09-09-2026, 11:22 PM
“This is absolutely a threat to us,” Jennifer Hale said to the secure video call. “I told you at the start that letting them get a foot in the door would lead to ever more encroachment and interference.”
“I think you’re being premature,” came Letitia Greenwood’s voice from the computer. “We are partners with the Xiomerans; we have leased them land for a military base, with an agreement. The situation in Taragai is entirely different.”
“They said it themselves!” Rosemary Arnott countered. “They’re an empire. They colonise places. I told you so too; once they’re here they’ll never leave! It’s been three and a half years; they are entrenched.”
“The Xiomerans have shown no signs of wanting to colonise us,” Lia Chiu said calmly.
“Semantics,” snapped Jennifer at the computer. “They’ve shown no signs of wanting to colonise us in particular, sure, but they’ve basically indicated they want to colonise everywhere.”
“I see no reason to believe the Xiomerans are a threat to us,” Greenwood sighed.
“See, I know you’re lying, because you’re not stupid. And only someone stupid would believe that,” Rosemary said simply.
“Order!” Chiu snapped, banging a gavel and causing feedback on the mic. The Lauchenoirian spy, crouched in the Hale-Alvarez residence’s garage, winced and backed away from his earpiece.
“I will say, it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it,” Rosemary sighed. “Too late, too late, too late.”
“You need antidepressants, girl,” scoffed Natalia Hart. “But make sure the doctor puts on the record that they’re for muscle relaxation because we cannot be seen as weak if someone leaks the records.”
“I said, ORDER!” Chiu shouted. “Stop acting like children! We are here to discuss Taragai, not our fellow Councillors’ mental health. Now, we are allies with Xiomera. They have a military base on our soil. They have now announced that they are openly colonising another country.”
“Gloves off,” Hale muttered.
“Indeed, that is how the democratic countries’ media are reporting it,” Chiu nodded. “But I have to ask - is this actually news to anyone but the most naive? I disagree with Councillor Arnott’s prophecies of doom, but she is not wrong when she says that it is in the nature of an empire to expand and colonise. It is the expected practice, in the twenty-first century, to allow for plausible deniability. Calhualyana’s actions are not unanticipated, only her words. And do words really change anything for us, at least immediately?”
The assembled Councillors all fidgeted uncomfortably for a while. It grated on several of them that Chiu, at the age of 85, was the most logical of them all at times. Not a spot of senility could touch her. She was not the most moral of the Council by any means, but on pure logic she excelled.
“Nothing has technically changed from our position,” Hale conceded eventually, meaning herself and Rosemary. “We were against it from the beginning and we remain against it now.”
“But the Xiomeran military base is here, and we must work from that position,” Hart said firmly.
“Yes, and behaving in a hostile manner is only more likely to see the fears of our Reformist friends here realised,” Greenwood replied.
“So we just do nothing? Say nothing!?” Rosemary exclaimed, throwing her arms so wide she knocked some papers off her desk and had to bend down to pick them up.
“We do nothing. We say nothing,” nodded Chiu.
“I genuinely cannot understand how that country lasted a century if that is how they govern,” remarked one Lauchenoirian spy to another after reviewing the tape of the call they’d tapped.
“I believe the discussion used to be more civil, before their reformists became open about it,” the second spy shrugged. “Of course, they were civil to each other’s faces and then went around assassinating each other, so who’s to say this is worse?”
“At least it’s an easy report - they’re doing nothing.”
“Of course they’re doing nothing. There’s nothing they can do. Absolute idiots to let the Xiomerans onto their soil in the first place. And it’ll be us that suffer for it.”
“I’m taking this report to the boss. Later.”
“Intelligence suggests that the Kerlians intend to neither object nor immediately recognise the claim,” Prime Minister Thomas Averforth told the Lauchenoirian cabinet some hours later.
“They wouldn’t object, would they?” Pavía scoffed. “The Council follow Calhualyana around like little obedient puppies nowadays. Shouldn’t have launched that missile towards Greater Acadia if they didn’t want fallout.”
“We, obviously, are going to object strenuously. It is the twenty-first century, and they are acting like it is the seventeenth. But…”
“But are we going to take action instead of just saying stuff?” Pavía filled in.
“Indeed.”
An uneasy silence fell. Nobody wanted to be the one to suggest that they, just like the Kerlians, didn’t have many options for what to do next. Lauchenoiria was no match for Xiomera militarily. The public in Lauchenoiria weren’t entirely against foreign intervention - or they wouldn’t have voted two of the more interventionist-leaning parties into coalition government. But polling suggested only winnable conflicts were popular. This wasn’t.
“Perhaps we should wait and see if anyone else is going to do something,” Pavía suggested finally.
“Yes, perhaps.”
“After all, an international coalition would be more effective than a unilateral response.”
“Naturally.”
“But we certainly can’t move to lead it, we’re still recovering from our own civil war, and we’re hardly the largest country by population, military strength, or economy. Laeral may respond, they are geographically close. Or Huenya and Eiria.”
