The Azla-Zel War

"The Azla-Zel War" is a short story that summarizes the fighting between the Zels and the Azla resistance force at the beginning of "Converge". The story is told in fragments of a news report. It was written in response to a prompt about taking a small event in history and adapting it to fiction. the story was based on the Anglo-Zanzibar War.

The Azla-Zel War
9:00

This is Channel 13 News with the top story today. About a week ago, the small country of Azla was taken over by the Zel rebels. The Zels are a communist group seeking to create a new government in Azla. So far they have been successful. Their main source of operation was a prison where they have thousands of civilians detained as prisoners of war. However, unconfirmed reports say that a group of civilians in the country has formed a resistance force. Apparently, It was founded by an ex-military American woman who happened to be in Azla during the rebel attack. Our sources tell us that a confrontation between both sides can happen at any moment.

10:12

Breaking news, we have new information about the Azla conflict. Apparently, the resistance has gather outside the Zel POW camp. We can expect confrontation any second now. However, the Zels outnumber and outgun the resistance. It is unlikely that the battle will last long.

10:40

We have just received news from Azla. The battle at the Zel camp has ended after some extremely violent fighting. The resistance has just slaughter the Zel forces, and are now freeing the prisoners in the camp. We also have reports that the head of the Zel rebels was killed during the fighting.

10:51

There has been even more surprising developments in Azla. After the defeat of the Zel at their camp and the death of their leader, they have decided to surrender. Many of its members all around the country are being detained by the resistance. The rebellion in Azla has just ended. However, the Azla government is in ruins. There will likely need to be new government established. At 37 minutes, this has been the shortest war in history.