"We Stand On Guard For Thee"

[Beatrice]

"We Stand On Guard For Thee"
Stories From Vice Admiral Sophia Forrester

Location: Imperial High Command
Time: 7:45 AST

She knew that a reckoning would be coming, and today was the day. Less than forty eight hours following the operation against Camp Taryō Rowe was looking for answers. "How did this occur without my knowledge?" he asked as he slammed his fist against the desk before pausing. "Did the years we served together mean nothing, the loyalty, the trust? Not even speaking of the disrespect of the Empress declining to meet with me, instead having me speak with the fucking Seaforthian," he struck the desk again. "I've been humiliated publicly, twice, not to mention the usurping of my authority over the Imperial Rokkenjiman Armed Forces. That's three humiliations," he trailed off, looking toward the sea, "at least two of which you've had a hand in."

"Grand Marshall," she began, "even you must realize that the SIS overstepped its boundaries in this case. What other action could Pyrettania do but see that the law of the land was enforced? At the end of the day the operation was legally sanctioned, done by the book, though if it makes you feel better I only played my role, as expected, when orders come from the Throne itself. I don't need to remind you that the Empress, not Grand Marshall, is the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Rokkenjiman Armed Forces. Would you have had me commit insubordination?" she let the last word hang in the air for a moment.

"No," Alex replied after a moment and a swirl of the whiskey in his glass, "I suppose I couldn't demand that of you. You did what you had to do to retain your commission, and in doing so saw that I have at least one friend in the Imperial Rokkenjiman Navy. I can't trust Admiral Fujioka, but you," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "we've spilled blood together, shed blood together, I should be commending you instead of berating you for this. You play the game of being on a short leash rather well, and I thank you for that. Soon we won't have to play such games," he said with a grin, "you're relieved."

After she left his office she took the short trip back to mainland Azukishima where Kado was waiting. "So?" he asked as she approached him, "So," she sighed, "he's not the man I served with if that's what you wanted to know. He's there physically, his voice is the same, but he's holding back just enough from me that I can tell something is not quite right inside. That's all I can help you with at this stage, Director." "Maintain control of Camp Taryō for the rest of the week," would come his reply, "my people have been pouring over many reports that need to be reviewed, documented and duly investigated. I recognize this must be difficult for you..." he continued before being interrupted, "no, in fact, it's not. I swore my oath to the Empress, I'll remind you that she held her blade to my neck just as she did yours. If Sutāraito believes me to be her enemy then let her command me," she said as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, "and I'll take my life here and now."

"That will not be necessary," Kado said calmly, "you proved your loyalty to the Crown in Taryō. However I fear there will come a time when Rowe may issue orders that are in opposition to the desires of the Empress. Are you capable of seeing that the IRN does not dirty its hands in such a case?" he asked, to which she nodded. "I'll need Cole though," she said, "Rowe may be Grand Marshall but Cole's done so much for our forces even after his retirement, we had a sailor lose his grandmother and grandfather within the same week and he flew out to offer his condolences and comfort to them, he gets letters from the various branches and takes the time to answer each one personally; to many he's not viewed as their former commanding officer, he's Grandpa Henry. I know he was there for me when I left my husband after he had an affair when I was on a long deployment during the Themata-Warsaw conflict. He didn't know me from Adam but here he was, then Grand Marshall in the mess hall, his hand over mine as he assured me it wasn't my fault and that I deserved better, and that better was waiting for me when I got back home. If you want me to succeed in what you're hinting at, Cole is irreplaceable."

"Noted," Kado said, "and I'm sorry to hear that." "You shouldn't be," Sophia smiled as she revealed a locket from her necklace which had a photo of her current husband and herself displayed. "He writes me each day, gives me a look into life back home when I'm on deployment, and won't go to sleep if we have some silly argument, he makes it his mission to solve it before we both go to sleep. Henry was right," she said with a smile, "I deserved better and I found better." "I stand corrected, happily in this case," he said as he stood to leave. "If you have any relevant information for me in the future..." "I already know to provide it," Sophia finished his sentence. "Thank you, it makes my job easier," Kado would simply reply as he departed.

