Maragana Girl
Copyright 2004 by EC
EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/
EC's deviantART collection - http://caligula20171.deviantart.com/ 

(warnings: judicial corporal punishment, forced public nudity, sex between adults, 
references to drug use, references to violence)

Post Script 4 - Notes on the life and goals of Vladim Dukov 


Vladim Dukov as a political leader

US foreign policy analysts, journalists, and political commentators usually 
described Prime Minister Vladim Dukov as a cerebral and complex political 
figure, a leader whose motives for doing things were not always clear. He did not 
operate from any recognizable ideology, nor was he interested in any material 
gain from his position apart from taking his normal salary as Prime Minister. He 
seemed full of contradictions: a reformer leading a conservative party, a former 
revolutionary and defense attorney who drew his support from his country's oldest 
and most traditional institutions, a quiet man who was a ruthless negotiator. 

The truth was that Dukov's ideology and goals for his country were extremely 
simple. Danubia's Prime Minister was fixated on the long-term survival of his 
country's society and the well-being of his constituents. He did not seek 
"greatness" for Upper Danubia, but rather the more realistic hope that it could be a 
decent place for its people to live and work. His policies pursued a sustainable 
society, one that could renew its resources and maintain a pleasant life for its 
people over a long period of time. He felt that preserving the values of his country 
was the reason the Creator had placed him in his position as the Danubian leader. 
He felt obligated to please the Creator by pursuing policies that would safeguard 
Danubian society.

The Prime Minister knew it was inevitable that modern life would force the 
destruction of much of his country's culture and traditions. "The Path of his Life" 
was to preserve as much as possible, to minimize the damage by having his nation 
adapt to an increasingly hostile and invasive world. The government would have 
to make sacrifices, in the same way King Vladik had to cede half of the Danubian 
Kingdom without a fight to save the other half. Dukov and his ministers looked at 
their nation’s situation in the same way a homeowner facing the loss of a house 
would approach deciding what could be saved and what would have to be 
abandoned. 

At the beginning of his time in office, other world leaders tended to underestimate 
Dukov. He rose to power not because he really wanted to, but because the "Old 
Guard" of the conservative party understood that he was the most competent 
person available to handle the job of leading the government. He became the 
leader of a small and very unsophisticated country. He had no prior experience as 
an elected official, nothing in his resumé apart from 20 years working as a 
criminal defense attorney. However, precisely because of his professional 
background Dukov had a very broad understanding of politics and human nature. 
Throughout his life he was in constant contact with people from the entire social 
spectrum of his society, ranging from criminals and police officers to judges and 
provincial politicians. Of all the people who could have been selected as a 
candidate for Prime Minister, Dukov probably had more practical experience 
working with others and a deeper understanding of his fellow Danubians than 
anyone else. He was well-versed in the country's legal system, knew its history, 
and was accustomed to arguing and negotiating with judges and prosecutors in 
court on a daily basis. As anyone who challenged him soon learned, his past, his 
ability to form an opinion and defend it, and his broad knowledge of life in 
general made him a formidable opponent.

While in office Dukov always spoke the truth as he saw it, and expected everyone 
around him to speak the truth as well. He did not like to be surrounded by people 
who agreed with him just to please him, but instead by people who were 
experienced in their duties and could clearly express their opinions on policy 
matters. He was especially adamant that any bad news be reported to him 
immediately, so he could deal with problems right away. Everyone in Dukov's 
government liked him as a person, because he never raised his voice to a 
subordinate, not even to lower-level staff members. He expected to be saluted and 
spoken to with respect at all times, but also he was respectful to public employees, 
always calling them by their title before using their name. As for his personal 
popularity, the only concern he had was whether he and his cabinet were popular 
enough to do their job competently. 

While in office Dukov never forgot where he came from, and continued to live a 
rather ordinary personal life. He drew his paycheck and lived off that income, but 
never sought to use his position for any financial gain apart from his regular 
salary and anticipated retirement. He lived in the Prime Minister's residence out of 
convenience, but planned to go back to his own house as soon as he left office. In 
Vladim Dukov's life there was very little pomp and ceremony, apart from what 
was required by national traditions. He was not a person to waste public resources 
on himself, and was perfectly content to ride around in a normal police van if he 
needed to go anywhere in Danube City. He relied on ordinary officers of the 
National Police for protection. The Danubian Prime Minister would have been 
horrified at the expense and hassle associated with transporting the U.S. President 
and his entourage.


