A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

La Vida Sucre Fine Dining, Luxon, Ananto
8:30pm

"Good evening Sir, my name is Marta, I will be your server this evening. I understand you are waiting for a date..."

"No, No, not a date, Miss... an old friend... an old friend is all..." the man said.

Marta, the waitress smiled, "That is some accent, sir. Are you visiting Ananto from a foreign nation?"

"Why yes, thank you for noticing. I am here from New Englia."

Marta smiled, and attempted to recollect if she knew where that was. "Is that near, oh, I'm just going to guess, Is that near... Egelion?"

Howard smiled. She was stupid, but charming. "No, it is quite far away, as a matter of fact."

"Well, I will say, Sir, your Vrassan is very good. Is this your first visit to Kalistan?"

"No... no, not at all: I lived here, in Kaliburg, for many years, though it has been quite a long time ago now... twenty years now."

"Then welcome back," said Marta. "May I get you a glass of wine on the house while you wait?"

Howard smiled: free things at restaurants is something about Kalistan he certainly did miss. "Chablis, if you have it," he said.

"We have a fine vintage," she said. "I'll return with your menus."

As she left, Howard looked up, and before him stood Ricardo Justicia, a very dapper Suldanoran. The two had been very close in college. He felt his heart skip a beat as he saw the man who had been with him every step of the way during the good times and the bad. And he was more handsome now than Howard had remembered.

"Hola, Rico," he said as he rose and kissed the man on the cheek. Ricardo kissed him back, a familiar memory even after two decades.

"Hello Howard," Ricado said with a smile. "Welcome back to our Island."

Howard felt emotions rise, and he felt some tears well up. He quickly pulled away and pulled out a chair for the Kalistani. Ricardo took the seat and unfolded his cloth napkin and placed it in his lap. Howard watched him: His manner was always so impeccable, so formal. It was part of what made him so attractive to Howard after all. He dared to think... but no. That was so long ago. They were much older, much wiser, and much more... connected.

"You haven't waited for long, I hope?" asked Ricardo.

"No I just arrived. I took the day to visit the Global Music Hall of Fame and to tour the area. I visited the Swell, and surprisingly there are already people surfing. I didn't think they got started until May..."

Ricardo smiled, "Well, global warming... you know... what can I say? Kalistan, despite its best efforts, still... benefits... from global climate trends. And due to those Trigunian pigs blasting petrocarbon emissions by the ton into the atmosphere, our seasons are occasionally earlier now than they have been. But, yes, it is still early, maybe the people you saw today are just enthusiasts."

Marta returned with the menus and a bottle of vintage 5648 Chateau Mont Christoph Chablis. Ricardo saw the bottle, smiled at Howard. "I see you have not lost your taste," he said.

Marta popped the cork and poured the wine in Howard's snifter, and then turned to Ricardo, "Can I bring you a drink as well, Sir?"

"I... will trust Mr. Lee's choice, if its alright. He has made an excellent selection." Marta smiled and poured him a glass too. "We are ready I think to order, Miss."

Howard took a look at his menu, but he already knew what he was looking for. "I'll have the Cabrito al Pastor con frijoles charros y cebollitas."

Ricardo smiled. "Dos porfavor."

Marta took the menus back. "Very good gentlemen. Wheat or corn tortilla?"

Howard thought for a moment. It had been a very long time since he had had this dish. Ricardo noticed his hesitation and said to Marta, "Maize, please."

Marta smiled and said "Thank you very much. It will be out shortly."

Howard watched her walk away, picked up his glass and inhaled a waft of his wine. So many memories flooded back to him. He sipped the alcohol. It tasted the same, it looked the same, everything was the same, and yet somehow it was all different. There was a tension in the air.

"Howa..." started Ricardo...

"Rico... I..." he interrupted, hoping to be able to speak first. "I wanted to say, first, that I am sorry I didn't call."

Ricardo smiled. "I'm glad you did," he said. "I'm glad you finally had a reason to call."

Howard heard the words, they stuck like a knife. "Yes, well..." he said, choked up a little. He tried to change the subject. "You look great, as usual."

