A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

Cliff Offices, South Western Kaliburg
0913 local time

The Empress was beginning her day at her personal offices. Her first appointment for the morning was with the Chancellor, whom she was calling in to discuss the bidding process in New Englia.

Lady Renee Houston, Her Imperial Majesty's private secretary, buzzed into the office. "Madame, the Chancellor has arrived," She was late. The Empress hit the intercom. "Please show her in Lady Houston." The door buzzed and opened and in walked the new hardline Nationalist Chancellor. She bowed low and remained bowed, until the Empress bade her to take a seat. Meetings between these two were always cold, and the Empress did not relish this one. The Empress stood as the Chancellor made her way to the seat which was her appointed place during these meetings.

The Empress knew to not even ask if the Chancellor would like tea, she would just be met by a cold, passionless "no." So the Empress had, of late been going to prepare the tea without asking- It would be rude for the Chancellor to refuse the tea if offered by the Empress: The Chancellor's personality was a bit overbearing, while the Empress tended to try for peace and accommodation, so this afforded the Empress a little bit of power over the domineering Chancellor, and she was not going to miss her opening move in this ongoing power struggle.

As she brought the tea to the Chancellor and placed it before her on the table, the Chancellor waited until the Empress was seated before she began speaking. The Chancellor did not reach for her tea cup as the Empress took her first sip, but the Empress was certain that the Chancellor was eager to speak, dispatch her business and get on with her day far away from Cliff House. The Empress placed her saucer back onto the table and stared at the Chancellor, who clearly had something on her mind, but the Empress was determined to slow her down.

"Do you not like our tea, Madame?" asked the Empress after the Chancellor did not take her obligatory sip. The Chancellor took that as her cue to start speaking, "If it please Her Imperial Majesty, I need to inform her that we have secured the financing from Bank of Kalistan and Mira..."

"Madame, we asked you a question," said the Empress. "Do you object to our tea?"

"I do not drink... tea..." said the Chancellor scornfully.

"Oh," said the Empress. "But you will. It is our will that you drink every drop of that tea before we conduct our business with you."

"I would prefer to not be drugged by Her Imperial Majesty, if it is all the same," said the Chancellor, politely but firmly. "I have a busy day of actual work ahead of me."

The Empress' smile faded. Today would likely not be the day that we developed a modus vivendi. "Madame, we have not put anything in your tea. It is simply tea, but if the Chancellor wishes to treat this as an informal audience, we would be rude to not oblige her. Now please, take a sip so we may hear your report."

The Chancellor sat a second and considered. She then decided that it would go well for her if she simply humored the Empress. She reached for the cup, pulled it close to her face, let the aromas creep into her nose and did not detect the familiar floral undertones that strongly denoted spiking. Nor did it have any of the cloudiness of opium powder held in suspension. She took a sip, tentatively. It was simply black tea with bergamot. Almost disappointing, she thought- The Empress was off her game. She set the tea cup back onto the saucer and prepared for her report.

"Ah, it seems you still have some tea left, Madame," said the Empress on inspection. "We said every drop. Now, if you please, down with it..."

This powerplay was ridiculous and bordered on humiliation, but the Chancellor begrudgingly picked up the cup and downed the bitter liquid as ordered. The strong tincture of the black tea however gave way to a pleasant citrus flavor which was surprising to the Chancellor. Not enough to ever voluntarily prepare tea for herself--She was a coffee drinker like every good Kalistani and would outlaw tea service in the Informal Audience soon enough. But for now there were more immediate fish to fry.

Placing her cup back on the saucer, this time empty, she began again. "If it please Her Imperial Majesty, our bid has arrived in New Englia, they have..."

"You do not like us, we gather," said the Empress. "May we ask why?"

"I was attempting to present my report to Her Imperial Majesty," responded the Chancellor, hoping to make the report and then move on to the Government report so she could get out of here sooner rather than later.

"Yes, but we are curious why the animosity? Did we wrong you in a previous life?"

"Her Imperial Majesty has done nothing to wrong me personally," said the Chancellor. "Now, if I may continue..."

"It's just that we know you have spoken very harshly and publicly against us, and we are trying to figure out what we did to deserve that. Does this have to do with Gaduridos? We understand it probably does, you do not have to answer us. But if we are going to continue this, it will be a long 25 years, for us both, and it is our desire to not have to slog through a quarter century as enemies when we would prefer you to be, if not our friend, at least our trusted advisor and first minister without the hostility and the, quite honestly, silly power moves."

"The grievances I bear against the policies of Her Imperial Majesty are myriad," said the Chancellor. "But I would simply like to present my report so I may continue my day."

"Madame," said the Empress, "You may refer to us directly, please."

"If it please Her Imperial Majesty, this would be illegal, and would wind me up in jeopardy," said the Chancellor. "It is Her Imperial Majesty's law, and violating it would give cause to have me arrested."

"Nonetheless, you will address us directly," said the Empress.