“Yes, perhaps we should wait.”
And so, wait they will.
“I think you’re being premature,” came Letitia Greenwood’s voice from the computer. “We are partners with the Xiomerans; we have leased them land for a military base, with an agreement. The situation in Taragai is entirely different.”
“They said it themselves!” Rosemary Arnott countered. “They’re an empire. They colonise places. I told you so too; once they’re here they’ll never leave! It’s been three and a half years; they are entrenched.”
“The Xiomerans have shown no signs of wanting to colonise us,” Lia Chiu said calmly.
“Semantics,” snapped Jennifer at the computer. “They’ve shown no signs of wanting to colonise us in particular, sure, but they’ve basically indicated they want to colonise everywhere.”
“I see no reason to believe the Xiomerans are a threat to us,” Greenwood sighed.
“See, I know you’re lying, because you’re not stupid. And only someone stupid would believe that,” Rosemary said simply.
“Order!” Chiu snapped, banging a gavel and causing feedback on the mic. The Lauchenoirian spy, crouched in the Hale-Alvarez residence’s garage, winced and backed away from his earpiece.
“I will say, it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it,” Rosemary sighed. “Too late, too late, too late.”
“You need antidepressants, girl,” scoffed Natalia Hart. “But make sure the doctor puts on the record that they’re for muscle relaxation because we cannot be seen as weak if someone leaks the records.”
“I said, ORDER!” Chiu shouted. “Stop acting like children! We are here to discuss Taragai, not our fellow Councillors’ mental health. Now, we are allies with Xiomera. They have a military base on our soil. They have now announced that they are openly colonising another country.”
“Gloves off,” Hale muttered.
“Indeed, that is how the democratic countries’ media are reporting it,” Chiu nodded. “But I have to ask - is this actually news to anyone but the most naive? I disagree with Councillor Arnott’s prophecies of doom, but she is not wrong when she says that it is in the nature of an empire to expand and colonise. It is the expected practice, in the twenty-first century, to allow for plausible deniability. Calhualyana’s actions are not unanticipated, only her words. And do words really change anything for us, at least immediately?”
The assembled Councillors all fidgeted uncomfortably for a while. It grated on several of them that Chiu, at the age of 85, was the most logical of them all at times. Not a spot of senility could touch her. She was not the most moral of the Council by any means, but on pure logic she excelled.
“Nothing has technically changed from our position,” Hale conceded eventually, meaning herself and Rosemary. “We were against it from the beginning and we remain against it now.”
“But the Xiomeran military base is here, and we must work from that position,” Hart said firmly.
“Yes, and behaving in a hostile manner is only more likely to see the fears of our Reformist friends here realised,” Greenwood replied.
“So we just do nothing? Say nothing!?” Rosemary exclaimed, throwing her arms so wide she knocked some papers off her desk and had to bend down to pick them up.
“We do nothing. We say nothing,” nodded Chiu.
“I genuinely cannot understand how that country lasted a century if that is how they govern,” remarked one Lauchenoirian spy to another after reviewing the tape of the call they’d tapped.
“I believe the discussion used to be more civil, before their reformists became open about it,” the second spy shrugged. “Of course, they were civil to each other’s faces and then went around assassinating each other, so who’s to say this is worse?”
“At least it’s an easy report - they’re doing nothing.”
“Of course they’re doing nothing. There’s nothing they can do. Absolute idiots to let the Xiomerans onto their soil in the first place. And it’ll be us that suffer for it.”
“I’m taking this report to the boss. Later.”
“Intelligence suggests that the Kerlians intend to neither object nor immediately recognise the claim,” Prime Minister Thomas Averforth told the Lauchenoirian cabinet some hours later.
“They wouldn’t object, would they?” Pavía scoffed. “The Council follow Calhualyana around like little obedient puppies nowadays. Shouldn’t have launched that missile towards Greater Acadia if they didn’t want fallout.”
“We, obviously, are going to object strenuously. It is the twenty-first century, and they are acting like it is the seventeenth. But…”
“But are we going to take action instead of just saying stuff?” Pavía filled in.
“Indeed.”
An uneasy silence fell. Nobody wanted to be the one to suggest that they, just like the Kerlians, didn’t have many options for what to do next. Lauchenoiria was no match for Xiomera militarily. The public in Lauchenoiria weren’t entirely against foreign intervention - or they wouldn’t have voted two of the more interventionist-leaning parties into coalition government. But polling suggested only winnable conflicts were popular. This wasn’t.
“Perhaps we should wait and see if anyone else is going to do something,” Pavía suggested finally.
“Yes, perhaps.”
“After all, an international coalition would be more effective than a unilateral response.”
“Naturally.”
“But we certainly can’t move to lead it, we’re still recovering from our own civil war, and we’re hardly the largest country by population, military strength, or economy. Laeral may respond, they are geographically close. Or Huenya and Eiria.”
“Yes, perhaps we should wait.”
And so, wait they will.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax