Shimizu Takayama's Story

To this William nodded and said. "You were correct in your regard of the Knadan, he is and has behaved foolishly. His nature is that of a reckless warlord who believes his might to be inconquerable."

"However, that is where the extent of things ends." William added, raising a finger to punctuate his statement. "As is a requirement of diplomats, regardless of their origin, I have taken the liberty of studying and coming to understand your culture and governmental structure."

"In any other circumstance, I would never have come here, because you are very much right. My presence is a fools errand, to convince one noble and just kingdom to turn on it's allies, to abandon all notions of honor and integrity." William issued his statements with a clean, crisp voice brooking no interruption. "However, Your nation and my own are very similar. Your kingdom spans across a great deal of territory, and in order to maintain control of that territory, you have a system of lesser rulers designated to maintain your order. This is a similar state of affairs to Asylia, for the Knadan are a group of five individuals, each of which commanding the unyielding might of Asylia's military. However, the Knadan themselves answer to the King."

"The Knadan of Orta is the one in command of this campaign against the Aschen, and his force is the largest. With your permission, I would share with you the full scope and strength of the forces he commands. I would do this freely, so that you would understand two things. The first being the full breadth of what is arrayed against the Aschen, and the second my own honor and desire to prevent the destruction of your own people."

"You say that my king would find himself the villain, but what you fail to understand is that my king would find no qualms with this. The whole of the universe could come crashing down, but he is the mountain. No matter how the wind howls, it will never bring him down."


With this said, William snapped his fingers, and his Guardian stepped forward and placed a small silver disc upon the floor directly before William, before returning to his position.

William paused a moment, then continued "This device is known as a Dream Mirror among our people, it is designed to allow one to see places beyond ones own reckoning. With this, I would show you our forces as they come. Will you permit it?"

There was dead silence in the moments it took for the guards to let the man in, once he cleared security, and found himself escorted up to the admin building, he shared nothing but disdain for the guards, afterall he was passing through.

Hokushin subconsciously straightened himself, and cleared his throat, he looked unflattering in the prison jumpsuit, and figured he would have some explaining to do. Hokushin didn't bother to answer the question, as he knew the answer would reveal itself soon enough.

The moment the door unlatched, everything revealed itself, a young man, in his late twenties, almost boyish looking. He had been well groomed, a definite contrast to the guards, and inmates in the prison. He had on a simple suit, and tie, which was tailored perfectly to fit, the blazer and pants were a fine silk pinstripe, and his shirt was a white designer affair, and the tight was a black tie, with gold thread embroidered cobras interlaced with the silk fabric.

Hokushin's eyes quickly averted to the floor when the man stepped in, and he offered a deep bow.

"Tennoheika." Hokushin said quickly, and with a great deal of deference.

The man said nothing, simply shooting an annoyed look to the guards behind him. Then his eyes settled on Andrijana, the resemblance was stunning, even more so than Aeka, who took more after her father.

His hands were in his pocket, and he had an arrogant, but somewhat laissez-faire attitude about him.

"What are you doing here?" Hokushin asked.

The man cast an annoyed look to Hokushin next, as he leaned on a rather elegant looking cherry wood cane, that was hand carved, and inlaid with gold leaf.

"That seems to be the question of the day." The man said, his annoyed gaze moving to Andrijana.

"Andrijana Krstevska, superintendent here," said Ĭtpraṽmår's superintendent, by way of introduction. Picking up on Hokushin's reverent bow, Andrijana offered a respectful bow in greeting, still unsure who exactly 'Gabriel Shaw' was supposed to be though she was beginning to suspect she knew exactly who this was - and therefore, why he might be here. The face was far, far too familiar. Andrijana gestured for the Taiyou man to sit. "Please, have a seat. And then maybe you can tell me how I can help you. I don't believe we've met before." Something about this man felt immediately wrong. His presence seemed to chill the room, and she repressed the urge to shiver or shrink away from him. It was not unlike the way that some of the inmates - the shot callers - seemed to occupy space, anywhere. He radiated power and arrogance, two things Andrijana had long ago decided she absolutely could not stand, and one of the reasons she was so out of favor with the decision-makers in the central office downtown.

