A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

Cliff House, Kaliburg, 7:45pm local

The Ministers slowly shuffled into the room. In attendance were Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto, Her Highness the Princess Margaret Ananto-DeLaurentis, Chancellor of the Empire, Lady Jennifer Alvarez-Miller, Minister of Internal Affairs Katherine Sorenson, Minister of Justice the Honorable Gale Wilson and Minister of Defense Commander George Martinez. At the foot of the table sat Lady Marian Southern, Her Imperial Majesty's Personal Secretary, who was typing notes into a transcription machine.

"I believe we are all here," said Princess Margaret. It was clear that she had been appointed chair of the Meeting by the Empress.

"No we are not all here," said the Chancellor. "I'm missing half the cabinet. And what the fuck was that speech, Your Imperial Majesty? Huh? What the hell? Why would you do that? Why wouldn't you talk to me? For like two weeks..."

"Calm down, Lady Jennifer."

"You can shut up, Princess," said a livid Chancellor. "This ain't about you. This is between me and your sister, who just stabbed us all in the back."

"Madame, I am asking you, please take a breath," said the Princess, aware that the Chancellor was already treading in dangerous waters. She tried to remain as level headed as she could while trying to de-escallate the Chancellor. The other ministers sat, almost too scared to intervene or even breathe.

"No goddamn it. I want some answers," demanded the Chancellor. "She sold us out. She sold us all out. We put our reputations on the line with this democracy, and she comes in and one fell swoop, just cuts all of our throats."

"Jennifer, please. Let's not be dramatic," said the Princess once more. "Democracy was only ever an experiment, you knew that. She just ended it early... Now just..."

The Princess was cut off, "If you tell me to calm down one more time, I swear I'll..." There was a gasp from the other ministers. The implied threat, coming from a devout Brethrenist, after what the Empress had just said on the television... and now the Chancellor...

"Jennifer, our friend and sister," said Her Imperial Majesty from her seat along the wall. "We request your indulgence for a mere five minutes while our Sister, the Princess lets you know our mind." The Empress seemed ascerbic on the television, biting, sarcastic and bitter. Now, a little more than an hour later, she was calm and serene, and almost soothing.

Jennifer sat back folded her arms, and looked at the other ministers. "Fine. Five Minutes, and then I am resigning." Margaret nodded.

"Jennifer. My sister is correct. Democracy has run its course in Kalistan. It has become dangerous in our nation, given the virulent rhetoric being tossed about in the papers. There are open calls for revolution and guillotining. Among many other things."

The Chancellor sat up and looked at the Princess. "What other things?"

Margaret let a slight shake of the head, as if she was unwilling to say anything, and was trying to communicate that to the Chancellor.

"What other things?" repeated the Chancellor.

The Princess took a breath. And then she pulled a file folder from under the desk, and handed it, still closed to the Chancellor. Lady Alvarez opened it slowly, and inside was a dozen photos. She leafed through them, closed the folder and handed it back to the Princess.

"You know who he is, right?" asked Princess Margaret. Lady Alvarez nodded silently. "You know where he is right?" Lady Alvarez nodded once again. A tear came to her eye. She looked at Princess Margaret, almost pleadingly.

"Meg... I. I was weak, and I was alone. And it just kind of happened, and I... I didn't know what to say... it was... he just... asked me and I..."

"Don't worry about it, Lady Alvarez. We know how you answered. She believes you to be loyal, and she considers you as a member of our family. But we can't allow that sort of thing in this country. It never would have happened before we liberalized... But we don't have any way of controlling things like this while we are open. Do you understand?"

Lady Alvarez buried her face in her hands and sobbed. The other ministers looked at one another, but nobody dared utter a word.

"Madame, We love you as we love our own sister, and nothing more will be said about this," said the Empress. "But to protect our selves, to protect our loved ones, and to protect this nation, we can no longer allow this nation to remain open like this. You know what he did... what he almost did... and now he is nothing."

"What can I do to make this up to you, Your Imperial Majesty?" asked the Chancellor.

"Madame, you need to restore the Single Party Act," said Princess Margaret. "The PL is history, but there are a dozen Parties just like it waiting to take its place on both sides. And they are worse. If we allow them to proliferate, it won't be just dealing with one or two individuals. It will be dealing with whole armies. Democracy in this nation is not so important as Order, and as adults, we have to learn when things have gone too far, and stop being so sentimental about romantic notions that everyone is just good and wise and honest. We got this one: How many others are waiting to take his place?"

"How do you intend to get others to go along with this?" asked Judge Wilson, the Justice Minister.

"Well, simple," said the Empress. "Just blame us. Our reputation is already in the gutter. Gaduridos is already going the way of Lodamun and completely ignoring the Empire while it writes treaties with Majatra, of all places. Literally all the Liberals and the Revolutionary Socialists hate our guts. The rest of the world more or less shuns us and treats us as the sad case of poor Kalistan, languishing under a divorced and spurned lesbian Empress. It really can't get any worse. So Sir, if our government needs someone to blame, just blame the Empress. The best part about it is: We are institutionally immune from criticism. We don't have to worry about what the people think of us. Its a blessing and a curse, really. But no matter what we did, we couldn't stop some hateful nutjob from trying to kill us in our own home. We can't please everyone all the time, but we can help you by deflecting some of the hate that would likely be directed at you otherwise."

Lady Alvarez shook her head. "My Lady, I would never do that to you."

Mary smiled gently. "Oh, its ok. I think cancelling Yule for millions of liberals was about the worst thing a person could do. But reminding people of Lese Majestie will probably buy you a few months. Pass the law right out the gate. We believe we can drum up some support on the left to support you in passage of the bill. They'll be yours to contend with eventually, because they will have to rejoin your Party, but tell them that the Empress always remembers her debts, and always repays them. And the troublemakers will either go along or get out of the Government, where we will keep tabs on them out in the world."

"Madame," stammered Lady Alvarez. "I... I don't really... Like how will I..."

"Lady Alvarez," said Princess Margaret. "Your Empress has told you what you and her government will do. You aren't so fresh that you don't remember how this works. We're going back to the old school. And don't worry about Mary. She's almost 50. She knows the kayfabe of politics." Margaret leaned in and put her hand gently on the Chancellor's hand. "We have your back, in this and in all things. Do you understand?"

By we, The Chancellor knew that Margaret meant several things. She didn't use we the same way the Empress did. By "we" she meant her and her sister individually. But also the entire Royal Institution. And the entire IBSI, and the entire nation. And, probably five other groups that Lady Alvarez couldn't even imagine. She nodded.

"Now, that business is concluded. Her Imperial Majesty would like you to call the rest of the Government here tonight so we can brief them and decide how we will handle this Istalian visit."

The switch in tone was jarring to several of the ministers present, who didn't often deal with one of the Ananto sisters, let alone both of them at the same time. They attempted to ask questions about what had just transpired, but Margaret waived them off with a simple comment, "While we wait, who wants tea and cookies?"