Sovereign

“Orland’s Royalist forces advanced further north in pursuit of the Junta’s remnant forces. Members of the Mandate of Nations General Assembly have voted in a landslide majority in support of the actions of the Kingdom of Orland to liberate West Lieplatz from its oppressive tyrants. Princess Celeste von Reintz also issued her statements in regard to the liberation efforts of the Kingdom, stating that she ‘finds it uplifting that justice still exists’ and that Lieplatz’s sisterly nation ‘eventually came into Lieplatz’s aid’.”

- Geopol Press

+++

West Orland

November Palace

February 16, 2025

“She’s here,” Nia said to Amelie. “They’re making their way to your office.”

Amelie took her final sip of her morning tea. She was certainly taking in more and more tea these days. Calming her nerves was certainly a task that the beverage was good at. Especially today that the Princess of Asanai, Yumi Kawasaki, who had just narrowly avoided an assassination early on, was now sent by her mother alongside a group of Asanaian diplomats into a secret high-level diplomatic mission in Orland.

Of course, the diplomats would soon be meeting with Minister Adelaide and her team later at night, where they would actually deliberate the details of whatever they would agree on, but for now, Amelie would get to meet another one of her esteemed peers. Still, at this point, Amelie was so used to meeting foreign royalty that she held nothing but a calm expression.

Even when the door finally arrived.

The Princess was older than Amelie. She was already in her early thirties, with raven black hair that was common in the Asanaian people. She looked at Amelie neutrally, before slightly bowing her head respectfully.

“Your Royal Majesty of Orland, I am Princess Kawasaki Yumi of the Empire of Asanai. I am here to represent my people and government to you. It is an honor to meet you at last.”

Amelie nodded. “At ease. There’s no need for much pleasantries around me, Princess Yumi.”

“As I’ve heard from Princess Xue. You really are quite the humble monarch.”

“You and Princess Xue talk?”

“She visited the Empire a lot during the course of the war to curry support from our nation. Yes, we did meet a lot. And discussed the matters of this global crisis at great length. She also spoke highly of you.”

Amelie felt a bit proud of herself for that. “I see. Well then, please be seated. I’d like to hear what exactly the Empire wants with Orland.”

The Princess was guided by Nia to her seat in front of Amelie’s desk.

“My mother wants a military alliance.”

Amelie was still shuffling her papers to prepare her references for whatever they would talk about when she dropped that bomb. Naturally, Amelie was absolutely surprised about her proposition.

“An…an alliance?”

“It’s pretty clear that the situation would only deteriorate further,” she explained. “What happened to me, alongside the strings of attacks and assassinations against the Imperial Government showed that. We’re sure that someone in the ranks of these…revolutionaries, is trying to destabilize us. We have to act now, or it would be too late.”

“You…now that we’re on that topic, how did…the entire…erm…”

“Assassination go?” The Princess’s face turned even more neutral. “It was a close call, but the Keibitai held them off…narrowly, as I’ve said.”

“I heard the Keibitai suffered heinous casualties.”

“That’s…not far from the truth. Well, it is the truth. The unit that was guarding me suffered eighteen dead women and fourteen wounded. It was…a shock…”

Amelie was now turning even more pale about that. That much…casualties? The Keibitai was an elite mage force similar to the RIU. It was…it was impossible. Marie herself told her that the Keibitai had as much combat power as RIU operatives. The sheer fact that some spec-ops group that was most likely made up of men managed to do that…

“That’s impossible,” Nia muttered before she held her mouth with his hands. “I’m sorry, I spoke out of my station.”

“No worries, Nia, that’s fine.” Amelie waved it off. Nia might be acting stiffer now that a foreign royal was in the room, but Amelie didn’t care about traditionalist nonsense about social station regardless of who was inside her office. Everyone was free to speak their mind, especially her valued friend. “You’re right. That’s… unprecedented, if true…”

“It is true,” the Princess reiterated. “These men…they were different. Their bullets…it was blue. They were wearing strange armor. Worse…they came out of nowhere and completely disappeared without a trace when we overwhelmed them. And there were only at least eight of them when they attacked.”

“Are…are you really supposed to inform us about that now?”

“My mother said that the Orlish Queen should better know about it now. The Keibitai will soon transfer whatever intel they have to your intelligence agencies. We suggest you take further measures to protect yourself. If we lose you…the Mandate of Nations would be headless to act further in this crisis.”

“I see…thanks for the warning then,” Amelie was truly pale at this point. While she had not met these men yet, the mere description given by the Princess was enough to make her shiver. Was it perhaps the OIA? Or another group? She didn’t like this. Something…some faceless organization that was acting in the shadows with possibly advanced technology to fight in such a way.

I really need to expand the RIU. Marie’s agency was growing stronger every day, but now, it seems that she would be having further funds from Orland’s defense budget…because Amelie was quite frankly getting spooked by this entire debacle. And Amelie would rather keep her own head and life intact.

“Have your investigations bore fruit at least?”

