The corridors of Coral Rift prison were nothing new to
Gary Newton though this was perhaps the most unusual visit he'd ever made to the facility, making his way to the visiting room she sat down and waited a few moments before a guard opened the door and brought in Sumire Abruscato, Rokkenjiman nobility, former Imperial Councillor, former Mentor of Toshikawa and now if the theories were right just another sacrificed piece in whatever game was being played. "Ms Abruscato." Gary said slowly "Have a seat."
"Lieutenant" Sumire said "Why does my counsel want to see me?"
"I'm authorized to offer you a deal." Gary said, it had been a hell of a conversation to have with Lt Foster but the situation being what it was she had agreed to it, "We need information about something we believe you know about."
"And in exchange?" Sumire asked
"You get moved to a lower risk prison, somewhere with more privileges." Gary said "And that's just for starters." he put a piece of paper in front of Sumire "All spelled out for you."
"What do you want to know?" Sumire asked
"On the 20th of January 2007, Beatrice Anselmo underwent a medical procedure at Pyrena to repair an internal bleed in her uterus resulting from a recent miscarriage." Gary said "Footage of that surgery shows that the doctors involved not only repaired the bleed but without good reason harvested Beatrice's eggs. The implication of that is the same as was the case fifteen years earlier, to create a 'break glass in case of emergency' heir. But while in the case of Kyoko it was done with noble intentions, not so in this instance this time it was with malicious intent. I think this is another thing chalked up to the group of conspirators you're part of." he took a moment to look straight at her "Are you the birth mother to this other Anselmo? Yes or no."
"Yes." Sumire said after a moment
"Give me a name." Gary said
"Kikyo Hase, she was born on the Abruscato estate, I was 'ill' for a few months of 2007, two Anausa agents that Charles had in his pocket took her and moved to Jenka -Jenkinson." Sumire said "The agents pose as her parents and I assume have done their job of grooming her for the throne."
"Why?" Gary asked
"To correct a near sixty year old wrong." Sumire said "At least that's what Charles told me."
"What wrong?" Gary asked
"I never heard the full story." Sumire said "Look I'm not a vindictive person, and despite what people may think I never acted with ill intent as an Imperial Councillor or as Beatrice's friend, that was all genuine not duplicitous, my job was done the moment the birth happened. You can't offer me absolution I know that but I'll point you to what you don't know." she took a breath "The child of Tairo."
"Thank you." Gary said "I want all that in a statement."
The study at the Marble Palace was a little fuller than usual as the latest meeting on this took place Serenity was present, with every intention of running back to the hospital once it was over, around the room the various advisors and officers sat and stood and then Gary walked in.
"Please tell me you've got a name Lieutenant." Serenity said
"I have Kikyo Hase." Gary said "Had a quick bit of research done she attends Vicheshire School in Jenka-Jenkinson, sixteen years old."
"She's also the girl who just got invited along with her class to the Youth Diet in Rokkenjima." Nettie said
"Rowe's moving his pieces." Serenity said
"There was something else." Gary said "Sumire says this is about a sixty year old wrong and pointed us at the child of Tairo whatever that means."
"It's not a what it's a who." Peter said
"You know what it means?" Nettie asked
"Yes." Peter said going over to a whiteboard that sat in the room and drawing up the Anselmo family tree "This is what we usually think of, work it backwards you have Asuna, Lucius and Kikyo going up to Beatrice married to Alex and Kyoko as a sibling and then up again to Cecelia and Kichiro and of course biologically myself. That's the main branch, then if we do Euphy's branch you have her and you go up to her parents Usagi and Aaron, then on Evanthe's side you have Evanthe and you go up to her parents Mieko and Madara."
"Do we know where Sophia fits in to this yet?" Serenity asked
"Yes we do." Maddy said "Based on DNA comparison and further testing we believe Sophia is Evanthe's daughter."
"Wow." Serenity said "She was born in late 2001... the picture."
"Yep." Peter said putting Sophia's name on the tree "And we know that Emerson's the father because there's no way in heck you forget a younger Emerson Ravenswood spending the night of the Constellation Ball in Wyvern Castle and then sharing looks with Evanthe over breakfast."
"No one tells them yet." Nettie said
"Exactly now that's what we normally think about when we go at the Anselmo family tree." Peter said "But Cecelia, Usagi and Mieko are sisters if you go back a further generation you get the then exiled Empress Kikyou." he took a breath as he drew the line and put that name up. "Now watch what happens when I put the birth years up for those three sisters." he put 1970 next to Usagi, 1966 next to Cecelia and 1964 next to Mieko.
"Hang on a minute that would mean..." Nettie said
"That by convention Mieko not Cecelia should have taken the crown?" Peter asked "Yes."
