If one ever saw Elizabeth Hall at a formal occasion, one would notice that she always wore a black glove over her left hand, while her right was always free and undressed. Prompting that puzzlement was the aim, and even better, prompting a direct question. Elizabeth was a lieutenant commander in the BAF, and she always liked answering this question, because showing off her battle wounds was a good testament to her loyalty, dedication and strength of character. Of course, she wouldn't do this openly. Flaunting a scarred hand all over the place wasn't fit for a lady of such a good standing as she wanted to appear. No, presenting people with a bit of mystery was more like her style.
But on the other hand, the glove, which hid one kind of ugliness, could reveal another kind to a keen eye, prone to spotting the often hidden symbolism behind words and appearance. While her right hand was smiling with the most polite of body languages in all its radiant whiteness, drawing attention with its beauty and movement, the left would stand still, listen, plan and figuratively lurk behind the interlocutor, checking what is in their pockets. Due to the glove it would never catch filth, and due to the glove it would let the interlocutor imagine it as beautiful as the right, not thinking, or at least not wishing to, what it is like beneath the black leather. This was not something Elizabeth did intentionally, it was subconsciously embedded into her character.
This time she did not follow her discourse with her right hand. Lifting her left, she spoke.
"Such a display of good manners, letting the guest, and a lady, speak first. To follow the convention, although I am sure at least Arturo and Don Hernan already know me, but are not present, I must first introduce myself. I am Elizabeth Hall, member of parliament for Port Jackson, New Sydney. I have been appointed to represent the Bretonian government at this conference. I would like to suggest some rules under which this conference will be held, but first I must not forget to stress this: you might know that the Crayter Republic was originally intended to have a seat here, but was excluded. During the arrangement of this conference with the Legion, Bretonia was presented with a certain fact concerning them which I intend to address, and because of this utmost secrecy must be maintained here, and whatever conclusion we come up with here must not be released into the public or to any other party until due time. By the way, I have brought a translator with me in case you good Maltese have issues with English, so please say if you need her to enter, although I had rather have as few outsider eyes and ears here as possible. Right then, this was my opening word. Any questions, does anyone wish to add something, or we may continue?"
A thin pale man in a black suit who had been lollygagging in the back of the meeting room turned his gaze upon the newly arrived Bretonian guest. In his way of looking at people one could read his eyes "scanning" people for non-verbal gestures and whatever those might be inferring. A trait of a negotiator.
"Señorita Hall, pleasure to meet you. I have been briefed that Bretonia would be represented by you but I could barely imagine that Bretonian envoy would be such a beautiful lady like yourself. I beg your pardon should you find my observation too frivoluous, on Malta it is more accepted." - he paused and smiled, and having made a good inhale from a Cardamine respiromask, continued: "Soy Leonardo de Silva, I was sent as a representative of su nobleza Don Hernan and of "Cuatroce". It is pleasure to make acquaintance with you." He did a polite beck and took a sit at the table.
"I hope you would not mind if I pour some Liberty whiskey while discussing the affairs. Helps keeping the atmosphere relaxed. As for your inquiries, I am fine with your using English for the talks, as well as pledge myself to the secrecy of this meeting. Now, as my organisation has already negotiated the trade agreement with the Queen, I, if you excuse, would like to wait until the pending issues between the Crown and the Legion are sounded. Then I can provide our input for the matters raised. Hopefully, this would give more gravity to the discussions between the Legion as the representatives of Malta as the whole."
Leonardo politely nodded towards Lady Hall and leaned back in the chair, sipping whiskey and listening.
07-15-2019, 06:45 PM, (This post was last modified: 07-15-2019, 07:55 PM by Backo.
Edit Reason: My proof readers are about as good as my understanding of how centuries work
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The Dreadnought Basillica which was the location of this conference was chosen for a rather symbolic reason - the Maltese victory over the Crayterian Republic in regards for control over the Taus in the face of the destruction of battlegroup Helios and the withdrawal of battlegroup Hades from Omicron Tau, which was also the reason the Maltese Legion held no interest in putting the would-be defeated on the conference table regarding the future of the Tau systems after the Gallic war was over. Valdez knew that the Bretonians held strong interest in reclaiming the control over the Tau systems which their House controlled prior to the two wars of the second and third decade of the ninth century and that such interests would eventually clash with the Maltese interests of controlling Tau-23 and Tau-29 and ensuring the continuous flow of cardamine into Kusari and Liberty. Eliza sat silently across the table from the Bretonian representative as her somewhat tired from exhaustion eyes paid attention to the diplomat's face.
