A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

December 2, 5571, 3:20 Local, Non-Descript Office building, Downtown Kaliburg

"Take a seat, Your Grace," said a 30 year old man with a short beard and a receding hairling, who wore a grey tweed suit.  The only insignia of the man's rank was a small pin on his lapel, that suggested that he held the rank of Captain in the IBSI, probably in G1.  Or maybe G4.  G4 would be bad.  The Crown Princess couldn't tell.  These spooks don't usually make it clear who they are or what they are doing until you are already in trouble.

"What is this about, Captain..." Princess Carolina insisted.  "And if you value your job, you had better contact General Council and have them send some lawyer down here.  I know my rights."

The captain sat down across from the Crown Princess.  "Madame, forgive me.  I mean no disrespect to you, but this is a much more sensitive situation and if we decide to refer you for charges, you will have plenty of time to retain the services of a lawyer.  But there are things we need to understand first before we make any sort of recommendations."

The Crown Princess sat back in her very uncomfortable seat.  "May I trouble you, Captain, for a cup of coffee?  You pulled me out of the club in the middle of the night and brought me to this, this bureaucratic nightmare of an office building, and I assume you are about to violate my civil liberties.  The least you can do is give me the courtesy of a reach around..."

"Excuse me, your Grace?" The captain's countenence darkened.  

"Coffee, Captain.  Black.  If you please."  The captain considered the young woman's request for a moment, and then reached forward and pressed a button on his desk.  In two minutes, another man in a suit brought in a small styrofoam cup and set it on the table next to Crown Princess Carolina.  She looked at it and noticed an oily sheen floating on the top of the coffee, a rainbow slick that she could almost see her reflection in.  She picked the cup up and gulped the black fluid down.  "At least you have the good Mina stuff," said the Princess.  "Now.  What do you need from me?"

"Your Grace.  I am sure you realize that your comments in your school paper have been reprinted in The Republic."

"My comments?"

"Yes, on the Embargo..."

"Yes, I am aware of that.  They asked me for permission to reprint them and I gave it.  So what?  Is it a crime to talk to the press in this country?"

"No," said the captain.  "Not a crime.  However, criticizing the Empress in public is a crime."

"Criticizing?  The Empress?  Are you referring to me?"  The Crown Princess smiled slightly.  "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Your statements were very critical of Her Imperial Majesty's policy positions, and many of your comments were of a very personal nature." the Captain responded.  "It is, your Grace, my job to investigate whether there was some malice behind your comments."

"There was no malice..." said Crown Princess Carolina, but she was cut off.

"You can therefore understand why you are here, and not in a police station," said the Captain.  "These comments represent a direct undermining of the expressed will of the Empress, and if your aim is to contradict the fiat of the Empress in public, this could be seen as a significant crisis."

"Who asked you to do this, Captain?" said the Crown Princess.  "Who asked you to interrogate me for speaking my mind?"

"I'm not at liberty to reveal that information, Madame," answered the Captain.

"I command you to do so as the Crown Princess of Ananto and Kalistan and the Countess of Luxon."

"Your Highness, respectfully, you are not part of my chain of command.  I answer to the Colonel Grant Zearing of IBSI G4, the IBSI General Staff, Her Imperial Majesty's Interior Minister, and Her Imperial Majesty herself.  I do not answer in anyway to you.  Now if you please, tell me about what led you to make these statements."

The Crown Princess protested, "Captain, I know my rights.  I am an Anantonese Citizen, and I have the right to say what I like in public, and forgive me for saying, but you really do not have any idea what you are asking me.  I decline to answer you."

"Your Grace, violation of the Lese-Majestie law is a very serious offense.  If we are not able to ascertain your motivations for those statements, we must consider the possibility that you are not working in good faith, and we will refer you to the Minister of Justice on charges of violation of the Lese Majestie act."

The Crown Princess remained silent.

"Madame, I must insist."  He leaned closer to her.  "You will answer me before we leave here."  The Crown Princess remained silent and crossed her arms.

"Madame, I will offer you one more chance.  If you do not speak in your defense, I will contact local authority and will have you arrested."

The Crown Princess rolled her eyes dramatically and smiled.  "Captain, do you think I would speak without knowing what I was doing?"  She reached up and itched the side of her nose.  "In public?  Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Madame, I know precisely who you are, which is why you are not already sitting in the city lockup awaiting trial for sedition."

"You do not know me at all, Captain."  The captain picked up the papers in front of him into a single pile, put them into a folder that the Crown Princess could see had "HHCP Carolina Ananto-Hulanevek" written on the tab.

"Have it your way, Your Grace."  The captain said as he stood up.