Even leaning on his cherry wood cane, the man towered over everyone in the room at six foot, two inches. He was slender in build, yet muscular, and while he didn't seem physically stronger than Hokushin, he definitely commanded a great deal of respect. Taking a step forward, he looked to the chair.

"I'll stand, thank you, I just had knee surgery, and if I sit down, it might be hard for me to get back up." He said with a chilling smile. He didn't have the Taiyou accent when he spoke, and his Terran English was almost perfect, rather, he spoke the English words with an emphasis on different vowels, and consonants, like someone who was raised speaking a language that was not Taiyou.

He spoke Terran English with an accent similar to those who spoke Spanish, or Italian. Yet it was off slightly.

"Mr. Hokushin, what has my sister gotten you into, or Drulovic for that matter, those clothes look so unflattering." Shimizu complained.

"Tennoheika, your mother--" Shimizu promptly raised a hand to silence Hokushin. "Apologies... I didn't properly introduce myself. Gabriel Shaw is my Aschen name, I so seldom use it, so I'll use the name my father gave me, Shimizu Takayama." He said, offering a bow, but it was a disconcerting, almost creepy bow, where he leaned against his cane. "Humbly at your service."

The words dripped like venom from his mouth, Andrijana was an ant to this man, beneath an ant, and he was thinly trying to conceal his disdain. He seemed to be someone capable of abusing someone weaker, someone who couldn't fight back.

"I wanted to drop by and make sure my sister wasn't causing any trouble, and to figure out why one of my Mazoku is imprisoned here." Shimizu said with an annoyed look. "But this seems to be one of my mother's foolish errands." He said, straightening back up.

"Though- The man at your front desk was quite rude, you should remedy that, Superintendent. It would be a shame if he upset the wrong person, and something unfortunate happened to him, and his family, with so many well connected people from the criminal underworld coming through here for visitation."

She did not like him. That much was clear. But between the swagger and the disdain, the open contempt, his mannerisms were quite familiar. Oh, she knew people just like him. The place was lousy with them. Andrijana was used to dealing with them - but they usually came in very differently than he did. "He's ignorant and foolish," she said, brusquely. "No disrespect meant of course." She remained standing by the desk, not at all feeling welcome to sit while this man was here. "Your warrior is safe, and there are no issues with your consulate as far as I know. Is there anything else I can do to help you while you are here?" She of course hoped that the answer would be no. This was not exactly someone she wanted to keep around for any longer than absolutely minimally necessary. And of course, the longer he stayed, the more likely he might attempt to figure out what exactly his sister had been doing here, why exactly Hokushin was stationed here.

Shimizu quietly pondered for a moment, letting both of his hands rest on his cane. “Is she well?” Shimizu asked, and Hokushin nodded. “Given the circumstances, she is in good health, Tennoheika.” The Mazoku warrior said as he inclined his head.

“Very good.” He said with a smile. “Given our differences, both political, and otherwise. I must admit that I have a soft spot for the old woman.” Shimizu remarked.

“I just hope, whatever my sister’s up to, it does not jeopardize my standings in this part of space, I’m sure your superiors would frown at the fact that Drulovic is allowed to consort with foreign dignitaries, sharing all kinds of secrets.” Shimizu remarked, ever the manipulator. Slowly he rested his weight on the cane, and shifted his weight.

“But, I wanted to drop by on my way back to the Soja.. hm very pleasant place.” He said, nodding. “But I am here on an official capacity as well. I’ve been told my mother is coming to Shintenchi, i Had to meet with the Honorable Takara Sato, to make sure everything is going smoothly.”

Hokushin stayed mostly silent, was it deference, or fear from the hardened warrior?

"Whether I wish it or not, Ms. Drulović will find some way to contact whoever she wishes to contact," said Andrijana. There had even been an entire upper management staff meeting solely to address the problem of the former intelligence director. "She's under special communications restrictions, but that hasn't stopped her - or others. Your mother reached out about a thank you. Our people don't understand it, but I offered the opportunity. I try to be compassionate if I can." She hadn't told most of the staff about the request from Kendra Shaw, and she had no intent to. There was still enormous enmity against her for the glassing.

