Merendinoemiliano and DesiCat. Thanks for the kind words. I agree with the criticism of the dialogue (or lack thereof) chapter 4, but I needed to move the story forwards.
Blake was beginning to relax. The mission had gone according to plan. Beige had been induced to show off how important he was and had switched on his lap scroll. He had also not noticed Illia adding the Mickey Finn to his drink as he was distracted by Blake and Julie. He was now out for the count. Illia was extracting the information they had been sent to obtain from the lap scroll. Julie was posing for the photographs which they would hold in reserve for proving that he had been blackmailed into leaking company secrets.
Illia said, "Great. We have information on the standard security protocols for SDC middle management including those for dealing with the military and security forces. It looks like there are local variants as his files have some special instructions for Argus and especially for dealing with Cordovin."
Blake said, "Is there anything which is specific to Vacuo?"
"There is a lot of financial information and a detailed annotated guide to the nightlife there. It includes the favourite haunts of many of the multi-kingdom managers."
"Bear that in mind. It may enable us to kidnap them or at least embarrass them."
Julie suggested "It may also be worth basing assassination plans on the information." She winked at Blake and said, "I mean unfortunate incidents during an attempted kidnap of high-ranking executives of the most exploitative multi-kingdoms." This was an old argument between them. Julie agreed with Adam that sooner rather than later the White Fang would need to step up its campaign officially. For the moment, Sienna Khan did not challenge Adam and the other militants on accidental collateral damage provided that there was plausible deniability.
Illia suddenly said "Blake, a scroll message has just been received from Umber Raddock. which may be important. He has been told to cancel his holiday and report to Umber Raddock in Vacuo. They say that they need his expertise to razzle dazzle the military. He has been ordered to catch a flight tomorrow morning."
Blake thought about the implications and wondered what Adam would do. She decided that he would not object to her expanding the options for the raid in Vacuo. It was likely that Beige would be given greater access to the specific Vacuoan operating protocols for the SDC when he arrived. Also, the three of them would be there and perhaps they could arrange to bump into him there.
She said to Julie and Illia. "I think we need to change the plan so that he will look forward to meeting us again. We will leave him with the sense that he had a good time which he cannot remember the details of. I will take a business card with his scroll number on and we will leave him a letter thanking him for a wonderful time."
Illia removed the USB stick but left the Spruce Willis film that they had been streaming on. They had done this for various reasons. First, if he became suspicious the fact that the lap scroll had been used for entertainment purposes would help him decide that nothing untoward had happened. Second, it also reduced the risk that anyone in the neighbouring compartments would hear any of the conversation or indeed wonder about the lack of noise. Julie had amused herself by adding some sound effects as well as leaving evidence of lipstick and perfume on his body.
Blake left the cabin and went back to the bar. The sheep Faunus was still serving and looked at her suspiciously.
She said to him "Our friend has drunk a little too much. Could we have a pot of strong coffee, please. It may also be a good idea to ensure that there is a taxi at Mistral to take him to his hotel." She handed over 50 lien and the address of the hotel with a cheerful command to keep the change.
The Faunus nodded and visibly relaxed. Blake guessed that he had been unable to decide whether they were enthusiastic amateurs, high class escorts or thieves. She was relieved that at an early stage they had decided not to go with the theft option. The betting had been that Beige would have been too embarrassed to report a crime, but she suspected that the bartender had planned to ask the guard to check the cabin just before they reached Mistral. It was none of his business if the passengers found mutual entertainment, but theft was a problem. Also making certain that inebriated executives got to their destination safely was no doubt an occasional service offered by the train company.
/-/
Marrow reached the headquarters at Atlas and asked to see Clover Ebi. Clover was there and came down to reception to meet him.
"Specialist Ebi, sir. Thank you for seeing me. I have an urgent message from Captain Schnee for General Ironwood's eyes only." He handed a letter addressed to Clover from Winter confirming the story.
Clover took out his scroll and contacted Ironwood.
"Sir, I have Lieutenant Amin with me. He has an urgent message from Captain Schnee in Vacuo which she says involve matters of kingdom security and reputation. She has sent a report and a message which is for your eyes only."
