Chapter 27
Transmission Lost
20th of Seventhmoon, 6 Charles 9
Saintcharles, Merice Province, Kingdom of Byrandia
King Charles sat with his hands folded as he listened to the briefing. The intelligence officer giving the briefing was going over a map that traced the Junker Jorg's journey.
"At 10:28 on the 14th of Seventhmoon, the Junker Jorg departed from Arturo to proceed toward Kasshu. Her last transmission was at 5:05 on the 18th, while still crossing the Kyland, approximately seven hours before she was scheduled to enter Kasshian airspace. At 14:00 on the 19th, the Foreign Ministry formally issued a request to the Kasshian government to investigate the disappearance of the Junker Jorg. 'Your request has been taken under consideration.' That is the only response we have received.
"The current status of the 270 personnel aboard, including three observers from Vlatoska and the nine members of the Imperial liaison are currently unaccounted for, missing and presumed dead."
The King bowed his head. None of them knew, none of them could know, that his daughter was counted in that number. If she was really gone...
The intelligence officer continued, "There were irregularities ever since the Junker Jorg's arrival in Arturo. Instead of the regularly scheduled status updates at 6:00, 14:00 and 22:00, as of the 12th of Seventhmoon, the status updates were transmitted at 5:05 and 20:20, indicating the ship had been compromised."
It was a simple code. 5:05 and 20:20 (if you inverted the latter) for 'SOS'.
"The last contact between Sir Armand and our embassy on the 11th of Seventhmoon mentioned that his delegation was being transported to the presidential retreat at Davidi. Attempts to communicate with Sir Armand since then were unsuccessful. It was claimed that a storm had knocked out telephone and radio communications. Requests to send embassy personnel directly to Davidi were refused and attempts to communicate by post received no answer. On the 14th, it was claimed that the delegation had returned to the Junker Jorg and departed the country. However, there has been no direct communication with Sir Armand since he disembarked from the Junker Jorg."
So it was possible that the delegation was being held hostage, in Davidi perhaps if they were honest with Sir Armand about their destination.
"I think the time for diplomatic niceties are over," Admiral Beauvais the Navy Chief of Staff said. "We should have taken action the moment we knew something was wrong."
Admiral Beauvais had not been party to General Haviland's attempted coup and so he survived the subsequent purge of the general staff. He was actually rather similar to General Haviland in temperament, but that temperament did not drive him to treason.
"There is always time for diplomatic niceties, my dear Admiral," Sir Pierre Vodin, who was sitting in for Lord Bartlebert, said. "We do not want to be making enemies of the Kasshians. Or the Malvinans, for that matter, because I know what you are going to suggest."
"They need to be held to account," Admiral Beauvais insisted. "We need to hit them back, ten times over, a hundred times over."
"I appreciate your zeal, Admiral," Lord Winton said, "but you should know as well as I do that we lack the naval assets to take any strong action against South Malvina. If they have indeed sided with the Alliance, they can join forces with the Tungese in the Harine and the Palatinians in the Sardis. And even if we could afford to disengage the Santean Sea Fleet to cross over into the Harine, I highly doubt the North Malvinans will permit us to use the Canal."
Lord Maurice looked to Colonel Ocampo, who was sitting in for General Adeen, and asked him, "Herr Oberst, I was under the impression that the Junker Jorg was being monitored by your people. If I recall from the report, they responded quickly to the incident in Heiankyoh. Why has this been allowed to happen?"
"I am not at liberty to discuss the matter at this time," Colonel Ocampo replied stiffly.
Accidents happen, but King Charles could not help but feel that something like this could not have happened unless it was allowed to happen. Even if the Imperials were taken by surprise, their response should have been swift. This was why he believed the Imperials at least were still alive. If they were alive, then there was still some chance...
"The Foreign Ministry will continue to work through official channels with both the Kasshians and the South Malvinans," the King said. "Meanwhile, I want our clandestine services to step up their efforts. Double the lure to get us new HUMINT assets. Triple it if you have to. I want to know what happened to our people. If they are still alive, I want them found and I want a plan drawn up for their extraction." He looked to Colonel Ocampo. "And I would greatly appreciate an explanation from the General about how this happened, if he would be amenable to it."
"I can promise you nothing," Colonel Ocampo said, "but I will inform the General of your request."
"Your Majesty, if I may," General Boyer said. "I am prepared to shift to a more aggressive campaign, but consider the consequences if the Malvinans were to catch wind of it. Pretense may be cast off and we could face open warfare."
"If the Malvinans are responsible for downing the Junker Jorg, General, the pretense is already gone," the King said. "I wanted to secure at least one of the Malvinas before we moved south, but it seems like the situation on the ground will not wait. I must agree with Admiral Beauvais. We have lost too much time. We need to salvage what we can and push forward to turn things around."
"I am sure that the General would not object to this strategy so long as it produces the desired results," Colonel Ocampo said.
The Colonel received some resentful looks. This was the power of the Empire, where a field-grade officer could speak down to a nation's king. This was what they were fighting for. It was a bitter thing. Men like General Haviland chose treason and risked annihilation because they could not bear the humiliation. No doubt much of the Alliance felt the same, but honor and pride counted for little from the grave.
King Charles did not care about any of that, though. There was still some hope that Anne was alive. If the Malvinans had her and uncovered her true identity, they might try to use her against him. If that would happen, he might have to abdicate the throne sooner rather than later. When pressed, his feelings as a father might outweigh his duty as King. For the sake of Byrandia and indeed the world, he could not allow that. All he could do was pray it did not come to that.