Dominic: “I know, Majesté, but every man has his sticking point, these Mitsubishi no less than yourself. They will not cave, not so long as there’s any bill in motion anywhere, whether in Romanova, Odessa, or Easter Island, to force the Hive to give up land. But if you were to speak out and publicly oppose forced land redistribution, your word, and the votes it commands, would be enough.”

MASON: “I support land redistribution.”

Dominic: “I don’t care.”

MASON: “The landgrab is an economic bottleneck, not to mention poison for the Mitsubishi themselves. Land monopoly turns tenants into lynch mobs.”

Dominic: “I said I don’t care. The strike won’t end unless you condemn forced redistribution. I didn’t say you have to actually prevent it, just imply that you will.”

MASON: “MASONS do not lie lightly.”

Dominic: “Do this for me, and in return I promise to fight tooth and nail to get every Mitsubishi Senator to vote for Natekari’s motion to kill Sniper on sight.”

MASON: “That’s no offer. You’ll do that anyway. You want Sniper dead. Are you planning to rip their throat out with your teeth, or burn them alive?”

Dominic: “My plans are my own, Majesté, as yours are, and we both know that the only real difference between Votre Majesté and myself here is that I don’t care whether or not it’s legal when I do it. You want the law to kill Sniper. If you want that, you need my votes.”

MASON: “It is legal for me to kill Sniper by the only law that matters: Lex Masonica.”

Dominic: “Are you really going to pretend your law trumps Romanova?”

MASON: “My law predates Rome, let alone Romanova.”

Dominic: “Do you really expect Romanova to accept that?”

MASON: “Romanova is a mere alliance. Either it respects the laws of its members, or it means nothing. Alliances come and go.”

Dominic: “Fine, then. Every man has his sticking point, Majesté, and we all know yours. Speak out against land redistribution, or my Mitsubishi bloc will vote for Cook’s new Black Law.”

MASON: “What? That’s insane. Mitsubishi use more set-sets than anyone.”