"Why didn't she?" Nettie said
"Because it was decided otherwise, but that's only half the story." Peter said "Anyone want to ask the other obvious question?"
"Madara." Sakura said "Is a Rokkenjiman name."
"Yes, but Evanthe isn't entirely of Rokkenjiman heritage." Peter said
"I get the implication but what's that got to do with the child of Tairo?" Serenity asked
"I assume Alex has had time to look that up by now." Peter said looking at where
Alexandria Savage otherwise known as Alex was sitting looking at her tablet.
"Mieko Anselmo is the child of Tairo" Alex said "Damn this is ancient, in 1964 Kikyou Anselmo visited what was then called Daito, on the return trip her yacht was boarded by what were at the time believed to be pirates but were later discovered to be Toshikawan militia I'll give you one guess which clan."
"Nekhaga." Serenity said
"Bingo." Alex said "Anyway the Toshikawan's subdued the crew and took the yacht and Kikyou to the nearest Rokkenjiman military port which at the time was Tairo. What the Toshikawan's didn't know was that Naoko Ryoma the companion soul to Kikyou got off a distress call to Autumn Wood Fort in Gowu, the ship was tracked to Tairo and a Justicar team sent in with Achkaerin Special Forces in support... The Justicars bribed the port commander to release Kikyou but this was four days later and in that time..."
"Kikyou had given birth to Mieko." Peter said "Officially Kikyou gave birth on the return trip, the Federal Republic were knee deep in Kusan at the time they weren't going to risk a war with us."
"Why did the Toshikawan's even do that?" Sakura asked
"We didn't know that for another thirty years." Esme said "The 1960's were the very beginning of what would eventually become the Bute movement, they were hoping that delivering Kikyou to the Federal Republic would get the Republic's support in terms of Gowu, the Bute element viewing that as Toshikawan soil which of course it isn't. That all came out at the Cherry-Lotus negotiations."
"I get it." Serenity said "Mieko is born on Rokkenjiman soil, she's pure blood, she's the blessed of Islnya according to the standard Yuna would set. By all accounts she should have been next on the throne so what happened?"
"The implication around Evanthe happened." Peter said "And it couldn't have happened at a worse time."
"Around the time that Mieko became pregnant in 1984 Kikyou fell quite seriously ill, Mieko was still traumatised from her ordeal so Cecelia was making the decisions, just after Evanthe was born Kikyou died but Mieko was still traumatised it wasn't clear if she'd ever recover so the Grand Maester made a decision and Cecelia was proclaimed as the monarch."
"And over time all that trauma, all that hatred turned to resentment." Nettie said "But she died in 2004."
"And we thought Cecelia died in 1997." Serenity said
"The question is where's she been?" Peter said
"That doesn't matter." Serenity said "But we can probably guess where she'll turn up."
"Kusan." Alex said "Rowe's angling for a fight, he's pushing hard for it and that's the trap. Kusan's innocent and when that gets discovered Asuna's either going to break if she hasn't already or she'll be forced out."
"Exactly." Serenity said "Push the button repeatedly, push it hard enough and it doesn't matter that the international community is saying 'no proof of complicity' because payback is expected and Rokkenjima will eventually demand it."
"And the Diet can vote for it." Nettie said "It would basically be a motion calling for action but Asuna can't ignore it she'd be hugely unpopular if she did. It only needs a fabricated smoking gun."
"I just had a rather disturbing thought." Peter said looking out of the study window "What if the reason Rowe knows Kusan is innocent is because he is guilty?"
"As in he orchestrated the Pyrettania..." Esme said "If that's true..."
"How?" Sakura asked
"There's one other plant." Serenity said "Nemphis."
"But opportunity?" Mark Sharpe the national security advisor said
"There is one." Peter said "Sobernakht's little uprising, Achkaerinese forces fought a running battle in and around the Nemphis compound, they could have stolen it then and delivered it. That could have been the whole point of the exercise."
"But when would they have made contact to set that up?" Nettie asked "We'd have known we were in country."
"In the middle of the Clysperi civil war Rokkenjima offered aid." Mark said "Which we declined because the situation was in hand but it's not beyond the realms they put people in anyway."
"Rowe's not the type to leave things to chance." Nettie said
"No he's not." Serenity said with a hint of anger in her voice before walking over to the whiteboard "Me and Euphy recently started reading the Harry Potter books to the girls in the Chamber of Secrets just before Harry fights the Basilisk there's a moment where the form of Riddle uses a wand and writes his name." she wrote TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE on the whiteboard "Which is an anagram of..." she wrote I AM LORD VOLDERMORT underneath the name
"So?" Sakura asked
"So what happens to this?" Serenity asked she wrote RAMOSE on the whiteboard "If you flip the M and do the same thing you get..." she wrote A S ROWE underneath Ramose "A.S Rowe, Alex Sebastian Rowe."
