As the elevator started to ascend the Private looked at Anastasia and Hap with a mix of awe and terror. "Is your mother really a Countess?"
"Yes." Anastasia said.
"I'm sorry, my lady, If I had known."
"If you had known you would have treated us just the same." Hap said, "You're doing fine Private. The Corporal and your boss are the problem here. Just keep doing your job as best you can."
"Ma'am, are you going to have your mom, I mean, her lady the Countess, send Corporal Weber to a war zone."
"No." Anastasia said, "She would view that as beneath her, 'punching down' as it were. It would demean her and take away from the prestige of our family name. I would, however, like your help preparing a diplomatic pouch, but that is for personal reasons, and has nothing to do with Corporal Weber."
"May I ask what your diplomatic pouch is for?" Private Harmay seemed equal parts impressed and intimidated with Anastasia.
"Let's just say that I don't trust ComStar and neither should you." Anastasia said.
"I like the idea of sending the Corporal to a warzone though. When he tried to waive us off I was this close to dislocating his shoulder while I used his face to break a table. I'm thinking the reassignment route would be more humane." Hap said. "At least more civilized."
"Mother would be disappointed if I didn't handle this myself. Given that we had a shouting match in front of most of the embassy I'm certain the Ambassador or the Charge d'Affaires will insist they speak to us. At that point in time I will explain our problems with the Defense Attaché Office, and strongly suggest that the Corporal be assigned to the security detachment. The Sergeant we met at the gate seemed to have a plan to rehabilitate the Corporal."
Private Harmay nodded, "They sorta hate him though. Also, that will make more work for me."
"If your boss just wants you to cancel every meeting, does he really need two of you?" Hap asked.
"That's true sir." The doors opened and Private Harmay added, "Oh I just remembered after we're done I'm supposed to send you to the Fifth floor to meet with the Foreign Affairs Department."
Hap stepped up to the mezzanine and looked up. He could see the fourth-floor mezzanine above them, but after that it appeared to be a solid ornate wood paneled roof. He glanced back at Private Harmay, "Fifth floor?"
"I was given a number to call and to direct you to the middle elevator over there." The Private pointed to another set of elevators on the other side of the floor.
"Very good." Hap said. He glanced down and saw Corporal Weber still standing where they left him. He was looking up at them slack jawed and dumbstruck. "Go eat a salad." Hap yelled down at him. The corporal jumped and hustled off to get in line for food.
"You're definitely going to get a talking too." Anastasia warned, "And just so you know the Ambassador can make you persona non grata and order you off the world."
"Alright I'll behave." Hap said, "Although it sounds like I'm getting kicked off-world for trying to address the problems with a Soldier that doesn't meet the standard, and that soldier is getting a simple lateral reassignment."
"Honestly the Charge d'Affaires will tell you not to yell in his embassy again, or, at worse, they'll only let you have two glasses of champagne at the next diplomatic event you're invited to." Anastasia said.
"Jokes on him, I never get invited to diplomatic events."
"Jokes on you, you're going to be my escort to every diplomatic event, political soiree, and any other formal event where I require militant army candy."
"Militant arm candy?" Hap asked.
"Harold, Tuxedo's are like lingerie for men, and the only thing more sexy than a tuxedo is a military uniform."
"I'm not going to question that statement, but…no, but I thought you told me that marriage wasn't a mutual pain and suffering death pact." Hap said.
"It's not, and neither is attending formal events, and if you had read that book you'd know that."
"Maybe being persona non grata would be an improvement." Hap said.
"Sometimes I wish I could get off world." Private Harmay said quietly while she typed in her door code and opened up the Defense Attaché Office. "I don't mean that. I know this is a great assignment. The Colonel and Corporal Weber tell me that every day…it's just…I don't really like this job." As she spoke she turned on the lights.
The bright fluorescent lights illuminated an L shaped working space. The bottom of the L, where they entered, contained a large conference table. The room turned and down the long length of the L were cubicles around the walls and a large private office at the end. Private Harmay went to the nearest cubicle and sat down.
