The Eacusian War (IC/Meillur)

[Dutch-Empire]

Manumaile, Aogau
April 3, 2085

The Dutch did not take kindly to being lead on a chase, however brief. Corporal van Scheerven would have liked to have cut the spy down were he stood, she had given him enough mercy the first time. But he had surrendered, and this time there were more soldiers to take him. One of the other officers, Jasmijn Nieuwkamp grabbed the spy’s hand and securing them in place with restraints. Another, Lowie Geerling patted him down, discovering several weapons and quickly relieving him of such weapons, and communication devices, handing those over to van Scheerven, before gagging him and placing a sack over his face.,

It was a quiet, swiftly and joyless action, the entire time with several guns and a tank pointed at the spy. One they held him they less than gently threw him into the back seat on one of the trucks sent by Major Wesup to take him, and two guards, van Scheerven and Nieuwkamp, who held their guns to the spy’s head and groin respectively. The trip to Manumaile was swift and upon arrival, Wesup, understanding that he was a spy and aggressive, ordered a room in the Dutch make detention center, made out of the Aogaian town jail, cleared for him to be locked up alone. They would question him in the morning.

---

April 4, 2085
En route to Kasar

Mert Lucas, a member of the crew of the Nederlandse Maagd, used to serving aboard the royal yacht when it was serving as a yacht and not a ferry of military operations, entered the prince’s chambers to find Prince Christaan leisurely playing cards with his sister, Princess Stéphanie and her fiancé Prince Jonatan of Racraigua. Lucas cleared his throat politely.

“Your Imperial Highness, an official message has been sent out in distress.”

“Distress?” Princess Stéphanie didn’t look up from her cards as she responded before her brother. Lucas looked between Stéphanie and Christaan, who both looked very engrossed in their game. Or more accurately, desperately engaged, as if it was their only safeguard against boredom. Neither one of them seem to be distressed.

“Um. Yes, Your Imperial Highness.” Lucas said with a bow towards the princess. The Prince never seem to care. His sister was a far different story.

“We have experienced engine failure.” Christaan offered. “We won’t be able to stay in the air much longer. We might all soon crash and burn.” He said it conversationally, as if discussing the weather.

“How inconvenient.” Was all the princess replied.

“We’ll have to land for prepares. A more urgent matter.” Christaan certainly didn’t sound urgent.

“Shall we return to Boston?” Stéphanie offered, playing a card.

“Too far. We’d never make it at this point.”

“Turn to Gênes?” This suggestion sounded the most responsible to Lucas, with the Gênoise being the most equipped to help.

“We’d be heading in the opposite direction. No.” Christaan finally looked up at Lucas, a bright glint in his golden eyes. Lucas pondered for a moment that perhaps behind the bored and disinterested facade that the prince wore, there was a dynamic and brillant mind behind it. “Mr. Lucas, do you know any place that would be able to help us on such short notice and meets our requirements?”

Lucas shook his head, unsure with Gênes or New England out of the running.

“I do.” Christaan said, a smile finally coming to his face. “A place recently wealthy with all the equipment and supplies that could help such a cruiser. Set a course for Kasar.”

“Kasar... Kegara?” Lucas asked hesitantly.

Stéphanie rolled her eyes at him. “No, Kasar, Catorana.” Clear and harsh sarcasm. Lucas decided best to leave now. He bowed, retreating from the room. As he closed the door behind him, he could hear a small cheer as the prince won their round of cards.

---

Manumaile, Occupied-Aogau

Major Wesup ordered for Second Lieutenant van Veere, the name that the young man who had shot down General Faamate’s tank went by, to check on the spy. They hadn’t wished to let the spy in contact with the rest of the captured soldiers, of which there were more than they had expected. van Veere stepped in front of the cell of the spy flanked by two guards, a bottle of water in his hand.

[Nekata]

Ren sat cross-legged silently meditating, he was praying to Hachiman. He was nervous, out of reach of the Astral Empire, he might not be able to be saved, nor may the Emperor be willing to save him. Then three men entered the cell, the center one was clearly in charge, as the other two kept glancing at him. "こんにちは、どなたでしょうか？" He hoped this went well, he supposed that he would have to explain the Astral Empire total his captors at one point, which may actually help the empire forge ties between the two.

___________

Emperor Hiro sighed, this was frustrating, his scout had been captured, he had ordered his scout to be captured in all honesty, he did not want to sacrifice a good warrior in vain so he told him to save himself the best way he could. In the mean time he would watch and wait, The Astral Empire was patient, their generations in space had seen to that.