Vladim Dukov's sentence

Vladim and Maritza Ortskt-Dukovna grew up in the 1970’s, a period of political 
instability in Upper Danubia. The generation who had run the country since 1945 
was retiring or dying off and at that time many young people were hoping to 
change the country’s society and political direction. The most important political 
movement challenging the established leaders was the Danubian Revolutionary 
Front, of which Vladim and Maritza were members. 

The DRF envisioned a socialist regime and a flat rejection of foreign capitalism. 
The party also envisioned a social revolution and close ties to the Soviet Union, 
which ultimately led to its downfall. The Grand Duke finally ordered the 
Danubian Secret Police to dissolve the DRF and arrest its leaders in 1973, using 
its ties to the Soviet Union to justify his actions. All DRF members who had 
traveled to the Soviet Union were detained and faced charges of insurrection. 

In 1973, Vladim Dukov and Maritza Ortskt, both of whom were DRF youth 
organizers and had Soviet visa stamps in the passports, received five-year 
sentences and were subjected to judicial switchings every four months. Life soon 
became even harder for the couple because Maritza’s parents blamed Vladim for 
getting her in trouble. Because they were not yet married, her parents denied him 
permission to sit at their table. To ensure she was not able to see him, Maritza's 
parents moved her to Rika Chorna and requested that her custody be transferred to 
a Spokesman in that city.

Maritza and Vladim did not see each other for three years. However, they 
corresponded by letters that were passed through their respective local Priests. 
Danubian protocol permitted such correspondence. Even if her parents objected, 
she was permitted to exchange letters with Vladim via the Church, as long as both 
Priests approved of the letters’ contents.

Vladim’s sufferings as a convicted criminal, his constant contact with his Priest, 
his isolation from Maritza, and his eventual realization that the DRF was indeed 
little more than a front organization for the Soviet Union, pushed him to seek out 
the meaning of his life and what it meant to be a Danubian. He first studied 
political philosophy, but then settled on law, with the goal of becoming a 
Spokesman for criminals like himself. Along with his legal studies, Vladim 
decided to complete the entire English program at the National University and left 
college speaking fluent English. Maritza, meanwhile, concentrated on studying 
Danubian history at the Provincial University of Rika Chorna. Later her 
knowledge of history would help her future husband form his political 
philosophy.

Nearly four years after she was sentenced, Maritza’s parents relented in their 
opposition to her relationship with Vladim. At the urging of her Priest, they 
requested that her Spokesman transfer her back to the Danube City collar-zone so 
she could see her fiancée. Finally, after not seeing Maritza for three years, Vladim 
returned to her father’s table and started taking her to the Socrates Club. The 
couple spent the final year of their sentence completing their university degrees 
and preparing for their future. Only one day after his sentence ended, Apprentice 
Vladim Dukov was formally sworn in as a Spokesman for the Criminal. The 
following week Vladim and Maritza Dukov got married.

----------

For nearly 20 years Spokesman Vladim Dukov handled criminal cases in Danube 
City, holding custody over an average of about 80 clients at any given time. At 
first he was no different from other young Spokespersons, taking simple cases 
involving petty criminals. However, over time his personal interest in foreign 
legal systems and international events, along with his knowledge of English and 
his experience traveling to Moscow and Western Europe, set him apart as the 
Spokesman most familiar with the outside world. Soon prosecutors and judges 
began assigning him all of the more unusual cases, including suspected drug 
users, foreigners, smugglers, and bank fraud defendants. As he struggled to 
conduct the research needed to deal with the diverse cases of his unusual clients, 
his practical knowledge of the world continued to expand. Whenever the 
Danubian government needed to send a legal delegation abroad, Vladim always 
went along to translate and serve as a liaison to foreign officials. By the time Kim 
became his client he already had visited the United States three times, along with 
innumerable trips to Canada and other countries in Europe.