The reason for the asked secrecy of this conference meeting was rather obvious - Bretonia risked losing face if any information of this meeting leaked to public ears, while the Maltese nation, being largely unrecognized as a nation at all and often considered a mere crime organisation, was mostly accepted if not even expected to participate in shady deals for influence over Sirius and its solar systems. Eliza turned her attention to the guards quietly standing post inside the conference room and signaled them with her hand to vacate the room. There was no reason for them to be in the room besides the original projection of military order and control that the Legion strives to portray. In fact to supplement this very image, Eliza herself was in her usual Maltese Legion pilot uniform.
The Cuatroce representative took the initiative to speak before her. By now Eliza had learned that their organisation preferred to send actual diplomats to meetings rather than waste their don's time. Eliza had the possibility to do so as well, even if considering Maria de Santangelo a diplomat was a somewhat far stretch, though the possible gravity of this meeting was something the legionnaire leader wished to handle herself.
"Miss Hall, I'm sure you'll be pleased to find that most Maltese are fairly fluent in your language due to the nature of our nation's economy over the last few centuries. I also understand your, and your nation's of course, concern with keeping this meeting a secrecy as the cooperation between Bretonia and Malta has often been questioned by your allies. If anything I am pleased that Bretonia has agreed to accept our terms to exclude the Crayterians from this conference even if they are still considered your allies against Gallia. My apologies for forgetting to make an introduction myself - I am legionnaire Eliza Valdez, the current leader of the 2nd Maltese Legion and its representative for these negotiations."
Out of her bag, whose black leather matched that of the glove, Elizabeth pulled a document. It was made of recycled paper, this having no symbolic value, but merely a consequence of Green Party lobby. On it was the Treaty of Coronado. Elizabeth pointed at the Tau-31 clause -- of course, using the gloved hand.
"This is really why there is no Crayterian on this conference, and why secrecy is necessary. This is the proof that the Crayter Republic intends to stab Bretonia in the back should the Gauls be defeated, if not Malta as well. It was originally planned that we agree on borders on this conference, but I think we will touch a few more subjects. First, though, the regulations of the conference itself: there will be no voting. Measures will pass only of all three of us agree. The conversation will not be recorded nor written down -- only what we come up with at the end will be preserved. No one will be interrupted, but we will, as two parties -- Bretonia on one side and Malta on the other -- speak alternately. I will not force you good representatives of Malta to organize yourselves, but I think it would be gentlemanly if Don Hernan let Donna Valdez speak first, although I would be fine with leaving this room temporarily until you two agree what you want to tell me, if you request so. And lastly, because cardamine use would harm my reputation as a politician in Bretonia, please understand that I am less resistant to fatigue, so I am asking that one session lasts no more than an hour and a half. After that we would have a break of half an hour, after which we could continue. I doubt we will need more than two sessions for this, but in case we do, I propose we hold no more than three per day. Everyone in agreement? Do I need to repeat anything?"
Elizabeth Hall's diplomatic etiquette was perhaps a bit too much for Valdez's much more impulsive nature. Dwelling into trivial things such as conference regulations was something she very much liked to avoid.
"Understood, the Maltese side agrees to the regulations you imposed. Now let us move to the more important matters - what would be the first topic at hand that you would like to discuss, miss Hall?"
Thoughtfully looking at the alcoholic contents of his glass, Leonardo was listening and at times approvingly nodding to the points raised by Mrs. Hall and Senorita Valdez. Availing his opportunity to speak, de Silva made a good sniff from respiromask and in a gentle tone addressed the delegates:
"Esteemed Senoritas, allow me to offer another point to our agenda, por favor. While it is understandable that Crayterians are a traitorous bunch, they still can be a thorn in the side during Gallic Wars. I belive, both Malta and Bretonia have enough things to shoot at right now, and additional Crayterian fleet, albeit small, is not something we want to contribute scores to the Gallic side. However, we still cannot leave them unchecked. Moreover, should we squeeze them too hard - they will turn to Libertonians, curbing possible sphere of expansion for post-War Bretonia and become even a bigger headache for Malta. Our suggestion is - look at them from economic perspective. Their economy is fragile and hardly depends on export-import operations as Yuma is a hostile oceanic world with little manufacturing capabilities. Should we, say, compromise their trade routes and/or press hard on their financial sector - we can get the leverage making them a convenient puppet. It is still to be discussed what aces we have in our sleeves, but I believe, we should make them an offer they can't refuse."
Elizabeth remembered her suggestion to bring a translator in, but would not repeat it unless she was misunderstood again.
"This is confidential because Bretonia doesn't want to change its relations with the Crayterians while there are still Gauls in Sirius. But, before this meeting, I had a correspondence with the Legion where they expressed their concerns about the Crayterians and said that they didn't follow the Coronado Treaty terms. Until Bretonia found out about the Tau-31 clause, we intended to stay neutral if there was a conflict. But now, I am letting you know that Bretonia will be ready, should the Gauls be pushed back and should such a conflict occur, to support Malta. Is this clear now? May I address the next subject?"
