Interlude 5

Elkis Republic Home Province, District of Elkis.

Capital City of Elkis, Republic Senate.

"Senator Veumen, sir."

Charles blinked, and looked at the aide that had just tapped on his shoulder. He was currently struggling to stay awake as senator Zonran droned on and on about the necessity of increasing defence spending to prevent 'Tarkian aggression' -as if the Republic hadn't firmly been the aggressor during most of their shared history-, and not spend 'ridiculous sums and manpower' on 'adventures in the wasteland against the Asarians'. Usually he would have just picked up his briefcase and left, but unfortunately he could not afford to without good reason. For one if possible he should try to find a way to undermine the old bastards, and damn them all to hell most of the senate seemed to be aggreeing with him. Or pretend to, at the very least.

The senator hid a sigh as he nodded towards the aide, who for the life of him he couldn't remember the name of. Some scion of his clan, eager to gather some scraps of power his patronage would get them, probably. He couldn't care less really, he had more important fish to fry than groom some helpless moron into a suitable assistant, he already had his fair share of idiots to deal with in this very chamber. Besides, he'd already assembled his support team.

"Sir, Colonel Vek sent you a message, it is waiting on your desk."

Suddenly the young aide had his whole attention.

"Good. Very good. Go see the master of the chamber, and tell him that I unfortunately have to depart for urgent business."

"Yes sir." Said the aide, bowing slightly, before leaving the alcove.

Charles made a show of gathering his things with studied calm and thoroughness, before exiting the chamber, turning his back on Zonran, who was still talking, like he didn't even exist, and left. The colonel's message was as good a reason as any to justify his departure, and even if it hadn't been a good enough cover he would have done so anyway. Right now the colonel's little...expedition was the only thing that could pull victory from the jaws of disaster.

The senator's jaws clenched, and he had to force himself to relax. But even with a life time of dissembling, it wasn't easy. His family, his dynasty, was a relatively new one to the Republic, at least in the highest halls of power. They had been minor senators for many centuries, ascending to the office less than 300 years after the Republic came to be, but their true rise to power had started about a century ago. When the dynasties that sponsored the wars on the Tark Directorate fell, crushed by the newly formed Hegemony and their own opponents, his ancestors had risen to take their place. Instead of a new foolhardy attack into the Hegemony, which would have only ended in a bloodbath, and maybe even more territory being lost, they'd proposed a foray into the eastern sparsely populated dukedoms. The goal was to link up to the eastern coast, to make the Republic sprawl from 'one coast to the other', as they'd put it. There had been considerable opposition of course -many wanted revenge for the humiliation and most importantly wealth loss of the wars with the Hegemony-, but eventually cooler heads, political acumen, and the judicious use of daggers and exotic poisons, prevailed.

And it had worked. By the gods it had worked. The Republic, which had been seriously destabilized by the wars with the Hegemony, the emergence of a power to challenge them, plus the shadow of the Asarian Kingdom looming on the other side of the wasteland after the capture of Darthar, had flourished anew. For almost 85 years the Republic had experienced a new golden age, trade had blossomed and new opportunities seemed around the corner.

Of course, that could only last for so long. As the last of the territory was divided up among the senate and it's powerful dynasties, internal chafing began anew. But undaunted, his mother had decided to replicate what her own parents and grand parents had done.

Which is how she had ended up incinerated, along with most of the army she was 'providing political counsel' for when the dragons descended on them. Her disastrous invasion of the Far Reach had nearly cost the family it's place...and had cost most of her siblings their heads. Not literally of course, but over half of them suffered 'terrible accidents' in the months following the disaster, to make sure to impart to the rest of the dynasty the message that such failure was...unwise.

Which was how he was reduced to...this. He couldn't simply point the senate in a direction to conquer, like his mother had. His dynasty just no longer had the influence to simply bend the senate to its will, and for that matter most senators had become very cautious to support military endeavors...unless the proper 'gifts' were arranged for, of course.

The problem was...he could no longer afford said gifts. His dynasty was already stretched to its limit keeping the vultures away from their remaining assets and maintaining its current influence. He couldn't afford to bribe senators to get the votes he needed to start a war with the Asarian Kingdom, and take over that dungeon town.

Or rather, he could....by bartering away that dungeon town, and most of the spoils of victory. But that would only bring him back to square one, his resources stretched too thin, and having only enriched his rivals, who would surely descend upon him as soon as they were done dividing the spoils among themselves.

He refused to do that. Which meant that he had only one choice. Since he couldn't convince the Republic to go to war...he must force it to. Preferably by having someone else declare war on them. Like, say, by a blatant attempt to steal a dungeon core.

Of course, that carried risk, the greatest of which was a UDC intervention, fortunately he had...old family acquaintances that had assured him that would not be the case. He only had a vague idea of who they were, but he knew his great uncle had been a powerful member of some strange secret sect calling itself 'The Order', and that his old friends had been giving his dynasty a boost from time to time. In fact, they were the one that had brought the newly created dungeon to his attention, and had suggested that it might be an opportunity to bring his dynasty back to greatness.