"As I have told Her Imperial Majesty before, I will not violate the law. If she wishes me to do this, she may show me the courtesy of inducting me into the Grey Smoke, as she has previous Chancellors. Or she may change her law, but if she does that for me, she should do it for all, for it to be just." The Chancellor knew she had once more defied a direct command from her Empress. She knew she was right, but she also knew that disobeying a direct command from the Empress, whose breath is literally the source of all law, could in and of itself be a violation of the law.

The Empress sat silently and stared at the Chancellor, but it was clear that the Chancellor was not going to be moved on this point. The Empress decided not to fight the point. "Please proceed with your report, Chancellor."

But the Chancellor, who could not slow her heart rate down, took a breath. "One moment, please," she said, as she began to sweat. Suddenly her throat became dry. She had a hard time swallowing. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps the Empress had indeed slipped something into her drink, but then she remembered, this is what an anxiety attack felt like. She breathed deeply to try to get on top of the anxiety, but she could feel her throat begin to tighten. She tried to cough to loosen up the muscles. The Empress immediately sprang to her feet and went over to grab a pitcher of ice water and she hurried back and poured the water in the empty tea cup, and gave it to the Chancellor, who drank it, maybe a little too quickly, so a little of it went down the wrong pipe. The Empress slapped her on the back, and suddenly, the tension released, and the air came once more. She breathed a deep gulp of oxygen and coughed several times, and drank more water, and the Empress was on hand to refill her cup.

"Madame, are you ok? Do I need to call an ambulance for you?" said the Empress.

"No, Ma'am, I think I may have just had an asthma attack or a panic attack or something... I have an inhaler in my car, but I don't need it just now, I will be fine."

The Empress spent a moment rubbing the Chancellor's back to try to calm her. The Chancellor, who felt a little embarrassed realized that she had indeed spoken directly to the Empress. "I request Her Imperial Majesty's pardon for violation of the Protocol. I wasn't completely in my own head just then."

The Empress said, "Well, you also allowed yourself within 15 feet of us, which is also technically a violation, but in confession, we used first person pronouns. So I suppose this makes us equal violators of the law. Perhaps we just say it is a wash." The Chancellor, still looking at the ground and still trying to clear her lungs, smiled, and coughed again.

"We are not equals," said the Chancellor. "Kalistan needs its Empress to be better than the rest of us, or this whole thing goes away. And what would we be left with then? A Republic?" She smiled again at the ridiculous idea. "I'd rather die," she said very honestly and wryly.

"Are you quite sure you are ok, Lady Alvarez?"

"I thank Her Imperial Majesty for her concern, but I think I will be fine." She got one more refill from the Empress.

"Then we shall hear your report, Madame Chancellor. You've been punished enough." The Chancellor bristled a bit at what the Empress said, but for the first time, she felt she could let it go and get on with her business.

"If it please Her Imperial Majesty, we have sent our bid to Petroenglia for the control over their oil fields, as Her Imperial Majesty has commanded us. We have locked on financing for the bid from Bank of Kalistan here in Kaliburg, as well as several institutional investors, which as She no doubt is aware, Miramar who itself can probably top any reasonable bid out there. We want to make sure we aren't just throwing money away, but it is Her Imperial Majesty's desire to close the spickets and cap the wells on the formation so that the fields sit idle as long as the concession lasts. The Finance Minister says that we can set up a foundation to maintain the concession in perpetuity if we win the bid. Currently I think the main competitors are Egelion and Luthori, but there may be others who have not been so obvious in their interest, and I expect perhaps another couple to jump into the bidding. The Offering closes in 5713, so we have two years to make our case to the Englians..."

"What are our chances?" asked the Empress.

"Better than zero," said the Chancellor. "But otherwise its unclear. We were not even asked to participate at the beginning. Dovani, Luthorian and Egelian interests have the best shot at succeeding, and they all pretty much want to exploit the oil there. Kalistan is the only ones who are suggesting that this Oil should not be used. I admit, it was a confusing command that Her Imperial Majesty gave to put in the bid, from an investment standpoint, but if we are serious about environmental conservation, it certainly makes more sense. The bid is at least on the table."

"We thank the Chancellor for accomplishing that so quickly and thoroughly. The only thing we can do now is wait," said the Empress.

"Perhaps that is not all we can do," said the Chancellor. "Sometimes people will advertise to try to tip public perception one way or another in these types of scenarios."

The Empress thought a bit. "We hope you will tell us about this when the time comes."

"As Her Imperial Majesty wishes."

The Empress sat quietly in thought. "Madame, We shall let you continue your report in one more second, but we would like to invite you to our home this week for dinner. We would like to speak with you more informally."

"I wouldn't presume," said the Chancellor. "I have no place in Her Imperial Majesty's home."

"Lady Alvarez, we are both members of the Society of Brethren, we both attend the same meeting," said the Empress. "Perhaps you can set aside your feelings and eat with us as Friends."

"I shall consider Her Imperial Majesty's request, and hope it is made in good faith."

"It has been Madame," said the Empress.