William Dorsun's Story

In the space beyond the world of Niihama, a corvette class vessel, unadorned with weapons, yet very obviously foreign in it's design, warped into place. It's presence was uncloaked or covered by any means of detection avoidance, it was as obvious as an apple in a box of tomatoes.

This vessel remained a set distance from Niihama, and proceeded to wait to be addressed.

The Corvette class vessel would recieve a hail from one of the millions of orbital platforms that littered the orbit of Niihama.

"Unidentified vessel, state identification, and intent before being cleared to proceed." The message was automated, and would repeat every thirty seconds.

A single Naginata class cruiser detached from one of the adjacent stations, and at full burn began to head towards the corvette.

"This is Ambassador William Dorsun of the Asylian Kingdom, sent by his Royal Majesty King Galadaius Naruun Asylia. I am here on a Diplomatic mission to represent my kings desires to the Honorable Taiyou Empire. I request permission to land, and Escort to the Imperial District, so that I may speak with a representative of your ruler, if not your ruler themselves." William Dorsun relayed his request to the orbital platform, then ordered the Pilot to issue a beacon and director to the Naginata class cruiser, so as to make their presence impossible to miss, and make it easier to avoid an accidental collision.

The Corvette had no weapons, and for all intents and purposes was a civilian vessel. The only Security Detail was a single Guardian, who sat leisurely at a table, snacking on a delectable pudding, the recipe for which was a specialty of Matrano, and a much beloved one at that.

There was a brief crackling, followed by a secure channel being transmitted to the corvette class ship. It was a video channel that displayed two individuals, a middle aged woman with Taiyou-like features, but something seemed off, She was clad in a simple black yukata, a cup of tea in her hands which bore faint scars. Standing directly behind her was a horridly disfigured individual in all black.

"William Dorsun of the Kingdom of Asylia." The woman spoke. Her accent was distinctly not Taiyou, but Aschen. Her words lilted with the dialect of someone who came from the Aschen province of Gemenon.

"I am Empress Dowager Kendra Takayama." She said, introducing herself over the channel. "You are here on a diplomatic mission." She cast her gaze over to Gouda for a moment, speaking to him in hushed Taiyou about something.

"His Imperial Majesty is indisposed at the moment, so if you wish to discuss anything, it will have to be through me." The woman added, though something seemed off, a steely resolve afixed her gaze.

"I can have landing coordinates transmitted by our Generalissimo, and a party ready to receive you."

William eyed the woman for several moments before nodding tersely. "Awaiting coordinates."

William would wait only long enough to receive those coordinates before cutting all transmissions and piloting the ship down as indicated. His guardian called from the back "Should I save some for em, you think?"

"It wouldn't do us any good, They're likely to see it as poison or some such. I doubt they're going to listen to us at any rate. Most likely scenario involves them detaining, imprisoning, and then interrogating us."

The Guardian chuckled "Won't do em any good, neither of us are important enough to be told anything."

"That may be, but for our ladies sake we must make the attempt to slow events down to a manageable level." Dorsun responded as he maneuvered the ship to the planets surface.

the Asylian vessel came in smoothly over the landing pad at the Imperial Palace, it's engines barely louder than the flapping of a birds wings as the vessel came down. Smoothly the landing gear deployed from the ships contoured form, and it came to rest on the pad.

As the boarding Ramp lowered, William Dorsun clipped his cufflinks, smoothed his jacket shoulders, and ensured his Cravat was orderly and clean. Behind him, his Guardian rolled his shoulders, settling the impressive and decorative looking steel plate armor on his shoulders.

The two of them walked down the ramp of the ship, swiftly stepping forward to meet with the Imperial forces that were present to escort them.

There was little fanfare on the landing pad that was reserved only for guests of the Imperial Family. A Formation of Imperial Warriors stood completely still at parade rest, their nano-steel karuta style armor glinting in the sunlight , forming a sort of aisle way.

