Mwai Ruku looked at the arrest order. They had enough evidence to arrest Kassandora courtesy of whoever it was in the army that had been sending him letters. There were even some pictures here and there, although it was still entirely unrealistic that she could be contained in a jail. But with how she was acting, he doubted she would suddenly run rampant in the country, there were more Divines here. Frankly, it could we for the best if she was embarrassed and then left of her own accord. That was the dream.
But realistically, this would thoroughly discredit her image. Kirinyaa had exchanged one pair of Divine shackles for another, a looser pair that was as uncomfortable, but shackles they were still. Now it was time to finally take of the shackles and let the country live free. With the White Pantheon now hated, and Kassandora humiliated and exposed for being a liar, they would finally be able to guide themselves. To set an example for the whole world. It wasn’t about the glory of it, Mwai poured himself another glass of whiskey. Another bottle one of his assistants had gotten as a gift from Helenna. He would be lying if he admitted that there wasn’t some spark of pride in his heart at being the first leader of the country to tell Divines to go away.
He sighed. One of the new men had recommended a show trial. How the man came upon the idea, Mwai had no clue. Damn though, it was a fine idea. She would be tried publicly, with cameras in the courtroom. She did not even have to be found guilty, all that needed to happen was to lay enough doubt at her feet to completely destroy her image.
He took another sip of whiskey. The support, the lack of counter protests said the people were with him. The only reason the crowds were so small was because people were afraid of Arascus seeing them go against his favoured daughter.
Mwai took a deep breath and Mwai put pen to paper.
Helenna in a room in a Nanbasa hotel. A small room, in a cheap hotel, not quite dirty, but certainly far from clean. The men had picked it out themselves, even though she had allocated them enough money to rent out the best the city had to offer. The big issue they had found was that the nice places didn’t allow smoking inside, and they were far from any of rowdy bars, instead being in a region of the city that was famous for its dining halls and grand, expensive restaurants. Frankly, Helenna didn’t even want to know how much they were spending on drink. The men had enough money for a room each, they had rented three, and were sleeping four to a room. Maybe they just invested all of it but somehow, she doubted that scenario.
There was something in their organised mess that annoyed Helenna. Maybe it was the fact she couldn’t point out anything in specific, but the room was a clean mess. Clothes were folded neatly, excellently arranged at the foot of each bed, but nothing hung in the wardrobe. Bottles of drink were in a rank on the counter, sorted by type and then sorted again alphabetically, and they weren’t on the shelves. Bowls and plates were arranged in little squares, perfectly segmented out for each man, and they weren’t in the cupboards. It was an infuriatingly clean mess.
At first, the Cleric Naturalization Law was planned to only include Kavaa’s Orders, the parliament had little issue with them, but Mwai’s party was against the idea of letting those sworn to Kassandora to become citizens. Then Helenna had raised the issue of the foreign volunteers. No one had raised any objections, after all, it was all fellow Arikans, wasn’t it?
And so the Cleric Naturalization Law became open to basically anyone in the Kirinyaan Military. Officially, it only said ‘Members of Clerical Orders’ and ‘Volunteers from other nations’, but didn’t everyone fall into that second category? And once it passed the hands of politicians and entered into the warm embraces of bureaucrats, it had been even easier to speed up that bureaucracy than it was to open a celebratory bottle of champagne.
The Naturalization Offices weren’t even open, but Helenna had already secured passports and citizenships for twelve men to make a legal team already. “How did the exams go?” Helenna asked, she knew already. They were Kassandora’s men, which meant that they had drilled every single question and answer into their heads by a week ago.
“Everyone passed.” Mateusz replied, he was tall, bald, with an average face. Muscled and lean, although all of them were. Mateusz himself looked as if he didn’t appreciate the suit, the rest were ambivalent about the garb Helenna chose for them. Kassandora had picked out men from among the officers, those that didn’t have to be tested for their intelligence in the first place. Helenna knew their names before they even arrived, she knew what units they came from by the time they were on their way here. She knew about their families and what they did before this whole escapade by the time she stepped foot into this room.
“As expected.” Helenna said. “Questions were rather easy.” No one would hire them of course, supposedly to become proper lawyers now, they should stick around those who were in the business and serve as assistants for a year or two before taking on their own minor cases, and then specializing into some discipline or field of law. But that was mere tradition, officially, they had the bureaucratic stamp of approval, and they had the best client in the world.
“Thank you for them.” Pawel said. Another man from the same unit as Mateusz, Sokolowski’s command squad. Kassandora said these two were only on loan, and that it would be good for them to get the experience in any case. It trained a way of thinking and grander awareness about the outside world, that soldiers had a tendency to forget. Pawel here, his forwardness Helenna appreciated. There were few men on this world that had either the bravery, the stupidity or just the damn lack to shame to go ahead and eye her so brazenly.
“Don’t mention it.” Helenna replied. “Now, I would like to go over the legal strategy.”
“We’ve prepared several.” Mateusz snapped his fingers and one of the other men stood up. A Theodore Asvalt, although the man hadn’t said a word yet to Helenna. Shorter than the rest, stockier but not by much. Shaved, as all of them were, and awkward in his suit, as all of them were. They’d need a lesson on how to present themselves like humans before the trial started.
