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  1. For most officers, even most Admirals, meeting with the Queen was a nerve-wracking, prospect. For members of the Hall of Nobles who were members of the Capitalist or Communist party, it was politically dangerous. For Lance-Marquise Admiral Anelik Saressi, who was both, it was starting to be routine.
  2. The two met in a standing room at Castle Karavak that Queen Sayphay had wryly filled with chairs, couches, and a lovely coffee table that encouraged everyone on the standing room to sit. They were doing just that. Anelik had gotten her own coffee(black) and the Queen’s(cream and one sugar cube) and set them both on the table, blowing gently over her own before taking a sip.
  3. “Is it good?” Queen Sayphay asked, looking at Anelik over her spectacles. Anelik nodded, not wanting to talk with a tongue that still felt like it might be burning. She considered the Queen for a moment - she was wearing slacks and a simple white dress shirt with a black vest embroidered with a pattern of golden rays that burst from her waist up to her shoulders, radiating outward in strong, geometric patterns that perfectly matched the art deco trend in fashion and architecture. But the clothing was simple enough that this was a casual meeting. Interesting. The Queen gave Anelik a moment, then spoke again. “Enjoy it then. Soon the whole country’s supply is going to dry up.”
  4. “Why’s that, your majesty?” Anelik arched an eyebrow, and the Queen gestured to the bag of coffee set next to the coffee maker. Curious, Anelik stood up and crossed the standing room to the counter the coffee maker rested on. It only took a moment for Anelik to spot what the Queen meant, and she read the label aloud. “Made in Kiserre.”
  5. “Exactly. Kiserre grows nine tenths of the world’s cofee. There’s exactly one plantation in Astaria that grows it, none in Aquileon. The rest is all grown in southern Nzemya and Queliko, and it seems like Nzemya’s coffee growth won’t be very impressive this year.” Anelik set the bag down and returned to her seat.
  6. “Please slow down, your Majesty, you’re going in several directions at once.”
  7. “So does international politics.” Anelik raised her coffee cup to the Queen and nodded. Sayphay actually smiled for a moment before speaking again. “So, first and simplest. The Communists in Nzemya are getting ready for an uprising. Nzemya’s central government has never been very wise, but apparently they’ve just tried to tighten the restrictions on the tribes and segregate their neighborhoods.” Anelik blinked - she didn’t really know anything about Nzemya. They’d been wandering tribes for decades, across all of both continents, before the Aquilean Empire had invited them in and made its sparsely inhabited southwest corner into a homeland for the Nzemyan people. Apparently there was friction between the tribes, though? “The Communists are the strongest opposition party, lead by one Berkai Kieresa. He’s calling for a revolution to overthrow the government and replace them with ‘a people’s government’,” Sayphay rolled her eyes at that. Anelik didn’t think the idea sounded too bad. “I’ve already had a request from the Communists in our government to officially support their Nzemyan brethren, but I won’t do anything like that.”
  8. “Why’s that, ma’am?” Anelik was a touch surprised. The Communists’ hatred of all organized government had to grate against her, but Communism’s economics were similar enough to the Queen’s own matronism…
  9. “Because Aquileon is supporting the Nzemyan government against the Communists, and I don’t want to do anything more to upset Aquileon than I have to. This plays into what’s happening with Kiserre, and back to the upcoming coffee shortage.” Anelik raised an eyebrow at Sayphay, and the Queen gave a catlike smile. “Tell me, Anelik, what do you think of commerce warfare?”
  10. “It’s occasionally proven its merits, ma’am.” Anelik said. “It worked for Queliko in their last war against the Fireborn Imperium when they couldn’t stand up to the Imperial Battlefleet.”
  11. “But it’s not your preferred style, is it, Anelik?” Sayphay asked, and Anelik shook her head. “Well, we’re all stepping outside of our comfort zone. I’ve had analyses from both Varangian Naval Intelligence and our own Aerial Intelligence. They both agree that we can’t move on Kiserre directly for at least eight months. With only three battleships to lead the charge, the Kiserrans will be able to mount an effective defense and defeat our Sky Force, because they still have superior numbers. We have to wait until the second flight of battleships is ready. But we don’t want to just leave Kiserre alone that long - they’ll be building their own ships, maybe even copying the Teleforce Beam, and if they do that we’ll be right back where we started. So I’ve decided that we’re going to isolate them.”
  12. “Isolate them?”
  13. “Kiserre’s trade with us and Varangia naturally dropped to zero right as the war started, Anelik,” Queen Sayphay reached into a pocket on her vest and pulled a sheet of paper - it was a report from Aerial Intelligence. “Kiserre is a mountainous, rocky, and volcanic archipelago with only four large plains, all of which are covered by large cities. With terrace farming and the like, they’ve basically farmed every square inch of Kiserre that’s suitable for farming. Volcanic soil may be good for farming, but volcanoes don’t produce large swathes of farmland. So even though they’re farming as much as they possibly can, Kiserre imports a full sixty percent of its food. Historically, that’s been from us and Varangia. With the war, I think Fillion and Aquileon are going to be taking up the slack. At the same time, Kiserre exports lots of manufactured products, but they import steel, charcoal, copper, saltpeter...Kiserre is rich in people, innovations, and cheap labor, but it’s poor in natural resources, aside from titanium and power crystals. We can cut them off.” Anelik suddenly realized that she was right. With Varangia and Astaria together, Kiserre had a solid barrier blocking it off from the rest of the world, and no ship could cross the worldwide ocean. Even if they could, the Carthacian Supercontinent stretched from icecap to icecap, and storms constantly wracked its eastern coast. There was nowhere for their ships to go. That meant Astaria could cut Kiserre off from what it needed to wage the war.
  14. “So...we’ve already stopped trading with them. How are you going to convince the rest of the world to do the same?” Anelik rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
  15. “Simple. We’re going to declare everything west of Alihass and the Varangian Strait the ‘restricted trade zone’ in which only Varangian and Astarian-flagged ships can sail. Then, Western Fleet takes or sinks any ship that tries to pass, and any ship under our flags that sees a profit in disobeying,” Sayphay sighed for a moment. “I can already hear the Aquilean Ambassador protesting about my ‘gross violation of international law and custom’ and I wouldn’t be surprised if Aquileon takes this as a hostile act. But if they’re supplying Kiserre, which they are, that’s a hostile act too.”
  16. “So this is why you won’t support Nzemya’s communists? You don’t want to throw another branch onto the fire?”
  17. “Exactly. Not until we take Cold Pass.”
  18. “I still think the Battleships could do it,” Anelik had argued since Cold Pass declared himself independent that the First Battleship Squadron should have brought him in line.
  19. “With those eight inchers of his?” Sayphay shook her head. “Anelik, your battleships are too valuable to risk against heavy emplaced artillery. The Army will handle Cold Pass. Besides, I have a job for you.”
  20. “Oh?” Anelik smiled internally. She knew the Queen had to have asked to meet her for some reason besides teaching her about commerce warfare and politics.
  21. “Tigaria,” Sayphay said. “The Kiserrans have been using it as a forward base to raid our commerce, and I think their damned submarine raiders are based there too. I want you and the battleships to take it away from them. Do you think you can arrange that for me, Admiral?”
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