charclone
Well-known member
Pina found the new 'car' to be much more relaxing than the 'hummer' she had ridden before. The ride was smoother, the seats more luxurious, and best of all, she had a much better idea of what to expect.
According to the internet, Canadians were more easily pushed around when compared to their American counterparts. Since she was meeting with the Canadian Government first, it was something she was looking forwards too.
"Princess, I understand why you have agreed to meet with them on their turns, but…" Hamilton trailed off.
"Yes, Hamilton?" Pina looked at her aide. "Is there an issue?"
"How are we to negotiate a peace, considering their government could just be voted out before we finalise any treaty?" Hamilton, sitting next to Pina in the back of the car asked. "With the Senate, we could rely on their families, words of honour, and blood ties to keep the senators sticking to the agreements, even without your father. But the Canadians do not obey their monarch the same way, and the Americans don't have a king at all."
"That is true." Pina nodded. She had thought about it a great deal. Some of it she kept to herself, as she was starting to suspect that NATO was spying on her, but she wasn't sure how they were doing so yet. Certainly, she would be doing the same in their shoes, but she had been provided with no servants, relying on the ones she had brought. "However, consider this: The King may be amenable to a deal that bolsters his position, and he still wields some power. In addition, there are other nations that are not closely aligned with Canada and NATO. Were a treaty broken easily, it would undermine the trust that other nations have in Canada and the US."
"But…"
"The US is a slightly different problem, yes," Pina admitted. "Fortunately, I realised something. They are much like the merchant republics that exist in Falmart. We merely need to identify during the talks who are the real players. If we support them, so that they have an easier time staying in power, then they are more likely to be friendly with us. Best of all, the US only has two major parties. We merely need to determine who in those parties are significant."
Hamilton sighed.
"You make it sound easy."
Pina winced.
"I know. It's far easier than it sounds, and we haven't looked closely at the other NATO nations that are involved. That Germany was less than a century ago the enemy of the world still leaves me confused as to how they gained so much power in the current era." The Saderan princess sighed. "Not to mention, we still aren't sure what they will want. I may have to swallow my pride, and reach out to Sir Richard, as he seems close to the King, having been elevated recently."
"Unless he is in the favour of one of Canada's or the United Kingdom's parties." Hamilton pointed out. "He might still be useful, but if we are seeking to support the King against them…"
Pina nodded at the point. She frowned as she heard a rumble. A moment later, she gasped as a massive machine raced down the steel rails laid down the inside of the Gate, not too far from where the car was driving.
She stared as it went by, pulling many box-shaped carts, and tanks for carrying liquid.
"Hamilton," Pina said to her equally dumbfounded aide. "How many of those boxes were being carried?"
"I'm not sure your highness…" Hamilton said, slipping into formality in her shock. "But I think I saw twenty. And they could be used to carry troops, or supplies, or weapons…"
"Exactly," Pina blanched. "They could move stockpiled of supplies with ease if they established those steel roads… and if they can make so many things out of metal… then the only thing stopping them from building a steel road to Sadera is how fast their soldiers or engineers could build it."
"And that was only one of them… during a ceasefire. We haven't seen any of them while we were at Alnus, have we, your highness?"
"Not that I can recall, and I doubt I would forget such a sight…" Pina frowned, catching on to Hamilton's point. "They aren't building up stashes for an attack because they don't need to. They simply won't be able to outrun their supply lines."
Pina flinched at the sudden light, as the car exited the Gate. She blinked as another car passed them, entering the Gate, and she caught sight of Richard and Tara in the back of the vehicle through the glass.
"I think we passed the princess when we entered the Gate," Tara said, as the car pulled into Alnus.
"Really?" Richard blinked. "Huh."
As the car came to a stop, he helped the driver pull luggage from the trunk of the car. Richard blinked as a US soldier stepped in to help carry some of the luggage.
"Heard what you did, back in the initial attack. Brave. Stupid, but brave." The soldier said. "Corporal Philip Fields."
Richard shook the offered hand.
"Richard, but you probably knew that."