Helenna made an impressed face as Theodore brought her a stack of papers. “All of us have made one.” Mateusz explained. “It’s like we did during the war, everyone makes one, the best part from each is taken.” Helenna looked at the huge stack of papers. Had the men spent a week writing this? It may as well have been as thick as an ancient tome.
“I see you don’t lack brevity.” Helenna said as she started sorting through it.
“Half of it is Theodore’s.” Pawel said. “I only have five sheets there.”
“I like writing.” Theodore said.
“Well I’m not going to slap you for having fun.” Helenna said idly as she separated the papers out. Theodore indeed was singlehandedly responsible for at least a solid half of the stack of papers. “Impressive.” The man smiled, his cheeks going red as he looked away from her. “I’ll read it in my own time.” Helenna said, she would skim through all of them. They would be using her legal strategy anyway, these men may have passed the test, but no one had gotten a perfect score, only Mateusz had gotten close. Without the answers, probably half would have failed.
They had gone for the bureaucracy, so they could legally represent Kassandora and so they knew basic court etiquette. A few rough edges here and there would be allowed to slide, they could even help make them relatable for the cameras, but they weren’t here to think. “First though, have you discussed this between yourselves?”
“We have.” Mateusz replied with a nod. Pawel leaned back and looked at the bottles.
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“Can I take a shot first?” He asked and Helenna raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t realise Kassandora had alcoholics this bad in her army.” She said and the man laughed.
“To calm my nerves.” He explained. “It’s the first time I’ve performed before a Goddess.” Helenna felt her hair turn a shade brighter, from the cool business black to a surprised grey. Not quite stunned white, but she had thought these would be total amateurs who just expected to wing a court case.
“So you’ve rehearsed this already?” Helenna asked. The men all carried proud smiles at her surprise.
“Only between ourselves.” Mateusz said.
“Have a drink then.” Helenna said. “And pour me a glass.” Pawel clapped his knees as he stood up.
“Of course, my pleasure.” He said as he walked off. Helenna watched him swagger and pick up a bottle of expensive vodka. That was a classic, what else would soldiers drink? He was Lubskan too, so that only made it even more predictable. “Do you mix or…” Pawel asked as he looked at Helenna again, the question trailed off.
“Boy, I can drink all you into the ground.” Helenna said. “Sequentially too.” Pawel chuckled.
“No time for that.” He said, a few other men raised their hands for a shot too. Most of them. The whole bottle went just like that. Helenna drank her full glass in the same way they drank their little shot, she leaned back and motioned with her hands to speed them along. They had impressed her with the fact each man had made his own plan already, and with the fact they rehearsed already. Let’s see what else they could do.
“We nominate one speaker.” Mateusz said. “Everyone had a go at it already, anyone can do it really.” He shrugged as he stood up. “Pawel, you want to?” Pawel nodded, he stepped into the bathroom and dragged out a whiteboard on wheels. It was empty.
“Right.” Pawel began as Helenna watched him grab a pen and start scrawling. That could be improved, he had soldier’s handwriting. Nothing good. “Firstly, we’ve been given the information by Arascus on what Mwai has received.”
“There’s a mole in the midst.” One of the soldiers commented. Helenna saw no need to reveal the real author of half of those letters. She assumed Arascus was responsible for the other half.
“We keep a tight ship though.” Pawel continued, ignoring the interruption. That was a good sign, she didn’t want them to act too friendly with one another in court. If they fooled around in front of her, there’d be a good chance they would fool around in front of a judge. “So all the information is largely circumstantial, unproven, or false.”
“I’ve read the documents too.” Helenna said. “There’s little in there that’s a flat lie.” Pawel nodded and wrote the word information on the board.
“But enough is.” Pawel said. He wrote discredit next to it, an arrow from the latter to the former. “Once one is proven to be a lie, it doesn’t matter if we can’t prove another, we can smear all the pieces with doubt.” Helenna nodded, this is what she expected. They had been tasked to prove Kass’ innocence, so they were going down that route. “What can’t be disproven outright can be laid at the feet of an author unreliable, and who will trust an unreliable source?”
“The Melukal situation now.” Mateusz said.
“The Melukal situation is simple.” Pawel explained. “Firstly, we did not do Melukal, so the letters are fake. Militaries review all situations, all plans, so someone did write that. Who it was, we don’t know, but it wasn’t anyone important.” He shrugged and made a show of innocence. “Who does not have bad thoughts after all?”
“This was my idea.” One of the soldiers raised his hands. Some Frederique De Terriere. Tall, not the tallest amongst them, but a handsome man. He could be the main showman at the trial. “It’s not about just disproving the Melukal accusation, it’s about showing Kassandora in a good light.” The men all nodded, a few of them smiled as they saw Helenna impressed. This part, she thought she would have to teach them.
“Of course.” Pawel said. “So this is why we want this route. Melukal firstly did not happen, we disprove the accusation, but the letter is real. Kassandora did review it, and she decided against it. We can make more letters with these end scenarios, razing the coastal cities, scorching the entire west, salting the land in every village north of the mountains for example. Kassandora reviewed them, and Kassandora decided against them.” The men all nodded.