[Beatrice]

Location: Kōshioka Naval Base, Fukadomari
Time: 10:28 AST

magicSpell.activate('unicornRainbowBlast')

Sophia looked over the line of code several times. Simple and brief, it wouldn't usually be of interest to the Imperial Rokkenjiman Navy let alone the Imperial Government, perhaps in other circumstances it would be a line from a game. Yet the implications of this line of code was known to many who had an understanding of the Hakken Program, a whimsical code for the protocol to handle an unmanned Hakken shuttle in which every other protocol had gone awry and a safe re-entry was deemed impossible. Naturally the explosive solution had been designed in a time before satellites which could manipulate other objects in space existed yet, to this day, the code remained, and on February 20th at 5:39 PM, it was transmitted to Ensei utilizing steganography to obscure its presence. "Are you sure, absolutely sure, that this is what happened?" Sophia asked with Kado at her side and <0 present via a video call. "It took some poking around, looking in places where others didn't think to but it's there, clear as day, in the carrier wave. It's not a physical imperfection or other complication which brought Ensei down, but an act taken with purpose," <0 replied.

Kado then took to his feet, with a series of graphics displayed behind him on a screen. "Certainly the ISEA team knew of the existence of unicornRainbowBlast," he began, "but then again, so did the Imperial Rokkenjiman Armed Forces. We're talking about a Republican-era space program," he continued, "and one of their objectives was the realization of, and I'm paraphrasing here, a platform with which to place massive experimental laser weapons into low-Mundus orbit to destroy enemy missiles from a distance measuring several thousands of miles. There was also concern that a competing power could utilize such an orbiter to essentially dive bomb nuclear weapons upon Pyrettania, fears which thankfully proved to be unfounded. In coordination with <0, the INIS is confident in its assessment that those who utilized the carrier wave to transmit that command originated in Imperial High Command." Kado could almost see the colour drain from Sophia's face as she mustered the words "...but by the Goddesses, why?"

"I'm not glad given the topic of discussion mind you, that you asked, but glad that you asked the question," Kado said as an image of the Empress filled the screen behind him. "Ten lives lost, a burden which the Empress has had thrust upon her; if you're looking to break an empathetic spirit what better way to do it than such a loss of life? It is my theory that someone within Imperial High Command hopes to "re-break" the Empress, though I think they failed in that aspect; she didn't break as I even I thought she would and has embraced the role of consoler-in-chief instead of focusing on how the losses personally weigh upon her, herself. This will, no doubt, frustrate those who sent the command in the first place and who knows how they'll act in this unexpected scenario. I make no exaggeration in stating this may be the most crucial period for Rokkenjiman security since the days of the Anselmo Restoration itself," Kado sighed as he concluded.

"I see, thank you both," Sophia said as she turned to Kado, "and when do we inform the Empress?" "We don't, not at this stage anyway," came his quick reply. "I will need your authorization to share these findings with the Achkaerinese, however and, while I don't enjoy hiding things from the Empress, she can't know of this subterfuge at this stage, that might be the key in breaking her and I'm doing all that is within my power to see her reign is successful. This information only goes to those who I trust to hold it, do I have your concurrence and support in that decision?" Kado asked, to which Sophia offered a nod. "Thank you, that's all I needed," he said as he effected the transfer of information to his Achkaerinese counterparts. "How did Rowe produce such an impressive officer given his own failures to the Crown he would otherwise serve?" he asked, mostly rhetorically.

"He taught me what I know," Sophia said with a stare, "but my conviction is mine and mine alone, it's something he could never hope to own. It's what separates us," she continued, "and I'm more disappointed in him than you are. I promise you, however, I know full well that the IRN has traditionally been the shield and sword of the Empress and, even if the threat is coming from within the house so to day, I'll dispatch them all the same. I stand on guard for the Empress, not for Rowe, understand?" she asked as Kado took to leave. "I won't forget it," he said with a partial bow, "and with that in mind I'm certain that taking this bastard down will be enjoyed equally by both of us."

"Good day, Kado," she simply replied as he made his exit.

[Beatrice]

Location: Kōshioka Naval Base, Fukadomari
Time: 9:45 AST

"This whole Abstergo affair reeks," Sophia said to those in the room. It proved to be the usual cast as of late, Kado on behalf of the INIS and <0 on behalf of, well, herself in most instances. It was certainly the opinion in Kōshioka, and shared with the INIS, that there might be more than meets the eye with the events. "As such, after discussions with Kado prior to your arrival," she said as she looked to <0's screen from that of her own, "we've arranged a mission for one of our most capable intelligence gathering tools to spend some time in the Great Northern Sea," as she said the words Kado's smile became more evident.

