The Armistice

Emperor Asoka stood behind rows of his personal guards facing the main gate of his palace staring up into the sky looking the huge black Dreadnaught that sat in the sky longer destroying the city as a white flag flew over his palace in place of the flag for the Grand Empire of Injia. His palace once the most beautiful building in the city now lay in ruins. Only dumb luck saved the Emperor from being buried alive in the ruins like many of his people. A strange sound was heard as the convoy of horseless carriages entered the palace grounds through the broken front gate and drove up the U-shaped driveway until coming to a stop in formation in front of the palace guards. A number of soldiers jumped out of the carriages with strange-looking weapons pointed at the palace guard as Captain Staughler slowly made his exit from the command vehicle and slowly walked up. He called out, "Greetings friends, which one of you is in charge of this smoking ruins?"

The guards looked visibly upset many of them with their hands on their swords wanting to charge forward and cut him down. Emperor Asoka said, "I am Emperor Asoka."

Captain Staughler nodded and smiled, "Alright, Emperor, sir, I have an Armistice agreement here for you to sign. Then we'll be your escort to the landing zone. That big fine lady up there in the sky will escort you to the Empire of Connaissance where you'll sign the formal surrender. This Armistice agreement is for our safety and yours. You see, if any armed troops from your nation decide to attack us, we'll need to get back to military operations. That's not good for your people, and it's expensive for us."

The Emperor signed two copies of the agreement. Captain Staughler smiled and said, "Thank you, sir, now if you'd please send out the order to cease military operations to your people we can escort you to the landing zone."

The Emperor turned to one of his guards and said, "Have general Signh bring his troops back to the city and restore order. Explain to him what my situation is and give him this document. Explain to him that he is not to go forward with the invasion plan. It is no longer feasible. Go!" The Emperor turned to Captain Staughler looking at him with eyes filled with hate, "Your Empress is quite good, killing all of these people. Destroying all of this art and these buildings which have stood for centuries all because I dared make a move for her woman."

Captain Staughler shrugged and said emotionlessly, "I don't really know much about politics and statesmanship sir, I just go fight wars where they tell me to." He smiled and then said, "Our Empress treats her people right. If she felt you messed with her people, well then I suppose you had this coming. She isn't someone that goes looking for trouble. You understand what I mean?"

The Emperor held his tongue and asked, "How many of my people can I bring with me."

Captain Staughler replied easily, "We have room for five plus yourself. I'll be honest with you, your guards are useless where we are going, you should probably bring servants."

One of the guards finally lost it from what he perceived as a personal insult and charged at Captain Staughler with his sword drawn. Staughler pulled his Tesla Wasp from its holster and killed the man by shooting him in the face. He sighed and then said to the guards, "I'm sorry friends, I realize now that sounds insulting to you. What I meant by that was that your weapons and skills won't be of use against my men. We have been trained to fight a different kind of war than you are prepared for, I hope that clarifies things? You are all strong and able men that are the shield for your Emperor, I have no doubt about that."

The Emperor looked at the dead guard in horror, he said almost too softly to his guard, "Send five of my women with me."

The guard bowed and then ran into the ruins of the palace returning a few minutes later with five young beautiful women carrying a bag each. A few of Staughler's men helped the women to the fast attack carriages and took a moment to search the bags before helping the women on board. Captain Staughly smiled at the Emperor and said, "This way, please." He escorted the Emperor back to his own vehicle as the rest of the troops kept their weapons on the guards. Once he was on board, the soldiers quickly returned to their own carriages. As the last man climbed up the convoy started to move out of the palace.

*****

Roland, Jamie, and Gertrude stood in front of Emily's desk with their reports each report handed over to Emily who looked them over one by one. Emily was still reading as she spoke, "Roland the former Windsor Kingdom Embassy will be converted into my Palace. It's smaller than normal for this purpose, but it is the only building in the city that will fit the bill. Make sure that you work with Duke Connaissance on the plan. Also, you'll need to meet with Roger about assigning the permanent Royal Guard." She opened the next report and then asked Jamie, "Oh, she has been busy I see? Mia's Secret is quite the secret. She even hid it from me, naughty girl. You have assessed it as dangerous, Jamie, could you further explain?"

Jamie curtsied and then replied softly, "We are not entirely sure what her motivations are and why she is building such an organization. On top of that, they have also moved to assassinate several people in the Kingdom. They were people we had under surveillance as possible assassination targets which is why we allowed this to happen. Our chief concern is that this organization's major purpose is to collect information for use by the Kingdom of Fursia."

Emily nodded and said, "Alright, keep an eye on them for now. When the time is right I will speak to Mia about it." She opened the next report, "Gertrude, your report is... Rather detailed." She read some more than looked up at Gertrude, "Is this your report or did you just write down some erotica and give it to me?"

Gertrude smiled and said softly, "I tried to be thorough with my report, Your Majesty. I have been making contact with the people suspected of working for foreign powers. I didn't want anyone to think I wasn't being serious in my duties so I included the acts of pleasure that went into my meetings as well."

Emily pushed that report aside and said, "Summarize please, without the erotica."

Gertrude smiled and said, "I flushed out all of the Grand Empire of Injia contacts and they have been eliminated. Either by our hand or operatives from Mia's Secret. The only known operatives still in the city are from the Nobility and Mia's Secret. The Church of course is sitting in the open and they are also known to keep intelligence on every person they speak with. In fact, in many ways, they are the best intelligence agency on Hanston."

