Not even five years ago, it might've seemed strange that the sitting Emperor of Fusan would attend a conference such as this; after all, matters such as these were, more often than not, seen as being below his station. Yet despite this, since first becoming Sesshō to his father in 2019 and then Emperor the year after, Eijirō had attended more meetings like this than his grandfather had in his nineteen years on the throne, and certainly more than his father. Only his great grandfather had him beat, and that was simply due to him reigning for nearly half a century and through one of the most tumultuous periods in the nation's history, no less. More often than not, matters such as these would be handled by the Prime Minister or some other member of the Cabinet. Sometimes, even a member of the Privy Council might attend, if the need arose. Yet for some reason, this subject called to him, no doubt a result of his background, and so, he found himself leading the Fusanese delegation.

   And what a delegation it was. While also joined by the standard array of aides and assistants, he found himself in the company of the current Minister of War and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Field Marshal Okimoto Esashi, with whom he'd had a good working relationship for some time now. It was not lost on him, of course, that theirs was a relationship more close than most former War Ministers had with their Emperors; after all, for starters, most of the time the War Ministry wasn't headed by someone who, albeit technically, still held a commission within the Armed Forces, much in a similar fashion to himself as Commander-in-Chief, but there was more to it than that. He had grown up around him after all, at least in his teenage years, and he could be partly credited with inspiring Eijirō to join the military. Him and a certain Achkaerinese royal, back in the day... Those were far better times, simpler, too. Either way though, the group was rounded off by Kunihiro Marutaka, the CEO of Zayasu Heavy Industries, and Yuko Harada, President of Kasori, both of whom had a vested interest in the field and had thus managed to secure an invitation, though they would be arriving separately.

   "Remind me why I ever agreed to Marutaka-san tagging along?" Eijirō asked Okimoto as he straightened his outfit aboard the plane. It wasn't as though he disliked the man, but it hardly seemed appropriate that he join.
   "You'll have to ask the Prime Minister, your Majesty." The sixty-one year-old Esashi replied from one of Suzaku One's many seats. "But I will remind you that having people involved in the field can be helpful in determining policy."
   "To suit their own interests, maybe."
   "Maybe, but I know him well enough to know he's a man of principle. Well, as much as you can be in that field, anyways."
   "And what of Harada? What do you know about her?"
   "No more than most. She's as reclusive as you can get for someone in her position, but I'd imagine she's more likely to work to further her own agenda and that of her company. Just be careful around her."
   "I will."

   A short while later, the group would arrive at the site of the conference, whereupon the Fusanese Emperor, speaking on the behalf of the delegation, would greet his Morelander counterpart.
   "Your Majesty, it's a pleasure to see you again." Eijirō said with a bow before motioning to his companions. "Field Marshal Esashi, Mr. Marutaka, and Mrs. Harada." He said so as to introduce them. "On the behalf of the government of the Empire of Fusan, I wish to make clear our sincerest hope that these talks will be most fruitful."

Andrew partly agreed with Serenity, "The idea of a referendum is one that will either never come to fruition as you all argue over the ins and outs of how it should run, who runs it etc. Even when it does eventually happen it will be impossible for it to be run in a way that both myself and the Marseille government agree is fair. This is why i've put forward the alternative that we'll hand over the city in return for concessions. I think though Serenity has kind of misunderstood what I actually want. The base will stay under Seaforthian control in order to protect the port there which will be our gateway to trade in Albion, tariff free. Not in Marseille tariff free but Albion tariff free. We are willing to say that we'll accept that any goods entering Albion will be tax free only if it goes through Troyes but what I don't want to happen is for our produce to hit the border with say Aosta and suddenly have to pay some kind of tariff. That way the vast economic input we made will have some tangible outcome." As he finished speaking the phone rang and he picked it up. "Hello.......good to hear.......yes we can begin whenever your ready." He hung up. "I've just authorised our first flight in, it'll take 120 members of the Bracorina Regiment and fresh equipment and supplies. They'll arrive in around 15hours. Once off loaded they will pick up families for evacuation, around 240 people. I'm asking Rokkenjima if they will, in order to allow faster completion of reinforcement and evacuation, to allow the following to happen. We would like to send the rest of the Regiment down to Rokkenjiman air bases, from there we can cut the flights down to 3hours in duration. So can we base around 400 Seaforthian soldiers and their kit in Rokkenjima for these flights. Then can we hire a hotel or something for those transiting back to Seaforth? This will speed up our operation to secure the safety of our base? In the meantime if your talking to Sauzee you know what I'll accept."