"Bring the lieutenant to my office, Specialist Ebi."
Marrow was nervous in the lift. He had of course met the general before, but this had generally been in the context of routine meetings during his time at the Academy which had involved been congratulated on his progress or his performance at the Vytal festivals. To judge from the reactions of the Major and the Captain during the flights to and from the mine he was carrying high explosives with him and he hoped that Ironwood would not shoot the messenger.
He and Clover entered the office and saluted the general.
"I understand that interesting things have been happening in Vacuo today, lieutenant."
"Yes, sir. Here is a letter from Captain Schnee and a report on an USB. A copy has been sent to Ambassador Campion and a further copy is awaiting Colonel White's return from vacation. The Captain asked me to stress to you that the question of whether the information should be further distributed is a matter for you. She has a hard copy of the report which will be kept in a safe at the base. She has asked the Ambassador to await a call from you before taking any action himself. I should mention that just before I left for Atlas there was a report that the head of security at the SDC in Vacuo had been shot trying to kill the CEO of SDC's Vacuoan subsidiary."
"I had heard that he was dead, but not the details. Specialist Ebi, could you wait with Lieutenant Amin in your office. I may have further questions for him."
/-/
General Ironwood opened the letter from Winter, read it and frowned. He picked up the USB stick and played it. He was angry at the SDC and not for the first time cursed the greed of Jacques Schnee. Obviously, they could not release this information to the press and even the council could only be told a sanitised version of the truth. Still, that is what had been done last time the issue had come up and now it had returned to bite Atlas.
The USB stick covered the findings at the mine and the question of payments to officers by the multi-kingdoms. Most of the findings were distasteful and the trade minister would need to clear out the top layer of management at the inspectorate. Payments to officers would have to cease. While Winter had stressed that there was no evidence of there being a deliberate linking of payments to corrupt activity, the situation stank. He wondered whether Ozpin was right when he had said that he rather agreed with Dr. Oobleck's theory that all institutions needed a good kicking every five to seven years to prevent bad habits becoming entrenched. While he saw the point of the Atlas business community's dislike of over-zealous regulation, he suspected that when they said they wanted light touch regulation, they really wanted ineffective regulation.
The underage employees were perhaps to be expected. It appeared that these tended only to be a year too young and were physically fit. However, the brandings had been an unpleasant surprise. The SDC had fifteen mines in Vacuo and if the numbers were repeated at each mine then clearly the SDC had lied when eight years ago they had said that there had been only a handful of incidents where over-zealous managers and local security employees had taken regrettably harsh steps to deal with violent behaviour by strikers. Ironwood suspected that it had been a matter of policy to intimidate the Faunus. It had also been the issue which the council had decided to humiliate Ghira and Kali Belladonna over. He had supported the decision at the time and there was no going back on it, but he could not deny that the Campion wing of the foreign office had been more right than wrong in their predictions of the consequences.
He would need to speak to the foreign Secretary ASAP. Ambassador Campion would need careful handling. The Campions were old money and painful to deal with at the best of times. Three quarters of the family were obstinate and stupid, and the other quarter were brilliant and over-imaginative. The Ambassador was the latter which had both good and bad aspects. He did have a sense of public service, but his view of what was best for Atlas was different to Ironwood's. Still on the issue of Vacuo, the General trusted that they could both get what they wanted. He expected that the Ambassador would go for the cover up provided the SDC suffered a financial hit, and the multi-kingdoms were forced to treat their Faunus employees better.
He re-read Winter's letter which had touched on the attempt to ambush the ambassador. If Winter was hinting at what he thought she was, then ambassador Campion had good reason to be angry. If he played the card that the multi-kingdoms had tried to kill a duly appointed ambassador, then Robyn Hill would be a shoe in at the next council election and the stupid wing of the Campion family and friends would throw the multi-kingdoms under the bus.
He called in Lieutenant Amin and Specialist Ebi. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I would like to ask your opinion on an off the record basis of your experiences so far in Vacuo."
"Of course, sir."
"On your trip with the ambassador, were you convinced that the attack was led by bandits?"
