January 3, 1997
Somewhere in Papua, Indonesia
The arms dealer smiled at the clearly uncomfortable oil company executive. Those guys might not be used to humidity, but he was. And clearly the executive was not used to dealing with "uncivilized natives". But he knew that the people of Papua had agriculture for millennia. Just a few years before, he wouldn't even be dealing with these ineffective rebels (even through their support was broad in Papua, bow and arrows are no match for a modern military like Indonesia's). But Suharto had betrayed him. And he would make sure that Suharto would have something coming back at him.
The executive wiped sweat off his brow and forehead. He would prefer not to be here, but his company could get unfettered access to all the potential oil and minerals Papua had, without dealing with competitors. All that, just for supporting these uncivilized savages, who were basically naked all the time. Well, not this one. He had on some grimy t-shirt and pants...of some sort. He signed the document and offered the pen to the rebel leader.
The Free West Papua Revolutionary Council chairman took the pen and signed the document, ironically written in both English and Indonesian (Indonesian being the language of the occupiers). By God, he had accidentally met with this arms dealer who had been jilted by Suharto, severely. The man wanted revenge and he offered him an avenue to get it. After that, he had gotten the dealer to contact an oil exec in order to get the money he needed to free his homeland. Doubtlessly, the oil exec thought that he could probably pull a fast one on this ignorant native and get unfettered access to West Papua's resources while raping the land. No, I have better plans for Papua, he thought, as he took the document to discuss with his fellow Council members. Soon, he thought as he fingered the metal cross necklace given to him by the sympathetic local Catholic priest and missionary, soon all of Papua will be free...
Note: Yes, the chairman is Catholic. My apologies if the characters in this part come across as too one-dimensional and stereotypical now- I'll flesh them out in later parts.