Standing at the end was Kendra Shaw, however unlike the attire the Taiyou were wearing, Kendra's outfit was different, stylistically different, it was a dark blue double breasted uniform jacket with a high collar, two diamond shaped rank insignia pinned to the collar, which was trimmed with gold piping. Two darker patches of blue could be seen on the shoulders, along with round patches that bore the stylized phoenix emblem, and the text surrounding it that read. "The Aschen Confederation of Planets - Aschen High Space Command." The uniform was old, and had shown obvious signs of age. Was she wearing it out of protest, or solidarity? She also didn't seem very happy, her expression pursed into that of annoyance at best. However, with everyone else in the family indisposed, and the prime minister dead, she was finding herself taking on increasing responsibilities.

"Ambassador Dorsun, I am Empress Dowager Takayama, if you would come with me, I believe the sooner we conclude this meeting, the better."

She spoke like a woman who had her mind already made up, and gestured for them to follow her into the palace.

Dorsun's guardian looked over at his ward with an expression of sympathy and apology. The Guardian himself was not trained or studied in the arts of diplomacy, but even he knew that this dance would be a tough run.

William himself maintained a studious expression, dressed plainly and simply as was his nature. He approached the empress Dowager and bowed before her, returning to a standing position and, without any delay, stating plainly "Indeed, your grace. Time is of the essence, and I have no plans to waste yours or mine."

And without further ado, he followed as Takayama led the way.

Kendra didn't seem to return the formalities, but she did slightly incline her head as she started towards the door. "If you've come here to see me beg, you will be disappointed." Kendra said flatly, as the large, oaken doors closed behind them.

"I'm aware of who you are, and what you've done to the Aschen Empire. I'm aware of the Kingdom's genocidal whims, the Aschen shared this intelligence with me, and I've read the brief." Kendra said, speaking with an obvious Gemonese accent.

She led them to a large room, where a large square table was positioned. There were no chairs, however. There were small cushions for people to kneel around the table.

Kendra took her position at the head of the table, kneeling on the small cushion as she was poured a small cup of hot green tea.

"So why have you come here?"

William kneeled down quickly and, though it was clear he was neither accustomed to this method of rest nor comfortable with it, he would stoically remain thus throughout the entire conversation, neither shifting nor re-positioning from how he arrived.

"My purpose here is two fold. My primary mission is to convince you to have the Taiyou forces refrain from further escalating the conflict by adding your own forces to the mix. Further bloodshed can and must be avoided, in order the current status quo of the courts of Asylia. At present, the majority of the guild houses and generals are in support of the war, but this majority is not unanimous. Simply put, given enough time, the master I serve hopes to sway the courts and sue for a peaceful resolution of the situation."

"My second objective is to coordinate with you in order to fulfill my master's plan to put the leader of the Aschen in direct, face to face communication with the King of Asylia. Despite the influence the courts have, The kings word is law, and if he says the sky is red, then so it is. Therefore, by allowing his majesty to directly meet with the leader of the Aschen, we can convince him that the Aschen are not a threat in actuality, and instead could be valuable allies."

Dorsun's Guardian opted not to kneel, but rather to stand, mostly because the armor on his legs didn't provide enough flexibility for him to take that position.

Kendra took a small sip of the green tea she had been poured, as she considered the words. "A peaceful resolution when the majority of the noble houses within your government support war?" Kendra asked, placing the small cup of tea on a wooden tray.

"Ultimately, the decision to get involved is not up to me." Kendra admitted. "The Aschen are a capable, and resourceful people, I have full confidence they can defend themselves."

Kendra picked up the tea, and took another sip, watching Dorsun carefully.

"If you intend to stave off conflict, then I applaud you, but if your plan fails. The Taiyou Empire will be poised to strike, quickly, and without hesitation." The Empress Dowager warned. "Ultimately, any military decisions are up to the Emperor, I will bring this matter before the Cabinet, and the Imperial General Headquarters, with reservations of course."

William sighs, then looks up at Kendra with tired eyes. "Tell me... Have you or your aides ever heard of something known as the Tyranid Race? What about the Zerg? Perhaps you may know of the Anthiron or the Stratos?"