"Ah, ah, ah!" Another US soldier came running up. "It's Sir Richard now, isn't it? That's how it works, right, when you Brits knight someone?"
"I'm Canadian, and I think that's only in formal settings," Richard replied. "And you are?"
"Ah, sorry. Corporal Harry Thomas." Harry said, wearing a shit-eating grin. "Here, I might as well help your lady friend, her majesty, the presumptive Queen of her people."
"I can carry it." Tara glared at Corporal Thomas.
"Oh, but it's poor form to make a queen carry her own luggage!" Harry joked. "Isn't that right Fifi?"
"Fifi?" Richard gave Philip a confused and mildly amused look.
"If either of you hit him, I saw nothing," Philip said, setting the luggage down on the front steps of Richard's loaned house.
"Aw, I know you love me, Fifi." Corporal Thomas grinned. "Anyway, I'll leave you two alone. I bet that you two would get together! Also, we have patrol in an hour."
"Hey, Philip!" Tara yelled to the more reserved corporal. "You can let whoever bet against us getting together that the bet was interfered with. We were only given one room by whoever set up the trip."
Harry's face twisted into a look of horror.
"No! No! Say it isn't so!"
"It was only twenty dollars. C'mon Archie Karas, we got patrol." Philip said, grabbing the overly dramatic corporal by the scruff of his neck and dragging him off.
Richard and Tara shared a laugh before they hauled the luggage into his house.
Bouro slid the knife underneath the wax seal.
He wasn't worried about the tampering being detected, when it was eventually delivered, as he had paid off the right people, and had blackmail on the ones he hadn't. Emperors did not open their own mail, even from their favoured daughters.
There wasn't a thing that happened in the capital that Bouro didn't know of. His people didn't officially exist according to Imperial Law. It meant they only had the protections they could win themselves, but that also meant they were ignored by most of the political factions. You'd be surprised what you can overhear when people discount you as a threat.
True, there were a few that had realised the threat the Haryo could pose, but they were few, and easily disposed of, or were in the Haryo's pocket.
As Bouro unfolded the letter, he found himself content in the current situation. The loss of several legions to the invaders from the Gate was troublesome, but barbarians had to chance against the whole empire. And if the infighting started to get to be a problem, well, Bouro knew which horses to back. Molt was canny enough to lead the Empire, but he needed their spies. Zorzal was an idiot easily led by the nose, a perfect puppet until one of theirs could be placed on the throne.
It was a simple plan, one used by many nobles for longer than the Empire had lasted. Get a member of your house into the family, ideally an illegitimate child legitimised by the father, and remove any other potential claimants.
Bouro grinned.
Tyuule thought that the Haryo planned to use her and Zorzal's child, once she conceived. The idiot bitch didn't realise it had not only been his funds and spies that had hired the shapeshifters for Zorzal but that he had wanted the Prince's ego stroked to make him more malleable once they found one of their own that was to his tastes while being smart enough to manipulate him.
Oh, Tyuule was smart enough, but Warrior Bunnies were problematic for chimaera like Bouro. Whatever they mated with was always a Warrior Bunny, no matter the father. It meant that they could produce no chimaera. It would mean none of their kind would be on the throne through her.
Thus, Tyuule was just a pawn to Bouro.
He frowned, reading Pina's recently arrived letter from Italica. He scoffed at her reports of the otherworlder's capabilities. The idea that they had flying creatures capable of wiping out armies was absurd. Not even the gods could claim they could do that, not in an instant.
It made no difference to Bouro. So, he refolded the letter to be delivered to Molt.
In his mind, his plan was flawless. Once he controlled Sadera, he could bring the other chimaera groups to heel under his rule.
Bouro was a man that desired power. He would not lie about that, not to himself. He would sacrifice anything to achieve that, though he was certain he would be satisfied with being the puppet master, rather than ruling directly.
His mixed features of elf, orc, dwarf, and who knew what else, twisted into a smile.
Yes, he was confident that once he controlled Sadera and the Imperial family, it would be only a matter of time until the other noble families were replaced with his people, and the entire world would be his.
