Cheng was eagerly awaiting the Taishogun to speak, you could not notice the impatience on him for he was masking it well. He noticed a Chrysantemum sister in the opposite corner of the hall. She was sitting there alone, observing...He thought that she was not like the others, perhaps she aswell did not care for big speaches, perhaps they were alike...
Cheng glanced at her from the shadows and quickly turned his attention back to the Taishogun, for he was about to speak. He listened carefully and when he heard that Hirosho Horatami was now a Daimyo, something resembeling a smile showed on his face.
"He deserves it" Cheng thought to himself,
"You have showed great honor to everyone my brother..."
Cheng would never say these words out loud, for he beleives he does not even deserve to speak to Horatami-san. He heard of the new Roju's aswell, he was proud of his brethren. Everone was happy, everyone was smiling...so was Cheng, but he did not show it. He glanced around the hall one more time before he leaned back into the shadows.
The Consortium Soldiers seemed quite out of place amongst the more traditionally dressed and ordered Kusarians. The men sat at the rear of the bar, quietly. Their leader sipping a small cup of tea, while his bodyguards sat besides him, scanning the room, but remaining eerily silent.
Unclear to most observers however, were the silent musings, transfers of thoughts between them.
We are unwelcome. They consider us hostile. They are not made aware of our alligances.
They have seen us battle alongside them more times then is nessescary to gain their trust. The alliance remains weak.
The commanding officer sipped his tea and replied, quietly, in plain english.
"This is their turf. They don't like strangers."
There were more then in the room watching the men's conversation. The information played like a book before other officers and commanders. Deliberating in the background. They are aloof and foolish. They revel in their own implied Martyrdom.
We are curious as to their martial strength.
Suspicions must be erased. Their alliance must be ensured.
Their strength and their mindlessness are a paradox. One must be false.
These mental transmissions and discussions were well in the grasp of the Consortium diplomat's consciousness. His word weighed heavy on those around him as he spoke and thought simultaneously at those around him.
"Everything... will be solved... with talk. If they were not at least pragmatic enough to hear and understand us, they would all be long dead. They will see it our way, it is only a matter of explaining the right things to the right people..."
The man looked around, watching to see if anyone had heard him. Speaking again, slightly louder, to anyone who may have overheard.
"...The Dragons value and honor their allies to the extreme, once the veil of distrust and unknowing is lifted."
Upon receiving the communique from the Remnant, Sum decided to send a message of his own.
Sending Transmission...
Transmission Source Found...
Attaching Encrypted Datafile...
"Honourable Zetsumai-san of the Kiretsu, it is the desire of the Taishogun that you attend the Court at your earliest convenience. There is a Consortium petitioner here, and I suspect the Colonial Remnant shall also be sending an envoy shortly.
It is fitting and just that you attend, and respond to any matters at hand. If you wish to have a private audience, please come straight to my chambers."
[color=#990000]Signed,
The Shogunate Office
In Hideyoshi's Memory
The doors to the Taishogun's chamber opened, two Dragon honor guards holding them as the three Consortium soldiers entered the room. The two guards stood back at a distance, leaving their rifles and standing at attention.
The Presiding Consortium officer stepped to a precise perimiter, 100 feet from the Taishogun's heels, arms behind his back.
"Honored Taishogun. I represent the Transhuman Arm of the Consortium Overwatch. We have several issues which need to be discussed. May we approach?"
The Consortium soldier simply nodded and stepped back slightly.
"Very well, then straight to business.
The reasons we have been sent here are numerous. Citing a lack of communication between our two groups. Something we hope to rectify."
The man looked about the room, to the Shogun who addressed him, and back to the Throne of the Taishogun.
"But we will start with the root issue. Despite all the time we have been fighting alongside one another against the Empire and it's various minions and... parasites... there is still a strong air of distrust of us from the Dragons, which has, unfortunately, proved a stumbling block on further progress in pressing our myriad of potential advantages.
Something that it would be best to rectify, would you not agree?"
Zetsumai felt distinctly unwelcome as she reached the hanger floor at the bottom of the shuttle's passenger ramp. The Blood Dragon Shogun Sum-Gok-Li's eyes flicked towards the Blue Lotus Syndicate emblem emblazoned on the shuttle's bow, and then to her brother's shoulder, where the same emblem was elegantly wrought in bright blue thread. Her brother, Kaiten Keisotsu, had recently taken over the Shadow Outcast Brigade, and its smuggling division, the Blue Lotus Syndicate, after a series of illnesses brought three of its high command to the point of being unable to participate in the running of the organization, the two other members of the high command left with Kaiten quickly disappeared.
A lot of speculation and rumors had spread about his ascension to the Syndicate's Capo, some that he had poisoned his superiors and made the others disappear intentionally. The rumors were false of course, Kaiten didn't have the ambitions of his sister, and had been content where he had been, but circumstances forced him to take control. After he took his place as their leader, he and Zetsumai began bringing the Syndicate and her Kiretsu squadron closer together. Kaiten acted as her contact in Maltese society and she made sure the Syndicate's shipments through Kusari were welcomed without problems from the other groups operating on the Kiretsu's side of the revolutionary forces.