"No, sir. There seems to have been good reason to believe that it was carried out by representatives of organised crime in Vacuo. The local guide has confirmed that a lot of familiar faces had vanished and there were signs of a power vacuum within the criminal community following the attack. No one could think of a good reason for local criminals to want to kill the ambassador or his nephew unless a third party had hired them to do so. The local multi-kingdom managers had been complaining about the identity of the new ambassador. While I have no proof, it is widely believed that the local managers asked who will rid me of this turbulent ambassador."
Ironwood recalled the after-action report from Major Magenta and the message he had received from the ambassador. "This local guide who escorted you. He sounds resourceful. Would you recommend him for a mustang place at the academy?"
"Undoubtedly he has the talent, sir. However, he may be a better fit at Vale than Atlas."
Clover volunteered a comment, "My uncle also rates him, but would agree with Lieutenant Amin's suggestion."
Ironwood decided that he should read the man's file and moved on.
"Thank you Lieutenant. I will allow you to enjoy your leave. Do you have anywhere to stay tonight? I believe a visiting officer' quarters are available for the next four nights."
"Thank you, sir. That will be much appreciated."
After Lieutenant Amin had left, Ironwood turned to Clover. "Specialist Ebi. I would like you to fly to Vacuo tomorrow. I want you to speak to Captain Schnee, Major Magenta, Lieutenant Beamish and your uncle. I would also like your views on the local guide. This is confidential, but it has become clear that the SDC has been branding some of its workers on the face as a matter of policy and this includes blinding some of them in one eye. The fact that they have used their own initials suggests that they believe they can do this with impunity. You will recall that the SDC and the Atlas government has gone on the record denying that any such actions ever happened. Colonel White is retiring later this year and I would prefer not to remove him early. I need to know how bad things are in Vacuo and how far I will need to clean the stables there. I will think further overnight about what else you should concentrate on. Report to me here at 8 in the morning. Before you go, could you arrange for this USB stick to be taken to Jacques Schnee with my compliments and a request that he speak to me by midday tomorrow."
Clover nodded and left.
/-/
Winter was writing up the longer report of the inspection visit together with the assessment of Lieutenant Beamish when Major Magenta knocked on her door. He looked tired and stressed.
"At ease, Captain. Would you care to join me in the officer's mess?"
Winter believed that the message he was giving her was that they would be having an honest conversation as brother officers rather than solely superior and junior officer. She said "Of course, sir."
They bought a bottle of wine and sat down at a private table. As it was the end of the week most officers not on duty were likely to be in Vacuo city meeting friends and contacts.
"Winter, did you expect to find what you did at the mine?"
"I hoped not to, but I was not surprised."
He nodded, "Good tactics, by the way. It appears that people were looking for me and the colonel to call you to heel but did not want to explain things to the ambassador. Colonel White will be returning early from leave but will not be here until tomorrow night. Who else knows what you found?"
"Beamish, you, Ironwood and the ambassador. I expect others are hearing rumours. A report is waiting for the colonel on his return. They were not sent electronically."
"Good. I hoped you would understand what I meant by the chain of command. As you uncovered issues which reflected on the reputation of Atlas with a potential adverse impact of the interests of the kingdom, those were the people to send the information to. The chief inspector did not realise what I meant and expects that only Colonel White will be receiving a report. I will be returning to the mine first thing tomorrow with the chief inspector and Umber Raddock. I expect that we will be joining by various members of the great and the good. Beamish and the squad are there with the unofficial purpose of ensuring that the Faunus do not disappear."
"Sir, I assume you have heard about Bruce Crimson?"
"I have heard three versions. One is the unofficial official story which is that Raddock confronted him, and he tried to kill Raddock. Raddock had been worried that this might happen and had arrange for snipers to protect him. There is the version which will I suspect become the official story which is that Crimson was the victim of a White Fang assassination attempt during which Raddock was slightly wounded." He paused and looked at Winter.
"I can see why my father and the Atlas Council may prefer that story. You said that there was a third version."