Maritza, as a professor and the editor of a Danubian historical journal, expanded 
her husband’s knowledge even more by talking to him about the country’s past. 
Shortly before Kim traveled to Danube City with Tiffany and Susan, Vladim 
helped his wife and two of her students edit and publish the recently discovered 
diaries of King Vladik’s personal scribe. The renewed interest in King Vladik’s 
reign profoundly affected the personal philosophy of Vladim Dukov and his over-
all view of the world. By the time Kim became Dukov’s client, his intellectual 
potential extended way beyond simply continuing his career as a Spokesman. 
Everyone in his life knew that. It seemed that he was the only person who didn’t 
know it yet. 


Spokesman Dukov's knowledge of foreigners and the trial of Kimberly Lee

Because of the taboo against lying in Upper Danubia, Danubian prosecutors have 
a hard time dealing with foreigners coming from societies where lying is not such 
a big deal. When Tiffany Walker and Susan Taylor flatly stated they knew 
nothing about Kimberly Lee’s stash of marijuana, the arraignment panel believed 
them because its members had little experience interviewing non-Danubians. The 
prosecutor did have his suspicions about Tiffany and Susan, but wanted to avoid a 
complicated trial. Thus he decided not to challenge the arraignment panel’s 
ruling, and authorized the release of Kim’s two friends. 

Because he was considered the Ministry of Justice’s only “expert” in dealing with 
non-Danubians, Spokesman Dukov was incensed that two out of the three 
foreigners arrested for the marijuana incident had not been brought to his office. 
Had the prosecutor allowed the Spokesman to first talk to Tiffany and Susan 
before expelling them from the country, he would have understood that there was 
no way Kim’s friends could not have known about her stash of marijuana. He 
would have frightened all three young women into telling the truth by explaining 
the consequences of committing perjury during trial in Upper Danubia. Then he 
would have added:

“I will not lie in court on your behalf, and I will not allow you to dishonor 
yourselves or each other by lying. You will confront what you have done with 
honor, you will tell the truth with honor, and you will face the consequences of 
your actions with honor. I will only help you if you understand that you are not to 
dishonor yourselves with deceit.”

From that point Dukov would have gone to trial recommending the three 
Americans be sentenced for possession but requested that all other charges be 
dropped. The possession charge would have resulted in five-year sentences for all 
three culprits, but Dukov would have argued for leniency by asking the court for a 
reduction. Had Kim and her friends been convicted together, it is likely Dukov 
would have managed to reduce their time wearing the criminal’s collar to four 
years instead of five. More importantly, he would have tried to negotiate fewer 
switchings, knowing that, for a foreigner, a switching was a truly horrific event. 
Dukov, like most Spokespersons, was more concerned about limiting the total 
number of corporal punishments than the length of his clients’ sentences, and he 
would have exchanged a longer sentence for fewer switchings.

When the American Kimberly Lee was placed on trial by herself, Spokesman 
Vladim Dukov revealed that Tiffany and Susan had lied and betrayed their 
companion to escape the country. Their behavior totally shocked the entire court 
and elicited immediate sympathy for the young drug addict who was so 
shamefully treated by her loathsome companions. Only Vladim Dukov 
understood that Tiffany and Susan’s actions were fairly common for non-
Danubians, and that foreigners are not always truthful when they speak. During 
the trial he did not belabor that point, because he felt sorry for Kim and was 
determined to use the courtroom's shocked reaction to her friends' behavior to get 
her a light sentence.


“Vladim the Extortionist”

Prime Minister Vladim Dukov transformed the Party of the Duchy from an 
aristocratic party to a nationalist party during and after the campaign that brought 
him to power. Upon entering the Danubian Parliament he discovered the deputies 
of the Greater Danubian Progressive Party had negotiated several secret deals 
with other governments and multi-national companies that were not mentioned 
during the campaign. One of those deals was to build a major trucking route 
across the eastern part of Upper Danubia that would pass through Rika Chorna 
and exit through a pass along the mountainous northern border. The EU 
considered the route an important north-south trade link between its member 
nations. The logging project in eastern Upper Danubia would provide the money 
to build the highway.