That his people might be as homogenous as their blood never occurred to him.
According to the internet, Canadians were more easily pushed around when compared to their American counterparts. Since she was meeting with the Canadian Government first, it was something she was looking forwards too.
"Princess, I understand why you have agreed to meet with them on their turns, but…" Hamilton trailed off.
"Yes, Hamilton?" Pina looked at her aide. "Is there an issue?"
"How are we to negotiate a peace, considering their government could just be voted out before we finalise any treaty?" Hamilton, sitting next to Pina in the back of the car asked. "With the Senate, we could rely on their families, words of honour, and blood ties to keep the senators sticking to the agreements, even without your father. But the Canadians do not obey their monarch the same way, and the Americans don't have a king at all."
"That is true." Pina nodded. She had thought about it a great deal. Some of it she kept to herself, as she was starting to suspect that NATO was spying on her, but she wasn't sure how they were doing so yet. Certainly, she would be doing the same in their shoes, but she had been provided with no servants, relying on the ones she had brought. "However, consider this: The King may be amenable to a deal that bolsters his position, and he still wields some power. In addition, there are other nations that are not closely aligned with Canada and NATO. Were a treaty broken easily, it would undermine the trust that other nations have in Canada and the US."
"But…"
"The US is a slightly different problem, yes," Pina admitted. "Fortunately, I realised something. They are much like the merchant republics that exist in Falmart. We merely need to identify during the talks who are the real players. If we support them, so that they have an easier time staying in power, then they are more likely to be friendly with us. Best of all, the US only has two major parties. We merely need to determine who in those parties are significant."
Hamilton sighed.
"You make it sound easy."
Pina winced.
"I know. It's far easier than it sounds, and we haven't looked closely at the other NATO nations that are involved. That Germany was less than a century ago the enemy of the world still leaves me confused as to how they gained so much power in the current era." The Saderan princess sighed. "Not to mention, we still aren't sure what they will want. I may have to swallow my pride, and reach out to Sir Richard, as he seems close to the King, having been elevated recently."
"Unless he is in the favour of one of Canada's or the United Kingdom's parties." Hamilton pointed out. "He might still be useful, but if we are seeking to support the King against them…"
Pina nodded at the point. She frowned as she heard a rumble. A moment later, she gasped as a massive machine raced down the steel rails laid down the inside of the Gate, not too far from where the car was driving.
She stared as it went by, pulling many box-shaped carts, and tanks for carrying liquid.
"Hamilton," Pina said to her equally dumbfounded aide. "How many of those boxes were being carried?"
"I'm not sure your highness…" Hamilton said, slipping into formality in her shock. "But I think I saw twenty. And they could be used to carry troops, or supplies, or weapons…"
"Exactly," Pina blanched. "They could move stockpiled of supplies with ease if they established those steel roads… and if they can make so many things out of metal… then the only thing stopping them from building a steel road to Sadera is how fast their soldiers or engineers could build it."
"And that was only one of them… during a ceasefire. We haven't seen any of them while we were at Alnus, have we, your highness?"
"Not that I can recall, and I doubt I would forget such a sight…" Pina frowned, catching on to Hamilton's point. "They aren't building up stashes for an attack because they don't need to. They simply won't be able to outrun their supply lines."
Pina flinched at the sudden light, as the car exited the Gate. She blinked as another car passed them, entering the Gate, and she caught sight of Richard and Tara in the back of the vehicle through the glass.
"I think we passed the princess when we entered the Gate," Tara said, as the car pulled into Alnus.
"Really?" Richard blinked. "Huh."
As the car came to a stop, he helped the driver pull luggage from the trunk of the car. Richard blinked as a US soldier stepped in to help carry some of the luggage.
"Heard what you did, back in the initial attack. Brave. Stupid, but brave." The soldier said. "Corporal Philip Fields."
Richard shook the offered hand.
"Richard, but you probably knew that."
"Ah, ah, ah!" Another US soldier came running up. "It's Sir Richard now, isn't it? That's how it works, right, when you Brits knight someone?"
