Burning Suns: Conflagration, Issue 1 - Flint and Tinder

KEERA

New Lagos, Geonova, Sol Deuterion System, Assembly Space

Keera Naraymis leaned forward in her chair, planting her elbows on the conference table and meeting the gaze of the Changeling dignitary opposite her with a firm stare. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Minister. But as I'm sure you are aware, our administration is not prepared to concede any ground on this point. Your security forces' woeful inability to police your own people's dissident factions inspires precisely zero confidence in any guarantee that your government could make." Keera allowed a note of disdain to creep into her voice. "Surely you must admit that when your people can disguise themselves as almost anybody, these 'Sentinels' represent a clear and present danger, not just to our citizens, but to people all across the galaxy?"

"Secretary Naraymis, forgive me, but I can't help but feel that you are exaggerating the risk for your administration's political gain, rather than out of any concern for the welfare of your citizens," Minister Solta, the Changeling envoy, retorted. "You have an election coming up, if I recall, and the threat of monsters in the dark has always been one of the most effective political scare tactics one can employ."

"It's not the monsters in the dark that worry me, Minister, Solta, it's the ones walking around in broad daylight that look just like me," Keera countered smoothly, running her a hand through her short, curly black hair. "And I resent the implication that this is some sort of campaign stunt." She waved one hand theatrically at the rest of her delegation. "The threat is very real. Any one of my colleagues here could be one of these terrorists, a sleeper agent just waiting for the right opportunity. How can I know for sure that they are who they say they are? Unless I take a knife to each and every one of them to see what colour they bleed, which is hardly a practical solution."

The changeling scoffed, the fringe of fine feathers around his jaw flaring in offence. "Oh, please. Don't be so melodramatic. It's as insulting as it is juvenile, and it does you no credit."

Keera tapped at the holographic interface on the desk before her, and a series of case file windows popped into view, forming a wall of information between her and her opponent. "These five cases have arisen in the last six months, Minister. That represents a serious escalation of activity on the part of these dissidents, and that's not melodrama, it's cold, hard fact." She leaned forward, dismissing the display with an aggressive swipe with the blade of her hand. "I'll say it once more, just so we're absolutely clear. We are not prepared to permit our sovereign right to safeguard our citizens to be infringed, and your proposed amendments to our open border treaty don't meet with our expectations in that regard."

Minister Solta clicked his beak in irritation. "And what exactly is the nature of your expectations with respect to the amendments?"

"Most of what you've proposed is fair and reasonable; my colleagues in the Trade and Industry department have given me the green light. You're talking to us because there's one issue that still needs to be resolved, and I'm afraid that it's a red line for the Exterior department. We are not prepared to soften our position regarding the detention of changelings suspected of impersonation of our citizens."

Solta frowned hawkishly at her. "You want to lock our people up without charge," he accused.

"That's rather a crude generalisation, Minister."

"Forgive me, Secretary, but I thought you wanted to be absolutely clear?"

Keera bit back the sudden burst of admiration that threatened to crack her professional demeanour. The Minister certainly knew how to play. "We reserve the right to remand into custody without charge any citizen of the Consortium found to have assumed a false identity, pending a full investigation into any potential criminal activity." Keera met the changeling's gaze, deploying her coldest stare in the silence that followed her words, waiting patiently until he twitched, nerves betraying him. "It's either that," she continued, "or we revoke the open border treaty completely, and require all of your citizens travelling in Marauder space to be genetically tagged at point of entry so that they can be tracked. Failure to comply would incur criminal charges levelled against the individuals and financial sanctions, scaling with the number of arrested individuals, on your government."