Upon finding out about the project Dukov responded to its foreign backers: “You 
need this highway, we don’t. I’m not spending the Duchy’s money on something 
we don’t need.” Other European leaders warned Dukov not to cancel the road 
building project or Upper Danubia’s membership in the EU would be jeopardized. 
Dukov responded by formally withdrawing Upper Danubia’s request to join the 
EU.

Upper Danubia’s neighbors needed the road more than Upper Danubia needed the 
EU. When it became apparent that Dukov’s withdrawal was serious and not just a 
bargaining tactic, neighboring governments began offering concessions to Upper 
Danubia to bring Dukov back to the negotiating table. Dukov still was not 
convinced his country needed or would benefit from a large road, but over time 
was willing to listen to proposals. 

In the end Dukov did finally approve the road. It had to be built completely with 
foreign money, but using only Danubian workers and subject to Danubian labor 
and safety standards. Upper Danubia could charge tolls and keep half the toll 
money. All trucks were subject to Danubian inspections and customs laws. 
Finally, only Danubians could own businesses near the entry and exit points of the 
road. In the end, a road that would have cost Upper Danubia its forest reserves 
instead was built at no expense to the country at all, but with huge benefits to the 
eastern provinces.

Dukov’s second act of "extortion" came once the upgrade to the Rika Chorna 
Reservoir was finished. The country’s hydro-electric capacity increased three-
fold, just in time for a major rise in world-wide oil prices. Dukov sold electricity 
to neighboring countries at an exorbitant rate, fattening the coffers of Danube City 
at the expense of other nations. When confronted by reporters at a press 
conference about the electricity charges Dukov responded:

“You chose the path of buying cars and buying the gas to fill them. We chose the 
path of electricity and living in harmony with our resources. Now, because of the 
path you have chosen, the Ancients have given us your money.”


Mega-Town Associates & the failed coup (from EC’s novel - The Freshman)

Mega-Town Associates is by far the largest corporation operating in the US. The 
company started out as a discount retailer, taking over nearly 60% of the US retail 
market with its Mega-Mart discount stores by 1985. During the late 1980’s, 
Mega-Town expanded its operations to selling gas and took over several oil 
companies. From importing and selling oil, the company expanded into running 
chemical plants. Mega-Town bought several banks to finance its other activities, 
which by 1995 included advertising. With its advertising revenue, Mega-Town 
Associates bought two national television networks and a controlling interest in 
the largest chain of US radio stations. By the early 21st Century, Mega-Town 
Associates was actively trying to take direct control of the world’s remaining 
natural resources. 

The CEO’s of Mega-Town Associates had a very clear agenda, one which they 
openly pursued through their corporate expansion. The company’s CEO’s hoped 
to obtain a controlling interest in every important economic activity in the world, 
and through its control of the world economy seek to control the world’s political 
leaders. The idea was not only to take over political institutions, but to launch a 
massive campaign to reshape human society and values around the needs of 
global corporate capitalism. By the time Vladim Dukov rose to power in Upper 
Danubia, Mega-Town Associates enforced its world-wide agenda with a 15,000 
member private army. The private army boasted military helicopters, missiles, 
combat vehicles, and a large assortment of small arms. 

Seizing Upper Danubia’s forest reserves was only a small part of a much bigger 
project to control global wood production. At issue in Upper Danubia was not 
only the forest, but also a controlling interest in a proposed land link between the 
northern and southern parts of Eastern Europe. To control Upper Danubia would 
allow Mega-Town to control all north-south commerce in that part of the world. It 
was the fight over Danubian natural resources that brought the company’s 
ambitions in conflict with the nationalist government of Vladim Dukov. The 
company’s CEO’s felt entitled to take what they wanted from the region, and 
were indignant that someone like Dukov could so seriously complicate their 
plans.

The CEO’s who organized the take-over of Upper Danubia were a small group 
operating independently of the main corporate structure. To everyone on the 
outside, it seemed that they running a rogue operation, but that was not really true. 
Mega-Town as a group always disassociated itself from any particular coup plot. 
There was an informal agreement among Mega-Town CEO’s that any failed plot 
would be blamed on its organizers and the company as a whole would be shielded 
from liability. Prior to the Upper Danubian project, there had been a couple of 
failed coup attempts in other parts of the world, along with many successful ones. 
In the cases of failure, the organizers “owned” any fallout, but the company as a 
whole always moved forward.

