The Church's Power

Cardinal Pujols stood up and started to clap his hands. He turned to the Blonde man and smiled, "It seems the Dane West Injia Company no longer wishes to business here in the south." He looked over at Cardinal Gibson and said, "Please pass the word to all of our brothers and sisters, the Dane West Injia Company is no longer welcome in any Parish."

Every leader in the room started to sweat visibly. The Blonde man's face darkened and he stood up abruptly, "Geoff Caster did not speak for my company, he was just a stockholder!"

He looked at Cardinal Pujols and said swiftly, "Your Eminence, I can explain. That man, Caster, he had a tea business in Injia that was affected by the recent war with Connaissance, he must have wanted to assassinate the Empress because he lost money!"

The Cardinal shook his head negatively, "Had I known that your company conducted its business like that I would have had you under boycott ten years ago."

Emily cleared her throat and asked in an almost soft voice, "Which of you is King Snegg?"

Cardinal Pujols looked confused as an older rather fat man dressed in purple robes coughed once hoping his guards would start moving before he answered, "I am King Snegg, Empress Connaissance." He stood up looking around for his guards.

Emily walked over to him and said, "I want to apologize for killing this man in your Kingdom without checking with you first. I hope you can forgive me?" She offered him a handshake. He took her hand and shook it.

"He was an assassin, if you hadn't done it yourself I would have had to pay to give him a trial and house him in my prison, so thank you for saving me the time and money." He smiled at her. She turned and headed back to her seat before stopping and turning back.

She walked up to him and asked, "There's just one thing that bothers me though. I arrived here unannounced, how did he know to mark my carriage and have assassins ready? I don't believe the Church announced my arrival. That means the assassination was only set in motion once my Ship arrived which was merely a few minutes before I was provided a carriage by your men, how was Caster able to get your men to do this so easily?"

King Snegg broke down in tears and fell to his knees, "I work for the Dane West Injia Company! I am not a real King! They just pay me to act like the King while they run things with their White Shark Gang! Please don't kill me, Empress!"

Emily nodded and then asked, "Did you order men to detain me at the gate until the marked carriage could arrive?"

King Snegg nodded, "Lord caster saw your ship and had me order it. The assassins were the Royal guard too."

Emily gently pat him on the cheek and smiled, "See doesn't it feel better to get the truth out? The blonde man sitting here. Who is he to you?"

The blonde man leaped up from his chair pulling his sword and charging at Emily, Emily, Grace, and Andrew all fired their Wasps one after another killing the man before he could get more than three steps. Emily kicked the sword away and then walked over to the blonde man's seat and picked up his documents on the discovery and said, "It seems the secret of the path to the west was meant to be a chance for the Dane West Injia Company to claim a monopoly on trade through the route. There are no charts or logs here only contracts to be signed with the Dane West Injia Company." She tossed the documents to the rest of the leaders and said, "The Empire of Connaissance has no interest in signing with this company, good luck to the rest of you." She turned and walked out. Grace and Andrew followed her out after making sure no one was going to follow.

Cardinal Pujols stood up along with Cardinal Gibson and said softly, "Lord Léon Jean Reno once spoke to the collected leaders of the Southern Nations and said, 'Greed is what keeps men moving forward and that is good until Greed clouds the mind and replaces justice and fair trade.' These men from the Dane West Injia Company care not for fair trade and Justice." The two Cardinals walked out of the meeting following behind the Empress.

*****

Emily's soldiers open up a large space in the square outside of the council meeting allowing the CEAS William Smith's basket to drop into the square for the pickup. Emily and the other passengers loading in first. Once the ship had them onboard the soldiers were picked up. Emily quickly walked to the bridge and said to Captain Alyen, "Take us home, Captain, best speed to the City of Connaissance."

The Captain shook his head, "I hope you didn't book a room down there."

She smiled at him and said, "Port Gaul wasn't very welcoming."

Once the ship was underway, Emily showed the map to him and asked, "The Dane West Injia Company found a route to the east going this way to the west, I am wondering, in your opinion as both a sailor and as a new airship captain, which way would you think is shorter?"

Captain Alyen chuckled and said, "No they didn't. If they went to the west, they didn't end up here on the east side of the map, they landed in Leif Garretson's continent." He grabbed an ink pen and asked, "Mind if I draw on the back of this?"

She shook her head and watched as he sketched out a map of the world. Here to here is all ocean, takes a few months to cross. Then you get to Leif Garretson's continent right here. "No one has bothered to map it out because it costs too much to cross over. From what the old legends say, Leif and his longboat travelled from the northwest down the coast but didn't find any civilization worth raiding. That's what his warriors counted on for supplies. They ended up stopping here in place they called the Springland, foraged for meat and fruit and then headed back to Shinnland."

Emily nodded and then asked, "The Company found gold and Harbenite along with tribal people on some islands north and west of Port Gaul."

Captain Alyen nodded and said, "Then that must be much farther to the south than Springland." He drew a coast that went much further south and the drew some islands almost parallel with the Holy Chadtom Empire.