[Dutch-Empire]

The man going by the name of van Veere, had to hold back a look of disgust. Barely an adult, was darker in complextion than the other soldiers, his face younger though he had the build of a rugby player, he carried himself with an air of practiced command and control in spite of this as he set the bottle down in front of the man. He, looked up and down at the man while the two other soldiers stood ready should anything happen to the second lieutenant.

The second lieutenant was better with languages than most of the soldiers, made to learn many by strict tutors. He quickly decided that the assessment that he was a Seidanese spy was wrong. This man wasn’t from Seidang. The languages didn’t match, though to the untrained war they probably sounded similar. That did not make him relax. He did recognize one of the words that the man said. It seemed to be a strange dialect of Asakuese perhaps? The second lieutenant could somewhat understand him. It was a greeting.

“こんにちは.” The second lieutenant repeated. “Hallo.” He repeated the word in Dutch, before continuing in Dutch. “wie stuurde je?”

He could imagine that he was sent by the Duke of Alençon, who was known to have an affinity for Asakura. But it seemed uncharacteristic of him. In all of his studies, he had been taught that the Duke’s method of attack was, while showy and bold, generally rather straightforward. If he was going to send people it generally wasn’t going to be for spying. Perhaps he wasn’t a spy. Perhaps he was an assassin? Sent to strike at Dutch leadership what with so many important individuals making plans from the frontlines.

[Kegara]

Controller Ashon Tianwana of the Port of Rukiya to Kasar was informed, through the strict bureaucracy that governed Kegara, of the Dutch royal yacht that, wished to dock for time in order to tend to repairs. It was a strange and unprecedented request. Port Rukiya-to-Kasar had few visitors from other nations, most who sailed the sea were not destined for Kegara. However, Kegara, while never really taking a noted spot on the world stage, was not mindlessly blind to the events that unfolded around them. All of the nation had for months now been watching the events in Dattan, and then later to the events in the Gulf of Matadi. A large Dutch ship stopping in the port could easily be deduced to be heading eastwards to the theatre of warfare. The message was sent up through the chain of command. After some time, the reply came back to Controller Tianwana. Allow for them to dock.

[Dutch-Empire]

The Nederlandse Maagd touched down in the sea before the Port of Rukiya-to-Kasar gracefully, slipping into the water like a dolphin splashing back down into the water, though of course the yacht merely sailed along itse surface though it could potentially dive down underneath it. As it came into the port, Prince Christaan and a trusted few prepared to disembark. There was business to attend to.

[Nekata]

Ren was confused, the man was saying something clearly, but he could not understand, although he had understood the man's greeting a parroted attempt to communicate. He raised an eyebrow at the man, to show confusion. He then sighed and rolled his sleeve up slowly, to reveal a tattoo of a lotus flower underneath, within it was a simple code, binary in nature that all warriors had in the Astral Empire it was designed to explain who the warrior was, who he served, and other basic information about him, however it was only to be shown in dire circumstances, as it could easily be used to identify officers and other high ranks in future conflicts, Ren hoped he was making the right decision by showing it to his captors.

[Dutch-Empire]

The second lieutenant sighed. He seem to understand his basic Asakuese, but not Dutch. Why didn’t the rest of the world learn Dutch like civilized people? He watched as the man sighed as well and rolled up his sleeve. looked over the tattoo. He recognized the code as binary, and ordered one of the soldiers to take a picture of the tattoo, telling him to take the picture to one of the techies.

The second lieutenant tried again in practiced though accented Asakuese.

“誰があなたを送った?”

[Nekata]

Ren perked up slightly, his accent was very inappropriate however understandable at least, "アストラル帝国、彼の栄光皇帝ヒロ" he said. He was finally getting somewhere, maybe this would go somewhere.

[Dutch-Empire]

Port Rukiya-to-Kasar, Kegara

The Nederlandse Maagd touched down into the waters of Port Rukiya-to-Kasar with a gracefulmand natural splash, slicing through the ocean’s wave as smoothly as a knife cutting warm butter. The large cruiser made its way to the docks, while Prince Christaan and a hand full of others prepared to disembark.

---

Manumaile, Occupied-Aogau

The second lieutenant picked apart the words of the man, not sure if he understood entirely. He understood empire and glorious emperor, which sounded like a Deritain thing to say to him, but what was Hiro? Or rather who was Hiro? He didn’t know enough about the Asakuese to make sense of any of their important figures. He was going to need a better translator what with this man’s vocabulary seemingly turning into nonsense at points.

“あなたは公爵に仕えますか？” He tried. If he was in league with the Duke, the Empress would want his head on a block.

[Nekata]

Ren was confused by the question, he knew no duke, so how could he serve him. He shook his head and repeated that he served Emperor Hiro.