Frederique interjected again. “That’s to paint her in a good light and to show how reserved she is. How if it wasn’t her leading the war, then half of the country would be a wasteland now.” Helenna smiled and blinked. This was going to be easier than she thought.
“Did she tell you this?” Helenna asked.
“All she said was ‘Make me into a star. You should understand what that means.’” Mateusz pulled a hilariously deep voice for her that made Helenna chuckle. It was funny, and it was infuriating, why did she have to deal with total cretins for a thousand years, when Kassandora could just pick men like this seemingly out of a hat? She lifted her empty glass and gave it a shake. One of the soldiers even caught what that meant, he went to grab another bottle immediately.
“But this is just the defensive. Melukal is our big weak point, once that flank is secured, we can move onto the offensive.” Pawel continued as Helenna took a deep breath. They barely passed their exams, but she would want to see what they had written down. Surely the mistakes must have just come from wrong terminology and nothing else. They were fucking geniuses!
“How will you do that?” Helenna asked.
“We layer it in, the opening statement will only have a sprinkling of it.” Pawel continued. “We don’t mention Mwai’s name yet, but do something along the lines of how Kassandora is extremely popular, even more popular than the president.” He shrugged as one of the men refilled Helenna’s glass with more drink. “Just quietly, the goal is to paint a story for the judges.”
Helenna sighed as she listened. Were they mind-readers? This is why she had come to prepare them! What was she even doing here? Picking out their clothes? They could run it themselves. Pawel turned back to the board and wrote story. “The goal isn’t to point fingers directly.” He started writing names around, of companies and famous people. “But let the judges work it out for themselves.”
Theodore interjected now. “But make it obvious who we are pointing to, don’t let them think through it.”
“Well for example, the public loves Kassandora, it wasn’t someone from them.” Pawel crossed the word public out. “It wasn’t the companies, because we mention the fact of how profitable the Reclamation War is.” He crossed out the names of various companies. “It can’t be one of her own men, because we talk about how loyal the entire army is.”
“I thought of bringing witnesses from every unit.” Another man added as Pawel crossed out the word army. “Likewise, it wouldn’t be the politicians, because Kassandora does not threaten them.” He crossed out the word parliament. And on it went, never pointing a finger, but always giving a reason why it couldn’t be a certain group. On and on it went, until Mwai Ruku was the only name remaining. “And that leaves only one target.”
Mateusz had poured himself another shot and took over, talking loudly from behind the kitchen counter. “We then start talking about how the evidence is falsified in the first place. But we never mention Mwai’s name. The most is ask Kassandora a question of who do you think it could be.” He nodded back to Pawel.
“And her answer will be a noble one, something along the lines that it’s not her domain to interfere in, but that it would obviously be someone who feels threatened by her.” Pawel said and caught himself. “In a more diplomatic fashion of course, but basically that.” Helenna sighed. These men knew how to run a defence almost effortlessly.
“We basically never give Kassandora a chance to speak for herself. All the accusations will be made by us.” Theodore said. “We don’t know if this is too aggressive or not, but a few of us could be disbarred on purpose.” Helenna blinked.
“Excuse me?” She asked.
“We raise the accusation in bad faith against Mwai. It wouldn’t be a mistrial, but there’s enough of us here that we can give the licenses away basically.” Mateusz explained. “That’s my idea.” He added proudly and Pawel nodded.
“There’s twelve of us here, the average team only has two or three. We can have half of us go, and we’d still have men to spare.” Helenna blinked and she finally realised what these men were treating the situation as. This wasn’t a court-case to them, this was a battle. Like the ones they’ve seen, and using Kassandora’s own philosophy. It wasn’t enough to win and simply cause a retreat, they wanted to utterly crush any doubt of Kassandora’s guilt. As Kassandora wrote in her own books: Victory was annihilation. There was nothing
“Are you actually aiming for Mwai?” Helenna asked. The men looked amongst themselves with calm expressions. There was no emotion there, it was simple reasoning. A weighing of thoughts, as if they could collectively read each other’s minds.
Pawel finally answered. “Well, we need a sacrificial cow. These accusations, even if she’s proven innocent, will stick unless we can hand them off to someone else. Mwai is the easiest target.” He shrugged. “We can change it, but we’ll need a week to prepare.”
“No no gentlemen.” Helenna downed her glass. This job was even easier than she thought it would be. Why did she not always have Kassandora’s soldiers at her side? They were amazing! “Mwai is perfect, keep at it.”
They shared relieved glances and looked at each other again. Mateusz finally spoke up as he went to pop open another bottle for them all to share. “So what do you think?” He asked easily, as if he was talking to anyone but the Goddess of Love. Helenna appreciated it though, she finally understood what Fer meant when the woman talked about how Kassandora’s soldiers were some of the few people who could be spent time with simply for the sake of company.
Helenna turned her hair a bright happy orange and beamed a smile at them. “Gentlemen, you have impressed me.” Kassandora really did know how to pick her men.