Between the Firing Squad and Tamoran Aims

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

2:43 A.M. Standard Imperial Time
Imperial Bureau of Internal Security Main Headquarters, Upper Nanjing
“Floor 17” -  Counterespionage


The analyst shuffled through a heap of papers and folders on his desk, meticulously taking careful notes on what he was finding with the terminal before him, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He ran through a map tacked to the wall facing him, his finger eventually landing on Tamora. He began pecking at the keys, ending by tapping on a small red key to the edge of the board. The printer behind him hummed to life, spitting out an entire folder’s worth of documents. The analyst stuffed the papers into a crimson folder, and after inking the rubber bottom, stamped the front of the thick folder.

He quickly stepped out of his cubicle and ran to the door, throwing it open and sprinting into the atrium of military officers, field agents, soldiers, and other BIS personnel.

Zigzagging between individuals, he made his way up the stairs, to the Minister of Internal Security’s office. The two guards saw the folder and its large stamp and immediately banged on the door.
The analyst caught up and caught his breath.

“Minister! I have an urgent report for you!”

There was a short response from inside.

“How urgent?”

“Sir, it is a case of utmost national security! An emergency!”

“Come in!”

The door unlatched and the analyst dashed in, quickly saying as he handed the folder to the Minister,

“I have run the evidence over at least a dozen times now, and all the trails have led to Tamora.”

“I see. Thank you, you may see yourself out.”

The analyst saluted him, and turned about-face, leaving the office.
The Minister watched him leave, and just as the door latched, reached for the phone and immediately dialed for the Emperor-Admiral and President.


The Emperor wore his beige zhongshan suit, fiddling with the Imperial pin on his lapel as he and President Herminstaat listened intently to the Minister read the report. The President's face was white with anxiety, while the Emperor stared partly in horror, partly in fury.

The President suddenly leaned towards the Minister, inquiring, "Can you send an agent to negotiate?"

"Yes, your Presidency."

He hit a buzzer on the desk, then leaned back.

The door clicked open, a young man wearing the field agent uniform quickly bowing to the Emperor, then swiftly snapping to attention.

"This is Field Agent Wess Yu, Special Communications. He has connections that should allow him to contact the Tamorans"

The Emperor nodded towards the man, saying,

"Remember Agent, time is of the essence. It is critical that we secure these cultists, even if Special Officer Obern says otherwise."

Saluting, Wess replied, "Understood. Do I have permission to kill?"

"Under normal circumstances, no. But in this case, you may neutralize the targets if necessary. Do not touch the Tamorans though, we cannot risk an international incident."

"Of course."

Wess immediately strode out the door, clicking it shut as he did.

"And President, Minister? Not a word leaves this room. We do not need to add oil to this fire, especially after my father's reign."

Two "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty" were his answer.


1:20 P.M. Local Time
Mojebbe, Zimalia

Wess waited in anticipation for the Tamoran representative to arrive. He had arrived by submarine, unannounced, as to reduce the trail he left behind. Another Agent had already acquired the evidence and data to explain his appearance in Zimalia, the other Agent having swapped places with him when he arrived. He gripped his coffee, - a distasteful liquid, he thought, - and proceeded to continue waiting.

[Markus]

Djerb, Empire of Tamora

It had been months since the two cultists extracted from China had been in the custody of Tamora. Despite the best efforts of the Imperial Secret Service(ISS) the two individuals seemed almost useless. Whatever knowledge the Cult as an organization had it seemed to have died when most of its members have been eradicated. As far as ISS was concerned the whole extraction of the cultists from China proved to be a waste of resources and a potential liability for the future.

So when the ISS was contacted unofficially through backdoor channels by BIS (China’s Bureau of Internal Security) agents they suspected that BIS has concluded that Tamora was somehow involved in this. The only question was just how much evidence they had and what level of involvement they suspected Tamora had in the operation.

After consulting Emperor Abbas, the ISS leadership decided to agree to the meeting and allowed one of its agents to set up the meeting.


1:20 P.M. Local Time
Mojebbe, Zimalia

The good part about Zimalia is that Tamora did not need to insert any agents for the operations as it had plenty on the ground already. Some of them like Parviz Radji, marketing director of Polakis Energy( the Zimalian branch) while always discrete in its affairs with ISS was suspected by many in Zimalia to be well connected if not on the payroll of ISS. He was one of the many Tamorans assigned to convince the Zimalian authorities to offer more mining licenses to Tamoran business. The convincing part meant not only offering bribes but establishing a network of contacts and favors with many Zimalian people of influence from the second or third tier of power. This often involved helping promote certain Zimalians to key positions, discrediting other less flexible people, using religion and even arranged marriages to form bonds etc. It wasn’t a glorious job and most of his work would not reach the public eye but it was an important job that Parviz nevertheless enjoyed.