"We're sending Hunting Girl to do what she does best and, most importantly, give you plenty of data to play with so you can do what you do best. Won't that be fun?" Kado said as he 'booped' the monitor as one would boop a nose, prompting <0 to sigh. "You can't even see where my nose would be on the screen, ugh, but I like where this is going. If we can tap into some underseas cables and use the ROVs, I imagine you'll bring me something home to work with." As Sophia began to ask how Kado shushed her, "our girl here knows quite a bit about all of us, she's got her fingers in just about every digital system in the First Empire and likely has windows into foreign nations though, if she does, she hasn't told me. As Lucinda told me she's an "asset of the Crown with broad purview" so her clearances might just rival yours or mine." Sophia nodded and returned to her seat, "very well, let us continue."

"Hunting Girl will enter the Great Northern Sea along with IRN Edward Truden, an Obeisance Class battleship and IRN Hinagiku, a Kashiwa Class destroyer, each of which will be conducting a port of call in Setri, Clysperis as Rokkenjima and Clysperis continue to normalize relations. Mind you it would not be my first choice to send Rokkenjima's largest battleship for such an occasion, however, the Pharaoh noted her interest in seeing such a vessel and felt it would bring in more tourists to Setri, so the request was allowed. I also believe this will draw the attention of the Unitary State whilst Hunting Girl conducts her mission inconspicuously beneath the waves. That much firepower sitting directly across from you in the Gulf of Safraen, not to mention the presence of the Excalibur Strike Group is nothing you'd ignore, even if the situation at present had no potential to escalate to military conflict."

"Essentially, party up top and all business down below," Kado said with a grin. "Kado, the saying is 'business in the front, party in the ba...' you know what, the quirks aren't what's important right now. What is important is that we see what information we can gather, which is why we're also sourcing aOS and nexus devices used by Rokkenjiman citizens returning from the Unitary State for inspection. Essentially Abstergo has agreed to provide new models in return for the sacrifice of their current devices. Those devices will then be forwarded to <0 for analysis," Sophia continued, which prompted a chuckle from <0.

"Explain?" Sophia asked. "I know what Abstergo's been up to with their SIMP, they've done much more than data anonymization and quite franky I'm surprised the bastards streamlined Helmine to operate on a single processor. To offer a crash course," <0 said as a series of images filled the displays before Sophia and Kado, "in ICON Helmine oversees the central ICON cluster; she knows what each local client of Renix RSP should look like, and what the apps that are ran on them should look like down to the bit. If she sniffs something running unauthorized or otherwise modified code, even on the system level, she isolates them and disconnects them from the rest of ICON before purging the local hard drive in question. I know the Vice Admiral is privy to this bu..." "I'm aware of Helmine, thank you," Kado said while raising his hand, "what has Abstergo done with their SIMP though?" he continued.

"Well, just as the central cluster queries and checks those local clients, SIMP's Helmine queries and checks the status of aOS, any apps installed, and checks them against what is offered in the aOS Store and the official versions of aOS released from Abstergo. If there's something amiss Helmine issues a prompt to the user before rendering the device inert, and yes Abstergo ships them a new device. They're ambitious if attacking the hardest nut in the technological space is their goal but, I'm merely speculating here. I'll need the data to work with to find any ultimate conclusions here."

"And data you shall have," Kado said with a smile. "When do we expect our vessels to arrive?" he continued. "We're scheduled to arrive in about 23 hours, I'll be on hand aboard the Excalibur, and while our entire carrier strike group will not be partaking in the port of call the remainder of our group will be about halfway between Abydos and Achkaerin." "Speaking of Achkaerin," Kado paused, "clue them in on this. Something of this nature seems like something they'd be interested in knowing the results of," to which Sophia nodded. "Let's hope someone's listening in on GRAFT, I don't want to trust this to general comms."

"Then we're adjourned for now," Kado said as he stood to leave. "And here we are, the boys at it once again," <0 said which prompted a confused look from Kado. "I've been into Amazon properties lately, and the fourth season is going to blow your mind but," an image filled her screen.



"Cheeky bitch," Kado sighed as he exited. "Love you too, intelligence daddy," <0 said before ending the call, which left Sophia wondering what had happened in the conclusion of their meeting.