2022-07-17: My conflict of interest
- Cutscene: My conflict of interest
- Cast: Yuliana Dispersal
- Where: Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Date: 2022-07-17
- Summary: Yuliana paints herself into a corner, and has to decide on what way she'll escape. Is her new loyalty to Celestial Being worth more to her than her patriotism?
Captain Yuliana Dispersal enters Major Pham's office, casually as ever -- though she certainly thinks to salute, once she's standing in front of his desk. "Sir," she recognises him, sharp. "You wanted to see me?"
"Quite," he responds, humourless. He nods to the chair in front of the desk, spartan and functional. "Sit down, Captain. I require a report on our active persons of interest."
Yuliana sits, as directed, and gestures with a loose palm. "Baolin listened to reason -- she just took a little persuading. Cinta was awfully stupid brave, so I've got Lieutenant Chaudhri tagging her communications to see if we can't use her spunk to root out some of the other rats hiding around there." They are, of course, all names of REA dissidents -- the ones causing too much trouble.
Protest, of course, is perfectly legal in the REA. Within reason.
"Good work," is the Major's assessment, with little emotion behind it. "But I'm concerned about our reports on Kironov." He levels a serious look to Yuliana. "I trust you haven't embarrassed us." The implication is entirely clear; Yuliana's work supporting the Republic's internal stability is strictly deniable. Not quite as deniable as her work destroying the stability of other nations, but...
It would be bad, for Yuliana, if her activities reflected badly on her country. They both know it, and it's why Yuliana's smile is a hair uneasy, all tucked in just a degree too far at the edge. "Unfortunately, a soldier and an attaché from Londo Bell intervened and... made certain decisions about what was happening. They think it a base mugging, I suspect; I've given them the story of chasing up the wayward daughter of a family friend. The lie ought to convince them that their intuitions are correct."
"A soldier... and an attaché?" The Major frowns. "You were bested by a civilian, Captain Dispersal?"
"She had a bug, sir," Yuliana defends herself, pouting.
He looks less amused than he did a moment prior, which is, if anything, an achievement. "A bug."
"That's correct. A gun-eating bug. It's all in my report. Geez," Yuliana huffs, "why does everyone always think I'm lying exaggerating?"
The Major pauses, for a moment. "You have a reputation for unnecessary whimsy, Captain. I've read your report. Has Medical followed through on the exploration of Puru Two's dramatic collapse, as I asked?"
And now it's Yuliana's turn to pause, fingers coming to rest, delicately, against her scarf for a moment. (What's beneath her scarf.) "Right now they're pursuing a maintenance protocol," she tells him, and most of the words are true in that order. "But if you ask me, someone like that was probably just too used to casually violating reality." Let the record state that Yuliana thinks, with absolute sincerity, that she's describing Callisto.
The Major frowns. "I see. And Maplem?" He presses the last name on his list. He is not holding a list; he memorised it.
"Tragically, he elected to take his own life," she doesn't think it's a shame, and she didn't give him much of a choice. "His disruptive actions must have weighed terribly on his soul -- the poor thing poisoned himself, but not before writing a suicide note. So you see, I never got the chance to reason with him!" Now she's not talking about her failures, she's instantly much more cheerful. The shift is striking.
"That isn't necessary, Captain," the Major says, and isn't talking about the assassination.
"But it is very funny," Yuliana ripostes, with a savage grin.
Major Pham grunts. "Your sense of humour is noted, Captain."
"Anyway, he's dead, and there's a decent excuse behind it," Yuliana sighs, dropping back to business. "I put in the usual bribes with the New Delhi locals, so I doubt the investigation will look too hard. Some complaints up the usual chain from the usual go-getters, I'm sure."
"I'll handle it," Major Pham assures her. He 'handles it' quite often.
Yuliana groans, leaning back in her seat. "Why do we let people around here play at democracy, anyway? Surely they realise it's fruitless -- and it would make our lives much easier if we didn't have to cloak-and-dagger through our own territory."
"Because," Major Pham says, completely deadpan, as he leans forward against his desk: "It's very funny."
"Ahahahaha--!" Yuliana exclaims, hand to her mouth. "Did you really just--?!"
