“I see that someone, undoubtedly to maintain deniability, has now forgotten to tell me about our triumph of codebreaking,” Elektra answered. “If you would be so kind as to send me the list of the seventy Senators who were falsely accused, I can begin work on clearing their names. Of course, they would have to return to the Union to be deposed, but if they are innocent, that’s the wisest thing to do.”
“You must have been told,” Bronkowski said. “Your cutout was a member of your party’s innermost council.”
“In that case, Pawel, there must be reasons I am maintaining deniability,” Elektra said. “After all, if I accuse you of bribing my fellow Senators – I have not done this – it throws sand in the gears of our cordial relations. I do not want this. Let me instead suggest that the seventy departees consider taking advantage of treaty political asylum rules to recover their families and worldly goods and have them transported to wherever they are now. I will work vigorously to see that they receive all of their moveable property.”
“As always, you speak up for sensible, cordial diplomatic relations,” Bronkowski said. “Your words are wise, and will be communicated to my superiors on Mogado. There is the separate issue of Dewey and Rothham. We believe that their principals also wish to take political asylum here, for unclear reasons, and that the Anglic Union is preventing them from leaving the Union. Indeed, we have for some days been unable to contact them to confirm this.”
“That would ordinarily not be a Lords and Senators issue,” Electra said. Bronkowski frowned. “However, in this case it is my understanding that Dewey and Rotham fled from the Union, a while ago. At some point, it was determined that they had cheated one of their customers, the Elizavetsian Republic, out of a large sum of money. While I have no information on this, a sensible person would suspect that sooner or later they will be visited by an Elizavetsian Volunteer Moral Rectification Team, following which their heirs would be invited to contribute life insurance proceeds to repaying the debt in question. And if they have dropped out of contact, perhaps that visitation has already occurred.”
