Chapter 604: A Force of Stability
The fan spun lazily overhead, doing little to break the suffocating tropical heat.
Outside, the rustle of palms in the breeze clashed with the static hum of a nearby radio set, transmitting recent headlines from Bangkok.
"...Siamese Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram to inaugurate naval expansion at Songkhla... German military attachés to observe the exercises..."
Governor-General Hendrik van Daalen poured himself a glass of gin and looked up at his New Zealand counterpart seated across the table, Sir Edwin Cartwright, on temporary assignment from Wellington.
"You hear that?" Van Daalen asked, voice edged with anxiety. "Two decades ago, they couldn’t keep the British from carving off their coastline. Now they’ve got drydocks larger than anything we’ve got in Surabaya."
Sir Edwin nodded, lips pursed.
"The Japanese collapse left a void," he said finally. "We all thought it would be China or some scattered warlord filling it. We didn’t expect Siam to rise from a ceremonial monarchy to a continental contender."
Van Daalen leaned forward.
"Rise? They’ve leapt. German instructors. German doctrine. A Southeast Asian army fluent in Prussian efficiency. Their rail lines are tighter than ours, and they’ve begun investing in airfields from Chiang Mai to Saigon."
"And no imperial leash," Cartwright added. "They’re not a colony. They remember what it means to be humiliated by Europe. Now they’re backed by Berlin, and we’re the ones playing catch-up."
Silence lingered for a beat.
"Do you think they’ll come for us?" Van Daalen asked too bluntly.