"Raddock arranged for Crimson to be killed and planted the assassination story. It allows him to say he had been kept in the dark, that when he was informed of the issue he took steps to clean house. It protects his position and that of the SDC. The assassination story allows everyone else to agree to hushing up the brandings to avoid giving the White Fang the oxygen of publicity and the SDC and the rest of the multi-kingdoms nickel and lien in relation to cleaning up their act on the other problems you uncovered. The inspection team will concentrate on the De Lagers mine and will postpone all other inspections for at least a month to allow the SDC and the multi-kingdoms to whitewash their operations. The White Fang scare story will be used as an excuse to demand that the next few inspections will be timetabled well in advance to ensure that no smoking guns will be found during them. My guess is that in a month's time, Mr Corkran will report to you that the multi-kingdoms are transferring workers between mines just before inspections are due to take place."
"I suspect you are right sir. However, I anticipate that around seven more eye brandings will be discovered. This means that there will be reason for Crimson to have panicked, but the numbers will be such that the over-zealous reactions to a violent strike argument can be made."
"Hmm, yes that makes sense. Will you and I have achieved any good?"
"Some. No more direct payments to officers and inspectors although there will be more extravagant hospitality offered. The gouging of the workers will become less blatant for a few years and safety equipment will be provided free to all workers and existing debts waived although there will be no refunds. My guess is that the ambassador will insist on these as a minimum and will drop hints about asking for an investigation into a recent unfortunate incident."
"I am uneasy about the assassination story. The ambassador was saying at lunch that blaming them for everything risks further radicalising them. If they are going to be accused of indiscriminate murder anyway, they may as well commit a few. He jokes that he is such a wet liberal that people can shoot duck off him, but I think he has a point."
Winter nodded. She could see both points of view on this but did not see how they could reverse the ratcheting up of tension.
The major continued, "Beamish is a better actor than I thought. You should have seen the inspectors and the deputy manager squirm when he explained that he had been paid money to do his job properly. He also said that after being briefed by you at the start of the week, he had spent yesterday reading the regulations and checking the reports for the last few years to see if anything had slipped through the cracks. Apparently his sister is a tax accountant who specialises in transfer pricing."
Winter was inwardly amused. "I have changed my mind about him. I initially thought he was lazy and complacent, but he has reacted well to being expected to perform better. I do wonder how much the nice but dim persona was actually always just an act."
"You do not have to comment, but I am impressed by the fact that you did not allow family considerations to prevent you doing your duty. By the way, the mine managers have decided that their line is that they recognised you straight away and were so intimidated by you that they left you to your own devices as well as believing that you would not mess up your own company."
Winter smiled at this. However, burning her bridges with her father had been an incentive to do her duty rather than a deterrent. While Ironwood respected her, he had never entirely trusted her because of the perceived dual allegiance. It was one of the reasons he discouraged officers from the old families from making a career in Atlas. She felt a momentary pang of guilt for the impact on Weiss and Whitley. She knew that Weiss worshipped her and increasingly despised both parents. One effect of today would be that Winter would no longer be welcome at Schnee Manor and her father would no longer believe that it was merely a matter of time before she came to her senses and resumed her position as heiress. It would also increase Whitley's motivation to be a younger version of Jacques.
She asked, "How obvious is it to anyone else where I got my information from?"
"Probably only to me, and that is because I pointed you at him. The men enjoy working with him and respect his abilities, but do not realise quite how stalky he is. I do want to make him an officer before Colonel White retires as currently Faunus officers need to be better than average to succeed and the men are used to obeying him already. I think it more likely that they will assume you knew because of your background knowledge in what direction to point Beamish and that someone had blabbed about second shifts been a way of hiding underage employees and that the brandings were a shock to you."
"How much did you suspect, sir?"
"Most of it. I try to do the best job I can, but the message we have consistently got from Atlas and the embassy is that our job is to protect the multi-kingdoms and not make waves. I resented hushing up the brandings when I first came across them and I did refuse to receive payments from the multi-kingdoms. However, I was not going to sacrifice my career for a futile gesture which achieved nothing. A maverick ambassador and an honest highflying officer with links to General Ironwood has been my only opportunity to years to make a difference and it would have a dereliction of duty not to take it. You do realise of course that there is no chance of me being promoted to take over from Colonel White now."