"Respected Minister," Mikina said in a formal and calm fashion, "the First Empire continues to value the relationship between Rokkenjima and Tytor to the highest of regards, however, there is an internal matter which we have hoped to address without foreign complications. Due to the unpredictable nature of our adversary, however, incidents such as these could not have been accounted for and I convey the deepest apologies of the Imperial Palace for this incident. I cannot state much, as despite my requests for the relevant clearances they've been denied, but I believe I have the ability to paint a broad enough picture to remain within the constraints of my restrictions whilst being fully honest with you."

"I am certain you will recall the Shuttle Ensei disaster earlier this year. While it has not been publicly stated a source from within Imperial High Command issued a command to the shuttle, one reserved for unmanned operations when the safe re-entry of the Shuttle could not be ensured. We believe this source to be behind the present issue before us; the incident I mentioned is believed to be something done to break the spirit of the Empress, just as this situation is likely meant to cause the Empress distress with the added benefit of alienating a key ally and security partner of Rokkenjima. In a completely hypothetical situation, the Empress would likely find herself incapable of responding despite her wishes to; it would simply be beyond her means to do so due to present circumstances. It would likewise be necessary that the adversary believes they accomplished their goal, which is why a genuine response would be necessary on your part and why I might be precluded from intervening prior to your summons. On that matter I would naturally convey the regrets of both the Imperial Palace and myself, in what would be a  hypothetical scenario, of course."

She drew closer to Thatcher's desk, almost whispering, "the present challenge before the Empress is in many ways a matter of life or death, the future of Rokkenjiman democracy depends upon her success over this foe. I promise you once the immediate threat has passed your government will be briefed in full, but for now we cannot jeopardize our adversary learning that we're a step or two ahead of them so please, I know you are angry and you've every right to be, but please try to have a measure of patience if understanding is not possible; again, I understand. I don't know if Thomas knows yet, however, if you've a way to discreetly send a message to him, you'd be doing me a favour as relayed to me by a mutual friend I hold with the Empress. When she was informed that her account had been compromised and that was posted she nearly vomited, and became a shell of herself." Moving back from the desk she continued, "it is a most unfortunate affair we have before us, however, I have cleared the entirety of my schedule until we find a way forward that is mutually agreeable to both of our Governments," she concluded as she handed Thatcher a letter, "I have it on good authority that you may read it if you wish to."

---

Dear Thomas,

I don't have long so this will be brief and I don't know if my gambit will even work in getting to this to you so please bear with me here. I don't know what kind of connection you have at the moment so if you see a certain Instagram post I'm not even able to go on the internet right now, let alone pick up a phone, quite simply it wasn't me. From what I gathered from the chatter between security here my account was hacked and used ahead of a meeting I was set to have, not only to hurt you and I but to alienate the Throne from one of our closest allies, so while I can't do anything publicly I couldn't stomach you sitting there thinking there was any truth to that for a moment longer so I broke the rules a bit, trusting you to keep this to yourself, I might get a stern talking to but I promise I'll survive that. The next chance you get do listen to Roy Orbison's Sentimental and when you get back I'll be here waiting for you I promise and, hopefully, by that time I'll have defeated the enemy before me so we can share some care free moments together. Until then stay safe, and know just how sorry I am about all of this.

Yours always.

PS: Akira misses you, he won't leave your coat alone that you left behind and is currently snuggling up with it. If I get the clearance he'll be with me on the United States when we track your ship down for a visit. Be prepared for a loving tackle from him and the kisses to follow.

Prime Minister's Office, Tsargrad
May 4, 2024
8:59 AM

"Ambassador Hayata to see you, ma'am," the prime minister's secretary said, poking his head through the office door.

Thatcher looked up from the email she was composing and held up a forefinger to indicate that the secretary should wait before ushering the ambassador in.  The woman could stew for a bit.  Thatcher went back to her email.

In all, Thatcher had the ambassador wait a solid ten minutes before she closed her email, changed tabs to Instagram, and hit the intercom button.  "Show her in, please," she said.

The ambassador entered the office.  "Ambassador," Thatcher said by way of greeting, a grim look affixed upon her face, "Please sit."  She gestured to the chair positioned before her desk, the tone of her request suggesting command more than anything else.