Emily smiled, "Yes that's the area described by the men from the Company."

Captain Alyen frown and scratched his head, "The problem with heading out that far into the sea is that you need to catch the air current. You see, on a ship even an Airship like ours, we need to know which way the air blows at what time of year in order to make the most efficient crossing. If you miss the current, you could run out of food. Even by airship, traveling hundreds of miles per day, we could fight the wind and double the length of the trip."

Emily nodded and asked, "So it's not enough just to know it's there. You really need to know how to get there efficiently and alive."

He nodded, "As I said, any sailor knows there is land there, we just aren't stupid enough to blindly cross without a log and charts. The men who sent this expedition were gambling on the lives of they sent."

Emily nodded and then asked, "If I gave you the task to cross, what would you need that doesn't exist here on the ship right now in order to make it safely?"

He thought for a long time, "Better instruments to measure wind speed, wind direction, and a way to see over the horizon to detect land before it can be seen, mainly. Also, better ways to store food and water for longer trips. A purpose-built ship designed for long-range exploration instead of all the wasted space used for military applications."

Emily nodded and said, "In other words, you'd need to spend a lot more money than it would be worth?"

He nodded, "Don't get me wrong, at some point the resources available in an untapped continent are going to be worth more than the cost of such a trip. I would say start planning and development early and let our technology advance enough to make the trip more cost-effective to make. Unless you want to gamble the lives of the people who'd take the trip."

Emily's eyes opened wide, "You are a lot more intelligent than I gave you credit for Captain Alyen. Thank you, your input is greatly appreciated."

Captain Alyen made a face, "I almost feel like that wasn't a compliment."

*****

Gertrude and Roland were waiting in Emily's office when Teslaimia came walking into the office yawning, "Why are we up so early?"

Roland rolled his eyes, "Your Majesty, it's nearly ten."

Teslaimia waved her hand dismissively, "Give me the reports." She sat down behind the desk and started with Gertrude's report she asked, "Gertrude, did Emily assign this to you, or did you investigate on your own?"

Gertrude thought for a moment, "Both, I asked if I should look into it."

Teslaimia nodded and said, "I can tell you what I know already, the club is a front for an intelligence-gathering operation based out of Old Eurment. I am not sure the scope of it, but I know they have chapters in every country. They usually set their members up with a honey trap once they have an idea of what that member is looking for."

Gertrude looked confused, "Why did you bring us there?"

Teslaimia smiled and said, "Because I knew Emily would love it, kinky bitch, and I knew that you all would have fun too."

Gertrude blinked, "You are getting close to them looking for a way in?"

Teslaimia smiled softly and said, "Oh, brains and beauty."

"They are gathering intelligence on your turf, so you started counterintelligence." Gertrude looked shocked, "Why are you doing all of this?"

Teslaimia looked at her like she was disappointing her, "You were a Duke's daughter and you never thought to use what you had available to you in order to advance your own goals?"

"Emily found me first and gave me goals. I have just always used what she had and did what she wanted." Gertrude shook her head.

Teslaimia just shrugged and said, "One of the first things I was taught in the Harem was that you must know what they know before you can scheme against them. When I came to Connaissance, Emily was my enemy. My rival. I needed to know how this all worked. So I started my company. Once my feelings of rivalry became feelings of love, I needed to use my network to protect her instead of searching for her weaknesses. So I expanded my searching to cover more and more areas and topics."

Teslaimia looked at the other reports and asked, "Roland what will you be doing once you retire?"

Roland looked up with a look of surprise on his face, "Your Majesty?"

Teslaimia tapped on his report and said, "Why are you giving up on the only thing in your life that gives you purpose and joy?"

Roland sighed and said, "I have worked for the Windsor Family since I was twelve years old, Your Majesty. King William and Queen Kathryn were the best I ever served, I wanted to make sure their little girl made it to adulthood before I said my goodbye."

Teslaimia shook her head and then asked, "That's not what I asked you Roland, I asked what will you be doing?"

Roland shrugged, "I don't know. I just wanted to retire."

Teslaimia nodded and then asked, "Why have you been visiting the bookstore so often lately?"

"There is a woman there, that I have been meeting with, why do you ask?" Roland suddenly looked concerned.

Teslaimia shrugged and then asked, "Why has that woman been making fairly large deposits to the First Bank of Slavistan each morning after you meet with her?"

Roland started to reach into his pocket. Gertrude quickly stopped him and asked, "Roland?"

He sighed and said, "I have been compromised." He closed his eyes.

Gertrude didn't even think as she pulled the trigger on her own Tesla Wasp she didn't even remember drawing.

Teslaimia took a deep breath, "Have this office cleaned before she returns. If she asks, he decided to retire early because you were doing so well. He left on a tour of Old Eurment."

Gertrude felt like her entire world was a lie as she looked at Roland's dead body.

Teslaimia said softly, "He's bleeding onto the rug, if you don't have this cleaned up soon, you'll have a hard time finding an exact replica."

Gertrude asked, "How did you know?"

"I trust no one." She got up and yawned, "I need a nap."