"The Coronado Treaty is considered void by the Maltese Legion because of the violations made by the Crayterians. And with it no longer being active we are effectively back into war with them. So a conflict is inevitable, miss Hall. Though I understand Bretonia's position in this and I respect your decision to stay out of any conflict while the Gallic threat still looms over Sirius. Though I'm sure we can discuss this in more detail once we get to it on the agenda of this conference, for now let us stick to the subjects at hand."
Valdez put some considerable emphasis on the last part.
A metaphor to describe Bretonian diplomacy with, or at least according to Elizabeth's ideas, was a mobile castle (though not a very mobile one). To deploy it where it needs to be deployed always took an astounding amount of calculation, precision, an inhuman attention for detail and, corresponding to that, a personnel greater than the population of some entire factions. But when in place, there would be nothing and no one able to oppose. Elizabeth was only a small part of this delicate system, which she was aware of, and strove to perform her role with due meticulousness. This would, it appeared to her now, potentially bring her to confrontation with the young and befittingly rash upstart such as Valdez. What worried her was that Valdez and the Legion were only one in the array of parties which swapped domination over Malta, and only this year. Stability was a Bretonian virtue and it ensured agreements were followed no matter who or when struck them, but the turbulent nature of Maltese politics, and right here at the very place, the abolition of a treaty with the Crayter Republic, did nothing to ensure Elizabeth her treaty would live longer than a few months. But no, she was merely a small part of the system, and she would do her role anyways. It was her duty.
Finally, her right hand made a splendid appearance and lit the atmosphere with its magnificent swaying.
"Bretonia's war goal is the liberation of our home systems and the liberation of the Tau Sector. Not conquest, liberation. This means that Bretonia would, as we consider Malta a friend, acknowledge you as a sovereign state and support your claims to some of those systems. Simply put, this should be a demarcation treaty. Bretonia is interested in restoring the pre Tau War borders, which means the reconquest of Tau-31 is imperative. If you count Orkney as a Tau, then I must stress that Orkney should rightfully be ours, too. But we will make no claims whatsoever regarding Tau-29 in to avoid another incident with Kusari, though we will not concern ourselves with what Malta does there. The point of contention might be Tau-23, and we are prepared for a compromise there. The idea which I am required to present to you is that Bretonia wishes to restore its hold of the southern half, from the Tau-31 gate to what is now Cheronsee Outpost, including the outpost, unless the former Tau-31 Gate Construction Site is rebuilt by Gallia and then retaken. We are not overly interested in the path towards Languedoc and, if you wish that, you may take it. We will also confirm your right to all IMG assets in the system, but would like to emphasize that a joint protectorate over the mining field would be ideal, rather than single entity ownership. Whatever is north of Tau-23 is none of our business, and as far as Bretonia is concerned, you may do with it as you please. Precisely, we'd be glad to acknowledge your full rights to Tau-44 and Tau-37. I think we will also need to address the unclear future of Roussillion here, though first I would like to hear what you have to say about this."
"Malta's primary interest in the Tau sector is to secure its convoy routes towards and from Kusari and Liberty. We hold no interest in Roussillion or Orkney as they are systems too far from our core sovereign space and any venture there would be too impractical. As such I see no reason for Malta not to support Bretonia's claim on them in return for your support for our claims on the northern Taus route - 23, 29 and 37. Our only stake in Tau-44 is to weaken the Crayterians further as they have been key opposition to any Maltese traffic through the Taus for a long time. As such we don't particularly care if our Nación controls it or if Bretonia does, as long as it isn't the Crayterians. On your subject of Tau-23..."
Eliza paused her sentence, thinking how to word this in a more favorable way for the Bretonian representative.
"I am willing to acknowledge the space currently occupied by the Gallic lane network that is represented by the link of Tau-31 gate, the Cheronsee Outpost and the Languedoc gate as Bretonian. I would much prefer if the Niobium field is considered Maltese space, but mining rights will be granted to Bretonia and its state companies as part of the treaty. In return I'm willing to accept Tau-31 as fully Bretonian space, but would like to have the permission of Maltese convoys to haul cardamine and other cargo crucial to Malta without repercussions. This cargo will not enter other Bretonian space with the exception of Newcastle's Galloway Ice Cloud as we have a station there. This is to ensure both Cape Wrath's operational well being as well as well as to have some leeway for our convoys towards Coronado should Kusari become more aggressive in its claims on Tau-29. Would Bretonia be willing to accept such a mutual compromise?"