From Thomas Gaul, Grognard Emeritus, another chapter in the world of deception and subterfuge of KGB’s Colonel Fabrizio Leonidovich Vianello!
Time: A couple weeks after the beginning of the war against NATO Neo-Fascist Capitalist exploiters
Place: KGB Colonel Vianello private office, secret KGB location deep within the Kremlin
KGB Colonel Vianello sat deep in contemplation. His keenly honed sense of danger, which had served him so well in the arcane and deeply complicated, interwoven, maneuvers of Party, KGB, and Kremlin politics, was going into overdrive. The meeting of the Committee for Review of Analysation and Planning, headed by General Beriaski, had just been completed and all was in flux.
The war itself was fluid, as all military situations were in the beginning. Some successes, some less than that. The launching of the preemptive strike to deter NATO aggression had struck the Capitalist Swine hard and viciously. The beauty of “The Plan”, his Plan, or at least the parts that had gone well, had been acknowledged by all. Normally, this would be the time when he would be basking in the glow of the accolades, taking credit for the goals reached, pinning the failures on the less talented or less well connected.
And yet, and yet….. There had been an admittedly major shortcoming. The amount of ammo, supplies, oil, replacements, spare parts, etc…. had been vastly underestimated. Reports of glorious Soviet advances had been soured by major and (in KGB Colonel Vianello’s mind) strident and shrieking complaints from the front lines about “running out of essential materials”. Demands had been made for war materials that were simply not available.
Questions were being asked. Worse, investigations were being launched. Talk was that “heads would roll”. Such talk was treasonous but there it was. But, far, far more dangerous was what would actually be found. And, most important of all, who would be blamed.
KGB Colonel Vianello knew, that, of course, he was not to be blamed. After all, if the troops on the line were wasteful, was that his fault? Who could have known what the demand would be for war materials? And, alright, perhaps some of his “side deals” with black market weapons dealers had contributed to the shortage, but, truly, could a few SAMs, tanks, AKs, have made that much of a difference? No, such things were not to be foreseen.
But, there were those (secret Fascists in the Colonel’s mind), who would demand answers. And inquiries. And, in extreme cases, shootings. In dealing with fanatics like the generals, who bayed like hyennas when they did not have enough material, who failed to understand complicated logistical matters, anyone, even someone as dedicated and true as KGB Colonel Vianello, could fall victim to revisionists. He had made enemies, and, killed most of them. But some may have survived.
Abruptly, KGB Colonel Vianello came to a decision. Slowly, he reached into his boot, into the secret compartment where “the paper” was concealed. He reached over to his desk, complete with the new, glorious Soviet computer, stolen from the decadent Capitalists (such a decision like this could not be trusted to the typing pool) and began to enter the “numbers”.
His plan within a plan would begin now.