The throne room was a mixture of ostentatious luxury and crude mechanisms worthy of a construction site. Visible gears and levers with mysterious purposes were visible, alongside antique tapestries and not too ugly works of art representing landscapes by means of sculpture and painting. The predominant color was the same dark orange that seemed to be the dictator's personal trademark, but the presence of other hues made its overrepresentation less painful.
A red carpet led to a raised (and orange) throne on which the warlord sat, recognizable by his clothes mixing luxury and military sobriety. He was a man of about fifty, with brown, almost black hair. He did not have a beard but a small goatee braided with care.
Seeing the agent approach, he stood and bowed in a gallant salute. She returned it with a standard administrative greeting, all her senses on alert.
“Welcome, Miss Domeria,” he said in a common homic with little archaic touches, “I expected the administrative agents to come, but not for them to send such a charming-looking person.”
It was impossible to tell if this Hom was trying to seduce her, to disturb her, or simply to greet her politely. The tyrant’s face was deeply sympathetic, but there was also a certain deviousness to it. Many would say that this is a natural trait of the Homs and that it did not prejudge his character, and they might be right.
“You are the warlord Khraz Rêvegloire, I presume? I am indeed the agent you were waiting for, so I suppose we can cut to the chase and discuss the heart of the matter.”
“Ah, yes, what problem again?”
“Border crossings and attacks on automated outposts. These actions are against administrative rules and I am tasked with reporting them to you in order to resolve this… incident, without it escalating. There have been no deaths so far, so it is not too late yet…”
“Okay, I will stop.”
“Huh?”
A slight smirk twisted the lord’s cordial features as surprise appeared on the young Ham’s face. She suppressed her anger so that it would not show on her features as well: this Khraz had managed to surprise her, which counted as a victory in Hom diplomacy. However, his words were binding: the resolution of this conflict could not be so simple, could it?
“You… you agree to cease all aggression and not to repeat it?”
“I would do it again if they ever retaliated, however I had no official reason to launch these attacks, so I am quite wrong. I will pay for the compensation. I have no intention of transgressing administrative laws.”
Sava contemplated the Hom’s face and saw perfect honesty in it: it was certain, he was plotting something. The trick was to find out what. To do that, it was necessary to take risks and try to disturb him, even if it meant provoking him.
“Oh, do you intend to maintain this course of action when democratic representation measures will be imposed in your local area? I fear that traditional methods of governance may be impacted by it.”
“But,” he replied with a broad smile, “I have already taken the lead. My nation is now perfectly democratic, according to administrative criteria.”
Sava bit her lip but managed to keep her cool. This guy couldn’t lie, at least not directly: that would be losing face. So, she had to look for the hidden meaning of his words to try to counter them.
“Really? Are you ready to put your power on the line against competitors? Unless you’re the only candidate?”
“Come on, what democratic nation doesn’t have at least one opponent in its midst? Of course, there are free elections and multiple candidates. I even took up the ancient tradition of voting booths, to ensure the anonymity of votes…”
She held his gaze without saying anything. Rather than making a hypothesis, she would force him to continue his explanations. Guessing her strategy, he smiled amusedly.
“Of course, my police are still investigating to find out who is behind the assassinations of well-known opponents and the molestation of those who vote for them. I suspect that some overzealous subordinates are behind these actions, but I could really use some administrative agents to continue this investigation...”
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Administrative agents who would mysteriously disappear if they discovered anything, of course. Sava was starting to get tired of this conversation: she still couldn't figure out the intentions of her interlocutor, but he certainly wasn't trying to justify his regime. On the contrary, he seemed to be indirectly criticizing the administrative policy by establishing a democratic masquerade, and he admitted it to her almost directly.
“I suppose you have to get 99% of the voting results.”
“Of course not: I'm rigging the results to avoid getting to that point.”
“...”
“Oh, you managed to hide your surprise. But, understand that such a high result would be quite suspicious. I prefer to stay at 86%. In any case, I think that this is the real result of the support I enjoy, although you understand that it is quite difficult to verify.”