"I'm Canadian, and I think that's only in formal settings," Richard replied. "And you are?"
"Ah, sorry. Corporal Harry Thomas." Harry said, wearing a shit-eating grin. "Here, I might as well help your lady friend, her majesty, the presumptive Queen of her people."
"I can carry it." Tara glared at Corporal Thomas.
"Oh, but it's poor form to make a queen carry her own luggage!" Harry joked. "Isn't that right Fifi?"
"Fifi?" Richard gave Philip a confused and mildly amused look.
"If either of you hit him, I saw nothing," Philip said, setting the luggage down on the front steps of Richard's loaned house.
"Aw, I know you love me, Fifi." Corporal Thomas grinned. "Anyway, I'll leave you two alone. I bet that you two would get together! Also, we have patrol in an hour."
"Hey, Philip!" Tara yelled to the more reserved corporal. "You can let whoever bet against us getting together that the bet was interfered with. We were only given one room by whoever set up the trip."
Harry's face twisted into a look of horror.
"No! No! Say it isn't so!"
"It was only twenty dollars. C'mon Archie Karas, we got patrol." Philip said, grabbing the overly dramatic corporal by the scruff of his neck and dragging him off.
Richard and Tara shared a laugh before they hauled the luggage into his house.
Bouro slid the knife underneath the wax seal.
He wasn't worried about the tampering being detected, when it was eventually delivered, as he had paid off the right people, and had blackmail on the ones he hadn't. Emperors did not open their own mail, even from their favoured daughters.
There wasn't a thing that happened in the capital that Bouro didn't know of. His people didn't officially exist according to Imperial Law. It meant they only had the protections they could win themselves, but that also meant they were ignored by most of the political factions. You'd be surprised what you can overhear when people discount you as a threat.
True, there were a few that had realised the threat the Haryo could pose, but they were few, and easily disposed of, or were in the Haryo's pocket.
As Bouro unfolded the letter, he found himself content in the current situation. The loss of several legions to the invaders from the Gate was troublesome, but barbarians had to chance against the whole empire. And if the infighting started to get to be a problem, well, Bouro knew which horses to back. Molt was canny enough to lead the Empire, but he needed their spies. Zorzal was an idiot easily led by the nose, a perfect puppet until one of theirs could be placed on the throne.
It was a simple plan, one used by many nobles for longer than the Empire had lasted. Get a member of your house into the family, ideally an illegitimate child legitimised by the father, and remove any other potential claimants.
Bouro grinned.
Tyuule thought that the Haryo planned to use her and Zorzal's child, once she conceived. The idiot bitch didn't realise it had not only been his funds and spies that had hired the shapeshifters for Zorzal but that he had wanted the Prince's ego stroked to make him more malleable once they found one of their own that was to his tastes while being smart enough to manipulate him.
Oh, Tyuule was smart enough, but Warrior Bunnies were problematic for chimaera like Bouro. Whatever they mated with was always a Warrior Bunny, no matter the father. It meant that they could produce no chimaera. It would mean none of their kind would be on the throne through her.
Thus, Tyuule was just a pawn to Bouro.
He frowned, reading Pina's recently arrived letter from Italica. He scoffed at her reports of the otherworlder's capabilities. The idea that they had flying creatures capable of wiping out armies was absurd. Not even the gods could claim they could do that, not in an instant.
It made no difference to Bouro. So, he refolded the letter to be delivered to Molt.
In his mind, his plan was flawless. Once he controlled Sadera, he could bring the other chimaera groups to heel under his rule.
Bouro was a man that desired power. He would not lie about that, not to himself. He would sacrifice anything to achieve that, though he was certain he would be satisfied with being the puppet master, rather than ruling directly.
His mixed features of elf, orc, dwarf, and who knew what else, twisted into a smile.
Yes, he was confident that once he controlled Sadera and the Imperial family, it would be only a matter of time until the other noble families were replaced with his people, and the entire world would be his.
That his people might be as homogenous as their blood never occurred to him.