The plan to take over Upper Danubia followed a blueprint that had allowed Mega-
Town to take over the governments of four African countries, three Latin 
American countries, and a few others in Asia and Oceania. The only detail that set 
the Danubia project apart from previous operations was the idea of taking over 
two countries simultaneously; Upper Danubia and its southern neighbor. The plan 
included killing the political and military leaders of both countries and installing 
governments lead by people secretly receiving paychecks from the company. In 
other words, the idea was to have both countries directly run by paid employees 
of Mega-Town Associates. In both countries Mega-Town already had local 
leaders ready to take over the governments. 

Had the Mega-Town plan to attack Dukov’s government gone as expected, the 
main target of the mercenaries would have been the Danubian National Police. 
Two of the primary physical targets of the attackers would have been the National 
Police Headquarters in Danube City and the National Police Academy. The plan 
focused on first hitting the buildings with nerve gas and then taking them, along 
with the National Parliament, by 200 heavily-armed men. Police stations in the 
provincial capitols would have been taken simultaneously by smaller groups of 
assailants and their occupants killed. The plan would have killed about half of the 
Danubian police force outright, with the anticipation that the survivors would be 
too scattered to mount a successful counterattack. The mercenaries anticipated 
later dispatching the primitive Danubian Army with ease, because they had a 
squadron of Blackhawk helicopters at their disposal.

To counter the invasion, Upper Danubia had a 5,000-member regular army, 5,000 
army reservists, 10,000 civil defense volunteers, and about 15,000 police officers. 
The numerical superiority of the Danubian forces was off-set by their lack of 
modern combat equipment. The Danubians had some helicopters for their 
military, but they were old and equipped for disaster relief, not combat. 
Furthermore, many of those helicopters were grounded because they had been 
damaged during firefighting operations two years before and were lacking repair 
parts. As for fighter aircraft, the country had a single squadron of British jets that 
were nearly 30 years old. During a surprise attack the air force would not have 
been able to get the planes in the air in time to defend the country. However, the 
advanced warning allowed the Danubian Air Force to prepare the aircraft for use, 
and by the night of April 20th the squadron was ready for operations.

The Mega-Town plan had one serious vulnerability, one that the Danubians and 
their neighbors ultimately exploited to foil it. There were only enough 
mercenaries to attack one country at a time, which meant that the coup 
participants had to cross the border into Danubian territory from their initial 
staging areas. That involved moving about 800 men and their equipment north on 
the morning of April 21. Dukov’s military advisors decided to arrest the 
mercenaries as they entered the country, with the intent of capturing as many as 
possible away from major Danubian population centers. The mercenaries would 
be scattered and in many cases separated from their heavy weapons. Of course no 
one in the Mega-Town operation knew that Dukov already had learned about the 
plot, and thus were not really prepared to engage in large-scale combat on the 
21st.

On the night of April 20th, 4,000 police offers, 3,000 soldiers, and 3,000 
reservists traveled in small groups to the southern border on buses, vans, and 
trains dressed in civilian clothing. They were told that they were to participate in a 
nighttime training exercise. It was not until they were deployed that they learned 
their true mission; to spread out along the border and intercept small groups of 
foreigners crossing into the country.

The arrests began about 3:00 in the morning. In a few cases there were firefights, 
and in other instances mercenaries managed to flee back south. In cases of 
mercenaries escaping the dragnet, the Danubians radioed their positions to their 
southern neighbors. By 6:00 am about 500 of the 800 mercenaries had been 
successfully intercepted and detained, about 350 by the Danubians, and about 150 
immediately south of the border by the neighboring country.

There were three pitched battles between Danubians and Mega-Town mercenaries 
on April 21st. The biggest skirmish took place at sunrise 40 kilometers south of 
Danube City. The location was a clandestine airstrip being used as a supply drop 
and staging area for the pending attack on the Danubian capitol. The Danubians 
attacked the strip with 1,000 troops and their entire air force, confronting 300 
mercenaries who were guarding and off-loading weapons. The battle on the 
ground was a serious engagement, because the Danubians, in spite of their 
superior numbers, were out-gunned. 