"I don't make jokes, Captain," the Major says. "... and no one would ever believe you." It's hardly just Yuliana who applies pressure like that, in the Republic.
"Heh," Yuliana grins, folding her arms. "All right. What do you have for me now?"
"Your progress on Doctor Baihe's retrieval," Major Pham starts -- and he notes the way Yuliana's smile instantly falls from her face, too. "It's not satisfactory, Captain. Why has it taken you so long?"
Yuliana's fingers tighten, against the fabric of her jacket. "I'm working on it, sir," she replies, testily. "I've had no more suitable chances since my last report. As I've said, she's slippery. If that's all you have, you won't mind me bringing something more pressing to your office, I'm sure?"
The Major notes her relatively unveiled evasiveness -- wonders just how effective her maintenance treatment is, given those cues -- and nods, once. "Go ahead, Captain."
"It's G-Hound, sir. They're hitting Khanka with a stick to see what snakes slither out --"
The Major raises a hand, palm up. "You interrupted my concerns for that? You'll tell me that Britannia is causing trouble at the borders, next. If you're looking to distract me, Captain, I expect more respect than something so obvious."
Yuliana scowls, voice raising to a snap as she leans forward in her chair. "Oh, let me finish!" Her teeth grit, and she sinks back into her chair. "Sorry, sir," she moderates her volume again, and it's only after she's sure he's accepted her conciliative gesture that she continues. (This is, in fact, her least favourite part of the job.) "Their cover story is trying to get at corrupt officers, but it didn't take long for me to get another story out of them. They've fingerprinted Celestial Being in the region, and that's who they're hunting."
"Celestial Being," Major Pham repeats, leaning forward against his desk. "And they're operating in Khanka?"
"That's what G-Hound suspects," is Yuliana's read on the situation. "I went ahead and offered Captain Castellan my assistance -- I'd rather keep that kind of task force close, make sure they don't settle for low-hanging fruit. Though, I..." Yuliana pauses, for a delicate moment, "... may have to throw some of our officers into the grinder, particularly if their suspicions are correct. Obviously, we can't have Celestial Being based in our borders." Some of those words are true in that order.
"The Republic can weather a certain amount of personnel losses without complaint, within the usual parameters," the Major says, hands folding on his desk. It's not entirely a blessing -- but it's not an order to desist, either. Again: deniable. "But you've done well, Captain. Celestial Being is of particular concern to us in the Republic, as well."
"Sir?" Yuliana's surprise isn't feigned.
"Oh, you wouldn't know," the Major assures her, dry. "But I didn't realise you had an interest in apprehending them... the proposal isn't under my remit, but shall I put your name forward towards our own efforts against them, Captain Dispersal?"
"Yes, sir," Yuliana answers immediately, in for a penny, in for a pound. "I'd like that." She doesn't, really; if hunting Celestial Being is directly a wish of her Republic, it's far more uncomfortable. But having the information -- one way or another -- will give her more manoeuvring power. She'd be a fool to deny it.
"Very good." The Major is no fool, either. "I assume you've filed reports on this, as well?"
"That's right. I just put it into the system, actually. I had to have Lieutenant Chaudhri follow up on them, so it took a few days to get things together." It also took Yuliana a little extra time to make sure she wasn't tying a noose around her neck; she'll blame it on intelligence-gathering, instead.
"Then I'll appraise myself of them. You're dismissed, Captain." The Major watches Yuliana, carefully.
But she's determined to disappoint him -- she stands, and salutes loosely, in her usual manner. "Sir!" She barks, as she turns on a heel, and exits no quicker than she normally does.
Even when her thoughts are this pressured, and her movements this unrestrained, she's still a veteran.
Yuliana leans on the bridge; a glance one way and the other reveals no one on the approach. The phone she pulls from her pocket looks much like the one she uses for work -- except this phone she could destroy without flinching. A burner.
She keys in a number, lifts it to her ear. "I'm here," she says, smoothly, to Elisa's dear friends. "I have information."