Winter was surprised. "Sir? For what it is worth, my report to the general was nothing but complimentary to you."
"The multi-kingdoms do not trust me because I did not take the cash and from the viewpoint of Atlas it will be self-evident that the new commanding officer must be someone with no previous service in Vacuo who is not tainted by the past. The chief inspector was very gloomy on the flight back as it is clear to him that he will be the fall guy. A weak man, but not a bad one. He genuinely does believe that he and his team have saved lives by doing some of their job properly. He was calculating how much he needed to live on once he had retired and doubted that he would be able to negotiate a cushy job with one of the multi-kingdoms as his predecessor did."
He drained hid glass and stood up "Sleep well captain. You will be undertaking my normal duties tomorrow. I would suggest that you speak to the ambassador and the trade attaché."
Winter returned to her room. She wondered about the major. For someone who said that he did not believe in making futile gestures, not taking the cash from the multi-kingdoms seemed rather a pointed gesture. Still maybe it was a mark of a cautious man who did not want to make himself vulnerable to blackmail.
/-/
Umber Raddock had now been discharged from hospital and was reporting to Jacques Schnee. Although the SDC used first rate encryption, the conversation was guarded, and euphemisms abounded.
Jacques stated, "It was unfortunate that the late unlamented Mr. Crimson was able to hide evidence of his activities from you and me, but I suppose it was hardly likely that me or his subordinates would boast about it." Message received and agreed - blame it all on Crimson and a few associates."
"It would appear that his main accomplices are no longer with the company and a few appear to have met with unfortunate and perhaps in retrospect suspicious accidents." Message being the excesses are down to a few rotten apples who are no longer with us.
"I do trust that the incidents are all of a historic nature and date back to the time of the riots." Message was that there had better be no evidence of anyone being blinded less then eight years ago. Umber was certain that this was untrue. However, he was happy he could hide the evidence of the more recent eye brandings for the next few months by transferring them to the Rising Sun mine which had recently been inspected. Clearly a more permanent solution was needed. Perhaps a mining accident could be arranged – the chief engineer at the mine had a gambling problem and perhaps was open to persuasion. Umber believed that they could defend the cheek brandings on principle as being compliant with Vacuoan law (or would have been if the offences had been committed).
"I have no reason to believe that any recent examples will be discovered." He assumed that Jacques would be happy to pretend that the answer he had been given was yes to the stated question, and that Umber had got the message as to the implied order.
"Are the local authorities likely to contradict the reports that his death was the work of the White Fang?"
"They are happy to neither confirm or deny the reports for the time being and will merely say that investigations are ongoing. I should stress that the Embassy is aware of the alternative theory and gives it credence."
"I will deal with the problem at this end. However, initial indications are that any justifications for taking a measured approach will be welcomed" Jacques knew that the assassination story suited the other multi-kingdoms and that it was up to him to persuade the Atlas civil service and, if need be, the council to buy into it. Allowing everyone time to get their house in order was likely to be a winner. This way the SDC got most of the advantages of the assassination story and Umber got the credit for disposing of an embarrassment.
Jacques continued, "I agree that Beige should temporarily be reassigned to Vacuo to work on the store pricing issue. I can see that this will be expensive but provided we do not reopen the past it can be lived with. The other multi-kingdoms are undoubtedly in the same position and some are more exposed than we are." Oddly enough this was almost certainly true. Jacques had always understood that it could not be guaranteed that the position would remain unchallenged, and they had got away with for two years longer than they had originally expected. On the positive side, Beige was more concerned about creating a paper trail then many of the other multi-kingdom equivalents and so there was a written justification for the pricing policy. Also, after moving to Argus, Beige had become more conservative. It was a problem with Umber's semblance that it required him to be physically close to someone to use it and pushing the intellectually aggressive aspects of Beige, so they overcame his cautious instincts needed careful work. If it had not been his attraction to young Faunus it would have been harder still.
Umber began to think that the incident might turn out well for him. Jacques respected someone who sorted out problems and he was confident that if he could meet Jacques in person he could encourage him to believe that the problems had been dealt with.