"Yes, welcome", Mountbatten said with relief. "Have a seat over there, next to the Crayter delegation." Besides Mountbatten, the Bretonian delegation consisted of a Kusarian translator, a secretary, an assistant and a representative of the Whig party, whose function was to monitor Mountbatten in the name of the government. The Whigs held the government, in a coalition with the slightly weaker Royalists, whose leader Mountbatten was. The Royalists had held power without interruption since decades ago, only until last year, and Mountbatten did not like being monitored. The Whig representative, a commoner, a certain Neville Asquith, gave Mountbatten a surprised look at her unplanned hospitality to the Octavarium delegation. Mountbatten was aware of it, but refused to heed it. Asquith wrote something down. "But do remember your manners and only speak when everyone else is finished, Mr Riley", Mountbatten said in an attempt to make a compromise. Asquith nodded at her in acknowledgement.
When everyone had assumed their seats, Mountbatten rose solemnly and powered on the hologram projector, which caught everyone's attention. It showed Point 1 of the scheduled talks. "First of all, I wish all of you a warm welcome here, and I hope everyone feels at home. Some of us arrived only yesterday, but some of us have waited here almost a week, so let us start right away. This what you can read here is the primary reason why we have all gathered." Mountbatten then read Point 1 verbatim. "A peace treaty must be concluded between the Kusari Empire and the Crayter Republic as soon as possible". She then added what was not written: "And Natio Octavarium, of course". She followed with an elaboration of the Bretonian point of view: "This chapter must be closed if we are to form a united front against Gallia, about which we shall talk later. The condition that Bretonia has set is that Barra must be returned to Crayter. We have already agreed on this in letters. Other conditions will be up to the respective delegations, but I must urge them both to be prepared for a compromise -- proportional to their state's galactopolitical relevance, of course -- because what is at stake is far above this minor conflict." Pushing a button that activated a small red lamp, a gracious mechanism to ask for a word (which was not present at Consul Riley's seat), both Crayter and Kusari requested to speak. Mountbatten gave Crayter the word first, Bretonia's formal ally. She gestured the Kusari delegation to be patient, with a polite smile that expected understanding.
![[Image: IeOloj2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/IeOloj2.png)