"To make an overly long explanation short, each of these species can be considered a plague, much like some verminide species of insect, locusts for example. Each of these creatures have a number of advantages that allows them to defeat any adversary they come across, but with all of them the first thing most any civilization notices is the sheer numbers they bring to bear."

"Now... each of these species also has a weakness that can and is often exploited for the purpose of defeating and turning them back, however they cannot be entirely destroyed simply because of their nature. They survive almost anything that does not immediately kill them. In some cases, total annihilation of all life in a sector is the only means of ensuring their destruction."

William shook his head. "I bring them up because Asylia is very similar to them in a number of ways. We are very, very, very numerous. Our kind has always been quite comfortable with procreation, to the point that it is not uncommon for most Asylian Women in their later cycles to give rise to upwards of fourteen children or more. Unlike many other civilizations we don't practice any form of population control. You may think such things may lead to our worlds becoming overpopulated and subsequently destroyed, but we've long since mastered the ability of creating space where none is to be had."

"However, there is one distinct difference between us and any standard swarm. And that is that nothing you can do will stop the first assault."

"I do not mean that as a threat, merely as a statement of fact. Your Aschen Allies are strong, of that there is no doubt, but they do not have our numbers, they do not have our technology. The attacks they have recently weathered are not a true invasion, but rather small scale skirmishes, intended not to have any lasting impact, but to study, and learn, from their efforts. "In short, if the full might of Asylia's military force is brought to bear, the Aschen will fall. They may hold out for a few months, but they will fall, in the same way that a barricade cannot hope to hold back a tide of magma from a volcano forever. With that same analogy, the only way to stop this from happening is to cool the forces arrayed against them, to prevent the surge from being unleashed before it can sweep them away."

Dorsun's Guardian chuckles quietly to himself, shaking his head at his charges efforts. William himself scowled at the man before turning back to Kendra. "I understand if you do not believe me, or if you hold faith in your allies. I'm certain your history has given you very good reasons to believe that the Aschen will never fall. And in all normal circumstances you would be correct... However... Asylia is very much like the Aschen in a number of ways. We rose up from dark beginnings, we conquered our own demons, and proceeded to fight each other for supremacy. The main difference between the Aschen Empire, and the Asylian one, is that ours has simply been around for longer." He said with a shake of his head. "The experience the Aschen Empire has in warfare can never compare to Asylia, which has been fighting since the stars your world orbits were young and yet to burn"

"I'm familiar with the hive races." Kendra replied. "And I'm no stranger to overwhelming numbers. The Taiyou Empire fields the largest army I have ever seen, We have trillions of people across billions of planets, with a unified shogunate, we can field endless numbers. For every Taiyou soldier that dies, ten thousand take his place, such are our numbers." Kendra explained, shifting her weight on the cushion.

"One of the reasons the Aschen have never challenged us. And You're correct, the Aschen Empire couldn't hope to defend themselves against the sheer numbers brought to bear, while they will be able to put up quite the fight, they would inevitably fall through sheer attrition alone." Kendra admitted.

"The Problem lies in the sheer logistical impossibility of exterminating another space-faring, sapient species." She added. "We have interests in the Galaxy, and we would act to defend those interests, irrespective to the goals of the Aschen." Kendra explained, taking another sip of her tea.

A look of confidence crossed her face, and she leaned forward just slightly. "While your forces are numerous, and without end, the Aschen would fall against their sheer number..."

Kendra's expression darkened considerably.

"But when the Aschen Empire falls, and they will undoubtedly fall against an overwhelming onslaught." Kendra leaned forward, and placed the teacup down.

"The Aschen as a people will have dispersed out among the intergalactic void, and every single Asylian that crosses the threshold into the Milky Way Galaxy will simply cease to exist."

Kendra picked up her teacup, and took another sip.

"This is an inalienable fact, and the precise reason why it would be in the best interest to all involved, that all notions of this genocide be dismissed, and a peaceful solution be found. The supporters of this unfounded genocide need to be found, and silenced." Kendra said flatly.

"The Taiyou Empire will do it's part, but if the voices that would doom us all become too loud, the Taiyou Empire will have no choice but to act."