So when was contacted by ISS and he received the latest briefing, he could hardly believe his eyes. However, after the initial shock he composed himself and remembered his place. He was to follow orders not think much about the implications of Tamoran operations aboard, that was something for others to do.

So that had brought him here, to one of the dozens of 3 stars hotels of Mojebbe where he was supposed to meet the Chinese agent.

As he entered the meeting room where the agent was waiting he started speaking:

- Salaam alaikum! Welcome to Zimalia. My name is Parviz Radji and I am the Marketing director at Polakis Energy. What can I do for you, Mr…?

As he talked he approached the Chinese agent and moved his hand for a handshake before taking a seat. 

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

The BIS had contacted him earlier, with two additional agents positioned nearby in case everything went south. He was now to also eliminate the cultists. It seemed the Emperor-Admiral no longer cared for them.

His arm brushed the silenced pistol hidden in his clothes as Parviz walked in, Wess turning to meet him.

Always careful, Wess had made sure to slide on a plate carrier prior to the meeting, covered by his formal garb. He shook Parviz’s hand, replying calmly, “Marckster. I believe your -ah- benefactors have two individuals of interest within their custody, correct? I am here to arrange for their return.”

[Markus]

“Well Mr. Marckster, I see you like to get straight to the point.“ Parviz sensed a certain determination in his Chinese “partner”.

 “I think we should take the time to talk a bit first” as he said that he casually took a sit.

“First of all, I can confirm that the two individuals are indeed in the custody of my …” benefactors”. No “benefactor” likes to admit they made a mistake but sadly that is the case this time. At the time we had credible circumstantial evidence that the individuals were part of a cover-up for the Chinese government which was using them as an excuse to develop and potentially use biological weapons. We are now confident to say that there was no connection between your government and these individuals. We are working on finding out who has feed us the wrong info. We have so far managed to narrow it down to East Moreland and the Communist government of Kaitaine. While we do not know the purpose of the diversion, we believe it was meant as a way to get the two nations, China and the benefactors, on a path that would lead to … nothing good. “

Parviz then waited to see the reaction of Marckster before saying anything more about returning the two cultists.

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“Mr. Radji,” Wess growled, his eyes narrowing, “I inquired about the individuals, not other potentially interested parties. If the Imperial Republic was concerned about foreign conspiracies, then the subject of this discussion would be far different. Please, continue.”

[Markus]

“Mr. Marckster, I doubt you are qualified to talk in the name of the Imperial Republic. I am not interested to hear your opinion on whether the Imperial Republic is concerned about “foreign conspiracies”. The fact of the matter is that you are here precisely because of such “foreign conspiracies” that have led my benefactors to intervene, and considering just how dug in your country is I doubt your leadership would not be interested in hearing our reasoning. Your whole nation is a bunker; don’t tell me your leadership is not concerned and worried about all possible threats.  Not to mention that you’ve travelled half of Mundus to inquire about two insignificant individuals. So do your job and relay our concerns and explanations to your leadership. “

Just as Parviz had suspected, the meeting with the Chinese representative was not going to be a pleasant one. He had to admit that in the months he spent in Zimalia he had begun to like dealing with Zimalians, especially Zimalian officials.

However, Parviz didn’t linger on that more than a moment as he was engaged with his Chinese counterpart.     
 
“One more thing Mr. Marckster, also tell your leadership that despite this misunderstand, our benefactors are interested in having good relations with the Imperial Republic. “

“I hope that is clear enough Mr. Marckster because I also want to move the discussion to the topic of the detained individuals. “

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“Very well, Mr. Radji. I shall relay this information to my superiors. If your ‘benefactors’ are so interested, then I shall tell that too to the leadership. I doubt if it confirms anything we already know, but very well. On that note, let us proceed to the topic of the detained individuals.”

[Markus]

“Excellent! Now on the issue of the detained individuals, I can confirm that two are in custody and that these two were the only individuals of their group that our benefactors have detained. While they are unharmed I can’t exactly say the same of their minds. Not our benefactors doing, they seemed to be missing a thing or two in their heads way before our benefactors reached them. They are some weird individuals from what I hear but I guess you have to be to be doing what they did and planned to do.

If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them, Mr. Marckster.”