Strangely enough however, they had seemed persuaded that his attempts to steal the core would fail. Probably because they had a much better idea of the power of those 'advisors' than he did. They had provided a wealth of intelligence on dungeons, and he had to admit that he hadn't believed the power of the Oswalds at first. Oh, he had ordered the Colonel to take measures of course, but deep down he hadn't thought that they would send someone this talented to defend a dungeon core. But yet they had, how else could the colonel's elite team had failed this close to their goal?

However, once his first attempt failed, a flash of inspiration had appeared to him. Originally he had wanted to steal the core because he knew he could not make the senate support him into going to war, but after seeing the Asarians' reactions, and some of the barely masked threats that had arrived through some of the more...informal communication channels with the Asarian Crown, he realized that he didn't need to bribe the senate to his side. He could just have the Asarians declare war on the Republic. Or, failing that, have them level accusations grave enough at the Republic that his fellow senators would line up to tear out their throats, if only in terror that not responding might mark them out as guilty for the UDC.

If it worked, he would have those that would have been his enemies instead supporting him, and hailing him as a hero for his foresight, and-

"Sir?"

Charles shook his head, and realized that he was outside the senate building, in front of his coach. He looked back at his valet, wondering why the old man was looking at him so weirdly, before realizing with a start that it was raining, and he wasn't even wearing a hat. He had been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the rain.

"Sorry Gerald. A bit preoccupied lately I'm afraid." Charles smiled warmly, and the valet reciprocated. Gerald was the closest person he had to a true confidant in this world, for he had served his family for generations. He had originally been part of the adventurers hired as pathfinders and monster hunters by his family when they launched the conquest of the east, and after foiling an assassination attempt on his great-grandfather, he had sworn fealty to his dynasty, and served them faithfully every since.

"Well, that is hardly surprising sir. To the townhouse?"

"To the townhouse!" Said Charles, firmly. He would never have such sensitive documents as a letter from Vek delivered to his senate office, no matter how 'secure' it was supposed to be. Having it fall into the wrong hands would be...catastrophic, to say the least. But fortunately, his family's townhouse (closer to a fortified compound really) in the capital was extensive, well secured, and more importantly only filled with people loyal to his dynasty, and guarded by soldiers that answered to him, and him alone.

"Very good sir." Said the valet as he got up to the driver's seat and took the reins, while Charles hopped into the coach. Once more the senator ruminated that one of those Tarkian cars would have been far more comfortable -not to mention a great deal more hardened against attacks, there was only so much enchanted armor plating a horse could pull after all-, but that would have been...impolitic. The only senator that took a Tarkian vehicle was senator Osbrick, and his vehicle was a Tarkian 'armored car' that he had taken at the point of his own sword during the siege of Solnar. He saw it as his personal trophy, and given his heroic victories during the latest war -not to mention the fact that he had saved quite a bit of territory from being gobbled up, along with a lot of influential senators' assets- no one had wanted to denigrate him for using it.

Charles sighed, and leaned back into the seat as the coach started forward. At least the suspensions kept the worst of the jostling at bay, but as always they weren't perfect. Or rather, they weren't even remotely up to the standards of the Eris Empire or the Tark Hegemony. Hell, even the Gorromarian, who seemed to think that seat cushions were superfluous, had better suspensions than this. But they weren't selling them, and the Empire was too far away to import them either, which meant either buying from Tark, with all the negative consequences that implied, or being bounced around.

The senator smiled suddenly. Maybe he should ask his new...friends from the Silvaris Consortium about a vehicle for him. He was under no illusions that they would slit his throat in a heartbeat if they could, but fortunately they seemed loath to do so until they'd actually taken the dungeon town, and once they had, they would be too busy trying to wrestle with the merchants' guild to try to overthrow him. And reinforcing his prestige with high technology goods would help the impression that he was more powerful than he let on, which would be a great advantage once the shooting started. If people thought there was a shadowy, third player backing him they would be even more loath to try and trip him up than they would be. And thanks to the paranoia that was innate to every senate dynasty now, everyone would assume said shadowy player was far more than a dwindling corporation looking to get an edge. Well, as long as he took care not to draw attention to his old family friends he should be fine. They had...impressed upon him the need for their involvement to remain secret.

Notably by having the evidence he had accumulated on their meetings burned, and a dagger embedded into his bedpost when he woke up. No wonder grand uncle Geoffrey had been a part of them!

Charles sighed as the coach passed the gates of the townhouse, and the heavily armed guards in his senate seat's livery (which of course wasn't a noble family's coat of arms, they were above mere feudalism here in the Republic!) in front of them, and stopped. Time to see what new problem the good colonel had found to try and delay the mission. The senator briefly considered bringing the poor bastard into his inner circle, so he could finally work with a clear objective, and rejected it immediately. He hadn't acquired enough leverage over him just yet, at least none that wouldn't destroy them both if it came to light. Once he did he would bring the good colonel fully in...and maybe at that point he stop being such a pain in the ass, trying to make an operation Charles badly wanted to see fail succeed.