Hap and Anastasia crowded into her cubicle with her as she started her computer. This was clearly her space. There were several framed photos of Private Harmay and a woman that was likely her mother. There were illustrations of a cartoon cat with a pink camouflage pinned to the cubicle's cloth walls. There was also a stuffed version of the cat acting as a book end for several entry level college textbooks. A stylized wood cut of the name Gwendolyn was resting on the case for her computer.
Above her cubicle was a poster of an attractive female Captain in her flight suit standing next to a Sparrowhawk aerospace fighter. The fighter was painted with Third Davion Guards RCT camo specs and had the 3rd RCT's sword and eagle on the vertical stabilizer. Hap could see that each cubicle had a different poster of some branch or organization of AFFS. Private Harmay had chosen the only one with a woman though.
As the computer booted up Anastasia commented, "There's work spaces for at least a dozen servicemembers. Do you know when they'll get more people to work with you and Corporal Weber?"
"No Ma'am, honestly, they don't tell me much. They just remind me I'm a private." Private Harmay said as she logged into her system. "The embassy is pretty new though, I think it's only been here a few months. I just got here a few fews ago."
As they waited for the system to fully load Hap asked, "How often do you see the Defense Attaché?"
"Usually once a day, Sir. He'll come in first thing in the morning, tell us what he wants us to do, check his email and calendar, rearrange his schedule and then he's usually gone before 10:00. He usually doesn't come back if he doesn't have any afternoon meetings but we are expected to be here till 1700."
"Can you schedule us for a 0900 meeting tomorrow?" Anastasia asked.
"He doesn't like us to schedule anything that early, but if you insist-"
"Oh I insist." Anastasia said.
As she worked Hap asked, "When you guys called us back a few days ago you looked a little upset, what happened?"
"That tall redhead guy from the cafeteria just let himself into our offices yesterday. He told us to call you back. When Corporal Weber started to sass him he told us this was coming straight from the Ambassador's office and if we didn't want to do our jobs he'd do it himself but things would get very unpleasant for us. I didn't know what he meant by 'unpleasant', but it scared me. Corporal Weber said he wasn't afraid of that guy, but I think he was lying."
"Did you tell Colonel Bruckner about it?"
"Yes sir, he said if it came from the Ambassador we were right to do it, but Corporal Weber told him he didn't know who that guy was so the Colonel said he'd look into it. That's usually what the Colonel says when he doesn't care about something and doesn't want to talk about it anymore."
Private Harmay's computer finally booted up and in a few minutes they were scheduled to meet with the Defense Attaché the next day. Anastasia also improvised short paragraph length Bios for Hap and her. Private Harmay was extremely helpful and did anything the officers asked her. Everything about her confirmed to Hap that she was a fresh recruit. Being around Officers acting like professional Soldiers reminded her of everything the Drill Sergeants had taught her. It was also evident to Hap that the Corporal would be a bad influence on her.
As they were finishing up Corporal Weber entered the office space. He seemed surprised to see Anastasia and Hap. He looked like he was trying to get to his cubicle without being noticed. Anastasia stopped him so she could explain to both the Corporal and Private that if they needed any more information about them, they needed to use secure means to contact them or to contact any AFFS systems. Anything sent through ComStar would likely be monitored and compromised. The Corporal simply mumbled something and refused to make eye contact. Hap noticed that even Private Harmay became subdued.
Seeing the Corporal made Hap angry all over again. "It's probably about time we go. Private Harmay, how do we get to the Foreign Affairs Department?"
"I give them a call and you go to those elevators I pointed out, Sir." Private Harmay said.
Hap led Anastasia left the DAT offices and walked around the mezzanine. "Dealing with the Corporal is infuriating." Hap said, "I suppose you're going to want to buy two dresses instead of one."
"I was already going to buy two dresses and shoes." Anastasia answered, "however your instincts are correct, now it's double."
"Very good." Hap said as he shook his head.
"I've never seen you particularly angry about the disrespect Joker shows you."
"Joker and I have been through a lot. He's sort of earned the right, and he knows when to stop complaining and do what he's told. With Joker it's just him being undisciplined when he thinks he can get away with it. Corporal Weber was just disrespectful. I shouldn't take it personally though."