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“Ah, yes, my first would be that of their extradition back to the Imperial Republic. As far as I can tell you, the accomplices of these individuals have most certainly expired by now. The leadership in Nanjing would like these two survivors to join them. Can you tell me, what is the exact nature of what your ‘benefactors’ week for these individuals return? Additionally, on a side note, how much for the purchase of ten thousand young children?”

[Markus]

“As I said, my benefactors admit they have made a mistake. While the mistake was most likely due to foreign machinations, it remains a wrong that has been done towards the Imperial Republic. Other than consider the message I have asked you to forward to your leadership, they ask for nothing. It benefactors’ hope that despite starting on the wrong foot, there can still be cooperation between the two sides.”

After saying that Parviz took in a deep breath and started what seemed like rehearsed speech:

“I would like to note that Tamoran activity in Zimalia is not in any way connected to slavery. While Tamora fully recognizes the institution within its border, its citizens respect the laws of the country they currently reside. In our case ZImalia does not allow slavery of any king.”

Without giving his counterpart a chance to say anything he resumed in a more natural manner:

“With that out of the way, the answer is more complicated. Despite what others might think of us, we are fully aware of what slavery means and that’s why we are extremely reluctant to ever break apart slave families. So finding ten thousand orphan slave children is no easy task and drives up prices. You will forgive me if I don’t have the exact numbers with me, I wasn’t prepared for such a question but 200 million dinars (USD) will likely be the price. Also, please take into consideration that it also matters who the buyer is. Perhaps you are aware that king Lapu of Quintelia bought 20 thousands slaves and their children. He is a trustworthy individual and selling to him was no issue. While we don’t expect all potential buyers to be public figures or have the reputation of King Lapu we do however expect to have some info about the buyer otherwise a deal might not work out. Buying adults slaves is one thing, buying slave children is a whole different affair.

I do apologize for providing that much info but these types of transactions are sensitive and it’s best if there are no misunderstandings.”

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“I see. In this case, let me rephrase my earlier words. What can be done to negotiate the sale of ten thousand slave families? And in this case, the buyer is the Emperor-Admiral. As slavery is outlawed in Imperial China, any slave who steps foot in China is immediately considered free. Hence the Emperor-Admiral would like to make a purchase. So, with that, what is the new price tag?”

[Markus]

“If we are talking about His Imperial Highness himself and the purpose is to free the slaves that changes things a lot. Also, 10 thousand regular slave families means fifty thousand souls (twenty thousand adults and thirty thousand children), that’ more than even King Lapu bought. “Parviz stopped to think for a few more seconds:

“For His Imperial Highness  and only for him the price would be 1.5 billion dinars (USD). That is a very special price that includes a discount for the “incident” with the two individuals that are now in custody. “

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

Internally, Wess breathed a sigh of relief.
“Luckily for both of us, I was given a budget equivalent to 1.8 billion. Consider the detained individuals and the incident closed. When can we expect the families to arrive?”

[Markus]

“Excellent then” said Parviz glad to have sorted things out to a satisfactory level.

“2-6 weeks is my estimate. They would be arriving in waves depending on logistics and other various issues.”

“There is one more issue. How do you want to handle the matter? I doubt we can keep the deal a secret, we are talking about 50 thousand people, and word will break out eventually. However, we can make this public , with press statements, publicity etc or discrete without making any noise and trying to keep things as low as possible. "

"We are fine either way but it’s usually the clients that have certain needs and prefer one way or the other. Or if you want to handle things another way, I am willing to listen.” 

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“Excellent. As for the transaction, DBS will cover for us. We’ll make it publicized to the best of our ability, and make it look something similar to King Lapu’s purchase. Most likely, we’ll have to make the price look higher, lest other nations become suspicious. Other than that, we’ll have the families sent by ship back to China. I believe that is all.”

[Markus]

“Excellent then, public it will be then. As for the price of the transaction that will be communicated to the public, I think it’s best if that will be described as an “undisclosed” amount or if not possible at least increased to around twice of what has been agreed here today."
   
Parviz then moved his hand to his pocket took out him mobile phone and then touched the screen a couple of times.

“I have authorized the transfer of the two individual to your custody. They are now in Zimalian airspace and the pilots were waiting for my confirmation. They should land soon at one of the Zimalian bases at the outskirts of the city. Thanks to the excellent cooperation between my benefactors and the Zimalians they can have the privacy needed for such a transport. I am forwarding the coordinates to you so you can go pick them up.”

“If there’s not anything else, I believe we can shake hands and call it a deal” said Parviz initiating a handshake.

[Admiral Taiwanpenguin]

“Indeed. Pleasure doing buisness with you, Mr. Radji.” Wess took his hand, shaking it. “I will be heading out now, thank you for your time.”