"Vanity." Nettie said "Could it be that simple?"
"It makes sense Ramose hasn't been heard from in a long time, no one's ever seen him, no one's ever met him, the guy may not look like Rowe but one rogue Anausa for appearance purposes and Rowe as the voice?" Mark asked
"Who does this guy think he is Palpatine?" Kumiko asked
"Apparently." Serenity said "But if that is true then you all know what it means he is responsible for, and if it is true then we will have him for it."
"So how do we stop him?" Alex asked "Because he's making his move."
"We've got just a few days." Serenity said "Alex you bring Rion up to speed, Kikyo is her ball neither Rowe nor any of his people get to her first, that plane does not fly direct to Pyrettania."
"Understood." Alex said
"Sakura you're going to Clysperis." Serenity said "We'll get some soldiers to provide an escort, go and see Sobernakht, cut him a deal and see what he gives you."
"Ok." Sakura said
"I'll go and see Emerson and Evanthe." Peter said "It should be me who tells them, Mieko was distant and cold when Evanthe was growing up and I'm the closest thing she's got to a father."
"Agreed." Serenity said "Kumiko you get onto the admiralty I've got a special job for them."
"I'll get them on the line." Kumiko said
"We take away Rowe's leverage, we neutralise the threat, let's get it done." Serenity said
As the room cleared it left only Serenity with Gary and
Nell Foster, after having a drink of water Serenity looked at them "Ok." she said "Let's talk about what Kado found."
"It doesn't change anything." Nell said "All those records were sought in discovery and handed over in 2017 in the run up to trial, it's highly convenient for something new to turn up even more so because it says what it says. And even if the court let it in the date on the order is March 25th 2016, so Beatrice is still liable for the atrocities committed between February 14th and March 25th and she's already got the lightest possible sentence and then some."
"And if we're honest that order isn't the most interesting bit of what Kado found." Gary said "It's all the nonsense orders. Why have Beatrice sign them?"
"Go on." Serenity said
"We think and it's a leap." Nell said "That it's about source material specifically Beatrice's signature. She needs to sign things because she's Empress and the functioning of Government in Rokkenjima required it... but if she's got the awareness to recognise the events around her and react by for example giving that countermand order would you as Charles or Lucius Stanley put that which is critical in front of her?"
Serenity smiled when she saw what Nell was getting at "This can't come from our end and it can't involve your department." Serenity said
"It won't." Gary said "We've set a meeting for Elecktra Hope."
"SHIELD Law?" Serenity asked "I'll get Kyoko there. Let's get Lucius Stanley spinning."
At the Imperial Palace in Rokkenjima Kayleigh walked into Henry Cole's office "Don't ask me why just trust me." she said putting a piece of paper on the table "That needs to be the flight crew for the Imperial Ryusei going to pick up those kids from Jenka-Jenkinson in a few days." the two names were Achkaerinese military. Rowe was making his move so Kayleigh knew that there was no way that Rion was prepared to allow that plane outside of their control.
In Jenka-Jenkinson
Maki Hamer, picked up her phone "Yes Rion?" she asked
"Correct me if I'm wrong but you're half siblings go to Vicheshire School?" Rion asked
"Yes, Sora's in her final year there and Colton's a couple back." Maki said "Why?"
"Kikyo Hase." Rion said "Know anything about her?"
"She just took over as Student Council President, succeeding Sora actually I think Colton's in her form." Maki said
"She just managed to get her social studies people a flight on the Rokkenjiman Imperial Ryusei to attend the Youth Diet in a few days time." Rion said "But here's the complication she's the lost Anselmo, she's Rowe's endgame."
"What do you want me to do?" Maki asked
"Get yourself on that plane." Rion said
"I'm listed as a chaperone with the school so that's not a problem." Maki said
"I'm getting Miku down there as well." Rion said "Kayleigh's liaising with Cole, we're getting control of the plane and going to beat Rowe to the punch. Only risk factor is Kikyo's parents, they're likely rogue Anausa so if they're on the plane watch yourself."
"Understood." Maki said
With the phone calls to Kayleigh and Maki done that only left one problem for Rion to deal with and it was something Kado could do. She wasn't doorstepping his office, no she was doorstepping his apartment. "We need to talk." she said quietly when he opened the door and let her in, once they were in the main room she looked at him "In a few days there's an Imperial Ryusei bringing a group of children over from Jenka-Jenkinson for the Youth Diet. On the day of that flight I need you to find a way or reason to shut down Arovia Air Traffic Control, don't ask me for details just know this is the future of Rokkenjima right here right now. You cannot risk using the INIS, because we cannot flag this, but if you can do that then it will mean that Brianna Azurewind ATC in Gowu takes over Arovia's remit during the outage and that is what we need to happen. Are you up for it?"