Ricardo smiled, "Me? How about you. You really have made it in the world."

Howard laughed and dodged. "I'm really glad to see you."

Ricardo said, "Me too. It's been a very long time, and we both have grown, I hope. Perhaps this time we can try... to be just friends? And see if that works?" Howard, who half believed that he had made a mistake coming here to see Ricardo, heard the word "friend" come from Ricardo's mouth, and he knew what it meant. But, it was better than being stood up, or worse... just ignored.

"Friends then," he said with a smile. "We can try that for once." Ricardo offered a toast. "To a new friendship." They clinked glasses and said their respective Cheers, and took a sip. The wine was a fantastic bouquet, only semi dry with hints of oak and vanilla, with a light tannic hit at the very end but otherwise smooth and mellow. "This is very good wine, Mr. Lee," said Ricardo with a smile.

As Howard smiled and looked at Ricardo, he happened to glance up and notice a familiar looking woman approaching the table. Howard knew her immediately, but she was the last person he expected to see here, now. She was coming right to the table.

"Mr. Lee," she said. "I thought that was you! My what are you doing here in Ananto?" She barely noticed Ricardo at the table, who happened to glance up as she began speaking.

"Mrs. Whitmer, what an unexpected... surprise..." said Howard, to the CEO of KALNAPECO. She looked down at Ricardo, who remained seated, and offered her hand. Ricardo shook it rather coldly, and then looked away. His response was not lost on Howard, who politely did not mention it at all.

"Well, Mr. Lee, I see you haven't gotten your meals yet. Would you mind speaking with me for a moment? On the Rossfadda matter?"

Ricardo spoke up, "Actually Ma'am, if you don't mind, we were just catching up and..."

Howard realized what was going on here. He was set up, either on purpose or inadvertently by Ricardo. It was no chance that KPO CEO Donna Whitmer happened to be in the same restaurant at the same time as he would be there. He switched to business mode, and became "business polite" so to speak.

"Please Madame, would you have a seat?" he said, pulling out a chair. "Let's skip all the nonsense. What is it you Kalistanis say? In wine there is truth?" May I pour you a glass?"

Whitmer took a seat, and nodded her head. As he poured it and handed it to her, she downed the glass in one swig. "Very well, Mr. Lee. You have caught me red handed." she said with a smile. "But it is no harm. I merely wanted to take the opportunity to speak with you directly about Petroenglia's process."

"And I suppose Ricardo is working with you?" Said Howard as he shot Ricardo a cold look. Ricardo, embarrassed started to protest, but Whitmer waived him off.

"Don't be silly," said Whitmer. "I've never seen this man in my life. I was informed of your visit by IBSI. You do know who they are, I trust."

Howard knew exactly who they were. In fact, he had a run in with them while he was studying at Kaliburg Polytechnic in relation to the Bookmaking scandal: Turns out he made a bet with a bookie that was a person of interest in an assassination attempt in Suldanor. He had no idea that bet would come back to haunt him, but he had never told Ricardo about it, one way or another.

Ricardo protested, "Madame, You are interrupting us. This is rude."

She looked at him and said "Who are you, Sir?"

He said "My name is Ricardo Justicia. I am undersecretary of Finance for Eastern Dovani for Her Imperial Majesty's Ministry of Finance."

"Interesting," she said. "The undersecretary of Finance for Eastern Dovani happens to be eating dinner with an oil CEO, who will assist with a decision which could be worth more than 150 Billion Imperial Pesos to the Empire. And this is, I trust, a personal meeting?"

"That is none of your business, Madame," said Ricardo.

"Well, think of the scandal. Hmmm, this is definitely one for the gossip columns. But..." she said. "Don't worry, Mr. Justicia. It was Mr Lee-McFarrey's phone call, presumably to you, that IBSI intercepted. They already know. And if they know, Your boss knows, and if your boss knows, the Chancellor knows, and so does Her Imperial Majesty. She's the one I would be worried about knowing if I was in your shoes." She looked back at Howard. "So you see, Mr. Lee, it was really you who sent me here. Now. My job is simple. I need three to five minutes of your time, and that's all, and I will let you and Mr. Justicia get back to your, what I assume, will be a very expensive dinner."

