A Battle Unseen

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Security Subcommittee Meeting, Ananto Estate, Eveari, Night

"Ladies, Gentlemen, may we call this meeting to order..." was the voice of the Chair of the Imperial Security Subcommittee, Chancellor of the Empire Sir Michael Koenig.  "We want to welcome Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto to our meeting.  It is an Honor, Your Imperial Majesty, to be graced by your attendance."   The Chancellor knew the correct words to say, though he also knew that most of the people who were sitting in this room, including himself, did not want the Empress to be sitting here and overseeing them, to say nothing of the fact that the event was being held in her home, in her conference room, and under her watch.  But then, he needed to add:  "And Your Highness, Princess Margaret Ananto-DeLaurentis, we are surprised and graced by your attendance as well."  Both of the two royals sat quietly against the wall.  After a second, he proceeded.

"Ahem.  I will now quickly call roll.  Lady Waltrip."

"Present."

"Major Bonaventure,"

"Present"

"Director Sachs, of IBSI"

"Present."

"Ms. Killeen, of KalMilInCo."

"Present."

Our guest, Ms. Connie Sharpe, of KalMD."

"Present, and thank you for inviting me."

"Director Wright of Spencer STC"

"Present."

"Recording Secretary Ms. Daniels,"

"Present."

"And Chancellor Koenig, present.  That's that.  Moving on... First we need to approve the Minutes from last meeting, Ms. Daniels, if you would please.  And let's do this fast.  I have a pressing engagement in the capital, and I would hate to waste Her Imperial Majesty's time."

The meeting went into normal bureaucracy mode for a while.  Minutes and agenda were approved. Announcements were made.  Old business including Militia pensions was covered, and much of which wasn't approved was tabled once more while more studying went into it, and then came the new business.  

As the Chancellor announced New Business, he asked for reports.  With each section, the Chancellor looked at his watch.  Each representative there also grew nervous with each minute that passed, as the Empress sat directly behind the Foreign Minister and watched the whole proceeding, but did not move so much as a muscle, except every once in a while, to flick her eyes to the side at the Chancellor.

Every Section rep gave a report of their activity and the new things they were working on.  The Defense Ministry announced new drills were being planned in the Anantonese Ocean.  KalMilInCo announced that production had remained at war levels because the expended war materiel which had gone to support the Militia was being replaced, and it would take perhaps a year before stockpiles reached pre-war levels in almost every category except naval stores.  The IBSI Director asked to delay his report to the end, and the request was granted.  KalMD announced that they were partnering with KalMilInCo and naval engineers to build longer distance surface based radar to be placed on ships that would give each fleet OTH capabilities.   Spencer reported that satellite maintenance was ongoing as two geostatic satellites observing Northern Dovani and southern Seleya had experienced damage from space debris and needed to be brought back down to Terra, but replacement missions were scheduled for next month. 

By this time, the Chancellor was physically trying to hurry the meeting, and actually asked others to not ask any more questions, and they would deal with questions on Monday.  He always couched his responses in the form of "Let's not waste anymore of Her Imperial Majesty's time."  And "Let's move it along, please.  Her Imperial Majesty has had a busy day..."

Finally, it was IBSI's turn.  "Sir Koenig, and esteemed collogues.  I've asked Her Highness the Princess to speak here today.  I'm sure you were surprised to see both Lady Margaret and Her Imperial Majesty present here but, I think that The Princess has some thoughts that you would do well to hear."  The proposal to let the Princess speak was met with a low murmur.  She was, after all merely a Sophomore in college.  Of course she was doing political science, that was known, but what could she possibly say that these long serving members of the Bureaucracy didn't already know.  The Princess stood up to begin speaking, but she was pre-empted by a clearly annoyed Chancellor.

"Pardon me, Your Highness, if I may briefly.  Do you have this written down?  In perhaps the form of a term paper?  It would certainly save us all a lot of time to just get through the meeting, and perhaps read your essay later?"

The IBSI Director was taken aback, "Mr. Chancellor!  That is the Sister to the Empress you are speaking to!  This is highly inappropriate."

"I am aware of that Mr. Sachs.  But it is very unusual for our meetings to be held here, in Eveari, this late at night, and to be observed by Royals.  And one of them so...  early... in her university career."  To the Princess, he turned and smiled, "Forgive me, My Lady.  The hour and the imposition have worn my patience.  If you would please, but make it brief, we still have several items to get to tonight, and surely your day has been long already..."

The Princess tentatively stepped forward.  "Let's take a look at the facts, ladies and gentlemen.  The War is over and..."  As she begun, the Chancellor began drumming his eraser on the table, tap tap tap tap...  The other members of the group looked around at one another.  The Chancellor ran his hand through his hair, looked at his watch and let out a long sigh.

"Mr. Koenig, do you have somewhere to be right now?" came the voice hiding behind Lady Waltrip.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did," he said annoyed for yet another interruption, not even looking up.  The other members of the council gave a somewhat audible gasp, but all remained silent.

