Gai Koukan looked firmly from face to face as everyone in the room was staring intently at him. He had been expecting it. Something of this magnitude was going to reach the Council sooner rather than later.

“I can’t believe something like this would happen,” the representative from the Federation of Inundail, Meister Jorgun Linduvian, broke the silence, “thankfully this won’t have a negative impact on trade, but there could be other, more far reaching consequences. Something like this has just never happened.”

Meister Jorgun was much like any diplomat from the Federation. He was of a medium height, and built like a snowman the kids make when they visit the Darkward end of Le’Tayah. A snowman with legs. It was a wonder they supported his weight. His bald head just added to the appearance, and he was constantly wiping his brow of sweat with the large kerchief he kept tucked inside his robes of office.

“That is only one of the problems we currently face,” the current representative of the Freeholdings of Silda was the next to contribute, a one Sir Reginald. He was the champion of one of the feudal lords who populated Silda, and took turns in sending a representative to the Sun Council. Though this time the man had his wits about him, he was indeed a fine knight, and looked every bit the part with his blonde hair, dashing smile, and scarred face.

Koukan thought he could handle those two pretty well though. Reginald was a hard military man, but he didn’t know much about politics, and Jorgun didn’t care as long as he or his country profited. It was the others he was wary of. Two more men faced him in the chamber.

Hi Shinji, youngest brother of the King of Crescent, was the most dangerous. He would not be manipulated easily, and could prove to be the tipping point. The others seemed to look up to him more than they did Koukan. He was a tall man, with an athletic build, impeccably groomed at all times, and friendly, everything that made you want to be his friend. He also, to Koukan’s dismay, liked to play things by the book, and seemed to be keeping everyone’s interests at hand when he made a decision.

And the last was representative from Anticus, where everyone lived within the mountains. He kept to himself, rarely speaking, just sitting in his chair in his dark grey clothing and with a large wide brimmed hat which made it difficult to see his face, even when he was talking to you. He even wore it inside, to protect himself from the harsh light which he was not used to even after all his time spent in the City of Light. His name was Yun Jinda Spark. Usually he had no input in general matters, but whenever he had stuck his hand in things had always seemed to go against Koukan.

“Ah yes,” Koukan started, “We are currently facing a few problems, but I believe attempting to deal with the issue involving the Clocklines should take precedence. They are integral to the trade between here and Darkward side, and this disruption could cause major issues further down the track.”

Shinji cleared his throat.

“Koukan, there are many things to consider. While I do concede that the missing clockline it an important matter, what about the loss of eight lives today? The fast response unit of the Gemteks has been halved in their numbers. This will put a huge strain on their resources. Not to mention their equipment. Anything to say on this?”

“Of course. Their families have already been notified and are currently being looked after. We are looking into filling the positions quickly as the fast response unit is one of the busiest around…”

Shinji cut him off abruptly, cutting the air with his hand to call a halt. He stood and glowered at Koukan.

“That is all well and good, Gai, but what about the cause? Eight members of an elite force have been killed. Do you know the cause?”

“We have a suspect, and have posted wanted posters in all the major towns and villages within the region,” Koukan remained calm, it would do no good to get flustered here. Just bear with it. Surely Shinji didn’t know everything.

“A suspect? Is that all? What about the abnormal power readings in the area? Were there not at least two spikes in the readings that are unaccounted for? Stronger readings than we have seen for many years?”

Koukan tried to contain his happiness, keeping a neutral outward appearance. He had kept the readings out of his report, but he knew that Shinji would have the resources to find out before the meeting. He had been waiting for this to be brought up. The interest of the others seemed to have been piqued.

“They were an anomaly. They did not last for long, and have not been found since. We are still looking into it. While the readings were, technically, the same value, they had slight variations in them that we have not seen from other gemz.”

“What are you trying to say? That there is a new kind of gem going around?”

“Oh, no, not at all, Minister Shinji. We believe the anomaly will more likely be from a flaw within the instruments that take the readings. We have been working on the belief that they were perfect, but obviously not.”

Mister Spark suddenly spoke. His voice had a sharp edge to it.

“I call for the shut down of the facilities. And a full diagnostics to be run on it to find the anomaly. Until the anomaly can be found we should rely on more mundane ways of completing our work.”

“But, Mister Spark, that is not possible,” Koukan was smiling inwardly, things could not have been going much smoother, “the Gemteks use those facilities to do everything, and to run diagnostics on the whole system will take months and manpower to achieve.”

“Even so, it must be done.”

“I second the motion,” chimed in Meister Jorgun in a high pitched squeal.

“But sirs…”

“I will put my name to it as well,” said Minister Shinji, “the niece was involved in this incident, so I feel it would do the Gemteks good to go and look at themselves more closely.”

Koukan could hear Jorgun muttering about there being less Gemteks around to meddle in his countries affairs but pretended not to hear it.

“Three votes means it will be implemented,” said Shinji in his most authoritative tone, “The Gemteks will close their facility with the City of Light and begin running diagnostics. An internal investigation will be started into the incident and how the Princess of the Kingdom of Crescent could be put in danger and the loss of eight lives to an unknown cause. At the same time two units will be dispatched, one to look for the suspect, and the other to look into what has happened to the Clockline. Monthly reports will be supplied.”

Everyone nodded their agreement.