“No, it did not,” she replied. “They truly disappeared in the shadows. Much like how they appeared. They also managed to murder at least nine high-ranking nobles of the Imperial Court, and even several high-ranking Generals of the IAAF.”

“They targeted your Army too?”

“General Asai Saori of the 2nd Army was the highest-ranking official that they targeted. It seemed that they wanted to eliminate high-ranking women in our military. It’s deeply disturbing. Some in the Keibitai and even our Prime Minister are blaming men, especially Inspector General of the Armed Forces Kuruba Haru. But the Keibitai’s investigations showed that at the moment, the men of our nation have no connection to it.”

Amelie nodded. “Then it must be foreign agents.”

“Indeed, it’s the current assumption, even if we didn’t get their faces. The armor they wore masked it…so all we know is that they use these…grey power armor-like machines, as my close contacts in the Keibitai call it.”

“Power armor?”

“They moved unnaturally fast while using armor that partially deflected the magical bullets the Keibitai operated. And we also noticed that their strange weapons were attached to it. Must have been where their power pack was.”

So the attackers employed unknown technologies of an advanced nature. Now her worry level was at its highest, and Amelie was starting to feel her paranoia ramp up as a result. Not only were they unknown, but they also had that. Men…men…underground organizations, and all those things. Amelie was worried.

Utterly worried about the implications. Especially when she and the only one who had a proper encounter with them had essentially zero workable intel to identify much less counter them. Her mind was now starting to point at random things to blame.

The OIA.

The Federal Guard.

The Confederation.

The Hebei Republic (but what would they even gain in dragging neutral Asanai into war?!).

Hell, Amelie’s mind randomly pointed to the Asturians. Until she remembered that the reason they were beating her Lorathian and Gallian allies was due to the fact that their armies were just incredibly inept at fighting in the offensive (General Albrecht remarked that they only knew how to fight in the trench lines and it was the OAF’s maneuver warfare doctrine that ultimately won the Great War).

“I see then…” Amelie said. “Truly worrying. We will be taking measures to investigate it and counter it. I’m sure the RIU, NID, and AFI would have something to work on within a few days. Surely. I’m even mobilizing the RGO for it.”

The Princess nodded. “The Royal Guard’s operatives in Asanai have been in touch with the Keibitai since the incident. They’re already investigating the matter globally, they told us.”

“The Archduchess never said anything about it to me,” Amelie said before Nia interrupted.

“She actually sent a report file to your desk,” Nia said. “But you were already asleep last night.”

“Oh…” Amelie sighed. She almost doubted the Archduchess again for that. If there was something Amelie hated, it was her agencies and departments hiding things from her. The OIA’s actions when she worked with them before the Civil War had always been a sore reminder for her. This was why she had always reiterated that each department, agency, and ministry would send every relevant file and report to her desk at all times. “I’ll check it later then.”

“Your Majesty, I hope the talks will be a productive one,” the Princess said. “Perhaps an alliance is not easy, but with the MN Conference soon…you might be able to count on the Empire.”

“That’s great to hear.”

+++

Office of Preventative Measures

“Had I expected a new job, this is certainly not it,” William said, as Amelie handed him the files for the newly formed agency.

“I’m sorry, but Director William Porter, your skills at managing JTF-Ludendorf would be needed for the missions of this agency,” Amelie said with a smile, as Nia laughed. William however merely groaned. “And due to its rushed creation, I chose you. Plus, you’re exceptionally good at organizing things without existing protocols.”

“Fine, fine…whatever. I expected more tasks outside of guarding you anyway,” he sighed, as he flipped through the file. “So my job is essentially surveillance and pre-emptive actions against ‘any potential threat to the Orlish State’ and to develop counters to it? That’s vague and…it covers a wide field.”

“Exactly,” Amelie said. “You’ll be working closely with Director Wittfield of the RIU, the NID, and the AFI for this one. More importantly, I’m authorizing you to form a specialized force that could counter any potential threat you identify. Alongside that…um…you also have to guard me, please.”

William laughed. “I see that paranoia is not something you are immune to.”

“Shut up, things are scary as it is. And I’m feeling a lot of target marks painted on my head. And I’d like to keep my head, thank you very much.”

“Haha, Her Majesty sure moves fast nowadays,” Nia said. “Just hours after certain intel reports and a new agency is formed.”

“Even mobilized the funds and the relevant starting manpower for it,” William commented.

“You have my Ministers to thank for that. Even Minister Allison Thell has contacted relevant experts and researchers who may join your agency. We’re accounting for everything. High-tech attacks, decapitation attempts, down to containment of biological attacks. Everything.”

William nodded. “We’re not the Army though. But I can see what I’ll do. My men are already adept at intelligence work at this point. Far from just driving tanks and vehicles.”

“Great.”

“And I don’t blame you,” he continued. “After those attacks, we can’t leave any areas on our defense exposed. I just hope I can pull this off. This is a massive new responsibility for me.”

“I’m sure you will, William,” Amelie said. “I’m sure you will.”