That didn't mean they liked it. While Sum-Gok-Li's eyes showed only a brief irritation in them before reverting back to their normal expression, the various Blood Dragon pilots and mechanics in the hanger were still staring daggers at the Maltan shuttle and Kusari man wearing a suit with their symbol stitched on. Zetsumai wondered if their glares were due to just the presence of the shuttle and man who accompanied it, or if they had also been told about the Outcast's Storta-class Destroyer now floating in a lazy circle around Kyoto. Kaiten had expressed his concern over arriving at the Blood Dragon's citadel in a warship from a nation the Dragons had little like of, but she had decided on its necessity.
As she stopped before Sum-Gok-Li, she inclined her head slightly in an informal bow given to one of equal status. Sum reflected her motion, then grasped Kaiten's offered hand and shook it firmly while saying, "Konnichiwa Zetsumai-san, and I assume your brother..." He had obviously caught the family resemblance. Kaiten smiled as he responded; "Kaiten Keisotsu, Shogun Sum-Gok-Li. It's a pleasure to meet you. I apologize for the stir we made with my arrival. I'm not here as an official representative of my organization, but more of a.." His smile twisted in amusement, "bodyguard to my sister, if I were to choose the best reasoning for my presence."
Sum smiled back and nodded, then swept his hand towards one of the doors to the inner areas of Kyoto. "Please, this way to the assembly hall." Zetsumai hesitated for a moment, then said sternly, "Shogun, I'd prefer if we could meet somewhere more private first. There is something gravely important I must speak to you about." He turned curious eyes towards her. "I take it this isn't related to the Colonials, is it." She shook her head. "No Sum, this situation is one more close to home and of far deeper consequences."
The expression on his face looked very serious at this. He nodded, "of course, please follow me."
The three of them left the hanger and began a winding course through Kyoto's tunnels. Though lit brilliantly, they also left Zetsumai with a feeling of being inside a cave, with all the asteroid rock mixed in with metal supports. She much preferred the spacious views and solid metal of Matsuda to the subterranean Kyoto tunnels.
As they passed one of the rare viewports along the tunnel, Sum glanced out at the Storta gently floating by. "It seems you have made quite the impression with that. I sense its arrival is destined to send a message to the parties on board Kyoto."
Kaiten picked up on the conversation, "We're sorry for that Shogun, it wasn't our intention to cause any distress. Once we're able to talk freely, you may understand our need for it here." What he said wasn't entirely true. While Zetsumai's motives hadn't been to make any sort of message to the various factions aboard Kyoto, it had been partly brought as a one to the Shogun to demonstrate her seriousness over the situation she had come to discuss.
Sum stopped at a side door and held it open for them, "in here please."
Zetsumai saw it was a small conference room made to hold only a half dozen people. She went to the far well and leaned her back against it, focusing her eyes on Sum, who had closed the door and taken the seat at the other end of the table. Kaiten sat down at the half-way point and turned the chair so he could focus on the Shogun, but still see her out of the corner of his eye.
Zetsumai started. "Shogun, some of what I am to tell you is incomplete and sketchy. While I trust your judgment and your ability to keep things quiet, but to directly relate the entire story would take the entire night, and there are also portions to this story that I will not release to another's ear unless absolutely necessary. You will have to trust that what I am saying to you is true and of reason."
"As you know already, a few years ago the Consortium began making a more open appearance among us. They were granted docking privileges aboard Ainu, Matsuda, and even here at Kyoto. To be honest, I think the last was a bad decision when it happened.. Now that we are where we are, I know that letting them use any of them was a bad decision. They have proven themselves as cockroaches. They get in and don't want to leave. They infest, soil, desecrate what they touch."
"In the past I made several decisions in regards to the Consortium. One was in granting them safe haven at Matsuda when Ms. Takeda still ruled the elders. You may not remember this, but at the time, there were several pilots, one of quite substantial rank, among her forces that wished to banish the Consortium for some ill-thought reasons and on the words and testimony of our most despicable enemies. I did not at the time wish the Consortium to be destroyed or banished, or watch our sisterhood be torn by fighting against them, for we were not going to support their crusade. Instead, I made the decision to protect them in our name, and succeeded in drawing Takeda out of her isolation to see the state of affairs. Fortunately, she wisely ended the conflict, and the Consortium was grateful to us.. For a time."
"But during that time, the Consortium made more and more flamboyant acts within Kusari. Even to the point of using Outcast Stortas in direct combat against the Naval Forces. This brought unwelcome attention to us, and made our objectives much harder to accomplish. Both of our organizations are well-suited to engaging the enemy in fighter combat, and avoiding their capital ship fleet, and using bombers when we encounter a lone gunboat or destroyer. We are not suited nor able to constantly supply several warships brashly and incautiously used."
