territory