_______________

Princess Aiko sighed, she had left her father's side and gone to her tea room. It was small and qaint, simple decorations gave the room life, but her favorite feature was the massive ocular screen that allowed her to see the whole of Ten Shi their capital. It was massive holding around ten million of their thirty million subjects the rest being on smaller ships that depend on the capital for power, safety and food. It was a beautiful mess, their empire was constantly moving and growing, even now they were building a new fleet of ships to accommodate their growing population. She hoped they could support the rapid growth, her brothers argued over whether their tech was out of date or if their armies were big enough she was more worried with her father's subjects wellbeing. She sighed and sipped her tea.

[Kegara]

Port Rukiya-to-Kasar, Kegara

Controller Tianwana himself came down to the docks as the Nederlandse Maagd found its way into the port. It was one of the largest vessels in the port, comparable to the mighty container ships that usually dominated the important port. Controller Tianwana was a small man, standing at 4' 8" tall, his skin tanned by the Kegaran sun. His facial features betray led a very meek feel about him. A particularly notable feature is his lazy eye.

He had an angular face. His brown eyes were narrow and he had thick eyebrows. His black hair was elbow-length and curly, and worn in dreadlocks, and he punctuated it with an unkempt beard. Despite the controller’s small stature, he had slanted shoulders, muscular arms, a powerful torso, a non-existent waist, though small legs. He pushed a finger againstthe frame of his glass up the bridge of his a well-formed nose.

Controller Tianwana stood out against a team of port workers and guards in a brillant orange and green kaftan while they wore camouflage and simple gray uniforms. Controller Tianwana had been tasked with informing the Dutch of the rules of their usage of their port. He intended to instruct them and see quickly to their departure.

[Dutch-Empire]

“Vertel de waarheid.” The second lieutenant snapped, annoyed by the Asakuese nonsense. He contemplated having a more aggressive approach towards the prisoner. Before he could order such a thing. The second soldier tapped him on the shoulder. He spoke softly in his ear, explaining that the code had been decoded. But none of its information made sense. Well. Not the part about serving a empire ruled by a man named Hiro. This was very suspicious.

The second lieutenant looked down at the man.

“なぜあなたはここにいるのですか?”

---

Prince Christaan descended from the Nederlandse Maagd with much the same motions that he had descended in Boston. Though now, his entourage was not a gaggle of court ladies, but of armed men. Dressed once again in the empire’s style, his boots shiny black , trousers the color of midnight, gun holsters strapped to his sides and his tunic-jacket today dark black with golden buttons, his mother’s golden rose still embroidered on the high collar.

Prince Christaan approached Controller Tianwana and his own retinue. The prince gave a polite smile at the little man. He spoke in accentless Deritain, the usual lingua franca. He spoke, looking away from the little ornately dress man towards the other ships in the port.

“We have come here to request time to prepare our ship for a week. I trust that we shall be swift and able to leave by then.”

[Kegara]

Controller Tianwana looked disapprovingly at the Dutch prince, recognizing both his face and the language he spoke. A popular second language in Kegara, though not as popular as Tamizhar, so Controller Tianwana could speak it back to the prince.

“Your Royal Highness. I am afraid that is impossible.” Controller Tianwana snapped his fingers and one of his men handed him a paper, which he presented to Prince Christaan. “You and your crew have been permitted one day to stay here in the Port, tend to your ship and then depart. You are not to leave the port, you are not to extend your stay so much as one second past your twenty-four hours here.” Controller Tianwana delivered this triumphantly. “You will find our conditions are protected by international law.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Prince Christaan barely glanced at the document in Controller Tianwana’s hands. His voice was calm, casual. His eyes stayed on the other ships in the port, carefully taking note of the large containers.

“Do forgive, but doesn’t such an arrangement in international law require that the country that imposes such a section of The Hague Convention require that that nation be neutral?”

[Kegara]

Controller Tianwana lowered the document in his hand, somewhat crest fallen. This was not the response that he had been expecting. He followed Prince Christaan’s gaze towards one of the other ships that was in the port, cranes lifting brightly colored containers onto a freight ship methodically. Controller Tianwana felt his pulse quicken.

“Kegara is neutral.” Controller Tianwana insisted. “There is no state of war between us and the Dutch and their war with the Anti-Dutch League, or the Carlists. We have no interests in such affairs. Now, I suggest that you tend to your ship’s repairs and go. You have only a limited time. Your Highness.”

[Nekata]

Ren smiled, finally a question he could answer, "惑星住人とその能力について学ぶために" he stated simply. These planet dwellers were strange and violent but they seemed reasonable in conversation, perhaps they could even become allies. The Astral Empire had found the best way to befriend someone was usually through companionship in battle. There was honor in war and friendship in honor.