The attack began with an aerial assault on the runway to strafe and disable the 
aircraft. The initial shootout caused the downing of two Danubian helicopters, but 
also disabled all but two of the mercenaries' Blackhawks. The surviving 
Blackhawks managed to get airborne, but the pilots then realized they were up 
against the entire decrepit Danubian Air Force. There was a dogfight that resulted 
in the downing of one of the Blackhawks and a Danubian fighter jet. The 
surviving Blackhawk managed to fly over the East Danube River and escape. 
That escape was the mercenaries' only victory that day.

The remaining Danubian aircraft continued to strafe and bomb the enemy 
positions while the 1,000 soldiers, now reinforced with nearly 500 police officers 
and reservists, slowly fought their way towards the airstrip. The commander of 
the airstrip operation desperately radioed for help, not knowing that most of his 
associates already had been arrested. The Danubians recorded the broadcasts and 
later used them as evidence during the trials. Finally, when it became evident no 
help was coming, the airstrip command surrendered. That battle cost 52 
mercenaries and 79 Danubians their lives and was the most significant 
engagement of the coup.

While the battle for the airstrip was going on, Danubian police officers fought to 
dislodge about 70 armed foreigners who had taken the railroad station and nearby 
governor’s palace in Rika Chorna. Unlike the airstrip fight, the Rika Chorna battle 
was never in doubt. Hundreds of National Police Officers surrounded the two 
buildings and after a couple of hours the mercenaries surrendered.

Dukov did not declare a National State of Emergency until sunrise, because he did 
not want to alert any foreigners still trying to cross the border that their plot had 
been compromised. However, as soon as he declared the emergency, the National 
Police quickly set up roadblocks around the capitol and began fortifying all 
important government buildings and bridges. Within a few minutes the capitol 
was completely ready for combat, which fortunately never came.

By noon the military operations were largely over. Danubian police vans were 
transporting foreign prisoners to Danube City and the National Police had 
roadblocks and patrols around the country manned by groups of reservists and 
volunteers. The entire country now was mobilized to defend itself. With the 
arrests of the foreigners largely completed, the National Police began securing the 
numerous arms caches around Danube City and arresting Danubian collaborators. 

Late in the afternoon there was a third battle, long after the rest of the country had 
been secured. Of all the events of that traumatic day, the third battle was the one 
that captured the imaginations of the Danubians. A roadblock of manned by a 
group of farmers and two old police officers was set up in the eastern part of the 
country in a spot where no one expected any mercenaries to cross. They were 
surprised when four armored Humvees moving southward attacked their position 
in order to escape the country. With nothing more than hunting rifles and two 
police pistols the farmers held off the mercenaries until other volunteers from 
their village arrived to help. For nearly an hour the entire village battled the four 
Humvees, losing the two police officers and six of the volunteers. Finally a 
Danubian helicopter arrived and blew up two of the Humvees. The crews of the 
other two vehicles surrendered.

A small group of uneducated, terrified middle-aged farmers battling hardened 
mercenaries and winning gave the Danubian government and the enemies of 
Mega-Town Associates the image they needed to completely humiliate the 
company. The surviving villagers were invited to Danube City the week following 
the coup to meet Dukov and be formally honored. The international press picked 
up on the story and the soon the farmers became important symbols of global 
resistance to the goals of the Mega-Town CEO’s.

The government decided the best place to keep the coup participants was in the 
basement of the heavily fortified National Police Station in Danube City. The 
mercenaries’ weapons were stored there as well, but all ammunition for the coup 
was taken to the National Military Academy and later distributed to Danubian 
Army units.

The failed coup was a complete setback for long-term goals of Mega-Town 
Associates. Other coup attempts had failed, but none as spectacularly as the one 
against Upper Danubia and its southern neighbor. There was no way the company 
could keep anything secret about the coup because the Danubians had captured 
documents and communications equipment along with many of the prisoners. On 
top of the new documents were the original CD’s and recordings provided earlier 
by Jason Schmidt that had alerted Dukov about the coup in the first place. When 
Jason volunteered to testify at the trials, there was nothing the company could do 
to refute what had happened or its role in the coup.

