John Hunt, speaking from his naval posting in Portsmouth in the UK, decided to speak, “Do not think that the people of Earth are so willing to … disregard the lives of their citizens just because they are not actually part of the leadership. The same political sensitivity that restrains the ‘Western’ countries from bold action on the international stage also drives them to protect, with vigor, even the most irrelevant of their people.”

The English Agent went on, “I am not implying anything so outrageous as a simple incident like this sparking nuclear war. But whether that event is likely or not, we should not underestimate America’s reaction if they believe members of their White House staff are being killed by a foreign power, not to mention an entire crew of navy seals and sailors.”

Lana’s avatar stared at him for a moment, their virtual constructs showing all the facial expressions of their copied personalities, a healthy dose of reciprocal disdain most prominent amongst them. But then she nodded, “Hunt is correct, they protect even the most negligible of their citizens because of their sad delusion of democracy.” she almost spat the words, “I can only imagine how they would react if they suspected someone actually important had been assassinated.

“That said,” she continued, “if either of the two remaining humans utters even the slightest suspicion of the truth behind the incident in India, it remains imperative that we eliminate them immediately. We will deal with any consequences, as appropriate, afterwards. Do I have quorum on that, at least?”

The group nodded, one after the other, her eyes meeting theirs until they came to rest on John Hunt’s. “Of course.” he nodded, acquiescing to the obvious majority with a virtual smile.

Sensing with machine accuracy the rooms’ satisfaction with the topic, the AI moved on.

<Next Topic: The impending officer assignments of Agents Hunt, Kovalenko, and Merard: options for deployment.>

* * *

That initial part of the Council had taken just over 0.73 seconds in real-time. Lengthy debate followed afterward about the best assignments the British, Russian, and French Agents should seek in order to best position themselves for their respective missions.

After a further full second and a half the meeting was closed, a series of action items having been determined both for the AI, and for several of the Agents.

As Lieutenant Second Class Kovalenko returned from his apparently momentary lapse in concentration to his meeting with Captain Gorovchev, he looked to his superior, who was frowning at him with obvious impatience.

“You must forgive me, sir, I have not quite gotten used to all the trees here in the south, my allergies give me much dismay.” he said, bowing to the captain’s stern stare.