Andrijana cocked her head to the side, quizzical. "You've met Ms. Drulović before, I take it?" Andrijana had to assume that the old woman had met the Taiyou's emperor at some point prior to her arrest, trial, and conviction. The old woman had lived an interesting life so far. She seemed to have dozens more friends as well as enemies than her inmate file seemed to suggest, with a paucity of information on most of them that Andrijana found unsettling.

"Hm, quite." Shimizu replied, shifting his weight against his cane. "I've met Drulovic once, or twice, it's her affinity for information that concerns me." There was a sinister glimmer in Shimizu's eye as he gazed on Andrijana, he was plotting, pondering, planning. Everything to the Emperor was like a game of chess, he planned his moves several steps ahead. Always trying to stay ahead of the competition, his life depended on it.

"A Thank you, after all these years. How peculiar." Shimizu replied.

He cast his gaze across to Hokushin for a moment more, he cantered his head slightly. "I'm going to the Aschen Empire for some final procedures on my knees, I'll be away, I'm sure my half sister will govern things in my stead."

He took a step to the side, and looked back to the door.

"I shouldn't keep my staff waiting, I'll take my leave now."

"Of course," said Andrijana, nodding. "If you need anything, I believe you should be able to go through the Prime Minister's office directly." She had no doubt whatsoever now that what Aeka had said about her brother was the truth. But she kept her face carefully neutral, slightly deferential, and with a bit of bewilderment at the sudden appearance of the Taiyou emperor in a remote Terran prison. She'd caught the man's look, and she knew where she'd seen it before - it was the look of a bird of prey about to strike some hapless small animal. The look of the men she knew were predators who might never be redeemed or rehabilitated. And so she would be polite. She would play the part of innocent prey, caught in the throes of some war she would never understand. "Thank you for your visit, Your Majesty."

Shimizu stopped a moment, just in the doorway to cast one final parting look at the warrior-monk, whom inclined his head.

"Tennoheika." The Monk replied, and Shimizu nodded, before he stepped out, letting the door close behind him. The Monk waited several moments, to ensure the Emperor was gone, while he seemed to make no outward movements, he seemed a bit more relaxed.

"Tennoheika coming here cannot bode well for you, or Drulovic." Hokushin commented, somewhat out of place. With Shimizu gone, he focused his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Now that we know our perpetrator, should we act, or allow him to continue thinking he has evaded detection?"

William would wait only a moment for the emperor to give his permission, before proceeding to activate the device. Shortly after, a display would form over the mirror, expanding outward to give a view of a galaxy, with all its myriad lights and stars.

And here, William grew very grim, he slowly expanded the image of the supposed galaxy, zooming in closer and closer to an individual light, getting closer and closer until finally, the image rendered an object. A small crystalline vessel, surrounded by the flowing lines and symbols indicative of sigil craft and driven by a number of relatively small flames, projected from arcane circles erected around the vertices of the crystalline structure.

William then began to zoom out again, until once more the image appeared that of a galaxy equal in size to that of this one. William was silent during this entire display, but the implication was all over his face. Only after he had returned to the original image encompassing the whole of the invasion force, did he speak. "As I stated previously, your majesty, Knadan Orta may seem foolish to you, but when one possesses power equal to this, one may be afforded such an image."

"And I am afraid that this is not the extent of his force, but merely a preliminary assault force. Ortaen doctrine follows a very cautious pattern, that leaves many of it's soldiers alive far longer than they might have any right to. First they will introduce an probing team consisting of a handful of strike carriers, whose purpose is only to gauge reactions and adaptation. Then, a preliminary invasion force is sent to judge the ability of an enemy to withstand all out assault."

William then expanded the image out yet further, revealing a curious, galactic cloud behind the original, as if several hundred galaxies were overlapping and conjoining with each other. "...It is not inaccurate to say, your majesty, that to fight Asylia is to make enemies of all the stars in the sky."