The documents, testimony, news coverage, and subsequent trials brought out 
many details about Mega-Town’s plans to control the world through seizing its 
resources. The resulting scandal was a public relations disaster that ruined the 
careers of several executives and their contacts in the US State and Commerce 
Departments. The company was too large and influential to be destroyed by the 
crisis, but its CEO’s did have to abandon many of their tactics and spend time and 
resources to rehabilitate their public image. From that point forward anything 
Mega-Town did was viewed with skepticism and suspicion, which forced its 
leaders to lie low for several years and temper their ambitions.

Even as prisoners and weapons continued to arrive at the National Police Station, 
Dukov’s thoughts moved ahead to using the failed coup to Upper Danubia’s 
advantage. Privately, he was furious at the mercenaries and shared the public’s 
desire that they all be shot. However, he knew that the foreigners really no longer 
mattered now that they were detained and that executing them would be stupid. 

What the Prime Minister needed to do instead was take advantage of the coup to 
create international sympathy for his county. He then would use that sympathy to 
obtain concessions in international agreements and treaties. During the weeks 
following the coup, Dukov's cabinet ministers quickly fanned out across Europe 
and approached other leaders to renegotiate several stalled treaties, demanding 
concessions in exchange for not executing mercenaries. With the international 
media sympathetic to the Danubians, Dukov pressed his advantage and obtained, 
among other things, much better conditions for Upper Danubia's entry into the 
European Union. The coup and Dukov's handling of the aftermath solidified the 
Prime Minister's control over his country and Upper Danubia's wider influence in 
Eastern Europe.


Vladim Dukov as Danubia's Prime Minister

During the first years of his government, the Prime Minister scored some huge 
foreign policy successes. The most significant success was to formalize and 
secure the nation's southern border and re-claim some small strips of territory still 
inhabited mostly by ethnic Danubians. The border treaty allowed the country to 
enter into a formal alliance with one of its neighbors for the first time in its history 
and ended its long-standing diplomatic isolation. Following the Mega-Town coup 
the Danubians pressed for international recognition and acceptance of the nation's 
judicial practices and social values. As revenue from electricity generation and 
tourism increased, Danubia built up its foreign reserves and eventually became an 
important regional banking center.

Living standards rapidly increased during Dukov's time in office, financed first by 
the road project in the east, and later by tourism, banking, and electricity. The 
Danubians did have to change, modernize, and become part of the world. The 
most significant change took place in the countryside. Agriculture became much 
less important and the decline of the traditional village economy became 
Danubia's most important social problem. Fortunately the government had the 
resources to fund schools and technical institutes throughout the rural areas, 
which reduced the need for young people to leave their homes to get education. 
Still, the egalitarian small farmer society of the villages began to disappear as the 
older farmers died off and their descendants moved on to other careers and sold 
their land. The farms consolidated and within a decade a way of life that had 
existed for 3000 years came to an end. It had to be that way, and fortunately many 
villages were able to transform without becoming depopulated. However, 
everyone, including the Prime Minister himself, lamented the loss.

The outward appearance and architecture of Danube City and Rika Chorna did not 
change much during Dukov's time in office. Any building constructed before 
1920 was protected from demolition. However, while kept intact on the outside, 
most buildings were remodeled on the inside. During much of the administration 
the streets were torn up as new sewer and water supply projects were installed and 
the nation's electrical grid modernized. The construction did not cause as much 
chaos as it would have had the Danubians been reliant on cars. It was very easy 
for the bicyclists to ride around the torn-up streets and life continued as normal. 

The prohibition on private cars remained in place throughout the Dukov years. By 
the time he left office the number of Danubian-registered vehicles had only risen 
slightly. There were more urban businesses that owned delivery vehicles, but that 
increase was off-set by the declining number of farmers eligible to own trucks to 
move their produce.

