By the time any trace of Yosho, who had left in pursuit of Ryoko, was gone, the Imperial Family connected to a conference call through the network of Royal Trees. The topic was the report submitted by Tatsua, the commander at the time of the attack.
“What a disgrace! The main forces may have been absent, but allowing a single pirate vessel into the home world, even damaging Tenju! Yosho- dono let her escape, and now both are missing. This is unprecedented in the entire history of Jurai. How will you take responsibility?!” Shuzan spat, his words fast and furious. He had conveniently arrived two hours after Ryoko left Jurai. He actually seemed to be smiling. Shuzan was unable to accept the facts put forward in Tatsua’s report. To accept them would mean Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki were not mere pirates. What he needed to do was to transform this meeting into a forum for pinning liability on House Masaki for this deplorable affair.
“They were no mere pirates,” said Tatsua, infuriated by Shuzan’s outburst. “That wasn’t a case of illegal modifications on refurbished military vessels. And they knew what they were doing, coming after the Royal Trees. They were clearly backed by a large organization, be it the pirates’ guild or another nation!”
“Hmph! I’m saying there are problems in the data in this report. It was Ayeka-dono’s ship going out of control that allowed entry into Tenju to begin with!”
“It’s indisputable that they had the power to make a raid on the home world!”
“The existence of such power is unthinkable! Who could develop such a thing? The most likely is the Galaxy Academy… But they would never attack Jurai. If they could, those philosophers would’ve smugly published it already!”
While Tatsua and Shuzan’s exchange of opinions (which is to say, quarrel) continued, Emperor Azusa and Utsutsumi, the head of House Kamiki, silently observed the state of things. Utsutsumi, with his instincts as a self-made soldier, knew that this report was correct. He wanted to stop Shuzan’s absurd accusations, but his particular feelings towards Azusa and Funaho stayed his hand. This is a job for the Emperor of Jurai. If he cannot even get this under control, it’s better for Jurai if he’d just hand the title over to someone else.
Sensing Utsutsumi’s feelings, Azusa interrupted Shuzan and Tatsua. “Enough!”
“But!” Shuzan objected.
“That ship—Ryo-Ohki—is no ordinary ship.” He told them how he once fought Ryo-Ohki, back in the day. Even so, Shuzan and his henchmen continued to dispute Ryoko’s powers.
It was Misaki who eventually lost her patience. This man is a blockhead for not knowing the true powers of a First Generation Tree. She started to yell, “You are…”
Seto’s carefully controlled voice broke in and quelled Misaki’s rant. “How unfortunate. If only Shuzan-dono had been on Jurai at the time, he wouldn’t have allowed this mere pirate to create such havoc. Isn’t that right? He said his comm was jammed. Even though he was closer than Yosho-dono. It’s too bad!” Each word dripped with sarcasm. She would generally never neglect Utsutsumi, but she was also fed up with this.
Shuzan realized that the tide was about to turn against him and hastily winked at one of his henchmen, who equally hastily changed the subject, “We can argue about responsibility at the inquiry. For now, correctly assessing the situation should come first…”
In exchange for disregarding the suspicion that he purposefully delayed his arrival on Jurai, they dismissed House Masaki’s responsibility for the failures in defense. After the transmission was over, Shuzan vented his anger on his own bridge, but once “demon princess” Seto stated her case, pursuing it further would only backfire. He had no choice but to give up.
The final decision left Jurai’s current defenses to Shuzan, and the others continued their voyages. This was so that other countries would not be alerted to the attack because of their rushing home. They also had the opportunity to gather information abroad. This event was reported internationally as a training exercise for defense of the home world. The damage was too great for anyone to believe it was just a training exercise, but at word that Seto had been the sponsor, everyone understood.
The official meeting now over, on board the Jurai Emperor’s ship were Azusa, Funaho, Misaki, and through the First Generation Tree special channel, a visual of Seto. With these four, the true Jurai Supreme Council could begin.
“You dummy!” That was Seto, referring to her daughter’s careless actions in the council.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I’m sorry, Oneesama,” Misaki said in a pitiful voice, her head hung low. Laying it out to Shuzan meant he would not do anything to Misaki, out of fear towards Seto, but he would turn his resultant discontent towards Funaho. That was what she was mad about.
“It’s all right, Misaki-chan. It made me happy.”
“I’m sorry,” Azusa apologized, and Funaho smiled her understanding. With the Emperor of Jurai and the power of a First Generation ship, it would be easy to remove Shuzan. But the Emperor was not a dictator and existed to protect his family. And no matter how problematic he was, Shuzan was still family.
“Shuzan and my husband sure take peace for granted, not appreciating the Emperor with his First Generation Tree,” Seto sighed.
“Let us get to the point, Seto-dono.”
“All right.” Seto relayed her data to each monitor. “Tatsua-dono rightly had calm, objective judgment. My analysis of the situation reached the same conclusions.”
“So Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki had powers superior to even a First Generation ship… Seto-dono, do you think they’re related to Tsunami in some way?”
“Aw, that was supposed to be the highlight of my report!” Seto pouted as Azusa hit the nail on the head. Like mother, like daughter.
With a sigh, Azusa continued, “I was concerned by the fact that all the Third Generation ships on Jurai hesitated to attack, and the Fourth Generation ships that basically have no will were also slightly slower to react. When I battled Ryo-Ohki, I too felt a slight delay in reaction speed. I was injured at the time, and I had assumed it was due to the slower transmission, so I hadn’t included it in my report to Seto-dono. If even First Generation ships hesitate to attack, there’s nobody else but Tsunami… Well, I’m sure Seto-dono has more surprises up her sleeve. Otherwise she wouldn’t put in a call for a meeting of the Supreme Council.”
“Azusa-chan, you’re getting more boring,” grumbled Seto morosely. “Actually…I’ve been studying Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki ever since I received Azusa-dono’s report. Ryoko wasn’t as famous on Jurai, where we’re protected by our powerful ships powered by the Royal Trees, but she posed quite a threat in other star systems.”
“I’m not surprised, with that power.”
“And another thing. She specialized in robbing artifacts from ancient ruins and seizing information from ruins of pre-historical civilizations. There is little of that within Jurai territories, another reason why Ryoko wasn’t very well known. To get straight to the point, she wasn’t sent by some country or organization.”
“Then Kagato is also unaffiliated.”
“Are you saying an individual built that?”
“There’s more. The profile of Kagato only went back 5,000 years.