While the Iron Doctrine had mastered the land and bent the skies to its will, the oceans remained wild and fragmented.
Trade lanes were harassed by syndicates loyal to the Consortium.
Offshore oil platforms were sabotaged in covert economic warfare.
And most dangerously, the remnants of the British Royal Navy—disavowed by London but funded by exiled elites—had coalesced into a private maritime power called the Leviathan Bloc.
[Maritime Security Index: -38% | Global Trade Efficiency: -22%]
Mikhail responded not with gunboats—but with diplomacy forged in steel.
He convened the Naval Confluence, a summit aboard the Doctrine's floating city-ship Perseverance, stationed in the Arctic Meridian.
There, he unveiled the blueprint for the Leviathan Accord:
A joint naval superstructure comprised of Doctrine-aligned states.
Shared naval R&D to develop silent propulsion, magnetohull cruisers, and aquatic drone fleets.
A unified maritime legal code: the Harmonized Oceanic Doctrine.
Port-access incentives for neutral nations adhering to Doctrine trade principles.
To many nations crippled by piracy and failing maritime infrastructure, the offer was salvation.
Even Japan—long cautious of Mikhail's rise—sent observers.
The Philippines, Indonesia, and Nordic states quietly signed the preliminary clauses.
[Global Maritime Alliance: Formation Phase | Leviathan Accord Ratification: 7/12 Core Members]
But resistance remained.
The rogue Royal Navy, operating from secret bases in the Falklands and old Arctic outposts, declared Mikhail's initiative a "naval colonization of the seas."
They launched a cyber-strike on Perseverance's defense grid.
[Perimeter Breach: 6% | Casualties: Minimal | Retaliation Authority: Granted]
Mikhail responded with precision—not annihilation.
A coordinated strike by submarine drones disabled the rogue fleet's comms, while a swarm of AI-controlled skimmers delivered a single message:
"Your sovereignty ends where civilization begins."
The rogue admiral, Winston Graye, was captured—not executed. Instead, he was placed on trial before an international tribunal aboard Perseverance.
Broadcasted worldwide, the trial became a symbol:
The oceans were no longer lawless.
Mikhail stood before the oceanic assembly and declared:
"Let this sea be the last battlefield. From this tide forward, we sail not in conquest, but in consequence."
[Leviathan Accord: Fully Ratified | Maritime Security Restored | Doctrine Naval Supremacy: Achieved]
Now with firm control over global logistics, oil routes, and sea-based energy grids, the Iron Empire had extended beyond borders.
It had become a planet-spanning spine.
And at its heart, the Doctrine pulsed.