The Danubian policy against privately owned vehicles became a major source of 
conflict between the country's government and foreign interests. During the years 
immediately before Vladim Dukov became Prime Minister, the US and the EU 
were pressuring the Danubians to remove their restrictions against privately 
owned cars. During his negotiations with the EU Dukov's predecessor agreed to 
lift the ban and allow private cars to be sold in the Duchy. Dukov immediately re-
imposed the ban upon entering office and refused to discuss the matter further. He 
cited plenty of reasons for the ban, which included pollution, traffic jams, the loss 
of peace and pedestrian safety in the capitol, and a loss of social equality on the 
streets. There were the issues of road construction, which the Danubian 
government could not afford, and the trade imbalance that would result from 
purchasing and maintaining hundreds of thousands of foreign-produced cars. 
There was the concern over handling and storing gasoline, as well as the issue of 
what to do with junked cars when their owners no longer wanted them. 

To Dukov, the topic allowing cars into his country was forbidden. If anyone 
brought the subject up in treaty or trade negotiations, he and his ministers got into 
the habit of simply standing up and leaving the room. Throughout his 18-year 
tenure as Prime Minister, on that issue Dukov never budged or compromised. 

The Dukov government launched an aggressive public relations campaign against 
privately owned cars as soon as his opponents began claiming that he was 
denying his citizens their rights. Danubians soon became familiar with pictures of 
oil spills, smoggy cities, huge dirty parking lots, massive auto graveyards, and 
injured pedestrians as Dukov waged his personal war against cars. The campaign 
convinced the public that Danubia would become a huge junkyard if privately 
owned cars were ever allowed. Dukov's scare tactics worked, because there was 
never much public demand for cars during the time he was in office.

----------

Dukov was well-aware of some of the new threats facing his country and acted 
aggressively to counteract them. One issue affecting most of Eastern Europe that 
never really affected the Danubians was drug abuse. Being such a closed society 
helped the Danubians control illegal drugs, but it also helped that the government 
took the threat very seriously. 

Dukov did not relax his country's tough anti-drug laws during his administration. 
Quite the contrary, he instituted mandatory drug-testing for all high school and 
university students, as well as for the military, tourism operators, hotel 
employees, and anyone returning from a trip abroad. Drug testing became a 
routine part of clearing Customs; no one could get a re-entry stamp in his or her 
passport until urine and blood samples were collected. The country was heavily 
indoctrinated against both drugs and drug users through television ads, school 
programs, and Temple sermons. The media ran aggressive anti-drug ads and 
branded anyone selling drugs as an Enemy of the Ancients. The government made 
sure that there was a huge social stigma against drug use and counted with the full 
support of the Danubian Church.

----------

Dukov stayed in office a total of 18 years. Everyone agreed that his government 
had been the most successful since the reign of King Vladik. A generation of 
Danubians had grown up not remembering the times before he became Prime 
Minister, so his retirement shocked many younger citizens. However, after nearly 
two decades in office he was ready to retire and leave running the country to his 
younger subordinates. When they begged him to continue, he used a medical 
exam stating he was susceptible to a heart attack as justification to leave his post. 
When he left office he left politics completely, refusing even to attend 
conventions of the Party of the Duchy. He stated:

"I am not a politician. I never wanted to be a politician, but that was what the 
Ancients called upon me to do for a period of time. That time has ended. The 
Ancients now have given me the chance to rest, and that is the Path of my Life. I 
will rest, and others must lead."

Dukov did not rest, however. He fulfilled a lifetime goal by writing a detailed 
history of the development of Danubian law during the 20th Century. Upon 
finishing that project, he helped his wife Maritza write a history about Upper 
Danubia during the years following the death of King Vladik in 1531. He never 
wrote his own political memoirs, but made himself and his personal library 
available to assist anyone, Danubian or foreigner, conducting a serious research 
project about his government.

----------

Among the researchers helped by Vladim Dukov was a young professor by the 
name of Annette Dolkiv. The young woman was the daughter of Engineer Sergekt 
Dolkiv and Spokeswoman Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna. 

Annette was 24 years old, a few years older than her mother had been when 
Dukov first saw her kneeling in his office. How quickly time goes by, he thought 
to himself. I've always thought of Kimberly as being so young, and yet, it won't 
be much longer before she retires. How quickly our lives pass us by...how quickly 
the time comes when we must present ourselves to the Creator and hold up our 
mirrors...

Dukov quickly pushed that thought from his mind. He sat down with Professor 
Dolkiv, looked over her research, and prepared to answer her questions.