Emily nodded and then said, "You had a special note about Jon Alexander, explain."

Gertrude nodded and said, "I am concerned that his resentment toward you and specifically Princess Teslaimia could be used by a foreign power to gain high-level military intelligence. I was able to get quite a few serious secret level pieces of military intelligence from him over several nights without much effort."

Emily nodded and then asked, "Are you suggesting that I have him killed?"

Gertrude shook her head, "Not at this time. I will keep him under surveillance for now. I just wanted you to be aware of the potential danger."

Emily nodded and said, "Alright, come to me if there are any changes. Pay close attention to any new residents in the city. Also, we'll need to expand our reach again, so I want you three to start activating our agents within the Nobility once again."

Emily watched as they started to leave. Just as the door to her office closed, she picked up Gertrude's report and started to read it again. The door opened suddenly and a smiling Gertrude said, "I forgot my purse." Emily's face turned bright red as she dropped the report like it was burning hot. Gertrude walked over with a sultry sway in her hips and bent over to pick it up in an overly sexual manner before giving her a steamy smile and walking out the door once again.

Emily spoke up quickly, "Wait! I need you..."

*****

Teslaimia sat at her desk in the Mia's Secret back office as Grace and Chas sat across from her while she read their reports, "You're saying this woman, Gertrude, is suspicious? Why is that?"

Grace nodded and then said stoically, "We have had her under watch for a while because she worked at the Windsor Kingdom's Embassy. She is a client here at our shop and spends a lot more money that seems to fit her job as a maid. We didn't have her as one of Andrew Windsor's people but I am not so sure now. There are two others from the Embassy that I have concerns about as well. The head butler Roland, who is now working closely with you and Her Majesty, and also another maid, Jamie Penny. This second maid is also a regular here and spends a lot more money than a maid should be able to afford to spend."

Teslaimia nodded and then asked, "What makes you suspicious of Roland?"

Grace shook her head, "We have tried tailing him and even set him up with a honey trap, male and female. We can't stick to him and he slipped past the honey traps like they weren't even there. I suspect he is an old hat at this game."

Teslaimia started tapping her finger on the desk nervously, "I think someone has discovered my secret."

"Who?" Grace asked curiously.

"Her Majesty, Emily." Teslaimia smiled.

Grace made a face, "The Empire's intelligence people are all known to us, Your Highness, we haven't made any mistakes, I am sure of it."

Teslaimia chuckled and said, "I know you have been careful Grace, I am very happy and proud of the work you do here. These three you have found should be part of Emily's personal intelligence network if I haven't guessed wrong. I'll find out this evening when I speak with her next."

A knock came from the door to Teslaimia's office. She spoke up, "What is it?"

From outside the door, a woman spoke, "Your Highness, Her Majesty is here to visit."

Teslaimia said, "Send her back here, please." She looked at Grace and Chas and said, "Keep them under watch for now."

A few moments later Emily walked in with Gertrude just behind. Grace stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Gertrude. Emily smiled at Teslaimia and looked around she saw Grace staring at Gertrude and said, "You must be the famous Grace I heard about? You've met Gertrude before I am sure?"

Grace looked flustered, "W-What?"

Emily looked at her quizzically, "Gertrude is one of my personal shoppers, she picks up my naughty things here. You are the store manager aren't you?"

Teslaimia sighed and said, "Get back to work Grace, everything should be as I said before. You don't have to worry about those three anymore."

Teslaimia looked at Gertrude and said, "You must know what my store's Secret is then, right?" She looked at Emily and smiled sheepishly, "I started this company to make money, and to help keep us safe, it seems you are a little better at it than I am."

Emily smiled and sat down, "No, my people have nothing but compliments for your store and its staff. I just want to make sure that this business is meant for you, and not your father for obvious reasons."

Teslaimia nodded and said, "It's for me, yes. You brought Gertrude to be a liaison officer between us, is that it?"

Emily nodded and said, "She will pop in from time to time to share information with you and your staff, when she is here for that purpose and not just to shop she will ask to pick up my order."

Teslaimia nodded and then asked, "Is it just Jamie, Roland, and Gertrude?"

Emily laughed, "Roland is the head of the snake, the girls are just my favorites. My network is rather large, much like your own. Did you have any more questions, Mia?"

She shook her head no, "Mm, good, then let's talk about our new residence. Gertrude, you may go now, feel free to do some shopping while we are here. My treat." Once she left the room, Emily said, "I am having Roland repurpose the old Windsor Kingdom Embassy into the Palace. It has room for guards, housekeeping staff, and a working office which I will need to transition to from the City Hall office."

Teslaimia nodded and then asked, "Won't you miss your view?"

Emily nodded and said, "It isn't fair to Randolf for me to keep his office any longer. Plus, we don't need the Nobility clamoring for offices in the building. It's also closer to your office here."

Teslaimia looked at Emily for a moment and then said, "That Gertrude is very attractive."

Emily smiled at Teslaimia and said, "I notice that Grace and the others are quite attractive as well."

Teslaimia stood up and walked around her desk moving closer to Emily who stood up and did the same. The grabbed each other and started to kiss fiercely, their clothes falling to the ground as they attacked each other passionately.

Outside in the hallway Grace gasped covering her mouth, she whispered to Gertrude, "How did you know?"

Gertrude licked her lips and whispered back, "I wrote this report this morning..."