“So, you're rigging the results.”
“No law prohibits a candidate from rigging the results to his disadvantage.”
Indeed... The Ham decided to cut short the political game, too bad if she lost her opponent's esteem: this little game didn't amuse her.
“Well, why are you telling me all this?”
“Well, to prove my honesty to you.”
They must not have the same definition of the term. However, she realized that she had remained estranged from her people for a long time, since her studies at Center: she had lost much of the notions of the Great Game.
“Let's admit: what is this honesty and what use is it to me? All I can deduce is that you will attack your neighbors again as soon as you have created a realistic incident on their border and that you will force your slave army to invade them thanks to a legal pretext.”
“Slave army? Not at all: do you think that I am going to enlist people in my army who could turn against me? I only have volunteers. As for my neighbor, I really have no intention of attacking it again. In fact, this attack was only a pretext to lure you here.”
“Lure me here? Me?”
“Yes, you... or some more or less novice administrative agent who is entrusted with dangerous and inglorious missions. Understand that by ‘honesty’ I mean that I don’t hide anything from you about what I think of the Administration and its dangerous and arbitrary decisions. Because of them, I am forced to take violent measures against my own people in order to maintain order… You understand everything I am implying and how you could conduct a more muscular investigation that would perhaps earn you a few more stripes. To simplify: I am giving you a huge stick with which you can beat me up as soon as you leave here.”
Exactly: that was very suspicious.
“I imagine that you already have enough pretexts and false leads in place in order to spare yourself the inconvenience of a lifelong stasis?”
“Of course. However, that would be very unpleasant, so I would appreciate it if you… if you believed what I am going to tell you now.”
The man's expression became more serious and he descended the steps of his throne to approach his interlocutor. On this occasion, she noticed that he was not taller than her, contrary to what she had believed when he towered over her.
“I have rather efficient intelligence services and their latest reports are rather worrying. They have located a group of pirates operating in a small abandoned system, on the edge of the galaxy, far from my borders.”
“So what? Report it via your local administrative centers. And what does it have to do with you?”
“That is something you should discover for yourself. Let’s just say that there are clues that lead me to believe that there is complicity within the administrative agents themselves… perhaps even up to the president.”
A feeling of unease invaded Sava as she stared at the serious face of her interlocutor. Such an accusation was very serious. Such corruption was theoretically impossible because of the security measures designed to monitor the activities of the agents. Of course, there were political plots and assassinations, perhaps a little corruption on the edges, even among the agents…
“What is your interest?”
“My survival… well, that of my people too. What you will discover at these coordinates will make you take an enormous risk. The movements of my henchmen are far too closely monitored to allow me to act personally, but you could go to this point, discover what is hidden there and save this galaxy from what the Administration is preparing to do to it.”
“Stop speaking in riddles!”
“No: if I told you what you would find, you would not believe me, or you would doubt that it was really a decision of your superiors. If I lured you here, it’s to get me an expendable administrative agent, and therefore not involved in this story. You will go to this point and save my kingdom... well, the galaxy too. Does that suit you?”
Saying this, he thrust a small piece of paper into Ham's hand... Yes, a real piece of paper: an additional violation of the administrative laws prohibiting the production and distribution of paper.
“When you have found what you are going to find, you will have to choose between risking your life and asking the owners for an answer, or making the situation official at the risk of being assassinated, but without ever getting the answer.”
“I don't understand.”
“Go ahead and announce that the situation is defused. For my part, I will immediately pay the compensation due. You can then take advantage of your leave to investigate, or shoulder the responsibility for billions of deaths in this galaxy. Have a good trip, Miss Domeria!”
Withdrawing to his throne after a short bow, he signaled to his guards. They, who had remained behind near the door, opened it and prepared to escort the visitor to her ship. But she stopped abruptly, struck by a detail:
“Wait: how do you know I’m on leave? That information is inaccessible!”
The man smiled, striking a very theatrical pose from his throne:
“Perhaps I have some connection to something bigger than me, something that has the means. You can try to investigate… if you survive.”