"This alone has not caused my anger.. Our relations with the Consortium have soured greatly on account of their actions and manner towards us, who have supplied, protected, and befriended them, allowing them to have reached the position they now hold. At first it was just the rare act of disrespect. Over time it grew into unacceptable acts in trying to have operations with the Nomads that were not to simply destroy, exterminate, or study, but to use and manipulate. While a tactic like this would be acceptable in normal conditions on fellow humans, you know better than I that the Nomads are not something to be trifled with and used, lest is cause irreparable harm to our organizations. A sudden infestation of our sisterhood or your own forces would be disastrous, and we both have taken great steps to combat against that possibility. But the Consortium's actions have torn away the protection our caution has granted us. Even to the point of bringing live, potent specimens aboard Chrysanthemum facilities."
"This was completely unacceptable, but I could not take action against it, for this was done on board Ainu Depot, now under Ms. Matsumoto's control, when she inherited it from Takeda. To this point, the Consortium has been fostering stronger and stronger relations with the Elder's forces, even while relations between them and us have withered. While they had the Elder's permission, we couldn't step in and stop the process. Unfortunately, this privilege has gotten to the head of their leader, who thinks himself a new authority in Kusari, even though he relies on the two of us for shelter and supplies."
"These aggravations have not been sudden or in great number, but gradual and spaced apart. However the accumulation of them is getting to the point where we can no longer count them among our comrades, or afford to continue our association with them. The final nail in that coffin was hammered in two weeks ago when, on our permission and under our protection, two Junker vessels were offloading goods on Ainu Depot. The Consortium's leader, outside Ainu in a fighter, began to harass them over their purpose there and the contents of their holds. Normally acceptable.. But when the Junkers informed him that they were working under my authority and had full permission to offload at Ainu and leave with other goods, he continued to question them harshly."
"The Junkers, realizing his unwillingness to listen, or to believe, what they said, contacted me privately, and I quickly launched from the station and told Ironwatsas that these Junkers were working for me and had all permissions. Then he did something incredibly foolish.. Challenged my authority to have deliveries sent or picked up from Ainu Depot. At his rebuttal, I preceded to inform him that any such privileges his organization had been granted concerning Ainu Depot, they did not extend to questioning or challenging Kiretsu's business interests in the area, for no matter how favored they may be, Kiretsu is still a Chrysanthemum group, and our authority at our own group's station far outweighs theirs."
"He continued to refuse to accept that fact. After several more minutes of bickering, during which the Junkers safely left the area while he was distracted, I warned him that if the Consortium continues to try to harass our interests, be they business, military, or any other form, that we would not tolerate their continued presence. At that, he responded with, and I quote; 'You have no authority nor ability to oppose us.'" Zetsumai shook her head. "I find this attitude unacceptable. This continued abuse of our goodwill and hospitality will end, and we will be the ones to end it, violently if we must."
"This is the reason we have brought the Brindisi. To this meeting as security, but it will remain down here in Kusari as a deterrent to the Consortium's destroyers. They have several, and if they try to deploy them against us, than they will find them facing the Brindisi. Consortium has lost its right to be on Battleship Matsuda. If we find them near it, we shall destroy them. If we find them near any of our operations, we shall destroy them. If they attempt to harass us, our allies, or our business partners, we shall destroy them. In all effect, they are our enemies in full, and only in the vicinity of Ainu, Kyoto, Ryuku, and Sendai will we restrain action against them unless provoked."
She pushed against the wall with her foot and stood straight up, formally. "I have told you this because I believe you deserve to know about the conflict and are due a forewarning so that it does not catch you by surprise. I do not ask that you help us. What you decide to do is your decision alone, but whatever it is, it will not change our decision. The Consortium's presence is now a threat to us, and we cannot allow it to remain."
During Zetsumai-san's discussion with Shogun Gok-Li, the SHogun mostly nodded, took notes, and nodded some more. When Zetsumai had finished, Sum spoke.
"Arigato, arigato for your frankness and for informing us of your disposition. Do you wish to speak to the Taishogun? Or do you have other business you wish to conduct first?"
Zetsumai shook her head. "No, I don't wish to bring up this matter in his hall, where it may be overheard." She slid a small black container across the table to Sum. "This datachip has a copy of what I've told you here. I'd appreciate it if you would give this too him where his eyes alone can see it. We will announce this decision publicly in the near future. Until then, we would prefer this stay confidential, only for your ears and his eyes."
"We will also remain here until the Colonial envoy arrives, if for no other reason to again voice our opinion on the matter.. Those Colonials are filth, not ones to help, but to destroy. But I will not bore you with my rhetoric. Everyone will get their fill when the envoy arrives..."
She inclined her head. "Thank you for your time Shogun. That's all I had to say on this. I'm sure you've got plenty to do yourself, so do not let me waste your time further."
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