"Then we suppose you had better go there, Sir." said the Empress in response.  She was obviously miffed, but did not let that affect her regally authoritative tone.  "Mr. Sachs, please serve as our Chair in Mr. Koenig's absence."  The Chancellor looked up and realized he was speaking to the Empress.  He had spoken to her a thousand times, and yet was so distracted he had not even realized she had spoken.  His words caught in his throat, and he immediately stood up and bowed his head.  

"No Ma'am.  That is not necessary."

"But of course it is, Mr. Koenig.  You felt the need to rudely interrupt our sister, whom we asked Mr. Sachs to invite, as her words touch our need for understanding."

Turning to the Princess, Koenig, now visibly sweating, said "Madame, it is with deep humiliation and absolute regret that I request your forgiveness.  It's just that...  Well, you see...  I kind of...  well, I kind of had a date tonight."

One second passed, then two seconds...  And then the room erupted in laughter.  Even the taciturn and usually humorless Empress was seen to crack a smile.  Everyone in the room completely lost their composure as the Chancellor, forlorn, now was sure he would never make the train back to Kaliburg in time to make the date.

The Empress, still smiling from the mirth people made at the Chancellor's expense, said "Mr. Chancellor, you are excused from the remainder of this meeting.  Mr. Sachs will take your place as we desire.  We shall see you in Eveari on Monday."

The Chancellor felt like he had just gone through a mock execution.  "Madame?" he said to the Empress.

"Go, Sir, or you will miss your train.  And do make our apologies to your partner.  We shall talk again.  Go now."  The Chancellor backed quickly out of the room, and as soon as he was through the door, he turned and ran down the hall grateful for the dismissal.  Following his departure, there was another round of laughter at the Chancellor's display, and then the Empress said, "Now, Mr. Sachs, if you please for the hour is late and we have had a long day."

IBSI Director Sachs smiled and nodded, went to the head of the table, and said, "Now, if we can all calm down, I will tell you.  Her Highness, the Princess has been training with IBSI for a year and a half.  She studies political science by day, and we are training her on policy analysis between her classes.  Her Imperial Majesty feels that it is very important to have an analyst and a theorist whose analysis she can trust is not guided by political concerns, and someone who will tell her what she needs to know candidly.  We at IBSI are professionals, but we are still under the Protocol, and what she needs is someone she can hash ideas out with on an informal and absolutely confidential level.  So she asked IBSI to take Princess Margaret in at the Bureau, and make her one of us, well, kind of half us anyway.  So without further ado, My Lady Princess Margaret, the floor is yours."

The Princess stood up once more.  "I'll be brief then:  The Yeudis were right.  Terra is entering into a period of great instability and realignment once more, and I regret to inform you, if several states have their way, this expense will all be born by Kalistan.  We can no longer count on even our closest non-Imperial friends the way we once were able to.  We have evidence that with the closing of the conflict in Kundrati, there is major realignment going on behind the scenes, and the evidence is pretty damning.  Many of the associations we have maintained to date, have in fact been entirely once sided to this point, and they are now representing more and more of a liability, while on the other hand, some new ones represent new prospects. 

"So we should prepare for that:  Kalistan finds itself in the unenviable position of being a target, and that is never a good place to be, and we are a target because some nations seem to believe they can only rise if Kalistan sinks.  And the people who are behind it are both the usual suspects, and not people we would have ever suspected until just recently.  It will be sooner than later when someone decides to try to take us off our mark--  To them that will score them points, but to us, that will represent an existential threat to our nation's security.  But this is precisely how we have to see it. 

"Any change to the status quo in the Anantonese Ocean is an existential and very real threat to Ananto and to Kalistan.  We've been the ones to ensure the security of this area for so long, and we have enjoyed local peace and security as a result.  But there are those out there, some of whom are quite close, who would look for any opportunity to deny us even that and rise at our expense.  We have some ideas who that will be, and we have some ideas how we can counter that.  But it will require a shift in everyone's thinking, with regard to missile defense, with regard to electronic warfare, with regard to propaganda and soft power, and with regard to our alliances, and even who we associate with, cooperate with, or ask to help us."

The Princess continued for 20 more minutes to outlay a comprehensive plan to secure Kalistan in its place, and to do it alone if need be.  She mentioned words like the Non Aligned Movement.  She mentioned words like Destabilization.  She mentioned words like a Missile Defense system which was controlled in Kalistan rather than in a foreign nation.  And she mentioned words like Fifth Fleet.  She finished by saying "Time to start spending the peace dividend, Ladies and Gentlemen."

The members of the committee sat rivetted to the Princess' speech and then proceeded to ask questions for another half hour.  The ideas of the Princess terrified and inspired the members of this committee.  And the Empress sat silent, watching and listening to the entire conversation.  She didn't say a word, but was far prouder of her sister than she could ever express.  At one point, Lady Waltrip looked back to see the Empress beaming with pride, and she smiled a knowing smile and nodded slightly to the Empress, who noticed and gracefully nodded in response.