Howard sat down, and Ricardo shrunk away, chagrinned to the max. He said, bluntly, "Very well, if it will satisfy you, five minutes."

"Thank you," she said smiling. "I assume you've heard about your Legislature's resolution by now."

"Of course," said Howard.

"How complicating is that?"

"Quite frankly, Madame, it is very complicating. There are those on our board who want nothing to do with your Empress and her lofty goals. They do not meet our interests, not of our company, not of our government, and not of our Nation. And quite frankly, they are rather insulting to us, as a developing nation."

Whitmer smiled. "Save it, Mr. Lee. You are a capitalist. Your interest is money. And that's where it ends. Do us both a favor and let's not waste time with this indignation. I only have four more minutes."

Howard put his drink down. "Then I suppose you had better get to it."

"Very well," she said. "KPO would like to show you what we did when we were forced off of oil. I will give you a small preview: We built dams. We built solar and wind farms. We built wave and tidal energy farms. And we built massive geothermal plants, like the one Her Imperial Majesty worked at when she was in National Service. And we planted farms for crops that provide us a surplus of biodiesel for both fuel for the things we can't used electric for, and for polymers. We are the world leaders in biopolymers and sustainable biodiesel production. And anything you use diesel in, we generate that from agriculture, which is one of the biggest individual sectors in Kalistan's economy. We employ hundreds of thousands of Kalistanis in the maintenance of these electrical power projects annually. We don't drill oil, but we still work in energy. In fact, we are entirely energy independent in Kalistan, with the exception of the the little bit of kerosene we are still forced to use in our aircraft. KPO has a market valuation today of $278 Billion Imperial Rubles. And we haven't extracted a single drop of petroleum in more than 200 years."

"Madame, this is fantastic, but in New Englia, it is unrealistic. Petroenglia is an oil company. We produce oil. And Rossfadda is our oil."

"Which Kalistan is willing to buy from you at market rate."

"Yes Madame, I know. I have read the bid. I understand all that. What you don't understand is..."

"Mr. Lee, my time is up here. If you are interested, in two days, I am going on a tour of our Geothermal Plant number 4 in the Green Mountains. I assume you are in country for more than just one day, and I also assume, because you are in country, it's because you do not wish to be noticed for not being in New Englia. Come with me on my inspection. Nobody except myself... and Mr. Justicia here... knows you, and nobody will bother you. Come see what we can do. See what you can do with 150 Billion pesos. If you don't show up, I will assume that... other matters have detained you. But if you are interested, just a sight seeing tour... I will be at this address." She slipped him a card with a street address on it. "Saturday morning at 9am. And bring Mr. Justicia along. I am sure our Undersecretary of Finance for Eastern Dovani won't mind waking up early on that day."

Ricardo spoke up. "I'd rather die."

Whitmer wiped the corners of her mouth. "Yes well. At any rate. Perhaps I will see you both on Saturday. It has been a pleasure, Mr. Lee. I apologize for the interruption of you two's... reunion. But on the positive side, here is your goat." She got up, tossed the napkin nonchalantly on the table and turned around as the server approached right on time.

"Will the Lady be joining you two?" asked Marta.

"No, dear. I just stopped by to say hello to an old friend." she said with a cynical smile and a wink.

"Wow, Sir, for a foreigner you are pretty popular. Are you famous?"

Before Howard could speak, Whitmer answered, "Could be. You never know with some people." Howard took that as a very thinly veiled threat. She was a hard player, and Howard couldn't help but feel a touch of respect mingled in with his rage.

As the plates were placed in front of the two men, Howard shot a look at Ricardo. "Oh, you're coming along with me on Saturday. If I'm gonna hang for this one, you're hanging too." Ricardo did not respond.

The two men ate in silence, until the wine kicked in, then the truth came out, from both men. Truths which had been kept from one another for a very long time. As the night grew later, Ricardo, perhaps in a moment of being too honest, said, "I'd love to see New Englia, some day, Howard."

Though he himself was a little tipsy, Howard knew these were words he had waited twenty years to hear.