William Dorsun frowned as he listened. This had not at all gone the way it had looked to him, and he looked up at the woman as she finished. A question leapt to the tip of his tongue, but he mentally shook his head and bowed to her. "I thank you for your understanding, and would like your permission to explain the other reason why I have been sent here. Specifically, the reason given to me by her highness Princess Halena Auroran Vassari Asylia" He said, filing away the womans words away for future contemplation. While he might not be able to understand why this Kendra was so willing to change her mind when it seemed all but impossible, he knew very well that her highness would be able to utilize the information and dig out the secrets hidden within them.

Kendra steeled her gaze for a moment, and then inclined her head.

"Speak." She replied.

William bowed once more and then began his script, endeavoring to explain his ladies plan as best as possible.

"Asylian royal Politics essentially boil down to a contest to gain the Kings favor in an attempt to convince him to decide something beneficial to ones plans. However, all of the power lays solely within the Kings hands, and his word is absolute law."

"The King is an incredibly wise, kind, and compassionate man. War is NOT his desire, and he only agreed to have Gianoa Orta engage the Aschen because he was convinced that they are an irredeemably corrupt nation that would only spread destruction and devastation to the universe."

"However, her highness the princess has determined that this is not the case, and that the Aschen are at the very least certainly redeemable. She endeavors to prove this by bringing her father, and the Aschen Emperor, in direct contact with each other. By allowing the two monarchs to meet, His majesty can be convinced of the truth, and with that, he can be convinced to end the war immediately, thereby sparing the Aschen and ending the needless bloodshed and destruction."

"To this end, I am charged by My Lady to convince your empire to facilitate the meeting between The King and the Aschen Emperor, and hide the fact under the guise of the Taiyou meeting with His majesty to facilitate a ceasefire agreement, as was my original purpose."

Kendra rubbed her chin slightly, and nodded. "Ambitious." She said. "Bringing the Asylian king to meet with the Aschen Emperor under false pretenses." She stroked her chin some more, and rested her hands in her lap, interlacing her fingers.

"Royal politics are always the same, the Princess' plan is solid, but there is more." Kendra said, frowning. "If someone in Asylian society is championing for war, then the King putting a stop to hostilities is only a temporary measure. The Aschen are above all else, isolationist, I'm somewhat surprised he agreed without all of the facts. It doesn't paint Asylian society in a very good light, but I suppose what's what the Princess is trying to stop."

"Very well, I'll contact the Aschen, and arrange for the Emperor to meet with me under the pretext of coordinating our efforts against the Asylians, and the King will come under the pretext of a ceasefire. We'll get the two of them into the same room, and let the games begin."

Kendra chuckled. The Irony wasn't lost on her.

Once more William bowed and gave thanks to her. He then added "With your permission ma'am, I would like to reach out to my contacts to inform them of my successful endeavors, and begin relaying the news that the Taiyou wish to speak with His majesty in regards to the ceasefire."

Dorsun's guardian had a wide eyed and impressed look on his face, like someone who had just witnessed a man do something nigh on impossible.

Kendra inclined her head, and then slowly stood up. "I have a few of my own calls to make." She regarded William for a moment with another respectful nod.

She began to walk out of the room, a renewed sense of purpose crossing her face.

Some time Later...

As the sun slowly began to rise over Niihama City, Emperor Takayama once again took his throne, deep within the secure confines of the Imperial Palace of the Taiyou Empire.

He opened up his agenda, and turned the page. An Ambassador from a nation that called itself Asylia had paid them a visit, and apparently something called the Kroniktan Alliance laid claim over Gaia. Shimizu frowned, and furrowed his brow as he studied the information in front of him.

"So the Savages committed mass suicide, they have no honor, and they died like cowards." The Emperor said to himself.

"It's not enough that they committed suicide... we should burn all evidence of their civilization, and erase them from the tides of history." Shimizu said to himself once more.

"No Yukiko, I will not yield to these Kroniktans, they deny us rightful vengeance. Send them a diplomatic invitation. I wish to hear their claims, and challenge them!" The Emperor instructed, before he turned to one of his adjutants.

"Find Mr. Dorsun if he's still here, and send him to me."