Her dark sunglasses hide her frown, as the question comes through the line. This isn't transmitted; her pause is. "... G-Hound has created a taskforce to hunt us out. They're targeting Khanka. Now, listen -- listen," Yuliana repeats herself, hissing the word, low, into the phone. "I have reason to believe I'm being used as a canary, here, so I require your utmost discretion with regards to moving on this information. Hm...? Because I've been in this game for almost a decade, that's why!" Her voice jabs into the phone, even if her grimace doesn't carry. "I know when I'm being strung along, and I got far too much information for the efforts I made. Captain Castellan's behind it -- you know, one of those Britannian nobles -- now, she's a greenhorn captain, so she might just be an idiot, but I don't think that's likely. She's sharp. Real sharp," Yuliana repeats herself, envy-green eyes narrowing as she gazes out over the water.
"Yes, I've engaged. ... no, I -- it wasn't a situation where I could ask!" Yuliana insists, fingers tightening on the railing. She resists the urge to fling her phone into the river. "I offered her my help. She thinks I'm an officer who wants to keep my country out of the crosshairs -- since my stipulation was for her to focus on her actual mission." Yuliana pauses, concern crossing over her eyes, behind her sunglasses. "No, that's not..." She sighs, shaking her head. "... look, I'm dedicated to my ideals. War is a force which pressures the disadvantaged... there'll be no need for such methods in a society of absolute equality. So if you're questioning whether I've betrayed you, just keep in mind that I have my own hopes for the future. I know better than most how destabilisation hurts normal people keeping their heads down."
Another pause, longer. "Oh... yes, of course. My apologies. Someone in my position has to be a hair jumpy in this situation, you understand." Yuliana takes a breath, and releases it, deliberately. "Yes, I have a plan. It oughtn't even compromise my access, since my commanding officer thinks I'm working against you. So long as I throw some corrupt officers under the bus -- and avoid her finding any real activity -- I think I can throw her off the trail. She'll get some token blood to take home to her people, I'll have made sacrifices to find our friends in the eyes of mine... everyone goes home happy." She says it so casually, but she's tense, on the bridge.
"Yes," Yuliana agrees, gaze darkening behind her shades, glancing aside to a pedestrian approaching the bridge. "I understand. I'll see to it. Look, someone's coming -- I have to go." Her expression and tone shifts, as that man comes into sight of her -- "Until next time! Ta-ta..!"
Cheerfully, she clicks the call off, and slips it back into her pocket. "Afternoon!" She chirps, as she passes the pedestrian by, smiling as he returns the salutation with a nod. Strolling down the path, it's a good few beats before the warmth of her expression shifts to a frown.
She's not doing well. Jumping to conclusions. She can feel how precarious her position is, two guns pointed at two masters.
Safe in her room, Yuliana sheds her scarf, hooking it on a rack with over two dozen other bright folds of fabric. She finds the crystals hidden underneath shining darkly, slaked full from the emptiness she demands from the world. It's disconcerting, to look at them too closely; even hidden away, it's no wonder her behaviour has gotten more erratic, despite the truly remarkable amount of drugs she's taking. Even so, her hands come up to press them to her chest, eyes drifting shut for a gentle moment.
"Elya..."
Yuliana is a woman who comes from two cultures -- but those nicknames root themselves in Zaftra, her mother's home. An expression of closeness, of affection... contextually, it's striking.
She hasn't murmured a name with so much care and consideration for eleven years.
Yuliana Dispersal has always been a loyal saboteur -- but a saboteur she remains, and much of her has been sacrificed, in the name of the Republic's progress. That she's extending her extra-military dalliances beyond the typical officer's crime may well be the fate her own country has written.
It is a betrayal by degrees, and it began with throwing her weight behind Celestial Being.
If it had come a decade ago, maybe...
But she isn't the woman she was a decade ago, holding hope and love in her trembling, betrayed hands. Now she is a woman who uses others as easily as she is used, cold and cruel and petty and purposed. She is a woman who loves her country, a love bred from familiarity and bindings; this, Yuliana calls love. A thing which brings conflict to her voice, as she murmurs, unveiled and vulnerable in the company of her reflection -- and she who surrounds her.
"Soon I'll surely have to choose... between my cause and my country," and her logic tastes dismal in her mouth. "Oh, Elya," Yuliana sighs into those consumptive crystals, tender, tormented, exquisite. "How shall I decide between the two of them...?"
... her hollowed heart already has.