[Dutch-Empire]

Prince Christaan let a small laugh and finally looked at Controller Tianwana. There was no humor in his eyes. It was true that there had been no formal declaration of war by the Kegaran government against his mother’s own, but he would hardly, given what he knew, say that the Kegarans were neutral. Had he been a different man he might have thrown this observation in this port controller’s face. Part of him wanted to. He didn’t. Instead he chose to change his tactic.

“I wish to see His Majesty.”

---

The second lieutenant gave a small smile. Was this made deranged? Planet dwellers? He wasn’t sure he had heard him correctly. If not for the information in the code and the fact that he had attacked a soldier, would have released this man on account of insanity. He did not of course. If he was not a spy for the Duke, he was still clearly a spy. Spies could, when used correctly, could be beneficial, sometimes for those sent them and sometimes for those they were observing.

“Dan heb je nog niets gezien.” He then switched. “あなたの報告?”

[Kegara]

Controller Tianwana let out a laugh. He looked over his shoulder at the men around him. “Anataka kumwona Mfalme.” The men all burst into laughter. It was clearly the most ridiculous thing that he or any of them had ever heard. When Controller Tianwana could finally speak again he looked back up at the prince.

“Who are you, foreigner, to come here and demand to see the King? Ha! No one sees the king, especially not you.” Had the Dutch no respect for the layers of authority? The bureaucracy commanded the nation, every thing had its place and its do time of things. No one was to disturb this carefully crafted body. Mungo help this foolish prince.

[Nekata]

Ren cocked his head, confused. He couldn't quite understand this man's dialect. It sounded like he had asked him for a report, he could mean about the planet dwellers but why would he want to know that, it wasn't for him, it was for the Emperor he supposed he would answer. "すでに与えられた、皇帝はかなり知らされるべきです" he said with a smile.

[Racraigua]

Prince Jonatan of Racraigua stepped forward. The Racraiguan armored mask that covered soldier's faces, retracted from his face, though he still stood in a military body sleeve with armor. The eldest grandson of the King of Racraigua, the elderly Jonatan XI, the prince was a decade older than Prince Christaan, his future brother-in-law and had been raised for a throne as Christaan had not. Yet Jonatan had, till now, followed quietly the leadership of the Dutch prince. But here, Jonatan, though knowing how clever the Wessex bloodline was, decided that he needed to step in if they were to continue forward smoothly. He looked down at Controller Tianwana with blue eyes like steel and disapprovingly.

"We have a letter of credence."

[Kegara]

Controller Tianwana turned to the older man, thrown off by his comment. He paused, his laughter and thus those of the men behind him well into silence. Tianwana was not qualified to response to such a statement but he didn't wish to simply let that switch how he continued forward. Tianwana interlocked his fingers hesitantly.

"From who? Who is your ambassador? Why was their arrival not given to us before hand?"

[Racraigua]

“From the King of Racraigua.”

Prince Jonatan lied. He was surprised at himself at how well the lie came out of him. Stéphanie would be proud of him. He gestured at himself imperiously. He found it easy to take up the role of a self important prince in the face of this equally self-important dwarf bureaucrat.

“I am his ambassador. And as demanded by international etiquette, I must present the letter to His Majesty. Unless of course you would like to be the one held responsible for a diplomatic slight by Kegara against Racraigua.”

[Dutch-Empire]

The second lieutenant struggled to comprehend. His vocabulary tried to expand to understand the man. He was forced to fill in the gaps. The man had not answered as he had desired. He didn’t like this circling dance of words and miscommunication that they were making. He looked to the soldier who had played fetch for him before.

“Bring me a knife. A long one.”

The soldier nodded and went to go fetch it. He looked back at the man.

“あなたの報告.” He said once again. It was no longer a question. It was a demand.

---

Christaan looked at Jonatan, a smirk threatening to break his bored look. He was impressed. Christaan had had a somewhat more straight forward plan, but this could work. He looked down at Controller Tianwana.

“And against the Dutch Empire.”

[Kegara]

Controller Tianwana’s color took on a paler tone. He feel into a bow to the two princes.

“I-I,” He stammered slightly as she took a step back. “I will need to discuss this with my superiors.” With that, Controller Tianwansvretreated off of the docks, the guards he had brought following his sweeping movements while the workers threw themselves back into their jobs.

[Nekata]

Ren's eyes narrowed, it was clear that the situation had changed. The man's body language and tone had changed, he seemed to be demanding his report, so this had turned in to an interrogation, a concept that he reviled, Nekatans did not get interrogated, the whole process was considered barbaric, you asked, simple questions and then more complex ones, slowly gathering information from the dance of words, instead of screaming and brute force. He sighed, keeping his body relaxed and raising an eyebrow, "あなたは私を脅かしています、私の報告は単純で、惑星住人は明らかに暴力的です" He smiled, "緑茶はありますか"