"That could be arranged, too..." She joined her palms as if praying, but having in mind what she was about to say, if she was praying it was not to God. "But the Kingdom of Bretonia is a capitalist state, and you know we capitalists don't do favours for free." She rose an eyebrow, curious if Selim had anything to suggest first.
" ... of course not. From your point of view, nothing truly is free, some amount of substance always has to be transferred in the name of supply and demand, something always has to send in order for some other party to receive. I think I already touched on some possibilities, though you ruled most of them out. "
"Ah! Good one, mister premier! Someone's read The Capital! Then I suppose I don't need to explain to you that the Coalition state on Sydney might possibly have to be somewhat subordinate to Bretonia if it is Bretonia that helps restore its legal government?" She interrupts Selim's would-be response just in case. "Wait, I'm not finished, this was rhetorical. Of course you will retain internal autonomy! I'll try to give you as much external freedom as I can, too, but there will have to be a compromise on your part if you expect the Parliament to approve this. I may be the governor, but I am not above the Parliament. I can't tell you anything precise yet as I'm not even sure we'll need to do this, but these are the general outlines. Are they fair? No, no, sorry, no, of course they aren't fair. Us coming to Gran Canaria in the first place was not fair, but with Leeds destroyed we had nowhere else to do. Nothing is fair in life after all. But is this acceptable?"
Ah, typical Bretonian bureaucratic maneuvers rearing their heads again. Selim just shrugged, sighed, and nodded in a sort of disapproval that contravened what his next words would be. " Arguably so, as long as said compromise means I keep flying in addition to administrating land. It's a matter of personal custom, which I understand the Bretonian government does not rate as a completely worthless thing. Notwithstanding, of course, the fact your House needs every operable craft it can get right now, no thanks to Gallia for that."
"That's the least I can do", Elizabeth said with a reassuring smile, and those are the most dangerous.
Then she slowly removed the black leather glove off of her left hand. Its skin was hideously disfigured by burns that had apparently healed a long time ago. She extended that hand to Selim, not shamefully, but proudly, wearing the injuries like a medal, a testament that she had truly taken part in real combat, and that she was sitting in this office because of that, not because the Steiners had propped her up.
it was certainly too late to back out now, even though all the body language from both sides was, in their differing ways, revolting at the mere thought of the proposal. Between the would-be Premier's hesitation and the Bretonian captain's unglamorous scars of battle, it was one of those scenes that would make great movie or documentary fodder, were there actually any public witness to the shaking of hands in the office.
"Very well then!" Elizabeth got up curtly, as if suddenly in a great hurry, which she indeed was. "We need depart to Sydney as soon as possible, you, I and de Grasse... Ah!" Her eagerness flattened with a sigh and she sat back. "De Grasse. We need to find him. Hang on..."
She spoke to her communication device: "Chaps, this is Captain Hall. I need de Grasse in office B66+ as soon as possible." She hung up, but then remembered something very important that she had forgotten to say. "Oh, and don't let Yberg in, alright? No, I was promoted to commodore last night, you can check the DIS, I am above her now. Yes, thanks."
"We'll have to wait a bit after all", Elizabeth returned to Selim, "Mister premier. I hope nothing's happened to him..."
Selim sat back down for the minute, to take in both the act he had just performed and the return of focus to the status of de Grasse. " Well, that definitely explains a bit, don't you think, Captain. As long as he's in one piece, and still good enough to pilot, we don't need to be worried."
"It seems, mister premier", Elizabeth spoke after she had received a notice from the staff she had sent to look for de Grasse, "It seems that there has been a... little mess-up." Her face absorbed Selim's unpleasant surprise, but her eyes avoided it on purpose. "Captain Yberg has had a history of misbehaviour, acting on her own initiative, and disobedience. I really shouldn't have tasked her to protect your rooms last night. It appears that she took the liberty to, er, interrogate your director of intelligence herself, possibly due to his Gallic origin. He's fine, they say, if a little sleepy... It happened last night, you know. He's on his way."
After the 'nightly interrogation' he was subjected to, the Gaul thought to go back to his room and have a nap, but the sun was high already in the sky: besides, he was requested elsewhere, more specifically to miss Hall's room, where she and Selim where he was been awaited for long.
He approached the door, entering the room and, at the same time, heard Hall speak of miss Y'berg and the interrogation, saying there was a 'mess-up'. Baffled by her words - as Y'berg told him otherwise - he stepped in, speaking straight to her.
"Good day, mademoiselle Hall, sorry for the delay - I couldn't help but overhear some of your words. Yes, Captain Y'berg did interrogate me, but she did so on your order. If you consider your own order a 'mess-up'...well, I better not continue on. Do pardon me if I overspoke too much, though."
Shortly after, he looked at Selim.
"Mehmed, mon ami, I'm all fine and well - and still, more than spaceworthy. Did I miss something while I was away?"
This said, he took the seat beside Selim, waiting for the two of them to speak.
![[Image: 396AUfe.png]](https://i.imgur.com/396AUfe.png)