"Sit down, Captain," said the Crown Princess.  As the Captain paused for a second but then resumed his walk toward the door, the Crown Princess repeated her command.  "I said, sit down.  Please believe me when I say that your life depends on the choice you will make in the next minute.  Now.  Before you do something stupid.  Sit.  Down."

The Captain eyed the Crown Princess and sensed a subtle shift in the energy in the room.  His feet turned, rebelling against his brain and he sat as if he was under her control.  But as the momentary miasma in his mind cleared, he realized that he had likely made a wise choice.  He sat at his desk, and trying to regain some control here, battling the wits of a 25 year old college girl, he stammered, "Y-yes, Your Grace.  I am ready for your statement."

"I am going to tell you something that must not leave this room, so please turn off that little microphone you have hidden, and I will tell you everything."  The Captain made his mind up to pretend to turn the microphone off, but secretly left it connected to the other room where some underling was recording the conversation.

"It is off, Your Grace."

The Crown Princess looked warily at the Captain and narrowed her eyes.  She stood up and walked over to the desk, reaching under the disk against the captain's protests and grabbed the bug that he had planted there.  She looked at it, looked at the captain and then threw the listening device on the floor and stepped on it, smashing it into a hundred pieces.  "So obvious..." she said shaking her head as she walked back to her seat...

"Now.  Don't think for a second that the things I said to the Press weren't cleared."

"Excuse me Your Grace?"  said the captain, looking up from his paper.

"I said.  My comments were approved."

"What do you mean, Madame.  Approved by whom."

"Who do you think?" said the Crown Princess.  She narrowed her eyes at the Captain to telegraph the answer to him telepathically.  It took him a second, but he put his pencil down.

"That is incredible," said the Captain.  "I don't believe it for a second."

"Nonetheless it is true.  Do you think she would do something like this without leaving some options open as long as possible?  Do you know who she is?"

"I don't understand why..." said the Captain.  "Why you?"

"Captain, I would love to tell you what you want to know, but then unfortunately, I would have to have you killed.  And I don't want to have you killed.  I am a person of peace.  So, Can I trouble you for a refill at least, and I will tell you want I can."  The door opened in a moment, and the other suited lackey brought in the coffee pot and refilled her cup.  "Leave the pot Lieutenant, and since your boss here won't do it, why don't you be a sweetheart and show me where the other microphone is?"

The man, shocked for a second, began to sweat, and looked at the captain who gave an almost imperceptible signal to not comply.  But he looked back at the Crown Princess, whose green eyes seemed to hypnotize him because they were so unusual.  "Where.  Is.  The Bug?"  The Lieutenant, not taking his eyes off hers, pointed meekly toward a portrait on the wall.  She smiled.  "Lieutenant, if you please, will you disable that thing please so I can have a private chat with your boss here.  Thank you."  The Lieutenant took the bug from the wall behind the picture, and brought it back to the Crown Princess, and then hurriedly left the room and closed the door behind him.  The Crown Princess took the microphone and stepped on it too, smashing it into bits.

"Your grace, those are expensive," said the Captain.

"I know your budget, Captain," said the Crown Princess.  "You'll be alright, especially since you have spent so little of it outfitting this... office..."

"Are you satisfied, Your Grace?" said the Captain.

"Sure.  Now, let me tell you, captain, about back doors.  First, there is nothing I do or say which is not approved by my mother.  Nothing.  And there will never ever be an instance where I will ever knowingly do anything to hurt the Empire.  My mother likes options, and she can't spend twenty years running down Luthori without keeping options for peace also on the table.  But she can't come right out and say that, can she?  Do you begin to see where I come in?  I can say things she cannot, even if she may want to."  

The Captain sat, transfixed on the Crown Princess, as she spoke.  After some time, he made a call that confirmed the Crown Princess' statement, and within a half hour, the Crown Princess was in a car, being escorted back to Wilson House.  As she left the office building, the Crown Princess said "Thank you, Captain for working to protect this Empire.  We all have a role to play in the defense of Her Imperial Majesty and Kalistan.  Some of our roles are much larger than others’, but, like your Lieutenant, they all play a part.   Please have a little more faith in your Empress next time.”

As she left the black government limo at Wilson House, just as the sun was rising, she said, “Oh… and do be a good bureaucrat and destroy that tape. It makes your department look incompetent, and an incompetent security bureau hurts the Empire far more than my little interview ever could. Peace to you Captain.  I hope you will consider your Lieutenant for promotion.  He may be a coward of the highest order, but at least he is loyal to his Monarch.  Alright. Great chat.”  The Captain sat silently as the car sped away.  He would certainly be held accountable for this and he knew his day was about to get a whole lot longer.