"Well, you shouldn't have a physical altercation with him, that's for certain. I'm thinking instead of trying to get the Corporal moved I should request Private Harmay by name and make her my enlisted assistant. I like her."
Hap gave her a quizzical look, "You're a subaltern in a non-leadership position, you're not authorized an enlisted assistant. When I was a lance leader I was lucky to get a Sergeant and not just a Sr. Corporal."
"Well I'm a noble, there are ways I can get whatever I want."
"Oh really?"
"I have my own personal Captain."
Before Hap could respond they had made it to the other set of elevators and the center one opened automatically as they approached. Hap and Anastasia stepped inside. Hap asked, "Do you know what the Foreign Affairs Department is?"
"I'm not sure." Anastasia said as the elevator went up one floor, and opened to reveal the Asian man and his tall redhead companion. The redhead motioned for them to exit the elevator and Anastasia and Hap found themselves in a small room with the single elevator door on one side and a steel door with a safe lock across from it. There was also a small sign that said, "Foreign Affairs Department ''.
The redhead opened the door to usher them into another enclosed room with a short ramp leading to another door across from the one they entered. This room appeared to be a cloak room with multiple bars and hangers for hanging coats and jackets, as well as small lockers built into the wall. Most of the lockers were closed, but a few were open and had a key in the lock.
"Do you two have any electronics or comms gear? Any recording devices?"
Hap pulled out the small short range radio he had for talking with the Phaidin, but they didn't have anything else. The redhead directed Hap to secure the radio in one of the lockers and then they led them up the short ramp and through the other door. The ceiling was lower in this area, and it felt like they were in a building built inside the embassy.
Before them was a hallway with two doors on either side, and at the end of the hall Hap could see a large open office cubicle space. The doors on the hallway were open and the first two led to relatively small conference rooms each with a table that could comfortably seat six. The other two doors were larger conference rooms one contained a massive V shaped table, and the other had chairs setup like a classroom. At the end of the Hallway was a closed door.
"I wouldn't have guessed this floor existed." Hap said.
"If you counted the floors from the outside you might have." The redhead man said, "but the high wall makes it hard, and once you're in the courtyard it's quite difficult." The redhead gestured for them to enter one of the small conference rooms.
Hap and Anastasia walked around the conference room's table and took seats near the far end. Hap glanced around, there was a holo projector built into the table, screens on two of the walls, and beside the door was a metal plaque. The plaque was a large diamond with four stars between the points. In the center of the diamond was a circle with a sword.
"You guys are MIIO?" Hap asked.
"Yeah, you didn't really think I cleaned shitters did you?" The Asian man laughed as he sat down. He saw Hap's confused expression, "Look man, I don't know if you've ever been around an embassy, but almost every one of them has a Foreign Affairs Department or Regional Affairs Section or some other thing that is MIIO."
"Did you know this?" Hap asked
"Perhaps? The summer before I went to NAIS Mother had me intern in an embassy, she was trying to get me to take an interest in political affairs. I worked directly for the Ambassador, but the chief of station or one of his analysts would brief her daily. It's sort of an open secret that no one ever talks about. I think they might have called themselves something else though. Department of Regional Affairs, I believe." Anastasia looked to the two men sitting across from her, "I assume you gentlemen are analysts, can you give us names that we can refer to you by?"
"I like how you said that." The Asian man grinned, "Call me Sam Pek, at least if you see us in the embassy, outside the embassy don't talk to us unless we talk to you."
"I'm going by Rich Brown." The redhead added. "I feel I should add, everything we tell you while we're here must stay here."
"Yeah, but before we get started, there is one more analyst that needs to join us." Sam said as there was a knock at the conference room door. Richard opened the door and let in a short overweight man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He was wearing a large but fitted suit with a coat, vest, and bow tie. He gave Hap and Anastasia a wide toothy grin as he entered. There was a certain air of charm and neatness about him.
"This is Kurt Larue." Sam said, "He's a signals analyst, me and Rich here do more human intelligence or HUMIT. We need to talk to you about Necromo."