A Letter From a Friend

[Achkaerin]

With Princess Astrid in hospital, the meeting on the Centralia issue involving Government Ministers was chaired not by the Emperor but instead by Sakura Sheppard, the Emperor's niece, the meeting was being held in the Consul's offices in Liberty Hall, home of the Senate, in a period where backbench motions were being introduced by Senators and responded to by the Leader of the Senate Chamber. Sakura let out a breath "Ok the sum of the situation is that Rokkenjima and Tytor are by varying means and such sending ships into a situation which has the potential to end very badly, we don't know what's going on on the ground so we don't know the welcome any presence is going to get. No military presence in Centralian territory is going to be legal without permission of the Centralian government or in the event that there is something involving them going on, some justification i.e. a smoking gun, we don't need another Zimalia so what have you got?" Sakura asked
"Intelligence gathering on the ground is under way, we'd have liked not to be on the clock but we're there." Sally Barkley, the Director of Achkaerinese Intelligence, said "All findings are going to be collated and forwarded to the CSTO for report and action thereof. What we really need is a point of contact with the Centralian Government."
"We can help there." Richard Chambers, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said "Centralia's Patriot Party and our Patriot Party have a historic relationship, you could call them sister parties but no one would make that association now or want to because they've jumped the shark. Point is there are some people that myself and Melinda worked with back in the day who may be approachable including Vice President Bush, I can write him a letter."
"No official seal, no trace." Sally said "Bush needs to know it's from you but we don't want anyone else knowing."
"I know." Richard said

A couple of days later the letter, posted locally in Centralia and addressed for the attention of the Vice President hit the in tray, it read:

Mr Vice President,

I'm afraid I have to cancel our fishing trip that we had planned for next week, this is due to a family emergency. This is unfortunate as I was looking to seeing you and your family again and perhaps watching our daughters having a treading water rematch in the lake, I've been wondering how long they could go before the water was over their heads. I also apologise for having to let you know about this by post as it appears you can't trust the power companies in the north.

Your friend,

Richard

[Tytor]

Ed Bush, Vice President of Centralia, sat in his office and stared at the letter in his hand.  It had been such a long time since he'd received any mail from... but it couldn't be, could it?  No, there wasn't any other explanation.  Not for that handwriting, at any rate.  But if Chambers was writing to him, then that meant...?  Hm.  He glanced around for a pen and some paper, and began thinking of a reply.

Within a few days, the response had been discreetly placed in a dead drop used by Achkaerinese intelligence by an agent of the OSS who was personally loyal to Bush.  With any luck it would make its way back to Valtheim without further issue.


Dear Richard,

I'm sorry to hear that the fishing trip won't work out.  My youngest had been looking forward to it so much.  She even went and got herself a new, deep red swimsuit just for the occasion - had to have it mailed in from Mazeltovia in the south.  Perhaps we can reschedule the outing?  I'm pretty busy these days, but I think sometime this summer should work.  June or July, perhaps?

Oh, this will interest you.  My wife's found this new church, supposed to be pretty big in Ashboro, and in a lot of the northern states.  Maybe you heard about it on the news.  Well, she's been poking around, and word is that while the pastor's a local, a lot of his staff and material come from a smaller church in St. Elmo's City, Tytor, that was forced to close down a while back.  Something about a private jet.  Funny I hadn't made the connection before; now that I think about it, the two are very similar in outlook.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up about the fishing trip.  Let me know when you and your family can visit - and maybe see if some of those southern friends of yours can join us, would you?  They're always a blast to have around.

Yours most sincerely,

-Ed

[Achkaerin]

When the letter hit Richard's desk he instantly got some expertise in, this time in the form of Saki Ryoko, deputy national security advisor, heir apparent to her foster father's job and generally sharp as a scalpel. She read the letter from Bush and smiled. "Oh he's good, he's very good." she said "So we're looking at communists in Mazeltovia and LRA and/or Rapture in the north with potentially Sutherland and staff around... would explain how he got out of Tytor, private jet indeed, and we've got a request for help at the end, but it's Bush not Tanner and Tanner's the President so no permission and no smoking gun. Are you up to writing back?"
"Of course." Richard said
"Timeframe and authority or smoking gun." Saki said

Richard nodded and set to work on a response that would find it's way back to Bush.

Mr Vice President,

I've had a look through my diary and hopefully by July both ourselves and our families will be far less busy, perhaps I can even arrange a tour of Santiago de Compostella for your wife on St James's feast day if that interests her. I find myself very much at the whim of my boss and your boss as to finding time for a visit, should both our bosses concur a visit can be quickly arranged of that I'm sure, even including my southern friends, if you can't get the time from your boss for such a visit alternative arrangements will need to be made, don't forget your passport this time I'm sure the border control staff at the airport don't want to get drowned in paperwork again.

Sincerely

Richard