Once the unfortunate diplomat was safely seated, Thatcher laid into her.  "So," she said, turning the computer monitor so as to have it visible to both women, her voice quivering slightly with barely suppressed anger, "So.  What the heck is going on here?  This time yesterday, Tytor and Rokkenjima were collectively enjoying a budding romance, a clear symbol of the ever-strengthening ties between our two nations.  And then I come into the office this morning to find this waiting for me.  Care to explain why this decision was made so abruptly, and without so much as a warning to my staff?  Do you have any idea how absurdly difficult things like this make my job?  Do you understand just how much of a PR disaster this is?  We have established channels for communicating these sorts of developments, for crying out loud!  It would have taken your government all of five minutes to use them.  So why, in the name of everything holy, was I not informed before this went live?"

HTMS Agility, Sea of Kyne
May 3, 2024
9:57 PM (local time)

"Mr. Waverly-Edwards?"

Thomas looked up from the sonar screen he was monitoring.  It wasn't his usual job, but he'd received permission to try his hand at some of the other systems that featured aboard one of His Majesty's frigates.  "Sir?" he said, standing to salute the first lieutenant.

"Cap'n's compliments, and he'd like to see you in his cabin at your convenience," the lieutenant said, returning the salute carelessly, "If you'd come with me?"

"Aye, sir," Thomas replied at once.  He stopped just long enough to motion the sonar operator whose station he'd been occupying back to the screen, and then followed his superior officer out of the room.

The captain's cabin was halfway down the ship from sonar, but Agility was small enough that the trip didn't take very long.  The lieutenant poked his head inside to inform the captain of Thomas's arrival, and then ushered him inside.

The captain was seated at his small desk directly opposite the door.  The desk was unusual for such a cramped ship, and it took up a much larger percentage of the cabin's floor space than was strictly comfortable, but the captain had insisted.

"Ah, Mr. Midshipman," the captain said as Thomas entered the small room, "Good, have a seat.  Coffee?"

"Uh, no thank you, sir," Thomas said, glancing at a clock on the wall as he took the proffered chair, "I just had some, er, about half an hour ago."

"Suit yourself," the captain said, pouring himself a cup from a pot that was plugged into the wall to his left.  "So, I don't suppose you know why I've asked you to come see me?"

"No, sir."

"I thought not.  You haven't been online at all in the last, oh, four hours, have you?"

"No, sir.  I didn't think there was wifi on board.  Security risk and all."

"Oh, there isn't.  I was just checking.  Heard from your girlfriend lately?"

"No, sir, not since we left port.  What is this about?"

"So.  I was just forwarded a message from High Command.  They asked me to alert you to... well, this."

The captain passed a sheet of paper across the desk to Thomas, who was surprised to see a print-off of an Instagram post by Asuna from four hours earlier.  He read it quickly.  Confused, he read it again, then twice more.  A dull weight landed in the pit of his stomach as the import of what he was reading hit him.  He looked up at his commanding officer, lost for words.

The two professional sailors looked at each other for a long moment.  Finally, the captain broke the silence.  "Heck of a 'Dear John' letter, isn't it?" he said quietly.

Thomas nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak for the moment.  This didn't make any sense.  Last time he'd spoken to Asuna, there'd been no hint that their relationship was at all in danger.  He started to wonder if this was due to something he'd said or done, or if he was somehow deficient in any of a dozen different ways.  Feelings of inadequacy, of self-doubt began to well up inside him, and his right hand clenched involuntarily on the paper.

"Don't," the captain said, interrupting his internal self-castigation, "This sort of thing happens to the best of us.  If you beat yourself up over this, it won't help anyone, especially not you."

"It's not usually quite so... public, sir," Thomas replied, and was surprised at how steady his voice was, "I mean, it's not, is it?"

"No, usually not," the captain allowed, "Though in a ship this size, news generally spreads quickly.  I wanted to make sure you were the first to find out, so you don't get blindsided in the mess or something."

Thomas smiled weakly.  "Thank you, sir," he said.

"When does your watch end?" the captain asked, standing.

Thomas followed suit.  "Well, I have the evening watch, sir," he said, "So not until eight bells."

"Hm, so not for a couple more hours," the captain said thoughtfully, glancing at his wristwatch.

"Yes, sir," Thomas said.  There was a pause, long enough for Thomas to begin to grow uncomfortable.

"Well, carry on, Mr. Waverly-Edwards," the captain said at last, "You may return to your post.  Chin up, all right?  Show some of that Navy grit."

"Aye, aye, sir," Thomas replied, and recognizing his dismissal, he turned and left the cabin.  He could already tell it was going to be a long night.